Training is going ok. 18 days until the Batavia Duathlon!  My hip and SI joint have felt a little better this weeks, but that may be because I haven't been running much.  I've only put in 12 miles in the last 2 weeks. Kind of scary given this race is coming up quick.  Will try and run some more in the last part of this week.  

Volunteered with Dare2Tri last night at Northerly Island Park in Chicago. What a beautiful night to be down at the lake: windy and warm looking out over the lake which appeared more like the ocean because of all the white caps.  All of the athletes and other volunteers were very nice and I think everyone enjoyed it.

5/17/17- Training is going ok. I decided not to do the Lemont Quary 10 miler this weekend and am focusing on the Batavia duathlon on June 11th.
 I had an X-ray taken of my low back, pelvis and hip due to the pain I've been having with running and biking. It showed a variety of abnormalities, some of which are likely congenital and some are likely chronic, degenerative changes.  The most significant was a spondylolesthesis at L5/S1 which is likely, at least in part, the cause of my left leg and hip pain. So, I'm going to try physical therapy starting next week.  Getting old sucks!  

I'm backing to self-coaching. Bummer! However, after working with Cheryl, I'm now trying to follow a more organized and planned-out schedule (rather than my usual, wake up, see what the day looks like and then decide what I FEEL like doing). I'm scheduling workouts on TrainingPeaks to spread out swimming, biking and running better and to be more consistent with swimming.

I'm excited because I re-did my 1K swim time trail yesterday and took 30 seconds off my time!  I did the test on April 7th and my time was  18:11. Then I did the test yesterday, May 4th, and my time was technically 17:50, but I forgot to stop the watch and when I looked at it after finishing it said 17:40. That's pretty good and not too far off from my best time for 1K over the last 10 years (17:10).  This weekend I would like to try to re-do the 30 minute distance bike trial and next week the 5K run trial to see if I'm improving.

5/1/17: Well, my one month of coaching is over for 2017!  Bummer, because it really helped me to boost my motivation, the intensity of my workouts and my confidence. I just hope I can keep up with the same high intensity swim sets. Although it was a big boost to my training, I'm not sure that I could take much more than a couple of months at that level before getting injured. It wasn't so much the swimming and biking as the running.  I've never been one to do a lot of running H.I.I.T. because every time I do, I develop some kind of injury.  Way back when I lived in Boston in the 80s I ran with the Boston Track Club and started doing intervals like 440s and 880s. Within a month I had problems. Then when I moved to Pasadena and did track w/os with the Pasadena Triathlon Club, same thing happened.  So maybe its good that I have 6 weeks till my first big race of the season and I can adjust my own training to keep it below the threshold of injury, but above the threshold for stimulating improvements in speed. My plan is to focus on swim speed and hard bike intervals, but avoid more than 10 minutes of high intensity running/week.  Hopefully the intensity with the other sports carries over to running!

USA Triathlon selects ET Batavia Duathlon as 2017 Regional Championship race

Duathlon has always been the illegitimate stepchild of triathlon, which is why I like it so much!  The races aren't that competitive and relative to triathlon, this allows a middle of the packer like me to be competitive.  But with this year's race in Batavia being named a regional qualifier, I have a feeling that people will come out of the woodwork. Guys I haven't seen in years and who I thought had died will probably show up healthier and faster than ever. Oh well... should be fun!   

Sly Fox Half-marathon

4/24/17:  I've been working with my coach Cheryl for 3 weeks now and its' going pretty good.  I did my first official outdoor race of the season on Saturday, the Sly Fox Half-marathon and it went pretty well other than hip.SI joint pain.  My time was 1;28:12 which was the slowest half marathon I've ever run outside of in a triathlon, but I'm happy with it given how hilly the course was and my training to date. But after the race, the pain was excruciating and centered around my left SI joint and hip.  I definitely need to get therapy or at least figure out what is going on in there.  

4/14/17: One week and a few days into training with Coach Cheryl and its going pretty good.  I'm definitely working harder than I would have been training if I was doing this on my own.  I'm not quite sure if that is a good or bad thing. I guess I'll know in a few weeks or months depending on whether my times improve or if I get injured or burned out.  What I'm struggling with is the intensity of the workouts, not so much the total distance.  The swim, bike and run tests were all extremely intense and pushed me over the top and then I immediately started in on a lot of short, high intensity run intervals and that just added to the fatigue.  But then I talked with her and she backed it down for a few days and now I'm feeling better. Today I ran 11 miles pretty easy and am feeling tired but otherwise ok,  I can see that its going to take a little while to adjust to this schedule and the intensity and I'm really hoping that it works out!  

4/9/17: completed threshold heart rate training today. Over the past week I did a swim (1000 yds), run (5K) and bike (30 min) for max distance or fastest time. These turned out about as expected: running is my best discipline, biking intermediate and swimming is worst. But it was very motivating to do the testing and did teach me a lot about how I train and race. First, my max HR is higher than I realized, about 170 bpm. Second, I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought. And third, it's cool to have someone else tell you what to do, rather than feeling like you are randomly working out without a plan!

Just got back from a combination of vacation (last week of March) and soccer tournament (first weekend of April) and was only able to run for that 10 day period. On the positive side, I put in a lot of running miles (maybe 30 miles?), but on the down side, I haven't swum or biked at all.  My glut strain/hip bursitis/SI joint problem (or what ever it is that is bothering my left hip) is really bugging me.  I can still train, but its just very uncomfortable and tight.  Looking forward to officially starting coaching tomorrow and getting back in the pool and on the bike!    

Still trying to figure out the Garmin Vivoactive.  I can't remember to turn on the "record workout" button and then when I do, I can't remember to turn it off!  Eventually I'll get it figured out and hopefully by April when the weather is nice enough to train outdoors.