by Mollie Millington | Dec 4, 2017 | corrective exercise, exercise, workout
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| Harvey writing up my homework |
As you can tell from my lack of posting in November, it was a busy month! I have continued to work with the team at Function360. Just about every week, I meet with one of their corrective exercise specialists to develop my strength and flexibility for marathon training. The pain I normally have when running is starting to subside and track is feeling a tad bit easier. Function360 also squeezed me in for an emergency session when I pulled my hamstring (I really hate running for the train). I went in for 30 minutes for some stretching and dry needling. I took it easy the rest of the week and was running again after four days. Previously, the only way I would have treated a pulled hamstring would be to rest it. But now I know better!
Because I only visit Function360 once a week, I am making time to repeat the exercises at home too and even work on my breaks. There are various movements to stretch my Achilles, open my hips and develop my glutes, so I do with best I can with what equipment is available. Luckily, as a personal trainer, I have a lot of kit at home, such as exercise bands, yoga mats, dumbbells, and even a stability cushion. I also have a coach who is always supervising my at-home sessions.
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| Deep hip openers |
Keeping my baseline fitness going, I am teaching indoor cycling one night a week at a local gym and hitting up Mile End track on Tuesday night. Advent Running has officially started too, which gives me a goal to exercise for 30 minutes a day. I hope to get a 5K in every day this month to complete this. With the London Winter Run coming up in February, I am toying with the idea of a 10K PB which will have to be sub-50 minutes. My PB is from years ago, so it will take a bit of hard work to get me speedy again. I feel like I have the framework in place though with Function360, track, and now Advent Running.
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| Train #4, what I like to call the caboose |
Finally, I am finishing up a 10 week program with Shannon Clifford’s nutritional coaching. It has been an interesting 10 weeks. Two of them I was travelling in the USA, which meant calories were infinite. It also took me about 10 weeks to get a grasp on portion control. I am happy to say I am at my target weight and looking to focus on my macros now that I have calories in check. For example, after I switched from porridge with chia seeds, banana, and honey to eggs, sweet potato and avocado for breakfast, my mid-morning craving have disappeared. It just goes to show that you need to have some protein and fat in your meals to feel satiated (or at least I do).
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| I needed all this warm ki over the weekend. The temp in London seems to have dropped. Brrrrrr! |
That’s it from me. Finishing up December with an overcommitted bang, as always! If you want to work with Function360, use my referral code #F360MM15 for 15% off. They are really some of the nicest people in the business. And you can get £3 off registration for London Winter Run with my code PTMOLLIE2018. Entries close 6/12/17 though so book in soon.
by thinkmarsh | Dec 4, 2017 | corrective exercise, exercise, workout
|
| Harvey writing up my homework |
As you can tell from my lack of posting in November, it was a busy month! I have continued to work with the team at Function360. Just about every week, I meet with one of their corrective exercise specialists to develop my strength and flexibility for marathon training. The pain I normally have when running is starting to subside and track is feeling a tad bit easier. Function360 also squeezed me in for an emergency session when I pulled my hamstring (I really hate running for the train). I went in for 30 minutes for some stretching and dry needling. I took it easy the rest of the week and was running again after four days. Previously, the only way I would have treated a pulled hamstring would be to rest it. But now I know better!
Because I only visit Function360 once a week, I am making time to repeat the exercises at home too and even work on my breaks. There are various movements to stretch my Achilles, open my hips and develop my glutes, so I do with best I can with what equipment is available. Luckily, as a personal trainer, I have a lot of kit at home, such as exercise bands, yoga mats, dumbbells, and even a stability cushion. I also have a coach who is always supervising my at-home sessions.
|
| Deep hip openers |
Keeping my baseline fitness going, I am teaching indoor cycling one night a week at a local gym and hitting up Mile End track on Tuesday night. Advent Running has officially started too, which gives me a goal to exercise for 30 minutes a day. I hope to get a 5K in every day this month to complete this. With the London Winter Run coming up in February, I am toying with the idea of a 10K PB which will have to be sub-50 minutes. My PB is from years ago, so it will take a bit of hard work to get me speedy again. I feel like I have the framework in place though with Function360, track, and now Advent Running.
|
| Train #4, what I like to call the caboose |
Finally, I am finishing up a 10 week program with Shannon Clifford’s nutritional coaching. It has been an interesting 10 weeks. Two of them I was travelling in the USA, which meant calories were infinite. It also took me about 10 weeks to get a grasp on portion control. I am happy to say I am at my target weight and looking to focus on my macros now that I have calories in check. For example, after I switched from porridge with chia seeds, banana, and honey to eggs, sweet potato and avocado for breakfast, my mid-morning craving have disappeared. It just goes to show that you need to have some protein and fat in your meals to feel satiated (or at least I do).
|
| I needed all this warm ki over the weekend. The temp in London seems to have dropped. Brrrrrr! |
That’s it from me. Finishing up December with an overcommitted bang, as always! If you want to work with Function360, use my referral code #F360MM15 for 15% off. They are really some of the nicest people in the business. And you can get £3 off registration for London Winter Run with my code PTMOLLIE2018. Entries close 6/12/17 though so book in soon.
by Mollie Millington | Nov 6, 2017 | corrective exercise, exercise, running
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| Dorsiflexion assessment at our first meeting |
It is no secret that I want to be a faster runner. With three World Marathon Majors down and three more to go, improving my marathon PB is the best way to obtain entry to these exclusive races. From January to June this year, I was devoted to #tracktuesdays with Advent Running and found that my speed did increase (I moved up from train 4 to train 3). But then due to my Achilles tendinopathy, I had to stop going to track. This month, I have returned to track but seem to be back to square one.
With each marathon, I realize strength training would make a big difference in my strength and endurance. What I have done so far (basic full body training with free weights) just isn’t working which I why I have started to work with Function360 Physiotherapy here in London so get my body into running shape. My treatment program started all with a gait analysis that identified where my body’s imbalances were. Working off that base, I have twice met with Harvey, a corrective exercise specialist. Our first session was primarily an evaluation of my mobility and ability to establish a baseline. There was a variety of exercises and stretches we went through, some of which were given to me as homework.
Sure, stretching and reps of 10 sounds really easy, but I can assure you I was sweating throughout my sessions. To increase the intensity up another notch, Harvey made me foam roll for over five minutes. I targeted my quads and adductor muscles.
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| Foam rolling isn’t my favorite thing to do |
This week, I promised Harvey I would complete my homework. After all, what good is meeting with him once a week if I am not doing my part outside of our meetings? Spending additional time on these exercises is just as important as going to track and getting my long runs done.
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| Harvey helping me work my tibia |
Of course, I strained my hamstring on Sunday running for a train. I experienced a bit of DOMS after our session on Wednesday. I think I might have still been sore or stiff from that, which made the running tough. I might swap my session with Harvey this week for a massage or myofascial release to see if I can help my hamstring heal.
Function360 is a one stop shop for physiotherapy, sports massage, personal training, corrective exercise and gait analysis. I have now met several members of the team, including the owner, Jor, and everyone is lovely.
Thanks for Function360 for supporting me as one of their sponsored athletes. I will routinely be sharing my experiences with the Function360 team as I continue to prepare my body for the next
challenge.
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