Leg Length Discrepancy... Or Not

Had a nagging ache in both my knees for a while already. My sports masseur says that my hips are slightly lobsided, even before my bike fitter mentioned this. I made an appointment to check with the sports doctor and his initial diagnosis was leg length discrepancy. In order to confirm this, I had to go for an X-Ray.


Did it yesterday and found out that the discrepancy was nothing much - a mere 3mm difference only. Sports doc conclusion was that my knees are not tracking properly. Not a good news? But better than having to do a bike fit all over again, or even change the bike. I asked him why it happens to some and not to others. Well, the wear and tear in all athletes take place. The only difference is that some knee joint tracking is immaculate. So much so that the wear of the cartilage is even and does not cause any pain. It is just too bad that I am not tracking that well.


However, this will not act as a deterrence for my tri-4-life. In fact, I will seek to find ways to make sure that I can track properly, both on the bike and on the run. On the contrary, this has made me even more determined to find a solution for myself. Even if it means more trial and error, more research and definitely more training.


There is an alternative solution - SYNVISC. However it is an expensive injection. And from the look of the doc's face, there seemed to be some doubt. In which case, since the pain is not really bothering me so much, I will come back to this alternative solution next time. I am not ruling this out, but just putting it at the back of my head.


Did another interval training today. 10 x 800m with 200m walk in between. 2km warm up and 2km warm down. All the sets were accomplished in under 4min, with HR between 155 and 160, which was prescribed by Coach. It was not as tiring as the 4km intervals, but nonetheless did put my legs and heart to the test. I usually get shorter runs at the beginning of the week? Coach believes very much in recovery and not hit out hard for all sessions. A lighter start to the week but a hard day's out at the end has been his policy. Well, at least for me so far, the starting out triathlete. I think his programme has worked well for me and I appreciate it very much. I am still enjoying the sessions although sometimes the mind can get pretty exhausted. I get hard sessions and I still get time to recover, while not totally resting but continue training. Which I think should be the case for most age group ironman triathletes? Otherwise, injuries will surface and opportunity costs will be even higher, in terms of downtime.


I am thinking of switching out to race wheels already. So excited to use the ZIPP 808s. I am sure it will be a drastic difference from the Mavic training wheels I have been using so far. And new runners too. When these come out of the store, it means that the race is drawing near...