On December 31, 2011,
in 2011 has been an interesting year, to say the least. I began the year in great shape, with big racing plans, and was primed for a busy season. This wasn’t to be, unfortunately, as an ankle break in mid-February derailed my racing plans for the year. I did a bit of writing on the topic (I did have a little extra time on my hands) and the following posts pretty much cover the ins and outs of the adventure.
The Dangers of Winter Running – Part I
Plates, screws, and Bone Sutures
Recovery, Rehab, and Thoughts on the ER
Needless to say my training this winter will involve a few more trips to the gym to use the treadmill when the roads might be a little suspect. I don’t need a repeat of this:
Ouch
The downtime this year did, however, give me the chance to be introspective and really look at how I want to be involved in the triathlon community moving forward. I’ve been coaching a handful of athletes for a couple of years and have really enjoyed the time and effort that goes into the process. More to the point, the satisfaction that I get from helping an athlete achieve their goals is more than I could have ever imagined. I also had some time to look back on how I got hooked on triathlons.
How it all Started: How I Became A Runner
From Running to Triathlons
More importantly, I thought more and more about coaching. I took advantage of the… Read the rest
I wrapped up a great weekend of group training yesterday. I spent some time with the B-Athletics triathlon club, helping out my friend and fellow triathlon coach, Jeff B. We both have athletes gearing up for upcoming triathlons, with the majority targeting Olympic distance events. But between the two of us we also have a couple of athletes racing the Toughman Half Ironman triathlon next weekend. Our athletes racing Toughman were in taper mode, and had their own rides and workouts arranged. This let us take the opportunity to get our other athletes together, and focus our time with our novice and beginner athletes.
Saturday was the long-ish ride. Approximately 45 miles. The pace wasn’t too tough, and we had a couple different pace groups going throughout the ride. We did challenge a couple of the athletes with the climbs of Route 22 in Bedford NY. Those of you who might be familiar with that stretch of road know that there are some good climbs on Route 22 between Rte’s 172 and 433 – some sections top out at 10-11% grade (I think!) The climbs aren’t long, but they do test you now and again.
It was a great ride from Purchase NY – through Chappaqua, Mt. Kisco, Bedford, Armonk, Valhalla….basically a nice tour of southern Westchester County.
Sunday was brick day. We met a handful of our athletes who are targeting upcoming Olympic distance races for a loop of a local triathlon bike course – approximately… Read the rest
As many of you may have heard, Ironman New York is alive and among us. It’s been deemed the US Championships. Also, as you may have heard, it sold out in less than 15 minutes as soon as registration went live online. I love this sport. Love it. And I’m thrilled that New York City is getting another great triathlon.
This is all good news. But there’s a race here in the New York area that’s my complete fave. It’s held up the Hudson Valley in September. If you haven’t heard of it yet, you need to get familiar with it now. And I mean stat.
The Toughman is a half ironman distance race held in northern Westchester county. It starts and finishes in Croton Point Park, in Croton on Hudson, New York, and is really one amazing race. Why? I’ll tell you why:
Location:
Croton Point Park, along the Hudson River, is an amazing setting for the swim start, transition area, and finish line. It’s a beautiful park, with campgrounds, easy access to mass transit for those coming up from the city and is easy to get to from most any major city in the tri-state area.
Course:
In addition to the park itself, the course is amazing. The swim, in the bay that is naturally created at the park, is mostly free of river current and provides a great location for the swim. More importantly, for those familiar with the Westchester Triathlon, there… Read the rest
Not long ago, I wrote about my racing dilemma this upcoming season. As I am already registered for a few upcoming races, I was contemplating whether or not I should race them in a diminished capacity. By that, I mean do I do the swim and the bike legs of my upcoming triathlons and then withdraw from the race (as I most likely won’t be able to do the run with any mojo what-so-ever)?
A couple people commented on that post, and I was encouraged a bit by what was said. It seemed like a reasonable thing to do – and it would allow me to get out and do something while trying to build my fitness back up.
I’ve been getting in some good swims workouts in lately, and the even better news is that I’ve been getting in some good training rides. Outdoors. Yep, I’ve officially turned the corner and am no longer resigned to spinning away on the bike trainer inside. Paired with the fact that I can get around sans crutches now, my ankle is strong enough that I can go out and ride confidently. Granted, I’m tragically building up my mileage and fitness at this point. This compared to last year when I was already racing and would have had at least one 1/2 marathon under my belt and would be gearing up for a triathlon in just a few weeks. Anyway, I digress.
I had my first significant / serious workout since my accident today. I headed to the gym around 7:00a and hit the pool. I’d been getting to the pool somewhat regularly to do some nominal swimming – but it was more part of physical therapy and targeted at getting more flexibility back in my ankle. Likewise, I’d been on the bike trainer here at home for short stretches of time – again with the goal of getting some range of motion and strength back.
Today I decided that I needed to get things back in form. I’m feeling pretty good in regards to my rehab, so today was the first day of me “getting back at it”. From this point forward, all swims and bike trainer sessions will take on a new level of intensity. My goal is to be ready for some sort of racing come the fall.
Today’s swim workout:
400y warm up.
2 x (1 x 50, 1 x 100, 1 x 50) stroke drills on :15 rest
4 x 100 pull (pull buoy and paddles) on the 1:40
1 x 50 easy
4 x 100 pull (pull buoy) on the 1:40
3 x 200 on 3:15
200 cool down
2,400 yards – :45 minutes. Nothing too crazy today in regards to intensity or distance. I felt a little tight towards the end of the 200′s,… Read the rest
My ankle is feeling better, thank you very much. I’m not in the big black walking boot anymore – I’m in a much sleeker, and aerodynamic brace now.
Which one would you rather wear?
The great thing is I can wear a regular shoe with this new brace. It makes getting around on crutches much easier. My Orthopedist did say that I’ll need to wear this brace for 6 more weeks. But, the crutches can go away as soon as I’m strong enough to walk comfortably without them. This made me “Mr. Happy Guy” last Friday. Great news as far as I’m concerned. Six weeks post ankle surgery and I could be off crutches within another month. Maybe.
The timing of this news was good. A couple friends from the usual morning running crew dropped me a line to check in and see how things were going with my rehab. This was great info to have as I provided updates. So, with all this on my mind, my first thoughts over the weekend were: “When do I think I can race next?”
Suffice it to say that the North Face Endurance Challenge 1/2 Marathon in May is out. So is the triathlon in June I was targeting. That one bums me out as I had a top 10 finish / 1st in AG podium last… Read the rest
I read a good post the other day on TriCrowd.com. It was titled When Life gets in the way of Tri (click the link and give it a read) and it reminded me of the time-management, structure, and sometimes sacrifice that can be required for triathlon training.
Unlike the author of the post, I don’t have kids. While that makes it much easier for both me, and my wife, to train and race, I do work full time. I’m not sponsored to race, or independently wealthy enough to work part time (or not at all) and train full time (reminder to play the lottery tonight). What this means is that longer workouts during the week require starting the ride or run du-jour early in the day. Usually in the dark.
I remember fondly (yes, fondly) my training for the Toughman 1/2 Iron triathlon just a summer or so ago. I needed to get long brick workouts into my schedule, and for some strange reason my brick days fell on Thursday mornings. (For anyone who isn’t quite sure what a brick workout is, check out this link from Ironman.com on brick workouts and training). To get in the workout I needed – a 45+ mile bike ride, followed immediately by a 6+ mile run – I would set my alarm for 330a. Some toast and peanut butter, a banana, a little coffee…..air in tires, bars and gels in the… Read the rest
The Orthopedic Surgeon gave me a call yesterday (Saturday) around noon, after reviewing my MRI. Monty, what’s behind curtain number 2?
A torn deltoid ligament, a cracked / broken syndesmotic joint, and most likely damage to another ligament (I have which one written down somewhere, but I just can’t remember everything he rattled off to me at the moment.) Bottom line he said that it’s very unstable, and he’d be very reluctant to start any physical therapy on that ankle for at least 6 weeks. His words as I remember them: “I wouldn’t want anyone cranking on that joint for a while”. So, his suggestion was to stabilize the ankle with a plate and some screws to stabilize the joint and speed healing.
The good news with this is that after a week of a hard cast, he’ll remove that and I go back to a boot. Then, a week or so after that, we start talking physical therapy. If all goes well, 3 weeks after surgery I could start swimming (as soon as the wounds from surgery heal) so long as there’s no discomfort in doing so. Cycling on the bike trainer could happen shortly after that. Running? Not sure I remember exactly what he said, but it’s certainly sooner than without going under the knife.
Will I be ready for my Half Iron triathlon in September? Most likely not. That could be pushing it. But there’s a lot of individual variance in recovery here. I’m not setting… Read the rest
As my knee injury earlier this summer caused me to pull out of my last few races this year, I decided to help my friend Rich and I worked the bike course for the Toughman Half Iron triathlon this past Sunday. I’ve know Rich for a number of years, and train with his tri club. Rich is also the race director of the Toughman triathlon, and the mastermind behind it’s inception 3 years ago.
It was a little tough mentally on Saturday as we were out marking the bike course – putting up signage and chalk-painting the roads. I had a few moments where I would think back to last year (when I raced the Toughman) and would think that I should be home resting and hydrating. But, alas, not this year.
So, Sunday morning my wife JL and I headed out early to our section of the bike course and awaited the other volunteers so that I could assign duties and positions along our section of the bike course. It was really a perfect day for racing. Cool. Overcast. Dry. Really just about idyllic conditions. My volunteers started to arrive and once we were all gathered I went over the key points that were covered in the race captains meeting the previous day: What corners were going to be troublesome, where traffic was going to be an issue, and what corners we would have police assistance.
I sent everyone on their way,… Read the rest
We were just getting ready to head out of town for the Labor Day weekend – my wife was out running a couple of last minute errands and I was, well, sitting around doing pretty much nothing. I ran early with the usual crew (thankfully, the knee is feeling pretty good, so I’m thinking I’m back in the saddle so to speak) and was just relaxing.
When JL (my wife) got home, she said that there’s a guy in running gear on the side of the main road a few blocks away. He’s on his mobile phone and had his thumb out while he was running trying to hitch a ride.
JL said that she stopped and asked him if he was okay…. His response was that he was a pilot, staying a couple of towns away, and got a call that he was to depart earlier than anticipated. He had about 5 miles to go to get back to his hotel and he was trying to get a cab or have the hotel send a shuttle. JL wasn’t 100% comfortable just picking him up and giving him a lift by herself (smart girl) and he said he understood. She told him that she’d tell me what was going on.
I grabbed my keys, jumped in the car, and found him about a mile further on. He was really moving, He had his cell phone to his ear (still trying to arrange a car or pickup) and looked… Read the rest
