Escaping the cold and banking some solid hours

My injured chest almost became the focus of another week's blog. I had a big day of driving and research on Monday, but did no heavy lifting that could worsen the injury, so when I woke up on Tuesday it felt the best it had since I fell. I went to squad swimming and used a snorkel, at the back of the lane. It wasn't too bad for about 30min, and really that's when I should have got out. But I wanted to finish the session and get the damn green box on my training peaks chart. So I swam for the full 60min, and by the end of the session, was kicking myself as my intercostal was spasming again, and was seriously painful for the first half of my 60min run. 

I was so angry at myself for chasing a perfect record on my program, with the cost being a potentially longer healing time. I messaged Xavier, my coach and asked him to remove any time or distance specifics from my swims for the next week or so- I would still attempt the swims, but just not be stressed about "failing" because I hadn't done them to the exact specifications on my program. 

Wednesday, I had a cracking ride/run in the morning, followed by a second run in the afternoon. I did this second run from the pool, so I was there ready to attempt my evening swim. By now, the anxiety had really set in, to the point where I almost didn't start the swim, in case I made it worse, or the pain was too bad. Although things were improving, I still had pain when I breathed deeply. 

I'm glad I did swim. I treated it purely as a learning exercise. What could I do without too much pain? And what made things worse? I realised that the extra effort to breathe through a snorkel or when swimming single arm actually made things worse than when I swam normally, and that I was most comfortable (in fact pain free) when I swam without breathing! Not ideal, but that, and the fact I could do backstroke with no pain confirmed that the issue all lay in the rib/intercostal/pleura areas rather than my swimming muscles. 

But enough about my stupid injury for now. 

The other awesome thing that happened on Wednesday was that I was asked to speak to year 12 VCE sports science students about training for and racing Ironman triathlon. They were a really lovely group of kids. I told them about my story, from the beginning in 2005, when I couldn't swim further than 250m, through to the prep for this race. I shared some of my thoughts on training (consistency is key, above all else), group vs solo training, the principles of Training Peaks, heat acclimation and more. They listened intently and asked some really pertinent questions. Hopefully it will help to cement some of the theory they have been taught, for their exams. 

Thursday I was privileged enough to escape the cold of Melbourne, with a trip to Townsville, from where I am writing this.

Before I write anything about the training I did in Townsville, I have to mention the couple who went out of their way to make this a training camp like no other. Rikki Lee and her partner, Kim. Rikki raced Kona in 2015 with me, and despite not having the day she wanted there, will, I am certain go back and dispense a lot of justice on the Big Island. Rikki planned things around all my sessions so she could either train with me, give me routes to go on, or even ride alongside me and hand me water. Amazing. Meanwhile Kim, who was busy training herself had food on the table as soon as we'd finished training, and insisted I relax when I wasn't training! They have been absolutely wonderful to me. If karma is a real thing, I think Rikki will have a LOT in the bank for her next race! 

The last 3 days have been pretty huge,  - the massive positive I take from them is that I've had no end of energy, and the legs felt strong in every session. 

Following a 3.5 hour ride on Friday, a 5.5 hour ride Saturday (with the toughest climb I have ever done - harder than the Back of Falls), I managed to average 5.32/km for my 30 km run in the heat on Sunday. I was really happy with that. There were too many amazing highlights during the Townsville sessions to recount them all here, but a selection of pictures below sum them up. 

With another big ride tomorrow, the weekend will have given my fitness a huge boost. It's also given me the chance to work on my hydration. I didn't drink nearly enough in the race in Cebu, so I've really worked on taking in more fluid during this trip. I set an alarm on my Garmin for every mile on my run (the distance between aid stations in Kona) and I took water and salt after every alarm.

Unfortunately the big ride (and climb) on Saturday must have hurt my chest, as today it was seriously painful for every breath of my 2h 45min run. I was so disappointed that such a wonderful, beautiful run could be spoiled by constant pain like that. I also felt bad because Rikki drove into town and rode alongside me for my last 30 minutes. I was pretty quiet (except when I was swearing about the chest!) but Rikki kept chatting away regardless. 

The great news is that after I'd written the paragraph above, I went with Rikki to swim in yet another gorgeous pool up here. To my amazement (and joy!) there was NO PAIN WHATSOEVER for the whole 2.5km swim, and my pace wasn't too far off what it would normally be on a Sunday. Of course shouting "I'M BAAAAACK!" to Rikki hurt like hell! 

4 weeks to go

The week's stats

I get knocked down.....but I get up again

....you ain't never gonna keep me down. Or so the song went (if I remember correctly from my post-rugby match drinking days)

And post-rugby match is exactly the way my body has felt since I face planted on Wednesday 😢

It's funny, what I love about writing these blogs is that I'm planning them in my mind all week (that can be a great distraction during long training sessions). But by Wednesday I was beginning to worry it would be a bit of a boring week, just a review of all the training sessions I was ticking off as planned. Until about 8am that is.

 I'd ridden that morning with the Trifitness crew. A really solid ride back into strong headwind, made harder by the indoor 2hr session I'd done in a 35C tent on Tuesday as part of the sodium study I'm involved with. 

I was absolutely frozen when I finished the ride - the wind had been bitterly cold. I stood by our heater for a few minutes, but decided I'd better just get my 30min run off the bike done, and then I could warm up.

The face plant

My feet were frozen, and I couldn't really feel them as I ran. I couldn't have been any more than about 4 min into the run, when a paving stone jumped up out of the ground and tripped me!!! I went down very very hard. Hit my hands and knees first, but I guess the rugby instincts kicked in and I immediately rolled on my right shoulder. I sat on the footpath, a little stunned. Checked my knee was ok, and there didn't seem to be any major damage. I walked a few steps, started jogging, and thought I must be OK. Finished the run, but felt what seemed like a little stitch in my right chest area, towards the end. I was in a bit of a daze the rest of the day, went to work, but wasn't very switched on. 

I went to the pool that night, and by then the chest was quite sore. But I wanted to know if it was even feasible to turn up to swim squad the next morning. Oh at this point I should mention that Johnny, my swim coach had returned from the UK and on Tuesday we had discussed how we would fine tune my swim in the next few weeks to get every extra percent I could for race day. "Icing on the cake, so to speak".
Hmmmm - best laid plans........

Well I swam about 1.5km, mostly single arm, and realised that a squad session in 12 hrs time was ridiculous. I messaged Xavier when I got home, told him the situation and he advised me to take the next day off completely and let everything settle down. This is why I need a coach. Many people follow online programs, and I'm sure they can work really well. But I would have tried to do the swim and run come what may, if it hadn't been for Xavier advising me not to. I did go for a walk, just to get some fresh air, but with deep breathing still hurting, I can't imagine that I could have run. Still, I was looking at the positives - I could easily have broken a collar bone the way I fell, or really hurt my knees. A bit of muscle soreness wasn't the end of the world. 

On Friday I got up, and the pain across my chest seemed less, although all the muscles in my right arm and shoulder felt tighter. I thought an easy swim might help to loosen them, so I hopped in the pool. Er no. Very easy swimming, with limited breathing was kind of ok (still, every stroke hurt), but even single arm with the good side hurt, and breathing deeply was even worse. I realised then that I'd probably damaged an intercostal muscle (between the ribs). 

Intercostal strain - hoping for a faster healing time than that!

Of course, this was a self-diagnosis, but us vets love to diagnose our own injuries! I managed one hour on the wind trainer and at least I could grip the brakes, so felt confident I'd be able to ride the next day. I loaded up on anti inflammatories on Friday night and hoped that another night would help settle it down. But I changed my ride plan just in case - I would ride out to the foot of the hills, about 90min, and Pete would drive out so there was a car in case I had to abort. Then I would do hill reps until my 5.5hrs was up. 

Saturday dawned, and as forecast, it was dry in Melbourne. But the "few showers" in the east turned out to be heavy rain, and by the time I got to The Basin, I was soaked. My chest had been really painful (like nauseating pain) for 30 min, but had eased up a bit as I got going. But sitting in the cafe at the bottom of the climb, and seeing the state of the cyclists who had been up the top, I realised that with a less than 100% functional right side, descending in the wet and cold could be dangerous. Pete arrived. There were tears. I think I said "if I have to train through another shit winter like this again, I just won't do this sport". Then I pulled myself together, and came up with a plan. I'd ride home, and depending on the weather when I got back, either complete the 5.5 hrs on the windtrainer indoors, or change clothes and head north (where it seemed drier) to do laps of Kew. That's what I ended up doing. I think mentally that has to be the hardest bike session of any race prep I have done. Just being so wet and cold, but also in constant pain, and unable to get out of the saddle on climbs, or push the descents made it seem more like 11hrs. I tried to run off the bike, and managed 15 min, but every breath in AND out felt like someone was stabbing me in the chest. It didn't get any worse, but I was wondering if I could tolerate that much pain for 2h 45 min during my long run the next day.
Fortunately I had a follow up appointment with Dr Mitch Anderson (who admirably consults on Saturday afternoons). I went in with my own self-diagnosis (which he correctly asked me to keep to myself until he'd assessed me!!!! Classic!) Anyway I was right! And fortunately he was thinking along the same lines as me - there is no functional problem with my arm or shoulder, just pain when I breathe deeply. So if we can control the pain and swelling, it won't keep impacting my training.
Hallelujah.....cortisone to the rescue!!
Now I want to add that I absolutely avoid anti-inflammatories and cortisone injections like the plague usually. Because as an endurance athlete, the usual reason we may need those interventions is because we have overdone things, and have overuse injuries/ niggles. And that means the best treatment is to back off or rest.
But this isn't overuse. It's a traumatic injury. Mitch mentioned that I may have also damaged the pleura (the thin layer of tissue that separates the lung from the chest wall). Any damage to that is incredibly painful. But there were no signs of effusion, or bleeding in the pleura, so he was confident the cortisone would settle the problem enough to make me more comfortable. Wow. What a relief! I knew when I woke up today that I could breathe more easily, and there was none of the stabbing pain there had been yesterday.
I can't say it's great, I could feel pain across my chest and back throughout my 29 km hill run, and I had to walk a couple of sections, rather than get out of breath, but I am SO grateful to Mitch for giving me the opportunity to do that run.
I also managed some kind of a swim this evening - using a snorkel, so I wasn't having to take deep breaths. And 1 km of single arm - well my left arm IS the weaker one, so that has to be a bonus!

I'm also really grateful to a couple of other people:

Zoe Clark. Zoe raced Kona with me in 2015. A formidable athlete, but she has stepped away from triathlon somewhat recently. I think she realised how I'd been struggling with loneliness during a lot of my weekend sessions, and she came out to meet me today and ran my second lap with me. Zoe, if you're reading this, I can't begin to say how grateful I am for that.

Peter. He worries about me. He knows how determined I can be to achieve my goals (whatever they actually are for this race - I'm not sure yet!!!). But also, he knows how self-destructive following those goals can be for me. I'm selfish a lot of the time. He, without question has compromised his own training recently, just to make sure I am supported and OK. Yesterday, he was up at 5am, making me coffee, driving out 40km, only to pack up and drive back again.

Peter - my rock

For my "one way epic" he rode INTO the wind, to meet me, while I was yelling "yeehaa" on my glory run with the wind. It is emotionally exhausting supporting someone like that. There have been times where the last thing he wants to talk about is triathlon. So all I can say is that I am utterly grateful for all of it.

Next year Pete wants to race the Ironman 70.3 World Champs in South Africa. I've qualified already (in Cebu), so after Kona, it's Pete's turn. Yes, I'll race next year, but not a full Ironman. It's Pete's turn to focus on his goals.

I dared to think that for my swim, the next few weeks would be the "icing on the cake". As I said earlier today, I'm confident I will be able to swim, and swim well in Hawaii, but maybe the icing will now be a little thinner (or lumpier!) than I might like. But that's Ironman. Goal number one HAS to be to make the start line healthy and in one piece. At the moment I feel a little broken, but 5 weeks is still plenty of time to heal. And when I played rugby, I always got up again, no matter how many times I was knocked down.

5 WEEKS TO GO

The week's stats - too many reds for my liking

12 weeks to Hawaii Ironman World Champs - Survival

One of the pleasures of my previous two races in Kona was writing my "12 weeks to Hawaii" blogs. The first focused mostly on the weekly training, volume, hours etc. Link here:
12 weeks to Hawaii - the first blog

The second, on my build up to the 2015 race was a lot more reflective of my thoughts and feelings about the build up to the race. Link here:

12 weeks to Hawaii - the return!

I guess this blog will be a combination of the two - my biggest view ever was my "Top tips for success in Ironman....for age group triathletes". So I guess that's the kind of thing people like to read (not that I think I'm much of an authority!)

So, where am I with my prep? And why the heading of this blog?

Physical state

Physically - I think I'm in a better place than ever before, regarding my swimming and cycling. I met with my coach, Xavier after IMNZ and he said he wanted to make sure my levels of enthusiasm for training (which were obviously pretty high, post race) didn't gradually decline all winter. So we planned to load up the bike kms while the weather was ok, and keep the running-induced fatigue low early on.

Training in Noosa

 I've been lucky enough to take a couple of trips to warmer climes too. We flew up to Cairns in June, coinciding with the Ironman up there, where some athletes were racing on our Wheelscience wheels and I did a big few days on the bike/swim, then I had a week up in Noosa in early July. What an incredible experience, to train like a pro! I have seen some huge improvements in my swimming, and fitness in general (eg resting heart rate) as a result of that week.
My running has a fair way to go (but hey, 12 weeks is a long time!) I've had some positive signs that it's on the improve, like a couple of my runs off the bike. But I gained a LOAD of weight after IMNZ, (which I raced at the heaviest of any of my Ironmans anyway). I refuse to starve myself though - I am very much focused on recovery and how I feel, rather than what I look like, and numbers on the scales. But, there's no denying that run performance is inversely correlated to weight, and unless you can do a lot of speed work to get those bigger legs firing, the excess kgs will cost. They are coming off slowly though, and while I know that I don't want to be racing in the heat of Kona carrying too much extra weight, my "ideal race weight" for the race that I want over there, may be very different from previous years, if my current swim and bike numbers are anything to go by.

Mental state

From the training perspective, I'm in a great place. I utterly detest riding indoors on the windtrainer, but we are having some really bad weather in Melbourne, and I am persuading myself that the indoor sessions in a heated room (it's often 30C by the time we've done the session and steamed it up!) will really help with our next race on 6th August (Cebu 70.3 in the Philippines) . Also, remember I am married to an Ironman athlete who would LOVE to get to Kona - that's a good reminder that I chose to take the slot, and I'm extremely fortunate to be having a third crack at it.


But the biggest risk to my training, recovery (and I believe weight loss) are the other stressors I allow to impact me. I have had a lot of stress at work the last year or so. I am on a fixed - term part time contract, and although there was an opportunity to apply for a full time permanent role, I chose not to, as I believe it would have severely limited other aspects of my job, and life in general. Of course this decision has left me having to fight to keep some kind of a job in teaching, and scrabbling to find research funding. I also had the culmination of a huge, 2-year research project at the end of June - a pretty stressful few weeks as I tried to write up the final report! But I love the work I do, and I still think the stress is worth it, when I find new answers in my research, or a student tells me I have inspired them (and I don't mean athletically!)

Larger-than-life Travis "happy" Tremayne with me in Kona in 2013

And now on to the "Survival" aspect of the blog title. In the past month, we have learned that 3 very close friends have had serious illnesses. This threw me into a huge turmoil, emotionally. I am talking about 3 healthy, fit people here, all in their 40s, all with life-threatening illnesses. It made me question a lot about my life, and my approach to it. Ambition in my career - why? Goals in triathlon - why? Being organised, and planning every day of our lives - why? I have seriously questioned the point of any of it. And yet, the ironic thing is that I believe all 3 of these amazing people would not for a second question those things. They are all ambitious, driven go-getters who grab life by the balls, and make every day count. Which makes it suck even more that they should be dealt these health blows. The other thing that really stands out when I read their stories or talk to them is the will to survive. And hence the word in the title, Survival. We talk about it flippantly as athletes "oh, by the last 5km, it was just survival". No it's not. What our friends are doing - having surgeries, radiotherapy, taking meds. THAT's survival. And I will remember that when times get tough in the coming months, and in Kona itself. They, and others struggling with their health will inspire me. And I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about the emotional stress their news has caused me. I'd happily take that on board if it meant I could in some way help their recovery.

The week's totals, for the numbers geeks! : 12 weeks to go