Pains and Gains of an Injury

​It’s been hot and humid lately which means summer training is in full swing! There’s a saying that "cross country skiers are made in the summer." A lot of time, work, energy and resources go into summer training so that skiers can be strong and fit for a grueling winter season of racing. This year, I really put an emphasis on my spring training so that I’d be ready to hit it hard in the summertime. I gave myself enough recovery after last season to recharge, but then started working in quite a few miles of running and biking early on. The first few interval sessions were brutal, but I knew they’d get easier and I would become accustomed to the pain again. And that’s exactly what happened! About three weeks ago, things started to click! I was feeling better and better in hard sessions, the big volume felt more manageable, I even squeaked out a course record on our SMS uphill running time trial course! 

The day I crashed and got stitches, settling in for a whole lot of sitting around (PC: Jessie Diggins)

Although, skiers love a good challenge and the world seemed to recognize that things were starting to click for me a little too early on. Last week, I headed out for an easy 2.5 hour skate ski with my teammates and things really took a turn for me. It was a gorgeous, Vermont summer day and we had just come off a recovery day so it seemed like there was lots to chat about from the previous 48 hours since we had seen each other. About 15 minutes into the ski, I was chatting and laughing with my teammate, Katharine Ogden, while we skied up a hill. All of a sudden, my wheel hit a little baby pothole that I didn’t notice and stopped moving. I was kind of able to catch myself as I fell to the ground and took a knee, only to lose my balance and somersault off the road and four feet down into the ditch… 

However, I got up, surprised to see no broken poles, didn’t seem to have hit my head and didn’t have any road rash on my legs! So I crawled out of the ditch and onto the road only to have my teammates look at me and point saying, “Oh no!” I looked down and saw a white, golf ball-sized hole in my knee, that suddenly started gushing with blood. :) I insisted on finishing the ski, it didn’t even hurt! Luckily, my teammates are all smarter than I am and convinced me I needed to go get stitches.

Keeping my leg straight and elevated everywhere I go.

​I soon realized that stitches in my knee meant that I was going to be unable to bend my leg for a while, due to risk of the stitches breaking or the skin pulling. There was also a huge risk of infection with it being so hot and humid and my job requiring me to be outside in nature so much. This meant my only option was the ski erg, a stationary double pole machine that helps mimic the skiing motions without needing to get on skis or roller skis. Sounds pretty neat but let me tell you IT IS BORING!!!

Sitting in the office all week (PC: Bill Harmeyer).

Here are a few of the pains one goes through with a peg leg for a week:​

• Staying sane on the ski erg: You won’t believe the mind games you can start playing with yourself when you’re really put to the test. Some ski ergs have games that you can play where you’re a fish and the shark tries to catch you. That’s entertaining for awhile but it turns into intervals which isn’t always what you want. So how do you pass the time for 2.5 hours on a ski erg? You listen to the most exciting music, thrilling audiobook or engaging podcasts. As soon as those get boring, you count backwards. I did a lot of backward counting last week.
• Showering: I wasn’t supposed to get my knee wet for 7-10 days and with the current weather in Vermont, you twitch one muscle and you start sweating. This complicated things. So, I had to use plastic wrap around my knee and keep my leg resting on the toilet seat while all of my weight was on my left leg while I shampooed. I can assure you I flooded the bathroom every single time.
• Trying to make your bed: I’m not sure why but I have an insane pet peeve about unmade beds. This was 100% not the case for me growing up, but these days I cannot leave the house until my bed is made. With a bed pushed up against the wall and having to keep my leg completely straight while I crawled around, definitely added some time to my daily morning routine!
• Peeing on the side of the road: After a few days of losing my mind on the ski erg I finally tried double poling on roller skis with straight legs (not the best technique but way better than a ski erg). Of course, every skier needs to take a pee break while out on the wheels for 2+ hours, but when you’re a girl and you’re supposed to squat with one straight leg… it was a challenge.
• Sore muscles: Now that I have essentially been double poling on the ski erg or roller skis everyday for over a week and doing only upper body strength in the gym, I AM SO SORE! Turns out I have sore muscles in my back and shoulders that I didn’t even know existed!!

Just keep erging, just keep erging... (PC: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images).

Here are the GAINS you get with a peg leg:

• You get to have other people do things for you: This is only somewhat true as I am much too stubborn to actually let other people take care of me. However, it was very nice to have Jessie and Wade around to help me with certain tasks. I came pretty close to needing their assistance with putting on socks but like I said, I’m stubborn so I made it work.
• Massages: Thankfully, our team works with a massage therapist, Anna Terry, who was able to come work out ALL of the creaks in my back and relax some of those muscles. Although getting a massage was something I used to brush off as if I were “too tough for it,” I have come to realize how beneficial they can be to prevent injuries or to deal with overcompensation from injuries.
• Double pole focus: I used to be a pretty horrendous double pole skier. It’s something that I worked on quite a bit last year and I believe I improved, but now I've been able to really zone in on this one technique and make more gains!
• Strong upper body: Through all of the sore muscles, at least it means I’m getting pretty darn strong in my upper body!

Jessie made me a delicious waffle breakfast for my birthday this week :)

Having teammates around makes it all just a little bit easier (PC: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

​All in all, I am very lucky with the injury I got. My crash could have been so much worse with a head injury involved or torn ligaments. I also have had relatively few injuries in my career (knock on wood). I have teammates who seem to constantly be battling with injuries and there are skiers who have had to sit our entire seasons or end their career due to injury. I’m feeling pretty thankful this was still a minor setback, but there’s not a great way to describe injuries other than that THEY SUCK! Of course, as soon as everything seems to be going well, there’s got to be a wrench thrown to keep you on your toes. But it’s good! It makes you question how much you really want to chase your goals. It’s easy to get outside and roller ski on a beautiful day, run through gorgeous mountains, and throw around some of the heaviest weights. But as soon as that’s all restricted and you can only move in certain directions, training becomes harder. It becomes monotonous. It requires grit. Cross country skiers love grit. I have found that the best way to deal with an injury is to rely on your support system. They are the ones who can encourage you to work through the sore muscles, but also persuade you it’s too soon to jump into intervals without risk of worsening the injury. Teammates can relate to you because we’ve all been through it, coaches can help modify workouts so you still get the work done, and your friends and family can send all the best messages to keep the fire fueled!

Thank you for all of the kind get-well and happy birthday messages!! (PC: Jessie Diggins)

Fingers crossed I get these stitches out soon so I can stop walking with a peg leg, rejoin my teammates and get back to doing what I love most!