Two steps back

It's been a while since my last update. First, I've been real busy, and second, things have been pretty status quo on my arm, at least until last weekend.

Last week I went for my final appointment with my orthopedic surgeon. He took x-rays and said the arm is all good. He said I had no restrictions anymore. I think he should have given me restrictions because I overused it last weekend at camp and lost about 50% of my range of motion. It's about twice as better today as it was Sunday, but on Sunday I could only straighten it to about 90 degrees, as opposed to the 14 degrees my PT got me to the week before. Ooops. Guess I did too much.

This rehab is taking a lot longer than I thought. I'm not at full range of motion yet, and even though I'm cleared for strength work, I can't really do it yet until I get my range of motion back.

I also had another disappointment last week. I tried riding my bike outside for the first time. I just did a lap around the block, but I could tell right away that riding outside is still a long way away. I don't know how long, but every week I seem to realize that this was a more serious injury than I thought. Hell, Cadel broke his elbow and only lost 8 minutes today in the Tour. I must be some kind of wuss if I'm not even riding yet. I know that's not really true...

We had an athlete in town this weekend for camp and he's an orthopedic surgeon that specializes in hands and elbows. Super nice guy, but he gave me the real deal on my situation. He said matter of factly that this is a season ending injury. No one had told me that yet in such plain terms, not my ortho and not my PT. Hearing it said kind of makes me at peace. It's not that I'm a wimp for not working hard to trainer my ass off to come back and race at the end of the season, the fact is it's going to take too long for the arm to heal and the 2010 racing season is over.

I'm ok with that. I'd prefer to be riding my bike outside even if I'm not racing this year, but I'm hiking and trail running now. I hardly ride the trainer at all. It's just not fun in July. I'm also not putting a time line on riding outside. At this point it'll happen when my arm is ready.