Sunday, September 11, 2011

Where Art Thou

Oh boy.  Where have I been?

The day after my accident I did a 50 minute run.  Two days after I did an 11 mile run with Mark, Mike, and Joe VI.  Four days I did a 42 mile ride around KC with Joe.

The circle in the upper right corner is around the Truman Sports Complex.


Tuesday through Friday?  Nothing, really.  I did go for a 60 minute run Wednesday but only made it 2 miles.  I decided to stay out of the pool because it hurt too much to put any torque on my ribs.  Sleeping sucked.  I couldn't turn or sit-up without pain on my right rib cage.  It still isn't an enjoyable experience.  I keep saying that if it still hurts in 2 days I'm calling the doctor.  I've been saying that for a week now.  I haven't evaluated my training in over a week.

I did decide to take last week quite easy.  Partially because of the accident, partially because I've been catching up on geekiness (started working an iPhone app this week).  The big reason we've been busy is today we celebrated my parents 40th anniversary and I prioritized the planning for it last week. It was quite an event as it was a surprise party and, thankfully, it stayed that way.  My Mom has a tendency to sniff that stuff out pretty easily.  

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!


So, I guess this is my week-in-review.  I did 53 miles total.  42 bike and 11 running.  Joe and I met up Saturday morning for a 9 mile run around downtown KC (Plaza and Westport area).  So there's that.

I've decided to take a couple weeks of my speed work period of my Half-Ironman Training program and instead redo a few weeks of my plan.  I'll probably take a few more days off from the pool and get back around Wednesday this week.  I'm really not that concern about the swim portion of the HIM but don't want to neglect it. 

Friday, September 2, 2011

Half-Ironman Training - Week 9

I've been complaining all week that I haven't had time to work on this post; however, I just realized I had it ready to go on Monday but forgot all about it.  Since I'm about to head out for lunch with my brother, I haven't had a chance to review it.  I'm just posting it and will fix all those normal "scotty" grammatical errors later (sorry Ken).



Weekly Training
  • Swim: 4750 meters (4750 meters planned)
  • Bike: 105.84 miles (105 miles planned)
  • Run: 18.04 miles / 2:32 hours (3:10 hours planned)
  • Weights: 0 
  • Volleyball:  0-3.  
  • Overall: 126.84 miles in 10:25 hours
Ugh... I totally bonked on my run Wednesday night.  Lesson learned.

I had races this weekend, so my schedule got mucked up a bit again.  I don't have another race for the next 6 weeks, so it will be all about focusing on my training plan.  Love it!

If you follow me on twitter, you've probably read that yesterday I missed a sub-20 minute 5k by TWO SECONDS.  Ugh!!!  I decided to run this race completely "analog", meaning that I left my Garmin at home.  The only non-human electrical current on or in my body was my footpad attached to the shoe and that was because I just didn't want to take it off.  It has to be re-calibrated if you reinstall it. I do wonder that if I had worn my trusty Garmin 301xt, then I would have noticed the time and really kicked it up.  Either way, looking at a 6:27 pace makes me smile!

Considering my 7:40 pace during the North Face Endurance challenge marathon relay, it really makes me think that maybe I can run hard and be successful.  I really started diving into doing this athletic type stuff a few years simply to find out what my body is capable of.  How far can I push it?  I'm starting to dig a little deeper into that experiment.  Maybe I'll start evaluating my goals for 2012.  Always have to keep looking forward.

Upcoming
  • The next two training weeks will be my longest in terms of number of miles and time.  After Week 12 I will start doing speed work, which will probably reduce the miles and time in favor of anerobic workouts.  Although, I hear you do have a tendency to workout the same number of miles but just in less time.
I'm just stoked about getting the training in!  I don't think I'll miss a SINGLE workout for the next two weeks.  It's going to be GREAT!
  • Labor day weekend is 5 days away and that means spending lots of time with friends and family.  For once we don't have any traveling going on.   I hope to get my miles done in the morning and good times in the evening.  Well, not too much good times Saturday evening as I have a group ride on Sunday.

Random Thoughts
It's been great meeting all these people doing triathlon and races.  I spent some time with Ryan during the North Face Endurance challenge (which I should have the race report completed by Wednesday at the latest).  Something else that comes to mind is how fortunate I am to have all these great routes to take just in my area of the city.  Within 15 minutes I can get in a pretty challenging hill workout or find a route with 20 miles of flat-ish roads.  That's the same for biking and running.

It's just wonderful to have a YMCA within five minutes of your house too.  The place is amazingly clean and I can always rely on it being open at 5:30 in the morning and have the pool open.  They hardly even have a case of some kid taking a deuce in the pool.

For example, take traffic circles

(or round-a-bouts)
.  There are tons of them around here and they are great! I was initially annoyed by traffic circles.  It was difficult to tell if a car was going to exit or plow into you but I've grown to appreciate them.  You don't have to worry about slowing down for a stop sign. In addition, the pain that traffic lights give are gone as well.  You don't have to worry about waiting at a light that may never change because you don't have enough metal to trip the sensor in the road.  Yes.  I'm declaring it now: I love traffic circles.  They are flawless and NOTHING wrong can happen with them.

And finally, it's amazing that I've never been injured doing this stuff.  I feel invincible!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Ouch

I've been pretty busy this week.  You know, it's football season so Fantasy Football Leagues are in full effect... tons of drafts going on.  Uh.. I mean, work has been picking up and other commitments have moved up in priority list.  So I haven't been able to get to a couple posts that are way over due (Week 9 HIM Review and my North Face Endurance Challenge Marathon Relay Race Report).

In addition, this week and next week will probably be my highest volume of training miles/time of my 18 weeks.  This week I've actually shirked on a couple of them.  I moved Friday's rest day to Monday to recover from a full weekend of activities and events, a couple at race pace.  Since I had today off, I thought I'd try to get a couple in this morning.

I decided to bike to the YMCA (2.5 miles from my front door), swim, and then get in a 25 mile bike ride.  Once the gym opened I noticed a sign that said the pool was close.  It was because of all the nasty stuff going around right now that has been effecting the water.  This was sign #1 that I ignored about the training.  The good thing about Triathlons, is there are three sports (need any more definitions?).  I decided to get the 25 mile ride in and then my 50 minute run that I skipped.

8 miles in I got warning #2.

I was going around a traffic circle when I must have taken the circle a little to wide.  This became apparent as I was in a section of the circle where there was an entrance into the circle from another road.  Due to the angle, I was right where the curb from the road met up with that of the traffic circle.  Not the curb wall but rather where the curb met up with the asphalt. The concrete curb was an inch higher than the asphalt and I think it just took my wheels out from under me.  While I landed on the non-street side of the curb, it wasn't lush grass but hard dirt.

Maybe this picture will help (doubt it).

Picture from the sky.  Some bird probably had a good laugh.
So I was heading to the curb at a good angle.

A view from a worm, also still giggling.

And then it just took my wheels out as if someone slide a 2x4 at the bottom of my tires at about 12 mph.

It went quick.  There was no chance to correct.  No wobbly riding hoping for a recovery. It was me riding  and then not riding.

I took a systems check right away.  My first thing to do was grab my right calf and it was as hard as a rock.  Whether it cramped up or prepared for impact, I'm not sure.  TKB described it as whiplash of the calf.  Shoulder hurt, ribs hurt, knees hurt.  Dirt everywhere.  I got up and walked around to ease up the calf and it turned out just sore and a little tight.  My knees got scrapped pretty well.

Bloody Stump

The good news was I was ok and my bike survived.  The bad news? I was literally at the furthest point of my ride.

I decided I could manage OK.  The bike was in good shape, so I took off for the rest of my 25 miles.  My mindset was that I could probably get in my 25 miles and my 50 minute run but I wavered until about mile 18, at which point I decided there was absolutely no reason to continue getting in miles that weren't going to be beneficial.  My heart rate was low, as well as my speed.  I don't need 3 warnings signs, as it may be the last. So I got home and cleaned up.

As scraped up as I am, I decided I should probably stay out of the pool, which is good because all YMCA pools are now closed thanks to cryptosporidium (the reason I couldn't get my swim in today).  So the open wounds now have time to heel and I won't feel guilty skipping those swims.  I AM looking for open water swim opportunities though (something I was looking for before today).  If anyone has any ideas, please comment below.

I am going to test my legs tomorrow morning to see if they are OK but that will be an extremely easy run.

I took my bike in and my rear deraileur is jacked up, so they are going to replace it and do a good look over of the bike.  I've put 1000 miles on it since the last checkup, so it's probably due anyway.  Fortunately I should have it back on Friday!!!  Go Cycle City!