I suppose this is a beginning

Hi! (Hopefully I'm saying hi to more than myself and my mom!) This is me....

So I'm officially like 3 days into training for Ironman Arizona.... which will be held November 19, 2017. So 289 days from today. I hadn't planned on starting or keeping any sort of blog, but decided that if for no other reason, it would be fun for me to look back on these weeks and months after I successfully cross that finish line (Believing is the true first step, right?). Plus, there are few blogs that I've read of other Ironman finishers, and they are so inspiring and make me tear up, so I'd like to contribute to that, if at all possible. 

 To be honest, I think from the first time I heard about an Ironman (I don't really remember when that was, maybe in high school), I thought that it sounded CRAZY. The swimming part would be no problem, as I grew up a competitive swimmer and swam through the end of college. But the biking (I wasn't a cyclist yet), and the running? Yea, who would really want to do that. Though I would never admit it to myself, looking back, I think it planted a little bit of a seed. Just that it would be awesome to do something like that someday. I didn't really give it too much thought, I was too focused on swimming and school and such then. 

 Fast forward a decade or so, and things had changed a bit. I was no longer swimming competitively. Or really doing much of anything. After finishing undergrad, I went to law school, and the adjustment to no longer being an athlete and law school at the same time was a big one. I put on a ton of weight, broke my leg (more about that later), and generally just wasn't happy. 

(At a friends wedding, first year after law school)

 I had started working as an attorney in Colorado Springs, where most of the population is fit and active. So it was a journey itself, but I eventually got a road bike and got into cycling (I had a major road bike crash in college that basically ended my swimming career, so getting back on a road bike was no small accomplishment). But I began to cycle with a local bike shop group, and began to make some friends who were cyclists. That first season I did a 3 day bike ride for Children's Hospital, including a century ride, and I felt on top of the world. It was so great to have athletic accomplishments again in my life! 

  

(crossing the finish line of my first century ride)

 That season I also did my first aqua-bike (think triathlon, but no running). Going into the next season, I knew I wanted to do something different, and a friend suggested doing a sprint triathlon. I had never been a runner. I would avoid running at all costs. But I figured I could try it. I don't remember a ton about that triathlon, it was so long ago, but I do remember that the running sucked. I think I walked a whole bunch of it. And I remember that I didn't really train much running (gee, nothing really changes!)... 

I decided that for the following year, I would try and do a half ironman, or maybe even a full ironman. Sadly, my leg had other plans for me. So backing up to law school, during my second year of law school (so November 2004), I was hanging posters in my law school lounge, and basically tripped climbing up a ledge and broke my tib/fib. It was the most random of all accidents. Totally freak. They put a rod in my leg, and for a little while at least it seemed ok. Then I would have periods where it would be bad for a couple of weeks, and then fine. Bad meaning that it pretty much hurt to do anything. Walking, biking, running. I even had to favor the leg swimming to push off turns. Needless to say doing any kind of consistent training was tough. And then it kept getting worse. 

By 2012 or so, it was impossible to do anything. It felt like having constant shin splits, but so much worse. Walking even a block or two would set it off. I went and saw doctors, but no one really had any answers. I existed by popping prescription pain pills, tons of advil, and drinking and eating away my sorrows. It was awful. Finally, in the beginning of 2013, I found a new doctor who actually listened. He ran additional tests and tried to figure out what was going on. The tests showed that something was going on in the area, but he couldn't quite figure out what. Determined to not give up, he decided the only way to figure out what was going on, was to go in and look at it. What he discovered was that my fracture had never fully fused! It looked healed on the scans, because when you scan with that much metal in a leg, you can't get a great resolution. So for 10 years, I had been walking around (and trying to work out) on a broken leg! 

The solution was to remove the rod from my tibia, and put in a longer rod. That would help support the fracture sight more, and the trauma of removing and placing in a new rod, makes your body think you broke your leg again, so it causes your body to heal it. It took awhile for my leg to get over the trauma, but once it did, my shin pain was gone! I've struggled with some of the consequences of the injury (muscle imbalance, and changed gait), but to this day, I've never had any pain in my shin! (Knock on wood!) 

(this is the old rod that was in my leg.  With a text book for comparison)

 After getting the leg sorted out, I had just gotten back into cycling, when I had another bike wreck and broke my arm! Geeze! So it wasn't until the summer of 2015 that I was really back to cycling without any interruptions. That summer I did double triple bypass (a 2 day, 220 mile bike ride with 20,000 feet of climbing over 3 Colorado mountain passes), and a bunch of other century rides.

(getting back on the bike... literally)

Heading into 2016, I knew I wanted to do something different. That the same bike rides in Colorado weren't going to hold my attention. And I had gotten to the point where doing century rides, while fun, weren't the most challenging of days. I have a friend, Ed, who had first gotten into running, and then into triathlons. He dared me (or rather instructed me) to sign up for the Boulder half-ironman. I hummed and hawed. I wasn't nervous about the swimming or the biking, but that darn running. I hadn't even really tried running on my "new" leg. I didn't know if it would handle it. I started doing a few short runs, and it felt ok (so long as I didn't run back to back days). So I figured, worse comes to worse, I guess I can walk the run leg (and thanks to being a good swimmer and fairly good cyclists, I could do that and still make the time cut off). I should have known that once I started doing triathlons, I would be hooked. But I kept telling myself, I was just going to do this one, and then see how I felt. 

 Training up to Boulder was pretty haphazard to be honest. If I felt like biking, I'd bike. I found a great open water swimming place and went a couple times in the morning before work. Swam a few times in the pool. I made myself run a few times a week. (Because I never feel like running), and then ran the Horsetooth Half Marathon for my first half. That was a hard one, lots of hills. And I still hadn't trained like I should have. 

(Hoorsetooth Half marathon--

Oh did I mention it was a freaking snow storm the night before!)

 Boulder 70.3 was fantastic. I swam, biked, and ran my heart out. Though I did do a fair share of walking on the run because it was SO hot! I finished in just over 6:30. I didn't really have a time goal, but once I got that time, I knew I had to do better. That I could do better. 

(finishing Boulder!)

 So I signed up for Harvest Moon (a local 70.3) and Austin 70.3. I didn't get a chance to really do a PR there because the swim was canceled, but I think it could have been one. My bike was about the same time on a much harder course, and despite the crazy Austin heat and humidity, my run was actually faster! I finished in the top 30 in my age group, which was a huge improvement from Boulder, and shocking because I didn't have the swim to make up any time on either! 

(Harvest Moon-a windy, hard day! But I won the Athena category!)

(Austin finish line.  Can you see the pain of the heat on my face? Lol!)

 Sometime before Austin, I had decided that I wanted to see if the leg would tolerate a full marathon. Of course the intent was that if the answer was yes, I was going to do a full Ironman. I'd like to say that I sat down and had a long talk with myself about doing a full Ironman. But I really didn't. I think once I crossed that finish line of Boulder 70.3, it wasn't really a question of whether I would do one, just so long as the leg cooperated. So I looked for a late season marathon, and settled on the Seattle marathon over Thanksgiving weekend (my family lives in Seattle, so I would be there anyways). I certainly didn't do all my runs (because I still was training for Austin) but I did a good chunk of them. I tweaked my hip about a week before the race though, and despite all my efforts (ice, heat, massage, stem, etc), I couldn't get it right by race day. I grinned and put up with it though (with the help of lots of drugs), and finished my first ever marathon. My time was slow, but I was so happy. 

(I did it!! 26.2 miles!)

 It's hard to put into words the emotions on crossing that finish line. I have moments where I certainly get in self-pity land. Why have all these injuries had to happen to me? Why couldn't a doctor have figured out my leg problem years before? Why? Why? Why? And not to detract from anyone else who doesn't have my issues that crosses these finish lines, because crossing them, no matter the circumstances is phenomenal. But it really is true that the struggle makes the accomplishment so much more sweet. I think I sobbed the last mile of that marathon. I just couldn't believe it. This was something I had always told myself I would never be able to do. Either because of the leg, or because I'm not a runner, or because I'm not skinny, or for any of another 10,000 different excuses. But I pushed aside that self-doubt and faced my fear head on. I've experienced many, many moments of joy in my life. I've certainly been very lucky and blessed. But so far, I don't know of one that surpasses the moments of realizing that I was going to finish that marathon and crossing the finish line. (Before you think I'm an awful person, I'm not married and I don't have any kids, so those aren't contenders). 

So now that the marathon was over, I guess I ran out of excuses to not do a full Ironman. I actually signed up for IMAZ a few weeks before the Seattle marathon. At that point I had done my 20 mile run, so I figured I could at least handle it. I think I almost peed my pants a little when I plugged in my credit card number and hit register. Aack!! 2017 will be the year. So I took a little break after the marathon, that turned into a longer break because of some issues with my hip and back. Of course by break, I don't mean I did nothing (though I did nothing for about 10 days after the marathon), but I did nothing formal. I went to spin class and rode on my trainer when I wanted to. But I didn't run again until Christmas because of the hip, and I swam very little. So this is week one of training. 

 I was selected to receive 3 free months of training through TriEqual's Equally Inspiring program. Check them out-- a fantastic organization that promotes women in all level of triathlon! (Including a petition to allow the same number of pro-men and pro-women to compete at Kona). The Equally Inspiring program selected 75 women triathletes and paired them up with 75 coaches who volunteer their time, in order to encourage and advance women in triathlon. The only obligation required of the program is that they will feature you and the progress you made with your coach on their blog/social media. Done! 

 So here's what the coach has laid out for me this week: 

 Tuesday: Bike test (basically a warm up, and then a 20 minute all out effort to record my HR) 

Wend: 45 minute run 

Thur: 3,600 yard swim 

Friday: 45 minute run 

Sat: 3,000 yard swim + 140 minute Z2 bike ride 

Sun: 70 minute Z2 Run 

(first swim workout back)

Training with heart rate in mine is totally new to me.  But I'm willing and excited to give it a try. It's honestly a lot less volume than I'm used to (and I'm really tempted to add some more biking to it! A friend is doing the Sufferfest tour, and I'm tempted to join along). But so far (it's friday morning), it's been going well. I was super tempted to skip the pool last night (I had PT in the morning, so my usual routine of getting my workouts done early wasn't possible), but I forced myself to go. It wasn't about the swimming, though my first workout back in the pool in about a month certainly wasn't the easiest, but more just about wanting to crash on the couch after work. Can't do that!! I've been struggling with my back a little bit since even early summer. I think it was even before Boulder 70.3 that it would bug me when I was swimming. No other time, but just when swimming. Then it of course got worse, and the past two months or so, I've been babying it. I remember when I swam last (over Christmas), it was not happy, and I cut my workout short. I'm thrilled that last night it didn't bug me at all! Woot woot! Hopefully that continues!! Going out for a run later this afternoon, so hopefully the hip feels better. I had dry needling done in my abductors yesterday. That area was a little sore yesterday, but hopefully it feels better today! I'm planning on St. George 70.3 the first weekend of May (which is a hard course), so gotta get going!!! I promise most of my posts won't be this long! I just thought it would be fun to sort of lay out my background and how I got to the decision to do an Ironman! :)