Sometimes when it rains, it pours. Training has been less than ideal with the staff retreat planning and starting work. The surprise volleyball appointment just made things tighter and I had to drop from focused training to a series of base work. I got smacked with a terrible cold and chest infection that hurt me for 10 days. Then I screwed up my arm.
I was playing volleyball with the high school team. After jumping in cold to serve repeatedly, we then did a hitting drill. For the remainder of the week, my arm was quite sore. Then on International Day, on the first play of a kickball game, I whipped the big red rubber ball at a 6th grader and heard a pop. My arm hurt like hell. The next day it was on fire. I went into the doctor who gave me a cortisone shot in the ass and sent me to the hospital where an ultrasound revealed no tear. However, even a week off volleyball, swimming, and lifting (with drugs) and it still hurts very bad.
Training through September 25th. Swimming and lifting have taken a hit with the arm injury.
It hasn’t been all illness and injury. I have been doing weekly time trials with the jogger. Four straight victories at 5k and 8K pushing two kids. Have some of that. My weight, which was a grotesque 158.5 lbs in late July, dropped to 154.3 by September 1st and by month’s end I am looking at 151.5 lbs. Again, I am not preoccupied by weight but I love to see the results of the work put in. I am stronger up top than I have been in years (likely the last Ironman) and shaving the fat will only make me more efficient.
The real satisfaction has been the bike. I don’t have the log from the last Ironman but Sarah confirms that I wasn’t on the bike that much. Not that I have been Team BMC or anything lately, but I am getting 1-2 shorter rides during the week and another “longer” ride of 30 miles or so on the weekend. This is a good start. I took this momentum to Clarens, a small mountain town to do a nice loop of the lovely Golden Gate Highlands National Park.
Rising early, the cold smacked me in the face like an underage partier mouthing off to a bouncer at a club. It was fricken freezing to say the least – my guess is 40 or slightly colder. Good thing I packed my arm warmers. After a couple of very steep kilometers, I hit my first turn, a dirt road. Whelp, that is over. I turned around to do an out-an-back in the park, forgoing the loop. The problem was my hands got too cold on the downhills. The body heat was generated well on the ups, but every time I got over 15mph (which is anything not a hill) my digits ached like in a Michigan winter. Several times in the first hour I could be found on the side of the road, hands shoved in pants, begging for my crotch to return warmth to my finger tips. When my hands weren’t the problem, it was my forehead and toes. Thankfully, the route was largely uphill on the way out.
My turnaround was at 28 miles out. After descending for several miles prior to this, I just laughed knowing what was coming. A monster category 3 climb awaited, yet it was probably the best 20 min of cycling I have ever had. Legs pumping, lungs heaving, blood boiling, I shot up this behemoth while Sarah grabbed some video (what you won’t catch on film are the screaming kids in the car). The final part of the route was predominately downhill, and I hit over 50mph on the bike, while riding 35+ on some of the “flatter” portions. It definitely made me see why the first half was so hard (see the profile below). But any ride where you see zebra, ostrich, antelope, and wild horses is a good one.
I also did some running there and was joined by three local men for over a mile. It still amazes me the people in other parts of the world who come out and run with a total strangers. If that doesn’t make you feel like you are in that scene in Rocky, nothing will.
So peep this video. It is the first in a series of documentation of the training I am doing for Ironman. Sarah asked why this song (Public Enemy’s He Got Game). I don’t know, maybe it was the beat, the mix of old school and “new” (1998) school. Maybe I just got game. So enjoy.
The profile for my 51.5 mile ride in Clarens, going over four Cat. 5 climbs, one Cat. 4, and two wicked Cat. 3 climbs. (or look here)
I was playing volleyball with the high school team. After jumping in cold to serve repeatedly, we then did a hitting drill. For the remainder of the week, my arm was quite sore. Then on International Day, on the first play of a kickball game, I whipped the big red rubber ball at a 6th grader and heard a pop. My arm hurt like hell. The next day it was on fire. I went into the doctor who gave me a cortisone shot in the ass and sent me to the hospital where an ultrasound revealed no tear. However, even a week off volleyball, swimming, and lifting (with drugs) and it still hurts very bad.
Training through September 25th. Swimming and lifting have taken a hit with the arm injury.
Cumulative Distance | Cumulative Time | |
Swim | 13500m | 6:19:20 |
Bike | 359.7 mi | 21:25:29 |
Run | 167.82 mi | 22:27:22 |
Core | N/A | 4:30:00 |
Lift | N/A | 3:30:00 |
The real satisfaction has been the bike. I don’t have the log from the last Ironman but Sarah confirms that I wasn’t on the bike that much. Not that I have been Team BMC or anything lately, but I am getting 1-2 shorter rides during the week and another “longer” ride of 30 miles or so on the weekend. This is a good start. I took this momentum to Clarens, a small mountain town to do a nice loop of the lovely Golden Gate Highlands National Park.
Rising early, the cold smacked me in the face like an underage partier mouthing off to a bouncer at a club. It was fricken freezing to say the least – my guess is 40 or slightly colder. Good thing I packed my arm warmers. After a couple of very steep kilometers, I hit my first turn, a dirt road. Whelp, that is over. I turned around to do an out-an-back in the park, forgoing the loop. The problem was my hands got too cold on the downhills. The body heat was generated well on the ups, but every time I got over 15mph (which is anything not a hill) my digits ached like in a Michigan winter. Several times in the first hour I could be found on the side of the road, hands shoved in pants, begging for my crotch to return warmth to my finger tips. When my hands weren’t the problem, it was my forehead and toes. Thankfully, the route was largely uphill on the way out.
My turnaround was at 28 miles out. After descending for several miles prior to this, I just laughed knowing what was coming. A monster category 3 climb awaited, yet it was probably the best 20 min of cycling I have ever had. Legs pumping, lungs heaving, blood boiling, I shot up this behemoth while Sarah grabbed some video (what you won’t catch on film are the screaming kids in the car). The final part of the route was predominately downhill, and I hit over 50mph on the bike, while riding 35+ on some of the “flatter” portions. It definitely made me see why the first half was so hard (see the profile below). But any ride where you see zebra, ostrich, antelope, and wild horses is a good one.
I also did some running there and was joined by three local men for over a mile. It still amazes me the people in other parts of the world who come out and run with a total strangers. If that doesn’t make you feel like you are in that scene in Rocky, nothing will.
So peep this video. It is the first in a series of documentation of the training I am doing for Ironman. Sarah asked why this song (Public Enemy’s He Got Game). I don’t know, maybe it was the beat, the mix of old school and “new” (1998) school. Maybe I just got game. So enjoy.
The profile for my 51.5 mile ride in Clarens, going over four Cat. 5 climbs, one Cat. 4, and two wicked Cat. 3 climbs. (or look here)
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