Since being released from PT for my bicep injury, training was going great. My shoulders were getting stronger, exercises that were a struggle in November became an ease by January. I started back on the kayak erg late February twice a week. Even my erg sessions showed increased wattage output with less strokes per minute and workouts that were painful last year were easier. Smooth sailing, prepping myself for late spring on water training where I knew my coach was going to start ramping up the conditioning.
Then came the Triangle Area's second snow storm and a fall on ice. My crutches splayed outward like a giraffe's legs do when it gets a drink of water. Caught myself with about a foot of clearance between my chest and the ground and slowly lowered my body the rest of the way. I knew this was not good, felt soreness in the back of my right shoulder soon after. An ice pack soon followed with a couple of days of rest. Strength conditioning that followed this incident was a little painful at first, but my shoulder seemed to have recovered.
March 9th arrived, my daughter had her first outdoor soccer game. We were heading back to the Man Van and a boy asked me if I could get his soccer ball out from under it. No problem, I knelt down retrieved his ball and as I was standing back up, I put my right elbow out to brace myself against the sliding door. Well, the sliding door was open and into the MV I went landing on my elbow. An ice pack soon followed and a day of rest. That Tuesday, I had my first pool session of the season doing balance drills in my K1 and testing my new K1 seat. The session went well, I felt fine afterwards...a little sore, but this is what I expected. Friday, I resumed strength conditioning and everything was good, with exception of a couple exercises. Sunday, kayak erg training day, I had a 65 minute session, which I stopped in the last eight minutes due to feeling some soreness in my right shoulder.
Monday, the right shoulder was not feeling fine, something was just not right. So I scheduled an appointment with my Orthopedic. After x-rays and multiple angle contortion of my right arm, I have apparently injured the top of my shoulder joint and re-aggravated the long head of my bicep. My treatment: 6 days of prednisone and three weeks of no shoulder exertion. I can only train core and leg muscles and will need to cycle for cardio.
I am not sure what I wanted to hear. I simply want the right shoulder to be 100% again, an equal partner to my left shoulder, though the physics of my physical condition may not permit this, as my right shoulder does not have a right leg to help out. Maybe my new K1 seat design will give my right side something to push/pull against when paddling, so far it has in pool training, but real world paddling will be the true test.
I am happy it was not surgery, as my first two kayak clinics of the summer are sold out and I am responsible for coordinating 50+ kayakers and 5 motor boats to ensure the safety of 2700 Iron Man swimmers, June 1st. I just do not have a window of time for recovery from surgery, so I am exerting a strong will of patience during this healing time.
I cannot let this setback/challenge overtake me though. I have wonderful support from friends and family to help me prevail. I also have a great K1 coach, Stephen Knight, athletic trainer, Jennifer Jones, and nutritionist, Sonia Vieregge Kennedy with Nutrition In Motion, who will keep me in check as my training resumes.
So I carry on with a something I wrote to a fellow parapaddler:
From successes to injury setbacks, it is surviving the bumpy roads that make us stronger in the end.
