Over/Unders

Jogged 2 miles this morning just to sort of test out my hip. It's not perfect, but it's back to about the pain level I have had the last few months (i.e. it's always there but generally like 1-2 on a scale of 10).  So ok whatever. Not thrilled but it's def better than it's been since Saturday.

Then I rode again at HTC on the Computrainer. I've ridden 6x in the last 5 days and 5 of those rides have been on the trainer. Besides the focused efforts, I'm really liking the air conditioning. I feel like I can ride harder for longer without it taking as much out of me because I'm not dying from heat exhaustion or dehydration. Don't get me wrong- I still drip with sweat, but it's nothing like the dehydration I experience when riding or running hard outside here in the summers.

Today was just a shorter ride- only 60min which went by in a flash. Main set 2x10min "over/unders" which is a sweet workout- one of my favorites. Impossible to really do if you don't have power, and also pretty tough to execute properly on the road (unless you have access to a long flat section with no interruptions). The Computrainer is perfect for this if you just tell it to load you up with the right % of FTP you're going for it gives you that resistance then you must do it. You can tell when you're starting to fade b/c your cadence drops, which honestly just makes it feel harder b/c it give you more resistance to hit the same watts on lower cadence... Anyway, the 10min was done as 3min @95% then 2min @105%. For me that was like alternating 190w with 215w. Challenging but nowhere near impossible. The hardest part really is the 2nd 3min piece because you want to 'recover' from the above FTP effort, but you're "recovering" still at 95%... After actually recovering we finished with a 5min piece at 90% using low cadence 55rpm. That felt heavy.

Afterward I went out running again holy crap it was noon with humidity through the roof and I was melting... I got through 4 miles, which felt like 14... Not very confidence building. Hip wasn't happy through any of it but then again it also didn't seem to progress and get worse. I came home though and iced and took ibuprofen b/c I feel like a lot of the pain now is because its inflamed. I've heard all the theories about why ice and ibuprofen are bad and how because of their MOA they actually delay healing so I hesitate to use them BUT they make the pain go away and with an ironman in 4 weeks I'm feeling a bit desperate so I might just live on ibuprofen for the next few weeks as a band-aid, with the understanding that it's not a true 'fix'. I don't know if that's the right decision but it's the one I'm making for now.