OCCC Super Sprint

June 14, 2008 was the O-Triple-C Super Sprint Triathlon. It consisted of a 500 meter swim, 12 mile bike and then a 5k run. I really had not gone into this tri looking for a great result. This week has been nuts with family life. We sold our house in Norman, sold our car, bought a car and put a bid on a new house! Whew! Anyway with that said, I did not get in much training this week. I did get in a 27 mile bike ride with my new training partner Teena.

My swim felt good, I was not tired coming out of the water, but when I checked my watch no wonder I wasn't tired I had swam in 12 minutes! YIKES. I knew that I was going to have to make it up on the bike.

Bike course was flat and fast and relatively no wind. My fastest bike split of my tri career yet. Whoop! Very pleased coming off the bike and out of T2.

Run course was rather warm and on the east side of OCCC I caught headwind. Picked up my pace on lap 2 and finished strong with my best time and new PR of 1:25:37!!! Super happy and placed 4th in my AG (Age Group). Hope to just keep striving for greatness!

Route 66

Well, I completed my second tri and my first OWS. Let me tell you, it is a lot harder than it seems! I wasn't scared or nervous of the swim. I just could never get into a rhythm. Everytime I would start to, someone would either swim into me or visa versa. I was being cautious with the foot injury as well. Frustrating, but ok. Now I know that I have to get in the front of the pack and just swim. Also, I have to learn to be more aggressive in the open water. The bike course was great. Had previously ridden the course in what I thought was a decent time. Well by the time Saturday rolled around it was normal Oklahoma wind! So aggravating! My foot did good through the swim and 3/4 of the bike. I double bandaided my foot and then used sport tape so that I would not have to deal with bandaids in transition. I did put on socks after the swim so that the bandaid/tape combo wouldn't roll up in my shoes. Like I said it did great until about 3/4 of the bike. My soaking wet sock then started rubbing in my shoe. My foot felt like it was on fire! Got to T2 and put on the running shoes. Let me tell you that felt good! (insert sarcasm) Just about all of the run was in pain. But I pushed through and finished. I cannot tell you how many times I thought about stopping to walk/quit during the run because of the pain of the foot. I just kept going though, it was a drive inside me that would not let me quit. I was dissapointed in my time. Brad kept telling me I did great considering the foot factor/not training for a week and the wind factor...but as a competitor I was bummed. I hope that my upcoming tri (OCCC Super Sprint) will be a redeeming!!! The race was amazing as usual! Lots of thanks to all TriOKC members who made it possible!!!

Accident Prone!

Yes it is true. If it is going to happen, it is going to happen to me! Yesterday at work, I was being productive and closing files so I could make more room for storage in my area. Our shelves at work are know to be "slippery" and so I was being careful. I was on my last 2 boxes which were 2 shelves over my head. Box 1 was about 15 pounds and got it down fine. Box 2 seemed to be about 30 pounds. Wasn't worried about the weight, just the shelf. Well, I got the box, but the bottom shelf and top shelf fell simultaniously and I could only hold the box and one shelf. The other wooden shelf fell directly on end on the top of my foot! Holy %^@*(_*#@W#@#! And I knew someone heard the crash and whatever came out of my mouth and moments later in popped one of my co-workers and I was like GRAB THE BOX, I HAVE THE OTHER SHELF. When I looked down I knew it was bad as I saw the blood gushing from my throbbing foot. Then came the tears, not because of the pain, I can deal with the pain. No the tears were from the thought of it being broken and I have so many events coming up! As my attorney rushed me to the ER all I could think was great, all this training and here we go again. My foot was swelling and already turning blue. I finally got back in the ER about 1 1/2 hours after arriving. When the x-ray gals came in to x-ray it, the first thing out of their mouths was WOW, that looks broken. I lost it! They felt so bad, but I then explained that I was a triathlete, and how much of a set back this could potentially be. I just kept praying in my head, please don't be broken, please don't be broken. In came the Dr. about 45 minutes later. She said nope, not broken. WHEW! Was I more that relieved! The first question out of my mouth was when can I start running? She laughed and said give it a few days of ice and rest and it should be good to go. They gave me a tetnous (sp?) shot since I hadn't had one since '92, cleaned my injury and sent me on my way. Resting today...considering trying to swim tonight as I can't stand resting! Been icing all day and feels pretty good, just sore! Here are a few pics...

Tornado Alley Duathlon

Well, I completed my second event in which I was thrilled! The race was on Sunday morning, and I couldn't have hand picked a better day to race. Here in OK, you get what you get, but Sunday morning was beautiful. No wind! It was a F-1 Formula race. (2mi run-10mi bike-2mi run-10mi bike-2mi run) My first run was what I wanted my pace to be and I was happy with bike 1 time. After T2 and on to the second run, I felt good, but my legs felt tired. Pushed through run 2 where I knew I could rest some on bike 2. I was pleased with my bike times considering I haven't been training much on the bike. My third run sucked ass, but that was to be expected as I need to up my run mileage as well. Overall a great day and great race. My goal was to finish under 2:15:00 and my offical time was 2:13:49, so I was happy!

The battle with Addison's

I have a rare disease called Addison's Disease or in medical terms known as Adrenal Insufficiency. I was diagnosed in November 1996, so I have lived with it for almost 12 years. I know how to control my meds and all, and since beginning training 3 months ago for tris I have felt fine on my normal dosage of Hydrocortisone and Fludrocortisone. Well, Saturday morning I ran in a 5k and did great, felt fine. We had a packed Saturday as usual and we were grocery shopping that evening and I almost passed out in Wal-Mart! I then remembered I forgot to take my meds that morning. I never forget to take them, but just running out the door that morning I forgot. It's not like this is the first time I have forgotten them, I can usually sustain about 1-2 days without meds until I crash and go into Addisonial Crisis in which I will have a 24-48 hour window to live if I don't get my meds. Well I have felt like crap since Saturday. I doubled my meds on Monday and Tuesday to give myself a little boost and still didn't feel good. I also rested and have not worked out since the race on Saturday! It's killing me not working out, but maybe my body needs a rest. I went to my normal GP dr. on Tuesday (couldn't get an appt. with my Endocrinologist) and had him run my levels. Haven't gotten the results back yet, but I am super frustrated. Feeling a little better today, so I am going to ride the Tornado Alley course a couple of times tonight. I hope results come back okay. I probably just need to get into my Endo to see if my meds need to be adjusted with all the training I am doing.

Training

Training this last week was incredible. I didn't slow at all after Spring Fever. Felt great and decided it is time to work harder to improve my times. Swimming was good, now really practicing on the things to make my stroke perfect. Working on stretching out my hand/hand placement in the water. Also, not lifting my head out so much when breathing, leaving it down closer to my shoulder. I also decided to up my running mileage. I know this is where I need to improve the most. My shins are sore from shin splints, but I iced every night after running and they are a little sore still, but I know they just need to get adjusted to the mileage I am putting on them. Thursday Christy, my new training buddy, and I did a brick workout at Overholser. I was stoked with my bike time. I dropped 6 min. from when we did a TT the week prior! She really pushes me on the bike, and I push her on the run, so training together is great! I am super excited about training harder. My goal is to get my run time down tremendously. My husband, Brad, knows I can run 7 min. mile pace, but just getting back down there will take me until the end of summer. I am pursuing that time immensely now. I haven't run with a coach in years, and not sure if I need to invest in one. Going to work on it myself through the summer and then I will go from there. This week is jammed packed of training. Same routine, different week. My body feels great, so going to push as long and as hard as it will sustain.

Spring Fever Triathlon, Claremore, OK-April 20, 2008

Well, as most of you know this was my first tri. What a fun time I had and this was definitely a great reward for training!
Time: 1:19:23
50th Women
9th Division

Pre-Race: Arrived in Claremore on Saturday. Rode about 5mi. of the bike course and realized it was more hilly than I had initially expected. Thought I better tack on 8-10 min. to my time due to that. Walked the run course after dinner so I would know where I was going. Morning of the race I had nerves, but they didn't really set in until I was the fifth one in line for the swim start.

Swim: Start was super funky and I got a terrible start. Finally got in my rhythm about the fifth/sixth lap and as a guy was passing another guy in the lane next to me, he almost hit me head on. Had to basically come to a stop to avoid collision, which pissed me off...kept going and didn't get back into rhythm until about lap eight or nine. Came out of the water feeling great, but disappointed in my time. Almost a minute off! Argh! T1 took forever to get to!

Bike: Got off to a slow start with the first monster hill from hell, but again, got on pace about mile 4 or so. Heading out of town was a great ride. Coming back in caught some head wind which wasn't fun, but thanks to TT training on Tuesday, I was definitely prepared! Came in faster than I had expected from what I rode on Sat. so I was pleased with that.

Run: After leaving T2 (which I need to improve my time on) checked my watch and was right on pace. Legs felt good, not tired. Climbing the first small incline though my right calf started cramping bad. Thought maybe I should stop and stretch it out, but just didn't want to waste time. Slowed a bit to see if it would release. It didn't...cramped the entire run. But I made it to the finish line and I was happy.


Overall I had a wonderful time and I am hooked. Can't wait til my next event! Will be working on Bricks the next few weeks to work out those cramps! I still haven't figured out yet how people can eat pizza and drink beer after a race...just looking at it made me want to throw up...all I wanted was some water/gatorade! So glad I can say I AM A TRIATHLETE!