Wetsuits, New Shoes & a Long Brick

As Big Daddy Diesel once commented about another post, this one is going to be one where you can get yourself a cup of coffee and take a break to read. In other words, it's gonna be long.

Wetsuits.

Mr. Darcy left Friday for his trip straight from work, and since we discovered that the Savannah River starts in the mountains and during the summer (i.e. this very moment) the temperature is a brisk 68 degrees, a wet suit was in store. My friend Missey is raising money for Team in Training and had several wetsuits that were new or extremely gently used that she was not going to use anymore and offered them up to us as a fundraiser. $100 got you the wetsuit that worked best for you. She gave them to Coach and Coach and her lovely girls came over to dinner with the little ladies and I.

After dinner the wetsuit trying on began. The first suit was amusing. I couldn't quite get it all the way up in the crotch even with Coach almost lifting me off the ground. Then when we got it zipped up we discovered that there was about 2 inches of space in the shoulders too. The 2nd wetsuit was the winner. A 2xu wetsuit that had never been worn (tag still on it), with a red racing stripe. I look like a superhero, and while Coach still lifted me off the ground while I was squatting. (We were laughing hysterically as were all of the girls.), it fit me rather well.

Then the Little Ladies got in on the fun and wanted to wear wetsuits just like Mommy. Can't you just see them as little triathletes (hopefully ones that are faster than me)?!

New Shoes.

After our wetsuit adventure, Angelfish and Ladybug had a slumber party with Mommy. We stayed up late and watched a movie and then all slept in Mommy's bed. Turns out that Angelfish is a bigger bed hog than Ladybug... she knocked Ladybug out of bed twice and me once! The entire middle of the bed contained a sprawled out Angelfish! They slept in (for them) until 7:30 am and we played around the house, went to the splashpad (which turned into us playing on the playground in our bathingsuits the entire time and not once venturing into the splash pad), had some lunch, and then headed to Fleet Feet get my gait checked out.

When I started running I was an overpronator. A few months later, suffering from what seemed to be cronic shin splints I headed to Fleet Feet with Team in Training and discovered that at that time I was a neutral runner. New shoes turned in to less shin splints. But the past two weeks I've been having really awful pain while running... and it wasn't nerve pain from my back (amazingly). It would start in my arch wrap up around my ankle and up the back of my calf. The first mile would be fine but almost literally the second I started in on mile 2 and there the pain would start and get worse until it finally went away around mile 4. Thinking this odd and Coach saying my stride had changed since the Team in Training days, she sent me off to Fleet Feet. Turns out that I am now again an overpronator. To the point that the guy watching my tape went "wow!" So I'm back in Brooks (which seem to always make my feet feel nice, whether I'm running neutral or overpronating).

The people at Fleet Feet are awesome. They even had toys and the girls played with those during my shoe fitting, etc. Of course, they thought it was more fun to play with the ball weights that were to display what running without the proper sports bra was like. My favorite part was when Angelfish had the D cup sized ball and struggling under the weight of it handed it to Ladybug saying "this is super heavy!" Not so fun was when it was time to pay and I had to chase them over the store and attempt to corral them or when Ladybug completely melted down about granola while using the store's bathroom and I had to carry her over my shoulder out of the store while apologizing to everyone (it's a small store). Luckily, they fell asleep in the car on the ride home - after I had to pull over and put Ladybug's seatbelt back on at a Home Depot just off the highway.

Long Brick.

Mr. Darcy returned late Saturday night, so Sunday was my long brick. The longest of my life, thus far, and I survived it all. We did 55 miles on the bike and an 8 mile run afterwards. The bike was fun because Training Buddy and I were joined by Missey, Coach, and Carolyn for the bike. Of course because we were all slightly different speeds (Missey was doing a shorter sprint oriented ride), Training Buddy kept going faster than race pace while keeping up with Coach, and I was doing my darnedest to keep my 16-17 mph race pace (headwinds sometimes gave me a hard time with that), and Carolyn is slightly slower than I was going, we kept meeting up at each end of the loop. So I can't say that it was 55 miles completely straight. In some ways, though, for me I think this was harder than doing the 55 straight. When I get going at first my muscles are always a little slow and stiff and then when I get warmed up they're good to go until I stop. With the starting and stopping, my legs would get stiff and then get loose, get stiff and then get loose.

But the real challenge was eating. UGH. This week I discovered that I've been completely undereating. I didn't realize it because I haven't been getting hungry. When it's hot I just have a hard time eating because I don't feel like it. Well, Training Buddy blogged about his not eating enough and being shock at how much he was undereating, so I too went to Daily Plate and plugged in what I'd been eating and what my training has been to find that I have been seriously undereating. Perhaps this is why I've been falling into bed as soon as the girls do, and wanting to take naps I couldn't take? Not to mention that Coach told me that I have been undereating on the bike too.

Here I am a month out from the 70.3 figuring out the food. But better before than on race day. I felt like a stuffed pig. I ate 500 calories for breakfast. Drank my water gatorade mix every 5 miles (I can't wait for my speedfil so I can have gatorade one place and water in the camelbak... it should come soon!), ate shot blocs, ate a PB&J sandwich at mile 15 and another at mile 35. At one point in aero, liquid came up. So I had to sit up a bit to let things move down in my stomach. I felt like throwing up and strangely like I needed more to drink too. I think I made a mistake in taking my electrolytes when I ate food too. I felt like a lead balloon.

So that was not a fun start to the run, where I drank but failed to take gels (silly) because I didn't want to put more in my stomach. I only ended up running about 3 miles of the 8 (but finished the 8 miles with a 1/2 mile run to the end at least) because I wanted to throw up and because Training Buddy started worrying I was having hyperatremia. We got to the CVS and I peed. All was well. I think I probably could have run more than I did, and next weekend's 60/10 I hope to run more. My legs felt pretty good, it was more my stomach. The new shoes felt good and I didn't have that funky foot pain. YAY!

Next weekend, I plan to drink every 5 miles like I did, but eat a bit of my sandwich at mile 15, 20, 25, 30, and then again at 40, 45, 50, and transition (or 55 right before it). Shot blocs at mile 10 and 35 if I need it. Small bits of constant eating I think are going to have to be the way to go because entire sandwiches at certain points were just not my friends!

After the brick, I just wanted to go inside so badly! I rushed off (sorry, Training Buddy, it wasn't you. I was just ready to use the bathroom and see Mr. Darcy and the girls.) to the family. I got cleaned up and Mr. Darcy bought me ice while I entertained the little ladies. I took an ice bath while they splashed their feet in the cold water saying "brr. cold!" and then ran off to their own playtime in the bath. Then it was off to get some calories. I had to eat 5200 calories yesterday. I think I came close... I'll find out in a little bit when I enter it all in Daily Plate. (Update: According to the Daily Plate I should have eaten 1688 more calories than I did. Dear Lord! I was so full as it was. I never thought I had an undereating problem before...)

All in all, I think it was a rather good weekend... although it would have been nice to see more of Mr. Darcy. The poor guy has to go on a business trip tomorrow and Wednesday. Let's hope the Little Ladies decide to take it easy on me while he's gone!