donderdag 12 april 2018
dinsdag 10 april 2018
Coming to Terms With My Race Season
Zorro4 / Pixabay
Over the weekend, I did a little cleanup on the backend of my blog and while doing so, I updated my race calendar. It is really, really sparse for the first time in years. I guess I’m lucky to have been so healthy throughout my athletic “career.” As of right now, I’m registered for two races in 2018 – Rev3 Williamsburg Olympic Triathlon and Space Coast Half Marathon.
Of course, I’m not stopping there. I fully intend to register for the Army Ten Miler during priority registration next month. I’ve run that race every year since 2008, and would like to at least try to keep up my streak. Will I be able to run it in the time limit by October? Who knows! But I’m going to hope for the best and plan to be there. It’s probably going to be my big “challenge” race of the year in terms of running.
For the Space Coast Half Marathon, I’m less concerned. I registered for the “slower” half of the race, meaning that I have a full 7 hours to complete the course. Since I don’t have pain walking, I’m absolutely confident I can train up to walk 13.1 miles without issue. And that’s not a bad “worst case scenario.” It’s entirely possible I will be running by then.
I’m also planning to add on some additional multisport races after Williamsburg. What, I’m not sure. My favorite local race group offers an Aquabike option at most (if not all) of their triathlons, and since I can swim and bike without issue, that seems like a good plan if I’m not able to comfortably run. Doesn’t mean I can’t still be run training, it would just let me run without the added pressure of having to be ready for a race sooner that I need to.
I’ve also realized that maybe being an aquabike athlete is where I should go when it comes to multisport. Let’s be honest, the run is the part of the race I dislike the most. I do enjoy out and back races where I can see people and cheer them on (regardless of whether they’re ahead of me or behind), but generally, the run isn’t what I enjoy. I love the rush and the ridiculousness of the open water swim. I love flying through a course on my bike. And then I have to go run. More than once, I have watched the aquabike finishers roll in and thought “Man, that’s the way to be. This running stuff is stupid.”
I’ve also realized that I have some opportunities for half-distance aquabike. The run is where I end up in trouble when it comes to race time limits. I’m not fast. That’s totally okay – but races have rules, and I need to stay within them. However, when it comes to the swim and the bike, that’s a different story. Sure, I’m not fast, but I’m much closer to midpack. Of course, I’m not quite ready to be riding 56 miles just yet – and I’m not going to push myself. But it’s a pretty sweet option.
Of course, I also love the rush of finishing a triathlon. And I can’t give up races like the Army Ten Miler. So I’m not sure what’s next for me. But what I love is that there are so many options and I don’t have to pick just one.
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maandag 9 april 2018
donderdag 5 april 2018
Tacking the Tour of Watopia
Right now, Zwift is doing their Tour of Watopia, a series of 7 rides that takes you through all of their courses (I think). It’s a pretty cool challenge, and while I’m not sure I will be able to complete it due to scheduling (and also some of the legs are super hard), I figured I would try the first leg.
The great thing about the challenge is that it’s not a race. It’s not about how fast you go. You just have to cover the course. Which is good, because I wasn’t fast to begin with and dealing with an injury and surgery recovery, well… yeah.
(Thankfully, the programmers at Zwift are nice and no matter how slow I went, they never made my avatar fall over, which is exactly what would have happened if I were actually riding at that speed on some of those steep climbs.)
I made it through the first leg taking it easy, not pushing, and just riding at a comfortable level. It took forever, but that’s okay. Also according to the stats, I wasn’t last. And most importantly, it didn’t hurt.
At first.
My muscles were not prepared for this workout. While I made it through with no pain, just some fatigue, a few hours later, I was sore. Super sore. Do not recommend. Of course, some of this was my own fault – if I had stretched just a bit more or not done the workout so late in the evening and walked around more following the ride, things may have been better.
But it was a good reminder that I’m not back to full force just yet. No regrets, of course. And I’m still going to push the workouts (though I don’t know that I’m going to finish Tour of Watopia, because one of the legs has almost 4500 feet of climbing and that’s a lot). But I’m also making a point to remember to take rest days when I need them. Slow and steady. Slow and steady.
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maandag 2 april 2018
February/March Mileage Update
Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay
I didn’t bother with a mileage update for February because, well, it wasn’t much. So since February and March were big recovery months, I decided to lump them together.
I’m still not running, but doing plenty of walking. I haven’t been tracking that mileage at this point, but I’ve been doing lots of 3-6 mile walks on the treadmill over the past few weeks. I don’t have any pain while walking, so I’m pleased with how my hip is doing.
As to the recovery from surgery, things are good. My abs are still ridiculously weak as compared to where they were, and my endurance isn’t where it was, but I’m certainly improving every day.
So on to the numbers.
Swim – 4.1 miles
Bike – 263 miles
Run – 1 mile
So you can see where I tested my hip in early February. It certainly wasn’t ready for me to be running quite yet. So that’s out.
Most of my swim miles also came in February, since I wasn’t allowed to swim for most of March thanks to surgery. I got back in the pool last week and it felt great, but just 1200m felt like miles. I’m sure that will come back fast. I just have to keep showing up.
Clearly, biking has been where it’s at. It’s the one thing I can do. Obviously, with the hip injury and surgery, I’ve lost some strength there as well. Over the weekend, I did an FTP test, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. (Well, the test itself was horrible, because that’s part of how they work.) But I’m down about 8 watts from my last test in October, which isn’t too bad. Of course, I had lost a few watts at that point too, so I think I’m ultimately down about 13 watts from my high. Still not terrible at all. And some of that will come back as my endurance returns.
So if all goes as planned, I should see a steady increase in the below numbers over the next few months. Maybe not the run – still holding off on that one – but the others should climb as I get back to regular training.
2018 Totals
Swim – 10.3 miles
Bike – 433 miles
Run – 4 miles
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