July 1, 2009

BAM!!

I cannot believe I was so distracted by my crazy day that I have not written about my awesome BAM experience yet. OMG BAM (Boulder Aquatic Masters) totally blew my mind. I had gone to Masters once before, with my friend Jen. That was a fun experience and I learned how amazing college swimmers are! However, that did not blow my mind like BAM. And let me tell you why. It all comes down to one drill and to an awesome coach. But I will start with the whole experience because it was kind of funny and I am proud of myself in a weird way.

So I ran with Cathy Sunday morning and that was awesome. Cathy is a friend I have run with for years - we both started out in the Boulder Striders club maybe six years ago, we both moved up to Running Republic (another more intense club with the same coach), and there we really bonded because we liked to run slow during our warmups. Cathy is one of my personal heroes because she is just awesome. She is a great runner, she always has a fun and positive attitude, she has a great career, and I just admire her a ton. She also gives me great advice on my life which I appreciate because I am always a mess! I was able to run 9 miles with her which I was super excited about. So overall I was having a great morning (oh, and we had a triathlon/running star sighting as we saw a Lovato and a Torres).

I went to the pool and I was going to wait and see if there was a free lane after the Masters group started but I got there just in time for them to start another session or whatever they call it so I decided to be brave and ask if I could join to check it out. Note that I may seem outgoing but I am terrified of new people. Especially Jane Scott who is a legend. But I went over to her and asked her about it and she was SO NICE!! She said to jump right in and give it a try, no I would not even be the slowest person in the pool. I love her! She was not coaching the session but she introduced me to the coach and she was so nice too. I jumped in the slow lane and warmed up.

When we got ready to start I realized that I actually knew two of the other three people in my lane, so that was funny! One girl is in my cycling club and the guy I knew from the bike shop. See, I am meant to live in Boulder, I know everyone! Ha! Anyway right away I felt more comfortable. We did some swimming and some drills and whatever, it was fine. But then we did this CRAZY drill. We had to pull a 25 with someone hanging off our legs and that person would kick. I ended up pulling a man who must weigh 160 pounds at least. I felt like I could barely move! At the 25 we switched and that was fine, I was not really frazzled by that at all. After we did the drill the coach told me that was a great drill for me because I have way more power than I use. And I swear a light bulb went off in my brain! I do have power, my lats are strong! Why do I flail around in the pool and not use them? The whole workout was different after that. I PRed in the 50 twice! I felt awesome! And it was SO FUN. It is just nice having people in my lane to chat with during breaks. So I am hooked on BAM. I am hoping they are training on July 4th so I can go again! I swam yesterday and I did feel a difference in my stroke so I think the gains I made at BAM are here to stay.

So that is the BAM story. This week is driving me crazy with my insane amounts of free time. I asked my coach if he would set up my plan between Lifetime Fitness and Timberman and he said no! It was kind of funny. He was like 'Barb you need to focus on this race. Stop looking past it.' Good advice really. So I am trying to do it! I am so excited for a long weekend without bike shop, it is going to be amazing. I am just excited in general which is good because I think I am over the crash! I am ready to RACE! Bam!! (and now I think I just sound like Emeril, so with that, I say, kick it up a notch people!!)

Posted by barb at 4:09 PM | Comments (0)

June 30, 2009

Back in the running (ha!)

Thanks to my amazing physical therapist, my hip is doing a lot better and I am running again. It is still very bruised and gross looking but I was able to run nine miles on Sunday morning with my friend Cathy, and that was awesome! I have not run hard yet after my crash (I aqua-jogged my speed workout last week, which was truly horrible, I hate aqua-jogging!), but I am going to test that out this evening and hopefully that will go okay! Luckily since I am in full swing of my taper for Lifetime Fitness I do not have any crazy workouts to do. Also luckily, my volume is so low that I don't have a lot of running mileage to worry about!

I have been jumping over the last couple of mental hurdles from my crash as well. The big one was that since the crash I had been afraid to ride my tri bike. Obviously this is not the best - I did not buy a fancy tri bike to ride my road bike at races. However, this morning I sucked it up and rode it for a speed workout. I was cautious, especially when I saw cars, but overall I was fine and I think the bicycle is fine too! Hooray!

I have three workouts today, and got derailed from a lunchtime workout by a meeting, so I am planning on swimming at 2:00 and running after I leave work. It is going to be hot but I need to run in the heat so I won't feel awful in my races this year. Should be fun! It will be good to get a nice sweat going, I love feeling like I am sweating out toxins!

It is almost time to go to Minnesota - one week from Thursday! I cannot wait.

Posted by barb at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)

June 25, 2009

Why are all races on the same day?

I am still in the throes of my quest for an additional race. What a mess! It seems like every race is either the weekend of July 11-12 or September 19-20. Also, I have learned that many Canadian races are very small. Apparently 'big' triathlon has not hit the Frozen North outside of a few 70.3's and an IM?! I think I will begin to term this my Quixotic Fifth Race Quest. Just call me Don please. Luckily, any time you can use the term 'Quixotic' is probably awesome, so I am grateful for that. Even though I am almost ten years removed from college, and my awesome days as an English major, I do still love certain words. Like Quixotic, germane, apropos, plethora, and so on.

Luckily my friend Jason (who just finished IMCDA, his first Ironman, way to go Jason!!!!) is sleuthing out some races for me. Hopefully he will be more thorough now that he is taking time off. I am too busy to race-sleuth to a high level right now, I am still training!

Overall my hip is improving. I ran easy for 30 minutes yesterday and it was fine. It does not feel awesome today, but I think it is getting better, and I have an appointment with my PT tomorrow so hopefully he will beat the crap out of me and make it feel even closer to normal. It has developed a nice bruise, it's pretty gross looking! I am so glad that I can ride and swim, if I couldn't I think I would be pretty upset. It is weird, riding does not hurt at all (except when I get off the bicycle and have to swing my leg up and over the seat, because I am not coordinated enough to switch sides). I was really glad I could do my speed bike workout without pain. I think I am addicted to the endorphins I get after a hard workout!

We are having some crazy weather this week, every day we have severe thunderstorms in the afternoon/evening. I like it because it cools things off, but it makes getting a longer ride in somewhat challenging. However, tomorrow before my PT appointment I think I can fit my mid-long ride in. I swear, as a triathlete I feel that every week is a big puzzle - I have my workouts, I have the times when I can do stuff, and I am always putting pieces in and pulling them out and moving them around to make sure it all gets done. Somehow it always does but I cannot lie, I am not immune to feelings of anxiety about it!

I think in general this week I am just an emotional basket case. I tapered last week which otherwise would have been a big week of training. That did not end with a race so I am edgy from lack of activity. I am going into my taper for Lifetime Fitness edgy instead of tired, so I am less excited about the taper. I am also nervous that no matter what I won't have a good run there because of my hip. Basically I am a mess! But I swear, I am getting better every day. Now if I can just find my make-up race...

Posted by barb at 3:59 PM | Comments (1)

June 24, 2009

who needs spanx when you have compression shorts?

I am having the most random experience today. Yesterday I bought compression shorts because I figured they would help keep everything in place when I try to run, so that my bruised muscles don't jiggle around. I decided to wear them under my dress today because more compression must be better than less. And they are just like Spanx! For those of you who don't know Spanx are expensive shorts that look like panty hose, that girls buy to wear under their dresses for fancy occasions. They cost like $70 and that is all they are good for. However, I bought these compression shorts for $80 and they serve the Spanx purpose as well as being athletic garments for running. Awesome! They are also super comfortable and for athletic shorts I think they are even somewhat cute. Hopefully they will be good for running. I do not generally love running in spandex because it rides up but these are so expensive that I think they had better give me a massage while I run!

As you may be able to tell I am trying to have an attitude adjustment after my crash. Fake it until you make it kind of thing - if I act really positive and excited then maybe I will become really positive and excited, and I will not dwell on the bad fortune of my crash. And honestly it could have been SO MUCH worse. So here goes! Oh I am so positive and excited I can hardly stand it!

Training is actually going pretty well this week in spite of my bum hip. I was able to complete my speed bike workout this morning with no pain, and I got my heart rate up to 187 which is really good for me on the bike. I actually rode part of the workout with a few random guys, they were really nice and fun to chat with although I had a hard time answering their questions since I was working so hard! I had also been worried about my ability to push off the wall in the pool, and to do flip turns in general, but that's been fine so my swimming is on track. I am going to attempt an easy 30 minute run today but I'll stop if it hurts. I think if I wear my new shorts and run very easy on a soft surface I should be okay though. Keep your fingers crossed!

As far as race planning goes I am thinking potentially southern California, I know some people in San Diego. It would be fun to race out there this year and then again next spring, I love San Diego! We shall see, once I have a new plan I will write about it because I will be very excited.

Posted by barb at 9:01 AM | Comments (0)

June 22, 2009

crash & aftermath

As most of my readers are also friends of mine on Facebook, you probably know that my weekend did not go as planned. However, I thought I would give a few additional details on what happened and how things are now. So Saturday morning I was feeling good and I was super excited to race. I did my 500 meter pre-race swim and that was fine. Then I headed home and got my bicycle ready for an easy 45 minute ride. This makes me kind of upset because I had planned on riding in Boulder but I changed my plans to go with friends who wanted to do their workouts in Denver. No big deal, just one of those things I wish I could change in the past which as we all know is fruitless! Anyway I was riding down the street towards Wash Park so I could do my easy ride and on the way a car didn't stop or look when it was at a stop sign, so I slammed on my brakes and fell over. Luckily it did not hit me. That is the good news. The bad news is that I fell with pretty much all my momentum and body weight on my right hip. I do have some minor road rash on my right elbow and it is pretty sore especially if I whack it on something which I do occasionally as I am clumsy! Also, today the left side of my neck is sore and my whole body just feels kind of off. My hip is still pretty sore but it is actually surprisingly not as bad as it was on Saturday. Saturday evening I did go to urgent care because my family said it would be a good idea, which I agree was even though it will cost a lot of money due to my craptacular medical insurance. It is reassuring to know that I do not have a broken hip! Also the doctor said it was good to keep the blood flow going so he said I could spin on my trainer yesterday, which was GREAT news.

So Saturday was not my best day. After my crash, I rode more just to see how things felt. It hurt a lot when I had to go uphill and it hurt a TON when I stopped and started. Then I tried to run and lasted about a minute. It was really painful and clearly there was no way I could race. I am not racing to finish. I want to be the most awesome and walking the run of a race just doesn't do it for me. Also I just didn't want to be around it, it would be too upsettting. I think the fact that the crash happened just a day before my race made it really difficult for me emotionally because I was so ready to race. After my aborted workouts I got into bed and watched Scrubs and pretty much cried. I will admit I was a total mess. People kept calling me which was so nice but every time someone did I would burst into tears. Also my hip really hurt any time I got up so I would burst into tears when it hurt a lot. What a basket case!

Sunday morning I figured that swimming in a wetsuit wouldn't aggravate my hip which oddly felt better than it had on Saturday (I had thought that like most soreness it would be the worst the second day). So I went to Grant Ranch which is a local place for open water swimming and swam a lot. I swam 5000 meters according to their buoys but I think it was probably more than that because I suck at sighting when I can't draft. That was good, I really needed some endorphins. I also figured out during the swim that I think my wetsuit is too big, which is weird. I think I am just very compact maybe? However I did just spend some time on the phone with a girl from Xterra who thinks the XS would be too small. Well who knows. Anyway that was good although I could not stop myself from re-living my crash and thinking about the race.

After the swim I went and lifted because I had missed a lifting session due to my taper and I figured I might as well see how it went. It didn't cause any pain so that was good. Then I went to lunch with Matt and Michelle after insisting that I would go if they really wanted but I didn't want to talk about the race at all. I felt really bad because after a race it is all people want to talk about. But I knew if they did I would cry. Just seeing their race numbers on their arms and legs made me cry. What a mess. I also told myself I would not look at the race results but of course I totally did, and I must say that first of all my age group is CRAZY competitive and second of all I really wish I could have competed against those girls. The girl who won my age group won the whole race and she rode the bike 24 MPH. Last year I had the second fastest bike split in my age group by 3 seconds and I averaged 22. Wow, holy competitive age group! So that was depressing, I really think I could have mixed it up with them. Oh well.

After lunch I rode my trainer for a few hours. It was almost 90 degrees outside yesterday and I do not like to use A/C so it was SO HOT. I think I sweated out like 20 pounds of water. My clothes were so gross afterwards. It did not hurt at all even when I got out of the saddle to rest my woo-hoo so that was really encouraging. I wanted to go outside but I did not think that would be a good idea, just in case I had to make a quick move. However, today I think I will ride outside after I swim.

Anyway, immediately after my accident I started to worry about the rest of my season. Obviously now that I know I don't have a broken hip it should not be too bad. Lifetime Fitness is three weeks from this past Saturday and I think if I can run by this coming Saturday I will be in good shape. I am going to see my physical therapist on Friday just in case. Now my biggest issue is that I need another race! None of the local races will work schedule-wise, they are all within one week of Lifetime Fitness or Timberman. My high school BFF lives in San Diego so I am thinking maybe southern California. Anyone know of any good races this year? My timeframes are late July, early August, any time in September except the 19th or 20th, or early October. Let me know! I want an Olympic but I would do a sprint. My only criteria is that it needs 500+ participants.

So hopefully things will look up from here!

Posted by barb at 3:19 PM | Comments (5)

June 18, 2009

Accountability

I often use my blog to tell 'the world' (meaning my readers, of which I cannot imagine I have more than ten, but who knows) things I plan to do or not do so that I will be held accountable. This seems to be a pretty good strategy except I think sometimes I get all fired up when I am blogging and then I forget about it 10 minutes later. But here is my latest wacky goal - I am not going to eat sweets until after my race on Sunday. Then after that (if I do not die, my afternoon 'I have not eaten any refined sugar' headache does feel somewhat life-threatening), I will not eat any sweets until the day of my next race on July 11th.

You may wonder, because probably two of my favorite things in the world are training and eating, why I would train all the time and deprive myself of cookies, candy, cake, and other delicious sweets that I must deserve. Well, that is exactly why - I have entitlement issues. It is true that I train more in a day than most people exercise in a week. But that does not mean I should be able to eat dessert after lunch and dinner every day. Even though I don't gain weight, these are not quality foods to fuel my athletic performance. Also, I know my power to weight ratio on the bike was better last year when I weighed a few pounds less. So I am going to curb my addiction to sweets and now I have told all of you so I have to do it.

Today is the first day of my no-sweets adventure. Except for the debilitating headache (okay, I am exaggerating a little), I seem to be doing fine. This will be a fun challenge! It may also help with my other addiction to Noodles - I don't know if I'll want to go there twice a week if I can't get an enormous rice krispie treat! Maybe I'll go on Sunday...

In other news I am in the first day of my taper for the 5430 Sprint on Sunday. Hooray for free time!! It is 4:06 pm and I do not have any more training to do until Saturday morning, and that is just a light pre-race swim, bike, and run. I am excited. Tomorrow I am sleeping until 6:45, going out to lunch, and running an errand after work. It will be so nice to get things done, and of course to sleep! I am also getting excited about the race. It is amazing what reduced volume can do to a person's feelings of well-being! I have put in a lot of work this spring and I am hoping to see a PR but who knows. I guess I will just be keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that I do not go into a sugar withdrawl coma!

Posted by barb at 3:44 PM | Comments (0)