And my next injury is.... Ribs

Saturday I was out running some local single track. It was a beautiful day out there and I was feeling good so I decided to run for about two hours. An hour and a half in, I tried on a root and before I knew it, I slammed to the ground landing on a root with my right rib cage. Ouch! It knocked the wind out of me and left me a little stunned. After feeling around to see if I broke anything I decided to continue my run. As I ran, my ribs hurt pretty bad and felt like something was loose in there. I walked a little poking at them and found a spot that really hurt. Tried to run again holding my ribs with my left hand, but it wasn't happening. Walked the half mile back to my car holding my ribs deciding whether or not I should drive to the ER or go home and shower first. I'm a guy, so yea, I drove home.

My view from the ground

 

After showering I decided to consult Dr. Google. The good doc said I bruised or broke a rib and the treatment was the same. Rest, anti-inflammatory and pain meds. I don't like taking drugs so I just went about my business. Sunday after having my morning coffee I started thinking that flying on Monday might not be a good idea if I had something worse than what I self diagnosed. Once I started looking at how late the urgent care place was open I figured that meant I just need to go get it over with. After a few X-rays and some painful probing, the doc said he didn't see anything broken but cartalidge doesn't show up on x-ray so something could be broken. He said I would know in a week, if it's bruised ribs, it will be better. If something is broken, it will still hurt pretty bad. He said I could resume normal activity, including running, if I could stand the pain. After lunch I decided to give running a try. Made it five steps and walked home holding my ribs. My pain level went from a three to an eight on the first step.

Tuesday my ribs were still about a three on the pain scale until dinner. Sitting through a three and a half hour business dinner, my ribs started barking. I didn't tell our customers about it, or my co-workers except for a couple guys that work for me. I was getting close to telling our customers and excusing myself early, but I stuck through it. That night in the hotel, I woke up about midnight and couldn't find a position I was comfortable enough to sleep. Eventually, I got up at 4 am and went to the front desk and bought a couple Aleve, which helped. Wednesday I had my pain med prescription faxed to Cleveland and I picked that up along with a bottle of Aleve on my way to another business dinner. Wednesday evening I took Aleve, but felt good enough to skip the pain pills. So far so good on avoiding taking the pain pills.

I'm five days in and still hurting. We'll know for sure Saturday when I try to run. Hope I'm better before my fishing trip in a few weeks. I'm the motor man in out boat and the thought of pull starting the engine a hundred times a day hurts. My best friend just might have to learn to drive a boat :-)

 

Soon to be view while fishing

 

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100 mile month

In April I had my third ever hundred mile running month. The last time I had one was a month before my 5 minute half marathon PR. If I could string a few of these together, I might be able to have another running PR. For now I'm happy not to be injured and that I got 100 miles running in April even with traveling every week.

Unfortunately my bike and swim graphs don't look so good. I am totally at peace with it though. Work has to take precedence since triathlon racing will never pay the bills for me.

I do miss cycling. I have plenty of alone time with all this traveling and cycling is a lot of alone time for me so not a total loss.

I'm not a strong swimmer and likely never will be but I do miss the solitude involved with swimming. At least my last race involved my best race swim yet.

In other news, I am still getting my cooking time in on the weekend. If you follow me on twitter and/or instagram, you've already seen these, but they are worth seeing again. :-).

I like my neighbor's recipe for baby back ribs.
- peel the back side skin off the ribs (let me know if you want more info)
- get a big roasting pan and fill with 50-50 water and apple cider vinegar
- add Lea and Perrins sauce and ground pepper to taste
- bake 2.5 to 3 hours at 250 degrees
- Move to the grill to finish them up

I made this up based on my wife showing me some Facebook post. It turned out amazing.
- slice zucchini
- Lightly cover with olive oil and dipping bread seasoning
- grill at medium heat for ~5 minutes (defined as holding hand an inch above the grilling surface and being able to tolerate it)
Grill side one for five minutes, flip then add Roma tomatoes and cheese. Grill another five minutes or until the cheese looks done.

So what is medium heat on a charcoal grill? If you can hold your hand about two inches above the grant for about 2-3 seconds, no more, no less, that is perfect. Enjoy!

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