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The Offseason: Surgery, Rest, Recovery

12/28/2011

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After IM Arizona I had planned on taking a week off followed by some active recovery before rotator cuff surgery today. The reason for this surgery was to correct the bone impingement, and two frayed tendons I had raced with this past season.  Post surgery I was planning on spending some time on the trainer and taking a trip to Florida to test the repaired shoulder in the gulf. This was going to be the start of my 2012 season, of which I had/have high hopes for.  Well, as a good friend and client once told me, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."

All this would be fine and dandy, however, during IM Arizona I managed to crash at mile 18 on the bike directly on my greater trochantar. That fall has forced me to "rest" for 5 weeks now, with pain still lingering in my hip, lower back and gluteal muscles.  I can honestly say, and many of my friends and family can attest to this, "rest" is my absolute worst discipline when it comes to training.  So, I guess "rest" is what I need to work on next, even though it is not necessarily what I am wanting to do. This became more clear to me as I thought about  Dave's sermon at 2/42 Community Church on Christmas Eve. It was titled "Socks and Underwear", referring to the fact that often on Christmas morning we will not always get the gift we want, but the gift we need. Socks and underwear are  the very things a lot of us neglect to put on a Christmas list, and we definitely don't do cartwheels when we unwrap the present, but ultimately we end up appreciating them everyday in hindsight.  Now, I'm not sure how fast I will heal, or what type of recovery my hip will need if we disocover a serious injury, but I'm sure in hindsight I will see this forced period of "rest" as an opportunity. 

Opportunity is only that though.  There are many opportunities in life that come and go throughout our lives, and it is our choice to decide how we percieve them. Sometimes we take an opportunity and use it to enrich an area of our life or someone else's for the good.  Other times, we may see a situation as negative and completely miss the lesson the could have been learned .  I guess it's more a matter of perspective. Quite honestly, right now I'm struggling to be positive but I need to remember that there are many things i can do while my hip and shoulder recover.  I once told a friend while he recovered from a knee operation that he could improve his nutritional discipline, because nutrition is the fifth discipline of triathlons in addition to swimming, biking, running, and resting. So taking my own advice, this is probably a great time for me to do this very thing and overcome a slight sugar addiction and avoid any winter weight gain.  Secondly, the time I usually dedicate towards training can now be dedicated towards all the busy work that I need to eventually complete for the summer camps, training programs, and organizing the triathlon team's season. Speaking of which, training with the triathlon team begins in March, so feel free to contact me if you are interested
. 

So, what is the plan now....I guess we'll wait and see


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Active Life, leads me to tri

12/7/2011

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Since this website has been up for about 6 months i figure I ought to make my first attempt at "blogging".  Not being much of a computer guy, this is going to be more difficult than going for a run that would last as long as it takes to write whatever it is I eventually write. First, I want to provide a brief history as to who i am, why i am, and how i am like any other person out their making choices that ultimately determines each day we live. In the upcoming days, weeks, and months I will update my progress in training, racing, and provide insight to what i do as a professional triathlete, trainer, and coach.

Living an active lifestyle blesses my life greatly to this day. I thank my parents for never allowing video games or cable television into our house and stressing a healthy life: physically, spiritually, and mentally.  Growing up, we always seemed to have a number kids over, playing driveway basketball, backyard football and baseball, or sledding across the street (which required a lot of hill climbing), and when it got dark we grabbed some flashlights for midnight tag.  I'm not sure what has happened to unsupervised and unorganized athletics today, but it was great. When Sunday morning rolled around though, my dad as annoying as it was, would drag us all to church.  It was there that I first learned that life is not all about me, as much as I still struggle with this today. However, building a relationship with Jesus Christ grounded me, and yet exalted my spirit more than I can imagine or grasp. It encourages me to do my best as well as  encourage others, while keeping in perspective that winning is not the ultimate prize, but rather having joy when you crossing the finish line.  Our family trips revolved around activity, and it often felt like we needed a vacation when we returned home.  We usually traveled once in the summer to a family beach house (built by my  great grand father on the Jersey Shore) and once in the winter to a Rocky Mountain ski resort.  Everyday  was usually filled with running on the boardwalk, then spending way too many hours in the sun, riding waves and swimming in the ocean until out lips and toes turned blue. The only sunbathing and laying out that occurred was when we fell asleep on the beach from exhaustion. Winter ski trips had a similar theme.  Waking up early to catch the first chair lift to the top of the mountain, and not returning until we had skied down the final run as the resort closed for the night.  The only drawback to these trips was that we often missed a week of school and my parents required that each night we finished the homework our teachers had given us in order to keep up with class before we could go out and ski the next day.  The mental discipline of delaying gratification and appreciating the reward of hard work were great gifts my parents bestowed me.  Little did i know, that these aspects of "just" growing up would one day lay a foundation to become a  professional triathlete.  Thank you both. 

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    RYAN RAU

    Welcome to my blog. I'm a professional triathlete and personal trainer on a mission to Serve, Encourage & Inspire. This blog is a chronicle of my efforts to do just that!

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