Crackhead V56.0

I got Dark Knight yesterday.  Isn't he awesome?

I got my thyroid test back yesterday.  My TSH is .676, which is considered within range, so no more being stabbed for SIX MONTHS!!!

I feel so good, so great, in fact I feel as good as I felt in my early 20's.  It's a little scary, since I had thought that I felt pretty good during some of my training cycles say for IMC and IMHI 2004, IMLP 2007 and 2009.  Perhaps then my thyroid was spiking to deliver normal amounts of hormone--who knows?  At any rate, now feels even better than any of that, and I feel like a Maserati or Ferrari is under my hood.  I am sleeping well when I'm asleep, but it seems I might need less sleep than I used to.  But I think I am still just so excited at feeling good right now that I am trying to get all these things done, and when I do that, I tend to wake up early really excited to get at it.

While I was in the dregs of depression and hypothyroidism and recovering from catastrophic house breakdown (all that is in order now fingers crossed!), I was afraid to commit to any races, and I was paranoid about spending money.  Well, clearly all that has changed.  I bought several new Splish swimsuits (I didn't really need them but they do motivate me to swim harder), I just got new tires put on my car (and it needed them and they feel GREAT), I treated myself to a bunch of new Zoot clothing (some of which I actually needed like new recovery compression tights), bought a couple of new superheros (Dark Knight and Tiny Spock--still can't decide on which Superman to get), ordered 6 pairs of running shoes (since I tend to go through them quickly), am getting a brand new MTB tomorrow, and last night I had my annual eye exam, and I was about to check out when I spotted a pair of glasses that I decided I just HAD to have!  They are by Prodesign Denmark and really cool, and I tried to find the pic on the website but it would take too long.  When I get them, I'll show you!  I actually put enough in my FSA to cover the cost of them.

I'm caught up on all my annual stuff--eye exam, breast exam, dentist (I go twice a year), have the HVAC annual maintenance scheduled (my units are all new since last year as part of my catastrophic house breakdown), Skull Kingdom is all tuned up (and my mechanic gave me a brand spanking new SRAM front derailleur which is DA BOMB--I asked how much I owed for it, and he said it was just an exchange I LOVE HIM), my PowerTap is working, I ordered a new laptop for work (it should be here next week YAY).

As soon as I registered for IMCOZ, I made a training plan, sent in my passport renewal, booked my air tickets to Cozumel, got an estimate (which I will spring for) for cleaning my yard up at the end of fall (cut down/discard all perennial stems and do final raking/bagging/disposal of leaves) since I won't have time, and one more secret thing that I can't say anything about until tomorrow (it's good, though!).

I still have a few home maintenance things to get done--get my oven fixed (I've been doing without since March no worries), clean some windows, other crap, but I know it will get done.

I finally feel like all the cylinders are firing, that I can manage day to day stuff, do my training, coach and mentor some people, spend time with friends and family, and continue to kick ass at my job.  How much better could things be?  Yes, there is that romance thing, and honestly, I had lost pretty much all desire for a few years there, but I think that is coming back, which doesn't mean I am going to become a raging sex addict, but hopefully I will demonstrate openness to the right person when they appear in my life.

I have registered for a marathon next March (unsure whether it would qualify me in time for Pike's Peak Marathon--those losers won't accept an IM marathon as a qualifier WTF I'm fast enough in IM to meet their standards), and I'm tentatively planning on racing Triple T, 24 Hours of Triathlon (with Brad) and Leadman (with Maz).  And I DO plan to rest appropriately (1-2 weeks completely on my ass or back) after IMCOZ.  I have learned FINALLY that I CAN rest, and I CAN get my fitness back in a hurry.  So there's that.

This is all pretty fucking good for the age of 56, I think (57 in 2 months mark your calendars!).  I was born in 1956, and now I am 56 years old, so there is something omen-ish about this.  I feel like all my triathlon knowledge has gelled to the point where I can and SHOULD be coaching people and right now is the trial period so perhaps I'll be ready to cut loose from "regular life" next year.  Or not.  I still really love my job.  My mortgage will be paid off next February, too, so no roots holding me anywhere, although I DO love my new bar!  And of course, I LOVE my flower gardens, so for now I'm quite happy continuing to live in Illinois, despite the fact that we have winter, because if it weren't for winter, I'd be training like a fucking Crackhead year round.

Not only is life good, but for right now it's FUCKING OUTSTANDING!!!

Accountability

Iron Man and Tiny Spock who held me accountable during the first part of today's long run

I am blessed to know many outstanding athletes--mostly age groupers, but I count among my acquaintances a few pros as well.  The primary attribute they all share is accountability--to themselves, to their coaches/mentors (if they have one), and to their own athletes.

I have mentored many people, and right now consider myself a mentor to 3 athletes, and I am formally coaching another.  Of my mentees, one is doing another Ironman imminently, one is beginning training for his 2nd Ironman, and another is recovering from an injury but is hoping to get in a first Ironman or close to the distance next year.  All three of them know not to second guess my advice, and if I ask any of them about how their training is progressing, I get the God honest truth.  What paces/power are they doing things at, what is their nutrition plan and are they doing it, are they recovering, are they hitting the targets or not.

Right now, I am my own coach, so I am only accountable to ME, but it really helps me when I have others who feel accountable to me, because it makes me feel accountable to THEM.  Why? Because I feel like I need to show them that I take my own medicine, and that the relationships go both ways.

The guy I'm coaching is a pure joy for me to work with.  Without me asking, he tells me how the workouts FEEL and if he's hitting targets and asks me if he can move workouts around.  He's a smart guy who raced bikes Cat 1 in college, so it's a little comical that I am showing him how to bike train now.  But it's triathlon training, not bike racing. He's going to turn into a beast to be reckoned with at triathlon, and I may even need to cut him loose next year and insist he get a better coach!  It is truly wonderful for me to work with such a talented person, as it inspires me to work hard and reinforces my knowledge of the training and racing process.  Thanks, Brad!

The same is true of the 3 guys I am mentoring.  Many of my training/racing platitudes (many of which have come from my own past coaches) come to mind just at the right times, and I find them spouting them back at me which is a real compliment, and I think I'm done reminding them where they came from!  Thanks, Carl, Maz and Sol!

I have trouble relating to people who aren't accountable to themselves about their training.  That behavior makes for poor racing, injury and sets a bad example for other athletes.  I am typically quite brash with such people whether or not they accept my opinion.

But luckily, such people are the minority in my circle of friends, since accountability is intimately connected with integrity, and if you notice, integrity is in my tagline for this blog.

Today, Iron Man and Tiny Spock (I just recently acquired Tiny Spock) held me accountable while I did the first hour of my long run on my treadmill, Hal.  In this case, holding me accountable meant I would run the correct paces for my training zones based on my current VDOT, even if I felt like running faster.  So for that first hour, I covered only 6.35 miles in an hour, where the first 30' were in Zone 1, 20' in Zone 2, and then 10' in Zone 4.

Then I went outdoors to complete the workout, and covered 6 miles in 53:40, or 8:57 pace, and the gist of that time was to be 5' Zone 2, 10' Zone 4, 5' Zone 2, 15' Zone 3 and 15' Zone 2. I went a little further out before I headed back since I wasn't sure how fast I'd run home, which is why I ended up going over 50'.  No worries, my Zone 4 stuff outside was at a fast clip, and I slowed down appropriately after it.

I had a slight miss on my run nutrition today.  Since it appears I am running faster than I did 4 years ago and my thyroid is working properly again, that means I need more calories while I run.  I wasn't too far off today, but I felt hungry when I was about 10.5 miles in.  I had plenty of fluids, though.  So noted in my training log, and I will do better on next week's long run.

Accountability...Integrity...Honesty...if you don't have those things, keep away from me!

Cautiously Optimistic

So I established my training metrics (VDOT for running and FT for the bike; haven't done a swim test yet) based on how I did in the 1/2 NothingMan a week ago (is it really just a week ago?).  So this past week I had an opportunity to begin dialing in the run and bike zones to see how they feel and figure out if I'm calibrated properly (I am also inflicting this on Brad the Mongoose). Every single training session now, with the exception of a workout described as easy or as you feel (note there aren't too many of those!) is an opportunity to test whether I'm on track, falling back or getting faster.

Up until 7/29, I'd been putting in the training volume, but not doing structured workouts.  Those days are gone, and now I'm back to what I was doing in 2010 and earlier, which I know to be extremely speed, endurance and HTFU-producing, although typically by this point in an Ironman training cycle, I would have done a bunch of speed stuff for 3 or 4 months in the lead-up, but I digress.

I spent from July, 2012 to July, 2013 just fucking running (JFR), just fucking riding (also JFR), and swimming 2-3x/week (random swim workouts). I wasn't training for anything, and I wasn't feeling right, so I did a lot of really slow sessions on the bike and run.  No particular workouts, just the amount of time I felt appropriate. "Not training" for me meant I was averaging around 12 hours of working out per week.  That might not sound like much, but you do that every week in a year and it comes to 600+ training hours!  But for me, having been averaging 15-16 hours per week for 4 years straight, 12 hours was actually a light load.

A few people have said to me that perhaps the reason I'm feeling so good right now is that I got some "rest."  Well, yes, I did need rest, and I suppose it took catastrophic mind/body meltdown to get me to do it.  I'd been saying I was going to take a break, I was going to step away from Ironman (and further), I was going to ease back, but I never did from 2001-2012.  So yes, the rest was needed and may be playing a huge part in how I feel right now.

And how is that?  Based on just 2 weeks worth of metrics, it would appear that I am at least as fast as I was in 2009, and I may even have a shot at being faster!  I am cautiously optimistic, since 2 weeks worth of data does not an Ironman prediction make, but so far, so good.

On Saturday I did my first tempo run in ages.  My Zone 4 (threshold) training pace was to be 8:44, but when I did the workout and the first 10' of Z4 I came in at 8:19, and it felt FUCKING FANTASTIC! I ran easy for 5' and was at another mile marker to begin another 10' of Z4.  I actually thought I was dialing it back, as this included running up most of a 1-mile hill that is pretty hefty in elevation. Well, I came in at 8:19 again. I was like maybe this is a fluke and I will be trashed after this, because that pace is actually what my 5K pace should be right now. 

Well I wasn't trashed after that and went and did a 1-hour pretty hard ride, and THAT went well and I was able to hit the %'s of FT pretty much dead on.  And then I swam 1200 yards super easy (at that point I was tired!), so effectively I got in a reverse sprint-ish NothingMan on Saturday.

Now the real test would come yesterday.  I was going to do the Rotary Ride, which is an organized metric century, so 62 miles.  My plan was to get in 100+ miles of riding, and when I arrived at the start, I looked at the map and figured the best thing would be to do the full 62 and then repeat the 41-mile option. I stuck to my intended workout plan, which was 1 hour Z1, 30' Z3, 40' Z4, 10' Z1, 20' FT (Z5), 20' Z3, and then the rest Z1/Z2 as I felt.  I ended up riding 111 miles in 6:08, and my normalized power for the entire ride was smack in the middle of Z2, which is Ironman pace!  The ride had about 3500 ft. of climbing, so this was a fairly good indicator ride, and I feel great this morning, so it feels like I have my FT about right for now, but it may have some room for improvement!

This coming Sunday I'm riding the Bike Psychos 200k, and I would feel good if I can do that at average 18mph, which is the fastest I've ever done it.  It's a beautiful ride that passes through several of the Illinois State Parks that are along the Illinois River, so there are plenty of hills and usually a good dose of wind and heat.  One year I did the ride, it ended up being 131 miles, which normally I LOVE the extra miles, cuz you know, I paid to do the ride, so I'm getting my money's worth, right?  But that year, I don't think many of us were too happy with the extra miles, but we did them anyway.  I mean WTF are you supposed to do when you have 16 miles to get back to your car?

This week I also begin progressive long runs that start out easy and end with Z4 stuff, and the day before is a tempo run.  So here comes the REAL training now, and I'm actually excited about it!  Honestly, if I am even as fast as I was in 2009, that would be cool with me, and if I end up faster, gravy!  Hell, I'm 56, and most days I am amazed that I can even do this shit, you know?  There aren't many women that make it to their 50's and keep doing Ironman--menopause does a number on us, and then I guess many ladies would rather do other things, which is cool.  But I only started this shit when I was the ripe age of 44 (began running at 42), so in triathlon years, I am actually somewhat of a baby.  The other gals in my age group that I know are brutally strong, too, because you don't get here without being that way. 

I've been pinching myself and brought myself to tears a few times in the last few weeks over how great I feel, and I have such gratitude for RIGHT NOW.  All of this might come crashing down, but for now, life is pretty great, and I'm going to ride the high tide as long as I can!

You know for the period of time I was not writing to this blog, I'd been thinking that I wasn't going to ever bring it back.  You know why?  Because I thought that I didn't want anyone new that I met to go and read it and think I was some sort of whacked out psycho chic.  But you know what?  Maybe that is part of what I am and maybe now I'm OK with it. Only I sincerely hope that people are able to recognize the other parts of me that are actually subdued and mellow.  I've always had that; it's just that unless people are willing to look under the hood and engage me in things outside of triathlon, they would never know. 

While I was riding yesterday, I spotted a bald eagle in a pine tree about 1/2 mile from the road I was on (Ashley).  I don't think anyone else on the ride yesterday saw it--I told one of the SAG drivers, and when I saw him later, he said he missed the eagle.  I rode by a couple of goats, and I bleated to them and they answered my call. I once again had the song "Bernadette" by the Four Tops playing in my head when I saw the sign for Bernadette Road off of High Point.  I let other people touch Skull Kingdom, and one of the volunteers even picked her up (with appropriate care) to let some novices feel how lightweight she is.  I'm mentoring one athlete (Maz) and coaching another (Brad). I'm enjoying my flower gardens now more than I think I ever have, I'm making time regularly for friends near (and far via phone) and trying to schedule some amount of "regular life" (i.e., movies, walks, a bit of entertaining). It feels good now--while I was training for Ultraman Canada, it was a huge grind, and I don't know if I want to do that kind of training again--but Ironman training?  Well, I guess I've figured out how to do it and have some sort of life outside it, even though I know that in a few weeks, extracurricular activities will be squeezed out.  But you know what?  I've even told some friends about it, and they are happy to see me at it again, even though they know it will cut into their time with me.  I think they've figured out just how much I love doing this.

I'm going to try and stay balanced, but for now, I'm cautiously optimistic that this is the good times with more to come!