It’s February 12th, and I am heading to the big island of Hawaii for a 5 day training camp with my coaches Matt Dixon and Gerry Rodrigues. My heart is full with a plethora of emotions. Part of me is excited to learn from the best in this incredible sport, another part feels guilty to leaving my daughter (this is the longest I have ever been way from her), another part of me is nervous as hell, hoping that I will be able to keep up and that I won’t be the only non-pro there. And then there’s the part of me that is just taking in each moment, living in the present and enjoying the ride, especially since this past week was quite a difficult one physically… I broke out in a cold sore on the left side of my mouth which has taken a full 7 days to heal; I got my period (tmi yet?); got a small virus leaving me with post nasal drip and very tired ( if I am getting 6 hours of sleep at night, I feel lucky) and my left shoulder, left lower back and left ankle are feeling a bit wonky. Is that even a word?

For the past 8 years, I have been doing Crossfit, the functionally based sport of fitness. It has left me with a great strength and conditioning base for my Ironman quest, however I have the lingering shoulder issues. I was diagnosed with a shoulder-impingement on my left shoulder in 2009, which had me in physical therapy for a year. Because I couldn’t do kettle-bells, overhead squats, pull ups ect, I decided to run the 2010 LA marathon and finished it without running over 6 miles in training. I don’t recommend that approach to a marathon as I couldn’t walk down stairs for a week without wincing. Since starting my Ironman training in November, I have not done any CF style workouts…no Angie, Murph or Fran although I did do Grace when I was in Mexico over Christmas and my body was aching for days after. I was more sore after those 6 minutes than I was in any of my long training IM training workouts.

But now, three months into the purplepatch program, I am starting to feel the little aches and pains due to not fully stretching or working mobility right after my workouts and not getting enough sleep/recovery. I’ve been trying to work in massages once a week if I can, but mostly I try to get on the foam roller or the ball, or dig into the areas of tightness with my torture stick. I recently went to Brookstone and bought one of those thumper type self massagers, but my daughter has been using it more than I have! Getting injured is one of the reasons I feel a bit nervous. I know myself, and I will push myself hard to keep up. But my body is not that of a 20 or 30 year old pro-athlete so my mantra for this training camp is to soak up every bit of information to help me become a stronger, more efficient injury free triathlete, listen to my body and to HAVE FUN!