Heartache And Hope

Well, as you might already know, I suffered a bit of a blow a couple of weeks ago. After three weeks of great workouts and altitude training, I was a week away from what I thought would be a PR effort in a 5k in London. Unfortunately, nothing in life is ever guaranteed.

I’ve had a sore left hip/TFL/IT band since Colt was born. I’ve been running 120 miles a week on it, ran a 2:24 marathon with it, and qualified for the World Championships with it, so I haven’t worried about it too much. I foam roll a lot and get massage and ART to keep it under control. It has been annoying and irritating, but nothing serious. Until recently. After USA’s I threw myself into speed work. Lifting my knees and sprinting all-out is something that I haven’t done since 2009. It was exhilarating and I started to get aggressive in workouts and started to really dream about big track goals again. All the while, my hip was getting a little bit more sore. Nothing to stop me, but it took longer to warm up, took more effort from the massage therapist to loosen it up, and I went from a foam roller to rolling on a hard ball.

About two and a half weeks ago I started to develop a new pain on the front of my leg over a few days of hard speed work. By the time Alberto came out to Utah to watch my last hard session before flying out to London, I couldn’t warm up my hip at all. It had switched from an annoying tightness to something that was clearly not right and too serious too keep running on. We flew back to Portland and I got an MRI. I was shell shocked with the results: a stress reaction in my femoral neck.

I was devastated. Everything had been going so well. I have been training so hard since Colt was born for an opportunity to really be back at it. I felt lost—I had worked so hard, only to have to watch my dreams slip away. I flew back to Park City the next morning to be with Adam, Colt, and my sister, who was visiting. A couple of days of aqua-jogging and family time started to help me see the light. I was fit and maybe just what my body needed was a little rest.

I got back to Portland to work with my PT. I have so many imbalances due to my pregnancy. When I was shuffling away in marathon mode my body could compensate and get through, but now that I was sprinting, my body couldn’t cheat anymore. I have a lot of strengthening work that needs to be done and it’s going to take some time. But the good news is that I don’t have any bone problems, my femur was just getting slammed because my other muscles couldn’t protect it anymore.

I have never been so thankful to be a part of the Oregon Project and to have access to its equipment and therapists. Over the past 10 days I have been able to not only keep my mileage up, but also do hard training sessions on the Alter-G and Hydroworx underwater treadmill.

Today I am feeling especially hopeful. After a 6-mile tempo run on the Alter-G at 92% of my body weight, I ran outside for the first time in 12 days. Two glorious miles. My legs felt strange and heavy, but my hip felt the best it has in months, and that got me really excited.

Maybe my hopes of pushing the pace and running aggressively at World Champs have been derailed a bit. But I honestly believe that I haven’t lost any fitness, and my body might even function better two weeks from now than it has all year. I am forging on with hope and optimism.

Lessons learned here? Don’t ignore soreness that doesn’t go away after a few days! It will catch up with you, probably when you are least ready for it. And most importantly—time with loved ones can heal all things, even a broken heart (or a broken hip).