The Hamstring, One Year Later

It was last October that I injured my right hamstring. I took some time off from running but on  Thanksgiving day 2007 I went for a run only to return with my leg more sore than ever, so I went to the doctor.

Both the primary doctor and the physical trainer diagnosed the injury as a "grade 1" hamstring strain: there was no acute injury, no bruising and no palpable tears.

After a month of therapy the PT was satisfied that I was almost fully healed and he cleared me to go running again, albeit it slowly. I still couldn't run a moderate pace without pain but the PT was certain that my hamstring was just sore, not injured. During treatment he was amazed at the strength in my leg, so I figured all was good.

It hasn't turned out that way. Although I've managed to log 255 miles so far this year that's a far cry from the 1018 that I ran in 2007, the latter which includes zero miles in December. In fact I was averaging about 100 miles per month in 2007 before the injury compared to 23/mo this year.

In part that's due to being cautious with the leg - I took up inline skating and added more cycling to reduce the impact stress on the hamstring. But it's also due to the hamstring itself. While I can run without pain for up to 3 miles, my hammy still gets sore during a run if I go faster than a 9:00 pace or if I exceed 3 miles; plus, it gets mildly sore after a run of any distance.

It's certainly better than a year ago, but shouldn't it be healed by now? My doctor seems to agree. When I saw him last week we were talking about his own injury - last year he ruptured his achilles tendon playing basketball almost the same time that my hamstring acted up. He's back to playing basketball although less than 100%, but when we considered that my "grade 1" strain is still limiting me after the same recovery time, it's a bit concerning.

So now I have an appointment with an orthopaedist in a couple weeks to see if there's something else going on, and I've pretty much shut down my running again. Yeah, I'm a bit bummed but the worst part is that with winter here, inline skating and cycling are no longer options. I'm finally starting to notice a significant decrease in endurance when I go hiking with the dogs, and my resting heart rate is now 64 instead of the "in shape" 54 and the 57 that it's been this summer.

All I can think to do is try swimming. Although it's indoors, it sure beats sitting on a stationary bike. Since the local health club offers monthly rates that are reasonable, I'm planning to start swimming in December and if I need any rehab from the ortho, the club will have equipment there I could use, too.

One problem: I'm not a swimmer! Sure I *can* swim but I've never sustained a continuous swim for longer than a couple minutes. Treading water I can do of course, but boy is it hard to breathe doing a front crawl! I can never get the timing right. Another issue is goggles - I have 20/400 vision without contacts and I'd like to wear them in the pool if possible, but past experience with goggles has been that they leak.

Are there any swimmers out there who can give me some advice?

With luck I'll maintain my fitness in the water and by the time spring rolls around, I can get out onto the roads and trails again!