I have been cycling for 3 1/2 years now and really, up until August, I hadn't suffered an injury. When I started triathlon a year ago, I kept reading statistics like, 80% of runners get injured at least once during their training lives. So when I thought of getting injured, I figured it would be running related. Funnily enough, it was just getting chased by a dog and taking a nasty fall on my bike. I was pretty banged up as you could see in my wreck photo. But no broken bones so I thought I was good.
But, I was totally out of it that first day. I don't remember the wreck itself and I did various things that day when I got home and then didn't remember them later. That was super scary. In fact, I was forgetting things in my daily life for a couple of weeks after. The first week, it was challenging just to walk. I didn't really have a clear idea of what hurt simply because everything hurt. But as the second week approached, I could definitely tell that my left hip and right knee hurt. |
My right knee had a really bad cut (probably should have gotten stitches but didn't) and my left hip had a large black bruise on the side from where the joint meets to 5 inches down my leg. I had a sprint triathlon coming up and when week 3 was coming up, I decided I needed to go get an x-ray to at least rule out that I had broken my hip. (Tip: Don't read anything on the internet, I was fairly convinced I broke my hip from reading about other's injuries) The sports orthopedist said that my bones looked perfect and that it's normal for contusions to take 6-8 weeks to heal. She said I should be feeling back to normal in 3 more weeks. She also told me I could start training again slowly. She encouraged me to walk/run and swim before cycling, due to the area that was bruised being most impacted by the circular movement. So I jumped back into training (somewhat slowly) and did an sprint triathlon 8 days after that visit. Oddly enough, I didn't hurt that bad after the triathlon, at least not any worse than I normally felt. I started going back into training mode.
Well, 7 weeks in I hurt, BAD. My hip was feeling close to how if felt on week 2! I got scared. The sensation was like a bruise, just touching the area hurt even though the surface bruising was long gone. I decided to make an appointment with a physical therapist (my orthopedist gave me a script for one and I had dragged my feet). I saw my dad's PT who also happens to be a triathlete so I felt in good hands. He said that I was re-injuring myself by training with a lopsided gait. Basically, I was favoring one side over the other (for obvious reasons) and until I walk/run/cycle evenly, I will continue to hurt. So he gave me exercises and stretching to do 2 times a day.
Well, 7 weeks in I hurt, BAD. My hip was feeling close to how if felt on week 2! I got scared. The sensation was like a bruise, just touching the area hurt even though the surface bruising was long gone. I decided to make an appointment with a physical therapist (my orthopedist gave me a script for one and I had dragged my feet). I saw my dad's PT who also happens to be a triathlete so I felt in good hands. He said that I was re-injuring myself by training with a lopsided gait. Basically, I was favoring one side over the other (for obvious reasons) and until I walk/run/cycle evenly, I will continue to hurt. So he gave me exercises and stretching to do 2 times a day.
The first two exercises involve a small ball between my knees and then a large balance ball. I'm basically doing the same movement with each, just using them in different ways. I was told that this is building strength in my small muscles. The orthopedist said triathletes, in particular, are great about strengthening large muscles but often neglect the small ones. (Guilty, I literally never did strength training!)
Stretching is the second component. I'm the worst stretcher in the world and am known for going weeks without stretching (eek!). I definitely feel a difference in my gait and the pain has been lessening over the past two weeks. But I'm celebrating yet because, I'm not doing near my norm of 4-5 days a week with at least 5-8 hours. I worry the pain will come back and I'll have to escalate to an MRI, which I'd really rather not do, especially if all I need is time and rest. There was discrepancy between the orthopedist and the PT. The PT said I should cycle first because it's lower impact. So, I'm not sure anyone is 100% sure on what's going on with me.
It's been a strange (close to) 10 weeks. The first couple were really emotional because I was still hurting a lot and feeling out of sorts. Exercise is my primary way of coping with life so suddenly not having that outlet was extremely hard. I still get teary with I start to think about if I'm still not healed and I'll have to escalate to the next level of care. I've been reading my training books and literally cannot wait to get started. One thing that this forced rest has gifted me is the appreciation for what my body can do. I can get grumpy on the bike or grumble about not feeling up for a swim but this experience has made me truly appreciate all the times I'm swimming, biking and running. I'm promising myself that during my 70.3 training, I will not complain once! (We'll see how long that lasts)
It's been a strange (close to) 10 weeks. The first couple were really emotional because I was still hurting a lot and feeling out of sorts. Exercise is my primary way of coping with life so suddenly not having that outlet was extremely hard. I still get teary with I start to think about if I'm still not healed and I'll have to escalate to the next level of care. I've been reading my training books and literally cannot wait to get started. One thing that this forced rest has gifted me is the appreciation for what my body can do. I can get grumpy on the bike or grumble about not feeling up for a swim but this experience has made me truly appreciate all the times I'm swimming, biking and running. I'm promising myself that during my 70.3 training, I will not complain once! (We'll see how long that lasts)