“Trials of miles and miles of trials” is what Quinton Cassidy and Bruce Denton of the famed cult-classic running fiction novel Once a Runner would say when they put in a ton of training. This training would leave them beat down mentally and physically, but they would push through. I feel their pain, but on a different level. My miles of trials are more mental than anything. Not being able to run due to repeated injuries again wears on me. It’s disheartening knowing that I may not be able compete in any type of running event again, but at the same time I’m alive, have my health, and am about 4 more months away of being in the best swim shape of my life.
An amazing day in June spent swimming with ETA Coach Laura Pyott in Stone Harbor NJ. The water was flat, warm, and almost as clear very clear for the Atlantic!
So what’s the next step? Well, I finally got all my MRIs and for both hips and knees and set up an appointment to see a sports med doctor the second week of September. For now, I plan to continue to focus on my swim and bike. Over the summer I was able to ride and swim a lot. The best part of the summer has been all the open water swimming in the Atlantic! Open water swimming 2-3 times a week has indeed brought my swimming to another level. Come this fall, I will be swimming with a competitive high school group to continue improve my swimming. I hope these kids don’t beat me up to much!
I will be the first to admit that I was not as diligent as I should have been over the summer with maintaining my PT exercises and soft tissue work to help offset the pain I experience in my hips and knees while running. So, as expected, every time I would head out for a 20min run, my hip would flare up. I need to take my own advice and progress very slowly. Even if that means my 20min runs turn into 4min and 30s of walking followed by 30s of running for a total of 20min.
“The human body is very good at adapting to stress when that stress is applied in small doses. To prevent injury, get faster, stronger, and break through plateaus, you must gradually and systematically increase the amount of training stress” – Ross Tucker PHD
The next 4 months I will be gradually and systematically increase my training in hopes of hitting the following numbers.
Swim
Focus - Volume
5-7 Days a week
2-4000 yards each day
Bike
Focus – Frequency
5 Days a week
30-90min each day
Run
Focus – Pain Free Running!
3 Days a week
20min each day
Train Smart - Coach Jason
