Ever have to cancel a race due to injury?

[skinny_kitty]

I've had a hip problem for the past ten days. At first I thought it was the itb (illio-tibial band) but after seeing my chiro 3 times, the diagnosis is still unsure.

When I cycle it feels like a knife going through my hip, after a 30 minute warm up. When I run, I can just feel a horrible pressure after 45 minutes. Even when I swim with the pull-bouy it hurts afterwards. It's not tendonitis, it's not a tibial displacement...we just don't know what it is...

I was supposed to do the Mooseman 1/2 in ten days. It was going to be my first 1/2 IM. Am I a total suck for wanting to cry about not being able to compete?

Has anyone else had to cancel due to injury? If so, what did you do to get over it psychologically? Any insight would really help.

Thanks.

[KSH]

Ultimately... it's your decision to make... with regards to if you are suffering or in pain.

Suffering just means you need to push your body past it's limits and deal with the discomfort in doing so.

Pain means "If I keep going I'm going to get injured".

If what you are experiencing is pain, then you need to not race. Races will always be there. Your health is precious and should be taken care of above all else.

Yes, it's disappointing... you have spent so many months planning... waiting... organizing... visualizing the race. To have to cancel is upsetting.

So you have a couple of choices:
1) Mentally call off the race and don't go.
2) Go to the race, and tell yourself that you will start, BUT if you are in pain, you will stop.

A lot of people can't pull off #2, and if you think you can't... then go with #1.

BUT you paid your money... you won't get a refund... so maybe just go and see what happens?

[Tri Girl]

I agree with what KSH said.
Awww... that's terrible news about your hip. I hope they can find the cause so you can start working on a recovery.

I totally understand about an injury causing you to not be able to race. In 1995 3 weeks before the Nike San Fran. Marathon I blew my knee to bits (not literally, but I finally ran on it enough that the nagging injury to the patella that I'd been ignoring would no longer be silent). The doc told me I could walk the marathon with the knee braced and taped really well without doing any permanent damage, so I wound up walking it.
The mental part is the toughest part. We so want to do things sometimes that our minds won't tell us to stop when we really should (I learned this the hard way). #2 for me above is what gets me in trouble.


Cry if you need to. Get angry. It's OK. If you can't do it at all, it's OK too. What's most important is that you take care of your hip so that you don't damage it even more (if that's possible). I DNF'd from a race for the first time ever last weekend and I know it's OK. There'll always be another race, but you need to do what's best for your body (the mind is a whole other issue ).

[Veronica]

Ever have to cancel a race due to injury?

Yes, although not really a race. This was going to be the year I did five double centuries. But a nagging hamstring problem that caused pain behind my knee, made training difficult and painful.

The day I had to call my husband in the middle of a training ride to come pick me up left me just about in tears - so frustrated and angry that I couldn't do what I wanted to do. And I just knew, it wasn't going to happen this year.

I finally figured out what was going on and a bike fit has made riding not hurt. But I had already missed one double and was in no shape to do the second one.

So , I picked a different goal for the year - a Half IM. I'm no runner and I'll never think of myself as a runner. I keep wondering when that part will become more fun. But I'm goal oriented and I am enjoying seeing what I can push myself to do. In five weeks I've gone from running 0 miles to doing 7.4, at a snail's pace... but I do always have a head wind when I run.

Yeah, it sucks to not be able to complete a goal. But you only get one body and you have to take care of it. There will be other races. Get yourself healthy.

V.

[Kimmyt]

Yes, and it sucks. I have hefty sympathy for you, because it is a struggle when you set your eyes on something and then are forced to give up on it. It feels like failing, I know.

But it's not.

Because look at it this way, if you don't do that one race, what does it gain you? It gains you health. It gains you a higher likelihood of enjoying your passion into a ripe old age. It gives you the strength to know that you can make a decision, even though it's hard. If you do the race, despite your injury, 'suffer through it', what does it get you? Pain. Prolonged recovery time post-race and possible irreversible or chronic injury.

This year I had lofty goals, and high energy to achieve them. Due to that energy, I ran too much, too often and too long. My body protested, and I developed a case of overuse injury in my hip. I tried to continue training for my half-marathon, but soon could barely run 1 mile without a pronounced limp during and afterwards. Against my wishes, but with my doctor's, I stopped running. Cold turkey. It was hard. I had gotten to the point where I loved it. Now I had to watch my fiancee training for the race I had set as my goal. NOt only that, but I had promised him I would drive with him out to the race, and I would jockstrap for him and his sister and brother-in-law.

It was so hard to be in that parking lot the morning of the run, surrounded by people who were doing what I wanted to. It felt horrible. But I survived, and enjoyed cheering them on. Yes, I'd have rather run it, but in the end it was better, because I started running again and slowly increasing mileage and now I'm able to run 4 miles without pain and am planning to do a 'do-over' half marathon in September.

It's hard but you're strong. Just remember that you only have one body (just realized that's what V said too! jinx), and that if you don't take care of it, you might never be able to do this stuff again.

[maillotpois]

Yes. And it sucks. But the good news is if you take care of yourself NOW (i.e. by not riding through injury and aggravating things), you'll be back.

Everyone knows I've had my share of injuries over the last few years. The one that hurt the most (emotionally) was when I was diagnosed with pulmonary emboli and I had to miss the Death Ride. (Yes, I see the irony. ). Anyway, I was being admitted into the hospital all the while lecturing my doctor about how she had to let me out because I had been coaching people for this big bike ride that was in a week and a half and I just had to be there.

Of course I didn't ride. I got some sense talked into me. Indeed I couldn't ride for 6 months. But I went out to the event and cheered on my teammates. And last year, I coached a group of people to do this ride again. When I got to the top of the last pass, I broke down in tears - it was like all the bottled up disappointment at not being able to ride last year just all came pouring out at the top of that last mountain.

Take care of yourself. You'll be back.

[rocknrollgirl]

Oh Lordy,
I had to change an entire planned season due to injury. Disappointment does not even begin to cover what I felt, and what I am still feeling. I was heart broken. I have been injured for 6 months. I am just now starting to really recover.

My advice is to listen to your body. I would rest between now and then. You can always show up and give it a try. But the most important thing is to yield in the face of pain. Working through soreness or fatigue is one thing, joint pain is altogether different.

My rule of thumb is now, if it hurts during the acivity stop. Immediately.

Be kind to yourself for the long haul, and remember, many of us here have experienced this, so lean on us. It helped me so much during the darkest days of my injury.

Ruth

[silver]

yes, I developed a stress fracture in my foot about two months prior to a race that I'd already registered for.

I was in a fracture boot and on crutches.

I went to the race and volunteered at the finish line. It made me cry but was soooooooo rewarding.

[colby]

I've had a hip problem for the past ten days. At first I thought it was the itb (illio-tibial band) but after seeing my chiro 3 times, the diagnosis is still unsure.

When I cycle it feels like a knife going through my hip, after a 30 minute warm up. When I run, I can just feel a horrible pressure after 45 minutes. Even when I swim with the pull-bouy it hurts afterwards. It's not tendonitis, it's not a tibial displacement...we just don't know what it is...

I was supposed to do the Mooseman 1/2 in ten days. It was going to be my first 1/2 IM. Am I a total suck for wanting to cry about not being able to compete?

Has anyone else had to cancel due to injury? If so, what did you do to get over it psychologically? Any insight would really help.

If you have to cancel, it's going to be hard... no doubt about it. Set a new goal and start working toward it, even if that's riding pain-free. The summer is long - you could do another HIM at the end of the season if things turn out well.

I have had hip problems that turned out to extend from my ankle through my back and into my shoulders - messed up. My pubic symphisis (or however you spell that stupid thing) was super tender, and sometimes still is on long rides, which feel like someone kicked me in the pubic bone and tore apart all of the muscles on my inner thigh where it connects to my hip/pelvis. My ligaments on the back side made it feel like my hip joint was trying to escape through my gluteus muscles. Yeah... no fun. After 2 months of chiro and massage, a super bike fitting/new bike (pedals/cleats with more float = win), and reducing some of my workouts to compensate (so frustrating), I am up to feeling pain only occasionally. I couldn't even sleep on the stupid thing for several days after long rides and now I feel like I will be able to finish my IM (my chiropractor will probably still yell at me the day after ).

You'll pull through, whether it's before your race or not. The body is a complex system - it might not be one single thing that knocked your hip off, it might be several. My massage guy tells stories about people who had problems in their hips that were solved by releasing their back/shoulders, or vice-versa.

Hang in there - whatever happens, you can always vent here

[tattiefritter]

Unfortunately yes, twice within about 6 months in 2007 . I had to abandon my first half marathon because I sprained my ankle very badly due to not paying attention to where I was going and having the wrong running shoes. I sprained it about 3 weeks before the race and as I'd managed to run the last mile home after I did it I thought all would be well by race day but it actually took about 6 weeks before I could really run on it without pain (at one point I had to get my chiro to readjust the ankle joint as it seemed to completely seize and I couldn't even put my heel down). There was no question about "if" I could run, I just couldn't so the decision was most definitely made for me which I think made it easier. When the race day came I was still so wrapped up in when I would get to run again I hardly gave it much thought. That was in January/February.

The second one was a knee injury around June which had me pull out of a September trail race I had been working hard for. I don't really know what triggered it but I think it was the addition of lots of offroad hill running, it actually showed up in my left hip but was caused by my left VMO being weak, it obviously had been for a while but I'd just pushed it past the line. It also affected my cycling which is the first injury I've had that had me off the bike for a couple of weeks, it was that that really got my attention. I had to do one legged squats (exercise of Satan), lots of massage and redo my riding position on all my bikes. I found this one harder to deal with as I was beginning to build up the running again, I was seriously tempted to go for it even though I was woefully underprepared and to hell with the consequences but I came to my senses - it would be there next year. I felt really down about it for a couple of weeks, not helped by having my activites curtailed but it was for the best. I focussed on the trail race the month later and was a much stronger runner for the work I did when injured and the new cycling position has also given me some extra power in my legs so I now think of it as a very positive thing.

I'm quite injury paranoid now and do back off things whereas in the past I would keep going, the trail race I canned is coming up in September, I so want to do it this time.

[btchance]

Yes, unfortunately I've had to cancel all of my races so far this year, and am hoping to be able to finally compete again in July. I injured my left quad back in March, and am just now able to actually do something on it. So I do feel for you. It's hard to sit back and watch your friends doing what you have worked so long and hard to do. For me, it was especially hard because I was moving from AL to TX in May (just finished, in fact), and wasn't able to do one last race there, including the first one I had ever competed in. It was tough, but I made it through it. Now I'm just focusing on retraining myself, and trying to prevent it from happening again.

[skinny_kitty]

Thank-you all so, so much for your encouraging replies. I'm slowly coming to grips with the fact that I won't do the whole distance next weekend, but have decided to do the swim portion, T1 and then stop -- seems I can't get a refund of any kind at this point, so I might as well make the best of it and at least get a little bit more open water experience under my belt.

I saw the Dr. this morning and he's concerned I may have a stress fracture in my hip -- or it might something in the "-itis" category (tendonitis, bursitis, etc.) so he's sending me for a CT scan. For now, I'm on anti-inflammatories and have been told not to do anything to make it hurt.

That leaves swimming! Training with a pull-bouy! Yay! I love the pull-bouy and now I have the perfect excuse to use it...

I'm desperately hoping I can still do the sprint I had planned for July, but I'll have to give up any hope of doing the half-mary at the end of June. My dream race is at Muskoka in September, where I get to rub wet-suits with all the big name athletes, so I'm just trying to stay focused on that.

I am truly sorry to see that I'm not more alone on this. Getting hurt is bad enough without having to give up on the thrill of competition. Hope everyone heals well and quickly...

And thanks again.