Friday, October 21, 2011

PT Graduation Day!

This morning I completed my last and (hopefully) final PT session!

(source)
Its been a long haul 6 weeks of the same exercises, but it has been worth it.

We have determined, finally, that my Time Trial bike caused the knee damage, and running merely aggravated the problem, creating a different injury that was compensation for the original injury.

For some reason throughout the season, my left foot on the time trial bike became more and more crow footed. Why? I am guessing a muscle imbalance in my left leg that caused my left foot to pitch inwards to compensate. Over time, I became comfortable with this crow footed position, but it was doing overuse damage to my knee.

Luckily the knee held out until Placid.

However, once I was done with Placid and my body was recovering from the shock, my left knee had had it and revolted. First the pain started in the medial area (inside). It came and went and wasn't anything terrible.

Then I hopped back onto the time trial bike for the first time in over a month and belted out a 2 hour ride at race pace. Bad idea. This pissed off my knee even more. The next day I went for a 90 min trail run and this finally did my knee in. This was the run that the runner's knee fully developed and I went crying to my doctor and the orthopedist.

On August 31st I saw my primary doctor. He reffered me to the orthopedist. I got lucky! After my referral approval from my primary doctor, I called the orthopedist and was asked, "Do you want to come in tomorrow AM at 9:30, or you can wait until October." I got VERY lucky.

So after an X-Ray, a diagnosis, and immediately starting PT, I was on my way to rehab.



Or so I thought.

After a two week improvement via PT, I was readjusted on my TT bike by my coach, and I went out for a two hour ride on that bike. After 60 mins I was gritting the pain and stopped. I basically undid all of the improvement I had gained and was back to square one. The TT bike was the problem. Running pain was just a side effect. I am not blaming my coach for a bad TT fit. It didn't matter if I had the BEST fit in the world! My leg muscles were simply not balanced and strong enough to handle that strain to support the injured tendons in my knee.

So I quit running and biking for two full weeks and stuck to just PT. This finally worked!

I also requested an MRI to make sure nothing else was going on.




The results were a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst. Things were finally healing!

So far this week I have ran 3 times, with a fourth time on the docket for Saturday. I am slated to run ~18 miles this week!

Some things that helped a lot during PT were:

1) Staying consistent with it

2a) Shaving my legs (for the next item)


2b) Kinesio Tape - this gave me a LOT of support without needing a cumbersome knee support device.


3) Ice


So now looking forward?

No more racing for 2011. Lake Placid was enough for this year, and while I am bummed that I am giving NYC another pass, its ok. The down time has been needed. Its been making me HUNGRY for next year!

And this is why I am staying with my coach till the end of time because he understands my injury and is conservatively building me back up for next season. Ironman Mont Tremblant is still a looooooooong ways away, and that is the #1 goal right now.

However! I would like to make a good campaign attempt at the NYRR running circuit this winter and into the spring, as well as some destination races to explore other city's venues.

Have a great weekend!

13 comments:

  1. Yay for PT graduation! What's the final verdict on the bike?

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  2. Congrats on graduating! And cheers to great races in 2012! :)

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  3. PT success! That is great to hear!

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  4. Woohoo for graduating and being able to run pain free!!! Yay!

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  5. Did you make any changes on the bike? I'm curious about that piece.

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  6. Nice legs! Are you going to keep them silky smooth?

    Now that you are leaving PT, I might be entering... not really, but my knee is still screwed up after my marathon. Just taking longer than normal to recover this time I think.

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  7. Wow, you have less hair on your legs than I do!!

    Congrats for being out of PT!! That is awesome. I need to get into it I think. My knee is jacked.

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  8. Just make that even that you've 'graduated' you keep up your quad/hammy/glute exercises. I can be your PT via text if you need someone to hold you accountable. ;)

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  9. Congrats, grad! I'm interested in how they're going to fix the bike so this doesn't happen again.

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  10. "Wow, you have less hair on your legs than I do!!
    "
    and

    "Nice legs! Are you going to keep them silky smooth?"

    AND, the worst yet

    "Such Pretty Legs"

    I am here for you, menly men should have to take such abuse, you should make an manly man old spice commercial

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  11. Congrats on the graduation and that the leg is feeling much better. That is great news.

    Was there a graduation party? I'll assume my invitation was lost in the mail if there was a party.

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  12. Clearly I'm catching up here... You had emailed that you couldn't run or bike, but from the looks of your posts, you seem to be on the mend. I'm curious, was the crow footing a result of your bike fit or just muscle imbalance? I'm thinking of having my bikes refit this spring, I worry that the years of cycling (last TT fit was June 09 and road fit April 10) may have changed my overall riding style and muslcle structure and may need a new fit. I hate to shell out the bucks, but I also hate to have yet another injury and reading this makes me wonder...

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