If you cannot run......ride your bike

Fck....yes.  I cannot believe that I cannot run YET due to my foot. Come on..... I have not run since 9/5 really.   I followed the proper surgery follow up, I did not push the exercise, I waited and waited....but I made one REALLY BIG mistake - Reef flip flops x tile floor x 3 days- really, really I am that fragile.  I have done 8 Ironman races and now I cannot wear flip flops for a few days and not fall apart.  Apparently NOT.  

My knee is GREAT and I ran 10 minutes , then 15 minutes and then 20 minutes and it was great. So great I emailed Dr Wahl  and told him thank you, thank you..... at my 5 week post op I was worried about my foot. He did the knee follow up and then I asked about Plantar Fasciitis.  He said 2 weeks...if not better then "ping me" So I pinged.... and he wrote back and said his foot Dr will be in touch.

Okay, rant over....so if you cannot run - ride your bike. And I have.  For 3 weeks now and it was a gradual ramp up and finally I am feeling decent on the bike.   I am riding with all different people and loving it. I did the triple last week- 3 days of GWL. Day 1 was with my mid week girls and we de-virginized Gina- good stuff.  It was fun..... Good girl time and so humbling.  The 1st GWL after a 4 month break is so humbling.  Cold in Descanso but a nice ride.

3 days later repeat with an athlete I coach, John and Liz.  It was  more reasonable pace but still tough....10 min slower but felt harder.  

Sunday was just the loop and the group was social....thankfully as I was tired!!! 

I logged 1 hour Friday in the rain with Les but still rode. Monday I was TIRED no riding....Tue we did a killer local ride with part of Highland Valley and Wednesday did Elfin on tired legs.  Power is down...but logging miles is good!  Tomorrow John and i will log some more.   

Swim is good... backed off a bit this week as Sunday is epic swim 100x 100 and then Dec is swim month so I will be logging lots of pool miles.  

So the plan for now....ride ALOT, swim ALOT and wait 2 weeks on the PF and hope I can start running again.   It my bike and swim are where i want them when I am ready to run I can focus on running.   Not ideal, but well, I am a triathlete so I have 3 sports.... 

JD flies in tomorrow- yeah!  Its okay he is working and we will be eager to have him as the honored guest.  Looking forward to a great dinner....Cooking for 10- with help.  Mix of family and friends.  It's all 

Can you say 15 minutes is running?

When you have not run since 9/7 YES 15 minutes is running.  Last week I logged 4x 10 minute runs and all was good. So Saturday I ran 15 minutes and today I ran 17 minutes.  It feels great....it is slow....really slow but that is okay. I AM RUNNING  - as Les said, I like to log it 15m so one could infer miles vs minutes.  Baby steps...I am following to the minute my ramping up per the Dr.  Knee is awesome!!

Splint 1

Plantar Fasciitis (that I developed standing in the hospital in flip flops on tile floor for 3 days while favoring my knee I had surgery on) is getting much better thanks to my new night splints. I panicked last week and went to the Dr.  My foot was painful- 8 our of 10 painful- I could hardly walk.  Dr D says 80% of PF will clear up with the night split IF, IF you 1- catch it early 2- are not running on it every day ( so my 10 min every other day does not register as running to Dr D- but it does to me). Splint 1: Futuro - Amazon for $26 but I was desperate and paid $37 at rip me off  CVS but I was desperate.  I like this one actually, I can sleep most of the night with minor annoyance.  But Dr D insisted on splint 2 which I 

Splint 2

bought off Amazon and is not as comfortable. He says it is better...but by 2am I am pulling it off. So I take it off...sleep and then put on Splint 1 around 4am.  I begged for Dr D to fix it...he said "trust me"  I did not but had no choice and well.... 5 days later it is 80% better.

Rest of training is going well...logged a killer swim on Saturday on my own - 5K and then rode 4 hours on Sunday and nearly died.... I was just getting tad bit cocky that my fitness was coming back.. I was wiped out- needed a nap wiped out.  It's all good...it is only November.  Building slowly.... today was a swim - what I thought hoped  would be easy Master Swim and it was Sprint Monday - 2 sets of 6x50 all out and then 2 sets of 3x100 all out- OUCH is all I can say.  But it gave me inspiration for my Noon Masters- they too got Sprint Monday! 

Beet Juice on the Bike

So I juiced a bunch of beets, lettuce, cucumbers, celery, apples and limes and bottled 4 bottles on Sunday.  Tuesday ride, I filled water bottle with the juice and it gave me power to get up Del Dios.  Tasted great, a bit like dirt but well beets taste like dirt,  and all was good.
Wednesday I went for it again....and well that was 1 day too long.  It was a bit carbonated, fermented,  and let's just say that did not sit so well with me on the ride.

I like the juice on the bike, especially if it is post swim as I am looking for some good calories.  I did less celery and no kale on this batch and it was good.  I think next time I will freeze the bottles so they are fresh.  

Today was great fun.... Les, Maureen and I met at BG Club for a planned 5k swim, The pool chemicals were off, smelled like sulfur and my tongue was stuck to my cheek and if you smiled your lips stayed there.  Not so good.... At 3300 yards they closed the pool - danger chemical imbalance.  Seriously 2 shower later I still smell like bleach have used Coconut Oil as lotion and it was sucked right up.  We moved to the therapy pool- 90 degrees and managed 300 and was feeling sick. Although I can see a hot pool maybe good heat training.  We strapped on the belts and aqua jogged for 45 min Full chatting and we looked like old ladies up and down the pool.  Onto our bikes for spin up the coast.... I am feeling like a real athlete again!!!!

baking, cooking, swimming, riding and a tad bit of running

I am still swimming alot  ( well not Ironma alot but a lot more than I was swimming) .... not as much as I was a few weeks ago but more than I did July-Oct.  When all you can do is swim, I swim a lot.   But then add spinning and then graduate to riding (outside) and I would rather be riding outside on my bike.   Even linked a few workouts together and swam then rode, sort of feeling like a triathlete again,  Double workouts and all!    I am thankful for Leslie who is on the IR list as well as a runner, took a few months of recreational riding and swimming who is now training as well.  We are ramping back up together.  And she truly understands the pure glory in running 10 minutes.  

The weather has been warm and wonderful for riding.  So fun to be outside with my girlfriends on my bike!  While I loved "lunching" and having coffee, I so prefer riding and chatting....

I have 4, yes count them 4 x 10 minute runs under my belt.  It really is sad when I am excited about 40 minutes of running in 7 days....alas.  The good news is NO knee pain. Stiff, yes, a bit inflexible, but loosening up (thanks to the master Gino and his magical hand at ART)  as well as Dr Chad Wells.   Yes I am actively rehabbing as best I can.   The bummer, huge fricking no fair bummer.  is that I have Plantar Fascitis in my left foot. WTH, its not like I have been running. The unfairness of this all is that it flared up when my mom was in the hospital  3+ days on tile floor in flip flops, dumb ass me,  as well as favoring my right leg due to surgery and after the 3rd day I was wondering why me heel hurt so badly.  Light bulb went off....really PF from standing in bad shoes on hard floors for 3 days.  Dr asked if there was anyway I was running laps at night....I wish.  Hopefully I get this under control ASAP...night splint, orthotics, socks...you name it.  I am so desperate right now I swear if my Dr told me that putting bananas in my shoes and dying my hair purple would make the PF go away I would do it. #desperatetorun

Bummed I missed the TCSD Pre-Viewing of Kona.  Had it all planned out....conference call 3-4, head to Mission Bay for event (bring John along) leave a bit early and cruise to Encinitas for Kona party. What really happened... so tired took a 10 min power nap, didn't walk the dogs before my confernece all, quick walk with the dogs and Zen went in the black murky swam, bath time, change clothes...head to work function at 5:00 not 4:00 and now it is 6:45 still in Mission Bay and just not in the cards to go to Encinitas.  So John and I met for a nice dinner at Catch (near Peets off the 56)   We are both going a million miles an hour and it was good to connect.   Food was great but staff is not good good...sloppy, not well spoken and did not understand my question about whether the fish was farm raised or line caught. He looked at me like  I was crazy...fish farm? I could almost see the bubble above his head of a cow pasture with fish.  Hopefully they figure it out...the sashimi was delicious! 

Baking and cooking....2 good recipes form the weekend 

Banana Pumpkin Breakfast Bread

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/11/nutrition/banana-pumpkin-breakfast-bread_89531

Power through your mornings with this nutrient-packed fall treat from triathlete-chef Lentine Zahler.

Ingredients

1 cup unbleached white flour (used GF flour)
1 cup spelt flour (or whole-wheat flour)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
1 cup puréed pumpkin (home roasted or canned)
1 ripe banana, mashed
½ cup unsweetened, canned coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 T unsalted butter, softened (used coconut oil)
2/3 cup evaporated cane juice (cane sugar)
2 large eggs*
1 cup golden and red raisins
1 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
Powdered sugar (optional) did not use
*Can substitute 2 T ground flaxseed and 4 T warm water

- see link for details

Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/kale_and_roasted_vegetable_soup/

• Yield: Serves six.

Add to shopping listINGREDIENTS

• 3 medium carrots, peeled and quartered lenthwise
• 2 large tomatoes, quartered
• 1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges or 4 or 5 slices
• 1/2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick wedges
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 6 cups or more of vegetable broth*
• 4 cups of finely chopped kale
• 3 large fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 15 oz can of Great Northern white beans, drained

If cooking gluten-free, use gluten-free broth.