Success!

I'm soooo glad I went to see Dr. Mulhall today :D After more Kinesio tape and A.R.T on my calves, I had an awesome 2hr run! Almost always I like to get my key workout done first thing in the morning. As the day goes on I get a bit drained of energy especially with my 3:30-4:00am insane wake up hours! Ha.
So after getting home from Ft. Worth I headed out the door to White Rock and back. It took 30min to get rolling but wow, after that, I wanted to keep going forever.
Before seeing Dr. Mulhall I had some time to kill and wanted to make sure I had enough fuel in me for the run so I did a 60min ez spin, had a big breakfast and was set.
After the run I took an hour nap and then went to SMU to swim. My right shoulder/arm is pretty sore but a long warm up got me feeling awesome in the water. Overall it was probably one of my best swims, feeling-wise. Now I'm done with dinner, time for some homework and focus on keeping everything intact the days ahead.
The key thing right now is getting my arm back to its full strength and resting my whole body from the heavy load its undergone the numerous past weeks.
I have a couple of school things I need to take care of before next week, including 2 exams, so the taper comes at a good time ;)
Alright time for neglected homework...
This ended up being a good weekend afterall!

Day After

Well, I'm happy to report today went surprisingly good! I was so pumped to be riding that I nailed my sets (intended for the 5hr ride yesterday) in 4hrs on the trainer perfectly. No pain- just felt tight in the psoas/oblique.

After lunch and a nap, I went to WR to run for 30min. It felt a little odd at first, as my gait was altered a little but I got through it without discomfort and after warming up my stride felt pretty normal.

The only bad thing is my right arm which suffered with the collarbone injury was the one I put out to stop my fall yesterday so it's a bit sore, though not bruised.

I was gonna do some resistance cords and core today but SMU gym was closed for the game and it's better to wait until tomorrow to give my arm a bit more rest. Plus I can't do core because that's the one movement that KILLS right now haha.

Tomorrow i'm heading to Ft. Worth in the morning to see Dr. Brian Mulhall for some Kiniseo taping and ART.

After that I'll be doing my last long run and then a swim in the afternoon. I don't know if I can get through 1hr of swimming with the soreness but hope so.

Dejavu

Warning to all: never go cycling with or near me when I'm a month or less out from a key race- I'm bound to either be hit by you or do you damage.
This morning by 9am I was back in room 3, floor 1, of the Doctor's Hospital next to White Rock Lake- the same bed, tv, sink, desk, and emergency gadgets that surrounded me when I broke my collarbone that unlucky July day were once again my uncomfortable environment.
As planned, I got on my trainer and rode a little over an hour. When I realized the sun had come up I quickly got off and went outside- it was about 6:55. I made it to the lake without traffic as rush hour hadn't begun and did a loop. Barely into the loop, I decided after my 40min IM pace set I'd ride back home and get my a** back on the trainer. Despite toe warmers, socks, jacket, and undershirt, I was frozen. I forgot a key compoenent- GLOVES! That's one lesson learned for AZ that I'll take as a plus for the day. I couldn't even drink because holding the water bottle hurt. Yes, I am a huuuuge wimp for cold weather, way more so than anyone I know.
Ok so, I left the lake and I'm 2 blocks from home, on the stop sign by the Church on Adams Rd. I'm ready to turn right, a car is on my left with no signal seemingly going either straight or left. We see no cars coming, we both proceed to move forward...then he turns right WTF?!?! Before I could realize it, I was hit and fell on my right hip/pelvis on the cement curve. "Sweet, here we go again" I thought. Seriously, I just got through an injury before my much anticipated 70.3 in Cancun, now this before AZ?? Not cool.
So I pick up my bike, tell the guy to go- at this point I know I can at least make it home- much better than last time (my falling skills are improving!); and remember I was cold, so dealing with useless "you hit me, no you turned wrong" issues was not priority- getting warm was!
I slowly pedal home, get inside and evaluate: 1) get on trainer for remaining 3 hours ignoring the pain and potentially doing more damage and adding more bad stress to my body, or 2) stop, get it checked out, move schedule around and race healthy if you still can! So option 2 it was. I drove myself to the ER, checked in and 5 hours later (ugh) after blood is drawn, urine sample, IV, and x-rays, I get the news. I didn't fall from an airplane, why all this testing? Well, they wanted to make sure I hadn't done internal damage- ok whatever, I guess I want to make sure of that too :/
So thankfully everything came back ok. It's just a big contusion on my pelvis and I'll be playing the next few days by feel as far as training goes. I'll be on my TRAINER tomorrow seeing how long I can ride comfortably and trying as much of my last long run Sunday as I can without any discomfort.
Right now I'm waiting for SMU pool to open to swim- I'm sooo hyper from the adrenaline of the incident plus laying down in a hospital bed for 5hrs and the IV :)
Also, I think it will help loosen me up(?).
Some good things to take out of this (my philosophy is that everything happens for a reason and it's soo true that what doesn't kill you will make you stronger): powertap wasn't even reading so my 5hrs data would have been worthless, I am now exponentially more fired up than before about tearing it up in AZ, I'm thankfull for my overall health and tremendous luck- the time in the ER really slaps you into reality when you witness other people's major health problems, or parents crying, etc.
Well, that's it, pool's open so I'm signing off!
train safe :)

Oh boy

My wake up times are starting to get earlier and earlier. MUST STOP GOING TO BED AT TODDLER HOURS! Today I have a 5hr ride on plan and it looks like it will be done before 11am :) Since the sun doesn't rise until about 7, I'm gonna hop on the trainer at 5:30ish and do my first two hours on there. It works well since starting the second hour I have some specifics that I can control better on the trainer. What might not be so lovely is going out the door into the chilly 50s after being so warm inside. I'll ride over to White Rock just before the morning traffic starts getting bad and will probably end up doing around 6-7 loops of the lake before heaing back home.
I really really wanted to sleep in until about 9 and start around 10 when the temps will be more like 70s. Also I had told my friend Josh that we could start the South Ride loop (takes about 2.5hrs) at 930....I'll have to email him about my crazy schedule change :/
But there's little doubt that I'll experience cold on the AZ bike course so this will help (hopefully hehe).

My #1 Priority

It's November and in college (more so than in middle/high school due to the dorms) that means sickness EVERYWHERE! The change in weather and the months of close proximity in dormrooms contributes to this manifestation of germs that scares the hell out of me.
I walk into a building and can't escape the sound of a cough or sneeze. I've resorted to sitting either at the far right upper corner of the classroom or the very front edge. The two seats beside me are quickly loaded with backpack and clothes (jacket, sweater, whatever). I've seriously given thought to a face mask nuemours times as crazy as that sounds :/
Last year before Hawaii I fell into the worst illness ever, food poisoning. I'm not about to sacrifice having my best possible race again! Ironically, one of the downsides of reaching peak fitness is the susceptibility to getting sick.
At the airport I plan on being the odd person holding her breath at the sound of a slight cough, and covering my mouth/nose with my shirt :)
I'm feeling great as ever so all I need now is to protect the form I've worked hard to achieve and arrive at the race ready to battle!

Obama!!

Yay, such a great historical day :)
...on a triathlon note- I just got done with the best turbo bike workout followed by a 45min run. There's nothing like running when it feels effortless and fast as if you're being pushed forward.

What a week :)

The training deposits are in the bank (pretty much the only sort of banking nowadays, hehe), and this week I'll gradually start to taper. The week started out with me feeling kind of a like a train ran over me which I'm attributing to two things: 1) a sudden onset of PMS symptoms in my 20s, and 2) a shock to my body with mon-wed being fairly light days after the big weekend.
By Friday I was back to normal for the rest of the weekend but falling asleep when driving out for a long ride with Tarp in Ft. Worth. Since I decided not to go to San Antonio/Austin as the driving takes a lot out of me, I set up my 5.5 hr ride with Tarp and agreed to meet him at 8am at the Benbrook YMCA. It looked as if the Y had a swim team thing going on that morning so Aaron was kind enough to join me at the nearby 24hr Fitness for my prebike swim. Needless to say I had to be out of my house at just before 5 to make the 1hrish drive to Ft. Worth and had it not been for a Starbucks sent from heaven about halfway there, I likely would have fallen asleep behind the wheel! Not pretty. The coffee worked its magic though and the swim went well. I met Tarp and he had a wheel problem going on and was going to have to go home and get another rear wheel. So David, this guy I had just met, and I rode an hour before Tarp came back with a wheel.
We rode the awesome Weatherford loop and of course I had no idea where on earth I was EVER haha so I just followed Tarp's directions. About 5ish hrs in Tarp had some bonking issues and we were relatively close to the Y so I kept plugging along thinking I could make it back at 5.5 on my own....WRONG :) I did make it back but in 6:03 and after an exciting experience riding on the freeway, having to unclip and walk across the knee-high shrubs that separate the freeway from the axis road (that freeway was about to lead me onto a bridge as the only exit which led to another major freeway that would have taken me to the other end of the world). Back at the car I was feeling really good- the adrenaline from that little mishap sure helped hehe- and had a really good 30min t-run on the trail. Then back at home to eat half a farm for dinner!!
Finally my last adventure was on my long run yesterday. I forgot about the time change so when I woke up at 4am, it was actually 3- crap. So I ate breakfast, chilled for a while and left at 5am real time from my house out to White Rock. About 30min into the runa dog from some random house decides to join me- ugh! At first I was really pissed because he kept running around like crazy and in circles...really why do people with dogs not have them on a leash when they're out and keep them safe in their property at night?!?! 10min after realizing he was not going to part from me, I made the best of it and called it near me and ran with him at a great steady effort. In fact he actually made me feel extra safe as White Rock has definitely had its fair share of assaults/battery at dark hours with female runners :/
At an hour and a half in however, it got thirsty and tired (yes my unforgiving pace and stamina tired the dog haha right!) and I continued home on my own.
Well that's it in my little world for the week. Today is OFF day which I don't particularly enjoy when in the middle of such great training rythm but know I need. Friday I'll head out with Tarp again only for a ride of 5hrs very easy pace and Saturday a short brick s/b/r which I'll do on my own- Baylor masters, South Ride, and run at WR then one last long run and we'll be two weeks from the Tempe-tear-up! :)