Orienteer of the Year

I'm honored to be named the US Orienteer of the Year. It truly was a great year. I'm also super excited to be a part of the US Women's Team who really rocked it this year at the North Americans and earned the Team of the Year award.

The US Team at North Americans

Running in to the finish with my sprint relay team at North Americans

Team hug! 

At this point in the new year things things seem to very different. After pushing through hamstring tendon pain for all of the fall season I decided I had enough and stopped running and started trying to heal. Turns out I'm not so good at healing injuries (then again, who is?). The first few weeks when I wasn't running it was like going through withdrawal. I craved it and was irritable without it. But then I got used to not exercising and it's hard to get back into the flow. I saw someone in Boston who said I have:

"lower cross syndrome. Severe tension in your Iliopsoas complex, bilaterally, is most likely what continues to aggravate your hamstring tendons since the original overuse onset during a road race. Additionally, your left hip stabilizers have been further weakened due to compensation from the sprains in your left ankle."

Sounds reasonable enough to me, and quite similar to what I've heard from other people. I've been doing various eccentric hamstring exercises daily. That much I can manage. But I've been avoiding cardiovascular exercises mostly because I'm being a little bit lazy. Spinning is my best choice - no pain, I can work hard, and there are lots of classes at the gym. Signing up for classes at the gym and then putting them on the Linné website training bank is the way to keep me honest!

I did try running for the first time since the beginning of December yesterday. And it was a success! Mostly. I had no hamstring tendon pain while running. First time since August.

Celebrating with mac n'cheese and fresh sweet potato-carrot-pineapple juice. I love my juicer!

However, the tendons were sore later in the day, and the next day. The left lower back pain persists as well. Definite improvement, but I probably shouldn't start running every day yet. Looking forward to continued motivation and improvement for another great year!