2014 Sucked! But I learned from it!
I am starting fresh for 2015 with a more optimistic view than last year. 2014 was a very rough year for me but I am glad it happened how it did. I learned a lot from my body and my brain.
Back pain, a serious concussion with PTCS (post traumatic concussion syndrome) and more back pain put a hamper on my training and racing.
2013 had been a great year for me and my racing results. I won a couple cat 2 races and podiumed a few times in the UCI cat 2/3 category races.
I was feeling burned out from all the training and strict diet I put myself through. So starting 2014 I was eager to ride more than the privous year in order to "go faster" in 2014. After a month off the bike in January I got back on the bike eager to train. However that was all blown up with the back pain I was having. After X-Rays, MRI's, Acupuncture, PT and massage therapy nothing was working.
I had a nasty abscessed tooth pulled in April, a week before my concussion and it was amazing! My back pain was gone!! Everyone thought I was crazy but I could tell something had been lifted from me after the tooth and the giant abscess had been cut out. The abscess was so large that the dentist was shaking as he pulled/cut it out of my socket!!
I did my first over 60 mile ride in 2014 the weekend after the tooth was pulled. 68 miles went by like nothing with NO back pain! I was stoked! I was back! Then BOOM! I crashed my mountain bike riding well known trails at Fountainhead Park. I got knocked out for 10-20 seconds, came to and dont remember being walked to a bench 20 yards away. When I do remember coming to, I had no idea where I was or how I got there. Thank goodness I was with the best of Friends Kimani Neilson and Jay Dove. After they realized I was pretty fucked up they called for the park to come pick me up in a Jon boat. My girlfriend took me to the ER and they did a CT scan and it showed nothing crazy.
After talking it over with friends I decided to not ride for a couple weeks to let the brain rest. I was having all kinds of symtoms anyway. I just felt loopy, had some pain inside my head when I would drink hot liquids. Overal scary shit!
My frist ride two weeks later bringing the HR up to 135 bpm I felt ok. The next day my brain felt swollen! My symptoms returned and felt worse than before. I started to have pressure in my ears! MORE SCARY SHIT! So I had an MRI done on my brain and saw an ear doctor to rule out anything crazy going on. Everyone said I was fine and just needed to give it more time. Hard for me since I am not good with having patience!
Thanks to the fine folks at http://concussion.buffalo.edu/ I was able to start working out lightly every day in order to re introduce blood pressure to my broke as dome! After a couple months of more and more light efforts I was feeling much better. I could get my HR up and have only minor symptoms return. During the entire concussion phase I really had no back pain. I assumed it was because I was not riding....
I started to train ride almost every day starting late September early October with hopes of racing late december and into Cyclocross Nationals. I was excited to train again! However the back pain returned! I decided to throw in the towel and consider quiting bikes, or quiting them for awhile until my body or whatever was going on could heal up completely. I felt like by trying to ride I would re injury the back.. It just felt like a cycle and I was tired of it. I was not happy. I was actually getting depressed!
During the first stage of back pain just before the tooth was pulled I had ordered a book by Dr. John E. Sarno, MD called Healing Back Pain. I had forgot I even bought it once I returned to the bike after my concussion. The book basicaly talks about how emotions, stress, anger etc can cause back pain. Your brain cannot handle the emotions and send the pain elsewhere in the body. It has been an eye opening read! I have since followed up with another book by Fred Amir, R.E.H.S called Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain. Its going well and my back has been feeling better and better every day!
1/17/15 was my first ride since mid December when I helped out at the new Occoquan Cyclocross venue. I rode only for a short bit almost 6 whole miles!!! (on a mtb) NO PAIN!
Remember you have control of your brain! Something I had never really thought about until reading these books!
dededos
germansingergirl
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
annaxmalina
theartofmadeline
tangentwithtanner
ellievsbear