Life as a Needle Sticker

I think my body is rebelling against having a needle stuck into it every day. My belly seems to have started developing this little roll of self protective fat across the middle. Bodies are so clever, it knows that it is being subjected to hurt every day and is trying to protect the muscle and lean mass underneath. How clever. The body amazes me every day. I have experienced some other amazing protective reactions as a result of a lack of any intense exercise and daily needle stick injuries.....

1. The aforementioned protective roll
2. The lungs have developed a puffing capacity when trying to exercising too
hard. It kicks in quite early these days....just as well, it stops the
potential of pushing my leg too hard. Important to listen to the body's
warning signs ;-)
3. The legs themselves feel heavy when cycling (or walking) up a hill. Again,
what a marvellous way for the body to tell you enough is enough: 'whoa there,
your're risking injury if you make me tired, back off buddy, time for coffee'.
4. The sense of taste. Well chocolate must be good for healing. Nuff said.
5. And finally the head. It now tells me that an hour or 2 is enough. Instead
of heading out for a 4 hour bike ride and getting to about 3.5 before the
head says 'enough', it now happens round about the 1 hour mark. Perfectly aligned with a protective response for my little leg.

And so what can I do? My body obviously knows best right? I must be careful not to overdo it and to let the body heal to its own rhythmn and reason. Who am I to argue?

Happy training :-).

F
x

p.s. I haven't surrendered completely, I am up to 20 mins of running (1 x a week), plus another walk/run session, and I am still swimming and cycling albeit to a lower capacity......it will come.

Well I never - It's 2011, there's been another Christmas, a New Year, and I've already passed another birthday (and up another age group!). The most remarkable thing? I am still alive and kicking and settling into my slightly revised activity level.

Now I wouldn't like to make light of it. I can't say that it's been a breeze in the last couple of months. My plan didn't really work out for the start of 2011 and the aftermath of my ITB operation certainly bashed me around a bit. My mind took a bashing the most I think and made me dive headlong into a bit of a black space. But, I had amazing support from my nearest and dearest, and I now have a plan.

You may wonder what that plan is, well firstly let me go a couple of steps back and put you firmly into the current picture........
Melbourne Cup - November 2010: a nervous flight to Melbourne, an excellent day at the races and a progressively worsening pain again in my right calf.
Brisbane - more pain, disturbed sleep, worsening frame of mind
Brisbane part II - A doctor's appointment to throw my hands up and say 'I don't know what to do'. An amazing doctor, who actually told me more than the surgeon had in the previous several months, about what to expect concerning my DVT, that I needed to go back on medication. That actually, there is hope!

So....wind forward a few more weeks and I'm back on daily injections for 6 months to treat the symptoms of the DVT, with regular contact with my GP. The injections may help to dissolve the clot, but in the meantime it will lessen the pain and discomfort and enable me to do a little more general fitness. The operation, well it is still not fully healed, goes a bit backward and forward, but is still moving forward. I feel stupid having to keep saying that when people ask. I'd love to be able to say 'yep I'm raring to go, it's all going great, thing are progressively moving forward'....rather than; 'well it's about the same, I tried to do more and it hurt again and I've had to take a few steps backwards again, but I'll get there eventually'.

Right....almost up to date. Now a brief summary of my activities since seeing lovely Dr Lewindon:
- My calf became daily discomfort rather than pain
- My knee has blown up a couple of times
- I still do Ironman training with Emm (OK only for some of her swim sets!)
- I flew to Busselton to see Dave and my leg didn't get worse (interesting taking needles on the plane when they still give you plastic knives and forks....)
- I have been riding easy rides of up to 3 hours
- I have tried to do harder or longer rides and gone a couple of steps backwards
- I have done about 5 short 'walk/jogs'
- I have discovered ice is essential in helping control my knee flaring up
- I am back on sporadic painkillers when I over do it because my calf can't cope
- It is actually OK

And so, back to the major plan of 2011.......
I am having a year of 'social' sport and doing what I can. It means that whilst not aspiring to any races, I will try to push my limits, and if my leg (either part!) push back then I will ease off again. I am replacing the traditional long weekend run with a swim and yoga session that will also help my frame of mind to reconcile that my whole being is not defined by my sporting pursuits, but by the person I am (OK I still have a bit of work to get to this enlightened way of thinking..). My whole aim is to enjoy being active but not be obsessed (ditto above brackets), and to live the reality that I'd much rather live to the age of 80 and still be taking daily walks if that means sacrificing some glory today. I am even rediscovering my creative side - a Christmas cake, a new camera to play with... :-), yoga, a garden to plan and look after.....so many things so little time. Oh, and I have an Ironman in training to support. Roll on Port Macquarie Ironman 2011...16 weeks to go Doylee. You'd better watch out 'cause I have the camera, I am skilled at popping up all over the course, will be there on the finish chute and I am working on the pom poms and cheer leader outfit as I speak ;-).

Now I wouldn't like to sign off without also being realistic..................
I do still have ambitions to fulfill a bit more athletic potential, so keep watching this space during my 'active but gentle year' and I'll let you know as soon as the game is back on!!!!!!!!!!!


And in keeping with my soon to be found zen on Saturday mornings...keep Ommmmmmm'ing

F
xx

And it goes something like this.......

Dear whomever it may concern,

I registered for Ironman New Zealand 2011 earlier in the year and regrettably find myself having to ask for my entry to be withdrawn due to injury reasons. I suffered a DVT in my leg several weeks ago and unfortunately it has not gone away as yet and is preventing me from being able to train without pain. For this reason I am going to take the coming months to hopefully get over my injury situation and be raring to go after a season out of competition. Could you please advise on the withdrawal and refund policy at your earliest convenience? I hope that another competitor is able to take my entry; I am very disappointed to not be returning after such a fantastic time there this year.


Kind Regards

Faye

p.s. keep on training.....

Like a Brick to Water!

I feel like a swimming newbie. It's only 3 weeks since I've swum and I now seem to have that sinking feeling.

I'm not even going to try to suggest that a brick might float, but if you push it fast enough through water it gets some momentum before plummeting ungraciously to the bottom. My swimming feels very ungracious at the moment, BUT I must admit that despite that, it is nice to be back in the water and getting my body moving again.

Speaking of bricks, I seem to have some brick cement stuck in my leg at the moment. That pesky blood clot has decided that it will stay for the time being thank you very much. 7cm of blood that quite likes my lower leg. I have tried telling it that it would be better off moving on, but it hasn't seemed to work. The world of DVTs is a pretty confusing one I must admit. There is new treatment protocol for below knee clots (like brand new)that says after an initial 7-14 day anti-coagulant treatment period, you just leave it alone. And it might dissolve over the coming 6 or so months, or it might not. In the meantime, go to emergency if you get breathless - does that include when I start Ironman training?! ;-)

The media portrays DVTs as such potentially life threatening things that when you are told by your doctor that 'no that's it, we'll stop treatment here and see what happens'; it's a little perturbing. Indeed even my doctor treated it like an emergency when it was first found, but I guess that's to get treatment straight away and stop it progressing. But if protocol has changed then who am I to say otherwise? So the advise I have from the doctor:
Carry on with rehabilitation of the knee as per the physio's instructions
Go to emergency if you get breathless (Uh, right, OK, one I'll try to remember)
Avoid massage on that calf (what, like forever?!)
Wear compression socks when flying (OK I do that anyway)
Be prepared for swelling and pain when you increase exercise (oh great)

So Ironman NZ 2011 is still on the cards at the moment. Watch this space as I start my programme in 4 1/2 weeks time. I can guarantee I will have freak outs if my calf if hurting. It even hurts still now, it's like having a mild cramp permanently. But that will happen right? And it's normal?? So for the time being, try to ignore dodgily cemented left calf and concentrate on ITB and knee rehab. Bendability of my knee is getting better, weight bearing is getting better and I'm even allowed to do a 10 minute wind train session; it's not quite pain free, but it's good! DVT, what DVT? Oh yeah right that one that permanently hurts and has a remote chance of breaking up and causing a pulmonary embolism.....mmmmmmm. Not that it's on my mind the whole time.

Off to swim like a brick :-). Keep on training girls and boys, I'll join in soon!

F
x

Life in the fast lane...the finer points of walking with crutches!

Little did I know that what was initially day surgery on my ITB would turn into a week and a half off work. For this I feel very guilty. Having only been in my new job for a week and a half, I have now spent just as long on the couch at home!

So surgery came and went as I mentioned last blog, and I was getting ready for a week of getting used to the fine art of walking with crutches. I learnt a couple of things before the crutches were resigned to the corner of the room:

When walking, keep the crutches in time with the bad leg.....open to all kinds of trouble if you ignore this one, including appearing 'drunk in charge of crutches' to the passing public.
However this tactic can work in your favour as it makes you look like your a 'crutch newbie' and can get sympathy votes resulting in forcedly being pushed ahead in supermarket queues as fellow 'queuers' worry that you many actually fall over if left too long in the upright position!

Anyway, back to the story. I spent the weekend after surgery trying to do 'normal' things like go to movies and coffee with friends....all the while my leg was actually hurting a reasonable amount. Calf massages, lots of rest and a personal carer named Dave, still didn't help so come Monday morning I decided to take the day off work and phoned the surgeon to get a medical certificate sent to me. I just 'happened to mention' that I had a sore calf and was that normal after surgery? The rest of the day went as follows:
- Urgent GP appointment
- Urgent ultrasound that found a 7cm DVT.....mmm NOT part of the plan
- Call to the surgeon: immediate referral to the emergency ward
- Couple of hours of emergency centre treatment
- Home with instructions for 10 days of blood thinning injections

And what followed?
An impromptu week off work with my leg up: reading, watching daytime TV (I am now a renovation expert, but still couldn't bring myself to watch 'Days of their Lives'!), planning my garden, craving social interaction, and spending far too much time either on my butt or on my back (I wish it were for other reasons that what it was!) ;-)

So...I am counting this blip as a sub section of those 10 Steps of Ironman....otherwise I start getting perilously close to the 12 steps!

Now that my calf if feeling a lot better and my ITB is the only sore bit, I am still spending a bit too much time sitting on my butt but getting more 'crutch time' practice, and looking forward to being a little more independent. To not having to get everybody else to drive me places, showering without a plastic bag on my leg, being able to sleep in a position other than 'on my back with my leg on a pillow', at least going for the 'coffee' part of a coffee ride, going back to work, having a massage!!!!!! Ok, whilst some of those things will happen this week....some will have to wait (sorry Dave the taxi!), BUT I will now be heading in the right direction to hit my 20 week programme for New Zealand injury free (all body transplant offers seriously considered!!!) :-)

THANK YOU to everybody who has helped me and offered help this week! I am once again humbled.

Fxxxx

The 10 Steps of IM

Well I think I have entered stage 10 of Ironman NZ 2010......who'd have thought it was so complicated.....no one told me how many stages there were supposed to be.

Stage 1 - November 2009. Enter
Stage 2 - November 2009 - March 2010. Panic
Stage 3 - November 2009 - March 2010. Train your butt off with crazy friends
Stage 4 - Blissful taper week
Stage 5 - March 6th 2010. RACE DAY! ELATION! PARTY!
Stage 6 - Recover and..ooops stress fracture & the more troublesome ITB!
Stage 7 - May 2010. I must be crazy. Enter IM NZ 2011....!
Stage 8 - March - August 2010. Months of physio and losing fitness
This week stage 9 - surgery on my ITB!
Stage 10 - August 2010. 6 weeks of rehab



Just in time for......you guessed it....entering the 20 week NZ IM 2011 programme




I never knew there were 10 stages to a race; at least I haven't quite reached the fabled 12 steps. Not just quite yet anyway!

Let me recap the last 5 1/2 months of my life and what I've learnt that has hopefully prepared me better for my next IM NZ challenge in 2011.

- I've learnt that no one is infallible
- That whatever the best laid plan are, they can change - and that's ok (right?!)
- That going to the gym and doing weights is still boring, and always will be
- That I LOVE running and cycling and yes OK.....even swimming!
- I can just watch a race without blowing up, but I'd prefer to be doing it
- I can still participate in coffee rides, minus the riding
- I have a great boyfriend who humors my need to bake as therapy :-)
- I love my friends for the following reasons:

They keep telling me how awesome it is to smash out a 100km bike ride and 1 hour run; They tell me about how much quicker they're getting; They say they're jealous of my time off; They help me carb load by buying me chocolate; They remind me that actually this is my life!

These are a few of my inspiring friends who have a wonderful mix of loyalty, passion, reality and compassion. Love ya!

So what next. Well my limited exercise regime is now ramping up. I am entering stage 10 with a big bandage on my leg and set of crutches, and look forward to the next 8 weeks of doing what the Doctor says so that I am ready to take on any challenge any one of you may like to put down for me!!! And no, it will not progress to stage 11 or 12....I am not ready to be over my addiction!

Off to practice on my crutches.

F
x

Pressure Cooker...

Well I'll be blown, the extent of my incapacitation has reached the big cheeses at Statoil on a north sea oil rig.....“We still have an unstable pressure situation,” Gisle Johanson, a company spokesman, said by phone today".

I also am slightly worried by the wikipedia definition of instability:
'Instability in systems is generally characterized by some of the outputs or internal states growing without bounds.'
Good grief, they are describing what is happening to my mid drift....'growing without bounds' eek! There's also a worrying trend for my brain to suddenly feel like it's going explode...I am wandering if there is a pressure release valve anywhere that can be deployed in case of emergency by those that are my nearest and dearest - you know who you are so make sure you have some idea as to how to achieve the necessary calming effect that comes from releasing the pressure valve!

Let me explain.....21 weeks of no running, 6 weeks of no biking. Let me put it another way 'I NEED TO RUN AND EXPEND ENERGY!!!!!!!!!!'. If only I could bank it for the next Ironman training, if only it worked like that :-). What am I going on about you may think; enjoy the rest, take the time to 'discover' another interest...well I do enjoy other things, cooking, writing, reading, gardening, but let me share what it does for me when I can pull on the runners and escape out the door for an hour:

It's 5am, darkness is still all around, the Brisbane winter air has a bite to it that belies what will be the usual summer heat when only a small bite of freshness to the air is quickly wrapped up by the enveloping heat. I have rolled out of bed, a little sleepy, taking a few minutes to let my body adjust from warm bed to chilly air, for my brain to try to understand that it really is good to get up, that even in the dark there is a beauty of being out and about when everybody else is sleeping. The clothes are pulled on, already prepared the night before so that the grey matter doesn't have too much to contemplate this morning. The runners, so comfortable, so familiar, slip onto my feet. I have a swig of water, tie my hair back, put on a cap and head out the front door.

The legs start to ache as they pound on the pavement, slowly waking up from their slumber. The lungs inhale gulps of cold air burning that burns slightly on its way in. The face is stung by chilly air. The feet and hands are cold. 5 minutes in and the blood is pumping, the mind is alert, the body is starting to respond to the demands I am putting on it. My breathing settles to an easy rhythmn, my legs go onto metronome rhythmn, the hardness of the ground disappears, my mind starts to contemplate the issues of life...that is when I know it is a good run. And that's where the issues of life get sorted, or at least the pressure released. My pressure valve sits somewhere between not wanting to leave a warm bed and the metronomic running pattern 5-10 minutes later. The issues that seemed to be building up dissolve into my sweat. There is a lightness in my mind as I run past dog walkers, watching the sky lighten, hearing the birds wake up. I can get my fix from running alone or with people, it is still an individual thing that people get different things from. I can't imagine every being able to achieve the same feeling from anything else. I'd cope, but the pressure valve would have to develop a slow leak to keep me sane....I think it would take lots of other things put together to even do that.

Running, losing yourself over the course of an hour or so, physically worn but mentally refreshed, the world of Faye seeming easier. Perspective achieved.

Present situation: pressure building, a slow leak not really helping enough.

Lost: one pressure release valve.

Wanted: nearest and dearest please keep looking and let me know when you find an alternative.

Time to go slothing ;-)

F
x