Looking To The Future - 16th April 2013
Preparing & Planning
Since leaving University there are many parts of my future that I have deeply thought about and considered. The main one was obviously my career path, which for various reasons, has changed greatly since I actually obtained my degree and will eventually mean my degree will not be put to use as such, although some would say it has still been a learning curve and will provide me with skills for my eventual second degree in Physiotherapy. I have mentioned before that certain people influenced me and I do believe that everything happens for a reason, some people will understand my situation and the self doubt I developed during my injury, I felt useless and incapable of doing anything myself, as people naturally would when you basically can only hop around on crutches etc but certain people kept me going and since have nudged me in a direction that has lead to me taking this path and for that I am forever grateful!
Although my degree will not start until September 2014, providing I am successful on my Health Science Access course, I am already well into planning my route and preparing myself for the road ahead, something I never really did when I studied business, I took things as they came along then, rather than being pro-active, I was reactive towards anything given to me. As mentioned in other posts, I will be participating in the FA Basic First Aid for Sport qualification next month at the Lancashire FA headquarters and this will be my first step towards Physio itself.
This involves things such as learning CPR, the recovery position, dealing with choking, shock and bleeding and also learning how to deal with musculo-skeletal injuries along with basic first aid of acute soft tissue injuries. Anybody who is interested in this or would like further information on what I'm doing or maybe for yourself personally, can find the more detailed page here;
I am obviously planning on successfully completing the course which is spread over a 9 hour duration between two days and will last for 3 years before it needs to be retaken. I did previously mention taking up another first aid qualification but due to it's basic level, I was notified that I would only require the one course as it covered everything the previous one would.
Yesterday I also booked on an Open Day at Salford University, my first choice for the Physiotherapy degree. Although I would not start until September 2014, I plan on speaking to members of the Physio department in order to give myself the maximum chance of success in my application and also to get ideas on how I can prepare myself fully for the beginning of the degree itself when I do eventually study it. I will hopefully have obtained my Basic First Aid qualification by then and will hopefully, on June 28th, come away from the University with an even more clear idea of what needs to be done to maximise my chances of success in the Physiotherapy field.
Hopefully I will be part of this University in just over a year...
As well as planning for my career, I am still developing my personal fitness levels, albeit at a slow and steady pace. I have lately felt as if my development has come to a stand still but after my dramatic and rather surprisingly quick change over the past 8 months or so, I think any progress from now on will feel slow and less dramatic due to the nature of my physical and psychological changes.
My self confidence and esteem is still low, as mentioned before, this was largely taken away from me during the time I spent injured and people who don't know me personally are more likely to see this, but this will improve over time and my physical fitness I know is well improved, as proven last night. I ran 3.31 miles in 27 minutes, which is an average speed of 7.25 mph. This may seem quite slow to most, it seems slow to myself too, but when I think back to first getting back on a treadmill after being allowed to run again, I was told to keep the pace at a maximum of 5 mph and I struggled then, 5 mph seemed quick, really quick! So when I look back and compare to see how far I have actually come in that short space of time, running a consistent 7.25 mph for 3.31 miles isn't a bad achievement at all, and as they say, things can only get better!
My current running route is pretty straight forward and does have slight elevation but isn't too much of a challenge in terms of twists and turns etc. I am basically at the start of my fitness plan so at the moment I am just looking at improving my time and speed over the same distance/route until I feel as if I am running at a decent pace, then I will start to add weight to the running, likely to be with the help of a weighted vest and I'm sure the warmer weather (I hope) over Summer will help too, as the heat relaxes my knee, compared to the cold which never helped at all.
My usual route with Distance, Duration, Average Pace, Average Speed, Calories & Climb stats
As most of you regular readers will know, my passion is football and my Saturday team are currently in a strange, maybe slightly unique situation. We have 1 league game remaining which is tonight, April 16th, we require a win against a relegation rival, to give ourselves any hope of staying the the top division. Anything but a win see's us relegated to Division 1 from next season, something obviously none of us want, particularly me after missing out on 2 full seasons myself.
The uniqueness of this situation is that we also have a cup semi-final on Saturday afternoon. So we are potential cup finalists who could have been relegated by the time the final comes around. There are obviously a few ways this situation can go, we could lose both our remaining 2 games and the season would be classed as a terrible one for the team as a whole. We could win both, stay up and lose the final or alternatively win both and win the final, staying in the top division and being crowned cup winners, along with the possibility of being relegated and being cup winners too!
I guess only time will tell and this week could be a great one or a very poor one. Personally I feel my own season has been a success and for me it was one that I cancelled out any personal achievement as I was just happy to be back playing football in general along with getting fit again but for people who know me personally, I'm an all out winner, win at all costs kinda person, anything but winning makes me unhappy and greatly affects my mood, no matter how "unlucky" people may make out the situation to be but as I have all throughout my life, people support me whatever mood I'm in and for that I'm grateful and I hope it continues.
My thoughts go out to the families and people affected by the Boston Marathon bombings yesterday as well, some things are much more important than reflecting on a knee injury and fitness levels!
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