How was your week? Aug. 31 Edition

It’s back-to-school season… how are you?

Last week’s goals:
4 x swim: win though 2 were pretty short
3 x bike: win with 4
5 x run: win with 6
4 x core/strength: win

Starting to feel a little more durable. Still freaked about the 50k in mid-October, though.

This week’s goals:
2 x swim
1 x bike
5 x run
4 x core/strength

Off to a motorcycle rally for the long weekend, but will try to get a couple of runs in while we’re down there since I really can’t afford to slack off running anymore.

Doing OK. Bike miles were down, run miles were a tad up-ish. Two swims, both shorter. Done with Tris for the year.
Reflecting back, I kind of wish I had done more races this year. I only did 3 tris.
I had a fun summer, but it really seems like it flew by way too fast.

30k road / dirt road race on Saturday, after which I’ll have to commit to a fall mary or not.

A little freaked about starting a teaching gig next week - one 2 credit class, meets once a week for 2 hrs.
1st year grad students.
I know the material but it’s going to be a lot of work, I think.

CX season is ramping up. First race 9/12.

Did one crazy fun thing this past weekend - rode stoker on a tandem MTB with a friend. She’d never captained before, it was my 3rd time being stoker. We both had fun and made plans to do it again.

I’m Joyce and I’m new on this forum. I’m recovering from a stress fracture and missed my first Ironman a few weeks ago. Recovery has been slow but steady. Still on one crutch but walking around a lot in my house. I’m on week 10 of recovery.

This week I did one master swim workout and 3 very nice open water swims. Also got on my cross bike and rode the dirt roads a few times, going easy and no more than an hour and a half. Although my doctor told me to back off a little on the biking so I wouldn’t slow down the recovery. Also doing my PT exercises each day. Can’t wait until I can run…not sure when that will be. Hopefully in the fall. I did learn that stress fractures take longer to heal than traumatic fractures which is a bummer!

Last week’s goals:
bike x 4, run x 5 (one done), swim x 2, eat less cake.
Managed to bike x 3 (although one was a three hour! trainer ride), run x 4, swim x 1. Ate less cake. Drank less alcohol. Ate more ice cream. Swings & roundabouts. A couple of friends helped me tackle the overgrown mess that was my backyard so that is one less thing to worry about now.

This week: last triathlon of the season! Other than that, run x 3 (one done), bike x 3, swim x ? (local pool now closed for a month and I’m not sure how often I’m going to be driving 45-50 mins to swim).

Hi Joyce!

Finally have an explanation for my mid-workout implosions. Borderline anemic, but my iron stores are super low. Hello supplements!! Hopefully I’ll start feeling better (or at least less bad) soon.

it’s a bummer and good news all at once.

Give it time though. I struggle with proper iron levels and it usually takes around 3 weeks for me to feel better if things have gotten low.

it’s a bummer and good news all at once.

Give it time though. I struggle with proper iron levels and it usually takes around 3 weeks for me to feel better if things have gotten low.

I’ve done this a few times, although I wasn’t really working out much then. Since workouts were going so badly (dizzy/lightheaded 2km into an easy run), I’ve taken up more couch time & being lazy. Probably not the best choice, but the alternative was getting super demoralizing. I still have a dog to walk & a 3 year old to chase - so it almost evens out the Netflix binges… :confused:

Two weeks of updates!

I accepted a legal transfer from a friend to do an aquabike race – 1 mile ocean swim, 34 mile technical/hilly bike, rack and run across the finish line. Swim was long (1.25ish) and choppy, but I was still in the hunt until I blew a hole in my front tire at around Mile 20. Accepted “company” but not “assistance” from “Scott 35-39” who blew out in the same spot. He could not patch his with an empty gel foil and accepted a ride home from a passerby, but I successfully used a $20 to patch the hole in my tire (broke a tire lever in the process) and made it up the final steep hill and back to T2, where I passed a girl in the finish chute to finish 19th. Nowhere close to a medal that day, but at least a good story.There is this older guy at my pool Sundays who has stopped me on two prior occasions to tell me I am a terrible swimmer (1:04 Ironman PR, so terrible is, I guess, relative). He refuses to stop mainsplaining even when I say No thanks, I don’t want swim tips, I have a coach, I am working on X and Y, etc. He gives tips to all the women and never seems to recognize me, even though he always tells me the same basic things. But yesterday he stopped me to tell me I had the BEST catch and position in the pool and was “really fast for a triathlete.” That is undoubtedly the result of my swim clinic with Andy Potts and Gary Hall, who really helped me with those two things. So even though he interrupted my workout again, at least this time I felt positive about it.
Heading to doctor tomorrow for followup on my knee sprain and my ongoing sinus/breathing problems. Head up, young persons (except when swimming).

I successfully used a $20 to patch the hole in my tire

That is creative! Smart thinking!

… I would have whacked the guy at the pool by now…

A little freaked about starting a teaching gig next week - one 2 credit class, meets once a week for 2 hrs.
1st year grad students.
I know the material but it’s going to be a lot of work, I think.

Grad students are the worst :wink: so high maintenance

What’s the course?

I’m Joyce and I’m new on this forum. I’m recovering from a stress fracture and missed my first Ironman a few weeks ago. Recovery has been slow but steady. Still on one crutch but walking around a lot in my house. I’m on week 10 of recovery.

Sorry to hear about your stress fracture and missing your Ironman. =( I had one in my tibia a few years ago and it was so depressing not being able to run. Hang in there and be PATIENT so you can heal properly. Trust me, it is worth waiting a few extra weeks to know you are fully healed.

I don’t usually check in weekly but since I’m here, why not… Last week was a big bummer after my second 70.3 was canceled at mile 53 on the bike for lightning, but my tweaked SI joint, which has been a literal pain in my rear, is feeling better. Note: Your highest running mileage month ever + no stretching + old shoes = BAD. I’m now behind on marathon training but with new shoes and some rest, have been easing back into it. I probably won’t be setting a PR next month which was my big goal, but I might fit a second-chance marathon into a winter vacation. We’ll see. Right now it’s all about the easy miles and the stretching.

class is titled materials in orthotics and prosthetics.

MM, I’ve had SI joint stuff before - mine sometimes gets out of alignment - and a PT is usually able to get it back where it should be. It is a painful injury!

I did learn that stress fractures take longer to heal than traumatic fractures which is a bummer!

Interesting, I always assumed they were about the same. Do you know why?

I did learn that stress fractures take longer to heal than traumatic fractures which is a bummer!

Interesting, I always assumed they were about the same. Do you know why?

The doctor was saying that trauma induces the body to send a lot of blow flow and energy to traumatized area in the body, much more so than a stress fracture. And mine is inside the bone so it will take even longer as there is much less blood flow. I guess I should have tried to wreck myself more to have a quicker healing response :slight_smile: Just kidding! :slight_smile:

cool! I’m interested to hear how you like teaching and your take on the students. I look forward to being a professor in several years but I think I’ll like undergrads better than grads. My uni is on a quarter system so I don’t start until Sept. 24. I am currently working on my IRB (permission to research with human subjects) application and other related dissertation set-up stuff.

Goals for this week:

  • At least 1 day off from running (1 done, today, hahaha) done! 5 runs
  • Ride 4x with one of them a speed workout rode three times. No speed workout.
  • Open water swim 2x while it is still summer. one OW, one pool

M: 4.5 mi ocean swim
T: 2 mi run + 13.5 mi bike
W: 11 mi run + 5 mi bike
T: 7 mi run + 1550 yd swim
F: 41 mi bike
S: 8.7 mi including a 5k race (21:33, 2nd FOV)
S: 10.3 mi run

the race was good; New Balance shoes are made in my town and this was the New Balance 5k. Prizes: they raffled 20 coupons for shoes, and I won one :slight_smile: I couldn’t find an athletic shoe I liked, so I got a pair of ankle boots from their new dress shoe line. Ankle boots with no heel!!! It was a fun race, and I learned something about racing. The winning woman gapped me a bit in the first mile, and I thought “I can catch her” but then I never made a move to do it. You know how hard it is to think when you race - I think I assumed that I would gradually chip away at the gap. Well, a 5k is short and by the time I knew it the race was over (she ran 21:03). Lesson: if you want to catch someone, particularly in a short race, at some point you need to make a move to do it. Her son, also a runner, beat me by a few seconds (and he was a kid! waaah!), and the winner was a male who ran 20:33, so I was fourth overall. I was impressed by a couple of Amish women who ran in long skirts and did quite well; one finished 5th OV I think.

We took my littlest brother to college (he’s 30 min down the road) the other day and we are all adjusting to that. I am trying to take good care of my parents, who are worried about him. I am also a little worried, but am playing the role of “it is going to be fine!” and other reassurance for my parents’ sake. Although more than worried I am really PROUD of my brother.

My main goal for this week is to be present while doing work… not do 5 min of work alternating with 5 min of internet :stuck_out_tongue: other goals

  • at least a day off from running
  • OW swim at least once while it is still summer
  • bike 4x (1 done)

Yes – while Googling I found a checklist of things that can lead to SI joint misalignment and, what do you know, I fit every one:

  1.  I have been training harder and heavier than usual.
    
  2.  I have been sitting at my computer more than usual.
    
  3.  I have been paying less attention to my pelvic alignment.
    
  4.  I have stopped doing nearly all extra core training.
    
  5.  I’m probably more stressed than I realize.
    
  6.  I am a woman.
    

Yes – while Googling I found a checklist of things that can lead to SI joint misalignment and, what do you know, I fit every one:
Quote:

  1. I have been training harder and heavier than usual.
  2. I have been sitting at my computer more than usual.
    **3) I have been paying less attention to my pelvic alignment. **
  3. I have stopped doing nearly all extra core training.
  4. I’m probably more stressed than I realize.
  5. I am a woman.

That one struck me as dumb. I don’t think people pay attention to their pelvic alignment until it is misaligned!
(possible tmi) Per #6, my issues seem to happen around the time I get my period. I think the hormonal fluxes that make joints looser contribute to it.

Awesome on the 5K, Tigerchik! Thinking about the upper portion of the state, the stepkid had a sudden change of heart on Tuesday and left on Thursday morning for UMPI. (Let’s not talk about the speeding ticket he got for doing 91 on the turnpike, it’s still a little raw!)

A couple of weeks ago I went to the rheumatologist and got my official fibromyalgia diagnosis, and since then it’s been a game of “What Rx do we try first?” It looks like we’ve found a combination of meds that is effective, which is very encouraging. That’s no mean feat when you’re treating diabetes, Hashimoto’s, and sensory, muscular and joint pain! The only side effect is that I’ve gained a creeping 5 pounds over the past couple of weeks. Considering that I’m already heavy, that’s a nuisance but not the crazy proportion it would be if I were at anything close to race weight!

All things being equal, it’s not been too bad a week. I got to ride the Challenge Maine oly bike course, since I was able to pick it up about half a mile from my house - and ended up being an accidental traffic control volunteer at the race, because the poor teenager they left in charge of the local junction had no clue what he was doing and nearly got a couple of people killed on the bike.

I am really psyched for the Pilgrimman, which I stopped prevaricating about and actually signed up for this morning. That gives me a couple of weeks to get in some swim time and maybe a run or two. I’m treating it as a bonus, since I didn’t know a month ago if I’d be fit to race at all.