Full Body Bonk

I haven't felt like I've been undereating the past week--not felt particularly starving upon waking or anything--but I suppose if I look back over the last 6 days, starting with last Saturday, I probably haven't been restocking as well as I should.

After the 112-mile ride/7 mile run last Saturday, I had Endurox R4, the big McDonald's burger and fries, a few beers, some crackers and some candy. I probably should have eaten another meal, so this would have been the start of the downfall.

On Sunday, I had a waffle then rode a few hours, drove home drinking Gatorade (in retrospect I should have had some protein right away, too), got home and made a chicken wrap and I don't remember what I had for dinner, but I'm pretty sure I didn't make up for Saturday or Sunday's calories burned.

I haven't been eating a lot of starch lately--it's been salads or a modest amount of vegetables at dinner time. I guess I've started to taper my eating even though my training isn't really tapered yet. I've been off my usual grocery shopping/restocking schedule, too, which means I'm not on my normal eating routine.

Still, though, like I said, I wasn't feeling famished or anything. Through yesterday, I'd done about 11.5 hours of training since Monday. Now that is unusual, but it came from a little extra riding and a whole lot of swimming. I had about 1/2 lb. of salmon and a little (probably less than one serving) spaghetti with pesto for dinner, 2 beers, and felt good to go. Now that was dinner for a 4-hour training day, which is not something I normally do on a weekday when I'm also working! I really should have eaten a bunch more, but by the time I ate dinner, I was tired and went to sleep.

I slept 10 hours last night, and felt good when I woke up this morning, had my usual breakfast of an English muffin and a hardboiled egg, but around 11AM I was feeling sort of hungry so I dug into my stash of Cheetos and also downed a Coke. This should have let me know that I was in a glycogen hole, because I don't usually crave Cheetos in the morning! Then I went off to the Y because it was raining, planning to do a :40 run and about 1:30 on a stationary bike (I just didn't feel like getting on my trainer and besides I could probably watch TDF replay at the Y).

As I walked into the cardio area, I could tell my legs were telling me I probably should just rest today, so I thought, what the hell, I'll just get on the elliptical trainer. Can't hurt, right? I did the :40 on there and it wasn't bad, but I could tell I was a little tired.

I moseyed on over to the Precor bike, got on, and wasn't worried about intensity, but still was doing a 10-minute ladder of resistance. When I got off the bike about :40 in to change the channel on the TV in front of me to Versus, I thought, gee, my legs feel pretty trashed considering I didn't do much today. Still, I got back on the bike, and thinking I'd still go 1:30, at about 1:10 I finally recognized that I was out of fuel no matter how much Infinit and Gatorade I was drinking.

That is, I was experiencing a grand bonk! Thing is, I'm so trained that I can usually overcome bonking (or not even notice it) that might affect someone else, or I might just miss the signs, but when it finally dawned on me, I realized that I had better get my ass home and eat as quickly as possible.

Still, I had to shower, and when I got home I immediately made myself a big wrap thing, chowed that and drank some Endurox. I figured that should set me up, right? Nope. It wasn't so much hunger that I felt, but my body was screaming for more calories. So I scrounged around and found a Snickers Almond Bar in my freezer, took it out, and after about 5 minutes, I ate that. By this time, I'm starting to notice that I feel really cold, even though it's hot out and I don't have my A/C set too low (maybe 76-78 now), but I am actually shivering, and this tells me that my body is truly fucked up (it's like the same insulin reaction I sometimes get when I down 400 calories of Ultrafuel all at once and my body is valiantly trying to pump all that sugar into my muscles) and needs me to lay down, so I get into bed with all the blankets on, still wearing clothes, and I'm cold but after a few minutes finally my temperature starts to go back up, but I stayed in bed for maybe an hour and even dozed off a few times.

Getting up, I realized I am not "fixed" yet, so I'm going to need to eat up tonight and sleep well and let my body do its thing to get me back to normal. I also realized that whatever I have planned for training this weekend is all optional, so if I'm not feeling peppy tomorrow, I will just rest, because at this point, nothing is really going to make me any faster for IMLP.

I guess I've reached that point in the summer where I'm pretty sick of the starchy carbs, but I will need to get back on some level of them, especially post-IMLP and pre-ROTPM. So I'll start counting my calories. Thankfully, next week is actual full taper, so I don't need to worry about it so much. Some years, I've lost 2-3 lbs. during the last 2 weeks before IM, but I don't think I should lose any more at this point.

So in an odd way, this was all a good thing, to remind me that I am existing on the edge, and that I need to pay more attention to my nutrition.

Have a great weekend!

What is Going On?

Somehow I ended up training almost 4 hours today--a 4800 meter swim, riding to/from the outdoor pool (it was glorious this morning), and then a 1:34 run. And I'm tired. Almost 12 hours of training since Monday. Tomorrow maybe a short little recovery swim and some biking. Decide whether I'm going to do the 2-mile open water swim race Saturday, some more riding, get ready for Sunday's last 100 mile ride before IMLP.

I am planning out 2010 already, and thinking about planning my training for ROTPM (Revenge of the PirateMan), although what I had scheduled for IMC should do just fine there. And then I need to plan how the hell to train for a 50-mile foot race in 2 months. After that, training for Goofy Challenge will be a no brainer--I've done that before.

But then how do I train for ultracycling and ultraswimming and ultrarunning at the same time? I have no fucking clue. But I am going to figure it out, through books, friends and maybe a coach.

Yes, I'm certifiably nuts. But the way I figure it, I might not want to do this in say, 3 years, and I may not be able to. The time is NOW.

Some people on Facebook asked how/why I have become faster all of a sudden in terms of top-end speed running and also my FTP has gone up. I dunno--maybe because I quit watching TV altogether and sleeping a little more. Maybe because I'm a little smaller than a year ago. Maybe, just maybe (ya fucking think???) because I've been training at a high level for 9 years straight? I dunno. Maybe the worst shit of my life is finally behind me. At least this stage. Sucks that I started this nonsense a few years after getting divorced, then was just getting into shape then boom, boom, boom crapola piles on. Maybe my tolerance for that shit has finally decreased and I am just not going to acknowledge it anymore.

Maybe it sounds like the fun has gone out of this for me, but it hasn't. I guess I'm a little weird in that FUN=WORK. And work leads to greater fun in my book. SAME=BORING. MORE=MORE FUN.

Sure I want to do well at IMLP, but I can already see past it, and where the last 9 years have been leading me. Onward, upward, forward. As long as I can manage it!

Rock 'n Roll

So I did a pretty hard brick workout yesterday. This morning I had wanted to go swim at the outdoor pool, but it was overcast and pissing, and I just didn't feel like swimming outdoors in that, so I headed to the Y and banged out 3400 yards, and they were pretty good, despite the water being like 85.

And then my schedule called for a ":40 easy run, optional." Well, um...OK. It was still raining by the time I finished up with 4 consecutive 1-hour meetings at work (how exciting, I know!), and I'm a total wimp, so I drove back to the Y to run on the treadmill. Side note: I can feel how much energy I have right now, which is a sure sign of peaking, and right on time.

I got on the treadmill and had already decided I'd run for :45 because that wouldn't hurt, and so I just did a ladder increasing speed every 5'. And I was talking to this woman that I had given advice to on how to help accelerate her healing process from carpal tunnel syndrome and saw her walking on the treadmill holding on, and I told her not to, and she listened and she is now hanging on every word I say!

Well after the :40 are up I go to run on the track and I'm thinking this should feel good. And actually I felt great considering when I woke up this morning I was feeling a bit ragged from yesterday's workout, and was trying to avoid swimming this morning valiantly, especially when there was a sign on the door saying WE HAVE NO TOWELS but the woman at the front desk who knows me (they all do) waved me in, which meant they must have some, and I was like, fuck, I guess I have to swim, and even though the pool was hot, I swam my ass off.

So I head to the track and just start running what I think is a bit faster than I was on the treadmill, but knowing it was only for 5 minutes, I just went with how I felt, and I felt great, and when I hit 1/2 mile I was like OH FUCK I THINK THAT'S THE FASTEST I EVER RAN A 1/2 MILE, and I kept running until the 5 minutes was up and then I finished a lap, and yeah, it WAS true!

Now I'm not a fast runner by any standard, but still, for me to pull off 7:15 is something else. And it didn't really hurt, and all I could think was WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM? And then I didn't question it. Something must be working after all these years at this game! Maybe it's because I ate like a pound of fish last night for dinner, maybe it's just that the harder I train, the faster I get.

This year feels different than other years. I think my body is capable of absorbing a lot of high quality, high volume training, and that's a good thing because I want to step it up into the Ultra territory. And I don't want to just slog through lots of miles, you know? What fun is that anyway?

So maybe, just maybe, I've processed the major life crap that I've experienced, and my body is ready to heal itself and show me how it can perform, even though I'm a little old to be doing this in some ways. But for right now, I feel fucking great and wish I could train like 30 hours a week! I know that I could tolerate that without working fulltime...so I guess I had better get back on my financial planning to make that possible sooner rather than later!

I am just so full of energy right now--it's hard to describe--I know I have an IM in 2.5 weeks, and I'm planning logistics for Revenge of the PirateMan, and I'm starting to work on a plan for the 50-miler in October, and I'm also sketching out 2010, which will bring some ultracycling into the mix.

It all comes down to, I think, understanding my body and continually pushing it a little bit further than it has gone before in some way or another. It could be more hours, which I haven't really done, or more distance, more speed, more challenges--but knowing that I will be done with "conventional" Ironman this year is setting my mind free to ponder bigger possibilities.

But back to one day at a time--I need to wake up tomorrow and knock out 3+ miles of swimming and then later on something like an 11-mile run. I know--doesn't sound much like a taper, but that run is a lot less than last week! Friday will be a 2.5 hour ride, Saturday will be a 2-mile open water swim race and then 2 hours of riding and a concert (No Doubt), and Sunday is my last 100-mile ride/6-mile run combo.

While at the grocery store tonight I was thinking, shit, it's all starting to happen now--everything I've been working towards not just for this season, but laying the groundwork for moving on beyond Ironman, and it's all very exciting and heady and partly unbelievable to me. I NEVER thought I'd be in this position, and knock wood, if I keep myself healthy, it is going to be one helluva ride over the next 15 months!

Oh and here's a pic of me (I'm the one in all black with the blue aerohelmet) riding into transition at Rockman 1/2 IM that I find rather poignant for some reason--as bad as I felt that day from the combination of rain, cool temperatures and the impending destruction of a relationship, I was heads down getting it done.

Start of Last Big Week of Training before IMLP

More pics from today's brick are here.

Last week went really, really well, and I haven't been posting weekly workout totals in awhile (yeah I know you miss them they are SO exciting), but the last 4 weeks have gone 20, 20, 20 and 22 (thereabouts). This week I hope to get in 22 or so.

This week my run and strength tapers have officially begun. Except for the 2 weeks I was sick during and after Triple T, I have been putting in some really good run mileage this season. Sometimes it's because I have just decided I'd run a little more than I needed to because I was feeling fine, and some of it may be because I'm a bit faster than a year ago. Whatever. I am sure that dropping another 3-4 lbs. has been helpful in making the running suck just a little less.

My swimming is what it is. I should really get some 1 on 1 coaching, but I don't have time, and the work required to bump up my swim time just isn't something I'm into right now.

Biking is GAME FUCKING ON! I have to admit, I guess, that my FTP has gone up for the first time in 2 years. Maybe 5-10 watts, depending on what day it is. Either that or I am just used to riding really hard now. I'm going with B!

Yesterday called for a 3400 yard swim, and if I felt like it, weights. I had gotten to bed early on Sunday night, and since I only trained a little over 2 hours on Sunday, I woke up yesterday feeling pretty damn good, so I rode Clipless Fuck to the pool, swam 3400 meters feeling strong the entire time, rode home, and then later in the day I rode to and from my most excellent massage (thanks as always, Mike!) and a little extra there because I had time, and then I rode to and from a haircut. I managed to get my entire strength session done, and when all was said and done for yesterday, I'd trained 3:20! Nice way to kick off the week!

Oh and something stung or bit me under my left eye yesterday, and I had to resort to Benadryl since this was my second insect incident of the summer. The swelling didn't go down until last night, and maybe it was the Benadryl/beer combo that made me sleep like a baby last night, 10 hours worth!

I am trying to pile on a lot of biking this week, so an hour and change yesterday was a good way to start. Today called for a 1:30/:40 brick workout, but I figured I had time to do almost 2 hours of biking. I decided I wanted to ride LGL today, perhaps motivated by watching the TDF and wanted to wear my Catlike helmet that I absolutely love. In fact, now I'd like their aerohelmet, too, because they are pretty cool looking.

Weather right before I left was beautiful--sunny, mid-70's, a little humidity, and just a little wind. Perfect! I headed out on LGL and right away just wanted to crank it up, and so I did. I love riding Bitchie with the race wheels, but I love riding LGL, too. I love all my bikes!

I rode east first for about 5 miles and then back towards home, and thought I'd check out my former TT loop to see how repairs were going on the one major road. About 3 weeks ago, I rode a little over there, but the main road needed one more layer of asphalt, as the sewers were still sticking out of the road. But when I got there today, fuckin' A, it was DONE, and smooth as a baby's bottom, PLUS they widened it a bit so I had sort of this whole lane to myself, and I just hammered away! The loop that includes that road is 3 miles around, and I don't know how many loops I did, but I was kicking out some serious watts and having an absolute blast!

I suppose it helped that I had chugged a can of Coke right before I left, that I'd had 10 hours of sleep last night, that I'd ridden almost 225 miles last week, that I thought I was getting stronger on the bike, that the TDF is on, that it's a beautiful day...there was really no reason for me to have a bad ride today except to begin exorcising the usual demons that try and creep in this close to an Ironman. And I'd had weird and bad dreams last night, also part of the IM leadup, and for the few minutes that I rode deliberately easily, it seemed that I scrolled through every bad thing that's happened to me in the last 3.5 years--pretty good depression from a combination of life crap (2005--right when I first began writing this blog), death of my Mom, death of my Dad, 2 failed romances, and yet, as is typical at this time, I was asking myself, "WHY????"

Why, why, why, why, why do I do this when it fucking hurts, when I know how tired I am going to be later in the day--too tired to accomplish anything major, yet already thinking about the next day's workouts and how much fun it will be to be outdoors doing them, when I have let things like my house cleanliness and garden tidiness go to hell for the last 8 weeks and will keep that up for another 10 or so, when I've put something on the calendar for August that I am alternately positive I can do yet respectfully afraid of, when I've signed up for a 50-mile trail run that I keep getting these looks like you don't know what the fuck you are getting into there when I talk about it, when I want so desparately to connect with more and more people, yet crave the alone time while I'm out there purposely hurting myself?

It is amazing to me how much I can think about during 3 minutes of riding easy! And when the 3 minutes is over, I stop asking myself why and get back to riding hard, telling myself it's only 10 minutes of pain--I can do anything for 10 minutes, right? And since I am riding in circles and seeing some of the same people every lap wondering why would someone ride their bike in circles, but it makes perfect sense to me because when I'm in the circle, it's my fucking circle of pain, and I've chosen to be there in it and fully experience the pain of my muscles and pain of my emotions, and really it's all about feeling--feeling everything--even though it can appear to be running away from stuff.

And I want to keep going--to stay in that circle--but real life calls, and I still have to run, so I finish up, riding for 1:50. The Ergomo says I rode at 94% of FTP, which is either true or my FTP has gone up. But I know I was riding hard, hard, hard, and it felt good.

I quickly put on running shorts, shoes and visor and headed out to run. I'd already decided that since some rainy-looking clouds were rolling in that I'd also run in circles around the "big block" and besides it has rolling hills and I will hate it and it will suck. And when I first started running, I could tell for sure that I had ridden hard, much as if I'd been in a sprint race, only it was a longer than normal sprint (I put in 35 miles on the ride), and so I expected the running to suck. But it only sucked from the effort of the bike--not the normal "brick suck." Nutrition-wise, I felt great, and since it wasn't particularly hot outside, I didn't have that to deal with (or else I am better heat acclimated now).

Running though, demands you feel it everywhere unlike being on a bike. Plus, running is not my thing--biking is! I ran the first loop holding back, and was fine. On the second loop, I dropped 30 seconds, repeated that on the third loop, and on the fourth I dropped another 15 seconds, so negative splitsville, which was great.

I ran pretty well considering how hard I rode, and I'm happy for it, but hey, it was just another workout that I enjoyed the hell out of even though it hurt like a motherfucker (note to self: why do you make yourself hurt like this???). I could have done an actual sprint race today and done pretty well, I think, and that is good. But I will just chalk this up to another great day of training, 4 days in a row of riding, and I'm still cresting that peak, that should culminate this weekend with my last 100-mile ride and brick run before IMLP.

There is nothing more I can do at this point except, I think, to really dig on the simultaneous pain and joy I get from doing this shit. And laugh at myself. I am sure that while I am out riding and running there are many people looking at me and thinking, "what the hell is that woman doing anyway?" but it's funny that I get a lot of smiles, too, and I always try and smile back. Because I am enjoying myself!

Big Week!

I am just back home from spending the weekend in Verona, Wisconsin to do a race rehearsal on the IMWI course and some other stuff. Please note I am drinking a glass of Grumpy Troll Amnesia Baltic Porter as I write this, so I may pass out or need to stop for awhile and go take a nap. OMG it is SO good!

I am going to back up to Thursday. My training schedule called for a 2:00 run, but fuck that, it's 3 weeks out from IMLP and I did a little over 16 last week, so I decided to go for 17. Since for once I didn't have any meetings in the morning, I let myself sleep in until 5:30, finished a Power Bar Triple Threat and a couple of cups of coffee, loaded a small cooler with (3) 12-oz. bottles of defizzed Coke, and headed for Waterfall Glen, where I was on the trail running at 6:45AM. Even though I arrived there what I would consider late for a weekday morning, I got the very first parking spot closest to the trailhead:

I thought I'd take a picture of the trailhead, too, since I have spent many, many hours here!



I wasn't absolutely positive that I would do 17 miles, since allegedly I didn't need to, so armed with 1 bottle of Coke, I started out. Since it hadn't been too long since I'd had breakfast, I didn't think I'd need any Coke for awhile. Whenever I do these long runs, I usually split them into 2 out and backs, but how much I do for the first leg is always unknown, and I just play it by ear, thinking how long I can go on whatever I'm carrying. I didn't want to run down into the hole (to Mile 5 and a little beyond) because I'd have to run out, but I didn't drink anything before Mile 4, so I figured why the hell not, and I ran down in there, meaning I'd need to run uphill out, but so what! On Tuesday, I'd done a brick run on a street near home that I'd never run, and it was a good one because it includes a 1-mile fairly steep hill that I just charged up, so I wasn't having too much trouble with the Waterfall Glen hills today, although I typically walk the first 2 in the first 2 miles just because it's warmup time, right?

Still, I was pleased that I was running fairly well, even with running out of the hole, and got the first 11 miles done feeling pretty great. I had run about 8 1/4 miles the day before pretty much all at tempo pace, and this was the day after the hilly brick run, so I was like what the fuck, I guess I'm running well!

As I was out there on the first leg, I kept forgetting how to do basic math to figure out how many miles I'd need to run on the second leg, but after I finished 11 and stopped briefly at my car to get some more Coke, my brain kicked back in and realized I only needed to do 6 more.

Those last 6 miles I slowed down about 20 sec. per mile, but that was fine, I shouldn't have been running that fast in the first place! Still, overall, I ran a little faster than I think I can run an open marathon to qualify for Boston for the full 17, so I have to chalk it up as a good run.

Hmmm...3 solid hard fast runs in 3 days...what's next? I hadn't fit in my strength training, so sometime in the afternoon I decided to get on it even though my legs were pretty shot. Still, I got in :55, and I thought that was pretty good after a 17-mile run.

Friday called for a 3800m TT in the pool, and with some warmup and cooldown, it would make for a nice 3 mile swim. I wanted to swim outdoors, but got lazy again and slept in until 5:30AM, so I ended up driving to the Y to swim. I forgot how many yards an IM swim is so I just settled on 4400 yards, and I split it into 4x1100, alternating pull, and pull with paddles, so a real strength building swim, huh? I swam about even paced the full effort, even though my swimming sucks, but at least I felt like I have the necessary endurance to pull off a decent (1:15) IM swim, if you consider drafting. Still, the IMLP swim has way too many athletes, and I've seen my swim time go up the more people get added. I hate getting beat up. But who knows what will happen this year? Sometimes I think I'd just rather swim alone, because I know what I can do. Whatever, I digress. I did complete 3 miles of swimming.

I thought about running a little bit, but my legs were on the verge of not liking it, so I didn't. I packed for Wisconsin, and got on the road around 1:30, experienced some holiday traffic, but got there around 4PM, unloaded the car, chilled a little bit and then headed to The Grumpy Troll for dinner and to refill my 2 growlers that I had back from April when Jostein and I went up there to ride a few hours. I was going to fill one of them with Imperial Stout, but when my waitress told me it was $40 for it, I decided to get the other stout that I've had before, Spetsnaz Stout, and the second growler is the Amnesia Porter that I am still nursing. I had some spicy chicken/andouille sausage pasta thing and their usual good salad, and returned to home base, the Super 8 in Verona. Of course I didn't finish the entire dinner, and so brought a box back to the hotel, where I later basically ate the rest of the chicken, and had one more beer while watching highlights from past Tour de France's. Below is a pic of the two growlers I bought being iced, since we wouldn't want this good beer to spoil before I get home, now would we?


Alarm got set for 4:15AM as I was to meet a new friend, Ken, at Fireman's Park so we could ride the stick (the out and back section of the IMWI course) before meeting up with Ali to ride 2 loops. I slept rather fitfully, but still got in about 8 hours since I'd retired early, even though I awoke several times to fireworks booms.

I got to Fireman's Park with a few minutes to spare, and Ken was a few minutes late, but we headed out at about 6:15am. We rode to the Sheraton on John Nolen Drive, which is close enough to the beginning of the actual course, then turned around back for Fireman's Park. It was a cool, overcast day with 30-60% chance of rain depending on which source you consulted, so I'd worn a bike jersey and shorts and carried a rain jacket with me. We were fine for this part, and when we got back to the park, I called Ali, and he was 10-15 minutes out, so Ken and I decided to roll for a few more miles just to make sure we got in a full 112 on the day! So we rode out backwards on the loop for a few and back, Ali was just arriving with Deanna, whom I'd met a few times before but didn't recognize until she took off her sunglasses.

We all headed out on the loop, and we all knew Ali would take off ahead of us, which was fine. Deanna and Ken sandbagged that they were slow, but it turned out they and I were about the same pace, but we somehow managed not to draft one another much at all for the first 40-mile loop. I got ahead of them for a bit, but stopped at the Kwik Trip in Mount Horeb to pee, they both went by me, and then I caught Ken peeing by the side of the road at the intersection of J (or is it S?) and Witte Road. Ken got ahead of me for a bit, and then he launched some bottles on railroad tracks, and I went ahead, and then all 3 of us were pretty close the entire time.

We reloaded our bottles and headed out for loop 2. I had made (2) 3.5 hour bottles of Infinit, but we were 4 hours in and I hadn't finished the first bottle. That was OK since it was so cool out. I felt pretty good as on the first climb off of Paoli Road my legs didn't feel too bad at all, and this is always a marker for this course.

Somewhere before we got to Mount Horeb, I was ahead of Ken and Deanna and I didn't stop to pee at all, so I just kept going. As I was riding, I kept thinking, "hey this kinda sucks but not nearly as much as Horribly Hilly" and that kept me going. I was ignoring the power meter (which won't display speed right now, but who cares?) and just riding based on my breathing, so all was good. I never did take off my arm warmers, but unzipped the jersey a little as it did warm up a little bit.

When I got back to Fireman's Park, Ali was already running, and I had left my run stuff back at the hotel, so I needed to go back there. Deanna had cut a tire and so hadn't gotten very far into the second loop at all, and my car was packed up when Ken arrived back, and I told him I had to go back to the hotel, and thanks for the ride and all that.

I had only drunk 2.5 bottles of water and 1.5 bottles of Infinit for the entire ride, which seemed a little low to me, but oh well! My legs didn't feel all that bad, so I hurried up and got the bike back in the hotel and suited up to run. I knew it was actually warm out as I was pretty sweaty, and as soon as I headed out, I realized how humid it was, but still not too hot. I ran back to Fireman's Park in hopes of catching Ken, which I did, and he'd run 3 miles, but was headed home, and I continued on. I was supposed to run 6 miles, but I just decided on running about an hour whatever that would bring. On my way back to the hotel, I caught up with the Military Ridge Trail to run on which is nice crushed limestone.

I didn't know how fast or slow I was running until I got to a mile marker and then timed myself, and I was extremely please with how I was running! Plus, this was the best I can ever remember feeling running off of a 112-mile bike ride except maybe for a few IM races over the years. Still, this is not race day, so let's just get it done.

And I did. Here are a few pics from after I finished up the run:





I guess I'm a skinny little thing now, aren't I? When I was finished, I was famished, but I had to shower first and start in on my Endurox R4, which I did, and then since I was conveniently next to McDonald's, I just walked over there and got one of the new sandwiches I'd read about--the 1/3 lb. Angus Burger with mushrooms and swiss cheese, and small fries:

The burger was actually tasty from what I can remember since I think I inhaled it in like 2 minutes! I actually ate a bunch of fries on the walk back to the hotel and polished them off before I started in on the burger. And then I got to laying down to watch a replay of Stage 1 of the TDF wearing compression tights and laying down and generally moaning. My legs felt pretty well trashed, but I've felt worse, and I was pleased with the time it took me to cover the IMWI course and my brick run.

Finally, I motivated to stretch, and then I got in the hot tub:

for a little bit while watching some comedy on TV (I still haven't hooked up the converter box to my TV at home and hadn't watched any TV since June 12 or whatever that date was). The hot tub was blissful, and I polished off the last of 3 beers while in there before getting (or trying to get) to sleep early, as I was pretty tired.

I was pretty pleased with the 3 past days of training, having covered nearly full Ironman distance (OK so I was off on the running part by by 2.2 miles, fuck me, OK?) in 3 days (actually went over on the swim), and thought that can't be a bad thing, seeing as how I want to do double IM distance over 4 days. This made me think maybe I can do it, although I'll be doing it all brickie-brick style, which will be harder ;)

I slept fitfully, as there were more fireworks, my legs were throwing off all sorts of heat, and I'd had plenty of caffeine on the bike. Still, I think I managed about 8 hours of sleep, finally waking up around 6:30. I had thought about doing some more biking this morning, but knew I didn't need to, but I've had some significant training weekends this year where I've been able to do something the day after something where I'd normally take a day off, and it was a gorgeous day, so I thought, what the hell, what else am I doing, I'm here--may as well ride, right?

I went to the hotel lobby and fixed myself a waffle, which was just the thing I needed plus 2 cups of coffee, and before I could think too much about it, I had most everything in my car and was on my bike by about 8:10AM. I was going to wear bike shorts, but since it was so sunny, I decided on panties, and as soon as I started, realized what a good choice it was. It was so beautiful--I should have taken my camera with me the sky was so perfect, and all the crops so green--this is what I live for--to bike in an area like this with this kind of weather! I rode pretty well considering, and I think it was the right thing to do.

Here's my trusty Bitchie after this morning's ride. She did me proud this weekend, and I decided I still love her, even though I wouldn't mind another tri bike in my stable!


And here's me with Bitchie.


I wanted to keep riding, it was such a nice day, but alas, I need to start thinking about actually tapering for IMLP, so I'm going to review my past records to see what exactly I will do. I am in my run taper for sure, but I think I can knock out one more solid week of biking before I drop off.

I feel so great now, which means I am definitely peaking. I just want to keep training. Training is what I love. Training well is what I love. Training well in the company of other good athletes is what I love. It's all good. But I guess I'm signed up for this damn race, so I had better get my head in that game, right?

Hope everyone had as great a weekend as I did!