Poor puppy

a difficult week.
more detail here: http://www.coolrunning.com.au/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=24054&view=findpost&p=475387
but basically alaska (my 5yo siberian husky) was attacked by another dog on sunday.
she was on lead and the dog (very large/50kg or so) ran out from its yard (normally behind an 8ft high fence but the driveway gate was left open).
it went straight for her throat/upper chest had her pinned to the ground and shook her violently.
i thought alaska was going to be killed.
this wasnt a brief puppy park scuffle it was a prolonged vicious attack.
short version is i did everything i could to try and get this dog off: mainly kicking it several times in the chest/stomach and shouting the word 'fuck' a lot.
not sure if it had any positive effect - didnt even flinch the first time.

stupid owner could not only get her dog off but after they had separated didnt hold his dog back so it attacked twice again.
3 wounds to her neck/upper chest with the soft tissue all loosened/torn between the lower 2 requiring a 15-20cm incision and washout.
still a bit worried about her getting infection but seeems to be ok at the moment.
things are progressing with the council and looks like the other dog will be declared dangerous.
have quite a bruised swollen foot: cant remember how many times i kicked this thing but i didnt hold back but can walk almost normally now so will probably need only 1-1.5 weeks off.
poor puppy.

Nude up G!

so i have a bet with mister G.
1st person to do a comeback ultra wins.
i was actually joking when i made that comment on his blog.
but now its too late, so as spud would say: giddyup!
not sure what we win.
lets say its one dollar.
i plan on doing mine 1 day before his.
whenever that is.

did lake manchester 21km today.
nice overcast day with some drizzle.
just love those creek crossings.
most enjoyable.
had to laugh at all the people tiptoeing around the first few then taking their shoes off for the 'big' one.
its a trail run people!

finished in 2.12.56 by my watch.
manged to do 6min/kms the last 7 over rolling hills.
had to walk bits though :)
i think 7km spilts were 41/50/42 approx (a little hill in the middle!).
went a bit quicker downhill than planned but saw lindsay phillips up ahead and just had to pass him!
overall a bit slower pace wise than my 3.24 in the 33km 2 years back.
but quicker than what i had planned from my 2.15 18.5km training run on the course on monday.

sunday: nothing
monday: 2.15hr lake manchester training run and massage
tuesday: nothing
wednesday: 1.30hr mt coot-tha (yes most trails back open now)
thursday: 30min bike at 140watts
friday: nothing
saturday: nothing
sunday: lake manchester 21km 2.12

whippy left for colorado on the weekend: hardrock 3 weekends away
spud leaves for OS soon too: mt blanc in august.
mellum is in travel mode :)

Still here

still here: just plugging away!
busy work week this week.
working 6 days in a row: now how did that happen?
will head to lake manchester/brissie forest park for a trot monday (day off) after a rest day tomorrow.
did do some hard surface runs this week and the knee still doesnt like it much but continues to improve.
probably didnt need to quite do sub 5's couldve just gone more slowly i guess :)
have more time this week so easier to stay off road.
giddyup!

friday: 30min stat bike
satiurday: nothing
sunday: 7km 34.30
monday: 5hr hike mt barney national park
tuesday: pilates, massage
wednesday: 30min stat bike
thursday: 7km 35.00
friday: nothing
saturday: 30min easy soft surface run

Old Man

whippet crossing creek on hell hole break
(no the title doesnt refer to him!!)

ok well its not the first time i have felt like an old man.
http://undercuvabrother.blogspot.com/2008/09/old-man.html
but this week whippet told me i had developed a little tummy (which i already knew thanks andy) and the ortho surgeon stared at my head the other day which seemed a little strange until he explained he was looking for grey hair.

so basically the ongoing knee narkiness he thinks was from the meniscus on the same side as the stress reaction (hence the grey hair/old man comment).
definately no tear or articular cartilage problem.
just an old meniscus.
in an old man :)

felt a little bad initially picturing me as a future hermannator style walking-ultrarunner with bad knees or maybe just give up and become a quilter like doggie.
then i had a look at my scan from 2003 and it looks exactly the bloody same.
so the fuck it programme continues!!

whippet was up from swine flu central this week so took him to brissie forest park (BFP) and did the hell hole - south boundary rd (SBR) - centre road loop.
had to laugh when he asked me what running wear he should bring: simple answer really tshirt and shorts.
had another laugh when he whinged at the start that he was cold.
never know if whippys joking or not but regardless this loop shall now be forever known as whippets whinge :p
shouldnt have challenged him to a hill race at the end tho: he is in pre hardrock form and me basically not run for 9 months..... gave him a good laugh tho.
i actually thought i could win!!
for the first 50 metres anyway.

friday: 20mins easy bike
saturday: nothing
sunday: easy 30mins soft track UQ
monday: whippets whinge 1.40
tuesday: nothing
wednesday: 40min bike 140watts
thursday: 2hrs BFP black soil - SBR - scrub rd. a nice little adventure.

will stick to trail for a little while longer.
nice being out there again.
kind of good mt coot-tha being closed, enjoying exploring BFP.
eventually will need to return to the hard surfaces.

Fuck it!

so the other half was wanting to plan our virgin skiing trip later this year ?hotham in august.
discussion ensued about (as whippet calls it) 'the famous knee'.
my response was i didnt know what was wrong with it or when it would be better.
i really dont.
and the physio isnt sure either.

an update...
itb operation mid 2008
good recovery: back running 'normally' oct 2008.
hit by dog with 'incidental' stress reaction/fracture on the mri scane of left knee which then started to actually hurt ;)
6 weeks off: walk/runs failed (early)
6 more weeks off.
re scan feb 2008: stress reaction gone maybe something funny with the medial meniscus maybe not.
8 weeks bike.
stop/start running since.

not making the progress that i had hoped so the physio and i decided to make an appointment to see the ortho surgeon again which is happening next week.
some ongoing knee pain (and clicking) near the stressie but not at the same site.
not sure if its patello-femoral pain or meniscus.

so this last week i said 'fuck it!'.
lets just push through the discomfort (again) and see what happens.
just grit the teeth and run!
if something is wrong that needs another scope then it will declare itself.
if not then even better!

headed to brissie forest park today (mt coot-tha closed due to recent floods).
was going to do an hour outNback along the wide firetrail.
got to the start of the aptly named 'hell hole break' and decided to explore.
hadnt been down there for a year or so: with team tam and remember thinking to myself at the time that it would be a narly place to roll an ankle by yourself.
got a ways along and thought 'fuck it' may as well keep going and do the full circuit via mcafees lookout/centre road.

now i knew this would take over 2 hours, i didnt have much water with me, hadnt put any sunscreen on and had no idea on the condition of the trails post flood.
also BFP isnt a great place to get lost: have been lost in there before and didnt have a compass with me either.
and had only 'run' (and i use that term loosely) to a max of 1 hour in the previous weeks.

well had a great time didnt i!
hadnt had that much fun in months.
knee seemed to like the ups and downs after 15mins of gritting teeth initially.
no major wrong turns.

so i guess i have fullfilled my definition of 'returning to running' from 2 posts ago: well BFP instead of coot-tha but even better.

not sure what will happen from here.
but at least i am making some temporary progress.

I will return...

not sure what took me so long to realise this...

this is a running blog.
and i am not running.
i shall return to blogland when i am.
see ya! :)

the 'R' word

i must not mention 'the R word'.
well at least not until i am 'Ring' anyway.
the definition of which is when i put my pack on, wave to the other half and duly inform her i am off to coot-tha and will be back 'some hours later'.

4 sessions on the bike this week.
another 4 to follow with some more 'load'.
then i can do some walk/Rs ... if no pain ;)