Projectile Vomiting and Christmas Parties

Nothing says welcome to parenthood like a baby puking all over your house. I'll spare you the details. Katie and I did manage to squeeze in two holiday parties prior to E's Exorcist inspired vomit sessions. We are all in varying stages of wellness and hopefully we'll be back up to speed for the holidays. I'd like blogger to let me upload pics. Later.

Somebody in my house can walk. Not for great distances or in a way that one would call sober.

There's some pics for the fam. We have been so busy the last 3 weeks. Week long meetings, grad school applications, parenting, planning a celebration, holidays, and attempting to stay in shape. Better updates as soon as time permits.

Moab & Square 1

Elijah at balancing rock

E loving the pack

Family shot at the primitive loop trail head

E, Uncle Lucas and I on the trail

E trying to figure out one of the new additions to our house

We had a great family trip to Moab. Nice hiking in arches and at fischer towers. Nice grub at the condo. Just a good time that we'll be sure to repeat over the winter and spring. Elijah did fairly well on the drive down and hated the drive home. Crying builds character.

Square One:
That's where I'm at in the fitness game. On my ride today I got passed by a large man in red sweat pants, riding a full-squish bike with flat tires. That's what you get when you spend a whole season below recovery watts. Next month marks the start of the re-build process. Here's to the challenges that lay ahead.

The Feet Are At The Heart Of It

My appointment with the podiatrist last wednesday went well. The conclusion is that my left foot needs more support. He went with a low-tech felt wedge under the arch of my existing foot bed. Did it work? I just worked 4 12 hour shifts in row without knee pain. Now I need to find some foot beds the fit well in my bike shoes and get them set up by the podiatrist. Wednesday was a big day for another reason as well. The College of Nursing held a grad school info session. This session was both informative and disappointing. I am now faced with a dilema: attend the U for 4.5 years and obtain a doctorate the enables me to sit for FNP boards, or attend another school for two years and obtain a master's that enables me to sit for FNP boards. Here's the kicker: there's no difference in pay or scope of practice between the two options.
What do you think???????


Elijah sleeping while I research grad schools


Elijah meets his new roomy


The position feels better with every ride.

Time Flies When You're Being Lazy!!!!

We've been having a great time on our "vacation". It's been nice to just chill at home and get things done around the house. The biggest deal of the "vacation" was Elijah getting to meet his great-grandparents. We're starting to plan a Jan. trip to NM to see them again and visit Bucky and Bama.



I also got the chance to watch my able bodied friends race CX at RMR. The course looked fun and challenging. This was the first time in two years that I have watched my group race from the bleachers. I left pretty motivated to get my knees feeling better for next year.
Activity log:
Sat: 20 min stretching x 2, core, and quality rest
Sun: 20 min stretching, upper body, towed Elijah to see GGS
Mon: 45 min spin, core, 20 min stretching
Tues: 52 min spin, 20 min stretching, upper body, mini-stretching
Knees:
Left knee is still hurting consistently. Looking forward to my follow-up with the podiatrist tomorrow. Out of everything I've done so far the foot beds have helped the most. Also, the new fit feels pretty good. I've had my saddle too low and too far forward, so it will be a few months of baby-steps to transition me into the best position. Mike from Canyon did a great job. I can see why so many docs and therapists recommended him.

Fall Hikes



Chasing Elijah

Yesterday was another long day in the ICU. Out the door at 628AM and back home at 827PM. It was also a trying day. It's amazing to come home from work to the smell of good food, my beautiful wife, and the sound of a loud, happy baby. I've got two ED shifts this weekend and then a solid block of time off. We are looking forward to a "vacation" in SLC.
Today I went for a run with Katie and E. I'm glad shoes can't flat like the jogger. Tonight is soup night at Jen's house. Should be fun. Gotta run.
Thursday: Work.
Friday: 50 minute run. Monster walks. Basic core. Stretching.
KNEES: They felt pretty good at work and during the run. This on-off deal with the pain is odd.

The Ferrous will see some leaf crunching action next week.

One pic. No over-the-top rambling. Just a quick update. Here goes:

1) Knee exercises (- 1), Core, Stretching, Speed Lap of Da Hood.
2) The left knee is pissed about me being on my feet for 12.5 hrs at work yesterday. This is the worst the pain has been for a while. This really bums me out. It seems like I get 1-2 weeks without pain followed by 1-2 weeks of pain. I'll just have to see how my follow-up appointments go.

Activity Log:
Mon: Long walk at liberty while Katie ran. Knee exercises. Core. Stretching.
Knees:
They're feeling much better. The pain is down to an ache from stabbing. My follow-up appointments are coming up.

What's that noise???

Can't walk. Won't take a bottle. No problem.

Activity log:
Night shifts and a wicked head cold have put the brakes on my plans for this week.
Knee Report:
The insoles seem to be helping.

Elijah just realized he likes baby food. We just realized how fast time flies by when you're chasing little E around.
I'm starting to make some progress with the knee issues. I over-pronate in a big time way. Between the insoles I just started rocking and my exercises/stretching this thing should be history by next cross season. I'll be sitting this season out. It's taken me a while to see this as a good thing. So instead of racing this fall/winter I'll be working on my knees and laying down some serious base miles for racing the SS and CX in 2008.

Here's A Photo Dump

Wednesday: Short on time. 1 Hr on the "B" bike. Tried several upper endurance intervals. Knees seemed to tolerate the additional strain.
Thursday: 2 Hrs on the "B" machine. Knees ached afterwards. Upper body stuff. Knee exercises. Stretching. Knees seemed to get more painful as the day progressed.
Friday: 1 Hr mellow on the ferrous. Knees still ache a little from yesterday. Core. Stretching. Knee exercises.
Some conclusions about my knee pain:
1. No more flip-flops or old clogs. These both seem to contribute to the issues. I'm going to be sticking to my PI running shoes.
2. I really feel that the PT stuff is helping. I just need to keep it mellow on the bike a while longer.
3. Need to get my position looked at again.
4. The ferrous does not bother my knees. I can ride at a moderate intensity on the ferrous and experience no knee pain.


5. The "B" bike can really flare things up at times.


Gotta run. It's pizza night and time's a wasting!

The boy is getting bigger and bolder.
Worked another 3 day run in the ICU. This 50% ED and 50% SICU deal is nice. Just when you start getting in the groove, you get to start working in the other unit. The only drawback is the scheduling. There's also the crap that my co-workers, from both units, give me for not being full time.
Activity Log:
Sat: 13 hour day in the SICU. Rode the ferrous to work.
Sun: Another 13 hour day in the SICU. Rode the ferrous again.
Mon: Yet another 13 hour day in the SICU. Rode the ferrous to work again.
Tuesday: 1 hour mellow spin on the ferrous through the hood and up into the Avenues. Knee exercises. Stretching. Upper body stuff.
Goal for Weds: 2 plus hours on the bike. I'm thinking "B" bike on the road with some warmish wheeler farm laps thrown in.

No Pics. Damn that's lame of me. Just a quick update prior to heading out the door. Today was a yard work and bee dodging day. Great cross-training! I may be doing some cross racing starting late October. If things keep going well and my knees can tolerate the strain I'll try to show up and race for training/experience. Later.
Thur: Errands. Knee stretches and exercises.
Friday: Rode the cheater bike to the shop. Mowed the lawn. Ran away from bees. Picked up dog poop. Pulled some weeds. Worked out the core muscles while Elijah laughed at me. Knee exercises and stretching.

What happens when you put shoes on a 6 month old? He gains much needed traction for high speed crawling and pulling things off the coffee table. Thanks to whoever handed the kicks on down to little-E.


SAT,SUN,MON: Worked in ICU. Commuted to work on the 9spd Ferrous.
TUES: 2hrs on MTB. Knee exercises, stretching, and core.
WEDS: 1.5hrs on MTB. Knee exercises, stretching, and upper body stuff. Air safety class.

So, Elijah's still a handful and life is good. Going to get some new baby pics later today.
Thursday: 1hr 30min, knee exercises and stretching
Friday: 2 hrs (with some wheeler farm laps), knee exercises, stretching, upper body stuff.

I wouldn't be suprised if Elijah's first words are "Bring it on!" or "Is that all you got?" He is constantly finding new dangers around the house or turning harmless objects into items of peril. I bet that if a butcher knife, a frayed power cord, 12 baby books, and 5 plush stuffed animals were placed on the floor Elijah would go for the most deadly object first.
What else has been happening? Here's a quck recap since the last post:
Sat: No ride. Stretching x2. Knee Exercises.
Sun: Work. Tried to do some stretches while at work, co-workers thought I was weird.
Mon: Work. Crazy day at work. Lots of running around. No stretching. No knee excercises.
Tues: Work. Very crazy day. Hardly had time to sit and eat. Did some quick stretches waiting for a brain-attack to show up.
Weds: No Work. Daddy Day Care. Will spend the day chasing Litte E around the house, stretching, getting cx bike dialed, doing my knee exercises, fixing doors, walking dogs, and enjoying life away from the insanity of the ED.

This week has been one of those sleeper weeks. Things looked pretty mellow going into it, but it ended up being crazy. I worked Sun/Mon/Tuesday. Wednesday was daddy daycare with a challenging job interview thrown in for good measure. I was lucky that Uncle Zack was able to hang out and test Elijah's babe magnetism while I got grilled. While I didn't get the position the interview was a great experience.
Thursday was physical therapy. It felt like going to check the score of a test that you did not study for. You know it's going to bad but it always hurts to see your weakness quantified. Here's the quick story: I am not a flexible person, my pelvis and lower back are twisted, and my left hip ad/abductors and glutes are weaker than the left. I now have exercises and stretches that I'll be doing in addition to my regular core/stretching routine. I almost forgot that I'll be doing low-intensity miles until I get my body into alignment and the pain subsides
Thursday was also Elijah's 6 month check-up. He's a happy, loud, chunky 16lb 9oz baby who is really quite unhappy that he got 3 shots yesterday. Little E is now quite capable of army crawling around the house and getting into anything he wants. Today we'll be taking baby proofing to a new level and tomorrow he'll figure how to get into everything anyway. I guess that's how the next 18 years will be.
Friday: 1hr 30 minutes of recovery paced madness, stretching, PT exercises and stretching, chest/shoulder press, and tons of baby curls.

Elijah had baby food for the first time. He was indifferent to it, he was more interested in the spoons! This is one of his action shots, while army crawling. He is always on the move now, getting into things and coming up with new bruises.