Hello.

Well, I raced this weekend at the Playtri 1/2 IM in preparation for IMCDA. I had a great day and finished a personal best of 5:28. I stayed in my IM heart rate zones the whole day and felt really good. My swim time was 31 minutes, bike was under 3 hours and the run was 1:53. The only time I pushed it was the last 3 miles of the run.

I needed a good day and run considering my longest run to day has been 10 miles. It validated for me what I have been practicing, going long and staying within controlled heart rates is more beneficial than speed work for the IM distance. I stayed in control the whole day as I have with my training and it is starting to pay off. I remember the first 1/2 IM I raced took me 6:20 minutes. I smoked the bike in that race but had nothing left in the tank for the run. Yesterday I actually had a slower bike time than my first 1/2 IM 3 years ago and still did better by almost an hour.

I have rambled enough, I included some pics and am doing well. The key now is to stay healthy and focused for the next 6 weeks and then I begin my taper for the next day.

Take Care
David

All is Well

I finished my second century this weekend in the very windy climate that is Dallas, TX. I purposely headed into the 20 mph winds for the first half of my 6 hour ride so that I could reap the benefits of the wind coming back. I can definitely feel the differences over the century's I was riding for the Florida IM. The biggest difference is, my Heart Rate is lower but at the same intensity. Low Heart Rate training has paid off.

The run is coming back, I finished 3, 30 minute runs last week with no pain and minimal tightness afterwards. I will bump that up a little this week.

The swim feels good right now but not quite were I want it. I am swimming longer sets now and am confident that I will be good to go. It would be nice to have a faster swim than IM Florida, and should not be a problem to do so.

Well that's it for now all is well and I can not believe that I am only 14 weeks away from IM CDA. It is sneaking up.

All in all a good week. I finished my 90 mile ride and felt good afterwards, obviously tired though. I averaged 17.5 and kept my heart rate in the 2.2 zone, 145 avg. My Heart rate definitely spiked coming back in the wind.

I have started back on the elliptical and even threw in a 5 min run on the treadmill afterwards. I will increase my time on the treadmill Sunday to 10 minutes after 30 minutes on the elliptical. Hopefully this is pain free and I can get back on the road in another week or so.

The groin is doing well, the only discomfort this week came after doing squats without weights. I am going to have stay away from legs in the weight room and just lift upper body for now.

Things are looking up and my mindset is very positive for Ironman. As long as I am able to focus on the bike right now I am confident the run will be fine. I figure if my long runs are only 2 to 2.5 hours and I am strong on the bike this could be my best race yet. We shall see.

Take care and have a great weekend.

Update to the Update

All

Well, I saw the Ortho today and he told me more of the same, wait a few more weeks. I am in fact doing better but had a couple of bad days last week with the contusion. I think my bike fit had something to do with it but the Dr disagrees, never the less I made the necessary adjustment and things are better.

I spoke with Ron and we are in agreement to get on the ellyptical and ease back into it. I will do 20 minutes today and swim. If all is well I will do 40 minutes on the treadmill Wednesday and progress to 20 minutes with a 15 minute treadmill run on Friday. Cross your fingers and legs and lets hope it goes well.

The bike is comming along nicely, I am logging about 130-140 miles a week and an additional 10,000 yds in the pool. All at a nice easy pace. I will be adding some speed on the bike this week but for only one ride.

That it for now.

David

He Has Spoken

Well, the news is a little late but I got my results Monday of this week, and it is bitter sweet. The good news is, NO Stress Fracture, the bad news is I have a pubis contusion, don't laugh. He believes that the crash is the cause of this and says no running for 4 weeks. I have a follow up appointment on Feb 26, hopefully all will be well by then.

He has treated IM athletes while living in Hawaii and feels confident that this was not a serious injury and would heal on its own. I am allowed to bike, swim and lift weights but he says no elliptical. I have tried to lift and it took me 3 days to recover and relieve the discomfort, so no weights. I am biking at least 4 days a week and swimmining 4 days a week. I think 3 months will be plenty of time to prepare for IMCDA, hope Im right.

Thank you to all who have checked on me it is greatly apprecated.

Stress???

I went to see the Orthopedic Dr. today for my pelvis/groin. He took an xray and could not see anything conclusive. He said the discomfort I described concerned him and he suspected a stress fracture. I have an MRI scheduled Friday, and follow up visit Monday, pretty quick turn around time.

If it is a stress fracture, he said I am looking at 6 weeks of no running. It will be 2 weeks this Sunday since I have run, so I would be out until March sometime. He said to swim and bike to my hearts content and even encouraged these activities, as they promote healing in stress fractures. So as of now biking and swimming only, I will no more Monday. If it is a stress fracture I need to find out if elliptical training is allowed, if so that will really offset any time lost from running, we shall see. Could be this is all for not and its just a nice groin or soas strain.

If this is Carma talking, I am sorry for suggesting to Curt that Pelvis has left the building. If its not Carma well then I meant every word of it Curt.

Houston Marathon

Well I had a DNF for the first time in my short racing career, and it probably will not be the last. The groin repeat injury that I strained playing football this fall was seriously re aggravated after the bike crash. The first 3 miles were fine and I felt no pain. The nagging pain started at mile 6 and grew progressively worse, in fact by the time I hit mile 8 I felt like I should have felt at mile 18.

So I made a tough, and smart decision and as soon as I saw Christie at mile 13.25 I took my number off and had a little hissy fit. Christie and her family were great and very encouraging, I appreciated their support.

So, what did I learn? First, a marathon is nothing to scoff at, it is a tough distance and you have to have respect for it. Secondly, if you are injured it is okay to skip a race. Finally I will never take for granted the success I do have. When I was pouting and visibly angry about dropping out, Christie's aunt looked over at me and said you did more than any of us have ever done and you should be proud. She is right we often underestimate the things we do as athletes. So my main take away is to be proud of what we do as well as the effort we put forth no matter the outcomes.

Peace
David

Taper that will never end

I began my official 2 week taper this week. I guess the bike wreck was somewhat of a blessing in that it has forced me to take it easy. I was extremely concerned after my 6.5 mile run on Thursday. The wreck really jarred my lower back, lefthip and reintroduced a groin strain I found on a flag football field. It was bad enough that I was ready to drop out of the Houston Marathon, considering IMCDA is the priority this year. I am still not sure doing a Marathon is the right thing to do but here I am.

I went to see Pauline and she really got into the muscles and worked out the kinks. I saw Ron right after and he put everything into place and loosened the muscles a bit. I feel much better today, although very sore. I am not running again untill the marathon and will only be swimming easy or on the eliptical. I plan on having a great day in Houston, but if something does start to reaggravate itslef or I do not feel right I will in fact stop, IMCDA is the priority here.

Wish me well, and Happy New Year.