First Race Approaching

After a couple months of getting back into some solid training, I am gearing up for my first race in almost seven months. I have been back to running now for seven weeks and began speed workouts a few weeks ago. The foot is feeling good and looking forward to testing it out in a race.
I am racing the Madrid World Championship Series #2 (the first series race was at the beginning of May in Korea). The race begins at 11:30AM on Sunday, May 31st (which would be 4:30AM start time in Colorado) and the men's race begins at 2:30PM. The race will be broad casted live at: www.triathlon.org and you can check out the website for race video and results. One of the hardest parts about this trip will be the travel to Europe and the time zone change (eight hours ahead). I will be departing on Wed. afternoon and arriving into Spain at 10:00AM on Thursday morning. I hope to get a few hours of sleep on the plane and then try and stay up the next day...

I raced here three years ago, and I remember the course quite well. The swim course is two laps in a lake (calm water) and the temperature will probably be non wetsuit, although the temp is usually right at the cut-off. The bike course is eight laps, with a long climb that starts out steep and then becomes very gradual, followed by a steep downhill that turns into a long false flat downhill into the transition zone. The run is fairly flat and fast.

The climate is pretty similar to Colorado with lower humidity and temps up into the mid 80s.
The most interesting part of Spain is the culture difference....everyone takes a nap from 1:00-4:00PM and nothing is open during those times. Everyone goes back to work from 4:00-7:00PM and you can't find a place to eat that is open before 8:00PM! I don't remember the sun setting till almost 10:30PM either!!! So, it makes for many night owls----as most people will stay out until 3:00AM (reason why a 2-3 hour siesta is needed). I just remember going to bed at 10PM and everyone in the hotel departing for a night out and waking up at 3:00AM upon their arrival!
Once race season begins for me, it will be a whirlwind of travel and racing! I am looking forward to the start of racing for 2009 and just going out there and competing at my best. Good luck to everyone upon the start of your racing season and if you have already begun, I hope it is off to a great start!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

New Niece--Anna Riley Lauck

On March 17th at 3:45PM, my fourth niece was born! Her original name was going to be Anna Marie, but since she was born on St. Patty's Day my sister wanted to give her an Irish name.
Mother and baby are doing great now, but my sister ended up having an emergency c-section because Anna flipped during labor (she was feet first instead of head first). My sister was not happy with the news, but she did not have too long to think about it because within five minutes she was wheeled into surgery. Anna was 6lbs. 12 oz and healthy!
After Megan's first child, she was up and running around the next day. The recovery process is much slower this time around, but she is feeling better every day. I arrived into St. Louis on the 18th, so I got to see Anna at just a day old. It was incredible to be holding a life that is six pounds! Megan was in the hospital for five days, so Sarah ended up staying with my parents and I during most of the week. It was great spending some quality time with her. She is very excited to be a big sister and loved to give the new baby hugs and kisses!
I returned back to Colorado on Monday and already missing the babies....Skype is a lifesaver at times. I am sure the next time I will see Anna she will have doubled in size!!

On a training note, I have been back to cycling and swimming for almost three weeks. I am feeling very good on the bike and swim and getting closer to race fitness every week. This week I was also cleared to begin running and I will gradually build up distance and time in the weeks to come.

Colorado was hit with a "blizzard" last Thursday and it basically shut the city down! Of course with the sun here in Colorado, the snow will be melted in no time, but I am anxious for spring to arrive and be able to ride outside a bit more. I have been riding on the trainer frequently!!!

Happy Spring! Enjoy training

An Excellent Resource

Check out a recently published book: Run Workouts: For Runners and Triathletes, by Bobby McGee and Marathon Plans by Mark Plaatjes. This book is ideal for athletes who wish to improve their fitness through smart training. The specific types of workouts included are track repeats, hill running, bricks, and fartlicks that will help you build strength, endurance and learn proper form.
Bobby McGee has worked with me since 2005 and helped me prepare for the 2008 Olympic Games. Since I started working with Bobby, he has greatly improved my running technique by introducing me to a variety of drills. Not only has he helped me with the physical aspect of training, but he has also helped me with my mental approach to racing. Bobby teaches athletes and coaches mental techniques that can be used to prepare athletes to compete at their best. You can check out Bobby's website at http://www.bobbymcgee.com/.
Enjoy!

Speaking

Although the past ten days I have not been able to swim, bike or run, I have been staying busy traveling to four different states and getting the opportunity to speak to many different groups of people.
On Feb. 28th, I spent the day at the YMCA Endurance Symposium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Doug Robinson put on a fantastic event and I got to meet triathletes from a wide range of levels. I had the opportunity of delivering the key note speech and answer any questions the guests had about triathlon. I got the opportunity to listen to presenters all afternoon speaking about topics ranging from nutrition, cycling power, to mental skills.
After my day was completed in Indy, I made to 4.5 hour drive to St. Louis and was able to make my grandfather's 80th birthday party on Sunday! On Tuesday I did a school presentation to K-4th grade at High Ridge Elementary and on Wednesday I delivered another key note speech at the NAIA Swimming National Championships. Craig Penrose invited me to speak last fall and I was more than honored to be part of the event. Craig Penrose was my swimming coach when I was on the Parkway Swim Club. He was one of my first coaches (from age 10-11). He is now head coach for Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO. Lindenwood was hosting the meet at the St. Peter's Rec Plex....I had many, many swim meets and workouts there growing up!
650 coaches and swimmers attended the dinner on Wed. night, so this was probably close to the biggest crowd I have spoken to at once! It brought back some swimming memories seeing all the collegiate swimmers tapered, shaved and ready to swim fast!
I spent the next few days in St. Louis getting to hang out with my family and attend another birthday party for my niece (she turns two on March 14th). We spend Thursday night at Chuck-E-Cheese!!! Now that definitely brought back some childhood memories...although much has changed from what I remembered. It was fun to see my niece explore all the games and I also enjoyed playing some ski ball with my brother...that game never goes out of style.
My sister chose to have Sarah's birthday early because she is 8.5 months pregnant and due on March 18th. She did not want to have the birthday party too close to the due date...besides Sarah is too young to know! We are all very anxious for the arrival of baby number two....they are expecting another baby girl.
The final portion of my week was flying out to Florida on Friday for the Disney Princess Half-Marathon event. I got the opportunity to speak at the expo and meet many participants. Lady Foot Locker was the key sponsor for this race, so I met many of the staff. I was also there representing Mission and excited to know that they are developing awesome new products....check them out at www.missionskincare.com.
Directly after the event at the expo, I had to head straight to the airport to catch a flight out to Tucson, Arizona for Tri-Fest. I was at Tri-Fest representing Speedo and spoke on Sunday from 10-11:30AM about open water swimming and my Olympic experience. Again, soon after speaking I had to head to the airport to catch a flight back home....finally! It is nice to be back home (I have only been here a couple of days the past month!!). It would have been nice to be able to spend a few more hours in Florida and Arizona, but I am glad I don't have to step on a plane for awhile...at least not till 9 more days!
Today was the first day I was cleared for swimming and cycling. Swimming went pretty well...just the normal out of shape feeling. I have yet to get on my bike, but anxious to see how the knee area feels.
It is refreshing to know that spring is around the corner!! Enjoy the changing seasons...

Update

Yesterday I had my update with Dr. Bray and he gave me the full report of what exactly happened during the surgery (including the size of the knife to cut the incision!). I have about a 3 inch incision on my left leg just below my knee on the left side.
He also gave me the full report of my recovery and when I can begin training again. I do have to keep in mind that everyone recovers at different rates, so I have to also listen to my body and be aware of how quickly I can push myself.
I have already noticed an improvement in my nerve function just one day post surgery! I have not been able to move my big toe up on my left foot for quite some time...and now I can do that!! This gives me confidence that my nerve is functioning now much closer to normal.
For the next two weeks, I will be focusing on keeping swelling down so I will try to limit walking, or anything with repetitive motion in my leg. Although I can walk, the Doctor encouraged me to use crutches in the airport---which should be an experience!! After two weeks I can begin swimming and cycling and after four weeks I can begin running. I really don't have too much swelling at all, although I have pretty much been elevating my leg and icing for the past two days. Today I am flying back to Colorado Springs and will only be back for one day and then I am off traveling for the next 10 days. I will be doing several speaking engagements and visiting family. This Saturday I have a talk in Indianapolis, Indiana at the YMCA Endurance Symposium. I will be speaking about my Olympic experience and getting the opportunity to meet many triathletes and answer any questions they may have about training, life as an elite, etc.
I am anxious to get home and check the mailbox which I am sure is overflowing. We left home on Feb. 11th a few days prior to my brother's wedding.
I will continue to keep up with posts on my recovery process.
Best-Sarah

Recovery

It has been a whirlwind these past couple of weeks, but really this journey began last December and has finally come to an end yesterday. Now, however, I am starting a new chapter for the season and beginning a recovery process into a better 2009 and beyond.
Last November when I began training again for the 2009 season, I felt quite a bit of frustration. Many of the symptoms I have been dealing with since an ankle injury at the Lisbon World Cup in May of 2007, had ceased to go away. All last year, I was dealing with a bit of pain, but I believed my ligaments in my ankle were loose from the fall and were getting better with time. I felt I needed to continue strengthening my ligaments. Although that thought mentally got me through the season last year, I was correct in that something was not quite right with my left leg, but the issue was not the ligaments in my ankle, but a peronial nerve impingement near my knee. What I mean by this is, just below my knee on the left side of my leg, my nerve was entrapped by some tissue (possibly scar tissue from my ankle injury). An MRI of my knee also showed a cist near the same area. While exercising, especially at a high intensity, the area swells and the nerve was getting cut off (much like a garden hose that gets pinched off). The symptoms I was feeling while racing and training while running were a result of my nerve not being able to fully send the correct message to my muscles; therefore, not being able to work correctly. I was not able to perform at 100% and I definitely want to be competing at 100% and training at 100%, so I went through several months of testing, patience and discovering what was really going on with my leg since this is not a normal injury.
Fortunately, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Dr. Roberty Bray, a neurological surgeon, who runs the D.I.S.C. facility in Marina Del Ray, CA. Feel free to check out the facility at: http://www.discmdgroup.com/index.asp. He was in Colorado a couple of weeks ago as a volunteer doctor at the training center. He invited me out to California to have all tests and procedures completed under the care of him and his team of doctors. His goal was to get the tests and procedures done as soon as possible so that I could get going with my season, but to also know 100% what exactly was going on with my leg. I had a nerve conduction test completed and found that post-exercise I have a 57% loss of nerve function with my peoronial nerve near my fibular head. This causes my foot to have weak dorsiflexion (ability to pull my foot up) so this causes problems with the push off on my run and bringing my foot forward (I have foot drop). I most likely damaged my nerve when I sprained my ankle and the scar tissue was trapping the nerve. It was felt the cist needed to be removed as well, which could have also contributed to the irritation on the nerve. On Monday, Feb. 23rd, I went under a minor surgical procedure (although I have never even had stitches before…so this was very new to me!!) to release the entrapped nerve (Dr. Bray performed) and remove the cist (Dr. Millstein). The surgery was completed in less than 90 min and I was able to stay awake….although I was “relaxed” with some help from some drugs. My leg was also numbed (and continued to stay numb for 24 hours) by a femoral nerve block (similar to an epidural, but in my leg). This feels very, very strange not being able to feel your leg!!!!
Today I am not in too much pain, but of course walking is a slow process at the moment. After a week off, I should be able to get back into the pool and after a couple weeks I can get back on my bike and three weeks I will be cleared to start running! Although this means I will miss the first part of my season, my goal is to be ready to race by June. I know I will take it day by day and will first focus on smart recovery.
I am so relieved to finally figure out what was hampering my leg…it has been almost two years and I am fortunate to have figured it out because once the nerve gets irritated, it only gets worse over time. I know that I could not have continued to race and train at this level because I could have potentially caused my leg permanent nerve damage.
I have an appointment with the Dr. Bray this afternoon and I will get my full report of recovery protocol.
I am looking forward to this next phase of my career and excited to begin moving forward.

Wind Tunnel Testing

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the A2 Wind Tunnel testing lab in Morriseville, North Carolina. The lab was a great opportunity to learn about aerodynamics and to find the best position for me on the bike, with the least amount of drag. Blue, my bike sponsor, is giving all athletes one free hour in the wind tunnel with the purchase of a Triad. Check out the awesome new ride at http://www.rideblue.com/. I rode the Triad in the Olympics last year and I am looking forward to racing the Triad in non-drafting races for the 2009 season. For information on the A2 wind tunnel visit www.A2WT.com. There is also a very informative article about how the wind tunnel testing is conducted at: http://www.roadbikeaction.com/fly.aspx?layout=content&taxid=67&cid=1018


At the lab, there are two tunnels, one smaller tunnel (where we tested our bikes) and one larger tunnel that is used exclusively for NASCAR. We got the opportunity to check out the other tunnel and see what goes on behind the scenes in aerodynamic testing for race cars. The tunnel is booked solid with different teams for the next two years (and the tunnel is open 24 hours/day). Busy business!

I am looking forward to my bike being shipped back to me so that I can go and check out my new set-up on the road. Especially since Colorado is experiencing spring in January. The past few days have been absolutely gorgeous...and temperatures are supposed to hang around in the 60s for most of the week. I think I am getting spoiled so far this winter....but taking advantage of some outdoor riding while I can.

My parents are also driving out to visit this week as well---so it will be a great week to do a bit of sightseeing. They are finishing out the trip was a couple days of skiing, but I am sure the mountains are still cold and have plenty of snow.