Sharla's New Log - Attempting to Avoid Becoming A Slovenly Pig

[Sharla]

Ok I'm back!

My elbow having an undisplaced fracture didn't require surgery to have pins inserted. When I went to a specialist he said that's what would've been required if it was displaced and if I fell on it or something and caused it to be displaced while it was healing.

That didn't happen! Halleluya! Me being clumsy is not such an uncommon occurance so that really is a true miracle!

The other great thing was that i got to take the cast off after only 10 days. The bone doc was actually disgusted to see it had even been put in one as apparently if it was left that way I may have had difficulty ever straightening it again and competant doctors don't cast elbows. I was suprised something as basic as treatement for a broken bone can be stuffed up by 3 separate GPs that saw me before i saw the bone dude! Scary! Pays to get a second and specialist opinion I think! All the treatment did cost a little bit buthopefully I will end up being refunded on the driver's 3rd party insurance (fingers crossed).

Other news - well I've been feeling like a fat slovenly pig and thus failing at the aim of this log but hopefully I can turn it around now. I can completely straighten my arm and do pushups on it. I'm going to wait a few more weeks before i punch with it but I have made plans to keep myself busy in the meantime.

I have joined a 24 hour gym and It is cool! No time limit means I can get a decent workout in either before or after work and it's about $10 a week with no contract which suits me as i'll likely be moving in another 6 months or so.

It has the coolest treadmills - there are a lot of choices but my favourite so far is the track setting and the fact you can program in 3 paces to train at by just pressing a button. I've been setting walking pace at 6.1 kmphr, jogging at 11 kmphr and running at 14 kmphr.

Saturday - 15.5 km of rowing, 5 km of track with about 10 mins of walk warmup. Walk pace 400 m, jog pace 400 m, run pace 400 m.

Sunday - 14 km track work, walk warm up 10 mins, the rest being 300 m walk pace, 400 m jog pace and 100 m run. Finished off with 6 km on the rower.

Monday (tomorrow) will be a recovery day and I'll aim to do more resistance training etc during the rest of the week.

[Sharla]

I haven't posted here forever and I don't have a lot to add - just a few hindsight notes I'd like to make in case they apply to anyone else.

1) I had the MRI redone on my bad knee mid last year and they did find cartilage damage. There is a good chance this damage was the original cause of my knee pain but the original scan was not of good enough quality to pick it up.

There is a narrow crack in the cartilage behind my left knee cap all the way though. It's not rough and doesn't catch - symptomatically I can see how to a physio it didn't manifest the same way that cartilage damage usually does.

I know now why I went through the cycle of easing off, doing all of the physio exercises, feeling less pain only to have the problem reoccur when I got back to a certain training level.

The reality is cartilage doesn't heal. I will always be limited in what I can do. On one hand this kinda sucks but it's a LOT better to know this now than to continue to go through the frustrating yo-yo experience I did.

Now I just know there is a limit to how far and often I can run. I know cross training is important if I want to keep my cardio fitness going. I know I can't do lunges or stairs or skipping.

To be able to run a little I must work on my cadence, running form and stick to nice surfaces. I also have to keep my weight close to it's ideal. Right now I am heavier than I have ever been because I am 7 months preggers but I will have to drop the kilos ASAP afterwards.

So my advice to others based on this would be - don't always go with your first diagnosis. Things like MRIs can be hideously expensive but they can be worth repeating if you feel like you are hitting a brick wall with your recovery from an injury.

2) I did get off of my anti-depressants quite a while ago. Chemically I think the medication really just needed time to help my brain chemistry reach a new stable equilibrium. I also suspect having adequate vitamin D and B levels has helped.

I'm learning having a firm idea of your values - rather than goals which we so often hear about is crucial. You can always live in a way which is true to your values even if things you can not control interfere with your ability to reach your goals.

I'm trying to become more mindful - to live in the moment to avoid negative, circular thinking. Not great at it yet - but it's a skill I can see being worthwhile.

I want to point out right now that I do believe I am very 'normal'. I believe looking after your brain is something that warrants ongoing consideration and maintenance just like any other part of your body.

3) Sometimes I wonder why the level of my best was what it was - reasonable but not as good as I would have hoped. The biggest reason would be that I was too self conscious - I worried too much about what people might think when they saw me train or compete. I couldn't tolerate failure in myself either.

That attitude was completely Pointless - you have to be crap sometimes and make mistakes to learn. Maybe your mistakes happen in training and you have a great record - maybe they happen in competition because you are not pushed enough in training.

Like many others I was not brought up to see myself making mistakes as a step forward so much as a sign I was not capable of something. Logically / intellectually I have always known that anyone who is good at something had to work to get there so at least I kept trying.

However, I think you need to really believe and feel you can learn from all your mistakes to keep improving. You can't let mistakes ruin your confidence in your ability to improve.

Otherwise the temptation is to stay within your comfort zone. You never progress beyond that point then. With coaching that didn't prod me to improve beyond my comfort zone I reached a maximum.

I hope to avoid this in life from now on - not just to reach my best but even if you are crap you should still be able to enjoy what you do!

Anyway I'd be happy to hear any ideas / comments people have RE the above.

[Andre]

Hi Sharla nice to see you here again.
Congratulations on the baby,good luck with it all.
You need one of Scraps machines so you can exersize and repair laying down with no weight on the knee.

I just had a MRi done on one knee and after getting a diagnosis of needing a new knee! I have taken some other routes of self repair as much as can be done.

Fish oil 12 a day helps.

Getting adjusted slightly with a vibrating frequency adjuster from a top chiro has helped me to put weight and movement more evenly distributed too.

I use to wake up in pain, I dont any more since getting onto the right dose of fish oil.

Cheaper ones but in volume really does help. (not sure about that if you are pregnant though.

[Sharla]

Thanks Andre

We're pretty happy despite the fact I now weigh 78 kgs when I used to weigh under 60 and I know at some stage I'll have to get a watermelon out of something that's usually closer to the size of a grape!

I'm actually really impressed by pregnancy vitamins - when you think about it they are designed to not only sustain an adult woman while lactating but also help to develop a little human being inside her.

I did take some fish oil along with my pregnancy vitamins for a while but found out I was effectively double dosing so I stopped. I haven't felt a lot of knee pain since being pregnant and I think it could be partly because of the vitamins - including their fish oil content.

I wonder how long I can get away with taking them after I finish lactating . Preggers vitamins are maybe not something you would want to take for your knee though!

Another possible benefit related to pregnancy could be the increased blood circulation. A woman I work with actually had improved eye sight when she got pregnant because the shape of her corneas was improved by the increased blood flow. Luckily her eye sight has not degenerated back to it's original level since child birth even though her youngest is a few years old!

Cartilage does not heal though - so I don't expect any pregnancy knee healing miracles - just benefits from having better understanding and management. I'm happy with that as it's not really that restrictive - it forces me to expand my horizons a little rather than just to running because it's so easy, cheap and convenient.

It sounds like you are managing your knee well though Andre - to go from needing a new knee to not waking up in pain! Well done

So do you have cartilage damage too? By new knee what exactly were they suggesting? A joint replacement like what is more common for hips? Sounds serious!

I can see how the chiro would help. I've never heard of the vibrating frequency adjuster. I've had a chiro use a massage machine to loosen up my back before making adjustments. I have good impressions of exercising on machines with a vibrating platform to strengthen all those small but very important stabilising muscles. Is what your chiro used anything like either of those?

With my current belly heavy weight distribution I don't think I can work much on my posture except for a few preggers pilates classes but after I've popped I do want to work on that.

I have been trying to understand running technique better and figured out that I don't recruit my gluteals enough when I run and tend to drop my hips - one side more than the other. I can recommend a good e-book that explains it all very well in case anyone is interested:
Running Technique Book | Understanding and training for good running technique and form

Training the correct technique for movements that have to become automatic is tricky. With running technique I think that is the hard part - anyone can strengthen a muscle but learning to use it correctly without having to think about it is much harder. I may have to look at some of Scraps threads for ideas.

I think to make the most of chiro treatments etc I'm going to have to try to improve my movement patterns. I want to know I'm not paying a chiro to continually put bandaids on a problem just to have me start to undo their good work as soon as I walk out of their office.

[Youngblood]

And when you find Scrap's old posts, please link them so we can put them back in the Important/Useful section.

Great to see you back Sharla, and congrats on the baby on the way!

[Sharla]

Thanks Youngblood

I will definitely link to Scraps threads as I dig them up again - can't lose them! Those threads make you realise there is a lot more to it all that you need to understand without dumbing it down and just giving you all the answers - they are dangerously addictive!

[robinhook]

hi Sharla
I tried to PM you but unfortunately not enough posts.

I've just realised you are training in Adelaide. Wondering if you could help me out.

I am really keen to compete. However, I dont wanna get involved in politic. My club is not a member of BSA. Is there any chance I could do some interclub sparring?

Pls email me and let me know what should I do
my email adress: robin.run@gmail.com
A million thanks
Robin