knee report

swim 500 of drills to warmup - 100s of catch, drag, fist, shark and hesitate. then 2 - 15 minute TT's on 2 minutes rest
1 - 33 laps - 825 yards
2 - 34 laps - 850 yards
still swimming with the pull buoy to rest the knee
25 of elementary back stroke and then another 500 of drills same set as above

decided to do a 30 minute 1 legged bike on the trainer instead of a cf wod today because the shoulders are cooked and with a double swim workout tomorrow thought this would be a better idea. went 15, 8, 4,3. done.

100 leg lifts as 30,30,20,20

Went to the doctor today and he thinks I have a bone contusion of my knee. I was sent for rays and so far no news is good news. I am already doing everything I would need to heal this. If the diagnosis is correct it is just a matter of time. I am really starting to get antsy to really train again especially to ride my bike. hopefully it will be healed sooner rather than later.

Stuck with me

When I got up this morning my knee was the best it has been yet and that is encouraging. Either is it healing up or the drugs are just blocking the pain or maybe both. either way I will take it. I also iced my shoulder last nite too.

Swim - 1,000 of drills 2 sets of 100s of catch, drag, fist, shark and hesitate. Then 1,000 as 100 hard 100 easy. I actually really like this workout. My shoulder was still feeling strained in the pool. Not painful but tired. cooldown - 100 of elementary back stroke. The most relaxing swim stroke there is!

cf wod -

using a set of kettlebells for 5 rounds of 5 reps each
shoulder press - using 18s
Rows - using 18, 26 & 35

6 rounds of 25 reps each of
10 LB Med Ball situps with throw - touched ball overhead and at top of situp through it against a wall
10 Lb Med ball seated Twists (touching ball to ground onf each side of body 25 each side for 50 total per round)

6 rounds of 25 seated leg lifts

My knee didn't feel quite as good afterwards. not painful but it felt like it has a popping to it when i was walking. back to the ice!

I have my doctors appointment for my knee tomorrow morning. I don't know how much I will find out as this guy isn't an ortho. that appointment is in a few weeks but Ill see what comes of it if anyway.

usat age group national championships

2011 USAT AgeGroupNationalChampionships

had a light training day on the schedule today. Mostly because I wanted to rest my left shoulder. it's been a little weird with all of the swimming and upper body strength work I've been doing. I actually just slept in this morning because i was tired and didn't feel like getting out of bed. Did 30 minutes of 1 leg biking on the trainer. I got to use my new r3 although not really able to take advantage of that since it was on the trainer.

I found out that I qualified for the USAT Age Group National Championships for the Olympic distance. They are on August 20th in Burlington, Vermont. That is 8 weeks away so not a lot of time to get my knee healed up and get ready for the race but I am going to do everything that I can to get there. I made a doctors appointment with my regular doctor for thursday morning to have him check out the knee and give me his thoughts since i couldn't get in with my ortho for a few weeks. Hopefully he will have good news for me. Now that i am taking the drugs and icing my knee as much as possible it is improving but i know it is still at the point where if i stopped doing these things and started training again it would hurt. I decided to register for the VT because if i am healthy I am going to want to go to that race and if i am not at least i know that i gave it my best shot to get there. I qualified on the independence tri I did as a warmup before eagleman. Interesting how these things work out sometimes. I didn't have the race I wanted at eagleman but at least something good came out of this whole process. I raced well that day and I need to race with that mindset again. I remember telling Jay before the race that I was going to win it and what I needed my time to be to do and I came within seconds of both. Could have been luck but more likely it was focus. Something I felt I lost at eagleman. I just had too many things going on in my mind that day. I have to say this coming up is making me focus more on getting this knee healed up as fast as possible. Obviously i can't make my body heal any faster but i think it will keep me from doing something stupid. or at least i would like to hope so.

more swimming...

Warmup:

500 yards of drills

100s of catch, drag, fist, shark & hesitate

100 yds @ 70 effort 1.48

2 x 100 @ 75 effort 1.45 1. 43

3 x 100 @ 80 effort 1.42 1. 38 1.39

4 x 100 @ 90 effort 1.41 1.43 1.42 1.42

5 x 100 @ all out effort 1.40 1.40 1.40 1.40 1.40

All on 20 seconds rest.

Cooldown – Same as warmup

I did a bad job at pacing out these efforts based on the time. My left shoulder was weird again. I think it is just overworked from all of the swimming and upper body lifting this week.

Cf

Started doing some more upper body lifting but I felt more taxed on these lifts than I should have so I switched to ab work.

Shoulder press –  dumbbells – 20 lbs x 10

Chair Dips x 10

Shoulder press –  dumbbells – 30 lbs x 10

Chair Dips x 10

Shoulder press –  dumbbells – 40 lbs x 10

Chair Dips x 10

Hollow Rocks  - 3 rounds of 1 minute on 1 minute off! The Torture!

5 Sets of 20 kickups on 1 minute rest

5 sets of 10 hanging leg lifts

5 sets of 10 grounded leg lifts                    

I’ll ice the shoulder down later (in addition to the knee) and try to totally give it a rest day tomorrow and hopefully that will get it relaxed.

Open water swim

another long swim day today. this time in open water. Hit Harvey's lake with some friends for a 2.5 miler. I wore my wetsuit as that lake is kinda gross and the water isn't that warm. I swam most of it by myself as most of these guys are faster than am I and the others decided to do a shorter course. Tried to work on my drafting when i was with them and then my sighting when I wasn't. Took over an hour.
here is a link to one of the guys race reports on IM Florida. my favorite line is
Any athlete who has done an Ironman race can agree that to finish the distance is impossible without expressing yourself with the following words: fuck, shit, damn, bitch, hell and motherfucker.
http://www.trifuel.com/forum/24878/imfl ... t-language


My knee still isn't good. I am really starting to wonder if this isn't a plica. I've been reading up on various knee conditions and it mostly sounds like this. The onset is usually some acute trauma and then a repetitive aggravation of it. Kinda like sounds like the car accident and training/racing tris to me. I think this because when i get up in the morning it is usually better and then it just gets worse probably as it gets irritated. also when i ice it. It feels great after that. for awhile anyway. I havent been taking nsaids since eagleman but i am thinking about it because they do make it feel a lot better. I don't really want them for the pain but if they are actually bringing down the inflammation then they would be helpful. it is just so friggin stiff!

I am taking the day off from crossfit as i went 6 days in a row since placid. and the later part of the week has been all upperbody.

Micah

Had a longer swim session than I normally do this morning but it was a good one.

500 of drills to warmup - 100 of catch, drag, shark, hesitate and fist
then the following ladder all on 30 seconds rest while using a pull buoy

1 x 400 - 7.07
2 x 300 - 5.20, 5.20
3 x 200 - screwed 2 of these up by an extra 50 each 4.37, 4.36, 3.37
4 x 100 - 1.46, 1.46,1.47,1.47
3 x 200 - 4.38, 3.46, 3.46 screwed 1 of these up by an extra 50
2 x 300 - 5.50, 5.41
1 x 400 - 7.32

i don't know what;s so hard about counting 8 laps really. My times slowed down as the workout progressed. I never found myself aerobically challenged but my left shoulder was feeling weird and it did seem more effort to pull as i got tired. All of the upper b ody strength work combined with the daily swimming im sure. I put ice on my shoulder after the workout just to be on the safe side. Strange thing is that isn't my surgical shoulder. I also noticed it seemed weaker when i was benching the other day too. Ill have to keep an eye on it.

cf workout - did a little pullup wod
strict dead hang pullups
got a 5 unassisted pullups in but they were all in sets of 1 but it's a start.
the arms arn't really fresh these days anyway.

etra small purple band reps - 2, 4,4,4,4
2 purple bands for 5
small blue band 5,5,5,5

Dry-land swim pull with resistance tubing - 2 sets of 10 each side

I got to pickup my new road bike today. It is a Cervelo R3 with Sram Red comps and Speedplay pedals. Got the womens handlebars and a fisik vesta saddle put on. It's a really sweet ride. I got to cruise it around a bit to test the fit etc before taking it home. I really wish my knee was healed now so i could take Micah for a spin. That's right Caballo Blanco baby for you Born to Run fans!

Supposed to do an open water lake swim tomorrow morning with some friends in the lovely Harvey's lake. I 

really hope it isn't as gross as last year but i am suspecting that it is!

 

the knee still hurts. when i first get up in the morning it is the best pretty much painfree. Then with use it  starts to ache. still hitting the ice and using the neoprene sleeve. I guess it hasn't been that long but it seems like forever to me.

torture

swim - 500 of drills to warmup 100s of catch, drag, fist, shark and hesitate then

6x25's - 10 second rest
5 x 50 - 15 second rest
4 x 75 - 20- second rest
3 x 100 - 25 second rest
2 x 125 - 30 second rest
1 x 150

500 of drills to cooldown. same set as above.
used a pull buoy the whole time. It is interesting to try to swim fast without kicking. I liked this workout though.

cf - barbell bent over rows
45x10
50x10
55x10
60x10
65x10
70x10
75x5
80x5
85x5
90x5 - form was starting to go with this set i wasn't staying bent over enough
75x5
75x5
75x5
75x5
75x5

Strict Pullups - mostly because I wanted to stretch out my chest after all the benching yesterday. A little sore. My abs are almost over being sore from the GHDs but it still stings to sneeze or cough.
5 x 2 skinny purple bands5 x 2 skinny purple bands3 x 1 purple band
2 x 1 purple band
5 w 2 purple band
5 w 1 blue band

I will do a real pullup workout and a dip workout in the next few days.

I called to make an appointment with my ortho doctor to have him look at me knee today. Mostly because i know it takes awhile to get into his schedule. My appt isn't until July 20th. I figured this way if i need to see him in a few weeks if the knee doesn't improve I already have the appointment and won't have to wait and if it turns out I don't need to see him I can just cancel it.  I can't say that the knee has improve much in the last couple of days.  It's depressing.

 The bike shop called that my r3 is finally ready. Also somewhat sad news as I am getting a smokin new bike that i won't be able to ride. it just isn't right! I waited so long for it and even when i finally have it in my possession i am still going to have to wait to ride it. ridiculous! maybe i will do some one leggers with my right leg! I probably should go pick it up but i really don't even want to. It is just going to be torture to have it and not use it.

upper body day

did a swim this morning with a pull buoy no kicking. Just trying to get ahead of the knee injury if possible. I did a lot of drill work. catch, drag, shark, hesitate, fist, 1 finger, 2 finger, 3 finger. My catch actually felt a lot better after that so i went back to the fist to catch drill a few times. Did the drills in 100s. I swam for an hour but I didn't count laps or distance.

CF - decided to bench press. I haven't done that in awhile. used dumbbells to work on the shoulder stabilization.

30 x 15
40 x 15
50 x 10
60 x 10
70 x 5
80 x fail
70 x 1 fail on 2
60 x 5
70 x 2 fail on 3
60 x 5
70 x 3
60 x 5
70 x 4
60 x 5
70 x 5
80 x fail

broken

last day of biking or running for awhile. went to the ART doc and he wants me to rest the knee and let it calm down for a week until my next visit and see what happens. It if helps maybe for a longer period of time. If that doesn't work I'll have to go to an ortho doc. Going to be lots of swimming coming up on my schedule! Probably some strength training too.

workouts for today - run 4 x 400 meters with 50 air squats in between. Actually ended up running 4 rounds of 1 lap (about 350 meters with a small hill) and then hitting the squats and ended in the session with an extra lap to make up the distance. Time was 14.15 and it felt like a great workout. the knee didn't feel good while running and it was tight and sore afterwards. hit it with some ice and calmed it down.

Later did a 3 mile warmup on my tri bike and did 8 rounds of tabata followed by a 3 mile cooldown. This didn't feel like too much of a workout because it was a so short. But again my knee was tight and sore afterwards. Although it didn't hurt when i was actually riding.

While I don't look forward to the downtime from cycling and running I don't have any major races on my schedule for a bit.

Lake Placid Training

Spent the weekend up in Lake Placid doing some training with Jay and some of his other athletes. Took Thursday as a full on rest day and packed my stuff etc. Friday was the long drive up to placid. Didn’t feel all that great after so much time in the car. And my check engine light came on so I had to go deal with that when I got into town because it’s a small town and your in the middle of the mountains. Not how I wanted to spend my time there but since getting back home would be necessary I had to deal with it. Thankfully it was able to be fixed rather quickly and I was able to make it for a portion of the swim workout. I only got in 1.2 miles but it was better than nothing. Mirror lake is awesome and I wish I could swim in it everyday! The water quality is good even if it is a little cold and I love the wire the buoys are hung on because you don’t even need to sight to swim straight! I drafted off of tom on the way out and then hit on the way back. It felt like I was swimming well which I mentally needed after the eagleman swim. Wish I had time for another lap but it would have to do for the day. Didn’t time the swim but it felt like a good pace. Saturday We took it to the Ironman lake placid bike course. I only did only loop because of my knee. And since my ironman is so far off there was no reason to push it through another loop and aggravate my knee even more. I did a little too much distance on one of the out and backs and ended up riding 60 miles. The pace felt ok on this too. The last 6 miles were tough because it feels like your riding straight into a headwind and you making very little progress. I wasn’t going all out because of the distance but it was a good effort. My knee hurt more than I would have liked probably because of the hills. It’s actually a pretty nice course. Afterwards took another dip in mirror lake with Lindsey while the boys did another lap. Another decent swim might have been a little short because our time was pretty quick. Felt good on the legs. Hung out on the beach reading for awhile. Then took another lap in the lake with jay. Mostly because I didn’t get to swim with him yet and I wanted him to check my form and give me some feedback on it so I can improve my swim. Felt pretty good swimming again. It was late so it was only a 1.2 miler again. I saw only because I never really felt tired during the swim. Which is fine since that is the farthest swimming distance I will be racing this year anyway. Sunday did a half-marathon or 1 loop of the run course. Wish my knee was in better shape for it so I could be running instead of just trotting along but I that is what I came up there to do so I did it anyway. Jay noticed I am turning just my left foot out when I run which is the knee that hurts so I really need to work on my running form and drills and hammer this down. I have to improve my running if I want to be competitive. Over the last year I have seen improvements in my swimming and biking (of course I am still looking for more) but my running due to the injury and the surgery etc. hasn’t seen enough training time. Basically I have been getting by in these races because I have the fitness and the mental capacity to just stagger through the run until it is over. It certainly isn’t a strength for me right now through as back in the day it used to be. Ill work in it and it will improve. Got some raw spots on my feet where I have been getting blisters lately. Overall it was a great training weekend. Wish I had the time to train like this everyday! I wanted to hit mirror lake one more time before I left town but sadly there wasn’t enough time before checking out and starting the trek home. I actually felt pretty good afterwards only my lower legs were sore and basically anytime I run any kind of distance that happens. I am in the process of strengthening them back up. Monday only had a cf wod on the schedule. 10 rounds of 10 kettlebell overhead squats and 5 ghds situps. I used an 18lb KB (overhead is my weakness) and did all of the squats onto a med ball. Time – 10:38. It was a good wod to have after the weekend because I couldn’t go too heavy on the squats because of the overhead factor and I just love GHDs!

Tuesday – lower legs better but still a little stiff. Hit the pool 500 of drills to warmup then 5 rounds of 200 yards pull and paddles. Took a minute off between reps. Tried to focus on keeping my elbow high on the pull. That is going to be a big focus in my mind when swimming. 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke to cooldown. CF WOD – Row 800 meters 100 GHD situps Row 800 meters. Time was a fun one. Had a good pace for the first 800. Felt it going into all of those GHDs and then really felt the GHDs when starting the 2nd 800. I was just trying to maintain a good pace on the 2nd row. Time 12 minutes.
Knee is still a little crabby. Not as bad as it was, not as good as I would like it. Not sure what I am going to do about it.

I might actually be getting my new road bike this week. It going to be a cervelo r3 with sram red comps on it. Yippee!

I also viewed my eagleman endorphin report and the funniest part is my transitions were the strongest parts of my race experience. Wonderful the things I don’t train are my best! In events I actually work on my swim was the strongest portion of my race followed by the run and then the bike. I really got killed on the bike. Im not going to read too much into the report as it wasn’t a good race for me. I can swim, bike and run a lot better than I did that day. The report is basically just charts showing you how you did against your competitors broken out by various factors.

IRONMAN NYC 8.11.12!!

I registed to do my first Full Ironman Event today and it is going to be NYC on August 11, 2012! I am really excited to have a spot in the inaugural race. I think this particular race is going to have special meaning for me as I used to live in NYC and it has always had a special place in my heart.I'll probably be crying my eyes out Ill be so emotional about it!  Let's hope I can run over the GWB without any issues! the swim in the hudson has to be the least exciting part of the race although I expect it to be faster swim times. I doubt there is any majoring climbing since they are using the palisades.  Overall it will be a real mental and physical test not only on race but in the next year while training for it. I've always had HUGE respect for ironman athletes because I really believed that is was something that I could not do myself. It's just insanely far. But after training with Jay in triathlon for a year now. I know I can do it. When I started this last season I remember doing a duathlon as my first event and just thinking  wow this is going to be tough! And then year later I raced my first 70.3. And while racing is always hard work i have seen my progression over the last year and I really look forward to seeing where I will be in another year from now. It hasn't been the easiest year for me training wise with various injuries to deal with throughout the season but i've learned a lot and im looking forward to this next challenge.

Another easy training day just recovery stuff. had a 30-40 minute easy bike ride on the schedule so I just used my bike to commute around today. I also did the Crossfit Endurance Recovery Wod. I am feeling good since Eagleman. I also went for an ART session on my knee. The doc said the tissue quality is getting better. He thinks my plan of training in placid this weekend and then seeing how the knee is and adjusting the schedule around it is a good one. I will go back to him next week and after placid and get another tune up. But then it might be time to rest the knee  a bit and let it fully recover if necessary. We'll see how it goes up in Placid.  He agreed that swimming and doing crossfit exercises that don't aggravate it until it heals is the best approach. Testing out the cycling and running as it feels better to see when it is ready.
 
Tomorrow has a full rest day on the schedule. Ill finish packing my stuff for the weekend training. I am really looking forward to going to lake placid. I have never been there before but I hear it is beautiful. It will also be so much fun to train with jay and his athletes.

Recovery stuff

Drove home from Maryland yesterday. Due to road construction it ended up being a long drive. I got myself reorganized and went out for an easy road bike ride with my husband on his new R3!! which had me wanting my new R3. I called my bike shop today and said if they can't get this located I just want to order it from Cervelo this week so that when they make it is july I get one! Im pretty excited for it!! Our ride was mostly flat and we were out for about 50 minutes.  This morning I went for an easy 20 minute swim. I tried to focus on my form since I am not going for time.  Did the Crossfit Endurance Recovery WOD too. I actually feel good expect for my knee.  I am going to try to let that recover this week so I can have a good trip to lake placid. Im back on the ice and actually it is better than I expected it to be after eagleman. Maybe that is a good sign and means it is healing. most likely it is just because there were not any hills to deal with down there.

Eagleman 70.3 Race Report

Yesterday I did Ironman 70.3 Eagleman in Cambridge Maryland. It was my first shot at racing a Half-Iron distance triathlon. I felt more like I completed the race than really competed in the race but it was an experience and I know what to expect for my future 70.3 distance races. I finished in under 7 hours just hitting 6:59:13 although i had no idea that was the case while i was out there racing. My wave went off in the middle of the race and it was also my first time in a race with this many participants. Of course you have to get there and get setup and then just wait for a long time before your wave goes off. I didn't have any problems getting setup. I was actually getting hungry waiting to go. I had a banana and coconut water for breakfast. I was going to have a clif bar but i had no appetite to eat it until it was time to start and then I was afraid to eat something like that right before going into the water. It was an in water start with alot of waiting again as the waves were about 10 minutes apart. Finally the horn sounded and we were off. the water temp was 82 degrees so the race was not wetsuit legal. Normally I don't care but this particular race it would have been nice to have a wetsuit because the water is choppy and your fighting the current. let's just say the choptank river is appropriately named. I know I swam way too wide on the entire swim course. I was having trouble sighting the buoys. I felt like they were small and hard to see.  We had to keep them on our right and I was always way to the left of them. Im sure that didn't help my swim time. I got caught by some men from the wave behind us towards the second turn buoy. i got kicked pretty good a few times. I also caught the slower swimmers from the wave ahead of us. I just feel like I was in the water for a long time. My swim time was 48:06. I had no problems in transition either although I had more gear to put on this time than usual with my knee brace. I also normally wear my race belt because it is under my wetsuit but i choose to keep it off this time. Had to get my garmin going too. So i was off to the bike course. Eagleman has a rep for being a windy bike course because it is very flat and there is nothing to block the wind. was there wind yes. But for the most part over the entire course there were only a few spots were you felt like you were pushing into the headwind. It never was obscenely windy. The wind was almost kinda nice because it kept you a little cooler. The first ten miles of the bike course I didnt feel well. The second ten I didn't feel much better either. I can't really say exactly what the problem was. My legs didn't feel like they wanted to go any faster than we were moving. It felt like I was getting passed by lots of people and that wasn't making me feel much better either. BUt I kept moving and hoping that it was change a bit and it did. For the most part the next 25 miles on the bike were the best for me. Now from the results on my garmin i was pretty much averaging about 3:30 miles but I wasn't pushing hard. My HR was not up where it should have been for racing. I've heard the bike course is scenic. I saw nothing but the pavement in front of my aerobars so i really have no idea where it was. I did occasionally come up to stretch out my neck a bit. But overall i stayed aero when possible and I was following my fueling strategy to the letter.  The last ten miles of the bike I really needed to pee but I couldnt find myself able to do it which was weird because i've done it before.  The last 5 miles of the bike I was getting really uncomfortable I was going to be happy to just get off the bike and be able to pee.  bike time was 3:23.  Again no issues in transition except I was looking for a place to pee didnt see any so started on the run since I knew they had potties out there. I didn't ride my bike hard enough because my legs didnt even seem to have that brick feeling. I don't know what my problem was. Was the iron distance a mental thing for me? was I holding back afraid to go too hard with so much racing left to do I don't really know. I do know I can def swim bike and run faster than I did yesterday and that these times will improve in my future races. I did the half-marathon at the end in 2:42 minutes. Pretty much with an even split time wise for the first 10k and the second 10k. I never really crashed out. I just kept clipping along at a slow pace. When I found the first porta potty after a mile there was a line for it and i refused to stand there and wait. So i kept running. That became annoying so I just decided to pee on the side of the road. Then I felt much better :) The biggest story of the run was the heat. There is no shade on the course and it is just warm the whole way. At every aid station I would grab my soda and water. drink both of them and then throw all the ice down my shirt. If i could I would even grab a cup of ice and put that down my shirt too. The best part about tri tops are they are tight enough to hold the ice against your skin. You could hear it bouncing around in my shirt as I ran. I am not sure if it really kept my any cooler although you would think that it would have to. It kept my tri suit wet. My socks and sneakers also got wet so I got blisters on my feet which didn't help the running. I got a little bit of chaffing and sunburn on my face and shoulders because my products must have worn off. my t1 time was 2 minutes and my t2 time was 3 minutes. I don't know what I was doing that long! After the race I was tired and my feet hurt mostly from the blisters. My knee was also sore. 70 miles tends not to heal injuries but I wanted to do this race. I was pretty happy to actually find vegan friendly options at the post race food.  Nothing tasted really good to me but I was able to get some food down. I really needed a shower and get out of my wet clothes so I didn't hang around the race.  Once I got cleaned up and ate some tofu and veggie I felt much better.  I've got some soreness this morning but mostly it is my knee and lower legs that hurt. Everything else seems fine. I was able to sleep last night which I am happy about. I haven't had caffeine in years as it usually really bothers me so i was a little concerned with drinking the soda on the race course. But honestly with the state that I was in at that point the soda probably helped. I was pretty tired coming off the bike and heading out on the run. I probably could have just started crying as I didn't have a lot of desire to go out and run a half marathon at that point. But never being one to quit of course I was going to do it. All of the people cheering were kinda playing on my emotions at that point and I really needed to disassociate from it and stay in my own head.  Sounds weird I know they were trying to help. The biggest help was probably the people playing music outside on the run course.  that always got me going a bit especially since they were songs i liked. I wish you could use IPODS on the run course! There were a few times in the race on both the bike and run where I was gasping for breathe. This has happened to me a few times before and it wasn't effort related. I don't know if i am developing asthma. I already have lots of allergy issues. Or if it is more of an emotional response.  I felt it after I finished too.  But mostly there I was just tired. The race was very well run. the only negative thing I could say was at the finish no one gave you any water. you had to wait in line to get your towel and medal and picture taken then walk through the food line and there was still no water. After you got your food they say water was located somewhere else. I just didn't have the energy to go get it. In a race where peopel are going to go down for dehydration probably not the best idea to have them searching for water. My hydration was actually pretty good. I was able to pee right after the race and when i got back to the hotel.  So the nutri/hydra plans were the success story of the day. The best part of this race is all of the courses are one loop.  It feels good to have this one under the belt. Im sure it will give me confidence in future races. Today I'll travel back home and get on with recovery this week. The next big thing on the schedule is heading up to lake placid to train this weekend.

welcome to maryland!

Drove down to maryland yesterday and checked in my hotel. Hit the packet pickup and got all my goodies! I went to the pre-race meeting because I was there at the time. Found out the water temp was 81.9 so there is no way the race will be wetsuit legal. That's going to make the swim more interesting as the Choptank river is appropriately named.  Got my niece signed up as a volunteer to help at the finish while I am racing. It was a relaxing quiet nice which was nice. Took a soak too! Up early again this morning. Went to bed early though so that was ok. I tried to sleep in but it just doesn't happen for me! I met up with Tom for breakfast. He brought my Jay's aerohelmet so i can look slick on the bike. We headed out on rode the run course on our bikes. Felt my knee a little but what can i do about it at this point. I am just going to have to deal with it through the race. We also took a dip in the choptank river where the swim will be tomorrow. The water is warm and choppy but overall it was an ok swim. My sighting wasn't the greatest. The buoys seem kinda small to me. I am sure it will be better when there are more people in the water to follow. I feel  I am well hydrated. I haven't been eating as much as normal though which i guess is ok.  Tomorrow is the big day and I am looking forward to getting out there. It has been a long week of waiting for the race to get here.  Hoping we have some decent weather for the race. It's been pretty hot here so far. I'm not too concerned with it because there is nothing to be done about it.  I feel good about my hydration going into it.

packed

still tapering. not as tired today. did 35 minutes in the pool this morning with a pull buoy. The knee feels better than it did yesterday but it is still really sore. I am hoping the pain will be manageable for eagleman. I am going for more ART tomorrow before driving down to Maryland.  It's always sore after ART. I plan to swim beforeheard and then hopefully by saturday it will be recovered from the art. I packed a bunch of stuff tonight and will finish packing tomorrow. I took so much stuff I really hope I didn't forget anything.  That's one of the hard parts about triathlon just sooooooo much gear!

more tapering and torture

The problem with rest days are they are exhausted. I was really tired last night and to drag myself out of bed this morning. did 300 of drills to warmup then 1,000 at an easy pace - time was 20.19. There may be some extra yardage in there as I wasn't being a very good counter. I was pretty much tired today too and my knee still hurts!! I went for more ART so it hurts from that too now! Icing it as much as I can. I read my athlete guide last night and now it is time for the dreaded packing! one of the worst things about multi-sport. just have to bring so much crap with you! I know I will feel less stressed with the packing is mostly over. I will feel even better once I make it to Cambridge.  I am hoping the knee improves for sunday. doing my best to make it but healing takes time and that's what I don't really have.

rest day

took a full on rest day today. Rest days are always weird for me. They make me feel like i don't ever want to work out again. Strange. My knee is in less pain today than yesterday which is good. Bad news is that it is still sore. I am hitting the ice and trying to stay as on top of this as possible so that it can be in the best shape possible for sunday. Gotta read my athelete guide and start packing for eagleman. I go back for more ART tomorrow.

recovery day

Took a recovery swim this morning. 500 yards of drills and then 20 minutes of easy swimming. Tried to focus on my form the entire time. My knee is really sore. I'm still limping around on it. I went for more ART on it which of course hurt but hopefully it will help especially for eagleman. The doc scared me a bit when mentioned if i don't get better in a few visits with him, he wants me to get an MRI of my knee. That has never worked out well for me in the pasted so anything I hear that word It just sounds like more surgery to me. We'll see what happens in the next few days as I am tapering and hopefully the knee can recover without as much load on it. I was surprised to find myself kinda tired today. I wasn't really sore expect for the knee but my energy level wasnt the same as it normally is. Maybe recovering from the sprint tri yesterday. I am surprised but it was so short.  I went to get a Re-fit done on my tri bike. The aerobars, seat height were changed. Also my cleat position was changed. I immediately noticed a difference in my knee once I rode with the changed cleat position but i don't know if  it was for the better or not because of the knee already hurting so much.  I have a rest day on the schedule tomorrow. It's going to be an interesting week!

Independence Tri Race Report

The indi-tri was a sucess! I took 2nd in my age group out of 27 and i was 13th overall out of 269. my overall time was 1:00:22. I felt like my pre- race prep yesterday went better than it usually does. I need to remember that and do it that way all the time! Getting up at 4 this morning to go race was rough. I was tired during the drive and a deer jumped out in front of my car. luckily i missed him but that woke me up! I made it to the race in time to setup my stuff in transition but then i got kicked out and i had to put my wetsuit on during the athlete meeting. Would have been nice to have more time but oh well. I wasn't nervous but i didn't really have that im going to do well feeling either but i did end racing a good race.

The swim was in a decent lake. Hard sharp rocks around the shoreline which is never fun to enter/exit on. The temp wasn't painfully cold although it wasn't warm. Happy to have the wetsuit on! Some gross weeds but overall the water wasn't bad. I used my yellow lens open water goggles and i have to say they were a huge sucess. the yellow lenses really help in the foggy, overcast morning light. I am thinking about shortening my hair because it is just getting hard to tuck it all into a swimcap lately. A wave went off in front of me by 3 minutes but i picked off most of the swimmer from it. It wasn't my best or easiest swim because I was getting pulled downstream by the current and to work back around the buoys costing me some time. also since I had to go around so many swimmers I was like jockeying for position at times. there were people doing breaststroke and even backstroke. I know you can legally swim any stroke that advances you but sometimes it would be nice if they had an optional wave at the end for people that struggle with swimming. It would probably make them and the other racers all more comfortable. The run to the transition area seemed really long. Had a little trouble getting my wetsuit off over my timing chip. The bike mount started with an immediate uphill which wasn't the greatest feeling. The rest of the bike course was rolling hills. I picked off a ton of people on the bike. Another challenge were a lot of people were not riding as far to the ride as they could and they were in a blocking position. I was yelling on your left frequently. The mens waves went off after the womens waves and i was passed by 3 guys on the bike. But no women. So i knew I was doing well. No problems during T2. My legs hurt when i started the run and it took a while for them to come back but i kept pushing because with a short race like this there is no time to wait for your legs to come back. During the course of the run i got passed by 3 more guys and a couple of girls but i was going as hard as i could. Those 3 guys were in front of me at the finish and the crowd was going nuts as i was sprinting trying to catch them. sadly i did not but i did try! I just thought it was funny as the crowd was yelling for me to beat the guys!

Here are my splits:

swim: 9:31 - this included the run (uphill) to transition and it was pretty far. all of the swim times seemed high I think it was because of the current. I know i had to reset myself to the 1st buoy I was getting pulled downstream.

T1 - 1:15

Bike - 32:55 - rolling hill course - although the first hill coming directly out of transition was tough to get going on

T2 - .51

Run - 15.47

Bad news - my knee is killing me! I took ice and used it on the drive home and iced it today when possible. I have an art session tomorrow so hopefully between that and the taper week it will get back on track enough for eagleman! I tried a new method of kinesio taping today too.

The girl that took first beat me by 21 seconds!!!!! If i hit exactly on the hour like i wanted to i would have won! i shouldn't have taken the time to put those damn socks on!!! Actually she beat me on the run. I checked all of her splits and i was faster then her on everything except the run. But with the limit on my run training over the winter because of the surgery. That is probably my weakest discipline right now. But it will get better. I actually used to be able to run decently fast back in the day so hopefully it will come back.

That being said I'm happy with how I did. Of course I've got the post race maybe i could have swam/biked/ran just a little faster thoughts going through my head. But overall I raced a very good race. I didnt have race wheels or anything like that on my bike for this race but i am thinking im going to have to get a set of my own and soon.

I didn't take my garmin with me because i didn't want to waste time playing with it in such a short race but maybe it would have helped keep me on track better and perhaps I could have gone just a little faster! I did take some water on the bike but didn't drink much of it. I didn't take any water on the run even though i wanted it just because i didn't want to take the time. I downed a lot of it after the race!

Just have some recovery stuff on the workout schedule for tomorrow. Happy to get a good race like this in before eagleman!

Independence Tri Prep

Slept in a bit this morning and woke up to my knee hurting a lot less than it did which made me pretty happy!!! of course it is not completely gone but it have improvement really made my day! The doctor recommended I take an easy and short ride and run today to test out the knee and to get things moving a bit before tomorrow's race. So I took my Time trial bike down to the local school and road basically flat laps around the school for 20 minutes. The first 5 minutes I felt nothing. Then after than I could feel my knee pulling a bit but not really painfully. Of course the intensity to the ride wasn't there either. Then I hit the track to do my running drills and run.

Did ball of foot hops with forward lean movement

Wall drills pulls - just like on the bike the pulling up of the leg is what bothers the knee. It is my quadricep tendon that is yanking on my knee. I realied last night that I do stretch by a specific quad stretch doesn't usual make it into my routine so i need to add that one!

single leg pulls - my right leg is great. my left leg is clunky because of the knee

karaoke - decided to do this instead of the round the clock lunges for today because the lunges really annoy my knee and there is no need to do that to it before a race.

A Skips - again right is better than left

I decided against doing strides just to keep the intensity down in an attempt to not irritate the knee.

Ran 1 mile on the track - the knee does ache on the pull up but it is much less than it was previously.

walked a half mile afterwards then got back on my bike and did another 10 minute spin back home.

The knee isn't great but I am happier that it is finally feeling somewhat better. Hitting the ice and stuff like that today. The race is short tomorrow so I hope to be able to really go at an all out effort the entire way. I think it will take me around an hour to complete it. I would like to go under an hour but i honestly don't know if that is attainable. I'll but my best effort into doing it though!

The swim is going to be cold again I 've already prepared myself for that. Nothing I can do about it really. I most likely wont take a warmup swim first as i normally do just because it is supposed to be in the high 50s when the race goes off tomorrow. And i don't really want to be standing around wet waiting for my wave to go. I may just warmup on the bike and possibly run. Although to me it sounds like the entire race is going to be a cold event. I know once i start racing i won't even notice it. But before and after will be chilly. For me to accomplish an hour I would have to go 5 - 6 minutes on the swim which is a 1/4 mile so if i swim my best I can do it. hopefully the swim start won't be like devilman! Then I have to ride about 30 minutes on the bike. it's a ten mile course with some rolling hills. If I avg 20mph I can do it. I don't plan on taking my watch or anything like that because i don't want to waste time putting it on etc. and I just want my effort to be as hard as I can go. I don't want anything telling me how fast I really am going. Maybe a mistake. we'll see. it's ten miles I already know i can keep the hammer down that long. Ive even thinking about not taking water with me because most likely i won't really be drinking it. and its going to be kool. The run is going to be the hardest for me just because of the knee and my run training isn't as on par as the rest of my training. I know i can throw down some 8 minute miles. Id like to hit in the 7s since it is only a 2 mile course but we'll see what happen especially coming off the bike. I'm mostly using this as a practice warmup race for eagleman next week but I also want to go as hard as i can because the distances are so short. Id like to be competitive in this race and not hold back because of the knee. Next week will all be taering. Im going to pack my stuff today and hopefully have a somewhat relaxing day in preparation for tomorrow. I am thinking about going to get my tri bike fit at the bike shop if they can fit my into their schedules today. if not I would like toget it done before eagleman especially if it helps my knee get through the distance.

ART

Started the day with a swim. 300 of drills to warm up. Then a 25 minute TT - Covered 56 laps or 1400 yards. I was aiming for 60 not sure if could actually get it but I was trying to. Came up a little short. I was lcuky enough to have a guy swimming in a lane next to me that was going just faster than I really want to go so i was racing him most of the time. Did 100 of breaststroke and 100 of backstroke to cooldown.

CF wod - 50 burpee pullups for time. Couldn't do the kip because of my knee so did the pullups on the rings. This slowed down the wod and I didn't feel as stressed from it as I should have so I decided to row 4 x 400 meters on 2 minutes rest. The burpee pullups took me 7.16 and I killed it on the rower hitting every interval at 1:39. That felt good!

Went to my ART doctor today to have my knee looked at. Good news is that after his tests nothing is fractured or dislocated. It is possible i have a bone contusion which just takes some time to heal. All of the tendons around my knee are a mess. he thinks it is most likely from cycling. there is a little room to adjust your body with the repetitive motions so if something is off it's got to go somewhere. Hit some more ice and nsaids. I get to try out an easy ride and run tomorrow. then race on sunday! I got back from more ART on monday. It is always a weird experience to hear someone break down the grit in your tendons. 

knee

cf wod -
10 - 8 - 6 - 4 - 2- 1 of Push Press with increasing weight.
went 65, 70,75, 80 ,85, 90.
I knew those were all safe weights for me since the leg was involved.


CFE wod - subbed my run out with a row. 1 mile for time - took 7.26 minutes.

The knee is feeling weird again. Also like the knee cap if off track or misaligned. Going to my ART doctor to have him look at it tomorrow. I basically can manage it with ice and training modifications to get through eagleman next week. It hurts to kneel on it or if i roll over on it in when sleeping. Stairs are not good either.

I am concerned because the pain is in the knee cap now that the inflammation has gone down a lot. i can pinpoint the pain so I am hoping it isn't chipped or fractured or dislocated. Mostly because they popped up after the car hit me on my bike. Might just be an overuse thing too that i just need to let calm down. If it is still an issue after eagleman Ill go to see my ortho.

I considered running in a road race on saturday but with my knee it most likely will not happen. Too close to eagleman to do it.

I am doing a sprint tri on Saturday before I start my taper for eagleman. It should be a lot of fun. I like sprint tris because you can just got really hard the entire time. Also it will be a good warmup race for eagleman. Got my athlete guide for both so I should be looking though them soon.

R3 & Sram Red it is

the knee wasnt too bad this morning. more stiff than sore.

CF WOD

3 rounds for time of

Row 400 meters
10 kettlebell swings @ 44 lbs
10 Deadlifts @ 135

time 9:54

couldn't go too heavy on the deads my legs were still sore from the good mornings and yesterday's time trial. Felt like a good wod though. Able to go unbroken.

I wanted to test my knee so i did 2 walking lunges since those make it hurt and sadly that made it hurt. So i hit the ice this afternoon and it seems ok.

Picked up my upstate velo tri suit last night and it's pretty nice.

Ordered a cervelo R3 with Sram Red Comps. Decided to go with the Sram because I like the adjustable shifters and also the brakes just being brakes. I decided to go red because of the upgrades to the bike. After they did my fit to order it. I had my road bike re fit. The seat is higher and the handlebars are also adjusted. Maybe that will help with the knee pain. I left it at the shop to have the brakes worked on. I will have the fit redone on my tri bike soon too.