June and July 2013 - Training Totals

Completely forgot to do my June training totals, so here's June and July.

June:

Swim: 9h 28m - 28,870 Yd
Bike: 29h 6m 36s - 416.9 Mi
Run: 17h 2m 24s - 88.93 Mi

Of course, June includes IMCDA, a century ride, and some other long stuff.  My numbers look pretty solid, but something to keep in mind is that I pretty much took a week+ off.  

July:

Swim: 12h 40m - 35870.52 Yd
Bike: 15h 30m 52s - 212.08 Mi
Run: 5h 14m 27s - 22.73 Mi

Not too bad, considering I was still wiped out for weeks after IMCDA and with my broken toe, I couldn't run until last week.  So really, the run total was done in a week and day (with maybe some walking in there too).

For grins, I ran my training chart for April - July.

What's interesting is that June had my highest run volume, and that June and April bike distances were pretty much equal.  And I'm swimming a bunch, even in "recovery".

Recovery is going ok-ish.  I was sore for 2 days after my race, then I was ok.  But the fatigue was crushing at times - I was needing a daily nap for a week.  Two weeks post-race I tried swim practice and that was a HUGE mistake which made me feel even more tired that during my peak weeks of training.  Four weeks out I was swimming and doing some easy bike rides.  I tried to do my usual local hill route with my club and my heart rate was easily 10-15 bpm than it was during taper and I was dying.  Not a good impression to make on my club "I've never done a triathlon" newbies.  They kicked my ass and here I am with the Mdot tattoo on my leg and a 2-time IM finisher.  Fatigue and recovery are strange things.  I don't remember being this deeply fatigued after IMTX, but I pushed much harder for IMCDA and so it makes sense that the recovery is longer and deeper than before.

My toe is ok-ish too.  I started running a full month post race and fracture.  It feels ok when I run and is a bit sore afterwards.  I think/hope it is just tendons and ligaments getting used to movement.  This week is better than last week in terms of it being sore, so I think that's a good sign.

This month is about getting used to moving again.  I've had 2-a-day workouts twice this week, and my body and mind are like ugh, this again?  Well, yes, this again.  Because I've got a 70.3 in approximately 13 weeks.  And Ragnar in a little over a month.  

I realized that with IM Boulder next month (what's the official abbreviation for this?  I've seen BIM), my entire race season is the Boulder Tri Series.  I won't have time during May-June-July for any other races.  And if this year's recovery is any indication, I won't be up for racing in August or Sept.  That kinda sucks.  So I may be planning a fun vacation for late August as a distraction.  Perhaps coastal Alaska - we shall see.

The people who keep me injury free

I've had a pretty bad history of being injured.  And very randomly injured.  I've broken both feet while running, had shin splints and ITBS for very extended periods of time.  And a bunch of aches and pains.  I'm fortunate, this time, to have settled in with some really great people who help to keep me on track.  I spend probably too much money on this stuff, but I really feel it helps.  And I'm going to toe the IMCDA line injury-free.  Hurray!

Massage
I see Todd with Golden Hands Massage Therapy every two weeks.  I saw him initially in Sept or Oct 2012 because I had a groupon and I immediately knew that he was fantastic.  He really knows his therapies and isn't shy about really getting to the root of all my knots.  His massages aren't fun (in fact, this is a running joke with us) but they work.  Maybe after CDA I'll get a "nice" massage that's relaxing and stuff.  His pricing is also fantastic - $80 for a 90 min massage, but if you buy 4 you get the 5th free, making the price $60 for a 90 min session.  Sweet!

Acupuncture
I started to see Dave Kaplan of Colo Acupuncture Studio based on a recommendation from a friend.  Back in February, my hip started randomly hurting and I thought I'd give this a try.  I'm not sure the acupuncture helped my hip (I think the chiropractor did more to fix this), but Dave is really helping me in other ways.  I really don't quite understand what acupuncture does.  Dave feels my pulse, sometimes looks at my tongue, makes statements like my pulse is sluggish and stagnant, and then sticks a bunch of needles in me.  He strongly feels that my lungs are my biggest limiter (and after really paying attention to my body during hard efforts, I agree with him.  My muscles are rarely the problem, I feel like they could go faster.  Its my lungs and heart rate that are screaming at me to slow down) and we're working to make my lungs heathier.  He prescribes chinese herbs for the lungs and he's also got me on some herbal "tea" to help make my blood flow (which promotes healing) during and after my peak training weeks.  What also interesting, is that Todd will do reflexology on me and identify organs that aren't happy (usually kidneys - dehyradation, duh!, and my liver).  Without even telling Dave any of this, he will confirm Todd's evaluation and stick needles in me to help out these organs.

Its also pretty relaxing.  I know, relaxing with needles in your body is a weird concept.  I'm usually there ~1.5 hrs per session (we do a lot of chatting, he's a cool guy), and most of the time is spent lying on a table letting the needles do their "thing".  I generally fall asleep during this time.  Its awesome.

This was from last week, after weeks of peak training.  This would be a "lot" of needles.

I see Dave usually every two weeks, although we'll increase the frequency if needed.

Chiropractor
I loved, loved, loved my Houston chiropractor.  He was awesome.  I have had a hard time finding someone similar here in Denver.  I saw three different chiros before I found Dr. Jay Fullinwider, based on a recommendation from Dave.   Jay doesn't take insurance (boo) but he has package rates that work out to $40 a session.  He is extremely thorough and effective.  He even found that I had a rib out of place (!!).  As a bonus, he does some muscle manipulation and ART work, in addition to chiropractic adjustments.  I've been seeing Dr Jay every two weeks as well (sense a theme?).

Santa's Stampede 10k Race Report

This winter, I signed up for the local Winter Distance Series, which is a monthly race comprised of 5/10k in Dec, 5/10 mile in Jan, and 5/10 mile in Feb. I signed up for the longer distance of each race in an effort to keep me honest this winter. Last winter I signed up for the local duathlon series and I discovered that it wasn't nearly scary enough to keep me training. You can run 3 miles on zero training and bike 11 miles on little training. You can't run 10 miles with zero training. This forces me to run this winter, which is probably a good thing considering my heel rehab and IMCDA this June.


Registration and Packet Pick-Up is crazy easy for this race. If you register at Runner's Roost you save the Active.com registration fee. You can pick up your packet early at the RR store by my office. Or you can pick your packet up the morning of the race. Easy and stress free!

Will and I were doing this race together. He was doing the 5k (his first!) and I was doing the 10k (oddly enough, my first!). My hope was that we could run the first part together and then I'd go off and run the longer 10k while he turned around to the finish. Unfortunately, the race was not set up that way. The 5k was at 9 AM and the 10k was at 10:30 AM. Ugh. And we had a packed schedule Saturday with brewery anniversary parties and uncle's 60th birthdays, so we had to drive separate and Will took off when he was done with his 5k. Very fuel efficient (eye roll). On the positive side, this meant I got to play cheerleader for him and other people in my tri club. I had a big sherpa fail, though, as while I was set up to take a finish line photo, the camera had other ideas and went to sleep on me. That meant no photo of Will. Boo. Fortunately, the race photographer got shots of him running. *phew*

Very rare and never before documented husband while running

I was FROZEN after standing outside for 40 min during the 5k. I had on extra pants and an extra jacket but I was still frozen. It was ~30 degrees and cloudy, and boy does that cloud cover make a difference. I could barely feel my toes and once Will finished we both went inside to so I could defrost. Then I decided to hit the small expo and hand out my ~40 strawberry banana Sunrype Fruit Strips to people. I’m getting better at randomly approaching people and handing out free stuff. It is still a bit awkward but generally, people are happy for free stuff. By that point Will took off and I went inside again to warm up and get ready for my race.

 

This was my first running race since May, which was a half marathon that I PR’d and where I probably also broke my heel. I was both excited and a bit nervous for this 10k. For starters, my longest training run was 5.7 miles, had a HR limit of 142, and included 10 minutes of walking (5 min at the start and end). I had not run 6.2 miles straight since breaking my heel and I really didn’t know how this race was going to go. I had a pep talk from my coach and we were both thinking that my I was in much better shape than I thought I was. My race plan was:

• Eat a normal breakfast since the race wasn’t until 10:30.
• About 45-60 min, eat a gel (I had ~100 of some First Endurance Liquid Shot about 45 min before the race)
• Warmup with easy jogging and drills for 20 min before the race. Time it so I’m not standing around getting cold.
• Mile 1: go easy and hold back
• Mile 2: go a bit faster, but still not “fast”
• Mile 3: same as above
• Mile 4 – 6: Its go time. Go as fast as you can sustain.

Given that I haven’t run the race distance, and most of my training runs were at a ~12:30 pace, I wasn’t sure I had much speed. And I was worried that if I went kinda fast, that I could sustain it. Conservatively, I set a goal pace of 11:00 min/miles and a 1:07 race finish.

 

Due to some distractions (samples, freezing, visiting with friends) I got my nutrition down at 45 minutes before my race. That was maybe a bit late as I had some side cramps later on in the race. My warmup was also only 15 minutes, due to the distractions. Mainly, I was inside and warm and didn’t want to go outside into the cold. After some debate on my clothing choices, I decided to ditch my jacket but keep my gloves and headed out for my warmup. I normally never, ever warm up. And the idea of doing a warm up nearly 1/3 the total time as my race was silly to me. But those were my coach’s orders and well, she is the professional. So I did the warm up.

 

The race course goes along the South Platte River trail and is fairly flat. The only “hills” are where the trail crosses streets (bridges or underpasses) and one nasty hill at the finish. The path is concrete but there is some crushed gravel on the side, which I ran on when it was available.

 

I started towards the back, as I had no idea how my pace would align with the other racers. Holding back during the first mile was hard. I was getting passed and I wanted to GO. I held back as best I could, but in reality, it wasn’t by very much. I kept seeing paces around 11 minutes or faster, and my HR was around 160. A bit too fast. But I felt fine so I went with it.

 

Miles 2 and 3, I tried to latch onto some people with similar pacing but then that turned into me wanting to race people. I reminded myself to run my own race and to slow down (for now). Still got passed a bit and I had to remind myself that I would soon be passing people in a few miles.

 

Legs still felt good at the turn around and it was time to GO. My heart rate crept up into the upper 160’s which is higher than I wanted but my legs felt good and my breathing was fine. And I was passing people – finally! Around mile 4.5, I realized that perhaps I was running a bit too fast as I got a side cramp that was a bit stubborn. I tried some deep breathing and I slowed down slightly and that seemed to help. At mile 5 you could hear the finish line announcer and see the trail back into the race venue (and nasty hill) and I just pushed it as much as I could sustain. Run run run, remember to stay loose and have good form, breathe, and have fun. Up the nasty (but short hill) and to the finish. Breathing pretty hard and running fast, but I felt good. I found my friends at the finish and had my usual post-cold weather race asthma attack. Fun times!

post-asthma attack pic with Santa and friends

Did a bit of expo wandering, mainly for warm drinks. The coffee sponsor ran out of coffee (!?!?) and only had hot chocolate. I got a half cup (mostly to warm myself) and I went back ~5 min later and they had run out of that as well. Lame.

 

My cool down consisted of the walk to my truck. Probably not the best thing, but my legs felt fine the next day (skiing).

 

Results:

Time: 1:04:38 (10:26 pace)

Stats: 65/60 AG, 436/582 OA

 

Overall, I think I ran this race just right. Hard effort at the end, but no so hard that I hurt anything. And I was really pleased with my pace, as I was MUCH faster than I thought I would be.

 

Bonus: really good race photos. It doesn’t even look like I’m running….

 

learning how to run

Running is a complicated thing.  You think to yourself, you just run and its that easy.  But apparently (for me), its not.

I've been running regularly since 2008, so I'm not a novice.  I try to run ~20 miles a week.  My longest training run has been 16 miles.  So I should know what I'm doing.  Except, I just found out that I don't.

I have chronically tight calves.  They hurt.  And they make my right foot go numb.  I keep getting my calf worked on (dry needling, massage) to loosen it up.  Then a few runs later, it's like I was never treated.  I'm 99% sure my calf caused my heel fracture.  I was discussing my most recent calf tightness with my PT and she suggested I go and see her friend that does video running gait analysis.  We're thinking I'm doing something wrong (root cause) and that is causing all these calf issues and related injuries.

Video gait testing went something like this:

• run ~10 minutes on the treadmill at a comfy pace to get used to running on a treadmill
• run at above pace with your preferred shoes on while being videotaped from the back and side
• remove shoes and repeat video from the back and side.

I did not like the barefoot running.  Immediately I knew my left foot was misbehaving because with each step, because there was a SMACK everytime that foot hit the treadmill. 

After the treadmill video session, I was asked to do a few tests:

• stand on a box, balance on one foot, squat down and tap your heel on the floor down in front of you (evaluates glutes)
• balance on one foot and do toe raises w/out setting your heel down (evaluates ankle)

I passed the toe raise test but miserably failed the step down test on my left side.  Awesome.

After a prelim evaluation of the video, I felt like I got a D- in running.  I am STILL heel striking (in Newtons!  Imagine how sad it would be w/out them!) and worse, I am not engaging my muscles when I run.  Most people get nice and pretty calf contractions as they run.  I have calf muscles (I see them when I do calf raises!) but when running the back of my leg is smooth.  There's no calf contraction.  I'm also not engaging my glutes.  STILL.

Sucky.

So I have more PT exercises to work on.  And in 3 weeks I get the full video evaluation and corrective measures.  And I'm going to work with my normal PT to evaluate my neural transfer.  I master my PT exercises pretty quickly (meaning they become too easy) and I KNOW I have muscles.  There could be something weird going on between my brain and my feet that makes it so I'm not engaging those muscles.

I'm also working with a new triathlon coach, and she's introducing MAF heart rate training.  You take your target fat-burning-zone heart rate (HR) and set that as your maximum HR for workouts.  This teaches your body to use fat as fuel.  And I suppose it does something to increase your fitness, as it teaches you to run faster at a lower HR.  Eventually.  I'm skeptical, but at this point, running slower is probably good for me.

Yesterday was my MAF test, which consisted of the following:

• 5 min walk
• 10 min easy jog to warm up (during which my Garmin was FREAKING out, showing a HR of 180.  dumb technology)
• 25 min of running with a max HR of 142, keeping track of 1 mile splits.
• 5 min walking to cool down

I ended up taking splits every 1/2 mile because I wasn't sure I'd get in 2 miles.  I'm slow.  I was just hoping I could keep things slow enough  controlled without having to do much walking. The first lap wasn't too bad.  I had to focus a bit to keep my HR down, but it wasn't awful.  Same for the next lap.  The third lap required a bit more focus.  I was literally saying "slow, light steps" and trying to be very efficient and not waste energy to keep my HR down.  The last lap really required 100% focus.  Any momentary lapse and my HR zoomed up to >150 bpm, which required 5-10 sec of walking to bring it back down.

Essentially, it was a test to see how slowly something could resemble a run while keeping my HR down.  It was tricky, mentally.  But afterwards, I didn't have my usual calf tightness.  There may be something to this.

• Lap 1: pace 12:37, avg HR 141, max HR 146
• Lap 2: pace 12:50,  avg HR 142, max HR 145
• Lap 3: pace 13:22, avg HR 142, max HR 148
• Lap 3: pace 13:47, avg HR 141, max HR 153

I imagine that I'll be doing this test in a few months to see how I'm progressing.  Ideally, my pace will increase at that HR max. 

4 minutes

On Tuesday, my doctor gave me the all clear to start running again.  Honestly, I'm shocked.  I though she'd have me walk for a month and THEN build up to running.  Nope.  She said I could start running immediately.

I almost ran out of the doctor's office to my truck, in celebration.

The running plan actually ramps up pretty quickly.  In week 3, I will be running a mile continuously, walk for 3 min, and repeat 2 more times.  Given that my walk on Sunday (3 miles round trip) wiped me out, I'm going to wait until this Sunday to start the program and walk a few more times this week.  As excited as I am to start up, I don't want to rush into it and re-injure my heel.

After work on Tuesday, after a semi-long search for clothes and a debate over which shoes to wear (do I wear my cushiony [and blocky] Mizunos for support, or do I wear my Newtons for better form?  The Newtons won.  Mainly because I've been wearing the Mizunos daily for 5 weeks and I'm tired of seeing them), I went on a walk.  After some internal debate, I decided to go about 3 miles, walking 10 minutes and running for 1 minute.  I figured it was a good test to see how I felt.

And wow, those 4 x 1 minute runs were amazing.  It was the first time I've ran since the Colfax Half Marathon.*  I took the first 2 conservatively, focusing on light feet and midfoot running.  The 3rd run I tried to up the pace but it really wasn't there.  And the 4th one, I just wanted to keep it strong.

It went pretty well.  I can tell certain things aren't used to getting used.  My shins/ankles.  My hips.  My my heel felt GREAT.  I really was the best 4 minutes I've had in quite a while.  I'm looking forward to getting in even more of those minutes. :)

* Quote from my race report: "My feet hurt, which sucks.  I'm hoping that a regimen of 2 aleve every 12 hours for a few days will fix things, along with RICE.  This is fixable".  Oh the irony.  Yes, fixable with 4 months of being booted and doing nothing.  Crapola.

rebuilding

I can honestly (and finally) say that I am confident that my heel is no longer broken.

let me repeat:  After 4 months, my heel is no longer broken.

holy schmoley.

To get ready for IMCDA, and to prevent this from ever happening again, I am really working on rebuilding myself.  I almost feel like the Bionic Woman, only without the bionic parts.  I'm working with a physical therapist, a chiropractor, and a massage therapist to address all of my issues.  I want to get all the kinks knocked out now before training begins in earnest. 

Physical therapy is kicking my ass - literally!  Becky feels that my glutes are weak, so my calves have to work extra-hard to make up for that weakness, which in turn causes calf tightness, and in my case a broken heel.  Awesome!  We (well, me) are working hard to address the glute weakness and to also work on a few other trouble spots.  Daily, I get to do:

• a series of 5 pilates side leg lifts, 1 minute each (5 minutes total, per side)
• bridge pose, holding one leg up and out, 1 min each side
• face down leg lifts (2 types), 1 minute each type (2 min total, per side)
• 2 min of calf raises
• balance ball bridge pose (hold 10 sec) then roll legs out straight and hold (10 sec) to fatigue
• theraband front wide walking to fatigue
• theraband backwards wide walking to fatigue
• theraband sideways walking to fatigue (each side)
• 5 minutes wall squat (cumulative time with the goal to hold for 5 min straight)

This is HARD.  Wowzers.  However, I should have legs of steel from all of this.  Also: everyone I tell about the 5 minutes of wall squats looks at me and laughs.

I'm still searching for a good chiropractor.  The one I was seeing this spring wasn't taking my calf tightness seriously.  And I had to ask him to adjust my neck.  That annoyed me.  I switched to one closer to work who is sports-certified.  I guess there's a huge difference between knowing sports and being sports-certified, because this guy had no clue about any of the sports that I do.  He insisted on seeing me 2x a week "because I was tight" but never gave any indication of progress.  And when he asked me what activities I'd been doing (swimming and cycling), he'd tell me to quit undoing his work.  I'm not sure he was joking.  But honestly, I'm not doing all that much now and if he thinks I'm "undoing" things now... wow.  His speech mannerisms were also off-putting.  "Get on your tummy" instead of "lie face down".  When adjusting my back, when he was having a hard time he'd call me a "difficult girl".  It was creepy.  So I'm not seeing him anymore.

I had a groupon-type thing for a massage, so I used that on Friday.  Maybe someday I will get a nice relaxing massage.  But that day was not Friday.  He really worked hard  from my glutes on down to get knots to release.  I was pretty impressed, so I got 5 more sessions with him.  I need to get rid of these knots before I start training in earnest.

I haven't seen my doctor yet to get cleared for walking.  During our last visit, she wanted me to come back in 4-6 weeks, so I scheduled an appointment for 5 weeks.  I see her tomorrow.  My foot has been feeling good for 2 weeks now, so I decided to go for a walk to the farmers market yesterday as a test.  It's 1.5 miles each way... probably a bit farther than what the Doctor would recommend, but that's what I did.  Foot felt fine, but the rest of my muscles.....Wow.  I can tell that they are NOT used to getting worked in that fashion.  It was pretty sad, really.  Walking 3 miles round trip made me sore.  Damn.  But the foot felt fine, so that's the good news.  I can work on endurance.... slowly.

Finally, I hit a new bike speed max Saturday, on the hill by my house.  47 mph.  It was awesome.

physical therapy

So, last week's therapy was a bit of a wash.  I have been getting assigned roaming PTs (rather than getting a consistent PT or a PT that's right for me).  I had a feeling that last week's exercises weren't quite right, but I'm not the professional.  Last week, I was instructed to:

• balance on one foot with my eyes closed, 3 x 30 seconds
• calf stretch
• scrunch up the width of a hand towel under my foot x 10
• a whole bunch of ankle exercises with a theraband.  At first, I got an orange one and it was extremely easy.  I asked for something more and we went up 2 levels.  It was still pretty easy.

Last week's therapist quizzed me on the state of my calf muscle.  I am convinced that the tighness in my calf (which gets so tight while running that my foot goes numb) pulled on my heel bone so much that it caused the fracture.  I mentioned the my calf knots to last week's PT and she kept calling them "cramps" and quizzing me on my banana intake.  :eyeroll:  Thursday she actually touched my calf and only then did she say "wow, these are knots and they are not moving".  Yep.

Yesterday I met with a new PT (Becky) and she immediately began poking around on the bottom of my foot and noted that my plantar fascae is crazy tight.  She then commented on how that likely contributed to my fracture (ding ding ding!!!)  I told her about my calf and so now we have a bit of a hypothesis going.  I didn't have my calf problems until I moved here and had to run hills.  So my poor calves are freaking out trying to balance out some other muscle imbalances.  Becky tested out some other muscle groups and it was pretty sad.  Apparently I have no glutes.  She is a pilates instructor and I have done years of pilates, so we speak the same language.  The plan is to strengthen my glutes and associated muscles, which will help ease the load on my calves.  And then I get dry needling.  (ick)  But now I feel like I've found someone that is used to working on crazy athletes and knows how to properly treat them.  Hurray! 

So now, my PT exercises look like:

• scrunch a towel up with my toes and hold it 10 seconds x 10
• a series of 5 pilates side leg raises, 10 reps, 3 sets.  That's 150 leg raises PER LEG.  And I get to do that 2x a day.  This kills me.  Its seriously hard.
• modified bridge pose where I extend one leg straight at 45 degrees and hold 10 sec x 10
• pilates swimming (legs only) but slower.  one series of 30 reps is leg straight, the other is leg bent up at 90 degrees
• very slow calf raises x 30
• and my most recent torment, hold my big toe back to stretch my foot and then massage my plantar fascae.  I was muffling my painful whimpers into a pillow last night.  Holy crap, that hurts!

As hard and tedious as this is (its about 1 hr of PT daily), I think this is exactly what I need.  I knew something was really wrong and I needed to correct the base problem.  I think working with Beck should do the trick.

Baby steps towards recovery

I had a 1-month follow up appointment with my doctor last week, to see how the Stupid Broken Foot was doing.  This whole process is slightly bizarre, mainly because my doctor uses pain as an indicator of healing.  That's fine, unless you're me and the foot really never hurt much in the first place.  Sure, it hurt enough to limp, but it wasn't debilitating pain.  And because I never recognized the pain as "broken", I don't trust myself.  My foot still hurts, no where near as much as it used to, but it still aches.  Does that mean its healed or still broken?  Since I never thought it was broken in the first place, I simply do not trust my pain receptors to tell me anything useful now.

I was able to walk without limping.  And the pain is mostly gone. I no longer limp (unless I'm booted).  Based on that, my doctor De-Booted me and told me to start physical therapy and to come back in 5 weeks.  THEN maybe I can start to run.  Ugh.

I had my first PT session today and I wasn't all that impressed.  My legs are visibly different sizes.  I'm beyond cranky that my years of building these muscles are gone and I have to start over.  I was hoping to get some hard core exercises to re-build me.  Instead, I get stretches and balancing.  Apparently, balancing on one foot with your eyes closed for 30 seconds without bobbling is a skill that I need to develop for recovery.  Interesting.  Also: calf stretches.  Duh.  And my arches are flat, so I get to practice bunching up a towel with my toes.  I guess that will give me something to do while watching tv.....

I also met with a new chiropractor today, in hopes of addressing any biomechanical issues.  My evaluation was eye-opening.  I thought I was pretty bendy.  I am, when moving forward, like, touching my toes, doing pigeon pose (my favorite!), anything that involves bending forward.  When it came time to do the reverse - moving backwards - it was a no-go.  My hip flexors and quads are beyond ridiculously tight.  Awesome.  So, I have even more stretches to work on.

Stretching, moving towels, balancing with my eyes closed.  When can I start running???

4 more weeks

I got the results of my follow up MRI yesterday.  The heel is still broken but "may indicate some healing".  But good news, I have not made the fracure worse. 

No MRI photos to show this time, mainly because the image quality was CRAP.  Really fuzzy and not crystal clear like the first MRI was.  I think I make a pretty good faux-radiologist though, because I could still make out the crack with my own, uneducated eyes.  That, and I could feel the fracture while swimming.  That shouldn't happen.

So all these races over here to the right?  ------->

They're not happening.  Not a single one.

Another heel update

Here's the latest on my Stupid Broken Foot (SBF).

I've been in this midevil torture device for 2 weeks.  Yes my foot feels better.  No, the boot isn't any less painful to wear.  I honestly think the point of the boot is to make walking so uncomfortable that you simply choose not to walk.  Fun!

I've had several days in a row with no heel pain.  Cool!  I wasn't wearing my boot when we went camping.  Too awkard, especially with tripping hazards and uneven terrain.  And you can't wear a boot fly fishing.  So I went 5 days w/out the boot.  Yes, those 5 days count as part of my two weeks in the boot.  (ssshh, don't tell my doctor!)  It was a bit sore, but it was more like a reminder of "hey, you broke your foot, take it easy!" instead of the pain I had when it was freshly fractured.

I went to swim team yesterday... first time in over a month.  Swimming felt ok.  Flip turns were ok, as long as I was careful.  Fins were ok.  Freaking backstroke was most definitely NOT ok.  Shit.  Looks like I'll be pulling at swim practice instead of swimming.

Went to the doctor today.  Apparently the boot isn't supposed to be uncomfortable.  I fail to see how something that is a leather calf corset with a carbon fiber "shoe" is comfortable.  She wanted me to head back to the boot fitter and I think I'm going to pass.  I'm tired of using vacation time on this fracture and its a minimum 1.5 hr round trip visit to the foot guy.  I can tolerate this crapola for another week or so.  The doctor poked and prodded my heel.  Not the best diagnostic tool since the poking and proding didn't hurt when it was freshly broken.  I had her poke and prod my non-broken heel for comparison and they didn't feel much different.  Still, she's scheduled me for another MRI.  Its next Tuesday.

So..... running is still a good month off. Bad news: Rattlesnake likely won't happen.  RnR half marathon is iffy.  But she did think that a half ironman in November was feasible.  No fun.

New summer goals and busted heel update #2

Busted Heel Update
I have been fitted with what resembles a victorian or midevil torture device:

Its like a corset for my calf!  And about as comfy!  The black piece is carbon fiber, which sounds cool, but it hurts.  Every time I take a step, my heel clunks against the back of the carbon fiber and the ball of my foot squishes up against the hard egde on the bottom of my foot.  The idea is that you secure the boot as tight as you can with your foot ~1 inch off the bottom of the brace.  Then as you take a step, your heel is held up off the brace.

Honestly, I think the goal is to make walking so uncomfortable that you choose to not walk at all.  I have another ~2 weeks in this thing.  UGH.

Revised Summer Goals
In other news...... I have re-focused this summer's plan away from racing and towards climbing monster hills on my bike.  Last fall, I wanted to buy a used roadie but between convincing Will that I needed a 3rd bike (but they each do different things!) and grandma dying right before VeloSwap, I didn't get a roadie.  Now that my summer is askew, I started researching used roadies and settled on a few to try.  And I didn't really get any commentary from Will, because what was he going to say?  No, do not use your own money for a toy to play with while your foot is broken.  Really, this was my chance to get a 3rd toy without any commentary whatsoever. 

So, I present my yet-unnamed roadie:

Its a ~2008 Specialized Allez Pro with Ultegra brakes and Dura-Ace everything else.  Sweet!  I will probably put on aerobars and maybe get a new seat post.  I'm still figuring out the saddle.  It may need to be moved up and back a bit.  Or I may need a new saddle.  Not quite sure yet.

Potential names are Billy or Monty (as in mountain goat).  This bike will be a climber and I want the name to be some sort of ode to mountain climbing.

And now, my summer goals..... I have this nice pretty list of races here off to the right margin.  Most of those races aren't going to happen.  Specifically the three in July.  At this point, I will be lucky if I can run/walk Rattlesnake in August.  I'm downgrading the RnR to a half marathon.  And I'm thinking about doing the Oilman HIM in Conroe, TX (Houston) in early November.  Because I'm still pissed about Boise.

And then my big scary goal..... IMCDA in June 2013.  I knew the bike was challenging but I honestly thought it was a middle of the road bike course.  Some climbing but doable.  Instead, I have this to look forward to:


this is ONE LOOP.  I get to do this twice.

I've found that the hills are rumored to be around a 6% grade and ~5 miles long.  I don't know how accurate that is and it seems a bit steep, considering most Colorado mountain passes are at 6%.  I think its more like 4 or 5 %.  Hopefully.

Regardless, I have 5,000+ feet of climbing in 112 miles.  I need to get my legs used to climbing.

Therefore, my mission is to do loads of climbing this summer.  Get those climbing muscles developed this year so that training next year will be more about fitness instead of "OMG, THE HILLS ARE KILLING ME!"

There are several organized century rides this summer, mostly in Boulder.  And other mountain rides/routes.  This will be my summer of conquering hills, or at least getting lots of practice trying.

Broken Heel Saga Part 2

I made it into the specialist this morning.  It went ok.

She HATED my running plan.  Said that by only doing long runs every 2-3 weeks I put too much stress on my heel (even though I was keeping my weekly runs consistent).  I know she's the expert and all.... but this is exactly what I did to train for IMTX and I was fine.  She said I was just lucky last year.  pffft.  If only last year could be considered lucky.

They questioned my diet.  Do I get enough calories?  (1800/day isn't enough apparently?)  Calcium?  Vitamin D?  They want me to see a dietcian.  I probably won't because I honestly feel that I have better than average knowlege of what I eat and why I eat it than most people.

So, the details:

Walking boot is ok, but its probably not the best solution as it kinda concentrates the impact of each step onto my heel.  But it was better than nothing.

I am getting a fancy (read: ugly) custom boot made that takes the pressure off of my heel.  I need to wear this new boot for 3-4 weeks.  It was either the boot or crutches for 4 weeks.

No running for 2 months.  Obviously no running while I need the boot, and additionally no running for a month after de-booting.  Two stinking months.  At best, that puts me at mid-August.  So much for my race schedule in July.

But in the good news column, I can swim and bike as much as I like!  So there's that!  I'm still fairly crabby panda over this whole thing.  I'm trying to distract myself by shopping for a road bike and looking into century rides.  It still isn't what I had in mind for this summer, but its better than nothing.

:/

MRI

I am an engineer and not a radiologist or a doctor.  But here's my best guess of where my fracture is:

From the side, that spot is exactly where I had pin-point pain.  Also: its where I thought I had peroneal tendonitis.  See statement about about not being a doctor.  From the bottom, in addition to the really cool image of the plantar fascae tendon, there's a very scary and somewhat large line in the back of my heel.   Outside of my foot is actually on the right (this is a mirror image, I think), so the crack lines up with where you see it on the side-view of my foot.  And damn if that's a scary looking long crack.

So yep, definitely broken.

so, what now?

So yeah.  The doctor's nurse (or aide or whatever) called me at 4 yesterday saying they got the radiology report and my heel does indeed have a stress fracture. Or technically, a calcaneal stress fracture.

Damn.

Not too sure what else is going on with it.  The nurse had no idea.  Told me to limit all activity (WTF?  also: no).  I asked about swimming, she said she'll have to ask the doctor.  I asked how long I was down, she said she'll have to ask the doctor.  I asked if I needed to wear a boot, said she'll have to ask the doctor.

I appreciate the call to tell me that its broken, but shouldn't you have, you know, actual information on care? 

Needless to say, I'm switching doctors. I have an appointment with a doctor at CU Sports Medicine who researches women and stress fractures - the appointment is when we get back from Idaho.

And I busted out my boot from 2007.  When we moved from Houston, I nearly got rid of it.  I'm glad I didn't.  And apparently, they're ambidextrous instead of being "right" or "left".  Sweet.

Should I hear back from yesterday's doctor about swimming and biking, chances are for Boise 70.3 I will be doing it as an AquaBike.  I will swim and I will crush that bike course.  And then I will be a sad panda and hand my chip in.  As tempted as I am to finish the race, if my stress fracture turns into a real fracture, I'm in real trouble.  So I will be good (ish) and not run.

And what of the rest of the summer?

Well, I'm estimating I'm in this stupid thing ~6 weeks.  I have a sprint tri on July 7th.  Yep, that will be an AquaBike.  And an Oly tri at the end of July.  We'll see.  Oh, and a marathon in September you say?  With only two months on a freshly healed heel?  Nope, its out too.  Downgrading to a half marathon.  LAME.  And camping with a boot?  I will probably have to rid some sort of plastic bag over it so it won't get totally dirty.  And no hiking. :(  Very sad panda.

And now the question to ponder for the next month..... 2013 "A" race: Do I register for Boise 70.3 and kick its ass properly?  Or do I register for IMCDA and go for a bigger comeback.  

Questions to ponder, indeed....

its going to be a long 24 hrs

On May 13th during a brick run, I jammed my ankle at the start of the run.  It felt fine for the remainder of the 8 mile run.  I ran on it two more times that week and it felt fine.  I ran the Colfax Half Marathon and at mile 8, it started hurting.  I told the pain to go away and it did.  It started hurting more about a 1/2 mile from the finish line and I HTFU and finished.  And then it kept hurting.

My google diagnosis was perneal tendonitis.  I've iced it, taped it, taken 2x Aleve for ~5 days straight.  And it still hurts.

Yesterday I finally pulled the plug and made an appt with a doctor.  The visit was today.  He did some poking and proding.  He did this weird thing where he basically used a turning fork and put it against my sore area to see if that made it hurt worse.  It didn't.  He did say it was swollen.  And he also said he was worried it was a calcaneal stress fracture.  I needed an MRI immediately so we could rule out the fracture.  If its fractured, that means no Boise.  If its not broken, then I'm supposed to wear "well padded shoes" and see what happens.  Mkay.

I was supposed to immediately get an MRI at the imaging place downstairs from the doctor.  I waited there over an hour, after which they told me that I couldn't actually get scanned until 4 PM.  Lame.  I ended up getting an MRI close to the house, which was actually good luck.  It turns out that one of my friends used to work there (and got 2 MRIs for a stress fx there) so she knows the staff and some shortcuts.  Normally, you'd have to make a follow-up appt with the doctor to discuss your MRI.  My friend managed to arrange it so I can get the radiologist's report directly from the source.  So I have to wait until 2PM tomorrow to see what my fate holds.

I'm not sure what's better.  A broken foot and knowing I can't run on it.  (again....)  Or a not-broken foot and trying to run on it when it hurts.