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Friday 17 October 2014

Miracle worker

Since I started running I have always had pain in my Achilles tendon on my left leg. It is something I have managed since sustaining the injury on the 8th February 2012.

This injury stopped me running for three months in 2012 and severely hampered my running progress before my first appearance at London Triathlon.

Since June 2012, I have been managing the issue myself using my trusty Achilles strap (which stretches the tendon) whenever I felt it tightening. Up until recently I had completely forgotten about it apart from the lump which has been there for over two years.

A couple of weeks ago however, the pain returned. It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it was in 2012 when I could barely walk let alone run but when I was running I had started to feel the familiar niggle. Worryingly I was also starting to feel it in my right leg.

After my race at Goole it was really painful and I was having problems walking down stairs in the morning. I decided enough was enough and I needed to see my physio Jenny of Blizard Physio. For those that don’t know Jenny is a miracle worker. I really can’t recommend her enough. Jenny's knowledge of the human body astounds me.

So last night I made my way over to Blizard Towers and mentally prepared myself for 30 minutes of pain, good pain though as you know you are being fixed.

After explaining the problem to Jenny she started manipulating my legs and back to work out the knots. Immediately the difference I could feel in my left Achilles was amazing. It didn’t feel so tight or painful and when it was being moved there wasn’t as much resistance. What I wasn’t prepared for however was that when I got off the bed, my lump had gone (some part of me will miss my lump :o( bye lump). This has been something I have lived with for the last 32 months and half an hour of work by Jenny had made it disappear.

I was over the moon. I wish I’d known Jenny when I initially had my Achilles problem. She could have fixed me 32 months ago.

If you’re in need of physio help around Doncaster then get in touch. She is brilliant at what she does. Yes she might make you wince with pain but afterwards the problem has gone.

Jenny is that good at what she does that the patient before me travelled from Skegness to see her. That’s a 4 hour round trip for a 30 minute appointment.

You can’t put a price on the value of a good physio and I am lucky to have one of the best (in my opinion).

Thanks for reading,


Michael

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Getting back on track

I find writing things down quite therapeutic and I guess this is one of the reasons I enjoy blogging. Over the last couple of months I have not felt myself.

Surely a combination of #ironmanblues and losing my Grandma and a few other things that I can’t even be bothered to mention.

However in those couple of months I have found my favourite distance in triathlon which is a major plus. I have exhausted myself this year by trying to race at every distance with little to no transitional period between different distances. I had my reasons for this and they were mostly due to me wanting to do an Ironman before this ticking time bomb in my hip decides to appear, but it was a huge mistake. I wouldn’t change anything I have done but I have learnt what not to do and plan on using this. As I stated next year is all about sprints for me. Where this will lead I have absolutely no idea. What races I will do I don’t fully know. I need to sit down with my coach and work that out. I have a few ideas but until these have been approved, I am not announcing anything.

So now the season is over. No more swimming in lakes as quite frankly I am too soft. This means my faithful Archimedes has been put into winter hibernation. The season closed with my best result to date. I finished 28th in the Drax Goole Triathlon and despite me feeling my bike let me down (for the second race in a row) I was pleased with my placing and how the race went especially as it was the first race where I raced by feel rather than with my trusty HRM.

Unfortunately the close season is here and after a period of recuperation (after Leeds Abbey Dash) I plan on spending the coming months working on my bike and my run and just ticking over with my swim. I know what I want for next year and it will only be achieved with significant improvements to my biking and running.  Plans are afoot to make gains with biking and running, in fact at one point I even considered a duathlon for all of three nanoseconds. What was I thinking? Run, bike, run is just madness to someone who is better at swimming. Those plans will become apparent over the coming weeks but I can’t say too much right now...........

Sorry for the lack of blogging but I have had a lot going on recently. I’m also sorry for not really writing any race reports. I just haven’t been in the mood. I’ve had some real fun racing in London, Leeds, Relays, Brigg and Goole but putting those to paper has proved very difficult for a variety of reasons.

Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading,


Michael