When I sat down to map out my goals for 2012, there was really only 1 I was focused on. To be injury free for the year. I have devoted myself to cycling now for 3 years (having crossed over from the triathlon world) and have been sidelined for about 10 months of that due to injury. No other goals about winning races or getting stronger would matter if I wasn’t injury free. After the Scott 24hour I spent about 6 weeks just rolling round on my bike not training too hard but still maintaining my fitness, it took me about this long to fully recover from the race. Following this I was starting to find some good form and was feeling strong. I did some tough hilly rides as a way to monitor my fitness and found them much easier than in the past. I was loving life, school was winding down and I was feeling really strong on the bike, what a rad feeling that is. In the back of my mind I was worried of getting injured as in the past a time frame of feeling strong had generally come crushing down with injury. Still, I was training hard keen to get some good k’s in the legs to start building for Italy where I am heading for the 24 hour World Champs in May.
I haven’t had the best start to 2012 and achieving my goal of being injury free. My hip has been fine with riding, only feeling pain occasionally on the bike. It has been 6 months since my surgery and I was due for my 6 month follow up with the surgeon. We made the trip to Melbourne and he conducted some movement tests. One test in particular resulted in me levitated off the table in pain. I had been having difficulties walking any more than 1km in distance and walking up stairs and hills was still causing pain. I figured it was part of the 12 month recovery the surgeon had advised me of.
Not pleased with the movement test the surgeon sent me across the road for an MRI of my hip. Results came back showing my rectus femoral tendon was pretty inflamed and not too happy. The good news is the hip joint itself is excellent and the original problem that required surgery has gone. I am not sure if the tendon had been that way the whole time and masked by all the other stuff that was wrong in there, or if I came back too early after the surgery.
The surgeon wanted me to begin PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) Injections, which involves taking 20ml of blood out of your arm, which they spin down in a centrifuge to separate the components. The PRP is then harvested and 4ml of PRP is extracted from the centrifuged blood. Under ultrasound guidance they put this into the tendon and the hip joint. As tendons do not have a blood supply the aim of this treatment is to speed up the healing process and hence get me back on the bike quicker!!
I had packed for 1 night only as I was supposed to be heading back to Marlo after the appointment with some friends to do the triathlon down there. Unfortunately the surgeon wanted me to have the injection done as soon as they could fit me in, that Friday. He said I could continue to ride but try not to walk too much. Unfortunately I hadn’t packed any bike gear so couldn’t do any riding, I went to an RPM class one morning which was a good hit out. Back down to Melbourne on the train for the injection and then I was going to head to Marlo as I still held hopes that I would be able to do the ride part of the triathlon in a team.
The injection was a bit uncomfortable and a tad painful but the pain I felt in my hip for the next day and a half was worse. It soon became apparent I wouldn’t be going back to Marlo for the tri, I couldn’t walk on it let alone get on a bike. I was advised to spend the next 2 days on the couch, then ease back into it for the next 7 days. I could ride in those 7 days, but 50% of my usual volume and on flat courses. We had planned a training camp in Bright next week, where we were going to do a stack of mtb and road riding, pretty shattered I couldn’t make it as it would have been perfect to kick start my training for Italy with long hard hilly rides. I have to go have another injection in 2 weeks and hopefully it will be better after that. I have to keep reminding myself that taking it easy for 3-4 weeks in the scheme of things isn’t that big of a deal. I need to learn from last year that ignoring the problem will only make it worse. This time last year I ignored the pain in my hip and as a result spent 5 months unable to do any exercise. I must learn from this and realise that I will get strong again, that my fitness will return and that 3-4 weeks of easy riding to get over this injury is the best thing to do. Sitting on the sidelines is never an easy thing to do, but I’ve come to accept that if you are an athlete then getting injured, managing these injuries, resting and recovering and listening to your body is even more important than those long rides or smashing yourself on an ergo. (Well TRYING my best to do this and to not to be a mopey grumpy pain in the ass) Just got to be patient (IM TRYING!!) and accept my time will come as long as I learn from past mistakes!!!
I spent the next few days in Ballarat watching the Road Nationals which has been enjoyable but also very frustrating, as I remember standing on the sidelines declaring I would be racing there in 2012. Things didn’t pan out that way but by getting on top of this injury now should mean I will be at the start line next year. Watching Amanda Spratt in a solo breakaway with 30kms to go was so motivating and inspiring that I can’t wait to get back out there and race. But first it's back to the surgeon's office next week for another injection and then another 10 days taking it easy then hopefully all will be good and I'll be seeing you out on the trails!!!
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