Back from Brazil

It's been a long week, traveling to Latin America on business.  I left Boston early on Monday and flew to Mexico City, arriving mid-afternoon on Monday.  I worked with the local team on Monday afternoon -- storechecks, consumer in-home and then dinner.  It was a very long day, not getting to my hotel room until after 10 pm that night (I left home around 6 am).

The next morning I got up for my workout.  Still dealing with the ribs, and the stress fracture in my foot which doesn't seem to be healing, I rode the stationary bike in the gym -- a good one for a change -- a real spinning bike (Lifefitness).  I DEFINATELY felt the altitude -- wow!!  What a difference.  Since I hadn't been working out much due to the ribs, I wasn't sure how much was the altitude, and how much was my basic conditioning level -- but after a 5 minute warm up, I started doing ladders of 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20 second intervals all out, letting my HR drop down below 120 before I started the next interval.  I cranked my HR -- getting it up over 160, which is really unusual for me on the bike.  My legs were screaming.  Altitude for sure.  I rode for an hour, with a short cool down, repeating the interval set 2x with a 3 minute recovery between the two sets.  Really the best workout of the week -- too much traveling, and not being able to run due to the stress fracture in my foot (more on that in a minute) really has me bumming out.

So, the ribs are definately feeling better.  Still not 100% -- it still hurts a little to sleep on my side.  But, the ultimate test of being able to get in and out of bed easily and relatively pain-free has been "passed."  So much so, that last week I decided to try to run.  So, on Monday (a week ago) I hopped on the treadmill, figuring I would do a very easy 5 km run.  It had been 9+ weeks since my last run (the Marlborough Triathlon on July 27th) and after about 2 kms, my foot/toe started to hurt again.  Incredible!!

So, the background on the stress fracture is this:  somehow I developed it while doing the Providence Half Ironman in early July (the 12th).  For some reason, my right foot swelled up after the swim, during the bike.  When I got to the run after R2, the elastic laces on my running shoes were WAY too tight.  I couldn't loosen them enough.  I don't know if I got stung by a jellyfish during the swim, or had unusual chafing from my riding shoes, but when I got out of my bike shoes, I had a blister on my second toe and my right foot was all swollen.  Of course, I plowed on, threw on my shoes, and didn't need to tighten the laces.  After a few miles though, my foot was going numb.  I probably should have just cut the laces, or pulled the yankz apart and relaced them through fewer holes. I just kept going...and finished the run (with a not so bad time, even).

The next day, my foot was killing me.  And, it continued to hurt for a few days.  I gave it a few days off; but then went back to running on it.  Each time I ran, it bothered me during the run; and even more after the run was over and for the next day or two.

Long story short, it continued to bother me the rest of the month of April.  I did a short/sprint tri on July 26th, ran a great race with no pain (thinking -- this is how it should feel) ... but later that day, the pain returned.  I decided that I wouldn't run again until I got it checked out by a doc, which didn't happen until a week later, while on vacation in Singapore.  I went back to my old Sports Medicine Doctor I had seen when I lived there, and got it checked out.  An x-ray and MRI later confirmed it:  a stress fracture.  His advice:  "stay off of it for the next six weeks."

So, I did.  Then on the first day of the sixth week, I fell and broke the ribs.  Add another four weeks to the lay-off.  The stress fracture should DEFINATELY be healed.  Nope.  Ribs are doing much better, but the two times I've tried to run in the last week, my toe/foot immediately begin to hurt again.  So, after getting back from Brazil this morning, I went to see a sports podiatrist in the afternoon.  He checked me out; and is ordering another MRI to see what is going on.  I probably won't know anything until sometime mid-next week, or maybe even slightly later.  :(  So bummed out by all of this.

I've NEVER broken a bone in my life.  This summer:  4.  I don't know if it's aging; or bad luck; or what?   But, it's surely been a string that has really kept me away from the things I love.  I have missed a LOT of races this year; and I'm still not back at everything.

The good news is that my ribs are now healed enough that I've been able to swim.  Not 100% still -- there is still pain there (which I particularly felt on the 12 hour flight from Rio last night!)  But, each day is a little better.  Today I swam and rode my bike on the CT.  I've definately lost fitness through this bout with bad luck ... but I know it will come back quickly once I can get back in to it in a more structured way, which I hope might be as early as next week.  Fingers crossed, I might even be running again in another week or two.  I hope!!