Moving on

Well, the bruises are faded and the deep seated fatigue is resolving. I'm finally feeling like I've caught up on my sleep and the four pounds I'd lost have miraculously reappeared. (I was hoping on that one... Would have been nice to have kept those pounds off.) The jersey is hanging on my wall and the rush of congratulations has subsided. Time to get back to reality. I'm still in recovery - and plan for another week of easy stuff at least. I want to make sure I'm really ready when to time comes to ramp it again. And I've got a few things to address to ensure success at the next great adventure. I leaned a lot over the 22 hours of pedaling and it's time to apply them.

It wasn't my legs that limited me in the final laps of the race. I was tired sure and not showing the spunk of the morning. But my legs were decent. It was my arms that really held me back. I was hurting so badly in my biceps and triceps that I could hardly maneuver the bike through the rocks. To me, that shows an area of weakness. Despite my exercise class and a somewhat regular attempt at lifting, it wasn't enough. I just didn't have the strength in my arms to tolerate that lengthy of time on the bike. So before September - only two short months away - I need to address that issues. More focused lifting and increased time in the water. I'm not a triathlete anymore, but the swimming definitely helps the upper body strength. It's hard to think about adding in more hours, but I can't slack off about that anymore. In the same vein, my low back was in spasm when I finished. So another area to target - the ever popular core stability issues. 

I also had several niggles - not quite injuries but painful enough and acute enough to warrant attention. In all my years of endurance sports - marathons and more - this was the first time I've had two injuries (for lack of a better word) in such short succession. So obviously, I need to address some things and figure out what caused them. It wasn't overuse - both happened in the recovery-taper phase prior to races. I think it was more related to muscle imbalances. Massage and some targeted rolling helped with both. And that's another area that I've been meaning to work on with regularity. Meaning to - meaning that I wanted to, planned on yet still haven't found the time. I need to find the time. A few minutes per day with the foam roller would have saved much mental stress and pre-race freak out. I've been trying to find the time since January for consistent yoga and rolling and other off the bike stuff and other things get in the way (like FaceBook - I need to get off that time suck...)

Nick was managing my food and drink intake, but I have the scribbles that give me the jest of what I was eating. And the biggest thing I noticed was wanting salty food in pit. I'd been drinking sweet the entire race. When I came into pit, all I wanted was easy to slurp down, salty food. So I ended up eating most of the chicken soup we'd brought. Just a few of the rice bars (I'd made both sweet and savory - but the texture of the rice wasn't making me happy after a few laps) - Which was odd because I've done almost all of my training on the rice bars. I also didn't touch my pies. I think it was because they all got smooshed in the cooler - soft crust in plastic bags + full cooler = a mess that's hard to deal with. I did nibble on a few candy bars, drink plenty of soda and some other random things. But the general dietary plan wasn't one that's sustainable on a single big loop instead of the many little ones.

So I have just over two months. July and August. Instead of just talking about it and waxing poetic, I need to get off my duff and take care of myself. Figure out the food and get the mental game together. It's going to be a long night and day and I need to be ready.