Pain Cave–of many sorts

I spent this past week trying to prepare for the year. I have made some extensive tasks lists and am trying to organize my life, including training, so that I accomplish things instead of just thinking about all these things I should do, eventually.

Part of the training preparation was an ART (active release therapy) appointment. I wanted to get loosened up because my IT band and hamstring were acting up, and that was pain cave #1 – the tension being released from those pressure points – yikes! I know ART can sound like some hippy-dippy alternative medicine stuff, but I am a total convert. One thing he recommended based on my IT band issues was getting a bike fit, which I did later on in the week (but more on that later).

Pain cave #2 wasn’t really training related, or really all that painful, but Friday I did have a bit of hang over after a very fun night out on Thursday for the DCTri Holiday Party. It was a great time chatting over beers with my friends, although surprisingly, I was not convinced to do any new races. Are people losing their peer-pressure touch?

On Saturday, I had pain cave #3, but what should have just been a pain cave based on trail running became an empathetic pain cave instead. It started out as a COLD trail run in Rock Creek Park with Kevin. The snow made for very beautiful scenery, and the run was causing pain with those hills and the cold weather.

But once I found my rhythm and was starting to feel good out there, I then came upon Kevin (who is a faster runner than me and was ahead) on the ground. The poor guy had rolled his ankle and was pretty sure he sprained it (and he was right). But nature had provided a near by ice bath, Rock Creek, so he could start icing right away. So any pain cave that the run would have caused is overshadowed by my empathetic pain cave of his actual injury. Despite the pain, he was still able to smile while “icing” his leg. Here’s to your quick recovery!

Then Sunday, I had my appointment for a bike fit with the infamous Paul from Contes. My bike needed major adjustments and I got new road shoes and pedals after using SPDs for a few years. It made me excited about riding again and I really think the new fit will help me get faster after what felt like a year of stagnation on the bike. The new bike fit led to pain cave #4 – doing a tough trainer workout. Ron, another DCTri’er and spin/bike master is posting a series of workouts for the winter, and holy crap, it was tough! I think the new fit is great, but my body also has to readjust to new muscles being used, so I was exhausted quickly, and cut the workout short. I was SLOW on the trainer and realized my normal cadence has been pretty slow, so I need to improve that.

But I’m excited overall to the possibilities, now including on the bike. All the pain caves, excluding the injury based one on Kevin, were ones that were worth it and will lead to a better season. Even the hang over counts towards that goal because for me, the social aspect of triathlon is also very important for me, and those social get together plant seeds for new group training or races.