Adrenaline Junkie By Day

This post could be considered old news but hey better late than never.

Witnessing the highly trained kinetics of the worlds best athletes in Beijing have been exciting at best. Their exhibition of strength and stamina at Olympic feats is always unbelievable. But no matter where you live, there is always a local scene, attempting similar feats, that are far more inspiring than the genetic, best-of seen in HD on the TV.

For example, Ava and I witnessed first hand a different side of Mama. A side that hides behind a kind and loving face. A side that has been chiseled to a state of readiness thanks to months of high-intensity training. A side that exploded into action during the Jordanelle Triathlon. A side that may make a man question his own masculine integrity.

Though we didn't follow Mare on all her events, I did position Ava at the transition station and the finish line. These viewpoints were strategic, I thought, in cheering her on and to boost morale, which they were, but by doing so I never thought I would expose Ava to scenes that by film standards could be considered PG-13. Broken, battered bodies, bleeding and suffering passed by us by the dozens. Several met their accidental tragedy mere feet from Ava's front row seat! Unfazed, she would mutter the occasional and indifferent "ooooh, bike fall down", or "run FASTER" as she nonchalantly laid further back in her stroller and sipped her juice.

Great, I thought, as visions of a mother-daughter adrenaline junkie team, leaving dad in the dust, raced through my mind. I guess I better get my running shoes on.

Fantastic job, Babe!

I am a Triathlete

Jordanelle Sprint Triathlon, August 23, 2008

Training miles spent on the bike since April: 324
Training hours spent in the pool since February: about 42
Days spent sick directly preceding race day: 7
Doses of Zicam taken in a desperate attempt to get well: at least 30
Large fleshy things encountered in the water determined not to be human: 1
Kicks perpetrated upon my person in the water: about 10
Kicks to the ribs sufficient to knock the air out: 1
Proportion of the swim that I actually swam front crawl: ½
Change in confidence while swimming in a wetsuit versus without: +50%
Lifeboats dispatched for my assistance: 0
Number of serious bike wipeouts witnessed firsthand: 2
Increase in mph pace during bike race versus training sessions: 2
Decrease in mph pace during foot race versus training sessions: 0.85
Ounces of water I drank after race with no pee to show for it: 136
Hours spent in the pool since race day: 0

I have, of course, been meaning to write about the event for which so much of my time and energy have been sucked away. I decided that writing a blog is similar to keeping a scrapbook. I get so behind in documenting things that I avoid doing it because of the pile of things left unsaid and the escalating guilt. But I really do want to talk about my race so here I am.

The night before the race Ava slept over at Grandma’s and I cried at the thought of spending my first night ever away from her. Jon and I drove up into the mountains just east of Jordanelle and slept in the back of the VW bus. Well actually I just lay in my sleeping bag in the back of the bus all night. But at least I got to the race on time, leisurely set up my gear, and had plenty of time to sit and enjoy the effects of my stomach turning flips.

Race day was beautiful, sunny, and not too hot. The water temp was around 60 degrees and the swim felt like one big collective thrashing. After exiting the water and feeling like I was just beaten with a club, getting on the bike was like relaxing in a lazy boy. The bike route was absolutely beautiful and I breezed through the 14 miles. By the time I started running, I had nothing left to give due to being sick all week but shuffled through and finished in a respectable timeframe. I know if I had been feeling strong and well at the start I could’ve raced much faster but honestly I was just happy to be there taking part. This race was only the beginning.

Thanks to Jon, Mom, and my sisters for willingly taking Ava for many of my training sessions. Thanks to Ava for making a simple bargain with me: enduring training runs in the stroller and yelling out “faster, mama!” in exchange for a simple cup of M&Ms. And thanks to you who simply cared and supported my goal; for your phone calls, emails, and shouts from the sidelines.

On Drowning and Muddling

I’m innocently reading my Harper’s magazine the other day and I come across this little excerpt from an article about a couple who search for drowning victims.

“Drowning, it turns out, is not difficult. Once someone falls overboard, especially if the water is cold, he gasps for air, the way one gasps when a shower runs suddenly cold. He inhales water, then coughs and inhales more water. From Dr. Jeff Kalina, at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, I know that one inhaled breath is sufficient to cause drowning. The integrity of the small pockets in the lungs through which oxygen is absorbed depends on a coating called surfactant. When water dissolves the surfactant, the pockets collapse, and oxygen can no longer be absorbed.
Drowning can also be initiated by a response called laryngospasm. When the larynx detects water entering the lungs, it closes, leaving a swimmer unable to breathe. Two tablespoons of water could stimulate laryngospasm.”

ACK! Two tablespoons! I’m pretty sure there’s more water than that in Jordanelle Reservoir. I promise you, I do not search out this information but apparently it’s still finding its way into my consciousness.

On a related note, my training has been going really well the last month. I’ve actually made the time to train six days a week and feel like I’m slowly getting stronger, especially in the pool. And then WHAM, I got sick last week: Intestinal distress and a fever and chills and all. Was this because I’ve been training too much? Because my diet hasn’t been absolutely sugar and junk free? I can’t begin to tell you how frustrated I am right now. So last week I only got in two workouts and this week so far at least I got onto the bike and into the pool. But I feel really tired and my arms and legs fell like lead. At least I've learned my lesson (knock on wood) about my diet. Help me, internet world! How can I be ready for this race and not kill myself in the process?

I've always been very talented

ambigaguous (am-bi-gag’-yu-wus) adj. Able to choke on pool water regardless of which side you are breathing on

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes… Well, more like head, elbow, knees and knees and a bunch of bruises

So, how is my triathlon training going, you ask? Ugh, life just seems to get in the way. Jon had to spend four days in Moab for a work conference at the end of March so before he left I thought I’d get in as many workouts as I could. Well, I did, including a 5:45 a.m. spinning class after a hard run the previous evening and sleeping a total of two hours that night. Then I was at the pool at 6 a.m. the next morning still very sleep deprived. Needless to say, it was a bit much on my body and I ended up fighting off a cold and feeling like complete crap for almost a week later. And then the crappiness culminated in the worst migraine I’ve suffered in the past two years, including the requisite puking. Anyway, onward and upward since then.… well mostly.

I’ve also been suffering severe knee pain during my runs for the past few months and finally decided I should get it checked out. In the past when my knees started to hurt, I knew it was time for a new pair of running shoes. But Jon bought me a great new pair for Christmas and the pain still wasn’t going away. I stereotypically followed the pattern that most other injured runners do: 1. Ignore the injury and run through it, 2. Quit running for a while and pray that it will go away, 3. Attempt self-treatment, then 4. Seek medical help. So here I am, almost finished with three weeks of physical therapy for patella-femoral syndrome, which is really just a polite way to say that my genetically defective knees, plus an imbalance in quad strength versus cardiovascular strength, equals one gimpy runner. I always knew this before but now I live religiously by it… strength, flexibility, and cross-training and lots and lots of ice.

Since I’ve had to take my knees out of the action during therapy I have been swimming with a floater between my legs and pulling with just my upper body. I was actually fine with this because I could focus more on my stroke for a while. But being the klutz I am, I wasn’t used to how off-balance I felt at the end of the lap and I smacked my elbow into the concrete… yup, it’s still sore a couple weeks later.

THEN, last week I got the green light to do some biking. So I hungrily installed my new clipless pedals, which Jon gave me for our anniversary, onto my freshly-tuned bike and slipped into the accompanying shiny bike shoes. Of course I knew I needed to practice clipping in and out so I did a few turns on the lawn and then cautiously headed down the street with only one foot clipped in. I slowed down to practice clipping that foot out but the other foot had stealthily clipped in. So yes, I took the obligatory “Buck Bybee” tumble into the pavement with the bike still attached to my body. Everyone has to do it once while learning to clip out, so my turn’s done now, right? RIGHT?? At least I didn’t land on my knee.

Despite all this, I actually am getting in some good training time and really learning (maybe the hard way) how to balance everything. But apparently I need all the help I can get.

We're In!

This morning I officially registered for the Jordanelle Sprint Triathlon! There's nothing like a deadline to get the motivational juices flowing. So if you want to see me drown in Jordanelle Reservoir come on up the morning of August 23, 2008.

Now I just have to stop eating cookies for lunch.

The Tip the Coach Forgot

For my triathlon training plans, I signed up for a triathlete swimming clinic. The clinic is 6 sessions, taught every other saturday morning by a private swim coach with 30 years experience. I took swim lessons as a kid but have never had much interest in swimming. Consequently, I could basically keep myself afloat but didn't even know how to swim a proper lap. Ergo, part of the challenge appeal of competing in a triathlon. Luckily, most of the people in the clinic are in my same boat (har, har); they are athletic and therefore familiar with pushing their bodies' limits but swimming is just an anomaly. So far the clinic's been really great and I feel even more confident after the first two sessions than I thought possible.

After the last session, I came home and jotted down some of the drills and pointers the coach told me to work on and left the notebook out on the table. A few days later I dug it out to review and found some advice my coach had neglected to share...