Puttin' the Hurt to Myself

With my house remodeling done for now (a frozen pipe crisis in the new upstairs bathroom was averted yesterday) and my house put back together, I'm finding that I am getting myself back to "normal," meaning I am on my training plan.

Last week was a pleasant deviation from my written plan, since all I could do while out of town was run, but that was perfect. The weekend was great, as Shelley was willing to do what I needed to do or figure something out different for herself.

This week I am full on my plan, meaning all the strength work, running, biking, stretching, everything! As I've picked up my hours, I realize my diet needs to change. After I finish what's left in my fridge (or maybe before) of salad fixings, I am done with that shit. My body needs more carbs, so it's time for me to revert to my usual staple of brown rice or couscous with my evening meal. Besides, my body doesn't like digesting all that salad crap, don't ask me why! I've always thought my body was wired to process a lot of protein and very gentle carbs (and beer!).

As I've begun to add intensity to my workouts, too, my level of fatigue has increased, thankfully! Which gets me to sleep earlier and sleeping a bit longer. I'm not quite on my optimum sleep needs, but I figure that will happen soon enough, especially once I stop eating rabbit food at dinner!

My weight is about 2 lbs. up from where I'd like to be, and I feel like a total fatty. That will fix itself automatically as my stress levels go down, less drinking (not that I've been going overboard--but less is more in this case), more strength training, and I'll be good to go. On a positive note, I'm now up to 5 chinups (almost from a dead hang), so I'm pretty confident I'll hit my 10 in about 6 weeks!

That leaves one remaining challenge: the state of my back. This weekend will make 5 weeks since my little act of stupidity. I have nearly full range of motion in terms of twisting, and obviously, I'm able to do all my sports just fine, even getting through a 50-mile running week. I am experiencing no pain while exercising. I am now at the point where I am experiencing discomfort mainly while sitting, and through my own investigation and with confirmation from massage therapists, I am down to my QL (quadratus lumborum) and iliopsoas muscles being the last remaining ones that are still a bit distressed. Listen up peeps--these two muscles are key to triathlon and well, just holding you up, sitting, twisting. They are the workhorses for your back mechanics and hip flexors.

I had some awesome work done on these muscles Monday evening, and am arranging to get some quality massages during the next 2 weeks. These are deep muscles, and while I can do some work on them myself, there's nothing like having someone else put the hurt to me!

I have to say that 5 weeks seems like a long time to me to be dealing with unhappy muscles, but I know how crucial it is to keep the QL and iliopsoas happy, so I am being patient and conservative--although my definition of conservative probably doesn't match to most people's! My real test of the system will be ZebraMan next week, and I'm really excited about it! Ordinarily, I wouldn't take pics of event clothing before the fact, but hey, I got the suit, so here I am. Bonus, spot all the zebra things in the pics!

I am so hurt

Nothing like getting a massage and getting the full report on your injuries. My right leg is bruised over my quads and my shin. The gash in my shin is definitely going to scar--a little chunk of my leg was taken out. My left glute now has a nice bruise around the cut (which I'm told is also fairly deep), and the lower part of my left glutes is also bruised. All the muscles up and down my spine are spasming intermittently.

I cried for myself during this massage. I don't think I've ever felt so hurt. At one point I asked Shawna to please find something on me that isn't injured. I just hope that my underlying strength helps me to heal. I am lucky that I have a few people who will take care of me or are at least trying to. Now I have a nice huge mirror in front of my bed so I can look at myself and see just how bad everything is. I'm almost scared to do that, but I know it needs to be done. On the bright side, my eyes turn bright green when I'm crying. They never look so pretty as when I'm sad and crying. Isn't that ironic?

Fuck.

Remodeling is a Dangerous Sport

So the injuries I sustained on Saturday are focused on my right side--my left knee and quads took a hit from the shelf that fell on top of me as I fell backwards, but it's mainly the right side of my lower back/glutes that is messed up, and also my right knee and shin. You'd think that'd be enough, right?

FUCK NO!!!

Today, the guys are demolishing the bathroom--some pics below of the wide open space all the way up to the roof!

This is the wall where the mirror and vanity used to be

This is looking all the way up to the roof! The new ceiling will be raised about 1.5 feet. I suppose I could have asked for a skylight, but too late now.

Here's Ken dismantling the plumbing in the old tub (ick) with a hole where the window used to be

Looking up towards the roof beams

So they are banging away with a sledge hammer to get the tub out of there. I'm working and sleeping downstairs now, and I needed to pee, so I go in the new downstairs bathroom, sit down and I'm attacked by this lobster, which fell off a shelf over my head. Thank goodness it didn't hit my head--it's made of cast iron, about 12" long, and you can see that the claws and one leg are now missing:


I don't know which piece made a direct hit on my ass, but it hurt, and the result was this nice cut on my left ass cheek, so now I have injuries on both sides of my ass!


I iced the cut right after it happened, stuffing a small ice pack into my compression tights, which held it in really nice.

Well, they have the tub out of there so I assume that no more objects will be falling on top of me! At least the cut (about 2" long) is up above my sit bones, so I didn't feel any pain while riding the trainer today. When I showered though, and the hot water hit the cut, it did sting for a bit.

I am going to actually pray, I think, for no more injuries. Or gas leaks (the gas line to the dryer has a slight leak). What's funny is my physical injuries are making my lack of sleep seem like a non-issue, but since I've put in over 2 hours of training today, I'm hoping I'll pass out like a baby tonight.