This is going to be a long blog this week. It's the story of triathlons for me and how I ended up not being able to run for 5 months. I started training for triathlons in February of last year. I did not have extensive experience in any of the 3 sports but I knew how to do them.
I ramped up my training pretty quickly and found that I excelled at running more than the other two sports. In triathlon, they say to "train your weakness". I did not heed this advice but instead trained my strength of running. My first race was in late April and 2 months later, I was experiencing IT band pain. The IT band runs along the outside of your upper leg between your knee and hip. It can pull on both joints and cause pain that just never goes away. It makes you think you have a bum knee...but you really don't. Typically people suggest using a foam roller or getting graston work done. I imagine this might work for some people and they cure the problem. All it did for me was place a huge band-aid on it so that I could continue to train and race but never solve the problem.
I design homes for a living. So the best example I can give is that if the foundation of your house is caving in, and your entire house is cracking inside, that all the tubes of caulk in the world are not going to solve the problem. Sure, you can caulk the crown over and over but that doesn't stop it from cracking again.
This was the same thing I was doing. I went to a chiropracter, a massage therapist, an acupunturist, used a foam roller, a stick, ice, heat, epsom salt baths, a TENS machine, and just about everything else including vitamins and pain killers. My knee ached continuously. Then I ran 15 miles in Florida in early November and I had ankle and foot pain that made running unbearable. The swelling was so bad they thought I had a stress fracture. After xrays and a bone scan, it was determined I didn't. That doc told me to start running again.
So I ramped up my running until March 20 when I ran 7 miles. The next day all the pain and swelling was back. The wheels fell off the wagon for me at that point. Because I honestly thought I would never run again. That it was all over for me. And I fell into a very very deep depression. I tried to convince myself that cycling and swimming would be enough for me. But I knew they weren't. And I just could not understand why such a common problem was not being solved.
Rest didn't work. Training through it didn't work. The plyometric exercises were not working.
Finally two of my teammates suggested seeing an MD. A sports medicine doctor. Ok, you might think that was the obvious choice 8 months ago. But it just was not the path I took.
Within one hour, he had xrayed my ankle and knee. Determined nothing was wrong with my joints. But that biomechanically, I was a complete mess. My gluteus medius muscles and piriformis muscles were so weak, they did not support me at all while running and my hips, knees, and ankles collapse when I try to run. It's a miracle I ran as long as I did. And as fast.
I started physical therapy immediately and the knee pain I have had for 9 months is now completely gone. My ankle and hips are still sore yet I am sure this too will subside. I have about 6 weeks of PT and then I can start running again.
I kept looking to fix the symptoms, instead of solving the cause. I know better than to do this and I'm not sure why I choose the path I took. It's hard work doing exercises twice a day, PT twice a week, and continue to swim and bike my training schedule. Maybe I was looking for the easy way out. Letting someone else do the work...ie massage, graston, etc are all done by someone else. Not me.
The good I take away from this is that I have become a much better cyclist and swimmer. And I did not quit. And that I do know that no matter how low I may fall, I can pull myself out of it and come back. I am looking forward to rocking the run on my Ironman. I am looking forward to staying healthy and never ever letting it get that bad again. And helping anyone along the way who struggled the same way I did. Because in the end, I would not have made it if it weren't for the help of others.
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