Crocs and Sox: Gettin' fit and Gettin' lit

To quote the late Richard Nixon, "a dormant blog is usually the sign of an injured triathlete". Well, I'm now making a blog post. So I guess that means I'm not injured or something, right? If you have been under a rock/don't follow me on any social media platform/watch my instagram stories, here is some background: On my 22nd birthday I unknowingly raced CDA 70.3 with a stress fracture in my femur. At around mile 11.5 of the run it started to hurt really really bad, and I was reduced to limping, and managed to ~~cross~~ fall across the line as the first amateur - only to have it taken away from me about 25 seconds later when fireman mile world record holder Andrew Drobeck crossed. He had started a few minutes behind me in the rolling start, so the overall amateur win was his (along with a rather quick 1:16 run split).

Really hurting here...
pic James Haycraft

There was a wheelchair ride through the airport, a few trips to the doctors, some MRIs, a cancer scare, money lost on a 70.3 Worlds slot, and no tears or regrets at all (probably the statistic I'm most proud of). If I'm being honest, I wasn't even mad about breaking my leg. Injuries happen, and I got to go out in a really cool way: crossing a finish line and still getting a pretty solid result.

Swim out at CDA
Pic: James Haycraft

I wasn't taking proper care of my body in terms of nutrition (turns out that pop tarts have the macronutrient profile of cardboard), and wasn't doing yoga or any supplementary strength exercises (even though my coach Elliot was under the impression that I was) for the last 4ish months. 100% My fault. My body could only take so much of that artificial sugar and lack of meal swipes from freshman, so it decided to break somewhere important so I'd get the message. The other reality is that my swim needs work, and this injury gives me a lot of time to work on swimming, one of the key forms of exercise involved in this weird a$$ sport.

New bikes are nice

Missing a majority of the championship races isn't very much fun. It's not a great time watching your teammates go to Omaha and race, then go to Chattanooga and race, then go to Kona (not that I would have been there racing) and race. That's how it goes, I've had plenty of great times exercising in large groups of people, and I'm sure I'll have more great times exercising with all my homies again soon.

Probably the worst thing about being injured and on crutches was working at a running store. Every. Single. Customer. asks "wow what happened to you," and when you respond with "I have a stress fracture in my femur" it does get some weird responses that range from "what's a femur" to "wow you might not walk again". I could only carry two pairs of shoes out at a time, and wasn't allowed to put my left leg on the ground at all (strict orders from Dr. Servi). After 6 short weeks I went back and got an MRI. I'm not gonna lie. When I saw it I thought, FML, probably another 6 weeks. It looked super gnarly still.

CSU Group ride

Then I saw Dr. Servi, and she said that I could start walking again - completely catching me off guard. My dad dropped me off at the pool, and later that day I flew home to Minnesota for some ARP therapy and time with friends that I hadn't seen in a while. The ARP is essentially an electronic stimulation machine that really makes you feel not very comfortable in any way. Pretty much it rewires your neuro system to function properly again in areas that are not functioning - science . . . science . . . science . . . ok yeah enough of that boring stuff.

That machine is making my left leg feel not very great

I was going to write a bunch of stuff up about the recovery process, but then just realized how boring it is. I don't want to have to put you guys through that! Pretty much if you take anything away from this blog it's that if you break a bone/strain a muscle and get hurt do recovery right. Find a conservative doctor who will make you go slow. Take some time completely off all exercising, eat your feelings, and watch a season or 11 of trailer park boys. If you're lucky, maybe you'll get a grand tour during your injury period (I got two). Don't set a "must return by XX/XX/XXXX". Let your body take care of itself and heal, then do your damn yoga/other exercises when you get back, and don't forget to eat stuff other than pop tarts (I find that people with dining hall meal swipes are a great solution - but you probably already knew that).

Dining halls are clutch

There are a lot of people who I need to thank for their help in my injury recovery process, because without their support this would have been a lot more stressful. None of these are in order

Patrick, for letting me grease up the couch, and keeping me in line
Coach Elliot for not rushing me back into training and having prior experience
Tyler Kleinhuizen for the ARP therapy
Dr. Servi at NCOA for an honest diagnosis
Ron at Adams and Giddings PT for giving me some PT exercises and telling me I am not flexible
My family for flying me home/hanging out with the dude on crutches
Runners Roost for letting me pick up lots of shifts while I was injured and on crutches
Matt Britton for doing my MRIs
David for driving me to the ER so I could get crutches then going to Mt. Everest buffet after
Everyone who has gotten Mary's Mountain Cookieswith me
Julia for all the medical advice/being my bff (also happy 21st)
Dean/Diana and Matt Miller for the omega 3s
Team EMJ for keeping the moral very high
Everyone who reached out to me with similar experiences
Everyone who guest swiped me
Chipotle- because it's just delicious.

Happy 21st birthday Julia!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess this is where I'm supposed to talk about what's next, but I'm honestly not really sure in terms of race schedule. Some people have known for a bit, but I'm planning on beginning to exercising professionally in 2018. There was a lot of thought that went into it, but the main reason that I'm taking my pro card is because I want to. It's not about what someone else wants for me at this point in my life, and I don't have a full time "real" job, kids, or any form of real responsibility. I'm still on my Mom's all-star insurance plan for a few more years, and I don't have student loans.

When she messages you back on Tinder

If there was ever a time to take a risk, it's now. I could probably develop a few more years as an amateur, but I don't really see the point in racing people with full time jobs while I can train pretty much as much as anyone out there. Even though there are still some amateurs that are better than me, I do think that I'm towards the top end of that ice berg. In my opinion, it's not right to race as an amateur when you're just training as your main focus in life. As pathetic as that might sound to some people, I really do enjoy exercising, and really don't feel like I want a full time job. I'm not funded by my parents "gold card" outside of health insurance, and I do have a sustainable lifestyle where I will not accrue any credit card debt and am in a great location for training surrounded by some awesome people, and a college that has a bar with $1 IPAs on Thursday nights.

Before backside of Rist Canyon... that smile went away real quick

I have been doing a section on my friend Spencer Ralston's podcast - The Grind - where he interviews first/second year pro triathletes and asks them about random dorky triathlon stuff. Each week he asks me about a random business thing in triathlon and I generally rant about it until he tells me to shut up. Next week he's interviewing me on this decision to participate in professional group exercise classes! The podcast is right here, and I can personally guarantee you'll have the greatest 30+ minutes of your life when you listen to it :)