Pre-Eagleman Thoughts

My first triathlon of the year, the Eagleman 70.3 Triathlon, is coming up this weekend. Actually, it’s my first triathlon since spring 2006. And shockingly, I’m actually less prepared than for my first half-ironman in 2005. For that race, at least I’d been doing regular biking (a 10-mile commute to work) and running, even though I hadn’t done any of the specific training I should have been doing. This time work commitments, allergy issues, and an injured foot mean that I haven’t been doing any where near the base level of training that I need to do. The ironic thing is that now I coach triathletes so I spend more time telling people to swim, bike and run then I spend swimming, biking and running.

I believe that my longest ride this year has been about 1:30 and my longest run was the half marathon that I did in March. Currently, I can only run about 20 minutes without my injured foot hurting unless I’m on a track - but I don’t think they’ll let me do the half-marathon by running 50+ laps at the high school track. I have been swimming most weeks, although usually only once a week. I did get in a good open-water swim Wednesday. We were knocked all over the place by the waves and current and my 8-year old wetsuit has decided it won’t zip up anymore but the swim was fun.

Thankfully, I was always doing this race for fun as a training event. A large number of the athletes I coach are racing and a large group from my tri-club will be at the race. My goal is to enjoy the day, have a positive experience in the swim, encourage my athletes and use the race to build my endurance for events that I have scheduled later in the year. I have a back-up plan of carrying sandals on the run and changing shoes if I have to walk and a back-up back-up plan of stopping if I think I’m going to hurt myself further by continuing. And a double back-up back-up plan if we get the thunderstorms that are threatening.

Hopefully after this, I’ll be over all of the obstacles - and have a new orthotic - and really able to focus on my training for the rest of this season. It’s been frustrating to have the goals I have for this season and not be able to train the way that I want. One of the nice things is that I have been able to use the Compex Sport Elite on a regular basis. I’ve been using the Endurance, Resistance, and Active Recovery programs and I’m looking forward to seeing how this supports me as I ramp up my training.

I’m going to bring my Compex with me to the race and plan to use the Active Recovery mode after the drive on Friday, the Massage mode after my pre-race workout and activities on Saturday, and the Recovery Plus mode after the race on Sunday. I’m also looking forward to sharing the unit with other members of the club at the race so that they can learn how great it is. Maybe I’ll even do better at the race than I expect thanks to my Compex training!

p.s. Written while running the Endurance program on my Traps!