“The best thing that has happened to me is realizing that I can do more than I thought I could.“A few weeks ago I quoted Anissa Mayhew in my blog. Anissa is a blogger, a mother, has a wicked sense of humor, and suffered a stroke at the end of 2009. She is slowly making a recovery. Her road is long and hard, but she is doing it. Through hard work, patience, and conviction, she is confounding expectations.On Saturday, albeit of a totally different order of magnitude, I had an Anissa moment.I did more than I thought I could.OK, before anyone (including me) gets excited about this, I need to put it all into perspective. At the end of last triathlon season, the season I decided I would start to run again (with the blessing of my doctors), I was kind of a physical mess. I had peroneal tendonitis (not unusual for me – I have had it in my left foot before). I spent from May until August nursing strange feelings in my left knee. And I had gotten to a point where I knew that I needed a new approach to triathlon and training. I asked Terry Collins if he would consider becoming my coach, to help me to move beyond my neurological limits, to learn to run again, and to do the best that I could do with triathlon. I asked my physiotherapy team at the National Hospital for Neurology to help me with my biomechanics. And I decided to commit to triathlon – to give it my all in the run up to the 2010 tri season to see just how far I could go.We decided to go back to the beginning with my training, and to focus on strength building first and foremost.Since December I have been working on leg strength. Teaching my muscles to work again. Hitting the strength and core sessions regularly at the gym. On the nights when I am not at the gym, I have been working on leg lifts and balance exercises at home. I have been visualising nerve signals – in my mind small lights of energy – flowing from my brain, down my legs, and to my feet. I have been working.And it all seems to have paid off. For the first time on Saturday I felt moderately comfortable going around the track. Sure, my usual niggles persisted. For the record, I am convinced that these will go away the stronger that I get. I felt my feet working. I felt a small forward lean as I jogged around the track. I am pretty sure my foot strike was more midfoot than January.And, although it was only one time around, I hit 2 minutes 25 seconds for 400 meters.That equates to a 9 minute mile.That means I could run 10k in an hour.I am getting stronger. The work is paying off. And I am surpassing my own expectations.The road is not easy, but having these moments… Well, that is the best thing about training. The best thing about the journey I have put myself on – the road to see just how strong I can get.I will get strong.Thank you Anissa for the inspiration.Me, at Parliament Hill, wearing my Team Anissa shirt. All smiles!
