Beaver Freezer 2017

The first triathlon of 2017 has come and gone.  Lots of fun things to celebrate about this race.  A few things that didn't turn out quite like I had planned.

Out of the group that all works with my coach, aka the Booth Bunch, my husband Joe, Marcus, Ron, Mike, James and Jon's wife Janelle were all participating.  As well as our good friend Chad.  Quite a crew!

The weather wasn't terrible.  Not as awesome as last year but it wasn't super cold and dumping down rain.  It sprinkled a bit at the beginning so there were wet roads but overall not too bad.

Jon & Logan talking with Janelle before she started her swim.

Janelle was the first to swim.  She had been a little nervous about the swim but looked really good in the pool.  She did a good job of not going out too fast and getting out of breath (the way I did last year!)  It didn't take too long and she was out of the pool and heading to transition.

Love this picture!  Jon cheering and Janelle with a big smile! 😀

At this point I had to leave for a little while but I was able to make it back in time to see the guys start coming in from their bike ride.  I didn't get pictures of all of them but a few of them.  I missed seeing Janelle finish, which was a bummer but she said she had fun and felt like she did well.

Joe had a great ride.

Joe had a speedy transition and was quickly heading out to run.  

Next to come in was Marcus.

Looking good Marcus!

Melissa and Kirsten cheering Marcus as he starts the run.

I always love hanging out with Melissa at events.  We spend a lot of time laughing and talking!

Jon and I stayed and watched for Ron and Mike to finish the bike.  Almost all of the team was wearing Pure Endurance triathlon kits.  We got them last fall and they look great.  At one point I looked at Jon and asked him, "How does it feel to see Pure Endurance kits coming down the hill?"  He gave me a big smile and said it felt pretty good.  😃

Once everyone had finished the bike ride we walked over to watch them do the run.  The run is three loops around the Oregon State University campus.  

All the guys looked good on the run and finished strong.  

Joe running well.

Mike letting us know he hears us cheering for him. 

Joe coming into the finish. 

The athletes with their awesome coach (and coach's helper, Logan)

All of the participants looked like they had a lot of fun and they all did really well.  It was fun to be able to cheer them and encourage them along the way.  

However,  I was supposed to be participating too.  That part was hard.  Really hard.  I was so looking forward to doing the Beaver Freezer again and this time not being so scared.  

My swimming has been getting stronger, which is where I really struggled last year.  My biking and running are also faster.  I was really excited to see how I could do compared to last year.  

Last month I started taking a number of supplements to help with my new diagnosis of insulin resistance and hoping that it would help with my tired issues.  About two weeks in I lost a filling in a back tooth and ended up having it pulled.  

About a week later I was going on a bike ride and it was awful.  My heart rate was really high, I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest, I was sweating like crazy and I felt queasy.  So I didn't go for the longer ride I was supposed to but headed back towards home.  I had to go really slow in order to keep the heart rate from being out of control.

The next day I had to do a 30 minute run and was supposed to do a 11:20 pace.  I did pretty good for the first mile and then everything fell apart again.  My heart rate was over 190 and I felt terrible.  I started walking and my heart rate wouldn't come down.  Probably got all worked up about it which didn't help.  

Talked to my specialist and he had me stop taking the supplements that have methyl in them.  The methylfolate and the B12-Methyl.  He's pretty sure that I am having a reaction to the methyl in the supplements.  Doesn't happen often but it does happen in rare instances.  Leave it to me to be the rare case.  My journey never goes in a straight line.  😜

This past week it was a little bit better.  The bike ride the heart rate didn't get completely out of control, although I was being very careful and not going as fast as I usually would/could.  It spiked during my run again but when I walked it came back down pretty quickly so that was progress.  

Monday I happened to be in to see my regular doctor about a sleep study I had done a couple of months ago and I mentioned that I had a call into the specialist to ask if any of the supplements could be causing the problem.  Dr. David was not happy about the heart rate issue.  He decides I need an EKG for some baseline data and then he wants me to wear a heart rate monitor for two weeks.  I'm not supposed to get it wet or too sweaty because then it will fall off.  I tell him that I have a race on Saturday and ask if I can still do the race and then put the monitor on. He decides that will probably be okay if I have someone who can be keeping an eye on me in case something goes wrong or that I will stop if things start getting really wonky.  I said that I would do that and volunteered my coach to keep an eye on me.  

I had a bike ride that went well but my run on Wednesday was not good.  I was supposed to do 1/2 mile intervals on the track at a 10:30-10:45 pace.  I ended up only doing 1/4 mile intervals because each time my heart rate got over 190.  A couple of times it got over 200.  Didn't think it was a good idea to keep pushing it for another lap when it got that high.  Ugh.  

Thursday I got to go for a short bike ride with the Booth Bunch.  We met at Jon's house so we could ride, practice transitioning to running and do a short run.  Then we got to stay and have grubbing dinner.  Jon talked with the group about fitness and fatigue and why we taper before a race.  It was cool to see a graph that showed what he was talking about.  I love looking at data and seeing how it all connects.  That is one of the fun parts of having a Garmin tracking my workouts.  I like looking at the information and being able to compare it to other workouts.  

When we were getting ready to go Jon asked me to hang for a minute.  I knew we were going to talk about how my heart rate issue was going and about the Beaver Freezer race on Saturday.  And I knew what the result was probably going to need to be.  

I had run for only five minutes after my practice transition and my heart rate had gotten up to 185 in the first couple of minutes.   That's not good.  

Originally I had thought that I could kick ass on the swim portion of the Beaver Freezer, cruise through the bike part without pushing it too much and then walk/run the 5k and just enjoy the day.  I could be happy with that because I wanted two things out of this event.  First, I wanted to do well with the swim portion because last year I had some struggles.  Second, I wanted to go into this event and not be scared.  Last year I was so scared and nervous.  I wanted to just have fun and I figured I could do that even if I could go all out and get a PR.  

But they had to change the bike route a little.  The added a little steep hill about halfway through.  A totally doable hill.  We went and drove it and I have done hills that steep.  But the problem is that when you have to crank up a steep hill your heart rate goes up quite a bit for a while.  I was worried that it would get up in the 190+ range going up that hill and then it wouldn't come down like it should.  If I got dizzy or wonky coming down the hill that could be bad. 

So I have a heart that is beating faster than it should during runs and on certain bike rides.  It hasn't improved significantly in two weeks.  My doctor is concerned and reluctantly has okayed the Beaver Freezer.  And now there is a hill that will add to the concerns.  

I knew what Jon was going to say.  I knew he was going to be right.  Didn't mean it wasn't hard.  As much as I wanted to be in the Beaver Freezer I am not a stupid lady.  I have to take care of myself and make sure I don't do something that will damage me in the long run.  So with a lot of tears on my part we made the decision for me to not participate in the Beaver Freezer.  

Now here's the thing about my coach.  He knew this was going to be hard.  As we discussed it and I cried he was so very kind and understanding but let me know he was concerned.  Then he told me that I could blame him.  Tell people that he wouldn't let me race.  lol  Whatever.  He sent me this text later that evening.  

Here's what I had to say to him.

I have a very good coach and an even better friend.  

I then drove to my husband's work.  He opened the door for me, took one look at my face and put me in the office and shut the door.  He knows me so well and he knew I was a very unhappy camper.  He let me cry as I told him and just listened.  Agreed that we had made the right decision and basically loved and supported me.  He does that exceptionally well.

So Saturday when I had to leave the race it was to go over to my doctor's office to have the heart rate monitor attached.  I am glad I don't have to do the one that has all the wires and a box to have on my belt the whole time.  This one is basically just taped to my chest.  

Could be worse.  

Now I tend to worry and think way too much about things that could be bad or could be nothing.  I think about all the worst case scenarios.  It takes a few days for me to process and kind of find my footing.  Pull my big girl panties and deal with the unknown.  My poor husband has to deal with my while I work through my process.  One of the blessings of being married to my best friend for so long is that he knows my process and gives me time to go through it.  And if I'm wallowing a little too long then he gives me a shake and tells me to get moving forward.  I love this man so much!

Joe getting ready to race.  If I can't race at least I can support my favorite athlete!! 💜💜

So I have a heart rate monitor on for about a week.  I have stop taking some of the supplements and we are hoping that is what is causing the problem.  

In the meantime, I am still biking and running.  I will adjust workouts if things get wonky but at least I can keep moving!  Hard to believe that the thought of NOT being able to work out makes me crazy.  It wasn't that long ago that the thought of HAVING to workout made me crazy.  I like that working out is part of me and my life now and that I can't imagine not doing it.  

I'll be praying for answers and that the doctors don't find anything other than a reaction to the supplements, that there won't be anything else for them to find.  

Next race is the Oregon Dunes triathlon in May.  I'm going to plan like I'm racing, prepare as best I can and be hopeful that everything will be good and settle down.

In the meantime, I was able to cheer on my team at the Beaver Freezer.  Which was a total blast.  Love getting to workout with these people and love seeing them get stronger and reach goals.  

The Booth Bunch!  Good looking group!

Looking forward to more adventures, whether they are the way I had planned or not. 

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