Don't Be Afraid

Jen should know what this is. She's been recently assimilated. Come on now, you all know it's just a matter of time before you become part of the collective. I forgot I had this--a gift from the geekiest of my brothers. I have never had it made into a pin like I wanted--guess if I actually wore the thing it might scare people away.

I Am Weak, but I'm Still a Featherweight

I went to the grocery store last night. I loaded up on Gatorade (the 32-oz. bottles of regular and the 30-oz. bottles of Endurance were just $1 each), fruit, string cheese, a couple of porterhouse steaks, Lean Cuisines for my lunches, Ultra Violence and some ingredients for pasta sauce I'll be making tonight.

I was feeling depleted and had salt cravings. My intention was to lay off the Pringles, Swedish Fish and beer for the next 6 weeks, but I caved. I grabbed a couple of bags of pretzel rods (which I consider an "ok" snack), but also 2 cans of Pringles. The "movie box" of Swedish Fish was on sale, so I grabbed 4 of those. And a 12-pack of Beck's, my staple. And a huge bag of beef jerky. I NEEDED SALT!

For dinner, I ate the entire bag of beef jerky, 6 pieces of pre-packaged sushi, 4 pretzel rods, 2 Beck's and 1/4 of a box of Swedish Fish. I woke up at 1:30AM feeling pretty hungry, but in deference to sleep, I opted to not get up and eat oatmeal, which is what I felt like having. I ran a calorie calculation in my head and I had eaten only about 2,500 for the day when I should have had 3,400. So no wonder I was awake and hungry! But I fell back asleep.

So lest you think that I eat perfectly, there you go. But I still weigh in at 112 lbs., and I still am finding it difficult to meet my daily calorie requirements which are running at about 3,500+. Why? I am used to being a little hungry, I don't eat a lot of any one snack item, and I don't eat big meals most of the time. But I will make up for a few days' of calorie deficit tonight, when all bets are off and I lay into a huge plate of pasta with sausage, onion and tomato sauce. Mmmmm...lots of salt, fat and carbs in there. And probably a few glasses of a good Cabernet Sauvignon.

Yesterday while running, it was pretty windy (sustained 10-20 with gusts to 30MPH), and I was about 3/4 mile from home, and I was running with a stiff southerly cross wind. Well at one point there was a gust, and both of my feet must have been in the air because I got blown off the road and onto the curb! Luckily, I didn't fall or anything, and I had such a good laugh over it! You KNOW you are light when the wind can pick you up!

So as long as I keep feeling good, holding my weight and nailing my workouts (read about that tomorrow), I'm not going to obsess about a daily beer, occasional Pringles or Swedish Fish. I'm still eating a fairly healthy baseline diet, but I just need to go with what my body wants. Tonight it's going to want salt, fat, carbs and some processed fruit :)

Goofy Toes--Surprise!

Check out the little guy next to my big toe :) I failed to mention in my Goofy Race Report that, of course, I had my toenails painted *PINK*. What else would a Crackhead do when she was planning on dressing in total pinkness for 2 consecutive races?

So last night I'm noticing my nail polish is a little worn and I'm looking at that toe (which has funky nail growth most of the time anyway, since that toe is longer than my big one on both feet), and I'm seeing a little darkness, so I pick away at the polish and then remove it totally and look what I found! YES!!! A black toenail! I haven't had one of these since my first and second open marathons in 1999.

So I forget how long it takes for these to go away, and if the nail falls off, great! I have a daily reminder of having done something big. My foot pain and knee pain have both been fixed, thank you very much, as a result of my diligent self-applied trigger point work (with a special thanks to Shelley for reminding me to work on my own frickin' quads!), and I'm back at it FULL STRENGTH ESPRESSO MODE.

GO BIG AND HARD OR GO HOME!!!

Today's topic is my next block of training. I've written in the past how I get excited when I am able to look ahead at what my coach has planned for me. Although only the next 5 weeks are 100% filled in on my schedule, I am well aware of the significant training "events" that are going onto my training calendar in the lead-up to Ironman Brazil.

If you've followed along with me the last 2 months, you will know that I had a serious run focus going to get me ready for Goofy Challenge. No huge long runs (my biggest was 14 miles) in there--just consistent, high quality running. Well my friends, the running fun continues and things are going to get even HARDER! Can I say I'm excited? My run volume will go down a bit (as I predicted), but we are increasing the duration of tempo work being done on Wednesday and during my long run. Can I do it? Well, this past Sunday was my first long run post-Goofy, and I went for 1:30, and I also decided to see if I could throw in tempo at the end and guess what? SUCCESSFUL! It felt a little harder than normal, but my legs were certainly primed for it.

My bike training has been fairly high-level intensity and consistent over the last 12 weeks (up to 40' of FT intervals twice a week plus HIM intervals during long ride), but the big gift I get to give myself for the next 5 weeks is putting FT TIME INTO MY LONG RIDE!!! How awesome is that? So I will be hitting the bike hard three times a week.

Finally, I commented to my coach that my swimming has sucked. I think there are a few logical reasons:

• I have been lifting pretty heavily (currently in my maximum strength phase), and that usually puts a damper on my swim speed. Remember, I'm not a lifelong swimmer--just 6 years running--so I always feel my swimming is the most vulnerable sport.
• My swim volume has been rather low for me. Historically, I seem to do better on higher-volume swimming--10,000+ yards per week. I am just over that beginning this week.
• My pool has been friggin' HOT. I learned the other day that they actually pour warm water in there on some days to heat it up for the very old/young. Oh well.

Coach to the rescue! I can see the next few weeks of swim workouts are designed to help me get my head back in the swimming game, and since I'm actually getting a break in the weight room (I'm not pushing maximum strength for EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE--it's staggered), I am hoping that I will start to see glimpses of that speed that I know I have.

For the next 5 weeks, though, I have to be confident (which I AM) in my coach in that my overall volume won't be that high (only about 14 hours per week), but with the high intensity, I will be as ready as I can be for that 1/2 Ironman in 6.5 weeks, and then begins the big volume push for Ironman Brazil.

I know when my race rehearsal weekends will be, I know when my big bike or run volume weeks (where I get to do 2 long runs) will be, and I'm excited about it. Sure, there always comes a time during those last 8 weeks of Ironman training where I'm saying "WTF am I doing this for AGAIN?" to myself and walking around like a zombie for a few days during the week, but mostly I am so happy that I get another opportunity to train at yet a higher level and see where that can take me in the races. I know all too well that if you don't get excited about the training, it's a long haul to that start line. I have been sleeping plenty, stretching more than ever, and while I have my low spots, generally every day has been an opportunity to "get it done."

So it is with great commitment and optimism that I begin this next block of training--and I can't wait to see what's on the other side of the horizon!

Like This is a Big Surprise?

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofcoffeeareyouquiz/">What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Weekly Workout Totals 1/16/2006-1/22/2006

Swim: 9,650 yards in 3.47 hours; 27% of weekly workout time
Bike: 4.38 hours; 34% of weekly workout time
Run: 3.03 hours; 23% of weekly workout time
Strength: 2.18 hours; 17% of weekly workout time
Total Hours: 13.06
Average Sleep: 9.29 hours/night
Stretching: 2.07 hours
Accomplishments:

• Got back to running! Did a 1:30 run today ending in tempo!
• Did a long ride (2:17) that included strong HIM intervals; feel ready to return to FT work next week
• Did a decent amount of swimming. I am going to try and get in 4+ swims per week as a rule now
• Completed a strength workout of 3x20, which a few weeks ago I thought wasn't necessary. As it turned out, this was a perfect week to get that in as I approach my Maximum Strength period
• Got lots of sleep, which is very helpful for marathon recovery
• Have mostly recovered from my foot issue, and the knee isn't far behind
• Got my stretching back up to where I want it. Found a new position in which to hit some QL (quadratus lumborum) trigger points, and am working them daily. My QL's are one of my nemeses, as they tend to be in many runners and cyclists.

Goals for Next Week:

• Keep up the stretching. I feel like I was able to bounce back pretty quickly from Goofy Challenge due to my overall fitness, continued strength work and especially stretching
• Regain my bike FT watts. While I was easily able to hold/exceed HIM watts this week, I know that my first bout of FT intervals will really suck, yet I think I can get back to where I was in two weeks.
• Begin visualization for Ralph's 1/2 IM. While I would like to be able to predict an overall time, I realize this is folly since I won't have done any outdoor riding prior to the race (unless Global Warming really takes off in Chicago), and my bike fitness will be one of the deciding factors. Instead, I will use that race to focus primarily on my running toughness, and hope to PR my 1/2 marathon time (including open 1/2 mary!) there. The swim is dicey, since it's a cold ocean swim, so I'm not worried about that except to get through it strongly.
• Get my head on straight for the next 5 weeks of Maximum Strength work.