This week: Livin` like an athlete!

As my first race of the season is just around the corner, I have ramped up my training!  Last weekend I was in cycling heaven - Parry Sound!  So awesome there!  My second family always welcomes me there and I got some awesome training in.  As I still did not get the go-ahead to run yet, I just cycled.  I rode 110km one day followed by a tough but great 130km ride the next averaging 175W.  Not bad, not bad!

Saw the sports doc midweek and he seemed a but baffled as to why I am in more pain after the 2nd PRP injection than before.  Ya, me too!  I am pretty sure he hit a nerve though because of the pain I went through.  Well, I asked about Ironman and he told me it was not a good goal to have anymore.  I am not quite ready to accept that though.  He told me I can try running again and to start at 1km every other day.  I asked him if I could make it worse by running and he did not think so.  So with that, I made a new game plan!

I have decided that if I could get up to 15km of running before MT 70.3 then I was going to go for it. I want to finish this race as I took a charity spot for it.   I am willing and ready to pull out of the run at the Calgary 70.3.  And I do not want a DNF at Ironman!  I want another finish.  However, I am not expecting any new PBs this year and I won`t kill myself trying to get one.  My purpose is solely to finish and nothing else.

I discussed this with my chiro and to my surprise, he said he was on board with me.  I know - I am just plain ol`stubborn and determined!  That mixed with stupidity and this is where I am.  I think I need to go to a sports psychologist or something, for real!  There are apparently five stages of emotion during an injury: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  Well, I kind of got to acceptance but I backtracked to bargaining! Hehe!  That is where I think I am at now.  Oh oh!  I know I should be patient and wait, and I got some good advise but I cannot help myself.  (Sorry, Duncan!  But I am going back to shore and going to try to swim across later!  I know - wrong!)

So with this, I ramped up my training big time.  I am currently in Lake Placid for the week to train and then heading to Mont Tremblant to race.  This was the plan for a while now since I thought I was going to be able to run by now.  After my chiro and doc appointment, I ran 5km and then 10km the next day.   Yup, from zero to 5 to 10!  I recognize how stupid that is.  Then I ran 16km!  I did it!  Good news: I did not make my hammy any worse.  Bad news: it is still painful.  My pace is pathetically slow but I will take it.  And I am being very diligent with icing it too!  Anything to help me get there.  The first day in Lake Placid  I rode 90km, did a 10min run off the bike, and then a 2.5km swim.  Yesterday I swam just over 5km in the lake and then followed that with the 16km run later in the day.  Today was a hardcore type of day!  2.6km swim followed by 150km bike in the pouring rain where I even got a flat and then a 5km  run off the bike.  I can do this! I will be careful!  I promise!

Living like an athlete is pretty fun though!  All I have to do is eat, sleep, and train!  Not a bad set up for now!  Then back to real life by next week.  Gonna enjoy it in the meantime!

A little update...

What to say, what to say?!  Round 2 of post PRP is not going so well.  I think this time it is a bit harder because I got the taste of getting back into the swing of training and then I had to go back to nothing.  Plus I am in more pain than I was before the 2nd shot and I almost feel like I am in more pain than before the first shot! :(  The pain continues to go from the proximal insertion point where the tear is down to the back of my knee.  Even swimming hurts and I often have to resort to the pull buoy half way through swim practice because it just hurts too much.  Needless to say, I am getting a little frustrated and stubbornness, determination, and stupidity is beginning to set in.  I took the time off, was diligent with my rehab exercises, gone for treatments on a weekly basis (geez, I see my chiro more often than my parents!), spent lots and lots of money, and I have seen no improvement.  I still plan on doing the ironman and the two half ironmans I am signed up for and now that it is June I am getting  a little desperate.  I have been going for long rides once a week for the last couple of weeks despite it hurting me.  I continue to swim hard and I am even tempted to start running.  I need to be in shape to complete these races.  I have bargained with myself that if I do these races I will not sign up for anything next year.  My deal is that I am willing to make myself hurt more now and then to take next year completely off as long as I can race this year.  Yep, stupid! Hehe!  My back up plan for the ironman is to do the swim and bike and pull out of the run.  Ohhh....I just do not know what to do!  I know I should think long term but I am having a tough time doing that now.  I guess I am also in some denial.  What to do, what to do?!