One Week to Go!

Well, 5 days until my first adventure race and I hope that I can achieve my goal of finishing in under 6 hours. Of course as luck would have it, I over exerted myself on Sunday, causing my Ilotibial band to inflame and lock up. I had a feeling this would happen sooner or later, as this is not the first time this has happened. I was just feeling so good, and the weather was so nice, that I could not stop riding. In fact, my race partner and I did near 45 miles yesterday (and I had done 25 on Saturday and 20 on Thursday). Looking back on it, I believe that it was the three trips up the 1/4 mile hill on Hines drive (Just past 5 mile) that did me in. You see, I use this hill as a training mechanism because it is long and just the right grade. Plus, you can get going over 40 MPH on the way down. Anyhow, I was going to only do it twice, but my race partner went back up a second time and stopped at the top. Not knowing his plans, I figured I was supposed to ride back up to meet him (my 3rd time). It was a little tough and my knee started to hurt a little. So, after that, we started to ride home, and by the time we hit Nankin Mills, I thought I was going to pass out. I mean it really hurt, like driving a nail into my leg. Anyhow, We were still about 15 miles from home, so I just toughed it out and barely made it to my buddy's house. Anyway, I freaked out, as this race is really important to me, so today I called my Orthopedic surgeons office and begged to get in (explaining the situation about the race). Well, like any doctors office, there is rarely an same day open slot and the receptionist was offering me up next week. Fortunately for me, my father and the doctor are buddies, so he used his influence to get me in. Once at the office, the doctor injected my knee with an anti-inflammatory that greatly reduced the pain and he also gave me some drugs to take to keep the knee working during the race. We also spoke about surgical options to resolve this recurring issue, but like the awesome doctor he is, recommended me to go see his partner, a sports medicine specialist first. I am hoping they can find a nice permanent solution to this so that I can speed hike the Pictured Rock section of the North Country Trail in August. For now though, I am on a rest and ice regiment until Saturday.