HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!!!!!

It’s official. I’m an Xterra Triathlete.

The race went as well as I expected- being that I haven’t raced in over a year and that I am coming back after a lot of time off.

The race confirmed what I already knew: WHEW I AM OUT OF SHAPE! Blah! ICK! Agh! But, I am so happy with my race and man it felt good to be out there again competing.

Before the race I got an excellent surprise… Sonni had come to watch me race! He didn’t even tell me. He came over with his son, both were on their mountain bikes, just to watch me race. It was so nice, and really I don’t have words to explain how much it meant. It was a great boost and definitely made my race day.

I was happy with my swim. I came out with a second group of girls and hit the bike in good position. But, I expected to have trouble on the bike and lose a good chunk of time against the other girls… because, well, frankly I’m quite a novice at mountain biking compared to these girls. Most of them I recognize from NORBA racing from reading reports on Cycling News. Me? I’ve never even done a mountain bike race before. So, I have lots to learn.

Quite early in the bike another guy was trying to pass me, and I let one guy by, but another guy tried to squeeze past too. It was pretty tight, and I guess he hit a tree limb or something… and he fell right on top of me, jabbing his handlebar into my side. It really hurt, and it took my breath away. I had to take a few minutes to get my breath back and, well, my nerve, before I could mount my bike again to keep going.

After that crash I couldn’t breathe really deep, but I kept going. That’s part of racing. I tried not to let it get to me too much mentally, but alas… it did. I walked A TON of stuff that I normally ride, and when we were up a few weeks ago to pre-ride the course I didn’t have near as much trouble. I couldn’t deal with crashing again… so I was conservative. I dismounted, pushed, shoved, and mounted my bike again over anything that I just didn’t have the nerve to ride. Oh well. I couldn’t stay focused on the fact I wasn’t riding well, although it did bother me, I just tried to stay focused on moving forward.

I knew I was really far behind on the bike. LIKE WAY LAST IN MY FIELD. Ugh. Okay, so no one likes to be in that position, but instead of focusing on the negative, I just kept pushing as best I could, given the shape I’m in, and enjoyed being out there racing.

The run was AWESOME! I kept a steady pace and just had a blast on the course. There were a lot of crazy obstacles on the run, but there was a good bit of open fire road and pavement too where you could just run. The “Mayan Ruins” were ever bit as steep and crazy as people said they’d be, and the dry river bed where you jumped from rock to rock over and over was a lot of fun. It was cool to jump, hold your breath, then be like, “I DID IT! YEHAW!”

After the race I thought about my effort. And I’m happy with it. Very happy! Because I know I have A LOT of work to do on the mountain bike, and well… I look forward to that. And I have work to do on my over all fitness, but hey, I knew that anyways… and with time I’ll be back to where I was a year ago. It’s nice to have that feeling now, and have a good baseline race to work from.

And, yes, I had thought about just racing age group for this event… since it’s my first time doing an Xterra event because it would take a lot of pressure of me. But, I’m a registered Elite with USAT, and per their guidelines I have to race in the pro field. Across the board, if you are a pro triathlete, you have to race pro in duathlon and in Xterra. So, yeah, I knew I was going to struggle big time racing with the pros, but I’d rather race where I know I can become competitive once I gain more experience instead of asking to downgrade my license until I figure things out. I’ve always enjoyed a challenge anyways.

No where to go but up from here!

Thanks to all the people out on the course cheering and volunteering to help with the race. It was a very well run and organized event… I can’t wait to go back next year!

Thanks again to my wonderful sponsors who support me through it all:

Studio7Multisport
Swank Chiropractic
Splish
Inside Out Sports
Be Present
Nutrilite
Winskins

I have the BEST swimsuit sponsor EVER… I heart Splish!

Today was my last mandatory workday at Athens Drive. It was a nice relaxed day, as much of my days have been at school the past week. I had finished up all of my paperwork and stuff before the crazed “end of the school year” came along. So, while a lot of people were panicking about getting all of their stuff finished in time, I could sit back and diligently chop away at my to-do list as I pleased.

We had a breakfast with our department this morning, and then later in the day we had a luncheon for the entire faculty to honor our retiring teachers. We had three teachers retire this year, and it was wonderful to hear each of these experienced teachers stand up and share their wisdom with us as their career came to a close. I had the pleasure of being an in class resource teacher for one of the retirees. It was hard not to cry listening to the stories about her teaching career, and I am very sad to see her leave. Our principal, Mr. Crockett, ended the meeting well by charging our commitment for the next school year.

I’ve only been at Athens Drive for a semester. And I can’t believe it’s over. But with all things that come to an end… new things come along.

I am so excited about my first race this year. This Sunday, in Richmond, VA, I’ll be lining up to compete at the Xterra East Championships. I’m nervous, anxious, a little scared… all the usual first race of the season emotions… but I’m really excited. It’s coming at a perfect time. Right at the end of my school year… before I have much time to think about the fact that I’m done with teaching for a few months, before I have much time to think about what I am going to do with myself over the next few months, before I have much time to think about missing my students… I’m racing. And bring. it. on.

It’s weird to think I’m transitioning back to being a full-time athlete. But the only thing that makes it not weird is that I am only doing this for a few months.

Even though I’m “off” from school over the summer, I will still be going to work a couple days per week to prepare for the next school year. As a special programs teacher, we have a caseload of students that we have to keep up with… and with that responsibility comes a lot of paperwork, meetings, and communication. I’d like to get a head start in being organized with all that stuff for next year, that way I will continue to be able to train and race even into the start of the school year next fall.

Not only am I excited about racing… I’m also looking forward to my new position next year as the Behavior Support Teacher. I’ll be moving and resettling my stuff in to my new classroom over the summer. That’s first on the list (then the caseload stuff). And I have several workshops that I am attending over the summer for Behavior Support Teachers. It’s going to be a lot of fun learning new interventions, ideas, teaching methods, and just meeting new people that all do the same type work that I do in Wake County.

So I feel like I’m closing one door and opening two at the same time. A good feeling. New beginnings… here’s to a good new year.

*I am NOT a medical doctor. The tips that I have given are just some things that I do when it’s 100+ degrees outside and I just spent 4 plus hours out in the heat.

Cooling off is something that I do gradually. I don’t run off and jump into an ice bath. Only when it’s extremely hot do I use ice packs (an extreme measure to cool off).

Just some things that I do that work for me, that I thought I’d share with others. Do NOT over analyze!

Okay, so I thought of some more tips to avoid heat exhaustion… and thought I’d share.

1. Take a cold shower. Immediately after a hot workout, take a cold shower. Make it a long one too. The quicker you can get your core temperature down, the better.

2. Use Ice Packs. Okay, I got this idea from Alicia Parr, but it works. Lay down on the floor and put some cold ice packs on your stomach, chest, and back area. You could also do this immediately after getting out of the shower. I’ve actually used ice packs after some runs in the car on the drive home and it really helped cool me off. I take either instant cold packs from the drug store that I’ve bought, or I load up a cooler with 2 or 3 reusable ice packs from the house. Obviously the more “green” choice is to go with reusable ice packs. I throw the ice pack behind my neck, low back, and lay one in my lap while I drive home.

3. Don’t warm up as long. If you are getting ready for what is going to be a very hot race day, then don’t exert extra energy during your warmup that isn’t necessary. Do the usual stretching and getting the blood flowing, but no need to do many efforts to get your body “warm.” It’s already going to be warm because of the temperature outside. Cut back “pickups,” “jumps,” “efforts,” ect to just a couple and hydrate. Save the real intense effort for the race.

4. Dump water on your head. During a workout, pouring cool water on your head will help tremendously. A lot of heat exits your body from your head. I am always amazed at how much better I feel if I can douse my head in the water fountain at Umstead during a run or squirt some water in my helmet while out on the bike.

It’s been really hot lately. Summer has definitely arrived! In Raleigh we’re seeing temperatures in the 100’s, with a heat index well over 100. Of course, it’s humid too.

So how do you still get in workouts with it that hot outside?

Well, people with full-time jobs and families may not have the luxury of just doing their workouts whenever. Sometimes you have to do your workout in the afternoon or early evening when it’s really hot outside, otherwise you won’t get it in.

For the past several years, I’ve been one of those people who didn’t have to deal with time constraints for my workouts… but now, well, I am forced to rethink when I am going to head out for my daily grind.

Here’s some things that I do to help minimalize the heat:

1. Wake up early before work and do your workout. Now, sometimes this is impossible because you may have a 3 hour bike ride scheduled and also a 7am meeting to attend. But, if you have a run or a swim that is going to take you about an hour, then why not just go ahead and wake up early? The bonus is that you are finished for the day when it’s over, and after work you can head home and plop on the couch.

2. Hydration begins before the workout starts. Of course, I’m drinking water all day long, but really making sure my electrolytes are in balance before I even go workout is key. I always take some endurolytes an hour or so beforehand, and I use nuun during workouts. Depending on how humid and hot it is, I’ll take more endurolytes during a workout. Everyone’s body is different, so what I do may not exactly be what you need. Experiment and see what is right for you.

3. Wait to go out if it’s just way too hot for you to tolerate. If it’s too hot at 4:00pm to go out for your bike ride, wait an hour if you can. The heat usually breaks around 5:30 or so, and an hour can make a huge difference. Sometimes just a couple of degrees will be really noticeable to me.

4. Location! Location! Location! Try to workout in a shaded area. Just this week I had some tempo workouts to do. Instead of suffering in the blazing hot sun, I chose my workout locations very carefully. One afternoon I ran on a very shade-covered trail near school. It was 4:00pm, and the run was very pleasant… even though it was at least 95 outside. Another afternoon I went to Umstead Forest where there was plenty of shade regardless if I was on the bike and bridal trail or the single track.

5. Use common sense. Don’t go out in heat that is absolutely ridiculous just for the sake of not skipping a workout. There is no sense in giving yourself heat exhaustion. Call up the coach and see if you can modify the planned workout and do it inside at a gym or ask if you can do something different all together. Make an executive decision if you can’t get a hold of your coach. You’re the athlete and you know your body best.

… And sometimes a rest day isn’t the worst thing in the world.

Jeez. I had a great workout tonight. Well, until I made a stupid mistake. I mean, leave it to me.

The culprit:

The result:

Yeah, so that’s awesome. I have yet another nice little cut, this time on my left knee, and a good swollen knot to go with it.

I was right in the middle of my second effort and launched myself over my bike after attempting to go over this log. It’s a much larger log than I normally even think about riding over, but I thought I had enough speed to go over it. What I completely misjudged was the fact that this log was laying diagonal to the trail, so I pulled up to go over it a little early… resulting in my chain ring digging into the log and throwing me straight over the handlebars. FABULOUS.

Well, what’s a girl to do?

… get up and finish the workout.

At least I can’t be accused of giving a half-effort on my bike.

<student> “Mrs. Lion… those look like clown shoes!”

I went up to pre-ride the Richmond Xterra course yesterday with my friend Melissa and Joe. A friend of Joe’s from DC, Matt, was nice enough to show us around. We spent several hours out in the heat, and got a great idea of what to expect for the race in a couple of weeks.

After the ride all I can say is: The trails are AWESOME. However, the race is going to be really hard.

Here’s one of the urban obstacles that Richmond is famous for:

Yes, that’s right… stairs. And not just any stairs… spiral stairs. Several flights of spiral stairs. And this is NOT part of the run course, this is part of the bike course. You dismount and carry your bike up the stairs and cross over this bridge to access the next part of the trail. And you do this not once, but twice. NICE.

The hard part about Xterra Richmond is going to be the ENTIRE race. There isn’t one leg of the race that isn’t technical. The swim is technical… swimming in the James River, you have to watch out for rocks and sand bars. It’s pretty shallow most of the way, and I was afraid to use my full pull for fear of knocking a rock. I sighted a whole lot because seeing the bottom of the river freaked me out, much like my swim in Lake James a couple weeks ago.

Then you move on to the bike, which, is going to be crazy. Just look at the stairs. That’s only ONE crazy part of the ride. And you do them twice.

The run isn’t going to be any easier. You scale the resivoir wall by climbing a ladder, and there are railroad tie stairs to run up, boulders to jump across… let’s just say I hope I’m still standing at the end of the race!

It’s going to be SO much fun. I am looking forward to the adventure.

Saturday was a very pleasant, long day. My friend Deb Elliott and her husband Bryan came up to Boone to meet the group, along with several others from various places across the state. We rode a nice modified BSG route in Boone, and then I swam in the lake when I got back from the ride with a few other people. The evening was spent laughing and eating and laughing and eating some more. 

Apparently I’ve got some pretty dirty bikes, because I was made fun of when my bikes were being run over. Oh well. I’ve always said, “I ride the bikes, I don’t clean the bikes.” You know, if it rolls, that’s all I care about. (and not necessarily the best policy, but I can’t seem to break this habit)

Sunday I woke up and hit the Overmountain Victory Trail… running this time. I did my first long run in a few months. I’ve been careful to not aggravate my left hip, an injury that caused me to double over in pain after Long Course Tri Worlds last year. It was a great run. No pain, and that made me really happy.

I went for another swim in the lake afterwards, and then Joe came up to the cabin in the afternoon. We went on a nice mountain bike ride together. The Burn 24 hour race had just finished up, and people were leaving the trails. It was really nice to go in and just follow the marked course loop for the race and not have to worry about looping things together. We just rode, and it was wonderful biking with him.

Symba stayed in the car in the shade while we rode, and afterwards all three of us took a short dip in the lake before driving to my parents’ house. Symba was really funny trying to swim out to us. He’s got pretty short little legs, but managed alright in the water.

We ended the day with a nice family cookout and TCBY for me. YAY! I had been craving some frozen dessert all weekend… and it was nice to finally get my fix. I’m spoiled.