Southwest Valley Family YMCA Thanksgiving Day Triathlon

Goodyear, Arizona

            Christian and I have done this race for several years now. Although I was in no shape to seriously compete this year, I wanted to do this race. I had planned on just enjoying the race. This race is a reverse triathlon, which means that the order is reversed. Christian and I lined up at the start line for the run and after the gun went off. Within a few moments I realized that Christian is consistently running much faster than I can. I tried to stay with him but he was quickly pretty far ahead of me. I quickly went from trying to enjoy the race to working at 100% effort trying to catch Christian. Despite my effort, it did not take long before I could not even see him. My running has become pathetic.

Then a shocking realization hit me. The bike ride is only 12 miles. When Christian realizes that he is so far ahead of me he may taste victory and ride that bike like a demon to beat me. Prior to my crash, Christian was riding no longer riding significantly slower than me. Now don’t get me wrong, I am still faster than he is, especially as the miles wear on, but this race is only 12 miles. I had no idea how much of a lead he had. The shocking realization I had, was that if I didn’t crush the bike course, Christian may beat me, and I would never hear the end of that. Even the thought panicked me.

Long before I reached transition, I knew that I was going to have quickly get out on that bike course and catch Cjristian. I had to change shoes, I knew that he did not, which was another time advantage he would have to put even more distance between us. I would be changing shoes while he was riding 20 mph away from me. I shouted like an inpatient pro at the World Championships at the people who had set up camp just past the bike mount line and were blocking my way.  I jumped on my bike and began to crank. Breathing like a freight train, I redlined my heart rate and began to pass rider after rider as I hunted the boy. I put 50 riders behind me and still I could not see him. My legs were beginning to burn. I wondered how long I could ride like this before my legs started to give out. One thing about a reverse triathlon is that you can burn your legs to cinders because you don’t have to worry about having to run after getting off the bike.

I had taken in no water during the run. I tried sipping some water on the bike but I was working so hard that I kept burping it up. That never happens on the bike for me.

The bike course is three 4 mile laps. By the end of the first lap I could finally see Christian ahead of me. That brought me some relief. As I approached him I backed off a little to let some strength return to my legs. When I passed Christian, I wanted it to be definitive. I wanted him to believe I was much faster than him and there was no point in trying to pursue me. I hit the gas and passed him, only my 4 mile sprint had cost me and I discovered that my legs had paid a heavy price. I was not able to pass Christian with the show of strength that I had hoped for. Damn! 8 miles to go and he is going to believe he can stay with me. I didn’t look back, but I just knew he was pursuing.

Having put Christian behind me I tried to relax a bit until I had another troubling realization. When I began to envision my T2 transition, I realized that my transition area was basically the bike mount line.  I always do this because I want to shorten the amount of time I spend running in bike shoes. But I had forgotten that this was reverse triathlon. I now had a long run in bike shoes all the way to the bike mount line which was as far away from the pool entrance as you can get. (I wondered why no one was grabbing what is normally a coveted spot when I set up - now I realized why) Christian had set up with the fast guys just because he wanted to be like them. Christian also did not care about bike shoe issues since his run would be in his running shoes so he had set up right at the pool entrance. To make a long story short, I realized that Christian had already put all his transition travel in and just had to pull off his shoes and helmet and he was right there ready to enter the pool. I on the other hand had over 100 yards to run in bike shoes to my transition and then another 100 yards to run back to the pool entrance. In other words, I needed to get a serious lead on Christian during the bike in order to insure that he did not beat me to the pool.  And so ended any thought I had about relaxing.  

I accepted my fate and knew that I was going to have to hurt. I told myself that the pain I would experience for the rest of the race would be more tolerable than the pain of losing a TRIATHLON to Christian. With legs burning and lungs heaving I continued to pass scores of riders. The course was now littered with slower riders beginning their first loop. I could tell that many of the riders could hear my breathing long before I pulled up beside them. I pushed and pushed having no idea how close or far Christian was behind me.

I hit the transition and ran as fast I could in my bike shoes to my transition area. I tore off my gear like it was on fire and burning me. I grabbed my goggles and went running full bore to the pool. I think a few people were a bit startled to see this huge man running barefoot as fast as he could towards the pool. As I hit the entrance I could see Christian reaching his transition area. We met face to face as I turned left towards the pool. I was glad that I go to see him, otherwise I would have wondered the whole swim whether he was in the pool ahead of me. When we saw each other in transition I think we both knew it was over. Christian has become a great swimmer, but there is just no way that he can take me in the pool without a lead.  I swam hard anyways because I love erasing all those runners and cyclists who managed to get ahead of me. I finished and then sat on a start block very tired. That was a rough 59 minutes. I ended up finishing only 2 minutes in front of Christian.

Although I had not planned to race at 100% effort, Christian forced me to race all out. Having raced at 100%, the results are very telling for me. My run was near exactly 1 minute slower than last year. 15 extra pounds can explain that. The more troubling numbers are my bike times.  I was over 3 minutes slower and a full 2 miles an hour slower than last year despite absolutely giving everything I had on that ride.  My swim was about 15 seconds slower also. Over-all I lost 4 and a half minutes from last year. 

Out next triathlon has a longer run, which will give Christian even more advantage. I am suddenly very motivated in my training and my weight loss. I guess I should thank Christian for keeping me from getting soft or complacent.

 

IRONMAN Arizona Volunteering

Tempe, Arizona

I was supposed to become an Ironman on this day, but I had to settle for volunteering again. Christian and I worked the finish line as what they call catchers from 6- 9 p.m. which is the time frame I would anticipate finishing. So these were people like me.

Volunteering this year was an incredible experience. This 140.6 miles trial that these people have undergone strips them down to some kind of very human core. They have spent many hours out there surrounded by many but alone in their heads. Many have spent the last hours of their journey alone with themselves in the dark. They have spent the day with their doubt and their fear. When we catch them at the finish line it is like a welcome back to a safe place. The only way I can describe it is that they become like little children.  Some of them become utterly dependent and make no attempt to disguise it. One lady just put her head on my shoulder like my little girl does when she is tired. Others would just look into my eyes and cry. When I had to ask one lady questions, I had to reduce my questions to yes or no, as all she could do was nod like a child. Strong men fell into my arms like little boys and made no attempt to hide their dependence or their gratitude for my supporting arms. You could feel their honest and sincere gratitude as they cried when they thanked you. One finisher wanted to introduce Christian to his wife and take pictures with him.  I held them while they threw up. I held them while they lost control of their bladder. If you ever want to feel like you really helped another human being in a moment where they truly needed you . . .  go to the finish line of an Ironman and catch these incredible people as they finish something that strips away all their protections and makes them so human it will touch you in a way you cannot possible expect.

One addition is that it was probably not the best idea for me to catch with my recovering collarbone. I actually had 12 different people completely collapse on me and I had to prevent them from hitting the pavement until medical personnel could arrive and take them away. Christian was laughing at me. No matter how strong they initially looked, I seemed to draw the collapsers.This can get difficult when you are coming off a broken collar bone.

Gilbert Days 5K

 

Gilbert, Arizona

 

            This is a rare Friday night 5K and it is right here in Gilbert. Christian and I did this race last year. This this year Vayden and Lori joined us. They did the 1 mile run and Christian and I did the 5K. Despite my best efforts, Christian beat me. I know that I am out of shape and still recovering from everything, but I still wanted to beat the kid. I stayed ahead of him for the first two miles and then he made his move. He saw me on a turn around and then he knew that he didn’t have much distance to close on me. He just pulled up next to me and without a word passed me by. At first my goal was to just keep him close, but my body couldn’t even do that. There was one last out and back where I saw that he was about 50-60 yards ahead of me. I could tell he was satisfied with his lead.  I thought maybe his complacency would allow me to close the gap. Try as I may I couldn’t do it. I picked up the pace and my body started shutting down. It wasn’t a pain management issue.  It just wouldn’t listen to me. I crossed the finish line panting and knew I had given it everything I had today. It just wasn’t enough. Despite how crappy I felt during this run and how hard it was for me I was only about a minute slower than last year. A minute is a lot of time in a 5K, but it could be worse.

Desert Grande Triathlon

 

Casa Grande, Arizona

 

          Somehow this race has managed to escape my radar for the past several years. It is a Saturday race too. At first I was just going to bring Christian to the race and cheer him on, but then I decided I would just wish I were doing the race.  I could have made excuses, after all Dr. Myo told me I am not supposed to be riding a bike for 3 more weeks.  

          It was a good race. I liked the swim. I always prefer 50 meter pool swims to 25. After passing a few people who lined up wrong in the first two lengths I had a clear lane for the rest of the swim. My left side did well and I even managed to place 2^nd in my division in the swim. Not bad for having surgery 5 weeks ago. 

          The bike was unremarkable but a decent course for me. I thought I was working it hard. I even got a stomach ache from some lactic acid build up. I was shocked to learn afterwards that it took me over 36 minutes to complete 10 miles. My average was 16 mph. Wow, my fitness has declined substantially over the past two months. Today was the first day I actually road a bike other than once around Garden Circle last night just to see if I could remember how to ride a bike. I just can’t believe I only had a 16 mph average after how hard I was working on the bike.

          The run was my favorite part of the course. Now I did not particularly enjoy the run today because I of my lack of fitness. By the time I got to the run my body was having issues. How sad is that. I was struggling on a sprint triathlon. I liked the run because it went through the desert. My run was horrible however. I managed to run the entire 3 miles which was and accomplishment all by itself, but my average was 10 minute miles.

          I definitely want to do this race again, especially when I am in better shape. This race did wonders for pulling me out of my injury induced depression. I have been struggling to eat right and even stretch let alone work out lately.

More Clavicle Information

I had so much response and many questions about the information I posted about my clavicle break and surgery that I decied to add a little depth to what I posted previoulsy.

 

I fractured my right clavicle for the first time in 1990 when fell off a motor bike at a high speed in some sand dunes. I am very lucky I did not break my neck in that collision. I do not have those X-rays anymore, but I remember that my clavicle was broken into several pieces. I was treated by a family physician for this injury. I did not see an orthopedist. This fracture took several months to heal and knowing what I know now, I know that is a miracle that my right arm works as well as it does. Thank goodness I was young and my Father in Heaven saw fit to return me to my original strength.

 

Below is my present day right collar bone.

 

 

Below is a diagam of a posterior view of the clavicle showing the ligaments, and if you look at my X-ray above you can see how the ligaments pulled the breakage down.

 

 

My second right clavicle break happened ten years later and looked something similar to the diagram below. Surgery was not an option because of the proximty of all the ligament attachments. I was once a gain lucky that it healed properly.

 

 

Below is an X-ray of my more recent left clavicle fracture before surgery. Can you believe that that at the ER they could not find a fracture? Having broken my right clavicle twice and knowing exactly what that feels like I actually demanded that they take me back to get it X-rayed a second time after being told that they did not see a break. After the second X-ray session they saw what I have marked in red below and determined there was a crack. The red arrow points to what was determined to be crack in my clavicle. Keep in mind that the bone is completely ripped apart into two pieces.

Take a look at the second X-ray. My clavicle is in virtually two equal pieces.

I also had another bike crash crossing the street in the fall of 2001 about 6 months after breaking my right collar bone for the second time. I rode across a construction zone in the dark and managed to ride into an open hole in the road and broke my left thumb, left wrist, the radius head in my left elbow and two ribs under my left arm. That was a 5 bone collision. Ironically I was on my way to the store to buy a light for my bike.

I mention this crash because it was another example of ER mis-diagnosis. After the crash, when I got up, the first thing that I knew for sure was that something was not right with my left elbow. That is why I went to the ER. Because of the intense pain in my elbow, I did not even notice that I had broken my wrist, my thumb or even my ribs which would completely fracture all the way through later that night when I went to lay down. The ER found the wrist and thumb fractures but told me that my elbow looked ok. They had casted my thumb and wrist and were about to street me when I insisted that they X-ray my elbow again. It was then that they found the lateral radius head fracture that traveled lengthwise on my radius.

Based on several experiences I do not trust the ER anymore. My advice is to go see a good orthopedist. This latest crash puts my broken bone count in the double digits. I am starting to think taht I know as much as the people in the ER. I sure hope I am done with breaking bones. I feel like I have had more than my share. 

Below is a close-up of my Acumed plate installed.

 

 

My titanium plate has locking screws. Locking srews were recently developed because prior to the use of locking screws sometimes screws would work themselves out of place over time. To combat this problem locking screws are often now used. There are several types of screws, but the most commonly used in a situation such as mine are corital and locking screws. Below there are two examples of  locking screws on the left and one example of a non-locking corital screw on the right.

 

You can usually identify locking screws on an X-ray by their tightly threaded appearance. The most recent advances in plate technology involve locking plates. Locking plates utilize a combination of locking and non-locking screws or all locking screws. A locking screw has a threaded head which locks the screw into place in the plate itself. The plate has corresponding threads. The example below demonstrates a plate that can accept both locking and non-locking screws. The locking screw is depicted on the left, while the non-locking screw is depicted on the right.

  

Below is a close up of a locking screw and plate.