Progress

So my experiment is working the way I hoped it would. I've now run four days in a row. A little jaunt on Christmas Eve, two 25 minute runs on Christmas and the day after and today I did 3.2 miles, half of which on trails. I was going to go to the gym today, but it was in the low 50's when the sun popped out this afternoon so I said the hell with it and had my best run since last June 25 (literally).

Each day things seem to improve so I'm going to do my best not to over do it and keep building and making progress. But I have to tell you...it's pure bliss to be running again. I missed it, but I didn't realize how much. I absolutely love tying up the shoes and just leaving the front door to get in a great workout. A set back at this point would be just an awful turn of fate...but one I can't control. So I'm taking the optimistic view and hoping that it continues to go well.

I sing...poorly.

Check me out singing and screwing up other people's songs!

King Kong On My Back

Cover of the Pondering Judd tune (my fave by them).

Silo Song

Cover of the Chris Pureka tune.

Solstice Hike

So we're not a very religious crew, however if there is an established religion that we are drawn to and dig their ideals it's Paganism. Pagans worship the earth and most of and the best of Christian practices were lifted from the Pagans. Yearly, there are two big days in the Pagan calendar; Samhain (Halloween) and the Winter Solstice. Every year on the Solstice, the family and I get outside to celebrate the Earth and then following some traditional Pagan guidelines we have our own Solstice ritual celebrating the rebirth of the sun. Good times!

This year we have to head to Scranton, PA for some family business on the Solstice (tomorrow, the 21st). So with the Nor'easter raging outside we decided to have our outdoor celebration today (20th) and then do our ritual on Christmas Eve. Like I said, we're not dedicated to the religion just yet, but we do love our traditions.

We woke up this morning to 7 inches of fresh out our door. Carli was out in the storm by 6:30 to do a Starbucks run and shortly after her return we had loaded the car with snowshoes, poles and Kennebunk and we were off to the Middlesex Fells.

This was Lily's second time on her snowshoes and she rocked it! She was all smiles despite the still fast falling snow and the wind whipping it into our faces. We have to leave for Scranton by Noon so we kept the hike to about an hour, just a quick out and back, but enough to enjoy nature and remember that it's because of this amazing place called Earth that we can be who we are and do what we do. Happy Solstice.

"We are men of action, lies do not become us."

-The Princess Bride

My left ankle. New strategy. I've spent the last year and a half doing rehab, pushing too far, setting back, pushing too far and resigning myself to days at the gym with no running or cycling. I'm not nearly patient enough to endure this any longer.

Intuition reveals itself in funny ways. Religious folks believe if they pray hard enough, the answer will come to them through the mouth of God (or sonny Jesus to quote the toughest screw every to walk Shawshank). Some say it's the fact that they've given birth that allows them to see what needs to be done or know what will happen. Not sure what it was with me, but the other night as I was walking to my car in mesh shorts and a tech tee on my way to the gym, I decided that was going to jog around the block, just to see what would happen.

Until that moment my strategy was going to be rehab, strength and stretching for another 3-4 weeks to see what kind of improvement I was experience. If it was little to none I was going to head back to the doctor for a referral to a specialist and perhaps a second MRI. So this decision to run around the block was contrary to what I had laid out for myself. But the little voice spoke and I didn't argue. I didn't go back in to change into more appropriate running clothing or put my keys away; I walked down the driveway, and starting a light jog around our miniscule block.

As expected the ankle hurt in all the usual places but I figured if nothing else it would feel good just to feel my heart rate up and all the usual running perks. But over the course of the 2-3 minutes it took to round our block, my mind formulated a new strategy: to start running regardless of the pain. I'd go every other day and in between I'd continue to strengthen and do all my PT exercises. Not sure why this makes sense, it just does. The only time my ankle has felt good recently is after stretching or working it, so why not run through the pain?

I ran a little bit longer the day before yesterday, last night at the gym I did a few laps on the track and today I got out for 15 minutes. There are moments that it hurts, but it's nothing I can't run through. The bottom line for me is I don't want to wait around and see if it gets better. The way I figure it, there are two possible outcomes from this experiment:

1. The running helps, the ankle heals and before long I'm back to normal and no longer posting long winded, whiny posts on my blog about my damn ankle.

2. It exasperates the situation. It gets worst, blows up, something tears, it becomes so sore I can barely walk. In this case I go back to the doctor, but at least I'll have something to show her. Even if doesn't get this bad, if it doesn't get better I'm back at the doctor's office.

I'm not waiting around any longer and let this thing linger into 2010. Time to take action.

1:49pm

...and then, without a moments notice, I saw from the corner of my eye the French Press go spiraling end over end off of the kitchen corner. I could barely react before the deafening shatter of glass filled the air. I simply stood; standing in disbelief as I took in the small yet far reaching pile of shards and coffee grounds. What once had stood to become a pleasant afternoon cup of coffee was now an angry mass of brown with a twirl of twinkling glass mocking my astounded expression. All of this at 1:49 in the afternoon.

WHOA!

Damn nearly a month? I need to post something...so here are some random pics from the past few weeks...

The girls!

Coolest boss of all time! Driving around Heber, UT

Outside the coolest coffee shop ever. Pretty sure Canice is now engaged to owner who was once a happening roller skating...

Halloween ala Zombie

IMDB

As I get caught up on movies released in the past few years, I finally got to see Rob Zombie's 're-imagining' of the classic "Halloween". People who don't appreciate the genre may not realize or have forgotten that John Carpenter's original 1978 "Halloween" is a classic. It was the first true movie of it's type and at the time very scary. We've become so saturated with horror flicks copying it's style (Jason and Freddy don't exist without Michael Myers coming first) that we've forgotten that these types of flicks can be original and scare the pants off of you. The horror genre needs more movies like this after going on a several year run of simply spitting out 'torture porn' which isn't scary, just nasty. We watch horror movies because we want to be scared; in the right way.

Despite what most purists say, Zombie made a super fun movie without disgracing the original material. He took what John Carpenter produced and expanded several story lines while maintaining the big scares. This time around when you see Michael wandering out in the open, during the day, on the streets of Haddonfield, you have deeper understanding of what makes him the way he is and what he is capable of. Dr. Loomis went from being the obligatory white knight who would show up shortly after Michael had done his thing and make a profound statement to being a conflicted man who potentially is only involved with Michael to land a book deal. Yet despite his possible ulterior motives, he alone knows Michael's make-up and what Michael truly is.

The best part of the way Rob Zombie makes a scary movie (and I believe this to be the case with "The Devil's Rejects" as well) is that he's able to marry the disturbing and gory elements of what you see in horror a lot these days, yet he does it with a grin and an air of campiness. The movie is, for lack of a better word, fun. You are scared, watching some scenes through your fingers, but at the end you are completely satisfied and leave with a smile on your face. Zombie's affinity for old-school scary movies makes it's presence known in the way he pieces together the film. This makes me want to see more movies from him because let's face it, yes we're there to see something scary, but don't we want to have as well? He also maintains several of the important elements found in most typical slasher flicks: gratuitous nudity, having sex gets you kill and the chaste protagonist makes it through to the end.

If you are into scary movies and have not already, see this flick. Put aside the importance of the original and don't go into Zombie's flick ready to compare the two. That's not fair to this one, which can stand on it's own. Definitely looking forward to seeing the sequel...on DVD of course.

Swimming is Awesome

Got into the gym for the second day in a row. Did a great core workout than hit the pool. Swimming is so sick. Totally challenging, form is so hard to master (especially without a coach) and totally rhythmic. I'm hopeful that swimming will help fuel my ankle to recovery. The best part is afterwards, feeling a full body exhaustion that is completely unique when compared to other endurance sports. You don't have that pin pointed weariness or pain that you can get from a tough ride or run, it's just an all over sense of being worn out. I could have slept immediately afterwards. Love it. Can't wait to do it again. Plus since I haven't ridden since Fat Tire Narnia, and I still can't run, it's so nice to hit something aerobic.

I need to get in some serious workouts this week too. Not sure what the situation is going to be in Park City next week. I'm sure I'll have gym access, I just want to go in with zero expectations...so I need to keep after it this week.

Cold.

Yeah, I have a cold. It's annoying me to no end.

Mostly because it's not a typical cold. I don't feel rotten and can function fine. This sounds like a good thing, right? Nope. This cold is just a drippy mess that makes me tired. So even though I don't have that typical feeling of being sick that sucks so much when you have a cold, I still don't feel like working out or doing anything productive. At the end of the day I just want to go to sleep. Not my style...at all.

So today I'm forcing myself to the gym to lift and swim. I don't care what happens to me later tonight (or the possibility of leaving a snot slick in the pool...early apologies to other users at the Malden YMCA) I need to get a workout in.

This is my last week at City Sports. Finally I'll be back on a normal daily grind schedule and I think that will only help me be a better father (consistency) and also get me in the gym with more frequency. I thought a retail schedule would open things up for me, but in reality it only made things harder. Psyched to have things back to normal-ish.

Good Lunch

So I'm weird in that I like to cook...but I never do. Ever. I rely on Carli (who is an awesome cook) for most dinners and when it's just Lily and me I make pancakes (and I'm hell at pancakes). So lately I've found an easy lunch. Boil some pasta with a bit of olive oil in the pot, when the pasta is about ready toss in some frozen broccoli, after a minute or so (so the broccoli can soften up) drain it and top it off with some butter and parmesean cheese. Enjoy. Great recovery meal and it only takes like 10-12 minutes.

I also have sworn off of sugar until Thanksgiving. I'm a sucker for sweets, mostly baked goods, and I'm easily swayed by the temptation of a chocolate chip cookie. To that end I'm purging myself of sugar for most of this month. I did relapse today. Peacuddy's had some fresh baked cookies out, and I indulged in one with Lily as we were spending the day together. But I'm confident that will be the only blemish in this endeavour.

In Waterbox news I'm heading out to Park City to start my new gig on 11/16. Get a quick tour of our new offices below.

Nice Little Swim and a Career Move

Good gym day yesterday. Did a core-based lift than hit the pool.

I only swam for 15 minutes, my ankle was getting sore from the repetitive motion, but it was invigorating. Something to build on. The soreness in my ankle didn't feel like injury pain, but more like, yeah we have some re-building to do pain, so that's super encouraging. Today my calf and ankle have that great 'day after soreness', not 'holy crap I can't walk pain'...again encouraging. If I can keep on this track, maybe I'll be running again by...January? February? That'd be nice.

In other news I accepted a position with a new company...Waterbox. You haven't heard of them yet, because they're brand new. What you are going to see when the product hits the shelves (later this month at an REI near you...well, 27 doors to start) is going to blow you away! Stay tuned. For me this is a great career move...and perhaps another crack at western living? Waterbox is based in Park City, UT so before too long we may be headed back to the Rockies.

Ankle rehab tonight and more gym tomorrow.

Today Revised

Slow start to the day and I have tomorrow off so I'm takin' 'er easy this morning, heading to work and hitting the gym tonight. Swim will come tomorrow along with more work in the gym.

Since I live in a world where going to the movies means checking out "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (fantastic by the way) I'm a big Netflix'r and have finally gotten to see "Away We Go". There are certain movies that strike a chord in you and with "Away We Go" it's apparent that David Eggers and I have some similarities. If you've every questioned where you belong or if you are thirty-something who is still trying to figure it out, defintely go see it. I keep seeing reminders that I am actually growing older (people on Facebook who look somewhat larger and grayer, my father continuing to be in the mirror when I take a quick glance at myself) even though I feel better than I did when I was 18. There's a line in "Away We Go" when Verona asks Burt, "Are we fuck ups?...We're 34 and we don't even have this basic stuff figured out yet." The fact that there other people out there that feel the same as I do (I still don't know how to save money, or at least can't execute on it) is comforting as all hell. The important thing is to continue to learn from all of these little episodes and adventures so that one day I will know how to save money and balance being a father, husband, employee, endurance athlete, dog owner....etc, etc...

Ok...that was deep enough for a Tuesday morning. Off I go...

Off season...

Okay, so I swear I'm not going to start whining about my ankle again, but know that I'm still fuggin' dealing with it. Argh.

So, I'm in full off season mode. Which means fitting in gym workouts while consciously trying to beat my sweet tooth into submission during a season when candy and baked goods rule supreme clear through the end of the year. To that end I have sworn off sweets until Thanksgiving. Who doesn't like a challenge?
I've been getting to the gym somewhat regularly and in the name of endurance I purchased some goggles over the weekend in order to start swimming. Day one in the pool will be tomorrow. I'm looking forward to finishing the workout and having that sense of calm that arrives after a run, bike or swim. Nothing like that can be replicated in any other way. I see people who post on Facebook that they have insomnia problems and my response is always: "Start running". Go log a bunch of miles and you'll sleep like a baby.

Since I don't know what the long term holds for my ankle, I'm 100% focused on mountain biking for next year. Definitely some smaller races, but mostly two events: The Wildcat Epic 100 and the Hampshire 100. The Hampshire was my primary goal, I want to be a top five Sport finisher, but the Wildcat looks pretty sick. A two day stage race (each stage checking in at 50 miles) it sounds like a blast. It's the week before the Hampshire but I think I could pull it off. I mean, my boy Canice did Primal Quest this summer and after hearing about it, if I can't do 165 miles over the course of a week...how lame am I?

Fall!

Fall is upon us and it's getting cooler out there!

Yesterday I took the ole Element out in the Fells and it was amazing. The bugs were all but gone, trails that were overgrown a few weeks ago already have their plants receding and spots that all summer were wet and muddy were pretty much dried up. It was the first time since I can't remember when that I didn't come home with a fresh spackling of mud on me or the bike. I love fall.

We're coming up on Fat Tire Narnia on October 9th. FTN is a celebration of mountain biking and beer (two things that go hand in hand) and this year we'll be heading from the Middlesex Fells near Boston to the Kingdom Trails of Vermont in a New England expedition of riding and good brew. Should be SICK. Let me know if you want to attend.

Otherwise I'm rehabbing my eternally injured ankle and looking towards the 2010 race season. Look for more posts from me soon.

Big Week

This past week was a great week of training.  Kicked it off with a 4.5 mile trail run on Sunday, strength  on Monday (incorporating Core Performance and Gym Jones exercises), 5.5 mile mixed run on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and a 20 mile road bike on Saturday.  The ankle is responding really well to ratcheting it up a notch. 

The mixed run I did during the week was a loop from my office out Memorial Drive in Cambridge across the Mass Ave bridge and back on Storrow.  The good part is there are plenty of dirt paths to run on with a few sections of roots and rocks so it's actually perfect to re-integrate trails into my training.  I have some thoughts on this loop that I'll post later.

Kicking off this week with a 6-8 mile trail run...we'll see where I end up!

Since last we spoke: Part 3

Release!

Through six weeks I went to PT religiously, did my exercises at home and scaled back my overall activity as not to aggravate the injury...and it finally paid off.

Last week I received the green light to resume normal activity.  I need to continue the band exercises at home and I need to ramp up at a controlled pace but I'm allowed to run on back to back days and I'm eyeing new races.  I regret not having gone to therapy last fall, but at least I didn't wait until June and miss most of the summer.  Dr. Steve did all the tests that he did on me when I first arrived at his door and the motion had significantly reduced and my range of motion and strength were both almost normal!  Yeah Dr. Steve!  If you live in the Boston area I cannot recommend the good folks at SMART Physical Therapy enough. 

To celebrate my progress I immediately went out and overdid it.  On Saturday I took an old pair of GoLite Sun Dragons, turned them into screw shoes and did my 7 mile round trip to Winnekenni, 4 miles of which are on trails (slushy, slippery trails this time of year).  Having not run on trails since before my injury I was definitely pushing it, but much like a sober crack head indulging in that first hit in a long time...it felt oh so good.   My ankle seemed to survive my jump into poor judgement and I'm excited to focus on training and racing and not recovering.  This weekend I'm planning on signing up for the XTERRA Muddy Moose 14 miler up in NH.  Really can't wait.  I'm not even bummed that I'm missing the Fells 50K.  There will be plenty of other opportunities to do a race like that, I'm just stoked that I'm on the path to recovery (knock on wood).

More to come...I'm making a career change and there's a fun story that goes along with that too.

Since last we spoke: Part 2

Following the ten miler that resulted in my ankle digressing about, oh, two months, I ended up at Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Therapy in Reading.  I met with Doctor Steve and I gave him the skinny on the injury itself and what I'd been up to since early October.  He took a slew of measurements to gauge the strength of the ankle and range of motion.  After everything he deduced that my injury was a grade 2 sprain (meaning torn, but not all the way torn) of the posterior tibial ligament.  That night back in October, I didn't sprain my ankle in the typical sense of rolling it to the inside or outside.  I planted my foot, and for whatever reason a rock or rut in the trail, my foot stuck and I kept moving forward.  I may have did some residual damage to the surrounding muscles and tendons, but the main injury was in the back of my foot, and I did a real number on myself.  

At the time of Doctor Steven's diagnosis I still had some swelling and the joint was very loose.  All of this confirmed what I had hoped I wouldn't have heard: I should have gone to therapy in November!

And so began my weekly trip where I'd do lots of different exercises, receive massage on the ankle to help break up scar tissue and force blood into the afflicted area as well as a healthy dose of electric stim.  Finally, Doctor Steve would take a stick of ice, formed inside a plastic cup that had half the cup removed so that a rather large chunk of ice remain, and he would rub it directly on several spots around my ankle.  If you're used to ice therapy, trust me, you've never experienced this.  Serious cold.

I would then do several exercises at home with large latex bands as well as continuing to stretch and do my morning yoga.

The last portion of my first appointment was learning that I should plan on skipping the Fells 50K.  Even if everything went great, I would be able to start really ramping up until late February at the earliest...and why push it at that point?  So I bailed, and scaled back my workouts tremendously, in hopes that the PT would pay off and I'd be back on track in no time.

Since last we spoke: Part 1

So in December I thought I was making progress with the ankle.  I had my eye on the Fells 50K at the end of March and the training plan I had found required me to start running by the middle of the month.  I didn't push it and instead went for my first run on Christmas Eve.  It was a 2.5 mile jaunt that I did by running a few laps around the block.  My ankle felt good the next day so I declared myself "back" and started following the training plan for the 50K.

In the early portion of the plan most of the work during the week called for 2 mile runs with longer (6 - 10 miles) on the weekends.  I ramped up steadily but slowly.  The snow and cold was consistent so all the work was done on the road.  I was fine hitting my daily 2-milers during the week and the first few weekends I capped the mileage at 8 and everything seemed to be going well.  I was completely focused on this race and stopped going to spin class and stopped lifting.  The Fells 50K also has a 23 mile division so while I was still shooting for the 50K, I knew that I could still do the 23 miler as an alternative.

In mid-January I had a physical and I told my doctor about the ankle injury.  She recommended that with such an aggressive goal of a 50K I may want to have the ankle looked at and wrote up a referral to a Physical Therapist in Reading.  I planned on going just for due diligence but didn't make it a priority.

About a week later I did my first 10 mile run since the injury.  During the run itself I had no issues.  The next day my ankle felt like it did just a few weeks after the initial injury.  Stiff, sore, swollen...it was awful.  That Monday when I got to work I made an appointment with the PT.  I was still optimistic, but I also had a lingering doubt that this was something I probably should have done in October....turns out that ended up being true.

WHOAAA!

December 6th was my last post?!  Holy crap. 

Well, this is the right day for me to come back.  Several reasons: my friend Tarah, who is my blogging inspiration has been battling the evils of cigarettes and I told her that I would start blogging again when she quit...low and behold I received a note from on Facebook today that led me to believe that it was time to start writing again.  Secondly, my ankle is finally on the road to wellness.  Since we last spoke, I began training for the Fells 50K and I couldn't get over the 10 mile mark without being in some decent pain the next day.  I finally went to physical therapy, got diagnosed and began getting treatment.  Six weeks later and I've been given the greenlight to start ramping up again.  I'll write a more detailed post about this whole process, but seeing as the focus of most of my posts last Fall were about my ankle I figured that today was a monumental day and time to get back into this thing we call writing.

I've also begun the process of enrolling back into college to finish my English degree.  There are many reasons why I've come to this place...and I'm not quite at liberty to talk about it.  To summarize I was placed in a position where I began to doubt myself...and a change needed to be made...and I'm making that change.

I'm going to do my best to blog more consistently.  Blogging is sort of like working out.  When you're actively doing it, you're always happy that you have, but it's easy to fall off the wagon.  Hopefully I keep at it.

We set the clocks ahead this weekend, despite the recent cold and snow Spring is coming...time to start thinking about getting the bike back on the trail.  My ankle is doing well...changes are being made.  Good times.