Tractor laid

Well, every time I do any squats (be that with weight or single leg squats using body weight only), I am in a bit of pain the next day and walking down stairs is actually quite horrible. After Wednesdays' squats I was blaming the running for causing me so much pain, but after doing the squats (for ITB) on Sunday (with no running) and still today finding stairs difficult, I thought it best to see the physio and get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later. I have in the past struggled on, trying to sort things out myself and Tim has helped within a couple of sessions, so I'm off there tonight to get it sorted.

I was reading a few comments on Bangalore from runners who had done it, and laughed when I read it described as "Like a course that had been laid by a tractor". I couldn't have put it better myself, however while people are complaining about this and how bad it was, I can only say that if I had trained with this in mind it wouldn't have been so much of an issue. I have to admit I've personally never run on such an awful surface, but it is a surface that I should have been prepared better for, and you can't exactly go blaming the organisers for your own misgivings, can you?

There have been a lot of injuries sustained during and afterwards too. A lot of runners didn't finish due to ITB issues, twisting and spraining ankles... and the most horrible injury, I thought... twisting their knees. Ouch! I think I got away with the whole thing quite lightly in retrospect!

This weeks' deadlifts didn't leave me in agony on Monday like they did last Monday...(and Tuesday... and maybe a bit on Wednesday), and I am now up to 2 minutes 'ropeless' skipping. I've chosen the ropeless approach as I don't have to jump quite so high for that while I'm testing out how my foot takes the impact. So far so good, and it seems to be going well. My calves don't half ache while I do it, so I'm looking forward to being able to strengthen them up, ready for that arduous journey in June. :-)