Ironsurgery - Knee Surgery The Ironman Way

A friend and co-worker of mine had knee surgery Friday, so I was planning on writing a post about knee pain and injuries.  I’ve had one serious knee injury (torn semimembranosus tendon) and plenty of aches and pains, but I’ve managed to train the past few years injury free so I thought I’d go into details on that and what helps me avoid injuries.  But a good blog has pictures, so I needed a picture, and surgery pictures can be a little gruesome so I asked Courtney to draw a picture of Dave having knee surgery:

Oh wow. 

I think I know Dave’s problem.  He’s seeing a green doctor.   Seriously, Dave, I know being ‘green’ is a big thing these days, but there’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed.  Buy a ‘green’ car, but don’t go see a green doctor (notice green wasn’t in quotes for the doctor because he’s literally green – see picture).  Our insurance is better than that.

Green doc aside, I couldn’t quite figure the picture out.  Why is Dave’s doctor doing surgery on the run?  I get that it’s the ‘Ironman Way,’ but that would make Dave’s doc more of an Ironman than Dave (maybe green people have phenomenal endurance, I don’t know).  Then it occurred to me, Dave isn’t actually outside riding his bike.  Courtney forgot a few very important details:

Much better.  He’s in his basement on the trainer.  Don’t worry, that’s an aero helmet on his head – otherwise the doctor would be operating on that big, pointy head.  Or at least I hope so. 

I need to point out one more thing about this picture:

Dave’s bike is a serious piece of shit.  I don’t know what’s going on with that thing.  It appears to have two top tubes.  One that’s really straight and one curvy, wrinkly one that doesn’t really connect to anything (except perhaps the rear tire, which is another problem all on its own).  And I don’t see a headtube at all.  I’m not sure this bike is structurally sound.  This explains the knee problems.  Well, this and the green doctor.

So I guess I’ll go into my knee pain theories and strengthening exercises another time. 

I warned you: surgery pictures are gruesome.

[sidenote: Dave’s surgery went really well.  He won’t be able to run for about 5 weeks, but his knee should be good to go once it heals and hopefully this won’t completely derail his season and he’ll be able to do a few late-season races.]

First Yoga Class

Being an Ironman, I sometimes have a little too much confidence in my ability to suffer through a workout.  I’ve done two iron-distance races, several long bricks, biked 134 ‘horribly hilly’ miles, climbed Mt. Evans….and because of it I tend to have confidence, sometimes too much, in my ability to survive a workout.  I know going in it won’t be my best workout ever, but I figure I’ll get through it.  I always have some way or another.

I’ve been doing yoga for about two months now, but it was all beginner yoga home DVDs.  Some of them are really good, and I enjoy them, but until this past weekend I had never ventured into a yoga studio for the real deal. 

Saturday, Courtney and I took a beginner yoga workshop that came with a week of free, unlimited classes at Bliss Flow Yoga in Madison.  The workshop was pretty basic and slow moving.  It wasn’t bad, but I had done enough home yoga at that point to need a little more than the workshop offered.  But it came with a week of classes so I figured I’d get my money’s worth eventually.

We thought about doing Power Yoga early Sunday morning, but opted for an ‘easier’ class instead – and later in the day: Yoga Flow.  It was 4-5:30.  Being the overly-confident (read: stupid) triathlete that I am, I did the math and decided this gave me just enough time to run 11 miles in the morning, eat some lunch, bike for two hours outdoors, get cleaned up and make it to class just in time.  And I was right.  Just enough time to get cleaned up and make it class….

….with very tired legs.

The class is taught by Marta, and if you believe yoga instructors weigh about 100 pounds and are all kinds of bendy and stretchy, Marta perpetuates that stereotype.  Oh yeah, she’s strong and teaches a tough class.  Tough because she likes to – meaning believes you should – hold poses for a while to get the full benefit.

I’m thinking I can go in with tired legs and get in some good, relaxing stretching and come out feeling like a million bucks.  Not the case, not by a long shot.  Holding warrior poses made my legs burn and shake and my balance, which is lacking on a good day, was pitiful.  We held the poses… and held the poses….and held the poses…..

…and we held our arms up and did some planks and then we did the side plank (with arms straight).  I didn’t realize it until we were in the plank, but my shoulders were really tired and they started shaking immediately and eventually I had to surrender.  I had to take a break and come out of the pose.  I was the only one in the class who couldn’t hold the side plank, and it was humbling….especially since it was my legs that were tired going into the class, not my shoulders.  It turns out my upper body strength is nothing to be proud of.  

In the end, I somehow survived the class and learned that, while some yoga classes are slow and easy, some yoga classes are very challenging and require a lot of strength and should be taken seriously.  I wasn’t feeling like the million bucks I was hoping for.  More like a wrinkled, tired, old dollar bill that’s been in circulation a little too long.

But I loved it (apparently, I love a proper thrashing) and returned for another class on Tuesday evening.  This was taught by the owner of the studio, and wasn’t quite as long or brutal and was exactly what I wanted: a little bit of strength work with plenty of flexibility work.  One of these days I will return to one of Marta’s classes and I can assure you I will be well rested and ready for a challenge.  Lesson learned (maybe).

I’m no yoga expert, not by a long shot, but I’ve done enough now to have some favorite poses which I think are great for stretching areas runners, cyclists and triathletes need work on to help prevent injuries and create balance between the right and left side, so I’m going to go over those in a future post.

Apples...big, juicy apples.

 

I give Apple a lot of credit.  They made one hell of a turnaround.  It wasn't that long ago that Apple wasn't cool or compatible with anything and you had to wonder if they were going to make it.  Then they started making their computers look really cool, then they came out with the ipod, then the iphone...you know the rest of the story.

But I have to admit, I don't get the point of the ipad.  I can't decide it it's a bad ipod touch or a bad iphone, but either way it's bad.  Maybe it has potential in the long run, I don't know, but right now it doesn't seem to offer enough to make it worth the cost or the hassle of carrying around a giant phone that can't be used as a phone.  I think they should go back to their roots a bit with this one and market it at students, go back to education.  Then it makes sense for it to come without wi-fi or phone or 3G capabilities...or a camera.

It's like Apple sat down in a conference room with an iphone in the middle of the table and asked the question: how can we make this thing suck? "I know, make it really big."  "That's good, anything else?" "People seem to like the camera." "Consider it gone."

But it is what is it, and Apple may turn this into the next big thing.  We'll see.  But here's a product that already has a ton of potential:

 

It's brilliant, although I think it should come with a phone and perhaps a camera.  Or better yet, a video camera.  Think about it. What gets more attention than boobs?  Nothing.  You want your product to get attention, put it in a boob.  Or on a boob.  Or near a boob.  

And who wouldn't love to see some footage from the boobcam?

Just sayin.

I know...this has nothing to do with training.  See banner at top of page: nonsensical ramblings. :)

Bad Blogger!

I haven’t been a very good blogger lately.  In fact, I’ve been a bad blogger, a lazy blogger.  To be honest with you, I’ve gotten a little bored with the blog lately.  I started it as a way to chronicle my journey to my first Ironman.  I thought it would serve as a way to journal my thoughts and training and add content that I didn’t include in my training log.  After my first Ironman, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with my blog, so for the past year or so I’ve been updating it but I haven’t put a lot of effort into it.  But I decided if I’m going to continue with the blog, which I am, I should put a little more effort into it and try to spice things up a bit.  Make it more interesting, add content, share more training and maybe add more personal aspects of my life so this isn’t just another boring training (b)log.

As with the boredom I’ve experienced with my blog, I experienced the same feelings with the dreaded trainer.  I’ve been struggling to put in big hours riding indoors this year, and Saturday was my breaking point.  I cracked.  I couldn’t take it anymore.  I was doing my best to stay motivated and block out the fact that I still had a few hours to go when I looked out the window and saw…..the sun?

The hell with it.  I’m riding outdoors.  My cross bike was at work, and in pieces.  And I had an afternoon yoga class.  But….maybe….just maybe I had time to ride.

In my inbox was an e-mail from Dennis asking what time we were riding.  He’s been riding outdoors lately, and invites me knowing I' won’t actually take him up on the offer.  This time I did.  I replied: 3:30 at PC.  Paoli loop.

I hustled over to the office, put my bike together, grabbed some lunch (I have a serious Gino’s addiction) and then it was off to yoga (more on yoga later).  After yoga, I hurried to the office where Dennis was waiting and we hammered out our first Paoli loop of 2010 in blustery conditions.  It was 25 degrees and windy.  But the roads were clear and the ride was great.  It felt so good to be on the open roads, to actually move when pedaling.  

Backwards Gun Show loop.

We weren’t fast on our cross bikes, and to say we attacked the hills would be pretty generous.  We survived them, however, which was good enough for early February. 

Sunday

Sunday I rode again, alone this time.  I ran early, from about quarter after 10 until 11:45.  Then I ate some lunch (not Gino’s – worth noting) and went to PC to get on my cross bike and get in some more outdoor miles.  My legs were tired from the run, but I figured I’d find a way to get through the ride. 

I mixed it up a bit and did an out and back.  I rode out to Paoli and past and climbed Observatory Hill.  Then back.   It was a good ride, nothing special. 30 miles which gives me a total of 53 outdoor miles for 2010.  Not too shabby for the middle of February.

I finished the ride at 2:45 and then ate some more, showered and went to a yoga class that started at 4.  And it destroyed me.  More on yoga in a future post.  I’m loving it, but I’ve also learned to respect it.  Don’t show up with seriously tired legs and expect to be okay.  Yoga’s hard. 

But now I feel better, less lazy.  I made a few changes to my blog template and have a few ideas to improve my blog.  I got in some good training hours last week (15) and even got outdoors.  I ran and swam more miles in January than I did last January.  I’m ahead of last year, which is progress and that’s all you can do: keep making progress and hope you get where you want to go when you need to be there.

Time Trials

The person on the back of that tandem has a disturbing dedication to aerodynamics.

I've been slacking lately on the blog. Nearly everyday I intend on getting caught up....and then it doesn't happen. Anyway, the other week ended up being a week of time trials. That wasn't really planned, but that's how it worked out. I knew I had the first of 3 indoor time trials at SBR Coaching on Saturday, but I wasn't expecting time trials at masters class on Wednesday. The coach sprung them on us so I wasn't really prepared, but it was nice to do some time trials to see where my swim fitness is so I have some benchmarks to gauge progress off.

We warmed up, then swam a 500, 200, 100 and 50 yard time trial. Here are my times:

500 = 7:13
200 = 2:41
100 = 1:15
50 = :33

Those aren't great times, but they're good for me so I'm happy with where I'm at right now. I think masters is helping my swimming so I think that I'll get faster as masters class continues.

Saturday was the first of the SBR time trials - a one hour TT. I rode the flat course....




Last year they only had one one-hour TT and my average power was 276. I was hoping to match that this time, although I wasn't sure I could do that yet. I managed 272 so I wasn't too far off. TT #2 is in Feb so I'm hoping to step it up a bit and match or beat my power from last year.

Release the Geek!

When it comes to training, I'm a geek. No doubt about it. I love crunching the numbers and, better yet, comparing them to previous numbers. So with a new year comes a new training season and a whole new set of numbers to compare to previous years. And with this year being all about going as fast as I possibly can at IMWI, comparisons are very helpful in determining if I'm making progress and on the right track.

So I started out by comparing some running numbers. First, overall volume.

2008 = 989 miles
2009 = 1304 miles

That's a nice increase, and I'd like to keep that number growing this year. I don't have a specific number in mind, but I would like to break 1500 miles. That averages out to 125 miles per month, or about 29 miles per week. Mainly I'm just going to log a lot of miles and see where I end up. If I don't break 1500, no worries, but it would be nice.

Then I compared 2008 and 2009 by weekly running mileage:

2008

2009

As you can see, I consistently ran more miles per week in 2009. That came mainly from stepping up my running frequency to 5 times per week. Plus, I bumped up my short, easy runs from 3 miles to 5. You can also tell I like to take some time off to recover near the end of the year.

So my goal for 2010 is to build on that. I'm going to keep my frequency at 5, but I'll bump up my distance a bit and I might run twice a day one day per week during the spring and/or summer to help keep my volume high.

But, while it's nice to see numbers broken down like that, I already knew I ran more in 2009 so that wasn't really that helpful. So I wanted to get down to a more micro level and see if I could learn something from the numbers to determine if I'm on the right track, see if I'm improving. I feel like a better runner, but if you compare IM marathon times I was nearly an hour faster in 2008. The weather had a lot to do with that, but I have no proof that I would've run faster in cooler weather. Feeling like a better runner doesn't necessarily mean you are a better runner.

So I focused just on the month of January to see how this year compares to the previous two years:

2008
Blue = Distance Maroon = Average Pace Red Line = Average Heart Rate

2009
Blue = Distance Maroon = Average Pace Red Line = Average Heart Rate
If you're curious about the run in the middle of the month with the high heart rate, that was a snowshoe run.

2010
Blue = Distance Maroon = Average Pace Red Line = Average Heart Rate

Obviously, there's not a lot to look at for January 2010 yet, but getting these charts set up in WKO+ is going to help me compare years and see my progress. For example, I ran on January 6th in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

In 2008, I ran 2.9 miles at a 10:13 pace. I must have forgotten my HR monitor because there's no HR data.

In 2009, I ran 4.5 miles at an 8:50 pace and my average HR was 75% of max heart rate.

In 2010, I ran 7.18 miles at an 8:22 pace and my average HR was 72% of max heart rate.

So, not only have I gradually increased the distance, but I'm running faster and my heart rate is lower. This tells me that I'm still gaining fitness. I'm building upon previous years and making progress. I feel that right now I'm on the right track and plan to continue using the running plan I was on last year. I made good progress and found some things that work.

If you're wondering what those are, here you go:

- Frequency. I ran 5 days per week. T-F and Sunday.
- Consistency. You can see by the weekly volume chart that I kept my weekly mileage fairly consistent all year. I had some easy weeks for recovery, but I never really let my volume drop off too much.
- More long runs. I ran 10 or more miles 34 times in 2009. I plan to increase that number this year.
- Heart rate. I tried to keep my HR on my base runs around 80% of max. If I found my HR starting to get too low, I'd pick up the pace.
- Negative-split HR tempo runs. There's a mouthful. I did quite a few of those, and I think they helped a lot. I ran out for about 32 minutes at 70-75% of max HR. Then I turned around and ran back (about 28 minutes) at around 90% of max HR. That's a really good workout.
- Hills. I ran Elver hill repeats a lot. This year I'll be doing a lot more hill work.

That's the bulk of it. This year I'm adding a short strengthening routine 3 times per week. I'm also adding yoga to help with injury prevention. And, I'm going to do more track workouts this year. I did a few in 2009, but not many. I love track work so I'm looking forward to getting out there and pounding out some laps.

One more thing about 2010....I plan to set a new weekly mileage personal best. So far the most miles I've run in a week is about 45. I hope to break 50 at least once this year.

I figure I'll need to run a 3:30 marathon or better at Ironman this year (that's an 8 minute pace) so I have my work cut out for me.

A new year

A new year has arrived, and I couldn't be happier. 2009 was rubbish. But 2010 is looking good, and I'm excited about getting back into training. I've been training, but not much. It's hard to get a lot of work in during the holidays. There are always tons of excuses and lots of tempting candy.

But now that the holidays are over, it's time to start focusing on the job at hand, and that's Ironman Wisconsin. I've been tweaking my annual training plan and planning my race schedule. Here's an overview of the new plan, which starts today. New year, new plan:



The plan starts with four weeks of base training, one week of build and then my first 'A' race of the season - the Rockman Half Ironman. You may be surprised I would chose that race as an A race, but the timing is perfect and it's close to home. The Door County Half Ironman is still on the schedule, but it's no longer an 'A' race. I'll race it tired and do the best I can.

After the Rockman, I do two 5 week build cycles and then taper for Ironman Wisconsin. I'll throw in some short races for fun throughout the year. Not sure what those will be yet, but I'm sure I'll work in a sprint tri or two, a few duathlons and some running races, maybe a half marathon.

So that's the plan in a nutshell. My first race of the year is a week from Saturday, the first of 3 one-hour TTs at SBR Coaching. I've done their indoor time trial series the past few years and this winter they're mixing things up a bit by going with three one-hour TTs rather than four 10K TTs. They'll be super tough, that's for sure, but I'm looking forward to them. An hour at threshold is brutal so they should be great workouts.

*************

2009 numbers:

Swim: 246,000 yards (140 miles)
Bike: 5700 miles
Run: 1300 miles

Those aren't exact, but pretty close. My goal this year is to beat those numbers, especially swimming. That was weak.

Last January:

Swim: 5000 yards - yeah, you read that right...only 5000 - I'll swim about 3200 tonight at masters...should be easy an easy number to beat. Unless I miss masters Wednesday, I'll have this goal met this week.

Bike: 464 miles - not quite so easy to beat since I did some outdoor riding in CO and this year will be all indoors unless our weather takes an unexpected turn.

Run: 108 miles - I'm already at 17 for the month so I think I can beat this number without too much trouble.