PT Stands for "Pathetically Tri-ing"

Since I got this lovely injury, I started back up with my physiotherapist Jenna, or physical therapist for all you Amurricans out there; PT for short.  Many of you have already met her through my first spin post.

We spent our first few sessions with heat, high-tech electrocution e-stim, ultrasound and deep tissue massage.

I was sent home with some gentle stretches and once I was not hobbling too badly it was time to get to work!  We were going to focus on ankle and foot strength.  Enter the BOSU BALL.

If you're a child of the '80s like me (I'm totally not that old, right??), then you'll remember the Pogo Ball.

I never understood this "toy".  In my mind it was always a broken wrist, ankle, elbow, nose, coccyx and all ten phalanges waiting to happen (Phoebe: "Something is wrong with the left phalange"). 

This is precisely what I think of whenever I see the Bosu Ball, which is PRE-cisely why I've always ensured a 10 foot radius between it and me at the gym.

But I digress.

First, I got on the ball, round side down (with a little help of course) and was told to balance.

 Once Jenna finished laughing was satisfied with my attempt, she flipped the ball over and had me stand on one foot while lifting weights.

(I am now quite certain she just makes up these "exercises" to see them on the blog.)

Then, it was off to the treadmill.  If only I was allowed to turn it on.

Ever try walking on a non-ON treadmill? It's hard. Which was of course the point.

I did get to turn it on for the next exercise that involved walking sideways on a treadmill.  It may have caused a bit of motion sickness and it definitely caused a lot of klutziness.

After the treadmill it was back to the Bosu ball (Yippee!).  My mission--which I have no idea why I chose to accept--was to stand on one foot, bounce a ball against an angled trampoline and catch it.  She started me off easy with a low-weight medicine ball.

So then we switched to a good ol'-fashioned dodge ball and that worked better.  And next week I will learn to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!

Side note: *Some* of you may already know this but medicine balls, even if they're just 2 lbs, do no bounce off walls.  Even if you're in a very public place. Like the gym.

UPCOMING POSTS: RACE RECAPS. ALSO, IF YOU HAVE A CHANCE, I DID A FUN LITTLE GUEST POST EARLIER THIS WEEK OVER AT DAT'S SO CUTE.  BJ, THE AUTHOR JUST HAD A BRAND NEW BABY SO GO ON OVER AND SAY HELLO!

Taking a Dip...

...to go for a run.

*First, a little back story.  

In August I was put on a combo of Levaquin and Prednisone for swelling in my ear.  This is supposed to be a fun blog so I'm not going to have a whole diatribe on this but, listen up:  If you are an athlete, especially a runner, READ UP on Levaquin before you take it.  Its' side effects include tendon damage.  The occurrence is rare but increased when paired with Prednisone, and I am a rare breed so I hit the jackpot on this.

Phew.  Now that we're done with that, let's get on with the funny!

Since I got the red light on running from my doctor, I needed some safe form of exercise.  So I texted my physiotherapist.

She was quick to come back with a great idea:

Say what now?

If any of you are thinking of little old ladies splashing around with floatie belts in the deep end, let me just stop you right there.  Because you'd be exactly right.  (If you follow SUAR you will be familiar with her special term for that class. And if you're not following her, why not??)

I wanted to be a good patient, but I had just started my visit in the Great White North, so did not have access to my lovely pool.  What's a girl to do? Improvise, of course!

I had a beautiful lake at my disposal, so I threw on a life jacket (for buoyancy purposes) and jumped gingerly walked into the water. (Lake water is cold and I'm a super-sissy.)

Turns out the life jacket wasn't quite my size.

The next day I found a smaller one.

Midriff-baring vests, the new trend in aquatic safety!

Once again, I braved the elements and did the jog.  It took about half an hour to go maybe 30 feet.  Total.  (In my defense, there was a current...both ways. )

I got lots of support from my family, both on the dock,

and in the water.

That's TriGuy and SwimmerNephew.  They really do love me.

Once I got back to the U.S. of A, it was time to head back to the pool.  I picked out an aqua belt from the shelf, and because I have the body of an eight year old girl boy it promptly fell to the floor.

I then found a slightly smaller belt, yanked the rope as tight as it would go, and wrapped it around myself twice.

I swam in circles in the deep end for 10 minutes straight!  (I'm starting to think my physiotherapist just wants to see good blog content).

I wish I could say:

But I would be lying.

Hey guys, it looks like I'm almost at 200 followers, which means a GIVEAWAY is coming up!


UPCOMING POSTS:  RACE RECAPS, PHYSIOTHERAPY, AND I'M DOING A COUPLE OF GUEST POSTS SO I'LL KEEP YOU 'POSTED' (hehe).