Laurien Hoos – 7 kampster

The last couple of weeks have been very tough for me. I started my recovery program on 10 November. They said I couldn’t train for 5 weeks, but along the way we decided to take more time and to start training only when the strength levels in my quadriceps were the same in both legs. I also had to be pain free before starting to train again.

I followed a slow build up with strength sessions and stability exercises. The 6th week I started to do little two legged jumps (I used to do this in the pool, where the impact of landing is limited).
Last week I also started little hops (one legged jumps). I was a bit scares it would hurt me, but fortunately I didn’t feel any pain (for the last three years i always felt ‘something’ in my knee)

When I started I did a test in a Cybex machine (a machine that tests the strength of your quadriceps and hamstrings). My left leg was 20% weaker than my right leg. However, my left hamstring was considerably stronger (it basically compensated my quad).

The last three months I have been working very hard and the results is a big improvement on my test results. Not only do I not have a strength difference anymore, but both my legs are also stronger than before, too.

It means that I am ready to move on to the next phase of the recovery program. After having a wonderful Chrismas, first with Rudy’s family and then some days with mine, and after a lovely New Years Eve in Paris, I did my first running test yesterday.

Part of the test was to see what the level of my physical fitness was, and part of it to see if my tendon would handle it. My tendon was fine, I felt no pain during the exercise, nor afterwards. The bad news is that my fitness is not too good , which, in my opinion, is not a miracle as I only trained for four weeks since Beijing.

The last for weeks I will only go to Corbie three mornings a week (I used to go three complete days) and I can start jogging again. We also agreed that I will do my concentric strength sessions myself and I’ll do the eccentric stuff in Corbie (the eccentric exercises are necessary to make the tendon ‘impact-ready’).

It might take a while before I will be able to perform in a heptathlon, because little hops are not even close to a high jump take of, but I’m heading for the right direction.