Another good week of strength and cross training exercise. The left leg is feeling strong, still not 100% if I’m comparing to the right, but maybe 85-90%? Feeling confident getting around on it and don’t feel like I’m far off being able to run, I even jogged 50m to not miss a tram and it felt fine.
This week a.ka. Ben’s Babbling
Monday
Queen’s birthday public holiday – you would think I would have done a lot today but nope. I used it more as a day of rest than a big exercise day. I did my set of rehab exercises and upper body strength work.
Tuesday
Weigh in: 64.9kg, 18.1 percent fat. Yikes, I know scales aren’t that accurate for body fat percentage but the numbers are getting a little scary.
Completed wall sits and calf raise holds in the morning, and stair drills during my lunch break!
Wednesday
Kicked off the morning with wall sits and calf raise holds – I’ve actually started doing them in the shower now, convenient way to fit them in!
I went to the gym at lunch and ended up getting a solid session in:
- Exercise bike for 20 mins
- Rehab exercises 28 mins
- Skipping 10 mins
- Upper body strength 10 mins
First time I’ve tried skipping since the injury and no issues there, other than that I was feeling unfit! Also worth mentioning I managed 7 chin ups, they’re starting to feel better.
After work I had the joy of going over statistics fundamentals at the data science course. I have done stats before during my uni course, but geez there is a lot involved and I had forgotten a lot of the detail. Central limit theorem, distribution, skewness, standard deviation, correlation… ahh.
Thursday
Stairs and step ups during lunch and after work went to the pool. Got there quite late so I decided just to swim and hit a new distance PB getting to 1,000m. Have to say I’m actually starting to enjoy swimming.
Friday
I completed wall sit and calf raise holds in the morning. After work I went to a seminar called Run Strong! by Health Sense Group held at Sole Motive. It was presented by an Exercise Physiologist named Campbell Craig.
Good information on how to incorporate strength training to prevent injury and improve power and running economy. Campbell has packaged this information together nicely with a workbook that you take away with programs to get started and all links together with a mobile app and facebook group.
I’d say the biggest takeaway is that you don’t need to do a lot. He recommends 2 half hour strength sessions a week, and drop down to 1 session when racing. Plus daily holds – which I now see where Cara has been influenced giving me the daily wall sits and calf raise holds! The seminar covered a lot more info and detail, so I’d recommend it if you want to learn more.
Saturday
I skipped the morning holds today felt like I needed a break. My feet felt tired strangely. Around lunch time I went out for a ride on the mountain bike, it was windy out there, but got an hour of riding in. Later in the afternoon completed rehab exercises, skipping and upper body strength.
Sunday
Down to the pool early this morning for some water running and swimming. I forgot to set my alarm and nearly missed meeting Sharon and Mechelle, getting used to sleeping in on Sundays!
It was nice to have some company since pool running really isn’t that exciting. Also learnt that Sharon is a talented water runner, she speeds a long no flotation belt needed.
I might try more pool running without the belt, maybe.. with no belt it’s much harder and would be a better workout. With the belt I feel like I can focus on good running technique, when with out the belt my legs were probably kicking a bit more to stay a float.
Detail
| Day | Details |
|---|---|
| Mon | Rehab exercises - 32 mins Glute med at wall 3 x 6 Sit to stand 3 x 10 Lunge 3 x 8 Arabesque with dumbbell lateral arm fly 3 x 8 5kg Shoulder bridge with leg raise 3 x 12 Calf raise (single leg) x 50 (28) Calf raises with bent knee x 50 (25) Upper body strength - 10 mins Barbell rows 3x5+ 30kg 5, 5, 12 Bench press 3x5+ 30kg 5, 5, 12 |
| Tue | AM Holds - 10 mins 1 x 1min wall squat 1 x 1min calf raise holds 2 x 30sec single leg wall squat 2 x 30sec single leg calf raise holds 1 x 1min wall squat 1 x 1min calf raise holds Stairs and step ups - 15 mins Stairs – 2 x 1min (1min rest); 2min (1min rest); 3mins (1min rest). Step ups – 3 x 8 |
| Wed | AM Holds - 10 mins 1 x 1min wall squat 1 x 1min calf raise holds 2 x 30sec single leg wall squat 2 x 30sec single leg calf raise holds 1 x 1min wall squat 1 x 1min calf raise holds Exercise bike - 20 mins, 149 bpm Random program level 9 Rehab exercises - 28 mins Glute med at wall 3 x 6 Sit to stand 3 x 10 Lunge 3 x 8 Arabesque with dumbbell lateral arm fly 3 x 8 5kg Shoulder bridge with leg raise 3 x 12 Calf raise (single leg) x 50 (25) Calf raises with bent knee x 50 (20) Skipping - 10 mins, 127 bpm 10 x 30 secs on/ 30secs off Upper body strength - 10 mins Chin ups 3x5+ 5, 5, 7 OHP 3x5+ 30kg 5, 5, 5 |
| Thu | Stairs and step ups - 13:15 mins Stairs – 2 x 1min (1min rest); 2min (1min rest); 3mins (1min rest). Step ups – 3 x 8 Swimming - 1000m, 37:03 |
| Fri | AM Holds - 10 mins 1 x 1min wall squat 1 x 1min calf raise holds 2 x 30sec single leg wall squat 2 x 30sec single leg calf raise holds 1 x 1min wall squat 1 x 1min calf raise holds |
| Sat | Bike ride on mountain bike - 1:00:47, 134 bpm, 15.4km Rehab exercises - 35 mins Glute med at wall 3 x 6 Sit to stand 3 x 10 Lunge 3 x 8 Arabesque with dumbbell lateral arm fly 3 x 8 5kg Shoulder bridge with leg raise 3 x 12 Calf raise (single leg) x 50 (28) Calf raises with bent knee x 50 (20) Skipping - 10 mins, 128 bpm 10 x 30 secs on, 30 secs off Upper body strength - 10 mins Barbell rows 3x5+ 32.5kg 5, 5, 10 Bench press 3x5+ 32.5kg 5, 5, 12 |
| Sun | Swimming - 200m, 6:19 Pool running – 30 mins, 96 bpm 2 x 1 min on, 1 min rest (no belt) 2 min on, 1 min off (with belt) Swimming - 500m, 16:19 |
Song of the week
The Get Up Kids are a band I remember most from their 1999 album “Something to Write Home About” and 1997 album “Four Minute Mile” (yay a running reference!). Mainly the songs Holiday, Ten Minutes and Don’t Hate Me are just amazingly catchy emo/rock tunes. Funny I never thought I liked “emo” music but then one day I realised I enjoyed a lot of stuff that would be called emo, I just didn’t call it that.
This band disappeared for a long time, their last album was released in 2004 but now in 2018 and they have released a 4 song EP called “Kicker”. I’m Sorry is my favourite song from the EP, a catchy emo rock song that makes me feel like I’m back in 1999.
Bonus fact for Western Aths readers: The Get Up Kids have a band member named Rob Pope.
Coming up
Appointment with Cara next week to assess and progress the rehab exercises. Really trying to make the most of this period of not being able to run by doing all I can with the strength work and cross training.
Next appointment with Sports Doctor is the 3rd of July (a little over 2 weeks from today).
21st July – Level 2 Intermediate Recreational Running coach course