I have made the difficult decision to stop running for the time being. Running is just too much pain. When I run, I spend all of my time working through pain, rehabilitating the injuries caused by running. When I swim or ride, I spend all my time swimming or riding. I like that.
So for now, I'm shifting my focus. I'll be tracking the whole shebang here.
Week 1 of my post-honeymoon return to training and path to next season.
As you can see, no swimming and no real riding to speak of. The focus for now is on rebuilding my run ability through rehab and rebuilding base muscle strength through weight training. Swimming and cycling will be added in, along with yoga and other fun stuff, as time allows. For now, its three runs a week, minimum.
The body is feeling good. My shins are a bit sore from the rehab; they are the weak link in my effort to gain a proper heal strike in my running form.
Thanks for checking in. See you later this week.
Ok, enough down time, enough honeymoon, enough not working...the geek is back on track and looking forward at the long and wonderful road that this next season presents.
I'll post in more detail in the next week or so as things solidify, but for now, here's how it looks. After a very fruitful chat this morning with Mrs. Geek, the plan is to spend from now until New Year focussed on run rehab, strength training and flexibility. I've been cleared to run again, so the slow task of rebuilding that fitness can get started again. Target is to be able to run three miles, without stopping, at a decent 10 min/mile pace, by New Year's Eve.
Next up is the Santa Cruz Half Marathon, in April 2006; whether I'll be ready or not is anyone's guess, but its the goal. Training from January through April will still include strength, flexibility and running, but will also add in some base building for the bike and swim, along with possible participation in the SCTA's Nu2Tri program. I'll target a few sprint tri's during mid year.
Finally, the big fun will come from April to September, as I once again and for the third time, take a run and the Santa Cruz Sentinel Olympic distance triathlon. Thwarted the past two years in a row by my hip injury, this is the year it gets done.
This is the season plan as it stands now. As I refine it, I'll be back with updates. Till then, enjoy the fall! Oh yeah, and go Sharks!
There's being back and then there's being back in the grove. I'm back, but not yet grooving. This morning's short neighborhood loop told me exactly how far away that grove was...not to worry though, I'm pumped for a few off-season months of rehab and regrowth. This season is going to rock.
Talk about culture shock and jet lag. I'm back from an amazing honeymoon and itching to get back into the training groove. I'll be figuring out the year's racing and training goals over the next few weeks and get them posted, along with the details on the various tools and techniques I'll be turning to this year. For now though, its time to ditch the honeymoon diet, you know, room service at least 3 times a day, and get back to sound eating habits, as well as some consistent base, strength and flexibility work.
Congrats to all those who rocked IMFL this weekend. Over 45 hours in airports and planes over the last 5 days has left me jet lagged and tired, so I'm off to shake the lag with my own triathlon of hot showers, football (Colts v. Pats, woot) and my own bed (which my wife and I haven't slept in for a long, long time).
Ok, two things that don't go together for me are planning my wedding to my wonderful fiance and blogging. Just no time. I barely have time to sleep, much less post. I'm out until I return from the honeymoon. Then It'll be BlogHard 2, Blog Harder!
A strange sense of freedom has come over me this last week and a half. Ever since I really came to terms with being unable to attempt my A race this year, I've been feeling progressivly more positive. My swim workouts are expanding, as are my bike rides. Best of all, my hip *might* actually be healing.
I'll be back tonight with last week's workouts (I hope). Three solid swims and an interesting ride made for a good week.
Two important "steps" forward today.
First, I finally got my head to where my Physical Therapy exercises are my run training. No longer do I feel like I'm falling behind in training when I'm doing my exercises, rather than actually running. Instead, I'm building my run foundation; I'm just starting a little deeper in the dirt than I might have liked.
Second, I learned to walk again in Physical Therapy today. At first I was soldiering forward like some robot, but by the end of the session, it looked like I was walking like a normal person. The hip hurt like hell, but hey, it was that good "muscle working" hurt, so I can't complaint.
Rome wasn't built in a day. It took me 30 years to screw myself up this bad. Its gonna take a little while to fix. But not too long! :-)
Where have I been the last few weeks? Well, I have bad news to report. My season has once again been terminated due to my hip problem. Second year in a row. Major bummer. I've been a bit too bummed to blog the last few weeks, as I figure out how to respond to this latest bump in my tri road. I'll be back with my decision when I reach one. For now, its rehab, rehab, rehab.
Sometimes, you just have a sick disposition. Sometimes, you just need to move.
I managed my first multi-mile, multi-minute run since my hip injury. Last night I clocked 2.2 miles in 22 minutes, with no stops. My previous best was five minutes of running (during rehab) so this is a major step. I headed out for my run at 8pm too, which was a suprise. Fiance wondered why I was going; I told her the truth: I'm scared shitless of my upcomming race.
This morning I knocked out 2400 meters in the pool at masters. I could have done the last 600 for 3k, but had to get to work. Next week, perhaps. I'm feeling good. Time to go hike some granite.
I'm taking a short break from the Blog, just till I get back from the BP this weekend. Debauchery incoming...well, as much debauchery as you can have in Yosemite. Training continues and gets stepped up a notch on Monday.
Got in a nice ride on Monday night and a decent swim with Masters this morning. More stats to follow; for now, work calls.
News continues to trickle out on the Landis story. The lab that conducted the test has "leaked" the existence of allegedly synthetic testosterone in Landis' "A" sample. What do I think of this news? Frankly, I'm torn. On the one hand, I'm disheartened to think that Floyd might have cheated; if he did, he robbed us all of the greatest day in TDF history. On the other hand, this leak comes from the same lab that allegedly found traces of EPO 7 year old blood samples from Lance Armstrong, conducting the tests in the most scientifically questionable ways possible (not to mention with no oversight whatsoever).
So who do you believe? Call it North American bias, but until a Untied States body tests him positive (or at least a non-french, le equipe-leaking lab), I'm going to remain skeptical.
This past weekend wasn't what you'd call "hard core" training. It was more of a "hard beer" weekend, as I threw a birthday bash for my lady. Now its Monday morning and gut check time. Gut, check! Yes, its still there, perhaps even reinforced a bit by the weekend. That's OK though, because I've go 7 weeks and change to go until the race and I'm ready for some solid training. First up, a nice ride tonight along the 1 up the coast.
Day One in the fast(er) lane at masters. Ok, these folks are fast. Granted, they are all wearing fins and paddles, but they are fast nonetheless. Great workout though. Around 2000 meters and I left before the last set! I've earned some rest and I'm going to take it. Just as soon as I go work for 10 hours....
The test they use to determine if Floyd took illegal drugs is pretty sketchy IMO. It measures the ratio of two types of hormone in the body. Thing is, since its a ratio, a skewed result could mean high testosterone, but it could also mean the other hormone is low, i.e., no doping. Add to that, things like fatigue and dehydration can skew the results...any chance Floyd was fatigued or dehydrated after Stage 17? You ride at the front during a 6 hour mountain stage and tell me how you are feeling....
Innocent until proven guilty, I say. Or as the French say, "Innocent until proven American."
Say it ain't so Floyd, say it ain't so. Say what ain't so? Floyd Landis apparently tested positive for elevated testosterone levels. He has denied any wrong doing.
I've been a bit imbalanced since I read about this all. I for one, was incredibly proud of what Floyd had accomplished. I like sports heroes, I don't think we have enough of them. Lance winning 7, MJ coming back for 3 more, guys who embody the competitive spirit.
Hopefully Floyd will be vindicated, so the greatest single day in TDF history can remain so.
Yesterday morning's Master's was cut short for me. I had to take the car into the shop for service, so I only got in about 40 minutes of work, about 1200 meters. When did 1200 meters become a short workout for me? Anyone know?
Today was distance day at Master's. Hit it up again. Swam strong for the second day in a row. I don't remember that ever happening before. Coach Heidi told my fiance and I that she's moving us up from the slow lane to the not quite as slow lane. Now we'll be swimming with the faster folks. Yay! Um, if anyone knows how to teach a flip turn, drop me a comment. I need to learn before Friday morning. :-)
Breakthroughs come at the strangest times. This morning, I was only able to stay at the Masters workout for 40 minutes...stupid 7:30 am car service appointment. At any rate, somewhere during the last 20 laps, all of those catch up drills paid off and I actually started gliding on top of the water instead of sinking like a lead weight every time I took a breath. Very cool. I also managed to start swimming on my side a bit...again, a very cool feeling. Hopefully this new progress will be there tomorrow morning. Can't wait to get back in the pool!
I've done enough rehabilitation work to know how slow it is. That doesn't make it any less frustrating. Yesterday was a 10k that I had been planning to run for some months now, but I had to give up my race number.
Instead, I did three five minute run repeats, using the proper form/posture my PT had taught me. The difficult/exhaustion was not an issue. The issue was frustration. About a month ago, I was running 7.5 miles at a time. Now I'm back down to what feels like 100 yards, but is in reality, .5 miles at a stretch. This is going to take a while.
In the past I might have gotten down about this. Not anymore. I don't have anything that merits getting down about, whining about, complaining about. Do I have necrosis in my hip? No. Do I have autism? No. Do I have testicular cancer? No. Alright then, get yer ass to work. (For those who don't know, those references are to Floyd, J-Mac and LA).
Today was my first time being allowed to run since going to see my new Physical Therapist for my hip. I was allowed two five minute intervals of running, interspersed with five minutes of walking between. I felt great. The new posture worked fine. Ok, in all honesty, I felt like I was running like a damn duck, but my fiance said I looked normal.
My PT has granted me another run between now and Monday's session. This time with two more intervals. I can't wait. I can't believe I just said that. I can't wait to run again. Have I gone mad?
Oh, and one more thing, Floyd Landis, you are the f***ing man. That was awesome today.
For those of you not watching the Tour de France, you are missing the Summer's best drama. Floyd Landis, man of one hip, has managed to bonk and ressurect himself on consecutive days in what has got to be the most thrilling Tour in memory. I'm still to excited to post anything more substantial. If you can set your TiVo's from work, do it. Today's stage was amazing.
Wow.
Weighed in at 207.7 today, with the BF at 15.1%. Definite progress. Now lets see if it holds for a week.
Today was technically an off day, but my PT made sure that I worked hard. Running with proper posture is, how shall I say, difficult. I felt like a one legged duck. But at least things didn't look that freaky in the mirror. Good news on that front, I get to do a 1-2 mile interval run, testing out the new posture. Guess that will have to be Wednesday night; Tuesday is booked...dance lessons. Eeek.
So my fiance and I set out for a nice ride in the hills with our friends. Man, I was not ready for the ride that awaited us. Two monstrous climbs. Tons of fun though and we made it through them all. First time I'd spent 2:30:00 in the saddle.
The stats: 34.70 miles, 2:34:52 in the saddle. Avg speed, 13.4, max of 35.0. According to Garmin, 2206 calories burned, at an AVG HR of 136 bpm, max of 175 (though it felt harder). Total ascent of 4313 ft. Damn, that was a hell of a ride. Looks like I kept my HR in Zone 3 and 4 for most of the ride, over 2 hours, so a good exertion indeed!
Thanks to my fiance and all the folks on the ride, especially our boy Big E who came back for us and pulled us up to the end, letting us draft all the way home. You guys rock and made this a very enjoyable ride, despite my sore butt! :-)
3rd session with Coach Hiedi. She is a taskmaster, but I'm liking it. 1:20 in the water this morning at 6 am. Drill day, so lots of pull, kick, strock, free alternations. Managed 2400 Meters again. That's 900 over the distance of my target race, so should compensate somewhat for the addition of the ocean current and wetsuit.
The flip side of swimming 3 times in four days is that my lats are really tired. And sore. To the touch. Sitting in a chair is a challenge. I think I'll go take a nap. Catch you all this weekend.
That was the topic of our 80 minute coached ride last night. Great session. Learned a ton about how to ride the rolling hills along the coast here in CA. The most important takeaway is that I should be downshifting and getting out of the saddle to crest the hills rather than peddling up in a higher gear. Harder on the legs, but damn if it isn't twice as fast.
As some of you know, when I started this triathlon odyssey, I tipped the scales at 230 and change. That dipped to a low of 201ish, late last year. This year's goal was both to complete my first Olympic distance tri (first tri ever, actually) and compete in my age group, not as a Clydesdale.
While the former goal is still within reach, it appears I'll be a Clydesdale for a while yet. My weight has been hovering between 209 and 213 for the past few weeks. Although leaner overall, I've definitely added some denser bulk through training. No complaints here however. Who doesn't like increased power to weight ratios and better fitting clothing?
I managed to join the 6 AM masters crew at the pool again this morning. My fiance slept in, anticipating a run with our group that evening (I'm still on the running shelf for another 3 weeks...more on that later). It was endurance day and I knocked out 6x400m, in various permutations. Just two sessions with Coach Heidi and I can already feel my stock improving. I may move from the really slow lane to the slow lane if I keep this up.
On the flip side, my PT has me doing a new set of exercises for my hip. They are postural correction exercises, designed to get the ball of my right femur to rotate correctly back into the socket so its not rubbing the hip bone when I walk/run. This is the theory of the month for the cause of my various hip/back issues. He says I can run train again in 3 weeks if I continue doing my therapy. I'm doing my therapy; if I can run in three weeks w/o pain, he gets a nice bottle (or three) of wine. The down side of posture stuff is that my back is tired all the time now from sitting and walking how I should have been sitting for the past few years. I suppose things will adapt; in the meantime, I look like the tin man.
Nutritionally, things are going well. I'm consistently hitting 22-2400 calories a day in intake. Contrast that with a BMR around 2100, plus somewhere between 500 and 1000 in exercise burn (not counting post exercise metabolism boosts). With any luck, I'll be able to lean up a bit despite not being able to run right now. This should make my return to the pavement even more enjoyable.
Apparrently the ball of my right femur sits too far forward in my hip socket and this is the root of all the evil that plagues me these days. So says my new PT. I don't know if he's right or not, but he uses a tablet PC, so that's instant geek cred in my book. No running for at least three weeks and lots of goofy exercises to undue the "damage" I've done over the last decade and a half. We'll see if he knows his stuff or not. I told him I was doing my Oly race, even if I have to walk the run portion.
Otherwise, morning training went well. Did 30 min in the pool, working on the new stroke technique. Its awkward, but I didn't drown, so I consider it a good workout. 2231 cals in yesterday; looking at round 2k today. Nutrition tracking seems to be working well. Now if I can just make it to spin tonight, it'll be a good day.
For whatever reason, I let my core/strength program lapse the last few months. I think trying to fit in 3 swims, bike rides and runs each week squeezed out the gym sessions. In a moment of clarity yesterday, I realized how stupid that was of me. No doubt my slacking on the core/strength program contributed to the hip relapse. <<hangs head in shame like stupid French footballer who can't control his temper and costs his team the World Cup>>
So I woke up at 5:30 a.m. this morning (sorry about the alarm honey) and hit the gym. Did about 20 minutes of cardio warm up, 10 minutes of stretching and then went through the program my PT had designed for me about 6 months ago. The program is great. We took every strength exercise I was doing and adapted it to include a stability ball as a platform. As a result, every exercise became a core exercise; two birds, one stone. In between sets I do a variety of crunch-style exercise one or off the stability ball. Bottom line, core felt weaker today, hip hurt when I did my exercises, so I knew I was doing something right. Welcome back Kotter.
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