Tri-training anxiety will make you…

run 45 minutes on the strip? In the end of July? In somewhere between 95 and 110ºF? At 8pm in the evening? Wow. My tongue instantly turned into sandpaper, and my lungs were on fire. That was a first, last, and only experience… but, ok, at least I did it? And by the way, the Bellagio water show started right when I got to it, and it started so suddenly I must have jumped 3 feet! More on the Solana Beach tri next blog…

B/log Lagging...

Hi, everyone (or just future me)! Remember me? The iron-blogger gone dark? Are you wondering if I’m still in the game, so to speak? Well, I am, just not been making extra time to blog! But you were missed…

Things have been going well; I’ve been settling into my Training Bible routine (level 3, beginner), which is a 9-workout a week plan. Which probably sounds pretty manageable, but it’s sometimes a struggle when you factor in traveling! Which I have been doing a lot of lately… but I was pretty good about running in Germany (when I could) and in New York.

I started Masters a while back, and I have been going consistently 1-2 times a week, and I really do love it when I can get there! It’s pretty early in the morning (6am), but it pays off. And the Carlsbad pool chlorine does not wash off easily!

Biking is going okay, not too much report, but I need to be doing more and more of it!

Since my mileage has been lower in the runs (<8 miles), I haven’t had too many IT band issues, but now have a lovely plantar fasciitis problem brewing… in my right heel. Funny thing is I don’t really notice it so much while running, presumably because I am wearing supportive shoes, but I do assume that running is causing it. I need to look into possibly getting orthotics, so I am going to try to do that soon.

Ho hum, sort of boring blog, but I do have a race next Sunday. Solana Beach Sprint Tri!

Vroom vroom…

3 Races

Well that was quite a break.. wasn’t it!
So what a slacker blogger I’ve been. Luckily I’ve been busy, although let’s be honest, I gots to be getting busier…

Although, this is the first weekend I haven’t had a race in 4!

Quick race reports:

Rock and Roll Marathon Relay:
This was fun! It was such a relief to revisit the only marathon I ever ran, and to only have to run 7.9 miles of it (3rd leg). I ran it with Jen Hart and Beth Karlin, and Beth’s boyfriend Zar. We did pretty well! Hey, we beat my PR… our time was 4:09:22, and my leg was 1:14:15.
I did have to literally donate my shoes, literally right after, because they crossed the wear out threshold somewhere between mile 4 and mile 5. The run was fun, loved the bands and the sight-seeing.

UCSD Grove Run, 5K
Totally last minute, but UCSD had this sustainability 5K that only cost $10 for students. I heard some UCI tri club members were going, and I convinced an adorably pregnant Mer to join me. And I biked there (18 miles one-way), which took some minutes off my “green” time and won me an eco-bandanda!
Time: 23:22
Wish I could say I PRed, but quite a few people pointed out to me that their Garmin’s said it was like 2.9 miles… guess they’re giving Carlsbad a run for their money?

Encinitas Sprint Triathlon
So fun! I did this with Jackie, and it was great. Actually Jackie and I were in different waves, but it was fun. Another reminder that I need to ocean swim more. So hard to sight! I also, literally lost my timing chip in the ocean, how I don’t know, but the race organizers were nice enough to take my heart-rate monitor time (bless them!).
Time: 1:25:21

So that’s it for now, it’s late and I gotta ride tomorrow! Off to Germany on Tuesday, so excited! Going to bring my new sneaks and goggles.

Cheers,

~e

Updates and upshots

Well hello everyone! Long time no blog, eh? Yeah, I've been busy... getting injured! Not badly, but rather annoyingly. I've known for quite some time that I have a penchant for ITB (ilio-temporal band) tightness in my left leg. In fact it's plagued me in every long-distance run I've ever trained for. So now, as I was increasing mileage to get ready for the La Jolla Half on April 26, I started having sharp pain in the outer side of my left knee, which only appears to kick in after running 6 or 7 miles. Since denial was no longer working, I decided to go see an orthopod. Coinidentally, I also was having pain in the same knee, toward the back, but only when I did a deep squat, so it would only really come up in yoga.

So I go to the doctor, and he tells me what I already sort of knew about my ITB, which is I need to vigilantly PT it by doing stretching exercises and pointed strengthening of the vastus medialis (inner quad area), to compensate for the fact that the outer muscle has gotten too strong and is pulling my knee cap out. He also told me, however, that the pain toward the back of me knee might be a ... TORN MENISCUS, which can ONLY be REPAIRED BY SURGERY... although a minor scoping procedure.

Egads!

Nothing definative yet, though; I did have an MRI on Friday, and I'm waiting to have another appointment to discuss decisions with the doc. I definitely need to rehab the ITB (I'm guessing with legitimate PT, but if the meniscus only hurts when I do yoga, maybe it can wait? Problem is I doubt yoga caused the meniscus, as it was likely due to chronic impact (i.e. running). Anyone out there, what's your opinion?

Oh and I did the darndest thing yesterday... I was running (yes, but I've cut way back and only run 3-5 miles like 2-3 times a week now), and a rabid pinecone lurched out of the bushes and tripped me. I came down hard! Managed to seriously bruise/scrape my right (i.e. good) knee and elbow, so I now will have matching scars (the ones from the bike crash were on the left side). Har har! Managed to lightly sprain my ankle in the process, but it's not a bad one I think. Just taking it easy today.

OK, upshots! I had a killer swimming week, went 5 times. Two days at Masters, and on the second time I swam 130 lenghts! So fun; Masters rocks and definitely makes me work harder. On Friday I swam for the first time in a long time in the Pacific, with 2 very fit and young guys from the UCI tri club... I was only going to go down and back one time, mostly because I hate my wetsuit so far and was swallowing lots of ocean. They were going to do it like 6 times, but we had a close encounter with a large sea animal (I think dolphin, one of the guys thinks seals) that literally freaked us all out enough that we headed for shore... and I managed to lose one of my fins in the process.

So maybe I should have titled this entry: "Mistakes and mishaps"?

Never fear, dear readers, a few strained tendons, ligaments, and a bit of bruised pride won't keep me down for long. I gotta do something to burn off the foody in me!

xoxo Erin

First Crash

First (and hopefully last!) Crash…

So there I am… climbing Mt. Palomar, in position 2… ready to take the lead for a while to preserve Levi’s strength for the final breakaway…

Wait! No, that wasn’t me! That was the Astana peloton taking force on the Tour de California. Meanwhile, I was pedaling up nearby Rancho Santa Fe Road, just minding my own business, about to have my third and final Snickers mini of the ride, 3 miles from home… when…

BAM! I’m no longer riding, I’m skidding along the pavement, as my bike wrenches out from under me. Rest assured, all my three loyal fans, I stood up, albeit wincing, and was able to remove myself and my bike from the road. Thankfully the car behind me stopped traffic, as I became a minor traffic obstacle (or spectacle, depending on how you look at it). Actually about 8 more stopped as I took heed of my injuries (pretty scraped up elbow, badly bruised knee, cracked helmet (but no concussion); it was amazing how many nice people were out there. I had to smile and reassure them, right after I called Mike to come and get me. A woman named Kristin stopped, and she and her daughter and lab named Vader actually kept me company until Mike arrived. Truly amazing! I was very touched by all the concern.

But wait… Blue Steel! Not so pristine any more… I haven’t taken it to the bike doctor yet, but I’m a bit worried. A few scrapes on the left pedal and brake, but even more disturbing is that my left handle bar is essentially bent inward. I don’t know yet what Nytro will say, but I’m hoping they can either bend it back (unlikely) or replace the bar for cheap (warranty??).

Mike says I’m allowed 4 more crashes (are you kidding me!?!?) and then he’s boycotting the Ironman… so I better be careful, and apparently way more coordinated than I’ve been.

Moral of the story: unwrap your Snickers Minis before you put them in your Bento box. I know, I know…

In other news: I scored (I think!) a PR on a 5K last Saturday, the San Diego Monarch School 5K in Mission Bay. I came in under 24 minutes, but I’m not sure the exact time. Yay!

UCI Zot Trot, 2.14.09

Well, it’s on… I just did my first tri race in a long while… I think the last one I did was the Jamba Juice sprint tri in Mission Bay, in 2004… so yes, it’s been a little less than 5 years! Yikes! The Zot Trot was fun, fast, and different, as it was a reverse course. So we ran, then biked, then swam. 5K run, 11 mile bike, and a 250m swim, in the ARC (that’s Anteater Recreation Center, for those non-UCI folk out there) pool.

The run was fast, and I think I came in a little under 25 minutes, which is okay for me, since I’m not a super fast runner, and it was a little hilly. The bike was great; really made me love Blue Steel! It was kind of a weird course though; we basically did a short “X” course, 4 times, which meant 16 u-turns… and it was hilly, which meant both up and down hills, which was fun. I know I need to get faster, but I’m working on it, and I definitely had fun with it.

The swim, was a bit hard, which I wasn’t expecting, considering it was only 10 laps! I got in the pool with about 4 people, though, and we had very little room. Plus, we had to duck under lane lines to do the zig-zag course. I was happy to get out of the pool.

I heard someone shout my name on the bike course, a guy named Eric who I had a class with last year. It was really great to hear my name! His wife was doing the race and was part of the UCLA team.

Well, I’m blogging instead of biking today, on account of the rain… I know, I know, no pain, no rain, no gain, but you get so muddy. Jackie and I had a fun ride through Camp Pendleton 2 weeks ago in the rain, but to go it alone didn’t sound as fun today. I had a really funny moment as we were coming back through Camp P. I couldn’t clip out at the guard station, but I couldn’t very well ride past the guard station, so I practically had to fall over on top of the guard so I could stop and show him my ID. I rode up saying, “Um, hi, I can’t clip out, so, um, I’m going to fall now.”

Quote of the week, from some new HBO pilot called “Eastbound Down and Out.”
Principal of a school talking to a former pro-baseball player: “Well, you’re not the only athlete around here. I’m training right now for my first triathlon.”
Baseball Player: “Yeah, see, I actually play real sports, I don’t just try to be the best at exercising.”

Carbo-Pro Contemplation

What is this carbo-pro stuff about, anyways?

Okay, so not all training weeks are made equal… but I’m doing the best I can during this build phase! I’m already a little nervous about when training officially starts (I’ll start with an Olympic distance training plan in March, and switch to a full-ironman distance training plan in June (a 6 month plan)), because when push comes to shove I’m a Ph.D. student first. My number 1 goal, of course, is to finish, no scratch that. My number 1 goal is to survive Ironman relatively suffering-free, and then finish, and then finish strong. This becomes my mantra when I get really nervous that I may have bitten off more protein bar that I can chew!

So this past Saturday (1/31) I had a lovely 50 mile ride up in Orange County. I hopped on Back Bay ride and took it to the San Diego River trail, which ends somewhere on Jeffrey and I think Barranca in Irvine. Not really knowing where I’d go next, I followed a pack of cyclists (tried not to seem like I was stalk-drafting) on Jeffrey past the 5, and then since I didn’t really know where I was going, I finally broke right at Irvine Blvd. and took it to Sand Canyon. After a brief detour to go see where the Great Park balloon was (now I know where it is if I can ever find someone to go up in it with me), I took Sand Canyon up to Shady Canyon (my favorite part), up to Bonita Canyon, then over Newport Coast, where the going got tough. I crossed paths with a Cyclist (when I have more legitimacy as a triathlete-in-training, I’ll blog more about cyclists with a capital “C”), who was nice and complimented bike… which of course makes me feel like a huge Poser (yes, with a capital “P”). He was riding up and down Newport Coast, which is crazy. What a hill. Anyway, I then decided to ride to Laguna, to add some miles, which was probably a mistake, because it gets super crowded down there, and there’s very little bike path to speak of. Finally I made my way up back through Corona del Mar to Jamboree, and back through the Back Bay to San Joaquin Hills, which is right when I ran out of water, and back to my parents’ house.

OK, things I am learning about/struggling with on the bike:
1. Nutrition: I know I need enough calories not to bonk, but how to get those in is a challenge…
2. Hence, Carbo-Pro, the powder choc-full of carbohydrate energy that you can add to any beverage for calories. The uber-size container it comes in suggests you need 4 calories per lb per hour of exercise, which for me at about 140 lb, is 560 calories an hour. That is a s-load of carbopro. I think I added about a scoop (240 per scoop) to my water, and then another half to my electrolyte mix (which I then dumped b/c I realized I hated the taste). I’m thinking that what I need to do instead is mix up a batch, put it in a water bottle and add a cage to my bike solely for calories… because…
3. I got pretty bloated I think either from that or the protein bar I took with me to supplement those calories.
4. My neck and shoulders are still getting pretty tense on these long rides, and I’m not sure still quite what to do about it. Meredith said she had to adjust her bike fit like 5 times before she got it right, so I might be riding on down to Nytro pretty soon.
5. The whole numb-toes thing; yes, I can live with it, but I’d rather not! I thought at first they were cold but Saturday was really warm, so I think it’s a blood flow thing. Not sure what to do about this.
6. I’m a little bit of a whiner, don’t you think?

Anyway, I’m working on these above items right now. Anyone out there with advice?

Well, I’m off to go sign up for my first tri this season… the Zot Trot at UCI on Valentine’s Day. It’s actually a reverse-tri, so we run then bike then swim. Who knew! Not sure how the swim is going to work since it will be in a what I’m sure will become a very crowded pool.

I’m off to Arizona for a conference… I better find some time to train!