When I got back from Florida at the end of May I headed straight to the biomechanical running analysis center. Straight, as in 3 hours after landing at the airport. It was all very high-techy: they did a 3D analysis by sticking 35 wireless sensors to your body. Then you run at various paces with different shoes (including barefoot) and are filmed by eight cameras dotted around the room. The end result is a video and an analysis of how you move compared to a set of healthy runners. The analysis detects inefficiencies and movements that will lead to further injuries.
The results clearly confirmed what the physiotherapists discovered: I need to work at strengthening my glutes and do a lot of stabilization training (e.g. one-leg stands) and stretching exercises. I also got customized insoles and new running shoes. I have been running in them for a few kilometers and they feel good.
The benefits of this injury are that I have changed my training regime to include a lot of core exercises. I used to just simply run a lot and do Bodypump two to three times a week. Now all that has changed: besides my daily physio routine I go to Pilates classes four to five times a week. I train at the same gym near my home, but they have different instructors for every weekday. This makes it all the more interesting, as every instructor has a different focus. One of them keeps on talking about the transversus, which I finally had to google to understand what she was talking about (it’s a hard-to-find muscle around your lower belly which you always have to tighten).
This new regime has been going on for four weeks now. I hope that I am getting stronger around the core (or, in Pilates speak, your “powerhouse”). I used to dismiss Pilates as “something for elderly ladies”, but now I stand corrected. It is hard! You have to focus on 1) your breath, 2) your body, and 3) how they move together. It takes a lot of concentration and you can’t zone out. Apparently, Joseph Pilates called his workout method “the thinking man’s exercise.” When Chinese researchers measured women’s brain activity after 10 weeks of Pilates training, they found an increase in the neural network activity, memory performance, and other cognitive functions. There’s hope for my brain…
And now for some other random stuff we were up to this month:
The opera house had a public viewing of the ballet “Romeo and Juliet”. It was beautiful and even the weather held up!
Saw this sign on a toilet door at the Zurich airport. Finally the gents may change their kids’ nappies!
I have signed up to the app “Too Good To Go“. It’s an anti-foodwaste app where restaurants, shops, bakeries, bars and hotels offer “Magic Bags”. The bags contain delicious, perfectly edible food that stores have to throw out at the end of the day. We usually order a bag at a nearby grocery store for CHF 5.90 with a value of CHF 20.-. We don’t know exactly what we will get, which can be quite a challenge (and also exciting). We absolutely love the app and order food nearly daily.
Other than that, this month we spent some fun times with friends biking, swimming, eating and filming a video for an upcoming wedding… but more on that later!
