Gummy-worm-eye-brows! Weeks-7-8

It's been an interesting two weeks. My recovery from knee surgery has been, in my doctors words, "nothing short of spectacular". I'm not sure if it's a testament to the surgeons work, or my amazing powers of healing, but less then a week after, I was on the stationary bike and less than two weeks after I was running. And I mean good solid runs. Last Wednesday was a 5 miler, followed Thursday by a 7 miler and then Saturday I logged 10 miles at a 7:20 pace with no issues on the run or during recovery.

The big disappointment is the weight gain. I'd lost 17 pounds since January 1st (my goal was 12) and it took a fair amount of effort and discipline. In that two weeks I gained back a solid 3 lbs. And that ain't cool! A lot of it was the lack of calorie burn but a good part of it was the Easter candy and chocolate. Put those two things together and it's the Reese's Peanut Butter cup of weight gain!

By the way, here's the worlds ugliest Easter related item:

At first I used the term "ugliest Easter related cake", but after some research I determined that this was in fact the ugliest Easter related item ever produced. With the help of my brother-in-law, and my wife's cousin, we decorated this gem and managed to eat a good chunk of it. Tasted better than it looked......And yes those are gummy worm eye-brows, I'm glad you asked.

Back to training, I managed to run 22 miles this past week with no swims, and 3 rides. The best ride was a blurry eyed set of hill repeats on the 35lb Voodoo Canzo pictured below (notice the sexy Bike Station Aptos kit and how it highlights the belly, go there and buy stuff please):

Trying to get ready for the X-Terra championship series here in Santa Cruz on 5/11. I'm doing the short race and have like zero offroad skilz bra. I've decided to skip Wildflower again this year. Even with the fast recovery racing is not in the cards and it's an expensive weekend. So as such the season begins even later than I'd hoped, but no complaints, I thought I'd be out of commission for a good month.

Take Care!

Surgery Week-6

The doc chopped my knee on Friday. It wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Actually it went really well. I had a small meniscal tear with a fragment bouncing around in all the knee juice. When the fragment was in the wrong place, the knee was irritated and swollen. When not, it seemed fine. There's also a tad bit of damage to the cartilage but nothing to be concerned about for probably the next 15-20 years and by that time my children most likely will have damaged me in ways a bad knee never could.

Here's the fragment....

And here's the tear.....

And the fragment flipped int0 the joint.......

And the cartilage damage......

And a chihuahua standing on some cheeseburgers....

I'm up and walking and working and so forth and it feels pretty good for just having been done a couple of days ago. I'm thinking I'll be spinning lightly on the stationary bike in a week and probably a light run in three. No sense in pushing it.

Aside from that I had 3 good runs last week for a total of 15 miles, and one short stint on the trainer. Kinda tapered for the surgery like I would for any race.

So maybe there's hope for a May race! I missed everyone at the Santa Cruz half but a lot of teammates and friends did really well. You can see the results here. Teammate Ryan Hoffman was an impressive 9th overall.

19 and under... Week-5

5k anyone?

I decided early on in the week I was going to find a 5k to run just to see where I'm at. Kind of a before and after thing with the knee surgery. The only one I could find was about an hour away on Saturday morning. Not worth the drive. So instead I'd planned on resting up on Friday and Saturday and suckering some teammates into pushing me through a decent 5k on Sunday. That didn't work out so well either.

Daddy got a new pair o' shoes!

And then Friday morning rolled around. I was

tired and worn out from the previous Sundays 14 miler and two subsequent 5-6 milers. As I set out for what was supposed to be an easy morning in my new Zoot tri shoes, (shameless plug) I started feeling a bit anxious about the surgery. About a mile and a half in, I stopped, stretched a little and set the auto lap on my Garmin to 3.1 miles. I hit the start button and let it rip. The first mile was at 6:14, the second at 6:05 and at about 2.3 miles I started to worry. I hit a decent hill that really hurt. I pushed through thinking that I need

more hill repeats, and mile 3 ended up being at 5:50.

Needless to say I was surprised. But thinking back there was also a nice downhill. I ended up at 18:48. Not bad for a solo run on an off day. I felt great afterwards and definitely could have pushed it a bit more. 17 something is in sight but kinda of like seeing a car on the freeway from the window of a 747.

Numbers!

So this weeks run total was 28 miles including a 12 miler on Sunday, and two intense swims. Unfortunately the only cycling I did was with the trainer. I've also managed to lose the 12 lbs I set out to, and am now setting my sights on another 10. That would put me under 190. My high school weight.

Three days to go before the surgery....... I was really hoping to do the Mother's Day Run for Fun again this year but the fact that it's my wife's first Mother's Day and I will not have run much the month prior, I'm out. But you should do it. It's for a good cause and it's on May 8th in Watsonville.

Some other great upcoming races are:

The Marine Discovery Run also on may 8th in Santa Cruz. Last year my son Ben and I were able to see some of the dolphins and other rescue animals they are helping at the Long Marine Lab.

The Santa Cruz SandMan is also a great race. Lot's of fun and a great run on the beach. July 31st in Santa Cruz.

And for the spectacle, try the Warf to Warf on July 24th. 15,000 runners on a course better suited for 500. Lots of music and food and Santa Cruz weirdness along the way.

Cheers!