FEATURES

More Than Just a Pain in the Butt...

Friday, 11 April 2014 00:10

Injuries suck. It's hard enough for the MTN Guys to see so many of our multisport friends endure owies and boo-boos. It's worse when they are actually sidelined by such things.

In 2012 we were getting excited about a masters athlete named Leslie Englert. It was her first year in the sport and she had already won a race (Maple Grove Sprint) and rocked Top 10 efforts at all the Graniteman Series races. We thought she was only a year or two away from MMA nominations.

Then an evil thing called Hamstring Tendonosis happened. This stuff requires a lot more than PT and ant-inflammatories, so Leslie got Prolo Therapy (which is awesome), which along with lots of PT, enabled her to run again.

After a painful season in 2013, low-lighted by medium-dazzle performances, we were anxious to see Leslie return to form. When we sought her permission to write stuff...

about her, she sent us this email:

Hi ya Guys,

Do you suppose the winter will EVER end?? Going loopy here with the continuing cold weather! And thanks for your post yesterday, figured this wasn't an easy yes or no, so I thought I would email you back and let you decide if you want to write anything :)

From a tendinopathy standpoint, I am nearly injury-free!!!!! Yeah! I get a reminder from time to time, but I can actually run without pain :) Am I ready to rock this year? Yes, absolutely, if my knee cooperates. I have been having some issues with my knee that I dislocated a bunch of times back when I was a kid (and eventually had surgery on). I went to Tria back in December and X-Rays showed that I am now bone on bone in my knee joint. Cartilage is all gone and now I have….. arthritis…… Thinking I must have gotten the leftovers when knee genetics were handed out. Hoping that if I limit my training to Sprint distances that I can race a full schedule and still compete at Worlds in August. Keep your fingers crossed for me. After that, who knows? I may just have to learn to LOVE swimming …. gotta put off knee replacement for as long as possible!

So that's my story. And speaking of stories - do you think an article about my experience with hamstring tendinopathy would something you could use for MN Tri News? No big deal if you can't, I just wondered if my lengthy experience (and what eventually worked) might be helpful.

Hope you are doing well!

Best,

Leslie

We responded, saying that we would love for her to write a story about tendonopathy, after which she sent us this email:

AHHHHHHH!!! I must have jinxed myself!! My knee is swollen after my run this am… Note to self - weather fronts cause my knee to act a little - ok, a lot, cranky. Getting old is NOT for the faint of heart.

Sure, you can use my email but please do so with the understanding that my knee will (unfortunately) determine how much of a season I have.

I'll also start working on that article and get it to you as soon as I can.

Let's hope this snow melts quickly!!

Leslie

We're crossing our fingers for Leslie, and everyone else who is missing out on the joys of training and racing.

Injuries suck!