Well, January has not gone as anticipated. I'm certainly not running 40km a week as planned. I'm not running, period. On Friday I got an xray on my hips and yesterday saw the sports dr for results, which were good: no signs of arthritis and no visible stress fracture. Except then the dr told me that xrays only show approximately 10% of stress fractures anyway. But it was good news about the arthritis, plus some other malformation that can occur in the socket, and which I did not have.
So the next step is a bone scan. Which I had today. It involved being injected with radioactive dye (seriously?!), going home and waiting three hours, and then returning to be photographed. It also involved having the giant camera pressed nearly against me and I had a slightly claustrophobic reaction when it was an inch from my nose--similar to being inside a CT scan tube. They took a scan of my entire spine, and then extra scans of my hips and shins.
The sports doctor is on holiday until the middle of next week, but the good news is that my family doc will get results by tomorrow morning, so hopefully I will know more then. There may be an additional MRI before treatment begins. I guess they have to make a diagnosis before starting treatment. I did not ask what treatment for a stress fracture would be ... though he did say I wouldn't start physio right away if it is a stress fracture. But meantime I've been given the go-ahead to do exercise than doesn't cause me pain.
Spin seems fine. Swimming has been good. Yoga fine too. Walking causes some pain. Running is impossible. I can't even take two strides. I actually had a little moment while under the machine, and started to tear up as I thought about some really wonderful running moments in the past year, particularly in the marathon which is freshest in my mind. Just that sense of freedom and delight that I had while running that race. I miss that.
But I'm adjusting meantime to this new reality, and hoping and praying that it's temporary. If I do return to running, I think I will train a bit differently. I think I will attempt to work other muscle groups, maybe do some strength training specifically for runners, and definitely stretch more. I didn't stretch enough after spin today, due to racing from spin directly to the hospital, and I really need to add that into my every day routine, and make time for it.
1 comment:
Glad to hear that based on the xray there are no serious problems with arthritis, stress fracture, or other malformations. Stay positive about your training - on the plus side, you can swim and bike, and training/rest will get you back running, even if it takes time!
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