Sunday, February 27, 2011

First injury

It had to happen sometime ...my first injury. I'm not talking a scratch or a bruise ...plenty of those from mountain biking last year.
I'm talking level 2, something that pulls, pops, tears....
Level 3 is a broken bone which I'm glad to not have had in my life, and hoping to keep it that way.


So a level 2 injury scare for me. After the half marathon I expected some tiredness and aches and pains, especially with the knee pain that arose in the race. However it was still there 1 week later and while the training group joined up for the Saturday bike ride, I stayed at home and rested it up.

My mental state went through worry, desperation, sadness, fake hope and determination, and of course the restless boredom when you can't be as active.

I improvised quickly and focused on strength - pilots, yoga, weights....and then heard about Aqua Jogging or Deep Water Exercise.


My exposure to this is of seeing blue rinsed ladies in the swimming pool chattering away with the odd movement involved...how was this going to help me???

Coach Julie assured me that it works, and a quick lesson with her and some video clips got me feeling more hopeful.

So it's been over 2 weeks now and have to say I'm not really in a "groove" yet and definitely more lonely as can't be part of the group rides yet, but overall see this as an opportunity to learn about injuries and mental motivation.

Oh. And I'm learning about physical therapy (PT). Done 2 sessions and definitely feel the difference...so very hopeful I'll be good for Wildflower.

Woo hoo


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Saturday, February 12, 2011

The day before the Half Marathon....

Well tomorrow is the first major step in my Ironman year. I am running a half marathon for the first time in my life.

It's been a heck of a week at work with little time to think or feel or do anything than just deal with work. The details I leave here for memories are Tax Season, IRS, and Late legislation. I've done likely 100 hours of work in the past 7 days with my mental breaking point being challenged over and over again. But I'd just breathe and keep going. I suppose this is a good mental training point for my half marathon on Sunday.



I took the notion of taper and let it be ok that I did little this week...6 mile run Sunday, 30 mins elliptical and strength on Tuesday, and 3 mile treadmill run with strength on Wed. As I type it out it seems reasonable, but man my weekly focus and excitement of the new workouts I'd do were not there...guess that is the point of tapering.

I thought about the race often and instead of my usual nervousness about it I let myself feel excited about it and confident that I can do it. I've let myself off the hook of some goal time, or doing it faster than others in my training group. I'm simply there to have said....it's possible...and you can have fun too. Also to be ready for challenges that are faced....the unexpected things that always occur from forgetting a piece of equipment or weather or your mind.

So my general plan is to start at a 12 minute pace and keep to that for the first half of the race. Try and keep running the whole time. If I need to slow down, then go ahead and slow down but in a manner that would still be called running. I'll be wearing my fuel belt, of which I drink my Accelerade punch flavor mixed with Robinsons Orange Cordial (a British treat I carry in my life), of which I will take a drink from this every 1 mile. Drink water from the aid stations when I need it, and to take 1 GU at the 1 hour mark and 2 hour mark.

To combat my mindset or the inevitable "you can't do this mindset" I am looking to focus on what will be around me. Take a look at the houses I pass and wonder about the person there. Enjoy the beauty of nature...from the trees and the greenness of the grass...and the lake. Smile at the people next to me and make comments that encourage them on like "you look great 423" or "what a lovely morning".

This is my plan....with my ability to adjust and deal with the unexpected.

So for the rest of the day I'm focusing on just being calm, ignoring work, planning what I'll wear, taking the dog to the beach and enjoying the barks he makes at the waves.


Simple things for a simple calm mind.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

50 miles and the Comparison of PCH vs Wildflower

Hooray for me for the first 50 miles on the bike. I have to say it felt easy. Yes, here I am saying it was not hard to do 50 miles on a bike. I'm thinking I might regret saying that in the future, but for now, it's typed and written so out in the open.

So it was our lovely Saturday group ride today; a 4 hour bike ride on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) which is actually a really lovely ride. Seeing the ocean and the waves and surfers is just a wonderful inspiration of nature and it's effects it has on people like me that choose to explore it through means of running, hiking, biking, kayaking etc...

We got a chance to climb one of the famous hills of San Diego....Torrey Pines hill climb. There are 2 ways up, the short and steep road or the less steep but longer way up. Today we chose the less steep route. It looks like this picture below.


It was fun to climb it. I was slow of course at a wonderful average of 7 mph...yes that's right. One of our groupers, Steve, is great at hills. He decided to visit the restroom while we started the hill and then came up to chase us and caught every single one. Nice! Something to look forward to gaining mad skills on in the future.

At the top, our coach and fearless leader says "if you got this hill then Wildflower is no problem". I'm definitely nervous about doing the Half Ironman distance at Wildflower because every time I mention it to someone they go "woah, that is a HARD course".  Even the wildflower website says "The course is 56 miles long and is considered relatively difficult". 
A confidence crushing for a newbie! So I'm looking to get lots of hill experience in until April.

There is a big hill in Wildflower towards the back end of the bike as well. So I pulled the elevation charts from today's ride and from Wildflower for a comparison.

PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) - Torrey Pines Hill at Mile 40

Wildflower Long Bike Course - Big Hill at Mile 40

Hmmm...there is a difference here to what Coach Julie said....the PCH had a 450 ft elevation over 2 miles and Wildflower has a 1000 elevation over 5 miles. There's a little difference there...

More hill training coming up!