Crash Landing!

So...it finally happened. I crashed. The good news is that I have all my bones in tact. Just some road rash.
I headed out with The Bike Rack ride out of Logan Circle and headed out for a 30 mile bike ride out to Rockville, MD along Beach Drive.

The crash happened early in the ride. We suddenly had to come to a stop in Adams Morgan when we came upon a construction crew filling pot holes. I had to break hard and as I was unclipping my shoe it got stuck and a dump truck near me started moving. My only move was to fall over and crash on the ground. I bit it hard. Luckily the good words of advice from the dude at the bike shop were echoing through my mind --- when falling hold onto the bike and let your whole body brace the fall. Luckily the blood on my knee clotted quickly so I didn't have blood streaming down my leg.

The ride itself was great! Since I didn't know the route I hung back a bit. On the way back I was able to open it up and it felt great.

Once we climbed out of the Park we were back riding in traffic and I'll admit that I was a bit scared. Nothing like having a metro bus roll up behind you or having to suck in the exhaust of a motorcycle in front of you.
After my first REAL group ride I'm no worse for wear. Bring on next week!

The doctor is in

Today I met with a physical therapist to talk about my busted-up hip. Though the pain has subsided significantly I still don't feel as if my hip is back to normal and I definitely am not running as strong as I have in the past. 

The good news is that it appears that I have a combination of an inflammation in the area near my hip socket and some muscle weakness/imbalance in my hip area.

Finally...a diagnosis! The solution is that I need to perform a combination of more stretching and muscle building in a particular area. I am free to keep training and run, but need to make every mile count and not do any "junk miles." Definitely good advice.

The assessment I got was very thorough and I felt really good about my appointment and the guy I met.  The company is called the sports and spinal physical therapists. 

I'm definitely thinking about checking them out in the future and may even consider checking them out to help get me to 100%. I also plan to have my trainer redo my workout to address this issue.

45 min bike + 15 min run = OK

Given my schedule today, I jammed my bike and run into a consecutive workout after work today.
The bike was good. No issues. The bike wasn't as nice as the spin bike at work, but it'll do.

I was very anxious about my run. I started at an 11 minute pace; then shifted to 10.5 minute pace; then shifted the last 5 minutes to a little over a 9 minute pace.

The good news is that I made it all the way through. My hip left a little weird at the beginning, but felt better as the run progressed. I was worried about pushing it too much and I decided to stop at 15 minutes.
I do think all the stretching and using the foam roller definitely has helped. I have a consult with a sports medicine person tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I hope to be back to my 6-10 mile runs very soon!

You spin me around...

Today was bike interval day. Since the roads were a bit wet, I decided to do my workout on a spin bike. I discovered a set of spin bikes at my firm's gym. They were lined up like lonely little guys waiting for some attention.

The interval workout was fun. I added a few minutes of riding out of the saddle at the end just to mix it up.
Boy...the transition from bike to run is gonna be interesting. My legs/hips are gonna rebel.

Welcome to the great indoors

Today I hit the gym for a combo long bike/short run workout.  The 45 minute bike went very well.  Felt great.  No issues.  Bonus that I used the time to catch up on watching the news and singing along to tunes on the iPod.

The bummer is that my hip is still not back to normal.  It is completely frustrating to not just be able to lace up your shoes and go for a run.  I really, really, really miss going out for a comfortable run.  The result is that I'm finally going to make an appointment with a specialist to look at what's going on.

She's hot

 That's what I heard a couple times as I rolled out for my 90 minute long ride today. Don't get me wrong, they weren't talking about me. They were talking about my new bike!

On Sunday I headed out to explore a few local trails. The good news is that they were pretty empty which meant I had the paths pretty much to myself. I had a great ride cruising around and even had my own police escort of sorts. There were three motorcycle cops trolling around the paths and I seemed to encounter them a couple time on my travels.

The only relatively eventful part of the ride was I almost crashed! As I was coming to a major intersection I had trouble unclipping one of my shoes. As I more forcefully pushed out my right foot to free my shoe the momentum whipped the bike the other direction. Luckily I grabbed onto a nearby stop sign and stopped my fall. Very scary, but not unexpected. This is exactly what other folks told me would happen at least once.

I ended up riding a little over 18 miles. I was whipped afterwards! I realized that though I was drinking water throughout I didn't eat along the way which meant that I was a mess after wards and felt so weak.

I might just be back

I had a great workout at the gym today with T.  We did a ton of core, balance and leg work today.  Feel the burn.

Unfortunately, I got home too late tonight and was not able to make it to the pool for my 2000 yd endurance training.  I am super bummed.  By the time I got in the car to head out to the pool it was after 9pm and the pool closes at 9:45.  If I floored it I probably would have only had a 20-25 minute work out.  Of well.  I tried.

Rainy days blow

Last night I gathered all my biking gear for a sweet ride in DC on Tuesday night. Here I come Hains Point!!!

Alas, today ended up being a rainy day. I decided that a new fancy bike and my novice skills were not a good match for potentially slick streets.

I diverted to the gym for some one-on-one time with a stationary bike. On tonight's menu --- a 60 minute easy ride.

Cruisin'

I was pleasantly surprised by all the mileage I was able to get in last week while on the cruise. I ended up doubling my scheduled time!

Though I didn't run, I was able to get in almost a daily swim at the mini-lap pool and three spin classes.

The spin class instructors were these two highly energetic Aussies with a preference for going hard and playing Australian pop songs. I left each of the classes drenched in sweat.

Aside from the swimming and spinning I even got in some ocean kayaking in St. Maarten. above is a pix from the beach we launched from. The winds were quite strong so we ended up paddling around the Bay and eventually landed at a neighboring cove to snorkel around. After checking out the reef and lounging around the beach, we launched our kayaks and headed back. Needless to say, my arms were sore the next day.

Devastating

I don't mean to be overly dramatic and I hope that I am...but my running has not improved. It has been weeks after my mysterious hip injury at the National Half Marathon in DC. I've followed doctor's orders and taken pain pills, taken muscle relaxers and stopped running. The result is the pain and mobility issues are much better, but I am not able to run like I used to.

Last Tuesday, I decided to walk around the track with the rest of the early morning cruisers who are working off last night's dessert. After a half mile of fast walking I could feel some mild discomfort. It's like you know that something is "just not right."

I stopped and did some mild stretching to get the muscles loose and to see if I could work this area out. Mind you, yesterday I had an incredibly hard Swedish massage and though at times I cringed, I felt fantastic afterwards. My hip felt like a million bucks. In retrospect, I should have tried running on it immediately.

After walking a few laps, I decided to lightly run around the track. Laps one and two were hesitate and I focused on taking only short choppy steps. As I rounded the corner at lap three I could feel the gnawing pain return to my left hip. I decided to push a fourth lap. The discomfort was steady and not improving. At that point I gave up and headed back to my cabin. Mother f-er!!

After working so hard to improve my running over the last 10 months and finally finding an outlet I truly enjoy, it is truly devastating to not be able to just go out and run. If I was a crier, I could just sit down and cry.

Luckily, all hope is not lost. I still have an orthopedist out there that I have to see. The tough part is describing the pain since I can bike, swim and walk --- though long periods of walking and stair climbing I've noticed cause some mild discomfort.

If I had to guess, based on no medical training what so ever, I'd say that at times it feels like something in my hip is either rubbing or sliding out of place. Of course now that I've said that I have nightmares of the woman I met in the Galapagos who was in her early 40's, was an athlete and had double hip replacement surgery...or...visions similar to those who have to get knee replacement surgery. I'm sure the new doctor will say that it's an overuse injury. The next piece he tells me will be the piece that scares me.

As always, I gotta say..."Why me?" I've had so may bumps, bruises, scars, surgeries and near death experiences that I feel as if I'm finally owed some sort of break already. Grrrr!

Swimming in the Solarium

After baking in the Caribbean sun for a few hours (wearing SPF 50 of course!) I decided to get my laps in while everyone else was ashore exploring San Juan, Puerto Rico. Having visited the island many times before, we opted for lounging around the ship instead
.
With everyone gone, we had the run of the ship.

I ended up doing a 35 min freestyle workout in my mini-pool. See attached. It's a lovely indoor mini-pool with sunlight streaming in, no kids, serene music and flowering vines climbing the walls.

Don't call me Lance

I did a two-fer on Monday. After swimming in the morning, I was able to get a spot in the afternoon spinning class. I forgot how much fun this was!

The one odd element --- imagine spinning while on a boat that's rocking. Makes for an interesting ride. Looking forward to getting in on a few more classes before the cruise wraps up.

Swimming at Sea

On Monday morning I set my alarm early and headed down to the lap pool. Let's just say that things may appear larger than reality should have been a phrase added as a footnote on the website.
It may have been smaller than I would have liked, but I was able to knock out a 40 minute freestyle workout. There were two guys already swimming laps and once I arrived we took over the pool.

One of the guys told me he snuck in an hour early to beat the crowds. I gotta keep that in mind for future workouts.

Though the length of the pool left more to be desired, the resistance training I encountered swimming against the current was a bonus. It was my open version of any open swim since most pools don't have waves!
I lucked out getting there early since once I jumped out of the pool, it was invaded by people bobbing around.

I was surprised that when I glanced into the huge state of the art gym at 7am it was packed! When I went out on deck to read at 9:30, the track was packed with runners and walkers! As one old guy I encountered commented --- everyone's ambitious re fitness the first day.

Group Ride

Saturday morning I experienced my first group ride. I hooked up with the Potomac Peddlers in College Park and hit the trails with them.

What an interesting group of super nice people...and there were a lot of them. They were riding fancy road bikes, hybrids, mountain bikes, beach bikes, those folding bikes and even a tandem!

I had a nice confident ride. I was disappointed that the pace wasn't a bit faster and as a result I turned around halfway through the ride to loop back to the start. Time was ticking away and I was worried we would be out too long.

All in all...good experience, but I need something a bit more challenging.  Here's a pix of my bike on the Paint Branch Trail.

Got my swim on

Another night swimming laps at the pool. I love it. Each time feels better.

The pool was empty --- combo of Good Friday, Spring Break and hey....it's Friday night!!!
Tonight my workout involved some distance sets. I was happy to have swam a 500, 400, 300 and 200 --- that was the core of my workout.

Woo hoo! Don't get me wrong. I was tired, but was happy to have pushed myself.

Second time isn't a charm

Once again, on Thursday night I didn't make it to Hains Point for my ride. Total bummer. Looking forward to the crowds minimizing a bit --- though this situation will also improve once I'm more comfortable navigating my way through rush hour traffic via my bike. There's a BIG difference between driving 8 miles in rush hour traffic and biking the same distance.

Screw the cherry blossoms

I have no idea how folks commute from DC toward VA. The traffic is nuts and all the Spring Break tourists make life even more crazy.

Stop looking at the cherry blossoms and just Drive People!!!!

I foolishly though that I could drive to West Potomac Park today for my bike workout. After a close to 2-hour attempt...I gave up.

I'm not confident enough to dodge/weave through DC traffic yet so biking over wasn't an option I was comfortable attempting. Looks like tomorrow I'll have to take my life into my own hands and just make a go of it.

For now, I'm gonna bike around my 'hood...that is...if I can actually get home.

Late night waves

On Monday and Tuesday I was scheduled to get my stroke on --- so I knocked out two nights at the pool. When I say nights --- I really mean it. Each night I closed down the pool. I clearly have a problem getting out of work, getting home and getting to the pool earlier.

Each night I followed "most" of the assigned workout. I've gotta compliment my friend who laminated swim workout sheet. What a great idea! Definitely makes life easy since I'm completely brain-dead and regularly forget what's next.

It's surprising how many folks hang at the pool that late a night --- swimming laps, water walking, floating around and hanging in the whirlpool.

Each time I hit the pool it feels a bit better, which is good since this morning I paid my US Masters membership. Gulp...I'm scared!