I'm back :-)

Thursday 15 December 2005 - a bit less blah-ish

Ok, so I didn't go for a swim but I did get up early to do my stretches and to head into work to get some CR stuff done early.

Had an appointment to see the chiro/osteo that my Satanic Massage Therapist (SMT) referred me to at 2.45pm. After a short massage to warm up the surrounding areas by one of the massage therapists in the clinic Mr C came in to talk, poke, prode, crack and massage me. I'm pretty impressed with him - very thorough and ended up only doing 2 small adjustments and lots of massage/stretching work instead. Briefly he is of the view that:

* my mobility/flexibility in my lower back is a little limited (which isn't a particular surprise given the bulging disks I had last year);

* because I've had some sort of lower body problem ever since I started running (shin splints, ITB etc), I've got - and probably have always had - a hip/lower back and, ahem, groin biomechanical issue which hasn't been addressed yet, which view was confirmed by his examination of my dodgy hip/*ahem* groin; and

* glute medius and minimus aren't as strong as they should be & aren't firing.

He also gave me a somewhat unusual (but tough) ITB massage - an "active" massage I guess where he moved and stretched my ITB in all sorts of directions while massaging it. My ITB felt tight but it wasn't painful - though I have a high pain threshold so I need to learn not to judge stuff by 'pain'.

So for the next few days, it's back to the glute exercises (including a new one that sort of resembles doing a triple jump but without the final jump designed to strengthen my core and get my lazy glutes firing) and then I'm due to see him again on Tuesday. Once he is satisfied that it's settling down, he is going to speak with and hand me back to the SMT to continue the treatment. Actually turns out that the SMT saw him on Tuesday for her own treatment and was asking him questions relating to my problems/issues. Don't you love it when medical practitioners work together :-)

Friday 16 December 2005 - the mojo returns :-)

It's alright; you can all stop looking - I found my mojo, interestingly at the bus stop this morning at 5.50am. I was waiting for the bus to take me to the gym, "Dancing Queen" came on the iPod (anyone who knows me will know that I find it hard to stand still when this song is on) and I suddenly realised that (a) my knee was feeling more "free" if that makes sense this morning and (b) I was actually looking forward to a tough session in the gym. I'm back baby :-)

Activity: weights
Time: 6.15am
Duration: 55 mins + 15mins stretches
Mood/energy: great !
ITB report: good

Unfortunately Satan has my program at the moment so I had to make today's session up as I went along - circuit (repeated twice) of:
* single arm lat pulldowns
* single arm reverse flyes (cable)
* seated row
* bicep curls
* single arm tricep pushdowns
* leg press
* hamstring curls on swiss ball
* 3 x glute exercises (clam, side leg lifts & triple jump thingy)

15mins of stretching to finish. Feel great now :-)

Off to the Office of Fair Trading with KT this afternoon to register CR as an incorporated association. I've spent a few hours each night this week working on it so I will be v. happy to get this first step completed.

Rest day tomorrow (except for glute exercises and stretches) to be followed by a swim Sunday morning before a BBQ lunch at Bronte with Mr & Mrs Lulu, Mr & Mrs Kit, DJ and Mr Jen_runs. Looking forward to it !

Wedding update: I now have my ring and we are off to check out a reception venue tomorrow :-)

Edit: during my walk back from Central to the office this afternoon with KT, a bit of a niggle developed in my knee. Slightly annoyed but not too stressed about it given that I did my glute exercises this morning. 20mins stretching & ice treatment tonight.

**************

The courage to begin separates dreamers from achievers.

Your difficulty and the difficulty of every individual who ever desired to achieve anything worthwhile comes in the movement.

Don't always be intending to live a new life, but never find the time to begin living it.

Most people fail because they never get started.

Begin to free yourself at once by doing all that is possible with the means you have.

You can start achieving right now - it begins with the dream.