Out and About...

This week was a recovery week for me in training. With the leg injury and no running it was even more so. I was thinking that this whole week, starting last Saturday we have done the following. Walked the mall in Boulder, went to lunch in Boulder, my race, watched three movies at home (my best friends girl, obsessed, the haunting in ct), had pt for my knee, went for mexican food, Marc's 30th bday party and finally, the zoo.

I am not so sure I have ever had such a laid back week!

Here is a picture from Marc's bday party (which I was frequently reminded that my bday isn't far away)



Today we choose a great day for the zoo! I haven't been to the zoo since I was in middle school so it was a different thing to do. The only issue is that there didn't seem to be as many animals as I remember. There was only one polar bear, a few giraffes, one rhino, two elephants and few gorillas. Now, there were a lot of birds. I even saw a vulture like the one I saw while riding my bike last year.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our day at the zoo.




This Rhino came over and took a flood of a pee, then proceeded to drink from the water in the spot the pee had foamed up...mmmmm! (Kory, I am sure you are thinking that is a good way to get nutrients!)


A few race photos:






Training is back on track for this next week. I am not sure I will be able to run, but we will see. Wish me luck! Tomorrow is a 4hr ride, assuming the weather cooperates.

Learning to ride again...

After this weeks race I decided I really needed to have Shamu checked out. I figured it was either me that has been so horrible or Shamu. Thank goodness, after a brief inspection we discovered it was him!

A few months ago I got a new seat on Shamu. Back then I decided that it wouldn't be too hard to fit the sit onto the bike and make some adjustments to make it a good fit. I thought, who needs to see a bike fitter for a seat change?? Well, apparently that was a mistake.

The seat ended up being a HUGE 4cm (which may not sound like a lot but it is a HUGE difference) way to far forward and 1cm to low. It never dawned on me when I changed the seat that I may need to adjust the tri bars, instead I just moved the seat forward. Brilliant!! This mess up has cost me a significant amount of power and speed.

I can't imagine what a difference it may have made in my florida 70.3 race, my training and even the last race. To give you an example, after my adjustment this week my average speed on the trainer went from 17mph to 19mph with less effort.

I am looking forward to learning to ride again and getting some of that strength and power back!

On a bad note, my it band is still not good. I did not have any soreness at all from the race this week, but have definitely had itb pain. I saw a pt that basically said there is no real reason for my pain because my itb is not really tight. I am assuming (which we know what they say about assuming) that the pain began because of the HUGE knot I had in my quad after my florida race. That caused my itb to be inflammed and it has yet to get rid of the inflammation. I was told I can bike, ellip and even stairs...so we will see if it get's better soon.

On Sept 12th Pedro and I are going to do a half ironman as a relay. I am going to do the swim and bike and he is going to do the 13.1 mile run. Since he hasn't run much it is, in my mind, pretty brave to think that the run will be fine. But he wanted to do it as a relay and I thought it would be fun. Our team name is the Speedy Gorilla's. I'll keep you updated on his progress...right now I am "speedy" and he is "gorilla!" Hopefully, by race time we will both be speedy! I told him we better do well!

Boulder Race Report.

Today I had the Boulder half iron race. I decided to use it more as a training day then as a full race, since I am not in top shape and because of my knee.

The day went like this..

The swim went ok. On the way out the sun that was hiding behind the clouds appeared as my wave started. I could not see any of the buoys on the way out, I just followed the people swimming. I got bumped and my goggles strap moved up on my cap(though I didn't know this) and so my left goggle kept filling with water, even after I would stop and let out the water and then push the goggle back on. Once I hit the turn I could easily spot the buoys but still had the goggle issue. I had to stop a few times (3 or 4) and fix my goggles, really quite annoying. On a good note it is my fastest (I think) time for a 1.2 mile swim at 36 min, which included running to transition.

The bike. Well, true to my training the bike did not go so well. I really think there is something wrong with my bike. Even when I down shift it still feels like I am having to work harder than I should be..it doesn't seem smooth. I am going to have this checked out. The course was not bad, it was a gradual hill for about the first 10 miles of each loop. This was followed by some good down hills. However, the flats with wind in my face seemed worse than the hills. Again, it was weird I just felt like I had to push/pull more than I should in certain gears. I had to stop to go to the bathroom on the bike. I had drank so much water I couldn't wait. Then I stopped in transition as well, I had a headache on the bike so I was trying to drink more, apparently I had too much!

The run. The run was probably the best part of the course. It was a nice run on all dirt. There were three big hills, but at least three down hills. There was a nice breeze on part of the run to help keep you cool. The first lap went well with some knee pain but nothing significant. So, I decided that I would run the second loop. Well, bad news, at about mile 9 my knee started hurting. Crap. Four miles to go...but it didn't seem like it was that long to go. I wasn't physically tired at all, which was quite shocking since I have had so little run time. However, I felt like I had to drag my leg behind me...ugh.

So, the bad news is that my knee hurts. I will probably go see a doctor if I can get into see one soon. My leg muscles and everything else seem pretty good right now. I didn't try and push myself and race too much, but I still ran about the same pace as Florida...where I was in much better shape. However, there was heat and humidity there and I wasn't prepared for that type of weather.

I finished in 5:42. Not horrible, but not great either. I was 24th in my age and the 110 female. I think once I figure out what is going on with my bike I will be on a better path. The knee, let's hope my itband problem can be fixed quickly...ugh.

Unhappy training...

I am only on week three of IM training (16 week program). I am not very happy with my current status. I don't know what is exactly wrong is the problem. Swimming has been going pretty well. If I did the math correctly I swam 3,800m the other day in 1hr 15min. Which would be an all time record for me, so I am thinking I must not have been correct. I did however swim normal one lap and fast the next lap on every set of my swim...so maybe??

The bike is the real issue. The bike is traditionally my strong suit. However, I am not feeling GREAT on the bike. Right now a 3hr40min ride seems really long. Which is not a long ride in the bigger picture of things. Yes, I will build up to my 7hr ride, which will be my long ride before my IM, but still feeling long at a ride of that length worries me. Could it be the ten days off in July without biking or running? Is it the impact of a slow build up to running that is impacting my biking fitness? Maybe it is that my longest ride since my last 7 hour ride (which was at about this time last year) has been only 4.5hrs. Which was back in April.

Whatever the issue, I am hoping it resolves itself, or my fitness level returns.

Running has been "going". Going is better than not going. I still feel my knee when I run, but it has yet to progress to full out pain, like it was before. However, I worry everytime a run that today will be the day the "whole" pain may come back, great mentality right? ugh! Right now my long run has been about 8.5 miles. Which is not good, but ok since I have only been running again for three weeks (and yes this has been a gradual build so not to injure my leg further).

This weekend I have a half ironman. If I had't already paid for it I am not sure I would be doing it...but it is probably a good thing to do. They say races push your fitness level up. I am not "sandbagging" it, but my expectations are not very high. I am not sure if I will run the whole run, but who knows...if my knee doesn't hurt I will do the whole run. I will use this day for a long training day, with hopes of pushing me up a bit more. Next week is a recovery week, so it is a good day, schedule wise for a race.

The only other funny thing is that in my first 27 years of life I was only stung by a bee twice. Once on my thumb in the front yard and once while I was in college out on a trail run. Last year I was stung, I believe 3 times while out biking, twice I believe on the butt. Sunday, I was out with Pedro biking and I got stung in the stomach! I was even riding aero! I can't imagine that the bees are attracted to my scent while biking, if you have ever been out riding in 90 degree weather in bike shorts and a tight top, you know how NOT good you are smelling! lol.

On a separate note, Pedro and I visited Linzy again today. She was much more lucid and was up walking around. Chyler was doing good, though I wanted to see her legs so I unwrapped her blankets and she screamed at me until I wrapped her legs back up!

Another new addition to the family...

Ok, not exactly to MY family, but Linzy is close enough!

Today Linzy gave birth (ok, not really gave birth, but had a c-section) to Chyler Shay. She weighed 7lbs and 10oz and was 19 and 3/4inches long.

I went to visit Linzy and Janice at the hospital and saw Chy's first bottle feeding and talked to a somewhat lucid Linzy.

Anyway, here is a pict of me with the new baby!



I will have more picts of Chyler when I go and visit her again at the hospital. Linzy will be there for 3 or 4 days.