#83 Self-Coached Vs Coach

Since August one of my biggest questions has been weather or not to work with a coach to help me reach my goals at Ironman. I’ve read a handful of books, understand a lot of the principals of training for endurance events & do my fair share of ongoing research. All that being said I ended up hiring a coach.

After talking to a bunch of coaches to get an understanding on how they go about working with athletes I decided to work with Jonathan Caron. A number of factors came into the decision, first off Jonathan has a really solid understanding of the Ironman Canada course, his racing career has been quite successful under some challenging circumstances & one of the biggest factors is he’s very approachable.

I’m in the middle of week one working with Jonathan & there have been some pretty big changes from my self-coached route. For the next month my focus will continue to be training for the Las Vegas marathon. There have been some pretty noticeable changes in my training schedule now that I’m not the one putting it together. My long runs are a bit shorter & I’m running more frequently. While the overall volume may be a little less than what I was doing its much more targeted now. (quality over quantity)

I also really REALLY slacked off on swimming & was only biking once a week. My schedule this week was back to three swim workouts & three bike workouts. On the topic of swimming…I finally started swimming with a Masters group & it ended up being a big improvement over endless laps in the pool on your own.

On the plantar fasciitis front there’s not much to report. I’ve been using the TP products now for a little over a week & the symptoms have got a little better but still persistent. Its only been a week & I didn’t expect miracles this quick. (But I guess I was hoping)

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#82 Plantar Fasciitis

Since my running mileage increased I’ve been fighting some plantar fasciitis issues. Through acupuncture, massage therapy, ice, stretching & ibuprofen I’ve been able to keep it from getting too bad. That being said I decided it would be a good idea to pull out the big guns as far as treatment. Monday I acquired (purchased) the Trigger Point Performance Therapy Plantar Fasciitis kit. This is a set of tools that focus on the muscles in the lower leg that causes the pain in the foot (not butt) that is plantar fasciitis.

Trigger Point Plantar Fasciitis kit

I was first introduced to Trigger Point about a year ago at Eastside Multisport Center. The founder of TP was there sponsoring an event & giving his pitch. The way the products worked seemed logical & I went back to EMC for a group session to use the products. At that point I was about 7 months off a broken leg & the TP rollers were a bit aggressive/painful. Since then I’ve been using the low-tech old foam roller, when I started using the foam roller it was also quite painful but over time I’ve got used to it.

It’s to early for a review on the products but as time goes by I’ll post my results & give a full review.

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#81 Another Weekend Report

These blog posts are starting to feel a little routine & predictable but here it goes.

This past weekend I headed out for a 60 mile ride on Saturday that turned in to about 68. The sun was out, it was dry but cold as hell. About ten miles in I even started spotting frost on the ground. The route went through Renton, Factoria, Issaquah, Redmond & then back across I-90 to Seattle. I’m not sure the reason but I only felt at about 50%, I was tired, my legs hurt & I was really happy to make it home 😉

Saturday was also the Ironman World Championship in Kona Hawaii. This year the online coverage was better than years past & I was glued to it. (For an example of how to cover a bicycle race online check out the Tour of California next spring) The conditions in Kona were windy, hot & humid…just the way it should be for that race. Craig Alexander was the top male & Chrissie Wellington was the first woman across the line. (Link to a full race recap) Here’s a great video that show’s the race highlighting the pros. Take note of how strong Craig Alexander looked on the run…amazing!

Saturday night Harmony went out to my parents for dinner & Mom tried to kill us with good food/desert…

Sunday I got the opportunity to see what running 20 miles felt like. My plan when I headed out was to just put the miles in and not to worry about the pace. (But deep down I wanted to be around an 8:15/mile pace) The run was loooooong, boring & a bit uncomfortable towards the end. I finished the 20 miles in 2:39.30 putting my pace a touch under 8 minute miles.

After the run I had about an haour before I had to be out the door & off to Dawn & Greg’s for dinner. All I really wanted to do was sleep but I stuck it out till almost midnight…OUCH! Monday morning was a tough one.

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#80 Running With My Eyes Closed

So I wasn’t running with my eye’s closed but I might as well have been. Late Sunday afternoon I headed out for an 18 mile run. One great thing about the NW is the looooong summer days, sometimes its easy to forget the days aren’t as long as they were a month ago. I headed out at about 5:30 & figured the run would take me 2.5 hours. At about the half way mark it was…DARK & the route I was running didn’t have any street lights. (Oh, and it was raining) There were two things I was worried about, first Harmony thinking she should come looking for me & second I was concerned I would hurt myself running in the dark. Luckily neither of happened. (Special thanks to Harmony for not giving me too hard of a time, I promise to plan a little better)

I felt like I was running a slower pace than the week before but as it turns out I was a little faster. My average pace was 8:09 miles & I finished a little faster than my target of two hours & thirty minutes.

The week before 15 miles went down pretty easy, 18 was another story…it was tough to keep going during the run & come Monday I was pretty sore.

On another note I got a good reminder from Sitter. She mentioned that her Mother has been swimming with a Masters group for a number of years & Mrs. Sitter is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Why the hell am I intimidated to swim with a Masters group?

Photo of Harmony, Mr & Mrs Sitter and Gretchen from Ironman CDA 2007.

One final note, I’m starting to get excited about the Las Vegas Marathon. Harmony had been debating between racing in Seattle the end of Nov. or Vegas in Dec. With the help of a flat course, Sin City won & she’ll also be racing down south.

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#79 More of the Same

Since my last post its been more of the same other than the weather. I guess my “summers over” declaration was a little premature.

Over the weekend I got in a long-ish bike ride on Saturday & a truly long run on Sunday. I managed to get 15 miles in on Sunday and hold just over an eight minute mile pace. It felt surprisingly well start to finish, I figured this was a good opportunity to try my first legendary Sara Sitter ice bath. One word sums it up…COLD. It must have done something because on Monday (an off day) I felt pretty good.

Also on Sunday was a birthday brunch for Bo. It was the usual suspects & a couple new faces. Its amazing to see how quickly Laneys growing.

Tuesday evening I was back to my running shoes. My plan was 6 miles holding a 7:30 pace. It didn’t go exactly as planned. At the half way mark I was about two and a half minutes ahead of pace. In the end I finished at 42:27. The average pace was 7:05/mile. Over time I want to get more consistent at sticking at a 7:30 pace.

On the “oops I’m supposed to be doing” front…my plan was to start Masters Swimming this week. I keep coming up with excuses not to for the simple reason I’m totally intimidated. There I said it.

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