I'm Back!

I woke up today for the first time in almost 3 weeks without pain!

On Monday I went to an orthopedic doctor about my knee pain. I was really nervous because I think knees are disgusting and just seeing my x-ray made me feel sick. After a quick glance I kept staring at the wall until he took the images down. I am fully aware that this is weird, but I can't help it! Meniscus! Patellas! Gross!

Anyway, the x-ray didn't show any fractures, and he pushed and pulled and twisted my knee around (blech) and said my ligaments (blech) felt normal, and said I probably didn't damage my meniscus (blech) because I would have had some swelling and probably couldn't have run 6 days after the injury. (I'm shuddering as I write this.)

My options were to keep taking ibuprofen and resting it and come back in 2 weeks (or sooner if it got worse), get a cortisol injection in my knee (oh heck no!), take a 6 day course of oral steroids, or get an MRI. I chose ibuprofen, rest, and the follow up appointment.

I didn't really like the outcome of the appointment, though. I was glad it appeared my knee was fine, but then why was I having knee pain? And if nothing was wrong, why have I been eating ibuprofen like candy for two weeks? It just didn't make sense.

Tuesday I had a therapeutic massage to try to help my muscles that were still tight and sore. She uses this awesome technique called Active Release Technique (ART). Amazing. It's really helped me through a lot of aches and pains and is so effective. During this, though, my hip started hurting a lot. My hip and back have been achy, but I attributed that to constant limping. This is how she discovered that my right hip was higher than my left and my pelvis was slightly rotated. This was a huge TA-DA! moment.

It made sense that my hip was pushed up after my initial awkward half fall thing I did. And that explained why I had such intense pain in my low back, hip, quad, IT band, and knee that first day and lingering pain in those areas ever since. And come to find out, knee pain is a very common symptom of having a tilted pelvis because of the strain placed on the connecting muscles (the thigh bone is connected to the hip bone...). So basically, this explained why I was having knee pain even though there was nothing structurally wrong with my knee (blech).

I went to my chiropractor yesterday- who also uses ART (seriously, it's amazing)- and he got my hip back into place. He used ART to stretch my hip, quad, hamstring, and knee (which was gross but actually felt good), and when I got off the table I wasn't limping. For the first time in 18 days. My knee didn't hurt, my hip didn't hurt. Nothing.

I did some stretches and easy hip exercises this morning that I have been unable to do without sharp pain. No ibuprofen required. For the first time in 18 days.

Amazing.

So I went to the gym, figuring a treadmill would be the best place for a test run, and ran 1.5 painless miles! I'm back!!! Out of all the miles I've ran, the first ones back from any type of injury are the best.

I had been so worried about this. Wondering what I had done to my knee, what I'd have to do to help it heal (no crutches, please!), and how long I'd be unable to train. I've been injured too many times, and each time is devastating.
It's a bad cycle I get in. Sleep, eating, moods, and exercise are all very much connected and if one of those gets disrupted then usually the others do, too. I'm sure it's the same for everyone, but having Bipolar II, the requirement for routine and balance seems amplified. I think recognizing that helps keep me from getting too off-kilter.

I'm trusting that I haven't lost too much fitness from my time off. And I'm going to be easing into my training slowly, watching for any warning signs of pain in my back, hip, or knee. So far, so good!

Mighty Mite Triathlon Relay Recap (+ injury report)

I spent last week with my family on the beach of Lake Michigan.  There were 8 kids and 9 adults and we kept busy playing at the beach, swimming, flying kites, and taking walks. I even got in a couple of open water swims in Lake Michigan! It was chilly but after the initial shock of cold water on my face, it didn't seem so bad.

Welcome to my pool... I mean, Lake Michigan.

Unfortunately, on the second day I tripped on the beach and hurt my right leg. Initially I had pain from my thigh to lower back, and for a little while I was worried I had a stress fracture in my femur again because of how it was feeling. But each day it got a little bit better and now the pain has mostly settled into my knee. 

Two days before this incident, my friend Phil talked me into running in a triathlon relay the following Saturday. He said between the three of us, we could possibly place first. So we signed up and I was really excited. And then I hurt my leg.

By the time Saturday morning rolled around, I was pretty nervous about running 3 miles. Sure, my leg was feeling better than before, but I was still limping. Had I known Phil and I could have switched the swim and the run we would have planned on that. But until that morning, I hadn't thought that was possible, so I didn't have my swim gear and he didn't have his running shoes. I was stuck. And I was mad that I'd be slowing down their speedy times.

Pre-race. Phil, Glen, me

MightyMite Triathlon has two different transition spots (point-to-point), so I was left at T2 for a couple of hours as they drove to the swim start/ T1. This was my first relay and it was a strange feeling not knowing what was going on out on the course.

Sitting in my car admiring my KT tape waiting for the race to start.

I knew some other runners doing the relay so I waited with them and the last hour went by quickly. I got to see the first few cyclists come into T2, which was really fun to watch. I really would love to volunteer at a race so that I can witness all of this (I really want to volunteer at the Ironman World Championships in Kona). 

In comes Glen- I get the timing chip on my ankle and I'm off.

The first quarter mile hurt, and then suddenly it stopped hurting. So then I went faster and waited. Nope, still no pain. Faster? Still no pain. It was amazing and I ran the whole thing. I think I could have gone faster but I could tell I was dehydrated- after spending the whole day before in a car and limiting my water intake- because my heart rate was 185 for the last mile or so. I finished the 3 miles in 26:36 with a pace of 8:52/mile. On a bad knee. (Last year I ran the same route in 31:54 with a 10:38 pace. Talk about improvement!!)

When I found the guys at the finish we went to the timing tent to check out our results... and we came in first place!!!  I was so glad I didn't let them down.

First place in Mixed Relay!

Overall my knee is feeling better, but it still hurts a little. I've held off on running and I haven't tried riding my bike yet (plan on trying that this afternoon). There was never swelling, I can put full weight on it, and I have full range of motion, so I really don't think anything is horribly wrong with it- I really think it got tweaked from limping, and I kind of think my IT band has something to do with it. 

But still, I'm a ball of emotions today. I don't do well with limited activity and I've barely done anything for two weeks. I want to run, because last Saturday my knee felt better while running than it did while walking, but I also don't want to make anything worse and delay the healing. 

I was starting to get in a funk where I didn't want to do anything- even what I can do like swim and strength train. I'm trying to snap myself out of that before it gets worse. I swam today and I will try out the bike in a little bit. I'm trying to be optimistic that my knee will continue to improve and I'll be running in no time. And I'm thankful I have no other races coming up in the near future. 

Things could have been worse... but I'm still pretty darn anxious about it... optimism and thankfulness is only getting me so far today.

It's official!

Watch out, Texas! Prepare yourself for my Freak Out[s]!

I'm officially registered. This just made it extremely real. Almost too real. And doubt starts to creep in. And excitement. I think equal parts doubt and excitement.

Can you imagine what it feels like crossing the finish line? Chills.



And so on that note, I'm headed to the pool.

Dragonfly Triathlon

Dragonfly Triathlon
June 14, 2014

0.5 mile swim/ 18 mile bike/ 4 mile run

This was one of my favorite races so far. It was a little over an hour from my house so I had to leave by 5:50. It was mid 60s at the start of the race and clear skies. Couldn't ask for anything better. I think I heard the water was 77 degrees. It was a beautiful race site, too, but I didn't get pictures since Nathan was working and I left my phone in the car. 

It's fun to know quite a few people in the running and triathlon communities because I saw a lot of them at the race. 

The swim start was a little bit tricky because of the position of the first green turn buoy and the sun. I swam past the orange buoy that's placed between the shore and the turn buoy for sighting without any difficulties, but then I couldn't see the green buoy anywhere. I was surrounded by swimmers so I figured I was at least somewhat on course. At one point I stopped swimming to look around and a girl next to me did the same. I asked her where the buoy was and somehow she saw it and pointed me in the right direction (which wasn't where I had been headed). Once we made that turn it was easier to see the rest of the buoys. My swim time seemed long for half a mile, especially since I was passing people (I rarely pass people in the water!) A lot of people were saying their times seemed longer than usual, too, so I'm wondering if we all swam off course a bit before the first turn. 

The bike course was flat for the first (and last) 8 miles. There were hills in the middle leading up to the turn around point. I think this is the first time I didn't ride my brakes all the way down the hills!
Around mile 15 I looked behind me to see if anyone was passing and noticed a girl drafting behind me. Drafting in triathlon is illegal, and if race officials catch it happening the person gets a time penalty. Of course there were no race officials around. I kept speeding up a bit, but she always managed to come back up and sit on my wheel again. I was getting mad and I kept looking back at her and she wasn't taking the hint. After a mile or so I shifted into a bigger gear and took off, and finally lost her because she couldn't keep up with me.

My legs felt horrible for the first mile of the run, but I didn't let myself walk. At this point I was feeling competitive, which is unusual, and I wanted to push myself as hard as I could. I think it was because this is probably the last triathlon until the 70.3 next April (I'm really sad about this!) After the first mile we entered the woods for 2 miles of trails. With all the rain we had been getting recently I thought the trail would be really muddy but it was actually in pretty good condition.

Around mile 1.5 my heart rate was 175 and the trail was beginning a slight incline. I slowed down to a fast walk until my heart rate went back under 160 and started running again. The next mile was fun jumping over roots and running down hills. Around mile 2.5 the trail had a steep hill that everyone I saw was walking. I tried running up the hill but ended up walking it, too. After that there was another half mile before we exited the woods and ran the last mile along the same road as we did for mile 1. I was running my fastest pace during that last mile and although I wanted to slow down I convinced myself to keep pushing the pace.

I came in 3rd in my age group! By under a minute. The girl in 4th place was faster than me in both the swim and the bike, but I made up for it with the run. I'm so happy I pushed as hard as I did on the run even though my heart and legs were begging me to slow down. This was the first time I ever placed!

My trophy!
(And- appropriately- a can of peanuts in the background)

The only races left for the rest of the year is a 10 miler in November and the St. Jude Half Marathon in December. I'm really bummed out and keep looking for more triathlons to squeeze into the summer. The only one that would have been able to fit, the Annie Oakley Tri, was cancelled. I've been in a bit of a funk for the last few weeks with my training since nothing is in my immediate future, however, registration for Ironman 70.3 Texas opens on Thursday and that might be the motivation I need!