Monday, May 17, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Marty and I have been enjoying our time in Maggie Valley. We've been taking pictures but the camera cord is back home, so I'll put those up in a couple of days.
We got in late Thursday and pretty much went straight to bed. Unfortunately, I missed the first official practice of my Doughman Team (Team Victorious Secret) on Thursday evening. I have it on good authority that my girls had a successful session that included scarfing down yogurt, going for a bike ride, scarfing down barbeque and then either going for a hard short run or a hard short ride. They are awesome.
Marty and I got our own ride in on Friday - not really knowing the area that well we just looked online and found a close route off of mapmyride.com. Here's a picture I snapped from my typical position when I ride with Marty. I also uploaded this right to facebook after taking the picture. I'm all sorts of coordinated.
So the ride -- I think we climbed every one of those mountains in the picture! Getting out of Maggie Valley to the Blue Ridge Parkway was hella steep. The the Parkway, although not as steep, was still a relentless uphill. We finally descended into Waynesville and made our way back to the house.
When we got home, Marty, Tassie and I soaked our legs in the creek behind the house. Tassie said the bike ride was tough and she needed an ice bath.
Marty also got in some fishing (minus the actual 'fish' part) before we had an early dinner in Waynesville.
Today is our actual 6 year anniversary and we're going into Asheville for a nice dinner - Italian, my favorite.
We got in late Thursday and pretty much went straight to bed. Unfortunately, I missed the first official practice of my Doughman Team (Team Victorious Secret) on Thursday evening. I have it on good authority that my girls had a successful session that included scarfing down yogurt, going for a bike ride, scarfing down barbeque and then either going for a hard short run or a hard short ride. They are awesome.
Marty and I got our own ride in on Friday - not really knowing the area that well we just looked online and found a close route off of mapmyride.com. Here's a picture I snapped from my typical position when I ride with Marty. I also uploaded this right to facebook after taking the picture. I'm all sorts of coordinated.
So the ride -- I think we climbed every one of those mountains in the picture! Getting out of Maggie Valley to the Blue Ridge Parkway was hella steep. The the Parkway, although not as steep, was still a relentless uphill. We finally descended into Waynesville and made our way back to the house.
When we got home, Marty, Tassie and I soaked our legs in the creek behind the house. Tassie said the bike ride was tough and she needed an ice bath.
Marty also got in some fishing (minus the actual 'fish' part) before we had an early dinner in Waynesville.
Today is our actual 6 year anniversary and we're going into Asheville for a nice dinner - Italian, my favorite.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Quick trip to Florida, but we packed it full of events!
I love the direct flight from Raleigh to Tampa – less than 2 hours and it’s just so easy. Marty and I got into Tampa around 7:30 and then had some dinner before driving over the bridge to St. Pete.
Saturday morning we were up early for the Hurricane Man 2.4 mile swim. I took a shuttle to the start and Marty ran down the beach. The water was nice and warm already and we had some chop/waves the entire time. Having never done this distance before, I decided to cruise the first half and then pick it up. I hardly every go more than 3,000 meters in the pool so I really had no idea how it would play out. I ended up with a couple girls for the first half so that kept my mind occupied trying to stay in someone’s draft. I was feeling really good and with about ½ mile to go I decided to start kicking – wow, that makes a huge difference! I’m more of a drag your legs behind and kick for balance but I could definitely feel the increase in speed when I added in the legs :) I rounded the last buoy and hit my watch at the finish line; and was completely surprised by the time: 57:48! I think Marty was even more surprised! I’ve never broken 30min in the few half ironman’s I’ve done so I was thinking anything under 1:05 would be good for me without a wetsuit. We ate the free breakfast but didn’t stick around for awards (which were tiny rubber ducky’s, seriously).
And then as we were driving away, Marty disclosed this little nugget of information, “So when I was running down the beach I saw a fisherman. He had just snagged a baby shark and was in the process of releasing it back into the water.” I’m very thankful he didn’t tell me this before the start – not something I want to be thinking about. Especially because I would be wondering the whole time where the mama shark was.
That night was the hall of fame induction ceremony and senior athletic awards banquet at my high school. I was very, very nervous for this, which I know probably seems silly – I was more nervous for this than any race I’ve had over the recent years! They treated me like a rock star and said so many nice things about my time at the school. I got to meet a bunch of the kids on the track team and I’m pretty sure that my speech went over well. It was really a neat honor and I was very appreciative of it all.
Sunday morning I ran. Yup, I ran a whole 18min with minimal foot pain. My cuboid bone seems to have worked itself back into place as I haven’t had much pain while walking around the past couple of days. This is very exciting and I’m hoping to get more consistent with my running again.
Here are some pictures from the induction.
Listening to one of the coaches say too many nice things about me. Marty seems to be thinking, "Eh, big deal." ;)
Nervous giving my speech.
They presented me with the actual sign that was in the track record display in the gym. Where do you all think I should put this?!
No doubt imparting loads of wisdom...
I had lots of pictures taken with various current team members.
One of my absolute most favorite teachers and her daughter.
I love the direct flight from Raleigh to Tampa – less than 2 hours and it’s just so easy. Marty and I got into Tampa around 7:30 and then had some dinner before driving over the bridge to St. Pete.
Saturday morning we were up early for the Hurricane Man 2.4 mile swim. I took a shuttle to the start and Marty ran down the beach. The water was nice and warm already and we had some chop/waves the entire time. Having never done this distance before, I decided to cruise the first half and then pick it up. I hardly every go more than 3,000 meters in the pool so I really had no idea how it would play out. I ended up with a couple girls for the first half so that kept my mind occupied trying to stay in someone’s draft. I was feeling really good and with about ½ mile to go I decided to start kicking – wow, that makes a huge difference! I’m more of a drag your legs behind and kick for balance but I could definitely feel the increase in speed when I added in the legs :) I rounded the last buoy and hit my watch at the finish line; and was completely surprised by the time: 57:48! I think Marty was even more surprised! I’ve never broken 30min in the few half ironman’s I’ve done so I was thinking anything under 1:05 would be good for me without a wetsuit. We ate the free breakfast but didn’t stick around for awards (which were tiny rubber ducky’s, seriously).
And then as we were driving away, Marty disclosed this little nugget of information, “So when I was running down the beach I saw a fisherman. He had just snagged a baby shark and was in the process of releasing it back into the water.” I’m very thankful he didn’t tell me this before the start – not something I want to be thinking about. Especially because I would be wondering the whole time where the mama shark was.
That night was the hall of fame induction ceremony and senior athletic awards banquet at my high school. I was very, very nervous for this, which I know probably seems silly – I was more nervous for this than any race I’ve had over the recent years! They treated me like a rock star and said so many nice things about my time at the school. I got to meet a bunch of the kids on the track team and I’m pretty sure that my speech went over well. It was really a neat honor and I was very appreciative of it all.
Sunday morning I ran. Yup, I ran a whole 18min with minimal foot pain. My cuboid bone seems to have worked itself back into place as I haven’t had much pain while walking around the past couple of days. This is very exciting and I’m hoping to get more consistent with my running again.
Here are some pictures from the induction.
This girl just broke my 3200 meter record last week at their state meet. She has a great future ahead of her!
Listening to one of the coaches say too many nice things about me. Marty seems to be thinking, "Eh, big deal." ;)
They presented me with the actual sign that was in the track record display in the gym. Where do you all think I should put this?!
Friday, May 7, 2010
As I mentioned on facebook, Marty managed to find us a race to do while we're down in Florida this weekend. This is one of his favorite pastimes - whenever we travel somewhere (when it's not race related) he likes to find us a race in the area. Tomorrow morning in St. Pete they are running the Hurricane Man Swim - a 2.4 mile and 1,000 yard swim race along the beach. I watched Marty do this back in 2001, where he swam some ridiculously fast time and won the master's division (anyone over the age of 18 in swimming). We still have the embroidered towel that says "Hurricane Man" to prove it.
This actually works out well since I still haven't been able to run yet. Stupid foot.
I decided to just go ahead and sign up for the 2.4 mile version since this will be my only workout of the day. Also, I remember from when I watched all those years ago, the 1,000 yard race was mostly kids from the swim team - and getting trounced by a bunch of 10 year olds doesn't seem all that fun. I remember there were a lot more adults in the 2.4 mile race. And although most were fast, some were not so I won't be last.
I have never actually swum this far continuously before so I plan on putting it in cruise control and won't think about any creatures that could be swimming with me (the race gets pretty spread out and they do it in 3 waves). Here's an aerial pic of one of the waves from a couple of years ago.
This actually works out well since I still haven't been able to run yet. Stupid foot.
I decided to just go ahead and sign up for the 2.4 mile version since this will be my only workout of the day. Also, I remember from when I watched all those years ago, the 1,000 yard race was mostly kids from the swim team - and getting trounced by a bunch of 10 year olds doesn't seem all that fun. I remember there were a lot more adults in the 2.4 mile race. And although most were fast, some were not so I won't be last.
I have never actually swum this far continuously before so I plan on putting it in cruise control and won't think about any creatures that could be swimming with me (the race gets pretty spread out and they do it in 3 waves). Here's an aerial pic of one of the waves from a couple of years ago.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
A couple of months ago I got an email from my high school’s athletic director saying that they wanted to induct me into their hall of fame. I didn’t even know they had a hall of fame; apparently they’ve only done this for the past 2 years – inducting one person each time so I’ll be the third person inducted. It’s this Saturday night in St. Petersburg – back to Florida we go!
This also means I have to get up and give a little speech at the banquet. It’s the school’s athletic banquet where they’ll be honoring the seniors and three-sport athletes, so I’ve been struggling coming up with something that will keep the kids interested while also delivering some sort of life changing message (okay, that’s a stretch) and keeping it fairly short because who wants to hear some former student yap for too long? I think I’ve come up with something that will pass muster: first thanking people, telling a little anecdote from one of my cross country seasons, then giving a bit of advice. Getting up and speaking in front of people is never easy so hopefully all that training I had to administer here at work back in March will actually come in handy and help quell some of my nerves.
Anyways, in case you’re wondering why I’m being inducted, and not to brag or anything (this was a long time ago), I won 9 state championships between cross country and track and was an all-state basketball player my junior and senior years.
The following weekend Marty and I will be celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary in Maggie Valley. Tassie will be coming with us to help celebrate, of course :) We’re planning on bringing our bikes and getting some nice rides on the Blue Ridge Parkway (Tassie won’t be joining us for that).
This also means I have to get up and give a little speech at the banquet. It’s the school’s athletic banquet where they’ll be honoring the seniors and three-sport athletes, so I’ve been struggling coming up with something that will keep the kids interested while also delivering some sort of life changing message (okay, that’s a stretch) and keeping it fairly short because who wants to hear some former student yap for too long? I think I’ve come up with something that will pass muster: first thanking people, telling a little anecdote from one of my cross country seasons, then giving a bit of advice. Getting up and speaking in front of people is never easy so hopefully all that training I had to administer here at work back in March will actually come in handy and help quell some of my nerves.
Anyways, in case you’re wondering why I’m being inducted, and not to brag or anything (this was a long time ago), I won 9 state championships between cross country and track and was an all-state basketball player my junior and senior years.
The following weekend Marty and I will be celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary in Maggie Valley. Tassie will be coming with us to help celebrate, of course :) We’re planning on bringing our bikes and getting some nice rides on the Blue Ridge Parkway (Tassie won’t be joining us for that).
Monday, May 3, 2010
The title of this post comes from the extremely eloquent Jay-Z, and it's in regards to my severely messed up bio-mechanics. But before I get to that because I'm sure everyone is on the edge of their seat dying to know what's wrong with me (okay, maybe just my family is wondering...) I'm going to talk about the weekend first.
Pretty much on Friday after having extreme pain in my foot, I knew I wasn't going to be racing on Sunday. I talked to my sister on Saturday who is a Physical Therapist and she explained some isometric exercises for me to do -- and my foot felt better! I called her back and told her this and then said, "but I probably shouldn't race?" big question of hope in my voice - she responded with, "Uh no, do not race. Go see that PT you talked about and see what she says."
We drove down to White Lake Saturday afternoon for a beginners clinic Marty and I were putting on. We had so many people who wanted to attend that we enlisted Alysia to help out. The clinic went really well (or is it good, whatever), then we went to our hotel and hung out with the Finley YMCA tri gang.
I had a great time cheering for everyone at the sprint the next morning. There were 3 former UNC swimmers who swim with our Master's group who were all doing their first triathlon. They did awesome, including a 4th overall finish by Erin! Becky and Kelly were cracking me up before the race as they had no clue what they were doing. Marty had an awesome swim and an excellent bike, and his run wasn't too shabby post-recovery from that very hard St. Anthony's one week ago. Unfortunately, he got dinged with the 'number not in the front' rule as he crossed the finish line. 2 minutes!! I'm not sure if this is a USAT rule or just a setup events rule, but man does it seem useless. I heard some reason about backup timing and that's the reason, but seriously, everyone has numbers marked all over their bodies, too. And 2 minutes? That is a crazy amount of time for a sprint for something that is not a safety issue or gives you an advantage. Rant off - I know a lot of people over the years have been dinged with this penalty so it's not like we aren't aware of it. In fact, at the clinic the night before I was sure to tell everyone about this rule.
Okay, so on to my problems (but a b*tch ain't one, hahaha). It took Lori quite awhile to even begin to understand what was going on with me since I'm apparently quite a case analysis for what should be happening but isn't and why? The major thing is my right hip is anteverted (turns out way more than it should), this had led to a lot of my problems on the right side. My IT band is super tight, my back, my calf and everything in my feet.
My cuboid is still sublexed.
Pretty much on Friday after having extreme pain in my foot, I knew I wasn't going to be racing on Sunday. I talked to my sister on Saturday who is a Physical Therapist and she explained some isometric exercises for me to do -- and my foot felt better! I called her back and told her this and then said, "but I probably shouldn't race?" big question of hope in my voice - she responded with, "Uh no, do not race. Go see that PT you talked about and see what she says."
We drove down to White Lake Saturday afternoon for a beginners clinic Marty and I were putting on. We had so many people who wanted to attend that we enlisted Alysia to help out. The clinic went really well (or is it good, whatever), then we went to our hotel and hung out with the Finley YMCA tri gang.
I had a great time cheering for everyone at the sprint the next morning. There were 3 former UNC swimmers who swim with our Master's group who were all doing their first triathlon. They did awesome, including a 4th overall finish by Erin! Becky and Kelly were cracking me up before the race as they had no clue what they were doing. Marty had an awesome swim and an excellent bike, and his run wasn't too shabby post-recovery from that very hard St. Anthony's one week ago. Unfortunately, he got dinged with the 'number not in the front' rule as he crossed the finish line. 2 minutes!! I'm not sure if this is a USAT rule or just a setup events rule, but man does it seem useless. I heard some reason about backup timing and that's the reason, but seriously, everyone has numbers marked all over their bodies, too. And 2 minutes? That is a crazy amount of time for a sprint for something that is not a safety issue or gives you an advantage. Rant off - I know a lot of people over the years have been dinged with this penalty so it's not like we aren't aware of it. In fact, at the clinic the night before I was sure to tell everyone about this rule.
Okay, so on to my problems (but a b*tch ain't one, hahaha). It took Lori quite awhile to even begin to understand what was going on with me since I'm apparently quite a case analysis for what should be happening but isn't and why? The major thing is my right hip is anteverted (turns out way more than it should), this had led to a lot of my problems on the right side. My IT band is super tight, my back, my calf and everything in my feet.
My cuboid is still sublexed.
Which is why my foot still hurts. The little muscles in my foot are not strong enough, and/or are counteracting to all my tightness so it won't stay in position. She couldn't even get it back in place last night.
"Tight heel cords, causing an early heel lift, disturb the normal weight transfer through the lateral column and initiate the syndrome. Because the cuboid aids the function of the peroneal tendons by stabilizing the tendons as they pass under the foot, the subluxated cuboid may disturb normal peroneal muscle function. This can lead to tendonitis and referred pain to either the lateral ankle or the plantar aspect of the forefoot."
An interesting thing I read on the internet about anteverted hips is in children you will see this as a toeing-in, or pigeon toed. I was pigeon toed as a child and even had to wear some sort of contraption on my feet in bed so my hips grew properly. At least I think that's what it was, I don't remember since I was so young, but I do remember my sister's telling me that they liked to stand me up when I had it on because I would immediately fall down. Oh being the youngest was so fun ;) Anyways, I'm wondering if my hip problem now stems all the way back to then.
So what to do? I'm supposed to concentrate on my gait while walking on my right side. I have a bunch of foot/ankle exercises to do to help strengthen my foot up and hopefully get that cuboid to stay put. I also have glute/medial exercises to help with my hip problem.
My sister the PT is coming into town on Wednesday so I'm going to have her help me make sure I'm doing all my exercises correctly, and maybe have her try and get the cuboid back in place. Maybe my foot will be stronger by then? Who knows. Lori also said that my body has compensated really well over the years for having this issue, but it's now hit a point where it's letting me know it's not happy putting up with it. I have a feeling it's also due to the fact that I've always been such a low mileage athlete.
So I can't run right now, but hopefully soon. I can swim and bike, though.
Sheesh, that was really long and probably not very interesting to most. Sorry about that.
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