Hip is still going great. I'm being very careful since I'm still only 3 and half weeks post op, but am back to work massaging (though phased return) and cracking on with my rehab.
Am finding it tough to do the cycling because its not the most interesting thing in the world to do. However, I've used the time to catch up on watching the video blogs of Kelly Starrett - aka K Starr. He's a US physical therapist and a crossfitter and does some amazing self-treatment/management in his blogs. www.mobilitywod.com He is really entertaining and easy to watch and explains his stuff so well - anyone can follow the advice. Lots of band stretching - so you can distract the hip whilst stretching the muscles and lots of great solutions for restricted shoulders etc. Some of the stuff is marvellous for hipsters everywhere. - ie you can stretch your piriformis without pinching the hip. Some people say they have 'never' felt that part stretch before cos they have always been too restricted to get into the right position. I'm getting some new bands delivered in the next couple of days so I'll post some FAI band stretches for you all to try.
Have achieved 6 unassisted kipping pull ups so far. Should reach 10 then going to aim for 21 in a row. There is a 'girl' (a crossfit workout) called Fran. 21-15-9 of pull ups and Thrusters (a front squat with an overhead press) with a 30kg bar. Its a great benchmark and I'm so excited to have a go once my hip is good for squatting again. But I need to be able to do 21 pull ups in a row to get the best performance - so that will fill in the time until I can squat again.
Here is one of the best female crossfitters in the world 'hitting Fran'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VShHz27QxeU
She does 'butterfly pull ups' which is the next project after I can hit my kipping pull up target!
I can row as long as I don't fully flex or extend my legs and don't jerk, and I'm focussing on my back and arms for most of the work here.
Just started to do glute medius work (clam type) and found my ROM is a little restricted by tight adductors. Did a 3minute set which really loosened off my adductors - bonus! and got some nice muscle ache the next day so gonna work hard on getting that excellent to support my hip stability.
Lunch has settled so I'm heading off into my home gym now. :D
Monday, 7 November 2011
Monday, 31 October 2011
Hip Number 2 - 2.5 weeks post surgery
Had my op on 13th Oct on the Left hip. Saw Prof Schilders last Wed who seemed pleased with everything. But I'm itching to get back to training!
We went down to watch the CROSSFIT 'Divided We Fall' Team Games this weekend in Swansea. It was incredible to see the fabulous athletes and the great sense of community there is in this sport. I'm only 5 months in and I'm completely hooked!
I was there on crutches just dying to jump over the barrier and get stuck in. But I settled for shouting alot and taking lots of cool pictures and videos of the 2 HG3(our box 'aka gym' in Harrogate) teams which included my gorgeous husband who did himself proud. I had some serious 'arm envy' going on there. There's some seriously fit ladies doing crossfit!
Since my op I've been into the gym and getting started on my project for winter = Mission - very strong arms ;) I won't be squatting or lunging for a wee while so in the meantime I'm going to master pull ups, ring dips, press ups, shoulder presses etc etc. By the time I can squat I'm going to be able to do ALOT of things I can't do at the moment.
My hip is going great. I had been squatting within a pinch free range prior to the op and been able to back squat 80kg and front squat 70kg. I put a bench behind my so I couldn't possibly squat too deep for my hip. I am sure that the training prior to the op meant that I was strong and well muscled around the area and that has really helped my recovery.
Tonight I went to the box and did 21-15-9 of pull ups, shoulder presses (20kg bar) and press ups (with left leg hooked behind right leg) and did it in 9mins 30. I'm sure I'll improve on that when I can switch exercises quicker, but still being very cautious.
Provided I don't do anything which requires hip flexor work - eg. sit ups, if I had my left foot/knee on the floor for press ups, or full hip extension then my hip if fine and doesn't get affected.
I've still been doing stationary biking and stretches to keep the hip mobile and looking forward to being able to air squat and work on single leg balances in a few weeks. - Just have to keep saying to myself - very strong arms! :D
We went down to watch the CROSSFIT 'Divided We Fall' Team Games this weekend in Swansea. It was incredible to see the fabulous athletes and the great sense of community there is in this sport. I'm only 5 months in and I'm completely hooked!
I was there on crutches just dying to jump over the barrier and get stuck in. But I settled for shouting alot and taking lots of cool pictures and videos of the 2 HG3(our box 'aka gym' in Harrogate) teams which included my gorgeous husband who did himself proud. I had some serious 'arm envy' going on there. There's some seriously fit ladies doing crossfit!
Since my op I've been into the gym and getting started on my project for winter = Mission - very strong arms ;) I won't be squatting or lunging for a wee while so in the meantime I'm going to master pull ups, ring dips, press ups, shoulder presses etc etc. By the time I can squat I'm going to be able to do ALOT of things I can't do at the moment.
My hip is going great. I had been squatting within a pinch free range prior to the op and been able to back squat 80kg and front squat 70kg. I put a bench behind my so I couldn't possibly squat too deep for my hip. I am sure that the training prior to the op meant that I was strong and well muscled around the area and that has really helped my recovery.
Tonight I went to the box and did 21-15-9 of pull ups, shoulder presses (20kg bar) and press ups (with left leg hooked behind right leg) and did it in 9mins 30. I'm sure I'll improve on that when I can switch exercises quicker, but still being very cautious.
Provided I don't do anything which requires hip flexor work - eg. sit ups, if I had my left foot/knee on the floor for press ups, or full hip extension then my hip if fine and doesn't get affected.
I've still been doing stationary biking and stretches to keep the hip mobile and looking forward to being able to air squat and work on single leg balances in a few weeks. - Just have to keep saying to myself - very strong arms! :D
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Whats in 2011 then?
Happy to say that even though training has taken a slight back seat I have steadily and carefully trained my right hip back into full function. If I sit around and don't do exercise then it tightens up and gets a bit crunchy - but then so does the rest of me! I'm all set to revisit the short but hard and fast distance of sprint triathlons this year. 400-750m swim, 20K Bike, 5K Run. Ouch! The benefit of doing long distance is that you don't have to go that hard or that fast, just steady away for a long time.
Heading off this morning to meet an old personal training client for a run around the beautiful reservoir of Fewston and Swinsty. Am running really comfortably at the moment and feeling my fitness improve.
I teach a turbo class (like spinning but with a road bike on a stand) every Wednesday and we always do single leg drills at the start. It used to trash my back to do my right leg with my left leg unclipped from the pedal pre-op and now its good. I've still got a deficit of skill in that leg but hopefully by end of April when the classes stop I'll be just as good right and left and kick some cycling ass this summer.
Having said that I've also been dealing with internal health issues along side mechanical ones. I started to feel dodgy around 2007 and got really tired. I put it down to working too hard but it was getting ridiculous, even when I rested I didn't refresh. Over 3 years later I have discovered that I had picked up a bug from the water called Giardia and it has been a chronic infection which has totally exhausted my adrenal glands and my gut. I have got heavily into training to treat people with nutritional therapy, food intolerance testing, lab testing for bugs and functional problems, and as from December have embarked on a training course to qualify in Naturopathic Medicine. It will take 5 years, but I feel I'm so on the right path.I also qualified as a CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach late last year. And hope to reignite my trainings as an NLP Master Practitioner.
So this year is littered with lots of study time, some training time, working hours as business is crazy busy and all through this maintaining eating well and sleeping well and seeing my buddies. Keeping balance is my number 1 goal :D
Heading off this morning to meet an old personal training client for a run around the beautiful reservoir of Fewston and Swinsty. Am running really comfortably at the moment and feeling my fitness improve.
I teach a turbo class (like spinning but with a road bike on a stand) every Wednesday and we always do single leg drills at the start. It used to trash my back to do my right leg with my left leg unclipped from the pedal pre-op and now its good. I've still got a deficit of skill in that leg but hopefully by end of April when the classes stop I'll be just as good right and left and kick some cycling ass this summer.
Having said that I've also been dealing with internal health issues along side mechanical ones. I started to feel dodgy around 2007 and got really tired. I put it down to working too hard but it was getting ridiculous, even when I rested I didn't refresh. Over 3 years later I have discovered that I had picked up a bug from the water called Giardia and it has been a chronic infection which has totally exhausted my adrenal glands and my gut. I have got heavily into training to treat people with nutritional therapy, food intolerance testing, lab testing for bugs and functional problems, and as from December have embarked on a training course to qualify in Naturopathic Medicine. It will take 5 years, but I feel I'm so on the right path.I also qualified as a CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach late last year. And hope to reignite my trainings as an NLP Master Practitioner.
So this year is littered with lots of study time, some training time, working hours as business is crazy busy and all through this maintaining eating well and sleeping well and seeing my buddies. Keeping balance is my number 1 goal :D
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Guess What?
I only went and did it!
Hurrah! Faced with the prospect of hanging around for 6 hours whilst my friends all ran a marathon in the sunshine I investigated how I would get back to the start line when I had run as far as a could.
When I found out that I could stop at a water station, and there were water stations every 3miles along the course I decided that I could toddle off to the start, - be part of the race and get a 3 or 6 mile run in - since it was beautiful sunny weather.
I reached the water station at 3miles, then 6miles, then 9miles, then at 10miles I figured I would probably make a half marathon and was pleased with that. At 13.1miles I figured I could probably do another 3miles and after making it that far I realised that if I could get to the 20mile mark I could make it to the finish line.
It wasn't pain free, but as long as I took it gingerly down the hills my hip and leg seemed to be happy to just keep running. I didn't dare take a step of a walk in case I didn't get running again though. The final stretch was a great big uphill (which was a relief as the downhill sections were so much more uncomfortable and risky for me) then a long downhill to the finish. So close and yet moving quite slow at this point and my leg became harder and harder to bear weight on. I'd already been running for 4 and half hours at this point and this finish line just wouldn't arrive.
I hobbled down the hill and finished looking like a limpy thing rather than an athlete but I had finished!!! I had made my target of running a marathon 6months post FAI op. I was thrilled and I couldn't believe it. In a time of 4.49 which I was pleased with at the end of the day.
My final thoughts is that it is indeed possible to run a marathon 6months after my hip arthroscopy but I wouldn't recommend it :) A year after would be a much more sensible amount of time. Half marathon distances were no problem however!
My hip muscles and joint are pretty sore now and its going to take a few weeks of TLC to get them healed and healthy. I'm thrilled with the achievement of running the race and keen now to do lots of biking and leave out the impact for a month!!
Hurrah! Faced with the prospect of hanging around for 6 hours whilst my friends all ran a marathon in the sunshine I investigated how I would get back to the start line when I had run as far as a could.
When I found out that I could stop at a water station, and there were water stations every 3miles along the course I decided that I could toddle off to the start, - be part of the race and get a 3 or 6 mile run in - since it was beautiful sunny weather.
I reached the water station at 3miles, then 6miles, then 9miles, then at 10miles I figured I would probably make a half marathon and was pleased with that. At 13.1miles I figured I could probably do another 3miles and after making it that far I realised that if I could get to the 20mile mark I could make it to the finish line.
It wasn't pain free, but as long as I took it gingerly down the hills my hip and leg seemed to be happy to just keep running. I didn't dare take a step of a walk in case I didn't get running again though. The final stretch was a great big uphill (which was a relief as the downhill sections were so much more uncomfortable and risky for me) then a long downhill to the finish. So close and yet moving quite slow at this point and my leg became harder and harder to bear weight on. I'd already been running for 4 and half hours at this point and this finish line just wouldn't arrive.
I hobbled down the hill and finished looking like a limpy thing rather than an athlete but I had finished!!! I had made my target of running a marathon 6months post FAI op. I was thrilled and I couldn't believe it. In a time of 4.49 which I was pleased with at the end of the day.
My final thoughts is that it is indeed possible to run a marathon 6months after my hip arthroscopy but I wouldn't recommend it :) A year after would be a much more sensible amount of time. Half marathon distances were no problem however!
My hip muscles and joint are pretty sore now and its going to take a few weeks of TLC to get them healed and healthy. I'm thrilled with the achievement of running the race and keen now to do lots of biking and leave out the impact for a month!!
Monday, 29 March 2010
Hip imposing limit on mileage ;(
Well I nearly made it. On my 18mile run I started to feel my knee on my operated side especially going down hill. This happened at about 14 miles and by mile 15 I could run onto the leg without it feeling like it was going to give way. I called Alan, my wonderful hubby to come rescue me and went home in a bit of a sulk. I had only been a mere 3 miles off a successful session.
I rested it for a week and a half and got some chiro and some rolfing. I would have killed for a good sports massage but short of an outer body experience that wasn't going to happen. My hamstring was tight and I focussed on that as the problem source.
I tried out a run for 12 mins and found that was fine, so I did a 4 mile run and that was fine too. Encouraged I set out on my final long run of 20miles with some friends in tow - for the first part at least. I had picked a very beautiful and interesting - but fairly tough route around the reservoirs near Harrogate. I could feel my knee progressively more troublesome throughout the run. At 10miles my leg started to fail me and feel like it was giving way again. Gutted, I walked 2 miles back to the car and consoled myself with a Sunday lunch.
The interesting thing was that once I'd got home and showered it wasn't my knee that hurt in the slightest, but I could really feel my groin/hip, every time I loaded the leg - even while walking. And I realised that the whole time it had been my poor hip that had been getting inflammed with the high mileage.
So the marathon is off the agenda. I may well do the half marathon on the day depending on how the next couple of weeks go, or I could just be chief supporter and camera woman as my hubby does the race. I will see Louise the physio tomorrow and she will be able to tell me if its just inflammation or whether there is something else going on. Fingers crossed for diagnosis of inflammation and solution of resting!
Disappointed about the marathon but it was always going to be a challenge and I really didn't get far off it. I've got lots more races I can do this year for triathlon and some 10K races etc. Maybe I'll try another marathon later in the year, or next year. There's still that Ironman to work up to, but just need to respect what my body is telling me right now, and that is that 26miles is just a bit too far for now.
I rested it for a week and a half and got some chiro and some rolfing. I would have killed for a good sports massage but short of an outer body experience that wasn't going to happen. My hamstring was tight and I focussed on that as the problem source.
I tried out a run for 12 mins and found that was fine, so I did a 4 mile run and that was fine too. Encouraged I set out on my final long run of 20miles with some friends in tow - for the first part at least. I had picked a very beautiful and interesting - but fairly tough route around the reservoirs near Harrogate. I could feel my knee progressively more troublesome throughout the run. At 10miles my leg started to fail me and feel like it was giving way again. Gutted, I walked 2 miles back to the car and consoled myself with a Sunday lunch.
The interesting thing was that once I'd got home and showered it wasn't my knee that hurt in the slightest, but I could really feel my groin/hip, every time I loaded the leg - even while walking. And I realised that the whole time it had been my poor hip that had been getting inflammed with the high mileage.
So the marathon is off the agenda. I may well do the half marathon on the day depending on how the next couple of weeks go, or I could just be chief supporter and camera woman as my hubby does the race. I will see Louise the physio tomorrow and she will be able to tell me if its just inflammation or whether there is something else going on. Fingers crossed for diagnosis of inflammation and solution of resting!
Disappointed about the marathon but it was always going to be a challenge and I really didn't get far off it. I've got lots more races I can do this year for triathlon and some 10K races etc. Maybe I'll try another marathon later in the year, or next year. There's still that Ironman to work up to, but just need to respect what my body is telling me right now, and that is that 26miles is just a bit too far for now.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
6 weeks til marathon day
My plan to keep this recovery well blogged has not been good. I'm coming up to 5months post op now.
Fortunately that is largely to do with being able to train well and because I've been really really busy at work - and the best bit - coping with it.
Prior to surgery my groin, SIJ, back etc etc would get so tired and I would be very limited to how much work I could do. Now I can do much more and suffer much less afterwards.
Training is going well. Slight shin splint niggle on the right (operated) side - because my function isn't perfect yet on that side. Hoping I can get through a 2 hour run today OK. I've already run 3hours last week and will go for 3.5hrs next Sunday. Following that I will do an easy 10 and then a final long run of 20-22miles (4hours ish) the week after. Then 2 taper weekends until the big day - April 11th.
Fitness wise I'm doing great. The hip is good and I just need to get on top of this shin to progress and hit my target.
I always struggled before to rise up onto the ball of my foot as my hip/hamstring etc would not allow it - now I can do it but my calves (both of them) are relatively weak. I'm strong mostly in my legs although my right hammy and glute are both weaker due to the poor ROM pre-op.
My training partner has not had such a good time and has got a knee injury which has forced her to stop running and pull out of the marathon. However there is a half marathon on the same day and she will be able to transfer to that provided she can recover in time.
Fortunately that is largely to do with being able to train well and because I've been really really busy at work - and the best bit - coping with it.
Prior to surgery my groin, SIJ, back etc etc would get so tired and I would be very limited to how much work I could do. Now I can do much more and suffer much less afterwards.
Training is going well. Slight shin splint niggle on the right (operated) side - because my function isn't perfect yet on that side. Hoping I can get through a 2 hour run today OK. I've already run 3hours last week and will go for 3.5hrs next Sunday. Following that I will do an easy 10 and then a final long run of 20-22miles (4hours ish) the week after. Then 2 taper weekends until the big day - April 11th.
Fitness wise I'm doing great. The hip is good and I just need to get on top of this shin to progress and hit my target.
I always struggled before to rise up onto the ball of my foot as my hip/hamstring etc would not allow it - now I can do it but my calves (both of them) are relatively weak. I'm strong mostly in my legs although my right hammy and glute are both weaker due to the poor ROM pre-op.
My training partner has not had such a good time and has got a knee injury which has forced her to stop running and pull out of the marathon. However there is a half marathon on the same day and she will be able to transfer to that provided she can recover in time.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
13 weeks to Marathon Date
Had a really good week of running this week despite the snow. Did a run in a blizzard on Tuesday morning which was brilliant fun. Did 6x 2 and half minute hill reps on Wednesday evening. And topped it off with an 8.5 mile run today which took 1hr35. Lots of snow underfoot, some was fairly easy to run on - the crunchy stuff - but some was really knobbly and really tested the stability of my hip.
I could feel the inside deep in my calf on those knobbly bits cos kept pronating lots, but was fine as soon as I got on the road and off the knobbly footpaths.
Been working on glute med with these awesome wall leans. You lean agains the wall with the leg nearest the wall bent up and with the side of the thigh and foot against it. The leg you are standing on is the working leg. You press the foot into the floor and press your hip into the wall. Either hold or do 12x squeezes. Really hits those glutes well and you can get a good squeeze if the firing is a little dead. Will def keep working on those!
Really looking forward to next week. Lots of work carried over from this week, because of all the cancellations I had, but hopefully I should still be able to focus on keeping the running consistent. 11 miles long run next week!
I could feel the inside deep in my calf on those knobbly bits cos kept pronating lots, but was fine as soon as I got on the road and off the knobbly footpaths.
Been working on glute med with these awesome wall leans. You lean agains the wall with the leg nearest the wall bent up and with the side of the thigh and foot against it. The leg you are standing on is the working leg. You press the foot into the floor and press your hip into the wall. Either hold or do 12x squeezes. Really hits those glutes well and you can get a good squeeze if the firing is a little dead. Will def keep working on those!
Really looking forward to next week. Lots of work carried over from this week, because of all the cancellations I had, but hopefully I should still be able to focus on keeping the running consistent. 11 miles long run next week!
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