April 2005 Archives

Yowza! Working out with intensity is a whole different ballgame. I ran this morning in a bit of a chill: 40° and a slight wind. After ten sluggish minutes, I ran hard for fast/slow five times for a minute each for a total ten minutes. Talk about shocking the system. After thirteen weeks of a steady, simple pace, going fast felt unfamiliar. And my muscles didn't like it either. It took until the third interval until my body started going with the flow.

My Forerunner has the capability to load complex workouts like this one. I only have to listen to it beep, then look at the screen. It tells me what to do and for how long. Before each interval, it counts down for five seconds and for some reason, hearing it made me chuckle. It was my body laughing at my mind. "Are you kidding me? We have to run hard? Again? Are you sure that was a full minute of rest?" Funny thing about the mind. It always wins. We kept running.

The five intervals didn't take too long, and I was back running my base pace for the rest of the workout. My mind said that we were going a comfortable speed, but my body kept telling me it was a bit fast. (At this point, anything above a walk was probably too fast.) I finished the remaining forty minutes to round out the hour, covering 6.66 miles. I stretched, but my legs are going to be sore. I can already feel it.

A much needed rest week. My body is carving another rest week, so we'll have another. Except that I start to raise the intensity and introduce intervals of increased effort. Nothing much to start; don't want to scock the body too much. Thus ends my 'Base' phase a begins the 'Build' phase. I continue to Build for the next ten weeks, and we'll finish a 'Peak' phase leading up to the big day.

The highlight of the week was riding with Nelson on Sunday. He was good enough to bring his bike into town for our foray. Unfortunately, the conditions were a bit harsh. When I got up at 7 AM, it was 33°F with 10 mph winds, gusting over 20. It was a brisk wind to say the least. Friday's swim featured a 500 at the conclusion of the workout in 5:55, just seven seconds off the Alumni Swim.

My body is confirming the need for recovery time. Thank goodness this week happens to be one.

I shortened last night's run by half in order to get to my deep tissue massage. After, the therapist mentioned that my legs were so tight; I should come back every week. I thought my legs were sore, but didn't think it was so bad.

This morning's swim went fine. But, work was really crazy and I failed to properly hydrate throughout the day. I usually drink about three water bottles (about 48 oz.) worth. Today, I only drank one bottle. This worried me when I got home, but I still pressed on with the scheduled brick: 45 min bike & 20 min run. The bike was fine. The run was not. Immediately, the right calf was sore and tight. I ran through it, but it never got better.

After Sunday's long run (9.55 miles), it now hurts throughout the day, especially going down stairs, when my tendon supports my ankle the most. I'll be calling the Great Dr. Gronski's office for another visit and evaluation. Running is off for the rest of the week.

However, there is some good news. I'm looking forward to riding with Nelson on Sunday; his first ride in a long time, and my first with companion. So far, most of my 200 workouts have been solo efforts. It'll be good to catch up with the dogg.

The past twelve weeks have been long and strong. Every workout, ride, swim, and run has been done at a pace so that my heart rate wouldn't exceed certain levels. By keeping the heart at a lower rate, I remained in the aerobic zone, so my body was burning more fat than carbs. As a result, my muscles are leaner and stronger, ready to go for long(er) haul. In response, my body weight reflects the new, leaner me. My average weight this week was 178 pounds. It is my first time under 180 in ten years, even lighter than when I met Kris.

There were no recreational rides this week, so the volume and time are less than in weeks past. Also, I had to cut Friday's run by fifteen minutes to get to Sting on time. (I wouldn't really miss it with Sunday's 90-minute run covering 9.5 miles.) My body is tired from the past three weeks, where I put more time in than the previous five weeks combined. I rest with about 8 or 9 hours of light activity this week. After that, it starts up again, as we move into the Build Phase, working intensity into the mix.

Great stuff this week. Finally got sound advice on the feet/calf issues, and am working at preventing further setbacks. Running this week was superb. I'm really itching to step up to the next level of workouts, which include builds intensity while increasing the miles. Saturday's bike ride reminded me that there are plenty of hills to conquer, most of which beat me right now. I did get the bike topped out to 42 mph on a long down hill.

We made it past 11 hours this week with a recreational ride with Kris' parents on Sunday. What a weekend. Six and a half Friday night, 48.5 on Saturday, 8.2 Sunday morning, and another 18.3 Sunday afternoon. A total of 76.5 miles in three days. See below for details.

Just when you think your swim training isn't up to snuff, and that it's falling behind you have a day like today. I felt crappy getting into the water, and didn't warm up too well. After doing 2000 yards of various sets, I decided, (who knows why) to see what a 500 (20 lengths) straight would feel like. So I pushed off, not expecting too much. After the first 100 (4 lengths), I saw the clock was at 1:10. Not too bad, we might be on to something. The second hundred went just as well, around a 1:13. That's when I started thinking that a sub six-minute swim is within reach. I pounded out the last three hundred, fighting the lactic lactic building in my muscles. I finished with a 5:57, just nine seconds slower than my time under race conditions at the Alumni meet.

For the non-swimmers out there, this is a good thing.

After my calf setback in March, I set appointments with a podiatrist and a sports med doc. The podiatrist told me to keep what I was doing with the shoes and arch supports and sent me on my way. I bet that cost my insurance $120 for fifteen minutes, tops.

But I met with Dr. Gronski this morning of sports med. Apparently, he's a bit of an athlete, and know all about triathlons from his colleague, who's signed up for this years Ironman Wisconsin. We discussed many causes of my pain, what I did to overcome it, and what will happen in the future. The diagnosis is plantar fasciitis:

Plantar fasciitis, which may cause the heel to hurt, feel hot or swell, is inflammation of the plantar fascia, a thin layer of tough tissue supporting the arch of the foot. Repeated microscopic tears of the plantar fascia cause pain. Sometimes plantar fasciitis is called "heel spurs", but this is not always accurate, since bony growths on the heel may or may not be a factor...There are a number of possible causes for plantar fasciitis and they often work in combination. Tightness of the foot and calf, improper athletic training, stress on the arch or weakness of the foot are potential causes. Shoes that don't fit, certain play or work actions or overuse (running too fast, too far, too soon) may hurt the plantar fascia. People with low arches, flat feet or high arches are at increased risk of developing plantar fasciitis.

I emphasized that last line because it's very important to my problems. I have very flat feet. So flat that me calf has to do more work that it would had I grown arches as a kid. Dr. Gronski explained it like this. Basically your arch is the shock absorber of your foot. Every time you land, your arch spreads absorbs the footfall. Since my arches don't exist, my ankle must absorb the shock. The ankle is supported tendons that connect to the calf muscle. The tibialis anterior does much of this work in my case. As a result, it gets sore. Really sore.

So, Deb, the Sports Med angel, came in with a crazy looking boot thing, some thera-band and a bunch of exercises. The crazy boot thing ended up being a "night splint." The night splint looks much like a plastic cast, but only on the back half. I strap my foot into it at night and it holds it at 90° while I sleep. What that does is allows the plantar fascia to heal in the proper position. Otherwise, if I let it relax and it heal in that position, I would literally tear what had healed the during the night with my first few steps. That's the pain the people express in their heel when they rise in the morning. She then gave me the thera-band and taught me a ton of exercises to strengthen my feet to prevent further pain. Basically, I'm doing all this to prevent problems as I continue to train.

Update: I've worn the boot for a week and and my anterior tibialis is been great. My runs felt really good the whole week. I just have to remember to keep stretching and doing my exercises.

There's nothing like coming back from a vacation to warm weather. It did rain throughout the week, but I was able to get all my runs done outside. The week kicked off with a perfect run on Tuesday. It was 44° and the sun was just rising. I finished the hour-long run eager to continue the week's training. It rained Wednesday and Thursday, sending me inside for on the trainer. By Friday, the weather improved considerably. I finished my longest run to date, then did it again two days later. The bike ride Saturday was most encouraging.

I eclipsed the 10 hour mark for a single week. With the long ride outside, it pushed my mileage above the century mark, both personal bests. It should be the same this week. If the weather holds, the mileage may go up with more rides outside.

I love riding my bike. I came to that conclusion yesterday as I was pedaling south on Blizzard Road to CTH CC on my way to Oregon. It felt so good to be in the sun, wind in my face, feeling the pavement underneath my wheels. After 34 consecutive indoor sessions on Nelson's trainer in the back bedroom of our apartment, Sting (my bike) felt the exitement too and was smooth and sleek. I waved back to the other roadies, their gesture to me like a salute, recognizing me as a serious cyclist. At least I must've looked the part. By the end of my ride, I was doing the saluting, to others headed out on their rides, not caring if they didn't respond. I covered approximately 45 miles in 2 hours, 40 minutes. Below is the route, created by my Garmin Forerunner 301.