Tuesday in Boulder county was perfect weather for riding a bicycle, so that is what I did. I was 10 minutes from the end of my ride when I saw a state patrolman pull a car over, naturally I started to mentally high five myself because someone was getting a speeding ticket, and it wasn’t me…

The next thing I remember, was seeing all of the flashing lights, ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars. They told me what happened as they loaded me on to the stretcher. I was hit from behind by an suv, and thrown into a guard rail, before I rolled into the street. “And my bike?! Is my bike okay?!” I asked like any good cyclist. Then I lost consciousness. Then I woke up again and screamed “ARE MY FEET MOVING?!” As they flapped wildly against the stretcher…someone has seen too many Grey’s Anatomy episodes. Then the lights went out again…until I started asking the EMT to look at my pinky finger, “I think it is broken, please tell me its not broken, I use it, like, everyday, I really need it” I babbled on.

Once we got to the hospital, they took cat scans, x rays, and stitched my shin back together. The good news was my cat scan showed undeniable evidence that I, Laura Tingle, have a brain. I was also shown a possible hip fracture from where the suv hit me. The whole time I was at the hospital a super hot fire fighter was there for an emt course. As I chatted with him I tried to straighten my enormous blonde hair (for more on this, please see my blog entry about enormous blonde hair) as I ran my fingers through it, I pulled out a humongous tumbleweed…odd. Then the nurse went to work scrubbing the road out of my rash. That was my least favorite moment of my life. After that delightful experience, the police officer came in with pieces of my bike, and the pieces of my cell phone that he found all over the road. My phone was in the back pocket of my jersey, as I inspected it, I came to a brilliant realization. My wee little phono gave his life, to protect me. So anyway, this is where things stopped making sense. They fitted me with crutches and a knee brace, and eventually let me leave the hospital. The knee brace caused excrutiating pain in my hip, and I couldn’t use the crutches because my shoulder hurt so bad. So, I situated myself in my favorite recliner until it was time to see the orthopedist two days later. He said,  ”Broken scapula” oh balls, this sucks.

Oh, the wisdom of a 7 year-old. 

After listening to me sing the ‘poor me’ song one time too many, my 7 year-old, Hanna, looked at me with some frustration and said, “Mom…you get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit.”  Amazing how those little ears hear and retain everything…well, everything that is except when I am loudly exclaiming, “It is bedtime, now go to sleep.  No more talking!” 

Even prior to racing in Lubbock this June, I knew something was wrong.  I had been feeling run down for a long time, I could not retain weight and I was losing muscle mass.  Workouts were hit and miss, and regardless of the amount of sleep I got, I was still tired.  When I raced at Lubbock it reminded me of how I felt in my last High School Cross-Country meet when I raced with mono and was subsequently hospitalized.  It was during the run in Lubbock that I made the decision to step back from racing triathlons for the remainder of the season and focus on getting my health back in order.  Of course, implementing this plan was not a simple process for me…my mind was a battlefield of ‘Train More versus Train Less’ and my family was caught in the middle.      

Yes, there is a time to push things, but as I have learned (the hard way) there is also a time to just…REST.  Rest is a difficult thing to do for us self-proclaimed obsessive-compulsive types, especially during the racing season, and when it does not come on our terms.  I would be lying if I said this is ‘easy.’  Rather, quite the contrary, it takes [me] more discipline to hold back rather than to continue to push myself.  We all start out the racing season with goals and expectations, anticipated race schedules, and when these plans get derailed, due to illness, injury, stress, work, etc. it can be a hard pill to swallow. 

I have been reading Brad Kearns book, “Breakthrough Triathlon Training.”  It is a good book that has at least provided me with some mental relief, especially with the chapter, “The Myth of Suffering.”  Now, not all will agree with what he has to say, but I believe there is merit when he talks about the emphasis we, as athletes, place on suffering.

  
I have come to the realization that there is a distinct difference between persevering and suffering.  According to Wikipedia, perseverance is “human endurance”, while suffering is “a negative basic feeling or emotion, that involves…harm or threat of harm.”  I do not believe persevering involves the potential for harm or damage.  That is not to say one will not suffer at some point in an Ironman or another race, but I think the key is maintaining balance and knowing when to step back.  Persevering through a race is honorable.  Suffering through a race or workout at the cost of permanent damage to your health or serious injury is questionable decision-making. 

I am not writing this to whine or complain…no, the anger and frustration have since subsided.  When your 7 year-old is telling you to ‘get over it’ one cannot help but to move-on, or as I choose to look at it now…move-forward.  I know everybody has their mountain to climb, and most often we come out stronger on the other side.  Besides, there are many other ‘mountains’ I would not even want to attempt to climb.  Temporary setbacks do not mean ‘forever’ and while I did not get to complete my 200 meter butterfly [yet] or compete at the races I set out to do at the beginning of the season, I have found  immense joy in watching others complete their racing goals and have found new interests and goals outside of triathlon. 

I am constantly reminding my girls that life is not fair, and that we cannot always control what comes our way, but we do control our response and attitude to what life throws at us.  Ironically, it took my 7 year-old to remind me of this.

“You must treat your body with kindness and respect and come to the realization that this is your vehicle to move through life and you should not abuse it.”  
-Tim Sheeper, as quoted in “Breakthrough Triathlon Training” by Brad Kearns.
 

I am currently getting ready for the Green Bay duathlon on Sept. 30th. The distances of the race are a 5k run, 32 mile bike, 1mile run. Here is the workout I did today:

Bike- 1hr 45min total time

20 min warm-up, followed by 20min Time trial, 5min recovery, 15mni time trial, 5min recovery, 10min time trial, 2.5min recovery, 5min time trial, steady pace for remainder of ride.

*My general heart rate is between 70-85%max HR for TT efforts. I like to gauge myself to go as fast as possible for the given duration.

Transition Run- 5 miles

1st 10 minutes maximal effort, remainder of run steady pace at 75% max hr.

Total workout time: 2hrs 20minutes

This was a great workout for anyone doing a similar distance event.

I love Vermont!  Ok let me change that, I love Vermont when it is sunny and warm!  Now that there is no more snow and it’s getting warmer the past few weeks I have been able to get in some great training, however, as with spring comes rain and mud season here in good old VT.  Let me share a recent experience with spring…

I was out for an 18 mile run (~29km for our Canadians and Europeans friends!) and having a short attention spam I decided to do one big loop, instead of several smaller loops/routes thrown together.  Now I also tend to take random turns and make up the loop as I go (the beauty of the Timex body link is I can always know exactly how far I have gone and where I went once I upload the workout the my computer!).   I was running along at about when, on a whim, I decided to take a turn and run about 3 miles on dirt trail alongside a river and some farms, normally a very scenic route.

About 2 miles in, the trail began to get a little muddy…no worries I’m tough.  Shortly after there was about a ten foot section of trail which was covered in about 6 inches of water, no problem, I’m water proof.  I continued to run along, now with the lovely sound and sensation of water squishing in my shoes.

I turn another corner and the river had totally flooded into the adjacent farm field, no problem, I can wash my shoes later.  I decided to run around the edge of the water through the field, however, the farmer must have recently fertilized…it didn’t smell very good and now the mud up over my ankles, Ummmm this was getting to be a problem.  I had thought about turning around, but I knew the trail ended and I could get back on the pavement in less that half a mile, so I continued to  trudge (it wasn’t so much running anymore) through the mud and…agricultural fertilizer, no problem, I’ll just shower really well after this run.    

I began to think this trail run may not have been a good idea.  On this little adventure the best was definitely saved for last.  I could see the end of the trail and pavement ahead, however, between it and me was what is normally a little trickle of a stream, only it had become a river!!  I’m serious, normally I could clear the stream in one small stride, however, this time I had to wade across about 10 feet (9 meters) with very cold water above my knee, normally I wouldn’t have cored too much, but that agricultural fertilizer smell was a little too strong for my comfort!  Houston, I think we have a problem!!

I made it home and considered burning my clothes and shoes, but decided to just take a shower first!  I have since decided that I need a new pair of shoes because my fiancé has made me leave them outside due to a rather unpleasant smell. 

Ahhhh! Spring in Vermont!  I figure as long as I don’t get into too many problems I should be ok!  Oh and for those who are interested as side from the above mentioned snafu’s it was a great run!! J

Swim Fast. Bike Strong. Run Hard.

-Alex

Not much exciting going on in wisconsin since camp; school, eat, sleep, train, study, repeat. Pretty boring. But the weather has improved from Blizzard conditions just a short 3 weeks ago, so that is good. And the start of longer training rides means I get to explore further and further into the midlle of nowhere. Here is just a sampling of some things I have seen over the past week or 2.

1) Having to stop for chickens crossing the road

2) An old farmer in the biggest pick-up truck ever, almost hitting, me, then saying he was sorry b/c he didn’t see me behind that “gosh-dang-ol-post-there” (he was referring to the stop sign that he didn’t stop for)

3) There are still remaining snowbanks on the tops of the bluffs (and its 70 degrees)

4) Baby sheep running alongside me

5) 2 middle age scary guys in an old chevy astro workvan asking me to pull-over for a second while I am in the middle of nowhere (yes, I was scared)

6) Farms with Llamas and Yak’s

Thats all of the weird and interesting sightings for now.