June Lessons

June 2: Another bike training ride for 120 miles.... REALLY??  It's just another 10 miles extra. Oh yea, I crashed and stopped at 85 last week so I'm probably not as tired as the rest of them so LEGS - just shut up and pedal.  My bruise is beautifully colorful but my thigh doesn't hurt at all. I have no excuses.  Let me just say at mile 105 when we climbed Torrey Pines hill for a couple miles, I again reached near blackout level of pain in my neck and shoulders.  I really had to go to a far away place in my mind to push to the top.  We were in a tight paceline and I just let the flow pull me forward.  I just about became religious and PRAISED JESUS for saving my life and ending the ride at mile 116. I almost kissed the coach for shorting us 4 miles.  Instead, with tears in my eyes, gritting my teeth in excrutiating pain... I looked at my husband and said, "I QUIT." He has never heard me say that before.  He was in shock and  I felt like a failure.  I was crushed. I hurt beyond anything I had ever experienced and I couldn't even fully describe it.  I just wanted to lay flat on the ground forever to relieve the pressure or simply cut my head off. Either option would work at that moment. All I kept saying in my head was atleast I surpassed the Ironman 112 mile bike mileage, atleast I can hold on to that accomplishment with pride.

June 4: I woke up and decided to see my family doctor. WTF is wrong with me? She looks at my thigh in blues/purples/yellows... NO not that...that's fine!!!! I want to cut my head off!  why can't I ride long like everyone else?  She says, well...did you know you have really bad posture? no... sniffle sniffle...well maybe.... I think we need you tested in physical therapy, she says.  I take the prescription for muscle relaxers and a PT appt.  The lady measures my strength, says I need to come 2x a week for 6 weeks.  WHY?  Your neck strength is 37% below average so when you are riding a bike with a 10 lb head and you already lean forward with bad posture, you are actually holding up 20 lbs. Like if you were to lift a 2 lb wt with your bicep 1000 times... at first it is nothing but eventually you exhaust the muscle and it gives up into burning flames... now THAT seems familar.  Then add the miles of swimming I'm packing in between rides, trying to hold my head/neck still, using my arms/shoulders to rotate... yea that just preps the intense flames to arise even sooner. Conclusion: I need to take a step back and really add STRENGTH TRAINING to my life.  PT will teach me the exercising I need to incorporate into my training. I'm pushing my body now further than it has ever gone but I'm not adding any strength workouts to help me achieve the goal. Wow I guess that part is really important, especially if you already know you don't have much upper body strength.

For the rest of the month, I cut back on biking and swimming.  I went into a slight depression.  My schedule had been derailed and my husband continued on and achieved the 200 mile Finishline without me on Jun 23. I was just sad.  I lost my mojo.  I was a quitter.  However, I threw myself into a very expensive last minute tri race called SDIT and bought a transfer bib so I had something to do while he was in Malibu. It was a shorter distance than I like which fit my physical condition perfectly. I had 3 weeks to train and get stronger.

Jun 16: Marcus skips the 85 mile ride and we bike 25 together for his taper ride.  We saved the date to volunteer at the TCSD Beginner Tri!  We decided to be run buddies for those last few bikers that feel like they might die on the run!  We had been there a short time ago.  It was a real pleasure to see them experience my obsession and enjoy crossing the finishline. I loved running the 2 miles back and forth helping 3 ladies to reach their first goal.... and it allowed me guilt free bread pudding. :)

Jun 24: San Diego International Triathlon.  I did the training swims around the Harbor for 1000M...far off my swim training goal ( .62 mi) but I knew I needed to heal. I did the Bike training rides up to Cabrillo Monument...wow 18 miles in total ? how depressing... cutting back is good; be nice inner voice...I can run right?  Damn that left foot still hurts even after the shots... and then my right foot suddenly cramped on a training run! oh no not my GOOD foot! Back to the podiatrist who prescribed Naprocin... in 7 days the foot feels good and I break out in severe hives from the medication...I go off the meds cold turkey and its gone in 3 days.  I survived the race without any crises besides taking off on my bike without a helmet and having to go back and get it! ?)....Still can't find my swim mojo... NO we didn't PR the swim at SDIT like EVERYONE was talking about! The swim was supposed to be 1000M but they cut it short and it was about 870M ( .54 mi) per my Garmin...so disappointed. I was sad crossing the finishline without Marcus though.  It was my first event without him...I still felt like a loser for not being strong enough for the 200 miler.  I went home, threw the medal on the rack, and slumped in a chair sniffling.  Marcus came home that night with loads of pictures but NO MEDAL! I was appauled and made him one out of the stupid patch they gave... don't they know it's all about the BLING? Well my BLING was just amazing ;)

Double Century ride I missed :(

my substitue for the Double Century :(

My beautiful medal for my short tri and race substitute

Our homemade medal for Marcus's double century

We had one week to train for our monthly half marathon and we had no idea just how tired Marcus was until he pushed through this race.

Jun 30: Mojave Narrows Half in Victorville.... luckily it didn't get over 100 degrees until after 10am and we ran by beautiful scenery and homes with their sprinklers on so we could soak our hats!  Marcus was dead tired so we walked through aid stations and pushed through... I wasn't about to miss another goal of one half per month!  I didn't care how long it took!  We FINISHED.  The medals were icky small, the tshirts were a bit boring and cotton, the race food was crappy, but it was the only race I could find the only weekend we were available due to the bike training so it was worth it! We learned that running in really soft sand is really exhausting even if it is great for horses! Thankfully it was only a couple miles and then we got the pavement or dirt trail. I started to get the bug for destination racing!  (can you see my husband rolling his eyes?)

JUNE TOTALS

SWIM 13.5 MILES

BIKE 267 MILES

RUN 67.5 MILES

TOTAL 42 HOURS

AVERAGE WEEKLY 10 HOURS