A bit of clarity

Okay so my physio appointment has come and gone and whilst I haven't officially withdrawn from Melbourne Ironman yet, it is fairly certain that I will be.

As I think I mentioned sometime in the last couple of days, diagnosis of back related injuries can be a bit difficult. From what I have been told by doctors and physios in the past, often they are treating the symptom rather than saying 100% that the symptom is caused by this or that. So given that, what the physio told me this morning isn't 100%, but she was pretty sure.

Anyway, so the feedback was, if it wasn't for my previous back issues, she would have told me that it was just muscle tightness and I would be fine in a couple of days and to get on with Melbourne training. Due to my history though, she suspects that the muscle tightness is due to my back. Certainly the muscle tightness through my glute follows the path of the nerve, combined with my history of back issues, this is a pretty good indication that the two are related.

The good news though, it isn't as bad as last time, she doesn't think the disc is bulging yet. With suitable rest and treatment recovery shouldn't be that big an issue, certainly not the 12 weeks associated with a bulging disc. The suitable rest and treatment bit is the kicker though. What she emphasised is that with my history now is the time to be pretty careful. Careful is not doing an Ironman in a bit over two weeks time. You can't say for sure what would happen if I did, but she felt that there was a decent chance I would make my back much worse. My gut feel is that the race would most likely be rubbish as well.

So that is what has led to my earlier statement of saying Melbourne is very unlikely.

But you know, I am surprisingly okay with the decision. I have had a couple of days to get myself used to the idea that this was likely, so I think by now I have sort of moved on from being frustrated. I think frustrated was yesterday. One advantage of racing a lot is that you find that you aren't preparing for the 'One Big Race'. For me Melbourne was going to be part of a journey, certainly the culmination of a couple of months of work, but not the entire point of it. I think that makes it easier to move on. Instead of feeling like I have wasted 6 months getting super fit for an Ironman, I can look at Melbourne and say 'well that's okay, let's take this fitness and give it a spin at Busselton 70.3 instead'. So that is what we are going to do.

Daryl and I have decided to give myself a couple of weeks of rest. Both physical and mental. Anyone who has read my whinging immediately after the Geelong 70.3 will know that I have been getting a bit mentally fatigued recently. This hasn't been helped by a number of niggling injuries (hamstring and back I am looking at you). So for the next 10 days or so I am having a bit of a holiday. Hopefully by the end of it my body will be feeling a bit more whole and mentally I will be feeling recharged. It has been a bit of a rubbish start to 2014, so hopefully this will give me a chance to reset a bit and make the rest of the year a good one. It isn't doing an Ironman, but I am happy with it as an alternative.

I will give some thought as to what I can do to keep this blog interesting while I am having a rest. Rather than writing 'Sat around eating chocolate and getting fat' for the next 10 days or so.