6 Months and Counting: Injury Recap & Update

I can't believe it's been that long already. Beginning of July, I started to notice the pain. I had been averaging about 100 miles a month since March, but cut way back to 60 miles in July due to the pain I was feeling. I hoped that rest would help that month and that I'd be good to go in a jiffy. Not so much. By August, it was clear that the pain wasn't going away and it was time to see someone. I started in Physical Therapy the first week of August.

After my first few visits, it was clear that I had some structural deficiencies, as it were. Pelvis was misaligned and my body was totally out of balance. The left side was working way too hard and over compensating for some major weakness on the right. I saw my PT for several visits over the month of August. I had done some full resting, then transitioned to some test runs that had walking intervals. By the beginning of September, it was clear that I was not only not improving, but that it was time to see the Dr. for some testing to rule out some other potential injuries. We paused PT for the majority of September while I had an X-ray and then an MRI.

By the end of September, the results were in. From my post:

And it's not pretty. I actually got the results over the phone late last week and have been mourning processing ever since. I have a "superior lateral and posterior acetabular labral tear", which is a fancy medical way of saying that the labrum (the thing that goes around your hip socket that keeps your thigh or femur in place) is torn. But that's not all! Oh no, there is more fun to be had here. I also have "significant tendinopathy at the hamstring attachment"....which is fairly self explanatory. The tendons attach your hamstring to your pelvis, and when they get angry and inflamed, it's called tendonitis or tendinopathy (essentially the same thing)....

I spent all of September and October (with the exception of that one day I walked a few miles) on full rest. I had been in pain just at rest and it was really hard to sit all day long. By the beginning of November, the full rest led to some progress. I was in a lot less pain and could tolerate walking again without increased tightness or discomfort. I started PT again the first week of November and have been going twice a week since then. Our new plan focused on strength training - I have a set of exercises I do daily and I got to start walking again. We also started doing ultrasound on the tendon and massage on the hamstring. And I am happy to report that there has been some real progress!

The walking was a slow build over the month of December. I started walking three times a week and after a couple weeks of tolerating that well, I've gotten to increase to walking every other day, with one minute running intervals. After a couple weeks of tolerating that well, I'll get to alter those intervals...increasing the running and decreasing the walking. Realistically, following that plan, I'll be back to running 3-4 times a week solidly by March. If all goes to according to plan.

This injury and my fight to get back to running is taking forever it feels like. The hamstring is so big and this tendinopathy is so stubborn. I will always have to baby it and pay close attention to it though. So in effort to make sure that when I am back, I am actually stronger than before and have a lower risk of re-injury, I plan to spend use 2013 as a 'Building my Base' year.

My focus this year is on strength, flexibility and balance. I want to continue running as long as I am able so I plan to take it easy this year on the racing and focus on all the other things I need to do for my body that will ultimately benefit my running. Things like strength training, cross training and yoga. I plan to focus on three races only - my goal is to be back to running regularly by March so I can begin training for Rock and Roll in June. Half marathon only - baby steps. July will be Ragnar - NW Passages again with my Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies. If those two races go well and I am physically ready to build after that, I am hoping to complete my second full marathon in 2013. Again, keeping it low-key, I would like the Seattle Marathon in November to be my "first" full that I run. And that's it. Depending on how things go, I won't rule out doing a 5/10K or two....we'll see how it goes. This injury has taught me that being flexible and listening to my body is key to being a successful runner.

Also a big lesson to my runner friends - if you have a niggling injury - DO NOT ignore it. See your Dr. or a physical therapist. You might have a structural issue that needs fixing. Don't just deal with it - do something about it. Figure out what the problem is and what you can do to fix it so it doesn't sideline you. I learned that the hard way.

I will be a runner again. I am determined to make it so. It's just taking much longer than I thought it would to get there.