Training fatigue and hot/cold recovery

It has been a testing last few days, both physically and mentally, with the Saturday Morning Brick Session and the ongoing training since then. Yesterday I had one of the flattest Ironman training days I have had in a while. I felt tired when I woke for swimming and once in the pool I knew it was going to be a slog. I felt some residual fatigue from the 2km swim the night before and it didn't warm out. We did what I would usually find a pretty tame set of 12x100m on 1:30, I struggled from the get go and by the end was getting no rest, I felt like i was swimming in caramel sauce...mmm caramel sauce. It was hard on my body and probably harder on my ego. But, I have to look at it in the context of the big weekend I had and learn not to let individual sessions or sets overshadow the big picture. I am sure I am going to have a lot of sessions where it seems like I am going backwards or just don't have the energy to perform up to my expectations, but, who cares how fast I go for 12x100m eight months out from my goal Ironman...?

I had a couple of solid run sessions today, both including intervals building to max effort. On a positive note I felt pretty damn good this morning and not too bad this evening. I haven't felt any pain in the 'Old Rec Fem' in a few weeks and I'm continuing with regular physio appointments to improve my core strength and posture with a hope to keep future injuries at bay and to increase my performance.

I have been using hot/cold recovery lately and I feel that it is helping me to recover faster and train day in day out. I either do 3-5 sets in the shower of 30secs cold water and 1min hot water, or 3-4mins in a hot bath and 1min in a cold shower. The idea behind hot/cold recovery is that the repeated constriction and dilation of leg muscle tissues pumps wastes out of your legs and helps reduce inflammation and bleeding in the muscles. I am still unsure how much of a benefit it is. I feel it does help to a degree, it reduces the muscle pain I feel, which in turn probably helps me train harder. Whether it increases my performance or not, I'm not sure. One thing I am sure of is that I would like to find some sort of waterproof underwear, because, ice cold water is not welcome on some parts of my body no mater how therapeutic it is. I have considered cutting leg holes in a shower cap, but I would have to kick my own ass if I was getting around with a shower cap on for a nappy.

There has been some research into the benefits of hot/cold recovery, if your interested I have placed a link to a good article on the Peak Performance online website below.

Hot/Cold - Don't pour cold water over hydrotherapy

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.