Kathleen's Adventures

Wednesday I met my friend Jill for lunch at Zoe's. Jill and her husband Bob adopted baby Sarah at the beginning of October. To say that she fell into their hands would be an understatement. They had been working on adopting out of Kazakhstan for several months and that journey did not have much of an end in sight. They had begun thinking about domestic adoption and had not yet even finished the paperwork when news of a new baby girl found its way to them one innocent Friday morning and by Monday they were proud parents. I had prayed for months for Jill and Bob, and that they would be able to be parents one day soon. I leave town to run a marathon and I come back and holy cow! they are parents! Sarah is doing awesome an passing all her milestones with flying colors - even more amazing considering her birth mother tested positive for cocaine when she was born. When I walked into Zoe's I saw a baby in the corner when I was looking for Jill and Sarah, but quickly spotted them, so ...

From Shellie: http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100234410&GT1=31036 She found me some new great food to eat on my high-sodium diet. If I look like a bloated whale next time you see me, don't worry, it is all your imagination.

Below is the fundraising request letter I just sent out to several friends and family. I would like to also extend it to my blog readers: On April 18-19 I will set out for my fourth MS150 ride from Houston to Austin . I will be joining over 13,000 other cyclists as we ride to support the fight against MS. I hate even asking for fundraising money right now as everyone has experienced financial hardships recently, whether large or small. Unfortunately, MS is still out there and is still killing people, regardless of what the economy is doing. My goal is to raise $400 (the minimum required to participate in the ride), and my hope is that several people can and will contribute a small amount to help me get there. If five dollars is all you have to contribute, awesome; that is five more dollars towards research and finding a cure that was previously not available. I am also contemplating once again participating in the Janus Charity Challenge to raise money for the American Cancer Society ...

is why I'm not hopping on the Ironman St. George bandwagon without second thought. Those are 2 huge, unrelenting, 30 mile climbs. I guess the positive side to it all is you wouldn't really have to pedal the 20 miles it takes to come down from that climb, twice. You could really call it about a 92 mile bike ride because I'm not sure how much effort other than white-knuckled braking will be required for the last 20. Then again, it might take that long to get over the mental and physical trauma of what just happened.

I'm not sure what, and I'm not sure I should ask questions, but something is going right. I have had a great training week, despite the fact that I got to the pool on Tuesday only to find out it was closed, thus no masters workout. No problem, only an hour of my life wasted sitting in traffic. I did a spinerval workout at home both Tuesday and Wednesday. I forget how good they are - far better than me being left to spin at my own pace. I turn the DVD music off and turn my radio on and I'm good to go, surprisingly. Wednesday night at track I had a good workout too. The workout was 6x800 at I pace with 2 minutes rest then 4x200 at R pace with 2 minutes rest. My vdot last year at this time was 39. This year I started at a humbling 32. My 10k a few weeks ago brought me to a stout 33 - watch out. As I was walking out the door on Wednesday, with my 33 vdot times in hand, I thought I'd check to see if my 2:03 half marathon time from the weekend changed anything. Sure enough i...

Here are pictures of the getup (aka "costume") from Sunday: http://raceshots.net/app/event/zoomPictures?eventInstanceId=17480&picture=4080572 I was not planning on losing the shirt. The stupid socks are plain hot. I need to seek surgical help in the stomach area before it gets too much hotter outside! No one needs to see my jelly belly the way it is right now.

So, I find myself in a bind, quite literally, with the compression socks. Here is what I have found so far: Zoot : bought them at Luke's Locker on tri night. They are women's sized, with a true left and right foot. I ran in them Sunday and loved them. The feet are very padded and super comfortable. Only issue here: they are very hard to put on. I am not sure I would even have the patience to put these on in an Ironman transition. Published compression of 18-30 mmhg ; retail $60 at every place I have seen. I was able to get 20% off at tri -night and have a regular 15% off discount at Luke's, but with tax, that still comes out to about $55. Beaker Concepts : Pink! But, sadly, not very tight at all. No published compression figure. Not surprised. I have not run in these yet. I could see putting these on in transition of a half or full ironman , but don't know if they would work nearly as well as the Zoot's as far as compression. I ordered these for about $30 with s...

Not ANOTHER one!!! Why oh why do these things tempt me so bad? It is like Zoe's chocolate cake. But the cake is only $2 something a slice and only has somewhat permanent lasting effects (depending on how often I eat it). But now, this??? Three Ironmans in 11 months? Why am I even thinking this way? If I had not run the damn St. George marathon last October I might not be so interested in this. Geeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssss ......

I found a good link here, after discussing my issues with a fellow triathlete over the weekend. He said he remembered US Soccer player Michelle Akers had something similar. I have just started looking at info about that, as it might give some insight into orthostatic intolerance and athletes, but the link I included above is a good, basic description of what is going on when someone has orthostatic issues.

Almost.... Yesterday I ran the Seabrook Lucky Trails Half Marathon , to be exact. I ran it in 2:03...a mere 7 minutes shy of my PR I set just over a year ago, and 13 minutes faster than the HM I ran this January and 8 minutes faster than the HM I ran this February. My second half was only a measly 4 seconds slower than my first half, which is huge for me. I went in having no idea how the race would turn out, considering the 2:11 I ran exactly 4 weeks earlier in Austin was all I had. My first mile was around a 9:02 and I thought to myself that that was pretty dumb and that I should be running closer to 10:00 pace. I slowed a bit, but even when I thought I was slowing way down, I was still a bit faster than 9:30 pace. I just kept surprising myself mile after mile as I was able to hold on to that pace. Around mile 10 they have girl scout cookies and I think those turned me into high gear! I was so excited about the cookies, the next 3 miles were great. Mile 13 was my fastest at a 8:59. My...

I found a new website that has all sorts of good info about POTS: http://www.potsplace.com/ If you are interested in reading any more about it, go there. On the left, you will see a menu with symptoms, causes, what to avoid, etc. I will highlight some of the stuff here that has kind of set off a light bulb in my head. Symptoms Lightheadedness Fainting or near fainting 60.5% of patients report near fainting Generalized weakness Shortness of breath 2 Chest discomfort and/or pain Loss of sweating Excessive sweating (Loss of sweating and excessive sweating are more common in patients with elevated norepinephrine levels) Delayed gastric emptying (23.7% of patients report gastrointestinal complaints, including bloating) Bloating after meals Nausea Abdominal pain Fatigue (which can be disabling) Sleep disorders (can cause unrefreshing sleep and an increased need for sleep) Dizziness Tachycardia Exercise intolerance Intolerance to heat Feeling cold all over Noise sensitivity Light Sensitivit...

That's what we do as triathletes, right? I guess I'll write a little about each. Swimming update: I finally got myself to masters on Tuesday night and it was a good workout. I swam 3100 yds and did not die. That included 4x250 of pulling, which is good for this time of year and good for triathletes who don't really kick anyway. I also got out of work early last Friday and got in a 1600yd swim then with a 1000yd time trial. I haven't looked yet for any old times to see how it compared, but the time was nothing impressive, so I'm looking for some substantial improvement over the next few months! Biking update: Did Rick's Brick again on Sunday. It was awesome, as expected. I was surprised how hot it got though considering I'd started my previous 2 long rides dressed up looking like a snowman because it had been so cold. Looks like I'll be dressed that way again on Saturday, but probably soaking wet as well. Can't wait. But back to Sunday's ride. We...

Sunmart is no more. http://www.sunmart.net/race.html I sat out from the race in December, very sad to not be doing it for the first time in 4 years, but telling myself that there would be many more Sunmart's to come. I missed the last Sunmart ever.

Have a good amount of sodium....120mg for a 45 calorie stick. Yummy. It is going to be very hard to get as much sodium as I need from regular food without doubling my caloric intake, and I don't want that. I am already worried about the water weight I will be carrying around once I get to 5000-6000mg of sodium a day so I don't need real weight to be added on top of that. Yesterday I was thrilled about finally having a diagnosis, but now the reality of that diagnosis and the uncertainty around POTS is starting to set in. Yes, it is an answer, but not a great answer. There will still probably be more questions than answers. The dr. even said with some sort of structural defect they know what it is and how to treat it, not so with this. I guess I'm just worried it salt and compression socks won't bring me to my next PR and that perhaps nothing will. I don't think or expect that everything will be back to normal as soon as I eat some salt and slap on some compression so...

I finally have a diagnosis...POTS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postural_orthostatic_tachycardia_syndrome http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/postural_tachycardia_syndrome/postural_tachycardia_syndrome.htm http://home.att.net/~potsweb/POTS.html Thankfully my case does not appear to be as severe as it could be and the dr doesn't know what set off my symptoms so quickly, as he said I have probably had it all along. For now, the treatment plan is to increase my sodium intake to 5000-6000 mg a freakin' day!!!!!!!!! I recently realized I was probably borderline hyponeutremic as I have always had over a gallon of water a day, but starting with my allergy diet in the fall and even moreso since the start of the new year, I have been averaging way less than 1000 mg of sodium a day. I also am supposed to wear compression socks now for biking and running. I will be one of those people. I just wish I could get some printed with "I have a heart problem" so people don't think I...

Forgot to say why in the world I'm biking 100 miles straight north on Sunday! I'm doing the Brick for Women again this year. I had a blast doing it last year , and hope to have as much fun this year. I will be baking up some mandatory goodies on Saturday afternoon in preparation. Brownies surely make 100 seem a bit easier (at least I hope, and if not, there will be cookies too).

The forecast, that is. Right now it is calling for 15mph winds from the south on Sunday. Just how I like it when I am supposed to bike 100 miles heading straight north. I'm still not making any promises that I'll make it the full 100, but I will give it an honest try, and with the wind at my back, it seems way more feasible! Oh, and I guess I failed my 10 days of clean eating. I had a 100 calorie pack of cookies tonight. Sad. Oh well, I had 1200 calories total today and did 30 minutes of weights, swam 1600, and did an hour spin class. If I'm missing my right arm the next time you see me, you'll know why. I ate it.

Was a good idea at the time.... 3x10 ball lifts (abs), bicep curls, shoulder pres, tricep dips on ball 3x8 bridge leg lifts on bosu , each leg 3x10 chest press, bridge on bosu 1x20 alt lunge on bosu 2x8 plank walk on bosu 1x20 alt lunge on bosu w/weight 2x8 single leg squat on bosu, ea leg 3x10 single arm row, ea arm 1x16 squat on platform bosu, w/ weights ...but might not seem like such a good idea tomorrow when I can't move. I'm afraid much pain can come from 30 short minutes. (but I like it)

Sorry I have been so boring lately! I don't seem to have tons to write about these days. I'll give a quick recap of what has been going on though. Last weekend, HRTC had its first organized ride out of Brookshire High School. Shellie and I set out to conquer the 60 mile loop that conquered us in a big way last year . We made it, and it was not exactly pretty, but it was much better than last year. It was decently hilly and the road surface was pretty bad for the first 35 miles or so. We finally had the wind at our backs at mile 50...with only 10 miles to go. At least the last 10 miles were ok. I kept telling myself that my ride this weekend was going to be so much better - less hills, hopefully better weather, etc. WRONG! The Feb 22 ride started in the mid 30s and the wind picked up through the day, but it was never too cold to bear. Well, the Mar 1 ride was ten times worse. It was in the low 30s at the start of the ride, with roaring wind, and wind chills in the m...