Shoulder Update

After 5 weeks of racing, and of course some training between each race, my shoulder was done! When I was swimming in college I had issues with my shoulder that finished my career. At the time I had a MRI and was diagnosed with shoulder impingement and bicep tendon issues. The doctor at the time just handed me 800mg motrin and said take these before practice! I did a lot of icing before and after practice and a lot of time was spent at the trainer. As I said this pretty much was the end of my swimming career, between the injury and my horrible grades I was getting I decided not to join the team the next season.

So after 5 weeks of races, each of which with about a mile swim. My shoulder hurt. I was getting pain and tingling down into my hand. Oh man I may have overdone the swimming. I had kept a pretty steady season of swimming at least 2 times a week and then add in this topper I was done. My doctor thought it was time to have it checked out. My doctor had got me thinking it was possible there was a tear in my labrum tendon or other muscles.So I started to prepare myself for okay you are 30 you have been swimming since you were 6 its probably time for surgery. I had actually even joked with my hip surgeon that at some point I would see him for shoulder surgery.

 Last week I had an MRI Arthogram on my shoulder. Lucky for me the hip is the most painful MRI Arthogram and I already had that. They don't feel good by any stretch but it didn't hurt nearly as much as my hip.The day was not fun with all the injection and the time spent with my shoulder turned out or overhead to get images.

But- I got the results the other day. No rotator cuff issues. No labrum tear. No bicep tendon tear. WAHOOO! I have impingement syndrome again, which is the general bucket for shoulder issues. And I do have some thickening of the ligaments. So time for some PT to get the junk out and some lifting to help strengthen the shoulder.

Great End to the Season: Nationals Qualified

I received some awesome news. This season has been full of surprises and rewards!

 I qualified at Mill City with my 1st place in 30-34! I am so excited. Time to start planning for 2014!

Mighty Merrimack Swim- Repeat?!

So in my previous 2 race recaps I talked about 5 weeks of racing but I had left out the swim race recap thus far... UNTIL NOW! ;-) Honestly I love OWS races. It is my thing. This is my 3rd year of the Mighty Merrimack. Last year I won- so even with the already planned tri's I was contemplating going back to defend my title!After everything with D crashing at Timberman and the mess of a week leading up to and racing at OOB, I had written off spending another entry fee. Then in a very sweet gesture for taking care of him while he was injured D bought my entry to the swim. He wanted me to go back and defend my title. OH okay if you insist! Haha ;-)

I convinced my friend Jen to join me. She raced it with me last year and had won our age group. D played support with his still healing rib. The water was pretty chilly. I went sleeveless but I could have gone with the full sleeve wetsuit. Swim only races can be interesting. There are usually a few crazy fast young swimmers who show up. Lucky for me most of them don't own or wear wetsuits.

We headed off and D walked the whole wall along the course with me. I could hear him screaming when I was taking a breath. As I hit the turn around I tried to draft off the guy next to me and he pushed me off after a couple strokes. Okay fine I get it we are out here alone I'll leave you alone. So I took the lead hitting the turn around. And luckily the swim back is with the current so I always make up a bit of time.

Then all of a sudden I felt it, if you are a swimmer you know what I mean, the guy behind me hopped on  my feet. That bastard wouldn't let me draft him for more than 2 strokes and now he his hangin off my feet. I was pulling him along. SERIOUSLY?! I could hear D screaming on the wall, I had no idea what he was saying. I knew the course well and I could tell from the things along the wall I was getting close to the finish so time to find that other gear.

I dug in and found it. Luckily my leech behind me didn't have it and I lost him. 1 male finished before me in the 1mile wetsuit. I got first female in the 1mile wetsuit, with a time of 30:22. Not my fastest 1mi swim but I always seem to think the course at Lowell is long. A minute faster than the year before. Jen even came in second female wetsuit! YAY! So happy to repeat and thankful for the entry!










After we went across the street for a bite to eat. I decided to jump in the kids rides outside and I have not laughed that hard in a LONG time!

Lobsterman Tri- A Tri Bucket List Item DONE!

So let's start this off with I HATE CAMPING! I never did it as a kid- my mom despised it so I think that is where I get my hatred from. When a friend asked to have D and I join a bunch of them camping and racing at Lobsterman, with a little convincing we decided to go along. Now I might hate camping but D hates it more than me! And when we arrived in Maine to find out that most of the people had bailed on the camp/race weekend and it was pouring rain I was looking up hotel rates!

Anyway we survived a night in a tent. Luckily I happen to have a very nice tent- I know strange for someone who hates camping. It has come in handy at other races too. After a not so decent night sleep on the hard ground we got up early. There was something nice about literally rolling my bike 200ft to transition- so one plus to camping! So from the pouring rain transition was literally a swamp. GROSS! Luckily I didn't have to set up in a puddle or mud.

Honestly coming off the high of the previous weekend  performance and this being the 5th week in a row of racing for me I was pretty much going through the motions before the race. To be honest I was done. I knew this was it for the season so I wanted to finish strong but part of me thought of leaving on the high note of Hero's the weekend before. My shoulder had now gotten to the point that I was taped up and was getting pain down into my hand from the season of swimming and the 4 previous races taking their toll.

Swim- 31:41
This was a mess! Freezing cold ocean water! The caps of previous waves were the same color as the bouys. And look at that time, it is 2 min off my usual half iron swim time. That might give you an indication of how the course wasn't well marked. There weren't enough bouys and the finish arch was black and in the shade. It was so hard to sight this course. I had to have swam long. I was really disappointed with this portion of the race. Which stinks since it is usually my strong part.

T1- 2:00
Run up a hill which was super muddy and grassy. Lovely with your freezing cold feet from the water. My hands weren't working when I got to my bike to take off my cap goggles and wetsuit. I tried to move as fast as I could but it was hard with such cold hands to even buckle my helmet.

Bike- 40k- 1:22- 18mph
Who starts a bike course when you are on tri bikes on a dirt road?! The course was hilly. Don't let anyone tell you its rollers. It was flat out hilly. Like wish I had my road bike not my tri bike hilly. There was little places along the course to even get down in aero and hammer. That being said I still managed to pull out 18mph. D went by at some point where I told him how much I was hating the race and he agreed.

T2- 1:37
Maybe I should call this the slow transition race?! Same hill from the swim into transition to rack the bike. This time it was even worse. My foot with my cycling shoe fell in to my mid shin a huge mud spot! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!!! Actually there may have been a couple cuss words in there too. Okay just grab stuff let's finish this.

Run-10k- 1:02- 10 min pace (URGH!)

So something I didn't mention yet is my family has a
house in this area of Maine. So I know these roads pretty well. I had a good idea where the run course was going and I knew where I was pretty much the whole time. I knew going out how hilly the run was going to be. So the thought was just finish strong. As I went out I saw Lisa and John. Lisa asked How I was doing? I told her not so great. She said I looked awesome! I told her SHE WAS A LIAR!! I just wanted to be done. I saw D and we did the nod, not much was said we were both pretty cooked.

I finished in 3:00 exactly. Not a bad time just not really what I think I am capable of, but I think after 5 races in a row it was all I had left. And to be honest the swim was a mess, the bike was pretty good, and the run was horrible. Transition times were slow but transition was HUGE and the grass was a mess! The big draw for this race is the lobster bake after, they don't tell you until you register you have to pay another 25 a person to eat it! Well I knew we could get lobster cheaper close to there. So we hung out for a bit packed up and headed down the road and had lobster at a spot we have eaten at before. Honestly- I don't really think the race is worth the cost and the big thing of the lobster bake after is not what they make it out to be since you have to pay so much extra for it. Well anyway- I took this one off my bucket list!

Hero's Tri Olympic Distance Race Recap

Following Timberman and OOB, D received a note from the Race Director for Streamline events asking if he wanted to do Hero's Tri. Since it wasn't the same weekend as the other events we were already registered for we figured why not. After everything that happen at Timberman it was going to be an interesting come back for D, read about it here . In order to save us a bit of time on Sunday morning we booked a close by hotel to the race on the Cape. Turned out to be a fairly decent place for the night. We drove in to the race location, sadly had to park a couple miles away and ride our bikes into transition.

I laid out my transition surrounded by lots of newbies. I kid you not some of these layouts were for full clothing changes. Eh to each their own. I kept my spot skinny like usual. I am generally okay with whoever is around me as long as they don't creep into my space. We bumped into friends and headed down to feel the water out. It was chilly I was happy to be wearing a wetsuit. Kim told me she was going wetsuit less good for her! I am not into that anymore!

Swim- 20:59
The race was broken into fairly large waves. Honestly that doesn't bother me too much I am a comfortable swimmer. I seeded myself right near Kim and knew if I timed it right I might be able to catch a ride for a bit on her feet. Which I did for a little while then we started quickly hitting the wave in front of us. I felt great in the water. I was starting to think this might be good. As we came out of the water I was shocked to see the time on my watch. And Kim was half way up the beach in front of me. It was nice to have someone to chase in the water! THANK YOU KIM! I joked with her as we ran into transition

T1- 1:02
Ripped off the wetsuit and Kim didn't wear hers so she was flying through transition. I tried to get my shoes on fast and helmet. As I put the helmet on I heard a crunch in the ear piece?! OH crap lets just go it will still work. We hit the mount line at the same time and Kim told me to go she wasn't going to keep up anyway. I was like aw come on what fun is that?!

Bike- 21mi- 1:08:09 18.5mph
The course was a ride out to the Joint Base, a little bit of rollers to get there, and once you were there flat glory. And while you were out there almost exclusively cyclists on the road. There was little to no road traffic. It was nice to ride along side the runways. Only problem was you were exposed along those parts and there was a bid of a headwind.  D came flying by on the end of the first loop. Said that I was up in front and that I needed to keep it up. I kept my head down and tried to keep pushing. You did 2 loops of the base than hit the little rollers back to transition.

T2-0:48
I came into transition to a lot of cheers from the spectators and the relay teams waiting on their team mates.  Generally this is what happens when you are toward the front. Ok guess I am doin okay.

Run- 6mi- 53:32 8:50 min /mi
My thoughts were just push as hard as you can. See what you can maintain. Don't hold back just go all out. I had a few woman get by me some I knew were on relays and others flew by me at like 7 min pace I knew I wasn't going to be able to do that. As I saw D on one of the out and back's he gestured 8th. I waved him off. He told me I better keep it up. I was able to as much as I could. As I came into the finish he was in his usual spot SCREAMING pick it up! Your out in front. Every second counts!

I crossed the line as the 9th Female in the race! A top 10 Female finish! I took home 2nd in my Age Group! Finish time 2:24:29. I was psyched. The other great thing was when we asked a guy to take a pic of us at the finish. He admitted to me he paced his bike off me while we were out on the base riding. A guy! Not bad! I am starting to think my cycling is coming along well time to get a faster run!!!

The night before I had laid out some numbers for myself in hopes that I would have some good goals for the race. I was happy to write down the results next to the goals and see I shattered what I thought i would be able to do that day!

My First Triathlon Relay- Team Pace Booty

After an epic weekend at Timberman we spent the week staycationing at home. Mostly just watching movies and rubbing neosporin on D's road rash. The road rash and rest of the injuries seemed to be healing nicely. I had planned to be a part of a relay at Old Orchard Beach in Maine the weekend after Timberman. The original plan was to be on vacation in NH and ME for the week though we did end up spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday in ME. As usual when we are in ME we attempted to eat our weight in lobster.

Old Orchard Beach is a Rev3 event, both 70.3 and Olympic distance. I was starting to get really bummed I wouldn't be racing the 70.3 myself. D was really bummed he was too banged up to consider signing up for the Olympic when extra spots opened up. We did get a nice ride on most of the Olympic course in on Saturday followed by a short run. Then Team Pace Booty checked in, race ready!

Sunday early wake up (AGAIN!) 3am is too early for anyone! Had to pay to park- URGH! But we were right by transition. After helping out the team biker, Kellie, with some forgotten items, bottle cage, bottle and fuel, I put on my full sleeve wetsuit and headed to the water. Come on now of course I was doing the swim leg! As I hopped in to get some water in the wetsuit and try to get used to the freezing temps- my timing chip slid right off my ankle. MUTHER! I raced to the start to see if I could find someone to get me a new one. WHEW crisis averted and without the knowledge of the team runner!
 


I placed myself out in the front of the wave and I was the first one to dolphin dive my way through the surf. The waves were tough on the way out but that meant current to ride on the way in. I found a guy I was going to draft off figuring if he was in the relay wave he had to be a legit swimmer. Well he may have been a legit pool swimmer but he was ALL over the place. Well forget that let's go!



I put my head down and tried to bury myself in my swim. I was going to finish 1.2mi get to transition and I was done. I had a goal for a 30 min swim or even better day sub 30. I pushed as much as I could even to the point of fighting back getting sick in the water. As I came out of the surf I looked at my watch- you have to be EFFIN kidding me! 34?!? How am I slower than last week and I pushed harder? This has to be a joke!

Oh well RUN. There was a .3 mi run to transition. ARE YOU KIDDING?! And stupid me- didn't think ahead with that kind of run and put on a sports bra and tri kit I just went bathing suit with wetsuit. ROOKIE relay move! I ran as hard as I could. And got the chip to Kellie to rock the bike.




After I thought I might puke but a nice big burp helped! I was done for the day so I changed up and hung out. It was strange to be sitting around. I am so used to this all being mine! It was strange to have other people to depend on. I watched some pros come and go in the Olympic and saw some friends come and go on their 70.3s. Then we sent off our runner, Sara, that little girl is a piston! Kellie and I hung out and got to cross the finish with our team. It was fun but a totally different tri experience than I am used to.

Come to find out from friends after the swim course was measured incorrectly and people had anywhere from 1.4-1.45mi swim. So if that was the case- I'll take my 34min swim. This is what my wrist looked like as I headed back to the real world for a week worth of meetings- 70.3 Make-A-Wish racer bracelet and my Rev3 bracelet!

Review Lululemon Booby Bracer

I am so thankful for the Lululemon at Natick Collection for thinking of me for the opportunity to test out their new bra. The new Booby Bracer is advertised to provide a higher level of support from the former highest level support they offered called Tata Tamer. When I was asked to be a tester I was given a video that described a new bra that provided a high level of support, without the infamous uni-boob. The material that the bra is made of is supposed to mold to you as it warms up with your body heat.

When I went in for the fitting Jen provided a couple sizes to find the best fit. I am a 36DD in my regular bras and the 38D fit best to provide a level of support, and still able to breathe. I also tried on the original Lululemon maximum support Tata Tamer and was surprised that this was what was considered a high level of support. My quick test in a fit room is to grab the straps on either side of a bra and using my hands bounce the bra up and down. I figure this gives a pretty good feel for the amount of bounce I will deal with running. I let Jen know that the Tata Tamer would definitely work for cycling, yoga and other lower impact events but wouldn’t be a running bra for me.

For those of you that don’t know I am a NO BOUNCE kind of woman. I don’t want my boobs to move at all when I am running- which is no small feat when you are trying to support double Ds. My bra of choice that I brought along to my fitting was Moving Comfort Fiona, it is what I swear by. Jen was surprised by the fit of the Fiona being so tight. As I explained it is the only way I know to keep them from bouncing.  I know it seems silly but when you have 10+lbs on your chest any movement feels amplified. So I generally go with the strap ‘em down theory! 

I was impressed with the fit of the Booby Bracer when I tried it on in the store. The band felt snug and laid flat (something I have an issue with sometimes with the Fiona). I loved the adjustable straps- they have a hook to them which laid flat and didn’t irritate my shoulders. I have to say I really do appreciate the separate boob idea; it would be nice to have them look like 2 instead of one flattened blob. I was really excited to take the bra for a test run. When I got out there I felt a bit of bounce, assuming I may have left the straps a little too lose I tightened them up. It helped a bit but I still had bounce. The strap around the bottom stayed flat and comfortable for every run. The straps didn’t dig into my shoulders or cause irritation at all. I didn’t experience any chafe at all from the material. It was really nice to have my boobs separated and not in one blob. Though the cups didn’t provide enough support to keep them from bouncing. I really like the concepts of this bra and its comfortable materials; I just wish the cups provided me the support I needed to keep my boobs in place while running.

For another user’s take on the bra and the Booby Bracer video see the Lululemon site: http://www.lululemon.com/community/blog/brace-yourself-the-booby/