Training Log Archive: O Steve!

Cortisone shot in the left recent surgery knee.....recent shots in both knees......Hopefully I can get back to running soon....can't yet. It seems to have responded but this has been tougher than I had anticipated.
Took this training easy.......not enough hard training lately. Just limping along....literally.

Tried to run a bit....no go

mostly 20:00/mile at 10% incline

Hotel treadmill....mostly 24:00/mile @ 12% incline most of the time....

x20

3 of 4 key workouts to prep for the mt race in Austria.....

20:41/mile at 11%....HR was lower but this is a tough muscular endurance workout

in my long history of training and racing I have had very few moments were and injury got in the way of my ability to train or compete to my modest best...this knee thing has. It feels ok, tight, still swollen internally, but I am having to refrain from training the way I need to in a fairly significant way.

I am ready to go, I want to get some intensity in my training, but my knee is holding me back. I am walking a tight rope. Train enough to get ready for some events I am doing....and at the same time not trying to cause more delay in a full recovery.....tough to do..

C • knee 2

decided on 2 broken time trials to see where I am at....break up my 450 yd time trial in 3 x 150 and see what I get...

warm up with a 100 and then x x 50 on 1:30

1 x 100

1:34

:55 recovery

:45
:45
:45
:44
:44

2:45 recovery

3 x 150 on 2:00

2:18
2:22
2:20

7:00 for 450

3:39 recovery

2:18
2:22
2:22

7:02 for 450

not bad...I figure this means I am in 7:12-18 territory on a 450 time trial....perhaps a bit better. If I could keep going at it I could get close to 7 or perhaps even sub 7 but our upcoming vacation will kill that possibility..

longish bike ride with Kari....going north to explore some different bike trails....

3 x 2 pairs of 50 on 1:00

:46
:47

:42 recovery

:46
:46

:43 recovery

:44
:45

2:14 recovery

3 x 2 pairs of 150's on 3:00

2:23
2:22

1:37 recovery

2:22
2:24

1:35 recovery

2:23
2:24

not bad.....decent speed but need more....

mild effort recovery

recovery spin

knee a bit swollen.....I need to try and baby it a bit...... 1.25 hour family mt bike that moved at times but didnt have HR monitor so decided not to count it.....

Lake Minnetonka Triathlon...Likely the most unprepared I have ever been for a triathlon.....why did I sign up to do it?....two weeks ago I skipped the first triathlon I had signed up after 33 years of competing. And I wanted to get another triathlon finish to push me to my life time goal of 300.

I had only done 2 or 3 very slow walk/runs and had not run more than 4 minutes continuously since my surgery 4 weeks ago. My swim training had been interrupted by the surgery and was not ramped up and my biking was just ok.....

I decided to use this event as training and go at it at a tempo pace effort on the bike and run and hoped to just be able to cover the 3 mile run without walking. My ultimate goal would be to average 10 minute miles on the 3 mile run....but above all else I just wanted to finish and thought if I had to walk I would still complete.

This triathlon has one of the most, if not the most ,competitive fields in the older age groups....an unofficial state championship. My swim wave of older guys was quite large and had some great athletes lined up.

At the start I dolphined quickly and then settled in to a comfortable pace trying to concentrate of a soft entry and swimming smooth....I could tell a good many (10 or so) guys made they way by me as I settled in for a firm but not all out race effort.

I was reminded how different open water swimming in a triathlon crowd is when compared to lane swimming in a pool as I struggled a bit to sight the 2nd buoy and swim through the crowd. The swim seemed to go on forever and the crowd really let up on the last leg (to the point I was sighting around me to make sure I had not cut in early). I popped up at the beach to see 17:20 on my watch.....whoa!, slow!, this is supposed to be a 1/2 mile swim but reports later communicated it was more likely a 1K distance. After looking at the results and comparing to the "usual suspects" it turns out I was likely about a minute off my normal swim pace. Given my effort and edited swim training this was about right. Although i was secretly hoping I might swim :30 faster.
I sure didnt feel any stress as I lined up since I had such low expectations and such a question mark on the run.

Not really pushing it....just trying to be smooth.....bobbled one of the leg stomp outs....

Moved along on the bike but did not take it all the way...paced my way up some hills and didn't try to fight back when passed....kept it at high tempo effort....had some interesting times maneuvering around cars on the open course...especially passing by them and then cutting in front to take a left hand turn. kept aware and safe which was required at times. The turn around seemed to take a long time to get to but I felt like I was moving pretty good....likely 3 minutes slower than I could have gone or am capable of....but it still felt fairly quick for 15 miles.

likely dropped :45-1:00 here as I put my shoes on slow and took the time to but a knee brace on my surgery knee

Here is where I knew i would be going very slow.....I was just hoping to not have to walk...the good news that the 3 mile run was flat and was primarily on a crushed limestone trail....out and back. Best for my knee.


As I ran out it felt ok but I could tell in was tentative and not normal. I was doing ok but I had to think about placement of every footfall. I had to focus on not twisting and just ran straight ahead...saw Kari and Syd inn the first 1/2 mile and she asked me "how is the knee"..."so far, so good"...I settled in on a cautious and doable pace as people ran around me.

I got to the turnaround in 15:06 and thought "well, that is ok...." almost 10 minutes a mile...

I had two instances where I was hit by a sharp pain and immediately went to walking, each time I wasn't sure I would be able to continue running but each time I walked a few steps, shook my leg out a bit, got rid of the sharp pain and started running again. Almost every moment I was afraid I would have to walk it in. I seemed to be running steady but I could feel my other leg was feeling a bit more fatigued as I consciously tried to mitigate my foot strike on my surgery side....on the few inclines and turns I was very cautious not to twist or land hard.

I got close to the finish and knew I would be ok... crossed in 30:30 for 10:10 pace which is almost the best I could have hoped for and no significant segments of walking....total time was 1:37:33 which is very slow but still found me in the middle of the competitive total field.

I learned I was happy to be out there doing the three sports I have grown up with and loved for the past 33 years despite the slow paces which bodes well for my later years in the sport. I also got to see many of the old veterans of the sport that I have known for years. Jan Guenther, owner of Gear West ski and run has been doing this stuff as long as me and we even did some of the same events back in the 80's in Missouri. She was racked right across from me and we had a long chat before the event as we both did not bother with warm ups. And I reached my most important goal of finishing of my 284th triathlon/tri-multisport event. 16 more to go for my lifetime goal.

I might have lengthened the full recovery time for my knee a tad but it was worth it....perhaps I can come back next year and try for a placing in the 60-64 next year but wont be able to accomplish that without some hard focused training and hard racing (I would likely need to shave off 5-7 minutes total)...and that is kind of the point.

mild spin

tried to run but sharp pain in surgery knee had me stop

Doing a triathlon tomorrow....lake Minnetonka. totally unprepared i will use it for traning. My recent attempts at running have been a fail due to some sharp pain that only occurs when I run otherwise the knee feels good.

I have to get through 3 miles on the run. I have no idea how that is going to happen....I might be able to run at a decent clip or I might have to walk the whole thing.....either way I will get to the finish line and notch another finish.

Run 4 min/ walk 1......tested the knee a bit since I am going to have to get through a 3 mile run on my Triathlon Saturday......there were times when I had some small but pointed pain in the surgery knee and it came and went....wasnt expecting that but it seem to be best to run on the even asphalt surface for stability......weird.......i would have suspected it wouldnt have hurt at all.....Saturday on the run it will be interesting.....

walk back home after run.....didnt want to risk running more..

20:41/ mile @ 11% incline.....

Another key workout that covers prep for the mt run up event in mid July and substitute for a long run...

the treadmill is an very effective tool for building strength and uphill endurance without having to run....and its quick and effective to use.

2nd of 4 total workouts that build on each other to prep for the 12.7K event with 4900 feet of climb...

3 x 50 on 1:30

:47
:47
:47

1:12

main set....3 x 100 on 2:00....4 sets

1:35
1:36
1:35

1:24 recovery

1:33
1:33
1:34

1:25 recovery

1:31
1:33
1:30

1:29 recovery

1:33
1:34
1:31

1:28 recovery

1 x 50

:50

Solo.dirt road. Steady rain. In poplar wi.....ran 4min mild/easy-walk 1.....

Loved it...

knee did not feel totally normal and had a small pain at 28 minutes...so walked the last small bit

up and back on the greenway...quick ride

Hiked for 2 hours with family at copper falls state park....it was not a workout or training......but did count this quick hike up an observation tower

5 x 200 on 5:00

3:15
3:17
3:15
3:17
3:14

seems decent....
2:45 recover

4 x 50 on 1:30

:47
:47
:46
:44

12:30 pace....run 3:30 walk 1:30 treadmill...total was 25 minutes at 122 hra

Just logged the running time here to keep track of actual run minutes for recovery

Walk segment of run

What do your do when you can't run hard due to recent surgery but want to simulate vo2 max 400 meter intervals....your crank up the incline on the treadmill and walk uphill intensely

Did 6 x 2 minutes @ 16:30 pace at 15% incine w/ 2 min at 1mph recovery. ....HR ran into 157 high. Good execution

Worked great without impact on knee....
And helps prep for uphill mt event also. ...

Hopkins loop at mild-mid tempo pace in:

40:25 147 HRA

ran 5 min...walk 2

the run 3 walk 2 repeat....

all on dirt trails in east cedar...the beginning of my new limited run program.

knee felt ok....running at a pretty slow pace....13:00/mile?

walk portion of run.....

wanted to get in an endurance related swim with very short rest intervals

10x100 on 2:00

1:38
1:41
1:41
1:41
1:40
1:40
1:40
1:39
1:40
1:33 (pushed...just to see what I can do)

decent

2:26 recover

7 x 50 on 1:15

:44
:45
:44
:45
:45
:46
:43

knee test at 13:08/mile.....did not feel totally normal so ended it at 5 minutes...its a start.

uphill treadmilll hike to simulate temp pace run

5 min warm up and cood down but main set was:

10:00 @ 20:00/mile at 15% incline

10:00 140 HRA
5:00 recover 20:00/mile at 7% incline 127 HRA
10:00 148 HRA

well done an did not pound knee

back to Elm Creek with Kari as Syd is up north with G'mas....

6:15 easy edit loop
1:11:55 on big loop easy in....148 HRA

this workout, and more to come like it, serves two purposes......

one...prepare for the race in Austria...12.7K with 1500 meters of gain....
two...my way of getting in the equivalent of a long run without running...saving my knees for shorter and more intense efforts....

I think its going to work on both accounts but we will see......i have just a month to prep for the 12.7 mountain race so I will have to ramp this up as best I can without much time to do it.....while at the same time not overdoing it with the knee....balancing act.

and PT

Elm Creek singletrack ..trying to keep it at a mild effort to allow my knee to recover.....knee felt good. Just a small bit of pain in the right knee "good knee"

short edited beginner loop 6:39

10.5 mile loop in 1:11:40 easy in.....140 HRA...did not feel that hard