Louise Damen's Blog by Louise_Damen

• Training on two wheels and a date with an MRI machine....

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  May1220134:08 p.m.

  Hello Realbuzzers, I hope everything’s good with you guys?

  Recently I’ve been doing some training on two wheels. I’m not exactly a natural cyclist. I’ve got muscles in the wrong places and my co-ordination and balance isn’t great at the best of times. In fact I’m like Miss Marple on a bike as Ali, one of my colleagues will testify, when I once fell into a gorse bush before even leaving the car park!! Yes, I am that bad! After some gentle persuasion from Chris, I’ve taken my mountain bike out for a spin a few times recently as a bit of a release from the monotony of the gym and to make the most of the sun before it disappears for the summer. Now sshhh, don’t tell anyone but I’ve actually secretly enjoyed it. For me, getting out on my bike isn’t quite the same as running but it’s the next best thing. It has been great to get out in the fresh air again and I’ve loved hitting some of my favourite trails in the forest and exploring new places that are just too far to reach on a run. It’s something I’d definitely like to do more of when I’ve retired from competitive running and something that is slightly kinder on the body.

  

  Staying on the theme of cycling, I recently went to a women’s event at the Specialized Concept store in Newbury to give a talk on the importance of fitness. The evening was organised by Specialized UK and was designed to encourage women into cycling.  Fellow Realbuzz blogger Alan Murchison was there to talk about the importance of nutrition and donned his chef’s whites to demo some recipes. I did particularly well as I got to take home some of Al’s left over Coconut and Parsnip cake which is top notch. Yoga guru, Camilla Campbell, was also on hand to talk about the benefits of yoga for cyclists and gave an impressive demo where she glided into every pose, making it look easy. Here's a video of the evening if you fancy a nose:

  Things are progressing on the injury front and I hope to be back running soon. Last week I went to see the UK Athletics endurance doctor, John Rogers so that he could take a quick look at me to see if any other interventions were needed. The doc’s verdict was to send me for an MRI scan to eliminate any bone stress around my sacrum and ischial tuberosity (the posh name for sitting bone), as with these sorts of injuries the last thing you want to do is to inject cortisone.

  

  Like many elite athletes, I’m no stranger to an MRI machine, and on Friday I had my eighth scan in as many years. This particular scan was pretty epic as my sacrum, pelvis and hamstrings all needed to be scanned, which meant I was in the tunnel of doom for eighty minutes! Those of you who have had an MRI scan or know anything about radiology will know that you have to lie ridiculously still in order to get the best pictures possible.  There is pretty much zero chance of going to sleep as the machine is so noisy. Lying in the same position for over an hour is harder than you think and towards the end I was getting quite uncomfortable. Hopefully it will all be worth it though as the radiographer said they got some great images. I’m hoping to get the results early this week and fingers crossed I’ll be taken off the leash! Until next time.

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