New Saddle - John Cobb V-Flow +

I've been having issues such as pain, numbness, and not being able to find the sweet spot on the Fizik Arione Tri2 that came on my Scott Plasma and decided to try the V-Flow + from Cobb Cycling. I know saddles fit people differently but I've got to say, this saddle is amazing. I received it last Thursday and rode it for the first time on Saturday. I can happily report that I didn't have any pain, numbness, soreness, etc and was able to find the sweet spot pretty quickly and settle in for a 3 hour ride. 90% of the ride was in my aero bars so I definitely gave it a thorough test drive. An hour's worth of FTP intervals today and still no issues. I couldn't be happier. Cosmetically, this saddle is one of the ugliest I've seen but comfort wise, it's the best!

Free shipping and a 180 day money back guarantee is hard to pass on. Give it a try, you'll be glad you did!

Pain update

I think I've figured out my left leg pain and it as something to do with my sciatic nerve. I'm stretching like it's my job, using the foam roller, and sitting on tennis and golf balls to help loosen up and ease the pain. It appears to be working as I'm able to make it through some longer runs and some speed work without my left side flaring up.

I've also purchased some new shoes as the pair I purchased 2 months ago was a little too small as I bruised one of my toes on my long run 2 weeks ago and it appears I'm losing the nail. In addition, I seem to be mid-foot striking on my left foot and have totally compressed the foam on the outside of the shoe. I've moved away from the Mizuno wave riders and decided to try the Nike Vomero and Asics Landreth. The Landreth will serve as my mid distance shoe and the Vomero will serve as my long distance shoe. The cushioning of the Vomero is amazing and the tread pattern should help out with the mid foot strike. So far so good.

Mid foot cleats = lower HR??

Not sure if this was a fluke or what but in doing my 3 x 10' FTP intervals yesterday, I decided to make a change for the last interval - moved my Look cleats as far back as they would go and compared the data.

Interval #2

Pavg - 264W
Cavg - 86 rpm
HRavg - 152 bpm
SPavg - 20.8 mph

Interval #3 (moved cleats back)

Pavg - 265W
Cavg - 84 rpm
HRavg - 147 bpm
SPavg - 20.5 mph


Hmmmmm........

Working through the pain

Not much to report other than my piriformis and ITB acting up. The sore piriformis actually stopped me from running right at the end of my 16 week OS plan and along with several missed training days due to travel for work, forced me to withdraw from my first event of the year - Lake Murray Sprint. The pain would start about a mile into the run and would linger for the remainder of the run. Stopping and stretching would offer temporary relief but not enough to kick the pain for the rest of the run. I tried stretching and other methods of relief but nothing seemed to help until I received my foam roller.

I didn't realize how bad of shape my muscle tissue was until I rolled it for the first time. I said quite a few 4 letters words - mainly OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! What rolling I did do seemed to offer some relief and i was able to complete 3 x 10' @95% FTP without any pain. More rolling this morning before I run this afternoon and hopefully, will be close to pain free.

I'm coming to the end of my 2 week transition between plans and will start 8 weeks of what Endurance Nation calls Basic Month which is the time when you start adding structured swim workouts and distance to the bike and run. Time to add far to the fast.