Saturday, April 10, 2010

One Door Closes and Another One Shuts....

You know when you sit down with your legs crossed, and to keep yourself amused you have an overriding urge to hit the reflex part of your knee with a hammer to make your leg jerk?

Probably not. (By way of explanation I grew up on a farm in the hills with no electricity or water so our entertainment was at a very low level, and leg jerking was one of the highlights of life, along with thinning turnips.....

Anyway this is a roundabout way of saying that I have done very little training. For some weeks now, that bit of your knee which you hit with the hammer has been giving me trouble. On the flat I have been fine, but up or down hills, or particularly on stairs, that part gives me a sharp pointing pain.

After the exertions of the last round of the Winter Walking League, where it caused no problem, the knee pain increased considerably, definitely an aftermath of those exertions.

One of the highlights of my year is a full game for Laxey playing the annual game against Liverpool Collegiate on Easter Sunday. I have probably played in most of those games annually since about 1970. In my preparation for that, I decided to go for a run, and I then realised how bad the knee was.

Of course that did not stop me playing on Sunday against Collegiate - thanks to recent walk training I am probably a lot fitter generally, and I was expecting to play the full 90 minutes with ease. In the event, because of the knee, I couldn't take off for jumps, or twist or turn. I could only run in a straight line, and had to come off after fifteen minutes. So naturally that made the knee much worse and I have been trying to rest it as much as possible. Playing (or walking) through pain is not always wise, as I should have learned by now.

Having had the door opened to future major training by getting rid of The Great Snot, thanks to antibiotics and Doctor Gavin, another door has been closed by The Knee.

Once again Steve Partington gets a mention here, because he advised me at the Sports Award evening to get Glucosamine, Voltarol and frozen peas to hasten recovery. The treatment has started....

As to the excellent night at the Sports Awards, I was there as a legacy of my all too brief role with responsibility for Sport and Leisure. I was particularly pleased with the award to Peter Kinnish, Laxey AFC Stalwart, who has dedicated his life to the club, in particular to setting up all the junior football we have. We finally reaped the rewards of his efforts three years ago when we won the Grand Slam, and we are still in with a chance of winning the League again this year.

Ron Ronan, international footballer and tennis player and much quicker than me in the Winter Walking League was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a real gentleman and great competitor, organiser and helper and it was really pleasing to see him recognised in that way. Finally Janice Quirk received an award for Outstanding Achievement for her amazing time and walk in the Parish Walk last year.

Finally, any Doctors, physios or athletes out there know what my knee problem is?

And for the bored and disturbed, is there a website out there dedicated to people who like hitting their kneecap with hammers?


3 comments:

  1. Hi Dudley,

    Don't give up the speed work. Mix it with the longer stuff. It will help you continue to improve your conditioning as much if not more than long slow plodding and that will stand you in better stead for the long slow plodding.

    As you are now an experienced politician, I am sure you will understand that rubbish immediately.

    See someone professional re. knee injury as diagnosis by blog may be counterproductive. Sometimes you may need remedial exercise and I've often found that rest alone doesn't cure the problem.

    I have always found our fellow Parish Walker, Mark Hempsall to be very good but don't ask him for advice re. your walking technique!

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  2. odd my first bit isn't showing as a comment

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  3. Michael

    I won't be able to give up the speedier work. That old "Personal Best" on whatever training walk I do will always dominate me. Now I am used to going quicker, it will be hard to go slower....

    I will take your advice about the injury - the peas don't seem to be working. Maybe I should freeze them first?....

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