a small announcement. and some new gear.

the announcement: today was my first "official" day of training for the 2010 season. now that i've gotten the results from my MRI, i'm able to start ramping up my training to get back on track. i have been working out over the past 10 weeks, but most of those workouts were simply to keep my legs moving and heart pumping so that my aerobic base wouldn't be affected, usually consisting of longer durations and lower intensities.

anyways, as today was my first official workout, i thought that it would be an appropriate time to let the word out that i was offered a coaching sponsorship with Absolute Endurance Training and Therapy. i'm very happy to announce that alan chud, coach, general manager and partner at AETT, will be coaching me through the 09/10 season. i accepted the offer many weeks ago but al and i decided not to proceed with any program until my injuries got sorted out. on friday al and i sat down to talk about what i want to accomplish in the next year or so, and right now my biggest priority over the next 12 months is to not get injured. al suggested that we start a new program on monday, but since i'm fired up and ready to go after nearly 3 months of sitting around being patient, i told him i want to start today. this morning was nearly two hours of riding and tomorrow will be a short, easy run. i'll have to continue to be patient with my running training so that i don't push myself too hard too soon, and having someone else design my workout program for me with this in mind will be extremely beneficial. as part of my sponsorship i will be a member of AETT's ambassador program, so look for me next year at the AETT tent at various multisport events across ontario.

the new gear: it's probably good that my wife is out of town this weekend. if she had of come home this afternoon she would have seen this in the living room:

although my wife is incredibly supportive of my racing and comes to almost all of my races to cheer me on, she has very little patience when it comes to bike stuff in the living room.

wheels, wheels, wheels! i totally pimped out my ride today. the first wheel on the left is the rear wheel of the current easton wheelset that i'm riding on my cervelo. second from the left is my new, piece of junk, used wheel that i'll be using on my cervelo strictly as an indoor trainer. i picked up this wheel today and i'll be able to put that on my racing bike anytime of the year, regardless of the season, for some indoor riding. i missed a few workouts last summer because of rain, so this wheel will solve that issue. this will also mean that i'll be able to bring my trainer with me to races to warm up on. in the middle is the rear wheel of my road bike, which i mostly use for indoor training. i just swapped the rubber on that one. those last two wheels? what are those? oh... nothing special. just my new zipp 909 wheelset, safely wrapped up and protected in wheel bags. hahahahahaha!!! i'm super, super, SUPER psyched about those! i've been drooling over new wheels for years and i finally got a smokin deal on a used set and just picked them up today. many thanks to endurosport for taking a look at them and giving me the thumbs up before any cash changed hands, and also thanks to them for swapping the rubber on all of my other wheels. you guys are awesome.

so yah. now that i have my new zipp 909 wheelset, i can sit back, relax and get fat. who needs to train when you've got wheels like that? they'll just go fast without any help from me. isn't that the way these wheels work?

and the official word is...

just right now i finally (FINALLY!) got to speak with my doctor to discuss the results of my MRI. and the official word is this: there is no stress fracture.

wahoooOOOOOOO!!!

it's been a long 10 weeks of minimal, light training and this whole experience has been a lesson in patience. but now it's time to ramp up my training and get back on track. i've got some serious ground to make up.

aaarrrggghhh... more frustration.

i went to see my family doctor last night to go over the results of my MRI, and i showed up at her office expecting good news. i was expecting to be told that my tibia fracture has healed and that i'm free to start slowly building up my running mileage to get my training back on track. instead i sat around for 30 minutes waiting for my doctor to see me, only to be given the news that the hospital that i went to for my MRI hasn't faxed over the results yet. a complete waste time. now i have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest for the results.

no problem. i'm an expert at being patient.

on the upside, i did get some good news about a set of race wheels that i've been eyeing for next season. very exciting.

(shrug)

40 minutes on the treadmill yesterday, 30 minutes on it today. my first two runs in 9 weeks.

no big deal.

look at me! i'm running!

i was on the treadmill today. twice. running! and things felt good. not 100%, but pretty damn good. last week, post good MRI news, i was on the treadmill very briefly, testing things out. things we're still off, many of the same old irritations present. i ran off and on for about 20 minutes, very light on my feet, using the treadmill's handles to prop myself up to take most of my weight off of my legs. i quit because my right leg started to hurt and, returning to work, promptly called my sports chiropractor to book an appointment to check things out.

i ran today for a few minutes right before my appointment so that i'd be able to pinpoint and explain exactly what was still bothering me. it turns out that i've still got a lot going on with my right leg, and although my stress fracture seems to be healed (still nothing official, but things look good for that one), it looks like part of it is a back issue and some of my lower vertebrae are pinching some nerves, causing all sorts of problems through my leg.

but here's some really, really great news: after some tweaking and stretching and trying out some new things, focusing mostly on my back and my ankle (which has been bothering me for a long time but we'd assumed it was related to the fractured tibia), i hit the treadmill right after my appointment and things felt good. i ran for 12 (practically) pain-free minutes! i wanted to jump up and down because i was actually running again! it felt awesome, but, like i said, still not 100%. the only reason i stopped is because i didn't want to do too much too soon. it's been 9 weeks since i've gone for a run, after all. there's still some things to get sorted out, but now that the stress fracture is out of the way (still unofficially), i can work on determining exactly what else needs to be fixed. i can finally see the light at the end of this tunnel and hope to be back on track in the next couple of weeks. (fingers crossed, fingers crossed, fingers crossed...)

quick update...

so i had my MRI today. i was initially told that my appointment would take about 45 minutes, but i was at the hospital for almost four hours, most of which time was spent lying on my back on the scanner wearing a hairnet and industrial strength ear protection. they tried to get me take my piercings out but i assured them that would be way too much work, and i was warned that my tattoos may heat up while being scanned. i told the nurses that i would like to talk with the doctor that was onsite (who, apparently, popped in and out during my scan) after the scan was completed, but she left before i was finished and able to speak with her.

anyways, the nurses told me that the doctor said that things look good. great, in fact. exactly how great i'm not sure just yet. i should get the results from my family doctor by the end of next week, and i left the hospital today feeling pretty excited. i'll keep taking it easy until i've been officially told otherwise, but things seem to be looking pretty good for this guy. is the stress fracture gone? i don't know yet. but the answer is only days away. sweet.

and with that, the season (officially) ends

this past saturday i was scheduled to participate in what was to be my last race of the year, the fall colours duathlon in cumberland, just east of ottawa. because of my injury, my season came to an end mid-august and this was the fourth race that i've had to watch from the sidelines. and just like all of those other missed races, this one was special. the first race i missed was the cobourg duathlon and i'd been looking forward to that because it was an international distance race (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run), a distance which i plan on focussing on next year. i was going to use my time from that race to track my improvement over the next year, comparing each future race of equal distance to this one. the next race i missed was wasaga beach, my favourite stop on the HSBC race calendar. 2009 would have been my third consecutive appearance in wasaga beach and it's a short, fast and fun little course at a great venue that i look forward to every year.

after that i missed the HSBC's lakeside II, their last race of the year. the lakeside venue is pretty amazing and i wanted to see how my time would have improved from the same race last year. i was also looking for a bit of personal redemption. in 2008, i arrived at lakeside II early in the morning only to realize that i'd forgotten to bring all of my food with me, which turned out to be a very painful mistake. about 10k into the 30k ride i was completely depleted (my only source of fuel were a couple of gel packs i was able to buy just before the race started) and i struggled the rest of the way through, crossing the line with a very disappointing 5th position, 6 minutes behind the winner.

but of all the races that i did last year that i was planning on returning to this year, the cumberland du was the most important. last year i competed in this race on a whim, only learning about it a week before it took place. every year i travel to ottawa to be with family for thanksgiving, and i figured that it would be a great way to spend a holiday weekend morning, wrapping up my racing year with lots of family members out to cheer me on. if you've ever been to ottawa in the fall then you know how incredibly beautiful it can be, and the cumberland race site is no exception. anyways, making this long story short, i won the race and walked away with my first ever duathlon victory. since then i'd been looking forward to returning to defend that victory. i'd even thought back in august that with two months of downtime my leg might be ok to go and that i might actually be able to race this weekend. but it was not to be and my leg has yet to heal. racing conditions were ideal again this year, and this past saturday morning - race morning - i woke up in ottawa to sunny bluebird skies and a fall palette of colours in the leaves.

crossing the line in 2008. my first ever duathlon victory.

judging only by time, if i'd been able to race again this year on the same course and finished with the exact same time as last year, i would have won this race by 5 minutes. patience, i keep telling myself. patience is key. with an MRI scheduled this week i'll finally learn the severity of my stress fracture and, hopefully, will sort out a recovery plan. being patient sucks.

unbelievable

all of the official results for this past weekend's duathlon world championships are finally up, and all i can say is 'wow'. in the men's elite race, american olympic triathlete jarrod shoemaker crossed the line in a time of 1.49.02, and in the men's age group race, american matthew sheeks finished with a time of 1.43.30. ONE-FOURTY-THREE-THIRTY! it absolutely blows my mind that someone out there is capable of running 10k, riding 40k, and then running another 5k in a time of 1.43.30.

if i had of raced this past weekend (which i had planned on doing by qualifying at last year's canadian championships, but i missed that race because i was traveling at the time), i would have had to of finished in a time of 1.48.15 or better. ppffffttt... no problem. i would have owned that podium. hahaha... yeah right. i've got some hard work ahead of me.

all that aside, many canadians churned out some pretty incredible times, too. the top canadian age group athletes were two guys that i regularly compete against. david frake - who narrowly missed a podium finish - ended his day with a time of 1.48.45, followed closely by bruce bird with a time of 1.53.09. check out larry bradley's blog as he's posted all of the results for most of the canadians that were there competing.

cograts to the canadian athletes. you all posted incredible times and i find your hard work inspiring. i'll see you at the races.

2009 duathlon worlds

today the 2009 duathlon world championships are being held in concord, north carolina, and i'm anxiously awaiting for the results to be posted online. i hope all of the canadian athletes have great races and the team brings home fistfuls of medals. i can't wait to read the race reports, hear the stories, and see how canada compares to some the world's best.

good luck, athletes. have fun out there and enjoy your races.

one step forward, two steps back

just when i think things are going well and my leg is getting better, i go and do something seemingly harmless that sets me back. last night being the warm, balmy autumn evening that it was, i decided to walk to a nearby grocery store for my mid-week grocery top up. without thinking i loaded up on a few heavy things like a carton of orange juice and a carton of soy milk, along with everything else. about 5 minutes into my 20-minute walk home, two grocery bags weighing me down, my ankle started to hurt, the first telltale sign of my bone fracture. going to sleep with it feeling slightly irritated, i woke up in the middle of the night with my right leg throbbing and i decided to skip my morning workout because of it.

it turns out that i still have a long way to go. over the past couple of weeks i've been going to the gym, riding, doing strengthening exercises and stretches, all in an attempt to heal and help prevent this from happening again, and there's been absolutely no pain until last night. my MRI couldn't possibly come sooner.

tonight i have a pretty serious bike workout that i've been looking forward to for awhile because i want to see if i can get through it without any irritation or pain. hopefully all will be fine and i'll keep moving forward with my riding, but if there is pain, i'll have to scale back on my training even further. i'm feeling defeated and discouraged. ugh.

finally

just found out that my MRI has been booked for october 14th. aaaaarghh... that seems so far away. i hope to be well on my way to recovery by then but i'm still interested to see exactly what the MRI will discover.

one thing that i keep forgetting to post is the news that the official website for the 2010 duathlon world championships was launched on september 3rd, marking the one-year countdown to the event. at this point the course hasn't been finalized, but it's a site worth checking out if you're heading there to compete.

best of luck to all athletes competing in the lakeside II HSBC triathlon/duathlon weekend tomorrow and sunday. i'll be there on sunday morning, although i won't be racing.

the seasons are changing

last week on one of my morning rides to work, i saw my first leaf of the season fall from tree to ground. as i watched it gently land on the rec path that i was riding on, i looked at the tree that it had just been released from and noticed that, along with all of the other trees sharing that bit of grass, the leaves had started to turn from their rich, summer green to deep, rusty oranges, yellows and browns. in addition to the leaves changing colours, the air is cooler in the mornings, the sun rises lower, sits closer to the horizon in the evenings; the days are shorter, the winds have changed directions. fall is on the way.

as i patiently wait to get my MRI to acutely assess and diagnose my fractured tibia, my seasons have officially changed, too. i've finally accepted the fact that my racing year is over. early this year, when i had originally put my 2009 duathlon plan together, i had hoped to still be training for two more races at this time. racing from april to october split my year nicely in two: 6 months focusing on base training and building, 6 months focusing on speed work and racing. however, with one bad pair of running shoes my racing season has been cut short by two months, and the upcoming running portion my off season training has been set back dramatically to allow for injury recovery. before the severity of my injury came to light, i was hoping that i could have a few easy weeks of downtime in race season and still be able to get some end-of-year competitions under my belt. but now that i've been told by my sports chiro that i likely won't be running outside until december, i've humbly accepted that there's nothing i can do but be patient. a stress fracture can be a recurring injury if not treated correctly, so with my ambitious goals over the next few years in the sport of duathlon in focus, i'll take all the time necessary to ensure i heal properly. i got through my big races in 2009 before being sidelined, and my big race next year, the world championships, is at the end of next year's race season. that means that i need to ensure that i'm fit enough and strong enough to get through an entire season of racing before competing in my 'A' race.

so as summer changes to autumn, autumn to winter, i'm turning the intensity down and cranking up the duration of my workouts. for running, all i can do for the next three months is continue to run in the pool, but my cycling workouts won't be affected. i'm hoping to make some pretty huge strides this off season and want to come back in 2010 better, fitter, faster and stronger than ever. because of the downtime necessary to heal, it's likely that my running times won't come down to the point that i want them to be until about this time next year. which is fine. i'm perfectly ok with that. my focus for next year will be to remain injury free and i'll be taking a much more holistic approach to training from here on. all of my injuries this past year seemed to be caused by too much running and riding in a straight line. it's time to re-assess my game plan.

and i'd like to thank everyone out there that has offered me support after hearing of my season-ending injury. many have offered me advice and guidance, many sharing their own stories of dealing with their injuries and how, ultimately, sitting out with an injury helped them to grow as an athlete. some truly inspiring words of support came from a comment on one of my blog entries. magali tisseyre, a professional female triathlete from quebec, wrote, "ALL OF US get injured once in a while, it is part of being an athlete, part of our evolution, part of getting stronger! I think that the athletes that make it are not those that stay injury free, they are those that stay positive and consistent through adversity! In my opinion, you can evercome this for sure and will come back stronger mentaly and physicaly."

although my off season is starting almost two months earlier than i had planned, i'm more excited than ever for my 2010 racing year. i'll learn from this injury, heal, and bounce back from it stronger and faster than ever.

best of luck to all athletes

as i'm getting geared up for my saturday morning ride (my first real ride in almost a month), i just wanted to say good luck to all of the multisport athletes competing this weekend. today is the HSBC wasaga beach tri/du, and tomorrow is the muskoka 70.3 in huntsville. it's a busy weekend for the sport but, sadly, i'll continue to sit on the sidelines with my fractured tibia. especially hard for me is the fact that i've been looking forward to the wasaga beach race all year. it's my favourite race on the race calendar and i was excited to return there for my third consecutive year.

have fun out there, everyone. enjoy your race.

MRI, then gameplan

next up in my ongoing fight to heal my bad leg is an MRI. this should provide all of the missing details in terms of just how severe of a stress fracture i have. after that is a conversation with my doctor and sports chiro to figure out a game plan for moving forward. i keep reading horror stories online about people with similar tibia stress fractures that have been advised by their doctors to stay off their feet for times varying from 4 weeks to an entire year. AN ENTIRE YEAR? you've got to be kidding me! i couldn't imagine not running for a whole year. i'm not going to stress about it until i've had all of the necessary conversations, but i'm glad to know ahead of time that i could be in for a longer than expected bout of recovery time. yikes. the thought is definitely terrifying.

in the meantime i'm still going to the gym and riding as much as i can to keep my fitness up. i'm also water running as much as i can. i was at the cottage this past weekend and got a 70-minute aqua jog workout in on saturday afternoon. i'm sure i looked ridiculous out there in my wetsuit, running along underwater with my head bobbing above the surface. "that guy's walking! look at him! he's just walkin' along!" was the commentary from a boat full of geriatrics that slowly made their way past.

one thing i've realized is that i'm hesitant to ride like i normally do, fearful that pushing the pedals too hard too soon may compromise my recovery. i brought my bike up the the cottage because i wanted to get out on the roads for a 60k ride, but i had to psyche myself up to even want to ride. i ended up not riding because i don't want to do anything to stress my lower leg any more than it should be. i still ride to work as much as possible but that's usually fairly light spinning and there's no pain during or afterwards. i'm sure a 60k ride on my tri bike won't do any harm, but, at this point, i think the key is to be as patient as possible and come up with a game plan before anything else. in the meantime i'll continue to force myself into staying off my feet as much as possible. which is tougher than i ever imagined. who doesn't want to sit around on the couch, put their feet up and relax? not me.

bad news

stress fracture in my right tibia. looks like my 2009 racing season is over. i'm meeting with my doctor and chiropractor this week and next to come up with a recovery plan. i've got some downtime ahead of me but i'm happy to finally have a diagnosis so that i can start moving forward in the right direction.

more waiting

i had my bone scan today, followed by an x-ray. luckily i live close to the hospital so i was able to go there first thing in the morning, get some sort of calcium-like injection that helps the bone scan see bone fractures more clearly, go home for two hours while the liquid injection made its way through my body, then return to the hospital for the scan. supposedly my doctor won't have the results until at least thursday so i hope that i'll have an official diagnosis by the end of the week. as time goes on this whole ordeal becomes increasingly frustrating for me. i haven't had this much downtime in almost two years, the last time being when i had to have surgery on my leg in the fall of '07. that put me out for the entire winter and i was still limping in february, three months after the operation. i'm doing what i can to keep my fitness up; i'm running in the pool when time permits and am still riding to work as much as possible, but i haven't gone for a "real" ride in two weeks. riding doesn't seem to aggravate the injury but i'm not pushing it, and when i'm at the gym i'm only doing very light strengthening exercises. that's what it's about these days: keeping things very light until i know for sure what's going on with my leg. i haven't gotten my heart rate up, nor have i worked up a sweat in a couple of weeks.

some good news is that i went for a very easy, light 20-minute run yesterday afternoon to see how it felt. for sure things were way, waaaay better than they have been in a few weeks, but still definitely not 100% and i was hurting afterwards. other good news is that the strengthening exercises seem to be paying off because the pain no longer seems to be muscle related.

aaaarrrghhh... this is so frustrating. i want to be out there training. i want to go for a real ride. i want to get back into it. i was planning on racing in cobourg this past weekend but had to withdraw because of the injury. as hard as that decision was, it was probably a very wise one, even though judging by the times i likely would have walked away with a victory. two more races are left on my race calendar for 2009 and i'd like to be at both of them.

tuesday is the big day

bone scan on tuesday. much sooner than i'd thought. i was told that i may have to take a backseat to higher priority cases because of the isotope shortage, but the scan is only one week after meeting with my doctor. it's a two stage ordeal: show up, inject dye into my blood, come back two hours later for the scan. anxious for the results. i want to ruuunnnnn!!!

not ready to throw in the towel

it seems that the only thing that i have to blog about these days is the status of injuries. sticking with that theme, i'm here to report that my tricky, stubborn, still officially undiagnosed injury may be a season-ending stress fracture in my right shin bone. my chiropractor and i aren't ruling it out and we still have a few steps ahead of us before we can be certain. at this point it's proving too difficult to determine if the pain is soft tissue or bone related, so next up is a trip to my family doctor to get a requisition form for a bone scan. if it is a fracture it will show up in a bone scan, whereas an xray may not be able to spot it.

for the first time in months (except for when i was on vacation) i didn't do any training this weekend. weekends are vital for my training because it's a time for me to catch up or get in some longer workouts, but this weekend i shut it down hoping that rest, stretching and light strengthening exercises may help out. i was out for a light run this afternoon and the pain was still there, although it did feel slightly better. i'm checking in with my chiropractor tonight so i hope we'll get somewhere.

this is a very hard, frustrating time. even at the best of times when i'm getting in all of my workouts week after week i feel like i'm not doing enough, and now here i am having to force myself to do nothing at all. but i am confident that it isn't a stress fracture. the pain seems to move from spot to spot as my workouts progress; as certain muscles warm up and tire out, the pain shifts around. i can also stand with all of my weight on my right leg and move my knee around without any pain at all, and i've been told that if it is a stress fracture i wouldn't be able to put any load on it whatsoever.

but hey, what do i know? i'll leave the official diagnosis to the experts. if it is a stress fracture my season will be over, i'll be off my feet to recover, and i'll shift my focus to next year much earlier than i'd anticipated. if it's not a stress fracture, i'll work through the pain and do one more race this year before throwing in the towel. i can get through a soft tissue injury but a bone fracture is different. if i don't stop to take care of it immediately i'll be jeopardizing my future in the sport. not exactly something i'm interested in signing up for.