Poor Baby

Bad news loyal readers: it’s a stress fracture. To be exact it is 18.5cm below the knee joint and 7.5cm in dimension. Definitely on the bad side of the news I was expecting scale but what can I do? It is what it is. It is not the end of the world. Yeah, yeah I have told myself every single cliché. I kind of already knew that it was pretty serious so I wasn’t so surprised. The doctor said that if I really behaved I could be back running (albeit on a very limited basis) in July. So it’s not disastrous news by any means.

In the meantime I am going to put my online coaching on hold and possibly sign up for some deep water running classes offered near my apartment through NY RoadRunners. Right now I have three goals for 2007: 1) Get better!; 2) Complete a triathlon; and 3) run three more RoadRunners’ races. As I told my tri-friend Elisa all doable and all SANE. I have the rest of my life to complete tri’s and marathons. This “break” will only make me appreciate the sport so much more.

MRI Fun

Yesterday I went for an MRI so the doctor could find out whether or not I in fact had a stress fracture. Oh wait, I didn’t write about the doctor visit, did I? Yeah, not something I necessarily wanted to dwell on. In a nutshell the doctor had an X-ray done which showed nothing but he thought there was a chance it was a stress fracture. Also, he thought if he could show me real proof that something was wrong then maybe I would finally take a break (er wrong word) from training. Therefore, an MRI was in order.

This is actually the third time I have had an MRI. About 6 years ago I slipped two discs in my back. Actually the whole back incident is one of the main reasons I take fitness so seriously. Let me share with you a little sob story. One day I was in kickboxing class convinced that beating the crap out of a punching bag would totally make me feel better about getting dumped (sad but true). It was there on the sixth floor of the Reebok Gym where I literally heard my back “pop.” Two surgeries and a year of physical therapy later I was back at the gym. If I could go from walking with a cane to almost reaching Jennifer Garner perfection a stress fracture has nothing on me.

I am actually pretty good with pain, shots, hospitals etc but the MRI is really a test of your patience. First off the imaging center was running an hour late, and then I get into the freezing cold MRI room. I lay completely still while magnetic beams clicked and clanged all around me at a deafening pace. Your eyes are essentially left to watch white paint dry. Yeah, that’s what an MRI is like. Good times. While I was about 75% in the tube I was left to think….how the hell did I let this happen? At the same time my leg was so happy in its new immobilized state. I thought to myself during the next week you will do nothing to the leg. I will not bike and will only moderately swim with a pull buoy. Leg, you have won. Congrats. You can stop screaming now.

Just Like Normann

In the 2005 Kona Ironman Normann Stadler basically lost it after suffering two flat tires during the bike 112 mile bike ride on the Queen K (I actually biked on the same road!). The footage of the breakdown is pretty awesome and I can totally understand where he was coming from. That really had to suck. Think of all the hard work he put in just to be felled by two flats!

When I was in Hawaii I halfheartedly paid attention during our flat lesson all the while thinking in the back of my mind, “that will never happen to me.” But what if it did? Now, I am ready. First, Running Coach wanted to change his mountain bike tires to slicks but he had no idea how to do it. Yep, I did it for him. First beating him at RoadRunners and now this? My Mom would be appalled.

Then, last Thursday I was all excited (not) to do some hill repeats. After biking in Greenwich I definitely needed to put some air in the tires. I really have no idea how I managed to do it but I broke the valve off the tire making it inoperable. Great, I was going to have to change the tube. After changing Running Coach’s tires I was able to change mine pretty easily. Then I went to blow the new tire up…..and BAM! I blew the tube. I was really frustrated at this point. It was Thursday, the day I usually run. However, due to painful shin splints I was biking. And then it looked like I wasn’t even going to get to bike due to a second flat. Here’s the internal debate I had: I could say screw it (who am I kidding? My language is never that clean) take the bike to Toga, throw it and say fix it. Or: I could calm down do it again and manage to salvage part of the workout. Unbelievably, the latter won out. I changed the new tire in minutes and was off on my ride. If you know me at all it’s a miracle that I didn’t throw the bike, order fries and watch the three episodes of Gilmore Girls saved on my DVR. I did manage to get seven hill repeats done (the aggressive plan set by Coach Mikael was for nine). I also learned some very useful info that might change my life (ha ha you are going to have to wait for that post).

And as for Normann, he came back the next year and won the whole darn thing!

Special Likes to Travel

I have a weird habit of naming everything. In high school I named my car Dave to piss of my best friend who was dumped by a guy named Dave. Well, the name stuck and to this day some of my high school friends still bring up Dave. I even wrote to him on my senior page in the yearbook. And there is also running coach, aka Matt.

My bike’s name is Special because I just couldn’t think of anything better. See Special is Specialized. Clever, huh? Also, Special is white with purple accents (yuck), making her a little precious - hence the name. Now that I am a Biker Chick in training the demands on Special have increased. This past weekend Special went on the subway twice! I know I hate when people bring their bikes on the subway but it was late on a Saturday night (over to Running Coach’s apt) and Sunday midday (after the bike tour). This week Special also made her first trip out to Greenwich, CT where I work. I loaded Special into the back of my car and somehow managed to break off my antenna (real nice). I don’t think Special liked the drive or the car too much (she’s used to the posh bike room off Central Park West) but she did like the roads in Greenwich. Lots of stretches of flats and some hills. Plus, the roads are really well-paved. So get used to it Special, you are going to commute from now on.

And if this post hasn’t confirmed I have totally lost my mind I don’t know what will…

Biker Chick

According to my personal Orthopedic surgeon, my Dad (his specialty is actually sports medicine, how convenient, right?); I won’t be running for at least a month. But I have been given the green light to swim and bike. I am trying to be as positive as I can be. Yes, I am super bummed I can’t run but truth be told biking is definitely my weakest sport. My focus for the next month is just to get really good on the bike. My coach Mikael also changed my entire schedule in TrainingPeaks…basically it’s filled with swim, bike and swim/bike brick combos for the next month. So I can stay on track even though I can’t run.

That also means no NY RoadRunners races which is a bummer because 1): I have already paid for a bunch; and 2) I love them. Hey if anyone out there wants to run the next few RoadRunners races using my chip/bib number free of charge and take the t-shirt be my guest (yes, that’s probably totally against NYRR rules). My goal is still to complete nine races to qualify for the 2008 marathon (I have already done six races). I am glad started so early because I still have many races left in the year to complete that goal.

Back to my new goal. I am going to bike like crazy. I want to give a shout out to my new tri-friend Elisa. Elisa was nice enough to include me in her group for the 5 Borough bike tour. I also have to thank her father for wearing an awesome bumble-bee like biking outfit which made it super easy for the group to stay together. Like me Elisa shares: 1) a newfound and completely surprising love of training and 2) a secret suspicion that a certain red clad tri-club are really scientologists.

Now I just need to find long training rides in the New York City area. SkiRough posted that she is doing the Ride to Montauk which I am now seriously considering (running coach also mentioned he might be interested. This weekend I also plan on making my first ever attempt to bike cross the GW bridge (does anyone have any good info or tips on this??). I am also going to try and check out some of the NYCC rides.

Shin Splint Hell

My legs were feeling much better and I really tried hard to stay away from running. I knew it was a bad move but I went running yesterday. To quote Julia Roberts character from Pretty Woman, “Big mistake. Big. Huge.” (The picture is of the actual place where that scene took place in the movie. It’s actually very near where I grew up. The sales staff has never been anything but nice). I felt fine during the first four miles. However, during the last mile my shin just started to throb.

Think I am not going to run again for at least a week. It’s probably a good thing as I really do need to focus on the bike and the swim. Also, I recently set in motion plans to run the NYC Marathon in November (more on that later). I need to learn how to manage this before I really start focusing on the next adventure.

As a funny side note my office has all these small first aid cabinets located throughout the building. I have stripped them clean of these awesome little instant ice pack pouches they have. Score!

My Suunto is Back

On the last day on my last run in Kona my watch decided to die, completely. At first I heard it beep while I was swimming and then on the run it just gave up. I definitely gave it a beating in Kona (even though I still don’t know how to use half the functions) but I had only used the watch for a few months. However, when I got back to the mainland Suunto was more than happy to fix it even though they said I probably shouldn’t have been pushing all the buttons underwater. OK so it was a little my fault.

A word on Suunto. I know most people have Polar HRMs but Suunto sponsors my coach Mikael so he highly recommended them (and even found me a great deal through Datavision in NYC). Although I think it does all the same things as the Polar it looks much cooler…and that’s what counts, right?

Suunto was unable to fix it but they were more than happy to replace the entire watch and throw in another heart rate monitor. So excited to have it back. In the interim I was wearing the lovely watch I got for my 18th birthday but the pretty clasp was just not made for biking. Plus, you can’t even get it near water. I also like wearing the big Suunto watch. It makes me feel like an athlete.

Going to do an easy flat run today so I don’t aggravate the shin splints. Then meet with alex for some weights. Then running coach is coming over to welcome Veronica Mars back to prime time television. I think he might be more excited about this than I am.