Sly Fox Half-marathon

4/24/17:  I've been working with my coach Cheryl for 3 weeks now and its' going pretty good.  I did my first official outdoor race of the season on Saturday, the Sly Fox Half-marathon and it went pretty well other than hip.SI joint pain.  My time was 1;28:12 which was the slowest half marathon I've ever run outside of in a triathlon, but I'm happy with it given how hilly the course was and my training to date. But after the race, the pain was excruciating and centered around my left SI joint and hip.  I definitely need to get therapy or at least figure out what is going on in there.  

4/14/17: One week and a few days into training with Coach Cheryl and its going pretty good.  I'm definitely working harder than I would have been training if I was doing this on my own.  I'm not quite sure if that is a good or bad thing. I guess I'll know in a few weeks or months depending on whether my times improve or if I get injured or burned out.  What I'm struggling with is the intensity of the workouts, not so much the total distance.  The swim, bike and run tests were all extremely intense and pushed me over the top and then I immediately started in on a lot of short, high intensity run intervals and that just added to the fatigue.  But then I talked with her and she backed it down for a few days and now I'm feeling better. Today I ran 11 miles pretty easy and am feeling tired but otherwise ok,  I can see that its going to take a little while to adjust to this schedule and the intensity and I'm really hoping that it works out!  

4/9/17: completed threshold heart rate training today. Over the past week I did a swim (1000 yds), run (5K) and bike (30 min) for max distance or fastest time. These turned out about as expected: running is my best discipline, biking intermediate and swimming is worst. But it was very motivating to do the testing and did teach me a lot about how I train and race. First, my max HR is higher than I realized, about 170 bpm. Second, I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought. And third, it's cool to have someone else tell you what to do, rather than feeling like you are randomly working out without a plan!

Just got back from a combination of vacation (last week of March) and soccer tournament (first weekend of April) and was only able to run for that 10 day period. On the positive side, I put in a lot of running miles (maybe 30 miles?), but on the down side, I haven't swum or biked at all.  My glut strain/hip bursitis/SI joint problem (or what ever it is that is bothering my left hip) is really bugging me.  I can still train, but its just very uncomfortable and tight.  Looking forward to officially starting coaching tomorrow and getting back in the pool and on the bike!