So I have not trained much lately. However, my excellent excuse is that I have been sick. I caught a cold from my favorite kid in the whole world. It is a small price to pay to spend time with such a great kid. She’s two and adorable and brings much joy to my world. Alas, the cold went into my chest and I dared not risk it turning into bronchitis. I have a friend who is a triathlete that got pneumonia because she trained when she had a chest cold. So I’m a bit paranoid now. It is clearing up nicely and I’m feeling rested. I think that means that I’m ready to get back into it. I’m going to swim on Friday and be back on the wagon over the weekend.

In other news, I made a really great discovery today. According to my online calculator of my menstrual cycles, I will not be flowing during Ironman! Not even close! This is very good news. I have only raced once while it was happening and it was just not very pleasant. It’s just another logistic that needs to be taken care of. Luckily, it will not be a worry. I have heard of women getting the Depo shot to avoid it or taking birth control just to control their flow.  I am very thankful that I have not had a major race where this was necessary. I’m really looking forward to Ironman!

I like to plan my weeks and my workouts, but I also like to have some play with my schedule as well. I mean, if a really good social event comes up, I want to be able to go to it. If I feel really tired, I want to take my exhaustion seriously. If I have a neck headache, like I do today, I would like to be able to nurse it and take care of myself. However, it is important also to make sure that I get my workouts done. I have been using the Beginner Triathlon log to keep track of what I have been doing. Also, I have decided to put on my Planned Workouts as well!

The internet can be helpful like that. It’s kind of like if I put it on the internet, then it must be done! Also, it makes me plan my week a little better. I have to look through my workouts thoroughly and really think about what it will be like to do them. This is important to me and doing my training, it seems. I like repeating workouts because I know what it will feel like to do them.

This morning I was in the pool with my training buddies and we were talking about the half marathon race coming up this weekend. It dawned on me when I did the 10K that I was going to do a half marathon and I was not ready! No, I was not.

To be honest, I was not in my right mind when I signed up for the race. My mental health has made life a bit of a struggle for me over the past few month. However, I had an up-swing and signed up for both the 10K and the half in the same day (the races are on different days). It wasn’t until after that I realized what I had done – I was not trained and I was not consistently training due to the swings. I’m on an online forum for people with bipolar disorder (I have not yet been formally diagnosed) and listed “sign up for running races” as one of the things not to do when in a manic state of mind. Mine was very mild compared to a lot of people’s examples, but to me at this moment, it feels pretty huge.

So here I am faced with the fact that in 4 days I will be racing my second running race this year. Last year I ran my first one… and here I am running two in one month! I have talked to my coach and we are using it as a training run. If I feel good, I will push it, but there really is no reason for me to push it at this point in time.

Anyway, I digress. So this morning I made a comment about how I’d love to be a faster runner. My training partner remarks something to the effect that I don’t push myself in running, which is why I am not faster. This really made me think while doing my laps. Did I really not push myself? Was I afraid of pushing myself? Then it dawned on me: I’m afraid of injuring myself. Last year I had an injury that seemed endless – the knee pain that just wouldn’t go away and was actually caused by my new dog. I have had many running-related injuries like that over my 6+ years as a triathlete. It is stressful, upsetting, annoying, draining, depressing, and painful to be injured like that for months at a time. The injuries usually occur at a time when I am increasing intensity and/or distance in my running. In the past many years, I have had heel spurs,  stress fractures, runner’s knee, hip flexor pain, and ankle pain. I have spent very little time as a triathlete with no running injury. This has formed into a fear of injury for me. It is sad and it sucks, but my sub-conscious is a very strong part of me. It controls me more than I would like.

My training buddy and massage therapist thinks that it is all connected with my lower back imbalance. There is really only one thing that I have not consistently worked on in my training and that is strength training. I have come to this conclusion before. I think that I have made a good enough case to give it a try. My coach is going to help me out with all of this as well. He’s awesome!

Last night I started to fade very quickly around 8:00. I knew that today would not be easy. Oh, how I underestimated myself! It’s all great to write a race report RIGHT AFTER THE RACE, but the next day when the DOMS (ie. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) starts to set in and I realize that maybe I didn’t have as much left in my legs after all, the whole experience has become a lot less rosy. I awoke without much problem, but as soon as I moved, I had shooting pains up from my upper back and neck into my head. “Boom boom boom,” was my heart beating into my temples. I felt like I was going to fall over. Then I went to the bathroom and discovered my sore calves and shin (oh, just the left one is sore). I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t due to the pain that was radiating throughout my body. Yes, maybe I’m over-exaggerating because I’m still in the hell of my own making and tomorrow it won’t be so bad. I can’t help but wonder why, oh why, do I choose to do this to myself? Maybe it’s for the love of sports, the love of the competition, or the love of the pain. Whatever it is, I know I will remember it in a few days. Right now, I can only kick myself and wonder how I am POSSIBLY going to run twice that distanced (plus some) in under two weeks from now. I can’t even think about it right now. If I do, I will likely unregister myself.

What I have been doing today is drinking a LOT of water. I believe that a lot of this is due to lack of hydration and salts from yesterday. I have been taking a lot of Vitamin C and eating salty foods. I have been icing the parts that hurt, especially my calf. It seems to have helped that, but my neck is still killer sore and occasionally radiates into my head. Even ibruprofen has had only a minimal effect on the pain.

This is nothing compared to the pain after Ironman, but it has reminded me of that pain. This scares the crap out of me. It reminds me that I must train harder. If I train harder, the pain will be less after Ironman. The small amounts of pain that I will have to go through in my workouts will help to reduce the pain after Ironman. Oh yes, I needed this kick in the ass. I needed it badly.

Also, I uploaded my Garmin. I have attached the image below. Apparently I ran most of the race in HR zone 4. No wonder I hurt!

This afternoon I ran my first 1okm race ever. Last spring I participated in my first running race ever. Running has never been my strong leg in a triathlon and races generally inspire me to get better. So I thought I’d sign up for a few races to try to inspire myself to get going with the running. As long as I stay injury-free, I’m happy.

Side note: I haven’t checked my Garmin yet, so all of this is based on how I felt.

The race started out pretty good. The start of a run is so different from a triathlon… it’s so anti-climactic. During a triathlon, at the start you are preparing yourself for the washing machine of arms and splashing. Basically, you are preparing yourself to not breathe with any regularity for several minutes as you try to find a spot that doesn’t have other people’s arms or legs taking it up. With a running race, basically we all try not to go out too hard. At least, that’s what I try not to do. As people pass me or whatever, I really have to stop my competitive edge from kicking in to speed up and not let them pass. Actually, today’s race started pretty good. I felt pretty good in the first couple of kilometres. Around 4km in, I had the most horrible side cramp I’ve ever had. I actually stopped and doubled over in pain. Luckily, just bending over and letting the cramp have its way for a moment worked like a charm. I’ll have to remember that for the future. After that, I was generally uncomfortable for the next 4km, but there was no real pain anywhere.

Pain is really so relative and tricky. It is the body’s way of saying, “Oh, please stop.” I really wanted to stop. I did walk a couple of times in the last 5km, but just for a little bit. I played leap frog with a number of other runners. It was pretty funny, actually. I tried to talk to a couple of them, but they just wanted to go on ahead. I can’t say that I didn’t feel a sense of satisfaction when I passed them for the last time at the 1km point. The last 2km felt the best. I felt like I could go at that pace for a lot longer, but I was glad that I didn’t have to. I powered up the Broadway Bridge easily and sprinted at the end. I was a little mad at myself, actually, because I had a lot left in my legs and wished that I would have broken the 1-hour mark. However, I only felt like I had a lot left in the last 2km. It is obvious that I’m training for longer distances. Perhaps I can hold that pace for the half marathon coming up in a couple of weeks. I would be very happy with a 2-hour time (my PB is 2:14).

After the race, I went back on my bike to find my training buddies who were doing the half marathon. They were both struggling. Hopefully I provided them with some good encouragement. It was a small race so there weren’t a lot of spectators out cheering. Moral support is very important for athletes – friends and family of athletes should take note. We love to see you out there!

All-in-all, I had a really good race. I have had no knee pain for a while now and I am starting to really love running again. Isn’t it funny how not being injured will do that? I am very happy with my 1:05 finish. It will be interesting to see how my half marathon time is in two weeks.

OH MY GOSH! I almost forgot! The weather was AMAZING today! It was +2C this afternoon. It is the warmest day it’s been in a while. Everyone was over-dressed and we all were stripping down after a few km. It made me wish that I had trained on the treadmill because running outside in really cold weather is just not the same as running in this. Actually, it was pretty slushy as well, making the run a bit of a slog. I won’t complain, though, you basically can’t ask for a better day in Saskatchewan in the beginning of February! Hooray for great weather!

Today I get to add another first to my list of “things I have done.” Today I am running my first 10km race. It’s true, I have never run a 10k race before. I have run a half marathon before, which was my only running-only race. However, I have run a marathon during Ironman. But this is my first 10k. I’m pretty excited to see how it goes. It is actually kind of a warm-up race for the half marathon that I’m doing in a couple of weeks. So my Garmin is all charged up and ready to go; my race gear is ready and my body feels all right. My left foot it still bothering me a bit, but I’ve been working on the trigger points over the past few days. Hopefully it doesn’t hurt me too badly during the race. I’ll definitely give a post-race report. Wish me luck!

This year’s season is starting a bit earlier than I’m used to Feb. 8th will be my first race. As I mentioned in my last post, I signed up for a 10km run in a race called The Brain Freeze. The name says it all. However, it looks like the weather will be very nice and I’m looking forward to a good run. I’m using this race as a training day. I think I’m going to learn how to [properly] use my Garmin so that I can “race” myself later doing a 10km in my training. Also, it’ll be a good precursor to my half marathon on Feb. 22nd (a race called The Hypothermic Half). Normally, at this time of year it is very cold here in Saskatoon. However, this year we have had a fairly warm January and February (so far). I doubt if it will continue, but I’m taking full advantage of it.

This morning I went for a nice 4.5km run with my puppy and enjoyed the balmy -8C temperatures. I’m having a bit of foot pain in my left arch, but I’m hoping to get that worked out soon enough. I’m going to self-massage to see if I can find it and also ice the crap out of it. I am on a strict massage and chiropractor regiment for the next little while as I ramp up into training again. I love my health support team. I just wish I could figure out how I could get paid for doing my hobby without having to wreck my body.

I’ve been pretty good about logging my workouts, which is cool. Beginner Triathlete isn’t the easiest website to figure out, but it works pretty well. I’m hoping to get some biking and climbing in this weekend as well as the run. I’ll make sure to log it!

I should try to find more interesting things to write in here other than just my training. I’ll work on that for the next update!