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Friday, April 17, 2009

Taking a Step Back to Move Forward


Tomorrow is supposed to be the start of my triathlon race season. My new race flats are screaming to be run in and my body is ready to peak for White Lake. All my training is pointing toward a great race and in particular, I've really made strides in my run and was looking forward to pushing myself on the final 10K of my warm up race - the Rumpass in Bumpass Olympic.

Unfortunately, my left hip has put my race plans for the weekend to a screeching halt. Its been tight since racing Shamrock and after long runs or bikes, I've had trouble climbing stairs. I had a few massages to try and loosen things up and in general was just training through it. Face it, with the recent level of training, everything in my body has been achy and tired. It wasn't hurting during the run or bike, so I kept moving on. After Sunday's threshold run, the tightness was worse and I could feel it during the run for the first time. I still wasn't too concerned on Sunday night -- this week is a recovery week leading into the race this weekend, and I figured it would work itself out with a few days rest. It didn't.

Monday and Tuesday I could feel my hip with every step and going up stairs hurt worse. I pushed through my brick Tuesday evening and my run still felt pretty good. Wednesday I flew to Chicago for work for the day and it throbbed. My hip was no longer just workout sore, something didn't seem right.

So. . . thanks to Endorphin's amazing team doc, Dr. Herring, I was seen right away on Thursday. Thursday's doctor's appointment wasn't encouraging -- it was either a inflammation in my hip rotators and glut medialis or a stress fracture. Between leaving Dr. Herring's office and my 5 pm MRI, I prayed hard. Inflammation, I could deal with, a stress fracture was an all too different story.

Thankfully Dr. Herring's call last evening reported good news. My MRI was negative - no stress fracture. This morning, I was squeezed in to see another fabulous team doc, Dr. Green, for some ART, heat and ice and massage. This afternoon the docs and Coach Michael conferred and discussed my plan to recovery and racing White Lake. So while there is no race for me this weekend, if I follow the plan, I should still be able to maintain my fitness and race hard in two weeks.

My new plan includes lots of pool time this week - a combination of water running and hard aerobic and anaerobic swims. I'm also allowed to bike this upcoming week at tempo pace and below. Next week, I should be back on the road to test out my legs again pre-race. I still can't say enough about how thankful I am to have such great team docs and a coach who work together to get me race ready.

Even Tina's on board too. I've got Omega 3 supplements and anti-inflammatory vitamins and shakes added into my plan for the next week and she's reworking my nutrition plan to make sure I don't gain back weight after I finally reached my White Lake goal race weight this morning. To top off the plan, I'm going to try some acupuncture.

So shoes . . . don't give up on me. . . . we'll race hard in two more weeks. In the meantime, Bart, Deanna B, Jill, Jennifer, Moose, Greg and Rob race fast tomorrow! We need a new round of PRs!

2 comments:

TriGirl 40 said...

With all those great minds, you focus and determination, you'll take this challenge and make it into a positive! Sending hip healing thoughts your way! And big congrats to Barricuda Bart on his AG 1st place win!

Unknown said...

You are being a very wise triathlete - and don't you love Advanced Ortho? They have taken very, very good care of me, too. :)