That's So Last Year

This year is like a small child, young and feisty, keeping me on my toes constantly.  Last year was like a senior citizen, consistent, and predictable (and there were even a few moments that required Depends). As a result, I've had to constantly balance and juggle priorities, which has meant skimping on the blog lately.  Two business trips, wedding planning and Ironman training will do that to a guy.  I thought about my failing juggling act while  in the recovery phase of my 73-mile bike ride with Frank today through the Conejo Valley.  Keep in mind the "recovery" was approximately half the ride after climbing 900 vertical feet in just under four miles.  As you'll see in the embedded Garmin workout report (which includes post-ride run data), I kinda overdid it with my heartrate, which skyrocketed to 178 bpm and left me blasting out primal yells to psyche myself up and keep from getting off the bike and walking.  The grade, according to Frank, was 23% at one point on the climb.

When I wasn't coaxing my legs not to cramp over the remaining few hours of the ride, I was analyzing my performance on this very hill compared to less than a year ago, when I recall scooting up like a gazelle and onward with my workout.  I was also reminded of "last year" by today's Firecracker 10k run in Chinatown, which I didn't attend.  Last year, it served as a pivotal moment in my training, the last big run before tapering for the LA Marathon.  This year, I would have been in no condition to run the race at all.

Which led me to an observation that hopefully may serve as a pithy reminder for all of us struggling with "last year":

Where you were isn't where you're at.

It seems so simple, but yet it was powerful enough for me to let go of "last year" on the spot.  I can't keep comparing myself to the past. I'm a different athlete.  With different priorities, different schedules, and a different life.

Though I slogged home mired in the small chain and managed to eke out a run at the goal zone 1 pace, I felt lighter.  I'm no longer bearing the burden of meeting unrealistic expectations for myself based on last year.  This season is already so much different anyway.  Surprisingly, it's actually more mental than physical.  Last year was all about "Can I?"  This year, it's about, "How will I?"  There's a big difference.  The first implies doubt or uncertainty about reaching the finish.  The second implies devising a new plan to reach an achievable goal. That's what it's all about now: goal planning.  Smarter, not harder.  Efficiency. Calmness.  Confidence.  Even when injury, inconvenience and illness rear their monstrous heads at the worst possible times.

So, the next time you worry about where you're at compared to where you were, stop.  It's a false comparison.  Where your'e at is where you're at.  Plain and simple.  The past won't make you faster. Or stronger.

But it can make us all wiser.

128 days and counting.

A Tough Decision

Tonight, with the advice and  help of my coach, I decided not to run the Surf City Half Marathon this weekend. Could I run the 13.1 miles?  Yes.  Could I finish in two hours or less?  Probably.

Will this help propel  my training and boost my confidence?

Not really.

Moreover, I could re-aggravate the leg injuries that ART therapy has helped me restore.  There's just not enough upside here, as Mel Kiper Jr. likes to say when evaluating NFL Draft prospects.  The funny thing is, I've known all along this is the right decision.  I signed up for Surf City without a clear head, still emotionally swelling from Ironman Arizona.  I had no business making such lofty plans mere days after such a big race. I know that now.

It could be worse though.  My buddy John, who has been pasting me in trail runs the past few Wednesday, felt a twinge in his leg this past week while I was in London.  He instantly knew it was serious.  IT band tightness.  John, too, is a scratch for this Sunday's Race.

Not such a Super Sunday after all.

I've had the great fortune of participating in multiple races, injury free.  This was to be John's first half marathon.  A big milestone in his life.  He worked very, very hard to get to this moment.  Perhaps too hard.  But this is just a heartbreaking turn of bad luck for him.  He told me that at first he almost wanted to cry he was so frustrated, the moment he knew his race was over before it started.

I'm sure we can all relate at some point.

For me, I'm reminded how blessed we are to arrive at the starting line ready to race.  Physically and mentally.  It's a gift in itself to feel healthy, alive and proud just moments before the starting gun pops.

Keep that in mind the next time you toe the line.  We are very, very lucky when our plans align with reality.

138 days and counting.

Not Like Last Year

I'm at my desk at work. It's 8 p.m. on a Friday.  I'll be on call until the wee hours as I head off for a press trip tomorrow in London and assets still need to be delivered.

I'm not complaining at all.  I work for a fantastic company, I love what I do and love my teammates.  I've been incredibly fortunate NOT to have to work late hours for quite a while now, so when I do, I really don't mind.

That's just life.

And it's a lot different from last year, when my luck and timing aligned to allow for a high emphasis on being the best triathlete I could be.

I don't think that's realistic this year.  I essentially have A-races in the life column: Wedding and honeymoon; Busy career year; and an actual Ironman.

Three A-level "life events" are starting to take their toll.  I can't remember the last time I missed two workouts in one week when illness wasn't a factor.  But that's just what happened this week with deadlines looming and a suitcase still waiting to be packed.  It's moments like this when my goal of breaking 12 hours at Ironman Coeur d'Alene seems farther away than ever.  Especially when I'm seeing slow running results from my ever-changing form, as was the case today with a lumbering 5.8 mile run in zone 2 that lasted almost an hour on the dot. And when I'm downing In N' Out Double-Doubles with fries late in the office instead of my personal strength training session, which I skipped.

What to do?

I think the answer is to simply accept that A) it's a busy time of the of the year in my industry, B) I'm lucky to have a job and C) this year ain't nothin' like last year.  I know I've mentioned the latter point before, but watching it unfold with an Ironman less than five months away is a little scary.  What else is coming?

Life, that's what.

This is normal!  Normal people work late hours and have lots of commitments. Abnormal people fit 15+ hours of training in on top of it.  Something's gotta give.

I'm not prepared to give in.  Yet.

How do you do it?  Especially those with families?

Maybe triathlon is a single-person's sport? A sport for those with disposable income and disposable time.   I dunno.

(Apologies if this is a downer.  I know that one of the things the people who read this blog appreciate is my honesty, so I don't want to sugarcoat anything.)

But wait! A silver lining!

Here's what I've learned from training and racing the past year-plus. YOU HAVE TO KEEP GOING!  You have to chip away at the problem.  Don't give up!  Even if the result isn't what we visualized, we still complete the journey.  That means a lot.  There is no shame in that.  No quit in that.  It's no different than those workouts when we just don't want to get in the pool or on the bike, or lace up those muddy shoes.  The results from those workouts are sometimes the best.  Why?  I think it's because there's no expectations involved.  You just shrug your shoulders and pedal.  And then you get there faster than you expected, wherever "there" is.

So that's what I'm going to do.  Shrug my shoulders and move forward the best I can.  I may not get there as fast as I'd like.

But I'll get there.

And I hope to see you there too when I arrive.

144 days and counting.

Progress Report

There are positives and negatives when running with a friend who's faster than you.  The conversation and camaraderie can't be beat.  However, it's very easy to beat yourself up -- physically and emotionally.

Both happened this morning when my buddy John and I ran a hilly trail course at Griffith Park.  I love having a friend run with me -- it's relaxing and borderline sacred in terms of being able to unwind without interruption.  And the views, as you can see in the image accompanying this post, are fantastic.  On the other hand, I totally ignored my scheduled workout (stay in heart rate zones 2-3) in the name of keeping up.

Here's the frustrating part though.  I used to be able to tear through this particular trail last year during the height of my speed and Ironman training, notching off 7:30-9:30 miles with ease. Today, no such luck.  John's watch data indicated we ran between 11:00-9:10 miles.  I was wheezing afterward.

What's happened?  I do know this: I'm nowhere near being in Ironman shape.  But I won't get down about it.  Rather, I'll use today's run as simply a benchmark in where I'm at from a fitness standpoint.  There's a lot of training left to go before Ironman Coeur d'Alene.  And I'm really glad I barely have any races this season between here and June 26.

Somewhere between now and then, I hope to pick up the pace while carrying the same level of conversation as today.  Even though my workout wasn't the best in terms of performance, I'll remember it more for the progress report of where I'm at in my training physically, along with the laugh-out-loud moments John and I enjoyed.

Gotta keep the training fun, right?

146 days and counting.

Enjoy it While it Lasts

I interviewed a pro triathlete today for my next Lava Magazine column.  No, I'm not saying who. What strikes me about my relatively short time in the world of triathlon is how accessible, humble and gracious professionals are in this sport.  I used to cover high school and college sports for a local newspaper as well as my college daily (Arizona Daily Wildcat).  The athletes were coddled and spoiled, treating us press-types as the scum of the earth.  Even when I was in college and interviewing my peers.  There were exceptions to my experience as a sports reporter (Phoenix Suns forward and Duke University graduate Grant Hill being most notable), but by and large, interviewing athletes ranked right up there with voluntary abuse.

Yes, I said voluntary abuse -- I went there.  I would know about it too, as one college basketball player tried choking me once after practice. (A story for another day.)

Anyway, my point is I feel like I'm on the ground floor of a sport that ought to explode onto the mainstream scene at any point.  The sport is growing exponentially.  People are taking notice.  But right now we're in the golden period where pros still appreciate any exposure they can get.  They seem to answer their own emails, tweet their own messages, return phone calls when you try to reach them, and even say thank you once an article has been published.  When I was a kid and thinking about being a sports columnist, these were the kinds of athletes I had always hoped I'd be able to interview.  Young, hungry, gracious.

I'd like to see triathlon gain the mainstream exposure it deserves. It's a healthy lifestyle that often employs a charitable angle at races.  And it's something one can do for many, many years.  Yet, I realize what a good thing we have going now.  I don't want to hold the sport back, but I will remember these days fondly.  When I can talk with champions without layers of middlemen.  When we can exchange restaurant recommendations via gmail.  When we can talk about friends in common without a PR person motioning me to hurry the conversation along.

I wonder how long we'll have left to enjoy these graceful champions before the next reality TV series,  action figure lineup or cheesy movie with d-level celebrities dilutes the magic we have now.

Until then, I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

147 days and counting.

Officially Recovered

It didn't occur to me until late this afternoon that I had run three days in a row, each without pain.  Nearly six miles with several climbs on Friday, three miles yesterday following a long pain-free bike ride and today, nearly eight miles of trail running in just shy of 1.5 hours. Yeah, I'd say that marks a recovery or if nothing else, a significant improvement.

Duration: Two months exactly.  About one month longer than I ever expected.  But better late than never!

Now, what contributed to this recovery?  I think it's a number of things that all blended together:

-- Accepting the need for recovery: This was definitely the most difficult part of the process.  I thought I could just leap back from my Ironman after a few weeks and start workout out again for the next event.  Not even close.  Once I realized that, my real recovery began.

-- Listening to my body: I had twinges in my hips, knees and IT bands I wasn't used to, and instead of ignoring the pain I did something about it.  I pulled back on races, consulted my coach, personal trainer and ultimately, my ART therapist.  There's a time to ignore pain (perhaps in a race) and a time to acknowledge it (training, post-race).  I'm very grateful I chose the latter route.

-- Taking time to recover: Once I accepted that I needed a recovery, I decided to let the process run its course.  I'm inpatient, so this step was especially difficult.  But it's necessary because rushing through an injury will likely just make matters worse.

-- Extensive stretching: Instead of workout out, I stretched.  And when I wasn't stretching, I was trying to schedule a yoga class.  While it's nowhere near as fun (for me) as cycling out on the open road, I've felt the differences from stretching and foam rolling more often.  Combined with the ART therapy (below), my body has felt fresher lately.  In addition to stretching though, I got back on a strength training regimen that has helped my muscles replenish themselves.  I've been careful to primarily rely on body weight, cables or light weights and met with my trainer to ensure that all exercises helped alleviate my leg problems, not contribute further to them.

-- Active Release Technique therapy: ART therapy has made a huge difference, in my opinion.  I was skeptical at first but am now a believer.  My hips have experienced the biggest benefits so far from the gripping manipulation techniques, and my IT bands are no longer tight like they were in the weeks immediately following Ironman Arizona.

-- Overhauling my running form: I've used the past few weeks to try and ditch my heel-striking ways once and for all.  The process has been long and slow, and at time frustrating. I'm slower than usual.  My calves have been sore, but the end-result should be more pain-free running and ultimately I should be faster by leaning forward and relying more on forefoot striking.  The key for me has been not to get frustrated, or be intimidated by any upcoming races.  My light racing calendar this year is helping me emotionally accept being slower and the moment and being more diligent about learning to run again.

-- Re-emphasis on nutrition: The holidays added weight to my frame, but not the good kind. More like the chocolate kind.   There's probably more of a connection between my lack of recovery and poor nutrition than I'd care to admit.  But once the New Year rolled around, I took a balanced and healthy diet more seriously.  Do I think nutrition was the primary factor in helping me repair myself?  No.  But I do believe in the "body in, body out" mantra, and it's no coincidence that my recovery took a sharp turn for the better in January compared to December.

Will my recovery last?  Can I finally put Ironman Arizona in the rear-view mirror once and for all?  Time will tell.

But I'm finally ready to focus on on improvement, not recovery.  If you are recovering as well, I hope this primer helps you!

149 days and counting.

Hips and a New Workout Regimen

Before jumping into what amounted to a fairly important two days in my training and tri-writing career, I wanted to share my second "Mind Games" column for Lava Magazine online.  I'm pretty proud of this one, and hope it somehow helps you in your training if you've ever gone through or are going through some tough times right now. If you haven't already, check it out and let me know what ya think or if you've found other methods have helped you overcome disappointment. OK, now to our regularly scheduled blog post.  Apologies for not writing last night -- Steph and I had a wedding-related class and got home late.

So here below is an unedited IM chat my physical trainer, Shannan, shared with me that she had with a grad school professor of hers.  He’s a Ph.D. in biomechanics and doctor of physical therapy.  This conversation occurred after I described to Shannan my ART therapist's analysis of my hip area problems, which were initially diagnosed as psoas-related, then we moved to the hip flexor, and now we've been looking at the gluteus medius.  This of course relates to all the post IM Arizona problems I've been having.

Shannan thought the problem may be something else.  And she's been right about me before.  Shannan's the one who attributed my early IT band troubles in my running career to flat feet and advised I get fitted with orthotics.  I did, and my IT band problems went away. So, Shannan has accurately predicted things in the past.

Here's the IM chat:

Shannan: Hey- I have a case study for you, 90% sure it’s  trochanteric bursitis or G. medius tendonitis; abnormal hip pathology is primary symptom.

Male; mid-30’s; fine-boned; ironman finisher; significant pronator (wears bilateral orthotics); confirmed leg-length discrepancy; palpable abnormality at the greater trochanter.  His ART guy thinks it’s an overactive G.med but unless he strained it there’s no way…I can visually see a mass and I can feel the difference.

Doctor: History of back injury? Lower back problems, glute insufficiencies?  What are his running habits (trail, road, treadmill)?

Shannan: He has spondy, little scoliosis, glutes are pretty insufficient but no L4-S1 acute injuries that I know about; in other words nothing that would prevent building them up.  He does a lot of trail running…

Doctor: I would do a Trendelenburg test to check out his abductor reflexes.

Shannan: Yeah, I’m thinking it’s an abductor weakness (not overworked as the ART therapist suggested), but I stopped the abductor exercises because I don’t want to provoke the inflammation??

Doctor: Right, usually an ultrasound is needed to determine exact etiology; however, bursitis will not cause pain upon resisted abduction, but G. medius will hurt like a mo fo (well, mo fo point tenderness pain).  Keep off the abductor exercises until pain goes away a bit, but you’re correct in diagnosing the abd weakness.  Build up his glutes, too.

Shannan: What about stretching?  Deep tiss massage?

Doctor: Massage is good to deliver blood flow; stretch all he wants, but it’s not going to help if it’s articular.  I suggest he gets those orthotics checked; at the rate he trains he may need a new set every 6 months.  Also, until the condition improves I do not recommend trail running because the uneven surface does not help- both conditions are caused by some type of asymmetry, and trail running is contradictory.  I understand the training demands, but he should run on flat surfaces.  ART is fine, never hurts.  What’s his size?

Shannan: He’s 5’7” and probably around 137-140 this week.  Fine-boned

Doctor: He’ll have a double hip replacement at this rate…

Aside from being mildly annoyed with being called "fine-boned" (what am I, a herring?), the last sentence obviously got my attention.  It's what occupied a good portion of discussion today in my personal training session with Shannan.  Fortunately, she doesn't think I'm on track for such a dreadful fate.  It was the doctor being off-the-cuff and dramatic, in her words.

Instead, after doing some mobility drills and balance tests where I stood on one-leg and resisted pressure using my legs to push outward, Shannan thinks the problem is tendinitis or bursitis in the hip joint that connects the femur.  That would explain the puffiness as it's likely fluid build-up.  The solution, in her opinion, is getting an ultrasound at my MD office and then a shot to reduce the inflammation.

That sounds a LOT better than replacing two bad hips!

To combat the problem, Shannan produced the following workout regimen.  I'll be doing this twice a week for the next few weeks and will let you know how it goes.

153 days and counting.

PS: I have contacted Newton about reviewing a pair of shoes for the blog based on your passionate feedback about how much good they've done some of you. So far, Newton has been amazingly responsive and open.  I'm embarking upon this experiment against the wishes of my coach and ART therapist.  But that's where the potential lies for a great story.  I'm thinking of it as the Newton Challenge.  If they're good for me, they're good for anyone.  Newton's up for the challenge and I'm up for the risk.  I'll use the shoes exactly as intended in the ramp-up period and share what I find at the end.  I'll drop a few snippets here on the blog to give you an idea on how it's going.

Biting Off More Than I Can Chew

So here's my first pass at a video blog.  Please excuse the loud gusts of wind, I'm not sure exactly what to do about that outside of telling The Man Upstairs to keep things quiet when I'm trying to record! I tried capture the emotion of the bike ride while it was happening, instead of writing about it after the fact.  I think I failed miserably but the bright side is I will get better.  Hope you enjoy it, if you can get through watching it!  The scenery is gorgeous, when I'm not screwing it up.

Today's training made me realize just how much more I bit off than I could chew this weekend.  I ran nearly eight miles and climbed about 900 feet in around 1:25:00 today in 75-degree weather.  The good news is that my knees felt fine the entire run, and I was able to remain (mostly) on my forefoot in my strides.  I think the key to forefoot striking that has really helped me is not the avoidance of heel striking, but rather placing more of an emphasis on the forefoot than usual.  This is allowing me to find an acceptable middle ground (no pun intended) while running instead of potentially shredding my knees and Achilles.

Yet, by the time the run was over, I was totally exhausted.  My run called for activity between zones 1-4 on the heart-rate monitor.  I took that to mean I could run for extended periods in zone 4 while climbing.  Having the UCLA men's and women's cross country team out on the course with me didn't help me keep my pace in check, nor did the Spanish female marathoner who ran a 2:09 at Big Sur.  Are you kidding me???  Well, I kept up with her on a few uphill climbs, but she revealed at the top that she had turned her ankle and was taking it easy.

Ouch.

Following the run, my day wasn't close to over.  I had promised Stephanie that we'd spend more time this year exercising together, which manifested itself in our first tennis outing in more than a year.  Surprisingly, it went well for both of us!  We had a few rallies, nobody pulled anything, and all tennis balls stayed on the court.  Win!

Then, following lunch together and a nap (in the middle of the Jets-Patriots game!) I tried to fit in yesterday's swim that I flaked on yesterday.

This time, instead of sitting in the parking lot I actually made it into the water.  What a mistake.  I was terrible! I felt like a boulder in the water, and couldn't even complete the full workout (10 minutes easy laps, 5x150 drills and 4x300 moderate pace).  After my second 300, I saw my scheduled workout time had come and gone and decided enough was enough.

So far, that's a big difference between this year and last year's training.  When I'm done, I'm done.  I'm not forcing things perhaps the way I did last year.

Except when I overdo it for hours on end beforehand.

Still, whether it's a video blog that didn't quite turn out as planned, a bike ride gone slightly awry, a run that got derailed by my own competitiveness, or a swim that didn't meet expectations due to exhaustion, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Isn't it great to overextend every once in a while?  To push beyond our comfort zones?  To try and fail?  It's weird, but I think there's pleasure in that. Stagnation is boring.  Following the plan all the time gets stale.

I hope you've been able to bite off more than you can chew a little bit too.

156 days and counting.

Coming Soon...

My first video blog coming soon!  But my editing skills are meager so this may turn out to be a weekend project. My other weekend project is trying to embed Garmin workouts to my blog.  No luck so far.  It's not as simple as cut and paste the embed code into the copy, or if it is, I'm still doing something wrong.  Help?

Anyway, the vlog will be an as-I-go synopsis of the ride.  Should be fun.  All I can say about today's ride is that it was a fantastic place to start this vlogging thing.  I was so exhausted at the end of the trip that I tried to go swim and stayed in the pool parking lot for five minutes debating whether to go inside.  But the views were spectacular, the by-product of killer winds blasting through the canyons, tossing Frank and me around like empty bottles adrift at sea.

I went home and napped for an hour and a half instead.  That fulfilled a minor promise to myself this year, when my body says enough is enough, I'll listen.

Now I just need to do a better job following my prescribed workouts!

157 days and counting.

Pain in the Butt

So tired tonight.  The week has caught up with me.  Poor sleep the last couple nights has caught up with me.  Perhaps not eating enough has caught up with me.  The result was a slower than usual swim session tonight with the Fortius team.  I think I just bonked, but it's also hard to go faster in the water when you're trying to constantly implement all the feedback from each drill.  Flutter kick to avoid crazy legs.  Make sure you're making a bow like an archer on your upstroke.  Keep your arm out wide enough so as not to cross over your body on the downstroke.  But not too wide!  Relax!  Your shoulders are tense. Just listening sometimes is exhausting!

Is it possible for words to physically weigh you down in the water, like a rusty anchor?

The one buoyant bit of news today came from my ART guru, Dr. Ben Kleinbrodt. We're getting close to isolating my leg problems.  It seems my right gluteus medius (not quite your butt, but the side part of your butt connecting hip to butt) is puffy and swollen.  It's easy to see when I'm wearing tight shorts.  (Not sure it's appropriate to share a photo, it's not that kind of website haha!)  Dr. Ben thinks it's because I lean to the left, and my skeletal structure forces extra pressure on the right side of the body.  This hip/butt pressure tightens my psoas, which tightens my hip flexor, which in turn can tighten the IT band.

It's kind of a big deal.  Dr. Ben told me to focus on foam rolling my right hip/butt area for at least five minutes a night.  He also told me to increase my running mileage a bit, that my body is responding well to the treatments and exercises.

I'll have plenty of time tomorrow to stretch.  I missed a cycling workout on the trainer today to accommodate my ART session.  And since I'm a bit overtired from the week, there's no making that session up.  I can't stand missing training sessions.

Ah well. In reading this post I sound a little cranky and whiny. Let's call it a night.

Hope everyone's training out there is going well.  Hang in there!  There are days like this that dot all of our training cycles.  It's just part of the journey.  Part of the process.

159 days and counting.