When I’m training I tend to forward to the breaks. I day dream about when the current session will be over, or if in the middle of a really hard week I dream about my day off when I can rest my body. When those weeks start to add up and a single day isn’t enough I dream about my taper and recover weeks when the intensity level really goes down.
Today is a combination of all of the above: a recovery day in a taper week. Now that I’m here, where I’ve been dreaming about for weeks, I feel antsy, like I should be doing something. I actually miss thinking about my daily training session(s), going through them mentally, psyching myself up for the more difficult days. With nothing to look forward to today, I find myself looking forward to the reason for my rest: a Memorial Day race. This year though is a bit different than last. I’ve run this distance before, and train at longer distances on a regular basis. I know I can complete this race (though I’m really hopeful that it will be wetsuit legal!)
This race the question is how long will it take. I’m too young at this sport to have expectations, though it would be nice to finish within three hours. My goal for this race is to get there healthy, run my race, and not be stuck with thoughts of: I could have done better if only…
Anyway, today I guess I’ll sit around and daydream of the race. Maybe I’ll go clean and oil my bike!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Adapt and overcome
One thing I’ve learned about being a triathlete is that you MUST have the ability to adapt. You go into a race with a plan, and no doubt something goes wrong. Maybe your goggles get knocked off on the swim, or you get a flat tire, or your shoe lace breaks. I don’t know that you can plan for those types of events; you have to be able to deal with them when they occur.
I’ve had a few mishaps during my brief racing career, but today I want to focus on flexibility during training. I’ve got a coach who puts together my training schedule for me. Usually I’m able to do what she asks, but every now and then weather, a cold or something else causes problems. Today it was the “something else”. I’ve been forced to accept the fact that this darn knee problem I’ve been fighting for 2 weeks isn’t going to just magically go away. I’ve had several sessions with Airrosti, hoping that they could perform the same miracle they did with my ankle. After three sessions I was hoping that today I would be able to finish my speed workout. After just a little bit of speed work the pain became too intense to continue and I had to abandon my run.
After visiting the chiropractor, I’ve been informed that I need to stop running and biking for several days. I’d like to say that I have accepted this change without a lot of frustration, but wouldn’t be true. I am frustrated, depressed and irritated that this has happened so close to another race. That said, none of those emotions are productive. The right thing to do is accept my situation, map a course out of this, and move on.
I’ve spoken with coach, who is a life saver in these types of situations, and changed my workouts for the next couple of days. A few days of not running won’t kill me, especially since I can get in the pool and work. I’ve been thinking for some time now that the swim work is really helping my run endurance, so this could really be a positive.
So let’s strap on the gills and get after it!
I’ve had a few mishaps during my brief racing career, but today I want to focus on flexibility during training. I’ve got a coach who puts together my training schedule for me. Usually I’m able to do what she asks, but every now and then weather, a cold or something else causes problems. Today it was the “something else”. I’ve been forced to accept the fact that this darn knee problem I’ve been fighting for 2 weeks isn’t going to just magically go away. I’ve had several sessions with Airrosti, hoping that they could perform the same miracle they did with my ankle. After three sessions I was hoping that today I would be able to finish my speed workout. After just a little bit of speed work the pain became too intense to continue and I had to abandon my run.
After visiting the chiropractor, I’ve been informed that I need to stop running and biking for several days. I’d like to say that I have accepted this change without a lot of frustration, but wouldn’t be true. I am frustrated, depressed and irritated that this has happened so close to another race. That said, none of those emotions are productive. The right thing to do is accept my situation, map a course out of this, and move on.
I’ve spoken with coach, who is a life saver in these types of situations, and changed my workouts for the next couple of days. A few days of not running won’t kill me, especially since I can get in the pool and work. I’ve been thinking for some time now that the swim work is really helping my run endurance, so this could really be a positive.
So let’s strap on the gills and get after it!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Cripes, not again
About 10 days ago I ran the Warrior Dash, purely for fun. It was a 3.5 mile course with 10 obstacles interspersed. I don’t have any pictures, but my wife and I ended up covered in mud and had a wonderful time! I bring it up not to blog about it but to point out at the start of the race I felt some popping in my knee. It was gone about the time I hit the first obstacle and I never gave it another thought.
I noticed the popping several days later, only it didn’t stop. After several hard and fast miles it was pretty painful. I iced it thoroughly, and tried to stay off it for a couple of days until my next run. Interestingly enough, riding my bike made it feel better not worse. I was pretty hopeful that Sunday all would be well, and it was for the first few, easy miles. Once I picked up the pace, the popping started up again, and after only a mile I stopped running. Rather than walk home a mile, I decided I would try to run the remaining 3 miles but at a slower pace. That did the trick for the most part. No more popping meant the pain didn’t get any worse.
I came home and iced my knee for several hours. Still, it was very sore for several days. I called my old friend Airrosti Monday morning to get an appointment. My first visit was today. Because of the days off and the icing I had done, it wasn’t real sore today. It was hard for me to identify the exact location of the pain - though I was able to somewhat reproduce the popping I’d felt.
I’ve had a treatment, and plan to head out for a short run in just a bit. Tomorrow I have a harder run. Either the knee will hold up or the pain will return enough so that I can properly identify the sensitive areas.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a quick recovery and back out on the road. In the meantime, I’m going to really get after the bike and swimming legs.
I noticed the popping several days later, only it didn’t stop. After several hard and fast miles it was pretty painful. I iced it thoroughly, and tried to stay off it for a couple of days until my next run. Interestingly enough, riding my bike made it feel better not worse. I was pretty hopeful that Sunday all would be well, and it was for the first few, easy miles. Once I picked up the pace, the popping started up again, and after only a mile I stopped running. Rather than walk home a mile, I decided I would try to run the remaining 3 miles but at a slower pace. That did the trick for the most part. No more popping meant the pain didn’t get any worse.
I came home and iced my knee for several hours. Still, it was very sore for several days. I called my old friend Airrosti Monday morning to get an appointment. My first visit was today. Because of the days off and the icing I had done, it wasn’t real sore today. It was hard for me to identify the exact location of the pain - though I was able to somewhat reproduce the popping I’d felt.
I’ve had a treatment, and plan to head out for a short run in just a bit. Tomorrow I have a harder run. Either the knee will hold up or the pain will return enough so that I can properly identify the sensitive areas.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a quick recovery and back out on the road. In the meantime, I’m going to really get after the bike and swimming legs.
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