Eight is Great - Colorado Tour de Cure
In four weeks I’ll be riding in what will be the last Tour de Cure of this/my season. It’ll be the fifth one that I’ve ridden in this year. But overall, in my goal of riding in all the Tour de Cures in the country, it will be my 8th. I take that back, this particular ride doesn’t add to my overall total because I’ve already ridden in the Colorado Tour de Cure.
The Colorado Tour de Cure was the 2nd Tour de Cure that I rode in and out of the seven that I’ve done to date, it remains my favorite (although, Phoenix, AZ came in as a fairly close second this year). I’m returning to CO because, it is my favorite, it’s where I’ve had the best experience riding in the various Tour de Cure’s that I’ve ridden in.
If you’re just now hearing about me riding in the Tour de Cure and having done 7 in the last year, let me tell you what’s going on. When diagnosed with diabetes at age 11 back in 1992, I was pretty much told that exercise and diabetes didn’t quite mix. As a result, I spent the better part of 15 years not being the athletic person that I was/am. Last year, I rebelled against everything I knew and decided to start cycling. Being both the scientist and the guinea pig, I experimented with my diabetes and cycling and figured out how to cycle with my diabetes accompanying me.
I rode in my first Tour de Cure in May 2007 and was immediately hooked to the idea of riding in a Tour de Cure in every state. It became a goal to ride in every state. This year I discovered that there are currently 84 Tour de Cure’s held each year within the US. I changed my goal to ride in every Tour de Cure. Of course, there’s always the hope that I won’t get the opportunity to ride in all the Tours. There’s the hope that a cure for diabetes will come along far sooner than it does later; but until that cure presents it self, I will ride.
I ride for myself, for my family members with diabetes, for all my friends with diabetes, for those with diabetes that I don’t know, and for those that will be saved from the torment of diabetes when a cure is found.
As I prepare for the 75 miles that I’ll be riding, I need your help in reaching my goal of raising at least $1000.00 this year. Each mile I ride, each dollar I raise will be used in the fight to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.
If you would like to donate, you can do so by clicking here, or on the “Help Support Me in the Colorado Tour de Cure” image in the sidebar to your right.
No matter how small or large, your generous gift will help improve the lives of more than 24 million Americans who suffer from diabetes, in the hope that future generations can live in a world without this disease. Together, we can all make a difference!
Hundred Push Up Challenge
These days of rest are difficult, because really, whatever I didn’t do the day before, in my mind is up for grabs on my days of rest. But, alas, all the books and peoples and websites say rest is important. Normally, I’d run myself into the ground before I rested, but I’m learning new stuff.
So, Monday’s are always days of rests, simply because I probably went out and pushed myself hard over the weekend, at least one day or another.
Last night however, I figured, there’s other stuff I can be doing, it’s almost like resting, because it’s not that hard. HA! that’s what I thought, it’s not that hard…
I’ve been reading blogs as I get the chance and someone mentioned something about the hundred push up challenge and then GeekGrl posted about doing a whole 2 pushups and that brought to the front of my mind the hundred push up challenge.
What this is, is a 6 week training plan to take you from how ever many push ups you can do at a time (for me this was 5, that’s 5 good form push ups) to being able to do 100 consecutive push ups.
I figure, this is actually good because I’ll build upper body strength, which is going to help me, I think, in swimming. I don’t ever think I’ve been so excited to be doing push ups, but something about being able to do 100 in a row, that’s pretty cool. That, and it’s a challenge.
Chunky Monkey 10k Run 2008
Chunky Monkey, who wouldn’t respond to a run named that, it’s named after a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor. The thought of getting Ben and Jerry’s ice cream after a 10k run was an added bonus in getting me out there to run.
I hadn’t done a 10k since the Bolder Boulder. In fact, since being released by the doctor to return to running the furthest I’ve managed to run is 4.5 miles. I really didn’t have any goals other than to 1) finish the run and 2) beat my Bolder Boulder time of 1:23:(and some change). I managed to do both, but it wasn’t easy.
We had to do one lap around the Valley High school track before we were off on our trail, so while I’m making my way to the track I introduce myself to another woman who was making her way to the track. She had a duathlon hat on so it was easy to strike up a conversation with her. I joined her and her friends at the back of the pack on the track and when the horn blew I found that their pace was perfect for me and so I was gonna stick with them. (You see, it was supposed to be all about pace this race. Pace is something I have problems with simply because I want to get out there and go, and I want to go fast. Not pacing myself is also what kindof killed me in the first mile in the Bolder Boulder.)
Running with these women was cool because they had a walk run strategy which is what I like. They would run for 4 minutes and then walk a minute, and it was cool because one of them was wearing something and so it would beep at a 4 minute mark and then again at a 1 minute mark so we knew when to walk and when to begin running again. I didn’t have the brains to ask what it was that they had but whatever it is that they had, I want one, it’s far easier than looking at my watch every so often.
I got about 1.5 miles before my ribs were hurting, on both sides, and (as I so thought to myself) my left intestine (I really have no clue what it was, but it hurt). I guess that’s what’s referred to as a stitch in my side, and I said so, I have a stitch in my side and I slowed down. I knew I had to take deep breaths, and I was told to take deep breaths. The problem with this was, it hurt to take deep breaths. Somehow by mile 3 I was ok again. At about 3 and a half miles I split from the women I was with because I wanted to go a little bit faster than they were going (we had slowed down a bit). I had a goal to reach and I couldn’t reach it at the pace we were going at that point. It was very important to me to do the 10k in less than 1:23.
I made it in under 1:23, barely. I made it in 1:22.(and some change). When I got to the last 100m or so I all out sprinted, it felt nice to be able to be on my toes and be sprinting. I was very excited to have made it.
My splits, as far as I can tell from my watch were:
Mile 1: 12.39.63
Mile 2: 13.31.69
Mile 3: 14.22.75
Mile 4: 13.06.07
Mile 5: 13.14.65
Mile 6-6.2: 15.51.00
The exciting thing about them is that the timing of them is far more even than the times from when I did the Bolder Boulder. I’m going to take that as a sign of improvement 
Diabetes-wise things ran ok. 2 hrs before the run I lowered my basal rate to 70%. I was 126 at this point. An hour before the race I was 117, UH OH! headed in the wrong direction. I let it be though. A half hour before the race, I was 125. I ate a CLIF Builder Bar. Took insulin for only 15 out of the 30 carbs. I washed it down with a bit of e-fuel. I had about 45 carbs in my system at this point. I deemed myself good to go.
At about half way into the run, I checked my blood, I was 164. I was doing ok. When I got to about mile 4.5, I needed to check my blood, my mouth was saying that my blood sugar was high. I had sweaters on my teeth, I was like a cottonmouth snake (actually, do they get their name based on cottony mouths?), I was foaming at the mouth like a dog with rabies. Unfortunately, I had lost my pricker, how I managed that is beyond me, because I had put it back in my little zipper pocket with my machine, and my machine was still there. Needless to say, I didn’t get to check my blood. I steered clear of the e-fuel in my water bottle for fear that I’d been sipping on it too much and not running hard enough to clear it out of my system. I got water when I passed the water stations.
When I got to the end, I was a little bummed because Chunky Monkey ice cream was not in the flavors that were available to us. Only Cherry Garcia and Cookie Dough. I’m not a fan of either one so I just decided to go home without ice cream. When I got to my car and could check my blood again, I did. It was 176. I bolused a little and put a smile on my face because I had run without going low and without going high and I had finished and I had finished a minute faster than the last 10k I ran.
Courtney, It’s Not A 50m Freestyle Swim
Yesterday morning I went up to Cochiti Lake to swim with some fellow Outlaws. I took my wetsuit even though I knew it wouldn’t be necessary. The water had been warm enough 2 weeks ago during my first open water swim to not have my wetsuit, but I’ve got issues with open water swims and figured I can’t drown in my wetsuit no matter what I do, so I’m taking it. Today the water was probably 68-70 degrees.
When I got into the water, F and chiquita (yeah, I can’t remember her name, I wanna say it was a K/C or a D) told me how far they were going to swim, and me, being the weenie that I am, and still being afraid that I’m going to tire out and drown, after asking how far the buoy was, said that’s as far as I was going. It was 400m round trip. That’s actually the perfect distance for me because that’s what level of swimming I’m on in terms of triathlons.
So, I get out there and start swimming and it wasn’t long before I was on my back, back stroking. Yeah, I can’t swim a full 400m freestyle. And today, it wasn’t about being afraid either, it was a “i quickly tire and can’t breathe issue”. The good news is, I made it to the buoy and back without freaking out and I did it in 10 minutes. That’s a 6 minute improvement over my Bottomless Triathlon time. I’m going to say it’s because I could float, I wasn’t fighting with the water, and there weren’t any people around, and my blood sugar was perfect but I’ll talk about my diabetes stuff at the end.
After returning to the shore, I toyed around a bit and marveled in my wetsuits ability to keep me at the top of the water and then I made a second attempt at going the 400m. And, I did it. It just wasn’t all freestyle.
When my teammates got back they asked what was up with the backstroke and I told them I couldn’t freestyle the whole way. So chiquita said, let’s go out there, I’ll swim behind you. Ok, that’s cool, I thought to myself: I can do this and I took off. When I stopped I heard her yell “COURTNEY, it’s not a 50m freestyle swim. You need to slow down and breathe every stroke, not every 6th stroke. The reason you’re tiring out and getting out of breath is because you’re going too fast and not getting enough oxygen.”
Now, I couldn’t argue, because I was counting my strokes as I was swimming, and I made up my mind to breathe every 6th stroke because I needed to breathe. Earlier, I was going 10 strokes without breathing, but then I’d fight to get another 10 strokes without breathing, and then after that I’d have to flip over on my back and back stroke. The thing is, when I used to swim, in my younger yearning to compete years, I was best at 50m freestyle, simply because I could make it almost the full 50m breathing only once or twice. The problem was, even though I was fast, when I was done, I was done. There was nothing left in me to give because I had spent it all on 50m. That’s really the only way I know how to swim. Because what would happen is, if I got 100m freestyle, I was doing good, but then I’d have to switch to doing 50-100m freestyle and then 50-100m backstroke. And that’s the only way I could swim distances.
So, back to the lesson at hand, breathing every stroke. She said, let’s go, breath every stroke. And so I took off, stroke, breathe, stroke, breathe, etc. I stopped not long after I hand started and proclaimed that it was too much breathing. I was told that even the pros will breathe every 3 strokes. And told to continue on.
When I finally got around the buoy I made a comment about taking the sprint out of me and I was informed that sprinters don’t last in endurance sports, they go home early. I didn’t want to be one of those that went home early, I knew that I had a lot to learn at this point.
I continued on, she’d say, go 10 strokes, breathe every stroke. I made it 8. And this would continue. The next time I was told to go 10, I made it 13. When I was told to go 20, I only made it 18, and guess what, I could stand at that point. And she told me that it’s faster to swim than it is to walk through the water.
I learned a lot yesterday morning and I’m anxious to get into the pool this week and practice.
Do A Little Dance
I got a call today from Edgepark. Edgepark is the company that was hired by CIGNA to handle medical devices for diabetes care (or something like that).
So, I get today’s call. It was the third call that I was waiting for in my quest to acquire a CGMS (that’s fully paid for by insurance).
I was very excited to be told that I was approved for a CGMS, it and it’s monthly supplies were fully covered, and that he’d put it in the mail today and I’d receive it early next week.
I was denied the CGMS last year, and the process to get my pump actually took longer (over a month) to get than the mere 4 days it took to get me approved for the CGMS this year.
I’m very excited, and yes, I did do a little dance.
Courtney - 1, Minimed - 0
I got a call from a rep from Minimed. The second person who I was expecting to hear from in my quest to get a CGMS.
She says: “So Courtney, I hear you’re interested in purchasing the REAL-Time Continuous Glucose Monitoring System”
Me: “Actually, I’m interested in having my insurance purchase the CGMS, but yes, I do want one.”
Her: “Well said. That was a good one. I hear you on that.”
Me: *giggle*
And then of course she goes on to tell me about how I should be getting a call from a third party company within the next few days or early next week in regards to my insurance and what’s going to be covered if I’m approved. I thanked her for all her help and all that she’s doing for me (because it isn’t her fault if I get denied) and she said that she’s here for me if I have questions.
With that I hung up and I’m now awaiting a call from the third party (how appropriate is that, third party, third call…)
A1c - It didn’t use to mean anything
It’s probably only been during the last year that I’ve put any thought into my A1c and what it’s meant.
I can remember when it was in the 13-14’s and I was like “eh, whatever”. The A1c always told on me, it didn’t matter how good the numbers in my log were, the A1c would tell the truth. The A1c told the doctors that the numbers in my book were manufactured. They weren’t real. But the reality of it was, I didn’t care. I cared about my A1c about as much as I cared for my diabetes, and the truth is, I didn’t care for my diabetes back then and to this day, I still don’t care for it. I wouldn’t be hurt if it just packed up its bags and left me one day.
My A1c on the other hand, all of the sudden that number means something to me. I’m always concerned and when the doctor comes in it’s all I can do to greet them before I blurt out “what’s my A1c?”
The first time my A1c was below 8 it was because that was when my seizures started happening and there was an abundance of low blood sugars. That was years ago.
Then about 2 years ago, I dropped below 8. It was probably still because of the abundance of lows.
I’d even say that my current A1c of 6.9 is due in part to the abundance of low blood sugars that I have. But I’d also say that over the last year, it’s also due to me checking my blood more regularly, actually taking insulin at mealtimes, stuff like that. Just the general paying more attention to my diabetes.
What pisses me off about this A1c is the one I had 3 months ago was 6.5. That number was more likable. I have a whole list of excuses too as to why my A1c went up. I had a nasty infection for 6 weeks. During that same six weeks I couldn’t exercise, I was in a foul mood, I was stressed, and I was PMSing. Those 6 weeks were practically half of the 3 months between doctor appointments.
But then, I had to be honest with myself. If I had really wanted to fight to keep my A1c at 6.5, I could’ve done so. It was as simple as not not checking my blood because I didn’t want to see the high numbers. It would’ve been as simple as readjusting my basal rates, well, I had at one point, but it was too late. There was stuff that I could’ve done outside of my normal realm to control those numbers. But I didn’t.
So, I’ve got this A1c of 6.9 and I don’t like, and for the last 3 days, I’ve been checking my blood sugar EVERY.TWO.HOURS…I’ve been carefully calculating my carbs and making sure that I took my insulin before I ate and not after. I’ve seen lows, but not as many highs. It’s an improvement. And yet, my need for this 6.5 A1c has got me pissed off because of all the attention I need to pay to my diabetes. I’m not liking it, well, I never have liked it and that’s generally what has caused me to slack off in the past, but now I can’t slack because I’ve got this thing in my life called “triathlons”. I did one with high blood sugars, I liked it about as much as I like the idea of a hole in my head. Coincidentally, I did one with low blood sugars as well and I liked that about as much as I like the idea of a hole in my head.
And so, as I sit here, I’ve got 2 frustrations battling each other. The first being I don’t like my A1c. I liked it better when it was 6.5. The second being I don’t like all the work I have to put into my diabetes to get that 6.5 A1c. Can we say delimma?
Asking for a CGMS is like asking for a pet dragon
You’d think that I was applying to bring a dragon home from some fantastical world into ours by all the questions I was being asked in regards to getting the process started to get a CGMS from Minimed.
They were all questions that my doctor could’ve answered but for some reason I had to answer them. It makes one wonder if they asked my doctor the same questions and if they’re going to cross reference them and if they don’t match if I’m going to get a big fat “DENIED” stamp on the letter.
Dude: “You’re a type 2 diabetic correct?”
Me: “Type 1, actually”
Dude: “How long have you had diabetes?”
Me: “16 years”
Dude: “How old were you when you were diagnosed?”
Me: “11″
Dude: “How old are you now?”
Me: “27″ (and as I say this I’m wondering what my age has to do with anything, I want a CGMS, not a membership card to AARP)
Dude: “Do you know when your blood sugar is low?”
Me: “no” (not until it’s too late and my vision is closing in and I’m getting ready to drop to the floor)
Dude: “do you have lows in the middle of the night?”
Me: “yes” (thank God I live with my parents and they’re around in the middle of then night and hear the unusual sounds coming from my room, darn dying animals waking up the other people in the house)
Dude: “how many times in the last 2 years have low blood sugars required assistance?”
Me: “3-4 times”
Dude: “are you pregnant or do you plan on becoming pregnant?”
Me: “no” (this is an insulin pump not some adopted child’s life that I’m going to destroy by bringing my own blood into this world right after that adopted one comes home)
Dude: “In the last 2 years have you been hospitalized due to your diabetes?”
Me: “Yes, in September I spent a week in ICU for diabetic ketoacidosis” (I almost died and it wasn’t due to me neglecting my diabetes)
Dude: “I’ll send this information to my insurance specialist and she’ll contact you in a couple days”
Now, I had told my doctor how to circumvent this whole process (I even wrote my own prescription letter and gave it to her), but apparently my insurance company has made the process easier in the last couple weeks. And thus, she wanted to go through that route before going down mine. What they didn’t know is that I had a little birdie telling me exactly what I needed to do to get my pump ASAP. And what that little birdie told me to do is exactly what they’re doing, except they’re jumping through more hoops than are necessary and were told that the hoops they were jumping through weren’t necessarily getting more acceptances than denials. Which is bullshit because my one hoop has had an incredibly high success rate of getting acceptances for the Minimed CGMS and it’s through the same company that they’re working with.
The process has begun, now, I sit and wait for a phone call.
My First Triathlon - Bottomless Lakes Triathlon
When the alarm went off at 3AM yesterday morning I wasn’t in a foul mood about it like I normally would be. It didn’t matter how early it was, I had a big event to get to. I got all my gear loaded into my car and took off toward Roswell, NM. It was a 3.5hr drive.
The event I was heading towards was my first ever triathlon. I was confident that it was going to be my first in a long list of triathlons that will one day be my athletic resume. The event, the Bottomless Lakes Triathlon. Now, I did my research, the lake isn’t bottomless, but it is 90ft deep (that’s scary enough).
I was flying down the highway when I pass a truck with two bikes in the back, it looked familiar, like it may have been O’s truck, so then a while goes by and they pass me, I look and the person in the front seat wasn’t M so I thought, hrm, that’s not them, but then they were waving at me from the backseat and I realized it was them. So I traveled a good 100 miles in their caravan. It was comforting because I knew that they knew where they were going. I wasn’t going to get lost.
When we got there, I got to meet some more members of the New Mexico Outlaws (they’re now my local tri family). GeekGrl showed me around, showed me the transition area, it was a first come first serve set up so I set up fairly close to where we’d take off with our bikes. She showed me the water, where we’d start, what we had to do, which direction to go when we got on our bikes and which direction to go when we headed out for our run. I was extremely grateful at this point to have met her at the NM Tour de Cure. She’s a great asset to have in terms of me doing local events and getting into this whole Tri scene. In fact, all the Outlaws that I’ve talked to are extremely helpful.
Pre-tri setup: 2 hrs before the event was to begin I dropped my insulin take down to 25% of the normal. I knew swimming wrecks havoc on my blood sugars but I didn’t want no insulin in my system. The thought of going into ketosis because there’s no insulin in me scares me more than my blood sugar going low because there is insulin in me. 1 hr before the event I ate a powerbar and took 70% of what I would normally take for it. I needed my number to be around 180 when I started an at this point I was 92. Right before we headed to the water I did one last check and was thrilled to see that I was 196. I was going to be good for the swim.
400m Swim: The water we (fellow Outlaws and I) estimated was about 68 degrees, it was really nice, and as such, I didn’t wear my wetsuit. The swimming was an in water start and it went off in waves. Women first, then men, then the seniors. Just for the sake of not getting run over, I wanted to start with the seniors, but I didn’t. I made sure I was off to the side when I began swimming and that all the women had gone in before me. I didn’t want to get caught in the crowd. It didn’t take but a few minutes before I ran over my first person. That freaked me out. I practically swam over another person. I apologized and swam more towards the side of the group. Then a hand grazed my leg, and at about the same time, my hand grazed a leg. I freaked. It was a reminder of when I was younger and there was an incident in a pool where I got grabbed and held under water. I really didn’t want to be dragged under and drowned. This happened at about 50-100m into the swim. I flipped over at that point and began backstroking. I was in deep deep water (the deepest point being 90ft deep) and I really didn’t want to drown, and I was freaked out now, really freaked out. This is one of those things I’m gonna have to work on. I was not quite to the buoy when I heard the horn for the mens wave go off. I freaked out again because I knew the men were going to run right over me. I quickly got around the buoy and swam to the side where I was sure I wasn’t going to get run over. A life guard asked if I was ok. I said I was and continued on. The next life guard I passed said I had to get back into the main crowd. That freaked me out, the men were over there, they were going to swim right over me. But the guard said they’d rescue me if something happened. I did have one guy run over me, that wasn’t thrilling, but he apologized. I have a feeling that these apologies aren’t normal, when I start getting into the big races I don’t think I’ll be saying them or hearing them. I finally got back to the beginning, my swim time being 16.15.28. It seems so slow to me as I think about it now, but as I was told in the beginning by a GeekGrl, “it’s not about speed, just focus on your stroke” and thus, I was just thrilled that I made it out of the water without drowning.
T1: I hurried to my transition area but once I got there I was a bit disoriented. The first thing I did was check my blood, it was 29. I was in the water swimming for only 16 minutes and my numbers went from 200 to 29. That wasn’t good news. It pissed me off. I knew that I probably should’ve just counted my blessings that I made it out of the water and declare my race done there, but I couldn’t do it, I just couldn’t. I wanted to finish, I needed to finish. Diabetes was not going to get me down today. I ate 2 GUs, washed them down with water that had e-fuel in them, managed to get my shoes on and went on my way. (time spent transitioning: 4.16.80)
14k Bike: I had trouble clipping into my pedals, it was probably a good eighth of a mile before I managed to get clipped in. Early on there was a hill. I had no strength in me at this point to get up and stand to push myself up the hill so I kicked my bike into my lowest gear and pedaled up it. I didn’t find it easy and it wasn’t exactly the worse hill I’ve even ridden up. Even so, I was ok with it, I was going about 9 mph up the hill. When I got up the hill and was on flat road I was staring at it because it was really b-b-b-uuuum-m-m-m-py, so I was watching it. The rocks in the road were speeding at me as though I was in a warp tunnel. If I had to compare it to something, it’s as though I were in the millenium falcon and we had just gone to light speed. You know when the stars turn into bright blue lines, that’s what the rocks looked like to me, except they weren’t blue. And they kindof tunneled, it was interesting to say the least. I didn’t have much speed in me during the ride. My fastest coming down the hills was 27mph which excited me. On average though I was only going about 12mph, that’s not as fast as I can go, if I push it I could’ve done 14-15mph, but at this point, I have to remember, I was setting the bar, time wasn’t a factor. So really, my time of 36.24.21 was good. I was beat though. I could tell during the ride that my numbers weren’t ok. I was just so tired and exhausted, the tiredness and exhausted feeling that only comes from my sugars being out of whack, not from oh, I just rode 75 miles on my bike kind of tired. When I finished cycling, people were already finishing their runs. I had to get on my game if I were going to not be the last one (yes, I have issues being last. yes, I am that kind of competitive. yes, I did break my “setting the bar” rule just so I wouldn’t be last)
T2: This transition went better than the first one. I shed my helmet and sunglasses, and put on my ball cap. I ditched the cycling shoes and put on my running shoes. I checked my blood, holy crap, 360-something. Not happy with that number, I checked to make sure my site was still attached. It was, I bolused half as much as I needed to get that number back into normal range. I grabbed my water bottle (which was dumb, I hate carrying that crap, and I know it, but my meter was in the pocket) and I took off for my run. (time transitioning: 2:15.31)
4K Run: I couldn’t really run, I was sapped of all energy at this point, it was quite pathetic in my book. I was being passed and I couldn’t even run to keep up with the people that were passing me. I was walking, and walking, and walking some more, oh here, I’ll run a few steps, nope can’t do that, let’s walk some more. I did that all the way to the cone that signaled the turn around point. At that point I realized there was lines in the road, you know, the yellow stripes that exist to keep cars on the proper side of the road. I was all, OH! I can do this! And I started running for 5 yellow lines, walking for 5 yellow lines. I did better in the second half of my run than I did in my first. I managed to pass 2 people (which was good enough for me, I wasn’t coming in last). Around the last big corner I could see what looked like GeekGrl down at the end waiting for me, that put a smile on my face. I started jogging because I had been walking. And then there was a small corner where she was and I rounded it and the people there were yelling and one guy was all “come one, let’s see it, give it all you got” so I actually sprinted that little itty bitty part. I passed through the finish line and I was excited. I had just finished my first triathlon. The run took me 39.00.50.
Results: I finished in about an hour and a half, and that’s all that matters (this race), in the future, I’ll start figuring out how to place, not freaking out in the water is a great place to start, doing something about those darn blood sugars will help too.
It was cool at the end to actually have a good group of people around that I knew and I could talk to and I quickly was pondering my next race. They told me to register for Socorro so, I checked my calendar and I will be joining my fellow Outlaws on August 9th for the Socorro Chile Harvest Triathlon.
I can tell already, that I’m going to have a lot of fun competing in triathlons, plus as an added bonus I’ve got the Outlaws as my local tri family.
Anxiety Dreams Cause Me Anxiety
I have my first Triathlon tomorrow. It’s a minisprint. It’s the Bottomless Sprint Triathlon. It’s a 400m swim, 9 mile bike, and 2.5 mile run.
I can do it, I can do all of it, swim, bike, and run. I’m confident I can do it.
BUT! I had a horrible dream last night. I think my subconscious has lost it’s mind.
I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I was in a building full of people. I was in a panic because I needed to get out of there, go to the house, pack my gear and get to the airport by 1:30 in order to make it to my triathlon the next morning. Somewhere along the line I get passed a child, a little boy with the most beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair. I take him with me as I was headed out, I put him in his car seat in my car and I get in and sit for a moment. Then I get out, run over to another car, look in it for no good reason and run back to my car. Little boy in the backseat is sleeping now. I drive out of the parking lot and the road is covered with people. They’re all walking in the street instead of along side it. I weave in and out of people moving very slow getting very frustrated because I’m going to miss my plane. People are yelling at me for being on the road so I go onto the shoulder and start driving there, and then the people are still yelling at me. I yell back “what do you want me to do, I just want to drive out of here, you’re on the road so I’m on the shoulder” some guy yells back, “you’re going to run over someone” of course I retort, “no one’s on the shoulder in the sand, how am I going to run over anybody, they’d have to be lying down buried under the sand and sit up as I’m coming near in order for me to hit them” guy rolls his yes.
I finally get past all the people and get back on the road. Then all the sudden I’m driving and there’s people running along side the road. They start yelling at me, and then THUNK! a body hits the side of my car and people start yelling. “I didn’t hit him” I yell, “he ran into my car”. I keep driving.
I head to one house, put my bike in a suitcase and throw it in the trunk. Little boy is still in the backseat sleeping. I notice that almost forgot the front wheel so I open up the front flap of the suitcase and put the wheel in there. I hope back in the car and I’m back on the road.
When I get to the next destination, which happens to be another house, I’m frantic, I don’t know how to get to the airport. I don’t have directions, and my laptop is at the other house that I just left. And then I can’t find my tri shorts. I’m picking clothes up off the floor looking for my shorts and finally since I can’t find them I pick up a pair of shorts, smell them, pronounce that they smell clean enough and toss them towards a bag.
There’s 2 other people in this room, women, they’re just watching me with blank stares on their faces. I find my paperwork for my flight to the city where the tri is and at that moment I yell “I MISSED MY PLANE”.
I woke up at that point. I apparently never made it to that triathlon.
I didn’t realize that I was having anxiety issues over this tri. I was happy go lucky, it was just going to be another walk in the park. And then this morning I woke up and now it’s at the forefront of my mind. Usually I get a belly ache the morning of an event. This type of dream is new to me when it comes to sporting events. But I’m fairly sure that my subconscious was just cracked out on something because I know that I’m going to do just fine. Actually, I’m going to do better than fine, I’m going to do GREAT!
I don’t have to do much, I just have to remember 2 words, stroke and breathe.