Let me go back a bit. In March, I started to have some hip flexor tightness right before my half marathon. Whether or not this was related to the issues I had later, or just hip flexor tightness, I'm not sure. I went on to race Shamrock half marathon with little issue and managed a PR performance. Not a bad start to the season. A few weeks later in early April, I was out for a 15 mile long run. I had been feeling strong but in the last couple miles felt some sharp discomfort in my hip groin area. I was so close to the house, I finished up the run. If I could pinpoint when my labrum tore, that would be the start. It got a bit worse in the runs after, but not enough at that point to cause me to think I needed to stop running. About a week later I started to have quite a bit of pain/discomfort on impact during running and somewhat during walking. I stopped running and thought ok, well I'll take a couple weeks easy, get an MRI just to rule out anything bad and be careful.
This is as far as I made it on one of these runs
I felt that I needed an MRI with injection (arthrogram) to rule out a labral tear, but the diagnostic place said I didn't. I got my MRI done, and it came back completely clear. According to the test my hip was perfect. Nothing was saying I couldn't run, and it was feeling better walking around, so I went out and tried a couple easy runs. It was even worse afterwards than before I took time off. Something was definitely wrong. I went to an orthopedist and he sent me for an arthrogram (MRI with injection). Even when I was at the imaging center, the doctor doing the test said that if I had a tear it must be small, because a larger tear would have shown up on the first test.
So I was certainly surprised when a couple days later, I got a call saying I had a large labral tear and a small stress fracture in the femoral neck. I was told to take it very easy until they could talk to the doctor. A week or so later, I was told I would need surgery and that the surgeon wanted to do a debridement (removing the torn part of the labrum). Luckily I have a very good friend who is a physicians assistant and is an awesome athlete that has had a gnarly knee injury that she came back from. With her advice, along with a little research, I realized that a debridement should be avoided at all costs, and to instead look into getting the labrum repaired. It also made me nervous that this doctor wanted to jump straight into surgery with no talk of how I would get back to full running form.
Labral tear in my left hip
I chose to get a second opinion with a hip specialist in DC (Dr. Andrew Wolff) that does many hip labral repairs on athletes. I saw him today and feel like I finally have a plan. He was very nice and answered all of my many questions. At first he was hesitant to jump into surgery and wanted to wait and see how my hip felt in 2 months once the stress fracture was completely healed. After some more talking about the pain/discomfort I was feeling (and when parts of it started/subsided), and my goal to get back to full training without issue, we decided arthroscopic surgery to repair the labrum and fix any impingements, was the best option. He also said that most of the time with this type of injury, even after other methods are tried, it usually results in surgery. He really understood my desire to get the recovery started. I will be going in for surgery next Wednesday, four days before I turn 28. He went over what to expect for recovery and will send me home from surgery with a lot of information. He also said that if I am progressing well in recovery there is a possibility that I will be able to do more quickly.
I won't lie and say parts of this haven't been frustrating and disappointing. Racing was finally coming together at the end of last season and I was seeing some really positive gains. Then I had a really strong winter training season and I was amped for some strong racing and training this season. However, it's best to not dwell on what could have been and instead look at what I can do in the present to get back to what I love. While I am nervous and not super excited about getting surgery, I am relieved to have a plan set. This will be the first time in a long time that I have had to take a significant time away from running. Running has always been a very grounding and centering activity for me, so it is very hard to take time away from it, but I am hopeful that by taking this time I will be able to come back very strong. It will be good to take a step back, get refreshed and re-energized and build back up. As my coach said, sometimes you need a forced step back to realize how much you love it and come back guns blazing. I am also going to take the opportunity to do some different stuff like kayaking, paddle boarding and volunteering. I am so thankful for my friends, family and coach for the never ending support. It means more to me than you will all ever know. I am also so appreciative of my amazing sponsors for their continued support and understanding.
Being injured isn't all bad when you get to go kayaking with friends (pictures from Michelle)
I'm focusing on spending some more time with friends I don't see enough during training
taking the pups for some fun little outings
We got to spend some time with my brother when his ship came in. I didn't think climbing the rigging was a great idea... but I enjoyed watching them do it!
It has been great to see the other side of triathlon by volunteering. I hope to give back to the sport I love in some small ways while I'm out from competing
