Injury - Ironman training

Triathlon Forum
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Ok, I’ve been training for Ironman Wisconsin since January. I had a 36 week plan. It will be my first Ironman.

I am a good swimmer (sub 55 minute swim, no problem.)
I am becoming a decent biker. I did a 50 mile ride last Friday…we had 20 mph winds in our faces, and I had a slow friend with me. We averaged 17mph and my HR was really low, I wasn’t even tired after the ride. But times on the bike really depend on conditions. (I’d love to be around 6 hours if conditions are good.)

And my run is shit. In all seriousness if I could do a 5.5 hour run I’d be jumping for joy. My biggest issue is injuries, not ability. I have simply never been able to train for the run because something always happens.

Well, because I am injury prone both in terms of clutziness and overuse. And being stupid…I tend to get aggressive. So it’s no surprise to me that I managed to do “something” to my left leg. I see the doctor today…but the last two days I have seen some really good improvement on the injury so I suspect he’ll confirm that I strained something and there isn’t any real damage.

(I strained it because of overuse, not clutziness. )

So here is my question. Assuming I can start running and real biking again next week some time…what is my best appraoch?

I am about 4 months from the race.
Before I was injured I was up to about 10 miles running and 50-60 miles on the bike no sweat.

I’m more scared of injury as opposed to fitness loss. i’ve been working out some for the last 2.5 weeks, but the volume is way way down. While I feel like crap when I do work out…my swim times and power outputs have not diminished.
I’m scared to run even more than 2-3 miles because of the injury at this point…even though I know I caused it by being dumb.

I am honestly thinking about starting from scratch at about 3 miles per run (even the long run) and building from there.
I know I would only build to about 13 - 15 miles (for only one long run) by the time the race comes around…but a slow build like that would hopefully keep me injury free. And I intend to do a run/walk program to help prevent injury as well. (Probably a 4 minute run 1 minute walk.

Is that reasonable? Am I being too conservative? Do I need to HTFU?

Lastly…I figure i’ll only do 3 runs/week. Possibly a 4th on special weeks right before rest weeks. On those weeks where i only run 3 times…is it more important to do a brick type run…or a longer stand alone run. (keeping in mind I’ll be doing the run/walk)

Thoughts?

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I’m also doing IM MOO this Sept. It sounds like you will heal fast and will be able to get back running conservatively. Since this is your first IM, remember it is all about just finishing. I also only do 3 runs per week despite being a nonrunner. These runs consist of one long run (8,10,12,15,18,10,etc…), one medium fast run (6,8) and one relaxing hr. long run (6-7miles). I have found that this is just enough fitness for me to complete an IM while being injury free from overuse.

I try to get short bricks after all my long rides over 60 miles. It only takes (1-3 miles to get the BRICK out of the legs).

I will be right beside you doing the jog/walk, as will 95% of the other participants!

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I here you.

Back in august I had all kinds of leg injuries. Could not run 3 miles without pain.
Honestly had doubts that I would make it to the start line in july for IMLP '09
Last weekend i did a sixteen mile run with no “bad” pain.
Obey the 10% rule and you should be ok.
go to cool runnings website and research injuries there.
Also some good info on this site

How bad do you want it?

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You sound exactly like me last year.

First, anything you can control (overuse, aggressiveness) you need to control. Fix your head and don’t do it! Period. Too much at risk.

My coach and I had a discussion early last season and we both came to the same conclusion. I could do all the speedwork in the world and I’m still never going to be competitive in a marathon let alone Ironman. We decided to spend that time on making it more comfortable and enjoyable instead. That meant a lot more bricks (but only the ride + 30 minute run) and separating my long run day from any other hard workout. Making sure that the day after was always a light recovery spin on the bike or a swim (since that’s easy for us) or both very light. My longest run was 16 miles… we wanted to get to 18-20ish but the injuries just didn’t allow that much at the build rate we wanted. Longest brick was 6 hour bike with an hour run (~6 miles).

During injuries (yes, plural) I did as much on the elliptical or treadmill if possible as I could. You definitely won’t gain fitness but you won’t lose your run performance as quickly as if you had to cut it out completely.

I can’t see a reason to run more than 2-3 times a week of quality runs. One long, one tempo, one " " recovery or perhaps a mild speed workout in certain week. I would make sure to run on soft even surfaces as much as possible (the track or treadmill) vs. wet uneven DG trails at twilight 3 weeks before your big race.

I’ve found doctors and PT people to be incredibly unhelpful in getting me to survive this level of training. I guess it’s all about finding the right person who you can trust, understand the stakes, and understands the need to train.

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Wow, sounds a lot like my experience. Run has always been the weakest leg of the 3 for me anyway, although I was once half-decent (low-40s 10K). But the past couple years I’m in a continuous state of what I call the “Gimp Management Program”… It’s just one thing after another; seems like whatever I do to address Problem X gives rise to Problem Y. I’d like to think I have the overall fitness and background to run a sub-4, but have lost confidence in my ability to sustain the training anymore. Part of it is that my sense of differentiating what’s just a minor twinge and what’s a potential killer has lost calibration, like after you’ve eaten something super spicy your taste buds are shot trying to pick up subtle flavors for the rest of the meal. Swimming & biking, I still have a pretty good feel for when to HTFU and push through a bit of pain or when I really need to back off.

My new IM strategy is to keep working mostly on the bike/nutrition equation, telling myself it’ll give me a better shot on the run if I can just arrive in T2 fresher and well-fueled as opposed to being hobbled from trying to do too much run training. What little running I do, my focus is on making it as easy as possible (not necessarily slow, just trying to avoid straining even when I feel like I could go faster), telling myself all I gotta do is be able to maintain steady progress. I’ve given up any grand plans to try and get any 18-20mi+ training runs under my belt; at this point I’d gladly settle for working up to 14-16 at some point in July but even that is at the optimistic high end. Come Race Day, assuming I can limit the walking to less than roughly 20%, though, I’m reasonably confident based on years of past experience that I can fake it well enough to split under 5 hours, which should get me under 12 total. (Or, maybe I’m delusional and it’ll be grim beyond my comprehension, the classic near-death march of survival.)

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Lastly…I figure i’ll only do 3 runs/week. Possibly a 4th on special weeks right before rest weeks. On those weeks where i only run 3 times…is it more important to do a brick type run…or a longer stand alone run. (keeping in mind I’ll be doing the run/walk)

A standalone run. You know how to run… do you know what running off the bike is?

It’s… running! They’re the same thing!

Anyway, when you get overuse injuries, what is it you’re doing them? You are going from how many miles to how many more miles? How many times a week are you running now? Where is it in your training schedule?

Frequency and consistency is good. Running 3x a week is not very frequent. Running 5-6 times a week, even if those runs are 10-15 minutes, IS frequent and will probably help you stay not-hurt.

Search Barry P’s post about his getting back to running after plantar fascia and look at that.