An accidental lesson: Race for a Cure

There are lots of reasons to race. Fun, fitness, personal best, personal victories and race victories are just a few excellent reasons. Sometimes it’s something greater though, something more important. Sometimes you get to race to support you friend who has spent the last 16 months kicking breast cancers ass. That’s a race you just can't say no to… even if you have an open water swim, a 65 mile ride, and a 6 mile run planned for the day before, not to mention the 16 mile run you’ve got to get in on race day.

There are more important things than my self-indulgent attempts to “be faster” and “beat more people”. If I can run 3.1 miles to show love and support for a friend who has faced more than I can understand, the answer is yes. No matter what.

My first lesson – before I get into my self-indulgent race report – is that a sea of pink survivor t-shirts can make you more proud to be part of a race than an ensued PR. I couldn’t help but to fill up with admiration, respect, and love for the women who were there as defeaters of breast cancer. And I couldn’t help but to feel a longing for those whose lives were cut short by the beast. You are my heroines.

Now for the race report and my accidental lesson.

First, I really did do an open water swim, a 65 mile ride, and a 6 mile run on Saturday. I felt great after my long Saturday training session and had a plan for Sunday. I would run the race course twice before the race, to get in 6.2 miles, plus a little extra from the car and around town. Then it was to the team tent at 8:15 for a team photo – which didn’t end up happening until after the race. Next, time for some strides and off to the start line to run the “race”.

I had plans of making the 3.1 miles a tempo effort and NOT racing, as I had a more important race two days later. I would be happy with a 6:30-6:40 pace. Great plan! And then I’d cool down with another 6 miles or so and would have a successful long run, with a few tempo miles in the bank.

Oh, plans.

Well, I lined up a few rows back from the start, as I was planning to run a little slower. Set was called and the ring of the gun quickly followed. We were off! And I was haveing a grand time! I was chatting and cheering, thanking volunteers and heckling familiar faces. Before I knew it, the one mile marker passed beneath my feet – I glanced at my watch, 6:45 for the first mile. Eh. Maybe I could pick it up a little? Ok!

Still chatting and cheering, I began to work up the filed. I found a friend to duck behind and told him he was a girls dream come true. At over 6 feet tall, with broad, strong shoulders, I enjoyed a brief draft before heading around. To my surprise the two mile mark was upon me. My time? 13:00.  My exclamation of “Ooops, that was faster than tempo,” got me a few chuckles from those who over heard. A 6:15 for the second mile – there was a decision to be made. If I’m being honest, my pride got in the way. I didn’t want to slow down and let all of those people I’d just passed, catch me and pass me back. Plus, I felt great… like I was just out for a nice hard effort. And I was having fun. And there was a guy in front of me who I didn’t think should beat me. And. And. And.


And. And. And I went for it.

So I forgot about my watch, my time, my pace and I just run. I made sure to not kick at any point or to really, really push. But I wasn’t holding much back by time I rounded on the last 800 meters.

Much like with Fly by Night, when the finish line, and it’s subsequent clock came into view, my mouth dropped. No really. It dropped. I was hoping to run around 20:20 and I’ve never officially broken 20 minutes on a 5K course. When I saw 19:40ish with less than 20 meters left to go, I couldn’t believe that I’d just PR’d. And that it was that easy and fun. Official time: 19:45. Oops, that was too fast.

No time to waste. I grabbed some water and ran back up the course to get my remaining 6 miles in and cheer for all of those still in hot pursuit of their own PR’s. What a day.

The race course was well marked, the volunteers where AMAZING – lots of energy and very helpful, there was good water support, tasty snacks and lovely medals. The whole day was a party and I was so happy to be part of it.

2nd Female overall, 1st in AG... Pretty medal!

My accidental lesson?

I’m glad you asked! My splits were 6:45, 6:15, and 6:08 for the last 1.1 miles. Typically, I’m afraid to go out slow and if I had the goal in mind to PR at this race, there is no way I would have premeditated a 6:45 first mile. Scattered throughout is blog are reports of me going out too hard, learning my lesson, and forgetting it. I haven’t raced many 5K’s, but I usually look at my watch a half mile or mile in and think, “Wow, I’m flying! I hope I can keep this up.” If you look at the world records, or my husband’s data from 10 years of competitive running, you’ll see that in order to go faster, you have to go slower – at least in the beginning. You have to negative split. Lesson learned.

Until the next tale,

Ericka

It’s a race report! Seneca 7

The best way to see Seneca Lake: Run around it!

Not by yourself, of course! I mean it’s 77.7 miles to come full circle around the deepest of the finger lakes. The perfect distance for 7 people to relay… that must be what the creators thought 3 years ago. I’ve gotten to run this race every year since it was started 3 years ago and I hope to keep the streak going. It’s my favorite race of the season and I love getting to kick off my racing calendar with teammates, cheering, incredible efforts, lots of cozy clothes.

 

Let’s work through that list of why I love Seneca 7:



1) Teammates! Three years and three, at least somewhat, different teams. This year we tried to recreate last year’s team, but THREE of the guys decided to be injured/unavailable. But I tell you what, runners are pretty great people, so I’ve found myself in excellent company and have enjoyed sweaty van adventures with 15 wonderful runners over my 3 years.



Evan getting our team to an excellent start in the small 9:30am wave.
[Source]

 How does this teammate thing work? I’m glad you asked! We each are assigned a runner position, runner 1, 2, 3, etc. We run in that order a total of 3 times for a total of 21 legs, 3 per person. You can use strategy in planning which runner is in which position as some have a shorter overall distance, or more hills, or a wonderful mess of everything.

This year I was runner 7 and I had a blast with it! It was a bit more challenging keeping my energy up compared to years previous when I was runner 2. As runner 2 I was done running almost 2 hours earlier, but as runner 7 I was responsible for getting the baton over the finish line. Ekk. Pressure!







The finish! It was a sprint to beat the other team!
 (by 2.5 hours, since they got a head start)
[Source]

2) Cheering! As a designated bunch of speedsters (thanks mostly to our super speedy guys) we started in the last wave of the morning – 2.5 hours after the first wave. This gave use 8 hours and 19 minutes to chase down and pass nearly all of the 209 teams that ran this year. As you can imagine, this results in a lot of cheering for a number of reasons. The main reason is that we want our teammates to run well and kick ass, so we cheer, talk smack (if your me), encourage, congratulate, and cheer some more!

We also get to cheer for people as we pass them during our legs. It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going, if you’re working hard, you’re working hard and I love to encourage all the racers out there. I also LOVE when then return the favor. It definitely kept me going when I’d hear encouragement from others as I passed them.

Runners are just awesome.

3) Incredible efforts! I definitely ran hard, I mean I PR my open 5K time on my SECOND leg. But I was so motivated by teammates like Brendan who had just run the Boston marathon 6 – that’s SIX – days before our relay and was still our fastest runner. Or Jenelle, who’s average pace over 11 miles was FASTER than her 5K pace for the last year! What! I had teammates go out hard and finish even harder. Injured runners look strong, smooth, and left everything on the road. They were just incredible to watch and it was inspiring to be part of.



The always incredible, Brendan.
[Source]

4) Lots of cozy clothing: Um, it was cold ‘cause it was in April, so I wore lots of clothes. But, despite cold, windy weather, we finished with smiles on our faces, a team PR in our pocket, and defended out 2^nd place co-ed team finish from last year! Take that cold April weather!

The Klondike Catchers after a long, but wonderful day.
Picture stolen from Jenelle @ miletwentyeight

Well, I think this is probably long enough. If I can get my act together, I’ll write Seneca 7 race report, part 2. I’m thinking I need to document my nutrition strategy – three races in one day gives you a lot of nutrition practice!

Until the next tale,

Ericka

Vega One Shake and the "Un-smoothie"

I love a blended smoothie in the morning. When made with greens, fruits, and Vega One, I can be confident that I've given myself the best nutritional start to the day full of vitamins, minerals, protein, healthy fats, and life giving water.

Plus it tastes SO good!

In a perfect world, I would be able to blend a smoothie whenever my heart desires. But, alas, I can't. Darn this imperfect world!

As triathlon training is in full swing (minus the running, but it's coming along), I have found myself swimming EVERY morning of the week. This means I leave the house between 5am and 5:30am, depending on a pre-swim lift or run season. From the gym it's straight to work. I've blended my smoothie just before I leave in the morning and packed it for breakfast, but that's a lot of noise at 5am and my hubby (not to mention the soon to be down stairs neighbor) would rather not hear our blender tear through frozen strawberries quite that early. I've also tried blending my smoothie the night, but it changes from so-delicious-I-want-to-bath-in-it to almost hard to drink.

What to do.

Well, luckily Vega One can be carried along in a mason jar, ready for some cool, filtered water to be added. I tried just Vega One for breakfast, but the high protein, low carbohydrate nature of it makes my stomach cramp when I drink it solo so close to post workout. And then it dawned on me, why not bring the "parts" of my smoothie to work and enjoy them unblended... wow, now you're thinking, Ericka.

So when early morning workouts mean leaving the house at 5am, not to return until 5pm, this is my "Un-smoothie":



This mornings "Un-Smoothie" French Vanilla Vega One, melon, strawberries, and grapes. Yum!

 Sometimes I sprinkle some chia seeds, maca powder, or chopped nuts onto my fruit for a bit more calories and nutrition.

What's your go to, take along breakfast?

Until the next tale,
Ericka

A Plantar Fascia Recovery Story

The doc says I can run, so now what?

His only directions were, “Start with 2 or 3 miles and only every other day. Listen to your body and use your head.” Wow, he has a lot of confidence in me… maybe too much? Maybe not.

I’m filing this little post under “Rookie Mistakes” because that’s what I’m trying NOT to do and I want to help you avoid it as well.

So with my health and fitness goals left in my eager hands, this is my approach to a comeback post Plantar Fascia Tear.

First, while I was still in the boot I was swimming, biking, and lifting regularly. I also sought out the healing powers of an Active Release Therapist/Chiropractor. The Podiatrist was working on the foot, but I was convinced that the actual culprit lived north of his expertise.

My experience with the ART continues to be life giving. He is breaking up the adhesions I’ve had as long as I can remember so that my body can move naturally and balanced. I wish I could say that it was “this” muscle/area, but my muscles, nerves, and ligaments are stuck from head to toe. There’s lots of work still to be done, but the difference is amazing.

In addition to my ART being gifted at active release, he’s also an ultra-runner. He recommended ChiRunning and I’m glad I didn’t hesitate to listen to him. While in the boot, I read and practice ChiRunning mentally, practiced better posture, and worked on strengthening my core muscles. Once I got the go-ahead to start running again, I’d be ready.

March 5^th at 8:30am, I was cleared to run! I unfortunately had to wait until I got home from work and done with a 90minute bike session before I could be reunited with the pavement.

Oh, what joy! I ran less than two miles – without a watch – and fought the urge to just keep running. To be honest, I felt far from great, but the pain in my heal was not there! For the first run since November, I was running with no foot pain! Wahoo!

By time I got home, my calves were tight and by the next morning it was hard to walk AND my plantar was tender… WHAT?!?! This cannot happen.

I have since redoubled my foam roller efforts and I roll my feet on a golf ball throughout the day to keep the plantar fascia loose and supple.

I love me some mobility with Kstar!

With more foam roller time, lots of golf ball therapy, some looseners/streches for pre/post run, and my work-in-progress ChiRunning, I have been able to 5 times in the last 9 days - each a little further and a little faster than the last.

"DEAL with your business if you are serious about kicking ass." Thanks for this, Kstar. I'd like to think I'm serious about kicking ass so I guess I oughta deal with my shit.

What have you done to come back from injury AND avoid a repeat performance?

Until the next tale,
Ericka

ENOUGH!

Happy Monday, beautiful people!

Oh, are you wondering about the title to this post? All caps is kinda dramatic, right? Throw in an exclamation mark and I'm on the path to becoming a drama queen.

Maybe not. (Insert smiley emoticon which doesn't always work... maybe it's winking...)

You may recall that I've got a lovely unwanted accessory standing between me and my dreams. Okay, maybe that really is a bit dramatic, but it's how I've felt for the last 5 weeks and 6 days. A tear in my plantar fascia has sidelined my triathlete efforts and left me toting the title of duathlete for much of 2013.

Well I've had enough.

I'm out of shape - as far as running is concerned and by extension, triathlon. And I can't possible do enough to make up for my lack of running. I am desperately behind schedule in my training and can't possible do enough to get caught up.

And then I see this lovely little picture posted by Believe I Am:

Note to self: relax, you are enough, you have enough, you do enough.

What do you think when you read this message?

I have an internal battle between Ericka 1 and Ericka A, where 1 is like, "Whew! That's a load off my mind. I feel so much better. I AM enough, I have enough, I do enough." Ericka 1 takes a deep relaxing breath and feels whole again.

THEN Ericka A is like, "That something weak people say. You can't possible ever be, have, or do enough."

Ericka 1 is like, "Ow, bitch slapped."

Ericka A is like, "Suck it up and get back to work."

A difficult balance lies in here. A balance that I've been trying to internalize and believe.

As an athlete, I work hard to better myself. If I don't do enough, I won't see the progress I hope to see. I think the message here isn't that I shouldn't work hard, but that I am not defined by my hard work. I will still be enough even if I fail. I'll tell you what, that gives me the courage to try - over and over again.

Tomorrow is a big day. I should be giving my boot the boot after 6 weeks! Yahoo!! Unfortunately, running will be slow and mileage low with a conservative increase of both to ensure that I can avoid another bout with the boot. Failing at my goals this year are almost a definite, but I will still be enough even if I fail. And next year I can try again.

Until the next tale,
Ericka

Do you believe you will still be enough even if you fail?

How do you balance a need to succeed and accepting that you've done your best?

WBW: Accessories

My mind is all over the place right now, so you’re gonna get some mental vomit all over that lovely little screen of yours.

Brain storm time: What’s on my mind?

Boot

Swim

Bike

Racing

Winning

Losing

Does all of that make sense? No? I’m confused too.

You know, I had big plans for this season. I was going to kick some ass and take some names. I was going to train hard and race even harder.

Was?

Was.

Maybe I still will, but right now it doesn’t feel very likely. Why? This is why. \/

Friend or Foe... we'll soon know.

Remember all of that complaining that I was injured? Well, I’m still injured. Still complaining. Looks like my plantar fasciitis includes edema, nerve constriction, and a nodular development – which indicates a partial tear, but they can’t see the tear…

So this lovely boot is my new (and only) “Hey, look at me!!” accessory. It’s better than the “accessory” the doctor wanted to give me – a cast. I convinced him, for better or worse, that swimming and biking are good for me and wouldn’t likely slow my recovery if we could immobilize my foot the other 22 hours in a day. I’m starting to wonder if I was right to convince him of such and if he was right to listen to me.

At first, my thoughts were on maintaining and building my fitness despite not being able to run for 6 weeks. Now my thoughts are on getting better and racing year after year after year at higher and higher levels.

It’s hard to think about 5 years instead of 5 months.

But what a minute! This is a Wanna be Wednesday report and I’m pretty sure I want to be faster, no a whiner!

Here’s what I did this Wanna be Wednesday:

Swim Clinic at 5:30am

250y warm-up

150y 6/6 kick drill

4(?)x 25y “Hard Pull”

4x 50y Fist drill w/ pull buoy

6x 100y Hard

100y easy back stroke

8x25y Sprint

200y warm-down

I think that’s everything from the swim – Since I’m just doing as I’m told, I seem to have a hard time remembering what I’ve done! I do like turning my brain off and just swimming.

Bike Session at 4:30pm on trainer

10 minute easy warm up

3x 20 minutes @ tempo w/ 5 minutes recovery between each

5 minute easy spin for warm-down – 1:25 total time on the bike

Core work

That’s it! Just an average early season base training day.

What do you do to set yourself up for success in both this season and seasons in years to come?

Until the next tale,

Ericka

Wanna Be Wednesday: Tri to swim

Someday I will swim. For now I believe I’m simply not drowning.

I’m doing a swim clinic with a few other triathletes and under the supervision of my triathlon mentor, Tim A. (Tim: Surprise! For better or worse, I’ve learned nearly everything I know about triathlons from you.) We meet two days/week for drills, technique lessons, and short workout sets all under a watchful eye. It is so valuable to have someone watching, correcting, encouraging and challenging my swim technique. I learned to swim at the age of 24 and it’s been a slow and ongoing process. This is the first time I’ve had “practice” with a “coach!” 

Today was our third meeting and here’s what I’ve learned so far:

1)      I wasn’t rotating onto my right side, resulting in a wide stroke with my right arm. This was causing me shoulder pain, reduced power/efficiency, and it made me veer off to the left! To all you triathletes that have had to deal with me swimming crooked/into you, I am sorry. Hopefully it won’t happen again!

2)      I need to do a better job breathing out with my face in the water.

3)      I “break” my left wrist – ESPECIALLY when I’m tired! This leads to “slipping” through the water which feels easier, but doesn’t get me anywhere… mainly, forward.

4)      The early vertical forearm is a technique that eludes me. Don’t worry. I will work out it until I OWN it.

5)      Power – I lack it. We swam with paddles for the first time today and they destroyed me. I was so tired! I’d be hard pressed to swim a 100y nonstop with paddles.

Tim: Did I remember everything?

Today’s workout consisted of 200y warm-up, a few 50y 6/6 side kick drill, a few 50y freestyle w/ paddles (working early vertical forearm), a few 50y w/ paddles and swim bouy (working to reduce stroke count), and some 50y quick sets thrown through out to practice our form at faster speeds. A 100y warm-down and it was time to hit the showers and head to work.

Have you sought out help to improve your limiters?

Until the next tale,

Ericka