Sunday, June 19, 2011

This SUCKS.

For the second time this year, I'm injured. And for the second time this year, I'm missing out on racing because I'm injured. Here's how things went down.

Last Tuesday, I met up with my team for Summer Solstice for a ride at Kanata Lakes. Temps were good and it was a little muddy on account of the previous day's rain. Riding was otherwise no different than it normally is...a few dabs here and there, but no real crazy spills that I can recall.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning, and my left knee has swollen up like an orange (well, maybe not that bad, but my knee lacked the bony cadaver like appearance it normally has). As the day went on, the pain in my knee, under the kneecap and behind my knee, got worse. At home, ice, elevation and Advil were the name of the game.

Thursday. Knee is still swollen and sore, had to skip my usual Thursday morning bike ride. As the day went on, swelling and stiffness, especially behind the knee, got worse. At home, ice, elevation and Advil...again.

Friday. All of a sudden now, my calf is now really sore and tender and swollen like a grapefruit. I'd say my right calf is about orange-ish size, so in comparison my left calf was like a grapefruit, a weird oblong oval grapefruit. Not good.

Saturday. Swelling has not gone down, and I'm worried. A trip to hospital indicates no infection in the joint and no sign of a blood clot. The doctor tells me I have an "angry knee" and to rest it up.
Once home, I started thinking....maybe I have a calf strain on account of the pain in my calf and the tightness in the back of my knee. Lets see, can I do a heel raise on my left leg...nope! Can I push forcefully with my left foot...nope. Can I even contract my calf...not really. That gets me thinking that I have a grade 2 calf strain, which isn't quite a full rupture, but will probably have me out of action for 5 to 8 weeks....shitty. As it is right now, I'm limping around and can't put a lot of weight on my left leg.

So, as for the races I'm missing. I was registered for the 50km Ultimate XC race up at Tremblant (today), so that's out, and Summer Solstice is out for next weekend. The cycling gods don't want me racing, but would rather have me gimping around and sitting in front of the computer lusting after stuff I can't afford.

So tomorrow, I'm gonna start some physio and get on the mend as quickly as I can. In the meantime, I'll probably have time to do some beer reviews!

7 comments:

  1. Bummer news Stu. "angry knee". Not exactly a sharp shooter with the diagnosis eh?

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  2. Sucks man. Sounds like my season so far, although not quite as extreme... sick/injured way too much! Whatever you do, stay away from the following website: Rapha, ENVE, Vanilla, Cervelo...I could go on. Get well soon man!

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  3. Shoot sorry to hear Stu...I was looking for you at UXC....not that I needed you to push me as there were others but you might have made it more interesting. I won the 50 K mtb and took the 3 day overall by about 15 minutes. It was a sufferfest !

    Mike
    (not sure why this is not vieweing me as "signed in" as I linked directly from blogger dashboard...damn technology!)

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  4. Thanks guys.

    One of my co-workers asked me "Did the doc know he wasn't dealing with an idiot?"

    Hmmmm, I'll have to check out ENVE and Vanilla.....

    Congrats Mike! That's awesome. Trust me, I was pretty damn bummed about not racing.

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  5. Doooood! That's freak'n horrible! So sorry to hear that. If it's any consolation, when you do get back on the bike you will still be faster than me! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Do you have a Mac? If so I can lend you Call of Duty II - nothing like shooting computer soliders to take out that angry aggression for not being able to ride.
    Cheers.

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  6. Haha, thanks Craig. Unfortunately I don't have a Mac, but I like your suggestion of a shoot 'em up video game. We have a Wii, but shooting at ducks just isn't the same as blowing up soldiers into bloody bits and pieces!

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  7. Funny thing- I too am a NYC commuter cylist named Stu, and I use DiscoStu as my itunes account name on my network; also I have a grade 2 calf strain, didn't see a doctor, just my co-worker, a pre-med ambulance attendant, palpitated the muscle and put pressure on the ball of my foot and diagnosed it on the spot- looked it all up on the 'net and I do believe thats what it is. Yours sounds more deformed than mine, must have ruptured a few more bands than I. I found that its a lack of stretching that I neglected to do after reading some bs anti stretching articles...

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