Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Getting out of this rut!

I feel like the last two weeks have just been depressing. First, the crash two weeks ago left me too sore to ride with the team, then the cramping started, then my knee went out again and cramps came back. So it's been a pretty bad couple of weeks.

Things are starting to turn around though. Spent an hour and a half on the trainer this morning, which was a bummer as opposed to riding with the team but I didn't think my legs would hold up for 2 hrs of interval riding. Maybe tomorrow afternoon if anyone rides...

Made awesome oatmeal, watched and quoted Frasier with Robbie, and then went to the sports medicine doctor, who I love.

We talked about my knee and my cramping, and we came up with a few things. My knee keeps popping because my bones are pretty much scraping up against each other. Yikes! He gave me some physical therapy to do at home, and a prescription for a knee brace for when I'm training, so hopefully those will help.

Cramping-wise, he thinks my problem might be because my old doctor told me to take aspirin before workouts so my legs wouldn't cramp. Apparently, that's really bad for your stomach, kidneys, and makes me bruise and swell a lot easier. Ice packs for me from now on! He also thinks it may be being brought on by my IBS, but not in the usual way. Because my stomach is so nuts, I have a hard time keeping ,my electrolytes, potassium, and magnesium at the appropriate levels. He ordered a bunch of bloodwork done to check on a lot of that stuff. Should be interesting!

I hope we can get things straightened out before race time! I'm hopeful though.

For right now, I'm going to cut down on the stuff I have to take for my IBS, start wearing the brace, stretch and do physical therapy, and stop taking aspirin!

Anyway, after that, we biked to class and then I biked to the gym, swam for an hour, then hit the elliptical (didn't want to risk running til tomorrow!) and did a serious weight set. Felt really good, reading my new Triathlete magazine. (Which should be running my article in June or July!)

Still working on getting a flyer/survey/website figured out for the tri club, but my mom talked to some people and I've met a lot of people that seem interested. So feeling pretty good about it. I would love to see this get off the ground!

I'm using Dad's bike this week to get used to it, but it has to be stored in my room:
There is a section of floor maybe 3 feet by 5 feet that's sort of free space, provided we keep everything perfectly straightened up. I cannot wait until we have a new place so we can spread all of our stuff out (i.e all of my sports gear). I have such great plans for moving...

I'm attempting to be optimistic. I was reading this article in Triathlete that basically was my whole "death before DNF" philosophy, and I was biking home and saw a Dunkin Donuts sticker that said "you kin do it" (cheesy, I know). I know it's lame, but between those two, I suddenly feel a lot more hopeful about racing and especially about the marathon. Scared, but definitely more hopeful.

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