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Monday, October 18, 2010

Rock and Roll Denver 1/2 Marathon mini Race Report and A New Coach

I am going to make this short and sweet.
I was holding my own until the 9.5 mile mark when I started walking. My quads were on fire and I tried to stretch them out. I walked up much of the hill to get to the 10 mile mark and then the last three miles were a walk/run. Every time I started to run again, my legs would scream at me. Starting around the 10.5 mark I started to feel crappy. I thought to myself "oh no, not again!". (I got very sick after the last half that I did). At the 12.5 mile mark I took an anti nausea pill as I really wasn't feeling very well. When I finished I tried to keep walking, hoping I would start to feel better but it didn't happen. Two trips to the port-a-potty was followed by dry heaving as we were walking to the car. This was not good, especially in the middle of downtown Denver. At one moment I was ready to have Brian call a medic. I ended up sitting next to a wall while Brian got the car and picked me up. I started to feel a bit better (I took the second nausea pill) but when I stood up I immediately felt worse again. I made it home and spent the rest of the day on the couch. I really don't know why this keeps happening to me.  My average heart rate was 147 so I definitely wasn't pushing it to hard. I didn't happen during the Boulder 70.3 when I was on my feet for many more hours and dealing with the heat. I didn't run as much at Boulder but still. I don't know if it is a nutrition issue. I really need to figure this out as I can't go through this every time I do a long race. I have an appt with my GI doc on Tuesday so I will see what he has to say. I did mention it to him once before but he didn't have any answers for me. Ok, enough of that!
In other news, I have hired a coach.  I had someone who was writing a training plan for me but it just wasn't working out and at the end of the summer I was said "adios" to him. It was during this time where I was feeling really burnt out and discouraged. Numerous things inspired me to contact the coach but what is really important is the feeling I had when I spoke with him. When I hung up the phone I was excited again about triathlon and was really happy that I was excited. I think what I thought was burn out was really discouragement about my lack of running improvement and the lack of feedback and interest I was getting from the guy that had been writing my plan. I have been working with the coach since the beginning of this month and it has been great. He contacts me numerous times a week with encouraging words about the training I am doing and both e-mailed and called me todoy to go over the events of yesterday. He asked numerous questions and really seemed to want to help me figure out what was going on. Oh and he also tells me I will  become a better runner. I think I actually believe him :)

11 comments:

  1. When I was reading your 1/2 mary tale, I immediately thought your problem sounds like a nutrition issue. Might want to talk to the GI doc about considering a consult with a RD that understands endurance athletes. Hope you get a eureka moment soon.

    Yea for the new coach excitement! I feel that so much of a relationship with a coach is communication. Sounds like you have had a great start.

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  2. Again, so sorry that you were having so many issues at the end of the race!

    Hope things continue to go well with the new coach and you just let me know when you want to run together, we do a good job of pushing each other!

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  3. Congrats on getting your motivation back! That is exciting.

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  4. Sorry to hear what happened at the end of the race, congrats on finishing and congrats on the Pukie Award (will be up on Friday)

    Great news on the coach, I am looking for one as well.

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  5. Bummer about the stomach issue. I know that sucks because I have had some moments like that myself. I think mine was related to nutrition during the run.

    Great news on the coach front! Sounds like you should believe him! You will be a great runner so believe it now and make it happen!

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  6. The new coach sounds like a good fit, maybe he can help with the GI issues as well making you a great runner.

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  7. Well at least you get BBD's pukie award. Hope/glad you are feeling better.

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  8. Thanks Everyone!
    It appears like this is a nutrition/hydration issue. I don't know how to fix it yet but I am going to have to do something if I to survive any more events :)

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  9. I am so sorry that your race didn't go as well as you would have liked. I can't believe we both had pukey experiences! Hopefully your doctor will be able to give you some insight into what happened.

    In other news, hooray for hiring a coach! That is so exciting!!! Good for you! :)

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  10. Sorry about your stomach issues :( I hope you get it figured out!

    YAY for hiring a coach! How exciting! So good that it helped you get your motivation back. I've been thinking I need to do this too...

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  11. Stumbled on your site from BT, loved the inspiration link. Thanks!
    Good luck with the new coach!

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