Ride Recap.

I felt like writing. IM Ride Recap.

6:59 Start time. Enjoyed a great tailwind for the first 22. Quick rest stop.

Miles 23 - 30 also great. Starts to sprinkle a little at mile 31. Raindrops starts at mile 32. Little Chilly.

Downpour and Lighting at 34. Can’t remember if aluminum conducts electricity.

Decided the waterproof jacket is not waterproof at mile 35.5.

Discussed lighting strikes and rest stop location with others riders at mile 36.

No one is sure about a bike's conductivity, next rest stop: mile 46 or 47. Downpour continues. 251st avenue brings a strong crosswind and hills.

Shoes fill with water at 38. Start counting down...8 miles to go.

Slow and COLD 8 miles. Fingers are frozen...can barely shift. Lighting seems to have stopped! Soaked. Tell myself this is like swimming in the rain. I love swimming in the rain. Wish the wind would stop. There is no wind in swimming.

Odometer hits 46...no rest stop. BIG hill though. Stand on petals and can’t figure out if I’m warm or numb.

Mile 47 - Still no rest stop. WTF?! Start praying it doesn't rain at IM Wisconsin.

Mile 48 - Where is the rest stop!? Try the ‘think warm thoughts’ thing. Doesn’t work. Still cold.

Mile 49. Spot the 'Welcome to Le Sueur!' sign.

Mile 50 Rest stop. Finally! Drop bike. SO COLD.

Volunteers and EMTs greet us at the door. Volunteer has to take off my gloves because my fingers don't function.
Someone says EMTs have blankets. Wring out gloves then socks. Grab coffee. SO COLD.

EMT brings me a blanket. I consider stripping off all clothing...wishes there weren't so many guys.

Find my zip lock bag with my socks and phone. Success! Stil dry! Put them on...still shivering. Volunteer tells us sag wagon on the way. I've been identified as one of the 'chosen 6,' lucky enough to get ride.

More riders start coming in. Everyone is looking miserable. Everyone wants to ride the sag wagon. See some fellow Tuesday night hill riders. They are going to warm up and then head back out to finish the last 50. I tell them they are crazy.

Van arrives so we load our bikes into van. Van's heat is on. Very warm. Feeling much better. Much warmer. Clothes are still soaking but i've stopped shivering. Just waiting on the driver.

Driver arrives. Change of plans. Van is going to pick up riders off of the road. Organizers are sending a school bus instead. So many people are cold amd want a ride. Back inside. Cold again.

30 minutes later, school bus arrives. Everyone hops on. 50 miles later we're back at Lakeville high school. We gave to ride from the high school to our cars. Wet and cold all over again. Find my dry clothes and change in may car. Much better. Much warmer.

Coldest experience of my life. But I'm glad I did it. :)

A little bummed I didn't do the fulll 100....

magic.

The Roseville skating center is surrounded by evergreens lit with white Christmas lights. I've never have been much of a skater, but the lights drew me in tonight and I stopped to take a closer look. I had never notice the rinks or the lights; it looked like Christmas and I suddenly want to take up hockey or figure skating. Skating at the rink, surrounded by lights must be peaceful, almost surreal. One might say magical.

Scenes like this one fall onto my list of favorite things. Christmas lights, fireworks, winter sunrises and summer sunsets all deserve a little bit more of my time. If I was a writer, or if I had any writing talent whatsoever, I would attempt to describe why these top the list. I am far from either.

i miss blogging

It's been awhile since I've written. my blog is neglected. I suppose I was crabby about the lack of running so I gave up on updating? I don't really remember...all I know is I feel the need to write....

I was trying to figure out how many miles I had on a pair of running shoes, but I couldn't remember when I bought them. I logged on to check the date on the post that I wrote about my fall running shoes.
(I think I'm addicted) I bought two more pairs of running shoes on black friday. My front closet looks slightly rediculous. Kind of like a running shoe store.

ankle update

not broken...slightly "fractured." I went to the doctor yesterday and they took some x-ways. I have small chunk of bone floating around my ankle. They think that when I tore one of the ligaments, it pulled a little piece of bone off with it. Gross.

My ankle looks disgusting, I should post pictures. I have this great black and blue patterns across the entire left side of my left foot. It is also still pretty swollen and still hurts alot. I also over compensated when I dragged myself home yesterday and I managed to pull my hip-flexer on my "good" leg. This makes me crabby. Incredibly crabby.

grrr.

The presidential debate was incredibly boring...so scripted that I couldn't even watch. Their assessment of how to fix the "economic crisis" was incredibly dummed down. They speak to what the American people want to hear and what they will understand (pretty much nothing). People need to understand how the market works and what caused the crisis.

Frustrating.

it's not so great to be so focused.

In January 2000, I was 15 and was looking forward to attending nationals for the first time. I had just qualified in the 200br via the US Open two months prior. My excitement translated into extreme focus in the pool. Christmas break for high school swimmers meant 2 weeks of intense doubles. It was where we conquered 20,000yd days and 6,000 IMs and whatever other crazy sets my coach could think up. I got sick over that break...but not sick enough to take a break. I kept swimming, staying focused on nationals. The "cold" never went away, it developed into a deep cough, and then a fever.

The rule at my house was, "If you're well enough to swim, you're well enough to go to school." (I suppose my parents knew how much I liked to swim.) When the fever arrived, I finally took a day off and slept on the couch for about 6 hrs. The next day, I woke up feeling much better and without a fever. I (of course) went to school, swam the entire workout and did dryland. The next day, the fever was back in full gear and my mom forced me to a doctor. "Pneumonia" the doctor announced...I had a severe case of pneumonia. "No swimming for at least two weeks" is all I heard. I cried, tickets were booked, nationals were in early March.

I have an incredible ability to remain focus and achieve my goals. However, I often do not know when to stop, or when I am pushing to hard. I get "tunnel vision." I am sitting here typing, with a servery sprained or fractured ankle. I initially rolled my ankle two Saturdays ago while on a run. It wasn't an awful sprain, it bruised a little and I walked with a slight limp. I took a day off on Sunday, ran 4 on Monday took another couple days off..biked excessively, and then ran another 7 on the following Sunday. It wasn't perfect but I could run without feeling any pain.

Monday I did 5 miles and then the following Tuesday, I decided to run down the dirt path in the middle of summitt ave. I re-rolled the ankle at about mile 3. I walked it off for a block and then finished run with another 3 and rolled the ankle again, right at the end of the run. I ran another 5 on Friday and thought things were back to normal. Saturday (yesterday) I did 10 and it felt great. I started limping a bit at the end, but it wasn't awful.

So today, my plan was to run another 10, so I could be sure to hit my planned 36 miles for the week. I was about 20 minutes into my run when I hit an acorn and went down hard. Really hard. I swore alot and then starting crying because it of how much it hurt. I was about 2.5 miles away from my house in the middle of the woods. I stood in the same spot for about 10 minutes trying to figure out what to do. I couldn't put any weight on the ankle. I considered crawling and then decided I just had to suck it up and started the limp/hop all the way home. Several people asked if I was ok (one lady even offered to carry me). It took me over an hour and a half to walk the 2.5 miles home. It was frustrating, I was in the woods, so even if I did call someone, they wouldn't be able to drive to where I was.

I am worried that the initial roll was really a hairline fracture, and this was the run that made it crack. I can not put any weight on my foot and have been literally crawling around my house for the last four hours. It is extremely black and blue and huge and throbbing.

Did I go to far? Should I let it rest longer? Obviously, the answer is yes and I am hating myself for it. I was too concerned about staying on track to hit 60 mpw in November. Stupid. Stupid!

I also just remembered I have viconen in my medicine cabinet! whohoo!

what can brown do for you?

For the second time in a row, I brought a rather unfortunate looking outfit to work. Today my theme was: What can brown do for you? I pretty much looked like the little guy to the left. Well except, no hat, and not quite as cute. I really should try my clothes on before I throw them in the backpack and head off to work. I suppose I could stop throwing together outfits at 5am as well. That might help too.

I went to yoga tonight and yikes! I am one tight girl...as in, I have lost quite a bit of flexibility. Usually Yoga classes are incredibly boring, but I enjoyed the instructor tonight. She added just enough sarcasm in with her "be kind to your body" quotes that I didn't want to run screaming out of the room by the end of the hour. It's amazing what a little sarcasm can do. Next I need to find a pilates class to fit into my schedule. Pilates is generally a little more bearable then yoga. :o)

a cutting edge sunday

I have a headache. A bad headache and it's been around since noon. No, I'm not hung over, I'm just addicted to coffee. I finally made myself a cup of Folgers Gourmet Dark Roast and am feeling better already (Side note: I found this mocha almond fudge creamer that is amazing). I should have thought of this earlier. Hopefully it won't keep me up late.


IAnyway, back to the title of the post, A Cutting Edge Sunday. I'm being lazy and am watching Doug Dorsey and Kate Mosely (sp?) take the ice. What a great movie!