Friday, February 8, 2008

No more running, but some swimming!

Finally got in to see a sports-med doc a couple of weeks ago about the continued discomfort with my stress fracture. They shot some new x-rays, but couldn't really figure anything out, which is pretty typical with this kind of injury. However, since I've been having issues for so long, my insurance will now cover a bone-stimulation device which will in theory speed healing. So yesterday the extremely helpful (and attractive) product rep delivered the device to my house (how's that for service?) and got me all set with using it. The machine is a small box and transmitter that puts out low-level ultrasound waves. Ultrasound is used a lot in rehab these days, and this is essentially a low-power (~5%) version of the devices that doctors use in the office. So twice a day I am supposed to hook it up for 20' and let it do its thing. In the mean time, I am also not supposed to run until I see the doctor again in late March.

So instead of running, I've been doing some spinning and swimming. We got some top-of-the-line trainers at work that are really good for workouts. The bikes are highly adjustable and measure power and all sorts of other things. It is still mind numbingly boring, but E and I have been doing some decent interval work a couple of times a week. I have also finally dragged myself back into the pool, and I am pleasantly surprised at how well that has gone. I need to start coming up with some actual workouts - all I've been doing so far is a few k of regular pull & swim sets. I am pretty slow in the pool, but at least I'm back in there.

We got a huge dumping of snow this past Tuesday and Wednesday - 13.3" which is the second largest singe storm in Madison history. At this point we are about 2" shy of the all time season record, and snow is predicted on 6 of the next 10 days. It seems to be never ending here! The only good thing about the snow is that it means it is actually warm enough to snow, and not absolutely frigid out. Although it is in the mid-20s right now, we've got more nose hair-freezing temps on the way again this weekend....