Learning to manage the body but more importantly the mind.

It is 8 am on Memorial Day here in Austin. I have the whole day off training which is a real blessing. Overall my body is doing pretty well these days but admittedly the past few have been a little more up and down. Friday morning is known as "fast friday" at University of Texas Masters swim program. The idea behind this is that we do fewer sets very fast. I say the idea because although effort/intention may have been there for me it was like I was going backwards. I was not too sure how the run that afternoon was going to go considering my less than stellar performance in the pool. Sure enough though the body is a funny thing and I had what felt like my best run in a long time - it was hard for me to hold back and not just go, letting my legs just take me how fast they wanted to go. I finished thinking that finally I was coming around just a little. Then it hit. My limp was back. Just to remind me that not all is well with that hip I felt it. Doesn't hurt just is this weird feeling that makes you not want to put all the pressure on the hip. I sat in cold water to try to recover, stretched a little and just hoped that it would go away. Saturday was a hard ride... I don't feel my hip on rides but did feel that my right glut got a little more jacked up. Again the day, evening was spent wondering what this is all supposed to mean. I had a run on Sunday and this is the challenge - do you constantly try to have "no pain" or is it about managing "the pain". I put "pain" in quotes because it isn't really pain that I feel. It is just this annoying feeling that comes and goes and sometimes feels worse than other times and causes me to protect it. I decided to give it a go - long run of 40 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening. This is what is funny - running now feels much better than walking. It is only when I stop then the sensation in my hip comes back a bit. Does this mean then that I should only run everywhere? Love it. So what to do.

Managing a labral tear I think is more about the mind game of managing rather than what the body feels. It is the up and down of analysing, trying to be "smart" but also of not giving in to fear. It is the decision to give it a go and see what happens and trusting that your body is in fact managing and that this will just be part of it - an annoyance. I will continue my core work, trigger ball, cold baths and focus on good running form. The only thing I can do is take a deep breath, remember to exhale and go with it. What is left if you do not have hope and faith? And so today I will relax, send all the positive thoughts I can to my body and be ready to start again tomorrow. Managing and happy.

The Core

Driveway Series Criterium Race - Thursday night workouts. I don't normally do the women's race but gave it a go.... Feels great when you win it!

May 27

I am not sure what to say first... that I found the absolute BEST consignment store "Lovely Austin" or that I am addicted to the frozen yogurt shops here. Although healthier versions of shopping and eating deserts, in excessive amounts these could be potentially dangerous. Sorry I digress. This is a blog about triathlon stuff right!

Rehabilitation or training, to be or not to be injured, that is the question. I am running again. Not long, hardly hard, but running. Zane manages to come out on Mondays to watch me run circles around him on the grassy intramural fields. I listen to him constantly say “lean”, “posture”, “feet”, “lean”… 30 minutes later thinking that maybe I had got it he yells again “lean, more!”. In my head I resolve that if he says lean one more time I am going to bop him on the head. Finally, I hear the words “stop” and am relieved! It is not necessarily easy to change the way you have been running after doing it one way for so many years. That expression, bad habits die hard, is so very true.

So two wise men (Zane and Steve) have told me that either I am injured or not. There is little room for grey. So I am officially now in the “developing my base” phase again. There is, however, the reality that I have labral tears on both hips. How I manage these is what is interesting and the question remains of whether I can build up my run to a world class level. I think that I mine as well share some of the technical aspects of this mission as who knows who else is out there in cyber-world wondering the same thing as myself. Surgery or no surgery. Hopefully no surgery and I will run long into old age!

Along side the change in running mechanics, I am doing some serious core work. My core needs to be stellar so I can maintain my form and posture. Raven, the physiotherapist who I am working with at Advanced Rehabilitation, has me doing core work 6 days a week. Front, back, side planks feel like they go on forever, then there is the pilates core exercises, hamstring and glut exercises on the physioball and to top it off balance exercises. If I did not train on a professional level I don’t know how I would fit it all into my day to be honest. Not easily.

My longest run has been 40 minutes on grass. On Sunday I did 35 min in the morning and 25 in the early afternoon. That is a whole hour in 1 day! Amazing. So it comes slow but steady. I am still pain free although I know those tears in the right hip are there. Funny how everyday I run is a blessing and not taken for granted.

Because I know many are wondering what my “plans” are I have to say that there is no race planning aloud. Not until I am solid like a rock and ready to take on some serious competition. It has got to be fun and putting in a solid race with no excuses is the only way this will happen… and so I wait. That’s it for now… off to sleep before the next workout.

Rollercoaster Ride!

Life is a beautiful thing. Since coming to Austin nothing has gone as planned but perhaps this is the beauty of it. Considering that by profession I am a planner, I have had to learn how to go with the flow, let a lot go and reconsider what time means.

Before I get too far ahead of myself I will recap all that happened since I arrived here. In March I thought I had iliopsoas tendonitis. I started to see Dr. Zelinski of Advanced Rehabilitation who treated me 2x each week trying to get me loosened up and moving again. When I first arrived in his office I was not walking normal at all and had a significant limp. After 3 weeks of treatment and strengthening exercises everyday, I had definite progress but still pain. Dr. Z and I determined that we better get an MRA done. A week later I learnt that I had an extensive labral tear in my right hip, a possible stress response in the joint, and damaged hamstring tendon. Not a good prognosis. The day I learnt this I was also on the plane to Victoria BC to say good-bye to my grandfather who passed away a week later. Upon arriving in Victoria I spoke with Dr. Taylor, my amazing Sports Medicine Doctor at the Carleton Sports Medicine Clinic in Ottawa to see what we should do. In discussing my right hip labral tear, I also learned that I had a labral tear in my left hip. Just keeps getting better! Dr. Taylor was able to get me a consult with Dr. Gilbart of the Joint Preservation Centre at UBC Hospital in Vancouver. Thanks to some amazing people in Ottawa (Chris and Rob) and Austin (Brad) who didn't mind making phone calls and driving all over the city to pick up and deliver MRIs for me, Dr. Gilbart had all the necessary information to meet with me. Lynn also gave up a whole day to drive me to and from ferries, to UBC and sit in traffic for 3+ hours to get home. Yup, I am loved.

Dr. Gilbart examined the MRIs of both hips and recommended that I try to manage the labral tears without surgery. We discussed the challenges of labral tears, what leaving them means and also what surgery may or may not do. He also examined x-rays for hip dysplasia and CAM impingement and is not convinced that I should have anything "corrected" at this time. He is encouraging me to get back to running while improving the weaknesses that have been identified. If in 6 weeks time I am not running and "managing" then he is willing to do the hip scope and address the tears.

So here I am back in Austin, getting back into training and even thinking about possibly racing! I don't think I am out of the woods yet by any means but am confident that I have the best people to help me get back into running safely. I have decided to make Austin my home base for this next year partly because of the great weather but mostly because of the amazing people who make up an incredible training environment.

The other significant news is that I have asked Zane Castro to be my coach. After 3 awesome years with Ken Brunet of the Peak Centre in Ottawa I decided that I needed to make some changes to how I train. I can not say enough about Ken. He is an incredible person and coach. He has brought me to where I am today and given me a huge platform for which Zane will build upon. I would only be so lucky to keep Ken as a part of my team that propels me to be stronger, fitter and faster. The reality though is that I need Zane, his broad knowledge and expertise to apply to my running mechanics, my bike skills and racing strategy. I have the utmost confidence in him and know that once I have all my cylinders firing, it will be a scary thing!

So finally I will say to all you out there, there is no detail too small that shouldn't be addressed when you are pushing your body to the limit day in and day out. Your body will thank you later. Start slow, get it right and don’t overlook the small stuff.

I can not say enough about the emails, encouragement and support that I have got. Thank-you. The army behind me on this journey never ceases to amaze me. The first line I cross this year is to all of you. Hopefully it will be in first!