I'm Walking, IMLP Pics & Roger's Cup

Hello again!

Still busy doing a lot of stuff like..................walking, woo hoo!!!

Once out of the cast, every day feels better and better and much progress is being made. While my walk does not look great (Achilles is still fairly tight but not like last week), there is less of a limp each day. I've been to physio (at Physiobility) 2 times this week and I am getting awesome treatment. I highly recommend them if you ever need treatment. Lots of hydrotherapy, ultrasound, massage, and laser.

I get to do all of the stretching and range of motion exercises on my own. I even got on the bike Wednesday (indoors) for 15 minutes. I was not riding all that fast or forcefully but I was pleased to be back riding. The Achilles was tight at the start but loosened up more at the end to decrease the pain. I wore bike shoes but did not clip into the pedals on the left side. Not enough strength or guts for that yet. I'll try riding again today.

I took a few pics of myself to see how much my left calf reduced, but as you can see I actually looks bigger. However, the reality is that the muscles are all mush. It it likely bigger due to swelling and the fact that my right leg was taking most of my weight as I took the picture. But the good news for me is that I did not sustain major shrinkage. I've seen lots of pictures with some major atrophy happening on the injured leg. Let the recovery continue.

After finally uploading these pics, I can finally congratulate a few buddies on their finishes at Ironman USA Lake Placid. Way to go Angus, Gord and Rick. That was the toughest day IMLP has ever seen and I sorta glad I missed it. I signed up for the 2009 race a few days ago so look out boys, I'm anxiously awaiting to make up for this year. Here are some pics from the soggy day.

Prior to the swim start - Just half of the athletes.

Showing some art skillz - making a sign for my buddy Angus


The wife's new shirt - that is me squeezing into a women's small. Do I need a manzier?

Angus heading out in the downpour

Rick

Gord

James Bonney (got hypothermia and dropped out--you'll get them next time)

Desiree Ficker (great athlete but the wet and cold shut her down too)

Men's Winner (Francisco Pontano)

Stephanie Dubois

Jelena Jankovic & Ana Ivanovic

On top of recovering, doing my exercises, writing articles, and finishing an online course, I've been watching the Roger's Cup from Montreal. There is lots of great coverage going on and my favourite Canadian female tennis player (Stephanie Dubois) is playing right now. When I started this post they were in a rain delay but play has resumed and she has just lost the first set to Jelena Jankovic 6-3. It will be tough for her to advance to the quarter finals but I'll keep pulling for her. Ana Ivanovic (if you have been following this site you know I've been touting her for many years) will be playing later and I will be watching that too. Gotta go and catch the rest of the match.

Til next time. Thanks for reading. RH

1 week delay / The cast is off

Sorry for the one week delay but lots of stuff going on this week.

Obviously, by now you know that Stadler did not race in LP and Bonney dropped out of the race due to mild hypothermia. I saw him head out on the run but he looked real cold and uncomfortable so I was not surprised that he pull out.

Race day at Ironman Lake Placid was horrible. Basically, it rained 14 hours out of the 17 hour race day. It started once the pros headed into transition (45 min into the race), stopped briefly from 3-4 pm, and poured again til 945 pm or so. A very tough day. It got very chilly out there.

My cast got soaked (I'm not allowed to get it wet) and there was not much I could do about it. A whole bunch of dead skin started oozing out from the bottom of my cast. Yummy! By the next day it seemed to dry but in reality it kick started some nasty stuff a few days later.

I got some nice pictures of the pros and a few friends. Hopefully some will be used by Triathlon Magazine Canada. Congrats to Rick, Gord (his first Ironman) and Angus! All of who completed the race and what was the wettest and toughest day at IMLP.

Once I got home, I showered but somehow my many protective bags slipped and more water slipped down into the cast. So now the cast was soaked once again. I don't think it fully dried out in the first place.

The next morning I was at a tennis conference and I suddenly smelled something rancid. I soon realized that it was coming from my cast. It was still wet and could only imagine what it looked like under there. I immediately called the hospital to get the cast removed. I was lucky enough to get an appointment and they cut it open. I cleared the room with the stench coming from my leg and there was tons of dead skin.

The cast technicians/nurses did not want to touch it. I just wanted to clean it off, peel off the dead skin and go on my way. They insisted that I better not since I might just pull off all the skin from my foot and have nothing underneath. They put on a new plaster splint on top and wrapped it. They told me to take a hair dryer and dry my leg off at home.

Once I got home I could not imagine leaving that wet stinky mess under wraps so I pulled the cast off. I peeled off all the dead skin and washed my foot. Aside from the severely wrinkly foot (like if you were in water for several hours) everything was normal and a lot less gross looking. I was glad I did this because I'm am sure it would have been worse a few days later when I saw the doctor.

On Thursday, I saw the surgeon and he examined my leg and proclaimed that I am no longer in a cast, I am on to full weight bearing and can start physio. Yahoo!!! I met with the physio minutes later and she gave me more details. I was very fortunate that she is a fellow Ironman athlete too (and a very fast one at that) so she knew my needs. I was given a bunch of exercises and told that I am cleared to ditch my crutches at any time, can start riding a bike (indoors), can swim but just refrain from pushing off with my left leg.

My Achilles is definitely tight and achy. But every day the range of motion gets better as I stretch it out. Still a long way to go but things are looking great. I am excited to start riding the bike again. It has been way too long. Plus those extra pounds have got to go.

By the way, don't forget to check out the huge Running Free sale going on right now. Lots of deals to be had. Feel free to use my discount code to save even more $$ -11296
Go in person or online at http://www.runningfree.com/

Til next time, thanks for reading.
RH

The cast it cut open.

Nasty leg revealed.

A closer look. Most dead skin is off. But still gross.

Cleaned off and one day later.

6 surgery incisions.

James Bonney & Stadler

For those of you still wondering if Normann Stadler will race in Lake Placid I have the up to date news................ There isn't any.

I've talked to some race officials and they (like all of us) have seen the information posted on his website and have sent the call out to him to find out what is going on. However, no one has returned their calls or emails. While it is quite possible he could still show up today to register, that is unlikey. Keep your fingers crossed though.

After picking up my race kit today (turned my chip in so no chance of racing--maybe), I had a chance meeting with James Bonney at the Expo. I was checking out his bike and we had a nice chat about a ton of stuff. Before my chat with him I thought that he had a great chance to win this race (especially after his IMAZ performance), and I sincerely hope that he does so. A very classy and down to earth guy! If he runs a sub-3 hour marathon (his goal for this race--he swims and bikes like a demon already) I think he will do it.

As usual, the town of LP is in full swing in preparation for Sunday. Lots of fit people riding and running around town. I'm jealous. I'm almost feeling my leg healing at the moment. Maybe I should rent a bike and do this darn race? There are so many fellow athletes and locals saying sorry to me and wishing me well. This makes things easier and why I love this sport and town so much. I'll be back next year for sure.

Til next time
RH

Camelback Sustainable Hydration Project

I came across this site a few minutes ago.
Excellent info about tap water vs bottled water, etc.

http://www.choosetoreuse.net/

I've always loved Camelback products and I would also suggest that you pick up some of their bottles that are BPA free.

Check out this great site to discover the dangers of those plastic bottles.

http://www.greenlivingonline.com/HealthNutrition/get-rid-of-plastic-water-bottles

Til next time
RH

Le tour still rules

Just when everything was going great, some dope decides to be stupid and gets busted for using EPO.

I don't know about you, but I was really starting to enjoy the wide open competition of this year's Tour de France and the lack of the daily reports of riders getting busted for testing positive for one drug or the other. While I not totally naive to believe that no one was going to test positive for drugs this year, I thought there was a great chance.

Since everyone is going to be tested a zillion times, who would be that stupid and disrespectful to the great sport of cycling to try and get away with taking performance enhancing drugs? Well it seems we had at least one taker for that title this year and he is Manuel Beltran. For a 37 year old guy whose best days were well behind him, and who had zero chance to win anything, what was the point? I guess maybe it was his only way to stay on the team and make a living. Sad really.

All the rest of the world (who don't follow cycling regularly) will take from the headlines is that the cyclists are still a bunch of druggies. Obviously not the case. If anything, the rest of the sporting world should take notice and follow the lead of cycling. They are catching the cheaters, unlike to others who are ignoring the issue or sweeping it under the rug.

I appreciate the efforts of the cycling establishment in getting rid of the dopers (I didn't like how Astana was left out of the Tour but that is another story), and I admire the immense talent, skill, and toughness of the cyclists. So I will always be watching my TV every July from day 1 right to the end when the race ends in Paris.

No only if OLN would show more cycling up here in Canada then things would be perfect.

Link to the #$%@*! getting busted yesterday.
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1yQ9pzKB7WfHIg02Ua83vcbmMkw

Til next time.
RH

Tour de France 2008

I know I've had a bunch of visitors to this site looking for Tour de France info. A lot from the US but I had OLN (Canadian) broadcast info so to help you out and to update and add other links here you go:

Canadian Broadcast Schedule on OLN
http://www.tsn.ca/oln/tour_de_france/feature.asp?fid=10749

Versus Broadcast Schedule
http://www.versus.com/tdf/article/view/758/?ss=tv&tf=body_tdf_schedule.tpl

Versus TDF Site
http://www.versus.com/tdf/

Worldcycling Site (Lots of videos, and blogs by Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen)
http://www.worldcycling.tv/


Enjoy the tour. It's wide open and exciting this year.

Doc Stoddard, New Tat & Physio

I am extremely dubious about the pain I'm feeling in my right foot (bearing all of my weight for 5 weeks now, and the Achilles and top of foot hurt before the whole left Achilles rupture deal) so I decided to be proactive and get help before a repeat of the left side happens.



So yesterday, I paid a visit to Dr. Stoddard (sports medicine expert at Toronto SEMI, and the creator of eLoad). We have worked together in the past (Transitions Magazine) so it was nice to see him again an catch up on things, chat about sports nutrition, his new Fly product, etc. He confirmed that there was inflammation on that side, and set me up to see a podiatrist to discover why I'm getting all these problems in the first place. I've been avoiding these for about 10 years now and it looks like orthothics might be the remedy. I won't know anything until my cast comes off and they can check both feet out. I'll see a physio tomorrow.



Ever since the surgery, my appetite has dropped. I basically only eat once a day. Thank goodness for that otherwise I'd be over 200 lbs now for sure. I had not eaten since the afternoon before so I was a bit hungry after the appointment. Thanks to the Taco Bell commercials I hit a drive thru and got the 5 tacos and a drink deal. Man was it good..... and bad all at the same time.


After killing some time doing some writing, I headed off to get my latest tattoo at Way Cool Tattoos (thanks for Jen for a quick and easy experience). Things you do when you are bored eh? I cant post pics of the new addition since it is under bandages right now but I'll scan and post the artwork ASAP. I also updated the Ironman completion dates on my left arm. This will probably be my last tat for quite some time. No more space on my right side anyway, and I don't feel inspired or the need to add anything else. Although every time a family member (Mom) says they hate my tats, I want to get some more.




It looks like this except the mouth part.

Today, I had my first physio session at Toronto SEMI, and it was one of the most professional encounters I've had with a physio. All comments were documented on computer as I gave them. and a very thorough evaluation and testing protocol. I got some exercises to do and received treatment on my Achilles and top of foot (bottom end of my it band) and was off.


Got home, ate, and as I am writing this, I watching the wicked Individual Time Trial from today's Tour de France. I so want to get out there and blast away on my Saber.


Thanks for reading.


RH

Stadler to race at Lake Placid?

This was posted on the coverage from the European Ironman Championships (tomorrow in Germany). Once he found out that I am not racing it is only natural that he decide to come over and do Ironman Lake Placid. :)

Normann Stadler has to cancel IRONMAN Frankfurt because of illness

“I absolutely wanted to participate, but the doctors forbade it.”

Because of a compounded influenzal infection, Normann Stadler who won two times Ironman Hawaii, can not participate in the IRONMAN European Championship in Frankfurt.

The captain of the Dresdner Kleinwort Triathlon Team had to announce the staggering news this morning, after having won the International German Championships (middle distance) only four weeks ago.

“I wanted to start at any price, but my medicals clearly told me to risk my health by doing so,” disappointed Stadler stated. “If the doctors would not have strongly advised me not to race, I would have done the race with the last of my strength. I feel endlessly sorry for my fans and my sponsors. Now I am going to do everything I can to support my team colleagues Jan Raphael, Markus Fachbach und Maik Twelsiek in Frankfurt and I will show in Hawaii what I am able to.”

Stadler is going to compete on the next Ironman on the 20th of July in Lake Placid.

A new cast comes on. Nice eh!

Cast #2 is sawed off.


The first slice.


Fiberglass is off, sheath is now cut.


Leg comparison. Left is shrunk already.


Cast #3 is applied. 2nd layer of purple fiberglass.


The pink stripes are applied.


Heading home.


Pele chillin' on the new cast. I think she likes it!