When Life Gives You Lemons

I've been really enjoying my down time but I had planned on getting back into the swing of things this weekend.  That was until my body had other plans.  

Last Friday I emailed my chiro / ART guy to fill him in on how Lake Placid went and to say Thank You.  I said something like "Since I won't need to come in and see you any time soon...." yada yada yada.   The following Monday, I was back in his office.  Yup.  I totally jinxed myself.  

What did I do?  Well preliminary results say that I have ischiogluteal bursitis.  What the heck is that?  

A bursa is a fluid filled sac that is situated between the tendon and the bone and it helps to reduce friction between the two.  When a bursa is subjected to repeated stress it will swell and get inflamed.   Ischiogluteal means that this bursa is in my glute situated near the ischial tuberosity, which are essentially your sit bones.  Your hamstring muscles originate at the ischial tuberosity.  This is where I tore my hamstring last year.  Not fun.  The hamstring tendon, also originates at the ischial tuberosity.  The bursa in question is located in between the tendon, my pelvic bone and three small muscles in my glute:  the piriformis, the obturator interns and the gemellus superior.

As you can see, there are a lot of things around this bursa that when they get overworked, can cause the bursa to become inflamed.   Truthfully I'm not surprised this happened.  I've put a lot of stress on my glutes recently, especially with the addition of teaching a lower body conditioning class.   It was getting ready for that class that actually brought me back into my Chiro's office.  It was a very simple move, I was bent forward with my legs split, like I was getting ready to do a split squat and I was trying to find comfortable footing for a standing bent over row.  I found it and then pushed off to stand up again and that's when I felt my glute spasm.  It hurt so much I couldn't put any pressure on it.  I could walk but it was awkward.  I definitely couldn't go up stairs.  So that afternoon I found myself back at Pivot.  I was instructed to not do anything, except to get an ultrasound, ice, rest and take some anti inflammatories,  until we had a better idea of what was going on.  

So, what to do with all my non workout spare time?  Well let's see:

*  SLEEP IN!  

*  Stay up later than normal reading because I don't have to get up at stupid O'clock.  I managed to finally finish "How Bad Do You Want It" which is amazing considering I started it a month ago.  Lately it's taken me almost 6 months to read one book!  I've now started this.

*  Spend my mornings cooking.  Well, I did that one morning.  I made sweet potato breakfast cookies AND french toast.  

*  Go out with girlfriends you haven't seen in ages and have ice cream

*  Focus on my mobility work.

*  Spend more time focusing on building my business and working on my blog.

*  Be grateful that this happened AFTER my last race of the season.  

I was originally told I'd need to take 2-3 weeks off everything except swimming and pool running.  I took most of the week off with the exception of swimming this morning .  I'm seeing my Chiro again today at lunch and we'll figure out a game plan for my rehab.  At least I know by the time I get back to regular activity, I will definitely be very well rested! 

Life may have just handed me a lemon, but I'm making some pretty awesome lemonade.

Happy Friday!

~ Coach PK 

Monday Musings: Dr. Google & The Notorious Niggle + some NEWS!

Oh hi!

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done a Monday Musings but I'm back!  It hasn't been a totally action packed week but there have been a few things that have happened over the last couple of weeks that I haven't actually written about.  I've been horrible at updating my Facebook page with anything as of late, probably because I'm spending more time on Instagram stories.  I have to get better at cross posting on my social media channels.  Anyway.....

Firstly, this happened:

Yup.  I passed my personal training practical.  I am now a certified Personal Trainer.  I can officially PUMP YOU UP.  It's something I've wanted to have in my arsenal for a while, it just took me FOREVER to get my shit together and organize my program and paper work.  Oh and practice everything.  I was SO nervous doing this but once I got going, I was ok.  I always seem to doubt how much I actually know.

Secondly, this finally happened:

The card is actually white, this photo doesn't do it justice but that's what happens with an iPhone pic, ha ha.

YEAHHHHH.....I finally got my business cards!  Woot woot!  I wanted to wait until I had officially passed my Personal training practical until I got these done and I'm thrilled with them!  Now when I have people ask for me a card I actually have something to give them!  Next up, getting a few more toys for the basement pain cave so I can start training people there.  I'm also going to be offering some mobile training as well where I come to you so stay tuned for pricing on that!

So that's my latest bit of news.

As for training, well, things have been a bit sporadic this week.  I had what I'm calling a "sinus attack."  It wasn't a full blown infection but it was definitely inflammation that knocked me sideways on Thursday.  I spent most of my day sleeping the pressure in my head was so bad.  I was better on Friday but still not 100%.   I went to bed early and got up early on Saturday to ride, only to still not feel awesome.  So I skipped the ride and went to the walk in clinic.  By the time I left the clinic, I felt totally fine.  The doc told me it was a viral infection vs a bacterial infection so he didn't think I needed antibiotics.  Instead I got a prescription for a nasal steroid which I haven't gotten filled yet.  What I do need to do is get to my family doctor and get a referral to an ear nose and throat specialist because this happens to me at least once a month and when it happens, I can't function.

Saturday wasn't a total wash out as I managed to do a double brick consisting of a 30 minute ride, 10 minute run, 30 minute ride, 10 minute run, followed by 15 minutes of core and upper body work.  I had a good sweat going, which was nice.  By the afternoon, my glut / upper hamstring was throbbing and my low back was also feeling nervy and tight.  This upper hamstring issue has been lingering for a long time now.  It's been really bad since Tremblant.  I went through my training log to see what seems to trigger it and it happens pretty much every time I run fast and when I ride my TT bike.  Which would explain why it was so bad on Saturday.  I rode by TT bike on the trainer and then ran pretty hard off the bike. I've been getting ART and acupuncture on my glut / hamstring and my ART guy said he thinks I may have a bit of tendinitis in my hamstring.  So of course I spent a large part of Saturday afternoon googling hamstring tendinitis.  FML.  I have pretty much every single symptom but they are usually gone by the next day, which leads me to believe that with some eccentric loading, avoiding my TT bike for a bit and either not running, OR keeping my runs very slow and very short OR possibly pool running, I may be able to manage it without losing too much fitness.   Ironically I didn't hurt at all after last Sundays insane run up a mountain so that kinda gives me hope that it's not that bad.  I do think it's a combo of my hamstring and glut that's the problem.  I have 8 weeks left before Lake Placid so I'd really like to keep myself together so I can get to that start line.  If it means taking a bit of time off my feet now, then I'll do that.  My low back was bugging me a bit on Saturday night so I opted to skip every workout I had scheduled yesterday (a bike and a long run).  Better safe than sorry.

So.  Where does that put me workout wise for the week?  Let's take a look shall we?

Monday:  OFF - I spent it in a car

Tuesday:  Slept in - my legs were still pretty sore from last Sunday.  Tuesday night I led the TTC group around High Park.  13km ridden as I spent a fair bit of time waiting for two folks that got lost.

Wednesday:  2150m swim

Thursday:  MGCC Edenbridge - 26km, which was actually more like 31km because I forgot to restart my watch after we stopped at Eglinton.  This ride was AWESOME.  It felt good.  It was hard but it didn't kill me.  I set PR's all over the route and I climbed Edenbridge in the BIG RING ALL 5 TIMES.  That has never happened! When I got home I ran 6km right off the bike.

Friday:  2100m swim

Saturday:  Double brick:  30 minute ride, 10 minute run, 30 minute ride, 10 minute run.

Sunday:  OFF - mobility work, stretching and hamstring work.  Firmly planted myself on the couch watching Le Tour and then again in the evening for the season premiere of Game of Thrones (who else watched - that opening scene was THE BEST!).

Swimming:  4250m
Cycling:  65.3km
Running:  10.5km

Total time:  4h 50 minutes

Here's hoping to a better week this week!

I had serious FOMO watching all the race pics / ride pics in my IG feed this weekend.

Who raced this weekend??  How did you do?  It was a perfect weekend for it!!

May Runfessions

If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen this post yesterday.  I figured it was time to Runfess, so I'm linking up with Marcia's Healthy Slice for some Runfessions.

What do I have to runfess about this month?

Well.......

Running and I are currently not really getting along and I suspect it's because I've neglected my strength and physio work these past two months.  I'm all over my athletes to do strength training but I can't seem to get myself to do it.  Do as I say, not as I do, right??  Ugh.  Bad coach.

I runfess that I am very concerned that my hamstring issue is coming back.  After yesterday's race pace run, I had this low grade burning sensation in my upper hamstring and tightness in the belly of my hamstring.  This is pretty much the exact same feeling (albeit less intense) I had when I was injured last year.  Minus the nerve pain issues.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't freaking out a bit. There's exactly 4 weeks left until Tremblant, if I got injured now, I think it'd probably quit triathlon for the foreseeable future.

I runfess that I dragged myself to the gym this morning after swimming to do the work I'm supposed to be doing on a regular basis.  I'm pretty sure I will be sore tomorrow.

I runfess that these days I'd much rather be riding my bike than running because running just doesn't feel good anymore.  There.  I said it.  Never thought I'd see the day but there it is.  I want desperately to get back to loving running again.  I know it's going to involve a long process of rehabilitation, mostly because I don't move efficiently.   I have mobility issues almost everywhere in my body.  There are some that I have been diligently working at (my t-spine mobility) but I am so far gone in that area that it will probably take me a very long time to see any real results.  I'd love to just say screw it but unfortunately that lack of mobility affects everything from swimming, to cycling, to running.  So, I need to continue to work on freeing things up.

I runfess that I am FED UP with the weather in Toronto.  This has been one of the rainiest springs I can remember in years.  I actually rode my bike on the trainer yesterday because it was absolutely pissing out.  Isn't the saying April showers bring May flowers??  COME ON MOTHER NATURE, stop being a cow.

Whew, guess I had a lot on my mind, ha ha.  I'm feeling much better.

Do you have any Runfessions to share this month?   Rain:  Love it or hate it?

Starting Over: My Relationship with Running

Oh hey, it's slacker blogger Coach PK coming at ya.  I'm epically failing at this regular blogging thing these days.

First off, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all your support, comments & notes in regards to last weeks post.  I am very excited for the changes ahead.   I'm not going to lie, I'm scared as well.  I am a creature of habit that is used to routine so this will be a big adjustment for me.  I'm going to have to create a new routine to make sure I don't end up sitting on the couch surfing the internet all day (which is entirely possible, ha ha)  I am much more productive when I have a timeline / deadline, which is surely a by product of my career as a producer.  The best part is I can determine how busy I want to be vs. now where I don't have a choice.  That is one of the many things I'm looking forward to.

Anyway.  I have a confession to make.

This summer, I fell out of love with running.

There.  I said it.

I have been struggling with this for a while.  Ever since just after my injury actually (surprise surprise!).  I think I messed myself up so much that I've got a lot to undo.  I also think I have become fairly de-conditioned.  Cardio wise I'm good but muscularly, my body just doesn't know what to do with itself when I run.  I feel like a baby deer that isn't quite sure of what to do with it's limbs.   Over the last few visits to the Urban Athlete, Laura has video taped me running and she's pinpointed where she thinks all my issues have stemmed from.  My hips are actually pretty good - there doesn't seem to be much hip drop any more, which is great, however, my upper body rotates like crazy.  Most people swing their arms when they run but I seem to swing my arms and torso so I'm actually twisting when I run.  So I have been sent to the gym to work on strengthening my back and lats as well to learn how NOT to move my upper body too much when my legs move.  I can walk and swing my arms no problem but the minute things speed up (i.e my leg turnover increases) I start to twist.  My body has somehow learned this bad habit.   I think it's from sitting all day.  Much like my gluts, I think my back muscles don't work as efficiently as they should.

Running through Waterfront Park in Clermont

Unlearning this behaviour means that I am spending a lot of time with pulleys and bands in front of mirrors moving my arms and legs back and forth while focussing on keeping my torso fairly still.  HO-LY EFF it's HARD.

I've been doing this regularly for a few weeks now and I have noticed a slight difference.   For a while, pretty much every run I did, no matter how short, felt awful.  Everything hurt or ached or just didn't feel good.  I completely understand why new runners don't always stick with running because if you're not used to doing it on a regular basis, it does hurt.  As with anything, consistency is key.  We are creatures of habit and our bodies are always learning and adapting.   The more you do something, the sooner your body will learn that movement pattern.  That's the magic of muscle memory.

Despite my solid aerobic base, my muscles had forgotten what it was like to run.  Which is probably a good thing because I had built up a lot of bad habits that I have been working on un-doing.  I think I've gotten most of them out of my system, except for my torso twist, which I think will be the most difficult to undo.

A few weeks ago I was feeling really discouraged about everything but I've started to see some progress in the last week.  I've had two good almost pain free runs in the span of a week and my cadence is slowly getting back up to where it was pre-injury.  Post injury I couldn't get my legs to turn over at more than 173 steps per minute.  Last night's run was an average of 177 steps per minute which is pretty much where I was at pre-injury.  WAHOOO.

While I'm not at square one in terms of my running, I am starting over in a certain sense.  I'm paying more attention to what my body is doing when it's moving vs. my heart rate or pace or any of that and that is my focus with each run.   My plan is to get out and run at least 3-5x a week in the coming weeks.   Nothing more than 5-6km at the most for the first couple of weeks.  My goal by the end of November is to be able to run 10km.  Sounds so crazy coming from someone that just spent two weeks in Florida riding her bike almost every day.   But like I said earlier, my muscles had forgotten what it was like to run.   I'm sure my engine could get through the 10km but I don't know that the chassis could handle it just yet.  So 5km will be my max for now.  Distance doesn't matter to me, as long as I can run.   This last week has definitely put a smile back on my face......

Last night's run got a thumbs up.  It would have been two but I had to hold my phone to take the picture, ha.

Here's hoping that things are trending in the right direction because this old broad is starting to get the itch to race again.

Life

Well, I know I had vowed to post more often and I still have a draft folder full of half started posts but my brain can't seem to follow through with much these days, so here we go with another rambling post.....

Let me catch you up on "Life".

First off all, I just want to say that I never want to move ever again.  The next move I make will be in a pine box.  Seriously.  Moving is the WORST thing ever.  That being said, I'm happy we're finally in our new home.  I"d love to say that the move went really well but that would be a big fat lie.  It was probably the biggest gong show we've experienced in long time.  The actual moving day went really well, it was the days that followed that were filled with unexpected surprises of the costly kind.  Not the kind of surprises one likes to have.

But let's start with some pictures first!  I won't bore you with pics of every single room, I'll just give you the highlights of my two favourite rooms, the kitchen and the living room.  Or at least they WILL be my two favourite rooms once we're done with them.

Yes, that is a massive wall unit.  Yes, the room IS that big!  

 I don't know the exact measurements of this room but it's huge.  We're actually going to need MORE furniture to fill it out.  That wall unit was the bane of my existence.  It was one of the reasons I hated this place the first time I saw it.  Our realtor tried to convince us that it would look good painted white.  No.  Way.   It's not even remotely a style that G and I like.

G contemplating the best plan of attack to get the monstrosity out.

We had painters coming in so we had to get this wall unit out sooner rather than later.  Thankfully G's sister and her husband stopped by so we put Ron to work.   Within 45 minutes the monstrosity was down.  $600 later, the junk guys took it away.   Along with the horrible range hood from the kitchen.  G didn't go with it, ha ha.

These two things were what we thought were going to give us the most trouble and they turned out to be the easiest.

The bigger issue came with the appliances.  G works for GE (General Electric) so we get a pretty good deal on appliances.  So of course, G wanted to get all new appliances for the new place.  We measured everything TWICE.   All the appliances come on Saturday and we proceed to move them in to place.  Except that the fridge didn't fit under the upper cabinets.

Um.  WHAT.  THE.  EFF.

It was off by centimetres.  G was on the verge of a meltdown.  I could see it in his face.   He never has a meltdown.  That's usually my job.  So I told him not to worry, that we'd figure this out.  That's what I do.  I problem solve.  I took a look at the cabinet and could see that it was a single unit within a frame so we should be able to get it out.  That's when G's sister and her husband showed up.  Sure enough, about 30 minutes later, the cabinet was out and the fridge was in.

CHECK.

We then found a cabinet maker to cut and fix the doors and re-mount the cabinet.  $750 later (OUCH) we have a cabinet above the fridge again.  YAY.

We replaced the range hood we pulled out with a new cabinet and all that was left was getting the microwave installed.  The guy shows up to do that and says, I can't install that the wiring isn't up to code.  UGH.  So we get an electrician in to fix the wiring.  $1200 later it's all good.

We thought everything was done.  We just had to get the remainder of the appliances installed (including the microwave), which was scheduled to happen last Friday, just before we left for vacation.  On Wednesday night G pulls out the old cook top and the oven.  Both things come out really easily.  On Friday the appliance guys show up and go to install the microwave.  They take it out of the pristine box and see that it's dented.  On the keypad no less.  Crap.  G gets annoyed.  They then take out the dishwasher and go to install that.  Turns out it's missing a pipe.  So it was missing the part when it was shipped.  G is getting even more annoyed.   The guys then go to install the oven.

 It doesn't fit.

Fuck.

They then tried to install the cooktop.

It doesn't fit.

Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

Both appliances are too small for the openings.   I called G after his series of texts.  He was in full meltdown mode because this set off a chain reaction of things.   Getting the oven to fit wouldn't be too difficult, we'd just need a carpenter to fill in the opening.  The cook top on the other hand was the bigger issue because the counter top is granite.  You can't really patch a granite counter top.  Which meant we were now replacing the countertop.  Which I'm ok with because I didn't really like other one.  BUT, dollar wise it's not something we had planned on doing just yet.

To top it all off, we let our painter know and he said he didn't want to paint the kitchen cabinets until AFTER the new counter top had been installed because there is a chance that during the removal, the cabinets could get damaged and he'd have to come back to re-paint.   So we'd need to replace the countertop before getting the kitchen painted.

So much for coming home to a finished place.

First world problems, I know.  Things could always be worse.

We spent part of yesterday running around trying to find a Benjamin Moore store so we could get swatches of the paint colours we chose for the kitchen cabinets so we could then match it with a countertop.  In case you're wondering, no one in Clermont carries Benjamin Moore.  We had to drive to Orlando for that.

But it's done.  We called our countertop guy and had him quote on a couple of options for us along with a new sink and a new faucet.  So far we're at $5000 for the countertop and sink.  I suspect the faucet will be another $600-$700.   I feel like every time we turn around it's something else.  At least we haven't heard from our painter and he's been working on the place since last Saturday so we can only assume that he hasn't run into any issues.  We are going to be coming to home to a place with no appliances other than a fridge and an old microwave so I'm not going to have anything to cook with.  But, I may just go in to the studio and spend an afternoon cooking a few things to get me through the week.

On the re-hab / injury front, Laura seems to think the pain I'm still having is coming from my glut, specifically my quadratus femoris and his surrounding friends.  I've been told to get back in the gym and strengthen everything up.  I think the injury to my left glut I had back at the end of February is at the root of all of this.    Laura thinks I may have torn something in there way back when.  All I know is that it's sore.  I ran 8km yesterday, my longest run so far and I pushed the pace for a couple of km and I was sore all day after that.   I felt a low grade burning sensation in my lower glut / upper hamstring area for the remainder of the day.  I am back in the gym and have been told to work on getting my hamstrings strong.  I hope that helps.  Honestly, I've been feeling like I won't get back to regular running.   I certainly don't feel like I'll ever get the speed I had back.  But that's a post for another day.

That little muscle and its friends are apparently the cause of my issues.  So it's back to the gym I go. And of course my therabands and I have become the best of friends.   At least I have time on my side because I suspect it's going to take a while for me to fix the mess I have become.

I will be really happy to close the book on 2016.  It's definitely been a trying year.  On the plus side, there are some good things in the works for 2017 but I will save all that for another post as well.  :)

Look at that, I now have two more posts that I can write and hopefully not keep saved in my drafts folder, ha ha.

Who else is looking forward to seeing the end of 2016?

Farewell Summer + Moving On

Hi!

I'm BACK!

Stage one of Operation Florida is done.  Last Saturday we said goodbye to the home we lovingly rebuilt just over 4 years ago.  We had spent a total of 12 years in that house.  To say that we're going to miss it, would be an understatement.  I had a really tough day.  I would burst in to tears at the drop of a hat.   I'm still a little emotional when people ask how the move went (it went REALLY well thanks to the awesome crew from Tippet Richardson).  I think if we had moved into our new place right away, it wouldn't be so hard.  Unfortunately we couldn't make the closing dates align so we are in temporary lodging right now.  Nothing like living out of a suitcase for a month to keep your life pretty simple.

What this move had made me realize is that I hang on to a lot of shit.  I've never thought of myself as a hoarder like the ones you'd see on Intervention, but I do tend to put a fair bit of emotional attachment to certain things so they end up hanging around for sentimental reasons.  I'm also fairly practical in that I don't like to see things go to waste.  So, if I paid good money for something, I don't want to just throw it out.  I try to re-sell things as much as possible.  If I can't re-sell it, then it gets donated, eventually.

This move forced me to purge so much crap.  Honestly, it feels SO good to get rid of things.  Moving forward, I am going to think twice about what I purchase or bring home from work.  I work in a photography studio and sometimes we have leftover props or wardrobe that the client or agency doesn't want.  Sometimes they get donated, sometimes we keep them.  I have brought home so many things from shoots over the years and I"m pretty sure I've only used about 10% of what I've brought home.  So from now on, I'm going to ask myself:  Do we really NEED it.  Will we actually USE it?   If it's a maybe, then I don't need it.  Period.

Our goal with this move was to downsize into a townhouse.  We wanted a maintenance free lifestyle and we got it with this new place.  We no longer have a lawn to mow or a driveway to shovel.  We have a small back patio and a deck off the dining room so we have some outdoor space which is perfect for us.  Surprisingly this new place is bigger than our house by about 300 square feet, so we actually have more living space.  The best part was that we significantly downsized our mortgage as well.   Which means that we will be mortgage free much sooner.  Wahoo!

What have I been up to this last month....?

When I last left off,  I was still not really running often.  That hasn't really changed.  I go out once, maybe twice a week.  Running feels hard.  Although once in a while I have glimpses of that "flow" that I used to feel and that's what keeps me going.  I'm thankful I've been on my bike a lot this summer, I at least still have some good cardiovascular fitness!

So what's the deal with the injury?  Well I don't have answers yet.  I had my MRI last week.  I go back to Dr. Galea in two weeks.  Some days I feel fine and other days, I don't.  I know I've aggravated the nerve this week because I've felt that twingey-ness a lot.  I think I actually did it in the pool of all places.

I've been seeing a variety of health care practitioners to keep me from completely falling apart.  I seem to fix one thing and something else crops up.  My back has been a problem for the last few months and I'm chalking that up to poor mobility through my T-spine and weak chest muscles.  All the more reason for me to get back into the gym (which I have been doing).   I've had a couple of interesting treatment experiences that I will elaborate on in another post.  I do know that I really need to work on my mobility and flexibility.  It's absolutely atrocious.  I make a point of stretching every day, even if I haven't worked out.  I've definitely got a long way to go to undo all of this though.  That's ok, I've got nothing but time....

A few months ago I was chatting with my friend Lauren, and she commented that with all the things going on my life at the time, it was probably just as well that I wasn't racing as that would be one more thing on my plate.  I agreed wholeheartedly with her and I've thought about that often over the summer.  It's been strange not racing the MSC circuit this year.  Had I been healthy, I still may not have raced much simply because we put so much time and energy into house selling, house hunting and moving.   Did I miss being out there?  Of course.  I love to race.  But I feel like the universe gave me as much as I could handle this summer and racing just wasn't in the cards.  That being said, I couldn't let a perfectly good summer go by without toeing the line in some form or another.  I had a $25 credit from Multisport Canada for being a series award winner last year so I put it towards my entry fee for the Ontario Women's Triathlon on September 10th.  My old coach Paolina Allan is the race director so this is going to be AWESOME.  I'm in no condition to race a 5km so I opted for the swim / bike.  My swimming has gone to shit but my cycling seems to have improved a fair bit over the summer, even without following a specific training plan.  It will be fun to get back on my tri bike and see what I can do.  I was also roped in to being the swimmer in a relay team at The Barrelman Half Ironman.   I had wanted to do the bike but the boys I'm racing with are both lousy swimmers so I get to do my least favourite thing of the three sports, ha ha.  I am looking forward to swimming in the Welland International Flatwater centre though.  It looks amazing.

While this summer may not have been what I had hoped for in terms of racing, it hasn't been a total bust.  There have been some wonderful moments.  Most of them spent on two wheels with great people and spectacular weather.

The 100km Crew from the D'Ornellas Girlz Ride

Hanging on for dear life with the MGCC Butter Tart Boys. 

Cruising around the Burbs

Goofing around at Professor's Lake with Irina

Riding to Erin for butter tarts.  That's how we roll....

Chasing the MGCC Boys around High Park

The MGCC Sunday Cannoli Crew

Sticking to G's wheel during a Thursday morning MGCC Ride

The Mystery Continues

Hi hi hi hi....

I'm still alive and somewhat kicking.  With my good leg anyway, ha ha.

I've had a few people message me asking me how I'm doing, what did the Doc say, etc.  Well, the ultrasound showed NOTHING.  Nada.  Zilch.  That's not to say that there isn't anything there.  Dr. Galea said he thinks something is there, we just have to find it.  So, I'm now going for an MRI.  He suspects that there might be some nerve entrapment happening.  How did that happen?  That's a good question.  My chiro thinks that I may have torn something and then scar tissue started to form and trapped the nerve thus the pain I was feeling when I was running.  I am a bit surprised that I don't feel it on the bike as well but I'm not taking any impact when I'm riding so that's probably one of the reasons.  If it is nerve entrapment then I'm looking at a nerve blocker and a PRP injection.  Hopefully that will help.  I'm going to see my chiro this week for some more ART as I think that there is still a fair bit of scar tissue around.  My RMT commented on how "crunchy" that area was so I figured it wouldn't hurt to address that.

Life has been incredibly busy these last couple of weeks.  Work has been ridiculous but, the big news is we've put our house up on the market, finally!  Our real estate agent said that it would be best to do it while we were away so we had a mad scramble to try and get it ready for showing this weekend.  Along with packing for a vacation.  This past week was pretty darn stressful.  I had sworn up and down that I didn't want to deal with this stuff before we went to Tremblant but once I got injured, it just seemed to happen.  And really, when they're showing the house, it's not really yours.  You have to make the bed every day, you have to hide your laundry and you can't leave anything on the kitchen counters.   Meh.  That's no way to live, ha ha.  We will be accepting offers when we're back on Wednesday so fingers crossed it sells!

As happy as I am to be on vacation, being here in Tremblant amidst all the hype that is Ironman 70.3, I'd be lying if I said I was ok.   Saturday morning they had a sprint and an Olympic race and as I watched people race down the finishing chute, tears welled up in my eyes.  Not racing yesterday was  really hard.  There were more tears shed at the start when I handed in my timing chip as well as after the race was done.   Listening to everyone talk about their race was tough.  I was happy for all my friends, everyone seemed to have a great day.  Inside, I was heartbroken.  I wanted to out be out there gutting it out.  I had such high hopes for this race.   I put my goals out there and I never got the chance to realize them.  It sucks.   I don't even know that I'll race at all this season.  I'm feeling pretty shitty.   I can't complain about the view though....

It's been 10 weeks since I've run any sort of distance.  I managed to run 3.5km on Saturday and that was my first run in 24 days.  I went slow and I didn't really notice the pain until I tried to pick up the pace a bit so I suppose that is a plus.  I will try to run again later on this week and see how that goes.   I think it's too early to say that I'm on my way back.  There are too many other aches and pains in this body to say that I feel good.  I don't.  I think this issue is affecting other areas of my body, my back in particular.   In fact, I'm pretty sure they're probably connected.  So we'll see how things go moving forward.  I do know that I need to do a lot of work on my core and hip stability.  So in addition to getting better I will need to be diligent about the little things.

Despite the super busy last few weeks, I have managed to squeeze in a few workouts.  Most notably a 115km bike ride on one of the hottest days of the summer so far.  I rode with a Strava friend that I had only met once before.  Liz dragged my butt all around Kleinburg, through Hockley valley and up all the hills.  It was a tough ride but it was fun and I learned a few things about road riding.  I have to say, the internet has definitely expanded my training circle.   She's organizing a 120km group ride in July that I'm hoping I'll be able to do.

These last few weeks have been really hard emotionally but I think now that the race is behind me, I can mentally re-focus and really put the effort in to getting better.

I have so many things I've been working on physically and mentally that I want to share with you guys so I'll work on getting those things on to "paper" and getting them up here.

Happy Monday - hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!  Who raced this weekend?

Checking Out

Last week I was so hopeful that I still might be able to toe the line at Tremblant.  I'm not sure what happened this week, but a switch flipped.  I'm chalking it up to feeling not quite like myself.  I've felt very overwhelmed these last couple of weeks, mostly due to work and some family issues.  Last week, I had contemplated doing the swim / bike at Woodstock this weekend but by the middle of the week, I just wasn't interested.   My hamstring was bothering me a bit after my ride on Tuesday, then I didn't sleep well on Tuesday night.  I woke up on Wednesday feeling tired and by the end of the day, I had the worst sinus headache that stuck around until Friday.   This week had been incredibly trying because of work and by the end of the week, I had nothing left.

I haven't felt physically good or strong since just before this injury happened back in April.  Since April I have been on a physical and emotional roller coaster that has finally done me in.  I never thought that I'd get to this point, where I have become apathetic and disinterested, but I have.  I thought I'd be able to refocus and just work on my swimming and cycling but I haven't been able to do that.  I've checked out.  Perhaps after I see Dr. Galea on Wednesday, I will have a better idea of where things are at and maybe that will make me feel a bit better, who knows.

Yesterday was the first race of the season in my favourite race series and it was the first time in FIVE years that I haven't toed the line.  I went out to support G and my friend David who were both racing. All the big guns were out, including Lionel Sanders (yes, THE Lionel Sanders a.k.a  The Green Flash).  He was a race ambassador years ago for Multi Sport Canada so once in a while he will come back and do a few sprint races.   He is so fast it's insane.  He ran a 16 minute 5km OFF THE BIKE.  Seriously.  And, he's super nice to boot.  He hung around afterwards and chatted with people and answered questions.  I managed to snap a few shots as he was booking it towards the finish.

That is one serious pain face.

So many people I knew were racing.  It was a little difficult for me to just sit and watch.  As I was standing by the water, taking pictures, a woman came up to me and said "You're not racing?"  I said that I wasn't because I was injured, and I racked my brain to figure out where I knew her from.  We chatted for a bit and she said she read my blog.  She looked familiar but I couldn't figure out where I knew her from.  I wished her luck and then wandered off to check out the vendors outside of transition.  It wasn't until I was watching people come out of the swim that I realized who she was.  As soon as I saw her come out of the water,  I remembered her name.  It was Jordie Seaton, the woman that had me running scared last year.  She aged up from the 35-39 AG into the 40-44 AG last year and boy can she run.  I was touched that she came to talk to me at the start of the race and I felt like and idiot for not recognizing her.  I reconnected with her after the race and we had a great little chat (Jordie, if you're reading, THANK YOU, it was lovely chatting with you!)

Swimmers getting ready

G and David had good races and all in all, it seemed to be a pretty good day.  Another friend of mine, Miranda Tomenson, placed second overall.  She was a pro a few years ago, had knee surgery and took a good year off to rehab and rebuild.  She is SO strong, it was great to see her out there killing it.  And, it gave me a glimmer of hope that with some patience and diligence I will come back from whatever this is that I've done, stronger and more determined.  While I'm not looking forward to sitting on the sidelines at Tremblant, I am looking forward to getting away.  I really need a break.  I'm looking forward to hanging out with friends and not working.  

In other news, our basement is finished (and it looks AWESOME), which means that we're ready to list our house.  G is pushing to have that happen sooner rather than later.  The goal would be go have it listed just before we go to Tremblant so our agent can show it while we're gone and we don't have to worry about keeping everything in it's place or having to stay out after work because there's an open house.  That's kinda stressing me out because these next two weeks are going to be STUPID busy at work.  But, G works from home when he's not traveling so he said he could tidy things up and pack up all the little odds and ends that need to be put away.  

This is where the old pain cave was!  

We also found a place that we quite liked.   I didn't totally LOVE it (mostly because of cosmetic things like floor colour, counter top colours)  but it ticks a lot of the boxes we're looking for.  The bedrooms are big, there's good closet space, it's got a huge tub in the master bathroom and it's got a 2 car garage.  We're going to take another look at it tomorrow night and if we still like it, then we'll put in an offer on it.  AHHHHH!

Despite my low workout mojo, I did manage to do a few workouts this week.  So, I'm going to link up Holly and Tricia for their weekly wrap.  And in July I'm hoping that I will be able to start posting a bit more regularly on here.  I have so many partially written blog posts it's ridiculous.  

Anyway, here goes:

Monday:  OFF

Tuesday:  21.5km ride in the morning.  Never a bad way to start the day.

Wednesday:  Slept in

Thursday:  Went to work early

Friday:  1500m swim

Saturday:  Spectator and Cheerleader duties

Sunday:  43km windy as heck ride!

Total time:  just under 3 hours.  Yup.   Hopefully this week will be better.  

How was your week?  Head on over the the link up to check out what the rest of the Weekly Wrap crew got up to!  

 

Where It's At: An Update + A Weekly Wrap

Heyyyyy....

I'm still alive.  This has been a very strange and emotional two weeks.  I went from going a million miles an hour to a dead stop at work, which is nice as I feel like I can breathe again.  Things were starting to feel like they were getting a little out of control so to have some calm back in my life is a good thing.

To add to the strange and emotional vibe, last week, it was announced that Gord Downie, singer of the Tragically Hip has terminal brain cancer.  He's only 52.   The Hip have never been one of my favourite bands (I should probably be kicked out of Canada for that) but they are Canadian icons.  For some reason, this news really upset me.  I'm not really sure why.  Perhaps because he's not much older than G.  And perhaps because his passing will mark the end of a band (and a voice) that helped shape the landscape of Canadian music.

On the injury front I have been wavering back and forth like a yoyo in terms of my race.  A week ago I had decided that it wasn't worth stressing over and that I wasn't going to do the race.  Then I went up north last weekend, got on my bike and rode 96km of hills in the scorching heat and thought, maybe, just maybe, I could do it.  This weekend, I slogged out 88km brutal km's on my tri bike and lamented my loss of strength and speed.   So right now I'm still not 100% sure what I'm going to do.  I think a lot will depend on what the ultrasound I'm having done tomorrow shows.  And, I still can't run so there's that.  I tried earlier on this week and the pain was still there.  Which leads me to believe that I have really done a number on myself.

Getting ready to tackle 96km with a whole bunch of other like minded folks.

These last 7 weeks have not been easy.   At the start of all of this I figured I'd be out maybe a couple of weeks but as time went on and the pain with running didn't really stop, I became concerned.  To make matters worse, my two chief health care practitioners don't agree on what the issue is.  My physio believes that what I have is proximal hamstring tendonopathy and my chiro still feels like this is all stemming from my piriforimis muscle.  The not knowing is killing me.  Everyone I've spoken to is shocked that I haven't had any imaging done.   Thanks to an amazing friend of mine who made some inquiries for me, I managed to get in to see Dr. Tony Galea on Friday.  Dr. Galea is one of the top sports medicine doctors in Canada.   He listened to my symptoms, had me get on the table and promptly poked my hamstring insertion point, which in turn made me almost fall off the table.  The pain was excruciating.  He manipulated a few spots further down from the insertion point and asked me if they hurt and I said no and that seemed to be a good thing.   Perhaps I tore something and it hasn't healed properly, who knows.  All I know is that I just want to get better.  

Injuries have a way of breaking you down mentally and I can honestly say that this injury has broken my spirit.  I haven't been myself for the last several weeks.   It kills me to sit on the sidelines and it kills me to watch the fitness I worked so hard for slowly disappear.   Everyone is getting excited for our upcoming race in Tremblant and I'm trying to keep my shit together and not break down in tears every time it comes up in conversation.  I'm sure I'll feel better once I have some definitive answers.  I'll get those on June 15th when I go in for my follow up appointment with Dr. Galea.  In the meantime,  I'm keeping up with my physio exercises and I'm working on strengthening my core and hips.  I haven't stopped swimming and I'm continuing to ride as my body will allow so there's that.  

Since I'm actually able to do some things, I figured I'd link up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap.  And, it's given me an excuse to get back on the blog.  I haven't felt very motivated to write to be honest.

Anyway....this is how my week went down!

Monday:  OFF.  I really needed sleep after two days in a row of cycling but I did my physio exercises!

Tuesday:  20km ride.  My legs were still feeling the weekend so I cut this short.  It was a beautiful morning for a ride though and I'm glad I made the effort to get out.  Physio work in p.m.

Wednesday:  2800m swim in the a.m. and then I laced up my shoes in the p.m. and went out for a short jaunt to celebrate Global Running Day.  3.88km.  Not pain free.   :(

Thursday:  40 minutes of strength training / physio work.  I was going to ride but my glut was still sore from the shockwave treatment I had the night before so I went to the gym instead.

Friday:  2350m swim + physio exercises

Saturday:  88km ride + physio exercises

Sunday:  2500m swim + physio exercises

Total time:  7h 40 minutes.  Most of that was spent on the bike, ha ha.

I know things could be worse but being a very focused and goal oriented gal, I sometimes find it difficult to get back on my feet and re-focus - when you invest so much of your self and your time into something you love, only to have it go sideways, well, it really sucks.  This is definitely the biggest set back I've had in all my years of racing so this is new territory for me.  I've never missed a goal race and now that's looking like a strong possibility.   But that's all I'm willing to say right now - a "possibility".  It's not definitive.   It ain't over till it's over, right?

How has everyone been?  It looks like summer has finally arrived in Toronto which is FABULOUS.  We've had fantastic weather for the last few weeks and it's only going to get better.  Bring on Summer!

Re-Evaluating Goals

Happy Friday!  It's especially happy for me as I am off.  I still have some work to do but I get to do it from the comfort of my own home.  WOOHOO!

I wish I was able to report some good news on the injury front but things are still the same as they were last week.   I was hopeful that my ART and acupuncture appointment on Monday would have sorted things out once and for all but it did not.  I'm able to ride my bike so that's at least a positive but I am still having a hard time running.  I went out this morning and managed 3x5 minutes but it was not pain free.  I'm still experiencing nerve pain in my upper hamstring area.   I feel it through the entire gait cycle, which makes me think it's coming from my glut.

I am beyond frustrated.   This has proven to be a bit of a puzzle for my physio and my chiro.  I've tried to remain positive about everything but I think it's time for me to re-evaluate my original goal.  My goal this year was to crack the top 5 in my age group at Tremblant.  I honestly felt like I was on track to do that before this happened.   Everything was coming together and I felt really strong.  Now I can't even run 5km.  Suffice to say, I've thrown in the towel on that goal.  Even if I miraculously get better in the next week, I don't have enough time to get the work I need to do in.  And really, I'm in no condition to push myself either.

I'm really bummed right now.  I almost feel like giving up completely - like if I'm not going to be able to chase my original goal, then I don't want to even bother.  But I know that's silly.  I've paid for a race and if I'm able, I want to do it, regardless of how fast or slow it may be.   I have a bunch of friends racing and G will also be racing so from that perspective I know it will be a fun day.  It's really hard for me to race with no expectations when my entire mindset from the beginning of the year was focused solely on working towards this goal.  Shifting gears isn't something I'm very good at.  It takes me a little while to adjust.

I haven't signed up for any other races this summer.  I think if I make it through Tremblant, that will probably be it for me until I can figure out what is causing all of this.  There are obviously biomechnical and strength issues at play, I just have to figure out what they are.

On the plus side, I managed to ride my bike yesterday.  Yes, I felt like I hadn't ridden in a week (it was almost a week) but, it was amazing to be outside watching the sun come up.

I am going to ride tomorrow as well and see how that goes.   I need to remind myself that the bike is the most important part right now.  If I can't do that, then I really need to think about not racing at all and I'm not ready to do that just yet.  So.  I'll work on the cycling and see how that goes.  It's going to be a spectacular weekend so I plan on getting out and enjoying every minute of it.

Have you ever given up on a goal due to injury?  How did you deal with it?

#OperationTop5 - Week 19: Hanging on by a Thread

What a week.  I thought I was off the emotional roller coaster but apparently not.  I'm in a much better head space than I was last week but I still think I have a ways to go.   This week started off ok then went downhill but quickly got better.

The body really is an amazing thing.  This time last week I was still uncertain as to whether or not I'd be able to do anything other than swim.  Even early this week I wasn't sure how things were going to go.   I saw my chiro / ART guy on Tuesday morning and did ART on my left IT band and my glut med as well as my hamstring and adductor magnus.   That seemed to help and I felt a lot better.  I managed a 40 minute ride on Wednesday morning, totally pain free.  Thursday was the day I was waiting for though.  That was the day I was scheduled to go back to see Lauren.  I was hoping I'd get the ok to start running again.  Thursday morning I felt so good that I actually went outside and rode.   I saw Lauren that morning and she did a bunch of tests and did some work on my left hip flexor as it was tight and then she gave me the green light to ease back into running.  So that night I laced up my shoes and hit the trails.  It was awful.  Absolutely awful.  The nerve pain I had been feeling was still there.  I had somewhat limited range of motion as well which of course compromised my gait.  I ran / walked 4.2km and even though I was smiling for the first bit of the run, by the time I got home, I was in tears.  I was ready to throw in the towel.  As soon as I got in I called my Chiro's office and managed to get his last opening for the next day.  I emailed him that night to give him an update and suggested that perhaps it might be time to do some acupuncture.

I swam on Friday morning and that seemed to loosen up my legs but I still didn't feel great.  I went in to see Peter and he brought out the big guns.  He did some more ART but moved my leg differently than previous times.  He then did some acupuncture, which was quite uncomfortable.  You know things are tight when just the needles going in hurt, never mind when the stim is added.  Holy moly.  My hip and hamstring were throbbing and I was so achey afterwards.   I think that, combined with everything from this past week took a toll on me because I was in bed asleep before 9:00 pm on Friday night.  I slept almost straight through until 7:00 am  Yup.  I was spent.  But I clearly needed it.  I got up Saturday morning feeling like a new woman.  The tightness in my hip was GONE and my hamstring and adductor felt a lot better.  

Saturday I had opted to join the folks at Watts Up for an inside ride.  I couldn't face sitting upstairs on the computrainer in the bedroom, watching a TV that I couldn't really hear.  No thank you.  Instead I hung out with some friends I haven't seen in a while, had a few laughs and worked up a really good sweat.  A pain free sweat I might add.  I set myself a goal of 2 hours.  I told myself if I had any pain or discomfort (other than muscle fatigue) I would get off the bike.  Amazingly I made it through the ride.  I actually felt really good.  I was pretty sure my legs would feel it later in the day.   But I left feeling much better about my chances of getting to the start line in 6 weeks.  I'm not sure I'll be able to run, but we'll see.  The main goal is to be able to ride my bike.  If I can't ride, I can't race so I'm crossing my fingers that I'm on the up and up in that regards.

This weekend was a busy one.   We had orders from our contractor to pick our bathroom tiles, paint and toilet for the bathroom as well as a lighting fixture.  So there was a LOT of car time.   But, we've picked out and purchased everything now.  I don't think we'll need to make another trip or another decision.  I hope, ha ha.  I can't wait to see how it all comes together.  I love everything we've chosen.

Progress!  The walls are up!

Our flooring kinda looks like driftwood!  Big rectangular white tiles for the shower & a dark grey floor.

We were told this would take 6 weeks but I think it's going to be done sooner than that.  Which is great because I can't take the mess in the house, ha ha.  I'm dying to get things back into the basement.

Looking back on this week, I can't be upset with the way things went, other than my run on Thursday.  I am getting a little impatient but I really did a number on myself so it's going to take a while for me to get back to 100%.  I know I don't really have a lot of time but I can't worry about that.  My coach isn't worried.  She says that all I really need is 3-4 weeks of really focused hard work and I'll be totally fine.  Which is great, because I only have 6 weeks left, 2 of which will be taper weeks.  So, here's hoping I can make good use of the 4 weeks I have left.

Once again I'm linking up with Holly at HoHoRuns and Tricia at Mississippi Piddlin for their weekly wrap.

Monday:  OFF

Tuesday:  OFF - Chiro appointment and VERY long day at work

Wednesday:  40 minute ride followed by a 2500m swim

Thursday:  25km ride outside in the early a.m..  I was so excited,  I wore my inappropriate socks - they summed up how I was feeling.  Pardon the language, and the drywall dust that is all over my floor!  

P.M.  I tried to go for a run.  Like I said, it sucked.  But I was happy to be out so of course I was smiling.

Friday:  2400m swim

Saturday:  2 hour indoor ride on the Mont Tremblant Course, followed by ALL THE SHOPPING.

Sunday:  3100m swim, followed by another test run.  Lauren told me to run / walk so I did a 5 minute warm up walk and then ran 5 minutes, walked 1 minute x 3.  I covered just over 4km.  I am happy to report that my range of motion was much better.  There is still some stubborn tightness hanging around my hamstring insertion point but I think with a few more acupuncture treatments, I hope I'm good to go!

Total time:  7h 30 minutes.  Not too shabby!

I'm looking forward to a 4 day work week this week - it's going to be busy but it will make it go by that much faster.   Maybe I'll even finish one of my many drafted blog posts!  Ha.

Hope everyone had a wonderful week!  Don't forget to check out the Weekly Wrap Link Up!  

#OperationTop5 Week 18: The Roller Coaster Ride

It's amazing what a difference a week can make.   On Monday I was thinking that my season was over and that I wouldn't be able to do anything except swim for the next few months.  I left my appointment with Lauren in tears because I was so uncertain.  She reassured me that I would be fine but I went down that dark hole of self pity.  By Wednesday I was starting to feel better about things, especially after my Osteopath appointment.  My back had stopped bothering me and the sciatic pain I was experiencing was gone.  I was still having some weird hamstring pain but after I visited my chiro on Friday, he did a full assessment of me, tested me for any disc issues (there were none) did some ART on my cranky hamstring and adductor and told me I would be fine.  Those words were music to my ears.  Especially because I was actually starting to FEEL fine.

Since I had so much free time on my hands this past week,  I took the time to take care of myself.  Lauren said it was important to bring my stress levels down so every night I'd have a nice hot bubble bath with some lavender epsom salts and I'd read.  Needless to say I slept like a baby every night this week.  I really needed that.  I also started using the Headspace app.  I've wanted to try meditation for a while and I had heard a lot of great things about Headspace so when I heard they were conducting a month long experiment in exchange for a years free subscription, I thought, why not, let's give it a go.  I've only been using it for a few days now so I can't really report back on anything just yet, but I will post a review in about a months time.

I also went and had coffee with a  friend of mine who had some serious back issues.  I had reached out to her earlier in the week to pick her brain about what worked for her and we made plans to get together.  I hadn't seen her in ages so it was really nice to sit down and catch up.  No Saturday long ride also meant I had time to do some shopping.   I hit up Sherway Gardens bright and early before it got busy and went to Lush to get more bath goodies.  I wanted to get out of the house because our contractor had arrived at 7:00 am to start working in the basement.  He's at our place 7 days a week working away in the basement.   Which is awesome but it makes for a very noisy home.  Thankfully he'd given us a few tasks to deal with this weekend.  We had to go and pick out flooring for the basement as well as a vanity and mirror for the bathroom so that got us out of the house and away from the noise.  He's made pretty amazing progress in a week though!

Sunday I was able to get on the bike to test things out.  While I didn't feel 100% - my back was still a bit tight, I didn't have any hamstring pain so that was good.  I managed 45 minutes on the trainer and probably could have ridden longer but I had to get ready for swimming.  Sunday was a pretty low key day.  We did some grocery shopping and then I did some meal prep in the afternoon in between dealing with our contractors.   All in all a nice relaxed Sunday, other than the banging around in the basement.

So, I do feel much better about things now than I did this time last week, however, I don't know that I'm out of the woods just yet.  I'm still very tight through my back, gluts and hips and I don't feel like I'm in alignment.  I feel like my pelvis is slightly twisted which could explain the tightness and slight tingling I've been feeling on and off.  I did a fair bit of mobility work after my swim on Sunday and that seemed to provide some relief.   So here's hoping things are moving in the right direction.

It was a quiet week workout wise but I still got my swims in and a lovely morning walk so I'm linking up with the lovely Holly at Hoho Runs and Tricia and Mississippi Piddlin for their Weekly Wrap.

Monday:  OFF

Tuesday:  OFF

Wednesday:  2300m swim.  I got moved up to a faster lane and I just about died.

Thursday:  4.5km walk.  I decided it was time to stop moping and start moving.

Friday:  2600m swim

Saturday:  OFF

Sunday:  45 minute bike ride + 3500m swim

Total time:  4h 5 minutes

I feel like I've kind of been on a taper.  I guess that's not a bad way to look at it but it's not like I'm going to be jumping back into crazy workouts either.  My coach said she only wants me doing easy zone 1-2 bike workouts and I can't run until I get the a-ok from Lauren.  So hopefully this week I can focus on cycling and then next week I can get back into running.  I've got 7 weeks left until race day.  And really only about 5 weeks of solid training time before I have to start to taper.  Here's hoping I make it through that in one piece.  At this point, I just want to get to the start line healthy.  That's my number one goal.

How was your week?  How do you keep yourself from going down that "woe is me" path when you're injured?