Been a while since I have written an update so I thought I should share with you where things are currently up to. Since the selection trials one month ago I haven't actually been able to hit the water and get stuck into training the way i had envisaged after being named the reserve for the M4X. For the last month I have only been completing lots of hours each week on my road bike and in the gym on the wattbike. Check out the strava link on the right of the blog to see what riding I have been doing if you are interested.
Unfortunately for me what was suspected to be a rib injury which first arose 8 weeks ago has now been diagnosed as a shoulder injury which was referring pain into my pectoral muscle and across my ribs. The good news is it can be easily resolved after an MRI scan assessed the shoulder and found it to be simply heavily inflamed. This is suspected to be as a result of a combination of factors including previous surgery and injury, lack of adequate recovery over the first few months of this year but mostly as a result of the ongoing leg injuries over the last few years and lack of time in the boat, which meant that when i went to put my foot down this year and attempt to achieve a high training load on the back of a very limited rehabilitation period a weak spot in my body developed and over time my shoulder became more and more problematic. What is interesting with this is that I never suspected my shoulder was problematic, however analysis of the scans showing an inflamed and irritated joint. I was injected with cortisone last Thursday and tomorrow morning I will row for 30-40 minutes in the single scull in what will hopefully be a gradual return to rowing over the next 14 days before I complete two 'moderate' weeks of training before heading to europe on the 24th June to race.
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| Cortisone Injection in to the left shoulder joint under imaging |
It has been frustrating for me over the last few weeks to have come to understand what has transpired recently. Particularly for me in the last 9 months to have spent so much time effort and energy rehabilitating my legs to the point where they were in reasonably good condition, only to be struck down with a shoulder injury which I last had surgery on in 2009 and had been 100% since. On reflection I became so 'obsessed' with the health of my legs that I potentially neglected the rest of my body in some way. Every physiotherapy and massage was targeted at improving my calf muscles. However it was the rest of my body that needed the attention also. To have worked so hard to get my legs in good condition only to have something else fail in some ways sums up my luck a little bit, and really does refer back to the aptly chosen title "Unsinkable- The race to recovery" which following this latest episode really does highlight to me just how much of a race against time it really was for me. For me this has served as a gentle reminder that when you are pursuing excellence in any field be it sporting, academic, professional or even personal there is no room for short cuts and no escaping hard work. Not implying I took short cuts by any means, however I was only rowing full time for 4 months prior to the selection trials and what ultimately occurred is that the training load was to much for my body to cope with at that particular point in time. I guess what I am saying in short is that perfect preperation prevents piss poor performance, and if you have not built solid foundations underneath you in whatever area it is you desire excellence, eventually the foundations may begin to crumble beneath you. You may be strong for a period of time, such as I was earlier in the season where i gained a seat in the M4X for the sydney world cup, however basically from that moment on the wheels came off and the results I achieved post this when reflecting are by no means surprising to me and it is evident where things went wrong and how the preparation can be improved (building stronger foundations).
Touch wood the shoulder will be fine from here and I can progress back in the boat over the next month and head overseas ready to support the M4X should they need me.
Cheers John
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