Pins and Needles (Literally and Figuratively)

I guess I should pay attention to my training partner's oh-so-subtle nudge and write an update on the never ending knee saga. My apologies for a lengthy post!

March 13th has come and gone and I'm still not training. Yet. On Tuesday, March 10th, I got a call from Ken, telling me he and Dr. Teter (Graston) think I should forgo Ironman this year. That my knee is still too painful and they don't want me to end up permanently injured. I get it. They're looking out for my best interests. But for me it's not enough.

Ironman is the symbol of the lifestyle I want to live - pain-free, able to challenge myself, to achieve goals I set, and enjoy being active. It is my motivation to get healthy. To deal with all the bad news and keep coming back for more; never being satisfied with a "we don't know" answer.

With the help of a lot of great people - Barbara, the KCOI assistant who got me in early; Tim, who kept me company in a freezing room for 2 hours watching me as "radioactive girl" get a bone scan; Dr. Rasmussen, who recognized that telling me to find another hobby wasn't an option; Trish, for always being ready with support or a joke; Sheryl, who provided great guidance on who/what to listen to - I've received even more advice and feedback than I thought possible (you'd think everyone would be tapped by now!) and have made a decision.

My ITB syndrome is much better than it was, thanks to Graston. The pain on the inside of my knee is not attributed to an MCL tear. The bone scan spot on the top outside of my tibia, while it may have been a fracture at one point, looks to be almost healed. All of those things, while painful, are not sport-ending. Independently, Dr. Rasmussen, Dr. Teter and Dr. Albright have all said that while the pain of Ironman training might be more than I can take, training itself will not cause permanent injury.

So the choices are:

1. Train for IMOO 2009 knowing that, if I am able to manage the pain, it will mean taking most if not all of 2010 off (Dr. Rasmussen made it clear that "off" means no swimming, biking, running, lifting - even crutches are a possibility, if it comes to that).
2. Give up Ironman this year, do all the recommended rest and therapy, and hope it works so I can train for an Ironman in late 2010.

My choice is made. I start IMOO 2009 training on April 1 with the pain management of acupuncture and chiropractic, a supportive training partner, and a very patient boyfriend willing to coach me. It might might not work, and it will more than likely hurt (a lot), but I have to try. If it works, I'll cross the finish line on September 13 an Ironman. If it doesn't work, at least I'll know I gave it all I had. And really, isn't that what Ironman is about - discovering how much you have to give and how deep you can dig?

Bike test

So this morning I had 30 minutes of pain. 30 minutes of agony. 30 minutes all out on my bike. Trying to get my heart rate as high as I could get it to go. If you've never done this before, its hard. And it sucks. And it seems like its never going to end.

But then, it does. And you get a second to breathe and realize just how bad your legs BURN!!

Luckily I had Derick and Chelsea there to distract me thru the worst of it. Egging me on... telling me how I'd better push it if I want to make it up Old Sauk Pass... how I better spin fast or I'm not going to make the bike cut-off... I better suck it up so Chels isn't too far ahead of me and I can beat her on the run.

The weird part is that my max heart rate was a lot lower than it was last year. It used to be that my AT was 155 on the bike, 165 on the run. Today I found out that its 147 on the bike. I wonder if that has something to do with my breathing problems? Or am I in better shape? Not sure what it means, but I'm sure it means something.

And guess what? I get to do it all again tomorrow on the track.

I just hope the freak snowstorm they're warning of stays away!

T-Pace Test

Chels and I did our T-pace test in the pool this morning. 200 warm up, 1000 swim for time and then a cool down. To get your t-pace, you average your 100s during the long swim. I averaged 2:03. Not great, but not bad considering how long I've been swimming (just over a year). And I wasn't too surprised at my time since thats about what I usually average. Of course, Chelsea kicked my butt. No surprise there either. But hopefully, she'll get on and update everyone on her training status since she just may have news to share!

Training Update

Well, breathing has been much better. Thank goodness. Last week was an awesome week of training! I owned my workouts and it felt great to get all the time and mileage in.

I had the most amazing run of my life on Weds. I've never been so consistent thru a run before. I was on a runners high for a few days even. Hell, I get a little bit of that high now when I think about it!

This weekend I did a tough but awesome 45 mile ride with the best chiropractor in KC and on Sunday, ran 8 miles at Shawnee Mission Park. I did 7 of them with Pete and the last mile pretty much all out on my own. Then Derick and I met his dad for some quality time at the dog park while the boys got to swim and be dogs. It was a great weekend.

This week I have heart rate testing. Weds I do my swim test; Thurs, bike; and Fri, run. These are basically all out efforts for 30 minutes, trying to get my heart rate as high as it will go. Luckily the rest of the week is pretty easy so I should be able to suffer thru.

On Saturday, I'll be out at the Olathe Marathon running the Girls on the Run booth and trying to raise money for my Ironman fundraiser. If you're out there, be sure to stop by!

Sweat Equity

I'm really starting to put it in. Last night on the bike, I got sweatier than I have in a while. Well, I take that back. Running in 83 degrees in Dallas last Friday, I got REALLY sweaty. I love the heat. Hopefully it will be in KC for good soon.

Luckily breathing has been going OK. I'm hoping that will continue. I've been trying to really get at it this week. Healthy eating and getting in all my workouts as dictated by Ken.

Tonight, I do BIA testing with Sheryl. News to come...

A much-needed update

So I've been a big slacker on the blog side of things. Life has gotten a little crazy. Here's a little update for the IMOO side of life.

My Health
Yikes. This is the main reason I haven't been posting. I haven't been doing a ton of training, because I've been seeing tons of doctors trying to figure out why I can't breathe when I exercise. And I still have no real news. I have no blood clots, it's not asthma, and my heart is just fine. Yesterday I did an exercise echocardiogram - basically a sonogram of my heart. And I came out as a finely tuned athlete, with wonderful heart function. My lung function is also great. I do have mild asthma, but the doctors don't think that is what is causing my trouble. When I spoke to the pulmonologist this morning, he cleared me to push myself as hard as I can in my training. He told me to stop taking all asthma meds, and to listen to music as I train. A way to sort of trick my mind into not hearing my breathing, thereby making it better. So, we'll see how it goes. I touch base with the doc in a few weeks to report how training is going. It better be going well!

My Fundraiser
I've committed to raising $10,000 for Girls on the Run as I train for Ironman Wisconsin. If you enjoy "Adventure to IMOO" I hope you'll make a donation to this amazing organization! To donate, simply click here. Not only do I thank you for your support - but so do all the girls who are learning about healthy lifestyles, self-esteem, and the importance of exercise!

My Training Partner
Chelsea is going to start training with me soon! We are already swimming together, and in about a week we get to start biking and running. This is much needed for me, as she will push me to do what I need to do to be ready for this race!

My Race Calendar
Upcoming races include:
St Patricks Day Race in Westport - Should I do this one? Or just go to the KCM party??
Brew to Brew
Lawrence Half Marathon
Trolley Run - Still undecided on this one
Heritage Park Tri/Du - Also still undecided
Kansas City Triathlon
Ironman Kansas 70.3
Crew at Ironman CDA where Tim will race

My Man
Derick and I took vacation to Colorado and SE Utah. It was a great trip. If you've never been to Moab - GO! This was one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been!

Believe in the Run

Nike has a new promotion: "Running never takes more than it gives back. Believe in the run."

It's time for me to start believing in the run. For those of you who haven't heard yet, I've been cleared to start my Ironman training March 13! Which is great... except for my fear that once I start training, the pain will return and I'll be right back where I started. Yes, I know the power of positive thinking. And it's one thing to hear that... it's another thing to believe it. However, while I might not be the biggest proponent of Nike over other athletic gear providers, I can absolutely believe in the truth of this new promotion.


"Running never takes more than it gives back..." Running essentially took my entertainment, my stress outlet, and my health to a lower point than it's ever been. But, I believe there's a reason for that. The time off, the worry, the rehab will all give me more drive, more motivation, and more mental toughness - all things I need to train for and cross the finish line of Ironman Wisconsin. In that way, running might not just give back the amount it took. I can't speak from experience, yet, but I imagine crossing the finish line of your first Ironman is an unequalled experience - one running will help me achieve.

Quad conundrum

Ouch.

Stupid lunges and thrusters and wall ball at Fit Pit.

My poor quads are so tight!

Combine Fit Pit with a tough spin session yesterday and hoo-boy! Stairs are not my friend today. I'm also not getting along too well with crouching down and getting up out of my desk chair. Sitting still and I have never been on better terms though!

But I must remember that beautiful sound I want to hear on Sept. 13th. That will make all this pain very very worthwhile!!

Like a sinking ship

That's how I felt in the pool this morning.

It was such a let down from an AWESOME swim this weekend. Saturday afternoon after my 8 mile run, I swam 2500m with Chelsea and it felt great. We did 50m sprints at the end and got down to a rediculously fast 42 second 50. It was awesome. I was so winded and exhausted, but I felt so aerodynamic, svelte, like a bullet in water. I've never been that proud of myself in the pool before. That feeling even carried over for a few days.

Until this morning. Masters swim. Ugh. I didn't even want to get out of bed. But I knew a swim would make me less sore from my butt-kicking yesterday at Fit Pit. That's the only thing that got me there. Once I was up and at 'em, I felt better. Until I started to actually swim.

I felt heavy and sluggish. Ugh. Not fun. But I figured once I warmed up, things would improve. Not so much. I know that everyone else, even the slowest of the rest in the class are leaps and bounds ahead of me. They've all been swimming a lot longer, which entitles them to be that much better than me. But holy cow, I am one slow swimmer. Normally, I'm cool with being the tortoise to everyone else's hare. Today though, it sucked.

A 50 seemed like a 1000. My heart rate was way up and so my breathing sucked. (Luckily, I do think the Flovent is helping me deal with the whole asthma issue, so that's good.) I swam 150 in the time it took the others to do 300 or 400. Talk about blow to the ego from the weekend. Sheesh.

Hopefully I'll feel better tonight on the bike.

Hoppin' Uphill

Getting up this morning was tough. But I did it. After hitting snooze several times. I made it to Fit Pit and remembered how sore my legs were. Combine that with my fight with stupid asthma the past week or so and I had to do a different workout. Luckily everyone there is super supportive and accomodating. So after some push ups, pull ups, upright rows and overhead presses, I did a couple supermans and some sit ups.

A busy day at work ended a little early, so I was able to get in my run workout before a 5pm meeting. Gage had escaped the backyard again, so I figured he needed the exercise. We ran a few laps around the park and then Gage sat nicely while I sprinted downhill and hopped uphill. And battled my stupid lungs. We did another couple laps at the park and Gage got a little jealous of a chubby beagle who had caught a squirrel. So while he turned green, I talked to the beagle's owner. He seemed nice enough, working to train his dog to be more social and behave, but I could tell he had no Dog Whisperer skills. I was my normal friendly self, even though he seemed to me a little odd. He asked to introduce himself. And then he asked me out for a nice, casual date. I have never been so thankful to have the boyfriend excuse readily available!! It was a great copout! What can I say... I'm a heartbreaker!

Great day to run

So after our FRIGID days here in the not so distant past, I really enjoyed the gorgeous weather here in KC today. Even though I wanted to be a bum and lay on the couch - I forced myself to lace up and head out to Shawnee Mission Park for my 7 mile training run.

I took both Pete and Gage, and illegally let them run off leash while Derick and I ran the paved trails to the east of the lake. We took the trail north past Shawnee Mission Parkway. I turned back at Mile 3.5 and he continued on.

Running back with just Pete, I noticed how calm and beautiful the park is. I found myself hoping that my house would be just around the corner of the trail, hidden behind the trees. Maybe I should think about a more scenic location to call home one of these days...

All in all, the run felt great. I did struggle a bit to breathe on those hills. They are STEEP! But otherwise, my legs still felt great. They had a few more mile in them. I'm sure Pete would have loved that. I'm still pretty shocked at how well both the dogs did off-leash out there. They stayed close and behaved themselves. If you know my dog, you know that's an impressive feat. And Bomper of course found a couple squirrels to chase up trees, but he didn't venture off either. He was a surprisingly good listener.

Saturday moning I headed down to Velvet Creme for a little indoor spin with fellow triathletes. Riding inside is just SO different than actually being out there. Luckily Preston was his full self, so I was entertained the whole time. I also got my new Garmin Cadence Counter all set up, purchased through KC Triathletes' World Multisport. New gadgets make everything much more exciting!

My training plan this week has more 2 a days scheduled, but nothing too bad. Should be able to K.O. everything without too much difficulty! IMOO here I come!

This has nothing to do with IMOO, but....

So my brother Ryan went to help out at my nephew Ian's preschool class today (Catholic school too). They are learning about winter and made snowmen. Mr. Bradley the PE teacher, who is really young, was in helping too and was at the same table as Ryan and Ian when Ryan looking at the snowman said "Oh wow your snowman has some hair." Ian says (dead serious) "No Dad, it's a nest for his penis." Mr. Bradley bit his lip and had to leave the room he was laughing so hard and well Ryan just says "Hmm, nice." And then he proceeded to say that it's not appropriate to talk like that in public.

I'm still laughing!

Legacy

Today was pretty intense. I attended a funeral of a wonderful YOUNG woman who battled human's great enemy known as cancer for the past 10 months. She was a good friend to my brother, and though I originally attended to support him, I left feeling like she would have wanted me there.

Funerals always have a way of helping you put things in perspective, but this one hit me in a special way. I am lucky that I have not attended many in my life. I haven't struggled much with the loss of someone close to me. Her service made me especially grateful for that. It also made me start thinking about how I'm living my life. I think that was one message she particularly wanted to get out there. Hers is a message of hope and of life and of love.

They told a story about how she deliberately but somewhat subconsciously would reach out to those a few steps outside of the group to make them feel welcome and at ease. I think this is a great way to be remembered. It made me wonder, "How will people remember me?"

The service was at the biggest church in town, which easily seats 3,000 people. You walk in and think you might have mistakenly entered the Sprint Center. The place was probably half full - which is a complete testament to how wonderful this woman was and how she touched so many lives in so many ways. It made me wonder, "How many lives have and I will I affect for the better?"

The pastor spoke of her courage, her optimism, her hope. How she loved her family and prayed for them in her last days that God would make things easier for them. Her husband's message of continuing her life through our own lives hit me. "You can love your life. You can look at each day as a gift and make the most of it. You can smile more, and frown less. You can Love. " It made me wonder, "How can I adjust my lifestyle in order to create more happiness, more hope and more love?"

I know these thoughts don't directly relate to triathlon or my journey to Ironman, but in a way they do. This is going to be a year of self-discovery, a year of pushing myself to the limits, learning about what makes me tick, and finding the legacy I want to leave. I in no way mean to trivialize the loss of such a great woman and wonderful person, but I think she would be happy to know that she is making a difference even after she's gone. I'll think about her and her battle as I fight the hill on Old Sauk Road in September and ask for a little push and to borrow a bit of her courage.

Iron Year!

Ironman Training has begun!!!

It started with the "Resolution Run" from Muddy's for a little over 4 miles. I was definitely not fueled well for that run, but it was fun and a good start to the year. Many thanks to April and Stacie for keeping me running - and to Pete for dragging me up that horrible hill!

Today at the Fit Pit we had some fun. Girls on the Run came in! But before we had to do the leg matrix (24 squats, 24 lunges, 24 jumping lunges and 24 squat/jumps) and then 100 sit ups, 100 push ups and 100 pull ups. It was a lot of fun to watch the girls and their moms try some of the Fit Pit exercises. And even more fun to watch Sheryl be a food nerd and a health nut. Many thanks to her for being such an inspiration, role model and good sport! :-)

New Years Resolutions to come....

Time to hit it.

It's go time. 9.5 months until Ironman. It's time to rock and roll. Start up the training and get ready to rumble!!

I've enjoyed my time off, probably too much. 10 lbs too much actually. But it has rejuvenated me and made me ready to go. I'm sure there will be several, okay, lots, of posts in the next few months where I bitch and moan about being tired and not wanting to do a workout. But on the inside, I love it. And remind me I said that when it gets really tough.

I'm going to be an IRONMAN!! How cool is that really? And how many people can say that? Plus, I'll be sharing it with so many people that are very important to me. And that makes it even cooler.

The holidays have been super hectic. I've hardly had time for myself, time to relax and be a bum in front of the tv. But I plan to utilize my couch and DVR on my rest days for the next 9 months. Satan (the cat who lives under the couch) will know the sounds of me well.

Just a couple more days of 2008. We'll end it and start 09 with a bang. Looking forward to the party....