There is a really brilliant campaign run by Sport England called ‘This Girl Can’. It celebrates women in sport, challenges stereotypes around women’s participation in sport and encourages them to get involved.
They’ve a great video that you can watch HERE

One of the points I take from it is that no matter what challenges you face or what challenges you feel are out there, there are always opportunities, be happy with yourself and just do it.

That is kind of where I am at the moment…

I’ve been to see the physio. He specialises in post surgery recovery and with lots of experience of back injuries like mine. This is great because it is a big step forward in my recovery. I’m now out from under the control of a surgeon and under the care of someone whose job is to ensure that I keep active, keep moving forward – the talk now is of what can we do,  lots of recovery and rehabilitation ideas.

My back is pretty much ‘fixed’, the wound is 99% healed and I’ve very little pain other than what feels like some internal bruising. I still have no control over the foot drop. Apparently control in cases like this is measured on a scale of 0 – 5 with 5 being full control and strength. To quote my physio ‘I haven’t reached 0 yet’. That’s concerning, but it is what it is and there is not much I can do about it at the moment. Time is what the body needs and time is what it will get.

That doesn’t mean I cant work on those parts of the body that do work though. One of the issues with the foot is that when walking I change my gait to avoid pain. This unfortunately knocks my hips out of alignment leading to a whole host of different issues! The plan now is simple core exercises, simple stretches and less walking than I’ve been doing recently.

One of the most troubling things for me though is the frustration I’ve felt having come from a good half Ironman race one week to being shown how to walk down stairs a week later. being able to get a ‘plan’ together means there is real progress, even if we are only at the bottom of what may seem like a very large hill. Whats important now is to work hard on realigning my mindset and resetting my goals.

I’m no longer looking to get better and start back where I left off as a ‘long distance triathlete’. What I’m looking at now is starting to run again, starting to swim again, look forward to being a runner because I’m able to run. No set targets, times or goals – no looking to beat a 5k PB or break 4hrs for a marathon. Just run because I can run and I enjoy running.

This week I can get on the bike in my front room for 15 minutes,  I’m allowed in the pool to jog for 15 minutes. They’re big wins in my mind, work on the bits that aren’t broken – take this opportunity, be it 3mths, 6mths or longer, to get the body better & stronger – do the things I never would have done had I never got injured.

The last blog post I wrote seemed full of despair. I was pretty down and frustrated, but I really meant it as an experience in telling myself that there is so much to be positive about. Thanks to everyone that commented and sent me messages after I posted. it was truly uplifting. Sometimes it is difficult when faced with adversity to look on the bright side and I’m learning every day that things aren’t so bad. I’ve had time to reflect and accept that this is the situation I find myself in so lets start afresh and learn from the experience.

I’m looking forward to opening my training diary in 3 months time and seeing that I was only able to do 6 squats and 15 minutes on a bike today.

Just like the video above, its time to celebrate what I can do. Its time to work my way up that mountain.