The word = NO SURGERY!!!

I had my follow up appointment with the Orthopaedic surgeon today and we go the word we were hoping for = "No Surgery".  What we are doing is getting a functional brace that will protect the acl and mcl.  This will allow me to start biking, running, and doing everything as planned.  The surgeon feels this is more for my sense then anything.  He stated in a few weeks I wont need any form of brace that I will be comfortable mentally without it.  We were so excited to hear this.

Able to return to work finally on 9/26/11.  Ready to be back now.

Physical Therapy for the left knee has been making great leaps and bounds.  The quads and hamstrings are again firing and starting to build.  I have lost over 2 inches of girth in just over 2 weeks with this injury.  Today I rode a stationary bike for 30 minutes then we worked on lifting, working the stabilizer muscles with a balance ball and worked with some bio feed back.  Still not able to lock out the left knee with out minimal pain or feeling as if it is going to hyper extend.  Looking forward to getting my bike back from Kyle and ride it around town and then set her up in the pain cave and prepare for the coldness to come.

Well a couple of my friends signed up for Ironman Wisconsin yesterday and we will be raising money for a charity of some kind.  We are still in search but have a couple in mind already.  If you know of any please email us the names and their benefits.  It will be fun to compete in the marathon and know that we have raised monies for a great cause.  One of the guys competing with me are setting up a website and will post as soon as it is complete.  We will be in search of a few corporate sponsors-looking to get two main and lots of little ones.  Again we are in the brain storming phase at this time but looking to have fun with this project.

I will be competing in my first Ironman now on May 5, 2012 in St. George, Utah.  This is to be the hardest Ironman in the United States.  I am doing this to have fun and to take on such a great challenge.

Check it out here: http://ironmanstgeorge.com/

I will start my Out Season training with Endurance Nation on Oct 1, 2011 if the left knee is strong enough if not for sure on Nov 1.  This is a structured very high intense twenty week program.  Total hours for the weeks are from 5-7.  Five days on and two days off.  In these 20 weeks we work on getting faster and stronger only.

Little bit of Endurance Naton's info here: http://www.endurancenation.us/en_coach/#mojo

I will then in mid February switch over to the Advanced 12 week Ironman plan in preparation for Ironman St. George.  Winters in Iowa mean some long times on the trainer.  In prep for this I have purchased a compu trainer and the St George and Wisconsin bike courses.  My weekend training rides for the Ironman plan are 4.5 hours on Saturdays and 3 hours on Sundays.  We also have two race rehearsals built into the twelve weeks which are a one hour swim, 6 hour bike, and 1 hour run.  Looking forward to the training but will be so ready for spring to come early this next year.

Now moving on to my two children: Keegan and Olivia.

Keegan played in his first high school golf match of the year and did well.  He is enjoying golfing and life as a freshman.

Olivia has started back up with dance and tumbling and the mid week keeps her and mama busy.  Her dance recital is the second weekend in June and we are looking forward to this.

Well take care and see you all soon.