Owies and Boo-Boos: Dealing with Injuries

Since signing on with the PTC group I have sustained my fair share of boo-boos. There was the time that I bit it on Washington Road during a team run, and rolled out into oncoming traffic, suffering a nasty gash on my right knee and a bruise the size of a small child on my ass. Then there was the time I was doing lunges in the weight room and accidentally knocked a forty-five pound plate onto my extended leg, resulting in deep bruising halfway up my calf. Another time I did a 2 x 30’ workout rowing bow seat in an Empacher four, but didn’t notice until the beginning of the second thirty minutes that one of the rigger bolt heads had carved a long chunk out of my right thigh, leaving a trail of blood and pus along the inside of the shell. And of course there is the inevitable and proverbial breaking of my heart every time I see Mark Flickinger walk by. But none of these injuries have ever kept me off the water for any period of time—an issue which has just recently become problematic as our time in San Diego rapidly draws to a close.

I am sad to report that I have been nursing annoying back and rib discomfort for the past several days. What began as a slight tweak in the single two Mondays ago quickly became sharp and lingering pain that slowed me down… a lot. I erg tested through it with no real decline in my condition until after the 2k, at which point I decided it was time to get more serious than just ice and heat. Since then I’ve seen the chiropractor twice, been gulping down Advil like it’s my job, doing what Trainer Stacy calls my “special stretches”, and been hoping for the best. The chiropractors confirmed that my vertebrae in my mid-back were rotated pretty well, causing some muscular tension around my rib joints, and then some considerable pain throughout my rib cage with a variety of movements and activities.

Most rowers know full well the implications of picking up sore spots in the back, chest, or rib cage. Whether it’s one thing or another, when things become painful, misaligned or tense, there is almost always an increased risk for more serious injuries that can be devastating to rowers’ training: stress fractures. These two little words can bring your cardio base screeching to a halt, since oftentimes the fastest way for fractures in the ribs to heal is to minimize aggravation to the area, including nixing heavy breathing associated with any kind of elevated heart rate activity. And if you are lucky enough to cross train through a rib fracture, it most often means one of two things: Stairmaster or bike. At that point not only are you training different muscle groups in motions different than those needed for rowing, but cross training generally requires that you spend more time within a target heart rate zone than you would if you were rowing and erging in order to achieve the same fitness benefits (Tom claims the amount is nearly double). Even though many would consider a break from the erg a godsend, let me tell you something: I row and erg with a butt pad because my glutes get sore, but they don’t make butt pads for stationary bikes. Ow.

So let’s get sappy for a minute: what has been the hardest part about being on beach patrol for the past week? There is definitely something to be said for the pain that comes and goes with the most ordinary activities: opening a door, rolling over in bed, or sneezing, for example. But what’s worse is smiling and waving from the shore as all of my teammates pile into their pairs, doubles and singles and go out for an ass-busting 20k workout…and then having to turn around and hike it up to the weight room to spend another afternoon spinning mindlessly on the bike while watching the discus guys lift weights. All the while I realize that my teammates are working hard and getting smarter, fitter and faster without me. With every turn of the pedals, I visualize how just a week off the water is putting me even further behind than I already was. Then there is the issue of trying to communicate with Tom, who warned me ahead of time in the fall that he did not do well with injuries. I won’t relate our conversation on that topic verbatim here, but it is difficult to know exactly what to say about your injury when you are new, unaccustomed to the inner workings of the team, and unaccustomed to being injured at all. “Intimidating” could be a good way to describe it, but by and large the accompanying sensations of guilt for feeling like you are wasting time and resources by not being on the water for every possible K every possible day make time off pretty unbearable.

The good news is that I am slowly beginning my comeback movement. After some successful erg workouts last week, I got promoted to doing short steady state workouts in the single in the mornings yesterday and today. Yesterday wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad; today I had absolutely no pain with my row, which was fantastic! I even heard the word “good” come out of Tom’s mouth once or twice, which may have bumped endorphin levels up a notch to block out the pain, but who really knows for sure. So apparently my regiment of post-workout dual ice bags and plenty of heat prior to workouts has helped to loosen things up in my ribcage, aided in no small part by my trendy and fashionable kinesio-tape (which I’m sure will result in some seriously wonderful tan lines). The bad news is that I will most likely have to continue nursing these parts of my body for some time to come. Or as Tom says, “treat it like it’s injured until 2009.” I’ll probably be combining rowing and cross training pretty regularly for a few more days this week before I’ll be thinking about taking on the full 40k/day workload that the rest of the team is currently working with.

So in the meantime I’ll be working hard in the mornings, and catching up on back issues of Runner’s World in the afternoons… while watching Olympic-calibre throwers show off their major muscle groups. Things could be a lot worse; I’m still happy to be here and continuing to learn more and more about how to make it with the best in the U.S. and with some nice eye candy to sustain me in the afternoons, to boot.

Additionally, the 2k went well, as per my last entry. I PRed by 2.5 seconds, which still does not give me a blazing fast time for someone my size, but improvement is better than not, so I can’t complain. I am also looking forward to the upcoming weekend when Mom and Dad Kalmoe will be making the trip out to San Diego to visit and see the OTC. Should be a hoot.

See you out there,

--MK