Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more..

I now have pp in a bionic hand brace and am pleased to report it's coming on well :o) So much so that I ventured out into the big wide world yesterday (Sat) for a RUN!

Yippee!

It felt really good to be out, although the "run" itself was about as hard as I thought it may be. Did 5*5min bursts (easy) with a min walking between. As always on an easy run I just find it really hard to go slowly, I'm sure it's harder running slowly rather then normally.... although my HR was up a bit on normal given I was going slower then a slow tortoise! But I guess given this is my first exercise in 6 weeks then I did about as much as I should and could have. It did feel good being outside doing some exercise though. People who live a sedantry life just don't realise what they're missing out on! Stupidly I also tried some of this new "pose" technique i've been reading about. Not sure that was too sensible as today my calf muscles are sore sore sore, although quads are totally fine. But what the hell I got to run around the lake and see all the ducks, geese and other such creatures!...Another odd thing to come of the run were a couple of blisters I have - although I put that done probably to the hour of walking on Friday down to Physio and back.

Speaking of which - physio.... nice chap called Adrian gave righty a right good going over on Friday. Obviously there's quite a bit of limitation of movement and I'm still getting this really nervy sensation in my hand. Got some good words of warning from the guy, he obviously picked up on my personality quite quickly and said to "not go mad" being out of plaster so quickly and all! So I still need to respect the injury cos it's still healing is the message. More physio over the coming weeks and sometime soon I'll hopefully get back in the pool. Without a doubt the swimming was the biggest challenge before the injury and even more so now. However I must enjoy the swimming deep down because since being out of plaster I've dreamt of swimming at least 4 times! One of which amusingly saw me continually swim into the left wall as my right stroke was so weak - funny!

Well what else... yes I got back onto my bike today too :o) Not really very comfortable using righty with the bionic strapping on so once I can drive I must get the bike into a shop and have some aero bars fitted as, for the time being, this is the only way I'm going to be able to comfortably cycle. Still I did a fairly straight forward 27mins nothing too special but again good to be active :o)

Now I'm beginning to think I'm being insanely optimistic to think I can make the Blenheim sprint at the start of June but one can but try eh!... and remember the aim for races this season is not the time I finish in but the shear pleasure of doing them, feeling alive and finishing them with a smile (ok after the grimace!).

Nearly time for bed and it's a good feeling to be tired from exercise, looking forward to getting back with the programme again.

Big smiles!

Singing.... Free-eeeee! Free! Free-ee the hand....

A miracle happened today..... yes the docs gave me a belated birthday present and said my broken wristy/ hand thingy-me-bob was healing well and could come out of plaster!

Woo-hoo!

Earlier then expected - not that I'm complaining. Must have been the red wine, cheese and chocolate diet I've been scoffing the last 5 weeks, or maybe it's just the doctor wanting rid of me!! I've got to go back in 3 weeks to make sure it's still on the right road, by then hopefully these pins and needles and numbness will have receded or they are threatening with an MRI scan. Either way it means, assuming I can grip by the weekend, that I can drive a car and start on the training road to recovery too. In bite size chunks though as I can't move my thumb or wrist at the mo and front crawl may be pushing it a bit ;o)

So, my walk/ run routine can start as soon as my wrist splints arrive (as I'm a wimp and don't want to risk an unprotected fall). I read something in a mag which said for every week off of training it'll take two weeks to recover to where you were at when you stopped. So given I've done the square root of **** all in five weeks that gives me ten weeks recovery and about another 12 weeks before my main "A" race - that being the London Olympic distance race in August. I wasn't expecting to do well anyhow just to finish so I can still aim for that with the weeks that are left, I may just not do it as fast but then who's counting. I still may look to do the back-up Olympic distance race at the end of Sept that I had been spying on as a fall-back. So maybe make London a "B" race and the late September one my "A" if you see what I mean.

Better get the training plan out then and work out what I should be doing next week, just need to remember the pace of a very slow tortoise will be better and far more sensible then trying to be the hare at this stage of the hand proceedings.

All in all a good start to my 38th year on this world!.. Poor paw (PP) still not in great shape but is doing very well considering don't you think!!!

Have purchased a DVD on the "pose" technique of running.... purchased in anticipation of not being able to for a few more weeks yet.... so am going to take a look and see if any of it makes sense - a form of training without training maybe??? Ok maybe not!

Well here's to my first cast-less night in over 5 weeks, let's just hope my extra kilo of weight doesn't squash PP!!

Happy Days!

Happy Birthday to me....

Yes I'd better change my profile to read "37" although strictly speaking I'm not until 1210pm! Agh another year has whizzed by, and an interesting year it's been.

This time last year a celebrated in Basra with a bottle of smuggled in wine shared with some good chaps whilst no doubt watching an episode of Alias. Highlights of the year, well there are quite a lot so here's a flavour for some;

• Birth of Sean, my new nephew, in October. He's really special.
• Taking my other nephew (who's 8) to his first orchestral experience. He loved taking a look at all the instruments and amused the audience at the concert as he got so into the music that you'd have thought he was the conductor. Priceless :o)
  
• Finishing my first Triathlon, I particularly remember smiling like a Cheshire Cat on the bike leg - brilliant
• Week climbing in Spain. I'm not a real climber but this was a fantastic week to get away after getting home from Iraq and let my brain comprehend my previous 6 months. also the peace, beauty and tranquility was well needed. Getting to the top of my first lead climb was a totally amazing thrill.
• The feeling when I demobilised and left the gates of Chilwell to come home after my tour was also priceless. I could earn a fortune if I could bottle that feeling up and sell it. What a relief!

There were also obviously some lowlights too but hey there's no point dwelling on those, learn what you can from those type of experiences and move on is what I say.

Have just received my birthday call from my parents with a good rendition of "Happy Birthday" :o) and here's a quote from Gerry Sikorski which is on a card from Uncle Alistair and Auntie Carol...

"BE ABSOLUTELY determined TO enjoy WHAT YOU do"

So that seems a good motto for the year doesn't it.... and let's face it I'll be enjoying today for starters! :o)

Right better get some scoff and ready myself for my day of fun. I'm going to watch the girls play hockey today followed by a nice meal with mates tonight. It's a great day for it all too, lovely bright blue skies, birds singing and fairly mild for the time of year. It will be good to get out and watch some other people exercise!!!

Adious!

A new day.... A new blog!

Finally got round to changing my blog template from orange to blue - well i've got to do something whilst I can't train! Still only 4 more days to go before I learn my fate, well my hand does. Fully expecting to have an xray and put back in plaster for another few weeks - getting quite fond of this plaster cast too so it'll be a shame when it gets cut off. Although at least I'm going to get the opportunity to give my hand and wrist a good scratch between cast off and cast on! :o)

Not wanting to just sit on the sofa and eat chocolate, I have managed to put my downtime to thinking about a new training schedule for when the day comes that I can get back on the treadmill. Found an alternative Olympic distance at the end of September which I may aim for if it turns out the London Tri early August becomes a no-goer. Knowing myself as I do the danger is when my hand is in rehab that I train too much too soon.... so have gone so far as to create a run/walk schedule at the start of the plan, and yes sticking to it will be interesting but let's not get ahead of myself!

Looking on the bright side, the sun is now coming up earlier so come the end of this month/ early March running outside in the early morn should be lovely. Am also looking forward to getting back in the pool and remembering how to glide again :o)

Ok enough for now, time for some brufen and scoff! Happy days everyone :o)

A new day.... a new cast....

Damn this silly small bone i've broken... cashew nut shaped apparently (isn't it amazing what you can find out on the internet!).... humpf

So yesterday I got myself a nice new shiny heavyweight cast. Had some probs with some swelling and some pins and needles Thursday so spent some time with the lovely people in the "cast room" (no not some dodgey actor auditioning parlour), at the local hospital. A quick chainsaw moment granted my hand (now called the poor paw, pp for short) some freedom.... i was subsequently dispatched to the tea room and told to keep my hand up to see if the swelling went down..... hummmm. Well it did get a bit better but I was left with this odd feeling in my finger tips and a pins and needles type od sensation through the palm of my hand. I was dispatched back home with a bright blood red cover over my cast to see how things settled overnight.

Woke up to an overcast drizzly day and the same sensation in my hand, so back off to the bus stop for the exciting trip back into town and to see the helpful people in the cast room. Despite me not having an appointment and it being rather busy I managed to see a doctor after about an hour and a half wait. Who broke the news that it's definitely broken (i thought there was still some doubt), and I should expect to be in a cast for at least 8 weeks!!!! Wasn't expecting that. As for the pins and needles well got my cast changed, no more light weight fibreglass for me back to the heavy weight plaster of paris stuff. At least the sun came out in the afternoon!

So having been reprimanded by the cast staff and doctor for overworking pp I've decided i'd better not go to the spin class I'd planned to do today!!.... and running is totally banned for another few weeks - not that i've done any of that. This is the most in active period since Jan 2004 when I was recovering from a major op. Still I can walk fine and as the weather forecast is for blue skies at the weekend I shall keep my arm up and go for a stomp around the countryside!... and hey we actually beat the aussies at cricket last night so there's always some good news :o)

More soon, may have to rename the blog to Karen and the adventures of the PP... In fact I may change the format and colour of the blog... gives me something to do other then the hours on a bike, would have been a lovely day for an outdoor ride today too!!!

Until next time remember behind every grey cloud there are a thousand rays of sun.