Injuries in mountain biking are inevitable, just as they are in any sport and of course even more-so when you throw yourself down mountainsides and off cliffs like Tracy does when racing in World Cup downhills. Recently an old injury decided to play up but it hasn’t got in the way of T-MO’s training and determination.

Injuries and winter training

Words: Tracy Mosely

Injuries are often just part of the job as an athlete. If you use your body everyday for work it’s likely that at some point it is going to get damaged and there is never a good time for it to happen. I had just got into my winter training and I was looking forward to getting some good work done in preparation for 2013. However after a couple of weeks of increasing the workload I realised that a niggling pain I had been getting in my hip since the summer was rearing its ugly head again, so I decided to get it checked out further before I got too far into my training.

Thanks to British Cycling I have access to a great medical team and I soon had a scan that revealed a small tear in the labrum of my hip. Exactly the same injury I had at the end of 2009 after doing a big ‘scorpion’ over the bars in a World Cup downhill in Bromont, Canada! Briefly explained, this injury is damage to the lining of the hip joint caused by a severe over extension and external rotation of the hip. A position you quite often end up in during a big crash I guess. I had surgery in 2009 and it has been perfect ever since. This time I really couldn’t put the onset of these symptoms down to any one particular incident. I started to get pain around the same time as the Megavalanche race in July last year and I think just one too many snow crashes and sliding splits with my bike may have been enough to do the damage…

With the problem diagnosed I then had to decide whether or not to get the op. I decided to go for it, as I was worried it would just get worse and impede my training further into next year, which I didn’t want to happen. Fortunately it was a pretty straightforward operation and I was in the gym the same day just starting to spin my legs on the static bike. So for the last few weeks I have been restricted to indoor riding on the turbo trainer and now nearly 6 weeks later I am feeling good, I’m able to start increasing the resistance and can now get some good work done on the turbo. As the new year advances I will be back out on the road and within a few weeks back riding off road and ready to continue with that training I started in November. Phew!

Sometimes injuries like this can seem like such a negative in relation to all the things you want to achieve with your training and life in general, but often they can be a very useful time out from your normal routine. I have had to work hard on a lot of hip strengthening exercises which have introduced me to Pilates, which I will now be adding that to my daily routine. I also had more time to get my plans sorted for T-MO racing for 2013, more on that soon.

So at the end of it all, it has actually been a very productive time in many ways aside from my training and often if you can make a positive out of a negative situation it’s a bonus.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and best wishes for a fun filled 2013. Might see you out on the trails very soon!

Thanks Tracy for the inspiration, now BM readers, get out (or in) and get training.