Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Manageable issues

Pain seems to be a regular thing I have noticed since starting to train for this 70.3. I must admit I am kind of used to it and slightly look forward to some form of pain whilst out training, however that being said I am also much more in tune with my body to know when things feel out of the norm. And since last Mondays Windtrainer strength set I have felt some form of well not pain per say, but a knowing of my left knee cap.

Needless to say I was looking forward to my physio appointment and went in with my fingers and toes crossed. I told him what I was feeling and he said "ok, jump on the table, is it tender here?". No sooner did he barely press on the outer part of my left knee I jumped off the table. Holy bejessus, I have never felt anything so painful in my life apart from childbirth. And as he continued to press and massage up my leg the pain only intensified. I was giggling and grimacing in pain and grabbing hold of his forearm asking/no begging for just 5 secs relief. He then asked me to lie on my right side and he proceeded to dig around my left hip and glute. I was grabbing hold of the wall in front of me and just praying for the time to go by swiftly. When it was all said and done the best part followed - a nice heat pack on my leg - ahhhhh heaven.

So basically my left ITB is tight, tight, tight. Not uncommon but still an issue which needs to be dealt with. So I need to stretch lots and need to roll this baby out. Which I will do religiously as this will not be something that will sideline me from my goal/dream. I also need to not to do any strength sets on my bike and stay away from hills for the next week. I was actually looking forward to getting busy on the bike but not if it's going to make things worse. Good thing is though I can still train and for that I am SO greatful.

So this morning I headed out for my run - 1hr 20mins was on the cards and there was nothing which was going to stop me from doing this. I really look forward to running now, these longer time frames no longer intimidate - if anything I can see myself getting closer and closer to my goal.

I headed out at 5:30am this morning to be what was going to be the hottest day ever. Out west was getting set to reach a high of 42 degrees celsius and there was no way I was going to even be caught in it at 9am. At 5:30 it was still dark and there was a coolness to the air that was just beckoning to get out into it but by 6:20 you could see a glimpse of sun behind the low foggy clouds and it was hot. I was sweating profusely so just kept sipping on my Gatorade which I had in my bottles on the FuelBelt.

My left leg and knee were hurting a little bit but I think it was just as a result of having had everything manipulated the day before at physio - so when I got home I stretched and rolled that ITB, then iced the knee and took an anti-inflammatory. I am happy to say that I ran my furthest ever - 14km in 1hr20mins. I am officially 2/3rds my way there - I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
They have also released the course for the 70.3 in May and now I am scared. Scared because now instead of deviating up onto Davis Cres from Matthew Flinders I now have to ride to the very top - that hill is huge. Here is the swim course, the bike course, and run course. This ITB had better settle I have some hill training to get cracking on.

Your hard work will be rewarded.

"The path to a dream is paved with sacrifices and lined with determination. And though it has many stumbling blocks along the way, and may go in more than one direction, it is travelled by belief and courage and conquered with a willingness to face challenges and take chances" Barbara Cage