...fresh pics can be seen at http://tri-fusion.com/Gallery/
...remember to track the race live at http://www.ironmanlive.com
...later today: Ben Greenfield's Complete Kona Ironman Racing & Nutritional Strategy will be posted online
Friday, October 12, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Carbohondriac
Today was relatively uneventful, other than one very colossal event...
...no seriously, this was a big deal...
...probably one of the most significant things that has ever happened to me, after my birth and my wedding...
..it happened during my Ironman carbohydrate loading protocol...
...That's right, folks: I believe that I have successfully consumed the largest bowl of oatmeal I have ever eaten.
This massive feast consisted of:
-1 entire cup of oats
-1 tablespoon of almond butter
-1 entire container of yogurt
-2 eggs
-2 small bananas
-12 chocolate covered macadamia nuts
By my reckoning, this was an 1100 calorie meal. And there were no Double Arches involved.
By the way, go to http://tri-fusion.com/Gallery/ for photos. Unfortunately, the giant bowl of oatmeal went unphotographed.
...no seriously, this was a big deal...
...probably one of the most significant things that has ever happened to me, after my birth and my wedding...
..it happened during my Ironman carbohydrate loading protocol...
...That's right, folks: I believe that I have successfully consumed the largest bowl of oatmeal I have ever eaten.
This massive feast consisted of:
-1 entire cup of oats
-1 tablespoon of almond butter
-1 entire container of yogurt
-2 eggs
-2 small bananas
-12 chocolate covered macadamia nuts
By my reckoning, this was an 1100 calorie meal. And there were no Double Arches involved.
By the way, go to http://tri-fusion.com/Gallery/ for photos. Unfortunately, the giant bowl of oatmeal went unphotographed.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Athlete's Back
Brief Top 3 for Today's Highlights
1. I woke up and my back felt pretty good. But I had contracted pink-eye and my shoulder had completely popped out of socket during the night. Haha. Just kidding. No, actually, I felt pretty good so I went for a swim. I swam in the general direction of a boat that was floating out by the Ironman swim course - a little Robinson Crusoe type of dinghy. So I pull up alongside it...and it's basically a floating coffeeshop giving coffee to the swimming athletes! How cool is that? Or messed up? I don't know which. I didn't drink any coffee, but it made me wonder if that's a good idea for a franchise that could be called StarfishBucks. Or Coffish. Or Wake Up and Smell the Fish. OK, so I won't give up my day job.
2. Rode my bike on the Ironman marathon course. It is boring, rolling, lava fields. Hot and miserable. I kid you not - come Saturday it will be a death march. But like a death march with free energy candy and gatorade.
3. Had a massage from a gentleman that actually *walked on my back* in his bare feet. He just danced around up there like some kind of leprachaun. It was at a Farmer's Market in Kona. He was pretty good, really. So my back felt even better afterwards, but I think I need some anti-fungal cream so I don't contract Athlete's Back.
Good night,
Ben
1. I woke up and my back felt pretty good. But I had contracted pink-eye and my shoulder had completely popped out of socket during the night. Haha. Just kidding. No, actually, I felt pretty good so I went for a swim. I swam in the general direction of a boat that was floating out by the Ironman swim course - a little Robinson Crusoe type of dinghy. So I pull up alongside it...and it's basically a floating coffeeshop giving coffee to the swimming athletes! How cool is that? Or messed up? I don't know which. I didn't drink any coffee, but it made me wonder if that's a good idea for a franchise that could be called StarfishBucks. Or Coffish. Or Wake Up and Smell the Fish. OK, so I won't give up my day job.
2. Rode my bike on the Ironman marathon course. It is boring, rolling, lava fields. Hot and miserable. I kid you not - come Saturday it will be a death march. But like a death march with free energy candy and gatorade.
3. Had a massage from a gentleman that actually *walked on my back* in his bare feet. He just danced around up there like some kind of leprachaun. It was at a Farmer's Market in Kona. He was pretty good, really. So my back felt even better afterwards, but I think I need some anti-fungal cream so I don't contract Athlete's Back.
Good night,
Ben
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Sharks and Elephants.
It's kinda strange being scared to run, but at the same time experiencing a deep desire to go hammer the pavement. If I had to give the best analogy I can think of, I would say it is very similar to the feeling of being a strict vegetarian, but at the same time experiencing a deep desire to go on an African safari and shoot an elephant. This is how I felt upon waking on Sunday morning. I dreamt about shooting that elephant the entire night. And by shooting the elephant, I mean running. The back was slightly sore and the foot still a bit tender, but I wanted to run - almost as badly as I wanted to eat a big breakfast of CARBOHYDRATES. My carb loading protocol dictated that Sunday morning was the time to start shoving starch down the hatch. Boy, I love bread pudding.
Anyways, I am both attending and presenting at the Hawaii Ironman Medical Conference during my stay here in Kona. This means that I am spending 5 hous per day in an air conditioned hotel conference room listening to physicians talk about solutions for saddle sores. I personally will be presenting on physiology of endurance athletics. So I sat all morning, just thinking about running, and listening to doctors describe solutions for runner's diarrhea.
Finally, class was dismissed! I drove home, put on my running shoes, and took a few ginger steps. Then I opened my stride up, and ran. I ran 4 miles - 2 miles out and back. Interestingly, the foot felt just a little sore, but the back was a bigger problem. My right butt cheek hurt, probably due to nerve related sacroiliac related dysfunction. I had to change up my stride a bit, which hurt the right knee. Gotta love those chain reactions. So I will talk to Dr. Pearce tomorrow about seeing a chiropractor.
Either way, I am glad to say that I will be completing this race. If I can run 4 miles, I know I can bike and swim, which I will be trying tomorrow. And even if I have to run-walk the marathon or stop and stretch my back every 20 miles on the bike, I know I can do Ironman.
So thank you for your prayers, your outpouring of concern and your medical advice. I am convinced that the power of the body to heal is only possible by the grace of God. I will be thanking God every morning for my returning physical health, which I will never again take for granted.
The remainder of Sunday was uneventful. Unpack and build bicycle. Tour Kona with my wife. Eat dinner with the Tri-Fusion triathlon club. Go to bed. Althought I was very sleepy, this was a good day.
Let me finish by saying that I hope I do not see any dangerous animals when I am swimming tomorrow. My pet dolphin Edward, who I brought on the trip to protect me from sharks, unfortunately perished during the long flight to Kona, as the federal aviation administration failed to feed him his allotted tuna rations. So I hope I am not eaten by sharks.
Are sharks or elephants the most dangerous animal in the world?
Neither. The most dangerous animal in the world is a shark riding on the back of an elephant, razing everything in it's path.
Ben
Anyways, I am both attending and presenting at the Hawaii Ironman Medical Conference during my stay here in Kona. This means that I am spending 5 hous per day in an air conditioned hotel conference room listening to physicians talk about solutions for saddle sores. I personally will be presenting on physiology of endurance athletics. So I sat all morning, just thinking about running, and listening to doctors describe solutions for runner's diarrhea.
Finally, class was dismissed! I drove home, put on my running shoes, and took a few ginger steps. Then I opened my stride up, and ran. I ran 4 miles - 2 miles out and back. Interestingly, the foot felt just a little sore, but the back was a bigger problem. My right butt cheek hurt, probably due to nerve related sacroiliac related dysfunction. I had to change up my stride a bit, which hurt the right knee. Gotta love those chain reactions. So I will talk to Dr. Pearce tomorrow about seeing a chiropractor.
Either way, I am glad to say that I will be completing this race. If I can run 4 miles, I know I can bike and swim, which I will be trying tomorrow. And even if I have to run-walk the marathon or stop and stretch my back every 20 miles on the bike, I know I can do Ironman.
So thank you for your prayers, your outpouring of concern and your medical advice. I am convinced that the power of the body to heal is only possible by the grace of God. I will be thanking God every morning for my returning physical health, which I will never again take for granted.
The remainder of Sunday was uneventful. Unpack and build bicycle. Tour Kona with my wife. Eat dinner with the Tri-Fusion triathlon club. Go to bed. Althought I was very sleepy, this was a good day.
Let me finish by saying that I hope I do not see any dangerous animals when I am swimming tomorrow. My pet dolphin Edward, who I brought on the trip to protect me from sharks, unfortunately perished during the long flight to Kona, as the federal aviation administration failed to feed him his allotted tuna rations. So I hope I am not eaten by sharks.
Are sharks or elephants the most dangerous animal in the world?
Neither. The most dangerous animal in the world is a shark riding on the back of an elephant, razing everything in it's path.
Ben
You Can't Kill My Dolphin
Ah, injuries. You either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. I, personally, hate them. Some people love them. These people made a movie called Jackass.
As some readers may have heard, I sustained an injury in a Half Ironman triathlon a couple weeks ago. Before you judge too harshly, this injury did not occur from a bike crash. Contrary to popular belief cemented since my first bike related hospital visit when I was 12 years old, I actually have good bike handling skills. They are not as good as my numbchuck skills, but they are good.
The technical speak for my injury is “peroneal tendonitis”. Anatomically speaking, the peroneal tendon is the large band of tissue that extends down the left spine of the Ukrainian wood ferret, but in humans is actually found on the lower leg. The best way to describe this injury is that it feels like an ankle sprain on the bottom of your foot. No, my ankle is not on the bottom of my foot. It’s right where I usually leave it, directly above my foot. But it feels like if I were to sprain my ankle and then pick that sprain up and put it underneath my foot, I would reproduce this injury’s general feeling. And by reproduce I don’t mean that I have any sexual feelings about my ankle. Damn! This is getting hard to explain. And I’m kidding about the ferret. Moving on…
Since the pain became unbearable several days after the race, especially when I tried to run, I grew very apprehensive about “being ready” for Kona World Championships. Seriously – being barely able to walk 2 weeks prior to the biggest race of your life is like being a quarterback right before the world series and being barely able to swing your racquet, to use a popular sports metaphor. Or like a horse jockey being barely able to find proper drycleaning for his or her colorful horse riding garb.
So over 2 weeks, I threw every therapeutical modality but the kitchen sink at my injured foot – ice massage, regular massage, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, magnetic therapy, topical anti-inflammatory, and bedtime stories. Nothing seemed to work. I couldn’t run but 20 feet without shooting pain. Furthermore, it was beginning to hurt even when I rode my bike, especially when I rode without a saddle on my seatpost, which I do sometimes to make myself tough, or when I’m constipated.
Finally, Dr. PZ Pearce, who is the greatest sports medicine doctor on the face of the planet, suggested a corticosteroid injection into the peroneal tendon sheath. The idea is that the cortisone acts a type of stimulant to my body, giving me enormous biceps so that my arms can handle the rigors of performing an entire Ironman in a wheelchair. No, just kidding. It accelerates the healing response and significantly decreases inflammation.
We injected the foot just 2 days before I was to leave for Hawaii.
And then, while picking up a set of dumbbells in my physiology lab, I threw out my back. Injury number two. Later that night, I had a reaction to the cortisone injection and my peroneal tendon became swollen like a golf ball was lodged in my foot, with intense shooting pain traveling up my entire leg.
So there I was, unable to walk, unable to bend, unable to move, unable to swim, unable to bike, unable to run, 9 days until Kona World Championships. Talk about bad mojo. You never really realize what you take for granted. All that I needed to complete the scenario was for my endangered pet dolphin, Edward, to be struck by a lightning bolt. So I transferred him from his giant outdoor aquarium to the safety of the indoors bathtub.
But I digress.
The painful reaction to the cortisone injection, I was later informed by Dr. Pearce, is normal.
Ben: “Dr. Pearce, I think that I may be dying, my foot is swollen about the size of a large adult rat and I have intense shooting pains up my leg with a blood red skin surface on my ankle and complete paralysis of my entire left side.”
Dr. Pearce: “Oh, that’s normal.”
Touche. But as he promised, the foot began to slowly feel better over the next 2 days. So I continued my intensive treatments literally until stepping on the plane (much to the mortification of FAA officials as I attempted to pass security with a portable electrical stimulation unit in my backpack).
I also treated the injured back very intensively, with ice 5x/day for 30 minutes (yes, that was an entire DVD of The Office), electrical stimulation 2x/day, light massage, and topical analgesic as frequently as possible to relax the spasming muscles.
Just prior to heading to the airport this morning, I tried to run. There was slight pain, but I was able to slowly shuffle through almost 4 miles. I’ve felt a few twinges of pain in both the back and the foot while walking about the various airport terminals throughout the day, but nothing incredibly debilitating.
And so this blog entry is being composed as we near the final descent to Kona. The Big Island awaits. Will I be able to run an entire 26.2 mile marathon in six days? Will my back snap during the 2.4 mile ocean swim? Will Edward survive the rigorous trip in his travel aquarium, lodged in the underbelly of the plane? Only time will tell.
Over and out.
Ben
As some readers may have heard, I sustained an injury in a Half Ironman triathlon a couple weeks ago. Before you judge too harshly, this injury did not occur from a bike crash. Contrary to popular belief cemented since my first bike related hospital visit when I was 12 years old, I actually have good bike handling skills. They are not as good as my numbchuck skills, but they are good.
The technical speak for my injury is “peroneal tendonitis”. Anatomically speaking, the peroneal tendon is the large band of tissue that extends down the left spine of the Ukrainian wood ferret, but in humans is actually found on the lower leg. The best way to describe this injury is that it feels like an ankle sprain on the bottom of your foot. No, my ankle is not on the bottom of my foot. It’s right where I usually leave it, directly above my foot. But it feels like if I were to sprain my ankle and then pick that sprain up and put it underneath my foot, I would reproduce this injury’s general feeling. And by reproduce I don’t mean that I have any sexual feelings about my ankle. Damn! This is getting hard to explain. And I’m kidding about the ferret. Moving on…
Since the pain became unbearable several days after the race, especially when I tried to run, I grew very apprehensive about “being ready” for Kona World Championships. Seriously – being barely able to walk 2 weeks prior to the biggest race of your life is like being a quarterback right before the world series and being barely able to swing your racquet, to use a popular sports metaphor. Or like a horse jockey being barely able to find proper drycleaning for his or her colorful horse riding garb.
So over 2 weeks, I threw every therapeutical modality but the kitchen sink at my injured foot – ice massage, regular massage, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, magnetic therapy, topical anti-inflammatory, and bedtime stories. Nothing seemed to work. I couldn’t run but 20 feet without shooting pain. Furthermore, it was beginning to hurt even when I rode my bike, especially when I rode without a saddle on my seatpost, which I do sometimes to make myself tough, or when I’m constipated.
Finally, Dr. PZ Pearce, who is the greatest sports medicine doctor on the face of the planet, suggested a corticosteroid injection into the peroneal tendon sheath. The idea is that the cortisone acts a type of stimulant to my body, giving me enormous biceps so that my arms can handle the rigors of performing an entire Ironman in a wheelchair. No, just kidding. It accelerates the healing response and significantly decreases inflammation.
We injected the foot just 2 days before I was to leave for Hawaii.
And then, while picking up a set of dumbbells in my physiology lab, I threw out my back. Injury number two. Later that night, I had a reaction to the cortisone injection and my peroneal tendon became swollen like a golf ball was lodged in my foot, with intense shooting pain traveling up my entire leg.
So there I was, unable to walk, unable to bend, unable to move, unable to swim, unable to bike, unable to run, 9 days until Kona World Championships. Talk about bad mojo. You never really realize what you take for granted. All that I needed to complete the scenario was for my endangered pet dolphin, Edward, to be struck by a lightning bolt. So I transferred him from his giant outdoor aquarium to the safety of the indoors bathtub.
But I digress.
The painful reaction to the cortisone injection, I was later informed by Dr. Pearce, is normal.
Ben: “Dr. Pearce, I think that I may be dying, my foot is swollen about the size of a large adult rat and I have intense shooting pains up my leg with a blood red skin surface on my ankle and complete paralysis of my entire left side.”
Dr. Pearce: “Oh, that’s normal.”
Touche. But as he promised, the foot began to slowly feel better over the next 2 days. So I continued my intensive treatments literally until stepping on the plane (much to the mortification of FAA officials as I attempted to pass security with a portable electrical stimulation unit in my backpack).
I also treated the injured back very intensively, with ice 5x/day for 30 minutes (yes, that was an entire DVD of The Office), electrical stimulation 2x/day, light massage, and topical analgesic as frequently as possible to relax the spasming muscles.
Just prior to heading to the airport this morning, I tried to run. There was slight pain, but I was able to slowly shuffle through almost 4 miles. I’ve felt a few twinges of pain in both the back and the foot while walking about the various airport terminals throughout the day, but nothing incredibly debilitating.
And so this blog entry is being composed as we near the final descent to Kona. The Big Island awaits. Will I be able to run an entire 26.2 mile marathon in six days? Will my back snap during the 2.4 mile ocean swim? Will Edward survive the rigorous trip in his travel aquarium, lodged in the underbelly of the plane? Only time will tell.
Over and out.
Ben
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Delay is not just a Congressman
Quick post:
-For those of you wanting an update on my various and sundry ligailments (my creative nomenclature for torn up pieces of me), I'm sorry but that's not going to happen in this post. Saving that story for later, when I'm not paying $84.00 for 30 seconds of T-Mobile internet access. Besides, the only people who care about the injuries are A) my mom and B) people who paid me money and gave me stuff to be here. To the former, I love you; to the latter, that's the last time I smuggle drugs in orifices for you. No, actually. They were sponsors, not drug lords. This is sounding dumb to explain. Moving on.
The actual *subject* in this post: Delay!
Namely:
-I and wife Jessa arrive in Spokane at 5:45am and find out our flight is cancelled
-chop suey with the airline to find a flight for us (I won't name the airline because it's rude, but...it rhymes with Kaplaska)
-arrive in Seattle, but flight rearrangement means a 3 hour layover
-finally get to LA!
-call my brother in LA: "sorry dude, but only have 1 hour to spend together because my flight into LA was delayed"
-stuff, stuff, stuff quick eat Japanese food with brother, chopstick no good for fast eat time, hate eat asian with fork, check please buh-bye was that fish or chicken?
-huff and puff back to LAX to find out our flight was delayed 3 hours
-guhhhreat
So the update?
I'm sitting on the floor of the LAX airport, blogging.
Over and out, I think that this single blog post just cost me my firstborn to T-Mobile online, and the kid's not even born yet. But she is pregnant, for those of you who didn't know.
Ben
-For those of you wanting an update on my various and sundry ligailments (my creative nomenclature for torn up pieces of me), I'm sorry but that's not going to happen in this post. Saving that story for later, when I'm not paying $84.00 for 30 seconds of T-Mobile internet access. Besides, the only people who care about the injuries are A) my mom and B) people who paid me money and gave me stuff to be here. To the former, I love you; to the latter, that's the last time I smuggle drugs in orifices for you. No, actually. They were sponsors, not drug lords. This is sounding dumb to explain. Moving on.
The actual *subject* in this post: Delay!
Namely:
-I and wife Jessa arrive in Spokane at 5:45am and find out our flight is cancelled
-chop suey with the airline to find a flight for us (I won't name the airline because it's rude, but...it rhymes with Kaplaska)
-arrive in Seattle, but flight rearrangement means a 3 hour layover
-finally get to LA!
-call my brother in LA: "sorry dude, but only have 1 hour to spend together because my flight into LA was delayed"
-stuff, stuff, stuff quick eat Japanese food with brother, chopstick no good for fast eat time, hate eat asian with fork, check please buh-bye was that fish or chicken?
-huff and puff back to LAX to find out our flight was delayed 3 hours
-guhhhreat
So the update?
I'm sitting on the floor of the LAX airport, blogging.
Over and out, I think that this single blog post just cost me my firstborn to T-Mobile online, and the kid's not even born yet. But she is pregnant, for those of you who didn't know.
Ben
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)