Grease Is The Word

I have always been a musical theatre fan, maybe because I was brought up in the dance world and was performing from a young age, but I would rather go see a stage show then a concert any day!

The most recent, Grease, The Musical. Everyone knows the story of Grease. You watched it growing up as a kid, sand along with your friends while watching the movie and whenever you have been forced into karaoke. It's a classic.

That's what I love about musical theatre, they take classics and bring them back again. Don't shoot me when I say this, and I can honestly say that I was excited about going to see this show, but I think growing up, I had overdone Grease. I couldn't begin to tell you how many times I watched the movie as a kid, and then we did it as our school production when I was around 15. I had kind of done Grease to death.

But what I said about bringing classics back again, totally happened. Watching the storyline unfold in a new platform - that is on stage without me actually being on it, did exactly that. Brought the story back to life for me again.

Safe to say the show didn't let me down and full respect to the talented individuals that give these performances their all, night after night.

Run

Had those day where you just need to get out? Nothing is going right, or everything is just adding you your frustration and stress levels? Like things are building up, your going to explode and are worried about who is going to be around for the bombshell? Yeah I know the feeling.

For me, when I'm nervous, frustrated, anxious or stressed, the same thing tends to happen. I get this nervous fidgeting. I can't sit still, I over think things and no matter how hard to try and push it aside, I just can't concentrate.  Easiest way to calm myself down? Run

Normally when I go for a run, I start off quite slow and get up to my usual pace within a km or two. Not on these days. These days I start off hard, and pretty much run until I drop. Some people are trying to tell me that I am running away from my problems and that I need to stop and think about whatever it is that has worked me to this point.

I understand their reasoning, but I need to get rid of the nervousness and restlessness before I even have a chance to process what is going on my head. So I am thankful that I can run.

Gloves

Winter is well and truly here, and comes with it - the very cold mornings. We have had a run of two degree minimums here for the past week, and as a self confessed morning lover, I am out there in them!

I made the mistake a couple of days ago, when the current temp was 1.6 degrees to go for a run. I had finished with my boxing class and I was my turn to get something done, so before I even stopped to think about what I was doing for even a second, I pulled of my first layer of pants and the two jumpers I was wearing and threw myself out of the gym heading down towards the foreshore. I was aiming for around 7-8km today and while running, my body felt up to it....everything that is, except my hands.

From the moment I stepped outside that gym door, they were no longer functioning, and my fingers were cold swollen painful sausages that were hanging off my almost as painful palms. They were of no use what so ever. Refusing the pain at the end of my arms to stop me, I did manage to pull out my desired 8km, but what I didn't manage to do was start my car when I got back. No matter how hard and in how many different ways my brain was telling my hands to turn the key to start the ignition, my hands just could not find the strength, nor feel the key that matter to do so!

Jump forward a few days to this morning where I has Tough Mudder training up in Kings Park - where temperatures, not matter whether they are hot or cold, seem to be amplified. The session duration being 45 minutes this morning, I thought it would take me the full 45 minutes to warm up. So I decided to run there, probably only 5 or 6km. But after Wednesdays big mistake and my loss of productivity that came with it, I remember to shove on my running gloves before pushing myself out the door.

So happy I did because I got to the training location and it was reported to me that it was 2 degrees, there was frost on the ground and the first thing we were doing was burpees....warm hands for me!!

Instagram

Just another element of social media that can provide so much entertainment. This morning I was waiting for my class to arrive and to fill the time, I scrolled throuh my instagram newsfeed. Up popped this gem. I laughed out loud, so hard.

Who in their right mind has ever thought to tie a sandal to a leash and call it a pet? It was just so ridiculously unexpected and random and is just not something I see everyday in my newsfeed.

Being the athletic exercise nut that I am, I suppose you could imagine what my newsfeed tends to look like. WOD's from different Crossfit boxes around the world, workout videos and pictures, exercise and training meme's, the occasional bit of scenery. I can't even remember who it was that put this one up, but I would have to of been some sort of exercise enthusiast that just had a moment of humour come across them.

But back to my point of today. Instagram is just another one of those apps we use to waste time and keep ourselves entertained. But as well as an amazing time waster, it is an amazing marketing tool. With contact to the whole of your target population only one hashtag away, people are using the app for business promotion, athlete recognition and even just to get their own name out there.

The world as we know it has changed for ever by simple social media apps such as this one. But for now, I'm just thankful that I came across this picture to start of my day on a good note. Happy Friday!!

Making A Difference

I had a patient come to me two weeks a go who was pretty unwell. He had cancer in two vertebrae which had now spread to his pancreas and was currently undergoing chemo every day for the next 4 days. But that's not why he had come to me. For the past two months, every night when he has gotten into bed he has left sided chest pain that kept him awake all night. As a result he has not slept properly in days.

After having his heart checked by his specialist, it was suggested he try Physio for his chest pain, which is how he ended up in my room. He was sceptical. What could Physio do for his chest pain. But he was going to humour his doctor and try it anyway. He had two sessions paid for by the government to give it a go.

After his movement assessment I had a feel of his spine and costovertabral joints (where your rib comes off your spine) and BAM! Reproduced his pain with one push and I had his confidence. I continued to treat his CV joints and finished the session. We weren't really able to see the results straight away, we were going to have to wait until night time. So I asked him to give me a ring the next morning and tell me the verdict.

He did, and I won!! No pain at all, first time in two months. YAY! So we planned his follow-up session around his upcoming therapy for managing his cancer and was scheduled for next week - when I am now out of action with surgery. So I called him back again today, to reschedule his appointment for one week later and to check on how he was travelling. Happy to say, still no pain at night.

Today I am thankful for being in the position to make a difference to others lives, and help people who are in pain to feel better.

My Tipping Method

I am in an AFL tipping competition both at home with mine and my best friends family, and also a competition at work. It is safe to say that I don't follow AFL, at all. I could count on one hand the number of players I knew in the entire league. I'm just not into our nations sport.

So when I comes to submitting my weekly tips, I am a little behind the eight ball with my knowledge as to who are the favourite for each game, the ins and outs and history between the teams...really who has time to keep up with this? I know people who will go and do research before submitting their tips. Not me.

Due to my lack of AFL knowledge I complete my tips using a different method. Colours and Logos. I look at the two teams in a game, and the team with a colour combination I like more, will get my vote. If I'm torn between the colours, I resort to logo's. The team with the best logo wins. For example - my can do no wrong team: North Melbourne Kangaroos. White and a nice blue, and a kangaroo. What can go wrong? My always fail team Adelaide Crows - terrible colour combination of navy red and yellow, and a crow?! Gross.

If you hadn't picked it already, my tipping method certainly doesn't take me to the top of the leader board. However it does give me a good chance in those crazy rounds when the predictions are turn on their heads and no one picks the under dogs...except me because I don't know any better.

This round just gone was one of those. I managed to get a perfect score of 9/9, absolutely shocked everyone I work with as I am currently sitting at the bottom of that ladder, and managed to score $5!! My manager was also so excited as to highlight my congratulatory note in colours to reflect my abstract method of tipping.

So it may not be the most sound way of picking my teams, but it keeps me entertained and in the past has brought me up to a round win, I'm not changing any time soon.

Seriously Amazing People

I have some truly incredible friends. And yesterday showed me just how amazing they are. It was a massive day of appointments, information being thrown at me, decisions that needed to be made and messages that needed to be sent. And they were with me every step of the way.

First - GP, to which I was escorted by Hulk himself. He helped me explain my situation (explaining is definitely my downfall) and get the help and advice I needed to put me on the right path to overcome the battles I am facing. Like I said, explaining myself is not a strength of mine, and had he not have been there, I probably would have coped out a little and not ended up with all the information that I needed. Incredibly thankful to Hulk for having my back, holding me together, and taking over when I needed it.

Next up, Orthopaedic Surgeon review. I was accompanied to this one by fellow 3v3'er Traps McCurry, as is her current nick name. I thought I was going in knowing the problem and what was going to need to be done to fix it. I was wrong. Turns out what came back on MRI was probably a false positive on assessment and the problem was back to what I thought it was initially, maybe. It could be a tear in my TFCC (cartilage wedge), it could be joint instability and displacement between two of my carpals (tiny wrist bones) it could be ligament damage between these joints, or it could be a combination of all the above.

On physical assessment, he was able to reproduce my pain and holy s^%t did it hurt.  I have now been scheduled for explorative surgery early next week to try and work out what is actually going on in there and develop an action plan from there. Again, I was a little overwhelmed by all the information being thrown at me and was so glad to have M-Mc there with me to ask the questions I forgot to ask and then make me laugh again on the walk home.

In the past I have tried to take on the world on my own, was never really one to ask for help. But that has never really gotten that far and I'm learning that I can't do it all on my own anymore. Having these two, along with a couple of others in my corner has pretty much kept my head above water over the past week or so and I can't even begin to describe how thankful I am to have them.

Rope Climb

Well not just rope climbing, but rock climbing too. We are an active group of people and don't tend to do your lazy Sunday....no ours are action packed Sundays. And this week that involved rock climbing.

For me, I haven't been rock climbing since you use to scale those tiny walls are school camps. Prior to that we had been a few times as kids, when whoever was belaying me could pretty much pull me up the wall if I needed. So I wouldn't call myself half decent at rock climbing by any means.

But we like to try different things. So we trekked it out to City Summit in Malaga, where we had managed to score ourselves some discounted climbs. And we tried our hands, and legs at climbing the walls. MUCH harder then I remember it being when I was a kid!! Probably because there is much more of me to pull up the walls these days and I am probably not as nimble as I was when I was smaller.

However we rose to the challenge. Helping each other navigate up the far spread rocks as high up the walls as we were able to get. Sometimes not so successful as others, but we had a good laugh at ourselves and at each other which is how we love to spend our time.

Gymnastics

This is a meme that has been created by a social media gifted friend after our first gymnastics adventure. She went in with two goals...hands stands and kipping pull ups. Me, still very much limited by my wrist I took whatever was thrown at me that I could do without putting my hand flat on the ground, which was really not much. But I was there more for my own entertainment.

The idea behind our adult gymnastics adventures? To get use to being upside down, to develop upper body and core strength to help us with Crossfit, work on flexibility and plyometric strength...really just to be better at everything we try. But also, for fun and to laugh hard at ourselves when we fall on our faces.

Week one and as expected I was limited to forward rolls, elbow stands, head stands, trampoline and back saults. The other two I was with tried their hands at hand stands, forward rolls into hand stands, handstand walks and pull ups.

Needless to say we all have a very long way to go, but for a rainy Saturday afternoon we had a great laugh.

Finding Another Way

Sometime you try something, and you fail. That might be because a mistake was made or you don't currently have the skill, knowledge or ability to achieve the task at this time. But there is ALWAYS another way.

What jumps straight to mind for me was when I finished high school, and I was set for getting into the university course that I wanted, but what was being shown to us left right and centre was all the alternative pathways to get you to where you want to be. For example - if I hadn't gotten straight into my Physiotherapy degree, the back up plan would have been to do a year in a general Health Science Degree, achieve a 75% grade average and then transfer over for the second year. But not only did Physio have a back up plan, these days you get into uni through portfolio entry, through bridging courses and many other mid way course changes. Whatever you want is possible, you just have know how.

Today another opportunity was presented to me. One that my body is not really capable of at the moment. It is a 31 Day Handstand Challenge with the idea of taking a photo a day in a handstand. being as creative as possible in location and position. Minor set back - my wrist. With my surgeons appointment this coming week, there is a chance it will be surgically repaired which means no handstands for me for a while. But where there's a will, there's a way.

I contacted the competition coordinators, explained my situation and asked if it would be acceptable for me to elbow or head stand until given the all clear. Impressed with my commitment to the cause, I was given a big thumbs up.

This challenge was something right up my alley and wanted to be a part of it. Although I have my set backs, there is always another way to be involved...elbow stands it is!

Trying Out RX

I posted a couple of days about being thankful for being a strong swimmer when I went to watch the RX guys take on the swimming WOD at the recent Primal Throwdown. I also mentioned that it's been a while since I was in the pool, but never the less, I decided to have a shot at the WOD anyway!

And I chose to do so on probably the worst possible day. I was teaching boxing earlier that morning and after a massive clap of thunder, I hear the tell tale whistle from to poolie, getting everyone out before the lightning strikes. Luckily when I finished boxing the pool was back open, but the wind and rain were hanging around.

The set up at the gym I'm at wasn't ideal for what I was about to attempt, but normally people don't jump off the rower and dive straight into the pool....I do weird well. So I got through the WOD in 8min 10 seconds. But some errors were definitely made!!

For starters, the row killed me. And I didn't realise until I was almost through the 50 calories that I had it set on 10...idiot!! Error number two - rope choice. Normally I like to use a speed rope, which I don't personally own and in the past have borrowed a friends who is currently in Vegas. So instead stole one off a much taller friend, key word being tall. The rope as too long. I tried a couple before I was wet and tired and got some out and through I would be fine, but had my normal rope there just in case. Thank god! After about 20, I was sick of the speed rope hitting my toes and changed over to my normal rope.

Final rookie mistake, and whether this was because it was cold outside -throwing a thin rope at numb feet when your tired and stop jumping as high, or just the fact that I wasn't wearing shoes but oh my lord my toes!!! Both ropes kept either hitting right at the edge of my toe nails or onto the tops on my feet and it flippin hurt!!!! So I admit I took a mid WOD pause and ran to grab my shoes and quickly chucked them on...my cold numb painful toes just couldn't take it any more.

As expected the swim was the least of my worries, despite having not plunged into the water in a very long time, its not something you forget that quickly.

It's safe to say I have learnt from my mistakes and give me a couple of weeks (maybe a session or two back in the pool) and I will have another crack at it!

Orange Sky

Tuesday morning is run morning for me. But the weather report coming out Monday night for the following day was a severe weather warning with thunderstorms and very strong winds. My Tuesday morning run was not looking to enjoyable at this point.

My alarm goes off and I listen for the rain. Nothing. I listen for the wind. Minimal. Calm before the storm... GO GO GO!!!! Get out and get it done before the storm sets in! And it did believe me, but not until I was warm and dry at work, where I would be kept indoors for a good 7 hours.

I was well over half way into my run and it was still dark. No sign of the sun. Until I came around the corner of a bridge and saw this which just reinforced why I love being up before the sun. You get to see amazing sky lines like this and know that you have a fresh new day ahead of you. It can be anything you want it to be, you can do anything you want to do and what you achieve is completely up to you and how your take on this day.

For me, it was a pretty big Tuesday. Some big steps were taken in terms of getting help with my wrist and how I am going to get through the potential surgery - physically and mentally, the latter being probably biggest hurdle I am going to face. I was contacted by my nutritionist checking in on me and deciding that some changes need to be made to help me get through the next few weeks. I sorted out some insurance things that I have been putting off for a long time, I worked, I mobilised and I payed some bills. It was a productive Tuesday with many things put in place which are scary but necessary.

And it all started with this calm orange sky.

Parallel Parking

It would be safe to say that I am a bit of an average parker. I'm very much a believer of the 'on the line is in' theory and if I'm a little bit crooked, so be it! Much to the disgust of a couple of friends who do not let me get out of the car until I have straightened up and am happily sitting in the middle of the bay.

I went to check on a friends place yesterday while she was away and the only available bay was a parallel park. You thinking I'm bad at parking when I only have to drive straight into the bay? Parallel parking is a whole different story! But I was on my way to work, so a fast game was a good game.

But I went in with confidence, pulled up to the car in front on a little bit of an angle and went straight into reverse. Backed my way in, forward and back once, and I was in. Wait what?!?! Most successful reverse parallel park in the history of me having my licence. Little fist pump moment to myself as I was walking up to my friends apartment.

Maybe I need to stop overthinking it, back myself and just give it a go (I think I could apply this to other aspects of my life also).

Watching The Good Ones

Today was the final day of the Primal Throwdown, Perth's biggest and probably most well known Crossfit competition. It was finals today, with the top 30 athletes in each category taking on the third day of competition and another 3-4 WOD's....big weekend for some!

We got to see some of the states best try their luck at Pull Ups (beginner), Chest to Bar Pull Ups (intermediate) and Weighted Chest to Bar Pull Ups (Rx), Deadlifts, Squat Cleans and Thrusters as the final knockout round before the top 10 of each category was announced to take on the Air Bike and Snatches to determine the winners.

Looking at the WOD's from yesterday, the competition seemed very much do-able, even through I have really only been in the 'true' Crossfit world for a couple of months, the training I have done in the past year has been somewhat similar. The beginners workouts looked easy, the intermediate - challenging but definitely achievable. That was until finals day. This was when the shit got real. Had I have entered the comp and done intermediates, which would have probably been a good call for the first day, I would have been in massive struggle town today!!

But watching these guys, of all levels, bust their arses to finish first, beat the person next to them, finish the workout or just get out another pull up was inspirational and makes me want to get more and more into this sport and try my hand at this type of individual competition. Just gotta sort my wrist out.

Watching people commit 100% to the event and give it there all tells me that this is the kind of thing I should be doing, as this is how I tend to go at anything I try...go hard or go home. Having the chance to watch this event has got me going even more, makes me want to sort out my injuries well and truly and get back into giving my all.

Being A Strong Swimmer

It has been a good couple of months since I have been back in the pool. Not that it is really worrying me at all but it's strange to think that only a year a go I could not go a day without going for a swim. Now I could think of nothing worse but getting in the pool. However if something like this was thrown at me, I would embrace it with open arms.

The Primal Throwdown is probably Perth's most well know Crossfit event and is underway this weekend. On Friday night, the RX category hit Challenge Stadium for their first night of competition, which involved swimming. I was at the box I have been training at Crossfit Frantic, earlier that morning and seen a few nervous faces around, ready for any last minute swimming tips that could be thrown their way. My best advice, was stay calm, breathe every three strokes and don't fight the water - go with it.

I went down to watch on Friday night and the WOD had been released just as I had arrived. 50cal row, 100m swim, 100 double unders, 50m swim. That was my kind of workout!! But not so much for many other people. Had I had to compete in something like that, being a strong swimmer would work in my favour 100%. But there were more then 70% of people for who swimming was not their strength. Most of them were able to make the 100m maybe only stopping to catch their breath at each end of the 25m pool, but there were the poor few who would struggle through 6-8 strokes at a time then grab hold of the lane rope to get some air in.

As I said before, I haven't swum in a couple of month, but if a workout like this one would be thrown at me, I don't think my lack of swimming over the past few months would really phase me at all. Lucky I am a strong swimmer.

Sparta

Today I got my butt well and truly kicked...and was not really prepared for, or expecting it. I was entered into the Spartan Hurricane WOD this morning which had very much crept up on me this week. I got home after a massive day at 10pm last night and had nothing at all ready to go for getting up at 5am on my Saturday morning to go for a 4 hour workout...off to a great start.

The Hurricane WOD was organised by the Spartan Obstacle Race race director as a preparation event leading into the tough 14km, 30+ obstacle race one month later. Not really sure what I was getting myself into, and having a friend who was an ambassador for the event, I signed up a good month ago. When my wrist was not looking so bad off and I thought I would be out of the splint and able to do push ups. I also though, yeah I'm fit...how hard could it be??

At 6.30am it was less then 2 degrees out on the oval we were huddling on. There was ice on the grass and 70 people standing around trying to decrease their exposed body surface area in anyway possible. It was beyond cold and my fingers were numb, I thought. We got started with a bit of a jog, and couple of dynamic movements and then split into our groups to start our first of six 30 minute workouts.

Round 1: 3 minutes of varying level isometric push up hold (which was a squat hold for me), 500m of 10 running strides/5 pushups and finally 500m bear crawl. If I thought my fingers were numb before, it was nothing on how they felt by the end of this round. They were fat, freezing, uncontrollable and painful!

Round 2: Fartlek Running. 30 seconds sprint followed by varying rest intervals to work on your speed endurance. It was nice not to put the hands on the icy grass in this round so by the end of this one, fingers had finally started to thaw.

Round 3: A 90 second circuit including ergo, plank taps, scorpion crawl, plank side stepping with push ups, commando crawls and roll ups. All body weight exercises that were tough with a capital T.

Round 4: Obstacle race prep. the idea was to fatigue the CV system first and then make your legs work. So it was a 20m shuttle run with increasing increments every minute. I was the last one in with one other lady and we managed to get out 11x20m runs in 1 minute. Stuffed by the end. Time to work on the legs - lunges, wall climbs, running crawling and partner band pulls....legs sufficiently gased!

Round 5: Power Bags. Clean and pressing, situp and passes, walking lunges, running with the bags...all stuff I've done before. Was very much in my world with this one and made it through no problems at all.

Round 6: ZUU. Finally made it to the last one! I have not had much experience with ZUU before, and after this not sure how quickly I will be rushing back. Not because I didn't like, it but because it was flipping hard!!! It uses movements that are based on primal movement patterns such as Froggers, Gorilla's, Chameleons and almost any other animal you can think of. By far the hardest of any of the previous rounds...yay for having it last!!! My quads have never been as much on fire as there were throughout that final thirty minutes.

By the end of the 4 hours, totally stuffed. Very dirty, sore and tired....all signs of a great day and a great arse kicking. Hardest thing I've done in a while!

Beanies

It is now officially winter. And the temperature is reminding us of that fact at the moment. The very chilly mornings are upon us and with my wrist still out of action, I am still pretty much stationary during my boxing classes in the mornings. And as these classes start just before the sun is rising, it is the coldest time of day for me to be standing around.

So I am adding layers where possible and that includes a layer to my head. It is amazing how much of a difference a piece of fabric covering your ears can make! I have never really got the idea of hats, headbands or beanies. I use to think they got in the way more then they were useful. That was until I got cold.

Now the idea of something on my head is extremely comforting and warming. I also like to this they are helping me muster up the mind power to get through these classes without the cold air freezing my brain into malfunction.

Thank heavens for beanies!!

High Fives

I came back to this one because I was at Frantic the other day, the box where I do my crossfit training, and they have a bit of a ritual that everyone fits pumps each other at the end of a WOD. Kind of like a well done you survived kind of nice. I had a bit if a laugh because the girls I train with have a similar kind of ritual, but we high five. 

And when we high five, we high five! There is a build up to the high which some what resembles a tennis serve and you tend to worry whether you are going to be able to feel your hand and continue going about your tasks once it is over. Yep, that big. 

So when myself and another 3vs3'er finished our WOD at frantic the other day, after we were done fist pumping everyone else (couldn't break their ritual) we performed our typical smash of a high five true to form (can't break our own rituals either).

So I think along with the epic high fives that tend to come when the three of us train together, I am also thankful for those small little rituals you build with yours friends which remind you who you love to spend time with and why you do what you do, day in day out. Keep high fiving!

Back To Cardio

In preparation for the Three Vs Three Showdown, my usual high quantities of cardio and interval training were put on the back burner while I was very quickly trying to turn myself into a somewhat strong crossfitter, concentrating solely on strength and technique...not something my body was use to.

But with the time pressure now off my strength gains, I can get back to running and burpees which is just in time for the new Tough Mudder season.  The team I go through this 20km obstacle course with take the race very seriously. There is month of preparation that goes into it, starting off with two high intensity interval sessions per week for around 4 months leading up to the day.

Week one of Tough Mudder training began the week before the showdown. So the three of us didn't train with the team that day...it would ruin our gains as our Hulk would put it! But with the showdown now done and dusted, it's back to Tough Mudder for me. And honestly, this first week has been a bit of a shock to the system. It's not like I have done zero cardio in the past few months, but thinking about it, the 6 weeks before the 5 weeks prep for Crossfit I was pretending to be a half marathon runner - so everything was based around running long distances.

So I would say it has been a good 12 weeks since I did solid High Intensity Interval Training like this. It was tough! But awesome. I have definitely missed this kind of training and the associated feelings of your lungs being on fire and not sure whether your going to be able to get yourself up after another chest to ground burpee.

Yeah, it's good to be back!

Letter Of Thanks

Business with the bank is done and dusted. Home loans approved, finalized and transferred, guarantor agreement corrected and property ownership forms adjusted (long story but it's all sorted now!)

I have had multiple phone calls, emails and messages from my home loan manager, mostly regarding the spelling of my last name...still posing to be problem. Damn that 'z'. I feel that Tung and I are now good buddies, we've spent a bit of time together.

I got this card in the mail today from none other then my favourite (and only) home loan manager wishing me all the best for my future and as a thanks for my patience and cooperation while sorting out the mix ups that have come with buying my property.

Isn't that sweet?! So today I am thankful for bank managers that take their job personally.

Second Opinions

Doesn't the inside of my wrist look nice? Well apparently not. MRI went ahead finally yesterday (being a Sunday) and I was nervously waiting by the fax machine at work this morning for the report to come through. At 9.46am it arrived. There was a lot to be reported on.

The good news - the tear in my cartilage has resolved and there is only swelling sounding the cartilage wedge telling us that there is still healing taking place but the tear is no longer there.

The bad news - there is a 2cm intratendinous tear in my Extensor Carpi Ulnaris (a wrist extender) along with bone marrow oedema (swelling inside the bone).The tear is located within the tendon sheath - so technically the tendon is still intact, just unstable and not working like it should be.

So what now? I asked my boss what he thinks. He is unsure how the tendon has been torn considering the incident which caused the initial injury. He was debating putting me back into the splint considering I have been immobilised for 6 weeks already, when really that should have helped. His advise...bombard with anti-inflammatory and acute management techniques such as ultrasound with NSAID gel, eccentric loading, splint when I am not working or training to give my wrist periods of unloading, avoid end range wrist extension for another two weeks and see what happens then.

So then I sent the results to my OT and she was in two minds. The whole 2cm part is the bit that is worrying her. She said this would be on the border of surgery/splint. So she is going to chat with the surgeon that works out of her practice to see what he thinks.

Long story short...I have a tear in the tendon and still don't really know what I'm doing for management. But I do have multiple opinions being thrown at me, which I am thankful for. For the many people getting involved and trying to get me the best possible outcome.

Morning Off

This morning I had planned to go for a run. I had a busy day ahead of me and just wanted to get something in before the madness begun. Despite having gone out last night, I still expected my inbuilt alarm clock to wake me up at the usual 5.30 when I don't set an alarm. I decided not the set an alarm when I got into bed at 1am, in hope that my body would decide it needed more then four and a half hours of sleep...considering how tired I have been of late. 

I surprised myself and woke up at 6.30....AMAZING!!!!!!! The down side of sleeping through the body clock, I have a busy day and I wanted to get a run in. But while I was lying there, my legs were aching, I'm blaming the large volume of training I did yesterday. Even through I had slept later then I had in months, I was still really tired...still had really only had around five and a half hours of sleep.

So...while lying there...I decided not to run. WHAT?!?! I decided that I need to listen to the uncomfortable feeling in my body now, and that running this morning was going to be in no ways beneficial for me, so to instead just worry about the many many many things I had to get done today, and not let a 45 minute run set me back even more.

This is not like me at all. Normally I will not take into consideration how my body is feeling at all, and just go ahead with whatever I think I need to do. I was a little bit proud of myself for deciding to take the morning off to let myself recover a little more. Hopefully I will wake up tomorrow feeling better for looking after myself today.

Psycho Fish

I was suppose to have my MRI this morning. With a appointment time of 10.30 am and my constant desire to be early not on time, I arrived at SKG at around 10.10am. Filled out all the necessary paper work and sat down in the waiting area. I always take something with me to do, but today I had a short list on my phone of people I needed to contact, emails I needed to respond to and things to check, so today I didn't bring anything with me. Big mistake.

Got through my list by about 10.25, easy, just 5 minutes to wait. At 10.32 my name was called and the lady came over to me and told me they were having problems with the MRI machine and would hopefully have it fixed soon. So I sat back down again...with nothing to do. Dammit, this is why I always come prepared!!

So sitting, twiddling my thumbs, I look over at the fish tank mounted on the wall. This fish was going absolutely mental! All the other fish, just slowly going about their business, swimming along calmly and in no rush what so ever. Not this crazy fishy! It was darting full speed from one end of the tank to the other like Kieren Perkins in his 1500m win at the '96 Olympics...killing it!!

Then he started on the intervals, darting back and forward over and over again, like he was going for full laps but kept forgetting what he was doing, so he turned around to go back again. I thought that a fish having a short term memory was a myth. Well this psycho was not helping his fellow fishies to prove that myth wrong. Kind of like a forgetful, bipolar type of personality.

So I sat watching this fish for a good hour before they came back over to me and said they weren't anywhere near having the MRI up and running again, could I come back tomorrow. Thank goodness for this fish! Otherwise I would have probably lost my marbles!

Olaf

Probably the cutest, funniest and well know snowman around these days, yep I have totally jumped on the Frozen bandwagon. The best and most successful animated film to be released since The Little Mermaid, Frozen is an extremely well thought out, funny and highly entertaining children's movie, that adults world wide are loving.

Confession time. It's been a rough week. I sat down to write this post today and had nothing. I could not think of anything that I was thankful for, that was making me smile or making me feel good. And sitting there not being able to think of happy things was just making me worse. So I left it.

I went and had a shower, thought about my massive list of things to do and then thought, nah stuff that. So I put on the happiest thing I could think of at the time, which was this animated film. I had left it part way through whenever the last time was that I was watching it and it came back to where Anna meets Olaf.

And then Olaf sings, about a snowman laying out in the summer sun. It is ingeniously stupid and the writers did an amazing job with the clashing storyline of the song that you can't help but to smile and even laugh. This white blob of frozen water, completely fictional and probably more in your own imagination has the ability to change you emotional state, head space and managed to give me something to smile about today.

Also had to have another giggle because a while a go I was chatting with another girl about this little snowman, and she has a completely different view towards him. She finds him disturbing, creepy and just plain weird! So while I was watching and laughing a little, it was both due to the script content and remember this other girls complete disturbance by this white ball of snow.

Legends

This is the lock screen on my phone at the moment. So I see it more times in a single day then I can count. Most of the time, it is exactly what I need to see, and can apply to any situation.

There is a lot of change going on in my life at the moment, and most of it is a change for good. I have been given a new career opportunity which can potentially bring my love of helping people and my passion of health and fitness together to be what I consider to be the ideal work environment for me. That could be legendary.

The Crossfit comp is done so its time for a training change up also. Time to work out what is next - what do I want to do, how and when do I want. One big set back though...my wrist. If you've followed me in the past you would know that I was in a wrist splint for 6 weeks after a boxing injury. I came out of the splint 3 weeks before the comp and was expected the stiffness that comes with being immobilised for such a long period of time to last for around 2 weeks. Following that I would know where it was sitting. And it's not sitting pretty I'm said to say.

So at the moment, life is on pause. Until I get the results from my MRI on the weekend the career change is on standby, planning my next training goal is on standby. If my arms are out of action for a couple of months...Oxfam 100km walk it is, if not, back into the Crossfit world. Will I be starting the new job in 2 weeks or 2 months?

But then I see my reminder - Be Legendary. There are set backs and massive obstacles in my path at the moment, but I am on the path I want to be on. Combining what I love, there is no choice but to be legendary! How are you going to Be Legendary today?

Becoming Foster Children

Well that massive weekend is well and truly over, and there are some sore bodies and battle wounds (I had ended up with some interesting bruises on my quads?!). But we are still buzzing. Pink wiggle up there posted our team photo with the coach on the facebook page of the box we have been training at Crossfit Frantic with a big thank you message to the coach and to the other team members of the box.

Despite us only really have been training there for 4 weeks, and most of the time as private sessions, we were adopted as the Frantic Foster Children on the day and we completely blown away by the support, coaching and cheering that was thrown at us throughout the day. 

There were a number of frantic teams competition in the same heat as us, but regardless, there was always someone from the team over at our lane shouting out words of encouragement and coaching to help us through each WOD. 

But what was even more amazing were the comments and feedback we got from these same people on the day while still at the event, posted to our walls, in private messages and on our team photos. The support received by the whole Frantic family was unbelievable and we are so thankful to them for adopting us throughout this expedition. 

Dropbox

I have only really got on the Dropbox band wagon in the past year. Previously I was saving everything to multiple thumb drives and forgetting what was on which, taking the wrong thumb drive to work with me, which just delayed my reports and programs even more...fail!!

I started using Dropbox to share files with a health professional I was seeing and started to work out how easy it is to use and easily accessible wherever I was whether that be on my phone, iPad, laptop or any computer. I was sold!

I now have files for work, with people I am doing some work for, people helping me with health and fitness...and my favourite file Beast Mode ON which is shared with my two training partners and is where we keep our documented madness that we undertake...ie workout and event footage.

I was uploading the very large number of photos and videos from the Three Vs Three Showdown over the weekend and couldn't help but giggle when the program told me just how long it was going to take to upload everything.

A program I am thankful for, for making my life a little easier, reducing my number for thumb drives and meaning that I got most of my work done on time!

Strong Women

Well we did it. Yesterday was the Three Vs Three Crossfit Showdown. And it was an amazingly epic and long day. Strap yourselves in people because I've got a lot to say with this one!!

I picked up these girls at a very dark and rainy 6am with a ridiculous number of bags piled into my car. It honestly looked like we were going camping for a week. Me being my usual self, we were VERY early. So we sat in the warm and dry car for a good twenty minutes before loading up and trekking out onto the tennis courts where the event was going to be held for the day. The rain came and went for the first few hours of the morning and we were going from rain jackets and huddling under tents with giant garbage bags covering our bags to standing out in the sun with minimal clothes on.

 

WOD 1

75 double unders, 15 shoulder to overhead 35kg, 60m sprint

10 min time cap for 3 rounds

 

I was up first. Got out my double unders in two sets, faulting at around 55 and then into the shoulder to overhead. Prior to today the most I have gotten out was 10 reps. Planning to get through sets of 5, my first 8 were good. Number 9 was called a no rep because I didn't lock out at the top. so bar went down, I took a few seconds, got to 13, which was called no rep again. Took a breath and finally got through the last two...thank God! Ran, and tagged in Bec at 2 mins 56 seconds. The double under practice has done this chick well because 2 weeks ago she as getting no more then 5-8 out at a time, but today sets of 20! She got to the presses and was a little knackered from the cardio which she loves so much but still powered them out in around sets of five. Tagged Miranda in to finish us off. the DU's were Miranda's biggest concern coming into the whole day, but she soldiered on and got them out bit by bit, getting to 75 with about 45 seconds to spare. Luckily this girl is super strong and just absolutely powered out 9 of the 15 reps in that final 45 seconds...best possible person to finish of the time!

 

WOD 2

1440m Run, 3x30m Bear Crawl, 3x30m Broad Jump 1440m Run

For Time

 

This was going to be our event. As described by our coach, we've got good engines. There was a little moment of panic when the teams around us took off like rockets, but the rockets ran out of fuel and it wasn't long until we caught ourselves back up. Until that is, our judged miscounted our laps and claimed that we broke order which is how we were out (which we are all 100% sure didn't happen but what can you do) so I had to run an extra run. This put us behind again going into the bear crawls. Though due to our bear crawl experience and again the reliance on our good engines we caught back up and took out the win for the WOD. Yeah first timers!! Fist pump moment and some massive high fives - if you have ever seen our high five build up.

 

WOD 3

12 Sled Pushes +30kg, 40x 30kg Snatches, 80x Hand Release Push Ups,

40x 30kg Snatches, 12x Sled Pushes +30kg

For Time

 

This one was done all as a tag team, whoever was feeling strong would do what they could. Sled pushes we all went one for one and despite being nervous about the quads and calves got through them well. Onto snatches. The plan was to get the two power houses to get out sets of 5 and me to get through 3's if my shoulder and wrist were holding up. All went to plan and I was surprised at how good my injuries were feeling...adrenaline? Push Ups. I was to get out more due to my good body weight endurance and to save the other two for the snatches on the way back, another thing we were nervous about. But again I don't know if it was adrenaline or we were feeling amazing...lets go with both, but we flew through them! I surprised myself with 4 reps to go I was up and having only done 2's and 3's, got out the final 4 before it was straight back onto the sled pushes....again easier then we thought! So after being worried about the second round of snatches and the sled pushes...super happy with our effort!

 

WOD 4

8min AMRAP of 40kg Squat Cleans

 

Final WOD of the day. Feeling tired and starting to tighten up we were rolling and stretching like you wouldn't believe before jumping into the warm up area to start warming up the shoulders and hips. After being able to get a clean up in the warm up I was nervous. Miranda's lack of flexibility in both her hips and thoracic meant that she was worried about clearing the squat depth...Bec had some super tight calves but otherwise was good to go. The plan was Bec first for 3-4 reps, Miranda next for 2-3, and then me to try for one. For me though if my shoulder or wrist were not holding up, or I just kept failing, I was to step out and just let the other two to tag team. Time starts and Bec and Miranda get 3 each, and I get one...woooooo!! Another three each, and I get another one!! Throughout the 8 minutes I managed to get all of the 10+ reps that I attempted - soooo happy! Miranda cleared the depth of each of her reps and Bec was an absolute powerhouse smashing out rep after rep, finishing the time with 4 strong reps.

 

And we are done!!! An absolutely massive day where we all smashed PB's and performed above anything then we have done before. We worked incredibly as a team, supported, encouraged and carried each other through the day and I am so proud of us as a team and both thankful and grateful to have been in a team with these amazing women as a part of an fantastic event.