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<\/p>\nI used to work for a company owned by a movie studio, and every holiday, we got to go to a big company meeting where we showed off all our stuff (sadly, MY stuff was too small potatoes to make the dog and pony show so I never got to present), and the parent company showed all their new trailers and early clips.\u00a0 It was fun all around (plus, that night was always the company holiday party in which there was open bar and we all got way too drunk and embarrassed ourselves, I remember one year crying on my boss’s boss’s boss’s shoulder because I was scared I wouldn’t get hired on full time and have to get a real job… well, hey, it worked…and that’s pretty tame in the way of stories… but I digress…), but I vividly remember one year someone asked the president of the parent company why they gave away all the good scenes in the trailers.<\/p>\n
He said simply (this is paraphrased), “everyone does it, and if we didn’t, no one would come to see the movie”.<\/p>\n
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Well, this blog post, I’m going to spoil all the good news in the intro, and then get to the mundane stuff, so if you have a short attention span, this is the post for you!<\/p>\n
Milestone #1: After 3 weeks, 5 days, and 12 hours of not-so patiently waiting, I was able to put full weight, fully extend my knee, and engage my quad with just a little stiffness.\u00a0 It’s not 100% and still gets stiff and hurty when I don’t move it for a while, but this is major progress folks.\u00a0 After stretching and getting my tendons worked on for a few seconds, it’s barely injured.\u00a0 I was cleared Monday for biking outside, and so my bag of tricks this week included upper body weights (I took this as down to my glutes), swimming as long\/fast\/far as I want, and the ability to lower my bike seat a bit and trainer or ride outside as hard as I want, barring one 6-ish mile ride outside testing the knee before I went and did a century.<\/p>\n
Also she said she thinks she’ll clear me for running and release me from care Monday (squeeeeee).\u00a0 She said by no means will I be 100% for a while (it might be months), but she thinks I’ll be past the point where I can do anything to make it worse.\u00a0 If you follow me on social media expect a lot of celebration and party rocking.<\/p>\n
Milestone #2: Friday, I weighed in at 176.4.\u00a0 I don’t have great data from early in the year, but 10 weeks ago, I weighed in at 186.4 as my low weight for the week.\u00a0 I have lost exactly 10 lbs in the last 10 weeks.\u00a0 This is fairly remarkable, because the last time I lost 10 lbs in the last ANY weeks was 2009.\u00a0 Also, because I’m still doing great, have a plan that’s working, have momentum, drive, and I’m not at all burned out on the process and it feels sustainable even with heavy training.\u00a0 I’m not near a period where things are going to change (vacation, end of season, all you can eat shrimp season at Red Lobster season, or whatever), I just have to keep rolling.\u00a0 I do well with that.\u00a0 I can CONTINUE doing something very well.\u00a0 Establishing the process, especially when shit isn’t working, is what makes me want to tear my hair out and just buy a mumu and put a feedback on my face and say fuck it.<\/p>\n
So, 10 lbs down.\u00a0 In my happiest fantasies, I race Kerrville this year weighing 160.\u00a0 I would be happy racing it in the 160s.\u00a0 Considering I’m just 6 lbs away from the 160s makes me giddy.\u00a0 Plants, beans, grains, nuts\/seeds, a dash of dairy and meat, and balancing my calorie count like it’s my checkbook.\u00a0 I’m a believer!<\/p>\n
Milestone #2: After 3 weeks, 5 days, and 12 hours of not-so patiently waiting, I was able to put full weight, fully hyperextend my knee, and engage my quad with just a little stiffness.\u00a0 It’s not 100% and still gets stiff and hurty when I don’t move it for a while, but major progress folks.\u00a0 After stretching and getting my tendons worked on for a few seconds, it’s barely injured.\u00a0 I was cleared Monday for biking outside, and so my bag of tricks this week included upper body weights (I took this as down to my glutes), swimming as long\/fast\/far as I want, and the ability to lower my bike seat a bit and trainer or ride outside as hard as I want, barring one 6-ish mile ride outside testing the knee before I went and did a century.<\/p>\n
Also she said she thinks she’ll clear me for running and release me from care Monday (squeeeeee).\u00a0 She said by no means will I be 100% for a while (it might be months), but she thinks I’ll be past the point where I can do anything to make it worse.\u00a0 If you follow me on social media expect a lot of celebration and party rocking.<\/p>\n
Milestone #3: This would normally be jazzy enough to make me celebrate in and of itself, but it’s definitely down to #3 on the list because of the other awesome.\u00a0 So, since I couldn’t bike much and couldn’t run at all, I’ve been swimming A LOT.\u00a0 Like 4 times a week.\u00a0 Oddly enough, if you swim more, you get better, who knew?\u00a0 I generally operate on the “how much can I do in 30 mins” workout as my gym limits our lane reservations to 30 mins and my Zliten also rarely wants to swim longer than that even if there is no one in the lane after us.\u00a0 In January, my norm was about 1050 meters (70 lengths in our little 15m pool).\u00a0 I’ve gotten better and better, but I really wanted to hit that 1500m mark.<\/p>\n
We got the opportunity to swim in my parents’ community pool which is 25m (ahhhh, I love the bigger pools) and I was thinking about a swim test but decided against it.\u00a0 I took the first 400m easy with some drills, and spent the next 300m doing breath work, and then 200m easy to moderate, and then started doing 300m of some sprints (25 out easy, 25 back hard).\u00a0 I got to 1200m and realized I was only at about 24-25 mins, and I had a chance to break 30 on my 1500m.\u00a0 I did a solid, tempo 300m and came in at 30 mins (don’t have seconds, but started at 3:48 and ended at 4:18).\u00a0 Totally excited!\u00a0 Thinking of gunning for a sub-35 at the Olympic in 2 weeks.<\/p>\n
Milestone #4: It was another hellweek at work, but I think we’ve wrapped up an extremely ambitious chasing-unicorns milestones only about 2 days late, which is an impressive feat.\u00a0 Trust me.\u00a0 Also, I didn’t physically hurt anyone or set fire to the building in the process, and neither did my staff – even though they brought in a balance board that on which I was convinced someone would break their neck (but ya know, when working that much overtime, I’m not going to take ANYONES toys away).<\/p>\n
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And now onto the SCARY STUFF!!!!<\/p>\n
June is go time.\u00a0 Like, 2 weeks from now.\u00a0 Coming back from injury lala land, I race THREE TIMES in June.<\/p>\n
First up for my season opener in 2 weeks- no, not the little super-sprint I usually start with, but an OLYMPIC.\u00a0 Back when I signed up, my thoughts here were 1) It’s not hot as balls yet, so perhaps I can seriously smoke my 3:25 PR and 2) around this time last year, I was pissed that all we had to race was sprints because we were already training Olympic distances and 3) In n Out is only about 3 miles away from the race finish.<\/p>\n
Well, #3 is still absolutely valid and I’m super duper craving it.\u00a0 However, #1 and #2 are in question.\u00a0 I’d like the comfort of trying out my knee on a sprint first.\u00a0 I haven’t run in a month.\u00a0 I haven’t biked more than 15 miles in over a month.\u00a0 I certainly haven’t done a brick.\u00a0 Also, the 64k$ question of how my knee is going to hold up once I start training on it.\u00a0 And what’s feasible to build up to?\u00a0 Can I get in a 20 mile ride\/5 mile run brick?\u00a0 Will I even be able to run 5 miles before race day?\u00a0 How bad will running hurt?\u00a0 How bad will it hurt after running?<\/p>\n
I know in my heart I can easily PR if I can roll into race day feeling good.\u00a0 I can shave off ~5 mins on my swim, probably 5-10 mins on my bike, and about 5 mins on my run no sweat.\u00a0 If this race had been 1 month ago, I’d be wondering how close to 3 hours I’d be coming in.\u00a0 However, it’s all a big question mark right now.\u00a0 I’m going to roll with the punches and I’m fairly sure I can at the worst kick ass on the swim, get through the bike, and run\/walk the rest, but I really hope that I can do more than that.\u00a0 Training a lot gives me the confidence, and I’m not going to have that.\u00a0 I’m going to have to come equipped with courage to find the paces I know I can hit, and common sense not to hit them if it’s not my day.\u00a0 There’s a lot more to my season than this race.<\/p>\n
Then, two weeks after that, I race Pfluger.\u00a0 This was the race last year I chased my unicorns and won.\u00a0 Last year, it was home turf because we trained there every weekend and knew every hill and elevation change and twist of the course.\u00a0 This year, we’ve cheated on Pfluger with Pace Bend and Veloway and Shoal Creek and lunch runs and only been out a few times so, while it will be familiar, it’s not the familiarity I had last year.\u00a0 Also, the knee.\u00a0 Who knows where it will be in a month?\u00a0 This one has big meaning to me as it is the sprint I consistently rock each year solidly.\u00a0 I 1:32’d it last year.\u00a0 Can I sub 1:30?\u00a0 What can I do?\u00a0\u00a0 I know my head is right this year in a way it hasn’t been before, but a month off serious business training… what has it done to my speed?<\/p>\n
Then, skip ahead two weeks and OMG Buffalo Springs 70.3.\u00a0 The beast.\u00a0 The heat, the wind, the hills, and the distance that in January for which I had a perfectly laid out training plan.\u00a0 Then, I took a dive boat to the knee.\u00a0 I have done TWO 50-60 mile rides and at best, I can hope to get one more.\u00a0 I have done TWO 10 mile runs, and at best, I can hope to get 1-2 more.\u00a0 Brick?\u00a0 My Olympic tri will be the longest brick I’ll do (maybe maybe maybe a short trainer ride and a long run IF I think I can tolerate it).\u00a0 I know in my heart and my muscle memory and my endurance that I can do it.\u00a0 I’ll have 6 weeks to get back from zero run + injury + not much training to fit for a half ironman.\u00a0 I’m looking forward to conquering it but I’m defintiely afraid.<\/p>\n
I had a nightmare that I got out of transition and the initial climb was switchbacks up a mountain for miles and miles and I just gave up and walked it.\u00a0 I know the elevation isn’t that bad, but it is a decent hill up right out of transition and it’s not exactly flat, so I’m just hoping my brain is stronger than that race day.<\/p>\n
Really, I’m looking at this as PHASE 1 of this year.\u00a0 This is survival mode.\u00a0 I know I can do the distances, I know I can do the paces I want.\u00a0 It just involves on pulling from my guts, my confidence, my bravado, the fire in my belly, and not relying on specific things I’ve done in training.\u00a0 I tried that last year.\u00a0 It didn’t do me all that well.\u00a0 In June, I have me, my brain, my body, my goals, my muscle memory, and the knowledge that I can indeed outlast the hurt if I so choose.<\/p>\n
Phase 2 has another sprint, 2 Olympics, and 1-2 more 70.3s.\u00a0 I don’t want to use the lack of training or injury as any excuse, but I do want to use common sense as my season isn’t over June 30th.\u00a0 I have another whole “season” to roll with.\u00a0 No matter whether I bonk, drop out, or totally underperform, I have another chance to do it again later in the season.\u00a0 Again, I don’t want to use it as an excuse but I don’t want to end my season by being dumb.<\/p>\n
Enough whining, let’s just put some numbers here for posterity and get tomorrow’s run clearance and start the building process.<\/p>\n
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Training…<\/p>\n
Monday: Weights: Upper body + Stretch<\/a> 00:45, Swim: 3x300s Tempo<\/a> 1410 m 00:31 Total time: 7.2 hours<\/p>\n Nutrition…<\/p>\n Monday: 25 DQ, 1286 calories Average DQ: 20<\/p>\n Average Calories: 1585<\/p>\n Weight: low 176.4, high 180.8.<\/p>\n Until next time campers… have a great week.\u00a0 Wish me luck!<\/p>\n Question: What are YOU waiting for?<\/p>\n
\nTuesday: Bike: First Real Trainer Ride<\/a> 15 mi 00:49, Bike: Lunch Ride<\/a> 6.4 mi 00:20, Swim: Laps<\/a> 1350 m 00:31
\nWednesday: Weights: Same Ol + Stretch<\/a> 00:45,Swim:\u00a0 Just More Than Worth It<\/a> 1170 m 00:25
\nThursday: off
\nFriday: Bike: Trainer + Arrested Development<\/a> 15 mi 00:46
\nSaturday: Bike: First ride outside in a while<\/a> 6.46 mi 00:30, Swim: Woohoo! G town swim<\/a> 1500 m 00:30, Bike: Parents Stationary Bike<\/a> 4 mi 00:21
\nSunday: Kayak: Pflugerville Kayak<\/a> 2 mi 01:00<\/p>\n
\nTuesday: 21 DQ, 1584 calories
\nWednesday: 25 DQ, 1410 calories
\nThursday: 13 DQs, 1577 calories
\nFriday: 26 DQ, 1521 calories
\nSaturday: 12 DQ, 2093 calories
\nSunday: 19 DQ, 1628 calories<\/p>\n