Road bike + snow = broken elbow

So last Monday I decided that I wanted to get home quickly, so even though it had started snowing I chose to ride my bike home from school. Even before I got on my bike I was thinking “This is a bad idea.” But I didn’t listen to the little voice of reason in my head and thought “What’s the worst that can happen?- Probably fall off my bike and scrape my knee, no lasting damage. Plus its f*cking cold out and it will save me time.” Well I was riding along and I guess I hit a patch of black ice, and my bike went one way I went the other, and naturally, put my hands out to stop me. A bad idea, since I ended up breaking the radial head on my left arm (which is at the elbow). At first I didn't think it was broken, “Just a bad sprain” I told myself. After not sleeping all night because I was in so much pain though, I caught the earliest bus in the morning and got to the ER at Grand River at 6:35am Tuesday morning. One look at my arm and the nurse said “you’ve got a broken elbow.” So I filled out the necessary paper work, got some x-rays, and by 8:00am was leaving the hospital with my arm in a sling and a confirmation that the elbow was indeed broken. =(

Now two years ago I probably would have lost my shit and been super pissed off, because, as one can probably imagine, it is very hard/ impossible to do any training with a broken elbow. I can’t run or swim, and I can only ride the stationary bikes at the gym because they are upright (and having done a 2 hour workout yesterday can tell you that they make your ass REALLY sore). But I haven’t lost my shit, instead I am taking this setback in stride and doing what I can. I am upset that I can’t swim, since that was coming along so nicely (PB in the 800m last week- 9:59.9- under 10 minutes!!!!). But there is nothing I can do about it so will be back in the water as soon as I can. I am taking this as my time off from running, which I probably wouldn’t ever have done if it hadn’t been forced. And I am working on different skills on the bike that I wouldn’t necessarily have focused on. And of course, so much water running- my favourite thing ever (I say very, very sarcastically).  I realize there is no point in being pissed off as there is nothing I can do about it. A mark of a maturing athlete I hope. =)

The lesson to be learned here is that you should never ride a road bike in snow. =)