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.