Will he, won't he....?

Couldn't resist a reference to Andy Murray this morning. I don't have any fingernails left after that highly stressful, edge-of-your-seat match yesterday against Ferrer. So, he had better pull out his A-game for tomorrow, lol. Annoyingly, Djokovic appears to be playing the best tennis of his life and will have had 2 days to recover. The odds are definitely in his favour but, well, you never know.... If Andy Murray won tomorrow it would certainly cheer up a very gloomy winter.

It's been a bit of different week in terms of rehab. I decided to do a long (for me) walk last Saturday (4.5 miles). There were a few of the usual twinges/pains and, by the end, my muscles had had enough but, overall, I was pleased with how my body coped. Unfortunately, I managed to pull a hamstring (right leg, outer muscle behind the knee) when stretching afterwards which then took the best part of 5 days to heal. That meant resting from the pool or gym work this week.

On Tuesday, I decided to check out the local gyms as I'll need to keep up the strengthening work now that the hospital gym thing has finished. There's a choice of 2: the public sports centre and one of those private health clubs. Of course, the private health club has superb facilities, loads of space and great personal training support. However, it costs £50+ a month and I'd only have the capacity to use it once a week. I figured it was better to start at the (far cheaper, pay-as-you-go) public gym. Maybe one day I'll have faster recovery times and be able to justify the cost of the alternative. For now, I've booked my 1-hr gym induction for this coming Tuesday.

I have to admit that the process of exploring the gyms was fab. I guess I never really believed that I'd actually one day be able to make use of a gym. And, in a way, it felt like I was taking another step towards 'rejoining society'. So much of 'normal life' has been outside of my capacities for so many years. It felt kinda radical to turn up as these places and genuinely know I could make use of its facilities for my good. I guess, too, gyms symbolise health and fitness and the idea that I can be a part of that 'health and fitness' is flipping fantastic!

The fly in the ointment to my growing optimism is this chronic problem with the LHS lower back pain. As usual, just as I think it's improving, it recurs. It doesn't restrict any movements; it doesn't hurt when I move in a particular way; it's just this gnawing, irritated-nerve type ache deep down on the LHS.

Generally, I've been pretty tired this week. Although I didn't realise it, the NHS physio/gym support had brought some relief from the grind of having to do it all on my own. The loss of that support, and the need for me to pick up the reigns again, has required a fair amount of emotional energy.

...anyway....enough of all that....back to tomorrow's match 'C'mon Andy'!

(the picture was copied from the Australian Open website)

More Waxwings, Same Problems

The sun put in a rare appearance on Sunday, 9th January, and I took the opportunity to try to get some decent pictures of Waxwings. To my surprise and utter excitement, I came upon a flock of about 40, not 2 minutes from the house, feeding on berries on a local roundabout. I parked up, jumped out of the car and had about 2 minutes with this group before they flew off North to other feeding grounds. It was a magical moment, bathed in sunshine and I got the best photos so far of these beautiful Scandinavian visitors.

In terms of rehab, I'm still managing the same problems. The LHS lower back tightness/pain still bothers me almost daily. The right upper thigh/groin tightness/ache is fairly constant, with referred pain in my right foot, which has been there for months now. I guess it's an irritated nerve?. I also re-injured my right, deep, abdominal muscles a few weeks ago and they're twingey and painful as well.

However, I do think the strengthening work at the hospital gym is helping. I suspect I need to keep focusing on my hip strength (esp glutes) and keep up the hip adduction, abduction and extension strengthening. It was my last hospital gym session yesterday. I completed the following (in 45 mins):

5 mins exercise bike
10 glute bridges (10 sec holds)
2 x 10 reps press-ups (45 deg angle)
2 x 10 reps hip adduction, abduction, extension (red theraband)
2.5 x 10 reps leg extensions (5 kg)
3 x 10 reps leg press (25kg, 34kg, 43kg)
2 x 10 reps steps ups
1.5 x 10 reps bicep curls
4 mins wobble board
2 mins exercise ball
40 straight arms 'up and over'

I made sure I kept stretching out my LHS lower back and didn't have any problems with it last night, which is encouraging. I've iced my right abs this morning.

I'm not quite sure yet how I'm going to organise the next few months. I'd like to get back to swimming but I also recognise that the gym work is important too. Perhaps I'll do 2 weeks in the gym, 1 in the pool and alternate like that? We'll see. I need to explore the local gyms and see if they have what I need and how much each visit is going to cost.

Tired today after the gym work yesterday. It's a good job the Australian Open is on the telly....
.....Come on Andy Murray!

A New Year and A New Bird

Yesterday, I fulfilled a long-time dream of seeing these beautiful birds - Waxwings. Due to the cold weather they have been coming inland in their droves and Hertfordshire has not been excluded. It was a dull, dank day, awful for photography, but I was very pleased to get a few half-decent record shots, this being one of them. What most surprised me about these birds is the beautiful sound the flock makes as they perch and feed. It's quite unique and one I shall certainly remember. I was chuffed to bits to finally spend an hour with them. I'm hoping for some sunshine tomorrow and the chance to catch up with a flock again - two variables which are hard to pin down!

The new year has started off steadily. The Tuesday hospital gym session went well although I was bone tired afterwards. I don't think I've been so tired in a long time. The technique of regularly stretching out the LHS lower back seems to be managing the chronic irritation/spasm. However, it has been particularly bad the past 3 days for no obvious reason - hormones perhaps!?! Who knows. I'm icing it as I write!

The right upper/inner thigh tightness and pain remain. I had to take painkillers on Tuesday night for it to be able to sleep. I did discover at the gym session that I have been doing the hip adduction exercise wrong for the past 2 years, which isn't going to have helped this issue. I had been taking the leg across the front of my standing leg rather than simply bring it in to end at the standing leg. Anyway, the way I was doing it was continually aggravating the right thigh problem. Below shows how I should have been doing it:

I read some interesting stuff on the net this week about 'hard gainers' (skinny people, like me, who find it hard to put on muscle and fat). It essentially said that a little exercise goes a long way for hard gainers. They need more rest and recovery time between significant exercise because it takes longer for muscle repair and recovery. It's helped me to see that I probably was doing too much and only promoting injury and hindering muscle growth. The way forward is definitely "Less is More". I am deliberately doing less walking/cycling now and concentrating my efforts on the once a week gym session. As ever, it would have been useful if the NHS had given me this kind of advice/info 2 years ago...!

Not much else to note. I do feel stronger. It did take a good 3 days to recover from Tuesday but I'm hoping it's all down to hormones this week.

Here's to more opportunities to see Waxwings now....