Melissa Abbey Physiotherapy

30/10/2025

As school sport kicks off again, there’s often a noticeable spike in injuries among young athletes — and it’s not just bad luck.

After a long summer, kids jump straight from unstructured activity into full schedules: team trials, training sessions, and back-to-back competitions. The result? A perfect storm of deconditioning, load spikes, and growth-related vulnerability.

🏖 Deconditioning: Muscles and tendons lose load tolerance over summer. Jumping back into structured sport too quickly can overload tissues that aren’t ready.

🏅 Competition: Early matches and trials push effort levels before conditioning catches up — the biggest risk factor for injury is a rapid increase in load.

🦴 Growth: During adolescence, bones grow faster than muscles and tendons can adapt. This creates tightness, imbalance, and extra stress at tendon attachment sites (like knees and heels).

What helps?
✅ Gradual return to sport
✅ Strength and stability work
✅ Recovery and sleep
✅ Communication between parents, coaches, and physios

The goal isn’t to hold kids back — it’s to help them build resilient, adaptable bodies that can handle the demands of sport.

Performance starts with consistency — and consistency starts with staying healthy.

27/10/2025

Amsterdam Marathon 🏁

The first half felt smooth — controlled, calm, and right where I wanted to be
(albeit a little faster than planned).

Then the second half arrived, as it always does, and things started to get tougher.
I wasn’t sure what would happen after 30km — I’ve never run two marathons this close together —
but I stayed in it mentally, held my form, and kept pushing.
That alone felt like a win.

It’s been a busy stretch — Berlin only a few weeks ago,
a full season of work and racing,
and training through the Dubai summer where most runs happen before sunrise or on a treadmill.

This block looked different:
less run volume, more bike intensity, and a big focus on quality over quantity.

I didn’t know how it would all come together on the day,
but it reminded me that performance doesn’t always need the “perfect” build.
Sometimes it’s about adapting, listening to your body,
and trusting the work in different forms.

Finishing close to a PB after a big year feels like proof that consistency really is everything.
The last time I was near this time, I was deep in a very run-focused block —
and I’d always wondered if I could do it again.

What I’m most proud of this time is the fight.
There were moments in the second half where my mind whispered,
“you could ease off and still go sub-3:30.”
But something stronger pushed back —
and that’s a feeling I haven’t had in a long while.

Huge thanks to Wez for the belief, the guidance,
and for constantly pushing me to do things I don’t always think I’m capable of.

Don’t get me wrong — I still want to go faster over this distance —
but for the first time in a long time, I truly believe that’s possible 💫

Grateful for the race, the people on course,
and such a solid group to share the weekend with —
everyone out there had their own story and effort to be proud of.

23/10/2025

Amsterdam Marathon Weekend 🏁

An incredible weekend for the crew — every race told a different story, but every finish line was earned. Months of heat, early alarms, treadmill miles, and long runs through Dubai’s malls all led to this. 🌡️🔥

George crossed the line of his first ever marathon — just six months after being on crutches. From rehab to 42.2km — what a comeback 🙌

Dale smashed a PB and the elusive sub-4 the reward for putting in the work quietly through the toughest part of the season.

And the rest of the group showed up in force — so many strong runs, gutsy efforts, and moments to be proud of.

Because race day is just the celebration — the real story is the work that gets you there 💪

23/09/2025

Berlin Marathon 2025 🇩🇪
Still feels a little surreal to say I’ve just finished my second major marathon🏃‍♀️⭐️⭐️
I’ll never take that for granted.

A whirlwind trip to the German capital ended with a medal 🏅, plenty of lessons, and some always-needed perspective.

Massive thanks to the team at Wolfi’s Sports Trading and Maurten for making this possible — what an experience! 🤩

Performance-wise, I had two plans:
👉 Plan A: chase a PB
👉 Plan B: if Plan A wasn’t happening, save the legs and run smart

It became clear early on it wasn’t my day for a PB, so I switched gears and ran to feel — and still came away with a result I’m proud of. ⭐️

A sub-3:30 will never feel “easy” (definitely not for me!) but I’m grateful for the fight, the finish, and everything this race taught me.

Danke, Berlin. 🖤❤️💛

07/08/2025

05/08/2025

Throwing it down with the boys 🏃‍♂️💥
Either a sneaky PB or the slowest long run ever — we’ll never know. No GPS, just vibes.
8 laps. Bad pics. Awkward videos. Great banter.

Heart rate over pace today — no watch tantrums, no data obsession, just running smart (we hoped).



⸻

Want to keep it even more cheeky or swap any of the hashtags?

21/07/2025

Please address me by my new title :
Hybrid Rockstar 🎸

Triathlete goes hyrox
A lot of type 2 fun - not quite ready to switch out triathlon but really good to test the fitness in a new format ( with no physical help from team Doughnut 🍩)
Who knew running on tired legs would be useful in any other context ?
A funny way to do a 8x1km set (must admit prefer the track versions where we rest in between)

Surprised myself with some of the stations - other then the burpees those we knew would be terrible
Still prefer doing this with team doughnut but it was good to tick it off (even though George was an immensely good hyrox coach for the weekend) 🙏
Swipe to watch a giraffe doing wall balls

17/07/2025

Temp is heating up and so are the tready sessions 🔥
Loving these at the moment
Locked in with no excuses on offer

17/07/2025

Embracing the conditions 🔥
Summers heated up and so have the treadmill sessions
Loving these hard runs where there isn’t anywhere to hide

Love me a hard treadmill run