Week 21 Summary

Well...it was bound to happen. After 20 weeks I missed my first training with an injury. I write this blog entry in frustration. I had a very easy and restful week while on the cruise and expected that down time would have me ready to go for some big weeks. The week started out great but this weekend my left achilles tendon started hurting. I've been lucky so far. Anytime something has hurt it's gone away with ice and massage right away. Achilles injuries scare the crap out of me to be quite honest. In college I missed 10 weeks of a track season with achilles tendonitis. I remember literally icing 10 times a day, taking iburopfin, and getting regular ultrasound treatment. It just wouldn't go away. This is not near to that extent yet of course but it scares me. I'm in the best shape of my life and am 4 weeks away from my first race. I'm going to try to get into Dr. Kaminski at Kaminski Pain and Performance Care ASAP. I've had GREAT results with him every time I've had something bothering me. The overall training was still pretty solid despite not doing much on Sunday. For the week my total training time was 18.5 hours. I ran 48 miles, biked 110, and swam 10,000 yards. I lifted weights, did strides, and running drills all three times, core work six times, lunges twice, and plyometrics once. I had two very good workouts to speak of. On Wednesday I ran 8x800's on the track as 1 set with 90 seconds rest between each one. I was hoping to run 2:40's. I ran the first two in 2:40 and then began to cut down. By the end of the workout my average time was 2:37. On Saturday I did a bike workout I've done quite a few times. It was 5x 5 minutes hard followed by 5 minutes easy. My average watts (which is power put into the pedals for those who don't cycle) was 317. Comparitvely last time I did this workout 18 days ago my average watts were only 285. I'm no doubt stronger on the bike than I've ever been and that is without the higher mileage I will get in the summer.
For this week my focus will be on getting healthy again so I can resume regular training. My achilles doesn't feel very good biking either so if I do have to miss some time running and cycling I'll spend more time in the pool. Extra time in the pool working on my weakness won't be a bad thing. As athletes we take it for granted when we're in shape and workouts are going well. The last thing on an athlete's mind is an injury until one occurs. Then it's the only thing they think about. I've got ice on my leg as I type this.
Injuries are part of training hard. I know this. I'm sure there are people who think I train too much. I don't want to be good...I want to be great. I've always believed there are too many people that never achieve greatness because they are afraid to do the training necessary to be great. I don't want to be an average triathlete. I want to be race as a professional. I know that requires taking risks and pushing myself to the envelope. I've known since I began training back in November there was a risk of injury by doing the training I am. It's a risk I am willing to take. I coached a runner in high school named Charlie Paul. Charlie is a great story. He was an average runner at best when he began. Before his junior year he chose to take a risk of training at a very high level. With that training also came the risk of injury. Charlie suffered two stress fractures in two years but managed to come back on three weeks of training and place 3rd in the state 3200 meters his senior year running a personal best time. Without taking that risk of high volume training he probably never would have gotten hurt...but he wouldn't have been 3rd at state and earned his way onto a division 1 cross country and track program either...I'll be back soon. The rest will be good in the long run. I still can't wait to race on April 26th. Thanks for reading. DREAM BIG!