"Don't tell me how you feel..."

"...Go skate and I'll tell you how you felt."

This was one of Coach TieGuy's favorite sayings, developed in defense of my continual whining tendency to predict, before I'd actually skated, that a workout/race would go poorly because my back hurt/legs were sore/legs were tired/attitude was bad/etc.--and then to go out and have a very good workout/race in spite of all that.  Today I proved the truth of that saying yet again.

Today we had the usual weekend Time Trials at Roseville.  Since I'm doing the American Cup event in Milwaukee next weekend, which will include a 3k, I didn't want to do a long race today.  So on Tuesday I signed up for a 1000 and 1500, and as the week's workouts went by I became more and more sure that I'd made the right decision...or that, in fact, perhaps a 500 and 1000 would have been an even "righter" decision.  Not that the workouts were bad, they were just...meh.   Well, I did get some great coaching from fellow masters skaters 60's Boy and Aussie Boy, reminding me to enter and exit my corners wider than I have been.  So some technique aspects that I had been letting slide a bit came back into focus.  But by Thursday night (I practice Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday evenings) I was feeling pretty sore and tired.  I cut the Thursday workout--a Hellaciously long interval workout--in half, and felt OK about that until I looked at last year's version of that workout in my 2-Inch Data Notebook and saw that I had completed it just fine a year ago.  So clearly,  I suck this year.

(Yes, I need to work on that "positive mental attitude" thing.)

And I didn't feel much better about things when I got to the Oval at 8 this morning--back sore, legs stiff and sore, and just generally slow and creaky.  My on-ice warmup didn't really improve the outlook any, so I decided to focus on technique and not pay too much attention to my times...which, I figured, were bound to be abysmal anyway, based on how I felt.  So I picked one thing to focus on for each part of the race: on the start, power rather than trying for footspeed; big recovery on the straights; wide corner entry; go to the blocks in the corner after the wide entry; drift out on the corner exit.  If I managed to remember and execute these things, I figured, I'd consider the races a success regardless of my times.

To my surprise, though, the 1000 went very well.  I executed all my technical points that I was focusing on, and  ended up with a 1:39.57, which is a decent outdoor time for me.  The 1500 also went well, although I blew a couple corner entries and couldn't really relax and get my straightaway strokes right until about 1400 meters into the race...but I still ended up with a 2:31. 47; again, a decent outdoor time.

So I'm much happier now.

On a somewhat related note, though, I can't wait for my new skating glasses to come in.  They're prescription, like my current ones, but they're sports glasses with a removable foam insert that makes them almost goggle-like.  When I did a test night of skating with a trial pair (my eye doctor is very good about letting me do things like that), I noticed that not only did the glasses eliminate the "eyes watering like faucets" issue that I typically suffer from, they also reduced the "nose running like Niagra Falls" problem that leads to my patented "wipe the nose mid-race to preclude the possibility of choking to death on a lungful of aspirated snot mid-lap" move.  The 1500 today was a nose-wipe race, so I hope to put that problem behind me as soon as I get the new glasses...

Oh, yeah, and on the PVC front...only got them in one of the three workouts this week, and neither of the races.  Hoping this trend continues!

First Blizzard

Today was the first Blizzard of the winter on the oval.

Sort of.

This weekend is Hockey Day (Weekend?) in Minnesota.  In conjunction with this, the Minnesota Wild are holding an outdoor, open-to-the-public, free practice on the oval this morning.  Since the practice was scheduled to happen right after our regular Sunday morning time trials, we got a front row seat to the preparation.  The windows in the warming house were washed, the frozen vomit was hosed off the walkway, banners were put up and the blow-across-the-oval red pads were arranged into a hockey rink.

The scoreboard displayed the Wild insignia...

...and a giant inflatable Blizzard materialized in the infield.

That's a fellow masters skater cruising past the Blizzard. It's not every day you get to skate past a huge, inflatable confection.

As for the time trials, they were average for me.  Thanks to a stiff breeze and freezing drizzle, the ice was very slow.  You can see the Zamboni track here, and you can also see how the rest of the ice is frosted over with frozen drizzle.  Oh, and you can see steam from the compressors blowing across the track.

I did two races, a 500 and a 1000.  In the 500 I was paired with fellow masters skater 60's Boy.  He's never beaten me in a 500, but he did today--I spent the whole race futilely trying to skate him down.  Nice job, 60's Boy!  I love to see older skaters improve (which is not to say that I wouldn't prefer to have beaten him ;-) 

My 1000 went OK; slow (which I blamed, rightly or wrongly, on the conditions), but no huge die the second lap, and my technique felt good.  The big news of the weekend is that I didn't get PVC's in either race.  I had them during only one of my three practices this week, and before and after both races today--but none actually during the races.  So that's an improvement.  

Hmm, now I have a craving for ice cream.  Wonder where that came from ...

Minnesota, Baby!

This has been a very un-Minnesota-like winter thus far.  Temperatures into the 40's and even 50's, no snow cover at all (at least in my part of the state), no ice houses on the lakes and no snow drifts in the ditches.  By Christmas last year, the snow banks along the city streets were so high you couldn't see around them; I had to put on my snowshoes to walk the dog on the trails in the back part of our 10 acres; and the accidentally-bought plow truck ("Honey, I just put a bid on a plow truck on e-bay, but don't worry, I won't get it."  Five minutes elapse.  "Um, honey, about that plow truck...") had already been used to plow, and gotten stuck in, the driveway at least four times.  This year, the plow truck hasn't been started and I don't think we've even picked up a shovel.  We've been quite spoiled on the oval, too; since the oval is outdoors but refrigerated, we can enjoy the warm days without fearing premature meltage.

Tonight, though, was going to be the beginning of the end.  A warm day was forecast to give way to an arctic cold front, complete with gale force winds, temperatures dropping--for the first time this winter--below zero, and even a few snowflakes.

It didn't seem bad when I started for the oval...temp of 19, a little light snow...I did wonder why the garbage can, next to the house, was rocking back and forth as I pulled out of the garage, but whatever...

When I stepped out the door of the warming house at the oval, though, I was greeted with a full-on Minnesota January night.  Gusting winds swirled the falling snow and the snow that was already dusting the oval into massive clouds that almost obscured the little hockey players in the oval infield.  The temperature had dropped several degrees, and the wind chill was below zero.

All in all, a fine night to have forgotten my jacket.

I had already decided, before the wind and the snow and the jacketlessness, that the workout that Coach TieGuy had written for tonight--2x10 laps at race pace--was not happening.  After my 8-days-of-no-skating-to-heal-the-heels, I had skated 10k--25 laps--last night, followed by what should have been another 10k but turned into 15 laps because my feet started hurting.  So 20 laps as hard as I could did not seem to be in the best interest of my still-tender heels.  I was thinking more along the lines of one, two, and three lap tempos (race pace), to get some speed work but not stress the feet too much.

And my warmup went well, despite not having a jacket.  UnderArmour Cold Gear is awesome stuff (US Speedskating knew what they were doing when they got UnderArmour as their sponsor!). I just had on a Cold Gear compression shirt and a mid-weight running shirt, the wind chill was below zero--and I was fine.  I was a bit disturbed, however, to note that the pads that divide the oval track from the hockey-rink infield--1 by 2 by 8 foot pads--were blowing onto the oval with disturbing regularity.  Usually it takes the impact from a small hockey player careening into them to send the pads out onto the track.  Tonight, they were blowing willy-nilly into our lanes--and strangely enough, they were blowing onto the backstretch, from east to west, as well as onto the front stretch from west to east.  Strange wind currents at the oval...I knew there were days I've skated into a head wind in both directions! (Why yes, yes, I did walk to school uphill both ways.  Why do you ask?)

In the next half hour of skating, I: had my first tempo come to an abrupt end when I came out of the corner to find the backstretch blocked by three hockey rink pads; saw several small hockey players actually get blown off their feet; completed 3 stunningly unimpressive tempo laps; and found, when I was ready to go in and went to get my skateguards off the pads that surround the rink , that my skateguards had also blown off the pads. All that, coupled with my hurting feet, convinced me that I was done for the evening.

Just another Minnesota January night at the oval...

Well, That's One Good Thing

Heard back from my cardiologist today...he's not at all concerned with my PVC's (or whatever they are), and has no problem with me racing with them.  He said I could get another Holter monitor (24-hour EKG monitor) done if I want to find out what the arrhythmia actually is--it could be PVC's or PAC's--but I said I really don't care what it is, as long as it's OK to skate with it.  I didn't bother asking if there was anything that could be done about the arrhythmia; I know that the only medication typically prescribed for PVC's is beta blockers.  I was on beta blockers for my old arrhythmia--the one my cardiologist fixed in 2005--for 2 days. The beta blockers lasted until I tried to go mountain biking.  On the beta blockers, my resting heart rate was 36.  My max heart rate was about 140.  Not terribly conducive to maximal-level exertion.   I asked my Dr. to switch me to another drug, which I was on for a year but which didn't completely control the arrhythmia, and then eventually had the ablation procedure to fix the arrhythmia.  Anyway, PVC's aren't usually medicated, because they're pretty much harmless.  I wasn't looking for a solution to the arrhythmia, just for confirmation that it wasn't dangerous to race with it.  And I got the confirmation.

So that's one good thing.

Call Me Cranky

This "time off" thing is not going well.  Here are the stats after 3 missed workouts: PopTart consumption is up.  Mood is down.  Heel is sore.  Pants are tight.  Caffeine consumption is up.  So are PVC's (non-exercise triggered, of course, since there is no exercise.  Well, walking seems to bring them on.  To the fridge and back, mostly).  Message to Mayo cardiologist has been sent but not (3 days later) answered yet.  Email to Coach TieGuy asking if there's anything else to be done with this heel other than ice it, stay off it, and curse it has just been sent.

Bitch-o-meter is about to be pegged.

I think it's probably worse because my last skating effort before my time off was a spectacular fail (I seem to have become quite good, these past 3 years, at failing to achieve my goals in a most thorough fashion).  Thanks to my heel, I don't have the opportunity to get right back on the horse.  A few good workouts would probably make me feel better.

Of course, a few bad ones would, well, let's just say if I'd had a few bad workouts I'd advise you to buy some stock in Kellog's (maker of PopTarts, you know) and stay very, very far out of my way.

Tuesday...I'm hoping to skate again Tuesday.  Could be a long weekend...

Heal, heel.

It's going to be boring around the Long Track Life for a few days.  I have a heel--the right one--that has been getting more and more sore the past 6 weeks or so, because of a fit issue with my boot. (Actually the left one has a bit of an issue, too, just not nearly as bad.)  It hasn't limited my skating or slowed me down, but it's getting worse and is beginning to branch out to the Achilles tendon.  Since I had a nice case of Achilles tendinitis in 08, that took over 6 months to heal completely, I'm a bit cautious about my tendons.  Anyway, the guy who made my boots was at the Milwaukee masters meet, and he fixed my boots for me.  But my right heel is still pretty tenderized--to the point that I am wearing shoes without backs to work every day, to keep pressure off the bone--so it's time to take a few days off to let things heal.

In the meantime, with no workouts to report, here's a photo comparison of last year's and this year's 500 meter races (can't remember who took last year's photo; Steve Penland took this year's).

Last year:

And this year:

Now, granted, if speedskating photos are taken at the wrong point in your stride they can make you look worse than you really are...but I don't think that was the case in the last year's version--I think I really was skating that badly. This year, I still have the chicken wing but otherwise things look much better.  Still a long way to go--but much better.  So I'll just enjoy that image for the next few days as I ice my heel.

I Do Not "Heart" MY Heart Right Now

The Masters Single Distance event in Milwaukee did not go well.  The short version: I got my heart arrhythmia in all three races and, despite the fact that all three races were slightly faster than they were last year--the times were very disappointing.

The slightly longer version (although not super long, because I need to be excited to write super long posts and I'd definitely not excited right now):
Saturday was the 500 and the 3000.  I had PVC's during warmup, all throughout the 500, and in the first 3 laps or so of the 3000.  My 3k time was, somewhat surprisingly, still not horrible--4:59, a second better than in this race last year.  Still, very disappointing, and an unpleasant race to skate.

Sunday was the 5k only. Usually the meet would have a 500 on Sunday, as well, which I'd skate as a warmup for the 5k--but this time they had to shuffle some races around because there were so many skaters they couldn't run the schedule the normal way.  So they put both 500's on Saturday, which meant I decided to skip the second 500 on Saturday, and also meant that I had warmup at 7 am on Sunday and then nothing until my 5k race at 1:00.

And I truly did have nothing, through the warmup and through the long wait: no PVC's.  I thought that maybe I'd manage to escape them, but as soon as I started putting my skates on for the 5k, I started getting them.  And by the time I went to the line in the 5k, the record that I was hoping to break had been lowered by 8 seconds by another skater who had skated before me.  So breaking the record had gone from "need to take 1 second off" of an 8-and-a -half minute race, to "need to have a perfect race."  Which I didn't.

Actually, I had already decided that if I had PVC's on the starting line or got them during the race, I was going to quit the race.  I had talked to one of the starters, who is a physician, and had done a bit of Googling (I know...never Google your medical issues!), and had had my level of concern about exercise-induced PVC's raised slightly.  Besides, 12-and-a-half laps feeling the way I had felt in the 3k would suck.


But, as I stood on the line waiting to start, I did have PVC's--and I couldn't bring myself to walk off the line.  And I had them after the start, and throughout the first couple laps.  And I came this close (hold up your hand with your thumb and index finger juuuuuust barely not touching) to quitting in the second lap.  But then I came around into the backstretch and saw my lap split (that a coach from the local Minnesota club was kind enough to provide me).  It was a 39, which was my goal pace for the race.  So I figured I'd stick it out.  And as the race progressed, and the laps were mostly 39's and 40's, with the odd 41 here and there, I just kept going.  The PVC's got very infrequent in the middle laps of the race, and stopped completely by the last few laps.  My technique felt pretty good, but I just had no "fire," no ability to push myself.  My final time, 8:32, was a couple seconds faster than last year, a second slower than my best this year, and miles away from where I had wanted it to be.

The race was a bit of a cluster in other ways, too...I had a mixup on the backstretch with my pair when we both tried to slow down so the other could go ahead--I finally ended up completely stopping skating, standing up, and yelling "go, go, go" to my pair while gesturing vigorously toward the other lane.  And, as I coasted across the finish line, I heard the announcer say "and here's Kaari Cox, with one lap to go."  Eeeek. I knew I was done and he was wrong, but still it was a bit disconcerting for a moment.  So not the best race in a lot of ways.

And now, the day after, I don't even feel like I raced last weekend, let alone raced a 3k and 5k.  My legs are totally fine--not sore, not tired.  And I've put in a call to my cardiologist at the Mayo...I know that, assuming my issue is, indeed, PVC's, there's nothing to be done about them; I just want confirmation that it's safe to work out hard and to race when they're happening (last time I talked to him, 3 years ago, they weren't exercise-triggered).  And I've started up the caffeine again...I skated the races this weekend without caffeine--if I'm gonna get the PVC's anyway, I may as well have the caffeine and spare my husband/students/co-workers the Cranky Decaffeinated version of me.  Tomorrow, though, I'll be back on the ice, working on technique and endurance and all that good stuff.  Because even a bad day skating is better than almost any other kind of day.

Between a Rock and a Heart Place

That's where I appear to be.

As you'll know if you've been reading regularly, I a) have my big meet of the year, the Masters Single Distance in Milwaukee, coming up this weekend and b) have recently quit caffeine to see if it will help reduce a heart arrhythmia, PVC's, that currently seems to be triggered by exercise.  Unfortunately, a +b seems to = screwed.

Since I quit caffeine (on Christmas day, nonetheless), I have been feeling more and more sluggish, tired, fatigued, sore, and cranky as the days go by.  A quick canter through our friend Google would seem to indicate that the average time for caffeine withdrawal is 4-5 days, with 2-9 days being the outer limits.

Well, Christmas was 10 days ago, and I feel like crap.

On the plus side, I haven't had any (OK, maybe one) PVC's while skating since I went caffeine-free, although I've continued to have them at other times.  On the minus side, my skating has gotten slower and slower--despite doing a taper to prepare for my big race, which usually puts at least a little bit more pep in my step.

Yesterday was the final straw.  After a lackluster day of time trials last Sunday and a made-the-target-times-but just-barely workout on Tuesday, yesterday I felt so lousy that I skipped the planned tempos and did a few slow laps instead.  And I started thinking bad thoughts about how the weekend might go.

My first thought, of course, with my history of hypothyroidism, was to wonder if my levels were low again.  But low thyroid levels don't usually happen that quickly.  Then I remembered that my sister had to quit caffeine for medical reasons a couple of years ago, and she had complained that she was always tired, her workouts (she's a weightlifter and inline skater) suffered, and that caffeine free life generally sucked.  She didn't start feeling better until, several months later, she was able start having some caffeine again.

So I found myself, this afternoon--after a tired, stiff-and-sore-legs, cranky day at work--standing in front of the cooler in Target, debating whether I should do a caffeine trial in my workout tonight.

"If I try it and get PVC's, maybe I'll still get them this weekend even if I don't have any more caffeine.  But if I feel better when I skate, then I could try caffeine in the 5k on Sunday if the caffeine-free 3k on Saturday goes really badly.  But I haven't been off caffeine that long...maybe I'll get a headache from withdrawal again even though I only have it once, and feel worse than I did before..."

Overanalyze much?

In the end, I grabbed a Diet Dew and a Caffeine Free Diet Coke, and decided I'd make my final decision when I got to the car with my purchases.

I decided to Just Dew It.

And I felt great in my (albeit short, in deference to tapering) workout.  Snap in the legs, no leg soreness, energy...and, in my 80% effort 400 meters...PVC's.  Quite a few of them, and also the mild chest pain that I get from time to time with them (not to worry, I have a great cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic who performed a radio frequency catheter ablation on another heart arrhythmia that I used to have--he's not concerned about the PVC's).  My 400 lap time was a 37.6, but it felt like the same effort that had gotten me 39's on Tuesday--since I didn't get the PVC's until the last 100 meters, they didn't really affect my time.

So now, I have a choice--caffeine-free and sluggish, or caffeinated and risking PVC's causing a really slow race.  Oooh, what fun.

I think I'll go caffeine free on Saturday for the 3k, and then if I feel really bad in that one I'll have caffeine before the 5k and take my chances.

So yeah, it sucks a bit...but I'm happy to be heading to one of my favorite places to do one of my favorite things.  Maybe it won't turn out the way I want it to, but I intend to enjoy every minute of it whatever happens.