Is any one else planning to participate?

In February I decided to start this blog to track my progress. After one entry, I abandoned the blog but stuck with my journey towards fitness. By April I had improved my strength and endurance enough to enjoy hiking and skiing while vacationing in my former stomping grounds of Colorado. In May I began running and completed my first 5k in June, right after riding 33 miles on a heavy hybrid bike.

In July and August I added swimming to my routine and continued riding my bike. Due to heat and humidity, I wasn’t running so much. But I restarted this blog. The first several posts recapped the months that had elapsed since that first post in February and focused on preparation for my second ever (and first in more than a decade) triathlon – a women’s only sprint distance.

Then the real journey began. Right after the triathlon I tore the ligaments in my ankle after falling down the steps of my front stoop while programming my iPhone. So much for running, biking and even swimming. In fact, I had to limit even walking for the first several weeks.

Once my ankle was strong enough to try running, my opposite knee began causing me a great deal of discomfort. Walking up and down stairs was painful and I was frequently woken during the night by knee pain. What was thought to be a meniscus tear turned out to be a 3.2cm cyst growing in the joint. It was pushing my knee cap out of alignment and putting pressure on the back of my knee. Two weeks ago I had surgery to remove it.

The last few months have been challenging. I’ve had to adjust my goals and expectations. My original plan was to work my way up to a 10k race on December 1st and to continue swimming and cycling. Instead, I’ve had to focus on back to back healing and physical therapy for two injuries. There have been times of frustration and discouragement. My aerobic fitness has declined. But my overall outlook is good.

I made a commitment to become an athlete again and I haven’t abandoned that commitment. Athletes get injured. Injuries take time to heal. They are temporary setbacks, not permanent situations. If taken care of properly, they offer a chance to come back stronger than ever. They are an opportunity to reexamine and adjust goals and expectations. They are a reminder that patience and perseverance are part of any journey.

2012’s journey has had its ups and downs and sometimes I’ve taken two steps forward and one step back – or even one step forward and two steps back. But in the end, I am stronger and in better shape (even with injuries) at the end of 2012 than I was at the beginning. It’s been a good year to become an athlete again.

Related articles

• 2012 The Year That Changed Everything For Me (chatterdoesfitness.wordpress.com)
• A Year in Review… Triathlon style (christaunruh.wordpress.com)

It seems like anytime I’m laid up for a period of days I turn to Anthony Robbins’ book “Awaken the Giant Within” and reassess my values, priorities and goals. I’m happy to say I’ve met or I’m on my way to meeting a lot of the short-term goals I set in April.

The goals I’ve yet to meet are: (1) Taking a tropical vacation in February 2013 (2) Running a 10k (3) Expanding my social circle to meet training partners and other healthy folks (4) Exploring a career change.

My values, in priority order are: (1) Health and vitality; (2) Love/Compassion/Warmth/Intimacy; (3) Cheerfulness/Optimism/Hope; (4) Determination/Courage/Resiliency; (5) Passion/Adventure/Fun; (6)Intelligence/Curiosity/Growth; (7) Gratitude; (8) Solvency

Illustration of Short Term Goals

Since I have quite a bit of time on my hands this weekend while I’m resting my ankle and basically not leaving home, I decided to turn my lists of goals and values into vision boards. Since I didn’t have any magazines to cut up, I decided to illustrate them myself.

At first, I thought I’d combine the two into one board. I started by listing my short-term goals and noting the values that are aligned with each goal. The end result is an illustration that will support me in achieving my goals, but doesn’t remind me of my values.In fact, it completely ignores values #2 and #3. OK…I included #2 but it’s sort of a stretch.

Illustration of My Values

As soon as I realized values #2 and #3 were missing from my goals board, I realized I hadn’t made them a priority in my life lately either. There is a reason I made those values #2 and #3 and it was time to get them back up there. So I decided to give them prominent positions in my values vision board. Value #2 is Love/Warmth/Compassion/Intimacy and is represented by the two hands holding each other. Values #3 is Cheerfulness/Optimism/Hope and is represented by the sunflower. My last two values (Gratitude and Solvency) are important or they wouldn’t have made the list. However, I’m not sure how I want to capture them visually so I’ve left them out of the illustration for now.

Illustrated Goals and Values on the Refrigerator

I had a lot of fun creating these drawings. They’re now hanging on my refrigerator. I feel optimistic that they will inspire me to strive to reach my goals and to live in accordance with my values. Or try to at least.

Danskin Sprint Triathlon: Sandy Hook, NJ

Yesterday I did my second ever triathlon and first in 13 years. It was a women-only race in Sandy Hook, NJ. I had a great time and I’m looking forward to doing another. I was emailed my results yesterday and learned I came in 111 of 189 for my age group (40-44). Today I was able to get online and find more detailed results.

Overall Time: 1:32:27  Overall Place: 568 of 1191 / Swim: 11:11 Swim Rank: 416 / T1: 5:31 / Bike 37:47 Bike Rank: 496 / T2: 1:59 / Run: 35:36 Run Rank: 837

Meanwhile, I’ve had some time in the last 36 hours or so to think about what worked and what I’d do differently. Here are some lessons I learned:

1. Don’t make any changes of any kind to my bike close to the race. See my chiropractor before I see the bike fitter. When I bought my new (used) bike a few weeks ago, I knew I’d have to make some minor changes. Rather than waiting until after the race, I started making them right away. While I thought everything was dialed in, I now realize it wasn’t. I had a bit of knee pain by the end of the bike in my left knee. The back of that knee is now stiff and swollen. My chiropractor thinks I pulled my hamstring and that the seat was raised slightly high. Since I have an old hip injury that sometimes sneaks up on me, I probably should have seen my chiropractor and made sure my hips were aligned before making any changes to the bike. Lesson learned. In the meantime, it’s ice, elevation, arnica and rest.

2. A wet sports bra is not really a problem on a sunny day. In fact, it kept me cool for the run. Of course, if I could find one that fits and dries fast, I’d buy it. In the meantime, I’ll happily stick with what I’ve got. You can read about my tri-friendly sports bra quest here. And if you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

3. Bring a headlamp. It was very dark when we arrived and there were no lights in the parking lot. While there were spotlights set up at the transition area, a headlamp would have helped in the parking lot.

4. Bring something to mark my transition area. Lucky for me, a woman close to me had attached a toy windmill shaped like a large flower to the rack. I could see this from quite a distance and it made finding my bike much easier.

5. Pay attention to nutrition, hydration and rest after the race. This has nothing to do with the race itself. A sprint distance race isn’t going to wipe out my immune system. However, waking up at 4:30, for any reason, will do a number on me. Some people can get by on not much sleep. I’m not one of them. I get run down and I get sick. I woke up this morning with a fever, a sore throat, and a stuffy head. Not a great way to go into work and face 200 teenagers (34+ at a time) in the course of 7 hours.

6. Savor every moment. It went by fast. Really fast. But still, I savored every moment. While I was swimming I noticed the buoyancy of the saltwater and felt the smoothness of my stroke cut through the water. During the bike I admired breathtaking views of Sandy Hook bay to one side of me and the dunes and seagrass on the other side. During the run I spoke to some of the other women who were walking or run/walking with me. I cheered other women as they crossed the finish after me. I took pictures. I laughed. I had a great time. I think I see another one of these in my future.

Transition Area: 2000 Women

This morning was the Danskin Triathlon in Sandy Hook, NJ. My friend and I registered for it about 8 weeks ago in the hopes that it would keep us on the path towards fitness.

Yesterday we drove to NJ, went to packet pick-up, dealt with a last-minute bike emergency and watched the University of Michigan vs. Air Force football game at a local sports bar. I spent much of the night with a sore throat and a bad cough. But somehow I was still able to get several hours of uninterrupted sleep and, aside from a bad sore throat, woke up at 4:30am  feeling OK.

We checked out of the hotel at 4:50 and got on the road. I had an EAS drink shake (300 calories and 42g protein) and a banana in the car as a partial breakfast followed by coffee from 7-11.  Soon after, we arrived in total darkness at 5:30am to a mostly full, unlit dirt parking lot. Many women wore headlamps – a great idea.

We made our way to the transition area and racked our bikes. Since we practiced setting up our transition area in the hotel the night before, it took very little time this morning. Still, even under spotlights, it was fairly dark and having a headlamp would have been helpful. Note for next time – bring headlamp  if the race is at a national park without any lights.

My transition area

I set up my gear on a towel loaned to me by a two-time Ironman friend and brought a hand towel to dry  my feet with. I set my bike shoes (socks inside) and running shoes on the towel with my race belt on top. Directly behind my running shoes I set my handheld water bottle. I debated bringing this for such a short run. However, I decided if I was thirsty after the bike (I was) to bring it on the run (I did).  At the very back of the area I put a light weight wind vest (I didn’t use it). At the front, middle and back were various energy gels, bars, etc.

My biggest concern was that I would forget to use my asthma inhaler before I started. So I put my sunglasses, swim cap and swim goggles in my bike helmet with the inhaler on top. That way, when I was ready to head to the swim start, I’d have to move my inhaler to get to my goggles and cap. It worked. I remembered.

Down at the beach, the air was cool. I was COLD. Goosebumps and hair on end cold. But I knew the water temperature (76) was warmer than the air temperature (64) so as soon as I got in the water I’d be fine. The swim went very well. I felt relaxed and was surprised by the buoyancy of the salt water – it had been so long since my open water swim that I had forgotten about the lift saltwater provides. I passed a lot of people and don’t remember being passed by anyone. In fact, I (and a handful of other light-purple capped women) had caught up to the wave 3 minutes ahead of me. I got out of the water feeling great and started the long run (1/4+ mile) to the transition area.

The transition went smoothly (thanks to a loaner race belt from the Ironman friend) and before I knew it, I was off on my bike (but not before a shot of gu). The bike felt great. No hip pain and no knee pain. The views of  Sandy Hook Bay were incredible. I passed people on mountain bikes and some on road bikes but plenty of women on tri-bikes and a few on road bikes passed me. Still, I felt good. For most of it. Then my left knee started bothering me. I’d had no problems with my left knee on this bike but it had bothered me on my last bike. I shifted into an easier gear and hoped it would help but no change. I decided to ignore it and keep riding but slowed my pace.

The second transition went well also. I changed shoes and turned the race belt around and I was off with another shot of gu and a handful of stingers on the go. But my knee was bothering me. And the sun was rising in the sky. I decided to run walk the entire course. I mostly walked it. I would guess that any one I passed on the bike passed me on the run. A LOT OF PEOPLE passed me. But I finished. And when I got to the 3.0 mile mark, I decided to sprint the last .1 miles to cross the finish line strong. I did. I felt great.

My swim cap and finisher’s medal

My friend finished about 20 minutes after me and I was able to cheer her on at the finish. We grabbed water, juice, oranges, bananas and bagels. Then we went for our goody bags. The bags were hilarious. The bags themselves were semi-fashionable nylon tote bags (no backpacks). Inside were pink, disposable, women’s razors; organic tampons; dish soap samples; a race shirt. There is no doubt about it. The Danskin is definitely a women’s triathlon.

As of now, the site with full results is too busy and I can’t get on so I don’t know my transition times and I don’t know how I placed in my splits. But I do have my split times and my overall age group place. Swim: 11:11; Bike: 37:47; Run: 35:56. Total time: 1:32:27. Place: 111 of 189. When I first saw that I was a little disappointed. I’d never finished in the bottom 50% of an athletic event. Even in June’s 5K I was right at 50%. It was humbling. But I remembered to compare myself to where I was in February, not where I was in my 20’s and early to mid 30’s. In February I could barely do a sit-up. My swim time is respectable. My bike isn’t horrible. My run could certainly be improved. But I knew my run would be weak.

So, for my second tri ever and first in 13 years, I think I did pretty well. I had great fun. I finished. I supported and encouraged other women during the run portion of the race. I spent the weekend with my friend. Not a bad way to spend the first day of being 42 years old!

Purple toes to match our purple caps.

Brand new, domed, slightly softer seat (2nd try)

Last weekend I had a proper bike fit. The first ride post-fit felt good, although the wider and harder seat took some getting used to. Yesterday I took the bike out again for what was supposed to be an easy ride: my apartment to the park,  two loops around and home. Unfortunately, I had a small amount of knee pain half way through the first loop that grew into a large amount of knee and hip pain by the end of the loop so I called it quits. I was in a great deal of discomfort and a fair amount of pain by the time I got home. I couldn’t imagine riding any further on my bike, let alone running a 5k afterwards. Needless to say, I was more than a little concerned about the situation since the Danskin Tri is on Sunday.

Brand new, very short, slightly angled stem

After work today I went back to the shop for a refit. They did a great job. We swapped out the seat they recommended last week for one with a slightly more domed shape with a little bit more padding. Apparently, the other seat had absolutely no padding whatsoever and could have accounted for my hip pain. To address the knee pain, we raised the seat further and moved it back (closer to where the original placement was). We also moved the cleat further back and slightly out on my right shoe to address an old hip injury. After taking the bike out for test ride, I’m happy to say these modifications seem to have done the trick. My bike is far more comfortable.

Brand new, shorter, narrower, shallower handlebars

But that’s not all…since I’m pretty narrow, I knew I’d have to replace the handlebars (on any bike) at some point. I decided to do that today. So now I have 40″ rather than 42″ bars with a shallower drop as well as a new, shorter stem. Many thanks to the folks at Bicycle Habitat, particularly fitters Emily and Libby, for helping me out.

The good news? Between the seat and cleat adjustments and my new stem and handlebars, I feel like I have a properly fitting bike. The not so good news? I wasn’t able to get a swim in this week since I was so focused on adjusting the bike. I’m not too concerned about this and the bike issues had to be addressed, so I don’t regret it. The other not so good news? I’ve come down with a fever for the last few days and feel slightly miserable. Not a high fever but a fever nonetheless. It seems related to particularly high levels of ragweed. Saturday night’s forecast is for rain and lots of it. I’m hoping the rain washes away the pollen for Sunday.

The weekend’s plan? My friend who is also doing the race will pick me up tomorrow morning and we’ll drive to New Jersey to go to packet pick-up. Since it’s my birthday, she asked me to pick something I’d like to do for it. Since the forecast is for rain I’m thinking pedicures…We’ll have an early night and then up bright and early for Sandy Hook and my second ever triathlon (my first since 1999)! Sunday evening will most likely be devoted to lesson plans.

Related articles

• A pain free butt while riding (mountainkait.com)

This view is my reward for running 28 minutes without walking

Yesterday I took as an unexpected rest day. It was the first day I had been back in my classroom and I spent several hours moving heavy furniture and boxes. So I decided to call it a strength training day and get back on the swim/bike/run program today.

Since I was expecting my new bike stem to come in today I had originally planned to ride. However, it didn’t arrive so I decided to run. I tried Week 8, Day 1 of Couch 2 5k. Again. And I did it. I ran 28 minutes without walking any of it. It was hot and humid so I decided to start out running as slowly as possible. And I definitely ran slowly. V-E-R-Y   S-L-O-W-L-Y. But I ran. The whole way.

I’m feeling better about my ability to run the entire 5k portion of Sunday’s Danskin Triathlon in Sandy Hook, NJ. Yea! I’m also feeling better about the possibility of running a 10k in the very near future.

Putting one foot in front of the other

As I wrote yesterday, I had a really tough run in the morning. I’ve been using the upcoming triathlon as a focus point throughout the summer so I wouldn’t have to think about returning to work/school. The realization that the triathlon was only one week away and I didn’t feel prepared combined with the realization that I’d be returning to work in a couple of days left me feeling sad and discouraged and stressed out. Friends and fellow bloggers gave me great words of encouragement and shared their own stories of setbacks and bad days. Cort the Sport sent me a great post she wrote about our “inner coaches” that you can read here. Carrie, of fitness and frozen grapes commented that “the tough runs make the easier ones even more worthwhile”. Meanwhile, I had read another blog (which I can’t seem to find) that talked about the importance of having a person, a solid reason, or a cause to run for.

I like that idea. When I set my goal of running a 5k, I did so by following a Tony Robbins template that asks you (among other things) to visualize how you would feel and what it would mean to accomplish your goal. That visualization exercise really helped keep me focused throughout my training and during the race. Hmmm…I think I need an equally strong source of motivation to get excited for and complete Sunday’s race.

So, what is that motivation? Why do this sprint distance triathlon? If I stop thinking about and comparing myself to my fitness level when I did my last triathlon (which was 1999 and I was living in Vail, CO), and instead think about where my fitness level just 6 months ago (February 2012 living in Brooklyn, NY). I can come up with some reasons…To reclaim my identity as an athlete; to be something and some one who is strong; to achieve something I can be proud of because it took determination and effort; to prove to myself I have some mental toughness and I am resilient.

That’s it! To prove to myself I am resilient. If the only way I define success in this race is to run the entire run, and I fail, it will be hard to be resilient. So I need to reframe what success will look like. These are my new goals for the race. Achieving any one of them will mean the race was a success:

1. Run the run

-OR-

2. Finish the race

-OR-

3. Give encouragement and feedback to the other women

I particularly like number three. I know I can succeed at that.  With that, I’m going to re-try Week 8, Day 3 of Couch 2 5k so I can go into work tomorrow feeling good, having bounced back from yesterday morning.

UPDATE:

Just finished the run. I forgot (again) to take my asthma medication but I felt OK. In fact, I felt better than OK. Did I run the entire 28 minutes? No. But I ran 23 minutes and ran/walked the last 5. That’s a lot better than the 11 minutes I ran yesterday!

Difference between Friday/Sunday and today:

1. Morning (-) vs. Evening (+)…Does any one have any tips for morning runs? I seem to do so much better later in the day.

2. Stressed out and not aware of it (-) vs. Stressed out, aware of it and managing it (+)…What a world of difference this makes!

My new bike seat

After yesterday’s tough run, I went for a ride. My new road bike is so much more enjoyable for recreational riding than the hybrid (which was great for errands and commuting). For the first time, nobody passed me on the flats and downhills and only really fast men on road bikes passed me on the long uphill. However, I couldn’t get perfectly comfortable on the seat. When I finished my last loop around the park, at the advice of a friend, I stopped at the local bike shop to make an appointment for a proper fitting of my new (used) bike. The appointment was this morning.

The verdict? It’s a little long for me. I knew this was probably the case. But the fact is, A comparable, new, women’s-specific is $1200+  and I still would have had to replace the handlebars with narrower ones. Used, women’s-specific bikes don’t turn up for sale often – at least not in New York City and I was able to find my current bike on Craig’s List for $550. So we’re going to make it work.

Adjustments we made today:

1.SEAT:  The seat I had been using was a women’s gel seat with a lot of padding, which the former owner had installed. We measured my “sit bones” and swapped out her seat for a slightly wider, Specialized seat without as much gel padding. This seat is pretty flat which is supposed to be good for long rides as you can move around a bit on it. We installed this seat slightly forward and quite a bit higher than the old one and it’s very comfortable. It’s also significantly lighter. While I don’t ride fast enough for the weight to make a difference in my riding, I do have to carry the bike up one and sometimes two very steep flights of stairs and it makes a big difference there. At any rate, the shop is letting me take it on several rides (including Sunday’s race) to try it out. If I don’t like it we’ll swap it out for another.

2. SHOES AND CLEATS: I have medium-high arches but super narrow and low-volume feet so finding shoes (even street shoes) is always a challenge. I used to have arch supports for my cycling shoes but wasn’t able to find them so we put some new ones in and aligned my cleats properly. This made a huge difference in comfort and took up some volume in the shoe. We also loosened my pedals as far as they could go. They’re still very tight – you can hear a loud pop when I clip in and out – but it is what it is until the springs get more wear and loosen up a bit.

3. STEM: Since the top tube is a still a little long, I need to replace the stem. The former owner had done this already but I’ll need one even shorter. We weren’t able to replace the stem today as the shop didn’t have it in stock but it will arrive Wednesday. I’m not sure I’ll have time to go to the shop to have the stem put on and go for a short ride to test it out before the race so it might have to wait until next week.

THE VERDICT: After riding about 12 miles today, I’m happy with the new seat and the other adjustments. I think the shorter stem will be nice to have but the bike is definitely comfortable enough to ride without it on Sunday if necessary.

Sure, it would be great to have a women’s-specific bike with a shorter top tube that fits perfectly. My old mountain bike was a women’s-specific Specialized Stumpjumper and I adored it. But I would have had to spend over $1350 after taxes and new handlebars for the bike I wanted. I don’t know that I’ll be riding enough to make that investment worthwhile at this point. So instead, for $640 including the new seat and stem, I have a great bike that fits well if not perfectly for half the price. Factoring in I sold my old hybrid for $400, I think I did pretty well for $260!

Admiring the post-run view

This morning’s run was very tough. I was supposed to run for 28 minutes (according to C25K’s week 8, day 1). Instead I only lasted 11 minutes. I would like to say I ran/walked for the following 17 minutes, but I mostly walked. I was so frustrated and discouraged at the end that I burst into tears. I tried to shake it off, but it was tough. What could have accounted for such a poor run and – of even more concern – my over the top reaction?

The conditions: 73 degrees, 79% humidity, 65 dew point, overcast with little to no breeze. So it wasn’t too hot, but I prefer a breeze and lower humidity. Morning runs are always tougher for me than evening. But I’ve run better in more difficult conditions.

My reaction: Since completing the 5K at the end of June, I’ve really only had one good run. That was Wednesday night, so I was hoping that I’d continue to improve in advance of the Danskin tri one week from today. That hasn’t happened. In fact, today was worse than Friday’s tough run. I knew the run would be the toughest leg for me, but I had really hoped not to walk any of it. Had I not been able to complete the 5K in June, I probably wouldn’t have registered for the tri. But that doesn’t explain bursting into tears.

Hypothesis: Stress. Most people use exercise as an outlet for stress. So many people tell me how running clears their head. When I lived in Colorado, people used to tell me how much skiing or mountain biking cleared their head. This was never true for me. While I loved those sports, they didn’t clear my head. If I was stressed out I would go deeper in my head while skiing or biking and just ski or bike poorly. Playing the piano has always been just about the only thing that has helped me clear my head when I’m really stressed out. I think it engages the visual, auditory and kinesthetic in a way nothing else does for me.

Why so stressed? School. I go back to work (I am a teacher) on Tuesday and the kids arrive Thursday. My two smallest sources of stress related to the return to work are (1) I don’t know what I’m teaching yet and (2) I’ll have to learn 170 new names in 2 days. There are much larger concerns that have me questioning how much longer I want to be a teacher. I love to teach, but don’t love being a teacher. Ah, but that’s a different post. Actually, that’s a different blog. One I haven’t written (although it was the subject for my thesis).

Treating myself to post-run iced coffee at the park’s espresso bar.

On a more positive note, I wanted to have something positive to say for this blog post so I tried to regroup. I ended my run at a beautiful park and admired the view of the Manhattan skyline. I treated myself to an iced coffee. And then I used my Lolo Easy Legs app and did a short leg workout on the grass. I came home to words of encouragement from fellow bloggers. This means the world to me. Thank you so much for your support.

I think the plan for today is to sit down and play the piano for a bit. Then I’ll go for a ride or a swim – I’m sure either workout will go better than the run.