Thursday, September 3, 2009

Revenge of the shoulder

It has been over six months since I even felt so much as a sting in my shoulder. So long ago that I almost forgot anything is wrong. Back in February I had another steroid shot and all has been well but about two weeks ago I started to feel small twinges of pain, especially after a hard swim.

Now I have a dilemma. Do I get surgery in October (as planned) and risk recovery before Ironman St. George or do I put up with the pain so that I am able to keep my swim volume high. The doctor says I will be back in the pool in 4-6 weeks and at about 8-10 weeks I should be feeling all normal. 4-6 weeks out of the pool is not going to ruin me. Is it? Living so sedentary might drive me crazy. I may lose some base endurance, but during that time I will not be specifically training for anything anyway. So by May I should be my old self again. Besides, a week or two off from training completely and then I can get back on the bike or go for a run. Maybe it will be just the thing I need so that when training for IM St. George gears up I will be fresh and excited.

Is is such a hard decision and one I have to make now. If I am having the surgery I will do it right after Longhorn 70.3. That is only 7 weeks away.

Its not that I am scared of the surgery. I am more scared by the prospect of recovery taking longer than it is supposed to. For now nothing hurts except every once and a while but I know that in a month it may be a different story and I will regret postponing the surgery again like I did last year.

2 comments:

Ryan said...

It is not just the swim you are going to be out for. Bike is more shoulder intensive than it should be, and when running you really need to be able to swing your arms without pain. I would hate to think you got the surgery without knowing all the ramifications. Things are going to be messy for a bit, whether you get it done or not.

Michael Clark said...

I have already put the sugery off an entire year so I am definitly not just jumping into it. I have thought about the shoulder and how it would effect my biking. I will probably be off the bike for a while but I figure i could do some trainer rides through the winter and that would not be too bad on the shoulder.