Ken Cestari's Micro Thread
Hi coach,
I was just diagnosed with an L5 / S1 herniated disc with stenosis. No running, heavy lifting for a month. Am scheduled for an epidural on 1/14 and praying that helps. Also PT and Chiro 3 x week.
I am on the Run Durability plan switching to Jan OS around 1/16.
Bad news is that my first race was e. murray todd half marathon 3/2/14: good news my 'A' race is IM ChooChoo 9/28/14
I am ok for swimming and biking and I'm thinking upper body stuff.
Any advice at this point?
Thanks
-Ken
0
Comments
I think I saw a thread recently in the Medical forum where Rob had some excellent advice for a team member with similar issues.I will check that out again.
I need some advice on how to proceed in the Jan OS and beyond for staying/getting fit and race training with this herniated disk thing I have. Here's my current status:
1.Diagnosed about 6 weeks ago with herniation in L5/S1 pressing on nerve causing all kinds of stuff in legs, feet, toes.
2.Began rehabbing 3 weeks ago at Velocity Sports Rehab here in Red Bank, NJ elctro stim, ultra sound, traction table, heat, ice, massage 3 x week
3.Had an epidural injection this week!
4.NO RUNNING for a month!! may be longer. No weight training either.
5.Can swim and bike on trainer/spin bike but in easy gear/high cadence. Hoping to start running by mid Feb.
So I know the injury thing is not your area but was wondering what training options you think I have so I can make the most of the limited stuff I can do. Also wondering how this is going to impact my season. If I am unable to start really doing the Jan OS until mid to late Feb where do I pick it up? From week 1 or week 6? I have two 1/2 marathons on my race schedule. The first is March 2nd and is obviously out but the second is late April so I'm thinking I will be ok by then if I can start following Rick's plan by mid to late Feb. Also May 3rd Oly distance and May 31st HIM have me concerned that I will not be ready. IMChat is far enough down the road that I am not panicking yet!
This injury/rehab thing is new for me and I know at 61 I should be happy about that. Just looking for you thoughts and guidance.
Thanks
p.s. emailed back and forth with Rob Sabo and thinks medically I am on track and if no results I will swing by his office for a consult.
Right now the races aren't carrots or sticks...they are dates that will come as they will...your disc is your guide / coach right now. It's not like you can start training on 3/24 b/c you have a race on 4/15....you can only train with your back.
So, your plan is your recovery plan. Gotta keep up all that goodness...who knows what else you might learn to make your life better / heal more quickly.
I am comfortable with you swimming 3x a week and biking 3x a week. You could go to the OS Master Page (under Wiki / Self Coaching) and find the OS Swim Supplement Doc. As for cycling, I say you work to build it from 30 minutes to an hour across three weeks.
Week One -- 3 x 30 minutes.
Week Two -- 3 x 40 mins.
Week Three -- 3 x 50 mins.
Week Four -- 3 x 60 mins.
You might be able to up the bike sooner, but I wouldn't force it, especially in week #1. We'll want to see what the consistent training does to your back over a few days time...
And don't worry...all you can do is focus on getting better. The plan I have outlined is linear but given your health and active lifestyle, your recovery should begin to exceed my conservative timeline.
@Rob, I appreciate your concurrence and advice. I will continue to focus on the "new plan"
@Rob, thanks man!!
Hi Coach,
Just loaded up HIM Int Plan per Rich's season road map yesterday and have a question. Today, Tuesday, shows a Bike Test for Heart Rate athletes that totals 75 minutes followed by a 70 minute Bike workout of MS1 - 2x20's Z4 MS2 remainder in Z2. Also a brick run of 20min.
So I don't recall doing a bike workout after the bike test last year on the same day. Is this workout correct? If so, do you recommend back to back on the bike or is there an extended recovery time.
Thanks
Anxious to hear how your health is...
@ Patrick - Thanks Coach. I think my confusion came from thinking that your admonition referred to doing only one of the the bike tests (not both HR and Power) as I had seen in the workouts in the past. I don't think that last year I saw a workout where there was a choice between a bike test and a bike workout. My mistake. As it turned out I bricked the run and bike test then took a 5 minute break and attempted to do the 2 x 20's. I barley got through 15 minutes in Z4 and called it a night, I was smoked!
The back is much better, not 100%, but around 90% I would say. Part of my recovery plan included an epidural and I think that was big in fixing this. PT, stretching, back exercises, elec stim, etc. helped but I would point to that shot and time away from running as the fix. I stuck with the Jan OS as much as I could with no running. Then I started running regularly about a month ago and have been increasing about 10% a week, staying a lot in Z1 Z2 in the beginning but adding in some Z4 tempo runs and even some short Z5 intervals. I am still slow as hell but am hoping that the runs in the HIM plan will help with that. Oh, I also switched to running in Hoka Bondi B's per Turby's recommendation and I a big time fan. My form is better, I recover faster, I don't feel as beat up after a run workout, I am now a big, big fan of Hoka's.
@ Rob - Thanks Doc!! I appreciate your comments and your kind offer to see me if things didn't improve. I am encouraged. After months of despairing that I might have to scrap the season I am now looking forward to my race schedule. Getting psyched for Chattanooga!! Looks like I'll be there. Hope your hamstring issue is gone and you are back in the game too.
Conservative Coach P
@ Rob - Thanks Doc!! I appreciate your comments and your kind offer to see me if things didn't improve. I am encouraged. After months of despairing that I might have to scrap the season I am now looking forward to my race schedule. Getting psyched for Chattanooga!! Looks like I'll be there. Hope your hamstring issue is gone and you are back in the game too. Below is my reply to Patrick.
The back is much better, not 100%, but around 90% I would say. Part of my recovery plan included an epidural and I think that was big in fixing this. PT, stretching, back exercises, elec stim, etc. helped but I would point to that shot and time away from running as the fix. I stuck with the Jan OS as much as I could with no running. Then I started running regularly about a month ago and have been increasing about 10% a week, staying a lot in Z1 Z2 in the beginning but adding in some Z4 tempo runs and even some short Z5 intervals. I am still slow as hell but am hoping that the runs in the HIM plan will help with that. Oh, I also switched to running in Hoka Bondi B's per Turby's recommendation. My form is better, I recover faster, I don't feel as beat up after a run workout, I am now a big, big fan of Hoka's.
Hi Patrick, I have a question about what to do with my training this week. I am currentyl on the HIM Int plan week 18 but recently changed my race calendar. The Woodstock 70.3 on 5/31 got canceled so I replaced it with Rev3 Williamsburg 70.3 on 6/15 - 2 weeks difference. Do I change my training plan to now end on 6/15 and do the workouts as Rx or stick with the schedule I was on? I posted to Rich in the Macro thread last week and filled out a new season survey but I have'nt heard back yet.
Thanks.
But we deathly don't want to add anything on for the run. You could also add some more swimming. And finally, you could always take a day or two off if you want to recover before hitting it again this weekend. No need to kill yourself right now.
So I guess the real question is: what do you feel like?
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for the reply, Rich got back to me yesterday with the new schedule and things look good.
"So I guess the real question is: what do you feel like?" Well, that's a tough question to answer since, as you know, this training kinda makes you weary and recovering from some of the higher intensity workouts seems to take forever at my age. I think a hard lesson to learn in this sport is to know when to push through the tiredness and get the training done and when to back all the way off and not get injured or so beat up you can't get a good training day done. I have experienced both and "almost" know the difference. That being said I think I am feeling pretty good. Definitely seeing some fitness gains on the bike and even a little (very little) in the water. The run is still a struggle for me even though I had fun doing the Long Branch half marathon a few weeks ago - slowly! BUT, I did the Tuesday mile repeats last night and compared to 3 weeks ago I was 15-20 seconds slower!! I am chalking that up to maybe residual tiredness from 2 hard bike sessions over the weekend, or maybe just a cumulative thing. Again, need to figure out when to push through and when to back off.
Anyway my Micro Question - I was thinking of doing the Red Bank Oly this Sunday, but am losing my mojo for it. Haven't signed up yet and was using water temp as an excuse to back out, but it looks like the water is warming up. All the cool kids are doing it
and I'm afraid I'll regret not racing with my buddies. Then on the other hand, not sure what impact this will have on the training. So the question is if I am doing the race what do I do on Saturday? Should I do the run and the 3 1/2 hour bike as prescribed or cut it so I have fresh legs on Sunday?
Thanks
Hi Patrick,
One of things I am learning is that if real doubt starts to creep in about your desire or ability to do a race or a workout due to (pick one) lack of mojo, exhaustion, nagging injury, extreme weather conditions, etc. you need to listen. I listened and didn't do the race and got my Sat and Sunday bike and run workouts done. Felt my energy level come back this week. Yesterday's workouts were 60 min run with 2 x 1 mile repeats and a 3300m swim of MS 6x500. I bricked this workout and felt great, my pace came back on the run and I think I was even a little faster than my best pace so far. Anyway, am doing the Navesink or Swim this Sunday, a 2.4 mile swim race in the Navesink River in Rumson, NJ. Wondering if i should change anything for Saturday's workout??
BTW, we will be at TT Bike this Friday if you want to stop in and say hi. We are driving up early Friday morning getting Pam's and my bikes fitted up by Todd and then immediately driving home. Hope all is well.
Hi Patrick,
One of things I am learning is that if real doubt starts to creep in about your desire or ability to do a race or a workout due to (pick one) lack of mojo, exhaustion, nagging injury, extreme weather conditions, etc. you need to listen. I listened and didn't do the race and got my Sat and Sunday bike and run workouts done. Felt my energy level come back this week. Yesterday's workouts were 60 min run with 2 x 1 mile repeats and a 3300m swim of MS 6x500. I bricked this workout and felt great, my pace came back on the run and I think I was even a little faster than my best pace so far. Anyway, am doing the Navesink or Swim this Sunday, a 2.4 mile swim race in the Navesink River in Rumson, NJ. Wondering if i should change anything for Saturday's workout??
BTW, we will be at TT Bike this Friday if you want to stop in and say hi. We are driving up early Friday morning getting Pam's and my bikes fitted up by Todd and then immediately driving home. Hope all is well.
So bummed I missed you. I swam with Lisbeth this AM and she told me NJ was in the house but I didn't see this. Next time call me! 6175133830
Hi Coach P,
Need a little guidance here. I did Rev3 Williamsburg this past Sunday and pr'd my 70.3, would've taken 2 of 4 in my AG but decided to wear a wetsuit on the swim since me and water are having some real battles this year. Nonetheless, a great race and a good time had by all.
I loaded up the HIM recovery plan on Tuesday and just realized that Rich's plan had me loading up the IM plan week 7 for me for IM Maryland. I am still recovering from Rev3 so no way I was able to do the wko's anyway. I swam easy on Wed and ran an easy 30 minutes last night. Not sure what to do from here. I am leaning to doing a ows tonight (believe it or not someone asked/talked me into doing the swim on a relay team for AC Challenge so I think I need more ows time) and an easy ride tomorrow and a day off on Sunday or an easy run and ows. Then on Monday get into week 8 of the IM intermediate plan. Wadda ya think?
Thanks
Thanks Patrick but I'm a little unclear. Do I start with IM Plan this week or next. Again, this Sunday I am doing the swim portion on a relay team for Challenge AC. Do I make any mods for that or just train as usual?
Thanks