Absolutely fascinating course

Wednessday...wanted to spend time with my wife before I left so I shortened my ride and added some more climbs. 17.02 in 1:10:47. Found some new climbs out by the top of horizon ridge. Went and had dinner with my wife and brother...yum.

Thursday...travel day. Began at 5:30 for a flight at 8. 30-40 min "mechanical problem" cost me making my next flight in Charlotte, NC. Had a 2 and a half hour delay then finally boarded a flight to Charlottesville, VA. Canceled mid flight by fog diverted to Richmond, VA after an hour of circling c'ville. Rode with some guys I met to c'ville and hour by car. Finally got to my room at 12:30 am EST. Obvioulsy no training today.

Friday: Began a two day course entitled, "Running Medicine 2009: The Triathlete." Broken up into 3 sections, swimming, running, and cycling. The swimming section had an MD/Nationally renowned swim coach (Donald Remaly, MD) talk about swim mechanics and shoulder injuries commonly observed with bad biomechanics. Excellent information. Then a senior PT Spoke about how shoulder treatment and injuries are different with swimmers. They have no offseason. Awesome treatment ideas and dovetailed real nice from the good dr's talk. Then a good talk from Eric Carson MD. He is the team surgeon for the UVA swim team and spoke on surgical management of the swimmer. THEN THE RUNNING SECTION. First the best talk of the weekend was by David Brennen, MED. An exercise physiologist from the University of Oklahoma. "Physiolgical aspects of training for the running athlete." VO2 Max, Lactate threshold training, setting up running programs, periodization, running economy, etc. PHENOMENAL. Then OA and the runner, by Robert Wilder, MD the medical director of the runners clinic and team physician at UVA. As you can guess running does no cause arthritis. Another great lecture by Christopher Powers, PHD, PT out of USC. Cutting edge soon to be published data on "Biomechanical factors contributing to the overuse injuries of the lower quarter: A top down perspective." How hip weakness effects knee pain. AWESOME. Then some poster presentations on running related studies from people from across the country.

Saturday: Cycling. 2 lectures by a guy from the USOC and UCLA/UC-Colorado Springs. (worked with lance and all american top cyclists) Spoke on "tissure stresses in cycling" and "pedaling biomechanics." Had a study that compared triathletes, road bikers, mountain bikers, and pursuiters. Who was the most sound pedalers? Mountain bikers. Very good talk. Then the second best lecture of the weekend. Clinical bike fit for PTs to fit people to bikes. AWESOME. Nutirion for the Triathlete by the UVA sports nutritionist- again AWESOME. Spoke about hydration, supplementation, eating, and recovery. Last a strength training for the Triathlete but I had to leave during that one to catch a plane. VERY VERY INFORMATIVE.

Sunday: Brick workout. Rode the whole course again for rage. This time 7 min faster for a time of 1:43:49 including making the last climb with little trouble. What did I do different? A LOT. I found out that my saddle position way too far back, moved it forward 1 mm. Also used a pedaling approach that felt awesome. "Scrape the mud off the bottom of your shoe on the pedal then toes up." Increases cadence and adds power plus tranfers force to the pedal more clean. Also, I was so dehydrated before my perfromance sucked. So today a drink every 10 min of alternating water and gatorade plus a Gu every 1/2 hour. AWESOME! Then I ran the course for rage with a live transition. 10K in 1:05:29 thats slow at 10:54 pace. But it was dirt, uphill or downhill and a steep one at that. Challenging run that I took it a little slow on. I also ran without my orthotics on accident. No trouble! Overall, today 2:53:50. Here are weekly totals:

Swim: 1750 in 42:47
Ride: 63.98 miles in 4:34:01
Run: 9.1 miles in 1:34:29

But I learned sooo much. I wonder If I can build a nitche of triathlete/runner/endurance type patients. It would be fun to be the guy the community calls for that kind of thing. Performance or pain, either one. Todays ride/run was so fun. Bueatiful day at the lake. Quote:

"Its better to wear out then to rust out...."

Im making up for lost time.