Nearly four months has passed since I broke my elbow. The actual bone was appropriately named Radial head. The nurse said I did a really good job of it (breaking the thickest part of the thickest bone in the forearm) but that was not really much comfort at the time! I wonder if the slow rate of recovery is related to the fact I tried to get through the pain and doing a full day’s coaching before I realised how just how bad the injury was (after all when I first started 49er sailing I seemed to be routinely thrown against the mast at 20 miles an hour so I am used to a bit of pain!) Although it could be because I recently stopped eating dairy after discovering that I was lactose intolerant (previously I thought it was perfectly normal to have a little bit of wind first thing in the morning after having your milk and cereal!) Whatever the case there is still plenty of time for me to be back to fitness for the World Qualifiers in March, so hopefully my patience in not returning to exercise too early will be rewarded.

In the meantime I am working very hard: stretching every day and seeing the physiotherapist twice a week (when she is not snowed in). I have now had my last hospital visit and although the arm is far from fully healed it has now got to the stage where it is very likely to re-break. I have also been having regular acupuncture on the injury which I feel has really helped.

I managed to avoid having my arm pinned (a 2mm disassociation is border line for compulsory surgery). So although pinning would have speeded up the healing it would have most likely meant a stiffer elbow – something I really wanted to avoid. So now I just have a small “step” in the joint (you can see the break where the bone has been pushed out and down) but no more bits of metal in me (two is more than enough!) The good news is I am going to try sailing again next week (weather permitting). This has been the longest time I have had out of a boat for several years, so I am really looking forward to it although perhaps this time of year it would be a bit more fun if it were in Australia or somewhere else slightly warmer! However I won’t be getting back on the bike in the near future. I managed to fall over just walking down the street the other day, so I am not risking getting back in the saddle quite yet!

What I have been doing is going to the gym and using the stationary bike to do some aerobic work and get some of the injury fat off my body, so I can see my abdominal muscles again! It is certainly not the most exciting thing to be doing but it is all part of my preparation for getting back into shape for next year. I have been using a Polar heart rate monitor for this, which I have found absolutely invaluable in ensuring I am training at exactly the right intensity for exactly the right time. After all when you are limited to what you can do it would be very easy to over train on what you can do!

The one thing I have been able to get back doing is Taekwondo in Weymouth (www.kickdoreset.co.uk), although obviously I am not doing any press ups or punches but there is nothing stopping me kicking. This means I am now able to start improving my flexibility again and it is also a good explosive workout although I don’t wear my Polar heart rate monitor just in case it got kicked. Fingers crossed if I work hard I should be able to get my second belt next year!

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here