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Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Update

Remember my last post ... the one about bad things happening in 3s?
Well, I discovered Sunday that I had broken not 1, but 2 spokes on the rear wheel of my hardtail. That's got to be No. 3. I must have broken them during the tri, as they weren't broken before. And they weren't just loose, they were completely broken off at one end. lol.

My wheel is at the shop now getting fixed -- but that's OK, because with Carter's Lake coming up, it's ALL RUSH, ALL THE TIME, BABY!!!
:)

Monday, June 26, 2006

Operation Iron

First...before I even get started on my post. SUPER HUGE congrats to Renee for her finish at her first Xterra Offroad Tri. She was fantastic!

Where was I? I was a course marshal on the run course. I had a phone call from the doctor Thursday morning with the results from my latest blood tests. Hematocrit levels still too low for endurance activities. I'm registering a hematocrit level of 31. The low end of normal is 36. He'd like me at 37-38 before I do endurance events in the Georgia heat. The heat, humidity and adrenaline could lead to heart attack. Yep. Soon as I heard those words, I knew I wasn't going to be ignoring the doc. I was going to bow out (sure I sniffled and blubbered a bit...I'd been working really hard to get ready) gracefully.

So now I'm on a pretty regimented diet and supplemental plan. I basically don't ingest anything without looking at the overall iron in the food. I'm taking large doses of iron supplements and ensuring I'm getting plenty of Vitamin C at the same time, which helps iron absorption. I have to give up caffeine, which can keep the body from absorbing iron. That's been rough. Today's my first full decaf day. We'll see how it goes.

Honestly, I have to blame myself here. The past two weeks I've noticed some of the side effect symptoms coming back and I've ignored them. Wanting to prep for the tri as much as possible I ignored the vertigo and fatigue that were making themselves part of my daily routine again. I ignored the darkening circles under my eyes and I ignored the return of insomnia. I ignored the fact that I was back on the couch every couple of days, lacking the energy to get out and bike or run in the heat.

So, no more ignoring my body and it's cues. I'm being very strict with this diet and there will be no skipped iron pills because I was "busy" and forgot. I'm keeping a journal and marking my meals and supplements. I'm going to do my two races in July. I'm going to have normal hematocrit levels. 'Nuff said.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

XTERRA ROCKED!!!

I just did my first Xterra this morning! I had a blast!!

It was at Arrowhead Park, so I went into it knowing the mtb course really well. I've done two other tri's before, both road tris. This was my first off-road event and going into it I was already really stoked because of my mountain bike background.

So the weather was actually cool this morning -- well, cooler than normal. It was like 85 instead of 105!

We had a beach start and then hit the water for a 1/2 mile swim. I felt really good on the swim. I was able to control my breathing (damn you asthma) and it felt much easier than the last tri. Ironically, despite feeling easier, my time in the water was exactly the same!! 19 minutes. I was about 3/4 of the way in the pack out of the water and by minute 22 (i think) I was on the bike.

The first couple of minutes on the bike I felt like I had gelatin for legs, but I quickly regained my senses -- and good thing because the first mile or so is the most technical (for me anyway). People (I suspect those who hadn't preridden the course or who weren't true mtbers) were biting it left and right. I can't even remember how many people I saw crash in front of me. This made the first few miles a little challenging to maintain speed, but I ended up passing several women! Lap 2 of the 5 miles course went the same as the first, and I only lost one minute in time.

As an aside about the mtbers, before the race I saw a guy in the transition area who had a blue schwinn moab. It looked EXACTLY like my first mtb (which I still have and is in the slow process of being converted into a single speed). So I said hi and told him how much I love that bike, that it was my first, etc. His reply?? "Yeah, well, it's not my bike. I borrowed it from a buddy. I ride on the road. I've never actually ridden a mountain bike before." JESUS! Right then I made a mental note to get IN FRONT of this guy going into the woods. lol.

I felt good going into the run -- until I actually started running. My strategy was to make enough of a dent on my competition on the bike part so that when my slow butt started running I wouldn't be passed by them. I was a little fearful of the run as I've been battling plantar fasciitis issues and have only run twice in the last month.

The run was difficult, as I expected. I remember thinking for at least the first 5 minutes, "oh my god, I can't run, my legs won't move that fast, holy crap, i have 3.5 miles to go." But in the end I only got passed by about 4 women, and none of them were in my age group. The best part about the run, though, was that my PF didn't hurt AT ALL! The run course was 2 laps of a 2 mile circuit, out and back. Out was uphill, back was downhill. Again, I only lost one minute on the second lap.

I finished strong -- my definition of strong is glassy-eyed and drooling (you mtb racers know what i'm talking about) -- and felt great about my performance. I had set a goal of 2:20, and did it in 2:17!! And, as it turns out, I managed to finish 2nd in my age group!! I got some sweet schwag, which I'm sure will be pillaged by Jake. lol. I finished no where near to Kate, who was well ahead of all the women, but I finished several minutes (or maybe it just seemed that way) in front of the third place girl.

ironically, the third place girl turned out to be the girl who finished just ahead of me at the Memorial Day Tri. I remember catching up to her on the (memorial day) run only to have her pull away at the end. Well, as a twist of fate would have it, I was beat her this time around.

Lot of people out there took pics, so hopefully somebody will email me one and I'll post it when I get it, although I refuse to post any drooling photos. lol. So all in all I had a great time, and wish I had another off-road tri on my calendar this year. I'll have to see if I can dig one up.

In other news, bad things happen in 3s right? Flat tire on my bike last week. Flat tire on my car this morning (which I discovered as I was leaving to go to the tri). What's next?? I have 3 more bikes, which one will it be??

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

There's no 'hell' in Helen

This weekend brought the Fat Tire Fest in scenic, historic, downtown Alpine Helen, Ga. This year the trail was dry (after several straight years of rainy race days), and the weather was, well, not as hot as it has been lately.

Sat morning Jake and I met up with Grant and Chad and headed out on a pre-ride. The trail was not as relentlessly hilly as in year's past, and despite the 1,000 feet of climbing per 8.5 mile lap, it was fun and fast. There was only one nasty, rocky climb that everyone walked up (including the guys on my pre-ride). One or two of the climbs were real killers -- they just kept going and going and going. But I jsut kept pedaling and pedaling and pedaling, and made it up just fine. I was starting to feel really good about Sunday's race!

Sat afternoon we tubed down the "Hooch." For those of you who have not had this particular experience, just don't bother. Really. We had to walk the tubes often because the water was shallow, and there were so many drunk Rednecks and teenagers, it was ridiculous. Seriously, I think we all wanted to quit about 1/2 way into it.

So Sunday brought the race. It was AWESOME. It was my first straight mtb race of the season, and my first racing against all age-groups of women. I knew I didn't stand a chance against some of them (and I'll argue that one or two should be racing expert at this point), but I thought I stood a good chance against some of the others. When the race started I was in the back of the pack up the looooong hill and into the singletrack -- which was usual, as the asthma prevents me from making fast uphill starts. I passed two ladies after a minute or two, and spent the entire rest of the time chasing down Nikki, who I caught glimpses of every now and again through the woods.

At one point I came up on Dean, who had taco'd his wheel in a crash and was taking it easy for the rest of the race. He paced me through the field and up a few hills, I slowed him down on the downhill switchbacks, and just when he was thinking of dropping off my wheel on a climb, he saw another guy up ahead, made the realization that if he passed that guy the he wouldn't be last, so he hopped back on my wheel and off we climbed! I lost Dean at the start of the second lap, but I think he stayed ahead of the other guy and didn't finish last.

Speaking of not finishing last, I finally caught up with Nikki on a climb (what's that you say?? Renee caught someone on a CLIMB??). Yes, on a climb. But she's killer on the downhills, so she quickly left me in the dust. One dropped chain later, I never caught back up with her. I talked to her after the race and she said I made her ride faster cause she kept being worried I would finally overtake her. She made me ride faster, too, so it was mutually beneficial, even if she did elude me in the end.

I finished the day 6 of 8, and beat Elizabeth -- who I NEVER beat -- so I was happy!! Elizabeth is a strong rider, and I'm sure she was having an off day, but I still felt good about it.

I've never been a great climber, at all. So to beat some people on one of the series' most hilly courses made me feel really good about myself and my abilities.

Jake and Grant finished respectably in their races. And SUPER STAR Beth took home a fourth place podium spot in her FIRST EVER MTB RACE!!! I've been riding with her since she first got a bike (IN JANUARY) and it's been so fun and encouraging to see her progress like this. Very soon she'll be outriding all of us!! Watch out Expert ladies!

Now I'm looking forward to Xterra next weekend. It's gonna be hot and painful, but I can't wait!!
:)

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Thank you, Steve Madden

First off, I'd like to take a moment to welcome back some old friends into my life -- and just in time, too! Welcome back Doc Marten, Nine West, BCBG, Calvin Klein, Etienne Aigner, XOXO, Merrell and last but definitely not least Steve Madden. Welcome, one and all!

I went to my massage therapist last night to check on the progress with the plantar fasciitis. I ran Tuesday night (first time in 2 weeks) as an experiment to see how my foot would respond. The run itself went good. I hadn't lost any speed, and the foot didn't start hurting until around mile 3. But the hurt was different than PF hurt. It was more of an ache. Come to find out from Missy, it was a good ache.

She said the PF looks like it's healing and the ache is the rest of my foot becoming accustomed to bearing weight when I run, so the stress on my PF is reduced. Sweet! I got "permission" to run again, once or twice a week for a few weeks, then more frequently. I still have to run in the insoles, ice my foot and wear that damnable sock-brace thing at night. However, I also got permission to welcome back my old friends -- REGULAR SHOES!! Stylish, strappy, summery sandals. Platforms, wedges, heels, oh my!

OK so I'm not jumping back whole hog into the shoe fashionista I truly am. My "permission" extends to 2-3 times a week in regular shoes, rest of the time in the tennys and insoles. Today I started easy, in a beloved pair of Steve Madden, black platform sandals. They're mostly flat, so there's not much stress on my foot. Oh! How I've missed them.

I almost turned traitor last week. I even got in my car to do the unthinkable ... shop at Payless! Gasp! I was so tired of wearing the same old tennys day in and day out. And you can't wear tennys with cute summer skirts and capris, so I set out to buy some cheap, disposable "shoes" that could fit my insole and look a little better with work clothes. I didn't find anything that I could bear putting onto my feet. I think it was a sign from God. How close I was to straying from the good and holy path of shoe snob. Thank you, Steve Madden, thank you.

In other, and slightly less blasphemous news, my ride at Camp Thunder last weekend went great. All the climbing (500 feet of elevation in the first MILE) felt really good. I feel like I'm heading into the Helen race this weekend on strong legs. Compared to last weekend, the climbs will be a cakewalk (2,000 feet of elevation over 16 miles at Helen). And I've always loved the trail at Helen, even if most of the races have been mud fests. This will be my first true MTB race of the year. All the women are racing against eachother, regardless of age group. So I stand to get my arse handed to me with aplomb ... but at least I'll put in a good showing for myself ...

... And after the race, when I slip into a comfy pair of Merrell flip-flops, I'll have a big smile on my face. Win or lose.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Invented a New Extreme Sport

RAILROAD RUNNING!!!(don't try this at home, kids.)

Our usual running club's group run route is on a road that runs parallel to GA Hwy 41. (Yep, same hwy 41 the Allman Brothers sing about in Ramblin' Man.) There are railroad tracks up on a hill between the two roads. When Scott and I reached the point where we planned to turn around, we decided for a change to run on 41 instead of going back the way we came.

Y'know, there's apparently a good reason our club doesn't run on 41. The traffic will kill you and keep on going without thinking twice. So we decided to cross over. We climbed the hill to the railroad tracks and then realized that there was a pretty wide stretch of kudzu between us and our intended route. (Kudzu are vines that are often full of snakes-you'd have to live in the southeast US to really get it. To give you a mental picture, that's an abandoned house in the picture.) So we ran the railroad tracks for about a third of a mile and it was SO-MUCH-FUN!!! I'm sure it's illegal and I certainly don't endorse it as a regular activity, but it was either get run over by a car, be bitten by rattlesnakes or run the railroad for a few minutes. We chose the lesser of three evils.

Running while watching to make sure that each foot hits the next railroad tie feels almost like playing hopscotch. I'm still amazed that I didn't turn my ankle between a railroad tie and the gravel between them. Not to mention the slightly naughty and dangerous element. :D Cars and other runners down on the road watched us like we were crazy - and they were right, but we didn't care. Alas, we got to a road that crosses over and our fun had to come to an end. But we definitely accomplished our goal of injecting some variety into our long run!

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Hot, hot, hot!

The weather channel gives a reported high of 99 degrees yesterday, but several thermometers in the sun were reporting well over 100 degree temps. YIKES! It was hot folks. Really hot! Humidity pecentage hovered around 70%. Lots of fluids were ingested and lots were lost.

Met Renee for a swim/run brick. Of course she was biking as her plantar fascitis is still a major issue. Managed to have a horrific swim...first having a nasty attack of some sort which left me very red in the face and gasping for breath (not sure if it was a panic attack or a low blood oxygen moment). I think it even freaked out Renee a little bit, and she's old hand as she's managed her asthma for years. Guess it's hard not to get a little weirded out when your swim partner looks like a tomato though in 70 degree water! She was a pro though, and got me calmed down. Thanks Ree-Nee!

Managed to cut my foot on a rock as we were exiting the water. Luckily I could tell it was a rock, something natural, and not a broken bottle or metal. SCARY. Renee had some antiseptic wipes and a band-aid...so I was able to clean up and do my run. Fortunately the cut was pretty minor, not much bleeding. Unfortunately, the contact with the rock also caused some bruising and a little swelling. So my gait was off, leaving me with two sore feet instead of one. Oh well. It'll all clear up pretty quickly.

Meeting one of my Sorella sisters out at the tri-site this morning. Going to do a half-Xterra on the slow and steady. 400-ish M swim, 1 bike lap, 1 run lap. It's gonna be hot as Hades again, and I'm beat from a pretty long and steady week of exercise and heat. TGIM, as Monday's an off day that my body's telling me I need.

Sorry the posts aren't really exciting right now. It's just plodding away as the race nears. I'll try to spice things up more if I can. Who knows...maybe with my string of minor mishaps something funny will happen!

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Dip baby! Come on and dip baby!

So does anyone other than me remember that horrible dance floor song?? Well, we ain't talking about that kind of dippin! We're talking the double dip, Arrowhead style. So as you loyal blog readers know, I endo'd there a few weeks ago. The endo resulted in a sprained ankle. I ran the Memorial Day Tri on a recovering ankle (one week after the crash). A natural tendency toward foot problems -- my massage therapist says it's based on the structure of my feet -- coupled with the ankle, coupled with the running, has resulted in a wonderful strain called plantar fasciitis.

Don't all you runners out there just cringe hearing those words? They are the words most dreaded by any runner. Why? Those words mean you don't need to be running -- at least not till you heal. Great. For the laymen out there, plantar fasciitis is where you pull the tendons on the bottom of your foot. Those particular tendons are the real tight bands that run from back of your heel to your toes. And when you pull them, it HURTS!!!

So I'm not allowed to run for a few weeks, this presents an immediate problem as the Arrowhead tri is in, um, 3 weeks. The MT said I could probably try running next week. Once. On soft grass. Let's hope it goes well. In the meanwhile I'm wearing ONLY tennis shoes (do you know how hard that is in summer??? Especially considering I JUST bought the most adorable pair of Nine West wedge sandals). I'm wrapping my foot in a bandage while I sleep. I'm icing it twice a day. And I'm NOT RUNNING!!!

In the meanwhile, instead of improving my running, which was my goal for this tri, I'll just have to improve my bike lap times and my time on the swim. As noted in Mallie's post, we hit the water twice out there this week, and I've had good swims. I have a difficult time pushing myself to race speed when I'm not actually racing (this applies to cycling as well). So when I did about 800 meters in 24 minutes yesterday, I was happy. That's way slower than I did in the Memorial Day Tri, but ... like I said before, I wasn't actually racing.

After the swim last night I hit the trail for a lap with Beth and Jake. We turned a nice 41 min lap. The bad? That's a lot slower than what I turn when I don't swim first (37-38 min laps). The good? I rode the DIP baby!! I had a solid mental block on the thing after the crash, but Jake was insistent I ride it, and I've learned when not to argue and just comply! lol. So I rode the dip. OK. Not as bad as I thought ... I didn't crash, and now I have no qualms about riding it again. Bring it!!

So the moral of my story is: face up and ride your dips, train like you race, be kind to your feet and RIDE MORE!!

My *$&*@#(^%$^#%@* Friend Murphy

Well...it's really not that bad. No need for the harsh icons in my title, but wanted to get your attention so you'd read about my bout with Murphy's Law. So my last post about Dangly McDangle at least elicited a few laughs. More so on the forums than on the blog. I did not go ass-over-teakettle on my trail run either...so all was good. Had a nice easy ride at the Pig on Friday...just wanted a day to enjoy the trails and get a little spin on.

Saturday was National Trails day. A group of about twenty of us went out to prep the trails for the upcoming Xterra Triathlon on June 24th and the GSC Mountain Bike race the following day. Renee and I were in a group that wandered the run portion, as we don't bike over there anymore and we weren't sure about the conditions. A good bit of trimming was all we could do at the time, some mowing will have to be done closer to the day of the event. Unfortunately the map we were using didn't make much sense at all, so we still don't know for sure if that's what we'll actually be running during the tri. At the very least, we know it's something close to what we cleaned up and it's a much nicer run than what we've thus far been practicing. Woo Hoo!

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
The chain gang...I'm in the front in the blue tee, Renee's
next to me in the yellow and Beth's behind in green!
Thanks for the photo, Mark D!


Renee had to get back to get the lunch ready, so the rest of us met up with the main group for some real trailwork. Carving a new section. This involves using shovels, heavy duty rakes and sometime axes to clear trail. It's hard work, and in June in GA it's hot work too. As our luck would have it we came across two downed trees in the midst of the chosen new path. One was looking kinda rotten so while a chain saw was found for the other, a few of us started chipping away at what was rotten. Quite soon we were down to healthy, hard tree. I had the axe so figured I'd kill time by hacking away. I cut through an entire tree with an axe. I felt so very Paula Bunyan. A fellow trail worker cut through the other side of the obstruction and we moved the tree before the chainsaw finished dealing with the other one. Strong enduro girl...grunt, grumble, grrrrrrrrr. After some grub I did some open water swimming with Debbie & Renee and then ran while Beth rode a lap.

Well...suffice it to say Murphy didn't like my spur of the moment strength training. I woke up with sore arms on Sunday, which I expected, and flipped my plans from Sunday to Monday (Monday was going to be an off day). I took it easy and spent the day with the husband and ate lots of food. My plan was to do two hard laps on the bike on Monday. Alas, Monday came and I was unable to wrap my left hand around the steering wheel without pain. Apparently I bruised/pulled something in my hand, along and under the thumb. Any pressure whatsoever on the inner heel of my hand or any tight grip caused severe discomfort. Arrowhead isn't the kind of place you can ride with a loose grip on the handlebars. A ride was out. I could have just pussed out and taken another off day. My body probably would have liked it. But I was good. I swapped days again and hit the gym. I decided I'd spank Murphy by getting in an awesome swim and maybe doing a little machine running. Swam 3000 yards, hard, and then hit the elliptical for two miles followed by two miles on the treadmill.

Murphy spanked back with sore arms. As I was supposed to open water swim with Renee, this was most heinous of him. Screw you, Murphy, I thought. Renee won't be upset if I take it easy on the swim. She just wants someone there with her. I hit the park early to tackle the running trails again. I figured I'd do 2-3 two mile loops. I carefully tucked my keys into the armband of my MP3 player and took off for the first lap, leaving my water and Cytocrack in the car for chugging between laps as my hand still hurt to grip so I didn't want to carry my water bottle. The run felt good...though I knew the second and third laps would feel better as I'd have oiled up the muscles.

Swung back by the car and no key in my armband. CRAP! I must have thought I put it in my armband and instead locked them in the car with the house keys. I looked longingly at my two water bottles and thought of the phone esconced in the glove compartment. Nothing I could do but wait for Renee to show up, call the husband and have him grumble at having to come unlock the car. Sigh. With a little more than forty minutes to kill I set out for lap two (no I'm not that big an idiot...there's a water fountain mid-route). Gulped down some water with a lovely sulfur bouquet and kept on running. What's that...right in the middle of the trail? GACK! My keys. So glad they didn't pop out in a spot covered in weeds and tall grass. SIGH.

Those two laps went great. Gulped down plenty of the water and CC after the second and did the third feeling good. Murphy, I thought, you've had your fun with me. But now it's time you took a vacation. He didn't think so. In the water, happily having fun with Renee, side and breast stroking since my shoulders and arms were not wanting to crawl, I kicked funny during a side stroke and now the knee feels funny! GREAT. On a side note, Renee had a really great swim!

But I'm not beaten...though I'm bruised and a little wary. I hoped the hand would feel better and I'd be able to ride Arrowhead hard today. I probably could...but I'm worried at what else my body might decide to "tweak". So I'm going to err on the side of caution and hit the Pig for some spinning riding and then take a short, flat trail run before the bike club meeting tonight. I'm not beaten, but I'd also like to give Murphy a break. He's got to be tired after the last couple days!

Thursday, June 01, 2006

It's European!

Can someone please explain to me how a speedo can be both far too small and baggy at the same time? EGADS. There's an older fella at the gym who's not even remotely in shape. It's been bad enough watching him parade his big gut around in a too tight, too short t-shirt and short shorts as he traverses the gym's cardio equipment. But now, alas, my pool time is corresponding with his. And it's bad...so very, VERY bad and wrong...wrong, wrong, WRONG! I'm not a fan of speedos at all, being completely honest here. But men that are trim and sport a nice, well fitting, full coverage speedo don't bug me anymore. I've gotten used to it doing the swim thang. But this fella. It just isn't right. It bags in the front and disappears in the back. Could anything be more wrong than that? I almost wish his gut was a little bigger, it'd cover the offending baggy dangle in the front.

On a side grumbling note...I was doing a 900 yard timed swim (so it measures out to a little over 800 meters) and this reject gets in the pool for two laps with the kickboard, then climbs out and manages to lock himself out on the atrium. I ignored him for 50 yards, then just couldn't be quite that bitchy...so hauled myself out and let him in. 500 yards in, of course. He apologized in a half-assed way and I grumbled assent.

Better hope for an attitude adjustment in the next hour or so before I head out to trail run. Or else I'll hit a root and end up ass over tea kettle for a banner day!