Cyclocross National 2013

And cyclocross season is over. It went by so fast! We had a few sweet races in the local series, one super muddy and snowy up in Delores, and some unseasonably warm ones up on campus. I performed well in some, and made the national team for The Fort, which I viewed as a major step in my recovery!

One of the warm races!
Photo thanks to coach Chad Cheeny

This is how bikes are meant to look :)

I spent all winter break Nordic skiing in Gunnison/Crested Butte with the family. The skate skiing was good prep for my legs, and the below 0 temps everyday was good prep for Wisconsin!

I got back to Durango and went to my fist day of classes (last semester of undergrad!) before jetting of the Madison, WI with the rest of the team. We spent the first few days pre-riding the course, which was a long loop with lots of tricky corners, a couple steep climbs, a looong stair run-up, fast slippery descents, and a few sprint sections on the road to provide some much needed relief from the mud. The first day we rode the course was mainly ice with some thin wet mud on the surface, making balance and traction key. Everyone went down multiple times as we figured out the balance between caution and aggression to make the fastest lap. But that night it rained quite a bit, so by the time we arrived for our race the next morning the course was all deep peanut butter mud. It made everything much tackier so cornering was faster, but the straight sections were much slower and you really had to ride up on the tape to find clear lines.

Ou team had a sweet warm set up, going
oldschool with 2 wood burning stoves
Photo thanks to Dan Walker

After a not so hot start, I powered though the mud and by half a lap in found my rhythm. It felt like we were all moving so slow! My bike was so heavy that my carrying technique up the stairs and over the barriers was less then stellar. Meaning at one point by the end I was lugging it behind me ;)

A quick peek at the course conditions
Photo thanks to Dan Walker

I was pitting every half lap for a new bike (thank goodness for our awesome support staff!), and our race ended up being only 3 laps because the course was so sluggish! For laps 2 and 3 I picked up the pace, using my confidence in the mud to pass as many girls as I could. I actually ended up 15^th in our field of 40, which included many top-level racers, and I felt it was a great result for my first nationals event in 2 years! My teammates also killed it, we had 2 on the podium and were the only team who didn’t have any girls pulled!

Photo thanks to Dan Walker

The boys raced the next day in the bitter cold, but the course had frozen over making it slick, but much faster. We also got 2 riders on the podium here, and all the guys did well. Unfortunately, we barely lost the omnium title to Marian, but hey we are still second in the nation!

The warmest outfits are also the most stylish :)

Cheering on the collegiate men and elite racers!
Photo thanks to Dan Walker

D1 team podium
Photo thanks to Dan Walker

Now I’m back in Durango. Still recovering from traveling, and getting into the flow of school again. I was so happy with how I was able to perform in Madison considering the last 2 years. I went back to Texas doctors over break, and they love how I’m such an easy patient since I’m all into exercising ;) I really feel thought that my training has helped me gain control of my symptoms and greatly improved the quality of day to day life. I am also starting to wean off my first heart medication (exciting!) since we think training is making my body strong enough to control its issue on its own. Of course really training and racing at a competitive level causes some problems of it’s own for my body, but I am hoping that this year as I approach what is hopefully a successful season, I can find the balance between sickness and health, overtraining and undertraining. I have some high goals still, and I feel that the EDS won’t hold me back from achieving them; I just will have to go about them differently from most.

Off the bike life is going well too! But I can’t believe I am graduating in April! I have a lot going on, including my senior research, which I am excited about since I am studying the effect of kinesiology tape on muscle recruitment patterns in cyclists’ quadriceps. Who knows, maybe I’ll uncover the next secret to being a successful cyclist ;) I also have a couple of physical therapy school interviews coming up. I am thankful to even get interviews since it is insanely competitive (one school mentioned they received about 1,000 applications this year, and they take 30. 30!) but I really really hope I get in somewhere!

Yup so this year has had a great start, here’s to a fantastic 2013 for everyone!

Looking Up!

For those of you that I haven’t talked to lately, I am racing again!

Over the summer I surprised the doctors with my progress, (In my stress test I was able to go from 100 watts last November, to 250 watts, and 20% lung capacity to 40%!) and was able to ease myself back into a training program at the end of the summer. I definitely had a few speed bumps along the way, but by the time school started at the end of august, I was actually feeling pretty solid.

On a side note…. Durango hosted the start of the Pro Cycling Challenge in August and it was an awesome experience! The team got a lot of volunteer hours in, and we got to interact with the riders a bit, which is always fun. It’s cool to see how the sport is growing in the US. Not a bad way to start off the school year ;)

I also went to the track to play around before mountain bike races started. I haven’t been to the velodrome in a few years, and given that the closest one is in Colorado springs 6 hours away, I probably won’t go back for a while again haha. Nevertheless, it was fun, but I’ve probably got to make my quads about 3 times bigger if I ever want to be a track racer.

So on to what you really want to hear about :) The first mountain bike race of the season was our home race, which eased my nerves quite a bit. In the short track it took me a little time to get back into the flow of racing, and I started to move up at the end and even with a crash in the last lap I pulled off a top ten finish. In the cross country the next day I felt really good, and finally got back into the zone after a long year off. I finished 7^th, just 30 secs off of 6^th, and when I came across the finish line so soon everyone was celebrating. I was stoked on how well I did right off the bat, but even more amazing was how excited my friends and teammates were, who have watched me go through this and supported me so much!

All smiles :)

After the first weekend it was back into the routine of pack, drive, camp, race, drive, every weekend, and taking clothes out of my duffel only to wash them and throw them back in. I was completely exhausted after the first one but I wasn’t complaining. I really missed this crazy lifestyle that revolves around racing! (oh and homework too I guess haha) I was able to pull a top ten finish in most every race, and even had a few top fives. By the end of the season, racing every weekend was staring to catch up with my body, and I was more tachycardic than I’ve been in a while. Everything else was acting up too, so I enjoyed the last couple races, but didn’t perform well enough to make the nationals team. It was probably for the best, since I still need to work on learning how to manage my symptoms with my training. But no matter what I am so so so happy at how far I came in such a short amount of time! It was honestly more then I could have hoped for. And I hope that my body can still improve more and more until I am back to where I was, or even faster :) But even if not, I am just enjoying all the riding and racing I can do.

Conference Championships STXC

So right now I am riding as much as possible and getting ready for cyclocross! This is predicted to be a hard winter so it will be a really fun season. I don’t know why I enjoy it so much when the conditions get crazy but I do! We started to see snow on the peaks in September, and I can’t wait for it, but I will miss my mountain bike for quite a long time. And that school thing is going really well too. Working on designing my senior seminar project, which has been an interesting process. It will be fun when I get to start researching! I am also working with my doctors to see if I can start to wean off some of my (way too) many medications in the next few months. So all in all the recovery process is going well :) 

Love these two!

Keep on going

It has been quite a while since I've written anything, probably because this is my race blog, and I haven't been able to race for a long time. But we finally know why. And now that we know, we can fight it. I say we because although I have been physically fighting this battle, I have been amazing at the unwavering support of those around me who are helping me fight every step of the way. I can't thank you enough.

On to the diagnosis... last week I finally got the official diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome type III. Since most people have never heard of EDS (including me before all this started) I'll explain it as best I can. EDS is a rare genetic disorder that affects the connective tissues of the body, which acts like the glue holding our body together. So it affects the joints (hyper-mobility, joint pain, and accelerated joint damage), organs (gastrointestinal issues, organ rupture), skin (easy bruising, tearing, elasticity), and circulatory system (veins are lax reducing ability for blood flow) among other things. Different people have different symptoms and issues because of this. So this is the root cause to the issues I've had all my life (like injuries and pain) and most likely why I struggle with dysautonomia, gastroparesis, the recent heart issues, and everything else.

So when talking to the doctor about my future cycling career he was uncertain. There is little research on EDS and every patient responds so differently, and so we will have to see how exercise affects me. He was encouraging in that a lot of EDS patients go through phases of "remission" in which symptoms, especially the dysautonomia which is the biggest obstacle to riding, can subside. But if I find a trend in which intense training makes me more symptomatic then I might have to completely stop. Also, the risk of joint damage is very high, so no crashing! (haha I would definitely be okay with that) and we will have to see how riding wears down on my knees, etc.. So long story short I am going to try my best to overcome this and I am still optimistic about a pro racing future :)

Right now I am functional, making it to school everyday and very slowly building on my activity level and riding. I got my new road bike and it is BEAUTIFUL so I can't wait till when I can finally ride it outside! Collegiate road season is just around the corner and my hope is to "race" in the crits as part of my physical, but mostly mental recovery ;) Heres to hoping for a race report soon!

C'mon who can be sick when you get to live here?

Merry (Almost) Christmas!

Hey there :) I just wanted to write this to say I have finally started riding again! It's not a lot, and I have to work very hard to ride slow enough to keep my heart rate low enough but I still love it!

For anyone wondering, I've gone to Dallas 2 different times now for a week of doctors, testing, and treatment. We have made some progress on my POTS/dysautonomia in terms of improving my heart and therefore my ability to get out of bed and do stuff. I also found out i am gluten intolerant, so I am exploring a whole new world of food. Overall I am feeling quite better on medicine (florinef!) and exploring bio-feedback treatment. I was able to successfully finish out the semester at school which was great.

So right now I am just waiting to see a geneticist to confirm my doctors suspicions of a condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Hyper-mobility type. This is a collagen related disorder, so it can cause problems and symptoms everywhere in your body.

So thats all I suppose, hope everyone has a merry christmas and a healthy new year!!!

It's Going

It's been awhile since i've written on here, and a lot has happened. I feel like this blog is a good way to keep friends and family updated on my condition. I wish i could be telling you about my latest race, but I am still off the bike almost completely. I ride my single speed to class everyday (expect it already snowed here! so not sure how much longer thats gonna last haha) but I am experiencing pretty bad exercise intolerance, and going to class, and a little bit of physical therapy is still too much for me, so no training. Since i've gotten back to Durango, my condition hasn't changed much. Lately i've been in a much better mood at least :) It seems like I'm going to every doctor in Durango, but the downside of a really small town is that no one can really help me. So i'll travel out of state soon to a hospital specializing in Dysautonomia, and hopefully finally get a definitive diagnosis so I can figure out a treatment that works! I've also been diagnosed with Esinophillic Gastritis, and am currently on an elimination diet and my gastrointestinal issues are slowly improving! So no more wheat, diary, eggs, soy, corn, nuts, seafood, citrus, acidic vegetables, or nightshades. It sure makes grocery shopping simple :) and i've been experimenting with baking and made a bean, rice, spice cake that was awesome! 

So it's been a really rough semester so far, and i'm just fighting to stay in school, but I'm still so happy to be here and am enjoying all my classes. Hope everyone is doing well :) And again if anyone has knowledge about these conditions, or any good allergen free recipes i'd love to hear from you!

Just A Little Health Update

Hey everyone!!!! :)
It has been a most eventful summer, just not quite in the way I was hoping. I've been on this crazy health roller coaster for the past few years now, and after getting mono in June and ending up in Texas I was really struggling with my heart. A chance appointment to the neurologist finally gave us some answers. They measured my resting heart rate laying down (106) and after standing up (150) and based on this and my purple legs, she diagnosed me with Dysautonomia. We probably spent 3 hours going through my entire medical history and it could explain everything! Basically, my autonomic nervous system which controls all your involuntary bodily functions (heart, circulation, breathing, digestion, etc.) doesn't work correctly and it leads to a lot of complex symptoms and issues. I most likely had never been diagnosed because it is fairly unknown, and being an athlete my entire life kept the symptoms relatively at bay. Especially since the veins in my legs don't always remember to contract and send the blood back to your heart, and my leg muscles are able to compensate. So I just have to keep riding my bike! We don't know yet what caused this, but extensive testing should reveal that in the next few months.

So the main reason for posting all this is I would love for anyone who has any knowledge of Dysautonomia or a similar disorder to let me know! I am on facebook if you don't have my number.

Well I hope everyone is enjoying their last few weeks of summer! I am heading back to Durango in 4 days! I can't wait and I'm really hoping i'll be able to ride soon :) And GOOD LUCK to everyone headed to Switzerland for the World Championships! They definitely have an amazing team this year :)

i hate mono

Well, it seems I just can't catch a break this season. I'm trying to stay positive (really! haha) it's just unbelievably frustrating to bounce back again and again from injuries and sickness only to be knocked down over and over. But since I am out for the rest of the season it looks like, I am going to take this time to really rest, recover, and rediscover my love for the sport :)

A little recap of my recent adventure: I began feeling bad with an especially sore throat a week before moving back to Colorado. Driving up with my family I began to feel extremely sick, and after I got all moved into my summer house we decided to go to the doctor. My resting heart rate was extremely high and I was constantly dizzy and to make a long story short I spent four days going between the ER and specialists with concerns from a throat abscess to a blood clot in my lungs and it was miserable. In the end turns out I have mono and strep, and my body was just under a lot of stress. I am doing so so much better, even though I am back in Texas and not riding at all right now, but my brother is finding ways to keep me entertained :)

I admit I am still incredibly bummed, but there are many seasons to come and this is by no means the end.