An Update Or Two (Or Ten)

I know you've all been on the edge of your seats awaiting my updates, so here goes...

1) It's been 104 days since I've had a Diet Coke/Pepsi/pop.  At times I think I'd murder for a sip or two of the Good Stuff.  Other times I'm fine without it.  It's also possible that my Diet Coke addiction turned into a watermelon addiction, but as far as addictions go, I think I've upgraded.

I eat 'em one half at a time.

2) Guess who has a hot new Quintana Roo?  Yep, that's right, it's ME!  How about them apples?  I'm very excited to be a part of the QR team.  Awesome bikes aside, they really treat their athletes like family and that's something that's really important to me!  Roo (my new bike's name, duh) and I have been on quite a few rides at this point and we like each other.  A lot.  I've shown Roo a bunch of my favorite riding routes and some of my favorite climbs.  He has responded beautifully.  AND we're already setting new PRs.  Just last week we hit 43.6 mph (per my Garmin) descending on Saxonburg Blvd.  I've never gone that fast on two wheels!!  I guess when you feel totally comfortable on your bike, you can just let 'er rip!

World, meet Roo.

3) Speaking of sponsors that treat you like family, I have to give a shout out to my Coeur family who has cheered me on through the good times and the bad (sucky hip injuries).  I feel so thankful to be on their team.  It's pretty easy to represent a company when you not only believe that their product is tops but also when you have a truly great relationship with the PEOPLE that make up that company.  That, to me, is the perfect situation!  Now here is my tip for the week for any ladies reading this: go get yourself a pair of Coeur running shorts.  You will NOT be disappointed!

4) I resigned from my clinical nutrition job at Presbyterian Hospital.  Wait, you did what?  Yep, I sure did!  I've worked at Presby for the past 12 years.  And in fact, it was my first "real" job.  I had to google how to write a resignation letter because I've never resigned from anything before!  I will miss my co-workers and the challenges of working with very sick patients, but I'm also looking forward to new opportunities ahead!

Two of my fellow TPN writing teammates!  I miss them already!

5) And finally an injury update!  I believe when I last blogged, I had just gotten cortisone injected into my hip joint.  Following that, I was pretty restricted as to what I could do for two full weeks until I followed up with my doctor.  These two weeks involved very easy (50W) 40 min rides every day on the trainer (just to keep some blood flowing to that area), and swimming.  There was one caveat with the swimming though.  It had to be all pull.  With open turns.  Pushing off only with my "good" leg.  Yep, that's all pull, one-legged, open turned swimming, for about 25,000-30,000 yds/week.  Let me tell you about all pull, one-legged, open turned swimming.  It kind of makes you want to poke your eyes out.  It's slow as molasses.  And you kind of look like you can't swim at all.  BUT, it was better than nothing at all.  So each day (some times twice a day), I went to the pool and just did it.

After two weeks, I went back to my doctor who gave me the go-ahead to try and challenge my hip with some "real" training.  And that's what I've been up to for the past 2.5 weeks.  I'm back to kicking (and flip turns - yeah!) in the water and I've been able to increase my riding volume and intensity without pain.  This is exceptional news!  Running, as you can imagine, is progressing a bit slower.  There has been zero intensity in my running (although I almost never have intensity in my run training anyway).  Today I did my longest run of 60 minutes.  My hip, well, it doesn't feel perfect.  It's a bit sore and tight but has thankfully let me progress my runs without getting any worse.  Some days I feel supremely confident that it will be fine and my hip is going to (with time) let me get back to my previous run volume and paces.  Other days, I'm not so sure.  But only time (and patience) will tell.

In the mean time, I've signed up for a few races.  They might be ugly (at first) but then again, they might not!  I'm also working diligently on my rehab (Graston, anyone?) and thinking as positively as possible.  Because, as I've come to realize, where the head goes, the body will follow.

And now just a few more pictures before we part...

You know you are back to training when the dishwasher is filled solely with bottles.

These are SOOOOOOOO good.  You must try them, STAT!

I know how to do CPR now so if your heart stops, I can help!  And yes, that is bike grease underneath my fingernail!