September 2012

This month hasn’t been a very exciting one to be honest. It has been full of rehab and not much else! My rehab is progressing as expected (even if slower than I want it to!). I am still doing the sets of exercises I was doing last month but increased the number. I am now doing 5 minutes of work on the bike too every other day. I have also started some work in the sand. When I say work in the sand I mean slow walking – I started with 5 minutes at the start of the month and now I have reached 10 minutes. The last few days of the month I stepped it up to doing 2 minutes of “Nanna Jogging” in the middle of the walk, keeping the total time to 10 minutes. “Nanna Jogging” is very, very slow jogging in which if I was racing a nanna she would win!!! This was how my physio described at what speed I was allowed to go at. The worst part about the sand work is I have to drive up to the other end of the island and back every day which is about a 1hr30min round trip – that’s without school traffic! My car is just eating through the petrol – I always seem to be filling up at the moment! Plus, I can’t stay at the beach and swim etc as that would be too much work in the sand. So my ankles are definitely heading in the right direction but it’s a slow process that needs yet even more patience. It’s very frustrating especially when I see my training group running round – but they are a great support to me.

Preseason training has begun but as you can imagine I am very limited in what I can do as I can’t do any lower body work. I am doing lots of circuits and gym work to focus on building up my upper body. I am also back in the pool 3 times a week trying to build up some CV fitness. I lost a lot with all the time off with my ankles so we have taken things back down to the basics. It isn’t the most exciting training but it has to be done and I’m happy just to be back doing something!

My coach and a couple of members of my training group have been working hard to start organising sports days for the local communities. We did one this month where we closed the main road and had a variety of different activities for both adults and children. I’m happy to say it was a success and we are looking forward to doing more. My training group ran the day with a few experts where needed i.e. for the baseball!

We had some freak storms this month too with really heavy rain. Storms were forecast but no-one expected them to be as severe as they were. It caused a lot of damage to buildings and cars, many cars were washed away and deposited in very strange and awkward places! The track was totally submerged up to the height of the steeple chase barriers and the high jump mats washed to the opposite side. It has been closed most of the month to restore it to how it should be and clean it of all the mud that was left behind. So the training we have been doing has been at a different track at the other end of the island (the opposite end to the beach!) which has added to my fuel consumption!

August 2012

All I can say is thank goodness for the Olympics!!! This operation has just highlighted the point that I am really not good at sitting still –especially with my feet up! I really don’t know how I would have stayed sane during the last few weeks without the Olympics!! A very well timed operation. I must say thanks to all my friends and neighbours who came to visit me and let me go and sit on their sofa for a change of scene! Especially as both my parents were away after my op. As I had both ankles done I was given some crutches but I was very slow on them and couldn’t go very far. So when my Mum took me out I had to hire wheel chairs and motorised scooters. I must admit it was fun whizzing round town although it took a while for me to get good at steering: though by the end I was a pro!

I saw the surgeon a week after the operation and he was very pleased with how the operation went. He did less than he had expected to do and said I’ll be back to my normal self very soon. He reckons I’ll be back into full training by mid-October as long as I do all the rehab. I flew back to Malta with my Mum. Going through the airport I had a wheel chair too which turned out to be really handy as it meant I could skip all the queues which happened to be very big!! Although my chair didn’t have working breaks so at one point I was freewheeling down the ramp into the plane until the guy noticed and looked at me as I was calling him.

Since being back I have been working very hard with my physios on my rehab programme. I have just been doing exercises to get the range of movement back and to start to build up some strength. They are very repetitive and boring but they have to be done so I have been really good at not complaining and just getting on with it. I have been doing up to 4 hours a day. The next step will be walking in the sand. My Dad also flew out for the rest of the month. It was great to have my parents around to help me get around – especially as I haven’t been able to drive the car yet. They did a very good job I must say! It has been very frustrating though as I expected to be more mobile on my return so I had made lots of plans with friends that had to be cancelled as I’m not allowed to go anywhere with uneven ground or stand up for long periods. So I have been restricted to swimming at the waterpolo club with my parents and BBQs. I managed to do 4 BBQs in a row – I was sure I was going to wake up looking like a sausage!!

July 2012

The first couple of weeks this month I spent it enjoying Summer to the full: lots of sunbathing, swimming, relaxing and training too. I am really enjoying the break from uni and having some more time to myself and meet friends etc. I have been managing to train quite a lot this month however, I had a run of very bad luck! We planned for me to do 2 competitions before I flew to England for my operation. But the 1st one they moved as it clashed with another event that was being held at the track and the 2nd one I had tomiss as I had a really bad spasm in my neck and my head was stuck pointing to the side! Its quite amusing now looking back but it was extremely painful and I was SOOOOO frustrated to have to miss the competition!

I flew back a week before my operation was scheduled so I could compete for Bolton Harriers in the BAL Cup qualifying match. This competition is always good fun as there is a big team spirit and its very short as not all the events are included. I ran my first ever 400m (well 2 actually as I ran the individual and relay!). I really enjoyed it although I have a lot of learning to do regarding how to pace one!! But considering I haven’t done any work for them yet and that I had no one to pace off in the race I was happy. I also did a promotional photo shoot for Total Fitness whilst I was back. I had never done a gym shoot before so it took a while to get into it but I soon got into the swing of it! We had a really good laugh and took some fun photos too – check out my website to see some of them.

Friday 27th was one of the most important days of my life so far – the day of my ankle operation (and the day of the London 2012 opening ceremony!) As I hadn’t been able to have my pre ops done I had to be at hospital for 6:30am even though I was on the afternoon list which was a bit of a shock to the system! I had to have my own room too as I hadn’t had the tests – at first I was disappointed but it turned out to be perfect. It was opposite the nurses station so they all used to come in and talk to me and it was where the other people in the ward had to walk past whilst doing their mobility work so they all stopped to talk to me too. The surgeon moved me on his lists to be first in the afternoon so I would be back home for the opening ceremony – it was a good plan but it didn’t work. After my operation they couldn’t wake me up!! I only had to stay awake for 1 hour to be allowed home but I just couldn’t!! So I had to stay in over night – but as I was in my own room the nurses let me keep my TV on – if only I had managed to stay awake for more than 30sec at a time!! They eventually sent me home the following afternoon. The photos show the before and after!