Weekend Triathlon Training Plan

This is the last weekend to train before Frogman next Sunday. I plan on a good brick of 30 miles on the bike and a 6 mile run on Saturday, as long as my foot holds up. I plan to take it at an easy pace on the run. Sunday there is an open water swim clinic on the beach. The water temps are still in the 50's so it is going to be chilly. I planned on a swim this weekend anyway, so I'll join them and have a group to swim with. It is the same area for the Frogman and I think they are setting up the buoys and using this as a test run for next weekend. I hope we have a good turn out. I have heard some local grumblings about the water temp being so cold, but come on. Suck it up and let's get the season started without all the whining. Save the whining for the end of the season when we're all beat up and tired. I'm out.

I finally broke down and bought a pair of CEP compression socks yesterday. I hope they live up to the hype. I will try them out this weekend and let you know what I think. Have a great training weekend, I'm out.

Nic Ebright Massage: Help With Plantar Fasciitis Problems

I got a post from someone on twitter who was offering to help me out with my plantar fasciitis problems. He gave me some general advice and then asked what my race schedule looked like and he would send me a plan that may help me. I was not sure what to expect as I had never met him before. I checked out his site and it was informative. I think he is having it updated right now so it is currently down but check back later for his updated site. Later that evening, I got an e-mail from him with a great treatment plan. I have pasted it below:

Nic Ebright LMT-CES
Web: www.nicebrightmassage.com

Location: www.awakenwellnesscolumbia.com
7130 Minstrel Way, Suite 160
Columbia Maryland 21045
410-312-9922

Please Print for Your Reference

Before You Begin Home Care Plan:


Although seeking help for an injury or condition is beneficial, it is important to realize that you may need to perform some stretches, strengthening, self-massage or cold/heat therapy between sessions.
This treatment advice is referred to as 'home care advice' and it will help speed up the recovery process, shortening the healing time and thereafter help prevent further injuries.
If home care advice is given it is important to act on it. Massage alone may not be sufficient to rehabilitate a condition.
If appropriate, you may be referred to an alternative practitioner if a different form of therapy would be better suited, either in addition to or instead of the therapies Nic Ebright or Awaken Wellness offers.
Statements are not a medical diagnoses, please see your doctor if you want an official diagnosis.


Client: Craig McGray
Date: 3/9/2010
Session Date: 3/9/2010
Session Type: Overuse Injury Recommendations

Chief Complaint:
History of Plantar Fascitis or strain

Primary Session Treatment Goals:
No treatment performed

Professional Observation:
Plantar fasciitis is traditionally thought to be an inflammatory condition. This is now believed to be incorrect due to the absence of inflammatory cells within the fascia. The cause of pain and dysfunction is now thought to be degeneration of the collagen fibers close to the attachment to the heel bone. Analogous to a frayed rope, scar tissue fibers are not as strong/resilient as original tissue. This particular tissue does not heal as fast because under constant stress. Could be result of stress on rigid arch or overpronation with flat arches. cycling can be as equally painful because of direct use of the forefoot and calf attachments. Treatment is relatively long term.

Home Care Plan:
Protect Heel and Arch with heel pad or KT Tape
RICE affected area before and after activity frequently
Manage pain and inflammation using Ice Massage Technique along heel and arch for effective cooling of the tissue
Use tennis or golf ball to break up and realign scar tissue length wise from heel to forefoot
Stretch plantar tissue and ice again.
If no inflammation, heat the area with moist hot towel.
If POSSIBLE, decrease or discontinue activity causing pain until inflammation decreases
If NOT POSSIBLE, decrease intensity or volume or cross-train or apply KT Tape to support tendon
Reduce overactive muscles with foam roll (Myo-fascial Release). Usual suspects are calf and calf and soleus muscles
Lengthen/Stretch overactive muscles (Listed above)
Strengthen lower leg muscles, foot and toe muscles. Add ankle balance exercises.

References for You:
Taping the Plantar with KT Tape video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x272_NziK2g

Other methods of treatment if condition prolongs
http://www.active.com/running/Articles/4-Ways-to-Fight-Plantar-Fasciitis.htm?act=EMC-Active&Vehicle=Running&Date=03_02_10&Edition=1&Sections=Articles&Creative=4_Ways_to_Fight_Plantar_Fasciitis&TextName=More&ArtText=Txt&Placement=2&Dy=Tue

"Be Informed to Stay In Form"

Bottom line was that if Nic cares for his clients in the same way he was willing to give me advice, he must have very happy and faithful clients. If you need advice or are in his area of Maryland, I would recommend you stop and see Nic. Thanks for all your help Nic!

I Tested The Foot This Morning

I tested out my foot this morning after spin class. I went out and did a 20 min transition run and it went OK. I did not really push it all, but put in a decent pace. I plan to take it easy on the runs for the next week until my first race of the season next weekend. It's an Olympic distance and I want to be able to make the run. I realize I may not be 100% for this race and that's ok. Next month is St. Anthony's and I really want to be race ready for that one. I'm going to try to add in some trainer rides since I am cutting back on the run volume a bit.

Swim Training Tonight

Tonight is a swim night. Daytona Frogman is in a week and a half and the ocean is still only 53 degrees. It's gonna be chilly for sure, but that's just more incentive to swim faster and get to my bike. I don't plan on being in there for more than 25 minutes at the most (Olympic distance race)anyway. I grew up surfing here, so it's not that big of a deal to me. There are some locals who are questioning whether they are going to race beacuse of it. We live in Florida and can pretty much train year round, so I can't see complaining about a little cold.

There are plenty of people who would love to train in our "cold" weather. People around here have really been slack this winter because of our cold snaps. I hope the fact that I have trained through most of it translates into some noticeable improvements this season.

I plan on an ocean swim this weekend to get a feel for the open water again before next weekend. I think we will have a group of people show up for a group swim. I have not ran since my PR 5K (20:22) on Saturday due to my Plantar Fasciitis problems. I plan on taking it easy with the run until the race and putting in extra time on the bike between now and then in order to keep my fitness level up.

I am going into Frogman with the mindset that I may not be 100% and I'll just do my best and try not to further injure myself. My main focus is St. Anthony's next month and of course, Florida 70.3 in May. That's a quick update for everyone and thanks for following. I'm out!

Wheelbuilder.com Aero Disc Wheel Cover Review

**Updated**
3/22/2010
I had my first race with the wheel cover on yesterday. I had a bad race overall (see the Daytona Frogman Post), but felt good about the wheel cover. I honestly forgot it was even on. I never heard it and the winds were either headwind or tailwind, so no real crosswinds to deal with. Not sure if it helped me much, but it definitely did not hurt. My time was faster than last year so I'll keep the cover on. I have trained hard since last year so I know that has helped. I assume the cover helped a bit too. Well worth the $90 I spent on it. I'll keep it on for the rest of the season. So far so good.
3/3/2010
I rode for the first time on the road with the disc cover this weekend. Only did 25 miles and I was very surprised with the disc wheel cover. I was expecting quite a bit of rattle from the cover but I never noticed it and even my ridng partner said he did not notice it either. Not sure if I could tell a whole lot of difference with the wheel cover on, because I have been doing so much on the trainer and spin class, I know my fitness level is improved. I do know it doesn't hurt so I'm keeping it on. We had 20-25 mph winds and the only time I felt a little sketchy was going down the bridge with a bit of a cross wind. I rode the brakes at 25 mph (I know , what a pus) because I just felt a little loose. Not sure if it was the disc or just the strong winds.

I checked everything out on the disc when I got home, and it was all still nice and tight. I plan to keep it on for a while now as I start racing this month and have one a month until October. I'll keep updating as I put on the miles.

2/4/2010
I have a few more hours with the cover on the trainer and still fits snug. No strange rattles or anything as of yet. If the weather cooperates this weekend, I will have a 3 hour road test and post how it went. Our weekends for the last month or so have been extremely windy so I hope it lets up some for this weekend.

1/4/2010

Happy New Year! I have about 4 trainer hours with the wheel cover on and it has not loosened up at all. The weather has been unseasonably cold here in Florida so I have not been on the road with the aero disc yet. I will continue to train with the wheel cover on the trainer and monitor if it loosens up or if there are any other problems.

12/29/2009
I received my aero wheel cover from wheelbuilder.com today. I was excited to try out and review this product. I have heard many people like the product and wanted to know for myself how it works. I needed to stop at my local bike shop and get the necessary tools for installation (chain whip and lockring removal tool).

I know the aero wheel cover is only for racing, but I wanted to install it and ride a little to get a feeling for it and make sure when it comes to race day, that I know how to install and feel comfortable putting it on.

When I opened the box, all the installation pieces were there and I was ready to give it a shot. Let me first say that I am not very mechanically inclined when it comes to my bike, or anything really. Removing the cassette was not all that hard and the biggest trick was getting it off without losing the order of the cogs and the spacers. I accomplished this without a problem.

I then put the wheel cover on and it was fairly easy. It did take a little adjusting back and forth once I got the fasteners on and this was a little frustrating. I put a fastener in every other hole at first, then I installed the others. I kept them loose at this time so that I could do the adjusting. After a few minutes of moving the disc around, I finally felt like it was in the right spot.

I tightend the fasteners and checked the fit. There seemed to be some warping of the cover so I loosened up the fasteners a bit and it seemed to take care of the problem.

I reinstalled the cassette and went to put the wheel back on my bike. I don't know why, but I have the hardest time putting my back wheel on. I messed with this for a little while and finally got it. I put the bike on my trainer and made sure nothing was rubbing. It seemed fine and I will go for a short neighborhood tour tonight after work. I will post updates on the durability of the product as time goes on.

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Half Ironman Training: Plantar Fasciitis Sucks!!

My weekend started off well with a 8 mile run in the cold rain. Not the best of conditions, but I had a good training run and felt good. I had a 25 mile bike ride planned before a 6 mile run on Sunday. The ride went great. We had pretty strong winds, but it made for some fast parts of the ride with a 20 mph tail wind. The head winds were pretty crappy, but oh well.

When I got back to the house where I had set up a little transition area, my foot was a little tight, but not much worse than normal. I threw on the running shoes and off I went. Sort of. I couldn't get my foot to loosen up at all. It usually takes a mile or so, but I could not get going at all. I had to bail after only about 1/4 of a mile. I figured better to get off of it before I did some real damage. I went home and iced it for a bit, then taped it up.



I took it easy the rest of the day and it feels a little better today. I'm hoping to rest it today and swim tonight. I have a 5K planned this Saturday, so I hope it's doing better. I also don't want to ruin my training plans for Florida 70.3.

I have my foot taped up today and have a golf ball under my desk to roll my foor throughout the day today at work. I hope it gets better. I have had this for almost a year now, but it is usually at least a manageable pain. This time it's a little more severe of a flare up.

My tri season starts this month with an Olympic on March 21 (Daytona Frogman), St. Anthony's in April and Florida 70.3 in May. I will probably go through the summer with 3 or 4 local sprints.

First Half Ironman Training; Sunday Long Ride and Daytona Frogman Triathlon Training

Sunday had a long training ride on the schedule. Due to our weekend weather lately, this was the first outside ride in the last 3 weeks. I was very glad to be off the trainer for this weekend. We planned a 3 hour ride and as always, it turned into a 3 hr 45 min ride and 70 miles.

This was sort of a test run, as it was the first ride since having my flat problems. For two weeks in a row, I had multiple flats and one ride I had to make the call of shame and have the wife come get me. I was using a new rear tire,Continental Gator,and hoped it would be the end of my flat streak, at least for awhile. I also put some tire liners in both tires to ward off the flats. I have been using the Continental Gator on the trainer and it has been great. No problems and I felt confident going back out on the road.

The ride went well and since I raced on Saturday, my legs were pretty well fried by the end. I am now focused on the first olympic tri of the season next month. The Daytona Frogman Triathlon is having its inaugural race on March 21. The race director has put on a sprint series for the last few years and has now added this distance. Tigershark Endurance Events puts on a great race. I am excited because it is a local race and I will be riding the course for the next few weeks in training. I can get to the course from my house, on my bike in about 15 minutes, so it will be a good warm up.

Port Orange YMCA 10K

I ran the Port Orange YMCA 10K today and ran a PR of 44:22. It got me 3rd in my age group and 8th overall. My first podium finish since I started racing a couple years ago. I ran the race last year and came in at 51:30 so I'm happy with the progress.

As I get more training under my belt for Florida 70.3, I am realizing the difference between real training and the working out I use to do. I was in shape last year when I raced but this year I feel more like I am trained to race. It is alot of hard work but as I race this season, I am seeing new PR's and realizing that it is all the hard work that makes the difference.

Looking forward to my 3 hour ride tomorrow with a small group. Our weather has been bad the last three weekends, so it will be nice to be outside for my long rides instead of on the trainer.

Sufferfest "Fight Club" Video Review and Brick Workout

Sunday I planned a 2 hour trainer ride with a 5 mile brick run. I did the sufferfest video on Friday night by itself for the first time. It was a tough workout (in a good way)and it definitely lived up to its name. It is a tough hour long session that takes you into the heart of a real cycling event.

The Sufferfest "Fight Club" training video is the one I purchased. It focuses on time trial efforts with some climbing at the end of each lap. There are attacks that are thrown in to keep you paying attention and your heart rate elevated. I found the time passed very quickly (which usually does not happen) on the trainer. For my brick session, I rode a tempo effort for 30 min., then I did the video, followed by another 30 min. that ended with some higher spin efforts to get the legs ready for the 5 mile run.

I had a great sufferfest training ride and a decent run after. I wanted to hold a pace that allowed me to finish under 8 min/mile and I did with a 7:50 pace. Not a race pace effort but I finished feeling good knowing I could have pushed harder for a race.

I have a 10K this weekend and I have not ran an open 10K race since last year, so I am hoping for another PR like I had for my 5K a few weeks ago.

Wheelbuilder.com Aero Disc Wheel Cover Review

**Updated**
2/4/2010
I have a few more hours with the cover on the trainer and still fits snug. No strange rattles or anything as of yet. If the weather cooperates this weekend, I will have a 3 hour road test and post how it went. Our weekends for the last month or so have been extremely windy so I hope it lets up some for this weekend.

1/4/2010

Happy New Year! I have about 4 trainer hours with the wheel cover on and it has not loosened up at all. The weather has been unseasonably cold here in Florida so I have not been on the road with the aero disc yet. I will continue to train with the wheel cover on the trainer and monitor if it loosens up or if there are any other problems.

12/29/2009
I received my aero wheel cover from wheelbuilder.com today. I was excited to try out and review this product. I have heard many people like the product and wanted to know for myself how it works. I needed to stop at my local bike shop and get the necessary tools for installation (chain whip and lockring removal tool).

I know the aero wheel cover is only for racing, but I wanted to install it and ride a little to get a feeling for it and make sure when it comes to race day, that I know how to install and feel comfortable putting it on.

When I opened the box, all the installation pieces were there and I was ready to give it a shot. Let me first say that I am not very mechanically inclined when it comes to my bike, or anything really. Removing the cassette was not all that hard and the biggest trick was getting it off without losing the order of the cogs and the spacers. I accomplished this without a problem.

I then put the wheel cover on and it was fairly easy. It did take a little adjusting back and forth once I got the fasteners on and this was a little frustrating. I put a fastener in every other hole at first, then I installed the others. I kept them loose at this time so that I could do the adjusting. After a few minutes of moving the disc around, I finally felt like it was in the right spot.

I tightend the fasteners and checked the fit. There seemed to be some warping of the cover so I loosened up the fasteners a bit and it seemed to take care of the problem.

I reinstalled the cassette and went to put the wheel back on my bike. I don't know why, but I have the hardest time putting my back wheel on. I messed with this for a little while and finally got it. I put the bike on my trainer and made sure nothing was rubbing. It seemed fine and I will go for a short neighborhood tour tonight after work. I will post updates on the durability of the product as time goes on.

Popular Triathlon Training Products

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Daytona Beach 5K Results

Today I ran in the Daytona Beach 5K. It was great because the course is on the Daytona International Speedway. There is a portion in the beginning that brought us through the infield to make the full 3.1 miles.

I felt good and was hoping to see some improvement in my time from October when I last ran a 5K. My time was a PR of 21:56. That beat my last time of 23:33 and was very happy. I had a plan to go out the first mile at around 6:50 and I did that. My plan was to back off to right around 7:00 min. for mile 2 and run sub 7 for the last mile, of course the .last .10 is pretty much an all out sprint. I stuck with my plan and it was right on.

Tomorrow is another long ride (70 miles) and an hour trail run off the bike for a long brick. I know it's going to hurt but that hard work is what makes the improvements happen. My season starts in March with a local olympic distance before St. Anthony's in April and Florida 70.3 in May. After that it will pretty much be sprints for the rest of the season. I may throw in an olympic towards the end, but we'll see how I feel (and how the wife feels about it).

Another Long Weekend Of Training For Ironman Florida 70.3

This past weekend was another great weekend for training. I had a good swim on Saturday and was prepared for my long brick on Sunday. We were going to have a 3 1/2 hour ride, followed by a 5 mile trail run. My ride was cut short to only 3 hours due to once again, flats. This sucks! Now last weekend I got 2 flats and we checked the tire and found nothing in it after the second change. I made it back home without a problem. This Sunday at around mile 40, we stopped for a quick bathroom break, and I was flat again in the front. I used the "pit stop" (fix a flat) we had to try and make it home, but I only got another 5 miles or so. I could feel that I was flat again and had to stop. This time, I changed the tube and got back on the road. 5 miles later, flat again!! I was out of CO2 and no more tubes, so I had to make the call of shame.

To make the call even worse, I actually called my "mommy" to come and get me because I knew the wife would have to load up the kids and it would much easier for my mom to jump in the car and come get me. I'm 37 years old and still depend on my mom for certain things; kind of normal right? Anyway, I got back to our starting point sure that I missed the group run (not totally disappointed honestly), but when I got there I had Helen (an ultramarathoner who is FAST) waiting for me. She tortured me for 4 hard miles on the trail and then let me go home. I was glad she was there to push me because I was definitely deflated (get it, deflated) after my disappointing finish to the ride and the wait on the side of the road.

All in all, it was another great training weekend that I'm sure made me stronger. I will be running in a 5K this weekend at the Daytona Speedway. It is pretty neat that I will be running on the actual track in the morning and there is a 24 hour car race in the afternoon. I'm not that into Nascar and other car racing, but it is pretty cool to live here in Daytona during those events. I'll update after ny 5K and hopefully be posting a new PR to better my 23:33 from a few months ago.

Weekend Long Ride: Fixing a Bike Flat On The Road

Happy Monday everyone. I had a great week of training last week and completed all but 1 swim workout. Yesterday I went for a long ride with a small group and we ended up at 70 miles. That is my longest ride to date. It was a tough ride as I was with a pretty strong group, but it's not suppose to be easy right?

We averaged just over 19mph and though it was tough, it was doable. We had some pretty strong winds to deal with. I had not 1, but 2 flats on this ride. That sucked. It was only the second time I've got a flat while on a ride and if I recall correctly, in one of my previous posts, I talked about never getting flats and that I probably jinxed myself and guess what, I did. We were 40 miles into the ride as I have never changed a tire on the ride before, it was interesting to say the least. We were on a 8 mile stretch and we split up as a group and were to meet up at the end so when the riders behind me passed they made sure I had what I needed and kept going. I have changed my tire before without levers and thought it would not be a problem. The problem was that it is different in my garage than it was on an empty road with sweaty hands and mosquitoes the size of a sparrow attacking me. A solo rider came along and helped me out. Thanks Kirk and I will pass on the favor the next time I see a cyclist who needs a hand. 20 minutes later I was on my way. After stopping for that long, it was not easy to get back up to speed. Some of the group came back for me and got me back up to the front.

I got behind on my nutrition a bit and hit a wall at about mile 42 and lost all energy. We were stopping for a scheduled stop and I was able to catch up and finished strong. My friend (Kona qualifier) talked with me about my nutritional needs and I will now have more of a plan. Overall good training ride and I learned from it. With the schedule I'm on, I should be well prepared for Florida 70.3.