On December 11, 2011,
in …..or “What a Difference A Year Makes”
It was a nice morning for a December trail race. 20F at the start up in Redding, CT. People that had run this race before were looking forward to the single track, water crossings, and mud. New participants were asking a lot of questions about what they’d gotten themselves into. Much bigger crowd compared to years past. But more on that later.
I wrote about this race last year and I’ve had three good years racing at this event. This year, however, not so much.
I didn’t bother wearing my heart rate monitor, as I was instructed to “not race” by my lovely wife. She has a good point with that bit of instruction: My ankle just isn’t quite up to full ‘blasting through trails’ fitness yet, so I never planned on trying to duplicate my efforts from last year. I felt calm and relaxed as we warmed up, and was content to just “run” it and have a great time. However, it wouldn’t have mattered what my original plans were.
Fitness, or lack there-of, really showed. I never felt good….not even at the beginning. The hills were just crushing. Last year, by the first ‘peel off’ into single track, I was amongst the top 5 runners. This year as we headed into the woods I might have been lucky to be in the top 20. I just never got into a groove. It’s a good thing I didn’t wear… Read the rest
Truth be told, I’d never done an Aquabike event before. So when the race director of an upcoming triathlon sent an email stating that the Aquabike division was being offered, It peaked my interest. This would be my first race this year since breaking my ankle back in February. I’d missed five races (that I’d already registered and paid for) so when this option came along – for a race I’d paid for 8 months ago – I really couldn’t pass it up. A chance to race, in some fashion or another, was quite exciting.
So, a 1.5K swim and a 40K bike. I was psyched. I’d been swimming and cycling quite a bit, but I wasn’t doing a whole lot of speed-work. I was mainly getting out to keep my fitness from going in the crapper while I dealt with physical therapy. But I felt that I could do pretty well – and I really thought that I’d be able to drop the hammer on the bike since I didn’t have to run. I thought back to the relay I did last summer and while I was annoyed, at the time, watching everyone head out on the run while I stood there feeling out of place, I remembered how fun it was to just red-line the bike leg. So off I went.
I had a good swim. I was out of the water in just over 20 minutes and across the chip mat at the… Read the rest
I had my final follow-up visit to my sports medicine / orthopedist this past Friday. I didn’t know it was going to be the final visit until I got there, really. He asked about physical therapy, and how my cycling / swimming / running was going. More importantly, he dug into the details of how long I’m able to run and at what intensity. The good news is, I got the green light from my doc to “go do whatever the hell you want“. Well, not exactly. He did say to make sure I listen to my ankle, but he said I could race.
Here’s where our conversation became a little comedic thanks to my Type-A kicking in:
Doc: So, go do a triathlon. You have one scheduled?
Me: I do, actually. Paid for it about 6 months ago before I broke my ankle. It’s on the 20th of August. Was going to race the Aquabike category, though.
Doc: Really? Just the swim and the bike? Why not do the run?
Me: Well…..(pause)
Doc: Wait, you’re not doing the run because you know it won’t be as fast as you want and you won’t be competitive?
Me: Well…..(another pause)…..Yeah.
Doc: (Laughing)….You sound like my wife. If she gets a flat in an Olympic distance or shorter triathlon, she’s done. Won’t even bother with it. You’re telling me you’re the same way.
Me: Well…..
Doc: (Shaking head and laughing, still) Okay, okay. Do the Aqua Bike thing. Then just go run 5K. It’ll be good for you. … Read the rest
It’s official – there will be no racing this year.
Between the recent “setback” I had at physical therapy on Friday, and the sudden (albeit obvious in retrospect) bit of clarity around my situation, I’ve realized that there’s no way I can do any sort of full-on racing this year. Yes, I could do the swim and the bike legs of most any triathlon with the required amount of intensity required. But any run I do will be a jog at best. Even by September or October I just won’t be able to pound out miles at a pace that will be competitive.
I have to admit that this past Saturday and Sunday were a bit tough mentally. After the non-PT session on Friday, and with a sore ankle, all I could do this weekend was realize the cold hard facts. I’m disappointed to say the least. But as today has progressed, I realize that this – again – is just the logical outcome to breaking an ankle that I should have come to grips with sooner than today.
Racing come this fall – Wishful thinking? Perhaps. Oh, hell, yeah of course it was wishful thinking. Denial? For sure.
However, with that all said and done, my goal now is to stay fit, and get my running back up in the late fall so that I can hit the triathlon season early next year and make up for lost time. I may still participate in a couple… Read the rest
I had some good workouts this week. Monday was an off day (always enjoyable), and Tuesday was an easy ride with one of the athletes that I coach. But Wednesday through Friday had some higher intensity workouts – I was damn psyched as I was feeling good, and was pleased at how my ankle was feeling.
Since a couple folks have asked what kind of workouts I’m doing while my ankle is on the mend – here’s a sample from this week:
Wednesday:
21 mile ride.
18.7 mph average speed (Pushed it a bit on this ride. When did I get all Type-A?)
Avg HR 138 / Max HR 162
671 calories burned
Thursday:
3,000 yard swim.
Warm up
400 yards easy
8 x 50 stroke drill
———-
Main set
2 x 400 swim on 5:45
600 pull
2 x 300 swim on :30 rest – descending
———-
200 cool down
Wednesday wrapped up with a late afternoon physical therapy session. A treadmill walk and jog session – which I was really looking forward to. 3 minutes of walking, followed by 4 minutes of running / jogging at an easy pace. Rinse and repeat 3 times. This was followed by 90 minutes of sweat inducing drills, stretches, weights, isometrics, and physical pulling / tugging / torquing. Damn. I was spent.
I won’t go into details, but I wasn’t limping when I got there. Seriously. More on that in a minute.
Friday:
25 mile ride
17.2 mph average speed (thankfully a more… Read the rest
Three months after breaking my ankle, I’m finally allowed to jog (or is it “yog”, with a soft ‘J’?) Granted it’s only for two minutes at a stretch, but I’ll take it.
I was out riding this morning, enjoying the fact that I’m able to be out riding after breaking the old ankle. Granted, I’ve been swimming and cycling for a while, but I’m still having that little bit if euphoria every time I get outside on my bike. Sorry, I digress. Anyway, I was out riding this morning, thinking about how quickly, really, this rehab has been going. I then started to think back to the accident itself, the surgery, etc, and realized I was pretty lucky – for a number of reasons – all in all, but more so that I had a great support system at home.
My wife JL was amazing during the whole broken ankle thing. And I’m not just talking about taking me to the ER and then to the Orthopedist. And then for an MRI. And then back to the Orthopedist. And then to the hospital for surgery and getting my prescriptions filled.
I’m talking about having someone at home who understood that this was a major deal for an athlete. She understood that this was going to really be a mental strain on me as well, and did an amazing job of keeping things in perspective. Yes I was fortunate the accident happened in the winter. And I was also fortunate that I could keep swimming almost immediately after the hard cast was taken off post-surgery. But she really kept an eye on me and… Read the rest
My first workout post injury is in the books. This past weekend I was able to get to the pool and managed around 30 minutes of swimming. Yeah, only 30 minutes.
Upon getting in the water I wasn’t comfortable at all and this was a little disappointing. It took about 5 to 10 minutes for my ankle to loosen up enough so that I could swim somewhat normally without constantly thinking about it. It was amazing to really feel what sort of flexing goes on in that joint even when not kicking. Just the natural friction and resistance from the water was enough to make me well aware of how tight my ankle is.
I couldn’t use a pull buoy. My ankles kept clipping together and I can’t use my left leg to push off the wall. This was working out really well so far. So I resigned myself to just letting my left leg drag behind me while my right leg did as much kicking as I could manage. It took a lot of effort to keep my body streamlined. My core muscles were engaged the whole time trying to keep my legs from sinking. It was tiring.
In the end I felt pretty good. I didn’t get in nearly as much swimming as I would have liked, but as the pool became a little crowded I cut things short as I was being overprotective of my leg… Read the rest
Well, it’s not really broken anymore.
Suffice it to say, getting around while on crutches is the toughest part of this recovery. Well, that and the fact that I’m not able to currently run or ride. Not being mobile is really frustrating. Please don’t get me wrong, I know there are people out there that deal with being physically challenged every day – and they manage it famously. I applaud them for their perseverance and tenacity in getting around New York City without blinking an eye. I, however, am having a difficult time with this.
Normally, on any given day, once I’ve arrived at Grand Central Terminal (coming in off the Metro North commuter rail) I can walk to my office in just under 15 minutes. If the weather is bad I can take the subway and if I’m lucky in my timing I can be at my office in just under 10 minutes. This past week my commute from Grand Central Terminal to my office, via the subway, took upwards of 40 minutes. I had a learning curve as I navigated the New York subway system looking for elevators, ramps, and handicapped facilities. There were a couple of times where I was forced to navigate stairs as not all subway entrances are equipped for wheelchairs, and to get around one needs to navigate to an alternate subway entrance and backtrack. Being impatient, the stairs seemed quicker at the time. In hindsight I’m… Read the rest
As scheduled, physical therapy started up for me this week. This past Wednesday and Friday were my first two appointments and, true to what my Orthopedist had stated, the focus for the first week or so is indeed on flexibility, stretching, and range of motion.
Each session has started out with some pretty standard stretching for my hamstring, achilles, and calf. It’s amazing how tight everything has become. What’s more amazing, and disturbing, is how much my left leg has atrophied in the 3 weeks since my accident. I’d hazard a guess that I’ve lost about 1/3 of the muscle mass in my left calf. It’s really quite deflating to be honest. I know that this will come back once we start doing some weight bearing exercises, but realizing how weak this leg has become is just an added mental strain.
The real fun of these first two sessions really starts when all the preliminary stretching is completed and the work on the ankle itself begins. Ummm, ouch. The areas where the tendons / ligaments were repaired are very tight, to put it mildly. And the muscles that support the ankle are equally as tight – still in ‘defense’ mode, as my new best buddy, Garry the Physical Therapist, calls it. When the muscles all contracted at the time of the accident – attempting to keep the ankle from being damaged – there was certainly some tearing of those muscles due to the… Read the rest
