Hi everyone,
I have to admit, I'm not exactly in the mood to write
about my running over the past couple weeks. It's
been very frustrating, but Louis, the webmaster
of my website thought it would be a good idea to let
those who care know what's going on these days.
The 10 days or so before Worlds, training was
wonderful. I felt absolutely great. I arrived in
Edmonton in a good frame of mind and in super shape.
What more could I ask. I woke up the morning of the
first round, went for a short run, and felt a little
sluggish and heavy, just as I felt earlier in
Eugene. During the warm up for the race, again,
pretty sluggish, and in the race itself, I felt lousy,
I mean really bad. I had been spiked in the race
right on my kneecap, and it was tightening up on me.
I spent that night wondering whether I would be able
to compete the next day as my knee was not able to
bend very well, and wondering whether I should
compete due to the way I felt. We all just decided to
see how I felt the next day. The next morning, I
could barely move my leg. It was really
stiff. I saw the team doctor and received some
treatment and pain reliever.
By race time, it was feeling pretty good, and in my
warm up, I felt less sluggish. I was ready to give it
a shot. I think I was a little more nervous for this
race just because of the events of the previous 24
hours, but I wasn't out of control by any means. I
was just a little unsure of myself. As the race
progressed, I felt pretty good actually, and was just
making a move to the front when someone fell around me
and I almost went down. It knocked me off a few
strides and I tried to catch back up, but
realized that my legs had no turnover and I was
tightening up. I knew this was not going to be good.
I was asking for one of those crash and burn last
laps and I did not want to go through another Sydney.
I was panicking a bit and I thought the wise route was
to pull up. My coach and manager thought
based on how I looked at that point, it was the right
thing to do.
Louis has told me that I'm receiving some criticism by
some about what I said after the race to the media,
that I was saving myself for Zurich. I can
promise you that in no way did I mean that the way
some have interpreted it. I should have been more
clear. I simply meant that I thought is was wise to
avoid one of those crash and burn races like you saw
me run in Sydney so that I could have a chance to be
able to compete in a couple more races during the
remainder of the season. Those last 400m were going
to be a nightmare. That was something I did not want
to go through again.
A few days after Worlds, I experienced more bad news.
I was practicing with Sarah Schwald, one of my
training partners and experienced some problems. I
had to stop in the middle of what was really a routine
workout. I really don't remember any of it, but
according to Sarah, I was delirious and looking
terrible. I went to the doctor the next day and was
diagnosed with what he thought was probably
hypoglycemia. All concerned thought it was best I
skip Zurich and see how things went in the upcoming
days. I'm still uncertain whether I'm hypoglycemic or
was just experiencing it's symptoms. Anyway,
it's symptoms are the same as I was experiencing in
Edmonton, and Eugene earlier this year as well as a
couple of practices and races in past years.
Maybe this discovery will help me in the future. I've
been told I need to adjust my diet, concentrating on
protein and smaller but more frequent meals,
and avoiding sugars and carbos as much as I can.
Yesterday, I left for Europe since my recent practices
have been better. I don't feel incredible, but I feel
pretty good. I plan on running in Brussels
and the Goodwill Games and Grand Prix Final in
Australia. I'm just going to take it one race at a
time from here on out. Mark is not traveling with me
on this trip, but We're meeting in LA on my return
from Australia, then going on a vacation.
Thanks to all for the support. I wish things could go
a little easier sometimes.
All my best!
Suzy
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