Another Change of Plans

Previously I wrote a blog about a stress fracture in my right fibula changing my season plans a bit.  That has since become a bigger change than I'd anticipated.  On April 7th I indicated that I had an MRI coming up to take a cautionary look at the injury site in response to some lingering pain.  I didn't think much of it and the Dr. wasn't too worried, either.

The MRI was April 11 and the next day the Dr. called to inform me that there was a stress reaction in the same location, although no cortical break.  I was to stop running but could ride, swim and aqua-jog.  A follow-up appointment was scheduled for two weeks later.  Leading up to the appointment I was doing quite a bit of riding ans swimming.  My leg was getting better but not 100%.  Then I went to Moab with the Rocky Mountain Triathlon Club and rode the roads and trails with great enthusiasm.  All the riding aggravated the injury site some so I made a note to talk to the Dr. about that when I saw her the next week at a previously scheduled follow up.

By the time the appointment arrived the area was achy again.  The Dr. consulted another Dr. and after I confirmed to them both repeatedly that I had not been running and did not crash or have some other trauma to the bone, it was determined that the edema initially present in the MRI from the beginning of April was not healing and an even more conservative treatment was necessary. I believe it was about here that I dropped the F-bomb a little too vigorously.  Given the lagging healing, I was in for 3 more weeks in a walking boot and three weeks after that of no running.  The doctor was very clear that there was no biking or elliptical allowed while in the boot, either.  My heart sank and I went home and got wasted.

While on activity restriction I've spent a huge amount of time in the pool, either swimming or running.  I put in 45,000 yards of swimming and 8 hours of running in the first 2 weeks and was smelling like a pool.  Despite babying my leg it was staying achy so I backed that off a bit and it felt better.

I made an appointment to talk to a different Dr. about the persistent aches that happens to coincide with the day I can take off the walking boot but also to talk about the treatment thus far.  The persistent aches leave me with almost no confidence that this latest round of time off and slow rebuild will result in anything different than the last rounds did.  A frustrating position to be in.

The second doctor did a lot of very aggressive poking and prodding of the fibula and there was no pain associated with it.  After quite a bit more discussion she diagnosed the pain I was feeling as coming from the popliteus muscle as a result of the altered walking biomechanics that come with the walking boot.  With a prescription for my PT I was sent on my way.  After a session with my PT I'm already feeling better and was confident enough in the recovery to cancel the third opinion I had planned and instead set my focus on rehabbing after three weeks in the boot.

At this point I am a few days out of the boot and have done a couple easy rides.  Things are feeling good and I'm optimistic that I'll get the all clear from the doctor at the 6 week follow-up and be able to introduce running again.  That is 10 days before my first triathlon of the season so I'm already anticipating walking much of the run leg there but beyond that I anticipate being able to run at least close to last year.  Pool running has been quite productive and kept me from losing too much fitness and I tend to come around fairly quickly.  I don't think I'll be setting any records, however.    Still, all this sitting around has definitely gotten me excited to race again when the time comes.

Swimming Comes From The Hips

Recently I was doing some pool running.  I've been doing a lot of that these days.  Anyone who has been in a similar situation know you are desperate for anything to occupy your mind a bit.  One particular day I was splashing along in the diving well watching the lap swimmers when one caught my eye.  She had lovely form. Her shoulder and hip rotation was fantastic, her recovery was high and her stroke was very symmetrical.  A real treat to watch.  When I saw her exit the water a bit later I was surprised to see SHE HAD ONLY ONE LEG!  The went only as far as lower thigh.

After watching her nice symmetrical stroke and her decidedly asymmetrical body I got to thinking about why it was she was swimming so nicely.  It clearly wasn't her kick driving that rotation, but her hips and core.  With this in mind I've been much more conscious of my own swim technique and focusing on keeping my core tight, providing a solid point from which to initiate good body roll and a strong pull.  Rotating from the hips, which feels an awfully lot like doing the twist, is really helping me with my extension and also gives me better power through the middle of the pull.  I've been told to do exactly that by coach Trista on multiple occasions but sometimes you have to come across something in your own way to truly get the message and understand how to apply it.

Other Hobbies Part 2

I while ago I wrote a post about my bike collecting and how it keeps me generally out of trouble when I'm not training.  Here's a bit more on that topic.

I concluded the last post with a Schwinn Lil' Tiger, a 12" wheel stingray bike for my daughter.  To further illustrate the degree of which I force my hobbies and interests on my daughter, here is another bike of hers, a 1973 Schwinn Pixie.  This and the next bike are 16" wheel, so the next size up from the Lil' Tiger.  I bought this bike before she could even walk, I believe.  I'd already picked up one Pixie but saw this one, which was much nicer, and had an ad on craigslist within an hour trying to unload the first.  The red Pixie was located in Dallas and the seller delivered it to my in-laws who then sent it to me.  My daughter rode this thing everywhere a for a couple years.  It's geometry makes it incredibly comfortable and stable.  If the gearing on it weren't so short she'd probably still be riding it.

Yet another bike for my daughter is this 1968 Schwinn Stingray Midget.  I casually looked for one for a very long time and saw it on craigslist one morning and it was in my garage that afternoon.  It's a bit throttled and the grease in the headset and bottom bracket was missing and instead there was some rubbery, once-upon-a-time was grease substance in there.  Luckily bearings are readily available so I ditched the worst parts rather than clean them and it now rides much better, even if still looking a bit rough.  The gripper slik rear tire is a hoot and leaves killer skidmarks, assuming you can stomp on the pedals hard enough to engage the anemic coaster brake.

Lastly we have a 1952 Schwinn Spitfire.  If you guessed it was for my daughter you'd be correct.  And another red bike to boot.  These kids balloon tire bikes are the coolest.  It probably weighs as much as my tri bike but pedaling it builds character.  When I saw this on craigslist one day for an absurdly low price I dove across town in a rainstorm to get it.  The guy was a hot rod guy and had already painted it (including the rims, unfortunately) but never gotten around to putting it together.  I'm not sure my daughter will ever take to this one but I do like it and at the least I know I can get my money back if I ever sell it.  What I'd really like to do is add the deluxe things that you could get on these back in the day.  A tank, rack, fancy chain guard and a proper paint job like the green ones at right.  That would be a pretty fun ride.

Fibular Stress Fracture: An Update

Wow, over a month since my last published post.  That's pretty rough.  One thing I want to update is the status of my injury.

Since the diagnosis I did my two weeks in the walking boot and got that off March 7th.  The evaluation by the doctor was a bit terrifying but the news was good.  Four weeks prior she'd asked me to hop on the injured leg.  It was agonizing and finally proved to me that it was time to stop running.  She asked me to do the same at the follow-up visit and I was quite nervous but it turned out OK.  At that point I was given a modest "Return to Running" plan and told to come back in 4 weeks.  That appointment is this week.

The root cause of the stress fracture has been a mystery.  I've gotten a lot of theories from a lot of people and come up with several of my own.  There doesn't seem to be a true smoking gun but there are many things that likely contributed.  In response I've made some changes to my running:

• When I was injured at the end of the 2012 season I blindly kept running rather than take some time off.  To minimize the discomfort I consciously altered my stride.  My right foot landed with significant supination and the toes were pointed outward.  My gait became asymmetrical as well.  This conscious change eventually became an unconscious one and it passed from my mind.  As it turns out this was placing significant stress on the fibula.  Enough to fracture it?  Who knows, but I've been cognizant to keep my toes pointed forward and to keep my foot strike under my body.
• The physical therapist I went to see after the boot came off said the right ankle was collapsing under load.  I can clearly see what he is talking about when looking in the mirror.  I was fit for a pair of orthotics that will give the ankle better support and give the stabilization muscles a bit of a break.  Hopefully.
• Shoes to go with the orthotics.  I've been doing all my running in racing flats for a long time.  Long runs, trail runs, and everything else.  Perhaps I should rethink that.  I'm not going to buy a pair of Brooks Beasts or anything, but I did temporarily shelve my Nike Lunar Racers for some Lunar Glides.  I like them a lot so far.
• While not directly running related, I've also changed my work footwear.  No more office-appropriate shoes for me.  I keep those in my desk for emergencies (talking to the boss) but generally wear sneakers now.  More comfortable and more supportive.

When the doctor sent me home after the walking boot came off, she also sent me with a "Return to Running" plan and told me to follow the first 4 weeks of it.  I was a little concerned about the plan as it had me up to nearly full distance after the 4 weeks.  I talked to coach Trista about this and we decided a more conservative build would be good.  Being injured in March stinks but being re-injured in June is far worse.  90% of my running has also been on soft trails or a treadmill to minimize impact.  Just as distance is slowly reintroduced, so is concrete running.  Short hard surface runs are getting introduced in the same judicious manner that soft surface run were 4 weeks ago.

So where are things now?  I just had my 4 week check-up and things are looking good.  I still have some aches in the area on occasion but no other symptoms.  The Dr. prescribed an MRI to confirm that the aches are not symptomatic of a greater issue such as a bone edema but has told me to continue running and use my best judgment if there is any pain.  As such, my running continues to build conservatively and I'm looking forward to introducing some actual workouts again.  I won't be able to run the Cherry Creek Sneak this year which is unfortunate but I'm looking to the Bolder Boulder 10K to get me back into the racing realm in 2013.

Change of Plans

I was meaning to post more frequently but this isn't the motivation I had in mind.  Anyway...

After the conclusion of the 2012 racing season I was pretty beat up.  I had some pain in my right leg that I could not get beyond.  This began at HyVee in September and got progressively worse as I over-raced, competing 4 more times in the next 5 weeks.  The end of the season couldn't come fast enough and I switched off the lights about half way through the last race.  My PT identified my popliteus as the source of the pain and treated that, getting me to where I was running again, albeit sparingly.

Starting in November of 2012 I started working with Trista of itz Multisport.  My first runs with her were pretty minimal.  Painfully so, in fact.  A couple 15-20 minute runs a week was it.  This slowly became a few times a week, then a bit longer and a bit harder until I'd very gradually built up to a steady 30-40 miles/week.    I was staying healthy, getting faster and life was good.

Then it happened.  I was experiencing some occasional tightness in my right peroneus longus, a muscle on the lateral portion of your lower leg.  Massage and stretching kept it happy.  One day I had a workout involving hill sprints.  I'd been doing these regularly and built into then with the same methodical slowness as my mileage.  During the workout I felt fine, but later in the morning I was having a lot of pain walking and could not move my ankle.  I associated this pain with the peroneus and had my PT work vigorously on it.  I had to cut short a few runs and skip a couple others but was generally able to keep training unabated.  It was taking a long time to clear up completely so I made an appointment with a doctor at the venerable CU Sports Medicine center.  She asked me to hop on either foot and that made it quite obvious that something was wrong with my right leg.  I could barely get off the ground!  An X-ray showed a bump on the medial side of the fibula, near the proximal end (the top).  A bone scan the next week confirmed what the Dr. suspected; I had a stress fracture in the location of the red circle to the right.

This whole thing has been quite puzzling.  First, this is a very uncommon thing to have happen.  So uncommon that when I was looking for an image of the injury online I couldn't find a picture at all.  There are many gruesome photos out there, however!  I initially suspected something related to previous popliteus issues but the popliteus doesn't affect the fibula at all.  Second, there was no trauma to the bone that I can remember.  I never fell down the stairs, stepped off a curb funny or wrecked on my bike.  Third, I don't run very much!  The fibula bears very little weight so for it to get injured when I'm at 35 miles a week is strange.  I think this minimal weight bearing has also allowed it to heal even while I've been running, as it's feeling pretty good these days and only skipped a couple runs during the whole thing.

One thing I really want to get out of this is what the root cause was, or more importantly, how do I prevent this from happening again.  A 2 week layoff in February is unfortunate but not terrible.  A 6 week layoff in May, however, is quite a bit worse.  Trista did everything right with regard to gradually building mileage and gradually reintroducing intensity after a break in the fall, so I need to look at other possible causes as well:  diet, some sort of unremembered trauma or fall, different shoes, anything.  Not only do I want to know for this immediate situation, but I most certainly want to avoid it in the future.  To that end I've lined up (with much trepidation) a visit with a new PT.  A different set of eyes may see something differently and that's really what I want; to learn what the root cause was and fix it, or avoid it.

Now that the damage is done I've been trying not to worry much about the injury and instead focusing on what I can do as it heals.  That's meant extra time swimming and biking, some (seriously boring!) pool running, extra attention given to stretching and generally anything that will keep progress moving forward.  No sense wasting time and energy on something that can't be changed at this point.

Investment of Time in the Pool

Before the 2012 triathlon season I joined a local masters swimming group and increased my weekly yardage quite a bit.  The payoff was good and I swam better than ever before in the early season.  Things were a little hit or miss after that but that was mainly poor planning on my part.  But it was clear that the key was swimming more, and swimming harder.

Going into 2013, coach Trista let me know that there would be another bump in swimming volume.  I knew this is what I needed but hadn't motivated to actually do it.  Trista added an extra day in the pool to the weekly routine and keeps the challenging workouts coming.  I've also been fortunate to be able to join a masters group 2 or 3 times a week.  This has me in the pool more than ever before.  At first the transition was a difficult one.  I was sore and having trouble with one of my shoulders.  After a few weeks and some changes to my desk at work, things settled into a more comfortable state.  My fitness was improving and I was also getting good feedback from Trista and others about my stroke mechanics and have been incorporating those as well.  Who knew there were drills other than catch-up?

Has it been working?  My masters group had a series of 500 yard time trials over the course of the winter and I've been able to take off a little over 15 seconds.  If I could put together a good effort I'm confident it could be even more, although talk is cheap so I'll stick with the 15 second claim.  The increased fitness has also helped me a lot in longer workouts as I am able to hold my form together longer and get more out of the prescribed sets rather than cruise the first half only to revert to damage control for the last 1500.

The first open water race isn't for a while still but I'm confident that the time spent in the pool will pay off.  Coach Trista's approach will definitely lead me to better swim times this season.

Blog Updates

Doing a bit of research I discovered that I posed less than half as many times in 2012 that I did in 2011.  Why?  I don't really know.  When I first started posting I thought I was passing along useful information to other athletes, especially those getting started int eh sport as I was at the time.  I was learning a lot and thought I had a unique perspective on things, being fortunate enough to have a good bit of success.  Now I just feel like what I have to say is not that interesting and isn't news anyway.  Another part of it is that I'm a bit annoyed with the online thing anyway.  Take a typical online discussion forum as an example.  What used to seem like a good resource is just annoying anymore.  I don't know if the forums have changed or if I have, but information shared by unvetted hacks like me is often dubious at best.  I'm not sure I want to be a part of that.

So in 2013 I don't see a huge increase in my anemic posting but I do hope to share some meaningful, helpful or somewhat entertaining things in the future.  Be looking for the first of those soon.

2013: Another Season With Runners Roost

I just learned that I'll be a part of the Runners Roost triathlon team again in 2013 and could not be more excited.  The Roost has been incredibly supportive and I'm proud to represent them.  In the past two years they have been more than generous to me.  Training and racing with the team has been a great opportunity to stay connected with friends and fellow racers through the season and for someone like me that mainly trains alone I enjoy feeling a part of the community.  Runners Roost has always been a store I've loved and I'm honored to wear the red, white, and black Roost uniform for another year.

The 100 x 100 New Years Workout

There is something of a tradition among swimmers to do a 100 x 100 set on or around New Years.  I decided this year I'd join them and see how it went.  I wasn't sure I could complete the set but I was good for a try, at least.

The first alarm bells sounded when I learned the pool would be set up as long course for the event.  Not a huge deal, I guess, but it would be about 900 yards longer than a SCY set-up.  My longest swim up to now was about 6,000 short course yards while in Dallas for vacation a couple weeks prior.  Not a big deal as long as I paced myself wisely.  The second set of alarm bells rang when I got there for the workout and saw that my usual lane mates were not there and I was obliged to get in a faster lane than I'm used to.  What can you do?  I elected to bring up the rear and was grateful that I could not possibly get lapped with just 100s on the board.

Once swimming things were OK.  The sendoffs were within reason and I was feeling OK.  The final alarm bells went off when "10 x 100 Rock U Like A Hurricane" showed up on the board.  As promised, I definitely got rocked like a hurricane with 10 1:30 sendoffs.  The last few I didn't even have time to stop but just turned and kept going.  I made the splits but the damage was done.  That was just too much for being 4000 meters in already.

After slinking over to another lane I got in three more sets of 10 x 100 and cooled down after that.  I finished with 8,200 LCM, which is about 2,700 meters further than my previous distance record.  And while not particularly sore, I was pretty gassed and felt about like this. ----->

Now that I've taken part in this tradition once I think I have a better idea how to actually do it next year.  I'm already looking forward to it, as well as the interceding year to hopefully make the 1:30 send-offs without sabotaging the rest of the set.

Other Hobbies

I really like bikes.  I like everything about them, really.  I like to look at them.  I like to ride them.  I like to appreciate the form and function of them.  I like to work on them.  I like to restore them.  Everything.  I think bikes are great machines and can be appreciated in many different ways.  This post is the first about some of my favorite bikes.  Since I've started training more I've definitely slowed on the collecting front but strangely they keep appearing in my garage nonetheless.

First up is this 1967 Schwinn Stingray 5-Speed.  I found this one a couple years ago.  It is in original condition, meaning it has not been restored.  Well taken care of, for sure.  A lot of people like the Krate bikes like the Orange Krate pictured at right but I'm not so fond of them.  Not that I'd turn one down, but there is so much unnecessary stuff bolted all over them.  The 5-Speed has no springer fork, no fenders, no seat springs and no goofy little front wheel.  This one is just muscle.

Next is a 1966 Schwinn Corvette.  It is also unrestored and in original condition.  This beauty was a wedding present from my wife.  It was in the attic of the old Westside Cyclery in Denver, which was one of the coolest old-school shops in town until it closed.  Anyway, it was in boxes until my then-soon-to-be-wife and the shop worked to put it together and get it rolling.  As smooth a ride as you can get.

Last one for now is a 1971 Schwinn Lil' Tiger.  I was out for a run one day and found this one in the trash.  It was completely covered in pink paint which itself was covered in thick orange paint.  My daughter was 3 at the time and I already knew I wanted one of these so I was beyond stoked.  Run abruptly aborted as I carried this one home.  It took a full box of paper towels and most of a can of lacquer thinner to get the paint off but it ended up pretty nice.  I needed new tires and a seat, which weren't too hard to find, but otherwise the only thing I put into this one was a ton of time.  Bikes are like commodities and are meant to be bought and sold but this one I'm hanging onto forever.  Too many special memories, like the one below.