3 legs bad, 2 legs good...

I went to the Doc this morning, and I'm finally off the crutches. It's really, really weird to be walking on two legs again. I keep reaching for the crutches every time I get up from a chair, and simple things like going up stairs are just strange... Still, I guess that will pass pretty quickly :-)

I'm allowed to start swimming and riding again, but walking (as in 'going for walks', not just 'walking around the house') is still off the agenda for a couple of weeks. Apparently, your bones get weaker when you don't load them, so after 6 weeks of no load, my bones need some loading before I start to hammer them again.

After that, it's back to the old walk/run routine, and when I'm up to running half an hour then I have to go back and see him in full running regalia so he can see if there's some underlying cause for the break (whenever anything goes wrong, it's always my right leg...).

Tiger angel's niggles continue their orbit around her body, but there's some good signs that things are starting to settle down again and the training is starting to pay off in better session results too. It's all good... :-)

Hopalong Gnome

Backing off a bit

For the first time in a number of years, we didn't make the trek to the domain for the Mother's Day run today. This race has become a bit of a tradition in our family. The first year we ran it, all the kids agreed to come and join in. Since then, Micro has run it with his mum every year and it's been their special race.

This time last year, tiger angel was preparing for her soon-to-be-best-ever half marathon, and ran the MD race both for Micro and also as a final hit-out. Unfortunately, her hip chucked a hissy-fit about 500m from the finish and the rest is history. She still ran the half the next week (in a personal worst time and a lot of pain), and is only this year starting to recover from the damage.

As I mentioned a few posts back, we are both entered for the SMH half again this year, and even though I am obviously not going to run it now, it has been tiger angel's main goal. As she is still dealing with some of the same hip issues, she's sacrificed a few lesser goals (such as the TriNSW Club Champs) so as to best optimise her chances of doing the half. A few weeks back, she decided that, tradition and family bonding notwithstanding, the Mother Day run would have to go too.

Alas, all for naught, as last week her long run aggravated all the same pain points and it was clear that she just wasn't going to last the distance. There's a structural weakness there (the result of an accident 4 years ago) that has to be constantly strengthened, and at the moment it isn't strong enough. As she's a whole lot more intelligent than this little Gnome, she's not going to blindly push on, but rather chose the path of re-evaluation and re-direction.

For the new few months, her aim is to build a better base with all the weaker bits sorted and strengthened. There'll only be one swim and one bike session each week combined with three run sessions and lots of other exercises. "Goal" races are right out of the picture. The aim will be to just enjoy exercising again. If a race comes along that looks like fun and appears to be do-able, then it'll be run. If not, then not!

Given that my re-entry to the world of exercise (when it comes) is going to require a long slow ramp up, I'm looking forward to being able to 'play' with my beloved again without the pressure of major races looming over everything we do. As always, there's a lot to look forward to :-)

Gnome