Blog

Vamanos a Mexico!

We’re off to Mexico tomorrow morning. Fun in the sun (fingers crossed), time on the beach and lots of general R&R. We’re headed to a resort near the town of Puerto Morelos, which is about 20 miles south of Cancun. It feels like the year has gotten off to a hectic and stressful start and we’re both excited to get away from New York, from work, from regimented training schedules, from life, for a few days.

The trip comes at a good time training-wise as well. I’m at this pivotal point in my “season” right now where I have to decide soon what I’m going to do about my back. I’ve still been able to train (a long brick last weekend, a nice 10 mile run yesterday, a tough ride this morning), but I know that I’m not “OK”. In my current state, I’m not sure that I could ramp up my running enough to get ready for Boston. So, I’ll take it easy over the next five days and see what happens. I’m going to try to run a little on the beach and will definitely get in some open water swimming (I’m especially excited about that). I’m also going to do a ton of stretching. I will not do anything high intensity. And I’ll see how I feel when I get home.

I had an MRI last week and today I had an appointment with Dr. McCormick, the nuerosurgeon who performed my surgery in 2003. After speaking with Assaf the other weekend, I got a little worried that perhaps my back issues were related to the remaining bits of the tumor in my spine. Also, Assaf convinced me that before I started any other sort of treatment, I needed to first eliminate that as a cause of my pain. Thankfully, McCormick gave me good news today. While there is a small growth still in my spinal column, it hasn’t visibly grown in a couple years, so it’s unlikely that it would be causing the pain that’s come up in the last few months. Phew! So, I’ll see a physiatrist when we get back from Mexico and see what he can do. Depending on how I feel and how that appointment goes, I’ll have to make a decision about Boston. I still have six months until Lake Placid, so I have some time before I have to start worrying about that one. I’m not going to risk my back for the races, but I am also going to do everything I can to have a successful season.

Hasta luego amigos. Hopefully I’ll bring home a nice tan and a little bit of sand in my shoes.

Brick – February 2
Bike
Distance: 58.1 miles
Time: 3:37
Average heart rate: 128
Course: West Side, GW Bridge, Route 9W
Conditions: Cool (low to mid 40’s), overcast
Transition: 5:50 (better than last week…)
Run
Distance: 2 miles
Time: 16:20 minutes
Average heart rate: 142
Course: Village
Conditions: Mid 40’s, cloudy

Indoor Bike – February 3
Time: 2:15
Average heart rate: 113

Run – February 5
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:18
Average heart rate: 147
Course: West Side Highway to Central Park
Conditions: Mid-40’s, overcast, drizzling, windy

Indoor Bike – February 6
Time: 1:15
Average heart rate: 124