injury - AnnaTheApple

August 4, 2016September 17, 2020

ENERTOR™ Insoles Review

A few weeks ago I was sent some full insoles from the lovely people at Enertor Insoles.

As regular readers are probably aware, I’m terrifically injury prone and, due to my fallen arches (flat feet), I tend to suffer from lots of injuries. Obviously I can’t simply blame my feet because there have been many times I’ve made stupid training decisions too, like not taking enough rest between races. But I live and learn. Eventually…

Anyway, as I said I was sent some insoles for my trainers for when I run. I’m not new to insoles and have used them on and off for a number of years. So when I was sent these I was quite intrigued to give them a go.

Though the insoles do help ward against injuries, they apparently also aim on improving performance. They give long-term cushioning and aim to support normal muscle function and reduce leg pain. They’re made with patented D3O® technology, which is basically a “smart” material that cushions and supports the foot when the foot is moving slowly but when there’s an impact (i.e. your foot hitting the ground) the material absorbs and disperses the energy. This allows the insoles to reduce shock by 44% and provide energy returns of up to 36% [Source].

You cut the insoles down to size using regular scissors to fit your trainers and then slide them in (in place of your original insoles).

Thoughts? They were easy to cut to size and put in my trainers. I found them really comfortable. I didn’t notice them as much as previous insoles but I could tell they were there. In terms of improving my performance, I couldn’t really say but they are comfortable and I felt like my feet were adequately supported. Running was nice and smooth. It helps that I’m becoming a lot more aware of my feet since working with my physio to improve my arch strength and I could feel that the insoles were helping support this.

I’ve had previous insoles which have been really inflexible and have given me very bad blisters but these are far more forgiving – no blisters! That’s not to say they don’t support my feet, but they seem to work better with my feet rather than forcing them into a very unnatural gait. What I loved about them is that they’re designed to reduce the pressure on the forefoot and improve the functionality of the big toe area – which is key for flat footed people like myself and something my physio has specifically mentioned. They are quite ‘springy’ as well – you can feel the cushioning power of them.

So I’m very happy to continue to wear these in my trainers. And they apparently last 18 months which is very good! So I can just remove them and put them in new trainers as I go.

I was also sent a technical Enertor t-shirt as well which is always very welcome! Especially as it isn’t ginormous on me.

Have you ever tried insoles?

What kind of trainers do you wear?

Are you injury prone?

**Full Disclaimer: I was sent the insoles and the t-shirt in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own honest ones.**

June 30, 2016

Hamstring update and my upcoming holiday

I mentioned a while ago that I had booked to go on a fitness retreat to Spain. It’s next week!

I’m so excited. I haven’t been to Spain since I went when I was at school on a water sports holiday (why I chose that over skiing I’ll never know – I hate most water sports…). On a side note, that holiday was fairly amusing as I sleepwalked out of my tent when everyone but the teachers had gone to bed and had to be gently guided back to my bed. I only vaguely remembered the next day when one of the teachers mentioned it to me. Apparently I wanted to “get going” with the day. I’ve only sleepwalked a handful of times in my life, it’s not something I regularly do thankfully.

I have one of my close friend’s wedding to go to first on the Saturday. This was another case of Anna being an idiot and booking something without thinking. I completely forgot about the wedding when I signed up to the retreat. My flight is Sunday morning so it’s going to be a rather hideous wake-up post-wedding fun, especially considering the wedding is in Gloucester and I fly from Southampton. Thankfully my parents (who are amazing by the way) have offered to pick me up late Saturday evening and drive me home so I can get a bit merry without worrying about driving home again that evening.

Speaking of being an idiot, in true “Anna style” once again, I lost my confirmation email for my flight home from Spain and had to buy the damn thing again. I know I paid for it because it’s on my credit card bill (I booked way back in February). But I have no idea what airline or time or anything. It’s a rather cryptic credit card reference but after Googling it (as you do) I found out it was an Expedia booking… however, I have no history on my Expedia account of that booked flight. *Sighs* It’s a mystery only I could create. I did try ringing British Airways (as I’m pretty sure it was them that I booked with, through Expedia) but they didn’t have me down in their info. So I rebooked the bloody flight (costing exactly the same amount as it had before – confirming to my brain I had indeed bought the flight in Feb). Luckily it was rather cheap at £57, though not that cheap when you buy it twice. I need to hire an adult to look after my affairs, I just can’t be trusted.

BUT ANYWAY. My passport, this time, has happily not found it’s way into the washing machine (but give me time, I still have a few days to royally muck this up somehow). So I was going to discuss my hamstring a bit. It rather amuses me that this began as a very insignificant niggle that has now stretched on for quite a long time. Thankfully though I haven’t been depressed or stressed about it. But with this fitness retreat holiday on the horizon I do want to be as healthy as I can so I can join in with everything. Though I actually don’t know what “everything” is yet. It’s not running-focused, of which I’m glad about, but more to do with strength and nutrition. Apparently they also have the largest obstacle course in Europe there so I am SUPER excited about that.

I digress. My hamstring. I’ve had some really decent massages on it which have certainly helped loosen it up and improve the generally feel, but after a few days it goes back to feeling rather crumby. Running is uncomfortable, though not painful. It just makes it an unenjoyable experience with my mind constantly going “is it OK? Is it worse? Can I speed up? Should I slow down?”. My overthinking brain goes 100,000 miles an hour when all I really want is a relaxed run thinking about nothing.

I went to my physio to get it looked at because I was so clueless. I stopped doing all lower body exercises in the gym and I’ve reduced my running to one run a week (parkrun) and still it doesn’t improve. It doesn’t feel worse after running – should I continue?? I didn’t know.

I saw my physio (another standard Anna moment: I got my time wrong and arrived an hour early…thankfully he was free and slotted me in). He assessed everything down to how I stood, bent over, sat, my feet, my back, my hips, etc. Apparently my sacrum and pelvis were tilted towards one side and this could be causing my hamstring to be overworked. This would make sense as to why massage helped the symptoms but didn’t stop the cause, and so it would re-stress the hamstring again a few days later causing the discomfort again. He worked on these areas and ‘readjusted’ me. He then went through a load of exercises I need to do every day in order to stop it happening again. Ultimately it’s probably down to my flat footedness (isn’t it always?). So the exercises will keep my pelvis from re-tilting and will also help strengthen my feet arches. He videoed me doing them so I could remember the exact moves later on.

He also lent me some handy wedges to help support my feet while I do these exercises to stop my arches falling. I won’t go through everything because it’s all rather dull (unless you’re me). But I’m happy to finally have some answers. I just hope it works! There are about four exercises I need to do each day (twice a day_ and though that sounds rather a lot, the exercises are actually very simple and easy to do (though the one above is the most complicated, requiring me to do about four things at once – hence my concentration on my face).

My hamstring feels generally better (he did also massage the area as well), though I’m still aware it’s not 100%. However, I’m wondering if I’m hyper sensitive to that area now and expecting it to be suddenly perfect right away is probably a bit optimistic. But he said I could start building up my running again and also continue with gym things – though deadlifts I should still avoid while I can “feel” the area. I feel happy now going to Spain

Huge waffling post sorry!

Have you ever been given exercises by a physio?

Do you have flat feet, or ‘normal’ feet or high arches?

Have you ever been to Spain?

June 29, 2016

Climbing, running and eating

The weekend seems a long time away now, doesn’t it? There’s some crazy inverses time law I think whereby time moves quickly at the weekend and slowly during the week. Saying that though I don’t actually mind weekdays. I always think it would be awful to hate five days out of seven. Or maybe my weekends aren’t that interesting in comparison?? Who knows!

I made my way to the Netley parkrun on Saturday morning. It felt like forever since I was last there. It was nice to see the set-up crew again, albeit missing a few people due to holidays and injuries. The weather was really nice and made me think of those horrific times during the winter months where I was bundled up in a thick coat and dreading the time when I’d have to de-layer.

Recently I was asked to take over the Twitter account for Netley parkrun and I happily took the job. I’m a big fan of Twitter (follow me if you like!) and the person who was doing it before was getting a bit tired of looking after it and said I seemed like the right person for the job It’s fun because I can tweet out motivational messages, information about Netley and parkrun in general. But I did have a moment where I got confused with the accounts and retweeted a humorous tweet from what I thought was my account but turned out to be Netley’s. It wasn’t offensive or rude but it was a bit random (a funny meme about football) so I quickly deleted it. It is tough though managing the two accounts post-parkrun when there is a lot of Twitter activity happening!

Anyway, my hamstring was feeling better than has it done but still not right. I did a warm-up and then stood umm’ing and arr’ing about whether to run. In the end my friend Chris said to try a slow lap and if it got worse stop. So this is what I did.

My hamstring did niggle but it didn’t get worse. It was just a discomfort in the back of my mind. I kept it slow. Jeeze how tough three miles feels when you haven’t been running much! It felt like it went on forever. I’ve lost a lot of endurance for definite. Afterwards the hamstring felt niggly but not significantly worse and actually the hours and days afterwards it felt no worse. *Shrugs*. I’ll write some more about that in another post anyway as I saw my physio on Monday.

I was happy to have run parkrun though and it was nice to be in the sunshine with lovely people.

Later that day I had a climbing induction booked at Romsey. As I drove there the weather took a turn for the worse (ridiculously worse) and pelted it down with rain. When I arrived the people looked a bit confused and said I’d booked on the supervised auto-belay climbing wall. They said it wasn’t an issue but really I didn’t need to be supervised. I thought I was going to be taught about climbing! But apparently not. The website wasn’t entirely clear…Though, let’s be honest, this isn’t the first time I’ve booked something wrong.

An auto-belay is really very simple and the supervised sessions are more for kids so after the instructor showed me what to do I was fine to do my thing on my own, switching between the different belays to try different problems.

It was basically like bouldering but higher and with the comfort of having a safety net (or a safety rope as it were). The auto-belay would ‘catch’ you if you fell backwards then lower you quickly to the floor in a controlled way. It gave me confidence to try reaches I wouldn’t have done during bouldering which was great!

You could climb down or throw yourself backwards and let the auto-belay catch you as it tightened up under your weight. But it feels loose when you initially let go of the wall so it feels like you’re going to fall as you don’t feel any of its support until you put your weight into it. Honestly it took me a good few minutes to get over the fear and allow myself to fall. It’s genuinely terrifying the first time. I had to do it from a very low height just to convince myself I’d be OK. Afterwards though I was fine, though in the end I actually preferred climbing down as this provided more opportunities to improve my ability (and grip!).

‘Falling’ using the auto-belay

I had a lot of fun though I was disappointed not to learn a bit more about climbing, like tying certain knots, attaching the harness and belays. But I’ll definitely be planning some proper lessons soon.

And because I’m so thoroughly addicted (and running is not enjoyable right now) I got up Sunday and headed for some more bouldering at Red Spider. It opened at 10am and I was in pretty sharpish to get as long as I could there before going to a BBQ with my friends later on.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and managed to conqueror some of the problems I was unable to complete the last time. It felt hugely satisfying. I like that there’s a ranking of the problems as well (V0, V1, V2…V6 etc.) and I’ve found I can do up to V2s without issue and V3s are hit and miss depending how much over-hang there is. When it’s like a cliff jutting out and you have to get from below it to over it I really struggle as it pushes my body out and I’m terrified I’m going to fall (see below my pathetic little stick-man drawing).

But anyway, it was fun. I wish I could have stayed so much longer but I had to quickly head home, shower and head to see my friends. And also, my arms and hands don’t quite have the strength and endurance yet for mammoth bouldering sessions – especially having done a session the day before!

For the BBQ, my friends and I were a bit worried about the weather (given how bad it had been the afternoon before) but it held out thankfully. It was a weird day of lovely sunshine and then overcast chilliness.

I basically just brought chicken with me (two types of skewers and drumsticks). It was a lovely afternoon just chilling. Though we did have a collective moan about the EU result…How adult we all are now, discussing politics and how it affects our lives. I think we can all agree though that there are uncertain times ahead. A nice weekend though nonetheless!

Do you discuss politics with your friends?

If you have an niggle do you prefer not to run at all, or try a gentle run and stop if necessary?

Are you afraid of heights? I used to be, but I don’t seem that bothered anymore. I remember a time when I went on a school trip rock climbing I cried at the top of the climbing wall refusing to abseil down because I was so scared. I had to be lowered down! Pathetic child that I was.

June 16, 2016

What I do when I can’t run

My hamstring is, fingers crossed, definitely getting better. It’s tough because I’ve had to strengthen the tendon in order for it to get back to normal but strengthening it can aggravate it further and delays it feeling normal.

However, I had a really good deep massage again on Tuesday night and I woke up the next day with huge improvements. The sports therapist also tested my hamstring strength and found it had improved a lot since previously. So for now I’m just letting it calm down a bit. Tendons are tricky business!

Anyway, I’m still actually OK with not running at the moment. As I’ve said before, I have no races coming up and I have no urgency to start training again. All is well! Clearly shows I needed a break. Don’t get me wrong, I would like to do the odd run for the mental freshness it brings but I’m not feeling the panic and sadness I might previously have felt in the past.

So what does a runner do I do when I can’t run? I’m not a big fan of cardio machines at the gym it has to be said. I know I can get my fitness back when I get back to running so I’m not stressed about being slow (for me) when I do start again. Spinning has always been a good fall back for me but I’m not really feeling the urge to go and I’ve convinced myself it wouldn’t be a good idea with a hamstring issue anyway

My only annoyance with my hamstring is that because I’m trying to be super careful not to aggravate it, I’ve been avoiding heavy squats and deadlifts. I find these really don’t help the matter and probably contributed to it going from a slight niggle post-marathon to a very annoying persistent nag. So going to the gym has required a bit more thought.

Though I am still lifting heavy weights when it comes to upper body (arms, back and shoulders), I now incorporate more running-specific dynamic strength workouts so when I go into marathon training I will hopefully have a strength conducive to running injury-free.

Here are a few of the things I’ve been doing at the gym.

For legs:

Side sliding lunges

This uses the rowing machine’s seat. You can use those floor disc things that slide around but I prefer the rowing machine. At first I was a bit nervous doing this as it’s a bit odd I guess to use the rowing machine in this way but no one batted an eyelid (and to be fair, the gym is quite empty at 5.30am).

You can also stand in front of the seat and push your foot backwards for a backwards lunge as well and this will work the glutes a bit more.

Squat with medicine ball drop

Though I’m avoiding heavy squats, I find normal body weight squats don’t impact my hamstring (especially I don’t try and go too deep). These squats are really good for the entire body as you lift the medicine ball in the air as you come out of the squat and then throw it down. It’s quite an explosive exercise. You then squat to pick it up and begin again. I tend to do about 20-30 reps depending on the weight of the ball.

Squat on a Bosu ball

This is a good isometric exercise – where you hold the squat position, or you can squat up and down while attempting to maintain good form. It’s tricky because you’re wobbling the entire time. It’s a great exercise though as it recruits lots of stabilising muscles that might ordinarily not come into play.

For core:

Battle ropes

Obviously these work the arms and shoulders quite a lot, but the core is also engaged to keep you grounded and to help with the movement. I try and do these for one minute – it’s tough!

TRX suspension

I do a few different exercises using the TRX ropes. You can do mountain climbers (alternating bringing one leg forward to your chest) or (as in the photo) both legs at the same time for a crunch. A good one for the abductor muscles is getting into the plank position with your legs held in the suspension and then opening and closing your legs while maintaining a stable plank position.

Source

For glutes:

Donkey kickbacks

A fairly standard glute workout that you’ve probably seen countless of times. I try and keep the movement controlled and slow rather than launching my leg back quickly. I also wear ankle weights to make it a bit more tricky. Then after doing a certain number of reps I pulse my leg when it’s in the raised position to really work the glute.

Resistance band walking

This is a favourite of mine. I use a resistance band around my ankles and then step (while maintaining tightness in the band) to the side, like a crab, then change directions to work the other side. I then walk forwards and do it that direction (monster walk – again trying to maintain the resistance). Another good one is the “wet pant walk” which is basically standing on your tip toes and walking forwards, like you’ve just wet your pants

Plank with leg lifts

While planking, slowly lift one leg up (maintaining a strong core) and bring it back down, without touching the ground, and then lifting it again. I do this for about 10 reps per leg and repeat this a few times.

For how I structure things at the gym, what I tend to do is do heavier weights at the start (after a warm-up) and then follow with a circuit-style routine. For example, this is what I did on Tuesday:

– Heavy: Pull-ups (using the assisted pull-up machine)
– Heavy: Standing press

– Press-ups
– Battle ropes
– Kettle bell swing
– Eccentric box jumps
– Leg curtsy squats
– Russian twists
– Burpees

After I’ve finished the more heavy stuff, I set up all the bits I need for my circuit and then go through each exercise once for a number of reps, and then repeat the entire circuit three times. I enjoy doing this as it stops me getting bored and it allows my muscles to recover while I do something else before I get back to it.

I tend to find my exercises on the Internet, Instagram or in magazines. I’m always looking out for ways to make things interesting and not get samey. I hope these help anyone who needs a bit of inspiration!

What do you do in the gym?

What do you enjoy most at the gym?

What’s your favourite area to work on?

June 2, 2016June 28, 2019

Tough decisions and hamstring tendinopathy

As I mentioned in a previous post, running and me are having issues. Running is never simple for me. I really should know what’s what by now but still I make mistakes (and some I’ve made so many times before).

I suppose it’s to be expected when you do something for so long and so often, and when you’re as injury prone as I am (and as stupid…). As I said, I should have taken a break from the marathon. I’ve already promised myself that I will next time and have instructed my parents to take my trainers away from me for at least a week after Chester in the autumn to ensure this actually happens. But anyway, I didn’t take a rest post Boston and here I am, feeling the effects of being over-trained, a niggly hamstring (more on that in a bit) and an indifference to running.

Luckily I have no races coming up and I’m in a nice comfortable position to take a break (a bit late but hey ho). Though I’m still doing parkrun as I can’t quite give that one up (like I’ve said so many times, it’s more than just a run). I made the tough decision to not do the Cakeathon on Monday. Too far to go for a race I wasn’t up for and it wasn’t fair to make my dad to give up a day’s holiday and drive me there. Only then for me to then undoubtedly have a crap race and be grumpy for the three-hour drive home.

Similarly, I was signed up ready to do Endure24 in a couple of weeks time which I’ve decided not to do anymore. It involved being part of a group of eight and running laps of five miles for 24 hours as a relay. It was going to be a great weekend of camping, larking about and running but realistically I know I wouldn’t have the best time. I a) would feel a bit down because I wouldn’t be able to run much (having barely done more than a parkrun for the past three weeks) or b) would be tempted to run too much and probably turn my hamstring into a full-blown injury. As my marathon training is due to start in July it’s risky business. I don’t want to start a training cycle injured. I’m very sad to miss out on all the fun but realistically I need to be sensible.

So my hamstring. Well it’s been niggling since before the Boston marathon as I said. Kind of came out of nowhere as a tightness and now it’s more of a niggle. I can run through it – it’s not painful or sharp, just a bit of a nagging discomfort that I can’t seem to shift. I don’t think doing deadlifts at the gym helped things. It seemed no worse after running (hence why I kept running – I have learnt something at least).

I’ve seen a physio and had a sports massage and both seem convinced it’s nothing serious, just a mild case of hamstring tendinopathy. After Googling it (obviously) and then proceeding to fall into a well of depression and despair I realise it’s actually not as bad as all the people online seem to have it. Whew.

What exactly is hamstring tendinopathy? Basically it’s a pain in the bum – high up on the hamstring, just under your butt cheek. The tendon that connects the hamstring muscles to the sit bone becomes painful. Things like prolonged sitting, running hills and sprinting can aggravate it. Thankfully my niggle isn’t full-blown tendinopathy but it could get there if I’m not careful. It is an annoying thing to get rid of though it seems as it’s a tough place for blood to reach and heal and because it’s not inflammatory, there’s little that icing can do. However, you can help things along with strengthening the tendon and massage.

Here’s where my friend the tennis ball has come into play…

Oh how my glutes do not enjoy this. Also, my sports massage therapist gave me a nice tip: sit on the tennis ball on a firm chair so you can roll you hamstring more easily as it’s tricky to do on the floor.

And I’ve been doing lots of strengthening exercises as well. Ideally the exercises you want for this are eccentric exercises. I received good advice from my physio and sports therapist and also online (good article HERE). I am obviously not a trained sports or medical anything, but I thought this might be useful if anyone has been/is in a similar boat. The exercises I’m doing regularly are:

Bridges

Lying on your back with your feet flat on the ground and shoulder-width apart, raise your bum towards the celling using your glute muscles trying not to arch your back (keep your body in a straight line).

I found the bridges to be quite easy as I’ve done them many times before so I straight away moved to single leg bridges, taking one foot off the ground and moving one leg up and down in a controlled movement, not allowing hips or bum to drop. At first I could feel the niggle when doing it (no pain, just an awareness) and now I feel nothing.

Hamstring Curls Using a Swiss ball

Lying on your back with your feet on a Swiss ball and arms by your side, roll the ball in towards you by bending your legs until your knees are above your hips, again not arching your back and using your glutes and hamstrings. Then straighten your legs, rolling the ball away from you in a controlled manner. Again you can progress to single leg versions of this.

Nordic Hamstring Curl

This is quite an advanced movement and tricky to set-up if you’re on your own. Basically you anchor your feet and calves to something stable (or have someone hold them) and then, while maintaining a straight-line from your shoulders to your knees, you bend forwards at the hips using your hamstrings to control the movement until you either cannot maintain the position any longer or you reach the ground. It’s a great hamstring isolating exercise.

Planks

Obviously good old fashioned core work helps as well. Planks are great for this and so easy to do at home. I mix it up with different variations, such as raising one leg (using my glute muscle) and then lowering again, or stepping out to the side while maintaining control and stability, or a new-to-me plank the supine version where you’re facing up rather than down (adding in leg lifts for this is great for targeting the hamstrings and glutes too).

Side planks

Side planks as well are good for focusing on any weakness you might have on the different sides of your body. Raising one leg makes things more challenging.

I’m limiting my running and supplementing the above exercises with my usual gym work (though no deadlifts or really heavy squats at the moment). I don’t feel depressed that I’m not running, I’m just frustrated with myself for allowing this to happen again. And sad to miss out on a couple of good races. But these things happen and hopefully I won’t make such obvious errors in the future.

Have you ever had a hamstring injury or niggle?

Do you do any exercises regularly that keep you injury free?

Have you had to DNS from any races lately?