A Weighting Game

Elaine bought me 'The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing' by Dr Philip Maffetone for my birthday.  Not only does he talk about training, but there is also a large section on diet.

Dr Maffetone's main diet theme is to avoid processed carbohydrates.  His advice is that you should not buy food from any of the aisles in supermarket because all that food is not good for you.  In particular he singles out Bread, Cereal, Milk, Pasta, White Rice, Desserts and Soft drink.  He also does not like fruit juice, potatoes and corn (high GI and too many starches).  Instead he wants you to have foods high in protein and dietary fats.  You should buy as many different colored vegetables as possible, eggs, nuts, avocados, bacon, cheese, sour cream, meat and fish (wine, coffee & tea).

In fact he attributes nearly every unhealthy symptom (even dental decay) to an overload of processed carbohydrates. He advises a two week test where you try to avoid all carbohydrates to allow your insulin levels to stabilise and your body to adjust.  During this time all your unwanted symptoms such as intestinal distress, bloating, irregular bowel movements, insomnia, fatigue should disappear and weight loss also usually occurs.  After the 2 weeks, you can slowly start re-introducing carbohydrates and take note of which foods cause symptoms to reappear.

With only 2 weeks before Elaine's work Christmas Party, she was very keen to start the 2 week test straight away.  We are now just over a week into the test and Elaine is feeling much better and has lost 2 kilograms.  Unfortunately, I discovered this morning that I have lost 3 kilograms, and I didn't have any extra weight that I could afford to lose - I'm now down to 75.9kg (190cm tall).  So in the interest of good health I just had 2 Tim Tams and am currently drinking a beer.

A Good Week

I skipped the long ride on Thursday due to my knee, but otherwise had a good week of training.  My runs were only short (and slow) run/walks and the longest ride was only 58km, but I got in 6 swim sessions including a 3km swim on Thursday.  I had intended longer ride on Saturday, but it poured rain all day, so I did an 80min windtrainer session instead.

All up I did 11 hours of training which included 11.5km of swimming - the most I have ever swam in one week.  My run/walk is up to 4.5km and the knee is feeling excellent and getting better each day.

Although my run and ride volumes are no where near where I would like them to be, my injuries appear to be healing and I starting to feel confident that longer ride and run mileage is not far away.

Putting the Brakes On

This week has been pretty good so far.  It is only Thu morning and I've already clocked up 6 hours of training - 4 swims for 6.5km, 2 run/walks totaling over 6km and a 58km ride.

However this morning I can feel the knee a little more.  It is not painful, it just seems a little more irritated than it has been in the last week.  So I've decided to be cautious and have abandoned today's planned 80km ride - disappointing considering the weather is so good today.

But I'll probably do a swim.  Most likely at the Pines swimming pool in Frankston North - a nice 50m outdoor pool.  I'm pretty bad at doing any distance in the pool when swimming by myself, but I'm hoping to do 3km.

Little Things Add Up

As I gradually move back into training mode, it still feels like I've done almost nothing.  However my training diary shows over 9 and half hours for the week - which for me is a decent week's training (still a bit off Ironman levels though).

Each training session was relatively short and they were all done at very low intensities, so the stress on my body has been minimal.  For the week I did 4 swim sessions totaling over 6km, 3 rides totaling 180km and a single 1.8km run/walk.

First Run since the MRI

The Physio has given me permission to start running again - yay !!!  Well actually, I have to run/walk.

My first run was for 15 minutes, running for 400m followed by 400m of walking.  It was very slow and the walking sections seemed frustratingly long, but it was great to be back running.

I can always feel the knee when I'm riding my bike.  It is not really pain, but more of an awareness of a sore knee.  Even swimming I can often notice my knee - usually pushing off from the end of the pool, or doing a kick set.  However I never felt anything on the run, which must be a good sign.

Eastlink Ride

The weather forecast was good, about 20 degrees with rain and thunderstorms not forecast until the evening.  There were several drops of rain on the windscreen during the drive to Ringwood for the ride start, but thankfully there was no rain on the ride.

I arrived at the start line just before 7:30am, but there was already about 1,000 riders ahead of me.  They let about 50 riders at a time onto the course, so it took about 15 minutes before I actually started.  With the tollway having 3 wide lanes, it was very easy to work my way past the congestion and find some room for myself.

Heading towards Frankston, the speed was very fast with a perfect road surface and generally being downhill with a tailwind.  My plan was to keep my Heart Rate below 140bpm and keep my Power around 200 watts - Ironman race pace.  I averaged 39kph towards Frankston, but only 27kph on the return trip back to Doncaster and I was averaging the same Heart Rate and Power in both directions.  Eastlink is so open that you are very much exposed to any headwind, and the road runs due north until the tunnel, so there is no respite from the wind.  My position on the road bike is very relaxed, so theoretically I'll be slightly less affected by the headwind on my Tri-bike - I can only hope.

I could feel the knee injury during the ride, but it was more of an awareness than pain.  After about 50km (of the 75km ride), my hamstrings started to feel worn out, a side affect of not having trained in the last 2 weeks.

I iced the knee 3 times during the day after the ride to try and prevent any further inflammation.  The good news is that my knee feels great this morning.  Usually the knee is very stiff in the morning and slowly loosens up during the day.  I cannot remember my knee feeling so good in the morning since I injured it - this bodes very well.

Setting up the road bike

I was tempted to go for another ride on Saturday but decided not to risk it and save myself for Sunday's ride.  Instead I setup the road bike for Eastlike ride.

My recent rides had been on my Triathlon bike thinking that this put less pressure on my knee due to the different position on the bike.  However the Triathlon bike only really feels comfortable when you are going fast, and my comeback from injury needs a lot of short easy rides.  Therefore I've decided to revert back to riding on the Road bike.  Also the Eastlink Ride does not allow Triathlon Bikes.

I've had the power meter moved from the Triathlon to the Road bike.  And just for the Eastlink ride I have put the Zipp wheels on the Road bike.  The reason I'm doing the Eastlink Ride is that it is the only opportunity I'll get to ride the Ironman bike course before the race.  So it makes sense to do the ride on the wheels I'll be racing with.

I'll remove the Zipp wheels after the ride and revert to my training wheels.  But don't the Zipps look good on the Colnago.

Back to light training

Friday was an absolutely beautiful day.  As soon as I got home from the Physio, I slopped on some sunscreen and went out for an easy ride.  It felt so good to be back training, but I had to make sure I only rode slowly, which is very difficult when you are so excited.

Elaine had bought me some wonderful gifts for my recent birthday including a new bike computer - a Garmin Edge 800.  This computer does everything but pedal for you.

I also had just recently bought some new cycling shoes.  My previous pair were Triathlon specific with straps that allow you to easily get in and out of the shoes whilst riding the bike (speeds up transitions in a race).  However I had heard from several different sources that these shoes are not good for doing lots of long training rides.  So I bought a second pair of shoes that are road cycling specific.

Still feeling good, I went down to the Frankston pool and swam almost 2km, most of it without the pool buoy.  I can feel that I've lost a lot of fitness and conditioning (and put on weight), but I don't think it will take long to get back into top shape.  The only problem is having to take things easy whilst my injuries slowly repair.

MRI Results

I pre-booked the Friday morning Physio appointment a week ahead to make sure I didn't have to wait long for the MRI results.  Now paranoid about arriving on time, I ended up getting to the Sports Medical Centre 30 minutes early.  Unfortunately the receptionist was running late, so everything was delayed in her absence whilst my Physio fumbled around trying to process patient payments - the irony.

The MRI results clearly showed inflammation of the patella tendon.  This was the Physio's initial prognosis, and he is not sure why the Ultrasound did not reveal this injury.  It seems that Ultrasounds can be a little hit and miss and are very reliant upon the expertise of the person performing the Ultrasound.  Whereas the MRIs are always very comprehensive (and much more expensive).

So we are back to the initial plan of light exercise, taping the knee and lots of strength exercises.  However I'm to abstain from running for a while.

I am allowed to do the Eastlink Ride on Sunday (one 75km lap of the Eastlink tollway), but only if I ride it at Ironman pace.

MRI dramas

Tuesday morning I had a physio appointment, but due to the wet weather bringing peak hour traffic to an almost stand-still, I arrived 15 mins late.  Therefore the session became more of a quick consultation with no work being done for my injured back or knee.  This experience highlighted how important it would be to arrive on time for the MRI this morning.

I allowed an hour's traveling time, which should be ample considering the early appointment time of 7:15am.  However when working out what time I had to leave home, I had a complete brain meltdown and somehow thought 6:45am was 1 hour before 7:15am.

A sudden sick feeling entered my stomach when the 7:00am news bulletin came on the radio and I was less than half way there.  At first I was in disbelief, still believing I had left so early, but after redoing the time calculations I soon realised my mistake.  I could not even ring the MRI centre because my phone had frozen up the night before (now fixed).

Luckily I had decided to allow 1 hour's traveling time.  So even though I left 30 mins late, I arrived only 15 mins late.  Unfortunately this would still be too late to keep the 7:15am appointment.  But fortune was shining upon me, because the 8:00am appointment had arrived early and in my absence had taken my 7:15am timeslot - I wonder if they miscalculated their departure time in the opposite direction.

So after a stressful morning, I ended up getting my MRI after all.  Of course they never tell you the results - you have to wait until you see the Physio again.

Ultrasound and X-Ray results are clear

Due to a cancellation, I was able to see the Physio this morning.  We pretty much spent the whole session trying to loosen up my back muscles.  It does not appear to be a serious injury and I should be right in about 10 days.  Unfortunately the Eastlink ride is only 8 days away, so fingers crossed that I'll be OK for the ride.

As for the results from the Ultrasound and X-Ray, other than a build up of fluid they did not reveal any injury.  This means we do not know what the problem is and I now need an MRI.

I have a Myotherapy session booked on Sunday (Physio is unavailable), a Physio appointment on Tuesday and the MRI is booked in for Thursday, which means I'll have another Physio appointment Thursday or Friday.  So late next week I should have a good idea about all my injuries.  Hopefully the complete rest enforced by the combination of knee and back injuries will mean that they heal quicker, one can only hope.

More bad luck

Yesterday I had the Ultrasound and X-ray done on my left knee.  However when I tried to make a new appointment with the physio to go over the results, I discovered he is booked out for the rest of the week.

I had intended to swim with a pull buoy every day until my knee recovered and did this on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Unfortunately I have now injured my back (not training related) and now I can't even get out of a chair, let alone swim.  What's more, I can't see my physio because he is booked out for the rest of the week.  The back injury feels like a re-occurrence of an injury I suffered in February this year which saw me miss the Portarlington race and 2 or 3 weeks of training.

On the bright side, it is probably better to have 2 injuries at the same time rather than one after the other.  As a single rest period should see both injuries recover at once.