23 November 2009

21 miles of freedom

Okay, I've REALLY been slacking on blogging. Whoops. I've been busy doing a whole lot of nothing stuff.

The past few weeks have been filled with traveling and catching up with friends I missed while I was on crutches. Two weeks ago I was released from having to use crutches. Words can't even describe my excitement. I asked the doc what the timelines looked like for my recovery. In short, the news was promising: I could return to cycling immediately, running in about 2-3 months. I'm allowed to be on an elliptical until my hearts content.

Naturally, being tired of staying indoors, I jumped at the chance to ride outside. The team had a few different rides going on, ranging from 18 miles for our newest of cyclists, to a quick 40 for those recovering from Ironman Florida. We met at Rileys Lock (near Potomac, MD) on Sunday for a beautiful fall ride. The weather was perfect - in the 50's and sunny. Cool enough to require a long sleeve jersey, but warm enough that the toes didn't freeze.

I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant getting out on the streets with the potential for heavy leaf coverage. Those of you who have been around for a while might recall my nasty run in with leaf cover approximately a year ago. I laughed as I donned my lightweight full-finger cycling gloves, still stained in blood from last year's crash (what, I washed them...). Lucky for me, the roads had recently been cleared and there was very little leaf coverage on the ride.

So how did I fare riding for the first time in two months? Overall, surprisingly well. My left leg was definitely doing more work and started to cramp a bit towards the end. My right ankle didn't hurt pedaling. The most notable issues were my ankle getting extremely cold from metal cooling due to the temperature, and the shock of every crack/bump in the road transferred directly from the road to my ankle. Ouch.

Time to spend the next few weeks building my leg muscles back up. I've invested in some Spinervals to help with my indoor training, as well as a better trainer (sadly, not a computrainer). Things are looking up.

Shortly I'll be writing a review on Vibram Five Fingers. I'm using this fashionable footwear to build up my feet again. So far, I'm really digging the feel of them. I never knew so many people looked at what shoes you wear though - the number of "are you wearing socks" and "are those really shoes?" I'm getting is remarkable.

Heading back to the 'Rowdy for Thanksgiving tomorrow night. (Whats the 'Rowdy you ask? Akron is also known as the AK Rowdy.. comes from a rap song about the city. Sadly, part of the lyrics include 'AK rowdy rowdy north side of summit county'... and as you can see, we're actually to the south side of the county... Never said our rising rap artists were educated). I'm absolutely EXCITED about eating Thanksgiving this year like a normal person, instead of through a syringe. Though, I must admit, sucking mashed potatoes through a syringe at the dinner table was a very classy maneuver.

09 November 2009

Spectating the hard way

Crutches are officially ranked as one of the hardest ways to spectate an Ironman.


That begins on a beach.



Trying to catch up on some sleep after an amazing weekend in Panama City cheering on my friends! A full update later.