Half Full Plus Five - A Bipolar Race Report

My weekend began with a 5k. I wouldn't normally sign up for a 5k the day before a triathlon, and I am sure my coaches are going to kill me when they see this, but I had to do this race. It was the Mental Health America Mind Your Health 5k Run & Walk. I had to be there to represent Team Bipolar Athlete. My good tri buddy, Judith, also signed up. She and I were committed to running SLOWLY because we were both competing the next day in the Ulman Cancer Fund/Rev 3 Half Full Olympic Triathlon the next day.

The race itself was flat, and fast and, for the most part, I kept myself extra slow. I am normally slow, so it's not a big challenge, BUT the excitement of the race, seeing people running by, the weather was perfect, I admit now I didn't slow down enough. That was lesson one. When running a 5k the day before a triathlon, you really can never slow down enough.

The biggest lesson of the race didn't come from the physical exercise itself. Before the race started, the Director of Development for MHA gave a quick introductory speech. He described the work of MHA and asked us all to notice the name of the race itself - Mind Your Health. It wasn't about helping the mentally ill. It wasn't even just about doing advocacy work on behalf of those of us who have been diagnosed with a disorder or illness. We all have to stay healthy mentally. It makes sense. No one says that it's only important for a certain group of people to eat right or exercise. So why is it that we only discuss mental health in the context of mental illness? Mental health is just part of health in general. We all just have different issues at different times and need access to different resources to stay healthy.

After the race, Judith and I hurried home to do our pre-race preparation. For any of you who do triathlons, you know that race preparation, planning and packing is literally the fourth sport (along with transition, laundry and eating!). Fortunately, I have gotten a lot better at this skill with each race that I have done, and this race was local, so the packing wasn't that bad. But without much time I threw together everything I needed and managed to have a whole ten minutes for a quick nap before we were off to Elliott City, Maryland for Half Full.

We decided to stay in a hotel close to the race, even though it was only about an hour from home. Good call. Splurge on the hotel the night before the race. As a result, we were able to leisurely rack our bikes the night before and get a little extra sleep in the morning.

We ate a great vegan meal at one of my favorite restuarants that happens to be about five miles from the race site, Great Sage. Good call. Eat quinoa, spinach, nuts and light dessert and drink water instead of pizza and beer before a race. Yeah, we made the pizza and beer mistake the night before Nation's Triathlon and promised never again. Even though Great Sage has a great selection of organic craft beers that were calling our names, we resisted.

Made it to the race the next morning just in time to get one of the last parking spots in the close parking lot, set up transition with plenty of time to spare and relax in the Team Z tent. Squeezed myself into my wet suit and waited to get into the water. It was a time trial start, which I was not used to - so when it was my time I ran into the cold lake (apx 73 degress) with my designated line partner and we were off. Or at least she was. My body went into immediate cold shock and I couldn't breath. I felt like my wet suit was suffocating me and I went into my first "I am going to quit this s**t" moment of the race. But I didn't. My brain kicked in, talked to it's other half and reminded me that this is normal, flip on your back, calm yourself down, swim slowly and get used to things. Good call. The brain plays tricks on itself, especially mine, in cold, open water. Calm down, slow down and keep going.

I got out of the water and felt like I had the worst swim ever. Moved myself up the hill to transition and found my bike. Luckily, the weather was incredibly warm for this time of year, so the bike ride wasn't cold at all. I had practiced the course a few weeks before and knew it was hilly, so I took it easy. No records to be set here. I wanted to bike easy so I could have enough left for the run, since I completely ran out of gas on the run at Nation's last month. About ten miles into the bike I felt miserable. I was tired physically, but I was exhausted mentally. I just kept thinking "I don't like doing this." Which is not normal for me. I love biking. I took this as a sign that I am a little burnt out and probably just need a break. So I tucked that voice into the back of my head and decided to just focus on the fun downhills and the pretty scenery. Good call. When things get tough, focus on the easiest part of what you are doing, not the hardest. And I am going to take a little time off from my bike. I think we need some time apart.

Oh - and HUGE lesson learned on the bike this time around. I learned from my last race that it was critical for me to get some calories and electrolytes into my about 15 min into the ride to replace what I had lost during the swim. As I went to grab my favorite Clif Blocks (PRODUCT PLUG!) out of my jersey pocket I DROPPED THEM! Are you serious?? Luckily I had a gel and some calories in my water bottles, but I really was jonesing for those blocks. They had caffeine. And were cherry flavored. Yum. So lesson here - carry some extra food in case you drop yours.

And then it was time for the run. By the time I hit the run it was almost 90 degrees out - AGAIN! And I got to enjoy one of the side effects, AGAIN, of my medications -- excessive sweating. Yeah. Awesome. But I did a few things really right on this run and am super proud of how I did -- stopped at every water station, walked the steeper and longer hills without shame and dedicated each mile in my mind to a friend who has struggled with cancer. Great call. 

I felt hot and tired and excited and relaxed and accomplished, all at the same time. And I didn't ruin the great feeling of accomplishment by checking my numbers that day. I promised myself not to check results until Monday. Good call. Time is only one way to measure success. 

And in the end, my times actually weren't that bad. My swim was right on track, my bike was slower than usual as expected because of hills and my plan to slow down and my run was better than I had done at Nation's.

So what's next??? Onto Marathon training.. that is after I get some sleep. #respectrecovery