Orthotics - Runners Service Lab in Belgium

Just got back from Belgium last night and I would like to thank Koen- from Runners Service Lab- for all his help! I must of asked him about 300 different questions but he patiently answered them all! The service they provide is brilliant. I have had to get my orthotics altered, mainly due to my injury, but they have now managed to get my running gait symmetrical and neutral. I have been told to wear either Asics Cumulus or Asics Nimbus shoes as they will provide me with the best support for my 'dodgy' feet! :)

I will have to return before the start of track season, to check my orthotics again, but to also get a small insert put into my steeplechase spikes. This is to decrease the amount of force going through my foot when I land, coming off the water barrier- makes a lot of sense!

There are several tests they perform, which consist of running along pressure sensors on the ground. They had me walking, jogging and running fast barefoot firstly. Then they repeat the tests with your current trainers/spikes/flats. A back scan is then done in order to test for any problems in leg length or torsion within the hips. Once the orthotics have been made up the exact same tests are then re-run, but with the orthotics in place.

I asked the main guy there, Koen, about 300 questions. But he was so informative and knowledgeable, the whole thing just interested me a lot. Paula Radcliffe is a regular client of theirs. She, however, gets a mould of her feet and then the lab send it over to Nike and they create her spikes and trainers especially for her! Very cool.. I was lucky enough to get a photo.. :)

The chinese company Li-ning also get the lab to create special spikes and trainers for some of their top athletes like Yelena Isenbeyeva and Asafa Powell.

I will post some pictures of the back scan and foot scan analysis... (when I have time!). I don't really know if it will be of interest to anyone.. but I think it's pretty interesting!! :) 

http://www.rslab.be/en/home

Merry Christmas to all my Family and Friends :D

 Santa (aka my dad) with the kids

Orla and Martin

Training Schedule for rehab..

After doing a small article on my training for athletics weekly, I thought I would write down an average winter training schedule.... compared to my current 'rehab' schedule! Give a little insight into how cross training is extremely BORING and taking over my life!! :)

Average Winter training

Monday

am- 5mile 7.15pace

pm- 5mile 6.55pace

Tuesday

am- 5mile 7.15pace

pm- Track session – typically a long session, 20x400m with a minute recovery

Wednesday

am- 5mile 7.15pace

pm-

Also do some body-weight circuits, general things like sit ups/core/push ups

Thursday

am- 5mile 7.15pace

pm- 3mile sustained on treadmill 5.20pace

Friday

am- 5mile 7.15pace

Saturday

am- typically a session done on the roads... 1.5mile run followed by 8x sprint hills then a further 1.5mile run

pm- 5mile 7.15pace

Sunday

am- 8-9miles done at 7.15pace

Average Summer Training

Monday

am- 3mile 7min pace

pm- 5mile 6.55pace

Tuesday

am- 3mile 7min pace

pm- track session, typically 3x600m 5min recovery

Wednesday

am- 3mile 7min pace

pm- 3mile sustained on treadmill 5.30pace

Thursday

am-3mile 7min pace

pm- track session, typically 8x150m, walk back recovery

Friday

Rest

Saturday

am- track session typically, 1000m-800m-600m-400m-200m with a 3min recovery

pm- 3mile 7 min pace

Sunday

am- 6mile 7min pace

Rehab Training – Cross Training

Every single day consists of foot/ankle flexibility exercises. Followed by 40mins of step ups/step downs/squats/lunges/calf raises/drills/etc etc.... all just body-weight. Core and sit-ups also done daily. Alternate between doing similar exercises in the pool and on the trampette every second day.

Monday

am- 15mins- 20x45seconds fast with 15recovery-15mins on the Arc Cross Trainer

pm- 40min steady on the Arc

Tuesday

am- Pool session in the shallow water, 10min(1min recov)-5x2mins(30secs recov)-5x1min(30sec recov)-10min(1min recov)- 5x30secs(15 recov)

pm- 30min on Elliptical cross trainer with some 30second sprints within it.

Wednesday

am- Arc session 15mins-20x45seconds(15recovery)-15mins

pm- 40min stead arc

Thursday

am- Session on the Trampette, 30x1minute(30seconds recovery)

pm- 40min steady on arc

Friday

am- 35min sustained – (3min-2min-1min)x3 constant, with no recovery..

pm- 40 min easy in deep part of the pool

Saturday

am- 10x 3mins(15sec recovery) arc session

pm- 30mins of 30seconds-15seconds recovery on elliptical

Sunday

am- pool session 20x 90seconds(30second recovery)

pm- 40min steady arc

Starting back running!! woooo!!

The physio had me start back very gradually, 5x 30seconds jogging up and down a corridor. But the next day it had progressed to minute runs as my foot had no effects from the day before.

1/12/11

am- arc session

pm- 10x 1min jog on treadmill 9min miles pace

2/12/11

am- easy 30min arc

pm- pool session with 10x 1min runs on treadmill afterwards 9min miles pace

…........ few days off running but continue cross training

5/12/11

am- arc session

pm- easy elliptical followed by 3min-2min-1min jog on treadmill

…......running keeps getting gradually increased and this week........

21/12/11

3mile run outside 8.20pace

Cross train

22/12/11

5mile treadmill 8min pace

Cross train

23/12/11

3mile run outside 8.20 pace

Cross train session

24/12/11

3mile run outside 7.40 pace

20x90seconds on elliptical

Some Thank You's :)

Just received a big bunch of mail, mainly christmas presents that I had (lazily) ordered online! But I also received a parcel from the lovely people at Shock Absorber! They sent me 2 sports bras, in GB colours an all, to try out! It was like an early christmas present :) haha so just a quick thank you to Lisa Yeoman from Shock Absorber for sending them out to me!

http://www.shockabsorber.co.uk/focus/run-sportsbra.html

On another note, just booked my flights to Brussels in order to get new orthotics made up. I have gradually built up my 'running rehab' programme and things are going really well, extremely well to be honest! And I am much further ahead than we had originally planned.The foot is holding up strong and I have absolutely no symptoms from starting back running. Also wanted to say a quick thank-you to Dundee University for helping me towards covering some of the expenses, heading over to Brussels in order to get some orthotics made. Without their support I wouldn’t of been able to go. So again, a thank you to Helen Weavers who helps organise this, through The University of Dundee's Excel Scholarship Program. They also help support a few other athletes in my training group with educational workshops and expenses to certain races, Sarah Kelly, Jenny Tan and Morag Maclarty! :)

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/ise/dundeeuniversitysport/team-sport/sports-scholarships.html

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/pressreleases/2011/july11/sportsscholar.htm

McColgan To Complete Rehab In England - Scottish athletics Website

20th December 2011

Eilish McColgan will head south of the border early in the new year to continue her rehabilitation from injury as she targets a place at London 2012.

The young Scottish steeplechaser and endurance runner made a big impression last season before breaking her foot in the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace in early August.

McColgan was bound for the World Championships in Daegu before her unlucky break – on a day when she still managed to set a PB and Scottish record of 9.44.8 for the 3000 metre steeplechase despite the accident happening 500 metres from the finishing line.

UK Athletics have now decided against taking Eilish to Kenya in January for a training camp with other Great Britain athletes.

But, as Olympic year opens, she will instead attend a rehab clinic in London for specialised training. That will be followed with a fortnight at Loughbrough before another visit to London.

All the programmes are geared to full fitness at the start of the season and there are encouraging signs with the 21-year-old back running again.

‘Eilish won’t travel to Kenya with the UK Athletics squad but will be in London instead for specialised training as she works on her rehab,’ said her coach, Liz McColgan.

‘She has been back running over the past couple of weeks and has made a lot of progress. Everything she is now doing is with next summer in mind.’

McColgan, named last week in the scottishathletics Commonwealth Games squad and on the UKA development programme, has been attending the LifeFit Physio centre in Grangemouth where she has been working with David Bowmaker.

Commonwealth squad list announced

Lee McConnell is among 41 athletes named by scottishathletics in their Commonwealth Games squad list for 2012.

The 41 athletes, comprised of 23 men and 18 women - with 14 of them teenagers - will receive expert support and services from scottishathletics and sportscotland institute of sport over the next 12 months, with the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the 2018 Gold Coast event in mind.

Nigel Holl, chief executive of scottishathletics, said: "We know there is great talent there and some of the squad will have aspirations for London 2012 before even starting the countdown towards Glasgow. But, with so many teenagers involved, we are also looking into the future, towards 2016, 2017 and 2018."

He added: "We are optimistic and ambitious that future UK teams will have a strong and increasing Scottish representation."

At 33, 400 metres runner McConnell is the oldest of the group, which includes four athletes who competed in the Commonwealth Youth Games on the Isle of Man in September.

Also included were 1,500m runner Steph Twell, 400m hurdler Eilidh Child and Eilish McColgan, the steeplechaser who is the daughter of former 10,000m world champion Liz McColgan.

Selection was based on performance standards and places in the Commonwealth Games finals is the minimum goal for all the athletes.

Athletics Weekly Article 12/11/11

Nov/Dec

I started out this blog as a weekly thing, however I have been so busy with rehab, work and a few other things that I recently keep forgetting to update it! Anyways... I will try and give a bit of a recap of what has been going on over the last 3 weeks.

Christmas Lights in Glasgow

Geroge Sq Xmas Lights

As part of UK Athletics I was asked to go through to Glasgow for the Christmas Lights being switched on. I didn't realise that myself and Eilidh Child would be dragged on stage in front of hundreds of little kids waiting for some panto show to start! We were questioned about 2014 and the fact that Glasgow Kelvin Hall is going to be hosting the last ever International match for Team GB! Apart from the fact it was minus 100 (slight exaggeration), it was a really nice evening. The train journey on the way home was not so nice. For some unknown reason, we were stopped at Perth and the train then proceeded to wait a full hour at Perth Station before eventually making its way to Dundee. Absolute nightmare.. Scot Rail seemed to be having a few issues that day, went on twitter and there were hundreds of very angry passengers. Some very amusing tweets and it helped pass the time!

My 21^st!!!

A select photo from my 21st :)

 It was my 21^st on the 25^th November! Decided to have a quiet one (with me having a broken foot an all!) but it was a really good night. I went out for a meal with most of my training group then headed out for a few drinks with some more folk. It had been months since I had seen most of them and so it was nice to get everyone together again like we used to!

With Dynamo!

I received a laptop from my parents (and some other family members).. a macbook air to be precise. BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE! I think I may be in love with it. My boyfriend also completely spoiled me! Made me pancakes in bed and then gave me a ridiculous amount of presents to open! :) Completely spoiled!

Awards in London

We then made our way to Edinburgh Airport to catch a flight down to the UK Aviva Awards in Westminster, London. It was a really good night apart from my boyfriend freaking out when he lost our flat keys for the night! Very funny looking back, but not very funny at the time! We were extremely lucky to get the chance to meet the world renowned magician Dynamo! Not going to lie, it was pretty amazing. He made me choose a card, sign it, then put it back into the pack. He continued to burn a 10p through the cards and it just happened to stop on my card! Pretty cool.. He did loads of other tricks very close up with loads of us and I have NO idea how he does it. We also had a little visit to the photo booth which was also a lot of fun with all the 70's and 80's props to choose from! We were sat at, what turned out to be, a 'scottish' table!

I had a really nice birthday in London, getting showed around by Howells family friends who live in Temple. I just wish we could of stayed longer!! One day I will live in London.. Decided!

My little brother

Good news that my little brother is out of hospital and back to being his normal annoying self again! :) The police also managed to get his bike back after someone had stolen it when he was taken into hospital!!

Myself and mum at Sports Awards

Rihanna

As part of my birthday, my mum bought me a ticket to go and see Rihanna in concert- which was unbelievable! If there is one person in the world I could be for the week, Rihanna would definitely be high up that list! The show was a bit x-rated though for some of the children that were sitting next to us. She was grinding away with all these little girls beside us copying her dance moves, slightly weird! Calvin Harris was DJ-ing beforehand as a warm up which was also pretty good!

Scottish Sports Awards – Thistle Hotel, Glasgow

I also had the chance to go along to the awards as my mum was nominated (and won!) the Coach of the Year Award! She volunteers and gives up so much of her time to help our training group and yet gets no rewards apart from our performances, so it was nice to see her receive a bit of recognition after a tough year. Brendan Foster, Walter Smith and Kenny Dalgleish were along the big names whom attended the awards and we had a really good night.

Myself and Howell at Sports Awards

Physiotherapy

Twice a week for the last month I have been travelling through to LifeFit Physio in Grangemouth to see David Bowmaker. I could not thank him enough for his help with my rehab and thankfully I am back running again! Wooohoooo!! Everything has been built up gradually, from pool running to cross training to running on a trampette to finally jogging! I have managed to build it up to a 3mile run and have been extremely lucky with my foot, it is totally fine with no symptoms whatsoever.

The next week

I am off to London on Wednesday to see Dr down at St Johns Hospital for a quick assessment on wether the foot is strong enough for me to head out to Kenya on the UKA Altitude Training Camp. I believe my foot is gaining more and more strength every day and is quickly progressing, so fingers crossed it all goes well! Hopefully get some last minute (slash start) my Xmas shopping!! I also need to arrange to go over to Belgium to get my orthotics altered incase my running gait has changed due to my 'new' foot! It would be ideal for me to get these sorted now, before Xmas, however they are 400Euros plus flights and so I need to start saving! My main reason for wanting to go over to Belgium to get them done is because I have been previously and absolutely swear by them. They completely eradicated all previous issues that I had (as I have really dodgy, boney feet..mmm!) and their whole set up was extremely professional and helpful. http://www.rslab.be/en/lab for more information..

Family...

Over the past few weeks I have kept very quiet about everything that has been going on, and my main reason for this is that I want to keep myself distanced to what has been happening with my parents and all the media surrounding them, as it has nothing to do with me. I did not attend the court case for the simple reason that I am on neither side. I have also not given any quotes to any newspapers. At the end of the day, it is my mum and dad who we are speaking about and I love the both of them equally. The media have a very clever way of creating a story out of not very much, for example, a small innocent comment on twitter can turn into a full article. I am sure several families have gone through their parents getting divorced; this story is no different.

The past few months have been difficult for everyone but I hope that this is all over now and we can all move on.

Nearly there..

It has been a few weeks since my last blog and it’s due to the fact I haven't had the time to sit down to even think about writing one! I apologise for the size of this one! I am currently writing this at Edinburgh Airport, extremely bored, however I did just bump into the band Rizzle Kicks in WH Smith! Which was pretty cool, although I was too embarrassed to ask to get a photo.. I will include a photo incase folk don't know who they are! Anyways I will recap on what's been going on..

Question of sport

Two weeks ago my mum took part as a panelist on ‘A Question of Sport Live’ show through at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. I wasn't too sure how the TV format would convert into a live show but it was a really enjoyable night! The audience got more and more rowdy as the night went on, shouting out answers etc and shouting out abuse but it was all just a good laugh! Afterwards we had the chance to go backstage to find my mum and take a quick picture with Phil Tufnell, Matt Dawson and a few others..

Also took my mum and Howell to Nandos for the first time EVER! Absolute weirdos.. But they loved it! 10 points to Eilish! 

SAF awards

The next weekend, Howell and me attended the Scottish Athletics awards dinner through at the Mariott Hotel in Glasgow. It was a really good meal/night however we left pretty early, as I was feeling pretty ill, suffering from a cold! I can't seem to get rid of it! Its been more than a week later and it's still slowly killing me! Beechams sales must have risen in the last week purely by me buying them!

Roger Black was the after dinner speaker- extremely motivational and inspirational- we were lucky to get a photo with him at the end to which he recognised I was 'Liz’s daughter' straight away. I’m still adamant we look nothing alike?! Unfortunately I didn't win anything, although a big well done to Lynsey Sharp who scooped up all the awards! 

Halloween/Howells Bday

My boyfriends Bday is the day before Halloween and so we decided to have a little fancy dress get together to celebrate! I hadn't seen many of my friends in quite a while since being in hospital and so it was really nice to have everyone together again like we used to! Decided that because I was still wearing my massive moon boot, my only costume choice was an astronaut. However I did not have the funds to replicate such a costume and so I went with a get-together I already had from previous years, a geek! The moon boot went pretty well! Again I was feeling quite tired and run down and so cut my night short and went home.. Getting my bloods taken on Monday to check what's going on! 

We decided to take my little 6-year-old sister trick or treating around Carnoustie as she had never been. I said to Howell before we left that many folk will not answer their doors and most will just switch all their lights off in order to deter the children from knocking on their doors- he didn't believe me, so off we went! The first 10 houses completely blanked us however we eventually found some very kind, children friendly houses who loaded my sisters pumpkin bag full of sweeties and £2.50 in change! She was loving life! 

 Athletics wise

I have been retained on Uka’s development funding which I am extremely grateful for, as it gives me all the medical support I need in order to get myself fit and healthy again! I have been going through to Life Fit Physiotherapy in Grangemouth twice a week for the past fortnight. The progress, in just a few days, has been major and I could not thank them enough for David (the physio) work! I am now back walking in trainers and normal shoes with no pain and the flexibility is increasing every day. I start back jogging next week- literally never been so excited about something! The current rehab program that I am partaking in, is just under 2 hours long, and contains tiny, mind numbing exercises but they have been making such a difference that I have been doing so, religiously! It makes it slightly easier travelling all the way to Grangemouth, due to the fact we always stop off on the way home for a quick lunch at Costa. I have found, maybe the best tasting thing ever invented... Sticky Toffee Pudding Muffin! Amazing...

 

I got my last MRI scan this week just to confirm how far the bone has healed and also got some blood tests to keep an eye on my iron levels to avoid any drop that may occur due to starting training again.

Loughborough meetings

This weekend I was down in Loughborough attending the Team GB Olympic athletes meetings. It was nice catching up with some of the girls again. The meetings were an insight into what things are going to be like at the Olympics, which was pretty good, although it did reinforce that the majority of people won't have the chance to experience this. It made me realise how much EVERYONE wants to be there and how difficult it will be to gain selection!

Some of the main points were very basic, however the highlight of the weekend, for me, was an after dinner talk and a ‘question and answer’ session from the one and only Michael Johnson! He speaks and everyone listens, he has an aura around him that draws people in. It was truly amazing and I am very grateful to have had the chance to be there. Nearly all the athletes had questions they wanted answers to and Mr Johnson answered every one of them with a detailed insight into his life. I couldn't even raise my hand to ask a question in case he thought I was stupid or if I messed up my question! Haha.. Afterwards some of us were extremely lucky to grab a quick picture with him! My list of 'photos of celebs' is slowly getting more and more each month! This year I've had the opportunity to meet, Mo Farah, Usain Bolt, Carolina Kluft, supermodel David Gandy and now Michael Johnson! I'm doing well..

I also got a quick chat with UKAs main Physio Neil Black. He was also really happy with the progress of my foot and so I hope to be back jogging the start of next week!

 Another important ‘point’ that one of the meetings was based around was Twitter. A BBC journalist came along to give us a quick chat regarding how some sports people have improved their profile in the sport and how some people have destroyed their own image by one, slightly silly comment. He went on to say how a small insignificant comment could be totally misconstrued by journalists to fill the pages of a paper. Obviously it's a massive worry to the more prolific athletes, but he stated that as it approaches the Olympics, more and more journalists are trawling through twitter all day trying to get a lead for the breaking story their looking for, and how it can be something so small! Social media is slowly taking over our lives! It's maybe a good idea for top athletes to perhaps disconnect themselves from social media the weeks before the Olympics, however I don't think my boring tweets will ever cause a stir. I am absolutely for twitter. I love it, and I'm so interested in reading about how celebrities/athletes live their lives and their personal opinions. 

It has been an amazing but slightly busy last 2 weeks! 

Coming up next.. My 21st! And the Aviva athletics awards down in London on the 26th November.

Till then! X