Notes from the bike...

1. Being a physiologist, nothing melts my heart more than seeing a parent and child exercise together. While out training, I've seen children ride their bikes beside a parent who is out for a run and I've also seen a father + young son run together. As North America (and the better part of the world) is currently battling an obesity crisis, exercise is the number one Rx. I wish more families would take the opportunity to exercise together...

2. Yesterday I saw an older woman hula-hooping. I'm dead serious.
She was hula-hooping on her front lawn....absolutely no children were observed on the premises. It was awesome.

Accomplishments of the Summer Season...

The summer season is upon us once again..(FINALLY).
Instead of spending weekends traveling/racing/traveling....I am spending them...doing work, trying to train and waterskiing.

Take a look above....I finally did a deep water start over the weekend.
(i.e., Getting pulled up on my slalom ski ONLY (no crappy left foot ski in which I used to kick it off my foot as soon as I got up)).

Yeahhh :)

Life is good.

I have also completed a hill climb and 40km TT. I have more tricks up my sleeve for the coming weekends. Good days and bad days with the hip/groin/leg area. Mentally I'm 1000x better than over the winter. I DO miss the road racing.... a lot.

School (which I will now refer to as "work") is insane. ....It's a good insane though.
I'm moving abroad for 3 months starting in October to do some doctoral research in a foreign lab.
I'm pumped.
This does mean though that my list of things to do in the 3 months BEFORE I depart is at an all-time high. Long days, long nights, long wknds working...but I still make room for fun (i.e., see picture above).

Over and out for now - sorry that I haven't been able to post any ridiculous stories of my racing adventures. Injuries stink - but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Everything happens for a reason....one day I'll figure out what this (injury) reason is/was!

Back on the Bandwagon

What a whirlwind last 30 days or so!

Good news - I'm able to exercise/train again. Nothing super intensive but I've had a steady last month (mildly interrupted by a wicked vacation!). There are good hip days and bad hip days....I'm hoping for more good days as I get stronger, but at the same time I can feel my steroid injection in my hip joint starting to wear off as the burning sensation is creeping back into my life. I can deal with it...for now...as long as it doesn't bring the pain back with it too!

At the end of April I jumped back into the pool with the varsity team. I just swim 2 nights a week, but it's fun. I think that I've finally had enough time away from the pool (5.5 yrs) that I can say that I actually "miss" swimming. I don't think I'm at the point where I'd want to race at a high level - but I do enjoy the practices...maybe because I don't have to be there 2x per day everyday!

Right at the start of May I was fortunate enough to jet-away on a last minute vacation! What a blast! Jake and I swam with the dolphins at Discovery Cove in Orlando Fl. FABULOUS.
I think that if this PhD thing doesn't work out - then I'd like to become a dolphin trainer. I'm sure you can tell by the pictures how excited I was! I wanted to take Lester (our dolphin) home but 500 lbs on the airplane seat was sort of frowned upon. Too bad :(

My team (Stevens Racing presented by the Cyclery) is doing FANTASTIC!!!! What a talented bunch of women! I miss road racing, I think I would have been loving every second with this absolutely amazing team. I have to be realistic though - I literally spent 6 months doing nothing, barely able to move and I shriveled up like a prune. (Seriously, my left glute shrunk to a raisin......I was lobsided). It's easy to get discouraged when I don't have my climbing legs as per last year, but I'm having fun exploring, riding new roads and longer (although not as intensive) distances than I've done in the past.

Running still hurts. It's good for my other athletic issues - but wow....I have a whole new respect for those hard core runners out there. You truly are a special breed.

That's all for now - I have a few tricks up my sleeve for the summer...we'll see if they pan out ;)

Trying to take one fun-filled athletic day at a time...(must throw in a whole lot of school too!).

Ciao!

Pimp My Ride

I really can't thank Stevens Racing presented by the Cyclery enough for their support. Today I met up with Kris Westwood at the Good Friday RR who was kind enough to bring my bike down from Ottawa. For specs - see here (Stevens SCF-SL).

Maybe a brand spankin' fits like a charm, wild-ride is all I needed to remind me of how much I love bike riding. I couldn't wait to get the bike on the road - so thanks to Jake's help I got myself set-up (whoops - minus the bottle cages) and took it for a quick spin before dinner. This is a monumental event folks - my first outdoor ride in over 5.5 months. Although I'm not pain-free, it really felt amazing to be outdoors. I didn't even care that I had to head back to Jake's in a 35km/hr headwind.

My new bike purrrs....it's incredible. Although I love (and miss a LOT) my Terry team - I've had issues getting the bike to fit me as their largest women's frame is only a 56cm (only - but when you're over 180 cm tall - a 56cm frame is small!). The Steven's bike fit the second I sat on the saddle - it was awesome.

I had to stop a few times to get the saddle height right - but other than that - I think I'm in heaven.

Thank you, thank you, thank you my team, manager and sponsors. Maybe this isn't how I anticipated to start the season (i.e., not starting the season at all) - but in-time whatever is meant to be will work itself out.
Oh right, and remember my last post about kicking my injury's ass? Yeah well - it came back to smoke me in the bum as not more than 24 h after my spectacular trainer ride, I blew out my right hip/groin. We're still not quite sure what's going on - but I couldn't walk for 3 days. I'm OK riding (which is great - because the left still hurts when I ride). Sigh.

I'll have more adventures to talk about soon - as I'm gearing up for my Easter ride with Coney Poney.

Eat IT SUCKA!

It's not often I write about specific training stuff ......BUT......

Today I did a 2.3 km swim in the AM (not long - but I'm still getting my "feel" of the water back).

Tonight I did a 1.5 h ride on the trainer with 3 x 20 min intervals at 215 W.

That's the longest ride I've done in 5 months. That's the best power I've put out in 5.5 months (ok it's not my 260 but it'll do).

It's the best my legs and injuries have felt in 6.5 months.

EAT IT 2.5 CM LABRAL HIP TEAR, SI JOINT DYSFUNCTION, SCAR TISSUE BUILD-UP AND WHATEVER THE HELL IS ATTACKING MY BODY...

I'm NOT DONE WITH YOU YET MR. BICYCLE.

BOOYAH.

It's Only Worth Writing If...

I realize my blog writing takes a lot of hiatuses .....big gaps between posts. But let's be serious, you don't want to read this if it's not at least MILDLY entertaining right?

I believe that it's only worth writing if I have something entertaining, enlightening or ridiculous to say....which, when you're a doctoral student slogging through hours of data collection - can be few and far between. Top that off with a stupid injury(ies) that have lasted months and months - and you come up with a whole lot of NOTHING.

It's your lucky day however, as I decided on this lovely balmy Friday afternoon (at -5 degrees C) that I have a few writing itches to SHA-BANG ....here we go

1. I'm going to by-pass all the cloudy news except to say that I have one of the toughest, bravest and downright freakin' fantastical girlfriend's ever. If I can provide any "lightheartedness" to the past weekend which was full of heartache and sadness, it is to say that I have come to the conclusion that Sudbury folk do not re-pave their roads because they think this brings about cheaper mining..."Hey kids, if we don't fix all the potholes maybe something cool will eventually come out of the bottom of that never-ending black bottomless pit" (Yeah, the only thing they'll find are the remnants of cars that never made it out the other side).
Seriously. We saw a car lose it's backend going through one of those suckers.
That being said - to save your car you need 3 people in each vehicle ....One to drive, one to call out directions and one to call out for potholes. Those things are CRATERS.
Poor Jimis. (That's my car).

2. I am astounded at the twitter phenomenon. Thousands are signing up for twitter so that they can notify people of their ever exciting lives 18 million times a day. Now I realize that I MIGHT just be slightly above your average Jane, but I just don't feel that it's necessary to inform people of when I'm taking a bath, what I'm watching on TV, how I slept, what I ate for dinner, the mundane details of a training ride etc etc. What happened to old-fashion diaries where you can write all your little details of your entire day?
Logging onto facebook - I'm astounded at the changes in status (mostly thanks to twitter). I realize I write about mundane details on my blog - but let's face it - you CLICKED to get here....you purposefully came to my blog out of interest (shame on you for being so nosey - kidding!).

3. Weather changes......now every so often we get a nice taste of warmer weather. Warmer can be anywhere from +5 to +14 degrees. Now maybe I'm usually colder than the average person, but since when did +14 call for shorts and tank tops? To top it off, when 24 h later it's only +2, the shorts are still on. I don't get it. If you're barely wearing any material at +14 what are you going to do when it's +34? No wait - keep that answer to yourself please.

4. That being said though, I'm excited for the warm weather to STAYYYY ....I've given up on downhill skiing as we've wiped out too much snow for that - so now let's BRING ON THE WARMTH so I can get out on the slalom-ski. Not to mention the fact that I'm not allowed out on my bike until it's warm so that I don't induce further damage onto my already failing 27-yr old body...(seriously - I'm sort of kidding about that part...it's not failing - it's just ..umm "in need of some over-haul"). The hurt is getting better though...slowly.

PS. Just so you know....I don't hate all status updates on facebook. In fact, I find some of them to be highly entertaining and enjoyable. I'm merely just ever-so-slightly poking a little fun at the people who update countless times in one day. Let's face it.....it IS kind of funny. ;)



Ok enough for now......

Mystery Diagnosis

It's about time for another update....one where I hum and haw about the fact that school is busy, cycling doesn't exist and I'm as grumpy as all get-out knowing that racing season is 98% not happening this season as nobody really knows what's wrong with me.

Well kids, I'm going to try and 'change 'er up' because I actually have something productive to talk about when it comes to my 'mystery diagnosis'.

Last time I reported that I have an extensive 2.5 cm labral tear in my left hip. The tear is surgical but the prognosis sucks crap (sorry - need to be blunt) and there is no guarantee that my other symptoms will go away.
(Reminder: my other symptoms besides hip pain consist of extreme left calf numbness/pain increasing with exertion, thigh pain with extreme exertion, piraformis and glute pain no matter what I'm doing).

Anyway - I saw an orthopedic surgeon a few weeks ago - (right around my 27th birthday) who sent me for a steroid injection (Depromedral) into my hip joint. The steroid SHOULD relieve the pain in my hip joint for a few months (it's not a permanent solution) and thus may potentially aleviate all my other left leg issues.

The procedure was a week ago (it was not pleasent) and unfortunately, I'm sad to report that we are back to square one. While I don't have as much 'clicking' and pain in the hip joint per se, I still have all the same left leg symptoms.
Yippi.

Next up was re-visiting the sports doctor to determine what the next course of action was to be....(I feel like a lab rat).
My sports doctor is currently on vacation so I saw someone new today who after an extensive functional examination told me that I have an SI joint issue. I'm not surprised at hearing this because I've been told by a few health care professionals that my hips are "off" causing my leg length discrepancy and loss of strength in my left leg. After some consultation the doctor suggested that I have a local anastheic injected into my SI joint. This numbs the joint and should tempoarily relieve any SI symptoms, basically determining whether my left leg issues are SI related.

So there I went - another injection - and quickly hobbled home to hop on the bike and take the legs for a test ride to see if any of my symptoms went away.

I have to say - I was trying to be optimisitic because before I hopped on my trainer my piraformis and glute felt AMAZING. Unfortuantely though, I was just as disappointed as after my steroid - I STILL have left leg pain (calf and thigh) upon exertion.

I thought about this for a few seconds while pedaling...."labral tear, SI joint issue AND something else"....I didn't know whether to laugh or cry so I did both.
I then proceeded to curse.
A lot.

I have heard that "things come in 3's"....so I'm hoping now that we have found 2 issues, the 3rd issue will hit the nail on the head. Next step is vascular/blood flow problems - which I also fit the bill for (i.e., I have all the symptoms).

I'm upset - I feel like I've lost my lifestyle and much of my identity. I'm quite cranky, I refuse to look at racing calendars and read bicycling websites/literature. I have no idea who won Cross Worlds, Tour Down Under etc. I don't want to look because it reminds me of something I can't do.

I don't need motivation to get better. I AM my motivation. I don't know how to lead a lifestyle other than being involved in an elite sport so everyday I wake up, I'm determined to find out what in the world is wrong with me.

When I feel like I'm at my wits end though, I think about how lucky I still am. In general, I'm still a healthy person with awesome friends/family and working towards a future with lots of opportunities.

My good friend's mom is battling cancer, having already been on life support she is fighting for her life.

Yes my friends, life COULD be a whole lot more complicated.

Although I can't lead the life I WANT to lead...I still HAVE my life. I still have opportunities and adventures that await me. I may not be taking the path I had hoped - but one day I'll get there.
That should be enough.

Thanks for reading.