hi there all coolrunnings and cooltriathletes..

I unfortunately had a cycling accident last Sunday and spent 3 days in hospital. I was lucky not to not break my neck (as it was very very sore) or not receive any brain damage....thank you my helmet which has now been replaced. I was thrown off right over the handle bars and onto my face...plastic surgery and skin grafts and 3 broken teeth....but hey, I can walk and talk and i am even ready to run and swim again.

My question: I have been training well for the Olympic Distance tri in Geelong- just 2 weeks away. I feel I have not lost any fitness as I was able to go for walks since leaving hosptial and I get my stichers out today..... some say I should not do the event, some say yes... what would you do?

I know I will have to ask the advice of my GP and I will, but does any accident like this compromise your immune system? I was pumped full of antibiotics and have had a general anaesthetic while under surgery...but now, 1 week later, i am surprised at how well I feel, just getting more tired that usual by the end of the day.

I will not be doing the event at my optimal, as I am still a beginner triathlete (but very fit runner). I really want to do it, as you can see....but getting back on that bike will be a bit emotional...

Advice please..

Gee, that's really bad luck, but you sound like you have the positive attitude to overcome getting back on that bike no worries. I think you should stick with whatever medical advice you are given, especially in regards to your surgery and the healing process. I imagine the swim and sweat wouldn't be too good for the plastic surgery and skin graft healing.
Good luck whatever your decision.

I think you should do whatever feels right for you, but keep in mind that, if you end up finding being on the bike is scary, a race mightn't be the best place to make this discovery.

I'd personally be writing to the race organisers and seeing if, given the circumstances, they could refund your entry, or give you a credit to next year's race, and then pick a new event once you feel better prepared.

It would be a shame to "just finish" when you have clearly trained hard to get ready for the race. It would also be a shame to push your body too soon after what is clearly a very bad accident.

But what would I know - your body, your choice. If you decide to race, good luck with it, and have a ball!

A bit of a harsh question but MUCH more important in many respects is… How is the bike?
I got hit by a car 8 weeks ago, similar thing by the sounds of it – had a fortnight of being slow and a month of not being in full training…but my bike (which is carbon fiber) was written off when I took to be repaired. I have only just gotten the insurance money now. You may find that the bike shop won’t want you leaving with a bike that has been in a bad crash as they would be liable if the bike collapsed under you I think. Unless you have money to burn, you might find that it is tricky at best to get money from insurance in time. (Are you lucky enough to have a spare bike?)
This is the reason that I’m not doing the race. I’m not prepared to go in “under done” (still don’t actually have a bike :angry: ) (I’m also a beginner) I might just do the Brooks one though to get one last race in for the season. I have a great and seriously expensive Periodontist if you want his details (thank god for TAC!) Did they try to save your teeth? I had the pulp exposed on 4 of my teeth. Urgh!!

ouch!.. every time i get on a road bike i worry about such an incident, but luckily have never had anything more serious than 6 stitches in the leg.

i'm glad you're back on the bike asap, but i'd be worried about letting those skin grafts heal... the bay can have some pretty murky water on occasion.

healing would be number one priority to me, but you know more about your injuries than i do.

thanks for your replies everyone,

I have not actually been back on the bike yet, and the bike is in the shop getting 'a check over' - it intially seems OK. There was NO car involved so that means nothing is covered by the TAC (is this the roads department organisation?) so my repairs on my teeth are at my expense...several thousand dollars...

My plastic surgeon saw me briefly yesterday at the Outpaitents dept at Hospital. I asked about 'getting back to training' and she replied that 'nothing that gets your face sweating' and NO swimming for at least a week....as the skin graft may just start to peel off..

so I think I have to accept the fact that i will not be doing the triathlon in Geelong - olympic or mini..... I will be going anyway as my husband is doing the mini event and we have accomodation booked.

It is of course annoying, but not the end of the world, and there will be plently of more triathlons. It is just that I was at my peak of fitness..and will be hard to see others doing what I have begun to love.

You poor thing – how horrid – who would have thought getting hit by a car would be a good thing for me? (TAC is the Transport Accident Commission – what a large chunk of our regos go towards – have you seen the TAC ads?) I’ve got around 20 thousand dollars worth of repairs to be done on my teeth so I know how you feel (pain wise anyway)
I’ll keep everything crossed that your bike is ok – is it insured? – My new bike will definitely be insured!
I think you are making the right decision to give it a miss – you sound quite competitive (fast!!) and it would feel horrible to not perform up to your best after all of the preparation and possibly set yourself back a bit. (You sound much fitter than me, but my crash really knocked me around in terms of “real” training and getting back into full work- my HR did VERY weird things for at least 2 weeks!)
Good Luck – with the pressure to perform taken off, I would recommend taking it as easy as possible for as long as you can. Don’t forget general anesthetic can take ages to leave your system.

thanks so much trit-trot ...I am so happy for you that your dentist bills will be covered....at least that is one less worry.

Yes, i am competitive and it is hard to get out of the 'hard training mode'. After so much hard work, you can lose all that fitness so quickly. Being in hospital on a cancer ward (the only bed they had for me) was an eye opener......eveyone wanted my heart and lungs and my ECG was so unusual that the doctors came rushing back to ask me all sorts of questions - then realised I was quite competitive athlete (especially for a woman they said...gee thanks...??) and relaxed......my heart was pumping so powerfully, slow and hard. How cool I thought.

The scarring will fade I tell myself...otherwise I realised just how many serious sick people there are in hospitals. One poor man in the bed next to me had a major cardic arrest on my first morning there.....I was in totally shock...as the last thing he said was to me..'don't worry sweetheart, you'll be OK' and then I never saw him again.

Yes, how lucky I am........all of us who can run and choose to be fit !

OMG D-Runner!!! That sounds like a nasty crash. I'm glad you got out of it comparatively ok. You sound like you're healing up ok too. But I hope you get fully well real soon. I'm so sorry it happened at all, but to happen with your key race coming up so soon - I can understand how frustrated/sad you might be. Is there another race you can do in about a months time? But it's coming up to the end of the triathlon season is it? I was going to suggest that maybe you could see if you could join a team and just do the run leg, but then I read where your doctor said 'no sweating'. But you're so fast you wouldn't have time to sweat, right? ;)

Please keep us up to date with your recovery. I'm sure you'll be back to 100% in no time. You've got a great head start though with your positive attitude.

thanks Jo......you are always so sweet !! I cannot think of another race around the melbourne area in about a month.....so might just have to wait until next season.

thanks again for the well wishes. I am now concentrating on eating extra well - especially a diet that would help with skin renewal - I am drinking 8-10 glasses of water, I will up my intake of fruit and veg and I think essential fatty oils (fish - tuna etc) would be a good idea.......any other suggestions?

Ask your specialist, but my plastic surgeon got me putting vitamin E oil on my scars about 2 weeks after the stitches came out- apparently any sooner is too soon as the lasceration hasn't actually healed properly. (I even now still have bruising coming out 8 weeks after the crash, but the swelling is going down and they seem to be getting better)

Ohhhh I'm so sorry to hear about your crash, you poor poor thing!!!! I'm a little worried about this sort of thing happening to me, as I assume everyone who rides regularly will have at least one accident in their riding life, and I always wonder when my time will be (kinda morbid huh!!). I've already had I think 4 "lucky" years so far!

I hope you recover fast, and I was going to say DON'T do the triathlon, so I'm glad you're not. My reasoning was that you want the skin grafts to completely heal, and sun, water, and people potentially hitting your face would not be good for it, and the healing of these are much more important than one triathlon. If you were looking to win the race and get millions of dollars in prize money, then that would be a different story :)

I also think you should not race until you know you're confident on the bike again. If something /someone startles you, it could mean bad things for you and others around you!

I hope you recover well, I hope the bike is ok, and you're able to get back on it soon enough.

Happy riding!

that is a very valid point about people potentially hitting me on the face in the swim leg, Just Tri it.....thank you....I had not thought of that (silly me).

and thank you for the suggestion of the Vitamin E oil - I will ask the surgeon next week if I remember and if she has time for me...

I use Eleusian rosehip regenerative oil for scarring, and it has worked very well. I think Mum got it off TVSN.

If you buy vitamin E in the capusle form you can p***k the capsule and use the oil inside there. I think it is more concentrated. A few people I know swear by it.

thanks for this tank girl and Rachel...my skin graft is 'attacting' itself well I think...but I was told my injuries would not really fade for about a year...wow.

I am now feeling a bit lost and wondering if I will ever feel confident on the bike again. I have always rode a bike since I was little, but somehow a rode bike with proper tri shoes/cleats seems more daunting...I have never had some many accidents until I started triathlons and sometimes wish I could stick to running.

Problem is, I don't think I can....I have grown to love triathlons so much, it surprises me. I have improved so much in the swim and with a a couple of age group placings in only 4 races, I feel I am enjoying being relatively good at it too.

Part of me is very ready to get back on the bike, but so scared of having another accident as I was lucky this time - my sore neck still reminds me of the fact that it could of been so so much worse. And my dental bill of 5 grand is not something to look forward to.

Sorry, I know that there are other triathletes out there who have had accidents....what were your coping strategies ? I am allowed to do 'light training' (jogging) but it seems so boring. I think I will start to do some light weights as I have lost weight which I did not need to, and I think it may be muscle loss...

Downunder,

condolences on the crash - it certainly sounds terrible! For coping strategies, being at the end of the tri season means that you really can take a break for a few months. With the talent that you seem to have, you sound like you could start back seriously in July or August and still be 100% ready for the next summer, so don't panic in the short term, an enforced rest may be good and make you hungry to come back.

I don't want to give firm advice as it is hard to gague exactly how bad your injuries are and what they need to recover. However, at the end of the day you are the person responsible for managing your health and not a doctor. By all means, listen seriously to their advice, but my experience is that they play it safe and work on the basis that you are just an average slob. Sometimes it is worth finding a doctor who understands what you want to achieve - and put it to them that you are going to do 'X' despite everything, so what is the best way you can work towards that whilst managing the current injuries.