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.
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