Well, I'm finally finding some time to post another installment of the series. First thing i wanted to do was address some questions I had regarding the last update. I vaguely referenced doing some "alternate" training to the running and that's what the questions were about. I have supplemented my lack of running with an elliptical trainer 2 x per week and water running 1 x per week.
Elliptical Trainer: The key, for me, with the elliptical is using it at a level grade (as close as possible anyway) and adjusting the difficulty w/ tension and leg turnover. (trying to keep turnover @ 90+ rpms) Currently I have kept the sessions at 30min in length.
Water Running: This is not deep water running so there is a weight bearing aspect to it ... water level is anywhere from belly button to almost chest height. The sessions (actually classes) have been about 45 minutes in length and the intensity varies to break things up.
Though not my favorite things to do, these have been helpful in the healing process and the hip is progressing! Hope to be back to some light running in a week or so.
Cycling:
When i first started back on the bike I used the same HR caps as i referenced previously with the running. All the terrain was as flat as I could find for a few weeks to keep the HR low. I noticed early on that even the smallest hills made me feel like I was moving backward. Now, repeat after me in german accent --> i just had no power! (that's what all the extra weight and lack of strength will do to you ;)
The first 7-8 weeks was pretty darn simplistic, almost boring if i might add! After the first two months i did start adding some hills into the picture and was able to adjust HR caps up to 145 like the run. The first chance to give my body a test was during my trip to the big island of Hawaii in October. I had a chance to ride with some clients / colleagues there and found out I could handle a little more than I thought. The first couple days was tough because of the heat/humidity and it's effect on jacking the HR up. BUT ... by the end of the trip I was doing less "wheel sucking" and doing more pulling, plus i was recovering from day to day ... Test #1 passed.
As November hit I headed back to the garage with my cycling team, the almighty Fightin' Bobas. One of hard parts mentally was using a HR cap of 145 and could not hit out all the tougher intervals. I would stick with this protocol (except for 30 sec fast efforts) until the end of December. I also added some short, steady, climbing repeats a couple times in December just to test things out and see how I recovered. The other challenging item was sticking to the very conservative plan through December and not heading out on any of our cycling team rides. If I did, using the HR a cap, i was either going to go way above it OR just be shot out the back and be by myself. There's always a challenge, right?
Here we are in January and I have challenged myself with some of the Tuesday sessions, (steady state efforts w/ 155bpm HR Cap ... this is currently about my Functional Threshold and some hard 30 second efforts), jumped in to my first, real fast group ride (I called this my first race back :) and did the longest ride (4:30) that I have done in 3-4 years. Sweeeet
I've come out of this feeling OK but a little tired, but from what I can tell a good tired. One of the biggest changes I can tell from the begining until now (things actually started to change in October) is the way my body handles the longer aerobic sessions. When I started back i was starved and craving sugars after a ride of only 90 minutes! That is a sign of a very inefficient metabolic system that lacks the ability to metabolize fats. After finishing the 4:30 ride this past Saturday i felt real steady and not in a huge sugar craving frenzy.
So ... progress is happening and it feels satisfying. I'll do a little less the next few days (plus the weather is crap anyway), get it going again this weekend, or next week, and see how it rolls from there.
For the next update? Swimming gets tossed into the mixer and I'll try to elaborate a little on the difference in my weekly schedule from AUG - NOV and what it looks like now!
Cheers ... DL
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