Recovery

So I'm now eight weeks out from wrist surgery. I'll post a picture of my scar. Hard to believe something so small can cause so much discomfort. The good news is that my range of motion is slowly improving. Still not perfect but better than two weeks ago. The pain continues at the extremes of motion. Probably worse than when this started but it's early yet.

I'm not quite ready to ride my bike. The vibration and pressure are still too much. That being said I did set up the trainer in the pain cave. It's damn cold here so probably better to be in the garage anyway.

Visited Arizona over the weekend to watch the Ironman. It's the second consecutive year that I have been registered and not raced. Flu. Pneumonia. Cast. Surgery. A very productive year.

The race did a good job of lifting mojo. So much so that I registered again. I like to throw good money after bad.

Later

Human

As you might have noticed, its been a while.

Diet remains more or less intact.  Some days good, some not so much.

Bike workouts had disappeared, but the runs have been good.  Last trail run was 16 miles with 4000 feet of elevation change.  3:21, which is pretty good for a fat guy.  That was my last run for a bit.  I had surgery on my wrist friday.

I had the surgery done under block.  Arm was as numb as numb gets.  Hopefully the wrist issues will be better and i can get back on the bike.  Unfortunately, the block doesn't last forever.  Percocet doesn't agree with me.  Nausea abounds.

I'm buying a bike trainer and finishing the set up on my TT bike.  Training continues as soon as cleared.

On tap for next year......
--renewed coaching relationship vs. harassment by UltraWalz
--continued nutrition improvement
--Rock and Roll Phoenix, with my wife
--April is looking like R2R2R, more on that later
--June is Dueceman, followed by biking in Italy
--November is Ironman Arizona!!

I need to fill in the calendar a bit more.  If anyone is reading I would love some ideas.  This year I'm hoping for not more than 2 months between events.  Did I mention that percocet sucks?

rebirth

As you can see its been a long time since my last post. I have been remiss is all aspects of plans.

During the last year I lost my coach and shifted to an online forum based service. This for me was a disaster. I'm not a poster. Shocking I know. For me I want feedback and if I'm paying someone I don't want to have to search it out. So for now I will be self coaching and this will probably make me a better coached athlete in the future.

My diet had been going well until vacation where I fell off all the wagons. Dessert and wine are prominent in my daily vocabulary.

Todwy that all changes.

Alarm wwnt off at 4 AM. This time I didn't ignore it. And off for a run/walk. As I ease back into real training I will go slow and just repeat my week. I have been doing a fair amount of swimming and trail running but nothing structured.

Breakfast was a spinach omelet with avocado and some blueberries. So far the day is going as planned.

I simplified my life a little over the last months. I also took a technological backwards step. No longer can I receive email on my blackbery. I had become too available. Now I will read and respond to email once daily. It was nice last week on vacation. I'm interested to see how it translates to "normal" life.

Also. I'm moving to the mountains. We close on our new house on Wednesday. The house is totally off the grid. Solar and propane with a wood stove. The neighbors seem great so far. It will he an adventure for the family and I will have more to say on that I'm sure.

Flexibility and Retul from Boulder

As I sit here in the hotel, reflecting on the days adventures, I can’t help but recommend The Bradley Boulder enough (http://www.thebradleyboulder.com/).  I am in no way affiliated with the hotel.  The rooms were nice, breakfast in the morning, a refrigerator with water throughout the day, evening happy hour, etc.  On to the day.

Alan met me at Gordo’s home and we started on the flexibility.  Of all the measurements  I think I heard normal on at least two measurements.  I heard, HUH and ABNORMAL a couple of times.  I will post the actual measurements from both Alan and Retul.

Besides being not so distantly related to a crowbar in flexibility, my left side is a bit off from top to bottom.  Left wrist is abnormally flexible.  I have had wrist pain for about 18 months.  Several injections and a cast later, I arrive here.  I have added the old school ski bends on the aerobars and will be rockin’ those going forward.

The left ankle doesn’t move so well and the left foot is about a size or so larger than the right.  So I’m basically a mess.  My left side is very different from my right.  But......

Mat Steinmetz at Retul says, and I quote, “I don’t think flexibility matters.”  Take a deep breath Alan.  What he really meant was as long as you are reasonably normal.  Who’s normal?

The Retul process is very good.  Velcro stickers are attached at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist on the upper extremities.  Also attached to the 5th metatarsal, ankle, knee, and trochanter.  I think we took about seven or eight runs.  Each side was looked at under easy, steady, and mod-hard.  After our initial measurements, we changed the seat height (up a bunch) and back and took more.  We shortened the stem (120 to 100), and inserted a shim under my left cleat.  Alan then had Matt flip the stem.  One of the coolest parts of the bike fit is being turned 180 degrees while pedalling on the bike.  Not a normal thing but a much easier way to look at left and right than turning the setup.  Just turn the rider--cool.

These are the post files from the left side of the fit.  I’ll let Alan tell everyone what it means if he is so inclined.  Also, this was my road bike.  We have some good data and now will be able to translate this road bike data to the aerobike with Alan’s presto-chango software.  I will post before and after pics of that bike when we make the changes.

As is the case when visiting the doctor or taking your car to the mechanic, I had no knee pain at all during this process.  Not at the start or during the changes.  Maybe we have hit the holy grail, maybe it was placebo.  Rides in the future days will tell.

Of note, Matt said he didn’t recommend doing all rides on the aerobike.  Specific work yes, but not all.  Cervical issues, etc.

As luck would have it, there are no pictures to document this process.  My physique is not yet ready for prime time.  Big thanks to Mat and Alan.  And yes, I will stretch.  I hope to one day be as flexible as, well, just more flexible.  I can start back on the bike and hopefully there will be no pain.  Time to start mapping out a game plan for next year.

Meals....Dinner at Japango (http://www.boulderjapango.com) for sushi.  It was good, not sure if there are better in the area.  It was recommended by the hotel.  Lunch at The Kitchen Cafe (http://www.thekitchencafe.com) was excellent.  Dinner number two was Aji (http://www.ajirestaurant.com) and that was so-so.  Too much info about my meals.  Memories of my career as a competitive eater!!!! 

Health

Health is an unusual commodity.  You don't know what you've got until its gone.  And often we just take it for granted that it will be there.

I started this whole Ironman thing about two years ago.  I enlisted a great coach who put up with a lot of whining and whimpering.  I got up at the crack of dawn and did the work.  Everything was great until it wasn't.  Along the way there were good times and bad.  But progress was continuous.  Eleven months later I completed my first Ironman.  At present my only Ironman.

Problems.  One month before my race I started developing wrist pain.  No crashes, No falls!  Bike fit? Maybe.  More on that later.  I have also had a lingering knee issue, but lowering my seat seems to have made that better.

Health.  Four or five weeks out from the next race, and H1N1.  Pneumonia was the result.  I spent 3 weeks off of work.  In my line of work that is unheard of.  I'm still paying for it financially.  Health care reform doesn't help with expenses.  I digress.  Results were a long layoff from training of any type and a slow return.  The knee issue continues to linger, and the wrist resulted in a cast for the last six weeks.  Better? Yes.  But not resolved!  I'm giving acupuncture a try today.

Psychology.  Somewhere along the way I started to complain about balance.  Family, work, and training.  Its important to remember which comes first and is most important.  I became a little out of control, and someone smarter than me likened it to a "dummy spit."  You'll have to look that up.

I seem to be easing back into things and have started back training.  Ironman Arizona is again the goal.
Over the next couple of days I am going to Boulder to work on bike flexibility and fit.  Retul!  I will continue this journey and plan to write about the process.  More next week!