Michelle Yost mom, triathlete, coach Thursday, October 15, 2015 Where in the World….. Did I go? Some of you know, some not. I even tried to ignore it for awhile. This is the 800th blog post I've attempted to write. We'll see if I hit publish:) OK, long story condensed: I fell off my bike. On a trail. No cell phone coverage. Quiet day on the trail since it was a Friday afternoon. I knew instantly I had broken my wrist (no idea of how badly). And something hurt in my other hand. And I was at least a mile from any sort of help. Did I mention I was riding alone? After I dragged my sorry ass and bike off the trail (and thank you so much for the 3 guys who finally came up and helped me), help came and got me off the mountain. I turned down the ambulance ride (silly me) and waited for my parents to take me to the ER. See I already want to stop writing this because truth be told I'm a bit damaged emotionally. I mean, really. I was out doing what I love to do. And I've always done this alone!! It is my "me" time. My time to reconnect with nature, the capabilities of my body, enjoy the state I live in. But, I was riding a different bike and wasn't quite where I thought I was as far as what i could handle. And I messed myself up. My surgeon said my bone was in an entirely different zip code At the ER, the XRays showed that I basically shattered my wrist. As in destroyed the MoFo. Like so bad the radiologist was apologizing to my dad (a semi-retired radiologist). I now know that morphine doesn't take away the pain - it just makes you OK with it! And, I also completely understand the 1-10 pain scale. Trust me, you know when you've hit 10. My mom was listening (hate that ) to what was going on in my room and she later told me I hit 12. Anywho, the bad news was I had to go back to the ER several hours later. Good news is that I met my badass hand surgeon, total rockstar in the wrist/hand fixing world. Thank goodness I met him!! I'll spare you the gory details (trust me on this) but basically he was able to reset my wrist for the second time and avoid an emergency surgery. (drug count to this point: morphine, percocet, delotted) Oh, and did I mention that little pain in my other hand was in fact a fracture of the 3rd metacarpal in my right hand? The blow up wrist was my left hand. And I'm left handed. F**k. That's right…..basic hygiene was now in question. BUT I could wipe. Yes, I know that's the question that first came to mind:) Shower on my own. No. Brush my teeth….barely. Wash my face? No. Ponytail? No way. Feed myself? Yes. But it wasn't pretty. Open the fridge? No. Open a medicine bottle? No. Fill a water bottle? No. Drive? Hahaha. No. House clean? No. Now is the appropriate time to announce to the universe that my parents are the best parents in the world. Hands down. They picked me up from the accident, and took care of me daily for the next several (6) weeks. Took me to every doctor appointment. Grocery shopping. Fed me. Kept me company during the dark days (and there were several). Shuttled my kiddos to and from their activities. There is really no way to thank them enough for getting me through this ordeal!!! Except to know that I would do the exact same thing for my children:) And now is the appropriate time to thank my wonderful circle of friends. Lesa - you rock, I love you:) Lisa - you rock, I love you:) Steph, Laura, Anita, Wilma, Laurie, Nicole - you all rock and I love you!!!! Dinners for my family, picking up my girls, cleaning my house, taking me out of my house…...Your generosity still makes me weepy!!! (if I forgot anyone, please remember that I was all messed up on percs:) Surgery followed 5 days after the accident. And I cried when he told me I might never get full function back in the wrist with the severity of the fracture. But he did assure me I would ride my bike again. And swim again. He also awarded me with "Wrist Fracture of the Year" even though it was only April. Still waiting for my medal…… Are we kidding with the color of this gown? A 2 hour surgery later and I had an "ex-fix" on my wrist with 4 pins coming straight out of my arm. It looked pretty wild. And then the waiting started……since I really couldn't do anything except sit around and watch TV. I couldn't even walk outside for fear of clumsy me taking a tumble. I was unable to take care of my kids for a couple of weeks which was completely horrible especially since their dad was unable to bring them by for any visit time. Except once. For 15 minutes. So what did I do? I slept. 10-12 hours a night and an hour nap during the day. I wasn't on pain meds any longer but my body needed the sleep. And then I decided to start watching the entire Game of Thrones series. As soon as I was about to lose my mind able to, I started going for walks. And I started my own stretching/mobility routine that I could do without hands. The "ex-fix" came off on May 22nd and that's when I started PT. That day, my basic functionality was 20%…..meaning I was only able to do 20% of basic life functions. A long way to go for my recovery. The pins that were in my wrist and the bar on the outside that held it all together. Those came out without anesthesia. Weird! Getting closer to freedom Not gonna lie, writing this has been tough. But I am much much farther down the line on my recovery. So I can look back and wonder how the hell I got through that. And thank everyone who helped me do so:) Yes, I'm so far behind in writing - but this is the first step right??? The story will continue to be told…... Posted by Michelle at 9:03 PM 4 comments: Links to this post Tuesday, April 14, 2015 Platte River 1/2 Marathon Report Well, not really a race report... For those of you following along, I am now 0 for 4 for this event. If I mention signing up for this again, please stop me!!! I mean, I am happy to support the Platte 1/2. Really, I am. And it's a great long sleeve t-shirt. But I just think the universe is telling me that this is not my race. Not my run. Not ever. Year 1 was to be my first 1/2 marathon ever!!!! I was so excited and so nervous and so ready. But, in the now infamous bunny cake incident, I got salmonella poisoning the night before, spiked a fever of 102, and spent lots of time running to the bathroom. If you're curious, Easter was the next weekend and I bought this fabulous bunny cake mold from Williams Sonoma. I tested it out on Friday before the race making carrot cake. But I licked the batter that had like 4 raw eggs in it. Oops. The next time I signed up I was so excited and so nervous and so ready. My run training was going great and I felt like I could run fairly fast. But I fell off my bike the day before the 1/2 in the now infamous "never take your hand off the handlebars to wave at anyone. Ever." Pretty good road rash and very sore and no running the next day. Grrrrrr. If you're curious about that incident, I was out for an easy spin with PIC, waved at someone who had waved at us, hit a bump in the road and went splat. So I decided that third time is a charm right??? Wrong. Scheduling conflict with a half Ironman the weekend after. And yes, I was very excited and nervous and ready. I know you are asking yourselves right now - you are clearly cursed with this race why on earth would you sign up for round 4???? Because there was no way I could go 0 for 4 with this race right???? My run training was going well and mileage was about where it needed to be. But then I caught the plague a couple of weeks ago and missed an entire week of training. Tough to train when you are coughing your lungs out. And the plague hung on for a little bit so the following week training wasn't that great. So I decided this would be an "easy" training race. No time goals just work on pacing blah blah blah. Until my calf acted up and made running painful a week ago. No go for #4. And there you have it. But I did have a spectacular time spectating the race and cheering people on. One of my athletes did his first half very successfully and Randy pretty much crushed it for his first half in a very long time. On another note, I am expecting!!! A shiny new QR PRSix will be arriving anytime and I simply cannot wait to see how fast me and that bad boy or girl can go:)!! Posted by Michelle at 8:21 AM No comments: Links to this post Thursday, January 22, 2015 Let Me Explain…. The picture that caused all the confusion and concern!!! Let me explain….. Ahhh. The trials and tribulations of attempting to be "normal" after an ACL tear and surgery. Yeah. I may have felt like I was "winning". Finishing an Ironman 8 months after surgery was awesome. Really. But what I neglected before and after was rehab. And strength training. And stretching. Yes, those dirty little words we athletes have a love/hate relationship with. What??? I have to work on lateral movement? What?? I am overcompensating for my knee??? So, I feel I must post this since my Facebook/Twitter/Instagram post and picture set off a wave of unnecessary concern!! I am fine. Great really. Here's what happened. I went skiing. Several times. You may call it making up for a lost season last year. Whatever. I call it finally being back to my first sporting love. Ahhhhh…….the mountains. Snow. Turns. Corduroy. Powder. Steeps. You name it, I'll ski it. (I only did Highline once. I swear.) After day 4, my left hip started hurting. Like, not being able to get out of bed hurting. Talk about feeling geriatric. I stretched. It kept waking me up at 4:30am. I kept skiing. Finally, RE talked some sense into me and I went in to see my trusty (and a teeny tiny bit evil) PT Bryan. He's a no-nonsense kinda guy (which I like). And here's what has happened…..my left hip hurts (actually my TFL - don't ask me what that stands for) because I am unintentionally overcompensating for my repaired right knee. Even with wearing my brace. Plus, the right knee was hurting pretty good too! And, as "luck" would have it, I had lost some mobility and flexion with that knee. Ugh. So even though I had full mobility and flexion a mere 4 months after surgery, 11 months later I did not. Not quite back to square one. I am once again on an "official" schedule!!! Woot!!!! And I don't have any limitations as to what I can do. I do have some pain after my sessions and certainly my knee is pissy/swollen after I ski. And sometimes after I run. And ride. BUT, here's what I am doing……Bryan hooked me up with Pam at my gym. And Pam isn't really nice either. But she is helping me getting my strength back in my under-used glutes and helping me gain lateral strength and motion. Yay Me!!! These days, I spend 30 minutes in the morning (after Izzi gets off to school and before I take Charlotte) stretching and doing glute exercises. I spend an embarrassing amount of time thinking about my butt. Like all the time. I now ice my knee after every bike/run session. And now at 4:30am, I wake up with a slight ache in my hip. My knee pain is totally gone (the serious pain, the everyday I had surgery in that knee pain and I probablyshouldntbedoingallthatido pain is still there). But, I'm a triathlete right? My pain tolerance is not "normal". All this being said/written, I am sooooo excited for the upcoming season!! My race schedule is about final and I'm adding in an Xterra (or 2). Crazy right? Because why not take up a new sport at my "advanced" age. And some shorter distances. I have sworn off Ironman this season. But is October/November considered this season????? Clearly, I have an Ironman problem. Only time and finances will tell if I sign up or not:) Sooooo, there is the update. And thank you everyone for your concern!!!! I appreciate it! But all is well on this front and I will have full mobility and flexion before long. Honest. Oh…..it may be January 22nd but I already have 7 days skiing!!!! Woo Hoo!!! Posted by Michelle at 9:00 PM 19 comments: Links to this post Wednesday, December 31, 2014 2014! I started this post 2 months ago……so rather than it being the "Kona Pre-quel" I'm just going to call it 2014 year-in-review. Well let’s get this out of the way right off…..I am incredibly proud of what I accomplished last Saturday in Kona. Because I honestly shouldn’t have been on the starting line. Busted knee, surgery, rehab, divorce, moving, buying a house. I’ve really packed a lot into this year already. And all this activity just meant not a whole lot of training consistency. But my doctor gave me a glimmer of hope early on that I might be able to do Kona (he knows me and my special brand of crazy) and so I kept that thought in the back of my head as I worked on getting my knee better. Here’s the timeline…… January: Busted knee from a stupid skiing fall on December 30th. Shredded ACL, partial tear of lateral, MCL strain. Start doing pre-hab in advance of surgery. Have to wait for swelling to go down before I undergo the knife. Trying to stay positive but naturally it's the best snow year for Colorado in a long time. And I can't ski. Bitter. My athletes that post ski pics are punished with extra tough workouts:) Everyone helped with pre-hab February: surgery. No activity. Nothing. Trying my best to keep my chin up and know that I really had no choice but to do the surgery. Some pretty dark moments in the first 2 weeks after surgery. Lets not beat around the bush, this was a VERY hard time. After a few weeks I was able to get back in the pool (pulling only, 1-legged flip turns) and do some easy spinning (up to 20-30minutes). And one wrong move and I'm in a world of pain. But, it is really unbelievable what just a little bit of activity can do for me and my mood. I started to feel “normal”. Even if I did have a huge scar on my knee and had to wear a brace 24/7. This knee. Not the other one. March: Still pulling only in the pool. Bike is permanently on the trainer and I’m spinning every chance I get. Even celebrating the few beads of sweat that have dropped onto the mat! New to my training is time spent with Estim (Compex). I started using it right after the fall and have pretty much been hooking up to it 1-2 times a day. This tool proved to be key in my recovery. And because of that my muscles have not atrophied as much as normally expected and I get one step closer to clearance to ride outside. Brace #3: Bad Ass Betty April: I can ride my bike outside!!!!!! I can ride my bike outside!!!!! But no hills. And no standing out of the saddle….sad face. And, I can drop the pull buoy but only kick lightly – kind of a comfort thing. And trust me, my knee let me know if I kicked too hard. But, at least my activity is heading in the direction that I want. My doc also cleared me to try running on a tready with my brace at the beginning of the month. This session lasted 4 minutes and ended up with me in tears. Mucho pain. Knee not ready to run. After my first outside climb! May: Puerto Vallarta!!! All-expense paid trip that I earned with Wildtree (YAY). PIC and I had a ball!! Try running on the tready again and it goes much better. I literally start with 10 minutes – 1 minute "on", 1 minute off!!! I tried running outside and just the little imbalances in pavement and trail were enough to send me back to tears. By the end of the month I’m up to 20-30minutes!!!! And, I can climb on the bike – thank the lord!!! May was also the month that I put the house up for sale. Getting prepped was tons of work but fortunately it sold in 2 days. YIKES!!! It sold in 2 days!!!! Now I have 35 days to get packed up and move out of a house I have lived in for 12 years. And find another place to live. Don't worry - that's a one legged jump for me. June: Runs are getting progressively longer but I adopted a run/walk strategy as it seemed my knee was much more receptive to this than just straight running. Started out as 10 on/1 walk and ended up around 15 – 20 on/1 off. My swim has taken a back seat. The move is taking up the majority of my time – I’m lucky if I’m getting in 2x week. But I am still riding and doing my best to stay on schedule. July: Tried a 4 mile run race. Pulled out after 2 miles. Ouch. I continued on with the run/walks and got up to 1 hour!! And I tried to not freak out about Kona. I got a big bike week in France (30k of climbing in 6 days) and had an amazing time. Swim is still taking a back seat and I’m lucky if I get in 2x week. On another note, apartment living sucks. The girls and me need some space…. Somewhere near the top of Alpe d'Huez August: My Kona run training begins – yes, I know it’s August. My bike is in a good place. My swim will come along – right??? I run 2 hours at the end of August. And I have a small glimmer of hope that I might be able to complete Kona. And I threw in a little Olympic race in there – let’s just say I was NOT race ready and that run kicked my arse. But, I did have tears of joy in my eyes as I crossed the finish line and I managed to win my age group – that felt really awesome. Oh yeah, and I found the perfect house for me and the girls and decide to buy it! I commit to 6 weeks of no missed workouts. Can't wait for more PIC adventures. September: YAY!! I finally get to try running without my brace – which is a good thing since my chaffing marks are starting to look permanent and Bad Ass Betty (brace) has developed a “unique” odor. I won’t lie, I was very scared about running without the brace. But it was all A-OK!! My bike was strong and my swim will come along – right??? Wrong. I was struggling with my swim. By this point I should be seeing some decent times in the pool but it was just not there. I felt horrible, my stroke was off and I needed help!! Nick at the GAC helped me out – basically after pulling for 3-4 months, I forgot how to use my legs and kick. I was over-rotating which then caused a scissor kick. Oye. A few drills later and I was starting to feel better in the pool. Whew. I knew I wouldn’t have the swim of my life in Kona but I just wanted to feel somewhat strong and know that I could hold my own. Family fun 5k All along I told myself, I’m going to Kona to COMPLETE not to COMPETE. Which sounds all great and stuff. But it is really hard to take the competitor out of the athlete and “settle” for completion. I struggled with this all month and it took me awhile but I finally accepted where I was at and what I was meant to do in Kona. And that was to be completely grateful to even have the opportunity to jump in the water and line up with the best Ironman triathletes in the world – just 8 months after surgery. Seriously, how lucky am I? I’m going to Hawaii, one of my favorite places in the world. And I get to swim in the ocean, ride the legendary Queen K, and go for a really long, hot run/walk. I knew I could complete the distance. My goal was not to get on the podium. My goal was to get to the finish line. To hear Mike Reilly call out my name again. And to put an exclamation mark on an incredibly difficult yet wonderful year. October: I closed on my house at the end of September but wisely decided to take the month of October to move. Kona, Kona, Kona. I loved this trip!! Since I knew I was there to complete, I had a fairly relaxed approach to the race. Beers were involved. Sunsets were watched. Yummy food was consumed (including a fair amount of french fries). And then it was race morning! An incredibly difficult day but my knee held up and my run/walk strategy paid off and I crossed the finish line. (I'd like to say I'll write a race report but it's almost 2015 so the reality is it's probably NOT going to happen). Returned home to have my house painted, move out of apartment and into said house. In 10 days. Cuz that's when I was leaving with my girls and parents for Fall Break. Yikes. So there was really no Kona let down because there was just no time. That also meant I really didn't have a proper recovery. Oh well. We left a house full of boxes and went on vacation. November: Time to settle into the new pad. Ugh. 3rd round of moving in 5 months and I am over it. It's really hard to set up house by yourself!!!! Make all the decisions. But by Thanksgiving, it was 90% done. I was back in the pool and running. My TT bike is still in its box:) Doctor has cleared me to ski without my brace - really????? Love the idea but not committed to doing it. Start waiting for the first ski day. And, decide to give mountain biking a go. Why not??? December: Settling continues. Waiting to be bored. Reunite with PIC. And then the first ski day. I was so anxious - I felt like a little kid! And it turned out to be unbelievably awesome. 355 days after that silly little fall I was skiing again - how cool is that? Return to the scene of the "crime" exactly a year later. ABasin My year in review at least from a triathlon/moving perspective. I am incredibly grateful to be where I am at today. And I can't wait for 2015 and all the possibilities the New Year holds. I am committed to posting more often as I am done with the year of change. 2015 will be back to whatever "normal" is: working, training, racing, adventure. And, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to thank everyone involved in helping me through this year. Of course, my sponsors rock: QR (fastest bike on the planet), Punk Rock Racing and Osmo. Thank you thank you thank you for sticking with me this year. Dr. Stull - you put my knee back together and with your conservative recovery approach we got to the finish line. And my wonderful family and friends. A big shout out to PIC who is always there for me thru thick and thin and this year certainly tested that. And to RE…..just wow. Happy New Year!!! Posted by Michelle at 10:02 AM 2 comments: Links to this post Sunday, August 3, 2014 Day 4 Alpe d'Huez!! The weather was decent on Day 4. No sun but not pouring down rain. All was well except for my horrible eating on Day 3. Why oh why did I think a cheeseburger and duck confit would be a good eatng plan??? Well the tummy was not happy (SHUTUPTUMMY). I figured it may be a pull over and barf kind of day and my dreams of a 30minute ascent of Alpe d’Huez was dashed. It just looks like any old mountain side right? We began the descent from La Grave to Bourg d’Oisans (base of alpe) and had my first tunnel experiences on a bike. Let me just say I do not like tunnels on a bike. They are narrow, dark and any car that enters the tunnel sounds just like a Mack truck roaring up behind you. And then it passes you and it is a teeny tiny Fiat. Oye. My legs were NOT happy either (SHUTUPLEGS). The first little climb felt awful and I figured another long day in the saddle. But hey, I’m riding my bike (OK, A bike) in France. Suck it up buttercup – when will you get to do this again? Despite the pissy tummy and legs, I was still excited to do this iconic climb. The group gathered at the base of the climb and got suited up. Guide Lisa was driving the van today and was getting everyone fired up with music and a generally awesome attitude. And then it was time to begin. What have I gotten myself into?? We are going up there!!! Laura Lee and Lisa had both warned us that the first 3 switchbacks were the steepest and that is where you usually see the most carnage. So take it easy. And, there are not 21 switchbacks. Most people stop right when they hit the town at the top – there are all sorts of “fake ” finish lines. But the TDF finish line happens after switchback 0 (thus 22). The road immediately turns up and you are climbing. I had my bike in my lowest gear and it stayed there the remainder of the ascent. Climbing was a combination of in the saddle and out of the saddle and yes, those first 3 switchbacks were a beotch. Since my tummy was gross and I knew I wasn’t going to win the ascent, I lowered my heart rate targets and just kept a somewhat “comfortable” pace going up. The climb is stunning. Absolutely gorgeous. And unlike the other climbs we had done, this one had marker signs for each switchback counting down. So the first sign was 21 and the grade for that section was like 22%. Or 10%. I don’t really remember. I got in a groove and started counting down signs. And then I would argue with whoever did the signs when I thought for sure that counted as a switchback yet there was no sign. The coolest part of the climb? Well, there are several. Starting with seeing the names of your favorite dopers riders painted all over the road. The next was seeing all of the people out there on their bikes! I thought I was doing great passing people until I would look over and see that the girl I was passing was 12. On a mountain bike. And then there was the 80 year old man on a fixie. I am not kidding. I had been passed by an 8 year old boy at some point who must have had a 36 on his rear derailleur the way he was spinning his legs. He stopped at the first “finish” line he saw. I smiled as I passed him back and knew that I had just crushed the 8 year old. HA!!!! I cruised through the village, hit the right turn at Intersport, nailed the first roundabout and then promptly missed the next roundabout. I ended up with Daniel (fellow tour member and hilarious Brit) at the golf course. We were pretty certain that it wasn’t the finish line. So we turned back and finally got to the finish. Pretty fucking awesome. After taking off the time for the missed turn, the 4 flat tires, the guy that needed CPR and the 9 holes of golf I played, my “official” time came in around 10minutes. Take that Lance!!! Lisa was waiting at the top with champagne and a medal!!! My first medal of the year –so excited! The sun even came out at the top!!! Dad nailed the climb at age 70 – just 10 minutes slower than what he did 10 years ago. Nice. Nicole made it up too. So proud!!! The rest of the day? A very long lunch at the top, some shopping and then time to finish up the ride. With a bitch of a climb up Col de Sarenne (8-9% average grade over 5k) and then a death defying descent down the back. Yea, that wasn’t fun. Skinny road covered with gravel and drops off the side. My hands hurt after that. Then one more climb back to La Grave after that and we finally made it back to L’Edelweiss. What a day!!!! Posted by Michelle at 4:31 PM 1 comment: Links to this post Older Posts Home Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Sponsors Quintana Roo Blogging History October 2015 (1) April 2015 (1) January 2015 (1) December 2014 (1) August 2014 (2) July 2014 (3) November 2013 (1) September 2013 (1) August 2013 (1) June 2013 (1) May 2013 (1) March 2013 (1) December 2012 (1) October 2012 (5) September 2012 (1) August 2012 (1) July 2012 (4) June 2012 (3) May 2012 (2) April 2012 (3) March 2012 (1) February 2012 (3) January 2012 (1) December 2011 (2) November 2011 (2) October 2011 (9) September 2011 (3) August 2011 (6) July 2011 (2) June 2011 (4) May 2011 (7) April 2011 (2) March 2011 (2) February 2011 (4) January 2011 (4) December 2010 (2) November 2010 (7) October 2010 (4) September 2010 (5) August 2010 (2) July 2010 (3) June 2010 (4) May 2010 (5) April 2010 (6) March 2010 (5) February 2010 (5) January 2010 (7) December 2009 (8) November 2009 (5) October 2009 (6) September 2009 (7) August 2009 (7) July 2009 (6) June 2009 (10) May 2009 (9) April 2009 (10) March 2009 (11) February 2009 (10) January 2009 (9) December 2008 (6) November 2008 (5) October 2008 (6) September 2008 (4) August 2008 (6) July 2008 (7) June 2008 (2) About Me Michelle Mom of 2 beautiful girls, triathlete, coach, Wildtree representative, chauffeur, professional laundry services, chef extraordinaire. Dance mom. Lacrosse mom. Track and cross country mom. Lover of anything happening outdoors. View my complete profile Coaching Now taking applications for 2016! Subscribe Here Posts All Comments Awesome Inc. theme. Powered by Blogger.