Race Report - Muncie 70.3 Team Triathlon

Pre-Race
TKB, Kevin, and I took off Thursday morning and arrived in Anderson, IN around 6:30pm.

After unloading the car we went into Fisher (suburb of Indianapolis) for dinner at Rockstone Pizza.  It's a wonderful place to get stone-fired pizza.  If you are reading this to find some good pasta for your Muncie 70.3 experience, they have some great baked pasta options as well.  They have a great selection of local craft beer and a friend of Kevin's works there!

Corey and his wife Amy arrived a bit later and stayed at a hotel in Muncie, so we didn't meet up Thursday.  Erik and his buddy/sherpa, Patrick, were arriving Friday afternoon.  Erik is my team runner.

Check-in/Packet Pickup
Friday we arrived at the race site around 10am.  Probably the first 5 athletes we saw were all from KC (Reds Triathlon team, KC Tri, and some folks wearing other local race shirts).  Picked up my standard pint glass and the shirt that has all participant names on it in the shape of the M-dot logo on the back.  Being a team, I'm not sure if my name was supposed to be on it (versus our team name) but since I had been registered as an individual participant, my name was definitely on it (I couldn't find Erik's).

About this time Corey and Amy had arrived.  We reviewed the swim area and the transition area then listened to the athlete meeting.  We had some questions for the head ref so talked to Rosalyn for a little bit.  One concern I had was the fact that relays were the last wave.  That meant that I would be one of the final 25 people to hit the bike course.  Yes, I literally told the ref "I don't want to sound cocky, but I'm going to be passing a bunch of people."  Frankly, my concern was I would be spending a lot of time on the left side of the lane because I would have 1,800 cyclists in front of me with a two loop course.  She didn't give me the best feeling but had to go with it.  Rosalyn was pretty great as she told us some stories of some horrible participants in previous races.

Kevin, Corey, and I then headed out for a shake-out bike ride which proved quite beneficial for all of us.  Corey was having some malfunctions with his bike computer and this solidified his plan to just use his Forerunner on the bike.  Kevin found out his rear brake didn't work!  The brake was loose from its attachment to the bike and the techs were able to fix it.  What did I learn?  My previous single practice of doing a flying mount on my bike wasn't enough.  I pretty much embarrassed myself trying to do so Friday, as well as managed to scratch up my right thigh and causing my right heel to be sore the rest of the day.

Erik and Patrick then arrived we made it through the packet pick up process. Erik and I walked through the transition setup now that we were able to get in and review the relay boxes.

By this time it was four o'clock and we had figured out dinner plans and headed out to for a pasta place once TKBs parents arrived.

Amy, Corey, Erik, Patrick, Kevin, TKB, Dork, Susan, Mike

After dinner we finished prepping our bikes/gear and off to bed with a 3:30am alarm.  We wanted to get there close to after the transition opened plus there was a 30 minute drive to the race site.  Fortunately, Erik and Kevin both share my propensity for having time on my side and not the other way around.

Race Day
Even though the race offered Friday bike checkin, we elected not to have to deal with bike pumps and other worries, so we brought our bikes on Saturday.  It was nice knowing we didn't have to worry about rack placement since each spot was individually numbered.

Nice and tidy.  Only thing missing are running shoes, visor, bib.

I got my spot setup and then headed over to Kevin's and gave him some advice on transition.  We went over to Corey's spot but he wasn't to be found but he was all setup.  He was one of those lucky few with the first spot on the rack.

We took off for the first of many bathroom trips and then off for a warm-up swim, which opened at 6:45.  My wave was scheduled for 7:48 but no one I talked to knew when the swim area closed, so I hopped in the swim practice with Kevin and Corey, who were in the third wave.

As I was getting ready to get in the water, I ran into another KC Triathlete who works at the local Ultramax store.  I've talked to her a few times before as I stopped into the store.  She mentioned that the swim area would remain open so I just did a short swim.

We all agreed that the pre-race warm up was a good idea.  It helped calm the nerves and get the body ready to go.  It was soon ready for Kevin and Corey to go to the start corral.  It was the start of a big new experience for both since it was their first half ironman.  I was hoping they would both enjoy endurance triathlon as much as I do.

Now that they were off, I was still within myself.  My nerves were still pretty high considering this was my first race of the year and, frankly, my last.  I've done two half ironmans before, so I knew what I needed to do.  Part of it was some frustrations that I couldn't do the run and so it was just going to feel somewhat incomplete.  Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to be able to compete and that wouldn't be possibly without Erik and I'm totally grateful for that!

I decided to make another trip to the porta-potty and I'm glad I did.  I may have gained 5 watts on that restroom trip (if you don't know what that means, just move along).  I then put the wetsuit back on and did a few laps of the warm-up area.  As I watched the first swimmer exist, I noticed  the last buoy had a number "8" on it.  Good information to know, since all buoys were numbered.

After saying goodbye to TKB, Erik, Patrick, and Amy, I was off to join the final wave of relays, about 25 of us.

Swim
Joyce from Ultramax was with the relays as she had a similar story to mine.  She was going to do it as an individual but injured her hand in a fall, so was doing this as a team of 3.  I also met another KC triathlete while wading in the water.  Considering it was only 25 of us, we had plenty of room to line up.  At 8:03 (race was delayed 15 minutes due to parking problems), we were off!

I immediately got in a groove and felt great.  Having all that room was awesome.  Even though the previous two waves were the young gun females and males, I knew that room wouldn't last.  About buoy number four, that ended as I started swimming with the previous wave.  I felt like I was doing pretty good with my line.  The buoys were huge and so I could spot them easily.  Swimming westwardly definitely helped with the sun behind us.

Turn one was crowded but I manage to hit turn in open space on the turn but the washing machine was now in full effect.  I will say that being in the last wave was great.  If anyone was going to pass me, it had been done as we started.  There was no wave behind me to have people catch me. I was passing a bunch of people and seeing people in three to four waves in front of me.  It's always a confidence booster.

I hit turn 2 with a bunch of people and was happy to start counting up to buoy number 8 (the numbers restarted halfway through the swim).  I was still feeling in a groove but I noticed my left arm was getting sore.  When I put my wetsuit back on, I remember working on the left sleeve quite a bit and so might have put it on so it strained my left arm movement more than usual.

I passed buoy number 8 and just kept swimming until I felt ground.  Got up and took off!

Time: 34:30
Pace: 1:47 / 100 meters
Relay Rank: 5

Transition 1
This race had wetsuit strippers and so I sought out a couple people after pulling my suit down to my waist.  It took them a bit more time than I had hoped but still faster than by myself.  I then took off running the quarter mile to my bike.  Throw my wetsuit down by my bike, put on my sunglasses, helmet and shoes and then off!

Time: 3:00

Bike
My validation to not doing a flying mount was validated as there was no room with about 6 people spread about the mount line.  I quickly got on my bike, clipped in, and took off!

My fear about the bike course was quickly realized as people were all over the road.  I passed as within rules and within common sense as possible but there were multiple pelotons in action.  The quality of the roads in the first 7 miles weren't that great but no issues on my part.

The course reached out to State Route 35 and did two loops before heading back in.  My heart rate was pretty escalated for the first 10 miles as I was trying to get into open space.  My wattage averaged the zone I was hoping for but I was burning some matches trying to get around the groups of people.  I felt happy with my pace around 22 - 24 mph but I didn't have a run to worry about.

They had four aid stations on the course.  I've been in races with aid stations but those races had plenty of room on both sides of the road.  The roads here were two lane with no shoulder, so it was a tight squeeze.

The route had some elevation gain but no huge hills, especially compared to what we see in Kansas City.  You'd find yourself working hard and then you'd realize it was because you were on an incline.

I didn't keep track but had about 5 or 6 people pass me total and most to those were race leaders on their second lap of the bike course.  I did play leap frog with a couple people and that was a little frustrating.  For one thing, I don't like to play leap frog with the same people over and over and two, they were definitely drafting off of each other.  One was drafting off me for about a minute when I finally got done with it and pushed on.  I should have left him there for a ref to see him and save me from burning another match.

I tried to stay within my wattage zone and felt I was doing a pretty good job of it but I knew eventually my time would come to hammer.  Not having to run meant not needing to conserve energy.  Don't get me wrong, I was't holding back that much from the first mile but still wanted to pace myself.  I had been using my nutrition plan quite well so I had decent energy.  My finicky hip was cranky but I knew I wouldn't hurt it.  My right leg was also sore at a few spots that made me question the healing of my stress fracture but the biggest concern was on my calf.  I attributed this to riding in my triathlon shoes instead of my road shoes that I normally use.  I should have stuck with my road shoes since I decided to not do a flying mount.

About 10 miles to go, it was time to time trial to the end.  Not sure why I chose 10 miles out as my time to hammer but it was similar distance to the downtown time trials that I have done in the past.  Not too  long before this point, the couple guys who were playing the drafting game had past me again.  Now I had some fun flying by them at 29 mph and hoping I'd sweep them up trying to catch up with me not realizing I was done in 10 miles.

My miles 45 - 50 average 25.7 mph, which was a nice flat and open road but last split was slower at 22 but also had hills, turns, and "traffic" to it.  So miles 45 - 55 were in 25 minutes, 15 seconds.  My last split included some of my transition, so I don't have a good split of my last mile.  I do enjoy the bike!

Time: 2:27:36
Pace: 22.76 mph
Relay Rank: 3

I had the 3rd fastest relay split and so we moved up to 4th place.

Transition 2
Sometimes you have that perfect day and sometimes you have that perfect day with something that annoys the crap out of you.  Today was the latter.  I ran to my transition spot to put my bike on my rack and, boom, some idiot draped their wetsuit over my spot.  I simply racked my bike on it and started taking off when I hear a crash and turn back.  My bike fell off the spot because of the wetsuit and some official yelled at me that I can't leave my bike like that.  I agreed (even though I'd be back in a minute to fix it anyway) and ran back, grabbed the wetsuit and told the  official that this wetsuit wasn't mine and I threw it and re-racked my bike and took off.... again.

Erik saw me running up, kneeled down and pulled off my chip, placed on his leg, high five and took off!

Time: 1:16

Run
Seeing Erik take off made me happy to have him on my team.  Erik has had an amazing weight loss story the last few years and enjoy participating in races with him and love having him on my team.

I anxiously awaited Erik to arrive and watch him run through the finish chute.  As soon as he came through we high fived again and I ran around the finish line to see him out the chute.  Erik killed that run with a half marathon PR!

Kevin and Corey
Let's back up.  After Erik took off I found TKB, Amy, and Patrick.  We walked around a bit and got to see the first two male finishers cross the line.  I had left a few things at my transition that I wanted to have with me, so I walked back to my bike and cleaned it up a little bit more and had it essentially ready to go.  I saw Joyce again and chatted about her swim while she waited for her cyclist to come in.  I then went over to get some food that was set aside for athletes while Erik, TKB, and Patrick bought some lunch.

After finishing my plate, I decided a trip to the bathroom was in order.  Apparently while I was off, Jason Parr who I raced with at Pigman Tri in 2013 had just finished.  TKB went over to say hi and then I did too after I got back.  I went looking for him but when I came back to the finish chute there was TKB, Amy, Patrick... and Kevin!  He had just finished and we missed it!  I was so bummed but I blame him for it... because he rocked his race!  He finished in 5 hours and 17 minutes!  Based on what he thought he'd finish, we didn't expect him in that soon.

We walked around a bit and then went a bit further down the run course to see Corey and Erik arrive.  Not too much longer and Corey came flying down to finish in 6 hours and 1 minute  Another amazing finish for a first timer (just a few minutes past my first half ironman).

These guys seriously did amazing for the first half ironman and was happy to be apart of it.  Looking forward to doing a lot more races with them!

Overall
Definitely had a good experience at Ironman 70.3 Muncie.  Good post-race experience with athlete food options (quarter chicken, applesauce, cole slaw, veggie burger, and pop).  Plenty of race merch to purchase.  On the non-race day side, I was able to easily get a refund when I registered as a team.

I was a little annoyed that I couldn't run through the chute with Erik at the end.  I will say that considering the size of roads we are riding on, there were way too many people on the bike and borderline unsafe.  Not many races in the world offer a completely closed bike course like Muncie and so I doubt they would be able to do that with wider roads.

I'd definitely consider doing this race again.

As for our place, we finished 7th out of 21 teams (1st of the three Kansas City teams ;)) with a finish of 5:34:11.

Photos

Just put that right back in the truck, please.

Don't put your wetsuit on my rack.  This is where you will find it.

Enjoying the pay-off

Someone commented that the road crew marking the bike route for potholes wanted to ensure no one harmed this sleeping rodent.

We got caught leaving the scene of the race.

Been a While

I haven't fallen off the face of the blog-o-sphere.  I just haven't had the motivation to write.  This has probably been the longest since I've taken off from posting.  New PR?

Taken at the Airport in Phoenix on April 20.  I was headed to California for work instead of running the Boston Marathon that day.

The healing process has been slow but as expected.  After I got the boot, I kept to swimming for a few weeks.  Then swim and bike for a few weeks and stayed there until the boot was removed.  Around 4 weeks I attended a half ironman training camp which gave me the opportunity to swim in a 50 meter pool, open water swim, and then did about 40 miles of the 56 mile ride.  Obviously skipped the run.

I did a handful of aqua running workouts.  Not as horrible as I thought it would be but didn't do more than 30 minutes at a time.

I started weening off the boot after 4 weeks, per my doc.  At 6 weeks I stopped wearing it altogether but didn't start running for another week.  My ankle seemed weak, so I wanted to give it a chance to manage normal walking.  Running consisted of short, slow run and then a walking break... repeat.  First week was not great.  Leg was sore.  I knew right then and there that any hope to run at Ironman Muncie 70.3 was out.

At the track, starting my first run in 2 months.

It was a couple more weeks before I got comfortable running at my normal form.  TKB and I went to Chicago for about a week and I got in a few good run/walk sessions on Lake Shore Trail.  I started extending my runs with good form.  Things were feeling pretty darn good. So after I got back I did a 9 minute run, 1 minute walk for 30 minutes.  It felt good to run long but my leg was sore.

At the same time, my hip was still bothering me like it was back in early February.  My foot neuroma was flaring up again.  During the previous few months I had started putting metatarsal pads in all my shoes and by now I had finally put them in my cycling and work shoes.  About the same time as my leg hurting after the run, my foot was really bothering me.  I got to the point of pain where on a 50 mile ride I stopped in the middle and ripped out the met pad I had installed (poorly).

I was through with the pain.  It wasn't massive pain, but it was there and caused me trouble sleeping. My stress fractures were on the mend but without fixing the hip and foot neuroma, I was surely going to end up in a boot again.  I was done.  I started noticing that with the neuroma on the left foot, I would walk "around" the pain.  Had a conversation with Kevin at work about it who mentioned that his hip/lower back pain was resolved by orthotics in his shoes.  I came to the conclusion that maybe the neuroma is causing my hip issue.

I talked to my physical therapist and agreed that may be a connection.  So back to the drawing board and back to my foot doctor.  I was happy to go back to the foot doc because he is a triathlete and knows how I think.  He and I had a great discussion and when I mentioned my hip he mentioned that it could be caused by the neuroma without my prompting.  So I bought some orthotics per his recommendation to put in my cycling shoes since that's where I started noticing the neuroma.  Even leading up to the appointment with the foot doc, I had become more vigilant at putting met pads in my shoes (correctly) and had noticed the neuroma wasn't as painful anymore.  That being said, it was hard to objectionably determine if my hip was doing better.

Armed with my new orthotics, I went out for a 3 hour ride this past Saturday and my neuroma didn't peep once (it usually starts around 20 miles in).  My hip isn't as noticeable but occasionally it is sore.  I do think it is getting better.

Shining Light
Given all this, how do I see the light at the end of the tunnel?  Small victories.

• Working on race karma I volunteered with the MTC team to help at a run aid station.  I ended up course marshaling with Mark at the top of a nasty hill.  I brought my JAMBOX to blast music and we had a blast cheering people on.  Talked to participants days/weeks after the race and they appreciated the support at the top of the hill.
• Knowing that I couldn't run the half marathon at Muncie 70.3, I asked my buddy Erik to participate as a team and he agreed!  Erik was already planning to attend Muncie as a spectator and is currently training for his first marathon.  Hopefully this worked out for him and his training.
• The short runs I did in Chicago weren't super fast but did show me that I still had decent fitness.
• I have been having trouble with my Garmin Vector Power Meters on my triathlon bike.  It would read low, although it was fine on my road bike.  I found out that I had not configured my Garmin watch and bike computer correctly for my triathlon bike but I had for my road bike.  This was awesome because it has a big impact on my Performance Management Chart on TrainingPeaks.  Happy to see it be accurate.
• Had a good conversation with Kevin who was going to participate in Beach2Battleship with me.  We both decided to cancel.  Neither of us had registered yet.  Kevin wanted to train for KC Marathon and I was still the middle of figuring out my hip problem.  I know this seems weird to consider canceling a race as a positive but it gave me the relief to not try to train for something when I wasn't 100% yet.  I've still got a long road to returning to form.

Looking Forward
I feel that I have a good plan to get the hip issue resolved.  My neuroma hasn't flared up in a few weeks.  So after this week I want to get back into hip focused strength training and stretching.  Coach keeps putting yoga on my plan and I keep conveniently not finding time to do it.  Maybe it's time to look up the Yoga place in Parkville.

Why focus on it after this week?  Well, it's race week!  We are leaving for Ironman Muncie 70.3 tomorrow morning.  This is going to be a blast.  Not only am I registered as "Two Tall Tri Guys" team with Erik, but Kevin and another co-worker, Corey Hunt is doing it too. My other race buddy/co-worker Kristen was planning to make the trip but couldn't.  She'll be there in spirit!

TKB pointed out that I missed the opportunity of calling our team "Too Tall Tri Guys" but whatever, still works.

So hopefully I'll be back on the blog with my race report soon.

Lastly
A while back my coach sent me the below link and I actually just read it finally after finishing this post.  A lot of great advice and you might notice some similarities in what I said/experienced to what she wrote:

This Too Shall Pass by Marilyn Chychota

OK... going to bed.  Good night!  Got an 8 hour drive tomorrow!

Welcome to Season 2015, Version 2.0

On Monday (the day after my last post), my doctor sent me in for some x-rays as my insurance denied the MRI without first getting x-rays.  The results were inconclusive so the MRI was approved, which I did on Friday.

I've never had an MRI and so I never really knew what to expect.  After removing all metal on my body, the technician put me on the patient table and then laid a heavy blanket type device on my legs. After sliding me in up to my thighs the fun started.  I am so thankful that I didn't have to be fully in the bore.  I can't image what that would be like or how I'd handle it.

After a few minutes my legs started to tingle.  Was this normal?  Then I started to experience micro muscle spasms.  Uh.   I don't want to do this thing again.   That can't be good for a sharp image!  I realized what was going on.  This heavy blanket was partial supported by my feet and my attempts to keep still was being hampered by the weight on my feet. 

She told me it would take about 30 minutes and so I thought, "I can run a 5k in less than 20 minutes.  I can mange some discomfort for a bit longer".  I was listening to a local radio station on these wireless headphones, so I just kept counting the songs.  Eventually my feet relaxed just enough to ease the discomfort and everything was good.

I had to wait until Monday to get the results.  Unfortunately, we received some bad news that Friday in the loss of my maternal grandmother.  The only shining light that weekend was spending Easter Sunday with an amazingly supportive and loving family.  They helped keep my mind on the important things in life.  

The day of Grandma D's funeral was Monday and I also got the results of my MRI: Stress fractureS.  I had a genuine concern being a casket bearer but, once again, my cousins are (strong) rockstars and helped me out.

I had to meet my orthopedist on Thursday with the results. I left the doctor's office with some new footwear.  I have a boot to wear for the next 4 to 6 weeks. Awesome.

Apparently this shows my Stress Fracture.  I think it shows my awesome.

So I emailed my coach and put out some new thoughts for 2015.  Boston was already out.  But what about the entire year?  When I did my first ironman, I did 30 weeks of training and, based off of that, I was already a month behind target.  I hired Coach Ken because I wanted something tailored to me and my schedule.  So training hadn't officially started yet anyway.  The point here is that Ironman events are way too expensive for me to half-ass them.  I'm looking down the barrel of some massive training weeks and I don't want to push myself getting back if I'm not really ready.  I still have the opportunity to get some money back from registration.  So I'm pushing my second ironman back a year.  Ironman Louisville 2016?

This left two races on my calendar.  Legends 70.3 and Ironman Muncie 70.3.  I should be able to walk without the boot by early to mid-May. That would be about 3 to 5 weeks out from Legends.  I could do the sprint, maybe the olympic, but no way I can do the half.  I would much rather cut out Legends altogether and focus on Muncie 5 weeks later.  

Will I be competitive at Muncie?  Well, I think there is a question on whether I will even be ready for it.  Either way, I am going.  I may not compete but I'm going.  I have a lot of great friends doing that race with me and it will be a first 70.3 for all of them.  I'm not missing that, even if it is from the sidelines.

So at this point, Muncie is the only race on my calendar.  I need a fall race.  What other fall races are there?  Maybe something that could involve a little vacation?  How about something near a beach?  What if there was a cool battleship museum close by?

Hello Beach2Battleship 70.3!

After talking with TKB, we decided going back to my favorite triathlon would be a blast.  I know the course. I know I can do it well.  I will be ready to compete.  After a rather crappy first half of the year, I want something to look forward to and train for and enjoy some time off.  Financially speaking, the money I get back from Ironman will cover most of the registration cost for B2B and the money saved preparing for Ironman Louisville will more than cover the rest (race, travel, hotel, food).

So here's to a new 2015!

Boston and Injury Update

When I started this blog in 2011 I didn't really know how it would turn out.  One thing it has done is turned into a place where I can relive those races that I really enjoyed.  It also turned into a reference for others planning the same race.  Even Beach2Battleship has reposted my 140.6 race report.  Pretty cool.

As much as I want to continue posting positive things, you must take the bad with the good.  And this is going to be a post I don't want to relive.

With all the positives that I've been seeing in the last few weeks, my shin issue hit an all time high.  I set out for my 18 mile run with the Saturday Ultramax Store group run.  I started with a couple other triathletes I know.  Everything was going well. Chatting with people sure helps take the mind off of things.  About mile 3 the limp showed up.  By mile 4 my right leg was sore from the bottom of my foot up through the quad.  Around mile 4.5 my coach caught up with me and suggested walking breaks, which I did at mile 5.

I never started running again.

Luckily, the route brought us back by the store at that point.  I got in my car and drove home.

After hopping around in the shower, I laid down in bed and told Tricia that Boston was over.  There's no possible way.  My sub-par training would lead to a sub-par Boston and give me a feeling that I'd be leaving that race with a chip on my shoulder... assuming I could finish it in the first place.

I couldn't fight back the tears.  All I wanted to do was go to sleep so this pain would go away.  But the caffeine from my pre-run coffee was still coursing its way through my veins.

Eventually I did drift off.  When I woke up, it was like a new day.  I've been dealing with pain over two months.  Sure, I was still going to endure some but the path to recovery had been paved.  I'm ready to be normal again.  I'm ready to refocus for Ironman Muncie 70.3 and Ironman Louisville 140.6.  The decision was actually a bit of a relief.

I had to convey the bad news to my brother, parents, and friends.  My brother and parents were planning to make the trip out to Boston.  I didn't want anyone to make any further financial outlays on my part.

So now the question is should I get the MRI?  The money I'm going to save from hotel cost, dining, and race merchandise will more than cover that.  It will help figure out how to plan the recovery.  I'll talk with my doctor on Monday to discuss.

Maybe in a few years when I'm preparing for my next first Boston Marathon, I'll see this post and feel a level of appreciation and not sadness.

ScottyTris, MD

I'm getting tired of talking about medical issues here but that's my life right now, sadly.

So I continued with my foam rolling.  Monday I was doing better.  I decided to wait until Tuesday to see if it still helped.  Tuesday I was feeling even better.  PT Ross gave me the go ahead to run/ride.  So I decided to ride and call him on Wednesday to see how I'm doing.  Wednesday wasn't better but wasn't worse, so he green lighted running.  I did 2 miles on the treadmill and 1 mile on the track.  I wanted to use the treadmill to keep pace and a softer landing.  This SUCKED because I was staring out the window at the first warm weather day.

Thursday it was time to see Ross again... and I wasn't feeling any better.  Maybe a bit worse.  Again, I had to be honest.  This time I could point out exactly where it was sore.  As soon as I did this a light came on and Ross diagnosed a tight Iliopsoas.  Basically the same muscle group known as the Hip Flexor.

He showed me a couple stretches and some strength training exercises and sent me on my way.  As I was heading out he said to keep on "running, biking, and swimming"!  SWEET!

One of the stretches involved a BOSU ball.  I didn't exactly want to go to the gym multiple times a day to do this stretch, so I found a brand new one on Craigslist.  Friday morning I went to the gym and did my stretching and weights.  During the gym session, I planned out a meeting point for the BOSU ball and by 7:30am I had it and was on my merry way to work.

Interestingly enough, the hip was feeling pretty good.  I did a 5 mile run at lunch.  Did more stretching after.  Before noon I had already showered twice, at two different YMCAs.  That's a pretty good day!  I even snuck in a bike ride that evening.  Was I doing too much?

Saturday I hit the pool in the morning and then did a High Five Station at the Big 12 12k Run on KC Sports Commissions request.  I did have a two hour bike planned that afternoon.  Even though it was OK outside, I did it on the trainer.  I've been having some trouble getting my Power Meter to read correctly on my Tri Bike, so I ended up hosing up most of the ride by hopping on and off the bike tweaking it.  Eventually I just wasn't into the ride and cut it after 90 minutes.  My legs were pretty sore from the strength training the day before... but my hip felt great!

Sunday I met up with Kristen and the Sunday Runday group and ran 14 miles.  It went pretty well.  It wasn't the fastest, which is good because I wanted to keep the pace slow.  I did run about 1/2 a mile with the organizer, Donny, and we hit some 7:30-ish paces and, while it felt great to hit that pace, I knew it wasn't wise.

So after recording 19 miles running, 2.5 hours riding, and 1 hour of swimming, by Monday morning my hip was feeling... great!  I ended up calling Ross on Friday after a few more workouts (which included an 8 mile threshold run) and told him I was doing quite well BUT was concerned with a shin splint.  He agreed to see me the next Thursday and would tape me up with some KT tape.  By doing this I would be taped for my 18 mile run on Sunday.  According to Ross, if I watched the wrong video to tape it, I could end up doing something really bad.  He was being honest and wasn't trying to rip me off for another $40.  I didn't care, he fixed my hip.  He can have that plus more.

Saturday came and I rode outside for 2 hours.  It felt awesome.  That evening my hip and shin splint were both feeling good.  I met up with Kristen again on Sunday morning for my 16 miles.  She ran with me for four miles before heading back.  I did the following 8 miles on my own.  While my hip was feeling good, my shin was cranky.  I had four miles left when a girl who was running Boston as well caught up with me and we ran together for the final 4 miles.  She had told me how she missed her first Boston with an injury.  So she understood my situation.  After running with her for two miles, I realized we were kicking 7:30 - 7:45s instead of the 8:15 - 8:30 that I should have been running.  Finish strong, right?

By the time I got home, my shin was yelling at me.  It was bad.  I managed to get around but was not pretty.  Monday morning I could barely walk.  I knew this wasn't right.  I've had shin splints before but NOTHING like this.  I called my general physician as soon as they opened and scheduled an appointment at 10:30am.  Fortunately for me, TKB took the day off and could take me into the office.  Yes, I could drive but stretching my foot to push on the gas was quite uncomfortable.  Unfortunately for TKB, she had to spend the morning of her day off dealing with me at the Doctor's office.

Doc did some "point" tests and other range tests.  His gut feeling was it was a bad shin splint and not a stress fracture.  Until an MRI was taken, it wouldn't be possible to know.  So he did something that I thought was interesting.  He asked me what I wanted to do!  He knew I wanted to remain active.  So we came up with a plan:

• Get in with the PT as soon as possible to do the KT tape now so it would help just walking around.
• Take the remaining Meloxicam for inflammation the he prescribed me bake in early February.  He prescribed me 30 pills but directed me to only take 10 of them back then.
• Hold off on running for a bit but when I do, hit the treadmill.
• Start talking to the health insurance about doing an MRI.  This was just for the approval, not that I would actually do it.

I talked to Ross and was going to see him Tuesday morning and started the meds.  I made it into work around noon and went immediately into about 7 hours of meetings.  I got home, still in pain, and basically went to bed at 8:30pm.  The two days of bad shin splint pain and two months of dealing with all this crap had caught up to me.

Tuesday morning it was still very very uncomfortable.  I couldn't tell if it had gotten better.  I manage to shave the bottom third of my right leg to help the KT tape adhere.  Ross showed me how to put on the tape and gave me some stretches and a few strength things to do.

Meet my new sock for the next 3 weeks.

 Similar to my physician, he asked me what I wanted to do.  I didn't go to medical school!  I discussed the same plan with him as I did my physician and he liked it.  I wouldn't say I felt immediately better but there is always something comforting with a plan.

Another long day of meetings but when I got home, I could tell a difference.  It was good.  Wednesday morning (today), I was still sore but better.  Much better.  While I still had pain, it wasn't quite the same as what had been coming on over the previous weeks.  That could be the tape, or the stretching, or the meloxicam... or my new found medical profession.

I rode my bike tonight and did some hard intervals.  It wasn't irritated when I was pushing the 500 watts for 30 seconds or when I unclipped.  I'm hoping things feel even better tomorrow as I will plan to hit the treadmill for 4 or 5 miles tomorrow night.

I've never worked so hard to run a marathon and not refer to the training.

Injury Update

When I left you last time I had just scheduled an appointment with a bone/joint specialist. That week I put up 23 miles, which included 12 miles at the gym (11 miles on the treadmill and 1 on the track) on Sunday.  I guess I wanted the hip nice and visible for the doc the next day.

Before I continue, I just want to remind you that I never really have a pain in my left hip.  I have discomfort like a dull ache if I sit or lay down for a long period of time.  I do not have an issue, standing, walking, or running; however, I do have a slight limp.  It causes my form to change slightly give me shin splint concerns on my right leg when I run.

On Monday I arrived at the medical center and they sent me directly to x-rays.  I had three photos of my man hips and off to wait for the hip doc.  He came in and did some odd tests (hold your arms over head, look left/right, do the Macarena).  I figured these were mostly to confirm that I'm willing to follow directions in the event he tells me to do something really stupid... like stop running.

He said I had a femoral acetabular impingement (FAI).  Basically the head of my femur has a bit of a bump on it and it can cause irritation to the tissue around it.  It's something that I grew up with.  Based off of the always-truthful-internet-medical websites, having an active lifestyle can cause it to cause pain much earlier in life or it might not be a problem at all.

According to the doc, the only permanent solution is surgery to remove the 'bump' but he didn't recommend it.  He asked me to convert to water running for the next 4 to 6 weeks, pick up more strength training, go to Physical Therapy, take prescribed steroids, daily Ibuprofen, and then check back in with him.

Uh....  Boston Marathon is "4 to 6 weeks".  I told him that and so he modified the 'script.  Go to PT, iburprofen, and water running for 2 to 3 weeks.  Then convert to track running.. blah.

So I left feeling lost.  Seriously lost.  How in the hell is water running going to truly prepare me for -Boston?  It's not.  How am I going to run 26.2 with very little pre-pounding on my legs?  Sure.  Track running will help but doing 80 laps on a track?  Probably not what he had in mind anyway.  I was pretty bummed.  I decided not to go into the office that afternoon and work from home.  My mind was having trouble focusing though.

I called the PT to setup an appointment and then talked to my coach.  I told him I still want to run Boston. I didn't quite gauge his response to that but we already know it's not going to be a PR.  In fact, it's going to be a PW (personal worst).  Frankly, I'm mostly fine with that; although, I'm sure I will fly home knowing I have unfinished business.

That night I went to Masters Swim class.  A fellow swimmer was a family physician and when I told him what I had, he said he had one too and dealt with it.  He said "FAI" is a popular diagnosis.  That didn't exactly make me feel any better but gave me the confidence I can manage it when I'm through with this bout.  In fact, my friend Jill had one but had it dealt with surgically while she had hip surgery for a torn labrum.

Luckily, my PT appointment was the next day (Tuesday) at 4:30pm.  I had high hopes. I also had a full slate of meetings that afternoon.  My last one for the day was a few blocks away, so I left a bit early so I could move my truck right next to the building in order to leave right after it was over.  When I got to the truck, the battery was dead.  Just my freaking luck.  I was not parked in a place conducive for jumping with all the other vehicles parked around.  I was stuck.  I didn't have any time to get a jump and make my appointment.  CRAP!  I didn't want to miss it and delay anything!

My knight-ess in shining armor saved me.  TKB was able to cut out of the office early and pick me up in plenty of time.  That actually worked out quite well to have her at the appointment too.

Once I got to meet the PT, Ross, he immediately did an assessment. My left leg was shorter than my right leg.  Finally, something made sense!!  Up to this point, it seemed like every medical professional I talked to was just following some script and pushed me off to the next person.

So my left leg was shorter, which was causing a slight limp. That translates to a shin splint on my right leg. Along with having something that made sense, he had me do this particular PT exercise.  It took 1 minute.  He did the assessment again and, viola, leg length normal.  So I had a muscle imbalance, not shorter bones, that needed to be corrected.

He asked me to continue doing this exercise every couple hours and come back on Thursday.  He also told me what I didn't want to hear: No running.  To put icing on the cake, no cycling either.  He didn't want anything that could jeopardize pinpointing the exact cause of the muscle imbalance. Fine.  Swimming was approved though. After two days of bad news and my truck giving me a slight heart attack early that day, I needed a win.  I needed something.  So TKB took me to Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers for dinner.  It was delicious and, yes, so worth it.

My next appointment was two days later, on Thursday.  I had to be honest with him.  My hip wasn't doing any better.  It was still sore when sitting and laying down.  To say it didn't feel as bad was difficult because it never hurts that bad.  In fact, he did the hip length assessment and my left leg had gotten even shorter!  WTF!  He had me do the weird exercise and, viola, normal.  Argh!

So he gave me some more exercises to do.  He has me foam roll for 20 minutes on my left quad and hamstring to loosen up the muscles and then a quad strengthening exercise.  All in all, it takes about 30 minutes.  Knowing that I have a $40 out of pocket expense for every session, he asked me to call him on Monday or Tuesday to see how things are progressing.  If things are doing better, he would green light some running.  I'm not sure if he told me that to motivate me through 20 minutes of foam rolling hell or what.  This also gives me a mental struggle to figure out how to objectively determine if I'm truly getting better.  That's so difficult when sometimes it's hard to tell if it is sore because I'm sitting down all freaking day or it truly isn't healed.

So it is Sunday night and I'm about to do my 30 minutes of fun.  Here's to hoping it helps kick this issue!

Hip Foot & Mouth Update

So I've been "mending" for a couple weeks now. Since I decided to do something about my issues, I've logged a stunning run mileage of 10.5 miles over the last two weeks.  I would have normally logged around 50 - 60.

So here's the update:

Foot Neuroma
I purchased a wider cycling shoe and started wearing my street shoes to work.  Fortunately my office allows for us to wear street shoes and jeans but I typically wear nice dress shoes to keep it classy.  No more!  Between the two, I seem to have settled the neuroma inflammation!  Woo hoo!  So while I don't think I will ever truly fix the neuroma, I can at least take precautions to keep it from having an "episode".

The wider cycling shoe is a road shoe and not a triathlon shoe.  Given that, I will still race in my triathlon shoe if I have the option for a flying mount.  My understanding is I will not have that option in Louisville, so I will probably use these wider shoes for the 112 mile gallop through the Kentucky countryside.

Hip Issues
Not as promising of an update here.  Going through the prescription of prednisone, meloxicam, and reduced mileage seems to have helped.  That being said, it's a slow improvement.  Last Friday was 10 days since my doctor's visit and I did a 2 mile run that morning.  It wasn't a struggle but I could still tell my form was slightly off.  This gave me concerns about secondary injuries such as shin splints or stress fracture as a result.  Bummer.  I called the doc and they gave me a referral to a specialist.

It's now been 4 days since that run.  I have competed in an indoor bike race (will provide more on that in the next post) two swim sessions and a four mile run.  That four mile run went really well (even with the close to negative temperature wind chill).  I had to concentrate on the form to make sure I wasn't favoring my leg and I had a small amount of discomfort in the hip.  Fortunately, on a scale of 1 to 10 it was like a 2.5.

Something that has been interesting is over the last few days since the run, my hip really doesn't bother me when walking around or cycling or swimming.  It's when I'm sitting down for long periods or laying in bed that it begins to have a dull ache.  I try not to cross my legs when I'm sitting or lying around so as to not put additional stress on the joint.

I've decided that if I'm going to hit Boston in some reasonable shape, I need to start adding mileage.  I green lighted my coach to do so.  He came back with a suggestion I was hoping for, which was increasing mileage but holding off intensity for now.  So limited speed work, which is probably a good idea.

Just as I was typing about waiting for the specialist to call for an appointment, they just did!  So I will have that appointment on Monday, which will be after a 12 mile run.  Hopefully that will just be a visit to tell him everything is ok and I don't need his stinking advice anyway.... and not me carrying in my left leg over my should and asking him to:

Mouth
No mouth issues.  Just thought it was funny.

That's all for now!