Dealing with injury

It has been a while now since the ‘disappointment of Athlone’  and an even longer time since I have been able to train properly.

An injury is a difficult dog and I will have to admit that 5 weeks on the fight with this dog is getting very tiring.

An MRI, an injection, countless hours with our Irish Team physio Deidre Burrell.

Icing, so much icing I burnt my skin.

Trying short rides, short runs, trying not to be too disappointed.

The health food shop stole my money.  What can I eat to cure it ? What will this vitamin do ?

Turning to magnets. A necklace, an armband, a knee guard . . . maybe one of those magnetic beds would do the job ?

Rubbing gels on it, rubbing some ‘horse muck’ on it – it’s what the horse trainers do !

Kinesio tape. Pink kinesio tape. Lots of it. Everywhere.

Core. Gym. Lots of core and gym.

Swimming with a pull bouy and band therefore taking the legs out of the equation.

Doing so much pulling you strain your elbow and cannot swim for 2 weeks ! Aggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh

Pool running. You are reduced to pool running.

 A 90min pool run made me lose my mind for 2 days. I drove from Enniskillen to Dublin, randomly shouting things in the car, singing loudly, shaking my fist out the window for no reason, asking the lady in the toll booth for a Big Mac and Fries . . . “heard that one before son” . . . As I arrived into Drumcondra the fact that I was questioning my own sanity confirmed to me that I was actually still sane. Although I am still sure the neighbours cat is up to something – is that a question of sanity or paranoia ??

For a short while I became an expert on Raul Moate although when I came back home to Ireland I forgot about him as we were more concerned about 2 guys stealing a Penguin from Dublin Zoo than a wanted gun man on the loose.

One day I wished Gazza would come and find me with some food, a couple of beers and a fishing rod.

Enjoying my food – that is a difficult one. My body wants to be fed as normal – at 8am after swimming, after the mid day sessions, after the evening sessions . . Where is my regular Lucozade hit ? Why am I not allowed cereal in the dog bowl ?

Annoyance. Getting annoyed a litte things. Getting annoyed when the weather is good. Getting annoyed when I see someone out jogging or cycling !

Getting annoyed with myself for getting annoyed. Sometimes realising I am annoying to be around.

Getting annoyed with the guy in the full Radio Shack Kit riding his Trek with no hands along the Quays - I am allowed to be annoyed by that !!! That dude broke so many cycling rules - his Radio Shack over-shoes for example broke rule 23 :

“If it’s not cold or wet and you are still wearing shoe covers because you’re a pussy, your name is probably George Hincapie.”

Resting – that is the most difficult one for me. That’s when I get annoyed the most and do lots of the above. There is only so many shops on Grafton Street. Only so many times you can pay 14 euro for a swim at the NAC ! (I couldn’t believe that). Only so many people to visit. Only so much day time TV. Only some many times you can affod the 100 euro per hour in the hyperbaric chamber.  Only so many times you can watch the Sky News bulletin. Only so much time you can spend trying to think of a word that rhymes with orange  . . . . 

There are only so many times Google Doctor can scare you though. During this difficult time I have been saved by the World Cup Soccer, The Tour De France, The ITU World Championship Series and now the European Athletics Champs – although last monday nothing was happening and I was really lost !

I have also been saved by Deidre Burrell and Martina McCarthy, my family and this afternoon maybe I’ll be saved by a man with a microscope and a knife. As Brian Cowan the Irish Taoiseach would say “moving forward” or as Winston would say

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.