First Hike - Bamboo Forest

We have seven college girls from UC Santa Cruz staying with us right now. It is a fun, lively group up for just about any adventure.

Bruce and I took them to the Bamboo Forest hike in Huelo on Sunday and it was my first outdoor activity post-recovery. I was happy to go along at my own pace with Bruce and Anya (one of the girls who is also his second cousin) checking on me periodically.

This is a strenuous hike over slippery rocks with several climbing sections. I managed fairly well with a hand up from time to time and it felt great to be doing something active for a change!

I have lost a fair amount of fitness over the last three months, indicated by my sore quads and glutes from the hike and sore shoulders from carrying what was a relatively light backpack. But today I am reveling in the memory of what ended up being a great full-body workout!

My next (and hopefully final) doctor's visit is on Wednesday - hopefully I will get a pass to get back to full activity after a couple of weeks of PT.

Chilly!

Early morning darkness and a 57-degree air temperature heralded my return to the pool this morning. My coaches’ only comment was, “Well, at least it’s not windy too!”

It’s been almost three months to the day since I last swam with my Masters group. This morning we slipped the covers off the pool amid chatter about the weekend, comments on the cold (for us), and the merits and drawbacks of barefoot running. I was pleased to see the usual faces and it was nice to hear the concern in their voices when they asked how I’ve been.

I sat on the edge of the pool, legs dangling in the warm water, and pulled on my cap and goggles. I felt a small thrill as I slipped into the water and prepared for my first 50. I used an awkward, limping kick as I swam my first lap – as much as it is possible to “limp” in the pool – which smoothed out a little bit as I got my bearings. Much of my workout involved the pull buoy since I didn’t want to do too much kicking at first.

I am RUSTY! My back and shoulders are tired from loss of fitness and the effort it takes to retrain my stroke, but my legs feel pretty good although my left leg is definitely weaker. It’s going to take some time to get my left ankle back to its flexible self as well.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased that I wasn’t totally out of it and back to square one. We’ll see how I feel in the morning.

Packing my Gym Bag

FINALLY! Back to the pool tomorrow morning and back to weight training at lunch. I'm looking forward to packing my gym bag tonight. On December 11th it will be 3 months (and 5 lbs!) since I've done any kind of "normal" fitness program. However, I feel like I can call hauling myself around on crutches for a month one type of upper body workout - one that I hope I never have to repeat.

I miss my training regimen. Terribly.

I can't wait to see where I stand in the pool tomorrow. Wish me luck!

How Fitness Prepares You for Injury

As I started training for my first triathlon this year, I was especially careful to avoid injury. My fast-paced, A-type personality tends to dominate all areas of my life, and it led to overtraining and injury in the past.

I followed my training plan carefully, taking an extra day off here and there when I was especially fatigued. I made peace with the fact that I would be OK if I missed one or two training sessions. I watched my nutrition and hydration like a hawk and, despite a brief cold three weeks prior to race day, completed my race at my expected goal time. I was elated!

With no triathlons on the schedule until 2011, I planned a run-focused summer knowing that I really needed to build some mileage if I wanted to complete a half-iron distance race. Even though I continued with a moderate training load and continued to swim, I sustained another injury: a complicated stress fracture in my left foot.

While no one wants to be injured, this situation provided me with another reminder of how important it is to be strong and to not take our hard-earned fitness for granted. The skills I’ve developed as an older athlete: strength, balance, agility, have all come into play for me during this time, in serious and sometimes amusing situations.

Strength. Three weeks in a walking cast was not working, so my doctor put me in a fiberglass cast and took me completely off my foot. All of the swimming and weight training I’ve done this year provided me with a strong upper body which is critical for managing crutches. Strength also came in very handy when I had to practically vault over a fellow passenger who could not get out of his seat on a recent flight to Los Angeles.

Balance. You can’t use your hands to carry things when you are using crutches, so I have employed a series of different handbags with long straps to carry everything I need messenger-style. I’ve become quite skilled at balancing on one leg as I stow my crutches in the car, pull my bags over my head, etc. I exhibited my best balancing act, however, as I successfully hopped down the airplane aisle to the restroom without grabbing anyone’s seat, falling, or ending up in another passenger’s lap.

Agility. I am becoming quite adept at one-legged squats – critical for raising and lowering from a seated position. Yoga’s half-moon pose is ideal for reaching items I’ve dropped on the floor or for stretching from the shower to grab something I’ve left on the bathroom sink.

All kidding aside, I am thankful I have these skills to manage and remain relatively independent right now. Through continued core and upper body exercise I hope to maintain a reasonable level of fitness through this recovery period, which will probably last until the new year.

More Inspiration

When I got the news that my foot was broken, I panicked a little. I don't want a repeat of the epic slide I made 10 years ago.

I decided to be proactive and meet up with friend of mine, Suzie Cooney, at her fitness studio. Suzie is the instigator behind many of my friends taking up stand-up paddling through her free SUP clinics, she's somewhere around my age, and she has bounced back from injury with great results - a perfect fit for a personal trainer. Even though her injury and rehab we're much more serious than mine, I knew she wouldn't discount my concerns about maintaining my fitness while I am recovering myself.

Suzie met my expectations and more! In this intro session, we talked about my injury and my expectations, and she took me through a series of modified exercises that were creative and challenged me. One of the most important things, though, was that she reassured me that I was in good shape and despite this downturn, I would be able to regain my cardio fitness fairly quickly once I was able to bike or swim.

It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to some additional sessions to "check-in" during my recovery. I feel motivated, refocused and confident that I will come out strong and healthy at the end of this period.

Thanks, Suzie!

"Walking Cast" is an Oxymoron

It's more like "hobbling cast." For someone whose friends refer to as "the gazelle" this cast is seriously hampering my long-legged strides and fast walking pace. I'm not getting anywhere fast these days. It does, however, give me a new perspective as someone who is always playing catch-up.

Each day I find different reasons to be thankful. Saturday's reason: Chrissie Wellington, the favorite to win the women's division at the Hawaii Ironman World Championships in Kona, withdrew from the race and Did Not Start (DNS). I don't know the nature of her illness, but can be sure of one thing: it had to be something serious for her to scrap an entire year of training and racing and not compete in what was undoubtedly her "A" race of the year.

Sunday's reason: my mother-in-law's friend. This woman is going to the doctor tomorrow to see if she will even BEGIN to put weight on a leg that was broken in 5 places almost 8 weeks ago.

Every time I talk about taking the cast off "just to rest" or "just to sleep" or "just because it is driving me freakin' crazy," my husband reminds me to be patient. Take these few weeks as a well-deserved rest - do some things I don't normally get the chance to do like read, and BE STILL. He reminds me that the better I behave now the more quickly I will heal.

As I hobble off at half-speed today, I will remember to be thankful that I have a minor injury and a relatively easy recovery in the grand scheme of things. That will be my reason for today.

Regrouping

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but years ago when I was running A LOT I was sidelined with tendonitis in my hip. It started a downward spiral that lasted 40 lbs and seven years.

The culprit: overtraining.

So it became my goal this year, as I trained for my first triathlon, to be mindful of this tendency and listen to my body. I took an extra rest day here and there, got plenty of sleep, and watched my diet carefully. After you put in so many months of training to get to race day, there is a slight shiver of fear (or is it paranoia?) as you go through the final days preceding the race. I was always reminding myself to "be careful, watch your step, etc." Nothing like a twisted knee or ankle, or a shoulder pull to derail your race day plans. I think if I could have wrapped myself in bubble wrap, I would have!

Thankfully, I made it through my race injury free, and as I made my summer race plans I applied the same rules. Since another triathlon was over a year away, I concentrated mostly on running, with two swim sessions and some light weightlifting each week. Because I was in good running condition, I jumped at the chance to run the Hana Relay in September with a group of friends who had a team member drop out.

The Hana Relay is GREAT FUN -with costumes and a mardi gras-like atmosphere. It is a 6-member team relay from Kahului Airport to Hana Town, along the 52-mile, twisting, turning, climbing, descending, scenic Road to Hana. Each person runs roughly three, 3-mile legs.

About half-way into my last leg of the race, I felt a pinch in my left foot. It hurt for a bit, but went away and I didn't think much of it, thinking I had probably stepped on a small rock or some other debris. Two days after the race, I noticed some bruising in the area, but still did not have much pain. I decided to take the "wait-and-see" approach, and when the pain did not dissipate after two weeks, I went to the doctor for x-rays. Turns out, my first metatarsal is fractured. The reason is was not more apparent is because the fracture is near a pin in my foot from an old bunion surgery, and the pin is holding the fracture together.

Treatment? I'm hobbling around in an air cast with instructions not to swim, bike or run for a minimum of four, and maybe up to eight, weeks.

There was initial panic. I've worked hard on my fitness and nutrition over the past three years. I have lost 30 lbs. I fell in love with the sport of triathlon. I have BIG PLANS for 2011! This can't be happening!!!

Now, with calm determination, I am going to modify my plans a bit. I am going to continue to work out any way I can without jeopardizing my recovery and maintain my fitness. I am going to watch my diet. I will get through this.

Strap on your seatbelts, my friends...it's going to be a wild ride!