This is not the article I had planned to write. No, I had much different things in mind.
I had a great idea for a season-long series of articles: the 6-month ski plan.
Here is the background. I stopped racing competively at a National level in spring 2002. Since then I had remained active, exercising 5-6 times a week for an hour or two, but no serious training. At the beginning of last September I was beginning to feel like I was in decent shape, and I began to wonder, “Could I compete on a National level with only a few months of specific training?”
Probably not, but I was curious to find out exactly how fast I could get being only a 6-month skier.
Right now, most of you Masters are sayiing, “I already know the answer to that question. That's how I always do things.”
But this was new territory for me. My ski training season started on September 1st. I dusted off the rollerskis and came up with a training plan. I didn't plan on being in great shape by December, but I thought that by March I could be competitive. My goal was to race well in the Tour of Anchorage in early March. And by 'do well' I mean ski with the leaders. Plenty of time to do that.
The first month of training went really well. I was feeling strong and I could feel my muscles starting to get back some of their tone and their 'pop.' This was going to be a fun experiment and I was excited to share it with all you readers.
But that all changed on October 12.
That morning I woke up feeling great. Completely exhausted, but great. That was the day I put the cap on my biggest training week in almost two years. I was very sore as I crawled out of bed, but that day would be easier. Just a mellow 3 hour run with my friend and fellow skier Scott McArt to finish off the week. With those three hours, I would reach 18 hours for the week. Huge considering I had been averaging about 8-10 hours/week for most of the summer.
Scott and I were headed up to Symphony Lakes, a beautiful place for running in the mountains of Alaska. From the start of the run I was exhausted. I couldn't keep up. Maybe I had done too much this week. Scott would run ahead and I would do my best to keep him from getting out of sight. We ran from the trailhead, up to Symphony Lakes, crossing a large boulder field on the way. We then climbed up a small mountain peak for a view before turning around and heading back. As we were crossing back across the boulder field, we stopped for a minute to discuss our route, or something like that.
As we started running again, with the smooth trail only a short way ahead of us, I slipped. Normally if you slip or trip while running, you fall forward 'superman' style. While sometimes painful, this kind of fall allows you to put a hand out and cushion the fall. When I slipped, possibly because the rock moved or I stepped on ice (or both – I'm not sure), my foot slipped down and backwards. My other foot then stumbled into another rock as I tried to regain my footing and I fell over backwards. As I was falling, my body was contorted and I knew that I would not be able to break my fall with an arm or anything. I was in the middle of a boulder field and I was definitely going to hit my head hard on a sharp, hard rocks and there was nothing I could do. The thought of permanent brain damage flashed through my mind.
Sure enough. Whack! The most vicious blow to the head I have ever had (and I have wrecked a few bike helmets in my days). I hit so hard that I thought I had cracked my skull. I jumped back to my feet as quickly as I could and quickly reached for the back of my head with my left hand. I was still concious, this was good. I felt the back of my head and was relieved to find it still intact. But as I lowered my left arm after the inspection, I discovered a new problem. My collarbone was moving around in a most un-natural way. Scott asked if I was okay. “Umm yeah, I think so. But I broke my collarbone.” I had never broken a collarbone before, but there was no mistaking the feeling. Bone was moving around where there was no joint.
. A few months after the injury I uploaded the data to their website, and you can see from the graph below how my speed fell off after the injury. But I stil managed to keep up an average walking pace (3 mph) over mountainous terrain.</p><p><BR><img decoding=)
The ER doctor said I would need surgery to install a metal plate. This kind of break would not heal on its own. Crap, there goes my insurance deductible. They sent me home and scheduled a surgery for Tuesday. I spent the next day at home on the couch, afraid to move and doped up on pain-killers, waiting for my sugery the next morning.
After surgery, my clavicle looked like this:
this trek at Endless Pursuit.comyou can zoom in on the map (even see the Boulder Field), check out lots of statistics for our run, and much more. I encourage you to check it out.
