Sometimes You Kick, Sometimes You Get Kicked

As my favorite INXS song goes, "Sometimes You Kick, Sometimes You Get Kicked". I've had a great 2012 so far. A new coach, a new team, great training, and the first time in five years that I've been living at home for the winter/spring. But a couple of months ago, I had a sudden twist in my plans for the season...

I was in Phoenix in March getting some physical therapy on some tendonitis I'd been having in my hip on/off for the last year. While there I had an MRI and was told that I had a small tear in the tendon and a stress reaction in my pelvis from the tendon pulling on the bone. 4 weeks off and I'd be back running. BUT, there was something else going on in my hip and the PT gave me the choice of knowing about it or waiting until it got worse to take action. I immediately said "No, don't wanna know". However, over the course of the next few days, as one new piece of advice or one new exercise in therapy lead to the question "Why?", I soon became aware that I had a labral tear in my hip. The tear was caused by a genetic impingement, due to extra bone on the head of my femur (the ball part of the ball and socket hip joint). It had likely developed over time, and although I'd been having some groin symptoms from time to time, it wasn't anything that bothered me enough to think it was something serious. The bigger issue, however, was that left untreated, a torn labrum can accelerate degenerative changes in a joint which can cause worse problems down the road. I also became aware that the labral tear had created an instability in my hip which in turn had switched off my glutes and was likely the cause of past hip tendonitis and IT band injuries.

So my big decision over the last month has been deciding whether or not to have surgery. I had sent my MRI and x-ray to the Steadman Clinic in Vail to get a second opinion and to set up a potential surgery date if in fact I decided to choose the surgery route. I was first given a date of February, 2013 and then moved to an "athlete wait list" that might get me in by the end of the summer. Then on Monday, I was offered a June 5th appointment date due to a last minute cancellation. All of a sudden, I had to decide between the next few months of training and racing or prolonging my race season until the fall. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but in the end it came down to one question....What was the most direct route to getting back to racing at my best. I think everybody has a goal time or a goal finishing place that they'd like to achieve. For some people, it's simply crossing the finish line. For others, it's going under a certain hour time for an Ironman. Or maybe beating a rival who they're competitive with. For me, it's all of the above. When I train, I always think about my goal finishing place that I'm working towards. I think about the people who I'm racing against and it makes me work harder. With the current hip issues that I'd been having, I could either keep training at 80% and hope to get through the rest of the season, or I could fix the problem and get on with things. Thinking of it that way, there wasn't much of a decision to make.

So on June 5th, I'll be having hip surgery to repair my labral tear by Dr Philippon in Vail, CO. He's the same doctor who's done surgery on A-Rod, figure skater Michelle Kwan, golfer Greg Norman, and numerous other NHL and MLB athletes. The following is a Sports Illustrated link that talks about the surgery and other pro athletes that Dr Philippon has worked on. I also have to say a BIG THANK YOU to my family and friends who have been supportive of me in making this decision, my coach Pete Coulson for his advice, and to fellow pro triathletes Liz Blatchford and Margie Shapiro who have had the same surgery and have given me so much confidence and advice. THANK YOU.

 http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/david_epstein/03/08/arod.hip/index.html

Here are some other training pics from the last month. Looking forward to getting back on the road after surgery and finishing the season with a KICK.

* Winner of the Encinitas 1 mile swim race last Sunday. Thanks to my TYR Freak of Nature - fastest wetsuit I've ever worn!

* My Tuesday trainer sessions. Fun times!;)

* Morning run. My favorite workout.:)

AZ Training

After spending the last 4 weeks training in Scottsdale, AZ, I'm heading back to San Diego tomorrow where aside from racing, I'll spend the rest of the summer. It's been an amazing 4 weeks training with my AZ training partners, getting some great therapy and strengthening at Endurance Rehab, swimming with the Phoenix Swim Club, doing the Saturday FasterAZ group rides + post ride 48 degree cold plunge, and of course how can I not mention the 90+ degree weather...love that summer is almost here!

As much as I've loved training in the heat with my AZ training buddies, I'm looking forward to heading back to SD to re-join my Champion Factory team mates and get going on my 2012 race season. My early season race schedule has been changed slightly by the return of an old hip injury that I neglected to take care of the first time it came knocking. But after the last 4 wks of therapy/strengthening, I've given it a kick and hopefully scared it off for good. I'm planning for my race season to kick off in June with some 70.3 races followed by a July/August IM.

Time to get packing for my road trip and see what awaits around the next bend in the road, Summer 2012 Training/Racing...can't wait!


*Group trainer ride in the "Pain Cave" at Endurance Rehab.



*The view back into Scottsdale at the finish of a long Saturday ride.

New This Week

My latest Ipod download this past week...the newest addition to my Ipod running tunes...




The latest book I started reading this past week has kept me glued to the pages for the past few days - "Racing Through the Dark, The Rise and Fall of David Millar". My favorite part in the book so far talks about riding in the peloton at the 2000 Tour de France...."The US Postal Team was coming up the right side of the peloton, bringing Lance back up through the riders. As Lance came by, he looked at me and called to his team to wait. 'Dave, what are you doing back here', he asked. 'Chatting to the boys, just a bit of a calm moment', I said. 'Dave, this is the Tour de France', he said sternly. 'I know, Lance, I know'. 'Well, Dave, at the Tour de France you have no friends. Ride at the front'. It wasn't a suggestion. It was an instruction...capturing exactly how he saw the Tour de France. It was war for him."



And saving the best for last, my new Trek frame for 2012! I'll have it built up and ready to go in the next week or so while I work on installing the motor over the next few months...

Seasons Change

You know you're having fun when times flies by and before you know it January is gone in the blink of an eye and it's February. Since I'm more of a math/science, black/white, problem/solution person, and writing is not on my "favorite past times" list, I made a goal of writing one blog a month, and up until now I've been able to stick to it. However, January has proven to be the exception, and not because of procrastination (ok, maybe a little), but because the month flew by and I honestly don't know where it went!

So what have I been doing over the last month? Pretty much spending the majority of my time on the bike - well, that's what it feels like anyway - building up a base for the season ahead. And I can't complain, I LOVE riding my bike. This is the time of year when decisions about the year ahead are made - whether to stay at home, go to training camp, plan races for the season, try out new products/equipment, figure out a training schedule and training partners that work for you, etc, etc. It's the path that we pick at this time of year that often decides where we'll end up down the road in July, August, September, and beyond.

For the past four years, I've spent the winter months and the majority of the summer away from home at a training camp in either Asia, Switzerland or LA. I recently decided that I would go down a different path and stay at home this year where I have a great group to train with and access to a great swimming program five minutes from home. I'm happy to not be living out of a suitcase for a change, and I'm super excited for the season ahead since training is going better than ever. Change is sometimes good, and better late than never. I never want to look back and have regrets for the things I didn't do or didn't try. As one of my favorite quotes reminds me, "Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time. It is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2012!

December is always one of my favorite months of the year, and this year has been no exception. At the beginning of December, a few days after Ironman AZ, I went back to Canada to visit my brother and his family in Nova Scota for a relaxing eight day "indoor vacation". Well, relaxing when my one year old nephew wasn't running around or trying to jump on the treadmill with me.;-) By the time I got back to San Diego, I was itching to get back on my bike for some long easy rides. I love long rides and I've been having a blast building up my base again on the bike. Riding inland San Diego two days before Christmas in 70 degree sunny weather is better than any gift I could ever ask for. 2011 has been a great year, and to all my friends, family and sponsors, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2012!

IM AZ, Thanksgiving, and the Off Season

This past triathlon season has gone by faster than any other year that I’ve been in the sport. It’s the first year that I haven’t traveled outside the US, but I’ve probably spent just as much time on the road.

I came back from Kona in October, and being the sun seeker that I am, took off for Phoenix a week later to continue my build up for IM Arizona. I have some awesome training partners in Phoenix, and with the temps in San Diego cooling down, it seemed the best place to do my four week build up before IM. I also needed to continue getting some PT on my ankle injury which I could do at Endurance Rehab in between my long desert training days.

I had some of the best swim and bike training I’ve ever had in the few weeks leading up to IM AZ, and my run kept building up week by week. Everything was going great, but I knew in the back of my head that I was rushing to get the run miles in my legs to run a marathon on just four weeks of running since my two month lay off. So the discussion I had with my coach a few days before the race left me with a decision to make. Either run the marathon with my ankle still not quite 100%, risk re-injury and accept that I might be forced with another two month lay off. Or only do part/none of the run, continue my build up for next year, and make this the first off season ever that I’d be uninjured and running before January, leading into the kind of running base that I needed to make 2012 a great year. In the end, we both agreed – any pain running through transition and I would not head out on the run.

The swim and bike at IM AZ were both close to what I expected. The water was a frigid 61 degrees, but I swam close to my usual IM swim time, 55 minutes. It was 53 degrees at the start of the bike, and it took me a little longer than usual to warm up, but eventually I got going and with each of the three 60km bike laps, my times got faster. I finished the bike in 5:06, my fastest IM bike split, and now had a decision to make about the run. Running through transition barefoot, my ankle was feeling ok, but not great. I had a flashback to IM Louisville at the end of August when I was in a similar situation, took a chance because I had a run base in my legs and could place well, but spent the next two months injured. In the end, I made the decision not to run, thinking about 2012 and the opportunities that lay ahead. So although I was disappointed not to finish, I’m also excited that for the first time ever, I’ll be running in November and December, laying down a base for next year and for some early spring races.

I drove home from AZ earlier this week, and had a quick 48 hour turn-around of unpacking summer clothes, re-packing winter clothes, and pulling off a quick Thanksgiving dinner thanks to Whole Foods down the street. I’m now officially on an off season break, aboard a plane to visit my brother and his family in Nova Scotia, with my parents flying over from Newfoundland for a mini family reunion/early Christmas/late Thanksgiving ten day vacation.

A big THANK YOU to my family, friends, coach and sponsors for all of their support through out the year. Looking forward to a great 2012!

Kona Memories

After spending the last ten days in Kona, I flew back home to San Diego yesterday. I hadn’t planned on going to Hawaii this year since I didn’t start racing until June and was too far behind in points to qualify for Kona (with the new points system, 5 races throughout the year count towards your world ranking as a pro, and for women you have to be ranked top 30 to qualify, for men top 50). However, a cheap flight and an invite from a friend to stay in her rented Kona mansion, had me suddenly planning a mini Hawaiian vacation/training camp.

The last 10 days were jam packed with training, a few sponsor obligations, meeting up with friends I hadn’t seen in a month to ten years or more, and of course enjoying a bit of Kona coffee drinking, and breakfast eating at Lava Java.

I had mixed feelings about being an Ironman spectator. I was happy to support my friends, and motivated beyond words by so many of the athletes. But in the end I’m still a competitor at heart, and a good spectator I do not make. Whether because of my inability to sit still longer than 5 minutes, my desire to be racing, or the temptation to do a long ride in the Hawaiian sun, I found myself doing what I love most - taking off on my bike for most of the day – and getting back just in time to see the second half of the marathon.

There are different reasons behind people’s decisions to live their lives the way that they do. A friend of mine who was a rower in the Olympics once told me that you should live your life so that you have the most memories to look back upon. To see athletes from all over the world training/racing in Kona, living life to the fullest, and happier than the average joe, made me realize that neither money nor material possessions can buy true happiness. I think a more accurate measure of happiness are the great memories that we make along the way.

So a big Congrats to all of my friends who raced Kona and came away having met their goals and given it their all. I hope like me that they have great memories to always look back upon.