Training update: On the road to recovery

Well I have to say that the last month has been an interesting one! I went from 6km of swimming a week, to 25km in just 4 weeks! While swimming this much has proved absolutely exhausting, I am slowly starting to see improvements. My race results have all consistently shown my weakness in the swim, and now it is time to do something about it. If I can keep this up for another couple of months, I am confident I will see some great changes. Both in my swim times, but also how I feel getting out on the bike. It’s crazy that I can now look at a 4000m workout as if it is nothing! It’s awesome!

Unfortunately at the end of January, I strained my hamstring at an indoor Tri event. This event was a ton of fun, but unfortunately the competitive side of me came out and I went too hard on a spin bike not fitted to me. Plus, spinning at 140rpm when you’re used to 85, is a shock on the body. I had fun, but my hamstrings did not. I figured they were just sore from different position and cadence, until I went to do a big gear set a couple days later. As soon as I pushed down hard, a debilitating “zing” shot right from the top of my hamstring to my foot. I couldn’t even pull that leg around a full pedal stroke. I immediately stopped, and got off my bike. I was NOT pushing through this pain. I spent the next couple days not being able to walk up the stairs, or get up off the ground. I had been suffering from some ischial tuberosity bursitis through the month of January, but this was definitely something different. I started treatment with my good friends at Nuvista Chiropractic, and took a few days off running and cycling. As I eased back into cycling, I found that it didn’t hurt at all, which was awesome. After a week of no running, I slowly went back, and felt really good. I was confident I had nailed the injury before it got worse. After about 5 days of easy running, I decided to try a tempo run. Nothing crazy, but adding a little speed. I was diligent in listening to my body, and it felt really good. No pain……. Until the next day. By Tuesday (2 days later), I couldn’t even walk without a limp. Stupid, stupid me. I thought I was good, but just jumped back in too quick. Had I taken a few more days of easy running, I would have probably been fine. I went back for more treatment, this time feeling like my bursitis had flared back up again, along with the high hamstring strain. Now, the issue was, because I had been compensating, and my gait was shortened on that leg, I had now pissed off the surrounding muscles that had tightened up. The body has a great way of protecting itself….but it definitely let you know if you’ve overdone it. The good news is that biking did not hurt AT ALL! So, I could keep my fitness up, plus swimming these insane hours. Today, after almost 2 weeks of not running at all, I was told I could get out and try. I went for a whole 15min, running at a 5:30 km or slower. I had very minimal pain, if any at all at the injury site. It was actually just the tight muscles around my hip that we sore. So one small step in the road to recover…and trust me, I won’t be jumping back into normal running anywhere near as fast this time. Hopefully the next time you hear from me, I will be up to 30min, no pain:)