Water Running Again

If you ask Linda if I'm an optimist she would first laugh and then say, "If you're talking about triathlon, yes. Everything else, no. I freely admit that she is the optimist in our relationship. I will hedge a little and say that her optimism has rubbed off a little, as has my triathlon experience.

In a roundabout way this leads me into a post about water running and how to do it. I began water running when I was training for my first Ironman race - Arizona 2009. That year I got plantar fasciitis (aka plantar f-ing-itis) in my right foot. I was frustrated and was trying to get treatment so I could do the race. I was worried that I wouldn't make it to the starting line. With the help of strength training guidance from Diane Buchta as well as a story about Paula Newby-Frasier (8 time IM World Champion) using "aquajogging" to train while her stress fracture healed, I continued to train with the optimism and blind faith that things would come together in the end. I trained "as if" I was going to race. I modified my run program by substituting mostly water running (and some elliptical machine) for regular running until about 6 weeks from race day when I got the go ahead to start running.

I find myself training again for Ironman Arizona and am in pretty much the same situation as in the past. My foot (left this time) has had a stubborn case of plantar f-ing-itis for well over a year. As I pursue various treatments I have been training on the elliptical machine consistently for about a month or 6 weeks. Yesterday I reluctantly decided to return to the water for some water running. I'm reluctant because for one thing, water running is pretty boring. 2nd, I often just don't feel like getting in the water yet again - it's wet (!) and initially slightly chili. It's been a while since I did it so when I finished the session I came home to look up the guidelines I'd written back in 2010. I've edited and reposted that information here at Water Running - How To.

I intend to substitute it for at least one "run" training session per week and do the others on elliptical. My progress will be charted on my training blog. As a triathlon optimist I am training "as if" I will be racing Ironman Arizona in November 2013. My hope is that I will be able to phase run/walking into my training far sooner than I did in 2009.