Big Sur Marathon

I just returned from my favorite Marathon of all time. And I've done quite a few. The Big Sur International Marathon. The race is well organized. The volunteers are great. The scenery is unbelievable. I feel like I'm in a dream world. I told my friends and colleagues that when I ran it in 2007 I was in a Zen like state for 26.2 miles. This year was different, but special as well.

I was suppose to compete in the Wildflower Long Course Tri next weekend. So I planned a nice taper / break from Ironteam training by organizing a Relay team from work for the Big Sur Marathon. As my readers will know, I injured myself 2 weeks ago in a ski accident. I tore my MCL and ACL !!! in my right knee. Ouch!
So I wasn't sure I could still participate in the marathon relay. But thanks to the support of my teammates and their understanding, I walked the last part of the relay and crossed the finish line with another teammate, our hands held up in triumph. We completed the marathon in 4:27:19
This race was special because it was a team effort where my teammates had to carry my load, because of my injury. We had a wonderful team "carbo-loading" party the night before the race at a home in Pebble Beach. And of course the beautiful scenery combined with the cheering crowds makes this 2009 edition of Big Sur precious.

Hanging out with the Team

I joined the Ironteam at the last swim practice before Wildflower. It was nice to see everyone again. Its been hard being away the last couple weeks. After their swim practice, which was very entertaining to watch, we went over to Backstage Bar to relax and watch the end of the Lakers game.
Everyone on the team looked great. They are ready for Wildflower. I wish I could join them. However the bad news is that I do have an ACL tear. My options are to live without my ACL which would limit the type of activities that I could do from now on. No more skating, skiing, basketball, soccer, hiking or running on rough trails, basically nothing that would twist my knees. I can still swim, bike, and run in a straight line.
Option 2 is to go for Vineman without the surgery and then afterwards have the surgery. The downside is that I would be at risk of re-injuring the knee in a freak accident and possibly causing more damage. The fear of this happening might impair my performance in any future race or even training session.
Option 3 have the surgery now, go through rehab of perhaps 6 months, and come back in time to join next year's Ironteam. Coach Paul said the Ironteam will always be there, and he would have the surgery. My friend, Louis, advises me to go for the surgery, because I will have many more marathons and triathlons in my future.
Option 3 is sounding like the best choice. What do you think?

Ski Accident

The worst possible thing that could happen, happened. I went skiing in Calgary / Banff over the kids' spring break and hurt my Right knee. It happened on the last day in the late afternoon. I wanted to go on an intermediate run after spending the day on beginner slopes with the kids. I had gone down a couple intermediate runs on a previous day. However, it had been almost 13 years since my last ski trip. And I realize now, I am not as flexible or balanced as I was back then. Even in my younger days, I was never a good skier. So with the warm weather as the afternoon progressed the snow got more icy and slippery. I tried to come down slowly by going in S shapes down the slope. Then my right ski got caught in the hard icy snow and as I fell my ski boot would not release from the ski. I felt my R knee twist and "pop". I flipped and finally came to a stop. Fortunately the ski patrol came by and got me down with a sled. I went back to the hotel and rested and iced the knee. This happened on the same Saturday my Ironteammates were out on their 65 mile ride. I wish I was with them.
I returned to LA the next day, and even hobbled around and went to work on Monday. I got checked out at the hospital by my Ortho colleagues. I got my MRI and the news is not good.
I tore my MCL and possibly my ACL too. The MCL will heal in about a month, but if the ACL is involved I'm probably looking at surgery. The treatment now is rest, ice, compression, elevation, and Motrin. I will get reevaluated next week. My rehab will consist of swimming and biking, and elliptical machine, but no running. Wildflower is wiped out now, and Vineman is a question mark.
I talked to Arkady, coach Paul, and Rachel, our campaign manager. They all want me to get well and participate in the rest of Vineman training and hopefully I can swim, bike, and walk Vineman. Worse case scenario, I will transfer most of my funds raised and apply it to next year's Vineman.
It's hard adjusting to the transition from training so hard for Wildflower ( I completed the swim, bike, and run workouts in Canada at high altitude and even ran 14 miles in 2 hours the day before the accident) And now being on bedrest with my foot elevated and an ice pack on my knee!
I'm pretty depressed. I always took running for granted. It was so effortless, unless I was pushing 7 min/ miles. Now a fear I have is that I won't get back to my previous running form with a bum knee. I still dream of becoming an Ironman. I still dream of qualifying for the Boston Marathon someday. Hopefully with the support of family, friends, coaches, and teammates, my dreams will still be realized one day.

Long Beach Swim / Bike / Run

A nice 5 hour workout yesterday in Long Beach. We had great weather, a bit chilly at first, but warmer later on. Our Ironteam started with an open water swim. We had drills where we run into the water, swim out to a buoy and back to shore. Run along the beach towards the next buoy, jump in the water and repeat the swim to this next buoy. This repeated itself several times, and finally we could just swim from the last buoy back to the first and then swim back to our transition zone. The swim was fine. The getting in and out of the water and running / walking on the beach was tough. I started to get light headed and winded from this. Going from supine swimming position to upright running position causes increased workload on the cardiovascular system. Repeating this over and over in a short period of time was definitely a strain on the system.
When the swim was over in about 30 minutes, I felt that I could swim for another 30 minutes.
The bike was fine. Pretty flat terrain although we did have a strong headwind going out. Compared to Wildflower, Mulholland, and Latigo this ride was rather boring.
After a 3 hour ride, it was back to transition and then off for a 1 hour run along the beach path. I felt strong and could easily run another hour or two.
After lunch and a nap, I went to work the night shift at the hospital. Despite the nap, I still felt tired. Oh well, I have a nice Spring Break coming up. I'm going up to Canada next week for skiing and I'll try to get the rest of my workouts in too.