2018 Beer Drinker Appreciation Society - Always Open (Page 18)

^I miss Barcelona!  It's been a while since I've been, but was just watching the Volta Ciclista Catalunya since I'm a nerd for pro cycling, and do that sort of thing.  This part of Spain is just gorgeous.  

Gretchen!  So glad to hear you're settled in and even happier to hear you're running consistently without much pain! It's been such a long road...

Great work Nicole!  

I have been battling the hip for a few years now.  Its actually pretty common.  I've got some stretches I use which actually do help.  If you need some let me know I'll see if I can find them online and post them.

So, I'm (somewhere) in a Tri promo video.  The first race I did last year was the inaugural of this particular event.  So they went all out and made a promo video from it to promote this year (and beyond).  I didn't actually see myself in it, but I'm in there somewhere in the drone shots and whatnot.  It was still really cool to relive the whole race.  I forgot how tough it was, with the entire run being off road.  And how cold the water was - 64 I think?  Anyway this got me excited for the season:

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001d0JFPUYsNsp_3UzRtRf67dfhA_YP1pz2oT3LXdaNfl2cJS75t7qccWRCaUDLuhPARVT2rMJ29HIxGcgYAz5_wQC_n2sJqRfESis2gQA2JK-w8Af9laDHXe8yPfa9ULZq8Vks7SiijB-ikTY-l3t-Mg==&c=W4EIFjgAs-sL1s_728YR3Ndq3B23YV_d9s1RVnJUP76znB9BG2skwQ==&ch=1Q4-KbdzEqmdpAjwKD5Gvhjo-ouNoQZLDrVqJ-IrKB-aAXfOCpdBcQ==

Welcome back, John! Watching that promo video got me a bit excited for Wildflower which is coming up fast.

The last two weeks were a bust training wise as I was on vacation in Ireland. Drank plenty of good beer, mainly stouts (mostly Guinness, with some Murphy's and Beamish while in Cork) as well as tried a few IPA's from a couple craft breweries. My favorite was the "Kinsale Pale Ale" while we stopped in the coastal town of Kinsale. It was interesting to see many of the IPA's described as "American style", our brews have come a long way an are now an influence instead of just a joke.

Time to get back into training and burn off the weight gained while on vacation!

I have a bit of the shorter on one side thing as well (my right) but it isn't that severe.  Mostly my issues are related to sitting all day, which shortens my hip flexors and hamstrings, and puts my glutes 'to sleep' (not active, as opposed to numb).

The stretch I use from PT for he hamstrings is called the 'sink stretch' because you're supposed to do it while standing at the kitchen sink.  Unfortunately someone in crossfit decided to call something completely different a sink stretch and the internet search turns up mostly that.  In any case - stand at the sink (or other similar height counter), legs shoulder width apart and straight at the knees (don't lock the knees out though, that's never good).  With hands on the edge of the countertop, bend forward at the hips in one smooth motion until you can feel the hamstrings stretc, hold for like a second, and then stand back up.  My PT had me do it in 30 reps but legit that makes me dizzy, so I do it in 3 blocks of 10 or two of 15.

For the hip flexor itself, which is where I feel the most pain, they had me do Warrior 1

I'm not nearly as flexible as that lady, and so my back leg isn't nearly that far back.  It's more the motion of straightening the torso from the back leg, with arms overhead, that you can start to feel the hip flexor stretch.  Sometimes if I'm loose and not feeling it right away, I can just try harder to straighten at the abs and it'll pull enough on the hip flexor to stretch.

Also don't know if you're like me, but my stretching and strength always revert back to the 'go big or go home' mentality. The idea with stretches like these is gradual lengthening and pain relief - you're just supposed to stretch far enough to feel it stretching.  Not 'as far as you can go without crying'.  LOL.

If I do those consistently I can keep the hip flexor pain at bay.  I also get hip pain from tight IT bands sometimes, that's a whole separate issue with separate stretches.

I keep reading how SwimRun is all the rage and is the next great adventure race.  

For anyone not oriented, it's not nearly like 'splash and dash', which of course is triathlon without the bike leg.  Swim Run isn't that.  It's a cross country type thing, involving open water and land crossings. 

Here wikipedia has a better definition than I can come up with:

"What defines a swimrun is that its always carried out outdoors and in water where the goal is to go from a starting point to a finish point through a course with at least 2 swim and run sections. All the equipment that a participant starts with has to be carried all the way to the finish line. "

So if you want to swim in a wetsuit, you have to run in it too. Or if you want to run in running shoes, guess what - swim in them.    

It's OK to take a day off if that's what your body needs. Just don't fall into a lazy rut!

I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. Swam a short 600m yesterday and went for a 3 mile run this morning. Feels good to get the blood moving again! This weekend I have a 25k trail run scheduled, however I may drop down to the 10k distance to avoid hurting myself due to the lapse in training.

+1 to that!