Once I was cleared to race walk I started off slow and easy so I wouldn't damage anything. Training was going okay, nothing really fast, but hey, that's okay! About 10 weeks after surgery I raced the national 30K and got it done. My first 10K was 55 minutes and that was the fastest I'd done a 10K since surgery so I was pretty happy with that. I felt like progress was being made and I was just headed up from there.
Then weird things started happening when I would train. I'd start off fine and just slow down. It wasn't that I was tired or out of shape, I'd just slow down, sometimes to around 7:30 per K pace, so I was basically hiking. It was getting really frustrating because sometimes I could only hold 6 per K pace for one or two K. That is a lot of frustration. No one seemed to know what was causing it. We were trying different things but nothing was working. And my frustration level was going up exponentially.
I was doing a workout on Christmas, some fun cross training, and then started to stretch. I jumped on the roller and was rolling around while watching TV. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was rolling, just rolling around. I started rolling the front of my right leg. At first it felt good, like it was tight and was getting stretched. Then I had a very sudden and very sharp pain to the point where it floored me and I couldn't move for a few minutes. I thought, well, okay, no more rolling that leg, so I went to roll over and stretch my left leg. In the process of rolling over my right leg went into some sort of spasm and it was excruciating. That was the end of stretching and I didn't workout out again that day. My right leg was so grumpy and painful where that pain was.
The next day it still hurt but I jumped on the bike and it felt fine. I did some elliptical and it felt fine. So I thought after track practice I'd try some easy laps. Lately, when I've been doing a workout I'll do a 5K in around 31 minutes or so. Tuesday, without any effort, I did a 5K in the school hallways in 26:53! Whew! It finally felt like me again! It felt like an honest effort and I could move.
I thought about what happened and came up with a hypothesis and checked with my PT the next morning that he confirmed. When I rolled I must have rolled over a bunch of scar tissue that was sticking to the muscles where they went in and out a bazillion times for the surgery. It freed everything up. It's still super sore, almost bruised, but I can move again!
One thing that's interesting about the timing of all this was mentally I was just getting to the point where I was thinking there was no point in racing the 50K in January. I went from a real mental low to feeling so excited and hopeful. There's always hope, it may just take a while (like 5 months).
I went out yesterday and walked twice, once before and once after track practice and it went great both times. It looks like that might have really helped. Now I just need to really work to keep those muscles unstuck!
Here's what I learned, don't give up. Everyone says it, it's almost cliche, but people say it for a reason. You have to keep trying and pushing and working for what you believe in. It won't be easy, it'll be frustrating, but the fight is worth it. And surround yourself with people who will be positive and supportive. It's at those real lows you need people who also believe in you. People who will support and lift you up. Get as many people around you as you can, find a team of people you can rely on and talk about your frustrations with. It's so important when you're in a low spot. You'll also be able to find out who your true friends are in times like that. You may feel like your circle of friends gets smaller, but it'll be a smaller and stronger circle.
Now it's time to look to the future. I've got an amazing year planned full of fun new firsts. But I'll talk about that under separate blog.
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