Sometimes you have great days. Sometimes you have days that could have been better. And then there are those days where you wonder what you did to piss off your guardian angel. Today was one of those days…
It started with a early morning trip down to the hospital in Salt Lake City with Liz Stevens to get our blood drawn (to make sure our iron stores are high going into the racing season). And for those of you who don’t know, I have a major phobia about getting my blood drawn. I have trouble sleeping the night before a blood test, and then at the hospital I shake and cry when its my turn to give up the goods. I am suprised I didn’t break Liz’s hand as she was holding mine, because I could hear the nurse saying she was having trouble sucking the life out of my body. So after that stressful start to the morning we ate our breakfast in the car while driving back up the mountain to Park City to meet up with coach Pat, Noah Hoffman, and Evelyn Dong for a sprinting workout.
So once we got up there we headed out on our rollerski to do some sprints on a nice road that doesn’t have much traffic on it… only to be stopped by a security guard telling us it was a private road and we had to get off immediately. So we turned around and rollerskied over to a different neighborhood, and after half an hour we found a side road that would work well for our sprints. I was ready to get right into the sprinting, so I stepped up to the imaginary start line and had Noah start me. Ready, Set, Go! And I made about 3 quick strides before my quad felt like it had been struck by lightning. My coach said it was like watching a big track meet, when you see a sprinter explode out of the blocks and then immediatley grab their leg in pain and grimace in pain as they limp off the track.
My coach drove me to the US Ski Team’s Center of Excellence and I had the Physical Therapist check out my leg. I pulled my quad, and I am not supposed to use my legs for a few days to make sure it heals quickly. The good news is that its not a terrible pull. I didn’t lose any strength or mobility in the muscle, it just hurts. So for the next few days I will be using the double pole machine (maybe I’ll get to do some workouts with Morgan Smyth, who is recovering from her compartment syndrome surgery and has been the double pole machine master the last several weeks). I will also be doing some quality resting, icing, and compressing!!!
