The Final Assault

I sit here with sore legs.  They were sore on Monday from serious biking over the weekend.  They were sore on Tuesday from Monday's biking.  They were sore on Wednesday from Tuesday's biking and running.  They are sore today from yesterday's 16.5 mile hard run.

Why do I do this?  Because I can. Because I delight in seeing just how far I can push this one incredible piece of machinery that is my body.  Because when I push my body and it rewards me with endorphins, I feel good about myself.  Because I love the look on peoples' faces when I tell them my age and they can't believe it.  Because feeling so strong in my body makes me feel so strong in spirit.  Because when I do this to myself it makes so many other life challenges that much easier to handle.  Because when I can quiet my mind during training and let my body go on autopilot, I can quiet my mind in other circumstances where I might otherwise become overwhelmed.  Because I get a kick out of feeling like I'm 25 when I'm really 57.  Because I love setting an example for others of how GREAT you can feel.

I fully realize that this is a frivolous, unnecessary passion.  Nobody needs to exercise as much as I do (and I am careful to point that out to those who question how it is that I look how I do).  Some might even say it is unhealthy. But I would rather die doing this than some of the alternatives.  I would never say my lifestyle is for everyone.  In fact, it's not for very many people at all!  It's all for me.  Because by indulging this passion of mine, it makes me a better person.

I'm in the last 2 weeks of hard training for IMCOZ.  My run taper officially begins Sunday, but there's one more week of heavy biking to seal the deal.  In a way, I crammed for this race.  I only officially began training 20 weeks out from race day.  But I have the accumulated fitness to cram, and despite various other annoyances, I've enjoyed every single minute of it!

One of the things I am particularly enjoying is watching my friend, Brad, go through the same training that I am doing.  That was the deal for me coaching him, as he was stupid enough to ask me if he could use my training plan.  He's 26, and I've always wondered over the years whether I was more tired than I should be at various points in training cycles, so it's fun for me to hear a 26-year old reporting in that this is hard!  I hope he's realized that this isn't hard just to demonstrate just how Crackheaded I am--this is serious, elite-level Ironman training.  I am still amazed that I can train at this level.  Believe it or not, I have dialed back on some things, but I would need to go into too much detail for others to understand.

I know this will sound like a broken record, but I have always attributed my ability to train like this to doing all the right things:

• Daily stretching
• Frequent massage
• Continuous self education about my body, including musculature (to self-diagnose potential injuries), nutrition, exercise modalities, etc.
• An appropriate diet (regular and training nutrition) for my goals (that will always include BEER!)
• Proper training methods (periodization and all that)
• Strength training--I'm still at it and haven't broken my 20+ year streak!
• Sleep: while my need for sleep seems to have diminished, I must be getting enough to keep this up, right?
• Support system.  It goes without saying that it helps to know and hang out with other crazies!
• Keeping it real.  As serious as I can get about all this, I keep it fun.  Ask anyone who rides with me how much we are laughing.
• Staying on top of health issues

This is hard work!  I've also always said that actually doing the training is the easy part.  It's all the other things that enable that to happen. 


Today I do yet another 5K swim, which is really no big deal, as I've swum a lot farther than that.  But the middle 4200 will be where the action is at.  Tomorrow is my race rehearsal ride/run.  I will ride on the trainer since it will only be maybe 30 degrees when I start, but will change clothes quickly and run outside.  I will ride 5:30, which will end up being more than 112 miles, but I want the 5:30 of training stimulus.  Then I will run 6 miles at my Ironman pace.  Then I will have a food extravaganza!

Next week is less running, but 2 long rides on the weekend--5:30 and 4:00.  That will be tough, but oh well!  Like I say to many people, "it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it!"

My legs are sore.  I love this stuff!  I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing!

I Should Write a Blog Post

I don't really know how many people read my blog, but I'm pretty sure that the ones who do anxiously await my next missive, so here goes.

I've been on the non-generic Synthroid for 5 days, and I am optimistic that it is making a difference for me.  My heart no longer feels jumpy 2 hours after I take the meds, and I just feel more "level."  But as to how I should feel, I still have no clue.  I am less than 4 weeks out from another Ironman, and while I have been able to execute most of the training in my plan, some of it has been at less intensity than I would prefer, and I couldn't tell you whether that's due to:

• Age.  Yep, I got older.  How the fuck did that happen?
• The underlying nature of hypothyroidism, whether or not medicated.
• The meds themselves
• I need to HTFU
• I really did get out of shape for over a year

So when somebody asks me, "How do you feel?"  I am not really sure what to tell them.  Overall, I would say I feel pretty great, considering how much I am training, that I'm 57, and I'm going on my 17th Ironman.  I mean, what the fuck, how many people are in that category?  I've noticed that I can't get my heart rate up much at all beyond maybe 110, and again, I am not sure what the reason is.

So based on the above, I have no fucking expectations going into IMCOZ, because there are too many variables in play at the moment.  That's OK, though--I am pretty sure I can finish the thing and not do too poorly.  I am not sandbagging here, either!  I know some people on the sidelines are thinking WTF she has trained like her usual beastly self, she ought to come out really well, and to you I would say why don't you try stepping into my shoes?  Yes, I have retained this freakish ability to train a lot, and yes, I still enjoy it in a perverse way--the pain, the mental suffering, the stupid things that come up and my ability to get past them.

Just yesterday, for example, I didn't sleep enough, which I blame on the stupid time change.  I had settled into waking up around 3AM, which is still a bit earlier than I would like, but even still, I would get so many things done in the wee hours.  In case you are wondering, that is when I perform my coaching duties, clean my house (because if I wait until later in the day, I will be too tired and just go FUCK IT), wash the dishes, fix bottles for biking, catch up on email, write blog posts and generally organize myself.  Anyway, my legs were also quite sore yesterday.  From biking.  See this last push has me biking 4 days straight, and none of it is what I would call easy.  Plus I shelled myself a bit on Saturday with that 114 miles in 4:30--but I am also quite pleased that I did it!

So what did I do yesterday?  I started out by raking my entire back yard, and I think that took about 1.5 hours.  I tend to rake competitively, so it's like another workout in a way.  I thought that might tire me out enough to make me go down for a short nap, which I attempted, but failed.  I also felt nutritionally depleted, so after I raked, I ate another breakfast--2 eggs fried in butter with 2 slices of buttered toast.  YUM!  Then at about 11AM, I thought I'd eat lunch and have a beer and see if that would get me to nap, but again, I failed.  But after laying in bed for maybe 20 minutes, I did seem to feel better (sometimes a beer "resets" my brain don't ask me why), so I got up and decided to motivate and go work out at the Y, since I needed just to be around other people, since I've been doing a lot of training in my house.  I packed a Coke and a bottle of Cheaterade to fuel me for a 1:30 ride and :40 brick run.

Now, many people would have bagged their workouts given my lack of sleep and sore legs.  And I get that.  And there are times when I would make the call to bag it, too, but yesterday was not one of them, being close to the race, and with this and next week being the real tests of HTFU and final fitness building.  Plus, in the back of my mind is always the thought that there will be periods during the race where I will feel this shitty, so might as well get used to it now!

I got on a Precor stationary bike, and predictably, didn't have much power, but I had enough for the circumstances, and the Coke helped the time pass quickly, but near the end, I began dreading the run.  I just didn't think I'd be able to hack it, but I transitioned quickly (I wore my running shoes on the bike), and went to the indoor track, and figured I'd just start out nice and easy, see how I felt, and if I really felt too tired to keep going, it would be OK to stop.

My first mile was 10:05, which would be too fast for being in the race, but slow for me in training, but hey, I was running when I felt like shit, so I was OK with it.  Without even feeling like I was pushing any harder, my second mile was 9:34, then 9:27, then the last one was 8:47!  The entire time I was running, I kept thinking I will feel like this in the race, so just feel it and be OK with it.  And I would say that during the 3rd mile, I began smiling and that old feeling of how cool is this came back to me and how awesome is it that I am fit enough to do this shit, and I knew I would finish the workout.

Of course, when I was done, I felt absolutely great, took the BEST SHOWER EVER (I was moaning in there, though because I was pretty wasted), then hit the sauna for some stretching, put on compression tights and headed back home to work some more.

After I was done working, I stretched some more, then I headed over to my friend's house down the street, as she'd invited me for dinner, how nice is that?  We had a nice time talking about this and that and laughing, and I would have stayed longer, except for I was really tired.  When I got home, I stripped, got in bed and passed out in like 2 seconds, and woke up right at 2AM because I had to poop, and this is what happens, and it's hard for me to go back to sleep after that.  I tried, though, but I was glad I'd made it all the way to 2 (the former 3) without waking up once.  So I know I will be a bit tired today, too, but I will get through it.

I am having some work done inside my house next week, and in preparation, I have to move things around in my bedroom, which means, you know, cleaning, too, and I'm getting there.  Behind my big dresser, I found this:

It was my Mom's.  Isn't it garish?  But I love it!  I wish I could wear it during IMCOZ!  Wouldn't that just be a fucking hoot? You never know--maybe I will pin it to my race belt.  It's about 2.5" in diameter.  I would be the most sparkly Crackhead ever!

On that note, today I swim 3500 and then run 1:10 later, and while I feel a little worked, I'm pretty sure I can HTFU and get through it just fine.

Have a great day!