Saturday mornings usually involve joining the local bike shop (Cycling Obsession) ride that starts at 6:30am. I had planned a long ride this morning (5hrs+) which would have meant doing about 3 hours extra at the end, but the knee didn't feel great, so I revised the plans and decided the 2 hour ride would be enough.
The Cycling Obsession rides alternate each week between Mt Martha (hilly) and St Kilda (flat & fast). This week it was St Kilda, but because so many of the riders are also doing Ironman the ride was extended to Port Melbourne - an extra 13kms taking the riding distance up to 78km.
The ride out is usually done at a reasonably easy pace of 30kph, it then picks up on the way back with an especially fast section between Brighton and Mordialloc for about 16kms before cruising back to Seaford. On the way out today we were sitting around 35kph, so I figured we probably had a slight tailwind. I was feeling pretty good and was entertaining ideas of trying to push the pace on the way back, but wasn't so keen on doing this if it was going to be a stiff headwind - the strength of the wind usually picks up as the morning progresses. Very fortuitously, the wind changed direction just before we reached Port Melbourne, so we ended up having a tailwind in both directions - this does not happen very often.
The pace back was moderate until Brighton where Beach Rd starts to open up and is much more bike friendly. Four riders from the bunch took off and immediately generated a gap of over 50m. I charged off to bridge the gap hitting 60kph, but in my eagerness I hit a pothole at speed. The force of the pothole bounced my whole body off the bike - I landed safely on the nose of the saddle, but in doing so pushed the angle of the seat down about 10 degrees. This suddenly made the bike very uncomfortable. Usually I sit on the nose when I'm pushing hard for speed, but now this would result in the seat being way too low. So I had to sit further back than usual to maintain the correct saddle height, but the tilt of the seat meant that any position was not very comfortable. I still managed to bridge the gap, but ironically within a kilometre we got stopped at the South Rd lights and the group was re-united again.
Each time we stopped at lights, I tried to wrench my seat back into position. I managed to improve it, but it was still a few degrees out - workable, but not comfortable. The ride through Sandringham and Black Rock is a little hilly, and seeing as I'm supposed to avoid hills, I didn't think this was a good section to take the lead. Once we made it to Beaumaris I could sense that the leaders were starting to tire, so I charged up to the front of the pack. Unfortunately I charged a little too hard and instantly gapped the pack by about 30m. I eased off to let them catch back up and as soon as I sensed them closing in, I took off.
I was riding at my highest sustainable effort and when I glanced down at my speedo I saw 55kph. However I could not sense any difficulty coming from the riders behind. It was a bit of a dent in my ego that my best efforts were not causing the other riders to push hard to keep up, especially when I thought most of the riders were starting to tire. I kept the speed above 40 going up the Mentone Pub hill, but still no puffing and panting from the riders following. Once up the hill I pushed the speed back over 50 and still no evidence that I was causing any pain, so I signaled for the rider behind to take over the lead.
To my shock, the 2 riders behind were both professional riders from the Porsche Drapac Team (I think they were Amir Rusli & Adiq Othman). They must have passed the pack when I made my initial 30m gap, and I never noticed the lead riders when they caught back up. The 2 Porsche Drapac riders both took turns on the front and then fed back into the back of the pack. The actual Cycling Obsession pack was now about a 3rd of the size with lots of riders having dropped off the back and those remaining were mostly on their last legs after giving everything to stay on the wheels of the pro riders.
After reaching Mordialloc, we cruise across to Station St to wait for the other riders to regroup. However today we only waited about 5 minutes, as it was decided that the slower riders would simply be too far behind after such a fast ride. During the easy ride back to Seaford I started chatting with a friend Kevin from Gravity-Zero. He was continuing on to Mornington to take the distance over 100km. It sounded like a good idea, so I decided to join him. The total ride ended up being 113km in 3h20m. We took the extra ride to Mornington relatively easy, but I was still wrecked trying to ride up MorningStar hill and was very glad once I got home.
I haven't ridden with any intensity in nearly 2 months, so I was very pleased to see that I had not lost much of my top end power. My knee seems to have pulled up well, so all in all I think the ride went very well - and it always feels good to go fast.
Saturday 31 December 2011
Saturday 24 December 2011
Looking Better
Even though the Physio ordered rest, the knee felt good after Saturday's ride, so I continued training for the rest of the week.
Sunday morning was a 3 hour ride to Dromana and back containing a few hilly sections (but not really any hill climbing). The planned open water swim on Monday was canceled due to poor water quality, but I got in 2 good swimming sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, both over 3km in distance. Wednesday's session was an open water swim at Half Moon Bay totaling almost 3.5km, including swimming around Cerebus 3 times - the chop was starting to pick up a little towards the end and I finished feeling absolutely exhausted. I also slotted in two 6km runs (Tue & Thu) and an easy, flat 3 hour ride on Wednesday, although it was a head wind all the way back from Port Melbourne.
I had a rest day on Friday before my appointment with the Sports Medicine Doctor and my knee was feeling quite good - certainly much better than a week ago when I last saw the Physio. The Sports Medicine Doctor is Dr Kal Fried, who is also the Sports Doctor for the Melbourne AFL Football Club. He checked over my knee, looked through my MRI, Ultrasound & XRays and assessed my injury as minor. There are 3 phases of tendon injury and I am still in the first phase regarded as inflammation stage. Cortisone injections are not advisable in this stage as they are more likely to worsen the situation (which is good, because I hate injections).
I was given a prescription for Doxycycline & Ibuprofen and also advised to drink lots of green tea. Hill climbing on the bike is still not allowed, but I am free to continue riding on the flat and allowed to extend my running distance as much as I like - assuming I don't feel any pain in the knee, or any other parts of my legs. And naturally I am encouraged to do as much swimming as I can.
He also gave me a few extra stretches to do and keep attempting the single leg squat exercises I was given by the Physio. If the squats cause pain in the knee, I am to immediately stop. But once I am able to do single leg squats pain free, I am allowed to add hill work to the bike and the run - basically it will mean I am recovered.
This morning I went out for a 10km run, unfortunately I hadn't charged my GPS watch, so the battery ran out after 500m. It felt very strange to run without knowing my speed or heart rate, but after a while I fell into a rhythm. With roughly half a kilometre to go I had to stop and walk due to tightness in my ITB. I suppose it is a good sign that other pains are now appearing before my knee hurts, but it is also evidence that it is going to be a difficult task getting my run mileage up.
The Alpine Classic event in late January now looks very unlikely, but my chances of doing the Long Distance triathlon at Geelong in February and Ironman in March have definitely improved - maybe 70/30 now.
Sunday morning was a 3 hour ride to Dromana and back containing a few hilly sections (but not really any hill climbing). The planned open water swim on Monday was canceled due to poor water quality, but I got in 2 good swimming sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, both over 3km in distance. Wednesday's session was an open water swim at Half Moon Bay totaling almost 3.5km, including swimming around Cerebus 3 times - the chop was starting to pick up a little towards the end and I finished feeling absolutely exhausted. I also slotted in two 6km runs (Tue & Thu) and an easy, flat 3 hour ride on Wednesday, although it was a head wind all the way back from Port Melbourne.
I had a rest day on Friday before my appointment with the Sports Medicine Doctor and my knee was feeling quite good - certainly much better than a week ago when I last saw the Physio. The Sports Medicine Doctor is Dr Kal Fried, who is also the Sports Doctor for the Melbourne AFL Football Club. He checked over my knee, looked through my MRI, Ultrasound & XRays and assessed my injury as minor. There are 3 phases of tendon injury and I am still in the first phase regarded as inflammation stage. Cortisone injections are not advisable in this stage as they are more likely to worsen the situation (which is good, because I hate injections).
I was given a prescription for Doxycycline & Ibuprofen and also advised to drink lots of green tea. Hill climbing on the bike is still not allowed, but I am free to continue riding on the flat and allowed to extend my running distance as much as I like - assuming I don't feel any pain in the knee, or any other parts of my legs. And naturally I am encouraged to do as much swimming as I can.
He also gave me a few extra stretches to do and keep attempting the single leg squat exercises I was given by the Physio. If the squats cause pain in the knee, I am to immediately stop. But once I am able to do single leg squats pain free, I am allowed to add hill work to the bike and the run - basically it will mean I am recovered.
This morning I went out for a 10km run, unfortunately I hadn't charged my GPS watch, so the battery ran out after 500m. It felt very strange to run without knowing my speed or heart rate, but after a while I fell into a rhythm. With roughly half a kilometre to go I had to stop and walk due to tightness in my ITB. I suppose it is a good sign that other pains are now appearing before my knee hurts, but it is also evidence that it is going to be a difficult task getting my run mileage up.
The Alpine Classic event in late January now looks very unlikely, but my chances of doing the Long Distance triathlon at Geelong in February and Ironman in March have definitely improved - maybe 70/30 now.
Saturday 17 December 2011
Out of Action
I saw the Physio yesterday, and I've been ordered to take it easy until I see the Sports Medicine Doctor on Friday. The most likely scenario is that I will get a cortisone injection designed to break up the inflammation in the patella tendon and bursa.
Until Friday I am allowed to do as much swimming as I want (which isn't usually much) and short, easy, flat bike rides. This morning I joined the local bike shop ride. In hindsight, this ride was not slow or flat, but I seemed to pull up well.
With the forced break from running and restricted riding, all of my planned events are in doubt. At the moment I would rate myself less than 50% chance of making the start line for Ironman. But maybe the cortisone injection will work wonders, we can only hope.
Until Friday I am allowed to do as much swimming as I want (which isn't usually much) and short, easy, flat bike rides. This morning I joined the local bike shop ride. In hindsight, this ride was not slow or flat, but I seemed to pull up well.
With the forced break from running and restricted riding, all of my planned events are in doubt. At the moment I would rate myself less than 50% chance of making the start line for Ironman. But maybe the cortisone injection will work wonders, we can only hope.
Wednesday 14 December 2011
100 Days till Ironman
Monday started well with a really good run. However my knee has not been improving as I would have liked and I've skipped sessions every day since Monday hoping the rest will help with the recovery.
I saw the Chiropractor tonight and he suggested that I now have Bursitis. The pain has lowered to where the patella tendon attaches to the bone. I see the Physio on Friday, so I'll know then whether or not he agrees with the Chiro's diagnosis.
I've had 3 reasonable weeks of training - lots of swimming, two long rides and my running is now up to 10km. So one easy week now will do me more good than bad. But I'll be extremely frustrated if I cannot get a long ride in this weekend.
There are 100 days till Ironman. Currently I have probably done more swimming than I expected, and my long ride is not too far off target. However I am literally miles behind in my running. I would expect my long runs to be well over 20km and my weekly mileage to be approaching 60km. Instead my last run was 10km and my total distance for the last 8 weeks has been less than 60km.
I have 46 days before the Alpine Classic ride - my participation is still in doubt, and the Long Distance Triathlon at Geelong is two weeks after the Alpine Classic. These two events will be my best gauge for Ironman. If my knee does not come up for the Alpine Classic or I struggle too much or my knee flares up at the Geelong race, I will probably need to pull out of the Ironman.
At the moment my enthusiasm and confidence is very low, but maybe this is just a side affect of not training.
I saw the Chiropractor tonight and he suggested that I now have Bursitis. The pain has lowered to where the patella tendon attaches to the bone. I see the Physio on Friday, so I'll know then whether or not he agrees with the Chiro's diagnosis.
I've had 3 reasonable weeks of training - lots of swimming, two long rides and my running is now up to 10km. So one easy week now will do me more good than bad. But I'll be extremely frustrated if I cannot get a long ride in this weekend.
There are 100 days till Ironman. Currently I have probably done more swimming than I expected, and my long ride is not too far off target. However I am literally miles behind in my running. I would expect my long runs to be well over 20km and my weekly mileage to be approaching 60km. Instead my last run was 10km and my total distance for the last 8 weeks has been less than 60km.
I have 46 days before the Alpine Classic ride - my participation is still in doubt, and the Long Distance Triathlon at Geelong is two weeks after the Alpine Classic. These two events will be my best gauge for Ironman. If my knee does not come up for the Alpine Classic or I struggle too much or my knee flares up at the Geelong race, I will probably need to pull out of the Ironman.
At the moment my enthusiasm and confidence is very low, but maybe this is just a side affect of not training.
Monday 12 December 2011
Finally some improvement
I ended last week with an easy weekend. Saturday was a rest day and Sunday contained an easy 40km ride and swim. But I still managed to clock up over 14 hours, thanks largely to the 5 hour ride on Thursday morning. The long ride covered 138km and even though it was done at an easy pace, I still felt quite fatigued during Friday's run and swim which is why I took Saturday off.
When I woke up this morning the knee was OK (not great, just OK), but I was feeling refreshed after an easy weekend and eager to run. I decided to wear a tight tri-top for my run because I've had problems with loose clothing causing static on the heart rate strap resulting in spikes in the reading. Up til now I've tended to run in the heat of the day to help my body acclimatise, but today I decided to run in the cool of the morning. With my run distance now up to 10km I also increased my warmup and cooldown sections from 1km to 2km.
With all the above factors (fresher, no HR spikes, cooler temps, longer warmup) my pace at a heart rate of 137 increased from 5m55s to 5m25s pace. Continually training at your aerobic ceiling (which for me is a heart rate of 137) should over time result in a faster speed for the same heart rate. Frustratingly, up til now my running pace had not improved, even though I had been doing this type of training for over a month. So I was extremely happy to suddenly experience such a sudden leap of improvement.
When I woke up this morning the knee was OK (not great, just OK), but I was feeling refreshed after an easy weekend and eager to run. I decided to wear a tight tri-top for my run because I've had problems with loose clothing causing static on the heart rate strap resulting in spikes in the reading. Up til now I've tended to run in the heat of the day to help my body acclimatise, but today I decided to run in the cool of the morning. With my run distance now up to 10km I also increased my warmup and cooldown sections from 1km to 2km.
With all the above factors (fresher, no HR spikes, cooler temps, longer warmup) my pace at a heart rate of 137 increased from 5m55s to 5m25s pace. Continually training at your aerobic ceiling (which for me is a heart rate of 137) should over time result in a faster speed for the same heart rate. Frustratingly, up til now my running pace had not improved, even though I had been doing this type of training for over a month. So I was extremely happy to suddenly experience such a sudden leap of improvement.
Wednesday 7 December 2011
Rest day
I ran 8km on Monday, road 78km yesterday morning and swam 2.2km yesterday afternoon. Today's plan was run 9km and do 2 swims, one in the pool and one in the bay. However the knee was not feeling great this morning - it was not that bad, but I could feel it a little which was a bit disappointing. Usually the morning after a ride day it feels good, so I decided to skip today's run and make it a rest day - except for an easy swim in the bay tonight.
Maybe it is weather related, because my knee seems to only play up when the weather is perfect for training. At least I'll enjoy tonight's open water swim.
Fingers crossed, the knee will feel better tomorrow. I'm planning a ride, the length of which will decide upon how good the knee is feeling. If everything goes OK, I might do as much as 130km - roughly 5 hours.
I've made a few alterations to the tri-bike in preparation for Ironman. I have raised the bars about 15mm, added a bottle cage to the handlebar stem and changed the seat from a Profile Design TriStryke to a ProLogo Nago Evo Tri40.
The new seat is not only more comfortable, but its color scheme better matches the bike - which is very important.
Adding the bottle cage to the stem allows me an extra bottle without having to attach bottle cages behind the seat. I should only need 1 extra bottle for Ironman, as there will be plenty of aid stations on the bike course to get new bottles. It also makes it much easier to access the bottle.
Maybe it is weather related, because my knee seems to only play up when the weather is perfect for training. At least I'll enjoy tonight's open water swim.
Fingers crossed, the knee will feel better tomorrow. I'm planning a ride, the length of which will decide upon how good the knee is feeling. If everything goes OK, I might do as much as 130km - roughly 5 hours.
I've made a few alterations to the tri-bike in preparation for Ironman. I have raised the bars about 15mm, added a bottle cage to the handlebar stem and changed the seat from a Profile Design TriStryke to a ProLogo Nago Evo Tri40.The new seat is not only more comfortable, but its color scheme better matches the bike - which is very important.
Monday 5 December 2011
Only 16 weeks left
Time flies and the race date is quickly creeping up. My injuries (knee, back & shoulder) have not healed, but are now in a manageable state. I am almost back to full training, but have to monitor the injuries (especially the knee) very carefully. Anymore setbacks at this stage could put the Ironman in doubt, and you get very little refund back from the very expensive entry fee.
All of my current training is at an aerobic zone, which for me means keeping my heart rate under 137bpm. This is sometimes called the fat-burning zone, as when training at this level, most of your energy is sourced from stored fat instead of glycerin, meaning you do not require as many carbs to keep going. In theory, over time my body will become more efficient working in this zone and I'll get faster for the same effort. Above the aerobic zone is referred to as the anaerobic zone. Training anaerobically will build strength and develop more speed and power, but result in a lot more stress on the body and greatly increase the chance of injury. It was the anaerobic work I did during the Duathlon series that resulted in my knee injury.
I am more or less unrestricted in how much swimming I can do, so I have been trying to swim most days. An easy session is around 1500m and the longer sessions are up to 3km. I need to get comfortable swimming 4km and maybe even do a 5km open water race. The shoulder is always sore when I start the swim, but seems to be behaving itself once I'm warmed up. My recent swims have not included any speedwork, so I have not broken any swim PBs. However I am finding that I am posting reasonable 400m freestyle times without a lot of effort, which is a good sign.
When I ride, I am very aware of my knee. It is not really a soreness, but an awareness that the knee is not 100%. I'm told the next morning is the best indicator of how the knee is holding up to training and my knee is usually at its best the day after a ride. The knee actually feels better when I am riding my Triathlon bike due to the steeper seat angle, but unfortunately my bum is not agreeing with the seat on the tri-bike when I go for long rides, so I'm tending to ride more on the road bike. Hopefully this week I'll get to the bike shop and try some different seats. Last Friday I did a very slow 110km in 4h21m - I felt pretty shattered by the end, and my bum still hurts 3 days later. I'm booked in to do the 200km Alpine Classic ride in January which is only 8 weeks away - so I have a lot of work to do here.
Saturday saw my first run without any walk breaks since the MRI. My knee had become quite sore due to a Christmas party on the Friday night, but it seemed to hold out quite well. Generally my knee feels great when I run (completely pain free, not even an awareness), but usually pulls up a touch sore the next morning. I could feel my knee on Sunday, but it was quite minor, so I am still feeling quite positive. I will run 8km today, 9km on Wednesday and hopefully 10km on Friday. While this progression looks great, I need to get my long run up to around 30km before the Ironman. Chances are I'll be racing very much underdone in regards to the run. To keep my heart rate under 137bpm, I currently need to run at around 5m55s pace - this is very (almost uncomfortably) slow, and hopefully this will improve closer to 5m00s pace before the race. I will be disappointed if I cannot at least run at 5m30s pace (3h51m Marathon).
Overall I am a long way behind where I hoped I'd be at this stage, but if my body holds out, I still believe I can get into condition in time. The last 3 weeks have seen me log good training loads - 9.5, 11.25 & 13.5 hours. Due to the easy level of training this has felt quite easy. At first, all the aerobic training actually loosened up my muscles, but as I've extended the amount of time (in particular the long ride), they have started to stiffen up again. It is the stiffness in my quads, ITB and VMO that pull on my patella tendon causing the inflammation, so I will definitely need to pay close attention to this.
All of my current training is at an aerobic zone, which for me means keeping my heart rate under 137bpm. This is sometimes called the fat-burning zone, as when training at this level, most of your energy is sourced from stored fat instead of glycerin, meaning you do not require as many carbs to keep going. In theory, over time my body will become more efficient working in this zone and I'll get faster for the same effort. Above the aerobic zone is referred to as the anaerobic zone. Training anaerobically will build strength and develop more speed and power, but result in a lot more stress on the body and greatly increase the chance of injury. It was the anaerobic work I did during the Duathlon series that resulted in my knee injury.
I am more or less unrestricted in how much swimming I can do, so I have been trying to swim most days. An easy session is around 1500m and the longer sessions are up to 3km. I need to get comfortable swimming 4km and maybe even do a 5km open water race. The shoulder is always sore when I start the swim, but seems to be behaving itself once I'm warmed up. My recent swims have not included any speedwork, so I have not broken any swim PBs. However I am finding that I am posting reasonable 400m freestyle times without a lot of effort, which is a good sign.
When I ride, I am very aware of my knee. It is not really a soreness, but an awareness that the knee is not 100%. I'm told the next morning is the best indicator of how the knee is holding up to training and my knee is usually at its best the day after a ride. The knee actually feels better when I am riding my Triathlon bike due to the steeper seat angle, but unfortunately my bum is not agreeing with the seat on the tri-bike when I go for long rides, so I'm tending to ride more on the road bike. Hopefully this week I'll get to the bike shop and try some different seats. Last Friday I did a very slow 110km in 4h21m - I felt pretty shattered by the end, and my bum still hurts 3 days later. I'm booked in to do the 200km Alpine Classic ride in January which is only 8 weeks away - so I have a lot of work to do here.
Saturday saw my first run without any walk breaks since the MRI. My knee had become quite sore due to a Christmas party on the Friday night, but it seemed to hold out quite well. Generally my knee feels great when I run (completely pain free, not even an awareness), but usually pulls up a touch sore the next morning. I could feel my knee on Sunday, but it was quite minor, so I am still feeling quite positive. I will run 8km today, 9km on Wednesday and hopefully 10km on Friday. While this progression looks great, I need to get my long run up to around 30km before the Ironman. Chances are I'll be racing very much underdone in regards to the run. To keep my heart rate under 137bpm, I currently need to run at around 5m55s pace - this is very (almost uncomfortably) slow, and hopefully this will improve closer to 5m00s pace before the race. I will be disappointed if I cannot at least run at 5m30s pace (3h51m Marathon).
Overall I am a long way behind where I hoped I'd be at this stage, but if my body holds out, I still believe I can get into condition in time. The last 3 weeks have seen me log good training loads - 9.5, 11.25 & 13.5 hours. Due to the easy level of training this has felt quite easy. At first, all the aerobic training actually loosened up my muscles, but as I've extended the amount of time (in particular the long ride), they have started to stiffen up again. It is the stiffness in my quads, ITB and VMO that pull on my patella tendon causing the inflammation, so I will definitely need to pay close attention to this.
Thursday 1 December 2011
No longer drowning
Swimming has always been by far my weakest leg and it has also been the discipline for which I have always trained the least. So it is not surprising that my swimming ability has remained stagnant whilst I've slowly improved on the bike and run.
However with the frustration of restricted running and cycling due to my knee injury, I have recently spent a lot more time swimming. In fact in the last 17 days I have done 14 swims, 7 bike rides and only 6 walk/run sessions.
For the first time ever my monthly swim mileage (26km) is larger than my run mileage (21km). All of my sessions in November were done at an easy pace while I concentrate on staying in my aerobic zone, so I have not broken any swim PBs. But I definitely feel swimming is becoming easier and I am having no problems backing up swim sessions day after day (ocassionally even 2 sessions in one day)
However with the frustration of restricted running and cycling due to my knee injury, I have recently spent a lot more time swimming. In fact in the last 17 days I have done 14 swims, 7 bike rides and only 6 walk/run sessions.
For the first time ever my monthly swim mileage (26km) is larger than my run mileage (21km). All of my sessions in November were done at an easy pace while I concentrate on staying in my aerobic zone, so I have not broken any swim PBs. But I definitely feel swimming is becoming easier and I am having no problems backing up swim sessions day after day (ocassionally even 2 sessions in one day)
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