Thru Endurance We Conquer!

I've been doing plenty of baking with the gluten free flours since we figured out Nick's issues. I still working on going through the cookbook and trying all the recipes I have, but I figured I'd share this one. It's a really simple recipe, doesn't take that long to make and the biscuits are versatile. Nick likes them with eggs; I like slicing some berries and having them with berries and yogurt. I think you could even use them for dinner if you wanted! Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine: *2 cup gluten free flour *1/2 tsp xanthan gum *2 tsp baking powder *1/4 tsp baking soda *1/4 cup sugar *1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional) Cut in: *3 tbsp butter or shortening if you don't have the tool to cut in the butter, you can use two forks Add: *1 egg *3/4 cup milk mix until blended, batter will be slightly lumpy Drop onto greased baking sheet - makes six biscuits. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheet. For best taste, serv...

Just over two weeks post op now and I'm able to start doing some intervals, introduce easy running and get back in the water. As noted before, the air bubble is completely gone - although I have left my stylish medical alert bracelet on. I am also not seeing my heart beat as much in my eye - just after workouts. The "hole" in my vision that started this whole ordeal is also gone. Good news - that means that the surgery was successful and I didn't permanently loose any vision between when the tear developed and when I had the surgery to fix it. Swim - I've gotten up to 2x10 minutes on the vasa trainer at CTS. It's quite the workout - almost a really swim simulation, but not. Harder to get the body rotation and there is no kicking on the vasa. But it's better then doing nothing and not getting any swimming in at all. I will be back in the water on Wednesday, taking it easy and just paddling around. The bad part is I had just gotten my feel for the water b...

One more milestone in recovery - the gas bubble that was used to help keep the repaired tear in place has completely dissipated from my eye. It's a welcome relief - trying to see around the air bubble was giving me a headache at best and some vertigo issues at worse. It was kinda fun, watching the size of the bubble diminish throughout the day, from a line across my vision to a small round dot that bounced around when ever I moved my head. I can still see my heart beat in my eye and get some passing fuzziness in my vision, especially after riding. But with the visual reminder gone, it will be even more important to stay focused on recovery. Now is not the time to start getting rambunctious. Xterra West Championships will be fine - I'm not going to lose anything at this point since I'm "swimming" on the vasa, riding and powerwalking. Maybe sometime next week will be the time to get back in the water and running. It's actually been a pretty useful down week. I...

Or at least I have been trying to take it easy. It's been hard - physically I want to get out and ride or run. But I can't - not yet. There is still a gas bubble in my eye and the my vision starts getting a little fuzzy when I've been doing too much. The sun light and bright lights at some stores are really hard on my eyes right now and I've been wearing my sunglasses inside a lot. Although I've been cleared to drive and such, it's more stressful then I would like - driving to CTS has been about the limit of my driving! I know things will get better, but right now I'm wondering how I am going to survive at Xterra West Championships. After doing much of anything, all I want to do is lay down and take a nap. Swim - I started using the Vasa Trainer at CTS on Friday and have done two short sessions. It's harder then it looks and a lot harder then getting in the water. But it's a good swim simulator and better then doing nothing to prepare for the swim...

Since I normally do a "notes from the road" about my travels, I figured I would do something similar for my involuntary couch time. Because of the movement, activity and posture restrictions from the retina re-attachment surgery, I had plenty of time getting just sitting and thinking. Some of those thoughts...  I'm not that happy - my face is still numb  *With an eye patch, getting ready to take a shower is a process. Saran wrap, tape, more tape... *There are only so many ways to sit on the couch with your head in an upright position. I was getting sore from sitting... *The news in the morning is the news in the afternoon and the news from prior day. Same reporters, same pictures. *There are lots of commercials, and little news, especially as the day wears on. (Four hours of the Today Show? Really) *What do athletes use for get-well flowers? An old water bottle.  Flowers from work, waterbottle from CTS!  *Cats do exactly what you think they ...

My one week post-op appointment was today and everything looks really good. The doctor said my eye was healing beautifully and the retinal tear was completely sealed and re-attached. So after a week of sitting on the couch, or the floor, or the leather chair and either listening to my kindle or watching TV, I am cleared to read, use the computer and drive as long as I ease into it. I can also start doing some light exercise - spin bike, computrainer, vasa trainer, and walking. I should still be able to compete in Vegas - but that will be my first time back on the mountain bike and back in the water! The eyeball - this is what happened to me So what exactly happened? Who knows, but some how I got a small tear in my retina. The fluid from inside my eye started seeping between the retina and the rest of the eye, forcing the retina to tear away. That was why I had a small "hole" in my vision. If left alone, the entire retina could tear away, causing blindness. So it wasn...

Everyone one always says "Make lemonade." Well, the advice is good, but it's really hard to do. I will be taking a few weeks unscheduled down time, with no swimming, no running, indoor cycling only and not even working for at least a week. The hope is that I will be cleared to swim and mountain bike before the Xterra West Championships, but the doctors are not used to dealing with someone of my age. It was very hard to nail him down to a specific return to activity schedule at my appointment yesterday - probably because he was more concerned about saving my vision. I will be having surgery on my left eye to repair a small retinal detachment and tear later today. It's all related to the cataract surgery I had back in 2005 - retinal tearing is one of the risks. The issue is, without immediate intervention (the doc was concerned that he could not do the surgery yesterday after the appointment) the tear and detachment can get larger and will eventually lead to blindness...

I noticed a disturbing trend this year at the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. The entire course was littered with gel and bar wrappers, casually tossed aside. While some of it might be attributed to the increase in teams and racers, that is no excuse for laziness and littering. Put bluntly, I was disgusted by the amount of wrappers I rode past during the race. There is no reason why if an athlete can carry an unopened gel packet, that same packet can’t be carried out in a jersey pocket when empty. I can’t even count the number of top riders I saw leaving the transition tent with one or two gels, then cruising back into camp with no trash at all. A rider skilled enough to open and eat a gel on that course is skilled enough to stuff that packet into a jersey pocket. And the riders who look up to the faster teams are given the idea that it’s okay to just discard trash along the course – not a message we should be sending. Every empty wrapper, every piece of trash reflects on all athletes p...

Literally! Yesterday's ride was really blah - I made a bad choice with ride location. Instead of taking the invitation to ride a Falcon with one of the CTS coaches, or listening to Nick and riding in Red Rocks, I decided that we'd go to CMSP. Well, it was soft in some places, snowy in others and just plain muddy. We rode up Talon in soft trails, did North and South in lots of snow and mud, then came down Sundance in super deep mud. At that point, the bikes were a disaster and we were both grumpy with the ride. So we didn't try any of the other trails in the park. Headed home and sulked for a little, then went to the climbing gym for some bouldering. Today was a much better ride - we had just a little mud and a fun ride. We rode through Bear Creek, meandered around in Red Rocks for a little, then met the gang at ProCycling. Time for more fun and rocks in Red Rocks! Made it most of the way on the Hog's Back trail, tried one rock a few times, finally cleaning it on the...

And that new rule is "No more muddy bikes!" We have a water hose, time to put it use and keep the bikes clean. The rule was put in place following my first ride on the Era since the race. I knew I'd put the bike through the ringer at Old Pueblo. Between the layers of mud and having to ride single speed for most of one lap, the bike was in bad shape. We'd cleaned it up and done some maintenance to make sure the bike was ridable. I took that bike out for a ride after we got home. Well, it's a good thing that I decided to just switch bikes in the middle of the race. Not five minutes from home, at the stop light on 8th street, I shifted into a harder gear and stood up to sprint for the light. And clunk - snap! The chain broke - the first time I have ever broken a chain! (Knock on wood - the last time, too.) Nick had me fix the chain (and it was really grimy) and off we went to enjoy our ride. I can do a good job of fixing a chain - but  it's not something I woul...

It took a while to get these up - picking the perfect sunset shots when I have so many good ones is tough! I have photos from before the race, a few during the race and plenty from our travels after the race. Visit the picasa photo album to see them all! Race photos from the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo