Here we are, well into Spring in the city, a glorious Spring
at that. A little strange, tulips, cherry blossoms blooming a little
early. I wish that were the case for my budding
running/triathlon year. The positive,
been off running totally for 6 weeks and am now completely pain
free. Not so fast though, before you
shout out loud and give me a couple of solid air punches of glee we still do
not have clearance for takeoff. Certainly,
pain free is awesome, but for certain, I have some sort of tear/cartildge
issue. The joint clicking, patellar sub-lexing,
occasional instability and knee stiffness remain. I’m sure I’ll get a few weeks into a “start
again” mode only to have the severe pain and swelling return. So here is the status of where we are.
May 25th – 04:00 MRI - Finally,
this will tell me if I’m in the hurtlocker for good ie) Arthritis, bone on bone, repairable meniscal damage , etc etc.
Until I get those details let us not speculate.
The one thing I will say, I have had a number of very
positive conversations with some knowledgeable, experienced people in the
field, both doctors and recovering athletes alike. One such standout for me was with Kevin Mackinnon
from Ironman.com. Kevin is a former Ironman
now coach and managing editor at Ironman.com, a graduate from Ryerson
University. Kevin endured a complete menisectomy a few years back and has recovered enough to
stay fit. Additionally, coaches a runner that experienced the exact same
symptoms and injury progression . His
student, in a similar age category, had the meniscal surgery, some repair and edge removal only to return a
few weeks later and continue competing and has been for over 2 years pain
free. Who knows, maybe I am in the similar
situation.
I have now returned to full physio and what I call “building
a runner”. I’ve mentioned it in the
past, now is the perfect time to start
from ground zero. I’m currently pushing
a number of key exercises to rebuild the VMO ( note picture). The picture doesn’t do it justice, but essentially, this is where my issues originated
from. I virtually have zero VMO on my
left quad. Additionally, the muscle atrophy
of being on the shelf has only deteriorated further. Moreover,
this injury does not limit my opportunity to work a core and weight
program which we have started. All real
easy stuff for 4-6 weeks . I jumped on
the scale at my mother in law’s place on the weekend , we are back to 177 (a full 10lbs of fat
addition) Not so bad, suppose it could be worse, but I need to now get right
off the booze, sugar and useless carb intake.
Some of the keys workouts; quad over fulcrum, static knee resistance band extension, and
static inner quad contraction. All
isolated work outs to get that VMO back up and firing. If surgery is a reality, this will only help get
me back sooner.
So welcome, comeback 3.0,
I relish this challenge and fully intend to rock this. Take note
of the inspirational quote .
“as you get older it becomes less of a chore to run and you
realise what an awesome privilege it is”
- Nick Willis
Nail on the head Nick.
If you are reading this and not seizing the day in some shape, way or form,
then you are missing out on something so rich, I can’t do it justice by
putting it into words, so I won’t!
