Yep. My second major race for the year was a BUST. In fact I managed to DNF (Did Not Finish) for the first time in my Triathlon life. I strained my hamstring and was unable to even get out of first transition area. I said all the right things after the fact. I tried being philosophical about it and say I am ok and there will always be another race. In fact I said it so many times during the day I almost believed it myself.
Right up until I got home and started unloading mine and Wendy’s bikes from the van and opened up the tail gate of my van whacked my head and proceeded to punch the shit out of the offending tailgate and burst in to tears. Apparently I didn’t have my shit together so much. WOW. What a fraud.
No not really. Just a emotional day in the middle of a pandemic when I had put pressure on myself to go hard and go hard for all those people through out Australia that weren’t able to go more than 5 km from their house never mind get out and race a 70.3 Half Ironman. Silly really, but that’s what was going through my head.
I did a little practice race the week before in Noosa and cramped up, or I thought I was just cramping up in the very same muscle in the run. I pulled up and the problem settled quickly and by the next day I honestly didn’t feel it at all. By Tuesday last week I was back running and didn’t feel it at all. Wednesday and Thursday was going awesome with final keys sessions going better than expected. Right up until my last run off the bike. It was a 6 km run with four five hundred meter race pace effort and a couple of easy minutes easy jog between each one. I got through them and was thinking to myself I am on for this weekend when bang. On my cool down jog home going up a slight incline I felt a nasty little twinge. I stopped and walked up the hill and got to the top the pain stopped so ran carefully down the hill and thought yep just a little cramp. Until I got three hundred meters from home and I was reduced to walking and it hurt like a Muther F#@ker. I’d strained my hamstring.
I did pretty much everything I could do over the next 3 days to try get my body up for the race. But I knew in the back of my heart I was in no shape to do the race. I thought just get through the swim and I will go out on the bike and then see if I can start the run. Instead I felt it pull on the run going in to the water and then hurt it some more coming out of the water and by the time I go to my bike I was in so much pain I couldn’t even get my leg out of my wetsuit.
I packed my shit up and hobbled back to my van and loaded all my useless crap in there and went back out on to the course to cheer everyone else on for the day. I got pretty good at telling the story by the end of the day. I got good at laying out some bullshit saying. It’s all good. there’s always another race. And there will be. But man I wanted to lay out a good race yesterday. I wanted to show myself, just as much as anyone else that the training I have been doing is working and that I am making progress. It was not to be. Not that race anyway.
So 7.45 am this morning I went straight to the Physio and got an assessment and treatment. Turns out that area was likely a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and the recent improved run speed I had found had likely pushed me over the edge and in to injury. It was pretty funny as I know the physio and we actually train on the bike together a little bit and he said to me with a wry smile on his face. My running is actually pretty hard to watch. My retort was it’s even harder to do. But I actually agree with him. I saw a instagram video of me running the weekend before and I was actually embarrassed of how I looked running. Turns out that quite a few of the muscles in my hip and leg aren’t working too well and some are doing most of the work. He said to me that this injury was coming sooner or later, and if it didn’t come now it would have likely come during my next build up. So I guess it’s better now than next year when I am trying to build up for my next Ironman. Make some lemonade out of Lemons I was served.
I have a rehab plan and I have a strength plan and I have a timeline to work to. So now its time to have a couple of easy weeks to give the body and brain a bit of a reset, and concentrate of the rehab plan and get the areas involved turned on and functioning a little better then start training again for my next race in 10 weeks time.
I suppose if I take a 10,000 meter view. This is my first injury that will actually stop me running since I tore my plantar fascia a bit over 2 years ago. So I have done pretty well considering how much running I have done and the how my body has been functioning. I am hoping with this rehab I will be able to make myself more resilient and even less injury prone. I am willing to learn more , willing to listen and I am willing to do the work.
You never know. Maybe it wont be quite so hard to watch me running.
Mick OUT.