WEEKS 11 & 12 AND SHEER RANDOMNESS

Two more weeks down in this journey.  As mentioned before, Week 11 was a well needed recovery week with a mere 9 hours of  training and then of course Week 12 came roaring in at 13+ hrs and a few pretty intense workouts.  Totals for the two week period were 6 hrs 45 min swimming, 10 1/2 hrs biking, 6 1/2 hrs running and 2 hrs 20 min strength training.  I got out on the bike again Monday after work with my friend Deb.  It was 60 degrees when we started and below 50 when we finished only an hr and a half later.  That cold front also came along with nasty winds that had me wishing I weighed 50 lbs more because I thought I was going to get blown off the bike.  I love my after work rides with Deb but traffic is horrendous and we can only go certain places so it only works for shorter rides. Not once but twice this week I was up at the crack of o'dark thirty to get long bike rides in.  Saturday called for a 3 hr ride.  I would have preferred to ride outside BUT I had swimming at 8:30 so I needed to be done by 7 so I had an hour to recover before heading to the pool.  You do the math. There were plenty of nasty intervals in that 3 hr ride and they were made even more difficult by the fact that the Penguins were not on!!!!!!!!!!  WTF.  Clearly Nickelodeon does not care that I need entertainment on the damn trainer.  I did watch in no particular order (all with the mute button on) an infomercial for some acne product that apparently turns gangly geeky teens into supermodels, the news, the Nanny (thank God for mute!!!!!) and some cartoon featuring a white dog who seems to spend a lot of time looking at his butt.

This dude seems to be very fond of his butt!!!!

Like I said before....don't judge me.  It is a matter of survival. Speaking of survival.... today's workout called for a 14 mile run.  14 miles is hard enough as it is but 14 miles in the cold rain is downright demoralizing.  Thankfully I met Kerry after 3 miles and she kept me company for the next 8 or so.  That helped pass the time.  Aside from just enjoying her company, running with Kerry makes me realize how much easier it is to  train for this kind of event when you don't have kids.  Kudos to her for getting her workouts in around sick kids, social events and life in general. You are a rockstar Kerry!!!!  I was so very happy when my Garmin turned over to 14 miles.  I looked and felt like a drowned rat when I got home.  After a shower it was on with the compression tights and on the couch with the heating pad.  Thank goodness I have a massage scheduled tomorrow.

Tired, soaked and ready for a hot shower!

In random news.....for those of you who don't know I had surgery on my right index finger in November.  Due to arthritis I developed a cyst which was putting pressure on a nerve and causing extreme pain.  It would swell like crazy after swimming and be very uncomfortable.  I have a high pain tolerance and I knew this was not going to work if I was going to attempt an IM so I had it removed.  I had to take two weeks off from swimming.  During the surgery the MD said I had an extensive amount of arthritis in that joint for someone my age and that he "scraped" it out.  OUCH. While the cyst and swelling went away for awhile the pain never did.  Over the past month the swelling has gotten much worse and the pain has been pretty bad.  I found out during my two rides outside that biking aggravates it also since you are constantly changing gears outside and that is the finger I change gears with.  It was so unbearable last weekend that I broke down and made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to see if there were non-surgical options to pain relief.  I simply can  NOT have surgery again right now because the last thing I need is to take off two weeks  from swimming again.  Since I changed health plans I couldn't even go back to the guy who did the first surgery.  Anyhow after an xray and checking out the swelling my new MD said that the cyst may very well be back but the pain is from the arthritis and the way to treat that is with a cortisone injection so he stuck a needle in my distal interphalangeal joint.  OUCH

The arrow is EXACTLY where the shot went. Would you expect anything less from an xray tech?

If these shots don't work my only other option is to have the joint fused together.  Of course that would have to wait until after the race.  SO at the ripe old age of 44 knocking on 45's door I am officially old.  I am getting injections for arthritis.  Actually what I really have is a condition called spraybutteritis.  It is a rare disease brought on by years of pumping a spray butter bottle.  You may think I am crazy but look at the facts.....I have this problem in only 1 joint in my entire body and it is the joint I use for the spray butter bottle.  Can't argue with the facts!!!!

You have done me so wrong!!

In one other note of sheer randomness....if  you read the comments left on my blogs you know Jacki is convinced she will be sliced up and murdered in her sleep while in Lake Placid.  She may be on to something and now I am worried because of this

As if I don't like swimming as it is, now I have to worry about this in the water...and by the way Jacki...I hear this monster thing kills people on land too!!!!!  Just sayin'