What I've been running in lately

I is (was?) a diehard Newtons fan.  Love(ed?) those things.  I've also run in Brooks before (Adrenalines in 2011) but got shin splints (not sure if it was shoe related) and went back to my Newts.  Back in December, I was at a club event at my local running store and gravitated to the hot pink shoes.  I tried on some Altras (zero drop, very minimal) but ultimately ended up with the Brooks PureFlow2s.  They have a 4mm heel drop, are crazy light, and are SUPER cushy. 

Did I mention these were bright pink?

I got these with the intent of wearing these occasionally, something just for fun runs.  What suprises me is that these are the shoes I grab every single time I head out to run.  They're really comfy and my feet and legs seem to like them.  As a bonus, they're $100 and I can usually get them at a 20% discount from my local running store. 

Jury is out on durability or how they respond on long runs.  My feet started to hurt around mile 8 of my 10 mile race last Saturday, but that could be attributed to not running that far.  Every other run in these has been great.

Frosty's Frozen 5 and 10 Race Report

aka skiing doesn't magically give you endurance miles.

You think I'd have learned this lesson already.  Apparently not.

I did the 10 mile "race" on Saturday, the second of three races in the local winter distance running series.  The previous race was a 10k.  I'm also doing the 10 mile next month.  The good thing about this series is that it is essentially the same course each month.  I expect that next month's 10 mile course is identical to Saturday's, which will be a good comparison and hopefully I'll see some improvement.

Race instructions from my coach:

• take in ~100 cals about 30 min prior to race
• do a 20 min warmup.  A "warning shot", telling my body to be ready to race.
• Take the first 5 miles easy, with a HR of 150-ish
• Gradually increase the HR every mile, ending up around 170 or so.  Pace may not actually increase but effort will.
• Take another 100 calories around 45 min and again around 1:30

My time goal was somewhere between 1:45 and 1:50, with a "I'll be happy" goal of 1:47. 

The race was at 10:30, so I planned to show up at 10 AM.  I was not expecting to spend 10-bazillion years in line for the bathroom, so my 20 minute warmup was cut down to 5.  But it was a QUALITY 5 minutes.  There were maybe 500 people running the 10 miler, so finding my club friends wasn't hard. 

It was sunny and the noon temperature was forecast to be 50 degrees.  It was 30-something when I left the house, so I left wearing black capris, my navy club long-sleeved shirt, and my SunRype tank top.

Immediately after starting to run, I was roasting.  I was hanging with two of my friends, using a very loose definition of "150-ish" for my heart rate.  In all honesty, it was more like 158, but I felt good.  Finally at the first aid station (around 2.5 miles) I had to strip.  With my shirt layering (tank over long-sleeve), I basically had to strip everything off.  Hat, nutrition, race belt, garmin, tank top, THEN my long sleeve.  Then I got to put everything (minus the long-sleeve, which got tied around my waist) back on.  During all of that, I lost my friends. 

I kept on running according to plan, keeping things light and easy.  I found some people to run with and hung with them until the turnaround, which was somewhere after mile 5.  At that point, I saw my friends ahead of me, and my legs decided to go.  I kept telling them to slow down but they didn't listen.  I found my friends around mile 6.5 and just zoomed right on past them.  Heart rate was at 168.  Definitely not a gradual build to 170 at the finish.  *sigh*.  I was breathing ok and feeling ok, so I just kept going.  Until around mile 7 where things weren't so good.  They weren't bad, but they weren't good either.

See, the issue with this race was that my longest training run was the week prior, which was a 7.3 mile MAF (slow effort), which included 5 min of walking at the start and finish of the run.  Not continuous semi-hard running.  I should have had longer runs but I decided to ski for two consecutive weekends in a row.  So the fact that I made it 7 miles feeling good with continuous running was pretty good.  And it wasn't suprising that I started having to negotiate with myself after that.  I decided to walk the next aid station, which was somehwere around 7.5 or 7.75 miles.  Which I did.  And I think a race photographer snapped a very flattering photo of me at the aid station.  awesome!

After that point, the run became a series of negotations.  I ended up with running 0.5 miles and walking 0.1 miles.  So about 5 min run / 1 min walk.  Which was manageable.  I ended up sucking it up for the last 3/4 mile or so and ran that straight, except for walking up the little evil hill as you return to the race venue.  I tried to pick up the pace a bit more as I was nearing the long end of my race goal, but it just wouldn't happen.

In all honesty, I just didn't feel like hurting for this one.  I could have pushed it, but I didn't see the point.  This was a practice run and I just didn't feel like laying it all out there.  Next month I may have a different opinion.

I finished with a time of 1:50:03.  If I remove my strip-break from my total time, that puts me around a 1:48:30.  All things considered, not too shabby.

We'll see what next month brings.

Cold

It was really cold this weekend in Colorado.  Which is a bummer when there's fresh powder up on the ski hills.  I would have loved to have gone on Saturday (and missed the Broncos game - darn!), but this girl does not ski when the high temperature is less than 10 degrees.

I discovered, however, that I will do a 90 min run outside when it is 10 degrees.  Interesting. 

Essentially, this boils down to this: I really, really hate the treadmill.

After some whining waiting for the air to warm up from the morning's low of -2, I decided to run at noon.  Fortunately it was clear and sunny.  I'm pretty sure if it wasn't, I would have turned around and headed back to a treadmill somewhere.  More time was spent procrastinating, looking for things to wear.  Really, what do you wear for stuff like this? 

I ended up with this ensemble (no photo, sorry):

• Smartwool running socks.  I wanted my heavy weight pair of Wright Socks, but the sock troll must have taken them.  I figured they were wool, so hopefully my feet wouldn't freeze?
• Lightweight Nike running tights.
• Heavyweight (fleecy inside) Zoot tights as the top layer
• Brooks PureFlow 2's.  Almost grabbed my Newtons, but the Newts have a ton of light and airy mesh.  No thanks.
• Lightweight Terramar mock turtleneck zip up top (base layer)
• Mediumweight Zoot top (middle layer)
• Zoot running jacket (fairly light but is wind resistant)
• lightweight running hat with a ponytail hole
• medium weight gloves

I also packed my inhaler, as my asthma likes to act up on cold days.  Finally, I filled my 10-oz hand held water bottle with hot water, and shoved it in the pocket of my jacket.  Then I whimpered and hit the door.

My run was a 1:30 MAF run with a HR limit of 143.  I was supposed to walk the first and last 5 min. Those first 5 minutes made me question my sanity (mainly because I didn't bother putting on anything to cover my face).  But once I got running, things were shockingly ok.  Everything was nice and quiet, there was no one out except the bunnies.  There was water flowing in the stream next to the trail, and it was so cold that the water was steaming.  The steam then froze to the grass growing next to the stream.  Pretty!

Going out was just fine, coming back was a bit cold, especially the last 2 miles with the wind in my face. (brain freeze anyone?) My feet were shockingly warm and even a bit sweaty.  My hands were almost too warm but I didn't dare remove my gloves.  The hot water trick worked well and my water bottle didn't freeze.  Legs were a bit cold at times, but not too bad.  Upper body was perfect.  Unfortunately, I've discovered that my fancy new running hat really doesn't cover my ears all that well, so I'd have to tug on it (not super easy to do with gloves) or hold my hands over my ears (while running) for a bit.  I'm sure that looked cute.  I ended up getting 7.3 miles done and I didn't freeze to death.

The best part was that Will had our fireplace warmed up and ready for my return.  Sitting by the fire has never felt better.

This is me not freaking out

My last Ironman training experience was full of fear.  In my heart, I knew I could do it.  But I was motived by the thought of how much it would hurt or (worse) not finishing.  I went into workouts, most of which were personal-bests for me wondering which workout would kill me.  And then being pleasantly suprised when a solo-100 mile bike ride was fine and even a bit fun.  The whole experience was new and unknown.  I would frequently catch myself thinking about it and my pulse would race and I started to breathe a bit harder.  It was scary but also fun.

I'm now training for my second Ironman.  I've selected one that is significantly harder than my first.  Ok, maybe not significantly, but the bike is WAY harder.  But I'm not scared.  Maybe I know that my coach will train me up properly and I will finish.  I'm ok with not making time gains, mainly because the bike is 4,000 ft more climbing this time.  But I know I can do it.  Because I have before.

This makes a huge difference mentally.

It has been well documented that I am not a strong cyclist on the hills.  I am hoping that this will change.  I have also signed up for IM St George 70.3.  A course which is nortorious for how hard it is.  And somehow I've signed up for this as a training race for IMCDA.

I am crazy.

The bike is definitely a stretch.  It has a 4 mile long Cat 2 climb.  I know what a Cat 1 climb feels like.  I can probably walk faster than I can ride a Cat 1 climb.  I had a freaking spider create a web on my handlebars on that damn hill.  But I made it (with a bunch of walking) and I lived.  It was bad but not awful.  And that Cat 1 was with minimal training.  I am confident hopeful that with the right training, going up that 10% grade in St George will be fine.  Hard, but fine.

Training this time around is definitely different.  I feel pretty strong and like I'm on the right track.  I know what to expect.  Sure, all of this hill training may hurt a LOT, but I know that it will make me stronger.  Which really, is about all anyone can hope for. 

A good end to 2012

I had high hopes for most of 2012, but most of those hopes really weren’t realized. I had a really hard 2011 and a really hard early 2012, and then a broken heel, which made for a summer of disappointments. My heel finally was declared healed in September and things started to look up. I suppose that the time leading up to September made me evaluate things and appreciate the little things. Like walking without pain. And taking time to enjoy things. Oh and beer, drinking lots (and probably too much) beer. Also, I’ve been spending quite a bit more time with Will, which I think has been a good thing. Since my free time wasn’t dedicated to training, we ended up doing new things, drinking new beer, and generally having a good time. Finally. A good time.


This past holiday season has been a ridiculous amount of fun. I am healthy and not limited in what I can do. We have time and (fortunately) some money and opportunities for some fun stuff. I am specifically taking time to enjoy things now because pretty soon I will be sucked into the Ironman CDA training monster. Sure, I’m working with a coach right now and getting workouts in. But I have free time and some flexibility. Best to enjoy that because in late February, I won’t have free time until June 24.


Merry Christmas from the Timberline Lift
at Copper



Our holiday was a bit on the selfish side. We just focused on us and having a good time. I got a ridiculously good deal for a place in Breck over Christmas, so we were up there from Dec 21-25. We were originally supposed to head home on Dec 24th, but we got an extra night’s lodging (for free!) and decided to stay and have fun. As a bonus, it snowed big poofy flakes on Christmas Eve, which made for a powder day on Christamas. Ooooh, twist my arm. Life was truly rough. We skied (ok, I skied, Will boarded) 3 times in 4 days. The first day was very frustrating, mainly because Will is still learning and he is s.l.o.w. Wow, so slow. And standing on a hill in my ski gear is about the least comfortable thing and I get cranky. I kept telling myself that patience would be rewarded and I would have a husband who could keep up with me in a short while. The second day on the hill was a bit better – we found some runs that had some fluffy snow and Will discovered that he liked small bumps. Ok, these things are progress, and so much more fun than groomer greens. I actually had to twist his arm for the Christmas Day powder, mainly because he was tired and he had no idea how fun powder really is. I told him “two runs and if you’re not feeling it, we’ll go home. Besides, this gives the plows time to clear the highway.” I’m so glad I pushed, because it was the first day he had fun. Really, this day was pretty magical. On the drive to Copper there was a HUGE Christmas morning sun dog (where the clouds are frozen and create fragmented rainbows around the sun). The mountain was fogged in and the air sparkled with frozen ice crystals. Add some holiday music at the Timberline lift, powder, and zero lines and we were both incredibly happy. It was magical, and I’m not one to ever use that word.

Beautiful at the 'Boat

New Years weekend was spent in Steamboat. We had been there in the fall, a few years back and loved it. Technically, I have skied Steamboat before (I think I was 8?) but my main recollections were watching the winter Olympics, swimming outside with steam rising from the pool, and my dad being an a-ss and abandoning me on the slope. So, for all practical intents and purposes, this was my first time skiing at the ‘Boat. Same with Will. We went with his cousin and my friend, rented a cheap (but clean) hotel room and crossed our crossables for powder. We were lucky, as Steamboat had something like ~6 feet of snow in 3 weeks, and 1 foot of freshies two days before we got out there. Everything was spectacular. The gondola was a bit confusing (and fast!) at first but really fun. On our first run, we immediately noticed the snow at Steamboat is indeed special, even on groomers. We did a few runs as a foursome then split up as our friends wanted to do a bowl and I knew that Will was not yet up to bowls. We found a nice long blue groomer which had plenty of trees that opened into meadows of bumps. Will did trees and bumps and had a great time. We re-grouped at lunch and closed down the lifts. Amazing. The second day was equally amazing. Will was tired by lunch and hung out at the lodge. Chase and I found ourselves some tree runs.

Trying to document the sparkly snowflakes

Skiing in aspen groves with powder and bumps, as the air sparkled with perfect shiny snowflakes was again, magical. NYE was fun (but mellow). Happy hour and snacks at a brewery. Watching the torchlight parade and fireworks. Eating Chinese food in a place that was heated by one space heater. And watching Star Wars. Early to bed for more skiing New Years Day. Too bad the temperature was ~5 degrees, making the snow sticky and not a whole lot of fun. Not to mention freezing toes. Still, it was a fun start to 2013

Happy Erin with powder tree bumps. 
Unofficial "1:30" run at Steamboat

2012 Distance Wrap Up

Just putting this up as documentation.  It is kinda fun to look back at my totals from year to year.

2011

Bike: 156h 20m 12s - 2124 Mi
Run: 89h 49m 24s - 497.56 Mi
Swim: 77h 59m 24s - 209457.5 Yd
Strength: 4h 30m
Core Training: 1h 50m
Elliptical Training: 48m 08s
Hiking: 13h 30m
Skiing: 4h 00m
Snow Shoveling: 20m
Snowboarding: 5h 00m
Spinning Class: 3h 00m
Yoga: 2h 00m

2012

Bike: 117h 34m 39s - 1624.36 Mi
Run: 57h 04m 47s - 289.09 Mi
Swim: 82h 53m - 231174.3 Yd
Strength: 3h 20m
Aqua Jogging: 20m
Elliptical Training: 40m
Skiing: 60h 00m
Walking: 2h 15m
Yoga: 6h 00m

Huh.  I was only 400 miles short of my 2011 bike total... Interesting.  And I would have never guessed, but I swam more this year.  Even with barely swimming for 3 months this summer with a broken foot.  I guess that tells me that I have *finally* found a swim team that I like and do consistent practices with.
Running is understandably much lower - nearly half of 2011.  Thank you broken heel for that one.   But hey, look at all the skiing time :)

Santa's Stampede 10k Race Report

This winter, I signed up for the local Winter Distance Series, which is a monthly race comprised of 5/10k in Dec, 5/10 mile in Jan, and 5/10 mile in Feb. I signed up for the longer distance of each race in an effort to keep me honest this winter. Last winter I signed up for the local duathlon series and I discovered that it wasn't nearly scary enough to keep me training. You can run 3 miles on zero training and bike 11 miles on little training. You can't run 10 miles with zero training. This forces me to run this winter, which is probably a good thing considering my heel rehab and IMCDA this June.


Registration and Packet Pick-Up is crazy easy for this race. If you register at Runner's Roost you save the Active.com registration fee. You can pick up your packet early at the RR store by my office. Or you can pick your packet up the morning of the race. Easy and stress free!

Will and I were doing this race together. He was doing the 5k (his first!) and I was doing the 10k (oddly enough, my first!). My hope was that we could run the first part together and then I'd go off and run the longer 10k while he turned around to the finish. Unfortunately, the race was not set up that way. The 5k was at 9 AM and the 10k was at 10:30 AM. Ugh. And we had a packed schedule Saturday with brewery anniversary parties and uncle's 60th birthdays, so we had to drive separate and Will took off when he was done with his 5k. Very fuel efficient (eye roll). On the positive side, this meant I got to play cheerleader for him and other people in my tri club. I had a big sherpa fail, though, as while I was set up to take a finish line photo, the camera had other ideas and went to sleep on me. That meant no photo of Will. Boo. Fortunately, the race photographer got shots of him running. *phew*

Very rare and never before documented husband while running

I was FROZEN after standing outside for 40 min during the 5k. I had on extra pants and an extra jacket but I was still frozen. It was ~30 degrees and cloudy, and boy does that cloud cover make a difference. I could barely feel my toes and once Will finished we both went inside to so I could defrost. Then I decided to hit the small expo and hand out my ~40 strawberry banana Sunrype Fruit Strips to people. I’m getting better at randomly approaching people and handing out free stuff. It is still a bit awkward but generally, people are happy for free stuff. By that point Will took off and I went inside again to warm up and get ready for my race.

 

This was my first running race since May, which was a half marathon that I PR’d and where I probably also broke my heel. I was both excited and a bit nervous for this 10k. For starters, my longest training run was 5.7 miles, had a HR limit of 142, and included 10 minutes of walking (5 min at the start and end). I had not run 6.2 miles straight since breaking my heel and I really didn’t know how this race was going to go. I had a pep talk from my coach and we were both thinking that my I was in much better shape than I thought I was. My race plan was:

• Eat a normal breakfast since the race wasn’t until 10:30.
• About 45-60 min, eat a gel (I had ~100 of some First Endurance Liquid Shot about 45 min before the race)
• Warmup with easy jogging and drills for 20 min before the race. Time it so I’m not standing around getting cold.
• Mile 1: go easy and hold back
• Mile 2: go a bit faster, but still not “fast”
• Mile 3: same as above
• Mile 4 – 6: Its go time. Go as fast as you can sustain.

Given that I haven’t run the race distance, and most of my training runs were at a ~12:30 pace, I wasn’t sure I had much speed. And I was worried that if I went kinda fast, that I could sustain it. Conservatively, I set a goal pace of 11:00 min/miles and a 1:07 race finish.

 

Due to some distractions (samples, freezing, visiting with friends) I got my nutrition down at 45 minutes before my race. That was maybe a bit late as I had some side cramps later on in the race. My warmup was also only 15 minutes, due to the distractions. Mainly, I was inside and warm and didn’t want to go outside into the cold. After some debate on my clothing choices, I decided to ditch my jacket but keep my gloves and headed out for my warmup. I normally never, ever warm up. And the idea of doing a warm up nearly 1/3 the total time as my race was silly to me. But those were my coach’s orders and well, she is the professional. So I did the warm up.

 

The race course goes along the South Platte River trail and is fairly flat. The only “hills” are where the trail crosses streets (bridges or underpasses) and one nasty hill at the finish. The path is concrete but there is some crushed gravel on the side, which I ran on when it was available.

 

I started towards the back, as I had no idea how my pace would align with the other racers. Holding back during the first mile was hard. I was getting passed and I wanted to GO. I held back as best I could, but in reality, it wasn’t by very much. I kept seeing paces around 11 minutes or faster, and my HR was around 160. A bit too fast. But I felt fine so I went with it.

 

Miles 2 and 3, I tried to latch onto some people with similar pacing but then that turned into me wanting to race people. I reminded myself to run my own race and to slow down (for now). Still got passed a bit and I had to remind myself that I would soon be passing people in a few miles.

 

Legs still felt good at the turn around and it was time to GO. My heart rate crept up into the upper 160’s which is higher than I wanted but my legs felt good and my breathing was fine. And I was passing people – finally! Around mile 4.5, I realized that perhaps I was running a bit too fast as I got a side cramp that was a bit stubborn. I tried some deep breathing and I slowed down slightly and that seemed to help. At mile 5 you could hear the finish line announcer and see the trail back into the race venue (and nasty hill) and I just pushed it as much as I could sustain. Run run run, remember to stay loose and have good form, breathe, and have fun. Up the nasty (but short hill) and to the finish. Breathing pretty hard and running fast, but I felt good. I found my friends at the finish and had my usual post-cold weather race asthma attack. Fun times!

post-asthma attack pic with Santa and friends

Did a bit of expo wandering, mainly for warm drinks. The coffee sponsor ran out of coffee (!?!?) and only had hot chocolate. I got a half cup (mostly to warm myself) and I went back ~5 min later and they had run out of that as well. Lame.

 

My cool down consisted of the walk to my truck. Probably not the best thing, but my legs felt fine the next day (skiing).

 

Results:

Time: 1:04:38 (10:26 pace)

Stats: 65/60 AG, 436/582 OA

 

Overall, I think I ran this race just right. Hard effort at the end, but no so hard that I hurt anything. And I was really pleased with my pace, as I was MUCH faster than I thought I would be.

 

Bonus: really good race photos. It doesn’t even look like I’m running….

 

I get to race tomorrow!

I haven't been able to do a race since May 20th, a loooong (almost) 6 months ago.  Stupid broken heel killed my summer racing plans.  But tomorrow is a day for celebration as I get to return to racing.

I kind of want to put racing in quotation marks because I am s.l.o.w.  And tomorrow's race is a 10k.  My longest training run has been 5.7 miles, which included 5 min of walking at the start and 5 min of walking at the end.  Not exactly "racing a 10k" in the slightest.

Hopefully I will discover that I am in better shape than I think I am.  Hopefully.

Tomorrow's plan (per my coach) is this:

• 20 minute warmup.  This will be interesting because I NEVER warm up for a race.  Ever.  And the warmup is almost 1/3 of the time I'll be racing.  But that's why I've hired a coach.  We'll do what she says and I may be suprised.
• Mile 1 - take it easy
• Mile 2 - go slightly faster
• Mile 3 - go even more slightly faster
• Mile 4-6 - RACE.  But keep focus on form and if anything hurts, back off.

My goal time is ~1:07, which is an 11 min/mile pace.  Considering most of my runs have been MAF runs with a ~12:30 pace and HR limit of 142, going 1:30/mile faster will be interesting.  I did a 2 mile test run yesterday at that pace and it was a bit hard, so we'll see if I can sustain it for another 4 miles.

The good part is that I've somehow never done a 10k before, so no matter what, I will PR. :)

Really, this is just a test to see how I do with some speed and a medium distance race.  I have no expectations other than to just enjoy being able to run and to race.  That's it.  Just have fun.  (and not die)

The other fun thing about tomorrow is that it is Will's first 5k.  Woo hoo!  I was hoping that our races would start at the same time, so I could run the first half of his race with him.  But the race is dumb and the 5k goes at 9 AM and the 10k goes at 10:30.  Dumb!  So I will show up at the 5k time and cheer on my club-mates and husband and take some photos.  Then I will do my warmup and my race.  Weird set up but that's what we've got.

Hurray for racing!

Ironman Training, Month 1 (and other odds and ends)

First, a bragging revelation. I told someone today that I’m training for another Ironman. Not “I’m training for an Ironman.” But “another Ironman”. As in I’ve already done one. Ok, its bragging. But that’s also pretty cool.


I’ve been working with Coach Michelle for a month now (already, a month?) and incorporating some new running moves, as recommended by my PT.

MAF Running

AKA running as slow as humanly possible and then run even slower. Kinda. This actually has been really enjoyable, once I got past the first few weeks of frustration. Honestly, I kind-of felt like I was in the movie Speed, only the opposite concept. Go too fast and your Garmin won’t quit beeping. And something may blow up. Any minor distraction or loss in focus and my HR would creep (or zoom) up. It takes an incredible amount of focus to run so slowly.

Strangely enough, I really like running this way now. For starters, my sore spots aren’t sore anymore. NO TIGHT CALVES. Crazy. Also, its not boring. Before, I needed (no required) music for most runs. Now, my brain is so busy focusing on going slow (or moving more efficiently) that I don’t miss music and time flies by. I’ve been doing hour long runs in silence (except the occasional beep from my Garmin) and I’ve really enjoyed it.

I think this fully cements my status as a runner. From “only runs when being chased” to “enjoys long runs in silence.” Who am I?!?!

Glute Strength

My glutes don’t like to work. My PT did a whole bunch of exercises to try and get them to fire, and my left (injured) side would just stutter. The damn thing wouldn’t even contract, it would just stutter along. So I have a bunch of very subtle exercises to try and trick that muscle into firing, with the idea that once it gets used to working, it will decide to work when I run. Thereby saving other muscles (my lower calf) from doing all the work in compensation. I think its working as I’ve actually felt it engage a few times (speed work or hills) and it has been sore.

Video Gait Analysis

I got the results back of my video gait and a bunch of recommended drills. Things like “kitty paw”, “kick butt”, and “a skips”. All are to be done with very light footing. I try to incorporate these drills as part of my 5 min walking warmup for each runs.

ChiRunning

The PT who did my gait analysis strongly suggested I get this book and try to incorporate this style into my current running practice. I’m about 2/3 of the way through the book and have read about the theory and background, areas of focus, drills, and technique. Enough to be dangerous. The whole idea behind this technique is to let gravity do the work for you, to have a tight core and a relaxed rest of your body. Oh, and breathe. I practiced some of these techniques (breathing, peeling my feet up – heel first, keeping my ankles relaxed) during my MAF run last Sunday and it helped. I should have had a terrible run (I went skiing the day before and was sore… and I stuffed myself full of Thankgiving food the night prior). Anytime my HR would creep up I would take deep breaths and my HR would go down. If I felt a little tight, I relaxed my ankles. I practiced good /efficient feet and worked on peeling my foot up from the heel. I was almost 1 min/mile faster than the same route and distance a week earlier. Wow.

Swimming and Biking

Michelle had me to a 1,000 for time and it was sad. About 5 seconds per 100 yd slower than I should be. I’ve got a ways to go.

Biking is just fine. I’ve got trainer interval days (which aren’t as bad as you’d think) and easy cruise days. Fortunately, the easy days and coincided with nice weather, so I’ve used the bike time to explore trails around my house that I haven’t been on. Its been fun.

Skiing

And I went skiing the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The snow is terrible. Scary, actually. The open trails, where the snow was manmade and probably bulldozed into place, were ok, considering the snow was manmade. But directly adjacent to the trail was mostly dirt. It was scary. We need snow. My new rock skis (Ramp Frenzy’s) did the trick though. Easy grabbing onto crusty stuff and stable at speed, as advertised. You really have to get on it to get them to engage. Messing around means you will smear your skis all over. And your knee will be sore. Will did great, though!

running slow is hard!

Today's run:

• 5 min warmup walking
• 30 min with a HR limit of 142, with 8 strides
• 5 min cool down walking

I was actually invited to happy hour tonight (people seem to forget I exist at work... however, the one time I'm invited is also the same time this annoying girl shows up with the intention of happy hour.  sigh).  I was supposed to run tonight with Will (on flat trails) but instead I ran during my lunch.  The trail at work is the opposite of flat, with a big long climb and some rollers.

It turns out, it's impossible to run with a heart rate of 142 up a hill.

I forgot my MP3 player today.  Turns out, that wasn't a problem since my Garmin was beeping at me nearly constantly to slow down.  I attempted to lower my HR by slowing down (like I did Sunday) but it really wasn't working.  I let my garmin beep at me 3-4 times, then I'd run one of my strides, and then I'd walk until my HR went down to ~138, then I'd run again.  And repeat the scenario.

I was really focusing on running slow and smooth but my watch kept beeping at me.  Very frustrating.  Hopefully this gets easier over time.

learning how to run

Running is a complicated thing.  You think to yourself, you just run and its that easy.  But apparently (for me), its not.

I've been running regularly since 2008, so I'm not a novice.  I try to run ~20 miles a week.  My longest training run has been 16 miles.  So I should know what I'm doing.  Except, I just found out that I don't.

I have chronically tight calves.  They hurt.  And they make my right foot go numb.  I keep getting my calf worked on (dry needling, massage) to loosen it up.  Then a few runs later, it's like I was never treated.  I'm 99% sure my calf caused my heel fracture.  I was discussing my most recent calf tightness with my PT and she suggested I go and see her friend that does video running gait analysis.  We're thinking I'm doing something wrong (root cause) and that is causing all these calf issues and related injuries.

Video gait testing went something like this:

• run ~10 minutes on the treadmill at a comfy pace to get used to running on a treadmill
• run at above pace with your preferred shoes on while being videotaped from the back and side
• remove shoes and repeat video from the back and side.

I did not like the barefoot running.  Immediately I knew my left foot was misbehaving because with each step, because there was a SMACK everytime that foot hit the treadmill. 

After the treadmill video session, I was asked to do a few tests:

• stand on a box, balance on one foot, squat down and tap your heel on the floor down in front of you (evaluates glutes)
• balance on one foot and do toe raises w/out setting your heel down (evaluates ankle)

I passed the toe raise test but miserably failed the step down test on my left side.  Awesome.

After a prelim evaluation of the video, I felt like I got a D- in running.  I am STILL heel striking (in Newtons!  Imagine how sad it would be w/out them!) and worse, I am not engaging my muscles when I run.  Most people get nice and pretty calf contractions as they run.  I have calf muscles (I see them when I do calf raises!) but when running the back of my leg is smooth.  There's no calf contraction.  I'm also not engaging my glutes.  STILL.

Sucky.

So I have more PT exercises to work on.  And in 3 weeks I get the full video evaluation and corrective measures.  And I'm going to work with my normal PT to evaluate my neural transfer.  I master my PT exercises pretty quickly (meaning they become too easy) and I KNOW I have muscles.  There could be something weird going on between my brain and my feet that makes it so I'm not engaging those muscles.

I'm also working with a new triathlon coach, and she's introducing MAF heart rate training.  You take your target fat-burning-zone heart rate (HR) and set that as your maximum HR for workouts.  This teaches your body to use fat as fuel.  And I suppose it does something to increase your fitness, as it teaches you to run faster at a lower HR.  Eventually.  I'm skeptical, but at this point, running slower is probably good for me.

Yesterday was my MAF test, which consisted of the following:

• 5 min walk
• 10 min easy jog to warm up (during which my Garmin was FREAKING out, showing a HR of 180.  dumb technology)
• 25 min of running with a max HR of 142, keeping track of 1 mile splits.
• 5 min walking to cool down

I ended up taking splits every 1/2 mile because I wasn't sure I'd get in 2 miles.  I'm slow.  I was just hoping I could keep things slow enough  controlled without having to do much walking. The first lap wasn't too bad.  I had to focus a bit to keep my HR down, but it wasn't awful.  Same for the next lap.  The third lap required a bit more focus.  I was literally saying "slow, light steps" and trying to be very efficient and not waste energy to keep my HR down.  The last lap really required 100% focus.  Any momentary lapse and my HR zoomed up to >150 bpm, which required 5-10 sec of walking to bring it back down.

Essentially, it was a test to see how slowly something could resemble a run while keeping my HR down.  It was tricky, mentally.  But afterwards, I didn't have my usual calf tightness.  There may be something to this.

• Lap 1: pace 12:37, avg HR 141, max HR 146
• Lap 2: pace 12:50,  avg HR 142, max HR 145
• Lap 3: pace 13:22, avg HR 142, max HR 148
• Lap 3: pace 13:47, avg HR 141, max HR 153

I imagine that I'll be doing this test in a few months to see how I'm progressing.  Ideally, my pace will increase at that HR max. 

trail run

I got a State Park pass this spring, with the idea that I'd go trail running at some of the parks by my house.  My foot had different ideas.

I'd been building up my time and distance with my doctor-prescribed run/walk program and was up to nearly 4 miles.  I had a friend in town for GABF and she had running on her schedule.  We decided to go for a trail run at Castlewood Canyon State Park.  I looked at the topo map and decided it wasn't that bad.  I've also seen photos of other run groups there and it looked pretty.  I decided to take the creek trail at the bottom of the canyon.  How bad could it be?

We got there at 9:30 AM and narrowly escaped a pack of kids, presumably on a field trip.  We decided to not take our phones (for photos), debated on clothing (I decided the canyon bottom could be shady and cold so I wore a long sleeve shirt over my short sleeve shirt), got our Garmins rev'd up and took off down the trail.

Funny thing.  The park name had "canyon" in it and we were running along the creek at the bottom of the canyon.  Only the parking lot was at the top of the canyon.  That meant our "run" involved a whole bunch of stairs at the start of our run to get to the bottom on the canyon.  Which also meant that we had to go up the stairs at the end of our run.  Oops.  I think my friend was thinking about killing me at this point and we were only 3 minutes in.  I am such a good friend.


View from the scenic overlook, taken after our run.

Once we got to the bottom, it was really pretty but also pretty tricky.  The trail was singletrack with a ton of large rocks sticking out of the ground.  And in some cases, boulders we had to scrabble up, down, around, or over.  (Jumping over was my favorite.)  My orange Newons were probably a terrible choice.  Easy for my friend to follow but with the lugs on the bottom, they were a bit unsteady.  I tried to twist my ankle twice but thankfully my closed-eye balance exercises actually did something and my ankles were nice and strong.
The trail only got wide and level in one place, a meadow upstream of an old dam.  But it was thick/loose gravel/sand, so it wasn't the easiest stuff to run in.  I did my best to maintain some semblance of running where I could, sometimes darting around or over rocks.  I definitely had to slow down for most of the climbing and any sort of scrabbling.  And as a bonus, my calf acted up and my whole left foot when numb at the end of the run.  That made things interesting.

It was actually a super fun run, probably one of the best I've had all year.  It was challenging and not boring.  Dodging all those rocks keeps your mind occupied.  Plus, the canyon and fall colors were so pretty.  For longer distances, I probably would go do the rim trail or try a different park.  But for something quick this was definitely fun.  Even if it was the slowest 4 mile "run" of my life.

The orange Newts are back!

I need a new liver

so while more serious athletes were battling it out in Kona, I was drinking beer with 5 of my closest friends. 

Beer week actually started before their arrival, as Will and I went to some rare beer tasting.  Highlights were a raspberry sour from AC Golden (what's wrong with me!?!?), an apple cider with lavender and rosemary, and many, many whisky/bourbon/brandy aged dark beers.  Lets just say that Thursday morning was a bit rougher than it should have been.

Friday was Day 1, which all in the Boulder area and included:

• Oskar Blues Tasty Weasel - I just had sips of what others were drinking
• Pumphouse Brewery and Grill - Ryetoberfest
• Gravity - Will and I split a sampler
• Upslope - pumpkin ale, so good
• Avery - Salvation (9% Belgian Strong, because that's smart at the last stop of the day when you're driving home).  I also sampled some Rumpkin, Tweak (15%), and some other bottle of beer that was 18% ABV and cost $24.  for a 12 oz bottle.  Also: sweet potato tater tots with green chile.  Awesomeness.

yum.  and also dangerous

Saturday was Great American Beer Festival Day!  We had members only session tickets (Sat afternoon) and our friend was entered in the ProAm contest, so we had tickets to the awards ceremony.  The awards ceremony also included breakfast beer at 10:30 AM.  Awesome again.

note: this is not my hand

GABF had 580 breweries and 2,700 beers.  Wowzers.  Highlights included:

• Cigar City Good Gourd Imperial Pumpkin.  I may or may not have gone back 3 times for this.  In a very long line.  It was my favorite of the day.
• some random mid-west brewery's PB&J beer.  Weird, but it worked.
• Shorts Brewery Bloody Mary beer.  I do not like bloody marys.  I have no idea why I liked this beer.
• New Glarus Rasperry Tart.  so good.  I wish they distributed here.
• And many, many others.

Part of the challenge with GABF is simply being overwhelmed by all the choices.  You can only drink so many beers, so you don't want to waste your opportunities with crappy beers.  However, the point is to try NEW beer, so you have to take a risk.  I know, first world problems.  My life is rough sometimes.  Fortunately, there are dump buckets at each table, so if you don't like your sample, its easy to get rid of it and move on.

Sunday was even more drinking:

• Renegade brewing - Banana Split beer (chocolate hefeweisen) and some brunch from a food truck.  I'm still sad they didn't have their Sunday Morning coffee strong ale.  That would have been brilliant with bacon and french toast.
• Prost Brewing - I got the sampler and an extra sample of the Tivoli beer (historic Denver beer that went out of production in the 1960's).  Then my friend got this brilliant creation - a Russian - consisting of a Hefeweisen and Italian Lemon Soda.  Amazing.  So I had to get one as well.  This will be my summer 2013 beverage, for sure.
• Strange Brewing - Cherry Kreik (so good)

Russian at Prost.  Seriously delicious.

We wanted to also hit Wit's End, but it closed at 5 PM on Sunday.  We realized this at 5:20 PM.  Fail.

Monday (dear good lord) (after a 4 mile trail run) was:

• Rockyard Grill and Brewery - lunch and a pumpkin beer
• side trip to a liquor store for some Crooked Stave beer (hard to find sour beer)
• Lone Tree Brewery - Ariadne Belgian Blonde (and an order of 3 x 1/6 kegs for my tri club party for next weekend)
• Copper Kettle Brewery - I drank water and had sips of other people's beers.
• More beer from our personal stash.

And now my liver needs about a month's detox.  Definitely fun but not something I can do very often.

Glade Expressions

*This post is sponsored by BzzAgent Glade Expressions*

About a month ago, I got a BzzKit for a Glade Expressions home scent package.  I was able to get an oil diffuser and a fragrance mist.  Scent options include Cotton & Italian Mandarin, Fuji Apple & Cardamom Spice, Lavender & Juniper Berry, and Pineapple & Mangosteen.  I went with the Pineapple/Mangosteen because of the fresh fruity scent and the pretty wood panelling on the oil diffuser.  For scent consistency, I went the same direction for the mist.

Here's the oil diffuser hanging out on my side table:

cute, right?

The scent is nice and fruity without being fake.  The oil diffuser does a great job in scenting my large front room.  I can't wait to try out the other scents.

SNOW!

The news has been hyping snow for Saturday.  Well a snow/rain mix in the morning.

This morning (Friday), I went to 5:30 swim practice.  WeatherBug said it was 32 degrees out, so I grabbed my hat and gloves.  I stood out on my driveway and realized it wasn't all that cold out, so I ditched the gloves.  Roads were damp but fine.  I went to swim practice, spent 60 minutes face down starring at the black line in my lane.  At the end of practice, we looked up and saw white suff on the hill outside of the pool.

I wandered over to the window to check it out and saw little fluffy flakes coming down.  I may have done a little dance at that point.

Last year, the first snowfall was on Oct 8th.  The day before the Denver RnR Half Marathon.  I think I cried that morning.  Last year, I had serious PTSD from Ironman training the previous winter.  Snow days meant 4.5 hours on the bike trainer.  Cold and dry days meant 6 hrs on the bike freezing and stopping at public bathrooms to thaw out.

Last winter's mission was to enjoy winter and learn to love snow again.  Snow should be happy.  I should not want to cry each time I see snow.  I season of skiing and playing and I love snow again.

We'll see how I feel about snow in April 2013, with CDA on the horzion....

Back on my feet

I have "ran" a whole 6.5 miles in the month of September!  Yay!  It still isn't real running, but its getting there.  So far I have done:

• 14 minutes, alternating 1 min walking, 1 min running.  That sure was tough! (/sarcasm)
• 17 minutes of the 1 min walk/run deal
• 20 minutes of 1 min walking, 2 min running
• 28 minutes of the 1 min walk/run deal

The fun part is that Will is running with me.  Its pretty funny because even though I've been broken all summer, I am still in much better shape.  The last couple of minutes back to our house is up a small hill and I always push that hill.  Will was breathing pretty hard and I was being very helpful, trying to make him talk and pushing the pace.  I'm supportive like that.

The other great part is that I've been running just before sunset and the weather is fantastic.  The light is amazing, the fall colors are great.  I try to not think about the fact that snow will be flying soon.  I'm just trying to enjoy things right now, in the moment. 

I also volunteered at a trail race yesterday - the Bear Chase Race, which consisted of a 10k, half marathon, 50k and 50 mile trail race.  I worked the 5 - 10 AM shift (with a 3:45 wake up time... yowzers) and I got a free reflective vest for my efforts.  It was really early, but it was also fun.

I brought some of my SunRype along, as I just got a shipment of 480 Just Fruit and Grains bars (summer berry).  I brought a couple of boxes with me, hoping to help out.  I was not prepared for the literal buffet our aid station had.  Seriously, it was crazy.  Oranges, watermelon, banana, nilla wafers, oreos, honey stinger gels and waffles, m&ms (plain and peanut), skittles, pretzles, chips, pb&j sandwiches.  My poor SunRype bars weren't getting a whole lot of love. 

I was carpooling, so I had to leave right at 10 AM.  In my time at the aid station, I saw the half marathoners (a lot of them grabbed pb&j's.... for a half. marathon. ) and I saw 2 loops of the 50k and 50 milers.  These people had run ~24 miles by the time I saw them.  And most of them looked really good.  I wish I could have stuck around longer, as it was very inspirational to be around these athletes. 

This volunteer effort meants 5+ hours on my feet, which is something I haven't done in a very long time.  It was sore but I managed to do my "run" last night (28 minutes of the 1 min run/walk deal) and today all is well.

time stamp was 6:57.  Yep, I was volunteering 2 hrs before this was snapped.

shot of our aid station buffet.  I was joking that we needed doggie bags for the athletes.

if you look closely, you can see runners along the road and off in the distance

helping athletes getting their food on!

Goooo SunRype!



4 minutes

On Tuesday, my doctor gave me the all clear to start running again.  Honestly, I'm shocked.  I though she'd have me walk for a month and THEN build up to running.  Nope.  She said I could start running immediately.

I almost ran out of the doctor's office to my truck, in celebration.

The running plan actually ramps up pretty quickly.  In week 3, I will be running a mile continuously, walk for 3 min, and repeat 2 more times.  Given that my walk on Sunday (3 miles round trip) wiped me out, I'm going to wait until this Sunday to start the program and walk a few more times this week.  As excited as I am to start up, I don't want to rush into it and re-injure my heel.

After work on Tuesday, after a semi-long search for clothes and a debate over which shoes to wear (do I wear my cushiony [and blocky] Mizunos for support, or do I wear my Newtons for better form?  The Newtons won.  Mainly because I've been wearing the Mizunos daily for 5 weeks and I'm tired of seeing them), I went on a walk.  After some internal debate, I decided to go about 3 miles, walking 10 minutes and running for 1 minute.  I figured it was a good test to see how I felt.

And wow, those 4 x 1 minute runs were amazing.  It was the first time I've ran since the Colfax Half Marathon.*  I took the first 2 conservatively, focusing on light feet and midfoot running.  The 3rd run I tried to up the pace but it really wasn't there.  And the 4th one, I just wanted to keep it strong.

It went pretty well.  I can tell certain things aren't used to getting used.  My shins/ankles.  My hips.  My my heel felt GREAT.  I really was the best 4 minutes I've had in quite a while.  I'm looking forward to getting in even more of those minutes. :)

* Quote from my race report: "My feet hurt, which sucks.  I'm hoping that a regimen of 2 aleve every 12 hours for a few days will fix things, along with RICE.  This is fixable".  Oh the irony.  Yes, fixable with 4 months of being booted and doing nothing.  Crapola.

rebuilding

I can honestly (and finally) say that I am confident that my heel is no longer broken.

let me repeat:  After 4 months, my heel is no longer broken.

holy schmoley.

To get ready for IMCDA, and to prevent this from ever happening again, I am really working on rebuilding myself.  I almost feel like the Bionic Woman, only without the bionic parts.  I'm working with a physical therapist, a chiropractor, and a massage therapist to address all of my issues.  I want to get all the kinks knocked out now before training begins in earnest. 

Physical therapy is kicking my ass - literally!  Becky feels that my glutes are weak, so my calves have to work extra-hard to make up for that weakness, which in turn causes calf tightness, and in my case a broken heel.  Awesome!  We (well, me) are working hard to address the glute weakness and to also work on a few other trouble spots.  Daily, I get to do:

• a series of 5 pilates side leg lifts, 1 minute each (5 minutes total, per side)
• bridge pose, holding one leg up and out, 1 min each side
• face down leg lifts (2 types), 1 minute each type (2 min total, per side)
• 2 min of calf raises
• balance ball bridge pose (hold 10 sec) then roll legs out straight and hold (10 sec) to fatigue
• theraband front wide walking to fatigue
• theraband backwards wide walking to fatigue
• theraband sideways walking to fatigue (each side)
• 5 minutes wall squat (cumulative time with the goal to hold for 5 min straight)

This is HARD.  Wowzers.  However, I should have legs of steel from all of this.  Also: everyone I tell about the 5 minutes of wall squats looks at me and laughs.

I'm still searching for a good chiropractor.  The one I was seeing this spring wasn't taking my calf tightness seriously.  And I had to ask him to adjust my neck.  That annoyed me.  I switched to one closer to work who is sports-certified.  I guess there's a huge difference between knowing sports and being sports-certified, because this guy had no clue about any of the sports that I do.  He insisted on seeing me 2x a week "because I was tight" but never gave any indication of progress.  And when he asked me what activities I'd been doing (swimming and cycling), he'd tell me to quit undoing his work.  I'm not sure he was joking.  But honestly, I'm not doing all that much now and if he thinks I'm "undoing" things now... wow.  His speech mannerisms were also off-putting.  "Get on your tummy" instead of "lie face down".  When adjusting my back, when he was having a hard time he'd call me a "difficult girl".  It was creepy.  So I'm not seeing him anymore.

I had a groupon-type thing for a massage, so I used that on Friday.  Maybe someday I will get a nice relaxing massage.  But that day was not Friday.  He really worked hard  from my glutes on down to get knots to release.  I was pretty impressed, so I got 5 more sessions with him.  I need to get rid of these knots before I start training in earnest.

I haven't seen my doctor yet to get cleared for walking.  During our last visit, she wanted me to come back in 4-6 weeks, so I scheduled an appointment for 5 weeks.  I see her tomorrow.  My foot has been feeling good for 2 weeks now, so I decided to go for a walk to the farmers market yesterday as a test.  It's 1.5 miles each way... probably a bit farther than what the Doctor would recommend, but that's what I did.  Foot felt fine, but the rest of my muscles.....Wow.  I can tell that they are NOT used to getting worked in that fashion.  It was pretty sad, really.  Walking 3 miles round trip made me sore.  Damn.  But the foot felt fine, so that's the good news.  I can work on endurance.... slowly.

Finally, I hit a new bike speed max Saturday, on the hill by my house.  47 mph.  It was awesome.

Well, that was hard

This whooped me good.  It was also very educational.

The Plan:  I had 2 x 8 oz bottles of First Endurance Liquid Shot (about 4 hrs per bottle) in my jersey and a handfull of SunRype fruit strips for nutrition.    For water I had my 40 oz Speed Fill and I'd fill that up at aid stations.  I'd stop at every aid station and about every hour.  And I'd ride the 100 miles.

Starting out, things weren't so bad.  We were going uphill, but I could manage in my 2nd ring.  Five miles in, I wasn't dying.  Hooray!  An hour in and I was ok still.  Then there was a HUGE steep hill that didn't seem to ever end (see mile 10, above).  I saw 2.8 mph on my garmin and I was going so slow that it would auto-pause on me, thinking I had stopped.  Awesome!  There were moments where I considered walking, but I figured that each pedal stroke was taking me a greater distance than a step would.  So I kept pedalling.  FINALLY (two hours later) we reached Nederland.  3,000 ft climbed in 15 miles.  Hooray!  Ward is only another 1,000 ft and I have 15 miles to do so.

Insert ironic laugh, as I was about to get my ass handed to me.

We had a really fun descend.  I really enjoyed that, but it also scared the crap out of me because what goes down must go up.  Crap.  Then I saw a sign indicating that I had a Cat 2* climb coming up.  Crap again.  Its ok, I managed to stay on my bike in Boulder Canyon.  I can do this.

It turns out, asthma + 8,000 ft elevation is not a good equation.  My legs felt ok.  My lungs were gone.  And weirdly, my lower back was REALLY sore.  Things weren't fun anymore and my lungs were hurting.  So I got off and walked the steep parts.  I think I walked 3 or 4 times, usually spotting a tree or a rock just below the crest, which would be my re-mounting point.  Each time I walked, I'd take a hit off my inhaler.  It didn't work as 5 minutes later, I couldn't breathe.  That hill just wouldn't end.  There were points where it would level off and I'd go around a curve and see another hill.  Most of the time these later hills weren't bad, but I was almost crying at the thought of going up any more hills.  And I'd only ridden 22 miles.  In a century ride.  If I had seen a SAG vehicle on any of these hills, I would have asked for a ride to the next aid station.  I only saw SAG vehicles on the flats or slight descents, where I was on my bike and too proud to ask for a ride.  From past experience, I know that crying is usually a lack of nutrition.  I wasn't eating or drinking much because I was working so damn hard.  Once I realized that, I took a good hard swig of my nutrition to get some calories down.

FINALLY somewhere around mile 25 or 26, the hills ended and we had flats and a gradual downhill.  I knew Ward was around mile 28, where the aid station was, so I sucked it up.  I also made a deal with myself:  Ride the descent down St Vrain Canyon (30 miles) and see if I feel any better.  I got the the aid station and they were starting to tear it down.  Awesome.  My friend had been waiting 20 minutes for me.  Even more awesome.  Fortunately, she had some Advil and I took 2 for my back.  I told her about my plan to see how I was at the next aid station (Hygiene, at mile 60) and she was ok with it.

Then the fun began.  Yay - downhill!  Unfortantely, while we were on Peak to Peak Highway, there were some downhills and some uphills.  Down was fun.  Up was not.  I was done with going up.  Also, Peak to Peak turned into chipseal north of Ward.  Sucky. I just wanted to fly.  Once we got on St Vrain Ave, the chipseal turned into smooooooth pavement and there were no more uphills.  Just really fun downhills and sweeping turns.  I don't think I hit my brakes once on that road.

We made it to Lyons and the heat started to hit me and I knew I was back on flat land.  Pedalling was actually going well on the flats.  I was holding 18-20 mph.  I had also ran out of water at about mile 50.  Dumb.  I remember actually looking at my water bottle, thinking hmm, there's about an hour left of water in there.  I have 30 miles.  I can do that in one hour.  Yet another sign that I wasn't thinking clearly.  Somehow I trusted myself with 30 miles of fast descending.  Dumb.  So I was dry but I knew the road and I knew I had minutes to get to Hygiene.  So I just kept pedalling.

It was getting hotter and things were starting to get uncomfortable.  Saddle was ok-ish.  Hands were starting to go numb.  And my feet weren't super happy.  And I was starting to get crabby.  I knew the rest of the ride was flat-ish.  But I also knew it wasn't shaded.  I evaluated myself and my goals, and decided that things would cease to be happy if I continued on.  I had nothing to prove and why torture myself for another 40 miles.  SAG it was.

I made it to the mile 60 aid station and I was only about a minute behind my friend.  They had cheese pizza there.  I normally don't like cheese pizza.  But this was the BEST cheese pizza EVER.  I told my friend that I was SAGging it, but she understood.  And then I ate more pizza.  And red licorice.  mmmmm!

Getting a ride back to the race start/finish was super easy.  I had 3 drivers, all volunteering to take me back.  And on the way, I learned that my cousin was at the start/finish waiting for his girlfriend to finish.  That meant I had company for the 2+ hrs until my friend finished.  Hooray!  We hung out.  I drank beer, ate ice cream, ate pasta.  Good times.  The reports from my friends who did the full 100 miles told me that I made the right decision.  It was hot out there.  I would not have been a happy camper.

Lessons Learned:

• I need to be better about my nutrition, even when working hard.  When I got to mile 60 (5 miles riding time), I had only had 1/4 of my total nutrition.  That's equivalent to 2 hrs worth.  No shit I felt like crap.  I can't be doing that.
• I am questioning if I can do rides at altitude because I had SUCH a hard time breathing.  I don't know if this is an acclimation thing or if my lungs are defective.  My legs were ok (back was not, but it was tolerable).  I had to walk because I couldn't breathe.  Not cool.
• At each aid station, I need to evaluate hydration and nutrition.  Even when its early in the ride.  Running out of water was unacceptable.
• Good call SAGging it back after 60 miles.  I feel a bit beat up today but mostly ok.  I'm pretty sure I'd be in worse shape today if I did the whole thing.

I wish I took some pictures, as it was BEAUTIFUL.  The aspen were starting to turn, I had views of some big mountains.  I was just running so late that I didn't want to take the 30 seconds to bust out my phone and snap some pics.

Overall, the ride was VERY well organized.  Even though I didn't do the full 100 miles, I felt like I got my money's worth.  Maybe I'll think about doing this again next year, but only if I feel ready.  No more doing this on a whim.

* I thought a Cat 2 climb was the 2nd easiest climb.  I reasearched it this morning.  Turns out its the 2nd HARDEST climb.  No wonder that killed me!

Friday update

PT is going better.  I'm mastering my exercises and I have new ones.  One of which resembles a sideways crab walk and a theraband.  It is not very attractive, but I suppose that's not the point.  Its hard to be graceful when your feet are tied together by a gigantic blue rubberband.

I actually went to swim practice TWICE this week.  This has not happened since the week of July 8th.  Craziness.  Even more crazy, I could kick fairly hard and not feel my fracture.  Awesome.  Also: that's why I haven't been swimming very much.  Spending 3,000 meters pulling or barely kicking sucks.  Its impossible to motivate myself to go twice a week with that suckage.  Really.

I have ridden a grand total of 200 miles in the past 2 months.  Most of my rides are on the 45-50 mile range.  So, logically, I signed up for a century ride this Sunday.  Smart!  I figure, I can do Palmer Lake, which is 2k gain in 20 miles ok, and I can ride 45-50 miles and not be sore, so I should be relatively ok for a century ride with 4k gain in 30 miles.  And then another 70 miles after that.  NO PROBLEM!  I mean, there's 30 miles of downhill after the 30 miles of uphill (which really, requires no work what-so-ever), and then 40 miles of relative flatness.

no problem!  [gulp]

Honestly, a metric century would have been better.  They had a 70 mile option, but frankly, it was boring.  And I've nearly done that ride on my own for free.  I decided that pretty and painful was the way to go.  As slow as I will go, it will give me plenty of time to enjoy canyons and mountains.  I also plan on taking full advantage of EACH aid station, and not skipping every-other one as I typically do.

And if I'm dying, I can cut out early and go down Lefthand Canyon or something and simply ride back to the post-ride party.  Or a brewery.  We'll see if I survive.  Its probably not my smartest idea ever, but since when is smart fun?