I'm Jillian,this is my journey from a morbidly obese woman to endurance athlete
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
My Yearly Setback
So once again I am having an ITBS flair up. It was this time last year I was diagnosed with ITBS and started the recovery process. Unlike last year, this time I know what is going on and know how to combat it. I have been foam rolling my IT band 5x a days for a minute each time and already have been able to run 4 miles pain free and do a few 70 minute spins on the bike trainer. Today I am doing something so unlike me, I am going to swim long tonight and that's it. It has been a long time since I have just swam and that's it. On swim days I always make it a 2 a-day, either a short run or a spin on the bike trainer before the swim. This week I am really playing it safe because of the ITBS. Last year I was trying to be tough, so I trained through the pain and just kept setting myself back. That was not being tough, that was just being stupid, it took me a long time to realize that, but once I did, I was on the road to recovery.
With this forced time off to heal, I came to this great realization thanks to the great folks on the beginnertriathlete.com forums: I was setting myself up to leave my race in training camp. Every single run, and every single bike ride I had been pushing extremely hard, like at or above race pace the entire workout. I would be spent and practically unable to move after the workouts. I believe this not only irritated my IT bands, but I was gradually burning my box of matches. When my box is out of matches and the race hasn't even happened yet, that's a huge problem. Here is the key thing I learned from the very knowledgeable people on the beginnertriathlete forum: we as humans only have so many race efforts in us, and if you use them all up in training you will be out of race efforts when the race comes around.
So with the New Orleans 70.3 only 10 weeks away, I have to take a different approach to training if I want to make it to the start line in one piece. I will have to go back to the same tired and true method I used last year during ironman training: swim bike and run often, mostly easy, sometimes hard. Its such a simple concept, but one I often have trouble following. When I get out in the road I am usually bursting with motivation and I just want to go hard and fast all the time. I ran 4 miles the day before yesterday to test out how my ITBS was progressing in terms of healing, I was trying really hard to go at a slow pace as not to irritate the IT bands and the slowest pace I could manage was 8:40 per mile, but the run went fine and I didn't feel like I was being stabbed in the leg. Finishing that run pain free is making me really optimistic that I am doing the right things in terms of recover and this injury won't wreck my season, which, as seen on the tab above labeled "race with me" is pretty much set for the year. Those are all the races I have paid my entry fee for. Muncie 70.3 is still a possibility, but just have to play it by ear. Because of this possibility I haven't planned any other races for July.
Uncle Sam finally gave us our federal tax return, I called the bike shop in Jacksonville to pay off the bikes we had on layaway. I am incredibly excited about this new bike. I have been waiting a long time, and the time is now here, just have to get through tomorrow. Pictures do not do this bike justice, so I will be making a video about my new bike.
Happy training and stay safe out there, and although I feel like a hypocrite for saying this, don't leave your race in training camp!
With this forced time off to heal, I came to this great realization thanks to the great folks on the beginnertriathlete.com forums: I was setting myself up to leave my race in training camp. Every single run, and every single bike ride I had been pushing extremely hard, like at or above race pace the entire workout. I would be spent and practically unable to move after the workouts. I believe this not only irritated my IT bands, but I was gradually burning my box of matches. When my box is out of matches and the race hasn't even happened yet, that's a huge problem. Here is the key thing I learned from the very knowledgeable people on the beginnertriathlete forum: we as humans only have so many race efforts in us, and if you use them all up in training you will be out of race efforts when the race comes around.
So with the New Orleans 70.3 only 10 weeks away, I have to take a different approach to training if I want to make it to the start line in one piece. I will have to go back to the same tired and true method I used last year during ironman training: swim bike and run often, mostly easy, sometimes hard. Its such a simple concept, but one I often have trouble following. When I get out in the road I am usually bursting with motivation and I just want to go hard and fast all the time. I ran 4 miles the day before yesterday to test out how my ITBS was progressing in terms of healing, I was trying really hard to go at a slow pace as not to irritate the IT bands and the slowest pace I could manage was 8:40 per mile, but the run went fine and I didn't feel like I was being stabbed in the leg. Finishing that run pain free is making me really optimistic that I am doing the right things in terms of recover and this injury won't wreck my season, which, as seen on the tab above labeled "race with me" is pretty much set for the year. Those are all the races I have paid my entry fee for. Muncie 70.3 is still a possibility, but just have to play it by ear. Because of this possibility I haven't planned any other races for July.
Uncle Sam finally gave us our federal tax return, I called the bike shop in Jacksonville to pay off the bikes we had on layaway. I am incredibly excited about this new bike. I have been waiting a long time, and the time is now here, just have to get through tomorrow. Pictures do not do this bike justice, so I will be making a video about my new bike.
Happy training and stay safe out there, and although I feel like a hypocrite for saying this, don't leave your race in training camp!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)