Several weeks ago I posted a recipe for my Paleo Protein Pumpkin Pancakes. It was the first time I had posted anything onto this blog site in over a year. Yesterday, my family and I had lunch and went sledding with The D’Abrosca’s, some friends that also enjoy a very active and healthy lifestyle. Dave and I chatted about a lot of things: The Wattie Ink Elite Team, Paleo, the upcoming tri season, my Crossfit training, new workouts, etc. It inspired me to go back and read my last post, “The Gift”, which is the story of how my 2011 season ended with a ruptured disk in my neck. It also seemed to have ended my inspiration to blog. I’ve had so much to say since then, but my blog (my therapy) never made it high enough on the priority list to get any attention. As I begin typing this, it is 12/31/12, and I’m contemplating some reasonable resolutions for 2013 (more on those later). On that list of things is to post 2 blogs per month, minimum, and also to vary it a bit more than just detailed race reports and “short” stories about my life, although that is generally the style that I enjoy writing in. I may get into more recipes, product reviews, and observations from friends and family, as well as potentially pushing the limits when discussing more personal issues. In this visual/video age, I’d like to post more pics and vids too.
So, WTF happened to me once the decision was made to bow out of my first 70.3 attempt in September of 2011 due to injury?
Fourteen weeks of physical therapy (6 weeks at a PT facility, and 8 weeks at home). It was right about the time of the Pumpkinman triathlon in 2011 that I was cleared to start “running” on a treadmill (this was about a month into my PT). My sister and brother-in-law, Crystele & John, had wanted to run their first 5k, and I had prepared their training schedule for them a couple of months prior. Although completely out of shape and deconditioned, I saw this as an opportunity to join them as part of my rehab. This was at the end of September. We all finished. John and I crossed together (well, I let him beat my by a single stride), and I couldn’t have been prouder of both of them. For me, it was a bit more of a struggle than I anticipated. Here I was, 6 weeks earlier, possibly in the best condition of my life, preparing for my first half ironman distance, and now I’m fighting to get through a 5k. It was mostly just the pain in my neck from each jolt of the pavement, even though I was trying to glide, as well as the inability to swing my right arm much. But, I can’t recall a time when I felt happier to just “be out there”. It was at that time that I decided to not give away my bib for the Seacoast Half Marathon (coming up in 7 weeks).
I made sure that I had no expectations for the Seacoast Half -- just enjoy the fact that I am essentially pain free, I’m off all prescription meds, and I can actually run outside three times per week. Nothing else really mattered. Fortunately, we had a very mild autumn, and I ran outside right up until the race. 2:08:58. I don’t really know what this time means or why I’m even posting it. It’s just a time. It’s a time I ran for over 2 hours straight, without pain in my neck, and validation that I was on the mend, had avoided surgery, and was gaining confidence that I’d be back next year (but that didn’t happen either – keep reading).
As I have each of the previous four years, once the Seacoast Half is over, I generally take two weeks off from all “working out” to really get a good recovery in. This year was a little different. I had just calculated my total training hours for the year (Seacoast Half to Seacoast Half) at right about the same as the previous year’s (right about 200 hours), but remember, I had missed about 6 weeks completely, and then had 7 more weeks of scaled back activity. So the fact that I trained the same amount of time was encouraging. I didn’t want to sever my momentum at this point, but knew I couldn’t ramp up too fast. My wife had given me “Insanity”, one of Beach Body’s home workout programs as an anniversary/Xmas gift several weeks earlier and I saw this as an opportunity to do some high intensity, shorter workouts at home that didn’t involve a set of weights. Although I didn’t follow their program as it is laid out, I tried to get in 3-4 Insanity workouts per week and supplement with a one hour treadmill run and a 1 hour indoor trainer workout. I had made a couple of New Year’s Resolutions on 12/31/11. One was obvious. Finish a 70.3, and although I had been hopeful it would be The Pumpkinman, prior to my injury had already signed up for Rev3 Quassy in Connecticut which was in early June 2012. My other resolution? I wanted to average 19mph on the bike at an Olympic distance race. And since I had deduced that my cervical disk issue was a result of swimming, and only breathing to the right, I vowed to only swim three times per month, instead of three times per week. Yes, that’s right, I typed “per month”. In its place I was going to add an additional bike workout per week and a short bike-run brick per week. I’ve been quite happy with my swim times since my first season. And the little I would expect to gain in swim times by continuing to swim three times per week would not outweigh what I could gain in bike times (and hence, overall times) if I concentrated more on building up my bike speed. I had two races in 2012 whereby I could gage if this plan was successful because they were races I had done before, The Mass State Olympic distance in mid-July, and The Timberman Sprint in mid-August.
Mass State Oly 2012 results
229TH / 343 OVERALL IN 2:44:33
22nd / 29 in age-group
140th / 343 Swim in 28:15
T1 = 1:39
193rd / 343 Bike in 1:08:25 (19.28mph) <---- GOAL ACHIEVED
T2 = 1:51
290th / 343 Run in 1:04:26 (10:23/mile pace)
Timberman Sprint 2012 results
Finished in 1:29:01
163rd/ 356 for males
34th / 72 in age-group
Swim in 8:17
T1 = 2:30
Bike in 51:13 (17.57mph)
T2+Run in 27:02
And I can’t imagine how much better they would have been if it wasn’t for someone jamming a stick into my spokes, figuratively, and almost literally.
A few days before Christmas, the practice where I had been working for about 15 months learned that it was going to be closed down around June 1st due to many reasons, both political and financial, we were led to believe. On one hand, it was comforting to at least know that I had an actual date when I would no longer be employed, but on the flip side, I had an actual date when I knew that I would no longer be employed. I couldn’t really worry too much about it in December (2011). After all, most employers don’t know what their needs are going to be for staffing six months in advance, so I used the first 3 months of this time deeply contemplating what my next career move should be. What I already knew was that I needed a position that didn’t require me to be “on-call”, and preferably, no nights, and perhaps very limited weekends and holidays. Yes, Mommy hours. I’ve never had a job as a physician assistant with these hours, but there is a reason for that. These jobs are “office” jobs: family practice, internal medicine, and some specialty practices that don’t involve surgery. This is what I’ve considered to be “hard medicine”. You’ve got to know so much about so much and the degree of noncompliance seen in these patients is frustratingly high, so it’s not a type of position that I ever felt was one I could thrive in or enjoy. Or should I say, survive in. PA’s that work in family practice, internal medicine and that are on hospitalist teams, I’ve always considered to be the cream of the crop. I wasn’t confident I could pull it off, or that I wanted to, despite many colleagues telling me that with time and a lot of hard work during that first year, I’d be absolutely great at it. Time was on my side, initially, so I kept that plan in my back pocket, but it wasn’t a card I was willing to play until the last possible moment.
In late February (2012), I had a lead come my way unexpectedly. It was an Urgent Care position in Lowell, MA. The interview went very good, not great, the commute was going to be horrible, and the hours were a bit atypical yet intriguing (three 10-hr weekdays, 8ap-6pm, and only a single 5-hr Saturday shift per month). Karen had always hinted, sometimes not so subtlety, about moving closer to Woburn, where she has worked for ten years. Well, this was her chance. I told her outright and without so much as a quiver in my voice,
“If you want your job in your backyard, this is your chance. You just say ‘Go’ and we’ll do it. We can temporarily rent an apartment down there while we rent out our home in NH. Let’s allow someone else to pay our mortgage. I’m pretty sure we can make it work. It’s up to you, but I’ll need to know within 3-4 weeks. If I’m even offered the job, I don’t think I’d be able to hold them off longer than that (regarding a decision).”
After years of dropping hints about wanting to be closer to her work, I was met with very little response, like I had completely stunned her. Finally the hypothetical was reality’s next door’s neighbor, and it obvious got her thinking about a few things in a way that maybe she hadn’t really been forced to before. Being the planner that I am, even though she suddenly seemed quite resistant to the idea, I began looking at neighborhoods, apartment complexes, schools, etc., and even contacted a realtor regarding our home. My current job was ending in about 3 months, I had no other prospects, and even if we didn’t relocate, I needed to very seriously consider taking the position anyway, even though my heart wasn’t really in it. And when I say that, I mean the actual job itself. I was content with moving if it made Karen happy, and that is what was most important to me.
Through ongoing emails, I was convinced that this urgent care anticipated me accepting the job, so much so, that they mailed me the credentialing packet to begin completing. Medical providers have to get “credentialed” or obtain hospital “privileges” in order to work. This process takes 6-12 weeks on average, and that’s once they (the employer) receive the packet back from you. It can take a few weeks just to complete it. Remember, I’m 12-14 weeks from being unemployed. Crunch time was one block away, and the sun was setting fast.
The following day a call came in from Access Sports Medicine in Exeter, my hometown. I had never done ortho as a specialty, but this was for their new Acute Injury Clinic, which was also a budding urgent care. Within 48hrs I was interviewing with the practice manager, three of the docs, and the lead PA. It was a fantastic interview. They sold me on this “new” position. They wanted someone to take the lead and work with the President, Dr. Joshua Siegel, and their Medical Director, in bringing the injury clinic to the next level, offering more urgent care services. Again, and I can’t stress this enough, this is how they were selling me on this job. They wanted a “go to” guy, a leader, someone to commit, do whatever it takes to assure success, and then once that success is achieved, to replicate it at other sites. And oddly, they wanted me to make them an offer. Everything was game (salary, bonuses, benefits, you name it). I spent days putting together a four page proposal that outlined my requirements. I was told a few days later that it was accepted by each of the partners !!! (We are now into very late March – early April). We immediately began the extensive credentialing process, I began reviewing architectural designs of their potentially new urgent care building, and had even agreed upon a per diem start date of June 5, 2012. But on May 30th I made the smartest mistake I’ve ever made; I had my initial proposal, that they had accepted 2 months earlier, officially drawn up by a lawyer and sent to them so both sides could sign it. The following day, my last day at my current job mind you, and 5 days before I was supposed to start at Access, I got an emailed letter from Dr. Siegel essentially stating that the partners had decided that I was not a “good fit”, “that we are withdrawing our previous agreement”, and that they have “decided to fill the position internally”. I was told that The Practice does not enter into any formal contacts with their mid-level providers. Huh??? This was also the day before I was supposed to leave for Rev3-Quassy in Connecticut, my first attempt at that elusive 70.3 distance (now the second 70.3 I had signed up for). Come to find out, the letter they had sent was nothing but a lie, as was probably just about everything they had told me over the previous 2 months. On June 18th (less than 3 weeks later) they announced on their website the hiring of their new provider (professional photos, bio, etc.), which they had obviously been negotiating with and credentialing right along with me, and who knows how many others. Some of the absolute slimiest business moves I have ever encountered. And since then, I have heard several stories from former employees that sound eerily similar. I will never have anything good to say about Access Sports Medicine. Never.
Needless to say, I slipped into just a bit of a depression for a while. Not finishing Quassy that weekend, thanks to a major bike malfunction less than 2 miles into the bike leg, didn’t help. My biggest concern was not having a full time job. As soon as I got back from Quassy, I called just about every colleague I knew explaining my situation, and within a week I had an entire summer of per diem work at three different Urgent Care sites between Barrington and Boston. Because I only averaged working 29hrs per week for the next four months, I had to use all of the money I had saved from unused vacation from my previous job, my one month’s severance, as well as the saved dependent daycare money that we hadn’t yet withdrawn from our account. We also had to cancel our vacation to Jamaica. I’ve never felt so fortunate to have purchased the trip insurance which gave us an 80% refund. All of that money was supposed to pay off the remainder of our once insurmountable credit card debt. It was going to be a fresh start. Finally, after 10 years, we’d be just comfortable enough whereby I wouldn’t be required to work regular overtime shifts at my moonlighting jobs. Well that didn’t happen. That money was now used to “get by” until I started my new job in November 2012. And that new job is in Internal Medicine at Dartmouth Hitchcock in Manchester. I work 4.5 days per week, no nights, no weekends, and no holidays. The benefits are superb and the salary is more than fair. They have been extremely flexible based on my family needs. I’ve been there two months and professionally I feel about as happy as I have ever been. And I am really enjoying the work (the specialty).
To review my 2012 season, let’s just say that the stress and anxiety, coupled with bizarre work hours, and long commutes into Boston, my training suffered immensely, and that is an understatement. Literally, I averaged 2.25hrs of training PER WEEK between my failed Rev3 Quassy 70.3 race in early June, and the Pumpkinman 70.3 in early September 2012 (which I might add, ended up being my first 70.3 finish after all. At some point I hope to finish my race report for that race, but don’t count on it.
To finally put closure on this 15-month summation, this new job allows me 1hr of training each morning, from 5:30-6:30am, and I knew that I needed high intense, full body, core oriented , shorter workouts, that were close to home. Enter: Crossfit Reclamation in Exeter, NH. I have been doing it for 14 weeks now and I’ve got to say, I am stronger, more explosive, faster, more fit, more balanced, and more agile than I have ever been. My diet/nutrition has been under control as I transitioned to a >80% Paleo diet on August 23, 2012, and everything about me, since doing so, is just plain better. I gave up bread, pasta, cereals, grains, and dairy, to name just a few. My energy is just “nuts”. I’m making every attempt to follow Brian MacKenzie’s book ,”Power, Speed, and Endurance: A skill based approach to endurance training.” So far, so damn good. I can’t wait to see what it does for my races in 2013.
So, since I’ve digressed, what about 2013?
What are some of my goals?
What are my fitness and professional resolutions?
In no particular order:
1 1) Go back to Quassy and finish what I started. Just registered a couple of days ago!
2 2) Average 20mph on the bike leg at the Mass State Olympic Tri. (And yes, I did accomplish last year’s resolution of >19mph at this race).
3 3) Post to this blog a minimum of twice per month.
4 4) Be able to Rx every workout at Crossfit starting on 1/1/14. Every workout has an “Rx” for male and female, as well as a “scaled” version of the same workout, which generally includes lighter weights, alternative exercises, or easier versions of a complicated movement. I have no idea if one year is enough time to get to that point, but I’m gonna aim high on this one.
5 5) Run a sub 21:00 5k. My current PR is 22:05
6 6) Complete my “Paleo Prescriptions” seminar.
In 2013, I no longer will accept “average” or finishing in the 50th percentile for my age group. I think it is reasonable to shoot for that upper 1/3rd or around the 30-35th percentile.
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