Getting back to normal?

The main focus of the last 13 days after IM Germany has been on letting my body recover and get back to "normal". Last week I did seven and a half hours of "training"--most of it was light spinning. This week will probably end up being double that with a few runs thrown in.

I'm actually racing tomorrow in the Stone Harbor triathlon--which is clearly a questionable call. It's a goofy local sprint which actually was my first triathlon back in 2001. I'm not ready to race and I don't have any expectations about my performance except that I'll probably end up being slow and a little annoyed by that fact. I wanted to use the race as a line in the sand marking my transition from post IM recovery to a serious training phase that will deliver me to Kona, which is 84 days from today.

My number one goal in this next period is to get my left hip healthy. I must find a way to avoid a debilitating repeat of my bike/run at IM Germany. To the end, I had a physical evaluation by a corrective exercise physical therapist. He was clearly able to diagnose my left/right imbalances and my significant deficincies in my hip flexors and most of my core muscle systems. I've started a multi-week cycle of 3 times per week of core/hip focused training and aggressive assissted stretching of my ITB. This has been an eye-opening experience so far. I've had three sessions to date and my glutes, hip flexors, etc are very sore and stiff. I have hope that this will ultimately correct my hip problem--I must get it fixed....