Calf and learn

It started off as a hotly anticipated long run, spanning two states, North Dakota and Minnesota. I was due in to Fargo in the mid afternoon and was looking forward to following a half marathon course I had found online, which snaked its way along the Red River, either side of a line marking the Minnesota and North Dakota border. It couldn't have been better conditions for a long run. 2 hours in 70F beautiful summer weather. Certainly a welcome change from the 90's I had been training in of late.

However, an hour in to the run, not long after my trusty biking colleague had left my side, that my left calf popped up to ensure I knew it was there. It was immediately obvious what the origins of the pain was. A strain? Cramp? It wasn't uncommon to experience muscle fatigue after a day of flying and then heading out for a long run. However, this pain became progressive and there came a lot of stop-starting, stretching and walking. I was still 3 miles from the hotel I was faced with 40mins of awkward running and walking back. Certainly not ideal for 6 weeks from race day.

With every setback there is an opportunity. The focus, after I had finished sulking, immediately began to focus on what I could do. Fortunately, the discovery that biking provided no discomfort at all set out a week of biking and swimming. Not a bad thing really, based on the premise that I am not your strongest cyclist and I had been neglecting the swimming side of things. Yes, there was and is a continue subconscious pull calling me to go for a run. Just a short one. However, a week off of running will allow the injury to repair and also help my biking a lot, if not my posterior pain! 

This week has also encouraged some good recovery work, loosening many of my tight abductors and hips, a source, no doubt, linked to the possible calf injury. A lot of rolling in the basement and reflection of how my body is doing. Again, a positive, if not painful, step along this training route.

It also gave me time for experimenting with Training Peaks - a new toy, which has proven, so far, a usual tool in logging all this training malarkey.

Hopefully, the forthcoming week will prove successful, following the week of resting the calf. 

Good luck to us all!

My long bike route this week:

It's a sprint!

The first clap of thunder woke me up at about 3:30am with a loud introduction that rattled the windows. As I rolled over to check the radar to be sure the thunder wasn't a precursor to a rare tornado in the area, I saw lots of red, in a continuous line, stretching from north to south, indicating the severity of the storm that was passing over head. "Ah good", I thought, "this should be by soon and leave race day clear". Not quite. 

The 2013 edition of the Lifetime Triathlon Minneapolis was less that straight forward. The storms began to self sustain, rolling back on itself and not moving from the area. By the time I had called Napoleon to get a ride, it had rained about 2 inches and would rain 2 more by the time it stopped later that morning. As we past thought the bike route on the way to transition setup, the water was half way up the tires. The creek,  having broken it's banks, was now covering much of the International bike route. Not a positive for time trial biking. A sinking and oddly somewhat of a relieving feeling began to pass over me. Perhaps there would be no race today. Fatigue had been hanging around a little since the beginning of the main Ironman training earlier in the week and although the Olympic distance would be a good indicator of my fitness, I wasn't overly enthralled with actually competiting.

At 7am the course was closed and contingencies would begin to play out. By 8 we were all racing the sprint distance course. Half the amount expected. Double the effort. Adapting was needed, which again added to the experience bag that I was slowly collecting throughout all this triathlon malarkey.  It was definitely a good one, as I now had to apply some of what I had read to the diverse situation developing ahead. Longer warmup. Bike bottles removed. Nutrition adapted. Transition was ready.

A sprint really is exactly that. All out mayhem right from the gun. Don't look back until the finish. This distance is not what I would expect to do leading in to an ironman race, but that was what was on the menu and onwards I thrashed. I very crowded and chaotic 5min swim later and I was on the bike. Much to my own surprise, I went out harder that I had done before and maintained it the length of the bike course. Certainly not setting any records, but certainly putting out a good showing for my lowly bike skills. The YouTube video by Joe Friel on biking technique, which was watched the night before, appeared to having a desirable effect. With the fastest bike split of my racing career behind me, I thrashed out a respectable 5k at a much higher pace that I would have expected from a slow poke, long distance guy, like yours truly.

Crossing the finish line, I knew I had to be close. Very close to Napoleon. A quick check an the most depressing 20seconds of my triathlon life came in to view. 20seconds!!! That was the margin of "victory" he put on me. How depressing. Yet how encouraging, to have discovered that my body was capable of putting out that kind of speed.

Now on to the next 6 weeks of much higher volume and much slower activity.

Good luck to us all!

IM Base and July 4th

I must admit, planning my training, I could never had imagined coordinating a recovery week with a holiday week. However, that's indeed how it worked out this year. Doubt I could stumble in to that again. AND I didn't have to work.

So, here I sit, July 5th, feet up with a cup of warm "Joe" watching the last 30KM of Stage 7 of the Tour de France. Woke up a little worse for wear, but with a recovery week on the schedule, not too much to worry about. However, the next couple of days will be spent doing some serious recovery work and fueling for the beginning of the IM specific base period ahead.

What does this mean? A lot more volume combined with some very long rides. These are the weeks where the biking begins to reach for 6 hours with 30min runs after. This year, however, planning will be improved, with some early morning starts, which will lead to finishing at more reasonable finish times. The routes will be different with meeting points with different riders around the city, making the longer rides a little less monotonous. The goal is to not allow the bike to be a point of resentment by race day. Hopefully, I will be able to meet Napoleon and a few others around the rides and make these long training efforts an enjoyable time on the bike.

Perhaps a little inconvenient, Lifetime Fitness Triathlon takes place in 8 days. It's a yearly event that I do as part of a team. Good speed training, as it is an Olympic distance event. However, I'm sure I will have to play it smart as I will be tired from the long week of training that will proceed it. Looking forward to it though, as it is such a good cause we race for in Fraser. Our final year. Time to go out in style.

The final thought of the day lies with my current contemplation of Ironman Boulder 2014. A good friend of mine has stepped in and offered to sponsor my entry in return for me wearing his logos on my race day kit. A lot of thoughts are running through my head currently. What if I get injured? What if I fail to finish? How will I cope with the altitude? It's a daunting prospect, but one that brings quite a temptation to compete in this fantastic spot for an Ironman. Sign up is in 10days, so this all could be irrelevant if I don't click the mouse at just the right time.

Good luck to us all!