Major Adjustments and the Race that Wasn't Meant to Be

Figured I'd draw some readers in with that title, but it is somewhat misleading...

First, the adjustments were to my body, not my training plan, and the race that wasn't meant to be was the Cowtown 10K, not the EDR!  But it's been a wild week and it bears some explaining.

Tuesday was a regular morning - I was halfway through Masters swim at 8:30 when I felt a little twinge in my neck.  I adjusted my stroke a big, but the twinge just got twinge-ier.  Unfortunately, they do that sometime.  So I cut the swim short, and scheduled an appointment at Reagan ChiroSport (amazing, one of our best partners over at Playtri and one of the best chiropractors to triathletes in the country).

I went in to see Dr. Mitch, who ended up giving me one of the most intense adjustments of my life, and noted that it had been a year and a half since I had last been in. Ok. Not one of my prouder moments. Apparently I had forgotten the value of routine chiro visits, but I was reminded as he adjusted nearly every part of my body.  I scheduled a follow up for Thursday, took the next couple of days easy, and started to feel some improvement.

On Friday, I had my heart rate zone test on the bike. Possibly not the most glorious test of my life, but not too painful.  Iced my neck, took a shower, and sat down at my desk to get some work done.  Within 15-20 minutes I had what was literally the worst headache I have ever had in my life.

I'm really not exaggerating.

After another 10 minutes, as things got progressively worse, I called the chiro, got in my car, and drove over as quick as I could, actually vomiting once on the way over the pain was so bad. (At that point, I realized I probably should have asked someone else to drive, but it was a little too late for that). When I arrived, we went to the "back" room, probably because they were concerned about what might come out of my mouth while they worked on me.  All the issues I had had literally moved to the opposite side of my back and neck, and were possibly even worse.  After 10 minutes with Dr. Mitch I felt about a million times better, but still pretty shaky.

Oh, by the way, Read and I were scheduled to do the Cowtown 10K the NEXT DAY.  Yeah, like that was going to happen.

Even so, I got through the rest of the day, and Read and I headed to Ft. Worth to stay the night with Sarah and Jerry, since Read was still registered to race.  We had a great time hanging out with the Shaws and having their son, Kenny, destroy us at Mario Kart. The Kona coffee they provided the next morning more than made up for it.

So, at 6:00 AM the next morning we arrive at the Cowtown parking. Read mentions that his stomach feels a little off.  Heads for the porta-potty.  I don't see him again for 10 minutes.

For those of you who race, you know this isn't a great sign.

Next thing I know, we are driving back to Dallas.  Like I said, that race just wasn't meant to be.

We're both feeling much better today, and ready to tackle next week, well-adjusted, with no GI issues.  Thank you, triathlon powers-that-be.

Loaded and Racing

First race of the season has come and gone - the annual SMW Regional Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon out at the Texas Motor Speedway.  After a weekend of regional business and meetings, we all through on our spandex and pounded each other out on the track.  What a perfect way to release any stress from the weekend!

I went into the race with one of my heaviest weekly loads to date, and it showed.  While my run splits were totally acceptable - fairly fast, actually - my bike was just downright slow.  This was compounded with a rubbing brake and the fact that I was sporting a road bike on a windy day, but I still am not used to feeling that slow on the bike!  It made me really hungry for a good training week, and some good recovery so I could get the benefit of all that load pulling me down.  After returning to Playtri to coach our club workout post-race, I hopped into the Cryosauna for a deep freeze to help bring my legs back to life.  I can feel the difference today, though there is still a lot of rolling and stretching in my future.

While I love my Litespeed M1 road bike, I was definitely missing the TT bike this weekend.  Even though I could hang with the "fast" girls on the tail wind portions this weekend, they were destroying me with their aero position when we hit the headwinds.  It reminded me why it is nice to have both!  However, I have to focus on the road bike for now, at least as long as I am focusing on draft-legal events.  I'll just have to suck it up at the regular age group events.

Today is a recovery day - YES!  Rolling, stretching and hydration on tap.  I love that recovery days are actually the days that we GAIN fitness.  It's so gratifying to sit around and get faster.

W15!

It was the perfect day for a run so, fortunately, I had a run today!

A W15, which is Playtri's evil version of a tempo run - 10 minute "intervals" at 5K-10K pace with 5 minute breaks (walking/jogging) in between for however long the assigned workout is. I only had an hour today, which was good, because that last 10 minutes was pretty... intense.  Was able to hold a 6:35 pace at the end, which felt good, but was definitely pushing.  Still a lot of work to get that 20 minute 5K back, but I'll get there by May gosh darn it!

Definitely noticed my left adductors during the run, but they behaved pretty well, and aside from just "noticing" them, there weren't really any problems.  In the past, I'll feel that weakness in the bottom of that foot when I'm doing harder/faster runs, but I hardly noticed that today, so that's a big win for Coach Mo's adductor exercise.

Tomorrow is Playtri Masters at 8AM, so hopefully my legs will feel a little less like Jello in time for whatever kick sets David has planned for us!

Load and Races

Workload - at the end of the day, it's the driving force in performance.  Great fitness equals improved race results.  At Playtri, we have a proprietary load calculation method that we have spent over a decade developing, and the best part is that it crosses over sports - so, even though I missed my original swim workout today due to an extensive list of external factors (rain, power outage, and time constraints), we were able to substitute some intervals on the bike, and come up with the same numbers. Of course, my swim load still suffers, but overall fitness is approximately equal.

So I ended up doing a W2 on the bike today (got to watch Amari, Gerald and James suffer through weights with Ahmed during), and it felt GREAT!  No issues with the left leg adductors despite 2 minute intervals at LT, and had a nice long stretch afterwards.  Definitely felt it the last half, after the weights/bike brick yesterday, but it was a good burn - the kind that turns into stronger muscle!

The closer I get to Richmond the more excited I am! The last few months have been so consistent, I'm really excited to see what everything translates to in terms of performance.  That being said, I do have a few training races leading up to the goal race - they will help both with skill and mental preparation, as well as adding some good load to the overall count:

Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon - February 17th
Draft-Legal Sprint - March 10th
Seabrook Lucky Trails Half Marathon - March 16th
Cooper Spring Sprint Tri - March 23rd
Caveman Sprint Tri - April 21st

Not as much open water in there as I would like, but it's always a challenge to find good OW races early in the season.  I am fortunate to have the March 10th race as an option to prep for Richmond.

Tomorrow I have a one hour run with 10 minute 5-10k pace intervals. Look for me by the lake - it's gonna be awesome!

Sometimes "Elite" Hurts

I'm learning this - it doesn't hurt as in injury, but there is a certain level of continual soreness that I haven't really been accustomed to as an age grouper, skating by at local races on half the training.  As far as I can tell, there is no skating allowed in elite triathlon.  So, as I experience a new level of consistency in my workouts, I'm also experiencing a new awareness of my muscles through the medium of mild... um, discomfort.  Yes.

Even though I joke here, a little, there really is an elevated awareness of what is going on with my body.  Every little twinge is now registered in terms of how it will affect my upcoming workouts. Fatigued muscles have to be constantly attended to, with cryotherapy, stretching, rolling, compression, etc.  I need more massage, but I have to find the time first.  When you are pushing your body to its limits, all those little weaknesses and imbalances really get to rear their ugly heads, and it's a constant effort to stay on top of the game so that they don't sneak up on you during a key workout. Elite is definitely a whole new world - but I have to say, I kind of love it!

I have swim practices with my youth and juniors team and the SMU team this evening, so it will be a late night - have to make sure I get to bed as soon as I get home so I can be up for Masters in the morning!  So looking forward to another beating in the water.  I love the punishment!

Sunday Funday!

Well, the weekend has been crazy as usual, but it's been productive, too, so no complaints!

Spent Saturday leading a bike workout with my Team Playtri Elite athletes (and helping two athletes pick up new clipless pedals and shoes - always an exciting transition!), and then spent the second half of the day looking at new apartments for our May time move to north Dallas.  When the new facility opens in McKinney, I'll be back and forth quite a bit between the two centers, so we need a more central location.  We found some really nice apartments and townhomes near some great cycling routes.

Had two great workouts today - Masters swim was challenging but fun, and I felt really good about our first set, eight 100y's on 1:50.  Did them at about 1:30-1:35 and didn't feel too worn out.  That was a nice marker for the May race, 750m which I want to do at at least 1:35/100m.  We had another longish pull set, always a good reminder of the upper body strength I DON'T have just yet, and wrapped up with some moderately fast 50's.

Most importantly, my rotator cuff didn't bother me at all, so I was really glad I made the call to cut my Thursday swim short when it started to hurt. 

After a couple hours rest I got on the trainer for a W1 bike (1 minute pickups at LT), which went pretty well, especially since I remembered to calibrate my power meter first.  I forgot this essential step during my Friday bike workout, and I paid big time.  My adductor muscles on the left leg have been a little tweaky, so I checked with Mo, and now have a new exercise for my strength routine to address the issue.  I love working with so many experts - no problem we can't solve!

Read helped me with a long stretch session after the bike, and now it's time to finish writing training schedules for my athletes for next week.  Great day.

Don't Ask for Injury

It's Friday - YES!  It's been a great week, getting back to consistent training and also spending a lot of late hours working on plans for our new McKinney facility.  (If you thought our current youth and junior programs were awesome, just you wait...).

I've primarily been swimming and biking this week, though I did get in a good interval run workout on Wednesday.  My swim yesterday got cut short cue to some pain in my right rotator cuff - so I'll go ahead and take this time to address a serious issue that I see with 90% of age group athletes, and sometimes even with newer elites.  Consider this situation: you are in the middle of a workout, and you suddenly feel pain in your knee/shoulder/ankle/back/etc.  What is your first response?  How do you deal with this situation effectively?

Many amateur athletes, due to a fear of being injured and not being able to stick to their "plan" will try to "push through" the workout and more likely than not will end UP injured, even if they weren't already.  In most cases, the first signs of pain aren't actually injuries!  They are just signs of tired, tight muscles that need a little more recovery time, stretching, icing, etc. Unfortunately, many athletes will panic at the first sign of pain, and try to keep going in hopes that the pain will "work itself out."  This is the worst thing you can do - tired, tight muscles are more prone to injury, so you are actually asking your body to injure itself when you take this route.

Don't ask for injury!

"Pushing through" spot pain in workouts is NOT a sign of toughness, but of ignorance in an athlete.  The correct procedure for this kind of occurence is as follows:

1. Slow down - see if an easier pace eases the pain.
2. If you are still in pain, STOP.
3. Stretch out the sore area and surrounding muscles GENTLY (do not overstretch), and do some EASY dynamic stretches to try to loosen the area and get more blood flow to the affected spot.
4. Test the area by beginning the motion again at an easy pace.
5. Hopefully at this point you will have worked out the muscle and will be able to continue your workout.  HOWEVER - if the pain is still there, it is time to end the workout.
6. Roll, stretch, ice, compress - be careful not to over-do any of these things.  Don't punish the muscles, just work them out.  I recommend a coach/chiropractor/massage therapist's assistance in this if it is something you are new to.
7. After a day or two, re-test the problem area at an easy pace.  Look for changes.  At the point that the pain is gone, you can try to push a little harder.  As soon as you feel pain again, BACK OFF.

An injured athlete is a slow athlete - DON'T BE THAT ATHLETE!  I can't afford to be, because I'm going to have a bunch of little college girls on my tail come May.  You don't want to be because we all have goals, whether we are amateur, elite, or recovering couch potato.  Health first, performance second - because health leads to performance.

So, I'll be testing the shoulder in the endless pool today - hopefully it will be ready for Playtri Masters Swim come Sunday, after the Playtri Race Team South Loop Ride!  Can't wait!

Happy Friday everybody!

Back to Consistency!

It's Tuesday and things around here are finally back to normal after a few wild weeks with Hawaii camp and TPE camps!  Training is back to normal, too, and it's been great to be back on a consistent path and making forward progress.

Had a great strength workout and run on Sunday after we wrapped things up with the TPE athletes.  Spent some time on the Vasa with some accompanying swim specific strength exercises, then took a couple of hours to rest before a 30 minute training pace run by White Rock.  The run felt pretty good considering the strength training just a couple of hours before - legs felt light and only took one or two walk breaks to correct technique.

Yesterday I spent an hour on the bike, again just training pace, which is hard to do sometimes when I'm feeling good and wanting to go fast!  But I reined it in because I know Coach has a plan for the week and I want my hard workouts the next few days to be very high quality, not less than my best because I couldn't rein it in at the beginning of the week.  This is always a little challenging as an athlete, even though I'm a coach and I know the importance of sticking to the plan.  At the end of the day, I do triathlon because I like to go FAST!

Got to spend two hours working with my SMU Mustangs at run and swim practice yesterday, and it was great to see those guys and girls after their winter break.  Some of them have definitely been putting in the hours over their vacation, and I'm excited to see how they perform this semester.  I've got a great group over there.

Coming up next... swim practice!  The only choice is whether I go endless pool or lap pool... hmmm... decisions, decisions...

Go Team

Well, it's official.  I signed the dotted line (figuratively speaking) to become a member of the Playtri Race Team for 2013.  This is a group of athletes that represent Playtri at local and national races, and as ambassadors for health and multisport.  I wasn't expecting to race with the team, but when they approached me today, well, it's hard to say no to your own race team!!

What does this mean?  Basically you'll see me wearing even more Playtri gear than usual.

It will be fun to get to know this group of athletes better both in training and racing, and socially.  I look forward to competing with them this year.

In other news, I was exceptionally proud of my Team Playtri Elite athletes today - they had a 5 hour day at camp and they were very focused and worked extremely hard.  They have made so much progress on the bike especially since they first began.  All had clipless pedals and were comfortable riding in a two abreast paceline and demonstrating an ability to move around within that pack.  Road cyclists can tell you - that ain't easy for anyone, let alone 12-19 year olds!  It made me even more determined to make them proud when I race with them in May.  (Well, not with them, but on the same day at the place).  Hopefully the old lady coach can really keep up!

Last thing (it was a busy day)... we finally got to visit the site for our NEW north facility at the Cooper Craig Ranch complex in McKinney!  It is 10,908 square feet and the grand opening is set for May of 2013.  The contracts are all signed and the Dallas Morning News already released the story online and in print.  It will be the biggest triathlon store in the world, and is surrounded by some of the best trails and roads for training that I've ever seen - they even have a gigantic field where I can play bike tag with the kids!  It's triathlon heaven all over again.

Tomorrow is more time with my TPE athletes, and then strength training and running for their coach.  Can't wait.

Welcome Back Legs!

Ok, I'm officially back.  I kicked off the return to normalcy yesterday morning at the Playtri Masters swim with two of my athletes (grown ones), and 900 yards of PULLING!  Pulling is my absolute least favorite thing to do in the pool, so naturally half of our main set consisted of it.  I didn't even bring a pull buoy.  But they found one for me to borrow... dang it.  The hour looked something like this:

500m swim/kick warm up
3 x 100m pull on 2:00
3 x 100m pull on 1:50
3 x 100m pull on 1:45 (ICK)
100m easy
4 x 75m (25m water polo swim/50m mod) on 2:15
100m easy
8 x 50m (fast/easy/fast/fast/easy/fast/fast/fast) on 1:00
COOL DOWN

After a week and a half of no swimming, it was actually a little bit of a kick in a butt, but also a lot of fun to be kicking it (no pun intended) with my Playtri friends!  I'm already signed up for February.  Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday!

The rest of the day was consumed with work, and then today I had another easy day with just an hour of Training Pace on the bike.  Did it on the trainer at work, and wrapped it up when a client called to talk training and bikes.  Then - Start for recovery fuel (it's my new favorite restaurant - check it out: www.startrestaurant.net)

I love my job.

Tonight is our Team Playtri Elite 2013 race season parents meeting, and I can't wait to get all our athletes registered for the amazing schedule we have set up for them.  It is going to be a stellar year for these guys and girls in 2013! 

Happy Friday everybody!