All My Bikes Are Trashed
I finally finished stripping the paint from the frame I bought for $30. After all the Dremel Tool buffers and brushes I used, I could've had the thing sandblasted cheaper and I woul've kept a lot of crap out of my lungs. Not only that, as pieces of wire brush came off the bit, they eventually wound up in the bottom of my foot as I walked across the garage for my beer.
The bikes are all taken apart as I'm rebuilding the fixed gear up from the frame up, taking parts from each of the bikes and then will reassemble them with what works best for each.
The half ironman triathlon is looking real iffy at this point. The hip is taking longer to get well, as is the plantar fasciitis. The knee has healed up but my workouts have been less than required preparing for a half ironman with mom in the hospital. I've also strayed away from my diet and so the planned ten pounds of weight loss came off and has since reappeared in the last week eating in the cafeteria.
With that said, the best thing may be to plan for a season of half marathons and let this triathlon and bike time trial season go.
Labels: Dremel, Half Ironman, half marathon, plantar fasciitis
Still Learning
Long time, no post.
I was sick for a week and I've had plantar fasciitis since April. I finally licked the PF with some new Dr. Scholl's Heel Pain Relief Orthotics. I've been transferring the one pair of orthotics to each pair of shoes I wear so they're constantly with me. They have made a huge improvement in the PF pain. It's almost non-existent at this point.
When I looked back I had quit wearing my orthotics in the spring when I got some new shoes. In the new two or three pair I received, I didn't place orthotics in the heal and subsequently felt intense heel pain. I blamed it on one 10K I ran on hard roads and not on removing orthotics from the shoes.
The pool's chemicals were jacked up the day before I got sick. It didn't help that I had almost no sleep the night before and woke to do a swim, bike and run to exhaustion. I didn't get the flu but a bad sinus infection where I'm still slingin ' snot rockets as I run. I think most people just call it "The Crud."
Outside of the congestion, training got back to a serious level last week. I don't think I'll be ready for a Sept. 1 Olympic, but I just may be ready for the Oct. 5 Half Ironman, here in Austin.
Labels: Austin, Dr. Scholl's, Half Ironman, orthotics, the crud
Little Adjustments
I'm in the third week of the half ironman program I've cooked up, using the Triathlete Magazine HIM program as a base. It's going pretty well except for the left knee. Even though the running at this point is real slow, there's something going on with the knee. It's like it needs to popped into place upon waking in the morning and if it doesn't get popped and then I run....well, it's uncomfortable. Getting on the bike seems to get it in alignment so I think I'll do a few miles on the trainer until everything gets into proper position. It's probably a better warmup than I've been doing anyway.
I read where a couple of friend's half ironmans imploded last weekend. From what they wrote or told me, it reinforces how negative thoughts can really pull the athlete down or how positive reinforcement can really elevate the athlete beyond their abilities. In both cases the athletes finished the race when they could've blown it off and raced another day.
I'm reading a lot of cycling materials, mostly from the web lately. Maybe it's the Tour that's about to start next week or that I'm obsessed with watts and my power output these days. "Jufre Pou, who weighs 147 pounds, averaged 388 watts for 32-minutes. His maximum 10-minute value was an astonishing 400 watts." This clip was taken from VeloNews. I've got a long way to go.
When the 2006 Ironman World Championships aired a few months ago I missed it. I was so mad turning on the TV and seeing the last two minutes I couldn't stand it. But, as luck would have it, I get to see it as it'll air again on Aug. 5 from 2:30 - 4:30 ET.
Labels: cycling watts, Half Ironman, Tour de France
