William's 2017 micro
Hey Patrick -
Checking in and seeking a little advice.
I'm planning on getting back into the game more deeply again in 2017 with an "A race" in June (HIM distance). Got a lot of the hormone stuff pretty much stable now. I hope.
Anyway, starting in August, I started fighting a niggle in my foot. I had some swelling and pain in the fibulas bravis area that wasn't getting better by cutting back on running. So I've taken all of October off of running but stayed active on my bike with a new road bike group formed in my area (which has been fun!). It's feeling better, but I'm not entirely sure if it's a tendon injury of the FB itself or a small stress fracture or what. I can still feeling it by rubbing on it, but it doesn't bother me.
Wondering what your advice is as to how conservative to be. It seems to me that the super conservative thing to do would be to take all of November off running as well and then start running gradually again in December, in order to hop in to the Jan OS. That takes me into the beginning of March, with 10+ weeks before a June race.
On the other hand...it's another whole month of not running, which sucks. But if it's a stress fracture, of course, I'd really hate to re-injure.
You've had to deal with come-backs.... what do you think?
Comments
It is so good to hear from you! I am excited to hear you found a good road group in your area, that is so much more fun than writing alone. And I'm even more excited that you're planning a 2017 come back. It's like I can see the stars aligning!!
as for your FB injury, that's interesting. I think I'm going to need you to break out your iPhone and post a picture of your so I can see what it looks like. Image searches on Google are failing me. if it is still bothering you after 4 to 6 weeks, of no running, my guess is that it's likely attend an issue and not structural because the structural stuff should be healing. That is, of course, unless you spend 6 to 8 hours a day on your feet walking around teaching etc., which might prevent the healing from happening?
I also have a bump on the outside of my lower leg in the area where I believe you are discussing, but it's hard to tell. Do you feel it all in your walking or cycling?
Honestly I would prefer that we have some sort of test for this. Maybe some time on the elliptical? By that I mean just time on your feet moving with some weight at relative speed so we can see if it is still an issue without really subjecting it to serious impact.
I am guessing that since you are reading this, going for an x-ray is not an option?
Looking forward to 2017,
~ Coach P
OK, so this is the image I was looking at. There's a protrusion on the side of your foot at the base of the 5th (outside) metatarsal, and then an attachment to some kind of tendon. I am reading Fibularis brevis and tuberosity of the 5th metatarsal as both in the general area where I was having discomfort. It's clearly at that general spot. At its worst there was some modest swelling (based on comparing to my other foot), but not now.
I am probably being foolish not going in and demanding an X-ray, but you know triathletes - we don't go to the doctor until there are 3 things wrong with us. :-) Actually, I'm just a little sick of going to the doctor all the time, but I should get over it. I'm getting to feel like a whiner, but I should probably get over myself.
My feet and ankles are very "bony" and at first I just assumed that a shoe or something was pressing on the protuberance too hard and it would calm down in a week or two...then it hung on longer, and... well, I'm sure you're well acquainted with this sort of thing. It never got out of hand, and it's definitely better than it was a few weeks ago. It doesn't bother me now unless I really get on it and rub it, or after a 3-hour ride (which is the same thing as getting in and rubbing it hard).
At work, I spend usually no more than 2 hours a day on my feet, but as you might imagine I get more walking in than the average bear even if I'm not running, and I've been biking.
The local group has always existed but they decided to expand their outlook, which is great. They are a road cycling team, but now they want to be more general and include a broader group in their training. In the last month, when my cycling has been relatively casual, but consistent, I've set the whole of my power curve for 15 minutes or less. ;-) Kinda funny in that I'm terrible relative to them for 5 second sprints, but I'm right up with them for 30-60 seconds, and I'm already in the top 5-6 on a 1-mile hilly loop they use on Strava...so it just shows what kind of riding different people do. Anyway, it's worked out pretty well because OJ has her drivers license now and they are all adults, so the schedule is set more for us old people. My wife bought me a great road bike that's very comfortable (Trek Domane SLR 6), and of course i set it up with the front end as low as it would go, lol.
Anyway, yes, I want to race a bit more seriously again; I just really needed to stabilize out this year, and cope with all the traveling we were doing for OJ.
Does this help?
If you aren't going to get an Xray (should be able to call for a referral, no?) then I think the "run test" is the best idea...something like the elliptical, etc, that would allow us to mimic running without the impact right away.
In the meantime, keep up the riding...it will make you a beast. You might want to get a slightly wider shoe, however.
Let me know what you choose -- Xray or Test....
~ Coach P
I am now trying to follow up with the GP about whether I should see a foot guy, go to PT, or just live with it. I'm still concerned about whether running on it will make it worse. Like I said, if I had to live with it for the next 50 years, ok. But if i'm going to make it worse and worse, that's not good.
The good news of all this is that I keep upping the
Per my note above, I'd like to see you work in some elliptical time (non impact) just to see how that feels...but for now, ride son!
~ Coach P
I am still riding with the Road bike guys a few times a week (and by myself a couple times) , though that is starting to get harder with the deteriorating light and weather. I am advised to start with runs of up to half hour duration and watch the intensity. No running on consecutive days to start. I've got a couple exercises to do. I'm comfortable with getting myself up to the point of starting OS either Dec 1 or Jan 1, depending on how things go. The semester has been so busy that I've stopped swimming and that will have to stand through early December i think.
What are your thoughts about getting going again?
I am leaning towards a Jan OS so we have time to get you back on the run scene with little pressure. So I see things as this:
+ Nov Modified plan..
+ Dec Run Durability 1 through OS start...
+ Jan 6 kick off the OS...ideally with a bit of swim...
+ Roll right into HALF plan for June, depending.
That modified plan should have your running 3 x a week, biking on 3 days (alternate) and extra time all days doing flex, self care.
Runs are all less than 30 minutes, should be on a flat safe friendly surface, easy place. I would suggest a dynamic warm up (roll and warm up) before you start here:
Bike is 2 x quality sessions (group or on your own, strava says you like that 3 x 1 mile on / 1 mile off session) and then one longer easy endurance session. Weekend day, just enjoy it, up to two hours....and a weekend day off.
Would that work for you? Let me know what you think!
~ Patrick
I finally gave in and joined Strava. However, all it's doing now is teaching me repeatedly that the guy who's faster than me is finishing that mile or hill faster than I can. ;-) The 1-mile lap is more or less the same as doing a 3 minute VO2 interval, so I've roughly made sure I did one day with some of that super hard/short stuff with those Velo guys and then had a day where I was doing some more FTP work. Although I've not done a formal test, my estimated FTP based on the power curves right now is as high as it's been just based on this informal riding with these guys.
I'll probably count on working out both weekend days so that it can be a weekday that I skip, knowing that there are still some tough weeks coming up with the semester.
What do you think about the running per se...just 30 minutes of "boring running" until Dec 1?
Sounds good. There's no point in rushing things or forcing them if they're just not working right now. As you are noting, next season you are still far enough away the good work will add up for a result before then.
Remember you can configure Strava live segments to be vs your PR vs the best. I find that to be a bit more motivating depending on the segements...especially the hill ones!
I suggest finding a fun place to run while you still can...trails? New places? For short runs it should be doable, and soon enough the ice and snow will be upon us. Otherwise, simple short runs with a solid focus on good cadence (for me that's 88rpms, but you use yours).
Excited to have you back on track!
~ Coach P
Thanks
Getting older seems to mean managing things starting to fall apart a bit. I went somewhere near 25 years with almost no overuse injuries, and now I seem to get them one at a time. I've been disciplined enough that the muscles and heart are all ready to go - just got to keep managing the foot on what is a slow healing process.
For the first time I'm watching my offspring really do stuff that I knew I wasn't ready for. OJ was doing 3 hour swims in the morning and then going to her triathlon club for hard trainer rides and runs off the bike during winter break. Those are mid-season hard days for guys like us... (And I'm sure Rich can tell you what a bear a 3 hour hard swim can be.) She wanted to do it, though. So we counseled her to treat herself like a professional athlete during that time. Come home after swimming, eat, and sleep. Come home after dryland, and eat and sleep. School starts today. probably she'll be relieved. ;-)
Now, let's keep you rolling!
~ Coach P
Started out with a 20:20 5K, which is in line with the last few years at this time of year...and surprised me pleasantly. FTP test came in disturbingly high at 246 for this time of year, but I'm sure that's from the late season stuff with the roadies. Just means 14 weeks of pain with not as much growth probably, but I'm still very happy with it. ;-)
This summer has been a whirlwind. Within the last 6 weeks, I moved my son from North Carolina to Iowa, married him off, and moved him to Indiana for Medical School. My daughter Olivia took a week to go to Vail Colorado to get surgery by Marc Philippon for a hip impingement that had devastated her ability to run...and now she's in PT that is extremely time consuming for her, and to a lesser degree, her parents. (e.g., we have to manipulate her 3 x per day). Finally, my wife Cynthia landed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity job about 5 hours away from where we live, and after considering the options, we opted to have a commuter marriage...and I helped her get to the western 'burbs of Chicago.
Run speed is nothing exciting, but I'm still keeping up and running in this horrible month of ridiculous temperatures.
I am still going to do a couple local (triathlon) races this summer and am looking now at the plausibility of a half in September or so.
Anyway, it's all good, but life (as I have learned all-too-often the last few years) has a way of dictating things that you sometimes might not choose. I am still doing cool things with my fitness, and hope to get back to more consistent tri racing soon.
They say only the ones who can truly handle it protested that seems to be the case here again. I'm excited for all of these opportunities for you and your family and I'm impressed will you have been able to stay on top of your fitness as much as you have.
As you well know, that Endurance fitness will always be there for you… But that high-intensity takes time to develop and the run consistency cannot be built in a day, month or even half a season.
Best of luck with the rehab, I can personally attest to find a new levels of fitness when it's all said and done. Please keep us posted!
Besides the time, it's also been hard to have the mental bandwidth to try to focus on something that's several months down the road when every day (practically) has its own "excitement." In some ways, it's easier to just keep fit and be able to wait until Tues or Wed to decide if you're going to be able to do the race this weekend. ;-)
But like I said, I think most of the major events are over for the summer. And OJ will be able to drive again soon, which will also relieve things. So I think that Fall Half is a reasonable goal. Just gotta pick one.
If you were looking to spike your fitness a little bit, all you need really is two good days of back to back middle distance rides in the 2 to 2 1/2 hour range. That should be enough to challenge your system and for some adaptation.
Let me know if I can help you out at all!
Ran into a new challenge. All was going well and I was in very good shape. Then 2.5 weeks ago, I was racing in the state road racing (draft legal biking) championships and went down in a bike crash. I was going about 35 mph on a flat section when I got tied up with other riders and boom. The really good news is that I had no serious injuries at all. No broken bones. No rocks embedded in my guts. No sprains. Nothing. I had a MIPS-equipped helmet, and the only damage to my head was a scrape on my chin, even though the helmet showed that I had hit the ground 4 times with it (rolling). I did lose a reasonable amount of skin, though.
The thing that has kept me out of working out the last 10 days is that the worst of my skin injuries is on my two knees and the Docs said I had to stay out of the pool and avoid repetitively bending them (either running or biking) until they were pretty close to healed...because of the risk of re-opening the wound. Apparently that is a Bad Thing.
Anyway, I should be ready to go again this weekend. Given my shape (generally good, but not peak) and age (53) and history, how would you approach getting back into things?
I give it about a week of riding daily for 20 to 30 minutes. By the end of that week you should be able to jog off that bike for 15 to 20 minutes as well.
All we're trying to do is just loosen things up by the start of the next week you should be able to bike and run at full speed...my guess is the swim will have to wait another week.
So if you start next week, then the first week you will be swimming will be the week of the 25th.that gives you enough time to get back into it before the out season starts!
keep me posted!!!