08 April 2010

physio says yes

'you have a muscle imbalance and poor core strength' said the physio, which pretty much equates to 'turn it off and turn it on again'. simple but true. i have (relatively speaking) massive, over developed quads causing tiny and pathetic hamstrings-this maybe from singlespeeding but lets not play the blame game. coupled with my inability to regularly perform simple stretches, stay hydrated and not run when really tired has led to easily avoided knee/hamstring pain.

a good 20minuets of pleasure/pain kneading from sally and a promise to stretch 3 times a day, with added strength exercises and i've been given the all clear to run again. she just laughed when i explained about the highlander and booked me in for next week for some more pain. i'm not sure if her smile was for all the money she's going to make, or she was quietly questioning my sanity!

anyway, highlander it is! neither of us are the lean mean running machines we hoped we'd be. we're treating it more like a mini break than a mountain marathon. hopefully a trip to the hills will good for the knees as well as the soul.

13 comments:

Ben said...

Good news I guess then. There is nothing like physio pain. Do you think a physio has ever says to anyone "you do plenty of stretching". Good luck at Highlander.

Joe Newton said...

Oh my god, I think I'VE told you three or four times to do more stretching! So, are you going to do more stretching now?!

And Squats. Squats are the king of strength exercises. They work the core too which sounds like you could do with working.

Glad it's nothing serious. Good luck on Saturday!

jenn said...

trust me, it's from singlespeeding ;)

yoga helps quickly, and immensely.

enjoy highlander :)

ultra collie said...

stretching's a southern thing no? ;-)
hope a great trip!

sbrt said...

All the best for the Highlander.

I am very jealous, no mms for me till Sept.

Have a good one:o)

Red Bike said...

What, nobody told me there were any side effects to single speeding! I might of had second thoughts about ditching my gears if I had known I would end up with massive over developed quads (whatever they are).


I hope you get it all sorted out Teacake.

trio said...

Have a great time! Now start stretching! I am the same with stretching though so I can't talk! Ali keeps ended up with injuries due to no core strength as well!

GaryUFM said...

3 words: Pill. Art. Ease.

Same problem myself, and whenever I get better, I forget the stretching/strengthen/core work, and then end up in pain again.

Least you know what to fix now. Good luck.

Julbags said...

Snap with the quads/hamstring strength ratio! I've been quite good stretching my hams over the last couple of weeks, mainly due to ramping up the cycling mileage and feeling like they are shortening with every pedal stroke.

I've been cycling hard for more years than I have been running so I'm not sure it's something I'll realistically ever fix - unless I stop cycling. I'd give up running before cycling!

Groover said...

I'm with Jenn. Yoga is the key. Helps with core and imbalance and stretching, all in one single tablet - ah - session.

You are probably up in the hills and won't get it in time but Good Luck in the race and I hope the kneens and hamstrings hold up.

M&J said...

Another vote for yoga etc. But then I'm a Brighton hippie-at-heart so I would say that.

I love that you're treating the HMM as a 'mini-break'. Thanks, I needed a laugh! :-)

Seriously, I hope it goes/went smoothly...

swiss said...

singlespeeding is wrong so an ideal candidate for blame!

good news. enjoy that run. it's hard!

kate said...

ben- good news but it just means i'm as stupid as i thought!

joe- i know, alright already. i have a very shallow learning curve ;) will try adding squats to the routine

jenn- always thought your legs looked weird ;)

uc- that's what i thought!

sbrt- cheers! rab? maybe see you there!

red- don't believe them ;)

trio- i think it's cos stretching is so boring. and if i hear someone else say "just do it whilst you're watching tv..." i bloody scream!

gary- hahaha!! i know but i'm just not patient enough for such activities :(

julbags- you got me thinking, which i would i give up. couldn't decided but was ering on the side of not biking-eeek! not that it will happen though.

groover- hearing about your tales of yoga doesn't make me any keener to give it ago though!!

jo- ayup :) bloody hippies get everywhere ;) are you back on the bike yet?

swiss- what!!! and i thought you were cool ;)