Blog

Updates

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my health situation.

Knee
My knee is nearly 100%. It hasn’t bothered me at all during my training and it’s very rare that I notice it at all. Every so often it does tighten up a bit or I’ll get a slight twinge around the patella, but I’m pretty confident that as long as I keep up the strength training, self massage and icing, my knee troubles are behind me. I am a little nervous about how it will handle increased mileage and intensity as the summer goes along, but I’ll see how that goes and be careful.

Back/Butt
This is not so great. I had another great massage last week and saw my doctor. I’ve posted some questions on the Julstro message board (moderated by the author of The Pain Free Triathlete – a great book for any injured athlete – or any athlete trying to avoid injuries). The doctor, physical therapist and massage therapist all agree that my problem is either in my iliopsoas or my piriformis, two muscles hidden in the buttock/low back/gluteals/hip area (for lack of a better term, I just describe this area as my back even though that’s not really correct). There’s a lot of scar tissue built up around those muscles and connective tendons and my right hamstring and hip are considerably weaker than my left. The best guess is that something happened at some point that affected my running stride (could have been some trauma that I didn’t notice or it could have been muscle weakness/imbalance to begin with). This caused some minor damage to the muscles and/or tendons which led to the build up of scar tissue. The scar tissue inhibits the flow of oxygen to the muscles, which makes them weaker, which affects my stride, which causes damage, etc…

Dr. Varlotta gave me a new PT prescription, and I started that program today. Again, it seems that a combination of strength training, massage, self-massage, icing, stretching and PT will be the best course for now. I’ll follow this course for a few weeks and keep my fingers tightly crossed.

Mind
I’m mentally stronger than I’ve felt in months. I’m still frustrated and annoyed but no longer feeling so damn sorry for myself. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that my 2008 race season wasn’t going to work out as I’d hoped. Coming off a 2007 season where I met or exceeded all of my goals and had the best athletic year of my life, I got to feeling invincible. Each race I did was better than the last. I set PR’s up and down the race distances and assumed that I could continue training like that until I chose to rest. I never even considered that I would suffer from any setbacks like the injuries that have been bothering me these last few months. So when my back started bothering me and then my knee and then my back again, I began to feel like it was hopeless.

Since 2005 when I started seriously training, I hadn’t had any real injuries and I didn’t know how to psychologically deal with interrupting my training and taking a slightly different course than originally planned. The feeling of “failure” was weighing on me so heavily that I couldn’t see other definitions of success. But now, after many months, I think I’m there. I’ve accepted that not every season can be my best one and that I have to be able to adapt and adjust to what life throws at me. I’m not sure what it was that triggered my recent realization that it will all be OK. Whatever it was though, I feel happier, lighter and refreshed. I have to keep in mind that I train and race in order to do and feel my best – i.e. the best I can under the circumstances and at that particular time. So that’s what I’m going to work towards now.

Race Schedule Update
As I mentioned last week, I’m revising my race schedule and goals. And this time I have made a decision, really. I’m going to go for it. As of now, I’m planning on lining up in Mirror Lake at 7AM on July 20 and racing myself another Ironman. I’m going to do it without time goals, without pressure and on only about 75% of the training I put in last year. I’m going to go up there and enjoy the weekend and smile at people and slap high fives and just be appreciative of the fact that I can be there at all. I’ve got just under 10 weeks to get there, and instead of worrying about the training and bitching and moaning about my injuries, I’m going to do my damnedest to enjoy the training, avoid any more injuries and have fun.

With that in mind, I also had a decision to make about the Harriman Half-Ironman this weekend at Harriman State Park. After thinking about it this weekend and discussing it with John, I’ve decided to head up to Harriman on Saturday morning and give the swim and bike (but not the run) a try. I know I’m in fine shape to do the swim and am looking forward to putting on the wetsuit and swimming outdoors. Last year the swim was a little cold, but generally pretty nice. The bike will be a little bit of a reach for me. It’s a tough course and longer than any ride I’ve done in a few months. It’s four loops, each ending with a tough, tough climb. I’m going to do my best and see where I’m at as far as fitness and strength. I’m looking forward to the test. But I’m leaving my running shoes at home. I’m not in shape to run a stand-alone half-marathon, let alone that one after the swim and bike. I think that trying to run it, or only planning on running part of it, is asking for trouble.

After Harriman I was planning on doing an Olympic distance race in Montauk, but I’m going to skip that race in favor of a good long training weekend. I’m also bagging any trip to Lake Placid, including the Cadence Training Camp that I was considering. I’d rather save my time and the money and get in some good training a little closer to home. I know the LP course fairly well from last year and while a training trip up there would probably help, right now it doesn’t fit in with my new priorities.

The Weekend
We had a really nice weekend in Wainscott. Per usual and as we strongly prefer, we didn’t do a whole lot. The weather was really nice – mostly sunny and warm enough to enjoy being outside. We ate and relaxed and played outside with Charlie and saw “Ironman” (which I thought was great for 90 minutes and a little weak for the last 30). I did some good, semi-intense training, including my first brick workout in months. I think I’m at the point where I can push it on the bike on a moderate course for a little less than two hours. That’s a far cry from where I was last year at this time, but I’m happy that I can do that.

Indoor Bike – May 9
Time: 1:00
Average heart rate:

Swim – May 9
Distance: 2,350 yards
Time: 48 minutes

Run – May 10
Distance: 4.9 miles
Time: 36 minutes
Average heart rate: 144
Course: Wainscott to Beach
Conditions: Some sun, windy, low 50’s

Bike – May 10
Distance: 47.7 miles
Time: 2:24
Average heart rate: 127
Course: Wainscott to Montauk (return)
Conditions: Sunny, some wind, low 60’s

Brick – May 11
Bike
Distance: 20.3 miles
Time: 1:01
Average heart rate: 123
Course: Wainscott/East Hampton
Transition: 1:31
Run
Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 143
Course: Wainscott
Conditions: Sunny, warm (mid 60’s), some wind

Strength – May 12