As I started to meet other athletes and as I'd tell my story, they'd chime in with, "oh, you think your story's good...listen to this!" and they'd continue on about how they broke their leg 3 months ago and they're back on the bike again, or how they biked 100 miles...1 for every pound they had lost... or my favorite- they signed up for an Ironman after open heart surgery. And this is when I started to realize, everyone seems to have a past. Everyone has a story. And everyone is...was...or is going to be F$%ked up and gonna have to deal with it.
Ask any one of my training buddies what hurts and they'll give you a list longer than your 7 year old's christmas list. Ask them what's wrong with them and they'll give you a plethora of reasons they technically, physically should not be doing what they're doing. Some let this little hangups (injuries, deformities, bad genes..) hold them back, most use them as motivation to keep doing what they're doing, and do it better.
So this is when I get to my list of what's wrong with me and why it just doesn't matter
One short leg- My leg length discrepancy was discovered during my bike fit when the fitter gasped out loud and explained that my legs are not even close in length. After he called in a few people to show me off like a circus freak, I realized that this lil' leg issue may explain a ton of my other issues. It also explained why I always stand with one leg bent and my hip cocked out to the side. The Fix: There are inserts/lifts in my left cycling shoes and the cleat on my right cycling shoe is in a different position than my left.
Scoliosis: Yeah, so my spine's a lil' crooked. The first time I saw the x-ray of my spine, I asked, "is that a side view?" because I didn't think that my spine was supposed to be shaped like an S. I was right. I didn't find out until I was 18 that I was crooked, so by that age, there wasn't much they could do. My chiropractor would try to bend, crack, and stretch me back to normal but there was no hope. When I was heavier, I had unbearable back pain, but as I lost weight and strengthened my core, it went away. Not gonna lie, it also helps to not have D's hanging from your chest anymore too.
Hips unaligned: Another goofy looking x-ray. Draw a straight line from this hip to the other one and see if these two points line up. Okay, I get it, here's the ruler, here's hip one at the end of the ruler, here's hip 2...a half inch above the ruler. NOW I am able to understand that my back, hips and lil' leg issue are all connected, but as I discovered them, I just started to think I was deformed!
Hip tendinitis: This is the issue that started it all. My hip pops. Come up to me sometime and feel it. It's creepy. When I walk, run, cycle, whatever, my hip is constantly popping. I never knew what it was and no one (still) has been able to help me. X-rays didn't show anything so it has been decided that it's the tendon flipping back and forth and the pain is just tendinitis. aka- when I use it too much, it hurts...take ibuprofen. Sometimes it hurts so bad that I limp, holding my hip, but it goes away with rest, so I'll live. This lingering issue is what lead to my month off during race season last year. My hip was so inflamed (and the surrounding muscles as well) that I couldn't walk for a few days after a sprint race. Oops! Gonna be smarter this year.
Cervical Kyphosis: (aka-Military neck) Your neck is supposed to have a C curve in it. You need this curve (unlike my damn back). This is something I didn't know, or suspect about myself, but the x-rays show it. My is neck is always extremely sore after long rides in aero position (tilt your head back, look to the sky now imagine leaving your head like this for several hours) but I'm not sure if I should be blaming this cervical kyphosis nonsense or if it's sore because your head isn't supposed to bend like that.
Valgus Knees: This I find most interesting. If I stand up straight, my knees bend in towards each other. This isn't uncommon but the reason I find this most interesting is because this is why I think my forte is biking and running has been such a struggle. Because of my knees coming in, my legs actually rub up against my top tube on my bike when I ride. When my pedaling stroke was measured with a laser that allowed you to see if your knee stayed over your pedal as you spun, I was actually aligned. I feel like because my knees go in, I'm able to maintain my power throughout my stroke and actually have a stronger push on my downstroke than people w/out goofy knees. However, as a runner, when you knees go in, you land with more weight on the inside of your foot and (I have decided) leads to my shin splints along the insides of my lower leg.
Shin Splints/Compartment Syndrome (this one is self-diagnosed, still not sure): When I run the bone along the inside of my lower leg feels like it is going to break at any moment. I've called it shin splints, but this pain never goes away. It's a strange sensation and I can't directly link it to workouts. Usually when I finish a race, it hurts so bad that every step after crossing the finish line is a limp but here's the weird thing- I know it will stop hurting later, I know it's not a stress fracture (doc says I'm safe), and I don't really even seem to realize I'm limping anymore until someone says, "hey, what's wrong!? are you okay?!" Yeah, I limp. Sometimes when I'm just sitting still at work or home, for no clear reason at all, I'll feel a tingly pain in my leg. Unexplainable, but done trying to figure it out. Zoot compression calf sleeves have worked wonders in relieving this pain. And oddly enough, last year, this pain was SEVERE in my left leg and it literally switched legs over night and was SEVERE in my right. Strange, but just another obstacle to overcome.
Dent in wrist- I wish I could remember what this is called! When my doc saw my wrist he said that it was rare and that he had never seen someone my age with this problem (then proceeded to tell me that I had the body of an 80 year old and laugh...I cried). It's not exactly carpal tunnel but the bone structure has sunk and it leads to an indentation in my wrist when I bend my hand downwards. Looking at it doesn't bother me, but about 3 years ago it was the WORST PAIN EVER! I think it came from crocheting (don't really wanna discuss this, but I used to crochet blankets like a maniac.) The pain stuck with me even when I stopped crocheting. I would hold my wrist up against my chest and would have to drive my car, type and do everything with my other arm. I'd even wake up in the middle of the night with shooting pains. I continued to experience this pain when I initially started biking (when shifting) but it eventually went away.
The list above is just what is structurally wrong with my body and doesn't even include all of the overtraining injuries that I brought upon myself from training 20-30 hours a week for 2 years. It's a sad day when you can't finish a race that you've been training for...because you've been training too much. There IS too much of a good thing when you get to a certain volume/intensity level of training. But I'm not going to list those (...now) because I know that I can control whether or not they exist.
Back in 2008 I was living life IN PAIN. It was depressing to go to the doctor or chiropractor and find some other issue to add to my list of why I should just start making my death bed now. I wasn't even 20 yet and I saw a future of pain and inactivity. It wasn't until I decided "SCREW THIS" and starting exercising that my pains started to go away. (I will never stop asking, why didn't ANY of the health professionals that I was dealing with tell me to start exercising?) It's crazy to think that I could be sitting here today, writing out a list of my deformities, and saying "this is why I don't run" or "this is why life's unfair" but instead I can say here's a list of all the shit wrong with me, and here's a list of reasons it DOESN'T MATTER! More recently, I've noticed that if anyone gives me an excuse of why they can't do what I do, I listen, but I'm never convinced. Just try, you might surprise yourself and it may even help resolve some of your issues :)
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