The Sugars

It's been two weeks since I found out about The Sugars. Apparently my sluggish training and poor recovery wasn't because of my lack of effort. August 11th I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. How's that for a pre-reave challenge. 8 weeks out from my race of a lifetime and now I need to check my bood sugar and give myself insuling injections. Guess that's what I get for complaining about the recent multiple flat tires on my training rides.

A while I found out about the Janus Charity Challenge. I've been thinking about the charities and such trying to decide who I should raise funds for. Two weeks ago the decision was made for me. In all of this I connected with the folks at the Barbara Davis Center.

For the Janus Charity Challenge I am raising funds to help them with the excellent work they do. The nurse told me that there are 5-8 children a week who are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I look at my 2 year old daughter and can't fathom going through this with her. There will be a cure for Diabetes and the Barbara Davis Center is working on that.

The race is October 9th, 2010, the deadline for fundraising is October 8th, 2010. I’m totally soliciting your help in getting this out to as many folks as I can. Every $5 contribution will help. The athlete that raises the most money gets a $10,000 additional contribution from Janus.

Here is the fundraising site:
https://https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorreg/donorpledge.asp?ievent=331922&supID=301058335

Blog Slacker and Racing Updates

The past few weeks have been interesting. I completed the Boulder Peak Triathlon and the 70.3 Boulder Half Ironman and have been continuing with my training.

The Peak was a good race, still not fast for my by any stretch of the imagination. But, I did manage to make it up Old Stage Hill on my bike- as in not walking. At one point I was going so slow cranking the gears over that I don't even think my speed was registering. Tried a sleeveless wet suit in the swim- still can't seem to remember how to swim in open water. Run wasn't too bad, super hot to say the least. Transitions seemed to be forever- arrived with literally two minutes to transition close so I was fumbling around. Swim was slow so at least my age group was on the bike and I had plenty of space to sprawl out. I finished the bike- can't seem to find any speed. The run was good, not too much GI upset but enough to make me think I need to re-think the nutrition plan.

In my original triathlon career plan the Boulder 70.3 was going to be my "A" race- the pinnacle of my rookie career. I was still nervous and excited for the race, but it had different meaning for me. I needed to finish the race in order to "qualify" for Kona. My lottery spot has the requirement that you finish a 70.3 race before the end of August. The week before the race I had the toddler funk yet again, the cold was so nasty I wished I could have just skipped the race. Revised my goals- focus on hydration/nutrition to finish the race upright.

Race day comes and I'm feeling rough but telling myself to focus on the task and get it done. No wet suit for the swim- gotta do it for real at some point. I did purchase a new tri suit specifically for the swim. I don't like the 1 piece suits for riding and running but wanted something to make me feel sleek and fast. I know in my rational mind you can't really "buy speed" but I'm sure the placebo effect has some merit here.

Swim was awful. Overcast, cold water and I couldn't breathe. Don't know if it was because of my cold and congestion, the half dose of Sudafed to help with the cold and congestion, nerves or what but I managed to forget how to swim. Placebo effect didn't help.

Survived the swim, managed to transition in half the time I did at the Peak.

Got on my bike and about 1/2 mile into it somehow managed to find my legs. Now I'm not trying to be Alberto Contador here but for me I had a significant improvement on my bike. I had a training ride earlier in the week that had shown me I could hold a higher cadence and average speed so I knew in my head I could do it. Somehow I managed to really ride this race and held 16.9 average MPH. That would be a 3 MPH improvement from the Sprint and the Peak. The improved pace led to a high that made me want to keep it up. Cruised into transition with a mission- keep up the pace.

Transition 2 was half of the Peak- not really saying much. Got out on the run and the GI issues started immediately. By mile 1 I was struggling to pick up my feet and put them down. I've run all of this course in different races so I knew what was coming. Somehow I managed to post my worst running race pace and half-marathon time EVER! But, I finished the race in 7 hours (it was a REALLY long 7 hours and a bit more time than I wanted to spend out there) and sent off the proof to Ironman that I completed a 70.3 and will be Kona bound for sure!