Back in the Saddle

What’s this, training? I have started my training again. The knee injury is not completely healed but I actually feel like I am on my way. I have been trying to increase the strength of my quads through squats, lunges and other exercises. The great thing about these exercises is that I have absolutely no pain while doing these.

I also rode my bike twice in the past week. After my shortened softball game and the rainy weather I rode on the trainer for 45 minutes. I had a little bit of irritation but nothing like I had in the past few months. I remember how absolutely boring riding a trainer can be if you are all by yourself. Almost as boring is running in a pool but more on that later. I even tried to watch movie but still caught myself checking the clock way to often. I was also able to ride 1 whole hour on Tuesday and again only had slight irrigation. But more importantly I am recovering much quickly. Usually it is at least a day before I feel like my knee is better. I really think I am on my way back.

My latest experimental workout is this thing called aqua jogging. It is definitely not as exciting as it sounds:) You have all seen those blue belts on the rack next to your local pool. Well I have now had the opportunity to see what all the excitement is about. The reason behind trying aqua jogging vs. the traditional running is to reduce the pounding my knee and tendons take while out on the road. I don’t feel like I am getting the same workout but I definitely get my heart rate up and at least getting some cardio.

The greatest part of the aqua jogging has to be all the people staring at you while you go back and forth, back and forth moving at the pace of a snail. I really hope this is temporary because I am not sure how I will adjust to having all this fun. If any of you wanna join me in pleeeeeeeeease feel free. I just know you are dying to try it:)

Softball Sunday's

A few Sunday’s ago I played in my first softball game in forever. I haven’t really played baseball since 5th grade when I played on a local kids team. I know I am suppose to be training for World’s but with my knee hurting whenever my workouts go beyond 30 minutes I didn’t think much would happen during a summer league softball game.

We are in the “D” league. I am not sure what the D stand for but a few quick thoughts popped into my head such as. Drunkenly Challenged, Dysfunctional, Dumbass and if you have any more great ideas I am sure we would love to hear them.

After a quick warm-up, the game began. Since my finger was feeling better but definitely not 100% I was placed in right field. I was put here because the majority of the batters are right handed and in baseball a right hander usually hits it to left field, HUH? If I just lost you that is ok because I think I lost myself too. As I think back I remember playing right field back in grade school, maybe it was a sign or just destiny getting me ready for my big debut in the “D” League softball tournament.

The first game went awesome. I am pretty sure I was 4 for 4 and had an in the park homerun. I think I only missed one catch that I should have made. One of my teammates did mentioned I looked a bit scared as I went to make one catch but I told him next time he chops off a finger tip and then plays softball he can give me all the crap he wants. We won the game 22-5 for our first victory of the season (last weekend we went 0-2, but I couldn’t make it because of my finger).

The second game didn’t start out so well and we were down 9-0 after the first inning. All my glory of batting 1.000 was washed away and in this game as I think I went 2-4 which included getting the last out of the game. We lost 20-10.

The thing I like the most was being able to do something athletic and not feeling any pain. My knee held out and I only bumped my finger once. I was just standing out in my lonely right field enjoying the moment and remembering what it is like to enjoy a day of doing something athletic and not having to worry about how long it will take my knee to recover.

This last weekend we were again out on the field getting ready for our games. The team we were playing thought they were a professional team. They even had jerseys with numbers. Some were even wearing baseball pants.

Our team, we were out there in sweatpants and t-shirts. It was lightly sprinkling and we were not sure if they were even going to let us play. Fortunately we were able get through most the game and it was definitely exciting playing with the rain coming down. Running the bases was a new challenge with all the mud that began to form. Unfortunately the team we were playing was not near as excited as we were and called the first game after they tied it up in the 6th inning. So we have to try to schedule a make-up game before the playoffs, hopefully it is not to sunny and they call the game because it is to warm:)

Give Me Smore!! YUM

Even though my training has been slim to none, I have still had an appetite fit for a triathlon king. I am doing my best to watch how much I eat but hunger seems to always get in the way. This weekend I think I may have over indulged just a bit. After eating way too much cake from Cold Stone on Friday, a few of us decided it would be a good idea to see who can invent the best smores. Over the summer there have been some crazy ideas from Oreo cookies in place of graham crackers to even using sourdough bread (the word is this is not good).

So Saturday night I stopped at the store and picked up what I thought would be an amazing smores. First stop was in the ice cream isle to pick up some Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and then to the candy isle for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Now I know this isn’t the healthiest snack but I freaking love ice cream and if you know me well, I can’t ever pass anything up with peanut butter involved.

So here are the steps to an AMAZING smores.

Step #1- Cut Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich in half through the ice cream (kind of like splitting an Oreo)
Step #2- Place Reese’s next to fire between to graham crackers to start melting the chocolate. The chocolate must be warm for the full effect.

Step #3- Roast a marshmallow until golden brown and the inside is nice and soft. You must be patience, DO NOT stick it in the fire and the blow it out. That is not roasting!!
Step #4- Place melted Reese’s and graham cracker on one slice of Skinny Cow.

Step #5- Place thee marshmallow between the graham crackers on the Reese’s. Just like a regular smore.

Step #6- Put the other slice of the Skinny Cow on the top and ENJOY!

This has to be my favorite so far. The contrast between the cold and soft ice cream, warm chocolate and marshmallow, crunchy graham cracker and of course the flavor of peanut butter was fantastic.

Please eat these at your own risk (it is a bit messy). It also may be difficult to have just one.

Hey and let me know what you think.

A Weekend of Firsts

I was really looking forward to this weekend. It was going to be the first weekend I was going to take my boat out since Memorial Day. Also the first time I had been out on Diamond Lake. The plan was to try the Air Chair and I was pretty stoked.

All I had to do was install the new steering cable and I would be good to go. After doing a little work on Thursday night I left thee rest for Saturday morning. I woke up early and was out in the boat at 7:00 am to get it all finished up. I had to be done by 11:00 am since Tim, Andy and Meagan (Andy’s sister) were coming over so we can head up to the lake.
That was when the second first occurred. After a quick run in with the utility knife and my finger I was off to the emergency room. I honestly have no idea when the last time I went to the hospital other than visiting a family member or friend. I had just cut off the tip of my left index finger and after a brief hesitation I thought it best to go and see if I had really done any serious damage.
7:15- Left house for emergency room.

7:20- Realized urgent care was closed. So off to Holy Family. I was really hoping to never enter a hospital for myself but I had no choice.
7:25- Filled out paperwork and sit in waiting room for my name to be called. I was the only person in the whole room so I figured things would move pretty quick.

7:30- Taken back to get blood pressure taken (and drip blood on the floor).
7:35- Taken into room number 23. Everything was going quickly and I knew I would be out of here in no time. The nurse took a look at my finger and said the doctor would be with me in a few minutes.

7:55- Nurse comes in and tells me I can watch TV while I wait. Why would I want to watch TV when I get to enjoy the beautiful ocean view out my window? Just get him in here so I can leave!
8:15- The doctor finally shows up.

8:16- The doctor leaves after quickly looking at my finger and says the nurse will be right in to clean the wound and send you on your way.

Seriously I just waited 40 minutes for the doctor to tell me all I needed to do was clean it up and bandage the cut. So now I need to wait for the nurse to come back and get started.

8:25- Still no nurse, I start cleaning up my hand and trying to clean off my finger around the cut.
8:35- Nurse finally comes in and finishes cleaning my cut and wraps it up.

9:05- I am checked out and finally heading home to finish working on my boat because I am going to the lake today no matter what.

10:00- Finally finish fixing the boat and notice a bit of blood has started seeping through the bandage. Great, how am I supposed to go to the lake if my finger won’t stop bleeding?

10:05- Back to the hospital for a second time to get them to do it RIGHT this time. The entire bandage was red. I hadn’t been to the hospital in who knows how long and now I have been twice in one day. Are you serious!

10:15- Back through the doors into the emergency room for the second time in three hours and if you thought last time was fast, this will completely amaze you.

I was taken straight back and taken care of right off the bat. This time I had the doctor and a few nurses. I think they might have felt bad since they did such a crappy job the first time. Finally they did it the correctly and I was on my way home in about 30 minutes. Just in time to finish cleaning up before Tim, Andy and Meagan arrived.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing up at the lake and enjoying one of the last nice weekends that we will have. It killed me not to be able to get into the water but at least I made it to the lake.

I guess when the wheels fall off they all go at once. I am hoping my knee is back in working order cause now swimming is going to be a pain in the ass with only 9.9 fingers.

PS: I have a few more pictures of all the blood and the wound that are pretty (cool) graphic if you want to see them but in fear of people fainting and falling out of their chairs I thought best to not post them. We don't need to send anyone else to the hospital.

Frustration!!

I am really not sure what the post will be all about but it is going to get a bit of frustration off my chest. I recently developed some lingering knee pain that was probably instigated by the increase in volume of my training in the past couple of months. I was really starting to enjoy seeing many of my race results improve and now I feel like I am back at the beginning. It really sucks when you are getting so close and everything starts to fall apart.

This isn’t a typical knee pain that you might get from a strained muscle or pulled tendon. Throughout each day I feel great. I have no discomfort or pain and it only begins after 30-60 minutes of running or biking. Now for some people that is not a problem but when you are training for a half-ironman, short workouts really don’t help much. It really sucks because 95% of the day when people ask how the knee is all I can say is it is just fine. There is no pain or discomfort with my day to day tasks so the answer always comes out as, Feels Great!

After a quick trip to the doctor I received some positive news that orthotics would be the answer but the pain is still there and rest is the next step. I am now in the process of taking an entire week off and hoping that rest will help relieve some of the stress on the tendon and it will begin to make a recovery. A friend of mine noticed last weekend how I can’t sit still (surprise for a triathlete huh), I always have to be doing something. Well when you can’t bike or run and since housework sucks, I have been going absolutely crazy.

My only saving grace is that I still get to swim. I joined the local Master’s swim team and have been excited to see how much my stroke and speed has improved. If waking up at 5:00 AM once or twice a week and even sometimes 3 times a week wasn’t tough enough, we really get our butts kicked in these workouts. I definitely have to give a shout out to Tiffany and Jessi because if it weren’t for them, I am pretty sure once a week would have been the norm. After a summer of hard work in the pool the results really starting to show. I am looking forward to continuing to work with the Master’s swim team and can’t wait to see how it translates at World Championships 70.3 in Clearwater, on November 8th.

During our "Kill" sets, fun but tough.

After our "Kill Sets", we kicked some ass!

Bear Lake Open Water Swimming

Really not sure what I am doing in this picture (maybe the robot??)

I am hoping once this knee realizes that I have a lot of things I need to accomplish before November and the fact that next year it gets to haul me around the Ironman course, it will get it’s act in gear and start giving an A+ effort. Because right now this is completely unacceptable and pretty soon I may need to start looking into trading it in for a new one.

The plan for next week is to begin my training again and I plan to keep the updates going until World Championships 70.3 and beyond as I start my training for Ironman 2009.

Over and out!!