JohnnyKay and Fred Doucette's HIM/IM focused Mentor group-CLOSED (Page 57)

You should be proud.  That's great!  I like the prompt finish and the immediate exit from the water.  You'd think they don't stop the clock until the swimmer is out of the pool!  Smoking fast time and I have a feeling we might be seeing a super triathlete in the making.

Anyway, I've been awfully busy at work this week and haven't been on BT much other than to log my workouts.  Looking forward to racing on Sunday in an Oly race.  Been struggling with some IT band/knee issues lately.  I believe it's an overuse thing bc it came on right after 3 heavy volume weeks.  Ice and ibuprofen seem to keep it under control, but it is still obviously annoying.  With my HIM coming up in about 3 weeks, I don't want to do anything stupid in this race so my goal is to use the day more as a training day than an all-out, wild, body punishing race.  Hopefully I can stick to that plan because I often like to deviate from my plan.  We shall see come Sunday.

Tendonitis in my patellar area of my right knee seems to be flaring up again.  Nothing bad...but having dealt with it a few times in the past, I'm now familiar with the early warning signs.  Cancelling the run today, and was only planning on riding this weekend (which doesn't bother it), so hopefully I can resume running Monday.

I've been running at a slightly faster pace recently, so that probably has something to do with it. 

Ummm, was that in fast forward? I blinked and she was getting out of the pool. I had to play it again! Awesome!

I do have a foam roller...though I don't use it as much as I should.

But this is tendon stuff...inflammation.  Not something you can roll out.  Rest and ice is the only real cure.  It's not that bad to the point I need to ice it...I just can feel the ever so slight bit of pain.  And looking back on my running the past week...it makes sense.  I probably ran way too hard on Sunday...then followed it up with slightly faster running on M-Th.

For muscular aches though...foam roller hits the spot for sure. 

Well, hmm. I am going to disagree as I have dealt with this exact same issue and did not have a flare up throughout my entire HIM training. Ice and rest were only one small piece of the puzzle. I am not one to argue though so I will leave it at that.

Ok - I will say, even if the roller only relaxes your sore muscles can this be a bad thing? Think of it as an at home massage.

hmm...I don't know...but foam roalling my knee cap doesn't sound like fun.

Roll your quad, not your kneecap. You might find a knot in there somewhere that is causing tension to your kneecap.

Ok - I'll get off my soap box now and let you handle it however you want. I promise .

Good to have input from a professional.

So how is an athlete to know if you have scar tissue, adhesions or inflammation causing the offending pain? 

Thanks for the info Fred...didn't know that.  I just know that "RICE" is how I normally treat this "injury" when it flares up.  My own stupidity though...should have known the way I was running last week.

Had a good hard bike ride today...54ish miles with some long hard pulls in there.  Looking at my power files, I'm definately seeing some improvements in my 5-10 minute power...as well as my top end.  Sprinted up the last very short hill and hit 993 watts peak.  I have yet to crack that 1k barrier...though I don't actively train for it...it would be nice to see eventually.

Supposed to ride about 85-90 miles tomorrow.  Much more controlled, and with some Cat 1-2 riders.  So I suppose I won't be pulling at all.  We'll see how long I can hang on.  There are a couple of other guys around my level...so the plan is to just hang on the first 60 miles, then break off and ride our own pace coming back.  Either way it should be fun.

On another note...I'll count my lucky stars today.  Nearly got plowed into by an old lady turning in front of us into her driveway.  We were going at a nice tempo pace...maybe about 21mph, and she was coming from the other direction.  Made the left turn right in front of us like we (2 riders in front of me, and about 20 others behind me) we not even there.

I don't know how the first guy was able to slam his brakes and swirve around to the left (behind the car)...then the second rider somehow did the same (awesome bike handling skills).  I had a split second more as third wheel...but hesitated to go either left or right.  If the lady slammed her brakes and I tried to go left, I would have hit her (I was echeloned slightly more to the right than the first 2 riders).  But if the lady didn't slam her brakes and I went right (in front of her), she would have clipped me, or at least forced me into her lawn/garage.  Luckily...she didn't hit her brakes...because I went left.  There was about a 15 foot gap between me and the others behind...so they avoided it pretty easily.

By far my closest call with a car.  Each of us three up front could have reached out and touched her car as we swirved by.

Jason- so good to hear you are OK.  Sometimes even with the best defensive biking close calls are hard to avoid.

Today was a beautiful day in Ada, Michigan.  Did 84 mile ride and was pleasantly surprised to see one of my routes to have been paved through what was previously a dirt road, thus allowing me to continue on this road through to the next town.  Not sure when that happened, but its cool to have new routes!

Will get a run in tonight.

Fred - wish I had her balance in the water.  Pretty amazing to see her so high in the water when I know how I feel = pulling a lead weight with my hips and legs!

Scott - congrats on the race.  Nice job.

Now for my bad news.  Seems this is not the group for PM's at the moment.  My PT has crapped out on me.  Hub died on Saturday, replaced batteries (2nd time in 2 months which is wrong), all seemed good for 45min on Sunday and then the numbers were all over the map.  Couldn't get the torque value back to zero, so I have to call Saris tomorrow.  If no love over the phone then I have to ship it back to them.  The idea really bugs me since my training plan is completely power based at the moment, and I'm liking it.  Not happy...

Hope it's something correctable over the phone, but the good news is my experience with Saris' customer service has been very good so hopefully they'll have you back in business in short order either way.

Was planning on riding the trainer this morning, but opted not to for a little more rest.  Had a tough but fun 85ish mile ride yesterday with the faster guys of our team.  Needless to say I was taking very minimal pulls, and actually surprised I hung on the entire ride.

Will do a short run and masters class after work.  Knee/patellar tendon is feeling better.  No soreness at all...but I'll still play it safe this week with shorter/easier runs.

Had a great weekend on the bike the past couple of days. Did my first TT (26.2) miles on Satuday. It was a three loop course that I covered in 1:09 (22.7) which included an wrong turn on the first loop. I did a good job on pacing throughout but my second loop was a bit slower by about 15 seconds and then my third loop was about 5 seconds slower then my first but I felt a lot stronger and more efficient. Rode the TT with an avg HR of 152 so I think I could have push much harder since I was riding mainly in zone 3, or is that a good HR for that distance? Did a two mile run off and ran an easy 8:10 pace to shake the legs out. I used my trainer wheels and got the chance to pass someone on their second loop as I was finishing ride a SC with a disc rear, areo helmet, and skinsuit, felt good to pass him!

Yesterday I took a new route for my long ride and found some roads with minimal traffic. Got 70 miles in with the first half flat, and the second with some rollers. Rode a 20 mph avg on my own and nutrition seemed to work great. Good confidence builder on the bike this weekend.

Took today off as I just needed a mental break and my body seems exhausted although I am still I can put the effort out if I wanted, but I am erring on the side of rest.

Hi everyone...finally got rid of all my relatives and had some time to get a race report done...here it is.  Since this OLY is my last race before Racine, I would be extremely grateful for any comments or advice you might have for me after reading it.  I am feeling a bit more confident about my first HIM now, but still nervous.  It's getting down to the wire, so anything I'm going to change or incorporate into my routine has to happen this week.

Also, I need a kick in the pants to get back into training...I was exhausted yesterday so I took the day off, but I need to get back into it...I am almost wondering if I should take another day off and hit it fresh tomorrow...still tired.