Training Log Archive: Charlie

Around the neighborhood. I seem to be catching up to the local litterers. Only picked up one can, of the familiar blue color.

Early to tell how this injection is going to work out, but I felt relatively better this morning than usual.

C • Good luck with results from... 4

I went to get my spinal injection. This was quite a different experience from yesterday. Yesterday I was at the big hospital outpatient "pavilion", lots of desks with attendants pointing one in all directions, filling out some more forms, waiting a long time, hanging out a bit in one of four exam rooms associated with my particular doc, etc. Probably interacted with at least 12 different people.

Today was a visit to a solo practitioner, one assistant, office in an old house in Avon. Very pleasant, not much paperwork. I had brought the CD of my MRI and we talked about that for a while. When we finally got around to doing the injection, the whole thing was over in somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes, and I was on my way out the door half an hour after I had arrived.

First there was a little novocaine applied, then the steroid injection into the left side of my spine. A little bit of a strange feeling down my leg briefly, more of a bit of pressure than anything else, but didn't last.

He told me I might feel better right away because of the novocaine, but that would wear off, and I might also have some numbness. The effects of the steroid (assuming it works) might kick in after about 48 hours, or might take as much as a week.

Walking out of there, my back and hip discomfort was greatly abated, but I felt a little awkward walking. Almost not noticeable, just a little off. I had a little failure going to step up into the truck, but the second time was ok. Now that I am home I am feeling a bit tired, but my back still feels better. Not feeling like anything active this afternoon, though.

C • Sounds like 2

AOWN: Really handsome and very large black bear came wandering through the yard. R&I agreed that it looke like about 450 lb. shiny coat, big face, a very nice looking animal, and we judged best observed from a distance. He walked around from the field to the west, past the hot tub and around to the middle field, paused for a while by the blueberry bushes - nothing useful to him there, strolled over to the apple trees - ditto, and then ambled down the driveway. Maybe he was making notes of where to come back later in the year.

C • Could you maybe put somethi... 2

Usual session with Eric. Always improves things.

Visit this morning with the spine doc, one Dr Moss. Like many of these guys, the scheduled appointment time is just a suggestion. Perhaps a good sign that there is more or less an empty waiting room, but no reasonable way to estimate when I might be called.

C • Ha--that is dead on, Charlie! 2

I got in at the spine docs at about 9:50, had some more X-rays, met for a while with the jr. spine doc, who did a pretty detailed exam, then with the eminence grise himself. He confirmed that there is some degenerative disc disease, but not a surprising amount. I have no nerve deficits. The worst of it is at L3-L4, where there is a fair amount of inflammation, and that site is consistent with the location of the pain I have. He thinks an epidural steroid injection would be helpful, and I am having one tomorrow. If it works, it may work within a week or so. I am then to go back and see him in 3 weeks. Depending on whether this does what I want, there may be surgical options in the offing, but not now. So generally good news, of course pending how this all works out.

C • Does look like a favorable ... 3

With Rhonda and Lindsay from Pleasant Valley. Just an easy ride. Fairly cool out. HRM acting up badly. Sometimes washing it improves its act.

Session with Eric, moving up to twice a week, at least for now.

9 ring pull-ups. I think this will start to get easier, now that I have evened them out. The right one had been an inch or so lower.

Rhonda's good idea to go hike the Tunxis trail loop. First time in a while. I was a bit surprised by the amount of mud and standing water, given how dry it seems otherwise. I did a lot of rolling first, trying to quiet my butt and ITBs. The dog had a fine time. We had a brief encounter with our former neighbor Stuart, who moved away last year but was driving nearby and stopped for a walk on Doyle Road for old times' sake.

Long Brown course at West Point. Very sore and stiff to start and feeling vulnerable. Not my best navigation, either. On the way to 1 there was a sea of green pointy stuff, wandering this way and that to get through with as little damage as possible, I ended up way off to the right, just left of the big patch of bare rock and cliffs, then pulled up short and looked pretty hard at some other dot knolls along the way. Must have lost at least 3 minutes with that foolishness. Then I intended to go south to the trail and around to 2, but another sea of green and I found myself angling uphill to get away from it, finally crossed the power line and came over the top. Not much difficulty finding it, but a very slow route, so maybe another 2 minutes. Then 3 was not too bad, especially once I realized I had to go past the power line first. 4 was fine, a couple of extra cliffs along the way, but basically right on line. It was along the way to 4 when I looked at my watch and saw the dreaded 00:00:00. Sometimes I punch it to start and it beeps, but doesn't actually start. Not the first time this has happened. I really need to watch it to confirm that it is actually starting. So I missed the first 17 minutes or so of the course with my track. Then 5 was more or less ok. I was a line low coming to it, and it looked more like a cliff than a dot knoll to me, but it had a flag on it, so I had to go punch it. 6 was fine. I found the slot in the big cliff and followed it up all the way and in. Now I understand what happened at 7. I was heading south to get around the big cliffs halfway, found a place to climb up and thought I was going straight east and into it, but with all the up and down I got off to the south. Well off, halfway to 8. Saw the people heading south and had to go back north a fair amount. 8 should have been easy, and it wasn't too bad, but I did end up having to hook around back into it. 9 was just a mystery. I thought I had come right into it, came over a knoll and into a rocky area at the foot, looking just like the map, but no control. So I decided to wander N a bit and found it. Didn't look quite as convincing as the first place I found, but it did have a flag. 10 was pretty much a disaster. Headed for 7, but then I didn't actually find 7 the second time. Then I thought the giant cliff between 10 and 11 was the cliff with bare rocks near 10, so that led to all kinds of unhappiness, before I figured out I was too far East and got over to the right area. Then swapping leads with Janet Findlay for a while. 11 was fine, 12 was fine, although I had trouble getting out of 12 and ended up going back north to the trail instead of having the discipline to fight out east or south. I saw Boris sitting by 13, who encouraged me on my power walking up the hill. Nice, but I had thought I was running.

Now that I am home, the level of soreness and fatigue is calling into grave question my plan to run (or walk) the Billygoat in 2 weeks. If I can't find someone to ride with, it may just all be too much.

Brown Long Map.

Long - Brown - Splits