First I want to thank for your input on Achilles tendon. There is something to doing warm packs as opposed to ice. When I think back, Mr. Achilles is behaving much better after a hot shower or a bath. And then Noakes The Lore of Running. Gee, where is my head? Thank you Cynthia for reminding me about him. See, lack of running is already affecting my memory. His book is standing there prominently on my shelf gathering dust while I suffer.
I am hoping that the doc I will see on Monday will have additional input. He is a marathoner so I am hopeful. In the meantime I am educating myself so I know what to ask him.
And now for something completely different.
Are you balanced? I know I am not. I am not talking about keeping balance in my life. Just thinking about that makes me dizzy so I'll leave that topic for another post. What I am talking about is what keeps me and you vertical. There are so many things to worry as we age and balance is yet another one of those things. Yep, older people fall not only because their muscles got weak but because their sense of balance has deteriorated over the years. According to scientists, see this NYT article, we start losing our sense of balance already in our 20's. Ouch! As if we didn't have enough to worry about, right? But I am realizing, especially when I watch kids, that there is something to it. I used to climb and walk fences without fear. I still could because I have enough strength and some flexibility but I am afraid I could fall down so as much as I am tempted I don't.
Neither I nor my husband feel old (yet) but we are noticing we are not as sure on our feet as we used to be. This is especially true for my hubby who has always been a bit vertically challenged. A few years ago he was not able to complete one of our mountain hikes because he did not feel comfortable on a narrow trail with a 2,000' drop on one side. That is when he decided to do something about it. We bought a bosu ball and he trained on it diligently. The following year he did the same hike without any problems.
While I still don't have any problems in the mountains I am noticing that when I bike fast, taking turns makes me feel uncomfortable and I have to slow down, I mean significantly slow down. I learned downhill skiing just a couple of years ago (yeah, kind of late) and now I am realizing that for me the biggest obstacle in developing speed and grace is my sense of balance. My legs and core are quite strong but the confidence that I will stay upright is lacking. So I figure that if balance exercises worked for my hubby, they will work for me.
Is there anything you guys are doing to train your balance? I have resolved that from now on all my squats, upper body free weights will be done on bosu ball. I am also thinking that steep technical trails would also be good for balance training. I will try to hit those over the summer.
I a few months I will be climbing the fences with kids and zooming around those sharp turns on the bike.
Maybe next time I'll post pictures of me holding a nice balance on the ball. In the meantime this one will have to do.
