On Saturday, April 14 (which seems like forEVER ago) I raced the Rumpus in Bumpass Oly. This was my third time for this event. This year was slightly different in that there was a last minute venue change. Still at / on Lake Anna but moved from the marina to private property about 4 miles away. This caused a slight change in the bike course in that it went in the reverse direction (which I thought made for a faster course) and it was maybe a mile shorter. Not really sure. Anyway, I had a really good day, despite having the slowest run split in my age group!
On Sunday, April 22 I raced the GW Parkway Classic. I was supposed to do it for the first time last year but had a DNS because I did not think my foot was recovered enough from the plantar fasciitis to try it. This year I was ready! I had just done the Cherry Blossom 3 weeks before and got my third fastest 10 mile time ever. The day before the run I had gone on a 30-mile bike ride. It was supposed to be zone 1-2 but ended up more like zone 2-3. And I felt really good the entire time. I was amazed. The GW race was like perfect conditions, for me at least. Cool and a light drizzle. I carried nuun but tended to get Gatorade / water at the water stops and walked briskly through them. I ended up running my second fastest 10 mile race ever! I almost broke 1:30 and ended up with a 1:30:36. My prior best - from my first 10 miler ever - was 1:29:12. I was super happy with this result! Carol ran and had a PR! Carol's brother and his friend came down from Vermont to run it and Pam also ran and had a good race.
Finally, in other news, I got sick...
Tuesday, April 24 I ate lunch and felt ‘off’ afterwards. I skipped my workout that night though I had gone to swim that morning. Wednesday, April 25 I went to work and though did not feel like it, did a 15 mile bike ride after work. I ate dinner when I got home then later that night had the chills and realized I was running a fever. It was all pretty much downhill after that...
I was off on Thursday, April 26 and had planned to swim then do a long run with Carol - but that didn't happen because I still had a fever and felt awful that day. I went to work on Friday and didn't feel great but thought it was just a little stomach thing. :) Oh, and the diarrhea started on Friday. Then on Saturday, April 28 I had had plans to go to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit my son and go to a concert. I followed through on that. I didn't feel great but didn’t feel horrible, either. Then overnight things got worse. I had brought my bike along because on Sunday I was planning to meet Carol and Pam outside of Richmond for a 90 mile ride. However...I felt way to bad for that so just drove the 4 hours home and slept instead. Needless to say, on Monday, April 30 I was worse and missed work and went to the doctor that afternoon. He thought it was probably just a stomach virus, but if I was not better by Wednesday I was to get lab work done. I missed work on Tuesday, May 1 but went on Wednesday. Come Thursday morning I wasn't better so on my way to work I went to the lab to get the 'collection vials' (oh joy!) and then dropped them off on Friday. :-|
Over the weekend of May 5-6 I was feeling 'ok'... On Saturday I cut the grass and visited with a friend but was super tired that evening. Then on Sunday was the DC Boundary Stones tour. Again, felt 'ok' but was not eating or really drinking anything at this point. Now, I had a truly amazing and fantastic day doing the Boundary Stones tour. But...after I got home that night I was really bad off. On Monday morning, May 7 I had my first of two episodes of vomiting, though I had actually been nauseous for days. I called the doctor back and got an appointment that afternoon and ultimately we decided I should go to the ER to get checked out. After a long wait at the hospital I ended up with an IV and 2 bags of fluid for dehydration and they started me on a course of two antibiotics for a week. My white cell count was up and my potassium was low. I also got a couple doses of potassium as well as a bunch of things for the nausea. I went home and just slept a lot for several days. By Thursday I could sense a change for the better and by Friday, May 11 I felt like a new person. That afternoon my doctor finally called with the final lab results confirming that I had a parasite, Giardia!! On Saturday, May 12 I was finally craving 'real food' and I think Sunday, May 13 I finally ate real food. Just in time for Mother's Day! Bonus: my son Patrick got home from college that night! I finally got back to workouts this past weekend, May 19-20 (a successful 5K with a friend doing her very first 5K ever (way to go, Heather!!) plus 5 miles afterwards on Saturday; and a 50 mile bike ride at Prince William Forest Park on Sunday with Pam and Carol.) All in all I missed 3 and a half weeks of workouts, about a week and a half of work, and lost a lot of weight (9 pounds in 7 days - not really the recommended way to lose weight!!). I had a couple people checking in on me and I talked to my boss every morning. It was awful. My dog was quite happy to have me home though. :)
This morning, May 22 I got back into the pool for the first time in 4 weeks and made it through 45 minutes and 2050 yards of a swim workout and was very happy about that! As I was about to get out of the pool I started talking to a teammate and found out that SHE also likely had giardia and quite possibly got it from swimming in the same lake that I did, at the Rumpus Oly!
Needless to say, I missed the Cap2Cap Century ride on May 12 as well as the 100 100's swim on May 13. Though Carol rocked, kicked @$$, and got them both done! And Pam completed the Century! I was so bummed! This weekend (May 25-28) the three of us are going to Lake Placid for Ironman Lake Placid training camp!! My plan is to complete one loop of the run course and try for two loops of the bike course, but taking the bike ride one loop at a time. If I'm not feeling up to the second loop I'll SAG for Carol and Pam. Though hopefully I’ll have a successful training weekend.
On June 3 I have the REV3 Quassy Half so hopefully by then I will truly be back to normal. So I missed a 90-mile and 100- mile ride but we have a 100 mile ride on June 9 and 120 mile ride on June 17... I think I'll be ok if I just get plenty of rest (which is so darned hard) and eat well. I also started taking a better kind of probiotics so hopefully that will also help!
Other fun: I *will* be running the Baltimore 10 Miler on June 16 to celebrate P’s b'day, for sure!
Happy and Very Healthy Training!
1 comment:
Congrats on your Rumpus PR! If 10 min/mi is last in th run, then you had some serious competition in your AG! Also, congrats on your second fastes 10 miler! You are seriously so close to a PR with this one. And, then super bummer about getting sick! I'm so glad you are doing better and back to training. Glad B10 is still a go...maybe that will be your 10 mile PR race!! :) P.
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