3 Weeks to go...

According to my schedule this week it was supposed to be my peak week but with the injury to my ITB I was unable to get all the hours. Overall with the injury it went really well with just over 12 hours of training this week.

This week I spent 7200 yards in the pool. I spent some time doing some water running and ended up spending about 2.5 hrs in the pool this week. Focus this week was on a steady 1500 yd main set with a 500 warm up and 100 cool down. I also did a 45 min endurance swim followed by 15 mins of water running.

The bike is where I kept my volume this week. I rode for 167 miles this week with 4 days of riding and my longest ride being just over 100 miles (riding close to 9 hours this week). I had a little pain while riding but nothing like the pain I was having running.

I did try to run again this week on Monday. Running 7 miles in 52 minutes, the pain kept me from running the full hour as planned. I also ran a short 3.6 miles on Wednesday. I was pretty sore both days after running so I decided to hold off on any other runs.

Went to see a physical therapist this week on Wednesday, who gave me some ideas to speed my recovery: doing some gluteus medius exercises and using resistance bands coupled with the foam rolling and ice massage I was already doing. He thought I should try to run short distances if I could. Which I did on Wednesday after the appointment.

Right now my goal is to get the pain in my ITB down to a manageable level. I have trained hard since December so I am not worried that I will be undertrained. I want to train smart over the next few weeks to ensure the pain in my knee isn’t going to keep me from running the marathon.

Very close now, 1 week of taper and then heading out to St George early the next week.

Cheers,
Nate

4 Weeks to Go

This was a rough week for me with the injury to my ITB and some treatment I had to cut back on my training. This was also my recovery week so it worked out well. Even though I only logged about half the volume I was planning but after 5 months of hard training there isn't to much more I can do with only a few weeks before the race. 

I started off the week (Monday) spending time giving my ITB the RICE treatment in hopes to ramp back up on my training. Tuesday I started out with a swim workout doing a warm up, 4 x500 yd and then a 100 yd cool down. I was feeling some pain every time I pushed off the wall with my right leg so I favored my left leg during my work out. I attempted to try less impact on my knee and used our elliptical for 45 mins. I was feeling good until the last ten mins then started to get some pain in my knee. I iced my knee and relaxed the rest of the night. 

Wednesday morning I did the same swim work out again and in the afternoon I had my appointment with my Sport Medicine Doctor, who is the Physician for the Army's World Class Athlete Program and personally is also an Ironman finisher. So I couldn't think of a better Doctor to see for an injury 3+ weeks before my Ironman. After some evaluation and discussion we decided to an injection with hopes the pain would subside. He recommended I rest the knee for 72 hrs and allow the inflammation to go down. I continued to ice, stretch and massage my ITB. It was a long 3 days with out training.

I picked back up on Saturday doing 55 miles on the bike with not to much climbing just sometime to work on speed, clear my head and refocus my goals over the next few weeks. After my bike I went the pool to do my endurance swim (30 mins) then spent 15 mins in the deep doing some water running. I felt really good but I didn't want to push it. I took Sunday to rest again hoping to maximize my training next week.

The race is getting close I was assigned Bib #643 for IM St George as it get closer I will post info to follow me along during the race.

Cheers,
Nate

6 and 5 weeks to go

Once again I found myself tied up in numerous life events happening and was unable to update my blog so I am going to catch you up todate on the last 2 weeks.

26 March – 1 April

I spent Monday driving back from St George, getting unpacked and preparing myself for the week. I got my official acceptance in to grad school for Exercise Physiology this week so I was on cloud nine ready for a new chapter in my life. Training wise I had a little less volume due to have 2 days off this week.

Swim: Tuesday was a light swim and did my 60 minute endurance swim on Thursday, only ended up with 5900 yds for the week due to the additional day off.

Bike: I took my TT bike to the shop for a full tune since it had almost 2000 miles on it since I purchased it so I had my road bike this week. After all the miles on my TT bike it was hard to adjust to riding my road bike again but still got some good miles in. Did two good rides during the week one with 3449 ft of climbing in 27 miles and another 23 miles ride mostly flats. On Saturday rode 90 miles with some brutal winds and 4870 ft of climbing, Totaled 140 miles on the bike this week.

Run: This is where it gets rough... I decided to focus on my long run this week which I did on Friday. I was to run for 2 hrs and 20 mins. I ran about 1:20 covered 10.25 miles having some knee pain after the first 8 miles. Come to realize I was having issues with my IT band. I will talk more about this in the next week. I decided to end my run and spend the weekend letting it rest.

2April- 8 April

I started a pre-req class I needed for my Graduate program. I also wanted to keep up on my training prior to my recovery week. So busy week balancing family, work, training and school work.

Swim: High volume swim week since I had to scale back my running. Tuesday and Wednesday did 2600 yd workouts in a 25 meter pool so it was more like 2843 yds both days. My pool (5 mins from my house) had some mechanic problems so swam at Peterson AFB. Then on Friday I did my Endurance swim. I covered 4500 yds (2.55 miles) in 1:07:23. Speaking my race I only need to swim 2.4 miles and planned to swim under 1:10 for the race I think I am in good position right now, totaled 10187 yds for the week.

Bike: I got my TT bike back on Sunday! Had my last power test Monday over lunch and saw my power increase to 236 watts average which is 3.07watt/kg, so nothing but improvement over the winter on my power. I also did a spin video that night. I did a 37 mile ride on Thursday south of my house to work on some speed, averaged 20.5 mph which is pretty good with stop lights and traffic. Then Saturday I did my first century ride of the season, covered 102 miles in 5:20 with about 4400 ft of climbing and totaled 165 miles of cycling for the week.

Run: So with my IT band I worked on stretching more (2-3 times a day), icing it and using my foam roller to massage it out. I still have pain but it was manageable. I attempted to run again on Wednesday for 75 mins hoping to get 10 miles. Well made it about 7 miles and the pain became too much so I had to walk/jog the last few miles to my house. Continuing with all mentioned above I am going to see my Sports Medicine Doctor to see what we can do with less than 4 weeks till my race I want to do whatever I can to be able to race as hard as I can.

Little info from Sports Medicine on About.com on IT Band Pain:

IT Band runs along the out side of the thigh iliotibial band friction syndrome is a common cause of knee and hip pain in athletes. Knee pain from this injury is most commonly felt along the outside (lateral) knee and the lower thigh. IT band syndrome may also result in a nagging or acute pain on the outside of the hip.

The iliotibial band is a strong, thick band of fibrous tissue that runs along the outside of the leg. The IT band starts at the hip and runs along the outer thigh and attaches on the outside edge of the shin bone (tibia) just below the knee joint. The band works with the quadriceps (thigh muscles) to provide stability to the outside of the knee joint during movement.

So with that said I am going to take it easy on running and try to heal up. I will update next week with progress on treatment.

Cheers
Nate