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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Nutrition, hydration, overheating.. what is it?

I have read many, many posts about the heat and how it is effecting people and their training as I too am having a really tough time with the heat. During my 10 mile run yesterday I pretty much started crashing at mile five. While I know that I can chalk some of it up to the loss of training over the past 6 weeks due to  dental issues, the problems I am having are not from just being tired or under trained. I started adding walking into my run at the 4.5 mile point and by mile six I was basically walking. I got a really bad headache and was nauseous and dizzy every time I tried to run. I had 20 ounces of fluid with me, a package of Gu Chomps and two Gu gels. I ran out of fluid at about seven miles so that wasn't good. When I finished I was in bad shape but was able to find some shade where I drank some water and ate a banana.
I road the Boulder 70.3 course today.  54.5 miles in just under three hours. I had 60+ ounces of fluid (including Nuun)  and about 500 calories. I finished all the fluids just before the end of the ride. Once I stopped, the same thing happened regarding the dizziness and nausea. This is the first time it has happened to me on the bike.  I sweat a lot but wonder if over heating is a part of this. While I was very dehydrated yesterday, I wasn't as bad today.  I am at a loss on how to manage this. If this happens to me on race day (oh and did I mention it is only 14 days away  YIKES!) I am never going to be able to finish.  So my fellow bloggers, do you have any words of wisdom for me?  I am willing to try just about anything.
Tip of the day. When you open the trunk of your car which has a bike rack on it, make sure you get out of the rack's way before you close the trunk. My Shoulder will be reminding me of this for a few days :)

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Boulder Peak Triathlon (Olympic) Race Report

I started the race on two hours of sleep due to pain I am still dealing with from my dental debacle. I was really not feeling well before the race but decided to give it a shot anyway.

At the start of the swim my goggles leaked immediately. I had to stop to adjust them at least three times before I said screw it and swam with water in them.

Having water in my goggles threw off my stroke a bit as I had to close one eye often during the breathing as the water would run into my eye. Fortunately I can breath on both sides so I was able to break it up a bit.  Doing it this way forced my head out of the water more and I even swam quite a lot with my head up while breathing so that the water wouldn't irritate me.  While heading out of T1, I had to stop to readjust my shoe and then as soon as I got on the bike and started peddling I kept hearing a clicking sound. I had to stop, get off and adjust my cadence thingy that was rubbing against the magnet. ( I will  check that before the next race).

  I had told myself that I wasn't going to push to hard on the bike as I didn't have the energy and was worried about what the result would be. Also, knowing that Old Stage Road (big climb) was ahead of me I made it a point to take it easier on the slow gradual climb to Old Stage Road.  I conquered Old Stage Road (very slowly) and did my best to get in front of anyone who I thought might stop as I knew if they stopped suddenly or fell over there was a chance that it would force me to do the same. It was like a mini Tour DE France on Old Stage Road. People in costume, people lined up along the road cheering and ringing their cow bells and messages with chalk on the road.  The rest of the ride was fine. I passed people, people passed me... you know how it goes .  Could I have gone faster.. yes. A lot faster.. I don't know.  Would I have suffered for it on the run because of my lack of sleep (over weeks) and being under trained. Maybe.
I knew that I was going to have to walk a lot on the run. I told myself ahead of time to not get hung up with that. My goal for this race was to finish without getting sick or being miserable through the whole thing. I walked every hill and walked through every aid station. I was starting to feel nauseous on the way out (out and back course) and at one point wasn't sure I would be able to finish. At the turn around point or shortly before or after, they were handing out ice. I put ice in my hat and began pouring water over my head. It was really hot and I was overheating. I started to feel better and ran a lot more on the way back. At one point I started to feel a cool which I knew wasn't a good sign and knew that I needed to keep using the ice. First time using ice for me.  My run time was expected and therefore I wasn't disappointed. I did get to share the run course with the pros for a bit and was able to watch them cross the finish line as a spectator.

Pro pics


Guess who is the pro in this picture

Tim O'Donnell, Joanna Zieger and Matt Reed.

 
Under the circumstances, I did about as well as I could have. Like I said, I was just out there to finish this one.  The highlight of the race was meeting Julie http://youjusthavetotri.blogspot.com/ at the finish line where she was volunteering. We gave each other a big hug and it made my day.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Rough month

I feel like I have been away from everyone for so long.  This past month has been more then a bit tough. To make a long miserable story short, I had two dental implants inserted a month ago. One of them ended up getting infected and it took me three weeks of pain and trying to convince my dentist that something was wrong before I went to a different dentist who not only validated my pain but ended up removing the implant and doing a bone graft. I will spare you the gory details of this but both surgeries involved scalpels, drills, some other tools that look like the ones in a tool kit and stitches. The pain was debilitating at times but I am finally starting to see the light at the the end of the tunnel. The fact that I am still standing considering the amount of pain killers (which don't work) and antibiotics I have been on is a feat in itself.  I won't even get into the cost of all this but I can say that I am going after a dentist or two for a refund of some sort.
My training has suffered immensely. I haven't swam more then twice in a month due to the two rounds of stitches and my running has been minimal at best. I haven't ran at all in almost a week due to the most recent surgery (rise in blood pressure causes swelling and additional pain) and my cycling hasn't been that great either.  So here is the thing. I have an Olympic distance race this Sunday and feel very unprepared. I rode  the bike course on Sunday so I know I can get up the insane hill they are having us climb but my swim and run are going to be pathetic. I have even thought of not doing the race but am hopeful that I will feel much better by Sunday. I am also stubborn :)  I have a 70.3 race in August and I am very worried about that as well.  I guess I just need to take one day at a time. 
In other news, I did manage to ride the MS 150 during all of this. It was very inspirational and totally worth doing.  I hope to do it again sometime when I am feeling better.
Here are some pics from the MS 150.
This was at the start of the event. I just had to take a picture. Empty port a potties.. really???


Day one. The climb was at the end and the drugs were wearing off. At least that is my excuse for the look on my face.

I was really ready to be done but figured I would put on a happy face

The finish line! 

I hope all  is well with everyone. I hope to catch up on all your posts soon!