Training Log Archive: iansmith

I took Monday off and went to Burlington, Vermont for a three-day weekend with Jess. The trip was a pleasant diversion - I wandered the Church street market, had my first Filet Mignon, took a boat on Lake Champlain, photographed Montpelier, visited the Bolton Potholes waterfalls, and went on a tour of the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory. While I was largely confined to crutches, I hiked on some easy trails and took pictures.

The Ben and Jerry's factory in Waterbury produces 250,000 pints of ice cream per day, which is half that of the larger factory elsewhere in Vermont.

Update from Gimpyville: My orthopedist agreed that I have a stress fracture, but our discussions didn't pinpoint a good explanation. My bones look good in the X-rays (apart from the fact that there's a crack in the tibia).

Anyway, I will be on crutches for the next two to four weeks, planting my right leg, but reducing the stress on it. I am allowed to stationary bike, but all other impact activities around out, so for the foreseeable future, I will spend my training time kayaking and stationary biking at low resistance. While this is an inconvenience (in particular, the loss of use of my bike will hurt), this is trivial compared to my experience in August and September 2010. I can still put weight on my right leg, I can elevate it onto a chair without taking three minutes, showers won't require ten minutes of delicate maneuvering, and stairs aren't my mortal foes.

I haven't decided what I will do about Swiss O-week, but realistically, I will not be in any condition to run in six weeks.

No bowling for a time (I weep).

C • no bowling!?!? 6

Distance as per the meter; I held 90-95 rpm at intensity level 7. In my unbroken state, I have worked out at 10 and 11 at the same revolutions. My leg was comfortable, and it felt good to do something active.

Upper body, for kicks:
- 3x15 chest press, 60 lbs
- 3x5 supine dumbbell fly, 60 lbs

While almost trivial for the press, 60 lbs is way too much for the fly.

I was just injected with 28.4 mCi of Technetium 99m, which is 1 GBq, or 1 billion decays per second. Technetium 99m emits 140 keV gamma rays, so the power of radiation emitted in my body is 2.24e-5 Watts. Given the half life of 6 hours and my mass of 87 kg, I estimate I will be exposed to a dose of 6.8 mSv. This is about equivalent to a Chest CT scan.

One consideration is that my body doesn't absorb all of the power. In the course of the imaging, I saw the observed energy distribution at the camera. There was a clear peak at 140 keV with a tail, probably from Compton scattering of the photons. I naively estimate that my body is absorbing 25% - 50% of the radiation, which would correspond to a dose of 1.7-3.4 mSv.

I was told that the Technetium is attached to phosphate groups, which are then absorbed by bone. In three hours time, imaging of my body should reveal active bone growth. Even immediately after injection, it was obvious that there was increased circulation to the area of pain on my right tibia, apparently due to increased metabolic activity. I was also told that by attaching the Technetium to different functional groups, different parts of the body - including all the major organs - can be imaged.

In any case, this is very cool. I'm extremely radioactive (compared to background, etc)!

C • you're glowing 6

C • You will assume all of Baltero's powers and rule the universe 1

Update: from the bone scintigraphy, it looks like I have a stress fracture on my medial right tibia, about ten centimeters below the knee. I'm not overly surprised given my own observations over the past few weeks. I have a follow orthopedist appointment on Thursday morning that should lend further insight. I suspect the pain in my lower leg emerged from unconscious adjustments to my gait to relieve pressure on the bone. I'm unquestionably out of commission for the foreseeable future.

C • Bummer! 16

C • Methane 1

Mt. Tom was my fourth event as meet director or course setter in the past year, and was the first event over which I had sole responsibility.

1. At the 2010 Traverse, I set the course, but Jeff Saeger was the meet director and helped set controls, and Ed Despard took care of map printing. My sole responsibilities on the day of the event were setting controls and water.
2. Ed and I co-directed the April CSU Rocky Woods meet. I was responsible for course setting, and Ed ran results and day-of activities. Alex and Ed also helped with control setting on the morning of the meet.
3. At Hammond Pond, Magnus Bjorkman designed the courses, and I directed the meet and set the controls on the day of the event. Jim Paschetto helped out with registration while I ran results.

I should have procured help for Mt. Tom, but I was so preoccupied with orienteering logistics (like the fall schedule and wrapping up the spring meets) that I devoted little time to preparation for the event. I have an involved, iterative approach to course design that is very time intensive. Perhaps as I become more experienced (and learn more about the accuracy of particular maps), I will become faster.

I had some fantastic help on the day of the event; I was approached in May by Barbara Lamay, an enthusiastic new orienteer. She brought a number of her friends; a total of three helpers showed up despite the inclement conditions and were invaluable.

C • You are a force of nature 1