Casey Smith Biathlete: The Future: recovery and new training opportunities

The last few weeks I have been busy working on my recovery and trying to figure out what I am going to for training for the next year. I have made really good progress on both. For next year I have been accepted in the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (GRP) in Craftsbury, Vermont and will be leaving the Maine Winter Sports Center. The Craftsbury GRP has had an elite level cross county program for several years and more currently added an elite level biathlon program. With lots of program changes happening at the Maine Winter Sports Center I felt that making the switch to the Craftsbury team would be the most beneficial for myself and for my training. The Maine Winter Sports Center has given me lots of opportunity and support and really helped me progress as an athlete. You can read more about MWSC happenings here and here. I am really excited about the opportunity to join the GRP! More info about the GRP can be found on their website: www.craftsbury.com

My recovery has been progressing very well! Three weeks ago I saw Pete at Winthrop PT for the first time and could not lift my left arm more then one inch, yesterday I was doing overhead presses with 15lb weights in each hand. I have been seeing Pete 2-3 times per week, he has been helping me break up the scar tissue and stretch my shoulder and back in order to regain mobility. The quick progress I have made has been really cool to watch, almost everyday I have noticed an improvement in my mobility and/or strength. In addition to PT I have been exercising everyday. I started out on the sit down stationary bike but since have progressed through the upright stationary bike and treadmill to being able to run outside continuously for an hour. This is a long ways from where I was 8 weeks with 20 broken bones, a punctured lung, and hardly able to walk in the hospital.

At my last doctors visit I was almost given a clean bill of health, almost being the key word. After 8 weeks all of my bone fractures have healed pretty solidly and I can ease back into normal life paying attention to any pain that I have, especially in my shoulder. I cannot do anything hard intensity wise because of my lung and have to avoid anything that could leave me with a hard crash on my shoulder like mountain biking or roller skiing.

At the end of May I will be getting another EMG nerve test to make sure that the function is fully returning like it seems to be. If the results of this test come back good I will be moving to Vermont in the early part of June to begin real training.