To heal or not to heal...

It's been a few months since I have been 100% healthy - I guess I am at fault since I decided to take on the world...Let's see between training for the Crossfit Games, the Ironman I was signed up for, I decided that I wasn't busy enough so I went out for the flag football league thinking it would be fun!!!

It has most certainly been fun, beyond fun really - but it has come at a cost.  While I was recovering from my achilles nicely I got hurt in a game the weekend before this last one.  At the end of the first half I came down straight on my heel which hurt like heck.  If you've ever bruised or strained your heel you know this is no fun at all. 

Of course I played the rest of the game - running itself did not hurt, but the slowing down and everything else was kinda of excruciating.  We lost the game too, which made it a double whammy - oh well.  I thought this heel thing would go away in no time, and immediately went into PRICE mode.  If you don't know what that means, let me spell it out for you :)  Proof in the picture below...

Prevention
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation

 

I spoke to a few physicians that had a look and no one seemed to think I broke anything, but I was most certainly not very happy with their diagnosis - rest and probably will take 4-6 weeks to heal completely.  You mean I have to be patient with it and not go all out with things right now?  Yickes, that is a lot to ask for.

The game was the past Saturday, and by wednesday of last week,  I was not walking any better - I could not apply any pressure on the heel which meant that I was walking around with a limp (pretty right?)  I was starting to get concerned and then I remembered another little trick of the trade someone had mentioned before for bruises - Arnica...as soon as I applied it that day, it started to feel better and at that point I was still icing it 3-4 x day and wearing my compression socks daily.

As the week passed the pain subsided, but it hasn't gone away completely, and then came Saturday and our team was playing and I had to decide whether to play through it or not.  This was not an easy decision, but I chose not to play which I am thankful I did since our team won handily.  I could have risked a serious injury and instead I cheered from the sidelines.  I was super tempted to play, and even brought my gear to the field, but left it in the car and made the right choice.

If you've been keeping up with this blog you know I am kind of competitive, so having to sit from the sidelines was kinda torturous - looking back at my athletic career I can count in one hand the number of games or events I have had to miss due to injury - I suppose  I have been super lucky with good health and am able to recover quickly from injuries.

I get into action as soon as something happens - I went and saw my accupuncturist and had treatment on it and went into PRICE mode, but the rest is always the toughest.  I still kept up with my Crossfit workouts as we prepare for Regionals in June although I have had to modify some of the workouts considering I can't do anything dynamic and come down on the heel hard.  

So where am I now - its been a week and a half since the injury and I have been 'resting' to the best of my ability :)  It's still bruised, although i'd probably say its about 75% of the way to recovered.  My psoas has been a little out of whack since though because I have been limping around and compensating for not being able to apply any pressure on the heel.

Was it a sign from the universe that I am supposed to let my body heal?  Is this darn heel suppose to hold me back, or help me become more aware of my choices in regards to athletic events and what I get involved in?  It's definitely been an opportunity to reflect and evaluate what I get out of each thing that I am involved in.  I am grateful for superb health and that my body does recover quickly, but at times I push it too much - time to take a step back and allow the body to get back to 100% - then watch out Crossfit Games

Here's the heel today - still slightly bruised, but I think I will be 100% by next week :)

Preview

Too Much?

It's been awhile since I've posted - just about a month, and it's not that I haven't thought about it, I just haven't taken the time to do so.  I've had opportunities,  but haven't been motivated to do so.

At times I struggle with finding the motivation to do certain things - I'm sure you can probably relate, no?

Here's what I have going on now - I am currently training for an Ironman, which is going to be here sooner than later.  May 7th is right around the corner, and before you know it I am going to be lining up in St. George, Utah with the rest of the 1700 other competitors. 

This will be my first Ironman, and I am super excited about it - I know that mentally it will probably be one of the toughest tests, but physically I feel ready.  My primary goal is to have fun along the way and finish, and of course the competitive side of me wants to go fast which is why I have been training hard - almost too much.

Me train too much?  Is that possible - absolutely!   A few weeks ago my body had it and I had to dial it back a little bit.  I'm also training for the Crossfit Games as I really want our team to qualify so that we can compete at Regionals.  When I first decided to do my IM we didn't know the format for Sectionals was going to be 6 weeks long.   I had expected it to be a weekend event like the past few years, which kind of put a wrinkle in my training.

Aside from doing 4-5 crossfit weekly workouts to get ready for the games I was doing 1-2 bike, swim and run workouts, and surprisingly enough my body was holding up ok until recently, and I think I know why.

As if the IM and the CF Games wasn't enough I decided to start playing flag football - which makes absolutely no sense to anyone but probably me.  Here's my deal, I wanted to join the league for the social aspect, I don't go out drinking and the bar scene is really not my cup of tea.  The idea with the league for me is to have fun, meet people and improve my social life a little bit.

The league so far has been super fun, our team is awesome!  We won our first game and guess who got named one of the MVPs for the game - that's right me, how cool was that, check out the pic...

So recently my body started breaking down, and I started listening to everyone around me that told me that I ought to take some rest and dial back the training a little bit.  Last week I took 3 full days off consecutively to allow my body to recover and then I kinda overdid over the weekend. 

We had our first game this past Saturday, then I rushed off to CF to do Fight Gone Bad - and if you don't know what that is, google it and watch the videos, lots of crazyness.  And as if that wasn't enough I ran a 1/2 Marathon in 1:28 the following morning where I placed 29th overall out of over 3,000 competitors.

Let's just say that my body was not happy with me after all that, my achiles was swollen and tender and my calfs super tight - geez,  I wonder why huh?

I immediately went into prevention mode, I have been icing 2-3 x a day, been using my compression pants from BSC Gear and been doing tons of stretching and self myfascial release in order to get all the blood flowing :) and ready to rock the first sectionals workout this weekend.

Training & Coaching

It's been a couple of weeks since I got back from New Zealand - what an unbelievable country that is.  It would have been great to spend more time there, but I know that won't be my last time there hopefully.   I even proposed to my brother that once he graduates from Architecture school that will be his graduation present.  We are going to take a backpacking trip and explore the sites.  This ought to give him some motivation to get through some of the tough times, as he's in his 3rd year and having to pull some all nighters to get his school work done, while also working 25 hours a week to pay for his tuition - super proud of him!

Believe it or not when I got back from my trip I didn't feel jet-lagged at all.  I purposely stayed awake most of the flight so that I'd adjust to the time zones a little faster, but I was happily surprised that I never felt super exhausted.   I did allow myself to sleep a little longer as I felt my body needed the rest, but I picked up right where I left off and been able to keep pace without breaking down.

As for my training - things are coming along well.  I am doing 4 crossfit workouts per week, and doing 2 bike rides, 2 swim sessions and 2 run sessions per week all based off Crossfit Endurance.

Last week I was pretty exhausted by Saturday and took Sunday off completely as I really felt like my body could use the rest.  For this week, I swam Monday with Christopher Walden & Christina at Coronado Community Pool  - and if you haven't been there, you absolutely have to go sometime, it's one of the nicest pools I have ever swam in.  I got on my bike both Tuesday & Thursday and managed to get in some good riding and was able to avoid the rain.  This morning I was able to go to the Mission Valley YMCA and do Masters swim.  As my Ironman is fast approaching I'll be doing that once or twice a week to improve my swim.

I definitely feel as if I am on track for my training.  I need to make sure I do a few rides to test out my nutrition, and continue to be consistent and stay strong and get all the little tid bits dialed in the next few months - less than 12 weeks to go, so now its a matter of fine tuning the training and coming up with a race strategy and getting my nutrition in order for the race.

I was on the IM St. George site this week, and they have a pretty cool course preview - check it out



As for this weekend I am now sitting at the airport getting ready to head up to Portland to coach the Crossfit Endurance course at Crossfit Excellence - I absolutely love what I do, and feel super blessed and grateful that I have an opportunity to pass on what I have learned about endurance training and making a positive impact in people's lives.

Training this week

Christmas is fast upon us - I am glad its finally here, and hopefully it goes as fast as it came.
This week was not a typical training week so far - we had some horrendous weather which made it impossible to bike.

Monday I was able to get a CF workout done, but did not feel my best.  My calfs were sore from the 10K run on sunday and legs were feeling a little worn.  Another training day though - check!  Tuesday I planned to CF and Swim, but was only able to get to the pool - and that was an experience in itself.  It was pouring rain all monday and Tuesday and I made it out to Mission Beach to the Wavehouse to get my swim on anyway - not having a rain suit for my motocicleta didn't help, when i got there I was completely drenched, and I mean completely.  I was able to get a 500M Time Trial in and was pretty happy that I stayed committed to my training.  I forgot to pack a chance of clothes though and when I got to Invictus could not get a CF workout in - oh well. 

I was pretty proud of myself for making it out to the pool though and getting the swim done.  On Wednesday I was able to get a CF workout in with Ayo - that was a lot of fun, I did some OHS which I hadn't done in forever, although nothing impressive, if anything it re-inforced the importance of getting proper rest - I hadn't had a complete day off in 6 days.  Getting to lift with Ayo is always a pleasure :) and then we did a quick conditioning workout - Tabata Double Unders....

I hadn't expected to do anything else that day, but when we were coaching our CFE group later than evening we had a team rowing workout and I jumped in to make the numbers even - this was a ton of fun, for more info on the team workout check out Invictus Endurance blog 

Thursday turned out to be a complete rest day and I took this opportunity to watch Ironman 2010 that was shown on TV last week - I wasn't impressed with the telecast, the announcer was really boring in my opinion, but the stories were great as always and inspiring!  As I was watching this event I spent almost the entire time rolling out - taking care of my sore muscles and getting all the adhesion to break up - preventative work goes a long way in helping muscles recover quickly :)

This morning I felt ready to get back at it full force - I joined up with Katie Mac (who just recently had a baby) and we worked out with the 10am group class at Invictus for Rabbit's Delight :)  Here's what was in store - running 400M while your partner does KB Swings, Thursters (bar only), Wall Ball & Box Jumps - each person goes through the stations as their partner runs 400Ms - it was AWESOME!!!

This afternoon I took Mr. Walden out to Fiesta Island for a hammer session on the bike -  

Bike Intervals –

2x5 min intervals w/2min recovery between intervals

22.5mph – 1.88miles, 24.5mph – 2.10

Next interval scheme starts after the 2min recovery

5x1min Intervals w/30sec recovery between intervals

22.0mph - .36, 22.5mph - .38, 26.0mph - .43, 25.5mph - .42, 26.3mph -.44

Hold maximal distance possible on each of the set intervals.  Total Distance – 14.88 miles with warmup and cooldown

And that about wraps up my training week so far - I will most likely go for a run tomorrow and sunday get in a bike & swim and maybe a CF depending on how I am feeling - stay tuned :) 

Upcoming Training week

Oh what fun it is to train for an Ironman....

I have to say that last week was probably one of my best training weeks.
I was able to get in 4 Crossfit workouts, 2 CFE run sessions (track on wednesday and 10K on sunday), 2 CFE swim sessions (Monday & Friday) and 1 CFE bike hammer sessions on tuesday morning with the Brown brothers,  and was able to take thursday as a complete rest day.

Here's what's in store for this week -
Monday - Crossfit
Tuesday - Crossfit in the morning & CFE Swim in the afternoon
Wednesday - rest maybe - haven't had a rest day since last thursday, we'll see how i feel.  Booked massage with the incredible Kayla - INTENSE!!!!
Thursday - Crossfit in the morning and later on some running hill sprints should be fun
Friday - Bike session with Mr. Walden
Saturday - Crossfit?  CFE Tempo Run - 65 minutes
Sunday - Swim & Bike combo with Mr. Walden