2015 - Valentine Day

Happy Valentine Day.  To young lovers, new lovers, old lovers and those just loving themselves, today has been a day for thinking of our loved ones and of course loving ourselves after all we deserve it.

This one is for all you campers out there - Benny sets the mood with a little Sarah magic!!

 

And tell me this is not a great valentine card ..

 

We had a relaxing day that started with a private Foundation Training class.  It is so great to see the progress my client has made.  Followed by a trip to REI to find women specific cycling shorts for Sarah and new GP2 handle bar grips for my "trainer" mountain bike.  Yup that is a mountain bike on a trainer.  Good job I had an old hard tail in the shed.  It fits the trainer perfectly and gives me a more upright position to aid recovery.  Oh come on nothing says I love you like a pair of cycling shorts with a fine chamois.  Well it would have if we found a pair.  The hunt is still on.

Before we could get on the bikes we took the girls to the local park for a walk.  Poor Candy has injured a back leg and just like me she is at PT, so the walk was shorter than she would have liked with enforced exercises, but she loves the park so it made up for the restrictions.  Daisy on the other hand needed a little more to expend her pent up energy.

Back home and it was time to hit the bikes, well not quite, there was still the job of replacing the grips.  A task not as easy as it sounds but with a little pulling ok lots of pulling and a bit for rolling and did I mention lots of pulling the old grips came off and in no time the new ones installed. 

Sarah and I then hit the trainers for our 30 minute session.  It is great to ride with Sarah and I feel for her as she is working through positioning and saddle sores in unmentionable areas.  She looks great on her new bike "black beauty" and I know the effort will be worth it when we can get out on the road and trails together.  Grip verdict is still out, they did seem to prevent pain in my neck afterwards but did give me a few pins and needles in my hands.

We finished out the day with our extended family next door.  It is always a worry when you hear that the CD player keeps stopping and a red light comes up on the amplifier.  Especially when the Amplifier is 15+ years old.  On first investigation you find that only one of the 4 speakers is actually working.  At which point pulling the thing out to check cabling seems like a reasonable thing to do right.  Yup pulled the thing out and boom dead amplifier as in "so long and thanks for all the great tunes over the years but its now time to say bye bye!!".   A banged head (don't ask) and a temporary sound system and the evening was back on track.  A great, healthy dinner with wonderful friends followed by a game of Hand and Foot (a really interesting card game) finished off our valentine day ...

Here's hoping you had a great day and Maxed Life Out  .......

  

Injury Recovery: Part 39 - If you can't ride look like you can

Ok so this is what writers block feels like!!!!  Just spent the last 2 hours looking at a blank screen whilst watching a re-run of friends and trying to figure out what to write since my last entry.   To make matters even more interesting Sarah decided I was more interesting and I can tell you Sarah watching me write does not help.

So that got me started.  The last month and a bit has seen the ups and downs continue but I am pleased to say more ups than downs.  After a couple of failed attempts to restart training something had to change.  Every time I got on the bike trainer I experience pain in my back and glut.  By the third time it got old.  It took 3-4 days of rest and FT exercises to feel ready to try again and then it was like hitting the reset button and I had to start all over again.  It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out something was wrong. 

During the week of sunshine we had in January I looked out of the window and I just had to get out on the road despite the challenges.  I decided on the mountain bike over the road bike, and if I could not ride at least I was going to wear some of that kit I purchased for the race session I missed.  I even talked a very reluctant Sarah into joining me.   We headed to a stretch of road locally that is flat and glorious to ride.  When training it makes a great time trial segment and when relaxing it meanders through farms and along the river.  I won't lie I had mixed feelings about getting back on my mountain bike even if it was on the road.  Those feeling evaporated seconds after setting off.  The sun was shining and it was surprisingly warm for a weekend in January.

It struck me as ironic that it was my first ride on the mountain bike for fun, every other ride had been in anger whilst pushing myself to the limit and second guessing my ability.  It was wonderful to be back on the bike and to relish how good it felt to ride just for the sake of riding, the only agenda being to enjoy the ride.  We took 50 minutes to ride what would normally have taken me 15 to 20 minutes and it felt good.  Even better the next day was not a reset.  Bolstered by the experience I hit the trainer and boom I was back to square one. 

At that point I had to do something and it seemed the problem was bike specific.  If nothing else I needed to make sure that my bike fit was correct.  It was at that point I decided to seek bike specific help.  At the same time I focused on listening to my body and playing with Foundation Training to see what helped.  I found that getting deep into the Wood Pecker really helped and I could significantly reduce the pain and even eliminate it for a short period.  I was then blown away at my next visit to the balance spine when my adjustment almost completely eliminated the pain.  I had an imbalance and I needed to work on correcting it.

I started with a bike specific PT and in the first couple of sessions we focused on firing deep and different muscles.  It came a quite the shock in one session to find out I could not engage my butt muscles.  I quite literally lay there and nothing, I could not even conceive how to fire the muscle. It has been a mental journey to reconnect. Hmm, I can now say I have reconnected with my butt, now that's not something you admit to everyday.  It was also a revelation to realize that I could not relax my back and let my ribs drop and flatten my back a shoulders to the floor.  I know this should not have been to surprising but when you live with injury you don't always see the trees for the forest until someone helps you. 

The upside of the journey is the ability to simply enjoy riding with no agenda and to remember why I love to ride.  Even better Sarah has decided to ride with me.

My training for the last few weeks has been a 30 minute recovery rides at 70% of my FTP focused on allowing my body to adjust to riding without introducing cardio.  The riding combined with FT wood peckers and PT exercises has been going well and yesterday I was able to increase my FTP to 80% with no impact.

Oh and if all else fails I have a cunning fall back plan.  Electric bikes that if nothing else will allow us to get out in the wind.  I have visions of being paced by Sarah which would be super cool.  But I digress. I am openly optimistic but I know there is along way to go and the reset button seems just a hairs length away.  If it happens I know it will be hard but I will just have to get up, brush myself down and start all over again.  

Every day is a gift so MAX it OUT.

2015 - First Camp of the Year

When the invite arrived from our friends at vanderlust to join them for a campout over the New Year we were excited go with them.  But alas it was not to be as a few days after the invite a trip to the doctor revealed that a pain I had in my arm was golfers elbow.  As much as we wanted to go we felt it prudent to limit the driving and stay home.  Ah but the call of the wild was too strong and it was not long before we came to a compromise.  We would find somewhere local and limit the time away to just one night, after all we felt bad that Benny was stuck on the drive.


So where to go that would be easy to get to and a mini adventure in its own right.  We thought of going to one of our favorite spots such as Deception Pass.

After much debate we finally decided on Manchester State park on Bremerton Island.  The bonus was that we had been meaning to visit for sometime, so this seemed like an ideal opportunity.

Packed and ready to go we headed to the down town Seattle ferry terminal with a quick detour on the way to pick up a green juice and it was a good green juice.

It was a cold, crisp and sunny day which made for a great view of the city as we headed out of dock on our way to Bremerton Island the home of a US Navy base.

Arriving in Bremerton we made a quick stop over in town before we headed out to Manchester State park.  The drive to the park was great it followed the water around the bay with views of huge aircraft carriers either being renovated or scrapped, not sure which one it was but it they were impressive to see so close regardless.

After a very pleasant drive we arrived at the park.  Note to GPS users, our GPS wanted to take us down the wrong road so if it is a choice between following your GPS or the brown state park sign, follow the sign.

Arriving at the park is pretty much like arriving at most state parks in the pacific northwest.  That is secluded spots with lots of trees.  As we pulled in a man was walking in the road and flagged us down.  Now when you are flagged down in a state park you don't expect someone to be begging for food but that was exactly what we encountered.  No messing around, as soon as I had the window down he asked for food.  I won't lie it was a disconcerting feeling, a mixture of pity and apprehension with a dose of "not sure we want to leave Benny".   We decided that we would head out of the camp area and pulled up down the street for an earnest conversation as to whether or not to stay at the park.  Given our options and the time of day we decided we would stay.

A walk with the dogs and a stroll by the water cleared the air and we took in the sights and listened to the seals chattering away until the ranger found us and politely told us the park was closed.

 Returning to Benny we headed back to the camp ground only to be greeted by the same man who had begged for food earlier.  Only this time he was not hungry and was more interested in the Van and where we were from.  It was during the conversation that I got the sense that he was a little disabled and was probably not an axe murderer although Sarah was not convinced.


We found our spot and pitched in for the night.  With the heater running at full blast Sarah cooked us up a stew and after a relaxing read we settled down for a long restful night sleep.  

 

 

Well that was what I thought until at 4am'ish I was rudely awoken by Sarah.  She told me she could hear screaming and was scared.  Now that is not something you wake up to everyday and at 4ish in the morning it took my little brain a little while to wrap itself around what it had just heard.  Then there it was a Scream in the night.   Yup, I won't lie not the most reassuring sound to hear in the middle of the night and a fleeting axe murderer thought might have entered my mind.

Then the screaming stopped and all was silent.  What to do? my first reaction was to go take a look, like that always works out for people in horror films right?  Well even if I wanted to there was no way Sarah was letting me out.  I took comfort in the fact that Candy and Daisy were both silent.  If anyone comes even close to the van they go nuts so I knew nothing was close by.  So with nothing else to do but hope no one was hurt or being attacked I did the only thing I could which was roll over and try and reclaim some sleep.  Yes we did think of calling 911 but when all went silent we decided not to.

Well sleep was not going to happen when around 4:30ish the emergency services arrived.  That answered the screaming question and knowing that help was being rendered put our minds at ease so we could get some sleep.  Not so much, turns out sleep is really difficult when your van is lit up like a party barge.  Eventually the emergency services pulled away and we were able to put screaming, axe murderers and spooky things that go bump in the night out of our minds well mostly.  I finally got to sleep but poor Sarah had to listen the seals having a good time - sometimes it is an advantage being deaf.

The next day on our way out of the park the park ranger flagged us down.  With trepidation I rolled down the window.  He was a really nice guy and wanted to let us know we had actually overpaid for the night and we had change waiting for us at the office.  Now that is something I don't mind being flagged down for.  We asked about the goings on during the night but he did not know anything having only just heard about it himself.  As for the chap begging he was known and been asked not to disturb other campers but was otherwise harmless.  We picked up our change and headed into Port Orchard for a look around before heading home.


Port Orchard is 15 minutes from the State park and an artsy town with lots of antique shops.  A great place to poke around for a couple of hours.  We did not find any new treasures but enjoyed the stop. With our ferry time approaching we headed out and caught the ferry back to Seattle for the trip home.

Well we wanted a mini adventure and we definitely got one.  Until we see you on the road remember to Max Life Out.

2014 - 2015 Christmas and New Year

As I mentioned in my "Golfers Elbow" post the holiday period has been a mixed bag and that means there where good times to be had and have them we did.

We picked up our tree from the tree farm we have been going to since living here just after Thanks Giving.  It was great to be able to go get it together and it marked the start of the holiday season.

A trip to see Mary Poppins was an opportunity to get dressed up and take a trip down memory lane. Along with the Wizard of OZ Mary Poppins was a holiday favorite that truth to be told I started to avoid a good number of years ago.  So I was not initially thrilled at the thought of seeing it live but the enthusiasm of my fabulous wife soon rubbed off and I was looking forward to the show.  I was not disappointed, it was a fun and engaging spectacle with a good amount of artistic license that Sarah was quick to point out.  I even found myself singing alone, albeit quietly, no sense in scaring people now.

We took our next door neighbors and good friends to see a local production of "It's a wonderful life" performed in the manner of a 50's radio show.  As a favorite story of ours it was fun to see the performance at a local school.  The evening was rounded off with a pumpkin spice late made without milk or coffee and was quite the creation.

Christmas Eve we took a trip into Seattle and wandered Pike Place Market.  The trip was a life saver for me as up until then I was unable to find the present I wanted for Sarah and was afraid I would fail in my mission.  The stars however aligned and I found the perfect presents just in time. 

Christmas was a day for togetherness as our small family enjoyed each others company and the gift of being able to spend it together.  The girls managed to destroy there presents in under 5 minutes flat.

Our friends next door cooked up a slap up and fancy meal to celebrate the holiday and in our best bib and tucker we went round for an evening of good food and company.  Not sure about the bow tie but it was a talking point.

We caught up with some old friends we have not seen in years and spent time with some new friends. and saw the New Year in quietly at home to fireworks from Seattle on the TV.  It was a cold night and I did not envy those that had to fight there way out of Seattle.

We had planned to join some friends camping over the New Year but did not feel up to risking a long drive with golfers elbow and my current state of health so we opt'ed for a one night camp out on Bremerton Island at Manchester State park and that is a story all of its own so look out for the post.

At the weekend our tree and the holidays got taken down and packed away marking the end of the holiday session and the beginning of a great new year.

Injury Recovery Part 38 - Golfers Elbow

I hope you had a wonderful holiday period.  The holiday period has been a mixed bag of feelings and emotions as the recovery journey continues and to be honest I have not felt much like writing about them as I really wanted everything to be perfect.  It is funny how long it takes to realize that things are already perfect and to stop thinking about it and just get on with enjoying the gift of life.   You see yo yoing is just part of who we are and every day brings us new challenges large and small.  It is how we choose to deal with them that matters.

I am continually being educated and humbled by my recovery and forced to accept that recovering from a serious injury happens in layers, takes time and dealing with setbacks is par for the course.

It has been a bit of a "so what's next" period with a definite desire not to find out at times.  During my recovery exercises a few weeks back I started to notice my right arm aching.  I did not pay too much attention to it but as the weeks went by the ache did not go away until the nagging pain started to play on my mind.  With a concern it might be a blood clot I went to see the doctor.  I received the good news it was not a blood clot but the surprising and somewhat disappointing news that I had Golfers Elbow the companion to Tennis Elbow, and I don't even play golf.  Golfers elbow is a repetitive strain injury (RSI) and it is unclear what brought it on. 

Talk about frustrating, first my tooth causes delays in recovery, then low back pain and now golfers elbow.  As you can imagine it is hard to maintain a positive attitude when you take 1 step forward and 3 steps back, that is until I re-balance myself with a simple statement "Today is a gift, if things had gone differently I would not be here today".  Then the simple fact that I am here and able to enjoy time with Sarah, family and friends brings everything into perspective.

Golfers elbow is just another hill to climb and overcome.

Whatever hills you have to climb I wish you awesome success in 2015 and remember to Max Life Out.

Injury Recovery - Part 37 : Christmas 2014

Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.  It is Christmas Eve and I want to wish you a wonderful day and hope the day brings you joy and happiness and above all precious memories.

I thought about a title of "Surviving Christmas" as it has felt a little like that this year.  Recovery comes with its fair share of both pain and emotion, and sometimes the emotions are more frustrating than the pain especially when they hijack you with feelings you just don't want to feel. 

Don't get me wrong when I look at my progress pragmatically I am doing really well.  The last setback has been a challenge as it brought back all the related fears of the injury I had 2 years ago and whilst I have controlled it, it has left me with that nervous feeling, you know the one. It plays at the back of your mind and it takes a force of will to set it aside for fear you might set it off again even though you know you need to train to control it.  Talk about draining.  It turns out it is mentally draining.  More so than I expected.

Add to the injury recovery the need to be jolly, festive and for all things to be wonderful at this time of year and a whole other bundle of pressure gets added.  I have felt that pressure this year in away I have not in the past and I can't say I like it.

Being injured and dealing with someone who is injured takes an enormous amount of effort both physically and emotionally.  The analogy for me is when you are strong you can ride right through a speed bump but when you are tired a speed bump can feel like a mountain.  With the drain of energy and the effort needed to maintain a positive attitude throughout the day sneaky negative feelings and thoughts take root and if you are not careful you find yourself doubting yourself and on a track for self sabotage even though the rational side of you knows differently.

And then there is friends and family.  Like many people who relocate to a different country, our roots are many miles away.  Now don't get me wrong I have learn 't the hard way that family is what you build not what you are given and whilst we are blessed with wonderful friendships there are times when you wish to spend time with people that truly share in your life, the ones you laugh with and cry with, the ones that you spend time with and with whom you have built your new family.   When you are not out doing things and socializing it is sobering to realize somewhere along the way you neglected to build those bonds and for me more than ever this year has been a realization.

Life is a wonderful and precious thing and I need to take the time to find those out there that I can share the ups and downs with.  The effort needs to be more that just Facebook or Linked In but real and in person.  It is community, togetherness and love that should be the focus of the holidays and above all sharing that love with the ones that you love or come to love as family.

It is the realization and the reflection of the flaws in myself that help me deal with those flaws with the endeavor to be the best that I can be and to live my life to the Max every day.

To my loving wife Sarah - Thank you for being my rock and for facing or putting aside your own fears in the pursuit of helping me.  I could not ask or want for more, I love you.

Festive Winter Camp: Leavenworth 2014

It only took us 10 years but this weekend we made it to Leavenworth for the Christmas Holiday lighting.  Last week I decided that pain or not we would go to see the lights and it would be great to camp in Benny, hell sleeping is painful no matter what so it would not make any difference if I was at home or in Benny.  Now Sarah was not at first totally receptive to the idea.  There was concern that Benny being only two wheel drive would not do well, then their was Candy not being comfortable travelling in Benny and lastly the cold.   Fortunately the weather was still mild for the time of year with no snow on the passes well at least no snow on the roads the first concern was easily addressed.  Candy not being comfortable was a tough one but given the short distance of 2.5 hours, Sarah and I felt ok about it.  The cold however was another matter.  We looked at hotel options as an alternative but the decision was made for us.  With no rooms available, if we wanted to go camping in Benny was the only option.  Now this also touched on another worry, we have never slept a night with our van heater on, we have a propex heater designed to vent externally and safe for sleeping.  Even with that in mind since getting it with the van we have been conservative and not used it at night.  Well with temperatures well below freezing at we would have to either wrap up warm or give it a go. 

With all the worries and concerns addressed the decision was made and the site booked.  We opt'ed for the KOA site just outside of Leavenworth as we had stayed there back in April and whilst a long way from our favorite site it is close to town.  Due to prior Foundation Training commitments we headed out from Issaquah on Saturday afternoon for the 2.5 hour drive to Leavenworth.  As we were in Issaquah we decided to take I90 rather than the route we would normally take.  It was plain sailing or rather driving all the way there.  It was not until 4 miles from Leavenworth that we got a sense that we might not be the only ones going.  The traffic was solid all the way to our camp ground turnoff and past into town.

It is always disconcerting when the helpful person behind the desk stares blankly at you when you repeat your name and say you booked up in advance.  It turned out that the helpful booking person had booked us in the day after I called and not for the Saturday night.  Thankfully the helpful person behind the desk was indeed helpful and sorted out the problem and pointed us towards our pitch.

I  don't know what it is this year but we are just not used to the cold and boy was it cold in Leavenworth. I put it down to such a great summer and mild autumn.  It's my story and I'm sticking to it.   We arrived around 2pm and the lighting was not until 4:30, so time for some lunch and a little prep for later.  Around 3:30pm with the heater on full blast and full bellies we decided we should get going or risk missing it all together.  With all our layers on it was time to layer up the girls which included snoods for both of them, I wondered where my snowboarding neck warmers went.

It was about a 20 minute walk into Leavenworth and as we got closer and closer the number of people increased and increased, until we got to the main street.  We honestly was not prepared for how many people had turned up.  We could not get near the band stand so we opted to stay towards one end of town with a few thousand of the closest friends we have never met.  No surprise the dogs got all the attention.  Seriously I wish I could make friends as quickly as Candy and Daisy.  Oh and keeping Daisy from eating various delicious morsels discarded on the ground was a full time job.

Before we knew it the big count down started followed by the oooows and arrrrs as the lights came on.  It was both pretty, festive and bloody cold.   We weaved our way through a few thousand more of our not so closest friends as we took in the sights and Daisy tried to take in anything she could get hold of, which lead to me spending at least some of my time with my fingers down her throat fishing things out.   With the lights on, the sights seen and a brief lamentation that we could no longer eat the not so healthy bratwursts and we did not have friends with us to share the experience we headed back to Benny for a well deserved and healthy dinner. 

One of the things I like most about camping is the evenings.  At home I am an insomniac but after a day of travel, fresh air, cold, fingers down daisy's throat and a good meal I am ready for bed.  After dinner we played boggle and cards at which I was soundly beaten.   At around 9:30 an unheard of time for me I uttered the words "I think I am ready for bed".  To be honest if I had not looked at my watch I would have sworn it was past mid-night.  Talking about past mid-night, it was 1:30am when the red-necks in the site behind us decided to roll back in from town drunk as skunks and all about partying in the field outside our van. 

Upon waking from my slumber, the first words from Sarah's mouth was "don't you go out there".  I have never been one to avoid a hard conversation but even I had to admit that messing with 3 drunk red-necks in a campsite at 1:30am whilst still recovering from my injuries would not be a smart move and could in fact go south very quickly.  So the alternative was to turn my deaf side to the noise and pretend like it was the sea crashing against the shore, which by the way it sounded nothing like.  Whilst I was able to get some semblance of sleep Sarah was on edge all night worried that they might decide to wake up the occupants of the cool red VW camper a stone throw from there personal party.  Fortunately that did not happen.

On the up side the heater ran like a dream all night.  With the top down the heater really worked well.  With the top up it did not do as well but still good enough to keep the space warm if not toasty, oh and we did not set off our carbon monoxide alarm which was awesome.  On a side note running the heater all night only took approx. 0.7 gallons of gas which was a pleasant surprise.  The house battery did not fair as well.  We estimate maybe another night of battery power was left.

After a nice breakfast in Benny we headed home.  The options for the homeward journey were back the way we came, the shortest distance according to the GPS by 12 minutes, or HW2 and over Stevens Pass.  Since we were in no hurry we opted for the additional 12 minutes and did not regret it.  If you have not driven HW2 it is a stunning drive with my favorite leg being just outside of Leavenworth as you meander along the river.   The sun was shining and with the frost and snow all around it was just beautiful.   Sometimes it just feels good to drive and take in the scenes and today was one of those days.  Normally on our way home we blow by Stevens Pass ski resort but today Benny all but drove himself into the car park.  With the lifts closed and the resort open it was an ideal opportunity to grab a rest break and a cup of tea.  Yes the cups say coffee but let me assure you they contained a great herbal tea.  Rested and watered we set off for the last leg of the trip home.

The whole trip was less that 24 hours but by the time we got home it felt like we had been away for much longer, now that is the sign of a good adventure.  Until next time - Max Life Out.