Ending the First Build with a Wimper

Oh how I wish the title of this blog was Ending the First Build with a Bang!  After a great start to my first build phase of Iroman Cozumel training, the final week went south ...  I came into the forth and final week of my first build excited and ready to nail every work out.  I had made plans for 2 great bike rides with fabulous training partners and was looking forward to a week training hard to earn my upcoming recovery week.

It all started out it great on Tuesday with a good weight lifting session followed by getting my butt back to Main Square pool and pounding out 3000m of solid swimming.  And then it all began to unravel!  Tuesday night I prepared a good dinner in anticipation for a hard 2 hour ride followed by a solid run the following day.  I made sure I was well hydrated and well fed for the next day's workout.  Then as I put myself to bed nice and early, my tummy didn't feel quite right.  I thought nothing of it until just after midnight.

Just after midnight, and for the next 6 hours, I was overcome by a serious case of food poisoning / stomach bug.  Around 4 in the morning I remember thinking, I have to get this out of me so I can ride in the morning. By the time morning came, I was a listless, frail, shell of myself.  I'm still not sure how I got the kids' lunches made and got them to school but I spent the entire day laying bed drifting in and out of consciousness.  I couldn't eat.  I couldn't drink.  Thank goodness for my neighbour Alice who picked the kids up from school and for my in-laws who brought dinner for the kids and took JJ to his last soccer match.  I was completely debilitated.

Little did I know the toll something like this takes on your body.  I had lost 6 pounds in 24 hours so I knew I was severely dehydrated but I couldn't put anything in my body.  By end of day Wednesday I was sure I was not going to be able to do my run or my swim as planned on Thursday and I sent a note off to my riding buddies for Friday - I said I was fully planning on riding the planned 4.5 hour ride, as long as I could get some nutrition in me on Thursday.

Thursday came and while I felt better, it was still hard to get my body to accept much.  I got a banana down and a quarter of an avocado.  I sipped on my NUUN and plain water.  But I was still undernourished and dehydrated and my stomach was still not right.  By Thursday night I made the call that I would shorten my ride on Friday to around 2 hours and I would definitely ride if I felt up to it.

I woke Friday morning feeling better.  Not 100% but closer to 80% which isn't bad.  I choked down half a GF bagel with peanut butter - not even close to enough food but it was all I could do.  While I knew I was definitely undernourished for a ride, I was desperate to get some training in.  Plus it was Duncan's birthday and I had picked up some vegan cupcakes from Tory's Bakeshop (I am not vegan but Duncan is and I have to say - you wouldn't even know these cupcakes were vegan!  SO delish - plus they have great GF treats too - so if you are in the beaches - check them out!).

Happy Birthday Duncan!

I picked up Duncan and Dushan and off we went to Angus Glen for our ride.  Duncan had been fighting a cold so he was happy to shorten the ride to 2 hours - though I did some fuzzy math and instead of doing 50k we did 75k and instead of 2 hours we did 2:40.  It was a beautiful day, cool and breezy.  But it was tough.  My stomach wouldn't even let me try to take a GU and I had trouble taking my carbopro drink.  On a ride where I would normally drink nearly three 750ml bottles, I was able to get down 1 1/4.  Thank goodness Dushan was there to pull Duncan and I home those last 25km!

all smiles after the ride

I still have my long run in store this weekend and I'm planning on a nice easy 1:50 run tomorrow while my little guy is at lacrosse.  So my week will have consisted of 1 weight workout, 1 swim workout, 1 bike and 1 run.  Definitely not what I had in mind but it is what it is!  Next week is my recovery week and I'm going to take it.  I'll focus on my swimming and take it easy with some recovery runs and bikes - gearing up for Build #2!