Much A Do

There are indeed a few things to update you on, but the biggest one is…

I have feet!!!

Picked up my new orthotics last Thursday and if the shape of them is anything to go by, my feet were/are a train wreck. Seriously, they look like a model of the Swiss Alps, particularly the arch. Man, how did I manage to run on my feet before???? Especially a half marathon. It’s a wonder my feet didn’t cave in and become mush. But that’s all fixed now buckaroo. I have been using them as per instructed. Well sort of. I was told to only run in them for 5mins and wear for 1 hour each day. But when I ran in them it felt so good, I kept going for 15mins until a blister started to form and then stopped.

Did you just hear what I said?..... I.RAN. How cool is that?

Now I will qualify it a bit. It was on a treadmill so the surface was perfectly smooth and no change in gradient, etc. But it’s best to start out easy me thinks. On the plus side, there was no pain, no soreness afterwards and my stride was pretty much even and balanced. Even kicked up the pace towards the end as I got more confident.

There is an annoyingly persistent voice in my head that’s actually starting to yell “don’t get too excited buddy, its only 15mins”, but hey, it’s comparatively a huge step forward for me. The process is going to nearly bankrupt me:

1 x orthotics @ AU$475
4 x consults @ AU$145 each
1 x new shoes @ AU$225

Ouch.

But if I can indeed run again, then hell, take my car! My first born! (all non-triathletes please disregard this last statement; it won’t make any sense to you). I was embarrassed about the running shoes I took to the fitting – midrange Asics but no where near what I needed for my foot type (do they have a shoe type called "train wreck"?). The podiatrist all but said “tsk tsk” and pulled out a script pad for the Athlete’s Foot. Yeah, a script pad for a shoe shop. So now its off to buy some decent shoes, but rather than price, style, brand its hand over the script and pick from the one’s offered. Can’t wait.

Now, on the other training stuff, there’s some good and some not-so-good. The good is the rain has eased and I’ve ridden some challenging training rides on my own. The most notable was our resident mountain in BrisVegas called Mt Coot-tha (aparrently it means "place of honey" in the local aboriginal language). This is the pic from the lookout; you can see Brisbane CBD in the background. I rode my heavy commute bike; my story is that I took it for a better workout than I'd get with the light, fast Ridley, but closer to the truth is there were still some rain around.

It has two approaches either side of it, with the harder of the two (back) being a 2.5km climb with an average of about 7% and a couple of +10% grades in parts. I chose this to build some more strength and while it hurt, I managed two laps before heading home. A total of 55km, heart rate max’d out to 185 and ave 165 for the ride. Actually the climb to start the mountain is the hardest as it’s a straight uphill of about 10% for perhaps 500m and by end my weak leg was not contributing much at all. I hope to make this ride semi-regular with perhaps either once a week or at least fortnight.

The bad is the swim. I cramped again in the pool on Friday afternoon and only managed to get out and walk it off just in time. This is starting to be a real problem and the magnesium supplement I got is not doing a thing to help. As Otto (A Fish Called Wanda) would say “Disappointed!”. And worse still, I’m baulking at going to the pool. Not only is the cramp a pain (pun intended) but I’m not finishing my sets and that pisses me off more than anything else. I decided on Friday to do at least three, but aim for four, of a set I’ve favoured in the past:

1 x 200 on 4min
2 x 100 on 2min
4 x 50 on 1min

When I’m swimming regularly and more pool-fit, I drop that back 5sec per 50 in each. But the cramps started at the end of the second set and there was no way I could start the third. I even switched to pull buoy and paddles to try and stave off the lockup from kicking, but only just made it to the end. Sigh. I’d done a 400m warm up, so I’m at a bit of a loss for what to do next. But this has to be resolved as I can’t cramp halfway through the swim leg in a race.

The challenge goes on.

Evidence

I was looking through my computer just now and found some pics and video of me at various tri events, and thought I should post some to provide evidence of past exploits.

Seems there's a famous adage in blogland, which goes something like:

no pictures = didn't happen

So, view and believe. These are from my first triathlon, a half olympic and I was terrified. My first open water swim for starters, second my first race of any type since school. Yep, more nervous than I could remember. But the rush at the end was phenomenal.

Note the laces being tied......yeesh

In full control coming in to the finish shute, you know.... for the cameras.

The relief that I'd made it was huge, but man did I want to do another one, and soon!

There are more pics of later races, but this will do for now.

Quick Update

Just a quick review of my weekend and week so far.

Nothing of great significance to deliver I'm afraid, which in the "glass half full" category means I haven't damaged, snapped, strained, cramped, inflamed or crashed anything. And given the year I've had, that's a very good thing.

Sunday was a stellar ride with my crew which took in the sights of Mt Crosby. This is a great loop of about 85km with the first half of that passing over many undulations of about 4-8% slope but culminating in two short but serious bumps that we estimate to be in the order of 20%. Sure they are only 100m or so, but it’s a hard slog up them. Especially if you have nerve damage in one leg and can’t generate power from it. And….if you think a 11-23 cluster is ok. It was, right up until these twin peaks. Man, I struggled and only just made it over. After that, it was all pretty much smooth sailing. We had a nice gallop along the Warrego Hwy in a paceline holding 45+kph for about 10km which is always fun. The reason this put a smile on my face is the Mt Crosby ride is one I've avoided since returning to the road, as my damaged leg just wouldn't handle it, i.e. I would either not get over the damn bumps or struggle so much I'd need the sag wagon at some point. So completing this ride and staying in the middle of the pack is a milestone on my recovery I guess.

Other training includes a return to the pool. I’d be lying if I said there was no trepidation from the previous visit, but while some minor cramping occurred, I managed it better this time. Did a solid 1200m in one go, not to any time but a good rhythm, then 2 x 500m and a warm down. I’m happy with that for this point in time and I plan to go again today and do 100s and just alternate that pattern for a few weeks to build up distance.

Yesterday was a public holiday here so my cycle crew did a modified loop of 70km, again with some hills but no 20% bumps, so all was good. A bit tired though, so I kept the heroics to a minimum. I did get into a sprint finish with one of the group’s gun riders, using the second-wheel in the lead-out to slingshot and pull alongside him, but he heard me approaching (could have been all the gasping) and put the hammer down. I stayed seated for safety – the weak leg just won’t hold me under such conditions, while he stood and we both were giving it everything we had. We stayed locked side-by-side for a few moments nudging 60kph but I tired quickly and he pulled away. Great fun though. I did forget that straight after we had another long 10% climb to traverse and I paid for my sprint then.

I haven’t heard back from the foot people, but they said about a week so I’ll wait until tomorrow to call. I’m starting to think my timeframe for them is too short and perhaps I should start to consider a different target race for the comeback instead of Noosa Oly. The other premier race here in sun drenched South-East Queensland is the Mooloolaba Multisport Festival, but that’s at the end of the season in March, and I’m not waiting that long if the foot people can weave their magic.

Stay safe out there.

T-out

Good News from the Foot People

OOOOOOOOkay.

I have news peoples.

On Thursday, I went to see the foot people. I say people because there were three of them who checked me out. Now, others might have found that intimidating, i.e. “hey, come have a look at this freak in Room 2”, but I took it as a sign of how much they respected my circumstances and what could be done to fix them.

I was there a total of three hours and was prodded, pulled and drawn-on. They took measurements and lengths (not that one) and discovered much. Turns out I really, really should have visited someone in this field of medicine a long ago. My natural podiatric situation requires, er, some tweaking. There is stuff going on that should have caused me a lot more problems that I had, which was my defence when asked why I didn’t visit them sooner. In fact, I was occasionally complimented on my relaxed, fluid running style, so I didn’t ever consider there was a need for correction or tweaking. But there was and it probably caused the back injury. Yup, we have a culprit. The issues with my feet and posture are known causes of stress and compression in the, you guessed it, lumbar region. So my existing prolapsed disc was a sitting duck and all it took was the increase in running training during our triathlon off-season, namely the half mara and finally the Sydney City2Surf event to start the rupture. More specifically the infamous climb around the half-way mark called Heartbreak Hill, which increases those stresses even more.

Anyway, that’s the bad news. Then came the good.

Much of it can be fixed, simply and quickly. In fact, they expect a 20% improvement immediately once my shoes are adjusted. Woohoo. Then a further 50% within two months. Awesome! Funny, they seemed surprised by the attempt at cartwheels I made in their consultation suite. Apparently we are supposed be aligned through the ears, hips, knees and ankles. I'm not. I suffer from a thing unfortunately called “sway back” which means I lean forward in posture. This is caused by tight calves, which may be genetic or just that way from years of training and not stretching enough. I do stretch after running but not much more. Regardless, it can be fixed and then so will my posture. And then so will my lower back stress. With this on board, they feel my goal to race at Noosa in just over two months time is possible. Not probable, but possible. It will depend on my body’s response to the treatment. That’s cool. I just want to be there and take part really. I know that I’m not going to challenge my PB for an Oly (2hr 16min 02sec in 2005), no, my goal is to finish and not walk at any point. I’m thinking a sub 24min swim, a sub 1:07hr bike and then a steady run to finish.

Now, here’s where it the really good part comes in.

They also have a dude on staff who is a trained sports psychologist and physiologist, and who is doing his PhD in neural-muscular pathways. Seriously. So he was very interested in my case and frankly may want to base some of his research on my results. I spent about an hour with him discussing what’s happened and what I can do and not do. He wasn’t thrilled when I said that I couldn’t raise myself up 1mm on the damaged leg without support, but when he held my foot and got me to point toes, pull them back, twist left and right, and then push the ball of my foot against his pressure, he declared my nerve damage isn’t as bad as I think. “Really?” I asked, then how come I can’t walk or run without a limp. He thinks the neural pathways are recovering and the connections are working, but still weak. Mostly the muscles are affected and must relearn how to work, and more importantly take load. He can help with that. A plan of increased weights and repetitions will change things. Sooooo COOL!!! He said if I couldn’t move my foot in those ways, then things would be more difficult, but since it does work, the other stuff is fixable. IN TWO MONTHS.

So I’m excited. It’s all positive and already I have things to do. We talked about visualizations, which research has proven can trigger muscles and nerves to behave in a desired way. I have to lie quietly and imagine myself running without any problem, smooth and balanced. Over and over. And my nerves will start to fire in the same sequences, etc. Funny, because I already do that now and even dream like that. I’ve had many dreams in the past year where I’m running just fine and even realise this in the dream and wonder how I managed to fix it.

What can I say folks? Its all good and I am going to do this race.

Watch this space dear reader. Watch this space.

Agony at the Pool

I decided that I have to keep getting to the pool. I was inspired by fellow-blogger Bolder who managed a serious swim set recently (38x100s) so I realised that to make this whole return to triathlon work, I have to step it up.

Wouldn't that be the best irony for me - actually manage to get my running back only to find I've neglected the swim and either drown, be rescued or come in to T1 last. I'd probably laugh if I wasn't crying. And I would be.

Soooo, its back to the pool. I managed a 200m warm-up, then 15 x 100m on 2minutes each. I started the set finishing each 100m in 1:35 and so had 25 glorious seconds to recover. But by the time I was at #8 it was down to 15sec breaks and for the last three I was struggling to get 10sec gaps. Yeesh. What's much worse, is that in the lane next to me a woman was belting out solid laps at around the same pace. I was supposed to be the one doing the quick sets with a rest.

Now the story gets ugly.

I have a history of leg cramps towards the end of my swim sessions. I've blamed the fact that I'm swimming in a 25m pool and so there are too many tumble turns for my liking. I used to run 3km to a 50m pool, then run back to work in my lunch hour, but of course that sort of stuff is out now. I'm stuck with the 25m. The other suspect in the great cramp mystery is the fact that I ride a lot. Ok, and I don't stretch enough. So today during the last 100m, I start to feel the left (bad) leg start to tighten. I know that I should stop there and then, but I'm determined (read stubborn) to finish what I set out to do in training. Well, most things really. So I stopped kicking and did manage to finish it. Then I tried to get out of the pool by jumping to the side. Bad idea. Once on the poolside, the left leg cramped like it had a large electric current passed through it. Just locked up like a bastard. The pain was bad. I sat there with gritted teeth and tried to reach the toes to pull back and hopefully release the calf. Not a chance. The leg was now like a piece of iron. The pain started coming in waves and each time the muscles would tighten even further. Now I'm in serious agony. The gritted teeth have become grinding teeth and I'm starting to panic. I can't get up, can't even move. I try to slide backwards in the hope of stretching out the leg, but that just starts other muscles cramping. First the hamstring then the quads. I know that the nerve damage has something to do with the intensity and also the inability to release it but that knowledge doesn't help. I decided to just wait it out; surely it can't keep going. But it does reader, it does. And keeps getting tighter and more painful. The next wave of agony is almost more than I can bear and a groan escapes my lips. I look around in desperation and the woman in the next lane has stopped her machine-like laps and is looking up at me. "You ok?" she asks. "er, no. I'm not really" I reply and I'm a little shocked and embarrassed to hear clear panic in my voice. "Cramp" she asks. "Yes! and its the worst I've ever had!" I answer. "Please, could you help me up? If I can stand and walk, I can get it to release". So my saviour hops out and gives me a hand up. Once on my feet I can force the toes up by leaning forward with the foot staying flat. "Nerve damage" I manage to stammer, although I'm not sure why I mentioned it. Slowly, slowly it starts to ease and then all at once it lets go. Oh the bliss. She lets go of my hand and asks if I'm ok now. I blabber out some thanks and apologies for interrupting her set. Then I walk for 5mins up and down the poolside until its fully gone. But the soreness is still there, even now 7 hours later.

So, perhaps I new plan is needed. I have to find a way to get to the 50m pool me thinks. I do not what to ever go through that again. Fellow bloggers, if you have any words of wisdom on this topic, I'd be more than happy to hear them.

Oh, and I'm so counting the swim as training. Far more than I bargained for. And on a side note, my saviour had an arm like steel. When I pulled myself up to stand with my full weight (still several kilos more than I like) her arm didn't waiver in the slightest. You rock lady, whoever you are.

Slow but Steady

In keeping with my current mood, I'm still riding a fair bit but not much else. But I have reasons. Good ones too, not something lame or soft. Honest.

Oh, you want to know what they are? Not taking my word for it?

Harsh you are. Doubter you have become.

Well, firstly I have held off on the running, despite a burgeoning desire to get out there and push things along, because I've made an appointment with a sports podiatrist to make sure I am not about to break something else if I start running full-time. The foot doc was recommended to me and they do a full bio-mechanical evaluation, which sounds great. Then a foot and leg assessment for moving forward (sorry about the pun). Then and only then will I know if running is in the future. There's no point setting my jaw and getting out there to clock up the k's to find out in six months time my opposite hip is totally stuffed (Hi Katy). Then running would be definitely goneski. So its off to the foot doc.

I can report that I've made it back into the pool. Yep, twice. Ok, so its not 10km a week, but its a start. And both times were steady, solid sessions. I do not want to rip a shoulder tendon and have that to worry about too. The top half is working fine and I'd like it to stay that way. So I've decided to swim a minimum of three times a week for now and kick it up to four as Noosa Tri approaches. Back to basics. I found that once in the pool, I missed it and enjoyed the solitude and balance of working the upper half.

Of course the bike is getting the most attention. She's needy like that. A great ride last Sunday with my crew out to the airport, Nudgee Beach, and back via the racecourse for flat-whites and tall tales. I also went looking for Katy on the way home, as she was manning a stall to promote GAP or the Greyhound Adoption Program, but my radar was on the blink and I rolled around the suburb but couldn't find the street. Ah well, she would have given me grief over the lycra camel toe anyway. And yesterday I managed a short ride by myself of 55km but kept the average at 31.7kph with some wind and hills about. I found this smoooooooth road towards the Port of Brisbane and despite the plethora of trucks, enjoyed several kms holding >40kph in full tuck. Zoom.

I'll be back here with the foot doc report and maybe some running stats if it goes well. They listened to my history and made some tall promises, so we shall see. I'm keeping my hopes in check for now.

Oh, one last thing. A mate of mine who's moved to Switzerland has met a guy who has a dream. He wants to climb (on his bike of course) 170,000metres of elevation in one year! The man is certifiable. But he has a terrific blog and webpage and it would seem can ascend like Contadour. So if you want to see some climbing prowess, visit Will's blog and his progress on the challenge.

Truly nuts.

Ciao.