Getting back to a different groove

This week is probably the first week where I've noticed a definite improvement in the foot pain from my left 4th metatarsal stress fracture. For the past 4 weeks, I've been doing no running at all, but was worried that walking and cycling was stressing it unnecessarily, but I suspect that I simply couldn't notice the small incremental healing improvements that were going on. Now, about 6 weeks out from when I stopped running completely, I can say that there has a been a definite improvement, to about 50% of what it was before. Unfortunately, it's still there, and I do have a bad day or two during the week where it flares up more than usual and I worry about it, but on the whole, I am now convinced that things are definitely on the up and up.

I still terribly miss running, but my new gym-workout lifestyle has been coming along excellently. Indoor cycling has become much more solid, and my legs are definitely now keeping up with my cardio, pushing things along at 140+ bpm for an hour plus without a premature fade. I've already ratcheted up the bike resistance from my initial level of 6 (whatever that means on this Lifecycle bike) to a significantly harder 7, for over half of my typical 45-60 minute ride, and I'm feeling much less lactate accumulation in my legs. These gains translated well to a strong 2 hour mountain bike ride I did yesterday. Usually I have to ride out of the saddle for the steepest uphills when I'm not cycling regularly, but this time around, I felt strong in the seated position for virtually the entire ride, managing to power into anaerobic threshold as well while maintaining the seated position. This is definitely a significant improvement for my cycling ability, and I'm pleased to see the progress.

My swimming has also been progressing continuously. I've been doing dual bike/swim workouts every day, 5-6x per week, so I've been feeling very comfortable in the pool as of late. My form has definitely improved, to the point where I feel comfortable breathing on both sides in my crawl stroke, and I can actually put a decent effort into the stroke power. I'm still definitely a rank beginner at the swim, but for the first time, I feel that I would be strong enough to complete the swim leg (slowly) of an Olympic-distance triathlon. I'm hoping for more improvements in the next months, so that I feel that I can actually put a race-effort (versus survival effort) into that distance swim.

I also received an unexpected blessing in the cost of my gym membership. I joined a Ballys within walking distance from my apartment, but initially balked hard at the 3-year minimum membership duration as well as $1100 cost of membership over the 3 years. I will likely leave Los Angeles proper for my fellowship training in 2 years, so 1 of those years I'm paying for would be simply wasted, but with my busy schedule and the horrendous LA traffic, I couldn't find any other gym that I'd go to nearly as often. I unexpectedly received an call from Ballys offering to cut my membership rate to $750 for the entire 3 years if I paid it full at the start. That makes it a much better proposition, even for 2 years, and one that I would have gladly jumped all over had it been that cost from the start. It's nice when details like this work out in your favor - although I still generally disapprove of all the fine print in Bally's gym contracts, which significantly differed from what the non-knowlegable staff were trying to sell me. Bottom line if you join a gym - it can be worth it, but definitely, absolutely, read the fine print - if I didn't, I would have been very dismayed to see that the "easy cancellations" that the staff had promised were in fact, impossibly difficult.

Unfortunately, despite all my fitness efforts, I doubt that I will be back in running form until October, and after then, it will take at least one 18 week Pfitz cycle to get back to where I was before. So a BQ marathon attemptlooks like it's not going to happen until spring of next year. As I planned, I will probably become a triathlete for the next 4-6 months in earnest to not over-do the running portion and reinjure my foot early on. After that, I fully anticipate to get back to Pfitz 70mpw without difficulty.

Last comment on my experience thus far with cycling and swimming versus running. Running, to me, is WAY harder on the body. It's not even close, in my opinion. Sure, you can aerobically exhaust yourself on all events, and I am definitely far stronger on the run than the other two sports, but suffice to say that I can cycle or swim for 2 hours at a time at fairly good intensity (130-160bpm) without getting really beaten down. In contrast, running for the same duration always gives me a good hammering, both on the joints and muscles. I haven't felt the same beat-down I get from the marathon training long runs or lactate runs in any of my bike or swim workouts, and that includes intervals. Whereas in marathon training, the limiting factor during the Pfitz training program was usually accumulated fatigue and wear, in my early tri-training, the limiting factor seems to time, and not the body. We'll see if this ratio changes down the road as I become stronger on the other 2 discplines.