Coming up on 50...

Hi friends! How goes it? I am just sittin' here at work without much to do. I can't complain though, a job is a job these days. I promise I am not slackin' though, there are no projects for me to do! It is so great seeing everyone I worked with this summer. This is post 49 of my blog, 50 will be here before I know it!


First things first, my new wheels. OMGosh. I rode on Sunday. The weather was beautiful, chilly, but beautiful with very little wind. It was a perfect day to test out my new wheels. Before Sunday, I don't remember the last time I rode Tyrone. I know I did a few times on the trainer before I got sick, but other than that, nada. I was definitely a little shaky on the bike and throw a new set of wheels on, phew I was having a little bit of trouble. I am very comfortable on the road bike (Jamie), not so much on Tyrone right now (though I have a feeling that comfort will come back quickly)! Regardless of the nerves, I had a really great time and was happy to enjoy the weather outside!

On the the hip...
I think my hip is getting better! I ended up taking yesterday off so I could visit my cousins up in DC.

[They added a new one to the family the Monday of Thanksgiving week. Of course we had planned on visiting later that week, but since someone got mono, we decided it would be best if we waited until the sickness in the family was gone. So, I got to see my month old baby cousin, who is absolutely adorable.When I was talking to my parents on the way home, we thought it was funny that we completely forget about all of our other stressors and were just focused on the kids. It is stressful with all the commotion, but totally stress relieving from everything else we have to do].

Anyway, with the day off from any real hip flexor activity, I think it really started to improve. I could shift my weight on my right leg without much pain, it is such a relief. I was debating starting to use  crutches because my limp is/was pretty bad, especially in the morning. My Mom (and I) are a little bit afraid that if I keep limping, I will end up with a injury on my left side once my right hip is healed. That would be NO BUENO.

I have already been to the chiropractor twice since I have been home, and I think that is helping, too. Meghan also had this type of injury and recommended heat. I checked up online about it, and heat is said to significantly reduce recovery time. Don't worry though, I checked several different sources. So I am heating once in the morning and once at night. I also throw some ice on after I do any sort of cycling/swimming or rehab exercises.

In addition to the rehab exercises, the chiropractor and rest, the most important part of recovery is The Great Healer Himself. I am one of those who likes to have everything in control and planned out. However, I am slowly but surely learning that this is never going to happen. God is the one in control, not me. If whatever I am planning doesn't fit in with His master plan, it isn't going to fly. I have a few personal experiences that I think God had planted in my life to bring me closer to Him. They always seem to come at the times I am most confident in what I am doing, not what He is doing. I have begun to *almost* solely rely on Him in my recovery. Nothing I do on MY OWN will heal me, it has to be in conjunction with Him and His great plan. So my point, I am praying harder than I have ever prayed before and talking to God more than I ever have. He is bringing me closer, I am following, and I never want to change it. Thank God for mono and thank God for the hip flexor strain. I have never been more happy while sidelined, I just hope I am running again really, really soon! I have Nationals to train for!

I am lucky to be reading Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. Having this devotional in my life right now is  a huge blessing. I wanted to post this a few days ago when I read it because it is so relevant right now:
"Trust Me by relinquishing control into My hands, let go and recognize that I am God.  This is My world.  I made it and I control it." And the bible verse that went along with it:
He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

And this is my brother's bearded dragon, Reggie.

 I love him. So good to be home.

Turned the Corner

It seems I have turned the corner with what has now been diagnosed as mono. I am so glad to finally be feeling a little bit better. I stayed awake all day yesterday AND rode the trainer for 30 minutes! This was a huge accomplishment at this point.

I went back to the doctor today to discuss test results and without going into ridiculously boring and unnecessary detail, I am finishing up the acute phase of Infectious mononucleosis. I was seriously bummed when the doctor told me it was definitely mono. I have heard so many horror stories about how it is the worst thing ever and that I should just go ahead and not even plan on Collegiate Nationals this year. There is no way I would be ready. So naturally, I burst into tears as soon as the doctor left the room...

When he came back, we discussed what mono would mean for my training (and going back to school, I guess that is pretty important, too). My doctor explained to me what mono exactly entailed. Mono does have the reputation of hanging around for what seems to be forever, however, it depends on the person. The fever usually goes away after about 10 days, though the swollen glands and lymphnodes may take up to 4 weeks to heal (ugh).

Mono is also thought to bring along fatigue that can last up to a few months. This is the part that concerned me the most, Courtney's irrational thought process: I DON'T HAVE TIME TO BE TIRED. I am a collegiate triathlete with a job and sorority. I don't have time during the day without taking naps, now that I have mono I will HAVE to take naps. The doctor put me at ease when he told me that this "fatigue" is often attributed to a depression that occurs with mono and this "fatigue" is mental! He explained that people are very exhausted with mono during the acute phase (generally first 2 weeks) but then it will go away as you heal.

The other part that had me worried about mono is the enlarged spleen/liver issue. I have been told that contact sports are pretty much out of the question when it comes to mono. My doctor initially cleared me to run and swim as my body let me and that I could pretty much return to normal training. However, they cautioned me about riding outside with the risk of damaging my spleen or liver in the event of a bike crash. Initially I was okay with this because most of my interval/strength training this winter is done on the trainer, but then I got to thinking, 3 days of riding the trainer for 60-90 minutes at a time just seems dreadful. It is especially dreadful since I live in an area where the weather is fairly mild in the winter. Of course there are a few days when riding outside is out of the question, but when its beautiful and sunny and like 55 degrees, being on the trainer is sad. All that being said, it looks like I am in good shape! There was no swelling that he could palpate. Also good news, my liver and spleen are apparently in an awesome position that if they were to swell, it wouldn't cause too much of a problem because I have extra room in my rib cage? So even if they did swell, they would still be protected.  You know, I was cursing my huge rib cage the other day because I couldn't fit into a dress I really wanted (don't even want to go there right now) but now I guess it isn't so bad! The doctor cleared me to ride outside, but just be careful. The only way I would really be in trouble is if I ended up jabbing the handle bars exactly up into my rib cage and spleen, but if the crash were that bad, it would be the least of my concerns.

So, as I sit here concluding this post and getting ready to watch Greys (yay). I just have to remember to be so thankful and gracious for everyday. Mono is such a benign issue when it comes to health. Rarely do people die from mono and I know I will be perfectly back to normal in, at the most, 6 months. I really can't complain. There are so many people who have it so much worse than me. I am lucky I am in good physical condition that my body can fight off infections like this. The worst case scenario from this, I just take extra good care of myself for the next few months: getting enough sleep, drinking water, eating right, and studying. I know that once I get it in my head that I will make it through this, I will! Don't worry, I will be at the start for Collegiate Nationals in a few months in the best shape of my life.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might."
Ecclesiastes 9:10


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001617/

Nationals Part 3- Race Recap

Hey there! Typing this up while I am sitting at my last day of work. Where the heck did this summer go? I can't believe I go back to school in 3 days!

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So on to Nationals! I woke up at 5:30am bright eyed and bushy tailed. I went to sleep with a positive attitude and it carried through the next morning. I got up brushed my teeth, grabbed my Gatorade(s) and headed on down to breakfast. I couldn't help but laugh when I was walking down the hall and it seemed like the entire hotel was  up with me heading down to breakfast. Luckily the hotel had stocked up on instant oatmeal and bananas, there was plenty left for me when I got downstairs.

We left around 6 to get to transition at 6:30 so I could set my stuff up and get a little warm up in. Apparently I missed the memo that we couldn't take our bikes out of transition that morning so we could have slept in another half hour....  After setting up transition, I met up with mom and Sue to drop off my transition bag. They were able to walk down to the dock with me and take some last minute pictures.

So excited to race!! In my AWESOME wetsuit!
Thanks Grannie and Papa... promise I'm gonna get the
"powered by G&P" tattoo... eventually...

SWIM

While looking out on the water and talking with some other athletes, I had determined that this swim was going to be rather difficult. The waves were huge-like 3-4 feet!!- (mind you we are in a LAKE) and the sun would be directly in our eyes after the turn around. What I did not expect though was how mean 24&under women could be! Holy cow, that swim start was the roughest I have ever been in. I'm lucky that I came out of the water with all my teeth and without a bloody nose! Oy vey. 

Other than that, the swim went pretty well. I just stayed focus on what I had to do and not worry about the other girls. I kept my strokes long and swam my heart out. The water was about 74 degrees, so borderline for a wetsuit in my book. By the time I had gotten about 1000m into the race, my legs were so hot and I was ready to be out of that water.

Not any good pictures from the swim...
so here we are leaving transition...off we go! 

Bike

The bike was so much fun!! Aside from the first part of the race being a steady climb, the bike was pretty easy and included some nice rollers. I actually did like having the men behind me because I would get passed by one and push it a little bit to catch up. The course was very well marked and the pavement was pretty close to perfect. The wind was the most obnoxious part of the whole race.  Once we made the turn around the wind definitely picked up. Since my suit was still wet, the wind was extra cold. However, I saw the wind as an opportunity to crank it out while everyone else was fighting to stay in the game. I knew I had strength there and it wouldn't burn me out for the run.

Hopefully better pictures to come. My mom didn't realize it was
 me biking toward her because she wasn't paying attention I was going so fast! 

Run

I am not sure how I feel about the run. It started with the HUGE hill right out of transition. A hill so treacherous that I probably would have been faster walking up the hill than running. I knew though that once I got to the top it would be all down hill... literally! It took me a little bit to get my pace down once I got to flat land! I saw my mom around this time which definitely made things a little easier. She was screaming out the window to stay strong. She also played my favorite workout song really loud and rolled down all the windows in the minivan, Dance (Ass, Ass, Ass). Side note: this song is awesome for training because it has such a fast beat that it matches my bike and run cadence! 

I just love this picture... obviously I am looking at my van blasting  music.
LOL WTF MOTHER?! 

I don't know how it happened, but I paced the run perfectly. Every time my watch vibrated to signify a mile, I looked down and noticed that it was between 7:10 and 7:17. Holy hell, I was staying consistent and keeping a quick pace! By the time I hit the turn around by the water, I knew it was time to kick. Kick I did. Everything hurt. My stomach, my chest, my hamstrings, my shoulders. I had between 18-22 minutes left. I can hurt for 20 minutes. Hint: to  make the time go by faster, find out how many water stations will be along the course beforehand. Then when you are running It was also helpful that there were some cyclists speaking a different language on the bike course that were cheering me on and rode down the road with us a bit. Also, people were playing music on the course, super motivating! 

Best part of the day. I LOVE RACING! 

POST RACE
I definitely pushed myself throughout that race. I stumbled across crossed the finish line with nothing left in the tank. My eyes went blurry and sort of blacked out. I was extremely nauseous and the smell of the Moe's post race food was awful (though I was eventually able to eat it). I got my bike as soon as transition opened and we went back to the hotel for a shower. However, we were not leaving the race site without ice cream! I ended up getting the chocolate milkshake I had been craving, though I wish it had been a little thicker. My favorite post workout drink is chocolate milk, therefore, a chocolate milkshake is like chocolate milk on steroids, right?! Chocolate milkshakes >> chocolate milk. 'Nuff said. 

We got back to the hotel, showered and packed up. We were trying to decide where we wanted to go get food before we hit the road. Obviously I suggested Penny Cluse, but figured it would probably be packed after the race. I called and they said the wait was only 15 minute! So you bet your bottom dollar we sped up the packing/showering process and made it down to there within 30 minutes. And how bout it that we walked in and there were 3 seats at the bar... AGAIN! We'll take it! This time I had a scrambled eggs with Vermont cheddar (delish), turkey sausage, and the granola. This time I got it with cold milk instead of hot. Luckily they served it with milk on the side... I couldn't eat it all so I took the rest home... and added it to the pound package I bought the day before! After we ate it was time to say goodbye to Vermont and an awesome race!

Overall, I had an AMAZING experience. I had so much fun with my mom and Sue. It was a nice little getaway before heading back to school. I wish I had been able to spend more time in Burlington after the race...especially if I were 21. I  hope I get another opportunity to compete at AGNC in the future. So many rumors going around that it will be somewhere in Colorado and San Diego next time! Going to have to start saving soon if I want to go!

Stats: 

New Jersey

The eagles have landed in Basking Ridge, NJ.

Hopefully on the road by 9 tomorrow!

Getting pumped :)

Just About That Time

Time to leave for Nationals that is!!!!!

I rode about 50 minutes this morning with some 30 second accelerations. However, my IT bands were a little tight. Hmph... that just meant some foam rolling action when I got home. 

I had grand plans of going to the pool for a few hours, but the clouds just rolled right on in. So instead, I made a playlist for the car. 

Just a snap shot of the playlist... gonna be a good one.
("I Bleed Purple and Gold" SHOUT OUT to my DUUUUKES!!)

It took about 12 CD's!! 

I am very excited about this playlist. It should definitely be a good one. Lots of good party music, mashups, Matt Kearney/The Script, and a bit of country. 

And I brought a book....

And some clean, quality reading... that is apparently upside down?
Sorry I'm not sorry?

The cooler is packed with lots of snacks... dry oatmeal (for breakfast on race day obviously),  almonds, fruit, celery, carrots, hummus (ew), ranch dressing (YUM), peanut butter, and LOTS of water and gatorade. 

For the record, Kroger Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter is the best of all the peanut butters I have tried. 

Last night, I got the bike blessing from Les, aka the best bike mechanic in the whole world. It turns out I had like NOTHING wrong with my bike. That's the first time in awhile. Although he did tell me that I needed to get a new chain... apparently you're supposed to replace it every 1500 miles or so. Oopsie. I will get around to that after Nationals, along with a new saddle. This one in particular: 

Cobb V-Flow Max... It matches my bike... So adorable

In addition to packing, I also watched another 2 episodes of Weeds... I am on to season 3 now. I also paid the rent and security deposit for my new apartment! Sweet.

And now I am totally panicking that I didn't bring my watch... So I am going to go double check on that and do the final walk through to make sure I have it all! I hate this feeling!! 

See ya in New Jersey!! 

Technology

This post includes all things technology and how I am NOT good with it. 

First things first: YESTERDAY
I got off work early and went to  my final chiropractor appointment before Nationals. WAHOO! I still feel pretty good,  no IT band issues and no other hip pain to report. Went straight to the gym to do a quick 2000 yd workout which included some 100s, some 50s, and 25s fast! but with lots of rest. Then I jumped in the car to go over to the track... I guess it's kind of like transition? Did 1 mile at all out effort. I am still technologically inept and somehow managed to not start my watch and didn't realize it until I was 200m in to the mile. ARGH. So my 1400m was 5:48, but my Garmin said my average pace was 6:02... so about that-ish. My legs felt strong and my feet were light. 

I had planned  on going to Yoga after the run, but when I got home and saw my computer... I knew I had more important business to take care of. What is more important than a good stretch-sesh? Watching WEEDS. However, it literally took me like 3 un-installations, 4 downloads, and 2 computer restarts to get the stupid Microsoft Siverlight to work on my computer which is THE ONLY WAY you can watch Netflix on your computer. It was so obnoxious and needless to say I was quite frustrated. But after watching 4 episodes, I had forgotten about all the issues and it was TOTALLY worth it. 

TODAY
I was up and at 'em at 6 this morning to ride with my neighbor. I wanted to get my ride in before work so I could take my bike to the shop today and get the "race ready blessing". Easy, semi-short, nothing too exciting. Since we are leaving for Nationals tomorrow (OMG) and I trust very, very few people with my bike, I wanted to get things sorted out today. Therefore, I am rockin' the mom-mobile today (aka the minivan). 

As you can tell, I have updated the blog just a bit. I added my races and a new "Thank You" page. I had some issues with things clicking and working, but it should be fixed now. And if anyone out there is a blog expert, feel free to help a girl out.

And I leave you with a verse regarding trust in God. It seems appropriate for a day like today. 
"Trust in the Lord with  all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Have a terrific Tuesday :)

And it is...

NATIONALS WEEK!!!!! I am SO pumped. A little nervous but mostly excited.

My workouts went pretty well this weekend and my legs are feeling pretty darn good. Still a teensy bit heavy but nothing like a few weeks ago. I am still trying to figure out my new 910. It is still a ton of fun to use, but somehow I got it stuck on the multisport setting while I was riding yesterday. I rode for about 90 minutes and with 5x3 minutes after I was good and warmed up, so every time I "lapped" my watch, it switched sports! Argh. I finally got off the bike and switched it to bike only. I figured that trying to play with the watch while riding was a poor decision, especially a week out from my A race! 

In other news, I am an idiot. I was super frustrated because I couldn't get my watch to pick up my speed/cadence sensor even though I had applied the settings to my watch. Turns out you have to sync it to the ANT+ USB Stick and then it will work. AWESOME. 

I think I mentioned that my mom and siblings were going to Chattanooga for the weekend and I opted to stay home with my dad for personal reasons and for training. I hung out with some friends on Friday night and was just going to veg, maybe go to dinner with my dad on Saturday, but he had to run into work. So, what did I do? I ran over to Whole Foods to get sushi which was perfect came home, pulled up Netflix, and turned on Weeds. I have heard people rave about this show, but I had never seen it. I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed to say that I watched ALL of season 1, plus the first episode of season 2 on Saturday... in a row... from 7pm-1am. And when I woke up and had to wait for the storm to pass to workout... watched another 2 episodes. And throughout the afternoon I  managed to squeeze another 3 episodes in. So I am on season 2, episode 6... there goes the rest of my free time.

I am working today and tomorrow since I am leaving Wednesday morning/afternoon/evening-ish? Still haven't really decided or talked to my mom about plans. I suppose we should probably get that figured out. I think I am just going to let that fall into place.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.- Deuteronomy 31:6
I really like this bible verse as I approach nationals. Of course I am not terrified or afraid, but I definitely am nervous and will surely be intimidated by the competition in Vermont. I have to trust my training, Connie, and myself to leave it all on the course. Sometimes though, I forget God is there, too. He was there in EVERY training session, even when I forgot He was there. He has been there when things got tough in training and racing this summer. He is there for us always. I have so many supporters and awesome people rooting for me this weekend and were rooting for me all summer, but I also have to remember that even when I don't physically see Him cheering for me... He's there. 

*Also, I apologize for the lack of pictures and excessive text*

Expectations

This is a rather long post, so bear with me. I have a point. 

We all have expectations, whether they are realistic or not. I am famous for building up these really elaborate, awesome ideas in my head, then something I was definitely not expecting happens. I am not saying that the reality is necessarily better or worse than the expected, just different. Sometimes it is better and others it is worse, much worse. Sometimes I learn lessons, other times I don't.  These expectations don't just appear in the triathlon aspect of my life either, they are everywhere. I promise I'm going somewhere with this! Stay with me. 

Scenario:
Rumpass in Bumpass Triathlon 2012 just finished. I am thrilled with myself because the outcome of the race was MUCH better than I expected!
Expectation: don't get hurt, stop if need be, don't be disappointed with a personally poor time, walk the water stations, tackle the run as 20 min on/2 min walk.
Reality: finished the race strong, had a relatively decent time, tackled the run as 10 min on/2 min walk and still managed a run time sub 50 minutes! I finished the race with a stupid smile on my face and Erin is right there at the finish. I look great, I feel great, I am high on life (well maybe endorphins). Actually, the "look great" is probably debatable too...

Rockin' the post race baggy shirt and lake/sweat hair. 

Fast forward to that evening and we are back on campus eating dinner. My stomach is a little bit off, but that is totally expected after a race and I don't even think twice about it. One of my best friends is in town visiting and I am so excited to go out that night and celebrate my age group win!!!! Erin, Meghan, and Maura-- you know where this one is going! HA.

Ready for a night out.... so we thought...

Expectation: Great night with great friends. Party all night. Dance. Celebrate a fantastic race!!
Reality: After we all get ready to go out, my tummy still doesn't feel good. I tell my friends that I am just going to go back to my dorm and sleept. I am nauseated at the thought of a sip of water or even eating just one Cheerio. Erin insists on driving me home and spending the night with me to make sure I am okay. By the time I get home and in bed its about midnight. Other friends are calling me to meet up, but all I want to do is sleep and make my stomach stop hurting. I call my mom and she thinks I need to go to the the hospital since I can't eat or drink and that I am probably severely dehydrated. I finally give in once 1:30ish rolls around and go to the hospital. Erin is the best and drives me there and sits with me while I am getting fluids and drugs pumped in via IV. Turns out I WAS severely dehydrated and had a mild case of rhabdo. Scary. 
Lesson learned: DRINK WATER! You better believe I will never be dehydrated again.  

As you can see, the realities of this day are completely different from my expectations. My triathlon reality was better than expected, while my "college girl" reality was much worse than expected.

So, where am I going with this? Well as it gets closer and closer to Nationals (and the start of a new year/new semester), I find myself thinking about the summer: what I could have done differently in training, in racing, in work experience, in my social life. I am getting more and more nervous about competing at Nationals. I know I can only really focus on one thing at a time. So Nationals it is until August 18 at approximately noon, then I go into full "figure out college" mode. I don't want to disappoint myself, my family, my friends, my training buddies, Connie, the list goes on at Nationals. I have some very big and important opportunities resting on my performance at Nationals. 

This summer of training has been FAR from what I expected. I expected not to have any injuries, I expected to run without pain, I expected to not get first in my age group in the races I did this summer, I expected my swim times to stay the same as they have for the past year. My expectations were very different from reality.

I hurt my hip during one of my first hill (run) workouts of the summer. I have no idea what happened but I felt a twinge, ran through it, came home and stretched, and the next day my hip was killing me. I had to take a few days off of running and suffered a little bit of pain for a few weeks, but now it is all better. Praise the Lord.

I hurt my IT Band after a race in the beginning of July and had to take the rest of the week off from running and biking! TERRIBLE. I was so upset that I had hurt myself, for what, one small race. I ruined Nationals. I ruined my training. But guess what, it was all better the following week! Courtney FTW. Yay!

I have gotten first in my age group in every single race this summer, except for Jamestown when I got 3rd overall, even better. This was not something I was expecting. People at my mom's work told to her to prepare me because I was "moving up an age group and things were going to be a lot more competitive and much harder to win." Guess what, I didn't let it get to me and have done great!

Now swimming, this has been the biggest shocker of all. I had actually been talking to some friends about my swim toward the end of the semester... I didn't see the point of training because I felt like I was just at a plateau and I was the fastest I would be. I hadn't seen any significant gains, so shouldn't I just focus on my bike and getting my run time down. Everyone knows the bike is probably the most critical part of the race anyway, it is the leg you spend the most time on. You can definitely win or lose a race on the bike, you can only really lose a race on the swim. I know I am a solid front of pack swimmer. However, I was very wrong. This summer I have dropped my swim down by about FIVE seconds per 100! I am swimming just about as fast as I was in high school if not faster! 

However, my run still isn't where I expected it to be. I expected myself to be running just as fast as I was last summer. I expected myself to be throwing down 2:45-2:50 800s for my first track workout. That did not happen, I was more in the 3:00-3:08 range. I was disappointed, angry with myself. Why had I not just taken care of myself? Why did I even run? Its a stupid sport that just makes you hurt everywhere anyway. And don't they say its bad for your joints anyway? But I had to keep telling myself that my legs would/will come back. Running is where I started as a triathlete! I have been a runner since I was 13!!!! I love running, and I knew I couldn't let some times bring me down. It was my first track workout in over 6 months anyway! Low and behold, I have gotten faster, last week I put down a 2:56 800. It isn't perfect, but it is something to be proud of. I have worked hard this summer to get my running legs to come back. 

Back to Nationals... My dad has always enforced the rule "Hope for the best, prepare (or expect) for the worst." I think I am going to change that quote around in preparation for Nationals. I want to expect the best. If I expect the best, I may be setting myself up for failure. But I have seen incredible gains this summer, and am really thinking I will surprise myself. I have to keep a positive attitude. A positive mindset. With that said, regardless of the outcome, I am competing with some of the Nation's fastest Age Group Triathletes. That is something else to be proud of.

I am going to expect the best.

"But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure." Psalm 8:25