Wow, That Came Out of No Where!

As you all in blog land know I have been sick and injured for the entire month of June. First, I had the hip/back issue that hampered my IM Kansas training and performance. Then I had bronchitis that also hampered my IM Kansas performance and at least another week after that. Of course, next was the back/rib thing that was very painful for awhile and I thought brought on by the continued coughing. Well, yesterday I found out that I have asthma! WTF?! I saw my doc yesterday for a physical. I also brought up that my annoying cough was back and causing me to lose sleep. She checked all the normal things to see if I had congestion and I had none. So she decided to do a peak flow to see how much air I could blow out. I was at 66% or the yellow zone. The green zone bottom end is 80%. So now I am on an Albuterol and Advair. I am only on it for 2 to 3 weeks for now. She thinks it was brought on by whatever infection I had. If the cough does not come back after 2-3 weeks then I probably will not need to the meds further. I hope this is the case because I am trying to get rid of meds not add to the list!

As to my training not much is happening in that area. I am going to do the elliptical at lunch today so I hope that works out! Thank god it is a a long weekend because I need some downtime! I am trying to come up with a name for my recovery period. TriTawn has "Operation Glutes". I thought that sounded cool and motivating. I thought if I had one it may make me less inclined to slack and get depressed. Anyone have any ideas?

Until later keep riding, running and swimming....and as Faith Hill sings in one of her songs, Just Breathe!

Colorado Bike MS

Team Shiner had a great weekend of riding at Bike MS. There were only four of us because my husband had to work but we made the best of it. The weather was gorgeous for both days. And as always the support and organization of this event was top notch! This is a great event and I am so happy to be a part of it!

Let me give you a quick update on all the riders:
1. Den had a great weekend. He is preparing for the Leadville 50 so he rode his mountain bike and just cruised through this ride. I am so proud of his determination and drive. He is a great climber and he is going to rock Leadville with the way he is riding right now!
2. Nicola (a.k.a Nicki) is such a great friend and a pleasure to have on the ride. She did me a great service on Sunday. She let me suck her wheel because I was feeling sick. If it weren't for her I would still be along side the road somewhere!! Love ya Nicki!
3. Janelle (a.k.a. Bambi) is such a great lady! She is thoughtful, strong and brave. This was her first year at the ride. She just began riding this year and she totally rocked it!!! She faced every adversity and conquered it. Janelle I love ya!
4. Brad our absent member made up for this on Sunday. He met us at the finish line with a great spread of food and our favorite brew, Shiner Bock. Thanks Brad you made all of us very happy campers!
5. Marilyn is our inspiration. And she was there at the finish also. She is a strong, confident gal who is fighting MS in the best way she can, bravely! Thanks Marilyn! This ride was for you!
6. Then there is me, a.k.a. Chrissy. I had a great first day but struggled on the second day. My cold is back to play! But it did not matter because this was all about having fun and that we did! There was no pressure to race. The only pressure was to make sure we acknowledged the other participants and the wonderful volunteers. Thanks to everyone!

Now you are probably wondering why the gals above have a.k.a next to our names. Well, on our second day we all wore our Shiner Bock jerseys. These are always a big hit. Just about everyone comments on them. This time around a lot of people started calling us the "Shiner girls!" We thought that sounded alot like "Hooter girls" or "Dos Equix" girls so we decided we needed nicknames. Thus, the new names. Yea, we represented Shiner Bock very well. We even offered some of our Shiner to some guys at the finish! I really think Shiner should throw some swag our way because we are representing!!!!

I will now leave you with great pics from the weekend! I decided to get creative and take pics on the bike. Don't worry no cyclists were hurt during this endeavor!

Friday Lyrics!

Well, I am having a hard time coming up with a song this week. My son "borrowed" my head phones so I have not had any music speak to me. So I will just post a bit of song that has always meant something to me. It spoke to me back in the eighties and it still does today.


Alright, I've got something to say
It's better to burn out than to fade away!

-- Def Leppard "Rock of Ages"
-- Songwriters: Joseph Elliot, Richard Allen, Steve Clark Mutt Lange, Rick Savage and Peter Willis




I absolutely love the line above. It seems to be how I live my life. However, this week my coach got me to change my thinking somewhat. As you know I have been plagued for some time now with various aches and pains, all of which are tied to my back. Well, coach and I made the decision that I will not be doing IM Branson. We collectively decided that I should instead focus on recovery and building strength. So now I need to decide what IM 70.3 I will be doing next year. I am hoping to do something in the April/May timeframe. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would love to hear your comments and suggestions!

And don't worry about me not having enough events for the rest of the year. I still have many things coming up. I have the MS 150 this weekend (FYI, I have raised almost $1500.00. Best year ever!). I have RAGBRAI at the end of July. Finally to round out the year, I have the Denver Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon in October and the San Antonio Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon in November. So as you can see I am still trying to burn out than fade away...

Now for your listening pleasure, please take a look at this youtube video of Rock of Ages. Yes, I was and still am a "headbanger!"

Update!

Hi guys! I have been very busy lately. I have not done much in the way of training but I have kept busy!

1. This weekend was a great event, my son's graduation party! We had over 20 relatives come into town to share this great event with us and we had a blast! They got to see all the great sights of Colorado Springs and we got to catch up with them. I am so glad our friends and family were able to spend this time with us!


The family visiting


Ty looking to the Future!

2. While my brother was in town he wanted to do the Manitou Springs incline. He had heard me talk about it and had seen it so he wanted to conquer the demon. My friends, Nic and Marilyn, and I agreed to go with him and conquer his "Ironman." We were a little nervous about him doing this because he was coming from Kansas where there is little elevation. However, he proved to be as stubborn as me and kicked its butt!!!! I am so proud of him!

3. I have managed to convince my niece, my brother and his girlfriend to join me in San Antonio to run the SA Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon! I am very excited about this turn of events. Plus, I might also have convinced a co-worker who lives in SA to also join us! Yea!!! More running converts!

4. Now to what is happening with me. I have developed another injury. Surprise! Surprise! This time the injury presented itself as a broken rib but turns out it is just my back which is radiating pain similar to a broken rib. This is the most painful injury I have had in my career. It hurts when I cough, laugh or move in particular ways. Jill worked on me last night and I thought I was going to die! I hope that it heals soon because I am slated to do the MS 150 bike ride this weekend. That could be a very painful 150 mile ride!

Well, that is all I have for now. I hope everyone has a great day full of productive training and adventures!

Friday Lyrics

This is the best song by the best muppet ever known, Kermit! I hope you enjoy this version with Debbie Harry. I am trying to use this song to get back to my determination and will so that I can train for Ironman Brason! I am having a hard time getting back on the training bandwagon!



FYI, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes also do a great version of this song!

Race Report in Pics!

Here is the race from the eyes of my husband...

Go KU!!!!!!!!!!!


First Day in Lawrence and I am not nervous at all!


Me and my bros hanging out....


My area in transition 1:


Great swag...


Pre-race setting up transition. I am nervous!


My wave gettting ready to swim and no that is not me in the wrong area!


Coming into transition and trying to get the swim out of my mind!


Finally exiting transition!


Coming in from the bike...


Hi ya'all, I will quit soon!


Whoops, I was just joking...my resolve set in!


Damn it's hot out here!


Brad found a new setting on the camera just in time for my finish! Hated it!

Finally a Race Report!

First, let me just apologize for the long delay in providing this race report. There are several reasons for the lack of promptness. The first would be work. As soon as I got back from the race I immediately caught a plane to San Diego to meet with our IT Department. After returning from that trip, I spent the weekend with our small work group doing some team building, white water rafting in very cold weather (a blog to come on that one!) The second reason for the delay was a somewhat poor attitude after the race. I was disappointed and somewhat embarrassed by my time. However, fear not! I have moved past the emotions for the most part! So let's get down the details about the race.

Pre-Race:
Prior to leaving for Kansas, I met up with Lisa for a short easy ride on the Air Force Academy roads. During that time we discussed strategy and she gave me some great hints. I had also chatted with Jill, my physical therapist, and it was decided that I should not run on Sunday. Therefore, the plan was to complete T2 and then quit the race. That way I would not hurt my hip further just in case it was a stress fracture that has been plaguing me the last month. Brad and I took off after work on Thursday. We drove to Hays, KS and then called it a night. The first thing we notice when we stopped for the night, yep the humidity! Damn it was humid and hot! Now, I grew up in Kansas so I knew that is was going to be like that but I had totally forgot how it felt!

Friday Brad and I got up at about 8a and had some breakfast. Then we hit the road again. Nothing to eventful here. We sang to the radio, chatted and just enjoyed the moment. We got into Lawrence right around lunch time so we hit a small Mexican restaurant. The food was not great but then no surprise there either. The beer however was great! We hung around the hotel waiting for my brothers to arrive. They showed up around 3ish. My brother Chad was in a great mood. His divorce papers were signed so that meant celebrations were to begin. I had already been lectured by coach about getting drunk so I stayed away from all that craziness. Too bad Brad did not get the lecture! I called it an early night and waited for the excitement of next day. Plus, I was not feeling great. I had started getting cold symptoms on Thursday and it was starting to get worse over the weekend. Great as if I needed another reason to worry about my race!

Saturday started with breakfast. I had to get my Sherpa out of bed to accompany me to the race site. He was really hung over but I reminded him to suck it up because the rest of the weekend was about me! We got down to the race site at a fairly decent time but still missed the first part of the racers meeting. I did the packet pick-up, got some gear at the Ironman store and then went down to transition. I placed Sadie lovingly in her spot and told her to behave. I wanted to get in a swim but had to cut that out of the plan. Bad idea! But I had to get back to the hotel because the rest of my family was coming into town. By about 4p everyone is in town and we headed over for some dinner. We had a great pasta dinner with lots of great conversations. I chose to go back to the hotel and get ready for the next day while everyone else went out to party. I obsessed for some time over what should go in which bag and should I take this or not, etc. It was not pretty. However, I finally settled down and when to bed. I slept pretty good and before I knew it the alarm was going off. The first thought as I was getting out of bed, "WTF am I doing here?!" That is not good!

Race Day
We arrived earlier enough, I don't remember the exact time. However, we did not have a lot of traffic to get onto the park. We got a pretty good parking space and was quickly on the bus to the second transition area. I set up my gear in T2. Not much to do here but put out some shoes and a hat. No need for nutrition because I am not finishing the race. After that we went down to T1. I tried to look like I knew what I was doing here but really didn't have a clue. I felt completely out of place and just tried to calm my nerves. I did have a great spot in transition. I was right near the exit of T1 and very near the pros. After I set up it was time to visit the porta-potties. That took forever and I was very concerned that I would miss my 646a start time. Luckily that did not occur. I had ample time to put on my wetsuit and get in line for the swim start.

Swim:
Okay, I had some pretty good goals for my swim. I wanted to finish in about 45 mins and I wanted to try and be calm. Yea, none of that happened. Now for Kansas, you enter the water from a boat launch and then float for awhile until the race starts. I swam out the start area and tried to get to the far right and back of everyone so I could miss all of the jostling. The gun went off and my nerves broke. Yea, I panicked. I don't really know why but it is something I need to figure out. I finally pulled my self together at the half-way point and was able to get in some steady swimming.

Time: 56:44
Lessons Learned:
1. I need more OWSs so I can work on the nerves but the opportunities were not available.
2. I really need to visualize this part of the race.
3. Don't get intimidated by the other competitors!

T1:
I did not have a quick transition but I was not too concerned because I was not going to finish this race. I had a great place for exiting the transition but that also meant I had to run across a lot of concrete. My feet didn't really like that. It took some time for me to get my wetsuit off but not too much. I will work on this area for sure!

Bike:
The only goal I had for the bike was to try and keep my rate at about 17 mph and again this fell apart. I expended a lot of energy during the swim with the panic attack so I was a little off to begin with. My legs did not want to cooperate so I spent the beginning of the ride trying to get into a rhythm. I finally found a somewhat acceptable speed and just concentrated on keeping it up. I passed a few people and some passed me. Overall, I was liking the course and the weather was not too hot so I was coming around. There was one small problem during the ride and that was the oil spill on the road. We had to dismount to get around it but the officials did a great job of warning us of the danger. I kept to my nutrition plan for the most part and really hammered the water. As I was coming back into T2 I saw all my family and that really propelled me on. I was starting to feel better and I had no pain in my hip.

Time: 3:49:06
Lessons Learned: I need more time on the bike!

T2:
I came into T2 found my rack and placed Sadie safely away. I switched my shoes. I did not put on socks because I was just going to run out and then quit. I made my way around to the area where my family was and in an instance decided that I was not going to stop. I was going to walk the 1/2 marathon and finish come hell or high water. Nothing was going to stop me from finishing and making my family proud. FYI, my brother totally called that one. He told Brad I would not quit not with them there and he was right. Brad knew I would follow the plan but nope, the stubborn gene kicked in!

Run:
So the run was not a run but rather a walk. I did the calculations in my mind and my goal was to do 15 min miles. Goal hit on this one! Walking a 1/2 marathon is very hard mentally, especially when most of the competitors are done and going home. The best part of course was that I got a lot of personal cheering from the other competitors! I saw my friend from the tri club Nicole packing up and she said Hi! That was a definite boost! The weather was very hot at this point so I did everything I could to keep cool. I hydrated at each rest area. Around the second lap my decision to not wear socks finally kicked my ass or should I say feet. They were killing me! My left foot had a huge blister and it felt like it would just keep popping, filling up and then popping again. I was never so happy to finish. And what a finish, my brother and his girlfriend cheered me through the chute! They heaped tons of praise on me and made me feel like a rock star. Mentally though, I was completely beat up and done! I cried and swore to never do this again. I was going to blow off Branson because this was just too hard! FYI, I did not see the Wizard of Oz characters. They were long gone by the time I finished. I was met by a Navy guy and the guy who gave me my medal.

Time: 3:16:20
Lessons Learned: Wear Socks!

Post-race
We went back to the hotel. I showered, we ate and then we hit the road for our 8.5 hr drive home. I had to get back so I could catch my plane on Monday!

Final Thoughts
This was definitely a learning experience. I managed to do everything wrong but that is par for the course for me. However, now I know what I need to work on and what I need to change. I am happy that I finished. I accomplished something that very few people every will. Now I am ready to finish better and stronger. So my focus now is on Branson and redemption!

Thanks to everyone for all the positive thoughts and vibes. You guys have really helped me to recover from this hard race. FYI, I had bronchitis during the race and my hip never hurt! Go figure! Now I am recovering and hoping to start training sometime this week.

Until later keep riding, running and swimming to personal achievements!

Ironman Kansas Stats

I am out of town on business so right now the only thing I can post our my stats. I finished and I am happy with that. I am not happy with my results and am quite disappointed in fact. However, there were several mitigating factors. One, I could not run because my coach and physical therapist advised against it because of a possible stress fracture. I was not even supposed to finish but I got stubborn when seeing the family. Second, I started getting sick the day before we left. I believe I have either sinusitis or bronchitis. Are these excuses? Yes. Will I try again? Yes. Anyway, here are the details. I will post a full report sometime soon. But first I would be remiss if I did not thank everyone. Thanks to all my friends, family and blogger buddies who provided support in one for or another. You guys totally rock and I could not have done any of this without you guys!

Place: 1572
No: 341
Division: W40-44
Athlete: Christi Keiser
City: COLORADO SPRING
State: CO
Country: USA
Age: 42
Sex: F
Rank: 1545
Swim: 56:44
Pace: 2:56
Rank: 1402
T1: 5:54
Rank: 1529
Bike: 3:49:06
Rate: 14.7
Rank: 1091
T2: 3:25
Rank: 1560
Run: 3:16:20
Pace: 15:00
Overall: 8:11:26

Taper Madness Has Begun!

Okay, here are some bullet points on what has been happening as of late in the training department!

1. Running not so much! I am still having issues and Jill is trying desperately to figure out what is going on. I have been doing the elliptical and my core exercises.
2. I had a great hike with the hubby on Saturday.
3. An awesome ride on Sunday despite having the worst wind ever. More to come on this later in the week. I have some great pics. FYI, I am in the best bike shape ever!
4. I tried to run after my ride on Sunday but it was more like a stumble. I looked like a drunk women in heels rushing to the bathroom!
5. I was really tired on Monday so I only swam 600 yards. I sat in the hot tub for 10 mins and then napped the rest of the day.
6. Monday was also the day when taper madness hit me. I am a nervous wreck. I am worried about the run. I am wondering if I should even try to run on Sunday. I am going out of my mind. I had to talk to myself all the way to work today. I just kept saying "Trust your training!" Did I mention that I have not run long since April 17th? Yah, totally freakin!
7. Monthly totals for May.
Running: 72.8 miles(Most of this was on the elliptical)
Swimming: 10250 yards
Biking: 176.23 miles


Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.