http://www.broomfieldenterprise.com/broomfield-sports/ci_20944679/my-town-broomfield-man-perseveres-becomes-ironman
Thursday, July 12, 2012
M.I.A...
Here's where and what I've been up too since that epic day of Ironman St. George:
The Injury:
In the last few miles of the run at Ironman St. George I began to feel a slight strain just below my knee's. With every step and every mile the pain worsened to the point I had to pull over and attend to with less then a mile to go to the finish line. After the race I knew something wasn't right but I didn't pay much attention to it since I was just happy to be done.
After two weeks of complete rest this pain/tightness was still lingering around. I began to do some research of my own and found out that I had a "condition" called Pes Anserine Bursitis. All the info is here if you feel the need. If not, here is a short version of what it is; its an overuse injury to the tendon (Pes Anserine) that sits on the medial side of the knee. This injury can take up to a few weeks to months to recover from. As most of you could guess with this post, I'm still recovering.
Mental Show:
Having an injury forces one to really step back and tone things down a bit from training. For a few weeks I began to force myself and the injury to some training but the symptoms only continued. So I then forced myself to a few weeks of no training which obviously really helped. I will admit that I have enjoyed the little break, doing things that I usually wound not have done due to training. I've been on both sides of where I want to go from here, either I throw in the towel for the season or I get back to things as fast as possible to finish the season strong. I'm finding myself stuck in the middle but with little complaints. I know I have so much time to prevail as a great athlete in this sport and forcing it, especially with this injury, will only come with consequences. I'm still hungry to succeed but I'm taking this thing one bite at a time.
From DNS to DNF
I signed up for the Boulder Tri Series earlier this year and once you're in you're in. This would have been my 3rd take at the series and I was eager to do some damage. The Boulder Sprint was on June17th, I was at the point of maybe giving it a go but knew a local sprint was not worth the risk of forcing anything yet due to the injury, so I sat out of this one and instead went on to support some friends of mine in the race. It was a new perspective watching a race that you knew you should be racing in.
Just this past weekend was the second race of the series, the Boulder Peak. An Olympic distance race that is always sure to bring in top notch athletes. I've been back on my bike this past week with no discomfort in the knee and have splashed around in the pool for a bit with no structure to the training. I made a last minute decision (meaning race morning) to go ahead and pull the trigger and attempt to race the Boulder Peak. But I told myself I was not allowed to run, NO RUNNING!!
So I arrived at race morning ready to rock, I got in a good warmup before the swim start. We were off by 8:05, knowing that my swimming skills and speed have declined I still toed the line up-front with the faster fish. I had a good start and found a good rhythm to survive my longest swim yet since the Ironman. I came out of the water in 23:06....almost 10 seconds faster then last years time...HUH??? Very odd, and not sure how to explain that one. Anyways onto the bike, I opted to ride with my training wheels and a road helmet unlike my usual setup with my Zipp wheels and aero helmet. The bike felt good but I was hurting, I knew the fitness was obviously not there. I rolled into T2 in a time of 1:13:57...about 8min slower then last year...now that's more like it.
The hardest part about this race was handing in the timing chip, I didn't explain or give my story as to why I was handing in the chip. I just knew as I walked away that bigger things are to come, can't take away my heart and passion to comeback racing with a chip on my shoulder.
Up next is the Boulder 70.3, hopefully the fitness will be back enough to where I can at least finish the race. I have no rush to force it as I know there are bigger fish to catch and fry.
Train Safe and always capture your dreams.
The Injury:
In the last few miles of the run at Ironman St. George I began to feel a slight strain just below my knee's. With every step and every mile the pain worsened to the point I had to pull over and attend to with less then a mile to go to the finish line. After the race I knew something wasn't right but I didn't pay much attention to it since I was just happy to be done.
After two weeks of complete rest this pain/tightness was still lingering around. I began to do some research of my own and found out that I had a "condition" called Pes Anserine Bursitis. All the info is here if you feel the need. If not, here is a short version of what it is; its an overuse injury to the tendon (Pes Anserine) that sits on the medial side of the knee. This injury can take up to a few weeks to months to recover from. As most of you could guess with this post, I'm still recovering.
Mental Show:
Having an injury forces one to really step back and tone things down a bit from training. For a few weeks I began to force myself and the injury to some training but the symptoms only continued. So I then forced myself to a few weeks of no training which obviously really helped. I will admit that I have enjoyed the little break, doing things that I usually wound not have done due to training. I've been on both sides of where I want to go from here, either I throw in the towel for the season or I get back to things as fast as possible to finish the season strong. I'm finding myself stuck in the middle but with little complaints. I know I have so much time to prevail as a great athlete in this sport and forcing it, especially with this injury, will only come with consequences. I'm still hungry to succeed but I'm taking this thing one bite at a time.
From DNS to DNF
I signed up for the Boulder Tri Series earlier this year and once you're in you're in. This would have been my 3rd take at the series and I was eager to do some damage. The Boulder Sprint was on June17th, I was at the point of maybe giving it a go but knew a local sprint was not worth the risk of forcing anything yet due to the injury, so I sat out of this one and instead went on to support some friends of mine in the race. It was a new perspective watching a race that you knew you should be racing in.
Just this past weekend was the second race of the series, the Boulder Peak. An Olympic distance race that is always sure to bring in top notch athletes. I've been back on my bike this past week with no discomfort in the knee and have splashed around in the pool for a bit with no structure to the training. I made a last minute decision (meaning race morning) to go ahead and pull the trigger and attempt to race the Boulder Peak. But I told myself I was not allowed to run, NO RUNNING!!
So I arrived at race morning ready to rock, I got in a good warmup before the swim start. We were off by 8:05, knowing that my swimming skills and speed have declined I still toed the line up-front with the faster fish. I had a good start and found a good rhythm to survive my longest swim yet since the Ironman. I came out of the water in 23:06....almost 10 seconds faster then last years time...HUH??? Very odd, and not sure how to explain that one. Anyways onto the bike, I opted to ride with my training wheels and a road helmet unlike my usual setup with my Zipp wheels and aero helmet. The bike felt good but I was hurting, I knew the fitness was obviously not there. I rolled into T2 in a time of 1:13:57...about 8min slower then last year...now that's more like it.
The hardest part about this race was handing in the timing chip, I didn't explain or give my story as to why I was handing in the chip. I just knew as I walked away that bigger things are to come, can't take away my heart and passion to comeback racing with a chip on my shoulder.
Up next is the Boulder 70.3, hopefully the fitness will be back enough to where I can at least finish the race. I have no rush to force it as I know there are bigger fish to catch and fry.
Train Safe and always capture your dreams.
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