A Look Back on 2016 and What's Next in 2017

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A Look Back on 2016 and What's Next in 2017

2016 was another trying year. I was still in the cervical collar when I rang in the New Year.  It was a bittersweet moment, as I was happy to leave 2015 behind, but I also felt deflated as I was starting the new year of with an injury. I could not wait to be healthy, and thought that once I was free of that damn C-collar I would be good to go. What a delusion that was! It took me almost a year to feel like my old self again, and this was certainly not for a lack of effort to claw my way back to health and fitness. Much to my dismay, the road to recovery was long and lasted for the duration of my final full triathlon season before I return to medicine. Needless to say, this pursuit did not go as I had hoped it would, and after a great deal of struggle and despair I now feel at peace with what was and what will be.  Sometimes life does not feel fair, but I found it feels much better to embrace the struggle instead of fight it, and to not harbor resentment towards the unfortunate circumstances life throws at me.

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Timberman 70.3-Perhaps There is Pride in Just Finishing

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Timberman 70.3-Perhaps There is Pride in Just Finishing

I really wish I could be writing something positive, upbeat, and exciting about Timberman, but unfortunately the day did turn out to be what I was hoping for. Perhaps my expectations set me up for failure, maybe I did too much hoping and not enough physical and mental preparation. Honestly my anxiety levels in the weeks leading up to the race were through the roof, and I really did not think that I would do well based on my training, which had been a great struggle. Each workout was a battle, draining me physically, mentally, and emotionally. My motivation tanked, but I still got my butt out of bed to go to the pool in the predawn hours, and I dragged myself out the door for rides and runs. I tested my mental fortitude and did long rides in the pouring rain, and long runs in 100 degree heat.

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French Creek Triathlon-Back in Action

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French Creek Triathlon-Back in Action

Just a week short of the six-month mark, I raced. Two months ago, I wasn’t sure I’d be racing at all this year, or at least not until much later in the season. Though I had been optimistic over the winter, my confidence dwindled when I stopped making progress, and I wondered if I would ever be the same again, and be able to train and compete at a high level. I contemplated retirement; I looked into going back to school, and even pondered the idea of getting a spot in a residency program this year (a.k.a. starting in a few weeks’ time). Each of these grand ideas stuck around for about a week, because as much as things sucked, and at times made me want to give up, the alternative options just did not seem worth it, so ultimately I chose to stay the course. I just needed to keep on keeping on and hope that eventually something would click, and it would (almost) be like nothing ever happened.

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Life is Just a Series of Challenges-An Update

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Life is Just a Series of Challenges-An Update

Just when I thought things were looking up at the time of my last update, I encountered some more setbacks. A week into March I was plagued with headaches during and after workouts, as well as deep fatigue where sleeping 10 hours a night was not even enough to combat my drowsiness. My training progress came to a halt, and even slid backwards, and I felt as though my body was rebelling against me.  A lab work-up was mostly normal aside from a mildly elevated Cortisol and fairly elevated serum Ferritin, indicating my body was still recovering from the trauma, as Cortisol is a stress hormone and Ferritin is acute phase reactant or marker of inflammation (in addition to a marker for iron stores).  While relieved that there was nothing to treat, I was also frustrated that there was nothing to treat. I almost wanted something to be wrong, because then at least there would have been a reason for why I was hard core struggling, and there would be something concrete to fix.

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How am I doing?

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How am I doing?

It has been 3 months and my life is finally returning to a state of normalcy, after weeks of being primarily homebound, unable to do much besides sit in a recliner chair. I can drive again, so I don’t have to rely on a chauffeur (mom and dad), to take me to work or to doctor’s appointments. More importantly, I am regaining my wellbeing-both physical and psychological, as I am able to run and ride my bike, and I am back in the pool at 5am Master’s swim practice. 

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Trying to Tell the Story of a Year with Numbers

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Trying to Tell the Story of a Year with Numbers

For many, a picture is worth a thousand words, but in the data-driven world of science and evidenced-based medicine it is a graph that tells the story of a thousand words. In an effort to objectively tell the story of this past year, I created numerous graphs depicting weekly training hours, number of training sessions per week, and the percentage breakdown of S/B/R during the phases of my training through injury, progression, re-injury, progression, and finally being healthy and training at full volume and intensity.

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No Stranger to Comebacks

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No Stranger to Comebacks

I am no stranger to comebacks, as I have been coming from behind since day one. I was born nearly two months early and needed the help of a ventilator to breathe, and was hooked-up to all sorts of lines and tubes during my 5 week stay in the Neonatal ICU. I do not remember a time where I was lagging in reaching my developmental milestones, and some of my earliest grade school memories are of me beating almost all of the boys in the mile run during gym class in the first grade. I think I made quite a comeback from being the 3lb newborn to being a standout high school runner, a Division I athlete, and now a professional triathlete.

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