Tri for Fun Pleasanton 2012

I had a plan to rest all week to let my calf heal but by Wednesday evening I was itching to burn some energy at the gym.  Miguel and I worked out that I would go after dinner.  I decided that I could ride the bike without giving my calf much grief and that as long as I didn't do leg exercises I should be fine.  Add to that, it's a recovery/taper week anyway so I'm doing an easier level on the bike.  It felt good to be exercising as I pedaled away on the upright bike.  After the bike I did chest/triceps/core work for weight training.  The core work felt harder than usual for some reason.  I finished with a lot of stretching.  Oh, and foam rolled my calf as much as I could handle.  I left feeling good.

I took another day off from exercise on Thursday, just to be on the safe side and because life was plenty hectic toward the end of the week.  My calf still hurt when I woke up in the morning but a day later, on Friday morning, when I stepped out of bed - no pain!  That was a good sign for Saturday's triathlon. I decided to go to the gym because I just felt like I needed to do something.  I rode the upright bike again and then did back/biceps/core work for strength training.  As I was finishing up I saw a stability ball class had just started so I decided to join in.  It was interesting and added a nice challenge, and stress relief, to my workout.  After that I went for some stretching, and more rolling calf of course.

I went to bed way too late Friday night and I think I ended up with around 5 hours sleep.  Up at 4:15am to load up the car and have some breakfast before hitting the road at 5am with my fellow mom and race buddy Laurie.  This is my fourth time doing this event so I knew what to expect.  I was nervous for the run though, not sure how my calf would react since I hadn't run all week.  Anyway, Laurie and I prepped our stuff at the bike racks and then headed over to the start.

We'd had a small wager on the race, whoever was faster would buy breakfast afterward.  Laurie said she'd wait 10 seconds before taking off to avoid getting bumped by other swimmers.  I suggested she wait 30 seconds to give me more of a head start!  She's a speedy runner so I needed all the help I could get.

We took off and the swim was good.  I felt good about my pace and was hardly getting bumped at all.  It's over so fast being only 400 meters and I was up and out of the water.

I got to transition and there was Laurie - hey, she must have passed me in the water!  So much for my head start.  We were getting ready for the bike when Laurie realized she'd lost a sock somewhere along the way!  She did the rest of the tri with only one sock on.  She was out of transition before me, I took too long putting on my bike gloves.  I caught and passed her on the bike but of course I never knew how far behind she was. I had an AccelGel after a couple miles.

I got back to transition and changed and left on the run before she came in.  The run felt hard almost from the beginning but it wasn't my calf.  It was strange because I couldn't put my finger on why it felt hard, maybe it was the heat.  We started at 7:20am (5th wave) so this must have been only around 8:30 but the sun was already beating down.  Projected high in Pleasanton on Saturday was 101 degrees!  I had another AccelGel hoping it would give me a kick in the pants but it didn't do much.  I was also struggling just a bit with some stomach cramps.

I knew Laurie was out there somewhere so I tried to use that to make myself keep running.  The hills were killing me though so I walked most of them.  I was probably about a 1/3 mile from the finish when Laurie goes running past me in a group of women. I tapped her, she didn't realize she was passing me.  We had a quick exchange and then she said, "let's have a photo finish."  Awww, fun!  She would have won our little bet, of course.  If she'd run off, I certainly didn't have enough gas in the tank to give chase.

Even keeping up on that last 1/3 of mile was killing me!  And then she says, "let's sprint to the finish."  I am sprinting, I pant.  But when the finish line came into view we kicked up the pace and crossed the finish line running hard!

I was glad to be done.  1 hour, 27 minutes.  That's my best time ever.  Prior to this my fastest time was the first time I did it, 1 hour, 35 minutes.  I was about 10 pounds heavier than I am now, maybe that was the difference.  I know I can do better though, especially if I could get my running pace up.

Post-race with Laurie.

I got in line to see a sports chiropractor (I didn't even know such a thing existed) to see what he could maybe do for my calf.  Ouch!  He did some deep tissue massage right into the muscle and it hurt like hell!  Though you can't tell by the smile I managed for this picture.

After the painful massage he taped it up with RockTAPE.  He said this would support the muscle while it continues to heal.  I sure hope it's doing something because we're in the middle of a heat spell and I look darned silly with this stuff on my leg in shorts.  Not that I care all that much really.

RockTAPEd calf.

We went out for breakfast after and I got a bacon, avocado, mushroom and cheese omelet with home fries, toast and a slice of french toast.  Whoa!  That's more calories than I burned I'm sure.  The kids and Miguel met us at the restaurant so that was fun.  Then back home for a nap with the kids.  On the diet front I ended up being full the rest of the day.  I only ate fruit and an lime lollipop for dinner.

Today, Sunday, I feel good.  I kind of wanted to go to the gym but I cooled my jets and took the day off today.  It was another hot day, got to spend a lot of it with my mom too, which was nice.  But I'm SO tired so I'm off to bed.  Oh, on a final note, the George Foreman grill challenge officially starts tomorrow.  I have been loving that grill!  I grilled a bunch of veggies on it tonight, including eggplant.  If I have finally found a way to cook eggplant at home that I like I may go on a serious eggplant binge.  Love it!