Archives for June 2010

It’s Just Like Riding a Bike

June 29, 2010 by keiron 1 Comment

Before I lost my hand I loved to ride my Suzuki GSX-R750, amazing bike.

I used to have an earlier model back in the UK and bought another one in 2005 after getting my bike license in the US.

After I lost my hand I sold my bike and bought a Toyota Prius instead, great for my 90 mile commute, but not quite the same acceleration. I’d always said that one day I’d get back on a bike again.

Well at the weekend I finally did, although not quite what I had envisaged (need to be more specific on that old goal setting thing). We had a BBQ at my brother’s place on Sunday here in the UK to celebrate Kerry’s birthday, had some old friend’s around who we haven’t seen for a good few years and there were a number of children in attendance. Unbeknownst to me Sean had a little petrol powered kiddies bike…well, can’t say no to that. So after the children had all had a go it was my turn, i-Limb hand, bike and me. Look at that smile!

A Trip to Bonnie TouchBionics in Scotland

June 29, 2010 by keiron Leave a Comment

I happened to be in Scotland last week on a trip and thought I’d drop in to TouchBionics, the company that makes my i-Limb hand, who are based there.

They very kindly let me spend the afternoon with them talking about my experiences with my hand, allowing me to play with their new i-Limb Pulse hand and touring the production area where the i-Limb hands are built.

They had a very cool display in their production area that shows an i-Limb hand exploded apart so you can see all the components that go into making it, I though it was very cool at least.

It was funny, the production area just looked like a regular office, I was expecting something more industrial I guess, but no, it’s 6 people sitting in an office environment, working on different parts of the assembly and testing process. Apparently it takes about 8 hrs or so to assembly and test a hand.

TouchBionics have just released their next generation i-Limb hand, called the Pulse and I had a chance to try it out. It’s got a number of innovations, one that gives it its name is the ability to pulse the motors in the fingers when gripping something to increase the grip strength. It seems pretty effective, I tried it by holding my own arm and as the motors pulsed for a couple of seconds you could feel the grip ratcheting down.

The hand is also programmable/configurable via bluetooth. They have software that you can install that connects to the hand real-time and allows you to adjust the way the hand works. This would allow me to program different grip patterns and the way they are triggered. So for example, I could configure it to close all fingers except the thumb and first finger, which I would then be able to open and close, useful for working on more intricate things or typing on a keyboard. I can also program different delays, triggers or sensitivity thresholds for the fingers. The hand is a fraction lighter, more slimline and much, much stronger, the knuckles of the fingers are now made from aluminium instead of plastic. All-in-all I love the developments and can’t wait to get my hand (excuse the pun) on one.

Rocking On in San Diego

June 10, 2010 by keiron Leave a Comment

Rock-n-Roll Marathon — Waiting to Cross the Start Line

On Sunday I completed race #3 in my 10 races in 10 months to raise $10,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, my first Half Marathon in San Diego, that’s 13.1 miles. The was part of the Rock-n-Roll series of races with bands playing along the course every few miles that sure made for a fun race.

I felt more nervous about this race than I have since my very first triathlon nearly 2 years ago. Over the last 3 weeks I’ve been having persistent leg and knee problems whilst running, that and the fact that running is my least favorite part of doing triathlons.

Up until now I’ve only had to train to run 10km (just over 6 miles). But, as they say, if you don’t like doing something best to just get out there and do it, well that’s what I say anyway. So I thought challenging myself to a half marathon would force me to improve my running.

And so there I was on Sunday along with 30,000 or so of my closest friends…yep, there were over 34,000 competitors, another first since I’ve never raced with that many people before…it took over 30 minutes just to get to the start line! You can see the start line there in the distance on the photo.

My plan, as per my coach’s instructions, was to run/walk the race, run for 6 mins and walk for 1 min to reduce the impact on my body. Of course all that went out of the window once I crossed the start line and started weaving my way between all the runners in front, I just couldn’t walk and let people pass me, that just didn’t feel right. So I ran for the entire 13.1 miles including the up hill and freeway stretches, it was the camber and the down hills that put added pressure on my left knee…but, physically I felt good and maintained a 9 min 15 sec per mile pace completing the first half of the race in an hour, as you may have seen from my tweets. Then the race was on, could I break the 2 hour barrier? (Not bad since I’d originally wanted to complete the race in anything under 2 hrs and 30 mins).

The second half of the race turned into a balance of trying to preserve my knee but maintain a 9 min / mile pace. At the 11 mile mark I needed to maintain a 8 min 30 sec pace, so pushed harder…at the 12 mile mark with 1.1 miles to go I needed to be closer to an 8 min / mile pace, and pushed a little harder…as I got to the 2 hr mark I was just short of the 13 mile marker and started to sprint (as best as you can after 13 miles) to the finish and that’s when my knee finally gave out, barely 100 yards from the finish. At that point I hobbled to the finish at close to a walking pace, but still managed to complete the race in 2 hrs 1 min 45 secs!

So all in all I was really happy with my race and time and my knee continues to recover, Monday I was limited to a 30 min walk to get blood flowing again but Tuesday I was back to my training regime with an hour swim in the morning and 75 min bike in the evening. No rest for the wicked.

My next race is Vineman on July 17th, my first 70.3 mile Half Ironman, this will be a real test for how my training is progressing ready for my full 140.6 mile Ironman this November in Cozumel.

You can see more pictures of my race on Facebook or watch me cross the finish line below (look to the top right of the video).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akgplAlBPj8&w=580&h=360]

On the fundraising front I’ve reached $3,569 so far, big thank you to my top donors in last month, Sathya, Jay, Christina, Robert, Mum & Dad, Eric, Richard, thank you so much. Help me reach the $5,000 mark by my Vineman race in July, it’s real easy to donate online.

By making a donation you will directly help a challenged athlete in need.

Help me raise $10,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation