Traveling is so glamorous

4:20 wake up...dogs moan, roll over and go back to sleep.John opens eyes and rolls over.
Coffee started, shower dress final packing. Reminder to John we  are out the door in 10 minutes.  Dog's  (and John) pull themselves out of bed like lazy teenagers.  Dogs are tired  and cannot be bothered to go outside to pee.  Lay back down and scowl at me.  John was not so lazy and dove in pool and rallied.

Departure  4:50  5:00 as not planned.  Traffic  is light, dogs whining for windows open, windows open and loud wind in car but dogs quiet - although the occasional whine when they get a whiff of the beach and the car is not exiting.  Sudden excitment in the back and the urge to rush up front and jump on my white shirt with waggy tails.  Than excessive sneezing on my arms, gee imagine getting crap up your nose when you hang it out the window at 75mph.  A completely non relaxing drive to the airport.

Traffic jam at 5:30  - backup 10,000 cars.... road construction (genius on that timing- maybe Thanksgiving week would be better)  Jump slowly roll  out of car and into line.  Yes I am checking my bag as I cannot really life it ( my sciatica)  

Security is such fun. Get 1/2 naked, dig out stuff, load in bins, watch the idiot in front of me pull out full size bottle of shampoo and wear his belt through the hands over your head scanner.  "bag check" Belt off.... and then the other full size bottle of conditioner was in the bag.  Guy has buzzed haircut- this amount of product would last a year.

At gate 1- which means fast security and no REAL coffee.  The lovely "Brothers" coffee in pumps with non dairy powdered creamer was a treat for $2.  The bar was open- and yes 4 people starting of their day with bloody mary's 6am.

I do auto check in on SW because 99% of the time I am sitting at my computer 24 hours in advance and have found if you are 20 min late you end up with C25 sitting between the mother and infant and the 6'7 man.  A35- 10th row back, aisle seat.  

Than the waiting game of who will occupy the other seat(s) No not the infant and parent(sorry mom's) and not the infant and parent and 2 year old.  Ok guy comes in and takes window- promptly removes flip flops and begins pulling off dead skin and dropping on floor. Sometimes inspecting it and wait brief moment to smell it.  Really, really ?   Last few people getting on plane and 10 middle seats left-  I look mean, put my bag on middle seat and do not make eye contact with anyone. Worked like a charm and we take off.  Seatmate oders Dosxx and vodka- perfect for 6:30 am.  Wait another round at 7:30. And now- he is signing sort of to his music and bobbing his head.  And the guy behind me who gets up every 15 minutes and uses his full weight to pull my seat back to stand up- kinda like an E ticket ride.  .... Love this kinda day! 

Bulletproof or Bulletridden?

After my 11 week shin injury Coach and I agreed I would come back stronger and with a solid foundation. "bulletproof" as he put it.  Since Easter and my discovery of Ready to Run  I have been diligent ( as in missing 1 day since 3/30) in doing my 18-22 minute routine of mobility.  

The other part was getting strong- but this did not work out so well.  With 18-22 hours of training a week I + working both jobs I am wiped out, looking for naps and sore.  Since I have not been consistently in the weight room the intermittent times I go I end up more sore, tired and frustrated.   So I focused on mobility and core along with swim.bike run.

And it WAS working. yes WAS.  Minor set back after Vineman with a bruised forefoot (form .4 miles barefoot run on concrete) Caused some pain, few days off, compromised running but nothing major.

I was in the 4th position here when it went dark

2 week ago, getting ready for a 16 mile run, doing my "Ready to Run" mobility that includes a bit of yoga I fell.  It was  6am, 5 hours of restless sleep on a hot futon at a family rented beachouse in Oceanside, low on calories and probably dehydrated form the 7 hours of training the day before.  Tadsana (mountain pose with baby back bend) Awesome right?  Often when I do this I get a bit starry eyed and well on that day the starts turned to cool fireworks and next thing I know I am on the floor looking up.   My mother nearly passed out and came running over  asking what I was doing.  Well, not really sure I was trying to make sense of where I was and what happened.  All "good"  or so I thought,

Iced head- big lump but all in all I felt okay.  Well enough to knock out a 16 mile run. No signs of concussion just a headache and a really sore sacrum.  No bones hurt just the entire region.  It was manageable and I had another 1.5 weeks of solid training with minor issues and some pain - but tolerable.

Head pain gone in 72 hours.  The lower back/sacrum area was still tender- no place to touch just the region but seemed to be getting better until last Tue.

I had a long run on the books Wed and I was tired.  Coach and I  agreed on split run   90 min in AM and re- assess a possible pm run. Run was rough to start with some pain and tingling in my piriformis/sciatica but loosed up, went away and I felt pretty good. But  within minutes of finishing the run my piroformis/sciatica seized up and it was painful, really painful.    Triage begins... ART, epsom salt bath, rolling, chirtopractor, rolling, Dr Google -  "What is wrong with me" .

this is what my left side feels like 

Went to my regular Dr (vs all the out of pocket non insurance help) injuries are painful financially and physically  for xrays to make sure nothing was broken - all clear.

Running was out, swimming was okay and cycling okay.  Santa Barbara Tri was taken off the books.  Driving was not possible  (sitting hurts) The idea of 31/2 drive in pain, to swim an bike and possibly not run, was no going to happen.  

New plan....ride Sat ride but shortened we will see how it goes - it did not go well, ended early and with me on the floor with ice packs and that feeling that something was really wrong.  On a scale of 1-10 pain - it was a 9.   I was worried and in enough pain to head to urgent care.

Muscle spasm, pinched sciatica nerve and that was the cause....after a shot of some anti- inflammatory and prednisone I was feeling great.  ( of course the sick triathlete in me was thinking maybe I can knock out a run while I am doped up  - I did not)  I took a  2 + hour nap with a warm blanked in a nice room at hospital while the did xtrays, assesed, and finally released me.  Really all in all not too bad of an afternoon.

So it hurts when I sit, it hurts when I walk, it hurts when I swim unless i use a buoy and a band.  So.... with an Ironmnan in 4 weeks WTH!

Plan...

1- on a plane now to New Orleans for 4 days of work + 1 day in DC and home again- hoping with the miracle of Voodoo and Hurricane's this will ease up and go away. I have new routine of stretches and mobility to "help it"

2- If I can pull off next weekend training:long bike and long run- Tahoe is a go

3-  If I cannot pull off a long run, Tahoe is out.  I will not go into another Ironman injured- been there done that and it just does not pan out.   It is either a really long day for a medal I don't need or a DNF which I don't need)

4- If Tahoe is out, I will slice my wrists and join a knitting club.    I have a back up plan
Plan A:  Delete Ironman this year and do Silverman 70.3 in Oct and possibly Austin in Nov
Plan B: Ironman Fortaleza in Brazil 11/8 - I cannot even believe I am considering this-  but well I am that warped.   When I floated this to John ...hey wanna to go Brazil in November?  His excited reply was "no thanks"

SO who knows...... knitting is looking good right now !

2015 is NOT my year for Triathlon... will see how the next few weeks play out.

Ironman training...when it gets real

5 weeks to Ironman Lake Tahoe.  For those of you who race Ironman you know what this looks like... 20+ hours of training a week - includes long days in the saddle and runs off that bike that seem somehow impossible. The goal is to be in bed before it is dark as the alarm goes off at 4:45 for AM swims and runs.  

But we do it and some of us do it over and over....either we were idiots or we somehow find this challenge an addicting "habit" 

Lake Tahoe will be Ironman #10 for me.   Saturday was a 7:45 hour day.... 108 miles on the bike with 7700 feet of climbing at a average temperate of 91 degrees and 3 hours of that ride with temps over 105.  Topped off by a run that was about getting it done in 90 degrees. When it is 90 in Encinitas you know it is really hot. Global warming... right that is just a left wing theory.  It was a run that you simply  know not to look at your pace on the Garmin - you just run. When your HR is over 170, your head is tingling you know the pace is not pretty. 
 I finished the run, dove in the pool and floated for long enough that Roo was on her feet ready to rescue.  Fueling on a day like this is a mission.  I drank 336 oz on the bike- 72 oz of Gatorade endurance, 144 oz water, 24 oz shameless rockstar recovery, 96 oz with NUUN.  18 salt tablets, 1 V8.  The plan was all liquid calories- 1680 calories of lovely Gatorade endurance, but when the Gatorade gets to be 100 degrees it does not go down well and when Julie gets hot and tired my gut says not thanks.  I knew I had to keep the calories up so I went off the rails and added ice cream sandwich and a jumbo bag of fritos.  Calories in - so run was "successful" This was not really a race sim as likely it will be snowing in Tahoe but well it was sill training.

Thanks to Jen for starting the ride with me and the brave Rachel, Kyle, Liz and Maureen for riding to H and back. (who are not Ironman training and merely did this for support and fun) Well beyond required friendship. Although I am fairly sure they will not do it again.  Ironman training is so much better with friends :)    

Sunday was supposed to be 18 miles and I came up short- I called it a day at 16, that feeling of dying, dragging my butt up the hill home, buzzards circling. when if you force it something may go sideways. Been there and done that- so I wimped out made the smart choice and called it a day.  I am totally beating myself up for quitting  ok with my smart decision to stop early I really did think for about 30 seconds  of  finishing the run in the evening.  I did not.  I was too busy making and eating out of the Vitamix, Chocolate Avocado Pudding ( recipe from http://www.foodsensenow.com/)  

·       2 Large Ripe Avocados

·       ¼ Cup Coconut Oil

·       ¼ Cup Organic Cocoa Powder (raw if possible)

·       2/3   Cup Raw Agave Nectar

·       1/8 tsp (pinch) of Sea Salt

·       2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Blend in Vitamix and eat!  It's really good chilled  -but well could not wait that long.

We are having a (real) heat wave in San Diego, we do get them on occasion (if you are FB friends with SDiegans you will see the Armageddon of heat that has settled on our fine city ) But the oddity of SD is that when you go to our mountains or big hills  it gets warmer.  Inland and higher and the temps go up.  Lake Tahoe  is a hilly race, as in over 7k of climbing, hilly so training on the hills is necessary, while I am fairly sure and praying to the weather God's daily,  it will not be hot, it cannot hurt to be tortured in the heat.