Baby, be good, do what you should, you know it will be alright

I put off writing this blog until I could properly explain my injury and prognosis. Last week I had an arthrogram and MRI to check for a labral tear and sports hernia. Turns out I have a slight labral tear and an avulsion which has similar signs to a sports hernia.

The tear in my labrum is probably not affecting me much, if at all. The main problem is a “thin linear fluid cleft separating the pubis from the rectus abdominus-adductor aponeurotic plate, with a tiny avulsed periosteal or osseous fragment, in keeping with a right aponeurotic plate tear/adductor avulsion,” at the right pubic bone. When I first read the report I didn’t understand much. After google searches I understood a little more. This morning my doctor made it all very clear to me. Basically my rectus abdominus ripped off my pubic bone and took a little piece with it.

I’ve been feeling this pain in deferent degrees for years, I’m not really sure how long I’ve been carrying it. It’s similar to a sports hernia and it would be great to run without it. At the 2014 London marathon the muscles around my injury tightened up and it would be swell if that didn’t happen in the future.

This is an injury which needs 4-6 weeks of rest (1 week rest down) to let the bone re-attach and the muscle repair itself. That means complete rest for at least 4 weeks, no cross-training. I could elect to cross-train after four weeks but I’d rather not test it too soon and risk re-injuring myself.

Why did this happen?… It’s an repetitive overuse injury that affected my right side due to having a shorter right leg. In the future I will be running with some sort of lift in my right shoe. I still need to see an orthopedist for that.

In the past few years I’ve devoted myself to the marathon, often neglecting other aspects of my life. I have the mindset that if I’m going to pursue my dream that I’m going to do it 100%.  When running is going well it makes sense. How much more could I put on my plate? Would I have made the Olympics if I had spread myself thinner? However, when I’m stuck with six weeks of no physical activity it’s a lot of free time. I’m even weary to cruise around on my skateboard, leisure bike rides or kayak down the Speed River. The other problem is that I eat out of boredom. I don’t even own a scale but it might be a good tool to keep things from getting too out of control (a little out of hand is fine).

There are a few projects that I’ve had in the back of my mind that I might go forward with now that I have ample free time. Building a 3-D printer, planting a vegetable garden, learn how to edit video and finish Road to London, start personal coaching… I also thought about travelling, but would have to consider therapy too. The reality; lots of reading, watching movies, World Cup and full stages of Le Tour.

I’ve already sketched out possible future races (long-term outlook) depending on when I get back to running and subsequently back into shape. My main focus is 2015 when the Olympic marathon qualifying window will surely open. Speaking of teams, I think it goes without saying I won’t be going to Commonwealth Games this summer. I’ve qualified but when the team list comes out this week don’t expect to see my name on it as I already told Athletics Canada I won’t be going. That was a decision I made after London when I ran 2:13 and would have rather attempted to improve on that time in the fall.

Blog updates will be infrequent over the next couple of months. Thanks for reading.