Back on the 'board at Baldy

Thanks to the El Nino weather, the slopes and lifts were still operational last weekend -- so I decided to get back on the horse again and give one final go at snowboarding before the thaw, hopefully ending my season on a good note and not with the painful memories of a swollen and bruised bum from Mammothing.

Since Groupon offered reduced price lift tickets for Mt. Baldy, that's where I went. And I was surprised by the quality of the snow for late April, not nearly as slushy/icy/compacted as I would've expected -- though that could've been attributed to the recent storms that probably laid down some fresh powder.

And I definitely love how uncrowded this mountain is, definitely a great place to learn without worries of being run over or barked at by the more experienced.

As for the run itself, I finally re-taught myself how to link turns and carve (albeit with all the grace and speed of a turkey.) And I still took a few tumbles and falls but they're nowhere as hard as ones at Mammoth. But at least I ended this season on a positive note.

Let's see how much I retain come next season . . . in the meantime, I'm definitely looking forward to hitting those end-of-season sales for some protective padded gear and, if the prices are good enough, my own board and bindings!

Putting RICE on my bun . . .

Icing down my bruised, swollen butt on the Mammoth slopes;
photos on this post courtesy of Hungry Hungry Hanh (her flickr here)

This weekend I had an amazing trip up to Mammoth Mountains (my first time there), long slopes, cool little village and, of course, great company in the form of fellow blogger/twitter folks Hanh, Caroline on Crack, e*star LA, Mattatouille, Gourmet Pigs, Sam Kim, Roycifer and others.

The not so good news, while practicing/relearning my toe-turns and edges, I fell on my right butt cheek quite hard -- repeatedly. The result, a bowling-ball sized glute that makes me look like Beyonce or J Lo from one side.
Note the two buns for comparison, I can't even snap the button shut on the right back pocket of my pants! (and I've been asked, repeatedly, whether I stuffed anything into my back pocket-- nope, that's all me!)

As such, I figured it's a good a time as any to talk about recuperating after injury. Being no stranger to bruises, cuts and scrapes - I'm well acquainted with the R.I.C.E. method of recovery. Namely:

1) Rest (which, of course, means no exercises that requires glute work)
2) Ice (applying cold packs or chilly ointments to reduce pain)
3) Compress (to reduce inflammation and promote healing)
4) Elevation (also to reduce swelling)

It's no surprise that #4 is the hardest to do around-the-clock (imagine someone walking into my office and I'm at the computer or on the phone with my butt hiked up in the air!) but I do keep my behind slightly elevated, and sleep backside up, when I go to bed.

And of course, when my butt recovers enough to exercise, I'll ease back into my routine gently with yoga and some pilates work before going for the likes of cardio-kickboxing, plyometrics and running.

In the meantime, I'm being a bit more vigilant about my food intake since I'm not as physically active, and focusing my workouts on upper body exercise that wouldn't put strain on my glutes (e.g. seated bicep curls, tricep extensions, push-ups, chest fly, shoulder press/raise.)

And while I don't think this is a serious injury (already the swelling and soreness went down a little) if I don't recover in a few more days I'll definitely get an appointment with my physician. And if you're ever in doubt about the severity of your injury, do go to the doc first and let the expert decide.