INSIDE THIS ISSUE
OCTOBER 2010
TCSD Contacts Board Members Volunteer Members Weekly Workout Calendar
TRIATHLON CLUB OF SAN DIEGO
2 2 2 7
Member Profile TCSD Conversation New Members Train Smart
8 9 12 14
Race Reports Doc Talk Made with Kashi It’s The Law
16 21 23 23
TriNews
Magic Shoes
By Jason Welle
W OCTOBER TCSD AQUATHLON Powered by Kashi® Thursday, October 14th 5:00 pm check-in begins 5:45 pm course talk 6:00 pm race start Location: La Jolla Shores
OCTOBER CLUB MEETING TBD Check for updates on the Club’s website.
hen I was a little boy, one doctor had pointed out that I would never walk correctly, let alone run. The prediction was prophetic in both how wrong and how right the assessment would be. At the end of June 2010, my spine finally gave in to a lurking and yet undiscovered herniated disk in the L3-L4 lumbar area. Upon returning from a hilly 50mile bike ride in the San Diego area, the strength left both legs and then I lost motor control in my lower left leg the following day. I am now nine weeks out from the emergency surgery that corrected the nerve impingement and I am recovering remarkably well from the resultant left foot drop I experienced. I feel like a brand new triathlete – weak and not able to do the dis-
tance; but this time around I have all the knowledge I had racked up over four years of participating in the sport before the surgery. Anyone who is familiar with endurance sports knows that a surgery like this is hardly able to deter the athlete from continuing and trying again. I will return to this great sport, but will not continue running. My flat feet have fulfilled the curse they made to the rest of my body and I’ll be leaving behind my 20year running career so that the remaining damage in my spine doesn’t leave me on the sidelines in real trouble again. It has not been as hard on me as I might have thought, losing the one sport that I was best at and have the most history with. Shortly after I had spinal surgery, I was also laid off from my job. The distress, depression, and anger that others continued on page 3