Back on the road

Today was my last session at Airrosti. I know I’ve talked about them a lot over the past couple of weeks, but really guys, what they have done is incredible. I remember just two weeks ago, sitting in the emergency room talking with the doctor. He told me how lucky I was that my ankle wasn’t broken, it certainly looked that way. I asked him about racing in two weeks and he shook his head no. I asked him about racing in 6 weeks, and he replied that it was unlikely. From personal experience, he thought it would be 6 months before I felt normal again. He left the room, and I remember thinking that my season was over, and how I probably would have broken down in tears if my wife weren’t there. It just wasn’t fair.

Here I am, 2+ weeks later and I’m running again. I’m not back up to pre-injury distance or pace, but it is probably faster and further than many my age, and the pain is manageable. The credit for this remarkable recovery goes in two directions. I have to first give credit to myself. I sat and cried through four fairly painful Airrosti sessions. I’m the one who iced my ankle for hours when it was freezing cold and all I wanted was to jump in the hot tub. That said; I couldn’t have done it without Airrosti and Drs Schmedding and Arnold. I am stunned at what they were able to do, and hope I never have to visit them again.

I’ve got to go now and thank Betsy for turning me on to Airrosti.

Who do you trust?

Let me start by stating that being a triathlete is expensive. I’ve been in the sport for only 7 months and have spent a lot of money, and I’m not done yet. I still have a list of expensive items I want. Buying the item at the top of my list somehow doesn’t seem to shorten the list any.

Which brings me to today’s topic: Who do you trust when buying these not cheap items? Case in point: when I was shopping for a new TT bike I visited four different stores and each sales person felt that their bike was better than the rest, though I never got a solid reason as to why. When it came, my decision was based more on my trust of the salesperson than bike specifics. I don’t want to say they lied, but two of the four stores flat out misrepresented the truth to sway me in the direction they wanted.

I’ve decided to start building relationships with people at the various stores, creating a “trust zone”. My latest entry is Luke’s Locker in the Woodlands. I had it in my mind that I was training in the wrong shoes, because the right shoes wouldn’t have let me sprain my ankle like these did. I also wanted to get a pair of racing shoes. I wanted some shoes that I could wear without socks, to save that critical 15 seconds of transition time putting on socks. So on Monday I entered their store prepared to walk out with two new pair of shoes.

I picked out the salesman I wanted, the one wearing the USAT sweat shirt. He would understand where I was coming from, and I was glad I hadn’t worn the same sweatshirt! I stood around and waited, and then got someone else. I wasn’t thrilled, but hoped for the best. I told him I wanted some racing shoes. We talked about my races, and then he talked me out of it! He actually told me not to buy a pair of racing shoes, that I would be better off wearing socks and racing in my training shoes! I was shocked!

I told him about my recent injury on a trail run, and he said these were definitely the wrong shoes for a trail run. He talked about the physics of these shoes and why they had directly impacted the severity of my injury if not the injury itself. Then he told me something I’d heard before, but not heard: if I’m serious about these triathlons, don’t risk injury by doing trail races! I’d already come to that conclusion, but I have two more off road runs scheduled that I’ve already paid for. He was actually familiar with the Seabrook marathon and said that isn’t a trail run, that both I and these shoes would be fine. He highly encouraged me to get out of the Warrior Dash. While it might be fun, it is in the middle of my race season, and it isn’t worth the risk of injury.

Then came the next shocker. He could sell me a $140 pair of training shoes, but if I like the ones I have now, and then stick with them. I might want to try something else next time around, but these are good solid shoes for me.

I walked in wanting to buy two pair of running shoes, and walked out empty handed but confident that I already had what I needed. Now that is how you earn trust! Luke’s Locker, you win today’s award.

Every day in every way I get better and better...

I’ve decided to quit whining and focus on the good and humorous aspect of my training. That is easy for me to say today, things are once again looking positive. Let’s see if I am able to hold up my end of the bargain when things get difficult again.

I’ve endured three treatments with Airrosti. If giving birth is more painful than this, thank you Mom for having me after going through it twice with my older sisters! I’m really hoping that Wednesday is my last session. The doctor did give me permission to start running after my last session.

My first run was about 5 minutes long, just a jog up and down the block. I was afraid to go very far in case something went wrong. I didn’t want to have to call my wife for rescue again, and sitting on a corner crying didn’t sound very appealing either. The next day I ran for 10 minutes. I was very disappointed as I struggled (and failed) to hold on to an 11 minute/mile pace. I know the pace because I ran on a treadmill. Usually I can do a pretty quick pace on the treadmill because all I have to do is keep my legs moving and not fall. I told myself recovery was going to take time, and came home to stretch and ice my ankle. Yesterday I upped the distance to 1.5 miles, and finished in the 13-14 minute range.

Today was much better. I got back on the trail for a 3 mile run and finished in 25:25 or about 8.5 minute/mile pace. I was pretty winded when I got through, but I managed solid negative splits throughout. Coach was right, I wouldn’t lose that much in 2 weeks, and what I lost I can get back quickly. I’ve still got a ways to go to get as quick as I was 2 weeks ago (not all that quick really, but quicker than I am now), or to be able to run a ½ marathon, but I believe I can do it.

Since no one is reading this blog, I can say that I’m toying with the idea of running in a ½ marathon in Houston next Sunday. There is registration available on Saturday, so I don’t need to make a decision until then. It all depends on how this week goes, how the ankle is feeling, and how the next torture session winds up.

Thanks again Airrosti and Dr Schmedding! You may have just saved my season!!

Get back on the road quicker with Airrosti?

After spraining my ankle I’ve been to the ER and an orthopedic specialist. Both told me I was out of commission for six weeks, maybe longer. Desperate for a better answer I tried one more place – Airrosti. I’d never heard of them before, but my Ironman friend kept pushing me to try it. Years before it had gotten her back on the road, it might work for me. Be forewarned, it is painful she said. I called them up to ask about the process. Kristen, the lady on the other end of the phone, told me she had seen people walk in on crutches and a removable cast like mine, and walk out without them. I told her I’d heard it was painful, and she replied that it can be intense.

I had my first session last week with Dr Arnold. To say it is painful is definitely an understatement! It was an hour of pure torture, full of sweats, cursing and me practically jumping off of the table. At the end of the therapy, I got off the table and walked with him into another room, barefoot, without pain or a limp. To say I was stunned would be an understatement. I just couldn’t believe how much the swelling had gone down or that I was walking unaided. Heck, just the day before I was still using crutches and here I was walking unaided. I began to think I just might be able to race in 10 days!

I spent the next three days doing my exercises, icing my ankle and keeping it elevated. I did everything I could and/or was supposed to do, but I don’t think it was enough. As the weekend progressed the swelling came back, my ankle stiffened, and with it the pain. Getting out of bed in the morning took several minutes as I overcame the throbbing of blood rushing back to my foot, and stretching my tendons back into location. I knew this morning that it wasn’t practical for me to think about racing ½ marathon next weekend. I can’t even run one mile right now. Then again, it is time to visit Airrosti again!

I changed doctors for this visit. Mostly I did it because this location was much closer to home. I also thought that this female doctor might be a bit gentler, not because she would be weaker but because of her maternal instincts. What a mistake that was! If anything she was more intense. For those of you not familiar with the Airrosti procedure, it seems like they search out the most painful locations, and then press like hell. Then they move their finger a little and press again. Sometimes they start at one end of a tendon/muscle, press like hell, and then slide the pain up to the other end. I’m pretty sure I grabbed the bench so hard I left indentions for my finger tips. When it was all done my entire body was exhausted from the tension and the areas where she had focused were very sore, but I got up again and walked to the other room.

So is Airrosti a savior or pure torture? I’ve completed two sessions, have one or two more to go this week, but I still don’t know if I will be able to race this weekend. While I would love to do this race, I have taken a step back and am looking at the bigger picture. I’ve got three big races this year, and I don’t want to run this weekend and risk those races. I want to be able to blog about my first half Ironman at the end of April. Stay tuned!

Hold 'em or Fold 'em

I read a blog entry last week from a young female triathlete that was based on the Kenny Rodger’s song about knowing when to hold them and when to fold them. I wish I knew where I had read that entry as I would like to read it again having had my own hold/fold em experience.

Saturday past I ran in a 10 mile race, my longest in many years. I was particularly excited about the run because it was off the road. I prefer to run off road as it is easier on my knees, but I’ve not done a lot of trail runs. To me that meant an off road run and I didn’t give it much further thought. The temperature was in the mid 30’s, but I didn’t think much about that either. I wish now I had.

As a last minute decision, my wife came with me to the race. Then, as cold as it was, she decided to participate in the 5K run so she could stay warm. As I was finishing up my last minute rituals I overheard the announcer say that there had been 2.5 inches of rain two days before. The organizers had gone out and re-routed the course to avoid water, but there was still going to be 1.5 to 2 miles with ankle deep water. I thought he was exaggerating, my final mistake.

The race started and I was going great. I really felt good running, and was picking people up ahead of me that I was going to pass. It was going to be a good race! Then the route moved off of the dirt road onto a trail. Now I know what they mean by a trail: a narrow dirt path lined with tree roots, leaves, and some standing water. I didn’t want to trip, so I was carefully watching where I stepped, still working my way through the crowd. I remember again thinking about how well things were going. And then I fell. I don’t know how it happened, only that I twisted my knee and hit my opposite knee on the way down. Rolling over I grabbed my ankle and thought briefly about sitting there for a bit so it would stop hurting, until I saw the person I had just passed wasn’t going to stop. They were going to pass me back, something I wasn’t real interested. I jumped up and started moving. I limped for several steps, and thought if I could just get on some solid ground I could run it out. Unfortunately, solid ground was a luxury I wasn’t going to get.

From there the trail got progressively worse. The water got deeper, and as people tried to run around the puddles, the sides turned into mud. And they water got deeper and more frequent. I tried for a while to run around the water, but the borders got very muddy and narrow. The mud was so thick that it actually pulled off my shoe on three different occasions. The borders were also not very forgiving to my already sore ankle. There was a turn off for the 5K runners, somewhere between mile two and three. I thought about taking that turn and heading back to the finish line. My ankle was tender, but not too bad. This was my hold em/fold em moment. I could either head back to mark myself DNF, or use as a mental test. Surely there would come points in the future where things wouldn’t go my way and I would want to quit. If I quit now, it would just be easier to quit then. That was it then, I wasn’t going to quit!

I sucked it up, dropped the pace a bit, and picked my footsteps very carefully. I wasn’t perfect though, and every little misstep made my ankle hurt more. At mile seven I knew I had it licked. I could easily run 3 miles. Then I hit the worst of the bad terrain. I remember thinking it was stupid of us all to be running in these conditions! I lost my shoe again. This time as I was putting on my shoe, I caught a glance at my ankle and knew I’d made a mistake: I had a nice goose egg on the outside of my ankle. I think that helped me lose focus a bit, and I began to notice the pain. Every step made it worse. I dreaded each patch of mud as they were sure sources of more pain. By this time I had decided that it was better to run through the middle of the water. While I couldn’t see what was under the water and risked falling again, it seemed to be easier on my ankle than the mud. I hit the 8 mile marker still maintaining a nine minute/mile pace; I was super pleased! But oh the mud was bad. I stopped running several times to pick my way through the mud. Then the worst part, people started to pass me! I’ve run enough races to know that I don’t often get passed at the end of the race. I accelerate throughout the race whereas most people seem to fade.

Somehow, someway I made it to the finish. I was looking everywhere for my wife so she could help me, and there she was at the finish line snapping my picture. I tried to find the medical staff, but was informed they didn’t have one. Some guy with the bedside manners of Dr. House approached me, looked at my ankle, and asked me what I wanted him to do. I wanted to smack him! If I knew what I wanted him to do I would do it myself!

I did finally find the fire department, got my ankle wrapped and got a lift back to my car. The drive home included a stop by my favorite ER, where X-rays indicated no broken bones, only a sprain. After two days of rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE), I went to the orthopedic today where I was politely informed that I wouldn’t be racing again in two weeks, and six weeks was questionable. He put me in a removable boot/cast that I am to wear for two weeks until I come back for a follow up visit.

Here is what I learned this weekend. When things get tough, I have the mental toughness to keep going. If things get bad, I might not have the sense to quit! It is good for the long term to know this, but what a short term price I’m going to have to pay!