Anatomy of an Attempted Comeback - Part II

Now that you have had enough time to chew on Part I (below) I'll dig into the next installment, my love / hate relationship with running. Why love / hate? I love running when i am doing it and when i am healthy enough to do it. I simply hate it when i can't do it, bottom line! There is an incredible simplicity to running that is hard to explain.

Above is a picture of a client, friend, colleague and former rival Rob Chance. I have watched Rob's run progression over the last three years as he tackled the long distance triathlon racing seen ... and he tackled it like an All American linebacker might. As I started watching his run splits / HR's in training / races over the course of the year i had a darn good idea what he was capable of running at Ironman Hawaii this past fall. The reason i knew this? Rob's data practically mirrored mine when I ran 3:12 off the bike at Full Vineman in 2001. I thought Rob would run 3:12 in Kona this year. (he ran a great 3:21) I think he might have run closer to that if he hadn't taken a calculated risk to nail the first 10 miles of the run along Al ii' Dr. I didn't tell Rob this before the race but i think we both secretly knew it.

What does this all have to do with Rob? While I stood back and respected Rob, something shook me. Heck, that's where i want to be running when I am 45. Rob had taken a long break form triathlon racing and had gained weight too. So off i set with my 4.5 year plan with hopes of getting back to that ... the old me, the new Rob.

So i started back at the end of August "running" again. The problem is my fitness was truly at a lifetime low. I had NEVER EVER taken 8 months of training, exercising, or playing off. PLUS, i hadn't run in three years because of knee surgeries etc.


My first run started back in the (end of August) with 30 minutes done as 10 minutes walk then 20 minutes alternating 1min walk and 1min run. I did this my first week then in week two I went up to 35 minutes total and hiked for a couple hours on the weekend. OH, and remember I was on strict HR caps ... i was using 140bpm for the first 6 weeks. HA, I could get my HR up to 140 just thinking of running! Many of these runs i started with Jen (above) as she was preparing for Ironman Florida and typically in a matter of mnutes I would have to let her go up the trail becasue it was time for my walk break ... man i felt like a no good, walking, sissy! When things got tough i had to recall items #1 & #4, from my list in Part I, just to remember where i was coming from and where i was at.

Fast forward 8 weeks and i was running three times per week and healthy enough to progress to a HR Cap of 145, short runs with no walk break, but runs of 1:00 using a run walk ratio of 9:30 / :30. I was still running slow, but running I was AND no knee problems!

By week week 14 i was still on my 145 HR cap but i was up to 1:20 run (in the hills) hiking any of the steep stuff. I had advanced where i could do three short runs during the week and then a slightly longer run on the weekend. Again not running fast BUT just happy to be running ;)

Along came December and all was good except for a little tightness in my right hip / hip flexor. One of those niggly things that didn't seem to bother me once i got running. At that point I decided to head back up in the hills and see how things feel ... same HR caps and walking the steep stuff. The hip was tight to start, warmed up nicely and I had a great run! A couple days later the hips was troubling me and that run in the hills (likely down hill running being the culprit) did the damage to what was originally a small problem. Since then i have been on a run 1 x per week to check it out. That wasn't doing the trick through last week, and quite frankly it just aggravated the issue (even though the short runs felt Ok) and slowed the process.

Well, looks like I'll have to deal with the growing pains and heal the hip. I am working diligently on strengthening it, stretching it and now doing alternative activities. My new goal is to heal it before training camp in 5.5 weeks so i can get all my "points" and run sessions in to officially finish the camp.

Man i hate running ;)

In Part III I'll give you an update on the swimming and cycling. No injuries there, just a slow progression and a desire to get back out with my cycling team ... Fightin' Bobas!

My Best ... DL