Update!

It's been a while and we apologize for that!  Things have been crazy!!!  Work has been nuts and Ann quit her job this June so things are a little up in the air.  We led a school group on a 9 day trip to Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein in early April which was the highlight of the year for us ( look for a separate post soon!) and then we had to deal with the never ending winter and shingling my roof. I'm still nursing my herniated disc although I believe I'm on the positive end of things now.  I had a follow up MRI in July that showed the main disc problem (L5/S1) was almost all healed with only a slight protrusion remaining and is slightly touching the nerve on occasion.  I still have a few slight bulges in the lumbar area also.  It seems like it's taken forever to get through this considering I injured it last October.  The plan going forward is an "overall" approach with inversion table daily, continued McKenzie exercises, yoga, planks, and other related core exercises and stretches.  My "hope" is to be able to start light training in a couple months leading to a full on program come the first of the year.  After taking a year off from triathlons and basically exercise in general it's been hard keeping the weight off but I've done it.  The downside is my fat % has gone up a little.  I also didn't have a release for stress this year so that's played havoc on me.  I'm trying to look at the big picture and thinking towards my goal of a Half Iron distance race next summer.

Chris