ProLine Sports, Nutrition and Equipment Blog

On Wisconsin!

Ok, not really. But kind of. I'm still a Chicago sports fan. But I will take Madison over Chicago for lifestyle any day of the week. Anyways, a few weeks ago my wife and I decided we were making the move to Wisconsin for many reasons. But one GREAT reason was for the amazing training around the area. We're situated in the Madison area, and couldn't be happier. The amount of routes for training outside the city is astounding. But even within the city limits, you can find countless routes and people filling them. The amount of people being active is truly amazing. But the amount of bike lanes and room made for bikes is even better. You can't go a block without seeing someone on a bike. Whether they're just cruising around for fun, commuting to work, or grinding away at a training ride, they're everywhere!

I've only been living here a little over a week and already I'm in love with the area. I've seen Neil deGrasse Tyson give a speech to the graduating senior class of UW-Madison, tried out some of the local pubs for some beer and grub, and of course, tried out some of the training features that Wisconsin has to offer. 

My first ride consisted of an out and back loop to the Trek Bike Headquarters in Waterloo, WI. A nice, fairly flat ride with a little over 1,100 vertical feet and a slight wind out of the NE, this ride was great. There was a few nice rolling  hills along with some good climbs. But nothing to write home about.

I have been able to put in some running, slowly, and it seems to be coming along great as well. I got in a 3 and 4 mile run this week. The good thing about all the hills near where we're living is that going uphill running takes a lot of sting out of impact, so I'm able to go a bit further  or longer without putting as much stress on my knee in terms of recovery. It's been about 4 months since surgery, and my knee is coming along slowly, but, I've been given the green light for running as I see fit and comfortable. After a few bouts with some 10min/mi paces through 2.5 miles or so, I'm starting to see 8min/mi and I never thought I'd say this, but it feels great to be going so fast. Not my typical fast speeds, especially over such short distances, but for recovery, I'll take it!

              
(Above: Random wildlife around the route (left), Trek Headquarters (middle) one of countless hills on the IM course(right))

Finally, I took a big jump and hit up the Ironman WI loop starting from home and hit it hard. The course for the full IM is 2 loops, so I decided to just take on one and see how it went. This course is hilly! Nonstop hills once you get out of Madison and head West. None of them are so over the top that they crush you, but they just keep coming. One after another. There's no break points. Ok, so here and there you get a mile maybe of some flats. Instead of charging, however, I spent my time recovering and refueling in these parts. 

Overall, this move plays a huge part in the way my wife and I  want to live our lives. Madison is an amazing city, full of things to do. But it's not overwhelming or overly expensive. There is so much activity and so many great people we've come across already, that we're certain this is a place we want to be for a long, long time. We're still close to our families, but we also have the training and playing grounds right out our back door for the summer time and winter when we go skiing and snowboarding. And it's a perfect place to raise our baby on the way, too! 

-Dave

Throwing In The Towel

We all think about it. Some of us do it. But when is it actually the right time to pack it in and throw in the towel on the day? The answer isn't really something we can fully wrap our heads around. Most of it comes down to how your body feels, more than anything else. 

Let's say, for instance, you have been putting in a lot of work during the week, especially on the bike, and you have a long run planned on the weekend. You get up on Saturday or Sunday morning and get ready to pump out a 90 minute run. You've had some nutrition, coffee, water, or whatever you take in before your run, and head out the door to get going. After the first few miles, things aren't feeling so great. Your stride is lagging, and your pace is starting to fall off. Call it quits? I don't think so, not quite yet. Take some time while you're running and evaluate what is happening.

• Are your muscles tired or are they hurting? If they're tired, sorry champ, toughen up. If they're hurting, slow up, see if that changes things, then re-evaluate whether to keep going. If nothing changes, pack it in.
• Are you getting aches in your joints? More often than not, this should be an indicator that something isn't going right. This may be the best time for you to pull on the reins and head in to take care of the problem. Especially early in the season so you can avoid a season-long nagging injury that hinders performance.
• Are your times slowly falling off? Drop your ego. It happens. Especially after a big week of hard training. Even if you take a day off and get out on the long run, ride, or swim, the effects of hard training, day after day, are continually compacted. If it's a slow, endurance run, don't worry so much about your pace and pay more attention to heart rate and effort. If this was supposed to be a tempo run, and times are falling fast, you may be best suited to switch tactics on the day and hold off on the tempo run until you're more fully rested if you want any sort of speed results.

These are just a few factors that you need to weigh when you're debating throwing in the towel. Come race day, the only thing I can really see forcing you to throw in the towel should be the aches in your joints and muscles. Even at that stage, really evaluate yourself if it's your muscles. Sometimes getting in a big dose of electrolytes and hydration can loosen up your muscles and get you back to feeling normal. Or you can slightly change your stride or riding style to offset where the pain is.

For me, Tuesday was one of these days. I had taken Monday off to let my body recover from the past seven days of tough training on the bike and in the pool. As well as a solid weight training session on Saturday night. The hardest part for me is trying to flush out that lactic acid buildup when weight training sessions are sparce, and recovery time from them just isn't there.

I got in the pool nice and early, around 5:30am, and was pretty amped to put in another big day in the pool. I'm trying to get at least one of these in a week, while the others are filled in with some quicker/harder work at shorter distances.  I knew this was going to be a workout I would struggle with as soon as I started. The 200m warmup I went through of mixed strokes didn't seem to shake anything off. My triceps were tight and aching. My lats were fatigued and I could feel my full pull wasn't there. So I spent about 5 minutes stretching things out, hoping that would help and got into my sets. 

I started off with 5x200m with 20 seconds rest or so between. My goal was to pick up the tempo with each, getting my effort up high, and working on quick recovery. The first two weren't bad, but halfway through the third, I wasn't feeling it. Ok, evaluation time. Numbers 4 and 5, I slowed down, concentrated on form, and tried to stay positive. Again, not feeling better.

The next set was going to be 10x100m with 10-15 seconds of rest, at near maximal effort, probably going anaerobic on some. I got through the first two alright, catching the other swimmers as I chugged along (I like using points of reference, even if they are incredibly slow, it helps). But on the third, things just didn't want to work anymore. My arms were feeling like jello and hurting at the same time. The push through my hips wasn't there either. They were more or less just dropping down instead of thrusting my lead shoulder forward. This is where I thought to myself, "Okay Dave, put on your big boy pants and toughen up!" I put in the fourth, and the wheels fell off. The first 50 was decent, but as soon as I pushed off the wall, headed for 75, my body told me to knock it off. So, I listened. I pulled up after finishing off the 100, and called it a day at 1600m. Only half way through what I was hoping to do for the day. But I had nothing left. Even after a full day of rest. 

What I learned here was that I'll live to fight another day, and save the macho-ness for the race. I wasn't out there today to prove anything. I wanted some good distance in the pool, but it's only Tuesday. I've got three more days during the week to put that work in. Why push it when my body isn't responding properly? And I had a bike workout to get through later during the day as well as some homework to do for my Master's classes. 

At first I was disappointed in myself for not getting through the workout. But as the day wore on, I kept telling myself it's ok. Tomorrow is another day I can get in and try it again. If I'm hitting the pool 4 days a week, that's pretty good. I'm one to think that consistency in training is better than inconsistent, high volume. Four pretty good days in the pool are better than one monster day. So chalk the bad days of training up, put them in your back pocket, and know you've gotten through them, and lived to battle on. It's not the end of the world. If anything, it makes you a smarter and stronger athlete.

-Dave

Back at Work

It's funny how good I felt the day of surgery. Getting out of the hospital, I was really feeling good and not much pain. I really thought it wasn't going to be that big of a deal going back to work. The thought actually crept into my mind about going back in for the afternoon. Especially since the guys on my team and I are pretty overloaded with work and another designer in our group just left for a new job, too. But, I did as I was told and went home and rested. Good decision.

I know I've talked about the first few days, so I won't go back into that at all. But now having been back at work for two days with my leg immobilized and walking around with either no crutch or just one, the days are really taking it out of me. I'm a really active guy, so I figured a little extra precaution and taking extra time to get things done because of my knee wouldn't drain that much out of me, but boy was I wrong.

Monday wasn't too bad, albeit it was a long day. I moved my desk back down with the rest of my team and I now have a seat with a view! But moving a lot of my stuff was tough. However, my boss and fellow-designer did do the heavy lifting of bringing down my Mac tower and monitors, as well as my backup battery, so that saved a bunch. I just had to empy out my drawers and load up my utensils and rearrange them back at my new desk.

The doctors that did my surgery had told me, in general, most people will take the next week off of work, then go back slowly. I really didn't have this option. Had I done that, I would have left my boss to man the front alone, because the other designer was leaving for vacation on Tuesday, and with our excessive workload, it would have been a nightmare. So I decided to buck up, take my pain meds, and get work done to help him out. 

What really surprised me was how much I actually move around at work. I know it's a desk job, but if you stop to think about how many times you shift your weight around or turn your chair, it's quite a lot. And for me, each movement means readjusting. I'm either putting pressure on a few spot on my leg because of the brace, or I'm putting my hip in an uncomfortable location that makes my lower back start to ache. There's really no winning. So by the end of the day, I'm beat. All I want to do is go home, lay down, eat food, and decompress. But I stil need to elevate my leg for a while, take the brace and wrap off to let it air out and help alleviate the swelling, and try to get some icing done. Which is illustrated in the pictures below.

             

The nice thing is having the ice machine that I can just wrap on to my leg that you can see in the second image. Instead of strapping cold and hard ice to my leg, this pumps ice cold water from a cooler through the tubes and around my leg into a gell-like container that wraps all the way around my leg. So it constantly feeds through col water. Having everything off except the dressing (image 1) is nice to let my leg breathe and also do one of the exercises I mentioned last time. Putting my heel on the pillow and letting my knee use gravity to straighten out. It's a welcome relief from having my knee slightly bent throughout the day. Then when I'm back in bed, (image 3) the brace goes back on for another night of uncomfortable sleep. For some reason I can't get good sleep. Even with the pain meds, I wake up hot, uncomfortable, and frustrated a handful of times each night. The worst part, I know, is that the more sleep I can get, the better my body can heal. So I'm feeling like the lack of elevation at work, and lack of sleep is somewhat compounding on top of each other. I'm hoping to make up for it this weekend by not doing much. But we'll have to see! 

-Dave

Surgery Complete: Recovery Time

This morning was surgery day. This week felt like it was taking forever. I had a meeting with my doctor on Monday to schedule the surgery. All I wanted throughout this ordeal was to get in and get it done. I know it's not all for nothing, but all the training I had been doing leading up since the initial injury seemed like a waste of time. I'm the type of person who when there's a problem, I want to get it fixed. Quickly and accurately.

The doctors at Rush University Medical in Chicago are outstanding. My doctor has done multiple surgeries on some of Chicago's professional athletes, so I knew I was in good hands.

The good thing about having it done early in the morning is that you can't eat or drink anything for a long period of time. For me it was after midnight. So I was able to go to bed at a normal time and get up early. 4am early. Which is only 20 minutes earlier than normal days for me, but today was sans coffee. So it was a struggle to stay awake on the drive in.

The surgery isn't very invasive as it was done arthroscopically. There's three small dot holes and one incision about an inch long.

I elected to get the allograft (cadaver) as the recovery time is quicker than if I used some of my patella tendon. And there would be scarring.

Surgery took about an hour and a half and I was out like a light once I was slipped on to the operating table. I didn't even need to start counting. I woke up to a slight dull pain in my leg and had it wrapped up in an immobilized brace. The brace runs from my upper thigh down to just above the ankle. It has an adjustment along either side of my knee so I can change how far my knee is allowed to bend. It also locks at just about straight until I start.

Now on to recovery... According to the doctors and reading a few threads about acl injuries, I should be able to put full weight on the leg in a day or so and go without crutches. Then in 6-7 days, the brave can most likely come off. The most exciting part for me is the possibility of getting back in the bike for light training in 8-10 days. In a few weeks I can start some light work on the treadmill and then in about over a month probably some road running. I guess the lucky part for me is that I'm an endurance athlete mostly. The acl causes main concerns for cutting sports, like how I hurt it skiing. I'll news to be waiting a good 4 months most likely before I look at doing anything like that.

I guess all in all I'm much more optimistic about my recovery time than I initially was. I am planning to do a couple races later in the summer and fall, if the doctor clears me for it. It's going to be a long journey to get back to peak form, but now I've got new goals to achieve and a strategic approach to getting there. And it all starts with my physical therapy. Right now it's simple leg raises and toe extensions and flexion. I'll slowly work into range of motion and go
from there getting back into light training. So stay tuned to see how things go.

-Dave

Running the Sahara

There's something about inspiring stories. Whether they encourage you to go above and beyond what you think you can do, or just give you a new perspective on humanity, they change you. Yesterday I took the time to watch the documentary about a group of three men who decided to take on the challenge of running across the Sahara Desert, and end up in the Red Sea. 

A friend of mine suggested this a while back, and I finally got around to watching it while I was on the trainer yesterday. I was able to find it on Netflix and spent just under two hours riding and becoming inspired. The movie didn't inspire me to go running through some exotic locations, but it gave me a different perspective on what and why endurance athletes do what they do.

"Endurance athletes are running away from something inside of themselves, and that's one of the reasons they do what they do." -Lance Armstrong

I think this quote rings true about these three men, and of so many endurance athletes that are always looking for more. Whether it be getting faster, or going further. Two of these men battled to get away from a partying lifestyle with alcohol and drugs. And I think that's such a key point to nail down on so many endurance junkies. It's an addiction. 

I've been pondering on this point for a while now, and have come to the realization that this is 100% true. Whether I'm on the bike, running, swimming, or even when I would be out skiing, I never want it to end. The euphoria that comes to a junkie while they're training is indescribable to anyone that hasn't experienced it. And the guys in this film all have the bug.

For me, the part of the film that was most inspiring was when Kevin Lin, an elite athlete, was on the brink of giving up. He, a well-known and celebrated marathoner in Taiwan, came ever so close to leaving the expedition. That was a shock to me, then watching the two other average guys, having to talk the elite runner back into the journey. Kevin was ready to pack it up and go home, when faced with the realization of the dangers that lie ahead if they weren't granted access into Libya. Both Ray and Charlie were able to talk Kevin back into running, and finishing the journey with them. And I think the key point was Charlie telling Kevin to think about the amount of regret he would be faced with if he dropped out of the race. This was the moment that really brought the group together, and solidified them as a family, more than just a group of friends. This was their journey.

Watching these three men go through so many emotions. On the brink of giving up, losing hope, being away from loved ones for over a hundred days, they somehow made it through. They weren't running fast, but the sheer amount of miles they put in was truly mind-boggling. On average they were going through two marathons a day, day after day after day. For some people, one marathon is enough. But for these three, the Sahara was their goal, and they conquered it.

In the end, I think Ray summed up the psyche the three of them shared, and something that every endurance athlete should ask themselves. You need to ask yourself what your goals are. If you put parameters and limits on what you can achieve, that's all you can do. If you're only going to run a 5k or 10k, that's all you'll do. The mind is so powerful. Yes, you do have physical limitations, but the key contributor to what you can achieve is truly all mental. These three guys set their sights high, and almost didn't believe in themselves. But between them, they were able to stomach up enough mental strength to keep going, keep pushing and accomplish their goal.

So when you're out training and setting goals for the coming season and thinking about what you can and can't do, just remember that what you can accomplish is mostly in your mind. If you believe you can do it, you can. Put your plan in motion and execute, and eventually you'll get there.

-Dave

Diagnosis: Torn ACL

This past week has been a little bit of up and down. I was able to get into my Orthopedic Doctor on Monday in Chicago to hopefully give me a full diagnosis and an MRI. I was looking forward to that and learning what the next steps were. However, when I showed up, there was no MRI scheduled, just a quick ten minute consult, and an order for an MRI. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed with the scheduling staff at that hospital. 

The next day, Tuesday, I was able to fit in an MRI after work and get those sent over to the orthopedic to look at. After waiting another day, I was finally able to get my results: a torn ACL. Complete bummer. But I was already planning for the worst, and that's what it was. So I wasn't overly disheartened by the news.

I've got my next meeting with the surgeon coming up soon, but it's still too long. I'm the type of person who hates waiting to fix things. If something is broke, I want to take it in, get it fixed, and get back to normal. Like with my car. I had an appointment for a small oil leak from bottoming out on the drive back from Utah. The appointment was for 11:30, so I figured it would be done and taken care of by 2:30 or 3:00 that afternoon. I gave a call at 3:30, to learn they hadn't even gotten the car up on the lift yet. If I would have known that, I would have taken it somewhere else. 

Now, back to training and such. I have been able to put in some training this week. I got in a couple swims and some easy bike riding. I didn't really want to push it. Especially since everything was still a bit stiff. But each day seems to be getting better and better. So before I go in for my surgery, I want to have a great base and some strong muscles to support the joint which will be pretty tender and tight for a while I'm sure.

I'm at the point now where I want the surgery tomorrow, and I want to start rehab the next day. I want to be working my way back into good form and be ready for the season coming up. Whatever that ends up being. I'm certain I should be able to fit in a few races. Most likely towards the latter half of the season, but that's ok. This is going to be a great test for me. I'm going to find out a lot about myself. I won't be able to go hard running for a long time. And that scares me. Running has always been my go-to. But, I'm going to spend a lot of time in the gym, getting strong, and cranking out lots of miles on the bike and laps in the pool to build up my weaker two sports. I still feel that this year could be a good year for me in the world of racing. I may not be able to hang my hat on any long courses of 70.3 or more, but I feel I can come in and be a good threat in the sprint and olympic distance courses

I look forward to cataloging my experiences coming back from such a big blow to my training. Hopefully I can put some good thoughts and ideas down to help anyone who may be in the same situation or will be soon after me. You never know when you might slightly tweak something wrong, and have your training plans come crashing down around you. I honestly think the thing I'm most bummed out about is that this ski season is basically over for me. The lateral movements will be tough on the knee, but we'll see what I hear back from the surgeon in a week. He's worked with a lot of professional athletes from the Chicago teams, so he'll completely understand my drive and determination to get back out training and racing.

-Dave

MycoGreen - Immune Support, pH Balance and Recovery

MycoGreen
There are competitive products that have been in use for some time, but we recently tested this product for more than a month and was impressed with the results our athlete experienced. From fighting the flu bug and pH balance to basic recovery this one is certainly on the list of must tries.

As athletes we are bombarded daily by environmental pollutants, toxins and exercise induced free radicals that compromise cell integrity robbing us of our ability to perform and recover properly. Lactic acid and ammonia build up in the muscle cells creates an acidic environment which further weakens cell membranes often resulting in cell death, acidosis, immune system fatigue and slow recovery.* MycoGreen is a highly potent and effective 100% vegetarian blend of Organic Greens, Myco-Medicinals, Glyconutrients, Phytonutrients, Sea Vegetables and Whole Food Antioxidants for nutritional support and assistance in daily cleansing and detoxification at the cellular level. MycoGreen helps you combat physical fatigue while supporting proper pH, cell integrity, immune system stability and proper recovery.* MycoGreen is enhanced with a powerful glyconutrient rich myco-medicinal blend to help optimize and support healthy immune system and adrenal function. Athletes put incredible amounts of stress on their bodies on a daily basis which requires higher levels of comprehensive support to help ward off illness and over training. MycoGreen contains 100% organic, polysaccharide and Beta 1,3/1,6 glucan rich Maitake (Grifola frondosa), Cordyceps sinensis, Agaricus Blazei, Inonotus obliquus (Chaga) and Astragalus to support daily immune and adrenal function. Mycogreen is also enhanced with prebiotics, digestive enzymes and MSM to support cellular detoxification and cell permeability to ensure proper digestion, absorption and utilization of nutrients.

MycoGreen Features:
• 100% Organic Greens
• 100% Organic Myco-Medicinals
• Glyconutrients
• Myco-Medicinals
• Beta 1,3/1,6 Glucans
• Whole Food Antioxidants
• Digestive Enzyme Support
• Pre-Biotics
• Omega 3,6 & 9
• Maximize Recovery
• Scavenge Lactic Acid
• Support Healthy pH
• Support Immune System
• Sea Vegetables

MycoGreen can be stacked with MVP-365 & ZMK for additional nutritional & recovery support.

Suggested Use: Take three capsules one to four times daily with meals as needed. MycoGreen may be taken post workout to aid in the reduction of lactic acid and support recovery. MycoGreen is formulated and manufactured without the use of any banned substances and conforms to WADA and IOC standards.

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