Today is Not That Day

Leading up to the race...

I haven't been blogging much... work took over my life for a bit! Before I post my race report from Big Kahuna, I'll back up and talk about my training. 

For a couple months, my training was going pretty well. Great, actually. I had a 13 mile training run three weeks ago and I felt strong. Ran it in 2:05, by far the fastest I've done the distance, and it was done pain-free. All those funky muscle imbalances I'd been working through seem to have vanished. I also did the Marin metric century around the same time, and rode with a much stronger rider who pushed me up the hills... we pretty much treated the ride like interval training. Go hard in between aid stations, then chill out and gorge ourselves at each station. It was great. 

But I had some pretty tight muscles, and it was time for a long-overdue body work session. My regular therapist, my magic man, decided he was burned out and just vanished, so I made an appointment with the owner of the place. He was great... worked on my uber-tight psoas and quads and hips. He also did some hip flexor stretches. 

The next day... uh oh. My legs were worthless. I couldn't walk up the stairs. The next day it was even worse. My chronic issues with piriformis and hamstring started making themselves known. 4 days later I tried my 13 mile run, but by mile 3 I turned around and walked most of the way back to the car. My legs felt like spongy noodles and an old hip flexor pain came back. 

Crapola. Just a few weeks out from my race. What to do?? I ended up seeing my neurokinetic therapist. If you're not familiar with NKT, it's freaking magic for anyone with recurring injuries. The theory is that there may be pathways for brain signals that are firing compensatory muscles instead of the right muscles. So the therapy "teaches" your brain to properly fire the intended muscle groups. Last year I went in unable to do a front lunge, and he fixed that in 10 minutes. Sounds crazy but it's really effective. 

Long story short, he thinks that I was training with compensatory muscles like my psoas, and when those got released (because they were tight and overworked) my signals got messed up. My quads weren't firing at all, and he got things working again. Then he said, "as your therapist, I strongly urge you to reconsider doing a half Ironman. I don't think your legs are ready for it." To which I said, "sorry, but that's not an option." I've had to bail on my last 3 races due to injury or sickness, and damn it, I was going to do this race! 

My training slowly improved, but I'd lost the strength I had previously. I needed to train the "right" muscles that have not been firing properly... and I'm pretty sure there's another component: I remembered that I'd been on prednisone until my last Olympic race. Prednisone is a steroid and a very powerful anti-inflammatory. It's highly likely that I was overtraining and never knew it because of this wonder drug. If it didn't have such nasty side effects I'd go back on in a heartbeat. I just want to be able to train like I was on prednisone all the time!! 

So... that brings me to Big Kahuna. Next post... 

I'm back!

So after a couple months of no training due to ulcerative colitis, I've signed up for my new A race this year: Big Kahuna 70.3 in Santa Cruz in September. So training commenced on July 1 and I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. I'm still not 100% yet... this bugger is mild, fortunately, but also tenacious. And so while I continue to lose weight while training (and I have very little left to lose) I'm piling on the calories to make up for it. Thanks be to Carbo-Pro which I now mix into everything!

This morning I swam in the 1.2 mi Catfish Crawl OWS, which I was concerned about as my stamina in the pool is just not there yet. But it was a gorgeous day, totally calm water, and I cut 3:46 off last years' time and lucked out by getting 2nd AG!

I say "lucked out" because 39:15 Garmin (39:50 official clock) should not have gotten me 2nd, but there were only 6 non-fast swimmers in my AG. I have never been remotely close to a podium spot, so during the awards I was sitting on the bus chatting with the girls waiting to be driven back to the parking lot. Then a friend came through and said, "hey, you should go claim your award, they called your name." Doh! 

So my one chance at a lovely podium photo went out the window. Needless to say, it was all quite motivating, and I've needed a bit of motivation on the swim. I'm pleased with my sighting... I wore my Garmin in my swim cap and was happy to see a near-perfect map. Let's see if I can replicate that on race day. 

Last thought for today: I've been on an experiment with a lower carb, low sugar diet as it's needed for ulcerative colitis, but of course with all the sugary gels and drinks it's tough to do this as an athlete. My next post will share more about how I'm doing it and how it's working. 

Getting prepared

Between perfecting my bike fit and enjoying my ART guy's magic, I think I'm finally (mostly) prepared for some hard training work!

Bike fit is still getting dialed in. Slight adjustment in my seat height made a difference this week. My fitter ordered new cranks... my current ones are 172.5 mm and we're ordering 167.5 mm. I think this will make a huge difference in my ability to increase cadence as well as climb hills. When he changes the cranks he'll also put a longer stem on my bars as they're a bit too short. And voila! I can no longer blame my bike... it's all me. 

My piriformis and hamstring problems have come back to haunt me, so I've been getting regular ART sessions. My guy is seriously a magician... my hips are out of alignment, and ta-da! in 10 minutes they're perfectly straight. He worked his magic last week on hips and hip flexors, and 2 days later I ran 10 miles for the first time without pain. Whooo hoo! But then the pain came back. Grr. So today he fixed my hips (again) and taught me some exercises to do daily to keep my pelvis aligned and prevent it from getting out of whack. He also did some work on quads, calves and IT band, and I don't remember ever having this sense of mobility... range of motion is so much better! 

Which is good, because I looked at my schedule for the weekend and burst out laughing. This is the first time I've seen something on the schedule that I honestly don't know if I can do... so that means it will be a confidence builder! At least I have a saddle my tush is happy with, a much better fit, an aligned pelvis and relaxed muscles. Bring it on. 

Training update

So I haven't been too inspired to write, but I've loved reading everyone else's posts. Wildflower training weekend was this weekend and I was looking forward to writing about it, but I cut my stay short due to weather. We were supposed to get a cold front and storms, and the idea of camping in foul weather wasn't too exciting to me. 

Fortunately the storm took its sweet time to arrive, so I drove down on Friday, set up camp, enjoyed the campfire and catching up with friends I hadn't seen in a while. Nighttime brought sub-40 degree temps and I slept curled up in a ball with a hat, 3 shirts, 2 pants and 2 socks... still cold. Crazy. Early morning was more of the same, but by 9 am it was actually pretty nice out. So all 100 of us headed out on bikes... half for the long course, half for Olympic. 

The good news on the bike is that I'm liking my new saddle. Still adjusting, but I really think this is a winner. The bad news is that my hill climbing abilities are in the toilet. My speed varied from 30 - 35 MPH descending, but only 4 - 8 MPH ascending. I need to make up 10 minutes on the bike just to be where I was last year, and I've got 5 weeks in which to do it. Ack! 

Post-ride we had lunch, and then it was time for the open water swim. I, along with many others, decided to bail. I was tired of being cold, and I had my eye on the dark clouds lurking on the horizon. So I packed up and drove the 3.5 hours home, most of it in pouring rain. No idea if the storm hit the campsite last night as predicted, but I was cozy and very happy in my own bed. 

Today I ran across the Golden Gate bridge for the first time! It's precisely a 10 mile run from my door to the other side of the bridge. I'd prepared for rain but it turned out to be a lovely day. It was my first 10 mile run in a couple months and it went better than I'd expected. My ART guy is a true magician, and my funky recurring aches and pains decided to stay home for this run. I'm optimistic about finishing the US Half in a couple weeks without it being a total sufferfest. 

With regards to training overall, I realize that I started training 6 weeks later this year than last year so I should be patient with myself. Fortunately my swim is on track and I should do better than last year, which is a pleasant surprise given all my recent shoulder problems. I'm also optimistic about the run. The only leg that's really not going well is the bike. I need to make up 10+ minutes on the bike in the next month -- and that's just to hit last year's times -- and all of that is going to come through building muscle and power on hills.

My leg muscles just feel trashed all the time, and I'm thinking that I'm not getting enough protein. I tend to eat vegetarian but I haven't put a lot of thought into ensuring that I'm getting the right nutrition. I just got home from eating a big steak dinner, and I'm thinking about hiring a nutritionist to get my diet on track. Nothing like an impending race and feeling behind the 8-ball to spark some needed changes!  

 

Twice a day

And I'm not talking vitamins. Yes folks, I have finally joined the exclusive club of 2x/day training sessions. Not because I'm putting in Ironman hours, but this is the first time I've trained while maintaining a full-time job at an actual office.

I thought I'd have a tough time with this, given that I had tons of flexibility last year when I worked from home. But the funny thing is, I am now a lot more disciplined about getting it done. Last year I could do my workouts pretty much whenever. So if I wasn't entirely ready by 10 am, I could push to after lunch. Or after a nap. And it usually got done, but sometimes it got pushed. I was pretty la-la-la about making it happen. (I know, a Western tragedy, right?)

Now, however, I have to be a lot more structured. And I like it. I'm still gradually working my way towards "early morning", ie. 5:30. It's not happening yet. So I did my easy run this morning which is a great way to get the blood pumping, and my (ridiculously hard, laughing and swear-word evoking) trainer session after work. And I know that if I don't get it done within x narrow window(s) of time, it's not getting done. So I get 'er done.

I know, you guys with full-time jobs are reading this going '"geez Jen, we know how this works..." but it's been rather surprising to me. I thought I'd miss the flexibility but I actually don't. I'm now more focused, more on-task. Like they always say, if you want something done, give it to a busy person.

Oh, and I bought one of these babies to help me wake up earlier. I've always wanted one, and now that I have to get up at crack'o it rose to my must-have list:

It's the Philips Wake-Up Light. I LOVE IT. Agreed, it's rather pricey for an alarm clock, but I wake up naturally as it gradually brightens my room. And then birds start chirping after it reaches full brightness. Seriously... it's awesome. I get out of bed so much easier in the mornings.

Training week 2: Musings on RPMs and death marches

Finally settling into a rhythm with training and the new job. I wasn't sure if it was possible, as every job I've worked on the service side had been crazy hours and travel. But this culture's different, and work/life balance is supported and encouraged. There's even a shower in case I need to bust out a run during lunch.

The swim is going better than I'd expected. While my shoulder still complains on occasion, it seems to be holding up fine. I've only been doing @ 1600 yards each swim, but next week I'll join the master's slow lane and see how it feels to push a bit more distance and pace. I'm really looking forward to swimming with other people! It's the only sport I can be social in right now... no group rides for me until I regain my hill strength.

And speaking of bike...Ugh. But a good ugh. A needed ugh. Yeah, I'm working on cadence and my legs are not happy campers. My happy cadence is 70 - 75. I rode outside yesterday and the goal was to maintain 80 - 85+ with a mix of easy and moderate. Umm... easy is not 80+?? To my legs, maintaining 80+ is HARD. I don't think my RPE scale is the same as my coach's; hers goes from 1 - 10 and mine goes from 5 - 10.

I kept catching myself slowing down cadence when it was time to go easy -- "ah, I'm now resting in my happy cadence zone... No wait, I'm supposed to stay 80+. Ugh." Needless to say, I'm using my gears more than I ever have. Ta da! My head now knows that easy is not a slower cadence but an easier gear, but my legs still haven't gotten the memo. And my hootchie is angry about the memo; now that I'm not mashing gears, my butt and girl parts HURT. So it's good we're not tacking on too much mileage right now as I gotta toughen up my "area." High cadence = pain = not easy. My head's getting them all mixed up; maybe when I'm tougher on my seat it will all seem easier.

Yesterday also brought some needed wind training! Last year at Honu we were so lucky with the weather. The winds weren't bad at all on race day... but the high winds in the days prior gave an indication of what it certainly could be like on race day. So yesterday I got to practice in those conditions... occasional gusting crosswinds and a headwind that created whitecaps at Nicasio reservoir. Riding on flats and slight downhills at 10 MPH. Check. 

Not that you can see said whitecaps as my camera phone is worthless, but they were there. And yes, it was otherwise a lovely day! Mid-60s and sunny. And windy. So the tailwind back was AWESOME. Cranking at 90 RPM, flying, and loving it. I guess this RPM thing is partly psychological as I had no problem @ 90 going fast. Hmmm...

Ok, today I've got a long-ish run on tap in Golden Gate Park. I'm ramping up to do the US Half on April 8; I'd like to have one confidence-building 13.1 mile run before Honu. The run course at Honu is demonic... after starting out on short/steep hills and spongy grass, miles 9 - 12 is a desolate, hot, out-and-back section fondly called "the death march." I am dreading the death march because mile 9 is normally when my body (hips, feet, hip flexors, and basically any muscle/tendon/ligament below the waist) says, "ok, I'm done now!" I could be running a half in paradise and post-9 miles would still be a death march. So I need to get some miles in these legs so I can smile at the death march in June. Hah! Death march my ass... I eat desolation for breakfast. Grrrr.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend. Happy training!

 

NorCal training in February

(I know... 2 posts in one day! Crazy!)

It was another gorgeous weekend in San Francisco. I've heard it's been gorgeous in other parts of the country too, which is makes me feel better. If I could magically blow some of this sunshine over to you snowbound foks, I would do so!

Exhibit A: Cycling in Tiburon. Lots of sailboats out on Saturday!

Exhibit B: Running through the Presidio yesterday. The city is doing a great job clearing out underbrush and landscaping so that I can enjoy this unobstructed view (that road below is my hill-repeat location on the bike! It doesn't suck.)

Today is fog-bound, however, so I'm glad it's a swim day. Happy training!

Kicking off year 3

I just noticed that my last blog post was late November... such a slacker I am! December was a really rough month, full of constant travel and 3 weeks of a chest cold. Yesterday was my first cough-free day since 12/13. Needless to say, my running took a big hit, and I'm still hovering around 6 miles when I should be up to 9. This weekend I'll see how far I can go.

So of course it's January and my blog reader is full of inspired and inspiring posts about 2012 goals for triathlon. Alas, triathlon has been a distant memory thanks to my shoulder injury that's taking its sweet time to heal. After 5 months it's just now starting to mend, and I've been a bit reluctant to get back on the bike. I'd been thinking perhaps 2012 would just be a running year, plus some continued strength/PT work. I wanted to do Wildflower but in a distant, hypothetical way, like I should want to do Wildflower (or any tri, for that matter).

But today I got inspired. It was a beautiful sunny 65-degree day, and my first time on the bike since August. Just an easy 25 miler that didn't suck as badly as I'd expected... and it was fun. I've definitely lost bike fitness but felt stronger than I did this time last year. I started feeling optimistic and a bit nostalgic for training.

I'm giving myself the remainder of January to focus on shoulder PT before I sign up for Wildflower. I still have a tough time staying more than 5 minutes in aero at a time, and I haven't ventured to the pool yet. Pool time is next week... we'll see how my shoulder holds up. But I'm finally getting the bug again.

For kicks, I went back to last year's mileage recap. The bike numbers are inspiring! I doubt the other numbers are accurate though.

	2010	2011
Bike	971 miles	1871 miles
Run	484 miles	467 miles*
Swim	58 miles	80 miles*	(est 5k yds/week x 28 weeks)

I no longer have the pro version of Training Peaks so I can't pull reports, so I used Garmin Connect which doesn't include any manual entries for run & swim. The run numbers seem really low at 467, but I was injured the first couple months of 2011, and then again from Aug - Oct. So this is really only 6 months of real run training and doesn't include Garmin-free days (so maybe 20 mi/week x 24 weeks? Say 500 mi.) Swim numbers I had to totally guess at... again, since I stopped swimming in Aug this is only 8 months of swim training.

What are my goals for 2012? I think I'll have to stick with Olympic tris this year. The 70.3's that interest me are all in the first part of the year and my shoulder won't let me tackle those. So I'll shoot for sub-3:00 at Wildflower and Pac Grove, throw in a few half marathons to build up my weak sport, and a lot of strength training to continue fixing my muscle imbalances. I'd also like to do more hiking and start trail running, plus learn to love the hills. If I can stay injury-free this year, I have a score to settle with the 70.3 distance in 2013.

Happy new year!

Drained

Last week was a crazy work week... big presentation in NJ and another big meeting in Manhattan. I thought I might have time for a good run the day I arrived, but I flew into JFK at 3:30 and then had the "opportunity" to drive through Manhattan at rush hour to get to my hotel in NJ. Not fun. After 45 minutes of sitting at the same light in SOHO, I pulled over to have dinner and work until traffic died down. Arrived at hotel after 10 pm... definitely no run!

Day 2: Full-day workshop followed by drinks/dinner with client. No run. These workshops are fun but can really drain me.

Day 3 (Friday): Great, I can run! Planned 50 minutes, checked at front desk to confirm how long it would take me to get from the hotel to mid-town Manhattan for my next meeting. Oooh, double the time I'd planned? Ok. Let's make this a 1.5 mile fast run. Total run time: 12 min.

En route to Manhattan, I relied a bit too heavily on this nifty gadget called GPS. Yes, it's the first time I've actually used one... I'm what they call a "laggard." Love/hate relationship: overall it was helpful, except when it wasn't. The most aggrevating sound when you're trying to get to an important meeting in a strange city: "Recalculating..." Dang it. I ended up 5 minutes late.

Good meeting. Drove to the airport. Checked in... almost... hang on. This machine is telling me that my flight is for tomorrow. Great, cancelled flight. I had big plans for the weekend that involved driving up to wine country, riding the Vineman 70.3 course, swimming in the river, camping, and then volunteering the next day on the run course. But the next flight was for Saturday morning. Grrr....

Stayed at a really crappy JFK hotel, got up at crack-o for the first flight out (my body was very unhappy, being on west coast time) and made it home by noon. Missed the group ride on the Vineman course so figured I'd bike/run at home and then head up north to camp.

Couldn't. do. it. Felt tired, congested... took a nap instead. Read some magazines and drank a lot of water. Decided to bail on camping and volunteering... totally coming down with something. Went to bed at 8:30 pm (it was still light out!) and slept a straight 10 hours. Woke up, had breakfast, and went back to sleep. Finally rallied to do a hill repeat session on the bike followed by a 4 mile run, then felt good enough to make an appearance at a pool party to enjoy our fantastic weather (rare in July!)

Today: Ugh. Tried to do 1.5 hrs on the trainer and keep my HR over 140... couldn't do it. Could barely keep it above 135; my legs had no energy and didn't want to turn over. At all. So I cut it back to 50 minutes and then had to take a nap (despite getting 9 hrs of sleep last night!) I don't feel sick other than a bit of head congestion, but clearly my body is fighting something.

Hoping masters swim won't suck tonight! I'm just glad this setback happened 3+ months out from the race... let's just get this out of the way now!

 

 

Big girl pants

I feel like I've reached a milestone... the day when I prefer my tri shorts to bike shorts. I was on the trainer today and 30 minutes in, I had to go change out of the diaper to my nice thin tri shorts. Yay, I'm a big girl now :-). 

But oooh, this big girl's gotta re-program my brain and legs to push a higher cadence. I think my normal cadence is a la-la-la 70 RPM. Today I had to hit over 80 for 100 minutes. I thought my legs were going to fall off. But this is how big girls go fast on the bike, so bring it on. I discovered the Eminem's Lose Yourself is exactly 85 so I bumped up to a higher gear and really pushed this one for the length of the song. Good stuff. 

In related news, my strength training is paying off. My piriformis pain is gone (I think it was trying to compensate for a weak glute max), and overall my left (weaker) leg is much more stable. I still get some twinges in my hamstring but I'm pretty sure that's due to tight hip flexors. As long as I keep up the strength and stretch work, I should be able to keep injuries at bay and really make some progress over the next couple months. 

Lastly, I did a bit of research on the Miami 70.3 course tonight instead of working on my client presentation; couldn't find any maps or info on the run other than it went over the MacArthur Causeway 4 times. I just mapped it on MapMyRun and it appears to be a short but 8% grade... so looks like my hill work will actually be needed for this one. 

Tomorrow's Friday... whoo hoo! A weekend full of computer/work time and 6-ish hours of training. Looking forward to the latter.