Ching’s blog

This is what I currently have as my desktop pic. I love how the photo captured a vulnerable moment in a majestic animal. It also reminds me of Toro who leans his forehead against my shoulder during car rides. I'm not sure why he does it but for that moment, I turn into mush. 

Lion

Do you have any old pair of running shoes that are sitting around? How about donating those shoes for a good cause.

Myself and friend Pat will be collecting used running shoes (adults & kids) from now till Oct 14. This will go directly to charity boxes in Nepal. Pat will be heading there on 15 Oct and has kindly volunteered to carry the shoes with her. Rest assured your shoes will be given to the appropriate charity organization, or to Porters. If you have any contacts in Nepal, please let us know!

Please contact us directly for drop off/collection details:

Pat: kittykatrei@ yahoo.co. uk  (for those who stay in the West/central area)

Ching: chingyee.wong@ gmail.com  (for those located in the East side)

Other used footwear in wearable condition are also welcomed.

Hope to see your shoes soon! 

Love Ching & Pat

It's one of those weeks when everything that could have gone wrong, have gone wrong. And I feel like I've let some people down and of all timings, it had to be this period. 

I take a long while before I post up stuff. oops.

mtr

W

there's a part of my life I wish I had a compass for directions. I thought I knew what I was good at but the winds shifted, I made some wrong choices and took a long time to find my way. I'm not done yet, sad to say I'm still searching for the right direction. I had made a leap of faith and am glad to have embarked on that route. I had no regrets because it forced me to challenge myself but at the same time, it had made me question my capabilities. I've emerged from that dark place but I'm scared to fall again.

sometimes you just got to keep things under wraps especially when you have been injured before.

CR-W Conditioning Wear

Pic of me with CR-W compression tights that I’ll be wearing to sleep to aid in recovery. More on compression technology here. CR-W are the tightest I’ve come across so far. The quality of the material and webbing are far superior to the 2XU and other brands that I’ve tried on.

Since the big fall, my left leg has not been the same. Understandably a pubic ramus fracture is a serious injury. A doctor friend was amazed at how I came to fracture the pubic bone because it is supposed to be a strong structure. Perhaps it was from the impact of hitting my carbon bike, perhaps it was already weaken due to the increased running mileage I had been loading on during then, perhaps perhaps. I don't know how it came to be.

What I know now is that my left leg, specifically my ITB, and butt have been giving me problems when I go beyond 15km. I saw my physio who after making me run through comparison resistance exercises (right leg vs left), exclaimed "you have no left butt". That means, my left glute muscles are weak. This translates to 

= no strong follow through (demonstrates left leg running stride in slow mo) 

= left piriformis muscle compensates for weak glutes aka overworked, hence literal pain in butt

= slight right twist in lower body & hip compensates for weak follow through

= slight rotation in left leg results in stressed ITB (can't remb if its inward or outward rotation)

She ran through some strengthening exercises which I did. This was back in Mar 09 (check out wk 14 on the graph), 1 year since the fall. I have been good since, I tried my best to visit the gym once on a weekly basis and focus on my left butt for about 3 months. I took 9 weeks to get back on track and the going was good till the next spike and sudden increase in mileage thanks to a progressive run that my running buds wanted to go for. I told myself to stop at X point but the sweeper insisted we take the shorter route back, so I ran-walked a distance that was too much too soon and I’m now paying a price for that. 

Running graph_28 Jul 09

My old nagging pains resurfaced bah. Slowly but surely, I must remember to listen to my body, not worry about what others are doing because “injury is imprinted throughout the body, traces of it remaining after the injury itself is healed.”

“when muscles on one side … are strong and the other side weak, you are forced to change the way you generate and apply force in every direction…. Injury to one muscle will force the others to compensate, overloading them.” 

I will take longer to recover, I will need to make conscious effort to strengthen, to stretch, to massage. I need to accommodate and manage my body and most importantly, my expectations.