First run back: Stiff!

It was a perfect morning to head out of the hotel and experience one of my favourite morning runs along the Arkansas river. What better place to see how the legs are recovering from the beating they took two weeks ago.

My FO and I headed out the door early-ish, enjoying the peace and quiet of a Saturday morning run. I completed a 15minute dynamic stretching routine in my room beforehand. The back of my legs feeling particularly tight. The first fews miles were a gradual loosening of the tired fibers. They loosened up well. At about mile 3 (I had only planned on a 40 minute run, but got carried away. It was such a nice day!) the familiar discomfort I had felt during the race returned to the left leg. The "pain" I felt during the ironman, I suspect, was overuse from the day and it's uneven running surface and it subsequently showed up around mile 3 today. Uncomfortable would be a good word for how it felt. Not prohibitive. However, we ran just under an hour, holding about 9.5min/mile and that was probably all my legs would have wanted. Possibly less!

Definitely still very much recovering the legs. Biking doesn't appear too arduous and I haven't been back in the pool yet. The 10 mile run in 2 weeks should be interesting to say the least!

Now for some more recovery and social excessing for a few weeks. So much more fun when you don't HAVE to do it.

Good luck to us all!

Growing

Blog 09/17/2013

It's been a little over a week since the end of this season's Challenge Henley. The legs are up and working and the body appears to be well in to recovery. Occasionally, I will wake up stiffer than the day before, or the body will throw me a phantom pain as I walk the streets.

The temptation is to bounce right out the door and go for a run or a bike, even a swim at the local pool. To resist that urge is taking a lot of self restraint. These two weeks off are important to let the body get over what we did to it. I have one of my favourite races coming up in a few weeks - Twin Cities Marathon and 10 mile. Such a great autumn/fall race! Really well supported and a fantastic course. Hopefully, I should be able to get out for a run starting next week and loosen up the old bones.

Come fall, come autumn trail running series. This is a series of events I would have liked to have done a few years ago. However, this will be the first shot I have at partaking as I am finally off! Having said that, having missed the first two already, it will be a short series!  It's a great way to diversify and have a bit of fun in the process. Really looking forward to some winter sports. No real purpose but to head outdoors and embrace the season. Hopefully, Constitution can sort out the bike I'm trying to wrestle away from him and put some larger tires on it and winter riding can take shape.

As the weeks float by, I come to realize how much more my second iron distance race has taught me. Possibly, I grew a little internally. Progressed if you like. More professional take on work and my responsibilities around the house. Less lounging. More practical application. It's easy to be lazy. It's easy to DNF, which I considered multiple times last week. What's hard is to push on. And push on I did. When crossing that line, in a sense, you turn around to shake the hand of your imagined self who has been pushing you around that day. The side of you that did not allow you to pull off the course and succumb to the desire to stop. This side of you is the part that allows you to grow as a person and realize that you are capable of so much more (not just in triathlon!).

Good luck to us all!

Reflection

A few days have now passed since Challenge Henley, my second Iron Distance Race. As I reflect on this race, I learn more and more from this entirely unique event. 

To be frank (you can still be you), this week, looking back on the race, it seems to be sticking in my memory much more so than Nice last summer. Yes, as I may have mentioned occasionally, the race hurt. However, it was the manner of the pain that profoundly stuck with me. I may well be lamenting a little, but, as I have said before, the biggest part of iron distance racing is what you learn about yourself. How far you can truly go. How much suffering you can take. Where you mind wonders during these times of duress etc.. I can safely say that I pushed that barrier a little bit further during this particular race. 

The more I think about how dynamic this race was and yet how long I took to adapt to my ever changing environment that day, the more I realize how poor my nutrition has been up until now. Simply put, until now, luck has been with me. Just the right temperature and just the right distance and the combination of many other factors have allowed me to believe I had just the right plan. It was applied last Sunday and missed the mark by some ways. Not that half of a bottle of nutrition was missed, but why it was missed and how it unravelled the bike portion. This realization has pushed me, in these last few days, to begin to really have a good look at how to more accurately formulate what my actual needs are during the long distance event.

 This off season I plan on joining forces with a nutritionist who specializes in this type of fueling and really narrow down what it is that I, me as a unique individual athlete, entirely separate from anyone else's body, need during 14hrs of endurance. Why? Because I never wish to feel how I felt during the last 37 miles of that bike portion! I want to develop a plan A, B & C for my third race in Boulder next year and ensure that altitude and heat do not derail the effort that will be given to next August.  

Now, time for a month off and a lot of sleeping and eating. Where's that double chocolate, New York cheesecake ice cream!?

Good luck to us all!

Iron Distance Race #2

Challenge Henley September 8th 2013

I can safely say that hurt more than the last one. It takes time to reflect on how a race went and get an idea of what went right and wrong, but here is my initial reaction. 

The morning was cold and very foggy. The day before the temperature had dropped by 20f. A combination of this drop and the warmer river water presented us with a very challenging swim. Not to mention that the outside air temp. was only 45f. A combination of these two factors lead to quite a disorientating swim. You couldn't see where you were or where you were going, all the while trying to keep the extremities from numbing. Compared to last years Mediterranean swim quite the turn around. 

However, that said, considering it as a river swim, I felt it went well. 

The minute we exited the swim it dawned on me quite how cold the first hour on the bike was going to be. There was no sunshine for at least 3hours in to the bike. During the first lap I combatted my hands and feet numbing, which made changing gears interesting, and a painful stomach. Turns out I was hungry and by the start of lap two, I was feeling better. However, that first lap would come to bite me at the beginning of the 3rd lap. I had spent so much time warming myself that I had failed to consume a lot of my nutrition. A monumental bonk ensued and the emergency reserves were quickly enacted. I will seriously have to examine how I fuel on the bike for future races. An new approach is needed. 

Somehow though, probably a combination of my fantastic support and little nutrition, I made it to the run. Now this is where the course gets really cheaky. Despite the subtly hilly bike course, you are then presented with a run portion that has a large amount of off road running, across grass fields and gravel paths. This would have a major impact of my run. I was running in my normal running shoes which really weren't up to the task. Should have studied more! I started off well enough, but shortly in to the 3rd lap the legs began to complain. Nutrition had improved but the hurt had begun. Luckily, my support came to the rescue again and I had my brother along side me for the final portion of the run. Saved me. Literally! 

As usual, I was emotional at the finish. The crowds were amazing. Very local feel   Huge!!!

Would I do this race again? Not sure. Wasn't happy about the run course, but it was very worthwhile. Another one in the books. Time for some much needed time off!

Good luck to us all!

Registration!

Registered and ready to go!!!