Good news...Bad news...

Good news, I had a GREAT couple weeks of training. Hit every workout, felt strong, made some good progress. Bad news, I think I have another sports hernia. I don't think it, I sort of know it. I had one a couple years back and let it get pretty bad until I did some research, presented it to my doctor, and convinced him to operate. Yea, pretty crazy but after the surgery, it was confirmed "he" was exactly right. Well this time it's in a different location but feels just the same. Every time I engage my core, sit up, get out of bed, lunge, or worse yet, RUN, it's there. A nagging pain just above my pubic bone and kind of over my bladder. I reckon, my hard training the past few weeks caused it and I need to make a decision what to do about it. Anyway, I've got an appointment with my surgeon next Monday and I'll be asking about recovery time in case I decide to go under the knife.

The last couple weeks have been great as far as training. I forgot to mention I had a good race in Sullivan at the end of April. Finished 4th overall thanks to the many fast guys who decided not to show up this year. First weekend in May was the Lake run and it was pretty fun. Seemed like a low turnout for some reason. I showed up early and ran the course backwards as a warm up. I ended up running the race and pacing Tamera White since she said she was looking to run a 7:30 pace and that was perfect for what I wanted to do that day. She PR'd and won her age group and I finished with a great run training day.

I had some business travel to do in Wisconsin for a few days and then down to Atlanta for a few more days which I thought would kill my plan, but no worries. I did some nifty rescheduling and ended up doing great. I found some great running trails in both places. I hit the Decatur TT for my first time trial of the year. I did the 20K. Last weekend Keith, Mark, and I headed up to Madison to ride the IM course on Saturday which ended up being a GREAT day weather-wise. We got a good 70 miles in. Love that course.

The next day was the Madison Marathon. Mark signed up for the half and I signed up for the full. Earlier in the year I was planning to run the whole thing but when it came down to it, I just didn't want to trash my legs and recover for three weeks. Plus the whole sports hernia thing put a damper on how I felt. So I just ran a good 7:30 pace for 15, cut over with the half marathoners when the course split, ran one more, walked one, ran a bit more, then finished by walking the last four, 21 miles total.

This past Wednesday I decided to do the Decatur TT again. 40K this time since it was another beautiful day. By the time we got out on the course however, the wind picked up and everyone had a worse than expected day. Good hard workout though (1:02 @ 24mph). I finished the week with a nice strength interval day with Mark on the bike Thursday, an 8 mile tempo run at the gym Friday, good hard 2.5hr ride with Rossi on Saturday followed by a transition run, and a 13 mile run in the 85 degree heat Sunday. I'm pooped!!

I'm due for a recovery week so that means I get to "taper" for Tri-Shark and hopefully have a good day. June looks to be just as exciting as May. Hope the heat gets turned up and I hit my training targets by finishing up strong in Coeur d'Alene with a breakout training day with the boys. I'll decide what to do about my sports hernia soon and I'm leaning toward getting surgery after the CDA trip so I can recover in July. That gives me August/September to build/peak for my ultimate day. If I can get by without cutting into my body, with maybe just some rest or less running, then I'd prefer that route. Wish me luck...