All Systems Go!

I finally got the clearance from a doctor to start running.  Its been a while (like around six weeks) since I ran as in April I was sick as a dog (I never get sick) and then around the end of April I had a gout, pseduogout, big toe capsule attack or whatever and couldn't walk for a week so I rode more.  The bottom and the top of my left foot started to swell and even my toes were swollen.  Several trips to the sports doctor had left us both baffled.  A bone scan turned up inconclusive so a CT scan was ordered but the wait time was two weeks and another two weeks for the results.  Did I mentioned I have to run a marathon in less than three months and I can barely walk?  My training was going down hill fast.  The sports doctor said I could either water run (gross) or run on an elliptical trainer (god kill me).  I swore I'd never be like those geeks running on one of them but in sheer desperation, I joined a local gym near work that plastered my car with flyers every week.  I did one run and was actually surprised on how much of a workout it was running on an elliptical trainer.  I had no problem getting the heart rate up to 150 beats and my shirt was totally soaked however the 30 minute run felt like eternity.  Partially because the gym was empty and nothing to watch.

Later at Rebecca's soccer game, Tammy was talking to Rebeeca's friend's father about my problem and he mentioned that his friend's brother is an Orthopedic Surgeon.  I called Cliff that night and gave him my contact details Thursday night and Friday morning Dr Lee called me as I was driving into work (I was talking on my hands free headset).  He asked me a ton of questions and then said to get a copy of the bone scan and then meet him at a X-ray clinic that afternoon.  That afternoon, I met up with Dr Lee but we could not find a clinic that could X-ray my foot but he wanted to look at the bone scan (it was on CD) so we went back to my house.  He looked at the CD and said he highly doubted I had a stress fracture but a x-ray would confirm any bone healing.  He looked at my running shoes and riding shoes.  I told him of my theory that the reason my foot was all swollen was because the cleat of my riding shoe was pushing up into my foot.  Kind of like running with a rock in your shoe.  I stopped running because my foot was swollen so I ran more which just made my foot worse.  Dr Lee agreed.  Problem solved.  I can cancel my gym membership and not have to run on an elliptical trainer like a dork.  On Saturday I got the X-ray and met with Dr Lee on Sunday.  He looked at the x-ray and confirmed that I had no break and could resume running outside.  Yeah!  Baby win!

This week's training has been ok and not much to report.  Last Saturday was a recovery ride and it was a crappy day.  Very windy and threatened rain.  For the first time, I did not feel like riding.  On Wednesday, I rode outside for 95 minutes leaving at 5:30 am.  I rode to the twin peaks at Aurora Road and Kennedy which is 46 minutes away.  I did some hill repeats in preparation for IMMT.  There are some stories on Slowtwitch as to how big the hills are and that got me scared.  I'm glad I got a compact crank but I don't think its going to be enough.  Next weekend, I'm going up to Mont Tremblant for a training camp so we'll find out how big those damn hills really are!

I preparation of training camp, I have a 5-6 hour bike on Saturday and a 4-5 hour bike on Sunday.  How sore will I be after this weekend?  However, tomorrow it's suppose to pour with lightening.  I've ridden outside during a lightening storm a couple of summers ago and saw a lightening bolt strike a house three kilometers away.  It scared the crap out of me so no more riding outside during a lightening storm.  I'll switch the days around and that means a four hour trainer ride.  Ugh.  Luckily a guy at work brought in his portable drive and I downloaded 20 movies to my laptop.