Light at the end of the injury tunnel
TommiTri
Posts: 879
in General Chat
Dear all,
I hope that this story may cheer a few of you up who might be suffering from injuries at the present time, particularly ones that are stopping you running.
Around christmas time I began to develop a pain in my right hip, it got worse and worse, particularly when I ran off road. I finally gave up in february and went to the doctor, I eventually had an MRI done and it turns out I have femoro-acetabular impingement syndrome of both hips. Basically I have an extra bit of bone on the front of my femur, so that when I rotate my leg inward it catches. This had cause a tear in the cartilage that lines the inside of the hip called the labrum.
I stopped running for 3 months, but I could still cycle and swim quite happily. So I decided to swap my run sessions for cycling and swimming sessions. I think I was swimming 4 times a week and cycling 5.
Over those 3 months my swimming improved dramatically, I had so much more time to put into it. My cycling also improved, it also helped that I no longer felt the soreness that I used to get from hard running sessions. I was doing some really quality cycling sessions e.g. intervals, and I was still fresh the next day to go again, I felt I was getting stronger and stronger.
Not only this, but I managed to drop a stone in weight, I know way approximately 10 stone 9, which at 6'1 is pretty lightweight. I think the key to this was the increased training time, putting on more lean muscle from the swimming and cycling, causing a dramatic drop in fat. As near as I can have it calculated by calipers my fat % is around 6%.
On the cycling side I went from being able to average maybe 32-34kph on the flat to 40-42 and swimming my 400 dropped from about 7mins to 6.
Ok so why am I boring you all with numbers etc? I just wanted to put everything in context. The best part about it though is I have been running again for approx the last 6 weeks or so and I am faster than I was before! quite significantly! This must be partly due to the weight loss, but also allowing my body to repair properly from all the niggles you get from running.
So I apologise if this has sounded like I am trying to big myself up, I'm not. I just wanted everyone who has injuries to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, don't get despondent when you have an injury that stops you running. Just plough your efforts into cycling and swimming, that is the beauty of our sport.
I hope all of you training and racing is going well.
Tom
I hope that this story may cheer a few of you up who might be suffering from injuries at the present time, particularly ones that are stopping you running.
Around christmas time I began to develop a pain in my right hip, it got worse and worse, particularly when I ran off road. I finally gave up in february and went to the doctor, I eventually had an MRI done and it turns out I have femoro-acetabular impingement syndrome of both hips. Basically I have an extra bit of bone on the front of my femur, so that when I rotate my leg inward it catches. This had cause a tear in the cartilage that lines the inside of the hip called the labrum.
I stopped running for 3 months, but I could still cycle and swim quite happily. So I decided to swap my run sessions for cycling and swimming sessions. I think I was swimming 4 times a week and cycling 5.
Over those 3 months my swimming improved dramatically, I had so much more time to put into it. My cycling also improved, it also helped that I no longer felt the soreness that I used to get from hard running sessions. I was doing some really quality cycling sessions e.g. intervals, and I was still fresh the next day to go again, I felt I was getting stronger and stronger.
Not only this, but I managed to drop a stone in weight, I know way approximately 10 stone 9, which at 6'1 is pretty lightweight. I think the key to this was the increased training time, putting on more lean muscle from the swimming and cycling, causing a dramatic drop in fat. As near as I can have it calculated by calipers my fat % is around 6%.
On the cycling side I went from being able to average maybe 32-34kph on the flat to 40-42 and swimming my 400 dropped from about 7mins to 6.
Ok so why am I boring you all with numbers etc? I just wanted to put everything in context. The best part about it though is I have been running again for approx the last 6 weeks or so and I am faster than I was before! quite significantly! This must be partly due to the weight loss, but also allowing my body to repair properly from all the niggles you get from running.
So I apologise if this has sounded like I am trying to big myself up, I'm not. I just wanted everyone who has injuries to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, don't get despondent when you have an injury that stops you running. Just plough your efforts into cycling and swimming, that is the beauty of our sport.
I hope all of you training and racing is going well.
Tom
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