62 times 2

SWIM:  2800y in 62 mins, sub8 400s

RUN: 7 mi in 62 mins, fartleks

Just now realized both sessions were 62 mins :)

I slept through my alarm and missed Masters. Once again I got a late start leaving the house but I did manage to get to work at 9! That's a good goal for this week-- get back into my normal schedule.

The swim was 3x400 swim pull swim. Then I added a 400 pull bilateral breathing. I wanted each 400 to at least be sub8 min but not really race pace. Just a "be pushing it" pace. The time were 7:58, 7:44, 7:59. Humph. I was hoping for better.

Spent a good deal of time trying to find that right hand catch. Also wondered if I should at least let CHG know I haven't given up on Masters! And let the YMCA know I don't want to pay the bill for the Saturday masters I can't attend this cycle! Oh and I'm finally caught up in my GTD challenge with 66-some miles. I've been behind since the injury.

The run was after work. I don't run as well after work but maybe after last weeks awesome brick run I should learn to bike first! My legs were heavy, stiff, and tight. I was dehydrated and a little under carbed. But after a 15 min WU I did fartleks until 5 miles. I like longer intervals, not short tree to tree ones so I do t quite do 5K speed. More like something in between 5 and 10K. But I got it done, came home, did grocery shopping, then kinda gorged on dates and cashews. Nuts. I set myself up for that one by getting so hungry and behind on nutrition. :(

Very tired tonight, just like I want to be. But my motivation for things outside of work and training is suffering. I just don't have the spare mental energy right now , there is so much going on! And I fear that although I spent most of Friday and today on a work presentation, I'm still not prepared :(

I need to get my life schedule back on track. It fell apart with the injury but that was a month ago. Time to get time back!

And get to bed!! It's after 10pm! Put the phone down!!

Sent from my iPhone

Get done what I can!

BIKE: 60 mins and 18 miles.

I was short on time and on instructions. I had no more workouts for the week! So I decided to just do what I wanted, hit some other goals, and just do something so I didn't end up with another day off.

A lazy indoor ride wasn't the best thing, but considering the wet, leaf/branch strewn roads from last night's storm it wasn't an all bad option. And it gets me that hour of riding I sort of "missed" yesterday by doing only a 4 hr ride.

I did some big ring intervals, but tried to keep it unstructured and mindless. Oh, and Not Sloppy!!  No pains.

The rest of the day was at the Club picnic. I had another bad eating day, munching on pistachios and fruit. Then coming home to an unstructured dinner of protein powder. :(

I had a realization that I wasn't as tired as I thought I should be. My other taters say they are tired and fatigued and worn out, yet I feel OK? Or I feel tired but since I expect it I don't think much of it?  I just get the feeling I'm not working hard enough!!  CP pointed out that it's better to be healthy like this, than over-trained and too cooked. After some thinking, I'm wondering if skipping the group events the past month has worked against me in this aspect. I do work harder at group events because I'm pushed more.

But I'm not ready to return to Master's yet. And the Thursday group is still in the dark a bit. And my training plan schedule has really changed (for good and bad). I really need to work this out, only 3 weeks til TTT!!!
AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Just the 3 of us

RIDE: 3:55 and 67 miles, the normal Co IL loop.

We gotta get some new loops, this one is getting stale. I keep saying that (not out loud) but then there are parts of that course I completely forget about!

Just me, CP, and TH which made for a very calm and more steady ride. A small group can stay together better. While another century sounded nice, there just wasn't time and besides--the Vino is next weekend!

My nutrition came apart in the last half of this ride. I didn't bring enough because I thought I'd eaten too much before hand. I kinda thought that the food was "on board" already? Or that I would eat too  much and be sick? Then I didn't have a recovery meal on hand and ended up re-fueling on Energy Barty foods. Yay for the Energy Barty! Boo for eating fruit and nuts the rest of the night.

That gives me some goals for next weeks Mondo ride.

Knee was taped up, no pain at all in the ankle or knee but I do have a "spot" in my left hip now.  I'm chasing pains...

Rest Friday, get taped

I've been told that I should rest with as much intensity as I train. But I train in a concentrated 1-4 hrs a day. How do you rest like that? :)

I don't think sitting at my desk for most of the day counts :(

I saw Dr H in the morning for knee tape. He described it to a person he was training as "getting sloppy on the trainer". Ooof, he's right. I knew that, but I didn't know that.

I got the steroid/phono treatment (icy hot massage type thing, nice but weeeeiiiirddd), I need to learn more about that!

He said to continue the ankle taping as a prophylactic measure and come back next Weds. I've decided that I should probably add Dr M and Dr H to my blog as sponsors/supporters :)  And I'll send them a finisher's photo from the races with a HUGE THANK YOU for keeping me rolling through the injuries :)

Triathlon Thursday

SWIM: 80 min 3600y swim, 8x250 descending 1-->4 and 5-->8
BIKE: 90 min ride in FP with the new group, about 23 miles
RUN: 34 min brick run in FP, 4 miles

Wow!! Glad I had Friday off to recover!

This is a catch-up post...so I will sadly miss some of the highlights I would have like to remembered.

With my long run on Weds, Thursday suddenly took on a new schedule. This worked for me and felt good probably only because I had Friday off. And with Thursday being the group ride night this summer, it could work for me. But I really miss the Thursday run and the benefits of it.

The brick run was maybe my best run all year, it was at least the best I've had in the last month (haha, considering how little I've run in the last month...). I felt my body weight forward on my feet, I felt light, strong, and like I could go forever :)  I had a nice 8:20 pace in the last 2 miles.

Injury transition--no pain during this week on either joint, excepting some fatigue-pain in the ankle from the long run Weds. I expected that, so I'm not counting that as injury-pain but rather recovery-pain.

Also Dr M today for the ankle/knee. I had some doubts about going, was it a waste of time? My knee wasn't hurting right now...? But it was good to go. He agrees that my sudden indoor bike habit was behind the knee issues, but also pointed out that the bike should be fit for the trainer. As much sense as this made to me, why didn't I know this?!? He explained that laying down further, getting sloppy, and changing my position irritated the pes anserinus (a birds-foot shaped tendon in the medial knee connecting hammy to tibia) was inflamed and could become a more chronic issue if not treated. So tomorrow I come back for more tape by Dr H.

I also learned today that he's done IMCDA!

Finally back to long runs! One month later!

RUN 9.7 in 1:30. Ave HR 145 bpm

CP called for a 90 min run but no more than 10 miles. I can usually clock 10 miles under 90 but since this was my first long run in a month (!) I shouldn't set my goals too high.

I waited til later in the morning when the sun was up so I wasn't running in the dark. No need to make it too easy to roll the ankle again! I'd also adjusted my left shoe orthotic to see if I could alleviate that pain. On top of that, the only libido tape I had on was the spiral wrap for stability. I figured that since I was seeing Dr M tomorrow I not only needed all the data I could get but also didn't need to waste tape in case he took it off. Can't believe that with everything riding on this I'm worried about wasting tape.

I left the FPVC and headed out going up Wyd for the extra miles. Everything was great- no pain, warm sunshine, and a long run. It was during this segment on Wyd that I remembered why I disliked it. Wonderful slow rolling hills but a shit-ton of asshole drivers.

Back in the park I got back to some mental Perk-Me-Up games--saying HI to everyone and smiling. It really does help! I went by a guy near the Zoo right near my turn-around. I came up behind and passed him soon after, we talked a bit then I moved on. He caught up to me at a water fountain, then continued to run with me the next mile. He wore headphones so we didn't talk, but we were stride for stride. Kinda fun, but kinda awkward! Should I speed up? Slow down? To anyone else it probably looked like we were running together! At our run split, we said Bye and that was it. Weird. But fun, it left a smile on my face.

The orthotic move did good, my left foot was much better but maybe not perfect. My ankle was good too, but tired and a little sore later. Knee also good. Things are improving!!

Slow 300's

SWIM 2500 in 60 mins
BIKE 27.7 in 90 mins.

The swim was a 3x300 and for some reason I was super slow. More slow than I normally am. As in doing the 300's in 6:15-ish. Fatigued? HA! Ya think?

Did the bike indoors due to lack of time and worry about my knee starting to hurt again. It did, but it was pretty mild, nothing to stop me. The schedule called for a hilly ass ride (my kinda ride!) but those are hard to do indoors. So I did some big ring intervals and jumps to get some strength training and leg burn out of it.

Monday was rough but I've recovered pretty good from the century. Wonder what's on tap for this coming weekend? :)

More mental games for the run

RUN: 6.4 in 60 mins


After yesterday's long ride it was way to easy to sleep in and miss Masters. And way too easy to not swim altogether...

So I ran instead! Right? Cuz if I'm too tired to swim, running is the make-sense alternative! Right!?

My legs were pretty dead, but i used the opportunity for some mental games. Isn't this about how I'll feel at mile 18 with 6.2 miles to go? Sure is! So perk up, hear the crowds, find a rhythm, right left right left...and done!

First century of 2012!

BIKE: 6:27 (autopause time) and 100.8 miles. Easy easy easy pace.

After last weekend's outdoor dismality, this was something I really wanted to get done. A century is more than just a massive mileage ride, it's also a confidence builder. Something to scratch off the to-do list of IM training.
My first ever century was memorable too, it was July 2010 (I thought it was May, had that wrong...) and I had ridden with the MEC group the first 70 or so miles before heading out alone. Alone sux. Groups are more fun! Like today!

There were about 8 of us, all good riders and 4 first-time 100 riders. The morning started out cold and cloudy, I hadn't checked the weather before heading out and I didn't know that it wasn't supposed to warm up or that it was supposed to rain. But I did have my tights and yellow shell jacket. Prepared, but could have done better.

We took off on the normal Co-Mill-Wat-Val route. Somewhere around Wat-Val it started lightly raining. This continued all the way past the bear cage and around to Madonnaville and back to Val. So now it was cold, windy, and rainy. Ugh. But it wasn't all that bad really. My forearms and hands were getting the worst of it, they got numb and stiff. But I stayed mostly dry and never chilled. By the time we hit the flats the sun started coming out and I dried off.

The first loop was 76 miles. I didn't eat much--Infinit 200 calories, Powerbar 210, home made bars 600. And lots of water. I felt great but my left knee was acting up again. The tight pain came and went, but it was enough to take my focus a little.

A quick refuel and biobreak in Co, and off again. The group was down to four: PS, CM, NK, and me. CM and NK were first timers!!  Immediately out on the road my knee went bad. Disturbingly bad. I waited a mile or two to see if it would warm up again after stopping. I nearly turned around. I dropped off the back a bit and worried about my focus and road-handling skills.  What to do...

It did shake out, but was sensitive. On top of that, my left hip started to hurt a little, then my right knee. I was compensating even if I wasn't directly aware of it. What to do....only 20 miles to go...

I stuck it out. I told myself that it's mental and that this is the best mental training and race prep there is. I can't test this race day, I need to know now: can I ride distracted?

Yes I can. It was a long 20 miles, but I did it. My nutrition was down to gels in the last loop, I wasn't hungry really until mile 90 and I didn't want to eat anything, but I knew that was a sign of needing to eat something!

CP has running on the schedule for tomorrow, and my run schedule is back online. I asked him today about mental preps for TTT, the morning and afternoon run sessions and he had some good suggestions, my favorite was to split my Saturday run mileage to am and pm to simulate the TTT race schedule. Another was sim'ing the Saturday pm oly from TTT at Innsbrook then going home and running again in the afternoon. That sounds hard, which probably means it's a good idea :)

Doing something is better than nothing

RUN: 27 mins and 3 miles. No garmin, just a run!

I missed the swim today. I finally had a good night's sleep and slept in til 6am. Then since I needed to be at work shortly thereafter I thought I'd just swim later. hahahahahahaha, we all know how that goes. Once the day gets rolling, nothing like that happens.

But in fact I was enjoying the day off! My back and arms were still tired from my other 2 long swims this week, they were also enjoying it. Further, I had a bad nutrition day Friday and so my stummy was upset all morning. So I got some shopping done while waiting for DH to come home. As part of my nutrition fixing, I bought ingredients for my new recipes and starting preparing them.

And you know that goes too. Once you get some food in your tummy, it's harder to run. So when DH said he had more cooking time and that I should get my run in, I wanted to go and didn't want to go at the same time. I hated to waste the day and end up with 2 days off in a row...but what's a 30 min run going to benefit me?

I decided that doing something was better than nothing at all. Strange that I have to convince myself of that! It was a good run up Shaw to TG and back. I felt smooth and fast off the treadmill, that wasn't reflected in my pace!!

No injury issues!

Rest day. I don't feel rested...

NOTHING! Zero. Zilcho. Nada. Zippo. Didn't even ride my bike to work, but that was because it rained.

Today was one of those days in which I was too tired to sit, too tired to stand, too tired to want to work, too tired to want to go home.

I didn't sleep well last night, and that makes about 3 nights in a row that I'm not sleeping through the night. I know I've been so fatigued and overtrained that I can't sleep. Is this what that is? Or something else. I'm at 7.5 hours in 4 days, which means about 2hrs a day of training this week. That's not really over trained. Maybe it's the 4 miles of swimming in just 3 days?

And I'm certainly not overworked. In fact, work is soooo booooring right now.....I just want something to do that means something to me!

Or is it my nutrition? I'm having some issues with that this week. But this isn't the forum for that. Or is it?

But this isn't really complaining. Or it is and I'm in denial too. I love it. The sagging shoulders, weak legs, slouch in a chair fatigue is like a drug. You have to work hard to get to this point, and for me this is my reward and proof that I'm working hard. I love it.

I just wish I could get a good night's sleep.

Hurt so good...

SWIM: 3500y in 82 mins
RUN: 6.5 miles in 60 mins, treadmill

I thought about joining the usual Thursday run this morning, but they are starting in the dark. And since that run is where a earned myself an avulsion fracture in the same foot in late 2010, I was easily convinced to skip it. Group pace, distracted by conversation, dark trails, hidden and uneven surfaces...yeah, treadmill under bright lights sounds fine.

But I'm off my usual schedule, and I miss it. Now I don't leave the house until after 630am and don't get to work until 10am. Only a triathlete could get up before 5 and still not get to work until 10.

The swim was originally a 3100y with a long pull set. I wasn't interested in 900y of pulling! So I made it a 350@75%, 300@80%, 250@85%, 400@75%, 350@80%, 300@85% main set. Combined with 100pull recoveries,  a 1000y WU, and CD 50's, it was a great workout. I got in the extra 20 I missed Tuesday-- forgot to mention in that swim I climbed out thinking I'd hit 2 miles only to have my new swim friend point out I needed 3420--20y more than I had just finished.  (I almost got right back in to swim the 20!).  Today I was happy to report when asked that yes I not hit 2 miles but also made up for Tuesday. He was swimming an "easy" 4000+ something... But he also wasn't running afterwards.

The run was my first steady no-walk run since the injury. It was also my first run in the new 12's and the orthotics take from the most recent 11's. They aren't perfect yet, so fixing them goes on the to-do list. After 1 hr my left foot was talking to me about the orthotic (but was also doing that in the previous shoes).  Also my k-tape came off in the pool, so it was a tapeless run. 

The plan was a speed pyramid: start at 6.6 (1% incline) and add 0.1 on the speed setting every 0.5 mile until I hit halfway, which I planned to be at 6 miles. 6.6 is about a 9:15, so this started out right in the middle of my happy pace. Then I would come back down the pyramid after halfway. 

This was a mentally tough run! The only thing that wanted to stop was my brain. At 3 miles Hurt So Good came on the overhead radio and I sang along under my breath. Not like any of the other headphoned patrons (including DH) would hear me anyway! But what a fitting song. Sometimes love don't feel like it should... No it doesn't. Sometimes it's a sweaty boring run on a treadmill with only Clif Bloks to break up the monotony.

But I to mentally push this one out. I kept letting the thought creep in that "I'm recovering I can and maybe should stop early!". "Maybe I should walk?!"

Walking is for weanies. Don't be a puss-ass. HTFU and finish.

I set a goal of running 6.2 and then CD. Mission accomplished.

Then the bike. Oh yeah, I was going to bike with the group out of FP! And why not? I'm resting tomorrow! But it was not to be. Around 430 I was so tired and hungry and mentally fuzzed that I walked out to the truck and took an IronNap!  It wasn't my plan, but that's what happened. I didn't think I'd sleep so I didn't set an alarm. So when I woke up at 531pm, I rushed out to get stuff from lab and left the keys in the truck... IronFuzzBrain.

By the time I got home I was wiped. I'm in bed typing away, about to nod off. I've been craving that so-tired-I-can't-even-walk feeling and today I had it!  Yay!!!!


Injury update: no pains, all is well. 

Runner Heal Thyself...By Running!

BIKE: 2hrs and 36.4 mins. Long 75% intervals of 33 mins, 33 mins, and 17 mins.

This was the second "25%  of the IM distance" rides I've done in the past 2 weeks. The other one had a descending distance pyramid. Today's was mentally harder with the longer intervals. Again I kept my HR in the 125-130 zone. 

But let's focus on the really good news! Just yesterday I was singing a song about "Just one kiss [run] from you, and I'll be good as new", right? I heard the song the first time Monday evening and it's been running in my head since. No pun intended. And just Monday I was thinking that as soon as I call the Dr I'll heal up.

After yesterday's treadmill run my knee was feeling great. I'd noticed that before, that running felt OK with it. Well this morning's bike ride was 85-90% pain free in the knee!!  SAY WHAT?!?  I took 48hrs off of biking, went for a run instead, and healed up?  Is this for real?

Even later after the ride it's still not hurting. I haven't tried going downstairs much, I guess that would be one more test. I've been taking ibuprophens 3x/day, but not much icing this last day or two and lots of rest.

OK I'll admit that I had trouble falling asleep last night because the bottoms of my feet were hurting. I was thinking it was PF, but more than likely it was my feet responding to me running without my orthotics yesterday. Even though I don't feel like I'm working hard at all, I still have this "breakable" feeling. I had the same feeling in 2010 preparing for IMWI. That feeling that I'm so worn out I could easily injure myself. Regardless, I just kept thinking about new injuries and how they seemed to keep nagging me right now.

Then for a little while on the bike my right medial hammie twinged, only briefly but enough for me to notice it. This got me thinking that my bike fit on The Bird might be off. But no, it came and went. The only change I've made on the bike is that I made sure I was sitting forward on the saddle. I wonder if while indoors I settle back farther on the saddle. My googler research suggested that seat height was a factor in my type of knee pain. I know my seat height is OK--last year those bikes are very carefully fitted to my princess-and-the-pea standands and I can't imagine that those current fits would cause pain like this to appear overnight. But I do think it's plausible that I sit too far back on the trainer, and when combined with my all-of-the-sudden indoor habit, it led to some irritation.

Time will tell. So will this weekend's 100-mile ride if it happens. But so far so GREAT on that problem!!

Oh and the ankle, nothing to report. All is well. I'm flexing it a lot to check its mobility and finding no issues.

I'm anxious to get back to normal running and eager to wear myself out training. Bring it on. Please.

Broken Up: 500's and 5 miles

SWIM: 3450y in 75 mins
RUN: 5.25 miles in 50 mins, treadmill

The swim was a "broken" 500's set as:
WU 900 as 6x150 rotating between swim, pull, paddle
MS 3 x {10x50 (5s), then 200 easy}
CD 4x100 alternating pull and swim

For the MS, track total time of the 10x50, keep the 50's even within each set but increase effort between each set. Use the 200's as a recovery pull to
1st one in 10:48 (minus 50s rest = 9:58, for a 1:59 s/100y pace)
2nd one in 10:35 (minus 50s rest = 9:45, 1:57)
3rd one in 10:25 (minus 50s rest = 9:35, 1:55)

Hmmm, didn't realize it was just seconds faster in each of my sets...

The run was on a treadmill. Ran 1.4 then walked 0.1 for a total of 5 miles broken up with walk segments. The run pace was a 7.0 to 7.2 setting which equated to a 8:20-8:30 pace, with a 1% incline. The ankle felt great, there were a few moments of "tingling" in the upper calf under the patella and some by the distal fibula but zero pain. Also zero pain or sensation on the knee.

This was my first run in the new Adrenaline 12's. I didn't have the orthotic in yet and after 35 mins I needed it. But I had to try! No other feedback on those shoes yet.

On the way home from work yesterday I found a new IM song: 5150 by Dierks Bentley. I summed up my depressed, crazy, frustrated, mental state I was in yesterday.

And I, I just need one kiss
From you, and I'll be good as new
If I don't get some of your sweet lovin'
No tellin' what I might do

5-1-5-0 somebody call the po po
Think I'm losin' my mind girl
5-1-5-0 just this side of loco
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

Yeah yeah, yeah, alright!! This is what I hear:

I just need one run
From you, and I'll be good as new,
If I don't get some of your (triathlon's) sweet lovin'
No tellin' what I might do...

If biking is the most painful, why do I keep doing it?

SWIM: Missed Master’s hope to get to the pool later today…

BIKE: 20.6 miles and 70 mins.

This knee this is frustrating because the only time it really hurts is on the bike or going downstairs. Yes, it also hurts right when the leg fully extends before the foot touches the next step down. It’s still a hot burning pain, not related to weight-bearing at all.

It’s really getting to me, because after this failed last weekend I’m now left with 4 more training weekends until Triple T and a total of 9 weekends until IMCDA. 4 weekends. 9 weekends. I’m already printing out my weekly goal schedules to start nailing down what needs to be done before those races get here, and there’s not a lot of boxes to fill in.

I called Dr M’s office and couldn’t get an appt until next Thursday. Now I’ve found that once I take action like that I seem to heal up magically and suddenly. Not that I’m superstitious, it just seems that way. Like I reach a critical point of pain or duration and make the appointment, only to find I was on the path to healing or I figure out on my own what’s going on.

I’m torn, do I email CP and ask him? He’s not a Dr but he has a wealth of experience. Maybe he could help me with the mental aspects of it instead.

I’m getting myself a little sick over this, gotta calm down.

A painful bike and a good run

BIKE: 1hr 46 mins and 30 miles

RUN: 25 mins and about 2.5-3 miles

Now why is running OK but biking painful? Isn’t that weird? Also, I can stand on the pedals and relieve a lot of the pain.

The run was good, but I probably shouldn’t have done it in the Kinvaras. But I wanted to know how they would feel. In the end, I should have been in more stable shoes. The ankle got uncomfortable in the first 0.5 miles before settling down, then my footfalls were less than stellar for the rest. I was afraid to take my eyes off the ground in front of me, lest I trip or step on an uneven surface. I was a distracted run, but I had a good pace and was happy to be running.

In fact, I felt so good after the run that I thought about biking more! The knee felt great!

I’m so torn as to what to do. Complete rest? Keep going?

If I were to stop for every pain I felt, I’d be in the doctor’s office or resting a LOT. Sometimes pains come and go without explaination. But this one has lingered since the weekend of…let me look…2 weeks ago. Wait no…It was April 6th. Am I sure about that?!? It’s only one week? Seems longer…. Am I getting too panicked over nothing? It’s hard to track because I don’t always log the new or minor pains. Like I said, they come and go, and it’s not until they are debilitating or major before I start to really take note.

Rain, Rain, Go Away…

SWIM: 50 mins and about 1650m

BIKE: 46 mins and about 10 miles indoors

Maybe this weekend turned out for the better for me. What was going to be a long swim followed by a long 5hr bike turned into a shorter version of each and probably more rest for my poor knee. More on that later.

The swim started out great and was cut off by the lightning from the storms. We huddled at Sbucks for a while to watch the clouds roll over before deciding to cancel the ride and re-evaluate in the afternoon. By that time I was hungry, tired, mentally unfocused, and tired of waiting. I also knew that my knee was going to give me problems so I was apprehensive about that.

Sure enough, my left knee was hurting. It’s a very focal pain, maybe more of a burning. It hurts only when the leg is at near-full extension, on both the up and down parts of the pedal stroke. It’s a tight, burning feeling on the inside of the knee. I think it’s where the hammies connect to the knee and my googly searches suggest the semitendinosus or semimembranosus tendons that connect the hammies to the tibia.

It’s hard to not think that this is related somehow to the ankle injury, but I can’t draw a straight line between the two. Was it the elliptical session? My knees hurt the day after that, were tight and hard to flex, and the timing is pretty good as a cause. While the right knee bounced back fast, it seems the left knee is still struggling. Maybe these connections were damaged in the ankle roll and started out with a greater level of damage? Maybe I’m compensating somewhere? Maybe something is out of alignment and this is the end result? Maybe I’m not patient enough in allowing it all to heal?

These questions are driving me crazy. So I’ve started more regular icing and taking ibuprofen to reduce inflammation. I don’t know for sure that it’s inflamed, but it sure feels that way.

The ankle is doing fine. The knee is not. And my mind is not.

Should be a day off...why isn't it?

BIKE: 1:15 and 20 miles easy on the trainer.

I did this just to do it, just to burn off energy and help get rid of that big breakfast I had!!  Haha, I would have to ride a lot more than I did to do that...

My knee that felt great yesterday is hurting again. It's a tight pain that hurts most when I straighten my leg out. It feels as if I need to stretch me knee connections, mostly from the hammies. Biking today really didn't feel good, so why didn't I skip it?

And then why did I bike to work? Cuz her I sit and the leg has an odd cold feeling. Ankles OK, not perfect but OK.

Didn't start off as a great day for me...

I miss the Thursday morning run

SWIM: 2500y in about 50 mins
RUN: 4.3 miles in 45 mins, walk 0.1mi then run 0.9mi, treadmill

My alarm goes off at the same time--4:45am--but I either sleep in a little while or get up and just wander the kitchen with my coffee. It's so aimless, so unlike me, and makes me so unhappy.

Without a definite plan, I just get wander-y. I leave the house later than I usually would, eat a bigger breakfast than normal, and lose momentum.

And I just feel like I'm not working hard enough.

The swim was from my new stack of blue Swim Workout Cards copied from my 2010 training plan. If I go to the pool without a workout then I don't workout. I'll get bored and quit. Today's plan was a total of 2400y with 2x800 sets at 75%. The first set was a pull, the second was a swim with the last 400 being an 85% swim.

The first 800 was a 15:40. The second was 8:10 for the first 400 and 8:05 for the second 400. Not bad! These were not at race pace.

I met a guy at the pool as I was leaving who knows a fellow club member (DH) and who swims 6x/week and does 5K OWS races! No wetsuit, no fueling, awesome! Something I'd like to try someday. We had a great conversation about swimming. He encouraged me to continue learning flip turns because it makes it harder--the need for breath control adds a challenge.

I did the run soon after the swim on treadmill #3, surrounded by other walkers and silver streakers. I was the only one running. And I wasn't supposed to be running, haha!!  I ran without socks so I could feel my toes in the shoes, to see what toes I was using when I did a toe-off. I didn't so much try to change my running form as I was just trying to be aware of it and try sublte changes every now and then. Now that I'm aware of the crooked toe-off, I think I can feel it but a video analysis is needed to be sure.

The ankle felt great. My left knee however is still bothering me, ever since that elliptical session 2 weeks ago. Was it the elliptical? The change in bike mileage? The lack of running? Related to the ankle injury? Muscle imbalance? What I thought would wear off after a few days persists. Strangely, it felt great after the run as if the run healed it!!

Skip the swim, bike instead

BIKE: 40 miles in 2.25hrs.

Today was backstroke day. I know the flutter kick of backstroke hurts so I didn't even bother. I was going to swim after the bike or after work, but you know how that goes. I think the best plan is to swim tomorrow morning (and miss my favorite weekly run!) and then squeeze in a treadmill run while I'm at the Y.

The bike was pulled from the 2010 training plan: it covered 25% of the IM ride in intervals with a target HR of 75%. 33 mins, 24 mins, 16 mins, then 9 mins intervals with 3 mins rest. So a total of 82 mins of HR work, along with about 20-30 mins of variable gear intervals and ILTs.  Felt wonderful! Watched part 2 of LOTR-ROTK, my 2010 inspiration.

Run form analysis: why do I turn my ankles so much?

Last night I finally made it the BRR for the running gait analysis on the treadmill. Turns out I have a good mid-foot strike, pretty ideal knee/ankle angles (ideal is 180, I was mid 170s), the Adrenalines are a good shoe for me, and the Connects are not.


It started out with me running in the Connects. These weren't even comfortable to wear around the store. When running in them, I could see by video that my left ankle rolled inwards! Very obvious! The right ankle was OK.

Then I ran in my current Adrenalines GTS 11, which have about 250 miles on them. My form was much better. But MM noted that the Adrenalines were too broken down, as if they had 400+ miles on them. Directly compared to my new Adrenalines GTS 12, the forefoot was squishy and there was a wear pattern on the mid-foot outer edge. MM also noted that I was standing on the outsides of me feet when I was just standing around in the 11's. I'd noted this too but wasn't sure what to make of it. I'd also noted in my my kicks shoes for work.

Then I ran in the GTS 12 shoes, these are the ones I bought back in March but haven't even had out of the box yet. They felt amazingly different from the 11's! They felt flat and solid, and my run form was about the same as in the 11's.

Final observation: I toe off on the outside of my feet, not from my big toe. This was visible after my foot left the ground-the toe was turned in ward so my shoe wasn't straight up and down but rather angled. I can't help but wonder what role this is playing in my ankle problems. Does this leave my foot in a vulnerable position upon landing? And when combined with the ankle instability, does it leave me more prone to roll the ankle out?

Loved this session, it was my kinda experimenting!

After all this, even though the running form was a few mins of running, my ankle hurt afterwards. It hurt more than it has the past 2 weeks! It was a dull pain that was there whether or not I was moving or standing, and moving it around hurt a little more.

It's scary to have that, and I wish that in previous injury entries that I was more detailed with this type of pain analysis. I wonder if I had bad days recovering from previous injuries? Did the pain just fade out over time, and this is normal? Or is this pain a sign that things aren't healed up yet? I guess each one is different, and I need to take it one day at a time.

I loved the treadmill!

WALK/RUN: 30 mins and 2.4 miles.

Not sure how to log this one. As a run? The whole 2.4 miles or just part of it?  Doesn't matter. I was able to RUN and I'm logging it as such! WooHoo!

When the alarm went off this morning, I quickly woke up. I get to run today! I nudged DH and asked "what time are you going to the gym?". My excitement was not shared. Hehe, he just groaned and rolled over.

For the 2nd time in a week, the Y let me in for free. Last week's elliptical was free too. I don't think I'll get away with that again.

We picked the cardio area with the full-length mirrors. At first I hoped to watch my own running form from head-on, but the stupid TV's fixed to the treadmills were in the way. I don't understand why people have to be staring at a TV in order to work out. For me, if I can focus on a TV show or a song then my workout isn't hard enough or interesting enough. But I'm a snob... we all know that already.

Anyhoo, I take off at a roaring 4.0 setting walk. I think this is a 12-15 m/m pace? I WU, then try a jog at 5.5 setting. I feel some pressure in my ankle mortise on the tibia side. Back to a walk. Then run again, this time a 6.0 setting for a 10m/m pace. Everything is loosening up and feeling good. I would hazard a guess that running closer to my normal speed is the best replication? I run different when I run slow, so yeah it would feel different?

It was hard to slow down to walk, but knowing that I had a coach and two Dr's sort of looking over my shoulder should be enough to keep me from binging my way back to my 25 mpw base mileage.

What a rush. What a simple rush. I'm not at all tired and I feel like I still need to get my workout in, but what a rush!

I'm a bit nervous about getting ramped back up in time for the races. IMCDA is 75 days away, or 11 weekends. WOW!!

The swim that almost wasn't

SWIM: 2000 y in 60 mins.

It was almost a 200y swim in 5 mins!

Last night I reset my alarm for 4:05, hoping that the extra 5 mins would mean I'd get to swim earlier. Nope, arrived at the same time as usual. Seems my problem is not getting up but is rather leaving on time.

I wasn't taped initially for this swim. I had an 830am appt to get taped and thought I'd just see what happened without it. After just 50y I was up and out of the pool putting on the last of the tape I had with me--only enough for to stirrup wraps that crossed over the instep. It was just enough to lock the foot in place and keep me from pointing my toe too much.

The pool was crowded today, 7 swimmers in many of the lanes! Knowing I'd be slower than usual between the fatigue and injury I seeded myself into lane 8. Another 50y in and I wanted to quit. The motivation just wasn't there. I was cold, tired, sore, and just not into it.

I had an easy out. Everyone knew of the injury and it would have been so easy to say 'yeah the foot is not feeling good today so I'm bugging out'. So easy. Too easy. I could swim later at the Y. Ha! Like that would happen! Swim dammit!

I chided myself and pushed out another 100y. Another 100y. Ugh.

Analyse this. What's going on? I'm just tired. So what happens when I'm tired for Triple T? Am I going to get out of the water like a little pansy and say "ugh I'm too tired"? Hell no.

HTFU!

So I did. Another 100, 100, 100, etc, finally getting to 1000y in 30 mins. The crowded lane was slowing me down a little but in the end this was good. It forced me to focus on the technique. Focus. Find the pressure of the water on my hand.

I was still sloppy, being off balanced with a bent foot behind me, but I just kept going. At one point I shoved my lanemates off the wall to discourage them from doing the "who wants to go first" delay. MOVE IT!  In the end, I'm glad I did this.

830 appt--I was late for this too BTW-- I was taped again with 3 pieces of tape. Red color this time! One for stability (the twist like I had last week), one rehabilitative (up the left side of the leg), and one to prevent too much motion (a stirrup). All 3 covered the distal fibula with the goal of keeping it in place, encouraging the muscles to strengthen, and to keep me from rolling it out again while it heals, respectively.

Can I run again? Good question. When asked at the beginning when I was running again, I answered "hopefully today" although he meant when is the next race. In the end, when asked directly when I could start running it wasn't a terribly clear answer. Granted, Dr H is probably not the final word on this like Dr M is. Right now I need to practice my own taping (with my new roll of red tape), gradually try running on a treadmill, and pay close attention to what's going on.

I have the option of having Dr H tape me for the upcoming races, that's not a bad idea. The plan seems to be going back in to two weeks for him to watch me tape myself and to get a progress check.

So there might be a 2nd post for today reporting in on a brief treadmill run :)

So the MCT won't let me be, or let me be me...

...so let me see...LOL.
Actually the song for today was "Kickstart My Heart".

BIKE: 3:43 and 64.5 miles on the MCT system. All flat, lots of HR pacing to compare to yesterday's ride.

My original plans to ride with some Taters fell through this morning, and probably for the better. If riding in a group I'd be tempted to go outside my comfort zone in my first real outdoor post-injury ride. I knew that if I stayed to flats and rode alone it would be boring but probably better for me in the end.

Better for me? It was. Boring. Oh yeah, it was. The MCT is like a highway for bikes, I love it except for it's 99% flat terrain. But this set me up to see what 125bpm outdoors felt like compared to yesterday's 125 bpm indoors.

The day was gorgeous! Happy Easter to everyone! The ride started out with honeysuckle, some deer, a fox...and pollen. My eyes were itching, and by the end of the ride my nose was raw from wiping and blowing my nose.

In the end, 125-130 outdoors (which was my ave HR in the end) is working moderately hard but a very maintainable pace. There was some headwind adding to the work, but that was it. No hills to climb and/or recover from. I think this might be a good indicator for my "forever" pace. Keeping in mind that I was tired from Saturday, and suffering tight knees from Friday's elliptical session (never thought that would hurt so much...), this is some good data.

The ankle was taped with paper tape stirrup and a high ankle binding. Worked great, no problems!

The plan was to do 65-ish and make it a 100 mile weekend of biking. I also wanted to see at what time I hit 56 miles, the HIM distance. Disappointingly, 56 miles came around 3:12. Ok, Ok, I wasn't hammering the entire time and many times I had myself settle/slow to focus on HR, so this wasn't a fair test for that. But one problem was that I didn't eat enough in the last third of the ride and just crumped out with 5 miles to go.

Here I was, buzzing along, on the last section of trail, going back and forth on how I felt and how I thought my progress was so far for IMCDA prep. One minute I'm thinking 'wow this 60 miles is great, I could do it again' and the next minute it's 'thankfully I'm not doing it again gawds I'm tired', and the next minute it's 'I don't have to be IM ready today, so it's OK to be tired', and the next minute to 'only 70-some days!!'

Flip flopping in my own mind, back and forth, losing and gaining motivation tenth by tenth of a mile. Yup, that's a nutrition fail. I needed to eat more. I told myself that I was soooooo close to the truck, that I ate a big breakfast and the energy was on board just not available, and that this might be good practice in how to stay focused when focus is elusive. In the end, it worked out only because I wasn't running or racing. Under those conditions this would have been a huge fail.  I ate 900 calories on the ride, I just ate too much at the beginning instead of spreading it out nicely.

Can't believe I'm riding indoors...

SWIM 3250m in 90 mins, timed 2 50m at near-full sprint at 48s!! Hit the 50mile mark today.
BIKE 2hrs for 35.5 miles. 2 x [1x20 mins 75%; 3x3mins at 85%]

The swim felt great. The only downer was that my friends were there, most all were out on a bike ride. The benefit to that was that our lane had only 3 swimmers!  Monday's K tape lasted most of the swim then came off. With or without it, my ankle was doing mostly OK as long as I didn't push off the wall or point my toes too much. But that's hard to not do, especially without the tape reminding me about it.

Today had lots of fast sets, a few 6x50 pyramids, a few fast 100's. Definately more speedyness than usual.

The bike could have been outdoors, but being short on time and wanting a quality effort ride I stayed home. The time I'd need to drive somewhere could be put to use in a HR test ride, and riding from home in the city does not work for keeping a steady HR pace. So I picked a session from the 2010 training plan that had the above main sets in it, adding a little WU and CD to make 2hrs.

My goal 75% HR was 125, and the goal 85% HR was 130. These aren't scientific or calculated numbers, rather they are based on effort. At 125bpm indoors, I'm working hard but at a sustainable pace. 130bpm is harder to maintain and by the end of the 3 mins I'm looking forward to a break but could do without if I had to. I was looking forward to seeing how this played out in an outdoor ride soon.

Ellitical =/= Running!

ELLIPTICAL: 32-ish mins, 3.5 miles

What does that mean? 3.5 miles? I didn't go anywhere!

I made this as hard as I could, with a high pace and no hands on the bars. I found the hands-free engaged my core muscles more. I kept the resistant in the low-medium range so as to not put too much forward/backward pressure on the ankle. I managed to work myself up into a pretty good sweat! But the high temps of the cardio center likely had a role in that :)

It was fun to work out alongside DH!

The ankle feels OK, there's still really no pain it's more of a discomfort.

Post-edit: I think this is the workout in which I did the knee damage, or at least it started after this workout. The next day, both knees were tight and felt like they needed to be stretched out.

If I can't run for 2hrs, then I'll bike it

BIKE: 2hrs and 34 miles, indoors. Followed a 5 hard/5 easy, 4 hard/4easy, etc to 1 min layout from the IMWI plan. Did that 2x to get a long workout. Goal of hard was 140-145 in first go-thru, 135-140 in second.

Following up on that nagging feeling that I'm not working hard enough...I throw in this session. Normally I'd be running 2hrs, so instead I biked it.

I don't usually wear the HRM on the bike, and I really should. I really had to work hard on the trainer to get my HR up into the 140's. At one point I punished myself by staring at the Garmin until I'd hit the target HR, no watching a movie and letting the mind wander.

The movie was Backdraft, hadn't seen it in a long time so I recorded it the other day in anticipation of needing a movie. Good idea. I saw some parallels between me and the fire. The start of this year built up steam and heat until I got injured (or as in the movie the fire runs out of air) at which point I sit back and rest a bit until I'm healed and can blow out the gates at full steam. At least I hope that's how it will happen.

Ran into LC and she warned me against testing my ankle in a 1 mile treadmill run. She said it's healing but not strong. She's right. And my ankle proved it later by inversion-ing when I stood on my toes to reach something. Now, hours later, it's tingly and I'm very aware of it. I'm also aware now that I do walk a little on the outside of my feet. I wonder again if I have a tendancy to invert my feet (point my soles inward)?

The ankle was feeling great until then, now it's "uncomfortable" and almost pained when I fully flex it up.

No fly for me!

SWIM: 2450y in 65 mins
Timed 50y at 47-48s, not TT just moderate

Today was fly day, but 50y of fly told me that I'm not ready for it yet. Or at least my ankle isn't. It started to feel 'uncomfortable' again. It's not a pain, it's just a discomfort.

So CHG gave me non-fly and non-kick sets. One was a 4x200 with the first 50 fast then the last 150 settling into a pace. Swimming felt good today, he mentioned on Monday that I'm "getting it". On Monday I was reminded to reach "out" to sweep. Today it was to finish the pull, and to sweep my hand by my hips before it exits the water.

If he's commenting on the end of my stroke, does that mean the front end is improving?!? :) Hope so!

Tuesday Two-A-Day!

BIKE: 45 mins in am for about 12 miles
BIKE: 60 mins in pm for about 16 miles

I've had this nagging fear that I'm not working hard enough, so I did two rides today. They are both still indoors as the ankle is still healing. Neither were all that inspiring. I was just happy to be "tired" at the end of the day.

Destabilized distal fibula and a 400y swim PR

SWIM 1900y in 60 mins

Certainly was different to attend this swim feeling refreshed and not worn out by a massive training weekend! I think I PR’d a 400y swim in 7:33-ish!! And that’s with a foot dragging behind me and poor push-offs from the wall! I’ll have to check some other times to see what constitutes a PR for that distance. I honestly thought we’d skipped a lap!

Dr H retaped me again, this time with a stability wrap to keep the fibula in place. Now that the swelling is down, he could feel scar tissue around and above the tendons/ligaments at the fibula. He thought the “discomfort” I was feeling was due to a tendon that wraps over that distal fibula bone (that’s where the discomfort is centered) being stretched over the bone when I point my toe or flatten the ankle out. So the tape is too prevent the foot from rolling “in” (like it did when it sprained). I also have another fan for the edema taping. Come back in a week, the goal is for me to learn how to do this myself.

Most beautiful weekend...and I'm indoors!

BIKE 90 mins and 23.5 miles


Yesterday’s bike only encouraged me. So I tried it again today. No, I’m not really supposed to be biking, but this isn’t really biking!!

Everything feels OK with the foot except when I start to do anything that makes me point my toe. That’s where I can feel some pressure or tingling. It still “feels” when I go up steps or twist it.

I keep forgetting I’m injured and keep be-bopping around like normal.

But I feel like a slug. I feel like I’m swollen, heavy, out of shape, detraining, softening up,…ugh. It’s just how I feel. Not how I am.