A year off and spinning around

I love Christmas and the fresh start the New Year brings.  So on New Year’s Day (2010) I laced up my trainers, zipped my jacket and headed out for a run in the beautiful, wintry Forest of Dean, full of motivation and planning the year ahead.  But alas, it was not meant to be.  A hidden icy patch (and possibly not paying enough attention) resulted in a slip, a twist and an injured knee.

Humph.  The pain was somewhat intermittent but enough to rule out running for the time being.  On a trip to London for my birthday the pain worsened so much that I was unable to walk until I managed to straighten and click my knee back into place on the train ride home. 

Off to the sports injury clinic.  Diagnosis – torn cartilage.  Treatment – rest and rehabilitation.  It’s one thing deciding not to or being too lazy to run, but being physically unable to run is quite different.  I felt frustrated and self pitiful.  Every time I though I was improving and attempted a jog my body soon reminded me it was too soon to the point where I was convinced it would never heal and I would have to hang up my trainers for good.

After months of rest (8 to be exact) I decided I would give cross-training a go and join my local gym.  Having been off-exercise for a while I got a bit over excited and signed straight up for a spinning class.  Wow.  Shock to the system doesn’t cover it!  My body didn’t know what had hit it!  But it was strangely enjoyable, even though I couldn’t walk properly afterwards, and more importantly it didn’t seem to hurt my knee, hurrah!

So I stuck with it, starting with the 30 minute class every week and gradually started using the cross trainer and completing short treadmill sessions.  After a few months I also started going to the 40 minute spinning class and happily went twice a week from then on.  Every single class was hard work.  But I started seeing improvements and that kept me going.  I wouldn’t say I enjoyed every second of spinning and I really did need to dig deep most of the time but I always loved it afterwards! 

By the end of the year I had grown in strength and confidence - my knee was pain free, I loved my spinning classes and I was gradually increasing my treadmill runs.

Bring on the New Year!