Well, this is suboptimal.

Please please, if you have been told by a GP that you shouldn’t do a certain form of exercise, get another opinion. My advice there is to go to a sports physiotherapist and get some proper advice. I know so many people myself included who have been told not to do something because of their knees, hips whatever which turns out to be totally spurious or may just need some strength work to rectify. I have pretty much no cartilage under my right kneecap. I work on the strength of my legs to hold that knee together, but it is fine, it’s the least of my problems. However I didn’t cycle for years because a dance physio told me it was a bad idea. Things have also changed in terms of advice given, so reasonable advice given 10 or 20 years ago might actually not be what they advise today.

A decent sports physio can help you put together a plan to improve from where you are now, one that will help to strengthen any weak points.

This is my tweet from that morning. God love Twitter, maintaining a database of stupid decisions past Rachel has made. Running down on the soft snow was fine, so a few of us decided to go for it. I made it 100 metres out of the clubhouse then slipped on a patch where ice had formed and snow went over it. I went backwards, all I can remember thinking was “don’t hit your head”, ingrained from falls training as a performer, then the feeling like glass breaking as my elbow joint shattered and I threw myself onto my side to avoid hitting my head. I knew my arm was broken. I pretty much expected there to be bones through the skin and after initially yelling and a lot of curse words, I managed to get myself up off the ice and back into the clubhouse where people tried to give me tea, which I didn’t drink as I was pretty sure I’d be in surgery later that day.