MaryStella

Got a nice run in this morning. 46 minutes out on the roads with hills most of the way. I taped my knee with athletic tape hoping it would be more aggressive than the kinesio tape but it didn’t stick very well. It was raining while I was running so I am sure that didn’t help but I just think we the constant movement of the knee it is going to be hard to keep the kneecap pinned in place until I get the tape I ordered online. Because of the ran I didn’t take my garmin to get the distance data. I was pretty happy with this thought I dealt with the hill action and I even had some speed. With the way my running has been going lately anytime I feel good about it is a huge for a my confidence. Today was my rest day from CxF so I went to the Farmers Market and stocked up on some fresh produce. Tomorrow is a lite day schedule wise with a short swim and some step ups then a big training weekend coming up. I have a 5k open water swim race on Saturday morning. That’s going to be a long swim for me. Hoping the weather holds out for it. I also have a 3 hour bike ride. I’d like to get about 50 miles in for that. Then on Sunday I have a 7 mile run which I think I am going to do a 1 mile warmup and then race a 10k. I use the word race lightly because with where my running is at I won’t really be in contention but I think it is a good idea for me to go do it at a race because I think I will put in a better training effort if I am at the race than just out doing it myself. And my running needs all the help it can get right now. Hoping that race is a good because Sunday is supposed to be washout from the hurricane. @ viva - I really hope I can get the taping thing to work because my knee just isn't going to heal until I can get the mechanics working properly.

what 70.3 are you doing?

Bike – 8 minute warmup. 10 x 1 minute hill repeats. Recovery was descent. 10 minute cooldown. Knee did fine. I ordered some Coverall and Leukotape to start doing the mcconnell taping method to help my patella tracking. Right now I’ve been taping it with Kinesio tape but because that stretches I don’t think it is holding my kneecap in the proper alignment enough. I also found a doctor (who is a cyclist) that does ART and Graston Technique for PatelloFemoral pain and he takes me insurance so I’m going to give him a try out. I ordered the Garmin Edge 500 for my tribike. This is my last resort since I can’t seem to get anything to fit on Damon even with the special xlabs mount. It works with the Heart Rate Monitor and Cadence Sensor I already have so that helped to keep the cost down a bit. It even works with a power meter although I haven’t used that kind of data yet. Crossfit – AMRAP 20 Minutes 10 Pushups 10 GHDs Situps/Back Extensions Did 20 full rounds and all of the pushups in the 21st round. However, the first 13 rounds were done with GHD situps. Then I got a really severe pain in my head and I thought I can not do another one of these. I’ve had headache pressure from them before but nothing like this felt. So I decided to switch over to Back Extensions and that helped. So the last 7 rounds were back extensions not GHDs. Still doing the stretching, mobilizing thing on my lower legs. Not sure if it is really working or I am just destined to turn into an aquabiker.

Swim – no warmup or cooldown. No enough time today so 300 swim (5.08), 300 pull (5.04), 6 x 75 fast(1.07.1.08,1.09,1.09,1.05,1.07), 300 pull (5.25 ha! Tired!), 6 x 50 fast(.44,..42,..43,..42,..43,..44), 200 pull (3.33) EVA (mod) 5 rounds for time of Run 800 meters (round 1 .6m rd2 .4m rd3 .6m rd 4 .4 m rd 5 .6m) 30 Kettlebell Swings @ 35lbs 30 Pullups (rings, aussie) Time 41 minutes. Slightly longer run than rx due to loop size around the box. Watched a bunch of videos on ankle mobility to try to work on getting this knee situation sorted out.working on the taping too to see if that can help.

Here is about a week of updates as well as a race report! Thursday – took a full on rest day. Slept in, went to the farmers market. Packed and got myself ready for Burlington! Friday – Finished packing and headed up to Burlington. It was a long drive and due to various circumstances I was only able to get a few minutes in riding my bike on the run course before I had to check it in to transition. Didn’t get to swim or anything like that but sometimes your just not ready to race it just becomes time to go do it. Overall felt really stressed out about getting up there and getting myself ready to go. It all worked out but it wasn’t easy. Saturday – Race day! I was really kinda nervous for this race. It felt weird. I haven’t really been nervous for a race since my first triathlon but the nerves were going in the morning for sure. I don’t know if it was because of the level of competition I was going to be facing or because I wasn’t feeling confident in my abilities with the downtime and modified training with the injury. I know that I am the kind of athlete that loves to race and feels better about my racing the more I race. The more I am away from it the less fine tuned I become with it. It has been a hard season in that sense. Due to the injury I’ve raced very little and that isn’t to my liking. So I was finally gonna do some racing! I felt a little better once I got a clif bar down. Got to the race early. Got setup in transition. Everything was going smoothly. We could not get in the water until the actual race. So I just got my wetsuit on and didn’t do any warmup because I couldn’t take my bike out and I didn’t want to run. The race organization was very good. However, they really gave you minimal guidance. You needed to know when and where and just do it they didn’t go over things a bunch of times or call your waves etc. We were herded like cattle through a building on the water waiting to get into the lake. It was a deep water start so we need to jump off the dock and tread water for a few minutes before the gun went off. The water temp was actually 74 so it was pretty nice. Not too cold and decent wetsuit temp. I was a little surprised by the swim course. I didn’t expect the water in lake champlain to be that rough. We were swimming in the breakwater behind the rock walls but I still had some waves crashing over my head at various points. It also had about 5 turns in the swim course which all were heavily crowded. I think this was the swim I had the most contact in yet. I never swam by myself for the whole course. I don’t know if there were just that many athletes or what but the entire course felt busy the entire time. As we turned back towards to the boat docks where the swim exit was the sun was directly in my eyes so I couldn’t see the buoy at all. I was following the swimmers in front of me at that point since it was all I could see. I thing everyone ended up swimming a little wide around that turn probably because no one could see all that well or the water was pushing up that way. Im not really sure. I felt like I sighted and swim decently through the rest of the course. Out of the water and I was running to transition. I passed several people. I got into transition and I thought I dropped my goggles while I was stripping off my wetsuit so I ran back to look for them because I didn’t want to get a penalty for disregarded gear. I couldn’t find them and I was losing time so that point I just abandoned the mission to find them since I figured I would just take my chances penalty wise instead of looking any longer. Grabbed damon and we were running out onto the bike course. The bike course was basically rolling hills the entire way. There were decent climbs in the beginning to get you out of the lake and the city and onto the interstate. I felt like the bike course was kinda on the technical side. There were a lot of tight turns in close sections. Again the beginning and the end were in the city so it wasn’t an open view. The interstate section was rolling hills including one great descent were you pass under an underpass that had people standing on it just screaming for you. that was so much fun! It was like being on a rollercoaster. I biked pretty decently. I had some sections were I felt pretty bad namely which I first got on the bike after getting out of the water and started climning. Then sections were I recovered a bit and then sections where I felt crappy again. Overall I didn’t redline the bike the entire way although I wish I could have! I need to get better biking legs. Men were just passing me left and right and it was annoying me. Why are they so fast!!!!! Had another decent transition to my run. Dropped damon off. The legs felt good. The design of the run course has your climbing a big steep hill right out of transition. I mean literally right out of transition. There were tons of people lining both sides of the hill just cheering everyone up it. I was determined not to walk any of the run. I know that sounds funny but with my knee running is tough for me but I told myself there is no way no matter what so up the hill I ran even when others were walking up next to me. That felt good and it set the tone for the rest of my run. Now I didn’t run all that fast compared to most people on the course but I kept a really consistent pace from the beginning to the end. Probably picking up my pace more towards the end. I only walked to drink some Gatorade on the course. I did gels on the bike but I just didn’t want them on the run. It was actually pretty hot so every aid station I grabbed a water that went over my head and a Gatorade to drink. The last 3 – 4 mile are on the Burlington bikeway that runs along lake champlain. It was really pretty and flat so if you can run fast and you have something left you can make a killing in that section of the race. The race was interesting in the fact that the city really came out to support the race. I felt like there were people cheering on the race almost everywhere. But it was also a little weird in that very few people were cheering each other on in the race. I had a few people say things to me but overall compared most tris I’ve done this was a really serious really competitive one. It was all good though. As you come off the bikeway into waterfront park you can see and hear the finish so I start taking off and the guy starts racing me. So the two of us are just sprinting down this shoot like there is a fire behind us not giving each other an inch. I mean were banging shoulders as we run. The funniest part is all of the people standing next to the chute are cheering for me to beat him. Sadly I let my newly found fans down as he beat me in the last few feet before the line. But it was good fun and a great way to end the race. I really loved the city of Burlington. It’s a super bike friendly city. They have bike lanes and parking everywhere and tons of people were using them. They also had lots of vegan food options available which made it really easy for me to be there which I loved!

tuesday - run 4 miles. wednesday - ride 28.5 hard thursday - run 4.6 miles with a little speed in towards the end. The knees a little sore but i'm hanging in. good to be here training flat but the headwinds kinda slow you down. spent a lot of time in the ocean the last few days but none of it seriously swimming. So now that im back home I headed to the pool this morning. it was a rough swim and my times reflected it. Not sure if it is from being out of the water for a week other than playing around in the ocean. or maybe i was tired. anyway. warmup 200 swim 2 x 200 (50swim, 100 pull, 50 swim) on 20 seconds rest 300, 200, 100 moderate on 20 second rest 5.44 ,3.48 ,1.48 200,100,50 negative split on 25 sec rest - i just swam the second half with a harder effort than the first half. i didn't take splits to see if i actually went negative. 3.42 ,1.47 ,53 200 fast 30 sec rest 3.41 100 fast 30 sec rest 1.39 - yeah i was actually trying to go fast on this one. i know the time doesn't reflect that 6 x 100 pull on 25 sec rest - didn't time - just focused on the form 100 cooldown

thank u! The knee is hanging in there so far. I rode 25 miles hard this morning. all flat. about half of it was into a headwind so it was tiring but good. Did a little warmup first. Gonna run tomorrow and see how it continues to hold up to all of this but so far so good. It still get tight afterwards. Still icing but i am able to get through it so thats good news.

aturday - 2ish hour bike ride. kept it flat .had to be over 20 miles. knee felt fine the whole time and was ok afterwards. still got stuff at night. sunday - 3.25 - 3.5 mile run. did laps on a track. the first 1/4 of a mile i can just hear the joing banging around. takes about a half mile for it to stop. It got looser and felt like i was running faster as the run went on. Still icing and stretching and waiting to see how this turns out. headed to the beach for a few days. taking stefan with me. So it will be easy to find a flat running and riding place.

Swim – 500 drills to warmup. Then 45 minute swim really concentrating on my rotation and my catch the entire time. I felt better for the second half of the swim than I did for the first. I was feeling tired this morning. It’s a good thing that the Tdf is almost over because I have been staying up too late watching it! But it was a good form swim and I def felt better after it than I did before it. CF Wod – 15 minute AMRAP 5 pullups (dead hang – no kipping) 10 GHD situps 15 Kettlebell swings – 35 lbs 20 Back Extensions Got 5 and half rounds. Got through the ghds on the 6th round but didn’t get to the KB swings. I did all of it unbroken. I did as many of the pull-ups as dead hang as possible as kipping still hurts my knee. My pull-ups have been getting better as a result. Not able to really connect them yet GHDs are always fun! KB swings and back extensions felt good. I was sweating up a storm during this wod and afterwards. Pretty hot at the gym today. Ok so here’s the daily knee update. Last night it was pretty much irritated and letting me know it. This morning it was stiff but much better than last night. After swimming and then after the CF wod it is feeling better. Like it is ready to cycle tomorrow. I’ve been reading up on patellofemoral pain syndrome and the Rx for it seems to be relative rest. So It sounds like I should be doing this easy buildup work riding and running. I was considering taking some days off totally for it but I don’t think it would be enough time for it to really heal up anyway.

Tuesday Amrap 20 minutes 10 wallballs shots with 10 lb ball between 9 and 10 ft target (no squat) 10 Toes through Rings 13 full rounds and 10 wallball shots in the 14th. 2 blisters from the rings! My hands had been pretty good lately but that king swing kills me with all these reps. Bike – 16.5 miles flat. Took over an hour. The knee felt fine the whole time. And it wasn’t too bad afterwards. This wasn’t a really hard effort though but that’s ok it is good just to be get some time on the bike. Wednesday – Swim – 500 drills to warmup 3 x 7 minute TT on 2 minute rest 1 – 15 laps 2 – 15 full finished started 16th 3 – 15 full finished started 16th 250 swim with pull buoy to cool down Knee was a little tight and sore in the morning but it go better as the day went on. 100 GHD situps for time – 4.41 This really got tough from 70 on. I went unbroken until about 80. Then I did 2 little breaks after 80 and 90 but not long. Got my MRI back and had my ortho appt for my knee. The MRI is clean, nothing torn, dislocated, broken etc. The fluid that showed up on the x-ray is now gone. The ortho diagnosed it as a patellafemoral strain and basically said I can train through it to tolerance. He said these injuries take a long time to heal and that the stiffness is normal. So basically I can start running and riding and building that back up a bit and see how it goes. I still have to watch the weighted movements that provoke it. But overall it was a pretty good visit. He said at the end of the season if it is still an issue that some rest then should clear it up. I’m going to try to be good. Thursday – 3 mile run on a track. Didn’t time it because I didn’t want to know. I just went at a comfortable pace. The first ½ mile the knee hurt. It loosened up after a mile and it was pretty good until about 2 and a half miles. It never got really bad but I didn’t want to run too much on it the first time out. I walked ¾ mile as a warmup and cooldown. It doesn’t feel too bad afterwards. I am still icing and heating it. Deadlifts 135x3 145x3 150x3 155x3 160x3 This were a little harder than they should be. The ortho said I have good strength in my legs but clearly ive lost some because while this isn’t testing my limits. It just feels heavier than that kind of weight normally feels for me. Here is a link to a a vegan website and I’m listed on there as an athlete! http://www.bestveganguide.com/vegan-athletes.html

yesterday was a rough day. It was the anniversary of my first triathlon and due to this injury I couldn't even go and revisit the race this year. It probably wouldn't has been as frustrating if i was actually really training right now and therefore I felt a least a little productive! Yesterday a did a 50 -55 minute easy ride on my bike. kept it as flat as possible. my knee was ok on the bike but it is stiff afterwards. I can't wait to get my MRI results back. Hopefully later today and then see the ortho on wednesday. I don't even know what to do with this knee anymore. Im trying to do what I can training wise but at this point I know I am taking a huge hit. It's been really tough mentally. I gotta say I feel like I am struggling with it everyday. Swim - 500 of drills to warmup. then 10 x 75 on 15 second rest. kept them between 1:10 and 1:15. Used the pull buoy for some of them. then 10x 50- on 20 seconds rest. swam them 44- 46 seconds. did an easy 250 cooldown with the pull buoy working on my left hand. I notice as i fatigues I tend to cross that over. Push Press 45x3 50X3 55X3 60X3 65x3 70x3 75X3 80X3

the hills put more load and therefore strain through my knees. it isn't any specific hill but rather all hills at this point. My knee was hurting last night. More than usual. I woke up this morning and it still wasn't good. Maybe yesterday was too much for it or because i am not taking the pain medications any more i am actually noticing the pain. Either way I don't like it. Swam this morning.500 warmup of drills. then 1 - 400 - 7.08 4 - 100s -1.40 ,1.39 , 1.40 ,1.39 1 - 300 - 5.12 3 - 100s 1.35 ,1.38 ,1.36 1 - 200 - 3.28 2 - 100s 1. 43, 1.39 1 - 100s 1.36 2 - 50s 44,42 500 of drills to cooldown my knee was tight and stiff after the swim. gonna try to calm it down the rest of today.

Thanks! Of course I feel it in my abs but it is not as bad as I expected it to be! 500 yards of drills to warmup, 2 x 50 to test the swim kick. Decided it was ok to go so then 2 x 10 minute TTs with 2 minutes rest 1 – 23 laps 2 – 21 laps or maybe 23 laps. Not sure my counting was bad on this one . I was tired! Cooldown – 25 of dolphining – didn’t feel like I had much left in the tank to swim Went back to the doctors where I ended up being sent for an MRI. To me that usually means bad news of some sort. I didn’t get the radiologists report back yet. My doc seems to think that it is a sprain and it will be better within the month. But he wanted the MRI to confirm his diagnosis since the 2 weeks of rest did help it but didn’t clear it up completely. The good news is he told me to stop taking the drugs. Im happy about that as I always feel better once I am off of them. He added some heat therapy into the mix of my treatment. He offered to send me to physical therapy but I declined as I can do that myself. He also seems to think than an Ortho will not drain the fluid out of my knee due to the amount and the location. I have an ortho appt scheduled for this upcoming week. Not sure if I will go to it or not. Bike – 1 hour and 4 minute of riding mostly flat terrain. The knee did ok. I pushed the pace for the first 30 minutes but after that I slowed down. Didn’t have pain while riding except for going uphill to get home. The knee is stiff when I get done though. Row – 500 meters – 2:45 just to test it out. Went ok painwise but this is a position I can feel the restriction in my knee. Deadlifts – every 2 minutes 5 x 95 5x105 5x115 5x125 5x135 5x145 5x155 5x145 5x135 5x125 5x115 5x105 5x95 No issue with the knee while Deadlifting. However this wasn’t near my maximal load. The being said it probably felt heavier to me than it normally would just because I haven’t been lifting I awhile. I went conservative with the weight. I’ll see how the knee is after this before deciding about next time.

bike workout - the knee was feeling good this morning so onto the trainer i went for a 12 minute warmup using both legs! then I had a 7 minute TT to do. I decided to do it with both legs instead of one as most of my cycling workouts lately have been. And also a 10 minute cooldown. I didn't have any problems with my knee while riding. It didn't feel too bad when i got off the bike either. CF wod - 20 minute AMRAP of 5 Pushups 10 GHD situps 10 Back Extensions. Completed 17 2/3 rounds. Didn't get thru the back extensions on the 18th round. I was happy with this. Did all sets unbroken. Just kept plowing through. You lose a little time getting in and out of the ghd machine as well as flipping over from the ghds to the back extensions. But overall I was pretty tired and have a nice glaze going when i was done with this one. I have a feeling i'll be feeling the 180+ Ghds I did between the workout and the warmup for a few days. Those were the hardest part for sure. I was flying through them for the first 10 rounds or so because they are one of my stronger movements but by 140 - 150 on it was just pure torture to keep going through them. My knee was a little stiff after this wod. Gotta stay on my icing for tonight and I;m sure it will be fine to swim tomorrow morning. I also go back to the doctor tomorrow and get his thoughts. I hate going to the doctor! Did some feet exercises as well as my 1 leg hip lifts for 3 sets of 15 each leg. This is a rehab exercise they gave me from my knee. I really don't think it does much for the knee because I don't believe the injury was caused by a muscle imbalance and that exercise is just for strengthening your hamstring. But it can't hurt to do it so i'm doing them.

yeah chewy it isn't fun. maybe ill throw some benching in just for you! Swim – 1,000 of drills to warmup. Did a 100 just to test out the knee to see if I was going to swim or use the pull buoy. I decided to swim as it was pretty good. Did 26 - 25s on 15 seconds rest. Jeff was nice enough to do this with me so he was responsible for counting the reps and watching the times so I could just focus on swimming. It’s a good system for me. Jeff said they were taking up 18 – 20 seconds to swim them. Swam 200 – 300 to cool down. Cf wod – wanted to test my knee a bit so I did some step ups and walking lunges. It is greatly improved from where it was but not completely right yet as much I want it to be. It just isn’t quite there yet. AMRAP – 9 minutes of 7 Wall balls at 10lbs 5 GHD situps Got 10 rounds – 4 were done as proper wallballs going to the 10ft line, 6 were done as seated situp wallballs because I didn’t like the way the knee was feeling during the wallballs. I used a 10 Lb ball because I had a feeling I was going to end up doing them seated which I did. The ghds went well. Overall this was an easy wod because it was so short. Ididn’t get the point where I was totally wasted because it was over in 9 minutes. Dry Land Swim Cable Pulls 3 sets of 15 reps each arm 1 Leg Hip Lifts – 4 sets of 15 each leg– Rehab exercise for the knee – basically a hamstring strengthener I’ve also been doing my foot/ lower leg exercises to strength up my feet and loosen up my lower legs. Hopefully when I get back to running this will make a difference.

The knee was pretty good this morning. Decided to use it a bit on my bike trainer wod to see how it responded. Did a 10 minute warmup easy gear with both legs. Then 12 minutes of 45 seconds on 15 seconds off with my right leg only. Followed by a 10 minute cooldown easy gear again both legs. My knee felt fine through all of this. But it was more like a rehab kinda of effort than real training but at this point just being able to use it I’ll take. I go back to the regular doctors on Thusday. Not sure if I still need an MRI. It doesn’t still hurt to kneel on it but overall it is much better. My Ortho appt isn’t untilthe 20th. I’ll wait to see how the knee is before I decide If I should go to these appointments. I am still icing and using the Nsaids. Crossfit wod – 21- 15- 9 of Pullups Pushups Time 5:30 I warmed up doing regular pull-ups 15 or so with a extra small purple band but I could tell that was going to take me a really long time to use for the wod. So I used the small blue band for the wod. No problems with the pushups. My biggest compliant of the day is my hands and feet have a ton of little cuts on them from the rocks in the lake yesterday. I few bruises too. For such small cuts they really hurt. I am hoping they heal fast.

glad the diet has our feeling better and just in time for you comp coming up.

hope your healing up and glad your able to train around it.

i feel the same way about rest days. you should def do a sprint tri. they are really fun! also since you bike and run now you can do a duathlon.

weekend work so far - swim - 500 of drills to warmup. then did a 100 kicking to test out the knee. it did ok but decided to swim m TT using the pull buoy anyway since it isn't completely perfect no need to aggravate it. 35 minute TT - at least 74 laps. I got confused counting laps. Did 6 laps as a cooldown with kicking again. Took my new R3 out for a little joy ride yesterday. Mostly to test out the knee. for the first 20 - 25 minutes i felt nothing in the knee. I picked out the flatest course I could. The following 20 minutes there was a sensation in the knee not really pain more of an awareness. had to climb a hill to get back to my place and the knee doesn't like the climbing. Overall it survived and did ok but it isn't quite ready yet. i think there is still fluid in it. Still using the ice and resting when possible. I got back to my regular doctor on thursday. But my ortho appt isn't until the 20th. Not sure what Im going to do besides rest it. Open Water - Lake Swim this morning. - 2+miles. Felt like this was most consistent swim at that distance pace wise. I was able to keep people in sight and not really have to stop to sight as much. Ab workout - 1 minute plank 50 situps 50 crunches 1 minute plank

they were just a touch sore this mornign but i had no problem swimming. Don't worry it wasn't rhabdo.

thank you for posting that. I am looking for marathon to do late fall and i noticed we live close to each other. i've actually never heard of this race before but flat is good! I'm going to look into it!

good luck meeting your goal and i look forward to hearing about your progress!

welcome and good luck. looking forward to hearing about your progress.

what marathon are you doing in the fall?