Few and far between

that's been the frequency of my follow thru with this journal. Luckily, my training has been more consistent.

Over the last month I have gotten some key run wkouts in, slowly strengthening the hip (i think), some great bikes - on my new PowerTap in the basement - and even dipped my big toe into the pool again.

Just last week I started up with TD and the crew in Dedham for the most recent SufferFest (which btw, kicked my a$$ 3/4 of the way thru with major calf cramping = need more Endurance drink)

In true triathlon form, here's a summary of the last month...

Swim - started Feb with consistency and yardage... avg 2x per week, avg 2500y/wkout; several main sets of 1k; after that I felt like I was only swimming slow so I started adding more 100s, 200s and 50s sets. First Dedham swim last week = about 3500y = felt it. Rt calf cramped up pretty bad 2/3 way in; not enough gel or PB Endurance (next time!!!). Have to miss this wk due to Mary's travel.
Overall: pleased to be back in the pool; quite a ways to go!

Bike - best progress so far; very consistent with early morning or later evening rides; using the PT, couple of FTP tests yielding about 290-310 LT. Avg b/t 75'-90'.
Raced the BTT ITT on 3/1 - a 6.4m uphill TT (it was the last 6.4m of the Boston Marathon course... in reverse = basically all uphill, some plateaus, no descents.
Results = 20 OV, 2nd masters 35+, Avg 318 watts; 18:08 = a heart-pumping, lung-burning 18' but worth the early Sunday morning drive into Boston (Landry's on Comm Ave).

Run - some please and pain here; started the month with a couple easy 4m runs from home and work; focused on keeping the core in line and not letting the hip fly all over the place, or over striding = turnover about 84-86. That seemed to work well - was able to run 29'-30' without discomfort (I did feel the hip and knew the pain was there but kept it under control).
After a few of those runs I started picking up the pace - was very pleased with the results. But my last run (about 10 days ago) my hip was sore for several days. Haven't run since due to that and then the snow storm on 3/2 (a little shoveling and the back was pretty sore again - so nothing this last week).
Run results:


All in all a good February. The first week of March, post the ITT wkout, has not had a lot of wkouts. Mary is off to LA for 10 days... the back is sore (saw the MGH back Dr - Kellie McInnis, highly recommend her to anyone) and the snow has caused me to miss activities - should have been spinning every morning or night but haven't gotten my a$$ out of bed (did get a late night spin in during the week though... trying the EN bike test = more on that in my next post).

So again I will try to increase my log entries moving forward --- but right now I have to change a poppy diaper.

pw
192.2