I’m not one to blog about anything other
than my races…. But its been a long, long time since my last event and my next
event feels a long time away so for anyone ‘following’ my blogs and wondering
why I’ve gone so quiet its because I’m currently recovering from breaking my
leg.
After such a full on racing season last
year and a long time away from Rob, my husband, we both decided mid way through
the hectic year that this was the year we’d do what we have always dreamed of
doing and take a job in a ski resort working in a catered chalet. We started in December and after the
initial few weeks of stress we had a ball loving every aspect of it. Yes it was hard work at times, early
starts in the dark, late nights, very basic living and acting happy and lively
even when we were both shattered but the highs we super high, the clear blue
sky days and fresh powder, the snowy days where we ran for miles, reliving
student style nights out and the friendship we made with our collegues, were
priceless and an experience we’ll never forget.
I took my exercise head with me of course
and skied nearly every day, ran on top of that and cross country skied too, so
much so that my knees started taking a lot of grief, to the point where the
nightly clean of our kitchen floor was a challenge in itself. But me been me I didn’t rest. Skiing for the season there is always a
high risk of injury and as we got to know the resort more and more we did take
more risks though out of all the guys we skied with I was one of the most
cautious and had barely fallen for months. I also thought I’d got away lightly with a fall into a
ravine. The light was flat and we
cut across off piste to join the piste a little further down. What I didn’t see was the ravine I
skied straight into and was airborne for a very long screams worth. When I
landed still upright on the gentle slope at the bottom I thought I was the
luckiest person alive. Next day
though I fell for no apparent reason, twisted round to the side, lost both
skies and thought I had a very bruised leg. I tried to stand up, felt the knee try to go inwards, sat
down in shock and fainted.
Obviously something was seriously wrong and true enough the X ray
revealed a fracture on the tibia plateau. With a tearful farewell to my friends
and La Plagne I was carted off in an ambulance down the mountain, operated on
and a few days later flown home with Rob.
In the course of minutes I’d gone from an indestructible pretty descent,
active skier worrying about a few Kgs I’d picked up in the progress to a
hobbling invalid incapable to even getting a cup of tea to the sofa!!
 |
| From that..... |
 |
| To this!! |
I started off my recovery well I
think. The surgeon I went to see
told me I didn’t need physio and just to move my leg around for the next 7
weeks. When I told him I was a
‘high level’ mountain biker and it was my job he asked how far up the mountains
I had been and I knew from that moment he had no idea how important it was to
me to get this break fixed quick and proper. So I came home determined and got Rob
to lift my onto my road bike fixed on the trainer where I pedaled for 30
minutes with my good leg in a hope that the ‘cross over’ effect might
help. I then sent a plea on
Facebook asking anyone for advice and soon my window ledge was full of vitamin
supplements. I also had a reply
from Jason Hynd, a cycling friend who works at Teesside University Sports
Injury Centre to come and use the hydro pool.
And so it was that I entered the warm
‘bath’. Heated to 32 degrees I first thought how lovely it was, without knowing
at that point how I would come to sweat in there and pray it was a little
cooler next time!! I hadn’t even
tried to bend my leg yet here I was told to aqua jog against a flume of water. But alas it worked, even if the first
few times my broken leg flopped along it all helped with circulation. Jason’s
idea was that pool workouts were never going to get me fit but would hopefully
stop me getting so unfit that it would take forever to get back to racing. So twice a week Rob and me drove over
to Middlesborough to do our ‘bath’ workouts. Rob was on the under water treadmill and benefiting a lot
from running without the impact.
He was getting a workout without aggravating a long-standing calf injury
and getting annoyingly fit and skinny and fast in the progress! It also
provided a little entertainment to me as he looked like a Lapitca horse the
first few times in there.
I backed up my pool sessions at Boro with
running in the pool in Whitby where I’ll go either up and down in the deep end
or if I’m lucky and its not too busy, run round in squares. Sometimes the music is loud enough to
hear and bob along to, other times there are plenty of kids in to watch as I
plod up and down. My life has
changed from riding around the moors and going wherever I want every morning
stopping in a café for a chat and playing in Guisborough woods to up and down
the pool daily but at least it is exercise and pretty hard exercise at
that. I am also swimming and its quite
funny to see my shoulders get wider and my quads get smaller. I have to see the funny side in that
anyway!!
As well as aquajogging I am now able to
pedal in the trainer with both feet.
It started off with my heel on the pedal as I was unable to bend my leg
quite enough without discomfort but gradually it’s improving and I’ve just made
the huge step forward in pedaling with my toes.
Here are the last 8 weeks ‘training diary’:
Week One
Fateful Saturday the first March, never
again will I forget to say ‘White Rabbits’ on the first of the month. It was a pretty unlucky day for me,
started with the best powder run of the season down our favorite run and ended
in a hospital bed eating Smash and asking for some more painkillers, not for
the pain but just to knock me out to stop me thinking too much. Operation to insert pins and bone
graft. Lucky to be in one of the
best hospitals around for these types of operations, guess they do a fair few
here! Told I can start doing
things again after 100 days…100DAYS, ahhhh
By Wednesday I’m home and working out how
to manage the simplist of tasks like getting upstairs. My biggest ‘walk’ with one leg was from
the car park to the café, I had to sit down twice and Rob had to drive round to
pick me up on the way back.
Thursday I went to circuits and had my own
bench and mat. Spent most of the
50 minutes sat doing sit-ups and bicep curls!
Having been to the fracture clinic and
given no physio I came home annoyed and so got Rob to lift me on the turbo
trainer positioned outside and with the broken leg rested on a pillow I pedaled
with my good leg for 20 minutes with lots of rests. Cross over effect?
Not sure but at least it’s a few endorphins!! Had my first post op
accident.. Rob carefully lifted me off the turbo, I hopped across to the chair
using the table that then gave way.
Managed to twist mid fall and sat on the floor unhurt, leg none the
wiser.
 |
| One legged cycling, something for the neighbours to look at! |
Week Two
My Birthday comes and goes and leaves me
pretty depressed. It was a lovely
sunny day and I’ve spent so few birthdays at home we would have gone for a long
café stop bike ride. Longest walk
on Friday was at the running session.
Their efforts were on the seafront so I hobbled all the way down and
back up, took over an hour and felt very light headed by the end! Also am up to 45 minutes of non-stop
single leg workout, slow cadence and hard gear.
My supplies arrive from advice via Facebook
and Google time… Engevita Yeast Flakes, L-Lysine, Zinc, Glucosamine, Bone Power
with Boron, Cod Liver Oil and even Neovite, a cow’s first milk (after the calf
has sipped his share).
Week Three
I start my aqua jog sessions at Teesside
with Jason Hyde. My Savior!! With cameras underwater its pretty
clear that my left leg is merely dragging along but in the second session my
right leg and poor arms are making up for it as the flumes are on and I fight
for my life to keep near the front of the pool. From the first session I notice improvements in the
circulation round my leg. My foot
since the accident had looked like it belonged to a dead old woman, so swollen
my toes looked shrunk and so cold Rob bless him took on the evening roll of
rubbing them trying to get some blood down there. As soon as I came out of the pool my leg and foot looked a
lot less purple and for a short time almost normal.
Once home I take out membership at the pool
in Whitby and begin my many hours of ‘running’ up and down with my belt on in
the deep end with some swimming in between. My crutches are left near the steps and I work out I can get
out backwards then swing up and back to get out! Thankfully my Rolls Royce of crutches from France (to go on
Ebay I was advised by the doctor!) have non-slip ‘hooves’ and I have no
problems or embarrassing falls in my swimming costume!
Week Four
I do 6 hours aqua jogging in Whitby and two sessions at
Teesside. These sessions are
getting very intense and with both legs looking a lot more equal I imagine I’m
‘dancing’ out of the pedals, an imagery my good friend uses when feeling
invincible on the bike. The steps
I focus on in each effort aren’t steps during those flat out sprints that last
forever, they are a rider’s back wheel that I’m desperately trying to hang on
to. I come out the color of a
prune and we usually make a detour to sup a good strong coffee on the way home
That weekend is the club’s big outing to
Coniston 14 mile road race. I make
it my mission for the day to see the runners at the1 mile point and make it
after around an hour only to find the bench I’ve been focused on for the last
200 meters is up a muddy bank and out of reach!! I sit on the grass instead resting my very sore wrists. Once the runners have passed I walk
back down and out towards the runners coming back in. What I find very funny is the number of people wanting to
share their injuries and breaks along the way even to the extent of seeing
someone’s knees scars while I sit and rest. I am now more alike to the old woman walking with me with
her two hip replacements than my fellow running pals. That’s hard to take.
The day after while everyone goes for a
hike Rob joins me in my own hike up the side of a river to a waterfall. Its my
first ‘off road’ hike and very enjoyable and challenging with one leg. I wear my leg brace just in case my
‘hooves’ let me down and slip or get lost in the mud leaving me with a sinking
narrow stump.
 |
| Cat one off road climb completed!! |
 |
| Walking on one leg requires a number of coffee stops! |
Week Five
I aquajog everyday this week while the sun
is annoyingly out. Easter holidays
have begun so I jog in between kids diving in and splashing around but its
something to look at. The week
ends in a pool in the Lakes. We
drop some deliveries off, Rob races in Grizedale, I know I’m missing my fat
tires a lot when I look in envy at the wet, cold riders pouring in the cafe but
alas I find the hotel pool has a 3x5 meter square deep enough to jog in,
phew!!
My new Specialized Epic Expert 29er arrives
thanks to Team Asrin, CycleFunatic Bike shop and my patient riding
partner. Its nice that others just
see this break as a tempory thing and still willing to spend a lot of money on
me. I’m desperate to jump on it
but for now it will sit on the living room!
Week Six
I get on the turbo and turn the pedal very
gingerly with my heel of the broken leg.
Movement is limited, there’s no chance I can bend it enough to put my
toes on the pedal but it’s a start.
I take all the resistance off and pedal in the garden for 5 minutes
soaking up much missed VitB!! We
also work in York in a marquee in our stall. It’s a nightmare, I feel able at
home to do a lot of things but out of my comfort zone it was impossible and
once we’d set up I spent most of the day hidden on my chair and freezing in the
corner. I left Rob to it for the
rest of the week, swimming and aqua jogging instead at home.
Week Seven
I get my mid sole on the pedal and start to
turn it with some resistance with not a lot of irritation on the knee other
than it getting very hot in the evening.
I have a big low point mid week and have a few mornings where I find it
very hard to drag myself out of bed.
My friend sends me some messages with very wise words that drag me out
of the hole I’m in, she’s been through a way worse illness last year and this
year is racing and loving life again.
Improvement seems to have halted and I’m so tired of been stuck at home
or reliant on lifts everywhere. It
doesn’t help that my Achilles tendon on my ‘good’ leg is jiggered. It’s painful to walk on and has a lump
on it, can’t imagine if that suddenly goes then I’ll be really stuffed!!
Week Eight
My few days of low are over. I get some good news from my
x-rays. The bone has knitted
together well and the bone graft looks ‘in place’. I don’t get a lot of information from the fracture clinic
but it’s all I need to hear. I get
sent up to physio too where I get some exercises to do. Looking at my quad it
looks pretty pathetic as I sit and tense what muscles are left but with all the
aqua jogging and swimming and the intense sessions at Teesside I still feel
quite active. I’ve also done a few
days on the trot on the bike pedaling with my toes with resistance. Its funny that after 30 minutes I feel
pretty tired but it’s a great feeling just to use my leg in a way it is so used
to been used. I start to imagine
how I can strap my crutches to the bike so I can go out!! I find it very ironic that I can now
ride my bike all before I can walk.
I quite like that… it almost makes me feel like a cyclist again!!
 |
| Latest X ray showing good signs of recovery! |
