Fashion Update

I know there are people reading my blog for the first time this year, so I should probably explain what a "fashion update" is. Years ago, while working for PeopleSoft (which no longer exists as it was bought by Oracle where I now work), there was a group of us who were good friends. This was back in the late 90's, and it was then acceptable to have a fridge stocked with beer for employees to raid whenever they felt appropriate. We only did it on Friday, beginning around 3PM. Anyway, anyone who works in an office (which I no longer do) knows there is always a lot of gossip and grapevine stuff going on. So whenever one of our group had "news" to share, we would use the code "fashion update" to signal to one another that we had important information to be shared--at the time, it may have been during a smoke break (yes, I smoked from 1995-1999 after getting divorced SO FUCKING KILL ME).

I have remained friends with many of those people, and my best friend, Susan, was in that crowd. We adopted the fashion update term for whenever we would just want to share news about our lives, since we now live far apart (she's in Nevada). I will be the Maid of Honor for Susan's wedding next April.

So this post is a Fashion Update. Say that phrase aloud about 10 times and it will start to sound weird.

This is week 2 of my ATP. I started hating my coach (me!) this past weekend, as the assigned workouts are NOT easy except for the Monday and Friday runs. Everything else has some (and by "some" I mean "a lot") hard efforts included, so recovering from the shit is super important. But the hard shit is fun, you know? It sucks, it sucks, it sucks while you do it, but when you're finished and you executed the intervals properly, it's a fucking awesome feeling!

Saturday was a 2:30 ride including some suck-ass intervals followed by a :30 brick run. I was hating the bike ride only because the goddamn SRM keeps telling me just how much I suck, so I try and overcome it by going as hard as I should and maybe then some. The brick run actually felt GOOD! I hadn't done any brick runs since early September when I did a duathlon, and oh well I guess I forgot about TDD 2 weeks ago. I constantly tell triathletes that you don't need to do bricks all the time--running well off the bike is about, well, running well and frequently. When you are used to running frequently, then you just...um...RUN.

Sunday was a progressive long run, where you start out easy and build. So far, only building to Z3, but the Z4 (aka tempo) will come soon enough. Those runs are fun! Even when I do them on the treadmill! After the run (only 1:40, as I've stepped back a little on the running), I went and swam :30 just to relax and recover.

Monday is now a swim and easy run. I do the swim AM and the run mid-day. I thought I had a pretty good swim, and I felt like my form was good. As you know, I've been getting coaching from Magic Mike and while it's only been 4 weeks, my stroke has changed dramatically, and it's really cool to feel the difference as well as see some increased speed!

Tuesday is a hard bike ride. Right now on Tuesdays, I'm doing my typical warmup and then a Sufferfest video. Those things are fucking hard. If you aren't hanging your tongue out and just looking down at your power meter and hoping to die when you are :20 in, then you're doing them wrong! When I finished on Tuesday, I began choking/dry heaving, which is always a good sign that I worked hard enough. I also did some strength training on Tuesday. I'm finding I need to NOT do any on Mondays, as I'm usually trying to recover from the weekend.

Today was a swim and track workout. I do them both in the morning, because it's winter and I like running on the indoor track at my Y. I had a late start for a variety of reasons, but was in the water at 5:55 with coach Mike. The way it goes is he stalks me underwater whenever he feels like it, when we are both at the wall I ask stupid questions and try and get a reading for how I'm doing, and he stays until about 6:30 and then I keep swimming.

Well today, he'd watched me for awhile, and we were at the wall and he said, "You look good." I'm like WTF and all giggly inside like I'm 12.  I subsequently swam a fast 100 (for me) and I was like WTF is happening? That was when he told me I looked good. So I said, "So now what?" And all he says is "Keep doing that." I must have had the hugest stupidest grin on my face. I'm not there yet, but what the hell, I KNOW that my stroke is much changed from what it was! I am so fucking happy! I asked Mike how long before it feels "normal," and I know it will be awhile.

Meanwhile, I got my Bitch all doctored up:

The wheels are, well, how can I say this best? FUCKING AWESOME!!!

Now I am waiting for my new Hed wheels to be artistically doctored--they will go on Skull Kingdom:

But I digress. After today's swim, I did the track workout, and I hit the same paces as last week, which are paces I have not seen in about 5 years! I was wondering today whether I would be able to have a repeat performance, and apparently so!

I think I really played out the last 5 months by holding back on specific intensity workouts, so that I was well-prepared for the SUCK. I sit here writing this with sore pecs and wasted legs, and I couldn't feel better!  Tomorrow I get to do a "regular" bike interval workout (no fucking Sufferfest), and I'm now looking forward to it!

The thing is (that was a favorite saying of my Mom) that when the shit is working, you need to WORK THE SHIT.  I have finally learned that when shit is going well, to just keep going. Believe that it will keep going well and keep pushing on.

On the sleep front, apparently I am still good on 6-7 hours. I don't know whether it's because I am just so happy (for numerous reasons which I will go into in another post), or because I'm finally training hard again, or because I feel like I've locked into a rational training program for the next 2 years, or because I finally gave into who I am and that ultra-endurance is my thing, or because I am gathering only those people who support me around me. But it's working, and I am loving life right now. What a great feeling! I wish it on everyone reading this!

2015 ATP

There are a few loose ends for events that don't have finalized dates, but the plan looks good to me even if I don't add any more races! Things shaded GREEN are confirmed races/rides/events; things shaded RED are big biking or running weeks; things shaded YELLOW are rest (full or relative) weeks; and things shaded BLUE are for race rehearsals (only doing 1 of these). From 1/5/15 through Ironman Louisville on 10/11/15, this puts me at about 690 training hours. That's A LOT. But I expect that some weeks will turn out to have more training (typically that occurs with biking for me, and that isn't usually an issue) or less (there are a boat load of :20-:30 optional swims in there, and a few optional runs; or if I'm tired I might skip an easy run or brick run) than planned.

So far on the official race docket, I've got 2 sprints, 2 actual Olys, 2 NothingMan Olys, 2 1/2 Ironmans, 1 Ironman and 1 10-mile road race. I might possibly add, depending on actual dates and other variables, 2 supersprints, 1 half marathon, 1 2-mile swim and 1 Oly. My goal was to plan a fun year of mixed distance racing, and I think I've got it!

Since this is a relatively long season, I was more liberal than usual about incorporating full rest days.  There are 12 scheduled across the 45 weeks shown below. There are probably another 5 that are swim-only days. I also reserve the right to decrease the planned workout intensity on any given day.

And I am not retaining a coach until after this festival. The objective of this plan is to prepare myself  to move into Ultraman training the following year. Along the way, I might decide I don't want to pursue Ultraman, or I might find myself burned out, something might come up--I just don't know. However, if I execute this plan well, I will be in a great position to move onto Ultraman training.

Before you look at the numbers and think "she's up to her usual Crackheaded ways again," I remind you that the weekly totals include strength, and many triathletes don't do any of that, but I do it because it makes me able to do the other stuff and manage life in general. If you take those hours away, the cumulative hours for 2015 are about 630 which isn't psycho (not for elite age groupers, and not for what I've done in the past). Considering I will end 2014 at about 660 hours, which is the least amount of annual training hours I've done since 1999, I will have had a good "rest" year, and the increase shouldn't kill me. But we will see.

I continue to do my base training, where I just have volume targets, but no intensity except for in the pool and sometimes when I'm on the bike trainer. I feel really good right now. My foot seems to be cooperating, and I begin getting regular massages again next week. Regular massage is a requirement for me when I am training intensely, even though I still stretch pretty much daily.

I will be getting feedback on this plan from my prospective Ultraman coach, and anyone else is welcome to comment or ask questions. If you want to spend time with me training, this pretty much tells you where I will be on weekends, so feel free to join in on the fun! And I can't stress enough how much FUN this is all going to be!

Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the 2014 Annual Training Plan (ATP)

First, let me say I love robots.

Second, the whole sodium thing was just me OD'ing on sodium when I didn't need it.  My weight is down to 113, which while I would prefer it to be about 2 lbs. less, is still going to be just fine for racing.  After 2 days on the mild diuretic and then just watching my other sodium intake, order has been restored!  I'm really not a fatty!  Even my massage therapist, Mike, said he could tell the difference between this week and last week.  I don't feel completely bloated anymore, and my skinsuit felt GOOD when I wore it for another 5K swim yesterday.

Third, I decided early this week that I was getting tired and frustrated with the management of my thyroid, and so I called to schedule an appointment with my doctor.  Only she's out for 2 weeks, so I decided (with help from a friend) that it couldn't hurt to speak with a different doctor at the same practice.  Of course, in preparation, I summarized a bunch of data and wrote up all the questions and concerns I had.

I had seen this doctor before, but he didn't remember much about me, so I led off with, "I am pushing the metabolic boundaries of my body."  He looked at me all puzzled, and I explained that I do marathons, Ironmans, the occasional Ultraman and sometimes ultramarathons.  I could tell by the look on his face that he understood what I was saying.  You don't say all those things in one sentence and not be taken for a serious athlete (or complete lunatic).

We reviewed my up and down thyroid tests, I explained that I was frustrated that we'd been at this for nearly a year and I am still not stabilized, and that I still didn't feel "right."  Now, don't get me wrong--in some ways, I feel fucking fantastic--but I can also tell things just aren't right.  I am hypersensitive to my heart performance, body composition, sleep, bowel movements, all that.  This doctor listened to me, and then he grilled me as to whether I was taking the meds properly (YES) and whether I was messing with the dosing on my own (FUCK NO I WOULD NOT MESS WITH THAT, although I did not actually say FUCK NO, although I thought it).

He paused for a moment and then said that we need to get me off the generic.  THE GENERIC???  I didn't know I was ON a generic and that there was NOT A GENERIC.  He said some people just don't do well on the generic, and the fact that I was forced to be cutting pills meant I wasn't getting a precision dose.  So here's what we are going to do: I started on the non-generic today at 75mcg, and we will see at my next test whether we are achieving the desired result.  He also gave me a referral to an endocrinologist, which I will utilize if I don't start to feel "right" in the next 3 weeks or so, i.e., right before IMCOZ.  Now, I recognize it will be hard for me to tell, because as you know, I have so much HTFU and I get so excited about all this shit and I will be tapering so how could I not feel great?  But I think I will know when all my bodily systems are synchronizing properly again.

The best part of my office visit was at the end, when the doctor looked me in the eye and said, "You look AMAZING for someone your age, and the fact that the only meds you are on is Synthroid speaks volumes about you."  He also said that anyone going through my metabolic ups and downs would be driven mad, let alone someone like me training for an Ironman!  You cannot imagine how great that made me feel.  Because I thought I was pretty damn healthy and that I was (despite the extreme endurance exercise) taking pretty good care of myself.  And that this science experiment has been a clusterfuck.

Oh and the other great part of the visit was that my blood pressure, despite the fact that I felt all jacked up when I walked in, was a beautiful 117/72.

So I am optimistic that perhaps we may have cracked the Crackhead thyroid nut, and if not, well then off to the endo I will go. 

Switching gears, I've been working on my ATP and came up with Version 1 earlier this week.  I know from having done this exercise several times that I always come up with something that's psycho initially.  I've learned more about myself including respecting the fact that I'm older and how much I can tolerate.  I've also learned just how incredibly fit I am despite thinking I did almost nothing earlier this year and most of last year.  I may not be fast, but hey, I can go all day and then some!

So I sat on the first psycho version of my 2014 ATP for a couple of days, then revisited it, because you really have to look at the numbers multiple ways in order to know you've got it right.  So I updated workouts and such yesterday, and this morning I checked my work and found out I'd made a few mistakes (this all comes from my actuarial side--it's called "reasonableness checking") and a few other things still weren't quite right.  Now I'm happy with what I've got, and it it still subject to change as I go along in the plan.  I'm tapering more on the front and back end of races, and there is still some wiggle room in there that I am sure I will need to take advantage of here and there.  But it's still a fucking awesome plan, and it's below.

My A race for 2014 is 24 Hours of Triathlon, or as Brad and I call it, 24 Hours of Crack!  Brad is in charge of creating the strategy for us to break the record based on our individual strengths.  Right now, Brad is the ace cyclist.  I might have him on overall swim and run endurance, though, but in terms of pacing, early on Brad will have me beat.  But he knows that the longer the event, the less I slow down compared to other people, so this should be interesting.

Red Rock Canyon marathon should be fun.  I should even have a chance at qualifying for Boston there, but if I don't, I won't cry.  I won't be doing straight-up marathon training for it, and will continue to bike and swim moderately throughout that cycle.  But if I rest appropriately after IMCOZ and can nail all the quality runs in training, I should do well.  I did go 4:20 at Goofy Challenge in 2010, and that was the day after a 1/2 marathon, so a 4:05 is a definite possibility, which is all I need to BQ.

Triple T in May will be a "train through" race, but I need to be in Ironman shape for it.  I love that race, and can't wait to see who else I know that I can con into going and sharing the Crackhouse (cabin) with me.  So far, it's just Lori, but I know there will be others.  It's nice to have a cabin full of people you know and love there!

Leadman 250 will be like my 3rd Ironman distance race of the year.  It's 5K/223K/22K, but one needs to build better than Ironman bike fitness (which I have and love maintaining), a bit better than Ironman swim fitness (which I have but it's currently dormant), and you might think you don't need to do Ironman-level run training, but yes you do!  Unless your Ironman marathon is under 3 hours ;)  So doing Triple T and 24CRACK in the leadup will be perfect preparation, and then just a bit more than my normal amount of bike training for part of the time.  Actually, I should close out 2013 with about 334 hours of biking, and the 2014 ATP plus estimate of the remainder through year end will put me at about the same amount.  So actually, in aggregate, I won't be biking more next year than this year--it will just be concentrated into less time, since I will go really light initially.

Oh yeah, there's that Chicago ITU Oly in there in June, but that's a "just for fun" race.  I will do however I do.

All in all, 2014 looks to be a great year if I can execute it.  So now I can just finish up the last few weeks of heavy training for IMCOZ knowing that I have other great things on the horizon no matter how that race goes.  I am grateful for being able to nurture such incredible fitness despite:

• Being on a thyroid rollercoaster for well over a year, including a scary hyperthyroid incident
• Landing in the ER for we still don't know what
• Overcoming a virus that took me completely down for 3 days and that lingered for 4 weeks
• Crashing while running and being beat up a little from that for about 2 weeks
• Self-diagnosing and overcoming a sodium overdose
• Experiencing on and off issues (and experiments) with my right foot and lower back in general

All in all, I will have only formally trained for IMCOZ for 15 weeks.  All of the above happened in that space of time.  Fuck!  That's a lot of shit for 15 weeks, isn't it?  But all of us go through bunches of shit--I am so grateful for the family and friends that stick by me through all of this.  Really, most days I have to pinch myself for all the goodness that is in my life, including right now.

Enjoy the Crackitude below!

Closing In

This is going to be a very rambling post.

WTC STILL hasn't posted the start list for IMCOZ.  WTF???  You can't put up a fucking list of people on the Interwebz?  I need to know who my competition is, so that I can either get excited about the possibility of a Kona slot, or I can relax, knowing it probably won't happen.

I am 8.5 weeks out from race day.  In case you haven't been fucking paying attention (oh, did I forget to say this post will be LITTERED with F-bombs?), here's the remaining training:

That is some hefty fucking training, eh?  I don't fear it, though, since I've done more than this in my build for Ultraman Canada.  I have to keep telling people that because they still look at me all cross-eyed when they see how much training I am doing NOW.  Either they don't have a fucking memory, or they have just recently jumped on the Crackhead bandwagon.  I know--it's a wild ride, isn't it?

I get almost a villainous laugh when faced with a training block like this.  Why?  Because to me it's ALL KINDS OF FUCKING FUN!!!

I get to test my mental toughness in a huge way, since it's likely I will be doing some very long trainer rides (I think my longest ever is 5 hours; I will go up to maybe 6:15 this time around), including 3 of what I am calling FUCK ME biking weekends:

• 10/19 4:00 hours, 10/20 5:30
• 10/26 3:00 hours, 10/27 5:00 hours
• 11/16 5:30, 11/17 4:00 hours

Thing is, I've done this shit before, only FUCKING OUTSIDE!!!  At least one, possibly all three, of these weekends will be trainer rides.  But you know what?  I don't fucking care.  For one thing, my homey Shelley (who I haven't seen in 4 years can't wait!) will be here for the first one, and her job is to tell me how fucking amazing I am, fetch fresh, cold bottles from the fridge, tell me what an idiot I am, take stupid pictures and post to Facebook, and commiserate with me in general.  I think we will be watching James Bond movies--I just got the Blu-Ray 23-disk set that includes Skyfall. Then we will consume mass quantities of food--I plan on sushi one night and Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket the other.

Also, on 11/9, I do my race rehearsal ride, which will most likely be 6:15 in duration, and Cortney will be here for a wedding, and she gets to perform Crackhead sherpa duty that day.  I've never met her in person, so this should be interesting.  Cortney is a budding Crackhead herself, so I am pretty sure we will have a great time!

My birthday (57 CAN YOU FUCKING BELIEVE IT???) is on 10/22.  Shelley will be here in close proximity, so we will no doubt celebrate.  I have already gifted myself of many things, and really don't need anyone to buy me stuff, although I joke about it all the time on Facebook.  I have been given nice things by nice people.  Gatorade is always appreciated, as are superhero action figures and gift certificates to Desoto and Zoot, hint hint.  Last year when I was so depressed, one of the irrational thoughts I kept having was that I am old and ugly.  Well maybe I AM old, but at least now I am OK with it.  I tricked my best friend, Susan, into believing that I would never race Ironman again, and that it would be a GOOD thing.  I have since notified her that I was crazy at the time, and that this training and racing is what keeps me sane, vital, vigorous, sexy, good at my job and just loving life!

As you already know, I've had my early fall illness already.  I still have somewhat of a cough, but I feel like I'm OK without the inhaler, except right before exercise. Yesterday was a drug festival, though, as I woke up after 5 hours of sleep, drank coffee, swam, came home and worked, took some Ambien to try to sleep, never slept, woke up feeling drugged, worked more, finally started feeling better and had a Coke, passed out around 7PM and woke up at 2AM.  I am just rolling with this oddball sleep schedule.  Tonight I may take the Ambien right before I go to sleep at around 8PM and hope I sleep until 3AM.

Oh--yesterday I went to this little boutique in town and bought some fancy ass clothes, including this dress:

It looks really good on me.  The owner is all excited about having me as a client since I'm pretty tiny and look good in all this designer shit.  Although I think I have a strange physique now--either I'm fat (I've put on about 3 lbs. last 2 months but plan on dropping it), or I am really carrying a lot of muscle.  My size 3 (ACTUAL SIZE 3 NOT WHAT PASSES FOR 3 NOW) jeans fit me just fine, even a bit loose, but my ass is huge.  I have rather big legs for such a small person.  I wonder whether with my thyroid function fixed that my metabolism is allowing me to keep more muscle on me?  Whatever, apparently I have been eating enough to put it on.  Yesterday I started an austerity program for the last weeks before IMCOZ--no more candy, no more Twinkies, Pringles and Cheetos sparingly, watch my beer intake.  That is all it will take to shed those 3-4 lbs. in maybe 4 weeks.  I feel really "thick" if that makes sense, which is a feeling of being solid, not jiggly, so maybe this is muscle.  I plan on getting my metabolism measured sometime after my next blood test, assuming my TSH level is where I want it to be which is between 1 and 2.  If it's higher, that means my thyroid continues to crap out and I will need to go on a higher dosage.  This is so much fucking fun, NOT!

That dress will be making an appearance in Vegas next March, where I and 2 girlfriends (maybe Shelley if she can get out of a stupid work trip) will be visiting Susan and running the Red Rock Canyon marathon, and then going out on the town.  I wish I had an occasion to wear it before then, but stupid men I fancy are afraid to get with all this.  I mean, look, I DO have time for social life, just the rest of my life is far from normal.  I manage to kick ass at a sometimes high pressure job, maintain a house and gardens, cook (WELL I might add) for myself, train for a fucking Ironman, manage to keep a few good friends, coach Brad, and be generally awesome. What is not to like about that?  I know people who ask me about my training are doing mental gyrations and thinking, "she can't POSSIBLY have time for a relationship," but that is just not true.  Sigh.  Well, I can't be concerned about the man thing right now.  If someone is brave enough to take the Crackhead challenge, great, STEP THE FUCK UP.  Oh, I guess with an attitude like that I can be a little intimidating.  GET THE FUCK OVER IT GUYS!!!  As my brother, Mike, says, "someone in the relationship has to be smarter."  Fortunately, I have a few friends that "get" me and aren't trying to hold me back or tell me to "tone down" or "be more girly" or "quit being so boisterous."  While I may have a foul mouth, I am quite girly, thank you very much LOOK AT THAT FUCKING DRESS!!!

Also, I am getting back on my strength training.  I got off kilter there for a few weeks with IMWI and then getting sick, but I'm back on the weights.  That is crucial for me, since it helps me to support my training and my life in general.  I figured out that the reason I was cramping (lower legs and feet) while swimming was due to the Evista I was taking for osteoporosis.  I've been off it for a week, and already I can kick like a mad fool and not cramp.  Leg cramps are a documented side effect, and since I can't tolerate cramping up during a swim, I stopped it.  I am working with my doctor to figure out what alternative I will take, but I don't plan on starting anything new until after IMCOZ since I don't want to fuck with potential side effects.

The other thing about Evista is that it can increase your likelihood of DVT.  I was already planning on asking whether I should stop it prior to flying to Mexico, so at least I can take that off my to do list.  I was also experiencing some excess edema in my right calf, which MIGHT have been from spraining my ankle, but I think it was also related to the Evista.  One day last week when I was running I became paranoid that maybe I was experiencing DVT, but all that swelling is gone, so PHEW!

I should probably tell you how I've done against my planned training.  If you recall, I registered for IMCOZ on 7/22, and I quickly put together a training plan which has since become what my protégé, Brad, is being killed by...er...following.  It only took me about 3 iterations to eyeball it for making sense, being a reasonable progression, and getting me in top-top shape.  So here's how I've done against the plan so far:

Not too shabby for a working stiff, eh?  Also, since 1/1/2013, I am averaging 14.8 hour of training per week.  My highest ever was 16.3 while training for IMLP 2009, so I'm a bit of a slacker, but that's because I really didn't do much from January through early July.  As of 7/21, I was only averaging 13.7 hours per week, which is really nothing for me.

Now, if you look at my average training hours per week since 6/17, it's 17.8 as of the end of last week.  THAT is good, serious training!  I dropped off a bit from 18 due to being sick.   HUGE NUMBERS MAKE ME FUCKING HAPPY!!!

This week is a "rest week," meaning not much running--only 2.5 hours scheduled.  I will still swim quite a bit and bike like 9.5 hours, so other than running, this is still a solid week.  I know the rest is working its magic on me since yesterday I was going a bit crazy since all I did was swim.  So I finally got my weights on, at least a start on it, and I did some gardening, too.  I can already tell that I will go batshit crazy during my IMCOZ taper.  It's been awhile since I've been in this kind of shape, and soaring to the peak of fitness and then dropping out the volume to taper is sure to turn me into this:

But I LIKE that feeling!  There is nothing in the world like it!  When you are at the top of your game, all mental and physical systems in your body are in perfect synchronicity with your goals, WHO WOULDN'T FUCKING WANT THAT FOR THEMSELVES???

Yet, it can frighten the shit out of people.  I've already put myself on notice at work to watch my attitude, because I get pretty aggressive right about now.  DON'T FUCK WITH ME.

Here are the to do items I have left to go for my IMCOZ preparations:

• Try out my race clothes.  I hope to do this today, as the weather will be warm when I bike and run later.  You might guess I would wear zebra stripes or skulls or both, but actually I'm going with simple red and black.  Skull Kingdom has plenty of skulls, as does my aero helmet.
• Make my reservation with Tri Bike Transport.
• Have Magic Mike take another look at me in the pool.  I am not going to get any faster before IMCOZ, but I want him to check if my work the past few weeks has made a difference.  I DO plan on working with him on my speed beginning in January.
• Put new saddle on Death Machine and get cleats for new shoes.
• Figure out when the fuck I will have time to get my final bike tuneup before dropping it off for transport.
• Go insane and try to not commit any felonies.

Today I get to do a broken tri-ath-A-lon (as my friend, Mark, pronounces it, which makes me smile): 2900 swim in the AM, then 1:30 bike with :20 brick run.  I am SO looking forward to getting on the bike today!
Congratulations if you made it this far.  NOW FUCK OFF!!!!  Just kidding, have a wonderful day!

Checking In

A friend of mine told me after I had finished UMC that he had been concerned about me for a bit because I wasn't blogging so much. He related that the health of the athlete is directly proportional to the amount of blogging they do!

Since I'm allegedly in my off season, I don't have so much to write about just now, but will soon. This weekend I am heading up to Madison to do a little training and then spectate for the Ironman. I have a few friends racing, and I will get to hang with a few more. It is odd that I have not been up that way since May. Usually I am up there riding 2 or 3 more times during the summer, so it will be special for me.

Next week I will be in a training class for work for most of the week, and then on that Sunday, I'm doing a NothingMan. If the weather was good for IMWI, it means the weather will suck for NothingMan, but I hope this year is an exception and that the weather is good BOTH weekends. In 2007, weather was good for IMWI and then it was in the 30's the morning of NothingMan. In 2008, weather was good for IMWI and then we had torrential rains the weekend of NothingMan. In 2009 for PirateMan, which was before IMWI, it was cold AND rainy! So I'm hoping for 70's and dry this year for both IMWI and NothingMan.

Right after NothingMan, I begin my new position at work. I am so excited about it for a number of reasons. First, many of the people in that group already know what a crazed endurance freak I am, and some of them are, too! Second, I hope this means I will earn a few trips out to Colorado Springs to work and hang with some of them! When I do, I will use that time as a run focus, because I just love the Santa Fe Trail. Also I hope to once again run part way up Pike's Peak on the Barr Trail. The last time I was there was in 2007, and I totally enjoyed myself as you can read here.

After NothingMan, I am going to do a little run focus to prepare for the CheaterMan (aka IMFL) marathon. I am looking forward to the running, as I will begin visiting my big hill at Greene Valley. I still remember last year thinking that it was going to be so hard for me to run up the hill and that I would have to just hike it; but I found out that I could run the entire thing and it really gave my running a boost. And I remember 3 years ago going there to ride my MTB and going up the hill on the bike and thinking it was crazy that people were running up it! But hey, I had run part way up Pike's Peak, which is way worse, so I don't know why I thought I would have trouble. My how my perspective on things has changed!

Meanwhile, I have been training too much for someone who is supposed to be "taking it easy." The thing is, I feel so not stressed out right now that the hours don't bother me. But I am doing a proper taper for NothingMan which is sorely needed. Look at my weekly training hours and weekly bike and run miles since May 17:

Week Beg.	Training Hours	Bike Miles	Run Miles
5/17/2010	20.34	177	34
5/24/2010	14.83	125	27
5/31/2010	8.43	37	12
6/7/2010	19.64	170	37
6/14/2010	16.37	121	26
6/21/2010	15.94	171	31
6/28/2010	18.23	152	36
7/5/2010	18.60	176	41
7/12/2010	17.72	154	27
7/19/2010	13.09	94	26
7/26/2010	26.48	291	10
8/2/2010	17.17	74	52
8/9/2010	17.00	173	25
8/16/2010	17.93	172	28
8/23/2010	19.50	172	33
8/30/2010	18.09	168	24

Now, UMC was the week of 7/26 and the run kicked off the following week, in which I did no running at all. But still...I guess that is why my metabolism has been in high gear since UMC. It may also be, combined with my lack of other stress, why I am getting by on less sleep than I think I need. Maybe, though, I only need 7.5-8 hours of sleep when I'm not feeling stressed!

Meanwhile, I am slowly chipping away at my non-athletic to do list, and that is a good feeling. While picking up fallen twigs and branches from my former neighbor's tree yesterday, a woman 2 doors away that I have never seen nor spoken to yells, "Did you see what happened?" And I turned around and a huge tree was down in the lot next to mine taking the power line to the house with it. The young couple who had lived there left a few months ago, and the house, which was owned by the guy's Dad, is in foreclosure. The day the couple packed up a truck and left, I asked whether they had turned off the utilities. They assured me they had. More on that in a bit.

So I begin talking to this neighbor and ask her if she knew when it happened, and she said she heard the crash the night before. So I next asked her if she'd called ComEd (our electric company) to report the downed power line, and she said no. I asked her if she was planning on making the call, and she said I was being mean. WTF????? Another person who won't take action. I called ComEd within minutes, and when they arrived later in the day, they severed the power line and said that it HAD BEEN LIVE!!! Wow, nice, that could have caused a fire. But they didn't remove the downed tree, and I was chatting with the workman, and he pointed out that in fact the gas is still on (although not being used). So guess what? I am making it MY priority to find out what bank owns the house and get after them and the city to first clear the tree, and next to take the fucking house down. The reason it's in foreclosure is that the owner let the mortgage lapse when they discovered how damaged the house structure was (which if they had asked before they bought the dump I would have gladly told them), and because it sits on a lot with a creek running alongside it, the house cannot be improved upon structurally. The house will not be sold, and so I am going to make it MY business to get it dealt with. Once it's down, the creek drainage will be improved again, and if I can get my neighbor across the street to give the city easement, the creek can be dredged and widened along a significant portion which will be good for much of the surrounding area. But my main concern is eliminating a fire threat, and next to obliterate the pile of weeds that has grown next to my lot in my front yard. I have lived next to the eyesore for too long, and it's time to take action. I'm pissed the former occupants lied about the utilities, but they were horrible neighbors, so it doesn't surprise me they would lie. The guy's Mom was there yesterday to take some stuff out of the house, and I asked her if she would provide the name of the bank. One way or the other, I will find out and get it dispensed with. It will be nice to have an open lot next door!

So lots of things going on in my life, but it's all manageable at this point. I'm still working on my ATP (Annual Training Plan), and have most of it set through February of next year except for the actual workouts, which I am beginning to fill in. Since it's no big deal for me to swim 2 hours, I'm going to try and retain that level of swim fitness at a minimum, but also since I've committed on paper to doing a 10K swim on New Year's Day like I did last year. Only this time it won't be the big unknown--it will be, ho hum, been there done that and I am hoping to get a few other friends to do it with me. Also, instead of my traditional Thanksgiving weekend 1/2 NothingMan, I will be doing a 2x2x2 (2 hours each of SBR), which I think will be more fun. That about carries me through the end of 2010, but the best part will be when my great niece or nephew is born in November! I am still hoping for niece, but nephew will be fine. I am sure his/her Mom and Dad is already wondering when Great Aunt Sheila will start buying the little one sports equipment. As soon as possible!

That's it for today's update, so since I am going to be very busy for a few weeks, if I don't blog, don't worry!

Life is AWESOME!

Gotta Come Down

Here it is Friday, almost 4 weeks after UMC, and I am still riding a very real high from it and other things happening. UMC photos keep being posted on Facebook that I must look at, my friend Lee is uploading videos to Flickr (more to come so keep an eye out), I'm checking back in with friends who were neglected during my intense training period and they want to know all about it, I'm preparing for my next NothingMan, I'm working on my ATP, my Y is undergoing huge physical plant improvements that will make it a better place to train, I'm in process of buying a new or used treadmill so I can run even more but really just save time in the winter by not having to drive to the Y except to swim, I'm about to close on my first sponsorship, I'm about to transfer to a different position at work that I've thought about for about a year, I'm thoroughly enjoying the end of summer weather, I'm going to train and spectate at IMWI in a few weeks, I'm already planning for my trips to Japan and Hawaii next year (wow writing that down just gave me chills), I've already located a teammate for Furnace Creek 508 2012 and am making a list of additional gear I will need to train and race for that, I got my annual batch of pesto made and frozen, I'm looking forward to post-NothingMan for some real rest and time to engage in one of my other favorite hobbies, cooking and one more thing I can't disclose just yet!

While all this is going on, I am managing to get my household reorganized and cleaned up, and am slowly picking my way through a to do list. Despite all this activity, I feel pretty relaxed and confident that I will get through a bunch of stuff before the weather turns bad, or November, whichever comes first. It seemed like my last training season lasted so long, but this next one will be longer, so it's good that I don't really have to train super hard until January. But you know I will anyway--that's just how I am.

This morning I swam for 2 hours, and I really enjoyed it. So much so that I was thinking I want to try a new training event this winter: 2x2x2. Swim 2 hours, bike 2 hours, run 2 hours. Shouldn't be any harder than a 1/2 IM, right? As much as I like biking, I think it will be fun to just do each sport for fixed amount of time. I actually think this would make for a fair triathlon. Swimmers get their time, but then bikers and also runners. Whoever goes the farthest wins, with no handicaps for any sport. So I mentioned this on Facebook, and a friend there suggests a variation on this called Sinister 7:

• 1 hour swim
• Transition to running and strength clothes.
• 10 min strength core training
• 1 hour Bike
• 10 min strength core training
• 1/2 hour rowing or similar/elliptical
• 10 min strength core
• 1 hour Run
• 10 min strength core
• 1 hour swim
• 10 min strength core
• 1 hour bike
• 10 min strength core
• 1/2 hour run

So all in all, that's 2 hours of swimming, 2 hours of biking, 1.5 hours of running, .5 hours of other cardio (or I could just run again) and 1 hour of core/strength. Looks pretty fun to me! Now, when I did my birthday workout 2 years ago, it ended up being 52' swim, 52' bike, 52' run and 45' strength/core (no rest time was counted), and I suppose because of the strength exercises I chose (lots of leg stuff) and the reps (52!), I was pretty whacked the next day. Plus I did it on a work day, squeezing things in here and there. If I do Sinister 7, I'll do it on a Saturday and then take Sunday off, and I'll skip my weekly strength session. I guess I will call it NothingSinister!

I am finding it interesting that the more energy I put out, the more I have. Life is good!

Putting Things in Focus

It is that time of year when I need to begin planning out my training for the next season. Right now, I'm winging it in preparing for my next NothingMan on 19-SEP. I am doing as little (ha ha) or as much (more like me) training as I want.

This Sunday I'm riding in the Bike Psychos 200k. I've done this ride a few times before. I missed it last year because it conflicted with ROTPM, so I'm looking forward to it again. I still haven't decided whether I will ride Bitchie with the Cane Creek race wheels or Skull Kingdom. I still haven't put Skull Kingdom fully back together. The funny thing is that Bitchie used to be my lightest bike--now it's my heaviest! Skull Kingdom is the lightest, closely followed by LGL. I've been enjoying riding Bitchie knowing that she's my heavy bike, and that it will feel good to ride one of the lighter bikes, too. But putting the Cane Creeks on Bitchie will lighten her up by a few pounds.

The following week I head up to Wisconsin for the Ironman weekend, staying with a friend, and I'll get in a swim and run on Saturday and then ride in the race against traffic on Sunday. Then I have a training class for work most of the next week, and I'll be tapering for NothingMan 2010, my 4th self-supported Ironman.

I have put a number of things on my race/event calendar for the 2010-2011 season already, and while I have learned to train by feel and make it up as I go, I still like to have a plan to keep me honest. So I started by expanding the ATP (Annual Training Plan) I used for UMC to add through the end of next year, and typed in some of the events. Then, I reviewed what I did last year (actuals) to see which sorts of things I might want to repeat this time around. In doing this, I am being Coach Crackhead, not Athlete Crackhead. When I put my coach hat on, I am able to be a bit more objective about things. Last year when I made my UMC ATP, I was wearing the Athlete Crackhead hat, which is why I created a plan that worked through March, but then I switched hats and Coach told me to back off my original plan.

In looking what I actually accomplished the past training/racing season, I am somewhat amazed. I knew I did a lot of running, but I'd forgotten just how much I crammed in last fall and winter. I was a running FOOL! Coach says we will try and do some of that again, but maybe just a tad less so I can keep my base bike fitness a little higher than I did last year during that period.

Right now, I'm just doing "basic Ironman training," and it feels pretty comfortable to me. I did my first training ride of 100 miles on Sunday (actually 101 miles) for the year. I was a bit slower than I'd hoped I'd be, but I attribute it to some lingering fatigue from UMC. Aside: I know several UMC finishers who are racing Ironman Canada, and kudos to them--but I think I'd dig myself a deep, deep hole if I were to do an Ironman this weekend.

I put in 18 hours of training last week, and that is a "basic" Ironman training week for me, and I didn't even run that much! But it's like a build week, one of those in the last 8-12 weeks before an Ironman, and I felt pretty strong doing it. That ride on Sunday reminded me once again just how much I love riding, and riding long. The need to hold back early on (which I did for 2 hours--no big chainring during that time), the rising strength approaching the 4-hour mark, the inevitable feeling of "maybe this sucks" around 4:30, and then just the single-minded determination to get it done for the remainder.

The day before, I rode for 2:30 and then ran (cough, cough) OFF THE BIKE for :25. I hadn't run off the bike since those indoor triathlons early this year. But, like I've said here before, running well off the bike is not about running off the bike--it's about overall run fitness, and for me that means running FREQUENTLY, 4-6 times per week (5 being my preference). So even though I hadn't done a real brick workout since March, I knew the first mile would suck, like it always does, but it always feels worse and that I am running way more slowly than I am actually running. The suck felt good! After just 3 hours of training, I wasn't trashed, and managed to do some other stuff around the house, including preparing for Sunday.

I saw a great quote in this blog post by Gordo Byrn: "It takes all day to train 4-6 hours per day -- even with support." My Sunday ride was like that. I woke up, ate my normal breakfast, woke up, did some computer stuff, drank my Ultrafuel, pumped my tires, chose my clothes, applied sunscreen and Chamois Butter, washed up a little, got suited up and headed to Fermilab. I was riding just before 7AM, and I was only stopping briefly at my car about every 1:15 to get a new bottle of Infinit and maybe pee and maybe eat some snacks. I was doing well until I was 92 miles in when I was a dufus and used both derailleurs at once and locked up my chain. Oh well, stopped and fixed that before I did any damage, rode some more trying not to touch my pristine bar tape, made it to Wilson Hall and went in and cleaned up my hands and finished my ride. I always take a frozen washcloth with me on these rides, and when I finished, I first cleaned off myself, and then used it to clean up the bike, loaded everything back into the car, began drinking the Endurox R4 and drove home. When I got home, I ate lunch and drank more water, then had a beer, mowed the lawn, showered, stretched, made my annual batch of pesto, ate some dinner and then crashed. I am surprised I still had energy to do the things besides eat and stretch after riding, but I needed to get those things done and out of the way due to some special work duties this week.

All I'm illustrating is that there's a big difference in a 3-hour training day on a weekend, and 4+ hours. On a 3-hour day I can do all sorts of things afterwards, but more than that and I had better not have any urgent plans. I try and make my weekday goal to "get one thing done after work if possible," since I'm usually training 2-2.5 hours on a weekday. But those 3-hour Friday swims (which I gladly won't see for awhile) required I not have any plans other than to make it through the work day. So what I'm doing now feels almost easy to me!

I am totally excited about working on my ATP. That is the thing that gets my juices really going for the approaching training season. How much do I need to do? How much should I do? What fun self-supported things can I do to keep up my motivation? How will I use the holidays to do something fun? Which of my friends can I rope into doing crazy stuff with me?

Each time I begin working on my ATP, it brings into full focus how I did the prior year and what I learned from it, what I will need to do in the coming year to improve, and how what I accomplish prepares me for the years beyond the next one. It's all about focus--right now I am focusing on making sure I am recovering from UMC but also preparing for NothingMan, and my focal point is now shifting to preparing my ATP, then I will flesh out the training behind it, and then I'll move right into training.

I've been told many times by many people how focused I am. Ya think???