Slipped on Black ice 4 minutes into my ride

The weather looked good today and based on weather.com, temperatures did not go below 32F overnight. The prospect of riding outside gave me extra motivation. It's been a while since my last ride, and 32F did not sound too bad. Last time I went, the temps dropped to a chilling 23F, which made it even colder with the windshield (probably in the lower 10s). 

It didn't take long for mother nature to bring me back to a rough reality. 4:09 minutes to be exact. I noticed the roads were a bit shiny, but thought that it was because I was riding in between buildings, and made sure I'd slowed down. I made that right turn to leave Jersey City and enter Hoboken, and before I even had a chance to correct my trajectory, my front wheel caught a patch of black ice and slipped off. I was down in no time, landing hard on my right hip. Shaken up but glad that there was no car nowhere near me, I picked up the bike, checked to make sure it did not suffer any damage, and collected myself. 

..and the pain kicked in right away. I decided to call it and head home. In other instances, I would have probably insisted, but it wouldn't have made sense. I started to feel a sharp pain on my hip. the range of motion became more and more limited. Time to go home, get breakfast, and relax for the morning. 

I will swap today's training (2hour-ride and 30min tempo run) with tomorrow's (90min run and 1hour swim), will take a nap, and try to shrug it off. 

That's another crash I have to deal with, and the confidence level is at its lowest. It's going to be tough to get back on open roads now as I will question everything, but I'll eventually will get back into it. Just not the best right now! 

Fine tune-up thanks to Chris at Hilltop Bicycle

You spend so much money and time on your machine that when it comes to finding a bike shop to tune up your bike, you start questioning their competences...Do they know what they are doing?

Hilltop Bicycle surely does know what they are doing. Chris took care of my bike like it was his, cleaning it up and looking at details I wouldn't have caught myself. I had issues with my powermeter, and could not resolve it. It took him about 15 minutes to figure it all out. He went the extra mile and checked every details, every aspects of the bike, tighten the fork, cleaned up the cassette, tighten the breaks and greased up parts that needed to be....all in 1 1/2 hours!

The cassette and chains need to be replaced. We'll take care of it at the end of the month when he fits me on the bike. I'll never bring my bike anywhere else in the tri-state area because I know how well he will take care of my bike!

For those who are looking for a great bike shop, check out Hilltop Bicycle's website.
They are hands-on the best bike mechanics around and charge less than bike shops in the city. They also sell the best bikes in the market with Specialized, Cannondale, Scott, Giant, Focus...

If you want to stop by, they have 2 convenient locations, roughly a 30-minute drive from NYC:

Summit, NJ
314 Springfield Ave, Summit, NJ 07901
(906) 219-4622

Cranford, NJ
30 Eastman Street, Cranford, NJ 07016
(908) 967-6072

Brisk 3-hr ride in 23 degree Fahrenheit weather

Nothing beats biking outside. The monotony of riding on the trainer took its tall so Carsten and I decided that it was nice enough outside to go for a long 3-hour ride. We rode 56 miles, averaging 19 mph, which is fast for a winter ride, way too fast.

My toes got really cold at some point, and making it back home wasn't the most pleasant, but overall it was a fun ride. 

Some stats from my ride:

Time: 2:56

Avg. Wattage: 218

Avg. Heart Rate: 138

Avg. cadence: 84 (a bit slow, ideally I prefer to have it between 85-95)

Elevation gain: 2,287 feet (it is flat around here)

Distance: 56.33 miles

Avg. pace: 19.2pmh

Follow me on Strava @ Kevin P. 

14,650 yards in the pool this week

With the uncertainties around my foot we agreed with Kevin, my coach (www.tricoach.us), to hold off on running until the results and supplement my running with swimming. I ended up swimming 4 times in 5 days, and swam 4,250 yards in 74 minutes yesterday, the most I've ever done. I think that barely covers the 2.4 mile swim of the ironman, but it's very encouraging that I was able to do it.

I got to the pool around 5:45 and starting my swim at 5:53am. Below was my training:
 Warm-up: 1,000 yards:
300 freestyle - 100 kicks - 300 pull - 300 Free
Main set: 2,750 yards:
100 pace - 200 build - 300 pace -5 - 200 build - 100 pace - 50 Easy
 then 2 x [4x100 pace - 3x50 fastest interval - 2x100 pace -5 - 3x50 fastest interval]
Cool down: 500 freestyle with fins

Relieved after the MRI results

The X-Rays of Monday morning did not reveal any bone anomalies. That did not do much to appease my worries and I asked to get a MRI done as most stress fracture are hard to identify on X-rays, but can be detected with a MRI.
I took the MRI on Tuesday morning and went to see the doc today for the results. Good news! the MRI did not show any bone fracture, but instead a mild Peroneal tendinitis. That's good! I can now put that behind me, get my foot back in order with the help of Josh (Clutch PT), and finally get started with my running.
I cannot wait to run on the hills of Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Saturday morning before watching the Seahawks school the Saints in the afternoon. Go Hawks!
I will continue to ice my foot, and focus a lot more on my calcium and vitamin D intake to strengthen my bones. Stretching will be huge as well.

Visit to Clutch Physical Therapy did not go as planned

Matt, a good friend and fellow triathlete, recommended that I talked to Josh from Clutch Physical Therapy on New York City's upper East side about my foot. Josh is a triathlete himself and focuses his practice on athletes. It is very hard to find great docs in the city and the word of mouth is always the best option. Josh did an incredible job on Matt's knees, allowing him to win Ironman Louisville last year (age group 25-29), and subsequently clinching his Kona spot! So, clearly, Josh must know what he is talking about.

I went to see him today to treat what I thought was a lingering Peroneal tendinitis. Despite taking 7 weeks off running, my left foot is still sensitive, which made me want to get it checked again. After looking at it, Josh did not think it was a tendinitis, but possibly a stress fracture. He took the time to look at it, described the best treatment for it (which means wearing a boot for 4 weeks!), and his plan to get me back into my training after the I'd be done with my treatment. Big bummer to think that it could be a stress fracture that should have been diagnosed during my first visit back in November, but at least I know where to go after to get back into my training quickly.

I highly recommend Clutch Physical Therapy to anyone who lives in the greater NY area and needs PT

Josh
Clutch Physical Therapy
244 East 84th Street (5th Floor)
New York City, NY
www.clutchpt.com

Flying back to NYC with lots of presents and 16 miles ran

It's that time when you realize that you will be in the office tomorrow at 8am...after an hour swim of course!

Unwrapping Xmas presents is always fun!

I had a great time down in Austin and come back to NY with lots of great memories. Santa spoiled me this year with gifts ranging from undershirts and shot glasses to running gear and a gift card that I can use with Killington Ski Resort in Vermont! Santa Mariesa knows me well and knows how much I love to ski! Being born in the heart of the French Alps and having skied since I was 3, it is always hard to see that I won't be able to ski as much as I'd love to again this year. So thank you Mariesa!


On a training note, I wrapped up this first week back into my running with a 45-min - 5+ miles around the Lady Bird Lake with Don. I felt good and Don certainly pushed up the pace a little bit. I just could restrain myself and had to keep up with him.
Newton Running had a stand at Duke's locker shop in Downtown where they organized a "test drive" of their products. Of course, we're talking running shoes here! I can only say good things about their products and even convinced Don to try them on. I think he liked them! Let's see if he ends up buying a pair.

In total I ran 17 miles this week at an average pace of 10:45min/mile. Let's see where January will take me. Training will be in full swing starting tomorrow.