Green Light

Spondylolisthesis:
-anterior displacement of the vertebrae in relation to vertebral column, caused by stress injury or degeneration
-an awesome combination of a stress fracture and a slipped disc...I like to think of it as the Transformers of injuries
-the underlying cause of my reduced training and lack of racing over the past month, and what I'm referring to when I talk about my gimp back

So it's a funny sounding injury that I have, which unfortunately flares up from time to time when my training volume or intensity increases. It's something I've had to accept and deal with over the past two years, and will continue to do so if I want to keep racing.

Some minor muscle imbalances on the bike and poor swim form has caused it to flare up a couple times this year, but after a month of base training and no races I finally have the green light to hit the start line. Just in time for Elite/U23 Provincials and Kelowna ITU.

My patience has been tested the past few weeks but this week I finally got to test my legs instead...and it went well. Test #1 was an open water swim then brick into 2x20min intervals on the bike, and averaged 38.2 and 37.8 at tempo effort. Today was some brick intervals for test #2, and with a little help from motor pacing I did 2x 5k bike/1k run in 9:35 and 9:12. Fun stuff!

Unless something goes terribly wrong this week I'm going to race Multisport Canada's Bala Falls tri next weekend, and will enter my first elite race in Ottawa on the 31st. And despite the speed bumps lately things are still looking good for my A-races in Kelowna and Puerto Vallarta.

The Bright Side of Rehab

Visit to my physio confirmed that things are progressing in terms of muscle imbalances. I still have a lot of work to do to get healthy in the pool, namely a ton of backstroke to become a more balanced, therefore fitter, swimmer. I'm realizing it's not as simple as just jumping into 20k swimming weeks in an attempt to race ITU...with absolutely no swim background. Feeling pretty good on the bike and I finally get to - gently - test things out on the run. I was getting desperate to run fast for the first time in a month and the legs felt good.

But for now the weekly training hours are pretty low. It's a good thing I have become an expert at the art of post-workout laziness...uhh I mean recovery (as outlined Pt 1 and 2). The best part about rehab is sitting my bottom in front of the TV for hours at a time. I get to watch Canadian Ryder Hesjedal work his way up to 3rd in the Tour, and I can spend my mornings with Canada's greatest TV personality, Jay Onrait:

Quote of the Month

Ok this story is a little dorky for typical blogging material, but FF to 1:35 into the video for my favourite triathlon quote of the 2010 season.

In other news...there really is no news. I'm still stuck spending more time watching Le Tour while doing prehab than actually training (at least it's very cool to have a Canadian 4th on GC!). It's getting a little frustrating with some of my big races for the season on the horizon and being limited in training for three weeks now. I'm feeling strong on the bike again, runs are coming along but swims are still very inconsistent. Some days its just a no-go when I get in the water. Which is not a good thing when I'm trying to race ITU.

I have another visit to my physio tomorrow to get a better idea of how things are progressing, and hopefully figure out how to get back into training and racing. But when it comes down to it I am more concerned with getting healthy and getting back to feeling good - physically and mentally - in training. Even if it means having to take a few steps back and reconsidering my races this season.

Limiting Losses

A theme I'm sharing with a few of the Tour favourites after today's prologue. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I'm still in rehab mode and getting a little impatient given that it's the mid-season and I'm restricted to base mileage and haven't gotten the green light to race. But I'm making the best of my training and worrying about what I can control - not doing anything stupid and really put myself in a hole.

Today was my first little test of how things are feeling with the LPC Training Day. 4hour workout with a main set of 2x ~300m swim/11k bike/2.6k run on the Loaring Tri course, with my focus being to push the first ~2mins of each leg then shut things down. It felt great to run fast for the first time in a few weeks (maybe a little too fast), but overall I feel that I'm not yet ready to hit the start line despite getting very anxious to race again. Step one is getting the mileage back up in the pool.

My plan is still to race elite provincials on the 31st as one of my key events for the year, and I'm hoping to sneak in a small race before then. But for now I'm forcing myself to hold off for a little more rehab, and then get a few hard yard sessions in before racing again. I hold myself to very high standards in racing - not always a good thing - and I'm not satisfied with my fitness even if I was feeling 100%.

Seems like a bit of mid-season chaos, but I've had a good early season of training, and I'm taking all this as an opportunity address all my weaknesses. And I still have all my big races ahead of me.