I'm Back!

I woke up today for the first time in almost 3 weeks without pain!

On Monday I went to an orthopedic doctor about my knee pain. I was really nervous because I think knees are disgusting and just seeing my x-ray made me feel sick. After a quick glance I kept staring at the wall until he took the images down. I am fully aware that this is weird, but I can't help it! Meniscus! Patellas! Gross!

Anyway, the x-ray didn't show any fractures, and he pushed and pulled and twisted my knee around (blech) and said my ligaments (blech) felt normal, and said I probably didn't damage my meniscus (blech) because I would have had some swelling and probably couldn't have run 6 days after the injury. (I'm shuddering as I write this.)

My options were to keep taking ibuprofen and resting it and come back in 2 weeks (or sooner if it got worse), get a cortisol injection in my knee (oh heck no!), take a 6 day course of oral steroids, or get an MRI. I chose ibuprofen, rest, and the follow up appointment.

I didn't really like the outcome of the appointment, though. I was glad it appeared my knee was fine, but then why was I having knee pain? And if nothing was wrong, why have I been eating ibuprofen like candy for two weeks? It just didn't make sense.

Tuesday I had a therapeutic massage to try to help my muscles that were still tight and sore. She uses this awesome technique called Active Release Technique (ART). Amazing. It's really helped me through a lot of aches and pains and is so effective. During this, though, my hip started hurting a lot. My hip and back have been achy, but I attributed that to constant limping. This is how she discovered that my right hip was higher than my left and my pelvis was slightly rotated. This was a huge TA-DA! moment.

It made sense that my hip was pushed up after my initial awkward half fall thing I did. And that explained why I had such intense pain in my low back, hip, quad, IT band, and knee that first day and lingering pain in those areas ever since. And come to find out, knee pain is a very common symptom of having a tilted pelvis because of the strain placed on the connecting muscles (the thigh bone is connected to the hip bone...). So basically, this explained why I was having knee pain even though there was nothing structurally wrong with my knee (blech).

I went to my chiropractor yesterday- who also uses ART (seriously, it's amazing)- and he got my hip back into place. He used ART to stretch my hip, quad, hamstring, and knee (which was gross but actually felt good), and when I got off the table I wasn't limping. For the first time in 18 days. My knee didn't hurt, my hip didn't hurt. Nothing.

I did some stretches and easy hip exercises this morning that I have been unable to do without sharp pain. No ibuprofen required. For the first time in 18 days.

Amazing.

So I went to the gym, figuring a treadmill would be the best place for a test run, and ran 1.5 painless miles! I'm back!!! Out of all the miles I've ran, the first ones back from any type of injury are the best.

I had been so worried about this. Wondering what I had done to my knee, what I'd have to do to help it heal (no crutches, please!), and how long I'd be unable to train. I've been injured too many times, and each time is devastating.
It's a bad cycle I get in. Sleep, eating, moods, and exercise are all very much connected and if one of those gets disrupted then usually the others do, too. I'm sure it's the same for everyone, but having Bipolar II, the requirement for routine and balance seems amplified. I think recognizing that helps keep me from getting too off-kilter.

I'm trusting that I haven't lost too much fitness from my time off. And I'm going to be easing into my training slowly, watching for any warning signs of pain in my back, hip, or knee. So far, so good!

Mighty Mite Triathlon Relay Recap (+ injury report)

I spent last week with my family on the beach of Lake Michigan.  There were 8 kids and 9 adults and we kept busy playing at the beach, swimming, flying kites, and taking walks. I even got in a couple of open water swims in Lake Michigan! It was chilly but after the initial shock of cold water on my face, it didn't seem so bad.

Welcome to my pool... I mean, Lake Michigan.

Unfortunately, on the second day I tripped on the beach and hurt my right leg. Initially I had pain from my thigh to lower back, and for a little while I was worried I had a stress fracture in my femur again because of how it was feeling. But each day it got a little bit better and now the pain has mostly settled into my knee. 

Two days before this incident, my friend Phil talked me into running in a triathlon relay the following Saturday. He said between the three of us, we could possibly place first. So we signed up and I was really excited. And then I hurt my leg.

By the time Saturday morning rolled around, I was pretty nervous about running 3 miles. Sure, my leg was feeling better than before, but I was still limping. Had I known Phil and I could have switched the swim and the run we would have planned on that. But until that morning, I hadn't thought that was possible, so I didn't have my swim gear and he didn't have his running shoes. I was stuck. And I was mad that I'd be slowing down their speedy times.

Pre-race. Phil, Glen, me

MightyMite Triathlon has two different transition spots (point-to-point), so I was left at T2 for a couple of hours as they drove to the swim start/ T1. This was my first relay and it was a strange feeling not knowing what was going on out on the course.

Sitting in my car admiring my KT tape waiting for the race to start.

I knew some other runners doing the relay so I waited with them and the last hour went by quickly. I got to see the first few cyclists come into T2, which was really fun to watch. I really would love to volunteer at a race so that I can witness all of this (I really want to volunteer at the Ironman World Championships in Kona). 

In comes Glen- I get the timing chip on my ankle and I'm off.

The first quarter mile hurt, and then suddenly it stopped hurting. So then I went faster and waited. Nope, still no pain. Faster? Still no pain. It was amazing and I ran the whole thing. I think I could have gone faster but I could tell I was dehydrated- after spending the whole day before in a car and limiting my water intake- because my heart rate was 185 for the last mile or so. I finished the 3 miles in 26:36 with a pace of 8:52/mile. On a bad knee. (Last year I ran the same route in 31:54 with a 10:38 pace. Talk about improvement!!)

When I found the guys at the finish we went to the timing tent to check out our results... and we came in first place!!!  I was so glad I didn't let them down.

First place in Mixed Relay!

Overall my knee is feeling better, but it still hurts a little. I've held off on running and I haven't tried riding my bike yet (plan on trying that this afternoon). There was never swelling, I can put full weight on it, and I have full range of motion, so I really don't think anything is horribly wrong with it- I really think it got tweaked from limping, and I kind of think my IT band has something to do with it. 

But still, I'm a ball of emotions today. I don't do well with limited activity and I've barely done anything for two weeks. I want to run, because last Saturday my knee felt better while running than it did while walking, but I also don't want to make anything worse and delay the healing. 

I was starting to get in a funk where I didn't want to do anything- even what I can do like swim and strength train. I'm trying to snap myself out of that before it gets worse. I swam today and I will try out the bike in a little bit. I'm trying to be optimistic that my knee will continue to improve and I'll be running in no time. And I'm thankful I have no other races coming up in the near future. 

Things could have been worse... but I'm still pretty darn anxious about it... optimism and thankfulness is only getting me so far today.

It's official!

Watch out, Texas! Prepare yourself for my Freak Out[s]!

I'm officially registered. This just made it extremely real. Almost too real. And doubt starts to creep in. And excitement. I think equal parts doubt and excitement.

Can you imagine what it feels like crossing the finish line? Chills.



And so on that note, I'm headed to the pool.

Dragonfly Triathlon

Dragonfly Triathlon
June 14, 2014

0.5 mile swim/ 18 mile bike/ 4 mile run

This was one of my favorite races so far. It was a little over an hour from my house so I had to leave by 5:50. It was mid 60s at the start of the race and clear skies. Couldn't ask for anything better. I think I heard the water was 77 degrees. It was a beautiful race site, too, but I didn't get pictures since Nathan was working and I left my phone in the car. 

It's fun to know quite a few people in the running and triathlon communities because I saw a lot of them at the race. 

The swim start was a little bit tricky because of the position of the first green turn buoy and the sun. I swam past the orange buoy that's placed between the shore and the turn buoy for sighting without any difficulties, but then I couldn't see the green buoy anywhere. I was surrounded by swimmers so I figured I was at least somewhat on course. At one point I stopped swimming to look around and a girl next to me did the same. I asked her where the buoy was and somehow she saw it and pointed me in the right direction (which wasn't where I had been headed). Once we made that turn it was easier to see the rest of the buoys. My swim time seemed long for half a mile, especially since I was passing people (I rarely pass people in the water!) A lot of people were saying their times seemed longer than usual, too, so I'm wondering if we all swam off course a bit before the first turn. 

The bike course was flat for the first (and last) 8 miles. There were hills in the middle leading up to the turn around point. I think this is the first time I didn't ride my brakes all the way down the hills!
Around mile 15 I looked behind me to see if anyone was passing and noticed a girl drafting behind me. Drafting in triathlon is illegal, and if race officials catch it happening the person gets a time penalty. Of course there were no race officials around. I kept speeding up a bit, but she always managed to come back up and sit on my wheel again. I was getting mad and I kept looking back at her and she wasn't taking the hint. After a mile or so I shifted into a bigger gear and took off, and finally lost her because she couldn't keep up with me.

My legs felt horrible for the first mile of the run, but I didn't let myself walk. At this point I was feeling competitive, which is unusual, and I wanted to push myself as hard as I could. I think it was because this is probably the last triathlon until the 70.3 next April (I'm really sad about this!) After the first mile we entered the woods for 2 miles of trails. With all the rain we had been getting recently I thought the trail would be really muddy but it was actually in pretty good condition.

Around mile 1.5 my heart rate was 175 and the trail was beginning a slight incline. I slowed down to a fast walk until my heart rate went back under 160 and started running again. The next mile was fun jumping over roots and running down hills. Around mile 2.5 the trail had a steep hill that everyone I saw was walking. I tried running up the hill but ended up walking it, too. After that there was another half mile before we exited the woods and ran the last mile along the same road as we did for mile 1. I was running my fastest pace during that last mile and although I wanted to slow down I convinced myself to keep pushing the pace.

I came in 3rd in my age group! By under a minute. The girl in 4th place was faster than me in both the swim and the bike, but I made up for it with the run. I'm so happy I pushed as hard as I did on the run even though my heart and legs were begging me to slow down. This was the first time I ever placed!

My trophy!
(And- appropriately- a can of peanuts in the background)

The only races left for the rest of the year is a 10 miler in November and the St. Jude Half Marathon in December. I'm really bummed out and keep looking for more triathlons to squeeze into the summer. The only one that would have been able to fit, the Annie Oakley Tri, was cancelled. I've been in a bit of a funk for the last few weeks with my training since nothing is in my immediate future, however, registration for Ironman 70.3 Texas opens on Thursday and that might be the motivation I need!

Navy 10 NM Recap and the Taper for the Dragonfly Tri

It's weird to think that I'm wrapping up racing season and it's only mid-June! Last year I raced May-September and then prepared for the Half Marathon in December (that never happened) with a 10 miler in November. After the Dragonfly Tri on Saturday, I won't have another race until the 10 miler in November!

Yesterday I ran the Navy 10 nautical miler, which is actually about 11.6 road miles. My longest run up until yesterday had only been 6.5 miles so I was a little nervous to add 5 miles to that. But I had to do this race. I wanted to do it last year but it was cancelled. The race fell on the day after the 4th year after my grandpa's death. He was a WWII Navy veteran and I wanted to do this in memory and honor of him.

The race started at 6 am!!! I had to wake up at 4:15!!! I am not a morning person!!! If that doesn't prove my love of running and racing I don't know what will!
Jess and I drove together to the Navy base dark and early. I think this is the first race I didn't have pre-race butterflies. I was strangely at peace, even though I had no idea what to expect as far as how I'd feel, what my finish time would be, or if I was making a mistake and would wind up injured. Those things crossed my mind, but they didn't stick around. I was just really happy to be out there running for my grandpa, and thankful to God for my ability to do this. I've been training a lot and running more frequently than I've ever done before, and I feel strong and healthy. He's brought me from injured to able and I'm so thankful for this.

We got really cool anchor finishing medals!

It was a crowded race, but it didn't feel like it. I fell into an easy pace for the first mile or so to warm up and didn't waste energy trying to get around people. Each mile was progressively faster and I felt really good. Around NM 4.5 I caught up to Don, who I met at a local running group last year, and we ended up running the rest of the race together. I told him my goal was to finish in under 2 hours, so I kept pushing the pace a bit and I think I was dragging him along a little. To be fair, we took a couple walk breaks when he needed them, but not until NM 7 and 9 (I think?). My finish time was 1:57:59!

Me, Jess, and Steph
Those girls killed it! So proud of them.

I'm really proud of myself for this one. To add on 5 miles to my longest run and nearly run the entire thing (the walk breaks were short) is huge for me. I just think back to when walking to the mailbox was a challenge. To go from walking to the mailbox to running 10 NM? Seriously? God is good.

I miss my grandparents and I'm glad I could do this.

I'm surprisingly not too sore today. I really only feel it in my quads. I'll be taking it fairly easy this week since it's a taper week for Dragonfly on Saturday! Today is just a swim day so my quads will get a day off.
It's supposed to rain and thunderstorm all the way until Saturday. I'm mentally preparing for another muddy triathlon. At least this time it should be warmer than the Oly a few weeks ago! I can handle the mud and rain. It ends with a 4 mile trail run, so I'm picturing slip-and-slide mud running. It'll be fun!

Memphis in May Olympic Triathlon

Memphis in May Olympic Triathlon

1.5k swim/ 40k bike/ 10k run

The best thing about this race is that I got my minor freak out over with prior to the race. And I kind of went all out with this one.

Now, I have to explain how much I loathe being cold. It makes me angry and miserable and grumpy. And it doesn't take much for me to be cold-ask my coworkers and family! It doesn't matter that I was born and raised in Michigan... I never got used to being cold... and it was a cold rainy weekend.

When I set up my bike Saturday afternoon the transition was already muddy from the Sprint tri that morning. 

Mud level on Saturday

My bike second from the end

We had family in town so I let them do fun things without me while I went to Tunica to get my packet, rack my bike, check out the expo and sit through the race preview and expert Q&A.
I went back home for church and dinner and then Nathan and I went back to Tunica for the night since the race started at 7am.

When we woke up at 5:30 it was 50 degrees and still raining. I was mad and dreading the race. I wasn't worried about the swim because of my wetsuit, and I figured the run wouldn't be too bad, but I was worried about the bike because everything feels colder at 20 mph.

I may or may not have stomped my feet while freaking out in the hotel room while tearfully whining that I didn't want to do the race. I felt cold in the 73 degree dry hotel room... I wasn't excited about 50 degree rain. I mean, 50 degrees is one thing, but add in rain and that just increases the suck level.

The walk down to transition was miserable. I was shivering and Nathan said my lips turned purple. I was trying so hard not to cry.

My transition spot was a muddy puddle. I had a large garbage bag in my tri bag so I put that down instead of a towel. It was still raining and mud was everywhere. I had my bike and run shoes in plastic bags and carelessly piled my other things wherever. I didn't even strategically place them like I'd normally do because everything was a mess and I didn't care. Honestly, it was all becoming comical.

As soon as I got body marked I found somewhere drier to get my wetsuit on, which was a lot harder to put on than normal since I was already wet and muddy. Nathan fed me bites of my breakfast as I struggled with my suit (I was too busy freaking out earlier and forgot to eat).

I felt warmer as soon as I got the wetsuit on. I was still dreading the bike.

The swim was good. The last I heard the water temperature was 68. My suit felt restrictive for the first few strokes but once I let water inside of it (brrr!) the suit loosened up and felt better. I was having a hard time seeing the first turn buoy, which made sense once I got there because it had deflated! I was swimming wide of the course, which is typical for me, but I feel more comfortable being further from the pack. It makes my swim time longer, though, so it's something I need to work on.
I had fun on the swim. My feet and hands were numb, but the rest of me was fine.

In T1 I discovered a big gash in my thumb?! I still have no idea how or where I managed to do that; my hands were so cold I couldn't feel it. I didn't notice it until I got to my bike and saw blood all over my hand. I felt so sanitary with blood and mud all over me. Yay.
Typically in T1 I'd put on my helmet and bike shoes and walk my bike out of the transition area, but the race officials were yelling out to us to carry our shoes and bikes out of transition and put them on once we waded through a giant puddle and got to the pavement.

The bike wasn't as bad as I anticipated. The rain stopped for the most part, and I had a wind jacket on which helped me tolerate the temperature. I had a couple of rocks in my shoe but since I don't ride with socks and my bike shoes have mesh to promote air flow, my feet stayed numb and I stopped feeling the rocks for a while.
We had a tail wind for the first section of the course; I was going 22-23 mph and passed a few people. Unfortunately we had a headwind for the last 9 or 10 miles so I struggled to keep at 15 mph. A lot of people on fancy road bikes with aero bars passed me but I still managed to pass a couple people.

I came in sooner than I predicted so Nathan actually missed me come into T2. Getting off my bike was funny because my feet were numb and my legs were shaky and I had to run through the mud in bike shoes while holding my bike up. The whole situation was just so crazy that I was laughing.

The race officials were telling us not to put our running shoes on yet, so I racked my bike, chugged some Gatorade (only had one sip of Gatorade around mile 10 on the bike... the only calories I consumed up until that point), grabbed my socks, shoes, and a gel and ran through the mud and then through the giant puddle right outside of transition that thankfully washed off the mud. They had towels to help us dry off before getting our shoes on but I somehow never got one... it was somewhat chaotic. I considered going sockless because getting my compression socks up my wet calves was taking so long and I didn't think to have any other kind of socks, but I've never ran sockless and "nothing new on race day" so I took the time to get them on.

Leaving Transition
Photo from Start2Finish

The puddle we ran through to wash off the mud.
Photo from Start2Finish

I felt good on the run. It was still overcast but no rain and the temperature increased enough to be comfortable. It was the fastest 10k I've ever ran. I'm going off my watch time and not my official time because my official time includes the time I was sitting on the curb trying to get my socks and shoes on (run time starts as soon as I left the transition area.) Also, my last mile was my fastest! Negative splits! I am happy with my run.

I know I had a rough start to this race, but really, once I got going and embraced the mud it became fun. I really did enjoy it. I think what had been upsetting me the most before the race started was that I had originally felt so prepared and ready and excited, and then the weather changed everything. And it wasn't even a matter of being cold- it was the fact I hadn't trained for that. I didn't know if I'd be okay with or without a wind jacket- or if that was even going to be enough.

The other reason I was nervous about the race was that on Saturday I went to the expert Q & A and they were discussing race nutrition and how the best time to eat and hydrate is on the bike. The problem is that I don't feel that comfortable grabbing my water bottle while I'm riding (I can, but I don't like to... hence I only did it once during the 24 miles), and I've never tried eating while riding, either (and nothing new on race day!). It made me nervous I wouldn't have a good race because I never had done that distance of biking and running after a long swim. Was I going to need the calories and hydration on the bike like they were saying? Or was what I did in training going to work for me even with a long swim preceding it?

I had the sip of Gatorade at mile 10, and then half of my bottle in T2. I took a few sips of Gatorade at mile 1 and 5 but otherwise stuck to water at each mile and ate a gel at mile 2 or 3. That seemed to work for me. Apparently my body does just fine taking on about 200 calories at the last third of a race. I'll have to get more comfortable taking on calories while riding for the Half Iron distance, but for an Oly, what I did was fine.

Silly experts. They made me doubt my gear and my nutrition, so next year I'm not going to listen to them.


The week after the race I took pretty easy, which went against my training plan for my next Triathlon that is in 2.5 weeks (yikes). Having two races only 4 weeks apart doesn't allow much time for recovery. Luckily my next Tri is slightly shorter than the Oly. It's in between a Sprint and Olympic so I'm calling it a Sprylmpic.
Oh, and one week before that I'm running a 10 nautical mile race because I'm crazy. Who needs a taper? Just go run 11.5ish miles. No big deal... Yeah, I don't know... this will be interesting.

Trusting the Taper

The race is 4 days away and I am in full taper mode. Surprisingly, I haven't had any taper tantrums yet, and I'm not sure I'm going to. I really expected to be going crazy by now. We're having family come down tomorrow night for about a week, so we've been busy cleaning and running errands, and that might be helping.

The hardest thing now is to stop running when I'm supposed to. Yesterday was only10 minutes after my bike ride. Today was just 30 minutes. I wanted to keep going so badly! But I didn't. I'm trying to trust the taper. Trust that I've trained to the best of my ability. Trust that the reduction in training will mean I'm fresher on Sunday. I feel ready. I feel like I did all I could the past few months to prepare for this.

I'm not nervous for Sunday. I'm excited, but there does seem to be a nervous energy about it. Anticipation, maybe?
I'm not anxious in the sense I think something is going to go horribly wrong. Or that I'm not prepared. It's just an unknown. I've never raced this distance before. I don't know what it will make me feel like. And my wave start is near the front, so I'm predicting a lot of people swimming over me and hearing a lot of "on your left" while on the bike. But that won't be the first time for either one of those.

Honestly, I'm just really excited. I love the triathlon environment. Everyone I've met at races has been so encouraging and friendly. Plus, triathletes are just crazy- I think it's part of the definition- and the craziness becomes normal. A typical person will think what we do is nuts ("you're waking up how early to do what for 3 hours?") while we all just have smiles on our faces and permanent marker on our arms and legs.
The other awesome part of triathlon is that there is no music allowed, so, unlike running races where everyone has their headphones on, everyone actually talks to each other. I just love it and can't wait to be part of it again. Plus it's another day I get to do the three sports I love, and give thanks to God all the while!

*and is also crazy