Introspection

This past week has been a rough one on me. Ever since pushing myself too hard last Monday and coming down with a minor affliction of URTI (upper respiratory tract infection) I’ve been totally lost- figuratively of course. My whole schedule was thrown out of whack and perhaps I wasn’t ready to deal with level of change that I had to go through. For a few months now, my life revolved around my training. The perceived intensity of which was exacerbated by the fact that I have a full-time job and a decent commute to and from said job. Once the body chills hit, I was pretty much forced to give up that lifestyle at the risk of making the whole ordeal much, much worse.

Ironically enough, this was the first time since I started training that I actually had the time to think about HOW triathlons fit into my life and WHY I’m actually dedicating so much of myself to this pursuit. The questions came heavy and hard and I did feel my resolution waver. I needed to be sure that I had the right reasons to pursue this dream, especially considering how much I’m planning to invest towards it.

I talked to my friend who got me into this the first place and he told me about his motivations. Why he needed this drive, and how it supplements his life. As I listened, I realized that everyone has different motivations to embark upon the same journey. Even though the destination may be the same, the driving force may be vastly different and such was the case with us.

The Streak Endeth

And so it has come to an end... my workout streak dating back to Dec 17th, 2007. That was the last day, till today, in which I did not do a swim, bike or run session (or any combination thereof).

I made the decision to not hop on my trainer after I felt the beginnings of an upper respiratory infection. For me URI, historically, lasts for weeks on end. It's a painful ordeal and at this point I'd rather not put any more stress on my immune system than necessary and hope against all hope that what I have is just a sore throat.

How life has not intervened to end this streak earlier is beyond me. I grinded through Christmas, New Years, a foot injury, ski trips but alas, it the fear of a URI has stopped me dead in my tracks.

February 5th, 2008- a date which will live in infamy.

Trigger Point Therapy

Following the recommendations of some folks over at ST I decided to give "The Pain-Free Triathlete" a try. I ordered it online last week at http://www.julstro.com/order.html.

The book arrived this Saturday and by Sunday evening I had already gone through the book and started poking and prodding "trigger points" all over my body. I sure did find a lot. I didn't realize that my muscles were so contracted at so many parts of my leg. I'd be kneading my calves and it would hurt soooooooo good. There would be moments where I'd scream in pain as I found a particularly spasmic muscle.

I was particularly impressed about this one excerpt about lower back pain. Apparently it's caused by the Iliopsoas muscle located deep in your abdomen. So in order to alleviate it, you'd have to press in your side, about 2-3 inches from your navel. Unfortunately, I'm quite ticklish and whoever said that you can't tickle yourself apparently didn't know what they were talking about. Releasing the tension in the Iliospsoas through fits of laughter and pain has to be considered one of the more interesting experiences I've had as a wannabe-triathlete thus far.

But back to why I was so impressed. The book mentioned that people who suffered from this lower back pain tended to have really tight outer quads as well (due to certain biomechanical connections of the two muscle groups which are too complex to explain here). Lo and behold, when I tried to feel for the insertion point of my quads, I found it as hard as steel cables. Trying to relieve that muscle has been one hell of a trip into the world of sadomasochism.