Training: Week Ended 03/19/17

In the spirit of writing more often, I want to write a post at the end of each week to discuss my training and how things are going.  This is certainly not the ideal week to start this process because after my 3-1 Brick last Sunday (3 hour ride - 1 hour run), the cold I have been fighting for weeks resurfaced.  By the time I went to bed, I knew I was in trouble and when I woke up on Monday I was in bad shape. I spent all of Monday in bed except for a trip to the doctor where I was diagnosed with a severe sinus infection.  I was given stronger meds this time and the instructions to come back on Thursday for steroids if things did not remarkably improve. Thankfully things improved enough to avoid those steroids.

All of this completely derailed my training.  This is bad news except for the fact I actually listened to my coach who told me to back off. This was to be week 1 of an important build so I was quite frankly devastated to miss it.  I was going to take one day off and get back on the horse (exactly what I did weeks ago when this all started) but then my coach, Coach Gareth Thomas of TRIO www.coachgareth.com, said I could push the entire schedule this week to next week (i.e. push my schedule back a week).  This meant I would not miss anything and could view my sick week as an extension of the recovery week that just ended.  This is exactly what my brain needed to hear because it allowed me to heal in peace.

Beyond the sickness, I felt pain in my ankle for the first time in 6-7 weeks while on my ride last Sunday. This was devastating because I was starting to get my swagger back.  In case you missed it, I had surgery on my posterior tibial tendon almost exactly a year ago.  Surgery was performed by Dr. Dan Geller www.drdangeller.com who has done amazing work for so many athletes.  This was........I hope.......the last surgery tied to a biking accident in 2013 when I was training for my 5th Ironman distance triathlon.  This surgery has been the most difficult to recover from tied to how critical this tendon is in the process of running and tied to complications resulting when blood clots developed post surgery. It is a scary thing to hear you have blood clots in your lungs!!!  It took much much longer for the swelling in my lower leg to dissipate because of the clots.  This held up the rehab process and led to the most self doubt I ever experienced as an athlete. I still carry that self doubt today.  I start every ride and every run with a prayer that I get through the workout pain free......with a prayer that God hold me together through Ironman Kona.  My first steps of every run are filled with trepidation.  The first time I get out of my seat......usually to get going at a red light.........have that same trepidation because that is the movement triggering the pain.  Like I said above, I went a while with no pain until last Sunday.  I would like to think it is all in my head but my right foot is ever so slightly swollen and the ankle is a little puffy. Compression socks and prayer.....that is all I have for now but perhaps the sinus infection helped give the ankle a rest too.

I did manage to sneak in a 3 mile run yesterday just to see how it would go.  As for the foot, I felt some discomfort but a lot of that discomfort was in parts of the foot not surgically repaired.  I felt a few minor jolts at the surgical spot but nothing unbearable.  I now launch back into full scale training.  Monday's are always a rest day for me so Tuesday will see me back in action.