Exercise 1.7

A little walking today, I'd hoped to do a swim but no time during work hours and after hours we went to listen to Rosie who was visiting Sheffield as part of a promotional run to promote Phase. She's a great storyteller and has had an unusual life to draw upon for inspirational tales.

Accelerate were promoting the event and provided lovely tea and sales advice and made us feel so at home in the shop. Thank you all.

Exercise 1.6

Just walking to and from work today. No swim, no additional weight-bearing exercises and certainly no running. Before bed I rollered and stretched. A pain free day but so it should be. On the positive side, it should have been a good day of healing.

Exercise 1.5

I've been on a train for almost 5 hours today and not walked very far but even so it's clear that the left knee is struggling after yesterday's steps. It feels generally tired and aches but whilst walking no distinct pain.

During this evening's swim it became apparent that I've started to take a few short cuts in my stroke in the quest for back-to-back lengths. I was told that I wasn't finishing the stroke nor reaching enough. Trying to correct this gave the impression of a more powerful stroke with some well-paced lengths but it was also a bit more tiring and I only managed a maximum of 3 lengths. I didn't suffer from the tingling fingers that troubled me some months ago suggesting that I'm regulating my breathing fairly well.

Exercise 1.4

This morning a set of 10 step descents was fine even though I woke up with stiff legs. During the afternoon we did a 7km stroll which was easy on the legs and gave me the vague thought that things might be improving. On return the right leg was fine with another set of descents but the left leg hurt part way through the set and I stopped at that point; the flexion was a bit restricted even before that. The problem seemed to originate in the quadriceps tendon as before.

Exercise 1.3

Walking into town and back via the swimming pool has been more than enough today. On the hill close to home my left knee became quite sore around the ITB area although it settled quite rapidly. For a while though it had felt tired and had a very mild ache. As far as I'm concerned that means no step descents or short run today. I will do rollering and stretching soon.

The swim was OK, it was subjectively hard work but done at my usual speed and for no greater distance. The pool wasn't even rough so I'll have to keep an eye on this to ensure I'm not heading towards an injury.

Exercise 1.2

Having walked to work I did 1 set of 10 step descents and realised that I wasn't flexing my left leg much and that was then being blocked by the calf muscle - hence the apparent tightness. Basically I was guarding the painful bit.

After a day at work and going home I'm well aware of the left ligaments so no descents or run this evening seems the best policy.  A set of 10 squats was fine though.

Interesting video on cross over gait

I've done a bit of googling on Cross Over gait and found that it's amazingly common. Here's a sample webpage with some nice videos:

http://thegaitguys.tumblr.com/post/29486393822/the-cross-over-running-technique-again-a-new

The whole issue is making me think of swimming. Most people would accept that a swimming teacher or class is helpful or even essential and yet most runners are self taught. OK, so maybe running is very natural and we 'just do it', but over extended distances many people approach their limits and maybe more coaching should be seen as the norm? 

I suppose one problem is that the biomechanics of running are controversial (witness the barefoot movement) and for every supporter of Q-angle you could find a coach or therapist that thinks such concepts are unhelpful, or even fanciful!  In general there appears to be far more agreement amongst the swimming community as to what is effective or harmful.