Friday, March 27, 2009

Caffeine, the last legal stimulant

I will give an update on my back this weekend - promise! In the meantime, my friend Dirk sent me an interesting link on the effects of caffeine on athletic performance. You can read it here.

I was a test subject in a similar study at Cal State San Jose back in the mid-90's. Of course, this was when I was racing and much, much fitter than I am today. I'll have to dig out the results and post them...

Monday, March 9, 2009

Starting the Positive Spin...

Well, if there is one bright spot in this whole surgery thing, it's that it'll be great motivation to really get in shape before the surgery. I figure that I've got about 6 weeks to work out and lose about 10 pounds before I go under the knife.

Why get fit before surgery? It will (I hope) allow me to recover much faster than I would otherwise.

Why wait? Well, this week is Canoecopia and next month is Sea Otter. Both are very important for Kinetic Koffee and we cannot afford NOT to be at either event. Ergo, the operation must wait until the end of April.

Make sense?

Friday, March 6, 2009

It's Official

Well, today I received the news I had been preparing to get for the past 6 months - surgery was recommended by the neurologist that I visited today in Redding. He looked at the MRIs and the results of the EMG, tapped me with a hammer (not my head, though) and stuck me with pins (feel this? feel this?). His prognosis: partial laminectomies in at least two locations.

So, now it's back in the neurosurgeon's court. And of course I need to bring someone up to speed soon as a roaster so the company can continue in my absence. Looks like I have a lot to work on.

But first, there's Canoecopia next week (I am really looking forward to spending time with my friends in Madison) and Sea Otter next month. They'll be interesting, that's for sure...