photo by Steve Penland

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

This is NOT the Post I Wanted to be Writing Today

I could have written about a lot of things today:  it's the first day back to work for me (pre-school workshops) after my summer off; I had an amazing time last weekend celebrating the life and wonderful spirit of my Aunt Kristi; my Granite Games prep is going well and I even got my first ring dip yesterday; my injured calf is about 98% recovered and I was able to both run and jump rope yesterday for the first time since the injury 10 days ago.

Instead of writing about any of these things, though, I need to write about this:

I've soared to new heights in the "cover yourself
in neoprene" department.

Yes, those are my legs, my ace bandage, my immobilizer, my crutches.

"Damn" doesn't even begin to cover it.

After an aweome CrossFit WOD yesterday morning, in which I achieved the above-mentioned "first ever ring dip"--which is especially significant because I know the Masters class has to do ring dips in the Granite Games--I headed home and prepared for the second workout of the day, inline skating at the oval.  Since my calf injury had prevented me from skating in over two weeks, I planned an easy endurance skate to ease back into things: five sets of four laps at a nice moderate pace.

And it started off well.  I was delighted to be able to jog my usual warmup lap with only a tiny twinge from my calf.  Sets one through four of the workout went fine; decent lap times, technique felt pretty good, no complaints from the calf.

Then I started set five.

For set five I wanted to really focus on technique--the "fall,"  the "carve," the knee drive.  My whole goal in inlining is to build the right muscles for long track ice and to work on all of the technical aspects of long track that I struggle with, and endurance workouts in particular lend themselves to focusing on technique since the intensity is lower.

So as I completed the second lap of the four lap set I was thinking about what my skates were doing.  I hit the stopwatch to record my lap time and tried to get the proper long track technique down the straightaway.  Knee drive/set down left skate/push with right...compress that right leg in preparation for the carve and then the push...

...and then  WHAM.

I have no idea what happened.  No one was near me, no interference, no issues until I suddenly found myself heading for the concrete.  And this is where things went horribly wrong.

People fall on inline skates all the time.  The iconic "inline road rash" is a nice oval of skin removed from the outer calf/shin area.  That and a scraped elbow or knee bruise is all most people suffer when they bite it on their inlines.

But I had to be different.  As I fell--perhaps it was a subconscious attempt to spare my knee-padless knees, perhaps it was just the way I happened to fall--I stuck out my right leg, which then somehow came to a very abrupt stop.

Which my right hamstring was extremely unhappy with.

Damn, that hurt.

So I rolled around on the oval for a bit, clutching my hamstring and surveying my scraped and gouged left knee and shin.  Then I tried to stand up.

Holy mother of hamstring pain, Batman.  Standing up was clearly not going to be in my repertoire for quite some time.  Not only could I not bear any weight on my right leg, I couldn't even straighten it past about 90 degrees.

Somehow I managed to get my skates, helmet, wrist guards, and sunglasses off, and then surveyed my options.  There was no way I was getting from the center of the track back to the bleachers on my own, and the only people around were two teenage boys in the skate park.  Fortunately I had had no cause to yell at them for cutting across the track earlier--they had been very well-behaved--because now I needed them.

"Hey guys," I yelled.  They appeared startled to be thus summoned by the middle-aged lady rolling around on the track in the midst of a veritable yard sale of inline gear, but they came over, saw my bloody knee, and immediately offered to help.  It took the support of the two of them--and two stops for pain management--to cover the 50 feet from the track to the bleachers.  By the end of the trip I was apologizing to the boys for expanding their vocabularies.

"No problem," said one.  "We talk like that too."

Back on the bleachers, I surveyed the damage. My left leg was scuffed, but that wasn't the problem.
Just a flesh wound...

The problem, of course, was the right hammy.  The one that was causing more pain than I've felt since I crashed my dirt bike and smashed my knee 25 years ago.  The one that was not allowing me to straighten my leg or put any weight at all on it.

Fortunately the Hubster--oh hell, let's just call him Jim--fortunately Jim had driven me to the oval.  This happens about twice a year (because you know how I love my loud music and cold car pre-workout), so it was unbelievably good timing that yesterday was one of those days--because there is no way I could have driven.  Jim drove me to urgent care, and then (after an excruciatingly painful exam that sent pretty much every muscle in the back of my right leg into a massive cramp) on to the orthopedic walk-in clinic.  There, I got an x-ray, a knee immobilizer (which I couldn't wear unless I was lying down because otherwise it put too much strain on my hamstring) and the promise of an MRI the next day.

My right leg is not bent just to hold the clipboard of paperwork;
that's as straight as I can get it.  Without screaming, anyway.

And now it's the next day, post-MRI, and I'll cut to the chase: total rupture of the hamstring tendon, and a consult with an orthopedic doctor tomorrow to see if surgery is necessary.

Double damn.

Obviously I'm extremely unhappy about not being able to compete in the Granite Games--but I had an awesomely fun summer training for them, even if I now can't compete.  I'll wait until after the consult tomorrow to figure out what else the future holds, in terms of skating this winter, return to CrossFit, etc.  Right now my plan is to go to the Granite Games and cheer my lungs our for my SISU teammates, and then start training for the 2015 Granite Games qualifier as soon as I'm allowed back in the box.    On the bright side,  I should have plenty of time to get in shape for next year's Granite Games...and plenty of time for all my other more minor injuries to heal, as well.  So while it certainly could be better, it also could have been worse.  

At least, that's what I keep reminding myself...

6 comments:

  1. Really really really sorry to hear that. I hope the consult goes well and you get back on your feet, and skates, as soon as possible. Sending good vibes your way!

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  2. Thanks, Chris. I spent my 45 minutes in the MRI today trying to think of all the CrossFit movements I could do that only involve the upper body...

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  3. Total bummer. I hate when the skates fight back. Had a similar problem during a sprint after a pack at a team practice in June where I couldn't feel how sloppy my foot placement in the sprint to catch the pack was until my left skate hit my right skate, and I took a tumble. Hope you get back on skates (ice or inline) and back in the box soon, and that surgery isn't necessary.

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  4. Thanks! Yeah, people crash all the time on inlines...leave it to me to do some serious damage.

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  5. Oh no, Kaari! I am so sorry to hear about your crash! Luckily, CF isn't going anywhere and you will be back in action before you know it. Wishing you a speedy recovery and good news form the orthopedic doctor.

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  6. Thank you, Shelly. And you're right... I need to remember that CF isn't going anywhere and there will be a lot more fun to be had as soon as I can get back to it...

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