August 8th,  Wednesday

A couple of bricks in the wall.?

After two days off, I ran a double workout today.   Arose at 6 a.m. to embark on an invigorating 11 mile bike ride before the heat of the coming day.  That took about 1:10.  Later in the evening I ran for  25 minutes in the pool.  Both workouts were punctuated with frequent surges of from 30 to 60 seconds.  Solid day!  Making the best of limitations forced by uncooperative heel.

Stats-

Diet = 8

Sleep = 7

Weight =  #155

Morning HR = 54 bpm

Plantar fasciitis heel discomfort = 5/6  !

I-Mad = 1

August 5th,  Sunday

This evening I arrived at the pool about 7 p.m. and to my dismay there were four people floating around in the pool. Now I can share a large pool with 4 people without a problem. However, this crew had no concept of allowing for a lane for a swimmer. They simply drifted randomly in every direction taking no note of me trying to swim laps. I did manage to swim for 20 minutes without crashing into anyone. But I continue to be amazed at how unaware people are, or just plain stupid or purposefully discourteous?   Proceeded to running in the deep water after all four floaters had left. In the end it was a good bit of work for 40 minutes with lots of bursts along the way.

Stats are solid and steady.

August 4th, Saturday

Liberty cross country boys doing the work to make a big move this season.

Video is on loop.  Tap to freeze frame.  Sorry Dylan, you got blocked after a serious ten.

Rode 9.5 miles this morning while boys ran 8/9/10 miles on the trails at Allaire State Park.  My time was 62:15.  It was surprising that the  bike trail was practically deserted on a Saturday morning , but the weather was a constant threat.  Fortunately the rain held off for the hour I was riding.  It was a good workout with some significant hills and some added bursts.  One hour+ in motion is a good thing!

Steady, positive stats.

August 3rd, Friday

Once again in the pool alone at 7 p.m. I swam for 25 minutes and ran for 25 minutes. That amounted to some solid aerobic work with frequent surges both while  swimming and running.

Stats-

Sleep =   8 1/2 hours

Weight  = #154.4

Diet = 10  Yogurt, wheat germ,  nuts, tart cherry juice, oat cereal, six veggie salad, home made Turkey chilli over Brown rice!

Morning indexes good.  Heel remains an unpleasant issue.

August 1st, Wednesday

Once again I was all alone in our beautiful pool on a perfect 78° evening. I swam for 20 minutes inserting bursts of 30 to 35 stroke efforts throughout. I am trying to make my stroke more smooth and more powerful while trying to improve aerobic strength.   I switched to non-impact running for 20 minutes which also included segments of bursts.  I feel as though I have lost some of my aerobic fitness over the past 2 weeks with tapering and recovering from a triathlon.

I have been wearing the foot brace designed to help plantar fasciitis for the past few nights while sleeping. I think I am feeling some improvement. My morning discomfort in the left foot has been dramatically reduced, although the heel pain while walking or running remains.

Stats –

Weight = 155 lb

Morning heart rate equals 54 beats per minute

Diet is very good.  8

Morning discomfort in right foot = 0.    Morning discomfort in left foot = 2/4. Improving!

Sleep equals 8 hours

July 31, Tuesday

Rode 4 miles at a very positive Liberty xc practice tonight. Not much, but getting something done.  Still working on heel improvement.

Stats are stable.

July 30th, Monday

Another “Brick in the Wall”

Filled with trepidation I spoke for 1 hour and 38 minutes at camp PYP this morning. That seems a little too long. For fear of running out of things to say in my first ever camp speech, I over prepared.  It took a while to get rolling, but I finally relaxed and loosened up. I think that I shared some helpful ideas, and I hope the campers thought so too. ( Maybe too many stories about the glory days) My greatest fear is that I was boring. The campers and counselors were courteous and cooperative and tolerant of the old guy. Justina and Rich and all the coaches were very supportive and kind. Rudy really helped put me at ease.

But that is two challenging things that I accomplished in 9 days! (triathlon and a public talk to high schoolers) Both had me very nervous, but I am happy that I tried. Relaxation and back to the training routine are now the order of the month ahead.

July 28, Saturday

Surprisingly comfortable 11.5  along Ocean Avenue

I set the clock for 7 a.m. today with the goal of joining the Jackson Liberty cross-country boys practice on the boardwalk in Spring Lake at 8 a.m. I loaded up my bike and set out around 7:30 and arrived just in time to catch the boys getting ready for their long boardwalk run. Well, we had three coaches and four boys. The guys set out on their run, and I set out on my bike. I surprised myself by doing a leisurely 11.5 miles. That is far more than I anticipated for my first bike workout after last Saturday’s triathlon. However, it has been a full week and I guess I should be fully recovered.  Anyway I was happy to be able to get that much work in today. It was a very comfortable ride which took 1 hour and 8 minutes under overcast skies at about 75 degrees. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer morning along the beach.  I rode through Spring Lake and Belmar and Avon and Bradley Beach and Ocean Grove all the way to the Asbury Park boardwalk.  The boardwalk and the roads were bristling  with bikers and runners and walkers everywhere you looked. I could not help thinking as I rode along that this wholesome, peaceful atmosphere where everyone was cordial and courteous is exactly how things should be. We are lucky that situations like this can exist in cities and towns throughout the United States.

It was a coincidence that the out-and-back turned out to be 11.5 miles almost exactly the same as in my competition.  Riding my bike instead of Kevin’s bike and at a leisurely pace instead of a competitive pace I was 20 minutes slower than last Saturday.  That is just fine!

Stats-

Weight = #154

A.m. heart rate = 54 beats per minute

Sleep = 7 hours

Diet = 7/8. Lots of salads and fish this week

Index of morning discomfort in left foot still very high at about 7 for first few minutes. Pain in heel pad persists all day but getting a little better. I have slept with the foot brace on for the last two nights . Maybe that  is having some positive effect . Right foot has no issues and Achilles tendons are pain-free.

July 26,  Thursday

Today I got back in the pool for a 40 minute workout.  I swam and ran and swam again.  After my unimpressive swim in the Triathlon, my intention is to swim much more aggressively in my workouts going forward.  During today’s workout I did individual laps of the pool at high intensity rather than swim continuously in circles around the pool at low effort as I have been doing in prep for the Triathlon swim.

At my meeting with my foot doctor today she decided to suspend any additional T-PAT treatments since the first one did not produce a positive effect. She offered physical therapy and a cortisone injection as possible treatments but I rejected both. So I am back on my own in an effort to recover from this nagging plantar fasciitis heel pain. Life will go on!  I will stay fit while my body heals this problem.

I have grown careless over the last week in keeping track of my stats. Need to get back on track in that matter.

July 25th,  Wednesday

It has been a longer recovery. Then I expected from last Saturday’s triathlon. My quadriceps are still in quite a bit of pain.  I did get in a short swim on Monday and some time in the hot tub. I did sleep for almost 12 hours last night which indicates to me that my body is still quite in need of rest.

Final take away from pretty amazing Triathlon experience;  I was not really very well prepared for it. If I chose to ever do another triathlon, I would do  at least 3 months of very serious training. And of course I would have to become a  much longer and confident swimmer. But attention now goes to qualifying for Nationals and trying to control my heel pain.

I do have an appointment tomorrow for another T-Pat treatment for my heel. I do not know if that’s going to be successful but I will finish the course of three I guess. I have to admit that I am not hot and by reading this morning that Yoenis Cespedes is having double heel surgery that will keep him out for almost a full year.  COME ON, MAN!