The Hardcore Training Continues

Last night's dinner: Porterhouse steak and pasta (orrechiette) with salmon sauce















3 days' worth of coffee cups and bottles. I'm drowning in them!



Today's hangover...er...workouts were sponsored by this bottle of wine last night.

After last week's festivities, let's just say I was pretty wiped out yesterday afternoon. But I managed to mow my lawn, sweep the driveway afterwards, organize some boxes and water some plants that I will need to plant any day now.

You'd think I'd be really fucked up this morning, right? Sort of...thing is, I slept like a baby, and even missed the coffee pot going off! I was shocked at waking up and it was LIGHT OUTSIDE. So I knew I needed to hustle, as I'm doing some long swim workouts this week.

I woke up at 6AM and was in the water swimming at 6:52AM. Not bad. While swimming, I was very conscious of how fatigued I was, not that I was sort of hungover. Thing is, I can perform whenever whatever. Maybe not fast, but that was OK today. I did my entire swim workout, all 3,150 yards. Tomorrow is only 2,800 yards, but Wednesday and Thursday are each 3,600 yards, so being used to being up early will pay off.

When I got home, I drank my glass of egg protein and finished off the bottle of Gatorade that I had taken to the pool. About 11:15, I chugged about 1/2 can of Coke and then set off to run. I ran for a little over an hour, and didn't set any intensity goals, but damn, I wasn't running too poorly at all. And it was warm and sunny, and my legs ached while I ran. Too bad!

I really should be lifting right now, but I'm going to put it off until tomorrow once that wine has run its course :) My turntable died, and I must go and purchase a new one!

Food, Awesome Deal for Ladies and General Updates

First pic is last night's dinner--it's farfalle with a sausage, tomato and cabbage sauce, and Ahi tuna seared in a sauce of Marsala, Vidalia onions and ordinary white mushrooms. Man can I cook or what? Notice the tri content--just got Inside (but you already knew all this crap) Triathlon, and I guess to match Tri(constantly repeating content)Athlete magazine, the feature is on the physique. They shoulda put me in there, I swear. Anyway, when you get it, you will see that some of the women weigh EVEN LESS THAN ME!!! I am 5'3" 110 pounds, and on page 55 you see this woman who is only 37, 5'3" 108 pounds, and while she is quite lean, I think I look better than her, so I guess those 2 pounds I have on her are good stuff! Anyway, it goes to show you why when someone says I'm skinny I sometimes go postal on them because I'm not.

The other 2 pics are of a backpack that I bought specifically for when I start riding a bike (the MTB) to the outdoor pool in a month. It's fucking awesome! I got it at the online Kiefer store for $25 plus whatever shipping, and it retails for $45. I'm thinking Kiefer made a mistake with the pricing since you can't find that low of a price anywhere else. As you can see, it also comes in blue. Anyway, I found its measurements (17" x 12.5", but I think it's actually bigger) and figured it would hold my kickboard (they don't supply those at my outdoor pool) and all my other crap. Which is why I took a pic of the kickboard, pull buoy and fins in there, and there's boatloads more room. It also has little pockets for an iPod, goggles and other stuff. The only thing is there is no mesh bag inside, but hey, I always bring plastic grocery bags for my wet crap. Anyway, I love how pink it is, to the point of *SHININESS*.

In other news, I received a bunch of plants that I ordered yesterday, so I'm going to have to plant those this weekend as well as a bunch of flower seeds. I have some interior painting touchups to do, I need new garden hoses (and I found *pink* ones!) and may need to make another trip to the bike shop if my MTB is ready with new pedals and shoes. Oh, and the Barbies got some new digs--let's just say the Tiki Hut is getting a severe upgrade.

In other news, as you can see from the time I posted this, I am still not sleeping much, but seem to feel OK. This week is pure madness with all the training I'm doing. I already did dishes this morning because, well the amount of bottles was getting out of control. And then I'm cooking, too, so it just adds up. I don't know how you people manage in households with multiple people--just my own bottle/dishes mess plus laundry plus general triathlon crap strewn everywhere is enough to make someone go crazy--duh, I already am :)

Answers to a Few Burning Questions

Since I use software that tracks activity on my blog, and I enjoy reading the stats on how people got to my blog and what they were looking for, I get to see all the Google (and a few other search engines) searches people do leading them here.

Google is a beautiful thing! Not only does it full text index all the blog posts, but it picks up the tags that I assign (alas, Blogger doesn't allow me to use as many tags as I want on a given post). So an innocent search, for say, "bottles" might bring someone here.

Here are a few of my favorite queries that landed people here, and I hope they found what they are looking for!

1. "calories burned walking around sea world" I'm not sure, but I remember doing this the day after Goofy Challenge in 2007. I'm pretty sure I didn't burn as many calories as I did running the half marathon on Saturday and then the full marathon on Sunday.
2. "red wine and athletic performance" Well, when I drink red wine the day before a long ride, I typically ride really well. White wine is for sissies (except champagne).
3. "backyard overrun with rabbits" Well, yes, mine has been from time to time, but the resident pair of red-tailed hawks seems to be helping. Do you know my opinion of rabbits? They are born to be food.
4. "body fuck love" Don't know what you were looking for, but I think you're in the right place.
5. "crackhead fucking" You, too. Welcome aboard!
6. "very bad girls" Yes, I wrote a post with this title. It's very popular in Iran.
7. "fucking love riding my bike" One of my most popular posts is on that topic. In case you've never READ it, it's here. I'll have to repeat a photo like that very soon. I still LOVE riding my bikes. ALL OF THEM!!! Yesterday I rode my MTB for 2 hours and had an absolute BLAST!
8. "calories burned swim 2 miles" Why do you care? And how fast did you go? Inquiring minds want to know.
   

It's going to be another absolutely gorgeous spring day, and I'm going to fire it up with a little gardening, a swim, then a run later on and lift at some point. I took it super easy on Monday, and my ride yesterday was also super easy, and I feel pretty fucking awesome. I'm still basking in the endorphins from my weekend Crack-o-Rama. Cool--I just coined another term to add to my Crackology! I can't wait to see what happens since I'll be tagging this post with "Google."

Happy Earth Day!

Even though I took yesterday off from work, I didn't spend any time in my yard, because there were a bunch of other things I needed to do, including finishing the TDD Race Report. But today, I woke up early (damn--part of this I think is just general excitement with the lengthening of the days), and it's a beautiful day, so I spent about 2.5 hours working on my front yard. It's almost all cleaned up and prepped, except for bundling up the perennial stems. Daffodils and hyacinths are blooming, and I really like this part of spring before the trees leaf out.

I've still got probably 20 more hours to go to get the entire yard cleaned up, annuals planted, shrubs trimmed, etc. One woman walking by this morning asked me if I'd work on her gardens, and I told her I would, but at $400/hour, which is what I would charge for landscape consultation (which may be in my future, who knows?).

While I was out there, I did a lot of pine cone gathering, weed pulling, and then sweeping. I was thinking I could get out the electric blower to clean off the sidewalk, but what fun is that and besides it's Earth Day! No reason to use electricity to do something that I can do with good old manual labor! I enjoy being able to use my body for practical things as well as the occasional workout :) And I prefer to do the yard work myself. I still think I want to move to a smaller place (townhouse or condo) with no yard maintenance, but then you know what? I've used the hell out of my current house (just come by and see and you'll know what I mean), and I get so much pleasure from flowers and just a well-kept yard, and I know it provides much pleasure to passersby. When I get the usual, "Isn't that a lot of work?" I just sort of smirk because most of them have no clue about all the time I spend on triathlon.

But this is one thing that keeps me balanced, I suppose. Plus, it's just so much fun getting dirty!

Weekly Workout Totals 06/25/2007-07/01/2007and Surviving Ironman Training

So, the ride yesterday didn't go as well as planned. 1) I decided to stop and take pictures. 2) I was "thinking" a bit too much. Even though I'm bummed, it is what it is, and so I will let it go and move on. I'm riding 100 miles on Wednesday, and so I have another chance to see how well I do, although I wasn't given any pacing guidance, so I will most likely hammer it! I plan on riding my disc just for shits and grins, panties, the whole outrageous kit! What the hell, it's the 4th of July, gotta celebrate!

Now, onto the topic at hand: How do you (an average age grouper) keep your sanity while training for an Ironman? It all comes down to the following equation:

Sanity = x * (time you want to train to achieve your outrageous goals) - y * (time actually available to train) - z * (unpredictable life crap) + q * (value of your support network, and be honest) + s * (genetic giftedness) + t * (amount of training planning you actually do or coaching you receive) - v * (amount of unnecessary crap you engage in that doesn't contribute towards your training/racing goals) + r * (your knowledge of the art and science of triathlon training in order to cope with all the other shit)

The variables x, y, z, q, s, t, v and r are very important and very individual, and are subject to change at any given time! Considering that "sanity" will reflect your ability to execute on race day, it's very important to be honest about the variables. Things get even more complicated because many people are unable to self-assess to the extent required to keep things in balance and keep things real.

What about me? I am subject to the same stressors as the next guy or gal. Sure, I'm not married and don't have kids, but hey, cut me some slack. I do EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING for myself. I work, and if I lose my job, I have noone to lean on to support me. I pay the bills, take out the garbage, tend to the house and yard, do the laundry, cooking, dishes, repairs, anything you can imagine.

BUT, and this is a very important BUT, I do everything possible to ensure that I can get in the training that I want to do to achieve what I think is possible for me. So I eliminate crap that doesn't need to get done, and while I make incessant lists, many things never get done because they just aren't truly necessary. If I want to go out drinking with a friend, I know in advance the price I will pay and whether I will be able to execute the next day's workouts. I knew that by stopping to take pictures and "thinking" too much yesterday that I was jeopardizing my race rehearsal ride. Sure, I'm still pissed, but it was a choice I made, and in the end, I still had fun doing it, I still got in a good workout, and the experience will still contribute to my race day execution. At least I did the workout, you know?

I am by no means a talented athlete. I got where I am by sheer determination, discipline and hard work. Nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes my sanity equation gets out of whack, and I just try to sit back and figure out what needs to give.

Right now, for example, I'm sort of at the edge of my own sanity. I feel incredibly fit, yet I am subject to the odd poor workout. I also need to be aware that as I've aged that I may have reached my inevitable peak and begin to decline in ability any day now. It's all I can do right now to do the workouts, maintain some semblance of "regular life," do my job and begin planning for a race that happens in 3 weeks. It's fucking nuts! I would be totally remiss to say it was anything less than that.

Yet I know that to some folks, I appear totally cool, calm, collected and all that shit. Oh, boy, there are things I could talk about going on in my head that would make YOUR head spin. Let's just say I have an extremely active fantasy life right now. My brain is constantly scrolling through all sorts of scenarios, not just for the present, but for the near and far futures. I am constantly testing myself against what I think I am, what I think I know, what I think I want, and all possible combinations. Sometimes I think it's a miracle that I can concentrate on a single thing, like writing this post. Am I unique in this regard? I don't think so. I bet that if I could get other would-be or already Ironmen to comment on these feelings that they would concur.

It's a fantastic thing to bring your body to this point--where you are a finely honed machine that is constantly chomping at the bit for the next challenge. In fact, that's how I like to schedule my entire training calendar for a year. Most of the time it works like a charm, but there's always something different about an impending Ironman.

At this time, what I try and do is draw heavily upon my support network, and by that, I mean those people closest to me who really know what this is about in terms of ME--they don't need to know the ins and outs of Ironman training or racing--but they need to know ME and just be there and reinforce my sense of self and confidence and in the end, that's really all any of us needs, right?

But sometimes my support network doesn't see through my external shell of She-Ra strength and attitude, and I need to remind them that I am just as vulnerable as everyone else. It's OK to ask for support when you need it, and it's OK to be a little selfish in these last 3 weeks. Of course, that's with the assumption that I'm giving back to my support network. I try my best to do so, and I am regularly surprised at all the nice things other people do for me throughout the year. I never think I am doing enough for others, which is a personality fault of mine. I'm a doer, plain and simple. That's what I do; that's what I get satisfaction from. Even when I may feel overwhelmed at all the "doing" that I've committed to, in the end, that's what makes me a happy camper. When my schedule is overflowing with stuff, to me it all just becomes a juggling act that is yet another skill for me to master.

So now, here's what I did last week. I have one more big (20-hour or so) week, and then it's taper time! I'm feeling very much on the edge right now, but I just need to bear with it and then it should all come together. I'm heading back to Wisconsin this Friday with Rich to conduct an IMWI training camp, and I'm looking forward to that. To me, it will be a ton of fun, assuming I don't frighten off the other campers! And then I'm looking forward to meeting up with old friends at IMLP, so no matter what happens, it will all be good!


Weekly Workout Totals 06/25/2007-07/01/2007
Swim: 15215 yards (8.64 miles) in 5.12 hours; 24% of weekly workout time; approx. 1790 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 180.54 miles in 10.32 hours; 48% of weekly workout time; approx. 4584 calories burned
Run: Approx. 31.75 miles in 4.82 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 2177 calories burned
Strength: 1.03 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 258 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 220.93 miles in 21.29 hours; approx. 8809 calories burned
Sleep: 7.07 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.23 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours

Oh, and if you haven't looked, see what's blooming for this past week: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600496071836/

Edit (Monday morning): I woke up at 2AM (as has been happening pretty much daily for the last 3-4 weeks--notice the correlation to the number of training hours I'm putting up) this morning. I was hoping it was later, but my curiousity got the better of me and I looked at a clock. I was like, oh fuck, this is even earlier than my usual 3-3:30AM wakeup. But whatever. I've learned not to obsess about this, figuring that as long as I am horizontal, it's all good in terms of giving my body a rest. So I took stock--I was, as always, hot, even though my bedroom temperature was 73 (my bedside clock has a thermometer in it--I told you I like to measure stuff!) and I had a fan blowing on me all night and I sleep naked. I went to the bathroom and turned on the light, looked in the mirror and thought, "I look disgusting." Guess most of us don't look so hot at 2AM, huh? And this is why we invented alcoholic beverages... I washed my face, got pissed about a zit on my chin (I mean what the fuck, I'm 50 and I still get these things? Oh yeah, I ride a bike and drool all over my face while sweating like a pig.), turned off the light and got back in bed, knowing I would lay there for awhile wide awake thinking, or should I say "scrolling." I just let my mind do it, because trying to stop it is futile (much like the Borg). What was cool was that I went into a lucid dreaming state--I went through 4 dreams, where I had them and then immediately became fully alert and awake, knowing I had just had a dream (trust, me, they were all good ones), feeling like my mind was having some fun, and then I dropped back into sleep only to repeat the sequence. Sometimes I just have to let my brain run wild, and this can be the happy result. I ended up with 8.5 hours of sleep, and I feel great, rarin' to go. There's a link on my sidebar to a dream interpretation site. I taught myself to recall my dreams many, many years ago, and also this ability to stare at the ceiling (during daylight hours) until I am not "seeing" at all. It's sort of like what happens when they give you that shot of sodium pentathol to put you under before surgery and you see the bright white light that collapses into nothing and then you are out. The purpose of doing this? Achieving the feeling of nothingness and everythingness all at once. Being there and being gone. I think it's a fleeting glimpse of that thing they call "Nirvana."

Happy Friday!

I just brushed my teeth and gagged while doing so. I think maybe the gag reflex has to do with my brain knowing that I'm about to work out (I'm going swimming shortly).

I'm up to 10 hours of training for the week already and have about 3 hours to do today. FUCKING A!!!!

See how happy my fridge is? 3 lovelies are busy defizzing themselves in preparation for this weekend's riding festival. The sandwich (or should I say remains) is something I made last night. It's a tomato focaccia round (about 8" I think) with the following fillings: prosciutto, hot capicollo, soppresata, Volpi salami and Provolone cheese. REAL mayo on one half of the bread, and on the other half a good sprinkling of Balsamic vinegar, virgin olive oil and oregano. I planned to eat only 1/4 of it last night, but it turned into half. Guess I must be training a lot, eh?

My garden is taking off right about now, so I took a bunch of shots, including pics of my statuary (yeah, I know--at least I don't have any garden gnomes--YET--but if someone were to buy one for me, I wouldn't be offended, HINT HINT). The pics are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600400629771/

Enjoy, and kick ass at whatever you do today!

What's Blooming in My Yard 6/19/2007

I am now uploading bulk photos to my Flickr account (they were happy to take my annual fee for unlimited uploads) rather than posting all of them here, since I am starting to take a lot.

Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600400629771/

Triple T Race Report - Installment 4

Regarding today's photos: They changed the graphics on the Ultra Violence cans. Do you think it's a coincidence that the colors match up to my beloved LGL? I think not. I highly recommend you visit the website, and ramble around until you get the prompt to enter a number. Enjoy!

The other photos are new things in bloom in my yard. See if you can spot the Monarch butterfly caterpillar. I've got several on several (curiously enough) Butterfly Weed and Milkweed plants. The caterpillars grow really fast! I hope to have several chrysalises going, and I'll get shots of those, too. They are absolutely beautiful!

Installment 4:

http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-4

Installment 3, in case you missed it:
http://www.trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-3

Installment 2, in case you missed it:
http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-part-2

Installment 1, in case you missed it:

http://trifuel.com/training/race-reports/american-triple-t-an-epic-race-report-for-an-epic-race

Weekly Workout Totals 05/28/2007-06/03/2007 and Neighbor Episode (*FREE* Scenes from my yard)

Check out this guy's blog: http://projectbreathe.net/ Please leave him encouraging comments. He's riding from Seattle to Fort Worth, TX, for cystic fibrosis, trying to average 100 miles per day! I have already snagged a quote from it that fits me perfectly:

"i don’t train to race, i train to get up the next day and train harder. "

--Matt Young

Sounds a lot like my Crackhead motto:

"Harder, longer, faster, tougher--REPEAT "
--Crackhead

I still haven't finished my Triple T race report...this week, I swear!

Saturday morning, I woke up about 1AM to go to the bathroom, and I noticed some extra light coming into my bedroom. I looked outside, and my stoner neighbor was out in his back yard with friends and a campfire. They weren't making too much noise at this point, and I was very tired, so I went back to sleep. I've had concerns over the legality of their fire, and I had spoken to the kid's dad, Gary, stating that I wasn't too happy about them.

I finally woke around 4:30AM for the day, and guess what? The boys were still going hard next door. All I could think was that they are really hard core. I think of myself as hard core, but not in that way. I overheard them discussing politics and war. Yeah, right, like drinking all night and talking about it is making a contribution to society!

I wanted to begin riding by 7 or 7:30, and I did some stuff in the house. At about 7:30 I went outside to get my bike ready and I smelled smoke, and I wondered if the boys were still going at it. So I went to my back yard, and I can see smoke from the fire pit, but no bodies. Now I'm pissed. And there's a beer can in my yard. Apparently, they have gone to sleep and left a fire burning! I could feel myself approaching postal at this point. I've already had 3 very adult discussions with these people, and this was it.

But, I thought, OK, one more chance (why I am this nice???). So I walk over and ring the doorbell. Nobody answers. I know one car had left, so I thought maybe they all went to breakfast after their binge. I decided I was not going to put out THEIR fire with MY water, and now I picked up the phone and called the police.

While I was waiting for the officer to arrive, I saw my neighbors across the street outside, so I decided to let them in on what has been going on. Turns out, one woman, Vicky, had someone drag a magic marker on her car during the night! Luckily, I told her I know how to get it off (the things we learn in triathlon, huh?) by using suntan lotion or other lotion, but that the cops were on the way, so it could be a twofer for them.

Officer Dave arrives, and I tell him everything--how the father, Gary, bought the house for the kids, it's in disrepair, they are partying hard over there regularly, that I've had 3 civil discussions with them, but that this is the last straw. When I told Dave that I had seen the fire at 1AM, he said I should have called them right then.

Dave asks if I want to file a criminal suit against them. I said not this time. He asks me if I want him to go over and knock on the door. I said go ahead, but I had rung the bell and nobody answered.

Well Dave goes over and after a few minutes, he disappears into the house! I can only imagine how he knocked. I would guess it was pretty hard, accompanied by, "It's the POLICE!" I was secretly wishing Dave saw drugs laying around, but I honestly think they had to move some stuff around before answering the door.

So Dave comes out and tells me I am living next door to a frathouse. DUH! He said the kid seemed like a reasonable person and that he (Matt) said he was going to come and talk to me. Dave says to be adult and civil, and I told him that I work in customer service, so I am very familiar with these sorts of situations. But Dave also said I should tell the kid straight out that the next time I call the police there WILL be a drug bust. See Dave figured out that part all on his own.

So asshole boy has seen me come and go and has had ample opportunities to come and "talk" to me. I hope that boy is scared shitless. He knows I'm strong, and he should also know by now that the surrounding neighbors all know and like me and NOT HIM. I truly don't think he or his drunkard father are malicious, but I have no trust in these people any longer. I am not fearing for my own safety, either. I have a sneaking suspicion the local police will begin keeping an eye on these people.

And now back to our regularly scheduled topic--training! I had a great week, even though it was a little dicey recovering from Triple T. However, I am happy to report that based on my recovery, it is NOT at all as bad as an Ironman, because I knocked out some good stuff this week and I'm back on my build for Ironman Lake Placid. Now, recovering wasn't easy, and on Saturday when I finally got to riding, I rode easy for 2:45, and then I ran :40, came home, ate, and I passed out for an hour. Usually it's hard for me to nap, but I went down HARD. I got up and spent 4 hours trimming the shrubs in my foundation landscaping--photos above.

Yesterday I rode 104 miles at a pretty good clip--18MPH average--which was amazing considering how fucked up my legs felt from the prior weekend. But I brought along plenty of caffeine, which at least made the somewhat boring ride tolerable. I even got rained on for the first time. I rode Bitchie, and boy was I happy to be laying in the aerobars all day. The route was flat to rolling, and in the last 5 miles there was a 3-mile climb! WTF!!! I was laughing since it really wasn't that bad. At the rest stop while we waited out the worst of the rain, some chic who was only doing 62 commented on how hilly one section was. I just looked at her and laughed and said, "These are NOT hills." I told her about my adventure last weekend which included one climb called "Godzilla." Anyway, hills and wind are just a matter of perspective. I am so used to riding hard all the time that I just had to yesterday. Of course, I rode steady, and in the last 20 miles of the ride, I smoked past hordes of triathletes who don't know how to ride. Why? Because they really don't know how much effort they are putting out. Power meters RULE!!! Now I'm to the point where I just can tell how much effort I'm putting out and so I don't need to stare at the thing. During that last 3-mile climb, I had an interesting discussion with a roadie (I get respect from them since I'm a good cyclist) about my "usual" training rides: Warm up a little bit, do some hard crap, do some harder crap, do some EXTREMELY HARD crap, rest a little bit and repeat. When you are regularly used to riding at 80% or more of FTP, an easy-peasy 75% ride (which is what yesterday was) feels like cake. Although it didn't feel totally like cake because of my fatigue, but if I was able to ride like that being THAT tired, I think it means I am getting some major bike fitness going, which is precisely where I need to be right now. We get to test the old bike legs seriously next weekend with a 4 hour ride and another 100-miler back to back. Yee-haw!

As you can see from the photos above, my roses are beginning to bloom. Ah, June! Did I say I love June? I think my favorite month is May, and then June, closely followed by September and April. As much as I became enchanted with Colorado Springs, I absolutely love my current home and yard. Believe it or not, I sort of look forward to winter because it means I get to train less and have more time for my indoor hobbies, like sewing, reading and cooking. But I'm nearly done getting my yard all fixed up and it's a work of art that I take great pleasure in as do the passersby. A man was passing by Saturday while I was working on the shrubs in the front yard and commented how, "Your landscaping is looking really good." And then he shook his head and said, "But it's a lot of work." Like that's a bad thing? I just smiled. I could have said, "Dude, if you only KNEW what I do that is REALLY a lot of work." And after all, anything in life that's really worth it or that you want to be good at is a lot of work, right? I got nothing against work, unlike my neighbors, although I'm thinking beginning next year I will start paying for some level of yard maintenance--that is, if I intend to not retire from Ironman and assorted crazy stuff. Stay tuned...

Happy totals:


Weekly Totals 05/28/2007-06/03/2007
Swim: 8100 yards (4.6 miles) in 2.98 hours; 18% of weekly workout time; approx. 1045 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 177.79 miles in 9.97 hours; 60% of weekly workout time; approx. 4454 calories burned
Run: Approx. 14.75 miles in 2.39 hours; 14% of weekly workout time; approx. 1085 calories burned
Strength: 1.2 hours; 7% of weekly workout time; approx. 300 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 197.14 miles in 16.54 hours; approx. 6884 calories burned
Sleep: 7.32 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.55 hours. Massage: 1.75 hours

Random Thoughts

It's asphalt driveway sealing season here in Chicagoland, and I've seen a company called "Paveman." You think my first thought was to assume it had something to do with driveways? No. I thought, "Where is that race and I bet the T-shirt is awesome!"

The very first flower picture in previous post played host to a ruby-throated hummingbird today! In case you don't know what the flower is, it's a Louisiana iris that was transplanted from my front yard to the back when the sidewalk was put in 2 summers ago. The thing is blooming like the dickens now and spreading faster than you can say JAM!

I am still working on my TTT race report. I'm up to 5 pages, through Race 1! I am going to publish it on trifuel.com so that I can include boatloads of photos and not clog up Blogger.

Yesterday I swam 2900 yards in the morning, then did a 1:30 super easy bike ride on my MTB in the afternoon followed by a :20 run (really slow). It wasn't until later in the day I realized I had essentially done ANOTHER triathlon. I suppose that after Triple T, a lot of my training just won't feel like that big of a deal.

My legs and feet are still a little puffy, but going down. I had dinner with a friend yesterday and she and the waiters kept laughing because I just kept eating and eating, and I had to unscrew the salt shaker so I could SEE the salt come out. It had miniscule holes that just didn't do the job on a big plate of boiled potatoes!

Finally, I'm having one of my "suppliers" locate one of the Catlike helmets. I saw one at Triple T and I think they are just MEAN looking, and I want one (silver, medium, please!).

Later.

What's Blooming in My Yard 5/30/2007

Anyone who can name all the flowering plants in the photos wins a prize!

Cicada (Brood XIII) Update

Oh, boy are they here! This morning, the trunks of mature trees were pretty much covered with newly-emerged nymphs, and the lawns are crawling with more trying to reach tree trunks. They have not begun singing though; that will be any day now, even as more emerge.

Birds are going nuts with all the extra food. I witnessed a few bird "fights" today, but those will stop once they all realize just how much food there is. Most wild birds don't live long enough to witness this event more than once, so I can only imagine how excited they must be! Can you imagine when you normally have to go to some trouble to feed yourself and your young how you'd feel if food was literally crawling out of the ground faster than you could eat it? They are still singing non-stop (when not eating), and I've seen many frantically preparing new nests for their second set of offspring.

A lot of my perennials have cicadas on them, but that's cool; they won't hurt those plants a bit (although if I recall, there are other bugs attracted by the cicadas that will do some damage).

It's a warm day, and I'm starting to see the cicadas "flying." They don't really fly so much as move around a bit hoping to run into a mate or tree.

If you want to learn more, head to www.cicadamania.com. I'll get some more decent pictures once we're fully loaded up with bugs. Whereas the last time they were here, I was bothered by their presence; this time, I am amazed by what they are and how much of a good thing this is for the wildlife, and for my trees and garden. Once eggs are laid in trees' twigs, they will fall off, offering a free pruning service. The soil becomes enriched by the nutrients of the dead adults, the birds hopefully multiply to extreme, and maybe the damn rabbits will stop eating my plants!

In other triathlon news, I was completely shelled yesterday, and I wasn't too surprised. I had a scratchy throat that worried me, but it's gone today after I OD'ed on vitamins and carbs. I am still finding it difficult to sleep; I'm just so excited to start my day this time of year (and I still have many more perennial seedlings to yank), and I'm almost finished with a secret project that will be revealed this weekend (hint: it involves Cindy and there is an extreme amount of *PINKNESS* involved).

Stay tuned...more excitement coming from Mind of Iron, as I head into non-stop gonzo training and racing, bugs and flowers, whoring around with various buds and general enjoyment of life! I got the nicest compliment from a woman at the Y yesterday, although I took it mostly as an affirmation of my life--she knows that I am competitive at triathlon, and we got to talking gardening, and I'm generally pretty exuberant about a lot of things. She said to me that I "have the nicest life, with my competitions, gardening and positive attitude." At that very moment, I felt extremely grateful and blessed, and all I could do was smile back at her and said, "Thanks, and I feel that way myself!"

Weekly Workout Totals 05/14/2007-05/20/2007, Spectacular Bonk and They're Here!

First, they're here:

After spending about 1.25 hours early this morning yanking phlox out of my front flower bed, I noticed at the base of a nearby tree that there was a newly-emerged cicada on it. I walked up and down the sidewalk, checking other parkway trees. Yep, many, many more. The one at left is clinging to my garage. The numbers aren't yet spectacular; that will happen in a day or so. There aren't yet enough to make the big racket, either, but that's only days away, too.

As I rode my bike very locally today, I saw numerous children picking up the bugs, some just to put them into containers probably to take with them to school. I also saw dogs being walked that couldn't help but look at and sometimes eat the bugs.

This emergence is of Brood XIII. This site says there can be 1.5 million per acre, so that means my yard might play host to over 300,000! Yesterday morning, I was spreading sand over my Unilock patio, and one crawled out from between the stones. There are probably several hundred trapped under there, as I used to have a little leaf linden tree adjacent to the patio, which used to be flagstone. Whenever I see one of the bugs helplessly moving its legs while on its back, I can't help but say in a squeaky horror movie voice, "Heeeeeelp me."

The birds and squirrels are already devouring the insects. Great for the birds, since I know that robins and cardinals are fledging their first batch of young right now. The other day I saw a pair of cardinals that I'd seen hanging around my yard and caught a glimpse of one of their youngsters. It was so cute--about 5" long, grayish brown, and it already had the characteristic crest on top of its head! There's a robin's nest in a pine next to my driveway, and I saw Mom and Dad robin feeding the chicks, probably cicadas. We had a lot of rain this spring, so there are tons of earthworms and assorted bugs, and now you add cicadas, and it's a veritable feast for any animal that eats those sorts of things. I hope this improves the bird population even more, since it was decimated a few years' back by West Nile virus. Turns out that the worst hit birds are crows and jays--although I've been hearing a good number of blue jays, crows have been ubiquitously absent for a few years. I used to hate their constant cawing, but it turns out they are a form of rabbit population control (crows take baby rabbits, YEAH!), so now that I know that, I want some crows to return.

And now the story of a spectacular bonk. Well, not really spectacular, but it was quite entertaining. As you know, I've been training hard, preparing for Triple T and also IMLP. Last week I only did 1 brick workout, but the week before I did 4, so I am quite used to running off the bike. What I forget is that once I add serious yard work to my already heavy training load, that I need to add even more calories to my diet to ensure I am replacing my glycogen reserves. But hey, it's tough to chow down 4,000+ calories per day (about what I am needing lately) when I'm busy working out 2-6 hours, working, and doing 1-2 hours of yard work per day.

Yesterday I did a 4:30 ride followed by a :40 run. I thought I was eating continuously after all that, but I guess I forgot to shove a whole pound of pasta down my throat which is probably what I needed. I woke up hungry this morning, as expected, but nothing unusual. I dumped in 600 calories before heading out to bike, and then within the first hour of a 3 hour ride, I put in probably another 300 (I typically only need about 250 per hour on the bike), stopped back at home for more Gatorade, inhaled a banana and a couple more peanut butter and cheese crackers (I figure good for another 200 calories), went back out for 2 more hours, drinking another 150 calories of Gatorade, 150 of Coke and 2 gels for another 500 calories which should have been plenty. I changed into running shorts (it was rather cool today so I wore long tights, a long shirt and jacket to ride), grabbed a 12 oz. bottle of Gatorade and figured I was all set to run :40. I drank at 1 mile and 2.5 miles and then 1/2 mile later I noticed I was a bit dizzy and bonky, so I immediately drank the remainder of the Gatorade, but that didn't help much. I knew I needed more calories NOW.

Luckily, I was right near a park, and I saw that there were at least 3 picnic tables chock full of food. I was hoping that someone would take pity on me and give me something fast. I approached a table of food with a young woman and a baby sitting at it (watching a baseball game which is where most of the people were). I pleaded my case to her--I told her I was flat out of calories and had another 1.5 miles to run and asked her could I please have a handful of chips or something? She said go ahead, and that's when I spotted 2 containers of cookies. I inspected the first, chocolate chip, which are not my favorite, and then she pointed out the peanut butter ones. SALVATION!!! I grabbed two and just crammed them into my mouth. Boy were they tasty! I thanked the woman profusely, and jogged over to the water fountain to wash them down. The cookies took immediate effect, and while under normal circumstances I would not be able to eat cookies and keep up a decent run pace, today was the big exception! I returned to running well, feeling good (well as good as you can feel doing your third brick of the week), and knowing I could make it back home.

Surprisingly, when I got home, I wasn't all that hungry, but I had some store-bought sushi-type rolls, and immediately ate 6 pieces, drank 16 oz. of water, and then showered and settled in for Endurox R4. I still needed to mow the lawn (my last act of physical activity for the day), so I figured I had better get it done before falling into a pile of spent muscle. As I mowed, hunger occurred, and when I finished, I made a plate of nachos, which went down very well.

I figure I am still a couple thousand calories in the hole, but I am going to do my level best to get them in today. Thankfully, tomorrow all I have to do is swim (a measly 2,900 yards) and I will also lift. I made a promise to myself that there is no more yard work this week, as I need to rest and stock up on glycogen in preparation for Triple T.

I feel pretty good considering how much intensity I was able to kick out today even while I was in a depleted state, and all I could think while doing today's workouts was that if I "only" feel this bad next weekend, I'll be doing pretty darn well. Today was a valuable lesson, in that I will need to take in more calories per hour on the bike next weekend than I would normally like. My metabolism is already in a maximum revved state, and with virtually non-stop racing for 2.5 days, it's going to move into the stratosphere. Knowing how difficult it can be to replace burned calories, I will need to stuff as many in my face while biking as possible.

And here are my happy totals for the week:

Weekly Totals 05/14/2007-05/20/2007
Swim: 10300 yards (5.85 miles) in 3.57 hours; 19% of weekly workout time; approx. 1249 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 153.71 miles in 8.78 hours; 48% of weekly workout time; approx. 4297 calories burned
Run: Approx. 33.39 miles in 5.08 hours; 28% of weekly workout time; approx. 2298 calories burned

Strength: 0.88 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 220 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 192.95 miles in 18.31 hours; approx. 8064 calories burned
Sleep: 8.11 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.73 hours. Massage: 0 hours

Home Sweet Home

Now that I have a digital camera, I figured I should take some pics of stuff I talk about, so above are photos of my house and yard. I should have done an April photo so you could see all the tulips and daffodils, but I missed that boat, so we will begin with May, and then I'll give you a digital "tour" at least once a month as all the flowers begin to do their thing.

The house "came with" the Colorado Blue Spruce trees (one of which I had removed to make way for more flowers) and the shrub border next to the house. The front of the house faces East (is that Feng Shui?). On its south facing side, there is another shrub border, and there were perennial beds on the north-facing side as well as next to a privacy fence that attaches to the garage (not shown in this series). There was a 2-foot diameter circle around the lamp post. Everything else was added by me (I had help from my ex-husband for some of the front borders).

The photos as lined up are of: the back border that continues on in both directions, connecting to the one behind the garage as well as along the entire west-facing side of the back yard; the back of the garage; the front (and yes, the flower beds go right out to the street with maybe a 3-foot area that is taken up by a drainage culvert, and there's a sidewalk through it since 2 years ago); and a close-up of one of my Japanese tree peonies (which are woody perennials that take many years to get to the size of this one, which is about 3 feet tall).

As much as I enjoyed being in Colorado Springs last week, I truly love what I've done to my yard, and it brings me great joy. The front beds include 10 rose bushes, way too much phlox, lots of day lilies, a good amount of oriental lilies, wandering Echinacea (coneflowers, for those of you lacking Latin skills), tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, columbine, bee balm, and gosh, I can't even remember them all. At one time I catalogued all the perennials that I have, and it's well over 100 different types across the entire yard. I used to also plant about 20 hanging baskets which adorned my garage and various hanging devices, plus another 10 patio pots. While I have the time to do the planting still, I don't have the patience or energy to water all of them every day, and you absolutely must water potted annuals pretty much daily. But I still do 3 hanging baskets of geraniums as a sort of "tradition," and this year I've got tuberose bulbs that will fill some patio containers as well as some heliotrope. Tuberose and heliotrope both have the most delicious smells, and that's why I planted about 60 oriental lilies 2 years ago. Unfortunately, the damn rabbits have nibbled many of them down this year, but I should still get at least 1/2 of them. And then we are scheduled for 17-year cicadas any day now, so who knows what the actual bloom output of my yard will be this year?

Right now, the perennials are mostly 1.5 feet tall, but some of them are going to top out at 6 feet! It's this time of year that makes working at home a bit more difficult, since my office looks out on my back yard, and it's easy to pop outdoors for a little weed this, pick that. But I suppose gardening is one of the things that balances me against all the frenetic training and racing activity that I also love so much, and I also enjoy the fact that anyone who walks in front of my house gets a little slice of my paradise, and they typically let me know how much they appreciate it! I may enter my home into a local garden walk--plus, I only need to provide a winter heated water source and a nut-bearing tree or shrub, and I would easily be able to have my yard certified by the National Wildlife Society as a backyard wildlife habitat!

Spring, glorious spring! I am so grateful for all the natural beauty around me and the pleasure it gives to the local wildlife (even the damn rabbits) and passers by. The hardest thing for me to give up should I move away would be the gardens. I need to stick my hands into dirt (at least 1/2 the time I don't wear gloves--who cares?). I need to see the struggle that is nature in a suburban area--bees, bugs, birds, rodents (I have a chipmunk that lives in my yard). I need to feel that I am improving a small piece of Earth. That in and of itself, would be enough for most people, and I know this is something I will have no matter my physical condition.

Now maybe you can understand why I am not so concerned as to the interior condition of my house (which I could easily spend $75K on remodelling)--I get a whole lot more satisfaction and pleasure from the grounds and then running and biking outdoors!

Namaste!