Craptastic Achilles

I can't believe it's been over a year since my Achilles decided to suck. And I can't believe it's a year later and I'm still dealing with this crap. I've taken my time off, I've worn the dreaded boot, I've cut back on my mileage, I've gone to physical therapy, I've suffered from roid rage...and I'm back to square one.

During the past few bike sessions on my trainer I thought my Achilles was feeling a little funny, especially when my foot was swiping on the bottom of the pedal stroke. Well, Friday after my hour and 45 minutes on the bike, I found myself flexing my ankle a lot during the day trying to relieve some of the tightness. I didn't think much of it and chalked it up to a tough workout. The last thing I expected was for the bike to bother it, especially since the bike was part of my rehabilitation over the summer. So on Saturday when I set out for my brick workout, I wasn't expecting pain that brought me to tears. Some from the actual pain, some out of frustration. It was feeling sore while on the bike ride but then it really blew up during my long run. I was about 5-6 miles into the run when the mild discomfort turned into pain; the sharp pain that I know all too well. Completely upset and angry, I pushed through and made it just under 14 miles. That afternoon, the ever-dreaded bulge was back and my ankle was swollen.

I have no idea what's going on. I'm at a loss and can't believe this is still an issue. At this point I don't think I'm going to go back to physical therapy but I might see if I can get into see a sports medicine doctor, etc. I did swing by my bike shop to have them take another look at my bike fit and everything on that end is fine. My podiatrist, as well as myself, don't understand why the bike is causing pain too.

So, with under a week to go to until my first TRI, I'm crushed. I'm laying low this week and am hoping I can at least make it through each portion of the race by taking it easy. Not that I had any big goals for this race but now I'm being forced to use it solely as a learning experience. Even so, I still took a ride up today to check out the course to see what I'm up against.  The lake is pretty but it's still an open water swim and I'm more than a little freaked out about swimming in it. The bike course, while short, is hilly and that will be my biggest challenge. The run, only 2 miles, is along a paved path through the park and normally wouldn't be an issue. Here's hoping I don't have to walk it. Definitely not how I wanted to go into my first TRI but I have to show up and give it a shot because I need this experience.

Someone might have to push me into the water on Sunday.

Our little picnic snack which must have made the people grilling at the table next to us feel bad because they came over and offered us some bbq!!

After a lot of tears yesterday, I'm trying to keep a smile on my face and remember that things could always be worse.

Really good GIVEAWAY coming up this week!! Stay tuned.

It's Getting Close!

Hola! The need to post finally struck! But I'll admit, I've been enjoying my non blogging time. At this point with work, training, and life, I'll take any free time I can get and you'd be surprised how that adds up when you ignore blog land.

Anyway, I'm in a little disbelief that my first TRI is just over a week away. I don't know how I feel about my progress in the pool and on the bike but I've been hitting both often enough that I'm confident with my endurance. It's the speed that's lacking but that will come over the next 6 weeks while training for the Olympic TRI. I've been doing what I can to chip away at all the things you need for a TRI (which is never ending, by the way) and trying to prepare myself as much as I can. I had a swim lesson on Sunday with my Coach where we went over spotting technique and contact. Yes, contact. Having my coach grab my ankles, swim into me, elbow me, etc went surprisingly well. But, I think I handled it well because 1) I was in a pool and 2) could see where I was going and 3) could stand if I needed to. Contact in the open water will be a completely different experience and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet.

I also went to a bike clinic this past weekend to learn basic bike maintenance and how to change a flat. God help me if I get a flat during a race. I think I'd be better off carrying the bike on my back and running then attempting to change the tube. I have a fear of compressed air, I have since my college days in the lab, and even the little CO2 cartridges freak me out. So if we're ever in a race together and you see me crying next to my bike, I'm not hurt, I'm just trying to change a tire.

And as for the actual training...it's a lot but I found my groove and it's going really well. I did my first brick workout last weekend with a quick transition from bike to run and didn't think it was too rough. Of course my legs felt funny but I was still able to push pretty hard and it didn't take too long for them to feel normal; no more than a half mile. I have a doozy of a workout tomorrow with an hour swim and an hour and 45 minute bike ride both at a moderate/hard effort. This is followed by another brick workout on Saturday and then things taper off just a bit until race day. While I'm beyond nervous for the race, I'm ready for it to be here. I need to get the first one under my belt so the fear subsides and I can assure myself I can do this. I'm really hoping for a good experience because if I end up hating this, it was probably the most expensive lesson of my life.

I know I missed posting my schedule last week but this is what I've been up to this week (note - each workout has a specific intensity level, but I don't feel like typing it all out):
Mon - swim :45 / bike :45
Tues - 7 mi run with 2 ladders at 7:03 (still working to get to that 6:53 I was at for Shamrock training!*)
Wed - swim 1:00 / bike 1:00
Thurs - 8 mi run
Fri - swim 1:00 / bike 1:45
Sat - bike :45 / run 2:00
Sun - swim :30

*Achilles still isn't a fan of pushing the pace with running. I'm not sure when this stupid thing will ever be back to normal. So I've been really conservative with the paces and easing back into it. Just hoping I don't have the slowest 2 miles of my life on June 5th.

A little Poet

I've been struggling for a few weeks, maybe even months, as to whether or not I want to keep blogging*. It's been almost 3 years of me blabbering and lately I feel like I have nothing to say. So the past few days I've just been ignoring blog land altogether, waiting for something worth posting to come my way. Well, this morning something worth while came along...but it has nothing to do with swimming, biking or running.

My 11 year old nephew recently had an assignment to sit in the school courtyard and write a poem about what he saw. Turns out, his poem was so good it was selected to be published in a book with all children's writings!!! He recently told me he wanted to be an architect or do something with computer science, but I think we have a writer on our hands. I'm so proud of you, Nate!!!

A lone leaf
Paler than the palm
Of my hand
Lays in the sunlight
Trying to get a good tan
The few leaves that
Are still on trees
Are shivering
Holding on for dear life
Barely resisting the soft breeze
My paper is a hummingbird
Flapping frantically but failing
To pry itself out of my clipboard's iron grip
The slow breeze is
Softer than
A peacock's feather
But colder than
My sister's hands
After she played with ice
The white mum's leaves are shaking
Like a little kid who just had a nightmare

-Nate W.

Here's the little poet holding his sister, Grace.

*I'm going to stick around for a while longer, just think I need a break. I'm a little overwhelmed lately with all that I have going on and blogging has just felt like a chore. But I'm not ready to stop bothering all of you just yet...

Rough Morning and a Bad Ass WINNER!

Had a little bit of a rough start to the day but 2 hours and 35 minutes of working out can do that to a girl. Last week I found myself quickly gaining momentum with training and slipping easily into a routine. At several points I thought to myself, "I think this Tri stuff is for me!" But man, what a little weekend getaway can do to throw you off track. I've been struggling a bit with being overly tired since I got home on Tuesday and my workouts are showing it.

I had a 50 minute run yesterday and I managed to do 6 miles. I'm no where near where I was during Shamrock training but it felt good to run in the low 8's and not have anything hurt. I can definitely tell my legs lost some speed but now that things are feeling better in the foot, I'm going to start pushing the pace again. I really want the run portion of the tri to be my strong point.

Today I had another double which I knocked out before work. I will admit though, it was a rough morning. The swim was just 'ok' and I felt myself really fading towards the end of it. So when I left the pool feeling a little blah about the workout, I wondered how I was going to make it through an hour and 45 minutes on the bike trainer. Before I even got on the bike I was psyching myself out, which is never good. I tried to break it up into chunks and an hour into it I ate a banana. Funny how making it to the point where you get a snack can keep you going. Right after that Andy came down to check on me and I'd be lying if I said I didn't pout a little. I felt like such a loser that I was struggling but it was just a hard day. Thankfully, with a little over a half hour to go, I got my second wind and finished the ride feeling really strong. 2 hours and 35 minutes done before work! I wish I could say I get to sleep in tomorrow but I'll be up early for a long run...

Now, for the winner of the Bad Ass socks….and I swear this was not fixed. I asked Marlene this morning through twitter to "pick a number between 1 and 34."  I thought it was appropriate considering how much of a bad ass she's been the past few months getting ready for her marathon on Sunday. She picked unlucky # 13...which happened to be her! And there is no way she could have checked this when I asked because blogger was down and you couldn't see the comments. It's a sign of good things to come on Sunday, Marlene!!

Apologies and Catching Up

I have to apologize. I'm turning into one of those bloggers. The ones who read and don't comment. It's not that I don't have anything to say, because believe me, I always have something to say (ask Andy), it's that I don't have time. I'm lucky if I get to read blogs and with the number of posts people are putting up lately, I just can't keep up. With a minimum 9+ hour work day and lot more hours training than I'm used to, there just aren't enough hours in the day. So, while I'm not always commenting, know I'm reading as much as I can. And as soon as I become a millionaire and don't have to work anymore, I'll be commenting away...

Now, on to the fun stuff. I just got home from a relaxing weekend in Florida. Andy went to Michigan to visit his family and I headed down South. Grey skies in the mid west or sun and pool? Hmmm, wonder which one I chose. My family was celebrating "Family Day" which marked the one year anniversary that my sister and brother in law brought Gracie home from Russia, and I really wanted to be with her on that special day. It was a really nice trip with my family and I got to spend a ton of time doing nothing but relaxing by the pool. I did manage to get a long run in on Sunday and am happy to say I had no pain. Nothing in the Achilles or PF region. It took a few miles for my legs to wake up but by mile 4 I felt great and was cruising. Each pain free run is such a huge deal to me; I'm dying to get back to where I during my Shamrock training. My foot was a little sore the following morning but after I did some walking and stretching I was good to go.

So I'm now mid way through week 2 of training. I managed the best I could while I was in Florida but I did miss one workout. Not the end of the world but still bothers me a bit. I made up for it yesterday with a solid run and this morning with a 50 minute swim followed immediately with a 50 minute bike ride. Bike was great, swim not so great today. I was just tired and my breathing was off because of it. Took on some water a few times and just wanted to float on my back and sleep. But I pushed through and felt good for getting it done.

I was going to pick a winner for the GIVEAWAY today but I'm giving it a few more days for anyone else who wants to enter.

Here's my schedule for the week:
Mon - swim :45 / bike :45
Tues - run :40
Wed - swim :50 / bike :50
Thurs - run :50
Fri - swim :50 / bike 1:45
Sat - run 1:40
Sun - off

Bad Ass GIVEAWAY!

With only a long run left this week, I think I can officially say I survived my first week of Tri training! But I won't lie; I was a little stressed with how it would all work out having doubles 3 times a week. I was especially concerned with my workout today, 45 min swim and 1:30 bike. Those two workouts separate, no problem! But doing them before work...a little different. I'm all about long workouts, um...ultra training, but when it comes to long workouts before work; I get myself into a tizzy. The thought of 2 hour and 15 minutes just seemed like a lot when I like to get into work early so I can get the heck out. Knowing this was my shortest Friday workout (yes, they get longer each Friday), I was determined to tackle both parts before work to prove to myself that I could do it.

I jumped out of bed at 4:40 and was at the gym before they even opened the pool door. I was in the water at exactly 5am and knocked out an easy, peasy 80 laps (2000 yds) in 45 minutes. I found myself taking it a little too easy today, probably because I was still half asleep, but I picked it up towards the end. Right after the swim I raced home and hopped on the bike trainer. The thought of an hour and half did not sound fun and since I haven't gone longer than an hour on the trainer before, I was hoping the hoo ha would survive. Well, thanks to Dr. Phil and the messed up life of his guest Alex, the first hour flew by and before I knew it I was counting down the last 10 minutes. I actually said out loud to myself at the end, "you did it, D!" Week one a success and I'm now confident that I can handle this training! I rewarded myself with a bucket of coffee and even used some creamer. What can I say, I'm wild and crazy like that.

So, to celebrate my success...how about a bad ass GIVEAWAY?? Remember Cheryl from RazzyRoo Headbands? Well, after seeing the great response to the headband giveaway and how much everyone liked the knee high socks, Cheryl is offering up a pair to one of my followers! If you would like to win a pair, be a follower, like RazzyRoo on Facebook (if you don't already), and leave me a comment. I'll pick a winner next Wednesday.

Sporting the socks after my kick ass pacing gig!

Shot in the Foot

It's not new information that I've been plagued with issues in my right leg/foot for some time now. In fact, I just hit the year anniversary of my Achilles going to shit. Post Boston my Achilles was feeling pretty good so I stopped going to physical therapy. That was good news. But even though my Achilles was feeling better, my plantar fasciitis was still acting up and the pain in the bottom of my heel kept getting progressively worse. Well, after the half on Sunday, I was in pretty bad pain. I could barely put any pressure on my foot and even when I was off my feet, the pain in my heel was still throbbing. When I woke up Monday barely able to walk, I emailed my doc. I got in to see him on Monday night and he confirmed my self diagnosis of PF. I winced in pain when he touched my foot and the pain remained even when he wasn't poking at my arch/heel. He also took some x-rays but didn't go into any great detail about a bone spur, which was my fear. He told me it didn't matter if I had one; we were going to treat the PF and gave me a few options. One, go back to PT and have it take several sessions/weeks to get this feeling better or two, get an injection in my foot. While the injection is suppose to be a quicker fix, there are some risks that go with it. Specifically, there is the small risk that the PF could tear in the days following the injection. But, if they have to surgically fix the PF they end up cutting it anyway. So I weighed my options and took the needle in the side of the foot like a big girl. I walked out feeling less pain than I had when I walked in, so I'm hopeful this does the trick. The heel pain is pretty much gone but I'm still having some PF discomfort, which is normal. I can bike/swim and return to running on Thursday. The doc suspects I'll feel like a million bucks. Here's hoping he's right!

Aside from that, I'm mid way through my first week of Tri training. The week started off with 3 workouts within 24 hours and me wondering how I'm going to get anything done between work, training, and sleeping. I asked my coach for a pretty aggressive schedule and looking at the next 4 weeks, that's what I got. I've been up every day between 4:40 - 4:45am and I'm hoping I can sustain this wake up time because it's the only way to get everything done that needs to be done. My schedule calls for 3 doubles a week, plus my brick workouts on Saturday. When I can, I'm going to try to do both workouts in the morning so I can free up my evenings to have some down time. That's what I did this morning; 45 minute swim then raced home and hoped on the trainer for 45 minutes. That was manageable but I think that will change as my workouts get longer, forcing me to split them up.

Effort is light for most workouts this week as I ease into everything. Swimming has been going better than I expected and I think the lesson I had and the drills I worked on made a big difference. I'm really concentrating on my form for now and can feel the difference when I exaggerate my rotation and really reach with each stroke.  And the pool isn't as bad as I thought it would be...it doesn't hurt the hoo ha like the bike does and I even got hit on in the hot tub, goggle marks and all. :-) Biking is going well, too and I successfully rode outdoors with my coach this past Saturday. Aside from horrific fire crotch*, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be but I really need to gain some confidence on the roads. I'll get there...

Here's my schedule for the week:
Mon - swim :45 / bike :45 (light effort)
Tues - run :30 (race pace) -- biked for an hour instead due to foot
Wed - swim :45 / bike :45 (light effort)
Thurs - run :45 (light effort)
Fri - swim :45 / bike 1:30 (light effort)
Sat - run 1:30 (mod hard)
Sun - off

I'm going to post a GIVEAWAY by the end of this week, stayed tuned!!! I know you guys will like this one; you had a sneak peak at it before...

*worse crotch pain ever on Saturday and I'm still sore from that ride. Turns out, my new bike didn't fit me as it should and I ended up trading him in for a new one. Wasn't what I had hoped for since it involved shelling out more money, but at least I ended up with a much prettier bike. She's white and purple....*smiles*

Great Experience!

Yesterday was my first pacing gig at the NJ Half marathon. Having never paced before, I was a little nervous. I knew I could handle the pace (10:18) but was concerned with holding that even over the course of 13.1 miles all while being motivating and remembering to hit the silly little lap button on my Garmin.

I got a good nights sleep and woke up a little after 4am to head to NJ. Getting to and from the race logistically was no issue and I was there in plenty of time to park in the lot right at the start and not have to deal with the bus shuttles. After picking up my pacing shirt and balloons, I ditched my warm clothes and headed to the port o' pot line. Holy hell! I stood in line for over 20 minutes and barely moved. At 8:00am when I was suppose to go line up at the start, I actually took advantage of my pacer status and some nice girls let me budge. I bolted to the start to get situated and it was a mad house. Definitely not organized and pacers were out of order, etc. I made my way behind the 2:00 leader and within seconds I had runners pushing their way towards me. I had been warned that I had the largest group of the race, with over 50 people signed up, and more who just joined me at the start. It was so exciting with tons of first timers with lots of questions. 

It was absolutely beautiful out and the sun was shining. Immediately I found my pace and made sure I didn't get caught up in the rush during the first few miles. I lost some people quickly who went out too fast, even after saying they wanted to stay with me to make sure that's exactly what they didn't do. But for the most part, I had a pretty good group for several miles. Runners dropped and joined throughout the race and the miles just flew by. I checked in with everyone throughout the race, called out upcoming miles (to which they would all cheer), and pointed out water stations as we approached them.

A mile or so past the half way mark I was down to a tight little group and we stuck together chit chatting and having fun. These girls were so sweet and did an amazing job, providing support to one another and smiling the whole way. Around mile 11 we lost a few more of our group. That's the hardest part. I wanted so badly to slow down, to make sure they were ok, encourage them to hang on, but I couldn't. Instead I had to keep on pace for those who were left in my group.

Around mile 12.5 my last two pacees, Jocelyn and Ann, left to finish strong and as much as I wanted to sprint to the finish, too, I held my pace and paced a few people I had picked up during the last mile to a strong finish. I crossed the finish line, still carrying my balloons, which a huge smile on my face. I had so much fun out there!

Official Finish Time

2:14:59

I'm shocked I was this accurate. SHOCKED. This was such a great experience and I hope to do it again because getting feedback like this made my day:

"We loved running with you today! Not only were your tips perfect while we ran, but we totally enjoyed chatting the entire race. My first half marathon experience was awesome...can't wait to come back for more. Now my only concern is how I'm going to run without you as our pacer! PLEASE let us know if you'll be pacing any other halves in the future so we can sign up!"

Our Pacer Shirt and medal.