MaryStella

another reason why I strongly believe in crossfit is the real strength that I have gained through it has helped me in my injury recovery. It just gives you such balanced strength that I have a lot of compensation for my injury in support muscles. compensating musculature is a sweet thing. Meaning I can feel all of my supporting muscles for my clavicle taking up the slack. I don't have a lot of pain but i do get tired in my back and my chest when it is getting fatigued. For my second week of recovery. I started on the trainer and did my walks but I also started riding outside a bit too and well as adding a little bit of running back into my programming. The riding outside obviously i have to stabilie the bike and im picking up the road vibrations. but it not bad at all. The running is a little tougher so i am being cautious to not do too much too soon there. I know many people think this insane and unnecessary but we all need to decide our own risk level in life. It certainly isnt the conversative approach but I tend to be my own doctor to a degree. I listen to what my body is telling me it can or can't do and act accordingly. A doctor can give you hard numbers but he can't tell you what you feel like. Only you know that. It can be seen as pushing the envelope but i've never believed in commonly perceived boundaries. Overall I remain positive about my recovery. I have good ranges of motion in all directions and it feels better and stronger everyday. sometimes it is sore before bed but im dealing with it. overall it was a tough week. mostly due to the time change. it takes me awhile to deal with that. I know it is only an hour but it gets me so off schedule. Im waking up at 4:30 etc. It is unnatural and hard on the body but im adjusting.

4sure!

my thoughts on recovery after surgery. anyone that follows me knows that i've had a couple of surgery and had good results recovering from them in the past. Of course I find myself in this situation once again and I want to share what I do to recover sucessfully after surgery to treat an injury. Immediately after the surgery I being trying to hydrate as much as possible. I want to flush all of those nasty but surgically necessary drugs from my system as fast as possible. Usually it is the surgical drugs that make you feel terrible after the surgery and getting rid of those as well hydrated makes you feel so much better. I hit coconut water. VEGA of course! I am also a big believer in Tea. I mainly drink herbal teas like roobios to avoid caffine but i also drink de-caf green tea. Your adding antioidents without adding calories. Of course after major surgery most people are on narcotics. Depending on your pain tolerance it is another necessary evil. However, I believe in order to recover well you need to get off of these as fast as you can tolerate. They are not putting your body in the optimal healing state. I try to take as little as I need to of any drugs for pain from narcotics to nsaids. Sometimes you need it but if you don't get yourself back to an alkaline healing state. There are more natural ways to control pain from ice treatments to moist heat. Ask yourself are you really in pain? or are you uncomfortable? If you have to ask your probably just uncomfortable. real pain pretty much shuts down thinking (at least for me it does). When I fell and broke my collarbone, that was pain, I didn't want to move it. Even though I never broke this bone before I knew it was broken before the medics arrived. I didn't need to be told it was. Coming out of surgery that was pain. a couple of days later. not so much. I also believe that cleaning up your diet and eating to recover helps you get there faster as well. I always make it a point to make sure I get enough protein. I believe that is even more important in this state. Eat a good variety of plants so your body isnt deficient in anyway and can focus on the job of healing. I am also a strong supporter of getting back to action in some form as soon as possible. The body is designed to move. Even while working around an injury you are not only keeping up your fitness level but you are creating the very important hormone levels to aid in healing. Athletes recovery from surgery faster than sedentary people. Because they move! Their bodies are used to recovering from hard training sessions. I think it is ok to still train hard but smart. You don't want to do anything to aggravate the injury. You also do not want to train to a point where you are slowing down your injury recovery but don't be afraid to move. I think many people after sustaining an injury become overly fearful. Healing is a progression. It gets better everyday. It isn't a situation where on day 39 your broken but magically on day 40 your fully healed. I go after range of motion as soon as possible. this is simply moving your own body. your not loading up with outside weight. range of motion is lost from simply not moving. i say move, get range then its time to work for strength. sleep is important too I notice I sleep more after surgery. I go with it. It's when the biggest healing happens. Ask questions from your doctor about when you can reasonable return to activities. Doctors are conservative. They are not going to tell you any earlier than they are completely confident it is healed. this isn't a bad thing but it is why I also choose to listen to my body. I research online what is typical post op recoveries for the procedure. For this injury I had the same surgery that lance armstrong had. Lance got back on the bike within a week, so did I. After that point what you can do for the most part is based off of your pain tolerance. it is going to hurt to move it. but it will hurt less everytime. Ranges will get better. Armstrong was fully recovered in 3 - 5 weeks. I also plan to be. Why? Because I am focused on healing. I get out of the way of letting the body do what it does. Eat well, MOVE, and sleep. Yesterday I rode the trainer for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Today I rode for 1 hour and 30 minutes. It is training around my injury, but it is also training something I will need to do. I work all of the position from bars, to hoods, to drops, to aero (praying) over the bars. I tried out some standing and riding today but im not ready for that yet.

lobster - i won't know for sure if im going to keep it for good or get it taken out. Normally they just leave them in forever however the surgeon said most females especially those of my small build normally have to get it taken out because there isn't enough room for it compared to a larger man. But that would be a seperate surgery and it wouldn't be for a year or so. i am just going to take it as it comes and see how it is as time progresses. If it is problematic for me ill get it surgically removed. if not i probably wont just to avoid another surgery and the recoop time from it.

an hour on the trainer today and STAPLES ARE OUT! 3 more weeks of indoor riding. Then i go back to the doc and get another ray and it should be completely healed and ill be able to run and swim again at that time. I can go to the pool and do kicking stuff but no stroking. I also can walk but no running just yet. I don't have to wear the sling anymore until it gets sore and i need a break. overally the surgeon seemed impressed with the healing so far and i get back to a more regular life with it now.

hey guys- been super busy for awhile but just checking in with everyone. I have a little more time on my hands right now as I had an accident. Fell and broke my clavicle. it displaced when it broke so i had it get it surgically set with a plate, 6 screws and 21 staples. good news is i am still training! doing some rides on my bike on my trainer and walking outside. i go back to the surgeon tomorrow to get the staples out and then i hope to start increasing my training. I had a tough race schedule planned for this season kicking off with eagleman 70.3, philadelphia triathlon, lake placid training camp, NYC triathlon and IRONMAN US CHAMPIONSHIPS! I of course will be doing a lot of smaller races as training races but that is the main body of my schedule this year and i am not going to let this silly little broken bone and surgery get in the way of training and racing to the best of my ability. it's merely a speedbump. Hope all is well with you guys and to hear from you soon! mary

VIVA!

still crossfittin.... nice!

I skipped the sufferasana as well last nite! hey lobster - i prefer the gels to the blocks because you really have to chew the blocks. but i know a lot of people that prefer the taste and the texture of the blocks much more. To me they are too much work and taste too much like candy. but i say give them a shot if you dont like gels.

im hijacking here a bit but i do yin yoga as well. i don't love it like viva does. but it is excellent for working on connective tissues and joints instead of just muscle flexibility if you can handle the torture of it! love you viva!

congrats on the running girl!! and good luck outside!

always at it RC! it's what i like about you the most!

hey chewy - i figured you would be lifting full houses off the ground now since last time i checked in on ya. glad to see your still at it! mary

i'd love to do it. but for me it would depend on when it was schedule wise. Id like to be kept in the loop! hopefully it will happen!

hey sister! finally had some time to drop by and say hi! wishing the doms away soon!

keep working on those skills and you will get there!

just checking in on ya to see how it goes. you can't catch a break can you! Hopefully fully functional soon!

hey chewy just checking in on ya. workouts always look good!

HEY ROB look at your nailing double unders and working on muscle ups! Glad to see your still cfing!

Awe thanks lobster. I haven't been logging in here much either because the boards seem to be less active. I've been posting my workouts etc and no one is commenting. And even other peoples logs seem to be not updated. I've been getting more commentary on my own blog for awhile now. it's kinda sad. what happened to our vbbf community?

Run – 40 minutes and 30 seconds. 4.05 miles. Did the first mile slow to warmup. Then picked it up for the next three. Did hills. Knees felt ok. My tape stayed on for the whole run so I was very happy about that. To test it out I left it on through my shower to see if it would stay and it did. Maybe I am getting better at the taping. My running hasn’t improved much but I am happy to be out running more regularly! My legs didn’t feel particularily fresh after running in the morning but it was time to Bike! Did 1 hour and 9 minutes of hellish hill repeats. Basically rode out to jumper road and rode it a few times. Jumper road is a long ass hill with some serious grades at points. Covered 14.27 miles. My tape still stayed on for this too! Although I do have to admit the hill climbing does make the knees strain. At one point on this hill I think of a roller coaster everytime because when you lookup and see the angle of this hill ahead it just reminds me of a roller coaster because of the pitch. Gotta get the legs strong for IM Pocono mountain! I have some races coming up soon. I am doing a 10k run this Saturday – Totally flat course. Ill see how that goes before deciding on other running races for the month. I also have a 28mile road bike race next weekend. I really want to hit it as hard as the knee will allow until Pocono.

swim - 500 of drills to warmup, then swim 500 in 8: followed by 600 as 50 fast 50 easy. i always like that kind of workout! then 4 - 50s on 15 seconds rest. i was swimming them in about 42 seconds. then 6 - 50s as distance per stroke. this slowed my efforts down to 48-50 seconds. 400 of drills to cool down. bike - 16.85 miles with 1, 190 ft of climbing in 1:10. avg 14.3 avg hr 144 ma 163. felt like a good training day overall. knee is hanging in there. feeling going about that!

viva - i don't think i got too hot. I wear a full sleeve wetsuit but the water was cool. my feet and hands were even a little chilly. I considered taking a gel in the water with me but since i was going to be under the 2 hour mark i knew i didn't really need it so i didn't take one. Yes the stinger chews do contain honey and i've already heard from the vegan police for consuming such a product. While I normally try to avoid honey it is the one thing I don't consider to break the "vegan" mark for me. I try to avoid it whenever possible but that if the only thing in the product making it non-vegan I will occasionally consume it. People can like that or not I really don't much care. I've never been a fan of bees since i am allergic to them. I was watching pro bike racing while on the trainer and it was either that or don't get a ride in so i dealt with it. I tried to keep my cadence up with the boys while on the trainer but they were kicking my ass! lol! Can't do the spain thing but yes you can ride my cervelo. I was able to get my run in yesterday even with the hurricane and such. While my 10k race in the morning was postponed. I decided to let myself recover a bit from the hard day of training before and let the weather clear out a little. took it to the roads in the evening with my husband. Did a 7 mile loop with hills around town. It took me 1 hour and 10 minutes. The leukotape didn't stay on though! damn! It actually feels really good when I tape my knees but It didn't stick so i ran a good portion without it. We were running in a little rain but I think it was more from the sweat and the movement of the knee than the light rain. I am going to have to try this again and see if i can get it to stick. If not maybe some kind of kneecap supportive brace would be a better idea. legs are a little sore today but its a full on rest day so I got to sleep in the morning and i have the rest of the day to let them recover. I noticed my achilles was tight yesterday when running and it felt tight again when i woke up this morning.

Did my first 5K Open water swim race.(before the hurricane! thanks viva!) I think that is the farthest I have ever swam and especially in open water for sure. It took me 1hour 54 minutes and 32 seconds. I didn't get my spits from the race yet. Overall it was a good time. I'm curious to see how consistent my splits would be. I didn't go out too hard because i knew it was going to be a long way to swim. I felt ok during it had a few issues my with goggles i had to correct but that was about it. I didn't not think my time would be this high. The water temp was cool. it was wetsuit legal. The water conditions were good. there was a little chop when you were crossing the lake but for the most part it was a good course. I must have been getting tired towards the end because i was swimming with my eyes closed. I have no idea why but it must have felt good at the time. I must admit I was pretty cooked afterwards. I had a gel before I got into the water. I didn't eat or drink anything while swimming. I was kinda out of it when i got out of the water. not sure if it was fatigue or dehydration of low energy stores or what. But it was dragging. I had a bike ride yet to do and i needed a break to refuel and reload before heading out. We were getting some of Hurricane Irene when it as time to bike so I ended up riding for 3 hours in the house on my trainer instead of dealing with the rain/wind combo. I watched the Tour of Colorado while doing it and i got a good workout in even on the trainer. My legs were sore afterwards and still are a bit today. I tried some of the Stinger Chews yesterday and I have to admit i am really impressed with their products. They actually taste pretty good! I was supposed to do a 10k running race this morning but it got postponed because of the weather. If it lets up later today I will go do my 7 mile run. If not I will take today as a rest day which was supposed to be tomorrow and i will just have to do my running tomorrow. we will see. i got my leukotape yesterday so i used to before my bike ride and to my happiness it actually stayed on. def gonna use it for running and hope it really helps with my knee issues. Ironman Pocono Mountain 70.3 is actually coming up pretty fast. I basically have a month to train for it.

swimming is excellent for that kinda thing. hang in there and get recovered woman!