Allergies and training.....

42 days until I am at the start line of IMC.  Training is going really well now that I feel better.  I had no idea that a food allergy could knock a person on their rear. 

A few weeks ago I went to Chelan to ride the Chelan Century, a really tough century ride and excellent training for IMC.  3 days before the ride I learned what was causing my fatigue, eggs.  Before I learned that I was allergic to eggs my doc and I thought I had an allergy to soy and maybe gluten.  Being mostly vegan except for some sustainably raised eggs and a little Copper River salmon I had to forego my main source of protein, gluten and soy.  I ate a lot of eggs for three weeks or so and I never noticed feeling all that much better from the elimination of gluten and soy in my diet

Prior to figuring all this out I was exhausted all the time.  I would want to curl up in my office and take a nap in the afternoon and I would go home after working out in the evening and crash by 8PM.  Not a very fun way to live and I am certain I was not a lot of fun to live with either.  

Beverage post Chelan Century (55 mile for me)

My fatigue was so great that I was not able to ride all 100 miles of the Chelan century.  My body just couldn’t do it. I might have been able to push through it but I think I would have been even more discouraged.  I threw in the towel at mile 55 and ended my ride.  Mid way through my 55 mile ride I called Craig to talk about not doing IMC.  I just could not wrap my brain around even getting though the 2.4 mile swim of Ironman and that is the event I like the most.  Craig gave me the best advice ever; give myself 10 more days to make the decision, let my body recover from eating the food that my body thought was a poison and see how I feel. 

Beverage after GREAT 100 mile with Craig

I rode my bike for 100 miles on the 4^th of July and I felt really strong.   I am still not the fastest rider but I can ride a 100 miles even with 6000 feet of climbing and have something left.  I will be at the start of IMC and I will cross the finish line with a really big smile.

New hair do....."chic mohawk"

Next adventure is ChelanMan weekend and then IMC Camp.



ChelanMan weekend ride the day after Olympic Tri - 7 miles 12% grade

Inspiration…..where do you find it?

I have been looking for inspiration for IMC and the training required.  Last time i trained for IMC inspiration came to me easily, I wanted it so badly that I obsessed about the event; I didn’t even have to think about why.  This time around I am not sure what is inspiring me for IMC 2012.  I do know that I like training, I like being more fit, I like the people I train with but what I don’t know is what my inspiration is.  Why do I really want to do this again?

I have been extremely tired and the suspect of this extreme fatigue is an allergy to eggs.   Since I discovered this allergy I went back to my mostly vegan diet.  I am hoping that once I get more energy I will find that inspiration again.  Until then I will not ask the question of where I find my inspiration, I will just train and take it one step at a time. 

Oh my, obstacles!

 

IMC, it is coming up FAST, only 69 days until I am at the start of the swim. My training is happening, not as well as I would like but as is typical I have had some challenges thrown my way. My plantar fasciitis is still bothering me, I am currently taking a 2 week break from running to see if that will help it calm down. Since I have not been able to train the run I will be training to walk run the marathon portion of the event and I am good with that, I just want to finish the event with a smile.

I have had another challenge too, I was feeling unusually tired so I went to my ND and had her check my blood work to make sure that I was not low on iron etc. All of my nutrition stuff came back really good; I just need to increase my vitamin D. The biggest surprise is that I have a high Eosomophils level which typically indicates that you have an allergy of some sort. We did a scratch test to see if I was allergic to something in the environment. I had no reactions to the test other than the one that checks to see if you were off all medications as prescribed before the test. I had 2 options to find out if the allergy was food related, a blood allergy test that is a large out of pocket expense or a food elimination diet. I opted for the blood test because a food elimination diet takes way too long to figure out what may be causing the allergic reaction. I should get the results this week, i hope. I am really get bored with feeling exhausted all the time.

I love training for these things, you learn to listen to your body and overcome obstacles. Last Ironman I had a stress fracture, bruised talus bone and reduced sensation from my knee down on my right leg. I made it to the start line and I finished with a HUGE smile. I will make to the start line and finish with a big smile again. I just need to keep my head down and train, even when my body is not cooperating with me.

Mom (Barbara Clark), Frank Clark, Molly (she passed away a few months ago) and Layla.

Sonja and Maddie at the end of our trail run.

Me and Maddie at the end of a trail run.

104 days of training left.....and other random thoughts.

The best part of training for this Ironman is that Craig can join me on my training rides.  In 2010 Craig had surgery that did not allow him to ride his bike for a least 6 months so we did not get to ride together at all, it was a really hard time in our lives.  What a treat to have him give me biking tips and be with me as i train.

The past few weeks have not been without some sort of challenge.  Oliver, our standard poodle, was really sick and we didn't know what was wrong with him or if he would survive etc.  He was bitten by a tick and was really sick from the tick bite.  the emergency room vet did not think that it was very likely but the test results came back positive.  there are ticks in western WA, so be aware that if you pet gets sick make sure that your vet tests for a tick bite.  it was really  hard on me to think that we could lose our sweet boy Oliver.

This weekend is Chelancamp and we are scheduled to ride McNeil canyon on Friday afternoon. I rode up McNeil in July of 2010.  My wonderful niece Hilary was my support as i rode 8 miles to the top.  I did not think that i would make it to the top and i think Hilary wondered if i would make it all the way up too.  I physically was capable, the challenge was the head.  i made it too the top and i plan on making it to the top this Friday, i just have to get my head prepared for the hot afternoon ride. 

Photo i found online of McNeil canyon.

Tomorrow morning i get to swim in Green Lake, it will be my second open water swim of the year :-). 

It will be interesting to see if i am able to shave off some time on my swim on IMC race day.  i was pretty pleased with my swim time at IMC in 2010.  it certainly would be fun to get out of the water sooner.  I will find out in about 104 days, God willing :-).

Today is mother's day, I have the best daughter in the world, Sonja and she wrote a note on FB that was so wonderful.....

"Thank you Mom Sjohn Jepsen for being the best mom ever. You believed in me before I had a chance to doubt, you modeled strength and compassion for others, you have been my inspiration, advisor and friend. I will always love you and always be grateful. I truly appreciate you."  

power of my thoughts...life and training

Last week I wrote all about pushing through.  Well, this week I wasn’t able to push through, I allowed by thoughts to get in my way and stop me from training on some days and give up on myself when I did train.  

On Thursday we did a field test to get our heart rate data.  We had a 1.5 mile warm to lower Woodlawn Park and then we ran a 1 mile loop with climbs and down hills as fast as we could go.  The first loop was hard, my lungs were burning and my legs were heavy by the time I got to the finish.  As I was taking my 5 minute rest I was thinking about my discomfort, burning lungs, heavy legs and sore throat caused by gasping for air.  During the rest I said aloud that I can’t do another loop.  I was doomed to fail on the second loop (dope slap) I verbally announced to myself that I couldn’t do another loop at the same pace.  I took off for my second lap.  The downhill was good but once I came to the dog park and saw the hill I slowed down and told myself that I can’t do this and then I had another conversation that I could gain control if I changed my thoughts.  I didn’t listen to the later voice.  I walked part of the climb and even some of the flats.   I finished but not at the same pace as the first lap and I know I gave up on myself.

On Saturday we ran from Newport Beach to Sky Country at Cougar Mountain.  I was scheduled to run 8 miles, up hill.  Of course I had my training buddy with me, Maddie dog.  I was tired for this run and let my head convince me that walking a little was okay.  I came up with a simple solution to my desire to walk that required no thinking for me; put Maddie on her leash attached to my waist and let her pull me.  Maddie can run a lot longer and faster than me.  During my run I had a lot of time to think; I realized that I need to get my thoughts about my training in check, if I allow myself to be defeated during training I am doomed to fail on my races, any race, not just Ironman Canada. 

Maddie after a hard weekend of running

Today come of the CL gang rode at Seattle Multi-sport center on compu-trainers.  We had all our stats on a BIG screen so we could see all of our data while we rode watts, speed, etc. and we watched Breaking Away as we pedaled along the Ironman Lake Placid course.   I was tired when I started this ride but I stayed focused most of the time and hit my goal, to keep my average watts above 100 for 2 hours.  I hit my goal and I did not give up, I pushed and didn’t even think about my pain etc.  I thought about finishing strong.  I was able to push myself when my body might have wanted to take it easy. 

This week was a lesson in the power of my thoughts.   The power of my thoughts not only impede on training but on life too.

139 days....pushing through

This week was about pushing through discomfort while working out. We started up with our Tuesday night core class and for some reason all the squats to warm up and then all the squats and crab walks with bands really got to my legs. I was sore! 

I pushed through my track workout at a slightly slower pace on Thursday because i was still sore from the tuesday night workout.  I think  I could have gone the faster pacer if I would have eaten a snack before the track workout. I powered through and kept my focus, it was a mental workout for me.

Friday morning I swam 3000 yards with coach at la fitness. I made myself eat breakfast at 5:30 AM so would have energy for my swim. I felt a little slower, most likely because I did a hard track workout less than 12 hours before my swim workout. Once again I focused and pushed through the workout.  I really like swimming :-).

Saturday morning was beautiful! What a great morning to run through really hilly Laurelhurst with tired, sore legs. I was happy to be able to enjoy the run and push through thanks to my running buddy maddie.

Later in the day we went to the UW to see the cherry blossoms with some friends who are new to the Seattle area. What a glorious day to show someone the beautiful views on the UW campus. It has been a really long time since I was on campus; I was really pleased that I was able to remember how to get around. There were so many people at the quad looking at the cheery blossoms. Saturday was a very long and fun day.....I was asleep by 9 or so until our neighbor decided that his band should play at 11:30 PM.

Sunday, Easter morning, we went on bike ride. Once again we had beautiful weather. We did 2 loops of Mercer Island; we went one direction the first loop and then went the other direction on the second loop.

i will be covering a tattoo that i am not fond of with this little bird.



Mollie, my mom's little dog

Another week of training completed and new lessons learned. I have the ability to focus and push through and I am enjoying the process.

146 days and counting

146 days of training remaining and this past week i did very little training.  i never understand exactly why i blow off my training sometimes, i don't typically feel better if i skip a workout.  the only pattern i noticed this past week was that i did not have the best diet and i was REALLY hungry when i got home.  when i am really hungry it is hard for me to get motivated to work out. 

this coming week my goal is to complete my workouts and eat well, no crappy, bad for me food, especially in the afternoon.

This week was fun, we had a house guest for a couple of nights, miss georgia.  one of the biggest differences between a lab and poodles is the way they eat.  we have to beg our dogs to eat and i had to force georgia to slow down.....man, i don't think she even chews her food.

My mom had to put her little rescue dog molly down this week.  molly was a mix of some sort and she weighed nearly 5 pounds.  molly was a sweet little dog who really helped my mom recover from her invasive back surgery.  molly spent her last few days at the prestigious the barkley pet hotel and hospital. molly was a rescue from a wealthy family who rescues small and large animals, all vet bills for molly were covered by the foundation.  she was a funny little girl and she is missed by my mom. 

Training, it is still happening :-)

It has been a really long time since i have updated this darn thing.  Training is still happening and injuries are as well.....

to pool at 11AM on  feb 3rd

I went to cali in feb to celebrate my mom's 79th brithday and while i was there i swam with mimi in the evening under to stars and again the following day, i love swimming in an outdoor pool in california.  the community pool in thousand oaks is fantastic and only $2!

80 degree pool in the evening

I was lucky to get to tag along with mimi and her friends for an intro to paddling an outrigger.....what a blast and an amazing work out.  you use your entire body to paddle, legs and back.  our boat had 3 ironman finishers and we got a little competitive :-).  i called craig after my morning of paddling on the ocean (first weekend of feb with a tank top on)....why did we move back to seattle?  it was a fantastic saturday morning. 

later in the day mom and i went to the knit shop, her favorite place to hang out and mine too when i visit her.  hanging out at eva's needle work reminds me of the sitcom cheers....everyone knows your name.  instead of refreshing beverages you get to look at pretty yarn and chat with a wide variety of people.

Mom at Eva's needle work

For mom's birthday i made dinner and we had my brother and his wonderful girlfriend over.  i enjoyed mom's birthday and i hope she did too. 

my last day in cali i did a 6 mile trail run with mimi in the morning at about 6:30am.  it was a beautiful sunny morning, we saw a coyote near the park bathrooms. coyotes are such an intersting animal, i love their ears. later in the morning i had the privilege of attending my mom's aa meeting where i and other family and friends stood up with to give her, her 25th year cake.  it is amazing that she has been sober for 25 years.  how lucky i am that she made the hard decision years ago to be sober. 
i love my mother very much and i hope to have many more trips to cali to celebrate her birthday(s). 

I have been plagued with an irritating case of plantar fasciitis, it is so irritating to not be able to run without my foot hurting the following day.  i am currently undergoing pt and i have cut back on my running.  if i was not training for ironman canada i most likely would not be doing pt or even cutting back on my running as much as i have.  it is better to be conservative now rather than be derailed later in my training season.  prior to the injury i was scheduled to run only 3 days per week and so far i have only taken a week off of running.  i am confident i will be able to work through this little injury.   

Maddie, running training buddy

i am really enjoying my training.  prior to my plantar fasciitis i was running pretty fast and maddie was always happy to run with me, soon i will be able to take maddie on a saturday with me.  i always enjoy swimming and i can't wait until it is warm enough for open water swims. 

last weekend craig forced me to ride my bike outside.....i was really nervous to get out on the real roads, all my bike training has been on my computrainer in my basement where it is warm and dry.  i was cranky in the morning before we got out the door, actually, i was cranky until we were a good 20 minutes into our ride.  I enjoyed the bike ride outside and i am so grateful that craig put up with my crankiness and forced me out the door.   the bike rack is now on my car.



Layla.....cali lab



Off Week.....week 2

 My first week of 2012 was great....I hit all my work outs and everything went really well. As with everything in life it is not always as we want it. My second week wasn't as fantastic. I completely blew off my easy workout on Monday, 30 minute spin on my bike and a 30 minute core workout and I missed the group run on Tuesday. I love the Tuesday night group run but I just didn't have the energy or desire to go.  

I am not sure what was going on with me, was it that the darkness is getting to me more than I want to admit, did I not sleep well enough, or eat well enough…..or did I just want to blow off my workouts and take a bath and hang with my dogs.  I don’t think it really matters what happened, I missed a couple of workouts and enjoyed my little break, taking a bath and hanging with the dogs.  I have learned to not beat myself up when this happens.  I try to figure what might have gone wrong and move on, look at today and glimpse at tomorrow.  

Maddie sleeping after a great run

On Wednesday I went on an easy 4 mile run with Craig and crazy Maddie dog at green lake.  It is so nice to have Craig join me for some of my workouts.  Thursday was yoga, the class was really small, intimate and just what I needed.  On Saturday I ran the Nookachamps 10k in the town of Mt Vernon (1 hour north of Seattle).  The weather was not boring, cold rain/snow and wind.  Nothing makes you feel more alive than running in nearly frozen rain.  I did my 1 mile warm-up with a fellow runner and raced my race.  I did not worry about anyone in front, behind or around me…..I ran my own pace and race.  The best part of the Nookachamps run is going to get lunch and a beer at the Skagit Brewery.   

My toughest and best workout of the week was today, a 1 ½ hour ride on a computrainer with Lesley; we rode the Coeur d’Alene Ironman course…..not the entire course, thank goodness.   I really enjoy pushing myself and the computrainer gives you feedback on how you are doing. It will be fun to see the improvement as I can continue train.  I believe I get to stay on the computrainer for 2 hours next Sunday, lucky meJ.
Currently I have an irritating pain in my left heel (plantar fasciitis), I am certain the plantar fasciitis is caused from not stretching out my calf muscles.  I found a video on the IMC Facebook page from a sports PT of some sort in Canada talking about plantar fasciitis and how to treat it…..it was extremely timely and helpful.  I also bought a new pair of running shoes.  I am hoping that if I rotate my shoes it will help alleviate my current irritating pain and prevent other running injuries and pain.  It will get better and some other little nagging pain might appear as soon as I get rid of the plantar fasciitis, it is all part of training. 

Oliver gazing out the window

The things I am most thankful or grateful for this week are my coach, Lesley; she called me just when I needed her to this week and I would have struggled riding my computrainer for 1 ½ hours in my basement by myself if Lesley didn’t invite me to ride with her.  I have a privileged and very blessed life.
This week my focus will be on nutrition and hitting all my workouts. 

 

Training......

This week was a great week of training; so far I have hit every workout as assigned, even my 2 workouts on my bike trainer. I am not a huge fan of riding my bike and especially indoors. I am very fortunate to have a computrainer which makes riding a bike trainer more fun and challenging. It also helps to have some decent tv shows recorded to watch as I pedal. Tomorrow I am scheduled to run 4 easy miles and swim 1500 yards. I can't imagine not completing them. Swimming 1500 yards is the shortest swim I have done in a while....I typically am scheduled for 2400.

Food and training is always interesting and this year will be very different from my last Ironman because I have changed my diet to vegan. It is a little harder to eat vegan especially since I am staying away from processed foods like fake meat substitutes.  My goal is to eat as much whole plant foods as I can.  I am managing just fine so far on a vegan diet.  I have a Naturopathic Doctor I see regularly and have my blood checked on a regular basis to make sure that I have all the essential optimum levels required to support  my training load.   

I listened to a great piece this week on Radio Lab, Limits of the Body.   It was a fascinating piece about your body having the ability and your mind/ego.  I remember many training bike rides, swims, or runs in 2010 when I was able to finish my workout when I changed my thought process.  I recall one really hard bike ride I did in Lake Chelan on my own with the support of Hilary.  I did not believe I could finish the ride that was 8 miles at a 7% grade with no shade.  There was another training ride I completed with the help of Lesley; it was the IMC 112 mile training ride.  I believed that I could not safely finish the last 20-30 miles, Lesley had me change what I was telling myself and I finished the ride.  It was not a pretty finish and I was EXTREMELY tired but I finished and I learned that I can overcome my physical discomfort.  My training lesson have applied to so many other areas of my life.   

This year will be full of new lessons and maybe even some of the same lessons. 

New Years Day Dinner

New years has been a good day....I started the day with the http://www.promotionevents.com/ResoRun/default.htm resolution run and ended it with my traditional new years day meal of black-eyed-peas, collard greens and corn bread (recipe below). 

I started the run with a little anxiety for some reason.  I have done this run many times but i was a little anxious and cranky, just ask Craig, my husband of 25 years.  i started the run with the typical http://www.coachlesley.com/ photo and then i ran to the start of the run with fellow IMC finisher, Eileen.  I was really good about running my own race and started easy....my first mile was 9:18, it was a different course at magnuson, nice, flat and okay.  the second mile was 9:18 and went by the dog park, i love dog parks :-), i felt okay, i was running a little bit harder but it was doable and pretty easy for me.  the third mile had a little climb :-), i decided to try to keep my pace steady.  the last mile was 9:13 and the dip took my breath away, wow the water was COLD! 

I had a great run today.....I went to the beer garden after the run  but i did not see any  of my friends, i think they spent way too much time on their hair or something ;-) so no beer for me which was good because i had a dinner to make.  i went home without having a post race beer.

I think i have perfected my new years day meal of collard greens and black-eyed peas....they were really good.  Craig and Robin agree that the meal was good.  Next year i might have my open house again....last year i had about 30 people stop by.  If you are in my area next new years day let me know, i will invite you to stop by and have my yummy, healthy new years day meal :-).

here is the black-eyed-pea and collard greens recipe......

Sjohn’s Black-Eyed-Peas

1 ½ pound dried black eyed peas

1 ½ onions chopped

3 carrots chopped

4 celery ribs

1 red pepper

1 green pepper chopped

5 garlic cloves shopped

2 + cans veggie stock (Swanson's)

1 large can of chopped tomatoes

1 ½ teaspoons smoked hickory

1 + teaspoons red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon Tabasco

Salt and pepper to taste

Place 1 ½ pound dried black-eyed peas in pot and cover with water, at least 3 inches over beans.  Bring to boil, cover and let sit for 1-3 hours.  Rinse and drain beans. 

Saute all veggies and add garlic at end and then add stock, tomatoes and the remaining ingredient and cook for 2+ hours until beans are tender.  Season to taste.

Collard Greens
Clean and de-stem  3 bunches of collard greens.
slice 1/2 an onion (1/2 moon)
Slice greens in 1/2 moon thin slices
chop 3 gloves of garlic

boil greens in well salted water for at least 5 minutes
place boiled greens in ice bath

saute onion in 1/4 or less of olive oil
add garlic and saute until fragrant
add greens
saute until greens are tender (15 +minutes)

IMC 2012 Training

I thought i would try blogging about my journey to my second Ironman Canada.  I have always hesitated about blogging because my writing skills are not the best but after reading some blogs that are not that well written and getting to a point in my life that i finally realize that i don't really care what other people think about my writing skills.

so why did i decide to register for IMC again?  I have been asking myself that question all Fall.  i am not sure other than i like training for Ironman.  It takes up so much time that you have no time to think about anything else, i think training is an acceptable way to avoid.  I am certain IMC 2012 will be very different from IMC 2010....I am looking forward to seeing what unfolds over the next 8 months.