Cross training

Cross training has been ruling my life for the last 2 weeks now. My ankle tendon pain is still there so I have just stayed on the eliptical, pool, bike and anti gravity treadmill to make sure that it heals completely before I start the training for London in a few weeks time. I actually saw the most amount of progress with the tendon a few days ago when I went down to Phoenix to see Dr John Ball, a man who seems to be able to diagnose the source of every and any problem with your body. He found that although my right toe is flexible, when it is flexed it becomes less flexible so that it is creating a problem elsewhere on my leg. There is also a lot of tightness in my right psoas and hip capsule that is not allowing me to have full extension when I am toeing off also which exasperates the problem. I am still amazed at how quickly he has been able to help me with just a short session with him. He asks questions, tells you to do certain exercises and prods around to find what is tight or inflexible. It seems like the body is more like a math equation to him, here is the problem and this is the answer. He just gets it. Of course the treatment can be quite painful but very worth it as it means less pain in the long run. I was having a lot of tightness and pain when my foot would dorsiflex but by the end of the session with John I was able to do a full painless lunge and that is still the same today, 2 days later. He also got into my left knee that has been painful and inflexible since I was 14 when I developed Osgood Schlatters disease. After sticking his thumbs into it and breaking up some of the scar tissue that had formed over the years, I was able to kneel down far more than I have been able to in 12 years. Its not even sore when I do any kind of quad stretching which was a really tough stretch for me before. I'm going to go see him again next week for a couple of sessions so we can try knock this thing on the head so I can get back to some running. Boy am I thankful for having someone of John's skill level so close to us. If anyone has any problems and is in the Phoenix area, I would call John, he'll sort you out (http://johnballdc.com/).

I have been working really hard in the gym so I know I am not losing much fitness. I am usually training 3 times a day which is tiring but I know it is worth getting in all this work now so once I start the marathon training I will be strong enough to handle it. On Friday I was on the bike for 3 hours and an hour on the eliptical to try and simulate a long run. The most worthwhile sessions I find are on the spinning bike. I usually go on the bike an hour before a class starts and do a workout of some sort and then I do the class. This is really tiring but I was supposed to be doing a lot of hill work right now so this helps to simulate the type of muscular activation I would be if I was running hills. The other thing I have been doing is core and hip/glute work which I know has been a weak area of my body for a long time. I have always done core work but when it comes to my hips and glutes I have almost unconsciously ignored working on them. I have been using a lot of Jay Johnson's drills (http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=16625) to strengthen those areas that are weaker than they should be. The good thing about these drills is that right now I can do them everyday and it doesn't take away from the other training I am doing as I can recover from them quickly. Working on these weaknesses are going to be a big part of my training this year so that I can run pain free in the long run. Luckily I love cross training and don't get bored easily with the workouts so its definitely satisfying my need for endorphins all day long. Of course after all this time on the gym everyday I spend a lot of time doing dynamic stretching and a lot of work on the foam roller to help loosen off the muscles I have been using.

The other big thing that has happened in this last week was that Julie and I got a puppy. We were down in Phoenix last weekend for my uncles funeral so we decided to take a look at some dogs that we had seen in shelters on the internet. None of them were suitable unfortunately which we were sad about but on Sunday we decided to go by the pet store that had a rescue shelter bring a bunch of dogs to be adopted. There were a lot of cute dogs that we really liked but a little Jack Russell mix that we saw really stood out to us. He was so calm and just wanted to love us so we decided to adopt him. This of course meant a big shopping spree in the pet store to get everything he would need. Once we got him back to the house we realised what a good decision it was to get him. He was so well behaved and got on well with Julie's parents dog. He slept the whole way back up the mountain to Flagstaff and did well when I washed him in the shower. As the days have gone by we have fallen deeper in love with him as he is a very caring dog that is very attached to us. His training is going well and he learned his name, Finley, after the first day. I get to spend all day with him which is really nice and I now have a good napping partner in the afternoons.