Given the Elbow!

I'm pleased to report that I managed 50 minutes in the gym yesterday!

10 minutes on the rower (no hip pain), 10 on the cross-trainer (some pain but not too much) and then 30 minutes personal training (let's not mention pain here!).

Rocci, my PT, concentrated mainly on my upper body/shoulders, but also showed me a very good stretch which seemed to get the exact spot.  So I did circuits of upper body, deadlift, step and Russian medicine ball twist, followed by a rest and repeat of the stretch.  The twist also stretched the painful area and by the end of the session there was much less pain doing both the stretch and the twist.

But being the nice guy that he is, Rocci also got the foam roller out to have a go at my ITB and also the piriformis issue, just to make sure!  Once he had found the painful bit in my hip he stuck his elbow in, and purely on reflex I nearly hit him!  I'm glad I didn't as he is an experienced MMA fighter!  It felt like a red hot poker being shoved into my hip, and was the sort of pain that was difficult to tolerate, however since he did that I have had no pain at all so I guess it worked.
As a result of my various injuries (broken wrist, dislocated knees etc) I have been told that I have quite a high pain threshold by a few people, including the physiotherapists I have seen.  Even so, I am not so much looking forward to my physio session on Friday morning now - I have a strong suspicion that a similar amount of pain may be inflicted!

I know it's all worth it though.  To think that on Saturday I couldn't walk, and that now on Wednesday I am mostly pain-free and my dream is still alive is pretty amazing and not something I am taking for granted.  Zeph had her operation today, and so is one step closer to leaving cancer behind.  We exchanged a couple of texts and she told me she was proud of me and honoured that I was doing this with her in mind, and also hoped that I was ok after reading about my injury.  If ever a bit of perspective was needed, that was it for me!  To know that people are proud of me, and to know I am raising money to help the diagnosis, treatment and ultimately, hopefully, a cure for cancer is massively inspiring and motivating.
Between now and race-day, the strategy is rest, gym, one last 10 miler at the weekend, maybe a short 3 miles or so next week and that is about it.  Oh and eat!  Bring on the carbs!

Zizzi Strozzapreti Pesto Rosso