Ironman Wisconsin 2011 – the race that (almost) never was
It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so I’ll give a quick update. I took the entire month of July off from racing to prepare for Ironman Wisconsin. I reluctantly signed up for Steelhead in the middle of August and had a good race, despite the fact that the swim was cancelled. And then it all started.
Two days after Steelhead, I was out on a very leisurely bike ride on a trail and took a hard fall when my front wheel hit a thick branch that was hidden between the shade and leaves on the trail. I first thought it was my elbow that was going to give me problems, but on the drive home from that ride, I knew my shoulder took the brunt of the fall. I went to the emergency room where they confirmed nothing was broken. I was told I needed to be in a sling for 2 weeks with no activity. I was able to ride indoors the next day and pushed my luck in the pool two days later. It was extremely painful but I figured I’d have time to work it out before Wisconsin.
That weekend, I had 100 mile ride on the schedule. My elbow was still really chewed up and I had a hard time in the aerobars between the road rash on the elbow and the pain in my shoulder with any pressure. I was able to finish the…
Categories: Events, Race Reports, Racing, Triathlons
Character Building
I forgot to look at one thing. The wind prediction. Though they were calling for 14 mile per hour winds, there were definitely gusts that had to go much higher than that. I couldn’t hear anything but the wind whipping in my ears for the first half of the ride. And then the rain started. Thankfully it wasn’t a pouring rain, but one of those misty-type rains that covers your glasses and you really can’t see anything. I wanted to take them off, but it was so windy, I would for sure lose one of my contact lenses! So I pushed on, telling myself this was stupid, why the heck am I even out here?
Once I got to the halfway point, I realized – if that wind didn’t shift, it would be a sweet ride home! And that it was – my computer wasn’t calculating speed for me…
Categories: Triathlons
Is it Summer Yet?
Yes, this is the time of year when I count down the days to summer. Not spring – spring in Chicago doesn’t really mean it’s warm out (then again, summer doesn’t really mean that either!). I bundled up today for the longest run I’ve done since November. Unfortunately, from the first step, the foot still hurts. Now, it hurts in a different way than it did 6 months ago or so, nonetheless still painful. But I’m TIRED of not running. Even though the thermometer said 4 degrees (yep, that’s a FOUR), I wanted to get out and pound the pavement for a little while. See, it hit me – I am slated for a half marathon in just about 10 weeks. YIKES!
I’ve accumulated more than 2 pairs of brand new running shoes and they are calling out to me from the boxes in the closet. I bought a few pairs of wool socks to try and keep my delicate feet warm in this weather. And handwarmers. I buy those by the gross! I will not run in 32 degrees or less without TWO pairs of gloves and handwarmers! I figure I can always pitch the handwarmers if I really get too warm….but that has only really happened once. And I’ve been able to save my running partners’ hands on more than one occassion by sharing those nifty little things.
Summer – I am waiting for you.
Categories: Triathlons
10,000 Yards Complete
I had many people ask for a report, so here it is. Swim-A-Poolooza 2011 was a smashing success! We had 36 swimmers in total. Some did 100s, some did 75s and some did 50s, but all had fun! I think we had 8 swimmers in each of the lanes doing 100s, but because they’re all experienced team swimmers, there were no problems.
This was the 4th year I’ve organized this event and it grows each year. This is the first year we held the event at the Lemont Park District’s The CORE. What was amazing was that we only had 5 “repeat” participants from last year. This means we had 31 NEW swimmers this year! Thanks to Suzi S., we had great music playing throughout the 3.75 hours. Thanks to both Suzi and Chris S., participants were able to stay fueled and hydrated through the event without having to get out of the pool.
I’ve done this swim about 8 times since I’ve been out of college. As told by the smile on my face, this was the most fun I’ve had. Usually, there is a “dead” point somewhere around the 70-80 rep time frame. And this year, I thought I took out the first 10 way too fast! But it was fine. Aside from a little bit of pruny…
Categories: Events, Swimming, Team, Training, Triathlons
Tags: Swimming
Swim-A-Poolooza
100×100x100
Yep. I said it. 100 yards 100 times every 100 seconds. In other words hundred hundreds on the 1:40. It happens every year. It’s happening tomorrow. And I’m in. I’m always in. What better way to spend a Sunday morning? We have food, drinks, music, but most of all…FUN.
Yes, you get pruny. Yes, it seems monotonous. Yes, it gets a little tiring. Yes, you find yourself wondering WHY the heck you signed up to do this in the first place. Yes, you want to quit. More than once. But when it’s all over, it feels good. It’s a CHALLENGE. Not many people can say they’ve done this. And maybe they don’t want to. But it’s similar to Ironman in that you have to be a special kind of person to even attempt to do something that seems so crazy. You want to see what you’re capable of. You want to push your limits. You want to find out just how tough you are. And when you finish – it makes it all worth it. And that’s what makes us do this year after year after year.
On deck will be plenty of samples of Tri Swim shampoo, conditioner, Foggle, body lotion and body wash. I mean, after that much time (3:45 hours) in the pool, the chlorine is embedded in your skin. And hair. With Tri Swim – you don’t have to go around…
Categories: Product Reviews, Swimming
New Year, New Strategy
You can imagine how depressed I’d be after spending 6 weeks without running and another 6 in a boot only to find out I was told I need ANOTHER 6 weeks in the boot. I mean, seriously, I’ve had friends who have had foot surgery come back faster than this. I don’t get it – I don’t feel like I even had a real injury! And with the boot means not just no running, but there are a lot of things I’ve had to completely stop: stair climbing, cross country skiing, push ups, lunches, plyometrics….need I go on?
So what is there to do? Aside from a lot of time on the bike and one-legged flip turns in the pool, I’ve now focused on changing the diet up a bit. I am now working on the Paleo diet – well, I’m trying! I cannot believe how wierd it is to not have bread, rice, pasta, bagels, etc. And I don’t think I’ve eaten this much meat since I even started this sport. I actually bought a WHOLE chicken the other day. It almost makes me gag thinking about it. But we’ll see how this goes – I’m game to try anything once. The real test will be to see what happens to my power numbers on the bike. Last time I made a drastic change to my eating habits, I just about lost all power on the bike. …
Categories: Athletes, Nutrition, Racing, Recipes, Triathlons
Getting Anxious!
We’re nearing the end of 2010 and I have not run in…well, I can’t really remember. I’ve had the boot now for about a month and I am still faithfully wearing it. In fact, when I went to watch Ironman Cozumel to watch fellow teammates Michael Lovato and Laura Wheatley race, I still had the boot on. And that was kind of nasty – sweaty boot leg. Ick!
But I am doing everything I can to get this under control to come back and have a solid season in 2011. I’ve got some big plans and all of them include being able to run what I know I can run. Rev3 and Trakkers are expanding and I want to be there when I can. Just got the bill for this boot. Would you believe this stupid thing cost $700??!? RIDICULOUS! But if it helps me run again, I gotta do what I gotta do.
Physical therapy 3x per week, no running, wearing the boot ALWAYS and doing flip turns with just one leg on the push off has been my routine for the last 4 weeks. Hopefully only 2 more to go…VERY HAPPY this is happening in winter. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, it’s 5 degrees outside. Do I really want to go run in this anyway?
Categories: Triathlons
Boot!
OK, so I’ve been complaining about my toe, foot, whatever since about April/May of this year. It’s all about coming to an end. I’ve now been forced into a boot. Apparently, my doctors don’t feel I understand “take it easy” and have chosen to put my foot in jail for the next 6 weeks. Turf Toe, probably not now – it would’ve went away. Arthritis (really, I’m too young for this!), bone bruise and severe swelling. Is it really necessary to have a boot for that? For a normal person, maybe not. But if I go run for 3 miles, I really “don’t count” that and now I’m paying for it.
Do as I say and not as I do because if I had taken care of this little problem when it first started happening, I’d be fine. But my stubborness is making me pay and now I can’t run – or walk very well – for the next 6 weeks. I can swim, but only push off with one foot. And cycling isn’t a problem. Get this, even the yoga was a stupid idea because it makes me balance on the exact place where I’m having problems.
Go figure.
Categories: Triathlons
Is Yoga Tougher than IRONMAN?
Most of you know – I’ve been sort of out-of-commission with my running since JULY! YES, JULY! So, when a friend said to me, “Hey, I’m doing this 30 day Bikram Yoga Challenge, wanna join me?” I thought that might be exactly what I needed. For those of you that never heard of it, Bikram Yoga is a 90 minute session of the same 26 poses each session. Oh, and the room is 105 degrees (and I’m told it’s like 135 degrees with humidity).
What the heck, I can’t run, I know yoga is good for me – because as a triathlete, I’m quite inflexible – and, hey, it’s only 30 days. Right? Oh so not right… (sigh).
I joined my 30 day challenge at Bikram Yoga Burr Ridge. I joined my friends at 5pm on a Friday night for our first of the 30 days. It must be very quiet in the yoga studio. I have a hard time keeping quiet for 5 minutes, forget about 90 minutes! I walked in the room, sat my mat and towel down and nervously looked around. I’m hot. What the hell did I get myself into?
The first thing you do in this class is breathe. Yes, I said it. Breathe. I’m sweating. We are 60 seconds into the class and I’m sweating. I want to cry. I want to leave. I want to douse myself with water. …
Post-Season Activity
So it seems my season is officially over. Not my choice, but it is what it is. The dreaded Turf Toe has yet to go away despite the fact that I’ve almost entirely quit running. What to do? Anything but swimming, biking and running, of course!
The first thing I did after Rev3 Cedar Point was an adventure race. This was 3 person co-ed teams and we did things like canoeing, trail running, mountain biking, shooting, strength challenge, speed golf and an obstacle course. Don’t really think the locals liked us city folk coming down and tearing up the competition, but I had good company!
Worst part of the whole deal was that the temperature hovered around 55 degrees and it rained almost all day. There was considerable amount of “down time” during challenges and I could not keep warm even though I changed clothes after every single challenge. The truck we made the 5 hour drive in smelled like a boys’ high school locker room on the trip home. Mix in a little wet dog with that. Everything was sweaty, muddy and soaking wet. Thankfully, none of us ended up injured or getting sick after the event.
Now that was one day, but training takes up a lot of time. Now that I’m not training, what to do, what to do? Ok – Bikram Yoga. The place near my house introduced a “30 day challenge”. You must…
Categories: Adventure Racing
Tags: Yoga
