Kate's Log 9/4/2011

Following John’s post, I, too, wanted to publicly thank our friend Matt at Lemond who lent us this awesome bike. I am nervous for lots of reasons, but having first-class equipment at my disposal and a first-class trainer to map my recovery seems to be making this endeavor much less stressful.

I had a micro-discectomy on Monday, July 11th. The previous Saturday, after having suffered increased leg pain throughout the week, I found myself on the floor unable to get back up. Fortuitously, a friend was visiting and John had just arrived home. It was quickly decided that Emily would bring me to the ER, where I underwent several X-rays and an MRI. Late that night, the surgeons suggested that surgical repair was most definitely in my best interest. As they put it, my disc was in the 80th percentile of herniations. It was capital-B bad. They said that I could go home and go through months of physical therapy, epidural injections, chiro, and acupuncture, and for at least the first two of those months, I would not be able to pick up Wyatt. Or, they could operate, and for two months I would not be able to pick up Wyatt… but after that, I would be fine. The thought of what this would do to all the plans I’d made for my first summer home with Wyatt weighed heavily on me, but ultimately John and I saw no other option. I’ve rehabbed one herniated disc already; it was a long, arduous journey and I didn’t see myself successfully doing so again, at least, not with an active toddler at home.

A short history: The surgeon blames my issues on genetics (thanks for the crappy collagen, Mom) and our very large baby. In 2008, I herniated L4-L5 and L5-S1, but was healthy seven months later and, until this spring, remained mostly pain-free. I was able to row and lift, though I’ve known since the first injury that I would never squat or deadlift again. I had no issues through my pregnancy and only a slightly nagging pain in my left thigh through the spring of 2011, which naturally, I largely ignored until it rendered me helplessly wailing on the living room floor. The surgery in July was easy; it took only 45 minutes and I was able to leave the hospital that afternoon. I was sore for about a week, and then resumed life as normal, minus lifting Wyatt and working out. At three weeks, the doctor allowed me to see my physical therapist. They both agreed that I could use my TRX to do presses and rows, as well as a short list of PT exercises. By six weeks, I was cleared for “normal” activity by the surgeon.

This is what threw me for a loop, though. I kept asking him what “normal” meant for me, and he had no answers. MOST people who get a microdiscectomy never herniate again. In fact, there is only a 7% chance of re-injury in the first year; after that, it goes down to 3%. But knowing that I’d already done this to myself once, I asked him for reassurance that these numbers really did apply to me as well… am I normal? “Not likely,” he answered, “but I don’t think that should really affect your lifestyle. You have a bad back and while you need to be careful and mindful of how you exercise, it may happen again or it may not.” Uh, thanks. He told me that he would not be at all surprised to perform a fusion on me sometime in the future, nor would he be surprised to never hear from me again. And, adding to my frustration, both the surgeon and my physical therapists are confident that this is not an issue of core strength or poor technique, so while both of those things are crucial to a healthy back, I feel like fixing one or both of them would be much easier than simply knowing that I have a “bad” back.


I should note that I really do like this surgeon, but left his office after my 6-week check-up feeling as scared as I did when I went in. I am afraid of lots of things. The most basic of these fears is never wanting to feel that kind of pain again. I’m a pretty physically strong person, and people who know me (and love me) would agree that I’m fairly headstrong as well. So, not being able to get myself off the floor was more than a little disconcerting. It hurt. A lot. But there’s also a fear of the future: how many more times will this happen to me? (No one knows). How can I prevent re-injury? (Be careful, though it may not even be possible). How can I be a strong role model for my son, for my students, and for the women who look to me for fitness guidance? (Get back on the horse!) How can I continue to challenge myself in fitness with all these fears nagging? (And that is what the husband is for!).

I’m looking forward to getting on this new bike and to feeling competitive again, even if – at least for the near future—that means competing with myself. I’m also excited to do some boxing and to work with a plan that has been tailor-made for me to accommodate both my fears and my physical limitations.


-Kate

Of Wife and men.

Sorry for the long delay in posting folks, I have been off the computer and off of work for a week. I am feeling very refreshed and recharged.
I've been working on some projects around the house this week and one of the biggest ones was putting together a training plan for the wife. As of last week she was cleared to train as she sees fit (with some obvious prohibitions for someone who has had disc. We've worked out a basic training plan, and will post the programming and her impressions for your reading pleasure. The 'we' in that sentence is very important. This is very much a collaboration. For several reasons: the first is the wife is an experienced athlete and coach. She has considerable knowledge of training in general as well as to what her limits are and how hard and far she can push.
The second is in this first stage of training after a serious injury the biggest hurdles are mental. Fear of re-injury is a major factor, and one often overlooked by the texts. We're going to do several things to assuage those fears. First,I'm going to listen to her and acknowledge those fears; this seems like a small thing, but many poor trainers ignore this step, and their clients suffer for it. Then we're going to avoid spinal loading and flexion totally and completely. The third thing is the idea of novelty. I have some boxing gear, and we're going to use it for some light recovery work once a week. Similarly,once she gets some basic strength back we are going to keep the work in the weight room novel and fun. The final key is comfort. If a trainee is comfortable with a type of training, then she will be more apt to push herself; this leads to more confidence. Programs applied with confidence and effort will always be more effective.
For the wife this means more conditioning work than I would normally prescribe for a post-op trainee. As a rower/endurance athlete she is more comfortable with this type of training than strength training, and she is happiest when she is training every day. Considering the nature of her injury, rowing (in a boat, or on the ergometer) is well out. Too unstable, too much shearing force on the spine, too much association with the injury.
Since Kate has talked about competing in a couple modes of cycling there was a natural progression, but she isn't quite ready to wheel the streets and trails of Western Washington just yet. We are very lucky to have a good friend at Lemond fitness who has loaned us one of their pro spin bikes. Very stable, super adjustable, and an absolute heavy-duty beast. The flywheel itself has to weigh 20 lbs. I damn near killed myself carrying it from the car. I set Kate up in a vertical position with the saddle very close to the bars to eliminate as much flexion as possible. The bars are very comfortable in her current vertical position, and will remain so as she progresses. The bike will allow her to get into a more realistic riding/racing position depending on where she decides to go.
Some people are down on spin bikes as a mode of training, but I think they're great for a number of reasons: very stable, very easy to increase load/resistance/intensity, zero impact.. but more on that later.
So that's the thought process. The training plan looks like this:
Monday:
Bike 3x10 minutes just below AT.
Tuesday:
Lift. starting with 3x12-15 reps
Rear foot elevated split squats
TRX squats
Step-ups
Chins
TRX rows
DB bench
Calf raises (to counteract some of the innervation issues from the surgery)
Wednesday:
light boxing workout (mostly at recovery intensity)
Thursday:
Intervals on the Slideboard or using the prowler (pulling, strapped to her hips)
and a 5 minute "free" interval.
Friday:
Lift. same as above.
Saturday:
Bike short intervals 10x30:60 above AT
Sunday:
Lift.

Tuesday, Friday and Sunday she will also do exercises prescribed by her PT.
This program starts Monday the 29th and will go for 4 weeks.
From there we will access and adjust.

Continuing with the collaborative nature of this project on this site we will be posting weekly updates from the wife herself. How she likes the programing, the new equipment, what her mental state is, and the truth about her journey. I think this is an interesting story. I will continue to write about technical aspects of training and the wife will focus on her personal story.
Mahalo.

Times they are a changin'.

Some developments are developing here.. more on that soon.

Mahalo.

NSCA-CPT

Monday I went in and took the test for the National Strength and Conditioning Association's Certified Personal Trainer certification. I signed up for the test when I was going work on a day camp for local athletes that sort of fell through, but since I'd already paid for it, I went ahead and took the test.. and passed.
I had never thought about certification before, I didn't really need it. The people I've worked with know me for my performance, and it was an expense that wasn't worth the cost.
It's strange though, now that I've got it I feel validated.. Bonafide..
This is another step forward.. all be it a small one.
I might go ahead and get my CSCS next year. We'll see.

Mahalo.

Be strong, Be Gentile, Be beautiful.

Amazing story here.
Not just because the Kodokan finally realized this woman's merit, but because of the pure passion and joy this woman has for judo.
This is the true secret to mastery. Monday a friend of mine got his black belt in BJJ. I have seen several people get promoted by now (this being the 4th person I've seen get his Black) and they all reminisce about the journey, then it's sort of business as usual after that. Why is that? Especially when you see people get their blue belt and damn near jump up and down like they've won the lottery.
Well, because it's the roll, not the belt that matters. It's the learning, not the grade. This is not to say that you should not be honored to be recognized as having reached another level. It is an honor, but it should never be the goal..
It is well outside of your control, and (at least in BJJ) has no quantifiable marker of success. What you can control is your enjoyment, and your pursuit of complete mastery. It will come when you are good enough, so get good.



Mahalo.