Final Run before race & knee strain

Hello

Went to my doctor this afternoon.

Not looking good.  It looks like a torn meniscus in the right knee.  The back of my knee is swollen pretty good & it looks like some bruising.

I am stunned right now sitting here at work thinking that my first season of triathlon may be over after 1 race (16 August).  Knocked out 4 days before race two when my training was going so well.

I have another appointment in AM with a sports therapy group to get a second look at the knee.

I still have thoughts of swimming & biking only Saturday but wonder if I should just shut it down and turn my sights towards next year.

I am so bummed

Kevin

Sorry to hear about the injury so close to a race. 
I experienced a torn meniscus back in March of this year.  FWIW, I saw an orthopedic surgeon that is part of a sports medicine practice.  Initial diagnosis was torn meniscus, however he ordered an MRI to confirm...which it did.  Had the surgery April 1, stayed away from training for 2 months then slowly added it back.  Started with cycling first, then moved to light running.  It has healed well and I have had no problems.  Keep in mind, not all tears are equal.  Mine was text book tear, they cut out the torn part, did a few weeks of physical therapy, ice and rest.  Surgery was arthroscopic.  Also, after the tear was confirmed by MRI, I told the Doc, I had a 5k race that weekend, he said I could do it if I wanted because the damage had already been done and it was just up to me as far as pain threshhold.  Once again, everyone is different.  Docs are different.  I did a bunch of reading when I was going through this, and read where some folks were advised to take up shuffleboard after surgery.  I think it really has to do with severity of injury and the shape the person is in to begin with.  Strong quads are a plus. 
Bottom line IMO, is see a specialist such as an orthopedic surgeon who deals with sports injuries and keep a positive attitude. 

I had my 5th menisectomy about a week or so after my 2nd tri back in 2005. You have the rest of your life to train, but a limited window to fix this specific problem before it creates other problems in the joint. Just look at the post op timeframe as a time to improve your swim once you can get back in the water, then work in the bike post op once you're cleared for it. Return to running carefully. A sports doc will be able to tell you when is best. My orthopod told me I should never run again 4 years ago. He's right of course. But I like running, it doesn't hurt (much), and I'm don't seem to be getting worse (yet   )

4 years post op I'm running with little knee pain, no more than I had 15 years ago after my first (of seven total) knee surgeries.

Couple of things:

1) Lose what weight you can. I was 235 when I started back training in 2004. That first year of running was very hard. I'm 180 now, and I'm very nearly pain-free for 90% of my run training.

2) Learn what you can push through and what you can't. For me, the first 5 minutes or so are generally a little painful. After that it's fine. If it's not fine, I stop. Sometimes, I'll stop, go spin on the trainer for about 20 minutes, and try to run again and that helps.

3) Watch what surface you're running on. I am fortunate to have some high quality treadmills at my gym. I hate the treadmill. But I run on it 3 or 4 times a week because it's easier on my knee. For my long run each week I run on a grass trail.

Good luck. Remember it's year over year consistency that matters. One setback in one season isn't the end of the deal.