Last week Saturday I did Deschutes Dash and I finished in around 1 hour and 40 minutes. We decided to make a family weekend of it and stayed in Redmond. Karen offered to let me sleep on her couch in the cabin they rented. It would have been fine, but it was nice to have my whole family along. My swim wave did not start until 8:30 so we figured we didn't have to be there until 7:50 and we left Redmond by 7:30. I guess the rule of thumb is get there 1 hour before your wave because I almost did not get a spot for my bike. They were closing transition minutes after I was ready for the swim. When we got to the swim start (it was a bit of a walk) we only had a couple minutes until we actually started. We did play it a little too close.
The swim was COLD. I have never swam in water close to that temperature. Even with a wetsuit I was not ready for the intense cold. I started out and began to panic. I could not put my face in the water but I also am not very strong in breaststroke either. I also have a hard time swimming freestyle and breathing on the same side. I often get dizzy. I switched to backstroke and that was quite comfortable. Then I switched back to freestyle and switched back to backstroke again. I was trying not to panic. I could not see any kayaks. When I looked straight ahead the sun was very bright I could not see anything because of the glare. Once I got a good rhythm of freestyle, the swim was just about over. It was shallow enough that I could walk to the end of the swim. Karen was right ahead of me getting out of the water.
I ran to transition and starting to peel off my wetsuit while running. I forgot to unzip the ankles making it twice as hard to get off. It is intimidating when everyone is watching you in transition including my own kids. I could not get my helmet fitted right and someone said, "Your helmet is on backwards." I honestly think the shock and cold from the river jeopardized my thinking. Once I got all in my bike gear I was ready. Thankfully I clipped right into the pedals...no problems. I loved the course. It was a gradual incline for 6 miles and then turning around and going downhill. I got passed a few times, but I tried to keep a good pace going. I still struggle with drinking on the bike...I was little wobbly. Some of that might have been from being cold. My legs were numb the first couple miles on the bike. Karen was out of transition by the time I got back. She is a strong biker so I was not surprised.
I love the feeling of getting off the bike and getting ready for the run. Running is by far my strongest. This was run was hard though. It was all trail and pretty hilly at first. There were three big uphills and I walked up two. The course was also not clearly marked and I had anxiety about getting off course. I was really spent and depleted by the last mile. It reminded me of the Hagg Lake Triathlon where I had nothing left. The aid station was offering gu gel so I took one. I felt my energy bounce back quickly. There were a couple times there were no runners around me at all and that made it a bit lonely. Again I was second guessing myself I was off course. I passed Karen on the run course around the last mile. She only finished a few minutes behind me.
It was a great feeling finishing! I felt pretty good about my race and I loved having my family there the whole time. I don't think I drank enough or ate enough. I don't think I would have felt that depleted on the run had I not consumed more electrolytes and nutrients. I feel a lot more comfortable on the bike but I still think that needs to be my focus area if I do another triathlon.
We got home on Saturday and I rested most of Sunday. We had a church picnic and brought Hailey to camp. So it was somewhat of a busy day. We didn't do any major walking or hiking. On Monday I ran with Tracy and she was surprised I still wanted to run. I did not want to sleep in as I had quite a bit of work I had to do. We did about 4 and a half miles. I didn't feel too tired. I was able to keep up.
I took Tuesday off and slept later. I did go to swim on Wednesday. My goal was to push it a little more and I was able to do 1650 yards which is almost a mile and one of my longest swims yet. On Thursday I ran in the evening and pushed it again. I did a 6 mile run maintaining a little over 9 minute mile. I felt so strong and fast I felt like I could run forever.
On Friday afternoon I did a short six mile ride mostly off roading with Derek. We both got big Jamba Juices afterwards Derek is really interested in obstacle course racing right now. We looked into some local races he and I could do together. I was reading more about them on line in the afternoon. My stomach just started to feel nervous like and anxious. I was not sure if it was because I was overwhelmed by doing an obstacle course race or the Jamba Juice did not sit well (I have them all the time so that did not make sense). I was also reading a book about Ironman triathletes and their injuries and bike crashes. My stomach was like that off and on the rest of the night. My anxiety went up and that was almost worse than the stomach issues. I also started to get a sinus head ache and I felt fatigued. I started to feel irritable as well. Friday night I slept terrible. I skipped the gym on Saturday. I took it easy and did not do housework or garden work until late morning. My stomach felt better but my head still ached. I still felt overly anxious and irritable. Head ache cleared by the evening and again my appetite was normal. I slept bad again last night but I had caffeine at 7 PM. I felt pretty normal until the afternoon. We went to the park and I was playing frisbee with Rob. My sides ached like I could not catch my breath and my stomach felt off again. No head ache this time. Anxiety went back up after that. We have quite a few friends or who have or had sick kids this weekend. One of the girls in Hailey's cabin was sick. I think I caught a mild version of a stomach bug. I don't seem to be getting any worse, but it hasn't fully gone away either. We will see what this week brings. Hailey has felt fatigued all day and she says it from being at camp. I would not be surprised if she has a mild version of it too.
It is hard to know what to do after a triathlon. I am not going to do another one this season. I also don't want to do nothing. I am not very motivated unless I have some sort of goal or target. I think as of right now I am going to try to do Power (haven't been since May) once or twice a week, biking at least once a week, and running 2-3 times. I may hit Wednesday swim when I can but not every week. This will carry me through for the rest of the summer. I want to maintain a base but get back into Power especially if I do this obstacle course race with Derek. Once the end of September hits, I will ease off on the biking. I want to train for the Holiday Half Marathon again. Then I can focus on biking and swimming as we get closer to tri season. Ideally I would love to do a fall 2017 marathon for a charity. That's the big plan but it always seems to change.
I have had no IT band issues which I am forever grateful for. I need to be really good about stretching and taking care of myself. For now I just want my stomach to be back to normal.
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