Beer Drinker Appreciation Society - Closed (Page 88)

Heard from the ortho today about the knee.  Said I have some cracked cartilage behind the knee cap which is causing the clicking and discomfort.  Doesnt see surgery as a necessity, but surgery would be more to reduce my discomfort than anything else. He said I could rest it and see how it goes from here.  So that is what I am going to do.

I was talking to my wife and remembered when I first started to feel the knee pain over a year ago. My wife and I were working out at the gym doing deep squats. Then this time around I was doing squats to help build my legs.  So I think Ill stay away from squats and see where that takes me.

Planning to get out on Sunday and run while my wife walks.   Thanks for the sounding board! 

I think that is a tough one to balance. I think some form of squat (not deep) may help the problem and too deep will hurt it. Strengthening the leg muscles, if you can do it without pain, would be beneficial IMO.  I can't remember, do you have a race on the schedule?

I havent signed up for the race yet but their is a sprint series starting in June and going bi-weekly until august.  Reg opened last week, so I am going to sign up for a later one so I can get some decent training in.

Bobby- Since you are having IT band issues I need to pick your brain.  I think the good knee being tight may be that but I'm not sure.  The knee itself doesn't hurt all the time but when bent feels like it's pulling on the outside of the kneecap.  That same hip is tender when walking as well.  I pulled out the foam roller and found 3 sets of knots on the outside of the thigh.  Does this sound about right?  I have no idea how this could have happened except for when I couldn't walk on the other one and was a one legged hopper for 2 weeks.  Does that count as over use also?

One heals and takes the other one out in the process....are you kidding me.  I'm even afraid to ride my bike.

From one ITB sufferer to another - sounds like an ITB issue to me.  You can probably blame all the biking you've been doing. I know you got fitted for your bike - but you might want to take it back to the bike place and tell them you are experiencing ITB issues.  I did that after I got my bike fitted last June and it helped a ton.  

Other things things that you can do - ice, stretch (remind me later - I've got some good ones) and roll.  Go slowly on the roller or you could irritate it further.  Start small and build up from there.  

More later - I gotta run to my son's science fair.

I think you are right about the fit being a major factor.  The last ride I felt the knee being real tight and "pully"  I was a ways from home and tried to slide back some....that made it worse so I tried to slide forward.  When I did that all the pressure left and I could actually feel it in my quads like I should have.  I pulled my seat forward but have been scared to ride afraid of hurting more (once bitten twice shy...some 80's rock quotes there for ya).  I guess once it subsides some and loosens up I'll head out real real easy and carry my hex wrench to move it forward more if needed.  I know I know, get out there and test it out, suck it up Nancy boy, pull up your pink panties and man up!

IT band:

agree with what was said. you likely have IT band issues. I suggest you marry the foam roller, get a less aggressive bike fit, work on your glutes (and general strength) and hit the elliptical. 

Thor - How did the trip to the pearl izumi outlet go?  The wife and I are up in that area a few times a year and if it's a whole bunch less I'd wait and grab some shorts there.

Hope you had a good vacation and enjoyed the weather.

Charles - This was a great question and I've been thinking about it all week...And to be honest - there are so many threads going through my mind that I'm not really sure where to start.. So - let me make sure I understand your point exactly: You noticed that a bunch of us are getting injured and you are wondering if this has to do with our training and if it does - why are we training that way? And you've been able to avoid injury by taking things nice and slow...

I think your observation is right on - we as a group are getting injured a lot and I think there are two reasons for this 1) A bunch of us are relatively new at this sport (I count myself in this group BTW) and are making the type of mistakes the Newbies make and 2) we are not training in a way that actively works to prevent injuries and are taking actions that bring about injury.

This hit me yesterday - I had gotten back from a run (my 2nd this week after a 3 week layoff) and I was sore.  Clearly, I had pushed too hard even though I had dialed back my workout specifically to avoid getting injured (I ran 3 minutes and walked 1).  And your post came to mind and I thought - there is a perfect example of not training in a way that prevents injury. 

So it occured to me that there are three reasons why I overtrain:

1) lack of knowledge - I dialed it back but didn't dial it back enough

2) a desire to regain previous fitness.  All I could think about during my run was how far I'd fallen during the off season.  Back in the fall, I was training for a HIM and running for 1-2 hours per workout.  This is exacerbated by a lack on patience - I want to be fit NOW!!!

3) A competitive desire to achieve - which can be summed up this way - the faster I go, the farther I go, the harder I push myself = the better I feel about myself.  And this is what makes doing triathlons so appealing especially for me.  I take great pride is my willingness to work hard and I've never really been fast as an athlete (except for one year in high school when it all came together during track season) so the only real way to "win" is by doing more.

And I know I'm straying off topic here - but I'm just processing... a perfect example of this is the magnets that people have on the back of their cars with race distances that they have run.  I have a 70.3 on my own car.  Some people might think that I put it there to impress others but it's really there to remind me of my accomplishment.  Its funny - but when I did my HIM I remember driving through the parking lot and looking at the other stickers/magnets and the one that I really coveted was the 140.6 - not because I wanted to impress others but because I wanted to be part of "that club".... I wanted to feel even better about myself by going farther... 

So - that's why I push myself... But

There are other reasons why I do tris

1) I want to be healthy 2) I want to burn calories so I can drink more beer, 3) I want to develop my body so I can have pride in it (the older I get the harder this is...)

So my motivation to go farther doesn't always help me to achieve my goal to be healthy because it has lead to a lot of injuries (just ask Thor/Cynthia/Darren/Kevin - I was injured for the majority of my first year and while I was usually able to run through the pain - there were times when I couldn't exercise and instead sat on my couch eating ice cream.

Which gets me to the finish line (thank god)... your post has gotten me thinking about the following things: 1) The need to be clear about what my goals are and what they should be.  If I am going to spend this much time - it better be used towards achieving something that is important to me.  And right now - what is most important for me is to feel good about myself.  I can't control very much at work or with my family but dammit, I can control this and I want to use this desire to accomplish my goal of completing an IM next year. 2) But I need to stay present.  I've been getting into buddhism/meditation/yoga and its teaching me that it's important to stay in the moment.  When I think back on the past - it frustrates me.  When I think of the future.  It frustrates me.  So I need to just focus on where I am today... in this moment.  By doing so, I will be able to do the right thing and thereby avoid injury. 3) I need to be patient, take what my body can give me, and be proud of the accomplishment.  I'd love to head out on a run today and crank out a 24 minute 5K - but right now that is physically impossible and would certainly injure me in the attempt.  What I need to do is to be smart and go for a nice slow recovery ride this afternoon with the hope of avoiding injury thanks to my hard run yesterday.  

Finally - its what I love about this group.  We each bring something different to the table.  I want to thank you because you all have had such an impact on me because the experiences that you have shared have all made an impression on me and have enriched the way I view my sport.  Each of you has inspired me in your own way and I am very thankful and hope we can continue to work towards our goals together while sharing our passion for beer.

Lenny - glad to hear that you are getting things figured out with your knee.  I think taking it nice and slow will help but so to will signing up for that sprint series so you have something to shoot for.

BTW - I was about the suggest you try some glucosamine but before doing so, I did a little research on the web about it.  I know Wikipedia isn't the gold standard but the info they had there made it seem like it really isn't effective in reducing joint discomfort.  I currently take 90gm per day and maybe I should think twice about it.

Hey Folks, Still alive and kicking here!

Checking in quickly and trying to catch up on the posts.... huge technological changes going on at work + Baby not sleeping = Gongshow time!

Good points- feeling much better GI-wise, getting out running a little now, got to get back to loggin'

Bad points- Not supporting you guys enough or keeping up with my BT time.

Hopefully everyone is doing well, please don't give me the Ol'heave-Ho when the summer mentor program switchs! I promise to be better

Also another big Congrats to Bobby for the HIM finish! Great Job Man!

Alex, they have some decent deals there but check some of your local tri stores as they may have some sale items. At Ryder bikes in Bradenton and Sarasota they have 15% off tri gear. Some of pretty decently priced. I picked up a 1 piece zoot tri suit for around $63 off the clearance rack. Probably saved myself $70 from buying it up here in the icy north.

Weather of course was great. Beer was awesome. Food portions were crazy at some places...oink oink!

Well new doctor, different issue. She thinks I have rotator cuff tendonitis and pinched nerve. 

Going for Cortisone shot in...May 5! WTF, this is the bad part of the canadian medical system.

Back to physio for shoulder, which may speed things up...hopefully.

Racing season could be slipping away unless i get some relief sooner than later. May be a sprint only season.

I will be happy if you just get your butt out training and tracking! Sign up for a race ASAP!

That pain might have something to do with your advancing age  Hope it gets better soon  What about massage - that may give you some relief from the pinched nerve.

I have tried massage, some kind of accupuncture, excess beer and none of it has worked... me off to say the least!

Funny story.

After my HIM, my 7 year old asked me: "Did you win?". I told him no and that there were about 3000 people in the race. He then asked "well, what place did you come in?".

Unfortunately I won the very first tri I entered. I won the group of all first timers out of 60 people and had no idea I won until the next day. The post-race podium was cancelled due to severe weather. No where to go but down from there.

Also, my second last race had 6 olypmic athletes in it. I had the same 7 year old ask me if I beat them. Gotta love kids.

I do tri's to make my mind and body stronger. I also do it so my kids see an active dad that is a triathlete.

Lead by example! Most of the time, if you do it than eventually your kids will follow suit! Great job...so did you win? 

My kid didn't look too happy when I told him I was around 1700th

That means you beat 1300 people!

I'm still waiting for my kids to follow suit...  It seems that as my wife and I have increased our level of activity - they have decreased theirs

A perfect example of that conflict I was talking about in my post occured during my afternoon ride.  So, after writing about the need to just stay in the moment and not push it - I grabbed my HR monitor and set it so I could try to stay in zone two.  So, I kept backing off trying to stay under 130.  But there was a part of my brain that was focused on my MPH and kept pushing me to pick up the pace to keep my MPH above 13.  But every time I tried to gain some speed, the HR alarm went off.  

I wasn't really frustrated - just aware of that dualism inside my brain.  So, maybe the key here (and I've said this before) is to train the brain while training the mind.  Hmm... still thinking about it.

I set my Garmin Edge to show only two things - cadence and heart rate.  My Forerunner displays only heart rate.  How fast?  140bpm.

Morning Everyone:

It's Friday and time to check in on your goals and plans for the weekend.  

I had three goals: 

• Log Every Calorie 
• Swim, Bike, Run, Yoga X1  - Actually got in 2 workouts each
• Start the BDAS Spring Mentor Group  - Still waiting for them to pull the trigger

Weekend

• Saturday - Bikeride before heading off on vacation
• Sunday - A walk once I make it to Cleveland