Week 21: Pins and needles

I recently said to a friend I'd drink a potion of eye of newt if it made my legs heal.  So when a fellow tri-friend suggested I try acupunture, I thought "why not?".

I had been 8 years ago so I went back to the same doctor.  He is Chinese and speaks almost no English.  His daughter translates for him.  I was explaining my woes shen she pulled out a big plastic doll for me to point to.  Now I'm thinking...I could just point to the parts of my body where it hurts, but if he wants me to point to the plastic doll, ok.

I have flight or fight sydrome around needles and I will black out if I see one headed my way.  So I just laid back and closed my eyes while he put needles in my feet, knees, quads, and hands.  Lots of needles.  Maybe about 20?  Then he wheeled a cart in the room and hooked up electrodes to the needles.  At that point I was ok looking down at my body and seeing everything.  It looked like a horror movie from my childhood.  You know the one where the guy has all of the needles sticking out of his head???

The electricity in my quads had my muscles jumping.  It felt ok...no biggie.  But when he cranked up the juice to my ankle, I was happy he did understand "NO!".  There isn't much meat on your ankles, and that hurt way too much.  Turn it down!  So he did.

I think I laid there for about 45 minutes.  It was quite peaceful.  After they took everything off, I touched my ankle and pushed on it.  It was no longer painful to the touch but it still hurt when I walked.

Fast forward to today....my it band pain is gone.  My hips feel about 75% better.  My ankle is not really a whole lot better.  BUT I got some things out of it I did not expect.  I have been sleeping like a baby since I got it.  My brain seems very clear and alert and I can concentrate better.  And when I finished my bike ride on Sunday, my muscles hurt.  FINALLY, I have MUSCLE pain again instead of joint pain after a ride.  Subsequently, my workouts have been better so far this week...I have had a noticable amount more energy.

So I did schedule another visit for this Saturday.  Oh yeah...the eye of next?  He gave me some weird pills to take and I read the side of the box.  I'm pretty sure that was in there. ;)

Week 20: Back to square one

I can say that pretty much without a doubt week 20 was the lowest week for me so far of the 20.  Things seemed to be moving along well...I was running again without pain.  Building cycling miles, cycling speed, and loving the swim.  Then BOOM, the ankle pain returned again after a very slow 7 mile run on Sunday.  No pain at all during the run.  It was one of the best runs I have had in such a long time.  I was insanely happy as I ran the last 7 miles of one of my best friends in the entire world's marathon.  It was so much fun to support him in that way and to celebrate with him and my other friends aftewards.
But by Monday morning I knew something was wrong...and 5 days later, I'm starting to wonder if it's broken. In some ways this pain is more than it was the first time around.  So with my first 70.3 only 51 days away, I spent this week in a very low place.
OK-yes I admit I did ALL kinds of things wrong last year.  But I honestly thought I had corrected them and have been so happy lately that the IT band pain is almost 100% gone.  My hip pain is almost gone...my core is so strong and my general fitness improved.  My quads have grown probably an inch bigger around from all the cycling and although that isn't what I intended, at least they are providing me strength on the bike and the run.
But a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  And the tendons along the inside of my left ankle weren't ready.  And now they are very angry. And I have no idea how to heal them or what to do except let them rest for awhile which means I will DNF my REV3.  I still want to swim and bike it.  I just won't run and walking isn't an option because it's too far and will probably irritate my leg.
I did spend the greater part of 4 days feeling very sorry for myself.  But I got it together last night and headed to the pool.  It's exactly what I needed to do.  To drown my sorrows in chlorinated pool water instead of alcohol. :)
And to develop, once again, a new plan of action for my future.  My friend, Zach, said his father in law goes to an acupunturist.  It's actually something I believe in..and believe it helps.  So I made an appointment for tomorrow to see if it can help me too.  I'll continue to work on my swim and my bike.  I MIGHT, and yes I said MIGHT, sign up for an aquabike"thon".
I love running.  It just does not LOVE me back right now.  One day it will again.  I can wait.

Week 19: 60 days until my first 70.3

So a big number hit me today.  My first half ironman distance race is 60 days away.  Until now, I've felt no pressure, no nerves, nothing.  And today is different.  I'm starting to feel it in the pit of my stomach.

Strangely enough I'm ready for what I thought I wouldn't be, and I'm not ready for what my strength was.  I'm sure I can comfortably swim 1.2 miles now.  I've done it several times without a break and it feels really good.  I'm also good with 56 miles on the bike.  I'm not going to say GREAT, just good.  I can do it.  I can do it if it's 40 degrees out and windy to the point of me screaming and cussing on the bike.  I can do it if it's hilly with cars flying by me or if it's super hot with broken up pavement.  Speaking of that, I haven't changed a flat yet so maybe I should practice that, right?

I'm only up to 5 miles now running and using the 10% rule, I'll be to about 11 miles by May 15.  Since I have run the 13.1 distance many times, I'm ok with coming up a little short in training.

What I'm NOT ready for is putting these 3 together.  Not yet ready I should say because I damn well will be on May 15.  I don't know HOW I'm going to get there...but I will be ready.  And there may be a little bit of "suck it up buttercup" in 60 days.  But I wouldn't have it any other way. ;)

Week 18: I love to swim

Swimming with an Olympian:

Last Saturday I had the honor to meet and be coached by Sheila Taormina who won a Gold Medal in the 1996 Olympics in the 200 Freestyle Relay.  Sometimes an elite athlete is an incredible athlete but not a good coach.  Sheila is both.  I wasn’t looking for an easy fix.  I was looking for someone to tell me what I was doing wrong and what Olympic swimmers do right.  Ok, you might think, Patti…there is a HUGE gap between you and an Olympic swimmer.  And of course I agree.  But they know something I don’t know that I want to know. 

I went to the clinic having read Sheila’s book: Call the Suit.  It’s a reference to a card game where you get to call the suit or let your opponent do it for you.  Sheila said she always calls the suit.  Never let your opponent do that for you.  In card games, in swimming, and in life.  It’s a valuable lesson that I’m ready to apply in my life.

I also went there knowing that my head position, my foot position, my breathing etc etc had little to do with why I wasn’t swimming well.  I knew that it was my pull but I just didn’t know how to fix it.  Or what it should look like.  OR more importantly, what it should FEEL like.  Because you can’t really look at yourself while you are swimming.  But if you discover what it “feels” like to be swimming with power, with force, with a feel for the water, then you know when you are off or when you are on. 

I spent last year in misery when I swam.  I hated every single Monday night practice.  I even wrote to a sports psychologist when I found myself CRYING on the pool deck after each practice.  I wanted to quit.  Triathlons were only slightly better because I was anonymous during the swim and people didn’t know me and there was always someone slower than me….and I knew if I could just hold out for the run, I’d be happy.

Then enters INJURY.  IT band issues, ankle issues, shin issues.  And by the end of last year, I wasn’t allowed to bike or run so I had to swim.  And so I began to let go of my frustration with swimming but I wasn’t any better at it.  Until that is, Maria Thrash of Dynamo videotaped me and gave me advice on what to do.  That was the beginning of me understanding what I was doing wrong.

Sheila’s instruction took it to a whole new level. I have only swam twice since her course on Saturday but I was smiling the entire time I was swimming.  Seriously SMILING.  Last night when I swam alone, I was humming and singing to myself while swimming I was so happy.  There were parts that felt like I had a tailwind like you have on a bike and instead of me pulling through the water, I was being pushed. 

You can ask my friend Jeannine, who I told last year that I was ready to quit triathlon, just how miserable I was.  I was going to do duathlons.  And I’m so happy I held on.  I can now feel better that I had to stop running.  So I could be a better swimmer.  And find something that I love to do so much.

Am I a ton faster?  No, I’m slightly faster.  But as Sheila says, and as I know in my heart, life happens in very small steps.  It’s happens when every single day you work towards a goal.  You don’t get to sit back, do nothing, and then take a huge leap.  And I’m excited that between now and November 5, I’ll get to take a lot of small steps.  In the end, they’ll add up to 2.4 miles of swimming.  And you can be certain, I’ll be smiling at the fish in the Gulf of Mexico while I’m taking them.

Week 17: In my head?

They say you should always spend the most time training your weakest sport in triathlon.  Mine is the bike.  And I feel like this year I have already made great strides.  But I do get stuck pretty badly in one area.  Riding aero on my road bike.  Matt Cole installed aero bars on my bike for me.  And I CAN ride aero and I do think the fit is good and I am comfortable.  But NOT all the time.  It usually takes me a good 30-45 minutes of warming up on the bike before I will go aero.  And most of that warmup is truly a mental one.  It's very weird to me that last week on the comet, I was actually SCARED of getting into aero for the first hour, but then the second hour I was SO comfortable that I could hit bumps or pass people in tight areas, and it didn't bother me at all.  I'm not sure what that is all about.  I do know that when I watch tris, people who ride aero do so almost the entire ride.  I'm pretty sure I'll get over it...and I do wonder if riding aero on a TT bike is more comfortable than my setup.

So perhaps this was a boring post for the week...but I hope 6 months from now I will look back on it and giggle because aero seems completely natural to me.