I had my follow up appointment with my ortho this morning to go over my MRI. I sit down and the doctor opens up the conversation with "Well, the MRI was interesting". Not a very good way to start off.
Bottom Line: Fractured kneecap
As she explains, I guess what happened is that my kneecap didn't grow properly when I was younger so I'm one of the less than 5% of the general population that suffers from what is known as "Bipartite Patella". In everyday terms, my kneecap is made up of two pieces and is joined by a fiberous/cartilege type tissue. When I knelt down, it must have been at just the right angle and force that I put too much pressure on it and fractured it off. However it happened, it just sucks.
My directions are a minimum of 4 weeks rest, no biking, no running, no snowboarding, nothing but walking to get where I need to go. And attempt to limit the amount of knee bend, meaning sit with my leg extended.
Now on to my season... I'm going to cancel my first two races. The one in June was is too early and I would never build up enough endurance for a 13 mile run by July. So I'm going to keep the other two planned and see what happens.
Talk about a depressing morning!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
What A Beautiful Day!
Well, the sun was out, it was warm, and it was a bit windy... Unfortunately that still meant little to no outdoor activity. I couldn't sit inside all day, so I decided to wash the salt and muck off of the vehicles. So I busted out the power washer and made quick work of it. The vehicles are nice and clean and you can tell I have chrome rims on my truck again.
I still wanted to be outside so I broke open the humidor, made a pot of coffee, and smoked a nice stogie on the front porch. The dog and I just chilled. He loves laying in the sun. I'll see if he'll let me snap a photo...
Posted with LifeCast
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Test Post From The Phone
What a wonderful (and addictive) thing these new cell phones are! Here I am updating the blog from my phone.
This might come in handy once I'm back out on the road cycling across New England.
Posted with LifeCast
When it rains... it pours
Doctors visits can be so traumatic. I went today to have the doctor check out my knee that I tweaked right after the new year. Well, it did not go well. Basically, the doctor said I might have slightly dislocated or slipped my kneecap out a bit. What worried the doc was that it seems as though my knee is misaligned. I have a tightened tendon on the anterior side of the knee that seems to be pulling the kneecap to that side that snaps like a rubber band. The doctor recommended I get a MRI. Since I've already had the knee scoped, I figured why risk it and have the test done. I have my follow up on Feb 13th.....
Guess its time to just sit and become a couch potato... oh wait, I dislocated my shoulder when I took a nap on the couch. Maybe I need to take my roadbike outside, in the ice and snow, without a helmet, down West Main Road!!!
Guess its time to just sit and become a couch potato... oh wait, I dislocated my shoulder when I took a nap on the couch. Maybe I need to take my roadbike outside, in the ice and snow, without a helmet, down West Main Road!!!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Day 1 - Season begins
The training season began today in earnest. It just took a little longer to get started than I wanted. I was going to try and get up early to start a morning workout.... ummm, yeah I don't think so. I didn't get up to 8:30.
So once I got moving, everything was good. I did the following workouts on the gerbil machine, aka the vaunted treadmill:
Morning: 20:00 minutes total, 1.68 miles, 5.0 mph pace, 200 calories, avg heartrate of 156 bpm
Evening: 20:00 minutes total, 1.68 miles, 5.0 mph pace, 240 calories, avg heartrate of 149 bpm
Both workouts were 5:00 minutes @ 4mph warmup, 10:00 minutes @ 6 mph, 5:00 @ 4mph cool down. The interesting thing was the calorie counter difference. I forgot to enter in my weight so the morning was based off of the default 150 lbs. The evening was based on my true current weight of 184 lbs.
For the record, I really like the treadmill we got. It has the nicest deck and belt system. It feels like you are floating. Hopefully it helps with my running ability.
I'll check back in at the end of the week to report my total stats. Maybe I can convince my friend Sarah to show me how she creates all of those fancy graphs.
So once I got moving, everything was good. I did the following workouts on the gerbil machine, aka the vaunted treadmill:
Morning: 20:00 minutes total, 1.68 miles, 5.0 mph pace, 200 calories, avg heartrate of 156 bpm
Evening: 20:00 minutes total, 1.68 miles, 5.0 mph pace, 240 calories, avg heartrate of 149 bpm
Both workouts were 5:00 minutes @ 4mph warmup, 10:00 minutes @ 6 mph, 5:00 @ 4mph cool down. The interesting thing was the calorie counter difference. I forgot to enter in my weight so the morning was based off of the default 150 lbs. The evening was based on my true current weight of 184 lbs.
For the record, I really like the treadmill we got. It has the nicest deck and belt system. It feels like you are floating. Hopefully it helps with my running ability.
I'll check back in at the end of the week to report my total stats. Maybe I can convince my friend Sarah to show me how she creates all of those fancy graphs.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Training starting tomorrow...
In order to survive the events planned for the year, I have to start building a running base. I'm fairly certain that the rebuild of my legs for cycling should be fairly easy... and the swimming is cake even without me getting in the water before the races... it's just the darn running. First things first, base building.
Since I have no prior running experience, I'm borrowing tips from others. With running you have to be careful not to 1) ramp your mileage too quickly and 2) increase your pace to quickly. Doing so can cause serious damage to your body. So my plan is fairly simple:
To keep my cycling up, I'm going to try and keep on the trainer for 30 minutes before my recovery run. Once the warmer weather comes I should be able to make it outside and trade some of my recovery runs with bike rides.
Swimming will start in April/May time frame. Long enough to get my shoulders used to swimming again. I will maybe hit the pool two times a week. Maybe 3-4000 yards a workout. The group I swim with does ocean swims so I may join them this year.
Till tomorrow....
Since I have no prior running experience, I'm borrowing tips from others. With running you have to be careful not to 1) ramp your mileage too quickly and 2) increase your pace to quickly. Doing so can cause serious damage to your body. So my plan is fairly simple:
- Run 5 days a week
- Spread the weekday miles into two workouts with the harder ones in the morning and recovery in the evening
- Start with 1 mile runs in the morning, .5 mile in the evening
- Have the weekend run be a longer run double the length of the weekday ones
- Increase the weekday runs by 1/4 mile per week.
- Work in hill workouts
To keep my cycling up, I'm going to try and keep on the trainer for 30 minutes before my recovery run. Once the warmer weather comes I should be able to make it outside and trade some of my recovery runs with bike rides.
Swimming will start in April/May time frame. Long enough to get my shoulders used to swimming again. I will maybe hit the pool two times a week. Maybe 3-4000 yards a workout. The group I swim with does ocean swims so I may join them this year.
Till tomorrow....
Event schedule planned for 2009
So I am going to set my sights on completing the following events in 2009:
June 14 - Ashland Lions Metro West Triathlon Olympic Distance
July 12 - 2009 Amica Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island Half Ironman
Aug 15 - Bayside YMCA Triathlon Sprint Distance (repeat of 08 event)
Sept 13 - FIRMMAN - Rhode Island Half Ironman
If I'm going to make the runs on these events... I think its time to start training!!!
June 14 - Ashland Lions Metro West Triathlon Olympic Distance
July 12 - 2009 Amica Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island Half Ironman
Aug 15 - Bayside YMCA Triathlon Sprint Distance (repeat of 08 event)
Sept 13 - FIRMMAN - Rhode Island Half Ironman
If I'm going to make the runs on these events... I think its time to start training!!!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
2009 gets off to a horrible start
Well, not much to say really... I had all of these grandious plans to have a good training base built up this year... but due to my laziness at the end of 2008 I had basically lost everything.
So then on Jan 2nd, I tweak a knee that I had arthroscopic on in 2001. Then, on Jan 19th, I wake up to a dislocated shoulder. As I write this, its now one month and my knee is starting to feel stable again however the shoulder is still sore.
Now on to a better things... For the first time in a long time, we have a fully functioning treadmill. Perfect since the new england weather has left us with snow/ice for 3/4 of January. We ended up buying a model from a US manufacturer. The model can be found here:
http://www.truefitness.com/products/residential/product.aspx?seriesID=29&productID=8
After installing it and getting the unit up and running, I've taken it for two 2 mile runs and have come to the conclusion that if you need a treadmill to run on, you are going to have to spend money. The wife has used it twice as well. She is more into the programs that the unit provides. There are something like 4 programs and 2 (or 3) user defined ones plus two heart rate controlled ones. The 4 programs also have 9 levels. She tried level 5 which put her walking at 8% incline at 4.2 mph!! Lets just say she was a bit sore the next day.
I have also attemted to stay on the bike through the use of a trainer. Normally I'll find a sporting event and try to last the duration of the event. This just hasn't been happening. It hasn't been until I convinced one of my riding friends to join me at a local bike shop (Village Bicycle in Westport Ma) for one of there indoor multirider Computrainer sessions. I've been to two of these.
So now I'm relatively healthy and am excited about training again. I'm going to borrow a page from a friend and start tracking my workouts. I wish I had done this while I was swimming. Time to start posting about my training plan.
So then on Jan 2nd, I tweak a knee that I had arthroscopic on in 2001. Then, on Jan 19th, I wake up to a dislocated shoulder. As I write this, its now one month and my knee is starting to feel stable again however the shoulder is still sore.
Now on to a better things... For the first time in a long time, we have a fully functioning treadmill. Perfect since the new england weather has left us with snow/ice for 3/4 of January. We ended up buying a model from a US manufacturer. The model can be found here:
http://www.truefitness.com/products/residential/product.aspx?seriesID=29&productID=8
After installing it and getting the unit up and running, I've taken it for two 2 mile runs and have come to the conclusion that if you need a treadmill to run on, you are going to have to spend money. The wife has used it twice as well. She is more into the programs that the unit provides. There are something like 4 programs and 2 (or 3) user defined ones plus two heart rate controlled ones. The 4 programs also have 9 levels. She tried level 5 which put her walking at 8% incline at 4.2 mph!! Lets just say she was a bit sore the next day.
I have also attemted to stay on the bike through the use of a trainer. Normally I'll find a sporting event and try to last the duration of the event. This just hasn't been happening. It hasn't been until I convinced one of my riding friends to join me at a local bike shop (Village Bicycle in Westport Ma) for one of there indoor multirider Computrainer sessions. I've been to two of these.
So now I'm relatively healthy and am excited about training again. I'm going to borrow a page from a friend and start tracking my workouts. I wish I had done this while I was swimming. Time to start posting about my training plan.
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