Road to Recovery

Well, it's been an unpleasant week, but I do believe I've turned a corner. Thank you to those who encouraged me to rest since I'm not good at doing that without help. Although this week even if I'd wanted to, there would have been no way I could push myself. I'm a little nervous about the lost time but I recognize that it was mostly out of my control and I can only move forward. I say mostly since I did figure out my own culpability in the sudden onset. A week ago it was still classic spring here--upper 40s, low 50s for the most part. I was expecting the gradual build up to warmer temperatures that we usually get so I guess I could say I was caught a little unprepared when on Friday I did my brick and it was 80. That night at work I drank 2 liters of water and could have easily downed more. Saturday morning I biked to work, hydrated fairly well, and then biked 32 miles after work. Then I got dumb and drank no water but mojitos instead (it was summery!). I think the combination was more than my body could handle so from this point forward I will make a more concerted effort to hydrate well (as soon as I can drink water again) and avoid those things that my body clearly doesn't like (alcohol, coffee, :( ). But luckily for me between the race entrance fee, the new bike, the new wetsuit and after today, the new bike shoes and cleats, I will have spent about $1000 on this quest, and as I'm unemployed for the next three years, that's much more impressive, and scary. And I'm so cheap, I'll get my ass to the starting line no matter what it takes. So for today, one more day of taking easy, doing some yoga and hopefully eating and drinking more normally, and then tomorrow, on the road again.

And one final note, the real benefit to this sudden burst of heat and summer--perhaps the lake my tri is on will be thawed by June 8th. I rode past it for the first time on Saturday and was psyched to find that the roads were pretty mellow, not to bumpy with frost heaves, and the lake was beautiful...but a little odd looking. And then I realized, 80 degrees and still frozen. Like 90% covered with ice. It's going to be a cold swim!

Small setback

After a great week of training last week, I was really looking forward to this week, my cutback week. I was ready for it, a week of slightly lower mileages gearing up for the big push to the finish. Apparently, my body was looking forward to this week as well...to get sick. I haven't been pushing myself that hard and I don't think that this is a symptom of overtraining at all, but it's a bit frustrating at this stage. I had a great ride on Saturday afternoon that I unfortunately followed with dinner and drinks out (and none of those drinks included water). I had hoped that when I was feeling bad all day Sunday that it was just due to that. No such luck unfortunately. It's Tuesday and my stomach is still grumpy with me and I don't know how much more ginger ale and dilute gatorade I can take. The really tough part is that outside of my stomach, I feel great. Yesterday I felt a lot of fatigue in my legs so I decided that after swimming, a day off was what I needed, but today, if it weren't for the bumping and jarring, I'd love to go for a run. It's really hard for me to listen to my body but I'm trying. And I'm also trying not to panic about how much time I'm losing this week. I know it's a cutback week but I still don't want to lose my momentum, particularly on the bike. But I know that getting worked up won't make me feel better any faster so I'm trying to utilize this as a good recovery, and hope that if I can get in one good ride and run this week, it won't be a total loss. Saltines anyone?

Wind season?

I've long heard that spring in New Hampshire is known by less enticing names such as mud season, or frost heave season, but I've decided that a third alternative should be introduced, the season of eternal headwinds. Now I'm no stranger to head winds. I biked from Seattle to San Fran in 2000 and despite my father's prediction that I would go fast since going south means all down hill, I discovered that coastal biking=head winds. But in those days, I was riding with 75 pounds of gear and 10 kids in tow, so speed was not my goal, simply arriving at camp intact and with all accounted for was enough. Since those days of touring, I've obviously gone to just road riding, and lately, racing...on a touring bike. Again, hasn't been something too bad. I love my bike and I haven't ridden enough to really worry about it. Well, after last week's successful return to outdoor running, I decided I was done with the stationary bikes (especially since they're in the gym and I am restricted to 30 minutes) and headed back outside. I knew there would be hills, I even expected some wind. I tried not to be concerned about time (but let's face it, we're all competitive with ourselves) and I was overall enjoying the sunny, 60 degree day. But let me just tell you, in a 30 mile bike ride that went south, west, north, east, then south again, I had a head wind the entire time. I had wind strong enough to stop me, to tilt my bike in the opposite direction I was leaning, and I arrived home absolutely beat. After consulting my coaches and rationalizing with myself that it was my first outdoor ride on a touring bike on roads covered in frost heaves and several significant climbs, I'd really done well. Ok, so I moved on, finished up my week, rested this weekend, and today tackled the outdoor run again. And again, discovered that just because you're running uphill into the wind it does not mean than when you turn around 180 degrees to head home that the wind will be at your back. My hope is that this wind is all caused by increasing temperatures and melting snow creating these crazy convection currents. If that's the case, we're almost in the clear. If not, I will be so diesel by the end of my training :)

One last quick note from today's run, a frustration of sorts. I can't burp, I've never been able to really, at least not voluntarily. This is a fact that my mother loves to tease me about since all of our relatives pride themselves on the strength and depth of their bodily functions. She thinks I'm not really part of the family. It was never an issue until today when about 3 miles into the run, all I wanted to do was burp. I was doubled over in pain from the air trapped inside and even in my greatest desperation, I could barely summon some relief. Maybe my mom is right and I'm some wierd, repressed version of a Newton. Too bad for me, it meant a very uncomfortable run that otherwise was feeling amazing. Note to self...no more jambalaya...

Triumphant return :)

Today I tackled the great outdoors and from all accounts, I won. It was my first run outside since December--the first time I could see over snowbanks, not have to run through slush, and not have to dress for the arctic. I was oddly nervous to head back outside but since I am a true nature girl, even I couldn't let my apprehension keep me inside on day like this (it's almost 60!). My apprehensions aren't that unusual I guess. Treadmills are safe and I can stop any time, they're springy so they go easy on my training legs, and most importantly, there are only hills if I want them. Anyone who's been to visit me knows I live in the foothills of the White Mountains so there is little flat to be had. And hills have always been my nemesis. Today I discovered that two months of training on a treadmill and a stationary bike have done something for me after all. I ran about 5.5 miles at an average pace of 8:27 and kicked ass on the one major climb I had. I even battled through a headwind, and ended up back at my car still smiling. I may not have been as light on my feet as I once was but I know I've also had far worse runs. All in all, a successful and positively reinforcing workout. And I got a congrats from Lance Armstrong at the end--gotta love Nike + iPod :)

Slacker!

It was recently pointed out to me just how much of a slacker I've been with this blog. I guess that's a good sign that at least one person is reading it :) But I was trying to figure out why it seems so difficult for me to sit down and do this. Is it that I think no one's reading? Well, that shouldn't matter, it's supposed to be a way for me to organize my thoughts. Is it that nothing's happened? Well, no there as well. I've been training and skiing and gearing up to move to Boston. I also can't claim that I've been too busy since I don't really work anymore and my classes are a joke. Is the answer that I'm just lazy? I doubt that. What I came up with is that every time I feel inspired to share what I'm thinking, it's when I'm running. Or swimming. Or biking. But typically while running, I feel the most inspired, the most creative, and the most in control of my life (I obviously only want to share the good parts). Problem is, by the time I get home from a day of class, work, training, get my shower and some dinner, I've generally forgotten what sounded so inspiring in my mind and anything else I come up with sounds contrived. What I take to be the good news for me here though is that for a long time now, running has not been fun. It's been a struggle to get ready, a struggle to get warmed up, and even while I was out, I felt very little joy. That's really disappointed me since running used to clear everything up. But I think I've finally come back to a place where not only does my body need to run, it wants to. The other day I found myself trying to talk myself out of running because I didn't feel %100, instead of the other way around. I think that's a step in the right direction.
There's also been a little bit of difficulty for me deciding what to write. I think it's awfully boring to use this as my training log, recapping numbers and mileage and times from the week. Who wants to read that? On the other hand, I tend to be way overanalytical and that's no fun either! Instead, I've tossed around blog ideas such as "thank god for the existence of energy gels" and "it's all downhill after spring break". But again, those ideas were strong while I was running and faded quickly afterwards. If only there was a way to record my thoughts...Anyway, as an update for those few out there who might have added this to their blogs to be read list, classes are winding down up here and despite myself, I'm going to miss it. Maybe I'll just miss living here, but I think some people made an impression on me and that's always hard to say goodbye to. Training is going well although the magnitude of this decision is beginning to weigh on me (can I really do a 1/2 Iron??). I bought a tri wetsuit and I'm getting a road bike, so I'll no longer be the outcast in the transition area. And I'm getting psyched to move to Boston, although that too has it's daunting aspects (but I'll save that for another post...)