So without further ado... here's some highlights of whats been going on in the order of which such things happen in a traithlon....
Swim...
Things in the pool are progressing fabulously! I'm really quite pleased with whats been going on lately. I've managed to get my workouts up to 2400 yards and my rest intervals way down from as much as a minute between sets or repeats to down to an entire workout with no more than 15 seconds rest between anything. Which is great! I have finally found a groove in the pool, my body position has improved greatly, I'm getting my kick under control, and most importantly I'm feeling confident without a wetsuit on. I've also been doing great at swimming at least three times a week most weeks and the consistency in the pool has been great for me. I'm still slow at an average of 2:00/100 but thats fine. The important thing right now is endurance and comfort. The speed can come later. I feel very confident that I would be able to complete the Amica half Ironman without a wetsuit if needed and that feels great! As a minor bummer I haven't been able to swim at all here in Dallas on this event but I hope to be able to do that tomorrow morning... we'll see though.
Bike....
Some good things have happened on the bike, and some not so great things. I've slowly been working my distance and endurance back up to being able to knock out a 50-60 mile ride without much trouble which is great. However my right leg has definitely been a limiter in my bike progress (more on that in a minute) and my power on the bike is in rough shape. Specifically my climbing on the bike feels very weak right now, and I'm convinced thats entirely due to my right leg. But first a few highlights of whats new on the bike....
The TT
I'm very excited to say that the Providence Bicycle Time Trials have started up again. So far its only been "preview" rides of the course to get used to it again. I've only been home on a tuesday for this once but I was very excited to get Cannon out on the course for the first time, but also to see many of my Tri New England friends I haven't seen in ages due to my travel schedule. It was great to see everyone! I did two laps of the course that day and both were at easy pace in a group ride situation. I was having fun till we hit the two big hills of the course. I watched my friends pull away and I fell off the back of the pack. There were some riders I know I am stronger than or equal to who pulled away as well as it seemed like everyone else was taking it easy and I was struggling. I just have no power in my right leg and it made the climbs very difficult for me. Extremely frustrating!!!!
Bike Fit!
One of the best things I got done recently was going to see Todd Kenyon at TT Bike Fit in Warren, RI to get my fit on Cannon dialed in. Now that was not only a great productive afternoon but a great day! I'm very pleased with the results and I had a great time watching Todd work and listening to him explain what he was doing. Todd used a computrainer setup combined with video analysis from all four sides to work on all details of your bike fit. He has the ability to stop your pedal stroke video at just the right spot and use special tools to measure your leg angles and arm angles etc at different parts of your pedal stroke and then make changes to your fit and look at them again. All of this is displayed on his laptop as well as a large plasma screen in front of you so you can see whats going on as well. It was great to see my pedal stroke in slow motion and see where my feet and knees are doing different things. An excellent and very informative afternoon. But we also did some great things... first up was that we replaced my Cobb saddle with an Adamo saddle which so far has been much more comfortable than the first two saddles I've tried on the bike. Its early yet but I think its a winner. The second thing we did was make my position MUCH more aero and more comfortable which is going to equate to "free speed" which is a great thing. And the third thing we did was order new aerobars for my bike. The profile design clip on bars that it came with drive me nuts. The elbow pads slip constantly and rotate downwards all the time when I hit even a small bump and the carbon is wearing under them making the problem worse. So I ordered up a set of Zipp clip on's that have the elbow pad locked into the extension so that this problem won't happen again. Fortunately despite being Zipp's they weren't that expensive and its a much needed upgrade. I had the same problem with my Profile Design clips used on my road bike so I wasn't surprised it started to happen on Cannon as well. I'm brining my bike in next week to have these added and I'm excited for that problem to go away! Especially as the elbow pads even both dropped on me on the trainer the other day! Speaking of the trainer... I managed a three hour trainer ride the other day. Man that was dull!!!!
Here's a shot of the before and after of my bike fit:
Run:
Ok so here's the depressing bit... I took six weeks off of running after the marathon in Jacksonville. I let my legs rest up, went to the ortho, went to phsyical therapy a few times and did lots and lots of stretches that the PT asked me to do. Last wednesday I went for a massage. After some advice from the girl I asked my massage therapist Nancy to try a psoas release technique on me. Between that and the rest of the work she did on my legs I felt great afterwards. So I started to think about running again. So that Friday I woke up early, swam 2400 yards, then got on the trainer for three hours, and then while sitting on the trainer bored out of my mind I decided to try and run a little afterwards and see how it felt. The PT had cleared me to run again so I figured lets see what happens. In the end I ran just under five miles. The first mile felt a little funky but I expected that. The second and third didn't feel much better. I had the discomfort in my glute area, my knee felt a little funky, my foot felt weird and my right leg still felt like a giant limiter. My pace was slow. I've taken time off before and my first run usually starts around 9s but by mile 3 I'm running sevens. On this run I barely held onto 9s the entire time. Not a good sign. After the run I felt very sore in my right leg and the next day it didnt' feel good at all. Since that day I've also tried a very short three mile treadmill run that also felt pretty awful. I'm not encouraged, and in fact I'm very worried. So onto.... another disicple of traithlon.
Injuries....
So when running my right leg feels awful and that the last six weeks off of running have done nothing to rehab it. The problem still feels just as bad as it did almost two months ago. It feels like its made no progress and that sucks. So I'm getting more proactive about this... I need this figured out and fixed ASAP. So I'm going with a two pronged approach. I'm going to see a new PT who is apparently excellent at diagnosing and rehabing runners with injuries. I'm also going back to the ortho to ask him to look deeper into whats wrong. His initial diagnosis of me just having tight muscles isn't the whole story. True its part of it, but its not the root cause and thats was I so desperately need to figure out right now so I can address it and figure out whats next. Right now I feel like my entire tri season is in jeapordy if I can't figure this out. After all right now I feel like I can swim fine, bike OK but not great, and run terribly and at risk of further injury. So yeah... not exactly the approach to go for your first ironman with is it? UGH! This has been terribly depressing and hard to deal with. I just hope whatever happens I'm allowed to keep swimming and biking. Part of me suspect I may have to give up the bike as well for a bit. We'll see. As long as I can keep swimming though I'll be happy. More on this next week after I see the docs on wednesday and thursday.
Skiing!
Ok so this has nothing to do with Triathlon but I went skiing with the girl and some friends last weekend in Vermont and had a great time. We skied one day and then took the girl's girl for a hike in the woods in Vermont. It was great to spend a weekend with the Girl. Sadly though as soon as we got home I had to fly to Dallas where I am now the very next morning. Here's a couple of pics of the skiing and hiking to close out this post. Here's hoping I can get these injuries addressed asap and start moving forward with my 2011 season. As of right now I think its doubtfull I'll be able to complete the Patriot. I'll try and do an aquabike if I can, or maybe just the swim if I can find a relay team if thats possible. Time and doctors visits will tell.....
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