Frustration

After finally getting off my rear and trying to get in shape, I have been reduced to a bunch of girly exercises. Even the pool has been closed due to some big leak. Well I just can't sit around any longer. I put my bike together over the weekend and took it out for a ride. It's a little weird riding in traffic, but I think I will get used to it. My insurance agent even asked about my bike. No he didn't try to sell me bike insurance or anything. But he did ask if he saw me out riding. When we figured out it was me he saw, he asked what I was doing in the left lane in all that traffic- Taking a left hand turn, duh. Maybe I need to learn some bike ettiquite or how to spell. Whatever. trying to write while low is a little touogh. I'm done

Medical/Training Update

Since my last post I've had tons of people call me, email me, talk about me in the pool when you didn't know I was there. Yep, I was swimming yesterday morning and stopped at the end of the pool and heard someone say, "have you heard from dave?" Noticing a guy with a shaved head talking to a skinny dude in a purple speedo, I just figured it was John and Steve. So I replied, "No." They were surprised to see me since we hadn't planned on meeting. Thanks for asking about me. Here's the update I gave. My ITband is feeling much better. I've been stretching like crazy. I can now not only bend over and touch my toes, I can bend over and touch the ground. Along with the stretching I've been taking some Advil, icing my legs, and doing some strength training to keep all this from happening again. The strength training is supposed to balance the power between the inside and outside of my legs and make my butt stronger. Great- all I need is a bigger butt.
This weekend I am going to put my bike together and try to start easing back into that. I've ordered some new shoes, which are way overdue, and when they show up I will start doing a few short flat runs per week while I keep focusing on the strenth training and swimming. It was rough taking such a devastating blow after Diabetes Training Camp, but I am going to come out of this even stronger. This week when I really needed a boost, I got some test results in from my doctor. My A1c dropped from 7.1 to 6.5 in 2 and a half months. That would make any diabetic feel good.
Just one more thing- One of the exercises I have to do is that girly machine in the weight room where you spread your legs out-sweet. Hopefully I won't end up looking like this.

Lowboy isn't my only Enemy

It's been a rough- disappointing week. I drove down to my brother's house in my old jeep on Thursday. It was supposed to be a 4 hour drive but due to traffic it took 7, which meant I was driving in the dark which is extremely sketchy in el jeepo. What was worse was Emily's drive in the new minivan with all three kids. Well I got rid of el jeepo for $750 which helped me pay off my Ironman entry fee and plane ticket money to Wisconsin I had borrowed. It's still sad to see it go.
I expected everything to get better from there and it did for a while. Me and Nate drove to the race site and spent the night in the back of the van. We watched Rocky on the way down and then we passed out.
Saturday we woke up for our first marathon to the smell of pancakes at the Ellerbe Springs Inn. I checked my sugar 177 and cut down my basal. This is where everything went wrong. I ate a couple pancakes and drank some gatorade. By the prerace meeting my sugar was 280. A couple miles into the race my legs were exhausted, heavy and I was severely dehydrated. My bloodsugar was 330. I have a feeling this is one of the many reasons for what happened next.
At about mile 5 my knees started hurting. I knew this was not a good sign. I have been having some knee pain on my longer runs around mile 17 or 18 but never as early as 5 miles. I didn't come all this way to quit so I just kept pushing but by mile 7 I was walking. By mile 8 it was even hurting to walk and eventually I was having pain just standing. At one point I even slipped on some gravel and said hey to the ground. When a race volunteer offered me a ride to the finish line I couldn't say no.
I'm sure it crushed Nate as I got into the car and left him standing there with noone else in sight.
He ran alone without seeing anyone for the next 5 miles, the hilliest of the course. I eventually came back and found him in the van. When he caught up to someone so he could at least have a conversation I left them to run and met him only at aid stations and then the finish line. Nate had a strong finish as someone came creeping up to catch him. The last little hill went all the way to the finish and Nate sprinted the last .2 It was impressive.
It took me a couple days to get over the defeat. I figure I better learn from this and be thankful that I still have months to rehab my injury and prepare for Ironman. Apparently I have upset the Illiotibial Band in both of my legs. It's going to take a ton of streching and rest at first then some strength training before I should even start running on it again. I need to stay off my new bike for at least a week too. This stinks because it is sitting in a box asking to be reassembled and ridden. For now it looks like to stay in shape I will have to do tons of swimming. I need practice there anyway.
Lessons Learned

1. Don't Ignore what seem to be minor injuries- They get worse.
2. Strength Training is extremely important.
3. Stretching is even more important.
4. Follow the advice of people who have done this stuff for years.