Ouwwwwch!

I'm in pain. Suffering. Barely able to walk. Why? 'Oh no, not another injury?' I hear you cry. No, thankfully I will not be out of action for another 2 weeks, but I will be cursing the word 'Physio' for another few days I'm sure; two words: sports massage.

Oh my! I have not felt pain like it. The last time she got her hands on my, she must have been holding back; maybe it's a cunning ploy to make sure you return again, after all if she'd inflicted a similar amount of pain on me the first time, I may have been less inclined to book an appointment for today! Although she gave all of my major muscle groups a torturous pummelling massage, it is my calves that have born the brunt of it: 'You've very tight calves, especially the left.' she observed.
'Yes, it does hurt a bit.' I attempted to reply through gritted teeth.
'I'm sorry' she faux apologised, 'I am spending quite a bit of time on them, as I'm concerned that they're overtight and could too easily sustain an injury so I really want to get into them.'
'It's okay' I gasped as my foot quivered from the pain inflicted above it, 'I know it's for the best.'

Which of course, is true. However, I am now unable to sit down as whenever I do I'm unable to start walking again. As a consequence I have been incrediably active this afternoon, walking everywhere I usually would have driven; which can only be a good thing. Saying that, I'm now clearly going to be stuck in the spare room for the rest of the night as I'm never going to be able to move from this computer!


Good news though... my bum mantra works! I've already started firing my glutes first after only 2 weeks of practise! I told Jo (evil physio) about my mantra and, after she'd finished laughing, she said that theoretically it makes perfect sense; technically the muscles should be firing subconsciously, but as mine weren't, consciously thinking about them should cause them to fire... which it does. So my bum mantra doesn't seem so silly after all now!

I also told her about my disintegrated shoe, the common overwear on all my left running shoes and the way my running coach has noticed that I run higher up on my right foot than my left even when I'm consciously trying to stay off my toes on both. She has suggested that I see a podiatrist as it could be that I have one leg slightly shorter than the other; it's unlikely to be much more than millimetres but with the increase in running activity, it would explain some of the musculoskeletal issues I am having. Unfortunately, a short research spell on the internet has revealed that podiatrists are a tad on the expensive side;  my friend has pointed me in the direction of University of Salford who run a clinic at a fraction of the cost so it's fingers crossed I can get an appointment with them, or I think I might be asking my friendly local doctor for a referral.

So, things I have learnt today are:
1. Sports massage is good for you... but oh my it is sooooooo painful.
2. I may have to cut a little bit off my left leg to make it the same length as my right.
3. My bum mantra totally works.
4. If a physio gives you exercises to do... do them... they work!
5. If I tell myself 'I'm not going to eat chocolate today', it's all I think about... Mmmmmmm chocolate...