Year-End Summary

First off, Happy New Year to everyone! Tonight is supposed to be a "blue moon," so if the sky clears, I hope to catch sight of it!

I usually just look at my training and racing on a "per season" basis, and my season usually begins September-October, but lots of people take the calendar year approach, so I decided to track that as well.

So here it is, since you know I'm a numbers junkie, enjoy, or should I say SHOCK AND AWE:























As you can see, I have 2 jobs ;) I keep having doubts about this Ultraman thing, but then I complete a crazy workout that I am able to recover from and I think I'm doing OK.

Oh as far as racing goes, I think I summarized in an earlier blog post that I had a great year. Won my AG at 5 sprint races and a half Ironman, PR'ed at the Ironman distance and did my first 50K+ run ever. If you include my ModerateMan on Thanksgiving weekend (4 mile/60 mile/13.1 mile) and then last week's Day 1 Ultraman workout (close enough--5.4 mile swim/90-mile bike) and Revenge of the PirateMan, I think I'd have to say it was a pretty darn good year. I had tons of fun, challenged myself in new ways and did SO many things in training I have never done before, and 2010 promises more of the same!

I am kicking off 2010 by swimming 10K (not 10,000 yards--meters, please, so like 11,000 yards), which will be my first time ever and then I plan on watching Ironman on Universal Sports the rest of the day.

Here's to a challenging, wonderful and fulfilling 2010!

Big Week

After last week's illness and then going ahead and running 18+ miles last Sunday, I decided to move some workouts around a bit this week. I didn't think running on Monday would be a good idea, so I just swam (and pretty well at that) and did my abs/core workout. I also had to squeeze in a massage and then got a haircut at the end of the day.

With no run on Monday, I needed to do one on Tuesday, and since I really don't need to do brick runs in preparation for Ultraman and my focus right now is running to be ready for Goofy Challenge, and just to fit everything into my day, I ran in the morning, but it had snowed overnight, so I warmed up with about :30 of shoveling my driveway. The run felt good, and I held myself to Z1 and Z2 so it was nice and easy. Later on I did a 1:30 trainer ride, and kept the intensity to only about 80% of FTP as my legs were a little tired from the morning run plus I had skipped my long ride last week.

Some weeks ago, I had thought about doing a "hundred" workout on Saturday, which would consist of a 5-mile swim, 80-mile ride and 15-mile run, but after being sick last week, I didn't want to risk such a long workout putting me in a bad place 2 weeks before Goofy, so I kept to my original plan which was to do the 15-mile run on Wednesday and just the swim and ride on Saturday.

I took Wednesday and Thursday off from work this week, since I didn't feel like getting in a 15-miler before work and also try and fit in a swim on Wednesday, and then it just made sense to take Thursday off as well, and it worked out really well.

The intention was to swim first on Wednesday to do a T-pace (threshold pace) swim test followed by the long run, but for some reason, I just could not get to sleep on Tuesday. I think it had to do with the impending Christmas holiday and end of year, when I typically start thinking about all that was the past year and what is to come in the new year. A lot happened in the last year--a lot of good things, but some bad things, too. I had a great training and racing year, but I lost a relationship with someone I loved, and I have finally had to admit that 3 of my siblings are effectively gone from my life forever, too (they no longer communicate with me except to scream at me or send me nasty emails telling me what a horrible person I am, all post-Dad's death). All that plus witnessing a close friend lose her sister to liver cancer, which is how my Dad died, just stirred up so many feelings of loss and grief in me, and I rolled these things over and over and over in my head, unable to sleep. And of course, I questioned what I am choosing to do now (train for Ultraman), and it all decided to be front and center Tuesday night. But eventually I did get to sleep, although I am not really sure how much I did get.

Sometime during the night on Tuesday, I knew that I would still wake up with the light but that I would not try and make the early pool time so I shut off my alarm clock. Which meant that I would do my long run first and the alleged swim test second. I knew I had to throw out the notion of swimming well after 15 miles of running, and I just accepted it. The run went really well, though, and I averaged 9:09 pace for it, so I couldn't complain (yes, I AM slow!). I still swam afterward, and it did feel good to swim, but with various parts of my legs and feet taking turns cramping (which made me laugh and yet remember why they don't put a swim last in a triathlon of any distance longer than a sprint), I decided to strap on the pull buoy and paddles to knock out the 900 yards which would have been the test. Still, it felt good to swim, as it always does after a long run when I have the time.

Thursday, since I had the day off, I was thinking about doing a short run and then a 1:30 trainer ride, but somehow once I got on the treadmill, I decided to just run really easy and stretched :45 into 1:15, which meant I really wouldn't need to run the rest of the week. And I was feeling a little sick-ish again, with a runny yet stuffy nose, and I wasn't sure about my energy level. Looking back, though, I attribute this to just general sadness over the Christmas holiday, which I would be spending alone. Grief is an interesting thing--just when you think you are done with it, it comes right back at you in interesting ways. Still, I have learned that whether the cold-like symptoms are really a cold or just a result of grief, my body believes they are the same thing, so in respect of that, I decided to just bag the trainer ride. I could do it on Friday if I wanted to. Instead, I finished up my strength work for the week which felt good.

Friday, Christmas Day, I just decided to not do anything. I'd done enough running for the week, and since I had only ridden 3 hours last week, and I am tapering for Goofy, I justified skipping my second weekday trainer ride, figuring that I'd get in 4 hours on Saturday, so I'd still be at 5.5 hours for the week which isn't half bad for this time of year.

Sometime in the afternoon yesterday I figured I had better fix some bottles for the Saturday festival. I figured on 3 hours of swimming and 4 hours of riding. I set my alarm for 3:55AM along with the coffee pot for a few minutes earlier. I did manage to fall asleep by 8:30, I think, and slept well, and waking up today, I didn't feel at all sick. I immediately got dressed, poured a cup of coffee, began eating a Power Bar, took the Ultrafuel out of the fridge, and noodled around on the computer waiting for...ahem...the morning business to alert me, which it did, and when I looked outside I could see about 1.5" of new snow on the ground, but I did not have time to move it, so I was in my car at 4:45AM to drive to the Y to swim.

I got there quickly (no traffic at that hour especially the day after Christmas!), and had my choice of parking spot, so I picked one that a plow had just made nice, walked in, and I and 2 other people waited for the doors to open at about 5:01. I asked the nice couple what they were planning on doing and they said weights, so they wouldn't need to wait for anyone else. I forgot I had on my fleece Ironman hat and they just assumed I was doing something big, and I told them what I was up to (just the swimming part).

I got into the locker room and stuff put away and was on deck and got in and started swimming at 5:05 (if nothing else, I am pretty quick at the transitions, as I seem to do so many of them!). The water was a nice temperature for once. As I began, I had to decide how I was going to break things up, making sure I took enough breaks to take in some Infinit. In the end, it went like this: 2000 free, 200 back, 2100 free with 1st 500 as 25 hard/25 easy, 2nd 500 as 50 hard/50 easy, 3rd 500 as 75 hard/50 easy (actually did 600 here), 4th 500 as 100 hard/50 easy, 200 kick, 2200 pull/paddles, 2200 free, 200 kick. I had intended to only do 8800 (5 miles), but I was a bit faster than I thought I'd be and had time to do 9100 to finish by 8:00AM when Masters starts, but they didn't swim today, oh well, at least I was done with that! Total swim time: 2:56.

There was a point while I was swimming that I could feel my pecs working, that was pretty cool. I didn't really feel tired mentally or physically until I was about 6,000 yards in. So that's good, that my "this sucks" threshold has been raised up to that level. Although, it didn't really suck so much, really. When I was done and got out, I could feel my arms, sure, but they weren't trashed or anything. People always ask if my arms hurt after these things, and why would they? I have been lifting for so many years and have worked my way up in swimming, so I wouldn't really expect them to.

I spent about 7' in the sauna stretching my arms and upper back and then put on my bike clothes, street clothes over (cold and snowy, you know, and I am a wimp), and headed to the car. A little more snow had fallen since I'd been gone, but it was really light, fluffy stuff, and so I just brushed it off my car quickly and drove home. I decided to start shoveling my driveway, thinking that after the day was over I might want to go somewhere, and once I start, I finish the whole thing, which might not have been the brightest idea after all that swimming, but it didn't feel bad and my arms didn't hurt, so I finished my driveway in :35 (it's like 75 feet long, FYI). I went in and got the bike ready (pump the tires, put the power meter on, put fluids next to it), turned on Universal Sports (I have been seriously enjoying all the Alpine coverage in the leadup to the Olympics), wrote down my swim crap, and was rolling (going nowhere fast!) at 9:30.

Oh boy, this is the second time I've done a long swim before a ride (I mean other than in an Ironman), and let's say there is a difference between a 4-mile and a 5-mile swim. You'd think just your upper body is fatigued, but it permeates your core and your legs, too (all that kicking, dontcha know!). So I expect to be sluggish to start with. And oh, by the way, at some point while I was swimming, I'd decided that instead of 80 miles I would do 90, because then I would be pretty close to Day 1 of Ultraman, which is 10K swim followed by 90-mile ride. I justified this since I had skipped my second weekday ride, and I will not train on Sunday (probably!), and it's just riding, so why not?

Long story short, I rode the first 2:30 in the small chainring just to be nice to myself, and then I popped it into the big chainring for the remainder. The ride took 4:55, which is a little slow for me, but hey, I swam almost 3 hours and shoveled beforehand! I realized somewhere around 4 hours that this was the longest trainer ride I'd ever done! Preceded by the longest swim I'd ever done! So a big day of firsts! I am very glad I decided not to put a run at the end of this--that would have just been unnecessary--and not even specific for Ultraman training. Hell, if I was going to do that, I may as well just have done an entire Ironman, right? Um...no. Not today!

If you are interested in the whole calorie burn/nutrition thing, the bike says I burned 2870 calories. I'm going to guess that the swim was about 1700, so that's a hefty 4570 calories, not bad for a day's work! Counting breakfast and through to the end of the ride plus recovery drink, I took in 2519 calories, leaving a deficit of 2051 plus my BMR of about 2000 so I will have to do some catch-up eating tomorrow.

I am really happy that I was able to do this workout this soon in my Ultraman preparation. There is just something different about putting such a long swim in front of a long ride. I have to say, that was not easy, especially with the ride being on the trainer, which was mentally harder to me than the swim (at least I was going SOMEWHERE while swimming). Next is to see how I recover from this, which will tell me when I can next do it again, although I don't think there are any 5-hour rides planned until April. Still, I find these sorts of things are huge confidence boosters. I am still pretty humbled by the idea of Ultraman, and getting through this phase of training is just the tip of the iceberg. Next big workout is just a half marathon followed by a marathon! But I've done that before, and my body knows what to expect, and that will conclude my big run focus for September-December.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and get ready for another year soon!

Obligatory Weekly Post

I had big goals for this week, but wasn't able to meet all of them. My running has been going really well, and swimming started out promising this week, too. Like a dumbass, though, I decided to up the weights in one of my strength sets, and that was the start of a chain reaction that culminated with me waking up really, really sick on Friday. So sick that being vertical was mostly out of the question. Luckily, I had moved my Friday run to Thursday and got it done in style, so all it meant was that I missed my long swim. Fuck. I have started to like them! But, I am learning what I can and cannot take and considering it's just December, it was a good idea to just lay low on Friday. I couldn't work, either, so it was basically get up and take some cold medicine and lay back down. I was completely exhausted. I couldn't find any greatly enlarged lymph nodes on my neck (I know where to find them which helps me evaluate viral vs. bacterial infection), but I was sneezing up a storm and the left side of my nose was running. Which was good, because I could breathe pretty well out of the right side!

I literally did nothing on Friday except lay around, eat soup, take cold medicine, repeat. I fell asleep for good really early and slept really well. When I awoke on Saturday, I even had a taste for coffee, and I felt better than Friday, so thought I'd try getting on the bike. I could spin, but the energy just wasn't there, so after almost an hour, I bagged it, took a shower and put my PJ's back on for the duration. I wasn't really sleepy, but still fatigued, so I laid on the couch and watched a bunch of skiing on Universal Sports, then watched Ironman Hawaii.

Different people have different views on what they want to see in the NBC coverage--thing is, it isn't ours to dictate, but in general, I think they do a pretty good job. I mean, hey, an Ironman on network TV? Watching one in person can be like watching paint dry, and the fact it's on at all is remarkable in this day and age of biggest fatty, loser parenting and "look at me" reality shows, none of which I personally watch. I usually get teary eyed at the "stories," and this year was no exception. The woman who had had a stroke impressed me. The navy guy who trained on a submarine REALLY impressed me. Of course, Rudy Tolson impressed me. People who are not bitching and moaning about their lives, and they go and grab it and kick it in the nuts and still do an Ironman. THAT is what it's about to me. Any of the rest of us who have a "normal" life without significant disabilities, enough money to buy a nice bike and tons of gear have no right whatsoever to complain. And if you suck at Ironman, hey, it's your own choice. You can choose to honor the race and train for it properly, or you can just be a fucking medal whore and do it so you can check it off your bucket list. That is fine, too.

Doing an Ironman doesn't make any of us any better than anyone else. I hate it when people bitch and moan about their training, how they wish they could do more. You are either CHOOSING to make enough time to train the way you think you should train, or you aren't. If you aren't, shut the fuck up. Don't do Ironman. Nobody cares if you do it or not. Nobody cares about your finish time like 2 weeks after the race. It is just how it is. There are more important things in life for most people. So why, you ask, am I so obsessed with training? It just is. I have figured out how to make time to train the way that I want to train most of the time, and I generally do not bitch about it. Sure it is stressful at times, but nobody said it would be easy. I do not want it to be easy. I want it to be the thing that prevents me from being average in my own head. It is not for anyone else or to show anyone else anything. It is just a way I have found of pushing myself. That is it. I am nobody, and I don't care what anyone thinks about what I am doing.

OK that was a bit of a tangent. So during last night, I notice that my nose is not running at all, and I am breathing well, and I want to get out of bed. But I stay in until it is almost light out, getting 10.5 hours. I stand up and do not feel weak. I want coffee. I want to move around. So I pack everything for a long run and a short recovery swim, including a can of Coke, and head to the Y. I wore my HTFU bracelet because I figured I'd need it today. I had noticed that my back didn't feel too great, probably from all the laying around I'd done the prior 2 days (immobility is bad for me). My feet felt wrong because I'd been wearing slippers for 2 days with absolutely no support in them.

Oh well, I got on the treadmill and didn't feel bad at all. I kept punching in the workout speeds, and only drank Gatorade for the first 1.5 hours, and then I started in on Coke, and it tasted good. I just kept going, staring at a blank TV screen (I can't watch anything while I'm on the machine), with the occasional passer-by waving to me. As I got to the last :45 which included tempo pace, I started to feel a little tired, but not too bad. Since I didn't feel like I had a cold anymore, and I'd had plenty of sleep, I just toughed it out, but once I got on the track (with :15 to go), I felt tired. Still, I got it done, and ended up at 18.25 miles in 2:45. I had to decide whether to swim or not, but first I stretched a bit because I was extra tight from all the running and from not doing anything for 2 days, and that felt good.

I decided to hop in the pool, and it felt great to swim. Guess my little break was OK. I did 1500 yards real easy, got out, showered and hit the sauna. Two young girls were in there chatting up a storm. I was just trying to do some upper body stretches while seated. Another woman came in and commented about my swimming and I guess she's seen me before and she asked how much I swam each time, and at this point I was pretty tired, but wanted to be cordial, so I said, "Do you really want to know?" She said yes, because it looked like I swam a lot, and I just chuckled, and I told her about how much I've been swimming, and she asked how much stuff I did per week, and well, the whole S/B/R thing came out, and one of the young girls asked if I would mind sharing my age with her, which I did. Even though I felt like I'd exorcised the cold, I could tell my voice was pretty low and I was tired, but I stayed engaged in the conversation. I know I'm an oddity, so if someone asks, I will tell, but usually I just stay quiet.

So, my training hours were cut short missing a long swim and ride, but the prime directive was running anyway, and I got that done. I will wait and see how I feel later on today (other than just tired!) in terms of being fully cured. So only 14.3 hours this week, will see if I can raise that a bit with a nice 5-mile swim and really long ride next Saturday. Running gets tapered this week, but I am still shooting for a 15-miler on Wednesday. We'll see how things progress. Mainly, I hope to wake up tomorrow feeling normal!

Another Good Week and Random Thoughts

There's a thread on Slowtwitch that asked the question why people go long, meaning Ironman and beyond, in triathlons. As usual, there was at least one snipe that people who go long are just slow and do everything (training and racing) slow, which isn't true. There was also assertions as to which type of training/racing is harder. Anyway, I decided to contribute (my username is fefe) because I felt like it. Anyone who has read my blog for a few years probably knows that for me, it is all about the mental aspects. Am I addicted to training? In a way, I suppose. It has just become something that I really love to do with such a passion that at times it does feel like an addiction. The stuff I've learned about the human body (and I am on a par with many personal trainers, coaches, massage therapists and physical therapists) is incredible, and I share that information with others whenever I get the opportunity. Most people, I find, just don't want to invest time in understanding their bodies, and consequently spend a lot more time at doctors than I do or suffer in silence. At the rate I am abusing my body (and I say that in jest--I actually take quite good care of myself, I think), if I were to go to see a doctor every time something hurt, I'd be there once a week. And so far, the only regular meds I take is Nasonex which is to fend off post-swim nasal congestion--I am slightly allergic to the chlorine/bromine whatever is in there, and I am slightly allergic to most things, but other than shooting up right before I swim, I don't take any other allergy meds anymore.

But I digress. Am I addicted? Sure. I might be addicted to something else were it not for my chosen poison. Is it true that you need progressively more and more exercise to induce the same feelings of well-being? I don't know. I think it's more that as my body has become accustomed to certain levels of training, it just gets easier to reach a little higher over time. And I have many things going for me that have let me push it--working at home, living .5 mile from my gym, weights in-home, ability to ride from home (weather-permitting), no husband or kids, and I am pretty organized. Or maybe instead of organized I should say I have learned to not give a shit about things that aren't important. Does my house need to be spotless? No. I keep it pretty well picked up, though, and am always amazed when at the home of most anyone else that mine is actually pretty clean. But I am no longer obsessive about it like I was when I was married (I refer to that period of time as the "Martha Stewart" years). I know for a fact that the things that HAVE TO get done generally get done, and while I would like 4 more hours in each day just like anyone else, I am doing OK with the 24 that I have.

I do not see my desire for bigger and longer events growing beyond Ultraman, though (like triple IM's, etc.). Had I started at this stuff at a much younger age, I might be considering that, but there are other endurance things that I would like to experience besides just long-distance triathlons. Like I want to ride my butt off for a week--I really want to do RAINSTORM, which is quantity, but I also would like to go to Italy and ride around for a week or two, but maybe only 50 or so miles a day and then do a lot of eating and wine drinking. There are all sorts of events at altitude and stuff. There is no shortage of challenges! I have people asking me to participate in team running events, and I know that would be a total blast. Will I want to do Ultraman Kona if I finish Ultraman Canada? I can't answer that question. I do know that since I am getting this ultrafuckingcool custom tri bike built that I will want to use it for a few years at least.

Part of this mental game is thinking about where I am at now and what might be possible down the road. It is really awesome to know that I am fit enough to do all sorts of crazy shit, and for me, I think it's that sense of "fitness" that is like a really good drug. It's cool to have people send me information about crazy ass races and events, knowing that it's not a matter of fitness for me to do it--it's just choice. And that is without even having finished Ultraman. Again, anyone who has followed my craziness for a few years knows that I have been going at a high level for about 10 years. I have had some necessary breaks and life crap like anyone else, but I have committed to a certain level that has felt "right" to me. And then for people who haven't known me very long, they might not know that what I am doing right now is actually quite normal for me. Maybe not normal for most people, but just fine for me. And that I am just tweaking my "normal" in order to hopefully finish Ultraman.

Aside from all that, I am a very sensitive, vulnerable person. It is just something that most do not take the time to see or admit to, because that would mean treating me as sensitive and vulnerable which is way more difficult than treating me as a tough bitch. I no longer think that I am somehow "hiding" this reality from others--I am pretty good at finding out other people's true natures--I thinkI just let people off the hook too easily. Because reality is, I am usually pretty excited about what I am doing training wise, as it does consume a lot of my spare time. And so that is what the initial projection is. But I have friends and acquaintances who do not do this stuff, and we are able to talk not at all about my shit! And yet, I find myself attracted to the others who do the same level of training as me, because it just makes sharing a lot of things so much easier. But I have observed that some of them just freak out when they discover the chinks in my armor. What the fuck, I am human just like anyone else! The thing is, I am able to work through quite a lot of shit while doing long workouts--I'd be a liar if I didn't admit to that. Sometimes I think I just FEEL too much. Working out is not a way out of that--in fact, I FEEL a lot while doing it. But sometimes it can help lessen or erase feeling bad while not doing it. I have strong feelings most of the time. Luckily, many of them are great, happy feelings, which is why I am usually smiling, snickering at some joke I have in my head or just grateful for all that I have in life. But when I have the bad feelings, they are quite strong, and I do not try and stop them anymore, although I do try and put a time limit on them.

Wow, I am really rambling today. Anyway, I had a great training week, almost as many hours as last week (19--should have hit 20 but I skipped one swim--oh well), felt pretty good all week, had really awesome run workouts, did my first-ever 4.8 mile swim, and what's funny is that I now realize that if I didn't work full-time, I could really do some spectacular amounts of training--gosh, maybe I will spend a year doing that--who knows? Getting used to 3 solid days of big training has been interesting--this week was better than last, with Friday being a 4.8-mile swim and 1 hour run, Saturday was a 3.25 hour trainer ride at tempo pace with a :35 run after, and today I ran 17 miles (at just over 1/2 mary pace) and swam :30 after. I am sure I will be pretty tired tomorrow morning, but I'll get through the day.

There are only 2 more big weeks and then comes a nice taper for Goofy Challenge. I will be tapering everything down, which will make Goofy feel like a real rest for me, and one that I need. I still remember 4 years ago when I was training for Goofy Challenge for the first time, and I was actually concerned about being fit enough to run both the 1/2 and full marathons! That was my first winter where I ran a lot, and I have run more since ROTPM than ever (close to 500 miles in 15 weeks--not too shabby), so it should be interesting going into Goofy with such a good running base for once.

As usual, I am behind on Christmas shopping, but I will get that done on time. I think this is the fittest I have ever been at this time of the year, and so going into the New Year, I only hope to look forward to another year of health and HUGE training!

Ugh...a Pretty Big Week

I'm not sure whether I'm going to go back to posting weekly stuff--some people dig on it, some don't, but I am going to post about last week:

Weekly Workout Totals	11/30/2009-12/06/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by my second race build of the season
Swim:	14300 yards (8.12 miles) in 4.95 hours 26% of weekly workout time Approx. 1733 calories burned Canadian: 13075.92 meters Planned weekly hours: 5.08 & yards: 13800
Bike:	Approx. 116.1 miles in 5.75 hours 30% of weekly workout time Approx. 3515 calories burned Total TSS=378 Canadian: 186.84 kilometers Planned weekly hours: 5.75
Run:	Approx. 40.54 miles in 6 hours 31% of weekly workout time Approx. 2730 calories burned Canadian: 65.24 kilometers Planned weekly hours: 5.5
Strength:	2.38 hours 12% of weekly workout time Approx. 595 calories burned Planned weekly hours: 1.42
All Sports:	Approx. 164.76 miles in 19.08 hours Approx. 8573 calories burned Canadian: 265.16 kilometers Planned weekly hours: 17.75
Walking/Hiking:	Approx. 0 miles in 0 hours
Sleep:	9.11 hours avg./night
Stretching:	3.37 hours. Massage: 1 hours

I changed my format to show the amount of time I had planned for each component (well except for sleep and stretching, because that is never planned in advance) because I have a sneaking suspicion that at some point I will not make my anticipated training hours. But who knows?

For right now (and this has been a trend since the beginning of my season, which was 8/31), I am typically running more than I planned much of the time because I start out being conservative in coming back from an event, then I realize that I am feeling good enough to ramp back up faster than I thought. Biking will stay on an even keel with my plans, since I am now relegated to the trainer, and well, as long as I complete the planned interval work, adding extra time isn't doing much for me. Swimming is a tough call--I've changed the plan so many times that I am never sure how much I need to be swimming on those Friday long swims. And my Sunday swim is completely optional, so my actual yardage can vary by 500-2500 yards in any given week! The strength work is off-kilter because of the extra things I am doing generally twice a week, which were unplanned, and are completely optional, and yet I have kept it up since the beginning of the season, to the tune of maybe :40 extra per week.

Things went pretty well last week. Mondays are always a bit rough, because unlike seasons past, in addition to Saturdays and Sundays being big training days, now my Fridays are as well. Although swimming 2.5 hours doesn't leave me as tired as running 2.5 hours, doing that amount of swimming and then another hour of running does. So my weekly fatigue pattern (with details about last week in particular) is like this:

• Monday: Feels great to swim in the morning, but I am at my slowest for the week. I am swimming 2700-3100 yards on Mondays. Feel pretty sluggish when starting to run mid-day, but I pick it up after about 1.5 miles in. Monday is an easy-ish run of :45-1:00.
  
• Tuesday: Feel pretty recovered from the prior week, enough so that lifting first thing in the morning feels good. Mid-day hard bike workout feels tough during warmup, but then the biking legs kick in and I usually hit all my power levels fine. My Tuesday ride is about 1:30 during the winter.
  
• Wednesday: Can usually nail a hard swim workout first thing in the morning. Wednesday swims are also 2700-3100 yards for the time being. Run legs have had some rest now, and I generally nail a good tempo run mid-day of around an hour.
  
• Thursday: The hard bike and run workouts are creating a good bit of fatigue, but I usually manage to get in another 1/2 hour of lifting in the morning, and then wonder if I can hit my power levels for the mid-day hard bike workout. I usually surprise myself and do just fine. It's another 1:30 ride. I make sure to stuff myself at dinner these evenings because Friday is a big day.
• Friday: Yippee, I am going to swim for awhile! Even though I've written workouts for these beastly swims (OK to me they are beastly), I sort of just get in the water and figure out what I feel like doing, which is a mix of some really long, straight swimming plus some intervals. I have to stop every now and then and do a little kicking because 6,000+ yards is a long time to keep goggles on my face. I bought some Swedish goggles to try out so maybe I don't look like an accident victim after these swims. I have become careful to take in calories and hydration during these festivals now, because if I have any desire to do another workout later, I need to keep up my intake. Also, I am eating a second breakfast of about 500 calories afterwards, which helps in recovery and setting me up for another workout. At first, I thought I wouldn't be able to run after say, 7,000 yards, but proved myself wrong. As long as I keep shoving in calories, it doesn't seem to be a problem. The biggest problem I have is that the more I swim on Fridays (it is just getting longer and longer with some breaks for races/events), the earlier I need to wake up because I need to be done swimming by 8:30AM. I did 7,500 yards last Friday. My longest swim. EVER. And then I ran for an hour, the same route I ran on Wednesday, and you know what? I was only slower by about 2" per mile!!!
  
• Saturday: This is long ride day, and then I do a short transition run afterwards not because I need to do brick workouts (running off the bike is more a matter of running frequently and being used to running whether you want to or not than it is of practicing running after riding, and I have proven this to myself time and time again), but because it's an opportunity to get in another run so I may as well do it. This weekend when I woke up on Saturday morning, it felt like I had a hangover, and I have come to know this feeling as "holy fuck you've trained a lot already." AKA, training hangover. Last week, I had already put in 13 hours before Saturday, which I think is probably a new high. When training for "just" an Ironman, I start to "feel it" when my weekday training starts getting close to 10 hours, so 13 is a huge jump. Good thing I am getting used to it now because it is just going to get worse as the weeks go on! But mostly because of the swimming, so it's not as bad as it would be if it were due to running a whole lot more (although that will happen the last 8 weeks before UMC). Anyway, I got through the hangover feeling by starting my ride with Mountain Dew, and after my warmup, when I got to work on my power intervals, I did just fine (2:45 worth). I surprised myself by running really well afterwards for :40.
  
• Sunday: Right now this is my long run day, and I expect to be tired when I start, but hey, it's not a work day, and it's not like I have to ride 100 miles, so it can't be too bad, can it? I wanted to get in 15 miles yesterday. I had a little of that training hangover feeling, but not as bad as Saturday morning. I took a can of Coke, a bottle of Infinit and a 32-oz. bottle of Gatorade with me to the gym to run on the treadmill. I made a workout for myself because, well, if I write it down, I will usually do it. So I did 2 hours on the treadmill, even doing the last 1/2 hour slightly faster than predicted, then I headed to the indoor track to do 10' fast and 10' easy. I surprised myself for the 10' fast by running sub-10K pace, and then I kept going only just easily. There was this woman doing some sort of circuit stuff trackside, and she was on the track for a bit during my fast piece, and I just smoked by her. When I was maybe 3' into the easy part, she came blazing by me and well, my ego got the better of me, so I thought I'd see if I could pick it up, and I did and got just behind her so she could hear me breathing for maybe 1/8 of a lap and then I blew past her. Well that alleged easy 10' was not very much slower than the hard 10'! But I had fun! I ended up getting in 15.4 miles in 2:20 total. What was funny was that while I was on the treadmill I would periodically try and get it to show me my heart rate and it was in the dumpster! Either I am getting really fit or something! I swam 1,000 yards really easily afterwards and then spent like an hour in the hot tub.
  

So that is how my weeks go. It is key that I sleep enough to support this stuff, and I generally don't have trouble with that except Saturday night, I didn't feel like stuffing myself, and ate what I thought would be enough. Well, I couldn't fall asleep, so I got up and ate about 300 more calories, thought that would be plenty. Woke up an hour later and made a sandwich, and that finally did the trick. So I am finding that eating to support this new activity level is challenging, but mostly so because I am unused to doing so much this time of year. I generally get sick of the plethora of carbs by the end of my season, so staying at a high level of training has been interesting. The amount of rice I am eating is incredible! I am starting to incorporate more frequent snacks, since I don't enjoy eating a whole lot at once (unless it's sushi--in which case BACK OFF because I will eat anything in sight). So Saturday's grocery trip had me buying candy, cookies and chips. I gotta eat something! The thought occurred to me this morning that maybe I should consult with a nutritionist (or whatever they are called), but I have so much to do as it is and I don't feel bad and I am getting my workouts done and recovering as best I can from them, so I don't really know what they would tell me.

Anyway, when all is said and done, that was a helluva big week, and this week will be a bit more. As long as I can keep proving to myself that I can do the really big training for 4-6 week blocks at a time, I am good to go. Will it be enough for Ultraman? I don't know just yet. But I need to keep it going here for just a few more weeks before I get a nice taper (and I will taper EVERYTHING, not just running) for Goofy Challenge.

Whereas I will typically say "Ironman training isn't that hard," what I am doing now seems to be a little hard. I feel like I need to do more things perfectly than before. Like sleeping and stretching. Eating is coming along, too.

On that note, hope everyone had a great week!

A Late Post-Season Analysis

I lifted these questions off of a Jim Vance blog post and thought it was about time I did some reflection on my 2008-2009 training and racing season. Here goes:

1. Season Goals - What were they? Did we achieve them?
My season goals were to enjoy one more year of Ironman level training and racing, hopefully culminating in a best-ever performance at IMLP and to avenge the poor season I had the year before (which couldn't be helped following the death of my Dad, but still...). In the back of my mind from the get go was that I was going to be done with Ironman in some shape or form.

Did I achieve this? Hell yeah. I felt so free from the bulk of the work in administering my Dad's estate, it felt like a get out of jail free card. I also had much of my house remodeled at the start of the season, so it was like I was set for a new beginning. I almost pinched myself when I also began a new relationship that I enjoyed in so many ways, and even though it ended, I didn't let it stop my momentum.

IMLP was nearly a perfect race for me. I made one rookie mistake on the run which was to wear something for the first time (hey, but the pirate thing looked cool, didn't it?) that caused me some GI distress, and then I was so stubborn in doing what I should have done earlier (puking). Still, the thing I am most proud of was that I was very much aware of how much physical pain I was in by going for the PR, and I moved through it just fine.

While I was ecstatic about my IMLP result, it was eclipsed by what happened next, which was a decision to just go for it and try double IM distance over 4 days as a training exercise, which got me to thinking that maybe I should register for Ultraman, and well, we all know how that turned out! I surprised myself by completing ROTPM in style and faster than I had dreamed possible.

2. What was the highest point of the season, the thing you were most excited about?
The highest point of the season was a couple of weeks before IMLP when I sat down and calculated what time I thought I could finish in. And I wrote the numbers on the big mirror in my bedroom so I could look at them every day and let them sink in together with a few inspirational quotes, the most notable one being (and it's still on there): "There is still pain but it does not bother you." And I wasn't very far off from the time prediction in the end except for my misstep on the run. In a way, it was this "knowing" that was even more exciting to me than the race itself. Knowing, believing and seeing that all the signs pointed to being in my best shape ever.

3. What were the misses this season? The things we didn't accomplish or missed out on.
My only real miss was at Triple T, in that I got sick and couldn't do the 1/2 Ironman. But at the time I knew that I had exceeded my own stress threshold, and in a way, it was a good thing, because I took some corrective actions right after that to get me back on track.

4. How did you feel about your fitness this year? What were the biggest strengths?
I can't remember ever feeling as fit, and it was evidenced in my race/event performances. My biggest strength continues to be my cycling, but I worked extra hard on my running this season, too, and saw some good improvements there, particularly in my ability to withstand more intensity and duration than in years past.

5. What in your training brought about the strengths?
Some of this may have been due to achieving an all-time low race weight but adding extra strength to the mix, so that I am certain I did not lose muscle mass. And it wasn't intentional. I had just been trying to shed maybe 4 lbs. of winter weight (having someone guess that you weigh 10 lbs. more than you do can help kick start change!) that I added due to some poor (but fun!) eating habits. At any rate, I found I was able to run faster and farther with seemingly no ill effects, and I did not lose any power on the bike. The other thing that may have helped is taking an unintentional break after jacking my back in November. Who knows about that, though?

At any rate, I biked harder and farther sooner in the training season than normal, and I ran hard whenever I felt like it and also added distance to my long runs over years past. Whether the ability to do this was based on my weight/body comp or accumulated experience or a slight rest in November doesn't really matter. The point is I could sense that I was able to push things more and so I did.

Also, right after Triple T, I began getting more sleep than I usually do in the traditional 8-week leadup to Ironman. And I believe that is making a huge difference in my ability to recover from very hard training.

6. What were your weaknesses in fitness?
Swimming. While I swam a decent amount for a triathlete, I just didn't push myself in the pool as I have in years past. I didn't really get any slower, but I didn't get any faster, either.

7. What could have been done to address these weaknesses in fitness?
Um...swim more and with more focus. Like I'm doing now! Get some swim coaching.

8. If you could change one thing about the season, what would it have been?
The only thing I can think of is that I should have realized my need for more sleep earlier on.

9. Based on this season, what are some initial goals for next year?
Well we are already in next year, aren't we? The big goal is to finish Ultraman Canada. In order for that to happen, I need to feel mentally and physically confident about the distances and the mental fortitude to do and absorb a greater amount of training than I've ever done while staying employed and not letting the rest of my life (relationships, house, R&R) go to hell. And making sure I continue to have fun training. Because I really do love it! Since I really won't be doing many races before UMC, the mental aspect is going to be even more pronounced, and I am already working on improving my mental strength and visualization. And I am finding and leaning on anyone I can to help me along the way to UMC with pep talks, training advice, inspirational stories, and a shoulder to cry on when it all stresses me out.

The other big goal is to figure out what I want to do after Ultraman. I am sure the journey will lead me to the answer to that question!

I could talk about some other life goals I've got going, too, but this is supposed to be about triathlon, isn't it?

10. Anything else you want to discuss about this year and next year?
Yes. I want to discuss how grateful and tickled I am to find myself doing what I am doing at this stage of my life. Knowing that it's not for everyone, and that it doesn't make me any better of a person than anyone else, but I can't help but feel excited and maybe obsessed. Is that such a bad thing? I don't know. I do know that my time here on Earth is limited, and I have no idea how long I will be this fit and healthy, so the time is now to do something with it, eh?

The Mind Games

Training to get faster and go farther is a mind game. Your brain thinks you might get hurt and holds back your pace or tries to get you to stop. The objective is to override the thought process and move beyond the pain, in fact, fooling your brain into thinking what you are doing is normal and you won't get hurt. Our brains are so concerned with our physical well-being that they will put on the brakes well in advance of actual physical shutdown.

Over the years, I've learned that I can push out the point, for example, when I will actually bonk. I've learned to understand my brain's signals that are telling me I might be running out of fuel and sometimes ignore them. And then if I actually make it to full bonk, I rather enjoy it, because it's like I "beat myself." But if I don't, joke's on me--I may be able to make it farther the next time a bonk is imminent.

Same with really hard workouts, especially threshold intervals on the trainer. Your brain is yelling at your legs that what you are doing is hard so you should just give up and quit. But there are ways to effectively ignore the message and just keep going. One way is sheer motivation. After all, if you don't mentally see the point in what you are doing, why would you keep doing it? Another way is by forcing yourself to relax. Yes, relax! When you make your legs relax just a bit, the pedal strokes can become smoother and easier. Another way is to tell yourself that you can finish the interval and then relax. Sometimes the brain gives in once it knows that what you are doing is going to stop soon enough. Finally, there's the element of practice or repetition. If you keep doing something that your brain finds difficult, if you do it often enough, you are able to override the controls.

Why is it that we can sprint at the end of an Ironman, yet we couldn't run that fast the entire time? Because we always have a reserve left in us. Part of the ability to access that reserve is to practice doing it in training. A lot! Like if I'm really tired and would rather not do a workout, I go and do it anyway, because what's the worst that can happen? Partway through I decide to bag it anyway. Or not, and it ends up going really well. On many outdoor runs, I make it a point to run the last mile home as fast as I can for the distance I've gone on the day. It's even become a game to try and hold back from doing this, but it just comes naturally. Just yesterday, it happened again, and I even had a little bit of the dry heaves when I finished! See this is a sign that I pushed it a little, and while my brain is telling my body to make like I'm about to keel over, I just laugh at it (I really do laugh when it happens) and know that next time it won't feel any worse.

Should I play this game during every workout? No. But I have developed a sense when it's OK to go faster or farther than I had planned, and I take advantage of it whenever I can. I suppose that's part of the reason my nickname is Crackhead. But really, it's all one big controlled experiment, because whenever I do try and push the envelope, I find out whether it was the right thing to do or not. And I guess I've just developed a good relationship with Mr. Brain, because part of the game is learning how frequently I can do it and recover from it.

I'm sure it seems to many people that I have the most regimented training plan. In a sense, I do. But now that I am training for something that is only a known ANSWER with an infinite number of QUESTIONS, I am letting the "plan" be a guideline, for what I think I can do at any given point in time. I know very well how to make an ATP, and this time was no different. I chose some events around which to build key training sessions, and then wove it all together with build up, taper and recovery. And then I started in on it, and found out that having no idea what I really could do against the so-called plan, that I felt freer to experiment here and there and it's been completely fun! Well, fun if you like training a lot. Which I do.

But Mr. Brain is always working and just waiting for me to try something that he can make me fail at. There is actually a section of my plan that starts in May that I have a post-it flag on with a note to "revisit this." So far, every time I look at what I have on there I just sort of shake my head and go how the fuck am I going to do that? But I have learned already that I am able to do things now that I didn't think I'd be doing for 3 or 4 months, so maybe by the time May rolls around, I will just "do the plan." Or not. Who knows?

It's been hilarious that I will be in the middle of some workout where I am really pushing myself and I let Mr. Brain just wander and instead of trying to get me to stop, he starts thinking what ELSE I can do! This is an interesting phenomenon, because while that process used to only happen a couple of times a year, now it is happening every few weeks, and it is really fantastic. I only write this down because I have no idea if this is the same thing that other people experience or not. It is just such a cool state of mind to be in, because half of what comes to mind is visualization for finishing Ultraman or what happens afterward (it's a secret for now), and the other half is what can I be doing now to make that a certainty?

I know other athletes who say they "train by feel," and I guess maybe this is what they mean? I guess it's taken me 10 years to get there, but then again, I never was very athletic until now. I am still 100% convinced that the act of training big and hard is very much a mental exercise. You have to believe you can do it, even when other things in your life are dragging you down mentally or physically, when you are having a bad workout (rare for me!) or when you are unable to override your brain and actually hold back your pace or workout time. Underneath all that, is you have to want it, believe in it and feel it. For me, it's this sense of a "mission." What I'm doing to me is like art--I'm doing it for its own sake, because I've figured out how to do it and am somewhat good at it.

To me, this is all pretty cool for a regular working stiff. I am not going to break any records or change the world by doing this. All I can change is myself. I just need to keep Mr. Brain on board with it!

Ultraman Training is Quite the Ride

So I'm now 13 weeks officially into Ultraman training, and I have to say, it's quite the ride.

I remember a few years ago when what scared me the most about ever doing an Ultraman was the run. I am still scared of that! But then something changed and I was more concerned about the swim. Now I am not so concerned about the swim except for being able to complete it and keep going on the bike.

I made my first attempt at a season plan about 3 months ago. When I first saw it all laid out on paper, all I could think was, "How the fuck am I going to do this?" And I also had thoughts as to whether I was breaking things up correctly and scheduling big training events that would prepare me mentally and physically for Ultraman. Since this is all new to me, I have left myself open for all sorts of change, but I am still sticking with my basic outline. I know that just like for an Ironman that the last 12-16 weeks before the race are critical, and that all the weeks before that just prepare me for those last 12-16 weeks.

What's really different about this training is that I didn't take my usual off season. I know there are many people who know me that think I have never taken one ever, but in fact, I typically cut down my training hours for at least 8-10 weeks to around 10-12 per week. This season, not so much. Instead, I ran like a fool, held back on biking and kept up a pretty hefty swimming schedule. All good! As it turns out, the break from biking didn't really cost me very much at all in the way of power, as I kept up 2 high intensity rides per week. Plus it put me in the mindset that 1:30 on a trainer is not very much time at all, so moving that up to 2 hours and more hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be.

Serendipitously we have had the nicest fall weather here in...well as long as I have lived here, I think. While it did get cold early in October, it has stayed fairly mild with not much rain or snow, and so I've been running outside most of the time. That is both good and bad--good as in I always run faster outdoors but bad as in I am running on concrete or asphalt, and winter is when my legs typically get a break because I spend more time on a treadmill. But having gotten used to running in colder temps than I have in years past has been a good thing, so as long as it's not icy, I am fine with continued outdoor running, but I am sure it will eventually be crappy enough to relegate me to the treadmill fulltime, which is just fine by me. I am used to doing pace-based runs on the treadmill, and it's actually good training for me.

Now on the swimming, I am ahead of where I thought I'd be on that weekly long swim, which is also to the good. I hit a bit of a snag this past Wednesday when I got to my pool only to find it will be closed for 2-3 weeks because the main pump has failed! But there's another pool not too far away that I can drive to and they always give me a deal on the rate they charge me to swim there, and besides there's a hot tub, so it's not so bad.

On the strength front, I am keeping up with that and then some. It seems all the extra stuff I am subjecting my upper body to is paying off in the pool--not so much in speed, but in durability. I have yet to feel like I have totally trashed my arms while swimming, although on Fridays they seem to be rather useless which is cool since I usually do an easy run later in the day and who needs arms to run?

I had scheduled my usual Thanksgiving weekend (or close to) 1/2 Ironman to be done indoors for yesterday. I think it was maybe 2 weeks ago that I was looking at my training schedule and thought, "Why don't I just do the really long swim as part of it?" And a new idea was born, and so yesterday that's what I did--4 mile swim, 60-mile bike (trainer) and 13.1 mile run (treadmill). The objective was to find out how it feels to hop on a bike after a pretty long swim and use it as a test of taking in serious nutrition while swimming.

Now, I could have done this all today instead of yesterday, but something in my brain said I should do it Friday and then I'd have 2 days off from training. Of course, then I would have no rest before doing it, which was fine by me. Originally I had planned on doing my local Thanksgiving Day 5K race, but I opted out of it since I didn't think that would be a great idea before a pretty long training day.

To spice things up a bit, on Tuesday I had a very long day at work due to a late afternoon crisis. Then on Wednesday morning, I had to work for about an hour very early, and once I convinced myself that things couldn't get any worse while I swam, I left for the pool, only to find mine was closed which added some time as I had to drive further and all. Still, I got in my swim, resolved the work crisis pretty soon after I returned home, and managed to run for an hour mid-day. After I finished working, I got a head start on a side dish for Thanksgiving by peeling and slicing sweet potatoes and a bunch of apples.

I slept in a little on Thursday morning, but felt a little tired. I baked a pie, finished my strength routine, did a :45 run (finishing on the track with my fastest mile in months!), and then got on the trainer intending to go for an hour easy, but stopped after :50, which was fine. I finished my side dish for T-day dinner and headed off to my brother's. It was great to just hang with family and relax, and when we sat down to dinner, I ate a lot for me, knowing what I was going to do the next day, but I should have eaten more carbs. I am such a carnivore, and I love turkey, so I went heavy on that, but still managed plenty of sides. And then I had 2 small slices of 2 different pies, and that about put me into an insulin coma!

I had fixed my bottles for yesterday's festival on Thursday morning, too, which was a good thing, because by the time I got home after dinner I was too tired to do much of anything but set the coffee pot and pick out what I would wear to work out in.

When I woke up yesterday, I thought it was going to be interesting, since I had already put in a good deal of training Monday-Thursday (just over 9 hours). I got up at 5AM and immediately chowed down a Power Bar with some coffee and got the Ultrafuel out of the refrigerator, and then I drank that around 5:30. I organized my swim stuff and bike clothes to change into when I was done swimming, and was in the car about 6:10 to drive to the pool.

I decided to stretch about 5 minutes before I got into the pool, and I started swimming at 6:35. The water was nice and cool, and I had a belly full of coffee, Ultrafuel and Power Bar. I knew I wouldn't want to take in any more calories or fluids for quite awhile, and so I ended up swimming 3500 straight before I took a break. I forced myself to take a big slug of a bottle of Infinit to see what it would feel like to keep going with yet more stuff in my stomach. It seemed I was burning off calories at a pretty good clip, and that I was actually thirsty, so the fluid was a good idea.

At some point, some yahoo got into the lane with me and created quite a wave, during which I took in a pretty big gulp of water, but no worries, maybe 1200 yards later I peed it right back into the pool so I wouldn't feel guilty about stealing the pool water. I stopped to drink Infinit again after 2500 yards, and that polished off a full bottle of Infinit (about 20 oz.), and I was pretty happy with that considering that I hadn't been awake very long before pounding down calories.

When I finished swimming, I went and spent 5 minutes in the hot tub to stretch and well, warm up. Truth be told, I was a little chilled from a 7,000 yard swim! But then it was back to business with a quick shower, change clothes and head home to get on the bike.

When I first started pedalling, I was like OMG this is going to suck! But just as if I'd been doing a 1/2 IM, I let myself start off real easily for 15 minutes, and then I started looking at the power meter and deciding what I was going to do. I actually rode kind of easy for about 45 minutes, but then I picked it up. I did the first 30 miles in 1:34 (which included a potty stop), but got the second 30 miles done in 1:27 (which included eating a bunch of potato chips and getting another bottle of Infinit). My average cadence was 99. I have really turned into a spinner this season, and I don't know what that means, but it's fine by me. I was a little surprised at the desire for the potato chips, since my Infinit is loaded with a ton of sodium, but they tasted good so note to self for Ultraman I may want Jay's (NOT Lay's) potato chips on the bike.

After I finished biking, I changed clothes because I was completely disgusting, loaded my small cooler with 2 Cokes, some Gatorade, the remaining Infinit that I had from the swim in case I wanted that, and Endurox R4 to chug as soon as I was finished.

I got to the Y and they gave me some shit about my card and payments and I told them I needed to get going on getting this workout done and could we deal with this when I finished? They agreed, and I headed to the locker room just to drop stuff off and then it was down to the cardio room.

My favorite treadmill--the one at the rightmost end of the row, which is under a ceiling fan and also at the lowest point of the room so it gets some draft from the cool basketball court area--was available, so that's where I parked, with my cooler just on the outside right. I really wondered how running would feel since I've only run off the bike like twice in the last 2.5 months. But I fired up the machine at a nice easy pace (9:50) and headed to it. Usually my ego gets the better of me and I want to run a lot faster than that, but I figured for today it would be fine if I was just under 10mpm. After all, the point of today was to complete a really long workout beginning with a really long swim.

For the first hour of running, all I wanted was Coke. And not defizzed, thank you! That is one of the pleasures of treadmill running--I can drink the Coke straight out of the can with all the fizziness! I love it that way! I know it looks a little strange to people passing by in the gym to see me swilling a can of Coke, but I don't fucking care. At least once each winter someone asks me why I am drinking pop (which is what we call it up here in the North), to which I reply, "Well, it's just sugar like Gatorade only it has CAFFEINE!"

I ran nice and easy for 1:05, then I decided it was time to go faster, because I was getting bored. Running a bit faster didn't seem to be a big deal. I switched from Coke to Gatorade for this last bit, even though I was already pretty much salt-covered. I occasionally will lick my shoulder to see how much salt I am throwing off just because, I don't know--I am weird that way. Anyway, the tunes were good, my legs felt fine, and I finished off the run in about 2:04. Not very fast for a 1/2 IM for me, but I was pleased with it.

As soon as I was finished, I could tell I was famished, and so I showered and headed home to begin refueling. As always, though, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I was more plain tired than hungry, so I ended the day with about a 2,000 calorie deficit, which I am gradually making up today. I did notice that my shoulders were predictable a little irksome right when I finished. I can usually tell how dehydrated I am by tapping on my deltoids during an Ironman, but this was a little more intense. Still, fluids and additional stretching fixed that right up.

While I was biking yesterday, I thought that maybe I should turn more of my weekends into a long swim/long ride day, and so I will be doing that over the next few weeks before Goofy and then after that. I figure every other week I can just move my Friday long swim to Saturday and do it before I ride so that I make it an Ultraman-specific training session, eh?

Like I said, every few weeks as I observe my body's response to my training, I come up with some sort of change based on what I've been able to do. So far so good! I am pleased that I am ahead of my original plan on swimming, and now that I know what it feels like to bike after a long swim, I think I can do that more often which is all to the good. And I'm back to a normal IM-level run volume. I've got 3 more weeks of decent mileage run weeks ahead of me before Goofy, and then I start my run taper. As I've said before, if I make it through all this training up to and including Goofy, it will be very telling as far as my ability to absorb all this craziness.

Today I am predictably very tired (and hungry). I don't feel like what I did yesterday was that big of a deal--after all, it wasn't an Ironman, and it wasn't an 8-hour run. But usually I would take a day of rest before doing something like this and this time I didn't. So I expect to just lay around and eat the rest of the day, and if I feel good enough tomorrow, I might just go for a short swim. Or not--tomorrow is completely optional!

Oh and my physique is changing yet again. My upper body (pecs, shoulders and upper back) are definitely larger, to the point of my swimsuits fitting interestingly. I feel like my ribcage is expanding from all the breathing! I am holding my weight at 108-111 (depending on time of day and hydration status), so I suspect I've become just a tad leaner. I feel really solid, and am really looking forward to Goofy to feel just how "easy" it seems compared to the last two times I did it. And then just making it through to the end of the year will be a real hallmark, since it will mean I've survived the first 18 weeks of training. OMG I just checked and there are only 30 weeks after that until Ultraman Canada! I need to stay on top of this!

All in all, I have to say so far that I am just positively delighted with what I have been able to do and how my body is responding to a different mix. I feel so totally stoked that I am able to do this. This weekend is Ultraman Kona. When I read about the people who are doing it and why, I am right there with them. Although if they asked me why I am doing this, I would say, "Because it is such an incredible gift to experience taking my mind and body to this level." In that way, I suppose it is like art--I seem to be doing this for it's own sake--not that it has any redeeming social qualities (nor does it have to if you ask me)--and while there are those around me who feel that I am somehow short-shrifting the rest of my life (for example, I guess I am supposed to be on the hunt for a man, and while I absolutely love men and sex and relationships and all that, I have never, NEVER put any aspect of my life on hold for it), I say NO! You cannot possibly know what it is like to do this unless you do it and do it with joy and passion and then well, whatever you or society thinks about what is a balanced life and all that bullshit, all I can say is that you will never know what you can find out about yourself by putting yourself through this. This isn't for everyone, certainly. If I were cut out for the average life, then I suppose that is what I would be living. But I'm not.

I suppose I should have come up with a name for what I did yesterday other than a 77.1! On my training spreadsheet I was calling it ModerateMan, since moderate is sort of the antonym of ultra. And I did do it at a "moderate" pace. So that's it, I guess. I did a ModerateMan!

Keeping it Going

I know it's only Friday, but I've had a great training week so far, as I get close to normal run volume for my Goofy prep and normal bike volume with an eye towards Ultraman (which means I will be doing a tad more biking that I normally would this time of year).

After my struggling through a long run on Sunday, I fixed a great dinner and got a good night's sleep and figured I'd start the week on a good note, which I did. Monday's swim was 2900 yards, and I felt pretty good in the water, after doing my now usual 20' of pushups, chinups, bridges, assorted abs and stuff. A short 45' run in the afternoon was good--I am still getting my hill legs back, so considering I have to run uphill right from home, I started off slow, but as I kept going I picked up speed and felt great.

On Tuesday I had to bike for 1:30, and got on the trainer and felt like I had my biking legs back! And this was great considering I'd lifted early in the morning.

Wednesday was a short but hard swim, and I'm sure my tongue was hanging out at the wall in between fast 100's and 50's, but it felt good. Later in the day I ran on the treadmill because it was raining, but I nailed a tempo run that felt pretty darn good. Oh yeah, I did my 20' of stuff before I swam, too.

Thursday was another 1:30 trainer ride and finish up my strength training for the week. I wasn't as strong on the bike as on Tuesday, but I am adjusting to 1:30 rides and also trying to put up the watts, so I am not concerned.

Today I swam 7,000 yards for the first time ever! I had 6500 on my plan, but I got in the pool by 6AM so figured I had time for 7,000 so why not? I am always working on my stroke mechanics, and today was no exception. 7,000 gives you a lot of time for that! I did it as 1000 free, 2500 pull, 500 kick (to rest my arms a bit), 5x500 fast with 30" rest, then 300 back and 200 kick. I have written workouts for these long swims, but I am also open to just going with the flow, and that's what my flow told me to do today. I only started to feel tired during the last 500 in the 5x500, and that was no big surprise. I did polish off all 20 oz. of Gatorade during the swim, and I need to be on that since I will need to take in calories during the Ultraman swim.

7,000 yards is not a lot for a lifetime swimmer, I know that. And technically, I don't have to be doing this much all at once this early in my Ultraman prep, but the way I'm doing the swim thing is 2 shorter swims on Monday and Wednesday (2500-3500 yards), Friday is the big, long swim, and then Sunday (through March) is 1000-1500 after my long run just for some extra time in the pool and to recover from the run. Ideally, I'd swim 4-5,000 three times a week and then a longer swim, but I just don't have time, and oh, hey, I also need to train for a 52.4 mile run and then there's like, what, 260 miles of biking in Ultraman? So I need to allocate my time carefully, and I think I am getting in enough swimming. As they say on the Ultraman website, there are many ways to train for this beast, and not everyone will need to train the same way. Since I am going in just to finish, I want to be confident in my ability to swim 10K strongly and still have energy left to bike 90 miles the same day. And then bike 170 miles the next day and run 52.4 miles the third day. Lucky for me, I was already swimming a good amount during the summer, and instead of dropping down to some paltry amount like 8,000 yards a week, which is what I would normally do this time of year, I just kept up my yardage and then some. I was already used to 3-mile swims, although I can say those are not that big a deal anymore. So my plan is to stay at about 7,000-7,500 for that long swim between now and March 1, and then, with that base, build up to the 11,000 yard swim. I have also needed to find out how much I can swim on Friday morning and still not be too tired to run later in the day and it looks like that number is 7,000 yards. Although odds are 7,500 won't be too bad, either.

Oh yeah, I keep changing around my training here and there because it's an iterative, learning process. I registered for the Midwest Indoor Triathlon Series again, only there are only 3 races this time. I thought (because I am date dyslexic at times) that the first one was only 2 weeks after Goofy so I wouldn't do it, but then after looking at my spreadsheet like 10 times, I realized that it's actually 3 weeks after Goofy, which means I can do all 3 races! I'm actually glad it's only 3 and not 4, which means I will only totally trash myself 3 times over 6 weeks. Although once I am done with those (and on race days I will do the warmups and race and then finish out a long run afterwards), my training just gets, well, scary, but I am not going to worry about it now!

Also today around 12:30 I went and ran for 50', and it was a beautiful, sunny day and 52! We are just having our best weather ever for November, and I am (as are all other area runners) capitalizing on it. I went out with a lightweight long sleeved shirt on, but took it off after about a mile. I ended up doing one of my fastest runs in a few months! Since I nailed my tempo run on Wednesday and today went so well, it appears I have recovered from my last bout of run focus, and maybe even picked up a teensy bit of speed from it! This is just as I hoped! I'm not expecting to set any PR's at Goofy--I just want to be able to come out of it and recover fast and keep up my training momentum.

And to me, this is the name of the game. Getting my body used to this so that as I go longer and longer, I am still able to recover pretty quickly and move on. I was pretty amazed at how well I performed during ROTPM considering it was just 5 weeks after my best ever IM performance. And then I did some massive run training for North Face, and even though I pulled out at 35 miles (and in retrospect, it was due to guess what? SHOE LACES TOO FUCKING TIGHT!! And putting extra pressure on the tibialis anterior tendon which is all fixed up now), hey, it was still 35 miles, and I've come back pretty well from that. So I will want to be able to do the same after Goofy Challenge. But heck, Goofy will be all about fun and I am not worried about it at all. After all, it's just a marathon!

If I'm able to execute on all my other planned training for the week, I'll end up at about 17 1/4 hours for the week, not bad at all. If you had asked me a year ago whether I'd be training this much now, I would have said NO WAY! Just goes to show you how things change.

As to my ability to eat enough calories to keep with all of this, well let's just say my training is a bit ahead of my appetite right now, since it's just so foreign for me to be putting in this much this time of year. And I have come to really like salads with dinner, big ones, and that leaves little room for the rice or other starchy carbs which it seems I need. But I am paying more careful attention to the amount and timing of food, and when all else fails, I just drink another beer--it is carbs, after all. Let's just say I do not have concerns about eating too much. In fact, I have been munching on leftover Halloween candy for what, 2 or 3 weeks now, and it has no impact on me. Actually, sometimes concentrated calories are just what I need because I can't fit any more bulk into my tummy at night. All good, all part of this unique experience that I am putting myself through.

I have ups and downs mentally, and this is almost worse than Ironman training. It is like most of the day I have food, training, stretching, sleeping or other life organization in the back of my mind even as I am doing my regular job. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, and then I do something like my longest swim ever and I am all stupid happy. I wish I was training with someone else doing the same thing, but I don't know anyone else locally who is as stupid as I am! Sometimes I think I am too old to be doing this, but then I feel so amazingly great I can't believe it and figure I should just continue on. It is a rollercoaster, and I feel like I really need to cut loose, only the big goal is always looming so mostly I don't. I do intend to cut loose next weekend--pretty sad that the only way I can make myself do so is to do a fucking 1/2 Ironman on Saturday so I don't have to do any training on Sunday! But, hey, it works for me, and as long as I keep seeing progress towards the goal, I am basically happy.

Sometimes I don't know why I keep writing all this stuff down, but I guess some people like to read it to know what goes on in the mind of a crazy person who chooses to do this stuff. It would be interesting if someone followed me around with a video camera--I bet they would get some really interesting facial expressions. Like when I lift myself out of the pool after my Friday workout, or when I wake up on Monday morning and think about what I have to get done this week. Ah well...on that note, I must go and stretch now so I can be ready for the weekend's festivities!

Back to our Regularly Scheduled Training

This week I tweaked my Monday/Wednesday pre-swim routine to include standing on one foot a few times, at the suggestion of my bike fitter. So now my routine consists of 30-35 chinups, 60 pushups, 65-70 abs variations, 2 sets of 90" bridges on each side and to center, and standing on one leg. I still want to add jump rope to the mix, but will wait one more week as my legs adjust to running. All this takes about 20', and I've added a few more things to my regular strength routine as well, so somehow I ended up doing almost 2 hours of strength work this week. Oh well, I need it, with all the swimming I'm doing and making myself strong to withstand the amount of training I am throwing at myself.

Running went well this week--on Wednesday, the body decided it was ready for some 5K pace work, even though I was trying to hold back. Oh well! Sometimes you just need to let things happen.

Weather here has been mild for this time of the year, so all my running has been outdoors. Tuesday I biked outdoors on the MTB, since I just couldn't see being inside when it was so nice. Thursday brought some extra stress, so I decided to skip my bike workout, figuring I might make some of it up on Saturday.

Friday morning I did my longest swim workout to date--6200 yards--and it went well. I got in and started swimming and thought it was a good day to swim continuously, which I did for 5,000 yards, and then I kicked 700 and did backstroke for 500 (I'm adding backstroke in here and there just to balance out my over developed pectorals). I'm already ahead of schedule for my Friday long swims, and it got me to thinking about looking at other training I have scheduled for Fridays which is usually a run. Well I'm OK running on the same day as 2-2:15 worth of swimming, but once those swims start taking 2:30 or more, I'm not so sure. So today I once again tweaked the training plan to account for that. I can move those Friday runs to Tuesday or Thursday depending on what else I have going. But I did run on Friday, and it was a good run.

Yesterday I was thinking I'd do 1-1:30 on the bike indoors and then head outside and make up a little for my missed Thursday workout. Instead, I started out by raking leaves for about 1:45, and while I was out there, for some reason I thought I'd see if I could fire up my old Trek road bike which hasn't been ridden since 2006, which is when I got LGL. So I took that bike down from the hooks in the garage, pumped the tires and lo and behold they held air, waited a few minutes, wiped down the frame, lubed it up and got ready to ride.

I thought I'd ride for 2:30-3:00, but ended up around 3:20, maybe 56 miles, but who knows since I had no computer. And I bonked nicely, recalling I hadn't really eaten enough carbs on Friday night. I am still getting used to fueling myself for these really long swims--I know to eat well the night before, but need to get used to eating more the day of, too. Finished up the ride and was plenty tired and bonky, but slammed down some leftover Halloween candy (Juicy Fruits) and guzzled some Gatorade and took off for 1/2 hour run. Oh boy, I felt like I was running through mud, but really didn't do all that bad and did my :30.

Needless to say, I ate a lot yesterday, or so I thought, but in retrospect should have had more. When I woke up this morning, it felt like I had a hangover, but I couldn't have (2 beers), so figured it was just the shock of 4 hours of working out (more like 6 if you count raking leaves). Still, I wanted to go for a 1:30 run today, so luckily I had defizzed a can of Coke for the run, and decided I better slam one down before I started, too.

I went to Waterfall Glen and felt like I was really struggling. So much so that I thought of just bagging the run, but then I thought, hey what if I feel like this in Ultraman am I going to suck it up or what? So I kept going, and was even managing a decent pace, although I stopped every 1/2 mile or so just to stop and stretch and continued on. I managed to get in 10 miles, and I had packed a swim bag, but on the way home I was thinking food seemed like a better idea than a recovery swim. But I went to the Y anyway, and even though I took my sweet time on deck, once I got in and started swimming, it felt great, so I got in 1200 yards, showered and hit the sauna, and went home to have lunch.

I spent the rest of the day just relaxing, and now I've got dinner going (roast chicken w/garlic, lemon and rosemary, cranberry sauce which is done, and steamed asparagus once the chicken is just about ready), and have things ready to go for tomorrow's AM core workout and swim.

The Midwest Indoor Triathlon Series has been announced with official dates. There are only 3 races next year, and the first one is 2 weeks after Goofy Challenge, so unfortunately, I won't be doing that one, but I'll do the other two. It's sad that there are only 3 races, but for me, I guess it's a good thing because on the week of those things I just about thrash myself training, and next year's schedule is worse than ever.

At least once a week, I get to thinking about what I am trying to do in training for Ultraman, and I have this huge sense of fear. Which, I think, is healthy. I look at my training plan and wonder how I will get it all done, but then I put myself back in the moment of today, of now, and enjoy the fact that I still have some time on my hands on the weekend where I can enjoy cooking, reading and spending time with family and friends. When I am training, I have a smile on my face, and I know it because I get a lot of people smiling back at me. As long as that keeps up, I will maintain my motivation!

Game On!

I went back to the ortho on Wednesday to hear the verdict. Truthfully, I was thinking not a stress fracture, as I had zero pain doing a fairly hard bike workout and just standing on the right leg was causing no pain. However, I continued to feel some pain around the ankle which I think is the tibialis anterior's tendon that is inflamed. Swimming--no problems. Biking, no problems. Elliptical--no problems, but I hadn't tried running.

Ortho walks into the exam room with the bone scan reading (I had brought along the pictures), and he shakes my hand and says, "You don't have a stress fracture." Much as I wanted to jump up and down, I just smiled, and said, "So, full weight-bearing OK?" He said yes, do some extra anterior leg strengthening for a few weeks (I actually plan to add a few exercises to my weekly strength training for this anyway), of course be cautious about ramping up too quickly (duh), and he noted that there is some degeneration in my left foot that I should probably have checked out. I did not know this! My guess is it's a hold over from when I originally tore my ACL way back in 1985. I have never felt like I was having issues with that foot, but it is probably prudent to get it checked out, and besides, I could use new orthotics.

As good as that verdict sounded, for me, nothing will matter until I can return to normal running. But on Thursday, I did the leg portion of my strength workout and had no problems doing it along with another hard bike workout. On Friday morning, I had scheduled 5500 yards for myself, but I was at the pool early enough that I had time for 6000 and was feeling great, so I went ahead and got a big swim done.

Mid-day Friday I went back to the Y to get on the elliptical. I thought I'd give my legs a break for at least this week which wouldn't hurt in the big scheme of things. I did 30' on the thing, and then thought, why don't I try some strides on the track? I did, and it felt weird because of how elliptical is way more hamstring dominant, but my quads felt fine, no shin pain whatsoever, but just a tad of right ankle. Oh well, no harm done as long as there is no increase in pain afterwards.

Which there wasn't. Yesterday it turned into a glorious day, and I was hoping I could ride outdoors since the times I can do that between now and March are going to be few and far between. I didn't know how my ankle would fare under real road conditions, though. Since I was adding a (relatively) lot of biking to the week, I decided to ride the MTB which would guarantee that I didn't push myself too hard. As soon as I headed out, I could sense I was going to be just fine. I ended up riding for 2 hours, enjoyed the hell out of it, and even stood up a few times with no ill effects!

On my plan, I had a 30' run scheduled for yesterday as well. But since I had plenty of other things to get done yesterday, I figured I had better get on it right away. The last time I ran after biking was...ROTPM! I decided I'd try actual running, and if it didn't feel good or right, I'd just call it a day.

Although my legs felt like cement because of not being used to biking before, and I had biked 2 hours which was my longest ride in 7 weeks, and because I have to run up hill from my house, it was entertaining. But my ankle did not hurt! I was just so happy to be able to run that I know I was smiling like crazy, even though I felt like I was hardly moving. But it was November, I was wearing shorts and a bra top and sunglasses, so what was there not to like? I decided I didn't need to run for 30' and that 25' would be just fine, and even though I felt SO slow on the way out, I ran pretty well on the way back home. I was just so happy that I could run and hoped I could go longer on Sunday.

Today we got the beautiful weather again, and I decided I'd drive to Greene Valley so I could run on the crushed limestone flatness. While I was sweeping up some pine needles in my driveway, my ankle didn't feel perfect, but it may have been because I was on asphalt, who knows? At any rate, the plan was to go to Greene Valley, plan on running for 1:10 if I could make it that long (and if not finish on elliptical), and then head to the Y to swim 1000 just for recovery purposes.

I started running and felt absolutely nothing in the shin or ankle right off the bat, and after about a mile, I was pretty confident I could do an entire loop (6.9 miles), and maybe even a little more. I got the whole loop done and headed out for a bit more to get in the full 1:10 of running, and ended up just over 8 miles total!

I guess I'm done with elliptical trainer now (truth is I can't stand it--worse than a treadmill), but I will continue to be conservative in ramping up the running between now and Goofy Challenge. I was thinking earlier this week that I might just do the half marathon, but unless something changes for the worse, I will be doing the marathon as well. Whereas I was doing a run 5'/walk 1' thing for North Face, fuck that, I plan on just running at Goofy so no more planned walking. Besides, I get plenty of breaks running at intersections. The Goofy courses are flat, flat, flat, and so there is no need for me to do all the hill running I'd done for North Face, which gives my legs a break, plus I will be doing plenty of treadmill running between now and then (unless we get very little snow which would be fine by me in which case I'll be running outdoors). Silly me for looking forward to another marathon, huh? But in the plan for Ultraman, I need to keep exposing myself to as much running (and swimming and biking) as I can handle without breaking down.

My ortho gave me a scrip for extra-strength Naproxen (Naprosyn, it's called), and I am taking it, and it seems to be doing something for me. I generally don't like taking NSAID's because they can mask pain that I should feel, but in this case, I am good with the 30-day regimen. I have been doing many things to test myself out to see just how recovered I am, and I'm coming along quite fine. I can do my ankle rotations now without any hitches or pain whatsoever. There is zero pain upon waking, and as I sit here post-run/swim, I feel fine, except for being a little tired, but I am happy for that feeling! I think that as long as I run on soft stuff (treadmill or my version of trail which is like carpeting compared to what I ran on 2 weeks ago) as often as possible, I will be good to go. My longest run pre-Goofy will only be 2.5 hours (maybe 2.75--we'll see), so I won't exactly be taxing my legs all that much compared to what I just came off of.

All good, I am just so happy that I am almost back to my usual self! After Goofy, I will be doing the indoor triathlon series again, which will be my only real racing next year before Ultraman. I decided not to sign up for IMFL 2010, as my cash flow is taking a serious hit already. I might do Silverman, I might not, I am just not going to think that far ahead. Besides, it would be enough for me to just do Ultraman next year. Cool thing is I found out and confirmed that my very first triathlon coach is also doing Ultraman! I still remember him telling me 9 years ago that I had no business doing an Ironman so soon (this coming from someone whose first triathlon was an Ironman), and at the time he was right, but I did grow into it, didn't I? And I guess now I am growing out of it in a way. I just don't know what I will want after Ultraman. Maybe a rest. Maybe an actual vacation without an all-day event in it. I have a big enough thing to worry about for now, and I guess I will just have to live vicariously through all the people I know who are racing.

For today, I am just happy I can run. And oh...


GAME ON!!!

A Week Later...

Last Tuesday, I got on my bike to try and go for a spin. I wasn't really in pain doing it, but decided 30' was enough, and when I got off, my right ankle was really killing me. So I decided I should go to the doctor to get checked out, knowing it would be primary care, refer to ortho and see where we go from there.

I didn't tell my PCP exactly what I was doing when I experienced the acute onset shin splints/ankle pain/whatever it was, just that I was running. Describing my symptoms in detail (acute pain, unable to walk without limp, redness over tibia) where I stressed I might have a tibia stress fracture, it was easy enough to get the ortho refer.

I went to the ortho on Wednesday, had the obligatory x-ray, which showed nothing, and got an order for a bone scan. The ortho I saw is really good--he pegged me right away for a competitive type, said he figured that if I'd never had a stress fracture up until now that my bones were probably in pretty good shape, but he recommended supplemental calcium/Vitamin D, which I am now taking. He told me to take this not because he thinks my bones are troublesome, but because he knows I want to stay competitive for many years. I told him I'd already tried swimming and it caused no pain, so he sent me off saying "if it doesn't hurt, it's OK to do." He said he guessed I probably have a stress fracture.

Note that on Monday when I tried to swim, it hurt to push off the wall because my quads were still so messed up that THEY hurt, not my shin/ankle. But on Wednesday I swam pretty much business as usual and it felt good, and I had no issues extending my foot, kicking was fine, pushing off the wall was fine. I scheduled my bone scan for Thursday afternoon.

I decided not to try biking again for awhile just because my legs are probably beat up from the 35 mile run anyway, and my legs could use a full week of rest. I did lift on Tuesday, but nothing to do with my legs. Upper body feels great, actually.

The bone scan was kind of fun, because I could see my bones on the screen as the gamma camera was taking the pictures. The picture above is me! I'm glad they did a full scan, because any issues with my bones will show up. The front of my ankle hurt that day, but I wasn't sure if it was because of driving and the position of my right foot, or all the walking to/from my car at the hospital (I went once at 3PM for the radioactive injection then back at 5:30 for the pictures). I won't know the final results until I see the ortho again on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I went ahead and researched aquajogging, in case I am relegated to that for a number of weeks. I found a pretty good program that would keep me run fit, although it would be boring as all hell. But if I have to do it, I will.

Since I am very familiar with minor aches and pains occurring over my musculature and trying to diagnose the cause, or at least the causal muscle, so I can do whatever body work and stretching to fix myself, on Friday I began in earnest to see if I could hunt down what is going on. A tibial stress fracture has the same symptoms as shin splits (or as it's now called medial tibial stress syndrome), and there are other lower leg muscles that can generate pain where I was experiencing it. Other than in the actual race, I am not having pain over the tibia itself anymore, but it seems to be lateral on the lower shin and then right across the top of the ankle, which is where a number of lower leg muscle tendons come in to control the foot.

My suspect muscles are tibialis anterior and the peroneals. Whether or not I have a stress fracture, these guys are pretty pissed off right now, so I've been doing trigger point work on them and also icing my upper shin, because no matter what happens, they need to be restored back to health. Oh, and I worked on my quads all week and while they aren't 100%, I am good up and down stairs and normal quad stretches. So that's good!

Yesterday morning I decided I try and go for a really short walk (.5 mile) to see how walking feels. I was fine for about 1/4 mile and then the ankle was not very happy. Good to know! I then raked my back yard again, which in retrospect may not have been a good idea to be on my feet like that, but at least it was soft ground, and at least I could use my right leg to tamp down the leaves in the yard bags! I get so excited for little things that I am able to do!

I headed to the Y for a short swim, but thought just for the hell of it, I'd try out the elliptical. Good news! I was able to use it with zero pain! I only stayed on it for 10', though, because I just don't want to push things this week. Still, I was happy, and optimistic that at least I could do this rather than aquajogging, and even if I don't have a stress fracture, 2 weeks of elliptical will be good for me to ease back into running.

I ended up swimming 2,000 yards yesterday, and I must be getting into swimming, because if lap time hadn't run out I would have swum more. When I got home, I made my (should be) world famous tuna salad that should last me a week's worth of lunches, prepped a roast chicken and answered the doorbell for what turned out to be far less trick-or-treaters than I'd expected. Which means I have a bunch of leftover candy, and I am just as weak as anyone, so I will put it out of sight where it will come in handy once I'm able to ramp up my training hours again.

Today I thought I'd try and extend the elliptical a little more, so I did 20', and was absolutely fine. I swam 1500 just because I am not doing anything else. And yet I'm a little tired. I think that I am probably more tired than I think and needed some rest this week anyway.

So what's my plan? Normal swimming, substitute elliptical for running this week, try biking again on Tuesday (fingers crossed!), see the ortho on Wednesday and go from there. Even if I do have a stress fracture, if I can get back on the bike, then effectively I will not need to adjust my training all that much except maybe weight bearing strength exercises. But I will ask about those as well, because there are so many different things that I do that for someone to say "off your legs" would be ridiculous. I will, however, honor my body, and its need for rest, and am prepared for this coming week to be a little lighter than normal. If biking doesn't pan out, I'll do a little extra swimming. Hey, why not, right?