Training Log Archive: Kat

Since I've already drawn courses all over my four copies of the Boggs Mountain map, I asked BAOC if I could convert the OCAD file into a Catching Features map and create courses there, and they kindly agreed. So now I've got Catching Features files of parts of the Boggs map. I will upload some of the courses to the online section of CF soon so everybody can see them. Happy training! :)

I did one-legged squats with no weight instead of my usual two-legged squats. It was relatively easy on the right side, tough on the left side. I think I should do one-legged stuff more often to correct the imbalance, but I don't think I'll be doing this particular exercise for a while because it put too much strain on my knees.

This was only my second or third time ever on XC skis, but I felt surprisingly comfortable and well-balanced. Having groomed tracks for the most part helped, as did the small, flat loop which I got to know very well! Boris was a great teacher and gave me lots of things to work on. We did mainly double poling, since this does not irritate my calf or tendons, but he showed me a bit of striding (for uphills) as well. At the end, I did a "time trial" of our little loop - 2:14 total.

C • yeah xcskiing! 4

Feet and ankle strength, some in the morning and some at the gym.

Some before, some after seeing Jörgen.

Various kinds of stability, foot, and calf exercises with Jörgen and also later on by myself. He massaged the foot again, and mentioned that on my bad leg, the achilles tendon seems slightly thinner than on the other one, so there's some damage to that tendon as well. It's pretty impressive that in the five seconds it took for me to fall, I hurt every ligament and tendon in my left foot, as well as my calf. :(

Ankle exercises, balancing, and calf exercises, done in two bouts of ~20 minutes in the afternoon and evening.

Today I went to see Anders, who looked at my shoes, insoles, and running/walking style, and then gave me softer insoles than the ones I have now, with an extra lift for the heels to give my tendons a bit of break. Some things:
1. The Salomon shoes that I walk around in actually have pretty bad ankle support, despite being a trail shoe.
2. I don't pronate excessively - when I tried walking and jogging in the neutral Asics Cumulus + the soft insoles, my calves still looked reasonably straight. So he thinks that I should try a shoe that's not motion control. Interesting idea.
3. I should wear the supportive insoles all the time now, while injured, but limit use later on to runs or hikes only.

Did balancing and ankle mobility exercises in the gym.

Went to see Jörgen today, a physiotherapist that GG recommended. He was awesome! He thinks I have some partial ruptures in the tendons that go along the sides of the foot, so he recommends friction massage, eccentric calf exercises, no running or fast walking for two weeks, and lots of ankle balancing stuff. If the injury doesn't improve significantly within three weeks, then I need to have an MRI. He spent an hour with me in total, including supervising some exercises. Then he taped my foot and told me to come back Wednesday.

Quads really sore from the squat jumps I tried out for the first time yesterday. I would reduce the weight for next time, but I'll only be doing regular squats for the next few weeks, so it's ok.

C • squat jumps 3