Keep On Moving On!!!

Getting a virus (?) or food poisoning (?) was so ill-timed because I had already signed up for a race this weekend, and I just did not want to miss out on another race. My nurse friend said no, Dave said whatever is good for your ironman, and Tim pretty much lets me make my own decisions because I think he has good trust in me that I can self-regulate.

I have not been sick one single time during ironman training, and I did not have any zeros in my log since I started working with Tim until this week. My training has been great. I am fit. I feel confident and excited about Wales and most importantly I am not even remotely burned out or injured. I still love to train and race :)

My big limiter was lack of fluid and calorie intake for the past 60 hours or so. But, I managed to start downing liquids and keeping them down. I wasn't getting calories, but I was getting some hydration back. I definitely haven't been able to train the past few days. It was going to be a race morning call. I woke up this morning drenched in sweat...clothes soaked...bed soaked... and I didn't know if the fever had broken or if I was still battling. But, 4am- I am up, I am racing.

I mean, Tom had pimped my bike out with a disc! I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ride my first disc. :) The disc did not get put to good use today, but maybe next time I will be disc-worthy :)

It was just a sprint, and I had several things I wanted to work on today. Plus, I wanted to just enjoy a short race! I needed a little break from the normal 90 to 100 mile bike ride! Sprints are just plain fun, and I needed one last little dose before I get laser focused on Wales. I was pretty sure I would be okay, but I reserved the right to bail if it meant protecting my last few weeks of training. Dizziness/body shut down/dehydration/nausea= bail.

As expected, the race was very sub par for me in all events. I was # 824 out of about 850 racers in a time trial format, so I spent a lot of time fighting the crowded course. I also just spent a lot of time feeling very weak from no food intake in the past 3 days. It was a poor athletic performance, but I think racing was still a good call because I enjoyed myself and it gave me a nice, fun break from routine. My little body gave me what it could, but it stayed pretty shut down for the day.

I enjoyed so much seeing some old friends at the race and found a lot of positives in the day. I don't feel like I did any damage to my body. I am weak from lack of eating, but no worse from the race.
The only negative from a day like today comes from EGO. I believe their are two kinds of athletes: one kind of athlete has many reasons to race and always try her best. The other kind of athlete races purely for ego, and misses a lot of good opportunities to become better along the way. I still struggle with ego at times, and I don't like to post results that are not a reflection of my fitness, but I want to be the first kind of athlete, so I am going to keep walking the walk.

I just ate a bowl of chicken noodle soup, and things are looking up. Tomorrow is a long run day. I have instructions to go easy and just do as much as I can since I will probably still be recovering and may still feel icky. I am looking forward to getting healthy, firing on all cylinders, and really bringing everything together these next few weeks. I gotta keep on moving on!!!!

PS: A Big, Huge, Effing congratulations to Tim Waggoner and Forrest Owens- nice sub 9 gold and silver buckle at Leadville 100. You guys are so awesome. And just in...Shayne Smith- 11:40 for silver buckle and Chad Terry with a finish just over 12 hours. Congrats on huge accomplishments.