Transcend trailer
Sell my time and do the best I can
Thanks for the all the kind words and encouragement.
I ended up going to see the surgeon for a consultation last Thursday (6th) and went to the hospital fasted (no food since the night before) just in case there was a chance they could operate that day. Moulton drove me to St. Joe’s in Hamilton and we both thought same-day surgery was a long shot but I didn’t want a full stomach to be the limiting factor in the off-chance surgery was possible.
Dr. Moro (highly regarded surgeon I was lucky to get hooked-up with) went over my X-rays with me and told me about the different options. Seeing that there was a 26mm gap between the two parts of my clavicle, he suggested that a plate be inserted to ensure the bone joins again. The main part of my clavicle was much higher than usual because I ripped the ligaments that hold it in place. Luckily a bed was available later that afternoon and I was able to go under the knife that evening.
When I woke up from surgery I remember coming to for a split second and trying to thank Dr. Moro (not sure if I actually said anything but I think I gave a thumbs up or a point). I was out again for a while and when I woke up in my hospital room the pain started to creep in. The nurse hooked morphine up to my IV and I waited for that to do it’s magic. 30 minutes later the nurse checked in on me and I told her the pain was only increasing. She realized she never fully hooked it up, flicked something, told me it should work now and apologized. The pain was constant all night, morphine apparently doesn’t work on everyone.
In the morning I mentioned that the morphine wasn’t working and she gave me percocet as that is what I was going to take once I left the hospital in a few hours anyways. Within 30 minutes the pain went down considerably.
My mom drove up from Michigan and took me back to Guelph. I was pretty useless and spaced for a couple days after the surgery from the painkillers. They started to make me sick so for the past 5 days I’ve only been taking Tylenol 3′s to get to sleep. My mom stayed in Guelph for the weekend and took care of the meals and the house while I vegged in a chair. She was such a big help, thanks mom!
Over the past few days I’ve seen improvement with pain although my mobility is still practically non-existent. I’ve been walking around the past two days and hope to get on the stationary bike in the next few days.
On the 20th I have an appointment with Dr. Moro to see how the healing is going. After another week of healing, more x-rays and the expert’s advice I should have a good idea on what sort of timeline I’m looking at to get back into the swing of things.
sailing to nowhere
things could be better right now…
yesterday i was out mountain biking with a couple of friends in the trails around guelph lakes. after about 45 minutes i decided to head home and parted ways. less than a minute later i was going down a grass hill when i noticed my shoe was undone. not wanting to get a lace caught in anything i hit the brakes and was skidding on the grass. my back tire was swinging out to the left and i was about to put my right foot down when my bike abruptly stopped and sent me flying upside down off to my left. i still remember flying in the air thinking it felt like i was sailing pretty far. i hit the ground with my left shoulder and heard a crack.
when i got up i knew something was very wrong because my collar bone dropped off before my shoulder. i could feel the end of my collar bone about an inch before it actually ends. i went back to find my friends but realized they were travelling in the opposite direction and there wasn’t much they could do anyways. so i rode about 30 minutes back to my house and then got a ride to the hospital from Chris Winter.
here you can see the shoulder on the right, my left shoulder, has a break.
Dave, Moulton and Deb met me at the hospital. Moulton broke his collar bone last year and had some useful tips for flossing teeth, getting on shirts… i finally got in for some x-rays and right when i saw them thought ‘how the hell is that supposed to join back together.’
i am scheduled to see an orthopaedic surgeon tomorrow as this particular fracture often requires surgery. there is a chance of nonunion with such a gap.
the day before i ran 25 x 400m on the track and although it wasn’t a particularly fast workout i was quite pleased and thought i was getting over the ‘hump’ and good fitness was right around the corner. i’m not sure what my timeline looks like from here…
it’s swollen today. lots of ligament tears
i’m still wearing the same shirt and i have to sleep in a chair, fun times. oh and type with one hand and i’m too lazy for upper case letters.
Just when I knew what I wanted to say
Conditions for Tuesday’s Inferno were pretty good as the meet produced many PB’s but because of the heavy rain that delayed the meet I think it scared away many spectators. I was slated to pace the 5000m through 3000m in 8:20 but once I hit 2000m I was doubting my ability to hold the same pace so I dropped out at 2200m and let the race take over. Andrew Nixon won the race in 14:04.
Here I’m giving warning to Nixon that I’m about to drop out.
On Wednesday I went to Toronto to meet Alan Brookes and members of the media for lunch to answer questions about my fall marathon. It was officially announced on Wednesday that I will be racing the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathonn (STWM). I’m very excited about this as my two fastest marathons were run at STWM (2010: 2:11:23, 2011: 2:10:55). Most of the questions, understandably, were regarding Jerome Drayton’s Canadian marathon record (2:10:09) and the $38,000 bonus offered by Scotiabank. Simply running the marathon is not exactly newsworthy but chasing a 38 years old record for a big payday is interesting. On one hand I’m not in a position right now to predict any sort of time in a marathon so I answered the questions conservatively noting that I need to train specifically for the marathon before I can gauge my fitness. On the other hand, I know what people want to hear so I offered my opinions on where I believe my capabilities lie.
I contemplated other marathons but I like the idea of running at ‘home.’ STWM will cater to the pace I want to run. If I go to another country I would likely have to pick a pace group which may not be exactly what I want. The crowd support for Canadian marathoners at STWM is amazing. Knowing the course and not having to travel is very convenient. And if I run well the Canadian prize money and record bonus doesn’t hurt either.
Here are some of the articles that came out of the press luncheon:
Sundown in the Paris of the prairies
I had a great weekend at the Saskatchewan marathon in Saskatoon. The Saskatoon Road Runners Association (SRRA) invited Dylan and I out there for four days to lead some fun runs and do talks at a school, expo and pasta dinner. We capped off the weekend by running in the 10km (moi) and the half marathon (Dylan). The 10km course is flat (surprise!) and gave me a good tempo workout (32:13) while being a little cautious to save my legs for my pacing job at The Inferno Tuesday night (more about that later).
When the SRRA invited me a few months ago I was hoping to talk about a successful Rotterdam marathon at the pasta dinner (that didn’t go as planned). Sometimes I’ll talk about the Olympics to a crowd but the night before a marathon I don’t like to describe the last three kilometres I battled through to finish the Olympic marathon. People don’t need to hear about a death crawl to get them pumped up the night before a race. My Olympic qualifying was pretty simple compared to Dylan’s races around the world and getting his time at the 11th hour (that’s what he talked about). I addressed the carb loaders about my training in Kenya, which is good for me because I have a lot of pictures from my trips to Iten.
The most entertaining question of the night went to the lady who asked, “do you ever get motivation by telling yourself something like having to run to a certain point in a race under a specific time and if you don’t your mother would die?” I often cut races or workouts into manageable sections however, nobody’s life is on the line.
When I first checked into my hotel room I thought my room was pimping because it had a separate bedroom off of the living room. And then I went to Dylan’s suite!
Delta Bessborough, across the South Saskatchewan River:
Good timing with the horse carriage. Delta Bessborough:
View from my room at the Delta Bessborough (you can see where I took the first photo from):
Tuesday (May 28th) is The Inferno track meet here in Guelph. A couple of weeks ago they were looking for a rabbit in the 5000m and I thought, perhaps, I could be ready by race day. So I tried a track workout last Wednesday to see how I would feel running 2:46/km. The main part of the session was 3 x 1000m and I managed 2:45′s with three minutes rest. From that session I figure I have a good shot of taking the race through 3000m in 8:20 so I signed on to be the rabbit. I made sure I didn’t go too hard in the SRRA 10km on Sunday to be prepared for Tuesday night. It’s going to be a big ask from my body considering my training since Rotterdam, but good fun nonetheless.
Tickets are $10 and other than seeing me suffer there are some interesting races. The women’s 5000m pits the ‘distance’ girls against the ‘steeple’ girls and ‘triathlete’ girls. The men’s 800m has rabbit extraordinaire Matt Scherer taking the field through at a fast pace. And the men’s steeple has three Speed Riverians with World qualifying marks all racing the steeple together for the first time.
Running back to Saskatoon
Couldn’t help myself to those Guess Who lyrics as I fly out to Saskatoon on Thursday for the Saskatchewan Marathon. I will likely run the 10km there as a tempo workout on Sunday morning.
The Inferno has a website now (www.SpeedRiverInferno.com), check it out and come watch the races if you’re in the area.
I have a couple of workouts under my belt now and my body is feeling better each day. The next phase of my training will include reconnecting with some 5km and 10km speed. For the past few weeks I’ve had the feeling that I have so much time before my next race and now all of a sudden it’s less than 5 weeks away. I don’t feel any pressure to force my workouts but I need to get into decent shape sooner than later. I’m really excited about my summer race schedule. After the Scotia Vancouver 1/2 I plan on racing the Boilermaker 15km (July 14) and the Falmouth 7 mile (August 11). These races are stacked up front!
Fan of Le Tour de France? Canadian residents can win a 5 day trip for two to watch some stages of the 2013 Tour courtesy of PowerBar. Details are here www.powerbar.ca/seeyouinfrance
Here’s a video of the 1989 OFSAA Junior Boys 1500m (courtesy of Jason Bunston). The video features Graham Hood who would, three years later, become the youngest competitor to qualify for the men’s Olympic 1500m final.
The time to hesitate is through
During scheduled downtime when the weather gets nice and I’m healthy I have to force myself not to run. And just like when I force myself not to air drum when I hear In The Air Tonight, every once in a while I crack. So I ended up running twice during my two weeks “off,” no big deal. The next week I ran a little more (~100km) and last week I ran 160km, just easy running. This week I will add in some quality (grade C quality) which I call “training to train.”
Nassagaweya road – marathon training mainstay
I have the luxury to ease into training because I’m not peaking until the fall and my first race effort will be the Scotia Vancouver Half on June 23rd. In the meantime I’m really looking forward to going to the Saskatchewan Marathon (May 26th) with Dylan Wykes to talk at the pasta dinner. A couple of days later (May 28th) there is going to be a great track meet at the University of Guelph. Despite the ridiculously long title (The Speed River Inferno presented by New Balance), the lack of website and a satellite website to purchase tickets this will be a quality track meet.
