First – End of the Season:

As mentioned in my last post, I managed to injure myself which has taken running off the table for me for a bit. So, with this in mind, an advisement to drop all my races for the remainder of the season from my coach, and a green light from the doctor I was seeing… I raced my last race of the season and have now benched myself so I can rest and repair my poor legs.

My final race of the season was the Lake George Triathlon – which is now going to be on a future race schedule – it was SO beautiful – the swim, the bike and the run course were all fabulous. However, attempting to race with my injury was NOT so fabulous. Which means, I want to go back in the future to race this one again and see what I could really do!

The goal for the LG Tri was to have fun and not to further injure myself. Actually, my coach said if I raced it I was only to do an aquabike and then DNF (i.e. drop out before the run). And to my credit, I kept that as a viable option all day, and almost did drop out after the bike. The morning of the race, I could tell my legs really were not ready to be racing, which made me really nervous. Mostly out of fear of further injury that would sideline my race season for next year.… however, when I warmed up for the swim, I was excited – the water was warm, no waves in sight, and so CLEAR – you could see the seaweed and fish swimming around! Made me realize how gross our lakes in CNY really are.

Anyhow, for the race I had a stronger swim, but made the wrong choice by not starting in the front of the pack. Spent the first length of the course fighting for clear water. Not sure what I was thinking. It was also tough because the waves were somewhat close together and I quickly caught up with a few of the slower men from the prior wave near the first buoy.

After the swim, I came out of the water- heard my mom cheer for me, grabbed the bike and off I went! The first part of the course is a little hill and I took it easy since I knew if I hammered down my calves would cramp and seize up if I was not careful. Once I got onto the bike path, it was time to rock and roll. Since I really didn’t think I would be running I decided to see what I could do on the bike. This strategy worked on the flats and the down hills. Unfortunately I had to throttle back on the hill climbing toward the end of the course – I could feel my calf muscles starting to protest and I wanted to make sure I could at least finish the bike portion of the race.

As I came into T2, I heard my mom cheer again for me and went to rack the bike. Moment of truth time, I stood there for a second to decide if I was going to put on my sneakers and go or if I was going to actually DNF. If you know me, you already know what I chose – I threw my sneakers on but made myself promise to take it SLOW. I hadn’t run in 10 days and wasn’t sure if I could even do this. (Crazy to think that just 14 days prior I had run 17 miles without any issues.) About 1/2 mile in I had a shooting pain in my calf. No bueno. I immediately stopped, stretched and walked a little. I also started to watch all the people that I had passed on the bike start to pass me – not a fun feeling, especially due to my competitive nature… you really never do know what is going on with your fellow racers on race day.

Not wanting to head down the hill and back into the crowd, I told myself I would just try to get to mile 1 and then make my decision if I would continue or if I would drop out. At a very slow pace I made it to the turn and discovered the run turned onto a trail and went cross country for a bit (YAY soft ground!) at the 1 mile mark things were feeling alright – it was slow going, but alright – so I decided to go for mile #2. At mile 1.5, I made the decision that I was going to finish this first loop and then end my race, I could tell my legs were not happy and this was a poor decision on my part. After some more stretching, I focused on keeping my 9:45-10:00/mi pace and getting back to the village… then as I was coming down into the crowd, I realized my legs had loosened up and I was feeling good – my pace even dropped down to a 9:00 mile – fast for the day. Due to this, I decided I was going to finish this thing.

In fact, everything went pretty well and I made it all the way back around the loop without issue until mile 5.5. Then my race was over. Everything seized up and I was walking and hobbling my way down the hill and toward the finish line. As I crossed the finish line, I had a mix of emotions – I realized I really should not have raced, it’s just not as fun when you know that you’re not able to put forth your best effort, but on the other hand, I was a bit amazed that I was able to finish. Also, since I have not raced an Olympic distance since 2010, I also managed to set a new PR for the distance by 5 minutes despite my injury and crappy run. Finish time was 2 hours, 45 minutes. Good for a 5th place finish for my AG of 32 women. Really not too shabby of a showing despite everything that was going on with my legs.

So that’s that – the end of my racing season. The marathon entry has officially been deferred until 2015 by the race director.

The start of a season:

You may be confused of why I am talking about the start of a season when I just finished saying I was done. Well, it’s now the start of my rest and rehab season. My coach has me on minimal workouts of swimming, biking and pool running (definitely NOT my favorite). I’m going to a different doctor next week for my legs to make sure that I do not have a serious case of compartmental syndrome and that I can just rehab this injury through working with my team’s PT (it’s good to have coaches tied into medial professions…).

Along with the start of my rest and rehab season – I’m adventuring into different activities that have been hanging out on the back burner or my bucket list. I’ve been meeting up with friends and going kayaking, hiking, boating, rock climbing, and caving the past few weekends – and I’m currently in the midst of planning some more adventures for this coming weekend! (It involves both welcoming autumn and bikes, what could be better?!)

Overall, having my season cut short was disappointing, but it is also a blessing. I’m pumped to do some different things for a bit, and hopefully let my body rest and simultaneously strengthen for next season. PLUS it’s given me the opportunity to spend some time with some pretty amazing people – something I might have missed out on if I was focusing on prepping for the marathon still.

Weekly Workouts//  

Week 1

• Monday – Day off
• Tuesday – Missed bike workout due to injury
• Wednesday – 45 Minute OWS – in the pouring rain!
• Thursday – 15 Mile Easy Bike – trying to see what the calf can or cannot do…
• Friday – Missed pre-race workout
• Saturday – Lake George Oly Tri
• Sunday – Cancelled run workout due to injury… (no running for the next few weeks) – kayaked instead!

Week 2

• Monday – 20 Minutes Pool Running – if you think lap swimming is boring… you haven’t seen anything until you do some pool running.
• Tuesday – Missed bike workout
• Wednesday – Missed swim and pool running workout
• Thursday – Commuted to work via bike instead of scheduled workout
• Friday – 2500 yard swim
• Saturday AM – 20 Mile easy bike
• Saturday PM – Rock climbing and caving – getting out of my comfort zone!
• Sunday – 2400 yard swim

Photo Recap//

Last OWS before my final tri of the season. Yes, it’s 6 am, pitch black and pouring. We’re crazy. Yes. Love Kid President.
My plant has taken on a life of its own. Look how crazy it’s getting!
Dogs love Kale… or love any “treat” that comes their way…

Um, amazing. Sunset bike ride. #purebliss
So many sunsets as the summer comes to a close. Been loving every one!

Quote from the Dr. “Feel free to race, it’s just going to hurt…” – really wish he hadn’t given me the green light.

We all know what that meant. (Despite really knowing I shouldn’t… and being told not to by KRoe… double no.) 

Sunrise over Lake George!

Lake George Triathlon – Oly Distance – Should have left the sneakers home since I really shouldn’t have been running… really ended up not being a lot of fun due to (1) the pain, and (2) watching the people I had passed on the bike come back and get me while I carefully, slowly, made my way through the run…. and yet, still came in 5/32 in my AG – I surprise myself sometimes.

However, this was the official end of the season for me – my marathon bib has been deferred until 2015 and I’m now in PT to fix myself before starting up training for next year! 

Boating on Labor Day. She cracks me up!

(And, also can catch minnows with her bare hands. That’s pure, raw, talent!)

Training schedule with no running. Ugh.

Hope this recovery goes well and get’s me back on track!

Love these two – so good at begging to go out…

Fall craft time – more time due to less training = more time for other activities!      

Enjoying every last drop of summer. Finally commuted on my bike to work!

Hope to do it again before the weather turns…

Pumpkin seeping into my life – pumpkin cupcake at work! 

What you focus on you achieve. This has always held true in my life. 

Friday Puppy Fun. 

No bones, no parsnips. The truth is best.

The Sagamore. Bolton Landing, NY.

Lake George – Weekend #2 – Awesome day.

Sunflowers. 

Super Moon!