Wet and muddy

After a few weeks of frustration I think I am finally getting somewhere. I have two appointments this week with a GI doctor and a Sports Med doctor who is also an internist to figure out my tummy troubles. After speaking to a few on the phone last week it seems like they all have the same idea, Celiac disease or gluten intolerance! What the heck is that I said. I had to google it. Hmmm, it all seems to make sense though. Hopefully after this week I will know what is "bugging" my tummy and I can get back to a symptom free training and racing world. If this is the case, I am pigging out this week on all things wheat. I LOVE carbs. It will be a morning period for me to have to give up all of those lovely flour foods. But I will do it just to run and not get sick every time! It is getting worse everyday. ICK ICK.

Today I did the NCO Spring Ahead 10k trail run. It was so fun. It was a rainy and cloudy day. It was PERFECT for a run. I think it was 60 ish deg or at least it felt that warm. To me that is tank top and shorts weather. (it was probably 50 but to us Chicago athletes it is time to break out the sunscreen and get a tan.) My brother ran with me the entire run. Or a few steps ahead. His out of shape is my in shape, thank goodness! After the gun went off, I asked him what he was going to do. He said it was more of a paced run for him with his garmin so I could probably hang with him. As we ran he kept telling me the pace. NOTE to self, NEVER wear a garmin in a race it is completely annoying. We seem to run 5:45 pace pretty consistently. Which was really shocking to me. Since my goals this year are all longer events I have not once stepped on the track or done alot of fast running. The middle 3-4 miles of this race was on a trail that was limestone, rocks and wet mud. It was great! There were times he would get a few steps ahead but I always seem to pull him back in or he slowed down, not sure which. I really worked it. It wasn't one of those I felt like I was coasting runs. I felt like I was going to hurl the entire time. But I didn't care i wanted to hold that pace and run with Brian. I miss the speed stuff! I felt a little bonkish most of the run. I get sick so much now that I am trying to not each much gluten before I train which leads to no energy. I will have to figure that one out soon. But we finished strong! His garmin read 6.44 miles. Almost 1/4 mile long! It felt like it and most the runners we talked to had the same numbers. Our time was 38:56 so I think it would have been around 37:40 which seems to make sense with the pace we were running. As we got to the finish line Brian physically pushed me in front of him so I could beat him. Brothers are awesome:) I wish someone took a picture of that! I am completely happy with the day. I needed a positive day like that after what has been going on with my training. Congrats Dad on doing great too, I think wearing the Jimmy Hendrix shirt made you faster.
OH I won the 10k and got to take home money too! Plus tons of friends and clients were there which makes our town of 100,000+ seem so small. Another great weekend.

The Aftermath

When a race doesn't go as planned you start to think. During the run portion on Sunday when my stomach was screaming at me to stop running (and I did) I had plenty of time to think. That is NEVER a good thing. Normally when a race goes well you are running so hard all you can think about is the finish or race tactics. But this time all I could think about was my kids and how much time I spend training for this exact race that I am now failing at miserably. All of the weekends and early mornings that I leave home are all a waste. I know this is wrong but when you are in that mental state all you think about are the negatives. I missed my kids more than anything. I wanted to see them right then. A few things that I did take away from a miserable experience were that I don't want to race an Ironman this year. It takes too many hours away from my main job, Mom. My heart is totally with my kids now. Before I had Molly I could race with my heart 100% into every training effort and race experience. Since she came, something inside me switched. Now I have 2 human beings that I am responsible for. I want to invest quality time with them so that they become the best people they can be. I do know that to be that kind of Mom I have to train and race. It somehow balances me out. It is my drug. It makes me excited to live and breath everyday! To train and race as a pro it seems like most of the women I have met are at 20 hours on the low end to 30+ hours on average. I am nowhere near that. And I don't think I will ever be. I like my life nicely balanced with 15-18 hrs a week. I never feel overwhelmed or pulled in too many directions at that level. So I am going to stick to olympic distance races and one or two halfs this year. I think every year you need to reassess and see what life hands you. Things might change. But if they don't I am thrilled with where I am going. I know my abilities as an athlete and what I can do. It's just a matter of getting it all right race day again (with my family in tow this time).

GI and then some

Quick post to sum up yesterday. Not good. I have had problems now for a few months with GI issues. NEVER before in my life racing has this ever been a problem. Very weird. Every long workout or any long run I have had problems. I have tried to change everything but nothing has worked. And after any long session or race I am not only sick during the race but then super sick until night time. Essentially until there is nothing left. I had a bad feeling about this for yesterday but hoped changing a few things up for my nutrition plan would do it. Plus I ate super bland the days leading up to the race. Halfway thru the bike it started. I felt sick to my stomach and the bubbly in the tummy. On the run it was about mile 2 that it hit me that it wasn't going to go away. There was a lot of walking and doubled over pain for the rest of the run. On a really bad day I can run a 1:35 half during a race but a 1:50 was silliness. I couldn't go. Every step I took I wanted to cry my stomach hurt so bad. I always thought people with excuses were wusses. That it was an easy way out for a bad day to make excuses. But man did I have a bad one. The race seem to be the easier part of the day. As soon as I finished I was super sick until about 5pm. I mean sweating throwing up and the other end (sorry tmi). But this is happening to me every time I go hard now.
It hit me last night talking to my dad after I came out of the coma of sickness. The only thing that has changed from last year. I am on cholesterol medication. I have had super high cholesterol since high school (270 now). I started taking the meds right after I finished nursing Molly last fall. I called my Doctor and a light bulb goes off. That is it. He explains to me what happens with the blood and water and blah blah blah. I am the small percent with the side effect and probably even a smaller percent that do what I do on the drug. Whatever! At least I know now what I need to do.