What I learned from the Soma Triathlon-I need an intervention
A little history- For the past 2 months I have nursing a bad left leg/knee. It aches when I ride, but really hurts when I run. I end up hobbling around when it tightens up. I stopped running for the 2 weeks before Soma Half and it wasn't feeeling too badly. I met up with Race Captain Terry Olivas on Saturday and we rode out to the Beeline Highway portion of IM AZ race course. It was windy even early in the morning. I did some intervals and my left knee held up. I did lose a water bottle that contained my tubes and tire levers. So I eventually found it under a cactus. That bottle cage would break during the race the next day!
My impressions of Tempe. Great town. Lots of hotels around Tempe Town Lake. They don't raise the prices for IM. I live in Southern California where there are LOTS of cars. Very few cars out on Saturday and they were very courteous. Not one of the cars came close to us even when a car did drive by. I was surprised even near ASU campus the lack of foot traffic for a large university. There was not a home football game, but still it looked like a ghost town compared to other large university towns.
I ate at Oregano's per EN forum selection. Very good food and I arrived around 5 and got seated right away. But when I left there was a line to be seated. First time I saw a crowd around Tempe.
I had heard that Tempe Town Lake is really nasty to swim in and you can hardly see your hand in front of you while you swim. I found it to be a normal fresh water lake. It was warm and the pros by rule had to swim without a wetsuit. You swam right into the sun. So I would recommend tinted swim goggles. Everyone says full suit for IM AZ swim. By the way, the Soma triathlon was the least amount of contact that I have ever had in a triathlon. It was as if I had a protective shield around me. I did have some as I came upon earlier age groupers, but I really enjoyed the swim. I did have some trouble trying to get out of the lake onto the steps because of my bad leg.
The Soma bike has lots of turns and I had a lot of time where my cadence was 0. IM AZ should be a better course to get into a groove. A couple turns but once you get to Beeline Highway, it a straight shot. The toughness of the course will be dependent on the winds that day. The winds may come from any direction and I was not out on the course later in the afternoon, but I am sure they will be more intense as the day goes on.
The run started out painful and my gait was affected. Within 2 miles I knew that I would do one loop and call it a day. My pace kept decreasing and what little form I had went to even worse form. I felt good otherwise. Even stopped to urinate so I was well hydrated and no hint of stomach problems. I knew that I made the right choice to stop because on the car ride home my leg ACHED. The good news was that it kept me awake for the drive back to So Cal. The leg tightened up on the ride home and I could barely get out of the car when I got home.
I did see my physician last week and he said that it was a muscle/ligament issue and stay off it for 2-3 weeks. I wanted to see how it fared in Soma. So I am planning on stretching and PT for the next couple of weeks. Oracle Al had a thread on the addictive personalities and triathlon training. My emotional brain is saying let is heal for 2-3 DAYS and then do the race rehearsal this weekend. At worst, at least go to IM AZ and do the swim and maybe the bike. The rational brain is telling me you already tried that so let it heal for 2-3 WEEKS and then begin a slow return to training. That would mean no IM AZ. My mood is dependent on how badly my leg is feeling. If it really hurst, the rational brain dominates. If it is starting to feel good, then the emotional brain takes over. Do I need an intervention?
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