Rehab Fun...

The human body is truly amazing but when you don't move something, perhaps your shoulder, for 6 weeks it effectively stops being able to do so.  I never thought I would be so excited to be able to lift my arm above my head again.  Over the years I have rehab'd two elbows (6 weeks and 2 weeks immobilized) and a neck (12 weeks in a brace) but I have to say this will definitely go down as the worst of the three.  The six weeks in the sling went by surprisingly quickly.  I got thoroughly reacquainted with my bike trainer as well as the elliptical trainer at the gym, and with the exception of a few low moments manage some pretty solid training.  Nothing spectacular, but enough to maintain a pretty descent amount of base fitness.  Also enjoyed some time out with friends including a wonderful Easter Sunday get together with the T-Town crew on the patio at the JW Marriott at Star Pass.  If you are ever in the Tucson area this is definitely the place to enjoy the sunset and a great Margarita!!

Easter Sunday at the JW Marriott, Tucson

My parents also dropped in for a week's visit and we took to opportunity to go up and do the night experience at the Kitts Peak National Observatory.  Definitely a great evening activity if you are looking for something unique to do.  The evening includes watching the sunset, as you have to be up on the mountain before dark so your car headlights don't interfere with the research being done at the various telescopes, and a quick overview of all the facilities and telescopes.  The rest of the evening is spent split into two groups with half star-gazing through binoculars and learning about the constellations and planets, then switching spots and viewing various planets, star clusters etc through one of the telescopes.  The evening concludes with a guided drive down the mountain without headlights!!!

View from the St Kitts National Observatory

While Kitts was exciting the highlight of their trip was definitely the surprise visit of my sister Karen and her BF Bryce.   I almost gave it away during the week but managed to keep it a secret until they walked through the door Friday evening.  With Mother's Day and my father's 70th B-day coming up it was nice to get the whole family together!!! While just a short weekend trip, we did manage a beautiful and hot hike up the phoneline trail in Sabino Canyon then enjoyed dinner on the patio at the Catalina BBQ.

Sabino Canyon hike with the family

On the rehab front after only three sessions I have almost full flexion (front arm raises) and good external shoulder rotation.  I am also doing some isometric strengthening and will progress to abduction (side arm raises) and strengthening with movement in the next week or so.  Running is back to normal and I am slowly introducing riding on the road back into the training schedule.  I have attempted some one-arm swimming and doggie paddle ;) but full swimming and mountain biking are probably a good couple of weeks away!!  I do get some pretty strange looks at the pool to keep me entertained.  So onward I go...

Doing Time....so to speak

So things haven't gone exactly to plan since my last post.  Six weeks post crash came and went with me still unable to swim because of intense pain at the top of my arm recovery and it was becoming pretty clear that there was more damage than just the broken shoulder.  Went in to get an MRI and although it didn't really show much, it did look as though there was some sort of tear in the Labrum.  I guess this is pretty normal and you really never know exactly what the damage is until you get inside and take a look.  Since it had now been almost 8 weeks since the crash with very little improvement I decided to go ahead and get the surgery scheduled and done.  Thanks again to JT and Southwest Hand for all the great and timely care putting humpty-dumpty back together, hopefully for the last time.  I can handle injuries when I know what is wrong, what I have to do to fix it and roughly the time frame it will take to do so, not knowing what is going on drives me NUTS!!! Time to get this shoulder fixed and on its way to a full recovery. 

I went in for surgery two weeks ago today and yesterday while I was getting my stitches out got to see some of the images from the procedure.  Apparently the MRI really didn't show what was going on and as it turned out I had a little tear at the top of the Labrum, a huge tear along the bottom, and just for added bonus some cartilage damage.  Yes, I am a card carrying member of the "don't do anything half-assed" club!!!  Thought I'd post a few pics, well just because ;))

Big tear

Strange cutting device cleaning up tear

Sewing up tear with what looks like shoelaces ;))

All better :))

So now I'm "Doing Time" so to speak, with 4 more weeks in my lovely and very stylish sling before being able to start moving my shoulder again and then another 6 weeks or so after that before being up to full speed.  I am able to ride my trainer (oh I know you are all very jealous) and can run on the elliptical trainer so my ass is hopefully going to stay about the same size until I am back to 100%.  Sad and disappointed to not be racing the front end of the season, especially the ITU Cross Worlds in Alabama, but happy to finally have everything fixed and healing.  Big thanks to everyone for all your calls, emails, tweets, messages of concern and support, I feel very loved :))) Best of luck to everyone racing, I will be following from my couch, and looking forward to being back out there soon!!!

Bad Luck Comes in 3's

After some extensive research (aka procrastinating by looking up useless information on the internet) it seems there is really no historical basis for the saying bad luck comes in 3's.  Go figure.  I did find this somewhat unrelated but interested tidbit about soldier's superstitions on lighting 3 cigarettes with one match being bad luck, at least for the third soldier:

"The explanation of the origin of the custom is that British soldiers, entrenched against Dutch foes in the Boer War, learned by bitter experience of the danger of lighting three cigarettes from one match.  When the men thriftily used one match to serve three of them, they gave the Boer sniper time to spot the light, take aim and fire, killing 'the third man'."


No matter, I am assuming that the saying is true and therefore my bad luck is officially over for a very, very long time.  Let's recap, for those of you joining in for the first time :)

1 - September, day after Xterra Nationals, big MTB crash in Park City on the Crest Trail resulting in an avulsion elbow fracture, slightly torn triceps tendon and nasty ass infected cut.  Took me out of Xterra Worlds and about six weeks of recovery time before even thinking about doing any kind of training.

2 - January, after putting in some amazing winter base training in November and December I came down with a bit of a cold.  Took a couple of days off then decided enough was enough and headed out for a MTB ride while still under the weather (bad idea).  Totally pilled it up on one of the easiest sections of trail, lots of cuts and bruises, chipped bottom tooth and a really sore shoulder.  I suspected a torn rotator cuff but was hoping I had just slightly dislocated it.  After two weeks of living in denial I finally broke down and headed into the Doc. What do you know....broken shoulder!! Cracked Humeral Head to be exact.  Found this lovely diagram when doing some more extensive research ;) and had to laugh... just insert myself and you pretty much have it!!!  Since I had been going about my life oblivious to the fracture for two weeks already orders where to "be smart" (yep, all over that one) no swimming, no MTBing, no more crashing....

How to break your shoulder MTBing

Number 2

3 - No more crashing... okay, sounds pretty self explanatory.  Now I am quite happy doing a couple of workouts a week on my trainer, but long rides when the weather in Tucson is FABULOUS just isn't going to happen.  And really, I had been riding my road bike out on the roads for two weeks already without any problems.  So, just three days after the broken shoulder diagnosis, Lisa Ribes and I are out riding on a lovely Saturday morning and some moron truck driver decides to run us off the road.  Actually not sure exactly what he was trying to do but that was the end result.  I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't really trying to kill us but who knows.  There was certainly no oncoming traffic and plenty of space to pass us safely instead of giving me inches AFTER I jumped into the shoulder when he blew the horn a couple of seconds before he nearly plastered me across the front grill.

So there it is, three done and done!!!

Always fun Mt Lemmon group ride

Moving on, coming up on six weeks post fracture and itching to get back in the pool.  Have stayed upright and enjoyed some great rides with all the local and visiting athletes here in Tucson.  Even dusted off the MTB and got in a great easy ride this past weekend!!  Sad to see my winter roomie Branden Rakita head back home, but got to enjoy a fun weekend with Shelby and the visiting Old Pueblo peeps.  Huge congrats to Sarah "crash" Caylor for winning the women's solo at 24HOP (might have to steal your nickname soon!!)

Shelby and Tracy checking out dessert

Back on the trails :)))

January Update

So its already nearing the end of January, kinda scary and exciting.  Haven't been too good about updating the blog so going to cheat again and do a photo essay of sorts.  We kicked off the holiday season with Gord Fraser's Christmas sweater party complete with DJ and Caryn's jello shots!!  Good times where held by all, such a good time that I had to skip my bike intervals the next morning and simply concentrate on making my afternoon flight home to the Great White North ;)

Sam, PT, Noreen, Marilyn, myself and Justin

Arrived in Canada Sunday night before Christmas and got to enjoy some great family time.  Did a bit of baking and finished (well started and finished) my shopping while fitting in some easy workouts here and there.  Everything was cruising along nicely until the evening of the 22nd when my sister and I were enjoying the hockey game and she suddenly started feeling nauseous.  I headed to bed feeling pretty normal but woke up 1am or so and the two of us tagged teamed the bathroom for the rest of the evening.  Needless to say we both spent the next day in bed feeling more miserable than I have felt in a really long time.  It hurt to even roll over in bed!!  We thought at first it might be food poisoning but judging by how many other people came down with the same thing it was likely just a really nasty flu bug :(  

I was finally able to rally mid-day on the 24th in time to get out for a short ride on my hometown trails before heading into Toronto for our family Christmas dinner.  Always fun to ride the trails where it all started for me on the mountain bike. Sadly my sister was still feeling horrible and had to miss dinner.  A funny article floated around the social media sites about the truths of health clubs and one item said the only way to lose 10 lbs in 24hrs is food poisoning.  Well, it took me for about 6lbs and Karen for 14lbs.  First Christmas holidays in a while that I have lost weight 

Guelph Lake MTB trails

Arrived back into Tucson Wednesday and jumped right back into the training.  Fellow Xterra triathlete and good friend Branden Rakita is spending a couple of months here training this winter and the weather has been nothing short of spectacular.  New Year's Eve Leanda Cave and I celebrated by getting in the first long ride of the season (at least for me it was!!)  I had never done the Madera Canyon climb, so the two of us enjoyed a nice leisurely 10am start and a good 5hrs + in the saddle.  The climb was a "little" steeper than I had anticipated and the legs were definitely feeling it, but it was well worth it for the view at the top.  Leanda managed to do the climb one handed and taking pictures, I however needed both hand firmly gripping the bars ;))

Riding up Madera Canyon

After a quick clean-up and power nap on the couch it was out for a great dinner with Leanda and Bill before heading over to the west side New Year's Eve party.  Wasn't sure if I was going to make it all the way to midnight but the dance floor got going and soon enough it was well into 2012.  Once again the Sunday bike intervals got a pass ;)) I think it should be a rule not to have hard workouts on Sunday during the holiday season.  No matter, it's a long season and plenty of time to get in all that good training!!

Jumping ahead, it was time to get some testing done to set up the training plans and see if all the extra miles on the bike during November and December had paid off.  Lucky for me Brian Grasky is here in Tucson with a great set-up and indulged me in helping me inflict 30mins of pain on myself.  Good news is my bike is doing awesome, like better than last year in late March awesome.  

Lactate testing at Grasky Endurance Center

Bad news is the next week after riding the first MBAA mountain race at McDowell Mountain Park with a bit of a sore throat I came down with a full blown cold and major congestion that knocked out a couple of days of training.  Then true to me being unable to sit around and relax and recover I headed out for a mountain bike ride not quite feeling 100% and had a total high speed crash resulting in a chipped lower front tooth, some serious trail rash, cuts and bruises and likely a slight dislocation of my left shoulder :((( Yeah, I got to spend the next day sitting in a dentist chair then took another couple of days off training, boo.

Racing at McDowell Mountain Park MBAA #1

Tucson Mountain Park - my backyard MTB playground

So now, a week post crash, I am finally feeling better and getting the training all fired up again.  Berk is sending me Turkish Evil Eyes to put on my bike so I won't crash anymore, anxiously awaiting those ;)  Waffling a bit on whether or not to still do the 24hrs in the Old Pueblo, but excited to see everyone that is headed down this way next month.  Until then keep the rubber side down!!!

More Tucson Mountain Park!!

Therapy!!! thanks Jess :)

Dawn to Dusk

Off-season racing fun got rolling a week ago Saturday at the Dawn to Dusk mountain bike race hosted by DCB Adventures on the Pemberton Trail at McDowell Mountain Park just outside Fountain Hills. I jumped on the co-ed quad team Cancer Sucks with George, Jo, and Todd for this great event.  I headed up early Friday afternoon to pre-ride the course as I haven't ridden the Pemberton Trail in years and luckily was able to grab a great parking spot.  Turned out this was pretty sweet as the parking lot filled to capacity Friday night and all latecomers had to park down the road and get shuttled in.  Not ideal considering the rain started falling and temperatures plummeted during the night.  We were smart and got a good nights sleep at the Holiday Inn!!!

George lining up for the start

4:30am wake-up to rain was lovely, but George loves mountain biking in the rain and it was a mass sprint start so he got to go first!! I rode 2nd with Todd and Jo in 3rd and 4th.  The first lap was a little chilly but no rain and the trail was running nicely.  We spent the time between laps huddled in the car chatting and trying to stay warm only venturing out to cheer the next rider on or get ready to ride a lap.  The sun made a brief appearance for my 2nd lap and so inspired me to really have a great lap, one of those special, totally in the groove mountain biking moments :)  Sadly the rain came back and my 3rd and last lap was pretty sloppy.

Finishing up Lap 2 (i think)

Fun weather

Base Camp

Everyone had a great time and we won our division convincingly!!! The weather only made it that much more epic.  The drive home to Tucson after the race was probably more painful than the race itself and I definitely felt like a train wreck the next morning!!! Not sure what I am getting myself into racing 24hrs in the Old Pueblo as a duo.  Thankfully my partner in crime Katie Ellis is in great shape taking the win in the solo division.

Post-race team celebration

Since then it has been nose to the grindstone getting in some great training especially on the bike.  Spend this past Sunday out on the 24hr course for the first time and pretty excited about the race in February.  Trail is in great shape and super fun.  

This is probably it for the year as far as blogging goes so Happy Holidays and wishing everyone a terrific 2012!!

Northern Californial Part II

Tuesday morning we were off on our next adventure, a trip down the coast highway to Monterey and Carmel then a day visiting the Aquarium.  I was pretty excited as the Aquarium is something I have wanted to visit for a while, surprising eh?  all those fishies and stuff ;)

The drive was spectacular and California served up another georgeous day.  We ate sandwiches on the Santa Cruz pier and rolled into Monterey an hour or so later.  Travel guide (sister) Karen had mapped out the route and we expertly found our way to the 17-mile drive through Pepple Beach.  I am so moving there (if I win the lottery or find a really rich guy to marry me).  Amazing oceans views, sea lions, sea otters, what's not to love!!! 

Monterey

Pepple Beach

 

Pepple Beach


We indulged Dad and stopped in at the Pepple Beach club house and strolled out to the 18th fairway.  I guess if you are a golfer you can appreciate the need to do this ;)

Carmel

We arrived into Carmel and caught just the last little bit of the sunset before grabbing a great Japanese Seafood dinner in town. 

Jellies at the Monterey Aquarium

Up early Wednesday morning, we weren't quite the first ones in the door of the aquarium (but close).  I was a little nervous that I would be disappointed and expecting way too much, but I was very impressed.  We started with the feeding of the sea otters, very cute, then headed over to the open sea exhibit.  The walk through the jellyfish display was impressive and watching the schooling sardines in the giant tank, well I probably could have stayed there all day mesmorized.  We moved onto the kelp forest tank which housed one of my favourites, the leopard shark.  The penguins were a bit lazy and just hung out, but I guess that's what they do most of the day.  Had tons of fun at the splashponds where you could reach in an touch some of the creatures.  I convinced a young boy to reach in and pet the Bat Ray's.  Pretty sure a future in maring biology is in his future!!  Overall very, very impressive and well worth the trip.

Thursday saw us say goodbye to the parents after a great visit while I got to stay on for a couple more days.  The weather was starting to turn a bit ugly but thankfully cleared up perfectly for the Saturday morning Studio Velo/ Purple Patch ride.  The ride was the Alpine loop with an added drop down to the coast and back along hwy 1.  The ridge road, also know as the seven sisters served up some stunning  views to go along with the seven leg burning climbs. 

Seven Sisters - Mt. Tamalpais

We wanted to head out to watch the Single-Speed Cross Worlds in the city Sunday morning but just couldn't get motivated to brave the cold wet weather.  Instead we enjoyed a leisurely morning before I headed off to the airport. 

Back in Tucson and back to work.  Getting in lots of miles on the bike and loving it.  After two weeks back on the road I decided Thanksgiving was the appropriate day to take the mountain bike out for a spin.  A bit sketchy to start out with but so exciting to be back on the trails.  Good thing because I am signed up as part of a four man team for next weekends Dawn to Dusk mountain bike race in McDowell Mountain Park.  

Hope everyone enjoyed a great Thanksgiving!!!

Northern California Part I

They say broken bones take about 6 weeks to heal but mine seems to be stubborn.  Still stiff and sore, six weeks from the crash I woke up on a Sunday morning and looked at my trainer upon which I was suppose to do a long ride and just couldn't do it, so out the door I went.  It is now coming up on almost 8 weeks and the healing process continues at a painfully slow rate.  I have been getting some good rides out on the road bike but the mountain bike will have to wait until next week.  Swimming is interesting... and running is still a bit painful as I think I irritated the bursa over my hip with the hard landing and I have just attempted one short one so far.  Not overly worried as long as the healing contines at a steady pace and just looking to use November and December to log some great bike base miles.  The one advantage of not going to Maui was that I traded my ticket into a flight to San Francisco and met up with the rest of the family for my sister Karen's best friend's wedding and a week hanging out in the Bay Area. 

Me and Dad :)

Got into SF Thursday evening, picked-up the parents, and spent the night in Sausalito chez 'little fish'.  Drove up to Sonoma Friday afternoon in the rain and got my sister to the rehearsal dinner while the rest of us enjoyed a lovely Italian restaurant in town.  Saturday, like a true triathlete, I got up early and headed out on the bike for a long ride through the vineyards over to Napa and back.  I neglected to look at the elevation profile of the route I chose and while incredibly lovely, my 3hr ride turned into almost 4hrs even after cutting out a section.  I can see why 27's and compact cranks are popular here!! 

Got cleaned up just in time to get to the wedding on time only to have my sister's bridesmaids dress zipper split open unexpectantly minutes before the start of the ceremony!! Mum's to the rescue, my sister was expectly sewn into her dress, and later cut back out of it:)))  Congrats to Jenny and Dave on their beautiful wedding and future life together!!

Benziger Winery - Sonoma

Sunday we jumped in the car and headed out to do some wine tasting.  We headed over to Gundlach Bundschu first, the oldest family run winery in Sonoma.  As it was Mum's birthday we treated her (and us) to a bottle of their Vintage Reserve Cab we enjoyed later with a great dinner.  Next, in search of a more fruity selection we stopped in at Benziger.  The estate there was beautiful and showcased their organic, biodynamic, and sustainable farming methods. The wine was pretty good as well.  Picked up a nice Sauvignon Blanc and surprisingly a Port before taking the scenic route back to Sausalito.

Monday morning it was back on the bikes.  This time my sister joined me for a great ride up Mt Tam over to Stinson Beach and back on Hwy 1.  Amazing views and lots of climbing!!! Perfect way to start the week.  After a short turnaround it was back to Muir Woods and Mt Tam with the parents for a four hour hike through the giant redwoods.  Pretty sure the legs were absolute done by the end. 


Muir Woods

Mt Tamalpais State Park

Mt Tamalpais State Park

Next up we headed south along the coast road to Monterey and Carmel....