Rest of Pics are up from Race Rehearsal

Click on the post title to see them.

I'll write everything up tomorrow probably. I need to lay down!

Tonight's Dinner Preparing for Race Rehearsal

Click on the post title for pics.

I had a pusher bartender at the Grumpy Troll who let me basically try everything! They were all pretty good, and I had a great dinner, and now I need to lay down and relax for tomorrow. It's supposed to be gorgeous. In fine tradition, I'm sure I'll have a bit of a hangover--no matter--who the fuck cares? Not like I don't know how to ride a bike or will gain much fitness tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to my day tomorrow--and then another great dinner at Heiney's in Black Earth!

Ciao!

I'm in Verona, Wisconsin

I'm settled into my SMOKING room (damn), but it's not that bad and I scored some Febreze to spritz the furniture.

It was an uneventful drive here except for some construction on I90 through Rockford.

Earlier today, my gimp hand was really swelled up and my wrist started to puff up, too. So I thought it prudent to call my Doctor and ask if I might be in trouble. I spoke with the nurse who said that if I was having a bad reaction it would have happened yesterday, and that I should ice and elevate. DOH!!! I had iced it, but not the elevation. I didn't tell her I swam 5,000 yards this morning! I guess that's what got the swelling going bigtime. So I iced and elevated before I left for Wisconsin, and things came down, and then once I stopped packing and started driving, I tried to keep it up as much as possible, and I can see it's getting better. I'm starting to see my veins again!

I'm about to head to dinner at Grumpy Troll in Mount Horeb for dinner. A couple of fine microbrews and a good meal, and I should be all set for tomorrow's race rehearsal.

Weather calls for low to mid-70's, and no rain until late in the day! There will be wind (of course), but I'm not worried about that. I may need to, in a sort of tradition I've established for myself, ride with swimsuit bottoms so I can get my leg tan fixed up. It will depend on how cool it is in the morning. If it's upper 50's at least, on come the panties!

Of course, there will be a bunch of pics...so watch here for updates.

I don't really have expectations for tomorrow's 112-mile ride followed by 1 hour of running. Why? Because I just came off of a fucking hard-ass week of training! Although it's nice that my legs got a big rest today, so you never know. I've learned that it's better to have the crappy workouts in training, eh? Last year, my race rehearsal was for shit, but I had a great race! So to those of you getting ready for IMLP, know that good workouts will come and go--at this point, you have your fitness, the money is in the proverbial bank, and now you are just maintaining it!

I'll check back in either later tonight or tomorrow after about 119 miles!!!

Gimp Swimming

Click on the post title to read about today's swim, including my gimped out hand, shoulder and foot. I HTFU'ed, though, and got through 5,000 yards.

Cindy isn't going to make it to Wisconsin with me, no worries there, I plan on having a great time all by my lonesome, and there are sure to be lots of riders out on the course. I'm going to my 2 favorite restaurants in the area, and I'm hoping the rain holds off tomorrow.

Over and out!

24 Hours--In a Day? No, in a Training Week!

Seeing where I was in total training hours earlier today, I decided I needed to make it to 24 hours for the week beginning 6/20 just because. Why? Because I've never done it before, or so I thought. So I went back and checked on my biggest weeks ever, and there was a 23 something 2 years ago. What the hell, let's go for 24!

I had put off strength training this week because I was pretty trashola, but felt like I could put some in today even after a 14-something run. So I did what I thought I needed to do (leaving out most of my deltoids work due to my bum right deltoid), and got up to 56 minutes, which was enough. This left me needing like 12 more minutes, so of course, I hopped on CF and rode around a little bit just to tip everything over 24 hours!

Isn't that cool to have done this 3 weeks out from an Ironman (good timing) and when I'm already 51? Geez, let me tell you 24 hours is A LOT of training. A REAL LOT! I also decided maybe a few days ago that in 2009 I want to do a training week where I cover double Ironman distance. Looking at what I just did, I would need to put in more running, could get by on less swimming and a bit less biking. I tell you, adding about 18 miles more of running will not be an easy thing to do! But this is something I think I need to do--now I just need to decide when and how to structure the week to get it in. I'm pretty sure I will need to treat it as if I'd done an Ironman on the last day and recover from it accordingly. I'm kind of excited now thinking about doing this plus RAINSTORM and Triple T next year. Holy crap, if I don't get strong from that, I don't know how I'd be any stronger! This seems like a planning nightmare, but I think I can get it together.

I'm really pumped up about planning for this now. I need to get someone else to sign onto my plans for 2009. I bet I can rope Blink into this shit...it would be easy for him!

Paranoid

I forgot one aspect of being this close to an Ironman race: the paranoia. I was reminded of this this morning while finishing up my long run when I ran into Chuck, who was biking back from the outdoor pool. I know Chuck from the Y, and he's also transitioned to swimming at the outdoor pool. He's a really good swimmer, and he's done Ironman before, so he can relate to all my madness (he knows I'm doing IMLP soon). I was telling Chuck about how clumsy and spastic I am and he brought up the paranoia. Yep--paranoid you will get injured, paranoid you'll forget something, paranoid people think weird things about you (well they probably DO in my case but I don't care), paranoid someone's watching you and thinking you're a slacker, and so on.

I went to Waterfall Glen to run today, and it was 70 with 97% humidity when I started. I.e., it was fucking humid. Not only that, but the bugs were out in full force. I had either some sort of bee or fly circling my head the entire time I was in there. I ran to Mile 5 and back, and when I got down in the hole, I got bit up something fierce, which made me decide that when I got back to my car to reload Coke, I would just drive home and finish from my house.

When I was almost home, I saw Jamie running on my street with no shirt. Before I knew it was him, I was thinking, "how nice a good looking fit naked runner in my hood." I stopped to briefly chat with him and asked if he had seen my house and he had. He was pretty dripping with sweat, as was I, and I headed back to get ready to continue.

I basically dumped stuff in the house, grabbed a small bottle of Gatorade, changed running shoes (the ones I was wearing were bugging me for some reason today--probably part of the paranoia), and headed out. I was about 1.5 miles from home when I saw Chuck, and since neither of us seemed to be in any big hurry, we chatted for awhile.

I ended up running 14.23 miles in 2:08.50, good for 9:03/mile, not bad. My right hand is totally swollen from a direct hit by a mosquito right in one of the big veins. It looks like the hand of a chubster--my knuckles are gone, you can't see the bones or veins, either. I was wearing a visor, and got bit on my head, too, but this stuff will go away by the end of the day.

I am going to do a strength workout, just to bump up my training totals for the last 7 days, which I'm calling my "big block," so that it's the most training I've ever done in a 7-day period! All I have to do is get to 24 hours. Do I need to? No. Will it hurt me? No. All I have to do tomorrow is swim and pack to head up to Madison!

Spazzastic

Any of you who have done 3+ Ironman's notice that when you are in the last 4 weeks you get clumsy and spastic? I sure do. I've decided that what's happening is your body only knows how to swim, bike and run, and so anything else you attempt (like eating, for example) is no longer an "autopilot" activity, and your neuromuscular system spazzes out on you.

Let's see--last week I just dropped spaghetti and meatballs (but hey, my kitchen floor is clean so no worries), I've stubbed several toes in the last few days, last night I let some nachos slip off the plate onto the floor, yesterday I lifted something oddly and messed up some erector spinae muscles, and this morning, I decided to do this shoulder stretch that I haven't done in several months:




















Well, I've always had no problems doing it as shown above, but when I switch arms and I put my right arm behind my back, it's always a bit tight in the deltoids. I did it anyway (I can grab fingers together), it felt just fine, but then a few minutes later my deltoid starts to hurt. I'm like fuck, I wanted to swim like 3600 yards today. I worked on the trigger points, and it was raining early this morning, so I put the kibosh on riding CF to the outdoor pool (crap--I had wanted to get 6 days straight of biking), and headed to the Y. I swam very gingerly, and got psyched to swim 2,000 yards straight. Well, after 800 yards, my shoulder said nope, so I ended up only swimming 3,000 yards (still not bad).

I ran into my friend Jamie, and he swam for like 15 minutes, and then we both got out and talked for about an hour on deck! We always chat it up since we don't see one another very often. I then drove home and dumped my swim stuff and then drove to my mechanic to drop my car for some routine stuff, and then I ran home--it took about 25 minutes (got rained on a teensy bit). Work, work, work, work on the shoulder some more (it's getting better--should be fine for Friday's 5,000 yard workout), hope the rain stops, it does, my car is done, and I go run 20 minutes out and back from home and then run back to pick up my car.

And I'm thinking what else will I get spastic and klutzy with? I'm genuinely afraid of power tools at this point, and have no plans to cook anything requiring my big chef's knife! I know I need to be careful around this time before an Ironman, but somehow I always end up doing something to myself.

Other than that, I feel really good today--I know I finally replenished my glycogen stores, due to eating continuously yesterday, and I only worked out for a little over 2 hours today.

Tomorrow I only have to run 2 hours and maybe do some strength work. I'm already into my run taper, and I'm happy about it and also sad. Once you knock out some solid 2:15 and 2:30 runs, it makes you feel pretty invincible. I could run 2:15 tomorrow--it will depend on whether it's raining in the morning and I have to run on the dreadmill or not. 2:15 wouldn't hurt me a bit, and if the weather is good, I'll go to Waterfall Glen and do it.

In addition to the spasticity, now is when I almost get sad because the big training will be ending soon. I mean, I'm so fucking tired from it it seems like I should want to stop, but then I don't want to, and while I do enjoy the race, sometimes I'd just rather train. Does that make sense?

Oh well, it's all a pretty normal part of the process. I've done this so many times, I laugh at the fact that the same things happen over and over and over. Deja fucking vu.

Day 5 of Biking: We Have a Winner!

I put my race wheels on Bitchie this morning just to test ride them, since I'll be riding on them Saturday up in Wisconsin. Doesn't she look pretty? Totally tubular...

I didn't sleep as much as I wanted to last night, because, well, I guess I just didn't. I thought I'd have a crappy workout, and I was pretty tired, so I shot down a can of Ultra Violence about 1/2 hour before I began riding. I didn't feel like it was working its magic right away, but it was such a beautiful day that I just got into it. I still didn't have full power, but I did OK. My workout was this:

WU: 20' Easy
MS: 3 x 15' (3') @ FT,
5' Easy,
6 x 1' (2') @ 120%
CD: 5' Easy

Not an easy workout...but I gave it hell. And then I ran :40 off the bike and it was good. And then I got a bonus massage, and boy did I need it.

While riding, I was thinking about what all training I've done for the past 5 days aside from the biking. Well, I think I must be a Crackhead or something because look at it:

	Fri	Sat	Sun	This week	Total
Swim Yards	5000			3625	8625
Swim Hrs	1.55			1.37	2.92
Bike Miles	25.67	90.42	59.50	64.17	239.76
Bike Hrs	1.47	5.17	3.40	3.67	13.70
Bike TSS	55	305	154	192	706
Run Miles		4.50	3.81	4.22	12.53
Run Hrs*		0.68	0.58	0.66	1.93
Str. Hrs				0	0
Total Hrs	3.02	5.85	3.98	5.70	18.55

*The three times I ran were all brick runs. 3 of them in 4 days. Not too shabby!

Is that crazy or what? That's 5 days of training. No wonder I'm fucking tired! But I feel great!

And you know what? I'm going to bike to the pool tomorrow, so that will make 6 days in a row that I'm biking. What the hell, may as well!

I call this stretch Cracktacular!

My Infinit Formula--Money Shot

In case anyone was wondering...I upped my calories a little and added more caffeine. This will be my racing mix.

I'm riding again today and running off the bike. It's another gorgeous day, and my muscles feel excellent after about 1.5 hours worth of massage. I'm putting my race wheels on Bitchie today, since I'll be using them this weekend for a race rehearsal up in Madison (hopefully Cindy will be able to join me).

I made a list this morning of all these small odds and ends that I need to do that I just haven't been getting to--there are like 40 things on it--all of them need to get done before Friday, and the list doesn't even include the basics like, oh, work out, stretch, eat, sleep, stretch, relax. There is not enough time in a day right now, but that's OK, I'll have lots of time in a few weeks once I start to taper.

One of these past days I've been on one bike or another, I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt that said LIVE FAST. So I shouted at him, "LIVE FAST AND DIE YOUNG!!!" He smiled. And here's one of my favorite songs honoring that sentiment. Funny thing is that turntable is the one I just got a few months ago...

4 Out of 5 Dentists Recommend...

biking 5 days in a row...

I'm on day 4 now. I biked to and from the pool (with a 3300 meter swim sandwiched in between), and then a little before noon, I got on LGL on the most absolutely gorgeous day so far this year. It's what they call "a rare day in June." Birds were singing, flowers blooming, the sky is crystal blue with little puffy clouds (yes, our local meteorologist, Tom Skilling, actually calls them that), the grass is all nice and green from all the rain we've had, many people were not working (teachers???), and there were lots of people going here and there on bikes.

Man, I love LGL--she is just a treat to ride! I recalled a conversation on Friday while I was at a bike shop in Hinsdale--I was describing my bikes to a guy who works there, and he got all worked up over the fact that I ride stiff bikes. I am sick and tired of people who act like this--I like stiff rides! And as my buddy, Rich, at The Bike Shop, says, "It's a bike--not a couch."

I went stylin' on LGL--I finally wore a brand new pair of red Castelli shorts with a black top, my red Catlike helmet and black shades. I know I was looking good and received a few catcalls. The shock at my age! Man, my legs are huge now.

While riding today, I saw the frame of a BMX bike hanging from a tree. The kid mowing the lawn sort of snickered at me because I was all smiley when I saw it. I also did a few good track stands at stoplights. Sometimes I don't even realize it when I'm doing it, because when I see someone else doing it I think there's some art form to it, but I guess I do it just fine as long as I don't think about it!

I could feel every little stinking hill in my legs, but I expected that. Thank god I'm getting a massage tonight! And then my priority for the evening is S-L-E-E-P. I've been doing better on that front--last week was the most average sleep I've had in 10 weeks! I am doing a brick workout tomorrow, so I can sleep in a bit in the morning.

I'm not dead yet, so I'll just keep grinding it out.

Day 3 of 5 Days of Riding, Weekly Workout Totals 06/16/2008-06/22/2008 and Assorted Crap

OK, so I got up at 5 again today to go riding. The forecast called for--how unusual--rain! But I headed out on a gorgeous morning anyway. What am I going to do? About 2 miles in I saw my first of 4 rainbows--you know the saying--no rain, no rainbows? About 7 miles in I was stopped by some rain, but the good thing was I got to see 3 more rainbows, for a total of 4. I don't think I've ever seen that many around here--maybe on Kauai once--but here, not so much. I felt so blessed to see the rainbows and wished I had my camera, but rainbows are ephemeral, and that's part of why they are so special, so no worries.

I couldn't ride for shit today--my legs are so trashed it's unbelievable--but I still managed 54 miles (I had hoped for 65). I saw a coyote languishing in Fermilab and got sprinkled on about every 45 minutes. But the day was absolutely gorgeous. I think I had had enough of being in the sun for the week!

When I went to run, I was pretty hot, and cut the run short a bit. I think I did enough training for the week, and I certainly felt worse than I will feel during IMLP! That is the whole point of this--you kill yourself in training and then the race isn't so bad. Or so I hope!

I took a short nap and then got up and motivated to wash LGL and wipe down Bitchie. I really got LGL all nice and sparkly, and I'll ride her tomorrow. Bitchie didn't suffer too much today, as I had cleaned her off yesterday. I really love my bikes and like to keep them clean. The pics are from my bike washing/grilling this afternoon. Of course, it rained again when I was about done with everything.

Then I had to watch IMCDA and see my peeps finishing, although one is still out there. My peep Blink did great!!!!!!! Blink fucking rocks!

BLINK FUCKING ROCKS!!! BLINK FUCKING ROCKS!!! BLINK FUCKING ROCKS!!!!

I hope he's happy with his race :) I can't wait to actually meet the man and do NothingMan with him!!!!

I had so many different thoughts today--one was how absolutely beautiful nature is. I got to see some awesome cloud formations and 4 rainbows--how great is that? And then I was just thankful that I was able to bike, even though I couldn't go very fast today, but I was moving, you know? And then the rain and thunder and lightning--how can you not be appreciative of that? And then my yard is looking gorgeous--lots of flowers blooming--and my bikes are all cleaned up and I got to eat really well and I get to bike again tomorrow--what could be bad about that?

Sometimes I am just overcome with gratitude for how wonderful my life is, even with the intermittent sadness of missing my Mom and Dad. I'm reading a book where I saw a quote that said, "Grind it out until you're dead." I think that's a good one. Kind of like Harden The Fuck Up. I can't think of a better way to honor the gift that is life than to give it hell, kick life in the nuts, and keep going even when I feel like total crap. I know I'll feel just fine tomorrow morning--I'm looking forward to a nice swim in the outdoor pool (riding a bike there, of course!), and how can it possibly be a bad day when I'm able to do all of this???

Weekly Workout Totals	06/16/2008-06/22/2008 This week's totals are sponsored by rain. It has rained every day but 1 for 3 weeks now!
Swim:	11100 yards (6.3 miles) in 3.78 hours; 17% of weekly workout time; approx. 1325 calories burned Canadian: 10149.84 meters
Bike:	Approx. 215.36 miles in 12.28 hours; 56% of weekly workout time; approx. 5402 calories burned; Total TSS=636 Canadian: 346.59 kilometers
Run:	Approx. 33.78 miles in 5.15 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 2336 calories burned Canadian: 54.36 kilometers
Strength:	0.87 hours; 4% of weekly workout time; approx. 218 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 255.44 miles in 22.08 hours; approx. 9281 calories burned Canadian: 411.09 kilometers
Sleep:	7.79 hours avg./night
Stretching:	1.95 hours. Massage: 1 hours