Week #18

My week started off great, but ended on a sour note. I went shopping this week, not for the fun of it but out of necessity. I did a Sports Basement run to get gear for swimming in the cold water. I bought different booties, a skull cap, and was looking for gloves but they only had the webbed kind - they are illegal. So, I decided to try REI. They didn't have them either, but they did have Kayaking gloves. So, I decided to give them a try. I got the ones with velcrow in the hopes that they would be secure.
Well Saturday morning came and my first swim in SF's Aquatic Park was on. The new gear did really well. The water temp was 52 degrees. The gloves weighed me down some, but they did their job and kept my hands warm(er) than being exposed to the water. I had a really good swim. So, we had to swim one lap around the boyie and then come back into shore for a surprise. We had to do that three times which equaled a mile. On shore, we did push-ups, crab walks and something that I don't know the name for.
After the swim, we drove to Sports Basement where we got into our run gear. Now, I knew we had a 60 mile bike ride scheduled for Sunday and that we were in SF so that meant hills, so I decided to walk a majority of our run. We did a loop all threw the Presido. It was absolutely lovely - hilly - but lovely. We did 5.3 miles.
When we got back, the team met up inside Sports Basement for an Iron Univ on Goals. Did you know that there are seven distint types of goals:
1. Long Term Goals
2. Yearly Goals
3. Race Goals
4. Feeling Goals
5. Training Goals
6. Lifestyle Goals
7. Filfullment Goals
Goals #1, 2, and 3 can be categorized as OUTCOME goals because they describe specific results you want to achieve. The importance of outcome goals is that they provide the destinations of your goal setting program. Place these goals in the distance as what you ultimately want to achieve.
Goals #4, 5, 6, and 7 are PROGRESS goals and should be your primary focus in your day-to-day training efforts. By focusing on your progress goals, you will ensure that you do what needs to be done to reach your outcome goals. Pursuing your progress goals will make attaining your outcome goals more manageable and enable you to focus on the enjoyment of triathlon and ensure you get the most quality out of your effort.
The Goal Formula - Vision + Motivation + Goals = Progress
Finally, we completed an exercise where we wrote a letter to ourselves expressing whatever it is we wanted to express and it will be given back to us the evening before our race.
Sunday - the plan was to complete the Marin Metric Century route. I did this as an event before and I REMEMBERED all the hills that were part of the course. This was my day this time:
The Marin Metric Century route begins on flat to rolling terrain before you are greeted with your first challenge of the day, a 1.5 mile and 430 foot climb to Big Rock Summit of Lucas Valley. This is followed by a thrilling descent through the redwoods into the ranches and grasslands of West Marin. The route then winds north through relatively flat terrain past the small town of Nicasioand along Nicasio Reservoir.
The second climb of the day (1.4 miles and 380 foot gain) rolls up to Pt. Reyes-Petaluma Rd. over a summit and past the famous Cheese Factory before turning north onto Hicks Valley Rd.
The ride continues out Hicks Valley Rd. This is remote West Marin at its best. Rolling hills and sparsely traveled roads bring you through ranch country and and open space to where the 100K route turns east (another route turns west) for the biggest challenge of the day - Wilson Hill. This climb is steep, 700' high and the descent down the east side is exhilarating. The route rolls out through relatively flat terrain into the outskirts of Petalumato McNear Park at mile 32.
And here is where my day changed! I'm not exactly sure what happened. I think I thought I unclipped and my teammates said I then stood up to get off the bike and apparently I did not unclip and I fell directly onto my knee cap. I layed on the ground holding my knee for a good five minutes without moving. Then I was finally able to kinda straighten it out and someone gave me some ice. Coach Dave rolled in and looked at it. Good thing I was wearing my leggings because that probably saved me from some road rash. He called the SAG (Support and Gear) car for me and Belinda, our nice volunteer, picked me up to take me back to the start. Along the way back, we picked up Helen who took a wrong turn and went miles out of her way.
I had a teammate, who is a NP, look at my knee when she got back. She advised me to get it checked because my knee cap was crunchy. She was worried about a broken knee cap.
So, today I got an appt with Dr. Tim and she sent me for x-rays. The great news is that I did not fracture my knee cap. However, given this is my bad knee that has already had three knee surgeries, she is referring me to an ortho for follow-up. Yep - this is not the way I wanted my week to end nor begin with Half-Way-To-Iron-Weekend in a week.
My week ahead will be nothing but elevating, icing, and anti-inflammatory medications and creams.
Have a great week.
Cheers,
Dana