How do you know if you travel too much?

Race report for my first tri is coming soon. I am still waiting for them to adjust the time for my swim to be correct, but in a nutshell I was top three in swim, had some major improvements on the bike and ran like crap. 2 out of 3 isnt awful for my first race back in almost 3 years though!

After almost a month away from home I started realizing there are some big hints for me that I travel too much:
1) I never have the correct currency in my wallet and I always have currency from at least 3 different countries
2) I spend more hours in a plance seat than in the seat at my desk
3) I know all airport codes by heart. CUN is one that I always do a double take on because I read it incorrectly
4) I never know the time zone or the city I am in
5) Without fail I get into my first cab and speak the wrong language.
6) I havent unpacked my bags in a month
7) My dogs forget who I am until I open my suitcase with their presents I bring from whatever Pet store I find on my trip. Yes I have resorted to buying their love. And if I keep this schedule I am going to have to start buying Chris's love too.
8) The flight attendents on the plane know who I am
9) Every week in my training schedule there is an off day that says Travel to xxx
10)When putting in my OOO I realize that my return date is longer than the longest vacation I have ever had.


Yes there are some perks to all the travel that I am very grateful for, but it is always good to be back home!

Finally a Race Report!

Part of my long travels this month have been due to the fact that I ran the half marathon in Chicago. I was so excited to finally have a race on the schedule and to see how the training has been paying off. The verdict is in, and I am excited to report the training is working! The race wasnt all positive as you will read and I am working to try and figure out what is going on.
After a week in Panama, I traveled for 12 hours to get to Chicago on Friday night. I met my mom and Chris there (for Chris's first time) and we spent a rainy saturday doing a little shopping and sightseeing. I also got a flu shot - probably not the best idea the day before a race, but they dont offer them in Mexico, and I dont know when I will have a chance again. Sunday I woke up feeling good and ate my normal pre-race breakfast of coffee, banana and some watered down gatorade. I got to the race about 45 minutes early and did a warmup and was ready to go. Then all of a sudden about 5 minutes before the race, my HR spiked to over 215. At first I thought that my monitor was slipping down my chest because the highest I have ever seen my HR is 192, but I moved it around and couldnt get the reading to go to normal. We started walking up the path to the starting line and I thought that if I got close to the line, I would pull off to the side and delay my start until it went back down. I wasnt feeling nervous or anxious, so I didnt know why it was doing that. Finally it went down (phew) and i was off. Goal pace was 8:45 and the mile recap is below:
Mile 1-5: 8:36 pace
I assessed how I was feeling the whole way and really was feeling great for my first race back. I decided that if I was still feeling good after 6 miles I would push the pace up a bit
Mile 5-6 - Still felt good and decided I could go a little faster
Mile 6-9.2 - 8:22 pace. Still was feeling good. At this point I decided to have a gel. I never take any gels in half marathons, but my coach has been having me practice this for the ironman, so I went ahead.
Mile 9.2-9.3 - Holy crap I am gonna barf up that gel. I looked down and my HR was back up to 220! I immediately slowed to a shuffle (read walk) to the next med tent. The guy there took my blood pressure and told me it was really low. I told him that was normal until he informed me how low it was. He kept me in there for a while until everything was back to normal. I begged him to let me finish. 1) I felt fine again 2) this had never happened to me before and 3) the only way home was my mom and she was at the finish line 3 miles away. After about 10 minutes he cleared me and I was back on my way at a much slower pace.
Mile 10-13.2 (this was one of those longer races :)) slow pace, not even sure what it was since I had stopped for so long.
Finish time - 2:07.
I was definitely not sad about this race. I was able to keep the pace and think i could have run my goal if my HR didnt spike. The plan is working and I am sticking to it.

After the race I found my mom and Chris (who I had called to warn I was coming in about 15 minutes late because of the unexpected stop) and explained what happened. It may have been too many late nights in a row with no sleep like this one:

In all seriousness, I know this isnt something to take lightly. I have an appointment with the doctor to get looked at before my next race. I have had my heart looked at many a time in the past for various reasons, and have never had a cardiologist find anything life threatening. But this is my heart, and I only have one, so I am getting checked out. Im sure there is a logical explanation since this has never once happened before. It could be that all my travels has worn me down, I could be dehydrated, the gel might have caused a weird acid reflux type reaction, or any number of things. Hopefully it is just a one time benign situation and I am all cleared to move forward, because I would really love to race the triathlon in two weeks. But health always comes first so I am gonna be better safe than sorry!

Panamania

While those of you in the US were celebrating the end of summer with a holiday, I was on a plane to a new country (for me at least). I really didnt know anything more about Panama other than there is a canal here, and I cant say if I am 100% certain what goes on in said canal. But after another stamp on my passport and 4 days in Panama I can say that I have still not seen this mythical canal. I have seen 4 conference rooms, one hotel room, three hotels, 3 restaurants, 1 gym, and a mall. All were very nice. Except the gym. I tried really hard to workout while I have been here, but it has been a little tricky. Monday I went to the swim before I got on the plane, knowing that would be my last swim for a while. Tuesday I woke up early to a gym that houses 2 treadmills a stairmaster and a recumbent bike. I got to running (I had 400s on the schedule) and quickly realized that the tready wasnt calibrated quite right. After upping the speed to what said 4 minute miles I felt like I was actually going 7ish min miles. I stuck the speed there and just ran 2 minutes instead of 400s. Yes I know that 7/4 does not equal 2, but counting by 2s was a lot easier for me than counting by 1:30s. Day 2 I had a bike on the schedule, but since there is only a recumbent bike, I was told to just do an easy run. I was going to attempt to swim this AM, but the pool is exactly 4 meters long. I asked the front desk if I could swim in the canal (it is water after all), and they looked at me like I was crazy, and I didnt want a repeat of what happened in Cancun where I got pulled out of the water because the hotel was scared I would drown in the waves. So instead of swimming, I am sitting in my room eating jelly beans and watching tv pretending that this is all good training for sunday's race.
Mixed in with this non training in Panama were a few parties. Here is a photo of what goes on when you mix people from all over Latin America and give them glasses of champagne with ice cream at the bottom. I am in the back. I guess I am pretending to hold my hands up to catch her in case she falls.



Next stop is the Chicago and then a week in NYC where I will be able to swim, bike and run to my heart's desire. Although it is more likely the swim bike and run will be replaced with walking from store to store. I will through some running in if I see some really cute shoes and the stores are about to close.

Pulled in too many directions

So again I have been MIA which can mean one of a few things - traveling for work (check), training (check), long hours at work (check) - therefore the blog gets no love. Finally after a week in Puerto Vallarta and two weeks working on a photoshoot, I am back in the office. At least until Monday. Dont think that because I am not writing I am slacking on the training front - quite the opposite. It has been going really well and after 2 and a half years with no triathlons, I have my first one coming up at the end of september. It will be in Houston. It will be hot. It will hurt. And I cant wait. I went from having 0 tris on the schedule to having 5, and for the first time I feel like I am swimming/biking/running with a purpose. And it feels great.
This next little trip includes a week in Panama for work, a weekend in Chicago to race, a week in New Jersey for work and a weekend in NYC to see my little bro. I am going in at a good time because he is planning a Vandy reunion of sorts that Friday, and I may get to see some peeps I havent seen in longer than I care to remember. It will also be nice to watch college football with people who actually understand what college football is.

An exciting week

I left last week to go to Phoenix for a conference for work. There were about 20 of us at the conference all there to learn more about a new campaign we are launching. We spent two days here - the Athletes Performance in Phoenix.


We spent one day learning about nutrition, workouts and stretches that our guests can do while traveling, and a whole lot of other goodness. Day 2 was spent actually working out - YES! And all the while we got our meals, snacks and post workout recovery drinks cooked or blended and served to us. The crew trains and rehabs professional and elite athletes and while we were there, we saw quite a few of them walk in and out. Seriously this was my kind of work trip and if I were rich I would fork over the 5K to spend a week there.
Then it was on to Houston where we stepped of the plane and into a sauna. I was there for a baby shower for one of my best friends, but I ended up with a pleasant surprise. I got one of these!

Yes, my mom spoiled me and is giving me a new bike for my birthday and Christmas. I have an old bike in Mexico that I have been training on, so this bike will remain in Houston where I will travel monthly to train and race. And yes, all the guys at the tri store made fun of me when I told them it would be my Houston bike, but I really am in need of a new one, and it just makes sense to leave it there. It will also be the bike I use for the Ironman and the few races before then. I had a 12 mile run on the schedule for Saturday that I sweated through nicely (I still think the heat and humidity beats the altitude), and I could hardly wait to take the new toy out for my first actual off trainer ride in over a year and a half. I had a 3 hour tour scheduled and I loved almost every minute of it. In the last 15 minutes the gear wire snapped so I had to cut the actual riding short and the lovely creature is sitting at the tri store waiting to get fixed. I am heading back home the end of september to take it out for a race. Next on the agenda is trying to find a name.

Starting to feel better

After feeling like crap saturday, sunday and monday and a little better yesterday, I think I am finally starting to get well. I can tell because all the junk is breaking up in my head and chest. Good news for me. Bad news for the people in the pool today who were nearby when the snot came a pourin'. I also think I gave whatever I have to Chris. And I have said before when I am sick, the little dog gets sick too. Well all day sunday he was puking, and then at about 5AM this morning I rolled over to get up and my feet rolled right into his puke in the bed. Lovely start to a day. But it did keep me from hitting the snooze button until the last minute.
Coach suggested I get in a few half ironmans before the ironman and suggested this one. So I signed up. Im not too excited about the swim since before the oil spill Galveston's water was pitch black, but the bike and run should be fairly flat and it will be good practice in humid air for the race in May. Still looking for another one or two to race. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Her name is Rio

Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf) taken from the top of Corcovado

Beach outside our hotel - where I got in 3 swim sessions YAY!

Me at the top of Corcovado - not sure what I am looking at.

Corcovado - seriously way way impressive in real life. I got dizzy looking at the top of it.

And finally some real Brazilian acai bowls to finish off the day.

Now one of my favorite cities. I just got back Saturday from a week of long work hours and early/late training sessions, but I am in love with this city. So much so that I am in the process of learning Portuguese. If you haven't been, I strongly suggest you make a plan to go.
Some highlights:
1) I had my first real coconut water poured right from the coconut. I have always been scared to try it because I loathe coconut, but YUM! Not a taste of coconut in sight.
2) I got my first acai bowl - not the kind from Diamond head Cove or Jamba Juice, but the real deal. Very delish.
3) Ocean swims - 3 to be exact. loved every minute
4) Seeing Ipanema, Copacabana and Lablon on my runs
5) Samba school - the school we went to has won Carnaval a few times. I may have to go back and see them in action.

Training there was nice, it was winter, so the runs were very nice out but the swims were FREEZING. I think it was the coldest I have ever been in water. I didnt think to bring any kind of wetsuit so I had to brave it with just my splish. But I did get in some ocean open water swims for the first time in forever, and really enjoyed it. I also got to swim out by the surfers and pretend I was back in Hawaii surfing again. I did not want to come home because everywhere I went reminded me of being back in Hawaii and walking out my front door to swim/bike/run. Only bad news is that I caught a nasty cold/flu on the plane back (bound to happen after 16 hours of travel) and am just now starting to feel better. Next week I am headed over to Phoenix for work (not sure who the brains are behind planning a meeting in Phoenix in August) where I will get some quality sauna training in. Then it is over to Houston where I will train in a steam room. All this travel has made it really hard to keep up a schedule, but my wonderful coach has been very patient and made sure that I am getting in all the training required, even if it includes 11PM treadmill sessions or 4Am biking :). Happy training everyone!