Ok, race report

I was really surprised by a LOT of things. This is my first triathlon in 25 years or so and my 2nd ever so I was really pretty much a tri virgin. I was up (without alarm) at 4:15 as the drive back home from package pickup took an hour. I wasn't sure how long it would take us to get there and knew we'd have to park out away from the site and walk in so we left at 5:00 am. Had 2 pancakes (thanks sweetie!) and cawfee for breaky. Had just about pulled up to the parking when I realized I'd forgotten my goggles. I've tried OWS without goggles before and it is pretty much impossible so I was begging in the parking area. No-one had any to spare. I rode my bike to transition and begged there and some Very Prepared (#76) individual had brought a spare pair and seriously saved my life. It turned out that he was in the next bike rack from me - almost neighbors and it was easy to drop the goggles off out of the water.

Looking back I realize now they racked us according to age and I could have taken that opportunity to check out my competition (4). I think there were only 38 women total and 148 that started. Not a bad showing for our area and a first race and super easy to get a 1st, 2nd or 3rd with the deepest category (femenil) with 8 and most with 4. So super easy to place in your AG. I setup transition as best I could (taking example from those around me) and then Pike and I headed out to the beach. I'd already scoped out the funky swim the day before so I just tried to warm up a bit and then waited. Finally we were off and I was glad I'd gotten in to warm up as when I'd gotten in to warm up the cold of the water had taken my breath away. At the last minute (literally) they put all the womens in the same wave (I was at the very back as we were supposed to have our own wave (the green hats) and I scrambled to get the goggles to fit and we were off. I just kept trying to keep swimmers in sight as the visibility was absolutley ZERO. I don't know what they have up there at Tres Rios but is isn't the clear water we have here in PaaMul. At any rate I was swimming hard - over the breakers through the chop, to the bouy and then running over the sandbar to the laguna to go up river. EVERYONE was bitching about the river afterwards. I'd swum up through the yellows, greens, blues and blacks and was battling all the black caps in the river along with manglar roots (at one point I had to stop swimming and just pull myself out of them) and at one point almost lost my goggles - had them smacked off my head and I had to retrieve them. I thought we were relatively close to the finish of the swim so I didn't bother to put them back on but at a body jam (where you literally could not move) I put them back on. Coming out of the swim one of my steps went round and round - perfect finish to that swim. Oh, and did I mention we were going AGAINST the current? Can't wait to do it again. :) I was working HARD on the swim though and was breathing every stroke - it's a sprint, right?

Transition was a fracaso. I need to practice that. Sand everywhere, lots of bikes still on racks (I was 3 minutes slower than the fastest female) and it looks like I was 5th female out of the water (out of 38 total). That is surprising to me as I felt completely underprepared for swimming. It was at this point that I really missed a water bottle but the fresh water of the river was nice to "clean up" with.

Bike was uphill to the carretera and then 3 laps on the carretera and then back down and 250 m before and after running with the bike. I HAMMERED the bike. At first I let a couple guys pass me but then I latched onto the wheel of one guy and then traded him for a faster guy on the 2nd loop and the 1st guy and I held his wheel until the last half of the 3rd loop. I honestly thought I'd have to let go of the guy's wheel - my HR was mid to high 150s the whole time, I was working hard and starting to loose it on the last half of the last loop. I held on though and on the 2nd bike run (250 m) realized my leg and I had a problem. I was pretty sure I was still 1st in my AG (and I was) and just wanted to try and hang on for the win. The leg got worse and worse and when I was passed I just couldn't limp fast enough to keep up (and eventually, as with my plan) to pass her and she ended up finishing a minute ahead of me. Our (old) age group beat the entire 40-45 AG and much of the previous. We were 17 and 18 out of 38 so we beat half the field (all younger than us). Can't complain about that.

During the bike I wasn't sure I'd want to do this again, but now I can't wait to do another. Just have to figure out the leg issues. I also need to remember to bring goggles and a waterbottle. Oh and start my watch. Well, maybe WEAR a watch! :)

Sad and happy

I killed the swim, I killed the bike but me lastime on the run. Coming off the bike I could feel my calf in a knot and I was surprised it lasted the entire 5K. Lost to 1st place in my categoria just before the finish (12 seconds?) as I was heavily limping and unable to push any harder.

Results

It is so quaint...

A lot of people, when they first move here, will remark in the "quaintness" of Mexico, how things are just done Differently and isn't that cute and all. After a few years here we started using "isn't that quaint" to mean "aren't we fucked". So I paid my moneys and I got my reciept and I knew that today was supposed to be package pickup for the triatlon tomorrow. Except the receipt says nothing except pesos paid and the web site is just an advertisement. But I'm used to this in the land of quaintness so I started googling and finally on a site completely unrelated to the triatlon, I found TONS of info. Package pickup is today from 2pm to 5pm (which means I'll get there around 5) and body marking is today (we can't do it OURSELVES?) and while drafting is allowed, no MIXED drafting is allowed. HUH? So no females with males. If I'm going to draft it is going to have to be off another female. Hmmm...

So I've been doing recovery this week and while it was Really Hard at first to dial the intensity meter down, by today I started thinking I'll never remember how to hammer or go hard again. And while I got 3 swims in last week I was totally unable to do any hypoxic sets (3.5.7) unlike before. So I'm starting to have grave doubts as to tomorrow's race. I was really thinking I could actually race it (funny as it will be my FIRST tri, full of myself, yes I am) and now I'm thinking maybe I'm living in the land of quaintness.

At any rate I'll find out early tomorrow or freeze to death trying. We got hit with a norte yesterday and it was FREEZING this am for the bike. I can't imagine being WET and doing the bike. If I don't die of frozeness tomorrow it will be from exploding swelled head or from the quaintness.

Didja know the 20km bike has THREE LOOPS? And the 5km run has TWO? Now THAT is quaint. :) I'm not sure but I think that either we will swim from the sea up a laguna and river or will be running a fair amount from the swim to the bike. SO quaint.

Double oh, I was down 2 kg last week but the legs were dead so I increased my food intake and plopped on another kilo. Sigh. Was hoping for less rolls of fat tomorrow. Now I totally need to rethink my wardrobe choices for jiggle AND frozeness. Sigh.

Coming out of the closet

So I finally came out to my husband and it did not go well at all. He found the entire idea completely laughable and pooh-poohed the idea I would attempt it. This was coming off a week of doubt and discouragement as I compared current speed and ability with November. Well, even June. I talked to him a couple days later (on our 90km ride) and he confessed that he was so flabbergasted at the idea and knew HE wouldn't be able to do it, he couldn't imagine anyone doing it. Even though MANY do. But he totally does support me. I did know it all along because the man has a mouth/brain with absolutely NO filter whatsoever. Normally I don't let stuff like that get to me because he is really very Homeresque in his talk, but it had been a tough week for me mentally. Physically I'm great. Runs are increasing at 5% weekly, bike has been over 200km/wk for the past 3 weeks and we're just going to ignore the swim portion. The sea has been wicked rough, then the sea lice came to visit (baby jellies which sure do sound cute but give you a 2-week rash) and that put a stop to most swimming. This week I was supposed to concentrate on swimming but the baby jellies came to town so next week, PROMISE must be a swim day every day before I forget how it works.

Next weekend I lose my trivirginity with my first tri in 25+ years, and as such, I'm reinstating tri-virginity and calling it my 1st triatlon. It is a sprint and I have no idea what I'll be doing but I will be having fun (unless I'm battling sea lice or puking). Pike is going to come with me and I'm going to make this a recovery week. Except I really can't imagine DECREASING workouts when I've been on a mission to INCREASE since November. "They" say it is a good thing though, but it sure will be weird. Another reason to push the swim next week. :) I'll run as usual and just decrease the bike (though that might kill me). Jamie and I did a new long ride - down to Tulum and back - some 90km and it only took 3.5 hours (ouch, yes we were on couches for the ride and took 3 stops (pee, pee and store for Poweraid). We have a lot of work to do there. So now we have short (40km), medium (60km - our old "long" ride) and long (90km) rides. I was humbled at the end of the 90km ride to realize I'd only done 1/2 the ironman length. yikes. Very scary. Almost as scary as the snake in the picture. Yes, that is from our Tulum ride and I have more respect for the jungle (looks out the back window at said jungle). Today I saw a dead coral snake but this road kill was so impressive that it took us a bit and then I told Jamie we HAD to turn around and go look at it. It was amazing in a very weird way.

February totals:
Swim 17.5M +
Bike 770km
Run almost 8 hours.

Last pic is Xel-Ha ruins along the medium (60km) ride.

quandry

I got maybe 2 hours sleep last night and then another (maybe 1.5 to 2). I had 40 km bike and 13 min run planned for today. I'm thinking of blowing off the ride and moving my 39 min Friday run to today and doing today's run tomorrow, or I could take the day off. Looking over my calendar my last day off was 2/5 (I only ran 10 min).

Should I do Friday's run today, do today's run and skip bike, HTFU and do both run and bike or take a full day off? (last full day off was Jan 24th - when I was recovering from my hospital stint)...

FEN and me inscribi!

I'm not sure why all the neonatologists use that abbreviation for Feeding and Nutrition, but I hear it all the time. Some use it for Feeding, Electrolytes and Nutrition and that makes perfect sense and it is a huge challenge for me. I figure out finally I need to eat before a bike ride. For some reason I don't bonk, but I have little to nothing left in the tank on the backside (return) of each bike if I don't eat first (and we always ride first thing in the am) so I started experimenting. I found 1/2 a scoop of Cytomax does nothing. I found eating right before exercise is a bad idea. I did, however, find that a bowl of oatmeal (or cereal) 1-2 hours before a ride gives me energy (or at least, I'm not STARVING and dead) on the backside of rides. Which makes the bricked run all the better. I tried yesterday eating too close to the bike and only puked a little bit but was nauseous the whole time. So now I just have to get the electrolytes dialed in. All our water is dead here (purificada) so when we sweat a lot we have to take in some kind of suero to replenish the electrolyte deficiency. Jamie uses Cytomax but my stomach can only handle 1/2 scoop per bottle of that stuff and that is not enough. I am going to experiment with Electrolit (along the idea of pedialyte) and see how that goes.

I FINALLY got signed up for the triatlon! So now I can officially worry. It is only a sprint (750m, 20k, 5k) so it should be a blip on the radar but the weather has been so awful this last week I've only been in the water twice. And I have no idea WHAT to wear. I'd love to just change clothes for each event (swimsuit, bibs and jersey, running shorts) but I think I'd get laughed at for that and the event is so short (just over an hour, I'd guess) it really would be laughable to do all those clothing changes. But I'm horrified at the spectacle of my ass jiggling all over in spandex on the run. Sigh. Yes, these are the important things. :) I'm thinking of using the top in this picture but (and thus the reason for the blurred pic) is that headlights seem to be an issue with this one and I wonder about chafing during the swim.

Today should be medium run and swim day but the sea is still a whirlpool and wind is super high (so you actually get a "current" both ways - wind pushes top water one way and current takes you the other) so I have my doubts. Also Jamie insists I should be taking 1 day completely off everything (and I have my doubts about that also) but he's a cyclist so that probably applies to cycling but I'm not sure about triatlon.

kilometers under the bridge

That was a long week of riding for me, and I feel like such a poser for feeling like that. I see other workouts/weeks that are much harder than mine but all I can do is to continue to plug along. I don't know what happened to swimming this week - Jamie talked me into an extra day of riding and by the 4th day (in a row) my legs were pretty dead but I could also feel added strength that had not been there before - like stressing them with hard days (I had 2 days were I PR'd the turnaround each day) only made them stronger. Weird. I feel like I *should* make up my swim workouts this week but during my run this morning I decided to just do my normal 3 and see if there is time on the weekend for a 4th. So I'm "behind." Who really is keeping count? We're into our windy season too which makes the cycling a challenge. Pic below is from the "long" ride turnaround (59 km RT) and shows the wind (which is a headwind on the returns). Jamie had a challenging week with 2 flats and a broken seat rail.

I had been a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to FINISH the sprint coming up (and finally, last week they got inscripciones so I just need to pick one up now) but my running legs made an appearance last week and I started negative splitting runs again. Nice to find those guys again. I missed them. I've been keeping it super slow - last week was 12-24-36 and this week will be 13-26-39 but the legs are feeling much stronger and I think I'm probably picking up the pace. Running with a purpose instead of just plopping along.

It has been alternately cool and dry (desert dry - hovering between 40-65% humdidity - INSANELY dry) and we're finally getting some warm weather. We had some days where I had for it to warm up to exercise and a couple days I was sleeveless. Must be spring. Mozzies are coming back and the DDT truck has already made an appearance.

Hoping to bring swimming back this week (the water is UGLY though) and keep the cycling strong and keep the running strong. I've also been rolling my legs once a week in the hopes of preventing another tear.

Stats:
Swim: 2487 m
Bike: 212 km, 7 hr 18 min
Run: 2 hr 12 min.

the earth is flat!

because for about a week I fell off the end of it! I think I've exhausted my picture options and can't think of different ones to take so I had no reason to post. My swim partner (my 14yo) had been sick earlier and missed a few swims, but he did go out on one very rough sea day. We've had (actually typical for this time of year) rough seas far too often that make for really squirrley days. First and foremost in my mind is the recent shark attack and when the seas change from crystal clear (normal) to anything non-crystal clear (what I would call murky but the tourists claim is clear) I get super squirrley.

We had a ray on one swim that really drove my son nuts. He HATES those rays. I've seen super giant eagle rays and a baby ray, but this was just a normal either manta or sting ray and we saw him on 3 or 4 laps. He was just swimming (flying) around and I'd always see the long tail first. These days with these old eyes, I see lots of "tails" that turn out to be simply floaters in my eyes. Yesterday we had a baracudda follow us one lap to the reef (6th of 7) and my son was REALLY freaked at the cudda. I've seen them a number of times before but this one was swimming with his mouth closed and didn't bother me that much. I hate it when they just hang out in the water with their mouths wide open, showing off all those terrible teeth. I make a HUGE detour (even though they supposedly don't bite) and always make sure I'm not wearing anything that sparkles.

So yesterday when we got a calm day in the water (the photo above is from my morning run and it was a little more choppy when we swam but nothing like the huge waves and chop we'd endured the past week) it was absolutely lovely. My shoulder has been bothering me the more mileage I add and I finally figured out it must be an AC separation. However, since it happened decades ago I don't have much hope of 'fixing' it so I guess I just keep the swim mileage down as much as possible while continuing to train.

We never made it to the Operacion Periferico - last weekend Jamie's back was too hurt for the 5 hour drive to Merida and this weekend just doesn't work so it is looking like that will be a bust. I'm also not going to register for the 5K swim on the 26th, but have been patiently waiting for the inscripciones for the triatlon on the 13 of March to arrive. Even though it has been open to inscripciones since beginning March, they just don't have the paperwork here yet. All pictures are from my run route. It is always a crapshoot if the shot will work or not so I just take 3721 pictures and hope for the best.

I've also had my first week where I wasn't chomping at the bit to go out. I'm not sure what I would have done yesterday if my son hadn't come down to drag me away from work and hit the water. I just wasn't looking forward to it. Too many injuries - shoulder for swim and 2 weeks into my BarryP plan I'm waiting for the ax to drop on my calf. I've stopped expecting I will be injury free for the run, but keep hoping.

So, this week by numbers (I'll add in today's workout even though it is early):
Swim 8840 yd.
Bike 180 km 6.5ish hours
Run 107 minutes.

I finally looked at training plans and I think I'm going to loosely combine Trifuel and BT HIM plans and then see what happens after June's HIM.

total bummer, dude

So the ice storm (or whatever) that hit somewhere up north apparently pretty much closed down all consultations at the hospital I work for so Tuesday, Wed and early Thursday were such busts in work volume that I added some more workouts. I did a full triatlon on Wednesday and it really hammered home the realization that maybe I bit off a LOT more than I can chew. I have to keep reminding myself I'm no longer in my 20s or 30s (or even 40s) and can't expect my body to do now what it did then. Then I smack myself upside the haid and tell my self to stuff it.

We were supposed to head to Merida this weekend for Operacion Periferico (80km bike) but Jamie's back seized up last night and he can't even tolerate the 5 hour drive there. Jesse is off school on Monday (signing of the constitution today so holiday is bumped to Monday) and it would have been a great long weekend. Plus there is some athletic event to be watched via satellite (we don't have here) in the middle of North America or something - I'd have to ask the Wisconsin-born husband exactly what it is. :)

I'm really surprised that I'm bummed about missing etapa dos of the ride (they'll have stages 3, 4 and 5 on the weekends to come) but I didn't want to go by myself as I was looking forward to a family weekend and I need a driver so I can work on the drive home. So I'm hoping for next weekend.

January wrap up

I'm very slowly finding local events and adding them to the sidebar and wishing there was a central location for all this. I just today found a swimming event that apparently has been open for a while and the price has jumped $50 after 1-31. Swimming season apparently runs Oct to something here. I've been out of swimming so long I don't even know what it used to be when I was a swimmer in the US. I'm also having a really hard time afiliating myself. FMTRI has a website for afiliacion but it isn't working. The local QRoo contact says it should be working yesterday. The national site doesn't work at all. I asked them for bank info (it is very common here to make a purchase by going to the bank and depositing the price of the item in the holder's account and then sending them the transcription info) and am still waiting. I think I'm going to have to try loading the site on my laptop (and XP versus W7) and see if that does the trick. Meanwhile I'm still pondering the 5K on 2-26 as the incripcion price is $450 now, $100 to FMN as I'm not affiliated (but an aguas abiertas or masters afiliacion would cost $300 anyway) and that is a far cry from the usual under $100 I am used to for 10K runs. Running is definitely cheaper here than swim or tri. Course, Jamie and I are planning an 80km ride this weekend in Merida and that is only $40 so I suppose both bike and run are cheap here. I have to be honest that I'm a little skeered of the bike ride - it is a 5-stage event and I'm worried they'll all be fast pro boys and I'll get left in the dust for 2 hours.

I'm a mess of nerves lately - can't inscribirme, worried about that ride this weekend and most recently we had a shark attack 80km north (Cancun). SO not looking forward to today's swim. Pretty much all we have here are bulls and they are territorial and I'm really hoping they AREN'T temped to head into our bay (though they tend to like shallow water). Now I'm really obsessing.

So, January by the numbers...
Swim 16,380
Bike 231.23
Run 2 hr 45 min
Super low numbers but I do still have that hospital card...
lastly yesterday reached 77.5kg (from 80kg roid weight)

Heading out for my run and since it is only 29C I just can't justify sleeveless. Since all the nortes the warmer weather feels so much warmer than it really is. Should hit 33C today though.

Can someone do me a favor and see if you can get this to load? I cannot select "selecciones" there is nothing to select (and thus I cannot afiliate myself)
FMITRI afiliacion

swimming monday

Today was my longest swim so far and my first foray back into something other than freestyle. Robin posted a "swim meet workout" and I thought it sounded fun. I had to give up after about 2400 yd as the fly was destroying my bad shoulder but the workout sure made the time FLY! I had to rely on Pike to remember how many laps (9) as they were flying by for me. Water should have been calm with the lack of wind but it was medium choppy and a challenge for backstroke. Still an good workout followed by a 20 min run. This was much better than yesterday's run - it always takes me around 1-2 miles to warm up and my legs were just feeling good when I had to stop. To be honest though, my legs are so out of shape that I was READY to stop (after only 20 min. sob!) Picture is of my swim partner, my 14yo. He has a really nice stroke - we just need to work on his breathing. Feels like the last norte is on its way out - warmer today and it was warm enough to run sleeveless and swim sans t-shirt. Hoping we'll get a few more days before the next norte. Actually ran the AC today.

old skool or senile?

After my last post I decided to suck it up and schedule out my runs. I have had 2 years of injury with running - tearing my calf muscle every 3 months like clockwork - and finally decided to do BarryP's 1:2:3 program to try and avoid that. However, I managed to tear one last time, then we had an international trip, then we all got sick (due to airplane air, I'm guessing) and then I ended up in the hospital. So while I ran a week in January, that was my first consistent week since November. And honestly, I'm scared to get excited again just to get injured again. HOWEVER, I do have a plan and I have a trigger point roller (much easier to use than the fire extinguisher I was using before our stock-up trip to the US) so it is time to suck it up and deal.

So I planned running out to May. And I'm excited again. So excited that I'm going to run today BEFORE cycling if I can time it right between work and Jamie waking and temperatures. He hates riding in the heat and it looks like today the last norte (#24?) is leaving us (and we'll finally be able to thaw out a bit). I also scoured the web for local events and FOUND some. This is pretty rare as for running events, we generally get the convocatorias about a week before the event. So that was pretty exciting. I added them to my sidebar so they wouldn't be lost and now I have RACES!

So then I figured I'd look at IM plans. I mean all the cool kids do them and there seem to be a LOT of them out there. But honestly, they are doing Nothing for me. I looked at a few and they are Very Specific (and maybe this will come back to haunt me) but I ride hard when I want to ride hard, I swim hard when I want to and well, running, I'm just trying to stay uninjured. I can't imagine doing the intervals and times and sets and blah. I enjoy riding, I enjoy kicking Jamie's ass (VERY INFREQUENTLY) and I enjoy looking at the fishies and hoping the Big Giant Fish Who Will Not Be Named leaves me alone when I swim. I enjoy increasing the effort and increasing the distance but I'll be damned if I start doing cadence this and one-legged spinning that. Yuck. I'd rather not even train if that is the training. I might really regret this come November, but I've found some earlier races (and even an HIM in June over in Veracruz) so I can see how things stack up. My first (and only) triatlon was an HIM and I did not train more than 1 sport a day and refused to train running. Yeah, WHAT WAS I THINKING? But it was okay (okay, the run SUCKED ASS) but I did it. And I wasn't dead last. I'm only doing Cozumel for myself and I really have no desire for X time or placing - it is the most local race around here and very easy for me to get to. Plus I'm looking forward to challenging myself.

I got out on the run today and 10 minutes about killed me. Jamie and I WORKED the last 2 days on the bike and I'm totally feeling it now. Tomorrow to swim and 20 min run.

This week by numbers:
(did nothing Sun or Mon)
Swim: 5440yd (around 2 hr)
Bike: 160km (5:20 hr)
Run: 10 min.

Looking forward to next week.

too skeered to run

My first love, rediscovered, because I started swimming at 11 (in my mother's swimsuit) on the Auburn Tigers' swim team and kept at it until my early 20s and discovered cycling in my mid 20s and triathlon was a natural extension of that (but I hated to run) so I never ran until my first triathlon (Santa Barbara in the mid 80s) and hated the run (half marathon) so much I stopped running until I hit middle age. Gawds. I guess I'm middle aged. So a couple years ago I decided I finally wanted to lose all that baby weight. I was around 90kg and I eventually lost 15 of those (but those days in the hospital on 'roids have added 3 kg I'm trying hard to lose, and honestly I could stand to lose another 5kg on top of that) by walking and then running. I LOVED running. Until I started cycling again. And now that I've added more laps to my swims (I do 8 laps now - just under 3000 yd per Google Earth) I'm starting to enjoy swimming. And poor running, which was my absolute new found joy is now the black sheep of the family as it causes me one injury after another. I think I'm skeered to run. Right now I'm using the excuse that I am now just a week out of the hospital and one sport a day is enough. That and all that extra jiggly weight and I don't want to scare my neighbors or the palaperos or workers here with my jello flesh all to obvious in shorts.

I had a great ride today - totally worked the outbound (with tailwind) and hit 32:30 at the turnaround which Jamie thinks might be close to a best time. Expected the return to be a huge fail as we're all still sick, I have that lovely hospital excuse (riding that train all the way) and the headwind should have been brutal. Except it wasn't. So either the tailwind we had going out died as we turned around or it wasn't the tailwind I thought it was. Came back just under 19mph average for the 40km.

Tomorrow is the Copa Gobernador but I'm not sure we'll head over. I thought we might ride the course in our new jersey (well *I* would) especially since work is so slow and we still might. I found a nonprofessional cycling event over in Merida I've talked Jamie into doing (didn't take much) and although it has already started (it is a 5-stage event complete with stage, point and overall jerseys) but they'll let us in. Sweet.

Tomorrow I run. Only 10 minutes,but I've officially run out of excuses. Hard to believe I was doing 10 mile runs last fall.

Pictures from the end of yesterday's swim and today's bike. I had a weird swim - really rough at the start but by my last lap it had totally calmed down. Swam late - I hate swimming in late afternoon/feeding time. Last couple laps had me looking over my shoulder to the deep blue and hoping for no company.

Grey and cloudy sea swim

I didn't want to go out today. It was cold and grey. I did it anyway. Another 2740 in the bank (8 laps to the reef and back). I had a lot of trouble coughing and tight chest but an hour or so after exercise was fine. Ended the swim with 3 x 170. Funny set. Got my HR up though. How about my "poor man's" wetsuit top? Cold days I wear a tshirt over my grannysuit. Nice for insulation.

Languishing in indecision

So yesterday was a GOOD day. I was up all day, took at walk with Jamie and the dog on Janten and had no lung issues. Up at 6am today and still waiting for the work to come in, and am waffling about exercise. Docs said to wait a week - it has been 4. I have the desire to head out now but (excuses) flat tire on bike and scared to run or swim. It is definitely the temperature for both - (our thermometer walked off a week or so ago so I have to go with Accuweather which says 23C but I'm sure it is warmer than that) but I don't want to land back with issues again. So I'm waffling. DOG doesn't even want to go for a walk. Sheesh. Aren't dogs supposed to LIVE for walks? He wants to sleep and maybe, when I'm mired in work and homeschooling, later on today will be DYING for one. Um, who's the alpha here?

Too many choices perhaps.

If I ride Jamie will totally freaque out so no riding. I should get out there and swim then. I was bursting at the seams to exercise while hospitalized, so why the indecision now?

Oh, and yes, the dog chases coconuts. He wouldn't know what to do with a ball if it came covered in peanut butter and flew in front of his nose. Born in Belize and reared on the Caribbean, he's a coco dog.

Update - I did it! I got super freaked when my hr rose and it took about 45 minutes before I felt comfortable with the (normally) elevated hr and I had to keep taking experimentation deep breaths to make sure I wasn't going to have a recurrence. I guess I was more freaked out than I thought. By the end of the ride, however, (40km) I was VERY comfortable riding and are our jerseys gorgeous or what? Not sure if I'm going to run or not, but tomorrow is definitely on for a swim. I am pretty sure I'm back and glad of it.

Progress?

So I was upright all day today! Woohoo! (snark) I gobsmacks me that I have gone from 2 sports a day to considering the day a success because I wasn't horizontal all day. I had hopes for a walk today but I wasn't up for it. I had very few episodes of coughing today and did some light cleaning so I'm hoping for a walk tomorrow. No meds today - I think getting a good night of sleep has restored more health than any meds could. Lung function seems to be almost completely back. Still a bit lightheaded but that's to be expected after 4 days horizontal. I have to wonder if I would have been hospitalized in the US and if the docs here are just more conservative with treatment.

tired lungs and hospital stay

So Tuesday Jamie and out headed out for our 40km normal bike and about 23 minutes in I had to stop and eventually ended up in the ER and then admitted for 3 days. It wasn't until today, when I could take a full deep breath without coughing that I realized it hadn't been all in my head (psychosomatic). I'm still not sure what happened but the docs called it bronchospasms secondary to hyperinflation. I was unable to get more than 1 word out at a time before dissolving into coughs and was only able to take half breaths. After a full day with Dr. Google, I'm thinking it was exercise induced bronchospasm due secondary to a respiratory viral illness and I'm really hoping it just goes away. I've been home for a full day now and I'm totally wiped. For some reason I had it in my head that once I was released from the hospital I'd be jumping right back into my training program but right now I'm just working on being upright without lapsing into fast breathing and coughing.

And our glorious Mexico jerseys got here (actually on the 18th but they couldn't figure out where we live so Jamie picked them up at the office yesterday). Jamie headed out for a ride this morning and I was jealous beyond belief. Hoping for walking tomorrow. Well, hoping for upright and walking maybe. This is insane.

rough seas, long swim

(pic is from the "military point" on janten - point in the picture is end of Janten and beginning of Paamul bay - almost home)

I have been feeling the need to increase my swim workouts. I usually aim for 6 laps (1920 yd) but was thinking on the run today that I really need to aim for 10 laps (3400 yd). So as I was doing my longest run this year (30 min!) I figured I'd go for 10. The water looked a little choppy at JanTen but I wasn't sure if it would hold for PaaMul bay also.

As I started my run I was wondering if I should do 10 (since I didn't run yesterday) or 20 (planned) or 30. My reasoning for 30 was that I was going to do it some time this week and I was already a bit nauseous so in the event I got too sick to run I'd at least have gotten in my "long" run. I found it incredibly ironic during the run that last year I was running 10 miles and now my hard, long run was 30 min. It was nice and warm today - low 30's I'd say and the sweat was ROLLING off me after that 30 min run just like in the summertime. Looks like this past norte is HISTORY.

I was hoping my stomach would cooperate for the swim and as I headed out to the beach I realized the water was much rougher than I expected. I then scaled back my expectations and figured I'd figure it out after a couple laps. It was actually easier swimming directly into the waves than coming back with them - there were times it felt like my feet were going to summersault me over as the wave would pick them up and my arms tried to keep going forward. Good times. Pike was too sick to come out with me and it gave me a chance to really work the swim. I ended up doing 8 laps but I was D.O.N.E. after the 8th one. I'm hoping that with calmer water I will be able to handle more because if 8 laps are my limit I'm in SERIOUS trouble. So, this next week will be 8 laps each swim (or 10 if it isn't rough). My bad shoulder was starting to twinge so 8 was a good time to stop. Oh, and a couple swims ago I found my seabed landmarks again so I don't zigzag across the bay. Oh x2 the tourist boat is back. Kinda slows down the swim as I wait for it to come across the reef and then again to drop anchor but nice to see the guys again.

It's those changes in latitude

I don't know how people from northern latitudes do it and I'm growing a batch of kids who think the same. We've had 2-3 days of grey and rainyish weather and after about 4 hours of grey the entire household (palapahold? we don't really live in a house) fell into a funk that was not removed until the sun peeked out. I've been on a swim strike since early December (when the thermometer fell to the teens (Celsius) but finally sucked it up (literally, I'm carrying about 5kg of holiday "cheer") and the 14yo and I headed out. THREE TIMES this past week. I had to wear a shirt one day (poor man's wetsuit) but it was definitely tolerable after the first 1/2 lap.

After the swimming success I headed out for a ride yesterday in a drizzle! Normally we just don't ride here when it rains - there is only 1 road to ride on (the carretera) and it gets slick with rain (concrete) AND when it rains here it is a tropical rain normally - a HUGE DUMP of water in a short period of time. It is very common for cars to simply pull over until the deluge is over and wait it out (rarely more than a few minutes). But this looked like it would be a short drizzle and by the time I got to Pto Adventuras (4 km south) it was dry. I've seen rains where one side of the carretera was dry and the other side had rain. It is amazing rain here. I was feeling really good on my ride but ever since this norte came to town the winds have been back to tailwind out and headwind home and it seemed like I was flying at around 30kph average on the outbound (and 35:30 to turnaround) but I only averaged 25kph for the ride, so the headwind coming home must have been worse than I thought.

My long (20 min) run this week gave me the feeling that I'm finally getting my run mojo back - I wanted to keep going and went long on the outbound forgetting I had to turn around at 10 min. I really hope this program helps me to stay healthy. I also picked up a trigger point roller in the Huenited States and Really need to get using that RIGHT NOW. I still haven't done a long (30) min run yet as due to sickness, injury and travel (the trifecta?) this is the first week I've put in a regular routine. But if nothing else over the last year I sure hope I've learned not to push the miles, instead I need to back off more. It is killing me to see the tiny amount I'm running but if I'm going to get over this chronic injury and run a marathon in Cozumel (YIKES!) I really need to get this under control. So 10-20-30 it is.

This week by the numbers:
Swim 3840 yd
Bike 63.44 m
Run 1 hour
Probably well under 10 hours. I'm guessing around 6.5 hours (2 hours swim, 3.5 bike, 1 hr run)
next week planning:
Swim 1920 x 3
Bike 160 km
run 1:30ish
so, 2.25 + 5.5 + 1.5 = 9.25

And since the GD raccoons woke me at 3something am getting into my neighbor's garbage (right next to my head) and I finally gave up at 4:45 and got up, it is time for another pot of cawfee before heading out on today's 40km bike and 10 min run.

Holy frack I broke my clit!

Well, it sure FEELS broken. I had Jamie (well enough to ride today! YAY!) raise my seat a smidge as when I was riding my Medici in CA it felt higher than this bike and felt better. It took less than an hour to find it was Too High and I was in serious pain. Peeing and showering are now torture sessions. I found some bag balm he'd snagged from somewhere and that is helping but Oh My Gods and Goddesses HOW DID I blister THAT? He thinks maybe the nose is too high. YA THINK?

We had a short ride today because it was FREEZING (as evidenced by the picture - see Jamie (furnace) and see me (knickers and 2 top layers)) and this norte has screwed with my wind pattern. I've been getting headwind going out and tailwind coming home (opposite of all of fall and winter last year) and I much prefer that to the summer and spring winds (from the north). Plus we're deep into a norte and FREEZING.

There is a bike race (60km) over on Cozumel at the end of the month. I might actually consider it. Still thinking. Course, I'm about 5 kg over my preholiday weight and I'm not feeling like exposing all that flubber on la isla. But it should be pretty.

Oh, and remember those beautiful jerseys I planned to surprise Jamie with at Christmas? Well, I FINALLY got around to paying (go to the bank and deposit in their account) and turns out Multipak doesn't deliver to Quintana Roo (which I'm suspicious of as I've seen their trucks around) and they want $90 (MN) more to get it down here. What to do...

getting my swim mojo back

I'm starting to think December was an anomaly. We've had regular winter weather in January (low 30s C midday) so you can exercise at midday without killing yourself (unlike summer). Right now it is 27C with humidity in the mid to low 70s and I've got sweatpants on - very nice weather. Had a good swim today - I was jonsing to ride but I've been out of the water way to long and I really needed to get some km under my legs also so swim and run it was. My 14yo was not at all animated to go out in the water but once he was out there he LOVED it. A little rough out there but the biggest thing was the freezing cold currents about 1/2 way to the reef. Put in 6 laps (6x340) and by the 5th lap I'd finally found my stroke again. Not a bad afternoon. Looking like a system coming in now and that explains my wicked pressure headache on Sunday.












run to that point is 1.5 miles from our palapa (house like thing).

31 celcius

It was a little too rough to swim today,













so I rode instead.



















Triciclo. Handy for hauling around the Mrs and a few kiddos along with shopping goods. Very common sight. This guy was unloading a truck.














I was pretty roached after recovering from sickness still so I only rode. No swim. No run. Maybe tomorrow.

solo cyclist

I don't think we've been back to the Bay Area in December since 2004 or 2005 and I honestly did not realize how cold it got. A week home and Jamie and I are still gobsmacked at how cold it was. We absolutely ALWAYS get sick going to "el otro lado" and this time was no exception. Due to unseasonable cold (14C one day) here, we started out sick, picked up something on the plane going out and now seems we picked up something coming home also. So going on a month straight of sickness.

I kept meaning to try bike shorts while we were in the US but I never made time to do it, so again, I'm trying to find something long distance. I like wide waistbands (like the De Soto Carrera) and hate silicone leg grips. I bought a pair of KB shorts off Ebay to try and now I really hate them. I'm looking at Louis Garneau, Sugoi, Pearl Izumi and maybe Orca. Sigh. I hate shopping for shorts to minimize sausage legs without being able to try them on. I've heard there is a bike shop in Cancun and maybe we'll have to head up there so I can try shorts on. Course, that would involve taking a day off work.

Jamie has been too sick to ride so I've ridden the past 2 rides SOLO! I really didn't think that possible even though I trained for centuries solo for many years before kids and rode into my 5th month on the road (and then on rollers) with my 1st pregnancy. It has been a LOT of years since I have been on a bike and having Jamie there just made it easier and I really didn't think I'd push myself or enjoy myself without him there. But I did and I did, though I definitely REALLY enjoy it more with him.

Got back in the water for the first time since November! Saw the cudda and Pike saw a ray but the seafloor has changed so much I was totally lost 1/2 way to the reef. There is also a new bouy at the reef to replace the one a hurricane (that didn't even hit us) took away this year. I've decided I'm only going to swim 3 days a week though and hopefully not burn out. I also started running again and really need to do the trigger point stuff so I don't tear again. I had planned to ride and run today but my head hurts so much (sinus headache) that I'm just trying to keep it from exploding, though I kept watching the clock all day trying to figure out WHEN I could get a ride and run in but never got well enough to do so.

Next week ride T,Th,S,S; run M,T,W,Th,F,S and swim M,W,F. I'm sticking to 1:2:30 for running, M 20min, T 10min, W 20min, Th 10min, F 30min, S or S 10min. Good to be back in the warmth.

26 Celcius baaabaaaay

Oh man, back from the land of death. I've got to stop visiting the US in winter. I think we all died a little in California - it was absolutely FRIGID but since they're on Farenheit I have no idea what the temps were - 50's. Pilot announced it was 14C yesterday when we left DFW for CUN but upon landing it must have been low 20s. Just lovely!

Woke to 26C this am and I'm actually thinking I could swim. Just have to convince the 14yo of that. Back from a run now - I've already altered the schedule and will do 10-20-30 (or more accurately 10-20-10-20-10-30-10) instead of straight 10s. Course trying to decide during such a short run made it a 14:30 run. Go figure. :)

Now that my brain is unfreezing I'm feeling optimistic again. Tomorrow to cycle and run and I still have half a day of work to do.

Nothing says winter like listening to the cackles of drunk Canadians.

absolute insanity

I don't know how you people north of the border do it. I haven't been able to even think of a run or ride in this weather. All I can do is huddle in my folks' RV, park myself under a heater and wait for the day we go home. The sky is grey, there is no blue, there is no joy, it is depressing as hell and I think I'm slowly going insane and I've only been 'in country' 2 days. I don't even want to THINK about exercise and going outside in that frigid weather - how do you people stand this? I'm frozen at 20C - I'm not sure how the temps compare because the US is not metric but the rental car shows mid 50s - OMG I just want to huddle in warmth and count the days until we go home. Luckily I'm working so I can excuse my lack of exercise with work but hell, at home, I was counting the hours until I got my first bike ride or run in and midday meant swim (with my 14yo) and hope no rays or cuddas but now my clock is all messed up (we went from Central to Pacific) and I'm depressed as hell. And it rains All The Fucking Time.

Geez, you people are gods to exercise in this weather. I need to find some motivation and figure something out as my ass is just spreading wider and my belly is growing to meet my "desk." One of my daughters said something cute the other day - our first day? - as she filled the bath (which she hasn't had in over a year) she remarked that "Aunty Chris must be really rich to use drinking water for a bath!"

el otro lado

Gawds I'm scared to death. It has been FREEZING here (15C one morning) and I wore a down jacket all day today (I don't think it got over 25C and I even wore a turtleneck and knickers on the bike - if I'd had tights I would have had those on too. I FINALLY saw the dead coral snake today on the road. We have a LOT of road kill - snakes, raccoons, dogs, bats, birds - but the coral snake was an enigma to me. I kept missing it over and over. Today I decided if I had to go back to see it, I'd turn the damn bike around and do just that. Thankfully I didn't need to turn the bike around as the wind was WICKED today. It was so hard - we had wind both ways - and demoralizing. But since I'm injured (I tore my calf muscle REALLY WELL last week) I don't worry about anything but getting my butt in the saddle. Today I took it super easy and really did not push much at all.

But yeah, I'm scared. We're headed to el otro lado tomrrow and while it won't be snow we visit it may as well be. Most Mexicans go to the beach over vacaciones. We are instead headed for frozen California. I am scared to death I won't leave my sister's guesthouse the entire time we're gone, too afraid of the frigid, frozen freezingness of coldness.

Pic is from my last run - the one where I tore my calf muscle. Yet afreakingain.

Oh, and if you see a family without shoes (who needs shoes where we live - SERIOUSLY WE DON'T HAVE SHOES) but chanklas and a dog and shivering, huddled under a heater at either DFW or SFO, throw us a blankie, K? And I may as well apologise for our return - this is our stock up trip so we're heading out with empty suitcases and will bring them back full (although the last 2 years here have brought so many changes you can get so many more "things" than ever before, but you can't beat thriftstores for clothing 4 kids). Now I guess I'll see how all of you guys deal with training in the winter (ooh, I'm so SKEERED!)

la virgincita otra vez

So, for some reason I figured everyone would know exactly what I'm talking about but I guess I've been out of the US culture too long. :)

Here are photos from 2007 (I think) You will note that the weather was much more normal. We might have just hosted a conference on global climate change and everyone complains about the heat storms but we have had very mild summers and wicked cold winters for the past 2 years. It is disconcerting at the least.

My friend Joanna just posted on celebrations in Merida for la virgincita and here is my post from a few years ago with even more virgin links.

This year I got very few pictures but I attached one here - the camera sucks so you can barely see the group huddled at the side of the road. Our last ride we saw a giant group with ropes and they were walking but by the time we'd gotten to our retorno and headed back they were long gone. I suspect they were headed for Pto Adventuras and not PdC.

It is FREEZING here. More freezing than freezing on el otro lado as we don't have any source of heat other than the sun or the car heater. So we are freezing. Frozen. Icicles. People in the jungle die from the cold, so it really is serious and we're lucky to have 4 walls we can huddle in. That reminds me to check and make sure Don Beto has blankets.

la virgincita

Every time we get out on the carretera (pic is Jamie headed out ahead of me to the carretera) I'm reminded how lucky we are to ride here. Even though the roads are FLAT and we're only able to ride the carretera (only paved road for hundreds of kilometers) the drivers we share the road with are amazingly polite. The doble semi-remolques (I'm not sure what they are in the US - 2 18-wheeler like trailers pulled by one semi) will always pull into the next lane to pass us and oncoming traffic will wait for us to pass at retornos before making their retorno (so as to not interrupt and make us stop). We're always given wide berth by all cars and it is hard to imagine the rage that cyclists in the US get.

We're deep in the season of pilgrims for La Virgin and they're all over the carretera going both north and south, running and cycling. I hope to get some pictures tomorrow assuming my leg will hold up to a cycle since I tore it pretty badly last run. It was acting up and I decided to stretch it, but a stretch was the WORST decision I could have made. I then walked around on it all day today at the COP 16 climate change exhibition and that was another bad idea. Since Jamie absolutely trashed himself today trying to attain a 22mph average I'm hoping he'll be tired enough tomorrow for an easy day on the bike. I'm not sure what this calf has in it for cycling when I'm hobbling on foot.

lessons in either futility or patience

Wholee fuck but I was pissed during the ride today.

Running wasn't bad. (pic is from my only run route)

How is it possible that I was regularly hitting under 1:18 for the ride, getting faster and faster each ride the first two weeks and plateauing a bit the 3rd week, but this week has been just AWFUL. I had a 1:30 ride and yesterday just squeaked under 1:19 and today was 1:21. I'm getting slower and slower and I Do Not Like it Sam I am.

I've decided to run out towards Janten again even if I can't run my usual mileage (I stuck to 10 min runs this week), even though I have to pass the palaperos each time (and I'm sure they're wondering WTF this gringa is doing running out and then (seemingly) turning around immediately and going back. Is she too much of a pussy for a REAL run? Gawds. They probably don't even notice me.

So Jamie says from now on, no timers allowed on the bike. I tried today to make it Not About The Time and really succeeded until I got near cenote row and realized just how slow my time was going to be and lost it. I had planned to enjoy the ride, look down the dirt paths (off the carretera), wave to the taxistas, wave to the vigilencia at the compounds (they must be at compounds, I mean really, what ELSE are they there for?), find the coral snake (road kill) Jamie saw last time and ignore the clock. I think I would have been a LOT more successful had I not STARTED the damn clock to begin with. And I did pretty well for the first hour. I waved to the taxistas, waved to the vigilencia, missed the fucking snake (but saw all the dead raccoons) and then got pissed.

I can't figure out why I'm going backwards but Jamie says I'm not. He also says the wind patterns have changed and we're getting a constant headwind all the way back and the week I was doing 1:13 and 1:14 was an anomaly. I'm not sure I believe him. Oh, and my legs are ALWAYS sore. Ugh.

I guess I could concentrate on taking pictures and ignore the fucking clock. I hate being so slow. Hmph.

I got my ass back! (in more ways than one)

I didn't have to ice my ass after today's ride!!! However, I've been eating us out of house and home and my ass is bigger than ever (as evidenced by the 2 kg gain this past month).

I honestly thought I had something wrong with that sit bone but either it is converting to standing desk (last week only) or just time in the saddle - either way I'm no longer in pain. Such sweet relief. Unfortunately I had a horiffic ride on Thursday (just slow and no reason for it) and tried to redeem myself today but could only squeak out 1:18:50. Sigh. at least it was 10 min faster than Thursday's epic but nowhere near my fastest at 1:13ish.

Jamie says I've only been on the bike almost a month and not to worry about it and that I should be getting a new feel for the bike and not even thinking about time. So that's what I'm going to start doing - not even starting the timer and just go with heart rate. We'll see how that goes.

I got 3 runs in this week (10 min each) but slacked seriously on Wed and Fri - I did NOTHING (but stuff my face) both days. I just had no desire to swim, yoga or run. I need a serious kick in the ass. The weather has been so cold lately that I just loathe to get out in the water and since I'm only running 10 min it just doesn't seem worth it to even go, but I know that will get me nowhere. So sigh double.

Both boys are sick with the death cough, fever, aches and yuckiness and I am hoping the girls and I can avoid it. Course, we'll probably come down with it right in time to travel (going back to the US for Xmas). Pounding the vitamin C and getting lots of sleep and hoping for the best.

Se me lo perdio el animo.

Seriously I have NO IDEA what was wrong today. My affect was depressed the whole ride and my legs were sore but not the deadest they've been - I just had no animo, no heart, no ganas. So have a new personal worst. It didn't help that the wind was BLASTING at us coming home (but that is par for the course) but I rarely went over 30kph going out. It was an awful ride and I would have turned around 100 times if Jamie had not been with me. I have no idea what to blame this awful performance on. Well, other than myself. Ugh.

Oh, I almost forgot - it was FREEZING the whole way - 22 or 23C and I just wanted to curl up and die.

BUT, the new Pto Adventuras Chedraui looks OPEN! I've never seen such construction here in Mexico. They worked Saturday afternoon, Sunday AND MOndays! We're looking forward to checking it out and only going 6km (one way) instead of 15 for market.

The weather has turned - it was lovely for the IM at Cozumel but now it is dreadful and 23C. UGH. I fear a repeat of last year's winter and am depressed just at the thought.

Now that I've sat a bit and thought, I think I'll do my run later this afternoon. It is only 10 minutes so I hate even getting dressed (which is why it is perfect after a bike ride) but now that I've gathered strength there really is no need to lop it off the schedule entirely. Just need to get the 14yo going on his algebra first. :)

My legs are ALWAYS sore. I wonder what to do. I started taking magnesium about a week ago but that's really not doing anything.

things that make you go hmmm...

I'm starting to wonder if this sit bone pain is not muscle related or something. I have converted my desk to a standing desk (I work at a computer all day so I've changed from sitting at my desk to standing) and while sitting tonight the side of my thigh got numb. If cycling is giving me injuries I might need to go bionic. I started cycling to give my chronically injured calf muscle a rest (a year of tearing the calf muscle every 3 months) but the sit bone pain seems to be radiating outwards but I can't reproduce it on palpation so that says likely not muscle. Sigh. Tomorrow is another ride day so we'll see how it goes. It is always worse when I ride two days in a row and this starts my 4th week of cycling (since 1994 or so) and I'm hoping it gets less painful sooner rather than later.

I futzed around enough today that it was just about feeding time by the time Pike and I headed out for a swim. I was shocked to see that the tourist boat (we usually see at midday) was still there when we got to the beach. The tourists were still in the restaurant eating so either they were running as late as we were or they run twice a day. The water was SUPER rough - in the trough of the wave you could see neither the waves crashing on the reef nor the shore and murky. I really hate murky water. I had thought of doing 6 laps but I really hate being out there at feeding time also so we did 4 (probably took as long as 6 as the water was So Rough) and called it a day.

I then celebrated with a 10 min run. I'm back on the wagon trying to run again and had planned on a week of 10 min runs but wouldn't you know it, half way through I was already planning on skipping this week and just going straight to 10/20/10/20/10/0/30. I wonder WHY I keep getting injured? Geez! So slapped myself around a bit and will hold firm to 10/10/10/10/10/10/10. But after 3 weeks of cycling and 2-3 weeks of NO running, the legs felt Very Very Weird on the run - stiff and not really working well. It took almost the entire 10 minutes to feel "right". I'm hopeful that this plan will keep me injury free but I REALLY have to rein myself in and stop pushing and learn to hold back. You'd think by my age I'd have learned and if not you'd think I'd want to avoid injury but there is no logic when I have a number (goal) in my head.

I've been buying jerseys and shorts (well just one pair) on Ebay for a couple weeks and can't wait to get to the US to get them. Right now Jamie holds all my stuff as I have no pockets and usually just wear a t-shirt or running top. Luckily I was able to get some De Soto Tri shorts to him just before he came back from WI so I do have those and I'm sloshing around an old pair of his shoes (after he got sick of me wearing my running shoes on the bike). I also have my eye on a pretty local jersey. When we get back from our US trip I should be styling on that bike, assuming my sit bone finally adjusts.

Sunday was Cozumel. I really wanted to go over and had planned to volunteer but I just couldn't. Jesse was sick with a ton of homework and taking the whole famdamily over there would have run upwards of $720 MN.

It seems like all the cool tri kids sum up their week in numbers, so as I'm always one to join the latest fads (my family members, if they even know of this blog are vomiting now) here is the last week in numbers:

Swim 5440 yd (only 2 workouts, I was just Not Into Swimming last week) prolly 1.5 hours.
Bike 112.91 m (4 bikes) and 6 hours 4 min.
Run: Injured.

This week I have 4 swims planned, 4 bikes and 6 runs.

the difference between 25 and 50

Back in my 20s and early 30s I wouldn't think twice about a 40 mile bike ride or any athletic event whether I was training or not. I could abuse my body and not worry. I did a half Ironman and I'm not sure I even trained for the run. I remember biking (mainly because I liked to bike) but I never had a plan and I'm not sure I spent much time even thinking about the run.

I did 40 miles yesterday with Jamie after 2 weeks of cycling which had followed some 15+ years of sedentary lifestyle. Today shows me that I'm 50. My quads are STIFF. My ass HURTS. I'm not able to just throw down mileage like those young pups. But I can still kick my 14yo's ass swimming. Well, for now anyway.

My first *long* ride

When I realized that today would fall perfectly in the *training* schedule (MWF are swim and TThSS are ride and SMTWThS are run) AND the US had a holiday on Thursday I figured we could make a long ride and I thought I might add in a swim afterwards. Jamie took Jesse to school (and then to their overnight field trip, camping at X'calcel) and I worked, getting in half a day by the time he got back. I also managed to wake up at 3:30 am thinking it was 5:00 as the full moon bouncing off the jungle made the sky look lighter than it really was. Yawn.

So we headed off and I held the pace back for the first 8 miles or so but then the cross and headwinds started so it wasn't all that hard to hold back at all. Our pace was miserable for the first half. We knew that it was 12 miles to our normal turnaround so I checked the highway markings and counted down 13 more km and we made today's turnaround there - a little over 20 miles. I was feeling pretty good. We made it to the retorno just after Hidden Worlds and I think it was around 1:11.

Coming back towards Akumal we got our promised tailwind (sometimes we can get headwind both ways) and the road was much flatter between Akumal and Xeh-Ha. I got to look forward to our little rises to get out of the seat but after Akumal (about 12 miles from home) I was looking for any excuse to get out of the saddle! I wasn't dead when I got home but I was sure glad to stop. This is my 3rd week of riding and I just don't think my ass is ready yet. But a good ride all in all. We're thinking it was around 41 miles and maybe an 18+mph average. My one index finger is still numb and Jamie says they make gel gloves now so I'm DEFINTELY going to look for those. I'll also get some cycling shoes and clip in pedals (or whatever).

Cozumel is on this weekend and I'm hoping to get over there but ferry tickets will be $120 each (about $10USD each) so that would be an outlay just to watch. We'll have to see how the workload is also.

After I came home, scarfed down pasta and meatballs I had a nice nap. (after a bit of work). Jamie is in town now with Pike at the orthodontist and promised to bring tamales from our favorite vendedora.

It's coming along

I had a great ride today. I just started my 3rd week of riding and my ass (really, just under my sit bones) seems to be getting worse instead of better. As a matter of fact, when i sit anywhere it feels like a bump there. I'm thinking something like bursitis. I'm hoping another week or two will calm it down.

It was finally warm - 28C to start and it was LOVELY to be warm once again. We've had such an unnecessarily EARLY winter that it was lovely to feel warm air and hot sun again. Jamie hated it of course but he's almost always hot. I pushed the out and was disappointed to be at 32:30 at the turnaround (as I think my record is 31:30) but very pleased to find I had not, in fact, been riding in a tailwind but a crosswind and hammered home. I'm only tracking time so when we were approaching Pto Adventuras at 1:03 I knew I was going to hammer the PR. I took another 4:20 off my previous week's PR and we averaged 19.4 mph (I think) and I'm pretty happy with that. My legs felt much better today also - last week they were shaking.

I'm trying to get Jamie to go for a longer ride on Thursday as work for me will probably be light due to the US holiday and I can most likely afford the time.

Denial

I think I might be training for Ironman Cozumel. I know I can do the swim and the bike, but I'm not sure, with my constant calf injuries, if I can do the marathon. But hey, I really like the Iron La'ak uniformes so maybe that is reason enough?

I've checked out the Mexican circuito nacional and it looks like we've got a few in the southern part of the country - Veracruz and Mazatlan and there is a HIM in Guate (Guatemala) I might consider also.

I'm in my 2nd week of Do Not Run after trying a 10-min and 20-min run last week. I knew about 10 minutes into the 20-min run it wasn't going to end prettily but could I just STOP and avoid injury? I think we all know I'm too hardheaded for that. So another week off the leg. Next week I'll only do 10 min runs. I PROMISE. And I'll stop if it gets wonky. No, BEFORE I injure it again. Sheesh.

I have having a great time on the bike though and have PR'd pretty regularly. Even today's ride (I have not been updating DM lately) even though we were going slow PR'd all of last week's rides. So there's that.

and I'm very seriously thinking of doing Cozumel next year. I did an HIM way back in the VERY early 80s (like 81 or 82?) when I was in my early 20s and remember hating the run and really walking most of it and I think it was a 7:30 time or so. I'm thinking that even if I walk the entire marathon (and I've run up to 10 miles when not injured) I could still finish. And hell, it is right across the channel. It couldn't be any closer unless I lived on the island. Ten miles by sea. If I register by the end of the year it will be cheaper than registering next year. I think I'm already decided,I just like living in denial. :)

So this week was 8K of swimming and 160K of riding. Pretty happy as I'm not really training for anything right now. I missed all the runs I wanted to to this year (the marathon or 1/2 in DF for the Bicentennial was tops on my list) due to injury so I'm just exercising to keep the muscles alive right now.

Oh, and did I mention my training (bike) partner and coach? None other than the esteemed Jamie (DH). Sweet.

Oh and lastly, I'm planning on dragging the boys over to the island next Sunday to work the Ironman. Looking forward to that!

ahm tah-ared

Oh my aching knees. I had great hopes of gradually increasing each week, from 20mpw to 22 mpw to 23 to 25 to 27.5 and then then to plateau at 30 for a while. It seems my knees might have a different thought on that plan. The KoolAid plan says to pretty much listen to your body and advance as it allows. Dayum, that making sense business again. I really hate that. This week was great for swimming - Pike swam with me 3 days (counting today, hopefully) and I did 1800, 1500, 1800 and have 2100 planned for today. Nothing compared to my old swimming days but I never had to deal with currents in pools either (at least that's MY excuse).

So this week was 2.5, 4.5, 2.5, 4.5, 2.5 and 6.5 (tomorrow will be the 6.5) but since I have been running since Sunday, but not counting that day in my total (I know, it is insane) that's another 6 days in a row for me. Since I used to have trouble with my knees after 2 days in a row but after implementing Chondroitin and glucosamine at first 1200mg/day and then at 1800mg/day to banish the painful knees, I wonder if I just need to up the ante again. I like the logic of the Koolaid program - lower daily mileage to allow bones and ligaments to adjust but frequency to get just as high mileage as 4d/week program but I wonder if my knees are cut out for it. One big hmmmm.

We've got Hurricane Ricardo gunning for the southern area of the state (and Belize) and yesterday the water already showed the effects of this much larger than Paula cane. Still no worries, the tortugas have us covered.

I'm still up in the air on the Xeh-Ha triathlon but definitely will do an HIM (70.3) next year. Just not sure if it will be Cancun, Mazatlan or Veracruz.

Drinking the Kool Aide

So I've been bouncing along on my own program (4 miles every other day for a week after the medicinal runs, bump up to 5 miles and then jump into a marathon training program - Hal's, natch, Novice 2) and getting my ego stroked with multiple longer (to me) runs (8, 8, 9, 9) and dropping my average pace (9:40mm last 5K - still can't commit to metric 100%) but starting to get niggings of patellofemoral syndrome and plantar fasciitis. Hmmm... As if the calf wasn't enough. So I stopped going around barefoot (for PT) and iced the heels after each run and the PF pretty much went away until my last 9 mile run. Hmmmm... The PFS seems to ebb and flow so I just kind of kept it in the back of my head and started looking around the web.

and I found the Kool Aid.

So last week I jumped into the first week (supposed to be 2-4-2-4-2-0-6 and instead went 0-3-3-3-4-0- and today should be 6. AND I'm dropping my speed. I was holding 10:00 mm pretty easily for 4-5 mile runs but according to the Kool Aid and McMillan, my recovery (MWF) runs should be crushingly slow at 12:18-12:48 (have not yet been able to run that slow), long runs 11:18 to 12:18 (I am pretty sure I can do that) and easy runs (TTh) 11:18 to 11:48 (again, might be able to bring the pace under 11:18 but it is not easy to run that slow). My ego has taken a HUGE hit from running 10:00 to trying for 11:00. But I'm looking long term now and if I manage to get to the end of the year without injury I'll be a total convert. And it does make sense - I've been pushing my ligaments prolly before they were ready (post injury) and I'm hoping this might do the trick.