WEEK 18 – April 25, 2016 – May 1, 2016
The taper weeks always seem to surprise me, mainly because I rarely look ahead in the training plan unless forced to do so. I take it one day, one week at a time. No sense in worrying about the six hour rides and 3 hour runs at this stage of the game. The tapers are almost like a gift or courtesy, like someone holding the door for you. A welcome break for the work that you have put in.
The plan had an Olympic distance triathlon scheduled for Sunday, and since it is April in Illinois, the opportunity to get that task done was going to be limited unless I traveled to somewhere with a better spring than the one we are having. But there was a local half marathon being run, so I decided to hop on that instead.
The half marathon was so local that it was on the exact same trails that I run every run. I went into it thinking to use it as a training day, but of course the competitive side of me took over and I pushed hard. I finished in 12th place overall. But the surprising thing is that I finished 4th in my age group! I am still trying to figure out how someone in the Male 50-54 age group can finish in 12th place and lose out on a podium finish by three other old guys. My area must be ripe with fast old guys. You can read my race recap here:
2016 Frankfort Half Marathon Race Report
The other thing of note this week was the swim and my ongoing issue with having to urinate when swimming. I don’t get it. Tuesday was to be a 3000 yard swim, and like clockwork I had to pee a half hour into it. Then it was again about every 5-10 minutes. When I got to the 2800 yard point I could feel some rather sharp pain in my lower back that almost doubled me over. I decided to get out and head to the shower. I did a little googling of the issue and found a condition called immersion diuresis. The suggested reasoning is colder water and the pressure of being in the water stimulates the kidneys to make more urine. I’m not sure what the pool temp is, but it isn’t what I would consider cold. And I am not sure that I buy any pressure related causes because I’m swimming along the top of the water. In the past I have just gotten out of the water and relieved myself and was able to continue on. But the kidney ache that I got this time gave me some pause. On Saturday after finishing the half marathon, I urinated a somewhat bloody stream. Race day was cool and damp, and I had not felt like I was adequately hydrated. I am curious if it was related to the issue I had earlier in the week or that the run was the cause. I have had bloody appearing urine after hard running efforts in the past. I will keep an eye on it for now.
Hoping for the best for one of my Gunners training teammates. He had an issue with his back that has been treated and hopefully will put him back at it soon. He was in great shape prior and will have plenty of time to recover and train.
Not sure what next week will be like. I don’t look ahead, remember? But it won’t be long and I will be heading into the endurance phase of training.
WEEK 18 TOTALS:
Swims: 2 total, 1.5 hours, 4300 yards
Bikes: 2 total, 1.5 hours, 21 miles
Runs: 7 total, 4 hours, 31 miles
an amazing run 