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Being lazy Saturday, September 2, 2006 Ernesto, or the remnants thereof, hit us last night and most of today, so I've been relaxing indoors and trying to keep warm. The temperature here hasn't even hit 60, so it feels pretty chilly. Sad to think that in a few months, this will qualify as a warm day. So much for escaping winter... at least for this year.
I'm starting to work on my training plan for 2007, now that I've got some free time and not much to do. It'll be a pretty long season, so I'm going to have to make sure that I don't overdo anything this fall and end up burned out for the spring. I'll probably keep things fairly loosly planned for a few months, training when I have the time and desire so that I can stay mentally fresh, and as long as I don't completely slack off (which I won't; I really want to be out on my bike again), I'll have a decent base going into the winter.
Back on the bike
I forgot how difficult the hills around Pittsburgh were. I jumped on my bike today for a little while (after having run in the morning) and, even though I stuck to mostly flat ground, got my butt kicked when I had to climb at the end of the ride to get home. It'll probably take at least two or three weeks of consistent riding before my legs regain their hill-climbing strength. I used to be able to go up and down everything... but I guess that's what happens when you spend several years training and racing in the flatlands.
World of hurt
My legs are ready to fall off... which I guess is a good thing. I feel like I'm actually doing something productive by training, since I've got little else to do these days. There's a possibility I will pick up a job at the Home Depot that's just down the road, but I may not know anything concrete about that until next week. In the meantime, I'll just keep cruisin' and see what happens. With any luck, my legs won't spontaneously detach themselves.
Old-fashioned whuppin' I rode with the Trizilla shop group ride this morning, which meets right across the river from home, and got my butt handed to me. When I am in good shape, I consider myself a decent cyclist, but I was definitely not in good shape today. Pulls at 30+ mph were not uncommon as people threw down along the river, and it was all I could do to keep in contact. I can tell that riding with that group consistently will be a good way for me to get faster, especially once I get my legs under me again on the bike.
I was surfing the 'net this evening and ran across the website of an old teammate of mine, Greg Remaly. He is a professional triathlete and a straight-up beast: the guy won Memphis in May this year, beating some big names, and was top American and 3rd overall at Wildflower with the second-fastest American time ever. He and I ran together at Kenyon College for the couple of years that we were both there. I think that on a good day, I am fast enough to hang with him on the run (he stomped on me at Kenyon, but I've improved since then), but his bike splits are insane: he averaged 28.3 mph at Memphis this year. That's jaw-droppingly fast. Consider me inspired.
Getting things figured out I've done a lot of soul-searching in the past few days, having been mired in unemployment for several weeks. I've really been trying to figure out a direction for myself, and I think I finally have a few leads. Nothing concrete yet, but I'm working on a few things that may further myself along some interesting and exciting paths.
In the meantime, I've also been trying to keep my legs from falling apart underneath me. I kind of need them for training, racing, and coaching. They apparently have other plans, because they refuse to heal all the way. I suppose I can live with that, as long as I'm not incapacitated, but it sure is annoying. Stupid legs.
First time for everything Well, one of the things I had planned for December won't be happening (most likely), which is a big bummer. Hopefully I will be able to get that business done early in 2007, because it could mean a big breakthrough in my situation. I'm being intentionally vague because I don't want to raise my hopes up too much (nor do I want to potentially raise anyone else's hopes up either).
I have diagnosed myself, in the last 24 hours, with my very first case of ITB (Iliotybial Band) Syndrome. I've never had this particular problem before, so I suppose I've been destined to encounter it at some point. Ta-da, here it is. I think I might be nursing it back to health - I've always been a fairly quick healer - but I'm not sure. I think I will have to forego all running this weekend. I'm going to try to ride tomorrow and see if that puts undue stress on my ITB. Fingers crossed that it doesn't.
Back at it
My IT band seems to be recovered, at least as far as I can tell so far. I rode for an hour today and then ran a few easy miles with my xc team as they prep for tomorrow's section meet. I went back to using my old running shoes - which probably have more support - and that probably also helped. My suspicion is that the new Nikes that I bought a few weeks ago don't have enough motion control, and that is what upset my legs. I should have known better, basically. I'll use those new shoes for racing and track workouts, since my track/racing shoes died recently, and I'll use my old running shoes until they're totally worn out. THey should have a couple hundred miles left in them.
That feeling
Oh, it feels so good - that feeling of complete exhaustion after a tough workout where you can barely keep your head up and your eyes open. That's how you know you've been working hard. There were many evenings of that feeling last winter when I was training with Matt on the track, and I felt it again today after wailing on some 1200s with the Hounds. We were really cookin', and then I knocked out a wicked quarter at the end. After a long cooldown, I could barely move, and getting home was kinda tough. I love it.
Changes
In the spirit of change - and things may change drastically, mostly for the better, tomorrow - I switched up the color scheme for the website. I was partly procrastinating (from working on another website, which I ought to have finished by now), and partly looking forward to next year, when I intend to compete for Team USA in Richmond. I also wanted to make sure my sponsors got a little better representation on the front page. Since I couldn't ride this morning - my legs are shot from yesterday - I made the most of my idle time, as opposed to surfing the same internet sites again and again. I like it, and if I become inspired again, there are a few more things I could tighten up to make it really sweet.
More changes (today, shoes; tomorrow, the world) I went to the Great Race expo this morning to pick up my race number and chip, and while I was there, I stopped by one of the local running shop's booth. I decided to see what shoes they had brought with them, and struck up a conversation with the Asics rep. By the end of my stay there, I had tried on several pairs of shoes and was hooked, and I bought two pairs: the DS Trainers, which will be my track workout & racing shoes; and the GT 2110, which I have been told is a very impressive shoe. I've been breaking in the racers, intending to wear them on Sunday (yeah, yeah, I know the rule about not wearing new equipment for the first time in a race... I'll put a few miles on them tomorrow). I'll start wearing the 2110s next week, and we'll see how they turn out. They feel fine, and they fit a lot better than the last pair of Asics I had - years ago - that were too big. I had thought at the time that Asics shoes wouldn't work for me, but I may well change my mind about that before too long. I kinda hope so, because it's hard to stick with Nike when they change their models so much and their racing shoes are impossible to find. My left leg has been healing, thankfully, and didn't feel too bad today, even after yesterday's hill climbs with the team. I skipped running any more than I had to, which turned out to be a good idea. My glute hurt just a little on my bike ride today, but it could have been a lot worse, and it got better as I warmed up. I actually managed a decent average speed today, for the first time since returning home; it's been hard to even average above 17 mph, what with the hills, riding my road bike (not as aero), and not having ridden consistently since May. Today was the first time I have felt fairly strong on the bike, and while it's true that I stayed on mostly flat roads right by the river, I think it's a good sign. Now, here's hoping that my leg tolerates the Great Race and I don't have to nurse it along too much more. I'd really like to start putting in a little more time biking and running. Since this is already my longest blog entry in months, I'll also add that I had what felt like a good job interview yesterday, and I'm really hoping this will pan out. They finish their interviews tomorrow, and I should hear back from someone by the end of next week. My fingers are crossed. I could really use the work, mostly cause it'll keep me off the streets and out of trouble...
P.S. - Could this be the year? Michigan is 3-0 so far. Big Ten season starts tomorrow vs. Wisconsin. It would be weird to spend my energy rooting for a good Michigan team and a mediocre Steelers team, since the reverse has been true in the past couple seasons.
Where does the time go? It's the 24th of September already. How'd that happen? I think my leg is not going to really get better until I stop running hard on it for several weeks. It felt great yesterday... and now it hurts a lot this evening, after having raced on it earlier today. The race went fine, and it didn't hurt at all then, but it's not pleased with me right now. For the record, icing one's glute is awkward and weird.
Fingers crossed for a phone call in the next few days.
Recovering My leg, which I thought was going to fall off sometime in the night on Sunday, is still attached. Surprisingly, it doesn't really hurt much anymore, either. I've put in some miles since the race on Sunday, including some hill repeats with the kids today, and I feel a lot better than I ought to. I know we're doing intervals tomorrow, so I will probably skip those in the interest of making sure my legs get a good chance to recover (I had to skip a run with the Hounds this evening, too), but I think I might be on my way to having a healthy leg soon. I would love to be able to run to practice and back again... all this driving is both annoying and expensive. I finally managed to finish a project I should have completed a month (or, really, several months) ago today, so I don't have that hovering over me anymore. I also know that my references are being checked, which means that my interviews obviously went well. I hate waiting for news like this - I just want to know, yes or no.
If my leg feels good enough in the morning, I might also actually get a ride in. That would be sehr gut.
Recovering... still No ride, but my leg is feeling a little better. I didn't run too much on it today, although we did run around Flagstaff a whole bunch, so it wasn't feeling super by the time we finished. Hills, contrary to the status quo, are not my friend right now.
However, I need not worry too much. My team is entering a block of time, starting Sunday, that looks like this: 10 days, 6 meets, 2 practices and 2 days off. There are three middle school meets and three high school meets in there, so amidst all that craziness, I will be doing very little running. Hopefully this will be what my leg needs to really heal, so that I can slowly (and intelligently this time) begin building up my mileage again. Going from nothing in 4 weeks to 40 miles per week was stupid, and I knew better, but it was hard to control the urge to run after having so little opportunity for so long. Patience...
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September 2006
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