Deacon Bradley’s blog

Photo: Jens Voigt descends the Peyresourde Pass on a loaner bike after a crash shattered his own (Robin Wilmott)

In the 2009 Tour de France Jens Voigt suffered a horrific crash going nearly 50mph.  There were sparks flying off the bike and he was sliding forever (video below).  

"After they stitched me up at the French hospital I decided that's not the end.  I'm not going to quit like that.  I don't want the last thing people remember to be a stupid crash.  I want to be remembered as a good bike rider and to go out like that"  Jens told Versus.

Yesterday Jens crashed again when his front tire blew out during a steep descent.

"I thought, “Oh God,” and I went down. Just one year after my horrible crash, and there I was tumbling on another mountain descent."  - Jens Voigt (bicycling.com)

With no teammates around him and the team car tailing Andy Schleck (currently 2nd overall) Jens was left stranded without a bike and a severe case or road rash.  Getting in the officials car would've been the easy thing to do, and after all, how do you finish a bike race without a bike?.  "No Way!  I'm going to Paris this year.  I'm going to Paris" (where the Tour finishes).  The race organizers found him a bike, but it was a junior bike three sizes too small with old fashioned toe-clip pedals (picture above)!  Jens had to ride it for 15-20 kilometers before he was able to get another bike from his team car.  

Now that's tenacity!  With all the more then legitimate reasons to take it easy Jens said "No Way!"  Who could've blamed him for getting in the car and calling it a day.  Yet bike-less and bleeding Jens was still determined to reach his goal.  

What's standing in the way of your goal?  And is it enough to keep you from reaching it?

Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action

- Orison Swett Marden [1850-1924]

There was an awesome article in the June 2010 issue of Success Magazine about Orison Marden.  He had a tumultuous childhood losing both his parents and being constantly reminded of his inferiority by his guardians.  He believed strongly that your attitude and your outlook on life determines your destiny rather then your circumstances.  Marden went on to author some of the first self-improvement books in America and later founded Success Magazine.  Pretty awesome legacy!

This is a really cool video of the Crossfit Dallas Central crew at the South Central Regionals:

Yesterday I had my first Airrosti visit to fix my high ankle sprain.  Seventeen days prior I slipped on some ice in Colorado and landed directly on my heel.  I went to a sports medicine doctor in Austin two days later who diagnosed it as a high ankle sprain and sentenced to wear a boot for 8 weeks.  

At this point I could stand without the boot on, but couldn't take any real steps and had minimal movement capabilities.  At the beginning of my session the doctor had me do some basic exercises to benchmark my capabilities.  I tried walking normally, standing on my toes, and flexing my foot in various directions with no success.  Then the fun began...

The doctor manually massaged my ankle and leg for about 30 min.  I say massaged, but what it really felt like was stabbed with a hot knife!  Although my ankle was still swollen, bruised, and painful even to touch lightly, he prodded away mashing intensely on the affected areas.  The reason for this was to manipulate the fascial system deep within my ankle back to normal from it's distorted, injured position.  The pain was extreme and I would never have let him continue had I not seen such positive results from other cases.

After that was all over we repeated the same benchmark tests.  This time I could walk almost normally AND stand on my toes.  It still hurts a lot, but the functionality restored from just one session was amazing.  The last step of the appointment was some basic exercises to improve my flexibility and strength and then I was "strapped" with Kinesio Tape.  The tape feels like wearing nothing at all yet provides excellent support (hard to describe).  

I'm now done wearing the boot 5 weeks early and I'm slowly getting back into the physical activities I'm accustom to.  Just hours after walking out of the Airrosti appointment I was able to do overhead squats at CrossFit (lighter weight, but still!  I had a bad high ankle sprain!).  I have three more follow visits over the next two weeks and then should be back to 100%.  I'm so thankful for Airrosti!

For those of you who have chronic or acute soft tissue problems (like ankle sprains, back problems, shoulder problems, or ANYthing else) I highly recommend giving Airrosti a try.  They routinely solve chronic problems that have plagued patients for years in just a few visits.  

Tomorrow I will begin Airrosti treatment on my ankle sprain.  In short, Airrosti has demonstrated an extradorinaiy ability to rehabilitate shoulder, back, and other soft tissue injuries in a short amount of time.  The treatment focuses on the fascial system which is responsible for organizing the materials in the body.  One of it's many jobs is to shape muscles and keep them from tearing or herniating.  When a soft tissue injury occurs the fascial system is distorted and is very slow to heal.  Airrosti essentially puts things back where they're supposed to be.

Sound made up?  I'd have to agree with you if I hadn't seen the results first hand.  I've been immobilized in an air-cast for 2 weeks with 6 weeks remaining.  My doctor is advocating this aggressive treatment to substantially shorten my rehabilitation time.  

Well here it is.  My new boot.  Of course you want to hear the exciting story of what happened, and so I'll tell you...

• Sledding down a steep hill onto an icy street
• Pushing a car out of the snow
• Learning how to land a 180 on skis
• Racing a ski-cross course (although I did have a nasty fall)
• Speed skating on recreational skates short-track style
• "Bobsledding" on a skateboard down an icy hill
• Skateboarding down an icy hill

And here's how I hurt myself

• Walking across the driveway

 The workouts are broken down into 4 sections and last about an hour.  So far NONE of the sections have been anything close to boring or monotonous (one of my big problems with the gym and most cardio).  

Warmup:  Each workout begins with a 10-ish minute warmup.  Most of the exercises are designed to warm up your joints and muscles and get some dynamic stretches in (all the static stretching is done after).  The warmups do a great job of getting your blood pumping and should certainly NOT be characterized as relaxing.

Strength:  The first exercise we do is focused on strength.  We might do something like the "max rep pull-ups" or "max weight push press."  This part of the workout is tough from a maximum exertion standpoint, but just a glimpse of what's to come!

Metcon:  The next section of the workout is all about Metabolic Conditioning.  There are three metabolic 'engines' (2 anaerobic, 1 aerobic) that will all get burned during this section.  Getting each of these going at once creates an intense and varied experience!  

In my last workout I had to do push-presses immediately following rowing on a C2-rower.  Although I had been doing much heavier weight with push-presses during the strength section of the workout, doing them right after jumping off the rower was a whole other level!  As my coach said:  Lifting anything with a 160 heart-rate is tough!

Stretching:  At the end of the workout is when we do our stretching.  What used to be a relaxing pre-workout routine for me has been turned into another tough part of the workout.  I'm so exhausted by this point that holding any sort of stretch is a difficult proposition.

I'm very excited about sticking with the CrossFit thing!  The workouts are tough and intense, but already I can feel the beginnings of strength I haven't had in years.  My goals for the year include an olympic distance triathlon and a half-marathon and CrossFit is going to get me there!

As more of my friends have started using TripIt it's become even MORE useful!  In fact, I require anyone who needs a ride from the airport to use TripIt.  That makes it effortless to keep up with when I need to be at the airport AND with one click I can check their flight status.  Super useful.  Super free.  Super easy.