Head Scratcher

It's been over 3 months off training now. That's the longest I've ever taken off since probably the year 2000! Yes I was 12 and it was Kids of Steel but still, I didn't ever take 3 months off!

These 3 months haven't been completely off. Most of my days I did something whether it was a road ride, a cross country ride or elliptical or sometimes both. Throughout all of this time off I figured my foot and all other aches and pains would diminish because I was keeping moderately active and keeping up with my chiro and rehab plan. But the pain in my foot lingered.

Last week Red Bull sent me down to Santa Monica to see the foot specialist at D.I.S.C and get an MRI to see what's going on. It showed a tear in my plantar fascia and a stress reaction in the bone where the PF attaches. This after time off?! I'm pretty sure my last MRI did not have a tear in the PF. So how could this happen? Still trying to figure that one out! I call this injury a head scratcher because in order to heal a stress reaction you must take complete rest. But immobilized rest builds up scar tissue and makes my PF tighter. And a tight PF is what causes the stress responses or fractures in the first place!! Vicious cycle it seems.

So when I came home and talked to my team back here at Synergy they helped me come up with a plan. They think this has become a beast of it's own. The initial cause is no longer the cause but this has taken on a life of it's own! They suggested complete rest from sports, but walking as I normally would to keep the PF moving.  We are continuing with the shockwave therapy but the next step is to try the PRP therapy. It's where they take a bit of your blood and spin it to separate everything from the platelet rich plasma and inject it back into the site of the injury I know a few people who have had it and from what I've heard it seems to be effective. It's definitely worth a try!

So now I'm just returning to the pool with my new and improved shoulder. I haven't used the proper muscles in about a year and a half so they get tired after less than 1km and I usually swim about 1500m haha. I'm truly starting from square one. Only up from here that's for sure!

I'm sounding like a disaster here which I will admit I kind of am/was but we are sorting it out step by step. I'm so lucky to have Red Bull's full support and hands on approach to my rehab. I'm also so grateful to have Jamie Grimes and Todd Levins from Synergy helping me out so much. It feels good to have people believe in me when so many others have lost faith. It helps me keep my head high and looking toward the next step.

On another note, I can't believe it's September! I've had a great summer. I experienced things I never could while training full time. I relaxed, socialized, went camping, surfing, downhill mountain biking, hiking, toured LA, it was a pretty fun packed summer for me! Now as we head into fall I'm hoping to focus a bit more while maintaining a bit of balance as I still likely won't be training full time. I'd like to work my swim back up to where it used to be and get strong in the gym! Baby steps!

Here are a few snaps from my summer :)

                                                  Hiking the Chief in Squamish

                                                         LA poolside with Red Bull

                                                      Fun bike day at the Sunshine Coast

                                                 First attempt at camping in Tofino #fail

                                                             Solo Chief Hike

                                                          Tofino camping take 2 #success

                                                                        Surf!