4 Day Weekend

It's 30 degrees outside. Might as well go mountain biking. A quarter of a mile into the ride, mostly uphill, I could tell my legs were still pretty shot from the 100 miles Thursday and Friday and the all day snowboarding Saturday. So, what do I do? Put in a two and a half hour brick workout. First one of the year. That will show that scar tissue in my foot who's boss.

Since I had deleted my iHeartRadio app, the ride was done in complete silence. Not originally how I wanted to do it, but I think it was better for it. I got to pay more attention to the trail and immerse myself in it. I've noticed that sometimes when I get going, my vision blurs and I have to back off the power. I wish my eyes could see and process the trail as quickly as my legs and bike want to ride it. Come on Brodman 18 and 19. Can't you work a little faster back there?

On the last leg of the ride, I dropped into the pump track. I made it around 8 times without pedaling before my arms started to get tired. Pump track for the win! A lot of the trail has big humps and jumps like that so integrating it on the trail was fun. I felt like a moto-cross or a downhill rider. It sure was a lot of fun, and of course some of them I just launched for air to have even more fun. Overall, it was a wonderful ride. It was great to get back on the mountain bike and fly by trees, roll over rocks, splatter mud, catch air, and fish tail in some corners.

It's sad to say that I enjoyed the 2 hours of riding on Sunday more than the day of snowboarding on Saturday. Although, I guess if it were the other way around, then I've been investing all my time and money into the wrong sport. It's fun to mix it up though. It's not often that you get frostbite on your face or the chance to put on snow chains for a commercial van.

After the ride, I went to walmart to get this week's lunch meat and nutella. Can't function without that. To entertain the people, and just because I didn't want to get my sweat pants dirty with the mud from the trail, I went in with my Under Armour tights on over my chamois. I got some looks, but they got the show.

So this nice four day weekend left me with 13 hours of training for the week. It's a nice little precursor for what I have planned for spring break. The chance of being on Team USA is motivating me even more right. I hope they make the right choice and I get the chance to wear those stars and stripes in Alabama this May.

And as always, P.E.M.D.A.S.

Troubles

While some things have been going great, I am still me and I will always get hurt. I'm already dealing with quite a few injuries and setbacks this year. So in no particular order:

I am trying to get back into running shape, which is hard having taken off for such a long time after the end of last season. To make matters worse, I have developed a big lump of scar tissue in my left heal from when I landed on a piece of steel last August. I was trying to mount bike hangers in the walls of my new apartment. The mount was sitting in the floor and I was up on the dresser drilling into the wall. I was done and jumped back off the dresser and my left heel hit first, right on the 2mm wide piece of backing steel for the hanger. The steel bent, the drill bit snapped off in the carpet, and my heel wrenched in pain. I had to walk on the ball of my foot for the next few days but eventually the pain subsided and the radiographs showed no fracture. Now, the knot of scar tissue is making it very difficult to stretch my plantar aponeurosis and heel striking is just about completely out of the picture. I'm slowly working it out with some painful massage though.

A week and a half ago, a few friends and I went snowboarding with the UTC Outdoors program. It was a great trip, but I didn't realize until the next day that in one of my high velocity falls I injured my left shoulder. I was scared it was a rotator cuff issue. I couldn't swim at all last week, but my stroke is coming back this week. I haven't been able to do my power cleans in the gym either. It is still painful, but the progression and the presentation of the pain leads my professor and me to believe it is more of a deltoid or impingement issue that I hope will work itself out soon.

Since I've been back at school, I have not had a pain free bike ride. My lower back has been giving me problems with most of the pain coming from the right side around L4/L5. I usually get about 30 minutes into the ride before I start noticing the pain. I can make it to about 40 mins before it peaks and I usually give in and dismount the bike to stretch and give it a little break. It subsides rather quickly and I'm back on my way. It usually comes back around 1:45. Sometimes I make it back, sometimes I have to get off and stretch again. I adjusted my fit some after I videoed myself and saw some issues. I was hoping this would take care of my issue and that the pain was just from over reaching by rocking my hips to reach the bottom of the pedal stroke. This past Sunday was the best ride I've had all year. I started out a little faster than usual so the pain started coming on at about the same distance but a little earlier, around 28 minutes. I wiggled around a bit and somehow overcame it. The ride was going great. My legs were flying around the pedals and the pace was not dropping. I was making my way the furthest east I have gone since I've been riding in Chatt. (My goal is to find a reasonable route to North Carolina. I think I can make a 7 hour trip there and back. Spring Break training camp?) I was at 19.7mph at my turn around point of just over an hour and a half. I wanted to keep going, but I really wanted to get back in time to watch Brandon wrestle App State, the last regular season home match. So, I made the U-turn and started heading back. The legs began to fade a bit and a third of the way back I had dropped to 19.5mph. I tried to keep pushing on as I grabbed a bite of Clif Bar. Carefully retracing my path to make sure I didn't get lost on the new roads, I came soaring back to my normal routes when the back pain started to hit again. I was too close and too pressed for time to get off and stretch. So, I just tucked and pushed through. I suffered through the big climb near the end and kept pushing the pace to try to maintain my average speed. I had made it back up to 19.7. With a screaming back and legs, I pulled into my apartment, stripped the chamois off and headed to the arena to catch the match. I kept the 19.7mph, but the change in bike fit and stretching had failed to alleviate my back pain.

So, I set up a time to meet with one of my professors and go through an examination. We found that my right multifidus was grossly atrophied. It was mush and weak compared to my left side. We're not sure why, maybe a strain from last November when I missed the hook for the barbell at the end of squat session, but some type of inhibition is going on and I need to wake it up. I hope it is not from anything more serious such as joint or bone trauma. I'm working on strengthening it and firing my transverse abdominis to see if that might bring it back.

In order to win the Xterra Region, I have to race four races including one championship distance race. I've done the southeast championship twice and planned on doing it again this year to help me clinch the jersey for the third time, this was one of my goals for this year. However, I got an email today saying the championship race has been cancelled in order for Xterra to host the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championship. This is awesome, but it also means I have to find another race to do. I can either travel to Richmond in June or Louisiana in May. I haven't heard too many good things about the Richmond race. They have even had issues of vandalism and competitors getting lost on course because of it. I've experienced this at the Colorado State MTB race in '07 and don't really want to do that again. Louisiana is a great course, but that would be a far drive and it's not technically a championship race. It might have to do though. This is in fact if I don't make the Team USA which will be racing in the world championship. I applied earlier this week. Fingers crossed, sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for that email.

Alberto Contador also ran into some trouble this week. His positive test for clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France finally caught up to him. He has been stripped of his 2010 Tour victory, his 2011 Giro victory and is banned from racing in either this year and from competing in the London Olympics this summer. Harsh stuff especially when you factor in the fine he will receive. The board is pushing for $3 million. Most have been saying this is bad for cycling, but I don't understand. The positive test was already exposed. Everyone knew about it. They only change is the punishment. This affects Contador and not necessarily the sport as a whole. Maybe I'd be more upset if I liked him, but I personally think he's an ass. I'm glad Andy gets the win now for the 2010 Tour. Sort of like retribution for Contador attacking on the slopes when Andy dropped his chain. Karma's a bitch isn't it, Contador? It's also pretty lame that Contador said he thought he was supposed to be protected and untouchable "like Lance" since he had spent so much money on lawyers. What a load of crap. Lance never tested positive during Tour.

Since this week is the Combined Sectionals Meeting for the American Physical Therapy Association, our classes are canceled for the rest of the week. Hello four day weekend. So tomorrow I'll be back on the bike and see how the back is feeling. I'm also going on another snowboard trip this Saturday with the UTC Outdoors program. Wish me luck.

I'm saying those are the mountains of North Carolina in the very far distance. 

Great Start to 2012

Since I've been back at school, I haven't missed a single day of working out. I've made some good progress in my swim stroke and put in a few good rides. I joined the UTC cycling team. I went to see one of my best friends wrestle against Cleveland State. I've been rock climbing and entered a climbing competition. I went bowling and learned a new way to throw the ball. I did my first clinical visit of PT school last week, and we attended orthopedic grand rounds at Erlanger hospital. I went on a caving trip to Petty John's cave in Georgia and I have a snowboard trip planned for this Saturday on Beech Mountain in North Carolina. I think I am doing college right. (Let's hope this test tomorrow doesn't prove otherwise.)

A few other highlights: My dad got back safely from Kuwait; he got a promotion to the best Kroger store in the Delta division which happens to be right by our house; he got a raise with his return to work; and he bought a new car. My older sister had her baby early yesterday morning; they are both healthy and doing well. And today is my little brother's birthday. He is now 21.

Ambitious 2012

Just like everybody else, the new year brings new goals and ambitions for me. Unlike everybody else, I will actually follow through with them. Heck, I've already made progress on three of them.

So here are a few of them:

#1 Win Xterra Southeastern Championships, this is largely dependent on a good run which is where goal 2 comes in
#2 Put up a sub 45 min run split at Southeasterns

Now goal three is a little tricky. Yes, I want to just go ahead and commit to it, but I don't want to show up and be embarrassed and waste the money and time and time away from school. So goal three is dependent upon completion of goal 1 and 2

#3 Race (WIN) Xterra USA National Championship
#4 Claim the Xterra Regional Championship Jersey
#5 Race at least 3 crits
#6 Win the TN crit state championship
#7 Take a girl out on a real date, not just hang out at some party
#8 Eliminate irresponsible nights of mayhem
#9 Under social obligations I guess I must include do well in school and my first rotation coming up this summer

I found this article/list of pretty good resolutions too. Not saying I'm shooting for all of them, but I think numbers 4, 9, 11, and 15 are pretty good ones that I have incorporated into my life. (Supposedly there has been some confusion. I do know my math and that I haven't listed 15 goals here. The numbers are a reference to another article that you can find by clicking the hyperlink at the beginning of the paragraph, "article/list".)


There. So now that they are down on paper and displayed to the public, they are real goals. I can be held accountable and will hold myself accountable.


Forgot to put the goal of riding 5,000 miles. I did a rough collection of my actual miles from 2011 and came up with 3,125 miles ridden. I didn't set up my training log to tally this so this is what I could come up with retrospectively. It had to be at least this much. Should make for some fun time in the saddle.

A Typical Ride

A caravan of five Porsches pass by and interrupt my few of hogs grazing on the hilly countryside. I also saw a dead deer, multiple opossums, and a raccoon. I saw Shetland ponies and donkeys. I'm not positive, but I think I saw a baby buffalo too. He was wrenching and squeezing his neck between two strands of barbed wire fencing to reach the grass on the other side. Of course, I saw the usual horses and cows, hawks and crows, goats and sheep, streams and ponds.

I saw the land still devastated by the tornadoes that swept through in April. I saw the work that had been done, the work being done, and the work that needs to be done. The countryside is still a mess even though many homes have been rebuilt already.

I explored new roads and revisited old ones. I climbed mountains and got to overlook valleys for miles and miles. I got chased by three dogs and avoided attacks on all three accounts. The sun warmed by back and the wind chilled my face as it swept through the sparsely placed hairs of my beard. I shot snot rockets and ran stop signs. The wind slowed me down to single digit speeds at times and I cruised down descents at 48 mph.

It was a pretty typical ride. It was an amazing ride. It was why I ride.
The saddle, it is probably my favorite place in the world and where I am most at peace.

Grad School Update

Wow, it's been quite some time. I have neglected my posting for "higher education" and "more important" endeavors. Not sure I agree with all those terms. I really miss racing right now and writing about the great times I had. Since I originally said this blog would be about my racing and my schooling, I guess I need to include some posts about graduate school.

Far too many things have occurred since my last post and the beginning of semester to attempt to summarize the trip it has been, but I can say it has been busy and very informative. Just this afternoon I had my hands in a man's chest and cut out both of his lungs. Yes, we are doing cadaver dissections in my gross anatomy class. That class is where 78% of my attention and studying has been going over the semester. I have done exceptionally well so far. Well, except for the most recent test. Not a great showing for me, but it will do. My dissection group is great. Thankfully, it consists of three amiable girls that let me do all of the fun, nasty parts of dissection. It also means that we have great gossip around the tank and get to discuss who looked super cute that day in class. We started on Bobley and then moved to Betty Sue. Betty Sue is textbook perfect and was a great time. Tina was not as easy to handle, but we ended up with a very easy dissection for her. Now wrapping the semester up I got to use the bone saw last Friday to cut through ribs, sternum, and the clavicle to reflect the thoracic cage. Lab has been an amazing tool to help me understand the body and get a very firm grasp on muscles, nerves, vessels, fiber orientation, fascia, and of course subcutaneous fat. My mental visualization of muscles in people and the workings of their skeletal system is at such a higher level now.

Occasionally, we have to leave lab and learn other subjects. We've learned how to walk with crutches, do wheelies in wheelchairs, and how to do posture assessments. I learned how to do a back tuck for professional communication and I mastered how to make a powerpoint for evidence based practice. In kinesiology, I've learned that TR (a.k.a. Trent Richardson) can squat 600 and bench 450. My teacher still wants to be him when he grows up.

I've taken the things I've learned in the classroom to my everyday life too. Trying to be more like TR to ensure an A in Kinese, I started uping my weights when I do squats. I've been trying to hit the gym every Tuesday and Thursday morning. I've been making some progress now that I'm really trying. Last week I did 20 reps of 315, 15 reps of 405, 14 reps of 455, 20 reps of 315, and then 25 reps of 315. Then I went upstairs and busted out 100 lunges with 25 pound dumbbells. Watch out TR; I'm coming.

I applied the anatomy of the hand in my most recent set of injuries. I've come up with the diagnosis of a torn posterior joint capsule of the first MCP. I finally got into the doctor so I can get a referral to the hand surgeon and see what he says. Radiographs from this visit pretty much confirmed my suspicion and also showed a subluxation of the first CMC joint and a possible dislocation of the capitate bone. Should be a really fun office visit next week.

I did manage to have a little fun the past two weekends. I went fly fishing with the school (we saw a whooping 0 fish the entire trip) and went camping with some classmates. This has been the extent of my outdoor excursions since I have not been biking in such a long time. It's hard to go when I'm so tired once I finally get home from school everyday and the weekends have just been occupied with other things. It's an insult to my bikes to be neglecting them like this. I must do better.

Quite a few of us have also picked up rock climbing. We've spent several afternoons taking study breaks at the bouldering wall in the student rec center. It's a fun sport that is pretty challenging. It's always good to be humbled by a 110 lb girl that scales the wall you've been working on for 20 minutes.

All in all life is passing. The sun rises and the sun sets. I'm trying to make the most of it and include as much as I can in every day. I don't always succeed, but that's what tomorrow is for. Like I said, too much has happened to include it all, but that's what I got so far.

Some Spare Time

I haven't had as much time to ride as I would like since school has started. I hadn't ridden at all in a week and a half and it had been 2 weeks since I had ridden hard when I went for a nice Sunday stroll a week ago. The temperature was great and it was awesome exploring east Tennessee. I ventured through Georgia to get to an area I've biked previously. When I came to the "familiar" turn signalling the escape from traffic, I didn't recognize the place. I have ridden this route several times last year when I was preparing for Ironman Louisville. When I got to the T intersection, it looked completely different. The area was still devastated from the tornado that struck this past April. Fields were cleared and tree tops stripped, houses mangled and new ones under construction. It was strange to see so many things still destroyed and the lack of progress that has been made over the past few months. It was sad. Not nearly as bad as the places I saw in Alabama though.

The ride went well though. I turned around at a small church where I got water from a well. The cows were mooing really loudly too and I think they were talking to the cows in the pasture across the street. The sun was starting to go down and my legs were getting really tired. I kept pushing on to make it back home. My legs began cramping and the pain grew stronger. I was so happy when I finally made it home. I laid down in the floor under the fan while my legs still throbbed. They felt like they were still cramping as I got up and got into the shower. The pain lingered. It was as if my body couldn't flush the lactic acid out of my legs. I laid in the tub for a while and the painful sensation finally left about thirty minutes after the ride ended. It was a weird phenomenon that I can't recall ever having experienced. I think that means it was a good ride though.

I didn't get back out on the road again until yesterday. It was a scrambled ride. I had planned on getting up early Saturday morning and getting a good ride in. Even after my 3.5 hour nap on Friday after school, I slept for 10.5 hours Friday night. I ended up not getting on the bike until almost 1 so the ride was going to have to be shorter than I wanted. It was really nice weather though and I was determined to enjoy a nice ride before settling in to watch Tennessee play Florida.

The first cool thing that happened was the staring contest I had with a beaver on East Brainerd. He was right at the edge of the road and it surprised me at how close we were. I couldn't believe how calm he was. When I finally broke my gaze and turned back to the road, I had already run off the first two layers of the shoulder. I stayed calm, went all the way off the road and managed to get back on it with the bike still upright and no flats. Winning.

Later, I found a different road that takes me into Georgia for some good riding. I plan to make several trips back to this area. I also found an arena that has barrel racing ever first Saturday of the month with free admission. I know what I'll be doing October 1st. I'll fit in wearing my cowboy boots, wrangler jeans, chewing Redman, and pounding a 6-pack of PBR tallboys. It's going to be a good time at the Heartland Ranch. Soon after this I found an entrance to a neighborhood off this main road that has the steepest incline I've ridden in quite some time. I tried attacking it and it kicked my butt. I barely made it up and then was still out of breath the whole way back down. All in all it was a good ride. Too bad Tennessee didn't win later on in the day. That would have made it great.

The passageway to Georgia

The hill of death