Long Term Injury

My three runs I did after a month off and with treatment from the Chiropractor told me that I was not fixed and also sent me down in a spiral of major disappointment everything I have trained for, everything I have set goals for, both short term and long term, without being over dramatic may have to ripped up and started again, this is a major issue for me and to be honest I dd not handle it that well either, this was a disappointment to me on a personal level as I try so hard to be a better person than I have in the past.

I have flaws in my makeup that I really don't like that I have improved on but not yet mastered work in progress! its a massive kick in the teeth when I handle a situation badly and I look back after and think why did you not find the answers straight away or why think like that when I know its not good to be or think negatively.

My 3 runs were great I loved them they were not really hard after the time off. I always worry that having time off will mean I will never be able to run again when really what I am most scared of is having to start from scratch again which if happened so what? the one thing I have that can never be taken away is the experience of the last 15 months worth of running and training.

How bad is my hip injury and how long will I off running for?

History lesson and listen for those big alarm bells that start ringing half way through this paragraph! It was  not until talking to my Mum (Hi Mum) that she reminded my of my younger years growing up, I had a fear of having new trousers and them needing taking up, my Mum telling me to straight and still as she pinned the trousers up one side being more than the other and being shouted at for not standing up straight (but I was Mum honest) so the problem's I am having now go back to when I was a child. (Clearly I have not been lazy the past 30 odd years just looking after my hip!) So like my slimpod journey that is progressing nicely but being a lifestyle change it will take many years to break all the bad habits of the past 46 years and the same is now true of my hip injury.

As for time off running looking back since the London Marathon I have not run as often as I would have liked the 4 weeks off when I first saw the Chiropractor and now one month two months who knows and even after that time I may run again and aggravate the hip again this could be the end of running career (I sure hope not I have many goals still to achieve) I have already sent out an email to cancel/postpone my first race writing that email was so hard it felt like failure (I know its not but it hurts like if t was)

I am at the moment deluding myself about the Great South Run that I may run even with little training. That's the long term goal out the window to run the GRS every year for the rest of my life. For my long term health of being able to exercise for the rest of my life I must do the right things now no matter how hard or painful they are. This is my Paula Radcliffe moment and it hurts like hell in the pit of my stomach.

Now the first paragraph is starting to make sense? My mind is an explosion of thoughts good bad sensible and stupid, sorting them out to suit my journey to make new temporary goals to prepare myself for the realization that all or most of my long term goals are now possibly in tatters, that is very scary and is what sent my journey spinning out of control for a short while. Thankfully www.thinkingslimmer.com has given me the tools to look for and find answers and then the right answers for me and my journey.

My last 3 visit's to the Chiropractor have been to tell him I was suffering from hip pain after 2 rest days after the the training runs. the next coming to terms with what happened and what I could not do (negative thought process one of the bits I hate about me) and finally back on track what can I do to keep fit and healthy without doing any damage to my hip in the healing process.

Swimming and cycle ridding are good. You know about me and money bearing in mind I am paying for the Chiropractor (not cheap but worth every penny in the long run) so swimming is not the best options for training I will do some sessions Hazel said she would come so that gets her out doing something with me which means a lot to her as she can not run so that's great.

That leaves bike ridding I did buy a bike last year rode it to work a few times but I did not get on with it so its been locked away since then, and I ran instead. It is ready to ride I am not looking forward to it as the bike and rider should be as one. I have to do this it has to work I will see where my hip injury takes me then I will look at a proper bike maybe join a bike club and ride some races.

As you can see I have options there are always options we just may not know that at this present time or in what form they may take us. So instead of giving up like in the old days I have had a couple of wobbly weeks fallen off the wagon a little regrouped spoke to professional's my friends my family and my slimpod family and have found the positive's stopped worrying about weather I will or will not be able to run again.

I will take things slowly one step at a time when I'm told that I can or can not do something then I will make decisions on the facts at that time, I have spent to much time worrying about what may happen rather than on right here right now. The plus side is that Bike ridding may well be part of my training plan in the future so that I keep the impact on my joints to a minimum, maybe run shorter distance races in the future so that I can still run and my boot camp I still can not believe how much I loved doing it and miss it now.

So you can see there are options to evolve we should always evolve take stock of our goals and change them to keeps things fresh and us. This is not in anyway Failure (which I thought in the past couple weeks)  but adjustments to help us reach our goals.

IF WE CHANGE NOTHING, NOTHING CHANGES. (Trevor Silvester)

So my first official change to my long term goal is................... To run the Great South Run every year provided I am fit and healthy to do so and that by running the Great South Run I do not put my long term health in danger.

Just need to sort though the rest and change them as they need changing and add new ones as they come along they say things happen for a reason, I am excited to see if and where this bike riding malarkey may or may not take me move along Paula Radcliffe, Bradley Wiggins is joining you on my inspiration bench(I draw the line at side burns though). Let this part of my journey play itself out and I hope I reach some major highs like my running career so far.

Sandra Roycroft-Davis Founder and CEO of Thinking Slimmer Happy Birthday xxx

The London Olympic Games 2012

The two most amazing thing's for me about the Olympic games in London 2012 is that they are held in this country during my life time and the fact that at 47 years of age I am an athlete of 18 months in that time I have run distance's of 10k, 10 mile's, half marathon and marathon (not in that order).  My Journey is covered in my previous blogs my struggles my injuries my high's and my low's. I never thought I would write a blog like this until I watched the women's marathon on Sunday 5th August 2012.

I know for sure that I am watching the Olympic's in a very different way than I have watched them before. In previous years I was not an athlete in fact I was a lazy overweight person with tons of emotional baggage with no answer's. Today I am still a little overweight but I am a marathon runner (no one can ever take that away from me) an athlete someone who has fallen in love with and enjoying running.

What am I seeing that is so different this time? 

Trevor Silvester the voice of the slimpods told me when I started running and I was struggling for inspiration "When you put your running shoes you become an athlete and you think like an athlete". From that one statement I became an athlete I hope to be an athlete till the day I die, because I love the fact that I am an athlete. So back to the games lets start with the guys and girls at the back of the field the ones some people laugh at (Why, they are better than the people laughing because they got out there and gave it there best) I mention this as someone who regularly finish's towards the back of the field. 

The British athletes who gave there all. The crowds who shouted and cheered loudly for them. Not one of you let yourself's down you certainly never ever let down this fine country of ours, the fact you showed humility at the end of your event's whether Gold Silver Bronze or any other position just proves what great role models you all are.

I have had my Olympic moment more than once but the most special moment has to be the first, The Great South Run 10 glorious miles around my home city Portsmouth. Not a little race to start with a big race big distance big pride, I had great support from Thinking Slimmer fellow slim podders my Diabetic Doctor and my family. I can still tell you every detail of this special day and that from a man who can forget what he did yesterday!

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=212301062173044  

I think this really does show that we all have it in us to be positive and make changes in our lives for the better. The feel good factor will last a while (hopefully a lot longer) its important that people get motivated to exercise that the whole country included the governments of the day make it easier cheaper and accessible for this to happen, I love inspiring others to change their lives and believe they can improve there lives the buzz is just amazing.  

Roll on the Para Olympics more get history and inspiring story's to come. Great Britain really is a great country and we have the chance to keep the pride we all have to make great improvements.

Post Injury Run and New Running Shoes

Its been 30 days since my last run The British 10k in London it feels like a life time ago now, I have been good, I have not wanted to run because I want my hip sorted out. I want to run pain free I have trained very hard this past 15 months or so I have surprised myself by how many races and distances I have run, many if not all of them whilst my body was not 100% fit, to be fair who really thought my body could have coped with the weight issues and the running realistically. Not me if I'm honest, what I have found out is that never have I thought to myself stop running your body is hurting this is not for you, let me tell you running is for me I am so pleased to hopefully find answers and treatment that will help me reach my goals. I am not a quitter anymore I am a winner I will give myself every chance to reach my long term goals, one of which is to run the Great South Run every year for the rest of my life.

Some of you are aware of Barefoot running I won't bore you with details but you don't run barefoot there are a couple of stages one is sort of a interim stage and they are called minimalist shoes and the other ones are fingered shoes. I have gone with the minimalist shoe after a lot of thought and talking to people and taking into account my Diabetes. I have the Nike Free 4.0 as you can see above. I don't know if it shows but these shoes are soft,light,and flexible the other thing to note is that for me the soles of the shoe seem/are wider and my feet are not restricted inside them.

So my nice and gentle 1st run it started from Port Solent where I brought the shoes from the plan to jog walk home the 4 miles or so. I am really sorry guys but its weird as to why but I love the 4 mile run that is my comfort run distance so when I was told to take it easy and be careful it would be over the 4 mile mark. I promised myself that if anything went wrong I would stop and walk home my Garmin would have recorded that if it happened. I had no plan when I started my run. Why would I anything could have happened from injury to problems with the new shoes.

As I start running my feet feel so light my legs/muscle's are not sore I feel good my major worry is my cardio vascular I struggled in London and with 30 days with no training this was going to hurt wasn't it? It was tough but I was so surprised at how well I felt. I decided after about a 1/3rd of a mile that my plan would be to run 1 mile walk 2 minutes and repeat running whole miles each time I was always planning for the cardio to give up as well I am shocked that I ran 4 mile splits with breaks.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/207783088
I promise you all I never overdid the running it was within myself my times show that each mile was slower just to prove that point.

The Nike Free wow what a difference I know it's only one run but I think I made the right decision getting them for my first run after injury, it requires running on the front of your feet and not heal to toe, I am convinced that with my dodgy uneven hip and the running shoes running heal to toe made this worse. So the same as accepting getting treatment and waiting 4 weeks before running I knew that I needed to run differently if I want to keep running. More updates to come on the barefoot running and the hip. It is just over 4 hours since I finished my run I have no aches or pains my muscles have not tightened up like before again I know its early but if I had done something wrong then there would be pain somewhere. I will take care over the next week or so with the new shoes and the injury and not get overexcited. I plan to run for many many years to come. What I do now decides if that is possible.