Damn knee...

Last night I was able to sleep and not feel the back of the knee pain. That was a good sign. I decided I was going to try to swim and see how it would feel. For the most part it felt okay in the pool, except when I did some warm ups of 5 x 25 breast stroke. there was discomfort but I was going way to gentle to even come close to breaking a sweat.

The swim was a speed work session and I'm proud to report it was my fastest swim in a long, long time. I really felt like I've made some progress. The main set was 20 x 100 yards resting for 10 seconds on the first two and 45 seconds on the third. My fastest was a 1:26 and my slowest was a 1:36 per 100 yards or 1:34 - 1:44 per 100 meters. Not my fastest, but a definite improvement and it gave me a little hope that I'm  now starting to get my speed and hope back. I've said it before and it's so true, if you don't swim you lose it quick.

The disappointment I had was when I got out of the pool and the back of my knee was very sore again. The swimming set it backwards. I no longer could walk without a noticeable limp. I spent some time in the hot tub letting the jets hit the calf muscle, then went into the sauna. Hoping the change from the cool water to the heat would help the circulation of the area.

I'm also back on my Hammer Tissue Rejuevenator and just started taking some Beta Alanine. I'm hoping this will also help the calf. I'm fairly certain that this is a major calf muscle strain, I'm intuitively feeling it. It's rather scary and after today's swim I've realized I can't be stupid, I need to rest it.

I did some math in my head and if I did minimal training for a week, other than some swimming strictly with only a pull buoy in between my legs to force no kicking and upper body weights, I'd still have a couple of weeks of strong training left and if I could get in just two long rides and two long runs I'd be fine. The 7-day rest shouldn't hurt me too badly. However, if I try and train through when it's not properly healed I think this could be a three or four week injury. As it is now I'm not sure if it is a 3 or 4 week injury and I'm just being hopeful.

I'm closely monitoring it and by Monday will go in for physio therapy. I find that going in too soon can be detrimental in that working on a injury too early seems to prevent the body from naturally healing it itself first. After the body had done what it needs to do then you can add more help.

On the way back from the pool I got a call from Ian (@pedalmanT0) concerned and asking about the knee and giving some great suggestions on what supplements I can take to recover and if I try to ride to move the seat down 1/2 inch so I don't fully extend the knee. Very good advice. The worst part is it's going to take every ounce of restraint I have to not train this weekend, it's supposed to be beautiful and unusually warm weather. This injury couldn't have come at a worse time.

This afternoon my truck ate up a lot of gas and I ate up lots of my time, I had to drive across the City, about 80 minutes to a press approval at the main AG plant. It was with one of Carlo's co-workers and although I technically didn't have to go I thought showing up on a Friday before a long weekend at 3 pm to do a press approval can only score me good marks in the clients books and more importantly in Wayne and Rino's books. I was a little disappointed when I saw that Wayne, Rino and Ron's offices were closed for the weekend.

The upside was the client wasn't aware of some of the services we do and when I showed her she said she will have a lot of work coming our way as they have rebranded all of their materials and changed the design to be more fun. Score one for the good team! She also had a question I couldn't answer and it gave me the perfect opportunity to email Wayne and Rino from the plant and explain the client is her with me and she has a questions. Score one for me not wasting my time driving to the plant to score points!

Getting home was a bit of a bear with traffic. It's bad enough on a Friday afternoon, the Friday afternoon of a long weekend it's insane and I left the plant by 3:45, another hour and it would have been a camping exercise.

All day I've been craving beer. I think it's the injury, I want to drown my sorrows. It was a major internal battle that was ragging for hours, do I drink beer or not? do I get drunk or not? The thing is I've been feeling so good and it's great not waking up hungover and my heart rate has gotten to an all time low of 36 resting, drinking would definitely hurt that. But getting drunk is fun too. But I did promise I was going to stay booze free until after Vegas. But drinking is fun. But I like waking up with a clear head and I have lots of work and thinking work to do and if I drink I'll be cloudy and hazy and it may take me a couple days to get my head straight again. Yet drinking is a great escape.

Turns out I fought the demon to drink. It wasn't easy, I did it by eating. We went to Harvey's for dinner, I had a hamburger, then Baskin Robbins for desert, I had a blizzard and then late night we went to Mac's  for a Crystal Light Slurpee, M & M's, Goodies and sunflower seeds. Oh and before dinner I had some party mix snacks. That's were I de-railed.

However, I didn't drink, it was still somewhat of a win. One thing I know for certain is I'm blessed I haven't drank in this last month or more or I'd be up 10 lbs. I intuitively felt I was on the bubble of disaster and now I'm feeling a little lower than the crest of the bubble. My body has definitely changed, I'm feeling and looking much leaner. I'm actually happy to look at myself in the mirror in the morning and my clothes are fitting better, other than tonight after the salt overload bloating.

I've been seeking all these tweets and pictures from Kona over the past week. I didn't ever think I'd say this but I wished I was there, I'm a little homesick. Last year after the race I said I wouldn't want to go back year after year that it's too serious and too special, that every 5 years would be perfect. Now I'm not so sure. Looking at those pictures bring back such good memories. Specifically one of the underwear run. It looked like it could have been taken from last year, it was the exact same energy, smiles and weather. I was flooded with the emotions of wishing I was back there again. It's something I didn't expect nor would have even considered within the realm of wanting.

The night was relaxing. Alice and I watched TV. Alyssa was out, Reid was out. It seems that we are near empty nesters now. Alyssa's home more than Reid. It seems that he's up and out of the house and comes back around 11 pm. He's out hanging with friends and that means only one thing - "Girls".

Below is the final saga of my cousins daughter Jackelynn Payne. She ended up getting 1 year in jail.

Speed Swim - 1:09:10 / 2930 meters
4991 Calories

Winnipeg woman jailed for crash that left friend paralyzed

BY MIKE MCINTYRE, WINNIPEG FREE PRESS OCTOBER 3, 2011

WINNIPEG — A young Winnipeg woman has been sentenced to one year in jail for a drunken car crash that left her friend paralyzed.

Jackelynn Payne, 20, was in tears Monday afternoon as sheriff's officers led her away to begin serving her penalty.

Payne previously pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing bodily harm for the February 2010 crash. Dawn Huston, 28, suffered catastrophic injuries that left her a quadriplegic and dashed her dreams of becoming a police officer.

The Crown was seeking a jail sentence of between five and 24 months, suggesting that's the typical range for a remorseful, first-time offender in these types of cases. Defence lawyer Richard Wolson had requested a jail sentence of less than three months, which would allow Payne to serve it intermittently on weekends.

Provincial court Judge Patti Umpherville said a strong message must be sent to society about the perils of impaired driving.

"The accused chose, on her own accord, to drink alcohol that night and then chose to drive," Umpherville said Monday.

Huston wasn't in court for the sentencing decision because she has returned to California, where her parents are spending $11,000 per month for treatment at a spinal cord injury centre. Huston had the entire courtroom in tears last month when she spent nearly an hour describing how her life has been affected by the crash.

"I am here because of the selfish actions of one individual," Huston said. "She gets to touch her toes, move about, be independent. She still has the luxury of moving on with her life with a sense of normalcy."

Payne gave her own emotional apology, saying she doesn't blame her one-time friend for being resentful.

"Her life is ruined because I got behind the wheel. I was terribly wrong and I shouldn't have been drinking and driving," she said. "I want to be accountable for my actions. I know it's devastated her life."

Payne has been volunteering for several months at the Elizabeth Fry program, working with clients in their literacy program. She is also looking for other forms of community service to help make amends for what she's done, court was told.

Payne and Huston were both classmates in the criminology program at Red River College when the crash occurred. Payne's blood-alcohol level was nearly double the legal limit when she got behind the wheel with Huston and another friend as passengers. The women had been drinking liquor shots and beers at Payne's grandmother's home, but Payne had agreed to be the designated driver and insisted she was fine. She even shook off another friend's suggestion they call a cab.

Moments later, Payne missed a red light at a highway intersection, slamming into the side of a semi-trailer. The roof of her Dodge Stealth was shorn off.

Huston suffered a broken neck and was given a 20 per cent chance of survival. Payne and the other woman in the car escaped serious injury.

Huston told court how she pleaded with her own family to "kill me" at times during an excruciating eight-month hospital stay.

The realization that her days of being an athletic and independent woman were gone left her battling a deep, dark depression, with which she continues to struggle.

Huston told court she accused her father of "being selfish for approving the operation which saved my life."

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