Tattoos and trails - 12/8/2008

Most IMFL and IMAZ finishers got tatted on Friday! It was an ink partaay! Everyone seemed happy with the results and everyone seemed to hold up under the needle just fine! I got mine on my right inside ankle, a nice M-dot outlined in black and filled with Scarlette Red! Several of us got our ankles tattooed, one got a very small one on her foot, one on the back of her ankle, and one got an original design on her bikini line. I am hopeful that my ankles will not get fat or stretched, but I guess time will tell. I love my new tattoo!

MyKAren and I and our dogs drove to Bear Creek State Park on Saturday, picking up TriSharon on the way to stay in one of the park's cabins before the Bear Creek 10 miler, held on Sunday. It was a fabulous time! It snowed a bit on Saturday night, which made the woods so pretty. We had dinner and drinks with a few other TrailGirls and slept for 10+ hours before waking to a cold race morning. The Bear Creek 10 miler is not an easy race, and the snow on the trails made it slippery but very pretty. I ran with my peeps for most of the race, just taking it easy until these two girls annoyed me to the point that I decided I had to beat them. They were making comments about how they had to beat us, and were kind of snotty about passing us on the hills, which we were walking. Anyhow, about 2 miles out, I passed them once again on a downhill and flat section and then made up my mind that I was not going to let them pass me again. When I finished I thought I was going to puke, but they did not pass me again. I never said I wasn't competitive.

A New Beginning-12/1/2008

OK, the name is IMFL Adventure, but as I noted in July, I signed up for IMUSA as well. Crazy but true. Today is the beginning of a new chapter, probably more painful than IMFL, since Lake Placid is a little more hilly...well, a LOT more mountains, but calling them hills may keep me sane. Tonight indoor starts...yipee! I'm looking forward to months of sweat and pain from MeanEd and MarcoDiablo! Really, I am! I'm feeling fat and out of shape even though its only been 1 month since IMFL, so its good I am going to have a schedule and set times for workouts. I do not do well with this workout winging it.

11/17/2008 - Post race and recovery

Ok, its been 2 weeks since the race, and I am still recovering. I did manage 2 runs last week. Friday I ran about 2 1/2 miles, which was waaay harder than anticipated. Yesterday, I went for a 7 1/2 mile trail run, much nicer, but kind of slow. I feel ok today, even though my IT issue on my right leg is still not stretched out at all.

My biggest post-race issue has been that I got shingles...you know, the thing that you mostly hear that older people get? Well, let me tell you, they are a bitch, and it hurts like hell. Shingles are related to chicken pox, as the virus stays, and basically, it is a flare up of that virus, except it attacks nerves and pretty much makes your skin feel like its on fire. I got several areas of rash (only on 1 side of my torso) and ended up getting an anti-viral to take. They tend to occur when one is stressed and with a weakened immune system (pretty much common before and IM event). So, that was a painful stint; but I am glad that they didn't manifest until the day AFTER IMFL Ouch. Still have some pain, but hoping it all goes away soon.

Still have not gotten my bike from the Tri-bike transport spot; just found out that it has been in for a few days. I am still eating like a pig and that needs to stop before I gain too much weight and can't get it off again. I am taking it easy until December 1st, when training begins for IMUSA. Yes, as I said in July, I signed up for 2 before I ever did one. Good thing I loved it!

The Final Act - the Run!

As we left the changing tent for the run, we both felt great and were very giddy, knowing that we had given ourselves a lot of time to finish! We ran out onto the course and saw our super-Sherpas around 3/4 of a mile into the run. Everyone was cheering and as happy to see us as we were to see them! The day was so perfect, it wasn't even really hot on the run! We had a plan to run between water stops and for much of the first leg, we were able to do that! We just ran fairly slow but kept going. The water stops were really funny: the Girl zone with their skimpy outfits and George of the Jungle stand out as memorable. Everyone was sooo nice and encouraging, the spectators, the participants, the volunteers were all super supportive! Around mile 3, we passed Steve who said that Som was about 45 minutes ahead of us. As we approached the state park, Patty passed us coming out, and she looked strong and very focused. Since we had ridden our bikes into the park, we knew how far we had to go, so that part of it wasn't as bad as we had thought. I did wonder how the next lap would go, since we passed by a sign that warned of alligators! It was shortly after leaving the park that I began to have some stomach issues and began to want to walk/run. We saw Kate O in the park and Kate G about a mile later and gave both of them big smiles and thumbs up!

Sharon looked very strong and was obviously having a really good day, and I finally broke about mile 9 and told her that I was going to need to run/walk, but that she should keep going. It was very hard for both of us, since we really wanted to do this together, but we had talked about it and we knew that we needed to part ways. Sharon ran off, and I walked some and it was sad for us, but I knew it was the right thing to do; Sharon looked VERY strong and I wanted her to keep up her great pace. I passed Charlotte about mile 10, looking very determined and positive and gave her a hug of encouragement! I passed the super-Sherpas and trudged on to the turn-around! I had thought it would be difficult to turn away from the finish, but much to my surprize, it wasn't all that hard: I knew I wasn't done yet.

I grabbed my gus out of my Special bag, and kept going. Sharon and I realized early in the run that we didn't need or want our fuel belts, as we didn't drink anything from our bottles, but we did need a place to stash our gus. I came up with the brilliant idea of taking my gu pouch off of my fuel belt and putting it on my race number belt! See, even in an exhausted state, I could still think! I "accidently" dropped my fuel belt at the Sherpa station and MyKaren walked with me to the turn. I made up my mind that I was going to run some portion of every darn mile, and that kept me going and focused.

The 2nd lap was still fun, and different, since now it was dark. Some highlights were: the two guys near the park entrance, one of whom ended up dressed pretty much in only his skivvies, which looked like underroos dancing around and spanking himself; saying to the people at the park turn around "Guess what? I'm going to be an IronMan!"; seeing Sharon, KateO, KateG and Charlotte as I made my way through the final lap; the volunteers who were so helpful as i stumbled past calling for cola (pretty much all I drank); the very kind young cheerleader who gave me a Reesee's peanut butter cup in the park; a woman named Jackie from Chicago who walked/ran with me for a couple of miles; and, Molly who walked with me for some of the last mile. As I rounded the corner to the final stretch, I had decided I was going to run, so I did.

I ran down the street toward the finish line and heard the announcer calling names at the finish. My feet hurt soo bad, I thought my big toe on my right foot was going to explode from the blister, but I kept going. Reaching the finish chute was probably the best feeling in the world, and I cannot remember being as happy as that moment. I think I may have jumped around a little, but cannot be sure! I heard the announcer say my name, my hometown and that I was an IronMan, and then I was across and it was DONE! Later today; post race!

Bike report (Part 3)

Out of the changing tent, Sharon and I ran to find TriGirl heaven! Jackie had my bike all ready at the end of my rack, and I got to say hey to Tim, Jill, Derick, Cyndi as we ran our bikes to the mount line. We rode through the crowds to the open road! The day before when I was packing my T-bags, I had calculated the amount of calories that I was supposed to eat on the bike, and then listed the actual food that would sum up to that total---probably the best thing I did in the whole race--and as I rode the first 10 miles, I ate a Cliff bar as the first of my 1750 calories. Sharon and I were passed at first by a number of zip-wheeled, sperm helmeted riders going like crazy, but we had a plan and we stuck with it. The first 10 miles passed quickly, as we both ate and drank and got ourselves settled in. The ride up the bridge was funny since most people didn't seem to be able to do that small hill, so we passed a few as we cruised up and over. Our first pee stop was at the first water stop. In our excitement in the tent and getting on the bike, we both forgot to pee!

OK, the course is boring. We came to the turn onto Route 20 and just kept riding steady down Route 20, when a white car went by, honking and with a blond woman yelling encouragement to us. As the car whizzed by, I thought it looked like Heidi, but that didn't seem right...and I slowed to have Sharon take the lead, we both commented that it looked like her? A few miles more, and we saw the same car by the side of the road, and sure enough, it was Heidi sitting on the roof and cheering like crazy for us! What a treat!

More pine trees and now a few rolling hills along with a nice head wind as the miles slowly ticked off and we began to look for the special needs stop at about mile 49. Finally, a nice volunteer told us as we passed that special needs was just ahead, and we rolled into the area shouting out our numbers. We had a nice picnic by the side of the road as well as another pee stop (behind a truck) and I ate my Uncrustable and had some Mountain Dew. Grabbed the Snickers bars, another baggy of pretzels with peanut butter, 2 gus and a packet of Sharkies and off we went!

At mile 50, just around the corner from lunch, were our wonderful sherpas! They were very excited to see us and we stopped briefly for a few hugs and photos! Down route 231 with a nice tailwind and we were cranking at 21-22 mph! Mile 60 came quickly. We turned west onto the more interesting part of the ride, through some small neighborhoods with shade and again saw our sherpas! Between 60-70 is where the little out and back part of the ride is, and that little section going east was hard with a head wind and the road is crappy, but since we had driven it, we knew how far we had to go to the turn around. Finally got to Mile 70 and then heading west to towards the final big turn! The road between 70-90 is also kind of crappy, and my privates began to feel really battered, but we kept going, pushing a little harder and now passing people who had flown by us earlier! I ate something every few minutes, sometimes just a bite or a drink of Endura, but I kept eating and ticking off the list of things I knew I had to eat.

We stopped and peed on the side of the road (scandalous) and finally got to Route 77 and the bridge for the second time! Again, we passed people who were now struggling and then, with Sharon in the lead, really began to push the pace (well, she did, I was just trying to hang on!) We flew down the home stretch, which was longer than I remembered coming out, but finally got to the end. Sharon was 30 seconds ahead of me at the transition, and as I came into the end, I saw Todd (Shelley's brother) who was working the chute, and it was good to see a friendly face. Once off the bike, it was all Trigirls and Maramarc boys--Tim, Sarah, Grandison (maybe more, I was kind of fuzzy). Grandison carried our bags to the changing tent and she helped Sharon, while Sarah got me all changed, it was like we were rock stars!!!! Awesome. Having friendly faces helping you get naked and dressed was the best treat of all! Sharon and I both felt good at this point, somewhat suprizing, but the 3-100 mile training rides got us really ready for the ride.

I got my running garb on and we headed out of the tent to begin the final leg: the dreaded run.

Race morning and swim (Part 2)

For some reason, I had it in my head that transition opened at 4:30am, so I was antsy to get my bottles and water on my bike and tires pumped, etc. Shelley and Anna kindly walked Sharon and I down at 4:45 only to find out that transition didn't open until 5. Waiting was hard, I wasn't even out my PJs and hadn't eaten yet. Anna had volunteered in transition so she put her shirt back on when the transition opened and found us a tire pump and our T-bags. We were very lucky in our bag and bike placements, on end rows and near Porta-potties.

Back up to the condo for breakfast, and I managed to eat a good one: 2 frozen waffles, 2 eggs, applesauce, a banana and coffee. Fully fed, I laid back down and dozed for a few minutes until it was time to get my swim and wet suit on. MyKaren was a peeler, so she left a few mintues before we did.

The walk down the beach to the start area was pretty intense, I think it really hit me at that point that I was going to be in an IronMan race very soon! We met up with KateO and Patty and all of us slowly walked to the start corral. The whole scene was surreal; tons of wet suited people wandering around, some excited, some obviously very nervous, the energy was crazy and the crowd was everywhere. We met up with the remainder of the group inside, as we hugged the rear of the corral. We saw the TriGirls and boys (Jill, Grandison, Jackie, Cyndi, Derick, Sarah, Tim and a few others I can't remember off the top of my head--sorry!) Jill was the best, she was beside herself with excitement for us--a camera man filmed her hugging Sharon and then he gave Jill a hug as well...it was very cool. The gun for the pros went off, and then we waited for our turn, which came much sooner than I thought it would.

We had agreed to wait on the beach, but that plan fell apart very shortly. We all waded in as the masses surged into the water after the start gun. It wasn't but 30 second or so, when Sharon looked at me and said lets go. So off we went. I have to say, I loved the swim. I lost sight of Sharon at the first wall of people who were still walking and bouncing out further; I figured if the water was deep enough to swim, that was what I was going to do. I passed a crap load of people in the first hundred meters, lots of people were bobbing around; doing the breast-stroke to sight, and just kind of thrashing around. Thank god for ProKaren; I could SWIM! I would characterize the swim as aggressively defensive; I kept looking ahead in the water for feet and managed not to get kicked or punched. I just looked for openings between people and kicked like hell when I needed to break free from packs of people. It became a game for me to find the open water pockets and before I knew it I was nearly done with the first lap. As I exited the water, the timer said 50 minutes, so I was freaked out since I thought my first lap had sucked. However, I did see Som just yards ahead of me, so I thought I must be doing ok. After grabbing a mouthful of water, I waded back in for the second lap.

I swam as directly as I could to the corner turn bouy and was alone for much of that leg. At the turn bouy all hell was breaking loose as everyone was trying to be as close to it as possible. Again, I thought it was kind of fun to try to squiggle around people and find the smallest openings to try to squirt through before they closed. At one point, I almost got squeezed between two swimmers so I did a cheating catch-up and pushed them off of me without breaking my stroke! I was quite proud of that move, and actually laughed underwater at myself.

Sighting is something that I tend to do fairly well, and I had a good swim back to shore for swim end. I followed ProKaren's advice which is to sight something on shore; the huge arch is a good one for IMFL, and the hell with the bouys. I was again alone for most of the final leg and finally got to shore and waded out. As I was wading I could see part of the clock: 1:2xxx, so I was happy thinking I was like a 1:28 or 9, so I was VERY happy when I was 1:23! I peeled my wetsuit as I ran up the sand to the peeler station, and then began to call for MyKaren much like Rocky did Adrienne---KAAARREN. I saw Shelley and then Karen at the end of the peeler station, and ran to them for peeling. Both looked at their watches in amazement!

Peeled and showered, I entered the changing tent and came to a dead stop. Never have I seen such chaos and skin. I found a chair and began to dry off and get dressed when I hear my name being called by Sharon! Yeah! We were going to be able to ride together! TriLynn found me and helped me get changed the rest of the way and Sharon and I left the tent together. Tomorrow: the BIKE!

11/4/2008

OK! I AM AN IRONMAN!!!! I'll break my race report into several sections; this one being the pre-race one. MyKaren, Shelley, Lisa and I all flew down to Panama City on Wednesday. Nothing much to do that evening since we got in after the expo and registration closed. I managed to grab my bike from TriBike Transport before they closed. We fed TriKate and Sharon dinner that evening in our condo as their people were not arriving until the next day. The Boardwalk condos are nice and very close to the action, but still quiet.

We all agreed to a practice swim at 8 am, so we all met up at the Gatorade bag check-in. A pre-swim is a must and the bag check-in is great since you also get free gatorade afterwards. We swam one loop; it was lovely! There was some chop out by the turns, but not too bad. We swam over schools of little fishes and I nearly swam into a jellyfish that was purple and pink. After the swim, we ate breakfast and got our race packets. Reality began to set in about that point, even though I kept thinking I was there for MyKaren and Shelley. Several of us rode our bikes on the run course (another must) so we knew how the run course looked and how far it was. MyKaren, Sharon and I also drove the bike course (yet another must) which showed that the course was not in fact, dead flat. There are some sections of rolling hills, not terribly hard, but rolling hills nonetheless.

Friday was bag check-in day. My sherpas took control and got me all organized and packed up which really reduced my stress! Thanks Sherpas! It was still scary for me to actually drop off my bags and bike in the transition area with all the other really expensive bikes and their zip wheels or disk wheels. My poor little Sweet Pea looked kind of out of place, but we did find a couple of bikes that were really low end and poorly maintained. Dinner was pasta and I tried to get to bed at 8 pm. Tossing and turning and dozing was about all I could manage Friday night...the alarm at 4:15 am was not a surprize.

10/27/2008

OK, this is the last blog before the big day....only 6 more days, and I'll be in it! The last few workouts have pretty much sucked, but from what I hear, that is normal. MyKaren and Sharon and I rode 1 1/2 hours indoor followed by a 6+ mile run on Saturday. Not a good day on the street. My freakin foot hurt, and I was not nutritionally ready for a 2 1/2+ hour workout. My bad. I swam 1.5 miles yesterday, felt fine with that, at least. I'm hopeful for a good swim and bike and a tolerable run. Shoot, I'm just hoping for an official finish.

Thanks to all the TriGirls and MaramarcBoys who have cheered me on through this journey, and the support of all my nonTri friends and family.

I'll be sure to post copious blogs after the race, but this is all for now!

10/20/2008

Time keeps ticking and November 1st is fast approaching. Through this training, we have trained in rain, wind, heat, and now cold. It was cold as crap on Saturday, when at 7:30 am, Sharon, KateO and I decided to ride our 50 miles. None of us was really prepared for the cold, windy and damp day. Kate forgot to wear tights, so she was freezing and bailed after 33 miles. Sharon and I braved another 10 miles, but that was enough. We were too frozen to run, so we went and ate soup at Zuppa. Yummmy. We ran yesterday, a much better choice. My freakin right foot was (and is) killing me, I have not been to a doctor yet, don't see a point at this time. I hope I can get through the run and then I'll see what's going on. Waahh. Less than 2 weeks.

10/17/2008

#2532. My bib number. Getting VERY real now.

10/13/2008

Yipeeeeeee! Last long workout done! This weekend was the Eastern Shore 100, and everyone did fantastic! Some of us got a little Bay swim in on Friday, there was some current and water was very salty, kind a good indication of the Florida swim. It was a flat and windy ride, the first time I've ever actually ridden the whole 100 miles on the Shore, although I've been at the ride the last 2 times as well. Sharon made a lovey and hearty meal for everyone; chicken pot pie, salad, some weird orange/onion thing, and pound cake with fruit and whipped cream for dessert. Yumminess.

Then, the ride. The IMFL peeps, as well as 2 of the IMAZ people (and of course MarcoDiablo and MyKaren the sherpa of the year) went on the ride on a beautiful autumn day on the shore. Karen turned around at about mile 17 since she has her last 1/2 IM of the year this coming weekend. It was a bit windy heading north, sometimes very windy, but everyone hunkered down and got it done. After our picnic snacks at around mile 53 (this was evidently the first time the riders actually stopped where I had envisioned...course it helped that I took some photos this time so everyone would know exactly where I thought the stop should be) we headed back to a nice tail wind. The group of 6 tried to get a nice pace line going, but it fell apart after some of the peeps got a little fire in their legs when it was time to lead....at one time the leader was going around 25 miles an hour and was about a quarter mile ahead of the group. There may be a teeny learning curve on how to ride a pace line, but everyone made it just fine. I think we averaged about 15 1/2 on the way out and 18+ on the way back. We may have had a tail wind, but we were cranking along.

After the long ride, we ran a bit on the trails in Kiptopeke, a nice run through spider webs. Whenever we stopped the mosquitos were so bad it really made us keep running. The run really was not any fun, we kept saying that we wanted crowds and water/food stops to keep us going. Afterwards, MyKaren took great care of us, with nachos and beer after our showers, and then a bountiful meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, carrots and salad. We ate like we had not seen food in days. We all had grand ideas of a camp fire and drinking heavily, but we all passed out around 9 pm.

Today, several of us did the dreaded 3-mile swim. We all went to 50 meter pool haven, and swam our little hearts out. Long swim. Very long. But, I felt OK and I think my last mile was my fastest of the day. Hopefully it will all translate into goodness come November 1.

I think we are ALL ready.

10/6/2008

Today is my Mom's birthday, so Happy Birthday Mom! Saturday was the last long run of IMFL training, a 22 miler after an hour bike. The runs beat me up sooo much more than the long biking, but at least the next time I run (or walk) 20+ miles, it will be on November 1st in FL.

Got on the bikes at Maramarc at 6 am for an hour trainer ride. In my before the crack of dawn, blundering around the dark house , trying not to wake up MyKaren fog, I forgot my biking shoes so I had to bike in my running shoes. Not bad for an hour, but would have rather had my biking shoes. Then the IMFL and IMAZ peeps who showed up (Patty, Tammy, Heidi, KateO and Sharon) as well as a few other runner only people, all took off for a couple of 10 to 11-mile loops. IMFL had to do 2 11-mile loops, which took us generally up to the west end of Grove and east to VCU. It was a beautiful day for a run, and the Sports Backer group was out in force along the same general route, so we actually had herds of runners passing us for the entire first loop. While it was kind of a pain to have lots of runners thundering by, it was also nice to see other people, some of whom actually spoke to us! They were on a down week, and were only running 12 miles....we wished we had a down week, but I guess that will happen soon enough when the taper begins. Of course, I felt very self-satisfied that while they were only training for a marathon, I was training for a long swim, long bike and THEN a marathon. Ha ha-oh wait, maybe I am the dumb one...

The run was very painful for the last 2 miles or so, I told Sharon that I may begin to make grunting and moaning noises as I ran up Monument for the last leg, since I was in a lot of pain with my stupid hip. I always wondered about those runners that you hear who make little ( or sometimes loud) moaning noises every step they take, well now I understand. But I managed to keep my moaning internal, at least for now. I think I did ok with eating, I had 2 1/2 gus and drank 5-10 oz bottles of Endura, for a run that took about 4:15. I felt pretty good in terms of energy, but man was I sore. My quads are still a bit sore, even today.

So, less than a month away, and now it's becoming really, really real for me. I sometimes think I'm ready and just want it to be here, and the next moment I am scared @$%#less. Time keeps ticking and days go by, and I'll soon be on the beach in my wetsuit with the look of abject terror and perhaps, some excitement.

9/29/2008

Chesapeake Man AquaVelo: the good, the not so good, the really kind of crappy. Just kidding. The training day was great, even though I nearly puked before the swim start, but more on that later. MyKaren completed her 3rd IM distance race in 11 months, and placed 1st in her age group. What a great job! Som finished his 4 of 6 and was 2nd in his age group. All the TriGirl training partners did well and we all are ready for the big time.

The Swim
Due to the n'oreaster, they changed the swim to a "protected" harbor, but of course, the wind was blowing in the one direction that wasn't protected, so it was a harder swim than expected since we swam against the wind and waves on the last long leg. I actually did well, but for the terrible siting at first. I nearly ran into shore! What a doofus. I thought I was going to have a hard time with the swim because, while it was 2 loops, we did not stop between loops, just kept going. For the first time in a swim, I actually did run into people, including Tammy, but had no real issues. Oh, and the water was only 4-6 feet deep, but I refused to stand up, so I didn't, although there were many people who did. Evidently there were stinging jellyfish in the water as well, and I saw and touched a number of them, I was assuming they did not sting, since none stung me. Lucky me. Getting out of the water and standing up was weird, I nearly fell and was kind of woozy-headed. Saw Grandison, Shelley and Lisa cheering and Fred got out of the water with me.

Transition
The T & A tent was kind of crazy. I had decided to change my outfit completely, just to see how it all went. There was no fresh water to rinse off in, and the water was brackish so salt was on you all day. When I got to the tent and Tammy was there, then Sharon showed up (to my surprize, I was faster?), then KateO. I waited for Sharon and my T time was slow, but who cares.

The Bike
Sharon and I had decided to ride together, as we hope to do in IMFL, so we stopped to pee after we left the T&A tent (no portapotties in the T area) after we crossed the timing mat to start to the bike. Off we went, going nice and slow, eating and drinking and taking it easy for the 1st 15 miles or so. We saw everyone so we knew that all had made the swim. After the turn to get on the 2-loop part, we picked it up some, trying to go between 16-17 mph, and stayed in aero and talked when we could. We played the alphabet game, going from A-Z (we made it to X) with words that had to start with the letter. It was fun. Around mile 25 or so, Patty joined us so we all rode and talked and rode and peed and ate and rode. The course was dead flat, there was wind, rain, some terrible smells, a rainbow, a bald eagle, road kill, and standing water. I got a flat about 4 miles from the special needs bag stop at mile 64 (my odometer said 65). I had a part of a crab claw or something sticking through my tire, very small, but I am glad I ran my fingers around my tire. Then the race marshal rode beside me for a while, and I guess I did something wrong, because I got a 6 minute penalty for "side drafting" not even sure what that is....only thing is Sharon got a 6 minute penalty for drafting, but somehow Patty got nothing. Not sure how that all works. Oh well, I am a bad girl.

At the special needs bag, we stopped and ate. Grandison said that KateO was just ahead, so we took off to catch her. We cranked it for around 10-12 miles going 18-19 mph and finally caught her and she joined our pack. The 2nd loop was not as bad as the first one, except for the standing water part, which was now up to the bottom bracket and kind of hard to pedal through.

The end was anticlimatic, we were tired, wet, and stinky and the finishers medal was the cheapest thing around, but it was a good thing for confidence and race practice. We showered and started drinking beer as we cheered for the IM distance people. It was a fun day, and I am glad I did it!

9/22/2008

Whew! Only 1 more long run left (well, 1 more long training run)! I think I dread the long runs more than the long bikes, but the run on Saturday was my best 20 mile ever, at least in terms of how I felt. Strange, but that 20 mile was only my 4th in my life. I was ready for it to end, but felt so much better than the hurricane 18-miler. I tried to wear the TriGirl tri top, but much to my dismay, I got chub rub from chub on chub rubbing on my right underarm. So now I am not sure if I am going to be able to wear the tri top and I was kind of looking forward to wearing pink. Oh well, if I only had svelte arms.

As MarcoDiablo said in his post, the long run had an extra yummy finish, with MyKaren getting KrispyKreme donuts and bagels for us! Yumminess! Sharon and I ran together, 2-10 mile loops, and it was over almost before we knew it! We totally rocked the run. Yesterday, we swam 2 miles--and did a negative split! Woohoo. It's really weird thinking that we only have 1 long run and 2 more long bikes before the taper begins. Weird, but kind of a relief in a way.

I've been going to the IMFL site and reviewing the photos from the last few years, mostly to get myself in tune with the swim...it does look scary.

I am at the point where I am sure I can do all three things individually, but still am uncertain about stringing them all together. Guess I'll find out!

9/15/2008

Well, they say your first 100 is the hardest. Actually, they may not say that, but I do. A bunch of the TriGirlIMFLs, as well as IMJoan and MyKaren and next year's IMFLMolly went off on the Heart of Virginia 100 mile ride Saturday morning. The course description included the word "hilly" but we never thought it meant HILLY. It was freakin hot as doodoo, hilly as crap, and hard. I suppose if we can ride that 100 miler, then IMFL will not be bad at all, but I'm reserving my right to call any 100 or 100+ ride sucky. We lost Brad during the first 25 mile loop due to a destroyed rear axel, we lost Charlotte to a blown tire around mile 35. Both Charlotte and KateO had flats, and both changed the tires very capably. However, Charlotte got some help topping off the tire from the sag dude, and it blew out the side before she could get it back on the bike. Lucky her that he was there, at least to give her a ride back to the start.

I ran over a turtle, Sharon said it was already dead, I hope she wasn't lying. I didn't see it at all, as I was following her as we were being passed by a long train of stupid roadies, none of whom said a damn word as they went by. I hate that, just freakin say "on your left and there are a million of us" so no one swerves to miss a turtle and causes the motha of all wrecks. Not that I swerved, I ran right over it. My major melt-down happened around mile 65 and ended somewhere around mile 78 (at a rest stop). Thankfully, MyKaren was there to coax me to eat a gu, take some electrolytes and Tylenol, and keep going. Man, I am a bigass baby when I bonk. But I didn't cry. That would have taken too much energy. The ice cream at the finish was very nice.

Ran 8 or so on the Buttermilk loop with MyKaren and Sharon Sunday am, before it got too hot, but it was still hot as crap. Didn't feel too bad, running on trails is easier on my knees and it was mostly in shade so that helped. Looking forward to the next mega-workout....not really.

9/8/2008

BlakeE, Rick S and Aimee all finished IM Wisconsin last night! Wow, three more successes! Everyone looked great crossing the finish line. I can't wait to hear the race stories!

Otherwise, neither rain, nor wind, nor pre-dawn darkness will stop the IMFL training group. Several of us rode indoors for a yummy Marco-Diablo hour and then slogged through 18 miles of puddles and rain and wind. Heidi did 16 and MyKAren did 21, but TriSharon and KateO and I did 18 as did Marco. The rain was hard and sideways at times, but it also stopped for a portion so it actually wasn't as bad as it could have been. We did 2-9 mile loops so we changed our socks 1/2 way and got a little dried off. Although I am not sure why, since the minute we left Maramarc, we were soaked again. The first lap, we were all trying to avoid puddles, but by the second lap, we splashed through them like little kids. As one would expect, there was more chafing than normal for most people, I, however, was pretty much ok in that department, guess my extreme sweating trains me for running in wet shoes and clothes. We all decided that our skin was going to be soooo hydrated after the 3+ hour run. I bonked in the last 1/2 mile, mostly because my freakin hip was killing me and my knees were sore. Yikes. Lots of running on sidewalks b/c of the water in the streets and crazy drivers and running on concrete is hard on the knees. Marco insisted that we would be glad when it was over on Saturday, instead of waiting for Sunday, and I have to admit, I am glad I got it over with. The rest of the day was eat, sleep, eat, rest, sleep.

Sunday was another long swim - my 2nd 2.5 mile swim. I felt I could keep going so that was good. My right shoulder is sore today, I'll have to ask ProKaren if I am doing something weird with it when I swim. Only 2 more long runs....well, until the LONG run but that's on race day.

9/2/2008

Congradulations to TriJoan, Charlton, Som, Todd and everyone else who completed IM Lousiville under HOT conditions this past weekend. Great job! It seems like the IMs this year are having some epic conditions, and I am hoping that all the weird weather is done with by November 1st.

Training is going well, bunch of IMFL and MarcoDiablo and MyKaren (well she did around 100, rode on the trainer beforehand) did an 80 mile ride followed by a run on Saturday. Nice ride in the east end, all of the group did very well! The run afterwards was hot, but I actually felt better on the run than I usually do, I guess I managed my nutrition better, so there is hope! We didn't run the whole 8 miles, so MyKaren and TriSharon (kind of rhymes, ha) did 4 mile tempo run followed by a long swim on Sunday. Ahh, the 50 meter pool is still great! I passed another swim milestone, 2 1/2 miles. longest EVER and even though I was kind of out of it, I didn't feel terrible. I really wish I didn't get water in my nose when I swim, but I do. Actually, I think what happens is that my nasal cavity gets irritated and then the mucus production kicks into overdrive so I am sneezing and snorting for hours afterwards. Kind of makes me nervous for the salty swim in IMFL, but hopefully the salt won't be too bad!

Officially less than 2 months until IMFL. Suddenly it seems VERY close.

8/25/2008

Timberman, oh Timberman. Ye was harder than we thought, but still pretty! Race report seems to be the same no matter what the course is...good swim (well, for me a great swim), OK bike, lousy run. Apparently, I am a 7:15 or so 1/2 Iron Man finisher, and that, I guess is the story. The swim was awesome, I didn't panic, stop or do anything but freestyle and had my best swim ever..43:02. My wetsuit gave me a hellofa hickey, more like an open wound, which I felt rubbing right off the bat, but what could I do but keep swimming. The last third of the swim was pretty wavy with some current, but it didn't bother me. So, swimming score was an A.

Biking was ok. No matter what I tell myself, I seem to take it a bit easy on the bike, trying, I suppose to save my legs for the run. The bike was quite hilly for the first and last 15 miles, some of the hills were killers, and it was hard. I am definitely going to change my gearing for IMUSA. Anyway, the bike was good, I stopped to go the bathroom and then dropped my chain so I was about 5 minutes or so behind where I thought I would be, and really didn't push myself as hard as I should have on the bike. I really need to stick with my game plan on race day. So, I'd give my bike a C+.

Then the horrible run. I hate the run, especially when I do so well in training. Thankfully, BlakeE stopped and walked and ran with me and got me through the first 3 miles. Thank you BlakeE!!!!!!!! I have issues with nutrition still, issues with pain versus discomfort, issues with mental toughness. I just have issues with the run and it freaks me out big time. But, I did get through it and never thought I'd quit and if I walk the marathon, so be it, as long as I finish. So, my run was 5 minutes faster than White Lake, and it was hillier, so I'd give it a C-.

The rest of the week in New Hampshire was great! We hiked Mount Washington, did a trail run up to Mount Major, swam a little bit (too many speed boats for long safe swimming), did other touristy stuff, drank beer, ate bad, but good food, relaxed. Spent 13 1/2 hours driving back on Saturday (arrgghhh), got up yesterday and MyKaren and TriSharon and I rode an hour on the trainers and ran 18 and 16 respectively. Not too shabby. If I only felt as good or at least similar to yesterdays run on November 1st, all will be well.

8/11/2008

Running is hard and I don't like it much. The long workout was an hour bike, followed by a 14 mile run. Doesn't sound so bad, and the weather was perfect for the long run yesterday morning. I got up and rode for an hour on the trainer then a couple of IMFL cohorts dropped by the homestead for the long run. We ran two loops, an 8+ and then a 6+, probably ended up running a little more than 14.5 miles. The morning was great, the first loop was no problem, we just chatted and ran along without any issues until less than a 1/2 mile to the end of the first loop.

On the way down Westwood, some stupid covertible BMW nearly hit TriKateO as we ran single-file, facing traffic, hugging the cars parked on the side of the road. As it sped by, the women passenger yells out, "Get out of the road". WTF? I am so tired of stupid people nearly running down athletes to "Teach them a lesson." It wasn't like we were running three abreast, or there was oncoming traffic, or it was a busy four land highway. This was a residential street, on a Sunday morning. Clearly of the three of us, I was the only one with a fight response...I was hoping they would turn around and come back. As we dicussed my fight response, it occurred to me that of course I have a fight response, I am too slow to flee...I'd be quickly caught and have to fight anyway so I just immediately go to the fight stance. Weird, but true. The second loop was much more laid back, we ran through Bryan Park and the surrounding neighborhood. I felt fine during the actual running, but afterwards, my legs were sooooo sore and I was way more tired than when I bike. I rolled my ITB on the foam thing and cried, and that may have helped somewhat, but gosh darn it, that running thing is PAINFUL.

So, Timberman is coming up, and there is no taper for IMFL people. Waahhh. Maybe Timberman will be a good race for me. Maybe. Some lame-ass people completed their last brick of the season on Saturday. I hate them.

8/4/2008

Whew! This weekend was a training bonanza! As many may know, MarcoDiablo put his coaching foot down and talked me and TriSD out of Blue Ridge on Saturday, because since IMFL is less than 3 months away, everything should be geared towards that race. And that race is all flat and aero. So, 5 peeps and I went for a 76 mile ride out in the east end, quite a lovely ride with some lovely training peeps! We all were basically the same speed, and didn't get lost, and no one had any mechanical issues (well, I dropped my chain, but that's not a big deal). We parked at Osborne Boat Launch, which was great since there was a bathroom right there! Got lots of aero time, and counted dead animals on the road (well, I was counting them) Sad, but true: 4 possums, 1 fawn, 1 skunk, 1 rabbit. Couldn't believe there were no squirrels, maybe they only play in the street in cities. After the ride, we drove to the Battlefield and ran for a bit, not a full 6 miles, but probably 3-4. It actually wasn't too bad, but it was getting hot at this point. Afterwards, we had some beer and snacks under a nice shade tree. Very nice training day.

Sunday, I discovered the beauty of a 50 meter pool, thanks to my training bud. Wow, what a difference that makes! I swam my first 2 miler, ever. And felt great! It makes so much difference not hitting the wall so early and then trying to keep track of the endless laps.

Maybe, just maybe I can do this thing....

7/29/2008

Well, others have evidently posted their C'ville race reports, so mine will be brief. Harder than I thought, seriously rethinking the whole IMUSA thing with the hills, swimming better but not by much, need to concentrate more on my running.

But, it was fun to finish with my IMFL training partner and finish my first Olympic tri. I realized that IMFL is less than 100 days away, oh crapper.

7/22/2008

After this weekend, I may have to revise the name of this blog to IMFL and LPIM adventure. A bunch of us crazy TGs and Maramarc dudes drove or flew up to Lake Placid for the IM weekend of fun, sun, rain, riding, swimming, running, volunteering, eating, drinking, singing up for next year....you get the picture. Five TGs rode together with our 5 bikes, crammed in Cyndi's car. Fun trip up, we stopped in Saratoga Springs for the night, meanwhile BlakeE and crew (Rick and Susie) drove all night. Crazy people. We had rented a house just outside of Keene, about 10 miles or so from LP. So the house was not what one would call "prinstine", having some cleanliness issues and kind of damp downstairs, but given the weather Sunday, it was much better than camping.

Several people rode one loop of the LPIM course on Friday, I rode about 20 miles since I was supposed to ride 1 hour and run 12 miles. They said the course wasn't as hard as Blue Ridge, and it rained on us all, with some juicy thunder and lightening thrown in. Saturday was MyKaren and DeannaB's turn at volunteering, so we all got up early and did a little wet suit swim in Mirror Lake. Great swimming. The famous white line was ok, but I don't think I'm going to try to swim along it, since everyone else will be there as well.

Our volunteer place was bike checkin, but we really ended up doing bag check and questions. Wow, people are so funny before the race. The older women's bags ended up on the ground and not on racks, and some of them were PISSED off about that. Not that it mattered in the end. Our shift ended and the crew headed back to Keene. A couple of us then went for a trail run for 1 1/2 hours, it was wet, overgrown in some places, and hilly, but fun. Sunday was race day and the remainder of the crew had to work, so we all (again) got up at the crack of dawn and went to LP. Shelley got to be a peeler, BlakeE was men's transition, Cynid was bike catcher, Susie and Rick were bike check-out, Jeff was at a run aide station, and the rest were medical tent. We all watched the swim start, and it is as scary as it looked on TV. Just a sea of white splashes, with black arms, colored swim caps flailing about in the lake. The pros were flying.

The rain started about the time of the start gun....and didn't stop for the rest of the day. The conditions were described as "epic" and I think that holds true. It was like a monsoon, the rain was so heavy they were calling for flash flood warnings. The bike course must have been really scary since it is kind of hilly with some crazy long descents. All I could think was that it didn't matter if the bags were hanging or on ground, everything was soaked once it one walked out of the changing tents. And the athletes kept going.

The rain was dumping down and we were all soaked. We finally found some trash bags for rain coats and went to see the last swimmers get out of the water. The last guy out was a local guy with a head injury and everyone was screaming and cheering for him to make it. It was a teary moment whe he barely made it, but then he looked so bad we were all sure he wasn't going to be able to continue. We checked the results and he did finish. Wow. We got Shelley and walked around all day with a brief stop at a bar for some food and drink. We also went to the bike in location for the bike cut-off. A woman came in about 1 minute after the cut off, just tearing up the chute, but it was too late. She fell over with her bike, and then they told her it was over and took her chip. She sat there and cried. It was the saddest thing I saw all day and I never want to be her. Other people were relieved, because the rain NEVER stopped.

The bike are became a mud pit, people who worked there were covered in mud up to their knees. The whole thing was crazy. We saw the top finshers then went back to the house after being in the rain all day. Monday was sign-up day. We had decided to leave at 6:30 am, so we all packed up and went back to LP. The line was already 1/2 mile long and it got to be much longer than that. I felt sick to my stomach but it turned out ok. The line was a combination of finisher store, volunteers and non-volunteers for 09 sign-up. They seperated us at the gate, and all the volunteers in line got in the 09 race. Not many of the non-volunteers got in, and the race sold out on site. Trip back was uneventful. More fun for sure next year....

7/11/2008

Whoopee-Blue Ridge Ride #2 was Saturday! Most of us went 50 miles, and even though it was only 4 miles more than last time, it was harder with more climbing, especially towards the end of the second leg. Oh well, my legs were very tired, and I spent a lot of time wishing I had just one more easier gear to go to, but alas, no matter how many times I checked, no magic gear appeared, so I was left with head down, legs pumping, heart pounding until the hills were done and the parking lot was reached. I have found that I now LOVE going fast. There was a straight downhill section that I totally cranked down and reached 44.09 miles an hour. I was shocked when I saw my fastest speed since last year I was riding the brakes so much they were smoking.

There was a 4 mile downhill with lots of curves that was also a blast. I figured it was going to hurt like a motha coming back up, so I was darn sure to enjoy the downhill. Everyone did great, a few mechanical issues arose this time, but people dug down and through creative cursing, managed to finish to ride. But the best part of the day was fresh blackberries on the side of the road! I actually stopped and ate a bunch, and that was truly some sweet action. Props to those hardy souls that rode 80 and 100+ miles that day. You people totally rock!

Sunday was the Muddy Buddy and I had agreed to fill in for Cyndi as Derick's partner in grime. I must confess that when the freakin alarm went off early (much, much too early) I was wishing I had not said yes. I had done Muddy Buddy races in the past, but it had been a few years and holy crapper, the race has gotten HUGE! The line into the park stretched for miles! Anyway, MyKaren and I finally got to the race and found Derick and Cyndi. MyKaren was going to go for a trail run so she took off for that as we made our way to the start line line. (yes, I meant to have two "lines") The porta-potties at the race were among the foulest I've ever smelled. Just wanted to throw that in there.

The race was a blast, I biked the first leg and low and behold, evil mountain-bike Shawn appeared (that would be the mean Shawn that screams at people when she raced mountain bikes...not a pretty nor happy Shawn, but sometimes very effective in freaking out the competition-and yes I am referring to myself in the third person) as I blasted past poor pedlars who seemed afraid of the gravel pathway, I think I may have passed everyone in my start because I ended up alone for a quarter mile or so before the first obstacle. I nearly finished my first run leg before Derick passed me on the bike. We leapforgged our way through the course,
I was concentrating on biking as hard as I could so my slow run wouldn't mess us up and then trying to run a steady pace. We actually did well on the timing part and finished the last leg pretty much together for the final task, crawling through the mud pit! The mud was really thick, and we passed a team in the pit itself (we are such studs!) and finished in 52+ minutes. MyKaren and I left after the race so we didn't wait for the results, but Derick called later and told us that we had come in third in our age group! All-in-all, a great weekend!

7/7/08

Shoot, over the weekend, I nearly completed a 1/2 IronMan over 3 days. Thanks to Jeff and Denise, a bunch of us had a lovely 40 mile ride in King and Queen County, followed by a cookout and pool time! What a great way to celebrate the 4th. The Route 14 ride is not easy, but not too hard, and you can always count on a head wind for practice. OK, now my preaching for the month of July...TriGirls have GOT to learn how to ride in groups AND as close to the side of a road as possible. People get all crazy and ride all over, sometimes three abreast, and someone is going to get hurt. Everyone needs to practice riding the white line (the white line that lines the road edge), especially in West Creek since there is a nice concrete gutter to wobble into if need be. When riding on the road, any road, ALWAYS ride within 12 -18 inches from the edge, even when there is not a car, b/c a car can come at any time. Ride in single file, and if the road is really untraveled, no more than 2 a breast. Wheeew. Please pay attention on the road, communicate with those around you, practice a pace line, it will make you a better cyclist. Practice bike handling, go to a parking lot, and ride in tight turns, circles, and try to stay still on the bike. OK, enough of the preachy-preach.

Some of us ran our 12 (well, BlakeE run, so more like 13-14) on the trails at Pocahontas on Saturday, which was nice. I love trail running, and hope to do it as much as possible during this year. Then I swam 1.5 miles in a secret location on Sunday. Again, very nice, and that was as far as I have swum since White Lake, guess I better get on the swim stick! Hope all had a great 4th weekend!

6/30/2007

The heat was back this weekend, and I don't like it. Waaah. Biked 50 miles in the east end with a few TriGirls and one boy; it was a nice ride. We weren't blazing around, given that most of us were still tired from the week's workouts, but we clipped along quite nicely. I really like riding out that way, into Charles City County and through eastern Henrico and Hanover, its still quite rural and mostly FLAT. The ride was nice, then MyKaren made me run 60 minutes in the heat, humidity and sun. Well, she didn't actually make me, but I blamed her nevertheless. I was miserable, and whiny, but I did manage to finish the run with only a few walking spells. I hate the super hot weather. Guess I better get used to it.

I got a 30 minute swim in the Bay yesterday, on the way to Delaware for a short visit. I'm trying to get used to swimming in salt water, so I am trying to swim in salt as much as possible before IMFL. It was kind of fun, MyKaren and I swam from crab buoy to crab buoy in Kiptopeke State Park, so it was a good sighting and salt water swimming pratice. Every time I get in salty water, it gets less bothersome. Maybe there is hope!

On Tuesday, Master of Pain BlakeE had a little bike chase going with three different groups trying to either catch each other or keep from getting caught. I biked my @ss off, and could not catch the group in front (good job girls!), but managed to keep from getting caught by the fastest group (well, it was only MyKaren and BlakeE) so while it was VERY hard, it was also good. I was still tired from that one on Saturday. Can't wait to see that this week will bring!

6/23/2008

Well, the first Blue Ridge ride is completed, not without some drama! For my part, the ride was hard, but much better than last year. Maybe I am stronger and more comfortable on my bike, maybe it was just a good day, but the ride didn't seem as hard as last year. I rode 46 miles with several others, while some only had to ride 36, it depended on the race. We do 2 out and backs, the first is around 27 miles total with the second making up the difference. Those that did 36 got lucky, they missed the super yummmy 3-mile climb, I sadly, had to huff-n-puff up it. Bombing down was super fun though! The ride was HARD, but I didn't feel like I was going to fall over on any hill, nor was I gripping my handle bars and brakes with a death grip going downhill. Much better! I ran about 1/2 a mile after 46 yummy miles. Others actually ran a couple of miles, more power to them! Several of us ran 8-9 on the downtown trails on Sunday morning and I was surprised how good I felt!

Now for the drama....as some may know, and others will find out, BlakeE likes to serve up some extra sweet action for a select few. I have not made the list for "special treats" so I guess I'll have to work harder. BUT, back to the point. On Saturday, he targeted MyKaren, JeffW, Cyndi, Shelley, Charlton, RickS, and DerickB for some special treat, to occur at the start of our second out and back. Shelley, in her infinite wisdom or to her demise, decides she doesn't want the super special treat and starts riding down the parkway for the 2nd part of the ride. Then it happened...BlakeE began man-screeching for Shelley to come back..."Shelley, you come back right now...Shelley, Shelley, Shelley, come back!!!!!! and so on. I've never heard him sound like that and nearly wrecked trying to process the sounds coming from him. Shelley, just keeps peddling and kind of backward waves him off. We both thought he was going to jump on his bike and run her down. My guess is that BlakeE wasn't happy with Shelley, maybe I am wrong.

So Shelley and I do our out and back, we run into BlakeE on the way down the big hill, he is still shouting at her. She now realizes that she made a mistake, even though the extra yumminess was a 1-mile descent and then ascent to and from hell (as Cyndi described it), aka a climb of 15% grade. Shelley writes a note to put on BlakeE's car, addressing it to Coach Blake, the best coach of all time, etc....and apologizes for her lack of judgement. Not sure if it worked, but I have a feeling that much suffering will be coming our way (our in a collective sense, becuase the word I heard is that we are all going to suffer for this incident). I say BRING IT!!!!! If it doesn't kill me, maybe it will make me stronger.

6/17/2008

Happy Birthday to MyKaren! Last week was pretty humdrum, nothing new happened. The workout on Tuesday with BlakeE was hard, and I got a little mountain biking in on Thursday in preparation for the Xterra Sport race on Sunday. I love mountain biking. Both MyKAren and I decided to do the Xterra Sport, as our sprint race this year. We both rode 50 miles on Saturday with about 10 people, including BlakeE. OK, Blake needs some directional instruction, because we got lost several times and had to depend on Jeff W, our country-ambassador to get us back on track. We ended up riding the correct number of miles, and the countryside was pretty. It would have been nice to know where we were, but it was an adventure!

The Sport race was a blast! I had done it 3 times before and really was hoping to have fun and maybe break the 2 hour mark. The swim seemed longer than usual, but the current wasn't bad and even though I got into some shoving in the water with some other women who happened to be going my exact speed and were not going in the direction I wanted to go in, it was fine. It was strange to come upon rocks in the water, but I decided not to stand up, when they came up, and just pushed myself along them until I could push off with my feet. I thought I was at the back of the pack out of the water, of course MyKaren was long gone when I transitioned to the bike. The bike was fun, I had a few minor issues, got a stick wrapped around my rear wheel early on and then dropped my chain on a long climb, but it wasn't bad. I rode some things I never have before, so I was happy with that, and the fact that my legs felt pretty darn good, even with the ride on Saturday! I had always bonked on the run before, so I was kind of taking it easy at first, until I saw a woman in front of me...and then as I got a little closer, I saw a 45 on her leg. And I knew I had to pass her, since she was in my age group, I, too, had a 45 on my leg. I passed her on the Mayo Bridge, and decided I'd not push it too hard until after the Mayan Ruins. Those are steep and tall log steps up an old train trestle just below the Manchester Bridge. I got up them pretty easily and then knew I had to pick it up. So I did. I finished strong, did not bonk and nearly finished in 2 hours (2:01). Both MyKaren and I won our age group, she came in 4 of all 37 women, and I came in 11 overall. A good day!

6/10/2008

HOT. That sums up this past weekend, not surprise there! Last week I did the BlakeE hill route for the first time and tried to keep up with Cindy, but after about 10 miles, she dusted me. That route is hard, no question about it. Ran about 20 minutes afterwards. Saturday's ride was more relaxed for me, I didn't try to kill myself given the heat and the run afterwards. A couple of us went across the river to Chesterfield to do the run, hoping that the selected route would have more shade than a West Creek death march. We finished 7 miles, only because we were able to drench ourselves with a kindly friend's sprinklers at mile 2+ and then again at mile 5 or so. It was still a struggle to actually run in that heat. I felt like I was going to explode, and that, my friends would have been ugly. I did OK with nutrition, working on eating something BEFORE I bonk, and downing magic pills (Enduralytes) more frequently than I did last year, and that helped a lot. So much more to learn!

I am hoping that the heat wave is not going to last all summer. That would suck big time because I'm in it now!

6/2/2008

OK, summary of Brazil trip. Part 1 - trip down. Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, some flying, more waiting. Arrival in Florinopolis after some 56 hours and more waiting for bags. Lessons learned: book multiple legs as one itenerary and all airlines pretty much suck. There is nothing interesting after 18 hours in one airport or another. NEVER BOOK TRAVEL THROUGH ENDURANCE SPORTS TRAVEL! They were ok for the hotel and shuttle stuff, but they really hung us out to dry on the trip down. See Susie's blog for some specifics of the issues. Got in 2 short swims in the ocean and wet suit, so that was good for me.

Part 2 - sherpa race report. Swim nightmare, wondering why swimmers were going right when 2nd bouy was left. MyKaren looking like hell after the first leg, everyone taking longer than expected. Bike seemed ok, nice cheering house on course. Run took forever, it seemed. Everyone looked great in their skirts!

Part 3 - after race report. Did a "canopy tour" which really means, high ropes course. We had fun (all 10 of us) and it was funny to see IronStuds looking a little out of their element. Monday's celebration dinner was at a Brazilian steak house and food was fine. Brazilian beer is horrible. What a dissappointment. Tuesday was post-race party blowout. Unplanned. Much fun and frolicking ensued and several white butts were seen running into the surf for dip, skinny style around 11 pm. While the Brazilian beer is horrible, their national drink is pretty much a knockout punch, but it tastes good. No one lost any teeth or woke up with any black eyes, but it was quite a night. 5 of us also went on a trek on Wednesday to an older fishing village, it was a nice walk and the scenery was pretty. 8 of us left that night for Iguazu Falls. Actually arrived there relatively on time! Falls were pretty, but it got kind of cold, guess I'll be wishing for cold soon. We went to both the Brazil and Argentina sides of the falls, toured a bird sanctuary (well, it was actually a bird zoo), and ate at another steak house (I should be able to spell the stupid actual name, but I am lazy and don't feel like looking it up) which had a cultural show of all the South American cultures. Interesting to say the least. Understood very little of the show, in more ways than just the introductions. But it was fun...HA HA HA.

Part 3 - departure. For all the trouble it takes to get into Brazil, with the visas, and airline crap, they also make it hard to leave. Original flight out of Iguazu Falls was late, so our connection at Sao Paulo was missed and we had to spend another night. Of course, this meant that we missed our American Airline flight from Miami to Richmond. Here we went again. No one would help us, the only flight we could get on American would be on Monday, they could get us to Raliegh but the connection was tight, and it was going to cost several hundred $ more per person (this, after updgraded tickets down to Brazil so we could get there, 2 more nights in a hotel, transportation costs for airport shuttle, etc) and we'd have to drive at 1 am back to Richmond. GAAARRF! So, we get ended up booking flights on JetBlue from Fort Lauderdale and flew back yesterday.

Obrigada TAM, American Airlines, Endurance Sports Travel for NOTHING!

Back home now and ready for some yummy training!

5/12/2008

Primal Quest "Srpint" Adventure Race was Saturday and BlakeE and I ran (and walked, my fault) rode and paddled around 30 miles or so. When I signed up for the race some months ago, it did occur to me that racing back-to-back weekends may not be a great idea, but little did I realize it was going to be another 7 hour day. So, my tired legs, sore back, and bruised arms, are sitting here thinking that I really will be taking time off now. Until June. When the real training begins.

First, however, there is a race summary to convey. It began at the boat launch area of Pocahontas State Park, which was kind of wet from the rain the night before, but no big deal. The race started with a 10 mile trail run, first a loop around the Old Mill Bicycle trail, then another loop that followed the BB&T fall race course. It ain't flat, and I quickly realized I was not up to par. BlakeE is a great teammate, he was very patient with me during the run part in particular. I did learn more about my nutrition issues and now know that I need to eat BEFORE I crash and burn. Duh on my part. During the second leg of the run part, there were 3 optional orienteering points that we went for, and we did get 2 of them. The third one ended up being in the swamp, and we couldn't take a good bearing to find it, so we thrashed around the underbrush for 20 minutes without any benefit. Finally, we were done with the run part and back to the transition area for some food and a change to biking. MyKaren was there at this point to cheer us on and help out with transition! Yeah for that!

The mountain biking was 15 miles or so, which on the road isn't much, but on the trail....well let's just say it was one of the longest 15 miles of my life. So as we were leaving for the bike portion, the race organizers reminded us that there was a creek crossing about 1/4 mile into the bike, and that the creek was about chest high. I did remember that when the creek crossing came up, so I got off my bike, lifted it over my head and stepped into the creek. There was no bottom. At least no bottom until I, and my bike, which was over my head, were completely submerged. I sputtered to the surface, cursing something to the effect of "well that was much deeper than I expected..." BlakeE and the photographer were openly laughing at me as I struggled to get to a point where I could actually stand. The photographer was clicking away but he lamented the fact that he didn't have a video camera. I cannot wait to see the photos. So, I was soaking wet, all my open food (shot blocks and cliff bar) pretty much disintegrated in my camelback...gross stuff. We biked and biked and biked and biked the single track, I thought for real it was never going to end. I had periods where I was riding pretty well, and periods where I was barely moving. My bike decided to mess with me so it began phantom shifting, just to make this the best bike ever. Poor BlakeE, he was cruising, even though he hadn't been on a mountain bike in years, and I was just trying to crank along, gears shifting and crunching, waaaah for me. We FINALLY got through with single track and cranked the fire roads pretty fast to get the paddling leg.

The paddle was in 2-person inflatable kayaks, which if you do not know, are an invention of the devil. They are sooo freakin hard to steer and neither BlakeE or I ever steer. We decided to have him in the back as he weighs more, and off we go...in circles, backwards, zig-zagging our way sort of downstream to the one and only checkpoint for the paddling section. It was not a pretty paddle, but we just kept going and eventually, kind of got the hang of it. Props to BlakeE who did as good a job steering as possible under the circumstances. We got back to the transition area with about 20 minutes to spare for an "official" finish.

Final tasks were the log PT and then a couple of ropes obstacles. We were told after the race that we picked one of the heaviest logs in the pile for our PT, but hey, we were race stupid at this point. The log PT was overhead press, bicep curls, chest press, situps all to a 4 count, with 10 reps required. The chest press was the hardest because we had to balance it on our hands and I thought it was going to fall on my face and that would be very bad. After all that, we had to hoist it on our shoulders and go around some vollyeball nets. Then the ropes. The first obstacle was ropes with footholds spaced apart and at different heights that we had to cross. That wasn't too bad, and we both did that fairly quickly. The final ropes thing was a cargo net crawl up and over about 20 feet, and we also did that pretty fast, so we now had 2 minutes to cross the finish line. The final task was a 15 foot or so mud crawl and BlakeE and I decided to run and slide it. So we did. The word we got was that it was the best finish of the day...and finishing is what it was all about. Whew. I was very tired and cold and hungry afterwards and some parts were not too fun, but the on the whole it was fun and I am glad I got to do it with BlakeE! He was great!

Looking forward to some rest and Brazil.

5/5/08

White Lake 1/2 Iron Man is in the books. First, I want to give a shout out to each and every TriGirl and TriBoy who raced this past weekend, it was hot, and everyone gave it their best. So, my race was good, ok and ugly. The good was my swim, which was 8 minutes faster than my last 1.2 mile race swim. I panicked for about 200 yards, and then pulled it together and had a great swim! Happy about that!

The bike was flat with more wind than expected, but I did ok on the bike. I purposely did not push the bike too hard, because I have a habit of crashing and burning on the run...more on that later. I felt good on the bike, except for the dual knives in the base of my neck and of course, my girly parts after about mile 40. I had a really hard time keeping aero after that but just kept moving my legs and getting it done. I think I may have to make some adjustments, maybe try a new seat, because the thought of going 56 more miles with that pain makes me feel like crying.

Oh, the run. To call it a run is kind of not true, but I covered the 13.1 mile distance. It was hot, but that wasn't my issue. I thought when I got off the bike I felt pretty good, and that feeling lasted about a quarter mile. I need to re-evaluate my nutrition, big time, because my stomach was all knotted up and bloated and I just couldn't run. That was disappointing. But that's why I did this race, to identify things I need to adjust before November, so in that sense, it was good.

I really didn't feel too hot because I fashioned my patented "curtain of cool" by draping a cold, wet towel over my head with my hat on top. As stupid as I know I looked, I will do this from now on in hot races because it was like my own little cool cave and I did not get burned on my neck, nor face. I did remove it before the finish line, for the final finish photo, but the rest of the race I was living cooly large! I also did not wear my fuel belt, relying on the water stops. I won't do that again either. I really think I need to know that I can drink whenever I want and I also want to take my own drink stuff so that, too was a good lesson for me to learn. Finally, I really did not have an issue with thinking I wasn't going to finish. I just sucked it up and finished the race and tried to have as much fun as I could. While the end result was 2 minutes slower than my last 1/2 Iron, I did have more fun.

Recap of things I learned:
1. Swimming is fun when I settle down.
2. I should not slack on the bike, because the run is always a crap shoot.
3. Curtain of cool rocks!
4. I need to change my nutrition...this will be the hardest thing I think.
5. I will wear my fuel belt in races.
6. Being happy to be there will get me through even when I am feeling bad.
7. For IMFL training, I need to run after every bike, no matter the distance.
8. A done race is as good as a done run.

4/28/2008

Eastern Shore weekend #2 is in the books. The 100+ milers all finished with minimal confusion and no flats! There was some sunburns, MyKaren decided to put on her own sunscreen and ended up with a strange (but painful) sunburn on her shoulder blades, complete with finger marks where she slapped on what she could reach. I obviously failed her as her Brazil sherpa, since I didn't make sure sunscreen was properly applied. Ouch. I rode 50 with some non-Brazillians and it was a fine, beautiful day for a 50 mile ride! Clear blue skies, bit of a head wind coming back to the lodge, but not too bad. After the ride, I actually did run for an hour, through the trails at Kiptopeke. I must say I was proud of myself, since the trails were grassy-sandy and there was no shade--it was a revisit to the worse race of my short tri career (Florida 70.3). And I conquered the ghosts of that race, so I was very happy with my hour shuffle.

The after ride party was fun, as usual! Much beer, wine and licquor was consumed, along with huge amount of meat and carbs. Alas, we did not get in a swim, Sunday dawned cold, windy and overcast, but I am sure I'll be getting in plenty of open water swims, starting with this weekend!

4/21/2008

Whew! That's for getting the long ride in on Saturday when the weather was perfect! I am pleased and relieved at riding 78 miles for my 2nd time riding outside this year, with no issues. I am a big fan of painful indoor cycling now, because I felt strong and, while not fast, faster than last year! My first few outdoor rides last year were very dissapointing, so this year I am happy! We managed to ride without a flat or any other mechanical issues. I did get us slightly lost (about 8 miles worth of lost), and we decided to change the last part of the route so that it wasn't 80+ miles, but I know where I went awry and next time I won't do that error. MyKaren was "riding" with us (which means she would try to come back periodically to us) for her 90 mile ride, and she did not get lost where we did, so she basically rode 70 miles alone. What a trooper! Oh, and then she ran 8 miles in the heat. My time will come for that, but not yet! Best part of the day...drinking beer and eating nachos and burgers at Legends afterwards. That's what I call training!

Yesterday in the middle of the thunder, some of us managed to get in a little swim. I swam a mile, which wasn't as far as I hoped to swim, but the weather was kind of stormy so we decided to cut it a bit short. Looking forward to White Lake, so I can relax afterwards for the remainder of May before the real training starts!

4/15/2008

Ahh, back from the land o' rain, hail, and cold fronts...otherwise known as the UK (London to be specific). Weather changes there more frequently than even here, which is hard to do! Trip was lots of fun, MyKaren had a personal best marathon, even though she was not running hard since it was only a long, slow training run. Plus, she even stopped to take pictures along her run by all the famous places in London. It only rained 2 times during her race, of course both were preceded by a precipitous drop in temperature, along with gusty winds, and in one case, serious hail. I missed the second rain, but did get drenched in the first (which occurred around mile 9). Lots of crazy people ran, including, but not limited to: many Supermen and Superwomen, lots of Spidermen, otehr strange superhero types whose purpose I could not guess, several gorillas and bananas, a Paddington Bear or two, some Gladiators, more fruit (hard to tell by the end what fruit they meant to be) and a few mostly naked runners. Amongst the celebreties: Hell's Kitchen's own Gordon Ramsey (3:45), and, of course the entire elite field of tiny men and women. There were a bunch of famous people, but only to Britons, I did not know any of them but Ramsey. There were also 6 tribesmen (can't remember from where, sorry) who ran (well they bounced and sang) the course all decked out with their spears, sheilds and home-made shoes of tire tread. They were interesting. the whole route had bunches of people, so sherpaing was difficult, plus I was a solo sherpa, which was kind of hard. I talked to people around me, but it wasn't the same as having some sherpa buds to hang with. The tube was CRAZY, but better than the NYC subway during that marathon. People were packed in like sardines, but more polite than NYC. All in all, it was a fun race to watch.

I did manage to get in a 14 or so mile run on Friday, running around Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, and St James Park. I haven't done anything since, and I feel like a big fat lug. Uugggghh. Oh well, tonight the reset button gets pushed and off I go on the next phase of training!

4/7/2008

Earth shattering news...I was a bandit at the Monument Avenue 10K on Saturday. I've never done that before and it was fun! I got talked into it by my training peeps, and they pretty much kicked my butt doing a negative split on the actual 10K, but it was fun to run it. I have no plans on making bandit racing a career, but I figured that many people would bag it becuase of the rain, and I wouldn't be taking water from anyone who may need it and of course, I did not cross the finish line. Even though it was super crowded, I still felt like people were staring at me and my lack of a number. I went ahead and decided that my race number was 9866, so if I was asked, I would have a number handy. Anyway, the race was fun, I'm glad I got talked into it.

At Master's last week, there was a shaft of sunlight shining into our lane which was really cool, so I was completely distracted by that as I swam back and forth. I got new goggles because I forgot my other ones at the Y on Monday (along with my swim cap) and they are not fogging up yet, so I could see everything as I swam. I was looking at other swimmers and the sunlight, and it was really neat. Yesterday, I swam about a quarter mile in my wet suit (in the pool), and boy, does that make you fly! I loved it! It was like I was super fast! Of course, once I struggled out of it and continued my swim, I felt like a rock in the water. But, its all good, because for now, I do not hate swimming.

3/31/2008

Quick recap of workouts: HARD. I "negotiated" with MarcoDiablo Saturday to ride 4 1/2 hours and then only do a 4 mile run, to avoid doing the 6 half-mile repeats. I am still not sure if it was a good deal....but I hate repeats so I think I did fine. Brazil group got a better deal than I, guess it was the collective bargaining; they rode 1/2 hour more and then did a 4 mile negative split instead of the half repeats. Oh well, I felt pretty good after the run so it all worked out.

MarcoDiablo had an aerobar contest, and 4 hours later there were still 4 Brazillians in it: TriShelley, MyKaren, Jeff and BeB. The boys were hurting, both had to pee, but they would be darned if they were going to lose to girls. It was funny to watch them squirm. BeB didn't really drink so he cramped up afterwards. Silly boy.

Friday was a spa day with MyKaren. We went to breakfast, got some shots for Brazil, had massages (yumminess), shopped at Nordstroms (yes, I do like nice clothes, just not to work out in!), saw a movie (Mrs. Pettrigrew Lives for a Day-pretty good), etc. It was nice, even the shot I got wasn't as bad as when I was a kid, maybe the needles have gotten smaller or something. Good stuff!

3/24/2008

Shoot, nothing exciting or new this week. Cycling sucks the life out my legs, lifting does the same, no end in sight. Waahh. No swimming on Sunday due to Easter, but this morning ProKaren made me do too many 50 m sprints without enough rest. At one point, I seriously thought I was going to pass out in the water. Why the heck I didn't just slow down, I have no idea. Just stupid I guess.

The 16 miler this weekend was actually not bad! Now, I don't want to do it every week or anything, but it was suprizingly ok. I must have done something right, because for the first time this year in a long run, I didn't have stomach cramps for the last few miles. I can't seem to get the nutrition part fine-tuned. I don't know if its too much Endurox, not enough water, or too much water, or too much goo or not enough goo, or not enough solid food or....well you get the picture. I am just plain confused. BUT, any run done is a good run, no matter how it feels.

3/17/2008

Luck o the Irish to ye all! Speaking of green, that's how I felt yesterday towards the end of my 1.5 mile timed swim (which was timewise, pretty darn good for me, nevermind that some people swam 2 miles in the same time, but progress is progress!). There I was, swimming along, trying to keep track of the laps, doing fine with the drudgery of lap swimming and near the end, when I started feeling kind of sick to my stomach along with a goggle-headache. Maybe the two were directly related, I don't know. I did know that the last 6 laps were hard and I really thought I was going to be sick. But I didn't and I finished my longest swim EVER. Yeah! After I stumbled out of the pool and was lounging (meaning slumped) on the pool deck, MyKaren tells me that happens to her as well, its kind of like seasickness. But, she also says that it gets better with time and more long swims. Well, that makes me sooo happy. Not even.

Congradulations to all the TriGirls who kicked it at Shamrock! Looks like a bunch of PRs were set! Good for all of you!

I was plugging away at my 14 miles on Saturday, thankfully I picked up TriTwi about half-way into the run and she kept me entertained for the remainder of the run. Can't say I did a negative split, but I did do it. More yumminess to come I am sure. MarcoDiablo Lucifer and Mean Mr. Ed are surely going to ease up now, right?

3/13/2008

I've been perusing other TriGirl blogs and notice several future FL IronWomen have a countdown to IMFL on their blogs. I am not so brave. It still makes me kind of sick to my stomach when I really think about what I've signed up and paid money to do in November. So for now, when I need a countdown, I'll just check out TriKO's clock.

3/10/2008

Yikes, nothing as exciting as last week's post to report, although the party Saturday night had some shining moments as various Trigirls, husbands, significant others and coaches got lubed with plenty of wine, beer and other cocktails, as far as I know, nothing shocking happened. At least not while I was there. Great party, TriLynn!

I am having difficulty running on Tuesday's even though I really, really mean to each Tuesday. I haven't done it yet, so I've been missing one run a week. I am not crying about missing a run, but I do need to do them all.

February was a tough power month, but March Madness is much more. The cycling so far has been brutal, MarcoDiablo has been redubbed MarcoDiablo Lucifer. Ed has been meaner, but in his usual quiet way. Although on Monday, I did manage to meet Ed's challenge on one of his power sets. I really, really, really almost puked. I am sure that everyone in the room was thankful that I didn't. And don't get me started on the weights for March...Its sort of becoming a month of pain...waahhhh.

So at Master's swim last week, I actually liked it! Except for the fact that the water was super cloudy and I seemed intent on swallowing as much as possible of it. It was weird to be swimming along and then realize that I wasn't hating it. Nice, though. Hopefully it will stay this way. Yeah!

Saturday's 2 hour ride was followed by 4 miles and then 6 half-mile repeats. The 4 mile run felt much farther than I thought it should be, and it was raining/drizzling and kind of humid. I am not looking forward to the summer training. I was slow on the repeats, but did get them done. It did seem like further than a half-mile, especially the 5th one. As my new mantra is "Any run I do is a good run" the repeats were good.

After partying on Saturday night, Karen, TriAimee and I went to test a short adventure race course at Pocohontas for some friends on Sunday morning, much earlier than I wanted to be up and about. It was fun, even though my teammates were trying to kill me with their darn speed on both the bike and the running. Naturally, they paddled the canoe while I lounged in the middle, navigating with the map, so I was happy about that. I felt like the Queen of the Nile, except for getting whacked on the head every now and again by the paddle (Karen said she didn't mean to, but I have my doubts).

I was talking to a friend at lunch today, who doesn't take much time for themselves, and I came up with the perfect book title: "Say no to them and YES to you" I'll close with that.

3/3/2008

Whew. Weekend was crazy! But first, I need to catch up on last week's workouts. Finally made it to Master's on Wednesday...actually it wasn't too bad, in fact, once as I was swimming along, I actually thought it was kind of good. Crazy, I know, but I think I enjoyed at least a part of it. Will wonders never cease?

Ed may be mean, but Mark is the devil, and henceforth, he shall be named MarcoDiablo. Thursday's cycle was pure hell and I didn't even lift beforehand. Oh My God. I wasn't sure whether my legs or heart would explode first and then whether I'd puke or cry first. I have not yet experienced that level of agony this year (last year, I think it would be fair to call the Florida 70.3 race an agony, but that was last year). MarcoDiablo may as well have just had us at level 10 the whole freakin time, "sprinting" yeah right. More like trying to keep the legs going at all. I have to say that it was the quietest cycle I've ever been to. No one could talk.

So Saturday, I was wondering just what the the 1 1/2 hour ride would be like (which was to be followed by a slow 12 mile run). MarcoDiablo was at it again. I have to admit, I did not work as hard as I did on Thursday, but the workout was just as bad. Curse you MarcoDiablo. Oh, and then everyone was doing the same general out and back run, because of the Krispy Kreme donuts to be provided afterwards (more on that soon), so MarcoDiablo lobbied for Riverside Drive to be on the route. Hills on top of devilishly hard biking makes for some tiiiired legs. OK, finishing the run without walking the hills made me feel good afterwards, so it was, in fact OK. It just hurt.

Saturday's workout has been renamed Diablo Donut Day in honor of MarcoDiablo and Krispy Kreme donuts. After the run was completed, he came in with 13 dozen glazed donuts, and then the fun began. TriLiz had said that she could eat one dozen, but later said that she would eat one donut more than anyone else. The challenge went unaswered until TriPatty came in and agreed to the challenge before she really even knew what the challenge was. (Note to self, ALWAYS check on the details of a challenge). TriPatty was behind by 5 or so donuts when she came in the door from her run, so she smashed a bunch of donuts together, and started eating the donut stack like a big mac or something. It was not a pretty sight, TriPatty smashing donuts on top of her stack and TriLiz serenly eating one donut after another as the TriPatty smashstack got smaller. It was like a car wreck, you wanted to look away, but couldn't. People were standing with their bags in hand to leave, but somehow never left, watching the clash of the Trigirls as they ate their way through boxes of donuts. Donut glaze littered the floor, and their eyes became glazed as well, as the sugar overload began to take its toll. The horror, the humanity! Donut after donut was consumed until each had eaten a dozen. TruPatty's smashstack got ever so slightly smaller. TriLiz began to show signs of donut fatigue, while TriPatty's eyes took on a crazed-glazed look as the number of consumed donuts rose. Finally (thank god), at 16 donuts each, the two donut downing divas agreed to a truce and the Great Diablo Donut Day concluded. No word on any after effects.

2/25/2008

Getting back into the pool has turned out to be much harder than getting back into lifting, biking and running. I think I just dread the swim so much I talk myself out of going swimming much quicker. Oh well, the swimming saga will continue until I get out of the water at IMFL. I did manage to swim a little bit on Sunday, and then had my lesson this morning. My goggles keep leaking, which drives me crazy, and yesterday, I attempted to wear an old swim suit and nearly gave the little boy lifeguard some serious booby shots, as it was sooo loose my boobies were falling out! I was swimming along and thinking that something felt weird so I sort of looked down to see my lefty hanging out...needless to say, I stopped and tied knots in the straps to keep'em under wraps. Not the best look, but it worked. The swim suit went in the trash as soon as I walked in the door!

The 10-mile this weekend was surprizingly ok, even after the hard-ass hour ride that Mark put us through. I think I'll be glad when power month is over, but worry what's next at the same time!

At my lesson this morning, I had to swim with my eyes closed, which was ok for the first 50, but then after doing a couple of sprints, not so good as I banged into the right lane markers and then the left (so hard I knocked my goggles off) like a pin ball. ProKaren was laughing at me, and some woman was asking if I had my eyes closed. Shoot, I hope I never swim like that with my eyes open, because that would really make the swim hard...

2/19/2008

Whew. This "power" month is kicking my butt, well actually, kicking my legs, but they are attached to my butt. The workout Saturday sounded doable, but was much harder than I anticipated--the 2 hour ride was fine, but the 6 mile run was very hard for me. I guess being sick and not running for nearly 2 weeks took its toll. I did finish the run, it was not a negative split, unless one includes the 3 minute bathroom break. Which I include, of course, so that I did in fact achieve the negative split. Ha.

ProKaren was funny at swim lesson on Monday am. I am now supposed to do different things with my left and right arms...don't ask questions, just do it. Funny thing is that I am actually able to do what she says. Certainly gives me something to think about, other than breathing, or not breathing, while I swim. I was back in the cold pool, wishing hard for the warm pool. The first couple of laps I could not get my breathing correct, I guess because I was cold. It all worked itself out. Oh, and the 100 meters of kickboard was no freakin fun at all. My right hamstring was twanging, and I know my hamstring should not be involved in kicking. I cannot wait until Masters on Wednesday. You know I am lying.

My brilliant idea of lifting and riding Monday nights is kicking my @ss. Of course, every Monday workout is power repeats, followed by mean Ed and his "fun" little sprint-climbs. At least all I have to do is run today, my legs are tired. Maybe by this afternoon I'll feel like I can run, right now in the morning, not so much.

2/13/2008

Getting back to working out after being sick all last week has been HARD, darnit. I had my little swim lesson on Monday am, and thankfully had to swim in the hot pool because the regular pool was all full. I was in heaven, nice to not be cold when I got in, and since I was still coughing up crap, it was nice and warm....yumminess. Cycling after the new lifting routines was really challenging, Ed remains mean. We were chasing fast people (in our minds), I was just trying not to blow up a lung. I finally ran a bit yesterday, only did 3 miles, but it felt ok, until I stopped, then the coughing started. Still, it was actually nice to run. I do, however, hate the 4 set requirement for some of the lifting routines. I totally did not see that one coming and I'm lollygagging along on my third set, thinking I'd get out of there early, when Ed bursts my bubble with "you know there's four sets" Arrrgghhhh. The fourth set was wicked hard, and now I am sitting at my desk with tired arms and legs. Swimming tonight should be interesting.

2/5/2008

Word for today is "stupid". That's what I was on Saturday, when I, despite feeling poorly, decided to go ahead and ride the 1 1/2 hours and then run 8 miles afterwards. Stupid to do the run for sure, probably stupid to do the ride. Soo, I finished the run, and then felt like I was going to drop, for real. I was so freakin cold, my hands were white. I guess all the blood was going somewhere else. Anyway, now I'm good and sick, and still feel like crap even though I've laid around for the past 3 days, taking Zicam, decongestents, drinking orange juice and water, eating whatever sounds good, sleeping lots, etc. I had to cancel my swim lesson Monday morning, and I am hoping that I'll be up to cycling by tomorrow. So people---if you feel like you are getting sick, STAY HOME AND GET WELL! Don't be stupid like me.

1/28/2008

So, word on the street is that someone tightened up my trainer on Saturday morning, and then I tightened it more because I thought that it looked like I hadn't tighted it correctly. Now I know why the run was so hard, it was like 5 turns tight! Oh well, what don't kill you makes you want to kill....kidding! Turn around or payback, it was all good. Now I know I should have it tighter, so whomever did it, I thank you. No, I really do....I really, really do! So you can step forward and claim responsibility, I won't be mad or get even or anything....

Actually, I really am relieved that it was messed with, given how hard the run was, I was worried I was getting super wimpy too soon.

At swim lesson this morning, ProKaren was all fired up with hard drills, and now I am tired again. Plus she said I had to move from my super-sweet guppy lane to the normal slower lane, arrggghhhhh. I need to be "pushed". Whatever. Its pushing to get me in the pool, doesn't she know that? Of course I am not going to say no way, but I am going to miss this weeks masters! I already told her so it's cool.

My pet peeve of the week (nothing to do with training): Is it just me or are a majority of drivers now swinging out into an adjacent lane to make turns for some stupid reason? I've about been hit by several stupid cars, SUVs and trucks who feel the need to swing their nose into the lane next to them when they make a turn, any turn, not even U-Turns. Where the heck is this crap coming from? I could almost see it if it were only the bigass SUVs, but its all sizes of cars. I wonder if I did hit one of them, if it would be my fault? Hhhhhmmm...

1/24/2008

Gee, I just realized that my titles are boring, everyone else seems to put some theme as their title, but not me! Oh well, my dates will have to suffice. Yesterday I totally did not follow my eating plan, but boy was the food tasty! I had some stupid meeting out of town and after lifting did not have time to eat my usual breakfast before I had to take off, so I stopped at 7-11 and got a coffee and a cheese danish. Yummy for my tummy but also not too good for the nutrient side of things. By the time I got back my office area, I was starving (it was after 2 pm and I don't know about anyone else, I need to eat something every couple of hours) and I still had to go get gas for the state car. So I found myself parking by some food shops on Broad Street near VCU, and somehow I also found myself standing in front of the order counter at 5 Guys...suffice to say, a cheeseburger and french fries is not part of my dieticians plan for me...I did, however, wash it all down with a Fresca (doesn't that make up for the empty but delicious calories?).

I apprehensively weighed myself this morning, but the expected gain from my cheating eating has not yet appeared. Maybe tomorrow. At any rate, it's back down to proper eating....

1/22/2008

I went to cycling and weights yesterday, so all I have to do today is run (probably in the rain, but what's the big deal, right?). Ed was mean. We did 2 sets of 3x3 minutes level 7 hard, with 2 minutes "recovery" and then some more hard 2 minute sets. Oh my legs were cooked, and of course I had just tightened up my trainer. Ouch. Maybe I need to rethink the whole workout on Mondays if Ed is going to be mean....

I did my timed mile on Sunday and much to my surprise, I did it in under 39 minutes. I think last year my timed mile was like 47 or so. I told ProKaren my mile time and she said that I would only get better, but that she meant that in a good way. She cracks me up. It was cold as crap yesterday morning, I was getting my swimsuit on before the crack of dawn, and thought that the thermometer said 19 degrees which is cold, but then realized it said 14 degrees, which seems a whole lot colder than 19. It seemed crazy to me to be getting a swimsuit on when it is that cold outside, so I mentioned that to some ladies in the Tuckahoe locker room. One of them said that it seemed like an extravagent pleasure rather than crazy. I love it when people turn my perspective around like that.

1/17/2008

Yummy! Rainy and cold! That means I got to go run my 1/2 mile repeats at the Y!!!! What could be better than that! I can think of a few things. Actually, given that I HATE running on a treadmill, it wasn't that bad. Of course, being able to walk out of work whenever I damn well please makes it even better, since I was able to beat any lunch rush by getting to the Y at 11:15. One reason I hate running on treadmills is that they are inevitably located with a freakin mirror for one to look into as one runs. Maybe I am alone in this, but the last thing I want to see when I run, is my wiggles, wrinkles, flops and fat as I am struggling to run on the darn treadmill. Of course, like any good train wreck, I could not look away. It was kind of mesmerizing, the jiggles of my thighs, the swing and sway of my uni-boob, the look of pain on my face. I was afraid to not pay attention to my running, for some reason I think I am going to stumble and fly off the treadmill when I run on one. But, for this one time, I was safe!

At Masters Swim last night, I was sent to the super-slow lane yet again....sigh, I am a swimming idiot, at least I am a "catching" idiot because I just don't get the whole "catch" thing or even the pull thing, maybe I just am a land-lubber not fit for the water. But, good news is that I am finally exhausted after swimming, and my arms are tired a doo-doo, so I think that means I am least pushing more water around as I flail about down the lane. I hit hands with one my lane-mates last night, twice. I think it was her fault since Pro-Karen kept telling her she was coming over too wide, but it may have been my fault since at that point, I was flinging my arms over any way they would go. Oh, the joy of swimming....

I was pleased to see that the non-Brazil group doesn't have to show up until 7 am this Saturday. While it is nice to get the workout over with so the remainder of the day can be spent sleeping and lounging around, its much nicer to sleep in just a teeny bit longer on the weekend.