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Kona Lottery

The 2007 Ironman World Championship (Kona, Hawaii) was on NBC today. It was an amazing race with male and female first time winners (that’s Chris McCormack, the men’s winner above; there’s an amazing picture of Chrissie Welllington, the women’s champ here). So it’s an appropriate day for me to announce that I’ve entered the lottery again. In April, 150 names are chosen at random from the lottery pool. My chances are really, really slim, but it’s worth the price to play. Of course, I’m also going to do my best at Lake Placid in July, but part of me thinks that my odds of getting in through the lottery are better than my chances of taking nearly two hours off last year’s Lake Placid results.

Thursday evening I met a blogger friend from Fire in the Belly. She and I have been corresponding via our blogs for a number of months and both ran at the JFK50, but have never met in person. She was in New York for work. It was great to meet her. She’s got a full race schedule ahead of her for 2008, and I look forward to following along via her blog.

Last week I finally saw a physiatrist for my back. The verdict: he didn’t know; it could be any number of things, and is probably related to some muscular imbalance or weakness in my hamstring, psoas, piriformis or something else in that general area. So… he recommend PT. Twice a week for six weeks. Ugh. As much as I despise the thought, I’ve made an appointment to meet with a physical therapist at the Hospital for Special Surgery uptown. This facility was very well recommended and they take my insurance. BUT, they can’t see me until February 28. Between now and then I’m going to heal myself. I bought a book I read about on Slowtwitch – The Pain Free Triathlete and I’m doing the stretches described in the book. I bought a Trigger Point Massage Ball. The TP Massage Ball supposedly works wonders to hit “trigger points” and ease the muscle spasms that cause pain. Hopefully the one trigger point in my right buttcheek with help whatever’s going on in my back and rear end. Finally, I’m trying to religiously ice my tush. And you know what, it might just be working. I’m getting ahead of myself, but recently Friday’s (after sitting at my desk all week) have been the worst day of the week and yesterday was the least painful Friday in weeks. I’m not “pain free” yet, but I am feeling much better that I was just a couple weeks ago. And, I’ve gotten right back into training since getting home from Mexico, including a hard ride Thursday and a nice, moderately long brick today.

We’re out at the beach for the long President’s Day weekend. This morning I got up and rode out to Montauk Point. It was cold and windy, but sunny. It’s great riding out here – you get started on the road right away; there’s none of the New York City garbage miles. Also, it’s a nice rolling course, with some good hills, but nothing too killer. The roads have a wide shoulder. And finally, it’s just plain nice to be riding in the “country-side”. The lack of garbage miles does make for a more challenging ride than I’ve been doing in the City – but that’s a good thing! I got off the bike after three hours and went for a short run. My legs felt great off the bike, which is a great sign.

Two more days of weekend!

Swim – February 13
Distance: 3,100 yards
Time: 58 minutes

Strength – February 13

Indoor ride – February 14
Time: 1:15
Average heart rate: 130

Run – February 14
Distance: 5.75 miles
Time: 46 minutes
Average heart rate: 136
Course: West Side Highway
Conditions: Cold (38 degrees), clear, evening run

Swim – February 15
Distance: 1,700 yards
Time: 30 minutes

Strength – February 15

Brick – February 16
Bike
Distance: 54.6 miles
Time: 3:20
Average heart rate: 125
Course: Wainscott to Montauk, Sag Harbor
Conditions: Cold (low 30’s, real feel mid-20’s), sunny
Transition: 3:29
Run
Distance: 2 miles
Time: 16 minutes
Average heart rate: 137
Course: Wainscott
Conditions: Low 30’s, sunny