Proceed with caution....

This is how I am handling my foray back into training. Very cautiously. After doing pretty much nothing for the past week, I got back in the pool yesterday. Ahh....how quickly one loses any semblance of swimming shape. So sad. I felt slow, and as if my arms were slipping the entire time. In other words, I felt like I had no feel or catch in the water. But it was a gorgeous day, I was outside, the sun was shining, and I didn't need narcotics for pain, so in all a good work out.

The only thing that was a little bothersome was the lovely, mouth-watering BBQ scent wafting over the pool. It was lunchtime when I swam and the pool is right behind Armadillo Willy's, a burger/ribs/BBQ type place. Oh that smelled nice. Such a tease while you're swimming. I held strong though and drove home for my recovery cliff bar and glass of milk!

Molly has bought a TRX and offered to let me borrow it from time to time. So last night was my first training session. It went pretty well. I like it. It didn't hurt my healing bits, which was a big bonus. I only did one set of everything. Just to get the hang of things. I am happy to report I did not fall flat on my face or hang myself up in the straps. This, I am to understand, is quite an accomplishment! Of course, there is always next time...

I am quite sore today. I like being sore in places you forgot you had muscles. It's nice. I am not so sore that I can't function or am reaching for the advil, but just some tenderness. And yes, those atomic crunches are evil. Wow.

I am certainly not 100% on the healing front. This week is swimming and running, I cannot get back on my bike for another week at least. This gives me a chance to get my bike serviced, the new Adamo saddle installed, and what ever else I choose to have done to it. So that's good. Spa day for the bike.

I had to skip the 10K last Sunday, which was fine, I was bummed, but I really don't think it would have been a good idea to race. Then I heard it was really quite hilly, and I was secretly glad I didn't race =). My next race is the Vineman Showdown on April 17th, I am excited for this race, I went last year as a spectator, and I rode the bike course. So I am looking forward to actually racing. Gotta rent a wetsuit though...

I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words regarding my Grandmother. She is currently in rehab and apparently doing better everyday. The plan is to have her come home the first week of April. Her speech and language are both intact, and she continues to gain more strength on her left side. They will have a hoyer lift in the house to help her get in and out of bed, which is fabulous for my 89year old Grandfather's back. So far my brother and parents have both visited (my grandparents live in Colorado) and my brother will go out to help again after she gets home. It sounds like she's getting pretty decent care in rehab, so that is always a bonus.

Well, that's all from around here. The sun continues to shine, and it truly feels like Spring has sprung. Sure hope it stays that way!

Happy Training!!

Bed Rest

No, I am not pregnant. That would make this bed rest thing a little bit easier to swallow. That's right, I am out of commission for a little while. Without going into TMI territory, let's just say I am suffering from a condition which prevents me from sitting on a bike (or sitting on much of anything for that matter), running, swimming, or (according to my doctor) working for a few days.

The bed rest just began yesterday, and should be over tomorrow. I hope anyway. The resting though has to go on a bit longer. So training peaks and I won't be sharing any information for a few more days at least. I am pretty bummed as I was looking forward to nailing my second 10K this weekend. But alas, that is not going to happen.

Training has been going well. I was having a bit of a blah period, but I got through it and just did the workouts. That's the great part about having a coach, they do the thinking for you when it comes to creating workouts, and all I have to do is work hard and follow the plan. I like that.

Of course, now that I can't workout, I miss it immensely. It doesn't help that Spring has decided to visit the Bay Area. The sun is smiling, the wind seems quiet, and it is a nice 70ish outside. Hopefully, when I can get back into things, the weather will still be nice!

In other news, I met with an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) doctor and we decided that Sinus Surgery would be a good idea. So May 18th is the fateful day for my recalcitrant nasal passageways. Hopefully this will mean no more Augmentin for a long, long time.

Well that's all I got. Luckily there are many shows for me to watch through the miracle that is Comcast OnDemand. So I guess that's where I will be for a while longer.....

Happy Spring and Happy Training!

"Laundry day tomorrow, nothing clean right?"

This is a quote from one of my favorite moves, Terminator. That about sums up my day for today...I am home today, cleaning and doing laundry. Between working at the hospital and triathlon training, I have noticed my laundry needs have shot up quite a bit. It's worth it though, as I like having all my clothes to chose from before work/work out.

Last week wasn't especially the best, from a personal stand point. My grandmother turned 90 on 2/22 and then had a stroke that night. The initial information I received had me looking into arrangements to fly out for a very sad event. It turned out, after speaking to her nurse, that things weren't quite as bleak as they had made things out to be. She's still able to talk, but suffers from weakness on her left side and some swallowing issues. She had had a wonderful birthday up to the stroke, lots of dinners with friends and general things to make her feel loved. So I guess, whatever happens, she knows how much she means to people. After a week in the hospital, she was moved to a Skilled Nursing Facility, where they will work on her rehab. Hopefully she will regain some use again of her left side, but she wasn't extremely healthy to begin with, so it's very hard to tell. She continues to have her sense of humor and is joking with the nurses, so as long as she's happy, there's not much more I can ask for.

Last week was a rest week as well, and I took full advantage of it. Having a rest week the same week I work 4 days in a row is fabulous. I made it to yoga, twice. This meant I cried, twice, due to some very angry hip adductors. Oh well, I guess I really needed it!

I got back into the pool for the first time in 2 weeks and it wasn't too horrible. I swam in a faster lane and made some decent intervals. Now if I can stave off the sinus infections for a while, I should be golden.

Speaking of golden, I woke up after 4 hours of sleep on Sunday so I could watch the US v. Canada hockey game live. There was no way I was going to watch it on our DVR and potentially get spoiled. It was a wonderful, exciting game. I wasn't too sad that the United States lost, I felt they played exceptionally and had nothing to hang their heads for. I thought it was pretty special that the Canadian fans gave goalie Ryan Miller his due when he received his medal. The only thing I wished could have been different (besides US winning) would have been for somebody else, anybody else (like someone with the last name of Thornton, Marleau, Boyle or Heatley) scoring the final goal for Canada instead of Sydney Crosby.

Thanks to Molly, I was priveldged enough to go to the first home game post Olympic break for the Sharks last night. Lo and behold, they had their medals on display for the fans:


Please ignore the cell phone in the way of Boyle's jersey. There were lots of people pushing and I wanted to get my picture as quickly as possible.

Anyway, after the game, I still had a tough bike trainer work out to do as well as eat, get a nap in, and go back to work! I got it all done, even with a two hour nap. I was fine at work, but boy, did I pay for that on Monday. I woke up to swim at noon and my body told me in no uncertain terms, that we would be staying in bed. I didn't argue. Just meant I got to swim and run some fun Z4 intervals yesterday =).

Finally, I just have to say, I am really enjoying running right now. Hard to believe really. But I just like the simplicity of it. What I mean is this: very simple to get dressed, put your running shoes on and go. I am sure I will start enjoying swimming and biking more when the sun returns, but for right now, I look forward to my runs no matter what the weather is like outside. Weird...

This week I have two big bricks. I decided to do one of them tomorrow because the forecast is calling for sun instead of today's torrential rains and thunder (no sniggering from anyone west of Nevada =>). It is safer to ride in the sun instead of the rain. May I remind you that California drivers = crazy.

At any rate I am looking forward to both of them! Whee!

Happy Training!

Um, where did February go?

Well, another week is in the bank. As weeks go, it was okay. I still missed some swimming due to questionable sinus issues. Tomorrow I go back for the first time in two weeks. It is a good thing that swimming is probably my strongest of the three disciplines. It will not be fun to make up the losses from missing two weeks, but it won't be too terrible.

I had a wonderful run in the hills near my house on Wednesday before I went back to work. It was a beautiful, sunny day. It is a nice open space, but I always worry about the potential mountain lion that could be lurking around. As such, I looked up in the trees a lot as I made my way down the trail. In all I ran about 5 miles that day. I had been on this course multiple times, but I never knew the actual distance. This would explain why I was always sore after walking it. It was also the first time I attempted to run the course. In all it was a good training run, and I can now saw my running shoes are past the stark-white stage.

The biggest workout on my list last week was a bike/run brick. I kept switching around the day I was going to do it due to work schedule and then the weather. But I finally did it today. I was glad I waited. Yesterday was raining, today was glorious. I was pretty angry with myself for not bringing my camera along because it was so clear today, you could see forever. The hills are all a wonderful green and everything smells good - the jasmine is beginning to blossom (my favorite) and the plum trees seem to think it is time to be in full bloom. So I can't complain.

I also can't complain because I watched probably one of the best hockey games I have ever seen last night: USA v. Canada. Yes it was on MSNBC, and yes, it was not in HD (grumble grumble). We will not delve into the fact that I think the bigwigs at NBC are a bunch of morons. It was an exciting, nail-biter of a game, and I loved every minute of it! I was a little conflicted though as many of my favorite San Jose Sharks (save Swede Douglas Murray and American Joe Pavelski) play for Canada. I did laugh at Brodeur so I guess that's something. I do hope Canada beats Germany tomorrow, otherwise the entire country might go into mourning.

March is quickly approaching (what? when? how?) and I find the time is running out for me to make a ski trip up to Tahoe. I have been itching to go now that I know my legs are in MUCH better shape and (probably) won't give out on the slopes. Last time I went skiing, my mind was willing but my legs just quit working and I had a huge classic Bode Miller moment where I almost fell (there would have been broken bones for sure). This caused me to go out and buy a helmet. There's a lot of snow up there though, my trip may have to wait until April...but then I get to ski in short sleeves. So we'll see.

In the meantime, now that my big brick is over, I am looking forward to "rest week". Especially since the "talking heads" (as my 89 year old Grandfather refers to them) are predicting more rain this week.

A week(ish) in review

First of all, thank you to everyone who posted all the nice comments regarding my 10K. I really appreciated it!

Last week was fairly low key. I felt surprisingly good after the 10k, and I credit the dip in my cold pool for that one. I would much rather blame the Superbowl party fare I consumed post-race, but I don't think that counts!

Sinus-wise, I was a mess. My doctor started me on Augmentin and I have an appointment with an ENT on March 1st. So we'll see where that goes. The Augmentin helped me pretty quickly, but I still had to miss work Monday night. A little switching in my work schedule ended up giving me 8 days off in a row, which was great to help me recover.

So I ended up skipping the swims last week, but I was able to get all my other workouts in, including a "hilly" brick. Wow, my legs felt like concrete on the run after riding in the hills. The weather only sprinkled on me a bit, which was a nice change. I took a little dip in the ice bath/pool afterward and that made things better. Of course, I convinced myself the best way to stand in the pool would be by sipping a hot chocolate from Peet's, which I did. As soon as I was done drinking, I was out of the pool!

Sunday was a nice flat run on the Los Alamitos trail near where I live. There were a ton of people out on the trail; families and couples enjoying their Valentine's Day. I celebrating by running almost 5 miles. I was angry with myself for not looking down at my mileage when I turned around - because I could have gone just a bit farther to make it an even 5! I felt pretty good though and can't believe I can run that far for that long without my knees or ankles hurting. It's nice.

This week is more of the same. Some hilly running (that should be interesting). A brick on Saturday which I will be dragging David along for so we can go somewhere a bit further out (I don't really relish riding alone). Some swimming as well.

Oh yeah, and a few days of work thrown in there for good measure!

First 10K..ever

Well, I am not sure what made me sick. It could have been the ride I did in the rain on Thursday (likely) or one of my patients at work (also likely). Either way, I woke up Friday morning with a familiar feeling in my nose - congestion. I have all the prophylactics available (sinus rinse, nasal spray, decongestant), but they never seem to work. If I get a sniffle, it turns into a sinus infection, even if the sniffle was merely from the common cold.

I saw an ENT for this once, and after looking at my CT scan, he said he wasn't sure if surgery would help me. Then I read Marit's post yesterday and decided to email my PCP and get a referral to see a different ENT. I am so tired of getting sinus infections, it is not even funny. I got a sniffle at the beginning of December and decided to try and fight it off. I failed, miserably. By the middle of the month I had resorted to taking my first Vicodin ever for my sinus pressure and ended up on 2 weeks worse of Augmentin (which did other bad things to me - but at least I could breathe!).

I probably should have skipped my swim yesterday, as this tends to anger the nasal passages, but I hate missing work outs. So I swam anyway. The rest of the day was spent sneezing and just hating my nose in general, even though the rest of me felt fine.

I knew today's run wouldn't be an issue as running releases so many endorphins, it is a natural way to clear your sinuses, until the run is over, in which case all the pain and stuffiness comes back.

Anyway, suffice to say, I was quite stuffy today for my run. But I didn't care, I was going to run.
David was coming along for today's trip, so we both got up at 6am and after making some coffee and eating some oatmeal, we were on the road by 6:40am.

It was a gorgeous day in Santa Cruz. The sun was shining (?), there was a slight breeze, and it was just beautiful. Parking wasn't an issue and we were checked in at least an hour before our race. We saw Molly and her family right away and I picked her brain about what was going to go on in this race, being that it was my first running race. Swim meets I understand, running - not so much.

For one thing, I ended up dressing too warm. I had on my new warm leggings, my under armor long sleeved top, and a light rain/windbreaker. After my warm up, I took off the under armor and just ran in my sports bra and windbreaker. Honestly though, I could have worn shorts. I would have been fine through the run, but cold at the end. Maybe next time.

David and me - pre-race.



After watching the 3K run go off, I decided we should start near the back. There was no way I was going to fight with all those people, and I wanted to find my own pace, not having to worry about anyone else.

At 8:30 we were all in the street, and they sent us off! David and I did stay near the rear, and still there were many people who passed me through out the race. I did have my Garmin on, but I only set it for distance and I didn't glance down at it once. They had volunteers at every mile marker telling you the running time anyway, so I was able to figure out my pace from them. My goal was to do 10 min miles, and finish as close to an hour as possible. This was a goal I made for myself, I just was really curious to see if I could actually hold this pace, and wondered what it would feel like. Oh and as Coach said - GO HARD.

The course was beautiful, winding out to the ocean and running along the cliffs. It was a little more "hilly" than I had thought it would be. I decided I would try and hold a steady pace to the turn around and see if I could pick it up a bit on the way back. I don't believe I was able to negative split, but I did hold a really steady pace and heart rate, so I was happy. I was also able to run the entire time, no walking whatsoever, so that was a huge accomplishment for me as well.

The finish line looked SOOOOOO far away on the final stretch home. I did try my best to sprint the last 50 Meters or so, which hurt and brought me very close to puking. But throughout the run, my legs felt good, my knees and ankle didn't bother me (they are unhappy now...), and I felt like this was something I could do again.

Here is a picture of us, after the race:


At the finish, we met up with friends, took pictures, and watched the award ceremony (Molly won our AG =>).

Here is one of me and Molly, aka "the Champion of our age-group" It was pretty funny when I asked her how she did and she responded "I won our age group?" Very proud, must be all that hot chocolate =):


Once we got home, I convinced David it would be a good idea to get into our pool at least up to our thighs. Our pool is currently 40 degrees. This is as close to an ice bath as you will see me get.

I got in slowly, just dipping my ankles in first:

David just walked straight in, which caused this face:

I then moved over to the steps, getting my legs in slowly, and all the way past my knees. I took the pictures as proof that I did indeed get in my unheated pool, in February.


After 10 minutes or so, I got out and put my happy pink compression socks on. I didn't want to take a shower right away and mess up all that icing! So I just got off my legs.

Later on, we went to a family friend's house for the Superbowl. We used to go their house as kids for great Superbowl parties, and they wanted to restart the tradition this year. It had been at least 20 years since I spent a Superbowl with this family and I think we all enjoyed ourselves. I am sure I did not eat the appropriate "post-race" food. But oh well, it was yummy. We had a great time, even if David spent the majority of the time on the couch with ice on his knee.

So now this week's goals have to do with getting some antibiotics as soon as possible, rolling out my legs and maybe another dip in the cold pool. All in all, I was pretty happy with my race today - and it was fun to be competitive again, even if I was just racing the clock. I was happy to keep my pace somewhat consistent, so that I can begin to learn what that feels like.

My next 10k is in a little over a month, and I am looking forward to racing it even faster, and sinus infection-free.

Here's to a great week!!!

Soggy

Soggy. Wet. Drenched. That was me after my 1:40 hr bike ride yesterday.

It wasn't raining when I started, but it was windy. A check of the good old Doppler Radar made it look as if rain was imminent, so I decided it would be a good day to try out my new rain jacket.

Within the first 5 minutes of my ride, it started raining. A light drizzle at first, turning into full on downpours. I was also riding into a head wind which made life interesting as well. Luckily, the roads were all pretty clear of debris due to the fact it hadn't rained in a few days.

Of course, I didn't wear my shoe protectors for this ride. Not a smart move. About 40 minutes into the ride I think I had added an extra five pounds to my bike from my shoes. It felt as if I had put both of my feet into a puddle up to my ankles. Very interesting feeling to pedal through slushy socks. I won't forget those next time.

During my ride I thought about many things. First, I contemplated what I was going to buy the next time I went to Sports Basement: cold weather cycling gloves and a back fender for my tire to prevent the dirt spray up my back. Second I wondered, many times, if I should just head for home and continue my ride on my trainer. But each time, I would remind myself what an incredible mess that would make in my office with all the mud and dirt from my bike, so I kept riding. Oh, and that I was tired of my trainer. I also wondered if there are waterproof legwarmers or cycling leggings, because my legs were drenched.

My legs pretty much felt like crap the first 40 minutes into my ride. The 45 minute track work out from the previous day probably had something to do with it. By the end, the lactic acid had been worked out and they felt okay. Even riding into the headwind which I faced for the last 10 minutes or so.

I also learned something interesting about tail winds. Tail winds are great. It's very nice to be going 20 mph and be in Zone 1. It's fabulous. Too bad I needed to not be in Zone 1. Which meant I had to pedal harder. Bummer. Actually I normally wouldn't have mind, but it was so wet out, that I was hesitant to push on that surface. So I just let Garmin beep at me, and figured it would all even out when I faced the headwind again!

Once I got home I realized my core stayed very dry. So the new jacket = good. My legs were another story. They were cold. I might as well have jumped into my pool with my bike shorts and leggings on. So this may be a work in progress to keep my legs dry and warm. I fear it may be a losing battle, however.

Rest Day today. I really wanted to get out of the house and do some yoga and shopping. However my landlord has contractors here replacing the cabinets and counter top in my 35+ year old never been updated bathroom due to termite damage. So I guess I will be here for the day. No complaints though. Rest day = good.

Tomorrow is a swim (let's hope those fin people behave) and then the run on Sunday. The weather people are saying it should be rain free, and I am looking forward to suffering next to the beautiful ocean.