Grubester

Current Weight:   215
Weekly Change:   -1.5
Total Lost:             44.5
To Goal:                  25

So that bike test I was talking about last week? BRUTAL. I’ve never really done an all out effort for that length of time (30 minutes). I knew it would be rough, but I didn’t think about the fact that my coach would be standing over me for the entire 30 minutes screaming at me. “Twenty-five minutes left. There’s barely a pool of sweat on the floor.” As he leans close to my face and looks me in the eye, “Did I perhaps forget to mention this is supposed to be all-out?” Nothing like being belittled by an Ironman. I kid, I kid. He was actually great motivation. No way I would have gone as hard as I did without him there pushing me. I had pretty decent results, and was able to get the information my coach was targeting, so all in all it was worth it.

Here’s a snapshot of my heart rate for that 30 minute interval. I was hanging above 160 beats per minute (my resting heart rate is about 60 bpm) for the last ten minutes, topping out at 175 bpm. I really did almost collapse at the end.

On to the drama of my shoulder. Thankfully, the MRI was approved on Friday afternoon, and I was lucky enough to get an appointment Friday night. I then got an appointment with my orthopedic doctor on Monday afternoon. Luckily, I don’t have a rotator cuff tear, but I do have severe irritation. The doctor told me nearly the entire cuff is inflamed. My course of treatment is severe: DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FOR THE NEXT 4-6 WEEKS. For someone accustomed to working out 12 hours or more a week, this is a tough pill to swallow. Granted, it’s better than the year-long recovery for rotator cuff surgery, but it sucks nonetheless. So here’s my doctor approved plan:

• Do nothing for two weeks
• If after two weeks I have no pain, I can start doing shoulder PT motions (no weights or resistance bands)
• If after a week of pain free no-weight PT, I can add in light weights and resistance bands
• If pain free after four weeks, I can begin biking and running as normal, and light swimming
• If pain free after six weeks, I can resume normal swimming

I hung up Eleanor last night. She wasn’t happy at all. See how she won’t even look at me?

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