My Journey Through Hip Labrum Recovery: Entry 6 - Eight Weeks

The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not obtained by sudden flight;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
Standing on what too long we bore,
With shoulders bent and downcast eyes,
We may discern-unseen before-
A path to higher destinies!
~Longfellow

Today marks the 8th week (plus 1 day) after I had my hip labrum repaired and my iliopsoas lengthened. People keep asking how I am doing, which I've found to be a tough question to answer. Do I feel sick? No. Can I walk? Yes. Am I back to working out? Sort of. Does it still hurt? Sometimes more than I think it should. Is it healed? Some days I can say yes, and others I confidently say no.

Physical therapy for my particular recovery began the day after surgery. I had the surgery, took a couple hydrocodone and was back in the hospital for a post-op 17 hours later where they plopped me on the table and stretched my leg out. From what I can remember, they were able to get 10% range of motion in the joint during this visit and the scope holes were cleaned. My next PT appointment was more formal and I met my actual trainers at the Ironman Sports Medicine Institute 3 days later. This is when the real fun began.

Let me just get this out there without a sugar coating: physical therapy sucks. Really sucks. On my first visit with my new best friends, they picked me up, put me on a stationary bike and told me to get to work. Up to this point, I had not moved the leg from 180 degrees in three days in fear of doing damage to my doctor's artwork. After a couple of revolutions of the pedals, there was an immediate release of pressure in the joint and I felt relief for the first time. I got in 5min of slow spinning and then laid on a table for a 30 min evaluation of the joint, the iliopsoas and all of the surrounding muscles/tendons in my leg. I was released and told to come back in 2 days. The 48 hours that elapsed between my first and second visit to the IM Institute were excruciating, both physically and mentally. The lack of use of my leg was causing sever muscle spasms, the 2 holes in my leg were constantly throbbing and I felt like someone stuck a knife in my lower abdomen. Not to mention the band-aid glue had given me a rash and  the meds were making me emotional and giving me headaches.

On the second visit to PT, I gave them a briefing of what I was feeling, which immediately led into a 45 min stretching session that bent me like a pretzel. I found out afterwards that the guys had visited my doctor and he had given them direction to "release" the tendons and to break up the "junk" that had built up in my hip after the surgery. Dead tissue + platelet therapy blood + drilling holes through my quad + sawing down the iliopsoas = massive fluid and debris build up that has nowhere to go. Like a guest who stays at the party too long, I was glad to see it leave and the feeling I felt upon release is indescribable with words. I was feeling much better.

Over the next 3 weeks I would graduate to spinning longer, stretching more, walking on my own, using the row machine and begin to do squats. I was also cleared to get back into the pool when my stitches were removed during week 3, so swimming with a pull buoy became a regular activity. For every bad day, there were two good ones and I was finally starting to sleep through the night.

By week 6, I was able to frequent the gym, focusing on weight training, swimming (with buoy) and higher velocity spinning. I was also doing crossfit-esque workouts with kettle bells, dumb bells, medicine balls, etc. etc. I also began jumping rope for 30 second intervals. The pain was still there but centralized on the muscles that stabilized the hip rather then the hip itself. I was sleeping again, albeit more sore from working out, but getting 6 hours a night without pain medication. My 6 week post-op appointment with Dr. Adickes was a success and I was given a PT prescription to prepare for running in 4 weeks. Feeling great and getting stronger.

Week 7 PT activity ramped up to the point of squatting with weight, jumping rope, short-distance jumping, lunges, and all of the above workouts combined. I was also going through "release therapy" whereby my iliopsoas was being released at each visit. Pain level was 3/10 and I was getting stronger on the bike, swimming with kicks and working out harder in the gym. Sleep was good and no more pain meds.

At the beginning of week 8 (this week) I was feeling good about my progress and was gaining confidence in my ability to jog a little (10-20 feet) and keep the pain subsided. As I was putting on my pants on Tuesday morning, I felt a snap as I lifted my leg and there was an immediate soreness in the abdomen, groin and hip area. I made it through the day by taking some pain meds at lunch and took it easy the rest of the day knowing I had PT on Wed morning. My trainers had a full 1:15 workout planned which was derailed when they listened to what happened the day before. It was immediately back to the table for an evaluation and I spent the rest of the session stretching and trying to release the sore tendons. Apparently the iliopsoas had tightened up to the point that it was rubbing on the front of my hip (which is why Dr. Adickes cut and extended it) and it took over 30 min to get it to release by pushing through my abdominal wall and lifting my leg straight up into the air. Needless to say, this is a setback at this point in the process as I am scheduled to resume jogging on the 20th of Dec. We were supposed to be ramping up calisthenics and instead are making sure the muscles get some rest. I have a tough PT workout scheduled for Monday the 9th and am hoping I can maintain the 3/10 pain level until then. So now I would say, 3 good days to 1 bad day.

When I made the decision to have the surgery back in September, I had visualized being up and running by mid-January. As of today, I am still on track, although the pain I feel when I jog across the room is eerily similar to the pain I had pre-surgery. This tells me I am not ready just yet. The non-vascularity of the hip joint makes the healing time doubly longer than normal injuries. And given the way it tightened up on me this week, it's not ready.

I thought a weekly activity summary might be helpful for folks having the same issue, just to know what to expect. I wish I had known prior to my experience....

Week 1: Stretch, stretch, stretch, rest.
Week 2: Stationary bike, rowing, upper body weight training plus above
Week 3: Walking, swimming (pulling) plus above
Week 4: Body weight squats, jogger stretches plus above
Week 5: Tendon release therapy plus above
Week 6: Jump rope, crossfit, high velocity spinning plus above
Week 7: Deadlifts, weighted squats, lunges plus above
Week 8: All of the above

Week 9 - 10 forecast: treadmill, side-to-side motions, stair climber, power cleans *and hopefully* jogging....

If this was a test of my metal, I'd no doubt say that this is just piece of the continual journey that I am on. It's the off-season and I am recovering. I have toiled upwards in the night while others have slept. The inspiration I'd like to impart would be to never quit. Don't just say it casually or read it off of a motivational poster...Never quit. Anything (unless its smoking or doing illicit drugs, etc.). Remember, the finish line doesn't move or change--it's always there and waiting to be attained. It's the person that chooses to move forward or give up.

Big news about 2014 racing to come...For now, keep moving forward.

Kelly

My Journey Through Hip Labrum Recovery: Entry 5 - Two Weeks

Moving on.

I had my 2 week post-op visit with Dr. Adickes last Friday and my stitches were removed. The incisions are gnarly and the Band-Aid glue has been helpful in providing me with a nice rash. We discussed the rehab protocol, weaning from the crutches and the forward plan. We are moving on.

Physical therapy has been grueling and my body feels more tired than in the hours post-ironman. No matter your fitness level, everything is twice as hard when you have little muscle memory in your quads and adductor, and I find myself getting frustrated with how difficult the simplest exercises are to complete. The therapists know this and reward me with trips to the stationary bike as an end to the sessions. I can still spin 100+ rpm's consistently for extended time periods without my breath laboring. That's when I'm in my element and feel good about where I'm at, the proverbial trip down the finisher's chute. I find recovery from the therapy sessions takes much longer than I am used to and am having to re-learn patience and trusting my body's cues as to when it needs rest and attention. Both elements that I took for granted not more than a month ago.

I have completely removed myself from the pain medications and choose to only medicate with the daily arthritis preventative and the compound cream that I received as part of rehab. I find the combination of these two keep the headaches away and allow me to move about freely without too much pain. The CPM machine is gone. Sleeping is difficult. I wore the "shackle" brace the first two weeks and am finding that removing it is helping me sleep better. You never really appreciate how much you move in your sleep until you are restricted from doing so (get the theme here?). So instead, I have been building forts with pillows and sleep in a pillow-box to keep from rolling over. Reversion to adolescence?

I am back at work full-time and am in the process of moving my office furniture back to pre-surgery design. It is extremely comfortable to sit like this (although not very functional):

I have to get up and walk multiple times throughout the day to keep the blood flowing in my legs. Sitting and standing are the most painful activities because you cannot help placing your hips into angles that it does not want to be in. The comments about the creaking crutches have stopped, and now the joke is centered around how I "can sneak up on people again." The ladies in my office still insist on bringing me bottles of water and laffy taffy even though I've told them multiple times that I am not a quadriplegic. I'll take all the love I can get....

Therapy is now centered around regaining muscle strength in my legs, more specifically, the quad, groin, hamstring and glute. I am tasked with going to the gym everyday to ride the stationary bike, do box squats, leg extensions, calf raises, leg press (avoiding 90 degree angles) and all of the upper body lifting I can handle. I cannot use free-weights just yet, so everything is done with a machine. There is also a very strict regiment of planking and bridging that I am tasked with everyday. Never thought I'd say it, but I miss the pool. And the pavement. And the sweat. Maybe even the spandex, just a little? Here is my first visit to the stationary bike:

My mood swings like a pendulum as each perceived victory is followed by a succession of defeats. I keep telling myself that I am lucky and things could be much worse. I pray, knowing that there is a lesson to be learned from all of this. Still I find myself on twitter reading about races and training, and hear my friends talking about progression and I feel lost. Something that was both inspiring and soothing was taken from me and my soul hurts. I say "sorry" more than I used to as I am often times offensive and bitter. It's difficult to mask the amount of physical pain, let alone the emotional pain that comes with not being able to fully function. I have a new found respect for those who are permanently crippled...they win a race everyday.

The pain in my hip is deep and it aches. But I am getting better. I can walk without crutches, albeit slowly. For all of the bad information on the web pertaining to this injury, the best thing I read about was the super-extensive recovery time. This is not a knee injury--they heal faster. Being a non-vascular joint means there is no blood flow to the injury or the repair, so it is taking my body much longer to absorb the work that was done. At this point in the recovery, my doctors are estimating a return to light jogging in mid-January and a return to pre-injury status in May-June. This gives me 2-3 months of preparation for the USAT nationals in August which I plan on attending. But for now, I will just take an hour without pain. Maybe even 30 minutes.

"Let it go. Let it roll right off your shoulder. Don't you know, the hardest part is over. Let it in. Let your clarity define you in the end. We will only just remember how it feels."

My Journey Through Hip Labrum Recovery: Entry 4 - One Week

"He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light" (Job 12:22)

I was just thinking last night about how it had been a full week since my surgery and that I needed to take all of the inspirations from the past week and begin writing. It wasn't until I began reading through my emails and noticed a quote that I felt I had enough to get going. "Life is often lived forward, but understood backward."

The above scripture and quote pretty much summarize how the first week of this journey has been for me. After the spinal tap wore off and I began weaning myself off of the 4 medications I was prescribed, life got more interesting by unveiling what had actually been done to my body on Oct 10, and more importantly, what had been done to my body over the last two years. I suspect that it was coming down off of the meds that filled me with the realization that I was now completely helpless and 100% reliant on outside things/individuals. Pain. Depression. Panic. Of course once you start to see the darkness you continue to toe in deeper and deeper until you are totally encompassed in negativity and self-doubt. My thoughts were consumed by the prospects of never walking, let alone, running again. Is this pain was always going to be here? Was that a pop I just heard? Is this pain normal? Should I call the doctor? I hate laying in this bed hooked up to this machine . I hate having to call Emily to come lift me up so that I can go pee. I hate being stuck indoors. I hate my email notification noise. I hate everything....

I actually cried for the first time in many years. Then some very powerful words that I have used over and over again hit me. "Dig deep. Keep moving forward. Surprise Yourself. Be the Best." The personal mantras that I wrote about several months ago were still there. What was most surprising is that they were as effective, if not more, in this life scenario vs. their normal triathlon scenario.

The day before my surgery I had dinner with some very dear friends who live in our neighborhood. Not sure if it was the fear in my eyes or them sensing the stress and worry that I was harboring at the time, but they said something to me that was punctual for the moment, but did not truly resonate until I went through the dark place mentioned above. 'You are going through this and when you get out, you are going to appreciate your body and what you have been able to do with it even more. The universe has its own way of giving back.'

God has a way of communicating to us and I truly believe that most of the time we miss it. In this moment, the succession of events had to be perfect for me to understand the message. I had gotten to a place in triathlon where it was becoming easy and I was unappreciative of the fact that I could not only finish the race but that I could finish in the top 10 of my age group. I was unappreciative of the fact that training was no longer grueling and laborious. I was unappreciative of my body. Further, if I didn't finish well, I was angry with myself, training had become a process and I never sat back and evaluated how my body was reacting to the stress.

Please see the metaphor in all of this. All of these actions were transpiring in my life outside of this sport as well. You are not a different person in each facet of your life, it is impossible. You are who you are, and you will be who you will be no matter what you are doing. That's why it is so important to live a healthy life in everything you do. I had taken this too far, too fast, and no longer appreciated the hard work or the machine used to do it. God was reeling me back in.

As for the less important message, my body is still healing. I was able to get into the Ironman Sports Institute for physical therapy and could not be more pleased with the facility and my trainers. I am hurting and I can tell that things are not right in my hip and adductor, but I have faith and I put my full trust in Dr. Adickes' ability to heal. I have trouble getting out of bed, bending my torso anywhere near 90 degrees (putting on shoes, putting on pants, petting the dogs, etc. etc.), and need help carrying anything that will not effectively travel in my backpack. I do hear popping and snapping noises. As a result of the adductor reposition, I have no muscle memory of lifting my leg, or holding it elevated with my quad. My abdomen hurts. My butt hurts. My hip still hurts. And more worrisome, my other leg is aching in all of its joints from taking on the burden of my dead leg. Oh, and I still cannot feel certain very crucial areas of my body after the spinal tap (use your imagination). No red flags or alarms need to go off just yet for any of the above as they are all part of the process.

I am optimistic.

Take away the tangibles from the surgery but also understand the most important lesson in all of this: be very cautious as to who and what you serve. We go through the dark places because we lack focus and judgment. God wants us to be successful, but our success must positively impact others. Not just ourselves.

My Journey Through Hip Labrum Recovery: Entry 3 - Recovering

This morning marks day 5 of the recovery process since the surgery to repair my hip. When I was told this was my only option to run with the same intensity ever again, I started the process of doing research to better understand the mechanics of the surgery, the aftermath and any tips athletes had to offer from their experience. Along with what my research uncovered, I now have my own set of universal truths that I would like to share in hopes of educating those going through the same thing.

• First of all, it's not the end of the world. More than likely, you will be able to resume your pre-jacked up hip activities. The flip side is that it's not days or weeks, but months before you can do so. Learn to accept this and build upon your patience level (which the majority of triathletes have zero, so this is a good place to start).
• Opt in for the spinal tap before surgery...it will save you 12 hours of misery afterwards.
• Realize that you are going to need help doing the normal, mundane things that are typically taken for granted and understand that you will absolutely have to ask for help... Sitting up. Sitting down. Putting on underwear (or just go with gym shorts full-time). Putting on socks. Showering. Moving pillows. And last/most important/most personal, going to the bathroom (which by the way is a marathon in and of itself). This is not a training run, you cannot do any of these by yourself.
•  The CPM machine sucks, You have to wear this thing for 6 hours/day and it is loud, uncomfortable and monotonous. Imagine the worst amusement park ride ever built: it takes your knee up to the angle you choose, then back down. And does it again. And again. And just when you think it might deviate, it does it again. But wear it to prevent atrophy in your leg and protect those quads that you have worked so hard to build up,
• Medications...I have 4 prescriptions for pills and 2 prescriptions for topical compounds. There is absolutely no way that you are going to remember to take 1 pill every 4 hours, another every 6, another once a day and another only if your stomach hurts (and then every 2-3 hours). That and you need to rub a NSAI cream on your hip. I built a spreadsheet, no joke.
• Stay hydrated. You will wake up with hangover-esque headaches otherwise...I use coconut water, G2 and tons of water.
• Crackers are a life saver when your stomach is aching.
• Larabars have become my breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Crutches suck. I went to amazon.com and bought these things called "crutcheze" which have been extremely helpful in preventing sores on my hands and underarms.
• Start physical therapy immediately, otherwise you will start getting sore on parts of your body that didn't have holes punched into them.
• Get plenty of books and magazines to read.
• Load up your ipod with music that can play while you doze in and out of consciousness.
• Those geek socks that race directors give away in their swag bags are awesome to sleep in.
• Count your blessings...

I am hanging in there and progressing quite well. I am able to put weight on my foot while on crutches and I have my first physical therapy session this afternoon, so things are turning around for the best. The pain is manageable and I am getting better at managing the logistics of getting around. I owe all of my progress, from the surgery to now, to the prayers and thoughts of all of my family and friends. There is absolutely no way to do it otherwise!

Will follow-up after PT this afternoon. Thanks for keeping up with my adventure.

Kelly

My Journey Through Hip Labrum Recovery: Entry 2 - Post Op

My day started off at 7am when I got up, packed for the weekend and took what would be the only shower I could take in the next 3 days. I had made the decision earlier in the week to stay at my awesome in-laws' home to avoid the 3 sets of stairs at our home in the Heights. We arrived at the Ironman Institute promptly at 10am, signed a 5" stack of paperwork, swiped my debit card for the 10th time and then waited for about 15min before being called back to my pre-op room. My attending nurse, Debra, was a lovely and energetic person who was a believer and wished me good luck over and over again. She was also a runner and had backpacked through Europe, so her stories were entertaining and consuming.

Dr. Adickes was behind schedule for the day by over 4 hours, so the nurses brought me a DVD player and I was able to watch Argo while we waited. The best part of the waiting came when the anesthesiologist came by to prep for the spinal tap that I had pre-approved to aid in the recovery process. A few drops of magic into the IV and I was in an alternate universe with no recollection of what happened in the movie. Is Argo the name of the movie or the name of Ben Affleck's character? No clue. At approximately 230pm. the anesthesiologist assistant, Terry, came by and administered another dose of juice and the anesthesiologist, John, came by and stuck 2 holes in my back and my leg started twitching uncontrollably. I felt nothing, but heard him say "perfect." 30 seconds later I was being wheeled back into the operating room and transferred to the table.

I can remember one of the nurses asking me about Ironman and telling me that she was just starting to begin running as a hobby, and the last thing I remember was me telling her to "pick a different hobby." Probably not my best moment, but at least I was being honest...Oxygen mask on, lights out.

When I woke up, I immediately pulled down my gown and blanket to see how many incisions I had. The attending nurse came over and asked what I thought I was doing and I told him I was checking to see how bad the surgery was. He told me it was the best case scenario: that they had only been in for 1.5 hours and that the repairs were successful. After chugging 4 glasses of water (hadn't had anything since 9pm the night before and it was 630 pm), I was wheeled out of the post-op room and fitted for my crutches. The Breg brace was handed over along with a bag full of meds, and I was wheeled out to the car. Quick and easy.

The night was long and painful. My leg was slowly coming back to life from the spinal tap and all of my muscles were twitching simultaneously. Since everything from the belly down was numb, I felt like I had to pee all night. Getting out of bed and onto the crutches was a chore and I needed help lifting up my foot because I had no strength (or feeling) in my upper leg. The vicodin and valium regiment kept me comfortable and I was able to make it until it was time to leave for my follow-up appointment at 745am the next morning. Traffic was typical for Houston and we made it just in time to make the 945am appointment. Here are the pics from the surgery showing the torn labrum being trimmed and the metallic spacer being put into the adductor:

Dr. Adickes has to be one of the nicest and most direct doctors I have ever encountered. He explained exactly what he did, went through all of the pictures and told me the causes of the injury. Hip was impinged through riding bike in aero position, stretching the hip adductor and then immediately lengthening the adductor by running afterwards. The injury should be avoided by the repositioning and stretching that the doc did, along with minor adjustments to the bike setup and a through stretching regiment when racing/training. Made an additional appointment for two weeks out to have the stitches removed and then left to meet the CPM salesman at the house.

The CPM machine is terrible. Imagine 6 hours of buzzing noises and your knee moving up and down, over and over again. I have to do this everyday, for 14 days. Here is the a-hole at work:

Physical therapy begins immediately, which for me means Tuesday since that is the earliest I can get in. I have been instructed to ride the stationary bike everyday and begin water running after two weeks Total therapy time is 3x/week for 4 weeks. The anticipation from Dr. Adickes is the utilize the crutches for 21 days, remain home from work for 1 week. Swimming with pool buoy and water jogging after 2 weeks. I was told to not even think about running until March 2014....

So as of this first entry, I am in a good place. I'm sore but I am confident. Having my red raiders on TV right now and being able to watch full coverage of the Ironman World Championship in Kona has helped to alleviate some of the worry.

Special thanks to my mother-in-law who is "supermom" for driving me all over town. Special thanks to my wife for waiting on me hand and foot. Special thanks to all of the doctors and nurses at the Ironman Institute. Special thanks to Dr. Adickes. Special thanks to mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law for prayers and texts. And last but definitely not least, thanks to countless family and friends who have emailed and called to wish me luck and check in with me. Especially Jamie and Nikki who dropped off the most amazing care package one could ever imagine! I am truly blessed!

Now back to my coconut water, football games and IM Kona. Follow-up blog on the way...

Kelly

My Journey through Hip Labrum Recovery: Entry 1 - Pre-Op

I am posting this entry coming off of an 8th place finish in my last race of the 2013 season, the Galveston 5150, in which my effort qualified me to race in the 2014 Hy-Vee WTC National Championships in Milwaukee, WI. We accomplished so many things this year, conquering Ironman, finishing in the top 10% of each race thereafter and qualifying for Hy-Vee. The journey was everything I had hoped for spiritually, physically and emotionally.

On July 31, 2013 I was well into a 6 mile planned run when I began to notice what felt like a side stitch on my right side. Since I was only a couple of miles from home, I decided to keep on trucking, told myself to suck it up and drank some water. The pain turned deeper over the next few days and was covering my lower abdominal wall, groin and quad. I started the self-diagnosis a week later and concluded that I had developed a sports hernia (WebMD is super scientific). I called the Ironman Sports Medicine Institute and they referred me to Dr. Mark Adickes, a very well respected hip and pelvic surgeon who has worked on many of the professional athletes here in Houston. After three weeks of dealing with the pain, I was finally able to see Dr. Adickes who immediately diagnosed hip dysplasia with possible sports hernia and ordered an arthrogram with four MRI's of the pelvis and hip.

The arthrogram was fairly uncomfortable as they basically take a 9 inch needle and gradually push it into your hip joint while injecting a dye which can be seen on the MRI's. The radiologist who did my arthrogram told me that he was confident there was "trauma" but would not elaborate as that was my doc's job. After four hours in the MRI machine, I was finally able to head home. I didn't hear back from the ortho's office for almost a week, so I finally called them and got the update (Adickes was out of town and was going to call the next day, sure....). It was not what I wanted to hear...torn labrum in the hip, negative sports hernia. Surgery recommended. Here is a simple diagram of the location of a labrum tear:

The next part of my journey is bittersweet. It's the blood, sweat, tears and dedication to the sport that transformed my life for the better; it's also the cause of the injury. My surgery is on October 10, less than two weeks, and I will know when I wake up the extent of the damage and potential recovery time. Two scars, best case scenario, five, tough hill to climb. Most athletes take 5-6 months to fully heal (think Ed Reed of the Houston Texans) which is an eternity for endurance athletes who work out everyday. The physical therapy will be the key to recovering quickly and I hope to be in treatment the day after the surgery.

I plan on keeping this blog going through the entire recovery so that others out there like me can see what it takes to get through the repair. Stay tuned.

2011 - 2013: In retrospect and the Ebbs and Flows

In Retrospect

2011
Exactly two years have passed since I completed my first triathlon, the 2011 TriPearl in San Antonio, TX. What a disaster. I breast-stroked the majority of a 300m pool swim, then hopped on my mountain bike for a 13 mile bike ride and polished off a 5k run with a 10min/mi split. I remember rounding the corner to the finish line and thinking how awesome I was for completing a triathlon. That, and how badly I felt like I needed to throw up. I was overweight, miserable in my job and unhealthy.

2012
After taking several months off and "focusing on getting stronger" (drinking beer and watching TV), I signed up for my first triathlon with an open water swim, Kemah 2012. This was a pinnacle moment in my entry into the sport. Emily had posted a picture of me completing the TriPearl on facebook, and a good friend saw the photo and told her husband, who happened to be a fraternity brother of mine, that I was doing triathlons just as he was. We were able to connect prior to the Kemah race, discovering not only that we enjoyed doing these things, but that we had purchased the same exact tri bike before the race. After another disaster (for me, Jamie actually won his age group), we kept in touch and began planning out our first official race season.

Three short-course races later, we had officially formed our partnership and signed up for the Oilman's half-iron distance race in October 2012. Since we were so awesome at this sport, we decided to only do one long training ride (56 miles) and skipped the planned 30min brick run to eat monster burritos at Freebirds. Again, we were awesome at this sport so it was all good. Race day nearly killed both of us and I am pretty sure that Jamie hacked up peppermint stick flavored gel for an entire week afterwards. That was the end of the 2012 season, but turned out to be just the beginning of the journey for us.

At the end of November 2012, and after much prayer and pondering the ramifications, we got the brilliant idea to sign up for Ironman Texas 2013. I can remember that being the most difficult click on my computer mouse ever and when I received the confirmation email, it became very real. We bantered about the race over the winter and concluded that if we were going to do this, we were going to do it the right way. So we each signed up for training plans and went to work in February 2013.

2013
The 2013 season kicked off with racing Kemah again in March. Determined to do better than 2012, we swam in a monsoon and ran sub 7's, finishing side by side. The training had paid off so far. The next race on the calendar was Galveston 70.3 in April and would be our mid-term exam of how well we had progressed in our training for IMTX. Stellar races from each of us, finishing in our goal times and  most importantly, nailing the nutritional components of the race. Four weeks out from IMTX, we were putting in the hours and feeling good.

May 19 showed up (as it does every year) and we were doing the death march down to the swim start of IMTX along with 2,500+ other lunatics. We jumped in the water at the same time, swam, biked and ran 140.6 miles, and ran through the finishing chute for an experience that you cannot possibly fathom unless you do it yourself. We had achieved what we were meant to do.

For endurance athletes, meeting goals and obtaining success only brings about hunger to do something more spectacular. We are Type A people: often stubborn, retentive, stress-driven and actionable in nature. So after a month's rest, we decided to jump back into the water and set our sights on qualifying for the USAT age-group national championships in the Galveston 5150 race being held in September 2013. 

Success at Bridgeland and Towne Lake paved the way for what would become of our effort in Galveston yesterday, September 22, 2013. We raced hard, facing 23mi/hr sustained headwinds on the bike and winding, hilly conditions on the run. We exhausted our bodies of all that we had and left nothing on the course. No regrets. It wasn't until the race director taped up the results and we scrolled down to our names that we are able to truly understand what we had accomplished: 7th and 8th place, separated by 41 seconds. We had done it.

Ebbs and Flows
People most often only recall their wins, the positive things they have done. In reality, it is impossible to win at everything you do and failure is not only part of the process, but is where the true inspiration lies. The above represents my positives, my wins. What it doesn't speak to is how much time I have devoted to the sport and taken away from other aspects of life. How painful, both physically and mentally, the races are (and they are actually the fun part). How many times I have been tempted to hit snooze, make up an excuse or just flat out skip an early morning training session. How each day I am more sore and tired than the last, but I am not satisfied, so I wake up and do it again the next day. How things go wrong on a training ride, and worse, during a race.

I had to be a broken man before I could be given the gift of a great friend, confidant and training partner, along with this great hobby. I had to fail miserably in this sport multiple times before I found success. I am injured and I am having surgery on my hip, but I am healthy and have prolonged my life. I am tired, but I am happy and my life has positive meaning and purpose, which I project to those around me. I have faith and am not afraid to share it along with the story that is my journey.

If you have not found your passion, keep looking. You will know when you have found it because it will become part of you and you will not be able to live without it. It doesn't have to be athletic in nature, but it must make you a better person and those around you better for knowing you. "You have become what you were meant to be." I knew I had achieved my purpose when my brother told me this, and I can only hope to continue becoming who I am meant to be. The next report will be after my hip surgery on October 10. Thanks for reading and go out and inspire someone today.

Personal mantras, Houston Triathlon and 17 days until 5150

I haven't taken to the blog in almost two months, not out of spite, mostly out of lack of inspiration. The build-up to and release of completing IMTX sort of left me in a vacuum with no real race goals for the summer. Vacations came and went and I continued to work hard on my training, focusing mainly on getting stronger on the bike and pressing my run times to the brink of exhaustion with each session. When I began the journey into triathlon, it was a challenge to cycle in higher heart rate zones and then polish the workout with a run off of the trainer. After significant time in the gym and on the pavement, I am finding it much easier to hammer on the bike and run negative splits afterwards. The issue with spending so much focus on training is that I lost my inspiration and got lost in the trees and forgot about the forest. It took a few negative life events to bring me back to equilibrium, and as one of my favorite scriptures says, "in your weakness, my strength is made perfect." I have set some new goals for 2013 and am happily back to racing.

If you are new to this sport you probably don't know who Jesse Thomas is. Any seasoned triathlete knows his story and follows his blog. To keep it short, Jesse was an all-American steeplechaser for Stanford and decided to try a triathlon, showing up with a borrowed bike and some aviator sunglasses. He won the race. Jesse is old school...he doesn't shave his legs, he doesn't buy into the hype and he is likable. Most importantly, he respects the sport and knows that it is a gift. He wrote a blog post that I thought was interesting for those moments that all of us come to when we need to dig deep and push through. The SNL references are classic: http://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/08/features/triathlife-with-jesse-thomas-mantra-power_82825

The post talks about having a personal mantra that you remind yourself of when your mind tells you that you cannot go any further. The relevance to my life is that I actually used it in the last couple of races and it works. BTB, KMF, SY, NGU.

The Houston Triathlon was held on Labor Day and turned out to be a great race (after being rained out last year). The swim is challenging (choppy water), the bike is flat and fast and the run is a windy route through Towne Lake. I turned in a 2:36 which is another PR and extreme progress for having only raced triathlon for less than 2 years. I ended up placing 12th in my age group (of 50) and 87th overall (of approx. 1,200). Progress.

My ultimate goal for the remainder of the year is to qualify for the Hy-Vee Age-Group National Championships and my only shot is to place in the top 15 of my age-group in the Galveston 5150 on Sept 22. I am hopeful, but remain fearful so that my training stays angry and with purpose. My swim needs improvement and I have to run sub 7:30 to do it....It should be an interesting day.

As I have done with each and every other blog post, I'll close with a thought. The scripture above is precise. Sometimes we get comfortable and forget what it's like to struggle. God likes the struggle because we are most receptive in this state. Take your frustrations, weaknesses, anger, stress, etc and harness it into positive energy. Ask yourself how you can better spend your time. Say a mantra or two.

"I run very fast because I desperately want to stand very still."

People ask me all the time why I do what I do. I normally give them a quick reply that includes health benefits, challenging myself or because it is my "thing." Occasionally, if I feel as though someone can understand, appreciate or benefit from the metaphor, I will tell them about my journey and how training and racing is my therapy. This morning my brother sent me what I consider to be a very profound (and hilarious) link to an article/comic written by a staff member from the website, The Oatmeal. Check it out: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/running This guy has obviously been asked multiple times why he does what he does, and his response is hands down better than mine...

The Blerch
We are all born with this, the built-in devil's advocate, the "wretched lazy beast" that tells us to do the opposite of what we know to be true and good. It's the voice telling you to stay in bed when you are running late, telling you that tomorrow is a new day and you can work extra hard to put off today's tasks. For me, it's the voice telling me that I am too tired to keep going or that quitting is a viable option. With practice, you can silence this beast and put it in the back of your mind. With even more practice, you can harness the negativity to fuel your body, mind and spirit to exceed its limits. And just as the author suggests, The Blerch will never go away because it is part of our anatomy. It will be here "morning, noon and night" and if you let it, it will eventually catch up with you. There is a scientific principle whereby negative force is used to create positive energy. Think of how a jet ski works, water is pulled in via an intake valve, passed through a jet, and redistributed via opposite force to create propulsion. Same principle exists when you jog and your feet brace for impact, then use this negative force to roll forward onto the forefoot, propelling you to take your next step. Harness the negative force and destroy The Blerch....

The Feeding
My friends and family members assume that I have taken on the form of a rabbit and eat salad for every meal. I assume this is because my body has trimmed down considerably over the last 12 months. I swear that I have had more voices of concern than I would have ever gotten had I been 40 pounds overweight...What they don't realize is that I have only lost a net 6 pounds (which I probably needed to get rid of), but my body fat percentage has dropped down to single digits, which would have equated to a net loss of 20+ pounds. I have actually replaced fat stores with body mass, aka, muscle. Most athletes do not lose weight (unless its needed) but instead replace stored weight with mass weight, aka, fat for muscle. I don't eat salad for every meal. I have never tried tofu. I eat candy. I eat ice cream (low-fat). I eat hamburgers (limited to 1x/week). And I LOVE beer, drinking not guzzling. See the trend? Moderation. The only time I actually watch what I eat is 2-3 days prior to a race and it is pretty much to limit fiber and saturated fats that are hard to get rid of. Otherwise, Emily can attest, I am a human garbage disposal. BUT, I stay away from excess, believing there is such a thing as too much of a good thing...It's simple math:

(What I put into my body) - (What my body naturally burns + Calories burned by exercise) = Net Calories Stored



 

We should all strive to keep this equation as close to 0 as possible. For example, I consume calories based upon my activity level for the day. If it is Wednesday, I know that I have a long run scheduled which will burn anywhere from 1,000-1,500 calories, so I must take in at least 3,500-4,000 calories on that day just to break even...Please also remember that the equation works as a loss generator as well. If you'd like to burn calories, you must either put less in or burn more off. Seems simple, but most people tend to overlook the simple theory. Maybe it's The Blerch striking again?

 

Selfishness and Krakens

"Running is a magical shortcut to that euphoria." I agree. For me, triathlon training is an escape from a world that only takes and never gives. When I am swimming, biking or running, I am taking back my freedom. I can go anywhere I want as quickly as I want and with no regard to the issues of the day. The "high" is a real thing unlike any manufactured buzz and can be obtained free of charge (and without jail time). Emily can always tell when I have gone a significant time without "escaping" and she will always avert by telling me to get out of the house. Once I go out and "slay the Kracken" I feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and I am ready to return to earth. Refreshed. Pick up your sword...

 

Vanity

Let's begin this section by remembering what we as triathletes train and race in. Spandex. Biker shorts. Speedos. Goggles. Alien starship bikes. There is absolutely nothing vain about what I do. Trust me, I have seen my race photos and I NEVER buy them because they are atrocious. I have never, ever, thought that I looked good doing what I do and have never raced or done a training session because I just had to try on a new pair of shorts. Vanity is slow and uncalculated and has no place in my sport. Vanity causes wrecks and will never push you to placing in the top 10 of a race. As the author suggests, endurance athletes don't have beach bodies. Instead of biceps, pecs and traps, we have legs and shoulders. We get abs because we breathe so heavily that the muscles expand and contract naturally, not as a result of the number of sit-ups we do (the illustrations cracked me up). I don't go to a tanning bed, but I am tan, because I spend a considerable amount of time outdoors. The best idea from the article is the following: don't wear your athleticism "like a fashion statement;" instead, find your strength by measuring it internally each day.

 

Agony

What I do in my spare time is agonizing. Each day represents a new hurdle to jump and presents itself much more difficult than the last. There are injuries, fatigue and you will ALWAYS find someone who is faster than you are. But that is what keeps you going. Knowing that if you try harder, you will get better. If I am tired and I continue on with the workout, it is an exponential value-add to my preparedness for the next race. There are times when I hate my Garmin watch so much because it is completely disconnected from my brain, i.e., the mileage it has tracked is significantly less than what I feel like I have done. But then there are times when it surprises me...maybe I am giving a 7:30/mile effort on a run and I look down and it is measuring a 6:47/mile. Awesome. Surprise yourself with what you can accomplish with willpower and how amazing it feels to finish an agonizing task.

 

The Void

The world we live in is very "noisy." We are in the midst of a technological revolution, no different than the industrial revolution of the early 20th century. There is sensory overload all around us. However, there exists a whole world out there void from Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman, abortion, racism, etc. and it's peaceful. Perhaps if people had better things to do than sit around and stew about things they cannot control, there would be much less hatred in the world. I train for triathlons because the void makes me feel better, and ipso facto, makes me a better person. I find the void everyday because it is a freedom that can never be taken away.

 

Great article....







pull yourself out of the cave...

1 Kings 19:10-14

I must admit that for the past several weeks I have retreated to my cave. Not in the literal sense, as we have been extremely busy, but in the spiritual sense. I read somewhere recently that the challenge as a believer is not when you are in the midst of turmoil but rather when you are in the midst of serenity. This is true for me. When times are good, I find myself not relying on God's word and spirit to guide me, putting more emphasis on my own judgement. This action always seems to follow a major challenge in my journey and a time of ultimate peace in my life. A few hiccups here and there, topped with the stresses of jobs and personal issues and you find yourself back to yearning for God to hear your prayers. Thing is, the spirit is always there, what we lose is the sense of hearing God's voice.

I was sitting on the couch on Sunday, watching the live webcast of Houston's First Baptist Church when the computer died from a low battery. I got up, plugged it back in, and as I did, the pastor began telling the 1 Kings 19 story of Elijah's retreat to a cave on Mt. Horeb, in which he was so frustrated with the world that he retreated until he could again hear God's voice. Normally I would have listened and taken the lesson for what it was worth. This time was different. Not two days prior, I had read the same story in the daily devotional that I get in my email inbox. It's times like these when I find it very difficult to argue against my beliefs...against a God who speaks to us through events and scriptures. A God who brings us out of our caves with his voice and helps us to remember how fulfilling life is when we serve rather than receive. The tangible to my life was harboring stress and anger over the last few weeks, and hiding myself in a cave of self-doubt. It is very difficult to serve and encourage others when you are in this state. The way in which this action was broken for me, some would say a coincidental alignment of events, I believe was divine intervention. 

My knee injury from Ironman Texas has healed to a point where I feel comfortable testing it out in a race setting. I am confident in my swimming and running, but am still living in the cave with my biking. This blog was founded on the premise that this sport saved my life, and once again, I feel like I am being called to march on, pressing forward to the next challenge, and sharing my story with others who are going through the same trials.

Proof that my dedication has paid off, I finally broke the 7min mile barrier for a distance longer than 5k:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/341476883#.UeB8CCSm73w.twitter

Tomorrow presents its own set of challenges as I race the Shadow Creek Ranch sprint. I am hopeful to break the hour mark and place within the top 10 of my age group. Whether this is achieved or not, I am thankful that I am putting myself out there again and not living in the cave.

Debunking the Myth: Men Over 40 Think Twice About Reading Bloomberg

I have finally had enough and am taking it to the street, that street being Bloomberg. Here is the poorly written, and even more importantly, poorly researched article written on June 21, 2013:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-20/men-over-40-should-think-twice-before-running-triathlons.html

Nice headline. "Running triathlons." Really? That is how you start the article? Let me guess, the writer has never "ran" a triathlon....

Don't get me wrong, there are a couple nuggets of truth in this article...athletes aged 40-49 and 50-59 make up two of the largest age groups competing in triathlon. True. The swim leg of the race is where the most fatalities occur. True. Competition changes are coming. Probably true. The rest of the article is basically a well-publicized and well-marketed warning label for those who compete in the sport, with very little data research and interpretation. Weird that a media behemoth would conjure fear in its audience for hits to its website...Now it's my (and probably all triathlete's) turn:

Let me preface this post by stating that my heart goes out to the families of those who have passed by competing in this sport that we all share the same passion for. It is a travesty and I truly believe that as participation increases, individual awareness and event coordinator controls will eventually increase (fortunately or unfortunately, save for another discussion...think wave swim starts). Now to the research/science behind what is going on. You can do a google search and find a plethora of published, reputable studies on SIPE risks among triathletes. At the end of the day, the 99.99% cause of death in triathletes is SIPE. The other .01% would be primarily reflective of accidents while on the bike course. As with any death due to disease or ailment, there are risk factors that can be tested for to determine causality.

Open this article and scroll to page 4: http://www.endurancetriathletes.com/AJEM_oct_2010.pdf  This table illustrates a controlled study of 1,411 participants distributed among age-groups and gender, pairing with the actual USAT distribution of those same groups. The first thing you should note is that there were 31 deaths, or 2.2% of athletes. The next thing you should note is that the 3 largest groups based on # of participants have the highest rate of deaths, makes sense so far. The group with the largest number of deaths is 40-49, hence the title of the Bloomberg article. Interestingly enough, what does not correlate to the Bloomberg article is the fact that that 22 (65%) of the 31 total deaths in the study were women, not men. 24 of the 31 deaths had normal blood pressure (or no known abnormal blood pressure prior to racing). 30 of the 31 deaths were non-diabetics. So we can scratch off diabetes and abnormal blood pressure from causality.

 Here are the nutritional risk factors:

• 22 of the 31 (71%) deaths had low, or no, vitamin C concentration in their system during autopsy
• 27 of the 31 (87%) deaths had low, or no, vitamin E concentration in their system during autopsy
• 26 of 31 (84%) had low, or no, flax seed oil in their system during autopsy

 Here are, in my opinion, the truly tangible risk factors:

• 23 of 31 (74%) athletes who perished were categorized by surviving family members and friends as “not strong” swimmers
• 26 of 31 (84%) athletes who perished did NOT participate in a pre-race warm-up swim
• 22 of 31 (71%) athletes who perished drank less than 1L of fluids prior to the swim
• 22 of 31 (71%) athletes who perished did so in an OWS, not a pool
• 18 of 31 (58%) athletes who perished did so wearing a wetsuit
• 21 of 31 (68%) athletes who perished did so on a SHORT course triathlon, that is, events less than 70.3 and 140.6
• 19 of 31 (61%) athletes who perished trained in lower heat index environments vs. hotter climates

My interpretation of the statistical data is as follows:

• Women aged 40-60 are most susceptible to death from SIPE while competing in triathlon
• 90% of athletes who perished were in good health, as evidenced by normal blood pressure and non-diabetic characteristics
• Events that utilize an OWS and allow wetsuits are more likely to have fatalities
• Athletes who take the opportunity to do a warm-up swim before the gun are less likely to perish
• Athletes who are properly hydrated before the gun are less likely to perish
• Athletes who have properly supplemented their nutrition are less likely to perish
• Training in hotter climates reduces the risk of death in competition
• Athletes participating in short-course events are more likely to perish given the above risk factors

After reviewing this study, along with additional research available in various medical journals, we can conclude that the vast majority of deaths in triathlon occur by individuals who are ill-prepared for the race they are competing in. Whether it is a hydration, nutrition or acclimation (water, wetsuit, venue, etc.) issue, athletes are more likely to perish if they forego the proper training for the event they are competing in. Reading that statement over again, it seems common sense. The most interesting data point to me is the fact that 70% of fatalities occurred in short-course events. I have to presume this is due to the fact that athletes who compete in long-course events are better prepared, perhaps out of fear, for the event they are competing in. It would be interesting to see a data point on how many events those who perished competed in prior to their death. Were they seasoned athletes or more casual about their racing and/or training?

I did this research because the article evoked a fear in me and I wanted some support for the theory. We will all eventually be in these age-groups! I love this sport and NEVER want to hear of, or know of, anyone who passes while in competition. I pray to God that it never happens to me or anyone I know. That being said, I think we need more definitive data than the blanket statement that the Bloomberg article made. I hope this sheds some light on what is becoming quite a controversial topic in our sport.

And remember, sometimes finishing the race = winning the race....Know your limitations before the gun and race your race accordingly.

Relaxed, recharged and at peace

"No man is an island."
True statement. But after leaving St. John after a seven day hiatus from my existence in Houston, I am envious of the serenity and solitude that an island possesses. I made a commitment to rest, yes rest, a foreign concept to me, for the past thirty days following ironman which culminated with a trip to the virgin islands last week. Serene was the view from the beaches that we visited, and solitary was my life away from emails, conference calls and board meetings. Much overdue. Check out the view from the balcony of the villa we stayed in (apologies for the fedora, when in Rome...):

Although this was in theory a vacation, I still made a point to do something active each day. I was able to fit in some open water swimming, snorkeling without fins and even went for a jog. The jog was a disaster and my quads were destroyed for the rest of the week. Here's why:

Although the sea is accessible, we are not at sea level. Much to the contrary, the roads such as the above, disappear by cornering and falling straight down into a 200-300' descent. Not terrible on the way down, extremely difficult on the way back home. I got in approximately 2.2 miles which took an hour to achieve. In Houston, I can run 2.2 miles in under 15 minutes without elevating my heart rate. The views on the run were rewarding and the solitude was good therapy, and I felt a recharging of my body when I was finished. Damn those hills....

In my past life, vacation was something we did because I felt like it had to be done. I would go away for a few days, be stressed out the entire time and then come home more exhausted than I left. Not on this trip. I have put my body through so much turmoil (albeit enjoyable and rewarding) and my mind has been so busy at work that the island lifestyle was much appreciated. For the first time in my life, I felt what it was like to relax, to recharge and to find peace. I returned to Houston with energy and motivation to take on the next challenge. I cannot express how important it is to take a step back, relax and reassess.

Many thanks to my mother and father-in-law for setting up the trip and to Emily for making sure that I was on board to go. I have never seen such great snorkeling, eaten such great food and enjoyed the beach so much as I did on this trip....

Ironman Texas race recap

What a journey this has been....It has taken me almost two weeks to come off of the ironman high and collect my thoughts enough to describe how poignant the entire experience was for me. I will attempt to succinctly describe my experience beginning the Wednesday before the race and ending the Sunday after the race. I will preface the post with an apology...just as the event was long and took stamina to finish, this blog post will probably feel the same way to an outside reader, but its important to me that I archive everything that we did on this journey, so feel free to skip around as I have chronologically labeled the entry.

WEDNESDAY
The fun began for me on the Wednesday before the race. Since Ironman Texas is forced (by The Woodlands township) to be on Saturday unlike the typical IM model of Sunday racing, I had made arrangements to have my bike tuned up at Bicycle World and ready for pick-up on Wednesday. The mechanics did a superb job of tuning the gears, truing the wheels and cleaning all of the hardware. After my short 45 min run that afternoon, I set out all of the gear I needed for the race and tried to organize it into piles according to the stages it would be used in. I used plastic baggies to separate pre-race, T1, bike, T2 and run nutrition and wrote on them with magic marker so that it would be easy to throw them into the appropriate bags. The bottom half of our house was entirely covered...

THURSDAY
I planned to work half a day on Thursday so that I could get to packet pick-up before the 4pm deadline. After the hike from downtown to The Woodlands, I met Jamie at the "Ironman arch" that opened up the expo area and packet tents. After walking through the chutes like cattle on the way to a slaughter, we finally got all of our gear bags, signed the medical release and made our way into the brand area where you can purchase everything from nutrition bars to fully setup bikes. I ended up getting out of there  having only purchased a t-shirt, some socks and a handful of bonk breaker bars. Since it was getting late in the day, I decided to skip the athlete dinner and the briefing so that I could make the hour trip home and begin packing. I knew it was going to be a long night and that I needed to be on the road at 7am the next morning with all of my stuff to make the 8am morning swim session in Lake Woodlands. Having everything organized certainly made a difference and I would later credit my preparedness on race day with the work I put into making sure everything was in a designated pile. By 11pm, I had successfully tagged and bagged everything and hit the sack feeling confident that no matter how difficult the race was going to be, I was not going to forget anything. Here is the organized version:

Morning Clothes Bag (aka, bag you will need before after the race)
- flip flops
- gym shorts
- dri-fit shirt
- aspirin
- Recoverite and water bottle
- wetsuit
- goggles (and extra set)*
- race day swim cap*
- timing chip/strap*
- chamois gel
- Body Glide anti-chafe*

Bike Gear Bag
- bike shoes
- bike helmet
- sunglasses
- Electrosalts (20)
- Race Legs (20)
- Endurolytes (20)
- Hammer Gel (4)
- Bonk Breaker (1)
- Garmin watch and heart rate monitor

Run Gear Bag
- Newton's
- socks (don't normally wear them, but thank God I had them...)
- towel
- Electrosalts (20)
- Race Legs (20)
- Endurolytes (20)
- Hammer Gel (4)
- Bonk Breaker (1)

I weighed the pros and cons of packing my "special needs" bags and decided to go ahead and plan on using them on race day. Here is a brief synopsis of what I put into each bag:

Bike Special Needs
- pb&j sandwich
- aspirin

Run Special Needs
- pickles
- tonic water
- extra socks

FRIDAY
Up at 7am, truck loaded and was on the road to Jamie's to meet before the swim practice.

*I have to make a plug for Larabar nutrition....rewind 3 months when Jamie and I did our first long bike ride. It was 40 degrees out, windy and miserable and our hands were frozen the entire ride. We made it 60+ miles and got back to the trucks to start our run. I pulled out a cherry pie flavored Larabar that I bought at Kroger the night before and took a bite, amazed out how good it tasted and more amazed out how much it brightened my spirits. Jamie didn't believe me when I told him how closely it tasted like cherry pie, so he took a bite and immediately had a smile on his face. From that moment on when times got tough during training, we always went back to the cherry pie Larabar story and were able to push through the day. Long story made longer, when I arrived at his house on Friday before IMTX, there was a box of Larabars on the bed. Jamie had contacted them to tell them this same story and they took the time to send us 2 boxes of bars and 2 t-shirts, for free, with a hand written note telling us good luck on our race. Talk about customer service...I will forever be a Larabar fan and will always include them in my nutrition plan!*

Jamie and I ended up at the swim practice around 9am to swim the 1,000m course that was put together for the athletes. We followed up the swim with a 20min run through The Woodlands and before heading back to Jamie and Nikki's, we stopped by HEB and bought a couple pounds of sockeye salmon for dinner along with as much Gatorade and coconut water that we could carry. By tradition, we always have a Maui Brewing Co. coconut porter beer on the night before a race, so thank God I finally found it among the plethora of beer choices. All was well. After we headed back to Jamie's, I took the opportunity to ride my bike around the neighborhood to test the gears and tires and then rummaged through my bags one last time. Another quick plug for the great job that the crew at Bicycle World- West U. did in getting my bike race ready. The entire drive train was taken apart, cleaned and reassembled with tweaks that I specifically asked for. I was very impressed with their work.

I spent what seemed an eternity going through my checklist and double-checking to make sure I had everything. I finally overcame the nervousness by remembering that worrying solves nothing and that I was leaving this whole thing up to God and my only job was to have a good time, a theme that I would have to come back to multiple times throughout the weekend. We loaded up the trucks with our bikes and bags, and headed back up to the transition area. I cannot stress how well organized Ironman events are in comparison to other races...you are again funneled through a maze and the volunteers made the check-in process systematic, taking away the stress of not knowing where to put everything. Bike is racked, bike and run bags are placed in numerical order on their respective pathways, and then you are done. Just as quick as you started, you are out of the transition area and back on the street. The temperature was just north of 90 and I was sweating...I remember thinking at this point that it was going to feel the same tomorrow, only I'd be grinding away at around mile 70 of the bike, not standing around talking. Damn.

This area of The Woodlands was constructed with pedestrians in mind. There was an HEB across the street from the transition area (that had air conditioning) so we stepped inside and bought some Gatorade and coconut water to cool off. Instead of heading home and biting our nails, we decided to catch a movie to take our minds off of the challenge ahead. The obvious choice was to see Ironman 3, so we loaded up on salty, carbohydrate rich popcorn and sat down to relax and watch the movie. When the movie ended we were both pretty tired so we headed home to get dinner going and put our feet up. Big thanks to Nikki for preparing what tasted like the best meal I had ever had, even though I kept thinking to myself that this is how death row inmates probably feel the night before their final hour. Whatever they choose to eat, I am sure it is the best meal they have ever had. My nutrition plan the week prior to Ironman consisted solely of coconut water, Gatorade, fish/shrimp and brown rice, and yogurt with an apple. Everyday. All week.

After putting on our Tri Tats race numbers, we toasted our beers and talked strategy, watched some Tosh.0 and then it was bedtime at 9pm. I knew I was not going to sleep more than a couple of hours, so I plugged in my iPod and listened to The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack on a loop. I received multiple texts and emails from family and friends, all of which I am thankful for, but the best came from my friends Chris and Kevin who sent along inspirational quotes and scriptures that helped me to remember that this thing was conquerable. This motivation put things back into perspective for me, aiding my sleep, and before I knew it my alarm was going off. It was 3am on race day.

RACE DAY/SATURDAY
Ironman takes a full day of your life; from the time you are settled down enough to sleep the night before, until your head hits the pillow after the race, you have expended 24 hours.I woke up at 3am and immediately began my hydration plan. I slammed a coconut water, a 20oz Gatorade with amino acid powder, and my pre-emptive does of anti-cramp (6 Endurolytes, 6 SportsLegs and 6 ElectroSalt tablets). I also forced down 2 cans of Ensure and a Perpetuem drink. Luckily this took about 5min to accomplish, so I was able to lay back down for an hour before waking up for good. When the alarm went off at 4am, I felt like I had been sleeping for days. I immediately went back to my nutrition and hydration plan by taking down a 20oz Gatorade, a pb&j sandwich and an apple. I grabbed my last coconut water and took another pre-emptive dose anti-cramp pills. I felt full which is what I was going for. Lathered up with chamois cream and thew on the tri-kit. Another plug for Epix Gear...their tri-kits are the best I have ever worn. Hands down.

Jamie and I met downstairs, which Nikki had turned into a mini pep rally for us both. It took off some of the nerves to see all of the signs she made and to read the note that she left each of us. Even better was her march into the kitchen singing The Final Countdown, a song that we have joked about for the last 6 months. It never gets out of your head (I bet it is in yours now...)! We loaded up the truck with our morning clothes bag and off we went, knowing nothing about what lie ahead waiting for us, but feeling good about the journey that we had taken to get here. It was time.

After making last minute adjustments (adding nutrition) to our bikes, we made the mile long trek to the swim start which was a carnival of people all standing in line for the port-o-johns. I felt the same emotion as the first time I visited Manhattan...I am surrounded by so many people buzzing in so many different directions, but all somehow attempting to accomplish the same goal. My head didn't stop spinning until I heard Emily's voice. Somehow she and Nikki had managed to find us in the crowd of 3000+ people:

Before we could say hello and give a few hugs, we were being summoned to the water via a loud speaker, giving us 15 min before the gun. I turned in my morning clothes bag, strapped on my goggles and swim cap and made my way into the water with 2,500 other people. Treading water for 10+ minutes was difficult enough, made even more stressful by the constant elbowing and kicking of fellow athletes all anxious to begin the 140.6 mile voyage to the finish line. Bang. The last thought that went through my head was how quickly the 3 months of training had culminated and how it was almost sad to be over. This was very, very quickly erased by the fight or flight response. You only have two choices at this moment, taking me back to my first blog post, "get busy livin' or get busy dyin'."

SWIM
"The churning inside me never ceases; days of suffering confront me." - Job 30:27

This was an extremely difficult swim, from both a navigation and a physical viewpoint. Every moment I began to feel comfortable was immediately overtaken by a kick to the head or someone grabbing my ankles. My normally long, controlled strokes were reduced to choppy shallow strokes that used more energy to stay afloat. Sighting each buoy was met with kicking water and bodies all around me, in a panic, to get to the transition area. After rounding the turn buoy, I could see the bridge in the distance so my goal was to remain calm and keep moving forward. At the 2 mile marker, I approached a female athlete and maneuvered to pass her in the canal, only to have her swim directly into my down stroke. My hand caught her goggles and ripped them right off of her face. I stopped and looked back with my apology, but had to keep moving so I truly hope she made it out of the water and finished the race! I finally saw the red carpet and stood up, never more glad to get out of the water in my entire life. Now the real work began.... swim time: a sobering 1:38, personal worst

T1/BIKE
"Rejoice in your sufferings for suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope." - Romans 5:4

I don't know exactly what it was that I expected in the transition tent, but it definitely was not close to reality. It wasn't until I began to write this section of the post that I was able to reflect upon the tent...I grabbed my bike gear bag and headed into the white circus tent to find just that, a circus. People were everywhere, some naked, some clothed, some moving slowly and some moving as though the tent were on fire. None worrying about what any of the others were doing. I don't remember much of anything else, aside from just trying to take down all of my nutrition and make sure I had my bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses. I got out of there as quickly as possible and headed to the bike racks (thankfully with my clothes on).

The first 20 miles of the bike went by at the speed of a dream. Before I knew it, I was coasting through Hwy 105 and heading up through the hills to Richards. Jamie and I had done the route so many times that it was routine. I knew exactly how far out I was, when I needed nutrition and when the next milestone on the ride was. The half-way point came without error and had me feeling very good for having ridden for ~60 miles. I stopped for 2min to grab my special needs bag and treated myself to a pb&j sandwich with a coconut water picnic. As I was taking off to resume the ride, I saw a guy trash his $10k+ bike by ramming into the back of another athlete who stopped to grab a special needs bag. The hub on his front wheel was bent and he was done for the day....There are so many things that can go wrong on the bike and you take calculated risks each time you get in the saddle. Traffic, flats, holes in a tire, chain breaks, gear slips, etc. etc. I thank God every time I finish a ride because you never know when the unexpected becomes your reality...

As we approached miles 70-75, we were deep into the chip sealed roads headed back down to Hwy 105 and were taking on substantial head winds. Staying aero helped mitigate the wind but took a toll on the lower back jostling down the rough roads. The relief you feel by hitting the clean pavement is mentally and physically astounding, and is one of the "wins" you get on the course to keep you moving ahead. I tore through Jackson road and found myself on 1488 headed to the mile 85-95 stretch, and decided to stop at the water station to refill my Speedfill and grab some ice to put in my jersey as it was approx. 91 degrees at this point in the race. One of the volunteers told me her Accuweather's "feels like" temperature was 98 degrees when she included the 90% humidity...I hopped back on my bike to finish out the 1488 stretch to Tamina road and turned to corner heading to 2928/Woodlands Pkwy. As I shifted down to pick up speed, I felt a small snap in my left knee cap and noticed a pop on every revolution of the pedals. This was mile ~88 with 24 more to go, plus a 26.2 mile hump on foot...

I tried to ignore all of the possibilities that were going through my head and just focused on getting off of the bike and into the run. I found that I had little power from my leg and the pain was getting worse and worse as I drudged along. By mile 95, my average speed had dwindled down from 19mph to 16, to 15 where it felt comfortable to pedal and I was able to push myself across the chip timer and into the bike racks where I hopped off and noticed the bit of swelling that was coming on. Handed off my bike, shoes and helmet to my volunteer and jogged into the transition tent to take a seat. Damn...
bike time: 6:36 aka terrible...

T2/RUN
“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30

In the transition tent, I noticed the type of folks I normally race with were not to be found, i.e., they were already running. I sat next to a guy who looked at me straight face and asked, "if I walk this whole f*ing thing, will I finish?" I looked down at my Garmin, did some elementary math, and politely said, "of course, just walk fast." Calculating my walking pace against the race deadline...a position I never thought I would be in...I slapped on my shoes, took down as much water as I could stomach and 500mg of salt, headed out of the tent and into the fiery abyss that was a May afternoon in Texas. I knew this was going to hurt, but I also knew there was nothing left to happen to me that was going to keep me from crossing that finish line, even if it was midnight. 

My first mile felt OK, albeit wobbly, but I pulled out a 9min/mile pace and worked my way down the loop and into the swim start. As I rounded through North Shore park and onto The Woodlands trail, I noticed the pain was getting worse and I had no power coming off of my foot strike and into my stride. Rather than risking tearing something completely, I decided to run a mile and then walk for 60 seconds, then repeat. This plan worked for about 8 miles into the run, and got me through the first of three loops. Emily had posted up at the turn of the loops and I was amazed to see so many family members and friends in her group, along with Jamie's family/friends---again, it's the little "wins" that keep you going and seeing so many smiling faces all screaming words of encouragement was a refreshing break from the beating of a day it had become. My pace slowed to 12min/mile on loop two and by the time I made it back to the turn on the waterway, Emily was running in her flip flops along the route and yelling at me to keep going...she was running faster than I was! By the time I made it to the special needs area of the third loop, I was so very glad that I had made the decision to pack a run bag. I stopped, sat on the curb with 50 other people and enjoyed two pickles and a bottle of tonic water. It sounded good when I was packing and was even better when I was racing...again, the little "wins."

I saw a co-worker of mine on the turn through the woods at mile 20 which gave me enough steam to push the final stretch to the waterway. When I made my way down to the tunnel entering the waterway at mile 22 my body turned numb as I heard the cheering and yelling that was taking place along the route. Seeing Emily, Mom, Dad, Brother, Mother/Father-in-law as I paced up towards mile 23 was exhilarating and I wasn't thinking about my knee, my back, my quads, my calves or my feet, just finishing and a sense of accomplishment began to shoot adrenaline throughout my entire body. I turned the corner at mile 25 and began to sprint towards the finishing chute...

When you turn into the chute, you are greeted by hundreds upon hundreds of people you have never met, never will meet and will never share any other moment outside of this one. They are all yelling for you, screaming your name because it is printed on your race number. For that 60 seconds you are their hero, their inspiration, and the reason why they will train for months to compete in this event one day. It is very clear to me now why professional athletes find it so difficult to retire...the rush you get from people yelling your name and believing in you far surpasses the high from any other source and it is addicting. Hearing Mike Reilly scream your name into the microphone was worth the trip: "KELLY BELCHER FROM HOUSTON TEXAS, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!" final time: 14:14

EPILOGUE
I was lucky to get into a great orthopedic surgeon on Monday after the race who confirmed the extent of my knee injury, made his diagnosis and then put me on a medication/stretching plan to heal the knee, no surgery needed. I have a trifecta of a small tendon tear, tendinitis and bursitis. Here is an image of my knee taken at 5am after the race:

The "knob" is the dead tissue just hanging out on top of my knee. The pain is from the tendinitis. All ligaments are perfectly fine and ready to run. Two weeks off from intense training...

What an incredible experience this was....when I signed up for that first sprint triathlon in August of 2011, Ironman wasn't even on my radar as something that I would think of doing, let alone actually completing. Now I am planning the next one. For me, Ironman was not simply an athletic event that I got a wild hair and signed up for, trained for and completed. It was much more complex than that. This was a spiritual journey for me, one in which I became a different (and better) person. Life is not as serious anymore and things that used to bring upon stress are little more than small bumps in the road. I know now that if I am given time, there are no problems that cannot be solved with determination, grit and hard work. I know now that the feeling spent in a dark place is minuscule when compared to the sense of accomplishment that you get when you fight your way out and back into the light.

I also know now why it is called Ironman...it's because you are recast into something indestructible after you go through the experience. You are physically, mentally and emotionally changed for the better. Iron is a very durable metal that is borne out of a perfect combination of extreme heat, carbon byproducts and oxygen. We as human beings are created with 2 of the 3 ingredients: carbon and oxygen. The extreme heat is all around us, whether it be a bad relationship, bad job, bad health or an overall bad disposition. Once you learn how to hone all of this heat into a fuel, you begin the slow and tedious process of recasting yourself with iron...


A list of things I could not do without in this experience (in order of importance to me):
- family, my training partner Jamie, and friends who came to support me
- coconut water
- Electrosalts
- socks
- Bonk Breaker pb&j
- pickles
- tonic water
- Larabar cherry pie
- chicken broth at the water stops
- ice at the water stops


Thank you for following me on this journey...I hope that you are inspired and that you will be turned into iron!