Military Champs (aka Last Race of the Season) Race Report

To continue where I left off... I didn't end up going to Eagleman for the Aquavelo, and instead spent the day out on my friend Liz's boat with our other friend Colette.  Turned out to be a pretty awesome day, the only real downside being the loss of the $200+ entry fee for the race.  Unfortunately, my "A" race, the Armed Forces Triathlon, was coming up in 2 weeks and it looked like I might not be able to run.  Since the pain didn't abate much over the next 2 weeks, I actually only did one short 1.25 mi easy run, just to make sure I could still run, a few days before the race and that was it.


So how did the race go?

Bottom line: I think my tri season is over. Here's the race report:

Swim - 2 loop course with a run around a bouy on the sand, water was ~60, face and feet were frozen.  Drafted the 1st lap, but unfortunately chose someone a bit slower than me, tried to speed up a bit on the 2nd lap but wasn't able to find someone to draft and ended up coming out a bit further back than I'd hoped, but still with some of the faster girls, so overall swim wasn't too bad.

Bike - 4 loop course, flat and windy -  The girl I was hoping to ride with got thru transition a bit quicker, and I had issues mounting my bike and got a bit behind, but managed to catch up with a small pack of 4.  Unfortunately they were too slow so I felt the need to drop them.  Rode by myself for a full lap, then on the next lap saw 2 girls behind me working together so I slowed a bit and worked with them.  Lost 1 girl along the way, the other girl was Canadian and since this was only a practice race for them, she was kind enough to take longer pulls.  Overall felt pretty good on the bike and did pretty well on that leg and was told I was 5th overall (not counting the Canadian - they raced with us but were scored separate) at the end of that leg. 

Run - 2 loop course, mostly flat and windy. Tried to moderate my pace to keep my calf from tightening up.  One girl passed me on the first mile, which put me in 6th, and I needed to be 6th to go to Switzerland for Worlds.  During the 2nd loop I heard a girl behind me and was trying to hold her off.  She passed me and I attempted to pick up the pace. At that point something snapped like a rubberband.  My right calf cramped up as though I had a major charlie horse (oddly enough, it was the left one that was hurting me more prior to the race).  Faced with the prospect that my season was most likely over the moment I heard something go "pop", I managed to force myself to finish, albeit at a pretty slow pace (it must have been pure adrenaline seeing as how I can't even walk right now)... on the bright side I think I still came out Top 10 overall, and the Air Force women's team won. 

After the race a doctor examined me and said that my achilles wasn't fully torn but she thinks I tore some of the fibers.  I iced my calf and went to the clinic and got crutches.  Currently I can't walk (or drive, yikes, not sure what I'm going to do about that) and my calf hurts like crazy.  Not sure how long I'll be out for, but at this point I'm thinking my season is over.... and I don't particularly trust military healthcare to do what is necessary for me to get well...

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

So, before almost every race I seem to have a minor meltdown.  Last night it was when I realized I had to quickly learn how to change a cassette (Pete talked me through it over the phone, but that was difficult as well, especially since my stupid phone kept suddenly losing it's signal and cutting out) which ended up taking over an hour, precious time that I would have preferred to use sleeping or perhaps putting speed laces in my running shoes, which I forgot to do...

The race went as well as could be expected, I was leading at the end of the bike, and surprisingly had enough of a lead that I made it out of transition first despite the fact that I had to put on socks and shoes and actually tie my laces (thanks to the stupid calf injury, I'm currently unable to run in my racing flats).  I managed to hold the lead through the first mile, but as I began the second, my calf became tighter and tighter... I ended getting passed by not 1 but 2 women.  But 3rd isn't so bad, that really isn't the worst part, the worst part is that I have my A race coming up in 2 weeks and I have no idea what state my stupid calves will be in by then.  Although I did slow down, the competitor in me just wouldn't slow down to the point of no pain lest I lose my "Top 3" spot.  So I plowed on, pleading with my calf to just make it to the end without completely locking up and forcing me to stop altogether.  I did make it to the end, slightly limping, and held onto 3rd.

Which now brings me to my subject line, should I stay or should I go?  I paid alot of money to do the Eagleman Aquavelo.  Actually, almost a year ago, before I knew I would even have this issue, I paid for the entire event.  Not wanting to completely cancel, I asked to switch to the Aquavelo, since the run was the only issue.  But now that I really overdid it, it hurt just to push down the pedals for my easy half mile spin from transition back to my house... so do I drive 3.5 hours (7 RT) and attempt to race?  Or do I blow it off to rest, hopefully recover, and maybe actually get some of my "To Do" list accomplished (who am I kidding, I'll spend most of the day on the boat tomorrow if I stay).  Should I stay or should I go?

Two Tri

I have not one, but two races coming up this weekend.  First a local tri that literally runs right past my house (as in the run course is less than 50 ft from my backyard), and then Eagleman, which I was originally supposed to do as a 70.3, but now am just doing the aquavelo due to nagging calf injuries.  I'm hoping to be able to do the 8k at the end of the race on Saturday... I was appearing to make some progress with my run, and even got up to 7 miles, but then I attempted to add in a little "race pace" work (I did at least manage to win the base 5k in the process) and appear to have set myself back.  How far back, I'm not sure.

In the past I always had knee pain when I ran (well, at least ever since I had to get those stupid anthrax shots), and when I did IM Cozumel in 2010, I had not only knee but also IT band pain.  I decided it was time to change my running style to one that would supposedly prevent injury.  As I was a heel striker, I attempted to force myself to use a more efficient mid-foot strike with a higher cadence.  Unfortunately, what I didn't know then, and have only recently found out about, is that a large number of folks who tried to change their stride are apparently suffering from similar injuries.

It's too late to go back to my old stride at this point, the new one is pretty ingrained, but to all you heel strikers, if you don't have any pain, my advice would be if it ain't broke, don't fix it... although I was having knee pain so it appears to be a trade off in my case.  My hope for future heel-strike turned mid-foot runners is that someone will come up with a specific regimen which includes exercises for your calf and Achilles to allow folks to strengthen those areas first before attempting to change up their stride...

I have a few days to rest between now and Saturday, fingers crossed that I'm healed enough to make it through the run at a decent pace!