Rhett

6 weeks

Weekly review. 
 

I was not able to run at all this week because of my knee which I a pretty confident is a partial LCL tear. I'm not going to go get it looked at because they are just going to tell me to rest it and in time it will get better. That is unless it is mostly torn,in which case it needs surgery and, well that would bite so I'm just got to go wit, give it some time. 
 

Fortunately, cycling doesn't bother it and I was able to put in 4 solid rides this week. I really feel like I'm improving on the bike, which is great since I want to do a full Ironman next year. I walked 2 days last week, the second time with a weighted vest. On flat ground, I'm mostly pain free. When I have steeper up or downhills, it's not quite a good. I kneeboarded on Friday. That was a blast and didn't hurt my knee, but trying to kick in the water to get to the rope or back to the boat was a serious no go, so I guess swimming is out for a while. 
 

Pending on how my knee feels tomorrow morning, I may put on my knee brace and try to slowly run on my TM. If that is a fail, I think I will see if I can jump rope. If that fails too, it will likely be another week of biking and walking. 

40 days

AM.  Yea!!!!!! I put on my knee brace and gave running a try on myTM this morning and did not have any issues.  I ran 7 miles.  Well acutally I walked a decent amount to warm up and cool down, but while I was running my knee gave me no problems.  I then hopped on my bike trainer and rode for 30 minutes.  All in all, I am super excited to be running again.  It was a great morning.

39 days

AM. I rode the bike trainer for 40 minutes this morning and focused on keeping my core engaged with my hips rotated forward. I've been reading about proper cycling form. I figure if I'm going to ride 200 miles, I better have decent form or I will fall apart. 
 

Lunch. 3 mile walk. 
 

PM. I ran up in the mountains after work maxing out just over 8300 feet with a little over 2300 feet elevation gain during an 8 mile run/hike. I had to be careful with my knee. I wore a brace and used trekking poles, but it was still a bit painful and unsteady. I'm super happy to be up in the mountains out on the trails again though!!!

38 days 

AM. Weighted vest Wednesday!  I walked with my 20 lbs vest and did 10 hill sprints along the route totaling 7 miles. Sprinting uphill with the vest on definitely taxed some muscles as my legs are a bit sore this afternoon. 

37 days

AM.  It was a beautiful day in Havasu!  I rode to work getting in 35 miles before getting here.  It was a good solid ride.  

PM.  Only one way to get home, since I rode here, I'll be riding home a much shorter 5 miles.

36 days

I headed up to the mountains for my long run today. I packed my knee brace in my hydration pack but decided to try and run without it. To my delight, my knee felt pretty darn good...not 100%, but a ton better than it did when I tried to run up there just 3 days ago. 
I ran just over 25 miles with somewhere between 5400 ft and 7400 ft elevation gain. (My Garrin and Strava gave me the 2 different numbers.) All I know for sure is that it felt like A LOT of climbing and the max elevation was just over 8300 feet. It was a fun adventure. 

35 days

The wind was gusting from 25 to 35 mph today. At times I was getting pushed all over the rode. It was a bit sketchy. Going into the wind I had to go to my smallest gear like I was climbing a mountain, but it was flat. It was really slow going. But then on the way back, I was flying!  47 mile total ride taking 3 hours. Definitely slower than usual.