Friday, October 16, 2009

Status Report

.
I've been going to Performance Health Studio for ART treatments with Dr. Greg Lehman the last few weeks. He says I have tendonosis in my hip, which after a period of rest and treatment, will be put to some rehab. There's some other stuff going on with my hamstring and glutes, so the whole thing is a bit of a mess. I won't be able to train full-on for awhile, but will soon be able to gradually add back in running and cross training while doing the exercises he prescribes.

I was thinking the other day that if I had have had the same pain in my knees at any point, it would have stopped me in my tracks. For some reason with hip pain I just kept training through it for so long, not taking it too seriously. Looking back, I point to my last five-hour long run before Rock and Ice as a very damaging run. It was on an icy trail, and by three hours in my already overworked hips were completely seizing up and screaming. From that point was R&I and then jumping back into training - doing long runs and adding speed work and never being completely healed. The downward spiral spit me out at the bottom at Haliburton this year, which was actually a bit of a relief.

I’m looking forward to being in a better place for 2010. This has come at a good time, when I'm mentally in need of refreshing anyway. The idea is to heal the damage to the area, and work on improving the functionality so I can hopefully avoid the same thing in the future. It’s actually pretty exciting to think of being in a better place so that I can run longer races eventually.

In the meantime, I can't complain. Well, I could, but I’m not going to. Well, I might. But I’m really going to try not to. I’m in a relatively good headspace about it. I have more energy and more time, not a bad short-term trade off.

Finally, good luck to everyone running the Sydenham Fall Trail Race this weekend! I can’t wait to soak up all your running energy! I hope you have a fun day, as I know we will.
.

7 comments:

David said...

Great to hear you are on the mend both Physically and Mentally. You will be shocked how strong you'll be when you eventually come back - look out world.

And from all of us Sydenham racers - thanks to you and Derrick for all your work.

Eliza Ralph-Murphy said...

I assume you are opting for the systematic eccentric exercise and forgoing the Almekinders' growth factors injections and the Swedes' blood-vessel sclerosis.

What sort of weight bearing exercises does Greg have you doing. One legged squat type thingys with a heavy backpack on your back? I am still doing my knee rehabs and expect I will for a while or forever? I guess I should go see Greg again as a follow up.

Sara Montgomery said...

David - not sure about how strong I'll be with the amount I've been doing (nothing). Looking forward to adding more cross training and running back in soon.

EJ - I'm not there yet with the exercises in my treatment. Probably start next week.

See you both tomorrow!

David said...

Well what I meant was how strong you'll be after a few weeks back running - not right away silly ;)

Pumped for tomorrow. Bet you two will be glad to be done and heading out west.

wcaitlin said...

I've got some hip issues myself. I've been getting massages frequently and chiro. It seems in my experience with teaching and talking with other folks it often is made worse by pelvic rotation. Yoga is pretty awesome if you're looking for something to do... especially in terms of stretching hip flexors!

wcaitlin said...

To clarify... pelvic rotation is usually the culprite :)!

Nature Girl said...

I love your attitude. Allowing yourself to heal will defintiely make you stronger... physically and mentally. Looking forward to following you race next year.