Week #30

Unbelievable - it has been 30 weeks already. I'm about to hit the single digits until race day - yep 9 weeks and counting down. This week is not a terribly heavy load because I need to be well rested for the 3/4 iron training weekend ahead.

I had a good swim on Tuesday morning followed by a steady hill climb up Mt. Diablo in the evening. I was trying something new - I was wearing a pair of tri shorts under my cycling shorts to see if that might work for 3/4 iron weekend. I went further up Mt. Diablo than I have ever gone before and even pasted a motorcycle on the way down. How sweet is that?
Wednesday and Thursday were scheduled run workouts but I got another PT session in and wanted to rest my knee for the weekend, so I did.

On Friday, I drive up to Clear Lake. I wanted to get settled and prepared for my early events on Saturday morning. Here's were the events for the weekend:
Saturday: 2 mile swim followed by a 100 mile bike ride and a BBQ to end the evening
Sunday: 16 mile run or 3 hours, whichever came first

On Friday, my swim coach got in the water with me to show me the semi-catch-up stroke so I can extend my stroke. The demo was going well until I step on something in the water. I didn't know what it was and just shook it off. My plan for the swim was to stay long, steady and strong. I was up at 4am on Saturday to eat breakfast and get ready for my swim start. We had to drive from the hotel to the starting point, set up transition, get in the wetsuit and get instructions on the course. All i had in my head was stay long and strong. My plan worked! I completed my longest open water swim at 2 miles in 1 hour and 24 minutes - 6 minutes faster than I thought I would be.

As soon as I got out of the water, I hurried to transition and began to get ready for the bike ride. I took my wetsuit off and put on my cycle shorts over my wet tri shorts. I put on my bike jersey and had a teammate spray me down with sunscreen. Helmet on, camelback on and out i went on a 100 mile bike ride. At first, my legs felt weird, like i could feel each muscle fiber in my quads. I just kept cycle one revolution after another. It was going to be a beautiful day, I could tell.
This ride was a VERY challenging century. There were some sleep climbs on this ride. I was riding with 3or 4 other teammates and we were about to start the hills section of the course. For various reasons, all of them got sagged forward by car so there I was riding by myself at that point. I wanted to see how healed my knee was so I began climbing up this VERY steep hill and once I got to the top, I got really excited because I knew there would be a nice downhill coming. Well, there was a nice downhill but it was followed by another VERY steep uphill and as soon as I saw that next hill, I yelled, "Oh FUCK". It just came out. As I being back up the second hill, I hear someone behind me. it's my swim coach Sedonia. We road together for quite a few miles. She shared with me how she got involved in TNT and I shared how i got involved by my dad passing away from Leukemia. It was REALLY nice to be riding with someone, because some of those roads were very rural. Sedonia and I had another climb and there was an AMAZING downhill after that climb. I clocked 46.2 mph going down that hill. When Sedonia caught up with me after the downhill, she was like - "WOW you can really descend. Do you break?" My response was NO. We rode together until almost the 1/2 point in the ride. I was able a mile away from the 1/2 point and thought I was lost. So, I asked some random guy if he had a cell phone I could borrow to make a call because I was lost. i called the SAG vehicle and they were close by. I was on the right course and not far away.
The park was 1/2 in the ride and Team Frankie was there at the water stop. Frankie is one of our team honorees and his parents are just so cute and helpful. There we got our special needs bag which is something we pack for ourselves and have access to it half way through the ride. I packed more cream to help with rubbing and some salty foods like pringles. I re-filled my water and fuel drinks and I was out again. I had a 30 mile out and back loop ahead of me. A number of my teammates chose to keep this part of the ride for whatever reasons and continued back to the finish of the ride which was 18 miles from the park. I was feeling strong, looking strong so I decided to continue on the scheduled route.
Well, about 5 minutes into the loop route, the steep rolling hills started to take a toll on my knee. I thought about just turning back to the park and asked myself, "why am I doing this - to find a cure for cancer" so I continued on. The road was a mess, it was full of pot-holes and to very conductive to bike riding. Once I got out of that section, I was on a main road that was relatively flat, but there was a headwind so I felt it on my knee. I made it to the next water stop and saw a teammate. I had 5 more miles until the turnaround so I asked him how it was. It saw - challenging but I could do it. I said my knee can't handle any more hill climbs so how is the route. He said - hilly - don't do it. I really appreciated his honesty. Then my mentor rolled into the waterstop after just completing the 5 mile loop within the loop. She has been dealing with a hamstring problem and the first words out of her mouth were - I should not have done that - my hamstring is mad at me. I knew right then and there that I wanted a ride back to the park so I could continue the ride. And that is exactly what I did. My mentor rode on alittle more while I waited for the SAG car. As we approached my mentor, she got a ride too back to the park.
At that point my knee was really hurting and starting to swell. My bike coach happened to be there and asked me if I could continue on. I asked about the terrain of the remaining course and he said it was gentle but not flat. He asked again if I could still ride, I said, "we'll find out as I prepared to get back on my bike to finish the ride. My mentor and I rode back to the finish together and then got into the water for an ice bath on our legs.
Now remember, I had stepped on something the day before, well it turns out I had a torn in my foot and I rode 85 miles with it in my foot. Now - it had to come out. So, one of my teammates got a pin and picked it out. This is the same teammate who sprayed me with sunscreen and I found out later on in the evening the spots she missed.
Sunday morning rolled around and I was up at 5am. I was really surprised how well my legs and knee felt. That ice bath REALLY works. We drove over to the start and at 7am we were off on the run course. I knew 3 hours would hit before I reached the 16 mile point. My goal was to make it to the 2nd water stop. I started with my 4 minute run/1 minute walk plan. I did this method for about an hour and then run when I felt good and walked when I didn't. I made it to the 2nd water stop which was 5.6 miles out. On the way back, I was starting to feel my right hip and right hip flexor. I knew I had to walk the majority of the way back or I could hurt myself (because I pushed through something similar before and actually pulled my hip flexor and I was not able to do that.) So, I walked about 5 miles and run in the last .5 miles or so. I went right into the lake again for a ice bath - only this time I wore socks in the hopes that nothing would stick me. That was my longest run/walk to date: 11.2 miles in 3 hr and 15 minutes. I was very excited and proud of myself as well as very proud of my teammates.

This weekend was a turning point in my training. 3/4 ironman training weekend was an epic one to say the least. If it weren't for the coaches, staff, mentors, and the volunteers this weekend would not have been possible.

Here's to a great week ahead and hopefully, I won't be sunburned too bad.
Cheers,
Dana