Cracked collarbone.

tunney

I was taken our of if it on the bike on Sunday by a bus and spent the time since in hospital. I'm our now with lots of cuts, bruises, stiches and a hairline crack on my left collarbone. Any opinions on the impact this will have on my ironman race in three weeks?

A reminded to always wear a helmet - I had a bad head injury but would be dead without my, now destroyed, helmet.

mloc123

Ah that sucks, are you still doing Austria?

RoyMcC

Blimey, best of luck for a quick recovery Tunney. If I were in your position I wouldn't be thinking about ironmen (if that is indeed the plural) for a while.

kennyb3

where did it happen tunney?

shels4ever

tunney wrote: »

I was taken our of if it on the bike on Sunday by a bus and spent the time since in hospital. I'm our now with lots of cuts, bruises, stiches and a hairline crack on my left collarbone. Any opinions on the impact this will have on my ironman race in three weeks?

A reminded to always wear a helmet - I had a bad head injury but would be dead without my, now destroyed, helmet.

Si!t ..hope your ok there, did the doc's give you any time for recovey?

--amadeus--

Ouch, that's really crappy especially considering teh mountains of work that you have put in. Fingers crossed you get back up and out pretty soon.

ladytri

God, that sounds horrific- here's to a speedy recovery Tunney!

Abhainn

Tunney - gutted for you man after all your efforts especially since start of 2009. I hope you recover in time for Austria.
You were probably just commencing taper this week.
Thanks for reiterating advise on the helmet. I see too many bikers wearing none these days.
It is the safety belt of the bike

tagoona

Really sorry to hear about that tunney.
I know you'll consider racing with the cracked collarbone, whatever the pain. However a shock to the system like that can take a lot of energy out of the body.
I know my training was completely useless for a week or two after I got taken off the bike once. Like 10-15% down.
Might just have been me, but you'll figure it out when you next get out there.
Best of luck

Stupid_Private

Sorry to hear about that. I'd a different bone break a few weeks back - fractured rib. Recovery time to completely pain free when running was just over 4 weeks. For the first 3 weeks I didn't do any speed work (that was more to do with the training plan at the time than the rib). I only missed a couple of days training with that. I stayed clear of pain killers so that I could tell if things were getting worse. For the most part the pain was a dull pain that I could deal with when running - like everything you'll know your body and what you can put up with. Any sharp movement resulted in sharp pain! For me swimming was the only thing I couldn't do. I don't swim much so it wasn't a huge deal - it took an extra week after the pain was gone when I'd run for me to be able to swim again.

One other thing... I drank avonmore super milk by the gallon for four weeks.

MCOS

Jesus Tunney, sorry to hear about that! At the very least you are alive, albeit beaten up a bit. The probability of having to pull out feels much worse though. Gutted for you. Here's to a speedy recovery.


I'd imagine 1 lap of the pool with a cracked collarbone would be painful let alone an Ironman! Depends on the severity of the injury, hopefully the Doc gives you the news you want to hear

Bambaata

ah man thats awful. i wouldn't pack it in just yet anyway. what's the doc saying? and is the doc involved in sport at all? I broke my collarbone in 3 places twice and was out for 6 weeks both times but fingers crossed the break isnt that bad. Been following u blog all the way so fingers crossed its not going to prevent you from doing it!

Hows the bike? I presume it was the P2C?

tunney

mloc123 wrote: »

Ah that sucks, are you still doing Austria?

That is the million dollar question.

tunney

MCOS wrote: »

Jesus Tunney, sorry to hear about that! At the very least you are alive, albeit beaten up a bit. The probability of having to pull out feels much worse though. Gutted for you. Here's to a speedy recovery.


I'd imagine 1 lap of the pool with a cracked collarbone would be painful let alone an Ironman! Depends on the severity of the injury, hopefully the Doc gives you the news you want to hear

Dcos' don't quite understand.

As far as collar bones go its a neart one. That being said not sure its neay enough for 3.8km in a wetsuit........ F*CKING RAGING. All that hard work for nothing.....

tunney

Bambaata wrote: »

ah man thats awful. i wouldn't pack it in just yet anyway. what's the doc saying? and is the doc involved in sport at all? I broke my collarbone in 3 places twice and was out for 6 weeks both times but fingers crossed the break isnt that bad. Been following u blog all the way so fingers crossed its not going to prevent you from doing it!

Hows the bike? I presume it was the P2C?

P2c, rolled the tyres breaking so hard.(and they were clinchers)
Shattered helmet and shades. Unfottunatley shattered shades ripped the sh!t out of my face.

Its a clean crack with no separation of bone, no sugery or plates required. don't know how soon I will heal but feel like crap, feels like a bus hit me, oh wait......

mloc123

Hopefully you'll be okay, if not I guess something like Eireman could be an option (not quite the glamour of Austria)? Would be a pitty to waste all that training.

Was it a dublin bus? Hope you got the drivers details.

tunney

mloc123 wrote: »

Hopefully you'll be okay, if not I guess something like Eireman could be an option (not quite the glamour of Austria)? Would be a pitty to waste all that training.

Was it a dublin bus? Hope you got the drivers details.

I was out for the count for a few hours no idea what happened never mind driver details!!! Seriously bad concussion. was like a vegtable.

mloc123

F*ck, thats bad. Hope it doen't knock your confidence too much when you are back fully fit.

Bambaata

have you had a chance to chat to your coach yet? Supposedly he's had some people under his wing in similar accidents in the past and thus might be able to comment from experience?

Thats some awful luck! But dont dispair just yet. Keep positive. If Lancey can do it so can Tunney ;-)

tunney

Bambaata wrote: »

have you had a chance to chat to your coach yet? Supposedly he's had some people under his wing in similar accidents in the past and thus might be able to comment from experience?

Thats some awful luck! But dont dispair just yet. Keep positive. If Lancey can do it so can Tunney ;-)

i've told him but not rung him yet.
This morning has been about moving job interviews....

shels4ever

tunney wrote: »

i've told him but not rung him yet.
This morning has been about moving job interviews....

Talk about a stressfull time, hit by a bus and then interviews.. Best of luck.

Racing Flat

Unlucky, mate.

One thing in your favour is that it is not a weight bearing bone. As such it is one of the better bones to fracture in terms of getting back to sport quickly. I'd say many people get these during contact sport, continue playing and never know they had one. Also, if the fracture is not near the articulation (joint) at either end (the sternoclavicular joint on the inside, or the acromioclavicular joint on the outside) you may be okay for Austria.

Obviously it will have to take the repetitive swimming motion, but if only a hairline fracture, this motion may not place any pressure on that part of the bone - you may well be lucky with that.

Maybe more problematic might be the bike - leaning down on your arms on the handlebars for so many hours, but perhaps you can give it rest by using different parts of the handlebars, cycling one handed occasionally (apologies, I'm fairly clueless on cycling).

So, IMO, you may well be fine. Best bet might be just to do all you can to recover now and then try it out a few days beforehand, to see if it can take the swimming and the cycling.

Best of luck with it.

MrCreosote

Real sorry to hear about the crash. I've been keeping an eye on the blog and you've put in a serious amount of training.
I think for a collarbone they usually say 6 weeks or so, but those are the one with a decent gap between the fractured ends. Hard to know really- only thing you can do is give it a few days and see how it feels with a bit of swimming and cycling. Best of luck with it!

lecheile

Sounds like a complete disaster Tunney - I do feel your pain .

I'm glad to hear that you had your helmet on and based on your description it sounds like it did the job. I had a spill off the bike last year that involved me somersaulting head first into a crash barrier and similarily without the helmet I probably would not be in a position to be typing today. I can't beleive how may people cycle without helmets - I have my 'wrecked' helmet hung over my bike in case I'm ever tempted to get on it without one.

Best of luck with the recovery.

kennyb3

Tunney,

By the way is there any chances this happened at the back of the airport on sunday morning?

tunney

was Sunday morning out towards the Naul.

Why?

kennyb3

tunney wrote: »

was Sunday morning out towards the Naul.

Why?

was just coincidentally talking to my boss who is also a cyclist, and he mentioned he saw the aftermath while out on a spin. said i thought i had an idea who it was, would hate to think there was 2 such incidents in one morning let alone one. said he hoped you were okay and that it looked nasty with quiet a bit of blood on your face. will mention to him your okay. feeling any better today?

tunney

kennyb3 wrote: »

was just coincidentally talking to my boss who is also a cyclist, and he mentioned he saw the aftermath while out on a spin. said i thought i had an idea who it was, would hate to think there was 2 such incidents in one morning let alone one. said he hoped you were okay and that it looked nasty with quiet a bit of blood on your face. will mention to him your okay. feeling any better today?

physically a liitle better, or at least more used to it. Mentally worse as the full impact of no Austria sinks in.

I'm getting all the stiches out of my face tomorrow so that will be nice. I was pretty banged up I wouldn't have liked to have seen that crash!

kennyb3

i know it wont be the same as you ve been focusing on austria for 6 months but any chance there is a similar replacement race you could target in 6 to 8 weeks or what are your plans now?

griffin100

physically a liitle better, or at least more used to it. Mentally worse as the full impact of no Austria sinks in.

.....at least you have the option of considering another race. From the sound of it you weren't too far away from never having to think about anything ever again.

From Tunneys blog on May 28th :
''On the cycle home the notion came into my head that if I went out on the roads for the bike aspect of my brick session I’d get knocked down.''
Maybe a new career on Irish Psychic Live beckons?

kennyb3

yeah i read that too griffin, thought it was very strange

mloc123

tunney wrote: »

Mentally worse as the full impact of no Austria sinks in.

Definitely out of it? Thats a ****ter after all the months training.

High&Low

Racing Flat wrote: »

Unlucky, mate.

One thing in your favour is that it is not a weight bearing bone. As such it is one of the better bones to fracture in terms of getting back to sport quickly. I'd say many people get these during contact sport, continue playing and never know they had one. Also, if the fracture is not near the articulation (joint) at either end (the sternoclavicular joint on the inside, or the acromioclavicular joint on the outside) you may be okay for Austria.

Obviously it will have to take the repetitive swimming motion, but if only a hairline fracture, this motion may not place any pressure on that part of the bone - you may well be lucky with that.

Maybe more problematic might be the bike - leaning down on your arms on the handlebars for so many hours, but perhaps you can give it rest by using different parts of the handlebars, cycling one handed occasionally (apologies, I'm fairly clueless on cycling).

So, IMO, you may well be fine. Best bet might be just to do all you can to recover now and then try it out a few days beforehand, to see if it can take the swimming and the cycling.

Best of luck with it.

I take it you haven't cracked/broken your collar bone! I never realised how much I used it until I broke mine, one of the most painful injuries I have had, although it did heal relatively quickly.

Hopefully the OPs will too

hunnymonster

Tunney, Really sorry to hear about the accident. I hope you recover as quickly as possible.

As for Austria, you know all the hard work is done which has got to hurt more than the road rash. It's probably unlikely you'll be ready for it but get a bike on the turbo and keep legs ticking over if they are ok. Last thing you want is to completely lose fitness. I've another mate with what sounds a similar incident 6 weeks out from IMUK last year (except without the facial reconstruction, just the collarbone badly broken). She got around but she was never out for a perfomance finish to start with so could take it extra easy.

You know there will be other races in the future for you. Would something like IM Florida in November be an option for you (I have some contacts with NAS races that we could pull strings for an entry, aer lingus have a USA sale at the moment) It's a fast race if you can handle the wind on the bike.

MarieC

Really sorry to hear that you are out of IM Austria Tunney but as the others have said it sounds like you are very lucky to be alive.

Best of luck with the recovery and hopefully you won't be out of action for long!

Seres

really sorry to hear about that accident , how unlucky for you , dont know too many people on the boards as commited as you , you must have alot of conflicting emotions though , relieved it wasnt worse , disappointed bout austria , hope recovery comes quick and an IM opportunity comes up again soon .

interested

I dont think I can appreciate whats going on for you right now Tunney but sincerely sorry to hear of that crash of yours.

From the story of the frozen water bottles during winter on morning rides on the N81 to more recent 5 hour sessions on the trainer I think its fairly clear you of all people deserved a shot at IM Austria.

Im no doc but understand the obvious need of shoulder strength, rotation etc for a 3.8km ow swim - albeit in a lake. And not knowing the extent of the break / fracture the following suggestion could be useless - so apologies in advance -

Have you considered get a loan of something like this
https://www.xterrawetsuits.com/shop-xterra/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=37 or a DIY on an old suit for the event next month ?

Hopefully the shoulder doesnt require anything more than time to knit - and Id imagine the man-with-a-tan will do everything in his power to help it recover ...

Anyhow - gutted for you - but I guess the facial scrapes will help break the ice at the start of an interview

jlang

Sounds awful, I know from your posts here and on your blog that you're putting in enormous dedication to this goal and I'm sure you'll do all you can to get back on track as soon as possible. Man v bus doesn't always end up with a recoverable injury.

I didn't want to post this earlier in the week but I wonder if you could reflect on the circumstances of the accident and any aspects of it that may have been under your control, and in particular could there have been a way to avoid it and/or any recommendations/hints for other cyclists to try to prevent getting into such a situation. I hope I'm never in a crash like that, but it's hearing about the experiences of others that has my helmet firmly on my head for when I am.

Good luck.

locteau

Hi Tunney,

I am very sorry about your accident, it happens to me a good few times in the past and do understand the frustration.

Regarding taking part in the IM, as a coach I would say recover properly, because a injury not treated properly can wreck next year season, or future events by just getting worst, but i am sure you know this.

As an athletes, especially with the preparation you had, paying the coach etc... and if everything is planned (plane ticket, accomodation, holiday etc...) I woul definetly go and try the swim and see how I feel then.

You are the only one to know how painfull it is and will be on the day, I agree that some doctors might not understand the sports, but their job is to tell you the safest and wisest advices, I am sure you knew you would not satisfy by the answer before even asked them

Anyway, it still early days, in a week, the scars bruise, pain will feel / look different, and your mind will be able make a better decision.

Good luck and let us know......

911sc

Tunney,
Very sorry to hear about your accident. I sincerely wish you a prompt recovery. Stay positive & you'll be back on the road in no time.
Best of luck

gombeen99

That's awful, really sorry to hear about your accident. That's the 3rd time this year I've heard someone thanking their lucky stars that they wore a hemet while out cycling, scary. I know that such an accident could happen anywhere, even the Netherlands, but as a nation, we really treat cyclists with contempt (and I don't know any of the details of your accident so I'm not specifically referring to that).
[sorry, a bit off-post but the attitude of many roadusers towards cyclists is a huge pet hate of mine!].