In need of purpose

The longer I consider myself an endurance athlete the more I see that I am not in it for the joy of training.

I know that a lot of endurance athletes out there love to train and could train for the sake of training all year round.

Me, I train to race... I train to compete...I train to go faster than the guy next to me to catch the guy ahead of me and to hold off the guy behind me. Training is a necessary evil to race fast/er. Without a race on the immediate horizon and without the pressure to get prepared I am finding it hard to find some fire.

I am in need of purpose.

Being injured and unable to run is making it much harder too. Because I need to get my body in shape to train again before getting in shape to race. This is not how I pictured the early stages of the 09/10 campaign.

I have sucked it up and made an appointment to see the Physio. I am pretty sure I put his kids through college last year, and it seems that they will be awarded the Duncan Scholarship again this year... Also Mr Ibuprofen will be rubbing his hands together when he sees me coming again.

Ahh well, neither ‘getting rich’ nor ‘lengthening my life’ were on my goal list for 2009...

The Lycra doesn't lie

Due to pressure from my adoring fan... I will be blogging again.

I hope to be regular; but with a lot on my plate over the next little while I may not be.

As I said to my to my fan the other day "it's been so long, I could write a novel to update what has happened since my last post!". I won't write a novel; but will give you the highlights and fill in the details over the next little while.

Since my last post:

• 1 Half Ironman – so-so performance
• 1 Ironman – major injury issues, glad to finish
• Numerous injuries – old ones and new ones
• 1 Sea Urchin attack – WTF?
• 1 Surgery to remove Sea Urchin Spines – Yes, the nickname ‘bubbleboy’ is appropriate
• 1 trip to NZ to not compete in a Half Ironman and not attempt to qualify for World Long Course Champs
• 2 months of 0 training sessions
• 1 month of easing back into training and dealing with lingering injuries.

In essence the 08/09 season was not my finest and good riddance I say.

I forgot to mention that somewhere in there I managed to get my wife pregnant and it is currently 13 sleeps till another Iron-Orphan enters the world (kidding).

I anticipate a continued ‘easing’ back into training due to fatherly duties. This all works nicely towards my plan to race Ironman NZ 2010, so baby’s first birthday is perfectly timed to see the grand-parents in NZ (you may remember that my wedding was scheduled around a race last year too…)

I have likely missed some of the details; they will come to me as I go.

It feels good to be back.

Oh, the title is a reference to the way my bike shorts groan when I put them on at the moment, race weight is a distant memory...

He lives!!

Just a quick post to say I am still alive and fully intend to get back on the blogging bandwagon. I went through an unmotivated patch there and will start to make an effort over next little while. In a bit of a slow period training-wise due to a back injury but should get moving again next few days. I have an Olympic distance race coming up next weekend which should be fun. Not the best build up with the back and all but smash! smash!

Hmm, I just realized this must be one of the most cliche posts in the blogging world, " I am still alive but I am a slack ass..." Ahh well...

More later.

I am high maintenance

The two most common causes of injury in endurance athletes are, increase in training volume and/or increase in training intensity. I am testament to this, as I have experienced both this year since starting training in earnest for Ironman and as a result I've had a series of injuries. The increase in training has exposed the inadequacies in my body, it bio-mechanics and my ability to maintain it.

Injuries are par for the course in Ironman training and its not the injuries that I have the problem with. It is the cost financially that makes it hard to swallow. If I try to maintain the training volume required to get the performance I want, it is likely I will run the risk of continued injuries. The only way I can foresee training at the level I need to, is too invest large sums of time and money on maintaining 'the machine'. By this I mean regular massage, physiotherapy, podiatrist consults, and the list goes on, which can add up to $200+/week.

I am high maintenance.

"Slow down? Lower your sights?" you say. Not in my nature. Now, I am a huge fan of the enter to finish athletes, but I am not one of them. I understand that my first Ironman will be an exercise in finishing, but I want to finish fast.

I got into Ironman under no illusion that it would be cheap, however there is another important factor that makes this situation more difficult. My 'A' race this season is not triathlon related... I'm getting married in January to my race support crew (otherwise known as Fay), and no surprise it ain't cheap jumping the Tasman to tie the knot. This means all funds are currently being funneled into the blackhole that is 'wedding expenses', with the few odd dollars being funnel off to 'training and racing expenses'.

So, after much soul searching and consultation with 'the coach', it looks like the road to Ironman is going to be extended to a two year plan. This season is probably going to take in a couple of Half Ironmans, one of those being a race back home, The Port of Tauranga Half (which by huge coincidence is a week before the wedding! How convenient). The other looks like being Shepparton Half Ironman as a preparation race. I can't wait to race.

There are numerous positives to this decision and at my age I can extend the time frame by a year with no real problems (other than my lack of patience). A lot of people I have talked to agree, that a two year plan is probably more realistic and sustainable than one.

The take home message that I get from this is, that I can go balls out to race Ironman this season, probably carrying injuries all season, possibly having a disappointing race (and a budget wedding and angry support crew). Or, I can train and race Half Ironman this season, which will require less volume training (and cost less in general) and be better prepared physically and financially for the 2008/2009 season, to smash Ironman. I have checked my ego at the door (yes I managed to fit that line in)

Thats my positive spin on the matter and I am sticking to it...

Reading back over this post, it seems to have a negative feel and that wasn't the intention. I am fine with the fact that I am taking time to adapt to the Ironman training workload and I am fine that I will be racing Ironman next season rather than this. I'm really looking forward to smashing it, in the races I have planned this season.

Sunday morning ride with new kit

I cranked out a solid 3:30 on the bike this morning, on a hilly course. It was good to do a decent ride after the ups and down I have had on the bike lately. I had a small niggle at about 40mins, which I have learnt will pass completely if I keep going. It's not the same as the ITB pains I was getting, but seems to be a result of it or the rehab work I have been doing. It was pretty chilly one this morning and I was trialling some new kit. Now, I am a procrastinator at times, and despite it being spring (the tree outside with the pink buds on it says so, so Fay says), I went for my first ride with a new set of booties, gloves and a fleece neck warmer. One reason I hadn't got some sooner, was that the price of these items just seems ridiculous. Come on, $40-$60 for foot warmers?! But I stalked eBay until I found some at the right price, $18.00, sold! Now, if you haven't got booties and are thinking that the freezer bags in the shoes are doing the trick (as I did), you are missing out! My booties rock. I was of the opinion that cold feet were part of winter cycling, but my feet were toasty all morning. The fleece neck warmer was pretty successful too, it may have looked a little lame but my neck and face (I wore it cattle rustler style for the first 40min) were much warmer and I could talk using my lips this morning, which improves my speech no end. The gloves, I must say were a let down, they were supposed to be an upgrade of my old pair but the were more like a lateral-grade at best. Don't buy Trek 5x5 gloves at retail, they aren't all that. I am hoping they might stretch a little and allow more circulation which may have been the problem...

Enough about my new kit. I am enjoying training, the 5:00am starts are getting easier each day and the extra spare time in the AM means I can blog, do website admin for “the coach”'s website or play games without feeling guilty about other responsibilities. The true test it how much of an effort it is to get up for swim squad tomorrow morning.

By the way, weight update – 79.8kg (fluctuating by 1 - 1.5kg, but ignoring any over 80.0kg)

Oh, also looking like Ironman might be off the cards this season, may only do Half Ironmans this time round and go for the full next season. It's all to do with me being high maintenance, which I will explain later.

Sleep better by getting up early (I hope)

Today is a rest day and I am sitting here typing at 5:00am, due to the cunning plan I developed at the start of the week. I have been finding it a real struggle to get up some mornings, especially the 4:40am starts to get to swim squad. I have found that even when I get in 7-8 hours I still battle for the first 30min or so to get moving. Now, I know this is probably common for most folks, but I thought I would see if I could make some changes to decrease the chances of the dreaded, 'reset and roll syndrome' (reset, as in the alarm, for later). One of the things that I often tell clients (I work as a child and adolescent psychologist) with sleep problems, is that having a routine is very important to getting quality sleep. I have found lately, that I haven't been getting up at the same time on any two consecutive days. It can vary by up to three hours between a swim squad day and a rest day. I think this may be a big part of the problem. So, because I can't move swim squad to a later time, I have moved my waking time to an earlier one. I try to be in bed by 9:30pm at the latest, which isn't too bad as I just watch TV or surf the net anyway in the evenings, so I get 7-8 hours each night. Now, I haven't had overwhelmingly positive feedback on my plan from those I have deigned to share it with (non-believers!), but that doesn't usually stop me anyhow. One of the benefits of my plan is plainly clear, on non-swim squad mornings such as this morning, I have a spare 2 ½ hrs to waste use constructively. Another is that I can go to work half an hour early and finish the same in the afternoon. So far so good (it has only been a few days), but I will see how it goes.

Training is going pretty good, I can run pain free, I just have to avoid the “its all better, who needs stretches and strengthening exercises” thing and I should be all good. Last night I had a pretty intense magtrainer group session, and my knee didn't have anything to say at all, so fingers crossed.

Hopefully my new early to rise routine will also mean more time to blog too, win win for everyone.

Back on track and ITB links

I am two days into my first, what I guess is a full weeks training. It seems to be going well, tonight’s magtrainer session will tell. I have become quiet 'knee pain paranoid' lately and any sensation in my knee is analysed and monitored. I have not had pain as such for a while but I have had sensations which don’t seem normal or at least, I don’t remember having them in the past. I also have caught myself using my left leg to do all the work at times, which I can imagine would lead to all sorts of problems if I let it carry on. I was considering writing a post on ITB problems, but really my heart isn’t in it. To tell the truth after all the panicked research I have done into it recently, I don’t want to think too carefully about it. What I will do though is share a coupe of links that I felt were the most helpful and that made sense to me. They matched up with what the professionals I have talked to are saying as well as matching up with what other athletes who have experienced the problem have been saying.

This one is about ITB and rehab:
http://trifuel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7715&highlight=itbs

This is a site that has tonnes of great info on all sport related injuries and the rehab for them:
http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/

Recovering from injury and Ironman training envy

I just got in from a 50min run, all be it a very easy paced one and I had no discomfort in my knee at all. Yay. I have had no problems at all this week with my knee and I think if I keep on top of my stretches and core strength exercises then I will be able to say goodbye to the ITB issues (touch wood). I have heard a lot about people having ongoing issues and I'm hoping that if I don't get lazy with looking after my body then I won't have further problems.

My build back into training will be a gradual one. My main problem at the moment is training envy. Its gotten to the point where I don't want to ask the guys I train with how their training is going or how far they have been going. It makes me feel like a wuss. It also makes me think about the training I haven't done and how it would have helped for the races later in the season. I guess I need to focus on getting as much quality training in between now and my next race, rather than focusing on the missed training. It seems to be that external motivation thing kicking in again. I'm all about the comparing with others and at the moment my is definitely smaller than yours.

Injury/training update #2

Its the end of another week of slowly but surely rehabing my knee. It has been reasonably successful, despite being slower than I would like. I got through a 30min jog yesterday and a 2hr spin this morning on the bike. I rode an hour, to watch some of the people I train with doing a half marathon or 10km run. Congratulations to everyone that ran. I was jealous to be stuck watching, which was made worse by uncontrollable shivering due to the cold. I was consolated by a plate of warm pancakes and some jelly beans, that the race organizers were providing for the runners. I think they meant to spectators to be fed too... Well thats my story and I'm sticking to it. I was concerned after last week, that the cooling off while watching the run would give my knee a chance to flare up and cause me grief on the way home. I am glad to say it didn't. Though for the first 10mins the shivering was so bad I almost shivered my self off the road a couple of times! I have my program for the next several weeks and its a long slow build back to full Ironman training program. I am looking forward to increasing the volume and intensity, so I can feel like I'm actually making progress rather than maintaining at best. Lets hope everything remains positive.

Injury/training update

It's a bit sad to be doing “injury updates”, but such is life at the moment. This weekend I got through a 20min jog on Saturday, followed by a 15min cold water wade. It was interesting to see how a little thing like the camber of the footpath, played such a big part in my pain levels. I got through 10min reasonably well, then started running along a footpath with an, I guess, “reasonable” down to the right camber. Its my right ITB that is giving me grief and almost immediately the pain increased. I clicked after about a minute and moved to the part of the path sloping the other direction and walla! The pain went away within a minute or less. It really illustrates how small things can make a huge difference and how functional the injury is. I guess for the next while I will be sticking to the left hand side of the road, at least until I get this issue sorted.

This morning I joined the 2hr Sunday group ride, to see how I held up on the bike. We have made some significant changes to my saddle position that seems to have helped. The ride went pretty well, but ended in a frustrating fashion. One of the group got a puncture which is a common occurrence and cant be helped (to tell the truth I enjoy the break, though I was missing the few kg of body fat this morning brrrr!). In the five or so minutes we waited it seemed the part of my knee that swells when irritated got a good swell on and for the last 15min I was in a good deal of pain. At this point there was no way I found to be rid of it. I think, for the next while. no stopping and ice and anti-inflammatories immediately are the order of the day.

I am feeling pretty positive, despite the niggles, a few more weeks and I can get back to smashing it. As of todays date there are 133 days till my first, what I'd consider serious race. Yes I am counting it down already...

James' 'Weight Update' #6

I have had a number of people asking how my weight loss is going and I thought I would give you all the goss. The skinny of it (pun intended) is that... No I didn't get under 80kg by July 1st. I am disappointed and I admit contemplated a sweat it out weigh in attempt. But I thought better of it, as it wouldn't have been in spirit of the goal. I just weighed myself and I tipped the scales at 80.5kg. I have been maintaining the strict caloric intact since last time I reported, but the down fall of the, lose weight to go fast goal, was the injuries I'm carrying that have basically stopped me in my tracks. As a lot of you Ironpersons will know, an ITB problem is one of the lamest injuries in the world. You strut around all day feeling like a box of birds, then you run for ten minutes then fall in a heap. Not only annoying, but, unimpressive compared to other more visual/ believable injuries. I almost feel like limping all day just to make sure everyone knows I'm injured and I'm not just blagging training. I feel a ITB education post coming on in the near future.

I'm now in serious rehab mode and will continue the weight updates, full steam ahead for the under 80kg goal at the end of... July?

Oh, by the way, a big thank you for responding to my request for comments, 'touch it' (interesting nickname) who was kind enough to show me I wasn't rambling to myself, cheers.

Injury interrupted week and new gadget

Its the end of a frustrating week of training interrupted by injuries. My body has been rebelling against the increased training load and it is annoying the hell out of me. I suppose it is better to be happening now rather than closer to Ironman race season, but its a pain in the ass just the same. I won't go into great detail on this topic because I don't want to bring you all down with my negative mood. Lets just say training is not on track and I need to take some steps to sort things out.

On a different note I have recently purchased an IrDA (standing for Infrared Don't Ask me what it stands for) adapter. It allows me to upload the heartrate data from my Polar heartrate monitor to my PC. So far it is interesting, but I really have no idea what to do with the information. I anticipate that when I have my heartrate training zones (coming soon), I will be able to see how successful I have been in sticking to them. I think I'll do some research into how else I might make use of the technology. I need to find some excuse for why I spent the money. I will keep you updated on what I find out.

External motivation - Winning isn't everything, but losing sucks

Whew! What a big day at work. I'm pretty tired and the next two weeks look pretty full on training wise. The volume and intensity of my Ironman training is increasing significantly. I am a little nervous but definitely excited to see how I cope. I have taken tonight off on my physio's recommendation, because my right hamstring is still a bit tender from the half-marathon I did a week and a half ago. I'll run easy in the morning to see how it pulls up. I am reasonably happy with how my training and fitness is progressing, though I have some that my swimming is not really coming along. This is probably the result of a combination of two things. One is the training fatigue I am experiencing from the other discipline training that I am doing. The other is the fact that I usually share a lane with an absolute fish in the pool. My ego takes a battering (I'm sure there is an unintentional pun about fish and batter in there...) every swim session and I have been finding it hard to sleep the night before swim squad. This is likely an illustration of my personalty, I really much prefer to win than lose and I find it hard to cope with ongoing not winning. I guess I had better get used to it in the near future though, as I will regularly be surrounded by Ironman athletes that can wipe the floor with me from here on in. I think it is important for me to start developing some personal goals in the pool, such as times I want to make or sets I want to do well. That way I can start to see some success in my training instead of loses. One of the pitfalls of being an externally motivated Ironman is that unless you're the world champion or a top end professional, you are going to lose to someone...

Magnesium supplementation update – I have been taking the Ultra Muscleze now for a week and a half. I have had no problems with cramp at all in that time. I had a slight twinge in my calves in the pool on Monday morning but I regularly get cramps in the pool, so I feel there has been an improvement. I have a big brick session on Saturday morning, so that will be make or break time for my magnesium supplementation program. If I have a cramp free morning then I will call it a success and give Ultra Muscleze the Ironman Cafe seal of approval. Stay tuned.

Quick Ironman training catchup, back with more soon!

It’s been a few days since my last post and I have been a little slack over the past week. I’m going to try to get back into regular posting and finding some more useful information for you guys. Look forward to it.
Training is going well and I’m back on track for Ironman after the injury that slowed me down for a while. I am having regular physio visits to deal with some neural problems leftover from the quad strain I had a few weeks back. It appears that my bike setup has something to do with it and some tweaks to my bike might help. I have a group magtrainer session tonight which should be a tough’n. Can’t wait…

The Ironman training god is trying to tell me something. I'm not listening

What a shocking last few days! Let’s just say someone out there didn’t want me to get in a good training week. I guess there are possible benefits in aiding my leg injury recovery (seeing the physio again today by the way, will give you an update after that), but his is getting ridiculous. I’ll give you the short version. Wednesday evening I had a solo swim session planned, I do this at the local pool, I forgot my togs and it’s a 45min round trip to go get them and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, one session denied. Thursday morning I had a magtrainer session planned and I set my alarm the night before, some how I set it one hour late and ran out of time before work, two sessions denied. Then last night I had the group magtrainer session planned, but I had to work late so didn’t have time to make it to the group session, so I had to settle for a solo session at home, three sessions denied. Then this morning I had a cadence magtrainer session planed and during my warm-up the battery in my cycle computer died (which was made more annoying by the fact that the batteries in my dress watch, my sports watch and my heart rate monitor all died in the space of one week last week) so cadence had to be done by counting and my leg started playing up and the session had to be cut short, four sessions denied.
But, I will not be deterred; I will get on top of my training. If things aren’t going your way, it’s important not to let it get to you. A few missed sessions are not particularly important in the scheme of things and if life gets in the way of training at times that’s fine. Some times us ‘amateur athletes’ need to focus on other things. If I was a professional Ironman and my next pay cheque relied on my performance and it was close to the big race, then I would be worried. Ironman WA is eight months away and I had a bad/unlucky week, what can ya do?

Usual transmission will continue shortly, non-Ironman related issues

Quick note to say I am still alive and posting guys.

Have some non-Ironman related stress going on at the moment and will try to post if, and when have the time/energy. A combo of stress and the injury getting me down. Lucky I'm a qualified Clinical Psychologist right... Training update and Ironman related posting coming soon.

Technical difficulties and recovery runnning

You'll have to believe me when I tell you I typed a good length post last night. Sadly it was lost to technical difficulties, and I didn't have it in me to retype it. Its kinda like telling a story to someone that was funny the first time, but you had to be there. So the skinny version goes something like... Physio asks how I go with pain, I say “great, give it to me”,he wails on my butt cheeks with his elbow and I squeal like a pig/baby/girl/man?....Physio tells me to go for a jog for 30min at 50%, thankfully very little pain in the “Old Rec Fem” and ice sorts it out. The End.

Today's program called for sleeping in this morning. Well... I definitely gave that my full effort. Tonight, however, I had 1:45:0 of intervals to do, but on the Physio's orders I went with another 30min cruise and felt good. So things are looking good at the moment (knocking on my head just in case) the road to Ironman is back on track, yehar!

Resting up the old 'Rec Fem'

So I've been taking the physio's advise and have been resting and icing me Rec Fem (thats physio lingo). I swam yesterday morning, again doing the whole session pull. It was a nice relaxed session and I felt strong. Luckily I was not scheduled to do any running till next week and I have an easy 3 hours on the bike tomorrow. My quad is feeling better by the day and I am confident that I will be back on the road next week. All plans for Ironman in December look to be on track for now. I did feel a small panic when I hurt my leg but realistically it's not going to be a biggie. It's all part of Ironman/triathlon training, if you listen to and take care of your body, it will do the same for you.

The Physio concurs with my diagnosis, but not my treatment

So I went to the Physio today...

He concurred with my expert diagnosis, I have strained/damaged my Rectus Femoris muscle. He recommended that I refrain from any exercise that causes pain (running, swimming and cycling...triathlon) for a week. He said this with that “I'm saying a week and I know you are going to give it like half that time, but what can i do?” look. I'm to continue icing it for a few days. He said that early on heat, exercise and rubbing are my quads enemy. Which means the massage I gave it last night and the swimming this morning followed by a hot shower probably weren't as therapeutic as I had imagined. I guess thats why he gets the big bucks. In a few days time, heat, exercise and rubbing will start to become my quads friend again. He recommended a light build back to the pre-injury training load, while staying below pain causing intensity, some therapeutic massage in a weeks time and hot-cold treatments. It is annoying taking time out from the Ironman training, but on a positive note I'm in a recovery week, so I am not missing too much. I will do my best to follow my orders and see how it progresses. Fingers crossed.

Ouch that hurts! Leg injury runnning and the 10% rule

This week is recovery week, and the goal is to be rested and recuperated for the next few weeks Ironman training, but I have managed to injure my leg.... damn!

I'm hoping its minor, I hurt it last week during the running technique group training. It has been giving me problems since, but it seemed to be on the mend.

I cruised through the warmup this morning and got through one of the 1min build to firm pace intervals when bang, during the second interval as I went up a rise onto a bridge, I felt a sharpish pain and my leg tried to dump me on the pavement. Needless to say, that was the end of intervals and I finished off the session with some easy jogging. It appears that my new running technique combined with the increased running and cycling volume is putting some strain on my legs.

After googling it, as i do with anything and everything, I am of the opinion that it is my rectus femoris muscle that is giving me the problems. However, I think I will leave the final call up to the people who get paid to diagnose these things because they unlike me have studied muscles and such at university. I will talk to a physio tomorrow. Fingers crossed its not to much of a biggie.

I think an important point that this illustrates, is the risk of dramatic increases in training volume and intensity when training for Ironman, triathlon or any sport. I have read numerous articles discussing increases of no more than 10% per week. It makes good sense particularly to athletes early in their triathlon career. Any more than this can put stresses on your body that increase the risk of injury significantly. I think it is probably common for more experienced triathletes to make quite sharp increases in training volume after their off season rest period. If you are going to ignore the 10% rule, as I did, then it is important to listen to your body, use caution when you feel a twinge and stretch regularly. Start getting regular massage early, beginning as you mean to precede. Hopefully I won't lose too much training time because of this. It is a definite possibility to make more loss than gain if you increase your training to dramatically and end up badly injured and not training at all.

Here is a site with info about my suspected Rectus Femoris injury in case you are experiencing a similar problem. I'm not an advocate for self diagnosis, I'm just a know-it-all.

Here is a site that mentions the 10% rule with regards to marathon rather than Ironman training, though still relevant to triathletes.