Six days ago I came down with a full-blown cold: sneezing, sniffling, coughing, stuffy nose, I-really-need-to-rest syndrome. I took off 3 days from training, feeling mostly guilt-free, convinced that my patience with illness would result in a quick recovery. Of course, Christmas and being on call overlaped my illness and despite taking days off from training and preaching to myself about rest, I still felt compelled to make a Christmas ham, scalloped potatoes, clean the kitchen floor, and do 5 loads of laundry--on top of going to work. Nonetheless, I felt well enought to do an easy 60 min on the trainer Christmas day and thought I'd be ready to run and ride the next day. Wrong-0!
I've taken that last 2 days off from training--now quite begrudingly. I figured I had enough energy to either do my work-outs or put in full day of work, but not both. My head has been in a fog of mucous. My brain function has been dulled by antihistamines, decongestants, and cough syrup. Kevin has basically been caring for a mentally impaired girl for the last 6 days.
6 days. I've lost all patience for this cold which has now become my first bout of sinusitis. I've taken a lethal dose of Ibuprofen to lessen the pick-axe in the middle of my forehead pain to a dull throbbing. I'm ready to beg my Head and Neck surgeon colleagues if there is such a thing as Liquid Draino for my head---oh yeah, it's called Afrin--but don't get hooked on it. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I've taken 5 whole days off from training and I should be better by now, ready to crank out watts, do my swim test, and just run at E-pace for 30 measly minutes dammit!
The truth of the matter is that I really didn't take 5 full days off--I couldn't. I had to work. Of course, I didn't have to make Christmas dinner or do laundry or clean, but I did. It's not easy being patient with myself when I'm sick. It's not easy for me to rest completely and guilt-free. The weekend is upon me and I'll make myself rest for the next two days. However, the cupboards are bare and laundry's piling up again...
Friday, December 28, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
What about the children?
The Christmas cards have descended upon our house. Every year our friends send us pictures of their children in holiday attire and a one page insert that summarizes the year marked in vacations and snipets about the pictured children. My friends are particularly zealous about including every detail involving their kids so their one page season's greeting is in the smallest readable font and single-spaced. I've thought to include a synopsis of 2007 for Kevin and me. As we have no children except for my feline son, Pigg, and yellow lab step-son, Scooby, we would be the "kids". The pictures on the card would be Kevin speeding along on his new tri bike and aero helmet, looking so aerodynamic Dave Zabriskie would be envious; and my finish line picture at Eagleman, victorious in my HIM PR. Our rundown, printed on festive red and green paper, would read like this:
Merry Christmas! We hope Kevtima's holiday newsletter finds you all injury-free and ready to crank out watts after a restful off-season.
Little Kevy had a great season in his new age group this year with 2 podium finishes at the Sodus triathlon and Danforth duathlon--which was supposed to be a tri, but the swim was cancelled due to freezing temps in the Lake. Poor Kevy was ready to go on the shore with his swim floaties, but the plaque for 3rd place more than made up for his disappointment. He's in his second year of training with power and really loves his Powertap! He enjoys sweet spot rides, track work-outs, vanilla GU, and riding his mountain bike. No matter how hard we try, he still won't weight train or do running drills.
Kitima is a big girl now and did her first Ironman in Lake Placid this summer. At mile 12 on the run she had a bit of a meltdown/tantrum (Girls will be girls!), but her girlfriend, Shari, promised to get her a pony and she snapped out of it. She's into running in skirts, long rides with her friends Dana and Marian, and strawberry banana GU. In fact, she saved over 200 empty GU packets and got a free pair of GU socks from their Stash-Your-Trash program. After a long off-season, she's ready for the 2008 season and is enjoying her E-pace runs...really!
Kevtima took a trip to Maryland in June with Mary, Bill, Sharon, and Hannah. They camped and rescued Mary from being eaten by her tent in a wind storm. Bill, Kevin, and Kitima had PR's at Eagleman that weekend; and Mary had a triumphant HIM where pacing, nutrition, and complete abscence of barfing lead to a breakthrough performance. Also, while in the Chesapeake Bay area, Kitima wanted crabs and boy did she get them! Soft-shelled and fried in butter!
We're truly blessed to have such a wonderful life where we can swim, ride our bikes, and run races with each other and our friends. We have absolutely no plans in the future to grow up and retiring only means more time to play! We wish everyone a wonderful holiday. May the New Year bring all of us closer to race weight, out of pool for aqua-jogging, and a fulfilling tri season!
Merry Christmas! We hope Kevtima's holiday newsletter finds you all injury-free and ready to crank out watts after a restful off-season.
Little Kevy had a great season in his new age group this year with 2 podium finishes at the Sodus triathlon and Danforth duathlon--which was supposed to be a tri, but the swim was cancelled due to freezing temps in the Lake. Poor Kevy was ready to go on the shore with his swim floaties, but the plaque for 3rd place more than made up for his disappointment. He's in his second year of training with power and really loves his Powertap! He enjoys sweet spot rides, track work-outs, vanilla GU, and riding his mountain bike. No matter how hard we try, he still won't weight train or do running drills.
Kitima is a big girl now and did her first Ironman in Lake Placid this summer. At mile 12 on the run she had a bit of a meltdown/tantrum (Girls will be girls!), but her girlfriend, Shari, promised to get her a pony and she snapped out of it. She's into running in skirts, long rides with her friends Dana and Marian, and strawberry banana GU. In fact, she saved over 200 empty GU packets and got a free pair of GU socks from their Stash-Your-Trash program. After a long off-season, she's ready for the 2008 season and is enjoying her E-pace runs...really!
Kevtima took a trip to Maryland in June with Mary, Bill, Sharon, and Hannah. They camped and rescued Mary from being eaten by her tent in a wind storm. Bill, Kevin, and Kitima had PR's at Eagleman that weekend; and Mary had a triumphant HIM where pacing, nutrition, and complete abscence of barfing lead to a breakthrough performance. Also, while in the Chesapeake Bay area, Kitima wanted crabs and boy did she get them! Soft-shelled and fried in butter!
We're truly blessed to have such a wonderful life where we can swim, ride our bikes, and run races with each other and our friends. We have absolutely no plans in the future to grow up and retiring only means more time to play! We wish everyone a wonderful holiday. May the New Year bring all of us closer to race weight, out of pool for aqua-jogging, and a fulfilling tri season!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Monkeypox
Today, a letter from the NY State Department of Health reminds me that I should promptly report communicable diseases and how it can make the difference between disease control and an outbreak. A list of these communicable diseases that require reporting came with the letter. It included the usual public panic-inducing infections such as SARS, anthrax, and tuberculosis along with maladies seen only in textbooks and third world countries such as cholera and plague. On the list was something I had never heard: Monkeypox.
"Is this a joke?" I thought. Do the symptoms include an overwhelming urge to eat bananas and fling one's feces? Has the CDC quarantined Magila Gorilla and the Grape Ape for this? It turns out that one does NOT catch monkeypox from monkeys but from African squirrels. It's only called monkeypox because it was first discovered in lab monkeys. Rats, mice, and rabbits can get monkeypox too. In 2003 several people in the U.S. got monkeypox from their infected pet prairie dogs. People who become infected with monkeypox face a 1-10% mortality rate.
So what's my point? A name is not always accurate or indicative of the thing it represents. It's barely a snapshot of a tiny corner of an enormous picture. I bring this up because it's that time of year for swim, bike, and run testing. I'm not debating the accuracy or necessity of testing during our training. I think that we should pay very close attention to the physiologic indicators of our athletic performance and health; and I really enjoy the anal-retentiveness of tracking data. What concerns me is that we have a picture of our triathlon selves in our minds ("I just did an Ironman. I should be Endurance goddess.") that may not match what our early season testing show ("Yes, you did just do an Ironman but a 100 year old giant tortoise could lap you in a 10K run today."). I hope that my bike test will tell me and Coach Mary of my anaerobic triumphs on the mountain bike. However, I'm quite sure that we'll both find out that I've been slacking in the Endurance arena--eventhough I did just do an Ironman this summer! I fantasize that my run test will have me hanging with Paula Radcliffe during my long runs and showing Ian Thorpe what's up in the pool...okay, okay...a girl can dream, can't she?
While my stand alone 5K run pace is wildly different from my Ironman marathon pace, that 5K pace does DICTATE what my training paces for Ironman will be. Also, I think true pace at maximum oxygen consumption to oxygen delivery (the definition of VO2 max) isn't really going to be the 5K pace for someone like me who can't run that far in less than 20 min. Most of us can sustain exertion at VO2 max for 10-12 minutes at best (Lance Armstrong probably 20 min). Nonetheless, I really shouldn't and don't worry about the absolute pace or value for my VO2 max because for long course racing I really won't need to have any sustained periods at that effort level.
What I hope for is that regardless of how terribly slow my stand alone 5K pace is (read: how crummy these first tests are going to pan out), I can sustain a somewhat respectable pace for the 13 miles or 26 miles at the end of a long day out of the water and off the bike. I would like to have a triumph of aerobic endurance and strength over anaerobic vigor and might. Until then I'll plug away with training. I suspect the picture I'll see after the testing will be similiar to my first impression of monkeypox: somewhat comical and perhaps disappointing in its lack of any apparent strength. Ah, but don't underestimate the monkeypox! ;)
"Is this a joke?" I thought. Do the symptoms include an overwhelming urge to eat bananas and fling one's feces? Has the CDC quarantined Magila Gorilla and the Grape Ape for this? It turns out that one does NOT catch monkeypox from monkeys but from African squirrels. It's only called monkeypox because it was first discovered in lab monkeys. Rats, mice, and rabbits can get monkeypox too. In 2003 several people in the U.S. got monkeypox from their infected pet prairie dogs. People who become infected with monkeypox face a 1-10% mortality rate.
So what's my point? A name is not always accurate or indicative of the thing it represents. It's barely a snapshot of a tiny corner of an enormous picture. I bring this up because it's that time of year for swim, bike, and run testing. I'm not debating the accuracy or necessity of testing during our training. I think that we should pay very close attention to the physiologic indicators of our athletic performance and health; and I really enjoy the anal-retentiveness of tracking data. What concerns me is that we have a picture of our triathlon selves in our minds ("I just did an Ironman. I should be Endurance goddess.") that may not match what our early season testing show ("Yes, you did just do an Ironman but a 100 year old giant tortoise could lap you in a 10K run today."). I hope that my bike test will tell me and Coach Mary of my anaerobic triumphs on the mountain bike. However, I'm quite sure that we'll both find out that I've been slacking in the Endurance arena--eventhough I did just do an Ironman this summer! I fantasize that my run test will have me hanging with Paula Radcliffe during my long runs and showing Ian Thorpe what's up in the pool...okay, okay...a girl can dream, can't she?
While my stand alone 5K run pace is wildly different from my Ironman marathon pace, that 5K pace does DICTATE what my training paces for Ironman will be. Also, I think true pace at maximum oxygen consumption to oxygen delivery (the definition of VO2 max) isn't really going to be the 5K pace for someone like me who can't run that far in less than 20 min. Most of us can sustain exertion at VO2 max for 10-12 minutes at best (Lance Armstrong probably 20 min). Nonetheless, I really shouldn't and don't worry about the absolute pace or value for my VO2 max because for long course racing I really won't need to have any sustained periods at that effort level.
What I hope for is that regardless of how terribly slow my stand alone 5K pace is (read: how crummy these first tests are going to pan out), I can sustain a somewhat respectable pace for the 13 miles or 26 miles at the end of a long day out of the water and off the bike. I would like to have a triumph of aerobic endurance and strength over anaerobic vigor and might. Until then I'll plug away with training. I suspect the picture I'll see after the testing will be similiar to my first impression of monkeypox: somewhat comical and perhaps disappointing in its lack of any apparent strength. Ah, but don't underestimate the monkeypox! ;)
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Pitbull
One of my patients with enormous ulcers on both legs from venostasis came to see me in clinic. Her ulcers are a result of incompetent valves of the veins in her legs which lead to profound leg swelling, skin breakdown, and eventually ulcers. The treatment is compression dressings to control the swelling and keeping her legs elevated. Her legs were healing nicely until right around Thanksgiving--the ulcers increased in size and were wet, weeping, and painful. She cries, "It's the dressings that making them worse!"--the same dressings we'd been using that made them better before Thanksgiving. I'm puzzled. We make small talk about the holidays and I find out that she stood for hours and hours making all the pies, turkey, and side dishes. I ask,"Did you ever think all that standing to cook caused your ulcers to get worse?" Nope, it's definitely the dressings, she insists.
The same week I see one of my gastric bypass patients who lost over 150 lbs as a result of alot hard work and her operation 3 years ago. Now she had gained back 50 pounds over 6 months. "It's my new boyfriend," she explains,"He doesn't exercise and likes to go out to eat."
I ask, "Does he FORCE you to eat unhealthy food and not exercise?"
"Oh, of course not! But you know..."
Yep, I know that it's easier and very convincing to blame something or someone else for our failings. I know how satisfying it can be to sink your teeth into a good excuse, a scape goat, or general misfortune and hang on like a pitbull. It almost absolves you.
Alot of my training friends have heard me lament about my running: how I'm not the runner I used to be 16 years ago, how overtraining and injury stopped me from reaching my running potential, how I constantly race against Kitima circa 1991 never able to beat her...wahwahwahwah. Get me a binky STAT! I've spent most of my tri career with this dead albatross of my former running self around my neck. I'm known to hammer on the bike then choke on the run. When my knee aches on a training, I think that I've blown my ACL or all the cartilage is gone from my joints and bone is rubbing on bone with each step.
I've been injury-free for 2 years. A blessed combination of proper increases in training load and intensity (THANK YOU, MARY!!), physical therapy, ART, and orthotics has brought me to the finishing line of 2 half-Ironmans and Ironman Lake Placid. My knees are not younger nor with more cartilage nor are the biomechanic discrepancies gone. However, I'm done racing with the runner I used to be. My past mistakes and fear have crippled my run more than the ligaments and bone spurs of my knees. It's trite, but I "gotta live in the now, man!"
This pitbull is letting go of a worn out excuse. The taste of old mistakes is still my mouth, but I'm chewing on a juicer steak called "Kitima's gonna nail the run at Eagleman 08".
The same week I see one of my gastric bypass patients who lost over 150 lbs as a result of alot hard work and her operation 3 years ago. Now she had gained back 50 pounds over 6 months. "It's my new boyfriend," she explains,"He doesn't exercise and likes to go out to eat."
I ask, "Does he FORCE you to eat unhealthy food and not exercise?"
"Oh, of course not! But you know..."
Yep, I know that it's easier and very convincing to blame something or someone else for our failings. I know how satisfying it can be to sink your teeth into a good excuse, a scape goat, or general misfortune and hang on like a pitbull. It almost absolves you.
Alot of my training friends have heard me lament about my running: how I'm not the runner I used to be 16 years ago, how overtraining and injury stopped me from reaching my running potential, how I constantly race against Kitima circa 1991 never able to beat her...wahwahwahwah. Get me a binky STAT! I've spent most of my tri career with this dead albatross of my former running self around my neck. I'm known to hammer on the bike then choke on the run. When my knee aches on a training, I think that I've blown my ACL or all the cartilage is gone from my joints and bone is rubbing on bone with each step.
I've been injury-free for 2 years. A blessed combination of proper increases in training load and intensity (THANK YOU, MARY!!), physical therapy, ART, and orthotics has brought me to the finishing line of 2 half-Ironmans and Ironman Lake Placid. My knees are not younger nor with more cartilage nor are the biomechanic discrepancies gone. However, I'm done racing with the runner I used to be. My past mistakes and fear have crippled my run more than the ligaments and bone spurs of my knees. It's trite, but I "gotta live in the now, man!"
This pitbull is letting go of a worn out excuse. The taste of old mistakes is still my mouth, but I'm chewing on a juicer steak called "Kitima's gonna nail the run at Eagleman 08".
Monday, December 3, 2007
All kinds of changes
Gosh, this blog was quoted by Coach Mary last week; and now I feel like I should write something profound. However, there will no such thing for this entry...
It's the end of my first week back to training. None of the E pace runs hurt. None of the Active recovery/Endurance rides hurt either. After one ride on the Computrainer, my Spinscan numbers were back up to usual and "Trainer crotch" calloused up nicely. Even the swims felt fine as they are mostly drills and easy sets. I'm ravenously hungry every 2 hours and ready to go to bed by 9 pm again. Yep, it's like slipping back into a comfy routine.
My job has me very concerned and thinking alot of about bowel movements. Yes, poop. Every patient who has had an operation is encouraged to get out of bed and walk as soon as they can. This is to prevent blood clots in the legs, pneumonias, and fevers from parts of the lung collapsing. Mostly importantly to me is that a patient who has had bowel surgery and who walks post-operatively has a quicker return of bowel function. So, everyday (twice a day) I visit these patients and ask them if they have farted yet (I say, "Sir/Ma'am, have you passed flatus?"--it sounds more doctorly). It is a joyous day indeed with the passing of gas "out the bottom" for my post-op patients! Soooo, what does THIS have to do with triathlon?
With the start of the season comes more running, riding, and kicking in the water. The legs are connected to the colon---I know mine are! Welcome back regularity for Kitima! I hope not too many people are grossed out---after all, aren't we that part of society that urinate in our wetsuits and while riding the bike? I don't need remind all of you how many people on the run portion of Ironman were powered by methane, turbo released from the rear.
Something more profound next time...
It's the end of my first week back to training. None of the E pace runs hurt. None of the Active recovery/Endurance rides hurt either. After one ride on the Computrainer, my Spinscan numbers were back up to usual and "Trainer crotch" calloused up nicely. Even the swims felt fine as they are mostly drills and easy sets. I'm ravenously hungry every 2 hours and ready to go to bed by 9 pm again. Yep, it's like slipping back into a comfy routine.
My job has me very concerned and thinking alot of about bowel movements. Yes, poop. Every patient who has had an operation is encouraged to get out of bed and walk as soon as they can. This is to prevent blood clots in the legs, pneumonias, and fevers from parts of the lung collapsing. Mostly importantly to me is that a patient who has had bowel surgery and who walks post-operatively has a quicker return of bowel function. So, everyday (twice a day) I visit these patients and ask them if they have farted yet (I say, "Sir/Ma'am, have you passed flatus?"--it sounds more doctorly). It is a joyous day indeed with the passing of gas "out the bottom" for my post-op patients! Soooo, what does THIS have to do with triathlon?
With the start of the season comes more running, riding, and kicking in the water. The legs are connected to the colon---I know mine are! Welcome back regularity for Kitima! I hope not too many people are grossed out---after all, aren't we that part of society that urinate in our wetsuits and while riding the bike? I don't need remind all of you how many people on the run portion of Ironman were powered by methane, turbo released from the rear.
Something more profound next time...
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Training Day Eve
Tomorrow starts the training season for 2008. Today feels a bit like Christmas Eve (didn't I just disparage this holiday on my last blog?). The training wheels with old tires are on my tri bike which is freshly mounted on the Computrainer. The cupboards have been emptied of "garbage food" and filled with pretzels, oatmeal, peanut butter, and honey. Last night, Kevy and I finished off the last our Thanksgiving feast: a magnificently well-marbled (read: cholesterol-clogged, melt-in-your-mouth beef) prime rib roast and roasted garlic mashed potatoes (mashed with heavy cream and butter--yum!). The warm caramel brownie sundaes had been polished off on Friday night. I've dusted off my snowshoes, heart rate monitor, and winter running clothes. I've put my 2008 season goals into writing, talked them over with Mary, and we've come up with a plan.
I don't expect that my 30 min run at E pace and 60 min bike tomorrow is going to magically transform me (like that scene from Cinderella) into Princess Sub-9 at Kona, my tri shorts--too tight now will be hugging 2% body fat glutes after the glitter settles. Nope, I'm just hoping tomorrow's work-outs won't hurt too badly. I doubt they will---my V dot testing is done (Running balls out for 5K after an off-season of casual jogging--now THAT hurt!) and my E pace is embarrasingly slow. I've done a few E pace runs and can't imagine how anyone would get injured running that slow. While I may not feel physiologically challenged during those runs, they are a mental exercise in concentrating on:
1. Cadence: To achieve 90 rpm, I try to have 3 foot falls per second--kind of a fast waltz--and remember this rhythm. I've thought about buying a small electronic metronome, but I need another tri gizmo like I need a hole in my head and wallet.
2. Midfoot strike that's under my hips: In order for the the balls of my feet to land under my hips, I start pulling my leg back before my foot hits the ground. Easy to think about but hard to ingrain into muscle memory and habit after years of running with a loping, heel-striking gait.
3. Pace: When it's time to run slow, I wanna run faster. When the pace and effort pick up (such as during the run test), the whining starts and I wanna slow down. It's a battle of wits (or nitwits!): Logic vs. Habit. Suck it up and run slow/fast when I'm supposed to because this Vdot thing makes sense OR keep running the same kinda-fast-for-me pace that's sure to eventually lead to injury and never lead to a faster run.
Tomorrow starts my 8th season in triathlon, 3rd in long course. I've been doing triathlon long enough to be seasoned--not exactly a veteran, occasionally a curmudgeon, but still a student. Every year a new way to measure and monitor how to run, ride a bicycle, and swim faster with less energy is invented. While the gizmos, training plans, and charts are interesting, it's still just me who is doing the running, riding, and swimming. I take great comfort in that fact because it's the one thing I can control: where my hand enters the water with each stroke, how fast my feet turn over running uphill, what my shoulders are doing while I'm in aero, what and how I think about all of it. So I guess it's not the dress or glass slippers or carriage that used to be a pumpkin that makes one a princess--it's how she carries herself at the ball. Well, looks like fairy godmother and I have got our work cut out for us!
I don't expect that my 30 min run at E pace and 60 min bike tomorrow is going to magically transform me (like that scene from Cinderella) into Princess Sub-9 at Kona, my tri shorts--too tight now will be hugging 2% body fat glutes after the glitter settles. Nope, I'm just hoping tomorrow's work-outs won't hurt too badly. I doubt they will---my V dot testing is done (Running balls out for 5K after an off-season of casual jogging--now THAT hurt!) and my E pace is embarrasingly slow. I've done a few E pace runs and can't imagine how anyone would get injured running that slow. While I may not feel physiologically challenged during those runs, they are a mental exercise in concentrating on:
1. Cadence: To achieve 90 rpm, I try to have 3 foot falls per second--kind of a fast waltz--and remember this rhythm. I've thought about buying a small electronic metronome, but I need another tri gizmo like I need a hole in my head and wallet.
2. Midfoot strike that's under my hips: In order for the the balls of my feet to land under my hips, I start pulling my leg back before my foot hits the ground. Easy to think about but hard to ingrain into muscle memory and habit after years of running with a loping, heel-striking gait.
3. Pace: When it's time to run slow, I wanna run faster. When the pace and effort pick up (such as during the run test), the whining starts and I wanna slow down. It's a battle of wits (or nitwits!): Logic vs. Habit. Suck it up and run slow/fast when I'm supposed to because this Vdot thing makes sense OR keep running the same kinda-fast-for-me pace that's sure to eventually lead to injury and never lead to a faster run.
Tomorrow starts my 8th season in triathlon, 3rd in long course. I've been doing triathlon long enough to be seasoned--not exactly a veteran, occasionally a curmudgeon, but still a student. Every year a new way to measure and monitor how to run, ride a bicycle, and swim faster with less energy is invented. While the gizmos, training plans, and charts are interesting, it's still just me who is doing the running, riding, and swimming. I take great comfort in that fact because it's the one thing I can control: where my hand enters the water with each stroke, how fast my feet turn over running uphill, what my shoulders are doing while I'm in aero, what and how I think about all of it. So I guess it's not the dress or glass slippers or carriage that used to be a pumpkin that makes one a princess--it's how she carries herself at the ball. Well, looks like fairy godmother and I have got our work cut out for us!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
My favorite holiday and kindred spirits
Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday. I love its simplicity: family/friends, food, and football. No presents, no songs, no crazy giant blow-up decorations (I call them "lawn dirigibles"). Don't call me Scrooge yet--I don't have anything against Christmas. I just think that for some folks it's excessive--like an overly coifed girl with too much makeup--she'd be alot more attractive if she didn't try so hard. Also, Thanksgiving makes us think about all the great things we have instead of craving for what we don't have and hoping it's in a box under the tree.
That being said, I'm thankful for kindred spirits. I think that on some level all of us feel like we're outcasts and don't belong (hence the popularity of the Harry Potter books). So when we find another person that has the same interests, hobby, opinion, or tendency we can make a connection and feel like we belong. It probably has something to do with humans being pack animals some 18 ba-jillion years ago.
When I met Coach Mary 3 years ago, I didn't know she was THE MARY EGGERS. At the time she was my spinning class teacher; and I knew she was a nurse. I'll never forget the day she came to class, her hair quite a bit shorter, and announced,"My mom's been bugging me so I finally got my annual haircut." I gasped, "Can it be? Someone else-who's not a Sikh or lives in a 3rd world country-- besides me who gets their haircut only once a year ?" A lively conversation ensued about the ridiculousness of regular trips to a hair salon. We became instant friends.
Kevin tells me he knew I was the girl for him when I reluctantly told him that I only read books by dead authors. I cringed as I said it, expecting him to roll his eyes and think me a literary snob. Instead, I think I saw little pink hearts floating above his smiling face. I knew then we were cut from the same cloth.
Yesterday, I sought out the butcher at Wegman's meat counter. I said, "I need a 6 pound, 3-rib roast: a "top choice" roast cut from the small loin end, ribs 10 through 12. Could you please french the rib bones." I was expecting a blank stare or *Blink* *Blink* and a blank stare or audible eye rolling. Instead, he seemed tickled with the request and went on a rant about where the best cut of prime rib comes from. A fellow meat snob!
So what does any of this have to do with triathlon? Is it time to start training again? Have I filled my idle off-season hours reminscing and talking beef with the local butcher? Starting Monday Kevin and I are back "on-season". For me, it means rejoining old friends and comrades. While I've seen and run with alot of the tri folk in the off-season, that connection of working toward Ironman, half Ironman goals wasn't there. I really missed it--the structure, the focus, and--of course!--the kindred spirits!
That being said, I'm thankful for kindred spirits. I think that on some level all of us feel like we're outcasts and don't belong (hence the popularity of the Harry Potter books). So when we find another person that has the same interests, hobby, opinion, or tendency we can make a connection and feel like we belong. It probably has something to do with humans being pack animals some 18 ba-jillion years ago.
When I met Coach Mary 3 years ago, I didn't know she was THE MARY EGGERS. At the time she was my spinning class teacher; and I knew she was a nurse. I'll never forget the day she came to class, her hair quite a bit shorter, and announced,"My mom's been bugging me so I finally got my annual haircut." I gasped, "Can it be? Someone else-who's not a Sikh or lives in a 3rd world country-- besides me who gets their haircut only once a year ?" A lively conversation ensued about the ridiculousness of regular trips to a hair salon. We became instant friends.
Kevin tells me he knew I was the girl for him when I reluctantly told him that I only read books by dead authors. I cringed as I said it, expecting him to roll his eyes and think me a literary snob. Instead, I think I saw little pink hearts floating above his smiling face. I knew then we were cut from the same cloth.
Yesterday, I sought out the butcher at Wegman's meat counter. I said, "I need a 6 pound, 3-rib roast: a "top choice" roast cut from the small loin end, ribs 10 through 12. Could you please french the rib bones." I was expecting a blank stare or *Blink* *Blink* and a blank stare or audible eye rolling. Instead, he seemed tickled with the request and went on a rant about where the best cut of prime rib comes from. A fellow meat snob!
So what does any of this have to do with triathlon? Is it time to start training again? Have I filled my idle off-season hours reminscing and talking beef with the local butcher? Starting Monday Kevin and I are back "on-season". For me, it means rejoining old friends and comrades. While I've seen and run with alot of the tri folk in the off-season, that connection of working toward Ironman, half Ironman goals wasn't there. I really missed it--the structure, the focus, and--of course!--the kindred spirits!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
TAG!
Mary just tagged me. Here are 5 randoms things about me:
1. My mom named me Kitima in anticipation of being one of the first people to receive my college diploma in Thailand. In Thailand at graduation ceremonies, diplomas are handed out alphabetically according to your FIRST name. (Mom's name begins with the last letter of the Thai alphabet so she was one of the last people in her class to receive her diploma) Mom didn't really care what my name was as along as it began with "k", the first letter of the Thai alphabet.
2. I never went to college in Thailand. Instead, I graduated from Notre Dame. When I applied, I had never heard of the Gipper, Knute Rockne, or the Fighting Irish. I applied because our Thai family friends said there was a good pre-med program.
3. When I was 5 years old, I wanted to grow up and be a Lawrence Welk singer.
4. When I was 9 years old, I read the Bible from cover to cover and declared that I wanted to be a nun even though I have never been baptized (my parents--and now I--are Buddhists).
5. I love salty, fat-laden, cured pork products and foie gras.
1. My mom named me Kitima in anticipation of being one of the first people to receive my college diploma in Thailand. In Thailand at graduation ceremonies, diplomas are handed out alphabetically according to your FIRST name. (Mom's name begins with the last letter of the Thai alphabet so she was one of the last people in her class to receive her diploma) Mom didn't really care what my name was as along as it began with "k", the first letter of the Thai alphabet.
2. I never went to college in Thailand. Instead, I graduated from Notre Dame. When I applied, I had never heard of the Gipper, Knute Rockne, or the Fighting Irish. I applied because our Thai family friends said there was a good pre-med program.
3. When I was 5 years old, I wanted to grow up and be a Lawrence Welk singer.
4. When I was 9 years old, I read the Bible from cover to cover and declared that I wanted to be a nun even though I have never been baptized (my parents--and now I--are Buddhists).
5. I love salty, fat-laden, cured pork products and foie gras.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Anticipation
Today I rode down a drop-off and stayed shiny side up. It wasn't terribly long--no more than 1.5-2 feet--but the biggest drop-off I've ever gone down and stayed upright to date. It was part of a downhill that I had never been on. Kevy was way ahead and said nothing. I crested the hill, started the steepish descent, and was caught completely unaware. Before I could rationalize,"Put your weight and butt (yep, they are very equivalent) behind the bike, behind the seat." It just happened. I more or less did that and down I went. Is that what instinct is?
I was exhilarated and proud of my small victory. I was even more happy to avoid the whole rigmarole of seeing the obstacle, sensing fear of injury, berating myself for being a pussy, overcoming fear and self-flagellation, thinking about the technical steps of traversing the obstacle, and *big sigh* feeling my back wheel bounce over it.
By the time that drop off registered in my little neurotic brain, I didn't have time to anticipate any fear or that Carly Simon song. I believe the neurologic pathway was mostly subconscious and went like this: Drop off--> self-preservation-->lean back, hold on. And that's it. I'm going to hold on to today's experience in order to pull it out of my files during a race. Don't get me wrong--no one...and I mean it, NO ONE loves to belabor the details and the possible scenarios--good and bad of racing and training than me. However, after clearing that drop-off today (almost accidentally), I went on to bounce over the every log where I usually clip-out or dab. I had let go of anticipation today, skipped an entire well-rehearsed pathway of neurosis, and added a few pennies to the bank of bike handling skills.
I was exhilarated and proud of my small victory. I was even more happy to avoid the whole rigmarole of seeing the obstacle, sensing fear of injury, berating myself for being a pussy, overcoming fear and self-flagellation, thinking about the technical steps of traversing the obstacle, and *big sigh* feeling my back wheel bounce over it.
By the time that drop off registered in my little neurotic brain, I didn't have time to anticipate any fear or that Carly Simon song. I believe the neurologic pathway was mostly subconscious and went like this: Drop off--> self-preservation-->lean back, hold on. And that's it. I'm going to hold on to today's experience in order to pull it out of my files during a race. Don't get me wrong--no one...and I mean it, NO ONE loves to belabor the details and the possible scenarios--good and bad of racing and training than me. However, after clearing that drop-off today (almost accidentally), I went on to bounce over the every log where I usually clip-out or dab. I had let go of anticipation today, skipped an entire well-rehearsed pathway of neurosis, and added a few pennies to the bank of bike handling skills.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
A good teacher and Dodging a loaded question
In my former life I was a gastric bypass surgeon. While the operation itself was fun, the most challenging and best part of that job was educating and motivating people to use their "new stomachs" as a tool for weight loss and ultimately, better health. I found that adult education is different from the education of children in that we adults bring to the classroom alot more prejudices, beliefs, and pre-conceived notions that may hinder our ability to learn something new or do something in a different way. I'm always impressed with people who take up a triathlon or snowboarding or painting in their 40's, 50's, and 60's.
I'm also still surprised with what motivates people. Most people respond positively with encouragement. Some respond very well to reward and punishment (myself included). A few seemingly incorrigible individuals respond to scolding (which make me very uneasy from the giving end). What motivates people (and myself) to change and learn will continue to be a ongoing process of discovery for me.
All that being said, I have found Kevin to be a good teacher on mountain biking. First, he never gives me more than 3 pieces of advice per ride. I can't handle more than that! Second, he seems to know when I'm being a wimp and need to hear,"Suck it up, buttercup, and RIDE," and when I'm really justified for fear and stops to explain how to traverse a slick log that's on an off-camber drop-off. Third, (I hate to admit this one) he knows when he's got to patronize me. Just up the trail I'll hear,"This is gonna look worse than it really is--it's just like a rollercoaster, honey!". I get to a series of small hills and valleys in close succession where I'd usually unclip or tense up, but instead I roll through it---just like a rollercoaster. I am rewarded with an "Atta girl!" and there's a huge grin on my face.
So post-ride, I'm feeling round in the edges and stuffed into my bike shorts. Stricken with guilt (but not enough guilt), I lay on Kevin the classic female loaded question,"Do you think I'm fat?" He takes one look at me and without hesitation he responds,"Don't lose weight for me. I think you look great. But if you want to break 5:30 at Eagleman, you'd better drop some pounds." My teacher---he's like freakin' Yoda!
I'm also still surprised with what motivates people. Most people respond positively with encouragement. Some respond very well to reward and punishment (myself included). A few seemingly incorrigible individuals respond to scolding (which make me very uneasy from the giving end). What motivates people (and myself) to change and learn will continue to be a ongoing process of discovery for me.
All that being said, I have found Kevin to be a good teacher on mountain biking. First, he never gives me more than 3 pieces of advice per ride. I can't handle more than that! Second, he seems to know when I'm being a wimp and need to hear,"Suck it up, buttercup, and RIDE," and when I'm really justified for fear and stops to explain how to traverse a slick log that's on an off-camber drop-off. Third, (I hate to admit this one) he knows when he's got to patronize me. Just up the trail I'll hear,"This is gonna look worse than it really is--it's just like a rollercoaster, honey!". I get to a series of small hills and valleys in close succession where I'd usually unclip or tense up, but instead I roll through it---just like a rollercoaster. I am rewarded with an "Atta girl!" and there's a huge grin on my face.
So post-ride, I'm feeling round in the edges and stuffed into my bike shorts. Stricken with guilt (but not enough guilt), I lay on Kevin the classic female loaded question,"Do you think I'm fat?" He takes one look at me and without hesitation he responds,"Don't lose weight for me. I think you look great. But if you want to break 5:30 at Eagleman, you'd better drop some pounds." My teacher---he's like freakin' Yoda!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
A Fall
Yesterday, Kevin, Shari, and I rode our mountains in the cold and spitting rain. The trails were barely muddy (it's been so dry all season), but the wet leaves carpeted the trails and roots, rocks, and logs were slick. My back tire kept slipping and sliding over even the smallest obstacles. Shari fell for the first time on a slick downhill. Her bike slid out from under her to the left and she launched off the bike to the right, thankfully into a pile of soft leaves. She shook off the golden leaves and mud in her confident fashion, but I knew that she now made that connection of fear to pain. We rode on a bit more and at the crest of a hill her back wheel skidded irratically under a cluster of slippery roots. I could tell she was mentally done (only because I've been there about 100 times on the mtb). We cut the ride short as there was nothing to be gained in confidence or bike handling skills. She felt badly about it, but had my full empathy.
I'm confident that when we're back on those trails this weekend she'll bounce back and be my fearless riding partner again. Really, if I could get over all of my mtb mishaps ANYONE can! But there's nothing like a fall (or injury) to emphasize the vulnerability of our courage, strength, or skill. On the flip side, there's nothing like a setback to give us the opportunity to become more brave, strong, or skillful.
As athletes we all remember our most glorious achievements or feats of physical strength, coordination, or determination. We feel bullet-proof and invincible at those moments. When we think about athletes who are our heroes, we remember them in victory---Kona wins of Natasha Badmann, Paula Newby-Frasier, Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and Dick Hoyt and his son. They all seem so graceful and strong. It's difficult to pair these images with illness, age, injury, puking up Gatorade on the A race course but in doing so it gives a more whole picture. Our victories (and theirs) can be as transient or permanent as our falls.
It's true that scar tissue is less functional, has less tensile strength than the original tissue before injury. However, it's also true that we can be physiologically and psychologically adaptable and resilient. Yep, we'll be back on those trails again with our healing scrapes and bruises, memories of wiping out and the associated pain. Hopefully, we will clean steeper uphills and hop over bigger logs.
I'm confident that when we're back on those trails this weekend she'll bounce back and be my fearless riding partner again. Really, if I could get over all of my mtb mishaps ANYONE can! But there's nothing like a fall (or injury) to emphasize the vulnerability of our courage, strength, or skill. On the flip side, there's nothing like a setback to give us the opportunity to become more brave, strong, or skillful.
As athletes we all remember our most glorious achievements or feats of physical strength, coordination, or determination. We feel bullet-proof and invincible at those moments. When we think about athletes who are our heroes, we remember them in victory---Kona wins of Natasha Badmann, Paula Newby-Frasier, Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and Dick Hoyt and his son. They all seem so graceful and strong. It's difficult to pair these images with illness, age, injury, puking up Gatorade on the A race course but in doing so it gives a more whole picture. Our victories (and theirs) can be as transient or permanent as our falls.
It's true that scar tissue is less functional, has less tensile strength than the original tissue before injury. However, it's also true that we can be physiologically and psychologically adaptable and resilient. Yep, we'll be back on those trails again with our healing scrapes and bruises, memories of wiping out and the associated pain. Hopefully, we will clean steeper uphills and hop over bigger logs.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Off-season ponderings
Kevin and I have returned from our 2 week trip to Paris. What a wonderful way to spend the off-season! For the first few weeks after Ironman, I spent my time reluctantly resting feeling guilty about letting my fitness go. Then, I rested with a vengeance. I thought, “I can eat this greasy pizza/sleep in until 10am/not even look at my running shoes because I did an Ironman and I earned it!” I felt rather petulant and indulgent at the time. Finally, overcome with guilt of letting my fitness go in such a petulant and indulgent manner, I tried to work out only to find myself in Zone 5 at the slightest exertion and mentally fried.
And then there was Paris…Kevin and I hanging out for 2 weeks with no real schedule, soaking up a lovely culture and a truly beautiful city. We saw a lot of historic art (after giving Mona Lisa at least 5 minutes of study, Kevy decided that she was quite overrated and agreed with me that DaVinci's Madonna of the Rocks was far more inspiring) and experienced some amazing art (Winged Victory, David’s Coronation, Venus de Milo, Caillebotte’s Floor Scrapers, pretty much the entire Rodin museum and Espace de Salvador Dali). We wandered through many neighborhoods marveling block after block at the architecture, ran laps around the Luxembourg Gardens (which were Maria de Medici’s “backyard”), and rode bikes along the Seine. We went to the bars and cafes where Sartre, Camus, Rousseau, and Hemingway hung out. We discovered how Paris is obviously the City of Light and that if one could assign gender to a city Paris is most definitely a woman. I practiced my floundering French on anyone who would listen (just about every Parisian we tried to communicate with was patient and friendly). I learned that it is easier to speak and be understood than to listen and understand. Kevin has been inspired to PAINT! His ideas and images are an amalgam of Picasso’s cubist style, Dali’s surrealism, and something completely his own.
This is what off-season is all about: discovering and rediscovering what inspires us and brings us joy, revisiting the other sides of our multi-faceted selves.
Here’s what the off-season is NOT about: 2-hour lunches, 3 ½ hour dinners, each starting with kir royal, appetizers (for me: foie gras—that unctuous and heavenly slab of animal fat!), entrees of duck confit (cooked in its fat) or steak with green peppercorn sauce or roasted guinea fowl, potatoes whipped in cheese curds and garlic, amazing red wine with dinner, cheese plate, dessert, after dinner liqueur, and finally café crème (yep, it’s half cream!). I think it’s perfectly fine to eat like that every once in a while. After all we were in Paris. But we did that for 2 WEEKS!! Like true addicts we knew it wasn’t right and that we should probably clean up as we dove head first into glorious, calorie-rich feast after feast. We managed to drag our bloated carcasses out for a couple of runs and rides but ended up “refueling” at the chocolate-covered waffle and crèpe stand. There’s nothing like a nutritional transgression to remind you of one of the great reasons to be into triathlon.
Now back at home, we’re settling back into our routines but with a wider, clearer view of the world that is so full of color, shapes, and symbols. We’re both hungry to get back to training—of course, with the taste of delicious French wine and pastries warm in our mouths.
And then there was Paris…Kevin and I hanging out for 2 weeks with no real schedule, soaking up a lovely culture and a truly beautiful city. We saw a lot of historic art (after giving Mona Lisa at least 5 minutes of study, Kevy decided that she was quite overrated and agreed with me that DaVinci's Madonna of the Rocks was far more inspiring) and experienced some amazing art (Winged Victory, David’s Coronation, Venus de Milo, Caillebotte’s Floor Scrapers, pretty much the entire Rodin museum and Espace de Salvador Dali). We wandered through many neighborhoods marveling block after block at the architecture, ran laps around the Luxembourg Gardens (which were Maria de Medici’s “backyard”), and rode bikes along the Seine. We went to the bars and cafes where Sartre, Camus, Rousseau, and Hemingway hung out. We discovered how Paris is obviously the City of Light and that if one could assign gender to a city Paris is most definitely a woman. I practiced my floundering French on anyone who would listen (just about every Parisian we tried to communicate with was patient and friendly). I learned that it is easier to speak and be understood than to listen and understand. Kevin has been inspired to PAINT! His ideas and images are an amalgam of Picasso’s cubist style, Dali’s surrealism, and something completely his own.
This is what off-season is all about: discovering and rediscovering what inspires us and brings us joy, revisiting the other sides of our multi-faceted selves.
Here’s what the off-season is NOT about: 2-hour lunches, 3 ½ hour dinners, each starting with kir royal, appetizers (for me: foie gras—that unctuous and heavenly slab of animal fat!), entrees of duck confit (cooked in its fat) or steak with green peppercorn sauce or roasted guinea fowl, potatoes whipped in cheese curds and garlic, amazing red wine with dinner, cheese plate, dessert, after dinner liqueur, and finally café crème (yep, it’s half cream!). I think it’s perfectly fine to eat like that every once in a while. After all we were in Paris. But we did that for 2 WEEKS!! Like true addicts we knew it wasn’t right and that we should probably clean up as we dove head first into glorious, calorie-rich feast after feast. We managed to drag our bloated carcasses out for a couple of runs and rides but ended up “refueling” at the chocolate-covered waffle and crèpe stand. There’s nothing like a nutritional transgression to remind you of one of the great reasons to be into triathlon.
Now back at home, we’re settling back into our routines but with a wider, clearer view of the world that is so full of color, shapes, and symbols. We’re both hungry to get back to training—of course, with the taste of delicious French wine and pastries warm in our mouths.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Kitima-Lessons from 2 Wheels on Dirt
About 2 years ago my friend Shari and I both had some major stresses in our lives resulting in changes in marital status among other things. It was about that time that we both took up mountain biking in earnest. While I won't make this blog entry a screenplay for a movie on the Lifetime or WE channel ("Mountain Biking Divorcees Take on the World and Dirt"), it's irresistable to make comparisons of fat-tire achievements to post-divorce life: overcoming fears of downhills, jumping over obstacles, and getting up after a fall.
Anyhoo, today Shari and I had one of the finest days on our bikes at Dryer Road Park. There's nothing like riding a narrow, twisting, and root-clogged single track to hone one's mental focus. You really must look only at the path that you want to go (and not at the object with which you don't want to collide)--there's not much time for anything else. That is, until I fall. I just need to fall hard a couple of times to become mentally paralyzed with the FEAR of falling, with the MEMORY of pain. I'm trying to practice some mental toughness to combat this fear, letting each subsequent log I clear, each climb I clean be a small victory to erase that fear. I also find that having Shari ride in front of me and seeing her bounce over those logs or descend over a ledge staying upright really helps me overcome my fear as well.
We're coming to a part of the trail with alot of climbs with logs. I usually unclip, hit the brakes, dab, get off and walk the bike here. Not today. Shari's absolute fearlessness inspires me over the first log. Just as I'm relieved to stay upright I hear her,"Another log right around the bend...pedal, pedal, pedal!!!" And then I'm over the second one. My first time clearing that section of trail ever.
When I ask her what she's thinking going over those bumps.
"I'm not. I know I can do it and I just go."
There's a lesson here for me. I think about Mary telling me to race more with my heart. I'm learning to concentrate without overthinking, act on instinct (which is trusting my abilities), and acknowledging fear without letting it dominate my emotions. My hope is that these lessons will carry over to training, racing, and living.
I thank her for riding first and inspiring me with her courage. She tells me that having me behind her drives her to ride harder up the hills because she doesn't want to slow me down. Ahh, mountain bike symbiosis...
Anyhoo, today Shari and I had one of the finest days on our bikes at Dryer Road Park. There's nothing like riding a narrow, twisting, and root-clogged single track to hone one's mental focus. You really must look only at the path that you want to go (and not at the object with which you don't want to collide)--there's not much time for anything else. That is, until I fall. I just need to fall hard a couple of times to become mentally paralyzed with the FEAR of falling, with the MEMORY of pain. I'm trying to practice some mental toughness to combat this fear, letting each subsequent log I clear, each climb I clean be a small victory to erase that fear. I also find that having Shari ride in front of me and seeing her bounce over those logs or descend over a ledge staying upright really helps me overcome my fear as well.
We're coming to a part of the trail with alot of climbs with logs. I usually unclip, hit the brakes, dab, get off and walk the bike here. Not today. Shari's absolute fearlessness inspires me over the first log. Just as I'm relieved to stay upright I hear her,"Another log right around the bend...pedal, pedal, pedal!!!" And then I'm over the second one. My first time clearing that section of trail ever.
When I ask her what she's thinking going over those bumps.
"I'm not. I know I can do it and I just go."
There's a lesson here for me. I think about Mary telling me to race more with my heart. I'm learning to concentrate without overthinking, act on instinct (which is trusting my abilities), and acknowledging fear without letting it dominate my emotions. My hope is that these lessons will carry over to training, racing, and living.
I thank her for riding first and inspiring me with her courage. She tells me that having me behind her drives her to ride harder up the hills because she doesn't want to slow me down. Ahh, mountain bike symbiosis...
Friday, September 28, 2007
Kitima-Feeling groovy
Starting a triathlon blog in the throes of off-season is like starting a movie trilogy with the prequel. The main characters have yet to be seized with great ambition or unrelenting angst toward a seemingly unachievable goal. The villians and demons haven't hatched. The journey ahead is...well, what journey?
Yep, my first Ironman happened 8 weeks ago. I've taken that last 2 months to process what happened that day and all the days leading up to it and have set new goals for the 2008 season. I've also slowly and happily rejoined the rest of the world, tending to projects and bathrooms neglected from the training. One of those projects is reconnecting with dirt--as in mountain biking and trail running...maybe some yardwork (ahh, who am I kidding?). No HR monitors, powermeters, bike computers---just cleaning the steepest part of the climb and staying shiny side up while jumping over logs. Hearing chickadees and woodpeckers in the trees has been a lovely respite from concentrating on pedalling efficiency, cadence, and perceived exertion. Don't get me wrong...I do miss the regimented training and being in shape for Ironman. But for now, it's wonderful to be unstructured and feeling groovy.
Yep, my first Ironman happened 8 weeks ago. I've taken that last 2 months to process what happened that day and all the days leading up to it and have set new goals for the 2008 season. I've also slowly and happily rejoined the rest of the world, tending to projects and bathrooms neglected from the training. One of those projects is reconnecting with dirt--as in mountain biking and trail running...maybe some yardwork (ahh, who am I kidding?). No HR monitors, powermeters, bike computers---just cleaning the steepest part of the climb and staying shiny side up while jumping over logs. Hearing chickadees and woodpeckers in the trees has been a lovely respite from concentrating on pedalling efficiency, cadence, and perceived exertion. Don't get me wrong...I do miss the regimented training and being in shape for Ironman. But for now, it's wonderful to be unstructured and feeling groovy.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Marian, July 24th, 2007
Well, just got home from Lake Placid. What a surreal week this has been. It all started when we got there on Thursday afetrnoon. i was in a pretty bad mood as we got there at 4:15 an registration closed at 4. I would have to wait until the next morning. When we got to the cabin Hugh and Denise were already waiting inside and I got a phone call from my cousin that she was stuck in a storm outside of Albany and didn't know if she was going to make it up. We had dinner and I laed down to ice my left knee which had been quite sore. The next morning I met my ironpals Kitima and Dana and we swam at Mirror Lake. That was very relaxing and got my spirits up again. Finally at 10 am, I was able to register. Spent the rest of the day knitting and icing my knee.
Saturday morning was a repeat of Friday, swam at 7 am and the knitted and iced the knee. I packed all my bags rode down the bike and transition bags and went to bed around 8:30pm.
Sunday, I woke up around 4:00am and by 4:10, was ready to go. Got to transition around 4:50 and checked on my bike and added my nutrition and checked the bags. Walked down to the lake around 5:45 and sat ona bench talking to a guy who was there to see his buddy do the race. We talked until about 6:35. Walked to the lake and ran into Jeremy, Glen, Rich and I think Kevin and maybe Doug were there too. I started crying, which seemed to be the order of the day. Walked into the shute and saw Kara and Brock. Talked to them for a little while, then ran into Jay C. After I heard Kevin C. calling me from shore, he was pointing me to where Kitima and Dana were. I really needed to see them. We did a final "Buttscratcher" chant and then the cannon. I felt very calm. I immediatly found the bouy line and just pretended I was at Canandaigua. Very relaxing. The swim was over in 1:33.
T1 went well, wow, the volunteers are amazing, they really go all out
The bike started and the I felt good. My average on the first loop was 14.4. I was taking it very easy since I wanted to protect my knee. On the second loop I strted to feel a little off. It was very hot and my stomach was starting to act weird. I backed off the carbo pro and stated doing more gels and water. My pace had slowed down a lot. The bike almost over. As I pulled up behind the oval to leave my bike an older gentleman who I had seen on the course was also finishing. He told me he had done this race 5 times. He always finished the bike around 5:00pm and he had always finished the race. I must have looked pretty down since I was already convinced I was not going to finish. It was so late. He told me not to worry, relax and walk. As we parted ways, he just said: congratulations kid, tonight you will be an Ironman. That made me feel a little better and got me through into T2.
Then the run started, I was feeling ok and was running and walking the aid stations. I did that up the aid station #4. Then, the walks got longer. My stomach was not ok. I tried eating, it was bad. I tried gels, it got worse. I stopped consuming anything. I just walked. I was great to hear my name called out by people on the race, spectators and specially the TT people. I ran again. Then the second loop. It was really bad now. Tina's dad and mom saw me on the course and new I was in trouble. They ran with me down the hill and told me Tina was waiting at the bottom. I saw Tina nd she started to run along my side. She told me she would stay as long as I needed her. We would run and walk, then we saw Denise, she joined us and also ran along my side. It was night time now and the clock was ticking. Then the power went out on riverside road. It was now pitch black. We kept watching landmarks on the road. Then, I started to vomit. That actually made me feel a little better. I should have made myself vomit earlier. I could only keep coke down. All of a sudden, there was Glen and Jeremy. They joined our gruop. Then Tina's parents joined us and we all trtoed along. Then Rolando, and my sister Tita and my cousin Sandy joined us as we ran along. Coming up the hill I heard a voice say into a megaphone: "is that marian down there?" I sawMary and Rich at the top of the hill. Once we did the final mile it was over. Denise told me: "I don't care how you feel, you will run in the oval, now fix your hair and wipe the boogers of your face". And so I did. I could hear the people screaming and my name beign called out. And then, the uncontrolable crying. It was over.
16:34:33
As I sit here with my feet bandaged up and my sore muscles I feel so greatfull that I was able to share this whole year with teh entire TT team and my family and friends. Mary, you are the best coach ever. Kitima and Dana, I love guys, we will always be the Title 9 Tea Party. Tina, Glen, Jeremy, thanks for the push. Denise and Roalndo for taking care of me all weekend long and all the advice. The rest of TT, both on the course and on the sidelines. I really needed the words of encouragement. Tita, Sandy,a nd Joel, thanks for putting up with me, sorry I was so cranky and emotional.
Until next Ironman, thanks for reading,
~marian
Saturday morning was a repeat of Friday, swam at 7 am and the knitted and iced the knee. I packed all my bags rode down the bike and transition bags and went to bed around 8:30pm.
Sunday, I woke up around 4:00am and by 4:10, was ready to go. Got to transition around 4:50 and checked on my bike and added my nutrition and checked the bags. Walked down to the lake around 5:45 and sat ona bench talking to a guy who was there to see his buddy do the race. We talked until about 6:35. Walked to the lake and ran into Jeremy, Glen, Rich and I think Kevin and maybe Doug were there too. I started crying, which seemed to be the order of the day. Walked into the shute and saw Kara and Brock. Talked to them for a little while, then ran into Jay C. After I heard Kevin C. calling me from shore, he was pointing me to where Kitima and Dana were. I really needed to see them. We did a final "Buttscratcher" chant and then the cannon. I felt very calm. I immediatly found the bouy line and just pretended I was at Canandaigua. Very relaxing. The swim was over in 1:33.
T1 went well, wow, the volunteers are amazing, they really go all out
The bike started and the I felt good. My average on the first loop was 14.4. I was taking it very easy since I wanted to protect my knee. On the second loop I strted to feel a little off. It was very hot and my stomach was starting to act weird. I backed off the carbo pro and stated doing more gels and water. My pace had slowed down a lot. The bike almost over. As I pulled up behind the oval to leave my bike an older gentleman who I had seen on the course was also finishing. He told me he had done this race 5 times. He always finished the bike around 5:00pm and he had always finished the race. I must have looked pretty down since I was already convinced I was not going to finish. It was so late. He told me not to worry, relax and walk. As we parted ways, he just said: congratulations kid, tonight you will be an Ironman. That made me feel a little better and got me through into T2.
Then the run started, I was feeling ok and was running and walking the aid stations. I did that up the aid station #4. Then, the walks got longer. My stomach was not ok. I tried eating, it was bad. I tried gels, it got worse. I stopped consuming anything. I just walked. I was great to hear my name called out by people on the race, spectators and specially the TT people. I ran again. Then the second loop. It was really bad now. Tina's dad and mom saw me on the course and new I was in trouble. They ran with me down the hill and told me Tina was waiting at the bottom. I saw Tina nd she started to run along my side. She told me she would stay as long as I needed her. We would run and walk, then we saw Denise, she joined us and also ran along my side. It was night time now and the clock was ticking. Then the power went out on riverside road. It was now pitch black. We kept watching landmarks on the road. Then, I started to vomit. That actually made me feel a little better. I should have made myself vomit earlier. I could only keep coke down. All of a sudden, there was Glen and Jeremy. They joined our gruop. Then Tina's parents joined us and we all trtoed along. Then Rolando, and my sister Tita and my cousin Sandy joined us as we ran along. Coming up the hill I heard a voice say into a megaphone: "is that marian down there?" I sawMary and Rich at the top of the hill. Once we did the final mile it was over. Denise told me: "I don't care how you feel, you will run in the oval, now fix your hair and wipe the boogers of your face". And so I did. I could hear the people screaming and my name beign called out. And then, the uncontrolable crying. It was over.
16:34:33
As I sit here with my feet bandaged up and my sore muscles I feel so greatfull that I was able to share this whole year with teh entire TT team and my family and friends. Mary, you are the best coach ever. Kitima and Dana, I love guys, we will always be the Title 9 Tea Party. Tina, Glen, Jeremy, thanks for the push. Denise and Roalndo for taking care of me all weekend long and all the advice. The rest of TT, both on the course and on the sidelines. I really needed the words of encouragement. Tita, Sandy,a nd Joel, thanks for putting up with me, sorry I was so cranky and emotional.
Until next Ironman, thanks for reading,
~marian
Jackie D - RACE WEEK
Week 44 - starting Monday 16 July 2007 - Race Week
Original Scheduled hours: 2hrs 55 mins
An easy bike on Monday, a short easy run on Tuesday, day off on Wednesday and then up to Lake Placid on Thursday.
I was supposed to bike the run course on Thursday but it was pouring with rain so I abandoned that - not too guilty as my bike needed to dry out from the trip up and I wasn’t going to gain or lose fitness now!
We stayed in the most fantastic place for families which we rented with coach Mary and her family. It was about a half hour drive into Placid but that was more than made up for by the cottage. It was on the edge of a pond which was clear and safe for swimming. The cottage had a dock, a campfire area, a raft on a pulley system to get out a bit further into the pond, paddle boat, kayak, canoe, sailing boat - it really was a kids paradise
I swam a loop of the course in Mirror Lake on Friday morning. I am glad I did as it is a little nervy/ strange swimming in a new open water place for the first time. It was quite murky which I guess was partly due to lots of swimmers and the tremendous rainfall the previous day. It got deep very quickly which was good because I don’t really like feeling weed around my legs as I swim. After breakfast it was back to the cottage and a day out with the family exploring chasms and forts and things.
On Saturday I was supposed to swim another loop of the swim course but I decided it would be just as good to swim in the pond on the doorstep. However, after my short run around the pond I decided the air temperature was too cool and a hundred other excuses and I just didn’t get around to it. It was bike and bag check in day so we headed in to Lake Placid and after checking stuff in we went out to the Olympic training centre to watch the ski jumpers practice by flying off the end of a training jump into a pool of water. Then headed back to the house to chill out. Mary and I had an early night whilst the rest of them had a campfire and toasted marshmallows. I’m told the only one that liked them was the dog that wandered over from a neighbouring property! Although I went to bed at about 8.30pm I didn’t fall asleep till after 11pm.
RACE DAY
OK this is deliberately going to be in fine detail for my memory purposes - I want to remember this forever.
I set my alarm for 2am with the intention of eating a bowl of cereal and then going back to sleep for a couple of hours. The alarm didn’t go off (no idea why, it worked the previous morning) but luckily I woke up at 2.40am anyway. So, I crept down the creaky stairs (sorry Tom and Hannah who were sleeping on the sofas - the stairs really were noisy), had my cereal and creaked back upstairs. Of course I didn’t get back to sleep after that, partly because I was worried about the alarm but I convinced myself I was resting. So, up finally at 4am to start drinking some Gatorade. I was still full from my earlier breakfast so I grabbed a banana and a power bar and we were off well before 4.15am. Tom kindly drove us in AND helped us carry our bags up the hill from where we parked.
We were not first! There was no queue for body marking (which was out on the street) so I did that and then they opened up transition shortly before 5am. No queue for the bathroom so made the most of that. Two hours has never flown by so fast. It was eerily calm and quiet despite the huge numbers of people around, just going about their own thing, preparing physically and mentally. It was dark but there were floodlights over the oval. By the time I had checked bike tyres, loaded it up with nutrition and got into my wetsuit it was time to head down to the start. One last (20 minute this time) queue for the bathroom and then into the water.
After paddling around the edge for a few minutes I took the plunge and swam out to one of the floating rafts and sat on that for a while to view the scene. The area gradually filled up and when the 5min to go announcement was made it was time to choose my place. I decided in the middle about half way across the starting line, half way back.
The Swim (1:07:22)
The horn went off and we were off. This swim was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. There were people everywhere thrashing about. I didn’t try and sight for at least 10 minutes because I was just concentrating on finding enough water to put my arms in to pull. If a little gap appeared in front I would aim for it - but so did half a dozen others so it soon filled up. The gentlemen don’t treat us ladies any different in this fight for space I can tell you. At one point (actually several times) I got so fed up with someone swimming on top of my legs persistently I just tried to kick him off. Arms were a flailing, whacking me on the head and it was just a big fight for space all the way around the first loop. Part of it I think was my own doing (not intentionally) because at one point when I looked up to get my bearings I found myself right next to a buoy so I was on the inside, busy track following the underwater line up the course. I’m a pretty confident swimmer so I knew I could hold my own but it wasn’t easy. It’s funny what thoughts go through your mind as you swim along. I was watching other peoples strokes and analysing them and looking for the divers (didn’t see any) which they had told us about (“don’t be startled by bubbles and divers in the water”). Also just telling myself to reach and pull, slowly and smoothly. According to my watch I did the first loop in about 32 minutes which is amazingly fast for me - I think I just got sucked around! The second loop was a bit clearer but still plenty of people around and bumping into each other. I just kept swimming and trying to find some feet to draft on which sometimes worked and sometimes I was on my own. My swim time was 1:07:22 which I was thrilled about and it hadn’t seemed like much of an effort at all.
My wetsuit was pulled from me and I started down the carpet to transition. I was surprised to find that the move from horizontal to vertical didn’t affect me - I felt great and was able to jog down and locate my transition bag.
T1 (12:41)
I purposely took my time here, just getting ready, drying myself, applying sunscreen and making sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. Minor blip number one was here - having loaded up my back pockets of my bike shirt with my nutrition I found that my race belt didn’t sit easily and on the way out to the bike it tore off so I had to stop and redo that with safety pins. I had to find my own bike (even though they were numbered I went down the wrong rack first- duh!) and then I had to run with it all the whole length of the transition area to the start line.
Bike (6:44:20 (splits 3:09:05, 3:35:14))
There were a lot of people heading out at the same time as me so it was quite hard to find a space to get bike over the mounting line and get on. Patience on a long day I guess. Took it easy - out of transition is downhill and 2 sharp corners. Then I was off. There really were so many people that it was impossible to stay 4 lengths behind anyone on the first climbs. I was told that you can’t really draft at the speeds we were going up the hill though so everyone just got on and did their own thing. By the time we got to the top of the hill it was all a bit more spread out and the USAT referees came along several times on the motorbikes to check no- one was drafting. The first downhill into Keene was awesome. I had to actually brake several times because people were in the way but generally it was good. I love downhills. The flat bit was good - I just kept telling myself it was important not to feel like I was “working” and that I was just out for a “Sunday afternoon pleasure ride“. I remember smiling constantly and thinking “I’m doing an Ironman and this is easy”. My first aid station attempt wasn’t so good. I dropped 2 water bottles before managing to hold onto one and made a mental note to slow down a bit more next time. Even my dreaded hill up to Wilmington wasn’t as bad as I thought - the encouragement of the spectators is truly magnificent. The out and back bit plus the climb back into town weren’t too bad either. I felt strong, happy and was having a great time. The hardest thing was finding a clear enough section on a downhill to pee! (sorry mum, hope you aren’t reading this bit).
The crowds on Papa Bear are amazing and I don’t remember that feeling hard at all. My first bike loop split was 3:09 and I didn’t feel fatigued at all. Round we went again.
My second loop bike split was much slower at 3:35. I didn’t actually think it was so much to do with fatigue because apart from needing to stand up to stretch and get my bum off the seat a couple of times I still felt good. However, the wind going down the big hill into Keene and all the way along the flat bit to Upper Jay was really noticeable against us and I think that was more of a factor. There was this one guy (Declan) who was around the same pace but I was faster on hills and him on flat so we kept passing each other. The reason I know this is that I named him Mr Snotty. I think he must have had a cold or something because he kept snot rocketing every 20 seconds or so with no thought to who was behind. After some minor sprays I tried to keep a bit ahead of him but alas, big groan when he came by me again. In fact I got so fed up with it that at one point when I went past him I said loudly “nice” in a sarcastic voice as he “sniffed” but I don’t think he got the hint!
Another minor blip of the day was when my race number tore off one of the pins and I had to stop and refasten it (again) before it completely flew off.
I felt I had to work a bit harder on the uphill last 11 miles but generally I felt pretty good all the way around. The only noticeable thing was a had a kind of side stitch practically all the way around the bike course which was made worse by eating solid food (my Jaffa cakes) so I stopped eating those and just survived on gel and Gatorade (and water). So, I knew I hadn’t taken in as many calories as ideal but I was still eating when I could and felt OK.
Back into town to the amazing crowds, over the line and just passed my bike to a volunteer and was pointed in the right direction to my next transition bag.
Other notes on the bike course were
(1) Despite what people say there are USAT officials on the narrow out and back course - I know - I saw them
(2) Although I didn’t see a great deal of it, I got really annoyed at a few people (all male) that were clearly drafting. Several times I had to give dirty looks over my shoulder to get some one off my wheel and several times I saw people in front of me blatantly drafting. I guess they have no conscience.
T2 (8:39)
This was a strange experience. I found my bag and waddled along to the changing tent. I just wanted to sit down for a couple of minutes to recharge but volunteers kept coming up to me and trying to help, tipping out my bag, asking me if I needed sunscreen etc. I was really grateful they were there but just needed a few minutes on my own. So, once I was ready they topped me up with sunscreen, I went to the portapotty then off on the run.
Run (5:26:06 (splits 2:21:27, 3:04:38))
Oh it was a good job the crowds were there to start. They were the incentive to get through the first difficult 10 minutes when my legs were fighting me as I was persuading them they could run. But going down a steep hill to start was tough. I knew it would all get better after the first mile or so and those crowds really helped. After that I settled into a rhythm and just walked aid stations to take in nutrition as planned. I could feel my legs were a bit sore so I pretty much knew I wouldn’t be going fast but I felt fine. I watched the clock and at 3 miles and 6 miles I knew my pace was well under 10 minutes (probably around 9:30). I took Gatorade or gel and water at each aid station as planned. Then it all started to fall apart. I started to feel nauseous and by mile 10-11 I was starting to feel dizzy too. I decided to walk more than I planned - I know the rules - slow down and sip water to try and settle nutrition problems. At each aid station I sipped water and then when that didn’t help I tried cola as I heard that can be a life saver. I managed to jog past my family and the crowds on the first bit of the second loop because I didn’t want my kids to see I was struggling so much but Fred had guessed because Dennis had gone into the short out and back behind me and came out way in front. He walked with me (Dennis) for a few minutes as he was on a revised plan too. In fact I think most people I saw in the team seemed to be having a few “challenges“. It was a hard day.
Off on the second loop I plodded. The course was actually strangely quiet considering how many people were out there. Apart from a few words of encouragement made to one another as you passed each other everyone seemed to be in their own world, focusing and trying to just keep going.
I went to a portapotty for a wee so I knew stuff was going through me but boy it was hard to get up. There was no way I wasn’t going to finish and I was scared if I pushed myself I would get worse and be hauled off. At one stage there were “things” floating on my retina and I had to make a concerted effort to walk a straightish line past an ambulance station! I had pretty much resigned myself to walking when at mile 19 Sarah came past me and we walked a while. She was sucking pretzels for the salt and gave me one to try. Sarah saved me! I am so grateful to her. I knew she was finding it tough too but she was there to help me and encourage me. I was salt deficient. I would never have guessed it. I had been drinking Gatorade and eating gels and never needed extra salt on my long runs but eating pretzels cured me. Literally. By mile 20 I started to jog again, and I jogged, sucking on pretzels, just walking any of the bigger hills and aid stations and I started to feel much better. I’m not saying it was easy but it was such a relief not to feel so sick still. After the last aid station before town I hadn’t started jogging again and a man called Tim who I had been playing leapfrog with (no not literally) passed me again and told me I could at least run to the bottom of the big hill - which most people walked up intentionally anyway. He was right, so I did. Thank you Tim. I was a little faster than him but he caught me when I walked and after the hill he passed me again and told me that surely I could run the last mile. He was right I could. Thank you Tim again (I did thank him lots then too- both times). So, I finished strong, with a smile on my face and needed no medical attention at all.
My family were apparently there, even at the finish but I only saw them once on the run. The Train-this support crowd were awesome as were all the strangers yelling my name and encouraging me.
Afterwards and hindsight
I felt OK immediately afterwards - guess that’s what a 7 mile walking break does for you! I grabbed a bit of pizza, sat and eat it and then went off to find people and my bags etc and cheer some people home.
I am elated that I have had this experience and finished and it means so much to have a “team” of supporters out there and that all of our competing team finished. I am so proud of all of us. I can’t say I am not disappointed with my run, but I wouldn’t have guessed a salt problem and at the end of the day what happens is what happens. The time doesn’t really matter because this was a one-off for me, always was, still is! I had no compulsion to join Mary in the sign up queue on Monday morning. I have enjoyed everything about the training and the race experience was awesome but I want to concentrate on a shorter distance now.
The next day I can see I have a couple of blisters on one foot (probably from wet shoes since I poured cold water over me a lot on the run) and my legs feel a bit sore but not too bad at all. I wouldn’t like to go for a jog but I could easily go for a swim. I won’t though, not for a couple of days anyway. I’ve got some chocolate eating to catch up on before my metabolism slows down from lack of ridiculous amounts of exercise.
All my race pictures show me smiling and although I think my natural bike face is a grimace that can be interpreted as a smile it was nice to have comments as I cycled along saying “Nice smile lady“. I think that summed up the day for me. It was fun!
Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading all my team mates race reports too.
Original Scheduled hours: 2hrs 55 mins
An easy bike on Monday, a short easy run on Tuesday, day off on Wednesday and then up to Lake Placid on Thursday.
I was supposed to bike the run course on Thursday but it was pouring with rain so I abandoned that - not too guilty as my bike needed to dry out from the trip up and I wasn’t going to gain or lose fitness now!
We stayed in the most fantastic place for families which we rented with coach Mary and her family. It was about a half hour drive into Placid but that was more than made up for by the cottage. It was on the edge of a pond which was clear and safe for swimming. The cottage had a dock, a campfire area, a raft on a pulley system to get out a bit further into the pond, paddle boat, kayak, canoe, sailing boat - it really was a kids paradise
I swam a loop of the course in Mirror Lake on Friday morning. I am glad I did as it is a little nervy/ strange swimming in a new open water place for the first time. It was quite murky which I guess was partly due to lots of swimmers and the tremendous rainfall the previous day. It got deep very quickly which was good because I don’t really like feeling weed around my legs as I swim. After breakfast it was back to the cottage and a day out with the family exploring chasms and forts and things.
On Saturday I was supposed to swim another loop of the swim course but I decided it would be just as good to swim in the pond on the doorstep. However, after my short run around the pond I decided the air temperature was too cool and a hundred other excuses and I just didn’t get around to it. It was bike and bag check in day so we headed in to Lake Placid and after checking stuff in we went out to the Olympic training centre to watch the ski jumpers practice by flying off the end of a training jump into a pool of water. Then headed back to the house to chill out. Mary and I had an early night whilst the rest of them had a campfire and toasted marshmallows. I’m told the only one that liked them was the dog that wandered over from a neighbouring property! Although I went to bed at about 8.30pm I didn’t fall asleep till after 11pm.
RACE DAY
OK this is deliberately going to be in fine detail for my memory purposes - I want to remember this forever.
I set my alarm for 2am with the intention of eating a bowl of cereal and then going back to sleep for a couple of hours. The alarm didn’t go off (no idea why, it worked the previous morning) but luckily I woke up at 2.40am anyway. So, I crept down the creaky stairs (sorry Tom and Hannah who were sleeping on the sofas - the stairs really were noisy), had my cereal and creaked back upstairs. Of course I didn’t get back to sleep after that, partly because I was worried about the alarm but I convinced myself I was resting. So, up finally at 4am to start drinking some Gatorade. I was still full from my earlier breakfast so I grabbed a banana and a power bar and we were off well before 4.15am. Tom kindly drove us in AND helped us carry our bags up the hill from where we parked.
We were not first! There was no queue for body marking (which was out on the street) so I did that and then they opened up transition shortly before 5am. No queue for the bathroom so made the most of that. Two hours has never flown by so fast. It was eerily calm and quiet despite the huge numbers of people around, just going about their own thing, preparing physically and mentally. It was dark but there were floodlights over the oval. By the time I had checked bike tyres, loaded it up with nutrition and got into my wetsuit it was time to head down to the start. One last (20 minute this time) queue for the bathroom and then into the water.
After paddling around the edge for a few minutes I took the plunge and swam out to one of the floating rafts and sat on that for a while to view the scene. The area gradually filled up and when the 5min to go announcement was made it was time to choose my place. I decided in the middle about half way across the starting line, half way back.
The Swim (1:07:22)
The horn went off and we were off. This swim was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. There were people everywhere thrashing about. I didn’t try and sight for at least 10 minutes because I was just concentrating on finding enough water to put my arms in to pull. If a little gap appeared in front I would aim for it - but so did half a dozen others so it soon filled up. The gentlemen don’t treat us ladies any different in this fight for space I can tell you. At one point (actually several times) I got so fed up with someone swimming on top of my legs persistently I just tried to kick him off. Arms were a flailing, whacking me on the head and it was just a big fight for space all the way around the first loop. Part of it I think was my own doing (not intentionally) because at one point when I looked up to get my bearings I found myself right next to a buoy so I was on the inside, busy track following the underwater line up the course. I’m a pretty confident swimmer so I knew I could hold my own but it wasn’t easy. It’s funny what thoughts go through your mind as you swim along. I was watching other peoples strokes and analysing them and looking for the divers (didn’t see any) which they had told us about (“don’t be startled by bubbles and divers in the water”). Also just telling myself to reach and pull, slowly and smoothly. According to my watch I did the first loop in about 32 minutes which is amazingly fast for me - I think I just got sucked around! The second loop was a bit clearer but still plenty of people around and bumping into each other. I just kept swimming and trying to find some feet to draft on which sometimes worked and sometimes I was on my own. My swim time was 1:07:22 which I was thrilled about and it hadn’t seemed like much of an effort at all.
My wetsuit was pulled from me and I started down the carpet to transition. I was surprised to find that the move from horizontal to vertical didn’t affect me - I felt great and was able to jog down and locate my transition bag.
T1 (12:41)
I purposely took my time here, just getting ready, drying myself, applying sunscreen and making sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. Minor blip number one was here - having loaded up my back pockets of my bike shirt with my nutrition I found that my race belt didn’t sit easily and on the way out to the bike it tore off so I had to stop and redo that with safety pins. I had to find my own bike (even though they were numbered I went down the wrong rack first- duh!) and then I had to run with it all the whole length of the transition area to the start line.
Bike (6:44:20 (splits 3:09:05, 3:35:14))
There were a lot of people heading out at the same time as me so it was quite hard to find a space to get bike over the mounting line and get on. Patience on a long day I guess. Took it easy - out of transition is downhill and 2 sharp corners. Then I was off. There really were so many people that it was impossible to stay 4 lengths behind anyone on the first climbs. I was told that you can’t really draft at the speeds we were going up the hill though so everyone just got on and did their own thing. By the time we got to the top of the hill it was all a bit more spread out and the USAT referees came along several times on the motorbikes to check no- one was drafting. The first downhill into Keene was awesome. I had to actually brake several times because people were in the way but generally it was good. I love downhills. The flat bit was good - I just kept telling myself it was important not to feel like I was “working” and that I was just out for a “Sunday afternoon pleasure ride“. I remember smiling constantly and thinking “I’m doing an Ironman and this is easy”. My first aid station attempt wasn’t so good. I dropped 2 water bottles before managing to hold onto one and made a mental note to slow down a bit more next time. Even my dreaded hill up to Wilmington wasn’t as bad as I thought - the encouragement of the spectators is truly magnificent. The out and back bit plus the climb back into town weren’t too bad either. I felt strong, happy and was having a great time. The hardest thing was finding a clear enough section on a downhill to pee! (sorry mum, hope you aren’t reading this bit).
The crowds on Papa Bear are amazing and I don’t remember that feeling hard at all. My first bike loop split was 3:09 and I didn’t feel fatigued at all. Round we went again.
My second loop bike split was much slower at 3:35. I didn’t actually think it was so much to do with fatigue because apart from needing to stand up to stretch and get my bum off the seat a couple of times I still felt good. However, the wind going down the big hill into Keene and all the way along the flat bit to Upper Jay was really noticeable against us and I think that was more of a factor. There was this one guy (Declan) who was around the same pace but I was faster on hills and him on flat so we kept passing each other. The reason I know this is that I named him Mr Snotty. I think he must have had a cold or something because he kept snot rocketing every 20 seconds or so with no thought to who was behind. After some minor sprays I tried to keep a bit ahead of him but alas, big groan when he came by me again. In fact I got so fed up with it that at one point when I went past him I said loudly “nice” in a sarcastic voice as he “sniffed” but I don’t think he got the hint!
Another minor blip of the day was when my race number tore off one of the pins and I had to stop and refasten it (again) before it completely flew off.
I felt I had to work a bit harder on the uphill last 11 miles but generally I felt pretty good all the way around. The only noticeable thing was a had a kind of side stitch practically all the way around the bike course which was made worse by eating solid food (my Jaffa cakes) so I stopped eating those and just survived on gel and Gatorade (and water). So, I knew I hadn’t taken in as many calories as ideal but I was still eating when I could and felt OK.
Back into town to the amazing crowds, over the line and just passed my bike to a volunteer and was pointed in the right direction to my next transition bag.
Other notes on the bike course were
(1) Despite what people say there are USAT officials on the narrow out and back course - I know - I saw them
(2) Although I didn’t see a great deal of it, I got really annoyed at a few people (all male) that were clearly drafting. Several times I had to give dirty looks over my shoulder to get some one off my wheel and several times I saw people in front of me blatantly drafting. I guess they have no conscience.
T2 (8:39)
This was a strange experience. I found my bag and waddled along to the changing tent. I just wanted to sit down for a couple of minutes to recharge but volunteers kept coming up to me and trying to help, tipping out my bag, asking me if I needed sunscreen etc. I was really grateful they were there but just needed a few minutes on my own. So, once I was ready they topped me up with sunscreen, I went to the portapotty then off on the run.
Run (5:26:06 (splits 2:21:27, 3:04:38))
Oh it was a good job the crowds were there to start. They were the incentive to get through the first difficult 10 minutes when my legs were fighting me as I was persuading them they could run. But going down a steep hill to start was tough. I knew it would all get better after the first mile or so and those crowds really helped. After that I settled into a rhythm and just walked aid stations to take in nutrition as planned. I could feel my legs were a bit sore so I pretty much knew I wouldn’t be going fast but I felt fine. I watched the clock and at 3 miles and 6 miles I knew my pace was well under 10 minutes (probably around 9:30). I took Gatorade or gel and water at each aid station as planned. Then it all started to fall apart. I started to feel nauseous and by mile 10-11 I was starting to feel dizzy too. I decided to walk more than I planned - I know the rules - slow down and sip water to try and settle nutrition problems. At each aid station I sipped water and then when that didn’t help I tried cola as I heard that can be a life saver. I managed to jog past my family and the crowds on the first bit of the second loop because I didn’t want my kids to see I was struggling so much but Fred had guessed because Dennis had gone into the short out and back behind me and came out way in front. He walked with me (Dennis) for a few minutes as he was on a revised plan too. In fact I think most people I saw in the team seemed to be having a few “challenges“. It was a hard day.
Off on the second loop I plodded. The course was actually strangely quiet considering how many people were out there. Apart from a few words of encouragement made to one another as you passed each other everyone seemed to be in their own world, focusing and trying to just keep going.
I went to a portapotty for a wee so I knew stuff was going through me but boy it was hard to get up. There was no way I wasn’t going to finish and I was scared if I pushed myself I would get worse and be hauled off. At one stage there were “things” floating on my retina and I had to make a concerted effort to walk a straightish line past an ambulance station! I had pretty much resigned myself to walking when at mile 19 Sarah came past me and we walked a while. She was sucking pretzels for the salt and gave me one to try. Sarah saved me! I am so grateful to her. I knew she was finding it tough too but she was there to help me and encourage me. I was salt deficient. I would never have guessed it. I had been drinking Gatorade and eating gels and never needed extra salt on my long runs but eating pretzels cured me. Literally. By mile 20 I started to jog again, and I jogged, sucking on pretzels, just walking any of the bigger hills and aid stations and I started to feel much better. I’m not saying it was easy but it was such a relief not to feel so sick still. After the last aid station before town I hadn’t started jogging again and a man called Tim who I had been playing leapfrog with (no not literally) passed me again and told me I could at least run to the bottom of the big hill - which most people walked up intentionally anyway. He was right, so I did. Thank you Tim. I was a little faster than him but he caught me when I walked and after the hill he passed me again and told me that surely I could run the last mile. He was right I could. Thank you Tim again (I did thank him lots then too- both times). So, I finished strong, with a smile on my face and needed no medical attention at all.
My family were apparently there, even at the finish but I only saw them once on the run. The Train-this support crowd were awesome as were all the strangers yelling my name and encouraging me.
Afterwards and hindsight
I felt OK immediately afterwards - guess that’s what a 7 mile walking break does for you! I grabbed a bit of pizza, sat and eat it and then went off to find people and my bags etc and cheer some people home.
I am elated that I have had this experience and finished and it means so much to have a “team” of supporters out there and that all of our competing team finished. I am so proud of all of us. I can’t say I am not disappointed with my run, but I wouldn’t have guessed a salt problem and at the end of the day what happens is what happens. The time doesn’t really matter because this was a one-off for me, always was, still is! I had no compulsion to join Mary in the sign up queue on Monday morning. I have enjoyed everything about the training and the race experience was awesome but I want to concentrate on a shorter distance now.
The next day I can see I have a couple of blisters on one foot (probably from wet shoes since I poured cold water over me a lot on the run) and my legs feel a bit sore but not too bad at all. I wouldn’t like to go for a jog but I could easily go for a swim. I won’t though, not for a couple of days anyway. I’ve got some chocolate eating to catch up on before my metabolism slows down from lack of ridiculous amounts of exercise.
All my race pictures show me smiling and although I think my natural bike face is a grimace that can be interpreted as a smile it was nice to have comments as I cycled along saying “Nice smile lady“. I think that summed up the day for me. It was fun!
Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading all my team mates race reports too.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Marian, July 17th, 2007
Well, Ironman is just a few days away. Who would have though, the time actually flew by. My left knee has been quite sore. I tried doing a 45 minute bike ride and had to stop at 20 minutes. I will get ART on it Thursday before i leave and hope it holds up for Sunday. I'll probably take some Advil on the bike with me.
I've been having the strange dreams of things going wrong like there is no more Gatorade left at Wegmans and I end up paying 7 dollars a bottle for Gatorade out of some back room in a dirty gas station. The other one was of getting to lake placid and realizing I forgot my helmet and camelback. Other dreams are of running through kids park, swingset and all. Don't know what that means.
I'm very nervous about my stomach not holding up all day. I'm in constant state of anxiety which is making things worse. I need Sunday to be here sooner.
I've been having the strange dreams of things going wrong like there is no more Gatorade left at Wegmans and I end up paying 7 dollars a bottle for Gatorade out of some back room in a dirty gas station. The other one was of getting to lake placid and realizing I forgot my helmet and camelback. Other dreams are of running through kids park, swingset and all. Don't know what that means.
I'm very nervous about my stomach not holding up all day. I'm in constant state of anxiety which is making things worse. I need Sunday to be here sooner.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Jackie D - Week 43
Week 43 - starting Monday 9 July 2007
Original Scheduled hours: 5hrs 45 mins
Actual hours: 5hrs 40 mins
Week 2 of taper and finally towards the end of the week it actually started to feel easier. After the hard time I found it last weekend, coach changed my schedule and gave me a surprise day off on Monday. Other than that I had 2 shortish race simulation bricks, 2 open water swims and a short aerobic bike.
The first brick was hard. Partly I think because I did it in the heat of day (said 90F when I got back) and partly because I was skimping on nutrition a bit - trying not to overeat in these last weeks. Anyway, the bike felt good and I you don’t really feel the heat when you are pedalling along but it really hits when you stop. I had a 30 min transition run afterwards with last 15 minutes supposed to be harder. Well wow, my HR started way up and I don’t think ever went down (I didn’t actually wear my HRM but my breathing told the story). At about 25 minutes, going up a hill I just couldn’t catch my breath anymore and I had to stop and walk for a few minutes. After that I just jogged slowly for the remaining 5 minutes. Of course lots of doubts then start cropping up - if I can’t even run for 30minutes how on earth am I going to complete 26.2 miles?!
Luckily, later in the week the second brick went well. The run was again 30 minutes and at last a run where it felt I could have gone further. Phew!
Both swims this week were in quite wavy waters which is fun although not so good for practicing long smooth strokes. There were even white caps on some of the waves on Friday. Once when I rolled to the side to breathe the side the waves were coming in, they nearly flipped me onto my back. Ooh what fun! I do miss the ocean where I grew up.
I had my bike checked over one last time at my local bike shop. I am glad I did because I did have a bend in part of the rear gear mechanism.
Most people I know doing this event are changing over to race wheels but my bike is what it is and has one set of wheels! I had decided to buy new tyres in the hope of minimising flat tyres and I have become just that little bit more knowledgeable now. I now have a slightly smaller width tyre on (23 rather than my 25s) and I am going to call them my race tyres! They are bound to make me go fasterJ
I am still deliberating and changing my mind to and fro on what to take on the bike. My current debate (with myself of course) is whether to use the aero bottle or not. It’s not so much the weight (or the annoying rattle!) but whether I can refill it whilst moving or more to the point, since water and Gatorade are available at aid stations whether I really need to as I have 2 bottle cages. I have used the aero bottle on training rides because I have needed to take as much nutrition and hydration with me as possible. Decisions decisions. I am also coming closer to deciding what I will wear as well, although not set in stone yet and probably won’t be ‘til next week.
Next report will be race report. Yikes or Yippee! I’ll also try and write for a couple of weeks afterwards because I want to be able to remember what it feels like afterwards and how long my body takes to recover.
1 WEEK TO GO
Original Scheduled hours: 5hrs 45 mins
Actual hours: 5hrs 40 mins
Week 2 of taper and finally towards the end of the week it actually started to feel easier. After the hard time I found it last weekend, coach changed my schedule and gave me a surprise day off on Monday. Other than that I had 2 shortish race simulation bricks, 2 open water swims and a short aerobic bike.
The first brick was hard. Partly I think because I did it in the heat of day (said 90F when I got back) and partly because I was skimping on nutrition a bit - trying not to overeat in these last weeks. Anyway, the bike felt good and I you don’t really feel the heat when you are pedalling along but it really hits when you stop. I had a 30 min transition run afterwards with last 15 minutes supposed to be harder. Well wow, my HR started way up and I don’t think ever went down (I didn’t actually wear my HRM but my breathing told the story). At about 25 minutes, going up a hill I just couldn’t catch my breath anymore and I had to stop and walk for a few minutes. After that I just jogged slowly for the remaining 5 minutes. Of course lots of doubts then start cropping up - if I can’t even run for 30minutes how on earth am I going to complete 26.2 miles?!
Luckily, later in the week the second brick went well. The run was again 30 minutes and at last a run where it felt I could have gone further. Phew!
Both swims this week were in quite wavy waters which is fun although not so good for practicing long smooth strokes. There were even white caps on some of the waves on Friday. Once when I rolled to the side to breathe the side the waves were coming in, they nearly flipped me onto my back. Ooh what fun! I do miss the ocean where I grew up.
I had my bike checked over one last time at my local bike shop. I am glad I did because I did have a bend in part of the rear gear mechanism.
Most people I know doing this event are changing over to race wheels but my bike is what it is and has one set of wheels! I had decided to buy new tyres in the hope of minimising flat tyres and I have become just that little bit more knowledgeable now. I now have a slightly smaller width tyre on (23 rather than my 25s) and I am going to call them my race tyres! They are bound to make me go fasterJ
I am still deliberating and changing my mind to and fro on what to take on the bike. My current debate (with myself of course) is whether to use the aero bottle or not. It’s not so much the weight (or the annoying rattle!) but whether I can refill it whilst moving or more to the point, since water and Gatorade are available at aid stations whether I really need to as I have 2 bottle cages. I have used the aero bottle on training rides because I have needed to take as much nutrition and hydration with me as possible. Decisions decisions. I am also coming closer to deciding what I will wear as well, although not set in stone yet and probably won’t be ‘til next week.
Next report will be race report. Yikes or Yippee! I’ll also try and write for a couple of weeks afterwards because I want to be able to remember what it feels like afterwards and how long my body takes to recover.
1 WEEK TO GO
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Jackie D - Week 42
Week 42 - starting Monday 2 July 2007
Original Scheduled hours: 10hrs 30 mins
Actual hours: 10hrs 30mins (I hope)
Well this was the first week of the taper but to be honest it didn’t really feel like it. Frequency of workouts was same and pretty much all same length as usual except long run and bike - these were scheduled for end of week so I didn’t really notice a difference in volume til the weekend. Of course that is my way of justifying that I can still eat the same amount as I am used to. I must watch that next week as the volume really drops.
Swimming was all in the lake this week but this time with more of a purpose. One swim was doing fast/slow intervals between the buoys and the other was steady aerobic pace with sighting practice so I stopped as little as necessary. I even managed to get up early for both of them. I got back home from one of my swims and found the bath had been run…….to digress for a second or two - there are 2 things that I take extreme, neurotic care about and won’t let my family touch - my bike and my wetsuit. Fred jokingly called my bike “Precious” once as I get so upset if anyone goes near where it is hanging in the garage (what can I say, I have 2 boys who think kicking a ball around a garage or shooting nerf guns is fun!). Well my bike is now “Precious 1” because it has been noticed how I soak and rinse my wetsuit, hang it carefully in shade etc etc etc - it is now “Precious 2”…..
So… when I come back from my swim and the bath is run and ready I say to Fred, “Oh thanks you have run a bath for Precious”. “NO! “ he says jumping in “This bath is for Precious 3!” So, there now seems to be a hierarchy in our house.
I think it may have backfired a bit though, ‘cos one of my sons has so far been banned from having dessert for 23 years for touching Precious 1 and 2.
The workouts have seemed hard this week. Even the “easy” stuff has seemed like more effort than I expected. It must be psychological. On Saturday I had a 3 hour bike which was nice (not least to have to worry about refuelling stops) but I also had a 90 minute BT run to do. Due to family stuff I planned to do it in the evening but it was a real effort to get started. It even felt like an effort whilst out there - and that was shown by the data which confirmed I have metamorphosed into a snail. I just hope I can metamorphosise back into something a bit faster in the next 2 weeks.
My last bike of the week was to be a hill repeat thing doing some standing sprints up a hill. I rarely stand on the bike and was worried that I might not be able to move for a week afterwards if I use “new” muscles so we have agreed to change it into an easy bike. But give me an inch and I take a mile. I am now planning (the bike is not yet done) to count a family bike ride on my mountain bike as my easy bike. Actually it should be OK to count because my youngest son will be out on a playdate and the other one can go at a good pace. If not, I will just go out again later.
We had our last Ironman meeting on Sunday morning. We practiced grabbing bottles whilst riding along on the bike and then went over the details of the race (the athletes guide is out). It was nice to see everyone again and we are all excited about what we will be doing in TWO WEEKS TIME.
2 WEEKS TO GO
Original Scheduled hours: 10hrs 30 mins
Actual hours: 10hrs 30mins (I hope)
Well this was the first week of the taper but to be honest it didn’t really feel like it. Frequency of workouts was same and pretty much all same length as usual except long run and bike - these were scheduled for end of week so I didn’t really notice a difference in volume til the weekend. Of course that is my way of justifying that I can still eat the same amount as I am used to. I must watch that next week as the volume really drops.
Swimming was all in the lake this week but this time with more of a purpose. One swim was doing fast/slow intervals between the buoys and the other was steady aerobic pace with sighting practice so I stopped as little as necessary. I even managed to get up early for both of them. I got back home from one of my swims and found the bath had been run…….to digress for a second or two - there are 2 things that I take extreme, neurotic care about and won’t let my family touch - my bike and my wetsuit. Fred jokingly called my bike “Precious” once as I get so upset if anyone goes near where it is hanging in the garage (what can I say, I have 2 boys who think kicking a ball around a garage or shooting nerf guns is fun!). Well my bike is now “Precious 1” because it has been noticed how I soak and rinse my wetsuit, hang it carefully in shade etc etc etc - it is now “Precious 2”…..
So… when I come back from my swim and the bath is run and ready I say to Fred, “Oh thanks you have run a bath for Precious”. “NO! “ he says jumping in “This bath is for Precious 3!” So, there now seems to be a hierarchy in our house.
I think it may have backfired a bit though, ‘cos one of my sons has so far been banned from having dessert for 23 years for touching Precious 1 and 2.
The workouts have seemed hard this week. Even the “easy” stuff has seemed like more effort than I expected. It must be psychological. On Saturday I had a 3 hour bike which was nice (not least to have to worry about refuelling stops) but I also had a 90 minute BT run to do. Due to family stuff I planned to do it in the evening but it was a real effort to get started. It even felt like an effort whilst out there - and that was shown by the data which confirmed I have metamorphosed into a snail. I just hope I can metamorphosise back into something a bit faster in the next 2 weeks.
My last bike of the week was to be a hill repeat thing doing some standing sprints up a hill. I rarely stand on the bike and was worried that I might not be able to move for a week afterwards if I use “new” muscles so we have agreed to change it into an easy bike. But give me an inch and I take a mile. I am now planning (the bike is not yet done) to count a family bike ride on my mountain bike as my easy bike. Actually it should be OK to count because my youngest son will be out on a playdate and the other one can go at a good pace. If not, I will just go out again later.
We had our last Ironman meeting on Sunday morning. We practiced grabbing bottles whilst riding along on the bike and then went over the details of the race (the athletes guide is out). It was nice to see everyone again and we are all excited about what we will be doing in TWO WEEKS TIME.
2 WEEKS TO GO
Monday, July 2, 2007
Jackie D - Week 41
Week 41 - starting Monday 25 June 2007
Original Scheduled hours: 15hrs 0 mins
Revised Scheduled hours : 14hrs 40 mins
Actual hours: 14hrs 51mins
Oh boy was I sore at the beginning of this week! Like sore that I haven’t been for months and months. Good sore though - must be getting stronger.
This week was supposed to be a repeat of last week but because kids are home I knew I had to do my long stuff at the weekend so I was left with more intense stuff for the weekdays. Having not got up early enough for a lake swim on Monday I then just didn’t know what to do because I didn’t think I should do another BT workout on a consecutive day. Help Mary! She came to the rescue. Apparently many of us are having our little “falling apart” times at the moment - and she just picks us up, dusts us off, turns us around and sets us on our way. We revised the first couple of days to a long continuous swim at the pool in the evening and some less intense stuff the following day.
Well, whether it was guilt of “messing up” my original schedule or what I don’t know but I decided I was going to swim the 2.4miles in the pool that night, so I did. I have never really done a long continuous swim in the pool before because it is so boring and I lose count of the lengths. But I prepared myself mentally and it was OK. And I felt as strong at the end as I did at the beginning of the 154 lengths of the 25m pool. Yahoo!
I got to do that horrid run, bike, run brick again this week though - so Mary wasn’t THAT nice to me as to take that away! It went OK and I felt less sore afterwards. All good stuff.
For someone who usually gets the long stuff done mid week it is a bit disconcerting to get to Friday night and know you have 9 hours of training left for the week.
This was my first long ride at a weekend and it was so much less stressful than usual. Usually I am worried that I won’t get back in time for the school bus, especially if I have a flat tyre and what do I do if I need rescuing for some reason blah blah blah. Saturday was free from all that. Fred took the boys on a boys day so I had all day to do my bike ride without worrying about times and knowing he was on the end of a phone with no work meetings etc if I needed him. It really was a pleasant change. I chose a hilly course on purpose - riding down to Naples via a back way and then back up - back up that long climb on the CR12 that Mary mentions in her log - think it was more than 10 mins for me though! But I did it, without standing up either.
Today was the day I tried my revised nutrition strategy properly of Powerbars and Gatorade. Oh dear! They sat very heavily on my stomach and I ended up making 3 major bathroom stops - luckily I had planned my route around gas stations to pick up more Gatorade and water. I was a bit surprised because I have been using Powerbars- just not in the quantity I need for proper nutrition. More thinking to do on that one.
I passed the memorial where 5 high school graduates had been killed in a car crash a couple of nights previously. I was so angry that they had been stupid enough to be driving when they shouldn’t have but it is so, so, so sad that I just couldn’t stop the tears falling.
I also tried a new sunscreen on this ride. The stuff I have been using (and the stuff I am told they have at LP) seems to wash off a bit with spills from my aero bottle and I end up with blotchy red legs every time. Well this time I tried kids, Huggies extra waterproof stuff under my usual stuff and success! I still had the weak left hand problem after about 3 hours though and had to use my palm of my hand to change the back chain ring. Weird. Perhaps three weeks rest will help.
The long run was the last workout of the week. I did it on Sunday evening but that was the plan after a day out with the family (fruit picking - yum!). This was a kind of nutritional breakthrough. It all started when a fellow triathlete who knows about my nutritional woes with gel was trying to give advice about the flavours he likes. And then he said it - the words just struck home - he said “I have such a sweet tooth I look forward to my next gel” Well! NO-ONE HAS MORE OF A SWEET TOOTH THAN ME! SERIOUSLY! So, I decided my woes must be psychological. I took gels and water and set off for my 3 hours. Every half hour on schedule I chose a flavour and linked it to something yummy - like cooking my grannies old recipe for vanilla fudge, or chocolate pudding or making flapjacks and then I tried to savour and imagine it as the gel. Well, it worked to a degree. I ate all the gels I planned - first time in ages. I think I am going to continue with this strategy and move it over to the bike too - then I will have my original working nutritional strategy working again!
Sometime after 2 hours (and after an expresso gel which maybe linked) I started bouncing. I just wanted to shout and jump in the air yelling Yippee. I was nearly there. Everything I have worked towards since last October and this was my last workout before taper.
I have done it. I have trained and I AM READY
BRING IT ON!
3 WEEKS TO GO
Original Scheduled hours: 15hrs 0 mins
Revised Scheduled hours : 14hrs 40 mins
Actual hours: 14hrs 51mins
Oh boy was I sore at the beginning of this week! Like sore that I haven’t been for months and months. Good sore though - must be getting stronger.
This week was supposed to be a repeat of last week but because kids are home I knew I had to do my long stuff at the weekend so I was left with more intense stuff for the weekdays. Having not got up early enough for a lake swim on Monday I then just didn’t know what to do because I didn’t think I should do another BT workout on a consecutive day. Help Mary! She came to the rescue. Apparently many of us are having our little “falling apart” times at the moment - and she just picks us up, dusts us off, turns us around and sets us on our way. We revised the first couple of days to a long continuous swim at the pool in the evening and some less intense stuff the following day.
Well, whether it was guilt of “messing up” my original schedule or what I don’t know but I decided I was going to swim the 2.4miles in the pool that night, so I did. I have never really done a long continuous swim in the pool before because it is so boring and I lose count of the lengths. But I prepared myself mentally and it was OK. And I felt as strong at the end as I did at the beginning of the 154 lengths of the 25m pool. Yahoo!
I got to do that horrid run, bike, run brick again this week though - so Mary wasn’t THAT nice to me as to take that away! It went OK and I felt less sore afterwards. All good stuff.
For someone who usually gets the long stuff done mid week it is a bit disconcerting to get to Friday night and know you have 9 hours of training left for the week.
This was my first long ride at a weekend and it was so much less stressful than usual. Usually I am worried that I won’t get back in time for the school bus, especially if I have a flat tyre and what do I do if I need rescuing for some reason blah blah blah. Saturday was free from all that. Fred took the boys on a boys day so I had all day to do my bike ride without worrying about times and knowing he was on the end of a phone with no work meetings etc if I needed him. It really was a pleasant change. I chose a hilly course on purpose - riding down to Naples via a back way and then back up - back up that long climb on the CR12 that Mary mentions in her log - think it was more than 10 mins for me though! But I did it, without standing up either.
Today was the day I tried my revised nutrition strategy properly of Powerbars and Gatorade. Oh dear! They sat very heavily on my stomach and I ended up making 3 major bathroom stops - luckily I had planned my route around gas stations to pick up more Gatorade and water. I was a bit surprised because I have been using Powerbars- just not in the quantity I need for proper nutrition. More thinking to do on that one.
I passed the memorial where 5 high school graduates had been killed in a car crash a couple of nights previously. I was so angry that they had been stupid enough to be driving when they shouldn’t have but it is so, so, so sad that I just couldn’t stop the tears falling.
I also tried a new sunscreen on this ride. The stuff I have been using (and the stuff I am told they have at LP) seems to wash off a bit with spills from my aero bottle and I end up with blotchy red legs every time. Well this time I tried kids, Huggies extra waterproof stuff under my usual stuff and success! I still had the weak left hand problem after about 3 hours though and had to use my palm of my hand to change the back chain ring. Weird. Perhaps three weeks rest will help.
The long run was the last workout of the week. I did it on Sunday evening but that was the plan after a day out with the family (fruit picking - yum!). This was a kind of nutritional breakthrough. It all started when a fellow triathlete who knows about my nutritional woes with gel was trying to give advice about the flavours he likes. And then he said it - the words just struck home - he said “I have such a sweet tooth I look forward to my next gel” Well! NO-ONE HAS MORE OF A SWEET TOOTH THAN ME! SERIOUSLY! So, I decided my woes must be psychological. I took gels and water and set off for my 3 hours. Every half hour on schedule I chose a flavour and linked it to something yummy - like cooking my grannies old recipe for vanilla fudge, or chocolate pudding or making flapjacks and then I tried to savour and imagine it as the gel. Well, it worked to a degree. I ate all the gels I planned - first time in ages. I think I am going to continue with this strategy and move it over to the bike too - then I will have my original working nutritional strategy working again!
Sometime after 2 hours (and after an expresso gel which maybe linked) I started bouncing. I just wanted to shout and jump in the air yelling Yippee. I was nearly there. Everything I have worked towards since last October and this was my last workout before taper.
I have done it. I have trained and I AM READY
BRING IT ON!
3 WEEKS TO GO
Marian, July 2nd, 2007
Wow, first day of taper and I already don't know what to do with myself. This past weekend Kitima and I, joined by Barbara, biked around Canandaigua twice and the second loop was slightly emotional. Last time seeing the familiar faces that wave and say good morning as they pick up their newspapers in their pajamas or let the dogs out or sit on their porches drinking their morning coffee. I'll miss the people at he boat lunch, our regular potty stop, when they come over and ask how far are you going and seeing their jaws drop when we reply.
Then Sunday, our last long run. We agreed to commemorate it by going a little over 3 hours. We went 3;15. not that much over but just enough to say: "this is the longest I've ever gone and I feel great". After that, boy did I need a nap. I didn't nap though, I took my old brown dog to her physical therapy since I'm trying to spend as much with her as I can, she won't be around for very long. I will look for her and my other 2 doggies and the corner of papa bear.
Well, the countdown clock is at 19 days. Makes me think of going to rehab: 19 days until your free of the shivers and panic attacks, after beign on the training high for a year.
Then Sunday, our last long run. We agreed to commemorate it by going a little over 3 hours. We went 3;15. not that much over but just enough to say: "this is the longest I've ever gone and I feel great". After that, boy did I need a nap. I didn't nap though, I took my old brown dog to her physical therapy since I'm trying to spend as much with her as I can, she won't be around for very long. I will look for her and my other 2 doggies and the corner of papa bear.
Well, the countdown clock is at 19 days. Makes me think of going to rehab: 19 days until your free of the shivers and panic attacks, after beign on the training high for a year.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Jackie D - Week 40
Week 40 - starting Monday 18 June 2007
Actual hours: 15hrs 04mins
Straight into it this week with long workouts and intense workouts and no easy stuff really at all. Except the swimming - twice out in the lake early in the morning again. I find swimming quite easy - not fast but I definitely have the endurance, especially floating around in a wetsuit.
Another 6 hour bike and 3 hour run this week. Only one more of each to go before taper time (eek!).
I had to make the most of the first half of the week for training time as the kids finished school for the summer on Wednesday. So, Monday was my long run. Wow- what a hot one! Could definitely put this one down to heat acclimatisation. I started at 10.30am and it just got hotter and hotter. I did a new route of 2 loops (refuelling stop after first loop) with the 10min run, 1 min walk strategy and I was glad of those walks towards the end. I chose a route with lots of hills as I know I need to work on those. I don’t think these will ever get easier so I just tell myself I am getting stronger.
Tuesday was time for long bike. I met a fellow trainee (actually fellowess!) at her house in Fairport and we headed out to Sodus and back and then some local roads. I can honestly say that I have never cycled or pushed so hard on a longer training ride. I am used to hilly terrain where I push, then recover and repeat. This was constantly pedal pedal pedal and my companion set a great pace. I could keep up for the most part but I definitely think I was working harder than her! At 4hrs 40mins a storm cell came over (not unexpected as we were watching for it) and we stopped to shelter at a fire station as the winds rose. Minutes later it was so windy we could hardly hold our bikes and then the rain just poured down. We were surrounded by thunder and lightning. The decision was to call in my friends husband to rescue us as he wasn’t far away which he did, thank you so much. It was so hard stopping though when we wanted to get our 6 hours in and only as another bolt of lightning flashed the way we would cycle did we reluctantly get in the car. I wasn’t sure what to do - help my key workout was incomplete! So, I drove home and finished it off on the indoor trainer (first time dragged out since the winter), hopping off a couple of times to wave at bus drivers as the kids came home. Phew, got it done.
Having chomped on powerbars and forced one gel down like nasty medicine on my long ride I have decided I need to revisit nutrition before it gets too late to experiment. I thought I had it nailed up to the Placid training weekend but I really haven’t wanted to eat a gel since then. Think I may have to opt for some protein (which I was going to avoid) and stick with powerbars (if I can find an easy enough one to chew) or try something completely different like carbopro.
I had three Breakthrough workouts this week. An interval running one which I did on Thursday and then the two others that I had to do on consecutive days at the weekend. First was a bike “attack” hills workout which was hard (but it was supposed to be) and I ended up with my highest average pace for a training ride of 18.5mph so the effort was worth it.
Sunday was a BT brick and I put it off and off- until 6pm - and as it was 2hrs long I had to go then or never before it got dark. It was a duathlon style brick and I hate duathlons so I decided this was part mental training too so I had to do it. The bike had a 10k Timetrial in it which is the first I have done - I averaged 20.6mph so I was very pleased.
This week seemed to have more intense stuff in than for ages and I am definitely expecting to feel sore at the beginning of next week.
I think all the early mornings are starting to catch up with me. I am just one of those people that need their sleep. I ended up going to bed at 6.30pm on Friday night and not waking til 8am Saturday. Hopefully that will stock me up for a while!
Next week is a repeat of this week although I will have to shuffle things around a lot now the kids are home.
4 WEEKS TO GO
Actual hours: 15hrs 04mins
Straight into it this week with long workouts and intense workouts and no easy stuff really at all. Except the swimming - twice out in the lake early in the morning again. I find swimming quite easy - not fast but I definitely have the endurance, especially floating around in a wetsuit.
Another 6 hour bike and 3 hour run this week. Only one more of each to go before taper time (eek!).
I had to make the most of the first half of the week for training time as the kids finished school for the summer on Wednesday. So, Monday was my long run. Wow- what a hot one! Could definitely put this one down to heat acclimatisation. I started at 10.30am and it just got hotter and hotter. I did a new route of 2 loops (refuelling stop after first loop) with the 10min run, 1 min walk strategy and I was glad of those walks towards the end. I chose a route with lots of hills as I know I need to work on those. I don’t think these will ever get easier so I just tell myself I am getting stronger.
Tuesday was time for long bike. I met a fellow trainee (actually fellowess!) at her house in Fairport and we headed out to Sodus and back and then some local roads. I can honestly say that I have never cycled or pushed so hard on a longer training ride. I am used to hilly terrain where I push, then recover and repeat. This was constantly pedal pedal pedal and my companion set a great pace. I could keep up for the most part but I definitely think I was working harder than her! At 4hrs 40mins a storm cell came over (not unexpected as we were watching for it) and we stopped to shelter at a fire station as the winds rose. Minutes later it was so windy we could hardly hold our bikes and then the rain just poured down. We were surrounded by thunder and lightning. The decision was to call in my friends husband to rescue us as he wasn’t far away which he did, thank you so much. It was so hard stopping though when we wanted to get our 6 hours in and only as another bolt of lightning flashed the way we would cycle did we reluctantly get in the car. I wasn’t sure what to do - help my key workout was incomplete! So, I drove home and finished it off on the indoor trainer (first time dragged out since the winter), hopping off a couple of times to wave at bus drivers as the kids came home. Phew, got it done.
Having chomped on powerbars and forced one gel down like nasty medicine on my long ride I have decided I need to revisit nutrition before it gets too late to experiment. I thought I had it nailed up to the Placid training weekend but I really haven’t wanted to eat a gel since then. Think I may have to opt for some protein (which I was going to avoid) and stick with powerbars (if I can find an easy enough one to chew) or try something completely different like carbopro.
I had three Breakthrough workouts this week. An interval running one which I did on Thursday and then the two others that I had to do on consecutive days at the weekend. First was a bike “attack” hills workout which was hard (but it was supposed to be) and I ended up with my highest average pace for a training ride of 18.5mph so the effort was worth it.
Sunday was a BT brick and I put it off and off- until 6pm - and as it was 2hrs long I had to go then or never before it got dark. It was a duathlon style brick and I hate duathlons so I decided this was part mental training too so I had to do it. The bike had a 10k Timetrial in it which is the first I have done - I averaged 20.6mph so I was very pleased.
This week seemed to have more intense stuff in than for ages and I am definitely expecting to feel sore at the beginning of next week.
I think all the early mornings are starting to catch up with me. I am just one of those people that need their sleep. I ended up going to bed at 6.30pm on Friday night and not waking til 8am Saturday. Hopefully that will stock me up for a while!
Next week is a repeat of this week although I will have to shuffle things around a lot now the kids are home.
4 WEEKS TO GO
Monday, June 25, 2007
Marian, June 25th, 2007
I had a really bad weekend. On Thursday night I was feeling pretty tired and got home really late from work. We ended up having dinner around 10:30 at night. I must have looked pretty bad because Rolando looked at me and said: "you know last year I was skipping a lot of workouts at this point, right?" Well, the next morning I had a pretty bad stomach ache. I went to work, took some medicine and around 9 in the morning I was folded over a garbage can. I spent the rest of the day in bed and Saturday I was still unable to eat. I picked on bread and juice and had my first actual meal on Sunday night. This morning I was feeling pretty good so I did a one hour ride. I think my body was just too worn out and was determined to stop no matter what.
Hopefully this week goes on uneventfully and I can start taper. Looking forward to it. I'll be so happy after the long ride and long run are done this week.
Hopefully this week goes on uneventfully and I can start taper. Looking forward to it. I'll be so happy after the long ride and long run are done this week.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Jackie D - Week 39
Week 39 - starting Monday 11 June 2007
Actual hours: 8hrs 33mins
Recovery weeks don’t seem to get any easier. I have been mooching around like a lost soul this week and I feel sorry for my husband having to put up with me. It got so bad with me not having to do much that I ended up not wanting to do anything. In fact one day this week, I had an hour easy bike ride to do. Kids were at school and I just kept putting it off and off. It’s not that I don’t have other things to do (I am trying to landscape our garden) but I just didn’t want to do them. So at 2.15pm (first of kids gets back at 3.30pm) I decide I have to do this bike ride or I will regret it. But I become a bit of a rebel. I don’t change clothes into cycling shorts etc. I just put $5 in my pocket and hop on in my civvies aiming at Starbucks for a nice chilled drink to sip on my way round my easy bike ride. Of course once I get going I felt much better and just pedalled around….and I never did stop at Starbucks - although I did make myself a wonderful, healthy smoothie when I got home J
Since that point I have got out my book of Mental training and have been working my way through that again - after all they say Mental training is another of the aspects of Ironman.
However, there have been lots of positives this week. Many small, but they all add up. I managed to zip my own wetsuit up for the first time ever. I wore my new running skirt for the first time and it felt so comfortable and made me feel all girlie. I got a flat tyre on the way back from an easy ride and I successfully changed it in under 15 minutes (first time ever for success on this bike out on a ride). OK I checked the pressure when I got home and it was only 70psi but a vast improvement for me- and I managed to get the tyre on with my hands (must be my old bike that is just very difficult).
As an aside, I noticed towards the end of my long bike last week that my left hand got really weak and I had trouble using my fingers to change the gears - in fact I ended up having to push with the palm of my hand. I assumed it was just overuse (see Mary, changing gears lots, that’s good for Placid right?) and it would go away quickly. Well it’s taken the best part of a week to feel normal again. Have to see what happens next week.
The week ended on a big high note. Early Sunday morning, I met some people I have got to know from a triathlon website for my very first ride around Canandaigua Lake. I got introduced to some hills I have only heard about (and others pointed out to me) and it was a thoroughly enjoyable 2 and a half hours. Even though I was called a cissy for going into my granniest of granny gears pretty much at the bottom of Millers hill. I got up it - before anybody else - so it must have worked. Spin spin. They were just jealous they didn’t have a granny gear bike like me! It was all in good humour though- perfect weather, perfect scenery and great company. This was my first group ride as well so it allayed some of my fears about that. It was casual and one of the guys taught me a bit about drafting. I had a go but really don’t like being so close and not being able to see much in front of me. He told me I had pulled him up a hill though so at least I can say I took a turn at that. When I got home, this ride was followed by bike ride to a restaurant with the kids and hubby for lunch, orienteering in Webster park and then miniature golf - an excellent day!
Now I have to get my training head back on for the last 2 big training weeks before we go into the 3 week taper to race day.
5 WEEKS TO GO
Actual hours: 8hrs 33mins
Recovery weeks don’t seem to get any easier. I have been mooching around like a lost soul this week and I feel sorry for my husband having to put up with me. It got so bad with me not having to do much that I ended up not wanting to do anything. In fact one day this week, I had an hour easy bike ride to do. Kids were at school and I just kept putting it off and off. It’s not that I don’t have other things to do (I am trying to landscape our garden) but I just didn’t want to do them. So at 2.15pm (first of kids gets back at 3.30pm) I decide I have to do this bike ride or I will regret it. But I become a bit of a rebel. I don’t change clothes into cycling shorts etc. I just put $5 in my pocket and hop on in my civvies aiming at Starbucks for a nice chilled drink to sip on my way round my easy bike ride. Of course once I get going I felt much better and just pedalled around….and I never did stop at Starbucks - although I did make myself a wonderful, healthy smoothie when I got home J
Since that point I have got out my book of Mental training and have been working my way through that again - after all they say Mental training is another of the aspects of Ironman.
However, there have been lots of positives this week. Many small, but they all add up. I managed to zip my own wetsuit up for the first time ever. I wore my new running skirt for the first time and it felt so comfortable and made me feel all girlie. I got a flat tyre on the way back from an easy ride and I successfully changed it in under 15 minutes (first time ever for success on this bike out on a ride). OK I checked the pressure when I got home and it was only 70psi but a vast improvement for me- and I managed to get the tyre on with my hands (must be my old bike that is just very difficult).
As an aside, I noticed towards the end of my long bike last week that my left hand got really weak and I had trouble using my fingers to change the gears - in fact I ended up having to push with the palm of my hand. I assumed it was just overuse (see Mary, changing gears lots, that’s good for Placid right?) and it would go away quickly. Well it’s taken the best part of a week to feel normal again. Have to see what happens next week.
The week ended on a big high note. Early Sunday morning, I met some people I have got to know from a triathlon website for my very first ride around Canandaigua Lake. I got introduced to some hills I have only heard about (and others pointed out to me) and it was a thoroughly enjoyable 2 and a half hours. Even though I was called a cissy for going into my granniest of granny gears pretty much at the bottom of Millers hill. I got up it - before anybody else - so it must have worked. Spin spin. They were just jealous they didn’t have a granny gear bike like me! It was all in good humour though- perfect weather, perfect scenery and great company. This was my first group ride as well so it allayed some of my fears about that. It was casual and one of the guys taught me a bit about drafting. I had a go but really don’t like being so close and not being able to see much in front of me. He told me I had pulled him up a hill though so at least I can say I took a turn at that. When I got home, this ride was followed by bike ride to a restaurant with the kids and hubby for lunch, orienteering in Webster park and then miniature golf - an excellent day!
Now I have to get my training head back on for the last 2 big training weeks before we go into the 3 week taper to race day.
5 WEEKS TO GO
Monday, June 11, 2007
Jackie D - Week 38
Week 38 - starting Monday 4 June 2007
Scheduled hours: 17hrs 30mins
Actual hours: 16hrs 57mins
Ooo look, naughty, naughty, I haven’t done my training time for this week! But the difference is just in my two swims. Instead of an hour plus each time at masters I went swimming in the lake again for both swims. AND they were done in the MORNING. I actually got up at 5.00am both times. Swims were only 40-45 minutes though because I had to get back to see to the kids. The second swim was in quite choppy water - it reminded me a bit of swimming in the ocean.
But not just 2 early mornings for me this week - but 3! Because of some school trip commitments I got up early to do a 2 hour brick before the kids woke up.
I can honestly say I HATE the moment the alarm clock goes off, but once up and going I LOVE it, and I LOVE the feeling of having accomplished so much before breakfast. I am going to keep reminding myself of this - and in fact once the kids break up from school in a couple of weeks I will probably have to do some early morning sessions just to fit things in.
My long run this week was fantastic! So, unlike last week when I felt I was just shuffling round trying to do the time required. I did the 10min run, 1min walk strategy and I ran the furthest I have ever run in my 3 hours - just over 20miles! In fact that is the furthest I have ever run, period! I was very pleased with that. I still couldn’t face as many gels as I should have had though but managed to force some down.
My long bike the next day was a different story. I kept it quite slow, so had a dreadful average pace but I did also purposely go looking for hills and purposely made sure I stayed seated on the hills so granny gears were used a lot. I went the route over from Honoeye to Bristol and was really wary of coming across the dog that had chased me last time. I couldn’t remember exactly where it was so each time I saw a grassy bank that looked familiar, I speeded up and if clear went right into the middle of the road. It was finally right at the crest of the hill I think, ‘cos I heard the tell tale barking but I sped away - he must have been in the back and not have had time to get round. Seems daft to me that someone wouldn’t make sure their dog stays in their yard anyway - what about the cars that whiz up that road?!
In fact this week seems to have been an “encounter with animals” (not least because of my fellow trainees having encounters with chipmunks and turtles!) because I was also chased briefly by a goose. I was just cutting along a section of path to our neighbourhood and there was mama, papa and their brood on one side. I kept as far away on the other side as I could but one of the parents decided that I was a threat and launched itself at me as I cycled by. There was an oncoming cyclist grinning at me as I went by him so I just wished him luck!
Recovery week next week - my last one. Eeeek!
6 WEEKS TO GO
Scheduled hours: 17hrs 30mins
Actual hours: 16hrs 57mins
Ooo look, naughty, naughty, I haven’t done my training time for this week! But the difference is just in my two swims. Instead of an hour plus each time at masters I went swimming in the lake again for both swims. AND they were done in the MORNING. I actually got up at 5.00am both times. Swims were only 40-45 minutes though because I had to get back to see to the kids. The second swim was in quite choppy water - it reminded me a bit of swimming in the ocean.
But not just 2 early mornings for me this week - but 3! Because of some school trip commitments I got up early to do a 2 hour brick before the kids woke up.
I can honestly say I HATE the moment the alarm clock goes off, but once up and going I LOVE it, and I LOVE the feeling of having accomplished so much before breakfast. I am going to keep reminding myself of this - and in fact once the kids break up from school in a couple of weeks I will probably have to do some early morning sessions just to fit things in.
My long run this week was fantastic! So, unlike last week when I felt I was just shuffling round trying to do the time required. I did the 10min run, 1min walk strategy and I ran the furthest I have ever run in my 3 hours - just over 20miles! In fact that is the furthest I have ever run, period! I was very pleased with that. I still couldn’t face as many gels as I should have had though but managed to force some down.
My long bike the next day was a different story. I kept it quite slow, so had a dreadful average pace but I did also purposely go looking for hills and purposely made sure I stayed seated on the hills so granny gears were used a lot. I went the route over from Honoeye to Bristol and was really wary of coming across the dog that had chased me last time. I couldn’t remember exactly where it was so each time I saw a grassy bank that looked familiar, I speeded up and if clear went right into the middle of the road. It was finally right at the crest of the hill I think, ‘cos I heard the tell tale barking but I sped away - he must have been in the back and not have had time to get round. Seems daft to me that someone wouldn’t make sure their dog stays in their yard anyway - what about the cars that whiz up that road?!
In fact this week seems to have been an “encounter with animals” (not least because of my fellow trainees having encounters with chipmunks and turtles!) because I was also chased briefly by a goose. I was just cutting along a section of path to our neighbourhood and there was mama, papa and their brood on one side. I kept as far away on the other side as I could but one of the parents decided that I was a threat and launched itself at me as I cycled by. There was an oncoming cyclist grinning at me as I went by him so I just wished him luck!
Recovery week next week - my last one. Eeeek!
6 WEEKS TO GO
Marian, June 11th, 2007
What a great end to a bad week. Last week started pretty bad. I was very tired and after loading up on antihistamines was having a very hard time getting anything done. It was also a very stressful week at work and at home with the whole moving thing. I knew it was bad when I sat ont he deck steps at 9pm crying because I hardly got any workouts in, the posting of the house was not showing up online, my boss and one of my co workers got into an argument that day (when your part of a staff of three, it's a big deal), I was told I have to start going three times a week again to the chiropractor and for some reasons one of my new plants I planted out front is dying. Well that last one seemed to push me over the edge. Rolando suggested I just go sign up for Keuka and concentrate on that which would get my mind off of everything else. So, I did that. Went for run on Friday but sat in my swimsuit watching the weather report to decide I wasn't driving to Canandaigua with the storm coming. Did nothing on Sarturday, just sat outside watching the people of the community garage sale and talked to some neighbors I had never even met. Got up early on Sunday for Keuka. I picked up Jay at his house since he was riding back he needed a ride down. I felt really good afetr the swim which was a lot warmer than last year and Dana and I did the whole thing side by side, not on purpose, it just worked out that way. I felt good on the bike and started the run. Halfway on the run, I caught up to Chris and we ran the last three miles together. When I saw the clock at the finish line, I got very excited, I finished 11 minutes faster than last year. I think it was mostly on the bike but I haven't checked my splits yeat. I don't wear a watch at any race because I'll obsess over it and go to hard and burn out. So, I got home feeling pretty good about myself, had a beer and pizza and took a nap. Perfect Sunday afternoon.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Jackie D - Week 37
Week 37 - starting Monday 28 May 2007
Scheduled hours: 15hrs 40mins
Actual hours: 15hrs 28mins
During the workouts in the first half of this week I felt a bit deflated. It was all from coming off the high of the weekend at Placid I know. After a complete day off on Monday it was time to do a brick. Following my thoughts on wanting to get stronger on hills I have decided that I am not going to use the flat canal path (which is so close and convenient for me for bikes or runs) unless it is recovery zone 1. So, I headed round some local roads just thinking of a hill near by and then riding it whilst thinking of the next bit of the route. My strategy was to push a bit up the hills and take as long as I needed to to recover on flats and downhills. Nothing majorly big but definitely not flat. I ran on the roads away from the house in a direction I don’t normally go. It had some rollers and I only went up side roads if I could see a slope! With this strategy I am going to end up doing extra exercise because I normally take the dog along the canal path but don’t think it is safe enough (or fun enough) for her on roads so there was extra dog walking for me this week.
I couldn’t quite believe that Wednesday had me doing another long run of 3 hours. Again, no flat for me anymore so I went down to Mendon Ponds park and did some loops around that terrain, running 10min and walking 1minute and looping back to my car to refill with water and Gatorade. I still didn’t really feel like gels so probably only took in about half the number I should have for that amount of time. Each one I did take I had to force down like a nasty medicine. I seemed to survive OK with extra Gatorade though.
Even more insanely, the next day had me doing another long bike ride of 6 hours in mid 80 degree temperatures. Actually whilst cycling you get a bit of a breeze so I was probably cooler than most! I couldn’t face gels at all so I loaded up with power bars and Gatorade instead. They seemed to go down well although I wasn’t really riding with any high intensity so will have to try again - just as I thought I had nutrition nailed I start changing it! I didn’t pee on the bike and I didn’t get the red chafing rash so think they must have been linked last weekend which makes for a bit of a dilemma. Oh, and about 4 hours in I noticed that my bike computer timer kept stopping for a few seconds at a time. So, I watched it a bit and it actually stopped for a few minutes at a time. Luckily I had noted the time on my wristwatch that I had set off and saw that I had done nearly 5 hours rather than 4! So, I just added 10minutes to the 6hours to allow for my water refill and pee stops and went by my wristwatch. I will have to look into that - probably a battery I guess. No problems with hitting the saltstick today though.
I swam at masters early on in the week and although I felt absolutely fine, however hard I tried, my times were really awful. Mary said she wasn’t surprised because I couldn’t have been recovered from the weekend but it was just weird (and frustrating) because I felt fine, just no power.
The second swim of the week was just plain FUN. I went in the lake for the first time this year. With my longsleeved wetsuit of course! They said the temperature was 67F and it felt absolutely fine. And I spotted a big fish - which I was reliably informed was a bass. It was SOOOO good to be swimming in a lake again and a great break from the pool - hope I can do both my swims in the lake next week.
An easy zone 1 recovery run made me start wondering whether my zones are correct. I ran an easy pace and breathing seemed fine but my HR stayed for much of the run in the late teens (over a hundred of course!). My zone 1 for running according to my chart doesn’t start til 124bpm. Hmm. At least I think I am confident enough now to train by feel I think.
The week finished with a sprint triathlon, the Pittsford triathlon. My first triathlon of the season. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun. My husband and kids even got up early to come and cheer me on. I love sprint triathlons because of all the different types and ages and abilities of people all out there to achieve their personal goals and have some fun. This was the first triathlon I did last year (and the second one ever, the first having been done 5 years previously) and despite all the long, slow distance stuff I had been doing I was keen to try and beat my time from last year. I achieved that, knocking off a couple of minutes which was great and gave me 3rd female place. I have yet to see the splits for this but could summarise how I feel about them right now as:
- disappointingly slow swim (aaarghh - I know same old broken record)
- much smoother transitions
- good bike except (a) couldn’t get clipped in so had to stop to do so (b) my chain fell off for the first time ever on the first steepish hill and I had to get off to put it back © I had to slow down to tell a marshall about a boy off his bike a bit further back on the course that I had passed.
- run much stronger than last year (I hope) and I felt I finished strong (and I even got a clip of me finishing on local TV)
Next week is another high hours one. In less enthusiastic moments I look at my schedule saying 6hr bike or 3hr run and I think - why? I know I can do that, I know I can do it on the actual course so why do I have to do this again. At these times I wish the race was next week. It is hard to take up your whole day for a bike ride - I don’t know how people with families and full time jobs manage to do it. I am a very, very, very lucky girl to be able to do this whilst kids are at school so I don’t miss too much time with my family.
7 WEEKS TO GO
Scheduled hours: 15hrs 40mins
Actual hours: 15hrs 28mins
During the workouts in the first half of this week I felt a bit deflated. It was all from coming off the high of the weekend at Placid I know. After a complete day off on Monday it was time to do a brick. Following my thoughts on wanting to get stronger on hills I have decided that I am not going to use the flat canal path (which is so close and convenient for me for bikes or runs) unless it is recovery zone 1. So, I headed round some local roads just thinking of a hill near by and then riding it whilst thinking of the next bit of the route. My strategy was to push a bit up the hills and take as long as I needed to to recover on flats and downhills. Nothing majorly big but definitely not flat. I ran on the roads away from the house in a direction I don’t normally go. It had some rollers and I only went up side roads if I could see a slope! With this strategy I am going to end up doing extra exercise because I normally take the dog along the canal path but don’t think it is safe enough (or fun enough) for her on roads so there was extra dog walking for me this week.
I couldn’t quite believe that Wednesday had me doing another long run of 3 hours. Again, no flat for me anymore so I went down to Mendon Ponds park and did some loops around that terrain, running 10min and walking 1minute and looping back to my car to refill with water and Gatorade. I still didn’t really feel like gels so probably only took in about half the number I should have for that amount of time. Each one I did take I had to force down like a nasty medicine. I seemed to survive OK with extra Gatorade though.
Even more insanely, the next day had me doing another long bike ride of 6 hours in mid 80 degree temperatures. Actually whilst cycling you get a bit of a breeze so I was probably cooler than most! I couldn’t face gels at all so I loaded up with power bars and Gatorade instead. They seemed to go down well although I wasn’t really riding with any high intensity so will have to try again - just as I thought I had nutrition nailed I start changing it! I didn’t pee on the bike and I didn’t get the red chafing rash so think they must have been linked last weekend which makes for a bit of a dilemma. Oh, and about 4 hours in I noticed that my bike computer timer kept stopping for a few seconds at a time. So, I watched it a bit and it actually stopped for a few minutes at a time. Luckily I had noted the time on my wristwatch that I had set off and saw that I had done nearly 5 hours rather than 4! So, I just added 10minutes to the 6hours to allow for my water refill and pee stops and went by my wristwatch. I will have to look into that - probably a battery I guess. No problems with hitting the saltstick today though.
I swam at masters early on in the week and although I felt absolutely fine, however hard I tried, my times were really awful. Mary said she wasn’t surprised because I couldn’t have been recovered from the weekend but it was just weird (and frustrating) because I felt fine, just no power.
The second swim of the week was just plain FUN. I went in the lake for the first time this year. With my longsleeved wetsuit of course! They said the temperature was 67F and it felt absolutely fine. And I spotted a big fish - which I was reliably informed was a bass. It was SOOOO good to be swimming in a lake again and a great break from the pool - hope I can do both my swims in the lake next week.
An easy zone 1 recovery run made me start wondering whether my zones are correct. I ran an easy pace and breathing seemed fine but my HR stayed for much of the run in the late teens (over a hundred of course!). My zone 1 for running according to my chart doesn’t start til 124bpm. Hmm. At least I think I am confident enough now to train by feel I think.
The week finished with a sprint triathlon, the Pittsford triathlon. My first triathlon of the season. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun. My husband and kids even got up early to come and cheer me on. I love sprint triathlons because of all the different types and ages and abilities of people all out there to achieve their personal goals and have some fun. This was the first triathlon I did last year (and the second one ever, the first having been done 5 years previously) and despite all the long, slow distance stuff I had been doing I was keen to try and beat my time from last year. I achieved that, knocking off a couple of minutes which was great and gave me 3rd female place. I have yet to see the splits for this but could summarise how I feel about them right now as:
- disappointingly slow swim (aaarghh - I know same old broken record)
- much smoother transitions
- good bike except (a) couldn’t get clipped in so had to stop to do so (b) my chain fell off for the first time ever on the first steepish hill and I had to get off to put it back © I had to slow down to tell a marshall about a boy off his bike a bit further back on the course that I had passed.
- run much stronger than last year (I hope) and I felt I finished strong (and I even got a clip of me finishing on local TV)
Next week is another high hours one. In less enthusiastic moments I look at my schedule saying 6hr bike or 3hr run and I think - why? I know I can do that, I know I can do it on the actual course so why do I have to do this again. At these times I wish the race was next week. It is hard to take up your whole day for a bike ride - I don’t know how people with families and full time jobs manage to do it. I am a very, very, very lucky girl to be able to do this whilst kids are at school so I don’t miss too much time with my family.
7 WEEKS TO GO
Marian, June 3rd, 2007
What a great weekend. Yesterday, we biked twice around Canandaigua Lake: That's Miller Hill twice. The second time was very much a mental climb. I had to really dig deep and convince myself that I could go up. I concentrated on Dana's feet and tried to keep her cadence, because if I looked at the road ahead I would not have made it up. We finished the second loop 8 minutes faster than the first one. that felt good, specially since on the second loop, the air temp was 87 degrees. My knees were a little sore at the end of the ride so Mary said to ice them. It helped a lot.
This morning tha Title Nine Tea Party met up at Dana's house for a run. We were all running diffrent distances so I had Rolando drop me off and then ran home at the end. This run soon became an Animal Planet TV show when just a few minutes into the run a chipmunk was crossing the road and was hit by a car. It was still alive and had one eye popping out of it's head. We knew what we had to do. Kitima thankfully offered to end it's missery and stepped on it. Soon after, we saw a turtle crossing the road. We went to push it out the way but it was almost on the other side so it really did not need any help. Then we saw another snapping turtle crossing the road. This one was going right into the path of oncoming traffic. We sprinted as fast as we could, which was not very fast at this point, and a car was able to go around it. The turtle was getting quite aggresive. We knew the only way to move it would be to push it we a stick. We ran across the road, grabbed a small fallen branch. By this point it was really mad. Gently poking it was not doing the trick, it was not moving. So, Kitima reminded us of a saying from her orthopedic surgery lessons: "If you applied force and it didn't work, youd did not applied enough" (somethig like that)She tried to push it harder, the turtle turned around, bit the stick and almost broke it, it latched on and would not let go. That's how it got dragged back into the safety of the brush.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventfull. Can't wait until next week
This morning tha Title Nine Tea Party met up at Dana's house for a run. We were all running diffrent distances so I had Rolando drop me off and then ran home at the end. This run soon became an Animal Planet TV show when just a few minutes into the run a chipmunk was crossing the road and was hit by a car. It was still alive and had one eye popping out of it's head. We knew what we had to do. Kitima thankfully offered to end it's missery and stepped on it. Soon after, we saw a turtle crossing the road. We went to push it out the way but it was almost on the other side so it really did not need any help. Then we saw another snapping turtle crossing the road. This one was going right into the path of oncoming traffic. We sprinted as fast as we could, which was not very fast at this point, and a car was able to go around it. The turtle was getting quite aggresive. We knew the only way to move it would be to push it we a stick. We ran across the road, grabbed a small fallen branch. By this point it was really mad. Gently poking it was not doing the trick, it was not moving. So, Kitima reminded us of a saying from her orthopedic surgery lessons: "If you applied force and it didn't work, youd did not applied enough" (somethig like that)She tried to push it harder, the turtle turned around, bit the stick and almost broke it, it latched on and would not let go. That's how it got dragged back into the safety of the brush.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventfull. Can't wait until next week
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Marian, May 29th, 2007
This past weekend was the training weekend at Lake Placid. Got there pretty late on Friday night so no biking that night. The next morning we went on our 112 mile bike ride. The weather was nice, only aarm warmers needed, no jacket or long pants. I felt like I was on a roller coaster. trying to look at the end of each road to see if the downhill was coming. We would go up and up and the a small downhill, not it. Then another small hill and a little downhill, not it. Then all of a sudden, I saw the road sign with the picture of the truck going downhill that says shift down and i heard my husbands voice saying something to the effect of having talked to god today before going down this road. I don't know, my ears started ringing. Started going down, seemed pretty short, that's because it's not over. it levels off 3 times. I did not know this, I just thought it was one straight shot. Finally made it down, started to get feeling in my hands and feet again when I see the girl taht passed me at th etop of the hill laying on the ground just a few minutes after she got hit by a car. Well, that really scared me on the second loop and I may have gone down it a little slower if it wasn't for a very nice guy on an SUV who got right behind me and a little to the left and blocked all other cars from passing me. When I got to the bottom, he had around 6 cars behind him that were unable to pass. What a nice guy. My nutrition was spot on, felt great at the end of it and went for a 20 minute run afetr the bike.
The next morning, we did one loop of the run course. I shouldn't have gone out the night before and celebrated the bike ride. The beer, the macaroni and cheese, the nachos, and the leftover pizza and garlic knots were all having a field day in my stomach. I did not feel good and had to make a run in to the Stewarts restroom before the last out and back.
In general it was a very productive weekend. learned a lot about myself and my training buddies. Can't wait until July.
The next morning, we did one loop of the run course. I shouldn't have gone out the night before and celebrated the bike ride. The beer, the macaroni and cheese, the nachos, and the leftover pizza and garlic knots were all having a field day in my stomach. I did not feel good and had to make a run in to the Stewarts restroom before the last out and back.
In general it was a very productive weekend. learned a lot about myself and my training buddies. Can't wait until July.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Jackie D - Week 36
Week 36 - starting Monday 21 May 2007
Scheduled hours: 17hrs 00mins
Actual hours: 18hrs 31mins
Where do I start? I have been pondering how much detail to write about this. But, at the end of the day I decided that this is my journal (which I was persuaded to put online) and it is the thing I am going to look back at in future years so I am going to go mad with the detail. So, apologies in advance for anyone reading this - you are likely to get bored silly.
The Lake Placid weekend dominated training this week but the first part of the week was also training (no complete day off this week) with a masters swim and a zone 3 bike workout amongst other things. Also my first very hot run of the year. It was an hour recovery run but it felt really hard at well over 80 degrees. I took the dog and stopped twice so she could jump in the canal to cool off and I was as grateful for the stops as she was….but on to the weekend…
Friday - I set off after I had put the boys on the school bus and made it to the hotel in around 5 hours. I was first of our group by a few seconds but shortly afterwards people started to arrive. Mary (coach) decided she was going out for a short run and all who had so far arrived got caught up in the enthusiasm and went with her. We ran from our hotel into Lake Placid village and around Mirror Lake, a total of just over 50 minutes. It was really great to see all the various landmarks that we will come to know so well at the Ironman race. We also ran up the hill into the village that is part of the run course and the hill we would be walking (on purpose) on the Sunday. So, even though I have no intention running it on the big day at least I can tell myself I have done it!
Mirror Lake was smaller than I expected. I suppose I am used to seeing the bigger Finger Lakes. You can jog around it on a handy red brick path in about 25minutes. The path goes right through the village center. Very pleasant. Lake Placid village itself reminded me of the European ski resorts and was very pretty, especially with the background of Whiteface mountain. Restaurants and café’s and lots of people around made it bustling and alive, completely unlike most towns I have so far experienced in America.
Anyway, after running back to the hotel we changed and headed out to the meeting point in town for the bike ride. I was so excited to be experiencing the course. There were roadworks and closed roads in the center of the village which meant that we couldn’t do the bike course bit through the town but near enough. So, we all headed out. The first part was scary as it was a short downhill through town, across several intersections at a reasonable speed and there was lots of traffic about. Then off to experience the big downhill into Keene that I had heard so much about. But what a surprise. After pedalling for 10 minutes, Mary pulls up and tells Sarah and I who are riding together that in about 20 minutes we will get to do the downhill. I guess I expected it a lot sooner into the ride and those 20minutes were a trend of up hill and so hard. At one point it felt like I was pedalling and getting nowhere - turns out although it looked flat it was actually uphill. Anyway I thought that hill was a killer and really wondered what else the course had in store if this hadn’t even been mentioned.
The downhill was fantastic. It is in 3 sections with some flat bits in between so not completely downhill all the time. It was fast enough at over 40 mph that I felt uncomfortable (control wise) on my aero bars so used the drops. I love the speed though and even going over 40mph round the bend that advises max 35mph was fine. The only thing against it was that some of the earlier section had a bad road surface.
The next section was a slightly rolling then mostly flat ride to Jay. This bit was a nice place to just relax and pedal and enjoy the fantastic scenery. We then turned left to head up a mile hill towards Wilmington. Now that hurt and seemed endless. We stopped at the gas station by the turn off to the out and back to regroup and then off to the last 11 miles - the notorious ones with names of Big Cherry, Little Cherry, Mama Bear, Baby Bear and Papa Bear. By this time coach and the speedy boys were long gone and every hill we climbed we wondered if it was a named hill - of course we had no idea. Eventually we go round a corner and Peelee (Sarah, Peelee and I riding together) shouts “That’s Papa Bear - we turn at the top”. So a last burst of energy and Mary is at the top urging us on and directing us into the turn. Short bit back into town where Peelee manages to tangle with Mary at about 0.1mph and takes himself down doing a very impressive roll and a high kick holding his bike upside down in the air. All OK thank goodness. We had earned our pasta dinner.
Saturday - time to ride the whole course. My plan was to ride steady on the first loop and then try and push a bit harder on the second loop. Today I rode most of the time alone and I am happy with that - I wanted to dictate my own pace. There were quite a few people out riding the course though so you rarely felt alone which was nice and everyone was so friendly with nods and waves. The hill out of town felt easy both times that day because I was psychologically prepared for it. The downhill was great although there were a few hairy minutes as we started the descent because a police car came blasting by which meant that cars pulled into the side - right in front of us. Luckily they were aware of us, although I had to go around the outside of one because if I had jammed my brakes on I was sure I would have crashed. Luckily he saw me and all was OK. I pedalled rather than cruised the flat bit to Jay (I had cruised the evening before). The hill towards Wilmington was just as bad as the previous day unfortunately (despite expectations) - but part of that is because it is so frustrating when stronger riders whiz past you.
The out and back on the first loop was a lot hillier than I expected - we had been told that it was a good recovery bit before the last 11 hilly miles but I can tell you it has a few hills of its own, especially just before the end of the back. Of course second time round it didn’t seem so bad because I knew what to expect.
The last 11 miles were OK, just kept pedalling. At one point I spotted a faded CH and B and my warped brain decided that meant it was Child Bear, so I kept expecting Papa Bear just round the next corner - until I saw more writing saying Mama Bear - duh it must have been Cherry Big! Anyway first loop in 3hr 18mins (excluding water stop at gas station), average of over 16mph, felt fine, nutrition fine so very pleased. I refuelled at the car and set off on the second loop. I would have said I pushed a bit harder in some places on the second loop, certainly kept as steady a pace as first loop so I was surprised to find that the time for it was 3hr 34minutes. However the last 11 miles felt a lot harder because the wind had picked up against us and I actually had to stand up a couple of times because I ran out of gears rather than by choice to stretch - that hadn’t happened on the previous loop.
Eventually got back into town, changed into running shoes and shuffled around the lake for a short half hour run. The first 10minutes felt hard, then I settled into a rhythm. It felt slow but I knew I could have kept going (how long for - who knows but I know how long it will be in 8 weeks time!)
All in all a very satisfactory day and tales exchanged across the dinner table at another pasta dinner.
Sunday - I got up far too early to eat before our 3 hour run. I actually had muesli about an hour and a quarter before the start and didn’t feel any bad effects during the run which is useful to know. I ran with Sarah and Mary. They were running an easy pace (for them) and I knew I would have to work a bit harder to keep up but that was good for me. I usually run alone and it much easier to run faster with other people. We did 10min running, 1 min walking which was simulating aid stations. This was the first time I had done it and worked really well as I just had to focus on keeping going for 10minutes at a time. This was especially helpful for the 2 x10min tempo sections that we did! I was definitely not in a lower heart rate zone at the end of those. Anyway I managed to keep up although I struggled with the bigger hills so hopefully will work on this. We ran one complete loop of the Ironman course, walking up the hill into town on purpose. Mary told us that walking is just as fast as some people trying to run up it. We then headed back out to make it up to a total of 3 hours, ending in the famous oval. The only part I couldn’t keep up with them for was the last tempo section at the finish but I still got to finish in the oval. Next time I see it it going to look a lot different.
It was absolutely pouring down with rain for the last bit of our run so I got chilled very quickly and headed back to the hotel for a hot shower then breakfast before the long drive home.
Some notes for me to think about:
***I want to work on hills for both run and bike. I seem to recover quite quickly once up them but I would like them to feel easier/ be able to push harder during them.
***My nutrition plan worked well - gels, Gatorade and Jaffa cakes. I did have an extra half Power Bar at half way point on the bike and that seemed fine so may add that in. However as of right now, if you put them all in front of me, the only thing I could face eating/ drinking would be the Jaffa cakes. I have had a weekend overload of the rest!
*** I used a salt stick, attached to the underside of my top tube on the bike. However when pulling my water bottle out of its cage I sometimes knocked this - and the first time it actually fell off and I had to stop. Even after that when I was aware of the problem I still knocked it a few times. Not sure what to do about that yet.
*** Gels make everything a bit sticky. I guess during the actual race that won’t matter so much because there will be an abundant supply of water to rinse off with.
*** Peeing on the bike (stop reading here if this grosses you out). I had never done this before but several people said it is OK after you get over doing it the first time. I tried on the first loop but nothing happened. I was half way through the second loop thinking that I must have so much stored up before I managed to actually relax enough to do this….and oh boy there was so much I thought it would never stop - I kept looking behind me in case anyone was catching up and seeing. It was OK to do but when I got back to the hotel I found I had a rash which I was reliably informed was chafing. I (being lucky person clearly) had never chafed from bike shorts before so I wonder if the pee had anything to do with it. Have to think about this as I am competitive enough (with myself) to not want to take extra time to stop on race day.
*** the psychological effect of seeing (and experiencing) the course is beyond words. I am prepared and I can’t wait! I know I can do this and the next few weeks before taper are going to be icing on the cake for me - to grow stronger and get faster.
8 WEEKS TO GO
Scheduled hours: 17hrs 00mins
Actual hours: 18hrs 31mins
Where do I start? I have been pondering how much detail to write about this. But, at the end of the day I decided that this is my journal (which I was persuaded to put online) and it is the thing I am going to look back at in future years so I am going to go mad with the detail. So, apologies in advance for anyone reading this - you are likely to get bored silly.
The Lake Placid weekend dominated training this week but the first part of the week was also training (no complete day off this week) with a masters swim and a zone 3 bike workout amongst other things. Also my first very hot run of the year. It was an hour recovery run but it felt really hard at well over 80 degrees. I took the dog and stopped twice so she could jump in the canal to cool off and I was as grateful for the stops as she was….but on to the weekend…
Friday - I set off after I had put the boys on the school bus and made it to the hotel in around 5 hours. I was first of our group by a few seconds but shortly afterwards people started to arrive. Mary (coach) decided she was going out for a short run and all who had so far arrived got caught up in the enthusiasm and went with her. We ran from our hotel into Lake Placid village and around Mirror Lake, a total of just over 50 minutes. It was really great to see all the various landmarks that we will come to know so well at the Ironman race. We also ran up the hill into the village that is part of the run course and the hill we would be walking (on purpose) on the Sunday. So, even though I have no intention running it on the big day at least I can tell myself I have done it!
Mirror Lake was smaller than I expected. I suppose I am used to seeing the bigger Finger Lakes. You can jog around it on a handy red brick path in about 25minutes. The path goes right through the village center. Very pleasant. Lake Placid village itself reminded me of the European ski resorts and was very pretty, especially with the background of Whiteface mountain. Restaurants and café’s and lots of people around made it bustling and alive, completely unlike most towns I have so far experienced in America.
Anyway, after running back to the hotel we changed and headed out to the meeting point in town for the bike ride. I was so excited to be experiencing the course. There were roadworks and closed roads in the center of the village which meant that we couldn’t do the bike course bit through the town but near enough. So, we all headed out. The first part was scary as it was a short downhill through town, across several intersections at a reasonable speed and there was lots of traffic about. Then off to experience the big downhill into Keene that I had heard so much about. But what a surprise. After pedalling for 10 minutes, Mary pulls up and tells Sarah and I who are riding together that in about 20 minutes we will get to do the downhill. I guess I expected it a lot sooner into the ride and those 20minutes were a trend of up hill and so hard. At one point it felt like I was pedalling and getting nowhere - turns out although it looked flat it was actually uphill. Anyway I thought that hill was a killer and really wondered what else the course had in store if this hadn’t even been mentioned.
The downhill was fantastic. It is in 3 sections with some flat bits in between so not completely downhill all the time. It was fast enough at over 40 mph that I felt uncomfortable (control wise) on my aero bars so used the drops. I love the speed though and even going over 40mph round the bend that advises max 35mph was fine. The only thing against it was that some of the earlier section had a bad road surface.
The next section was a slightly rolling then mostly flat ride to Jay. This bit was a nice place to just relax and pedal and enjoy the fantastic scenery. We then turned left to head up a mile hill towards Wilmington. Now that hurt and seemed endless. We stopped at the gas station by the turn off to the out and back to regroup and then off to the last 11 miles - the notorious ones with names of Big Cherry, Little Cherry, Mama Bear, Baby Bear and Papa Bear. By this time coach and the speedy boys were long gone and every hill we climbed we wondered if it was a named hill - of course we had no idea. Eventually we go round a corner and Peelee (Sarah, Peelee and I riding together) shouts “That’s Papa Bear - we turn at the top”. So a last burst of energy and Mary is at the top urging us on and directing us into the turn. Short bit back into town where Peelee manages to tangle with Mary at about 0.1mph and takes himself down doing a very impressive roll and a high kick holding his bike upside down in the air. All OK thank goodness. We had earned our pasta dinner.
Saturday - time to ride the whole course. My plan was to ride steady on the first loop and then try and push a bit harder on the second loop. Today I rode most of the time alone and I am happy with that - I wanted to dictate my own pace. There were quite a few people out riding the course though so you rarely felt alone which was nice and everyone was so friendly with nods and waves. The hill out of town felt easy both times that day because I was psychologically prepared for it. The downhill was great although there were a few hairy minutes as we started the descent because a police car came blasting by which meant that cars pulled into the side - right in front of us. Luckily they were aware of us, although I had to go around the outside of one because if I had jammed my brakes on I was sure I would have crashed. Luckily he saw me and all was OK. I pedalled rather than cruised the flat bit to Jay (I had cruised the evening before). The hill towards Wilmington was just as bad as the previous day unfortunately (despite expectations) - but part of that is because it is so frustrating when stronger riders whiz past you.
The out and back on the first loop was a lot hillier than I expected - we had been told that it was a good recovery bit before the last 11 hilly miles but I can tell you it has a few hills of its own, especially just before the end of the back. Of course second time round it didn’t seem so bad because I knew what to expect.
The last 11 miles were OK, just kept pedalling. At one point I spotted a faded CH and B and my warped brain decided that meant it was Child Bear, so I kept expecting Papa Bear just round the next corner - until I saw more writing saying Mama Bear - duh it must have been Cherry Big! Anyway first loop in 3hr 18mins (excluding water stop at gas station), average of over 16mph, felt fine, nutrition fine so very pleased. I refuelled at the car and set off on the second loop. I would have said I pushed a bit harder in some places on the second loop, certainly kept as steady a pace as first loop so I was surprised to find that the time for it was 3hr 34minutes. However the last 11 miles felt a lot harder because the wind had picked up against us and I actually had to stand up a couple of times because I ran out of gears rather than by choice to stretch - that hadn’t happened on the previous loop.
Eventually got back into town, changed into running shoes and shuffled around the lake for a short half hour run. The first 10minutes felt hard, then I settled into a rhythm. It felt slow but I knew I could have kept going (how long for - who knows but I know how long it will be in 8 weeks time!)
All in all a very satisfactory day and tales exchanged across the dinner table at another pasta dinner.
Sunday - I got up far too early to eat before our 3 hour run. I actually had muesli about an hour and a quarter before the start and didn’t feel any bad effects during the run which is useful to know. I ran with Sarah and Mary. They were running an easy pace (for them) and I knew I would have to work a bit harder to keep up but that was good for me. I usually run alone and it much easier to run faster with other people. We did 10min running, 1 min walking which was simulating aid stations. This was the first time I had done it and worked really well as I just had to focus on keeping going for 10minutes at a time. This was especially helpful for the 2 x10min tempo sections that we did! I was definitely not in a lower heart rate zone at the end of those. Anyway I managed to keep up although I struggled with the bigger hills so hopefully will work on this. We ran one complete loop of the Ironman course, walking up the hill into town on purpose. Mary told us that walking is just as fast as some people trying to run up it. We then headed back out to make it up to a total of 3 hours, ending in the famous oval. The only part I couldn’t keep up with them for was the last tempo section at the finish but I still got to finish in the oval. Next time I see it it going to look a lot different.
It was absolutely pouring down with rain for the last bit of our run so I got chilled very quickly and headed back to the hotel for a hot shower then breakfast before the long drive home.
Some notes for me to think about:
***I want to work on hills for both run and bike. I seem to recover quite quickly once up them but I would like them to feel easier/ be able to push harder during them.
***My nutrition plan worked well - gels, Gatorade and Jaffa cakes. I did have an extra half Power Bar at half way point on the bike and that seemed fine so may add that in. However as of right now, if you put them all in front of me, the only thing I could face eating/ drinking would be the Jaffa cakes. I have had a weekend overload of the rest!
*** I used a salt stick, attached to the underside of my top tube on the bike. However when pulling my water bottle out of its cage I sometimes knocked this - and the first time it actually fell off and I had to stop. Even after that when I was aware of the problem I still knocked it a few times. Not sure what to do about that yet.
*** Gels make everything a bit sticky. I guess during the actual race that won’t matter so much because there will be an abundant supply of water to rinse off with.
*** Peeing on the bike (stop reading here if this grosses you out). I had never done this before but several people said it is OK after you get over doing it the first time. I tried on the first loop but nothing happened. I was half way through the second loop thinking that I must have so much stored up before I managed to actually relax enough to do this….and oh boy there was so much I thought it would never stop - I kept looking behind me in case anyone was catching up and seeing. It was OK to do but when I got back to the hotel I found I had a rash which I was reliably informed was chafing. I (being lucky person clearly) had never chafed from bike shorts before so I wonder if the pee had anything to do with it. Have to think about this as I am competitive enough (with myself) to not want to take extra time to stop on race day.
*** the psychological effect of seeing (and experiencing) the course is beyond words. I am prepared and I can’t wait! I know I can do this and the next few weeks before taper are going to be icing on the cake for me - to grow stronger and get faster.
8 WEEKS TO GO
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