Attitudes, Injuries, and the Superpowers of Jellyfish

First off, I apologize that it has been so long since I've posted an update; I know you've been waiting with bated breath.  After finishing four 70.3's in 6 weeks (with a 10th place finish at Ironman 70.3 Vineman in early July), I was ready for a little break!  I enjoyed a week of relaxation, including a weekend at the beach, before jumping back into training.  I also started a new position as a music therapist in the inpatient behavioral health unit at a local hospital (which terrified me when I started but I have fallen in love with the job).  While I had planned on racing again in August, this didn't work out so I jumped into a local event, the always awesome BBSC Las Vegas Tri. 

 

70.3 Miami

I DO, in fact, own things that aren't Spandex - relaxing with my cousin in San Diego during my mini break (though the watch tan doesn't lie)

Enjoying some cross training

Got to dance the night away at a dear friend's wedding in Wisconsin

Back in action at the Las Vegas Tri

 After a fabulous race at the LV Tri, I had pretty high hopes for my home court race - Ironman 70.3 Silverman.  I was all kinds of excited to be racing on the same weekend as last year's crash in Rancho Cordova; this was going to be my redemption!  Unfortunately, things didn't go exactly as planned.  The wind was brutal and I came out of my waviest swim yet all kinds of discombobulated.  Hopping onto my bike, I missed one of my shoes, causing a mini crash.  While I didn't hit the pavement, my bike kicked up and my cassette landed directly on my calf, injuring the muscle and giving me a nice gash.  I bled for 56 miles while simultaneously battling the 4k feet of elevation gain and 25+ mph winds, ouch!  Unfortunately, when I came off the bike, it was abundantly clear that I had injured more than the skin and a run was not going to happen and I ended up pulling out of the race.  I am now convinced that the first weekend of October is cursed and I really out to avoid racing on it!

Thanks to Joe (who stayed with me for the race) for being my doctor buddy and nursing my physical and emotional wounds after Silverman

What you don't see is how THICK the dried blood got.  Fun stuff.



After my "accident," my Grandma sent me a note which included the line, "Wow Bailey, that bike is telling you something ... I don't know what but I hope you're listening."  Now, on the surface this sounds like a "Don't race, you dumb kid" kind of comment; however, my grandmother is much more insightful than that and she truly meant "tell you something."  She was right.  I'm fairly convinced that Silverman (if not Silverman and Rancho Cordova) were self-fulfilled prophesies.  In both, I had a bad feeling leading up to the race.  I was feeling "over" racing, I felt fat and didn't appreciate my body's capabilities, and for some reason kept picturing myself getting hit by a car or otherwise crashing.  If I'm being honest with myself, I think I secretly wanted to have something catastrophic as an excuse.  Leading up to both races, I had a weird feeling of dread that I pushed aside instead of addressing it or turning it around. 

That said, both of my crashes provided a sudden and sincere reminder of how much I actually love racing and hate not being able to train/race.  Fortunately, this year's crash didn't end my season.  I was not able to run for 10 or 11 days but plopped on enormous waterproof bandages and continued to swim and water jog (and I could still ride).  I'm fortunate enough to have a trusted massage therapist as well; James may be the only reason I've been able to continue competing this season.  Going into Ironman 70.3 Miami, I was still fairly injured and feeling out of "run shape" but I was bound and determined to keep my head on straight and get the job done. 

In Miami, I got to stay with my dear friend and former CSU Triathlon teammate, Rebecca, yay!  Friday was filled with my trying to get in workouts between rain drops before eventually giving up and resorting to a local gym.  That night, Rebecca and I had dinner with the amazing owners of Riplaces (possibly my biggest cheerleaders as well).  Saturday, I managed to find a dry window and checked out training in the Florida humidity and to test out my new gear (new LG Helmet and Smith Optics sunglasses).  In the 10 minutes of shallow water swimming, I had two jellyfish encounters and another with some biting/stinging creature I never got a good look at; at this point I was just waiting for the Jaws theme song to start.  My fears were heightened a bit at our pro race meeting where we were informed there was a good chance the swim would be cancelled due to an inordinate amount of jellyfish.  Yikes!

I was a little nervous about the creatures beneath the surface ...



Race morning, we all waited for the call, finding out about 10 minutes before the start that the swim was, in fact, on.  I'm glad we were able to swim but boy were those creatures nasty!  Of the racers I spoke with, all were stung at least once or twice.  I, myself, got three stings including a big one on my left arm.  I managed to keep my head on my shoulders though and race on!  I'm mildly convinced that the sting caused an adrenaline rush which actually helped my race because I had huge swim/bike PRs!  We had a strong head wind coming back on the bike but, again, I kept my wits about me and powered through, visualizing The Little Engine that Could.  Coming into transition, I had to do a triple take looking at the racks and realizing I was in 5th place, holy smokes!  Heading out onto the run, I was over the moon!  Unfortunately, my injuries started to affect me around mile 5 as did electrolyte depletion (I had launched not one, not two, but three bottles on the bike meaning I only had 1/3 of my typical electrolytes).  I was passed by three stellar runners but managed to hang on for 8th place, a nice little payday, and a 5 minute PR.  After two years of dreaming it, I finally broke that elusive 4:30 barrier, woohoo!  I definitely want to thank Coach Mace at MP Multisport for everything he's done to get me to this point (and for not blocking my phone number as I lamented every injury and bad attitude over the past month).

Riding strong

My Jellyfish Smiley

I am convinced that the difference between Silverman and Miami was 99.9% attitude.  At Silverman, I had a negative outlook from the get go and was downright surly about the whole thing while in Miami, nothing could get me down.  Falling into a negative mindset or pattern is so easy; going forward, I believe I must constantly practice positivity until it becomes second nature.  After an awesome weekend, I'll be keeping that smile on my face for my last two weeks of training before wrapping up my season in Austin!

Ride Happy!



Thank you SO much for your support through the good days and bad MP Multisport, Pro Cyclery, Blueseventy, Hammer Nutrition, Riplaces, HIE Cycling, Pro Motorsports of Fond du Lac, It's Your Choice Training, Las Vegas Multisport, and Anthem Fitness.