Tri-ing Life and More

So I have tried to figure out what to write for several weeks now...so here is the full story: I competed in Ironman Cozumel last November.  I had trained all year for it, gained speed and distance, and felt incredibly confident that I would finish that race.  I had my problems (mostly heat and nutrition) but I had fun and was thrilled with my time and finish.  I have great memories from Cozumel.  The only sad thing was that my family couldn't make it to watch me because they couldn't get the time off (Black Friday in retail is not a possible day off).  I decided that I needed to do another one so my family could see me cross the finish line and see what this crazy sport is about.  Turns out Team Z was racing in Wisconsin the next year and charity slots were still open.  I had vowed that I needed a year off to rest and take time off training, but the pull to do a race only 1.5 hours away for a majority of my family was too large. I asked my family a...

So I am finally out of denial about this race since I am leaving tomorrow!  I have finally packed all my triathlon stuff and a bag for the hotel. Of course I am writing this post instead of finishing packing (my dad will appreciate that).  Packing for an Ironman is crazy because of all the stuff you need.  You have to think about what you need for a hot race or a cold race.  The weather looks great right now but it will get down to a low of 55 so I might need something warmer so I am bringing arm warmers.  All these random thoughts and of course you would rather over pack than under pack. Nutrition for the race (no clue how much I will use) Each pile is a different part of the race.  Yes everything on my bed I will use I will take a picture of the loaded car tomorrow and hopefully we can get some fun pics on the road to show how much fun Jen, Holly, and I will have driving 12.5 hours to Chicago. IM MOO in 4 days, 13 hours, and 42 minutes!

I realize this is one of the last nights before the race that I am resting, so I want to take the time to thank so many people for helping me through the last 3.5 months and to keep me positive enough to keep training. My Family.  My poor mom and dad have gotten so many calls from me and not many of them are happy.  Thank you for supporting me and not calling me crazy every day.  I am so excited to have you at the race and see my crazy lifestyle.  I am racing Wisconsin strictly so my whole family can come cheer and watch and see what triathlons are about.  My family is the whole reason I have gotten through training and continued even when I didn't want to (yes that is really referring to my walks which I really do hate).  I am so excited to celebrate with you when the race is over no matter what the result.  Love you guys so much! Great looking group Team Z .  I couldn't have gotten through the training without the support of my teamma...

So I think the title of this post says it all.  I am stubborn and the first question I asked my doctor when he said I needed surgery was can I do my Ironman on September 9th.  He looked at me, pondered for a minute (I don't know if he knows what an Ironman actually entails), and responds that yes, I should be able to do one.  As soon as he said that, my mind was set. Hindsight is always easier and I know that.  The last 3ish months have been crazy and stressful.  Recovering from knee surgery is hard enough (I pretty much lost my mind for a month).  Recovering from knee surgery while training for an Ironman is chaos.  I would fully recommend NOT to do this.  Maybe if the Ironman is 6 months out it might be feasible, but 3.5 months out of surgery just isn't enough time to prepare. I went into surgery in great shape (at least biking, I had already stopped running because of the pain).  I was biking 80 miles with an average speed of 19. ...

I am counting down the days to the race now (two weeks from today!!!).  It is such a different experience this year.  Last year for Cozumel, I was excited and ready for race day, this year is totally opposite.  I am ready to get it done with because the emotional and physical stress it is causing me is a bit too much for me. This weekend consisted of a 14.2 mile walk and 80 mile bike ride.  I learned several lessons this weekend. Lesson 1:  I HATE walking! My dad pointed out that some people love walking, my response is don't do it for over an hour.  My walk took me from my apartment in Arlington, through Georgetown, around Lincoln Memorial, back home, and added some extra miles.  It lasted over three hours and I did it completely alone.  It is boring, tedious, and somewhat painful.  I was able to try mixing in some jogging (I think I totaled 6-7 minutes) but realized that if I wanted to go for distance, I couldn't run much. Lesson 2:...

I had my three month post surgery checkup on Wednesday and everything looks great.  He said the bone is fusing back together and that I am doing great.  He also gave me permission to start running and see how it feels.  He seemed to think I would finish my Ironman and is looking forward to seeing a finisher picture when I get back. I tried running that night at PT and I can do it.  It is awkward and uncomfortable but I can do it.  Tomorrow is my longest run before the race.  My goal is to go between 13 and 15 miles to show that my legs can do it.  I will mix in a bit of jogging in there but figure it is too late in the game to hurt it running now.  I haven't run since April so I guess I will continue my walking.  Hopefully I can walk to DC (through the same hills I struggled with two weeks ago) and enjoy some monuments (and water fountains).  At least the area can hopefully keep me entertained and limit walking boredom. New goal...r...

It was Luray weekend!  Luray is a local race with an olympic distance race on Saturday and a sprint distance on Sunday.  It is also a huge Team Z race and so much fun.  We had over 100 people competing and many doing both races. I had decided back in March to use this "recovery" weekend and not race the full olympic distance but to form an amazing female relay team.  Kate was the swimmer, I was the biker, and Whitney was the runner.  Amazingly in March, we planned to kill this race, but our training didn't quite work out that way.  Kate hasn't been in the pool for at least a month, I had knee surgery, and Whit is training for a marathon (distance, not speed).  We really had no idea how this would turn out, but we WON!  Kate had a great swim and Whit killed the 10k.  I had a goal of averaging 19 mph on a hilly 25.6 miles and ended up with 18.8 mph.  I was happy and even had to pull back occasionally because of some slight knee pain. ...

So I apologize in advance.  I am not a negative person, but I have been for the last two months.  I have worked my butt off to prove I can finish this race, but my mind has yet to believe it.  This weekend didn't help my mental stability. I decided to skip the team run on Saturday (since watching all your teammates run off isn't a lot of fun) and opted to walk my half marathon from my front door.  I wasn't sure what to expect since the weekend before caused my body to be so sore.  I started very fast and feeling well again, but around mile 8, my legs were once again gone.  I had walked 2.5 miles in one direction on the path, turned around and then walked 3.5 miles in the other direction from my house.  I walked in the direction of my old apartment.  The last 7-8 miles were hilly and my body started to rebel.  Both knees were feeling off, my legs were refusing to move.  I went from 12:15 min miles to 15 and that was a struggle.  I...

I needed to tell everyone about my dear friend Kara who competed in the Olympics on Tuesday!  She is an amazing friend and an incredible athlete.  Of course she is a great javelin thrower since she is the American record holder and two time Olympian. Kara throwing in London I have heard from so many people I can't believe you are doing an Ironman after knee surgery.  Well Kara tops my story.  She has trained for the London Olympics since Beijing Olympics ended.  Her job is to train everyday to be the best javelin thrower so she had a chance to medal at the Olympics.  She was doing great recently and had overcome back injuries.  At the Olympic Trials in June, she qualified for finals.  During her throws that day, she hurt her knee.  She skipped the last two throws but still took her victory lap around the track despite some knee pain.  Well turns out, Kara tore her ACL during her throw.  After working four years for London, K...

"Epic 20/120 Weekend" So this was the Team Z Ironman epic training weekend.  You run 20 miles (or three hours) on Saturday and turn around and bike 120 on Sunday.  I remember this weekend last year for Cozumel prep and it is exhausting but it does truly make you feel ready. This year of course isn't the same story.  I haven't run a step in over two months, so obviously I didn't run for three hours.  My run training has been a mix of twice on the elliptical (both times for 20 minutes and one of those times was today), twice aqua jogging, and three speed walks.  While in Denver, I walked the city for 3.5 miles and I walked 2 miles with my dad at home.  None of this adds up to 26.2 miles running. So for my "epic" walk, I met some teammates and watched them run ahead.  I started my speed walk.  It was three miles out to Mt Vernon and back to my car and go from there to hopefully add more miles.  My goal was to hit at least 10 miles.  ...

I am happy to say my knee is feeling better everyday! On Saturday, I learned how to aqua jog and speed walk. Aqua jogging was hard but fun and will provide a great workout instead of Wednesday track. I will start logging long miles speed walking to prep for the marathon that I probably will have to walk. On Sunday, the day was slightly off but it was still a successful day. I planned to ride 90 hilly miles with my Ironman teammates to build miles and confidence. I didn't hit 90 but not because of my knee. At mile 35 of my ride, a friend went down hard and needed to go to the hospital to be treated. I decided to take her. She is fine other than extreme road rash and I am very glad I could be there to support her. I returned to the ride and finished another 32 miles. Overall, I was hoping this weekend would make me confident about my abilities to go the distance but that can happen in two weekends. My friends always take priority over training. I also did gain confidence since I ...

So the thing I love about races is the race weekend.  Team Z goes big on race weekend so I made it a 4 day weekend filled with fun.  We traveled up to Geneva, NY (about 6.5-7 hour drive) for a sprint on Saturday (about 10 teammates did this including my roommate) and a half Ironman on Sunday (85 teammates did this).  I cannot run still so I did the aquavelo race (1.2 mile swim and 56 mile bike).  These weekends are so much fun to see all my friends and cheer people on.  We stay together, laugh a lot, and enjoy our sport.  So of course, I was looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint.  I drove up with Bob and Jen and I don't think I could have had more fun on a car ride.  We were super loopy and had so much fun  catching up on life, laughing at signs in PA, and more.  I stayed with 6 teammates in an non-air conditioned townhouse but despite the heat, we had a great time.  Have I mentioned how much I love my team!  Way to...

Hi everyone, I know it has been awhile since I have posted and a lot has happened since then.  I have reflected on my summer so far and it hasn't been my best.  In the last two-ish months, I have had knee surgery, lost power during a heat wave for 4 days, found out my car is really broken, started shopping for a new car, continued rehabbing my knee, and trying to stay positive while things around me seem to fall apart. So...I will hopefully have posts to come about a lot of the above, but more importantly, I finally went to the Dr for my check-up.  He is super impressed with my knee and the progress.  I am only two degrees shy of having my full range of motion back.  He was testing the strength and motion and was asking when my next event is (Yes I am the crazy tri girl to him).  Well funny thing is my next event is this weekend!  Yes I am doing the Musselman AquaVelo race.  I was signed up for the 1/2 Ironman but of course I can't run and w...

Yes, I still do not have power so I am relaxing at Ruby Tuesday to get some air, charge my phone, and get some food. But moving on and still hoping to have air tomorrow. Last weekend was the Ironman Wisconsin training weekend. I was planning to drive out to Madison with my team and ride 100 miles and run 16 miles. Obviously I did not make it to Madison. However, I did go on my longest ride since surgery. I took on 29 miles of rolling hills. It felt pretty good. My knee definitely was sore and tired after but it felt ok today so that is a good sign. I averaged 15 mph. This speed is not bad, but it is a huge step back from where I was pre-surgery. I knew I wouldn't come back as strong as before but it is hard since I spent the last year getting fast on the bike and run. It is such a different experience this year with my injury. Last year I bonded with my Ironman teammates at long runs and rides. This year, I am not even sure who is doing it. They are suffering through long miles...

So if you have watched the news at all, I am sure you have heard that DC has 1.5 million without power. Now most I those people have power back, sadly I do not. We lost power around 11pm on Friday because of an hour of crazy storms. My roommates and I enjoyed watching the storm but never would have guessed it would cause this much damage. It has been a very busy week and weekend though. All I can think about though is how much longer without air? It is 84 degrees at my house! Oh and I am dog sitting so I have been extremely worried about her. Hope everyone else is having a better weekend!

So most of you have no idea what Hains Point is.  Hains Point is a loop of just over 3 miles in DC that is a biker's haven.  There are three stop signs and very little car traffic.  My team rides there every Thursday.  I used to go race Kendra and Mike around the loop at speeds up to 25-28 mph (not sustained but still hit those speeds).  Well I have now biked there twice this week!  My PT gave me permission to go bike but to take it easy.  I actually got to ride with the team on Thursday (I got there 4 minutes late due to PT though and missed the group start).  I decided my first ride back should be on my own anyway.  My goal was at least one loop and see how I felt about a second loop. Hains Point!  I felt like a kid in a candy store. My smile while biking was huge and all I could think is that I love Hains Point and biking!  It is right along the Potomac River so I took everything in.  The water, the boats, the golfe...

So I think today is one of the best days I have had recently regarding my knee.  The day started with a great swim.  I have made myself get up for every swim recently since that is about the only workout that I can do.  So yes, I wake up at 4:45 Tuesday and Thursday mornings to swim for an hour.  The fun thing about my swimming right now is that I can't kick or push off the wall (darn knee).  So it is an hour of my arms pulling me through the water.  Today I worked really hard on form, which is a great thing and I do think I felt improvement, but it also means my arms are sore!  My friend even commented that my arms are going to be huge before my legs are back.  After a great swim, I was off to PT. My goal was to walk into PT and ask them to push me more.  I am almost 4 weeks into PT and not much has changed.  I always start PT with 10 minutes of stem to get my muscles moving.  My inner quad muscle was actually working today and ...

Happy Father's Day to all the amazing fathers out there.  I wish I were home to celebrate with my dad, but guess that is what you get when you move 12 hours away.  He is very content to a day of gambling and golf though so I probably couldn't top that anyway. Thanks for everything Dad!  For getting me hooked on Disney (maybe mom's fault), riding roller coasters with me, being my coach, and so much more.  Oh yeah and thanks for taking care of me during surgery...couldn't have made it without you. Some awesome pictures to take us through the years!  And yes, he did have hair back in the day. One of my first visits to Disney He did have hair! My first upside down roller coaster...he got me hooked! Typhoon Lagoon Wave Pool Bring your kids to work day A year later, Blizzard Beach? Trip to DC...Hanging out at Mount Vernon Christmas while still in Marion In case you haven't figured it out, we love Disney.  Celebrati...