Day 145: 6mi bike, 0.4mi swim

A warm-up day, ahead of my tri on Saturday. Hoping an easy week is a panacea for all my minor aches and pains.

Day 144: 4mi, 34:44

After a long weekend of agonizing lower back pain, I woke up this morning feeling much better. I woke up at 4:30 thanks to my jet lag, did a thorough stretch, and went for a slow run along the river. HR in the low 130's most of the way, except for the last leg up Beacon Hill.
Still planning to run the triathlon on Saturday, as long as my back doesn't start deteriorating.

Day 140: 5.4mi, 49:33

Another overnight plane ride. This was one of the most painful yet. The thing about having meetings in India is that you have to drive everywhere, and traffic is a mess. So it takes 1/2-1 hr to get anywhere. And this is all stop and go, lane changing travel, stuffed in the back of a Honda. I added up my time in the car on Wednesday - more than 4 hours, to go with my 6 hours of meetings. On top of similar days on Mon and Tues, as well as domestic flights on both days, my back was feeling some serious strain by Wednesday. I had a lighter day on Thursday, but the back pain was still there. By the time I got on the plane last night (the 2:15am to London), I was looking for a cane. Sleeping on the plane is never a great thing, but my back ached the entire way, and kept waking me. I hope this will be resolved by a few good nights' sleep, otherwise that triathlon is in trouble.
Since it is less painful for me to be standing or walking than sitting or lying down, I went out for a run anyway today. Kept a moderate pace (9:10mins/mi), but it did not feel easy. My HR stayed under 137 most of the way.
I will take it easy this weekend, and will do some light running/biking/swimming next week, ahead of the tri.

Day 139: 6.2mi, 54:53

I ran without my HR monitor today on the treadmill here in Mumbai. Very hot and humid, so I am sure my HR was very high. It was over 150pbm when I checked it at the end, and my t+5 HR was 122bpm - one of my highest ever. I went to the pool afterwards, but it was quite small so I didn't do any serious distance.

Day 138: 10mi bike, 30 mins

I had no time to work out the last few days, until 9pm Wed night. After driving around Mumbai all day for meetings, I had to keep the workout short. Still acclimatizing to the bike, but did a mile run to warmdown.

Day 135: 18mi bike, 65 minutes

I arrived in Delhi (India) at 6am this morning. I checked into the hotel and went right back out to check out some of the city sights, because otherwise I would've slept half the day. Hot and crowded here. I originally planned to day trip to the Taj Mahal, but I was too late for the fast train, and driving takes 3-4 hrs each way. Even my Delhi tour energy faded by about mid-day, and I went back to the hotel to chill in the pool and doze next to it. I managed to do a few hundred meters all told, but it was mostly to get out of the 104 degree heat. I felt awake enough by 4pm to go into the gym and get on the bike for a comfortable 18mi ride, followed by a couple of 9min miles on the treadmill. So I got all three events in today. Unlikely I'll be able to do much more during the week, as my days are packed with meetings and three of the four nights I am flying to my next city.

Day 134: 5.4mi, 51:27

I ran around the parks again on Saturday morning with a friend who was pushing his infant daughter in a jogging stroller. So naturally a nice, easy pace. For me, anyway, since I wasn't pushing anything. We ran about a minute/mile slower than I have been doing. I was surprised by how low my HR was during the run, averaging only 115bpm. Running this easy helped me justify running two days in a row, against my physical therapist's recommendation.

Day 133: 6.9mi, 60:28

I added another park to my London parks run today, to get some longer distance in ahead of another week on the road next week. I ran at a higher than normal HR, averaging 146bpm, and getting up towards 160 when I picked it up over the last quarter or so. I'm still a little wary about how this low HR training is going to play out during a race. I haven't really done any mileage near race pace in two months, so I thought pushing a little harder today might send a small signal to my body about what is coming. I also wanted to see how I felt during and afterwards, and overall, I feel ok.

Day 132: PT

I had access to a gym with a pool tonight in London, so I got in a half mile swim. My schedule next week looks very crowded, so I am not optimistic I will get in much (or any) time in the pool then. Hopefully will still be able to do some cardio. Tonight I also did 20 mins on the elliptical, and then some backwards incline running. A solid non-running workout.

Day 131: 5.4mi, 47:32

Another cool day in London, but for some reason I could not get my HR under control. I felt like I was going slower than when I ran the same route Sunday (and I was), but my HR was above 140 most of the time. I averaged 141 for the run, which is well above my low HR limit of 137, but I just didn't feel like slowing down for some reason today. I keep questioning whether this low HR training is preparing me for race conditions. A lot of the devotees recommend raising intensity as a race approaches, although the diehards disagree. I guess I want to mix it up more as my tri approaches, and as I start working towards my next mile attempt (mid-June, if I am healthy).

Day 129: 3mi, 32:36

My physical therapist advised not to run on consecutive days, but I had the time and the weather was cooperating, so I went for a short run Monday evening anyway. I did some backwards running to pretend it was a physical therapy session. Got some strange looks in Kensington Gardens. Today (Tuesday) didn't have time to do anything, as I expected, so just as well. Will do at least five on Wednesday.

Day 128: 5.4mi, 46:23

The rain stopped about 6pm this evening in London, so I took advantage and ran around the parks, despite some lingering travel fatigue. It was cool with a light breeze, so I had no trouble staying around 137bpm. My left thigh muscle/tendon issue is still nagging me, but there seems to be some improvement. I am in London all week, and should be able to run every other day. Weather permitting.
Today's pace: 8:35. That is substantially faster than my pace Thursday (Day 125) and a long ways faster (2-3 minutes) than my recent runs around this same route. (http://sub-5.blogspot.com/2007/04/day-109-54mi-4814.html).

Day 125: 6mi, 55:18

Tonight I did the same route as two nights ago. I ran easier than on Tuesday, trying to be stricter about staying at 137bpm, or at least under 140. But I had almost as much trouble as Tuesday, even though I was running a lot slower. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I passed the outdoor thermometer just before I finished. It was a solid ten degrees warmer than Tuesday, so my body had to work that much harder to keep my temperature in control. My quads were tight after last night's workout, especially on the first hill, but the adductor felt better.
My splits at the approximate mile marks:
mile 2: 16:44
mile 3: 9:46
mile 4: 10:12
mile 6: 18:36
ave pace: 9:13

Day 124: PT

I did a physical therapy workout tonight - stretching, strengthening and agility sessions. I won't go through the whole program, but I want to note two exercises that feel like they are targeting the right area -and are a lot harder than they sound.

First is a one-minute step drill. Stand on a Reebok-type step platform. Keeping the left leg straight, raise the left foot off the platform and lower in front of the platform until the left heel touches the ground. This is done by bending the right knee and doing a partial squat on that leg. Then rise back to the starting position. The left foot should be flexed upwards so only the heel somes in contact with the ground and the top of the platform. Repeat as many times as you can in one minute. Switch to other foot. Repeat three times. I rested 5-10 seconds betwen sets. The thighs burn after about 45 seconds. Only takes about ten minutes, but it is tough.

Second is the one-minute backwards run on the treadmill with an incline. I use a 15% grade and set it at 3.3mph. That is the pace I walk at during the middle of my cooldown after runs, but going backwards is a totally different story. I can barely stay on the treadmill for the full 60 seconds. Again, this feels like it gets right to the muscles around the area where I am having pain. It works them and stretches them, but doesn't cause pain. Well, except the running backwards for one minute pain. My HR gets up over 150 by the last rep. That amazes me given the pace and the short duration. Give it a try, but use a very low speed. The balance and rhythm and muscles used in running backwards are very different than normal running, and using a TM with a grade can be unforgiving! I do 4 reps of this exercise.

Day 123: 6mi, 52:50

75 and sunny tonight, so I had to run outside along the river. My adductor was very tight yesterday, but felt ok tonight during the run. Had a lot of trouble keeping my HR near my target 137bpm. Kept drifting up over 140. I kept expecting the wind to cool me off and lower it. The weather was too nice not to run a little faster.

I have some rough splits at 2, 3, 4, and 6 miles:
mile 2: 16:20
mile 3: 9:22
mile 4: 9:38
mile 6: 17:30
ave pace: 8:48

Day 121: 6mi, 52:35

This was my fastest indoor 6 miler since starting the low HR training, and it was my steadiest pacing by far. My tendon/muscle problem was a dull ache most of the way, but my HR was very subdued. First time I've managed to stay under 9 min/mi pace for the entire run. It was relatively cool in the gym today, so that was a factor, but I'm still pleased with the progress.

mile 1: 8:59
mile 2: 8:24
mile 3: 8:35
mile 4: 8:42
mile 5: 8:55
mile 6: 8:58
HR t+1: 122
HR t+5: 93

Day 120: 25mi bike, 0.67mi swim

I figured I ought to ride my bike at least once before the triathlon, so I went for a moderate ride this morning. I might be travelling the next three weekends, so this really was a must ride. Exercise bikes just aren't the same. That was my first ride this year. About time. Took about as long as I hoped it would (1:32), which is about what I did last year in the tri (26 miles). Different courses, but I was not pushing hard. This suggests to me that the low HR training I've been doing has improved my all-around aerobic fitness, which makes up for my lack of time on the bike.

I've only done slightly more swimming than cycling this year, so I used the same reasoning to get myself in the pool this afternoon. Felt reasonably good throughout (24 mins), so I feel comfortable with a month to go for the 0.9mi swim in the tri, as I should be able to swim during the week and when I'm on the road.

Day 119: PT

I spent almost three hours at the physical therapist tonight. It's a very different place than any other PT I've been to. More like a run-down gym than a medical establishment. The guy who runs it has a crew of helpers/trainers running around, and he gives them instructions for each of the clients. Kind of disorganized, but he seems to have a decent following.
Tonight he gave me a bunch of stretches to do, some of which I had already been doing but also some new ones. Then I spent some time doing strengthening exercises on some of the weight machines, mostly isolating the quads and other thigh muscles. Then there was a series of strength/agility exercises, like backwards stairmaster (4x1mins), one-legged knee bends on a step (3x1min on each leg), and running backwards on a treadmill at 3.3 mph with a 15% grade (4x1mins). Some of those got tough at the end of each rep. Finished off with some resistance exercises using a 'theraband', and finally a couple of sets of electric muscle stimulation, the last one with ice on my leg. Needless to say, a highly atypical workout for me.
I should do some or most of these 2-3 days per week. He told me not to run on consecutive days, and no speed work. I even have to take it easy when cycling. The good news is he thinks I can be past this problem in three weeks. Which is really good timing because I am four weeks away from the triathlon.
I'll just have to train really hard that last week.

Day 118: 5mi, 45:17

Nothing too remarkable about this morning's run on the treadmill. I did go see a physical therapist last night, however. Main takeaway is that he doesn't think I have any permanent damage that can't be repaired. Probably a tendon tear on one of the adductor muscles. Good thing is I can probably keep training through this, although no speed work at the moment. I go back tomorrow night for a training session where the PT will give me some stretching and strengthening exercises, and hopefully a recovery timeframe. I feel better to be doing something about it now, instead of just hoping it will get better.
mile 1: 8:57
mile 2: 8:34
mile 3: 8:46
mile 4: 9:15
mile 5: 9:38

Day 117: 3mi, 27:13

I was too tired to run last night, but felt worse when I woke up, so I only did 3 and did it pretty slowly. Didn't change my pace at all once I got going.
mile 1: 9:17
mile 2: 8:58
mile 3: 8:57

More importantly, I spent almost two hours in physical therapy this afternoon. The good news is the guy says it is probably a tendon tear on one of the adductor muscles, and that I can probably work on stretching and strengthening it while continuing to run. I go back Friday for a training session. No speed work for a while, but looks like mileage will be ok.