Yesterday, it was another long day in the surgery waiting room at Loyola. House was having surgery to repair the neurostimulator lead that wasn't working in his back. The surgery started 2 hours late. After it started, it was 3 hours until House got to the recovery room. Bino and I spent our time in the waiting room reading and on our laptops. It gave me an opportunity to read the books that I had gotten. Surgery went really good and we brought House home last night. He did get some sleep and today things are going well.

After getting House in bed, I began finalizing my Iron training. I am using Be Iron Fit by Don Fink. Being the nerd that I am, I got a binder and put all the weeks in spread sheets and organized the 30 weeks of training. It begins in 4 weeks. It is color coded and everything.

Now the plan is written. The binder is made and in 4 weeks it begins. The journey to Iron.

Waddling and making more notes..............

READING MATERIAL

Today in the mail, I was excited to get a package from Amazon. I had already had the book Be Iron Fit. I was sold on it as a training plan. Now that the serious training is getting close, I am doing some second guessing and ordered 2 more books about training.

I am anxious to start reading. I will probably overthink things. I hope I can grab a little something out of each of the books. All comments are appreciated.

Waddling to read ......

Update on House : We saw Dr Buck today and House is scheduled for surgery on Thursday to fix the neurostimulator lead in his back. It will be about a 2-3 hour surgery.

D.S.T.

In a strange way, it is like the magic of Christmas eve. You go to sleep and in the morning when you wake up something has changed during the night. You have either gained or lost an hour of sleep. You can stay awake and watch for that exact moment when the time changes on the cable box or your cell phone. How magical is that?

Last week, the sun was up at 6am. I had time to get a run in before I went to work. The morning is my favorite time to run. I was excited to have daylight and not run on the dreadmill. Then I found out this was the weekend of the time change. Sorry to say but I was down right pissed off. As I stood there complaining and whining to House, I realized he was just looking at me. He said he would have taken me much more seriously if I was not waving my morning banana at him! I had to laugh and realize how stupid that I sounded. I'll adjust and we all do.

Waddling to run on the dreadmill...........

Addendum : New England Journal of Medicine published a report (OCT 2008) that heart attacks increase 5% for the 2 weeks in spring after the time change. I feel better now in some strange way.

I haven't written much lately due to the continued lack of free time in my life. I will try to give the short version of what has been happening.

• House has been recovering from his surgery. Bad new came yesterday when the Rep. from Medtronics was unable to program the neurostimulator to give any relief in the right leg. We are now facing another surgery.
• Training has been not bad. I have been getting good workouts done. I feel the most improvement in my swim. I am not getting faster but I feel my form is getting better and more efficient. Weekend runs are getting longer to prepare for my half in May. This weekend will be a 7-miler.
• Sugar (my tri bike) has come off the trainer and going to the bike shop for her spring check up. I am so anxious to ride outside.
• Although I have been trying to ignore it, there is a problem with my rt foot. I have diagnose it as plantar fasciaitis. I have started taking anti-inflamatories, stretching, and ice.
• We went to a shelter and rescued a cute little dog for my MIL whose dog passed away. It was not a good match but my daughter fell in love with the dog so---- I now have 4 dogs. His name is Nitro and what a cutie!
• House and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary. It was a wonderful evening at Olive Garden which included House saving a choking child. There was a small child at the table next to us who tried to swallow an ice cube. The cube lodged in his throat and House reacted quickly and followed his EMT training and opened the child's airway.
• Weather is improving and all my runs have been outside--no dreadmill!

Waddling forward..............

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

This past weekend, the family headed back to Ohio. We were celebrating my dad's 87th birthday. We rented a van to make the trip easier for House. He was still having alot of post surgery pain and needed to stay fairly quiet for the healing around the Stim.

As always, the highlight of the weekend was eating. Hamburgers and Old fashioned sugar cream pie was on the lunch menu. The birthday dinner was Fried chicken. The following morning was Bob Evan's with my cousins.

When we go back to Ohio, it feels good to return to our roots. Everything is so laid back and relaxed. Any troubles are left 285 miles behind.

I find it hard to believe that the time passed so quickly. I did not workout at all just enjoyed. I have alot workouts in my future.

Waddling back in Chicagoland ....

FIRST

I have added another Tri to my year. This will be my first indoor Triathlon. I could have done in last year but opted out. Coach encouraged me to give it a shot this year. Also he is the race director. I am not sure what to expect and do not like short distances. I do know the best part is that I will not be out on the course by myself. It is at the club where I train on March 15th.

Waddling to add another race to my schedule..............

WEEK 8 OF 14 (PRE-IM) TRAINING

This week it is time to get the training back on the track. I started today by taking a rest day. LOL. I wanted to get that out of the way so I did not have to worry about it!

Yesterday, I did make it to Master's swim. I did not drown! I was happy with my workout but my form which was improving took a huge step backward. I know coach will help me get it back for sure.

If I am lucky, I hope to have some good weather to get a few runs in outside. I have reached my limit running on the dreadmill. I am close to my limit on riding my trainer. While watching the Tour of California, I was very envious of those guys riding outside.

Waddling into another week...............