Injury. Broken. Humpty Dumpty time...

Friends and Family, thanks for checking in! It has been awhile since I posted mostly because I have been struggling with a thesis. I think I found one, so here it goes.

Injury: Harm or damage that is done or sustained

Old: Far advanced in the years of ones life

Athlete: A person gifted or trained in exercises involving agility or stamina

I am learning these past 2 weeks what attention to detail in my physical pursuits really requires for someone advanced in the years of ones ATHLETIC life. I am not old in the sense of a life span but I am old in the sense of athletic shelf life. 41 in 3 months means I need to be better at paying attention to body signs that, 5 years ago only meant "get a massage". Now those signs mean I need to back off, I need to stretch, I need to think about more strength work, AND, I need a massage.

Since I started sport in I have had the following injuries (that I can remember) in no particular order. None put me out for more than 6 weeks and all felt "fixable". 

• IT Band left leg at knee resulting in lock knee
• patella femoral syndrome right knee
• strained/pulled whatever you want to call it, rotator cuff in left shoulder
• pulled hamstring
• 2 broken hands 
• 1 broken nose
• 1 broken toe (that hurt the most)
• stress fracture left shin
• stress fractures (plural) left foot
• 10 stitches left elbow from bike crash
• severely pulled/pinched left groin area (can't remember exact muscle!) from bike crash
• Bicep femoris left leg pulled
• right knee muscle sheath torn 

Today, I have the first injury that feels like there is no end in sight. The tunnel remains dark. That my time as an athlete may be running to an end. 

Sciatica nerve in left butt caused, we think, by S1 lower lumbar disc issue. The consequence is severe pain in the left butt and lower back that makes walking painful.  I can swim and that it is.

My mind is made up. This is not how I finish my deeply committed pursuits to kick ass. I will not go out like this. 

My new mantra:

BECOME HUMPTY DUMPTY

I am committed to putting myself back together. To fixing the root causes of this injury. To being a complete athlete, not just an athlete that trains then races. To an athlete that adapts, adjusts, listens, to pull out of himself what is possible. 

Step 1: at least 7 days completely off exercise. Let the body exhale; relax; breath.

Step 2: expert advice and support

Step 3: ease back into training

Step 4: core and resistance training with stretching YEAR ROUND

Step 5: race when ready, not when available

Step 6: race to win

Tomorrow it's acupuncture from Sports Performance Centres with some killer Athletic Release Treatment. Early next week some more great massage from Helen at Athletic Edge Sports Medicine and hopefully by mid next week I can start to ride some. I suspect running to start April 1st. That would be full 30 days off running; truly sub optimal but such is Humpty Dumpty. Piece myself back together piece by piece by piece.

I will not go out this way. 

Visualize

Believe

Execute

DO THE WORK.

thanks for checking in.

Week in the life of DO THE WORK...

Friends and family,

I am liking this writing RE: the theme of *DO THE WORK* so I think I will make a commitment to continue this theme throughout the season.  If you are an Ironman triathlete and reading, think of it as free coaching maybe? If you are family, think of it as "yes, its true, he's crazy". Or if you are reading for giggles, I hope now and again I might motivate you to get outside and love fitness.

This week's theme is a week in the life of DO THE WORK. I've had an unconventional past 9 weeks.  I had 2 weeks of good training, then a week off with a bad cold. Then another 2 weeks of good training and again, a week off with a bad cold. Then back on training for a pretty good 2 weeks of training and BOOM, being 40+ rears its ugly head and I throw my back out. Again, another week completely off. This is not optimal DO THE WORK preparation. But it does teach me to live in the day, I can't change what I missed in training, I can only train what I can do today in preparation for tomorrow.

So my back got a lot better after some great massage and ART by my friends at Athletic Edge Sports Medicine. Helen is the best RMT; Rosti's chiropractic/Athletic Release Therapy (ART) put me right and of course, and Dr. Grant Lum is world class sport's medical Dr.  After a week with them, some acupuncture, ART, and massage I was ready to get back to work.

My past week of training, and in fact all my training, is available for full view on Training Peaks by clicking here. It also linked to the right sidebar for review throughout the year.

DO THE WORK lesson for winter training:

1. Winter months afford the opportunity to improve your weakness.
2. Winter months need a spring racing goal to keep you motivated.

Therefore, my two goals through to mid March is to, a) build swim fitness for the season; and, b) get ready for a fast Around the Bay. To that end, DO THE WORK this past week consisted of key swim and run workouts. 

1. 5 swims totally 13.9KM with a key workout Sunday morning with the Kim Lumbson Masters swim club as follows:
• 1000 swim
• 1000 pull with paddles
• 2*500
• 4*100 on 1:35
2. 5 runs including my first run over 1 hour since Hawaii
• 3 treadmills runs for precise pace & HR training (minimum 1% grade at all times)
• 1 run off the bike Saturday

Now it is Sunday night so I will sip a nice California Cabernet and take a look at my work and family commitments for the coming week and work my program. Again, family and work make the world go around so I can race. It is priority #1, and #2. So, Thursday night I have a family commitment at Duke's Cycle to get Meredith fitted on a new bike! And, I have an all-day business meeting which means my opportunity to get to the gym over lunch is not available on Wednesday. So, I build my program around that. 

When thinking about your training program, and what it takes to meet your goals, make sure you:

1.  plan ahead
2. believe
3. execute
4. and keep perspective (for example, if you miss a whole week of training!)