Transrockies Run - Race Recap - Part ONE
"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face." - Eleanor Roosevelt
It is Day 2 of the Transrockies 6 day stage race. My right hip is out of joint thanks to completely tearing my hip labrum. I am vomiting profusely and cannot breathe. My lips are blue and a fellow runner's pulse oximeter states that my heart rate is 210 and O2 saturation is 79%. I have a wet cough that can only mean pulmonary edema. I am dying.
That was the way I had 100% envisioned Transrockies Run (TRR) to go... thankfully it did not go that way at all!! I was truly terrified of the altitude and of the climbing and of the many, many miles that I had not trained for thanks to a right hip issue that flared up about 6 weeks before the race. I did not know what to expect.
The reality is... that altitude definitely made it hard to breathe. At times my HR approached 190 beats per minute and I have no idea what my O2 saturation was, but typically it's in the high 80's for people that have not yet acclimated to altitude. If you're wondering, normal O2 sat is 96-100%. It was hard to breathe at times, especially when climbing those mountains that at times seemed to go straight up. I even had a moment that we've not been able to rule out flash pulmonary edema (you'll have to read the follow-up blog posts to come to hear about that!). So yes, the altitude is real and it is hard and it sucks. But it also got easier, and it wasn't a difficulty breathing in the sense of panic and fear. More of a "I feel super out of shape" difficulty breathing. And knowing I was still running full out by day 6 at high altitudes with a smile on my face and joy in my heart made it feel so much more bada**.
The reality is... my right hip remained intact and to this day is not painful at all. I had a few moments of pain, which was more acute, after catching my toe on an embedded rock, which then jarred my hip. The pain was temporary, lasting maybe a couple hours at most, and never really held me back except in one stage (you'll have to read about that in a later post too ;), haha). I went through hell and back to make sure I got to that start line healthy and with a hip that was in good shape. I would not have been able to be there at all if it weren't for my physical therapist, my chiropractor, my massage therapist, and my orthopedic provider. An MRI arthrogram states I have a right hip labral tear. I have also been told I probably have ileopsoas tendinitis.
The reality is... the climbing was hard. But I expected it to be. So it came as no surprise. What did come as a surprise was how hard the downhills would be. No one sees that coming... all most think about is how easy the downhills will be to run, how fun they will be, how much of a relief they will be after such huge climbs. And certainly they were mostly "easy" and fun and a relief. But they were also leg trashers. My legs have never been so shredded as they were after the downhills on Stage 2 and I cried from the pain the downhills brought.
____________
A little background: I do not consider myself a successful ultrarunner. My 2 ultramarathons were disasters. So when Justin (my husband) signed me up for this last year ("Surprise, honey! You get to run 120 miles with me in August 2018!"), imagine my lack of enthusiasm. Bahaha!! I ran another full (my 4th) in December 2017 at Kiawah Marathon, which was a 4 month lead up (and a PR, by the way). Then I ramped up my mileage and training after that for the Grayson Highlands 50K which occurred in March 2018. So I basically began training for TRR in August 2017 -- one entire year before the actual race. Thoughts of TRR and its training basically consumed me, and mostly it was associated with fear and dread. "There's no way I'll be able to run 120 miles in 6 days... no way," I'd say over and over again. How about those positive affirmations, huh?! HA!!
About 10 weeks before TRR, I had a "come-to-Jesus" meeting with myself and made myself realize that this thing was really, actually happening and I needed to straighten up my attitude and my outlook about the race or I'd be showing up with fear and dread on race day. I decided I'd go into it with positivity and "embrace the suck" as we ultra runners say. I began following my close friend and running partner's plan, which included a lot of back-to-back runs, lots of hills and elevation gain runs, and lots of mileage. Because I'd not properly ramped up my hillwork training, and hills were basically all I did for about 2 weeks, my right hip flexor got mad at me. I tried everything and nothing was helping the pain; it was only getting worse. I gave in to having the MR Arthrogram. That experience was not as bad as I had imagined, but it gave me the diagnosis I'd dreaded - labral tear. Thankfully, my orthopedic provider knew my goals and what I'd been so faithfully training for in Colorado, and they agreed to help me to get to the start line in one piece. My PT gave me amazing stretching exercises, as well as helped me understand the mechanics of how to get my glutes and core firing so my hip flexors would chill out and not take over. I received 2 steroid injections 6 days before I toed the start line - one in my hip joint and one in my ileopsoas tendon. Let's just say those were "fun." I also tried to stick to cross training to keep my fitness up.
We met up with our fabulous running adventure friends, Andres and Mariana, along with our other friend Mimi (who signed up to be a volunteer!), at the airport on Sunday morning - 2 days before the start of the race. Ideally, it's good to get to the race 2-3 weeks ahead of time to acclimate, but who has that luxury??? HAHA!! So 2 days it was. Honestly, I didn't really feel the effects of the altitude at all until we began our first uphill climb on Day 1 of the race, and even then it was not awful. Maybe I would be okay after all.....
(to be continued...)
It is Day 2 of the Transrockies 6 day stage race. My right hip is out of joint thanks to completely tearing my hip labrum. I am vomiting profusely and cannot breathe. My lips are blue and a fellow runner's pulse oximeter states that my heart rate is 210 and O2 saturation is 79%. I have a wet cough that can only mean pulmonary edema. I am dying.
That was the way I had 100% envisioned Transrockies Run (TRR) to go... thankfully it did not go that way at all!! I was truly terrified of the altitude and of the climbing and of the many, many miles that I had not trained for thanks to a right hip issue that flared up about 6 weeks before the race. I did not know what to expect.
The reality is... that altitude definitely made it hard to breathe. At times my HR approached 190 beats per minute and I have no idea what my O2 saturation was, but typically it's in the high 80's for people that have not yet acclimated to altitude. If you're wondering, normal O2 sat is 96-100%. It was hard to breathe at times, especially when climbing those mountains that at times seemed to go straight up. I even had a moment that we've not been able to rule out flash pulmonary edema (you'll have to read the follow-up blog posts to come to hear about that!). So yes, the altitude is real and it is hard and it sucks. But it also got easier, and it wasn't a difficulty breathing in the sense of panic and fear. More of a "I feel super out of shape" difficulty breathing. And knowing I was still running full out by day 6 at high altitudes with a smile on my face and joy in my heart made it feel so much more bada**.
The reality is... my right hip remained intact and to this day is not painful at all. I had a few moments of pain, which was more acute, after catching my toe on an embedded rock, which then jarred my hip. The pain was temporary, lasting maybe a couple hours at most, and never really held me back except in one stage (you'll have to read about that in a later post too ;), haha). I went through hell and back to make sure I got to that start line healthy and with a hip that was in good shape. I would not have been able to be there at all if it weren't for my physical therapist, my chiropractor, my massage therapist, and my orthopedic provider. An MRI arthrogram states I have a right hip labral tear. I have also been told I probably have ileopsoas tendinitis.
The reality is... the climbing was hard. But I expected it to be. So it came as no surprise. What did come as a surprise was how hard the downhills would be. No one sees that coming... all most think about is how easy the downhills will be to run, how fun they will be, how much of a relief they will be after such huge climbs. And certainly they were mostly "easy" and fun and a relief. But they were also leg trashers. My legs have never been so shredded as they were after the downhills on Stage 2 and I cried from the pain the downhills brought.
____________
A little background: I do not consider myself a successful ultrarunner. My 2 ultramarathons were disasters. So when Justin (my husband) signed me up for this last year ("Surprise, honey! You get to run 120 miles with me in August 2018!"), imagine my lack of enthusiasm. Bahaha!! I ran another full (my 4th) in December 2017 at Kiawah Marathon, which was a 4 month lead up (and a PR, by the way). Then I ramped up my mileage and training after that for the Grayson Highlands 50K which occurred in March 2018. So I basically began training for TRR in August 2017 -- one entire year before the actual race. Thoughts of TRR and its training basically consumed me, and mostly it was associated with fear and dread. "There's no way I'll be able to run 120 miles in 6 days... no way," I'd say over and over again. How about those positive affirmations, huh?! HA!!
 |
| One of our last long runs in Umstead before TRR |
About 10 weeks before TRR, I had a "come-to-Jesus" meeting with myself and made myself realize that this thing was really, actually happening and I needed to straighten up my attitude and my outlook about the race or I'd be showing up with fear and dread on race day. I decided I'd go into it with positivity and "embrace the suck" as we ultra runners say. I began following my close friend and running partner's plan, which included a lot of back-to-back runs, lots of hills and elevation gain runs, and lots of mileage. Because I'd not properly ramped up my hillwork training, and hills were basically all I did for about 2 weeks, my right hip flexor got mad at me. I tried everything and nothing was helping the pain; it was only getting worse. I gave in to having the MR Arthrogram. That experience was not as bad as I had imagined, but it gave me the diagnosis I'd dreaded - labral tear. Thankfully, my orthopedic provider knew my goals and what I'd been so faithfully training for in Colorado, and they agreed to help me to get to the start line in one piece. My PT gave me amazing stretching exercises, as well as helped me understand the mechanics of how to get my glutes and core firing so my hip flexors would chill out and not take over. I received 2 steroid injections 6 days before I toed the start line - one in my hip joint and one in my ileopsoas tendon. Let's just say those were "fun." I also tried to stick to cross training to keep my fitness up.
 |
| All of us ready for our adventure in CO! |
(to be continued...)
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