Maybe This Injury Thing Isn't so Bad! ;)

hahaha




i HOPE you realize the bottle is staged!! :) haha what an example to set!

Oops!

Ever since I was little I have had an unusually high pain tolerance. Whether it was ear infections as a baby, trip ups as a toddler, falling out of trees as a kid (yea that really happened :) Running until I drop as a teen, I have always been able to handle the pain or not even notice at all until it was really bad.

This proved to be a good thing when it came to racing and staying tough in training...only there is a flip side...sometimes (ok lets be honest..often times!) it leads to pushing through things I shouldn't. Not necessarily because i was just gritting through the pain all the time...sometimes I don't even notice. Take my stressy in my heel for example...it was brewing for a while and I never mentioned anything until it actually cracked and became unbearable. Well turns out I have done it again!

I never felt really anything odd leading up to Tongyeong..looking back I do remember saying to Kyle that the fact that my back is a little tight won't change the outcome of my race because we train with tight muscles all the time and still have killer workouts. Then I felt off in the race..hard to explain but just like a lack of power..lack of oomph..my body didn't want to do it the way it usually did. (looking back this makes sense because when there is trauma the body shuts down certain muscles groups..in my case, my gluts shut down which causes a 30% power loss in running!) Then all that day and the next day I found myself poking at my low back/pelvis. We used to call these my magic hands :) always poking at sore spots. After traveling home the pain was getting worse. I was having a hard time walking...I even cut a shopping trip short...I MUST have been in pain! haha I had all kinds of treatment to loosen my back/gluts and it was working. I was progressively feeling better and better. I thought no worries, a few days off and I'll be sweet! It wasn't until I tried to jog 30 mins and had intense pain from the first step. I thought it would warm up the ligaments as i went so i soldiered on trying not to cry with each step. It was all i could do to put one foot in front of the other. I came back and described this to Dr. Keeler (our team Doc) and he sent me in for some scans. Bone scan showed a hot spot so they sent me in for a CT and MRI which showed a fracture in the hemisacral region on my left side. Just beside my spine and above my SI joint. Dang! I was not expecting that! I was positive it was a strained Iliolumbar ligament...oops!

The GOOD news is that if I had to have a stressy this would be the one to get! It is not displaced..barely visable on the MRI..the radiologist said if he hadn't had the bone scan to show the hot spot he would had just scrolled through and said everything looked fine. There is not to much edema (inflammation) which is good and it is in the healing process! The other good thing is that unlike my heel...most of the shock is absorbed by the time it reaches the pelvis so healing time should be a whole lot quicker. Most of the case studies I read show a 6 week recovery period. I felt pain 4 weeks ago! Although we might have to count from my run about 10 days ago. I'm starting now with a week completely off and then will ease back into swimming and riding on the flats.

Luckily we still have heaps of time until Gold Coast. I will still go to Europe to race and train with my new coach but I will have to miss out of Washington and Des Moines..I'm just not meant to do Des Moines!!

It is not good news by any means after such a great start to the year but I put it into perspective...nothing can beat the timing of last years stressy! Even more than that I realize that there are much worse things that could happen and being frustrated doesn't help me get better any faster.

Yesterday a few of us stayed after swimming to take our buddy Sean Marlow for a swim. He was in horrific car crash 5 years ago on the way to the World Cup in Edmonton and he came as close as you can to death. He is severely brain damaged and has hardly any control over his body (although he is slowly improving all the time.) It is great to see him splash around in the water..he even can do backstroke with one of his arms! You can tell he is the same person on the inside which makes it tough for me to watch but also neat to see because he is the coolest guy you will ever meet. Hilarious and he still manages to make us laugh now even just with hand signals! This really put things into perspective for me..so I am missing a few races...I am still living a healthy, happy enriched life!

Chris and I have got a plan and will now start to work on progressing forward and taking the right steps to preventing future injuries through a well planned strength and rehab program that he already has ready to go! (That last couple sentences are straight out of Chris's mouth i think! haha)

SO! my spirits are in tact even if my bones aren't! :)

Hopefully it's Just a Hiccup!

There must be something in the air in Victoria...injury is in the air here!!! or at least for me! I think i mentioned earlier that i tweaked my back while traveling home. Well...it maaay have been a bit more than a tweak. :) i am getting back one step at a time thanks to the magic hands of Patrick Kelly...(our development coach..who knew?! i certainly didn't!) Mike Murray, Brandon Cali, Kim Ward, Jeff Jones and Steve Keeler!! What a team!! X-ray came back normal yesterday which is good and i still have an MRI and bone scan on tap for next week. The good news is that I'm feeling great today..the best i've felt in weeks! I am swimming, biking and water running so fitness won't be an issue and my legs always are happy to turn over when they are able! :) So 2 week hiccup but I'm ok with that...fitness seems to bounce back quick (thanks for the genes dad! ;)

Here is a pic from the other day when i had a trainer ride on a gorgeous day and couldn't bear to ride indoors...SO i drove down to one of my fave spots, Ogden Point and set up for a spin! Then icing after was more than convenient ;) My camera didn't pick up the mountains too well but it was such a nice day..the ocean and mountains were like sparkling!




Gotta love Vic on sunny days!!

Will keep everyone posted with scans etc. Bit frustrating considering i made it the whole off season without an injury and now we get to race season and i get a little hiccup but lets hope its just that, a hiccup! i can live with 2 weeks.... :) "Patience is a virtue"
that must be the phrase i heard most throughout my childhood ;) which is why i became an athlete i think!!

Thanks Fort St. Cycle!

Me n the gang at fort st.

sorry Gabor i'm a bit of a camera hog apparently!

check out the machine!! built by Gabor, sized by Don, funded by Doug ;)

Also, check out the new Shimano dura ace...no cables! and pro's new bar set up...DEFINITELY and upgrade! Thanks guys!

Just out for a Cruise :)

New Camera

Not too much to update today but I do have a few pictures to post! I wrecked my camera in the sand in Oz and just bought a new one! I thought I would share a few photos from mothers day! (mom is going to kill me for broadcasting her "without her face on" but i think she looked just fine! No one looks perfect for brekky in bed! Dad and i made tea, eggs, blueberry/mango/coconut pancakes, and maple syrup sweetened fruit and yogurt! delish if i say so myself ;) then we went to sidney for a walk at the beach and a coffee. Very nice morning. I have been doing a lot of relaxing as i have had a bit of a sore back since travelling from Australia-home via asia with over 80kg of luggage! yea carrying twice your weight in luggage is never a good idea. I am on the mend now though and ready for some TRAINING! easing into it of course ;) So thats where i am at now...here are the pics.........







OH and ALSO! I picked up my new Cervelo S2 from fort street the other day!!! It is AWESOME!! and FAST and i must admit pretty cute haha its so little! ;) I still need to get pictures at fort st. taken but for now here is just the bike. Thank you Fort St. Cycle!!!!

Back to Bubby's

Not much to report since coming home! Getting all settled in at home. Right now i am at my favorite cafe, Bubby Rose just enjoying the sunshine and good coffee. It's nice to have good coffee again! There is an abundance of coffee in Oz but nothing up to Discovery/Habit standards thats for sure! and someone needs to tell them to put some gosh darn foam on their cappuccino's!! haha Anyway..before i get too worked up...

Mom has me spoiled! Fridge stocked with my fave's, redecorated room, use of her car..it's great. Althoouugh...I am pulling my weight by cooking every night. Tonight was indian night...i'm feelin the burn! Dad swears his training is better because of my cooking ;)

I'm still getting used to the cold here. Running with stiff muscles feels really bad! Luckily it's starting to warm up here. I love Victoria in the spring...especially when the cherry trees start to blossom!



Well I think thats it for now.. Ready for the next block of training now! :)

Real Report

Apologies for the quick race report after the race. Internet was limited and I just wanted to get something, anything up there. So here is some more detail...

After a bit of a hectic trip from Brisbane I arrived in Tongyeong 34 hours after leaving the apartment! I was given some bad advice on which shuttle to take and ended up at the wrong airport and missed my flight from Seoul. Luckily I was with ITU's legend of a photographer, Delly Carr and he helped me get on his flight to a different airport from which we caught a bus into Tongyeong. Once we arrived I headed straight out the door for a fartlek run..in hindsight this wasn't the best idea considering I had done a fartlek run just before traveling as well. Another lesson learned!

It was great to be reunited with the good ol' Canadian team and I got to meet our new High Performance Director, Kurt for the first time. It's funny, I was away for so long but absolutely nothing has changed! Brent, Kyle, Simon and Lauren still have the same hilarious sense of humor as always and Kathy is still her usual bubbly self!

I didn't know that I was racing on the saturday instead of the sunday until the day of the race briefing (oops!) so i messed my taper up a little but all was ok leading up to the race...well except the fact that my cable snapped on the course tour the day before the race while I was in a big gear...(got some good strength training in riding the hilly course low cadence! haha) i also didn't have a back brake in the middle of at least 50 riders...little sketch! But I made it back safely to the mechanic who fixed it up nicely. Luckily it happened the day before not in the race! So maybe my prep wasn't all that smooth but i don't remember ever feeling stressed so it couldn't be that bad!

I had a great night's sleep (8:30-7:00!!) before the race which was unexpected seeing how we are all sleeping on like a stone mattress!! Race morning was a long morning..we didn't race until 2pm which is late for us but necessary for the live coverage. 12:30 finally arrived and it was time to head out to the course. My bike was still not in the best condition so while i warmed up Phil and Kurt did a little runover of my bike and it was good as new! (this is what happens when daddy isn't there to keep your bike in tip top condition! ;)

I proceeded with the usual 1 lap swim warm up with a few pick ups and felt great. After that we lined up and got ready to go. I had a pretty bad ranking and was stuck in the middle of the pontoon which seemed a bit dodgey. Luckily I had a great dive and was off to a great start. I had clean water from the get go. About 200m in I looked around and the only person around was Sarah McLarty....how the heck?....i'll take it! So once we rounded the first buoy I found myself in about 4th position, and just got to swim comfortably the rest of the way without any fighting which I QUITE a luxury!

Out onto the bikes and I had to make a quick decision..chase Moffy and McLarty and go for a break or wait for the pack. Based on the wind and the proximity of the pack etc...I decided not to chase but to keep a decent pace to keep the pack chasing and string things out. This didn't end up mattering because everything came together anyway! It was the slowest ride! But was also the scariest in terms of bike handling. positioning etc. Coming off the bike I made sure I was at the front to give myself a little extra time with the shoes. I race in Nike Lunar Racers which are incredible to run in but have pretty small tongues which I found to be tough in transition. I meant to do a little sewing but never got around to it...anyway! Decent transition and off onto the feet...again chasing after Moffy who was on fire! I didn't feel myself at the start but figured I would warm up into it. That never happened...but toughed it out and messed around with a bit of tactics and finished off the day in 5th. It was a 3 way sprint finish but I really wasn't even in the sprint...I hung around until about 9.9km haha! I am pretty happy with the result but there is some room for improvement! The goal for Washington is to get the details straightened out a bit! ;)

The Canadian girls had our best day yet with 3 in the top 10!!! Kathy finished 4th and Lauren finished 10th..I think that is the best our team has ever done at a big event!

The men's race was fun to watch..especially with a day to recover! Simon finished 12th in the mens, Kyle was 19th and Brent finished 22nd. Solid effort in such a stacked field!

I am home now in my own bed!! :) It was a long trip back but i managed to sleep 9hrs on the 11hr flight from Seoul to Vancouver! (full row to myself! plus a few sleeping tabs :) We also had a while in Seoul and got to do a bit of shopping in town. I always love a good power shop!

Now my eyelids are dropping and it is time to sleep! Thanks for readin this monster of a post!

WCS #1 done and done!

The first race of te series is now over! (well..for the girls at least!) I didn't have a stellar day but there were some highlights in there! The main one being my swim start...head to head with McLarty for the first couple hundred meters! I was expecting a rough swim so that was a nice surprise! The bike was a nice cruisy saturday afternoon spin..everything came together so it was a snails pace! Once i got on the run i knew i wasnt myself. just missing that light zippy feeling..not to mention the fire set in my tummy! haha but i hung on and attempted a few attacks to go for the podium but Kathy and Juri were tougher than that and hung on! it came down to a sprint and i had nothing ...5th place isn't so bad though! Now we get to relax and enjoy the mens race! Sorry for the short post...so tired! I will update again while bored on the plane!! :)