Home Again!

So Saturday was a tough day...    as the day went on my hamstring got worse and worse.  To the point it felt like I was walking with this giant knot on my hamstring toward my inner thigh.  It was quite painfull and I was really bumming as there wasn't much I could do about it beyond try and stay off it and load up on ibuprofen.  As soon as I got back to my hotel room I iced it and took a really good look at it.  My leg was really swollen.  Not good!  But at least I could now get some ice on it and elevate it.  I did that, then soaked it in a hot bath and then back to icing again.  Somewhere around 1am I then went to bed.

Sunday I got proactive about it.  I sent the "runner" out to the store to buy me a ton of disposable ice packs.  And all day at work I used those to ice my hamstring every hour.  That definitely started to help, and once I got back to my room at the end of the day more ice, elevation, and hot baths definitely helped.

Monday I had to work "load out" which is when we take everything down.  Its very labor intensive.  My hamstring was feeling much looser but still stiff.  Fortunately we finished the load out by 2pm and I spent the next ten hours massaging, stretching, resting, icing, and soaking my leg to the point when I woke up on tuesday morning it felt much better.

Its now tuesday night...   and it feels ok.  Not 100% but back to around 85% I'd say.  I decided it was good enough to not cancel my appointment with a swim coach tomorrow to get started in the pool.  Mostly as walking on it feels good and the motion in the water will be good therapy to get things going again.  If it hurts I'll stop and I'll turn the session into more of a Q+A than an in the water class.

As soon as I landed today I also went out and bought a compression sleeve for it and that seems to be helping too.  That and more icing and with any luck I'll be able to get back on the bike soon.

Speaking of the bike...   lots of fun toys arrived while I was away.  More bike clothes, but more importantly a speed cadence sensor for the bike, a bento box to store food and gels on the bike, and the kit that allows me to mount my Garmin 310XT GPS watch on the bike to monitor everything.  Heres a pic of the 310XT mounted and the new Bento Box.

The 310XT is set up now so that I have a quick release watch band shown below that the watch can be released from and then clipped into the bike for easier viewing.

and here it is with the watch clipped in.

And here is the speed / cadence sensor installed on the bike.

The Sensor is that bit strapped to the chain stay with the arm sticking out.

Its a nice system, and the 310XT has many triathlon friendly features.  Which is part of the reason I chose this watch when I wanted one to track my runs.  I sort of always knew I wanted to get into triathlons at some point.  The 310 will come in handy in races as it can change modes to report different info for each disciplines as well as help me track how long my transition times are taking.  Add to the mix all the heartrate, distance, speed, pedalling cadence, running cadence, and all the other bells and whistles and its all the data you could ever want...   well ok...   I'd REALLY love a power meter for the bike that would talk to the watch... but those are very expensive.  Essentially the cost of a whole new bike, or a new set of pricey racing wheels.  Maybe someday though....

I'm also glad to add the bento box.  I'll only use it for training or long distance races, but its nice to have somewhere to easily store some powerbars, a camera, my keys and whatnot as my saddle bag is mostly full of bike tools, CO2 cannisters, and a spare tube.

I also got a new race belt, swim cap, covers for my bike shoes on rainy days, and my USAT license showed up while I was gone.  Good stuff!

And theres still more toys on the way including a special pair of tri bike shoes, and a wetsuit!

Anyway...  thats enough about the shopping....

In 12 hours I'll be taking my first steps into a lap pool in...  well EVER!  I'm excited!  Especially as for now I can't run, and I can't quite bike yet although that should start up again soon as my leg is getting better rapidly.  So starting swimming will be good fun.  I have a session booked for wednesday and friday so with any lucky I'll have a good enough initial foundation to start getting some laps in on my own.  I'm anxious to see what it feels like.  And just what a distance like swimming a 1/4, 1/2, and full mile will feel like. 

I spent a lot of time today reading Joe Friel's Triathlon training bible.  I'm starting to formulate a training plan.  I want to start off pretty slow as I really need to break this cycle of injury I've been suffereing through lately.  Its time to get completely healed and stay that way!  More on this later...   but its starting to come together.

In other random injury news... my foot still feels funny.  Not as bad as it was... but I'm still getting the sharp pains in the morning although not as bad.  And it still can feel a bit off from time to time.  I just hope it fully heals before May or its time to go down the road of cortizone shots and other bits of fun.  But one day at at a time.  Fortunately biking and swimming will have no effect on it.

Right...  time for me to go check on my swimming gear for tomorrow and make sure I'm ready to go.  I can't wait!