Weekend Workouts

On Friday morning I got up at 5:00, excited to do a Novaquatics workout at Soka University. Unfortunately, I could barely lift my right arm again. My back, which I had thrown out slightly on Wednesday while moving furniture in Utah, was really hurting again too making getting out of bed a painful exercise. How old am I?! I knew it would be a painful workout, if it was possible at all, and I could be risking more serious injury. Crap! I crawled in bed for another few minutes of sleep before a scheduled follow-up appointment with Dr. Ip, my hand surgeon, in Huntington Beach at 9am.

At the appointment, Dr Ip was pleased with the results. I took off the splint and after he asked me to touch my thumb to the bottom of my pinky, I found it would not move. He indicated that I'd need a couple of months of physical therapy to be able to fully bend my thumb again. He also gave me a "thumbs up" to getting back on the bike.

I was starting to come to grips that my body wasn't immortal or 19. It needed better rest and healing time. I had to reassess all the old sayings that were keeping me going: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" and "If it was easy, everyone would do it." and "No pain, no gain." Maybe, I need to let my body recuperate, postpone some plans, ease back in a little more slowly, and then I'll be better prepared for success.

On Saturday morning, I was feeling better so I did a short road bike (about 7 miles) and limited the climbing to Wood Canyon Drive in Aliso Viejo. I met up with Dave Galli and Jim Fitzpatrick at San Clemente pier at 3pm for an ocean swim. Jim admitted that he had some shoulder injuries during his past training, which had limited him for a couple of months. Dave, who is a physical therapist, diagnosed my shoulder as an impingement. That was good news, as it is easily treated. I limited my swim to a short 2.5 to 3 mile swim up the coast and back, breathing on my least favored side most of the time. Though visibility was lousy (3 ft) and the afternoon chop led to plenty of sea water swallowing, I finished feeling strong and without any shoulder pain or chaffing. Dave and Jim continued down the coast on their plans to knock out double that mileage.