You blink and it's May

I can hardly believe that I wrote the previous post 4 weeks ago!! How's that even possible? I suppose this is what happens when your life changes drastically and you try to keep up with the new rhythm. But more about this later... The first race of the season is less than 2 months away and I am NOT freaking out. Nope. I'm good. I am also a terrible liar.

Here's something that doesn't lie. Strava.

As you can see, I only averaged 2-3 workouts a week, but when you think about it, my work as an arborist IS a daily workout. They call us something like... industrial athletes, I kid you not. (Check this out - "Caring for your body as a production arborist"). The ISA even mentions something about a sawdust triathlon. Wait, what?? I suppose it counts as training after all.

This must be the core workout

Now, back to the other kind of triathlon. Alas, I only managed to train in 2 of the 3 sports. And let's not debate whether triathlon is one sport or three, or more, mmmkay?

I ran 5km three times and biked 7 times, with the longest bike workout being 2h. I still have a long way to 3h on the trainer, but it should be doable before June comes around. I may even bump my FTP by 5 points or so. As to running, the goal is to get to 10km before the end of the month.

Just for fun, here are the Trainer Road bike workouts I did, in order of progression:

• Ericsson 1h
• Bays 1h
• Carson 1h
• Glassy-1 1.5h
• Baird-1 1h
• Boarstone 2h
• Phoenix 1.5h

Last but not least - 8fit: I completely forgot about it. Seriously. I kept ignoring its reminders and eventually it left me alone. Yesterday, however, I was in mood for Yoga and I did a quick Neck and Shoulders routine which felt amazeballs.

I also found some wonderful breakfast ideas and I already tried one today:

Chocolate Banana Pudding

• 1 serving of instant Maple and Brown Sugar Steel Cut Oats (PC blue menu)
• 120ml soy milk
• 1/2 tsp raw cocoa
• 15 almonds
• 1 banana

Directions: microwave the milk and oats for 2.5min, mix in cocoa, almonds and banana slices. (Optional add in 1tsp sesame seeds and a pinch of salt)

Ready in 5 minutes and absolutely delish!

I'll try to blog more often, as I settle into a routine. Easier said than done, I'm aware. But at least I'll tell you this. I am not going anywhere. ;-)

And then she blogged

I may be blogging every 6 months only, but any pulse is better than no pulse. In other words, I'm not dead yet! Or I may be coming back from the dead, you never know. Mmmm, brrraaaains!

The reason that I'm blogging again is because there are 90 days left before Ironman Mt. Tremblant 70.3, and since I signed up for it last year in a drunken stupor, and I am not planning on dropping out, I have to get my ass in gear and actually train for it.

Training... a strange word for sure. I don't quite remember what it means to train with a big goal in mind since I spent last year in sherpa mode while hubby was getting his full Ironman on. Little races sprinkled across the season are rather stress free, but this is year is going to be different, because I am not only signed up for one half Ironman, but two!! Last time I did one of those was in 2014... let's see if I remember what 10h of weekly workouts means.

I am starting slow though, because I AM slow and sluggish and I packed on too many pounds over the last 12 months. Let's not go there. Fact is, my fitness has taken a dive into the abyss while I concentrated on reaching the top of the trees. Speaking of which, I will be graduating with an Urban Arboriculture diploma from Humber College in 5 days. Who wants to hire me??

I also stopped going to Taekwondo at the end of last year because my working schedule at Swiss Chalet, combined with school, stress to find an arborist job and exhaustion from climbing trees did not make it possible to keep up with it, not in a manner that justified the monthly fee, especially on a student budget. So, while I am missing it like crazy, I felt that I had to make a choice and look at this year's priorities. When life settles down, I may be able to get back to it. Remind me to work on my patterns regularly, mmmmkay?

And that's it for the "life" updates. Let's get back to training, shall we? I asked my hubby to coach me this year because I trust his approach and he knows better than anyone what state of mind and physical shape I am in on a daily basis. He started me with a few bike rides and short runs and I am happy to report that I completed them all. The "official" start was a week ago and in this time I did the following:

Sunday: Trainer Road "Pettit -1" - 1h

Couples who sweat together are happy together

Monday: rest
Tuesday: Trainer Road "Goddard" - 1h (single leg drills and MVO2 and endurance spins, oh my!)
Wednesday: 4km run/walk (after a tough trial day in a tree) - 29min
Thursday: school practice day and meeting with old friends for beers
Friday: pruning job and single rope technique training

I think my butt is too big for this tree

Saturday: Training Road "Shasta" - 1h

Bruce and I spending quality time in the bat cave

Sunday : 4km run - 27min

Last but not least, I am also doing a few workouts here and there thanks to 8Fit. It's an iPhone app that made a fitness program based on my goals and I really love it. It gives me high intensity (HIIT) workouts less than 15 minutes as often as I feel like during the week plus Yoga and meal plans. For 80 bucks a year, it's packed with features and what I love the most about it is how it reminds me every day to get off the couch and move my butt.

I hope to be able to find time to blog again... the fact that I cancelled my Swiss Chalet shifts for this week must have helped for sure. Let's keep in touch and happy training!!

A training update full of goodness

I can't believe that I haven't written a training update since the end of June, but it's the truth. I've been a lot of fun at the races, but I didn't take any time to blog about the behind the scenes. But it's time to change that because I have a few milestones lined up and I can't wait to share them with you.

First and foremost, I have just finished my biggest training week this year, just shy of 10h. And it was full of sweaty goodness, but it may help if I put it within context. Last week we traveled to Mt. Tremblant to volunteer at IMMT.

We spent Saturday on the road, Sunday on the job (bike catchers) and Monday back on the road. By the way, if you want to see what it looks like to be a bike catcher, here is a video from our team captain (you can see me in action at 00:54):

And in the following video is the less fun part where I had to stop people who DNF'd from going over the mat with their chip (Zin caught the bike):


It was hands down the hardest volunteer job that I've done. Over the span of a 5h shift, I walked/run more than10km and it was no joke. I had my Garmin on for about 4h and you can see all the trips around the transition area that I made with the bikes. You could be either at the finish line to catch the bike, then hand it over to a "runner" who would put it back in its place, or the aforementioned bike runner. We rotated between those 2 jobs every hour or so, but both were rather intense. You can see my Strava workout here. The FlyBys are rather hilarious - see all the people that didn't turn off their bike computers and remained in transition for hours, lol.

Needless to say, I spent a lot of time on my feet during this trip. And I didn't even mention the run I did right after we arrived at the hotel. We stayed in Ste. Agathe des Monts, a small and charming little city about 30 min out from Tremblant. Zin told me that there was this Strava segment that didn't have a QOM. It was a 1.5km loop around a small peninsula and I said sure, mission accepted. From hotel and back it was going to be a 7km run. What I didn't know about this place was this:

Someone said hills? This place had ALL THE HILLS. And the biggest one was right at the begining of the segment (after the 2km mark). FML. Did I mention it was hot as Satan's balls too? Yeah well... to have suffered on this run is an understatement. It was pretty though...

I did get the QOM, but I finished a drenched, tired and hungry mess.

The trip to Mt. Tremblant was a nice break from work and our routine, but once I made it home, I really needed to stretch my legs. Stretch, spin, move... it led to a trainer workout. Nothing better than a few easy loops on Zwift Island, where I could not help it, but try to break a few PRs up the mountain and in sprints. I was also eager to try my bike after the Retul fit that I had on Friday before our trip. It had become apparent that my previous fit was still hurting my hips/legs, so I had no choice but book another fit, this time with a Retul specialist - and trust the process. The verdict was to bring the saddle back up 3/4 inch and move forward 1.5 inch, and move the handlebars up 1/4 inch. It may not look like much, but it was actually a big deal.

I won't bore you with all the details, but here is my position before and after. Basically, you can see the position of my knee relative to my toes and the angle in my forearms and you will understand that I was too far back and I was not engaging the right muscles in my legs.

Now I feel that I am using my quads more and I am situated on top of my pedals instead of behind them (to an extent, it's like riding a spin bike vs a recumbent bike). I am also more relaxed on the aero bars and I should expect less back and hip pain, for having my hips open more. In the process it also happens that I found a few more watts that were hiding in my engine, so coming back from Tremblant, I was eager to see if they translated in my own setup. I did not have any major revelations during my quick spin that night, but I did break my climbing PR and overall it felt a little easier than before.

On Tuesday morning, Zin and I went to the quarry for a swim. He woke me up at 5:30am, and for not being a morning person, I don't think that I really woke up until half way through my swim. Secretly I was hoping that the quarry would be closed and I could return to bed, but no such luck. I did 2 loops and I felt like eating my arms by the end of it. We stopped for breakfast at Coffee Bean and we had a glorious meal. 3 eggs with Canadian bacon, toast and potatoes, but thankfully I did not finish it all because it was just obscene to eat so much food. Then back home, shower and work - and I could barely function that day - I still wanted my damn nap.

In the evening I did my physio routine because I missed it in the morning. I worked those hips and glutes like a champ, and I could barely walk afterwards. Finally a good sleep, and the next day I was back on the sweat train. Slowly but surely I have been making my way through the Sweet Spot Base Training program from Trainer Road and I had reached the dreaded Palisade workout. 1.5h of over/unders and could barely contain my enthusiasm. However I put on my big girl panties, aka my bike shorts and hopped on the trainer, hoping for the best. It was not easy. I wasn't expecting 30 watts to show up on my graph magically, but it was manageable without me wanting to scream at my screen.

And with that, the hard work in this training program is done. I only have 3 easy workouts left, then I can test my FTP again. After the bike workout I even went out for a run. A quick 20 minute brick, and it was glorious. I have to run more. My next race is an Olympic distance triathlon and the 10K run at the end won't run by itself.

The next day it was swimming again. This time we went to Professor's Lake and I did 3 loops there. At each loop I tried kicking for the 250m between the middle buoys. It was not easy to find a rhythm that helped my stroke. I am too high in the water for kicking without too much drag. The swim wasn't bad in the end, but I am still not convinced that kicking in open water would help my cause. Not even a tiny bit, especially seeing how much energy it sucks out of me. I think I'd rather concentrate on gaining more upper body strength so I can complete each stroke with an increased cadence instead.

On Friday I rested, but on Saturday I was at it again. I took my bike for another 45min spin outdoors, then completed my longest run this year. A full 8km in the scorching heat, carrying my water bottle like in the good ol' days. No pain. Just a little tightness to remind me that I need to be vigilant. That I cannot dream big just yet. My husband may have signed up for an Ironman, but I still have to wait. Another year, maybe. Nobody knows when all this will be just a nightmare of the past, if ever. I have become accustomed to being patient and grateful that I can still move, even if it's not for hours on end.

Sunday was another beautiful day. I started it with a group ride with my tri club, a hilly and windy 60km, but just about perfect from all other aspects. Again, I wasn't sure if my bike fit would deliver enough comfort on rides over 2h, but in the end I came back home with a huge smile on my face and no pain anywhere. Can I have a yay? Make that a yippee ki yay, mother f*er!! (please don't get offended if you don't get the reference). Then in the afternoon, I even went back to the quarry for 2 more loops. I did one loop relaxed, concentrating on my stroke and the second one like a motorboat, high cadence and shit. In the end, the first one was slightly faster, so the proof is still in the pudding. I need to prevent my stroke from falling apart that is.

And this my friends, is an update that I've been waiting to write for long time. Finally, legs are coming around, both in cycling and running. I am making slow but steady progress. I am finally feeling better inside my head too. I did not feel the need to draw semi colons in a while. I am smiling again. I haven't had a bad, terrifying thought in a few weeks, call it months even. I am making new friends. I am giving back as much as I can. I went back on my nutrition program and I lost 6lb in 3 weeks. I feel that things are moving into the right direction, that I am staying positive and I don't worry that much. Maybe this is the right wave, and I'm riding the hell out of it.

Things are clicking left and right. Clickety clack!

Hola! How are you?? Still here? Yay!!

Me too!! It's been again 2 weeks since I last blogged, but it seems to be my current cruising speed. In other words, I've been lazy. But that's ok, it's not that I've had any Earth shattering news to share with you. Same old same old... until this week. This week has been pretty great workouts wise. I decided to get back in the saddle regularly and put some work into the program that I started on Trainer Road 3 months ago. You know, the one that I was very motivated to follow, but I failed miserably after 2 weeks and just gave up, because. Too much stress, too little fitness, and mostly because I shifted my focus towards physio.

But two months later and a few good weekly outdoor rides, I decided to pick up right where I left off. And to my surprise, it was with great success. Most notably, it looks like my fitness has significantly improved since April and this time I didn't feel like passing out before the end of the workout. I finished it without difficulty, and with an average heart rate lower by 20bpm in the hard intervals. Now that was a huge surprise. See below, the failed workout in April, where my HR was in the high 180s, and now, where it did not go above 169.

Ericsson in April - gave up in the 3rd interval, could not follow the instructions. Too hard, despite having lowered my FTP by 10pts. 

Ericsson in June - followed all instructions, could hold all cadences, heart rate stayed in the 160s. I even did the single leg drills. Yay me!

(Ignore the heart rate anomalies in the second workout... the Scosche strap got too wet and I had to tighten it for it to return to reading the HR properly. After I adjusted it, it came back within the normal range.)

Needless to say, this workout gave me a huge moral boost. Finally, proof that everything I've done in the last few months was not for nothing and that my fitness is coming back. And to confirm that this was no fluke, I did one more workout 2 days later and finished it again without difficulty.

I even got off the saddle as per the instructions. This workout was focused on leg power and although I am not used to grinding my gears, I did just as it required, alternating intervals between 75rpm and 85rpm. I can't wait for the next workout now. Luckily the weather will be crap tomorrow, which means that I'll have to do my ride indoors. Back on Watopia (the new Zwift island) and Trainer Road!

Last time on Zwift I managed to get the polka dot jersey (fastest climb) and hold it for most of the ride. Must have been a slow day... here I was during one of the recovery intervals, spinning my legs at 75 watts, haha.

What else is new? Not only the bike clicked this week, but the swim did too! Despite going to the pool only once or twice a week, I tried to keep my focus on finishing my strokes properly and increasing my turnover. And it's been working! 

On Tuesday I went to the pool and I was glad to have another friend from the club with me as a challenge. I tried keeping up with her, doing 300m sets alternating between swimming with paddles and without. And by the 3rd interval I was flying!! Definitely my fastest swim this year and possibly... ever!!! Followed by 3 loops at Professor's Lake this morning, where I also challenged myself to keep a high turnover and it paid off. I can't believe how good all these workouts felt.

The run was a bit on the back burner this week after having a great few workouts last week. For the first time this year I ran twice 5k without pain, and even completed my first serious speed workout of the year (10x400s).

This week I returned to physio and I was told that focus needs to turn towards my abdominals as I hurt my back last time I went. The PT told me that I have a strong back, but the front, not so much. So we need to fix that before we move on with the leg and hip strength because I tend to arch my lower back too much and I am not able to engage my glutes properly. So there is that. I feel that I've already started to neglect my physio workouts, and I have to get back on the bandwagon asap. The good news is that my IT bands and hip strength are really improving and that showed in my running. But as usual... patience. 

I still don't have any races in my calendar longer than 10K this year and it will probably stay like that. I would love to do a 1/2 marathon later in the fall, but Zin thinks it's better to wait until next year so I'm willing to listen to him for now. I don't want to rush things and I still don't have the confidence that my legs are strong enough for that kind of distance. I am not defined by a distance, am I right? I just want to stay happy and healthy. Fingers crossed this won't be another roller-coaster ride. 

What else can I tell you guys? Maybe share a few photos to see what I've been up to? Why not! :-)

I've led quite a few rides for the FMCT club and they've been so much fun!

Bought a new pair of kicks: Hokas Stinson ATR and they are pretty awesome

Saw a big snapping turtle on my run.

Bought a wonderful scarf from Coeur Sports and I fell in love with it instantly

Sherpa duties at Rose City / Welland Half Iron triathlon where hubby kicked serious ass.

Alright, that's enough for today. The ZZzzzzZZZZzzzzzs are calling me. But first, Channing Tatum and Jimmy Fallon are saying dirty jokes on TV and excuse me...

It's all about that base

Yeah, what about that base? That base is gone, RIP!

Between the crazy work schedule, the lack of energy and motivation, and the lack of cooperation from my knees, I had to put the biking workouts on pause for a while. Two months more precisely. The last group spin was, as a matter of fact, on January 5th and since then... not much that could count as bike training, not even maintenance. When I received my Coeur Team kit though, it motivated me to return to triathloning. This girl gotta represent, right?

So I decided get my ass back in the saddle and follow one of the Trainer Road plans to bring some spin back in my legs.  Initially, I wanted to do the Sustained Power Build plan for triathletes. It started with a 20 min test, but I chose to do the 8 min one instead. I didn't have high hopes and indeed, the test managed to put me to shame as early as the first interval.

I hovered just above the current FTP line, way below the target. The whole test was pure torture. I could no longer hold a good 90rpm spin, and I had to grind my way through it. At the end I was served with this piece of news.

I didn't know how to react. My ego was hurt, the legs were screaming in silence and I could feel the nausea making its way up towards my throat. I decided to sleep on it and not draw any conclusions. I left my FTP as it was with the goal of reevaluating after the following workout.

Two days later, boom: Avalanche Spire. 6 intervals of 6 minutes over-under the threshold. Jeez, already?? I knew these were going to hurt, but I felt motivated enough to attempt them on the old FTP. I only managed to complete 5 of them (plus the warmup that wasn't shabby either), then the legs shut down and refused to cooperate any longer. Hitting the wall had never been so predictable.

I chose to show my HR zones above so you can see how much time I spent around threshold. This one felt like another test. It destroyed me. And once I got off the bike I made the decision to change the plan and go back to building a base again. Obviously, my base was nowhere to be found and I figured that if I continued working this hard, I would have set myself up for another injury, given how much my hips and glutes hurt afterwards.

Thankfully the pain subsided significantly since and it allowed me to get back on the bike for the third workout of the week. However, I switched to the Sweet Spot Base Low Volume I plan, so I am back to square one, literally.

I also lowered my FTP by 10 watts and swallowed my pride. The Ego will live. And so with the new setup, I did Baxter today, which wasn't that easy either. It was supposed to be 1.5h of sustained aerobic effort, but as you can see from my heart rate drift, I ended doing a third of it at threshold. Not pretty at all.

Oh well, it is what it is. I'm already over it. Bringing the FTP down and changing plans was a good decision given my obvious lack of fitness.

In other news, I continued the Hot Yoga on Mondays, I went skiing again, and managed to fit in another Zumba class. All in all, things are moving forward, but running hasn't seen any improvement yet. I had to give up my Around the Bay 15K relay bib up because it would not have been smart to race while I still have pain in the knees. I'll have to save my crawling skills for the finishers' carpet in Kona (you never know... lottery results are coming!).

I really wanted to know how bad it was... And so one night I laced up my sneakers and decided to run 5K without stopping. It was still very cold and this may have had a negative effect, but as expected, after 20-25min, my left hamstring and calf started tightening up and knee(s) to hurt to the point that I had to walk. It took me 38min to make it back home. Again, not surprised. I am still hopeful, still going to my massage therapist, still poking and probing one muscle at a time.

This past Wednesday I asked him to concentrate on my IT bands, which were of course, as bad as I imagined and he also found the muscles along my left shin to be extremely tight and painful. Never a dull moment... Friday I went for another run... Again, I wanted to run without stopping, and I made it home pain free as I ran for 17 min straight. I know that I did not reach the 20 min threshold, but it was nice to have a pain free run, that really felt like a run. I had to concentrate on keeping a good form with each step, engaging my glutes and trying not to shuffle as I usually do. Anyway, I know that it didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things, but it was a good moment to savour, if only for a night.

IMMT Training Weeks 29 and 30: Wait for it...

I am not a perfectionist freak for nothing! I have to get this last update out of the way before writing the IMMT race report. So you'll have to wait a little longer for this: Irina S, you are.... an IRONMAN!!! Ooops, did I just let the cat out of the bag? My bad.... :D

But technically, it was at the end of week 30, so a mention belongs here too. Now, what the hell happened in those two weeks before the Ironman? It was supposed to be taper, but my mind was racing. And I was also getting ready to race a sprint triathlon. Oh wait, does it mean another race report before THE race report?... This blog is becoming borderline evil. But it should make this update so much shorter, me thinks.

Swim

On Monday of the long weekend, my friend Carol called me and asked if I wanted to go to the quarry. Despite the high chance for thunderstorms, we took a gamble and it ended being just perfect. Two 1km loops, nice and steady.

On Saturday of the same week I swam in Bracebridge 750m (time trial swim in a river, wicked!), then the next day I swam 2 loops at Professor's Lake (1.5km). Open water swimming, all the time!!

The week after, we took residence in a cottage by the Lake Dufour in Mt Tremblant, where I could not wait to jump in the water. Only that it rained, and rained, and I didn't feel like going in right away, so I waited until Wednesday to finally get my swim in. But it was absolutely blissful! For a last swim before the Ironman, I could not have asked for a better one.

Bike

On the same Monday of the long weekend, I also went on a bike ride, the longest since I was told that my bike most likely messed my hips, knees and ITBs. Emma organized it and a few of her cheerful friends (Richard, Sam and Nicole) attended as well. For once I chose to stay at the back of the pack and enjoy the surroundings, which were absolutely stunning!! Without exaggerating, it must have been one of the most beautiful rides that I've ever done, and it made my heart sing. 55km with my lovely chatty friends and my hubbs (and a bakery stop) - the perfect way to start the week when your mind is about to get lost in lala-land.

However, this ride, while long for my achy knees, did not convince me that I still had what it takes to complete an Ironman. I had to go back on the trainer and see how many watts I could still push. I needed some numbers to believe. So I chose Citadel, a sweet dose of Tempo and Threshold work.

And my legs worked!!

With a bit of relief on my mind, I went to the race in Bracebridge on Saturday, and rode long enough to remind myself how to switch gears on hills and fly down the inclines with a grin bigger than my face.

Then in Mt Tremblant, I did 3 more bike rides to reacquaint myself with the IM bike course and the hills of the Laurentides. First, a quick but scary 10km around the cottage. Not a minute of flat and bad roads everywhere. The next day I took my wheels to Mt Tremblant village and back to the cottage by Montee Ryan. It was all fun and games until 1.5km out from the cottage, where a 15% hill was waiting for me. I was climbing it a few times a day by car, but by bike it was a different story. One that almost finished with puking. Seriously, what was I thinking? Will you talk to my ego, please? Last but not least, a 20km out and back on Hwy117 with Ironmans-to-be Amanda and her dad. I asked Zin to come with us as well and make sure that I don't climb the darn hill again.

Run

Runs? What runs?? I did 1h of elliptical on August 6th and yes, I did run in Bracebridge for 5km, and not on my hands. But that was all. I took a 1h walk on the run course in Mt. Tremblant while looking for geocaches. I also left mental notes to pick up in the dark moments of the Ironman marathon, but little did I know, I was not going to need them.

In a nutshell

What is the minimum that you can do with an injury in order to keep your fitness to finish an Ironman? This question kept me awake for many nights during these 2 weeks. I don't think there is a scientific formula for it though. I kept on going back to my experiences running marathons with less than the recommended 30km long runs in order to fall asleep. I know I can run a marathon, but can I run it after 3.8km swim and 180km bike with shredded ITBs?

I used this time to poke at my fitness and see if I could, if I tried. I think I succeeded, with minimum pain, or rather, a manageable amount of pain. I was somewhat relieved to see the training coming to an end. The last 6 weeks were like a long death march and I did not enjoy dealing with so much guilt, uncertainty and the constant feeling of inadequacy.

And now it's time to end this update as well. It feels like history all of a sudden...

IMMT Training Weeks 26 and 27: Learning from my mistakes

I am tired, but not from working out. I barely exercised in the last 2 weeks and many times I felt like I've literally fallen off a wagon and I've kept looking at the train as it was moving away from me and I just could not get up and run after it. Depressing, I know. Don't get me started or I'll bawl my eyes out. I'm tired because I have been sitting on my butt trying to figure my pain out. I am completely exhausted mentally, constantly juggling with information being thrown at me, with very good intentions of course, but which doesn't help me find peace of mind.

With Ironman Mt. Tremblant being just 3 weeks away, I should have finished another solid 3 weeks cycle, yet all I could do was to stare at my legs and wish for a miracle. I did not want to call it an injury, it is such a dirty word. Besides, athletes are known for pushing the limits of their pain threshold and let's be honest, it does NOT hurt like an injury. It's a nagging pain, that's all, but it's been haunting every single one of my runs. And since I'm the only one who's been inside my head, playing with the pain knobs, I tried to err on the side of caution and not make it worse. It's only in the last week that I started listening to people around me and notably to coach who ordered a proper bike fit, acupuncture and about 0.5% intensity in everything I do, with the condition that I keep moving. And yes, he was the first one to call it an injury (and it got me furious).

So I went for the bike fit. And guess what? Although the seat was at the right height by the books, once I sat on it, my legs would completely stretch out while at the bottom of quadrant, locking my knee. I know for sure that I do not bike like this, at least not unless I try to stand up and stretch my legs, but I end up pedaling with my toes down and heel up and that never gives a break to my legs. I must also be rocking my hips. So my seat was ONE INCH too high all this time, which is huge in terms of bike adjustments. Can you say LOSER? That is me by the way. I remember 10 months ago when I went on a bike ride with coach just after I bought my bike and he looked at me and said: "your seat is too high". He kept repeating it for a month, then he gave up. Did I believe him? Of course not, because my ass knows best. Some think with their head, others with their ass. I'm in the latter category and really not proud of myself.

By the way, for those interested in knee pain that may be due to biking, I found this website that explains the causes very eloquently.

I had the cleat angle and seat adjusted to address #1 and #5 and when I came home Zin told me that #3 is most likely a factor as well because I've always complained about how hard it was to unclip from my Shimano SPD SL pedals (and I'm under 65kg). Given that the leg that I unclip is the one that hurts the most... It cannot be just a coincidence.

So let's assume that I finally know the root cause. I came back from the fit with so much hope, that I imagined my pain going away miraculously in my sleep. Just that it didn't. And here's where I should probably go into recap mode because I'm already back to spinning bad thoughts in my head. Let's go.

Swim

Aaaaaah, that's better! Swimming has been awesome... most of the time.

 I did one pool swim that ended prematurely because of chaos at Mayfield Rec Centre. Someone must have messed up the schedules and I found myself with 40 people in the pool instead of the 4 regulars. I had to get out after 30 min. There was no way to swim properly in a lane when all I was doing was trying to avoid head on collisions.

But going to Professor's Lake was a treat. First week I swam 3 loops on Thursday, and the following week I swam 5 loops (3800m). I was feeling so down, that conquering the Iron distance swim that day was the only thing that could cheer me up. At least I know that I'm going to finish the swim at IMMT, if nobody knocks me out with an elbow to the head that is. I also managed to swim under 1h20 and that's another #win! Exactly where I hope to be on August 17.

The watch stole about 50m.

The only other swim left for this recap was at the Belwood Tri race (separate post to follow), so I will skip it for now.

Bike

Alright, so let's rewind for a minute. At the beginning of the week #26, I still had no clue where my ITB/knee pain was coming from, but I was decided to find out, just that the only method I knew was brute force. I had stopped running the Thursday before, as you may remember from the last recap, then on the following Tuesday I hopped on my bike for a hard trainer workout. THE hardest this year. In my defense, I was following coach's schedule and it was asking for a "sub threshold workout". I chose Aniakchak from Trainer Road because it looked challenging enough, without knowing that I was going to spend more than half the time AT threshold (according to my HR). And it was such a sweet, sweet sweatfest, I loved every minute of if (ok, maybe not the first 5 minutes of the last interval where you can clearly see how I bonked). But a salty ball to the rescue, and a few minutes later all was good with the world again.

Nothing hurt while I was doing the bike and certainly not my ego. But of course, those 6 smashed records were going to keep it inflated for the rest of the season. However, the next day... my IT band woke up screaming. Rub, rub, rub with every step... I could feel it so tense on the outside of my knee, it would snap back in place whenever I'd sit down and stand up. Nasty!! So biking had something to do with it after all...

I had to take it easy for the rest of the week since my knees needed some TLC. Did an easy spin on Friday, but raced on Saturday. The following Monday I had the bike fit and since then it's been easy spin after easy spin every other day, no more than 1h at a time. Pathetic. But at least I am listening to coach now and he ordered that I stay put.

Run

The first week I knew that I was going to run in Belwood, or at least I hoped I could. But before the race I wanted to take a real break from running, just in case it was the culprit for my knee issues. So on Thursday, after swimming 3 loops, I decided to run in the water for 30 min. That was hard!! I came out of the water, legs were shaking and my heart was beating out of my chest. But at least it felt like a workout. Alright then, I can do this.

After racing on Saturday, I returned to the lake for more water running. This time I did a full loop and it took me almost 40 minutes to water run 750m. Everyone was lapping me and the lifeguards were all wondering what the hell I was doing, but I managed to keep a straight face and convince them that my apparent doggie paddling was a serious athletic endeavor that had to be admired. I seriously wanted a medal. This was NOT a jog in the park and I was in serious pain out there. Yeah, it was becoming apparent that water running wasn't going to work for my IT bands either. After reaching the first buoy I started feeling the rubbing outside my knee again. In the middle of the freaking lake!! Get me outta there!! I continued stoically until I completed the loop, then put on my goggles and furiously swam with a solid kick the whole time because I couldn't get my legs to shut up.

And so I had to find yet another way to keep moving, and I found the elliptical. I did 2 more "runs" on it this past week, thankfully without pain around the knees. Hey, if that's what it takes, I'll elliptical myself until my arms and legs fall off!

In a nutshell

I am learning from my mistakes. I am almost 40 years old and I still make monumental mistakes. How many times in life have I told myself that "I'm too old for this shit"? Well, it appears that I can also be "too stupid for this shit". But I got it now. I think.

I went to an all-in one massage therapist, acupuncturist, ex army guy martial artist. He does not mess around!! I may come home with bruises all over, but I believe that his treatments WILL make me better. I need patience, and a lot of it. I wish I went to see him a month ago when the pain started...

I went to Via Ciclante and saw JP who did a bike fit. We may have found the cause of my misery. Again time will tell. He also promised me a 20 watts gain after the fit. Yeah, right. Not sure I believe that, but I haven't tried either.

I went to a chiropractor/ART specialist. He found a thousand spots that hurt when he pokes at them. He gave me treatments that turned me into a wet noodle, just like the massage therapist, but with a slice of nausea on the side. My friend Matt, who just finished IMLP, swears by him. He may not fix my IT bands, but my body sure needs a hard reboot. I feel that ART does that wonderfully.

I am listening to my coach, but I no longer have a very precise schedule. I just know that I have to keep moving and keep the workouts short and not very intense.

What else can I say? I am a mess, but I want to believe that I will heal eventually. Injury or not, I got handicapped to the point that I can no longer run without pain, but I hope that it will get better before I get to toe the line at IMMT. There are no shortcuts to this finish line. This is my journey and it's too late to look back and start having regrets. Next recap will bring better news, I promise!

IMMT Training Weeks 10 & 11 (and half of 12) : A breath of fresh air

It's been how many weeks already?? Ok, ok, but I had a good excuse. For realz! The days are going by way too fast. No, this isn't my excuse, even if it's true. But it's also a matter of perspective. Too many things happening, too little time, so I had to prioritize.

Swim

The highlight of these past weeks have been my long pull workouts, all with flipturns so I don't fall asleep. The longest so far has been 55 minutes and I have been working hard at keeping a good form throughout. I tried swimming with an MP3 player and that made the set a little more entertaining, but overall I love the peace these swims bring to me among the chaos of all the other technical workouts, so I don't feel that having extra noise in my ears is absolutely necessary.
From Garmin's perspective, this is what my longest swim looked like:

I have to ask the question: WHY is it that the first 50m are always the easiest and fastest? Why I cannot keep doing what I'm doing in the first 50m for the entire workout? It's so unfair. If I rest for a few minutes between shorter sets, I am able to repeat this performance, but if I don't stop, it only goes downhill from there. I'm like a broken toy or something.

Bike

The bike workouts have been going really great, despite their increased difficulty. I am now working a lot at sweet spot or threshold and my longer rides are 3-4h long, with a "recovery" week's long ride still being a 2h effort. Thanks to a few records broken recently, I decided to bump my FTP by 10 points to 180. A new level of suffering is about to start.
You can see my career page on Trainer Road for all the rides I've done since the last update. I am going to highlight just the ones that made me rethink my FTP.
First, three 12min intervals, at threshold or just under. Since my heart rate stayed put, I felt that I could have pushed harder... And I know that I should not have ground so much, but some days my legs respond better to high rpms than others.

Then 1h10 at sweet spot non stop.

This one scared the sh*t out of me, but it didn't feel too bad in the end. We'll see what happens now with a higher limit to chase.

Run

Running felt like a rollercoaster ride though. I had ups so high and lows so low, that I cursed everything from the wind to the hills, from my belly fat to the treadmill. I finally made peace with my legs, thanks to a weekend spent in New York City where I went running in Central Park. Aaaaaaah, bliss.

Oh look, a dirt trail!

Chasing ponytails

2 seconds before my phone shut off

There was also a race ongoing in Central Park and I ended up mingling with the back of the pack runners/walkers who had these "Senior Care" ambulances trudging along them. It was quite the procession. Thankfully they didn't seem too busy with emergencies.

And rest assured, I didn't take any water from the stations. However, it took me 10k to find a water fountain on my own. The weather was absolutely beautiful, on the chilly side though (37F/3C). Look at that blue sky!! Now that's light therapy.

So I came back home with new brain cells and spring in my legs, a heart full of happiness and contentment to last me for a little while. And I didn't even mention the cookies that I bought at Levain Bakery yet!! Yeah, about those... YUM. That is all.

In a nutshell

Treadmills lie. Those speeds that I saw, the kilometers that I banked, they were worthless outside. There was one run in particular that brought me to tears. I can say with certainty that I am no PR material for now. The 10k race waiting for me on Sunday? I'm not even allowed to race it. And I don't even think that I'd have legs left after tomorrow's 3h30 trainer ride. Speaking of which, bike trainers don't seem to lie, but the pavement will still have to wait until I put my wheels on it. Asthma is still bad in cold weather, which of course becomes even worse with wind blowing in my face. One day at a time... Will be back with some Insta-Postcards from NYC.