Two steps forward, one step back

I didn’t intentionally step away from this blog, I somehow forgot. I’d been so busy trying to keep myself busy that I forgot the benefits of telling my story. So here’s a poorly condensed version with a massive photo dump at the end of Hawaii.

In August, I went to Hawaii with my husband’s family. It was another amazing vacation and I will always say how grateful I have been for this year of traveling and doing and seeing incredible things. We spend a few days in Oahu where we got to see Pearl Harbor, do a little hiking and learn to surf. I was told I was a natural and should move to the ocean. Sadly, that will not happen. Then we went on a cruise that stopped at Maui, the Big Island (two stops), Kauai and back to Oahu. Similar to New Zealand, I tried to pack in as much adventure as I could with the time we had on the islands. There was lots of water fun with waterfall repelling, visiting waterfalls, kayaking, paddle boarding (first time as well), snorkeling and some relaxing beach time. Bill and I hiked the Waihe’e Ridge Trail which involved me slipping on the steep mud and falling on my previously hurt hip and knee. We hiked to the Koko Crater Arch before turning around because my legs were shaking and my heart was going to explode out of fear of falling on the very steep arch. We got to hike on volcanic rock. We woke up at 2AM to drive on top of a crater above the clouds and watch the sunrise. I have never seen so many stars in my life and it was truly a spectacular sight. Then we “rode” rust bucket, fixed gear, 40 lb (not joking) bikes down the crate switch backs. It seriously pained me not to be on my bike and to not have done the work of climbing it first. One day. So as I said, a great vacation.

During the trip I did pretty much no training since I didn’t have a bike and somehow had little time to do open water swimming. It was decided I’d use the time to take a break from running to see if that would alleviate the pain I’d been dealing with in my knee. I was active enough with everything else going on that I was honestly ok with no training, even with the 10 lbs of food I ate every day. I came home with a cold I caught from Bill and a knee that mostly still hurt. I got back to minimal running, enough so I would be able to survive another sprint.

In September, I went with friends to visit other friends in Wilmington NC and to race the YMCA Wrightsville Beach Sprint. They had relay teams set up and I decided to do the race by myself. My only secret goal was to have a faster time than they relay team. That meant my swim and bike times had to be fast enough to make up for slower transitions and a slow run. I ended up having a faster swim, bike AND run time but my transitions were so slow that it was enough to make my overall time about 1.5 minutes slower than the relay team. Clearly, still need to improve on transitions. I knew going into the race that afterwards I would take a break from running for a bit because the knee pain was not improving at all.

The next weekend, I went to Boulder on a very last-minute trip to spend time with Katie and see her “magic” physical therapist in hopes I could figure this all out. I started out the trip with a beer mile. For those who don’t know (myself includes when I agreed to do this), a beer mile consists of drinking a 12oz, 5+% beer, running one lap and repeating 3 more times for a total of 4 beers over 1 mile. If you throw up, you run a penalty lap. I threw up in a way I have never experienced or care to never do again while drinking beer 4, then had to finish it. That was the last time I ran, in September. The PT was good. She looked at my whole history including surgeries before my triathlon days and previous injuries. She looked at my walk and run and how I stood and did lots of things to my body including going places a PT normally doesn’t go to adjust my tailbone (I was told stories of how much weirder it could have been). I walked away with exercises/stretches, told I had to work on a more neutral posture and told I couldn’t run again until I had orthotics. As an engineer, I really like the mechanical aspect of how your body pieces together intricately to move. How one failing piece can have a chain reaction of problems up or downstream. I can understand how a problem with pronating ankles can cause knee and hip issues and therefore, hoping orthotics might help.

Someone said to me, if PT and time off from running hasn’t helped, maybe it’s time to try something else. When I came back from Boulder, a lightbulb went off in my head. I dug through all my training notes and was very disappointed in what I found. From the VERY FIRST run back after the NZ crash, I made note of knee pain. I was so focused on my hip that I brushed it aside thinking it was just because I had been away from running for so long and it would work itself out. But it didn’t. I let it get worse. Katie kept asking if I was sure it was ok to keep running based on what I felt and I said yes. After this I had a few days of being really pissed at myself, that I let it get to this point, that I kept trying to force myself to be ok with running even though my body wasn’t ready yet.

I finally made an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. He said I have chondromalacia patella/patellofemoral pain syndrome. Essentially the cartilage under my knee cap is shot from my knee cap not tracking properly and rubbing in the wrong places. Was told this will most likely be a lifelong problem of having to be diligent with strength and mobility work. Not the first time an orthopedist has told me I’d most likely deal with some level of pain in my knee for my entire life. Walked away with a prescription for PT and orthotics and told it would be a slow road back.

After a few days of being upset, I became hopeful again. I occasionally debate about races for next year, hoping I’ll be fully back to running by then. Bill puts up with my constant bickering of “I WANT TO RUN” and “I’M MISSING THE BEST RUNNING WEATHER!”. I’ve learned to be patient with the healing process AGAIN. In the meanwhile, I have been able to enjoy some of the best riding weather. I’ve made really good progress on the swim and am stronger now than I’ve ever been. My strength on the bike is slowly coming back. I’ve had some setbacks because I keep getting sick (and breaking out) between stress from various things and temperature swings and who knows that else. It’s been more time on the couch that I would have liked. On the other hand, maybe that extra couch time has helped me knee pain subside faster.

I’ve kept myself busy on weekends, distracting myself. I’ve enjoyed the fall festivities like pumpkin picking, corn maze and haunted attractions. I’ve filled my belly with Fall for Greenville, a cider festival and a winery. I’ve spent time with friends and the hubby at a renaissance festival, football tailgating and seeing Les Miserables. By taking something away, I’ve had the time and energy to enjoy life in other ways. And I’m good with that.

Going through some lows always makes the highs that much better. The best high I’ve had in the last several weeks… being given the green light yesterday to try a test run! Finger crossed!!

And now a bunch of pictures as promised in no real order...