Week #21 - still rehabbing

Well sports fans, I'm still in rehab mode. My trainings this week were full of swimming, upper body strength exercises, and a Physical Therapy appointment.

PT says I have a bone bruise - which considering other news, is great! The patella tendon does not get alot of blood flow and nutrients to the area so that is the goal for now. Massage, ultrasound and some rehab exercises are my lower body workouts these days. I try to not get frustrated because I know in the long run, it is better to completely heal and rehab correctly so I can complete my ultimate goal, but sometimes the frustration does set in.

I did speak with my bike coach this week so that I can develop a plan to address that aspect of the event. Once I am ready to come back, I'll be building back up slowly, as to not re-injury anything, and go from there.

Success at an endurance event is a product of four factors:
1. Inherent ability - genetic makeup and talent
2. Motivation - refers to inner desire to exercise talent and genetics
3. Opportunity - includes hindering and facilitating factors in the environment
4. Direction - recognizes a coach's influence on an athlete

How I integrate my trainings into my environment will become even more important as I get back into the swing of things and on longer and more challenging workouts.

My teammates completed lactate thresholds tests this week. I look forward to completing this when I am 100%, but I'll break down why this test is important.

For the past 20 weeks, I've been doing a tremendous amount of base building. My heart and body is adapting to the training load and I am becoming more efficient. The measure of efficiency of my heart is to measure my heart rate at different intensity levels and determine an approximate heart rate at which I can be most economical and still put forth the most effort and perform at a consistent level for a long time. So, by conducting lactate threshold tests using heart rate as an indicator of my exertion level will result in some identified "training zones" to work within to maximize the efficiency of my training.

Here's to a week full of rehab and reduced swelling each day.
Cheers,
Dana