July 17, 2006 - Notes on the Go

Free wireless access at the airport? Brilliant! Upon arriving at Port Columbus International airport this morning, I realized that my flight out to Philadelphia is scheduled to leave at 11:00 AM, not 10:00 AM, so, seeing as I arrived at 9:00 AM, I have a few minutes to kill.
It’s time to get down to the good stuff: the business of actually rowing out on the water. This morning I’ll fly up to Philadelphia where our team director Isabel will pick me up and drive me down to Princeton for a week rowing with Jesse. After that, Jesse and I will go up to Philadelphia for another week with the full team. I’m really looking forward to it. It will be nice to row together without any question marks about who will actually be in the boat and with Karen’s undivided attention. I just hope that my body feels good and strong and that the ankle doesn’t cause me any trouble.
At this moment, I feel like a symbol of modern technology. I have my cell phone, my iPOD, my wirelessly connected laptop, and airplanes all within my immediate surroundings. If only I’d stopped at Starbucks on the way in I could be a real modern traveling man.
Other than the excitement of free wireless at the airport, there really isn’t much to report. I’m sure I’ll have tons to write once I’ve gotten to drool over Princeton’s immense and immaculate facilities. It should be a blast.

July 11, 2006 - Turning the Corner

What an interesting week it has been. I bought furniture for school, saved my 2-year-old nephew Tyler from choking to death on a dime, spent about $700 on textbooks for my upcoming fall semester, and watched the SpongeBob SquarePants movie. It’s all kind of random, but it reminds me that life, school, and family go on as usual even in the midst of training distractions.
I feel 100% better than I did at this time last week, which is good since I fly out in 6 days to spend 10 days training, first at Princeton with Jesse and later with the whole boat in Philadelphia. The extreme pain I was feeling in my ankle, it seems, was not caused by the actual sprain, but by an irritated nerve. Dr. Diorio says that it is not permanently damaged and that I can go ahead and work out on it, it will just hurt a lot. We could do a round of steroids to possibly relieve the pain, but that would be a huge hassle given the drug testing situation.
Fortunately , the nerve pain has decreased dramatically in the past few days, thanks largely to me staying off the erg and working out in a pool. This brings me to an interesting story:
While at rehab last week, Erin and I were talking about how it would be great if I could find a pool to work out in for several days to stay off the ankle. Fortunately for me, one of Erin’s other patients, Bonnie Kroll, was within ear shot. It turns out that Bonnie and her husband Bob just recently moved to Pickerington and their new house has a beautiful in ground pool that she offered up for my use whenever I wanted. Bonnie made sure to give me her phone number and, throughout the week, I used her awesome pool (even bringing the family along for a swim at the Kroll’s insistence). Once again, I’m amazed at God’s providence and people’s kind generosity throughout this whole training and rehabilitation process. The list of those to whom I have promised signed photos of me in my team garb grows longer.
Tonight, finally, I will jump on an ergometer again. It seems like forever since my last row, so I’m actually looking forward to it. I’m sure that will change about 5 minutes in when I remember how exciting erging isn’t.
Anyway, my spirits are up and I’m really excited about getting on the water with my team next week. The championships are rapidly approaching, and it’s good to feel like I’m finally back on track to perform at my best.

Getting Artsy

Some of those who are closest to me know that one of my more inconspicuous hobbies is writing. At the encouragement of a quantitative methods professor I had during my first year of MBA school, I began jotting down poems as a means of accessing the more creative side of my brain. Since it’s always on my mind, rowing dominates much of this expression. Below is a poem I wrote on June 17 after a long night erging in the garage.

June 17, 2006

Tonight I feel a long way from Eton,
Far from the anxious crowds,
Who watch, wait, and crescendo as one,
As their pensive pontifications play out in performances of passion.

I cannot yet see those buoyed lines,
But I am familiar with the chaos they bound,
The coxswains issuing urgent orders,
Athletes groaning, straining, and locking again at the catch,
Blades holding, oars bowing,
And finishes thundering out like 9 pound hammers on steel.

I am a long way from Eton,
Where bodies will be stretched to the tune of the will,
Where some will be broken by the fevered pitch,
And where Heart, not hearts, will win the day.

But here, in Columbus, it’s quiet.
There’s just the rhythmic whirring of one fan in a stuffy garage,
The occasional outburst of neighbors enjoying the summer night,
And the relentless chirping of crickets oblivious to my labor.

Here, now, there is only me:
One set of legs pushing back against the stretchers,
One pair of lungs drinking deeply of hot heavy air,
One heart beating strong to feed my fury.

I am a long way from Eton,
But I’m drawing nearer with every stroke.

July 5, 2006 - Ranting about Rehab

Whoever it was who first said “Pain is weakness leaving the body,”—I think the quote is often attributed to Nietzsche though I hope he had more sense than that—obviously never tried to rehab a severely sprained ankle. I hope I never say anything that stupid to one of the rowers I coach. Pain is disheartening, pain is distracting, pain is disrupting, pain is debilitating. It has nothing to do with weakness leaving the body and everything to do with making me very, very frustrated. The only morsel of satisfaction that I can look forward to savoring from this whole ordeal is the fact that any triumph will have been much more difficult to achieve and, therefore, perhaps more greatly deserved.
As is probably evident from the above, my ankle is not healing as quickly as I would like. The fact that my hard work, iron will, and motivation level cannot in any way expedite the recuperation process is pretty angering.
Monday and Tuesday my pain really intensified. My physical therapist, Erin, suggested that I take things easy to avoid getting tendonitis in the joint which, she says, would result in her banning me from rowing. I wonder if she seriously thinks she has that much control over me. Anyway, I’m taking her advice and working out in a pool for the next several days to protect myself from aggravating the injury.
One of the most difficult things to cope with is the strain my sprain puts on sleep. I like to sleep on my side, but that puts pressure on the ankle and causes tremendous pain. For some reason, the whole joint just aches at night anyway, so I’m not getting enough rest. I’m half tempted to fill the Vicodin prescription I was given at the ER, but I’m pretty wary of “potentially habit forming” narcotics.
This is really starting to sound like a whining post. My apologies. Rest assured that any annoyances are not discouraging me; rather, they’re just hardening my resolve to work even more diligently when I get the opportunity. Don’t forget, it takes a little fire to make pure gold.

July 1, 2006 - Rehab

One of my housemates last year, Courtney, spent her undergrad days playing soccer with the NCAA powerhouse UNC Tar Heels under the brilliant coach Anson Dorance. She had the misfortune of seriously injuring her ankle during one of those years and, thus, she spent a lot of time in ice baths. I don’t know how she did it. No matter what mental gimmick you try to use or how you try to distract yourself, 15 minutes of ice on the skin always hurts, at least it does for me!
I’d like to say that my ankle rehabilitation is going very well, and I think it probably is, but my ankle is more sore today than it was Friday, and it was more sore Friday than it was Thursday. My physical therapist told me that every day is a new day when it comes to injuries like this and, so far, her words have proven to be correct.
In any case, I’m working hard. I got back on the erg with an ankle brace on Wednesday and did about 40 minutes. Thursday I got permission to row without the brace, and I did another long, slow piece that actually felt pretty good. I feel like I’ve got about 90-95% of my flexibility and about 85-90% of my power back already; I just have to work harder than normal to get to that power level. I’m going to stick with these light pieces this week, but I’m going to try to get back on the regular work out schedule next week.
I told my coach and my team mates about my injury on Thursday and Friday once I was pretty sure that I’d have a full and complete recovery. My coach took the news well and trusts me to be smart about getting healed up. I’m sure the credentials of my doctor helped ease her mind. Jesse and Aerial were not overly concerned, either, though they both forbade me from walking up and down steps until after our race.
In other positive news, we got scores from a recent race between the Netherlands and the UK. Neither seemed especially blazing, and I think we can catch them if we row well. Karen got to see both crews up close and personal in Switzerland. It’s her opinion that they tried to race at too high of a stroke rating and her plan, for now, is to keep us at a lower rating where we can better engage our full power. Jesse and I talked about it, and we’re really motivated. To know that the medal is out there and that we’ve got just as good of a chance at getting it as every other crew is very encouraging. In just about 8 weeks, we’ll get our shot.