Tuesday, September 22, 2009

This, That, and the Other

Today was the last day of summer and on my way home I really noticed shade where there used to be none, leaves showing the first hint of fall color, and it really made me realize that the short days of winter will be here before we know it. In fact, on November 1st, sunset is at 4:57pm in Portland. Now that my triathlon season is over for 2009 it's time to start looking to the future and deciding what's up next.

After Hood to Coast I suddenly found myself free from having to train for anything specific which at first was tough. 2009 was a good year for me - new 10k PR, new Half Marathon PR, the Hood to Coast Relay, and my first Half Ironman which was a great experience. Coming off of all of that really left me feeling aimless and like I wasn't doing enough every day. A few days after Hood to Coast I went on a run with Jen and about 6 miles in my knees really started bothering me, especially the outside of my right knee. That night in bed it was really hurting and whenever I would move it would cause me pain. The soreness hung around for a few days and right when I thought it was going away we had a fire drill at work and I had to walk down a LOT of stairs. Later that day I tried running again and within a half mile the pain was back and I ended up turning around at about one mile. After some research I determined the pain was likely due to my IT band and the only way to get better was to not run for a while. At first I took the woe is me approach but after a couple of days I realized that although it sucks I'm glad that I didn't have to deal with this during my training for the Lake Stevens 70.3. So I've been riding the bike, swimming, and going to the gym to lift - I've put together a "schedule" to follow but I'm pretty much just enjoying the end of summer, taking days to kick back when I want, doing some more cooking, and just enjoying not having to do a specific workout on a specific day.

This weekend we're heading up to Hood River for a wedding which promises to have good food, good drinks, good people, and great times. I'm sure Jen will have a great recap of her weekend training and the wedding and I'll try to take as many pictures as I can. I hoped to have a new camera for the event but I'm still hemming and hawing over where to order it from and what lens to get so I'll be shooting with our old camera - but I think that's good cause it's easier to get a lot of pictures without being "that guy with the camera".

One last item to note -I'm really proud my little cutie and her last two race performances - although anyone reading this has likely already read it over on Jen's blog - but if you haven't heard she placed 2nd in her AG at the Aluminum Man tri and 1st in her AG at the Timberline Half Marathon.
I hope everyone had a great last day of summer - get out there and enjoy these last days - unless you live in San Diego where summer never ends - bastards.

Also, it's almost hockey season - GO SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!











5 comments:

Dragonfly on the Water said...

Sounds like you have a good Fall & Winter training regiment in mind, swimming, biking & weight training. Looks good. Take care of that knee cause knee pain can come back & haunt you. Go Redwings!

Kim said...

what a fantastic season for you zach! glad you are resting up that knee but still finding things to do. enjoy the fall, and the last month or so before jen's big race!!!

Alisa said...

I hope the knee heals up quickly. It stinks to be injured but like you said it's better now in the "off" season than during your hardcore training months.

Thinking about the sunset setting at 4:57 makes me depressed. I need to get one of those fancy lights to make the S.A.D. go away.

See ya Friday!

Emily said...

Don't forget the handle of Captain Morgans will be there for you too!

Marathon Maritza said...

It was so much fun to hang out with you this past weekend!!!! And you WERE *that* guy with the camera, except the incriminating ones are on your cell phone. You can totally blackmail me with that pic from the bus, btw. Fail on my part.

Hope your knee is feeling better and I think it's a good plan to lay off it for a while. You had such a great year thus far too, let's not cap it with an injury. :)