Blog

19JUN

Cuckoo for Kelowna!

Today is another day of rain in the Okanagan.  I hear from the locals that Kelowna has been experiencing an unseasonably wet spring.  I can’t say I mind much.  The rain does nothing to diminish the beauty of the surrounding mountains, it only makes for a groggy day in which I feel the need to constantly nap.  

 

I am happy to say that napping all day is currently an option for me.  I arrived in Kelowna on Friday afternoon and will be here through the beginning of August.  My reason for jetting out of the Windsor area was in response to my feeling like I was “in a rut.”  Racing through spring with a nagging injury was mentally draining and I was longing for a change of scenery but knew the possibility of that happening would be several months away.  Then Nikki and Nate came to the rescue!  Sensing my “rut,” Nikki invited me to stay at their place over the summer.  What initially sounded like a crazy thing to do, quickly turned into a “why not?”  With Josh’s blessing I booked my flight and weeks later arrived in Kelowna.

 

Less than a week into my stay here I am being referred to as their “ayi,” which in Chinese is “a maid” (they spent several years teaching in China).  That is fine with me!  Their generosity is truly extraordinary.

 

My running is coming along as well.  I am slowly building up the volume and getting my body use to running continuously for 10K or more.  It seems like baby steps but I know my fitness will come back in no time.  It is key that I am running properly first.  It is interesting to see video of me running right now -- Nikki is a biomechanist and is in the business of gait analysis.  She will be a key asset to help me work on my weak areas that are apparent in my running form (I will do a whole different post on this later but you can check her out here).

 

Besides living with a biomechanist, I also had the pleasure of being treated by Greg Redman at Wave Physiotherapy.  He noticed I had incredible tightness in my left hip area and helped loosen it up with some IMS.  My heel, which is still giving me pain, was exacerbated by my locked ankle and his adjustments to that quickly made a difference in my ankle flexion.  My heel, of course, is a compensation injury and the whole root issue I need to deal with is building up core strength and hip strength.  It’s a process in which results are not instantaneous but I believe with a focussed effort over the next 2 months I can get back to running and competing stronger than ever.  There are no quick fixes but who wants things to be easy . . .

 

So that is a peek at what my summer holds.  In mid August I hope to get back to racing but until then I have mounds of work that need to get done.  Now back to work!