Our first stop was at my dad's in Foresthill for a quick visit, waterski and to drop the fur child off at the grandparents. She loves staying there.
Day one of our trip was spent at Crater Lake. We had planned to run this day, but I woke up feeling a little sick so we ended up driving the crater road and taking a nap at one of the pullouts in the back of the van. Love having a cozy bed to climb into at any time!
The next couple days we spent camped out on a forest service road near the top of Broken Top above Bend OR. We left for rides and runs right from camp and enjoyed the amazing stars at night. I still felt a bit sick but not bad enough to keep me off the trails. This cold ended up lingering for 6 weeks so I probably should have just listened to my body and taken a couple days off. The trails were just too amazing!
Ryan on the trail near Green Lakes
Juniper Center- My favorite pool!
We were bummed when we headed home to clearer but still smokey skies. Usually you can see the lake from this scenic point off 50.
The next couple weeks consisted of both of us working too much and me trying to cram some training in around 4-5 12 hour work nights a week. Ironman Tahoe was around the corner and I was still not feeling great. I didn't feel terrible, but the cold just seemed to linger and settle into my lungs. My energy levels were good, but I just felt congested. I enjoyed some of my last swims in Tahoe with Ryan and Bliksem as my escorts. The water was cold. Okay I'm a bit of a wimp, but the air temp plummeted the week leading up to the race with morning temps in the low 30s. The worst part of my post work morning swims was walking on the beach before and after.
The day before the race Tahoe welcomes Ironman with a dusting of snow in the mountains and a downpour at lake level. I wasn't looking forward to the race. I suffer in the cold and never really warm up once frozen. I decided on a full kit change in T1 to get out of everything wet. I also had heated foot beds for my shoes and hand warmers in my gloves. Turns out none of it made any difference for me. The swim was actually really nice. I like the new rolling starts and the water felt relatively warm after walking across the frozen sand. I felt descent until I got out of the water. The changing tent was a mess of frozen women trying to put dry clothes on over wet bodies with numb fingers. Eventually I got all my dry clothes on and I headed out. I felt okay on the bike, but was having a hard time breathing. A couple other athletes heard my wheezing and said "elevation is rough". I was too winded to reply that I live here and this wasn't the elevation. I think it was a combination of the chest cold and the cold air. On the climb over Brockway which I've done many times with no problems I stopped a couple times. I ended up laying down on the side of the road for 15 or so minutes just trying to catch my breath just before finishing the climb. I considered dropping, but figured I would just try to get back on the bike and slow peddle the rest of the course. Lap 2 of the bike I finally started warming up except for my feet and I enjoyed the easier parts of the course. It's a really beautiful place where I live! I ended up stopping a couple more times on the second climb through Northstar and Brockway trying to catch my breath, but I finally made it to the end of the bike course. I still wasn't feeling good, but I decided to start the run and see how it went. I walk and jogged my way through the run course and slowly sensation came back to my feet. It wasn't pretty but eventually I got it done.
While I loved having a close IM that I didn't have to travel to get to, I'm not sure I like the odds of racing in late September in Tahoe. This time of year here is known for beautiful warm fall days one day and snow the next.
Less than 24 hours after finishing I was back on my feet at work.
