Finally.....yes I did it. Won my AG at this damn race! 5 years racing and I am thankful to have been on the podium the last 4 years but never in the coveted #1 spot. This was my year and yes, aging up has it's advantages. But let me digress......
Race Week..... well it was tough one. John was sick and come Monday I knew something was off. Cloudy head and scratchy throat- did an easy run and my IT Bands were to tight. KP did some painful ART and broke up a lot of what was clogging up my legs. Took a nap and headed to bed early hoping to awake whole again.
Nearly 11 hours of sleep and scratch and headache were hovering...that heaviness when I would breath and I was scared. I called out for help and was loading up on The Wellness Formula, a homeopathic immune system builder, Wish Garden Herbs which is some of the nastiest tasting drops you can fathom- when my bro in law said "think Fear Factor" he was spot on, Congaplex (thank to my neighbor who say my please for help) Now this one is fascinating as it's active ingredient is Bovine thymus Cytosol™The thymus is a lobular gland located under the breastbone near the thyroid gland of a calf -a homeopathic remedy to support and strengthen the entire immune system by nourishing the organs and
tissue systems that synergistically work together in the body's immune response. And of course Emergen C and Zinc. I was on overload but hoping for the best.
With each new product I would carefully read the label and then research each ingredient to make sure there was not some freakish banned substance amongst the roots and extracts. In any case I did an ez swim and run and felt ok.
Wednesday the fog was lifting....low grade headache remained and I had a nice ride and run. Legs were not popping....felt heavy and I was worried.
I was a head case....once again KP was there to talk me off the ledge, remind me of what I had done, take it day by day. It is also great to have such good friends- I was in touch with 4 of them all week and it seems the consensus was we were all a wreck, worried that we had trained too hard, started tapering too late or too early, not feeling the pop, avoiding reading what others were doing, our spouses were ready to kill us.....nice knowing that I am not the only head case race week! It is amazing I manged to effectively work each day.
Thursday my head was clear and I felt great swimming and running. The ride was still not there for me....but well it was going to be what it was going to be. I got registered, saw some good friends and continued to rest and sleep. Friday was the best day and I decided to take it off - I usually do a short swim.bike.run but just decided to lay low, rest and eventually had lunch with KP, Gordo and other athletes. Rockin Baja Lobster - avoided spicy food cut grilled Mahi Mahi and lots of guac seemed great pre race food. Riley had a game in the afternoon and team dinner at Souplantataion- I was planning to eat at home as I am wary of eating our pre-race, but well I was hungry and went for it. Stayed away from a massive salad- but did have some nice grilled chicken, corn bread- real treat, broccoli and corn and could not resist the dark chocolate frozen yogurt.
In bed by 8:30....and asleep my 9pm!
I paid attention to my meals all week...tapering is hard- less training means less food or you gain weight - which is not desirable race week. But your body takes longer to realize it needs less, so tapering also can mean being a bit hungry at times. My dinners each night were perfect- 2 nights Alaskan wild salmon with brussel sprouts and yams. Thursday night we had organic beef, broccoli, sugar snap peas and more yams. I am not a big carbo loader in the grains and pasta sense, I increase my carbs through more fruit, yams, corn etc. I must have eaten 20+ apples this week- Jimbos has the best Organic Jumbo Fuji's- really like candy, bags on cuties- extra Vit C and a few bananas come Thursday/Friday. As a family we had smoothies most mornings- blueberries, strawberries, stoneyfield vanilla yogurt and coconut water. A lot of people give up caffeine but I did that once and decided that changes race week are not good for me...there is enough going on. I do cut back to 50/50 decaf/regular and am careful not to have any after 4pm - sleep is priority race week. During big training I am not a big sweets eater so I carry that through taper time as well- keep any sugars to a minimum and avoid processed foods as much as possible.
Race Week..... well it was tough one. John was sick and come Monday I knew something was off. Cloudy head and scratchy throat- did an easy run and my IT Bands were to tight. KP did some painful ART and broke up a lot of what was clogging up my legs. Took a nap and headed to bed early hoping to awake whole again.
Nearly 11 hours of sleep and scratch and headache were hovering...that heaviness when I would breath and I was scared. I called out for help and was loading up on The Wellness Formula, a homeopathic immune system builder, Wish Garden Herbs which is some of the nastiest tasting drops you can fathom- when my bro in law said "think Fear Factor" he was spot on, Congaplex (thank to my neighbor who say my please for help) Now this one is fascinating as it's active ingredient is Bovine thymus Cytosol™The thymus is a lobular gland located under the breastbone near the thyroid gland of a calf -a homeopathic remedy to support and strengthen the entire immune system by nourishing the organs and
tissue systems that synergistically work together in the body's immune response. And of course Emergen C and Zinc. I was on overload but hoping for the best.
With each new product I would carefully read the label and then research each ingredient to make sure there was not some freakish banned substance amongst the roots and extracts. In any case I did an ez swim and run and felt ok.
Wednesday the fog was lifting....low grade headache remained and I had a nice ride and run. Legs were not popping....felt heavy and I was worried.
I was a head case....once again KP was there to talk me off the ledge, remind me of what I had done, take it day by day. It is also great to have such good friends- I was in touch with 4 of them all week and it seems the consensus was we were all a wreck, worried that we had trained too hard, started tapering too late or too early, not feeling the pop, avoiding reading what others were doing, our spouses were ready to kill us.....nice knowing that I am not the only head case race week! It is amazing I manged to effectively work each day.
Thursday my head was clear and I felt great swimming and running. The ride was still not there for me....but well it was going to be what it was going to be. I got registered, saw some good friends and continued to rest and sleep. Friday was the best day and I decided to take it off - I usually do a short swim.bike.run but just decided to lay low, rest and eventually had lunch with KP, Gordo and other athletes. Rockin Baja Lobster - avoided spicy food cut grilled Mahi Mahi and lots of guac seemed great pre race food. Riley had a game in the afternoon and team dinner at Souplantataion- I was planning to eat at home as I am wary of eating our pre-race, but well I was hungry and went for it. Stayed away from a massive salad- but did have some nice grilled chicken, corn bread- real treat, broccoli and corn and could not resist the dark chocolate frozen yogurt.
In bed by 8:30....and asleep my 9pm!
I paid attention to my meals all week...tapering is hard- less training means less food or you gain weight - which is not desirable race week. But your body takes longer to realize it needs less, so tapering also can mean being a bit hungry at times. My dinners each night were perfect- 2 nights Alaskan wild salmon with brussel sprouts and yams. Thursday night we had organic beef, broccoli, sugar snap peas and more yams. I am not a big carbo loader in the grains and pasta sense, I increase my carbs through more fruit, yams, corn etc. I must have eaten 20+ apples this week- Jimbos has the best Organic Jumbo Fuji's- really like candy, bags on cuties- extra Vit C and a few bananas come Thursday/Friday. As a family we had smoothies most mornings- blueberries, strawberries, stoneyfield vanilla yogurt and coconut water. A lot of people give up caffeine but I did that once and decided that changes race week are not good for me...there is enough going on. I do cut back to 50/50 decaf/regular and am careful not to have any after 4pm - sleep is priority race week. During big training I am not a big sweets eater so I carry that through taper time as well- keep any sugars to a minimum and avoid processed foods as much as possible.
Congrats again, Julie! And nice to know your legs actually will come back after the familiar sluggish no-pop full of lead feeling... ;)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!! great job.
ReplyDeleteFrom a pacwest boy that thankfully was not dropped by you (on the bike).. but that would have to use all his energy trying to catch up with you off the water.
See you in Kona!
congrats!! Awesome race :)
ReplyDelete