Checking in my hamstring

[shafty85]

Of course we had 8 players. We went down 5 after 2 with a bunch of weak bloopers over our infield. Of course I was playing well. Triple in the 1st. 3rd inning a walk. Then a double behind me and I knew I was scoring. Until I was 12ft from third. Then my hamstring blew up and my left leg disappeared under me. Down like I was shot. Fuck. Crutches to make it back to the truck and home. This is a bad one.

The most frustrating thing (besides the team now having 7 players and that inning we scored 3 runs to make 5-4 but couldn’t sustain with 7 players) was that I was three weeks into running, lifting weights and generally getting back into shape. Training for the new alpinism. I was motivated. Early morning runs. Evening runs. Weights. Recovery workouts. I was loving it - being active is good for my physically and mentally. Oh well. This should only take 6-10+weeks to recover from. I shouldn’t lose any fitness over that time [emoji35] more here to just vent about it, though if anyone has any suggestions, miracle cures, etc, I’m more than eager to hear them.

[Shredhead]

I did mine waterskiing five months after having that hip replaced. They had to drag me back into the boat and I thought I’d dislocated the replacement.

My bud’s head trainer for a major college and he told me to get a lot of massages to break up the scar tissue.

[shafty85]

^ that looks far worse than mine currently does. Doctor says 8+ weeks for recovery and to hit up lots of physio. Will try to get some massage in in a few weeks, too, and just keep working at it to try to be back in some form of fitness for ski season.


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[Dantheman]

Shitty. Balls out sprinting when you're not in shape often ends badly. Do whatever physical therapy is recommended, spin, and work your upper body. Keep your diet 100% dialed.

[auvgeek]

Bummer! The more time I put into training, the more I hate getting injured.

I did my hamstring pretty good like five years ago -- I'm crazy inflexible so I re-pull it minorly about once a year doing sometime stupid (like trying to work on my flexibility). For me, my hamstrings are always flighting because I have an anterior pelvic tilt and weak hip rotators, and hamstring health is entirely tied to hip strength. Personally, I made the most progress when I saw a PT who focused on hip strengthening and ignored the hamstring for a month. I kept pestering her about when we were gonna focus on the hamstring but the hamstring healed when my hips got stronger. Not saying that's what you have; just saying it's something to consider if you're not making progress in the next month.

Massage is good, in a week or two like you said, after the injury has had time to heal a bit. If you go too deep into massage too soon, it can limit the healing. Learned that the hard way.

Acupuncture is excellent (again, after it's healed a bit). Insurance sometimes covers dry needing, but an experienced acupuncturist (preferably someone with a doctorate) has years and years of education and training on sticking needles into someone (plus years of practical experience), as opposed to your typical PT who has taken a short course in dry needling and does it semi-regularly. Not sure what the situation in Canukistan is, but sometimes insurance will cover it in the US.

You can do a lot of stuff on your own. Once you can handle massage, you can foam roll on your own and then progress to sitting on a hard chair with a lacrosse ball under your leg on hamstring. Strengthening is huge. My favorites: single-leg isometric wall bridge, then regular single-leg bridge, then elevated single-leg bridge, and then reverse hamstring curl. Like Dantheman said, dial in your diet and cut out all processed foods until you heal. You won't be working out much, so it should be easier to eat mostly leafy greens and lightly-cooked vegetables with a little bit of fresh fish and grassfed meat thrown in.

PS. Three weeks into TFTNA and you're doing that much running? It sounds like maybe even two-a-days? Unless you're coming from a very high level of base fitness, it seems like you may have jumped in a little fast. Best to keep it pretty easy for the first few months (not weeks). Fitness takes years, with consistency and gradualness being absolutely key. After having similar issues myself, my new approach is: don't get sick, don't get hurt. Modifying a workout to be easier is fine (if you do this regularly, take a look at your progression and make changes); postponing a hard workout for a day or two is fine; skipping a cardio day once and a while is fine (if you want to do this regularly, again look at your volume and make changes). When you start crushing your workouts, it's time to back off not push it while your body adapts to the new level of fitness. And that's all fine because the alternative is missing more than a week to illness or injury, which is unacceptable.

[shafty85]

Thanks for all the feedback. Yeah, diet will incredibly important. Lucky me - it's my stag this weekend. Heading down to Seattle to watch the Yankees in town. Another point of great timing

I'm fortunate that my PT was the PT for the Canadian ski team until this season so I'm in good hands in that respect. He does IMS as part of his therapy, though obviously that won't happen for a while. Booked in for Tuesday and trying to book in for massage in a few weeks.

I was only doing 3hrs of cardio per week - 2hr 20min of running/Z1 and 40min of recovery. I even took an additional week just brisk walking for a total of 2hrs during the week just to slowly ease into it. Most runs were only ~25min with one longer run/hike/exercise on the weekend - I approximately followed the suggested schedule. The 25min runs definitely didn't feel hard, though I have been relatively inactive in the recent past due to work. I was (I thought) following the guidelines for the transition period. I was skipping workouts as needed, trying to listen to my body. Perhaps I did hit it too hard, though it sure didn't feel that way. I'll have to try and go at it again once I'm able to and ease more slowly into it (I suspect everything in this recovery will be slow).

[auvgeek]

I was only doing 3hrs of cardio per week - 2hr 20min of running/Z1 and 40min of recovery. I even took an additional week just brisk walking for a total of 2hrs during the week just to slowly ease into it. Most runs were only ~25min with one longer run/hike/exercise on the weekend - I approximately followed the suggested schedule. The 25min runs definitely didn't feel hard, though I have been relatively inactive in the recent past due to work. I was (I thought) following the guidelines for the transition period. I was skipping workouts as needed, trying to listen to my body. Perhaps I did hit it too hard, though it sure didn't feel that way. I'll have to try and go at it again once I'm able to and ease more slowly into it (I suspect everything in this recovery will be slow).

Okay, sorry for assuming and projecting my own behavior onto you. Whenever I get back into working out from a hiatus, I go way too hard. It's been a struggle, and I have to be very contentious about easing into it slowly lest I get hurt or sick.

Sounds like you've got a good PT. Best of luck with your recovery!

[Dantheman]

Doesn't sound like an excessive amount of training, but not good prep for a balls out 1st-to-home sprint. Mid-life rec league softball is a bit of an injury factory in general. 9 innings, summarized:

Stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around RUN LIKE HELL stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around RUN LIKE HELL stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around RUN LIKE HELL stand around stand around stand around

[shafty85]

Okay, sorry for assuming and projecting my own behavior onto you. Whenever I get back into working out from a hiatus, I go way too hard. It's been a struggle, and I have to be very contentious about easing into it slowly lest I get hurt or sick.

Sounds like you've got a good PT. Best of luck with your recovery!

Haha, I've often gone the exact same route. I actually enjoy the theory of TFTNA because of its approach regarding volume, recovery, rest, etc.

Doesn't sound like an excessive amount of training, but not good prep for a balls out 1st-to-home sprint. Mid-life rec league softball is a bit of an injury factory in general. 9 innings, summarized:

Stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around RUN LIKE HELL stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around RUN LIKE HELL stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around stand around RUN LIKE HELL stand around stand around stand around

Yep - though actual baseball, still similar. I'll have to actually train for sprinting in the future.

[Supermoon]

9 innings, summarized:

drink beer Stand around stand around drink beer stand around stand around stand around stand around RUN LIKE HELL stand around drink beer stand around stand around stand around stand around drink beer stand around RUN LIKE HELL stand around drink beer stand around stand around drink beer stand around stand around drink beer stand around RUN LIKE HELL drink beer stand around stand around stand around drink beer

FIFY

Heal fast!

[Dantheman]

Yep - though actual baseball

Oh, nice. Yeah, same deal though.

[shafty85]

9 weeks into my recovery and things seem to be coming along well (I think?). Been back hitting the weights and doing hamstring specific exercises from the physio for the last 3 weeks. Next week I start a running program that will build me up to 30min over 5 weeks during which I'm meant to do some hiking and have been cleared to do moderate tours with mellow downhills. Once I'm jogging for 30min straight it's on to sprinting and "hardening" the hamstring to high loads - estimated another month or so of that training - which will allow me to get back to 100% (or as close as I'm going to get) and be once again capable of hacking my way down the ski slopes, knock on wood. It's slow progress but hopefully I'll be better than pre-injury once everything is complete.