Lots of rain, little riding, racing this weekend

My last post (from what seems like forever ago) was about how was super frustrated with mountain biking because I felt like I couldn’t improve. I had written it a little while before I posted it, and I had another post in the works about how something had recently clicked and I was beginning to feel so much better on the trails. But that was back in November. We were riding so much then that I was becoming so fast and confident. The trail features that used to trip me up I could now (mostly) effortlessly fly over. Then the rain came, and came, and so did shorter days, and all the opportunities and motivation to bike went POOF. No longer were we riding a few times a week. Instead it was once every other week if we were lucky. And no longer did I feel like I could write a post about improving because my speed was falling and so was my confidence. Because of this lack of mountain biking, I haven’t been very inspired to write any new posts (sorry!). But it’s finally starting to dry out here, days are starting to get longer again, so we’ve been able to get a little more riding in lately (two whole trail rides so far this month!). But oof those rides have been rough! My endurance and power have gone bye bye and now I’m struggling up what were once easy hills and have to build back up to longer rides without my lower back hurting (which seems to happen when my legs are weak and I put more stress on my back). Though my confidence on the trails isn’t exactly what it was, I’ve been surprised that I’m not as much as a scaredy cat as I thought I’d be. Maybe I did actually improve and all that improvement hadn’t disappeared! My brain is definitely working harder than it should be and I have to concentrate more than I would if I were riding more frequently, but I don’t feel like I’m starting from scratch.

Such a sad drop of miles at the end of the year :(

But of course I haven’t been just sitting on my butt and not exercising during all this rain (that’s not even possible unless someone really wants me to go crazy). I’ve just been forced onto my trainer, which I’ve been using as easy day workouts, causing my biking muscles further deteriorate. Also I decided I wanted to keep building up my run and so I decided to train for a half marathon. It was going to be something good to do while the trails were too wet to ride and when Alex was supposed to be gone for work. But the trails are drying, Alex’s schedule has changed, and my running has been feeling better, so I don’t think I’ll actually race the half marathon. I’m not into doing races just to do them anymore. They're expensive, stressful, painful, time consuming, and just not exciting as they used to be. Especially simple road running races where unless I’ve specifically trained for it and want to PR, or a bunch of people I know are doing it, they're just not worth it. Because why would I spend all that money and time to run a certain distance when I can do it at my leisure for free? But that’s not to say I don’t like racing, it just has to be something different and more exciting.

Which brings me to a little, local off-road duathlon that I’ll be doing this weekend. Since there aren’t that many off-road triathlons, this one fills a void in my racing heart. I did it last year and it was fun, just a 2 mile run, 7 mile bike, and 2 mile run. My first off-road multisport race! With wide, flat dirt fire roads for the bike that was the perfect opportunity to fly on my cyclocross bike. And it was the first race I’ve ever outright won! Unfortunately not the most competitive field, but still exciting to win. And now I want to win again, but this whole lack of mountain biking has really dampened my motivation to train for it. Last week I finally got to take my cross bike out for its first ride in months, and though I was surprised that I felt pretty confident on it, my legs were sore the next day after riding for only 15 minutes. That whole power and strength thing necessary in off-road riding was nonexistent in my poor little leggies. This past weekend I did the tiniest brick ever and my right knee started killing for the first few steps of my run, but luckily it went away. But I’ve been trying to do more short rides on my cross bike this week to prep a little. No matter what, this race is definitely going to be interesting physically. I’m hoping it’ll kick my butt back into training mode because I want to do a few XTERRA races this summer and I do want to actually be well prepared for those!

Hopefully I'll be as happy at the duathlon this year as I was in this picture from last year!

Structured vs causal training

Only in the last few years have I decided to not hire a coach for triathlon training. Pretty much since I started doing triathlon in 2011, I followed some sort of structured training plan. I loved the structure, the routine, the planning of having someone else decide what I should do. Not thinking about what workout you should do frees up a lot of time and mental space for other things and allowed me to just focus on the workouts. Also it was great having someone to hold you accountable for completing all your training.

Example of a normal week of structured training for me as seen on Training Peaks. It used to feel weird if I didn't exercise twice in a day... 

But structured training can also be very limiting and restrictive if you want to have a life beyond training and racing. If you're type A like me, and can't imagine missing a workout our or cutting one short, then you'll constantly worry how and when you're going to fit your workouts in. If you don't have much else going on in your life, then hard core training is great for filling any voids and eating up a lot of your time. Also it's great to make a goal, work towards that goal, and complete that goal. Super fulfilling way to live.

I lived this life for about six or so years and I'm very glad I did. I learned a lot about discipline when it comes to workouts. I also learned about how workouts and training should be structured. I worked with a great coach that answered all of my frantic last minute questions.

But I wasn't seeing the race results I wanted (no fault to my coach, I just don't always perform the best on race day). It was tiring mentally to work so hard for so long for such a high goal only to miss it on the day it matters. But that's racing for ya, and I respect that, but I was getting a bit burnt out on the whole train hard, race hard cycle. Also since graduating from college and leaving my tri team, going to races by myself was super lonely.

So after a foray into marathons (again lots of hard long training to just miss my goals), mountain biking found me at the perfect time when I needed something new and exciting in my exercise life. Obviously this shift to the trails came with my soon to be husband Alex, and I no longer felt I had to fill voids in my life with exercising and I had someone else's schedule to work around. So I said goodbye and thank you to my coach and switched to casual training.

My definition of casual training is probably different (more intense) from most normal people: a goal of doing at least an hour of exercise (swimming, biking, running, strength) a day and something longer on the weekends, but not worrying when I do it, if I have to shorten it, or even (gasp!) missing it. And if I have a race coming up, I still do try to structure my training to get me more race ready.

My watch doesn't like how I'm currently training! I think this has something to do with me not running much right now and it messing up it's calculations. But I'm okay with it!

This way of training is so much more freeing! And somehow I'm still doing just as well, if not better, in races. Once I got away from the structure, I could really listen to my body to see what it waned (or didn't want) to do on a given day and adjust my workout appropriately. Feeling super tired on a ride? Cut it short. Feel like running all week? Go for it? Can't make it to the pool for a month? Don't worry about it! Super busy all day? Take a rest day!

Got first place in my age group (25-29) and 6 overall female at the Myrtle Beach Xterra Triathlon in April! And I didn't even do much serious training!

With casual training, I no longer have all this stress and guilt built up around workouts. But that doesn't mean I'm any less committed to it. (I still do start to go crazy if I want to work out but can't). I'm just committed in a different way that tries to put the rest of life first before training and racing.

I believe that training and racing should make you happy and be a stress reliever, not add stress to your life. So if you find yourself in the same training-racing cycle I was in, but not feeling very rewarded, then take a step back and ask yourself why you're doing it. If the answer's not fun, then you're doing something wrong! Go out for an unstructured swim, bike run, surf, hike, whatever and enjoy the workout for itself, for no other reason than that you are having fun doing it!


Don't forget to like my new Facebook page to stay updated on new posts and other random mountain biking things! www.facebook.com/unexpectedmountainbiker

Healing a hurt heel

Before I started mountain biking and doing tris, I was a runner. And since I was a runner first, that's what I've felt is kind of my defining sport. What I'd choose if I could only do one sport. Or at least that's how I used to feel, until I took over a month off of running to heal a nagging pain. During that month I realized I can survive without running. Gasp!

My Achilles has been hurting me for over a year. It started last summer when I convinced a friend to do track workouts to train for a mile PR. The training was a lot of fun (and super hard). I ran on a bunch of different tracks and surfaces over the 8 weeks of the training plan. I think those different surfaces combined with the same directions of turns was enough to mess up my Achilles. Despite the pain, I still got a PR for the mile (6:07)!

I'm pretty stubborn about injuries. Unless they seriously affect my ability to swim, bike, or run properly, then I'll probably ignore it and work through the pain. Because that's what endurance training teaches us to do, right? Pain is weakness leaving the body! But when is pain something we should take seriously? For me I know it's bad when it affects my form, gets worse throughout a workout, or hurts even when I'm not exercising. My Achilles would hurt when I first woke up and for the first few minutes of a run but would usually go away as I warmed up. That's why I brushed it off as an ache that would hopefully go away on its own eventually. But even when I know I should pay attention to the ache, it usually takes some outside convincing to do something about it.

A year later and the pain was staying the same, if not getting worse and hurting throughout the day. I was complaining to my dad about it and, probably for the hundredth time, he said I should take some time off from running. Of course I instantly thought it was a terrible suggestion and why would my dad suggest anything as ridiculous as not running! But as I let it sink it, I realized he was right. I didn't have any races coming up so this really was a perfect time for some much needed heel R&R. 

I found a stretch online that was supposed to help (eccentric heel drops) and committed to doing 30 of them twice a day until I didn't feel pain anymore. (I was also told to do the same thing by my longtime physical therapist). And I wasn't going to run until I was pain free. I didn't want to put a number of weeks on how long it would take, because that would have make me crazy as I counted down the days while worrying if it would actually get better. I'd let my body do it's thing. At first this plan scared me, but I knew I shouldn't be limping around all day and knowing that I could get back to my normal pain-free running self was enough motivation.

Thank goodness for biking and swimming or else I definitely would have gone crazy over the last month. I spent most of the month biking (mostly trainer rides because the trails have been way too wet), fitting in swims when I could make it to the pool and it didn't close because of thunder storms, or doing strength workouts. Surprisingly I felt pretty good during this time. I usually run for about an hour (6-7 miles) a day 2-4 times a week and as much as I think of this as easy, running takes a lot out of me. Biking and swimming are much easier on my body, while still giving me that good workout feeling. 

Fast forward a month later and I'm basically pain free. I decided today would be the day to test the heel out. I'd run close to my house in case it got worse again. The first few running strides I took felt amazing! I forgot how free running feels! About a quarter mile in, I noticed some pain, but tried to adjust my form and it seemed to work! Yay!! I ran a little over a mile and it felt great. I'm going to build back up super slowly (yes really I'm going to, I promise!). I really don't want any more of this injury crap.

Hi old friends! I've missed you!

So if you have some sort of making pain that just won't go away, maybe it's time to take a step back and find a way to fix it. Giving up exercising is so difficult once it's part of your lifestyle and there was so much anxiety for me about how much fitness I'd lose and how slow I'd get and if I'd gain any weight. But if you're otherwise healthy, then once you're pain free you can get back all your speed and maybe more. But if you're pushing through unnecessary pain, then it's probably just holding you back. Like I've been telling myself... just think how much better it'll feel in the long term! 

PS: A little plug for tris (or multisport training) -- having multiple sports to do is great if you can't do one because of injury or otherwise!