I'm back

I starting training again this week. My calf injury has completely stagnated now. Not much more can be done. I'm disappointed that I'm not able to sit on my heels without pain, but at least it feels good to walk around on.
This week I'll aim for 3 rides and 3 runs (30min each). I'll do 2 easy rides up to Northern gates and then join the group on saturday for a LSD 3hr ride. All easy stuff this week.

Heres a cool photo of Bjorn Sindbelle at IMH he smashed the bike record this year and rode a 4:21. Its a very agrressive setup, but I guess riding aerodynamically is all about reducing wind resistence


fluro

Itchy feet. need to train

This is my 5th week off from training. I'm ready to explode. I need to train. At the moment I'm on top of most of my injury. The only thing that is bothering me is my peronial nerve. It has stagnated. I wouldn't say that it is really hurting me, but I can't say that it has changed much over the last 3 weeks. I can still feel it, and that concerns me. I've decided to start back with some light training in order to assess how I am recovering.
I've been researching alot on running technique and I will endeavour to write up some of my findings soon. I guess I need to learn how to run in such a way that it will minimize the risk of any future injury and also improve my efficiency.
I joined up with a Ocean swim group this week. You'll start to see alot of my swimming will be in the ocean this year. There a good group of about 10-12 guys that meet at Continental pool every morning at 6.30am. They swim up to North beach and back. it's only a 20-30min swim at this stage and I intend on building this up to a straight 60min open swim over the next few months. I'll continue to do squad at the Uni every Monday and Wednesday night when I'm not working my second job at the club.

Anyway back to work. Time to teach another class

fluro

IM: its all about the bike

Running to your potential
Running well in an IM is defined as being able to run at or close to your fresh Aet pace (ie www.gordoworld.com). If, in the past you have been unable to achieve this then it would be likely that you are having bike pacing and arousal issues. No matter how well you can run it will be very unlikely for you to run to your potential in a race if your have ridden too hard, especially in the first 2 hours of the bike.
A common problem that occurs on the bike is that people believe they can ride faster in a race then what they have ever been able to accomplish in training. Your quickest ever 180km TT should always be the ones that you can do as race rehearsals in training. If you are riding quicker in a race then you are riding too hard and you are setting yourself up for a sub par marathon.
In training it is good practice to do main sets within a LSD ride. Doing longer steady state TT of 20-50min is a great way to improve your strength endurance and overall fitness on the bike. However, people have a habit of pacing themselves at HIM intensities thinking they are performing at IMpaces. As a result they take this view into a race and then seem to really struggle from 120km onwards.
Incorporating main sets in to a LSD ride is a great way to improve your overall strength and fitness, but can be a poor measure of race day expectations. This is why I would recommend doing 180km TT race rehearsals to establish correct pacing guidelines in an IM. In training the 180km TT should not be a daunting task. It should feel nothing more then a solid bike training day. I would recommend doing at least three 180km TT in training at 16wks, 11wks, and 7wks out from your 'A' race. It will give you valuable feedback that can be used on race day. Not only that it is a great way to improve your physical and mental abilities associated with IM racing. Increasing your bike strength is a great way to shorten you IM day.
In summary, don't use intervals in training to establish bike pacing guidelines on the bike. These are best served for improving your overall strength and fitness on the bike. Use specific TT's in training to setup clear pacing guidelines and stick with them. That way you'll be giving yourself the best possible opportunity to run to your potential.

fluro

The pain of a DNF

Wow. Love this photo. It must feel terrible having to DNF because of a mechanical problem. I hope Stadler comes back bigger and stronger next year.
Well done to Chris McCormack. Boy did he run well or what. The doodes were so quick this year. Bike times seemed really fast with more depth in the field. Probably due to the fact that there was little wind, but also because of Stadler's epic ride last year.

STRESS FRACTURE
yes it appears i have a stress fracture now. My compartment syndrome problem has settled down to reveal a small fracture in my lower fibula. I've had 4 wks completely off training now and will probably be able to resume training again in 2-3 weeks. This will give me a very small window to try and qualify for IMOZ at the Canberra 1/2 on 11/12/05.
between now end the endog the month I'll focus mainly on improving my core stability, flexibility and swimming. I've been out of sorts of the last few weeks and only now do I feel like I'm ready to start focusing on Port next year. Time will tell if I can get through this current problem I'm having with injuries

fluro

I may be back

Not all is lost

I haven’t updated my blogger for a while because I pretty much haven’t been training due to injury. It has been a big learning curve lately in finding the cause of my injury. Firstly, I have compartment syndrome and luckily I acted on it very quickly and we are now just starting to get on top of things 12 weeks down the track. I had to do research and plenty of it in order to understand the cause of this overuse injury. As a result we discovered (physio, massage therapist, biomechanist and myself) that the injury is a result of poor biomechanics on the bike and run and extremely inflexible lower body.
I addressed these issues by changing my shoes from an asics keyano to asics nimbus. I have for the first time discovered that I’m a supinator and not a pronator. The asics keyano shoes are actually for people who pronate, while the nimbus shoe is for people who supinate. This improved the way I run immediately. I then decided to do some research on the bike. I booked for a professional bike fit and it was the best $160 I have spent so far. I my seat was moved up 2.5 cm. The cleats in my shoes were moved forward and my saddle was moved forward 1cm. All these changes meant that I was no longer putting so much strain on my dorsi flexion during the downward stroke on the peddles. After taking only 1 week off from riding I went on a 2hr solid ride and had absolutely no pain in my lower leg. I could believe the difference.
In the meantime my physio and massage therapist each once per week have been hammering away at my poor flexibility through the application of deep tissue massage and plenty of Chinese cupping (ie refer photo). This has been a much slower development but there have been some marginal signs of improvement.
Finally, my poor core stability is being addressed and has contributed, on top of everything else, to all the injuries I have experienced in the past. I’m now on a very strict daily dose of core strength work and this will hopefully be the icing on the cake in terms of recovering from this injury and any future injury.
It was only a week ago that I had resided to the fact that there was no chance of me being able to qualify for Port IM. There is now a very small window of opportunity starting to appear. My physio thinks he may now be able to get me right for the Canberra ½. While I know I’ll probably be well under trained for this, I’ll still do whatever I can to try and qualify for Port next year.
So next week I have been given the go ahead to start out with some light cycling and a couple of 20min runs. Lets just hope things work out for the better this time. I would just love to put together a years worth of training without any hint of injury.

I’m back and I keep my weekly updates coming in. Thanks again to everyone over at Transitions. The positive words have really helped in keeping me on track and focused.

Fluro