Recovery
Yesterday was my first ever trip to a med tent, all inclusive with an IV. Not exactly how things were supposed to go, but hey, we ask a lot of our bodies, and in return we should be taking care of them, right?
I was on the fence about racing Soma. I raced all summer long, had a lot of success and had a blast! I wondered if I should be doing a long training weekend instead. But, I talked it over with Michelle (probably secretly hoping she said no to racing) and she thought it would be a good idea. I raced Soma last year before IMAZ and had great days at both.
I waited until Tuesday night before they shut down online registration. I had some concerns about the water (the last race was almost cancelled), and to be honest I was worried about being a bit run down. The past 6 weeks have been a whirlwind between our last month of fun and training and visits in CDA to packing up and moving back home and trying to get settled and back to normal life in 24hrs. That included hoping off a plane, getting the house re-opened and filling it with food and essentials, waking up at 4am to run 18miles and back to normal work hours and trying to fit in training around my 6-3pm hrs. Seriously, I commend those of your (and I see it all over social media) who seem to have such crazy active social lives while training, working and taking care of their household!
Thankfully when we got home the weather was gorgeous. It started to warm up for the weekend, but we survived a 4hr ride with intervals (and felt SOLID! all the wind and hill training in CDA was paying off) and a 6 mile run starting slower than IM pace and ending at 70.3 pace. I was super excited I survived the heat and ran well!
The rest of the week was filled with again, prepping for another trip, still doing all the laundry, vet visits, work, writing training schedules and replying to athletes (love love love this!!), finally getting to my niece's last volleyball game and fitting in all the training. When I'm this busy, I don't sleep. I toss and turn and the next thing I know it's time to wake up. I know it's not good for me, I preach rest to my athletes, and know how important it is. I knew we were heading to Mexico for some fun, and I actually took some time off work to just sit on the beach and read a book vs being glued to my computer. I hoped the down time would help me recoup and catch up on sleep and rest.
Friday in Mexico we had a 2hr run. We got up at 6 hoping that was early enough, but unfortunately it wasn't. Shane and I were drenched head to toe within about 20mins. We eased into the run staying aerobic for the first hour (which was SLOW in ~85 degree and 90% humidity) and stayed close to the house so that we could refill water/Osmo. For the second hour we did 12x 3mins strong (typically 10k pace+-) on 2 mins recovery. Heading one direction there was a very slight wind at our backs and no air. At one point Shane just stopped and said he was seeing stars so we promptly turned around to get the slight breeze. We spent the last 40mins going back and forth for short increments trying to get air. We ended the run pretty depleted, but had all sorts of goodies back at the house to help replenish.
Typically in Mexico we spend the days at the beach when not working, having some day time drinks but are usually in bed early! This weekend we had some guests and well, we stayed up way too late, went to a concert that was so hot we looked like we just ran our 2hr workout again from sweat, and until Monday when our company left we basically collapsed. Monday afternoon we finally sat down on the beach for a quiet afternoon with the dogs and went to bed at 9.
We headed back home a little earlier than planned to get some things settled. Shane had some client stuff to get figured out and I had about 300 work emails to sort through from the 2 days of PTO. My body was off this week. Some hormonal stuff going on that was way more off than normal, but I happened to have an appt with my naturapathic/endocrinologist so a great time to discuss. We adjusted a few of my supplements and I focused on hydration and clean eating all week. I wasn't sleeping well at all, and when I woke up Saturday am feeling absolutely horrible after about an hour off and on of sleep I knew I had to basically shut down the rest of the day to have any hope of a successful Sunday. Of course everything takes longer than you think, and by the time I had my bags packed, bike dropped off, laundry finished, dinner prepped it was 5pm. I spend 90mins in the recovery boots, ate some salty potato chips while playing on my computer and shortly after dinner was in bed by 8:15.
I woke up feeling pretty good! A little groggy, but so much better than expected, and most importantly, I slept. Race morning was seamless. I was in the water, feeling calm and good and ready to go. My goal for the day was to swim strong, bike hard and let whatever happens on the run happen. This race wasn't important to me, it was a training day, a and a day to push my limits and be out there racing with my team and friends! In my head I wanted to find 1:48 to take off last years time to get my sub 5 and I was pretty sure I had it in me. My only fear was the heat on the run. Last year I suffered all summer long training in it. This year I, well, didn't suffer much at all :)
I started on the buoy line in the swim. I noticed a few of the faster girls on the outside, so I wondered if I should try to go over there and hang on to their feet. In the past, in this lake I go out bolting trying to hang out to the fastest girls only to loose my steam and end up in no man's land so I decided to stay on my own path. At IMAZ last year I stayed way outside the buoys and missed a lot of the draft and spent way too much time zig zagging, so I wanted to practice staying on the line, no matter how crowded it got. And oh boy did it get crowded. By the first buoy we caught the wave ahead of us and each buoy after that there was another set of colored caps. Before I knew it on the way back in it was a rainbow of caps and swim waves. I felt like I was swimming strong and steady. When I got to the last turn I was with no one in my wave but could see a few of them ahead of me getting out. When I got to the steps I had to sit and wait to get pulled out. I was frustrated, but nothing I could do. As soon as I was up the stairs I looked at my watch and saw 33:xx and was happy. My coach will argue this swim time is still not indicative of my hard work, but right there was my best TTL swim and just under what I needed to break 5hrs!
I bolted out on the bike feeling strong and fast. I knew I had some competition about 3-5mins ahead of me from the swim but just kept clicking the miles away. My legs felt good and breathing controlled. It was definitely more crowded and a big fat draft fest, so I just tried to ride clean and safe. I saw a few girls ahead of me and realized they were moving, so wasn't sure how much I'd have to give to try to gain some time, but just kept up with my plan. Around 3/4 the way through the second loop I started to feel funny. Light headed, woozy, and almost confused. I was using my garmin to look at pace and time each lap but looked up and realized that the people I had been riding around the first 2 loops were gone. I was basically riding alone and had dropped way back. I tried to take some water from an aid station and pour it on me. I didn't feel hot, but maybe I was? My nutrition was on, I had taken my electrolytes. I took a gel and a few minutes later threw it up. The last 6 miles were spent throwing up to the side of my bars, then stopping and heaving on mill. I coasted down to the end of the road where I saw my husband and friend and they took my bike so I could run over to corner and continue throwing up. I continued this for about 20mins before my husband over-road my decision to just go get my stuff and head home and took me to medical.
They put ice on me and tried to get me to drink water, but I just threw it up more. Then I started shivering so I got a blanked. I was still not good, and they finally put an IV in with some fluids and anti-nauseau meds. After an hour in there, and sucking down the IV, I felt good enough to head home. I was still cold, so I put on my morning clothes and we walked back to the car.
The EMTs said classic heat stroke. I suppose it probably was, but just so weird that I never had any signs, I didn't feel too hot. Everything just came on so suddenly. I talked a while with Michelle trying to figure out what happened. There is no one thing. My nutrition has been dialed in for 2 years. I think there are several factors, many mentioned above. I have not made one of the most important factors of training one of my priorities. Rest and recovery. My fitness is there. It has been. My head is there, it was a long work in progress but it too is there. And while yes I spent a summer away training in beautiful conditions, I definitely need to be more aware of the conditions and take that into account (as I pull my 2 bike bottles off my bike and one of them is only 1/2 empty... oops!)
Today I feel like I have a massive hangover with out any of the fun! I'm spending the next two days re-hydrating and staying cool and resting, then hope to be back to my normal routine by Wed. I've got one last long weekend of training this weekend and I mentally need it! I need to get out on the b-line and practice the wind and the non stop aero riding.
I hope I'm not discounting the race when I say I'm ok with having to drop out. While CDA was my A race for the year, when I decided (oh halfway through the bike at CDA) that I would be doing IMAZ, that because my next focus. Soma was a last minute race decision for me, but I am very I'm bummed to have missed out on the opportunity to have raced some local ladies that were just hammering it out there. They would have pushed me way out of my comfort zone and it would have been a GREAT challenge for me to try to leave it all out there. I'm also bummed that I missed my sub 5 opportunity, but there will be more! And lastly, I didn't get to see my pay it forward athlete have a super stellar day!
The next 4 weeks will be spent focusing back on my recovery and down time! Huge congrats to everyone who raced and smashed that course out there yesterday. Even more huge thanks to so many concerned texts, calls and even visits in the med tent :) Lamaniac will be fine and back out there in a couple of days :)
I was on the fence about racing Soma. I raced all summer long, had a lot of success and had a blast! I wondered if I should be doing a long training weekend instead. But, I talked it over with Michelle (probably secretly hoping she said no to racing) and she thought it would be a good idea. I raced Soma last year before IMAZ and had great days at both.
I waited until Tuesday night before they shut down online registration. I had some concerns about the water (the last race was almost cancelled), and to be honest I was worried about being a bit run down. The past 6 weeks have been a whirlwind between our last month of fun and training and visits in CDA to packing up and moving back home and trying to get settled and back to normal life in 24hrs. That included hoping off a plane, getting the house re-opened and filling it with food and essentials, waking up at 4am to run 18miles and back to normal work hours and trying to fit in training around my 6-3pm hrs. Seriously, I commend those of your (and I see it all over social media) who seem to have such crazy active social lives while training, working and taking care of their household!
Thankfully when we got home the weather was gorgeous. It started to warm up for the weekend, but we survived a 4hr ride with intervals (and felt SOLID! all the wind and hill training in CDA was paying off) and a 6 mile run starting slower than IM pace and ending at 70.3 pace. I was super excited I survived the heat and ran well!
The rest of the week was filled with again, prepping for another trip, still doing all the laundry, vet visits, work, writing training schedules and replying to athletes (love love love this!!), finally getting to my niece's last volleyball game and fitting in all the training. When I'm this busy, I don't sleep. I toss and turn and the next thing I know it's time to wake up. I know it's not good for me, I preach rest to my athletes, and know how important it is. I knew we were heading to Mexico for some fun, and I actually took some time off work to just sit on the beach and read a book vs being glued to my computer. I hoped the down time would help me recoup and catch up on sleep and rest.
Friday in Mexico we had a 2hr run. We got up at 6 hoping that was early enough, but unfortunately it wasn't. Shane and I were drenched head to toe within about 20mins. We eased into the run staying aerobic for the first hour (which was SLOW in ~85 degree and 90% humidity) and stayed close to the house so that we could refill water/Osmo. For the second hour we did 12x 3mins strong (typically 10k pace+-) on 2 mins recovery. Heading one direction there was a very slight wind at our backs and no air. At one point Shane just stopped and said he was seeing stars so we promptly turned around to get the slight breeze. We spent the last 40mins going back and forth for short increments trying to get air. We ended the run pretty depleted, but had all sorts of goodies back at the house to help replenish.
Typically in Mexico we spend the days at the beach when not working, having some day time drinks but are usually in bed early! This weekend we had some guests and well, we stayed up way too late, went to a concert that was so hot we looked like we just ran our 2hr workout again from sweat, and until Monday when our company left we basically collapsed. Monday afternoon we finally sat down on the beach for a quiet afternoon with the dogs and went to bed at 9.
We headed back home a little earlier than planned to get some things settled. Shane had some client stuff to get figured out and I had about 300 work emails to sort through from the 2 days of PTO. My body was off this week. Some hormonal stuff going on that was way more off than normal, but I happened to have an appt with my naturapathic/endocrinologist so a great time to discuss. We adjusted a few of my supplements and I focused on hydration and clean eating all week. I wasn't sleeping well at all, and when I woke up Saturday am feeling absolutely horrible after about an hour off and on of sleep I knew I had to basically shut down the rest of the day to have any hope of a successful Sunday. Of course everything takes longer than you think, and by the time I had my bags packed, bike dropped off, laundry finished, dinner prepped it was 5pm. I spend 90mins in the recovery boots, ate some salty potato chips while playing on my computer and shortly after dinner was in bed by 8:15.
I woke up feeling pretty good! A little groggy, but so much better than expected, and most importantly, I slept. Race morning was seamless. I was in the water, feeling calm and good and ready to go. My goal for the day was to swim strong, bike hard and let whatever happens on the run happen. This race wasn't important to me, it was a training day, a and a day to push my limits and be out there racing with my team and friends! In my head I wanted to find 1:48 to take off last years time to get my sub 5 and I was pretty sure I had it in me. My only fear was the heat on the run. Last year I suffered all summer long training in it. This year I, well, didn't suffer much at all :)
I started on the buoy line in the swim. I noticed a few of the faster girls on the outside, so I wondered if I should try to go over there and hang on to their feet. In the past, in this lake I go out bolting trying to hang out to the fastest girls only to loose my steam and end up in no man's land so I decided to stay on my own path. At IMAZ last year I stayed way outside the buoys and missed a lot of the draft and spent way too much time zig zagging, so I wanted to practice staying on the line, no matter how crowded it got. And oh boy did it get crowded. By the first buoy we caught the wave ahead of us and each buoy after that there was another set of colored caps. Before I knew it on the way back in it was a rainbow of caps and swim waves. I felt like I was swimming strong and steady. When I got to the last turn I was with no one in my wave but could see a few of them ahead of me getting out. When I got to the steps I had to sit and wait to get pulled out. I was frustrated, but nothing I could do. As soon as I was up the stairs I looked at my watch and saw 33:xx and was happy. My coach will argue this swim time is still not indicative of my hard work, but right there was my best TTL swim and just under what I needed to break 5hrs!
I bolted out on the bike feeling strong and fast. I knew I had some competition about 3-5mins ahead of me from the swim but just kept clicking the miles away. My legs felt good and breathing controlled. It was definitely more crowded and a big fat draft fest, so I just tried to ride clean and safe. I saw a few girls ahead of me and realized they were moving, so wasn't sure how much I'd have to give to try to gain some time, but just kept up with my plan. Around 3/4 the way through the second loop I started to feel funny. Light headed, woozy, and almost confused. I was using my garmin to look at pace and time each lap but looked up and realized that the people I had been riding around the first 2 loops were gone. I was basically riding alone and had dropped way back. I tried to take some water from an aid station and pour it on me. I didn't feel hot, but maybe I was? My nutrition was on, I had taken my electrolytes. I took a gel and a few minutes later threw it up. The last 6 miles were spent throwing up to the side of my bars, then stopping and heaving on mill. I coasted down to the end of the road where I saw my husband and friend and they took my bike so I could run over to corner and continue throwing up. I continued this for about 20mins before my husband over-road my decision to just go get my stuff and head home and took me to medical.
They put ice on me and tried to get me to drink water, but I just threw it up more. Then I started shivering so I got a blanked. I was still not good, and they finally put an IV in with some fluids and anti-nauseau meds. After an hour in there, and sucking down the IV, I felt good enough to head home. I was still cold, so I put on my morning clothes and we walked back to the car.
The EMTs said classic heat stroke. I suppose it probably was, but just so weird that I never had any signs, I didn't feel too hot. Everything just came on so suddenly. I talked a while with Michelle trying to figure out what happened. There is no one thing. My nutrition has been dialed in for 2 years. I think there are several factors, many mentioned above. I have not made one of the most important factors of training one of my priorities. Rest and recovery. My fitness is there. It has been. My head is there, it was a long work in progress but it too is there. And while yes I spent a summer away training in beautiful conditions, I definitely need to be more aware of the conditions and take that into account (as I pull my 2 bike bottles off my bike and one of them is only 1/2 empty... oops!)
Today I feel like I have a massive hangover with out any of the fun! I'm spending the next two days re-hydrating and staying cool and resting, then hope to be back to my normal routine by Wed. I've got one last long weekend of training this weekend and I mentally need it! I need to get out on the b-line and practice the wind and the non stop aero riding.
I hope I'm not discounting the race when I say I'm ok with having to drop out. While CDA was my A race for the year, when I decided (oh halfway through the bike at CDA) that I would be doing IMAZ, that because my next focus. Soma was a last minute race decision for me, but I am very I'm bummed to have missed out on the opportunity to have raced some local ladies that were just hammering it out there. They would have pushed me way out of my comfort zone and it would have been a GREAT challenge for me to try to leave it all out there. I'm also bummed that I missed my sub 5 opportunity, but there will be more! And lastly, I didn't get to see my pay it forward athlete have a super stellar day!
The next 4 weeks will be spent focusing back on my recovery and down time! Huge congrats to everyone who raced and smashed that course out there yesterday. Even more huge thanks to so many concerned texts, calls and even visits in the med tent :) Lamaniac will be fine and back out there in a couple of days :)
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