Leg Issues Continue

I went running outside again yesterday. I had almost exactly the same time as Tuesday yet I felt way better. Extra layers compared to Tuesday as well. That last mile today was right into the teeth of a cold and strong north wind. Brrr.

This upper hip thing I got going on was better yesterday during the run than it was on Tuesday. But man the rest of the day was brutal! I was limping around, it hurt to walk. This groin pull is apparently more serious than I thought and is going to need some more rest to rehab it.

I'm Back!

The last few weeks I have not felt strong or fast in the water. I mentioned this is a post a couple of weeks ago.The mid-session test set I was super slow and it was everything I had just to swim a 1:30 sprint. Then the poor showing in the 201's workout shortly after had me questioning my regression to the point that I emailed my swim coach to see what she thought.

Then on Monday during a set of strong 50's it all clicked again. I felt super strong and fast in the water. It all seemed so easy to go fast. I was hoping to find that again today for my 100's.

Today was test day and the first sprint 100 I started strong, lost Cindy after the first turn so nobody to pace me I was on my own. Great feeling 50, the turn at 75 was HORRIBLE, and finished strong to a 1:21!

Woo Hoo! I'm BACK!

I did another 1:21 on the second round with an even worse turn at 75 yards. I did another 1:21 on the 3rd round with a slightly better turn at 75 yards, and finished with a 1:25 on the last round with what felt like lead weights attached to my shoulders. Holy buckets they were tired.

1:21 ties a PR for starts from the wall, and I have never done 3 in a row of those in a test set. I also didn't have Ann around to try and push me that little bit extra. Ann and I both want to break 1:20 on this. If I can nail that 3rd turn and feel like I did today I know I can do it. Going to have to wait until another 6 weeks or so I guess.

Outside Running Fashion

First outside run of the year!

My groin muscle was bothering me throughout this run today. Weird because it hasn't bothered me at all in a while. It bugged me enough that it altered my gait slightly. It improved as I got about a mile in, but was never 100%. Not bad enough to quit, but definitely there.

My wife found my "outfit" amusing and had to take a picture as well. Lots of layers of various colors going on. Plus it was missing my winter hat, sunglasses, gloves and a fanny pack! I am sure others have some good running "fashion" photos.

Don't Get Any Ideas

So towards the end of our swim class today, a guy who works for the local Coast Guard unit came to the pool. He swims here every once in a while. But for much of his swim today he was using a brick.

I had never seen one of these before but this guy held it over his head as he swam lengths of the pool both on his back and on his sides. He also did some diving and pushing it along the bottom and other drills.

We told our swim coach to not get any ideas!

Indoor Triathlon Win!

So today I competed in my first ever indoor triathlon. After the 10 minute swim, 20 minute bike, and 20 minute run, the scores were tallied and I won!

Yes indeed, I dominated the massive mens field of 4 competitors (including one 10 year old) winning the swim and the bike and finishing second in the run.

It was a fun workout! Fun chatting with the others in the competition and what their triathlon plans are for the summer.

Indoor Triathlon Prep

So this year I signed up for an indoor triathlon at my local YMCA. It is done as a 10 minute swim, a 20 minute bike and a 20 minute run. Since we do this on the spin bike and treadmills at the Y, I needed to at least get in a session of each this week to see how things go.

So yesterday I did the bike ride. I actually did a 40 minute ride on the spin bike. That is definitely NOT my bike. I had written down my bike fitting measurements to get the seat and handlebars in the right spot relative to my road bike setup. That helped some, but those seats are terrible.

Since the bike really only measures distance based on RPM  and not by using resistance at all, this was a test to see how fast I could pedal for the duration. I have a good cadence in the 80-90 rpm range on my outdoor bikes, but I don't normally pedal in the 120+rpm range.

Then today I did the treadmill. I have done all my winter running on a 1/16th mile indoor track at the Y, so I haven't done much of anything on a treadmill. It was good to put some practice time on there, figure out how fast I want to go, how high my HR goes etc. It was a good workout and I am ready!

Swim Regression

One of the benefits of being an adult onset swimming is that I see improvement a lot of the time. In fact, I have been doing quite well for the last few months with little bits of constant improvement in my times.

But the last few practices have seen some significant dips in times that I can't contribute to being tired or something like that. Where I could hold a specific time quite easily for multiple 100's, now I can only hold something 5-10s slower. It is frustrating and combined with all the other things going on with my knee and such it just adds to things.

I emailed my swim coach and told her that I was frustrated with my regression in my swimming. Of course she emailed me back and said the same thing that my tri coach says when I complain about stuff like this. "I am not worried about you at all." She chalked it up to just normal variation.

Well we talked about it some more prior to the next practice session and she repeated it. I guess I am frustrated and worried that with my big state swim meet coming up in a few weeks that I have lost my ability to swim "fast." Fast is definitely relative here.

But I will keep showing up at the pool 2x/week and trying my hardest and see what happens.

Ice Yoga

So during my run yesterday I had a pain in my upper hip/groin area. I thought it was weird. That is not a place that has bothered me before. So this morning I am swimming, just staring at the line on the bottom of the pool during my warm up the light bulb went off.

I had experienced a little unintentional "ice yoga" yesterday. Getting out of my car at work with my hands full, my foot slid out quite a bit on the glare ice and I nearly fell. I am not a yoga practitioner and my legs do not normally spread that far apart. But, that's why my left groin muscle hurts. Mentally I feel better knowing that but it still hurts. Hopefully it is nothing serious.

Family Time at the Y

The whole family went out to exercise today. First stop was the running store to get the kid a decent pair of running shoes. She got sized for the shoes and then ran on the treadmill so they could see if she has any unique issues. This was the first time she has ever run on a treadmill too. So they noticed she needs a little arch support and she got set up with a set of Brooks shoes.

Then we all headed to the Y for some time on the track. I had a 50 minute run, Melissa did a 40 minute walk and the kid did a half mile warm up walk, then a mile of run/walk, then a mile of walk. We were all entertained by the Zumba class going on in the middle and the cool high tops that the instructor was wearing.

It was a good family day.

Swim Test

My swim instructor likes to do a test set at the beginning, middle and end of each session. So today it was time for a mid-session test. I was tired this morning, and I knew after the first test set that today was not going to be a record setting day. My "strong" 100's were identical for all 4 sets, but I just didn't have much more than that for my fast sets and it was everything I had to swim 1:30's.

So not quite where I was the last time I did this but not too far off of it either. A few seconds really.

The class has had some serious success. We have a woman who today was the first time she was able to complete the entire 4 rounds swimming 100's, as she normally swims 50's. The older guy in board shorts swam nearly as fast as me, and Ann, my main "competition" came up just short of trying to get under 1:20 for her sprint 100. Then our previous coach who is taking the class with us, he did the whole test swimming 200's! It is fun to see the progress we have all made, and it isn't hard for me to reflect back on being a 2:20/100 swimmer just a couple of years ago to now being a pretty steady 1:35/100 swimmer.

So as much as I am a bit disappointed with my result, I know I gave it everything I had today, and I have improved so much just in the last year.

Bike Threshold Test

Well with all the issues I have been having with completing bike workouts, my coach and I decided to do another threshold test this week just to see where I am. I haven't done very many of these and frankly I am still trying to figure out how to do the test. Not going out too fast, or too slow. Today I think I did pretty well with it. I really wanted to go about 5-10w less than I was but trying to hunt for the right resistance/gear combination on my bike trainer was not happening so I ended up switching gears back and forth.

Before Test Picture

Overall I am about 20w less than my previous test. Lots of factors in that of course but I think it is a fair assessment of where I am today. It allows my coach to set up workouts to a new level and hopefully allow me to finish workouts and make some progress as the season starts up.