hard week

Today concludes the last week before back to school.  My goal was to complete 4 century rides by August 10th.  So close...I have completed 3 of them.  Today's ride was cut down to 90 miles.  I was alone at the end stretch and it is so hot outside, that I just couldn't continue.  I only got to 90 miles.  After a small melt down in the car, a discussion with the Lord, and a reality check I am feeling better now.  Sometimes I wonder how in the world I am going to do this.  After the ride my ankles (especially the right) are very sore and stiff.  I have no idea what causes this pain but how can I transition into the run afterwards?  "You find a way," my husband says.

It has been a successful week.  No days off for the past 2 weeks but that was purposeful.  I wanted to push hard for back to school time so that I could relax next week if needed.  This week I completed a total of 160 miles on the bike (thanks to the thunderstorm which cut Tuesday's ride off short), a 14 mile run week and a lousy swim week; 2.7 miles.  It is so stressful swimming and jockeying the weather.  When lightening is 10 miles away, a horn goes off at the pool.  Then we have to wait 30 minutes to get back in the pool if the weather is clear.  What is the point? 

I am looking forward to the open water swim tomorrow.  The "Lee Triathlon Club" is hosting a swim at Lake Kennedy in Cape Coral @ 5:30.  I will try my new swim skin tomorrow with my race gear.  I am looking forward to that. 

Back to school tomorrow...

Total Miles (since Jan 2014) thus far:
Run:  301
Bike: 2,111
Swim: 74.7

century rides and the Ohio trip

After completing two 100 mile rides, I feel much more confident for this event.  We have been getting up early to get a head start on the ride.  The alarm goes off around 5:30 but by the time we get out of bed, we are at least pedaling by 6:30.  It is amazing to see the sunrise and avoid the morning commute of people going to work. I have also been enjoying getting up early in the morning to begin the ride because it takes me about 6 hours to ride 100 miles and if I were to begin later in the morning, the day is pretty much over once we finish.  I can enjoy the evening if we want to go out to dinner with family/friends with a nap in between. 

At the moment I am averaging 16-16.5 mph at this distance.  The main issue has been battling an upset stomach around mile 60.  I try not to push myself at all during this distance.  I need to store energy for the marathon after.  I can’t pinpoint what is causing it but I can get through it after a few miles.  If I can continue to get through it, I can live with the nausea.  I am still using GU Roctane endurance powder on the bike for each 16 oz bottle I carry.  I am wondering if the FL heat, which causes the drink to heat up, is what is causing the nausea so this next ride I will keep 2 bottles on ice in a cooler and pick them up half way.  If that seems to take care of the problem, I will be happy.  Once we are in Cozumel in November the temperatures should be cool enough to not cause the problem. Also, I will have no place to store cold bottles.

As far as solid food and liquid nutrition, I am continuing to eat a Bonk Breaker bar and GU gel every 30 minutes/20 miles.  This does become annoying after mile 60-70.  I just don’t want to eat any more.  I continue to do so though because I will need it once I get on the run.  I did switch up and try a new gel because of the low fructose intake.  They are called V-tech or UCan.  I cannot remember the name.  I am typing this from 33,000 feet in the air as we travel home to Fort Myers so I have no way to look it up right now.  These particular gels are not right for me because I NEED the fructose/glucose (sugar) otherwise I have major problems with my hypoglycemia.  Lesson learned here, stick with what is working for me. 

It has been difficult to swim a lot this past week.  Our summer weather storms have not been cooperating.  Now our county has lightening detectors and when a storm is within 10 miles away the horn goes off and all have to immediately get out of the pool.  I believe my record for shortest distance was 3 laps (75 yards).  I don’t know if that is considered a PR or not…

We are traveling home from Columbus, OH.  I was able to run two times while there.  It was very enjoyable considering the low humidity and air temperatures.  Many locals were talking about how “hot and humid” the weather has been.  These people have no idea.  I think I accumulated enough sweat on my 5 mile run on Friday at Antram (sp) Park that is equivalent to the same amount of sweat that I would accumulate walking from my front door to my mailbox in FL in the summer. No exaggeration.  Saturday I ran from the Payne residence to a small town called Worthington.  This particular day was the farmers market.  Many vendors had various vegetable stalls, flowers for sale and other novelties.  Everything smelled delish.  It was difficult not to stop to look around.  I have a few pictures to include here;  one of me running at the park on Saturday, and a few of the historic spots in Worthington/Columbus, Ohio.  And of course, Newton Running.

Despite security removing my “Quaker Steak & Lube” sauce I planned on bringing home, my random “pat down” through security, the bird flying into the jet prior to our boarding and the drunk man who wasn’t permitted on the plane I would like to say that this is my rest day and I must take it as a way to relax to prepare for tomorrow’s 80-100 mile ride.  My coach has nicely altered the schedule so that I could range form 80-100 miles but I know how my mind works and I will want to get that 100 once again.  I have to continue to hydrate today and eat well tonight so that I can be successful.   

My ROKA elite swim skin arrived and I made the decision to go with the size medium for race day.  I NEED NEED NEED to get back and complete and Open Water Swim (OWS) before returning to school to try this out.  Why is it so traumatizing to think of what is swimming with me?  Note to self:  Do not watch “Shark Week” this season.

2 century rides completed.

July 13th I completed my first century ride with a time of 6 hours and 16 minutes.

July 20th I completed my second century ride with a time of 6 hours and 14 minutes.

Huge celebrations on each day.  When I got off the bike I had very sore ankles so it is still difficult to comprehend how I will continue on and run a marathon to finish this beast.

7.13.14 I had some nausea around mile 60 but was able to overcome that with water. 

7.220.14 it was much easier to complete this 100 mile ride. 

I. AM. SORE.

Saturday we did an Open Water swim.  I say "we" because Don paddle boarded right next to me.   Luckily he is a lifeguard and knows CPR if I were to need the assistance.  :)  The swim was down current and the seas were pretty rough.  I panicked at first but was able to calm myself down.  I am learning new things each day with each training discipline that I do.  I always have anxiety to start any swim workout so I am working on some coping skills to help keep the heart rate down.  I finished the 2 mile swim in one hour/six minutes.  Amazing!  But again, thanks to Mother Nature I was able to swim faster because of the direction I was going.

Sunday June 22 I rode 80 miles.  It was tough!  The heat is beginning to get unbearable.  We haven't had any rain in about 5 days so the temperature hasn't had a chance to drop to give us a break.  I took my time with my pace but kept a high cadence.  It was pretty tough but I made it.

Wednesday, June 25 I completed my first brick workout of this training program.  I felt much stronger upon completion.  I swam 1 mile, biked 20 miles, and ran 1 mile.  I am back to running but only short distances.

That afternoon, I went to the eye doctor.  They took my blood pressure (is that normal to do that) and it was at a record low of 104 over 62.  She asked if I normally run low, which I do, but it has been confirmed that it is because of the high intensity workouts and my endurance abilities.  Just think what exercise will do for anyone who is suffering from high blood pressure.

Tomorrow is a new day.  Open water swim again.  I dread it because of the anxiety.  Wish me luck.

Open Water swim pics

Sunday, June 15th, I rode the trainer for 5 hours.  It actually wasn't that bad.  I think the dreadfulness about the whole thing was just getting started.  I watched 2 movies; "Girl, Interrupted" and "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and two episodes of "Weeds."  All kept my interest for the 5 hours on the bike. 

The XLab Gorrila bottle cage doesn't fit on my Adamo saddle.  It says it fits specifically but with my speed box is in the way.  Poooooooo!

Today was a great day.  We took the boat out (task 1), I swam open water (task 2) and Payne paddled back to the boat (task 3).  We started the swim off of Ft. Myers Beach by Diamond Head resort.  The water was very rough and the winds were high.  I felt very very anxious heading into the water.  I applied a thick layer of deodorant, sunscreen and anti chaffing on the areas were I have issues.  It was way better than before but still some chaffing.  I swam 2.02 miles at a time of 1 hour and 6 minutes.  If the conditions were to be similar to Cozumel, I would only have point 4 more to go and then I would anticipate that  I could finish the swim in 1 hour 30 minutes (or better).  I had a few anxiety spells and a few times where I felt algae or sea weed in my hands and once felt like I was stung from a jelly fish.  All in all, I am happy that I was able to pull things together and finish the swim, strong.  I swam to shore and was not out of breath at all.  I then walked 2 miles back to the boat while Payne paddled.

summer

I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted until I just logged in now.  I am happy to say that even though the blog has not been consistent, the training has.

With school coming to an end the month of May, I tried to maintain what I had built up as far as training.  May 11 and 12th I was in Key Largo for our annual 5th grade field trip.  During the week prior, I took my bike to work on the back of the jeep and drove to Cape Harbor as soon as I could get out of school.  Doing so, I was able to ride 40 miles consistently for 3 days in a row.  I could tell that I needed some time off.  The weekend in Key Largo was the time I took my rest from training but of course, not from kids.  Since then, I was able to coast though the remainder of the school year.

June:  I did (am doing) a lot of riding on the trainer.  At the end of May, there was a lot of late nights at school with moving my classroom and we had to tackle a lot of weather.  So I thought it was best to get the rides done on the trainer rather than not do them at all.  Summer started but we unfortunately had to deal with a family situation.  My mother in law passed away June 3rd.  It was difficult to focus on training that day and the days after.  I pushed through and once I returned back to FL after her funeral, I was right back at it.  I am riding 3 hours and swimming 2 miles.  Saturday I will swim iron distance and then on Sunday I will ride for 5 hours on the trainer.  I know that I am going to absolutely lose my mind but it will be worth it in the end.

I have been reading a lot about Great White Shark sightings off the coast of Sanibel.  I know these are protected species and they are very interesting to look at...from a tv screen.  It is a little too close for comfort to know they they are in our waters.  I can't swim in the G. of M. right now.  I just can't do it.  Two weeks ago while on my 70 mile bike ride (I felt great by the way) I saw the invasive species called a Monitor Lizard.  They can grow to be 5 feet long and can run 18 mph.  I saw it in a ditch along the bike path.  At first it looked like an alligator but the nose of it is much more pointed.  This is what I love about training outside.  There are so many things to see.

I have not been running on the street until the dreadful day of March 16th.  The good news is, all blisters have healed and my dead toenails have grown back.  The bad news, I haven't been running in the pool as much as I said that I would.  I hope that I have my fitness from swimming and biking so that come July 1, I will be ready to run and it not make me hate it since I will be starting from scratch.  Earlier this week the phone rang and I was in the other room.  I ran from one side of the house to the other not realizing that I still wasn't "running."  I had no issues.  I actually think it is time to get started.  I have to look at my calendar to see when the first day will be but I think my body has healed and I am ready.  It is amazing that my recovery from my myomectomy was faster than the recovery of the stress fracture of my foot.

Monday I picked up 4 garbage bags from the grocery store.  These are going to work as my makeshift gear bags for now.  I will begin to collect items to put in there now.  I have time now since I am not working to fill them with the items I need. 

That is it for now.

Stress fracture X-ray