Mar 31/13 - Injury Report

   Well what can I say about this week. It was a bummer of epic proportions in terms of training. I mentioned in my training log last Monday that I had some sort of knee injury and my doctor felt it was most likely a Bakers' Cyst (aptly named for the Doctor who originally discovered it). Well I wasn't sure that the symptoms added up and I've been back and forth all week with my own self-diagnosis. I'll explain briefly as best as I can the symptoms. Within about an hour of finishing Around The Bay I could no longer straighten my right leg. There was a feeling that the ligaments would tear and a lot of pressure behind my knee. I went home and iced it off and on all afternoon and night thinking it was nothing serious. By the middle of the night the pain was preventing me from sleeping and I could not walk on it. There is no pain from the pressure of standing on it, but there was immense pain when I tried to walk, most of which came from attempts to bend it. As I rid the knee capsule of inflammation during the course of the week I began to notice my knee moving back and forth in the joint, which is still happening now. It feels like there is no stability and I have no confidence in the integrity of my knee right now. The pain has lessened throughout the week and Saturday I was able to do 3km of speed work and drills on it at the track using a steel-hinged knee brace.

High Knee Drills

I tore my ACL and PCL ligaments two years ago attempting a very dangerous skateboard trick called a McTwist and spent 16 months rehabbing it using that brace. Now not 6 months after discontinuing it's use I'm back in it again. When it's on I do have a lot more stability, but my knee is pretty screwed up and I still do not have a clear idea of what the injury is. Ice, rest, stretch a bit and hope for the best at this point. As for this week I'm going to try my best to get back to regular training. I race the Jordan 5km this coming Saturday and you can bet if there is still a leg attached below my knee I'll be at the starting line.

   Now I know a lot of people might be saying "What the hell are you thinking??". I understand. What many of you may not know is my history with injuries. Check out my post, "Tale of the Tape" to see a complete list. I have found through my personal experiences that rehabbing an injury for myself begins as soon as I have the ability to use the injured appendage again. I push through a bit of pain, but also know when to back off to prevent further injury. I ice repeatedly immediately after training and I am always, always reassessing the injury and recalculating the best way to move forward. Many people would say, "Just forget about the race and take time to heal so you don't lose your whole season!" Well when I skated professionally I had to perform with injuries all the time or you didn't get paid. I once twisted my ankle so badly my leg turned purple up to my knee! I missed one day of shows. The next day I cast my ankle in trainers tape and showed up an hour or two before the first show. I spent the morning teaching myself to skate and ollie without the use of any movement in my ankle. I took some ibuprofen and finished the last few days of shows like that. What I learned from this and many other similar experiences is that we can push our bodies through a lot more than we suspect. I may now be at my best come race day, but I'll still do my best with the circumstances I have to work within.

   The week did not go well for me. I did not train Tuesday for obvious reasons.

   Wednesday I came home from work, still feeling fatigued from the previous weekends

My lifeline

racing, but because of training guilt felt I should at least get some core and weight training in. The usual hour in the gym went well, but was a struggle from my energy standpoint. I finished, showered and crawled into bed to relax for a while before going to sleep. I remarked to Chris that to prevent the chances of waking up with a migraine I should probably get up to stretch because I could feel my muscles tightening. Ever say something and in hindsight realize how on point it was? I woke up at 1am with a migraine. Nothing new to me, I get approximately 1 per week and have my whole life. I usually take some tylenol and a gravol and fall back asleep  Caffeine works wonders for me, but I usually try to make it to morning or else I'm headache free, but wide awake in the middle of the night. Christine was even so amazing to massage my neck and shoulders until I feel asleep. I then awoke at 3am. The migraine should have been gone, but within minutes I began to realize how dire my situation had become. This was to be the worst migraine I have had in twenty years. It was gonna be a long, hard night. I began taking painkillers, but the nausea was too extreme and I began a vomiting streak that would last nearly the next 7 hours. It was accompanied with a first-time, crippling abdominal pain which left me unable to breath for up to 30 seconds at a time. Oh and let's not forget the drill that was boring through the back of my eye. For those of you who have never had a migraine it's not just a bad headache. Not even in the same realm. It's the worst pain and usually behind one of your eyes you can imagine and accompanied by unbelievable nausea. I had to call in sick to work Thursday and was still a mess by the following evening. So much so that I couldn't even get out of bed, much less meet up with my Tri partner Steph to swim.

  At least a little bit of this week was salvaged by a 40km bike ride with Chris on Sunday afternoon. It wasn't hard for me to notice that her light and easy pace was leaving me gasping for air in the back. However, I'm glad to have an experienced cyclist to show me the ropes. Hopefully I can get my skills a little more polished in the next 10 weeks.

  I'm looking forward to getting things back on track this week. Lots of running races coming up and only  10 weeks now until my first triathlon at Guelph Lake.

   I'm not superstitious, but fingers crossed anyway.