A week of high's and low's


On top of West Lilac Rd...Isn't she pretty??
 I've been kinda in a weird training funk these past two days. Tuesday night I hit up the track for what was going to be just a moderate effort workout, but literally 50 meters into the first 800 rep, I felt my calf twinge and had to pull up and head home. So frustrating. Just when I feel like my running fitness is finally getting to where I've imagined, I pull up with a lame calf injury. I know it's just a strain but it might keep me from racing next week. Right now it's all about massage, heat, ice. I'm pretty sure it's a culprit of things that caused it and I'll use it as a learning experience. First of all, I haven't been stretching like I normally do - just haven't had time for it the past few weeks. I've barely had time to squeeze in my workouts! 2nd, Dave Kloz pointed out that my new isoTransition shoes are way too minimal for the track. I hadn't planned on using them for track workouts - only racing, but I wanted to work them in before I raced...Guess that was a bad idea. Regardless, I'm still going to race the swim/bike portion - jump into the run and see how it feels. Hopefully the adrenaline and drugs can mask the pain...Dunno, hurts to even walk on it right now. Another culprit of the strain is not going to Rehab United for the past 3 months. It was either sacrifice RU or a bike workout...Seems obvious, but I know that I need the extra strength/conditioning with me being 32 these days. I have a feeling if I hadn't stopped going, I wouldn't have pulled up lame on Tuesday night.  Oh well, lesson learned.

My beautiful family
 As for the good stuff, my little brother Jason got married last weekend and it was a blast to be a part of the wedding. We got a chance to spend 4 days down in Ramona with family and we had a lot of fun. On the bike front, I've been posting really good numbers (HR/MPH/Perceived effort) on the bike. I wish I had a power meter to see what numbers I'm hitting there but regardless, I'm getting comfortable on the Slice and it's amazing how much faster it is than Blue Steel. Some more good things; an athlete I'm coaching Ryan Wilshusen had a 39 minute PR over last year in the Rock and Roll Marathon and qualified for Boston posting a 3:00:16 almost breaking the 3 hr mark! He earned it! I've dabbled with coaching before in the past and always enjoyed it, I might have some cool opportunities coming up - so we'll see.

I'll just leave with a few random pictures over the past week, and if you haven't noticed yet, my wife talked me into creating a twitter account to go in conjunction with this blog - follow along if you'd like.

Ryan on his way to a huge PR
Amy and I at the top of a Mt. Woodson hike
Crazy, Albertson's in Temecula has a whole aisle dedicated to craft beer. If you ever read my
other blog before this one, you can see my stance on this here. However, it's cool to see that the world is catching on to beer that has taste!!
Some serious bouldering going on here in Ramona!! Note dramatic face!

3 comments:

Ryan said...

James, thanks for all your help with the marathon training. There is no way I could have done it without you. My wife and I thank you for giving us a good reason for an east coast vacation next April. I hope your calf heals up. I know you have been training really hard for this race. Such a bummer to get hurt now.

James said...

NO prob. Yea, it seems like a regular thing now...Big race, get hurt 2 weeks before. Panic, get help then fight through the race...

Rachela said...

Your face is priceless in the rock climbing picture - no replays of 127 hrs!!!! (shakes finger) HAHA!

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