November update

Wow, I can't believe it's been a few months since I have posted...so much going on with my plantar fasciitis since my last race in August that it seems it takes up all my time and energy. Seeing all kinds of Drs.; podiatrists, chiropractors, orthopedic and a sports medicine dr along with massage therapists, acupunturists, physical therapist etc. Lots of suggestions from friends and my clients and nothing seems to be working. I finally asked to be put in a cast as a couple of people I knew said this was the "only thing that cured them". Well, I was put into a cast for 4 weeks, had heel pain the entire time I was in it and slighly less pain when I got out of it...but by no means was I better! Now I just had to deal with a body that is out of whack, an atrophied calf and a very weak ankle.....
I have been out of the cast for 2 weeks and it was so good to get back in the pool after being out for 4 weeks. About 2 hours out of the cast I was in the pool for about an hour, it felt awesome. I am now swimming at least 5 times a week and have managed to get on the bike for a few 2 hour rides. I am feeling out of shape but know in another couple of weeks I should be back to where I need to be for this time of year.
I had a set back a couple of days ago and not sure if it was the 6 min. of barefoot running or the acupuncture appt. I had right afterwards. Either way, I was so sore in my foot, worse than it's been in months...a little disheartening. Yesterday was tough with the foot but I decided I was tired of having it control my actions so I did a 4000 swim (about 1.5 hours) and then Andy and I went out for a nice 1:45 very easy bike ride. It was the first outdoor ride in 2 months for me so it felt great to be out!
Today I woke up, stretched a little and the foot seems sooo much better. I had a nice 2 hour ride with a girlfriend and then an hour massage on my left psoas, which has been extremely tight and painful the past week. I am sure the increase in swimming and riding not to mention walking around in a cast for 4 weeks really messed me up. I have an appt. next friday with another massage therapist who says he can get rid of my plantar fasciitis....let's hope he can do some good.

5430 Half Ironman Triathlon

Today started at 3:ooam with the alarm going off on my watch. Time to get up and do some serious stretching of the foot and have a little breakfast. I had everything packed last night so this morning I didn't have much to do. I took a quick shower to warm up and do some calf stretches and foot massage. My foot wasn't bothering me too much this morning, not like it did yesterday. This is a good sign as I will probably be okay for the run. It's going to hurt but I think I can handle that. I slept with 4 tiny magnets on the heel and it seems to have worked. Yesterday I could barely walk so it's an improvement. I have taken 4 days off from running and I am sure that helped as well.

After a breakfast of a slice of gluten free bread and an egg I mixed up a protien shake and a carob/banana/soy shake for after the race. Also heated up a little brown rice and threw in half a banana and some blueberries with vanilla soy milk to have after I get up to Boulder. The transition area opens at 5:00am and it's an hour drive up there. I stopped by Audra's house to pick her up and we had a nice drive into Boulder. It was dark when we got there but we were able to get around pretty well. The sky was totally cloud covered and I was second guessing on what I was wearing. The forcast was for the mid 80's so I was hoping the clouds would just burn off by the time we were out of the swim.

Got to the transition in plenty of time to set things up and go for a little spin on the bike. I would usually go for a run as well but today I wasn't going to chance it. I would see how the foot feels once I am finished with the swim and the ride. I was entered in the 2nd wave, 3 min. back from the Pro field. I lined up in the front line and only had a handful of swimmers in front of me. It was one of the best swims that I have ever had, not so much in time but the fact there was no sun glare and I didn't have anyone kicking me, swimming around me, no slow swimmers to pass etc. Most of the pro's are faster than me so it wasn't very likely that we would catch any of them. My group was the women 45 and older and the men 55 and older.

I got out of the swim and ran to the transition in 32:13. Pretty good considering we had at least a min. run on gravel, grass and pavement. My foot did NOT like this at all and I tried as hard as I could to stay up on my toes and not let my heel hit the ground. I wore my long sleeve wetsuit today as it is so much easier to get out of than my sleeveless....a good choice as the water temp wasn't too warm to make me overheat.

The bike was nice, I found a nice pace that I liked and enjoyed a tailwind for the first 1/3 of the race and then battled head winds and side winds the rest of the way. It was a 2 loop course with the first loop being pretty quiet since I was in one of the first waves, the 2nd loop got a bit busier but still not as bad as some of the other races I have done this year. I ate 3 gels, 1/2 a microbar and about 100 calories worth of EFS elctrolyte drink...along with 6 sport legs (electrolyte pills that keep my legs from cramping). I was hoping to ride about a 2:45 and that is exactly what I did. So far the race was going great...Now for the run, I was a bit nervous to start it as I wasn't sure what kind of pain I was going to be in.

Well, the first few steps were extremely painful and then after that it was a somewhat dull to moderate ache/pain in the heel. I took it very easy and planned to just walk thru the aid stations and stretch when I needed to. I got to the first aid station at 1.5, walked thru and then squatted down for a good calf stretch, grabbed water at each aid station and had a gel every :40 min. I was feeling pretty good, I was able to talk the whole first loop which means I wasn't over extending myself. By mile 4.5 mile left foot felt like it was on fire. I stopped and loosened up my laces, did some more stretching and then continued on. At mile 5.5 I stretched again, took an 800 mg. Ibuprofen, some sport legs and then kept running my easy pace. I figured if I could get thru the first lap with out any problems I would pick up my pace.

The 2nd loop went well, there were more people on the course and I was focusing on pace and foot turnover. I ran thru all the aid stations and the pain in the foot stayed about the same. I felt like I was running very strong and was passing quite a few people. It was so nice to see that finish line. I was hoping to run under 2:10 considering the foot problems I have been having so I was quite exstatic when I found out I ran a 2:01.

So, overall I swam the 3rd fastest in my age group a time of 32:24, my transitions were really quick this time and I had the 2nd fastest of both of these. The ride was the 4th fastest in the age group (2:45:13) and in the run I was 9th.(2:01)

I was quite pleased with the race considering I wasn't really in the mood to race. It was so good to see old friends and new friends out on the course today. We had really good weather which was a bonus.

After hanging out for a few hours I was craving Sushi so I stopped at a place in Boulder for some awesome rolls. As I sit here at the computer I can tell that my foot is starting to seize up and it REALLY hurts to walk. Have iced already and now headed for the hot tub and then massage/stretch/put my magnets on the heel along with my night splint and hopefully tomorrow I will wake up able to walk without too much pain...oh, I guess I should take some Ibrpofen for extra measure~

Weekend in Nebraska

I drove home to Nebraska last weekend for 3 days to help Mom and Dad around the house. Mom was 2 weeks out from Hip Replacement Surgery and doing quite well. The stipulation was that I would be able to workout in the morning until about 10:00am and then I would be available to do whatever she wanted me to do.

I arrived on Thursday night with a nice drive. With all the rain we have been getting the fields were green and it was actually a pretty drive and went relatively quick. Once I got into Nebraska the storm clouds were building and there were tornado watches being posted on the radio. I didn't see any but the sky was quite threatening. I made it to North Platte in about 4 hours and as soon as I got in I had heard on the radio that there were tornadoes in a few of the towns that I had just passed thru. I guess I was pretty lucky to get by it all with out much of a sprinkle of rain!

Got up early on Friday morning and headed out for a nice long run. Wasn't sure how my foot was going to feel but I knew that I needed to get in at least and hour and a half run. I decided on the canal road which is all gravel. I drove over to the start which was only a mile from the house but I didn't want to do that extra section as it was paved. I started off at 8:00 and it was quite warm but was happy that I was able to find dirt to run on. My foot bothered me most of the way but not enough to stop me from running. Dad had warned me about the rattlesnakes on the canal road so of course I had my eyes peeled to the ground hoping not to startle one. About 10 minutes into the run I saw a huge bull frog...belly up! About 10 min. later I saw a turtle crossing the road, I ran around it leaving it to it's own demise. I continued to look for snakes but instead found a few other creatures hanging out around the canal. I ran right by a blue herring as he was taking flight...if you have never seen one, they are huge! A few lizards were scrambling around and that was about it. I made my turn around after about :50 min. and looked for the same creatures on the way back. I finally saw my snake.....he was all of about 6 inches long and when I stopped to look at him he coiled up and hissed at me. Not sure he was able to do much more than that as he was so small. I think he was a rattler but my dad seems to think it might have been a hognose snake...

Finished up the 1:40 run and then headed back to the house to do some stretching and icing. Mom was watching the Tour de France so I had time to get something to eat before we headed to town for errands. No sense in taking a shower today as the weather is about 98* and humidity about the same. I took Mom into town for a few hours until we were both exhausted but it was a very productive day. I drove by our very first house in North Platte. It looked so small and to think there were 7 kids and my parents living in that house. We had a light dinner and then off to bed early.

Sat. morning I was on my bike by 7:30. It was nice and cool and overcast, so much better than yesterday. I road out past Dodge hill where we used to go sledding as kids and then down State Farm Road to Ft. McPherson. I rode thru the little town of Maxwell and then looped back to North Platte. I rode out to the pool where I used to work at in high school and by the old neighborhood. It was a great day for a leisure ride, got in 70 miles in 4 hours. Back at the house my project was to clean out the pond. It was a challenge but once we figured out what pump worked best to get the water out I was good to go. It turned out great, wondering how long it will stay that way??? Did some watering and a few other odd jobs and then had another nice easy dinner. Dan Keenan came over to the house for a visit, so good to see him and catch up.

Sunday was another ride day bricked with a short run. I just rode south of town where there were a few more hills and I got in about 2 hours of riding. Got back to the house and changed real quick and headed out for a :30 min. run, nice and easy. My foot was really hurting but I really didn't care. It loosened up after about 10 min. but boy was it hot. I was back at the house about 10:30 and had a list of things to do for mom. I got things cleaned up and left the house about 2pm. I decided I really needed to get in a swim and so I decided I would go check out Cody pool and see if it was crowded. No one was in the lap lanes so I made a quick decision and went in for a swim. I swam a nice easy 2000 meters. I must say, I love swimming in an outdoor 50 meter pool, something I don't get to do very often. The pool was crowded and with the lap lanes in the middle of the pool the kids like to swim under the 2 lap lane lines...however, their timing wasn't all that great and I think I nailed about half a dozen of them in the head with my freestyle stroke...of course I was aiming for them!

It was really nice being back home. I forget how nice it is, especially when no one else is around....so very quiet! It has been a year since I had been back but hopefully I won't wait that long again. I do like the riding out there but I miss having other cyclists and runners around.

Long training day in Boulder

Left on Sunday morning at 6:00am with my friend Audra. We had a nice day planned up in Boulder to get ourselves ready for the 5430 Half Ironman triathlon on August 9th. I have been surviving this week on very little sleep with late night dinners with Andy's family along with early morning workouts.
Our plan was to ride for about an hour from Boulder Reservoir and then do an organized "2 mile open water swim" which started at 8:30 am. They did have a 1 mile swim as well but we both agreed that the 2 mile would do us good considering it would be one of the few that we can get in before our Ironman race in May. There just aren't many opportunities to get in a 2 mile timed swim. After the swim we would ride the bike course for the race and finish with a short run afterwards.

We got to the Res. just before 7:00am, signed ourselves up for the swim and then took off for a nice easy 18 mile, 1 hour ride. We got back about 8:15 and in just enough time to squeeze into our wetsuits and get over to the start of the swim race. I think it was a race considering we had race numbers written on us but not sure there were really any awards....however, they did have food! There were a good number of swimmers who showed up, if I had to guess it was probably about 150. Some with wetsuits and many without. It was a little crazy at first, I lined up right in front and had a number of "feet" to follow/draft for the first lap. My only issue was that is was quite crowded at the start and I jammed my fingers into some guys feet with in the first 10 min. of the swim. I am sure the guy's feet were just fine, however, my finger is still pretty swollen but I am not thinking it is broken.

I finished the swim with a big pack of swimmers, I was the last in the group hanging on for dear life. I was hoping my legs wouldn't start to cramp. Even though I was wearing a wetsuit I realized once I started the swim that I had forgotten to take my nutrition gel so I tried to be a little conservative. I also knew that I didn't drink or eat anything on the bike ride before the swim so I knew I was some what depleted in nutrition. I was hoping for about a :50-:52 min. swim and ended up with a :54. I always wonder how accurate the course is. I felt good though so I was happy with the results. I opted for the long sleeve wetsuit which worked out great. I was hoping I wouldn't overheat as I want to wear the long sleeve for the race.

After the swim we grabbed a little food that was being served and then we got ready for our ride. We were meeting up with Audra's teammates from D3 Sports. There were about 15 there for the ride and we thought this would be great to ride as a group. Well, we couldn't hang with the fast guys and there were a few slower riders so it ended up in between and it being just Audra and I for the two loops of the 56 mile course. My legs were so heavy and tired that I knew that I wasn't going to be able to ride like I wanted to. We were suppose to work on "Big Ring" riding where we ride as hard of a gear as possible at different times during the ride. I love riding in a big gear but my quads were screaming today. If I put it in a lower gear and spun really fast then my legs would just burn as I crept along at a slow pace.
Audra was great, she kept me motivated when I was feeling like total crap. We rode for 3 hours, hilly, extremely windy and low on fluids. I had 2 water bottles and 1 feed bottle and Audra had 1 water/1 electrolyte bottle. There was no place on the course to get fluid and with it being in the 80's we were suffering just a little. We made it thru the course and then whole time I was thinking how miserable I was feeling and how in the world would I do this come race day! We rode the course in 2:54 so I was pretty happy with that considering how I was feeling.

After the ride we packed up the bikes and tossed on our running shoes and headed out for an easy 20-45 min. run....2o for me, :45 for Audra. My foot was killing me the first 5 min. I stopped and did some stretching and things finally loosened up a bit. The tightness in the heel was much better and I was able to comfortably (not pain free) run for about 2.5 miles. I am still dealing with the planatar Faciitis so I am a little nervous for the 13.1 miles I have to run in 3 weeks.. After this next race I will be taking some time off from running and cycling in hopes that I can get the foot to settle down so I can get back to my running.

A total of an hour swim/4 hours biking and a :20 min. run....not too bad. I took Monday off to sleep in and just get caught up with everyday things.

Boulder Peak Triathlon

It was an early start to our day, up at 3:10am for a 3:45am departure for Boulder. Had a good nights sleep so was happy about that. I had most of my stuff ready for the race so when I got up all I had to do was change clothes, heat up breakfast and load up the bike. Andy and I both were racing today as well as my friend Audra. We left the house on time to go pick up Audra who lives 5 min. away, only to find out when we got to her house she was nowhere to be found. After a few phonecall attempts and a ring on the doorbell, her husband emerges from the dark house to inform us that she overslept and she would have to drive herself up to the race....Not good for Audra but I guess it was good that we had arranged to pick her up otherwise I am pretty sure she would have missed the whole race!

We arrived in Boulder about 5:00am with plenty of time to get our body's marked with our race numbers and age and then we picked up our timing chip and racked our bikes. I ate my breakfast of brown rice/banana/blueberries just as we pulled into the Boulder Rez. My race was to start at 7:00am and I wanted to get something in at least 2 hours prior. I was feeling a little hungry about 6:00am so I had a macrobar, my favorite as they sit well in my stomach and don't give me side stitches.

The water was warm so I opted for my sleeveless wetsuit. It's great to swim in but almost impossible to get out of!! I need to get a new top before the next race. The swim was pretty uneventful, I started off on the front line and only a handful of people were in front of me. We swam for about 10 min. into the blinding sun so everyone was all over the place. Once we made the turn at the first bouy things got a little better, however, I was finding myself swimming thru the mass of swimmers from the earlier waves. There were 12 waves and the W-45-49 were in the 6th wave with half of the men 30-34. It sure didn't seem like a big wave so it was nice not getting the crap beat out of me like an Ironman swim when all 2000 swimmers take off at once.

I got out of the swim in :28 but had a heck of a time getting my wetsuit top off. I didn't feel like hustling too much out of transition but now that I know how the race ended up I should have tried to make the transitions just a tad quicker!

The bike was great, I felt pretty comfortable, even on the one mile long, 15% grade on "Old Stage Rd". I was able to get into a pretty good rythem and just continued to pass riders. The course was extremely crowded and I did yell at some girl who was drafting off of me...I kicked it into a higher gear and dropped her rather quickly. The ride took me 1:18:52 so I was quite pleased with that. My legs felt like they were wanting to cramp so I actually took 6 sport legs capsules on the bike: 3 at the start of the ride and an hour later took another 3. I had 2 gels on the bike and drank GU2O in my aero bottle....I added a little water at the first aid station and then just blew by the 2nd aid as I new I had plenty to get me back to the transition.

The run was going to be interesting. I have just started running without my orthodics and in new shoes as I am still having heel pain when running, it's been 7 months and not much has been helping. I have seen a couple of podiatrists and one PA and they all seem to have different diagnosis. Plantar Faciitis is probably what it is but I am going in for a CT scan on the heel next week to rule out a stress fracture. Running without the orthodics doesn't make the calves hurt as much as wearing them but the heel hurts more...so who knows. I plan to rest it a little this week and I have just started wearing a foot splint which stretches the calf out so I will give this a couple of weeks to see how it goes.
The run seemed easy for the first 3 miles, granted the heel was hurting and my calves were pretty tight so I didn't feel like I could really push it without getting myself into A LOT of pain. I was running at a conversational pace until the turn-around and then I did pick up the pace a little more. I was feeling pretty good, took in one gel at the half way mark and then had water at each of the 5 aid stations. I saw Andy near the turn-around and I figured he would catch me before I finished the race. Not so, he finished less than a minute behind me...however, he did start :25 min. after me! I could hear some gal breathing down my neck with less than a quarter mile to go, I couldn't read her age on her calf so I tried to stay with her but she just had more than I did at the end. I later found out that she beat me by :05 and was in my age group. After finding out that she was also a friend of Andy's and a world class runner years ago, I didn't feel so bad!
I ran exactly what I wanted and had a great time. I ended up 4th in my age group, not too shabby for someone who is running on the injured list.. Andy had a great race as well. He had some competiton swimming and riding within a minute of another guy...very close, however, Andy was able to out run the guy and so Andy took the 1st place trophy home with him.

We hung out at the awards and visited with quite a few of our friends that we hadn't seen in years, considering we haven't done a short course triathlon in many many years.

The unofficial "Triple Bypass"

The Triple Bypass is a ride we do every year. It takes us from Evergreen, CO (home) to Avon, Co which is about 125 miles over 3 mountain passes; Squaw, Loveland and Vail Pass with a total climbing of 13,000 feet. This year we did it unofficially as the four of us who rode yesterday are actually racing a triathlon the day after the "official" Triple ride next weekend. I had contemplated doing both, the Triple on Sat. and then an Olympic distance triathlon the following day but I got the look of "are you freaking stupid" from my husband! Needless to say, we agreed to do the ride the week before.
To do this ride we have to either have someone pick us up or drop a car off. Andy was nice enough to volunteer so on Wed. he drove our car over to Avon and then rode his bike back to Evergreen. He did not ride up over Squaw but he still had the "Floyd Hill" to deal with in his 100 mile ride back to the house.

Friday morning Andy, Audra (my Ironman St. George training partner) and I started our ride at 5:30am from our house. Andy checked the weather and it looked to be pretty stable, partly cloudy with afternoon showers. It didn't matter to me as I was taking all the clothes that I could possibly cram into my camelbak; rain jacket, vest, glove covers, knee warmers, armwarmers, headband and a lot of food. We were to meet our friend Steve Moats in Idaho Springs @ about 8:00am. I told him it would take us about 2:30 hours to get over Squaw pass. It was a little slower this year and it ended up being closer to 2:45. We took our time and rode pretty conservatively over the first pass. I was fighting off some sort of bug so I was all for going easy. Audra hadn't done many long rides this year so she was really concerned about overextending in the first few hours.

The weather was cool with threatening rain clouds surrounding us for most of the day with an occassional burst of sun every now and then. The ride from Idaho Springs to the base of Loveland was a good 2 hours so Audra and I were taking it pretty easy here even though I was feeling like I wanted to push the pace more than what we were doing. Andy and Steve took off at their quick pace but I knew we would meet up again before our next big climb.

We had two sections that we had to ride on the Interstate as part of the frontage road we were planning on riding was pretty torn up. It was all dirt/rock/nasty road for over 2 miles so we opted for the smoother pavement of I-70. We got a little bit of rain just outside of Georgetown but nothing we needed raincoats for. Once at the base of Loveland we were all on our own until the top of the pass. It is a 4 mile climb and Audra and I had decided to do some intervals, sit and spin for a few minutes, stand for a few min. I did mine at 5 min. intervals, she did hers at 3 min. intervals. It was a tough climb and I was hoping I didn't just mess myself up for the rest of the ride.
We all convened at the top of Loveland pass, put extra clothes on for the descent and met up again at the bottom of the pass at a convenience store down in Keystone to refuel. A red bull and some potato chips got me thru to our next stop at Copper Mountain which was about an hour and a half away. At the base of Copper Mountain the rain started coming down pretty good so we hung out at Starbucks for about 20 min. to let the rain pass and then we were off again. We couldn't avoid all the rain clouds and ended up getting wet for about 10 min. of our 30 min. climb up Vail Pass.

From the top of Vail to Avon it was a good 20 miles, most of it downhill. We were all feeling pretty good at this point and the ride into Vail was quite pleasant. The clouds were getting very dark over Avon, another 8 miles away, we tried to see if we could out ride it but still got wet the last 10min. of the ride. Overall it was a great day, I did good on nutrition which is a downfall for me. I seemed to be hungry a lot during the day so I felt like I was constantly eating. I went thru 4 Macrobars (my favorite!!!), 2 gels, 1 almond butter sandwich (on gluten free bread), a red bull and a bag of chips and half a bottle of sustained energy drink for 8:50 of riding.

Audra, Andy and I stopped at Pazzo's pizza in Avon for our after ride meal. It was our first pizza in over 5 months....awesome!! Dropped Audra off in Frisco at some friends house and Andy and I were home and in bed by 10pm. Andy had to work today and I sit here trying to figure out what my body is capable of doing today...clean house, swim, bike or run????

Leadville training weekend

This weekend Andy and I and a group of friends headed up to Leadville for a few days of riding. I thought it would be fun to go hang out in Leadville and do some riding on the race course knowing full well that I did not have to race it this year. A chance for me to just enjoy the ride. I was not totally prepared for the days ahead.

I was not well rested due to a 7 hour ride Andy and I did on Wed. with 2 other friends that were first time Leadville racers. They wanted to get in some good base miles as the race will take them about 9 hours or more. On Friday I decided that since I did not get in much swimming this week (okay, no days this week) I headed to the pool and swam 5100 yards...which was a good 1:40...and if that wasn't enough I decided I needed to get in a long run as well. I met up with Laurie and we ran a hard :30 min and then I went and did another 1:15 on my own. I was significantly trashed before the weekend even started. I was able to make a call to the massage therapist and I got in for a massage Friday evening.

On Sat. Andy and I along with Tom K, Julia, Jeff and Kyle R. rode the first 20 miles of the race course as an out and back....Tons of climbing, awesome descents and a few mud puddles along the way. We rode for a good 4 hours in beautiful weather. We were pretty lucky as it has been raining every day for about the past month here in Colorado and today it was dry:)
After the ride Andy and I grabbed a quick sandwich, checked into our hotel and then headed out for a nice easy swim at the local indoor pool.

Sunday it was just Andy, Tom K and I for the ride up Columbine. We drove to Twin Lakes and parked near the dam. We got an early start of about 9:00am so we could be up and back by noon. It took us just about 2 hours to get to the top (well, that is what it took the guys)....as for me, I decided to stop and rest the last 15 min. as it was a hike-a-bike section and I figured since I wasn't doing the race there really wasn't any reason for me to do the last little section. That and the fact that being at this altitude for the first time this year makes me a bit queasy. The top of Columbine Mine is about 13,000 feet. We finished up with the ride about 12:30 and the guys were going to check out the middle section of the race course. They made it about :20 min. before the rainstorm got them and I picked them up. They will have to wait for another day to check out the rest of the course.

24 Hours of E-Rock

Yesterday I raced 24 hours of E-Rock and here is just a glimpse of what goes on in a race like this.

First I needed to find a teammate. I had raced last year as a Solo and I knew I didn't want to do that again, at least not yet, the memories were still too fresh in my mind on how difficult that was on my body. I have a girlfriend who I am training with for triathlons and I figured she would be perfect for this, however, she thought her husband would be much better. Tom was training for his first Leadville 100 mile mountain bike race and so I told him this would be perfect for getting in those long base miles. He agreed and our "2-3 person" team was set.

My teammate Tom Kammerer

The race was south of Denver about 20 minutes in an open space park. The loop was a relatively easy 8.5 miles of double track road with 500 feet of climbing per lap. Each lap would take us approximately :40 min. give or take :05 min. depending on the conditions and how we were feeling. Most people choose to race on a mountain bike but we did see a few cyclocross bikes out there and one tandem this year. The goal is to see how many laps your team can do in a 24 hour period, switching off riders thru out the day and night. The key was to figure out at what interval to switch off.

The race started at 6:30pm and finished at 6:30pm the following night. Tom and I discussed our strategy and decided that we would each start out by riding one lap to check out the course in the daylight, and then we would follow with 2 laps each and then ride 2 rounds of 3 laps. By riding 3 laps in a row it would give us each about a 2 hour break to try and get some sleep. Once we were back into daylight again we would then assess how we were feeling and decide the rest from there.

Our camp sight right on the course.

We showed up at the Venue in plenty of time to make camp, have time to relax and take a quick nap. Racing one of these seems to require a lot of gear. From the tent, sleeping bag, cooler with food and drink, chairs, an "E-Z up canopy", clothes...and then more clothes! Since the weather can be so unpredictable here in Colorado it's nice to be prepared for anything; rain, snow, wind, sun or combination of all. My husband Andy was racing Solo and so between the 3 of us we had a nice little camping spot right on the race course. Between Tom and I we could support Andy when he would come in for his breaks and encourage him to keep going when he felt like he couldn't do another lap.

The start of the 24 hours of E-Rock, they run about 100 meters before getting on the bike.

6:30pm
Race Start. I asked Tom to ride the first lap, I felt that he should experience the mass start of riders, 72 in all. This would give him an extra lap in the daylight to check out the course before we donned the headlights for the evening. Since I rode it 25 times in a row last year I felt I already knew the course more than I would like...sure enough, it hadn't changed at all this year.

Andy and Tom rolling in on one of their laps together.

7:40pm.
My first lap went very well. Since we were camped on the course, and just before the timing tent, transitions were very easy. Tom would roll up to camp and I would take off. We each had a card, similar to a credit card, that we would swipe at the start of each lap. Andy and Tom came in after the first lap together so when I started my lap I was right behind Andy so we rode the first lap together. There was a pretty good headwind the first 3 miles and it was nice to draft off of each other. I don't know who was setting the pace but it will probably be my fastest lap!

The course begins with a slight uphill until about 3.5 miles, takes a sharp turn and climbs moderately for another mile. At the top of this first big climb the next mile has a few fun rollers, some tight turns followed by one last short climb. The final 3.5 miles is a raging downhill where my speeds were in the 25-30mph range....so much fun! The views on this course are just amazing. With all the rain this area has been getting everything was so green, the wildflowers were in bloom and then to see the snow covered mountain of "Pikes Peak" out over the horizon was just beautiful.

The last section of the race course with Pikes Peak in the background.

8:50pm
The start of my two laps in a row, roughly an hour and a half. There is still a little light from the setting sun so I get a chance to survey the course one last time before nightfall. I take off with a headlamp on my helmet and lights on the handlebars. I am told by officials to turn them on even though I can see the trails just fine. I will keep the bar lights on the entire time and use the helmet lamp as a back-up or to read my splits from my watch. My computer for some reason has decided not to work tonight of all nights. It is still warm out so there is no need for a jacket or knee warmers yet. I enjoy the lightening show to the north, the clouds are rolling out and the moon is rising, it should be a clear night.

I roll back into camp about 10:00pm, take off my shoes (my feet swell when riding long) and I grab some food. I have packed a cooler with sandwiches, brown rice, pasta with chicken and veggies, fruit, crackers, chips and a small selection of bars and gels. I try to keep it simple yet give myself a variety of foods to choose from as I never know what I will be craving after each lap. I will make it a habit to eat a little something before and after each ride if I am doing consecutive laps. If I only do one lap I will eat just after I finish. I need real food for these long events but I know some people that will only have gels, drink and bars the entire time. After eating I hit the tent to try and sleep for about an hour.

2:20am
I have just finished my first set of 3 consecutive laps and recording :43 min. for each. The ride was great but it's just a little slower than I had anticipated, especially since there wasn't much wind to deal with. I had left at 12:20am and was bummed that I was only able to get in about 45 min. of restless sleep before the start of this ride. It was a little chilly just hanging out at camp so I started with a jacket that had removable sleeves knowing I would remove them after I had warmed up a bit. After riding for about :20 min. the sleeves were off and I was quite comfortable in just my vest, arm warmers and knee warmers. My feet tend to get quite cold so I had placed ziplock bags in my shoes and wore toe covers over. This usually does the trick unless it's really cold out. I also opted for a camelbak with water for this longer ride. I find I drink more when wearing it and I didn't want to stop at camp to switch out water bottles.
Anyway, I ate, put on a fresh set of cycling clothes for my next go around, set my alarm and slept for just about an hour....wishing it was more.

6:30am.
My 2nd go around of 3 laps is completed. This has got to be the coldest part of the 24 hours, just before sun-up. I am not sure how cold it was, probably in the mid 40's but for me it might as well have been 30. I was out of the tent at 4:ooam, had a quick bite of pasta, a banana with almond butter and I was on the bike @ 4:20. I was wearing 2 pairs of knickers along with a long sleeved jersey and a jacket. I started with the camelbak again but decided to dropped it after 1 lap. I just didn't feel I needed or wanted it on.
What a beautiful sky as I watch the moon set and the sun rise during the course of my 2nd lap, so cool...After my 2nd lap I dropped off my lights as the sun was now up, I switch out my helmet (I had a spare that didn't have a light mounted on it), traded my clear lens glasses for the sunglasses and I tried not to think about how unbearably cold my feet were. I had on wool socks, toe booties, baggies in the shoes and little hand warmers shoved up under the toe covers....but nothing seemed to work. With only one lap to go all I could think about was curling up in my sleeping bag and hoping that my toes would thaw out for my next go around.



8:10am
My feet are still cold starting off on this set of 2 laps, however, it is warming up quickly so I it doesn't take long for the feeling to come back into my toes. I am down to one set of knickers and my arm warmers but no vest. My lap times are pretty good, the wind was barely noticeable which makes it so much easier. I arrive back at camp the same time as Andy. I get some food in me first and then help him get food, make up some drink mix for his bottles and anything else that he needs. He is doing good, he's having some great lap times but also feeling the little aches and pains that come with riding almost non-stop for 24 hours. He says he now has a new appreciation for what I went thru last year on my Solo adventure here, I am so glad he gets to experience it this year!

11:00am
The wind is really picking up out on the course. Andy just came in and said his wheels fell off, and then proceeded to say that he couldn't get the wheels on his bike to turn. I totally freaked thinking that he had crashed, but looking over at his bike it looked perfectly fine to me. He said he didn't crash but I must say, he wasn't looking too good. I wanted to stay and help him out but Tom came in for the exchange and I had to take off. It wasn't until the middle of my ride that I realized that it was Andy who's wheels had fallen off not his bike! It's amazing how you can feel on top of the world one minute and then it all falls to pieces the next.

Tom and I had decided to do just single laps now for the rest of the race. I am so happy with this decision due to the wind, having to do 2 or 3 laps in a row would only slow us down even more, mentally and physically. This headwind is brutal, my times have dropped by over 5 min. and I seem to be loosing it all in the first 3 miles of the course.

During this lap I quickly caught up to a solo female rider who didn't look like she was having much fun. I said hello as I passed her, I pulled in front of her so she could get a nice draft as long as she rode close behind me. No words were needed as I pulled her for a little over a mile thru the windiest part of the course. I continued to look back to make sure she was still with me. I could have ridden away from her but somehow I knew what she was going thru. When we arrived at the climb and out of the headwind, she thanked me and I continued on with my regular pace. It's such a mental game when riding in these conditions, I guess that is what makes us all just a little stronger. Putting it all in perspective, we may have some wicked winds but at least the sun is out, it is warm and beautiful and I have the ability to ride.....

12:30pm
I am back from another windy single lap ride and once again, thankful I am doing single laps right now. I grab a bar and head over to where they have the standings for the race. I look up our team name and we are in 2nd place, barely. First place is a team of 3 and they are a few laps ahead of us so I don't have to worry about catching them, however, 3rd place is just one lap behind us. I start doing the math in my head, if we maintain :45 min. lap we could squeeze in 6 more laps, possibly 7 if the wind died down and we could ride just a little faster. There is no time for slacking or naps, we have to make sure we can get in as many laps as possible over the next 6 hours.

2:00pm
My legs are really starting to feel the effects of so much riding....they are trashed. I know they could cramp at any given moment if I push them to hard. I have been here before and I know if I can just spin it out, back off the pace and drink a little more I should be okay. I have been taking electrolytes consistently since this morning so that should be helping me. As I ride I think to myself that I should be doing a little stretching after each lap. Sounds good in theory but sure enough, I get into camp, take my shoes off, eat and lay down...I have run out of energy or is that motivation to stretch. My eyes are burning and all I can think about is sleep. I have decided that I need to stop laying down after my laps as it is making it harder for me to get up for my next ride.

3:30pm
Wow, I had one of my fastest laps! Okay, the guys had opened a Red Bull and said how much just half of one was helping them get thru their laps so I figured I would give it a try. Mind you, I haven't had caffeine in over 4 years so it was going to be interesting to see what happens. Well, between the Red Bull and the fact there was little to no wind I rode a 35 min. lap, 10 min. faster than the previous lap. There were also a few guys that I rode with and that seemed to push me a little more than I would if I were riding alone. I have one more lap to go for sure but we have time for 3. I will have to flip with Tom to see who is going to do that final lap. We both will have had 17 laps completed so whoever does the last lap rides 8.5 miles more than the other.

I saw Andy again and he had a big smile on his face. Apparently he recovers quite well. He said by sitting down and actually resting and getting in lots of real food he started to feel better. He was also riding some fast lap times again. It's good to know that if you are feeling bad it's just a matter of time before you feel good again. However, if you are feeling good, it's just a matter of time before you feel bad....

5:55pm
My next lap was good but not as fast as previous. There was no one out on the course, or at least not around me, it was so weird. One lap I would be surrounded by riders the next lap it seemed like I had the trails all to myself. The wind came back but I just put my head down, got into a groove and tried to ride steady. I rolled into camp for the hand off and I had a quick chat with Tom on who would ride the final lap. I think we were both wanting to be done riding but we knew we had to get in that final lap if we wanted to secure our 2nd place finish. Tom didn't look to psyched to get back on the bike so I happily volunteered to do the last lap. I would just take it easy and enjoy the evening...I told him not to expect any stellar times. It was 5:15pm, I briefly thought to myself that if I rode really fast, like 36 min. laps, I might be able to squeeze in even one more lap before that 6:30 cut off. With the wind picking up I just didn't have it in me to go sprinting the last laps in hopes of getting in by the 6:30pm. If I missed the cutoff even by a second, that last lap wouldn't count. I didn't want to chance it so I just enjoyed that last lap and wondered what it would be like next year. Would I do it solo, on a two person team or maybe, just maybe, go the fun route and enter a 4 person team. I think about what it would be like to actually sleep between laps?

our campsite to the right of the trail, the timing tent is to the left.

.

An update

Wow, I can't believe it's been a week since I've written in my blog! I do have another journal going with my workouts and my LEAP diet so I guess I haven't needed to write much here as not much is happening.
This week was pretty good, had some good days and not so good days with my breathing. Still adding and deleting foods to see what bothers me and what doesn't. It is a very long process but I am getting some good results. I have really had to "clean up" my diet and by doing so am just starting to feel better....and it's been 2 weeks.

The first week was rough, seemed I was tired all the time and just not feeling myself. I was okay with the foods I was limited to and seemed to be eating enough but just getting all the processed foods/sugars/alcohol and junk out of my diet took a little longer than I thought. My workouts were sluggish and I just wasn't in to really working out.

Now that I am finished with my 2nd week I am doing much better. I have had a couple of really good rides on the mountain bike and my swims were good as well. It sure helped with our 70 degree weather. I worked 5 days this week but 2 of the days I was able to get out by 1:00-1:30pm which gave me plenty of time to get to the trails to ride. I am still not running, I think I will take another week off as it has only been 3 weeks. I do miss running, I didn't think I would but with this warm weather it sure would have been nice to be able to run in it as well. I am planning on a long walk today to see how the foot/calf do with that.

Today is much cooler than it has been all week. In the 30's with a prediction of snow. We woke up this morning with beautiful blue skies...however, it's about 2pm now and the big snowflakes are starting to come down. A little too warm for anything to stick but I am sure we will get a little bit of coverage. I don't think we are suppose to get much more than 2", but we shall see.

Sunday: Swim/Ride

Swim: 1:00 3000 yards, Evergreen
Ride: 2:40 26 miles, Bear Creek/Green Mt. on Mt. bikes.

Andy and I both had great swims this morning, I was up here in Evergreen and Andy swam down in Lakewood after getting off work this morning. We both met back at the house and waited for it to warm up a bit before heading back down the hill to Morrison to start our bike ride. I had wanted to ride Mt. bikes and Andy was up for that so I was happy:) I wanted him to show me the Mt. bike race course at Bear Creek. There is a 50 mile race, 5 loops of a 10 mile course, in May and I wasn't sure about the exact trail. I know all the trails out there like the back of my hand and there are a lot more than 10 miles worth so I wanted to make sure I was on the correct course.

We rode for just a little over an hour in the park and then headed over to Green Mt.to do a big loop where we did a fair amount of climbing.

Green Mountain in the background, Andy in Bear Creek Lake Park

The trails were packed today, it was so good to see so many people out enjoying the 65 degree weather, especially for the first of March. Our trails are NEVER this dry so early in the season. It's going to be an interesting summer if we don't get some moisture around here soon. The mountains seem to be getting adequate snow but I don't remember the last time we had a good dumping of the white stuff here in Denver (or Evergreen for that matter)...maybe early December??

Andy on top of Green Mountain with downtown Denver behind him

......a parting shot and my view for the day!

A day with Family

My sister Margaret, my dad and me.

Today I got in a quick ride on the trainer and just messed around the house for a few hours. My nephew Austin had a Basketball game down in Littleton that I went and watched. My folks were both there as well as my sister and one of my brothers. After the game we all headed over to brother Joey's house and had a nice visit with everyone. I hadn't been out to Franktown in a couple of years, always enjoy my time while I am there as it seems like you are literally in the middle of nowhere...too bad we have to drive thru Denver and Parker to get there, traffic is always an issue:)

We cooked up some great steaks thanks to Dad (and Joe for cooking). Margaret did a great job organizing the rest of the dinner. I wish we didn't all live so far apart from each other, it would be nice if we could do this more often. I am not sure how the guys feel about that!

Took a few pictures and I will have those downloaded as soon as I get them from Hilde...Me with my nephews Tanner and Austin

brothers Kevin and Joe showing us the art of drinking wine and vodka??

Ski day at Copper Mountain

Today was a ski day....Andy and I met up with one of my girlfriends and we headed off to Copper Mountain for a few hours. Erlinda has kids so we got a 9:00am start and had to be back by 3pm...which was perfect for us. We all tele ski and 3-4 hours is about all I can handle right now.

The weather was beautiful here in Evergreen today, clear blue skies but a little chilly. By the time we got to Copper it was snowing lightly, WINDY and cold. I would say it was about 22 degrees but with the wind it seemed a little cooler. Andy unloaded the ski's for us and he surprised me with a new pair of Schi Devil Telemark ski's!I was just floored. I had told him numerous times that I did not need a new pair of ski's as the ones that I have had for over 10 years were good enough. Boy, how wrong I was. I had the best day of skiing that I ever remember, all due to the new ski's. I wasn't sure I would even be able to tell a difference but sure enough, from the very first run, I skied so much better than I ever have. I wished I could have skied on them longer today but we were all getting a little too cold so we actually ended our day about 30 min. earlier than planned.

Had a slow drive home as the roads seemed to be a little slick and some heavy traffic but by the time we were over the pass and down to Georgetown, it was clear blue skies and dry roads. We got home in time to sit in the hot tub (for the 2nd time today;) and later plan on watching a movie.

Tuesday: Swim/ Ride

Swim: :55min. 2500 Meters. 5:00am
Ride: 2:00, Mtn. bike, 23 miles, 3:45pm

Early morning swim, didn't have much speed, breathing wasn't all that great today. I'm not sure if it was the whey protein or the almond milk I had just before the swim. I had a couple of my almond butter bars and another whey protein shake in the afternoon and the breathing just didn't feel right. I was feeling great yesterday so I am thinking I will take both the Almonds and Whey out of my diet for a couple of days and then re-introduce each one separately to see what happens.

The temps were in the 70's here today so I was able to get out of work on time and was on my bike by 3:45...which gave me just about 2 hours of sunlight. I can't wait until the following weekend for daylight saving, I will be able to ride a little longer, yeah. Today's ride was pretty pathetic the first :45 min. or so, I was feeling tired, unmotivated, bored....started off just riding the road the first half of the ride but then once I hit the dirt trails I was fine. I wasn't fast but I enjoyed just being out there. I can't believe it's February and most of the trails are dry around the Denver area. Tomorrow will be just as nice, however, I will be in Idaho Springs so it won't be quite as warm. I kept my bike in the car so hopefully I can get out at noon for a quick ride up "Oh My God" road...

Monday: Rest

An uneventful day, ran some errands and had an appt. with the chiropractor and went to work.
The chiropractor worked on my feet/calves and the heel again. The heel was bothering me quite a bit today and not sure if it was just from all the work she did on it. I am starting to wonder if I have something other than just a heel spur going on. I may go get another opinion here soon if the pain does not go away. I should probably spend more time icing it as well!

The diet is coming along nicely, I am getting used to it now and it's becoming easier. I am still craving my nacho's that I usually have after work and still get an itch for something sweet at the end of the day. Hoping these cravings go away in time.

Tomorrow I plan for an early morning swim and a bike ride in the afternoon. It's suppose to be in the 60's...yeah!

Sunday: Swim/ Ride

Swim: 2600 yrds
Ride: 2:15 Noon-2:30pm

Got up and swam at Evergreen Rec. I don't remember swimming there on a Sunday so I wasn't sure how crowded it was going to be, got my own lane so I was thrilled with that. Swim was okay, not much speed today but it was great just to be in the water. Andy was down in Denver swimming at Carmody. I thought about meeting him down there as I love the pool, I just wasn't in to the :25 min. drive down the canyon.

We both got home about the same time and then headed out on the mountain bikes for an easy cruise up here. The weather was beautiful....at least when we started! Clear blue skies and quite warm, however, an hour into the ride the clouds came rolling in and the temp. seemed to drop just a little. We rode for just over 2 hours which was my longest ride since the race last weekend.
It sure helped to have someone to ride with today. I was suppose to hook up with a couple of girls, one wanted to go at 9:00am...just a little to cold for me up here at that time of the day (in the low to mid 30's), the other gal said she didn't want to ride unless the temp got up to 50* by 10:00am...that sure wasn't going to happen either so at least I had a back-up with Andy!

I am feeling a little better today with my workouts but still not 100%. I think I was freaking out over the fact that I could only have 15 food items for the next week and how was I going to do it and have descent meals and not go hungry when working out. I ended making some Almond butter/millet/honey bars that were pretty good and packed well. It will be nice to have those for my other workouts during the week....hoping my energy level will get better as the week goes on, once I get all the crap out of my system...ie: sugar, alcohol, wheat, processed foods etc.

Now it's just a relaxing evening at home watching "Lost".....

Saturday: Ride

Ride: 1:00 trainer 6:00pm-7:00pm

I was not very motivated to workout again today, not sure what my problem is. I did get a few things accomplished...a few things in the kitchen that is. I spent my morning preparing food for the week of this "diet" that I am on. I fixed Quinoa in the rice cooker which turned out pretty good, I have never had it before so I wasn't sure what to compare it to. I made Almond milk as well. I had soaked about 2 cups of dry almonds in 6 cups of water overnight and then in the morning blended it all up and drained out the big chunks of almonds. Added a little Agave Nectar and it really wasn't that bad. I think I need a stronger blender as I had alot of left over "pulp". I had it with some puffed Millet (which tastes just like puffed rice) and some blueberries for a nice breakfast cereal.


Cooked up a few days worth of meat in the crockpot and cut up some fruit. I tried making some millet tortillas..they tasted disgusting so I threw those out and tried again with Quinoa flour. They were at least edible so that was a plus. Dinner was fried catfish breaded with Olive oil/quinoa flour/ some of the left over almond pulp and a little salt and pepper. Fried it up in some more Olive oil and it turned out good. Next time I think I will bake it and not fry it as it tasted a little too oily.

I started keeping track of my calories on a website that my sister gave me. It's called FitDay. I was surprised what my calorie count was for the day...it's no wonder I have a tough time loosing those last few pounds....I was being very good today but usually I tend to eat whatever I want. Having a food diary is something that I've always wanted to do but just too lazy to get one started. It's amazing what I decide NOT to put into my mouth because I would have to log it with "Fit Day !!!! I will see how long this lasts. I think I can handle it for the next 6 weeks while I am on my "LEAP Diet Program". I actually hate that work DIET as I think of what I am doing more of a different way of eating but since that is what LEAP calls it I will go with it. I guess if I loose weight then I could think of it as a diet?

Friday: Rest Day...again

I decided to work a little today at the office, usually I am off on Friday's but I have been so backed up with patients and I didn't have anything else going on today so I figured why not. Finished up at noon and then headed down to the Tech center for Sushi with my sister...it was great catching up with her as we rarely see each other and only live :45 min. apart.

After a nice leisurely lunch I wanted to check out a Korean supermarket that my acupuncturist had recommended. It's called "H Mart" and it's out in Aurora. It's quite a drive for me from Evergreen but it was relatively close to where I was having lunch this afternoon. I was told that the produce was plentiful and much cheaper than our local grocery stores...well, I just had to check it out. Sure enough, an amazing array of fruits, vegetables of all kinds, many that I had not heard of or wouldn't know what to do with! They had an entire aisle designated just for soy sauce and one just for spicy/hot sauces, they had an awesome selection of seafood and relatively inexpensive. I wandered the aisles for a good 30 min. or so. So much of the food was packaged with Korean writing so I didn't linger too long as I didn't know what half the stuff was. I will be going back.

Tonight Andy and I are headed out for Pizza at Beau Jo's, this will be the last dinner out for a while...tomorrow starts my LEAP diet.

Thursday: Ride/Swim

Ride: :30 indoor trainer 5:30-6:00am
Swim: 1:20 3200 Meters. 4:10-5:30pm

I was going to get up with Andy this morning at 4:45 to ride but still not too motivated to get out of bed early this week so I rolled out about 5:20am. I was able to squeeze in a half-way descent ride this morning albeit short. I didn't have to go to work until 8:00am so it was nice to have a little more time in the morning.

I headed to the pool right after work only to find out that the boys' high school swim team was there taking up most of the lanes. Bummer as now I will go back to swimming at 5:00am, I just like it when it's not very crowded, I tend to have better workouts when I don't have other distractions. There were two lanes available for lap swimming this afternoon...not too big of a deal until a big guy got into my lane and apparently didn't know how to "share" a lane! He literally swam down the middle of the lane and every time I had to pass him, which was quite often, my blood pressure would rise and I would just hope that I wouldn't get nailed by his flailing arms. All in all, I actually had a pretty good swim but just not a very hard one today.

Headed over to Vitamin Cottage after work to look for the 15 or so foods that I could have for the next week. My two starches are Aramanth and Millet...once I found them in flour form I was wondering what I would do with them once I got home. Two of the three fruits I can have are not in season which doesn't make this any easier. Papaya and Cantaloupe. I am very committed to this way of eating for the next 6 weeks, I am just so curious if it is really going to help my breathing. I will be taking some time this weekend to figure out menu's for the next week and learn how to make tortilla's and almond milk from scratch.

Tomorrow is Friday and my last "free" day of eating for a while. I am planning on taking my sister out to lunch for her birthday (which was last week) and then maybe out to dinner with Andy. I did 'take-out' Sushi tonight from the Wildflower Cafe for dinner as I won't be having that for quite some time and that will be something I will really miss.

Wednesday: Ride

Indoor Ride: 1:15 5:30-6:45am.
Nice and easy with a few pushes. Watched part of a movie, "The Visitor"

Didn't get the greatest night sleep but at least I was somewhat motivated to get my butt out of bed and go to the basement to ride. I haven't been feeling like doing much since the race on Saturday, kind of feeling in a slump. I am happy that I got a little over an hour on the bike.

This afternoon I had an appt. with my pedorthist to check out my orthotics. He did a few adjustments as I was telling him that I was having a little knee pain. The orthotics feel pretty good, I can definitely feel the arch in the right one so much more than the left but after a few days I will see how it goes. He will continue to do adjustments for me until they are perfect. I won't be running for a few weeks, he seems to think I could run earlier than that but I don't want to chance it. He also seems to think the heel spur won't go away but recommends "Graston" treatments to my arch. I am seeing the Chiropractor right after work today so I will have her work on it.

Saw the Chiropractor for about an hour this evening, she did some ultrasound on both feet and calves and did Graston technique with her "jade" on the same areas, had a quick adjustment to my back and my feet and felt pretty good when I left. Got in a good :20 of icing and hopefully they will feel better tomorrow.

Tuesday: Rest

Today I was planning on going for a swim after work only to remember that I had an acupuncture appt. at 3:30pm. We were going over my MRT (Mediator Release Test) and reviewing my LEAP (Lifestyle Eating and Performance) program. Daniel explained to me what the MRT was testing for and how this test is not 100% accurate but gives us a good place to start in figuring out what foods are causing my breathing issues. There are 150 foods/chemicals/additives that they test to see which are causing sensitivity reactions. It quantifies how strongly my immune cells react to the foods and food chemicals tested by measuring intracellular mediator release indirectly. When released from immune cells, chemical mediators such as histamine, cytokines, and prostaglandins produce damaging effects on body tissues, leading to the development of symptoms.

So, by following a strict eating plan, I will systematically build a healthy diet of foods that I can tolerate. It's a 5 week phase and am quite limited to what I can eat.
First Phase: one week long.

Protien: Scallops/Beef/catfish/Tilapia
Starches: Millet/Quinoa
Veggies: Broccoli/Spinach/String beans
Fruit: Cantaloupe/Olive/Blueberry/Papaya
Dairy: American Cheese/Whey
Nuts: Olive/Almond Nuts
Flavors: Parsley/Black Pepper/Honey

This is going to be very interesting and I am anxious to get started to see if my breathing really does improve. Phase 2 I will add a few more things in each category but stage 3-4-5 I just add one extra thing per day.

I figure now is a good time for me to do this as I am not running at all, I can work my cycling/swimming and Yoga into this routine pretty easily. I will be laying low for the first 2 weeks and then by the 3rd phase I should be able to at least eat out at a restaurant if I wanted to. My next big race isn't until May 9th and I should be done with my so called "diet program" by the first full week of April.

Intersting that my tests did show that I am sensitive to coffee/tea/cocoa/walnuts...all of which I know bother my breathing, however, Mushrooms/onions/mustard/turkey/spelt are on my reactive list as well but not sure how or if they are making the breathing worse.

We are hoping that once I go thru this we can pinpoint exactly which foods trigger my breathing problem and then go about trying to get those foods slowly introduced back into my system on a rotation diet....rotating foods into my diet every 3rd day so it is harder for it to produce an inflammatory response.

Monday: Day of rest

Easy spin for 15 min. hoping my legs feel a little better.

I got 10 hours of sleep last night, wondering if that was too much as I woke up on the wrong side of the bed in a very foul mood. I don't normally have bad days but this was definitely one of them.

My calves and achilles were both on fire today, especially the Right one that cramped on me really bad in the ski/snowshoe transition. I am too lazy to ice today and the thought of anything touching my calves just makes me cringe to think about it. I was able to get in a little 15 min. spin, a soak in the hot tub and some light stretching....along with a few Ibuprofen I hope I am back to normal in a day or two.

Had a full day of work while Andy was out enjoying the day on his bike. The weather in Denver was in the 50's and sunny, sounds like it was a great day to be out.

Saturday: Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon

Race Report for Mt. Taylor. This is a bit long but I like to have a detailed report so I know what to do or not to do the next time I do this race.

Today we woke up to 22* weather and clear blue skies. The forecast was for snow, wind and clouds and a high of 42*...granted, that was in Grants, we really didn't know what it was going to be doing up on the mountain. It sure didn't look like it was going to snow....but who knows, if it's anything like Colorado, the weather can change pretty quick. Good thing we put extra clothes in our gear bags just in case.

We were up by 6:30am and had breakfast in us by 7:00am. The race didn't start until 9:00 so we had plenty of time to still figure out what we were going to wear. I wanted to get in a little spin on the bike and make sure everything was in working order and my clothing choice was going to work for me. I had started out with a jacket warming up but quickly took that off. I ended up wearing 2 long sleeve shirts, (one thin/one medium weight), a vest, triathlon shorts with a thick pair of running tights over the shorts, smart wool socks with baggies in my shoes and toe covers on the outside, long fingered gloves with a thin glove cover over those and a buff for my ears.

We started the Race at 9:00am...in a big pack, there must have been about 100 or so riders. The pace started out pretty fast and I was able to stay with a few different groups for most of the climb. I rode in my big chain ring for the first 9 miles and then it started to get a little steeper. I was feeling pretty good but I knew I had to be a little conservative as it was going to be a long day.

I arrived into the first transition in about :55 min., found my bike but there were no volunteers around to help me...oh well, I didn't really need much anyway. I hung up my bike, took off the helmet, switched out my shoes and gloves, threw my glove covers in my vest pocket and off I went. Out of the transition in :58 min.

The run starts off with a pretty significant hill climb for a couple of hundred yards and then it flattened out a bit. I haven't run in over a week and I was quite concerned with my feet and calves. My calves and Achilles have been so sore and tight all week and I knew I could really do some damage if I didn't take it easy. My breathing was well under control but my legs were tired already. My left foot was partially numb for about 2 miles, not sure what that was all about. I decided on my old orthotics as I have only done one run in my new ones....and today had a lot of running in it so I didn't want to chance it. The run was slow but I was happy with it. I stopped at the aid station at 2.3 miles and did some light stretching of the calves. The last mile I did the run/walk routine as it was starting to get pretty steep, a little icy and I realized I could power walk just as fast as some were running! My run up along with my Ski transition was longer than usual, 1:07 for a 5 mile run and a change of gear.

Coming into the 2nd transition I was hoping that there would be a volunteer available to help me with my gear....as I looked around there was no one available, on my own again. I quickly put the ski boots on, first attempting to put my gortex socks on but there was no room in the boot for my regular sock and gortex sock....couldn't figure this out as it worked just fine 4 years ago when I did it...hmmmm. I bagged the gortex socks and just stuck with the smart wools that I was wearing...knowing I would be okay for the ski but had I thought about it I should have tossed the gortex socks into my snowshoe bag as I really needed them for that portion of the race. Oh well, lesson learned. Tossed on my jacket and another hat as I heard one of the volunteers yell out that it was cold on top with 30mph winds. I decided against wearing my wind pants, I was okay but I would have been toasty with that extra layer!! I threw my thicker ski gloves into the snowshoe bag just in case I needed something warmer as all I was wearing at the time was a thin liner with a nylon glove cover. I grabbed part of a bar, downed that without hesitation and I was on my way.

Out of the ski transition I quickly started passing people. I was wearing some really short ski's that make it very easy to almost run in them. With the skins on the bottom I was really moving. I had passed numerous people who either didn't have skins on or they were loosing the skins...as they can be difficult to keep on. We duct tape the crap out them and they will still have a tendency to work their way off the ski. I was lucky this year, I had no problems.

I arrived into the 3rd transition without any issues, except for the fact that I was thirsty. They did have a water stop but they were serving it in itty bitty cups with chunks of ice. It was pretty cold up there and it was difficult for them to keep the water from freezing. I rushed to my transition spot that was numbered and took off my ski's and then stripped the skins off. Pulled the snowshoes out of my bag and went to put in my right foot into my running shoe (that was directly mounted to the snowshoe) and immediately my calf cramped...BIG time!! I started wimpering and a volunteer came to my rescue to help me stretch and release the cramp...and he even fed me gummy bears, that was awesome. I knew the calf was really going to be sore when this race was over. I took it much easier with the left foot with out too much trouble. I cinched up the shoes, put on thicker gloves and I was out of there.

The snowshoe up was beautiful, at least for the first half...in the trees with very little wind. I was able to do a little jogging and a couple of minutes into the run I saw Andy on his way down. He looked great and had a big smile on his face. I asked him if it was cold on top and he said it was. half way up the climb there is the Liquor stop, whiskey or water....I went for the water! Just around the corner the climb got much steeper and the winds were really whipping, thank goodness they were a tailwind for us. I power hiked to the turn around and was happy to see that they changed the course this year, we came down a different way, just as steep but more in the trees and plenty of powder. My heels were bothering me at this point so I wasn't comfortable running downhill too fast. I have a feeling it was because I didn't have any orthotics in my shoes. My feet were getting a little cold as I didn't have the Gortex socks on but I figured they would be fine until I got down to the run transition where I did have a spare pair of socks if I needed to switch them out.
Back into the Ski transition I quickly removed the snowshoes, threw them in the bag and put my ski gear on and skated away. The downhill ski can be pretty scary when one only has little skate ski's. It's steep in some areas where it's really hard to control your speed, along with being uneven terrain, switchbacks and other skiers to watch out for it is somewhat of a circus. I find myself in a very uncontrolled snowplow, feeling like a weeble wobble...but not quite falling down. Each year I do this I find the ski portion a little more difficult. Some people use their touring ski's or telemark ski's but that equipment is a little heavier for the uphill so I guess I don't mind looking like a total dork for 15 min. of downhill, out of control skiing.
I was so happy to see the run transition, however, I had a tough time getting my boots out of my ski's because I couldn't feel my fingers. I found my gear, had a seat on a bench and a volunteer appears...like an angel...he is there to untie my boots, get my running shoes ready, got me water, put my ski gear away. For some reason, with all this help, it was still a slow transition!! Huh??

As soon as I started the run my heels were killing me. With each step it felt like someone was taking a hammer and pounding on each one. This continued for the next 2 miles, which was also about how long it took for my fingers to finally thaw out. My run was pretty uneventful, I felt pretty good, I was running a nice even pace and not going out of my comfort zone.

Running into the bike transition I ran over to the aid station, had a gel and some water and went looking for my bike. I arrived with 2 teenagers there to help me with my gear. I switched into my cycling gloves (with covers), switched jackets, put on my helmet and shoes and I was off again. The cycling is my favorite part so I was excited to be riding downhill for 13 miles however, I wasn't excited about the 20 mph headwind I was about to face. I only saw 3 people for my entire ride down the canyon, I passed 2 girls and 1 guy passed me. I rode as fast as I possibly could without getting my legs to cramp up. The wind was brutal but I tried to just stay focused knowing it would all be over with soon.

I finished with a smile on my face and both of my calves cramping!!! I headed right over to the aid station to chat with the girls that finished right before me and to get some gatorade in me. I was happy with my time, 5:20:02, 2nd in my age group (was beat out by my friend Vicki by 2 min.), 11th Female overall.

Andy came and found me about 10 min. after I finished. He had a great race as well, 4:30, 10th overall and 1st in his age group. We headed straight back to the hotel for a nice long hot tub, quick dinner and then on to the awards. What a great way to spend Valentines Day!!!!

This was the start of '05, it was a little wet that year.