broken wing

So...I gotta have shoulder surgery. It hasn't been 100% confirmed yet, but I know it's true. Curse my education. I went in and had it examined last Wednesday. 2+/3 laxity in all directions on both shoulders, and a positive O'Brien's test on the right. What's that mean you say? Well...it's not very good.

Given my age and my long history of shoulder issues, this is probably what I've got.

Cycling, running, and believe it or not, swimming are okay. Probably plenty of yoga, although I've identified a few poses that make me pretty uncomfortable. Aside from that...it'll be lots of superlegs. I've got a 30 minute lower body blitz scheduled with a colleague tomorrow. Oh, yeah...and lots of shoulder pre-hab.

So...no Olympic lifting, limited kettlebells, no pushups, no pullups, and probably no crossfit either. Boo. Hiss.

What really sucks it that it is starting to bug me at work.

I was pretty bummed at the outset, and believe me, I'm still pretty unthrilled...but I just read and article about Dara Torres. Five knee surgeries and three shoulder surgeries.

So someday I can be Supergirl again. :-)

Fun with heart rate monitoring

For several years I have been perched on the edge of the heart rate debate. Train with one or without one? Heart rate based training can be a powerful tool to increase your lactate threshold and enforce periodization...on the other hand, I think many ahtletes become overly dependent on their heart rate monitors. It's important to remember that your heart rate provides only a small picture of what is happening to you physiologically when you train. A number that is a bit "off" that day doesn't necessarily mean a bad workout. The heart is a muscle, too, and just like your quads and hamstrings, it has limits. It can get fatigued. Sometimes it needs a day or two to recover before it can rev back up to 90% of your max.

Anyway, enough of all that. I got one for Christmas, and I've been playing with mine for the past few workouts and having fun:

Sunday: Rode about 30 miles with one significant climb. At a comfortable working pace, it hovered around 144-146. During the hardest efforts of the climb, it got to 162. According to the monitor I burned about 1200 kcals.

Tuesday: Did some yoga in the afternoon. Downward Facing Dog: 75-80. Flank Stretch: Got up to 102. Corpse: 53. All others were about 82-84. Only burned maybe 80 kcals. Then went to my evening spin class: During the spin-up drill: got to 154. During the drill that came after that which was REALLY REALLY hard: got up to 159. During the sprint series: got up to 162. During each 3 minute recovery: got down in the 120's. During the 1 minute recoveries: lucky to get down to the 140's.

Thursday: Quick 2+ mile run. Comfortable working pace: 148-152. Did four 15 second pickups at about 80% effort: got to 159, 160, 161, and 162. Then did shoulder prehab: 120-130. Who knew.

Should pre-hab is another issue entirely, for another post.

interesting

I actually felt my abs all day yesterday after my Tuesday night spin class. Cool!

More posting to come later today. I have much that I am thinking about.