The above picture is of Scott Molina winning the Ironman World Championships in 1988. Scott has had a great impact on many of the people within my circle. It seems as though every one of my mentors or training partners has been coached, advised or trained with Scott. He is very willing to help teach others about the great sport of triathlon.
Before I had ever met Gordo (my biggest connection to Scott) I remember finding Scott's email address and sending him a message about who knows what. Probably something like, "do you use regular shoe laces in your shoes or those elastic one's?" That was a joke, but to my surprise, he replied. I had no idea that a guy like this was so accessible.
I'm sure I hit him up with a few more questions and was very impressed with his willingness to help out a young triathlete that was wanting to learn. I've gotten a bit off track here and this has nothing to do with my notes for the week, but the moral of the story is this...
There is no limit to the knowledge we can gather. However, there is also no limit to the people willing to share their knowledge (good or bad?).
With this, make sure to seek out the best information from quality sources. Most people are willing to help. All you need to do is ask.
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Listen to Scott and Gordo talk about this year's EPIC New Zealand on Endurance Corner radio . Gordo will continue to give updates on EC radio and in his blog .
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I managed to get my 18k of swimming in this week. Justin Daerr and I joined Rally Sports so we could swim with Sherpa, Denny Meeker. Denny won't swim inside and I was starting to feel the effects of the dark indoor pool, so I made a change.
We have been doing all of our swimming outdoors in a heated pool. This is the first time that I had ever been in a pool while it was snowing outside--pretty cool!
I first thought that swimming 18k was going to be a real challenge. I had been swimming 2k/workout for the past few months just to keep my feel for the water. I knew this was ok because this was what Chris Legh told me he was doing :-)
The training week went great, but I've seem to develop a case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. I have never had this problem before and am a bit baffled by what could have caused this.
I've got a few ideas such as: running in the snow, footwear, foot strike, or tight calves. Whatever it is, I'm going to go see Bob Cranny today to get it checked out before it gets out of control. Bob is one of the injury treatment gurus here in Boulder.
My friend and training partner, Brandon Del Campo (his website is currently down), has been struggling with plantar fasciitis for years and advised me to STOP RUNNING until I have seen Bob.
This brings me to the issue that I wanted to talk about this week and back to Scott Molina. I feel like I'm name dropping like crazy in this blog, but I'm very intrigued by the Big 4 (Scott Molina, Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and Scott Tinley). Through reading and talking with others, I get a since of what sort of punishment these guys put on their body's. They were the pioneers of this sport and just about everything these guys did had never been attempted before.
I personally feel like we have a pretty nice longitudinal study here. I'm very curious on the health effects of Ironman training and for personal reason wanting to learn as much as I can to protect myself against any long term health implications due to excessive training.
I haven't really developed an opinion on this yet, but listening to these guys talk about current injuries, surgeries, and the painful nuances they've sustained from their days as rock stars, makes me think twice about training through injuries.
I think it is important to be proactive in treating little minor injuries before those injuries turn major and you are forced to stop. I'm nowhere near the point where I start to think, "do I want to put my body through this for another season?" However, I'm sure the point will come, but hopefully I've taken the rights steps to maximize my ability while preserving my longevity.
Mat
