Morning Pancakes

Plodding Along

Plodding along. Not only rehabbing the elbow, I'm rehabbing my cycling fitness too. The elbow continues to improve. When it's good it nears 100% range of motion in flexion. When it's bad it still has a few degrees to go. In extension (straightening) is being stubburn. My OT is setting me up with anther type of splint to open things up.

My cycling rehab is about where my elbow was six weeks ago. That is... just at the beginning. In some ways I've given up on reaching for long rides. I've only got a few more weeks until I'm riding outdoors. Just trying to prep the legs for that, rather than focusing on gaining specific fitness.

Tonight's meal...Spicy Red Pepper Pasta inspired by VeganYumYum.com. In this pot fettuccini:

In my way-too-big wok: broccoli, sun dried red tomatos, red pepper and some olive oil:

Cook both and combine. Add some lemon juice and zest:

Super simple. Super quick. Super tasty.

Inching Closer

This photo may not look too exciting to most. But to me... it's awesome! I'm able to reach the tops now, and if I really cheat by dropping my shoulder I can reach the hoods. Putting my hand on the handle bar gains me a step closer to riding again. Although I can't support much weight, being able to reach the bar allows me to square up my shoulders which makes my spinning form on the trainer much, much better. Which in turn keeps my hips from rocking, which in turn keeps my bahonkus from getting irritated. Amazing how interconnected the body is sometimes.

I'm also doing some things with my arm completely unconsiously. I noticed myself using it to steer the truck yesterday. Two weeks ago, this would not have been possible. Now, it's a thoughtless action -the way it should be.

All this is to say... the arm is getting a lot better. the long-awaiting breakthrough period has arrived. Just like training... sometimes the body requires weeks and weeks of seemingly wasted effort, but the gains often come in one sudden, giant dose. Encouraging, comforting, and exciting.

Levi Leipheimer on a Mountain Bike

Via Roger Bartles...



Dude's got skills! Those trails remind me of Huntsville, but with real hills! Ho-hum this makes me want to GO!

Going Nowhere

I tried to pick up where I left off with training. It isn't working. My hope was after a short period of focused intensity, my fitness would return quickly to its previous level. Nope. The heart, the lungs, the legs aren't bouncing back with vigor I hoped for. Instead... I'm running myself into the ground trying to do intensity intervals that are clearly above my capability. This is leaving me tired and mostly washed out. None of this is good.

I feel stuck. Pedaling like mad while not going anywhere will do that! The 'textbook' approach rebuilds fitness from scratch -starting with base miles. Long rides that aren't very intense to build the aerobic engine. I *should* be doing multi-hour steady rides. Ever attempt a 3-hour trainer ride? Yah, me neither. My mental capacity for boredom tops out at about an hour-and-a-half. Three hours on singletrack is fun. Three hours on the road is bearable. Barely. Three hours on a trainer would have me spilling top secret information to make it stop!

Is there any productive training I can do right now? I'm getting the feeling I'm just training for the sake of training. I'd gladly ride outside just for fun, but the trainer? Uh-uh. For the next couple of days I think I'll stick to couch intervals. Uggh.

New Accessories

My new fashion accessory! Stylish, non? This is a splint that I'm now wearing around the house in the evenings. Simple design. String around the wrist gets tighened to a mount on the shoulder. The shoulder mount is just like the string peg on a guitar. Similarly one can really crank up the tension, and hold it for super long periods. Seems effective. No complaints and only minimal pain. The pain's no worse than a strained muscle or hyper-extended joint. Which, is exactly what I'm doing with the splint. My therapists have been super, and the treatments are working. Elbows are long injuries.

My house brand tire -Vittoria Open Corsa- while great on the road absolutely shred on the trainer. Most winters I only minimally ride the trainer. It hasn't been a big deal. This year of course is different. Given the months of trainer time ahead... no reason to waste perfectly good road tires in my living room. I mounted up a Continental Hometrainer tire. All I have to say is... mounting a tire with 1-1/2 hands is not fun. Bring the patience and utilize the feet and toes. Pics of this process would have been comedy gold!

Focusing on eating correctly again... some veggie wraps make a nice meal. Simply take some spring mix pre-pack salad, shoestring carrots, and some grape tomatoes. Put on a tortilla with a bit of cream cheese. The real secret is to take a bit of lemon juice on the veggies. Really brings out the flavor. Wrap. Eat. Yum.

The Strengthening Begins

Doc cleared me to begin strengthening on Wednesday. At my PT session on Friday, my therapist started me out doing bicep and tricep curls. I'm starting out with a laughable 2-lbs! Now I've seen 2-lb barbells at the store before. And wondered, 2lbs? Why bother? Now... 12 reps at 2-lbs is a full workout. I can't get do more than about 3 reps with a 3-pounder. Oh.. how I've fallen. I'll progress to 3-lb then 5-lb and so on.

My range of motion has improved, but just a little. I now have a splint to place constant tension on my elbow in flexion (pulling up). Looks kinda like some perverse torture device. But if it works, I'm all good with it...

Essential Tool for The Tender

My butt isn't as durable as it once was. TMI? Nah. I rarely use an embrocation. But for now... it's required. The bike when affixed to the trainer is hard on the rear. It simply doesn't move with you...

Tonight was 2X 20min at 85% of my "new" threshold power. The first interval was hard. Way hard. The second seemed to blow by quickly. An encouraging sign.

Grim

A grim evening. First comes the test results. Tonight I face reality in the face. I step on the scale and execute a performance test. Eight weeks off the bike and riding the couch does aweful things to the legs! Having to do the whole thing on one-hand isn't optimal. But still... I've lost a lot of fitness and gained a lot of weight.

Today begins the road back. Goals for this year are difficult to choose. I tend toward choosing goals based on pre-injury abilities. But know I cannot. An expectation adjustment looms. Those are never fun.

If the test data wasn't grim enough... about 9PM my neighbor knocked on my door. She asked to borrow a shovel. Huh? Turned out her daughter's doggy got run over by a car. Awww man. Cute little pup, too. Indeed I did have a shovel, and held a light as the neighbor dug Sweetie's final home. And then I cried. Sux.

Who Still Shoots With Film?

I did today. I grabbed my old 35mm film camera and shot some stuff for fun. I use a simple compact digital most of the time. It works well, but I miss the selection, control and options an SLR gives.

Look at all that glass! This thing weighs a ton, is fully mechanical (except for the exposure meter), and makes a wonderful *snap* when the shutter is fired. I wish I knew how many photos I've taken with this old friend. There was a time I was shooting several hundered frames a week.

I'd show off some of the photos... but... must wait for them to be developed...

A Quest Fulfilled

Since my arm's been out of commission cooking has been a challange. This weekend I went on a quest to find things I can cook using fresh ingredients, that don't require two-handed prep. On VeganYumYum.com I found this receipe for Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup. Sounded good, but slicing cabbage out of the question. On my trip to the grocers...

TADA!~ pre-prepared cole slaw mix and pre-chopped onions!!

Perfect! Although I'm not vegan, it doesn't prevent me from eating vegan food. In fact, I really like vegan food as it relies on spices and natural flavors rather than resorting to the "throw some fat in it to make it taste better" method. Nothing prevents me from taking some pan seared chicken into the soup. And that's exactly what I did.

Otherwise... I followed the receipie, but added VN chili sauce in lieu of the chili flakes. I liked this soup. A wonderful mix of hot, sour, and sweet notes to the pallet.

Also from VeganYumYum... I made some homemade No Kneed Bread.

This also worked well. One change. I used 1/2 whole wheat flour, 1/2 all-purpose flour. I've never scratch made bread before. This was a great experience and quite tasty!

There's something about fresh from the oven bread. Another high recommend from me.

Lies, Damn Lies, 2009 Statistics

Is it too early for a 2009 retrospective? No. My season's been over since November! As audited by the accounting firm Dewey, Cheetum & Howe here are my non-impressive stats for 2009:

Miles ridden... 3,405
Calories burned... 138,457 (equal to about 480 donuts)
Time in saddle... 290 hours, 2 minutes, 6 seconds
Maximum level speed... 42.7 mph (not for long!)
Longest ride distance... 102.3 miles
Maximum heart rate... 191 beats per minute
Coldest temperature... 36°F (January 28th)
Highest winds... 22 mph gusting 30+ (February 8th)
Best race finish... Pffft! not worth mentioning!
Number of DNFs... ZERO!
Best Cycling Experience... Mas-o-Menos in Terlingua!

Ride type breakdown...
Road... 68%
Trail... 24%
Trainer... 4%
Commuting... 3%

The only real surprise is how much road riding I've done. Need to put more trail time into the plan for next year. Hard to do living in the city... hmm... I see much travel in my future. Keep in mind because of my injury this is only 10 months. It's going to be difficult to compare next year's stats to these.

Doing What I Can

The slothiness has to end! I haven't stepped on a scale. Too scared. Don't need to. My eyes tell the tale. My shoulder and elbow are functional enough to no longer be dangling in the way of moving other parts. Can't put any weight on the arm, but I can move it out of the way. I sat down with a couple of core exercise guides yesterday to pick out a menu of things I can do one-handed. More than I thought. I can hit legs (squats, hamstring curls on ball), abs (reverse crunches w/ball), obliques (windshiled wipers), and lower back (leg levers). Next, a few yoga stretches for the body. Followed by my elbow stretches. Not a complete workout, but better than couch intervals. The result was good. Slept much better last night. And feel much better today.

I'm dedicating the rest of this recovery period to working on core strength and flexibility. Two things that always need improvement and I can never find time to address during cycling season. This is a golden opportunity to do something special.

Rehab proves to be tough. Extension (arm straightening) coming along nicely. Flexion (arm curling) is not as good. My tricep is very tight. Almost like it's too short! So bending the elbow feels like a rope being tightened across the back of my arm. My therapist worked this over on Monday. It was sore yesterday. Movement was only marginally better. Felt like negative progress, and I was pretty down last night. Today feels much, much better. The motion range is better today, too. This is my range as of this eve...

I may... might... possibly... perhaps... chance of... mebbe... put the bike on the trainer this weekend. Not sure how comfortable it will be with my right arm in a sling. More importantly... I'm a bit torn as to whether this will make me feel better, or more deprived of riding.

Leaving a Hole

Coming up on five weeks post-op. I haven't been away from a bike this long in almost 3 years. For anyone that trains with purpose... the process creeps into all areas of your life. The 'training lifestyle' eventually invades your food, your friendships, your schedule, your relationships, your clothing, even your choice of home town. It becomes intrinsic to your personality. Abrupt involuntarily removal of training has left a big hole in my life. I've felt a bit lost at times.

I confess that in the days following the accident; I found myself questioning my desire for cycling. I recalled the informational warning about the anesthesia- "don't make any big decisions today." So I didn't. I've avoided thinking about a return since then. Naturally, many folks have asked "Are you going ride again after this?" I always answered "Yeah"; but it was a reflexive mindless answer. Any return was too far away to think about.

Riding is still a long way away. However, I've begun to think about it. Despite some wavering in those first post-op days, I am absolutely certain I will resume cycling as soon as I'm able. I have concerns about being gun-shy. Taking things slow will be important. But I'm ready for that day to arrive.

I haven't yet mustered the courage to ask doc when I can ride again. Too afraid he'll say something like... a year. That would be crushing. I need to keep my spirits up. But... I've progressed enough that I can kinda piece things together. I figure the fracture won't be closed for another 4-6 weeks. Then I can start weight bearing exercises. I'm guessing around 12 weeks until I'm able to fully support my bodyweight. By then I should be pretty close to being cleared.

It can't get here soon enough!
.

Sneaux Day

Snow in Houston. Didn't accumulate much because it rained all night preceeding. But it snowed solidly from about 8AM to 1PM. An unusually long time. Neat. I stayed home from work and drank lots of warm coffee.

In the Words of Ollie Williams...

.
IZZ GONNE SNOW!

That's right 3-5" of snow in Houston, Texas. We had a good snow last year too. If this happens it will be the earliest Houston snow ever. Currently the earliest snowfall is December 10... that happened last year. Global warming? Glad I'm not trying to push training through this cold weekend!

The Road Ahead

Being one-handed has been ok -so far. It's been an interesting experience. Rewarding, even maybe? Yes really! Let's face it. We take so much for granted. The majority of our lives are mundane, routine, and boring. Now, try it one handed! Suddenly life is full of challanges that require your thought and creativity. In a strange way it's stimulating. But... it's only fun if temporary. The novelty is falling away in a sea of inconvience. But for now I'm making the best of it.

My stitches are out...

Out of my splint for a week, reveals a glimpse of the road ahead. That road is going to be difficult. Rehabbing has proven to be difficult and slow. There are good days and bad days. I had woderful movement on Friday. Only to awaken to an elbow that's stiff and only mobile with pain. It's not unlike weightlifting. Strong workout, followed by soreness, followed better performance.

I've been measuring progress by the grout lines in my shower. Last week, I could lift my hand two lines. Last night four lines! But I can't touch my nose yet. Which would be a great milestone.

Because progress is so varied there's no way to predict how long recovery will take. I'm trying to not set a timetable... just do as much rehab as my body allows.

Better XRays.

These were taken on Friday. You can clearly see the olecranon fracture on this one. The lag (long) screw going right through it.

They look better on my Flickr account. Click the pic to go there. You can get larger sizes there aussi.

Visit With Doc; Great News

Visited with my surgeon today. We take off the splint. Whoa nelly that felt great! "I make a lot of friends this way" says the tech. Wound check is good. No sign of infection. A relief. I lost a co-worker two years ago to staph after "routine" surgery. Doc and I debated on suture removal. He gave me a choice: remove the stitches today and keep the splint, or come back next week to remove stitches and move to a movable brace. That's a choice? Let's get it movin!

I'm now in a removable brace. Halley-looo-ya I can remove it and shower normally. That's a huge QOL improvement! Right now my arm is stiff. Including my uninjured wrist. This is from some (little) swelling and immobilization. Joints like to move. The elbow range of motion is pretty small. I've got exercises to do. I played around with it for about an hour and it's improving already. Although the ends of my motion range are kinda painful, the middle is pain free and smooth. Doc said "Not to brag, but it's a great repair." I don't mind him bragging.

I'm out of the splint, but the arm's pretty useless. No movement restrictions, but I'm not allowed any weight. But considering I'm 11 days out of surgery and out of immobilization is pretty awesome. I'll have more to report physically, and philosophically over the next few days.

Elbow, Olecranon, Tomaytoe, Tomato.

This is what my elbow looked like right after my crash. As you can see... that don't look right...

Technically I broke my Olecranon, and had Open Reduction and Internal Fixation (ORIF) Surgery. Here's some tech info on the surgery. First how they flense and filleted me. Warning surgical pictures!
Elbow - Surgical Approaches from eORIF.com

Not sure if the first or second approach was used. I'll ask on Friday. A couple concise outlines of the operation:
Plate Fixation of Olecranon Frx
Olecranon Fracture ORIF

And finally a
Nice Presentation

Ortho surgery is cool. The way you have to take into account structural loading and repair, it reminds me of auto body work. If I were to be a doc, this is what I'd want to do.