May Lessons

May pushed me on the bike leg and I swam as much as possible.  I had long bike rides preparing me for the SD Century and I was really struggling with foot pain, foot numbness, neck and trapezoid pain. Marcus really wanted to ride a double century.. .yes 200 miles on a bike... I wanted to support his goal; I wanted it to be my goal; the little voice inside me said....oh you just go ahead and try it....Boy did I ever....

May 6: We convinced Ryan and his girlfriend Aliyah to run their first half marathon and try to complete the Beach Cities Challenge with us... 3 halves in May, Oct, Feb'13 and you earn a 4th supersized medal! GOOD NEWS:  they agreed.  BAD NEWS: it was the last time to run the series and you had to run it consecutively starting May 6, which was one week after La Jolla Half!  Well, we thought it was a bit insane but we were actually very prepared since the terrain was so flat.  We all four crossed the finish line without a problem.  It was great sharing it with them, especially since it was their first half.

I continued immediately the day after the run with an 87 mile coastal bike ride because we missed the team ride and Marcus had to travel the rest of the week.  Wow I was wiped out, especially when the first half was 40 miles into headwinds.  But that meant a lot more coasting on the way home.  My neck and shoulders were screaming at me... innervoice...shut the hell up and pedal. Ignore the pain.

May 13: For Mother's day I requested another bike ride up Scripps Poway... yes madness but my husband grumblingly agreed.  I just have to test things out in advance and I knew this was a monster hill and I needed to do it before the event.  It wasn't really a problem on fresh legs but we did it at noon for extra suffering in the heat! Well ya gotta be prepared.

May 19 SD Century... ok, I'm not going to lie.  IT WAS FREAKIN' HARD!  6000+ feet of climbing.  Since I was still having neck/shoulder pain, let's add salt to the wound and change our bike fit the day before the event... yes lets get MORE aero as if a 45 degree angle isn't painful enough.  The foot pain? Lets FORCE your feet level with wedges under the cleets even though you are a super pronator.  So apparently my goal was to see how much pain I could tolerate in the heat and climbing too.  After I mashed my way up the 2 miles of Scripps Poway in sweltering heat, I knew there would be food and drink as a reward at the next SAG.  It would be my reward for surviving the hardest part to mile 60.  I'm popping more pain relievers, throw off my shoes, rub bengay on my neck and see all the food is GONE!  oh so sorry, have an orange wedge... :) WTF??? At this point I can't speak for fear flames may exit my mouth as my head spins in circles like in the Exorcist... I pour ice water over my arm coolers to take down my temperature.  I get back on the bike with the hope of feeding at the next SAG stop only 20 miles away.... we head towards HELL aka Ramona which is close to the center of the sun and then loop back to the Scripps Poway hill but most will be down hill.  However by mile 70 and facing another slight incline, I pullover, get off my bike, lay down in the bike lane of hwy 67 on my back and start BAWLING.... Marcus has no idea what to do but I scream TAKE OUT THE WEDGES!!! I can't take the pain in my feet any longer. Luckily we had a tool in his bike kit and he removed the little yellow flat pieces of plastic that were supposed to fix my numbing and burning feet.  Instead, they almost made me drive into traffic so I could kill myself.  For the next 10 miles, I had the wind in my face, and the intense pain in my feet calmed. Never change anything before race day REMEMBER?  I ate everything in sight when we arrived at the SAG stop mile 80.  WHAT? you added 5 miles? why? I only paid for 100. OK Fine. BUT did they have to add 3 hills in those last 5 miles... I think I screamed the entire last 5 miles... and those were the fun times.  We made it to the Finish and I think my shoulders had grown into my ears.  I was in such pain that I can't even describe it.  I would rather have given birth to twins ala natural. Next stop back to the bike shop to convert out of tri and back to road position.  Why am I in such pain???? It must be the bike right?

May 26: Training ride 110 miles... we are working towards the Double Century ride so we have 5 weeks of additional century rides for preparation....The refit improved my pain but not completely.  I got cortizone injections for my foot because of the intense forefoot bruising, I changed to a shorter neck on the bike and moved everything to more road like positioning... I was determined to try again.  It was hard although not that hilly.  My body was pissed off and it let me know... but I didn't actually make it to the finish of this ride because I had a head-on collision on the Coronado Strand!  We were in a double paceline and I was at the end.  A couple was blocking our lane and suddenly the group slowed but I was too close to react maybe because I was already gripping my hoods in intense pain and near blackout anyway. I swerved left to not hit the person in front and slammed into a very very large man intensely hugging the center line of the shared bikepath.  I immediately shot over my handle bars on impact.  I shut my eyes and landed in a bed of iceplant.  The other man went postal violent and was screaming at all of us while I was just trying to get my breath back and check that I still had limbs. hmmm all was good.  How was the bike?  My aero bike arm pad broke off but why?  Oh it broke on impact INTO MY THIGH!!!!  WTF... I made it another 20 miles using my arm to help me pedal to 7-11 for ice.  My day ended sadly at mile 85 and got a ride back to the car so Marcus could finish the ride.  I hate not reaching my goal.  It just crushes my spirit. But I had a nice smiley face bruise from the shape of my arm pad!