The past two weeks has been an interesting ride. While I've been incredibly busy with coaching and nutrition consultations as this is an important part of the season for most triathletes, I did minimal training. After returning home from Ironman Canada/Whistler, I was excited to ease into a week of light training before starting my "official" start of Ironman Kona training on 8/12 (today). However, the universe had a different plan for me as Campy accidentally poked me in the right eye with his nail while he was stretching, which left me with a tremendous amount of pain and discomfort for five continuous days. It wasn't until this past weekend that I finally started to feel better. My mom told me that my dad's greatest fear for me as a baby was our cat Sasha poking me in the eye. Of course, as an optometrist, he would worry about something like that. Here I am 37 years later and I end up with a scratched cornea. Without being too dramatic, this was extremely painful. I couldn't go outside due to the sunlight on my eye, I couldn't focus on anything without experience a bad headache and nausea, I had to squint all day and I even struggled indoors if the light was on. I couldn't even go outside to walk Campy. Ugh, it was a rough week! But thankfully I have healed. Because of this eye situation, I wasn't able to train because I had little energy to do so - and I was instructed absolutely no swimming due to risk for infection. It wasn't until Friday when I was able to finally dip in the pool. I felt a little fitness coming back this weekend but I wouldn't call it "training."
On top of the eye situation, my leg/back is much better but I am still hesitant to run on it. I am not in pain and I feel I've made a lot of great progress but I don't want to take any risks right now. I am working with several specialists to help me re-learn some movement patterns, fix my twisted pelvis, relax my tense muscles and overworked hip flexors/hamstrings/QL which are taking on all of the work instead of my glutes, and I'm hopeful I'll be running soon. My coach Cait gave me some great advice for me to not focus on Kona right now but instead, just take the next three weeks to focus on returning to running. This way I won't rush the process or waste unnecessary healing energy. Although I "only" have 9 weeks until the Ironman World Championship, I am super excited to share this race course with Karel and two of our athletes. I have no expectations or pressure to perform so this journey is all about keeping the training fun and always focusing on what I CAN control.
Despite the setbacks, I am really looking forward to getting back into structured training this week. Although I was in a bit of a funk last week, as soon as I saw my packed training schedule in Training Peaks for this coming week (swimming, biking, strength and water jogging in place of running), I started to get super excited for this upcoming journey. I can't control the situation I am in but I can control how I deal with the situation. The good thing is that I don't feel injured but my body hasn't given me the green light just yet to get back into running. All is good because I can direct that energy on my coaching and nutrition athletes and get a lot of positive vibes from those who are doing incredible things in training and on race day.
As I gear up for my 5th Ironman World Championship (and 16th Ironman), if there are any specific topics you'd like for me to blog about over the next 9 weeks, please let me know. You can either comment on my Facebook, send me a PM or send an email.
And lastly, I have some very exciting news!!
I'm thrilled to announce that I have a new book coming out next month. If you are a runner, friend of a runner, active individual or run-store owner, this book is for you. The 365-Day Running Journal makes it easy to log your daily running progress and keep track of your goals, races and personal records. Additionally, the journal is filled with inspiring quotes, helpful tips and 13-monthly essays on motivation, body image, running form, and more. Casual, competitive or experienced - it doesn't matter what you call yourself. This running journal reminds you that it’s not always a race―but simply about doing what you love. Over the coming weeks, I'll be sharing excerpts, sneak peeks and more on
my Trimarni Facebook page. To reserve your copy for the September 24th release, click
HERE to pre-order. As always, thank you for your continued support.
