maragirls go aqua-jogging!

it was on a long saturday run, planning for 12, from glasgow to Philadelphia [courtesy of hollywood] and scenic route thru kelvin way home, when i stopped to wait with sarah on julie and joann turning the corner and about 9 miles when my right foot went into cramp.  once jules and joann caught up sarah was off again and since i didn't know the route well i had to take off too.  still cramping badly i ran or should i say crawled the next mile and then hopped, skipped and ran the last 2 in agony.  needless to say it wrecked me! after consultations with gps, sport injury clinic and physios the conclusion was a stress fracture in metatarsal and no running for 6 weeks!!

of course that was major stress not being able to run when i was just getting my fitness up.  i do blame the combination of my shoes and orthotics for causing the cramping. i just wasn't adjusting properly to them. yes my leg pain had improved but not gone away completely and i was still getting cramping in my foot.  so i binned the shoes and orthotics [now spent a grand on trying to sort this and had to dump all in bin!!] and decided i would try sort myself for when i got back to running.
but so i wouldn't waste too much of my fitness while i couldn't run, i tried the next best thing that many great runners [not that i am great but if they can do it then it should help me] do - aquajogging.


i signed up for 2 months at my hubby's gym so that i could go along with him and dec and aquajog while they played badders. i was happy to find they had aquajogging belts too so i had one to use while the one i'd ordered was still to arrive.  now while this pool never let me get out my depths i was impressed at the buoyancy of the belt.  with strange looks from the pool goers and pity [they probably though poor girl can't swim with a big aide like that on - i can't but embarrassment aside i wasn't there to swim] i immersed myself and started aquajogging.  i had looked up the technique on you tube and was surprised at how so much action in the water gets you very little distance! after being stared at for a wee while i was left to get on with it moving up and down the pool very slowly.  luckily it wasn't busy as even in the slow lane the slowest of swimmers had to go round me! some looked really annoyed at me but too bad i'd paid my membership - i had every right!!

i attended 3 times a week and even did my HITS every visit - and that was as hard as it is on the road! and the looks i got were hilarious as arms and legs moved ferociously while my face got redder and redder and i still didn't move very fast.  but something was missing - MUSIC! i was fed up listening to the screaming kids and swimming instructors yelling at them and researched tools to get my shuffle into the pool with me.  a waterproof armband and waterproof headphones were ordered and made my life complete!! it was now a pleasure to slooooowly jog up and down the pool for an hour listening to lady gaga and kylie - bliss.

during the 6 weeks my running was confined to water the maragirls joined me for a session. the allander swimming pool was useful for me to use occasionally and it was my first time EVER in at the deep end. it felt strange not being able to touch the ground if i had to but after a couple of lengths i was confident my belt would fly off and let me drown.  the allander actually have a whole load of jogging belts so the 6 of us belted up and got in. for a saturday morning it was very quiet and they actually cordoned off 2 lanes for us.  we had a hilarious time and made more noise than the kids that were there especially when doing our hits!  The leisure manager even took our pics while we were there. Unfortunately Aoife broke HER toe while she was there!!

 Fiona, me, Julie, Aoife, Helen, Donna

i did keep the aquajogging up for a couple of weeks after i got back to running just to help build up again. my first 3 miles back on tarmac had me doing 8m30s miles and i felt strong so i was delighted with how my fitness was maintained by aquajogging - no wonder the elites do it! so if you are injured - i thoroughly recommend it!


Nick D'Arcy [ALLANDER Leisure Officer] for photography