Training Log Archive: Carbons Offset

15.8
Right mediotarsal ached a little during yesterday's ride and after. Not as bad this morning.

Lake Minnewanka trail with Lyen, Alice, Maude, Carbon, Kim and Bruce (he biked).
It was already getting busy when we arrived. Those darn free park passes.
Beautiful day, clear skies, perfect temperature. Several picnickers by the lake. The crowds thinned just a couple km down the trail, as it usually does. Ran 8km to the bridge just before Aylmer junction. Turned around and then Lyen's training plan called for a fast finish so we went a little faster on the way back and then really picked it up for the last km. A fun crew and a chocolate milk tailgate party at the end. When we came back to the parking lot, the lot was full and visitors were being turned away.

Left foot felt fine during the run. Right foot (mediotarsal) ached most of the time.

C • Run 5

16.0
A more solid sleep last night.

Tunnel mountain with Carbon, Jenna, Cailee (sp?) and Vince. Started with Topp Notch. Might have been good to warm up on the berms of Star Wars first. Rode everything on Topp Notch (except the one super tight switchback) but felt like I didn't have as good of flow as I would like. Then a fun zip down Star Wars.
Finished with an out and back of all of Spine, Coastline and Toe/Moraine Loop. Cranked the pace up which is super fun on this trail. Everybody else came along at the same fun pace. We were all pretty pooped by the end but that's what happens when you are flying along at "Mach Bitch.0" (we felt that our intensity was deserving of an intense label for our speed. And yes, the precision is down to the first decimal place). A super fun day had by all! Weather was great, trails are completely dry. There were some other folks on the trails but not too busy.

Same comments as when we rode this combo on June 12, 2016. Again the rear of the bike felt a little squirmy at times, I think it is just sliding on loose stuff on top of the trails. Tire pressure was up to the full 22 psi, and on an Ardent this time instead of an Ikon. For these dry conditions, I think I prefer the feel of the lower profile Ikon.

Hit McDonald's for soft ice cream after. Then stopped by the bike shop for a new front tire for Carbon's bike. When we walked in, they were pulling that exact new tire off a new bike and offered to throw it on hers, no labour charge, Stan's sealant already in it, and a nice discount for the take-off tire. Sweet.

15.8
Awake at 3:30 AM and wasn't able to fall asleep again for quite a while. Felt like I needed to get up and eat something (I blame The Wood for getting cheap on their half-price appies: the shrimp tacos now only have one shrimp each), seemed like my body was really asking for recovery fuel, but didn't want to be noisy. Or maybe my body was just too fired up after the workout. Fortunately, was able to sleep in once I did fall asleep again.

clamshells, 20x each side
side planks, 90s per side

Left foot feels okay this morning. Right mediotarsal joint a bit sore.

Physio with Slice
Trying to figure out what is giving me some significant pain on the lower left side of my back. Slice was able to rule out anything in my spine (I wasn't sure if something was locked up or pinching a nerve). It seems likely that this arises from my weaker left glute. With all of my activity lately (3000m day, road trip for lots of biking and skiing with Revy (felt tight before the trip and the trip probably put me over the top), maybe even R2R2R before all of that), my QL is probably getting worked extra hard to compensate; Slice was able to immediately find the significant knot in it.
Lower back on the right was also not great, even though it hasn't been bothering me yet.
We did some IMS needling and current, and I've been prescribed some clamshells (both sides), 2x20, twice a day.
L4 seemed either like it is shifted forward, or maybe the process is just shorter than average. Otherwise the spine seemed good.

C • Short spinous process 2

Around Quarry Lake. Almost as flat as a pancake as you can get in Canmore but by the last couple of intervals, the two slight rises on the loop started feeling significant.

Warm up and strides
3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3 min, with 2 minutes recovery between each interval.
Cool down

Less recovery than we have often done. We often have a work:recovery ratio of 1:1. Adam pointed out that our recoveries were too long.
Still felt like we had good energy to perform each interval despite the shorter recovery. However, for the last three I was getting tired. My breathing felt tired from the beginning of the evening; it felt like having so many days of no activity was not good for me, despite the fact that I must have been well rested. I probably need a hard workout or two to get back into it, wake things up.
Was quite tired after. Everyone was. Our workout volume is typically something like 8 x 3 min (24 min total work). This was 38 min work, with less recovery.

Didn't expect to be at this workout because of my issues with my lower back but after seeing Slice, I had a good run with no discomfort. The left side that she worked on felt fine. With that pain out of the way, I could notice a little bit of tightness and soreness on the right side. I had thought my right side was fine but she had commented that it was tight too.
It was great to be able to work out. Thank you Slice!

Toes were pretty good, noticed just a little ache in left foot after. Right foot seemed okay.

Wasn't sure how the back is doing and whether it would like the impact of running. Also, the right big toe is feeling a bit locked up so it wouldn't be able to bend at all for running. Decided to try the stairmill, the flat stepping doesn't work the toe at all. Haven't done any activity for a week, really need to do something but options may be limited. Lower left back and hip is so bad that I can't even raise my left leg enough to put on a pair of pants without issue.

Did the stairmill for 30 minutes, then gave the treadmill a try for 5 minutes but could feel the lower back getting slightly aggravated and the toe wasn't happy. I was hoping something with the toe would either warm up or shift out of the locked position. No luck. Went back to the stairmill and did a little more.
Workout felt harder than it should have at first. I would have thought I'd be well rested after a week of rest, but maybe I've just lost a little fitness (1% per day off is what I have heard) or the body just falls out of active mode.

16.5