Thursday, March 27, 2008

T Minus 16 Days

Yes, just 16 more days until I start to address other topics in life other than my injuries and trepidation regarding the Iron Girl race. Until then, you'd best be believing I'm going to milk this for all it's worth.

So, my lovely, miserable, tight, heinous hip flexors are proving to be quite an issue these days. I gave them 8 whole days off from running and kicking (but not cycling-- can't stop that), so last night I decided, in my infinite wisdom, to partake in my team's track workout. OK, let me stop here. No, I am not so stupid that I did the workout with them. I just casually ran around the dirt track, walking around the ends for an entire hour with my very good friend and mentor, who happens to be on taper for CA 70.3 on Saturday. At any rate, I had a lovely time minus the slight pulls from the hip flexors. Managed to add 4.37 miles of volume into these legs last night, which I think is infinitely better than zero. And am I worse for wear? Well, maybe a little tighter than normal, but I brought my ice pack to work so I am working diligently on minimizing any damage. On Sunday, I'm going to attempt to walk-run the full 6 miles after my swim set. I need to get over this mental barrier, even if there's walking involved.

In the interim, I'm booking physical therapy AND ART massage to help counter the pain. I've heard of miracles from these people, so I am putting them to the test!

On Saturday, my dear blogger friend SixTwoThreeTries, my coach, my BT mentor and mentor groupee, and my good friend Denise and her hubby are doing CA 70.3. A HALF IRONMAN. Yes, I bow down to you. All of you. And I intend to show up around the bike-run transition time (sorry, must do a long bike before I go down to Oceanside) with POSTERS. So if you can think of anything fun or motivational that will help you get across the finish line, let me know and I'm happy to do some arts and crafts for you. I was thinking I'd ask my coach how her butt was feeling after 58 miles, but I may try to keep it PG.

So that's how I'm putting IronGirl into perspective. It's nothing compared to the Half Ironman, so I shouldn't worry too much. And coach says that even if I walk the run, I'll still finish before most of the girls on my team. (She's just trying to make me feel good about myself because she knows I am beat down) So there. Am calming myself down RIGHT NOW!

So, good luck to all my pals on Saturday. I shall be with you in spirit at the swim start, but certainly by the time you get to that run, I'll be out there cheering for you! Stay warm. :)

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Closing in

I suppose I should be happy that my race is just around the corner, but I can't help this gripping fear that is coming over me. A lot of girls on my team who did their first Olympic distance race last September are already freaking out about their preparedness for this race....and I must say, it does not instill the least bit of confidence!

My swim is there. It's fine. You could send me out there to do the Ironman swim right now and I think I'd do just fine. Not blazing fast. Not super slow. Just fine.

The bike is iffy. I'm strong, but I don't know how strong I can be because we've never trained at the exact race distance. In fact, we've been going over the race distance by at least an hour of riding time for the past few weeks, so I haven't a clue what level of exertion I want to reach before my run.

And the run. My hip flexor is injured, and quite frankly, I cannot run for more than a mile without it tightening up on me and then starting to cause pain. I'm seeing my physical therapist for it, (for free-- he's amazing--- didn't have a referral but he fit me in and fixed me up just because --- it blows me away) but I really wonder if the time off from running will hurt me in th end. I'm not breaking any speed records in my 10K, but still....I'd like to consistently be able to make the distance, you know? I don't want the next time I run 6 miles to be on race day. It may very well be....

So, as you can tell, I am preoccupied, as I sit here with ice on my hip flexor and recover from my Easter morning swim. I know this is supposed to be fun, but this is more than just fun for me. This is proving to myself that I can do things I never thought possible. I HAVE to get to race day. Not to be competitive, but to prove to myself that I can conquer this.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Still here

Just too tired to write.



I'm coming off a "taper" week, and I'm still exhausted. What's up with that?



Not much new, except my race is now less than a month away and I am freaking out! Training is really getting intense, and while my swim and bike are at the distance, my run has only been there once. I'm struggling with sore and slightly tweaked muscles, so it'll be a freaking miracle if I make it to race day in one piece.



One may also find it entertaining that I am no longer "Sprinter." Slow as shit should sum it up a little bit better now. I've trained my dear muscles to conserve, and consequently, my speedometer readings have plummeted. My poor ego is really taking quite a bruising, and it's no consequence that I still find myself near the front of the pack. I bet that on race day, I'll be sucking wind at the back. Ugh.



Anyway, there's my update. Most now go take my ice pack and nuke it so I can heat my hip flexor up a little. I swear, it takes me longer to recover from a workout than it does to actually do one. :)

Friday, March 7, 2008

Incoming!

It's that time of year again. Time to feel self conscious about what I eat. How I look. How I've decorated. How DH and I interact. Where we go. What we do.

Yes, the in-laws are incoming.

I have a 2.5 hour ride tomorrow morning, then I must RUSH home, shower, change, get beautiful, and then go pick them up at the airport and proceed to entertain them. Sunday morning, I leave them again for my long run....and Monday morning, I have a 6am flight to San Fran, for a day trip. I tell you what--- exhaustion does not even begin to describe my state, just thinking about the horror that is waiting for me in the days to come.

My sleepy state has crept into my work life, where today I had to feign a Dr. appointment so I could get in an early run.....except, I was so exhausted I couldn't get out of bed and ended up using the excuse for an extra half hour of sleep. I was then told by my boss that i looked exhausted. I said, "I am. I'm pushing my body to do things it never thought it could possibly do." To which he responded, "Really?! That's so exciting! I had no idea!" (Yes, perplexing....until you think that I am a married woman of child-bearing age, and pregnancy is a CURSE that apparently everyone suspects you of once you hit that target demographic) I flipped out, of course. "Hell no I'm not pregnant. I'm exhausted! I've done more running, biking, and swimming in the past 2 weeks than I've ever done in my life. And then I have to deal with all this crap on top of it. You bet I'm tired. Pregnancy is probably a walk in the park compared to this, but dude....give me a break..... Do I look fat?!"

Yeah, flipped out. Totally, completely flipped out. I'm not "THERE" yet in my maturity. And I cannot possibly do that to my body right now. I can't handle the stretch marks. The saggy boobs. The 'roids. Yeah, I can do without that. Don't accuse me of it prematurely.

Anyway, I digress.

The in-laws. If I make it through this weekend alive, it'll be nothing short of a miracle.

Let us all take this time to pray............. Have a good one!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

I Keep on Falling.....

Off my freakin' bike! Swear to God, I have spent more time in the past week ON the ground on the bike than I have vertical. And no, I'm not one of those clip newbies who didn't practice adequately on the trainer. My Look pedals have got me spanked. It takes an act of God to clip me out of these puppies, and even if I do, sometimes I slip when I put my foot down and DOWN I go again. You'd think I was on ice or something.
So I sit here today aching, in pain, because I smashed my right knee up last night during a brick. Was at a four-way stop, stopped, got my left foot down, and then it was as though I'd slipped on a banana peel. The entire bike and my body crashed down to the right, in the middle of the intersection. Aside from the many expletives and sheer pain spewing from my body, I was pissed. I love my bike. Absolutely adore the thing. And nothing pisses me off more than falling over and hurting my bike. Is this me? Is it the pedals? What can I possibly do? I am staring down another 2.5 hour ride this weekend, and quite frankly, I am petrified at the thought of falling over again.

I've never had a problem riding solo, so I'm thinking that perhaps group rides get me all flustered and I get distracted from the matter at hand. (clipping out) I highly doubt I'll one day have some sort of epiphany, either. Woe is me. Woe is me!

On the plus side, we found some gnarly hills last night and I ate them for dinner. We followed up our hour ride (which didn't cover much distance, but did go quite vertical!! so proud) with an easy 1/2 hour run.....much easier than I was hoping, but my training partner for the day is a run-walker who has panic attacks when she misses her interval. So I decided that after butchering my knee, it wouldn't kill me to pull 11-minute miles. Coach will be pleased, actually. She loves it when I am forced to go slower than usual. I don't understand that, but whatever! I finished up our 3 miles feeling like I could have gone forever and ever...a very cool feeling. It's not often I'm left wanting more out on a run, and here I was last night, full of energy and loving being out there. What is up with that?

My new purchases are in transit to my house as we speak. Rather than buy the Garmin cadence sensor for my bike, I got the Cateye Astrale 8 off eBay. The internet chatter seems good, so sign me up! Rear cadence sensor, and apparently the Garmin shouldn't interfere with it too much. So we shall see.... I think I'm going too slow these days because rather than seeing MPH on my Garmin, I see how many minutes it takes to do a mile.....and honestly, I can't do math on the fly like that. So fingers crossed the now-discontinued Astrale 8 is a superstar for me.

I also got a sweet deal on a sexy black cycling jersey from Skirtsports. I still can't get up the guts to buy a cycling skirt (I'm afraid of being laughed at), but I was in desperate need of a jersey that didn't look like crap and cost a ton of money. Now I just need the arm warmers and I'm all set!
So that's my news. Peak week, baby! Lots of pain and suffering. New toys. And huge, dark circles under my eyes. Why do I do this again??

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Breaking through

This post is all about me, because, frankly, I'm pretty frickin' proud of myself this weekend.

Not only did I do my longest bike ride ever (almost 40 miles), but I followed it with my FIRST EVER 6 mile run. I'm still bouncing off the walls thinking about it. I never, ever thought it would be something I could do, but I did it. As my Diva mentor said, I popped that cherry today. (She was kind enough to stick with me so she could partake in this momentous occasion)

I may actually finish that race, after all!

Anyway, just had to share. I think my favorite part was that after the bike, I ate a HUGE lunch and there was no guilt at all. NONE! I can get used to this. Want a burrito? Bike like hell for hours and hours on end. Yes!

OK, time to shower. :)