Well - this will be the last workout journal entry for awhile.  If I’m fortunate to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman later this year, I may check back in with some sample workouts for those of you who have considered training for such an event sometime.  In the mean time, I hope the last couple of weeks of entries have been helpful to the other injured runners out there who are looking for ways to stay in shape when the body won’t cooperate on the running front.  It is possible to stay in shape - or to even enhance your fitness while “laying low” as a runner temporarily.

So - the last two days of workouts have consistend of…

• Saturday - 6 hrs of cycling on the Computrainer.  Crazy ride?  Maybe, but with a half Ironman coming up in 3 months, it’s good mentally to know I’ve gone 100+ miles a few times prior.  Puts everything into perspective.  In terms of investments, it’s tough to beat an indoor trainer for your bike.  They only run about $100 and you can ride any time of day and in any weather.  And for the runners out there, stay standing for awhile (or take off the seat and you almost turn it into a pseudo-stairmaster)
• Sunday - Just under 4 hours on the bike trainer, but the last 2 1/2 hrs was done on something called POWERCRANKS (the cranks of the bike are separate, so they work the hip flexors more like running and are a fantastic cross-training tool).  Later in the day, a 1 hour of lap swimming with Joshua and then 30 minutes of basketball with Josh/Ashley.  And then, just for grins, topped it off with 30 min of legs, core stab, etc.

As a final (for now) sidenote, if you don’t have a medicine ball as part of your home exercise equipment, you may want to check into one.  With that one item, it’s easy to create a fun and simple functional strengthening routine that doesn’t take much space (and is easy to do in front of the TV).

Take care everyone.  Hope you’ve found some of these ideas helpful.  Feel free to add your own comments or drop us a note anytime.

Ok - I’ve all but given up hope for running the marathon due to this stress fracture.  But now that I’ve gotten my mind around that fact, I’m started getting motivated to start winding up my bike training.  Nice to have options, right?

Today’s workout:

• Swim 1 hr, including a timed 1000 and 500 with Mike
• Bike 75 minutes - pretty easy pace
• Then tonight during the national championship game, Suzanna was at Bible Study, so I hopped on the bike and got in another 2 hrs at a moderate pace and high cadence.

So with the bonus workout, it was a solid day!

I’ve been discovering (or at least being reminded of) something new lately -  that health and wellness is in many ways about WHO you spend the time with  - as much as it is all about WHAT you actually do.  For example, I’m usually so focused on “the workout,” that I often don’t tune into the valuable friendships that develop through the personal battles we fight (sometimes winning — sometimes not so much) together.  And frankly - health and wellness is more about “being out there” than it is about the finishing time on the clock.

Well - that’s all changed this past few weeks.  I can’t run.  I miss it.  I’m a little depressed.  And as a result of the likelihood that marathon day will be little more than a starting line, the intensity of my replacement workouts has been somewhat lacking (ok - very lacking).  And that limited intensity (distraction?) has allowed me to look around and appreciate the people that these pursuits have brought into my life, even if the pursuits themselves are on hold for a bit…

• Ran into Paulo yesterday after a meeting and had a chance to catch up - aside from the next interval.  It was nice to catch up.  He looks trim and ready to run fast.
• Kevin dropped me a note reminding me about the importance of keeping perspective about this race with goals of Kona later this year.  Good reminder, my friend.
• Don called to share details about his own injury leading up to the marathon, and his plans to go hard anyway - he’d come too far at this point.
• Mike met me at the pool for some LSD swimming this morning.  Not a lot of discussion when you’re swimming steady distance, but a few words of encouragement meant a lot.
• Cliff called later today.  He’s worked so diligently for this marathon, and is battling his own injury as the date closes in.  But he’s excited - ready to punch that ticket to Boston, no matter what he has to dig through mentally and physically on race day.  We strategized about specifics for race day - Just talking to him brought some renewed energy.

So maybe this has all been a good reminder that some things in life - like friendships - hold a great deal more value than always nailing that perfect workout.  Good reminder…

Oh yeah - today’s workout?  1 hour of steady swimming (about 3600 straight) followed by 30 min of running in the deep end (with some 1 minute intervals) and then an easy 35 min spin on the bike.

The last couple of days may have revealed a crack in the foundation (as well as other places).  I shortened my planned eliptical workout from 2 1/2 hours yesterday down to 75 minutes due to some pain that I’d never before experienced with that type of workout.  That was then followed by an additional 75 minutes on the bike to round it out.  Add some core stability work and it was a decent workout session.

Unfortunately - it appears the “foot injury” is actually a little more serious and likely involves a stress fracture to the Navicular bone based on signs and symptoms.

This morning involved 90 minutes on the bike trainer.  No foot pain, but no energy or motivation either.  I think the likely stress fracture has sapped the mental energy.  I haven’t completely pulled the plug on the race, but it’s looking more and more like that’s the best decision based on the true goal of 2009 - qualifying for the Hawaii Ironman.  Critical to be healthy going into the Tri season if there’s going to be any reasonable shot at reaching that stretch goal this year…

Stay tuned.

Uggg - I don’t know about this.  After taking Friday off for our drive back to Colorado from Little Rock, AR, I jumped on the bike this morning, expecting a little drop off (altitude adjustment), but a good workout coming off of a couple of lighter days.

Didn’t happen.  Ride was probably the worst in a year.  First 90 min was decent, but then I pretty much fell off the cliff on my power - averaging 80 less watts the last 2 hrs vs. the first 90 min.  Brutal!  Hopefully it’s just a result of the R & R in Little Rock and the altitude effect…

Here’s the full workout for the day:

• 4 hours on the Computrainer, including the above ridiculous workout on the Wildflower course
• 40 min swimming, including 5 x 100 and a 50-100-150-200-250-250 ladder
• 20 min water running (deep end), including 5 x 1 min intervals
• 30 minutes chasing Joshua around the basketball court ;- )

Welcome back to Colorado!!

It’s New Year’s Day- the launch of health and wellness pursuits across the nation.  So I headed off to the YMCA here in Little Rock, AR for my “run replacement” this morning, ready to make the most of it.  Unfortunately, the folks running the facility must not realize it’s such an important day in the health and wellness world, because they decided to close today.  That’s kind of like a sports fan missing the Super Bowl, a Christian church closing on Christmas, etc.  But - it’s how it was…

FORTUNATELY, the Athletic Club down the road did understand the value of this day, and were kind enough to allow me a single day pass (and yes - it was packed for those YMCA of Little Rock folks who may be interested).  And - it worked out GREAT!  They had a cool new machine called a PreCore 100i that was a mix between a stair master and an eliptical machine.  It allowed me to mimic the running motion much more effectively than on a standard eliptical, which was nice.

It’s still not running, and it’s tough to get the heart rate up, but it was a nice replacement.  So here’s the workout for today in my attempt to run a solid marathon (sub 2:47 is the goal) with no running  for the 5 wks leading up to the race…

2 Hours on the PreCore 100i, including

• Easy warm-up and warm-down
• 2 sets of 8 x 40 sec “sprints”/20 sec recovery
• The remainder kept at a mid-range intensity

Tomorrow’s a day off for us to drive back to Colorado.  Then we’ll see what we can come up with back home.  Happy New Year’s Everyone!!!!

Ok - here we go.  Essentially no running for the past 2 wks and the foot isn’t getting much better.  So, as I mentioned in the last entry, we’re going to see what happens with some creative (non-running) workouts over the next 3 1/2 wks (5+ wks total) and see what happens on race day.

Today’s workout -

• 1 hour swim (10 x 100’s plus some easy swimming and a killer 8 x 40 sec all-out sprints with 20 seconds in between and about 20 min of kicking)
• 1 hour eliptical (with 5 min t-mill walk at 15% incline in middle).  Intensity pretty low throughout except for the same 8 x 40 second all-out sprints with 20 seconds in between

Thoughts - intensity will clearly be the most difficult part of this journey.  Running - even at moderate paces, increases the heart-rate considerably in ways the eliptical cannot touch.  Once we get home, I will add some intensity on the bike.  And then there’s the congruency issue  (cyclists don’t make good runners).

We’ll figure it out!  At the very least, it’s good to have a new goal and strategy on the horizon rather than just waking up each morning hoping I can run…

Bummer!

After an almost perfect run training cycle coming off of triathlon  season this fall, everything came to a standstill 2 wks ago with what turned out to be a foot injury. 

First thought - depressed.

Second thought - still depressed.  So much training - on track for a PR and likely a sub-2:40 after holding 6:15/mile for a 2 hour run at altitude (marathon is in Houston) just before the injury.

Third thought - remember  the goal Cooper (thanks K).  It’s not worth throwing away the entire 2009 Tri season because you’re stubborn about this one race. But then what what do I do?  Run it half-heartedly after trying to run every 4-5 days? Try to train through the injury and see if it resolves itself? Pursue a bonescan that would confirm the  presence (or absence) of a stress fracture?

Or - we could do a science project.  How valuable would it be to find out how well my body is able to run a marathon after 5 weeks of no running?  As an endurance athlete who’s always walking the line of potential injury to maximize performance, that could be some great knowledge to have for future reference.  So that’s what I’m going to do!  With 3 1/2 weeks remaining until the race, I’m not going to run (except for maybe a brief one before the race to be sure I’m not risking further injury by doing this) until race day.

But that doesn’t mean I won’t be working out.  I’ll try to get creative in creating a variety of workouts that will - hopefully - allow me to maintain some sort of run fitness for the January 18th race.  And, by documenting it here, maybe it’ll be helpful to all the other runners who may be battling an injury prior to a big race.  Believe me - I understand how discouraging it can be.  I hope this helps encourage you.  And, if the results turn out to be poor, well then I guess we’ll discover that too  ;- )