Makin' Moves! Week 5

This past week has been a busy and exciting one. I studied way more than I would like to admit, took three midterms, and worked out longer and harder than I have since before my surgery. I am currently back in Steamboat Springs at the NCAA National Champs cheering on my fellow Utes. My team had a great day yesterday and Eva was crowned the 2010 NCAA GS Champion. Sofia and Anna had good showings and the guys attacked from the back. The Utes ended the first day of competition sitting in second place, great start!

I was able to add a lot of balancing drills to my regular workouts this week. I surprised myself each day with how much more stability and strength I seemed to gain with each nights rest. We have now started to implement more weight training and squats into my programs. I am comfortably able to single leg press 100lbs now, which I certainly didn't expect to be able to do for a few more weeks. I am also doing a lot of single leg balancing on everything you can imagine, from bosu balls to dyna discs. I am feeling great after this week, very strong, pain free, and extremely excited with the progress I have made so far. This week things have really started to feel natural again and I cannot wait for the coming days and weeks. I AM FIRED UP!

-Ryan

One Month Down: I was told this would be hard...

Well, here I am one month out from surgery. When I first found out my knee was blown I was told story after story of pain and suffering. I was told this would be the hardest time of my life to this point. I was told the story of a 225lb. running back crying on a daily basis. I was told the story of a tennis player who lost all faith in herself and never made it back to the top. I was told I WOULD BE TESTED. The first thing that ran through my mind when I was told how hard this was going to be was how minor this actually is. I am not in a fight for my life, I just have to deal with a few months of hard work. It has helped keep the entire thing in perspective and helped me to stay motivated.

I have seen pain and suffering before. An ACL tear is nothing compared to what I have seen first hand. I have seen friends' lives change after horrible accidents, a couple of times in fact. I have helped a friend through a recovery in which he could not get out of his own bed 7 months later to take a piss. I have visited another friend once a month in the hospital only to not be recognized each time for 10 months. I have seen accidents change close friends lives and have seen them be tested, really tested. I have been a shoulder to cry on for a 22 year old guy... multiple times. I have taught a 19 year old things he knew when he was 10... These guys were being tested. Every time I start to feel sorry for myself or think about how much something hurts I think about these two people that I know very well. Each of them will never be the same, but they both are now making the most out of their lives. They both have to live with their accidents and injuries every day, and will for the rest of their lives. I tore my fricken' ACL, BIG DEAL! This is a cake walk in comparison. If I am in fact being tested, I am glad I already understand how much worse things could be. I am rehabbing to ski again, these guys rehabbed to be able to hold a spoon and sit up in a bed. I have seen sweat pouring out of my friends forehead while he was trying to learn how to use his fingers 6 months after his accident. I have the greatest respect in the world for these two kids and they both are helping me get through this more than they could possibly imagine. I would just like to say thanks to Mitch and Josie, for showing me how to fight.

Alright, back to the me and my bum knee. This past week has gone very well. I have added new exercises and seen large gains in my overall comfort level. I am lifting, balancing, squatting, and have achieved full extension. Many exercises I thought I was not going to be able to perform for another month are being added daily with no pain. My knee is progressing very well and I am excited each day when I am able to push myself harder and harder. Here is a list of the exercises that have been added this week:

Exercise Bike @ full-resistance, I am even standing doing intervals when I feel comfortable.

Bosu Ball Squats

Leg Press @ 85 lbs. (single leg)

Single Leg Balance(foam pad) while playing catch with med-ball

Sport Cord Walk Outs (around my waist) - each side and backwards

I have also started adding more and more resistance to each of the exercises I have been doing up until this week. My workouts are now getting longer and much more strenuous... I wouldn't have it any other way.

The big thing this week which has helped kick start my recovery is the biking. I had been spinning with no resistance for a few weeks now and it is great to be able to kick it up and really work now. In a couple weeks I will be able to start riding outdoors which I have been looking forward to for a long time.

The Knee @ Week Three

FLEXION


EXTENSION


LOOK MA, MY QUAD


I GUESS MY KNEECAP WAS UNDER ALL THAT SWELLING AFTER ALL...

A Couple Wins: One on the hill, another in the gym.

Right after I finished my last post I headed over to Howelsen Hill to watch the battle of the evening, the NCAA western regional final slalom. It was a great show, it really made me want to be back in the game. The guys race was pretty tough, there were only a handful of guys that gave the steep and difficult hill the respect it deserved and crossed the finish line with two clean runs. On the women's side things ran a bit smoother, atleast for my team... Anna brought home the win, she finally skied the way we all know she can. Howelsen Hill will also be the site of the 2010 NCAA Ski Championships which will be held the end of next week. It was really good for my teammates to get a crack at the hill now so it is still fresh in their minds when they go back next week and try their best to be national champs.

My knee is feeling better than ever, I know I keep saying this but each day it just keeps surprising me. I had a long workout today, broke a sweat, added some new stuff, and left feeling as strong as I did the week before surgery. My swelling is 100% gone with the exception of one small area on the outside of my kneecap. I am also walking around normally with zero pain, no limp, and no brace. I am even starting to not notice a difference between the two legs in everyday activities.

Today's Workout:

Normatech Compression- 30 minutes
GameReady Ice/Compression- 30 minutes
Spin Bike- 30 minutes
Shuttle Board Squats- 4x10 at full resistance(this is a giant leap from last week)
Single Leg Calf Raises- 3x20
Hamstring Curl(physioball)- 3x15
Hamstring Curl(machine)-3x10
Balanced on foam pad with resistance band behind knee while straightening and flexing quad(no name for this exercise, haha)-4x15
Quad Sets- 3x15
Straight Leg Raises- 4x10 holding 5 sec.
15 minutes of balance work (mostly single leg)
GameReady Ice/Compression- 30 minutes
Hamstring Massage (it's getting a little angry at me for making it work again)

Regionals- Steamboat Springs

Hey guys, sorry it has been awhile since my last post. I have a couple of midterms coming up so I have been burying myself in text books for the last four days. On Thursday morning I made my way over to Colorado to watch my teammates at their last regular season races. The knee has been feeling excellent and I am happy to report that my doctors and trainers have completely cleared me for walking with no crutches and no brace, pretty sick! It actually feels incredibly stable and is getting stronger and stronger each day. My pain is basically gone and I have been told I have made it through the toughest days of my recovery. I am now to the point where every single day I see gains in range of motion and stability, it is certainly exciting. Three weeks ago I never thought I would be up on the mountain walking around with no brace in the snow feeling comfortable and pain free this soon. The weather was great yesterday during the GS races, Julia and I found some lawn chairs next to a pool that was directly below the finish area, best seats I have ever had to watch a race! The sun was nice and warm and we both got some color. This morning we headed over to nordic venue to watch our nordic team compete for their spots on the NCAA championship team. The boys fought hard, making the race one of the most exciting I have seen. I am now back in the hotel watching the Olympic slalom on the internet and my pick for the win, Giuliani Razzoli, is sitting in first. Tonight the team is racing slalom under the lights at my favorite venue, Howelson Hill, last time I raced there I took home the win. Should be a great show, I just wish I were racing!

Doin' Work

Today was a great day, it was the best I have felt in one of my workouts yet. Due to the massive decrease in swelling we were able to add a few more exercises, including hopping on a spin bike! I am very happy my range of motion has improved quickly so I can finally start to get some quality endurance workouts in amidst all the knee stuff. Not to mention, spinning really helps my knee loosen up and feel better. Just a couple more months and I will be able to start riding up into the mountains, which are already calling my name!

Workout 2/22
GameReady-30 minutes
Calf stretch(towel)-5 minutes
Calf stretch(angle board)-5 minutes
Ankle dorsal flex(with resistance)-3 sets of 15
Ankle side flex(with resistance)-3 sets of 15
Prone Hang-7 minutes
Quad sets(with stem)-10 seconds on 10 seconds off for 15 minutes
Straight leg raises-3 sets of 15
Slide board leg press(no weight)-Up and down 15 minutes continuous
Spin bike(no resistance)-15 minutes
Foam roll hamstring curl-3 sets of 15
Ice/Stem-15 minutes

It was a great day in the gym, felt strong and relatively pain free the entire session. My knee is pretty sore now, but I am sure I will feel better in the morning.

Swelling Basically Non-Existent This Morning!

Minimal Swelling, Maximum Entertainment

Pretty quiet weekend for me, I have just been hanging out around the house doing my exercises and using the Normatech machine while being thoroughly entertained by the US skiers up in Vancouver. I really have no news since the last post except that my swelling has continued to decrease, thanks to the Normatech. On a different note, I would just like to share with all of you how impressed I am with Bode Miller right now. It is awesome to see this new mindset he has brought with him to Vancouver. It seems like hes a changed man, just doing this for himself. Its so sick to see him doing well again. Lets keep it up Team USA, crush the old records even more! ALSO big shout out to my buddy Miles Fink-Debray for crushing the Nor-Am SG at Aspen today scoring a 9.76! Way to go buddy, kick some more ass tomorrow!

TWO WEEKS DOWN!

Thanks to my PRB injections yesterday my pain level is the lowest it has been yet. I was able to make some large gains today in both range of motion and quad control. I did a long workout with Eric this morning and couldn't be happier with how I felt.

One last thing, my mom e-mailed me today reminding me there are only 1,469 days until the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia... plenty of time to be stronger than ever by then!

Here are some pictures from today-



Swelling way down and stitches removed



After some injections, gets pretty big and painful after those guys...



My life... The Normatech compression sleeve and our new 42inch flat screen.



The Normatech control unit which pumps 100 lbs of air pressure around my bum leg to get rid of swelling. The trainers trust me with this $4,000 machine each weekend, I hope this thing doesn't break!

Draining + Injection = Relief

FORTITUDE
for·ti·tude   [fawr-ti-tood, -tyood]
–noun
mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation courageously.

I awoke today to an empty house, all of my teammates have packed up and headed to Reno for the Nevada Invitational. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty nice to have the house to myself for a few days. I went to a few classes this morning and then made my way up to the orthopedic center with my trainer Nick. I had an appointment with my surgeon which was followed by an intense physical therapy session. Dr. Burks is very pleased with my range of motion and the minimal amount of swelling in my knee. We decided another round of prolotherapy was in order, the injection last week greatly relieved my pain for a few days so I was looking forward to another all week. As the team set up the injections Dr. Burks continued to examine me. He pulled, yanked, twisted, pushed, and prodded my knee... Tighter than ever, and it actually didn't hurt me that much. It was as if I just needed someone to grab that thing and put it in its place, its like the Doc somehow awoke my knee from its slumber and told it to get its ass into gear! The injection hurt a bit more this week, I think because the nerves have started to work properly again, finally. After the injection was finished I set up another appointment with Burks for 3 weeks down the road and was told I could start weight-bearing, still with crutches, but weight bearing none the less.

We headed down the hallway to PT and started what would turn out to be a pretty brutal workout. We first took measurements and assessed the swelling. Both have improved tremendously since my last visit. Then I did a few quad sets and straight-leg raises under my own power. Then the real fun began... My therapist hooked my quadriceps muscle (in six different locations)up to stem. It was set to engage in waves, ten seconds on, ten seconds off. When the stem is fully engaged it sends electric impulses into my muscles firing them, causing my muscles to flex far more than I am capable of doing under my own power at this point. You get slightly used to it after a bit, but it is very painful. It basically feels like the worst cramping I have ever experienced. Anyway, the stem would fire, then I would try and help fire my quad even harder, re-teaching my muscles in the process. For the first 15 minutes of stem I just focused on firing with my leg laying flat on the table. For the second fifteen minutes, every ten seconds I did three straight leg lifts. It was a very painful, but a very rewarding exercise. YES it took a long time, YES I was dripping with sweat, and YES it hurt like hell, but I was looking down at a thigh which I was beginning to recognize as my own. It was the first time I have seen all my muscles come out from hiding, it reminded me what was under all that swelling, and it showed me that I am going to be just fine. I worked hard on my flexion using a total gym doing one-legged body weight squats. I felt as if I could go deeper and deeper each repetition and really felt the burn in my muscles. By the time I had finished my total gym exercises I felt as if I just completed a max squat test. Pretty tough, but it showed me what I am capable of doing at this point. After we finished working on the knee I got on a stationary bike with arm handles that also gave resistance. I rested my hurt knee off to the side and did a very tough cardiovascular workout to end the day sweating.

My Evil Limb

COURAGE
cour⋅age  [kur-ij, kuhr-]
–noun
1. the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

The last few days have really started to test my mettle. They have been long, difficult, painful, and sometimes intolerable. Now that I am completely off of my pain medication and starting to exercise harder and longer the knee has started to tell me how much it hates me. Sometimes it is just a small side note, telling me that it is a little uncomfortable. Other times it seems as if my knee is no longer a part of me but another being that YELLS and challenges me to stop doing the things that irritate it. There are points in the day that the pain is minimal but they seem greatly outweighed by the times when I am in excruciating pain trying to push through one last set or one last stretch. I am sure I have now hit the point in the recovery that is not only one of the most painful but mentally the toughest. I have to look down at this thing, that in no way resembles my old leg, and tell it to do things that it has no recollection of ever being able to do. I am trying to teach my knee simple things and it just wants nothing to do with it, it just wants to rest. I want to do everything, I want to get stronger, I want to work through this pain, but it is as if I am now two people. One part, Ryan, who wants improvement and is doing everything possible to make that happen. And another part, my knee, who hates Ryan and does not want anything to change, just wants to remain weak and limp, and wants to see how much it can screw with Ryan. It is a frustrating time which is really starting to test me.

I am going back to my surgeon tomorrow for another check and to get another round of injections, which I have been looking forward to this entire week. After the meeting with Burks I will head down the hallway to meet with my physical therapists and examine how well my trainers and I have been doing our jobs. It feels as if I have made a pretty large improvement in my quad control so I am anxious to show the rewards of my hard work to the therapists.

for now until then,

Ryan

Olympic Motivation

PERSEVERANCE
per⋅se⋅ver⋅ance  [pur-suh-veer-uhns]
–noun
1. steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

Since the Olympics are now underway I finally have some good entertainment on the couch. Watching the opening ceremonies and hearing the stories of different athletes serves as great motivation to me, it always has, but this time it is different. I hear about injuries, hours of hard work, perseverance, determination, and reward. It shows me that all of these things that could have easily broken these athletes has actually made them stronger, hungrier, and more determined to achieve success. I love immersing myself in the games, not only ski racing, but every sport. I am a fierce competitor so I can really put myself into each athletes shoes and enjoy their successes and feel their pain when they come up short. It makes watching the games all the more exciting to me knowing that I am working to be there one day. I want to know what it feels like to be an Olympian. That is why I am determined to persevere through the tough times which have been set in front of me to achieve higher success than I have experienced in the past. I am just as motivated now as the day I wrote my first entry on this site, if not more.

Yesterday my roommates and I had a pretty lazy day, I had done a lot of work the previous day so I was instructed to just use my game-ready and take it easy. Today I woke up and hit the gym with my trainer. Today was by far the most flexible, strong, and stable my knee has yet felt. I actually added weight to some of my exercises. On Thursday my physical therapists was thrilled and told me I was way ahead of schedule when I bent my knee up to 90 degrees... Today I was at 72 degrees. A full 28 degrees in just 3 days is remarkable, perhaps a small miracle. I have been doing my exercises like a shaolin monk. Never missing a session and never giving anything less than my full effort. I'm sure I will hit a few speed bumps in my recovery process but so far I would say there is no way anyone could expect things to be going better.

Tomorrow I am going up to Park City to watch my teammates go head to head with the best in the country on our home hill. There are a bunch of guys who will be racing next week up in Vancouver who are in town for some warm up races. Should be a great show, I just wish I could take a stab at these guys in slalom... soon, I keep telling myself, soon.

Prolotherapy injections and physical therapy

Yesterday was again a very painful and uneventful day. I woke up and was wisped away to the training room immediately, because we planned on doing about 5 hours of anti-inflammatory work. The swelling had gotten worse from the previous day so it took a lot to get rid of it. After doing the usual game-ready, normatech, and hibomat treatments I was instructed to bring the normatech home with me and sleep with it in order to take an aggressive approach to this swelling.

Fast forward to this morning.. the swelling is WAY down, but their is excruciating pain down the front of my shin like I somehow broke my tib and fib overnight... So good in one sense, but very bad for my overall comfort level. The normatech pushes so hard on your leg that it actually bruised the hell out of my shin overnight and it now feels as if someone is constantly kicking me in the shin, not so sweet. The solution to that is to just delete the normatech from my regular routine and hope the pain goes away.

I went in to have my follow up appointment with my surgeon, Dr. Robert Burks, this afternoon. After having an x-ray taken to see how everything is healing the doctor came in to talk to my trainer and I about how it went. Apparently the surgery was a huge success and everything came together perfectly, my other ligaments are strong and my meniscus is 100% intact. Then he proposed an idea to me which could greatly help my recovery, Prolotherapy. It is a new technique which has not been highly used, in fact, I am Dr. Burks first patient for the new therapy. Here is a short explanation:

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and autologous conditioned plasma (ACP), use a patient's own blood to heal injured tissue by injecting the blood directly into the site of the injury. The principle centers on the fact that blood naturally rushes to an injury in order to heal it. The PRP process begins by drawing a small amount of blood from the patient, and then processing the blood in a high-speed centrifuge in order to separate out red-blood cells from platelets. Since the platelets release proteins and have exceptional healing qualities, the physician then injects about a teaspoon or so of the platelet-rich substance into the patient's damaged area in order to "kick-start" the body's own healing process. Doctors for major sports teams have been experimenting with ACP and PRP as an alternative to surgery to expedite the healing of injuries such as torn ligaments and tendonitis.

NFL players underwent the procedure before last year's Super Bowl and Tiger Woods underwent the procedure while recovering from knee surgery. All athletes who have used the therapy have reported a large decrease in pain and increase in stability.

Besides the fact that I am lucky enough to have been chosen by Dr. Burks to use this therapy, I will now also have his own "special interest" in my knee. Since I am the first person he has ever done the injections on he is very interested in the results. I am very lucky to be chosen for this and I am very thankful to Dr. Burks for his effort to get me back on snow stronger than ever. I will be having 4-6 more of these injections once a week, I really hope it is as good as it sounds.

After the team finished my round of injections I crutched down the hallway to the physical therapy office at the Utah Orthopedic Center. I will still be doing the core of my exercises and treatments in the U of U Athletic training room but once a week I will meet with a licensed physio to make sure I am staying on track. We started off by taking measurements of both my knee and my range of motion. I am actually slightly ahead of schedule, I am comfortably able to completely straighten and bend up to 95 degrees without the help of my hands. We went through many exercises which I actually flew through with ease. This was a real surprise to me because I really have been keeping it in my brace and have been told not to move it at all. I am able to flex my quad, see the muscle (its actually pretty big) and then do a straight leg raise with full control both on the way up and slowly down. I am really eager to start getting stronger now and regaining full range of motion. I am allowed to do my exercises at home also to my hearts content, as long as it does not start to hurt. All in all, today was by far the most exciting and rewarding day of my recovery to date. Stay tuned, its getting exciting!

Tomorrow I am going back to the classroom for a psychology exam so I have to take off and hit the books!

As always, take care!

Ryan

More Swelling...

Today was a rather uneventful one. I woke up pretty early to help get my mom on a flight back to Minnesota. Then I sat on the couch and watched TV all morning while I iced the knee. At 1pm Kristen, another one of my trainers, came and picked me up to bring me in for rehab since I can't drive myself yet. We started off with 45 minutes of game-ready to try and help my swelling suffice. Then when I was about to start on the quad sets and leg raises we measured my knee only to find that it was more swollen today than yesterday. In light of that we decided not to exert the knee at all today and just focus on the inflammation. I did Normatech compression for 45 minutes followed by a half an hour Hibomat treatment. Hibomat is a fairly new machine that sends electric pulses through the area being treated. It works by me holding onto a metal handle which sends the impulses through my body and the trainer, who is also attached to the machine, then massages the irritated area. It is a pretty cool machine, I don't know how well it works because it is a fairly new concept so I will see through results how effective it is. After training I just headed back to the couch to elevate and ice the night away... I really have to get this swelling down before we can start to make any progress, pretty boring. The plan for tomorrow is to do two sessions so lets hope the swelling is down by the morning. Talk to you soon.
-Ryan

Pain and Fruit Pancakes

Hey guys!
I hope all is well. Yesterday I woke up to a very, very stiff knee and a nerve block that was ready to bail on me and take all the comfort it was supplying to my knee away for good. That block works wonders! If you ever have the option to have one with a surgery I would highly recommend it. I literally had no pain for the first 48 hours, that is what made the last two days pretty tough for me. Within 2 hours of removing the block I was in excruciating pain and my attitude took a quick turn for the worse. I had been very optimistic that all these stories of pain and suffering were not going to be as bad as I once had thought. All I can say is that I was wrong. I had a few visitors to my hotel room yesterday which helped, and the delicious Italian dinner that my mom went and picked up at Buca Di Beppo didn't hurt either! I had a real hard time falling asleep last night but once I finally did I did not wake up at all, so the night was fairly successful. This morning my mom and I packed up the hotel room and went to The Original Pancake House for some fruit pancakes, which I think are a much better pain killer than any of the drugs I have, haha. I then went into the training room to analyze the damage with my trainers. I am actually able to see my quadriceps flex which is huge at this point. I never thought I would just be happy with seeing a muscle move but right now its a big win. I'll check in again tomorrow, but I think I have made it through the worst of the pain and it can only improve from here.

until next time, take care.

Ryan

Dressing removed... NICE AND SWOLLEN!

Sliced and Diced!

I finally had my surgery yesterday, and so far I think it was a success. I really haven't had too much pain yet because of the nerve block they gave me, which is nice. It has been a pretty relaxing process, I can't remember the last time I sat in bed for 2 days straight watching movies while being waited on hand and foot by my mom! It's pretty fricken' sweet! I think the procedure went really well and I am already able to flex my quadriceps. I am going to kind of let the pictures do the talking on this post to get you all caught up on the last two days. Enjoy!

Inside my knee-the big white piece in the middle is just the top half of the torn ACL
And here is my new ACL, looks goodLooks like I am going to have a few new scars to add to the collection!

My leg in the game-ready ice wrap. The little bottle is filled with the medicine that is going straight into my upper thigh which is blocking all feeling in my knee, without that I would probably be in a ton of pain... I am glad its there!

Back on campus, or should I say back in the training room...

Hey Guys,

I have been back in Salt Lake since Monday night just pluggin' away at schoolwork and continuing on my journey back to skiing. I have done a few workouts each day and my knee feels very strong. What I hear is strong into surgery, strong out of surgery... Lets all hope this is the case. If it is things are looking good so far for me. This week it has all finally settled as I begin to prepare myself for surgery on Friday. I have educated myself even more on the recovery process and feel I know exactly what to expect, the good and the bad. I am looking forward to gettin' sliced and diced so I can start the next phase. My mom is flying out tomorrow to assist me the first three days after surgery, it will be nice to have someone here to help out with everything. On a different note, my team left for Taos this morning to compete in the New Mexico Invitational, making me the only member of the alpine team still on campus. It is pretty weird having your team take off without you. It has been snowing a bunch in Taos so the race conditions will most likely not be anything near optimal. I hope our guys can battle through the soft conditions and pull off some good results. Next time I write on here I should have a brand new ACL!

Ahhh, my parents house for the night.

Hey guys!

I am currently laying in my old bedroom at my parents house, it feels great! This weekend went pretty well for my teammates, and I had a blast being back at a ski race. I was able to walk all around, up and down the runs with some big snow boots and my ski poles for a little support. My knee is now to the point where I don't even notice it during everyday activities. That, of course, will all change on Friday morning when I am scheduled to go under the knife. I had lots of people this weekend, racers and coaches, who have torn their ACL in the past giving me their advice and well wishes, so thank you all! I am actually looking forward to the surgery so I can start with my rehab. I know it will be a tough road but I am prepared to give it all I got and I am of course anxious to start this long process of getting back on snow. I'd like to congratulate my teammates Anna Kocken and Julia Wong for some excellent skiing this weekend, each of them were on the podium all four days of racing! Anna's name will now be engraved on the same Atmore Cup trophy that my name is already on, which is awesome. It was great to see Nick and Thomas really focusing on learning to get faster each run on these flat and fast courses. I am sure our team has benefited from this experience and I'm sure it will show next week at the New Mexico Invitational in Taos. Tomorrow morning I am having breakfast with my grandpa then hopping on a flight back to Salt Lake to prep for my surgery. Talk to you soon.

-Ryan

FREEZING in Minnesota

Hey guys!

To the left is a picture of me getting ready for my flight on Wednesday morning in the training room, we did some game-ready and normatech then headed over to the airport. I am now in Lutsen, Minnesota and have watched some mid-am GS racing the last two days. The knee is feeling good, yesterday I walked all the way up the mountain despite the sub-zero temperatures to get closer to the action. The girls on my team did very well yesterday, Anna picked up bronze and Julia took home gold. There is definitely a little room for improvement on the guys side, but that is why we are here. The race hill is about the flattest I have ever seen so it is good for my team to be here to get the feeling for flats. Our training hill at home is very steep and challenging so you have to take advantage of every opportunity we are afforded that may help our gliding skills improve. After the race was finished yesterday I found a little workout area where I could spin and do some quad sets. Right now the second gs is underway and its very cold again! Hopefully the boys step it up a little today and take home some hardware! This afternoon when the race is finished my teammates and I are headed to Duluth for a weekend of slalom racing. I'll update some more when I get back down to civilization and have a better internet connection.

Take care,

Ryan

Heading Home!

Today I had an early morning again, not for rehab though... FOR CLASSES. UGHH, I had a lot of classes last semester that really interested me and so far this one has been on the boring side. I know it will come around, I have been pretty preoccupied with both racing and now with my injury. I have become almost obsessed with trying to do everything I can for my knee that it has been the only thing on my mind lately. The good news is once everything calms down I will have a lot of time to just focus on school this semester which I am sure will help me a great deal in the long run.

Tomorrow I am hopping on a flight back to Minnesota and will enjoy the company of a few old friends and family members until Monday afternoon. This will be a nice time to just relax and let the whole injury thing settle in with me. My teammates are racing at Lutsen and Spirit Mountain so I am going with to get a little midwest flavor back in my life and cheer them on. Its going to be a little strange watching a ski race in my shoes from the finish area but at this point i'll do anything to just be back near the action. I am going to do some more therapy in the morning with the company of my new rehab buddy,and coach, Jaka. He tore his ACL two days ago and will be going through the same surgery and recovery as I am. It is unfortunate that it happened but it will be good for both of us to be going through this process together.

Today I only hit the training room once, because of my class schedule on Tuesdays. I did 30 minutes of Normatech compression, 20 minutes of Game-ready and stem, then hit the workout program hard! Today we amped up the plan a bit from the previous days. I started with quad firing sets and straight leg raises followed by 20 minutes on a spin bike for a warm up. Then came the fun... I did wall sits with a physio ball behind my back, 10 sets of 1 minute. This under normal circumstances is something I could do easily, but with a leg that is ready to shut down and quit it is not easy. I followed those up with hamstring curls on a physio ball and some balancing drills. I went through the program twice and was really sweating today. It feels good to know that I can start to push it a little bit. Unfortunately there was a little reminder that my ACL is torn right after I finished my last set of wall sits... Up until this point I haven't had any real problems with my knee giving out or feeling unstable. But after the workout my quads and hamstrings, which are helping me to be stable, were pretty tired and as I went to take a normal walking step my knee totally gave out and I was quickly reminded, with my face on the ground, that my ACL is in fact torn. Pretty weird feeling, not one I ever want to feel again. My trainer Nick wanted to make sure everything was alright and I nodded and walked back into the workout area and we went through ANOTHER set of everything. My feeling is when something like this happens it feels like a step backward was just taken so in order for me to move on with a high head I have to prove to myself that everything is alright. Doing that last set proved to me that I was alright and I left training today feeling strong and ready, instead of scared and uneasy. Well, I have to go to my three hour meteorology night class now, wish me luck! I am gonna try not to fall asleep this time.

Until next time, take care

Ryan

My first blog

Hey Guys!

First and foremost, welcome to my blog. The reason I am starting this blog is to keep everyone who is close to me up to date on the progress I am making with my recent ACL injury. It wasn't my first thought to start a blog but decided it would be a good way for me to look back on pictures and entries to see the progress I am making.

Now to get you all up to date on what the hell happened to me! I had just come off a pretty good race series and had some damn good slalom races in the past 3 weeks. I was happy with how I was skiing and pretty confident heading into the slalom at the Montana State Invitational. (race was held at Big Sky, MT). I pushed out of the gate furiously, confidently snapping off clean turns as I flew down the course. I remember being surprised at how well I was skiing and then it happened... I came out of a hairpin, made a great left footed turn, made my transition to the right ski and before I knew what was going on I was flying upside down and backwards through the air. I had underestimated how grippy the conditions were and hooked up furiously, tearing my right ACL in the process.

So that was last Sunday, 8 days ago. Now let me fill you in on what has happened since then.

On Monday I headed into the athletic training room back at school with what I thought was a slightly sprained knee. I was walking around effortlessly with no pain, had no instability, and no real concern about this actually being a serious injury. My trainer, Katie, had me do some ice/stem, game-ready, and the dreaded Normatech machine(which squeezes your leg to the point you are positive you will never feel your toes again, and then it goes tighter!) and followed that up with some stretching. As I was leaving Katie was scheduling an appointment for me to go in and see Dr. Powell at the orthopedic center for the following day... I still was not concerned.

Tuesday I went to classes until noon then headed over for some more treatment in the training room, at this point I was concerned with getting my knee to feel normal so I could race on January 28th. The treatment came to an end and Katie and I headed to the orthopedic center. I arrived and quickly got an x-ray. The Doc came into the room with the x-ray said everything looked great and then moved on to pulling my knee around in ways, that before that moment. I had no idea my knee could move. She looked up at me and with a very apologetic tone prepared me for what she thought my MRI would tell us the following day.... that my ACL was torn. She referred me to head downstairs and get an MRI. As Katie and I headed down to the MRI I was talking about how there was no way in hell my knee was wrecked while I skipped and hopped to prove my claims. I sat through the MRI I thought about what an ACL injury would mean... Would I ever be able to ski the same again? How long is recovery? What is an ACL anyway, I don't seem to need it if it IS gone!?

Wednesday morning I headed in for some more treatment in the training room, early this time, I think around 6am. Eric (another one of my trainers) and I went through the same routine again. Every time I went through these stretches and exercises the knee felt better and better and by the time I left the smith center and headed to class I was feeling pretty optimistic. Skip ahead to about 10:30am, i'm sitting in psych class and get a text from Katie telling me to come to the training room after class and have a talk... I know what this means and I prepare myself for the worst. I get there and sit down with Katie and Eric and am told my ACL is torn. They both kind of seem scared as to what my reaction may be but I think I took it all pretty well. I already was scheming about my recovery the night before lying in bed, the doc had told me pretty straight up what she thought... I had researched ACL injuries until 3am on the internet and already had a plan to give this recovery all I have, and then some. I plan to come back from this STRONGER, FASTER, SMARTER, AND HUNGRIER for success than I have ever been. This is going to be a great turning point in my career, I am going to learn how hard I can fight. This is going to be one of the hardest journeys of my life to this point and I am ready, BRING IT ON!

Since we all found out that it is indeed the acl we have been doing hours and hours of rehab and exercising my quad and hamstring to prepare for the surgery. I have been in the training room twice a day for up to 3 hours a time working on my knee. I am very thankful I am here at the University of Utah, I have a great team of trainers, teammates, strength coaches, psychologists, and ski coaches that are all on my side and want me to come back better than ever. I'll leave you with my two new quotes for this recovery. BRING ON THE PAIN! and CHICKS DIG SCARS! I got a lot of pain commin' my way and a few nice new scars... Keep your head up, I AM.