With just a week left…

before the Marine Corps Marathon, a few struggles have been thrown my way.  I somehow developed a deep pain in my left hip.  It felt a bit different from tendonitis or muscle pain, which I have dealt with before, so I decided to visit a chiropractor.  Why I went with a chirpractor first, I don’t know, it just seemed like the right person for the job.  Not really a medical condition, more musculo-skeletal.

Well, I got an X-ray done, and when we looked at it I didn’t need the doc to point out some of the mis-alignments that were popping up.  The L3 and L4 vertebrae were pretty crooked, in a standing x-ray.  But the pain in my hip, and the crooked vertebrae (I only felt a little tightness in my back, nothing there that was even slowing me down) were just side effects, the origin of which have come from the bottom up.  First, I am an overpronator (like about half the population) and my left foot pronates far more than my right.  That along with a minor leg length discrepancy (notable if I ever get fitted for dress pants, which happens about once a decade with me) add up to drop my left hip about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch below my right hip.

Now just imagine the unevenness on the run and the unusual stretching that would cause on the bike.  A little pounding here, a little stretching there, and voila I end up with a pretty unusual set of symptoms.  What makes a condition worse or better, and what causes it’s onset are often key factors in making a diagnosis, particularly with musculo-skeletal injuries (imagine a doctor rotating a shoulder, “does this hurt, how about now”).  But anything around this sacro-iliac area tends to give some unusual symptoms, which made me think “muscle, tendon, nerve, bone, which one?”.

The treatment has been pretty simple.  You can’t fix pronation, it just happens.  You can strengthen around it, but it will still happen.  So you strengthen and try to reduce it with an orthotic.  You can’t even out your legs (at least not without some pretty major surgery, I would imagine) so you even it out in your shoes.  What about the little side effects?  Well, those you can treat.  I have never had my back cracked, but it felt really good!  Strengthening the stabilizer muscles in the core will help prevent a regression, once everything is back to normal.

Just one week left, and I feel ready.

SC Half-Ironman Trip Report

Alright, the Greenwood Half Trip report is finally here! 

Again I would just like to reiterate how wonderful a job Set-up Inc. does with all of their events.  They handled four hundred racers plus a respectable crowd of spectators flawlessly, and coordinated everything needed to provide a wonderful course.  It is definitely worth mentioning the great job Highway Patrol and local law enforcement did in handling traffic.  HP was making a great show of force early and often on the bike, and almost every vehicle (there is always that one jerk) that passed me provided a comfortable margin of safety.  I hope everybody else had a similar experience on the course.  Also, big thanks to Stronghold Athletic for helping me get to this event.  This was the first time I was able to display their logo out on the course, and I am glad that it is visible in the photos!  They definitely deserve the attention.

My Dad made the trip with me again.  Having a support crew of some sort really makes things a lot more comfortable.  Somebody to just lend a helping hand and, for example, hold your bike steady while you put your race number on it can make a big difference in reducing some hassle.  They are mostly little things, but it is nice to have somebody that you trust along to help and provide a kind of double-check.  We certainly can get pretty single-minded about things before a race, and having another opinion can definitely help sometimes.

I arrived shortly before 5:30 and set my gear up on the rack, double checking everything to make sure I had not overlooked anything (like having my shoes still velcroed shut).  Is velcroed even a word?  Got body marked, got my chip, started drinking water.  Ambled over to the swim start.  Drank some water.  Ambled back over to the transition area to get my backpack I had left sitting there.  Drank some water.  Wandered back to the car and warmed up, while drinking some water.  Went down to the swim start.  Drank some gatorade (can you see where this is going).  Told my Dad I would see him soon.  Here was one great example of how much a support crew helped; I was able to wear my sweats right up to about the time we were getting in the water, drop them over the rail along with my gatorade bottle, and not worry about them. 

The swim was a gorgeous, comfortable, 76 degrees.  Three legs, two left turns, 1900 meters, ending by exiting on a boat ramp.  Now, at temps under 78 degrees wetsuits become legal to wear for the race.  The first interesting thing about wetsuits is that they provide some bouyancy, which helps to correct one of the major errors in swimming technique, allowing the hips and legs to sink.  This helps to make poor swimmers much better, but doesn’t do as much for really good technical swimmers.  Although the added bouyancy helps get them higher in the water to produce less drag, a good swimmer already maintains a good position and does not benefit as much from the wetsuit.  The second interesting thing about wetsuits is that I don’t own one.  ”No worries,” I told myself “you are a good swimmer, and don’t need a wetsuit.”  I went out gunning hard on the swim, felt like I was really flying!  I started distancing myself from some of my wave, along with a handful of other breakouts, and before the first turn we were catching people from the previous wave.  Rounding the first yellow turn marker I started to get into the real thick of things, the entire second leg was spent swimming by people.  The downside to being the last wave to start is that almost everybody on the swim that you catch will not be worth drafting off, so I would just pass them as cleanly as I could.  Making a pass is perhaps the most disorienting thing to do, as you have to change your angle a bit, and I spent a whole lot of strokes sighting the bouys on that leg.  Leg three was short and in a bit more control.  The exit up the ramp went smoothly, and I exited the water with a swim time of 38:18.  This was 3:30 behind my intended pace, but no worries, I felt fine.  T1 took me 3:40, a bit longer than expected, but only leaving me down 4:10 from my goal time at that point.

The bike course was a steady, very slightly rolling course.  The first twenty miles were steady rolling hills with three hundred feet of total elevation gain; the end of this stretch was in the town of Saluda.  The next 25 miles were full of mostly unnoticable up and downhills, made even less distinguishable by a slight 5-7 mile an hour headwind.  The final ten miles, beginning just before Ninety-Six (the town, not a mile marker, which has a great burger joint by the way!), had a little character, with some downhills that finally allowed for a brief break from constant steady pedaling and uphills that we were all glad to stand up for just for the change in position!  The uphills and downhills were so gradual that the position of the bike felt almost static throughout the ride, which made for a mentally tough ride.  The volunteers were wonderful out on the bike course; they were lively, smiling, taking pride in simply making the best hand-offs they could, and it definitely helped keep people’s spirits up.  I dont’ know where they got these guys, but I certainly hope they had an enjoyable enough time to be back next year.  It was so steady it was rediculous.  It was almost as if, once people sorted themselves out in the first ten miles, we were all just riding in line together, holding our little patches of road.  I got going, took on some extra calories early to make up for the swim, knowing my appetite would decrease later.  I was in the rush of the moment and was averaging 20 to 22 miles per hour, then I stopped to pee.  Got on the bike and worked up a solid but steady rythm between 18 and 20 mph, Saluda came and went, I turned into the headwind and deepened my aero tuck to take some of the bite out, steadily and constantly I passed farms and pastures at about 16 to 18 mph, and I stopped to pee.  I got back to a steady effort, varying from about 14 to 20 mph as the terrain finally changed, chatted with some other racers to break up the monotony, Ninety-Six came and I waved at a father with his little girl as I went through, I got back to the park, and then I stopped to pee. 

The bike took me 3:03:45, which was 5:25 faster than I had planned!  I dropped my bike off and made the second transition in 3:14, about 1:15 slower than planned.  I was now exactly where I had planned.  3:48:57 into the Half-Iron, with my goal of running a 2:11 half marathon, would put my finish time just under six hours.  But anything can happen on the run, and I knew as I took my first steps out of T2 that the run had never been my strong point.

The two loop course was steady, with no section steep enough to significantly alter one’s stride, but a few hidden hills that could really pose a challenge if you were not aware of them.  The volunteers were again exuberant and energetic, happy to help as much as they could.  I started not with a bang, but more with a shuffle.  My stride was short, my hips tight, three hours in the same position had taken it’s toll.  I ran with an almost detached consciousness through mile 1, looked down at my watch and noted 10:20.  Not where I wanted, but okay.  I could feel some gastric upset, so I grabbed water alone at the first aid station and started sipping.  I had turned out of the park, with my back to the sun, and I was doubting myself.  But I ran on, and mile marker two came, I noted my watch at about 20:10!  I took stock of myself at this point, realizing that my hips had loosened up, my face held no tension, my knee drive had returned and my cadence was where it should be.  I felt like I was floating, I could have laughed, I did laugh.  “You’ve got it,” I thought to myself, “you’ve done the work, you’ve put in the miles.  You don’t have to worry about finishing, that will happen; so just go, put it all out there and put out an effort that you will be proud of, proud to talk about, proud to write about, proud of having done.”  3 miles – 30:00, 4, 5, 6 miles – 58:20.  I realized that the first mile had been mostly a steady uphill, a fact that was mostly hidden by the shade and the necessary distraction of watching for traffic and incoming cyclists as we all shared a two lane road.  That almost made me laugh again, and it certainly made me smile; I was ready for it this time.  I was still taking on just water, trying to keep everythign in check, but so far it had been working.  7, 8, 9 miles – 1:29:30; just keep it together.  Ten miles, time to start sipping some coke.

Big mistake.  I almost doubled over on the spot.  It had worked wonderfully in Orlando, but today my stomach would have none of it.  The carbonation, the sugar, the fact that it was liquid.  I had eaten very little before the race, and my high level of hydration had kept me from consuming as much as I normally do during the race.  Everything was empty, and none of it was happy to have something thrown at it while under the stress of running.  I walked, I ran with somebody, I walked.  I sucked it up and ran a fast mile, turned back into the park.  One mile to go.

I passed Scott Rigsby on his way out to start the second loop.  Overcoming adversity, Scott was competing today for a record.  By finishing the event, he became the first person to complete a Half-Ironman or more while running on two artificial legs.  He has a wonderful demeanor, and has looked adversity in the eye to get where he is.  Meeting Scott before the race, getting to know him a little, and seeing him out on the course giving it his all was definitely inspirational to anybody who was there. 

I ran the last mile.  I ran it quick, I would say that I raced it with all I had.  I did my best, I can confidently say; and ran 2:15:24, to finish in 6:04:29.  Did I break six hours, no.  Did I give it everything I had, definitely.  Did I have a great race, most definitely.  Did I exceed my realistic expectations of myself, absolutely, and that is what I am proud of.  I have already learned a lot from this event, and I will learn a lot more before the next one.  I will get faster, and I will keep exceeding my limitations, because I can.

At some point you are challenged, forced to look inside yourself to find the will to push on.  When you do - when you finish - then you realize that you are stronger than you ever believed possible.  I have one more race, but it’s just a marathon.  My first triathlon season has come to a close, and the last image I have from Greenwood was worth the whole year.  The crowd cheered, the athletes smiled broadly or clapped tiredly or shed a tear, and Scott Rigsby crossed the finish line, showing us all how strong we can be.  The support all of the triathletes are willing to give to each other, and the joy we find in seeing others achieve their goals (no matter if it is winning or finishing, or anything between) just reaffirms that I am in the right sport, the best sport.

Quick update

Hey everybody, just wanted to drop a quick line.  The SC Half Ironman race report will be up soon, I have just been busy as all heck.  I definitely am proud of the effort I put out on race day, and am amazed that I made such a drastic improvement on three months of serious training.  I have worked out twice since, a forty minute swim followed by a four mile run at 7:30 average pace, and a 12-13 mile run today in two hours.  Isn’t it supposed to be an easy week after a big race?  Bike is getting it’s winter tune up at the shop, so I just ran today. 

Have been busy with school work and necessary life items.  Turns out the one class I thought was going to be a breeze is kicking my butt, and in the one everybody told me was insanely difficult I almost aced the first exam!  Oh well, I attribute that to studying more for pharmacology and less for anatomy and physiology.  Hopefully I won’t have all my tests so crammed together next time. 

Anyways, more soon, and some great pictures!