10 ways to become bulletproof!

Becoming bulletproof may be a little hopeful, but after this latest injury set back I realised I need to pay a lot more to all the little details and all the different and often neglected parts of my body that keep me running, cycling and swimming.

So here's what I'm planning...

1. Stretching. Daily. Focusing on hamstrings and hips. I had a phase of doing this before and my coach noticed an increase in my stride length after a month or so. For some reason I've let this slip!

2. Hip exercises. After my latest physio visit I've got a whole host of exercises to strengthen my hip muscles. And having struggled to do them at the physio, I'll definitely be putting a lot of effort into these.

3. Core exercises. Following my tendonitis last year I was prescribed core exercises to strengthen up the adductors/abductors and everything else in between. I was doing these daily but may have slacked off to only 2 or 3 times a week. All the rest of the tranining was just too tiring! Enough excuses - back to every day on these. As soon as my dodgy knee allows anyway!

4. Conditioning Circit. Set by my coach and incorporating foot conditioning, sit ups, planks and a few other delightful exercises that I can conduct in front of the TV! Going to stick to coach's plan on these and do once a week.

5. Foot flexibility. If I'm not running I lose mobility in my feet and ankles really quickly. So I've got the foam football and wobble board out of hibernation and will be doing these daily in front of the TV again. I don't really watch that much TV honest. Just all the sport. Including the Tour de France! So that's a lot of time to be spent doing exercises in front of the TV over the next few weeks. Allez!

6. Yoga. Sometimes I feel as if my body contracts into cycling/running position permanently and if I don't take evasive action I will get stuck like this. Unfortunately work is currently getting in the way of my favourite yoga class, so I've got an interesting looking DVD to try out at home. I did try this they day it arrived from Amazon, but I couldn't actually bend my knee enough to sit on the yoga mat to start with. If it's any good I'll report back as it's taken me ages to pick a yoga dvd from the hundreds of thousands that seem to be available.

7. Pilates. At one stage I was going to pilates once a week and feeling generally stronger and more toned as a result - it was also surprisingly tiring, so I let this slip to focus on running/cycling/swimming/sleeping. Somehow I will make time for this again! Though I may have to make this a winter thing as I was finding it very hard to race at the weekend after a Friday lunchtime Pilates class. Will give it a go at least!

8. Foam Roller. I just bought one today. Another way to feel like I'm really part of the Tour de France, in agony watching some lovely scenery go by (albeit on the TV)

9. Swiss Ball. In an effort to strengthen up my hips I'm going to start sitting on the swiss ball when I'm working on the computer at home. I read an article about how bad sitting on an office chair is for your hips and it made me realise I'm unnecessarily continuing this at home. Enough! Sitting on the swiss ball will be way more fun!

10. Regular Physio. If this was a proper chart-show-style countdown then this would probably be my number 1. The physios at Athlete Matters in Manchester do an amazing job of sorting out my various weaknesses and tight hamstrings. However I think it would make their jobs a lot easier if I would make some more regular visits, plus it's excellent injury prevention. Better to spot the problem and fix it before it stops me running than have to not run for more than a day, ever. I would recommend physios by name, but it's hard enough getting an appointment to see them as it is!


I think I'm going to print this off and stick it up on the wall at home to remind me not to just flop on the sofa after training! At least with not being able to train properly at the moment I do have the time and energy to get into good habits.
If anybody has any injury prevention, body strengthening suggestions, please let me know. I'll try anything to avoid becoming the awful grump that I am when I can't run!
Thanks :)