Training Log Archive: Traut

I wanted to get on the bike today. As the evening went on after getting home so Gail could run- it became more and more apparent I should not do anything. I was feeling sick and my swelling was not good at all. I actually felt a tendon "slip" over my knee. Things were very tight. I was also sick.. like it all comes together. As the night went on my stomach and my swelling felt worse and worse. I just went to bed early.

It does have me thinking a lot about how to keep the balance in my training that can find consistency, especially when things start to head downhill in the swelling periods in the spring and fall. It's interesting, training is a fickle thing. You can't go hard every day, you need to do easy base adaptions and hard intensity adaptions. I came across this article today: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/toolbox/toolbox-the-... . It has nothing new in it, but puts things in cycling terms which is always fresh and interesting to me just as the use of power in training creates so many interesting conversations. The thing is that I do train hard a lot, because it is the only days I can run with the arthritis. The cross training days are recovery days because I can't even raise my heart-rate in those disciplines (for entirely different reasons then the over training in the article). Do I still manage to cross some lines. That is hard to say. I have spent years getting to know my body, but the arthritis does complicate that data.

I have had a plan, that has gone through a lot of changes as I have gone on through this winter. From an ambitious focus on trail marathons (with the theory that I may as will do them now before my knee gets worse- but it is worse and already was too worse for that. I just wanted to do the Lost Turkey Trail and a new trail marathon o Breakneck mountain. I can do my own shorter runs on those though. I need to keep myself in a better frame of reference then to go there) to focusing on uphill (which was really a focus on Mt. Summit- the only one around here and hoping to get east in the spring a little bit... with a brand new baby and a 2-year old, highly unlikely. Then Greg and Sarah decided to get married on the day of Mt. Summit) and new challenges such as the summer biathlon at Oil Creek (looks like cousins weekend in Ocean Grove is that weekend...), but as you can see they all went up in smoke. I had plans of certain training with them in mind (the ambitious weekly long runs and the weekly hill workout...), but have ended up doing a hodge-podge of racing- long Racoongaine (which seems to have broken my knee and form at least temporarily) and Dirty Kiln (this weekend) mixed with some shorter things planned. First I felt orienteering was just too hard on my arthritis to attack, now I am considering it... What I did get in, was what was in the best interest of all these plans, whether my arthritis falls victim to spring or not, and that is the winter was focused on strength. From running in deep snow to running cathedral steps. I found a balance during that season with my arthritis and its reaction to working on strength- which can be easier on my knee (cathedral steps- no downhill) or harder (running in deep snow can be jarring with even the smallest loss of form), but I held my form together and got stronger. In fact aI could say that is when I found my form. Now If I can find some consistency in repeating training periods like that and finding balance in the spring and fall arthritis danger times. Of course those are when the races are- I did not race all winter. I enjoy racing and need that to be part of what I do to enjoy what I do.

I need to develop a new training strategy as I go here and find my next strength phase- but also find a way to race in it. Is summer the only option. Do I just race and barely train (except maybe heavy cross training and hill climbing) in spring and fall? Probably not, but all things considered in conceptualizing. I am considering run, bike, paddling as a new enterprise instead of the biathlon. As usual, I will suck at it- but for different reasons. This time for my complete lack of upper body strength during the paddle. Just like Orienteering or skiing or biking... (and I can add to that trail running, I just do not have the strength for my knee to last on techincal single track with downhill- which is all single track- flat single track still goes up and down in a technical fashion) that just may be the fun in attacking it....