Back in the zone

October 25, 2018 Leave a comment

4 days down this week, with little to no hesitation or holding back, and things seem to be holding up well. I’ve had moments of tightness but no pain.

I’m trying to take lessons from this experience. It was a very minor injury, all things considered. It hasn’t taken long to get back to training how I want to be training. I missed a couple of runs and bikes but I was still able to swim, and swim pretty hard. My reaction was an emotional one, out of proportion and probably detrimental to other aspects of my life.

It’s yet another example of triathlon teaching life lessons. Find perspective. Things are rarely as bad as they seem. Above all, remember and learn, and apply next time.

This week has been a sudden preview of the coming onslaught of winter, and a test of my cold weather riding gear. My first ride was in 35 degree rain; today it was 28 degrees and snowing. I know I’m going to need an indoor trainer, but I’m putting it off as long as possible. Being outdoors is too important.

On the way home today I rode by my youngest daughter’s outdoor ECO class and stopped by for a visit and some tic tac toe with sticks and leaves. Definitely a highlight of a very cold ride.

Easy run

October 21, 2018 Leave a comment

Today I went out for an easy run. It was on the schedule as an easy chill run anyway, but I took it extra slow, running near 11-minute miles and being really careful on the hills in particular. I stopped a couple of times to stretch also.

I felt the muscle pull but it didn’t hurt. I didn’t feel like it was slowing me down. A few times there were periods where I didn’t feel it at all.

Afterward, I felt it probably more than I had during the run itself. So I don’t think it’s completely better, and I’m not sure what will happen when I get back on the bike. But for now I’m glad to have been able to get out for a quick run at least, and get a green compliance day on TP. I’m trying not to be overconfident about it, but I’m very eager to put those red non-compliance days far behind me soon.

Injury recovery week

August 27, 2018 Leave a comment

The week of workouts after injuring my calf on my first brick was full of trepidation.  My first sprint triathlon event was just two weeks away, and I really had no idea whether I’d be able to recover enough in order to do it.

I started the week with an open water swim at a local lake, my second time swimming there.  I had a rough estimate of the distance I was covering from Google Maps, and corroborated that with the time I spent in the water.  It was good practice for figuring out sight-lines and navigation in the water.  My calf felt okay, but I didn’t expect that swimming would tax it particularly.  The real test would be running.

Next up was a ride, which I did as a relatively low-key mountain bike ride for just under an hour.  No serious effects there either, but I did feel a couple of tweaks.  It was mainly feeling painful during my everyday routine, preventing me from walking normally and feeling really tight and stiff.  I felt like stiff was something I could deal with and potentially stretch out, but if it connected with pain, that was a problem.

I took my first run of the week on the treadmill, keeping it flat and easy, for only about 20 minutes.  It again didn’t seem to hurt it, but it wasn’t getting any better.

Another easy swim, and then I decided to try it out on the road.  I did an extremely careful, extremely slow run, with a couple of hills in it, one of which I walked.  I didn’t want to take any chances with making it worse, but I did feel like something needed to be worked out for it to get better.

That seemed to go okay, so the next day I did a decent ride, about 20 miles with about 1,300 ft of elevation, all in one go.  It felt pretty good.  I got my running shoes on immediately and went out for a short run, to complete my second brick.  I didn’t feel normal, but I didn’t feel bad, and overall it was successful.  I was optimistic for the coming week.