Blog

Monthly Summary – July 2008

Here’s July 2008:

Swim: 19,236 yards
Cycling (outdoors): 295.3 miles
Cycling (indoors): 2:45 (hours)
Run: 65.75 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 3 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 36 hours

Weight: 161 pounds (A little light. I definitely feel like I’ve been eating enough. I think that I’ve lost some more upper body muscle mass. This isn’t a shock, but I’d love to put some of that mass back on during the fall/winter.)

It’s funny – but not surprising – that nearly 1/3 of my exercise time in July was spent during a single day racing in the Ironman. With my taper and then my recovery, there wasn’t a whole lot of time spent “training” in July. But that’s just fine.

The highlight of this month – of the year so far – was my race. I am still flying pretty high. I feel sorry for anyone who asks me about the race or even mentions the word “Ironman” around me. I’m sure they get pretty bored pretty quickly! But I don’t care. They asked, right?!

Tomorrow, I’m going to see the doctor for a facet joint injection. Essentially, it’s a cortisone shot into my facet joints in my lower back. The last time I saw the doctor about my back, he finally agreed that my issues are probably stemming from a joint issue,
rather than a soft tissue problem that can be handled with physical therapy. The clinchers were the fact that PT and strength training actually bothered my low back/butt more and the fact that he could manipulate my legs and torso all he wanted without any pain, but when he pushed down on my lower back, it hurt like a mother! That’s not to say that I have joint “problems”; hopefully there’s just some swelling in the joints that won’t go away (because I won’t let it). So, again hopefully, the cortisone will reduce that swelling quickly. If the injection doesn’t work as planned then we figure out what’s next. I am conscious of the fact that this injection might suck a little bit. Evidently, the needle has to go in pretty deep. But, I’ll get my injection tomorrow and then be forced to take a couple days off from training and then, maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to get finally get rid of whatever’s going on. I’ll have to spend some serious time doing strength and core work to ensure that it doesn’t come back, but I’m excited to do some of that.

As I look ahead from the Ironman, my next task is to get ready for the JFK 50, while keeping SOS in mind. I’m still working out my training plan with Coach John (it’s been on hold while I figure out what’s going on with my IT band and how I react to the injection tomorrow). Last year when I trained for the JFK 50, I still spent some time on the bike and in the pool, so that’s not an issue. I’m going to try to do some swim-run-swim and run-swim-run workouts. Those should be fun!

Bike – July 31
Distance: 21.7 miles
Time: 1:15
Average heart rate: 125
Course: West Side to Central Park, 2 loops
Conditions: Sunny, low/mid-80’s, a little humid