This picture pretty much sums up my off season. It was pretty gloomy for the most part but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Let me explain. I've had tough off seasons in the past, mostly from illness and lack of motivation. But this time around, 2014, it's been the toughest yet.
I went into my last race Challenge Rancho Cordova race sick. It didn't help that the water was borderlined 68 degrees or something which led to a freezing swim without a wetsuit. I did terribly-ok, 4:11 in a good field, and 11th. just one spot out of the money. I was pissed. The only positive was I think i finally figured out how to bike really fast efficiently for 56 miles, as the course had about 2000ft of climbing and I went 2:13 with the lowest avg power of the season. It meant that my pacing and use of power was good. UNLESS, there was a clock-wise tailwind the whole day then I was just lucky. No but seriously, the top guys all around around 2:10 to 2:14, so I'm not that far off. I digress.
That being said, I came home really sick, and didn't really recover from the cold til a month later. Once I got in a good groove and started training again, my IT band started to act up on a random Wednesday(it's a painful stabbing pain on the outside part of your knee every time you land and bend your knee). Like a fool, I ran through it (10 miles on that day actually, man I was really stupid), thinking that it would just go away like all my other aches and pains. I kept running through it for one more week and it was hurting way too much. I took about 3 days off and started running and it'd immediately hurt. I took 5 days off, and it still hurt. At this point, I could be doing long term damage so like what I should have done in the very beginning, I stopped running completely for three weeks. During those three weeks I searched the internet for solutions. I foam rolled. I strengthened my hip and my glutes. I stretched a lot. I went the to gym. I didn't run. My parents suggested that I seek help with acupuncturist/herb specialist to adjust my chi in my body and improve blood flow to my joints/tendons/ligaments.
I've never dealt with an injury like this. I've been blessed to have a strong body that was always pretty durable and healed really fast. I've never dealt with the feeling of trying to run, and just hoping that there would be no pain in my knee. The pain came with no warning. Sometimes it'd be fine for 5 minutes then all of sudden sh*t would hit the fan. Sometimes it'd be fine for 15 minutes, but sh*t would still hit the fan. It was really nerve-wrecking and frustrating. But after 3 weeks off, I took my first running steps on a treadmill in Northwest YMCA ( I'm writing down the place so I remember that moment forever), with 2 minutes on and 1 minute off, at a pace of 9:40, for about 20 minutes. Victory
I went into my last race Challenge Rancho Cordova race sick. It didn't help that the water was borderlined 68 degrees or something which led to a freezing swim without a wetsuit. I did terribly-ok, 4:11 in a good field, and 11th. just one spot out of the money. I was pissed. The only positive was I think i finally figured out how to bike really fast efficiently for 56 miles, as the course had about 2000ft of climbing and I went 2:13 with the lowest avg power of the season. It meant that my pacing and use of power was good. UNLESS, there was a clock-wise tailwind the whole day then I was just lucky. No but seriously, the top guys all around around 2:10 to 2:14, so I'm not that far off. I digress.
That being said, I came home really sick, and didn't really recover from the cold til a month later. Once I got in a good groove and started training again, my IT band started to act up on a random Wednesday(it's a painful stabbing pain on the outside part of your knee every time you land and bend your knee). Like a fool, I ran through it (10 miles on that day actually, man I was really stupid), thinking that it would just go away like all my other aches and pains. I kept running through it for one more week and it was hurting way too much. I took about 3 days off and started running and it'd immediately hurt. I took 5 days off, and it still hurt. At this point, I could be doing long term damage so like what I should have done in the very beginning, I stopped running completely for three weeks. During those three weeks I searched the internet for solutions. I foam rolled. I strengthened my hip and my glutes. I stretched a lot. I went the to gym. I didn't run. My parents suggested that I seek help with acupuncturist/herb specialist to adjust my chi in my body and improve blood flow to my joints/tendons/ligaments.
I've never dealt with an injury like this. I've been blessed to have a strong body that was always pretty durable and healed really fast. I've never dealt with the feeling of trying to run, and just hoping that there would be no pain in my knee. The pain came with no warning. Sometimes it'd be fine for 5 minutes then all of sudden sh*t would hit the fan. Sometimes it'd be fine for 15 minutes, but sh*t would still hit the fan. It was really nerve-wrecking and frustrating. But after 3 weeks off, I took my first running steps on a treadmill in Northwest YMCA ( I'm writing down the place so I remember that moment forever), with 2 minutes on and 1 minute off, at a pace of 9:40, for about 20 minutes. Victory
I think more than anything I secretly appreciated this time off running. Though I know my conscious half of my brain was going mad for not running, the other half (yea i don't really know what it's called, unconcious?) was jumping for joy. I needed the physical and mental break from running. I looked back at my training calendar and the longest I've been off running was always maximum of 7 days in summer time after Wildflower. But this time around it was profound. When I look outside the window now and see casual joggers that pass by my house, or joggers along trails in Los Alto Hills when I'm on my bike, I appreciate running much more. I've been blessed to run for this long and enjoy this many great runs. My 1:24 half marathon at wildflower this past year, 1:21 at vineman, and 1:17 at HITS series last year. The 10 mile trail-run-ego-contests with Matt, Simon and Tom in the hills of Cupertino. I've been lucky to have experienced so much. And I hope I'd experience more.