A New Mafia Member

Today consisted of just 30 minutes of sprint intervals on the bike. It was okay, but I would've preferred to have run the allotted 45 minutes that we were supposed to do from our schedule. Oh well, that's the nature of training and sports. You have to contend with injuries and set backs.

Troy and I have successfully reeled in another cycling newbie. His name is Carl and he's now officially a part of the cycle mafia. Once you're in, you can't get out! It'll be fun pushing him and watching him progress. We'll keep you posted.

Tuesday Run

With the Top Gun Triathlon in St. Pete being so close, I find that I'm getting frustrated with certain little "knick-knack" set backs. For one, the blister on my foot is taking a lot longer to heal than I want. Plus, yesterday my stomach was upset all day and I ended up not doing anything toward my training. Therefore, I feel I have to double up on some things today which I don't really want to do. At any rate, it is what it is and I have to keep moving forward.

Troy gets back from Orlando tomorrow from being away on business so we should fall back in to the swing of things training-wise. I find that I do better when I feel accountable to him knowing that he'll be there to train with me.

We're only two weeks away from our event and I'm anxious to see how we'll do.

The Hammy

During Troy's and my workout, we ran into somewhat of a hurdle. We were running sprint intervals, everything was going good, then Troy pulls up with a hamstring pull. That's an injury that he's never had in all of his years in athletics. Oddly enough, he's struggling with it right now because it's very uncomfortable for him and he bummed because it's so close to our triathlon. However, as long as he ices it and is diligent about not doing too much on it, he will heal quickly. I feel for him though because it's highly frustrating. But that goes with the territory when you are training for an even like we are.

Tomorrow is our scheduled rest day, but we've decided to take a bike ride early in the morning since we had to cut short our run. Plus, Troy is leaving town on business and is wanting to get in as much training as he possibly can. He's truly in to this! We had a good weight training session today and he still feels like he didn't get anything done because there was very little cardio work. It's funny to me because I can now see the tangible change in Troy's outlook on his health. It's about time!

80 Degrees and Sunny!

It's currently 80 degrees outside and completely clear! It's a beautiful day for doing anything outside. I'm still hobbled by my calf and that's a bit discouraging but I can tell it's healing up. Therefore, I still have to substitute my run with a bike ride today.

Troy and I both woke up today and didn't feel like getting in our early morning workout. We both somewhat slept in and got some rest. It was probably needed on both counts. Troy is getting his lifting and run in later in the afternoon as we're both kind of flying solo in training today.

Tomorrow is our rest day and hopefully, it'll be a good recovery day for my calf.

A Slight Set-back

So Sunday night, the night of Father's Day, I went for my 45 minute run at the track. I decided to run a 10 minute easy warm up, stretch, then run sprint intervals. All went well and I even broke through the wall and felt good toward the end on the warm down run. However, the next day (which was yesterday) I woke up with some serious calf pain in my left leg. I have no idea where it came from and I have no idea what I did to cause it, but it definitely feels like an injury rather than just a cramp. Luckily, I only had our Monday weight lifting so I didn't have to run yesterday. However, today I woke up and the pain is still very much there - even after icing and stretching yesterday.

Today, Troy and I rode for 45 minutes on the bike and we're supposed to do 15 minute run. But with my leg in this shape, I've decided to lay off of the running until the pain goes down and double up on the bike. So I'll end up doing another ride this evening to replace the run I was supposed to do. I guess this is how the real triathletes adjust when dealing with injury. This is the only way I know how to deal with it other then not doing anything and, for me, that's not an option at this point.

Troy's still sticking with the training and seeming to still enjoy it. He's slowly and steadily still losing weight and, for the most part, really staying true to the training schedule. Yesterday he felt a bit sick and instead of going to the gym to lift, he ended up riding for 40 minutes. I was slightly impressed because he could've actually had an excuse to do nothing.

This morning, Troy also (I was just told) knocked out a brick! I'm jealous that he got to do that and I couldn't because of my calf. I'm just going to listen to my body and let it heal so I don't worsen things by trying to over do it. Updates to follow.

The First One

This morning, I did my obligatory 35 minute run just like it said on my training schedule. I wasn't looking forward to it, but I'm currently trying to train my brain to enjoy the running discipline of triathlon. It's hard for me to convert. However, this morning was a pretty decent run for me in that I ran for a solid 25 minutes straight without taking a rest. That's the farthest I've been thus far. I then walked for 2 minutes and ran the rest of the way until time was up. That was the up side. The down side however, is I currently have my first nagging injury from playing basketball in my back yard with my daughter and her boyfriend. It's certainly not a serious injury, but it's enough to make things uncomfortable and a bit stiff at the beginning of a run or a ride. I'm sure it's nothing that some stretching, aspirin, and some time won't heal. I just hate it because I'd love to go through this process completely injury free, but I guess that's not reality.

Troy too has a nagging knee injury that is essentially due to continuous use and having to bear the weight that he's loading around on those knees. So in order to keep him from further injury, I stress to him to listen to what his body is telling him and to lay off of running until Tuesday. Today, I'm making him bike for an hour in which I'm sure I'll ride with him. I'm proud of him telling me all of this stuff in order for us to keep each other on track. I find that my accountability to him keeps me just as in line as his does to me.

I'm still loving the cross-training aspect of the training. It's something different every day.

UPDATE:

At 7:30, Troy called and decided he wanted to take a 30-40 minute ride since he couldn't run. It was the first opportunity that he's had to break away and get his workout in. We went on a nice and relatively intense ride around Franklin with an average ride speed of just over 17.0 mph.