life after epic

funny that the last post starts with the news that a stress fracture has been 'confidently ruled out' - 'cos now it's looking like that's likely wot i got! of course, i got an unusual one, and its yet to be fully confirmed that's hat it is, but a bone scan shows definite bone damage in the joint between cuboid and 3rd&4th metatarsals. an xray done today will confirm it. after 4 weeks resting the foot, it's starting to feel better - though that could be down to the psycho- samosa effect of finally feeling close to knowing what the problem is, and soon able to think about causes and options/timescales for recovery.

Otherwise, recovery from Epic camp goes well. in terms of my longer term training, it's probably a bonus that i avoided the depths of fatigue that running >10k/day would have sent me too, however that's not to say i wasn't very, very tired from ----miles of cycling plus ----km of swimming. It is remarkable how it jumps on you though. i swear, that if we'd gotten up on teh 16th day and had a nother 200km ride to do, i'd have felt fine...and could have continued for another week, probbaly more. But as soon as i stop - well, then teh tiredness just descends! For a couple of days i had barely the energy to read emails. A couple of nights +9hrs sleep, did a couple of light swims, yoga class a spin on the bike and light gym. By teh weekend i felt liek i had soem energy and enthusiasm to ride, so headed out around teh Gorges. It was a little windy, and i got a little lost but i was certainly not pushing it along. Even so, after 3 hours, i was wasted and at more or less at the furthest point on my route. I stopped and sat in the forecourt of a closed petrol station for about 15 minutes befreo i coudl face getting back on my way! I was out about 6hrs. The following day I went out on a planned ride with Scott, Steven, and Pete and Bruce from the camp over the summit roads. I was so wasted. I felt like waves of fatigue were crashing over me as i rode....got so left behind by the guys, even though they said they were apparently riding easy. Scott said i was riding like a tourist! well, that's true i guess - sometimes i do like to just cruise!! though going up Cooper's knob its just not possible to ride easy, so i was making the most of the flatter sections :o).

Truth is i was sulking a bit. I was feeling weak, useless, embarrassed, and totally unenthusiastic about being there. Though i generally consider myself to be a positive and driven person, over the last year or so, I have found myself susceptible to depression. This is usually when fatigue is coupled with stress in my life - i find it more difficult to think rationally when i'm tired and feel too weak to deal with the source of stress in a constructive manner. I'm not sure why this is occurring recently - selective memory may be one of them. Too much fun through my late teens and twenties another (possibility -what if there is a limited amount of happy hormones that the body can produce in a life time?) Or simply the instability of this period of my life; the financial dependency on others, not knowing if this new 'career' will work out, being temporarily estranged from the close relationships in my life and not knowing where any of my stuff is! Of course post Epic blues, like the come-down that follows any really great experience, cannot be entirely overlooked on this occasion.

Certainly i've learned that monitoring my fatigue and reacting accordingly is a very simple and effective preventaive step! Anyway, this week i have been getting back into training - starting a litte light, but with 4 swims, 4 gym sessions, and a few rides ranging form 2-4hrs, so far. And by wednesady i'm feeling back to normal. If a little heavy - 5 weeks to trim it!

foot consult

Brief but thorough consult with the sports doctor on the foot, who fairly confidently ruled out stress fracture and assessed that the trouble is with a nerve that runs from under foot, up calf, thigh, gluts and attached to base of spine; the siatic nerve. this explains the hot spots that i experience in my butt - though i thought that the amount of cycling may also explain that to an extent! although the acute symptoms are similar to a morton's neuroma, addressing the root of the problem at the base of my spine may be a slower fix, but is a more robust and long lasting approach. Not entirly the outcome i'd hoped for ( ie a definitive diagnosis and simple, fast solution) but he referred me for some chiropractic adjustments, which i could get there and then. It was getting a little tight for the scheduled bike departure for Geraldine, but i thought worthwhile. It was - after some manipulation to my lower back, pelvis, rear of knee and foot i was actually able to bear weight on the foot without discomfort for the first time in 2 weeks. a programme of chiro treatments will follow this camp.


for the rest of the day's news see the epic blogs

epic camp - on the south island!

camp continues to thrill - we've made it all teh way down teh north island and after a ferry ride and easy day ( here's tarar and i at the ferry port) we have started making our way south from Blenham. Currently in christchurch , where i hav ean appt. with sports physician /podiatrist which tomorrow morning. it'll be good to know what teh problem is with teh foot and how to get it fixed.
meanwhile. i'm lovin' the cycling!
details of my daily epic experiences, along with those of the rest of the gang, can be found on the epic team blogs page each day.

epic day 4 - 5

here's day 4's route - but today ( day 5) we're in
Tarangi on lake Taupo - south of the clip shown here.

500miles of riding in the last 5 days.

jo c - day 4

big shock first thing this morning was to find that my new/favourite/only bike shorts are worn through! so unfortunately the campers are going to have to spend the next 10 days seeing my butt breaching through the back of my shorts. Thank goodness for the Oomph Epic gear that we were given at the start of the camp. it was a pretty leisurely start to the day - for the campers, that is. The logistics side of coordinating the transfer to corramandel via ferry for us campers and our bikes, with the support vehicles by road or the support for john and the team were not so simple. After a tour of Auckland curtursy of local boy Douglas and ferry ride across the bay to corramandel, we donned wetsuits and lubed up for a sprint aquathon. John eyed out the 1km swim course around 3 of the buoys that mark the shipping lane, whilst Gordo measured 5km run route on his bike.

At the start of the swim, which i'd fully intended to go as hard as i could, i suffered a panic attack...which left me a long way behind the racing pack. i've never experienced this before, and consider that this is probably the usual panic that i experience at the swim start of a race - but without the prospect of the rest of the race to force me to swim through it. i admit this left me on a real low, swimming casually alone with dark thoughts. rather than exiting as per the aquathon course, i swam a second lap, to wind myself down a little. It was a pleasant swim and sufficient distraction from the fact that i was excluded from the race.

After some refreshments we started the day's ride around the bay and south to Matamata. With two climbs more or less straight off the bat, the second was a KOM race....then a lovely cruise along the winding coast road to our shaded lunch stop. with no more racing ahead of us, the tone off the ride after lunch was social - with Gordo leading the whole group as a single chain into teh headwind. i managed to secure myself the sweet spot in the bunch - behind 'big eric'. to give na idea how big, Big Eric is - his saddle is about as high as my armpit. Pretty sheltered riding for someone my size! We chained along for about 2hrs at a moderate pace, but were all ready for drinks when Gordo finally pulled over. The final 30-40km might have been very steady , had steven and class not ridden to the front - and shortly after right off it for a hammer-fest of their own - and picked the pace back up to around 32kph. it was a very pleasant pace - a little work, but not too much to prohibit conversation. A long day in the sun and we were all glad to arrive at our motel at 6pm. Great BBq dinner put on by the support crew...all a little later than planned so its 10pm as i write this. excuse the hurried ending! Looking forward to some great scenery tomorrow as we ride to lake Taupo after breakfast at 6.30.

swim 2.4?km
ride 160km

epic day 2 & 3

see my blog contributions at http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/team/

steven

10 months after having his foot surgery in Christchurch.....
3months in recovery no training at all
7months with barely no running

such a pleasure to see him like THIS at end of a hilly 23km...

epic day 1

http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/team/index.html

hoping that the foot is something 'minor' along the lines of planter fasciitis rather than a stress fracture...
taking advantage of fresher legs