Rough Spring / Time flying

Yes, it's been since May that I last posted.....and truly it feels like yesterday! I was skimming an older journal entry the other day, and was shocked when I read the date as having been in May. I said to Brad "Hey, remember that day when..."

He goes "yeah," and laughs...

And I go "It was May 30th..."

He stops laughing and goes "REALLY???"

Time is flying, for several reasons. First, I had a rough rough spring.

Spent the first couple months stuck in the pool. No running. No biking. No weights. Zilch. Nada. Nein.

• My low back has been in trouble since last summer, and finally I got an MRI, went through a couple doctors, and found a great physical therapist that's finally making progress. It still hurts to lift weights or train, but it's heaps better.
  
• At the same time, I got a stress injury in my foot, which took forever to heal enough to put stress back on it.

So, I was in the pool for over 2 months. No biking, no running, no weights, no plyometrics.

Yes, I went a little crazy.

And felt sorry for myself. May and June were a dark period that thankfully feel like ages ago! It's like that part of the summer was swallowed by a black hole. And can stay there. ;)

After 2 months of trying to heal my foot, the doctor finally decided to give me a steroid injection in my foot. It was an x-ray guided injection, and should have taken 15 minutes, but..........


......2 hours later and 30+ attempts, they finally brought in extra x-ray screens to help, and got the shot in. Yes, that was a pleasant 2 hours - luckily for me, my injured joint was (is) so tightly compacted that even the tiny needle couldn't get inside. The bruising was almost worse than the original injury, so now that both of them have settled down I'm super happy! It all comes down to perspective...


Now, I'm FINALLY back training, and feeling quite happy, and actually feel healthier and stronger than before, so there was a silver lining.

So, time is also flying because our coach has us training with much more volume than in previous years; our workouts are longer and harder, so we spend a lot more time working out, and also feeling sore, stretching, rolling our muscles, and trying to recover.

My average day goes like this:

• 5:30am, get up, drive to Salt Lake City
• Work out - 2 hours (weights, or swim, or bike ride depending on the schedule)
  
• Drive to work in Coalville - 1 hour
  
• Take a lunch and go sprint - 1-2 hours (only on biking/jogging/swimming days; weight days are meant to be only weights)
  
• Work until 5pm or 6pm or 7pm or 8pm (10pm some days)
  
• Drive home - 30 minutes
  
• Back and foot physical therapy - 30 minutes
  
• Stretch and roll - 30 minutes
  
• Dinner
• Then laundry/housekeeping/other errands/visit friends (it's 8pm by now)
  
• To bed and sound asleep - 10pm

Not much time for anything else, and the weeks are melting off the calendar......before we know it it'll be time for Trials and we'll be back on the ice!