On the mend!

So much has happened and I have been a bad blogger!  So instead of writing up official race reports I will write up a recap of the last month and a bit!

My tri season started off with Ironman 70.3 Mont Tremblant!  I met my objective of crossing the finish line!  Yay!  I was surprised that I actually completed it in under 6hrs!  Just barely but I did!  Then before I headed to Alberta I decided to race the Toronto Olympic tri as a very last minute decision.  I kind of wanted to compare myself to last year which was probably a mistake.  I still managed a relatively strong race but was much slower than last year, a whole 8 minutes slower! eek!  But that is ok!  I actually lost 3 min on the swim!  I have no idea what happened there except that the water was super cold!  I was about one minute slower on the bike and about 4 minutes slower on the run.  However, I did do a long ride the day before so I was not exactly fresh for this race.  Then I headed to Alberta for my summer mountain adventure!  I trained in the Rockies and had a couple of good rides there right before the Calgary 70.3!  Such beauty we have in our own country and great climbing in the mountains!  I raced Calgary and exceeded my expectations!  I finished it in 5:41 and a bit, but the bike was short by about 4km.  The good news was that I actually felt pretty good on the run!  And I was ecstatic about that!  I was more like my race-self but that is not necessarily a good thing since I am able to block out pain and I think that is what I did.  I was able to push through and I even picked it up at the end breaking another competitor!  That was awesome!  I was feeling good so I pushed the last bit of the run.  I passed another female athlete at about 17km and she decided to stick with me.  Well, I was struggling to keep the pace and I was going to let her go until she let out some profanities and dropped off!  I laughed! (she did too!).  My hamstring also was not in that much pain afterwards either!  I am not pain-free yet but I am finally noticing an improvement!  I think the PRP shots are actually working!

Saw the sports doc today for another follow up and told him of my improvements and of my plan of doing the Ironman.  And he was ok with it.  He said get onto the run and see how I feel!  And that is my plan!  I will run for as long as I can and if I have to walk, I will walk!  I managed to get up to a 25km run.  This is the least amount of training I have ever done going into an Ironman but who knows!?  I am banking on experience and mental strength to get me through it and I know I can!

It is all in the mind!

I am living proof that Ironman and I guess athletics in general is 80% mental and 20% physical.  There are naturally talented athletes out there that this does not apply to but to the average joe, this is so true!

This is a long overdue post and I had so much happen the past little while!  But I wanted to post this about mental strength   Your mind can play tricks on you but it also is what makes you successful.  For me, my mind gave me success!  After my training week in Lake Placid we made our way to Mont Tremblant.  I had decided that I was going to go for the half ironman and cross the finish line.  I will write up a proper race report but I do have to say that I did surprise myself.  That half marathon was completed purely on mental strength!  Nothing else but my mind.  I had no run training in me to be able to finish the run.  Experience and my mind got me there!  I am ecstatic that I finished the half!

So with this, I am going full steam ahead and going for the full Ironman.  I have been putting in some good cycling mileage in my legs and logged 1210 km for the month of June.  I am slowly building up my run mileage and am up to 20 km now but I am not doing any speed work.  My hammy will not take any speed work and I will not risk doing any either.  I will not be looking for a personal best but that is ok with me.  My mental strength will get me through the Ironman!

Up next is a visit with a friend in Edmonton and then to Calgary for the 70.3!  Looking forward to some training in the Rockies!   Hope I do not encounter any bears though!

This week: Livin` like an athlete!

As my first race of the season is just around the corner, I have ramped up my training!  Last weekend I was in cycling heaven - Parry Sound!  So awesome there!  My second family always welcomes me there and I got some awesome training in.  As I still did not get the go-ahead to run yet, I just cycled.  I rode 110km one day followed by a tough but great 130km ride the next averaging 175W.  Not bad, not bad!

Saw the sports doc midweek and he seemed a but baffled as to why I am in more pain after the 2nd PRP injection than before.  Ya, me too!  I am pretty sure he hit a nerve though because of the pain I went through.  Well, I asked about Ironman and he told me it was not a good goal to have anymore.  I am not quite ready to accept that though.  He told me I can try running again and to start at 1km every other day.  I asked him if I could make it worse by running and he did not think so.  So with that, I made a new game plan!

I have decided that if I could get up to 15km of running before MT 70.3 then I was going to go for it. I want to finish this race as I took a charity spot for it.   I am willing and ready to pull out of the run at the Calgary 70.3.  And I do not want a DNF at Ironman!  I want another finish.  However, I am not expecting any new PBs this year and I won`t kill myself trying to get one.  My purpose is solely to finish and nothing else.

I discussed this with my chiro and to my surprise, he said he was on board with me.  I know - I am just plain ol`stubborn and determined!  That mixed with stupidity and this is where I am.  I think I need to go to a sports psychologist or something, for real!  There are apparently five stages of emotion during an injury: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  Well, I kind of got to acceptance but I backtracked to bargaining! Hehe!  That is where I think I am at now.  Oh oh!  I know I should be patient and wait, and I got some good advise but I cannot help myself.  (Sorry, Duncan!  But I am going back to shore and going to try to swim across later!  I know - wrong!)

So with this, I ramped up my training big time.  I am currently in Lake Placid for the week to train and then heading to Mont Tremblant to race.  This was the plan for a while now since I thought I was going to be able to run by now.  After my chiro and doc appointment, I ran 5km and then 10km the next day.   Yup, from zero to 5 to 10!  I recognize how stupid that is.  Then I ran 16km!  I did it!  Good news: I did not make my hammy any worse.  Bad news: it is still painful.  My pace is pathetically slow but I will take it.  And I am being very diligent with icing it too!  Anything to help me get there.  The first day in Lake Placid  I rode 90km, did a 10min run off the bike, and then a 2.5km swim.  Yesterday I swam just over 5km in the lake and then followed that with the 16km run later in the day.  Today was a hardcore type of day!  2.6km swim followed by 150km bike in the pouring rain where I even got a flat and then a 5km  run off the bike.  I can do this! I will be careful!  I promise!

Living like an athlete is pretty fun though!  All I have to do is eat, sleep, and train!  Not a bad set up for now!  Then back to real life by next week.  Gonna enjoy it in the meantime!

A little update...

What to say, what to say?!  Round 2 of post PRP is not going so well.  I think this time it is a bit harder because I got the taste of getting back into the swing of training and then I had to go back to nothing.  Plus I am in more pain than I was before the 2nd shot and I almost feel like I am in more pain than before the first shot! :(  The pain continues to go from the proximal insertion point where the tear is down to the back of my knee.  Even swimming hurts and I often have to resort to the pull buoy half way through swim practice because it just hurts too much.  Needless to say, I am getting a little frustrated and stubbornness, determination, and stupidity is beginning to set in.  I took the time off, was diligent with my rehab exercises, gone for treatments on a weekly basis (geez, I see my chiro more often than my parents!), spent lots and lots of money, and I have seen no improvement.  I still plan on doing the ironman and the two half ironmans I am signed up for and now that it is June I am getting  a little desperate.  I have been going for long rides once a week for the last couple of weeks despite it hurting me.  I continue to swim hard and I am even tempted to start running.  I need to be in shape to complete these races.  I have bargained with myself that if I do these races I will not sign up for anything next year.  My deal is that I am willing to make myself hurt more now and then to take next year completely off as long as I can race this year.  Yep, stupid! Hehe!  My back up plan for the ironman is to do the swim and bike and pull out of the run.  Ohhh....I just do not know what to do!  I know I should think long term but I am having a tough time doing that now.  I guess I am also in some denial.  What to do, what to do?!

PRP Round 2

After my follow up with the sports doc last week, he wanted me to get a 2nd PRP injection.  I decided to go ahead with it as my attempt at saving this race season.  I should probably give up on it but I have signed up for 2 half Ironmans and a full and it's too late to back out now.  So I got my 2nd injection yesterday.  And I have decided I hate PRP.  The pain is pretty intense and runs from my piriformis right down to the back of my knee.  I did just recently learned that there is a new painless PRP procedure that removes the white blood cells from the blood which is a cause of the pain.  The WBCs cause the inflammatory response hence the pain.  But the new procedure cost $400 more so I decided that for the $400 I could withstand a few days of pain.  But if you ask me now, that $400 is worth it cuz I am in a world of pain again.  I made the mistake of working last night just hours after the injection and a 12hr shift on your feet is not what my hamstring needed.  So I officially made my first sick call tonight in eight years because I could not stand another night of me hobbling around in pain and being stubborn.  Since the injection is done under ultrasound, I was able to find out if there was an improvement after the first time.  Well, the U/S still showed the tear! Boo! :(  The tech told me it is in a bad place because it is so close to the bone and there is no blood flow there.  Which is why PRP should work.  So I am back to being side-lined right now.  Not sure for how long but as soon as I can I will get back to swimming and cycling.  Cannot do that now.  Walking is painful enough.  Keeping my fingers crossed that this shot will work!

Team Fox! Help me make a difference!

This year I decided to become a member of Team Fox to raise money for Parkinson's Disease.  I have been racing triathlons and running races for many years now and this year I wanted to make a difference.  I will be racing on June 23 at Ironman Mt. Tremblant 70.3 as a member of Team Fox.  I am asking you for your help in reaching my fundraising goal of $2500.  Please click on the link below or on the above logo to go to my fundraising page and help me reach this goal.  Any help will be much appreciated!  PLEASE and THANK YOU!

         CLICK HERE TO DONATE! 

Babysteps...

This is my motto right now in my return to running.  After I got the ok to run at the beginning of April I have followed the docs instructions.  I started with 2km every other day and have been slowly increasing my distance every week.  I am at 5km now! :)  My pace started off pretty slow and I have slowly been dropping my pace per km.  However, I am still no where near my normal pace.  I have been attributing this to lack of running fitness and am really just happy that I am back on the road.  I was thrilled to be running my 5km under 30min, lol!!!  Until I had another follow up with the doc this week.  He asked me about my pace times, then told me I was slow! Haha!  I know I am relatively slow, but hey! Lol!  Seriously though, he was referring to my normal pace times.  He wants me to get another PRP injection next week.  He told me that it would not be as painful as the first time and it would not set me back that much.  I have full intentions of doing the Ironman this year (and I told him this) and I have confirmed my registration for two half Ironmans.  I really am not sure what to do but am booked for now for another injection next week.  So I have pulled the plug on my first two races I was hoping to do and will make my race debut at the end of June at the Mt. Tremblant 70.3.

I have been feeling like I am returning a little more to normal in the training department.  Yesterday I rode my bike outdoors for the first time out of the city for three hours (minus the bike commuting) and then went to yoga all after working six night shifts.  The day before I swam, biked, and ran! :) This is more like toddler steps!!!  I've got two months to get myself half ironman ready!  I can do it! :)