Snap
I've torn my left hamstring.

Well, marginally, according to Nachos, the resident doctor. It happened last Saturday during a measly TWO HOUR session of tennis (it wasn't even a full day, dammit!). Think cold weather, a half warmed up body, and an assignment to hit controls (rallies with specific shot sequences) with a boy who smacked the ball really fast, really flat. The sense of pressure struck again and maybe it was the fact that it was a new coach watching me hit, or that it was a new sparring partner, but I definitely over-stepped my footwork limit and felt a cruel, sudden pull in my hamstring as I stepped out for a backhand.

“Ouch!”
-brief pause-
“That really hurts. I can’t move my leg properly.”
-another brief pause-
“It must be a muscle pull. I can probably stretch it out later.”

Over-determined, I ignored the pain and muscled through the entire practice, including the 2 tie breaks we later played. Despite the pain, I managed to get into optimal position and balance for most of the rallies, varying the shots and cracking sharp with my serve (new toss included). I lost the first tie break 6-8, and won the second 7-5, and it felt good to have nicked 1 from him. I could tell he thought he was going trash me from the get go, so in a sense, it was a definite confidence boost. The niggling pain didn't go away, and while I forced myself to totally rest on Sunday, it returned on Monday during morning fitness.

We did a lot of running that morning and I was determined once again to muscle through the pain and finish it (sigh…sound familiar? :) ). Laps for us at the Academy are done around the perimeter of the swimming pool compound, and I believe it spans about 300 metres per round. I honestly thought Roman (pronounced Roe-mahn), our frequently angsty, sullen-faced fitness coach went ku ku. It was a hell lot of running—3 jog laps, 1 sprint lap, 2 jog laps, 1 sprint lap, 1 jog lap, 1 sprint lap; per set, two sets. What made it worse was that we weren’t allowed to stop after either sprint or set, so in all it was doing 18 laps and sprinting for 8 of them. That roughly translates to doing 13.5 laps around a 400m track, non-stop.

Needless to say, I could feel from stride #1 that my leg still wasn’t alright, and rightly so, I got a sore scolding from Nacho when I finally saw him. Thankfully the tear isn’t very big, so I will only be out for the next 4-5 days. I was instructed to ice my ham (mmm, yum yum… haha!) every three hours, and to come in everyday for ultrasound and stretching.

When I came in this morning for treatment, Allez (Nacho’s partnering physiotherapist) got me to lie down for another look. He made me do a series numb-inducing stretches, twisted my leg around in ways I never knew it could twist, then got me to lie on my tummy while he felt my ham (string and butt included). Verdict? He and Nacho think it’s not so much my hamstring that was weak, but my hips and abdomen that needs to give my legs better support—or in Kapi’s words, “protection”. While my legs are strong, my hips mobility and lower back are commensurately less—and so during rigorous movements, they tighten up and in this instance, pulled my left hamstring a little too much. Hence the tear.

Allez told me my sciatic nerve needs to loosen up—it probably caused the injury and its current equal tightness is impeding my healing process. He went on to pummel my butt while I yelped like a pathetic puppy in pain. “You’re probably going to have a little bruise here after this ok?” He laughed as he pressed down hard and I grabbed his knee, yelling “GAAARRRGHHH!!!!”.

When I told Kapi about my leg, he patted me on the shoulder and went “Don’t worry, training won’t stop. We can still do a lot of exercises for your upper body.” And a lot of exercises it has been. I am constantly amazed at how the fitness coaches, tennis coaches and medical team communicate with one another. Before I even told Kapi about Allez’s opinion I heard this morning, he nodded and said “Yes, Nacho told me.” What on earth? Yes it’s some reassurance for sure… I guess. Haha. Allez gave me a few exercises and stretches to focus on, and for fitness today, Kapi focused on my core and back. I wish I could show you guys how cool (and difficult) these exercises were, but this blog post will end up a little to long. Maybe in the next one!

(P.S. Sorry about the typos if any. It’s late and I have only time to type but not re-read through. I’ll edit it later, trust me :) )