You can't put the icing on until you build the cake!!

I have plenty of cake (base) now I need the icing (speed)! I don't have much time...but I need to get my speed back for National's next month. I can't give up any time between now and then but I do want to race...so I will be racing pretty tired for the next few weeks. I'm planning to head up to Vermont tonight to race Fairlee Olympic tomorrow. I'm not expecting much...just using it for training.  I do want to try my best to win the fastest transition contest. Jet Blue is giving away free r/t airfare and I could maybe use it for Vegas!! 

Going to Vegas!!

Well I did it!!  Thanks to all who said I could and especially to those who said I couldn't!  Six weeks after breaking my collarbone I did what I had been training for... I qualified for Worlds 70.3 in Las Vegas.  It certainly wasn't my best performance but I'll take it.   The swim was non wetsuit legal which was good for me. It still hurts my collarbone to get the wetsuit on and off and I swim relatively well without it. My swim wasn't stellar by any stretch but all things considered, it wasn't too bad.  I was 11th out of the water.  The one thing I absolutely couldn't do was swim after the injury.  I just started swimming easy last week to make sure I still could.
I loved the challenging bike course (except for the last few miles!! How many double railroad tracks were there?? At least 3 or 4?) ....Just wish my chain didn't fall off at the top of every hill!!  Ughhh!  I looked at the file at estimate I lost more than 4 min... but who knows because my heart rate also recovered over 30 beats, which helped me, so I can't really say for sure how much time I would have gained if the chain didn't drop. I managed to move up to 5th off the bike. 
The run....well that just plain sucked!!  I saw that hill and the cramps set in just looking at it. I started walking about one mile in and I swear for about two minutes I was going to drop out. I took some pickle juice and then shortly after that I started running again.  Things got a little better but not much. I took sips of pickle juice in anticipation of every hill and every slight incline. It kept the cramps just under enough control to allow me to finish the race...still in 5th place. Like I said...... I'll take it!!

That did not just happen!!

That did not just happen...those are the words that ran through my mind as I lay in the street with pain in my shoulder. I jumped up and thought if I can just pop my shoulder back in I will be fine. I quickly realized that my shoulder was not dislocated.  I could feel my collarbone sticking out and it hurt like hell to move my neck in any direction. I wish I had a horrific bike crash tale to tell but the truth is I just tripped while running.  I was only a mile or so from home. On the walk home I got extremely dizzy and sick and almost passed out but luckily I made it home still standing. I'll spare you the long drawn out version of the story.. I went straight to the ER and bottom line is my clavicle is broken..one look at the x-ray and you can see that wasn't too hard to diagnose. The next day I took a trip to the orthopedic doc where he confirmed the fracture and offered surgery.... I declined.  He didn't push the surgery he basically said it was pretty much a toss up on weather it was worth it or not. If I let it heal naturally there's a chance of a non union and a chance the shoulder will always bother me but there was also a good chance it will be just fine. On the other hand the surgery will make it heal quicker but there will always be this large metal plate that shows and your skin may occasionally get caught on the screws and then there is also a risk of infection. Hmmmm... what to do?   That decision took all of a few seconds....I'll take my chances and see how it heals. The clavicle is the most frequent bone in the human body to brake.  It's seems to me in this day of modern medicine we should have a better way to fix it. It seems like some sort of super glue with a little dowel to hold it in place would work much better than some 6 inch plate!!
The prognosis.....If it heals well it will be fine in 6 weeks and until then don't do much. But doc I have a 1/2 Ironman in 6 weeks...His reply..."Yes, you'll probably be good  by then"  Doctors never understand!!...What about my training until then?  "No you probably shouldn't do much until then.  Ok...good luck...oh and no work until you come back and see me in 6 weeks."  No work, no training!!  What will I do?  My life went from 100 mph to 5 mph. One positive thing ...I'll get to spend some quality time with the family.

2010 Season Wrap - Up (Very old news)

Life is so busy!! This is so late I don't know where to begin. I guess I'll start by suming up the end of my season.

Aug 28/29: The weekend after my disapointing race at Timberman 70.3 was the Cranberry Sprint and the Cranberry Olympic. I really wasn't sure how It would go, being one week after my first 70.3 and then doing a sprint and olympic back to back.
I knew I would finish but I didn't know how fast I would be. The sprint went surprising well and as soon as I crossed the finish line I signed up for the Olympic for a chance to win "Queen of Cranberry" (lowest combined time of both races). The next day I felt stronger than ever and had a PR Olympic run time and was able to take home the "Crown".
Great weekend....local race with lots of family and friends....... Soooo fun!

Sept 5th: The next weekend I raced the Mayflower Sprint. The race was postponed one day due to large swells from an off shore hurricane. Again, I had a great race feeling stronger than the previous week and took 1st female overall. With almost six weeks of tapering I would have thought my "Peak" should have been winding down but I felt as if it was just beginning.

Sept 12th: Do I have it in me to do one more 70.3? I was feeling strong physically. Mentally though, I wasn't sure I could do it. Could I really do another half iron? I hadn't planned it and I hadn't run long in weeks or even rode longer than an hour. My head was saying..."You've lost so much fitness". Can I even run 13.1 miles? But a little voice was was nagging me. All that training for what? .... A dissapointing race that I'm not happy about. No....no way. I decided to do Firmman 1/2 IM in Narragansett.
I drove all the way down the day before to sign-up (3 hours roundtrip). I got there...and missed the sign-up! They said just get here at 5 am and you can sign-up then. Oh.... sure I'll get up at 3 am. No problem!
The next morning when that alarm went off....I said f that I'm not going! Then that little nagging voice.... your season will not feel complete. You will never forgive yourself. Get your ass up! So I dragged myself out of bed and headed out.
I decided that the race didn't really matter. I didn't know anybody at the race. No one I knew was watching and no one I knew was participating. I felt no pressure. No one really even knew I was doing it.
I didn't have much of a race plan other than to go faster than my previous half and hoped the experience I gained there would guide me. I decided to go off feel and not be a slave to the power meter. If I blow up after the bike then so be it. I'll walk the run. I practically had to walk the last run anyway. I rode the bike exactly how I felt I should ride it. I didn't care what the watts said. I occasioanlly glanced at it but didn't back off much. I passed several girls on the bike but really had no idea what my place was. I got off the bike and was pleased with my time as it was several minutes faster than previous. The spectators told me a was in 3rd place and 2nd place was just a few minutes ahead. 3rd place... wow. Will I hold it together for the run? Did I ride too hard? I'll soon find out. I put 8 oz of pickle juice in my pocket (per my coach's advice) and off I went.
One mile into the run....cramps all over!! Ok...time to try the pickle juice. Will it make me sick? A few sips.... nothing!! This crap doesn't work. Fast foward 20 seconds... wait no more cramps!! Wow!! Ok maybe David isn't so crazy. About 7 miles into the run I can start to make out a girl in front of me. Is there time to catch her? Slowly and I mean ever soooo slowly she starts to get closer and closer. At mile 11 and after several bouts of cramps and pickle juice ingestion I catch her. We run neck and neck up the last hill and then I was able to pull away for a 2nd place finish.
I crossed the finish line in 4:54 (23 min faster than Timberman). I was thrilled!! My season was now complete and I was so happy!

Next Post: My "Off Season"