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April 16, 2005
Not racing tomorrow
My sports massage went really well yesterday morning. The woman I talked to thinks I have hurt the tendon that attaches my ab muscles to the inside of my hip. This makes so much sense to me for two reasons. First, when she showed me where the tendon runs, those are exactly the areas that it hurts. Second, the exercise that hurts the most to do is an ab exercise, despite the fact that the pain I get is in my hip. Also, she found scar tissue in my hip from (I assume) when I hurt it this winter. So she spent a lot of time working on loosening up everything in that hip and breaking up the scar tissue. She showed me some stretches and told me to be careful to keep my right leg straight when I run, because the hip tightness is pulling my leg outward (which is what I think the guy on Wednesday night was noticing, but I think its an effect of the injury not the cause of it). I felt a lot better walking around after that. So at practice I thought I would run the whole run (6.5 miles) with the girls. I should have been more conservative, but its so hard not to want to hurry recovery when you are starting to feel good again. My hip felt great during the first 3 miles or so, but on the way back it got pretty sore. I stretched and iced when I got home, but it still felt quite a bit worse than before I ran. This morning I did an easy 3 miles, hoping that I would feel great. I felt a little better than I did on Thursday (before my sports massage), but quite a bit worse than I did yesterday in the beginning on my run. I came back and did my stretch/strengthen/ice thing, and debated for over an hour whether or not I should race tomorrow. Now, I realize the obvious answer was no, and its sad that it took me so long to decide not to race (and that I keep second guessing my choice), but at least I did finally come to that decision. I really don't want to drag this injury out, and since I can't even get through an easy run without pain, there is no reasonable way to pretend that I will be able to race tomorrow without hurting it quite a bit (this is logic I can easily see for others, but must say thanks to my husband for making me see for myself). Despite knowing this is a good choice, I am having a really hard time being okay with it. I am at work right now getting some things done for a meeting tomorrow that I did not get around to this week. When I walked in, one of the guys I work with came up to me and started telling me how he had heard I am this great runner etc. Now, while this should be encouraging, today it just make me feel awful about not racing tomorrow and not really training worth mentioning this week. I know it's stupid, since a few weeks being injured won't change much about my abilities, but it make me feel like a fake. Sorry to be so negative over something that is not that big of a deal. This is my first time having an injury that I have not just been able to run through for well over a year (and before that the 3 injuries I had were all serious and long-term, so it makes me get scared when I can't keep training) and this race is part of a series I had been wanting to do.
Posted by Ann at April 16, 2005 12:17 PM
Comments
I've had pain in a similar area (or at least I think so, from your description) since last November. Mine is pretty mild most of the time, so it's not a big deal, but it's interesting to hear that someone else has a similar problem.
Making the right decision isn't always easy, but it really sounds like it is the right one for your long-term development. For many serious runners, I think the pain of a race or workout is far from being the hardest part of their experience. Things like having confidence in yourself and your decisions, not always being able to run when you want to, and dealing with a lot of the mental challenges are harder. It's okay that you don't like your decision, the important part is that you're making the right one and sticking with it. I hope this pays off soon!
Posted by: Alison at April 16, 2005 3:58 PM
Hey, I feel your multiple aspects of your pain (emotionally and physically). I hope it passes soon and you are back on the roads shortly. I think you made the right decision too-and the reason it took so long is b/c you love what you do. That's not such a bad thing.
Posted by: Audrey at April 16, 2005 4:34 PM