Hashers and Mashers Part 2 - OPEN (Page 35)

Anna - I like the IFC better than Ultrasound and way better than TENS. I do feel it is helping with the healing rather than just pain relief. I still have residual tension and I can't run until it is completely gone so I'm getting a bit worried about my race readiness.

Coach - It sounds like you're on the verge of a "tear" which is an intense muscle strain. Get some local guidance (Sport MD or Physio) and NO running until you get the spasms under control. A common sign of an impending calf tear is the tension you're feeling. On your own you could also buy some compression socks to wear all day.

So far I can swim and cycle without aggravating my calf but I ran across a street yesterday and it definitely made my limp worse. I also am careful to avoid steep hill climbs on my bike.

Carlo - I'm glad you're coming in to your taper. It sounds like you need a break in your routine. Don't push yourself too hard.


As Mike says, It is strange how many calf issues we're seeing. Take care of yourselves everyone.

Back in pool with my masters coach this morning, thankfully she took it easy on me, it doesn't take long to lose swim conditioning, and I didn't have much to begin with. lol It was good workout for me, I really worked and I am getting better at gliding with my left arm in front as I breath, I have a tendancy to push down there instead of reach, shortening my glide to practically zero on that side, then long glide with right arm. Swimming is hard Got about hour of drill work in
Calf felt pretty good last night after football practice and therapy, of course this morning it was little sore, this is not near as bad as how it felt after TRI on the 5th. But I am going to heed your advice and stay away from run, I need pool hours anyway. Going to be great weekend in KY to bike, looking forward to nice Saturday morning ride, I will send pics of horse farms in spring - beautiful!

Gary - sounds like you had a rough time of it, glad you persevered and are back with us.

Ransick- LOL when being threatened by a car, I am sure I would not think of unclipping either, I was telling a guy this morning at pool who was getting ready to change bike over to clips, "Get ready to fall a couple of times!" He was like "Really??" LOL Everyone falls every once in a while and it is always in slow motion

George - I went to masseuse yesteday and got tens stimulation and massage - nice but painful. I iced all day long, as well as Vitamin I (Ibuprofen).

Fresno Joe- Good luck on weight loss, I lost about 13 before last race and between race week and recuperation week, I gain half of it back Oh well, I enjoyed the eating, I am trying to get back in workout and eating healthy groove, but my appetite seems stronger than ever right now! Let me know how that goes and specifics, I think I need to eat a few more calories on this next weight loss run. Good luck

Carlo - take care of your illness, wont be near you best if that is still bothering you, when I feel sickness coming on, I take Echinacea and Golden Seal pills, it boost your autoimmune system, you might try that and some B12. Echinacea is proven to help.

Taringa - get us a picture of your bike scenery down under, as a matter of fact, I would like to see everyone's bike scenery, see what you see.

Seems pretty quiet here. Everybody's working hard. Makes me feel lazy.

I did go out for a ride today. Rode south into a nasty headwind for 40km and then turned around and rode back. When I turned back I knew the wind was going to turn around (it always does!) so I pushed as hard as I could. I managed to get about 20km further on before the wind turned and I had to ride the rest of the way home into another strong headwind.

The wind was so strong at times that I was only making 15kph/9mph. At one point I was going so slow up a small hill that I had to stand up just to push myself up the hill or else I would have fallen over.

I was pretty tired after the ride and disappointed with my slow pace. I compared my pace today with my pace last year in a MedioFondo and I figure the wind slowed me down by about 32 minutes. Total ride was 3:22:33 and it should have been under 3 hours.

Other than that it was a pretty good day for a ride. Lots of other cyclists out at the same time.

Coach - I'm planning to take some pictures of my ride next weekend to give you a good glimpse of our area.



Edited by wenceslasz 2014-04-19 10:51 PM

Hi Everyone

been trying to balance recovery and training. Finally finished my peak week this week rest tomorrow to begin my taper week before race day.
Have fun everyone this spring. Us Texas are paying the price for having a short winter , summer seems to be coming too early.

Enjoy Training



@George

Bro dont be disappointed with your ride, winds are my foremost enemies. You maybe riding slow against headwinds the important thing is you are moving forward. Wind direction changes all the time you could have headwinds both ways. If you are able to measure your power going against the wind you with zoning at your Z3 ( not saying you need a pm), you could try using a HRM going against the wind you maybe going to your Z3 HR. You maybe slow but thats were you build leg power. I have yet to ride a hill to unhorse me. Strong headwind is the only one that made me step off my bike to get to calmer winds.Your fine bro all part of training. I have done single digit speeds going against headwinds and i expect them to happen again.

Cheers!!!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!!!

That garmin info is almost as impressive as your workouts! Pretty neat program to be able to log your workouts and power like that, that has to help with motivation?

thanks Coach Rains

A good record of SBR is inspiring , does not have to be Garmin, i only check 2 to 3 numbers the rest is just excess. BT i would say provides the best simplified record. You can upload them manually. Toys are cool but you dont need high tech stuff to keep track of training.

Cheers!!

Hey all!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I had a great weekend, but didn't get much training in :-/ I woke up yesterday planning to get a swim in before work only to discover I had pinkeye, so I'm hoping to get back on track today!

I did get a good run in this weekend, 5.75 miles. Felt pretty good, although my shin felt really tight about 15 minutes in. I stopped and stretched, and towards the end of the run it started to loosen up. I took some pictures at the halfway point so you all could see what my runs look like (once I figure out how to attach it)! I am a city girl :-) It's about a mile from my house to the water, then the rest of my run is along the promenade that runs along the Harbor here in Baltimore, so it's quite beautiful.











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Nicole,

Now that is an awesome run, it would help motivate me to take off and get a workout in, love running or riding by water, but not so with swim....lol ironic

Thanks for pics!

Edited by coachrains 2014-04-22 9:54 AM

Couldn't keep from testing my calf yesterday, so I ran real slow mile, real slow and tried to not put to much pressure on calf muscles. Result, it got a little sore at 1/2 mile mark, kinda tense up, but not much at all, when I quit i could walk without limp, just a tight calf muscle, put ice on it, and it felt ok rest of day. This morning just little tight and sore. Thing is, I did calf raises in wt room, after run and they didn't seem to bother it at all, no pain, doesn't make sense to me.

I'll give it a little more time to quit being sore and possibly try it again.

Me again....just had to share my brush with greatness

Took swim today and struggling as usual, it just so happened that Susan Bradley Cox (Member of Triathlon Hall of Fame) was swimming in lane beside me, and was nice enough to take time out of her swim to give me a few pointers on balance in water. She said I was swimming uphill....amen to that, sure has felt like it. Anyway showed be few things and swim thoughts to work on, and low and behold I looked like different swimmer. Wish I had more time to ingrain it, but looking forward to getting back in pool in morning. For me that is saying something! LOL

It is wonderful that those who have achieved and have the knowledge so freely share with those who are struggling and just starting out. Thanks to Susan and all those who help and encourage

Don't worry, Coach, no one would be tempted to go in this water! The Harbor isn't known for being clean...

Sounds like an amazing experience you had today! You will be flying through the water in no time!

That's really cool coach.

Beautiful pics Nicole!

I got myself a bit behind again so I'll try to catch-up:

Carlo - Thanks for the encouragement. Some days I find I'm a lot "older" than on other days.

Nicole - Thanks for the photos. The last one reminds me of the inner harbour at Victoria, B.C. on Vancouver Island. I'm hoping to get a few photos on Saturday but the forecast is not very encouraging.

Coach - I've been doing "calf raises" myself. I was reading that when I can do 3 sets of 20# calf raises without any pain or discomfort then I can start running again. I was able to do one set of 20 today. Pretty cool encounter with Susan Bradley Cox.

The frustrating thing with swimming is there are all these little "things" that have to be learned and as we are learning they click in and then click out again so it is hard to engrain them but eventually it comes together. When you start clicking things in and retaining them and you improve your core strength it will really start to feel good.

Mike - When do you find out if you got a spot in the Chicago Marathon?

All - I've been feeling pretty good lately and keeping up with the swimming and cycling (when the weather permits) so today I tried a very cautious run. I wasn't expecting too much and I was fully prepared to quit running if it aggravated my calf at all. I was able to run the first 2K in 6:33/km which is good for me but then I started limping (I understand that if I can't run without a limp I'm not ready to run). I stopped running and walked for awhile and ran a little but I found it was putting extra pressure on my left leg so I just walked out the rest of my planned time.

Although I wasn't able to run, I felt good about what I was able to do. I feel I just need to be patient and I'll try again next Wednesday. My calf is stiff now but I'll electrocute it again tonight and I am confident I'll be back to normal soon.

George this may have already been discussed, have you tried a compression sleeve, I just bought a pair and it feels pretty good on me. I wore is all day yesterday, calf feels better this morning, rolled it last night with massage stick too.

I am going to look at possibly changing running shoe and/or tech a little if needed

Swim went better again this morning, I believe it is clicking on balance and relaxing more, I did a variety of 50m and 100m swims, most of my 100s were without any break to catch breath. I used bouy for 100 and worked on rotation, catch and breathing, used fins and work on balance and relaxing, then swam 100m working on keeping same easy pace and techniques I had with tools. Worked well. Swam about 600m, and never really ever got out of breath like I usaully do. That is huge improvement and makes working out a little more enjoyable. Times on free swim were not bad for this big guy, I was hitting all of them 2:30 for 100m, regardless of when I did them. So I am optimistic....

Next TRI is in Cincinnati in 30 days, they have 50m pool so that will be little different. Maybe better for me, I hope.


I hope everyone else has great weather and workouts today

Edited by coachrains 2014-04-24 7:42 AM

Coach - awesome that your swimming is coming along! I just got a pair of calf sleeves too. Way easier to get on then the full compression tights I have.

George - I got into Chicago. Made my hotel and train reservations.

Carlo - you HIM is this weekend, correct? Good luck!

I can relate to all the rehab. I have been to three physical therapy sessions so far for my ankle, and I'm making steady gains. He's going to put me on the treadmill next week, and I'm in a start running very soon after that hopefully. The new bike is a blast, but it's going take some getting used to sitting on a small saddle in aero position!

Congrats Ransick on marathon, that will be great experiance I am sure. Any ideas on how best to put calf sleeves on in transition? Anyone?

PsyTri - Good to hear about rehab, I have been thinking about getting aero bars, if nothing else to change positions, I was wondering how tough it would be on back for a big guy?

I can't say. What I can tell you is that working on your core strength will make it less challenging than it already is. Maybe hit a local bike shop and test ride one, even indoors, to see what you think.

Who is racing this weekend besides Carlo?

Carlo, good luck for the race, have fun! Sounds like everyone is making gains I'm a little bruised and battered, came off my mountain bike going over a jump on a dirt track in the forest. Should heal faster than injury through overuse at least, so I'm happy with that.

GOOD LUCK CARLO!!!

Hi Coach - The day I injured myself my wife went out and bought me a compression sleeve and I've worn it pretty much every day since. I can't say how much it has helped but it does seem to help some. Since I ran the calf has been a bit sore so I did run too soon.

I train with a fellow that has been a runner for over 20 years (wants to qualify for Boston in 2017 when he turns 70) and when I injured myself the first thing he asked was, "How many miles on my runners/trainers?" When I looked back at my log I couldn't say precisely but I'd guess 375miles. They still seem good but I'll start looking for my next pair and start breaking them in.

The same fellow I run with swims in a 50m pool. At first he found it intimidating but now he really likes it. Your swim yesterday sounded like a good one and your 2:30/100m sounds pretty good. It won't be long and you'll be swimming a 1000m time trial and a 2:30 pace would be an awesome time.