Fifty-nine

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The last couple months have had set backs and gains. Freak outs and boosts of confidence. Worries and excitement.
It's been a couple months of learning and growth.

I suppose I should start at the beginning.

In the beginning... there was Christmas! We went home to Michigan for 10 days and had a really good time. There was a lot of family time but also enough downtime. Nathan and I got some good runs in along the miles of dirt roads surrounding my parent's house, and I managed to get in a couple of key bike rides on my trainer. That was my ultimate goal for our trip; do my key rides and runs and skip the rest. I had no pool access, but I was fine with that. I figured I'd start back fresh in January and not lose too much by taking a couple weeks off.

At the end of our trip I came down with strep throat and an ear infection, then bronchitis a few days later. So much for starting back fresh in January! I had no choice other than to rest. After a week and a half I was able to ease back into things.

Before I was healthy again, my mid back started hurting. I didn't think much of it- my muscles are often sore and knotty. But it started hurting to breathe or sit up straight- and especially to swim. It also felt like my mid-back needed to crack- something was off- so I went to my chiropractor. I had a few ribs out of place and he got them back to where they should be, but after that it still hurt to breathe in. He said it could be two things; a rib stress fracture or an intercostal muscle strain, and it probably wasn't a fracture since I tolerated the adjustment okay. Rest and ibuprofen. More rest? Oh no! But still- no stress fracture- things could have been worse. But all of this was brought on by my violent coughing. Of course I'd get injured from bronchitis!

I went to my massage therapist the next day and she spent the entire hour on just my back. The strain and the rib displacement had sent my entire back into spasm. She said rib injuries are tricky to treat and recover from. That I needed to rest. For a least a week I was not to swim or bike or do anything that involved having my arms in front of me with any amount of weight in them (including washing dishes- thanks, Nathan!) By this point I was freaking out. I couldn't swim! And I had no definite time line of when I could again. Luckily running didn't make it worse- it hurt to breathe in but it didn't aggravate my muscles. I needed a couple more adjustments for my ribs that stubbornly didn't want to stay in place, but after a week I did a test ride and felt good. Another week after that I did a test swim of easy un-timed pace, and again, aside from the painful inhalations I made it through without any issues.

Hurrah!

It still hurts to breathe in, but the pain is isolated and not causing other issues. And my pace isn't slower after all that time off from swimming. No need to freak out, after all!

Last Monday I did my longest bike ride to date (3:05), and last Tuesday I did my longest run to date (13.5 miles!) I'm starting to feel strong.

Some of my early training freak outs involved not having any ideas of my race day hydration and nutrition needs. I was clueless! And my training sessions weren't long enough to figure it out.
But finally my durations and distances are long enough to where I can figure it out and that's getting really exciting!

Towards the end of my ride on Monday my quads started cramping and it felt like they were about to get really bad. I got off my bike and ate salt straight from the salt shaker and managed to finish the ride. But it hurt! After my ride I ate more salt and a banana and walked around and my quads started behaving again. So now I know- I must be a salty sweater and need to replace what I'm losing. Otherwise, my nutrition seemed perfect. Finally, I'm learning things and I'm getting somewhere!

On my long run a couple weeks ago I only brought my nutrition and one bottle of water. Mistake! I need more water. Apparently dehydration affects me just as bad-if not worse- as hitting the Wall of Glycogen Depletion.
I brought along 2 bottles of water last Tuesday and felt so much better by the end of my run. But that still wasn't enough; I kept trying in vain to get every drop out of my water bottles during those last 20 minutes. But my nutrition was perfect, and my hydration was close. So now I know.

This week is a step down recovery week and for some reason my body always takes full advantage of recovery weeks and basically refuses to do much of anything. I went from a few weeks of managing 11-12 hours/ week of training to barely making it to 5 hours. I still have two more days to go, though, so hopefully I can get a couple more hours in. But if not, oh well.

I had already decided not to run this week because I've been dealing with a posterior shin splint and I haven't rested long enough to let it fully heal. I was only schedule for a few easy runs this week so I didn't think missing a week would be detrimental. Look at me! Resting and not freaking out about it! I must be growing up or something. The rest has been helping- my calf barely hurts today- so hopefully by next week I'll be good to go.


Overall I'm feeling good. The swim and the run don't worry me. I'm not fast in the water, but I'm comfortable with the distance. And I'm routinely running 10-13 miles without issues- aside from the cranky shin splint.

My main concern is the bike. What if there is a head wind or a cross wind? Can I ride in aero? How am I going to eat or drink anything when I've never been good at doing that? What if a lot of things. Some I can control and others I can't. Strength and endurance wise- I'm fine with. It basically comes down to bike handling skills and that's where I'm shaky. I just need the weather to warm up so I can get Kally outside and practice!

So that's where I'm at now. I have a good estimate of how long the swim and run will take. The bike is the variable.

But finish times aside- I'm getting really excited to do this! I'm ready to start the countdown:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!