Well, since I returned from Auburn and got my lovely sinus infection – that it still hanging on – I’ve slowly gotten back onto the training wagon. And I’ve had a great week of training – I’ve not missed one recovery week workout! Good news – I took my last antibiotic! If there’s a trace of this next week I’m going to get back with my doctor...
Last weekend was my last tune-up / training race for Ironman Arizona, the Watermans’ Half in Marbury, Maryland – at General Smallwood Park. It was not a great day for me for the most part. I woke up with a headache that not only did not go away but proceeded to get worse. A bit of a stressor! There were not even 200 people entered in this race and only three waves! I was in the second one – all women. They said the water temperature was 65 degrees. I had on my sleeveless wetsuit and was quite comfortable. I’m hoping this means I can go sleeveless in Tempe next month! (But will have both just in case not.)
The swim: The water was fairly calm but sadly there was more seaweed-y stuff. Blech. The course was two rectangular loops on a well-marked course that favored right-sided breathers, like me. Bonus! There were helpers yanking us out at the swim finish, too. I ran/walked to transition because my bare feet do not like hard surfaces...I ran when there was grass though!
T1: I took my time in T1 – I’m never fast anyway, so...why try something new? J The nice thing about transition – aside from the fact that my feet don’t like to be bare foot on pavement – was the lack of grass and mud when getting my bike shoes on. Another bonus!
The bike: Despite everything, I actually really liked this course. I thought it was a good mix overall and would do this again. I knew there were some bad spots on the road and know ahead of time helped. For the most part. My headache was still there and just seemed to get worse. My sinuses were killing me (not literally of course) and every bump seemed to shake my brain. I knew this wasn’t really happening but it sure felt like it! I was telling myself that this race was not important in the big picture and I did not need to get sicker to finish it. And around the halfway point gave myself permission to not finish. (My first DNF!)
Well, maybe that decision played a part in what happened next, becasue in another six miles and I think I hit a little pot hole (or something) and then realized I’d gotten a flat. On the back wheel. Awesome! (It was like Ironman Lake Placid nightmares again – but real. Oh wait – that was real, too!) There just happened to be a church on my right, so I pulled over and tried to figure out where to start. By removing all the bottles off my bike so I could stand it upside down, of course. Many Z’ers and other nice racers slowed to see if I needed help and one actually stopped. I said I was good (I had a CO2 cartridge and a tube) but THEN realized I was without my tire levers! She (Becca – a Z’er!) had some to lend me – and they were pink! So I got her race number and promised to return them later. I got that rear wheel off and actually was able to get the tire off (but somehow flipped inside out?) with just my hands. (This is huge for me because on my old bike the original tires were so hard I could barely get the tire off with levers! And extra hands!) Turns out I did need the levers to get it flipped back then off the rim, but then I did it all by hand, replaced the tube and got the tire back on – with JUST MY HANDS. My CO2 cartridge contraption worked just liked I remembered and eventually I got the back wheel back on, the bottles loaded up, and just as I was about to mount the bike a really cute guy in a truck stopped to ask if I needed help. Unfortunately, I was all good at that point.
I had about 22 miles to go to get back to transition. And I think the flat did nothing for my aching head and here’s where my nutrition feel apart. Because up until the flat that was going well. I rolled back into transition eventually and figured out where to go to turn in my chip. I headed to my car to try to rest while I waited for Jeff to finish up – and he was rocking it!
The rest did not help my head but later Jeff realized he had some ibuprofen so I took a few and would you believe that headache stayed for about another four days! Ultimately the race organizers had me DNF after the swim as there were not separate T1 and T2 times due to a timing mat malfunction. So, I’m not sure at this point how long my ride was. I had a swim split on my watch, then a total split, but my Garmin paused during the tire change, so...who knows!
My hope is that I got all the race day demons out before the big day: November 20, 2011! Back on July 26, 2009 (at Ironman Lake Placid) I not only got a flat on the rear wheel (my biggest fear, outside of missing the bike cut-off) during the first of two loops on the bike (and fortunately had (1) switched to different, easier-to-mount tires and (2) had a spare tube AND tire because there was a staple in my rear tire) I also got stung by a bee on the second downhill into Keene. I had a huge bee sting mark for nearly a month!
So, my fingers are crossed and I think the sinus infection is mostly gone. This is a build week and my workouts have gone well. This week we started the first of eight 90-minutes swims on Thursday and that was a success. This weekend is the EPIC TRAINING WEEKEND! I have a 15 mile run tomorrow followed by a nearly 120 mile bike ride on Sunday; after which I’m supposed to run another 5 miles. I will take things one part at a time.
Happy and Healthy Training!
Next Up:
November 12 – Richmond 8K (an easy training day – I’ll be in taper though I really wanted to do the Richmond Half – sponsored by McDonald’s)
November 20 – Ironman Arizona with Team IM-AZ-ing! (And it is going to be!)
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