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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

knees and stuff

went to the pt today because my knee basically sucks ass. she said to go get an xray to make sure it wasn't fractured. i was pretty sure it wasn't. the other idea was that my knee cap is just bruised on the front and back, that seemed to make more sense to me.
so i had to go to the dr and then had to go to another clinic to get the actual xray, i think it was a hospital, but not totally sure what it was, but i do know the people there were SO nice. the lady at check in was so nice and the guy who took all the xrays was super nice. the dude walked back and forth between where i was on that table to behind the little wall probably 50 times.
the verdict? are you ready? no fracture! yahoo! that is great! the not as good news - i've got arthritis. what the hell. that isn't what is causing the problem right now, but it does not help me with my old feeling lately. maybe my old feeling is what is causing the gray hairs and now arthritis? hmmm, gotta get over that!!
i also gotta get healthy cuz i'm gittin squishy.
but good news is that last week was may highest volume swim week ever!! well, that is good since june has been my LOWEST run volume month since sometime in 2007. and we are talking lowest by A LOT. oh well. thinking knee healing thoughts.
pawpi on the other hand. poor cat. she is headed for a ct scan tomorrow. poor kitty's face is leaking all over the house again and she's back in the cone. sending more healing thoughts to her.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

caps

you know those neoprene caps they have for open water swimming in the super cold? every time i see someone wearing one, i think of these painting by Odd Nerdrum:


see the resemblance:

Monday, June 28, 2010

most of my injuries are sports bra related

at least they used to be. or sleep related.
i swear i did a number or two on my shoulders a few times trying to get the sports bra on, or trying to get my hr monitor all up in there just right, or goodness, trying to put any of it on while slightly wet. i am not meant to bend that way.
i went to the massage lady today and i am going to the pt on wednesday. my knee is still not great. its waaay better than last week, and i thot it was pretty good. i did a great hill repeat workout on saturday and felt awesome. i followed that on sunday with a hard 3000yd swim and a 20 minute easy run. that 20 minute run made me sad. i felt really really good, but my knee started to hurt around 5 minutes in. it got to a certain level of discomfort and just stayed there so i came home and iced. i made the massage appointment because my hammys were really tight after the hill workout and my neck was hurting and just i hadn't had a massage since october so i thot it would be good. she poked my hammys and said they were Inflamed and swollen. i said, are you sure that isn't just fat? she said no. she said she didn't want to work on them too much and instead told me to come home and ice them. she said i should spend more time stretching, too. yes i should.
we started talking about the contortionists in circ du solei. what do they do when they retire? do they stay bendy? do they get all stiff and full of arthritis? internets, please tell me! sirus loved to watch them tho, going on and on about how beautiful they were and how beautiful their costumes were. they were doing thei act on a spinning circle and when they were done they stood on it and it left the stage to which he said matter of factly: there they go on their plate.
we took pawpi in for a 3rd opinion, which was the same as the 1st and 2nd. we're waiting on some test results and will go from there. poor kitty. she's lost almost 2 pounds since february. thats a lot when you start out at 7.2 pounds. hoping she gets better soon!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

xterra solstice

after the xterra in idaho i caught the flu or something equally as bad. i knocked me on my arse but i shook it in like two days and we decided to make the trip down to la grande oregon for the xterra solstice. we left thursday after work, drove the 2.5 hrs to yakima to drop off the kids and spend the night then woke up early and headed out for the next 3.5 hrs to la grande.
when we got there eric did a quick swim and then i suited up to pre-ride. i headed out around the lake and then came across this rock section that i couldn't figure if we were going to go up or not, so i didn't. by now eric had driven the car around, and was parked at the top and we saw tape there, so we knew we must at least have to ride down it back to transition. so i decided to ride it. and i crashed. i was down 3/4s of it, it wasn't hard, but okok, eric was standing in the middle of the trail trying to take some action shots and i was about to crash into him and then instead off the side of the trail i went, knee right into big hard rock. uuugh. it really hurt, and i was shaking. i asked eric to drag my bike back up the little hill. i got back on and figured i'd be able to shake it off, no biggie.
i continued with the pre-ride, going up into the cow pastures, towards the pipeline trail. i got to one gate and was fiddling with the chain when the cows they started a mooing and started getting curious. i started to get scared that they might come and get me so i got through that gate as quickly as i could. my knee was still hurting, but i figured still too soon, need to just work through the pain! the descent down the pipeline trail was sketchy, it reminded me of Maui but i got down it, through some mud and then saw eric. we got in the car, i complained about how my knee was hurting like crazy and we drove up the road for a mile or so.
we started the rest of the pre-ride, which ya know i like a good fire road just as much as the next person, but i was dying. i was in my grannyest of grannys and my knee was killing me. eric was chatting away and i was just trying to get up that hill. then we hit the flats and it was hurting just as bad. then we got some down hill and that hurt, until we got to another flat and it hurt even more.
we got to suicide hill and all my confidence was lost and i just walked down the damn thing. the whole thing. and it was really long.
we kept riding, and i kept complaining, and eric kept riding along. i just wanted to be done with the pre-ride but i was going so slow it felt like it wasn't ever going to end.
so i decided to not race. totally a bummer. i had zero fun on that pre-ride, my confidence was in the gutter and i was in pain. i've crashed before and hit my knees like that before, but nothing that kept hurting like that. ugh. what a mess.
eric had decided to not race too, since apparently he had the chills and was all dizzy while we were out riding since he had been sick, too. we had originally thot we would just drive home that night but instead decided to stay over. we met up with cori for dinner which was way fun, she is a total riot and then we spent the night in la grande.
we got up pretty early and it was cold and windy. my knee was aching still, but felt like a 4 compared to the 10 it was the night before. we drove to kennewick and found the state patrol trails and rode around for about an hr and 1/2. the knee was doing ok until about 45 minutes in when we started doing some hard climbing or something but the trails were so fun, i was feeling really good and had some confidence back, so we kept riding.
later we made it back to yakima for the night and i slept in until 10:30 on sunday. i cannot remember WHEN the last time i did that was. it was so glorious.
i'm bummed i didn't race, especially since i took a day off from work and we drove all the way out there. but as of tonight, my knee is totally messed up. it doesn't hurt as long as i am not doing anything. i don't know much about knee injuries so i don't know when to go to the doctors vs just let it see if it will get better. i'm icing and adviling. i don't think its swollen any more, so i think that is good. any other advice?? i think, too that i have a sinus infection, so going to head to the drs this week for that. maybe i'll have them look at the knee while i'm there.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

xterra farragut

i was pretty excited about this race, i had a lot to prove after last year's disaster. can anyone say 51 minutes for a 1500m swim?
i was bummed after hurting my obturator internus at the onionman, but after doing all those kegels all week, i was feeling good and ready to show idaho who was boss.
we headed out early on friday morning. we met eric's mom in Ellensberg and dropped the kids off with her. they were so excited about a weekend with grandma that they could hardly contain themselves. we did the kid exchange and then we were off the rest of the way to idaho. we stopped in ritzville for lunch at taco del mar. we pulled in to the parking lot in our ghetto 14 yr old volvo wagon with our bikes on top and parked across from a fancy team car with top end road and time trial bikes on top. turns out eric knew those people, they are from a local team and were headed out to a stage race in montana. fun!
after a lot of hours we got to the race site and got ready to pre-ride. we parked next to some guy and he and eric chatted it up. when eric told him about his stellar swim time from last year the guys was like, what? were you dog paddling or something? then we were off. my stomach was feeling a little bleck from the fish tacos from lunch but i was hoping it was just nerves or something.
they changed the course a little bit, but it was still long, coming in as two laps totally a little over 21 miles. the course isn't terribly technical, but its hard and fast and there is a good amount of climbing. i was dying on the pre-ride. i kept asking eric if we were at altitude because i was dizzy and couldn't breathe. sweet.
we finished up the lap and then got suited up to go for a swim. we had heard from some peeps that water temp was 46. onionman was 55 and that was COLD, so i didn't even know what 46 could be like. janet lent me her booties and i was quite pleased with them when i stepped into the water. i got in about waist deep and put my hands in. they instantly hurt from the cold. eric went out, but i stood there, waist deep with my cap and goggles on and my hands on my head for about 10 minutes. eventually eric came back and i tookd a dive in. i swam out, turned around, was back on shore in a minute 12. not cool, or apparently a little too cool.
we were staying at the same place as last year, Macdonald's Bayview Resort. i love this place and someday hope to come out and stay a few days. they are so nice, the cabins are nice and the views are amazing. plus when i went to check in, the guy made the comment that i was the fittest person he had seen all day so i must be the lady there for cabin 2. they knew we were coming for the race, but he totally made my day, i almost hugged him.
then we went back into coeur d'alene to the MacKenzie River Pizza Company for dinner. we went there last year, and its our couer d'alene favorite. my stomach felt super blecky, so i was still worried maybe i had some food poisoning from lunch, but i piled some lasagna into my lasagna hole and it took care of those pesky tacos. i felt better after.
back to the cabin and chillin' watching Say Yes to the Dress for a few hours before bed, the whole time freaking out because we had no internet connection and i was worried about my Tiki Farm crops, afraid they were going to go bad or be destroyed somehow. i tried to block it out and we went to bed.
that's a whole lot of pre-race stuff going on there.

saturday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn, despite the race not starting until noon. we headed over to the race site and registered, i cornered the race director and asked him about the water temp. he said they hadn't decided yet, but yelled over to another guy saying they needed to go check water temp. we went back to the cabin and watched 2 episodes of law and order and ate breakfast and chilled out until it was time to go.

the transition area was tiny! they were saying 3 to a rack and everyone stood around wondering what to do with all of their extra space. it turned out to be more like 4 or 5 per rack, but still it was spacious. mat racked right next to me and eric racked one rack back. chris and shannon racked over that direction, too.

next thing ya know it was time to suit up and head to the beach. i got in and swam around a little. i knew when push came to shove i would be ok but it was super cold. they called everyone to the beach and said that all racers would be doing only 1 lap! hooray!!! then someone yelled - hey that buoy is floating away! so they had to go chase it down and re-anchor it.

the race director shot his shotgun into the air and we were off.

the swim:
it was cold. unlike onionman there was no contact, everyone was spread out quickly. i felt good the whole time and even got used to the water. i swam well until i rounded the 2nd buoy when the waves were hitting me weird and we were swimming through these giant pools of pollen that had settled onto the water's surface. but i got through it in considerably less time than the previous year. i was happy to get out and even happier that i didn't have to get back in for a 2nd lap. swim time - not sure, results aren't up yet.

T1:
OMG, we had to run across the beach and up this hill and these stairs and then across this field and then like 1/2 mile later you finally are at transition. the only good thing about it was that my hands were mostly warmed up by the time i got there so i was able to get my ear plugs out and then everything else went ok. i do have to mess with my gloves and that wrist brace so that takes forever, but finally i was out.

the bike:
the bike is really long, but i had decided i was going to go hard and concentrate on the bike only. i was done with the swim so i didn't need to worry about that any more and i would worry about the run when i got to it. now it was all bike. the only sorta technical parts are in the first few miles. last year there was a root that i had worried about for days but they bypassed the root this year and put in a smaller, easier root instead. there was also a steep road climb last year that they bypassed through the trails. it was still a good climb but much more tolerable. i passed a few people right away and then played cat and mouse with a few for the rest of the race. i also passed a girl from my age group right at the end of the 1st lap. finally i came to the end of the 2nd lap, when i realized i was at the end a huge smile overtook me because i was so happy to be done. i felt good for the whole thing but my back did start to cramp up at the end of that first lap and was killing me. i took two clif shots and went through a little more than a big bottle of electrolyte drink.

t2 & the run:
t2 was uneventful and sort a quick, i think? the run is lovely. it was the only part of the race last year that i liked. it goes along the lake and the views are great but this year i actually didn't check them out very much. i ran out of transition with a guy and ran with him for about a mile then i passed him. i wasn't going very fast but i felt like i was moving. i was even running the hills and feeling pretty positive. at 2.5 miles in we head up hill, for what feels like forever. at this same time my knees started to hurt and everything from my sports bra down felt like it was going to cramp and any second. 3.5 miles in that girl from my age group that i passed on the bike passed me on the run. she was flying! i might have been walking backwards for all it was worth. she was maybe 20 feet ahead of me and she rolled her ankle. i couldn't believe it. i felt horrible but at the same time picked up my pace. i did ask if she was ok, she said she was, so i took off. but that didn't last long. she shook it off and then came flying by me again and i didn't see her again until i was telling eric about her and she was parked in the car right next to us. i was trying to stay strong but my knees were on fire, i haven't ever had them hurt like that before. my obturator internus was fine but my knees! ugh!!! i tried to pick it up for the last mile and then had to stop for a truck that was crossing the course ??? and then up the last little hill, around the sand pit and to the finish. i was really happy to be done, i sat down in the shade instantly because my knees couldn't stand any longer.

a few things about the race:
i was happy with the swim
i didn't get lapped on the bike
i was out of T2 before the first finisher came through
i came in 3rd!! but need to check results because there was low turn out so i might have some in last, too. regardless i am happy with my effort, but bummed about my knees.
Eric came in 2nd overalll and won his age group!!
Chris won his age group and came in 3rd overall!!
Mat won his age group and came in 6th overall!!
Shannon won her age group and came in 3rd F overall!!

it was a good day!!

Thursday, June 03, 2010

are you doing it?

i am on the road to recovery. i went to pt today and she said the swelling is down, but that there is something wonky with the muscle, as if there had been some problems going on with it for some time now. i didn't have to do the thing with the golf ball! but i did have to do kegels. apparently they help your obturator internus. so i did that a few times with the pt lady standing there asking me if i was doing it or not. then there i was laying there, doing my kegels when she said i had to start marching my legs and swinging my arms. what? i kept laughing because its actually pretty hard to do.
after work i did some aqua jogging. i did 20 minutes in the therapy pool against the current and then decided i was done with that so i got in the bigger pool and did another 10 minutes. i am pleased to say i can swim faster than i can run in the pool. only a little faster, but still faster. i was definitly surprised as to how warm i got and how tired i was after. hoping to be better soon because i'm not sure i can do much more of that.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

diagnosed


i called the pt this morning and they told me the first available appointment with any of the therapists wasn't until June 8th. i wanted to cry. when they told me that i said, okok, i'll even see a dude, which i didn't want to do since my injury is strategically located. they still said june 8. i made the appointment plus a follow up. then i called back and asked if i could get in at their clinic's other location, and yahoo! they had an appointment open today! i jumped on that.
i got there, told the lady what was up, where it hurt and what was going on. i stood up, bent over, twisted, bent to that side then the other side. sat down, laid down, she pulled and twisted my legs all over the place. nothing really hurt too much, it was just very obvious that i have some very tight muscles. she said i had a strain of some sort on some sort of hip muscles, and maybe some minor tears, but she still couldn't figure out what the real injury was and what caused all the pain on race day. and then, bam, right there, she got it, the obturator internus in the below image.

yeah, so that was awkward. so its swollen and hurts like crazy, but she was just poking it and figuring out what was going on with it. turns out is all hip related, pelvic floor related and was likely aggravated when i got out of the saddle in that last mile of the race, to go up the shorter steeper hills and i pulled my knees out to keep them from bumping into the arm pads of my aero bars. sweet.
so i sat on some ice for a while and she came in to talk about the treatment plan, starting out by saying that next time she was going to give me a golf ball to, at which point i totally interrupted her with a yelp since i was NOT going to be doing anything with my pelvic floor and a golf ball, but she just laughed and explained i would not be doing anything graphic with it and instead using it to help with the spasm. still not so sure about that, but at least its a golf ball and not a roll of quarters.
good news is that it's not my back and it' not my hammys. she says i can do whatever training i want just as long as it doesn't hurt. so we'll see how that goes and hopefully it gets better soon! so now i'm sitting on ice wearing my winter coat.