Quick update...

May has arrived and the wind hasn't stopped. I have been slowly getting my legs and lungs back into the running game after being gone from the venue for 4 weeks. I am slowly (and I mean slowly) rebuilding my run base, so that I don't run into any more issues and can be healthy for the Disneyland half marathon training that will commence in June.
The pool at NAU is closed for the next three weeks and I am still trying to figure out an alternative.
My IT band (of course, another issue) has been bugging me when I ride my bike. I am waiting on the local running store Run Flagstaff (runflagstaff.com) to get their new shipment of foam rollers before I do anymore biking. It doesn't seem as though I have been able to have a steady workout block with all three sports consecutively. But, what I can be thankful for is the fact that I am a three sport athlete and where one sport falls short I have two others to help me back up. It is continual cross training.

XTERRA West recap....

I want to start off by thanking everyone for their support this weekend. I know you didn't have to comment on my continuous barrage of status updates about my weekend, but I am going to take them all as genuine interest. I figured I would write this note in a "pro" and "con" form. In my mind, the positives and negatives are highlighted in my mind. But, before I start into this, I want to say that the whole weekend overall was a positive. I don't want to sound cynical for listing cons in this post (which I will try and even out with pro points).We'll start off with an obvious one:

Pro and Con:
Location- I think the Lake Las Vegas area is as close to as gorgeous as one can artificially make a desert. The palm lined streets, green space, expansive lake and mediterranean architecture all take away from the dirty, barren hills that encircle the whole area. As beautiful as it is, it all comes at a cost that I can't morally justify. After learning so much about water issues in the west (which is incredibly complex and interesting if you ever have the urge to read up on it), the whole of the area is counter intuitive to the natural desert landscape. It is a huge waste of water in a place where people should have been wiser never to live in in the first place. People were not meant to live on the desert. Our bodies are just not made for it and yet here is this virtual oasis. As far as the location is concerned as a race venue. Can't we pick better sites XTERRA?! I mean, come on! You hold the race in Temecula, CA before moving it to Las Vegas.Temecula, as far as I know, is just another hot, barren landscape. I understand that the West Championship race is early in the season and when you have only a few states to pick from, many of which are still waiting on trails to open from all the winter snow, your choices are limited. But, how about something on the coast of southern california? Not in the desert, not blazing hot, and generally prettier than the desert.

Con:
Weather- As stated above, it is a desert. And for anyone who has lived in or near the desert southwest, it gets pretty toasty early in the year. 85 degrees to many people is not an alarm for hiding inside with the A/C blasting in order to retain your sanity. But, from a person coming from a wildly prolonged winter and not a day peaking above the 67(?) degree mark and dealing with mountain bike races in his own home town being cancelled because of too much snow still, 85 degrees feels like the surface of the sun. That becomes even more apparent when there is no vegetation to shade the athlete, nor any vegetation at all except a few reeds anb bushes along the water's edge.

Pro:
Swim and Bike- I prerode the bike course yesterday and couldn't believe how difficult it was. There were three sections that I had to get off and walk my bike because it was truly, at my experience level, unrideable. Even the pros had to get off on probably two of the places and walk. I got back to the hotel after the preride and subsequently freaked out about that course for the rest of the night. I hadn't taken my watch along to time how long it took and that was another mistake. If I had timed the preride and said, "ok, it took me one hour going easy and stopping, I could easily do a lap in 45 minutes if I was really hammering." But I didn't take the watch. So I freaked out about how fast I really could go on that course. Turns out, I should not have been freaking out. I had an overall goal on the course of finishing in 2:45. Broken down, it would look like this 25 min swim, 1:30 bike, under 50minute run, 2:45 finish time. That was a very"best case scenario" time. I finished in 1:30.44 for the bike. Not a bad estimate!It still ended up only being the 5th fastest bike in my age groups, which is kind of a disappointment. Now to the swim. When I started swimming for triathlon, it was easily my weakest link. My first triathlon swim was comparable to the titanic sinking…yeah, that bad. I have worked tirelessly on my swim since. I have refined my stroke, worked on strength, drills, and speed, and it is finally paying off. Before I go any further I must vindicate myself from the official results that were posted from the race (a link to which will be posted at the end of this recap). The official race results say 26:32 for the swim portion. Those times include a 300m run to transition from the lake and the full Transition (T1). Times are going to look bloated for everyone. Mine look incredibly bloated because I could not, for the life of me, get my wetsuit off. I had some bunching in my elbow and it would not roll down passed it. I literally probably wasted 2 minutes trying to get the dang thing off! My whole transition at SOMA last year, including wetsuit, was 1:37 I think. With the run to the transition, this race, it cost me about 4 minutes. I know this because I thankfully timed myself during the swim. Previous to this race my best time for 1500m was 24:06, timed in the Natatorium on campus. When I ran out of the lake yesterday and took a look at my watch about 15m up the beach, I saw 22:04!!! I had swam 1500m under 22 min!!! It’s just too bad the results aren’t going to show it. And I fully blame my wetsuit for my loss of 3rd place.

Con:
Equipment- Generally everything worked great. My new bike was smooth and fast, my shoes did their job. My sunglasses kept the glare off and goggles kept the water out (except they fogged up which is to be expected, I guess). I had issue with two things that I fully blame for my loss of third place. I already mentioned my wetsuit. I won’t go into any greater detail. After looking at results I still had the 4th fastest swim in my age group and without the wetsuit mishap, easily the second best swim. Thumbs up for actual swim, thumbs down for wetsuit. Second equipment failure came about with my bike pump. I know all the cool people have CO2 cartridges and after yesterday, that is the way I am going. I didn’t really have a great place to put my pump on my bike. I couldn’t carry it on my person and my bike was ill equipped to handle it anywhere. In retrospect I should have taped it to my frame. Instead, I stuck it out of my under-seat tool bag. I figured it would be secure. I was wrong. The bumpy, rocky course kept shaking the tube out of the bag and almost dropping it on the ground. I had no other option and needed that to work. After fiddling with it for a short time and continuing to fiddle with it as it kept trying to escape from the bag, I deciding to take a gamble (this is Las Vegas) and tossed it to the side. I couldn’t risk losing 1st place (which was my overall goal and held a qualifying spot to Hawaii and the World Championships attached to it) over my stupid pump. Luckily I did not get a flat on the course and didn’t need it. Two equipment failures that would have easily made up for the 4 seconds that separated myself and 3rd place.

Pro:
My run. During the race, I would never have said that my run was a positive on the day. I was already slightly dehydrated from my bike effort and the sun was only hotter, the course was drier, and the hills on the course (1400+ ft of elevation gain over 6.2 miles) never gave up. Literally, the whole of the first mile and a half save for a quick short downhill section, was all uphill, and it was steep uphill! I have learned over the years to just keep moving forward. There is no sense in stopping, as long as you keep moving forward. That’s what I did. Albeit in a shuffle. My run was slow! I felt slow, I felt tired, I felt like the course was never going to end. I walked one steep hill on the first lap of the run course that most of the other competitors walked as well. Then you came downhill to a water station and did it all over again. I told myself that I needed to run every section that I ran on the previous lap. I couldn’t walk unless I had walked there on the first lap. In actuality, I ran more on my second lap than I did on my first. That big hill that everyone walk…I jogged it on my second lap. I began to feel good after that last ascent and it was downhill to the finish. I think I could sense the end was near, I had already conceded moving up any positions in my age group and was just going to finish as strong as possible. About 1200m from the finish I can feel a surge in my stride. Do I know why this surge didn’t happen earlier? Absolutely not. But, it was coming. I passed a gentleman who was walking and gave him some words of encouragement. He mentioned that the guy ahead of me in the gray shirt was in my age group. I looked up and saw the guy who had passed me early on the bike. We had traded positions a few times before he passed me for good. I had expected not to see him anymore. But, here is was. I decided to go for it. This last bit was going to be the deciding factor for a podium spot. We were about 800-1000m from the finish, he had about a 75-100m lead on me. I kicked it in, hoping that I would have enough energy to hold this kick until the finish. I was slowly making up ground on him and could feel the gap closing. He walked on the last short uphill sections of the course before glancing backward and seeing me closing in. He kicked it in for the last 200m, we round a corner onto the final street towards the finish line and I run out of real estate. He beat me by 4 seconds and collapsed on the ground. Another 100-200m and I would have caught him. I felt tired on the run, but not as bad as I thought after 4 weeks of no running. I don’t encourage anyone to run a race after coming off injury and with a total lack of training. But, I was pleasantly surprised with my result. Again, after looking at official results, I had the 3rd fastest run in my age group! It wasn’t fast at all! 53:30 for 10K and I was shooting for a 50min 10K, but I can’t believe it.

Despite all the issues and problems, my only weaknesses are things that can be easily fixed. I usually come out of these races disappointed because I set my fitness goals too high, and fail to reach them. I overestimate myself and underestimate my opponents. It leaves me highly disappointed for being undertrained and underprepared. That was not the case in this instance. I was shooting for a 2:45 finishing time, which, according to last year’s results would have won my age group. I finished in 2:50.46. I knew it was a long shot but I don’t race to fail to do my best. I was going to accomplish it by swimming 25 minutes, I swam 22min, and unfortunately my wetsuit negated that effort. I was going to ride 1:30, which I hit dead on and I wanted to run 50 minutes and I ran 53 which I am highly pleased with considering the difficulty of the course and my lack of any run training for 4 weeks. The depth of my age group was much higher this year over last as well and that has to factor into the overall standings. Overall it was a great weekend. My parents have become my biggest supporters and my cousin and her family came out to visit with us after the race as well. It couldn’t have been a better end to the weekend.

Official race results: http://www.jtltiming.com/results/x-veg.html

Pre XTERRA West...Lake Las Vegas...

I am currently sitting in the hotel room at the Loews Lake Las Vegas and have just pre-ridden the mountain bike course. Wow! It is going to be rough. The first 3 miles have an incredible amount of climbing and the downhills are quick, but loose. It is going to be about staying on my wheels and continuing forward movement. I just have to think that its only about 17 miles and climbing is a strength of mine. I only have one shot this year at a title and qualifying for the world championships in Hawaii in October. It has to start with a solid swim. I need to stay within my limits and keep the pressure on the whole time and not become stuck in cruise control. Then the bike is going to be about continuing the pressure, but at a reasonable pace. It is going to be really easy to burn out on the first lap and lose a lot of ground on the second. Everything I have left is going to be wasted on the run. The run is very hilly as well and the key is to hang tough the first lap and give it your all on the second. I am going to try not to push the uphills and hammer the down. We will have to see how my run fitness is because of being out for 4 weeks rehabing my stress fractures. Plus, I have never ran off a mountain bike before. It will be interesting to see how my legs handle the different bike position into a run.
Stay tuned for a race recap early this week...

Ups and Downs....

Lets start with a few ups of the past few weeks. The weather is peaking around the spring corner. Only peaking though. And spring in Flagstaff means wind anyway. So, I have been off my bike for the a few weeks. I got absolutely sick and tired of riding my trainer. I couldn't handle it anymore. Second, the wind and chilly temps most days have kept me off the road. I am kind of a pansy when it comes to weather. I am a self described good weather rider. The wind doesn't bother me if I can get out on the trails, but they are still covered in snow as far as I know. So, with one positive, the weather, comes a few hiccups.

Also, I don't remember if I posted that I was diagnosed with a couple stress fractures in my tibias. Yes, both tibias. So, I have been in the pool at least 3 days, trying for 5 days a week in the pool doing some aqua jogging. I have never done it before and I am not sure I like it, but its all I have right now. We shall see in a few weeks if the jogging has translated into running power.

Positives include increased fitness in the pool. The majority of days that I am in the pool are positive. I am hitting times in my workouts that I have never hit before. It is a hugely positive experience for me. Plus, I have been more consistent in the pool the last month and a half, averaging 8000-10000 meters in the pool each week. I am topping my build up in the pool this week at 10000m. I will taper a little next week before my race. But, I am mostly going to hold this fitness and work on some increased speed through May and into the Deuces Wild XTERRA on June 6th.

In other news, I had my first race of the season last Saturday and it ended in a less than positive way. I raced the Prescott Punisher Mountain Bike race in Prescott. It was a 15 mile, 3 loop course. I decided to ride my single speed because I truly love it and I finally built it into a reasonable racing bike. The most recent change was switching my SID World Cup fork from my old hardtail onto this bike. It makes an incredible difference on the viability of my hands. The course went downhill (no pun intended) when I accidently took the wrong loop. I followed the green arrow loop instead of the blue arrow which cut my loop by probably less than a mile (?). I couldn't really tell you how much was cut short by my shortcut but it was enough to put me into third place at the finish which was above my actual ability by maybe 3 places. I DQed myself. And to add injury to my insult, I crashed on my final lap. Totally not expecting a patch of loose dirt, my wheel was grabbed and thrown to the side and I went down. I hadn't raced in a short mountain bike race in probably 4 or 5 years and hadn't been on the trails since last fall. I was out of shape and out of the race. The next race comes home to Flagstaff in May and I hope to finish respectably and bring some praise on my hometown turf. Stay tuned for that update in a few weeks.

Turn around again...

I have had yet another turn around in my training. No running for 4 weeks. But, until I continue there, lets back it up. beep, beep, beep.

I began having some pain in my tibia last fall. It was pretty localized to my left leg and in a certain area, which I later found out was called the Tibial Tuberosity. I ran through it, no big problem. Took my couple weeks of easy training in December before I began spring training and I was doing fine. I ran on the treadmill for a couple months due to horrible weather here and no issue. And I got back out on the roads occasionally to break the monotony. The roads began to fight back. My first time out on the roads I felt the same pain, albeit less. I would run the roads once, maybe twice per week and the rest was on the treadmill where I had no issue. Then came better weather and a general lack of motivation to straddle the treadmill anymore. The pain got worse and popped up in both legs. I finally ran a quicker paced run (about 6:45 min miles for 6.5 miles) and the pain became an issue. It got to the point where I didn't want to run for a couple days after that particular run because it hurt to walk stairs, bend my knees with weight above them and generally do anything except walk around (Funny thing is, I had no issue hiking 19 miles in the Grand Canyon three days after the aforementioned run). But everytime I ran the pain in my knees would hang around for a couple days and then subside only to rear its head again once I got back out on the roads.

I am a stubborn individual. I don't like to claim an issue even when I have pain. Most pain will come and go with a little self-massage or extra stretching. Not this time. It was a bone issue. So, I googled the heck out of it to find a solution. Nothing. The closest diagnosis I came to was Osgood-Schlatter, but it affects adolescent children and their growth plates. I am 20 years old and haven't grown in 4 years. It couldn't be this. So, I gave in and went to see a doctor.

The doctor mentioned Osgood-Sclatter as a possibility but, as stated above, knew I was too old to be affected by this disease. X-rays were ordered to rule out a stress fracture. Although nothing showed up on the X-ray (many stress fractures are too small to be seen on x-rays. More detailed scans are necessary), the doctor said it is probably a "stress reaction." Which, if not taken care of, can turn into a larger stress fracture and cause major issues.

Back to the first statement. I am shut down with running for 4 weeks. Surprisingly, it isn't that big of an issue mentally for me. Because, one, I want to get back to a state of feeling good when I run and two, I want to be 100% healthy when the summer comes around and my training turns into half-marathon training for the Disneyland Half Marathon. If it means taking a few weeks off here to be healthy there, that is a setback I am willing to accept. I am also trying out aqua jogging for the first time. I have read in many articles that state, if training is done right, aqua jogging can hold and potentially improve fitness (ie: VO2, lactate threshhold, etc.) without the normal pounding of running. I am giving it a try and mentally I am set to come back from this injury stronger than I went in.

Mental Games...

Since graduating high school, I have always claimed to be a mental runner. It is common running knowledge that a strong mental outlook on your training and racing will translate into better results. That couldn't prove more true than with me. And it doesn't just have to do with my running.

As a triathlete, I participate in three different disciplines. Swimming, Biking, Running. My mental confidence carries over throughout the three sports. If I have a good workout in the pool, chances are I will feel much better about my ride or run later in the day. In the same vein, if I have a bad workout, the "Debbie Downer" syndrome may carry over as well.

I am writing this because I am worried about my training. I say "training" because I mean all my training, even though most of my lack of confidence comes from my running. As a high school runner, I was injured three times, mildly. I had shin splits during my first track season, I had a freak foot issue after running in flats for the first time, and a bruised heel after running steeplechase my senior year. In all three cases a little rest, ice and ibuprofen took care of the issue. Training hardly ceased and my seasons continued on. Since I have graduated I have been plagued by injury.

I didn't run much the fall after graduation and began running again the next spring. My injuries began with a stress fracture in my foot after a trail run in tucson over spring break. It knocked me out for 6 weeks to heal. I was healthy over the summer, although I didn't train much. That fall I decided to run a couple half marathons that would lead up to the Arizona Rock N' Roll Marathon. I built my training too fast and after having a breakout half marathon in Tucson in december i ran into runner's knee, and IT band issues throughout the whole spring. I bounced back once again and had an ok summer. My mental was weak now. Two springs in a row and no training.

I have read articles about great runners who were injury prone and they eventually had to revamp there training to continue their careers and stay off the couch due to their injuries.

I am writing this now because as I look forward through this year and this season and into my future in athletics I am worried. Once again, I have some pain creeping up in my legs that (after plenty of googling) is a mystery. I have a couple more months of training for spring/summer triathlons and I have committed to the Disneyland Half Marathon in September. I am just dreading the training because I am afriad, once again, of becoming injured as my training kicks into high gear. I know I can win the race with the right training and I HATE feeling crappy on my runs. I am just mentally shot and its only March. Its going to be a long year.

The Grand Canyon, Take II...

This is the first spring break that I can remember where I have stayed in town for the majority of the week. There has always been family vacations, camping trips with friends or excursions to warmer climates. That's what spring break is about isn't it? The family trip came in January this year, the friends were uncoordianted and the money wasn't around to take a few days somewhere else. So, here I stay.

Monday began with a bang in the big hole in the ground, the Grand Canyon. Last August I decided to hike from the South Rim to Phantom Ranch, 9 miles down the Bright Angel Trail. This time, my brother wanted to do the same thing. The weather was cooler, the first mile had packed snow/ice covering it and the hordes of people were far from the same as was in August. Did the trip become easier? Hardly.

We started out at 5:40am from Flagstaff. Got to the Canyon at 7:00 and were on the trail by 7:30. I don't own yaktrax, and I didn't even think about using them. I have never hiked in the canyon when there was snow on the trail and wasn't thinking about the repercussions of doing so. Needless to say, the first mile or so was pretty sketchy. It was hard packed with ice. It was small steps and hoping we didn't fall down into the mule dookie. We made it and kept truckin. We stopped shortly at Indian Gardens, 4.5 miles from the top and took a break. But, we were in a rhythm and kept huffing down the trail. My brother and I hike pretty fast and we were passing people all the way down. Made it to the river (which was my brother's first time) and over the Silver Bridge and up to Phantom by 11am, in time for lunch.

The weather, compared to Flagstaff was gorgeous down there although my brother and I both agreed 5 degrees more would have been even more enjoyable. But, you can't always have perfection. We relaxed on the benches in front of the cantina and were off, back up the trail at noon. We still had 9 miles and roughly a mile of vertical gain before we were done.

The sun was great. It kept us warmer than when we were coming down and not until mile-and-a-half house did I need to put my sweatshirt back on. Then it was just one foot in front of another until we reached the top. I could tell my brother was hurting a little, but he kept truckin and I am so proud of him for doing it. Altogether we hiked for roughly 8 hours with an hour break at the bottom. Not bad for a day.

It is now the third day since completion and my legs are just feeling better. I never understand why I do things that cripple me for so long.