Sunday, February 24, 2008

Life in the fast lane...

...is not my cup of tea. Yesterday Brian and I biked to South Mountain Park, but it was closed for a walk up the mountain so we decided to bike "around" the mountain. We took Dobbins to 51st Street around the mountain. The shoulder was "soft", in other words, it sucked. I had to ride in the road on a highway. It got to the point that I didn't even care about getting a good bike workout, I just wanted to stay alive! There was an event at Firebird Raceway and cars were backed up all along the 187 and I almost got run over a couple times there too. I was so happy to get back to Ahwatukee that I stayed and went up in the neighborhoods by Corpus Christi and did hills. I fell asleep watching 102 Dalmations while waiting for Brian to get back that afternoon, then we ran a pretty fast 8 miles. Today we ran 17 miles... I forgot how painful that is!
Last weekend we did the Chandler Sprint Triathlon. It was the first time I stayed comfortably in aero position on the FELT, and I was very proud! I got third overall, which was also nice. It was the shortest race I've ever done (200 yard swim, 10.5 mile bike and 2.2 mile run) but still fun, as always! It was freezing and when I got back from the bike I couldn't feel my hands or feet. I really need to get tri shoe laces on my Newtons so I don't have to tie the laces in transition.
Friday is the Ragnar Relay! We will be starting at 4 p.m. and running all through the night (187 miles!) I am excited, but I know I will be very tired all weekend, and I don't know how that will impact my training. Last year I slept for two days after this race. Hopefully this year I won't be as exhausted. I will be runner 2 of 12, and will be running three times. Last year I was runner 10 so at least I will be done earlier this year and can get to sleep earlier!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Staying injury free


I started out this week with an unexpected injury. Sunday morning Brian and I ran down to Kiwanis Park for the Tri Devils 5K. I didn't want to race because we had just done the marathon two weeks back, so I watched Brian and stood in the cold rain. All of a sudden when I was standing there a spot around my groin started to ache. It was a strange feeling and it hurt pretty bad when standing there and when running. Later on we went swimming and it hurt pretty bad then too. Monday morning I woke up and there was a nice sized bump down there. I went to urgent care that afternoon and found out I had strained my inguinal ligament. I was pretty down, since the doctor told me to take it easy for 5 or 6 days. I did a short run and swim that day. As the week progressed, and with ice every day, it started to feel better. It still hurts a bit today, but the pain is almost gone. The doctor told me this injury is common in triathletes because it is an over-use injury. With all the training we do it is common for our bodies to get upset sometimes.
Today I biked up South Mountain for the first time. It wasn't as tough as I thought it would be. I've heard so much about how hard it is, so I think I worked myself up to thinking it was an impossible goal for me to achieve. But today I did it! To top it off, I ran 8 miles afterwards at a pretty quick pace. I feel good, except now I have a headache.
Today Brian also started a blog. www.brianfolts.blogspot.com. check it out, he is a pretty interesting, funny guy. Thats why I love him so much! He is tracking his 5th Ironman training on this blog, or so he says.
Tomorrow will be a long run with the Gage Total Training group. I'm so happy I am feeling awesome again running after the marathon. Now if only I felt so awesome on the bike and swim!