Healing

This week has been all about healing. Bart laughs at my efforts to try anything to heal my hip and my entourage of healers, but hey . . . why pass up something that might work?

Starting with last Friday, I have been to Dr. Green three times for ART to my hip, heat and ice treatments and the beginnings of physical therapy. Each time, the ART has gotten progressively deeper and the range of motion in my hip before pain sets in greater.

On Tuesday, I visited Keith Bell, LAc for some acupuncture treatment. It was by far one of the most unique experiences I've ever had and, in my opinion, very beneficial. I was nervous before the treatment - needles and I are not friends. I'm one of those patients that can't look while giving blood and have been known to get woozy at the thought of a needle. Thankfully, the treatment doesn't hurt at all, and I was able to close my eyes so I didn't have to see any of the acupuncture needles. He did two treatments - one with me face down and one face up - and he treated me for my hip, right plantar and my usually inflamed digestive tract. While I was face down, I had a few needles up both my spine, in the left hip and lower back area and on both feet/ankles. While I laid there during the first treatment, I could feel the energy running through various places in my body and warmth. I was amazed. For the second treatment, I laid face up. This time I had the needles in my feet and one on my left wrist. I could feel the points furthest from my core the strongest. This time the energy flow was different - and I wasn't warm, but cooler. Soon enough, it was over and I was on my way. All afternoon, I felt energized and at various points during the day, felt the energy still flowing through my body. Keith indicated that it would take 24 hours for the treatment to fully integrate into my body but almost instantly, I was positive that it was working.

My workouts since Friday have been pool and bike based. I've swum a ton of laps - at hard pace (Monday's workout was 15 x 50s) and long pace (lots of 1000s). I've also spent a lot of time in the deep end of the pool water running. If you see me there, please don't laugh but please come and say hello. I am bored out of my mind and feeling silly running in circles.

Tuesday evening was my first attempt on the bike. Bart and I ventured to WC despite the stormy weather for our easy spin with our race setup. Not a good idea. The wind howled (aka aero position was difficult), the rain pelted and the temperatures dropped quickly. I tested my hip out - it felt fine at easy pace in easy gears, but as I pushed the gears and pushed a hill in aero, I could feel it twinge. After about 30 minutes, I was cold, grumpy because my hip wasn't better already and I convinced Bart to return home.

Last night's bike was MUCH better. I had a 60 minute zone 3 ride that I was only allowed to push if I had no pain. Work kept me later than I would have liked, so I rode on the trainer at home. I had NO hip pain this time either during or after and I was able to push the entire ride. Progress!

So where does it stand? Stairs no longer hurt, biking no longer hurts and plain old walking no longer hurts. My hip has bruises all over and it is still twinges when I stand on one leg and use all of my stabilizer muscles, but it is showing signs of significant improvement. Still no running outside for me this week but hopefully, with all of the healing this week, I'll be ready to go next week. Coach Michael promises I'm not losing fitness, but I'm still nervous.