Tediocity

I enjoy the plasticity of words ;)

Recently my therapist said that he thinks my progress is beginning to slow down. He said it's to be expected, and it doesn't mean it's going to stop. and not to worry. My first thoughts were shock and anger and disbelieving - I mean, what is he basing this off anyway? Then I started thinking about this blog and how there's not too much to add every week, and I got sad. BUT my Pilates instructor made it all make sense to me. She said progress in anything is like building a house, at first it seems to go faster because you're putting up the major structures such as walls, windows, doors. But when you start having to do the cabinets, or the crown molding, or all the little details, that's still progress, it just takes longer to complete. It's the final details, the finishing touches, that take the most time. That makes TONS of sense to me and everything is alright in my world again. And I guess not everyone needs crown molding, but it''s my house and I'm going to make it as awesome as possible no matter how long it takes.

SO
Swim: The program I swim with is off for 2 weeks, so back at it the week after next.

Bike: 2 miles and a fall. The first road rash since getting hit, ha! My right ankle tires quickly, and it's hard to hold it in place after a while. It hit the chain and I went over. That pedal's pretty worn, too, so I'm going to try new pedals before I blame my ankle just yet. Yeah, yeah, I got back on.

Run: Well, walk. 5 miles on the treadmill, both a distance and speed PIPR of 28:34 min/mi. Got a month before my goal of 18 min/mi, hmmmm. Treadmills I know are easier than the road, but since I can hold on to the front or either side, it offers better form. I hate the elliptical. It's tedious, and doesn't do much for me for strength or proper movement. But it's good for cardio, and works faster than the bike. Sigh. One of those things I don't want to do and is boring, but guess I'll keep it in my regimen for now. Rowing - I'm going to try this for cardio too.

Hands: The most tedious of all. So many little tiny muscles and takes so much to make a little change. Easy to give up on. Just started strength training with a vengeance so we'll see what happens. I got paddles for swimming so that should help my extensors. Also pushing putty out with each finger, sliding a card across a table with each finger, and wearing hair or rubber bands on my wrist and constantly stretching it out with my fingers - all extensor work. My grip needs work too, especially for weight lifting. And my wrists. So, tedious! But doable.

New road rash, old road  rash, and finger exercising with putty.

First Post-Injury Off-The-Trainer No-Hands Bicycle Ride

I've been down. I didn't even blog on Friday because I've been down. Sometimes reality sets in and it's just too much. I lost so much! My profession and my brand new obsession with racing, and even just being an attractive girl. I went from being larger than life to BROKEN. There's no guarantee I'll get it all back. Of course I'll keep trying, and with the gym and Pilates I'm getting noticeably stronger every day, but anyway sometimes things are overwhelming. I know, I know, I can still accomplish great things and yadayadayada, and I know so many people are worse off than me - I get "survivor guilt" fairly often - but none of that means I don't get sad.

BUT yesterday, my friend Jen Steele hooked me up with a bike small and light enough that I could try to ride it. AND I have an awesome boyfriend (you already knew that). So today (just now) I did it. I needed help getting on and off, and Nic jogged by me holding on. I was nervous because I often can't get my right ankle to stay in place and I didn't know if I could pedal fast enough, and then of course balancing... I was shaking and crying and sick to my stomach. But I finally asked him to let go - I mean what the fuck sometimes you gotta live. And I lived. And there's a lot more to go but it's one more milestone.

Documented by Snakebyte ;)

The Better Late Than Never Post

Well, I almost forgot to post today! Ashley, owner of Smoothie Factory, had told me how when she found out I was hit and heard I didn't have family in the area, she called all the hospitals looking for me even though we had never met. She just hated the thought of me being alone. And when she finally found out where I was they wouldn't let her in to see me because she wasn't family, and she nearly had a meltdown until an unknown lady approached her out of the blue and said God wanted her to know everything was going to be okay. Her life changed for the better after that, and she told me I should always know that something positive came out of that awful experience. I was pretty out of it, I know she and a few other triathletes had come to visit but everything's kind of fuzzy. This incident also prompted John Hebert, head of my triathlon club the Tri-Cajuns, to push for the "Share The Road" signs that were finally placed. And while I will never say this is good what had happened to me, John Hebert has decided to resign, giving me the opportunity to take over leadership of the club that has done so much for me, and keep them going in their already positive direction. I wouldn't have had the time to dedicate to it otherwise. Luckily for me, John isn't going anywhere and is a huge help, and Marcus Dudoit, a fabulous athlete in his own right, is co-administrating and helping me tremendously. Check out the website: Tri-Cajuns Triathlon Club

So that's the big news of the week that's taking all my time! I didn't accomplish much aside from that, unless you count muscle soreness and bonking! I'm doing heavy weightlifting right now, 2-3x/week, 6-8 reps max. I need to get my nutrition more in-line and eat more carbs. I'm slowly upping distance and endurance and hopefully speed, so it's one of those forces gathering weeks for me.

That's all I got, have a fantastic week!

Calvary Baptist Turkey Trot - I can totally say I raced this because I won a prize!

This has been a fantastic awesome amazing two weeks. We did the "Rawson Family Tradition" of participating in the annual Turkey Trot, and it was definitely memorable! It's my second time racing it. I had PR'd the first time, and it became my PIPR (Post-Injury Personal Record) 5K.. The day started off in the 20's, being the coldest Thanksgiving Day on record in the area. I planned to get there early and do the thing myself but Aunt Kelly and Uncle Mike decided to join me and I'm entirely grateful for their company! We started 45 minutes early, and I really was slower than I had hoped because of the cold weather. I was hoping for a 1:30, wanted to beat my old PIPR from this year of 2:05, and came in at 1:45. I was awarded a cooked turkey for coming in last, woohoo! ;) Nic's sister Laura Zaunbrecher had a "slow" day and came in 2nd OA, and Nic was 5th OA whilst still recovering from an illness. Then we ate a lot of food and passed out. It was great!

Great company the whole way!

I *might* have cried here, overcome by emotion of all the people cheering etc, and had to bury my head in Mike's shoulder to hide.

Our awards!

This week I started training with Damian Living with Anytime Fitness Upper Lafayette. It was a great surprise to me to find someone as knowledgeable as he is about strength training, including muscle groups and concentric vs eccentric training, and basically how to train muscles to remember what they're supposed to do. I've been incredibly impressed with Anytime Fitness and their support; as a company with web support from work outs to nutrition and a knowledgeable personal trainer, to the specific experiences I had with the people at this particular location. Also BIG thanks to Aileen Bennett for the hook up! She's here: Creating Clever. I already see this becoming a vital part of my recovery. Totally excited to see how much this is going to change things!

It's been a week of PIPRs, starting with the Turkey Trot. I'm up to 3000 yards swimming (Swim Log) with a 4s/100y PIPR on Tuesday, breaking it by another 7s on Thursday. Wednesday I had a 27:59 min/mi walking PIPR (the cleaner and improved Training Log). It's been great to be able to get back on a bike trainer again! Pilates has been awesome too, Alyce (my instructor) has really been a major influence on me mentally and physically. She told me about "Groove Church" which is a freestyle dance session once a week, and I attended it. It's so much a different scene for me, but I really like her thought process that I have to work out in all planes, not just linear such as running and biking, and especially swimming. Also, to do something not structured since the rest of my workouts are very structured. I have officially started training for the 1/2 Marathon (I was unofficially training for this 5K up until now) and honestly I'm not sure I can do it in the time limit. Wulf had said this would be the case, but I only have 2 months to go and would need to increase my speed by about 1/3. Meh, I'll figure it out. AND the Competitor Group said they'll work with me, so no worries!

To end with two Nelson Mandela quotes:
"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."
"Does anybody really think they didn't get what they had because they didn't have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment?"

Pre-Post Update Friday

Well, It's Friday. If this thing is working correctly and posts it at the time I told it to, that is! I'm not planning on spending time writing a blog Thursday or Friday, or really even most of Wednesday, so this is just filler. Hopefully by now I will have completed a 5K turkey trot, though honestly I'm a little concerned because the weather is cold (the coldest Thanksgiving on record here! Sheesh!) which means my muscles don't move as fast as I would like. My goal is 1.5 hours, but with the weather prediction it's looking more like 2, which isn't any better of a time than the SRA 5K back in June so dang. I did tandem a 16 mile bike ride with BikeLafayette president Jen Steele, and it's looking like I finally have a working bike/trainer combo so that's fun!

Ya'll have a great Thanksgiving weekend! :)

Maintaining Happiness

If you're in Lafayette, and you love cycling and mountain biking, please please please take part of planning the Horse Farm! Even if you're not in Lafayette but feel that the city can benefit, you can take part in the survey too!

Go here: TAKE THE SURVEY BEFORE MONDAY!!!

Planning with some of my favorite people :)

I've been doing a lot of thinking on what I can't control, and what I can. I really try not to dwell on what I can't control. Sometimes it gets the better of me, so it's good to be reminded time to time! A friend reminded me today. It's not productive to waste energy dwelling on things I can't control, and also trying to please everyone. SO
*What I can't control, well, I've got to move on with what I can. I have to make sure I've covered all my bases then forget about what I can't and work with what I have. That's the tough part, knowing what it is you can and can't! Knowing when to relax. You've got to recognize you're human and therefore not perfect but doing the best you can, draw a line, and Let Go. Yikes! But it's how to stay sane.
*Trying to please everyone - here's the truth about me. I think this is going to disappoint people though I don't mean for it to!

I LIKED RACING BECAUSE i LIKED WINNING.

It was something I felt I had potential at and was getting better all the time. I was on a huge upswing with my speed. It's not that I liked crushing my competition, it's that I liked living up to the mental and physical challenge to have what it takes to be that good. That level of determination is still my goal. I have a lot of work and training to do, and I want that challenge. BUT, if I can't get to the place where I feel I can be competitive, racing this way will stop being my goal. The goal will be something else hard that I can do exceedingly well, like maybe climbing a crazy mountain or hiking a continent, or whatever else tough that if I focus on I can excel at. It's not that I'm against people racing just to better themselves, that's fantastic! That's how Nic and so many other amazing people feel and that's all good. It's just not why I personally had started getting hooked on racing, and why I stay focused on getting back to that now. I may never have been that fast, I my never be now, but I don't know that yet. I just watched Ride The Divide and I want that feeling. Keeping balance on the edge physically and mentally. THAT is my goal. It's when I'm happiest.
PS If I ever win a race, even just my AG again, I'm going to Norway. I don't know why Norway exactly, it's just sounds cool. Er, cold. Come with me!

What I CAN control: getting faster swimming all the time! Huge challenges with my body, but it works and I'm in love with the technical aspects of swimming. It's a perfectionist's dream come true! Here's my swimming log if you haven't seen it, it ain't much! Swimming Log
I am just now able to really weight train, and Anytime Fitness Upper Lafayette has volunteered to help me with it! Awesome, awesome, awesome. I'm so glad to be part of such a great community, where when a bunch of doors slammed shut for me all at once, a bunch more opened that I wouldn't have if I wasn't here. LOVE all of you!

Lastly, a tiny shout out to Couer Sports. Only tiny because they're new and I barely know them, but I'm stoked to see all the coolness they're doing. Couer is a new line of women's athletic clothing and while I haven't gotten a chance to try it out, as a company they've been fun to watch. They're already working hard to stay engaged with the public, and have started a "Heart and Courage" award that commends "the bravest move, have the most courageous race, or in some way exhibit tremendous heart on the field of competition." On top of that, they're going to give cash compensation to their sponsored athletes, and already donate 1% of their sales to The Challenged Athletes Foundation.  They're taking applications for ambassadors right now - check it out!

Not all the pics of me working out can be pretty ;) This is another Pilates machine, the "reformer", It makes me have a well-balanced body (my right side is looking good, right?) and I can even mimic running on it!

I kinda have the best Pilates instructor, ever. She's sweet and amazing, and I've learned so much already. Honestly, the best thing for my recovery outside of therapy. I really need to designate a whole post to this. You can find her here: Wise Body Pilates

LOVE!

True Story

I volunteered at the Audubon Zoo as a Junior Keeper/Keeper Aide until I was 15-years-old. There I was able to work with several different kinds of animals. I befriended the sea lion trainer, Carolyn, who was a bit older than me and sooooo awesome! It was great to watch her with those guys, she was very very good at what she did.

Part of her duties included "Asian Domain" which had several types of animals in it, including Garth the Lion.

One day, I got to go help Carolyn behind the scenes in Asian Domain! The way it works, all the animals stay in their inside homes at night, and go to the outside exhibits during the day. There is a hallway that you can walk down to access all the inside rooms. There are chains that you can open and lower the animals's gates from this hallway so that you never come in direct contact with the animals  themselves. SO, to let an animal outside, you open the gate to it's outside enclosure, open the one to it's inside enclosure, and they run through the passageway from inside to outside, and you close the gate behind them. Look, I have a picture.

At least, you're supposed to close the gate to the outside exhibit after the animal runs in there. But somebody must have not done it all the way, or something, because Garth was in his passageway when we came in!

This wouldn't have been that big of a deal if there wasn't a very thin sheet metal door for human access to the hallway. And if Carolyn didn't love Garth so much. You see, Carolyn was fascinated by him, and before she was able to work with him, she would every day go eat her lunch or whatever outside his exhibit and watch him. Stare at him. For days and days. Come to find out, this makes a lion think you're threatening, and Garth Hated Carolyn. She stopped when she realized it was happening, but by then it was too late.

SO, Garth realized Carolyn was just on the other side of this thin door, and kept trying to bang down the door to get at her! She couldn't leave the lion loose in case someone else walked in, and I wouldn't leave her, so she kept running to the roof to lure him back to the outside exhibit while I kept trying to close the exhibit door behind him fast enough to keep him in there. BUT he knew what was going on! He would see the gate closing and dash back in the passageway, banging down the metal door.

And then, it worked, he got the door down, and was loose in the hallway with us. And then he saw us and then...

We died.

THE END

(ending loosely based on Shel SIlverstein's "True Story")