2 weeks to go...

In 2 weeks I will go to New Zealand for the first challenge of 2013, 3 World Cup races in Wellington and Hawkes Bay. But am I ready?

I have had some problems around my hip, and especially my groin has been sore, after the cross-country running-relay in the end of november. Several physiotherapists have checked me, and thought it was a minor overuse-injury in the groin, so I have strengthed and streched my muscles around my hip. I have also been to a kiropractor who have made the flexibility and tenderness around my hip better. But even though it has been better, and doesn't seem to bother me when I'm running, the pain is still there sometimes, and especially when I'm coughing and sneezing. Last week I was examined by the Team Denmark doctor, who tested my strength and flexibility, and also checked my muscles and tendons for overuse with ultrasonography. But he said that everything looked fine, except that he suspected that I maybe have hernia ("brok" in danish).

Hernia can happen in different places but is often a weakness and flaw around the groin band (lyskebånd), where the underlying guts will push out and give pain. In serious cases, you can feel a bulge of the guts out of the flaw in the groin band when you increase the pressure in the stomach (like when you're coughing and sneezing), and the guts can get stuck in the the "hole", which is very painfull. The doctor couldn't say for sure that it was hernia, but he could see some movement of the guts on the ultrasound, when I coughed. At least in my case it wasn't very serious, because he couldn't feel or see any weakness or bulge in my groinband, when I coughed. But he had to pass me on to an expert, who can say for sure if it is hernia. The only problem is that we have to go through the public sector, to get an examination, and it's not easy to get that before christmas...

But he said that he wasn't worried about it, if it was hernia, because the only thing to do to fix it, is a small operation. It's not dangerous to do sports with it, and in several cases they don't do nothing at all if the patient can live with the problems. Last week I had an easy week without so much running, and this week I have tried to keep my training-plan, which have consisted of several high-intensity trainings. And when I'm running, I don't experience any pain or limits for maximal performance, but afterwards I can have some soreness in the groin, and especially when I'm coughing.
And since I can't get any answers before going to New Zealand, I will stick to my plan and try to prepare the best I can for the World Cup races. The shape is good, I'm running fast on my interval sessions, compared to earlier, and the motivation is high for doing good performances in 3 weeks.
Time will show if I have to get a small operation after returning from New Zealand...