DKH Tri Race Results

Ok, now that I am up from my nap, a race update :)

Poor Timmy was all heart and his body just didn't quite keep up with his goals.  He wasn't ready for the race, and to be honest, I was relieved.  I was worried about him, since he had only been in the water once before the race.  His back is tight enough to make a set of six pack abs very jealous, and the poor guy is hobbling around here, still needs to get used to the bike and stretching out his back.  So he was a good sport and tagged along as my paparazzi/pit crew/time keeper/cheerleader.

Me, I was exhausted, in bed after 1 am, alarm going off at 5, its not a great combination for race day.  Woke up and feet felt ok, not great, but better than previous races.  Hour commute to the race location and by the time we got there I was actually awake, but still yawning.  It was a nice race, a little disorganized, but not bad at all, especially since it was sponsored by a local hospital and was only their second year running this event.  They has MORE VOLUNTEERS than any other race I have been to, which speaks highly to their hospital system, nice to see everyone unite around this.

The swim was great, an easy half mile lake swim.  Having Tim with me on the lake swim this past week he noticed something about my stroke that I always auto-corrected when there was a line on the bottom of the pool.  I pull to the right.  It makes sense if you think about it, with my left shoulder being the disaster one, my stroke on the right is much stronger, so off I go to the left.  This made this past swim much easier, because instead of being surprised and frustrated with my veering off course, I was able to adjust for it frequently.  It worked well.  Also, for the first time in the swim, I pushed it pretty hard, out of the water in 12 minutes, just a hair slower than what I do in the pool.

The bike, I had to catch find my legs the first couple miles and get down some water but I started cruising along pretty well and got the 12 miles done in 40 minutes, not my fastest, but 18mph, I'll take it.  Especially since I was slowed up on one section of the race where the marking and directions were poor and I quite literally had to stop to ask a volunteer whether I was supposed to turn or go straight.  Like I said, not perfect organization, but a nice race.  My bike, well, she is fabulous :)  talk about an awesome ride, comfortable, stretched out, I think I could have problems if I ever had an impressively hilly ride- just not enough gears to drop, but she gave me a great ride today!

The run, well, as usual, not my strong point, 32 minutes, just a hair over 10 minute miles for 3.1 miles.  The first 200 yards were not pretty, with my left calf in a tight ball and not heeding to my pathetic pleas of "stop, please stop, pretty pretty please with sugar on top?"  Eventually it did let go but it made me very cautious for that first mile.  The one big difference I noted was that my body felt better and stronger on the run, I think at least in part due to the fact that I carried water with me instead of trying to chug a glass at the water stations.  My stomach handled this much better, and overall I just felt better.  My feet, well, they weren't perfect, but they weren't bad at all, they didn't hold me up, thats for certain.  The last quarter mile I came across a guy walking, and I have to give props to him, after a little prodding I got him to not only run with me, but actually push pretty hard to the finish, no way I could have finished the way I did without your help, so thanks nameless man :)

I came across at 1:29:45, very happy with that, and then come to find out I was 4th in my age group, 2nd in the big girl category :)  and 11 woman overall, not half bad! :)

Beautiful day, awesome race, very glad that I did it, but also very glad that I was able to be lazy the rest of the day.  Next up, Madison in 2 weeks, Detroit in 3.  The plan?  In the meantime I need to get some longer workouts in.  I have been cramming in the bikes, doing 25+ miles at least a couple times a week.  But I also need to get some longer runs in, at least 4 or 5 before the Detroit race.  Madison will be a good warm up for me, but I need some longer workouts to get a feel for the endurance aspect of this race, as it will likely take me 3+ hours.  For now... nothing but rest and rehydration. :)

Doctor Heal Thyself

So.... I'm ready, hit me with the "I told you so's."

I went to the Podiatrist today.  After much research, different methods, stretches, socks, frozen lacrosse balls, shoes, rest, conversations with really smart people, and prayers, my feet didn't fix themselves, so off to the doctor I went.  He sat down, talked to me for 2 minutes, asked me about activity level, work requirements, etc, and then halted abruptly saying, "You must be kidding me... you're a healthcare provider and a triathlete?  You are my worst nightmare..."  We then chatted some more about my hopes and dreams, he took some x-rays and there they were.  A well callused and healed right first metatarsal fracture (thank you sophomore year flip turn gone wrong) and a much more recent, but healed Navicular fracture (guess I did more than fracture my proximal fibula back in January after all).  More applicable to my current situation however are the very very small bone spurs that are just starting to form, what does this mean?  Symptomatic treatment, arch supports and perhaps eventually orthotics should be all I need to make my feet stop hurting.  Also he told me to stop walking around in flip flops and barefoot- shit.   So I am currently behaving myself, but am going to have to put some research into flip-flops with arch support, any suggestions welcomed!  He did steroid injections and scheduled me for follow up in a few weeks.  In the meantime, following instructions, icing, stretching and anti-inflammatories.  We'll see how it goes.

Many many smart people told me that orthotics were probably my next step, but my hard head didn't hear it.  I think that my ego finally had to just give in.  I'll let you know in a week or so how my feet are feeling during runs and especially in the morning when I wake up.  I think this is the curse of being in healthcare.  We know what the answer is, or in general at least one solution to the problem, and our egos get in the way.  We either ignore it, or we only participate in half the solution, or just put it off saying, "I'll do it next week."  Doctor heal thyself... yes indeed, but be smart enough to ask for help- its only a co-pay away.  Lesson learned... this time... :)

Hey Hey Pretty Lady!

So Tim is on board.  Bike fitted and ordered, first tri signed up for, and less than two weeks away!  I guess we are going to have to do some serious intensive swim training, although I don't think he fully realizes that just yet.  This means that I have added two more sprints to my summer schedule and also had some encouragement and support in buying a new bike.  When I bought my first bike six months ago, I went reasonable so that if I hated this whole thing, I wouldn't hate myself for spending too much money on a bike.  The more time I spent on the bike, the more I realized I loved it, and that it was worth the investment, so I made it, here she is!

The bike certainly doesn't make me faster, but it makes me more comfortable, no more compression of my radial nerve,  My rear cassette is only 8 gears, so I imagine that eventually that will need to change, but for now, it does the trick.

One brutal ride on Saturday, 38 miles, of which more than half were on very hilly roads, up, up, up and more up.  There was one road that I couldn't even make it up on my road bike, maybe one day.  Yesterday a short ride to break in the new bike, and today a longer ride, 26.2 miles in 85 minutes.  I am by no stretch of the imagination a speed demon, but I feel great!  Next step is getting better on the longer runs and still find some time to get into the pool and bang out some longer laps.

For now, I feel good about myself, working out, sleeping and eating well, and now the love of my life joining me in the craze, I love it!  Life is good :)

Niantic Bay Race Recap

Ok, so this race should be a lesson to me.  Ocean Beach obviously wasn't enough of a lesson in not-preparedness! :)  If I had any doubt in my mind, Niantic cleared that for me.  I can go out and complete the race without training much, but I can't compete.  It was the hardest course I have run yet, the swim was a piece of cake, but I wasn't able to push as hard as I wanted to.  The bike was tougher than I expected, I wasn't ready for that, and then... I lost my chain.  Rookie shifting mistake on a hill and next thing I knew my chain was on the ground.  It took me a couple minutes to get it back in place and to get myself up the hill.  The run... well, I wanted to die.  I looked at the people running past me on a couple sections of the run and couldn't help but think... no one would know if I just turned around and follow them.  But I didn't, I finished it out, and despite walking along a couple of sections of the race, I still finished it with a pace of 10 minute miles.  Now of course that pace is still slower than most on the course.  Swim rank was 187, bike 294 and run 410.

Now, on to training for the Olympic.  I need to be more serious about this and get my time in, because I can bandaid my way through a sprint, but its never going to work in the longer distance.  The reality that I am facing is that it is no longer enough to just go out and put in the distance, not if I want to compete, I need to do intervals, hill repeats, and a lot of leg work.  No more amateur hour, I have five weeks to get it in gear and see what I can do.

In the meantime, we need to hunt down a bike for Tim.  He has started talking about training with me and maybe getting into the triathlons next year.  I am very excited to not only have this thing in common, but also to have a training partner, especially someone who will definitely be able to push me on the bike and the run.

For now though, off on a bike, swim later.  Ready to go!