Fitness Challenge: Knee pain kicks Hakas into touch

The evil foam roller.

The Hakarimata stairs were my undoing. That and my competitive spirit. Determined to get the round trip (up to the summit and back down) time down to 60 minutes, I pushed myself on the Friday morning. Coming back down, my right knee felt a bit twingey. Not sore but not normal either. What did I do? I ignored it and went up again on Monday morning.

Between the two trips I'd wiped more than seven minutes off my personal best, but the knee wasn't happy. Going up and down the stairs at work was uncomfortable and my left hip was sore too as I'd overcompensated with that to keep the weight off my knee. I probably looked like a wobbly-on-their-feet toddler when I walked.

A visit to Advance Wellness Centre physio Stephen confirmed what I suspected: no stair climbing till the knee's better. Stephen reckoned my kneecap didn't quite sit where it should so I left with the knee strapped up, exercises to do at home to strengthen my upper leg muscles (which would help support the kneecap to stay where it was supposed to) and a foam roller.

The red foam roller has been named Devil's Spawn. It lives in my lounge and taunts me. I'm to lie on the roller, Stephen says, and pull myself forward and back so that it rolls out the front and sides of my quads. The pain is horrendous. But Stephen says if I'm to fix the leg and then remain injury free that I must use the Devil's Spawn regularly.

One positive has come from this frustrating set back though. My personal trainer from Advance and I hit the pool at Fastlane Fitness last Friday for a few laps. I love swimming in summer, but it had been years since I'd swum for fitness' sake. It was great to get back into it!

It was a great cardio and upper body workout without the strain on my dodgy knee and hip. And the pool at Fastlane is awesome. It's just the right temperature and it wasn't too busy so Lynsey and I had a lane each.

Fastlane's website says the 25 x 25m pool is a 'fast' pool. It's been designed to eliminate surge and waves that slow swimmers down, with air cushioning systems that soften the impact when diving into the pool and provide a clearer line of sight.

I spotted their SwimFit class advertised online; it sounds fun so I'll check that out sometime.

In the meantime, I'll stick with swimming, the Oov classes, yoga and that bloody awful foam roller while I nurse the knee back to a point where it can manage the Hakas again.