The Dog Days of Physio

Not going to lie, this is a tough go.  So happy to see some pals really pushing it this year hitting some big milestones.  One good bud of mine caught the running bug only a few years ago. He is down 50 + lbs now, looking to chop six minutes off of his half marathon PB to qualify for the NYC half marathon at 1:30.  The jealousy is truly raging.   That is a challenge I would covet.

For now, I’m eagerly awaiting my July 3^rd consult for surgery.   I said it from the start, I knew I needed surgery.  I’m even more of a believer of the need now.  While I have benefited greatly from my physiotherapy which has become pretty intensive,   I must have meniscal surgery if I’m ever to run again.   It is possible,   I may even go for the more evasive operation which is not arthroscopic and will literally take 6-8 months to come back from.  Whatever it is, I’m prepared to make the commitment, whatever it takes.   Life is too short, way too short. 

So on the physio front.   I played 2 rounds of golf last week,  back to back, which is not ideal for the meniscus.   I went in for a session last night in as bad as shape I’ve been in since the injury.  Get this,  A piece of tape, on my bottom left foot,  about 4 inches wrapped from the bottom on the medial side to the top and see you later pain.  That simple procedure takes the pressure off of the meniscus altogether, amazing.  The good news so far in the 4 weeks is that I have the VMO firing again.  What I mean by that is that I got myself into a position where I was actually losing muscle mass from running and aging of course.  When I started training back in December,  my left quad became so weak it was not firing like my right.  We figure the likely scenario,  is that this injury was born out of weakness, not freakiness. 

I’m thoroughly enjoying the spinning right now.  It’s been so good I’m actually going to take the bike to the cottage for the long weekend upcoming and pound off some big rides in the 80k distance.  I have slowly increased my rides from 15 to 45 minutes and subsequently started to shed some layoff weight.  More to follow on July 4^th.    

Keep running y’all,  you never know when the privilege will be taken from you!

The Unhappy Triad

I love Canada.  A special shout out and big ups for Tommy Douglas and Lester Pearson.  How can I not love those guys right now?  Specifically, the earlier for our health care’s inception the later for its expansion.  I sit here today, right now,  blessed and thoroughly grateful for the amazing care I am getting from the local branch of Athlete’s Care here in the beach.    Chef totally recommends!   I  feel  like I’m getting Olympic style treatment.  Seriously its been outstanding. Now I am guilty of too much “running” fantasy from time to time….

“…..and down the final 400 they come……its Hackwood,  first to enter Wembley stadium,  can you believe this folks….just one lap of the track and this 41 year old ex-smoker, toker, and joker  is going to have gold in the mens Olympic…. (masters) ……marathon for Canada”

 Yep ,  no doubt I have some issues however,  no fantasy here though. In a very short time span amongst today’s savagely taxed and beaten health care system I got a diagnosis, treatment, MRI, and full on  physio both with real substance and education.  To top it all off,  I have an upcoming arthroscopy with one of the best there is,  Dr David Tran, all within 7 months.    

Thankfully I’m not suffering from the unhappy triad, otherwise known as an MCL, ACL and Meniscal injury.  Here is what I am rocking though from the MRI

·         A Double oblique tear posterior  horn with an evident flap fold over

·         A “Baker’s”  cyst.   Its named after the William Baker, the surgeon whom made the diagnosis of a benign swelling of the synovial bursa sac behind the knee.

·         Mild sprain of the MCL with some noted tearing or “shrapnel” my doc noted.

I’ll get into some real substance in my next post.   Some of the things I learned from physio about our body and training I must share.   How about visual acuity and the meniscus a relationship.  Sounds crazy, but there is a synergy there hence why I am now doing blind single leg balancing,  virtually re-training my meniscus to provide balance and force the muscle group around my knee to fire properly.  Cool eh!    More on this later.  

I’m  back on the stationary trainer, and working 4 main exercises to really pre opp my knee for July.    Started the training diet to shed 25 lbs,  and get ready for base train again in the fall.   

Last note, thumbs down to Ironman 70.3 Muskoka  and the World Endurance Canada.  They refunded me 75.00 of 230 for my entry fee for the September Race.   Brutal, cash grab at its finest.  They wouldn’t even offer me a deferral to 2013 either.