Monday, April 25, 2011

The Laced Up Confessionals Part Four

On Monday, our running clinic had a guest speaker; a physiotherapist and chiropractor who works for a sports clinic.  This is the same clinic I went to last year, (but not the same doctor) for my hip problems. 
I think they are amazing people that work there because they are athletes which means they understand about training schedules and they will try to keep you out on the trail running rather than on the couch putting your feet up whenever possible.  To a runner this is great news, because any time on the couch means loss of muscle mass and lost time out there training for upcoming runs, which in turn can mean slower race times and missed races all together.
The doctor I saw last year was one of the few who went to Vancouver to help out with the athletes that came for the Olympics.  So I knew I was in great hands.  The doctor who worked on me was young and good looking and there was a joke amongst the women in the group that we should call him “Abe the babe”, seeing as he wanted to be called by his first name rather than his position title.
So back to Monday night.  This guy, like the previous doctor before him, was young and good looking as well and he was a long distance runner having a number of Marathons under his belt.  He started out telling us about the benefits of icing after a run and how the worst thing you can do is immerse yourself in a hot bath afterwards because it causes inflammation of any injuries and will cause more pain then wanted.  Ice, he said, is an athlete’s best friend.  Then it was on to information about stretching, the pros and cons and when they should be performed.  There is controversy in the running world about whether they should be done at all.  But the good looking doctor boys think that is a good thing to do IF you do it after a run and not before.  This they say is because the muscles are like rubber bands and you want to stretch a warm muscle not snap a cold one.  He went on to demonstrate some stretches and pre-run moves to warm up before we head out.  He had some great ones for shin splints that I found useful
When his half an hour was up our coach took over and we all bundled up and headed out into the parking lot to try out his new moves.  (I never knew that some men have such grace while skipping, and then there were others who nearly killed themselves in the attempt!)   I am sure we looked hilarious out there flinging our legs this way and that and then to and fro to get our glutes tight.  Then with most of us laughing at our attempts to reproduce the doctor’s orders, we headed out for the run start.
I found my running partner and noticed that she was limping a bit.  I asked her what was wrong and she told me that when she did one of the moves she felt some sharp pains going from above her buttock down the back of her leg.  I immediately thought that it sounded like a sciatica problem, I asked her if she still wanted to continue and like a trooper she replied yes, thinking that it might make it settle down with use.  I told her that we should take it easy and not to push things and that if it got worse along the way we could walk it instead of run, and by the end she seemed better.  So we parted ways, re-enforcing our plans to meet up for Wednesday at 6pm.
So Wednesday comes along and I am having one of those low energy days, it is cloudy and rainy outside and at 2:30pm I am thinking it would be a really great idea to take a nap, especially if I have to go for a run later.  So I cuddle up and I am off to dreamland lickety split.  I wake up two hours later with a doze induced hangover. 
I am snug beneath the blankets and thinking about how it’s a run night and I had better get my rear in gear if I am going to get to my pre-arranged run meeting with my run partner.  I am cursing the fact that I didn’t get her phone number to cancel, then I think it is a really good idea that I don’t have her number so I can’t cancel our run date.  But never the less my brain and body are fighting against my will.  In loud shrill voices they are crying out to me to stop the insanity that I should do anything but lace up and meet up with my running partner in the cold wind.  I should just roll over and continue my hibernating journey.  I should just give in to all the pleasure that the warm bed provides.
Eventually it is the thought of my promise to be there that finally rouses me from under the comforter, because I have given my word and if a woman doesn’t have her word, then ultimately what does she have?
So I get out of the warm cocoon I am so fond of, change into hot pink microfiber, lace up my shoes, don my reflective gear, hat and keys and I am on my way. 
As I am driving through town with the grey skies and rain coming down I am thinking –no praying—that she shows up for the run, on days like this it is much better to have someone to share in the misery.
I get to the store where the clinics are held and I see that there are not many runners tonight.  There is also no sign of my running partner, but I am still early and being so I am also still hopeful that she will show.  I browse the shop for the latest shoes and electrolyte jelly beans and then I spy her coming in through the front door.  But there is a catch, she is limping.  Turns out that stretching session really did her in and for the past two days she has been in some serious pain so she said that should would forgo the run tonight and only came down to let me know of her situation.  I was floored that she would come all the way across town to do so.  Not many people would have.  Her likability went up tenfold.
I thanked her and told her that I thought she should go and see “Abe the Babe” right away.  I said that if she told him how much pain she was in I was sure he would see her right away, and might even stay late for her, it is just the way he is.  I told her I couldn’t promise that the process wouldn’t be painful, because it probably would be, but I also said that the process would help her out in the long run, (Pardon the pun) and that the sciatica problem she has had trouble with all her life might even disappear.  She promised she would give him a call and wished me luck on my run.
I headed out with the others in the rain and greyness, wishing I had taken my MP3 player to combat the howling wind. 
**Footnote**
~Why do all fitness Guru’s think it is a good idea to make new runners run past fast food and local restaurants?  On my way out and back I have to go past Dairy Queen and smell their burgers!  I want to know why an ice cream giant such as themselves have not come up with a fat free frozen yogurt blizzard.   Someone is definitely slow on the uptake!

4 comments:

  1. Your fitness guru is trying to make you strong by putting temptation in your path. Enjoyable read :)

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  2. Big smiles... you are probably right Katley! Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. I remember reading "The loneliness of the long distance runner." ~ a short story by the appropriately named Alan Sillitoe. The closest thing I ever got to enjoying running. Well done and keep at it!

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  4. I will have to see if I can find that on the net sometime. Thanks for the read! :)

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