Dominion's Sprint/Oly Focus Group - OPEN (Page 22)

I love my Hoka One Ones and highly recommend them. They're the most comfortable running shoe I've ever worn. They're considered "maximalist" shoes because of all the padding, which is what I need for my bad knee. You can save a few bucks getting them off eBay, but do try them on first in a store as they seem to be on the small size, meaning I bought a half size larger than I normally would. I bought mine on the clearance rack at REI and saved $50. The sales guy recommended them because I have issues with chronic plantar fasciitis, and I haven't had any problems wearing these. (My feet are just about the only part of me that DON'T hurt when I run!) When these need replacing, I'll go for another pair. Even if I have to pay full price, they're worth it, IMHO.

Hi, all! This is the report of my final tri of the season. It was an epic fail. Let me preface this by explaining that I had send a private message to Chris on Friday after a not-very-good test swim in the wetsuit (I live in GA, the race was in MD). I thought I was having a panic attack due to the constricting nature of the wetsuit, but now I think I was having symptoms of the problem below. I thought I was ok. Apparently not. Read on for the full story and I apologize in advance for the long post:

I did not get to warm up in the water before the race; the swim start was half a mile away from the transition area, and logistically, it didn’t work out. I jogged to the start line which I used as my warm up (have you ever jogged in a dry wetsuit? bleh!). But I wasn’t too concerned; the water was warmer than the air at that point. Water was 68 degrees, air was 48 degrees. There was no floating dock, so we jumped off the bulkhead into the water. I was in the last wave consisting of Athenas, Clydesdales and Novices. We jumped in, and swam a bit for the 4 minutes waiting for our wave. I felt good; we were laughing and joking, etc. I was ready to rock n roll. Horn sounded and we were off. Within the first 200-300m, I felt a shortness of breath, but thought it was just adrenalin, so I rolled to my back to regulate my breathing. That was when I coughed the first time. And I remember having the thought, “when the hell did I develop a chest cold?!” I flipped over, kept going, got to about 400m and realized I simply couldn't breathe, there was a loud rattling in my chest and I couldn't stop coughing. I was also coughing up lots of sputum.
I rolled over onto my back, flagged a kayak who radioed a boat to take me in. In the ambulance, the EMT was very concerned with the amount of fluid in my lungs and said I need to go to the ER immediately. She even asked why I did the race if I was sick. I told her I wasn't sick and I didn't understand what was happening. She gave me oxygen and in the time I spent in the ambulance, the fluid began to subside. I got out, found my husband and drove to the ER, which was 25 minutes away. By the time I got to the ER, much of the fluid had subsided, but I was still very short of breath and coughing pretty hard. They spent three plus hours checking me out, doing blood work, chest x-ray and EKG. The PA went through a list of potential causes, and given my family history of heart issues, she even considered doing cardiac markers, but didn’t because everything else looked good. They basically sent me home with a pat on the head and a "you just panicked in the water. Better luck next time". Which Pissed. Me. Off. I'm not crazy. I didn’t just wimp out and quit. I know what I felt and experienced.

So I spent the 12 hour car ride home yesterday online, trying to get some answers. And I came across SIPE or Swim Induced Pulmonary Edema. I match almost all of the symptoms (age is the only one I don't match, I'm about 2 years younger than some of the normal cases but I did have pneumonia three months ago, so....?). Here is a link to a basic Wikipedia description of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming-induced_pulmonary_edema,and here is an article on trifind.com about it: http://www.trifind.com/a_2374/Swimming_Induced_Pulmonary_Edema_SIPE... So, there ya go. I'll be following up with my primary care doctor this week. Please use this as a cautionary tale for your own cold water swims.
I had planned to try and get in another race so I don't end my season this way, but I'm tired, my chest still hurts, and by god, I'm ready to spend my weekends camping and hiking.
Have a great winter everyone and happy training!
Jen

Congrats on a great race and great overall finish, Scott!

Yes, I believe it was a combination of the cold and the wetsuit. Here is a link to a case study in Canada in 2011 (sorry for all the links, but I had 12 hours to kill in the car): http://www.hindawi.com/journals/pm/2011/261404/ I have emailed the authors asking if there is any updated information since then and offered them copies of my chest xray, EKG, etc. I'll be sharing this study with my doctor on Friday.
One quote in the study says this: "Many athletes, race organizers, and even medical staff are unaware of IPE which results in an incorrect diagnosis such as water aspiration", which is basically what the ER folks told me. They didn't believe me that I hadn't sucked in water or they thought I didn't want to admit it or something. I'm trying hard not to be frustrated with the ER folks. They did their job, and their job is to address the symptoms in front of them, not practice epidemiology.
I couldn't have continued if I wanted to. I was gasping between coughs. Thankfully the suit kept me buoyant so I wasn't fighting the water. But I have never felt that kind of fear and I never want to again.

I hope you have room for one more. I would gladly like to join. Here is my story.

Name: username = Andantino; first name = AJ

Story: Right now, I finished studying Network Engineering and Security. I am off for the summer months and the fall. In the past, before going to college, I was cyclist. I used to do road races and because of this, I have a huge aerobic system (just waiting to be used again?). Back when I was a cyclist, I would train an average of 60kms+ daily and on weekends double the distance. During my time at my first college, I stopped cycling and sadly gained a little too much weight. Mission now, is to abolish it!

I am supposed to go back to school in January 2015 into a new program for Police Studies. I am looking forward to this Also planning on applying to the reserve force at the end of summer 2015.

Family Status: Currently I live with my boyfriend and our two pythons. Going into this endeavour, I have to support of my brother and my wonderful boyfriend.

Current Training: Hopefully at the end of the summer 2015, I would like to do an Olympic tri or HIM. It all depends on how training goes, and how my new schooling goes. I sadly, do not have a training partner - I just train alone - usually at odd hours of the day. Also, I have to start from scratch

Weight loss: I am 5'4 3/4” (approx. 167cm) in height. All the weight I gained over the past 5 years I would like to eventually lose – which is approximately 70lbs. In the process of doing this, I would like to increase my anaerobic system and develop more muscles and tone the ones I have.

Hobbies: math, biology, chess, playing with my pythons, photography, and snowboarding with my brother

I am located up in Toronto Ontario

Edited by Andantino 2014-10-08 1:38 PM

I watched it and winced every time the announcers referred to the women as "girls" or "gals." It's very disrespectful and shows they don't take the women competitors seriously. Not once did they ever refer to the male competitors as children or as anything less than men and athletes, and yet they consistently did so with women. A number of us complained on Ironman's Facebook site, and I also contacted Ironman directly, and I intend to continue to do so until they treat the women competitors as respectfully as they do the men.

Other than the announcers' language choices, the coverage was quite good. Mirinda Carfrae did a fantastic job coming from behind as she did. I wish I could run like her!

So I have a question about running. I've been running about two miles twice a week, and then 3-4 miles once a week. I'm to the point now where I can pretty easily run two miles, although I'm still pretty slow--about 15 minutes per mile. Three miles is still pretty hard for me, and four miles nearly kills me. I've been using the shorter distance runs to try to push myself to run faster, and then the longer runs to try to pace myself and increase my endurance. But, since all of my races are (approximately) 5Ks, should I be running at least three miles each time? Or is it beneficial to run a shorter distance a couple times a week and then race distance or longer once a week?

After my triathlon season was over, I turned my attention to improving my 5K time. I've never been a super fast runner and certainly won't compete with some of the times I've seen posted on here by other triathletes. For about 6 years now, my brothers (one older, one younger) and I as well as a couple other family members have competed for the "CBF Cup", our own family trophy for the best 5K time. For the entire time, my older brother has been the gold standard for running among us, with winning times typically below 26:00 and even below 25:00. The only exception has been my teenage niece, who can post sub-24 when she's feeling good, but she's been battling IBS and that is no joke.

While I knew I just didn't have enough time to train and get below 25:00, I set my sights on 25:30. My older brother had been in training for a Spartan Beast and less focused on running, so I saw this as my opportunity to sneak up on him and finally get my name on that Cup! My best treadmill time to this point had been 25:52, but I hoped the adrenaline rush from it being a race day and the added motivation to beat my brother would be enough to get me to my goal time. Win or lose, if I could post 25:30 I would be ecstatic.

Race morning, it's raining and kinda cool. On top of that, I woke up in the morning and my back was tight out of nowhere. I did some stretching to try to alleviate the discomfort, but was still iffy. Nonetheless, I went so far as to throw down the gauntlet and challenge big bro, letting him know my goal time and that I was serving notice that the Cup this year could end up on a different mantle! LOL

As it turns out, I didn't make a liar out of myself. I went out fast on the first mile, which goes against my training of trying to get faster as the race goes on. About a 1/2 mile in, me and big bro were shoulder to shoulder, but I could hear him breathing hard already and I knew I had him. I did that first mile in 7:20! Way faster than any of my training. I knew I had already built a 20 or so second lead on him, but didn't want to back off. I was able to keep up just about a 7 mph clip (8:36 pace). I turned the corner to head towards the finish line and I saw the clock at 25:08. I don't know how far it was, but that last 30, 40, 50 yards I just broke into a sprint and crossed the finish line at 25:23! I promptly wandered over to a grassy spot and nearly passed out. Ha, ha! Just kidding. I was extremely winded, but that couldn't keep me from feeling elated. Excuse me while I go to my profile and update my best 5K time!

Oh, yeah, and sorry for the long post for such a short race, but I'm feeling pretty damn proud of myself right now!

Thanks, Chris! It felt great. I ended up winning by 0:45. I never really felt comfortable until there was about 0.4 left. I kept looking over my shoulder waiting to see big bro coming up behind me. LOL But he was never able to really gain any ground on me. I ran by my wife and kids, my mom, one of my nieces, and my sister-in-law about a 1/4 mile to go and said "I got him!". They all said, "he's right there", but when I turned around he was quite a ways behind me (probably 100 yards anyway). I think they just meant that he was in sight, but no way he was going to catch me so close to the end!

Congrats. Great job!

My second 5K of the fall. Although it was fairly sunny and in the mid 40s, there was a cold northern wind, which made it feel a good ten degrees cooler. I was happy for the new track pants and warm-up jacket I'd bought the day before!

It was a pretty good race. I had been standing for the costume contest for about 20 minutes before the race started, and that really stiffened up my left knee (I have little to no cartilage in that knee). After the start gun went off, I kind of hobbled along for about the first half mile before my knee loosened up enough for me to run comfortably. The second mile had a lot of broken pavement, which slowed me down a bit as I watched my step. When I got to the 2-mile marker, I checked my iPod and saw I was just over 29 minutes for the two miles, so I really pushed myself on the third mile. The pavement was really good at that point so I didn't have to watch my step anymore and ran it in about 13 minutes, which is really, really fast for me! I haven't ran that fast in years! And as I came down over the hill toward the finish line, I saw the countdown timer just starting 44 minutes, so I ran as fast as I could to come under 45 minutes, and I did it! A personal best for me at 44:35 for 3.12 miles!

My next 5K is on November 15, and then I have another on November 29. I'm training hard! I want to run a 10-minute mile by May! I'm doing at least one 5K a month until then!

S: 10,880 yards
B: 100.81 miles
R: 32.09 miles

I kind of slacked off this month.The increasing darkness cut into my bike riding time, and most weekends I was gone, so few opportunities for weekend riding. I may not get any riding time in again until March because of my busy weekend schedule and inclement weather, so time to clean and lube both bikes and get them ready for winter storage. I'm looking into picking up a trainer, but it depends.

I'm focusing more on my running since that's something I can easily do in the dark and rain, and I'll be joining a gym tomorrow. I plan to see if I can work with a personal trainer for strength training since I'm pretty clueless as to how to use the machines. Supposedly, the gym has experienced personal trainers I can work with.

I'm having a hard time with swimming because the pool is so cold. The maintenance guys swear to me it's 81 degrees, but I'm pretty sure it's closer to 31 degrees. Once I can get myself in the water and start swimming, it's not so bad. It's just the "getting in" that's the hard part.

Two 5Ks in November, and one in December. Hopefully, we'll get some snow this winter and I can go cross country skiing.

I'm with Chris here, I'm not even going to consider posting my monthly totals. I'm in the "pretty non-existent" category as well. I know I got to the pool once for sure, maybe twice. LOL I think I did 2 bike rides, that's all. Most of my training was focusing on my 5K on October 18th. Uh, yeah, it has been over 2 weeks since then and I haven't run yet.

I was supposed to get back on the treadmill last night, but it was nearly 9:00 by the time I got my daughter to bed and I just wasn't feeling it. I hope to find the energy to run tonight even if it has to be at 9:00. I'll try to keep up running 2-3 times a week until my football season is over, which will be in another 2-3 weeks. Once that is over, I'll get back into doing more than just running. I did buy an indoor bike trainer, so I may aim for one bike ride a week during the season. Not sure on that one yet. I want to try for an Olympic distance this coming year and I don't want to try to extend my distances starting in spring, so my goal is to be back to full sprint distance by late winter (Feb, maybe March). That way, I can more gradually build my endurance and distances without having to try to make gains too quickly and risk burn out or injury.

For those of us who benefit from motivation through competition, the USAT National Challenge Competition starts December 1. Triathlon clubs registered with USAT, as well as individual USAT members, can compete. I registered as an individual. From the website:

"The USA Triathlon National Challenge Competition was designed with one idea in mind: keeping triathletes motivated and active during the off-season. Triathlon clubs from around the country go head-to-head from December to February by logging training miles in all three disciplines. There are three sessions: Swim (December), Bike (January) and Run (February). During each session everyone trains in all 3 disciplines, but awards are given for the team and athletes with the most mileage for that month's discipline and again for the overall competition. Clubs compete in Divisions according to club size, so even smaller clubs have a chance to win prizes. There are also prizes awarded to individual athletes in each session and overall. All stats are tracked in real time, as they are entered, so you can always see how your club is doing and how you are doing against others in your club and across the country."

You can find out more info at http://www.race-tracker.net/usat/index.cfm