Woohoo!!! I made it ;-)

 

 A video recap of the Olympic tri I did this past weekend, June 23, 2012, with Team in Training. Commentary to follow. Mama is pooped!!!

Am I nervous...absolutely! Am I excited...positively!

Okay, it's the night before my sister, Gwyn, and I leave for the triathlon! It has been 3 weeks since I last posted...ugh! Here's a recap of the last 3 weeks- 3 weeks ago, I was out on a 6 mile run on a 90+ degree day sporting my new elastic shoe laces. I ended up pulling/maiming a tendon in my right ankle. So yours truly, laid off of it for 2 weeks and did limited biking/no running/some swimming. Which leads me to about 10 days ago...just as my ankle was healing, I did an open water swim with my fellow teammate and coach at Lake Jordan and voila...of all things, I pulled a muscle in my neck! So after some intense pain for the first few days/week, I was out of training until about now. On the bright side, I am feeling much better overall. My neck is still tight and occasionally sore when I turn sharply. My ankle feels a little tight but not painful. And here we are...leaving for the race tomorrow!

Honestly, I was scared to do much in the way of training these past few days given my record the past few weeks. My main thing was to be able to do the race at this point! Am I nervous...absolutely! Am I excited...absolutely!

I can't tell you how much participating in this triathlon journey with Team in Training has meant to me. Really. As much as I get worked up about the actual race, it was about so much more than that. I got to meet some really wonderful, inspiring people. I got to reconnect with my friend, Mary Ann's, family and train with a real purpose beyond me. I got to try and raise money for a good cause. I got to get my butt in shape. I got to experience a whole new sport which I think I love. I got to rediscover parts of myself as a competitor and as an individual which sometimes gets lost in the day-to-day stuff of life as a parent. I've learned so much about the sport and myself and my family and my friends that was all affirming despite the recent bumps in the road. Would I do this again? Absolutely. Totally worth it...more later but for now I must catch some zzzz's. Race day is not far away  ;-)

Mission Moment

 * We have mission moments in our weekly Team in Training emails and occasionally at the beginning of workouts. Here is one worth repeating:

A few years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win.
All, that is, except one boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back. They all turned around and went back. Every one of them.
One girl with Down's Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better."
All nine linked arms and walked across the finish line together.
Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are still telling the story. Why? Because deep down we know this one thing:
What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves.
What truly matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course.

---

 Addendum to this story: Origins:   The story is more true than not, although its primary point has been grossly exaggerated. According to folks at the Special Olympics Washington office, the incident happened at a 1976 track and field event held in Spokane, Washington. A contestant did take a tumble, and one or two of the other athletes turned back to help the fallen one, culminating in their crossing the finish line together, but it was only one or two, not everyone in the event. The others continued to run their race.
The story is thus not about an entire class of "special people" who spontaneously tossed aside their own dreams of going for gold in favor of helping a fallen competitor, but rather one about a couple of individuals who chose to go to the aid of another contestant. Unfortunately, this tale as it is now being told helps further a stereotype that deficiencies in intelligence are compensated for by unfailingly sweet natures and a way of looking at the world in childlike wonder. Special Olympians train long and hard for their events and are every bit as committed as athletes who compete in any other athletic endeavors. The Special Olympics are not a casual get-together organized to give less fortunate members of the community a day to socialize and perhaps run in a foot race or two. They're highly organized sporting events taken very seriously by all involved, with each competitor striving to do his best. It's about trying. And succeeding.
The Special Olympics oath is "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

Congratulations CAROLINE DERIFAJ. You have qualified for the 2012 USA Triathlon Olympic Distance National Championship after finishing in the top 10 percent in your age group at the Ramblin' Rose Women's Only Triathlon - Raleigh.



(Ha! I got this message in an email about a week after the Ramblin' Rose Triathlon.  I am too chicken to do it. Maybe next year!)

Ouch....

                                          (pic of me doing ankle rehab exercises with S.C. cheering me on)

So, it seems my daily blog posts have been relegated to a more infrequent/weekly post as I find myself dedicating more time to training while trying to manage mommy life as well...hence, I am even more exhausted at the end of the day! Now I also get to add ankle exercises to my list of "to do's" as I was out jogging in 90+ degree weather on Thursday and felt pain in my ankle around the 4th or 5th mile. My goal was to do 6 which I did mainly because the pain seemed to subside after I initially felt it and stopped to stretch. However, after the hard workout, I felt it again and this time I knew something was awry. I took some Ibuprofen and iced it that night and woke up on Friday with the ankle feeling really stiff and more painful. Ugh! I've never had ankle issues in all my 20+ years of running. I really felt bummed thinking that maybe I had a stress fracture. So I managed to get an appointment with my sports medicine doc and she feels like it is a tendon issue. However, she couldn't say for sure given the tests she ran. So basically, I am off running for at least week and in the meantime will be focusing on my biking and swimming. That's the great thing about training for a tri...if you go down in one sport, you can hopefully pick up in the other one or two.

Today is Saturday and I was surprised to wake up without pain. Granted I did take 400mg of Ibuprofen last night but I thought I would still feel stiff in the a.m. So...wanting to test out my riding ability, I headed for our team workout at the Tobacco Trail. Basically, our team is down to me and another woman with our coach. Unfortunately, others quit early on in the season or have been hampered by physical issues or, in one case, a couple changed jobs and moved to Florida this past month! So, life happens but it still hasn't dampened my excitement for the race which is in 3 weeks. This recent injury though has gotten me down a little. I want to be prepared for the race yet play it safe enough so that I can have a good time in Atlanta. My doc said to lay off the running or any activity that is painful for a week to 10 days and if I still can't walk or run without pain then she would order an MRI to verify if it is a stress fracture etc. I am truly hoping my ankle irons itself out with the aid of icing, meds and exercises.

On a side note, last weekend my teammate and I met our other coach for our brick and had a strong ride of 15+ miles averaging around 18mph on rolling hills. He wanted us to go all out and chase the 2 guys who started a few minutes ahead of us. I caught one of them at the very end. I can tell I am improving with my power on the bike which feels good. Then I ran for ~ 5 miles. Tuesday, Tracey and I met at Jordan Lake and swam ~900 meters in pretty choppy waters. It was good to get a sense of what that could feel like on race day. We found it harder to sight and hence swim efficiently and in a straight line. I've learned new swim exercises with the pull buoy that I am going to use this week. I am actually excited about it! I took Wednesday off and then see above for what happened on Thursday...blah!

So, in my professional opinion, I am guessing I believe my new stretchy shoe laces may have been the culprit for my ankle injury. I've heard that using the elastic laces really helps in transition as you can just slip your running shoes off and on without losing a minute or so actually tying your laces. So I tried out 2 different brands and settled on the Easy Laces (I tried the Yangz as well but thought it was too cumbersome). Anyway, I suspect that with all the curves at Lake Pine where I ran on Thursday, the elastic laces were not giving my ankle enough support and letting it over-bend which caused tendon strain. So off with the fancy laces and hello to the regular joe-schmoe laces that I will use with barrel ties more than likely.

Anyway, there you have it. My week in a nutshell. Only 3 more weeks until the big race! Given that I am searching for more races beyond this one, I think I may have caught a little bit of the tri bug!

Call me a triathlete!

                                                  (I am the one in the green swim cap)

So, I did my very first triathlon this past Sunday in Raleigh. Woohoo! It was the Ramblin' Rose Sprint Tri- all women. Very cool! The weather was great- mid 60's at race time though the wind was a bit brisk. My faithful Team in Training teammate, Tracey, also did the race. What a great experience. The day before (Saturday), we went on a 20 mile bike ride and 3 mile run which may have been a bit much the day before the triathlon. But, hey! I didn't sleep well Saturday night thinking about the race, I guess. I scrambled some eggs and ate some vanilla Greek yogurt which has been my pre-workout fuel that has served me well. I departed without my bike gloves which are somewhere in glove heaven, I suppose. May they rest in peace. I also chose to stick with my regular goggles instead of my fancy, new Aquaspheres that I only tried once in the pool because my old ones have had some leakage issues. My theory was to not try anything new for the race. Stick with what I had been training on which also meant that I left behind my easy-peasy, new Yangz shoe ties which are supposed to make getting in and out of your (lace) shoes much easier.

So good call on the goggles as they did not give me a bit of trouble during the pool swim. I arrived at the Finley YMCA around 6:30a.m. for an 8a.m. race start. On Saturday, I picked up my race packet and wisely went to a pre-race info session where they told us all about what to expect. Since this was my first tri and transitions are involved, I thought I could use a little wisdom. Another good move was to drive the bike course. And let me tell you, I was almost dizzy by the time I finished with that. Get this- 9 very hilly miles and 23 turns! Thankfully, I was not shocked on race day about that which is a good thing. I also had to rate my swim ability the day before. I knew I wanted to race pretty hard given that I was probably over-trained for this distance so I bumped myself up to an 8 out of 10 (being the best). I just didn't want to get clogged up in the pool. Well, no worries there. I swam hard but I must say I was not shedding a tear when that leg of the race was over and done. I got passed once in the middle of the swim which was cool (they tap your foot and you let them pass when you reach the wall). And then just as I was to climb the ladder to exit the pool, a teen slid in front of me to get up the ladder. Hmmm...teen angst, I thought. No worries. According to official results, my swim time was a peppy (I jest) 5:09 which placed me 158/450 overall for the swim.

So my transition from swim to bike was admittedly slow. I was still trying to catch my breath from the swim which is my weakest link and thankfully the first of the 3 legs. Anyway, donning stretchy bike shorts on a tired, wet body is not a pretty sight in case you were wondering. Neither is putting on a pull over shirt. If you want some entertainment during a tri, consider watching people during transitions. It can be, well, entertaining. I pranced to the bike start on my fancy-dancy bike shoes that click into my fancy-dancy Speedplay pedals. Just imagine running with unlevel tap shoes on. Then I did what no Team in Training coach would want you to do during transition and I stopped to take a couple of swigs of my Nuun water. Hence the paltry transition time of 2:39. (I know Coach Tom and Joe- bad triathlete, bad triathlete!) But I felt better and I got to see Jason and the girls as I mounted the bike and headed out which was super cool. By the way, fans and cheering is great for athletes during a race. Just do it!

And off I went on my PattiLew (my beloved, well-used bike that I purchased from a lymphoma survivor and TNT participant- Patti Lewis). The bike did great. The hills and the number of turns were tough. 23 turns in all within 9 miles through a beautiful neighborhood. Did I mention 23 turns?! I pedaled hard averaging probably 18mph. Unfortunately, I set my bike odometer to stopwatch instead of mileage so I had no idea how many miles were ahead or behind me. I like knowing that stuff as it helps me pace. Nonetheless, the bike portion went well and I made up some time from the swim. I completed the bike portion in 34:28 and was 36/450 on that leg.

I was feeling pretty good after the bike though my legs were feeling those hills. My bike/run transition was not that great either at 2:11. I am not sure why I took that long there but we'll get that worked out before June. Oh now I remember, I chose to stick with double-knotting my lace ties instead of the fancy-dancyYangz. Nice move, Caroline. But I digress. Off to the last leg- the run. I expected this to be my strongest leg of the race and it was. Thankfully, it was a flat course which made it fast. I was feeling pretty good but tired. I ended up with a 16:18 for the 2 mile loop which put me 29/450 on that leg. Overall, I ranked 35th out of ~450 and 6th in my age group out of 100. It's funny to note that had I been racing in the 20-24 year old age group, I would have placed 2nd! This just goes to show that 40+ year olds rock! Anyway, I was happy with how it all went and thrilled to see Jason and the kids at the finish line! p.s. the 12 year old that was sprinting towards the finish line at the end of the video was part of a relay. Just sayin'! More importantly, I did it! While I was pleased with my time, I can assure you that time will not be my driving factor in June. Finishing and having fun will be! GO TEAM!

**Please consider making a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society/Team in Training. I am training for an Olympic Triathlon on June 23rd outside Atlanta in memory of my friend, Mary Anne McClurkin Wolfe, and in honor of LLS survivors and their families. http://pages.teamintraining.org/nc/eletri12/carolinenelsonderifaj

Back in the saddle...

So it has been awhile since I last posted...not because I haven't been training but just that life has been whizzing past me faster than usual, it seems. Plus, I admit, I was feeling overwhelmed after my first lake swim a couple of weeks ago and that had kind of gotten me down a bit. It seemed that after all this training, I would be able to handle the swim better. But after talking to lots of people, I am learning that open water swim is tough for a lot of people especially when they're new to it. The fact that the weather has been rather wet and stormy did not allow me to get back out to the lake until this past weekend. With a new perspective about it all, I am happy to report that my second lake swim went much better than the first! The main thing I did was adjust my breathing which I am sure slowed me down but allowed me to feel more in control and also allowed me to swim much longer without feeling so exasperated. I actually enjoyed myself! And the scenery...well, you can't beat it. Check it out:

So this is a shot of Lake Jordan. Our plan was to swim across to the other side and back which would have been a mile but instead we opted to swim more along the shoreline which ended up being about .7 miles. If not the easiest way to swim, it easily must be the most beautiful.

With the second lake swim done, I am feeling more confident that I can handle the swim which is good. What else? I am still faithfully attending my 5:30a.m. Monday killer spin class. Getting a swim and good run in during the week and then doing bricks on Saturdays. I've also started using my Speedplays which use clip in shoes. And I am happy to report that I haven't toppled over yet. Stay tuned...

This Sunday will mark my very first practice tri- a sprint distance- the Ramblin' Rose triathlon in Raleigh. It's a 250yd. swim, 9 mile bike and 2 mile run. All women. I am excited and nervous. It should be good transition practice. Plus Jason and the kids will be able to see me in action as they won't be making the trek with me to Lake Oconee. Wish me luck!