A return to the track for walk/run session, running biomechanics on the treadmill and trying out gyms.

This Week

Monday

Weigh in: 63.6.kg, 16.5% body fat. Uhh I had to step on the scale a second time to double check that, that’s a 1.8kg drop from last week. Is this what happens when I jog 5 x 30 seconds a couple times? Alright I have also reduced how much I’m eating slightly, but still a surprise for that much of a change. It will be interesting if it’s still down in the next weigh in or if that was just a fluke.

During lunch I went and tried out Zap Fitness which is a 24/7 gym, a 5 minute walk from work. This is a pretty basic gym but had everything I needed, a good selection of cardio machines, strength equipment, rehab/stretch area with bands and foam rollers. Also it wasn’t too busy I didn’t have any issues with having to wait anything. Downsides there was only the one power rack with no separate bench press, no classes or any extras, and very basic change rooms. But it is the cheapest gym that I know of in the area at $12.95 a week.

Tuesday

Down to the track after work for training, it was my first time down at training for a long time. Sharon is also doing some walk/jogging at the moment so we were able to work in together for some exciting laps of the soccer oval. I actually had some subtle soreness after my Monday training session.. I think the combination of a big gym session and also a lot of walking was a bit too much. I still went ahead with the 8 x 30 sec jogs which felt ok, didn’t make it feel any worse anyway. But it did make me think this is still going to be a long slow process coming back.

Wednesday

In the afternoon I had a physio appointment with Cara. Following on from the new theory from the sports doctor that the stress reaction might have been caused from rotation through the hip. The first thing we looked at was my running biomechanics on the treadmill – I did my longest run in a long time.. about 2 minutes 🙂 What I found surprising was that my form actually looked quite good, we had two other analysis videos one from 3 years ago and 1 from last year and I looked better than both. Two things I could really notice is that my hips were more solid, not moving up and down as much, and my arm swing/upper body looked more relaxed. Maybe a combination of the rehab strength work and having time out from running.

The other main thing we looked at was my posture. No change to my rehab exercises but I’m to start with a postural cue and continue being aware of it through all of the exercises, which makes it much harder. It’s around aligning the spine and relaxing muscles through my back/neck etc. which is potentially a big factor.

Thursday

I went to the pool after work for a swim, not too late this time so with a bit of extra time I thought I’d try an increase in swim distance. I swam 1200m without really stopping, just a breath between turns and felt pretty comfortable!

Friday

Gym trial number 2, this time I went to Genesis Fitness which is right next to my work so very convenient. I used to have a membership at this gym many years ago so I was interested to see how it had changed. Cardio room, a little on the small side actually, they used to have a much bigger cardio area but seem to have lost some space to offices. But in saying that it had everything you expect and wasn’t too busy.

The weights room I was happy to see this had improved, I actually left this gym because they had a really poor barbell setup, while a gym next door had a great range of barbell equipment. Sadly that gym closed not too long after I transferred so I went with the home gym setup after that instead. Anyway Genesis now has a big rack which was great for doing my barbell OHP and chin ups, they also have a separate bench press which is nice. I’m a believer that the big compound barbell exercises are the best way to improve strength in a low rep range with heavy weight, that’s squats, deadlits, rows, overhead press, bench press. So a gym needs to have a good barbell setup to interest me which Genesis now does!

They also had a little area with foam rollers, swiss balls, etc. and they run classes which isn’t a big selling point but I might consider trying a yoga class or something. Cost is $14.95 a week so not too bad. I’m going to keep trying more gyms I think, it’s fun even if I don’t decide to join one.

Saturday

Met a few people at Werribee Mansion to do my 8 x 30 sec jog session again. I was able to walk with Sharon for.. 6 minutes and then our sessions were a little too different! It was a nice morning and the session felt better than it did earlier in the week.

Sunday

The usual Sunday morning pool run, this time joined by Jo as well. Both Jo and Sharon did their full sessions without a flotation belt which just amazes me. I did my last 6 minute rep without the belt which was pretty tiring! Also another 500m swim PB by a little over 10 seconds.. woo.

Detail

Song of the week

This is probably my strangest song of the week, but I feel like it has to be shared. I say strange because it doesn’t sound like something I’d usually listen to, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything quite like it before. This song is a 12 minute metal masterpiece, when I first heard it I thought ehhh, but if you commit to listening to the full song the beauty of it really shines as the song goes on. Like most songs I share it’s best experienced with some volume on a good stereo or with headphones.

Coming up

Physio again on Tuesday for some release work.

Level 2 Recreational Running Coach course on Saturday.

Summary

Return of the weekly summary… now with more columns because more data is better!

For the record most of my running distance right now is walking, but I’ve been recording the session as a run session.