Game On!

I went back to the ortho on Wednesday to hear the verdict. Truthfully, I was thinking not a stress fracture, as I had zero pain doing a fairly hard bike workout and just standing on the right leg was causing no pain. However, I continued to feel some pain around the ankle which I think is the tibialis anterior's tendon that is inflamed. Swimming--no problems. Biking, no problems. Elliptical--no problems, but I hadn't tried running.

Ortho walks into the exam room with the bone scan reading (I had brought along the pictures), and he shakes my hand and says, "You don't have a stress fracture." Much as I wanted to jump up and down, I just smiled, and said, "So, full weight-bearing OK?" He said yes, do some extra anterior leg strengthening for a few weeks (I actually plan to add a few exercises to my weekly strength training for this anyway), of course be cautious about ramping up too quickly (duh), and he noted that there is some degeneration in my left foot that I should probably have checked out. I did not know this! My guess is it's a hold over from when I originally tore my ACL way back in 1985. I have never felt like I was having issues with that foot, but it is probably prudent to get it checked out, and besides, I could use new orthotics.

As good as that verdict sounded, for me, nothing will matter until I can return to normal running. But on Thursday, I did the leg portion of my strength workout and had no problems doing it along with another hard bike workout. On Friday morning, I had scheduled 5500 yards for myself, but I was at the pool early enough that I had time for 6000 and was feeling great, so I went ahead and got a big swim done.

Mid-day Friday I went back to the Y to get on the elliptical. I thought I'd give my legs a break for at least this week which wouldn't hurt in the big scheme of things. I did 30' on the thing, and then thought, why don't I try some strides on the track? I did, and it felt weird because of how elliptical is way more hamstring dominant, but my quads felt fine, no shin pain whatsoever, but just a tad of right ankle. Oh well, no harm done as long as there is no increase in pain afterwards.

Which there wasn't. Yesterday it turned into a glorious day, and I was hoping I could ride outdoors since the times I can do that between now and March are going to be few and far between. I didn't know how my ankle would fare under real road conditions, though. Since I was adding a (relatively) lot of biking to the week, I decided to ride the MTB which would guarantee that I didn't push myself too hard. As soon as I headed out, I could sense I was going to be just fine. I ended up riding for 2 hours, enjoyed the hell out of it, and even stood up a few times with no ill effects!

On my plan, I had a 30' run scheduled for yesterday as well. But since I had plenty of other things to get done yesterday, I figured I had better get on it right away. The last time I ran after biking was...ROTPM! I decided I'd try actual running, and if it didn't feel good or right, I'd just call it a day.

Although my legs felt like cement because of not being used to biking before, and I had biked 2 hours which was my longest ride in 7 weeks, and because I have to run up hill from my house, it was entertaining. But my ankle did not hurt! I was just so happy to be able to run that I know I was smiling like crazy, even though I felt like I was hardly moving. But it was November, I was wearing shorts and a bra top and sunglasses, so what was there not to like? I decided I didn't need to run for 30' and that 25' would be just fine, and even though I felt SO slow on the way out, I ran pretty well on the way back home. I was just so happy that I could run and hoped I could go longer on Sunday.

Today we got the beautiful weather again, and I decided I'd drive to Greene Valley so I could run on the crushed limestone flatness. While I was sweeping up some pine needles in my driveway, my ankle didn't feel perfect, but it may have been because I was on asphalt, who knows? At any rate, the plan was to go to Greene Valley, plan on running for 1:10 if I could make it that long (and if not finish on elliptical), and then head to the Y to swim 1000 just for recovery purposes.

I started running and felt absolutely nothing in the shin or ankle right off the bat, and after about a mile, I was pretty confident I could do an entire loop (6.9 miles), and maybe even a little more. I got the whole loop done and headed out for a bit more to get in the full 1:10 of running, and ended up just over 8 miles total!

I guess I'm done with elliptical trainer now (truth is I can't stand it--worse than a treadmill), but I will continue to be conservative in ramping up the running between now and Goofy Challenge. I was thinking earlier this week that I might just do the half marathon, but unless something changes for the worse, I will be doing the marathon as well. Whereas I was doing a run 5'/walk 1' thing for North Face, fuck that, I plan on just running at Goofy so no more planned walking. Besides, I get plenty of breaks running at intersections. The Goofy courses are flat, flat, flat, and so there is no need for me to do all the hill running I'd done for North Face, which gives my legs a break, plus I will be doing plenty of treadmill running between now and then (unless we get very little snow which would be fine by me in which case I'll be running outdoors). Silly me for looking forward to another marathon, huh? But in the plan for Ultraman, I need to keep exposing myself to as much running (and swimming and biking) as I can handle without breaking down.

My ortho gave me a scrip for extra-strength Naproxen (Naprosyn, it's called), and I am taking it, and it seems to be doing something for me. I generally don't like taking NSAID's because they can mask pain that I should feel, but in this case, I am good with the 30-day regimen. I have been doing many things to test myself out to see just how recovered I am, and I'm coming along quite fine. I can do my ankle rotations now without any hitches or pain whatsoever. There is zero pain upon waking, and as I sit here post-run/swim, I feel fine, except for being a little tired, but I am happy for that feeling! I think that as long as I run on soft stuff (treadmill or my version of trail which is like carpeting compared to what I ran on 2 weeks ago) as often as possible, I will be good to go. My longest run pre-Goofy will only be 2.5 hours (maybe 2.75--we'll see), so I won't exactly be taxing my legs all that much compared to what I just came off of.

All good, I am just so happy that I am almost back to my usual self! After Goofy, I will be doing the indoor triathlon series again, which will be my only real racing next year before Ultraman. I decided not to sign up for IMFL 2010, as my cash flow is taking a serious hit already. I might do Silverman, I might not, I am just not going to think that far ahead. Besides, it would be enough for me to just do Ultraman next year. Cool thing is I found out and confirmed that my very first triathlon coach is also doing Ultraman! I still remember him telling me 9 years ago that I had no business doing an Ironman so soon (this coming from someone whose first triathlon was an Ironman), and at the time he was right, but I did grow into it, didn't I? And I guess now I am growing out of it in a way. I just don't know what I will want after Ultraman. Maybe a rest. Maybe an actual vacation without an all-day event in it. I have a big enough thing to worry about for now, and I guess I will just have to live vicariously through all the people I know who are racing.

For today, I am just happy I can run. And oh...


GAME ON!!!

A Week Later...

Last Tuesday, I got on my bike to try and go for a spin. I wasn't really in pain doing it, but decided 30' was enough, and when I got off, my right ankle was really killing me. So I decided I should go to the doctor to get checked out, knowing it would be primary care, refer to ortho and see where we go from there.

I didn't tell my PCP exactly what I was doing when I experienced the acute onset shin splints/ankle pain/whatever it was, just that I was running. Describing my symptoms in detail (acute pain, unable to walk without limp, redness over tibia) where I stressed I might have a tibia stress fracture, it was easy enough to get the ortho refer.

I went to the ortho on Wednesday, had the obligatory x-ray, which showed nothing, and got an order for a bone scan. The ortho I saw is really good--he pegged me right away for a competitive type, said he figured that if I'd never had a stress fracture up until now that my bones were probably in pretty good shape, but he recommended supplemental calcium/Vitamin D, which I am now taking. He told me to take this not because he thinks my bones are troublesome, but because he knows I want to stay competitive for many years. I told him I'd already tried swimming and it caused no pain, so he sent me off saying "if it doesn't hurt, it's OK to do." He said he guessed I probably have a stress fracture.

Note that on Monday when I tried to swim, it hurt to push off the wall because my quads were still so messed up that THEY hurt, not my shin/ankle. But on Wednesday I swam pretty much business as usual and it felt good, and I had no issues extending my foot, kicking was fine, pushing off the wall was fine. I scheduled my bone scan for Thursday afternoon.

I decided not to try biking again for awhile just because my legs are probably beat up from the 35 mile run anyway, and my legs could use a full week of rest. I did lift on Tuesday, but nothing to do with my legs. Upper body feels great, actually.

The bone scan was kind of fun, because I could see my bones on the screen as the gamma camera was taking the pictures. The picture above is me! I'm glad they did a full scan, because any issues with my bones will show up. The front of my ankle hurt that day, but I wasn't sure if it was because of driving and the position of my right foot, or all the walking to/from my car at the hospital (I went once at 3PM for the radioactive injection then back at 5:30 for the pictures). I won't know the final results until I see the ortho again on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I went ahead and researched aquajogging, in case I am relegated to that for a number of weeks. I found a pretty good program that would keep me run fit, although it would be boring as all hell. But if I have to do it, I will.

Since I am very familiar with minor aches and pains occurring over my musculature and trying to diagnose the cause, or at least the causal muscle, so I can do whatever body work and stretching to fix myself, on Friday I began in earnest to see if I could hunt down what is going on. A tibial stress fracture has the same symptoms as shin splits (or as it's now called medial tibial stress syndrome), and there are other lower leg muscles that can generate pain where I was experiencing it. Other than in the actual race, I am not having pain over the tibia itself anymore, but it seems to be lateral on the lower shin and then right across the top of the ankle, which is where a number of lower leg muscle tendons come in to control the foot.

My suspect muscles are tibialis anterior and the peroneals. Whether or not I have a stress fracture, these guys are pretty pissed off right now, so I've been doing trigger point work on them and also icing my upper shin, because no matter what happens, they need to be restored back to health. Oh, and I worked on my quads all week and while they aren't 100%, I am good up and down stairs and normal quad stretches. So that's good!

Yesterday morning I decided I try and go for a really short walk (.5 mile) to see how walking feels. I was fine for about 1/4 mile and then the ankle was not very happy. Good to know! I then raked my back yard again, which in retrospect may not have been a good idea to be on my feet like that, but at least it was soft ground, and at least I could use my right leg to tamp down the leaves in the yard bags! I get so excited for little things that I am able to do!

I headed to the Y for a short swim, but thought just for the hell of it, I'd try out the elliptical. Good news! I was able to use it with zero pain! I only stayed on it for 10', though, because I just don't want to push things this week. Still, I was happy, and optimistic that at least I could do this rather than aquajogging, and even if I don't have a stress fracture, 2 weeks of elliptical will be good for me to ease back into running.

I ended up swimming 2,000 yards yesterday, and I must be getting into swimming, because if lap time hadn't run out I would have swum more. When I got home, I made my (should be) world famous tuna salad that should last me a week's worth of lunches, prepped a roast chicken and answered the doorbell for what turned out to be far less trick-or-treaters than I'd expected. Which means I have a bunch of leftover candy, and I am just as weak as anyone, so I will put it out of sight where it will come in handy once I'm able to ramp up my training hours again.

Today I thought I'd try and extend the elliptical a little more, so I did 20', and was absolutely fine. I swam 1500 just because I am not doing anything else. And yet I'm a little tired. I think that I am probably more tired than I think and needed some rest this week anyway.

So what's my plan? Normal swimming, substitute elliptical for running this week, try biking again on Tuesday (fingers crossed!), see the ortho on Wednesday and go from there. Even if I do have a stress fracture, if I can get back on the bike, then effectively I will not need to adjust my training all that much except maybe weight bearing strength exercises. But I will ask about those as well, because there are so many different things that I do that for someone to say "off your legs" would be ridiculous. I will, however, honor my body, and its need for rest, and am prepared for this coming week to be a little lighter than normal. If biking doesn't pan out, I'll do a little extra swimming. Hey, why not, right?

Damage Report, Progress and Life

It took me about 12 hours to clean and reassemble my family (rec) room and laundry room on Saturday. In the process, I tossed out more stuff, and even cleaned out my crawl space. I was laughing at the point at which I took the vacuum cleaner into the crawl space! I ditched a bunch of beer mugs and pilsner glasses (or at least they will not be going back up on the bar).

Yesterday morning, I woke up and really began assessing the damage from my Saturday morning stupidity. My right shin has a big (5" or so) bump that will turn all sorts of colors in the following days. I have a little 3/4" gash there, too, and from the looks of it, I'll have a nice scar. Something to remember this period of remodeling by, I suppose!

Both of my knees got banged right in the kneecaps, too. I didn't know until I motivated to the Y to try and do stationary bike and elliptical that also my ass is probably bruised. The fall sequence went something like this: low back muscles pull to try and protect me, butt hits floor (effectively concrete), shelves fall on top of my knees and then hit my shins. I wish I could have seen the video! It all felt like it was in slow motion, and my biggest fear was how jacked up my back would be.

The good news is that when I woke up yesterday, I didn't feel particularly gnarly. I slept OK (for how I've been sleeping the past 5 weeks--been averaging about 6 hours a night) and didn't awaken to any big restriction of movement. But when I got on the bike, that's when I could tell my butt took a good hit and also my knees.

Oh well! I managed an hour stationary bike and an hour elliptical. Extremely boring, but it had to be done. I ended up getting in about 9.5 hours of "training" last week, and at least I got back to something consistent. This morning I'm going to give swimming a go, although I'll be careful to abandon ship if my back objects to twisting.

After my workouts yesterday, I hit up Home Depot, Target and the grocery store, since I had no time or energy left after Saturday's cleaning festival. I scored a bunch of hooks for the laundry room, a number of storage bins, and another pair of silver shoes (damn you, Target!). I finished organizing the laundry room this morning, and here are some pics. The floor mounted cabinets don't have tops yet because I'm ordering a green custom laminate, and I've got ceiling hooks where I'll hang my race wheels and spare tires:

I made the little ruffle. It's inspired me to hunt down a Henri Rousseau print for the empty wall.

Yeah--the washer/dryer are almond. I may have my guys spray paint them white because I know that eventually it will annoy me.

One of my topless cabinets

Yes, I have many helmets (aero helmet not shown) and many swimsuits

I know it seems silly to get so excited about a laundry room, but I've finally got places to organize a lot of my triathlon crap so that's it's not spread all over the house. Who knew I could get so organized like this?

This morning begins the upstairs bathroom remodeling, which I am very excited about--it's going to be gorgeous. Anyway, last week, I took the liberty of taking anything off the walls, emptying the vanity and tossing the drawers and doors. Here's the ugliness that is being demolished today:



That mirror? It is being saved!!! I'm having it mounted (sans frame) over the head board of my bed. I do like mirrors ;) It's 52" wide and about 36" tall, and there are no scratches on it. The idea of saving it came to me on Saturday in the midst of cleaning.

I have all my chrome for the new bathroom, and I'm such a geek that I took pictures of the pieces. The pictures won't do them justice, but you can get the idea:

Hand towel bar, toilet paper holder and robe hook

Tub spigot. I wanted a waterfall, but they don't make them for the type of tub I have :(

Shower head, control and spigot

Waterfall lavatory faucet and handles as if looking down from above

Waterfall lavatory faucet and handles as if looking head on

The hardware is just so beautiful! I know that once the bathroom is finished, I'm going to go in there and just watch the water coming out of the faucet!

I've already purchased towels, waste basket, etc. I was trying to design a funky black/white pattern for the tile floor, but I'm going to just let my guy do it white with some random black tiles, since there is going to be a lot of black in there! The black Kohler tub should be going in today, and I'll take pictures in progress as everything comes together. Assuming the furniture arrives this week, the room should be completed Friday.

This morning I'm moving my computers and minimal bathroom accessories downstairs for the week. In some ways, I've felt like I've been staying in a hotel, only I'm getting weekly room upgrades! Once the upstairs bathroom is wallboarded, I'll unroll the zebra carpet in the living room, as the dust will be gone.

In other news, things are looking good for finalizing the last piece of my Dad's estate. How cool is it going to be for me to have effectively a new house, finish that and be able to just, well, live? Pretty fucking cool, I think. It's going to be odd for me to have so much free time on my hands, but it's not like I don't have other things to do--Thanksgiving weekend will be spent doing the final leaf raking and cutting down and covering my rose bushes. And then it will only be 2 months until my first race!!!!

Now, if I can just heal up all these bruises and muscle strains, I'll be good to go!