One week
into recovery from the bike crash, but only 6 days to go until race day! This
has been a multi-faceted recovery, as I dealt with open wounds, a sprained
shoulder, and a concussion. Monday morning I visited our neighbor Jackie, who
is an ER nurse, and she took a scrubber with alcohol and gave my shoulder, hip,
and hand a good, and painful, cleaning. Per the advise of Amy, my Dr. Quinn of
essential oils, I’ve been using oils on the open wounds, and oils for the
shoulder sprain. I’ve also used Frankincense for the concussion as well. Per
additional advise, I’ve also taken multiple Epsom salt baths to aid in healing
and relieve soreness.
I took the
first 3 days completely off (unless you count rollerblading on the third day).
On Thursday (4 days after), I rode my bike on the trainer for an easy 35
minutes. Friday, I ran an easy 3 miles on the treadmill. Since concussion
symptoms did not return with activity, on Saturday, I did a 2 hour trainer ride
with 1:45 at Race Effort, followed by a 3 mile treadmill run at 7:19 pace (1%
incline). I felt relatively good with that. Sunday, I did a longer run of 6.4
miles at easy pace.
For the
shoulder sprain, I have been icing, oiling, working on range of motion (100%
ROM!) and I started working with bands for strengthening it. My road rash has
healed considerably, though my hip has not closed over yet. I put Tegaderm on,
which is a clear sealant over it, which is also supposed to help it heal faster
and allow me to swim. I would like to try swimming a little bit this week to
see how my shoulder fares, but also because last time I crashed and sprained my
other shoulder, it recovered much faster when I was able to return to swimming.
The above
was a description of how I have been faring physically for the past week.
Mentally, it has been about taking it one day at a time. I’m also exploring
options of what to wear on top to race in because I would like short sleeves to
cover by shoulder. I don’t want my wetsuit to rub on it, nor do I want it to
get any sun exposure. I feel like I was preparing myself to do well, but I’ve
played through a lot of scenarios and thought about how I would deal with it
mentally on race day. What if my shoulder gets too tired in the swim? What if I
have to sidestroke a chunk of it? I feel like my swim should have been under 35
minutes (pending water conditions), but what if it takes me 45 minutes or more?
What if I flat on the bike? What if I struggle through the run? What if, after
all of my hard work and fighting to put myself back together in time for this
race, I don’t do well at all? I’ve heard that self-doubt creeps in during
taper.
There are a
lot of things that I cannot control. I have to be prepared to roll with them as
they happen. I can control how I respond. In the end, my biggest goal of the
day will be to enjoy it. For some crazy reason, I have enjoyed hard, long
swims. I’ve enjoyed biking over 50 miles. I’ve enjoyed running over 10 miles
(even on a treadmill at times!). I know it’s going to hurt, but isn’t that part
of what makes it so much fun?
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