Hernia Recovery

hernia is a dirty word. i have a slight feeling of shame when i admit i just had a surgery on my double inguinal hernias. i think this is because most people believe this to be a condition associated with overweight people. as this post shows (thanks sean) it's very common in runners.

i'm now 11 days off of my double hernia laproscopic surgery. they made a few small incisions, blew my stomach up with carbon dioxide and slid a camera on a stick in there to check things out. my dr then stapled a mesh patch over each of my holes. from the operative report: "A 3x6 sheet of ultra Pro mesh was then tacked to Cooper's ligament, the underside of the tranversalis fascia and the symphysis pubis. No tacks were placed lateral to the epigastric vessels or the iliacs. Laterally, the mesh was interspersed between the peritoneum and the pelvic sidewall without any clips. This laid down nicely. It covered the possible location of the femoral hernia as well as an indirect and direct hernia nicely."

so how do i feel? after a week i was a bit disapointed that my stomach still hurt as much as it did. i've had lots of friends and elite runners tell me they had the same surgery (well 1 hernia, not 2) and that they were running rather quickly after it.. one said 4 days, another 9 days after surgery. i am still not sure i could run if i wanted to. i have very localized pain, especially on the left side. a life without activity is tough for me. my life literally revolves around it. i taught a track workout on wed and had to just stand there, in the rain. ugh. i called the dr last week and asked if i could ride my bike "super easy". the nurses response was "absolutely not! not until you see the dr."

well i am just back from seeing the dr today. everything looks good and i have the green light to ride super easy on a stationary bike. i'm going to give that a try tonight. on saturday, which is 2 weeks post-op, i can start to do normal training and ramping up my efforts... albeit extremely slowly

building blocks

first - congrats to justin angle for running a really strong angeles crest 100 miler! justin finished 4th in 20:38, with a strong field of top runners (results). also have to congradulate ashley nordell for taking 2nd place female in 22:14! great running guys! congrats!

also congrats to my coaching client max israel for his 16th place at the grand columbian ironman. he's been training hard and it paid off on what sounded like a brutal course (results). congrats max!

in other race news.. no big suprise that that brian morrison won the cle elum ridge run today (results).. congrats brian! i volunteered at this one last year and hope to run it one of these years.

i'm slowly coming back to life. the grand teton 100 miler, as expected, put me in my all too familiar recovery hole. each time an ultra distance race puts me there i feel like i'm get better at recovering and dealing with it. it's tough mentally. krissy calls it going from the best shape of your life, to the worst. sure feels like it. now that i'm feeling better and recovered a bit i can build on this progress. as ajw was kind enough to show me in the teton mountains sept 1st - i have a long way to go before i can compete with the best in the sport. but that is the fun of it... training hard, working hard toward my goals, focused effort... achieving the small day to day goals that get me closer to my big intimidating monster goal.

my next race is just 14 days away.. whoa. it's the vermont 50 miler (with 10,000 ft of gain) in brownsville, vt (ascutney mtn resort). i will still be recoverying by the time it gets here. but i'm going to do my best to be ready to run fast.

i'll have this week, well actually just the next couple days to get some key workouts in. today it's speed work at the track, tomorrow it's my last long"ish" trail run of 15 at cougar mtn. then next weekend i'm headed to interbike with nuun. once there the taper starts. daily short runs if i can fit them in, if not that's ok.

then the fun really begins. i'm traveling back home to the shire. my sister lana is loading up the camper!... and the kids! (my neice and 3 nephews!!!) and they are crewing me at the race. this will be one to remember with them there. i'm so excited. hopefully i can find the juju to run well and give them a show. =)

after that it's recovering on cape cod with my family.. i'm excited for that too!

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great read in outside on sustainable homes, yep for 10% more than it costs to build a normal house you can build one from recycled materials that is mostly off the grid.