115 Miles of Beauty

With a few weeks left of training I am powering through --  

Three weeks of back to back monster training weeks.  I have to. I need to. To get me the where I need to be.

Work is crazy.  So, it is making training that much more difficult but I am managing.  100% reminder for next year and years to come… I can only do IM in the summer.  Holiday season and training together is a recipe for disaster.

That being said, I am making it work.  I have been up earlier to handle my bike on my trainer in my living room before work… and NO, I have not rode out of my trainer since that first time a few months back, but thanks for asking and giggling to yourself. :-) .. .the then shower and head to the office by 9:00… where I am there all day, working hard as one of Santa’s elves.   :-)  I am not complaining as I do love what I do, just it is hard.  I am at the office until 8:00 at night, if I am lucky to race over to the gym to get in my pool sessions and then the elliptical. Aqua Jogging has fallen to the side as my gym pool is not deep enough, but the elliptical I think is helping more, plus I really tuned out on the work out and I get to catch up on all my episodes of Switched at Birth and The Fosters on my phone. JOnce done, I am home at 10:00 or 11:00 to fall into bed and start all over.  Depending the day, I have added in Pilates instead of the run or swim… which I have realized, I really enjoy!

The weekends are madness.  This weekend, in particular, I had to bike 120 miles with a 3mi transition run on Saturday and them swim for 2hrs and elliptical for 4hrs plus strength and condition. How gross does that sound?!  Since it actually rained this weekend, I had to swap work out days, so I was at the gym from 6:45 – 2:45… that including swimming working out, changing and of course showering. It was crazy.  8hrs at the gym.  It was funny, because I packed a lunch and ate my PB&J in the locker room with the ladies looking at me like I was a weirdo and I just continued with my daily routine. I got in 4 episodes of Switched at Birth and strength and conditioning.  It was a good day… and I was shocked it was only 2:45 when I left.  My Saturdays are usually on the bike, so I am not home until 6:00 or 7:00, so this was a nice treat.  Additionally, while I as at the gym, I noticed the scale.  I do not have a scale at home, so I had no idea what I was at weight wise.  Not that I cared, because like I said, I don’t have a scale at home but I was intrigued.  About half way through the season I had gained the muscle and of course lost 5 or so pounds, but lately, my clothes were literally falling off of me, so I was curious.  Before I started training I was 138lbs and I was comfortable with my weight.  Of course I wanted to lose the typical 10lbs we all dream of, but I was not stressing about it.  So imagine my surprise when I hopped on the scale and kept sliding the weight thing to the left… 119lbs. Holy Moly! 20lbs... Did I really have 20lbs to lose?!?! LOL. I guess so!  So, needless to say, since I finally had a Saturday afternoon, I headed to Beverly Center for some new clothes! … and boy am I happy!  Don’t get me wrong, I am super excited I lost the weight.  One it will make the race that much easier to do without the excess, but I am also realistic.  My “normal” clothes are in my closet, waiting for me to be social again in the “off season” – with holiday parties and get together, I am sure I will land somewhere in the middle. :-)

So, after my excursion to the mall and 6hrs of working out, I was exhausted and took no time falling asleep that night for my 120 on Sunday.  I was ready.  I set up my car as my special needs bag and went out for three loops from Zuma to Los Posas and back.  It is the best “race simulator” there is and today was probably the best and worst day.  We had 12MPH winds at Zuma in the am and as I went north the winds only increased. It was probably around 25MPH at some points and could have been as close to 30MPH at others.  WOWSERS!!  It was draining.  But mentally, it was perfect. I normally don’t listen to any music or anything on these rides, because you can’t during the race, but this time I did, halfsy—I had an earphone in one ear and the street side was open.  I downloaded GONE GIRL.  I only got half way through, if you can believe that on an 8hr ride… but I was good!  So don’t spoil the ending for me. :-)

The run after was great.  My knee didn't hurt but man the wind at 4:00 on the beach was blowing. All the kite boarders were out in full effect and smaller kites, because the wind was so great for them... brutal for me with sand at my face, but again all good training.  I got home that night with an awesome feeling.  I am going to crush this race!!

The best part was after my ride, I was able to meet up with Erick, who helped me with a quick tire change clinic.  thank goodness for that.  It was very helpful.

Roadrash... Thank You Chapstick!

You want to know what sucks? Flipping over your handle bars and wiping out.... What sucks even more is it happening only 30 miles into a 100 mile ride.

The goal was 3 loops from Zuma to Los Posas... each loop faster than the last. I was looking forward to knocking it out.  But unfortunately, that was not in the cards.

Yup.. I was wrapping up my first loop, practicing my new nutrition plan that Ian had mentioned and was in the zone.  When I casually put on my awesome 50 SPF Chapstick, upon putting it back in my bento box, I dropped it.  Stupidly, I glanced over my right shoulder to see how far back I had dropped it, (I thought maybe I would stop to pick it up), when I glanced back, I realized that my body had steered to the right as well and before I knew it, I was hitting the curb and a diving over my handlebars... for some reason, my right foot unclipped and my right elbow took the brunt.. but there I go.

As I lay in pain on the gravel, I somehow manage to pop up and grab my phone while clinching my right collarbone.  It was in mega pain.  I did't know what to do, so I stood there, when thankfully, a really nice biker dude, I forget his name, stopped to check on me.  Thank goodness. He looked at me and asked me basic questions. I think I responded.  All i kept saying over and over was my collarbone, my collarbone. He was more concerned with my right elbow and shin.  I didn't even notice them.  I think I was in shock.  He asked me to unzip the top of my shirt so he can see my collarbone. He said, if i broke it, it would be black and blue already.  So I showed it to him and thank goodness, it was fine.  As we assessed my bike, he asked if I was OK to ride.  I was... still out of it, but OK.  As we cruised along towards Zuma, we were chatting and he would casually bike behind me for a few and then catch back up.  I told him at one point I was OK, if he needed to go and he said he would ride with me a little while longer and then a few miles later, he asked how I was feeling.  I said, I think I am good... and he said, well, you got your color back, so that's a good sign. I got my color back!?!? I didn't even know i lost it!

That being said, I was OK to ride the last 3 miles by myself. I thanked him profusely for stopping and staying with me and then headed to my car.  I put my banged up bike on the rack and drove to the lifeguard station.  They were awesome.  Cleaned me up as best they could and then looked at my elbow and said you need to go to the ER.

So I left Zuma and headed home.  Thankfully Cedars is only a few blocks from my house, so I stopped at home and dropped all my stuff off and took a taxi to the ER. As they cleaned me up, the nurse pulled out a pic, scrub sponge and light sponge.  He said 99% of the time the light sponge and scrub sponge does the trick and that he never has to use the pic. Well, I was that 1%!! HOLY MOLY he dug into my elbow like he was digging for gold.  I did get a vicodin, but it didn't kick in until I left, so my shin and elbow were killing me from all the scrubbing and picking. OH MY GOD!

4 Hours later and X-rays of my entire right side from my collarbone down to my ankle, i am all set to go and NOTHING was broken! WAHOOOOOOOOO!!  i was just severely banged up.  I will take it.

I was forced to rest the next few days and many was that hard, but I guess I needed it.

The AMAZING Bike Fit

With 6 weeks to go, I have 3 weeks back to back of 110 miles on the bike... it is go time.  This is it. We are in the 4th quarter and I have to ball and I have to drive and drive to get myself to the end zone.

To do that.. I needed to make sure a few things were in line... Knee, Bike, Form, and Nutrition... and sometimes they are all connected.

I went to Ian Murray - Awesome guy, triathlete, coach, person - I have met him a few time from LA Tri, and he coached my friend Erick for IMCozumel,... so, I was thrilled that he was able to squeeze me in for a bike fit and advice.  As it turns out. My seat slightly high, I mean by the millimeters, same my arrow-bars which was putting pressure on my knees... which was causing my right patella tendinitis and my clips for my shoes also were off and had my left foot pointing towards my bike instead of straight ahead which was what was causing the added strain on my left knee and IT Band. No wonder I have been in so much pain!  UGH... But I have to tell you, it is amazing how much a little change can do.

Don't get me wrong, the damage has been done and the only way for me to fix these knees is to stay off them which really I am doing for the most part - no running- instead I am aqua jogging and elliptical machine -- but I am still doing a few small transition runs after my ride... Not ideal, but I have to do it... no rest for the weary... :-)  

Latigo...

Latigo is a monster... 10 Miles of climbing that is pretty intense.

As part of one my long rides I had to include Latigo. I was looking forward to it as I had never done it before.  And conquering 90 with that climb was great... But I have to tell you it was awful. ... and thankfully mile 2 in on the climb I met an amazing woman, Judy. She was pure awesomeness.  She was a talker and had stories that could go on for years.  And I needed them.  She had biked Latigo a million times so, she was able to give me a heads up about the road under construction or lack or paving, when the steeper parts of the climbs were coming and to be aware of the false flats.

Judy has biked across the USA twice and across Italy and in numerous races tons of century rides.  She was truly impressive and if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have made it through the ride.

Thank you Judy.

Judy and I at the Top of Latigo

Top of Latigo!! I DID IT!

A View from Above

Randomness

It is amazing how little time one has in the day. Now, I know everyone says that  -- training is so time consuming, but when you are in the toy industry in the peak of the holiday season, you REALLLLLY have NO TIME.  It seriously crazy.

I am up at 5:30 /5:45 to get to training sessions before work... 6:30-8:30... and then working all day, though lunch, on holiday pitches and exclusives and samples and everything else you can imagine.  Hopefully I get out by 6:00.. but usually it is around 7:00, sometimes 8:00, when I then head to the gym to swim or elliptical, since I can't run home to hop on the trainer for a bike session... and then into bed and out by 10:00/10:30 to do it all again.

I truly have no life, LOL... but I am OK with it.  I am really excited about this race.  I can't believe that it is just around the corner.

But despite all the hours I have devoted, I am truly enjoying it. I know you must be thinking, Rach you are crazy, but I am!! Each and every day and training session i am conquering some new and difficult... Some have been solo and some have been with friends or random strangers and for that I am greatI have had

Kelie has been great... always up for a ride, run or swim, even if we are socked in with fog.

Marica is an awesome running partner!

Sunrise in MDR before a swim

View from MDR

Steph and I for a midweek swim... She is such an inspiration

Clark Little... AWESOME Ocean Photographer that met on one of my rides through the Southbay

I LOVE that I Live in SoCal... the views are amazing.

Santa Monica

MDR during an evening ride

Meniscus or IT Band...

After Silverman, my knee was really bad.  So I finally went to an Orthopedist.  He was worried that I tore my meniscus and frankly so was I.  Something was not right.  But thankfully after a MRI, results showed my meniscus was fine, but my IT Band is sooooo inflamed that it actually showed up in the MRI, which apparently DOES NOT HAPPEN... so needless to say, HOLY MOLEY, I am F-ed! No more running for me.  Cortisone Shot done and fingers are crossed that I can push through come race day.

 

Silverman 70.3 Ironman

Silverman 70.3 Ironman was hard.

I think it was hardest for me because I was coming off of the intense running and aggravated knee from NY as well as traveling... so going straight into this race was tough.

That being said.  I arrived on Friday and met up with Lilias and David, newly married and both competing in Silverman as well as IM Arizona.  They are awesome and waited for me to arrive so we can drive the bike course. I have to tell you, I am so glad we did.  I was able to put a mental note on hills and turns and equate them in my mind to hills I had bike before... this hill is like Pepperdine, this one is like Mandeville, etc.

On Saturday, we woke up bright and early, had a delicious breakfast and headed to the swim start to get in a pre-race dip.  The water was AMAZING. It was about 75 degrees, so on the boarder of wet suit legal or not.  Given that Cozumel is NOT wet suit legal, I opted to take my dip and race in the skin suit I bought for Cozumel, one to test it out and two, to practice without a wet suit and gauge my time.  After the swim we bike the course for about 7-8 miles.  It was nice to shake off the cob webs and see what it was like... after our "test drive" we headed to registration to pick up our packets and hear the athlete brief.  Lilias and David's coach is the emcee of the event and multi IM Winner --1st place at Cozumel! So, it was really nice to hear some tips from him and get our selves sorted.

Not paying attention to the time, we realized that our other stuff was at the hotel and that we needed to get a move on it as we had to bring all of our gear back to the two transition areas.  Yes. Silverman had two transition areas, similar to Vineman and IM Cozumel.  Which works out great for me in training to get used to packing multiple bags.

Dinner and rest Saturday night and we were ready to rock.

My alarm was set for 3:45. Knowing that it would probably take me 15min to get out of bed for my targeted 4:00am wake up.  Of course I couldn't sleep. I was hot, I was cold, i had to pee, you name it. Then, just as I fall back asleep, I wake up to what felt like an earthquake.  3:11am... I am of course confused and try to fall back asleep, but no such luck, so now I am up and getting ready and probably only have about 4-5 uneasy hours of sleep. Fumbling around the room, I put my knee tape on, eat some breakfast and chill.  Ready for the day ahead.

As we all load up the car and head to T2 to catch the shuttle, I ask Lil and David if they felt the earthquake and they looked at me like I had 10 heads and told me it was probably just nerves that kept me awake. I agreed.  So i boarded the shuttle and reality was setting in.

It was super dark out and I was really excited and of course nervous, the course was super hard.  The entire bike route was hilly and and it was basically climbing uphill the entire time... awful = hard.. and knowing that I was going into a stupid hard hilly run, I was freaking out internally, especially because of my knee, but I was also calmly ready... well.. except for the fact that I really had to pee. :-)  by the time we got to T1, I could barely stand up, LOL.  But I made it.

As I walked down to T1, The view was amazing. The sun was coming up over the hills, it was gorgeous. I was ready.

I set up my bike and put on my skin suit and headed to the water with my age group.  my heart was pounding and as the buzzers were going off and then it was my turn....

As I entered the water and adjusted my goggles, I noticed the girl to the left of me was wearing a snorkel!! I could not believe it.  Seriously!?!?  a snorkel. Now, I know they are legal, but DUDE that is lame!  I kinda chuckled to myself, because literally we were just talking about snorkel in our swim practice 3 days prior, so I knew Adrian and the group were get a good laugh when i told them later. That being said, I got back in the zone and BANG!! Off we went.

As I started swimming guess what happened... stupid snorkel girl, who wasn't sighting and swimming all over the place, elbowed me right in the face and knocked my goggles. Since I am a smart girl, I had them on under my cap, so they did not fall off, but they were all wonky and filled with water. So as I stopped to fix them, I sank to the bottom.  I panicked.  I wasn't wearing my wetsuit, which normally keeps me a float, so since I was just in my skin suit, down I went and since I am a strong swimmer, I was in the beginning of the pack, the girls started to swim over me.  It was scary. After what seemed like forever, I started to tread water, fix my goggles, and attempted to swim, I couldn't, i was actually freaking out... so I started to breast stroke and talking to myself to get my heart rate down, reminding myself -- Rachel, you are a swimmer, you have trained for this, you got this... slow breaths, deep breaths, how great is this water, so amazing, ooh buoy #3, see you are moving, now SWIM -- and finally, I was back and in groove... Buoy after buoy I was cruising and really liking skin suit.  I felt very slick! :-)  as i was getting close to the exit, maybe about 3 buoys back, I saw this guy trying to squeeze in next to me, normally, I am put up a fight, but I today, I moved over to the right and let him in .... big mistake.. BOOM, another elbow to the face, same eye, AGAIN!  I couldn't believe it.  I actually screamed under water, Son of a Bit@h! and then kept swimming and finally made it the the exit... and with all the punches in the face and almost drowning, I still managed to finished in 42min.  One Down, Two to Go.

The Bike was great... the first 18 miles I was seriously cruising.  I was taking in the view, which was gorgeous, "chicking" a few guys and having a blast. It was hot, but not enough to get to me.  It was however enough to get to my Gatorade.  By mile 25, it started to taste like melted Jello, it was super gross and started to make me nauseous. So I switched to only water and electrolyte pills.  I tried eating solids, but I just couldn't do it... so my energy was depleting, which sucked, because the mile 45-56 was all uphill and it was crap,  But I made it.. and only 10min past my goal time.  Total of 4:10. Not too shabby... Two Down, One to Go.

The Run... the run was S#!t. I think i probably ran a total of 2.5 miles throughout the entire time. It was 3 loops on one stupid hill... it was seriously awful.  My knee was done. My stomach was done. Literally, even the pressure of my water belt resting on my hips and grazing my stomach made it hurt. Just before the 3rd loop I had to ditch it.  I felt so dehydrated, despite drinking whenever I could and the fresh oranges were amazing.  But despite all that.. I soldiered on.  It took me 3:30 to do the 13 miles, which is not ideal. But I finished.  Three for Three

IRONMAN SILVERMAN 70.3 FINISHER!!!

On a side note, I am fully aware that I have to get better at the run, but the knee and my nutrition are not 100%.  ... these I have to fix ASAP.

Sunrise, The Course, The Winners and Me!

Silverman Finisher!!

No Pain No Gain... If you are not having fun... Why are you doing it. :-)  

Despite being in Vegas for 4 days, I never once made it the strip. But I was able to see the Hoover Damn for the first time.  It is massive and the view is beyond! :-)