Tri Season Wrap Up

Well look who's back :)

I have actually been busy getting back into my "tri-life".  Since I was just getting back into it after over a year out of the game, I competed in sprints this year.

I will not bore you with the details of the past year, but needless to say I have been staying busy.

Completed
Commitment Day - 1/1/15
Tobacco Road Half Marathon - 3/15/15
Sampson County Super Sprint - 3/28/15
Granite Falls Sprint - 4/  /15
Rex Wellness Garner - 7/12/15
Rex Wellness Wakefield - 8/16/15
Rex Wellness Knightdale - 9/20/15

Still to go
City of Oaks Marathon
Skinny Turkey Half Marathon
Race 13.1 Durham

I am looking forward to renewing my blogging effort and hopefully this time I will be able to stick to it.

25 Days until Louisville

I know that it has been a while since I last posted a blog.  No good reason for my lack of posting.  Just haven't taken the time to put pen to paper or fingers to keys.  

I haven't posted since April so let's recap what's happened.  After getting over my Achilles strain, I have been slower than normal.  Almost a full minute per mile slower.  I am stumped at the cause of my slower pace.  But I am not going to complain about it.  There are too many others who would love to have this pace.  

In May, I signed up for my first OWS race.  It was at the Jordan Lake, the site of Ironman Raleigh 70.3.  Going into the swim, I felt pretty good.  It was just supposed to be a practice.  No pressure.  No worry about speed. It was also a wet suit swim.  So no worries, right?  Wrong. It was supposed to be a 1.2 mile swim.  I waded into the water and had a serious panic attack.  Never even started.  Turned around and got out of the water with my tail between my legs.  Sad, sad, sad.  

In June, I had Ironman Raleigh.  After the fiasco of the OWS, I was really nervous about the Ironman.  This was a race.  This was a big step up.  Arrived at the park, the same place as the open water swim.  The same start line.  It was June in NC and we didn't expect this race to wet suit legal but were pleasantly surprised to find out it was legal and fortunately I had my suit.  This time I actually made the swim start.  After several moments of panic, I was able to get going.  Stopping to visit many kayaks along the course, I was able to finish the swim.  Unfortunately some where along the way, I lost my timing chip so, I do not have an official time.  :(  I finished the bike and the run but without a timing chip, nothing was official.  Happy day. 

On July 1, I joined with Hope on 2 Wheels for a ride from Camp Joslin, Oxford, MA to Camp Nejeda, Stillwater Township, NJ.  It was 216 miles. This ride was to raise awareness of T1D.  Overall it was both an awesome day and dreadful day.  It rained all day.  At times we thought we were going to see Noah and the Ark.  We broke up into 3 groups and did the 216 miles in a relay.  Each leg was about 20 miles. There were some serious climbs and almost no flats.  I felt like I was riding in the Tour.  We had every category climb.  At the end of the day, we ended at Camp Nejeda and the welcome received from the older kids made it all worth it.  

Now here we are Aug 1st and Louisville will be in another 3 1/2 weeks.  I am both excited and completely scared out of my mind thinking about it.  I am going to take the Ironman in bite sized  chunks.  Get through the swim and then worry about the bike.  Get through the bike and then worry about the run.  Keying on drinking and eating on the bike.  And drinking on the run.  I have been working on drinking on the bike and have come a long way with it.  I have also been working on running with a water bottle. Also made huge strides with feeling comfortable.  Now I just have to put it all together.  

I am going to try and document how I am feeling over the next 3 weeks and then after Louisville.  No more 4 month hiatuses.  

Injury bug

Well I have been bitten royally by the injury bug.

The week following the Tobacco Road Marathon, I was out for a little run.  Nothing too intense, just getting back out there.  With about 2 miles to go in a short 6 mile run, I notice a pain in my left Achilles.  I thought it was just a twinge so I slowed down and finished my run.  Nothing major.  That night I had an event and was on my feet all night.  Not able to rest or treat it.  The next morning pain was intense and I could not really put any weight on my foot and again, I had another function that required me to walk around.

This was last Wednesday.  I thought I would take a couple of days off, R-I-C-E it and then get started.  Well as the week ended and my gait was ok, I thought I was safe.  Sunday afternoon, I go out for a run.  I tell myself to take it easy the first couple of miles just to ensure that everything was good.  I make it two miles and the pain once again kicks in.  Full blast.  So bad that I had to stop.  I actually had to call my wife to pick me up.  Talk about being bummed out.

But I am an optimist.  I think this is just going to help me with the other disciplines.  Lord knows I need to work on my swim and cycling so for now that is what I am going to focus on.  I think the extra time in the pool will definitely help.  I know that the extra time on the bike will help.