Who, What, Where, When, How, Seriously??? #1

We met with one of our training partners, Alison, tonight to discuss all of the logistics of the special needs bags, transitions, race week planning, etc. We came armed with our Athlete Guide and questions. Alison spent 2+ hours with us having dinner and allowing us to ask all of the IM newbie questions that she was asking last year. I compare it to sort of cramming for an exam. You have your foundation of knowledge but you have to squeeze in the little details that could totally change the outcome of the test.

This goes in the blue bag...that is a morning bag...you'll put this on during the bike...you shouldn't eat for this many minutes after swimming....the list goes on. We also watched an IMAZ race preview that was forwarded to us by the tri club we're a part of. Tonight was very informative. I continue to remind myself that I am in Tempe to COMPLETE not COMPETE. More updates forthcoming as the race day draws nearer and nearer. Happy Training!

Working It Out

It's been several days since my last blog. Our goal on Saturday was to run 20 miles; however, a visit to The Renick Clinic on Friday yielded a diagnosis of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. Remember my last blog on obstacles? Let's add this one to the list. Saturday's run was scheduled for 9am but was rain delayed several times yielding a noon start time. Shiela joined us but wasn't feeling very well so she dropped out of the cold rain after the first loop to seek refuge in the gym on the treadmill. We opted to continue until I couldn't push through the heel pain any longer. We finished up 10 miles. I was bummed with the second five mile loop but felt very strong the first loop. I have continued to baby it with ice, NSAIDS, stretching and that wonderful ortho sock that makes me look retarded. I'll do whatever I have to do, right?

This week has brought two really great swim workouts s - 2800m and 2450m drill sets. Last night was a bike trainer workout so all in all I am feeling well. I've opted to stay off the foot a great deal in hopes that I can run a little tomorrow night and pick up a half marathon run on Sunday. Still feeling strong, getting more nervous but ready to produce results. Happy Training!

The Year in Review

Given that this is my last "recovery week" of the IMAZ 2009 training season, I thought that I would take a minute to reflect on everything that's taken place this year during the course of my Ironman training. What a year it has been!

When my training partner and I signed up with 18 other people from Columbia, I am not sure that we fully grasped the concept of the "training" that would be involved in preparing for an endeavor such as Ironman. Nevertheless, we felt we were up to the challenge. Committing to training was something that both of us felt we could do. I know I felt confident about it and as time passed, I actually came to enjoy the majority of it, especially training with really cool athletes who have now become friends. However, I never once stopped back in the process of registering to ask myself, what exactly will I be giving up? What if there are other obstacles that I will encounter? Will my friends and family understand?

I was prepared for the training but I can't say that I was prepared for the training AND the obstacles along the way. Training started off with a case of patellar tendonitis in my left knee. This was discovered shortly before completing my first half marathon. Soon, I would be introduced to Dr. Renick, the Ironman doctor, and he would slowly begin making the pain go away. Additionally, I had developed a pinched nerve, neuroma, under the second toe on my right foot. Dr. Renick along with a pair of inserts from Foot Solutions solved this problem as well. Blue skies ahead.

Training continued through the Christmas holidays and into February and March before I faced my next obstacle. The dreaded sinus infection season hit me hard. I seemed to be taking antibiotics every other week as I struggled to push forward through training. Eventually, this too would pass. In the summer, I was taken down by a peritonsillar abcess that left me with no choice but to have an emergency tonsillectomy. The same day of my surgery, my father was diagnosed with esophogeal cancer and began nine weeks of chemotherapy via a 24/7 pump that soon became known as "Charlie." Seven weeks into his treatment, my grandmother (his mother) died as a result of a massive stroke. Little obstacles and disappointments that have accompanied the bigger ones have been the loss of four toenails, a bike crash, mental and physical exhaustion, missing birthday parties, not seeing friends, less time with my family, etc.

I say all of this as a reminder to myself, however, that I committed 100% to this journey almost 48 weeks ago. It wasn't until this week that I watched a video recently of Team Hoyt. Although I knew about Team Hoyt, I never had seen the two of them in action. What a truly inspirational story! As I watched the video, I thought about the obstacles that I've faced and the reality that mine pale in comparison to what this father faced in helping his son achieve something that seemed impossible. The gift that he has given to his son is priceless. It showed me the strength of a father and the determination to complete the journey despite the obstacles that he has encountered. My father's struggle with the side effects of chemo have also been a silent reminder to me of the strength and determination of my father (and others) to beat the biggest obstacle he's faced even when it was tough, painful and almost unbearable at times.

I guess what I am really saying is that I salute Team Hoyt. I salute my father's fight against cancer. And, I salute all of my friends, family members, training buddies and co-workers who have stood beside me throughout this journey. I hope to make each of you as proud as my father has made me in his struggles and to finish as strong as Team Hoyt has finished in each of their endeavors. I truly could not have done this without the love, support and understanding of those I am fortunate to surround myself with daily. So, if you are reading my blog for the first time or have been following along since Day One, thank you for your support. Now, my final goal is to F-I-N-I-S-H! :)

There She Blows!

I must preface this by saying I've never been sailing on the open seas. I have never been in a sailboat on the lake. I have been on a small catamaran-like boat on a day where there was relatively no wind. But today, I can honestly say, I know what it must feel like to sail. I also know what it felt like when Dorothy's house was being blown to and fro before it came to rest on the witch. Needless to say, when my bike came to a stop, it was time for me to put on my ruby slippers (a.ka. tennis shoes) and hit the yellow brick road. I'm not from Kansas but yesterday, I'd have made the trip!

We ventured out for two 50-mile loops on the bike. I can honestly say it was one of the most unpleasant rides I've been on. Although it was an accomplishment after it was all said and done, it was miserable from a fun perspective. It was cold, windy and overcast. We managed to make it as fun as possible. We laughed, we complained, we pedaled, we tried to move forward and we tried not to be blown over. At one point towards the end of the first loop, I turned around to one of my buddies and said, "Seriously, am I going anywhere?" I was pedaling but felt as if my output was maximum effort with complete and total minimum return. We took a beating. We dropped one after the first loop and added two new cyclists. It was great to have a cycling buddy of mine from the Bettys, Amanda, join us for the second loop. She was quite the trooper to be out riding for fun despite my forewarning. We didn't get to see the wizard but we did get to see quite a few Toto's along the way.

Following the bike, we'd planned for an 8-mile run. I think I wound up running between 5.5 and 6 miles. It was much later than I had anticipated given the wind and running solo in an unfamiliar area just wasn't appealing to me. The run continues to feel really good after cycling. I am hoping it continues in the weeks ahead or should I say, 34 days. I felt strong on the run despite honestly not doing well nutritionally on the bike. I am going to have to force myself to drink even if I am cold. I consumed 4 of 6 bottles of Infinit while on the bike. It must've been the wind because I've been doing so well. I have to mentally force myself as we may face similar winds in Arizona.

The coming week is a recovery week and then we taper. TAPER???? Seriously, already??? We've got a 20-mile run on Saturday but otherwise, 4 days off this week with a short swim, bike and run on three separate days. I am very much looking forward to catching up on some much needed "TO DO's" on my list. The goal now is to stay injury-free and healthy. I am praying for the same for my training buddies. Again, I say, what a phenomenal group of people I've grown to love, admire and cherish over the past 12 months. Happy Training!

A Week in Retrospect

Excellent training week last week. I redeemed myself on the swim on two separate occasions. Swam 2600m of drills on Tuesday and swam a straight 2850m on Saturday. Saturday was supposed to be an open water swim but the cold air mass moving in created an icy washing machine effect to Lake Murray and we opted for 114 lengths of the community pool. You can only imagine how much fun that was. I was very thankful for my lap counter; otherwise, I'd have never counted that high :) Wednesday was an indoor trainer workout for the bike. This was relatively uneventful but successful nonetheless.

After reading several other blogs pertaining to IMAZ, I decided it would be in my best interest to purchase some neoprene sleeves to accompany my wetsuit. These arrive on Friday and I'd hoped to try them out on Saturday but that wasn't happening. They don't match my wetsuit which is BlueSeventy. Nevertheless, I am hoping the mismatched Quintana Roo sleeves will be worth me sacrificing matching to be able to feel my extremities.

The 31-page IMAZ athlete guide came out this week. I guess it's official. They are really going to have this thing...LOL...and I am really going to participate. Nah, in all seriousness, I can't believe how quickly the time has passed in retrospect. Granted, some days have been long and some weeks even longer but overall, time has flown relatively quickly. It's just been a long journey that I am looking forward to finishing.

The First Appearance of "Tanya"

We've all got them and we've seen just about all of them in our group; however, yesterday was the first official appearance of "Tanya" who is my alter ego. This was the first time they'd seen mine. Of course, Tanya decided the middle of Lake Murray would be a great place to make her grand entrance. I don't know what it is specifically about the swim other than it is the one part of the triathlon that I hate and that bores me to no end. There is nothing fun about it, no scenery, lots of work, etc. Granted, I am a slower swimmer than most of my training buddies and I think that likely adds to my individual frustration with the swim. Halfway through, I decided I would turn a flip so I did. Once I get in my head that I want to play around, it is typically downhill after that. I just wanted out of the water. I wanted the swim to be done.

For those who don't swim, you must realize one key point. When you want the bike to be over, you get off the bike. When you want the run to be over, you stop running and walk. When you want the swim to be over and you're in the middle of the lake, the only way to end the swim is to SWIM! So, I proceeded to backstroke, sidestroke, float, flip, breaststroke until eventually making my way back to the shore. I was very tempted (and even tried) to talk a fisherman into switching places with me. He was curious if we were seeing any fish under us. I gladly offered him my goggles if he would like to get in and take a look. This would mean he'd have to let me in the boat. He was as thrilled at that idea as I was about swimming. I made my way out of the water, somewhat deflated, but I did my best to put the swim behind me and move on for what was to be a long day of cycling and running.

The bike portion of the training day involved 3 30-mile loops of rolling hills and one road of steadt hill climbing out and back. My goal for the day was to focus on nutrition and caloric intake and to be sure that I maintained a consistent HR and pace throughout the entire 90 miles. I am very proud to say that all of these goals were met with relative ease. I had two packs of energy beans and 5 bottles of Infinit along with my standard water/Hawaiian Punch mixture in the front bottle. Average speed for the day was 16.1 mph (great for the route we did and for the distance of 90-miles) and my HR remained consistent. I was very pleased with my bike performance and came into transition at the end first overall.

After the bike, I shifted gears and transitioned into my run clothes. We'd tried to simulate everything as much as we possibly could for this big training day. The three loops would be very similar to IMAZ, the swim would be an out and back and we'd be tired going into the run.

The run for me was very strong. I again focused on maintaining a consistent HR and pace. My HR didn't climb tremendously except for the huge snake I spotted on the side of the road. I did not stick around to see if he was living and breathing but rest assured, my HR did quickly change zones as I was running solo at the time and it was simply me and him/her. I stopped twice along the way to knock over a big mushroom or two. This has become a favorite training thing of mine. We'd passed SO MANY of them on the bike. I just had to stop and kick a few during the run. I did pretty well with right at a 9-minute mile pace (IM Augusta was more like a 12-minute pace...LOL).

Overall, I had a really strong day even with a not-so-great swim. It's a mental game now coming into the final training weeks. This is where the mind helps you decide just how bad you want to be an IRONMAN. Just remember -"You've got to be hungry for it!"

The Vomitron

Last year, Darron and Lisa, two of my cycling buddies shared their pet name for the indoor trainer, the "Vomitron". I, too, have adopted it as the descriptor for my nights spent spinning. I spent 90-minutes on the Vomitron tonight doing hill climb simulations. Doesn't that sound like fun? Riding solely in the big chain ring except for short periods of recovery. In all honesty, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was, however, surprised when I hit what I thought was close to a halfway point, did some quick calculations and realized that I had 40 minutes left. SURPRISE! Thank goodness for America's Next Top Model followed by some MTV. Nothing like mindless TV to pass the time.

Anyway, lots of little things starting to take place that are a prelude to the real deal. We received our tentative dates for bike shipment. "Buzz" and one equipment bag will be taken to Charlotte sometime between November 12-14 by Inside-Out Sports and then driven cross-country to its final destination in Tempe, Arizona. They have to have our bikes set up by November 19th. For $250, I should have a sense of peace knowing that Buzz will be cared for. Instead, I feel like I am putting my child solo on a bus and saying, "Find your way back to me, please!" Eek! Nevertheless, this is good news in the sense that we will actually be separated for less time than I thought. I'll be getting another bike to use in the meantime because training for this thing never seems to end. :)

We've also made plans to have dinner with our training buddy, Missy, who is going to go through a crash course on everything we need to know about special needs bags. She apparently co-lead this in this last year for some newbies and offered to do it for us so we couldn't say "NO" to that kind of offer. Any last minute tips will greatly be appreciated, no doubt.

My remaining training schedule for the upcoming weekend looks somewhat busy. Friday is a 5-mile intensity run; Saturday will likely include the Habitat for Humanity 5K Run followed by an relatively easy 1-mile swim; and we'll wrap the weekend up on Sunday with a 1.2 mile swim followed by a 30-mile bike loop x3 and an 8-mile run. Sort of our own mini-mock-tri.

Nervous excitement continues to build. Until next time...Happy Training!

Two-A-Days

Wow! 4:30AM came very early this morning. I got up, well, more like crawled out of bed with the assistance of my wake-up helper, Bailey. I was awakened by a happy tail followed by a cold, wet nose in my cheek and again in the center of my forehead. It was as if to say..."you woke me up with that clock, now you get up, too!" She undoubtedly was much happier to greet the day than I was. I had all of my clothes and swim gear ready from the night before which worked entirely to my advantage.

Midge, my training partner, and I headed off to the pool to swim. I stood at the double glass doors waiting on the center to open. I know that the lifeguard was seriously wondering if a rescue was in his future. I yawned, I stretch and I reluctantly got into the water. Luckily, it was the warmest the water has been since we've been swimming there. This must mean oh, 300+ days into training, that the heater has officially been repaired. Hooray! We had a fairly good swim, nothing to write home about but it was successful nonetheless. Didn't get to complete the full workout because I only had an hour to swim before having to be at work.

Today was not a brick workout but rather a split workout. The afternoon brought a 9-mile run. I ate dinner before running which I thought was going to be a huge mistake but turned out to be perfect. I ran the entire distance maintaining a steady and consistent HR. The route was a new one that I'd mapped and to my surprise was exceptionally hilly. Total run time was 95 minutes, which is pretty good for us considering the hills. We're really not trying to beat any time records anyway but are more focused on consistency and endurance for the remainder of our training season. We're 45 days away from this thing and now is not the time to worry about getting faster - that is for next season! :)

Feeling Good from My Head to My Toes

Cool fall temps make for an extraordinary workout. This morning proved this to be very true. Eleven of us ventured out in the 52 degree temp for a 50-mile bike ride. Several cyclists had two loops on their schedule whereas we only had 50 miles followed by a 6-mile run.

The bike ride started off relatively fast, undoubtedly, the result of an attempt by us all to warm up. As usualy, 15 minutes into the ride and it was time to take the sleevies off. I opted to stay in the front of the pack. We had one male in the pack who I think decided, since we weren't pacelining, to play chase with me. I decided that I would see how far I could push it and I did. Soon, looking back over my shoulder yielded no one in sight. It was a good feeling. Of course, I stopped at the end of the road to allow everyone to regroup with me. This was followed by comments about "Tanya" being out on the ride today. Soon, the rest stop was over and one cyclist took off...I heard a "catch me" so I decided, why not. The remainder of the ride was three of us as we left the remainder of the group behind. It was a very strong ride. My legs felt rested and strong.

A relatively slow transition followed as we waited on several folks to run with us. Today's plan was the 8K Snowman run + 1-mile. Felt really great on the run. Maintained HR for the majority of the run. No stops throughout the run. Three of us finished this up relatively quickly.

Overall thoughts for the day: Strong, feeling very strong. The restful week was very much worth it. I think I've found my second wind leading into the remaining 47 days of training. Two days off this week. Let's do this thing!

"T" for Two

It's been almost a week since Ironman Augusta 70.3. "T" for transition, "T" for tired, "T" for timeout. We slowed down this week to recover from the weekend's event. The first two days following Sunday brought quite a bit of soreness, especially on Tuesday. Therefore, Tuesday included a walk with Bailey only. The next few days included a 90-minute bike, 7-mile run, and an easy 1500m swim. I've taken this week to mentally regroup and prepare for the coming weeks. We are less than 50 days out from Arizona and I am admittedly ready for a long break. I think we all are, or so it seems. Nevertheless, IM Augusta was a huge confidence booster. I think that the slower week this week was very needed and I am ready to hit it hard again tomorrow. On the schedule bike/run brick (50-mile bike followed by a 6-mile run). I'll be ready to ride...first ride of the cooler morning temps. I think it may be a sleevies morning :)