Beginner 1/2 Ironman Plan Group (Page 84)

I had the same sort of thing in my groin/hip area. It would be fine while I was working out and then hurt after I was done or the next morning. I went on a strict "ice after every run" even short easy ones for about two weeks and that seemed to take care of the issue for me. I think it was some kind of tendonitis issue. Hope you work out the problem without the MRI!

Hey glad to here you are back on track! The taper weeks are rough. Good luck this weekend! As far as the tires, I have not had to rack the night before but I would say either bring a pump or visit the mech tent in the morning. They are always pumping tires for people!

So happy for both of you. I was thinking of you both all weekend. Your races both sound awesome! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sprinklers and ice baths at my race but I'm afraid I'll be SOL!

Congratulations again. You two have been very inspiring to read about on this thread!

Good job to all who raced this weekend!!!!

To those racing this weekend, good luck!!!  Go kick some triathlon a$$!  And have fun of course

Woz and Joe - Thanks for the thoughts regarding my knee.

Joe - I also tend to want to know what's going on regardless ..... we only get ony body right! Still, at $600 for the MRI (to meet my deductible), I'm willing to give it some ice time to rule out bursitis or another tendonitis-like inflamation issue. The pain is isolated to the front lower lateral part of my knee; just outside my patellar tendon, and kind of wraps around the outside of the knee. It's not at all tender to the touch.

I've started to ice first thing when I wake up, after my morning workout, after my afternoon stretch and before going to bed. We'll see how it feels a week from now. As far as I can tell I've lost no strength or endurance. I actually just had a real good bike run brick this morning!

POPS and KATHY - Nice job again on your recent races! I thought about you both during the later half of my run brick today :-)

You might also try a foam roller to work out the knots in your leg. I had a similar pain when I began to increase bike/run mileage. I worked my thigh and IT band on the foam roller, had a deep tissue massage and one ART treatment. I have not had any more trouble out of it. My IT band never really hurt. The pain was in my knee but the tightness and knots were in my IT band. Just something else to try before you fork over 600 bucks! 

You go Joe!!! It will be an amazing day :-)

Joe - Have a great race this weekend and savour each and every moment, you deserve it!!

Best wishes.

Ateve

No worries, you are ready! Have a great race!

Grr, I'm having trouble ramping up my training, seems my 49-yr. old body isn't recovering as quickly as I would like.  I'm trying to gingerly start up my running after a break to (hopefully) recover from some neuroma.  For the first time ever, I got some mild knee irritation during my last bike ride, and last night my knees were irritated going down stairs. 

I guess part of it is getting enough sleep adjusting to the 5:30 AM Masters I started this week.

So today is a rest day.

I just hope I can ramp up enough to get some volume in soon, my planned HIM is Oct. 8.

Edit: Whoa, had to change that to 49-yr. old body, not 39-yr. old (talk about wishful thinking!!!)

Thanks Joe.  As I am preparing for IMKs 70.3, I really needed to read your post.  My nerves have been all over the place this week.  I really struggled with the tapering and felt like I should be doing more. 

I am looking forward to arrive at the race site and just enjoying being around my fellow athletes.  I am looking forward to sharing the experience with my wife and telling my kids about it afterwards. 

YAY!  you go Joe!  I'm finding about a week after my race that I'm really starting to realize it IS an accomplishment!

My 50 year old body felt the same when I started but I definitely got used to the load.  I had a couple injuries but I'd say I stopped noticing the recovery issues about 1/2 way through the plan.  It will get a lot better.

Thanks, Kathy, for the words of encouragement.  It's been frustrating trying to keep up with the plan, as I've never had to pay such close attention listening to my body (49-yr. old, 39 was wishful thinking).  I guess I just do the best I can and back off, as needed, to avoid injury. 

It's official - I suck at running - LOL :-)

I just have no power in my legs when I run. I guess I need to run more!

Did another 1.5 hour run today, basically the same one as on Sunday. Sunday I went like 8:15 average. Today was 8:45. Only difference was that on Sunday I woke up and ate a PB&Banana Bagel an hour and a half before the run. Today I woke up and had a PowerBar Gel and was out the door within 30 minutes. I guess these are the kind of comparisons that prove useful when developing a solid race day nutrition plan! I think I ate too much before my Oly a few weeks ago so I'm experimenting with morning nutrition before longer sessions. My Oly this Sunday will be another good test!

Hey Kathy and Pops - How did you feel on race day given the taper period of the plan? Do you think your body remembered what it was supposed to be doing? How was your endurance compared to the last few longer brick sessions of the plan?

I know how you feel as I only started running properly (i.e. correct cadence and stride = injury free) last November and this 48yr old body struggled initially with the increased training loads. However, the body definitely adapts over time, just don't push too hard too soon. I ice my knees regularly to keep any niggly aches at bay and use Hammer Recoverite drinks to fuel the body after those long strenuous days!!!!!!!! It works for me anyway!!

Hang in there Buddy!!!

Wow, very interesting to read all these posts & see people at all stages of the training plan.

Took a 3 day break at the beginning of this week. On Sunday, my right knee was bothering me. Not a sharp pain, but just a dull ache. Anyhow, I had trouble keeping the group's pace & fell back. It mostly hurt climbing and since I live in Vegas, there was a lot of climbing. So instead of doing 50 miles, I turned around early & did 30. Did something to my back too (not sure what) & didn't feel great on Monday, but still took my 3rd graders on an all day hiking trip (probably not the best way to rest). So I didn't do anything until today. Felt kinda guilty, but I see I have a long road ahead of me with all this training, so I figured better safe than sorry.  

I ran 40 mins today and had no pain at all in that knee, so hopefully it's not a big deal. I'm going to get back on the plan & see how it goes with my knee. Now that school is over, getting in the workouts will be a lot easier. Planning on early morning runs or trainer sessions before my husband goes to work & late afternoon swims a few times a week after he gets home. And of course doing the long weekend rides. The rest of the time I will get to hang out with my 3 kids as I am officially a SAHM for the next 10 weeks.

I had one after another completely disastrous, awful, think of quitting workouts the week before taper.  I did not exactly follow the plan but did a little more running and cycling and each workout i'd think, "I AM NEVER going to be able to finish the HIM!"  I couldn't dial in my nutrition and I was running slowly and could not get my HR where the plan said it should be - the last week (before taper) was a TOTAL DISASTER.    Taper sucked.  If I couldn't do my usual load I didn't want to do anything but I did give it a half-hearted effort.  Looking at my logs, I think I did most of the last week except on travel days.

I had a GREAT HIM.    I was SURE I'd be sore and feeling awful on the bike after a week off long rides but the bike was SUPER EASY - I had a LOT left in the tank (and my HR was at LT for a good 1.5 hours, I had a hard time getting it under 140 (LT is 151) and eventually gave up) after bike and I'd never run more than 12 km and did 22.  I definitely went slow - bike was 3 hours and run just under 2:30 (I think) and total 6:22 but if I had covered the distance in running previous to the HIM I would have been more confident.  I was only hurting (hips) the last 6km but felt like I had the strength to do the distance.  It was a long day at the office and I was hurting the next 2 days (quads and hips) but I think that is more due to never going the run distance before.  I felt my endurance was good but again, I padded the cycling HEAVY throughout the plan and padded the 2nd to last week (definitely tapered but not as much as the plan wanted) and then tapered the week before the HIM.  I was really worried it was too much taper and the padding worked out for me, but dayum, I was TRASHED by taper week. 

Thanks for the advice.  Today I had to cut the Masters short because my left foot kept doing this on/off cramping thing ever since I woke up (I'm guessing used fins for too long on Wed.), icing it as I speak.

Kathy, congratulations on your race!!!  Did I read that right that you never ran more than 12 km in training?  If so, then I'm very much encouraged -- I was concerned about whether I'd be able to reach running 10 miles regularly in training, but setting a less punishing 12 km goal seems more realistic right now.

I'm going to take it easy next week, I have a sprint race (1st of season) next Saturday.  After the sprint I'm gonna try some Sole insoles I ordered (rec. by a podiatrist at Slowtwitch), if that doesn't help, it's off to a local podiatrist.

Thanks again for all the words of encouragement.