XTERRA West Championships

I can’t say rolling into town at 6:30pm Friday night, spinning around the hotel streets for a half hour before dark, eating potato chips and bananas for dinner at 9pm because everything else  is still packed away in the Subaru is the ideal pre-race preparation.  But hey, a 6th place finish wasn’t much to be disappointed with considering our spontaneous travel plans and my current level of under fitness.

The swim was a bit rough due to the wind that picked up at the start of the race.  I swam strong, though, and was able to stick with one of the front group coming in right at 22:00.  The water temperature hovered in the upper 50′s this year which felt great even with my sleeveless Orca wetsuit.  Considering one degree difference in water temperature is equivalent to seven degrees air temperature you can really notice the difference in the water.  I remember two years ago the water temperature was 54 degrees and that was brutal!

The bike course was the same as previous years, but it was very windy!  Danelle Kabush and Shonny Vanlandingham rode strong and passed me at the end of the first lap. I would liked to have stuck with them as best I could, but I held back a bit and rode a 1:37 split.  I knew I didn’t have the endurance I usually have coming into the race.  Due to the fact my 8 month old baby doesn’t take a bottle I hadn’t put in a ride over 2 1/2hrs. since my early months of pregnancy.  I figured I’d probably blow up!

The trail run on the Vegas course is probably one of the most challenging courses with very steep rocky climbs.  I was glad I held back on the bike in order to hold a consistent pace on the run.  I’ve been dealing with some Plantar Fascitis tendonitis in my foot and have only run twice since mid-December.  I still felt strong off the bike, but I did feel a bit heavy and my cadence felt slow.  Although my run split of :57 was a little disappointing I  couldn’t complain too much since I knew prior to the race that the run would be my weakpoint.

Coming in from the run for a 6th place finish was still decent.  My goal was at least top 7.   In all, it really was a perfectly paced race for me considering my current level of fitness coming into the race.  Complete results can be found here.  Thanks to XTERRA Ulimited for putting on a fun and extremely organized event!

Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for watching our 3 year old.  It made the long 10 hour drive much easier with only one kid in the car.  Thanks to Trek for my Top Fuel 9.8.  It was my first race on the bike and it rode so smoothly.  Thanks to HoneyStinger as well.  I never have a problem remembering to eat during my races because I actually look forward to pulling out my gels.  I absolutely LOVE them!

The best part of the trip was spending the weekend with my husband and family.  We carpooled with my sister from Durango and met up with my brother from Bakersfield, California.  Another sister of mine from Spokane, Washington was able to fly down and spend the weekend, too.  My husband and sister participated in the trail run on Sunday.  They both did well and it was fun to spectate and cheer them on.  It was an awesome road trip with a little racing, some nice cold beer, lots of potato chips, and HOT weather!

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Vail Winter Mountain Games

Thanks to my husband’s support,  the Vail Winter Mountain Games’ addition of a new snow bike cross country event, and a borrowed fat bike from my brother-in-law, I had the opportunity to race for my first time ever on snow!   The course consisted of 90% nordic trail with a short singletrack section through the woods next to the creek.  This part was awesome… for the first lap.  Due to the warmer temperature late that afternoon the snow softened up and was quickly punched out.  By the 6th lap the trail width was no wider than my tire with knee deep post hole foot prints on both sides.  I couldn’t seem to stay on the bike by that point and probably looked like a total bafoon falling off every few yards.

Erin Huck, Judy Freeman, and I battled it out on the 6 lap lollipop loop on Vail’s nordic course.  However, on the third lap I was cruising down a sweet roller on the nordic trail soon to find myself catapaulting over my handlebars and in the midst of taking a hard digger.  It was one of those crashes where it happened so fast I didn’t even know what happened.  My head was completely buried in the snow with my bike twisted up on top of me.  The guys riding past said, “Whoa, are you ok man?”  Of course.  I landed in snow.  The best part was there were three camera guys at the bottom just waiting for a moment like that one.  I pretty much lost the race after that, but that’s snow biking.  It’s not really a race, it’s a challenge.  I guess you could say: FAT BIKE + RACE ON SNOW = EAT IT!

Congratulations to Judy Freeman on her win and to Erin Huck’s  second place finish on skinny tires.  (Click here for full results.)  It was an awesome event on fat tires, on snow, in baggies!  Pure fun and bliss!

Here’s a video to check out:  Vail Mountain Snow Bike National Championship Cross Country Race

Buggy Overload

As a reader you’ll probably think this post totally contadicts my previous blog post pertaining to resistance training.  However, if you are a mom who often spends 95% of her runnung time pushing a Chariot, you might be able to relate.

Lately I’ve been dealing with uncomfortable stiffness and slight bruising pain in my right  heel.  After reading a few artcles online, one in particular titled “Achilles Heel Tendonitis”, I concluded that it must be an acute form of that.  I only run three days a week with an average of 30 miles per week, and I don’t feel that my training volume (specifically running) is the culpritting cause.  So what is?

After internally analyzing and thinking through all possible causes this is my conclusion:  too much Chariot pushing.  While the 65+ pounds creates awesome resistance training it also places extra strain on my achilles.  Anytime I add hills or interval intensity to my workouts, which I have within the last couple months, it puts extra strain on the tendon.  Did I fail to mention the “no brake” on the Chariot, too?  Downhills also cause extra strain due to the harder heel striking as I try to maintain control of the kid-carrying buggy so it doesn’t fly off into the ditch somewhere.  Why my right heel?  Well, considering my 3 year old sits on that side and there’s about 2olbs. more weight on that side I tend to spend more effort in recorrecting the Chariot’s direction, thus putting more strain specifically on my right heel.

So, what does this all mean?  DAD GETS TO PUSH THE CHARIOT!!!!  Haha….  I think I’ll chill out from running this next month to give my foot some recovery and rest time.  In the meantime that might mean I’ll have to look into purchasing another trainer since my last one crapped out on me after almost ten years of use.  I’d ride outside.  But, when I have two kids at home, one being only 4 1/2mos. old, I can’t pull them both in the Chariot yet.  The best I can do is get a trainer workout or an Insanity workout video in during nap time.  My outdoor riding and swimming will have to happen on weekends when dad’s available.  Thank God for my great husband!

As we always hear, everythimg in moderation, right? That includes Chariot pushing.

The Benefits of Resistance Training

Thanks to my HoneyStinger sponsored professional enduro moto supersister, Theresa Wagenman, my husband and I had a morning date skin up Sunlight Mountain last weekend.  Like most of our skiing and riding, our date turned into a spousal race.   Who won?  It depends on which direction you’re asking about.  Like usual I smoked my husband going up, but he left me trailing FAR behind on the way down.  Of course my husband was wearing the Garmin so I couldn’t boast any Strava rights with him.  As we drove home with our Starbucks post-ski date treat my husband asked me, “How the heck do you go uphill so fast?”  Ya wanna know my secret:

Resistance Training At It’s HEAVIEST

What exactly is resistance training?  “Resistance training is any exercise that causes the muscles to contract against an external resistance with the expectation of increases in strength, tone, mass, and/or endurance. The external resistance can be dumbbells, rubber exercise tubing, your own body weight, bricks, bottles of water, or any other object that causes the muscles to contract”  (EMedicineHealth.Com).  Most often in my case it involves the Chariot.  Yesterday I took the kids on a 15 degree late-morning 11 mile endurance run that included hill repeats.  Obviously speed was nothing I bragged about since I could barely make it up the .91 mile long hill 2 1/2 times just under 8:30 each time.  But in workouts like that one it was the resistance I concentrated on.

I think so many endurance athletes undermind the importance and value of resistance training.  According to an article on EMedicineHealth.Com  between the ages of 30-70 years we lose up to 25% of our type 2 muscle fibers which are our strength fibers.  After the age of 30 years we lose up to 5 pounds of muscle strength every decade.  Not only does resistance training help us maintain our type 2 muscle fibers but it also helps build and maintain our bone density, raise our metabolic rate, and lower our blood pressure.

Some pretty good reasons for all of us to consider incorporating resistance training into our regular exercise schdule.  It doesn’t need to cost much either.  As I stated in one of my previous blogs, “Training In The Off-Season“, it might simply involve a cross-fit class, P90X or Insanity workout video, some weight lifting exercises at the gym or in the living room, or pushing a Chariot with 65+ pounds.

So…. that’s my secret!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas to all!  An update with 2013 race plans and goals to follow soon…

A Frazzled Mom

So what’s it like taking a 5wk. old and 3 yr. old swimming and still trying to get exercise in during the day?  This mom will tell you.

The other day mom takes the kids swimming and this is how her day went:

• Arrive at the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool at 11:30am.  Get Ashley’s suit on.
• Leave Brodie in his chair on the pool deck where mom can still see him since he’s asleep.
• Ashley and mom swim for a 1/2hr.  before Brodie wakes up and starts crying.
• Transition time…  Ashley doesn’t like this.  Get out and head back to the locker room.  Mom tries not to react to the embarrassment of her 3 yr. old screaming, shouting, and hitting her.
• Breastfeeding time…  Feed Brodie and put his reusable swim diaper on.  Ashley continues to throw herself onto the locker room floor screaming, “No!  I don’t want to swim anymore!”
• Choices, choices…  Tell Ashley mom’s still taking Brodie swimming and she has two options:  get dressed and eat her lunch snack on the pool deck while they swim OR leave her suit on and swim some more.  She chooses option one.
• Get Ashley dressed and head back out to the pool.   As soon as mom hops back in the water with Brodie Ashley decides she wants to swim, too.  Mom tells her she chose to get dressed, has her clothes on, and can only dip her feet in.  By the end of a short 10min. swim with Brodie, Ashley is wading knee deep in the pool and her pants are soaked. 
• Time to head back to the locker room.  Choices again…  Mom tells Ashley she has no extra clothes and can either wear her wet pants or go naked (with her blanket wrapped around her).  She chooses option two.  Hopefully next time she will choose to keep her suit on.
• Head to the car to get mom’s wallet and pull the Chariot out.
• Visit the magic snack machine (vending machine).  Yes, despite Ashley’s fit earlier mom knew she had still been very patient with all the other extra waiting around.
• Breastfeed AGAIN in the lobby to make sure the little oinker is topped off.
• Finally head back out to the Chariot, buckle up the kids (one whom is half naked because she has no dry pants or underwear), stop by the car one last time to throw in all the accessory blankets, little ponies, pacifier, water bottle, and additional emergency snacks.
• Head out from the parking lot towards the river path for a 7 mi. out-and-back run.  Mom opts to wear the ipod as a means to block out and ignore any screaming tantrums and arguments.
• Return to the car after about an hour run only to realize mom locked her keys in the car.
• Unscrew mom’s license plate while holding a crying baby who wants to eat NOW and while a half naked 3 yr. old climbs in and out of the Chariot.  All the passerby’s stare at mom like she’s a frick’n weirdo and incompetant mother.
• Ahhh… finally in the car with one half-naked child buckled up.  Breastfeed AGAIN before buckling up the other kid, the oinker!!!
• Homebound… at last!

What time is it by the way?  3pm.  Wow!  It took over 4 hours to accomplish so little.  Let’s just say, it’s no simple task taking a 5wk. old and 3 yr. old swimming and getting  exercise in at the same time.  But, mom still embraces the challenge and tries to keep in mind that it’s time well spent.  Ashley gets her swim time with mom, Brodie gets early exposure to the water (not to mention all the multi-sensory stimulation of swimming outdoors and extra vitamin D), and mom still gets her exercise in which makes her feel much better the rest of the day.  Mom may be a bit frazzled but at least she feels content now.

Exercise Post Pregnancy

7mi. run along the river in Glenwood with the kids. Broden is 15 days old!

Last week when I found myself sitting on the couch with a slight case of the post-pregnancy-blues eating cookies and in a grumpy mood I said, “That’s it!  I’m going for a run tomorrow!”  I knew they said it took up to six weeks to recover from labor, but after a week and a half I had to get out. My stitches had fallen out and my bleeding was very minimal.  From all the research I read, I gathered that as long as I felt fine, there was no excess bleeding or discomfort, no serious activity invovling major core use like Cross Fit classes or P90X/Insanity dvds, and the only objective to the exercise was for my mental well-being then it was fine to start exercising.

Today I took the kids on a beautiful fall run along the river in Glenwood.  I received some funny looks from other trail users when they noticed I had a 2 week old in the Chariot sling.  It was usually the elderly walkers that seemed unfamiliar with current technology and the types of outdoor gear available these days.  I thought for sure one of them would threaten to call me in to social services for child neglect.  I tried to pass them with a friendly smile each time. Brodie was perfectly fine and his wobbly head was well supported.

I’ve limited my exercise so far to aerobic activity only such as running, biking, stair running, and jump roping.  Next week I’ll add swimming and easy upper body weight-lifting only.  The reason is because during the later part of pregnancy and/or labor your rectus abdominis muscles (lower abdominal) actually completely separate to accomodate the growing baby and the laboring process of delivery.  It takes up to six weeks for these muscles to heal and that’s why it’s so important to avoid any strenuous core activity.  The LiveArmstrong.Com website describes and explains this muscle separation very well.  Also, the round ligament that supports and connects the front of your uterus to the groin area stretches during pregnancy to accomodate the growing baby.  Stretched, or torn, ligaments take time to heal and regain their normal elasticity.  In fact, my husband read somewhere that it can take up to two years for your round ligament to return to normal after delivery.  Another reason for me to avoid exercise that requires intnse core use and/or lots of lateral movement for a while!

My husband was a little concerned about me exercising so soon after giving birth, but I assurred him my body felt fine.  Plus I told him, “Trust me, you’ll love me more if I exercise!”