Sunday, March 21, 2010

Throwing in The Towel

Things happen for a reason, even when we are not wise enough to see/realize it.

My shoulder hurts everytime I swim, has been for 2 weeks now. I knew it was because of overuse and the ridiculous increase in volume in a weekly basis. I consulted a masters swimming coach who said that for a non professional swimmer, there's nothing bad or wrong with my strokes. I just lack the muscle strength that resulted in my shoulder and everything else trying to compensate.

I have been running for 2 weeks now. Nothing serious, 5k maximum. Today after being frustrated with yesterday's lack of training I went for a run and what do you know after only 2km my knees started to feel the pain. At that point I had no idea whether I was imagining the burn because of something called a post recovery trauma, or the pain really happened. But I stopped anyways.

I went to the doctor, and this is really frustrating for me to write but the knee injury is present again and my left shoulder is also injured - tendonitis. The doctor was appalled since my knees were pretty solid the last time we had them checked. He came back to the same theory: my legs just aren't built for running. They're genetically displaced a little bit at the knees and too thin to support my upper body yada yada yada. The same theory goes to my shoulder - too thin, too weak to power through.

And strength training could bulk up my muscles a little bit but they could overpower my joints which will result in more bad joint injuries. Yahoo. "Basically," said my doctor, "you're built for the wrong sport." All these three sports requires the person to have the right muscular strength. Sure Kenyans breed lean runners BUT they don't have a pair of displaced knees. He said that if I was a competitive gymnast, or a professional dancer, I would have no such problems or injuries. My body is more likely to adapt to those sports. And, he added hesitantly, my future as a competitive 'triathlete' will have to end, if I want to be injury free until old age.

You know, at this point, I am somewhat relieved to be hearing those words. Don't get me wrong, the news is devastating but at the agony I went through last two weeks (I was unable to move my left arm if it weren't for the painkiller - arcoxia 120mg) plus the last 6 months of knee pain plus the frustration of missing out on running I am just damn fricking relieved to be given a way out of this mental torture.

Mental torture of unbearable knee pain, then missing running times, then boring recovery, then phobia of starting to run again, then the demotivation to gain my running mileage, and then the forever worrying of injury coming back.

right now, I do not know the way forward and where I stand. I might just give this whole issue a week's rest, take a chill pill. Join my dad gardening.

Energizer Night Race will be the first race I will be running in 2010. It will also be my last, for the time being. I plan to make it the best goddamn run ever. See you guys there and don't forget to say hello ok.

I end this post with one of my favorite quotes ever by Isak Dinesen:
“The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea

9 comments:

  1. aww…nadia. I'm sorry to hear that, but your determination rocks! You tried your best. At least you can still do your karate, yoga and kick boxing. Those are equally awesome.

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  2. That is sad to know Nadia but the fire still burns strong within you. Have a blast with ENR but do take it easy ya. Get good rest and come back strong in time

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  3. thanks guys. hoping to prove the theories wrong and hoping one day i could still run and swim!

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  4. dancing sounds cool. I am always stuck to my sofa watching So You Think You Can Dance... hebat!

    apapapun, safety first. see you next week

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  5. I'm sorry to hear that Nadia. But the author of Born to run also had Doctors telling him he wasn't built for running..but he beat all odds ( after correcting his running techniques).
    Not trying to over encourage you, but I dunno, maybe there's still hope?
    Take care and see you at ENR

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  6. Sorry to read that. Well, you still have the bicycle. Take it easy at ENR. No point hurting yourself.

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  7. Yups, that is what the technical teams says right, but what is in your mind could be the determination needed to finish up the run, it reminds of me a story of paraplegic man on bed recovered after a gruesome plane crash,

    I'm still having the pain despite the rest, though not so called rest ler, sometimes i even cheated my rest for some light jog since i can't swim, anyway we share the same passion, as much as the other activities contributes a lot to our well being but nothings beats running,

    People says the same thing when i was fat, could u run? u can even last any more than a week of running..

    Anyway, it is my words against the trained experts, maybe it could spell the same for me, yikes..it could be a major blow to me too.

    Loves your quote...may u triumph in ENR, as the phoenix..rise from the ashes

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  8. sckhoo: thanks for the kind words. Yes, the bike is my only saviour right now :)

    shaq: please rest carefully! the feeling of healthy knees is the best thing ever.

    Julin: I will still try to work around these issues. Maybe I just needed stronger leg muscles hehe.

    syah: terlalu lambat untuk jadi penari.... can't even shuffle to the beat!

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  9. I don't know if i can take this kind of news to myself, as you do.
    Go strong Nadia!

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