Peterborough Half Iron - FINISHER!!!



Half Ironman = MENTAL!!  LOL

 


 

May 29th I injured my IT band in my half marathon.  I was just stretching it out and rolling it on my own trying to heal it but the few times I ran proved that it was not getting any better.  So two and 1/2 weeks ago I decided to seek professional help.  I was seeing a physiotherapist and a chiropractor.  The physio guy did a run analysis to show areas I needed to strengthen and in time would help with the IT band.  I also have slightly contorted legs, my heals slightly pronate and I am slightly bow-legged too! .... Oh, and my right hip is sit about an inch further forward then my left (probably from child bearing... damn kids  jk  ;)  )   Yes, I am a freak!  lol  Nothing that halts my running but something to keep in mind and to make sure I am strong in the areas I need to be (namely my gluteus maximus).  I also had 5 acupuncture treatments to help with the inflammation.  The chiro guy specialized in A.R.T. (active release therapy) and I seen him twice. 

R&R at Sandy Beach

About a week prior to my race I went for a short 5km run and it was the most pain I have been in.  My IT band tightened up so bad that I could hardly walk... I wanted to cry.  I was running with our Road Rebels running coach at the time and he stop and massaged it out for me.  THANK GOD!  It was awful.  After this run I was so scared that my race would be compromised.  I was not about to quit though.... NO WAY!!  I would walk the whole run if I had to.  I was not about to concede defeat before I even tried!  I am waaayyy stronger then that...not to mention I have a high pain tolerance! 

So Friday after work, John, Dylan, Tyler and I headed up to our friends, Brian and Renu, cottage in Peterborough.  Renu was our hostess for the weekend.  Our oldest son, Blake, could not make it as he had to work.  We arrived about 10pm.  We unpacked, visited with Renu for a while, then went to bed. 

Saturday we were up at 7:30 for breakfast and then drove to Sandy Beach for a swim and some r&r.  At this point I could still feel my IT band pain when walking down or up hills.... or when John tried to wrestle with me in the water....  I yelled.. "my knee, my knee" and he let go.  I think he was trying to sabotage my race!  LOL  The rest of the day consisted of normal cottage activity and trying to keep my mind off the race..it was working until it was time for bed!  The feeling of worry was starting to overwhelm me.

Sunday we were up at 5:30 and out the door at 6:10ish.  It was about a 40min drive into town and race start was 8am.

When we arrived I put my bike in transition  and went through the normal motions ( body marking, timing chip pick up, ect. ect.)  My boys were with me the whole time and John went to help out a friend for a bit as it was her first sprint triathlon that day. 

SWIM 2km


John giving me some last minute advice  :)



This was my first ever mass swim start and I was a little nervous.  402 participants in a mass start.   Ummm, I hope this ends well for me!  I don't know if I was more worried on my own or because John was hugging me so tight all the time.  I think he may have been more nervous!  ;)

I heard the gun and we were off.  You can walk in quite a ways before it gets deep so I took advantage of it.  While swimming out the the first buoy there was this guy that DID NOT know how to sight.  He kept criss crossing right in front of me.  Really buddy, pick your damn head up and look!  It was really annoying but I kept my cool and tried to avoid the collision.  On our second loop I am not sure if it was the same guy but was at a point that I was getting angry.  I put my hand on his head and was going to shove him but didn't.  ( I am too nice).   As I was on the last stretch of my swim a guy in front of my kicked my fingers..  OUCH..  It felt like they were broken.  I checked them out and they did not look deformed so full steam ahead.  Swim time - 48:25, 2:26/100m pace

BIKE - 90km
I got on my bike and it was already insanely hot out.  I seen my boys and John and off I went.  The course was A LOT harder then I anticipated.  The hills for me were long climbs so I could not carry as much momentum them from the downhill.  It was all hills.  John said after that I did not have the proper gearing so that did not help.  Oh well, it will just make my legs stronger right!    At about 15km in had to go pee.  I did not want to stop, this was going to be a painful ride!  Oh no!  :(    I tried to go on my bike sooo many times but I just couldn't do it.  When I wanted to try there were people behind me and I didn't want them to see peeing.    I guess I need to practice!  hehe 
I had some tremendous pain in the bottom of my left foot.  I had to unclip from the pedal quite a few times to shake it out.  Sometimes I could not even put my foot back in the pedal because the pain was burning so bad.  I will have to figure out what that is all about!? 
I was pretty slow on the bike.  By the time I was on the road leading to transition the runners were everywhere.  I am going to need to do some serious speed/hill work over the winter for IMMT next year.

Bike time - 3:44, 24.1 km/h

RUN - 21km

I ran out of transition.... yes, ran....with no pain..... yippeee!!   But then seen a port-o-potty so ran in there!  RELIEF!!  lol


BIG high fives and all the chalk was for me!  Love my family!



Once back on the run course I was feeling pretty good.  My pace was slower but did not want to push my IT band limits so did 10 and 1's for the first half of the run.  After that I think I was running 5 min walking 1 min.  This is was working out perfect as the uphills were during my walks.  The clouds also rolled in while on my run.  THANK YOU Mother Nature!   I knew I was cutting it close for time and when I was at the 18km mark I seen John standing there at a feed station waiting for me.  :)  He was getting worried so ran out to meet me.  I wanted to stop and kiss him but just wanted to finish the race so I can sit down!  At this point my quads started tightening up too.  I think I could even feel all the micro tears as they were happening.  It was a strange feeling. 

As I was approaching the finishers chute, the people that were in their cars already leaving were all clapping and cheering out their windows. It was awesome!  Then right at the finishers chute Renu ran beside me for a couple of seconds cheering saying "go Fran go, you did it!", I almost cried.  All the people that were still there cheering was fantastic.  I loved it!  My first half iron triathlon was a success.  After I received my finishers medal, John ran around to meet me and gave me the most amazing hug and said how proud he was.  I kissed my boys who waited all day for me and then we walked to the water where I could cool off.
Run time - 2:42, 7:44 min/km pace.  -- run needs work but with an injury I am happy with this!!!

I think I was bang on with my nutrition..  I ate one Lara bar and 4 gels on the bike.  I wanted to eat more but with all those hills made it difficult.  On the run I had 2 gels and drank half a Gatorade and water at each feed station.

All in all, this was a great accomplishment.  I am happy I was able to finish considering I had not been properly training for the last 5 weeks!  I am tough like that!  LOL  :)

Time - 7:20:14, place AG 16/16, Overall 353/402

Woodstock triathlon - June 12th, 2011

Going into this race I was worried about my IT band as it's still causing some pain.  I tried not to think about it!  

Two of our sons as well as my Mom and sister came out to support John and I for this race!  :)  My sister is a hardcore cheerleader!  :)  Loved it!

Dylan and Tyler with their clappers!  :)



Almost back to transition.



Swim complete!

My swim: was strong I think.  I started in the last wave and caught up to some of the people in the second wave!  During my swim I was in awe regarding how aggressive some of the girls can be.  I was swimming along and I knew I was close to another swimmer but I am comfortable with this.... but obviously she was not because before I knew it she stopped and shoved me!  That's right, the b!tch shoved me!!!  Is this normal??    I just let it go and carried on my merry way!  lol

The bike: was freaking cold!  I wanted to put on my arm warmer and had them in my transition but John said after is warm up that I wouldn't need them.  Boy was I cursing him!  The headwind was enough to slow my pace considerably.  The only thing that helped me was knowing when I get to that turn-around I would fly back!  And I did.  Sweet! 

Running up a hill out of transition.

The dreaded run: was PAINFUL..  but I sucked it up and ran the whole damn thing in pain.  I found myself really limping afterwards.  Not good as my Half Ironman is only a month away at this point.  I think it is time to seek professional help!  Foam roller is failing me.

I finished last in my age category so I was pretty sad about it.

750M Swim/30km Bike/7.6km Run

Time 2:18  11/11AG    158/181 Overall.

Finished - Doing the happy dance.

John tried to help me feel better by saying I am not training for short distance races (interval training).  It made me feel better but if that is the case why did he place 4th in his age category and he is not training for short races!?  It's all good though.  He is an incredible athlete and much more competitive then I am.  I just do it for the sake of doing it (and to tell people about it!) as well as staying in shape (somewhat).  HEHE

Toronto Women's Half Marathon: May 29, 2011 - Race Report

Ok, I am a little late posting my race experience but better late then never, right?  Where do I start?  I am not one for fluffing things up.  I just mostly say how it is and that's about it.  So knowing that, this race report will probably be on the short side... as most of my posts are!  :)

About 3km into the Race- Am I done yet?

This is my first half marathon...  first ever running only race actually.  I was sooooo  soooooo nervous the couple of days leading up to the race that I was in the bathroom ALOT.  I think I lost about 2 pounds!  lol   Race morning we were up at 4, I ate my blueberry mini-wheat's and a banana, then were out the door.  We offered to pick up a friend in Toronto, Renu Bourne, as this was her first half marathon as well.  Once we got I checked out my race kit she picked up for me, put on my bib number and headed to Sunnybrook Park where the race was being held.  We parked and walked about a block to the park.  As were were walking my stomach started gurgling again..   Oh no!!!    

I warmed up with Renu.  I made her do some high knees, butt kicks and these horsey trot things (I'm not sure what they are called)  John got video of us.  It is pretty funny! 



Firefighter calendar boys!



Race start - some deep breathing and we are off.  The butterflies lasted for 2kms.  The race course was three out and backs but the course was changed a bit because of flooding so there were some turn arounds added to each of the three out and backs.  I did not like this at all.  Now you have to slow down that much more!  My first 10km I had done in an hour..... after that I slowed down and my last 5km were really tough, more mental toughness I think!  At the 18km mark the bottom of my left foot had some pain and my legs were starting to feel heavy.  There were some nice pick-me-up features in this race. 1) The Toronto Fire-fighter calender boys were on the course handing our water to us.  We passed them three time and the last time passing by was most pleasant.....  They had their shirts off.  :)    2) At the 20km mark they had a chocolate station were they handed out Cadbury chocolate bars.  I took one but did not want to eat it at that time and decided I did not want to hold it either so I threw out out at the next water station.  As I was reaching the finisher shoot I can hear all the people cheering so I picked up my pace...  as much as I could, which was not alot.  I was so glad that it would be over but it seemed like the moment was in slow motion.  It took forever to get to that finish line!  At last, I finished in 2:15:59 chip time.  Average pace 6:27.  AG place 117/209, Overall 531/1116.



The race course was not closed to the public John ran the course to get in his long run.  He started running about 30min before the race started.  This way he could take pics of me throughout the race.  I was soooo happy to see him.  It makes me smile when he is there cheering for me.  After the race we spent the afternoon at Renu's house with her husband and kids. We ordered some pizza and enjoyed the sun that finally decided to come out.  My IT band started getting tight as we were sitting there and as of today I am still trying to loosen it. 

Approx 7km to go.  My legs are starting to feel heavy!

LOL  ;)

I ran twice since the race and can get about 5-6km in but then my IT band will instantly get tight.  I have a rolling pin at work to roll it out and have the foam roller (pool noodle) at home.  Gawd that hurts.  There are some BIG knots in there!  I have a triathlon this Sunday so I hope it is better by then!! 

We are done.  YES! 

It's working

Last week was a great training week.  I clocked almost 11 housr of training and it felt amazing. 
Swim - 4km
Bike - 140kms (6hrs)
Run - 27kms (2:50hrs)

I mentioned in my last post about my non-existent weight loss and that I was going to start counting calories.  Well, I gave Fitday.com another chance and good news....  they must have done some upgrading because it is pretty quick to upload your foods/activities.   I lost about two pounds.  I am so happy!  It really helps to see what you are eating and to be accountable for the calories/fat/carbs you put into your body.  I am going to continue to track my food intake and hope that the pounds keep coming off!  :) 

My bike on Saturday was cut short as my son had his first soccer practice at 1pm and did not get done until 3pm.  When I got home I brought my bike outside and then my tube stem just exploded.   So now I had to change my first flat on the new bike with no help as John was already on his 145km+ ride.  I changed it with ease.  :)  Now the time was almost 4pm and that left me with little time to do my whole 90km route.  I could have tried but did not want to chance losing daylight if something mechanical were to happen. On my way back home I seen a familiar face.  John came back to met me and we rode home together.  That added another 30kms for him - total 180kms.  He is a machine!!  :)

I will not be able to run with the Road Rebels on Tuesdays now as my sons soccer games are Tuesday evenings.  Now my Tuesdays are non-stop busy.  I get up make John breakfast and lunch, make myself lunch, go to work from 8-4, come home and immediately run 8km, then eat supper (when I say eat I mean inhale), drive Tyler to soccer for 6:15 (game is done at 8pm), then go to the pool for 8:20 and swim for 50min or 2kms, relax in the sauna for about 15min, shower, then go home.  When we are home I usually have to make John a snack them I am ready for bed.  Are you tired yet?  lol

April Totals

April has been more successful then last month.. I could have done better but I took a week off to let my shin splint heal.  I also should be doing something on the Mondays. I think I am just lazy!  May will be a better month.  I am making a promise to myself!  As well, I think I really need to control my calorie intake as I have not lost any weight.  I said in the beginning that it was not about weight loss but who was I kidding.  I want to see some pounds shed, damn it.  ;)   I don't think I eat bad at all but I find myself eating/snaking on anything/everything while I am making supper and then I sit down to eat supper too.  I need to stop snacking like this!  :(  I was using a calorie tracker, Fitday.com, but it takes so long to upload the info.  I have no patience so I stopped.  Maybe I'll give it another try. 
Yesterdays run was a rainy one.  I didn't make it out for the early morning Road Rebels group run as we were out late at a friends house watching UFC..  Go GSP!!    So we ran in the afternoon after it started to rain.  I took my two sons with me as I do not want to run alone (there has been some women attacked on the trails).  They rode their bikes while I ran.  We were all soaked.  Good quality family time!  hehe
Bike - 12:20hrs (249 kms)
Run - 13:30hrs (113kms)
Swim - 4:20hrs
Core - 1hr

Shin splint

Ok, I may have pushed myself a little the last couple of weeks and now I am paying the price.

Two weeks ago the weekend weather was so nice and considering the loooonnnggg  winter I was desperate to get out for a real bike ride. I have not been on the trainer in a month and half and decided to go out for a 95 km ride by myself on Saturday as Mr. LOTC was out for his solo century ride.  I rode to my brothers, then to my parents and back home.  This was a tough ride.  There was a headwind all the way to my brother..  uuggh! Riding to my parents I thought about asking them to drive me home, but I didn't.  I would have hated myself if I cheated. 



Bike route to my brothers

Then on Sunday the weather was iffy at best.  While eating breakfast it was snowing, then raining, then snowing.  Hmmmm, this was going to be a very interesting run.  When we got to the meeting spot for the Road Rebels group there were only three of us that showed up.    Of course I could not keep up with John and the other runner so they ran together and left me in the dust.  I ran the 16kms all by myself and with longer run/walk times then normal.  I ran for 20min and walk for 2.  I usually will do 10 and 1's for my long slows.  The good news is that the snow and rain stopped and held off for the whole run..... Sweet!  I didn't notice my shins too much at that point but my legs were spent for the 7kms runs on the Tuesday and Thursday. The following Sunday I ran 18.5kms and that is what did me in as the group threw in hills.  Right,,,, I have not even worked on hills this year. Plus, they ran a faster pace then I am comfortable with!!  I couldn't even walk up the stairs without some strong discomfort. So last Tuesday was my last run and decided that it was time for some much needed to rest and healing as my half marathon that is only 31 days away. Wait, what...   OMG... that crept up fast!!!  AAGGHHHH.  I am not ready....  hee hee whooooo  (labour breathing...  LOL  ;) )
I ran last night for the first time in a week and the pain is still slightly there.  Once I got going I hardly notice it.  I will take it easy and swim tonight and run again tomorrow. 

This Saturday the forecast looks great so I hope to get out for another 90km ride.  Dear Mother Nature, please be kind and let it be warm and not windy..... we've had enough wind.... REALLY!  :)

So far, so good

I am still suffering from my respiratory infection but it is getting better so I decided to try some short 20min cardio/core (Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred) videos last Thursday.  The result was that I was sucking wind 5 minutes in.  Someone had jumped up and sat on my chest again..... but I pushed through and finished the workout.  When I woke up the next day, OMG, my legs were so sore (squats and lunges galore).  So I decided I was going to torture myself some more and did the video again.  Sufferfest! lol

Hiked to Dundas Valley peak with our boys - January

On Saturday, John was going out for a long 4 hour rail trail mountain bike ride so I decided that I was going to go out as well and enjoy the beautiful day with our boys.  They got their bikes out of the shed, pumped up the tires, lubed the chains and made sure the gears were working ect.....then we were off for our own 2 hour rail trail ride which ended up to be about 30 kms.  Again, with my infection/cold I was coughing up a lung but I endured.  It was fun to be out together but I don't think my youngest enjoys the sport much.  His bum hurts!  hehehe

Yesterday, our running group was scheduled for a 16 km long slow run.  I was hesitant to join as I knew my lungs were about to burst and I have not ran anything over 10km on my long weekend runs and during the weekdays I would run anywhere from 5km to 8km.  But I decided to go anyways and John said if I need to walk more then usual or at slower pace then so be it.  As long as I get the kilometers in right!  In the end it was NOT an enjoyable run, not that I was expecting anything other then just that.  I used about 20 Kleenex's to blow my nose, my lungs were telling me to slow down and I did.  By the end I think I was running 8 and 2s, maybe less.  LOL   My muscles were a bit tender from adding this much distance but nothing out of the ordinary or worrisome. 

Tonight I went to the pool with John and I swam 2000m.  I was worried about how I would feel in the water with my breathing but surprisingly enough it was not too bad.  All in all, not a bad couple of days.  Hope I can stay on this wagon and enjoy the ride!  :-)