August was a big month for our family as we finished up supporting Maura through her Ironman Lake Placid (number seven!) With the house stuff complete and Lake Placid behind us we spent the better part of August enjoying the summer. Lots of good travel visiting friends and generally having a lot of fun!
Hard to believe it's already gone and we're back in school. But I won't lie - I am enjoying the routine that school brings.
From a training perspective I feel like things have turned a corner. A small corner at that, but still we've made a turn. I have been able to create a basic schedule that keeps me moving forward.
This is how I set it up:
First I established a run walk approach. What started off as 30 seconds of jogging and one minute of walking over the course of four weeks turned into a few consistent but short runs. At the present time I am running three times a week for a total of about 12 miles. Nothing like I used to do but light years ahead of where I once was. Progress is sweet.
In addition to this run schedule I am staying consistent on the bike. While I have been conservative on the run, I have approach the bike is two hard weekday rides followed by a steadier endurance weekend session. This gets me above five hours a week cycling and I believe has complemented the work I have done on the run.
But What Does That Mean for My Body?
Well...this is a gray area.
When I first started returning to exercise everything hurt. Not only did my hip feel out of whack my entire body did. My knees were sore, my calves were tight, the lower back is tight. Definitely a preview of how life will be in a decade or so!
I kept the effort down though and remain consistent, and over time the basic aches and pains have faded away. What I'm left with the clear need to maintain the self-care routine that will protect my hip.
I've been very consistent with my weekly core exercises as you can see from my tracker. I have also been doing some stretching in the evenings as a complementary effort to stay loose. I am no longer in physical therapy but I do get some ART work done on my psoas and my hip. I plan to keep that going as I continue a slow trajectory my return path.
I have no illusions that I will suddenly be out running 30 mile weeks. However I'm excited enough with the prospect of training like a normal human being that I still need to focus on restraining myself.
What's Next?
As of right now I have no immediate goals for performance other than to remain healthy. As you'll see from my Strava Feed I am still nowhere near getting into a pool. This initially was because kicking and flip turning put my hip under some additional stress.
At this point, the schedule is just so busy that I don't necessarily have the window. If I get my act together for September, I will begin doing some strengthening work with the same chords to get back in the groove of proper swim training.
I'm excited to head to Hawaii later this month to support our teammates competing at the world championships. It's such a great venue and I'm really excited to hold our second annual Kona Training Camp there.
A New Camp in the Works...
In other news, I am outlining the training camp to happen in the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts. Dates will be Wednesday July 5th (arrival) through Sunday July 9th (final ride and departure) 2017.
This will be a first year camp that I will open to veterans first so we can see if it's viable. The riding out there is fantastic, the weather is perfect for the middle of the year, and it's incredibly accessible to both Boston (90 minute drive) and other major metropolitan areas.
For a sample check out the epic ride day to Mount Greylock here -- 9500 feet of gain!
Bonus that there's tons of great breweries out there as well! If you're interested you should shoot me an email: patrick (dot) mccrann (at) gmail (dot) com. Put the subject Berkshire Bike Bash in it.
Thanks for reading...I hope your training is going well. I'll be in touch with you guys next month.
~ Coach P