Setbacks.

I was sicker than I thought. My flu morphed into a cough. Despite not having a fever, I still felt bad. I spent Saturday in bed. All day. The entire day. I didn't even eat. Incredibly rare. The rest paid dividends. Sunday I arose to feel much, much better. Best in a couple of weeks. Except for the occasional cough... I seem to be past this dispicable bug.

Despite trying once to ride, which quickly ended in furtive expulsion of green goop... I've been off the bike for two weeks. A significant setback. I'm under three weeks from my first race. A six hour endurance event. My fitness won't be what I want. But I'm reminding myself that it's just a training race. That I need to do the race more than I need to do well in the race. Don't like the feeling of unpreparedness. I'm rife with reservations about this one.

B.O.B

Back on Bike. Last night's ride was late, but successful. A couple of blow out intervals, followed by 1h30min at tempo pace with maximal 20s sprint every 5min. A great ride for evaluating fitness. One of the things I look at is how fast my HR falls after the sprint efforts. Recovery was extremely fast. Being fresh helps, but compared to when I rode this plan earlier in the season... my fitness is clearly improving.

Some neck twinces but nothing serious. Giving it a bit more time before I pull the trigger on an imaging work up.

I'm itching for dirt. It's not pica, just want to get out of the traffic and the forrest!

Tilt and Pan

Head now tilts and pans without winces of pain. Not quite 100% but well on the way. Kinda like the feeling after too much lift. Training returns tomorrow. With some dedication I can salvage a good week.

Felt good enough to wash the rain grit off the bike. After four straight days of riding in the rain, a prodigious amount of grit and grime have accumulated. My drivetrain could best be described as "crunchy" sounding. It's a fine sandy grit. Hazmat for moving objects. Way worse for the mechanics than large globular mud.

Unfortunately, my water hose is out of service for some on going construction. So...

... should be on one of those "you know you're a cyclist when..." lists.

Ouch!

I've done something terrible to my neck. Not sure what. It started like most neck pain. Like I slept on it crooked or something. No big deal. But Thursday to Sunday thing got steadily worse. Sunday morning... I could barely get up to pee. Some pain meds and treatment from a physician friend have helped. Still not right. Call to my ortho clinic tomorrow. Off the bike until something happens.

A Full Week?

Question of the day. Will my elbow stand up to a full week? Probably. Yesterday's rest day was needed. No splint, no riding, and I tried not to do too much with 'bow.

Today's ride was just over 90min. No elbow pain for the ride. No pain after the ride. No pain after the crosstraining. No pain after my rehab exercises. All is go as of tonight.

Back to wearing my night splint overnight tonight, and my dynamic splint tomorrow. Barring any surprises... I'm back to a full training schedule!! It's atleast worth a try, right?!

Elbow Update

Several have asked about my elbow. I didn't mention it in this weekend's entries. I'm wearing an elbow pad. Not so much to prevent another break, but the plate pokes through the skin pretty good. You can see it when I bend my elbow. My fear is falling and scraping it. Seems the sharp edge would just grate right thorough the skin. Something I need to ask Doc about on Friday.

No pain on Saturday. At all. I forgot my elbow pad. It was sunny. And I got a touch of sunburn on my arms, but burned pretty bad on the splotches where I had road rash. New skin burns easily.

On Sunday, there was a bit of dull pain while riding. Feeling like joint pain, more than tendonitis. I've been doing well with my strengthening, but the joint has not experienced any shock loading. By Sunday night... the 'bow was quite sore and stiff. My ROM was way down. I didn't wear my splints, to give a rest.

It's better today. Today's a rest day, so this fits in well. I hope to pickup a full-time training schedule this week. But given that 4-1/2 hours of riding left me this sore, I may limit my action. I'm monitoring carefully how it bounces back from this weekend.

118 Days

Today's the day. Unplanned. Unapproved by doc. But the weather was too good and I'm ready. My first real ride since November 4th 2009. 118 days to be exact, but who's counting?!

I'm a little fatter. Ok a lot. Had to add some air to the rear shock. Oh the shame. I'm a lot slower. A bit unsure of myself. The adage "You never forget, it's just like riding a bike" is true with regard to balancing and unconsciously countersteering against gyroscopic effect. But not true with regards to the legs... which have long forgotten how to pound out hours of pedal pumping power.

Does anyone doubt that core strength is important for cycling? They need to try it with one arm unable to field it's full load. I would NOT want to climb anything bigger than an anthill right now because I can't pull with full force. Until you can't, it's hard to realize how much you push/pull and twist your body between the arm-to-shoulder-to-hips-to-legs.

Not anywhere near 100%. But rehab now includes the bike. That makes me happy.

The Final Stretch

I'm nearing the end of elbow rehab. The final push for motion range is on. Tons of stretching, strengthening, and heat. Extension is still being stubburn. My threapist started me with a different type of splint last week. It's a spring loaded mechanism that keeps solid tension on the arm. That's the robo-arm thing I'm wearing in the pic. It seems to be helping. Some. I've got about 10° to go before I'd consider it full-use. Certainly I'm going to lose some range, but need more than I've got now.

I'm able to do most things now. Including wash the car. Haven't driven it since hurting my arm. Dusty! But it was a nice day to be outside and washing. Water was cold though!

I'm enjoying cooking. Baked chicken basted with a garlic and ginger extract. And served with spinach with feta and fresh slices of ginger.

Thus begins the final and perhaps most difficult part of injury recovery. Ditching those pounds gained while being on the couch.

Inching Closer

This photo may not look too exciting to most. But to me... it's awesome! I'm able to reach the tops now, and if I really cheat by dropping my shoulder I can reach the hoods. Putting my hand on the handle bar gains me a step closer to riding again. Although I can't support much weight, being able to reach the bar allows me to square up my shoulders which makes my spinning form on the trainer much, much better. Which in turn keeps my hips from rocking, which in turn keeps my bahonkus from getting irritated. Amazing how interconnected the body is sometimes.

I'm also doing some things with my arm completely unconsiously. I noticed myself using it to steer the truck yesterday. Two weeks ago, this would not have been possible. Now, it's a thoughtless action -the way it should be.

All this is to say... the arm is getting a lot better. the long-awaiting breakthrough period has arrived. Just like training... sometimes the body requires weeks and weeks of seemingly wasted effort, but the gains often come in one sudden, giant dose. Encouraging, comforting, and exciting.

New Accessories

My new fashion accessory! Stylish, non? This is a splint that I'm now wearing around the house in the evenings. Simple design. String around the wrist gets tighened to a mount on the shoulder. The shoulder mount is just like the string peg on a guitar. Similarly one can really crank up the tension, and hold it for super long periods. Seems effective. No complaints and only minimal pain. The pain's no worse than a strained muscle or hyper-extended joint. Which, is exactly what I'm doing with the splint. My therapists have been super, and the treatments are working. Elbows are long injuries.

My house brand tire -Vittoria Open Corsa- while great on the road absolutely shred on the trainer. Most winters I only minimally ride the trainer. It hasn't been a big deal. This year of course is different. Given the months of trainer time ahead... no reason to waste perfectly good road tires in my living room. I mounted up a Continental Hometrainer tire. All I have to say is... mounting a tire with 1-1/2 hands is not fun. Bring the patience and utilize the feet and toes. Pics of this process would have been comedy gold!

Focusing on eating correctly again... some veggie wraps make a nice meal. Simply take some spring mix pre-pack salad, shoestring carrots, and some grape tomatoes. Put on a tortilla with a bit of cream cheese. The real secret is to take a bit of lemon juice on the veggies. Really brings out the flavor. Wrap. Eat. Yum.

The Strengthening Begins

Doc cleared me to begin strengthening on Wednesday. At my PT session on Friday, my therapist started me out doing bicep and tricep curls. I'm starting out with a laughable 2-lbs! Now I've seen 2-lb barbells at the store before. And wondered, 2lbs? Why bother? Now... 12 reps at 2-lbs is a full workout. I can't get do more than about 3 reps with a 3-pounder. Oh.. how I've fallen. I'll progress to 3-lb then 5-lb and so on.

My range of motion has improved, but just a little. I now have a splint to place constant tension on my elbow in flexion (pulling up). Looks kinda like some perverse torture device. But if it works, I'm all good with it...

Doing What I Can

The slothiness has to end! I haven't stepped on a scale. Too scared. Don't need to. My eyes tell the tale. My shoulder and elbow are functional enough to no longer be dangling in the way of moving other parts. Can't put any weight on the arm, but I can move it out of the way. I sat down with a couple of core exercise guides yesterday to pick out a menu of things I can do one-handed. More than I thought. I can hit legs (squats, hamstring curls on ball), abs (reverse crunches w/ball), obliques (windshiled wipers), and lower back (leg levers). Next, a few yoga stretches for the body. Followed by my elbow stretches. Not a complete workout, but better than couch intervals. The result was good. Slept much better last night. And feel much better today.

I'm dedicating the rest of this recovery period to working on core strength and flexibility. Two things that always need improvement and I can never find time to address during cycling season. This is a golden opportunity to do something special.

Rehab proves to be tough. Extension (arm straightening) coming along nicely. Flexion (arm curling) is not as good. My tricep is very tight. Almost like it's too short! So bending the elbow feels like a rope being tightened across the back of my arm. My therapist worked this over on Monday. It was sore yesterday. Movement was only marginally better. Felt like negative progress, and I was pretty down last night. Today feels much, much better. The motion range is better today, too. This is my range as of this eve...

I may... might... possibly... perhaps... chance of... mebbe... put the bike on the trainer this weekend. Not sure how comfortable it will be with my right arm in a sling. More importantly... I'm a bit torn as to whether this will make me feel better, or more deprived of riding.

Leaving a Hole

Coming up on five weeks post-op. I haven't been away from a bike this long in almost 3 years. For anyone that trains with purpose... the process creeps into all areas of your life. The 'training lifestyle' eventually invades your food, your friendships, your schedule, your relationships, your clothing, even your choice of home town. It becomes intrinsic to your personality. Abrupt involuntarily removal of training has left a big hole in my life. I've felt a bit lost at times.

I confess that in the days following the accident; I found myself questioning my desire for cycling. I recalled the informational warning about the anesthesia- "don't make any big decisions today." So I didn't. I've avoided thinking about a return since then. Naturally, many folks have asked "Are you going ride again after this?" I always answered "Yeah"; but it was a reflexive mindless answer. Any return was too far away to think about.

Riding is still a long way away. However, I've begun to think about it. Despite some wavering in those first post-op days, I am absolutely certain I will resume cycling as soon as I'm able. I have concerns about being gun-shy. Taking things slow will be important. But I'm ready for that day to arrive.

I haven't yet mustered the courage to ask doc when I can ride again. Too afraid he'll say something like... a year. That would be crushing. I need to keep my spirits up. But... I've progressed enough that I can kinda piece things together. I figure the fracture won't be closed for another 4-6 weeks. Then I can start weight bearing exercises. I'm guessing around 12 weeks until I'm able to fully support my bodyweight. By then I should be pretty close to being cleared.

It can't get here soon enough!
.

The Road Ahead

Being one-handed has been ok -so far. It's been an interesting experience. Rewarding, even maybe? Yes really! Let's face it. We take so much for granted. The majority of our lives are mundane, routine, and boring. Now, try it one handed! Suddenly life is full of challanges that require your thought and creativity. In a strange way it's stimulating. But... it's only fun if temporary. The novelty is falling away in a sea of inconvience. But for now I'm making the best of it.

My stitches are out...

Out of my splint for a week, reveals a glimpse of the road ahead. That road is going to be difficult. Rehabbing has proven to be difficult and slow. There are good days and bad days. I had woderful movement on Friday. Only to awaken to an elbow that's stiff and only mobile with pain. It's not unlike weightlifting. Strong workout, followed by soreness, followed better performance.

I've been measuring progress by the grout lines in my shower. Last week, I could lift my hand two lines. Last night four lines! But I can't touch my nose yet. Which would be a great milestone.

Because progress is so varied there's no way to predict how long recovery will take. I'm trying to not set a timetable... just do as much rehab as my body allows.

Better XRays.

These were taken on Friday. You can clearly see the olecranon fracture on this one. The lag (long) screw going right through it.

They look better on my Flickr account. Click the pic to go there. You can get larger sizes there aussi.

Visit With Doc; Great News

Visited with my surgeon today. We take off the splint. Whoa nelly that felt great! "I make a lot of friends this way" says the tech. Wound check is good. No sign of infection. A relief. I lost a co-worker two years ago to staph after "routine" surgery. Doc and I debated on suture removal. He gave me a choice: remove the stitches today and keep the splint, or come back next week to remove stitches and move to a movable brace. That's a choice? Let's get it movin!

I'm now in a removable brace. Halley-looo-ya I can remove it and shower normally. That's a huge QOL improvement! Right now my arm is stiff. Including my uninjured wrist. This is from some (little) swelling and immobilization. Joints like to move. The elbow range of motion is pretty small. I've got exercises to do. I played around with it for about an hour and it's improving already. Although the ends of my motion range are kinda painful, the middle is pain free and smooth. Doc said "Not to brag, but it's a great repair." I don't mind him bragging.

I'm out of the splint, but the arm's pretty useless. No movement restrictions, but I'm not allowed any weight. But considering I'm 11 days out of surgery and out of immobilization is pretty awesome. I'll have more to report physically, and philosophically over the next few days.

Elbow, Olecranon, Tomaytoe, Tomato.

This is what my elbow looked like right after my crash. As you can see... that don't look right...

Technically I broke my Olecranon, and had Open Reduction and Internal Fixation (ORIF) Surgery. Here's some tech info on the surgery. First how they flense and filleted me. Warning surgical pictures!
Elbow - Surgical Approaches from eORIF.com

Not sure if the first or second approach was used. I'll ask on Friday. A couple concise outlines of the operation:
Plate Fixation of Olecranon Frx
Olecranon Fracture ORIF

And finally a
Nice Presentation

Ortho surgery is cool. The way you have to take into account structural loading and repair, it reminds me of auto body work. If I were to be a doc, this is what I'd want to do.

Post-Op Update

UPDATE: Picture > Here <

Surgery went smoothly on Monday. I wish there were more to say, but there wasn't anything remarkable. That's a good thing when having surgery! Seven screws and one plate has me back together. I'll have pix tomorrow after I go to work and scan them in.

Very little post-op pain. They place a nerve block in my shoulder. This was a teeny tube connected to a pump that continuously pumped novacaine on the elbow nerve. Supercool! I kept that until Wednesday morning; I pulled out the tube out. No pain medicine since Wednesday night.

At this point its more inconvience than pain. Everything takes longer. Showering is an hour plus event. Dressing no longer takes 10 minutes. More like an hour. Prepping food is a feat! But I'm making it okay. Just slowly.

Now the healing begins.