Allergy Control And Breaking Out Of A Rut

For those of you out there who battle seasonal allergies, I can actually say that I feel your pain. Midway through last summer, after a race, I started to experience seasonal allergy symptoms. To that point in my life, I really hadn't run into any issues with allergies and so it took me awhile to understand what was going on. A trip to the doctor resulted in a diagnosis of a sinus infection with a suggestion to take a daily allergy over the counter pill and to use a decongestant as needed. It was late enough in the year that fall soon came and with the cooler weather my symptoms subsided. 

Fast forward to this year and a late spring had me cruising along with no issues. However, as soon as the weather started to warm up my symptoms returned with a vengeance. I started taking my daily allergy pill once again and that kept the sneezing and itchy eyes in check, but the congestion got worse and worse. On top of that, anytime that I swam in open water (including for my races) my sinuses would close completely for a couple of days making it unbearable. For the past 8 weeks I have tried switching medications, popping congestion meds like candy, using nasal irrigation all with little long term success. Exercise and irrigation would provide temporary relief but I just could not shake the constant congestion. With that came loss of sleep, irritability and a drain in energy (not good for a triathlete in training). 

After conversing with family, friends, and co-workers, I was nearly at the point of going to see an allergist and ENT (I'm sure many of you are questioning why I didn't do that before) but within the last week, I have finally found what seems to be working for me. After 4 straight days of relief, I feel comfortable stating that it appears that Allegra-D combined with Nasacort is the right combination for me. With my nasal passages finally clear, I have gotten a couple nights good sleep and the irritability has subsided. In addition, today I had my best day of training since April. A 1,400 yard pool workout this morning resulted in my fastest splits since mid-winter and an average pace of 2:18/100 yards. I followed that up with a 12 mile/3 mile brick workout this evening where I averaged 20.3 mph on the bike followed by 10:08 min/mi on the 3 mile run. My breathing did not hold me back at all and it felt good to push myself again. 

I have less than 3 weeks to go until I have 2 sprint triathlons on back to back days, and even though it was only 1 good day of workouts, it helped me to recover a little of the confidence that I have lost this spring/summer. Hopefully today was a preview of what is to come for me the remainder of the summer. Either way, I'm glad to be back to breathing easier. 

Quad Cities Triathlon

I left work early on Friday to head to Davenport for packet pickup and to check out the race course. The race was held at West Lake Park which made for a beautiful venue. The swim and bike were both out and back courses and the bike course was pretty flat with just a couple of small hills. The run course did have some hills and also included 3/4 of a mile of grass and gravel. After picking up my packet I headed to my in-laws house to spend the night. My mother-in-law, Mary, cooked me Rigatoni for dinner with garlic bread, salad, and peas. It was VERY good and provide some good fuel for race day.

View of the swim course

This was waiting on my bedroom door

A 7:00 am start time meant that my alarm was set for 4:00. I arrived at the park a few minutes after 5 and took my time getting ready. I got a parking spot just outside of transition, which is always nice. After getting my transition spot set up, I looked up to see someone that I vaguely recognized. Both of us did a double take before catching that we work together. He is a fellow software developer at Pioneer, but the catch is that he left Johnston several years ago and has been working remotely from his house in Moline. To make it more interesting, out of 400 racers, our transition spots were right next to one another. There is a good possibility that if that wasn't the case we would have never ran into each other. I also realized how strange it is to see someone that you know in a situation that is completely out of context for how you know them. We had a good chat and I found out that this was his first triathlon ever. 

Transition all set up

View of transition shortly before the race started

Even before the sun was above the horizon the temperatures were already in the upper 70's and the humidity was ridiculous. At 6:45 we all gathered on the beach for the pre-race briefing and then lined up according to expected swim finish times. The swim start was 2 people at a time every 3 - 5 seconds. I waited in line for a half hour before it was my turn to go. I felt pretty good throughout the 600 yard swim and was very pleased to see a 2:30/100 yard average as I got out of the water. I headed into T1 feeling pretty good as I mounted my bicycle. This is the first time this season that I finally felt comfortable on the bike. I was able to attack the few hills on the course and take advantage of having the wind at my back. I averaged 17.5 mph on the bike and am extremely happy with that. 

By the time I got off the bike, the temperature was well into the 80's and the heat of the sun was nearly unbearable. I headed out of transition and it became apparent pretty quickly that I wasn't going to be setting a 5k PR today. I took several walk breaks through out the 5k run course (usually going up the hills) and ended with a time of 40:27. I'm not overly proud of that time, even in the heat, but I did what I had to to cross the finish line. 

All finished and ready to head for home

My official time for the race was 1:50:53 and I finished 297/396. My biggest take away from the race is that my open water swimming and bike are finally heading in the right direction. As for the run, I'm not worried at all. Today was just a fluke that will be easily corrected as I pick up some more brick workouts on my training schedule and spend some more time running in the heat. 

Official race splits

The Quad Cities Triathlon was a great experience. I really liked the course as well as the race staff and volunteers. I'm certain that this race will find it's way onto my race schedule in future years. I really liked that the bike course was closed to traffic and I also liked the off road portions of the run course. 

My next race is the Accel Triathlon on July 14 followed by the Des Moines Corporate Games Triathlon on July 15. My plan for the next month is to ramp up my running miles and build in more combo workouts. I'm also going to work on shedding a few pounds prior to those races as well. I'm targeting the Bluff Creek Triathlon in August as my "A" race this year and want to make sure that I am in peak shape by them. 

Pigman Sprint Triathlon

This morning I competed in the Pigman Sprint Triathlon at Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area just north of Cedar Rapids. The race included a 500 meter swim, 25 kilometer bike, and 5 kilometer run which is pretty much the same distance as the Hickory Grove Triathlon 2 weeks ago. I headed for Cedar Rapids after lunch yesterday to make it over to packet pickup and to check out the course. I then headed to my parent's house, about 40 minutes away, for the night.

I was very thankful for the cooler temperatures and low humidity that resulted from the front that moved through yesterday, but the wind certainly ended up being a factor. I arrived at the park about 6:00 am and got a parking spot adjacent to transition. After getting marked and picking up my timing chip, I set up in transition.

Transition area all ready

The field of 395 was larger than most of the races that I have done and included an elite, collegiate, and high school fields in addition to the age groupers. The transition area was quite over 100 yards from the water and was really long and narrow. I was in the 12th, and final, swim wave so my designated area was at the very back of transition. 

Deep into the transition area

Transition closed at 7:10 with a pre-race meeting at 7:15. The first swim wave started at about 7:35 and I didn't start until about 8:10. That resulted in a lot of standing around waiting for the race to start, but it also meant that I didn't have to worry about getting passed by many people because I was one of the last into the water. As the race started the wind was already starting to pick up, but by the time I got into the water it was about 15 mph and had a larger impact on my swim than I expected. I actually felt pretty good during the swim and was extremely surprised at how slow I was going. I had even managed to pass a few people during the swim, which NEVER happens to me. I went from one of my fastest swim times 2 weeks ago to my slowest today. 

View of the swim course

Once out of the water it was obvious that the winds were picking up even more. Because of the difference in start time between the swim waves, several of the elite and collegiate racers were already on the run course when I got on the bike, which was another strange feeling. Under the conditions, I actually rode pretty well even though I only averaged 16.9 mph. By the end of the bike the wind was gusting between 25 - 30 mph and I can recall one spot on the course when a gust of wind knocked my speed from 18 mph down to 8.5 almost instantly. I did manage to pass between 50 and 75 people while on the bike, which helped me feel a little better because it meant that everyone was struggling with the wind a bit. 

The last mile of the bike course was shared with the out and back run course which was another interesting experience. In addition, the road in the park was open to traffic and their were fishermen and campers coming and going occasionally. This meant that in addition to battling the wind, I had to weave in and out of runners and vehicles. I don't often say this, but I was actually thankful to be off the bike and out on the run course. 

I had certainly used a lot of my legs up on the bike, but was still feeling good as I started the run. I didn't push hard at all for the first mile but picked up the pace after that. The wind and cool temperatures were actually an asset on the run and the remaining 2 miles went by very quickly. As I turned the corner into the last .2 miles, a woman just a few years older than me got up along side me and said she was excited to finally catch me as she had been chasing me ever since I blew by her on the bike. We both had a good chuckle as we crossed the finish line. 

Post race spaghetti provided by Zio Johno's...yum!

Even though my times for the race were not the best, I am very proud of how I raced today. I did leave a little time on the course, especially in the run where I should have pushed the pace earlier. It seems strange to say, but over the past few years, I haven't really had a lot of opportunities to run the 5k distance and I tend to forget just how short it is. That is one of the major adjustments that I plan to make going into my next race. The other big change that I am hoping to make is getting out on the bike more, which should be easier now that school, and related activities, are done for the year. 

Another triathlon in the books

Overall, I really liked the Pigman Sprint and will certainly consider adding it to my schedule again in the future. With the exception of the short stretch shared between the run and bike, I really enjoyed all 3 parts of the course. The lake water was the clearest that I have swam in and the volunteers and event staff were very friendly. 

I have less than 2 weeks until the Quad Cities Triathlon. I plan to do some race specific training between now and then and hope to show some improvement over my last 2 races. Thanks for reading!

Official results. I finished 275 out of 395 racers

National Runner's Month Challenge

Last month I participated in a Runner's Month Challenge hosted by the health and fitness center at Pioneer. The challenge was simple, use a GPS device to track all miles run during the month of May. As a company, we had a goal of running 4,000 miles. We didn't quite hit that goal but 41 runners did manage to log 3,163 miles.

From a personal standpoint, I logged 103.12 miles for the month which was good enough for the 9th most among all employees participating in the challenge. I really got excited about the challenge and even surprised myself a little. In the past 5 years of running, this is the 3rd most miles that I have ever logged in a month and only the 5th time that I have crossed the 100 mile threshold.

The challenge may be over, but my summer is just heating up. Over the next 2 months I have 4 triathlons and a road race that I will be competing in. For one of those triathlons as well as the 10k road race, I will be representing Pioneer in the Des Moines Corporate Games and looking to help contribute to defending the championship that was earned last year.