2012 is a Bittersweet Symphony

I want to start this week's post out with the words to one of my favorite songs. It seems fitting since this is the title of the post. The song is Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve. It's an older song that most people probably know. Just in case you aren't familiar here's a link to the video on YouTube.

'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
Trying to make ends meet
You're a slave to money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the veins meet yeah

No change, I can't change
I can't change, I can't change
But I'm here in my mind
I am here in my mind
But I'm a million different people
from one day to the next
I can't change my mind
No, no, no, no, no, no, no,no,no,no,no,no(fading away)

Well I never pray
But tonight I'm on my knees yeah
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now
But the airways are clean and there's nobody singing to me now


source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/

Why did I pick the title of this song for a blog post? Well if you've followed my blog recently then you probably know I have had some good and bad stuff going on this year. This last week was an especially bittersweet one. 

My family and I were packing to move into our new home finally and very excited and stressed about all that entails in itself. Wednesday afternoon I was on the receiving end of one of those phone calls that you never want to get. It was my husband telling me that our 7-month-old puppy Ruby (affectionately referred to as Ruby Roo or Rubester) was hit by a car. I was shocked to hear this and immediately left my office to race to the animal hospital. My daughter had let Ruby off of her leash for a moment to untangle it and Ruby darted for the road, which was very uncharacteristic of her. My daughter heard a thud and the scream of our poor little pup. Ruby had been hit by a random 20-year-old girl. One of our old neighbors saw what happened and was kind enough to help my daughter. They drove Ruby to three different animal hospitals. Yes, three! The first two were closed. Ruby was dying as she layed on my daughter's lap in the car bleeding and gasping for air. The poor little angel. She died shortly after arriving at the animal hospital. My daughter was an emotional mess. My husband said he'd meet me in the parking lot of the animal hospital. His eyes said it all as he walked over to me. I saw a tear and I just lost it. No! No dammit! Not my little Ruby Roo! 

After a few minutes of breaking down I collected myself to go in and see her. Lying there with her pretty brown eyes open but no breathe I realized how fragile life is. We had lost part of the family. This dog was my heart. She had become my daughter, my best friend, my favorite pet ever. It felt like I was having a bad dream. Unfortunately this really happened. It's been just over a week now and we really miss her. My last memory of her was my husband and I taking her for a walk to the school that was near our old house and running with her in the field. She had a blast that night and so did we.

She will never be forgotten. RIP my sweet little Ruby Roo. You brought us much happiness and fun for the short time we had you. Hoping I get to see you again someday my dear friend.

Then on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, we moved into our new home on Thursday! A house we waited for months to get. The day after suffering such a huge loss. Talk about bittersweet. There were ups and downs with the whole house buying process and it stressed us out the to the max but we are in now! There is so much to do but we are absolutely in love with it! It already feels like home. It's a place for us to retreat after long days or bad days and a place for us to grow our love and perhaps someday our family. Maybe we'll even find our next Ruby once we're settled.

Finally, just a quick update on the foot. I actually managed a 3.9 mile trail run on Sunday and felt decent. Still somewhat painful after but getting better every week. So I made the decision along with my coach and therapist to race this weekend. Just a sprint tri as I am not ready for much more with regards to the run. But it's a step forward. And I have to accept where I am in the season and in life. Sometimes it is a bittersweet symphony. This life.

Stopping to Smell the Flowers

Before I begin this post, let me just state that I may be overly-emotional this week. In a good way though! I am stopping to smell the flowers. There is so much to appreciate.

It's been an incredible year!!!

• I married the love of my life! A man that is my very best friend in the world,  makes me laugh everyday and makes me feel special...and lucky! 

• I made the Rev3 Triathlon age group team! A team of inspirational, fun and fit people for an organization that does some amazing things like Running Across America to raise money for cancer! 

• I will be moving into the house of my dreams anyday now! A beautiful colonial in an amazing neighborhood with an in-ground pool for practicing my swimming and a ready made gym! Perfect house for us! Pictures to come.

It's also been a challenging year!!!

• The process of selling our home and now selling/buying at the same time! The stress of it all! Ugh!

• I have the worst running injury ever in terms of time off - so far it's beaten my stress fracture last season! Not being able to run during these last 7 weeks has been a real challenge but I've survived it. I know I will get it back soon (fingers crossed).

• Some personal stresses that my husband must face thanks to a ghost of the past who quite frankly seems bitter. I guess I'd be bitter too if I lost the most amazing man in the world thanks to my own stupidity! Her loss my gain!!!

So I am a little emotional. I have been blessed with wonderful friends and family and teammates and people that believe in me and support me. This post is to say thank you and also to let you know that I will be back stronger than ever soon! And more importantly wiser! 

Twinsburg Duathlon Relay Race Report

After not racing since April I was pretty excited to have some action this weekend! When my husband asked me if I'd like to do the Twinsburg Duathlon relay I couldn't resist saying yes. He would run and I would bike. It sounded good to me.

Pre-race:

Twinsburg would be my new bike's maiden voyage along with my new wheels! Have I mentioned how much I love my Kestrel and Gray wheels? It would also be the first time I raced in my new Team Rev3 kit and my new aero helmet. This was a race with a lot of firsts! Steve and I headed up to the Twinsburg expo and had my coach and bike mechanic Sean put my race wheels on and tune up the bikes a little to get race ready.

We went home and rode 22 miles to see how the bike and wheels would handle for race day. I had only used the wheels once maybe 6 weeks back. We rode one of our usual routes. I was quite speedy on the first half. Unfortunately we had some bad winds heading back so it slowed us down a little. I was in a silly easygoing mood on Saturday night. Steve and I cooked a nice pre-race dinner of gourmet pizza and salad and craft beer and took it easy.

Race Day:

We got up Sunday morning and ate a quick breakfast, got dressed, loaded up the bike and our other stuff and headed out around 6am. We arrived at the Twinsburg Rec center where the race starts around 6:45 to get setup. We were both really excited. Here's a picture of me rocking my awesome new Rev3 kit and posing with my new bike.





The Start:

Finally around 7:40 I watched Steve and the others lineup. The race director Mickey made some announcements along with the local USAT official covering some of the race rules. And then they were off to run the first 2 mile leg.  A quick run to the ladies room for me and then I headed over to the relay area to get my bike shoes, helmet, shades and jacket on. It was starting to drizzle so I grew a little nervous about the weather. I hoped it would stop. Not so much luck!

T1, Bike

 Steve met me in the transition area 12:24 later and we switched the timing chip as per the rules. I grabbed the bike to run it out of transition and mounted pretty easily and we were off. I was a little nervous starting up with the rain since I don't have a lot of experience riding in the rain and had never raced this bike or wheelset before.  I knew I was close to the front of the pack so I just wanted to get on it. The start of the course is hilly for about the first 2 miles so I was probably just averaging 17-18mph and had to watch the turns with the rain. 

Once we hit a flatter section I opened it up more averaging between 22-26mph for much of the flat and slowing down for some turns. The rain unfortunately was coming down pretty good in parts of the race including some downhill parts with traffic as the roads are not closed. I just tried to be cautious. There's one section of the course with a longer climb and I slowed down there to 12-14mph as it was a tougher climb. Once we hit the descent I was back quickly to over 20mph hitting some downhill in the 30s. That's always a good feeling. The whole ride was good. There were a couple of other guys that I stayed with pretty much most of the race as I passed them and they passed me. I kept them as my markers. I wanted to finish in 30 minutes or less for the 10 miles. I ended up at 32:43 including our two transitions. This means I likely averaged about 20mph. Not bad for racing in the wind and rain and being a little conservative on the push. In fact I learned from my coach later that I had the fastest bike split of all the women in the race! And I think I ranked like top 15 or 20 overall with the men so that made me feel pretty good about all those miles I've been putting in!

T2 & The Finish:

I raced into the transition area and met Steve where we again switched the timing chip and he was off. I racked my bike and then got myself dried off a bit and headed over to watch the finish. It's always fun watching people finish! Steve made it back in 12:24 again for the second 2 mile run. Talk about even splits! Not as fast as he had hoped but still pretty good at a 6:12 average. For not doing a whole lot of running lately and no speedwork I think that's solid. They held the tape out for him since we were the first co-ed relay team with a time of 57:52!

Our first relay was a success! In fact we would have been third in the men's relay in terms of our time)! Not bad. Needless to say we were happy with the results. We stuck around to hang out with friends, get a bite to eat and collect our awesome award plaques. It was a great race again this year. Mickey does a fantastic job with the event. It draws a lot of strong local competition and it's just a fun atmosphere. We'll definitely be back again next year. Either for the relay or individually. TBD.

Special thanks to Rev3 Triathlon for the awesome new kit! And also to Swiftwick, who makes the world's best socks, Pearl Izumi who made our Rev3 kits and supplied the awesome Pro Aero jacket I wore, which  kept me dry through the race as well as the comfy and light tri bike shoes. Finally thanks to PowerBar for the pre and post race hat and race fuel. I used the PowerBar Perform for the race and use it for much of my training. It tastes good and keeps me going without any GI issues, which we all know is important!!!

Making Lemonade: Crosstraining and Working on my Bike Skills!

Loving the Bike:

My motto for this last week has been when life gives you lemons make lemonade! Although I can't run and I miss running, I am doing my best to move ahead towards my season goals. I had a fantastic week on the bike! We had excellent weather so I had to take advantage of it! Steve and I rode 130 miles: 24 Monday, quick 15 Wednesday, 20 on Friday, 50 on Saturday and 22 on Sunday. We did some of our usual routes and rode the soon-to-be new route for our new home in Concord. More hills over there for sure, which is good! I am getting much better at taking turns in the aerobars too. Also good! I LOVE my new Kestrel! It is such a smooth ride. Oh one more thing, Steve got me an aero drink setup too so that was nice to have in these higher temps.

Crosstraining: 

I also did core Tuesday morning and the eliptical trainer on Sunday for an hour. Steve, being the wonderful husband that he is, knows how much I miss running so he bought us a new eliptical. It set us back about a grand but we both figured we will use it to crosstrain when hurt and also the kids can use it. I used it again this morning and it feels kindof similar to running if you don't use the arm bars. The only difference is the lack of picking your feet up and thus the impact. Either way, it feels so good to sweat and feel like I'm running in a way! I plan to use the eliptical 2-3 days a week to help maintain my running fitness. I hear from others that this makes a difference in getting back to the run more quickly. Hoping this is true for me.

Swimming Like a Fish:

Unfortunately CSU rec center had closed down the whole facility for a week to clean. Cleaning is good but not having a pool to swim in is not. I was able to get in one swim at Lifetime Fitness since I still have a flex membership there and I did 2000m last night at CSU since they're open again. I LOVE the CSU pool right now because it is setup for long course. 50m lanes so 1 lap = 100m. This makes it easier for me and Steve as we like the longer lanes. I felt strong last couple of swims. I may do my first open water swim this weekend at Headlands or Fairport. I hear the water in Lake Erie is around 55 degree. Brrrr! Glad I have a new Blueseventy full wetsuit to try out. May need to grab a neoprene cap and booties though.

Other Fun Updates:

My Team Rev3 racing kit and training kit arrived yesterday! They look so cool! A huge thanks to Rev3 and Pearl Izumi for this awesome looking/fitting gear! I am EVEN more excited to race now. Just need the foot to heal. It's getting there.

After talking with Steve we decided to switch the Twinsburg Duathlon to the relay option. Steve will be running (which is good since he's a little faster than me) and I'll be biking! Yay! I can't wait to race my new bike. She's been good to me so far and I am excited to see what I can do with the new bike and wheels! Twinsburg is a tough bike course albeit short so I am hoping I can finish in around 30 minutes. We will see. The next race planned is Geneva Tri the week after. I may not be running or in running race shape yet at that point. My plan is to see how it goes and if the run is not there I will just race the swim and bike. It will at least give me some good race practice!

As I mentioned earlier we're in the process of buying a new home. We found our dream house and now we just have to get through the next 3-4 weeks of closing/moving and manage to kick butt at training too and fit in a couple races and do fun stuff with the kids and work full-time. No big deal, right?! Okay so I will leave you with these words of wisdom this week! When all else fails stay calm and do a triathlon!

Stress Reaction and Roadmap to Recovery

The Test: Did Not Pass!

After a very painful test run last week following the ART therapy, I decided it was time to see my Ortho doctor at Cleveland Clinic. The run was just a 2.5 mile test run to see if I'd be able to compete in the Nordonia Duathlon last weekend. I knew after the test that running was not going to be in my best interest. Within the first few steps, I felt that all too familiar initial twinge of pain that said "this is not going to go well". I moved along anyways as I had to see what my body could handle. Around 1.5 miles my foot was really hurting so I stopped to strech it and started up again telling myself that it was just one more mile. By mile 2.5 my foot was throbbing and burning. When I stopped to walk it was clear something was really off. I immediately soaked the foot in a bucket of ice and took some ibuprofen. Not a fun experience. Was I ready to run in Saturday's race twice? Not so much.

The Ortho Visit and MRI:

I was able to get in Monday to see Dr. Jones and he was concerned that I could have a stress fracture as was I. He ordered an MRI. Wednesday I went in for the procedure. If you haven't had the joy of an MRI yet let me describe what it's like. I also found a picture as well. To have your foot examined in an MRI, you lie flat on your back with your affected foot inside of a sort-of cast like area. The MRI tech provides you with headphones in an effort to try to drown out some of the disruptive noises of the machine's imaging process. They take a number of pictures of the affected area via image scan. Each scan takes anywhere from 1-4 minutes and makes some sort of alarming sound. It's really quite shocking. Since this was my second MRI, I was not quite as shocked as I was the first time.

It took approximately 40 minutes for them to take about 10 pictures. I received a disk with the images of my left foot. They look like the image here.

The Results:


Being the inquisitive person that I am I opened all of the MRI images on the CD that CCF had given me. Then of course I googled images of various stress fractures trying to figure out what was going on with my foot. I was hoping to hear from Dr. Jones yesterday since the results were in but I was unable to reach him until this morning. The results show that I have "stress reaction" in my left heel. So not a stress fracture but on the cusp of being a stress fracture.

The Treatment (Roadmap to Recovery): 

Dr. Jones said I do not need to be in a boot or take any specific amount of time off as with a stress fracture. Although I am to avoid running for at least 2-4 weeks until my foot is pain-free. I am allowed to bike, swim, pool run and use the eliptical as long as these are done pain free.

I will be seeing a running specialist to assess my running gait, shoes, etc to figure out what's going on. With this being the second season of injuring this heel in the same foot there must be an issue with something. One thing I can say is that I went minimal with my shoes both seasons. Aside from that I am not sure what else could be a factor. I am looking forward to learning and correcting whatever issues I have and getting back to being a strong runner again. Because running is my favorite and best sport of the three (although the bike is nipping at its heels - no pun intended) I am anxious to get back to good. Like that old saying when life gives you lemons make lemonade. I intend to do that with this injury.

The Schedule:

Last week I sat out of Nordonia Duathlon, I will be sitting out of Cleveland Marathon this weekend (which saddens me greatly) but I will be cheering for my husband and countless friends running! The Twinsburg Duathlon will now be a relay for Steve and myself. He will run and I will bike. So I am excited about that in a few weeks. I also had signed up for the Geneva Tri a week after. Right now the plan is to participate in the swim and bike and abort the run. This will at least allow me to get some tri race experience in June. I will likely not be able to run the Mentor Flag Day race either, which is also a bummer. I am shooting to be back on track by Milton Man and hope to compete in either the sprint or oly there. I will also plan to do fairport. I think I will be on schedule for Rev3 Dells 70.3.

Ups, Downs, Injuries and Introspections

It's been a tumultuous season for me. I'm starting to think that spring is just a bad season for me. I tend to be injured every year around this time. Maybe that's my body's way of trying to say something like "woman you are getting old". Just kidding. I don't feel old. I feel good and just need to deal with these injuries as they arise, accept the downtime and stay positive.

Yesterday I went to Solon Wellness Center to see Dr. Keyes' associate as recommended by Coach Sean. Talk about pain! The doctor did some serious work on my left foot, which has been aggravated for almost three weeks now. Think foam roller x 10. Deeply pushing with fingers and thumbs along my foot tendons and ligaments and along the shin and calves. Ouch! There were quite a few people around so I didn't want to scream or cry but I was close a few times and settled for biting on my shirt. I guess this is called Active Release Therapy (ART) and the doctor says within 3-4 sessions I should be better.

What does this mean with all my races approaching - including tomorrow's duathlon? It means I will be testing the foot out this evening on a run. First attempted run in almost a week. Doc says to take some ibuprofen in advance. I plan to do this easily. No fast running to relieve this bottled up stress but slow and steady just to see if the foot will hold up tomorrow. The race is not too long. It's a 2.5 mile run, 10 mile bike and 2.5 mile run. I am most concerned about run #2. So I will decide this evening if I am participating in the race or spectating and cheering for my husband and friends that will be racing.

As for Cleveland, which was originally to be a full marathon and changed to the half marathon, I have to wait and see. I have a second Dr. appointment with ART scheduled for next Thursday with a test run that night or following day to see how the foot is coming along. Running 13 miles with an injury can be rough and just sounds like a sufferfest to me. I certainly don't feel ready to set a new PR to say the least. My husband is very supportive and says if I am able to run he will run it with me for fun as a training run. That actually sounds like it could be a fun little adventure if my foot behaves. Otherwise I have some options: 1) switch to 10K, which would be easier on the foot 2) run some and or walk the half and 3) spectate AGAIN this year as I did last year with the fracture.

I have done a lot of thinking this season about who I am as an athlete, what I want, where I am right now and where I want to be in the years to come. So maybe this setback was needed for me to dig deeply into myself and consider these things. Being type A, I have this natural tendency to be competitive with myself as well as others. Many athletes have this attribute. In some ways it is good because it is a driver for continuous improvement and accomplishment. In other ways it is destructive because we hold ourselves to such high standards, sometimes lose the joy of the sport or push ourselves too hard. And let's face it, there is almost always someone that is faster than we are or else better suited to some particular race.

Let me get to the point here. I am at my best when I am sprinting. Some people hate 5Ks. I love them. I also love distance but I am not as fast at long races and my body tends to decline after a certain point - generally anything over the half distance. So I am considering all of this for next season already. I set a goal this year to complete my first full ironman distance race. And I am not backing out of that goal. It may be difficult, painful and a pain in the ass to meet that goal but I will do it. And I will enjoy doing a couple of 70.3 races, olympic and sprint triathlons and other races too. Even if I am not as fast at the long course triathlons I will enjoy the experiences and it will make me tougher mentally and physically. The picture I shared here is an Asian symbol for strength and I absolutely love the quote. It very much describes the mindset that an endurance athlete or aspiring endurance athlete must have to be successful.

Not a Very Good Training Week

This week is not turning out to be one of my better training weeks. I am having some issues with my left outside ankle (seems like a mild to moderate case of tendonitis). So I am resting it. With races the next two weekends back to back that is not good. Hoping to attempt a test run Saturday or Sunday. If that does not go well I will shut it down until the race May 12 and again maybe until May 20. Hopefully I just get back to it quickly.

In addition, I just feel bloated and crappy this week in general (tired, achy and have headaches). I've been battling this all season so far. It's weird. I felt terrific before my wedding while on the paleo diet but I cannot be on a paleo diet during Ironman training. I need energy to fuel those workouts. Cardio without carbs is like powering a car without gas. It just doesn't happen. After a little research this week my husband and I think I could have a gluten allergy. We are going to experiment with a gluten-free diet for the next 2-4 weeks and see how we feel. I am hoping this does the trick for me. Stay tuned in future weeks for an update on the gluten-free experiment.