Is it possible?

Is the leg healed? I did a hilly 85 minute run last night on hard surface. I felt a few random sensations in my leg here and there, but they might have been completely psychosomatic. I'm definitely in terrible running shape, and I'm carrying extra weight that wasn't there before. Those factors could be contributing to extra stress on my body as I attempt to ease back in to this running thing. I definitely don't feel the shooting pain anymore when I put pressure on the bone. All signs are pointing in the right direction. I don't want to jinx myself, but maybe on my next run I'm going to suffer compound fracture of my tibia. We'll see...

2011 Ironman World Championship

If you missed the NBC airing a few weeks ago, there's an encore showing tonight on Universal Sports.

You can also watch on youtube:

Pick 'Em Fundraiser for Charity

As you may or may not know, Katie and I are raising $15,000 for the Wisconsin Chapter of the MS Society in conjunction with Ironman Wisconsin. We're doing a last-minute College Bowl Pick 'Em as a quick fundraiser.

Here's the details:

$20 entry. $15 to charity. Remaining $5 goes in the pot. Winner gets 60%, 2nd place gets 25%, 3rd place gets 15%. leave me a note and/or email if you want in. Only 2 days to get in!

We're on the honor system here, but make a $20 payment via paypal to vetteobsession at hotmail dot com and then go sign up and make your picks.

To accept the invitation, just follow this link http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/bowl/register/joinprivategroup_assign_team?GID=31977&P=2012ironman. For reference, here's the group information.

Group ID#: 31977
Password: 2012ironman

If you aren't interested in the Pick 'em, but would just like to make a donation, you can do so here: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=4555832&fr_id=18226&pg=personal

Frustration

Just when I thought I was climbing my way back into running, pain returned.  Its in a slightly different location, but it is much more obvious and persistent than before.  It looks like a doctor's appointment is forthcoming after Thanksgiving, barring a miracle.

Slow road to recovery

I was able to run 35 minutes today with, what I think was, no pain.  I'm still paranoid, but I'm fairly sure I got through that without any issues.  Today was my third day in a row running, but I'm not going to feel confident until I've gone at least a couple weeks without any issues.  Tomorrow is a rest day.

If I can get through another week, I'll start working on a training plan to get me on track for Houston and beyond.

20 Minute test...

...passed!

I went out tonight for a slow 20 minute jog and completed it with no pain.  There's still no guarantee that the stress fracture is gone, but so far, so good.  I'm not feeling any pain when putting pressure on the bone and its not hurting at a (very) slow pace on soft surface.  I'll bump it up another five minutes tomorrow and see what happens.

Although things seem to be moving in the right direction, I'm in the "paranoia stage" that comes with returning from injury.  Its the stage where you think every little twinge or pressure is the injury coming back.  Its the stage where every fiber of your being is concentrating on that single, small part of your body that not so long ago put an end to your training plans.  You concentrate so hard on that point that you conjure up false moments of pain that cast doubt.  As soon as you push that thought out, another enters.  Only health and time can end the paranoia.

IMWI: A Mission to Raise Money for the MS Society

Katie and I have recently embarked on a year-long fundraising effort, which will culminate with Ironman Wisconsin. The idea was hatched 8 months or so ago when Katie and I were discussing her tackling her first Ironman. She mentioned she wanted to raise money for the MS Society, and I told her I'd join her effort.

Why the MS Society? Kaite's mother is battling MS. So is her cousin. My mother's best friend battled the disease for years.

We'll be doing several events and fundraisers over the next year to raise funds, as we've set a $15,000 goal. This isn't a Team in Training type deal...We paid our race entry fees. We are paying our travel fees. We are paying for our equipment. Your money goes directly to the Wisconsin Chapter of the MS Society ( where Katie's mother lives

You can read more about our individual mission on the donation page, so I won't continue to bore you.

If you have some extra cash and would like to support our efforts, We'd appreciate it.

One final note: To show my commitment to this effort, I've issued a challenge: If any single donation is $5000 or more, I will repeat the IMWI course on 9.10.12 (the day after IMWI).

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=4555832&fr_id=18226&pg=personal

Slow Road to Recovery?

After four weeks off from running, I had a little test last night: 10 minutes of running at a very easy pace.

No pain.  I passed. 

Tonight? 15 minutes.

Stress Fracture

Well, my running days are on hold.  I've had some pain in my shin for a few weeks now, but kept running because I didn't want to accept that something may be wrong.  However, I've finally had to accept that fact that most likely I have a tibial stress fracture.  I'm still a month from my insurance kicking in, so I've not seen a doctor.  However, its fairly obvious at this point that its what the issue is...all the symptoms are there.

So much for Cactus Rose.  Most likely so much for a PR at the Houston Marathon.  And I'm not even sure I'll be able to get the proper training in for Rocky Raccoon.

Changes to Ironman World Championship Qualifying & Lottery

Read about them here.

If you don't want to read the synopsis or listen to the podcast that is linked, here are the highlights:

if you’ve raced 12 or more Ironman branded triathlons (full 140.6 distance only), then you’ll get automatic qualification – coming out of the existing lottery pool.  However, since some folks have raced quite a few more, then they’ll be sorting them by total number of races entered.  Thus, just because you’ve raced 12, doesn’t mean you have an automatic entry into Kona in 2012.

For the remaining lottery slots, they’ll be introducing waiting system, based on waiting list. Going back six years, each time you entered – adds a ticket to the lottery.  

Essentially, what this does is give an AQ to people who've done a lot of IM-branded events, but its still limited to the number of lottery spots available.  Just because you've done 12 IMs, doesn't mean you are getting in.  There are athletes on both sides of the argument, some love it, some hate it.

From a business perspective it's genius.  There are scores of "weekend warriors" out there that go get their M-dot at a WTC event and then transition over to other 140.6 events to save some money because they know they'll never qualify for Kona.  Now these people will be pouring their money into IM events looking to gain that Kona spot.  Not only that, but it makes the remaining lottery spots that much more coveted.  They'll still be raking in the money from lottery registrations.  The "waiting list" works to ensure people will continually sign up for the lottery to get extra tickets.  And lastly, they just created more demand for their events.  The magic number is 12.  People are going to be targeting their twelfth race. At the current IM registration price, that $7860 that WTC can count on from a lot of folks.

I know a lot of people complain about WTC.  Say what you want about them, but they have some really smart folks working for them.  They are staying a step ahead of the competition.  With the HITS Tri Series starting and Rev3 expanding, this is a brilliant move to keep athletes coming back to the IM races.

Even as someone who is a purist and thinks you should have to qualify for Kona (and Boston) to participate, this new rule has me at least pondering the idea.