Blog

“If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”

I was up in early early this morning to go to the pool for a swim. My plan had been to swim, lift weights, take Charlie out and then have a relaxing afternoon, including getting in a good nap before heading out to a couple of holiday parties this evening.

My day was going along just as planned until I remembered that NBC was airing its annual coverage of Ironman Hawaii today. “OK,” I thought, “I’ll watch for a little bit and then take a nap.” Well… I have to give big props to NBC because I just couldn’t turn it off. No matter that I already knew who won.

NBC was fortunate to have exciting races in both the men’s and women’s pro fields, with Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington winning their respective races. Watching Crissie race is really amazing – last year I was so impressed with her smile and joy as she crossed the finish line and this year was no different. She was leading on the bike, but got a flat. After stopping to change the tube, she regained her lead on the bike and then proceeded to crush the marathon, with a new Ironman marathon world record. Sick.

Al Trautwig’s narration was emotional and interesting and inspiring. As usual NBC covered some amazing amateurs, including CAF-sponsored athlete Ricky James, Nave Seals Keith Davids and David Goggins, former MLB pitcher, Jeff Conine and 72 year-old (!) and 17 time Ironman (!!) Harriet Anderson.

(The title for this post was a quote from Chris McCormack (2007 winner) that NBC used in the intro and the closing of the show. Macca’s known to be cocky and the quote is a bit egotistic for me, but it still made me smile!)

Running update: This week I did my run/walk three times and didn’t have any knee or back pain while running. My runs were short – five minute elliptical warm-up, then 25 minutes of alternating two minutes running with one minute walking. I’m keeping the running pace at between 8:30 and 9:00 minutes/mile. Outside of running, I still get little pangs of ache – in my right kneecap or the inside of my left knee – but it’s nothing even close to what I was feeling just about a month ago. And the running hasn’t made it any worse. I’m going to continue to be very careful, but I’m feeling pretty encouraged right now.

PT & Strength – December 8

Treadmill run/walk – December 8
Distance: 2.5 miles
Time: 30 minutes (5 min. elliptical warm-up, 25 min. run/walk – 2 min. run, 1 min. walk, repeat)

Swim – December 9
Distance: 1,550 yards
Time: 34 minutes

Indoor bike – December 9
Time: 30 minutes

Strength – December 10

Treadmill run/walk – December 10
Distance: 2.5 miles
Time: 30 minutes (5 min. elliptical warm-up, 25 min. run/walk)

Swim – December 11
Distance: 1,750 yards
Time: 35 minutes

Treadmill run/walk – December 12
Distance: 2.6 miles
Time: 30 minutes (5 min. elliptical warm-up, 25 min. run/walk)

Strength – December 12

Swim – December 13
Distance: 2,200 yards
Time: 41 minutes

Strength – December 13