Monday, August 27, 2012

Starting to come together

After taking almost all of July off attempting to get my new saddle to work, I finally gave up on the aerobars and got the bike adjusted for road riding.  Then I moved the saddle just a bit further forward, enough that I would be comfortable in road and could do aero without too much shoulder strain and have been just getting time in the saddle (so to speak).  I went back to teh Bontrager, turned the seat post around (actually Jamie did all this and I just gave instructions :)) and very, very slowly experimented with aero.  It turns out that once you get rid of horrific welts and allergic reaction hives from your crotchtal area, it is a more comfortable ride.  Who knew?  Little by little I've been adding more time in the aero bars to the point that this past weekend I did one 2-hour ride followed the next day by a 3-hour ride, both aero almost the whole time.  I'm still thrilled every time I pee after a ride and it doesn't hurt - kind of like the thrill we get when we go to the US to find warm water coming out of faucets.  Such a cheap thrill but strangely exciting just the same.

So bike seems to be on track.  Unfortunately I'm going into another triathlon (the HIM end Sept) under trained.  I'm just beginning to get my swim mojo back, now that the kids are back in school and families have gone home, I can use the pool when the seas are too rough.  Today was a weird day.  The seas looked calm but then every once in a while a set of waves would come in and you could see the large swells and big waves crashing on the reef and low spots.  The current was all over the place and the water was murky as hell and after 1350m I jumped into the pool where I could see.  I really HATE swimming in water that isn't crystal clear.  I'm so used to our super clear water that anything less and I'm not comfortable.

Run is just fine.  I'm at 5 hours a week now and it has been a slow and steady increase and consistent running base.  I have high hopes for my run at the HIM and hopes for the IM.  One of my hammies has occasional twinges but I need to roll it out and keep stretching and I'm sure it will be good.  I recently realized that the HIM is in 3 weeks so I guess I really need to find us a place to stay.  I also have decided to import the shorts I'm hoping to use in teh HIM as mail is still not working.  I had hopes of using a trisuit I bought on Ebay but the package has still not shown up.  We recently finally received some books I'd ordered for the kids and that package only took a little over a year to show up so I have little hope my trisuit will show up before the triathlon.  So I guess I'll need to pay the big bucks to import shorts I got off Ebay.  Still no clue what to wear on top. 

Sunday, August 12, 2012

New PR

I am absolutely SHOCKED with my time today.  The last 10K I did I took the first 5K out pretty slow (well, compared to most everyone all my times are quite slow) and then worked the last 5K pretty hard, negative splitting each km (every km was marked) and broke an hour by 30 seconds.  I started out DFL and ended up 2nd or 3rd to last.  Down here unless you're under an hour, you're pretty much last.  My previous 10K had been 1:05 so I was super happy with that time as I really never imagined I'd ever break an hour.  I'm old and slow and I just figured I'd stay around an hour forever.  That race was a nice reminder that we old folks can get faster as we age.  After getting chen-chen covering my ass and my ride Saturday showing me my legs were quite dead IF I managed to get up at 5am and get to Cancun, I knew I was looking at being DFL again and being over an hour.  I don't know why I decided to do the run anyway; we had planned on riding out on Ruta de los Cenotes afterwards and I told Jamie I just didn't think I could sit on a bike seat so that was out, but I was curious about the shirt and I guess that was enough to get me out of bed at 5 this morning.

I had decided,before the chen-chen infestation and the dead legs on yesterdays's bike ride, that I wanted to take this run out harder from the start than usual.  Normally I just run at comfort and don't really push until the end.  This time I wanted to push from the beginning.  Unfortunately the course was marked only at 1 and 3 km and the rest was guesswork.  I noticed a very fit young lady from the start and it seemed I could match her pace well enough so I just went with her for the first 4km but felt strong enough after that to pass her and apparently I left her behind then as Jamie did not see her at all at the finish but Definitely Noticed her after I talked to her, if you know what I mean...He even memorized her number. 

At about what I figure might have been km 5 I was in dire straits looking for a spot to jump into the bushes and relieve myself.  We got to the start way too late (40 seconds to start of the 10k) to be able to avail myself of the "services" which resulted in a HUGE need to poop and I was getting worried I was going to become the poop girl of Cancun.  At this point I was SURE that I was running 6 min kms and was going to finish around an hour IF I managed to make it to the finish without shitting all over myself.  Add in the ass on fire from the run in with chen-chen and I was a mess.  I just wanted to get to the finish and go STRAIGHT to the portaloo.  Apparently that was what I needed to PR as I finished in 55 minutes, for me, a PR of 5 minutes.  I was so happy with that, especially with the dead legs from yesterday and ass on fire. Unfortunately, I must have had too much papaya at the finish buffet (check out the awesome fruit offered at the finish line) and I've been shitting my head off since.  Seems fitting to add non-stop diarrhea to an ass already on fire from chen-chen.  Still not sure if I'll be able to get on a bike seat today or not.  UGH!

looking at my results today, it looks like my first 5K was just under 30 min, so 6-min kms and that means the last 5K was negative split, for 5-min kms.  I am SUPER happy with that news.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

the crotch must be cursed

I'm starting to wonder if I've offended some pagan god or have been cursed in the crotch as I'm just not able to catch a break down there.  I spent all of July with a rash I thought was saddle related only to find it was cream related and finally cured that with roids.  I had a good week and was starting to flirt with aero positioning but mainly just trying to get more time in the saddle as I'm playing catchup with a HIM looming over my shoulder end September and very little bike time so far.  I managed only 5.5 hours last week and capped that week with a run where I had the unusual (for me) need to crap during the run and must have run into some chen-chen (think poison oak like symptoms) as my asshole and perineum are now covered with festering painful outbreak along with the inside of my knees and one ankle.  W.T.everlasting.F? So I'm now back to horrific rash in the crotch but this time I'm not sure roids will make any difference to them.  I'm trying diaper rash cream to keep it from spreading along with Domeboro.  Once it clears, (it HAS to clear, Right?) I'm going to encase myself in armor from the waist down in the hopes of preventing another "episode".  Or maybe I'm just cursed now.  Perhaps a sacrifice might be in order.

Hurricane Ernesto and the tourists filling the pool at all hours of the day (except the night before Ernesto hit) kept swimming to only 2 sessions last week but considering my training in water this year, I'll take it.  I'm hoping to maybe get some time in this weekend to make up.  Running is going great.  I'm very comfortable at 4.5 hours a week and next week I'm going to increase to 5 hours.  I have a 10K on Sunday and I had hoped for a PR but today's ride showed me that my legs were DEAD and the 10Ks I do normally during the week are hovering at around 1:07 so I'm guessing I have no hope to get under an hour (my last PR was around 59:30 a few months ago) and with my ass in the amount of pain it is in, I'm thinking I might just skip it.  I expect to be way over an hour and I don't really need to get up at 5am to find that out.  BUT a friend did me a big favor of arranging to do paquete pickup tomorrow (instead of going all the way up there today just for pickup) and I would feel bad if I didn't at least show up to get the paquete.

I had hopes of training over in Cozumel next week but with 3/4 kids sick, I'm thinking we'll have to skip that.  I love the water over there and the loop around the island on bike is SO much less traffic and more beautiful than our only choice over here, the carretera, that I was really looking forward to it.  Maybe if everyone gets better later on in the week we'll go for a few days instead of a whole week.  Would be a nice change of scenery.  I was also hoping to get in a session with their swim coach to see what he thought about my stroke since the closest thing to that we have here would be in Cancun.  Still undecided about running tomorrow but another reason to go is to hit Costco and get a giant vat of diaper rash cream since it seems I'll be needing it for a good while to come.

Monday, August 06, 2012

coming off a good week and roids



I got this top quite a while ago but never found a reason to wear it, but since I can't seem to swim outside non super bright sunny hours, I'm using it as a sun protector.  I'm starting to get over the barracuda in the water and last time although I saw him on my last lap his mouth wasn't hanging open and he wasn't following me and that made it much easier to go out and back one last time.  I've also started a new loop in the bay - instead of multiple vueltas to the reef and back (300m) I'm doing an arc that is 750m in one vuelta.  Pretty sweet!  I still have trouble finding my way back without going all over the place looking for the spot where I normally would turn around but I'm getting there, picking up landmarks little by little.  Per Google maps the loops could be anywhere from 370m to 375m each way IF I kept to a straight course. HA!  That's a pretty good one.  I think outbound is pretty straight but I'm likely zigzagging all over the bay coming back.  Today Pike came out with me and I got a better idea of how to get to the reef on the return. 

I think I totally freaked a family out when I headed to my stretching spot after my midday run as they asked for permission to hand their hammock.  I told them I was just there to stretch and no-one owns the beach and to hang the hammock where they desired.  After Kilo and I finished up our stretch, I headed home for a little work and then back out to the water for a swim, hoping to get some swim time in before the waves picked up.  The poor family was still there are RIGHT at the end of the south end of my swim.  They must have thought I was nutz.  My 2nd loop I noticed a ray partially buried by sand and warned them about it, though I admitted I wasn't sure if it was manta or sting. 

Ever since I've changed my route from out and back reef to the bay loop I've only been bothered by the barracuda once and that, if nothing else, has me convinced to keep to the loop.  It was a blast having Pike out there today in the kayak.  Thanks to the Sugdens for allowing us to borrow it.

I think I figured out why I'm wiped on Mondays and it isn't just the 2 hour bike rides I've brought back into the schedule, it is the 1.5 hour run that goes along with it.  Should be easy enough later in the season, but right now that 2-hour ride plus 1.5-hour run is kicking my ass.  My legs were DEAD on today's run and I only did 2 loops of the bay instead of 3.  So far I'm abandoning my attempts to ride aero and just concentrating on getting more time in the saddle.  I've got an Adamo waiting in South Dakota, anyone want to mule it down?  I finally nailed down my crotch itch issue - I have been having an allergic reaction to a cream I've been using to avoid saddle issues.  Ironic much?  I got over 6000 m in swim, an extra hour on the bike (up to 5 or more hours) and holding steady with around 4.5 hours run.  Pretty happy wiht that but the HIM is coming up QUICKLY and I'm getting worried.