Getting Through Another Rough Patch

Since my triathlon debut in the summer 2007, I have come to terms with the fact that injury happens in our sport. In the beginning, my biggest worries were tight IT bands. Thinking back, getting over that first IT "injury" was incredibly difficult. I didn't know my body well enough and I had no clue how to bounce back. During those first two seasons, my body didn't understand what I was putting it through. I had a few minor setbacks, but triathlon was just a hobby back then and any injury could be cured with a week on the couch. Now, a week on the coach seems like an eternity, and it is hard to have the patience to get over the little bumps in the road.

During my third season, I had to get through a string of incredibly annoying injuries. I had just begun training under the guidance of Jim LaMastra. Because I was young and strong, he gave me workouts that were depending without a great deal of recovery. Any other accomplished athlete in his or her early twenties may have handled the training better. But even in my third season, I was incredibly new to the sport. The amount of training in my body could have been compared to that of a high school runner, not an elite athlete. In early 2009, I developed two overuse injuries in my legs. They were back to back, and they had me barely training for about 3 weeks. One week back from those injuries, I got hit by a car and missed another week or two. It was a rough start to a pretty rough season. 

The start of this 2010 season has been similar. I built my base with a great deal of swimming in Cleveland. My body was ready for the long miles to come. I logged about 700 miles in the first few weeks in Arizona. My body was handling the distance well and I was starting to come into decent form. A day later, I was crashing on a mountain bike. It has been almost 4 weeks since I crashed.

I’m finally getting over this knee injury. I am hoping to be back to normal training by March. I am sure that I lost a little strength in my legs, but my aerobic capacity is very strong from the 80 kilometers I swam since the crash. I feel as if my swim fitness is the best it has ever been. Here is an example of a few distance workouts I have done in the last couple weeks.

Workout: 10 x 200 on 2:40 (held 2:25 for all)

Workout: 400, 200, 100, 100, 200, 400 (on 1:20 per 100), 3 x 200 on 2:40, 12 x 100 pull on 1:20

Workout: 10 x 100 on 1:20 (descend 1-5, 5-10), 5 x 200 on 2:40

Like always, my cycling and running fitness will come together and I will be race ready. Without set backs, there would be no such thing as a come back.

Cheers.