Thursday, February 14, 2013

Injury Update

The scoop: officially diagnosed with proximal hamstring tendonopathy with a tear in my tendon (either the semimembranousus or the semitendinosis - can't remember!).   The ultrasound showed the calcific tendonopathy but missed the tear; the MRI confirmed the tear.  What does this mean?  Possibly going to take the PRP route for treatment.  And running? Not to sure yet!  Will have to inquire about that!  But I am back on the trainer and doing some intense rides for me now anyway.  Trying to get back into shape!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

2012 - oh what a year!

Well here is my belated year in review post! Lol!  What to say about 2012!?

First off, I am extremely happy to report that I PB'd at every triathlon distance I raced this year!!! :):):)  I am super proud and happy of my new IM PB of 12:01!!!! Woohoo!!!! Did not expect that!  I also paid the price of that one by making a three hour trip to the medical tent.  But I do not regret it one bit! It was worth every second of it! ;)

A look back at 2012:

Unfortunately, the year started with me being injured and pretty much ended the same way! Haha!  I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis and an ankle sprain.  While the sprain healed on its own with time, the plantar fasciitis required treatment since it was chronic.  So started my long relationship of treatments with my chiropractor! ;)  I did very little training in January to try to let my foot heal and then slowly started to build in February.  I ran the Chilly half marathon and PB'd there which was a total shocker since I was not running much at that time!  2012 marked the first time ever running at a track meet!  I ran three of them in total for the year representing UTTC and had a blast!  March and April came along and I made the trip out west to visit family, train in Santa Monica, and race the Oceanside 70.3 and Hollywood half marathon!  I had a great time and made some training and racing gains.  No PB's but I got to race the famous Oceanside half and got to run along the Walk of Fame.  May involved more training and I rode at the NYC Gran Fondo and ran the Toronto half marathon and managed to PB again!  I was super stoked with that as I was not sure if I was capable of running a sub 1:50 yet and I did! Woohoo!!!  My training then became more triathlon focused as I started racing tris in June and July to get ready for the big show in NYC in August.  I raced the Tupper Lake Tinman half, a race I always wanted to do and put down a solid effort and a great time!  I then raced at the inaugural Toronto tri after a heavy training week and PB'd at the Olympic distance.  And now was time for the big one - IM NYC/NJ!  By this time, my right hamstring was pretty unhappy and I was hurting on every training run.  It had really started to bother me back in March but I ignored it and continued on.  Well, I had an awesome performance in NYC and laid down an awesome time!  And this was the start of a crazy, aka stupid, 5-week race schedule I gave myself.  I followed NYC with a sprint tri, the Muskoka 70.3, and the true "double" savage at Savageman.  I improved my time from the previous year at Muskoka and gave a savage like effort at Savageman but by then I was hurting pretty bad.  I had 5 weeks to rest up, recover, and get ready for my last race of the season at Beach to Battleship in North Carolina.  During this time, I fulfilled a goal and I made the trip across the border to Buffalo on my bike! ;)  October came around and at B2B I managed to maintain my focus and mental strength despite my injury and I laid down another awesome performance for a new half IM PB!  Booyah! ;)  I also picked up a new sport in 2012 - surfing, and found a love for yoga!!! :)  I topped up my race season with my first ever swim meet representing TMU!  I had a blast!  Maybe I should have been a swimmer growing up! Lol!  With race season over, the start of my running ban was implemented trying to get my hamstring healed up before the 2013 season.  I was told to stop running, stop cycling (except commuting) and even stop yoga.  I did not quite stop the yoga until I managed to sprain my elbow really badly at swim practice one night.  Hahaha!  So 2012 ended the same as it started, being injured and in rehab.  2013 also started the same way!  Oh-oh!  Hopefully I get all sorted out sooner than later!

Here are some numbers for 2012:

Swim: 340.737 km, 129:46 hours
Bike: 3717.15 km, 204:43 hours (incl trainer time but not incl distance/time of bike commuting)
Run: 1145.16 km, 130:38 hours
Other (yoga): ~50+ hours

Not bad! Not bad!  My swimming and cycling mileage had increased from 2011! :)  I had a blast last year and I plan on continuing to have a blast with my crazy triathlon world!