This morning started early as I had a 5am-8am work teleconference scheduled. I managed to get up on time and did it on the sofa in the lounge wrapped in a doona! The good news was that the meeting only went for half the scheduled time, so I was back in bed at 6:30am. At 7am I got up again and went out for a nice bike ride, 21.5km with my feet slowly turning into little ice blocks with every kilometre – I think I need a pair of those little foot warmer things that fit over your cycle shoes.
This morning I had volunteered to participate in a study for the Podiatry department at Latrobe University. They were looking for runners willing to help a couple of honours students with their research projects. It involved answering a few questions, getting height/weight measured, a few other measurements like ankle flexibility, big toe joint flexibility, then some running on the treadmill. First they had me warm up for about 10 minutes, then I had to be “wired up”. This involved wearing plain old Dunlop Volley type shoes with a pressure sensor inserted. This connected to a little data collection box that was velcroed to my ankle, with cables coming off these that were taped up my legs and connected to their computer. Then a short run on the treadmill like this (only about 2 minutes for a 45 second data collection). Then this was repeated twice, each time with a different pair of orthotics inserted.
Absolutely no support running in plain Dunlop Volleys – I really appreciate my Saucony’s even more now.
It was interesting going through the results afterwards, a bit like the Athletes Foot fitprint analysis I guess. So what did I learn, that I have a fairly good running style with a pretty normal heel strike, forefoot to toe push-off, and that I have very little ankle flexibility due to extremely tight achilles tendons and calf muscles (tell me something I don’t know) They said it is a “risk factor” for injury and that I need to stretch more. I stretch my calves and achilles religiously now – not sure how I can do more. However they confirmed that this tightness is almost definitely related to my shin soreness. Maybe I need to seek some real professional advice. Anyway, a fun session with two nice uni students.
After work I headed out for a 6km run, just around the suburban streets, average pace of 5:11 min/km.
Happy to say that I have repeated last weeks feat of being “above the line” with my 6 hour/3600 calorie exercise goal again, with still one day of the “exercise journal week” to go.
August 14, 2008 at 2:47 am |
Great effort running and riding in 1 day. Made me tired just reading about your day
As for Bella, it is a sweet, pink champagne that goes down just like lemonade…..once tried, forever addicted.
August 14, 2008 at 5:09 am |
That study sounds really interesting.
And what’s with heading back to bed for another 30 mins!
August 14, 2008 at 12:04 pm |
Andrew … not all ‘booties’ keep your feet warm so do some research. Like anything else – you get what you pay for.
I keep meaning to get out to Latrobe – just no time…..
PS: “Bootie’ is the tech term …. lol
August 14, 2008 at 8:45 pm |
How awful was it running in the volley’s!! I used to run in them all the time in high school with no problems, but when I jumped on that treadmill in them I felt so awkward.
August 14, 2008 at 9:38 pm |
I’d love to do the research thing but just can’t get the time off work
How nice to be able to go back to bed for a while….
August 15, 2008 at 9:20 pm |
Congrats on achieving your goal for a second week. Way to go Andrew.