Declined

My weekend started out with a physical therapy session Friday afternoon. Those are particularly grueling and I hobble out of those sessions - BUT they are doing their job, as I begin to feel better after a few hours and my hip is recovering. I am able to run now.

Then on Saturday I spent the whole day at a resort called Innsbrook in Wright City, MO. This is an exclusive resort that only members and their guests can use. My previous coach rents a chalet for a weekend every year for a training camp. I was invited to attend this year and decided to spend the day working hard.

The weather was a bit on the chilly side - somewhere around 50 degrees. We were supposed to start the day at 8 AM at the lake for an open water swim. I was carpooling with another athlete/friend and on the way my cellphone rang. It was the coach asking if it would be OK to bike first and swim later in the day - Hooray! Exactly the idea that I was contemplating. This particular resort is extremely hilly and I don't mean small hills. So we begin with 6 miles through the hills and then out onto the flat/rolling countryside for a total of 25 miles. I had a great ride in that I felt fairly comfortable the whole way. Then we suited up for a swim - let's say the water temp was in the low 50's - very cold and I couldn't get my face in the water. After backstroking, sidestroking and swimming with my head out, we headed back into the shore. As I swam (really swam with head in), I finally became acclimated and was ready to swim some more - but the group was done. We found our way to hot tub - heavenly - and then went back for some lunch. Then it began to rain and thunder.

Luckily, she invited a bike-fitter in to talk about bike issues and to entice us with wonderful new bike toys we should get - like aero helmets, disc wheels or fancy Zipps, etc. When he was done, it did stop raining so we did a quick run and then off to practice transitions.

After that, we enjoyed dinner and watched/critiqued the women's tri Olympic qualifier from Tuscaloosa. Then it was 9:00 PM and really time to head for home.

After I got home, I checked the mail. I received a letter from the insurance company that we applied to for long term care insurance. Our agent talked us into getting this and it seemed like a good idea at the time. There was a health interview involved where a nurse called and asked about any recent doctor's visits. I'm currently being treated for a hip injury that I got when running. I told her about the PT and how nicely I seemed to be healing. The letter indicated that I had been declined for the insurance due to the hip injury - do you believe that! I'm betting that my couch-potato husband who likely has high blood pressure and other assorted ailments but refuses to go to a doctor, gets approved. But we are cancelling it anyway - I can't believe this.

Obsession Inconsistencies

Today is my birthday and I am now 55. This has nothing to do with the topic of today's blog - but felt it was important to mention in the event you felt the need to sing.

No, today, I want to talk about my obsessions and their success rate or lack thereof. For example, I feel that triathlon is an obsession. It's a great one to possess and difficult to avoid. I think that you either love triathlon or your hate it and if you hate it, you don't get involved or quit.

Stating that, I do believe that I spend a fair amount of mental time thinking about my workouts and my upcoming races. Am I working out enough, hard enough, what about injuries (now another obsession to add to my list)....so it's a fact, I'm obsessed about triathlon. Oh, did I tell you that I love the sport of triathlon?

Another obsession, is the need to lose weight. Notice I said "need", not the actual act of weight loss - which drives me crazy, as any good obsession should do. I very badly want to lose 5-10 lbs. How hard could that be? What do I need to do, cut off a foot? I keep vascillating between different weight loss programs. But here's the thing - I feel like I'm an expert on weight loss and nutrition. No formal training, don't play a nutritionist on TV or anything like that, but I've been dieting since I was 14 and considering today is my birthday, that's 41 years of weight loss obsession.

I was a skinny kid - there is a picture of me standing next to the skinny tree. We have a lot in common. But as all good teenage dieters do, I didn't eat to stay skinny and eventually my fat cells learned how to hang on for dear life. Once they've gone into survival mode, you are hard-pressed to get them to shrink - as shrinking is the best you will ever do, they will not go away. So any teenagers around? If so and you aren't obese already, don't diet until you hit your 30s. If you are already obese, than that's a whole other discussion that I won't go into today - but suffice it to say, get obsessed about some sport - how about triathlon? How about putting the Wii away and going out to play. Back on topic....

As my decades have piled on the weight has come and gone, but mostly come. My heaviest was 196 - pushing 200 brought about an awakening and I quickly got my act together - at least a couple of times. I never want to approach that number ever again. So 40 lbs or so later, I've been stuck for the last 10 years. Good that I've never gone back up, but I can't seem to break this massive plateau.

Don't get me wrong. I have wonderful intentions. I try to eat healthy - most people who know me give me a bad time about what I eat - always asking me if I ever take a break from healthy eating and the fact is that I take too many breaks. So I'm chastising myself here.

I love cookies and chips. I don't have too many of them in the house, but I find substitutes. So instead of cookies, I eat chocolate graham crackers. Well, they are probably just as bad. Everything in my house is reduced fat, except myself and my husband.

I went to a nutritionist two years ago and she said I needed to stop eating reduced fat food and eat REAL food and probably more of it. But that didn't work for me either. I did try that approach and either gained weight or lost nothing. I have all the latest diet books at my house - in fact, I could probably open a library of weight loss tomes and triathlon how-to's.

So my inconsistency is that I cannot reach a level of success in weight loss with all my knowledge and with my life revolving around the fact that I want to lose a few LBs. Actually, one of the reasons I got into triathlon was as a means of losing weight - NOT SO my little friend. You can exercise 8 hours a week and lose zero pounds.

Did I mention the various types of supplements I've tried that were recommended as having weight loss potential? None of those ephedra-type products. Tried one once and thought my heart was going to come out of my chest. Scary feeling - decided that was a bad road to go down. Dead does not equal weight loss and besides, I want to look really nice and thin in my coffin - but not from a disease that causes weight loss so I have to be careful what I wish for.

So that's the inconsistency - I want to do, I obsess about it and it doesn't happen. Did I mention today is my birthday? A full day of fun things to eat - and therein lies the problem...

Cycling Time Trials & Tribulations

This is so cool - one of our local bike shops is sponsoring a 5 week time-trial race series. I entered in the Women's 50+ category and have clinched the series. My competition in this series is myself - so where are the other women? There weren't even very many Cat4's - at most 6 and you get points through 5th place.

So the first night, I'm really nervous and decide to start on my own rather than be pushed. That was a mistake, as of course, I had trouble clipping in. I was hoping to be somewhere around 30 minutes for a 15k time trial. My time was 32:09 - so close. And, keep in mind, there was a terrific cross wind throughout the course. In fact, I considered not doing it because of the wind. But my friend signed up, so I felt obligated.

I actually had difficulty in the last 200m due to being on the verge of puking as well as a cramp that tried to settle in my right calf. I had to keep jamming down the peddle to try to avert the cramp.

Second week, I did so much better. My time was 29:33 - huge improvement. No impending pukage, however, still potential leg cramp in the last 200m. I even tried some endurolytes prior to the race to help alleviate any cramping.

Third week - I really pushed hard. No pukage, no cramping - yes! Check my time - I'm one second slower than the week before. Not what I hoped for, but consistent. A friend advised me to focus on relaxing my feet as I rode to try to keep cramps at bay and that worked!

Fourth week - I went to physical therapy for a running injury right after work with the intention of going right over to the time trial. Lucky for me, it was pouring down rain. No TT for me - due to PT. Session was especially intense and I don't think I could've raced if I wanted to.

But, the main thing is, after 3 weeks of first place points - I'm untouchable. I've clinched the series - not that there is anyone racing against me. But, if someone decided to - they would be relegated immediately to nothing better than second place.

Yay for me!

Latest on the Injury Front

OK - so here we are 7 weeks or so post-injury and I've changed direction. I quit going to the chiropractor and moved on to the best hip guy in the area. He could not make it hurt - so he prescribed 500mg naproxen and physical therapy. I think maybe the naproxen is doing a good job as I finally begin to feel more like myself. I ran 3 miles this past Thursday and had my first PT session on Friday. They call my therapist "Jillian" after the trainer on Biggest Loser, as she is somewhat of a drill sargeant. Suffice it to say, I limped out of there on Friday - but I religiously did my exercises over the weekend and had another session yesterday.

Today I ran 4 miles! And, I'm beginning to feel like my old self. There is a presence of the injury, but no real pain. So, I think, I hope, I'm on my way back. And, none too soon - Memphis in May is only 12 days away.