Yesterday was the worst day so far of the 4 I have spent hurt. I think it is a cumulation of all the travel, plus, the lack of sleep. From my personal experience, rotator cuff surgery is the number one sleep inhibitor, with broken ribs coming in 2nd. It is bad enough, during the day, having to suffer through sneezing, burps, laughing, ect., but trying to position yourself at night is maybe worse. It has been for me. I don’t think I have slept more than 30 minutes at a time in 4 days. The last two mornings, I’ve woken up, or have been woken up, by a crazy headache. Today it was throbbing with my heartbeat. Luckily for me, my pulse seems to be getting slower and slower as I age. So it was only painful 35 times a minute instead of 45.
Anyway, I decided to ride the trainer yesterday afternoon, after walking in the woods in the morning. I still had a headache and could only figure out that maybe lack of endorphins was causing it, so I went through the process of getting the trainer out of my van and hauling it up to the Kansas Garage. I am moving at half speed, so it took a while.
After the humbling process, I got riding. It is amazing how pitiful I was. I really couldn’t leave on my removable cast because it really doesn’t fit on the bars. (I’ll have to remold that some.) But, my wattage, it was so low. Like below 200 watts felt pretty hard. Amazing. The only upside was that you really breathe pretty shallow when you ride bikes, so my ribs didn’t really come into play, which was surprising.
I read my friend Seth’s blog this morning and he is going out to do the Donut Ride, his first group ride since cracking his pelvis a month and a half ago. Here is the link to his post about his apprehension. We texted back and forth a bit this morning. I miss that guy, even though I hardly know him.
It is funny how many things go through your mind while you’re injured. I’ve been hurt enough, throughout the years, that I, generally, take it pretty well, with an optimistic view. That is long term. Day by day, it is harder to manage. The inconveniences injuries cause to daily life are numerous. Just trying to button my pants is a chore.
Anyway, I’m sure that I must still have okay form, I can’t lose that it less than a week, not being sick. But I need to keep reminding myself this, because it sure seems like I’m back at square 1, when intellectually, I know that can’t be the case.
There is plenty of snow up in Cable finally.
Breakfast the past couple days. Pat and Gwen turned me onto this. They are in Australia, training in the warmth.
Morning lake hike with Hawkeye.
Trainer set up in the Kansas Garage.
Trudi and Dennis dressed to head out to ski this morning.
