They Tried to Make Me Go to Rehab… August 24, 2009

I said no.. no.. no.

OK. Enough Amy Winehouse. And contrary to the song (which I don’t really like to be honest!), I am saying yes.. yes.. yes, and will be going to the gym for some intensive rehabilitation to try and sort out my knee troubles. I’m working with Ash Rohloff at Body Logic Active Rehabilitation to try and sort out my hip and muscle imbalances which are ultimately leading to my knee and lower back issues. I’m not quite sure I understand the physiology behind it, so I won’t embarrase myself by trying to explain it. I think the short story is that I’m all a bit out of whack.

So.. what does this mean? Well, in the short term, it means I’m limited to relatively short, moderate intensity rides so I don’t undo the gym rehab stuff. Unfortunately, this means that a few of the races I was planning on entering in the next few months are out the window, in particular, the 6 hour solo at the Haggis Basher in the middle of September, and 12 hour solo at the Timaru 12 hour race at the end of October. I’m pretty gutted about this and am quietly kicking myself for thinking that attempting to ride 12 hours solo on a singlespeed at the Naseby 12 hour race in April was a good idea – that was when all the trouble began (although I’m sure these imbalances have always been there – it took 9 hours of pushing a single gear around a course over and over to really highlight the problem!).

On the upside, the rehab will (hopefully!) slowly improve my imbalances and ultimately help my power output on the bike, and reduce (if not eliminate) my knee and lower back problems. It’s a matter of short-term sacrifice (no races or long rides for the next few months) for a long-term gain.

I’ll admit that this blog post is essentially acting a written reminder for me to follow Ash’s instructions to a T, and to not give up or give in to the temptation of riding at anything beyond a “moderate” intensity for the next few months. It’s going to be hard (and probably quite frustrating!), and I’m not looking forward to it, but I hope to come out better and stronger at the other end