Normipäivä

Now that I'm back in good spirits and well adapted to cross training I thought of describing my regular day, normipäivä, as it is.

6am Wake up and some gymnastics to wake up my foot while having a morning coffee. It's raining cats and dogs but luckily it's only a brief ride to gym.

7am Spinning. I'm still half asleep but the instructor seems to think it's a hard session and everyone should put his or her max effort into it. Aargh..

8am Swimming & sauna. I finally start to get off my morning stiffness.

9am Breakfast & newspapers. Sometimes at Starbucks, sometimes at home. I prefer coffee at Starbucks but porridge is better at home although I do like their Swiss-style breakfast pot. Today I want to have my homemade pecan nut oatmeal with cinnamon so I cycle back home.

11am Back to gym again for a strength session. I'm different from the other heavy-users there but fit well in by now. I used to get these strange looks when I went to the men's side (that is the side of the gym with free weights and bars) and lifted my pathetic 15kg bar but now they seem to know that there is this odd distance runner girl who attempts to lift weights but actually forgets to put weights to her bar.

1-5pm Lunch, nap, stretching, mails, papers, housework, gingerbread baking etc.

6pm Back to gym again. It's third time I say hello to the girl at the front desk. It's time for spinning. Only a brief 30min class, works as a warm up. When the class ends and others get off their bikes to start with stretching I continue pedaling with two bald +40 blokes. They always stay for at least two classes in a row. Typical mamils (=middle-aged men in lycra). They used to have their expensive sport cars but nowadays they are actually sporty and go on two wheels.

7pm Another class of spinning starts and before I notice I've done 90mins of hills and intervals. I'm sweaty all over but a tough session easily done. Just do what you're told to do and it's done.

8pm There's pilates in the scheme but I already feel pretty tired. But I should do that, shouldn't I? It's really something I should be doing now. Phew okay I'll go...

9pm Dinner, stretching and flexibility exercises. I keep some ice in my foot while watching TV.

10pm I go to bed and read a few pages of The Hobbit before falling asleep. Next I'm dreaming of adventures in the Middle Earth...

It's tendinitis!

I've been silent for a month now because there hasn't been much to say. I've been struggling with a metatarsal injury and haven't been able to do much of training. It's been nasty and disturbing and it hasn't gone away even though I've given it a lot of rest and kept off from running. After three weeks of more or less constant pain I started to get worried about it (that is my doctor got worried about it) and went to see some experts. Sharp pain was localized primarily to the first metatarsal bone and it was sore when tapped. In other words an obvious stress fracture (which is really no wonder after running a marathon). There was also some joint irritation, general tightness and reduced flexibility in the foot but the pain in the first metatarsal remained even when flexibility was regained. So a little bit of this and that but clearly some bone damage too. This was the initial diagnosis but just to be sure I went to MRI. I've done it twice before when suspecting a stress fracture and both times it has proven right. But this time it surprised me by not showing any obvious inflammation in the bone, only beneath it (wohoo!). I know I've already announced otherwise but luckily it wasn't that simple. So after going first deep down in despair for a day or two the actual statement of the radiologist was a huge relief. My two previous stress fractures took months to recover so any injury other than a stress fracture is good news to me. It's not that the foot is any better (well, it is a bit better) but the fact that I'm actually able to do things and don't have to spend next 8-12 weeks solely in a swimming pool helps a lot. It looks like I can do the trip to New Zealand but running the World Cup races there remains to be seen.

                                              

                                              Bye bye and Merry Christmas to you all!