Friends, Vacation, and Home Calls

Back from vacation now.  Had a very good week of training and good week of wine tasting and trying fun restaurants with Melissa.  Big Sur and Napa was a great place to bike, although the biking weather was less than ideal with winds and rain and coldness.  I run in any weather, but I have to admit I’m a very fair weather biker.  It’s not often I’ll brave the weather on the bike…it’s just not as enjoyable and I know cars are not as aware of their surroundings with poor visibility and I don’t have the breaking or cornering ability on my tri bike as I do on dry ground.  I found it interesting as I read recently that the only thing that separates my bike and the road is the piece of rubber the size of a postage stamp.  Going around corners on wet pavement can be a frightening concept at 20mph when that postage stamp adhesive decides to let loose. 

Overall I tallied 320 miles of biking on the week, but didn’t do a lot of running.  Everything went well, that is until I got back to Midway Airport and my bike didn’t show up.  I told the lady at the counter as I was filing the claim I could be cool until she told me she couldn’t pay for something.  Fortunately, they found my bike and delivered it late the night we got back.  It was a big relief as even if Southwest Airlines would pay for it, (not only because I was using Get A Grips bike case) I did put a lot of time into getting everything the way I like it on my bike.  Yes, I know that it sounds kinda trivial but I would’ve had to replace probably about 30 separate purchases of what I had in that bike case.  That could’ve been really enjoyable to go bike shopping but would’ve been a lot of time as well.

The lack of running is a little unfortunate as tomorrow I’m taking part in the ChiTown Half Marathon in Lincoln Park and Lakeview.  I’m looking forward to it but it feels strangely different as I am running, but am trying to hold myself back from racing it.  Simply put, I don’t think I have the run training in yet to race the distance at a speed that my hip flexor can handle.  And the very last thing I want is to compromise my training for this race.  My goal is to go out with a good pace and maintain it for the race.  I’m trying to approach it as more of a training run than a race but I’ll admit, it will be tough to hold back. 

In order to keep it at more of a training run I’ve been trying to maintain more of a normal routine, like take home-call today and tonight for my clinic.  Unfortunately, today this has been a much bigger commitment than normal as the prescribing system for the clinic was down and prescriptions that the doctors in clinic this morning thought made it to the pharmacy didn’t actually get there.  This means every patient that got a prescription from clinic this morning is showing up to the pharmacy, not finding their prescription there, and calling the answering service to page me so I can call the pharmacy to fill the prescription.  This, along with my internet going in and out today, has made for a less than enjoyable day and I imagine will make for a less than restful pre-race sleep.

A few inspirations coming my way this week from friends...First of all, thanks to all my friends who read my blog, ask about my training, or have given me encouragement along the way.  I really appreciate some of the rare comments that appear on this blog or other emails I get from it.  I’m very proud of Melissa who has moved into the status of regular runner.  A couple months ago she said she wanted to take up running again and set her goal at the half-marathon distance.  Today she completed the first 5 mile run of her life!!!  What I truly enjoy about running and triathlons is that regardless of how long you have been doing it, everyone can get the same results from it--feeling of accomplishment, better health, pushing yourself...

Big salute also goes out to friends Heather, Chris, and Jon who moved into the status of warriors.  This morning they completed the Lake Geneva Warrior Dash in some frigid temps.  From what I understand they have a couple battle scars to prove it. It's only a matter of time until I convince all three of them start triathlons.  Chris & Heather are both regular runners who just bought bikes, and Jon is a mere Groupon away from toeing the line.

Learning to travel

Getting back to my normal training-albeit slowly for the past few weeks.  Melissa & I are on vacation this week in Monterey, California for 4 days then 4 days in Napa Valley.  Thanks to Get A Grip Cycles, I was able to pack my triathlon bike in a bike box and bring it here with me.  This meant I had to learn how to safely dismantle and pack it so I could easily put it back together.  I was a little nervous with doing this properly and getting it through the airlines with bike intact.  Kevin, the owner of Get A Grip gave me a few tips on how not to screw it up.  It might have been easier for me to rent a bike here instead but I figure this week is a good trial for me for when I go to Kona.  The bike made it safely and I was able to put it back together this morning.  Planning to try it out tomorrow morning on Big Sur if the weather holds.  Its about 50 and rainy here while Chicago is enjoying a sunny 75 degrees.

Melissa's uncle, Tim, has a home in Monterey but lives primarily in Los Gatos, about an hour north of there, where we stayed last night.  On the agenda this morning was a run in search of some incline.  Tim and his girlfriend Patti gave me some tips last night about where some good elevation could be found.  I finished the first part of the run through a couple hills and was heading to a second area with some trail running, but as a runner seeking hills, I could never pass up a stretch street with the name Overlook Road.  I deviated from my course, up around bend after bend I could hear the stream trickling down the mountain and surrounded by luscious trees that were straight out of a Berenstain Bears book.  My journey up took about 20 minutes of what I thought to be about 1.5 miles.  Once at the top, I turned around and tried the controlled descent that ticked off less than 10 minutes from my clock.  It was a beautiful run; certainly not fast but good none-the-less as I think any good run right now that my hip survives is a good run.  From mapmyrun.com, I estimated the total climb on the run was about 1200ft, about 3 times the climbing that I'll have to do in Hawaii.  Tomorrow morning I don't expect to feel the greatest but the hurt is part of the fun. 

Back on the wagon

Fortunately the long off-season is mostly over for me.  It’s been a trying one for me in not being able to run throughout the winter as I normally enjoy, especially given the pretty mild winter Chicago had this year.  As of this week, I’m partially back to running—not full speed & volume yet but SLOWLY getting there.  I’ve been focusing a little more this winter on biking on the indoor trainer and swimming.  As I’ve said all along, I don’t need to be in great running shape in April.  I don’t want this hip injury to linger on longer than it needs to.  Unfortunately I ran starting in early November and competed in a 5K which I think dragged this injury out longer.  I’m hoping that by having these past few months of mostly non-running that I can be a little fresher as I get going in high gear. 

A few weeks back while Melissa & I were on a Caribbean cruise, I thought things were progressing nicely as I ran 5 out of 7 days, including an 8 miler in the Cozumel heat.  The leg felt really good and I thought I was finished with the rehab.  Then I came back to the Chicago cold and the leg just wouldn’t loosen up, or it would be okay during the run, but after would tighten up and hurt worse.  The pain right now (as it has been all along) nothing to serious, but it’s the injury sort of pain that means something is wrong, not the hurt sort of pain.

The delay in running has also prolonged my shedding my off-season pounds.  As my races get closer, I become more disciplined with my diet but once the season is over, I do enjoy the occasional sweet.  Okay, truth be told I have a sweet tooth that has more endurance than I do.  I fully expected to put on about 10 lbs in the off-season and as of the end of January I successfully did that.  One request from a loyal reader is that I post my daily caloric intake.  I certainly do plan to do this as once my volume increases to a normal amount and see what gas I put into the tank. 

Dessert on the cruise--Melissa was of little
help so I pretty much finished both plates. 

Since the end of January, I have been more closely following my training specific diet, which for me is essentially limiting the alcohol and sweets I enjoy.  This really isn’t for the physiological benefits as much as the mental strength I feel I get by saying no to the things I enjoy.  With the Ironman training I certainly bike and run enough where I will get to the goal weight I want, so I don't think these calories would actually hurt me any, especially since they are simply replaced by other foods.  I do this because at some point during the Ironman race everything in your body tells you to quit.  I have only done 2 of these races but during the first race, this feeling lasted for about 4 miles, for the 2^nd race, this feeling lasted for about 18.  If I convince myself that I’ve done everything to make myself better, at those moments when the body says quit, I feel I have a stronger mind to block that feeling out.  So the limitation I put on myself is alcohol in moderation (less than 3 drinks on any given day) and one desert day per month, with 2 exceptions: 1) when celebrating someone’s birthday & 2) when on vacation so Melissa doesn’t have to enjoy dessert alone.  So, Emily France, keep posted for the food report. 

Oh, and for a quick update, I did pass my board exams so I’m happy to report I can put that behind me and continue to move forward focusing on other things at work and training.