Marriage counselor to the rescue!

I read this WSJ Endurance Widow, and noticed there was no real solution presented for how to not have marital strife as a result of significant increase of exercise on the part of one partner.

Here is my suggestion, and it is going to seem silly and stupid.  Communicate.  Talk about it.  The first thing I did was copy this article and send it to my wife.  I am aware that she gets frustrated when I am gone in the morning, or when I am gone in the evenings, or for 4 or 5 hours on the weekend days, or when I take a trip without her.  She gets frustrated when I suggest races that I could do during our vacation, or even better yet, suggest scheduling our vacation around a certain race!  She looks at me like I am insane when I suggest that I want to do a full Ironman distance race next year, or when I watch 2 hours of Ironman coverage on TV.  The important thing is that I talk to her about it, and I know when I am going over that invisible line - because she talks back to me!  "What do you think about going to Puerto Rico for vacation?" I say.  She says, "Puerto Rico? Why there?" I reply and tell her, "Well, there is this race there, and I might get to meet Lance Armstrong!" The next part is the important part... It will either be met with a "Are you INSANE?", with a "Is there a better race, or one that is in ..." or "I guess we could do that."  Listen, people.  These responses are important.
Also, listen for the key phrases like "I miss you." or "Honey, Can you go to the kid's function tomorrow night?" or "Let's have a date."  That means you need to pay more attention.
If he/she sends you a link to an article that suggests that playing age appropriate video games with the kids is a constructive way to build a relationship with them, then you need to think about that.

Make a list of priorities, in order of importance and then follow it.  This is a simple version of my list, and you can put your stuff in there if you want.
1. Family
2. Work
3. Coaching
4. My own workouts
5. Other stuff.
Obviously, it is more complex than that, but that is the idea.  Now use your list.  If you need to have a date night, then you need to figure it out.  If rescheduling is necessary, work your way up from the bottom.  I need a date night, so I am going to skip playing MMORPG, or something else.  If i can't do that, then i am going to have to miss one of MY workouts to make time.  This works.  Especially since you dont have to have a conventional date.  That is the thing.  A good date time for me and my wife is on a weekend morning.  That requires me to skip or move one of my workouts.
You can also think of it as a challenge to overcome.  Then when someone says "I am IRONMAN" you can counter with, "Oh, yeah?  I am one better.  I am an IRONMAN, and still married."

That is my goal.  To stay best friends and married to my favorite person in the world, to be a good role model to my kids, and to be a successful coach and athlete.

myocardial?

Funny, I initially wrote Myocardial instead of myofacial in my last post.  Could you imagine me rolling out my heart muscle with a foam roller??!!

Foam Rollers

Today i used a foam roller i bought at the Sports Authority.  I have been tender in my legs for a while, and I was told that it is a good way to release tension caused by repetitive motion like running.

Verbal instructions i received:  Roll back and forth on this and if you feel a lump, stay on it for 30 seconds. Then roll some more and when you find more lumps, hold them, then roll some more.

Internet instructions:  If you look up foam rollers you will mostly figure out how to curl your hair.  Fortunately, you can wade through those and find some videos on how to use a foam roller.  Luckily, I am a research maniac, and over the last year I have looked at things like Mayofacial release, Active Release Therapy, and so on and so forth.  I am sure I have probably read most of the posts regarding foam rollers that were posted on Trifuel, SlowTwitch, Beginner Triathlete, About.com, and any other one you could possibly think of to look up.  I didn't see that lady with the giant rack who does the burpees and the other Body Motion videos do a video on them yet, but I am sure she will soon.  It seems inevitable.

Anyway, long story short, (yeah right), I started rolling my calves.  Here is the deal, There are basically 3 muscles on the back of your leg.  The two larger ones on each side, and one in the middle, kinda underneath everything.  I am not going to feed you techspeak that I know all about what they are and such, cause I would have to look them up and post what I saw on the internet, you would think i am wicked smart, but I am not.  When looking at MY calf, you see what looks like a tapered wine barrel stuck to a 4x4.  No visible definition between the 3 muscles whatsoever.

This indicates to me that we may have some adhesion issues.  Sure enough, about half way up, i feel a lump.  When i say lump, I mean more like I have unintentionally adhesed, like, a baby's arm, or a 3 foot python or something in my leg.  Rolling over it is painful, and feels like going over speed humps in your car (not a speed bump mind you, if i were actually in my car, my head would have hit the ceiling.).  I have the same tenderness on my IT band, only it is less like a speed hump, and more like driving through a train yard.  Kinda bumpy.  Quads are the same way.

I feel much better after rolling them out.  I think it is going to take some time to get the big ones dissolved...  Also, I forgot to put my workout in here!  I ran 7.5 miles.  About 1.25 hours.  Right on track.  I did about .5 miles barefoot to work on getting the tender feet stronger.

Who knows, maybe by the end of the year I will be Barefoot Somebody or Other.

-Ryan

P.S. - If you have a baby who all of a sudden is missing an arm, please let me know, I will stop rolling, and try to pop it like a zit.  (Mental note:I shouldn't write AFTER the glass of wine.)

bikila?

i am thinking of getting the blue bikila VFFs for running.  I think my wife thinks this is weird.

why no pictures from the rear?

Why do most swim coaches want to see video of someone from the front, from the top, and from the side, but nobody ever asks for video of someone from the rear?  I would think that if the video was taken to one side, then the other, right in the swimmer's wake, you would be able to see some VERY important information.  You could see the amount of the arm that is being used for the pull, you could see the upper body rotation, and the lower body rotation, and you would be able to easily see the depth of kick (as long as the person was not kicking washing machine style.)

Maybe that angle is hard to capture and see...  I need to get me an underwater camera..

up! and down, and up again!

I started typing a book in my own stinking comments, so i thought i would repost here.

  I ran what I thought was 6 (it was really 5.24 according to mapmyrun) on tuesday, and another 5.24 today.  I am going to try to finish the week over 20 miles running.  I think this would be a record for me, even when i was training for the two half iron man (men? halfs?) that i have done previously.  I have to plan that last run, cause it would really suck to get done and then figure out i was .46 miles short of my 20.  I would be running around the house.  People would think i was nuts.
I dont know if you knew this, (i posted on mamarunsbarefoot's blog), but i am gluten free.  Been so for a couple months.  Others in my family are also not eating wheat based products, and between the three of us who are not eating wheat, here are some results:
I just feel better.  I can't explain it exactly, healthier?  I know i tried to eat wheat a couple times since I stopped and had some major GI diestress.  Lower, ickey, nuff said.
I found i am also lactose intolerant.  Bowl of ice cream was like punches from Rocky (the old one, not the young Rocky) then the gas. Whooo!
Others in my family have had issues with acne, constipation (turds the size of a friggin football, i swear!), and depression, all of which are drastically improved with the removal of wheat and gluten.

It is easy to cook, and easy to eat gluten free.  There is special bread if you really have to have it, and you can find anything you need to as a replacement to things if you find you just can't live without it.  It is a little more spendy, and hard to find, but you know what?  if it makes you feel better, i am all for it.

so, 20+ miles this week, strength training, 40+ miles on the bike on saturday in the hills of clermont, and I think i am on my way to a successfull HIM in april (14 weeks, according to the countdown timer).

Thanks for the positive words of encouragement!

bad run

I guess if i am allowed to have a great run, i can also have a bad one.  My stomach was a little queasy even before I left.  Plans were to do 45 minutes, but I changed that to 30 minutes right out of the gate.  Started running and my mp3 player ran out of juice.  Rather than run around with it flopping on my head, i really quick put it back in the house and started again.
My feet feel like lead, and my legs are rusty slinkies.  not wonderful toys.  not fun for anyone, especially me.  My mouth is parched, and has a bad taste, even though i brushed my teeth and have been drinking water.
at 1 mile in i walk for the first time.  at 1.5 miles i walk a little more.  at 2.5 miles i walk because i feel like my tired muscles are just not liking this.  THey feel a little like they did just before i was injured.  I walk the rest of the way because i do not want to take 6weeks off for a torn soleus AGAIN.  Maybe i will feel better tomorrow.
Why do i feel this way?  could be the hard ride i did on friday, followed by the really slow ride on sunday.  i may not be recuperated.  It could be the stupid dog waking me up last night to go out 3 times.  The third time we went downstairs, i filled her water, then she started drinking.  I thought i should sit down a minute while she drank, then i fell asleep.  I awoke to pitter patter of feet upstairs.  I found out this morning she relieved herself before escaping to the bedroom.  Stupid dog.
Could be stress from work, or that I hadn't had anything to eat since 7:30.  I am not sure, but the run sucked.  I hope to get all these out of the way before IMNO 70.3.

quick post.

There is not much to say about my workouts lately other than they are getting a little better.  Running was fun for the first time on Saturday.  The plan was just to slog out 4 miles so the day wouldn't go by without working out.  So, i started slow, and felt pretty good.  I have been reading a lot of running books lately and was really focused on my form.  I had some good music on, so I decided to speed up a little, just a little.  After the warm-up I was going maybe 6mph. 10 minute miles.  No problem.  it was dark, it was cold, it was wet, and running was feeling pretty good.  I sped up a little more.  How are my arms swinging? is my head up? If i focus on something 50yards away, can I make it not bounce? Am i landing mid-fore footed and relaxing?  Just cycling through the form questions.  I sped up a little more.  Quick feet, always behind, never in front.

I sped up a little more.  At this point I am about 1.5 miles into my run, and I am going at a pretty good clip.  I would say maybe 7.5 -8 minute miles.  Breathing is not ragged, everything feels good.  I speed up a little more. (I am thinking to myself - ARE YOU FRIGGIN NUTS?  YOU SPED UP?)  I see an oncoming runner.  He gives me a look.  You probably would too if you saw a 250lbs man flat out running in your direction.  Yes that is right folks, I am FLAT OUT RUNNING.  It feels good, and my breathing is about what it normally is for a 10 minute mile.  I stop at the 2 mile mark, and take stock.  First I check to make sure my body is still with me, not passed out 1.5 miles back in a ditch.  I pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming.  Nope.  I really did that.  20 seconds and my breathing is back to normal.  What the hell?  Then, and here is the crazy thing, I do it again, back to the house.  I see my wife driving out of the driveway as I run up, and i do a jumping kick just for fun.  I probably looked like an idiot, but it felt great.  Then when I get to the doors I jump around like Rocky did when he got to the top of the stairs.  I feel really good.

The next day I need to focus on not going out and repeating the run, or doing something crazy like trying to run 10 miles or something.  I am coming off of a soleus injury, and just now increasing my mileage, so it would be silly to overdo it now, but damn... Damn..

You kick funny when you breathe.

Yep,  last night I got a chance to get in the water and have someone watch.  On a pull set with no buoy CB told me that my legs go wide when i breathe.  Sure enough, after she pointed that out I noticed it, and now they do not spread wide when I breathe.

I had a chance to 1 on 1 work with someone last night, and got to try several things to help them keep their shoulders and head down in the water, and their legs up at the surface.  This was a learning experience for me as well, because I was in the water and had to think about what the best way to do this would be.  Ends up that kicking to make the most bubbles and splashes worked the absolute best of everything we tried, and we tried a ton of stuff.  I could feel my pull get stronger and my head and shoulders move further down in the water as I kicked a continuous 3 foot splash.  It was kinda fun.  It also made me realize how out of shape I really was, since 25m kicking madly is a lot of work!  

My time out of the water also gave me time to figure out that I forgot how to breathe totally.  I kept holding my breath and then gasping for air.  75s kicking with no arms  is quite scarey when you are holding your breath and telling yourself you have to breathe but not doing it.   

So.  Lesson learned.  Back to training, back to the pool.

Adjustments made.

I don't know japanese.

Whoever keeps posting comments on my old blog posts in Japanese which links back to porn or hacking sites is persistant.  I would ask them to stop, but I don't think they are reading my blog - mostly because I have been on break.

It was only a break.  Sheesh.

I am picking up the training again.  Since I posted last a few things have happened.  1. I strained my calf during a long run - which turned it into a short run.  I was running along and then POP!  It felt like someone snapped me in the calf with a rubber band.  I was 2 miles into a 6+ mile run, and so I limped 2 more miles and decided to cut the day short.  Later on I would Ice it, then notice bruising.  I decided to take a week off.  After the week it was not better, so i took another week off.  Then I found I could run to the Y to a spin class, and that was OK, but 1/2 way home it would start to hurt again.  Riding was ok, but running is a no-no.
I rode 45 miles yesterday, not too hard, but when I tried to do the 6 mile run portion of the BR-ick...well, let's just say the ick started early.  I began feeling strain in my calf, and then abnormal strain on my right quad - which means I was running lopsided without knowing it.  I walked back.  I am going to start this week to build my running up to snuff for my October race.  I will start with small runs, followed closely by some wicked foam rolling to get the muscles back.  I have lost a lot of my bike, and all of my run in the last 6 weeks, so this should be a heavy build up for Oct. 31 Miami HIM. 
Another issue that I have discovered in the last 6 weeks is that there is a really good chance that I am gluten intollerant.  This means flour makes me feel yucky.  REALLY yucky.  I didn't know that until i stopped eating wheat based products.  I started to feel a little better. My stomach is more sensitive to different foods now.  Then I ate some fries at a shop which had some sort of batter on them.  It was wheat, and boy did I know it.UGH!.  So, I am going to keep on with the no-wheat thing for a while, see how I feel, and see if it makes any difference.   Common thoughts on the subject is that for a gluten intollerant person, eating wheat based products causes mood swings and depression, bloating, GI issues, and the inability to properly digest food, so they feel hungry because they are missing nutrients.  They tend to be overweight, and not able to lose the weight.  This is me in an nutshell, so I am giving it a go.  My family is behind me (which is ok now that I am not having such bad GI issues.). 

I will post more later, since Tri season at the Y starts tomorrow, and I have a ton of people bugging me to start P90X.  Later.