Lovely foot

Today I was allowed to run again. The plan was to do some hard sprints out of blocks flat out. This was dependent on my foot feeling good. I'm happy to report I didn't feel my foot at all and I was able to do the session no problem.

Now I get to do hurdles again and hope to hear no more from my foot. Going forward my foot is now the lovely foot and no longer the freaky foot.

Thats all for now.

DOR

Freaky Feet

I've been meaning to blog for a few days but just got a little bit distracted so for that apologies. The main news I guess is my runs at nationals and what I've been up to since. Before nationals I was getting a little bit of pain on the front of my right foot. At this point I need to explain something about my feet, I have these funny looking sticky out bones on the front of each foot. I've had them since I was a child and every now and then they get a bit sore. They have never been anything that has caused me much concern and in general they just look kinda ugly in heels!

Randomly enough leading up to nationals the right one was sore. For some reason being in sprint spikes was annoying it and as was running on it. Due to the pain being more annoying than anything I trained quite a bit on it before nationals but the day before it was really sore and irritated. I stuck it into a bucket of ice for most of the day Saturday and was hoping that it would settle it.

On the day of nationals it was ok warming up but as I started to run over some hurdles it got a bit irritated again. The heat was ok and I felt like I was running really easy but by the time the final came my foot had been in spikes for ages and done quite a few runs which made the bone really irritated. For the final my shoe felt like it was putting loads of pressure on my foot and it was hard to push at the first hurdle.

I was kinda concerned afterwards and had a chat with Sean and Terrie. The options were a. go to races this week and keep icing to hoping it would settle or b. get it seen too and give it a couple of days. The Cahills felt that the second option was the best. Its on my lead leg so its hard to come off the hurdle with a lot of force. I need to be able to run as hard as possible off the hurdle without anything holding me back.

On Monday I went to see the sports doc to have a check. The crazy voice in my head was going 'clearly your foot is broken this is a disaster" but the rational voice was saying "something small is irritated it just needs a way of settling". I met the doc, got a scan and then met the doc again to discuss results. Thankfully the results were really straight forward the joint underneath my (freaky) bone was totally inflamed which was causing lots of pain in the bone, no evil stress fractures or breaks, hooray for me. Then came the bad bit, the fastest way to settle the joint down was to inject into the joint to bring down the inflammation. This meant putting a needle in through the side of my food and into the joint. Seriously a needle into the side of the foot! NOOOOOOOOOO. Thankfully the non girly side of me manned up and let them do it. As usual everyone in Santry sports clinic was very nice to me and made me feel much better about things. While I was waiting on my injection a very famous rugby player was also waiting to get injected so that made me feel much better, misery loves company and all that (not saying who because it's not really my business!)

So since the evil freaky foot injection I have been training away but just not running or hurdling. I need to give the joint a chance to settle down and let the injection work (lets be honest going back for a second would be no craic). I had to withdraw from both races this week, its never fun having to do that but thats the way it goes. I'm allowed run again on saturday which is awesome.

I hope everyone has been having a lovely week and had a good valentines day!

Bye Bye,
DOR X

Hmmmm not so sure you are invited

This is a little drug testing blog. I can be drug tested every single day of the year. I have to send quarterly plans for where I will be and if that is going to change I have to text message a number to inform them. There is no day in the entire year that people in the sports council unit don't know where I am. There is no such thing as a holiday from testing.

I designate an hour every day that is my preferable hour for the drug testers to come to my house. But very rarely do the testers come in the hour I designate.

Yesterday morning at around 7.30 a.m there was a knock on the door. Ta dah the testers were there. I was fast asleep and had to stumble downstairs to pee in a cup and let someone take some blood from my arm. I do NOT like needles, so I was not loving this.

It's a huge part of being an athlete and I completely understand why it's a part of it. The cleaner the sport is the better. But there is no day that I will be happy to see those people at the door first thing in the morning looking for pee and blood. A visitor with croissants and coffee is far more welcome..............

That's all for now,

DOR

Linz where did you hide my talent?

Im not a happy bunny. I came fourth in Linz in a time of 8.18. Its not what I want to run nor is it a reflection of how much work I've put in so I'm quite frustrated now. I know hurdles can be like this so I need to have some patience.
For now I'm having a mini pity party under my duvet in a hotel in linz. But I promise that tomorrow I will shake it off and work hard for the next few sessions.
Bye bye,
Dor xoxo

2012 season has begun

Hi all,
It's official 2012 racing has started. I ran my first meet in Vienna last night. I came second to American yvette lewis. I ran 8.16 which is pretty slooooooooow in my opinion but it's a start. I felt quite close to the winner who is running well so I need to just run faster.

I've mentioned that I was having some problems with my calf. I'm happy to report that I got through warm up and racing without any pain in my achilles. I feel like I can move on now and not worry about doing any damage which is a big relief. Part of my head was a bit weary racing last night that I was going to hurt myself which is never a fun way to race.

The bad news from last night is that Ian hurt himself racing. I think he might have done a little tear in his groin. I feel really bad for him because he was running so well in his race and I think would have been really close to the world indoor standard. I'm hoping that the injury isn't as bad as it seemed and he will be back soon. He really does deserve some luck.

Currently I'm sitting on a bus going from Vienna to Linz. Im the only irish person, there are lots of english and turkish athletes. The journey should take 2.5 hours but the bus collected some athletes at the airport and has been going pretty slow so I've been on the bus for 4 hours!!! I've watched the DVD zookeeper and played lots of scrabble on the iPad.I'm bored now though and wish I was there.

Tomorrows race should be a faster race than yesterday as it has some big names in it. I'm really looking forward too it. The first meet I always find nerve wrecking and now I feel just ready to run.

I have absolutely no idea who I will be sharing a hotel room with for the next few nights because there are no other Irish to share with. Fingers crossed the meet organiser has put me in with someone lovely......

I shall report back from Linz soon. If you are feeling cold in Ireland take heart in the fact that it's -15 here!!!!! Brrrrr thank goodness for my big warm coat and hats and gloves.

Bye bye,

Dor xoxo

* quick update . I'm in Linz safe and sound now. I'm rooming with an American girl called brianna Glenn who long jumps. Just found a mccafe which has Internet access and cups of tea!