Another Dental FAIL

Tuesday was supposed to be one of the last stops on my Dental Express... but alas, FAIL. It seems to be a recurring theme with the dental work thus far... a series of setbacks. My oral surgeon was supposed to drill the implant in and let that start healing for the next 90 days (for those of you keeping count.. that means a new tooth just after IMLP!), at which point a crown could be fashioned and I would officially be done with the dental work. Simple, right? In a sense, yes. Compliments of health insurance... no. Nothing can ever be simple with health insurance. Apparently they haven't pre-authorized my treatment yet, so no go on the surgery unless I want to pay out of pocket and be reimbursed. Pass. Seriously though... WHY haven't they done the authorization?!?! It's not like this was a surprise. I'm pretty sure they've seen close to 40K worth of dental work from this accident (not even including my hospital bills)... this should be something thats instantly approved. Alas, no. So, I'm stuck waiting for another 2 weeks or so until Aetna decides they want to do their job and pay my insurance. Awesome.

Training and work has been taking up most of my time. I'm looking forward to heading home today for my sisters bridal shower. I'm also going to explore the Emerald Necklace in Cleveland (and by explore, I mean ride 90 miles). It reminds me of The Wizard of Oz, and I have a feeling that there will be many times I'll catch myself singing "we're off to see the wizard". If the Emerald Necklace does indeed have anything to do with the Emerald City, I'll be sure to snap some pictures of the yellow brick road.

The Unveiling

Twenty-two weeks (155 days to be exact) of dental hell drew to nearly a close on Monday, April 20th.

I've been through having my jaw wired, unwired, temporary crowns, root canals, crowns, and partial crowns. I've had drilling, shaving, and sanding done. All to restore my teeth to what they used to be before the accident. I've had to wait for teeth to come in, only to find they were not correct. More shaving, more sanding, and even more waiting. Finally, the veneers came in and were attached to my teeth. Naively, I thought this would be a simple and painless process. All they have to do is glue some porcelin to my teeth, right?

Wrong.

The veneers came in and my dentist placed each one over the tooth to make sure the alignment was correct. Then he had to essentially sandblast my teeth to make sure there was absolutely no plaque or bacteria of any sorts. Did I mention that my front teeth on the top aren't completely stable yet? So pain insued as my teeth were stripped clean. Then the cementing comes, which involves a lot of pressure on the teeth and UV lights to cure the glue. Then more shaping with a drill to get the teeth to look natural, along with hacking through my gums for good measure, just to make sure I realized that this procedure would infact hurt. Armed with no novicane, my dentist kept asking me if I needed a break. I gargled "no" through the pool of spit/blood in the back of my mouth, and we continued on. I got a 5 minute break between the upper and lower set to rinse my mouth out, but thats about it.
3 hours later, I had a new smile:

Someone remind me to put makeup on in the morning. Those are some nice under-eye circles. yikes.

Monday evening I also went and had my hair cut. I wasn't planning on doing much, but the fabulous Royston disagreed with me, and told me most of the length was dead. I told him I needed to be able to put it in a ponytail, and since he styles seemingly half of the girls on the team, he knows better than to take away ponytail abilities. So, he chopped between 6-8 inches of hair, and gave me this new do. I didn't do anything with it this morning, so it kind of looks like crap, but when I actually take the extra 5 minutes to blow dry with a round brush, it looks great.

I'm still getting used to the new smile. It's weird to have teeth that aren't shaved down. I think being able to drink something cold is the best part. The front teeth still aren't totally stable, and the oral surgeon, whom I saw yesterday, wants to keep a close eye on them. I go Tuesday to start the implant - more on that later.

When I sent a picture to a friend in LA, aside from the compliments on the new grill, I got "whoa mauldin (we go by last names- two Lindsays in the group of friends)... did you have Collagen done?" No collagen here, completely natural. Naturally enhanced by scar tissue though. You see, when I crashed I almost bit completely through my lip. The result: a giant "pouty lip" through the center of my bottom lip. I've highlighted where I sank my bottom teeth:Note the bump in the center above my teeth marks

So there you have it. The new smile, complete with free Collagen-esque enhancements.

Rumpass in Bumpass Race Report

I arrived in Lake Anna on Friday at 2, beating the usual I-95S nightmare. I helped set up the tents and kept Zoe entertained by throwing a stick into the lake for her to fetch. Around 4, a few more teammates showed up, so I was able to leave the trailer for a bit. J.R. started putting his wetsuit on, so I told him to hold up for a minute and I'd throw on my suit. I think he was expecting me to put on a wetsuit instead of just my swimsuit, since the water was about 62 degrees. After shaking his head at me, we frolicked into the water and got in a good 25 minute swim. Out we climbed, and moved onto a 25 minute ride of the course. Came back and went to my officials clinic for a few hours before heading back to the house I was staying at. I had a glass of wine with Brian, Maureene, and Jacquie before heading to bed around 10:30. I couldn't seem to get comfortable in the ghetto trundle bed I was sleeping on. About 40 minutes go by, and I hear the door open with a "Hello?" The other roommates were a tad bit late getting down to the house apparently... but then I hear a distinct click-click-click-click that only dogs paws can make. So I got up, and ended up sitting outside with Joe, Matt, Maureene, and Jacquie, who persuaded me into another beer after saying "no no, I'm racing tomorrow", talking until about 1am. Luckily, the race didn't start until 10am, so I was able to sleep until 6:45.

At the race site, I slowly put my transition stuff together, and sat at the tents for a while eating breakfast, hanging out, and generally doing a lot of nothing. 9:20 rolls around, and I realize I should probably put my wetsuit on and get a warm up in. National Anthem played, and I wandered over to the swim start since I was in the second wave.

Swim: 1500m swim in Lake Anna. Water temp - 60 degrees.
I started out about 4 rows back from the front for some reason, normally I'm much closer to the front. The gun went off, and I started to swim. Thats it. Nothing epic was happening, I just happened to start swimming with another 100 or so women. No thoughts of "okay, RACE TIME"... nothing. I just swam... clearly not caring about sighting as I zig-zagged all over the place. I'm pretty sure I swam at least a mile with the extended course I decided to follow. Looking back, I don't know what the deal was - I normally spot feet and make it my goal to pick them off one by one. Saturday, I couldn't have cared less about what was going on around me, I was just swimming. Total time: a terrible 29 minutes. whoa... ouch.

Bike: Two loop course on local roads
Again, no rushed feeling. I looked at my average heart rate and I stayed in Zone 2. It should have been much higher than than... I just rode. Looked around at the scenery, passed a few people. Yelled at a few guys who were in the first wave that passed me about 8 miles into the course to learn to swim for some amusement. A guy came up on the same p2c and yelled "nice bike"... I returned with "I like your wheels better though.. wanna trade?" He laughed, and then continued to pass me with his nice Zipps and disk wheel. I took it as a no. On the second loop I picked the pace up a bit, but nothing extravagant. I realized I wasn't racing, and decided I'd just pick it up on the run since I was feeling great, and most of my age group was close on the bike. Total time: 1:24

Run: Two loop course - trail run at beginning and end, significant hills on the road
After apparently taking a nap in transition (Seriously - 3:40??! what the hell was I doing for that long), I felt good to go for the run. Came out of transition through the grass running at an 8' pace. Felt awesome, ran past the screaming Z'ers, and made my way up the hill out of the marina towards the trail run. I walked most of the trail after almost rolling my ankle on a root, and decided its not worth the risk. Came out of the trail, hopped onto the gravel road, and then it happened. My back* said "F YOU", and shot pain up and down my spine like I've never felt before. Every attempt at running resulted in this pain. Jason, part of a relay, caught up to me, smacked my ass and told me to pick it up... which sparked someone behind us to yell "That was totally inappropriate". They were kidding, and it made me laugh. I tried running again.. no. So, most of the 6.2 mile run was actually a walk. Total time: 1:21 triple OUCH.

Overall time: 3:20:24. 8/8 in age group, 86/119 women.


So what went wrong in this race? I have no idea why I didn't have my game face on. Couldn't tell you why I wasn't nervous. Maybe because it just didn't feel like a big deal, and my focus is on the two upcoming half's. yeah.. thats it. i hope.

*Regarding my back: I went to a chiro for the first time in my life last week... and had 3 adjustments within the week. After speaking with an awesome friend, it seems that my chiro, being a triathlete herself, should have known waay better than to try that aggressive of a treatment knowing that I am racing, and never told me to ice my back. So, I think that whole treatment is going to be put on hold until after I'm done racing. I cannot risk not being able to run, I have way to much work to do between now and Kinetic/Mooseman/Lake Placid.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at the tents, getting burnt to a crisp (note to self: long sleeve wetsuits tend to take sunscreen off), and then finally going back to the house to play foosball on the WORST table ever made. Joe and I represented Ohio and went undefeated.

Sunday I officiated the Sprint, which was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to officiating Columbia - I get to ride my mountain bike to watch for penalties along the run.

More later about the new teeth :)

Panic Attack.

This morning brought about a double panic attack:

OhMyGoshImRacingTOMORROW!!!!!

and then this email from Es:

Subject: Breathe In

Breathe out.


99 days to go!

Thanks for the reminder and subsequent panic attack of OHMYGODIRONMANIS99DAYSAWAY Es.

yep. Full panic mode right now.



I didn't get around to packing last night, so I need to go home and throw everything together for my race this weekend. I HATE packing last minute, but at least I have a full list of everything I need:


Or at least I hope that is everything that I need. Luckily if I'm missing something, someone on the team will have it.


Full report upon my return. Should be an interesting race. I get excited when I see only a few people in my age group, and then I realize they are all Collegiate Tri teams... from what I understand its everyone from VT and a few other colleges that didn't want to pay for National's this weekend. At least I know I'll be last going into it :)

Some days are just hard.

Its my blog and I can cry if I want to.

I don't know how people who cry about anything are able to continue functioning in life. I'm not one to cry often, but when I do, I feel like it sucks every last drop of energy out of me, and leaves me with a tear-hangover. My eyes are all puffy the next day and I feel like shit. Seriously, I don't know how the criers of the world do it.

It's been a rough day. I wanted to go out running this evening because the weather was PERFECT for running, but I was just mentally exhausted. I did some shopping for my sister's wedding, finding bridesmaids necklaces and such.. and it just really hits hard when I stop and realize that Dad's never going to see any of this.. that he's never going to even meet whoever I end up marrying (if that happens), and it just spirals downward from there. Theres no other words than "it sucks". Oh, and "its not fair".

Hopefully the run later today and tomorrows ride go well. I'm looking forward to them.

A quick post about my underwear

Now that I have your attention..

I picked up a few pairs of Under Armour "Active Hipsters" when I was in Sports Authority a week or so ago. I needed to pick up some new sports bras since all of mine are too big (yes, this post is full of more information than you probably cared to know), compliments of losing weight while my jaw was wired shut. Under the racks of sports bras was a line of UA underwear. I figured what the heck, and grabbed a few pairs since they were on sale, and you can never have enough underwear.

By far, the most comfortable underwear I've ever tried. I wish they weren't so expensive and came in more colors :) Seriously ladies, try a pair if they happen to have them on sale somewhere. You won't be sorry.

A Long-Winded Post

Or perhaps a post about wind.

On the schedule for this past weekend was a 63-mile ride Saturday, and a 15-mile run Sunday. The temperatures looked to be great for both days, and I was excited to not have a rainy weekend for the first time in what seems like a while.

And then the wind blew. Relentlessly. I've never thought it was possible to be blown off my bike, but I'm pretty sure it almost happened a few times on Saturday's ride. We started out from Tyler Elementary in Gainesville. The first 10 miles were on Rt 245, into a direct headwind. After drafting off Es for two miles (thanks bud), I figured I was strong enough to push harder. I instantly recognized the savings of being in the aero position - sitting up, I was struggling to stay 10 mph. Dropped down aero, I was averaging about 19-20. And then we turned off 245. My bike and I, attempting to stay together as a solid unit, started to dance with the wind. Between every house and break in landscape came gusts which were so powerful, I thought I was going to lose my bike out from under me. Forget taking a drink from a bottle, I couldn't let go of my handlebars. Aero position was out of the question. A quick stop at a 7-11 around mile 16, which was filled with people from the 40 mile ride (left from a different location 30 minutes following the 63's) caused a long pause in my ride. Hoping to catch Es, I threw on my and went screaming down the road. Dropped into aero, I felt awesome.... rocking out going maintaining between 25-28mph. I went sailing past one of our SAG drivers, and waved as I continued down the road. All of the sudden, my coach comes up with the SAG driver whom I just passed in their car, and yells at me to stop. Thinking I was about to get a lecture about riding in the center of the road (I was avoiding potholes on the side of the desolate roads).. I pulled up to their window. Ed, trying to keep a straight face.. says "look at your reflection".

I put my helmet on backwards. Wow.

I can't even explain the logistics of how that actually worked, and how I didn't NOTICE that my helmet was on backwards... but I digress. I fixed my helmet, laughed, and continued on my way. I picked up speed again, and then hit a major pothole. I maintained control, but it beat me to the core. I listened: No flat tire, no bent rims. Life was good until I reached back to grab my Gatorade out of my rear bottle holder. Gone. I stopped, and I literally broke BOTH bottle cages in the hit (side note: I have the same set up as Ray, who also has only lost a bottle due to failure against a severe pothole. Luckily, I didn't break my seat). Rt 713: 2, Lindsay: 0. Once I got everything together, and laughed a little more about the fact I zoomed past a bunch of people with my helmet on backwards, the rest of the ride was rather uneventful. Since I had lost two water bottles in the pothole fiasco, I was way down on calories for the ride. It started to heat up, which wasn't helping, nor was the wind still gusting at 35 knots. I slowed down, and Gina along with another teammate caught up to me. We tackled Snickersville Turnpike together. I'm not sure on the score of Snickersville vs myself, but it was a close match. There were points I was going 3 mph up the hills, every turn of the cranks burning my quads in a strange enjoyably masochistic way.

And then the breakdown started. Groups of motorcyclists were coming from the opposite direction. I couldn't help but think that my dad (proud owner of a Triumph Bonneville) would have loved to been out riding on a day like today. And then came a flood of emotions I've been repressing. I'm sure my teammates had no idea I was bawling under my sunglasses, attempting to keep the tears from welling into my eyes, because I needed to see the road (not that it was passing by quickly - I was still struggling to maintain 4mph up the hills..) I think if I wouldn't have had some teammates there, I would have gotten off my bike and curled up against a tree for a few hours and thrown a self-pity party. I'm glad they were there. The remainder of the ride was good after that, and I returned a bit quicker than I thought I was going to.

I planned to ride on Sunday again with a teammate, however my ass wasn't going to have it. I switched to tri shorts on the 63 miler, and, although comfortable, they take a bit of getting used to. My ass was not that happy with me Sunday. I decided to forgo the additional biking after cheering on teammates at the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. Instead, I came home, took a nap, got my 13 miles in (hey, I rode around town for a while.. that should count as 2 miles of running).


I miss sleeping in on the weekends.

It is April already?

or, "Holy crap my first tri of the season is 17 days away"



...Holy crap my first tri of the season IS only 17 days away. I feel so completely under prepared for it, and I don't know why. I go through these ohmygoshwhythehelldidisignupforplacid panic attacks every single few days. As soon as I do Rumpass, I have 3 weeks to prepare for my first half iron. Then 4 weeks to prepare for my second half iron. And what seems like both a lifetime and a flash before my eyes, 7 weeks until I'm toeing the line at Placid. I watch the countdown clock tick closer and closer... 117 days. The first try of the season marks the 100 day countdown to Ironman. I'm not ready to accept double digits. I should trust the training, but I have a hard time doing so. I always feel like I should be doing more. Somehow, this doesn't feel taxing enough.

In spirit of making my life harder, I just signed up for the Army 10 miler and the Marine Corp Marathon. Deep down I hope that I'll be forced to transfer my bibs in exchange for a little race on the Big Island... but I have my doubts. A teammate of mine also pointed out that Mooseman qualifies for World Long Course Championships, enabling me to skip nationals and go straight to Australia. Added another thing to my list of "what if's"... awesome.

I should have a more coherient post, but work and workouts are killing me this week. So, this is all you get.