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~
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