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!

“When does your season start?” my chiropractor asked.
“Ummm… last Sunday….” I answered.
“No, you’re triathlon season.”
“Oh. Mid-June.”
“You’re not ready. Your lungs might be ready, but your back is not ready. Your body isn’t ready.”
“I thought not,” I replied.

On Sunday I ran a half marathon, my first running race of my life (other than in junior high school when I ran a 1500m race). It was a great race, but I really wasn’t ready. I knew I wasn’t ready and I knew I wasn’t going to be ready, but I did it anyway. My time was just under 2:19, which was all right. I averaged 6.30 min/km… not a bad pace for not training.

Pros: I got to run on a really awesome course in perfect weather, I now know what it feels like to <i>just</i> run without swimming and biking first, and I got to see lots of people that I know from the running crowd.

Cons: I started hurting 8km into the race: my right IT-band and my left foot. That’s really all that was negative about the experience.

Where do I go from here: I am getting back on the yoga wagon – more stretching and holding stretches for longer. I’m also going to be doing some more running. I am definitely not ready for the half Ironman right now.

Tomorrow I have a two-hour massage to help work out some of the kinks. My chiro wants me to torture myself by massaging my IT-bands with a frozen water bottle (a good trick, but it’s going to hurt so much!). I go back on Friday. The race on June 15th is a local event that will be a good intro to the season. I’m taking it easy this week and then it’s back to the training next week. I wish my coach would send me my schedule.

I honestly can’t believe that it has been 7 weeks since Ironman. The time has flown by! I have spent much time with my family and friends. I’ve been doing yoga like nobody’s business and I’ve been getting [almost] weekly massages and chiropractor adjustments. Between all of that, my back is feeling almost 100%! My feet, on the other hand, are not.

Yesterday I saw a sport doctor about some pain that I’ve been having in my left foot. Almost 4 years ago I had a stress fracture in my right foot that put me on the running sidelines for almost 4 months. It was super stressful for me because I had no idea what it was and I kept running on it thinking that I could push through it. However, now that I’m a much more experienced athlete, I know the difference between pain you can push through and pain that you should pay attention to. This is pain that I need to pay attention to. The pain started 3-4 weeks ago at the base of my little toe. Every time I accidentally bump it on something, a shooting pain goes through my toe and foot… like a needle. THIS is BAD pain. As of a couple of days ago, the more familiar feeling of pain at the ball of my foot has begun. I have not run in 5 weeks and I don’t plan to run until all of this pain stops. I’m not sure that I completely agree with the doc that it’s “just” a stress fracture. The 5th-toe pain seems very bad, but if it doesn’t get better in a couple of weeks I’m going to go to try to see a sports doctor that isn’t at the MediClinic.

I constantly have feet problems because I have ridiculously flat feet and big bunions (that are apparently hereditary and exacerbated by the fact that I used to figure skate). So I am going to do two things:
1) Talk to my doctor about my calcium levels (I just had a blood test to test my vitamins, minerals, cholesterol, and all that good stuff) and then take those results to my naturopath and see what she thinks;
2) Get a referral to an orthopedic doctor to probably get orthodics for my shoes. Since I have stellar health insurance, pretty much all of it will be covered.

So this morning, in light of my feet problems, I decided to drown my sorrows in a 40-minute yoga session and then a good half-hour in the pool (it’s a start, anyway!). It feels good to get back into the pool and be active. Since Luke’s schedule has changed, I am going to do the Master’s swim club again until December and see where it goes from there. I hope to swim 3 times a week, bike 2 times a week (in addition to biking to work), and do yoga 4 times a week. I’m just absolutely loving the flexibility that yoga gives me and how I feel so grounded and calm afterwards.

In terms of nutrition, I’m [obviously] more conscious of my calcium intake and I’m going to look in my nutrition books about high sources of calcium and absorption inhibitors. For a while after Ironman I tried to eat mostly raw foods, but I kind of gave up. It is REALLY hard to do! Way harder than going vegan. I know that I wouldn’t have a problem if I was in a bubble and I never socialized with people and I didn’t live with someone else and I never ate with anyone but myself. However, this is not my reality. Also, I live in a climate that is cold for 6 out of 12 months. I do believe that it is probably a healthier choice, but I think I’m going to aim right now to being 25% vegan and eat more salads and experiment with raw food recipes. Until then, I’m going to enjoy pasta with tofu, chickpea curries, quinoa (the super food!), pizza, and all of the cooked foods that I previously took for granted.