Face Down Method

I've had two patients come in through the practice a couple of times over the past two week, both of which I have loved treating and are good fun women to have a chat to and share life experiences with. I feel that's really important when it comes to physical recovery. A whole heap of people that come to see me, a lot of their injuries, functional limitations and pain are fuelled by something that is going on internally. I'm not calling my patients crazy, but your state of mind and how your feeling on the inside can absolutely be reflected in what's happening on the outside.

I don't know what it is about me, but I can get anything out of anyone. I call it my face down method. I get these people face down on my plinth and I don't know if they feel like they are just saying it into a hole in the ground or something and that I'm not really listening, but just everything comes out.

But every so often I get patients that come in and decide they are going to sort my life out for me. One of these ladies that I mentioned above, on the first session she had with me started trying to se me up with another Physio that works at our practice. 'He's single and hot' she said, 'You're single and cute, I just get a sixth sense about these things and I've got one now!'. I laughed so hard. There was just no holding this woman back!!

The second of the two I saw on the same day and she to was very outgoing and started throwing relationship advise at me, but the complete opposite. 'You're young' she said, 'Wait until you're ready and the right guy will just walk into your life'. Both these women were in the normal face down position and throwing motherly advise at me. It really does break down any barriers.

So sometimes I get more that I bargain for in this job, but my patients have no problems telling me everything, and I mean everything! Which is not only good for them in the sense of their recovery from pain and injury, but allows me to develop a good rapport with each of them and allows them to trust me.

Lists

I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. This tends to happen often and mostly because my brain just won't shut up! Last night was no exception.

May is rapidly approaching, and May is a big month. I think I am nervous, about the whole month. I'm five days out from the Half Ironman...WHAT?!?!?! I know that I am 100% capable of completing this race, but I am still freaking out with a capital F. So running through my mind are all the things I need to start pulling out and packing - yep, I am an early packer, I like to be organised. All the things I need to do and have done before I leave for Busselton Friday morning, and my physical prep leading up to the race.

Following the Half, I am staying down south for a couple of days, with the plan of ultimately, sorting my life out.  There is a lot that I want to get through and I having been putting it off with knowing in the back of my mind that I was going away to do this for months now. So I am thinking about what I have to pull together for all of this.

At the end of the month with my two partners in crime, we are competing in a Team Crossfit Competition. In the Intermediate division...as first timers. AHHHHHHHHH!! We are all feeling a little overwhelmed, underprepared and super nervous about what is going to be thrown at us and how we are going to handle it. We are going through crash courses in Snatching, doing a large number of chin ups and toes to bars and just frying out wrists and hands. But there is my other problem...I still have a wrist out of action and in a splint. I haven't done push ups in a month now. All my upper body strength is going to be wavering. On top of that...I have back issues which has posed a problem with my squatting for as long as I can remember. And in a months time, I need to be able to front squat 40kg. Fantastic. So yeah, nervous doesn't even really cut it with that one.

So what do I do when I can't sleep? I write lists. I categorise my lists. I have a lot of lists. Thank heavens for the reminders app on my phone which makes my copious number of lists somewhat manageable. The hope is that once the list is out of my head and in my phone, there is one less thought buzzing about in my head and gives me a greater chance of falling asleep.

Saving The Hands

After last weekend's #shirtsoffsaturday session, I ended up with a nice big flap off skin hanging off my hand, blood and a weeping hand for the next few days. Very painful and impractical! I refer to this as the 'Trap Bar' incident. So I was coming in to this weekend prepared. Rock Tape! Our crew (only the chicks today though) got all taped up in the hope that our hands would survive another day!

The workout of the day: 2 Box Jumps, 2 Toes to Bar, 2 Overhead Squats -> 4x each, 6, 8, 10....
As many rounds as possible in 16 minutes. 

It was a long 16 minutes! And although the hands weren't loving life, they did survive with no more tears or calluses added to the mix, so I consider the morning a success! Rock tape is an amazing thing for both injury prevention, recovery, proprioception and of course...saving the hands. I love the stuff and use it almost daily for myself and for my clients. If you are yet to give it a shot or are a bit skeptical about it, try it!! You have nothing to lose.

Grey's Anatomy

I own every season that has been released so far and have seen every episode at least three or four times. And I could probably watch them another five or six times each and they would still keep me guessing. Easily my favourite series.

So when I finished running around doing everything I had to get done for my Saturday morning and knew I was suppose to be trying to chill out for a few hours, I knew I was going to have to have something seriously good on in the back ground to try and keep me there as long as possible. I knew this wasn't going to be my sole focus, so I was doing mobility, working out my weekly plan, organising photos, making walking date plans for that arvo and semi watching Grey's all at the same time.

Considering completing a Physiotherapy degree at Uni is almost as good as going through Medicine, some days I would accept Grey's as a form of study. I can proudly say that twice I have picked up errors in the scripting when it can to Neurosurgery...see very educational. It use to be my study break.

Today I am thankful for one of the two TV series I know have the best chances of holding my in one place for longer then 5 minutes at a time, in the small hope of letting me chill out, recover, and get ready for the week ahead.

Last Big Run

If you told me 6 weeks ago that in 5 weeks time I would be able to run 18km, I would have laughed at you. If you told me that I would be doing it in 1hour 30mins, I probably would have just walked away. But I did.

In one week from today I, along with my team will be taking on the Busselton Half Ironman. We were a late entry into the event, after our swimmer decided spontaneously one day that she wanted to be involved in the event. Two days later she asked me to run. At the time, my longest run in the past month had been 10km due to injury, and I was pretty happy with that effort.

All of a sudden my whole training routine, direction and focus was turned up side down and I had to find a way to get from running 10km to racing 21km in 6 weeks time. Not ideal but it was going to happen. First few weeks of training, and I was still doubting myself and my capabilities. I've done my fair share of solo races and some team stuff in the swimming world - which I was raised in and had no hesitations when it came to racing there.

But running a half marathon when two other people were depending on me to not only finish the race but run it some what well was making me VERY nervous and I felt a bit of pressure. But I stuck to the plan and here I am now, two 18km runs under my belt and seven days to go until race day, and I actually think I will be able to do this.

So today I am thankful for the help I have received from a number of different people to help me get to this point, the advice that has been thrown at me, and probably most of all - the belief and support that others have had in me to help me also believe that I can do this.

Lest We Forget

2014 commemorates the beginning of the 100 year anniversary since the beginning of World War 1 in 1914 and the 25th of April brings about the celebration of ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand.

ANZAC Day celebrates the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and all the soldiers in the forces who fought for the freedom of our country and the people living here. We celebrate those who went and fought, the medical staff, the engineers, pilots, captains, troops and all other serving staff. We celebrate their sacrifices, their commitment and dedication to their country, those who returned home, those who were wounded and those who didn't survive the war.

If it wasn't for these extremely brave and courageous men and women, we would not be living in a country with such freedom and opportunity that we do today.

My grandfather was one of the serving men that helped to defend our country in the Vietnam War from 1956 to 1975 as an engineer. He was lucky enough to return home to his family relatively unharmed and was here to see his children and grandchildren grow up. At age 8, I was the first of the six grandchildren to march in this days annual parade with him. As the years passed, each grand child took it in turns to walk proudly beside our grandfather and he only left us recently, 5 years ago.

But every year, ANZAC Day is a special day for our family. Although we don't always go to the Dawn Service or the Parade like we use to when we were younger, we look back on the sacrifices made by our grandfather and all his comrades and thank them, for the lives we live today.

Kicking Goals

I had a patient come in yesterday for her follow up appointment. I had seen her for the first time last week just before Easter and in the nicest way possible, she was a mess. She had been referred to me by someone else I have already helped in the past and liked the way I approach treatment and helping people get back to what they want to do.

She came in last week and sat down and the tears started. Long story shot, she hadn't been able to run for 2 years which was her form of stress relief. In the past 2 months she felt like her body was just falling apart on her and she didn't know what was going on.

Her assessment was literally like completing a jigsaw. I was jumping from one end of the body to another, looking at neck then ankle, then forearm then lower back and trying to work out what was going on and how it was all linked. I thought I may have gotten to the bottom of it and started a treatment that I thought may give her some relief, to at least get through the Easter weekend and we could take it from there.

Well she came back yesterday a completely different person. I asked how she pulled up after her last session with me, she said what ever I'd done worked miracles and she feels so much better. We went through a little more treatment and then had a discussion about her running. She told me she did want to be able to run again but was worried about how her body would respond and if she'd push herself too far.

By the end of her session with me we had a running program written out for her that she was confident she would be able to follow without over doing it and knew the warning signs of when to slow down again. She was excited to finally be pounding the pavement again after 2 years of nothing and I was thankful that I was able to help this woman who had pretty much given up hope on running again, get back to doing something she couldn't imagine life without not so long a go. WIN!!

Short Working Week

What is almost as good as a long weekend? The short working week that comes with the long weekend. And this year we have really lucked in! Easter spaning Friday to Monday, followed by ANZAC Day coming up on the following Friday...3 DAY WEEK!!!!!!!!

It's Wednesday, but it feels like a Tuesday because it's the second working day, but then it also feels like a Monday because I am going to my Leeming practice, which I normally do on a Monday, and I haven't been there yet this week....soooooo confused!

But it's Wednesday and that would normally mean that there are still two more days left in the working week before the weekend rolls around again, and it's not. It's only one!!! My body is all over the place because of this! Not only has work been all muddled up, but so has training and my normal home routine - for example this morning I treated a friend from home that I would normally treat on a Tuesday, but it's Wednesday!!! She left and I thought to myself 'ok I have to get ready for PD at work' but I don't. See? Completely messed up!

So although I have no idea what day it is and where I am suppose to be (I apologize if I just don't turn up to something over the next few days) I am more then thankful that there is only one more day before it's a long weekend again!!

An Incredibly Funny Saturday

In typical Saturday fashion, the Shirts Of Saturday crew gathered again, but with a slightly different purpose. Of course we got a quick workout done, but then the remainder of the morning was spent filming my final assessment for my Certificate IV in Fitness.

This involved filming a few different assessments, followed by a couple soft tissue release and mobilisers to improve the posture and movement of the person being assessed. The list of mobilisers I could choose from for the assessment did not include any of the techniques I would generally pick with either my mobility class or my Physio patients. So I just ended up picking two that closely resembled what I was trying to achieve with the training program I was designing for the assessment. One of them - the Segmented Step and Reach.

I didn't realise how difficult it was until I tried to teach it, first to my 'client' for my assessment who got the hang of it relatively quickly with just a couple of practice attempts. But then we decided that this guy could step out from behind the camera quickly and have a shot at it also.

Funniest thing I have seen in a long time! He just couldn't piece together the sticking your hip out in one direction while stepping and pushing your hand in the other. He could do them separately but not at the same time. Hilarious to watch Mr Muscles trying to coordinate his limbs!! Filming had to be put on hold for a couple of minutes while we regathered our composure and were able to carry on.

You gather this group of people and there is ALWAYS something to laugh about which is one of the many things I love about them. Saturdays are always a funny day when they are involved, this one just happened to be a particularly funny one!

Family Easter

I love how holidays bring people together. This Easter seemed to just keep bringing people out of the woodwork in my family anyway.

Sunday saw us gathering at my mums parent house down in Mandurah. The tradition is normally us four, my mums sister with her husband and two kids and my grandparents coming together for an Easter Egg Hunt (my 8 year old cousin still a big believer). This year however we added a whole heap of extra bodies.

My grandma's sister and partner were back in town so they came along, as did her two daughters (my second cousins) their partners and children. Family reunited! So this year's egg hunt was on a blown up scale and took a couple of bodies to execute.

Holiday's such as these ones give everyone the chance to be in the same place at the same time, which in the busy world we live in so rarely happens these days. Catching up with family that I haven't see in years was a fantastic way to spend my Easter Sunday. How did you spend yours?

Favourite Patients

I love those days where I come into work and look down my diary and have those names that pop out and just make you smile. Today was one of those days.

This patient in particular is a very little old lady who is very unwell. But despite her health and physical state she is one of the most determined and strong minded people I have ever met. She just gets on with what ever it is that she has to do. If there is a barrier, she will find a way around it, if she's having a hard time, she will push through. This is why I love her!

The last time I saw her was before Christmas. And the reason for that is because she is on Enhanced Primary Care which means her doctor signs her up for 5 sessions of Physio which is paid for by the Government to be used in the calendar year. So by the end of December her visits were used up and she had to wait for enough time to pass before her doctor could give her 5 more visits.

In these couple of months I heard nothing from her, and did think about contacting her a couple of times to see how she was going, but knowing about her health history, I didn't want to make that call and find out that something had happened to her, I would have been devastated. So we do discharge letters within 3 months of not attending Physio and her name came up on my list in the most recent pile of names. So I sent her one.

One week later, she was back!!! Hence my smile. I welcomed her back and treated her mid afternoon and carried on with my busy case load for the rest of the day. Following my final patient I came out with them to reception and she was back, with a bag of Easter Eggs to say thankyou and how much I had helped her. She is just so precious and I am so glad to have her back on my case load.

Pushing Through

This is true. This morning I had a big run a head of me. Because I have been sick this week, my long run Tuesday has been pushed to a long run Friday. Almost 2 weeks out from the Half Ironman, I needed to get 18km in this week. I am now confident that I do have the fitness to get through this 21km. So the 18km was more for my own piece of mind, so I can go into the race knowing that I have run this far before, and I can do it again. I will finish the run, but I want to complete it comfortably and as well as I could possibly do it. I don't want to regret anything.

So this morning I had to be at my cousins house at 8.30 for family thing we had on. If I went straight there it would be around 8km. So I decided that I would use this opportunity to get this 18km in and would detour a little. I ran the 10km loop of the bridges, then out along the freeway, over into Applecross, along the Applecross beach and then headed to her place.

Now after my failed attempt at a run on Wednesday, and having not done too much since then, I was a little nervous as to how this was going to go. Which is how this quote first sprung to mind...I had to keep going until I got there.

Luckily for me, I wasn't feeling as unwell while running today...leading to the second reason behind this quote. 18km is a long way. There were a few times a long the way when I thought to myself "This was hurting, what are you doing Chloe? This is stupid". But it is very much eyes on the prize and I was not going to stop until it was done!

All of this reminded me or another one I love, which is along the same lines.

Fitness is 100% mental. Your body won't go where you mind won't push it.

I couldn't agree more. Everyone had the physical capacity to do whatever they want to do, you just have to set your mind to it 100% and not give up. You can always keep pushing, keep fighting, it is your mind that tells you to stop, not your body.

Up Before The Sun

I love starting my mornings in the dark. Especially if its a little cold and dark as well. Weirdo, I know.

I love getting to the gym before my boxing class a good twenty minutes early. With the weather still relatively warm and dry, being outside in the fresh air is the best way to start the day. This twenty minutes gives me the chance to pull the equipment I need down the stairs and out onto the grass, sort out sign in sheets and then I still have 10 minutes to look at this before the chaos starts and the punches go flying.

People whinge and complain about it being too early, too cold, too dark...yeah what ever. Get over it and get on with it I say!

I have said before that I am a morning person, and normally from the second my alarm goes off I am up and running (literally). I have never once pressed snooze on an alarm, don't know how to snooze my alarm and don't want to learn. I am a whirl wind waiting to happen. But there is something strangely calming about mornings like this.

The rest of the world is still asleep, there is no wind and everything is still. Very much the calm before the storm. The whole day is still ahead of you and ANYTHING could happen, it's all up to you and how you respond.

Remember that YOU run the day, it doesn't run you!

A Sympathetic Gardener

Feeling better after my not so great Monday, I thought I was ready to try run again...I wasn't. I had had a full day off yesterday and was feeling relatively normal by the end on the day. So normal in fact that I was back to my regular routine of not sleeping...(minor set back). When 5.30 finally rolled around this morning, I was out the door and off to teach my boxing class, before launching off for my planned run.

Considering I'd had all of yesterday off which was suppose to be my long run day (was wanting 18km), I was aiming for an easy 10km today which I wasn't planning to push at all. I should have know when something felt not right 2km that it was not going to happen.

I was 4km in which had got me to Burswood and things went down hill very quickly. One minute I'm running along, next minute, throwing up in the garden. Ewwww!!!A very sympathetic gardener came over to me a couple of minutes later to check I was ok and said he would open the bathrooms for me, a full hour early. Although there was nothing left in me, I thanked him profusely and went in and washed my face a little.

I came out and he was still there, said he just wanted to make sure I was ok. I thanked him again and started my long walk home.

It's people like this who make a bad situation just a tiny bit better and I am thankful for the kindness this stranger offered me this morning.

Looking Out For Me

I went to bed Sunday night not feeling amazing, but had put it down to the run I had done that morning - a very warm morning, hills and probably pushing a little too hard. After sleeping poorly, I thought a swim may help. It didn't. I got home and couldn't understand why my brother had a jumper on...turns out I had a temperature.

I felt pretty awful and was about to call in sick to work, which I was suppose to be leaving for in 10 minutes time when I got the message from my receptionist that morning saying both her and the other Physio who was rostered on this morning had called in sick, and when I got to work could I please call all the patients in to see the other Physio to reschedule them? I had to go.

I arrived at work and my manager was already there waiting for me, turns out she had forgotten her keys, took one look at me and said I'm closing your diary, go home. I opened the practice for her, helped her call and reschedule the mornings patients and then called my receptionist at the practice I was on for in the afternoon and pushed everyone back a couple of hours to give me a chance to get a little better.

This is the first time I have ever considered calling in sick/actually gone home because I am sick. I normally try and push through because I worry so much about other people and how my patients are going that I will put their health above my own. But I have someone in my ear at the moment trying to teach me that to be able to help other people, I first need to look after myself. And I think it's finally getting through to me. With the up coming half ironman, where I have two other people depending on my ability to complete this run, looking after myself is definitely on my mind, I don't want to let them down. If that means saying no to my clients at work, then I am going to have to do that because I need to learn that I am just as important as them.

I need to stopping worrying about what I see as what others expect from me and worry more about what I expect of myself, and how best I can meet these expectations. I need to learn to value myself and my skills, so that other will too. I need to worry about me.

The Fitness Community Remembers

This weekend was the annual BankWest Gallipoli Fun Run held in Kings Park. Over 1000 people gathered early Sunday morning in the big botanical gardens in the middle of the Perth CBD to run/walk the 4km or 8km course to remember the ANZACS and raise money for the WA RSL Clubs and Legacy Foundation.

It was a very warm April morning for the run, and in combination with the never ending slow incline that made up the first 1.5km of the 4km loop (which as an 8km'er I ran twice), it was a tough run, and everyone seemed to be feeling the burn just as much as me.

Despite the 35 minutes of discomfort that was endured, watching the orange army power up the green grass hill that held the start and finish chutes of the race was a great thing to look back on and made me proud to be a part of a group that wanted to celebrate those who had fought for the country we are so lucky to live in now and to celebrate our lives and our health by getting out and doing something active.

Sunny Saturday Morning

We trained this Saturday morning gone at 8am and it's already 26 degrees. It's April! Just when we thought winter was on it's way, Mother Nature throws another curve ball with a maximum of 35 degrees yesterday.

One round into our 24 minutes AMRAP and we thought that this was not going to be too bad. On the way running back up this hill, yeah it was a little warm. Second round....oh wow, this wasn't going to be easy thanks to the combination of the hill and the heat. Surviving the workout and taking a few minutes to catch our breath, we decided the finish off the morning with a bear crawl. Well unfortunately due to the piece of purple plastic on my arm, I cheered on this lovely lady as she backwards bear crawled the infamous Forrest Street.

We got to the top and just sat. For a good twenty minutes. It was too nice-a day not to! As much as I do love winter, I equally like these sunny mornings where you can just sit with a friend for a while, not needing to get out of the elements and there is nothing in particular you have to do. Perfect start to a weekend! 

Get Outside!

Payback

I give it out, so I need to be able to take it in return. I know that I have a reputation as a brutal Physio. And I am fine with that because I feel like I know my clients pretty well and can target my approach to what they need to perform at their best. So yeah, some of them I have to hurt a little.

Every once in a while I allow someone to hurt me in return. I know that I need it almost as much as they do. Today was that day and it's been a while. I knew it was going to hurt!

And he didn't fail to disappoint. I was laughing uncontrollably and had tears rolling down my face in the matter of 10 minutes. And I know have bruises between my ribs and don't even come near my diaphragm! But hey if its not bleeding its not healing.

It just goes to show that I too am human, despite what some of the people I train with believe and sometimes I need a fix as well....but payback can most definitely be a bitch!

People Around

I had a forty minute break yesterday between patients in the middle of the shift. I could have written some of my doctors letters in this time, but the other two guys that were working were a little busy and I knew they would be coming in and out of our office, wanting to check the diary on the computer which I would be using to write the letters. So I decided to give them a miss for now and would do them later.

Instead I went and sat on the plinth in the cubicle that no one uses and got some other work done on my iPad. This one is confined by curtains and we often put bags in this one to keep them out of the way. I had left the curtain partially open so the boys could see I was there as they walked back to the office.

One guy had just finished with a patient and was coming back to write notes, while the other was still treating. He walks past me and then doubles back and comes to have a rant with me about patients and booking times, and them complaining we don't make ourselves available enough to suit them. Rant was completed and he went into the office.

Seconds later he was back and decided that despite of all the perfectly reasonable places to sit and write his notes, he was lonely and want to come and sit on the end of the plinth I was on. Big softie! The final Physio walked past at this moment and took a double take at the two of us sitting squashed on this plinth and then at the empty office...'He was lonely?' I said.

So I'm not really sure what I'm thankful for here, I think that sometimes it's just better to have people around you, even if your not talking to them or doing anything in particular. It's just better to have people present.

Distress Call

Yesterday at work, I had three of them. The first was a friend who shins were hurting to touch, walk and drive. I got her call while I was still at home, and from there called work and got her in...just in time. Because when I got into work an hour later, my diary which had 6 available appointments when I left the day before, was completely full.

Which leads me to call number two. I treat a teenage swimmer who is flying out for nationals tomorrow. I came out to see his mum in the waiting room (he was getting out of his uniform) and she tells me his breaststroke is just not feeling right, and on close watch at training earlier that day, he was leaning slightly to one side on every stroke. His coached asked him to try and get into physio before he gets on the plane tomorrow. He has called his mum from school to get her to get him in to see me. She said to him, it's very last minute, what if you can't get in to see Chloe? Will you see anyone else. No, he would only see me. Awww!!!

The final call was lucky, because another friend who I had booked in had cancelled last minute creating this final appointment spot. My receptionist came out to my office while I was writing notes quickly saying this lady was desperate to see me today and would it be ok to slot her into that spot. When she told me who it was, I laughed and said of course. She is another one of those who will only see me, so I would do what needs to be done to get her in. She hobbled in, and had re-torn her calf, again!! Bloody netball!

So although getting these distress calls is never good for the clients because it means they are worse off, I am thankful that they trust me to help them and get them through what ever it is they are doing, and that I am in the position to have the skills to help them.

Grid Rollers

Ever tried one of these bad boys? If that was a no...get on it! It takes foam rollers to a whole new level. It has ridges and grooves specifically designed to hurt you. And it does.

I don't think I would still be walking if I didn't have my grid roller. I have been running A LOT and because my arm is still out of action, my legs have been coping an absolute beating. By my third day of legs in a row, quads had nothing left to give.

Split squats were wobbly as hell, jump squats barley left the ground and pistol squats were just one big fail!. So had to come home and mash out my legs a little to be able to walk back through the gym door to run a mobility class.

It's not just the quads that have been feeling the roller love. As I build up my running for the 1/2 marathon which is now three weeks away (ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!) the calves are getting increasing wound up, stiff and painful.  So the calves are loving this round piece of foam covered plastic as much as the quads are. The only down side, I can't weight bear through my wrist to hold the rolling position for long enough.

But seriously, get rolling!

Western Power

Not that I actually know what Western Power do (I'm guessing supply power to homes, businesses, streets etc), what I do know its that Western Power were having to cut the power to the street which my practice is located on today due to road works. So what does this mean?

DAY OFF!!!!!!!!!!!

On a Tuesday as well, its like a mid week break, its awesome! It would have been possible to still treat at the practice, but it meant we couldn't adjust our bed height - high risk of injury to ourselves, couldn't access our diaries, would be treating in the dark and had no access to our EPA agents. So no one opted to work. Not complaining.

I had to get a long run done in the morning, but there was no time constraint I was working around. So I set no alarm, but due to my automatic body clock, I was still out the door by 6.15 after wasting some time around the house. I could take my time getting all my stuff done around the house, I met a friend in the city for a walk and chat because it had been months since our last talk.

It was a day for me to slow down, catch a breath and clear my head a bit. Thankyou Western Power!!

Changing Up The Run

Sunday morning is the morning of my middle distance type run, little bit or varied pace, but over all trying to run a little bit quicker then my really long run on Tuesdays. I would normally be running around the river or along the foreshore, but today there was the Bridged Fun Run, so I didn't really want to get caught up in that crowd.

Time for a change in scenery. I went for my run this morning in Kings Park instead of the usual foreshore stuff I normally do. And what comes with Kings Park? Hills. This was a pretty nice one.

I think I was really dreading this run today. I had been super tired for the past couple of days am really just not feeling it at the moment, but knew I had to make myself to it anyway. The half marathon was coming whether I liked it or not. So I was a little worried how this was going to go. Surprisingly well.

Normally I get to the bottom of the hill and am like uhhhhh, why!? Not today. Powered up these hills, and there were a few of them too. And I got to the top of the hills and each time I felt better then I did when I was at the bottom. The change in scenery and change in terrain did me good today.

Saturday Morning Smash

The Shirts Of Saturday Crew were back together....however shirts were to remain on this week. It has been a few weeks since we have all been together. There have been bulking programs leaving one pretty knackered, there's been travel around the country and the world and there's been work all to contend with. But we were back and ready to kill ourselves.

Us three chicks are now registered for the Three Vs Three Showdown to be happening at the end of May, and had to register in the Intermediate Division which was not ideal, but we are in. SO that means we have some serious training ahead of us to be somewhat ready for this thing. Today was team training number 1.

250m row, 10 sumo dead lift high pulls, 10 thrusters, 10 burpee pull ups. 250m row, 9 sumo dead lift high pulls, 9 thrusters, 9 burpee pull ups...all the way down to 1's. It was tough...but awesome! The only downer...the splint on my arm! Because my wrist movement is non-existent I had to high pull and dumbbell and still couldn't get it up properly, I couldn't squat properly and keep the bar in position and my pull ups were over and underhand...but still awesome.

I have really been missing this kind of training lately. I have still been training but feeling like I'm just going through the motions. A session like this one makes me feel like I have accomplished something more and have worked hard.

Getting Splinted

It's been coming for a few posts now...but yep, I'm now in a wrist splint. And more so because I continue to push on despite what I feel. This way, I can't. Fantastic.

So what happened? I was teaching my boxing class 10 days prior and paired myself to catch one of the strongest guys in the class, who does tend to throw some wild punches, which not everyone a able to handle. I have worked with him many times before and tend to be able to control him pretty well.

But all it takes is one punch, and that was a right upper cut. I felt it straight away and knew some damage had been done. It was lucky we were doing freestyle at that point and the class was almost over. So for the remaining 1 min 30 secs he did only left hand work.

I tried really hard to follow my own physio advice and I did what I was suppose to. I iced, compressed, ultra sounded at work at least once a day, it was strapped and immobilised. I worked using my left hand. But you know how these things work, you forget there a problem and go to use and PING, it goes again. So I wasn't trying to push through the pain, I was honestly doing my best to work with a stable wrist and doing what needed to be done. I really was trying to rest it!

But a full week on and no improvement what so ever...time to get further help. I got my manager at work to check it, and had an OT Upper Limb Specialist appointment the following morning, both of who confirmed what I had been thinking...tear to my Triangular Fibro Cartilage Complex. Dammit!

So back to the splint. Like I said before, I have been put in it as a precaution because of all my work that is predominately through my wrists and hands. Hardest thing so far? Tying up my hair!

Busy Days

Thursdays always seem to be my hump day. I tend to get through Wednesday pretty well, but hit my wall on the Thursday. Some days I don't know what is better to do - try and 'rest' on these days, or pack them full so I don't have the chance to feel tired, after all nothing makes a day go faster then packing a lot into it. And today I definitely managed to do that! I was up at 4.45 this morning, packing bags and sorting out my mail from yesterday before heading to the gym for a 6am training session. Following training, I did a prac hour for my course and then went to teach Anatomy to a friend, but was on a time limit as I needed to go back to the OT to get my wrist splinted (another story for another day). By the time we got settled, we were running out of time to get through any decent amount of content....so we just ended up chatting instead.

Shot off from there to get my splint fitted before finally getting home for the morning at around 9.45. Did a little bit of work from home, managed to quickly cook something for dinner later that night (which was extremely difficult with my now restricted range of wrist motion). Before I knew it I was running out the door again back to work. And my patient load was huge!

A full arvo of patients and all follow ups meant I had back to back 20 minute appointments, no time to even think! So again my afternoon went flew by pretty quick and before I knew it I was back in the car driving back to the gym again for some more PT and training. 8pm rolls around and it's home time. Day is not quite over though, one more patient (my dad) before sorting out my weekend clients before crashing at around 10pm. Only to wake up and do it all again tomorrow. The only difference...tomorrow is FRIDAY!!

She Did It Again

Late last week I posted about having a lovely clean car after taking my car to the Magic Hands Car Wash. It was awesome to have a sparkly clean car because no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get it clean enough. But true to Murphy's Law, it rained the next day. And when I say rain...it poured. No more clean car. Oh well, it was nice for 24 hours there.

Now I don't know if mum felt sorry for me that I was so excited about my clean car before it rained, or the thought of me leaving is growing in her mind? But yesterday SHE WASHED IT FOR ME!!!!! I was sitting doing some work in the study, from where I have a good view of our drive way and the cars and I look up at some point and see her waving the sponge over my car!! Yay.

So I am back to cleanliness over my car again and I am so grateful to my mum for going out of her way to do that for me.

Continuing Education...With A Difference

 

Every Tuesday, myself and the other New Grad Physio has continuing education with one of our senior Physio's who is also currently teaching and lecturing at university. Though because she is also required at the Uni, our continuing ed sometimes gets postponed, as it did yesterday.

 

So one of the other Physio's, a couple of years ahead of me took it upon himself to further our education, with life skills. Discovering that the New Grad had never made a cut of tea or coffee, that turned into todays lesson.

 

Talked through the steps of boiling the kettle, preparing the tea bag, pouring the water, jiggling the tea bag and then adding enough milk to make it 'cloudy' the New Grad was put to the test. And the verdict? The tea bag was left in and there was not enough milk for the drinkers liking...but first his first cup, he was issued a pass.

 

Nothing like furthering the education of others with valuable life skills!

Getting Up In The Morning

This is how I started my morning...how did you start yours? To be honest I was hoping to not be up this early today. With the half Ironman coming up soon, and may drastically needing to up my running distance, Tuesday mornings are now my long run mornings. Last week I set my alarm for 6 which for me is a pretty good sleep in, but the alarm went off and I was actually still asleep and definitely could have slept for longer...dammit! So today I set the alarm for 7.15, not at all expected to sleep that long, but if I did, then I would still have plenty of time to get this run in.

No luck. I was out of the house by 5.45. Still kind of kicking myself about not being able to sleep on my one morning of no real 'scheduled' training (I can just run when I'm up) I see this. And all of a sudden I am so glad that my body decided I didn't need sleep today. There was no wind, it was still dark and the sun was just starting to come up so you could see where you were going. And what I didn't get in the photo were the hundreds of ducks sleeping on the lake behind me.

This is exactly why I'm a morning person. So do yourself a favour. Get up a little earlier one day just to go and see this! It is the best time of year for it.