Update

So you remember my last blog post finishing with a somewhat optimistic sounding Frank. I had crushed the tempo run last Friday, then a great long run, and another good workout on Monday. Well at the end of Monday's run I twinged my left hip flexor a little, got some therapy on it afterwards, and thought that was the end of that. Then Tuesday morning came and an early run with a group of guys on a gorgeous trail on the north shore (around the coots paradise marsh). Hard not to enjoy the beautiful early morning sun rising over the bay and the scenic views right? Well if your hip feels like a rope then I could see how it may not be enjoyable. But after about 5k felt alright for the rest of the run. Doubled on Wednesday, and on the second run my whole body was feeling run down. Decided to take Thursday off from running, and then was back on the trails on Friday. Sure the tibia was still hurting bad, but now I was actually noticeably limping around campus because of my hip flexor, and having a real tough time just getting up and out of chairs. Literally every time I tried to move it felt like a knife was being jammed and twisted into my hip. The hour and a bit of physiotherapy I got on Thursday obviously didn't help very much even though I had two people working on me at the same time, one doing ultrasound on my "could be" stress fracture, the other doing some soft tissue work on my hip. The physio there seems to think the contralateral hip pain is a stemming from compensating because of my other leg's injury, and now it has progressed into a pretty significant muscle tear. Saturday we were in Western, where our men's team won with record 44 points. I tempo-ed the course prior to the women's race and struggled my way through, but grinded for still a pretty decent time especially considering the incredibly difficult course they had set up - wow it was super hilly. Afterwards my hip though was in shambles, so much so that it managed to actually distract me from the pain in my tibia - I guess our brain can only fully comprehend one pain signal at a time. Sunday morning we had a long run scheduled despite thunderstorms going through the area. Getting ready was a struggle. I'm not even joking or exaggerating, I could not actually lift my leg off the ground to put my leg into my running shorts and had to lay down to pull the shorts on. Decided to go over to the high performance centre prior to the run to try and warmup my hip on the bike before the run. Ran the first little bit with the team but was it way to much pain and had to turn back and go back to the gym after only 30 minutes. It was a demoralizing and embarrassing feeling having to stop a run and turn around, after all the long run is supposed to be my thing. Ran back in the now pouring rain, and limped in from the run broken once again for the umpteenth time. Climbed onto the bike and pushed myself through a hard hour and 15 minutes on the bike, then did some core, and then jumped into the pool for half an hour. As I swam I thought, sure this doesn't hurt and yet I can't complete one stride without unbearable pain. I'll be taking the next couple days off then run on Wednesday and based on that decide if I'm okay to run on Saturday in Windsor. Also I'll be getting some blood work done this week to see if there is actually something physiologically wrong with my body. To tell you loyal readers the truth, it is getting very difficult to keep trying and hoping to get better when I actually can't remember what it feels like to run without pain. It makes me think maybe this isn't for me, I've put so much into my running physically and emotionally, and I can't tell you how frustrating and disheartening it is to be sidelined time and time again. I was injured at the end of November last year and since then between another injury at Around the Bay in March, the possible stress fracture in August, and now this hip flexor injury on top of it, I calculate that I've been healthy for less than 8 weeks out of the last 11 months approximately, and that was in Park City, and then the next couple weeks afterwards for the summer races. Maybe all my problems stem from my flat feet, maybe I have early osteoartritis from not letting injuries heal properly or completely in the past, I don't know. What I do know is based on Wednesday's run I'm very very close to just saying enough is enough and stopping running all together. Yes it's a big decision, but running in pain is no fun, and why should I waste 25 hours a week not having any fun. It may seem drastic but when you look at my history and see that I've had more than 5 stress fractures in the past four years, countless bouts of severe achilles tendinopathies (like last September around this weekend), prior bouts of hip problems like in my first year of running when I did see a Sports Med doc who said I had partially torn my hip flexor, hamstring injuries like at the 2012 STWM, IT band syndrome the following February, back issues on and off for the past year, and a whole bunch of other twinges and tears, it really isn't that drastic or sudden. Maybe I can put my hard work to some other endeavour, maybe just get on the bike and ride 600k a week with the triathletes here, become an absolute monster on the bike and go for competitive cycling, plus I already got the Mark Cavendish sunglasses for it. I obviously beat the hell out of my body going for the marathon too early at such a young age, not letting myself properly develop to be able to handle it, and now I'm paying the price for it. Sorry for such a downer of a post, I hope that on Wednesday I can actually post good news for once.