Silly Girl

I have no excuse for what I am about to tell you.  I honestly could kick myself.  You may recall the iron deficiency issue I had back in IMC training.  In fact, just in the last 6 weeks, I have had two different people tell me that they think of me and that issue when coaching women, and make sure they are tested for their ferritin levels.  Yes, I realize now this was the universe's way of telling me to 'CLUE IN'.  "Hello!  McFly!!!" (knock on head)

I knew that something was off.  My training was going along pretty well.  I was making good improvements, and even shocking myself a few times at what I was able to do.  Then all of a sudden, my power started dropping a bit, and I was super tired all the time.  The recognition problem is that isn't all that much out of the ordinary, and I attributed it to just the result of getting back to regular training.  Then I started to feel like shit after every workout.  And you know, once in a while that's normal, but every workout IS NOT NORMAL.  I suspected my iron levels were low again.

I went and got a blood test, and found out last week, sure enough, ferritin is way down.  Back in IMC training, my levels were at 20, which was way low.  Anything under 50 is considered not great.  My levels right now are at 12.  Oops.  Well Hello!!!  No wonder I feel like shit and can't pull in the power numbers I was pulling only 6 weeks ago.  Not to mention every time I stand up I get a major head rush, and have no energy.

So, I am back on supplements.  (I know I should have been on them all along).  No infusion for me this time - I don't think I have enough time to do it, and this is not a key race for me, so it will be what it will be.  As Janet pointed out - at least I am not finding out smack in the middle of IM training.  I am finding out now while I can still seriously do something about it before we get to that.  So as soon as I am back from the race, I will be looking into what the heck is causing my iron to be continually low.  I think it's time to see a naturopath.  I've got the whole winter to get this under control before the heavy training load comes back into play.

Let this be a gentle reminder to all you women out there - make sure you are regularly checking your ferritin levels.  Recall that ferritin is the protein that stores iron for later use - low levels indicate a deficiency and may mean you are anemic.  Take Vitamin C with your iron supplement, as this helps increase the absorption rate.  And I've just read that Yellow Dock - an herb - is a good source of iron and a great companion to iron supplements, given its mild laxative effect.  The root can be brewed into a tea which extracts all of the nutritional and medicinal properties.  So I guess I'm off to Whole Foods to pick some of that up too!

Happy Training, and eat your spinach!
Kat

Recon: Muskoka

Last week I was Up North.  My annual trek to cottage country where I spent my summers as a kid, and that still holds, will always hold, a measure of peace and connection with my soul.

Sure, it's been a couple of different cottages, camps, and so on, but always up there in Muskoka.  This year I went later than usual.  I am usually there in July.  But given the race, and the cost to ship my bike, I decided to head up just a few weeks before the race, and then leave the bike there.  I can ride the roadie during taper back here at home.

So the race is actually about 1:20 away from our place up there.  Mum dragged a good family friend, Sandy McLean, along with us.  When we said we'd leave at 6:30 am, her response was - sure, why not, haven't seen the Park at that time for years.  Lol.

The bike course is actually a little long.  Instead of 56 miles, it's about 58.5 - I guess they couldn't move the lake.  ;)  The course is a lollipop style, with the stick going from the resort to Lake of Bays, then around the lake, and back up the stick to transition. My plan for this day was to cover the full course, without spending too much time, and keeping the ladies waiting around too long.  I planned for 3 hours, and so figured I would just do the 'stick' once on the way back.  Good thing too, since we had some challenges finding the route.

The day was very gray, misty, and cool.  Like, I was freezing for the first 30 minutes.  And I wasn't wet from coming out of the lake.  !!!  I took this shot shortly after I left Mum and Sandy, but it stayed this way throughout my ride really.  Unfortunately, I missed my best shot of the ride about 45 minutes in, thinking I'd come across another similar one, but alas that didn't happen.  So this is what you get.  ;)

So the ride is pretty tough.  Which I expected.  But not quite this.  First two thirds of the ride are quite similar to the riding I've been doing from my house in North Alpharetta up through Cherokee County.  A few hefty climbs and lots of rollers.  But the roads are very rough is some spots.  Like, I'm talking rough as in you just wouldn't ride your bike on these roads given the choice.  There are other spots that are "good", as in your standard road condition - Hwy 35 and the latter part of 117.  (Yes, Mum, I know 117 has never been in good shape).  Then I hit the last third of the lollipop, and my God. Bredin Road is a spiderweb of cracked pavement, and then it moves onto South Portage Rd.  This road looks like it is freshly paved.  And true, it does not have all the splits and cracks found on other portions of the course.  Having said that, I am not exactly sure what it is they tarred over, but I have never experienced vibration on my bike like I did on this road.  It seriously just takes it out of you.  And the hills are FREAKING HARD.  Now I admit that my experience may have been skewed by the fact that I was tired, and my neck was killing me, and around every bend I kept thinking "okay surely the lollipop ends up around the next bend".  Some of these hills have at least a 15% grade on them.  And then finally, the 'stick', which of course I hadn't ridden at the beginning of today's ride, and APPARENTLY I was paying no attention as we were driving it, cuz it is also laden with some pretty steep climbs that caught me by surprise.

Needless to say, I totally understand now why the bike splits are uncharacteristically slow for this course.  Now there may have been additional issues last year (weather maybe?) but only one girl in my AG was under 3 hrs.  That says something.  I had been hoping for a 3:00 split.  There is frankly not a hope in hell of that happening.  I think in my current conditioning (more on that in another post) I will be lucky to pull off a 3:30.  C'est la vie.

I am glad I was able to ride the course.  Especially that South Portage road section.  I'm not sure what I'll do about the neck thing - I just simply have not ridden enough to build up the aero muscles again this summer, and after about 2:30 it just becomes the only thing I can think about.  Coupled with the crazy vibration, it is going to make for an interesting challenge.

Right. Got a few more rides to get in before the race, but what I've done is what I've got.  No additional fitness gains possible before race day.  Thankfully, the day turned around, and I had this at the end of it, which frankly was the best damn Tim's coffee I've ever had.

Happy Training!

Kat

Confidence Builders

Well, that is what I had hoped this weekend would be full of.  Turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag.

I did hit double digits on the run, Friday, and so that was good.  It was a little rough-going on miles 7 thru 10, but I chalked that up to the fact that I was running in Georgia at 1:30 in the afternoon.  Yes, we have had a summer of rain, but the heat finally started a week or so ago.  Not that it was as hot as most summers here, but you know, it's all relative.  For this summer, it was hot, and who has had a chance to acclimate to that with all the rain we have had??  Not this girl.  And no matter how long I'm gone from Canada, the fact remains that my genes don't mix with this crazy heat and humidity, no matter how relative it is.

Saturday, I hoped to hit 50 miles on the bike.  I was bound and determined to do it, with just 5 weeks till the race.  The first 2 hours were great, I hit my power targets, and then it all went downhill from there.  Once again, it was later in the day, and I didn't eat first (I know I know).  But still.  I barely made it home grinding the pedals around like I was pulling a 300 pound child off the back.  Goodness.  I just watched that power number drop and drop and drop like a stone thrown into a deep pond.  It was disheartening.  And I never made fifty.  48.7 and I didn't have an ounce of energy in me to go another 1.3.  (Although, I think my Garmin is messed up, it keeps losing a mile or two at the turnarounds).

Then Sunday came, and the brick was not happening.  At least not as prescribed.  My warmup felt like I was at the end of a loooong ride.  There was no power.  So I did an easy spin for 45 minutes, and ran 3 off the bike.  Was supposed to do 2:15 and 5.  Shit happens.

Luckily though, I did end the training weekend on a good note with an added workout - an OWS. (open water swim for the uninitiated).  I haven't been in open water since Vegas, and with a race this coming weekend, I knew I had to get out there just to get the first one out of the way.  (Remember kids, nothing new on race day!).  Klafter agreed to come out with me "just in case" - thanks buddy!  (btw Brett was pretty shocked that I managed to get you out there...lol). And so we went out to Mary Alice Park, and swam for 45 minutes.  Ok, 30ish of actual swimming.  And to my surprise, not a single moment of OW panic.  I guess that just goes to show that I really have licked that one but good.  I've done enough OWS'ing that it just doesn't phase me anymore.  The first loop felt very awkward, though it was pretty wavy, which probably explains it.  Second loop felt a lot better.  Though surprisingly the Garmin says I was faster on the first one, since that is not how it felt.

Bottom line is, my body is tired.  I'm asking it to do a lot just 12 weeks back.  I also had a TTZ (triple time zone) trip last week.  I'd been home for 5 weeks before that -- the longest I'd been home since last June (yes 2012) -- and so maybe my body forgot how it feels.  But I have slept more in the last 4 days than I have in the last 2 weeks.  And I don't feel sick, so that's not it.  I basically slept almost the whole weekend.   Literally.

And so I'm listening.  Resting up.  After all, Muskoka is not my end game.  Can't burn myself up like I have before.  Slow and steady training wins the race, and I have a long road in front of me.  My game plan is different - it's called listening to your body. This is an easy week leading up to an Oly on Saturday, so it's good timing.  Next week I can jump back in for the final push.

My delish smoothie tonight: kale, blueberries, plain greek yogurt, coconut water, chia seed, flax, salba, fresh lime, and a little cran juice.  And an added bonus - skype chats with my Mum AND my daughter.  Great way to end the day!

Our bodies are smart - we just have to learn to listen to the subtle messages (before they become loud screams).  So the weekend wasn't quite the confidence booster I had hoped for.  As Brett reminded me tonight, so what if I haven't hit the distance on the bike yet...my legs have thousands of miles in them.  And he's right.  So here's to listening and being smart about training long.

Happy Training
Kat

The Return of the Run

The run was the first thing to come back.  No doubt because of all three disciplines this was the one I actually continued, if even just a little, over my 'time off'.  And when I say a little, I really do mean a little.  Gotta love Training Peaks and its gift of historical views.  In the press of a few buttons, I can tell you that between Vegas (last September) and my official Restart (I'm calling it 4.29.13) I ran an average of 6.4 miles per week.  LOL.  And the 6.4 is greatly skewed (higher) by my initial attempt to restart in January before I got super sick.  Lots of weeks with no running.

At any rate, I am now running an average of 13 miles per week.  I know!  Still relatively low.  When I look back at 2011, I was running 25 miles per week, peaking out at 45 per week in the later blocks.  And even last year I was running more miles per week, even with all my injuries.  So I still have a ways to go.

Surprisingly, despite my still low weekly miles, I set a 5k PR this year.  Not that I've run many 5k races in my life, maybe about 4 to be precise, but I did do one in May as a run test, and it was a sad 25:50.  July 4, I ran another at 23:26 -- 7:28 pace.  It was a small race, but I did win the master's division.  And shocked the hell outta myself with that pace.  I was hoping for a 7:45 at best, but was gonna be happy with 8... 7:28 blew my socks off!

Of course along with a new PR comes higher pace expectations for weekly runs.  Long run pace increases seemed fine, and I was actually already there.  But the weekly treadmill speed workouts - that's where it really hurt.  When I first started back, I had a hard time with 8:45's for the 3 minute intervals.  As the weeks went by, I managed to push up to 8:00's, and was pretty pleased with myself.  HAHA.  Starting the week after that PR, I was looking at 7:20 or better for 3 minutes at a time.  Amazing what happens when you push yourself, and believe you can do it.  Sometimes we need a race situation to help prove to ourselves that we can do it. I am now running 7:13's for 4 minutes at a time (3 of them).  I'm sure by the time race day comes, I will be running 4 sets of 4 minute 7's or better.

Yesterday I hit double digits on my long run for the first time since last September.  Halfway through the run I was wondering whose bright idea it was to do 10 (yes, it was mine), but I knew I needed to hit 10 this week to feel good about where I need to be.  It was tough, and didn't help that I didn't run till the afternoon, but I got it done without falling apart.  Fell asleep on the couch after, and was sore today, but I did it.  If I didn't have the race coming up, I'd probably drop back a bit to ramp up even slower, but that's not the current plan.  After September, I will do just that, but for now, need to keep ramping up to 13.

So keep at it.  No matter how far down the fitness ladder you have fallen, trust me, it does comes back.  And it doesn't take that long.  The key is to take it slow, and allow yourself to be slow for a while.  Recovery is key!  Trust that it will come back if you don't push yourself too hard.  I'm sure by next year, likely January, I will be back up to my 25+ miles per week getting ready for IM, and I'll be able to handle it because I haven't pushed it too hard or too fast right now.

Happy Training
Kat