Go get a couple of cups of whatever is appropriate to drink!
Half marathon photos
Marathon photos
This is the third time I’ve done Goofy Challenge. The first time was in 2006 (inaugural year), then again in 2007. I thought I was done after those 2 episodes, but a friend convinced me to sign up again this year (or was it the other way around?), and it turned out to fit perfectly in with my Phase II training for Ultraman.
In 2006, I didn’t know what I was doing, and ran 2:07.17 in the half and 4:27.07 in the full. Total time: 6:34.24. It was near-record cold temperatures in Orlando, but comfortable—high 30’s and low 40’s.
In 2007, I thought I knew what I was doing, and ran 2:14.32 in the half and 4:31.13 in the full. Total time 6:45.45. It was hot and humid. I would rather run in the cold!
This year, I really thought I knew what I was doing, and I went in with the stretch goal of qualifying for Boston in the marathon (I’d need to go 4:05), and a secondary goal of beating my combined times of past years. I ended up going 2:06.00 in the half and 4:20.22 in the full. Total time 6:26.22. That’s 8 minutes faster than in 2006, when I was well-trained, only now I am 4 years older, and I have been training a whole lot harder overall this year than ever before.
Just 2 weeks ago, I did my first mega-swim/bike workout of about 5.4 miles swimming and 90 miles riding. That was a 20-hour training week that included a 15+ mile run, and was the beginning of my run taper.
One week later, I did my first 10K (11,000 yards) swim, and ended up at a 16-hour training week one week before Goofy Challenge! But I tapered down my bike.
Last week, I only swam twice, biked once and did 3 short runs and some strength training before I left for Orlando. My run legs were feeling good, and I had some swim breakthroughs to boot. So everything was looking good for some good running. Or at least strong running, which is really all I cared about.
At the beginning of last week, I started scoping out the weather for Orlando, and it looked like there would be record cold. Hearing my Floridian friends complain about it was entertaining! Meanwhile, Chicago teed up a big snowstorm to hit on the tail of a near-zero freeze pattern. On Thursday, I got about 6” and cleared it all from the driveway and thought we were done. But on Friday morning, another 4” had fallen, and I had to clear some of it just so the limo could get up my driveway. Nothing like a nice 30’ workout before boarding a plane!
Orlando weather in January is as changeable as Chicago in October, but it was definitely going to be cold, so all I’d packed was running tights and long shirts and pants for daytime. My flight out of Chicago was only delayed by about an hour, so it was good I’d scheduled an early flight so I could make it to packet pickup.
The schwag for this race is excellent. This time we got 3 technical T-shirts—one for the half, one for the full, and one for Goofy! The other times I’d done it we didn’t get a Goofy shirt. We also got a silly plastic medallion, some shoelaces, a nice sling bag, 2 disposable cameras (which I left in my hotel room for the next occupants), and a pink Sharpie! I am so excited to have a pink Sharpie I can’t tell you! Sharpie sponsors the race, particularly all the mile markers (get it? Markers?), and also places all these signs along the course with little-known facts and brain teasers. One that I remember from this year was, “How deep would the oceans be if there weren’t sponges in there?”
Once I got checked into my hotel (after stopping at Publix for some takeout sushi, which was quite good, and beer), I began obsessively watching The Weather Channel. Before I left, Saturday was projected to be the colder day but now it was Sunday. I only had one pair of really warm tights, so I decided to save them for Sunday, which turned out to be a good decision.
My Saturday wave started at 5:40AM, and I was up at 3AM and left for Epcot before 4AM, then stayed in the car to keep warm for about ½ hour, then met up with my friend, Brad, and his family, before we headed to the corrals. Brad’s sister was running the half, but she would be slower than Brad and I who were planning on running together.
We had on our big garbage bags to keep warm but also act as water repellant. On the way (it’s about ½ mile or so) to the corrals, it began snowing. SNOWING IN ORLANDO! I was laughing my ass off! And it was windy, so it was blowing more or less sideways. It didn’t stay snow very long, nor did it stick to anything, but it changed over to sleet, which is pretty much what we had for the half marathon. It was just over 30 degrees.
Brad and I ran just nice and easy and comfy. Sometime during Mile 4, I had to pee, and I decided to use a porta-potty, and told Brad to go on ahead. When I came out, though, I waited about a minute to look for him, and then just kept on going. I felt fine, but it was not fun being pelted in the face by sleet! During Mile 8, I had to poop (stupid early start time), and after this, I was able to run faster—go figure! I also decided to finally ditch the garbage bag, but in retrospect, that may have been a dumb idea. While I wasn’t really cold, the continuing sleet/mist was now permeating my upper body. Oh well!
I felt great when I finished and it turned out Brad was just a few minutes behind me, but as soon as I stopped running, I started shaking, so made a fast pass through the line to get my wrist band exchanged for the marathon one (pretty blue!), some eats, and a finisher picture.
I went back to the hotel and showered, put on compression tights and stretched and basically laid around in bed the rest of the day. I had to turn the heat up to 74 to begin to feel warm, and I noticed that just my right quad was really tight due to the road camber. I managed to get to sleep early so I could get a decent night’s sleep before the marathon. Looking back to the morning, it seemed like I ran all 13.1 miles while half asleep!
Upon waking on Sunday, it was even colder than Saturday—just in the 20’s. What the fuck, this is FLORIDA, isn’t it??? But I’d saved my fleece-lined tights for today, and my upper body kit was a bra top, lightweight short-sleeved technical top, then a Nike long-sleeved technical turtleneck (which seems good for 30’s and 40’s normally), then another short-sleeved technical top, and of course, a garbage bag. I lubed up my feet with Vaseline for blister protection and heat retention. I did have one blister from Saturday that I popped and then coated with New Skin before I applied the Vaseline. Oh and of course a hat and gloves.
For the half, I drank what was on the course—some piss tasting Powerade crap and water. When it’s cold, I barely drink because I will just pee like a fucking race horse. But I did rehydrate well after the half, or so I thought. For the full, though, I wanted me some caffeine, so I had mixed up 4 hours of Infinit and put it into a Fuel Belt. I was smart enough to not refrigerate it overnight with the cold temperatures planned. I had 32 oz. of Infinit, and figured I’d supplement it with sufficient water.
Standing around waiting to go to the corrals on Sunday morning (I was running solo this day—Brad was running with his girlfriend who was doing her first marathon, and Brad’s Dad was afraid to run with me because he thought if he slacked that I’d slap him upside the head, but it turns out he could have done it to me as he finished in 4:18), I noticed how cold my legs felt. Normally, you suit up, head out the door and start running—you don’t stand around. So I guess that was a part of it, and I heard from several other runners that their legs didn’t warm up for about 10 miles.
Well, at least it wasn’t raining! My wave went off at 5:45, which is still early to my body being from CST, but what are you going to do? My legs just felt like the joints were cold and needing oil or something, and the first time I took water from an aid station, I was like what the hell, it’s FROZEN! Not all of it, but there was a lot of ice in it. And then I noticed the asphalt through the aid station was icy, which was good to note, so I’d be careful at each one. When water was dropped, it was freezing! Nice! I heard from a friend that someone slipped, fell and broke a rib.
My legs felt cold through about 10 miles, and that was about when a friend of mine ran up next to me. I hadn’t seen her in months and months, and go figure, we see one another in the Disney marathon! I told her I couldn’t feel my legs, and she pointed out that if I could feel them they would hurt.
So then when they finally warmed up, of course they hurt. I expected that. I guess it was about then that the evil thoughts entered my head. Why am I doing this? It hurts, it sucks, I’m cold, who cares what time I do, why don’t I just walk? And everything I’m doing as training for Ultraman was right front and center in my head begging for me to find a reason to keep going. I really wasn’t suffering physically. I have been in more pain than this. I wasn’t pushing myself aerobically. Some books admonish you to practice your comebacks for these thoughts. I spend plenty of quality time thinking positive thoughts and feeling good about things. Sometimes I find you just need to let the voices in your head have their say because as long as you keep going while they are babbling, they haven’t won! And while at the time it seemed like this went on for 10 minutes or so, it was probably more like 2 minutes, and as quickly as the thoughts entered my head, they went away. It’s good to be at a point of fitness where you can just tell yourself that slowing down will just prolong the suckitude, so you just keep pace.
And while my legs did hurt somewhat, it wasn’t that bad, and getting back into the moment with so many people around me, I just let the flow pull me along. Since we run through some of the parks in Disney, there are many narrow walkways that we run over, and unless you’ve placed yourself at the very front of your corral, it’s more effort to push through all the people than it is to just stay with them. Near the end of the marathon we are running on a sidewalk alongside a lake, and the sidewalk is maybe 4 feet wide, so you can imagine the traffic jams this causes.
Once I got to Mile 18, I just began counting down the miles, knowing this would be over. I did try and smile whenever I saw a photographer, and I enjoyed all the Sharpie signs I could see. One thing I noticed throughout the race was that whenever we had a slight downhill (and while Disney is basically a “flat” marathon, there are ups and downs with over and underpasses), many folks pulled up, I guess because they thought it would somehow be easier on their quads? 2009 was the year I learned to relax and run downhill faster than ever, and so whenever I hit the downs, I just let it fly and passed a bunch of people and then was even happy for the uphill! It’s not like we were running serious trails with serious ups and downs, and news flash—your quads are going to be trashed whether you run downhill or not!
There were Disney characters every mile or so where people could stop and get pictures taken with them. The one that really caught my attention was near the end. It was a pair of Power Rangers. They would pose in a “powerful” way with runners. That was cool!
I think it was during Mile 25 when I remembered that I had some of Dad’s ashes with me and I wanted to get them out of the Fuel Belt for my finish. I ended up needing to stop briefly to do this since I had to take off a glove. And then I got all choked up, but I had to finish, so I kept running.
As I approached the finish line, I really thought I was going to break down and bawl my eyes out just as a matter of stress relief, but I only let myself shed a couple of tears and then got on with the business of collecting my medals (we got Donald Duck for the ½ marathon on Saturday, Mickey Mouse for the full, and then the Goofy medal for both), getting a mylar wrap, some snacks and then getting in the car to warm up.
I went back to the hotel, showered, put on compression tights and stretched. I think this is the first time I have ever stretched right after a marathon! It felt good, and then I got in bed and watched some TV until a friend came out and then we had some beers and food.
I am taking an easy week this week. I biked on Tuesday, and yesterday I swam (slowly!) and did a core workout. Today is another short (1:15) ride, and tomorrow I am going to swim 5-6,000 yards, depending on how that feels, Saturday is a 2-hour ride and that’s all that’s planned for the week, so I’m going to do some cooking this weekend and maybe go and catch a movie. I can’t believe I have a triathlon in 2 weeks (indoor sprint)! While resting after a race puts all the real life crap front and center, my body appreciates the rest, and so next week I will begin ramping back up.
This concludes Phase II of my Ultraman training, and Disney was my fourth marathon+ in 5 ½ months! I remember back in late June or early July talking to my most awesome massage therapist, Mike, and he told me that I shouldn’t try and do all 3 of my planned post-IMLP events (ROTPM, North Face and Goofy Challenge). He said he’d be there to fix me up if I got injured, though. So here I sit having done them all, and knock wood, no injuries! Historically, running has been the thing that will get me injured (as it is for many triathletes), so doing all the running I have done in the last 5 months was a big experiment for me. And then I decided to do a whole lot more swimming than ever while maintaining my cycling base. I am amazed at what I’ve been able to do so far, but know that I have a ways to go to feel ready for Ultraman. I am hoping that this running base will carry me for the next 6 months, as there is no way I can keep up 40+ mile run weeks and get in enough cycling and swimming. I need to give my mind a rest now, too, because any day now I will realize that I am getting closer and closer to Ultraman and it is still a big, huge deal!
Showing posts with label Goofy Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goofy Challenge. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Brief Update for Goofy Challenge
I will need to do a proper race report, but that will come later in the week.
I am a happy, happy camper! Although I had a stretch goal of qualifying for Boston in the marathon, the weather did not support it, but I met my second goal of going faster in both races than I did 3 years ago! So that is awesome!
Executive Summary:
1/2 Marathon: 2:06.00 (on the nose!); 53/814 Age Group, 996/9676 Females, 3175/17102 Overall
Marathon: 4:20.29; 36/538 Age Group, 1055/8152 Females, 3670/16883 Overall
Not bad for an old lady, eh?
It was c...c...COLD both days, and we got SNOWED on at the beginning of the 1/2 marathon! So I went all the way to Florida to run in the cold. Oh well, better than hot!
I will take a pic of the awesome medals and shirts and post sometime this week as to my race report.
I am SO happy with how I did considering the training I'd done the 2 weeks prior, I am really quite ecstatic! What a great way to begin a new year!
I am a happy, happy camper! Although I had a stretch goal of qualifying for Boston in the marathon, the weather did not support it, but I met my second goal of going faster in both races than I did 3 years ago! So that is awesome!
Executive Summary:
1/2 Marathon: 2:06.00 (on the nose!); 53/814 Age Group, 996/9676 Females, 3175/17102 Overall
Marathon: 4:20.29; 36/538 Age Group, 1055/8152 Females, 3670/16883 Overall
Not bad for an old lady, eh?
It was c...c...COLD both days, and we got SNOWED on at the beginning of the 1/2 marathon! So I went all the way to Florida to run in the cold. Oh well, better than hot!
I will take a pic of the awesome medals and shirts and post sometime this week as to my race report.
I am SO happy with how I did considering the training I'd done the 2 weeks prior, I am really quite ecstatic! What a great way to begin a new year!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Big Week
After last week's illness and then going ahead and running 18+ miles last Sunday, I decided to move some workouts around a bit this week. I didn't think running on Monday would be a good idea, so I just swam (and pretty well at that) and did my abs/core workout. I also had to squeeze in a massage and then got a haircut at the end of the day.
With no run on Monday, I needed to do one on Tuesday, and since I really don't need to do brick runs in preparation for Ultraman and my focus right now is running to be ready for Goofy Challenge, and just to fit everything into my day, I ran in the morning, but it had snowed overnight, so I warmed up with about :30 of shoveling my driveway. The run felt good, and I held myself to Z1 and Z2 so it was nice and easy. Later on I did a 1:30 trainer ride, and kept the intensity to only about 80% of FTP as my legs were a little tired from the morning run plus I had skipped my long ride last week.
Some weeks ago, I had thought about doing a "hundred" workout on Saturday, which would consist of a 5-mile swim, 80-mile ride and 15-mile run, but after being sick last week, I didn't want to risk such a long workout putting me in a bad place 2 weeks before Goofy, so I kept to my original plan which was to do the 15-mile run on Wednesday and just the swim and ride on Saturday.
I took Wednesday and Thursday off from work this week, since I didn't feel like getting in a 15-miler before work and also try and fit in a swim on Wednesday, and then it just made sense to take Thursday off as well, and it worked out really well.
The intention was to swim first on Wednesday to do a T-pace (threshold pace) swim test followed by the long run, but for some reason, I just could not get to sleep on Tuesday. I think it had to do with the impending Christmas holiday and end of year, when I typically start thinking about all that was the past year and what is to come in the new year. A lot happened in the last year--a lot of good things, but some bad things, too. I had a great training and racing year, but I lost a relationship with someone I loved, and I have finally had to admit that 3 of my siblings are effectively gone from my life forever, too (they no longer communicate with me except to scream at me or send me nasty emails telling me what a horrible person I am, all post-Dad's death). All that plus witnessing a close friend lose her sister to liver cancer, which is how my Dad died, just stirred up so many feelings of loss and grief in me, and I rolled these things over and over and over in my head, unable to sleep. And of course, I questioned what I am choosing to do now (train for Ultraman), and it all decided to be front and center Tuesday night. But eventually I did get to sleep, although I am not really sure how much I did get.
Sometime during the night on Tuesday, I knew that I would still wake up with the light but that I would not try and make the early pool time so I shut off my alarm clock. Which meant that I would do my long run first and the alleged swim test second. I knew I had to throw out the notion of swimming well after 15 miles of running, and I just accepted it. The run went really well, though, and I averaged 9:09 pace for it, so I couldn't complain (yes, I AM slow!). I still swam afterward, and it did feel good to swim, but with various parts of my legs and feet taking turns cramping (which made me laugh and yet remember why they don't put a swim last in a triathlon of any distance longer than a sprint), I decided to strap on the pull buoy and paddles to knock out the 900 yards which would have been the test. Still, it felt good to swim, as it always does after a long run when I have the time.
Thursday, since I had the day off, I was thinking about doing a short run and then a 1:30 trainer ride, but somehow once I got on the treadmill, I decided to just run really easy and stretched :45 into 1:15, which meant I really wouldn't need to run the rest of the week. And I was feeling a little sick-ish again, with a runny yet stuffy nose, and I wasn't sure about my energy level. Looking back, though, I attribute this to just general sadness over the Christmas holiday, which I would be spending alone. Grief is an interesting thing--just when you think you are done with it, it comes right back at you in interesting ways. Still, I have learned that whether the cold-like symptoms are really a cold or just a result of grief, my body believes they are the same thing, so in respect of that, I decided to just bag the trainer ride. I could do it on Friday if I wanted to. Instead, I finished up my strength work for the week which felt good.
Friday, Christmas Day, I just decided to not do anything. I'd done enough running for the week, and since I had only ridden 3 hours last week, and I am tapering for Goofy, I justified skipping my second weekday trainer ride, figuring that I'd get in 4 hours on Saturday, so I'd still be at 5.5 hours for the week which isn't half bad for this time of year.
Sometime in the afternoon yesterday I figured I had better fix some bottles for the Saturday festival. I figured on 3 hours of swimming and 4 hours of riding. I set my alarm for 3:55AM along with the coffee pot for a few minutes earlier. I did manage to fall asleep by 8:30, I think, and slept well, and waking up today, I didn't feel at all sick. I immediately got dressed, poured a cup of coffee, began eating a Power Bar, took the Ultrafuel out of the fridge, and noodled around on the computer waiting for...ahem...the morning business to alert me, which it did, and when I looked outside I could see about 1.5" of new snow on the ground, but I did not have time to move it, so I was in my car at 4:45AM to drive to the Y to swim.
I got there quickly (no traffic at that hour especially the day after Christmas!), and had my choice of parking spot, so I picked one that a plow had just made nice, walked in, and I and 2 other people waited for the doors to open at about 5:01. I asked the nice couple what they were planning on doing and they said weights, so they wouldn't need to wait for anyone else. I forgot I had on my fleece Ironman hat and they just assumed I was doing something big, and I told them what I was up to (just the swimming part).
I got into the locker room and stuff put away and was on deck and got in and started swimming at 5:05 (if nothing else, I am pretty quick at the transitions, as I seem to do so many of them!). The water was a nice temperature for once. As I began, I had to decide how I was going to break things up, making sure I took enough breaks to take in some Infinit. In the end, it went like this: 2000 free, 200 back, 2100 free with 1st 500 as 25 hard/25 easy, 2nd 500 as 50 hard/50 easy, 3rd 500 as 75 hard/50 easy (actually did 600 here), 4th 500 as 100 hard/50 easy, 200 kick, 2200 pull/paddles, 2200 free, 200 kick. I had intended to only do 8800 (5 miles), but I was a bit faster than I thought I'd be and had time to do 9100 to finish by 8:00AM when Masters starts, but they didn't swim today, oh well, at least I was done with that! Total swim time: 2:56.
There was a point while I was swimming that I could feel my pecs working, that was pretty cool. I didn't really feel tired mentally or physically until I was about 6,000 yards in. So that's good, that my "this sucks" threshold has been raised up to that level. Although, it didn't really suck so much, really. When I was done and got out, I could feel my arms, sure, but they weren't trashed or anything. People always ask if my arms hurt after these things, and why would they? I have been lifting for so many years and have worked my way up in swimming, so I wouldn't really expect them to.
I spent about 7' in the sauna stretching my arms and upper back and then put on my bike clothes, street clothes over (cold and snowy, you know, and I am a wimp), and headed to the car. A little more snow had fallen since I'd been gone, but it was really light, fluffy stuff, and so I just brushed it off my car quickly and drove home. I decided to start shoveling my driveway, thinking that after the day was over I might want to go somewhere, and once I start, I finish the whole thing, which might not have been the brightest idea after all that swimming, but it didn't feel bad and my arms didn't hurt, so I finished my driveway in :35 (it's like 75 feet long, FYI). I went in and got the bike ready (pump the tires, put the power meter on, put fluids next to it), turned on Universal Sports (I have been seriously enjoying all the Alpine coverage in the leadup to the Olympics), wrote down my swim crap, and was rolling (going nowhere fast!) at 9:30.
Oh boy, this is the second time I've done a long swim before a ride (I mean other than in an Ironman), and let's say there is a difference between a 4-mile and a 5-mile swim. You'd think just your upper body is fatigued, but it permeates your core and your legs, too (all that kicking, dontcha know!). So I expect to be sluggish to start with. And oh, by the way, at some point while I was swimming, I'd decided that instead of 80 miles I would do 90, because then I would be pretty close to Day 1 of Ultraman, which is 10K swim followed by 90-mile ride. I justified this since I had skipped my second weekday ride, and I will not train on Sunday (probably!), and it's just riding, so why not?
Long story short, I rode the first 2:30 in the small chainring just to be nice to myself, and then I popped it into the big chainring for the remainder. The ride took 4:55, which is a little slow for me, but hey, I swam almost 3 hours and shoveled beforehand! I realized somewhere around 4 hours that this was the longest trainer ride I'd ever done! Preceded by the longest swim I'd ever done! So a big day of firsts! I am very glad I decided not to put a run at the end of this--that would have just been unnecessary--and not even specific for Ultraman training. Hell, if I was going to do that, I may as well just have done an entire Ironman, right? Um...no. Not today!
If you are interested in the whole calorie burn/nutrition thing, the bike says I burned 2870 calories. I'm going to guess that the swim was about 1700, so that's a hefty 4570 calories, not bad for a day's work! Counting breakfast and through to the end of the ride plus recovery drink, I took in 2519 calories, leaving a deficit of 2051 plus my BMR of about 2000 so I will have to do some catch-up eating tomorrow.
I am really happy that I was able to do this workout this soon in my Ultraman preparation. There is just something different about putting such a long swim in front of a long ride. I have to say, that was not easy, especially with the ride being on the trainer, which was mentally harder to me than the swim (at least I was going SOMEWHERE while swimming). Next is to see how I recover from this, which will tell me when I can next do it again, although I don't think there are any 5-hour rides planned until April. Still, I find these sorts of things are huge confidence boosters. I am still pretty humbled by the idea of Ultraman, and getting through this phase of training is just the tip of the iceberg. Next big workout is just a half marathon followed by a marathon! But I've done that before, and my body knows what to expect, and that will conclude my big run focus for September-December.
Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and get ready for another year soon!
With no run on Monday, I needed to do one on Tuesday, and since I really don't need to do brick runs in preparation for Ultraman and my focus right now is running to be ready for Goofy Challenge, and just to fit everything into my day, I ran in the morning, but it had snowed overnight, so I warmed up with about :30 of shoveling my driveway. The run felt good, and I held myself to Z1 and Z2 so it was nice and easy. Later on I did a 1:30 trainer ride, and kept the intensity to only about 80% of FTP as my legs were a little tired from the morning run plus I had skipped my long ride last week.
Some weeks ago, I had thought about doing a "hundred" workout on Saturday, which would consist of a 5-mile swim, 80-mile ride and 15-mile run, but after being sick last week, I didn't want to risk such a long workout putting me in a bad place 2 weeks before Goofy, so I kept to my original plan which was to do the 15-mile run on Wednesday and just the swim and ride on Saturday.
I took Wednesday and Thursday off from work this week, since I didn't feel like getting in a 15-miler before work and also try and fit in a swim on Wednesday, and then it just made sense to take Thursday off as well, and it worked out really well.
The intention was to swim first on Wednesday to do a T-pace (threshold pace) swim test followed by the long run, but for some reason, I just could not get to sleep on Tuesday. I think it had to do with the impending Christmas holiday and end of year, when I typically start thinking about all that was the past year and what is to come in the new year. A lot happened in the last year--a lot of good things, but some bad things, too. I had a great training and racing year, but I lost a relationship with someone I loved, and I have finally had to admit that 3 of my siblings are effectively gone from my life forever, too (they no longer communicate with me except to scream at me or send me nasty emails telling me what a horrible person I am, all post-Dad's death). All that plus witnessing a close friend lose her sister to liver cancer, which is how my Dad died, just stirred up so many feelings of loss and grief in me, and I rolled these things over and over and over in my head, unable to sleep. And of course, I questioned what I am choosing to do now (train for Ultraman), and it all decided to be front and center Tuesday night. But eventually I did get to sleep, although I am not really sure how much I did get.
Sometime during the night on Tuesday, I knew that I would still wake up with the light but that I would not try and make the early pool time so I shut off my alarm clock. Which meant that I would do my long run first and the alleged swim test second. I knew I had to throw out the notion of swimming well after 15 miles of running, and I just accepted it. The run went really well, though, and I averaged 9:09 pace for it, so I couldn't complain (yes, I AM slow!). I still swam afterward, and it did feel good to swim, but with various parts of my legs and feet taking turns cramping (which made me laugh and yet remember why they don't put a swim last in a triathlon of any distance longer than a sprint), I decided to strap on the pull buoy and paddles to knock out the 900 yards which would have been the test. Still, it felt good to swim, as it always does after a long run when I have the time.
Thursday, since I had the day off, I was thinking about doing a short run and then a 1:30 trainer ride, but somehow once I got on the treadmill, I decided to just run really easy and stretched :45 into 1:15, which meant I really wouldn't need to run the rest of the week. And I was feeling a little sick-ish again, with a runny yet stuffy nose, and I wasn't sure about my energy level. Looking back, though, I attribute this to just general sadness over the Christmas holiday, which I would be spending alone. Grief is an interesting thing--just when you think you are done with it, it comes right back at you in interesting ways. Still, I have learned that whether the cold-like symptoms are really a cold or just a result of grief, my body believes they are the same thing, so in respect of that, I decided to just bag the trainer ride. I could do it on Friday if I wanted to. Instead, I finished up my strength work for the week which felt good.
Friday, Christmas Day, I just decided to not do anything. I'd done enough running for the week, and since I had only ridden 3 hours last week, and I am tapering for Goofy, I justified skipping my second weekday trainer ride, figuring that I'd get in 4 hours on Saturday, so I'd still be at 5.5 hours for the week which isn't half bad for this time of year.
Sometime in the afternoon yesterday I figured I had better fix some bottles for the Saturday festival. I figured on 3 hours of swimming and 4 hours of riding. I set my alarm for 3:55AM along with the coffee pot for a few minutes earlier. I did manage to fall asleep by 8:30, I think, and slept well, and waking up today, I didn't feel at all sick. I immediately got dressed, poured a cup of coffee, began eating a Power Bar, took the Ultrafuel out of the fridge, and noodled around on the computer waiting for...ahem...the morning business to alert me, which it did, and when I looked outside I could see about 1.5" of new snow on the ground, but I did not have time to move it, so I was in my car at 4:45AM to drive to the Y to swim.
I got there quickly (no traffic at that hour especially the day after Christmas!), and had my choice of parking spot, so I picked one that a plow had just made nice, walked in, and I and 2 other people waited for the doors to open at about 5:01. I asked the nice couple what they were planning on doing and they said weights, so they wouldn't need to wait for anyone else. I forgot I had on my fleece Ironman hat and they just assumed I was doing something big, and I told them what I was up to (just the swimming part).
I got into the locker room and stuff put away and was on deck and got in and started swimming at 5:05 (if nothing else, I am pretty quick at the transitions, as I seem to do so many of them!). The water was a nice temperature for once. As I began, I had to decide how I was going to break things up, making sure I took enough breaks to take in some Infinit. In the end, it went like this: 2000 free, 200 back, 2100 free with 1st 500 as 25 hard/25 easy, 2nd 500 as 50 hard/50 easy, 3rd 500 as 75 hard/50 easy (actually did 600 here), 4th 500 as 100 hard/50 easy, 200 kick, 2200 pull/paddles, 2200 free, 200 kick. I had intended to only do 8800 (5 miles), but I was a bit faster than I thought I'd be and had time to do 9100 to finish by 8:00AM when Masters starts, but they didn't swim today, oh well, at least I was done with that! Total swim time: 2:56.
There was a point while I was swimming that I could feel my pecs working, that was pretty cool. I didn't really feel tired mentally or physically until I was about 6,000 yards in. So that's good, that my "this sucks" threshold has been raised up to that level. Although, it didn't really suck so much, really. When I was done and got out, I could feel my arms, sure, but they weren't trashed or anything. People always ask if my arms hurt after these things, and why would they? I have been lifting for so many years and have worked my way up in swimming, so I wouldn't really expect them to.
I spent about 7' in the sauna stretching my arms and upper back and then put on my bike clothes, street clothes over (cold and snowy, you know, and I am a wimp), and headed to the car. A little more snow had fallen since I'd been gone, but it was really light, fluffy stuff, and so I just brushed it off my car quickly and drove home. I decided to start shoveling my driveway, thinking that after the day was over I might want to go somewhere, and once I start, I finish the whole thing, which might not have been the brightest idea after all that swimming, but it didn't feel bad and my arms didn't hurt, so I finished my driveway in :35 (it's like 75 feet long, FYI). I went in and got the bike ready (pump the tires, put the power meter on, put fluids next to it), turned on Universal Sports (I have been seriously enjoying all the Alpine coverage in the leadup to the Olympics), wrote down my swim crap, and was rolling (going nowhere fast!) at 9:30.
Oh boy, this is the second time I've done a long swim before a ride (I mean other than in an Ironman), and let's say there is a difference between a 4-mile and a 5-mile swim. You'd think just your upper body is fatigued, but it permeates your core and your legs, too (all that kicking, dontcha know!). So I expect to be sluggish to start with. And oh, by the way, at some point while I was swimming, I'd decided that instead of 80 miles I would do 90, because then I would be pretty close to Day 1 of Ultraman, which is 10K swim followed by 90-mile ride. I justified this since I had skipped my second weekday ride, and I will not train on Sunday (probably!), and it's just riding, so why not?
Long story short, I rode the first 2:30 in the small chainring just to be nice to myself, and then I popped it into the big chainring for the remainder. The ride took 4:55, which is a little slow for me, but hey, I swam almost 3 hours and shoveled beforehand! I realized somewhere around 4 hours that this was the longest trainer ride I'd ever done! Preceded by the longest swim I'd ever done! So a big day of firsts! I am very glad I decided not to put a run at the end of this--that would have just been unnecessary--and not even specific for Ultraman training. Hell, if I was going to do that, I may as well just have done an entire Ironman, right? Um...no. Not today!
If you are interested in the whole calorie burn/nutrition thing, the bike says I burned 2870 calories. I'm going to guess that the swim was about 1700, so that's a hefty 4570 calories, not bad for a day's work! Counting breakfast and through to the end of the ride plus recovery drink, I took in 2519 calories, leaving a deficit of 2051 plus my BMR of about 2000 so I will have to do some catch-up eating tomorrow.
I am really happy that I was able to do this workout this soon in my Ultraman preparation. There is just something different about putting such a long swim in front of a long ride. I have to say, that was not easy, especially with the ride being on the trainer, which was mentally harder to me than the swim (at least I was going SOMEWHERE while swimming). Next is to see how I recover from this, which will tell me when I can next do it again, although I don't think there are any 5-hour rides planned until April. Still, I find these sorts of things are huge confidence boosters. I am still pretty humbled by the idea of Ultraman, and getting through this phase of training is just the tip of the iceberg. Next big workout is just a half marathon followed by a marathon! But I've done that before, and my body knows what to expect, and that will conclude my big run focus for September-December.
Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and get ready for another year soon!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Keeping it Going
I know it's only Friday, but I've had a great training week so far, as I get close to normal run volume for my Goofy prep and normal bike volume with an eye towards Ultraman (which means I will be doing a tad more biking that I normally would this time of year).
After my struggling through a long run on Sunday, I fixed a great dinner and got a good night's sleep and figured I'd start the week on a good note, which I did. Monday's swim was 2900 yards, and I felt pretty good in the water, after doing my now usual 20' of pushups, chinups, bridges, assorted abs and stuff. A short 45' run in the afternoon was good--I am still getting my hill legs back, so considering I have to run uphill right from home, I started off slow, but as I kept going I picked up speed and felt great.
On Tuesday I had to bike for 1:30, and got on the trainer and felt like I had my biking legs back! And this was great considering I'd lifted early in the morning.
Wednesday was a short but hard swim, and I'm sure my tongue was hanging out at the wall in between fast 100's and 50's, but it felt good. Later in the day I ran on the treadmill because it was raining, but I nailed a tempo run that felt pretty darn good. Oh yeah, I did my 20' of stuff before I swam, too.
Thursday was another 1:30 trainer ride and finish up my strength training for the week. I wasn't as strong on the bike as on Tuesday, but I am adjusting to 1:30 rides and also trying to put up the watts, so I am not concerned.
Today I swam 7,000 yards for the first time ever! I had 6500 on my plan, but I got in the pool by 6AM so figured I had time for 7,000 so why not? I am always working on my stroke mechanics, and today was no exception. 7,000 gives you a lot of time for that! I did it as 1000 free, 2500 pull, 500 kick (to rest my arms a bit), 5x500 fast with 30" rest, then 300 back and 200 kick. I have written workouts for these long swims, but I am also open to just going with the flow, and that's what my flow told me to do today. I only started to feel tired during the last 500 in the 5x500, and that was no big surprise. I did polish off all 20 oz. of Gatorade during the swim, and I need to be on that since I will need to take in calories during the Ultraman swim.
7,000 yards is not a lot for a lifetime swimmer, I know that. And technically, I don't have to be doing this much all at once this early in my Ultraman prep, but the way I'm doing the swim thing is 2 shorter swims on Monday and Wednesday (2500-3500 yards), Friday is the big, long swim, and then Sunday (through March) is 1000-1500 after my long run just for some extra time in the pool and to recover from the run. Ideally, I'd swim 4-5,000 three times a week and then a longer swim, but I just don't have time, and oh, hey, I also need to train for a 52.4 mile run and then there's like, what, 260 miles of biking in Ultraman? So I need to allocate my time carefully, and I think I am getting in enough swimming. As they say on the Ultraman website, there are many ways to train for this beast, and not everyone will need to train the same way. Since I am going in just to finish, I want to be confident in my ability to swim 10K strongly and still have energy left to bike 90 miles the same day. And then bike 170 miles the next day and run 52.4 miles the third day. Lucky for me, I was already swimming a good amount during the summer, and instead of dropping down to some paltry amount like 8,000 yards a week, which is what I would normally do this time of year, I just kept up my yardage and then some. I was already used to 3-mile swims, although I can say those are not that big a deal anymore. So my plan is to stay at about 7,000-7,500 for that long swim between now and March 1, and then, with that base, build up to the 11,000 yard swim. I have also needed to find out how much I can swim on Friday morning and still not be too tired to run later in the day and it looks like that number is 7,000 yards. Although odds are 7,500 won't be too bad, either.
Oh yeah, I keep changing around my training here and there because it's an iterative, learning process. I registered for the Midwest Indoor Triathlon Series again, only there are only 3 races this time. I thought (because I am date dyslexic at times) that the first one was only 2 weeks after Goofy so I wouldn't do it, but then after looking at my spreadsheet like 10 times, I realized that it's actually 3 weeks after Goofy, which means I can do all 3 races! I'm actually glad it's only 3 and not 4, which means I will only totally trash myself 3 times over 6 weeks. Although once I am done with those (and on race days I will do the warmups and race and then finish out a long run afterwards), my training just gets, well, scary, but I am not going to worry about it now!
Also today around 12:30 I went and ran for 50', and it was a beautiful, sunny day and 52! We are just having our best weather ever for November, and I am (as are all other area runners) capitalizing on it. I went out with a lightweight long sleeved shirt on, but took it off after about a mile. I ended up doing one of my fastest runs in a few months! Since I nailed my tempo run on Wednesday and today went so well, it appears I have recovered from my last bout of run focus, and maybe even picked up a teensy bit of speed from it! This is just as I hoped! I'm not expecting to set any PR's at Goofy--I just want to be able to come out of it and recover fast and keep up my training momentum.
And to me, this is the name of the game. Getting my body used to this so that as I go longer and longer, I am still able to recover pretty quickly and move on. I was pretty amazed at how well I performed during ROTPM considering it was just 5 weeks after my best ever IM performance. And then I did some massive run training for North Face, and even though I pulled out at 35 miles (and in retrospect, it was due to guess what? SHOE LACES TOO FUCKING TIGHT!! And putting extra pressure on the tibialis anterior tendon which is all fixed up now), hey, it was still 35 miles, and I've come back pretty well from that. So I will want to be able to do the same after Goofy Challenge. But heck, Goofy will be all about fun and I am not worried about it at all. After all, it's just a marathon!
If I'm able to execute on all my other planned training for the week, I'll end up at about 17 1/4 hours for the week, not bad at all. If you had asked me a year ago whether I'd be training this much now, I would have said NO WAY! Just goes to show you how things change.
As to my ability to eat enough calories to keep with all of this, well let's just say my training is a bit ahead of my appetite right now, since it's just so foreign for me to be putting in this much this time of year. And I have come to really like salads with dinner, big ones, and that leaves little room for the rice or other starchy carbs which it seems I need. But I am paying more careful attention to the amount and timing of food, and when all else fails, I just drink another beer--it is carbs, after all. Let's just say I do not have concerns about eating too much. In fact, I have been munching on leftover Halloween candy for what, 2 or 3 weeks now, and it has no impact on me. Actually, sometimes concentrated calories are just what I need because I can't fit any more bulk into my tummy at night. All good, all part of this unique experience that I am putting myself through.
I have ups and downs mentally, and this is almost worse than Ironman training. It is like most of the day I have food, training, stretching, sleeping or other life organization in the back of my mind even as I am doing my regular job. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, and then I do something like my longest swim ever and I am all stupid happy. I wish I was training with someone else doing the same thing, but I don't know anyone else locally who is as stupid as I am! Sometimes I think I am too old to be doing this, but then I feel so amazingly great I can't believe it and figure I should just continue on. It is a rollercoaster, and I feel like I really need to cut loose, only the big goal is always looming so mostly I don't. I do intend to cut loose next weekend--pretty sad that the only way I can make myself do so is to do a fucking 1/2 Ironman on Saturday so I don't have to do any training on Sunday! But, hey, it works for me, and as long as I keep seeing progress towards the goal, I am basically happy.
Sometimes I don't know why I keep writing all this stuff down, but I guess some people like to read it to know what goes on in the mind of a crazy person who chooses to do this stuff. It would be interesting if someone followed me around with a video camera--I bet they would get some really interesting facial expressions. Like when I lift myself out of the pool after my Friday workout, or when I wake up on Monday morning and think about what I have to get done this week. Ah well...on that note, I must go and stretch now so I can be ready for the weekend's festivities!
After my struggling through a long run on Sunday, I fixed a great dinner and got a good night's sleep and figured I'd start the week on a good note, which I did. Monday's swim was 2900 yards, and I felt pretty good in the water, after doing my now usual 20' of pushups, chinups, bridges, assorted abs and stuff. A short 45' run in the afternoon was good--I am still getting my hill legs back, so considering I have to run uphill right from home, I started off slow, but as I kept going I picked up speed and felt great.
On Tuesday I had to bike for 1:30, and got on the trainer and felt like I had my biking legs back! And this was great considering I'd lifted early in the morning.
Wednesday was a short but hard swim, and I'm sure my tongue was hanging out at the wall in between fast 100's and 50's, but it felt good. Later in the day I ran on the treadmill because it was raining, but I nailed a tempo run that felt pretty darn good. Oh yeah, I did my 20' of stuff before I swam, too.
Thursday was another 1:30 trainer ride and finish up my strength training for the week. I wasn't as strong on the bike as on Tuesday, but I am adjusting to 1:30 rides and also trying to put up the watts, so I am not concerned.
Today I swam 7,000 yards for the first time ever! I had 6500 on my plan, but I got in the pool by 6AM so figured I had time for 7,000 so why not? I am always working on my stroke mechanics, and today was no exception. 7,000 gives you a lot of time for that! I did it as 1000 free, 2500 pull, 500 kick (to rest my arms a bit), 5x500 fast with 30" rest, then 300 back and 200 kick. I have written workouts for these long swims, but I am also open to just going with the flow, and that's what my flow told me to do today. I only started to feel tired during the last 500 in the 5x500, and that was no big surprise. I did polish off all 20 oz. of Gatorade during the swim, and I need to be on that since I will need to take in calories during the Ultraman swim.
7,000 yards is not a lot for a lifetime swimmer, I know that. And technically, I don't have to be doing this much all at once this early in my Ultraman prep, but the way I'm doing the swim thing is 2 shorter swims on Monday and Wednesday (2500-3500 yards), Friday is the big, long swim, and then Sunday (through March) is 1000-1500 after my long run just for some extra time in the pool and to recover from the run. Ideally, I'd swim 4-5,000 three times a week and then a longer swim, but I just don't have time, and oh, hey, I also need to train for a 52.4 mile run and then there's like, what, 260 miles of biking in Ultraman? So I need to allocate my time carefully, and I think I am getting in enough swimming. As they say on the Ultraman website, there are many ways to train for this beast, and not everyone will need to train the same way. Since I am going in just to finish, I want to be confident in my ability to swim 10K strongly and still have energy left to bike 90 miles the same day. And then bike 170 miles the next day and run 52.4 miles the third day. Lucky for me, I was already swimming a good amount during the summer, and instead of dropping down to some paltry amount like 8,000 yards a week, which is what I would normally do this time of year, I just kept up my yardage and then some. I was already used to 3-mile swims, although I can say those are not that big a deal anymore. So my plan is to stay at about 7,000-7,500 for that long swim between now and March 1, and then, with that base, build up to the 11,000 yard swim. I have also needed to find out how much I can swim on Friday morning and still not be too tired to run later in the day and it looks like that number is 7,000 yards. Although odds are 7,500 won't be too bad, either.
Oh yeah, I keep changing around my training here and there because it's an iterative, learning process. I registered for the Midwest Indoor Triathlon Series again, only there are only 3 races this time. I thought (because I am date dyslexic at times) that the first one was only 2 weeks after Goofy so I wouldn't do it, but then after looking at my spreadsheet like 10 times, I realized that it's actually 3 weeks after Goofy, which means I can do all 3 races! I'm actually glad it's only 3 and not 4, which means I will only totally trash myself 3 times over 6 weeks. Although once I am done with those (and on race days I will do the warmups and race and then finish out a long run afterwards), my training just gets, well, scary, but I am not going to worry about it now!
Also today around 12:30 I went and ran for 50', and it was a beautiful, sunny day and 52! We are just having our best weather ever for November, and I am (as are all other area runners) capitalizing on it. I went out with a lightweight long sleeved shirt on, but took it off after about a mile. I ended up doing one of my fastest runs in a few months! Since I nailed my tempo run on Wednesday and today went so well, it appears I have recovered from my last bout of run focus, and maybe even picked up a teensy bit of speed from it! This is just as I hoped! I'm not expecting to set any PR's at Goofy--I just want to be able to come out of it and recover fast and keep up my training momentum.
And to me, this is the name of the game. Getting my body used to this so that as I go longer and longer, I am still able to recover pretty quickly and move on. I was pretty amazed at how well I performed during ROTPM considering it was just 5 weeks after my best ever IM performance. And then I did some massive run training for North Face, and even though I pulled out at 35 miles (and in retrospect, it was due to guess what? SHOE LACES TOO FUCKING TIGHT!! And putting extra pressure on the tibialis anterior tendon which is all fixed up now), hey, it was still 35 miles, and I've come back pretty well from that. So I will want to be able to do the same after Goofy Challenge. But heck, Goofy will be all about fun and I am not worried about it at all. After all, it's just a marathon!
If I'm able to execute on all my other planned training for the week, I'll end up at about 17 1/4 hours for the week, not bad at all. If you had asked me a year ago whether I'd be training this much now, I would have said NO WAY! Just goes to show you how things change.
As to my ability to eat enough calories to keep with all of this, well let's just say my training is a bit ahead of my appetite right now, since it's just so foreign for me to be putting in this much this time of year. And I have come to really like salads with dinner, big ones, and that leaves little room for the rice or other starchy carbs which it seems I need. But I am paying more careful attention to the amount and timing of food, and when all else fails, I just drink another beer--it is carbs, after all. Let's just say I do not have concerns about eating too much. In fact, I have been munching on leftover Halloween candy for what, 2 or 3 weeks now, and it has no impact on me. Actually, sometimes concentrated calories are just what I need because I can't fit any more bulk into my tummy at night. All good, all part of this unique experience that I am putting myself through.
I have ups and downs mentally, and this is almost worse than Ironman training. It is like most of the day I have food, training, stretching, sleeping or other life organization in the back of my mind even as I am doing my regular job. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, and then I do something like my longest swim ever and I am all stupid happy. I wish I was training with someone else doing the same thing, but I don't know anyone else locally who is as stupid as I am! Sometimes I think I am too old to be doing this, but then I feel so amazingly great I can't believe it and figure I should just continue on. It is a rollercoaster, and I feel like I really need to cut loose, only the big goal is always looming so mostly I don't. I do intend to cut loose next weekend--pretty sad that the only way I can make myself do so is to do a fucking 1/2 Ironman on Saturday so I don't have to do any training on Sunday! But, hey, it works for me, and as long as I keep seeing progress towards the goal, I am basically happy.
Sometimes I don't know why I keep writing all this stuff down, but I guess some people like to read it to know what goes on in the mind of a crazy person who chooses to do this stuff. It would be interesting if someone followed me around with a video camera--I bet they would get some really interesting facial expressions. Like when I lift myself out of the pool after my Friday workout, or when I wake up on Monday morning and think about what I have to get done this week. Ah well...on that note, I must go and stretch now so I can be ready for the weekend's festivities!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Back to our Regularly Scheduled Training
This week I tweaked my Monday/Wednesday pre-swim routine to include standing on one foot a few times, at the suggestion of my bike fitter. So now my routine consists of 30-35 chinups, 60 pushups, 65-70 abs variations, 2 sets of 90" bridges on each side and to center, and standing on one leg. I still want to add jump rope to the mix, but will wait one more week as my legs adjust to running. All this takes about 20', and I've added a few more things to my regular strength routine as well, so somehow I ended up doing almost 2 hours of strength work this week. Oh well, I need it, with all the swimming I'm doing and making myself strong to withstand the amount of training I am throwing at myself.
Running went well this week--on Wednesday, the body decided it was ready for some 5K pace work, even though I was trying to hold back. Oh well! Sometimes you just need to let things happen.
Weather here has been mild for this time of the year, so all my running has been outdoors. Tuesday I biked outdoors on the MTB, since I just couldn't see being inside when it was so nice. Thursday brought some extra stress, so I decided to skip my bike workout, figuring I might make some of it up on Saturday.
Friday morning I did my longest swim workout to date--6200 yards--and it went well. I got in and started swimming and thought it was a good day to swim continuously, which I did for 5,000 yards, and then I kicked 700 and did backstroke for 500 (I'm adding backstroke in here and there just to balance out my over developed pectorals). I'm already ahead of schedule for my Friday long swims, and it got me to thinking about looking at other training I have scheduled for Fridays which is usually a run. Well I'm OK running on the same day as 2-2:15 worth of swimming, but once those swims start taking 2:30 or more, I'm not so sure. So today I once again tweaked the training plan to account for that. I can move those Friday runs to Tuesday or Thursday depending on what else I have going. But I did run on Friday, and it was a good run.
Yesterday I was thinking I'd do 1-1:30 on the bike indoors and then head outside and make up a little for my missed Thursday workout. Instead, I started out by raking leaves for about 1:45, and while I was out there, for some reason I thought I'd see if I could fire up my old Trek road bike which hasn't been ridden since 2006, which is when I got LGL. So I took that bike down from the hooks in the garage, pumped the tires and lo and behold they held air, waited a few minutes, wiped down the frame, lubed it up and got ready to ride.
I thought I'd ride for 2:30-3:00, but ended up around 3:20, maybe 56 miles, but who knows since I had no computer. And I bonked nicely, recalling I hadn't really eaten enough carbs on Friday night. I am still getting used to fueling myself for these really long swims--I know to eat well the night before, but need to get used to eating more the day of, too. Finished up the ride and was plenty tired and bonky, but slammed down some leftover Halloween candy (Juicy Fruits) and guzzled some Gatorade and took off for 1/2 hour run. Oh boy, I felt like I was running through mud, but really didn't do all that bad and did my :30.
Needless to say, I ate a lot yesterday, or so I thought, but in retrospect should have had more. When I woke up this morning, it felt like I had a hangover, but I couldn't have (2 beers), so figured it was just the shock of 4 hours of working out (more like 6 if you count raking leaves). Still, I wanted to go for a 1:30 run today, so luckily I had defizzed a can of Coke for the run, and decided I better slam one down before I started, too.
I went to Waterfall Glen and felt like I was really struggling. So much so that I thought of just bagging the run, but then I thought, hey what if I feel like this in Ultraman am I going to suck it up or what? So I kept going, and was even managing a decent pace, although I stopped every 1/2 mile or so just to stop and stretch and continued on. I managed to get in 10 miles, and I had packed a swim bag, but on the way home I was thinking food seemed like a better idea than a recovery swim. But I went to the Y anyway, and even though I took my sweet time on deck, once I got in and started swimming, it felt great, so I got in 1200 yards, showered and hit the sauna, and went home to have lunch.
I spent the rest of the day just relaxing, and now I've got dinner going (roast chicken w/garlic, lemon and rosemary, cranberry sauce which is done, and steamed asparagus once the chicken is just about ready), and have things ready to go for tomorrow's AM core workout and swim.
The Midwest Indoor Triathlon Series has been announced with official dates. There are only 3 races next year, and the first one is 2 weeks after Goofy Challenge, so unfortunately, I won't be doing that one, but I'll do the other two. It's sad that there are only 3 races, but for me, I guess it's a good thing because on the week of those things I just about thrash myself training, and next year's schedule is worse than ever.
At least once a week, I get to thinking about what I am trying to do in training for Ultraman, and I have this huge sense of fear. Which, I think, is healthy. I look at my training plan and wonder how I will get it all done, but then I put myself back in the moment of today, of now, and enjoy the fact that I still have some time on my hands on the weekend where I can enjoy cooking, reading and spending time with family and friends. When I am training, I have a smile on my face, and I know it because I get a lot of people smiling back at me. As long as that keeps up, I will maintain my motivation!
Running went well this week--on Wednesday, the body decided it was ready for some 5K pace work, even though I was trying to hold back. Oh well! Sometimes you just need to let things happen.
Weather here has been mild for this time of the year, so all my running has been outdoors. Tuesday I biked outdoors on the MTB, since I just couldn't see being inside when it was so nice. Thursday brought some extra stress, so I decided to skip my bike workout, figuring I might make some of it up on Saturday.
Friday morning I did my longest swim workout to date--6200 yards--and it went well. I got in and started swimming and thought it was a good day to swim continuously, which I did for 5,000 yards, and then I kicked 700 and did backstroke for 500 (I'm adding backstroke in here and there just to balance out my over developed pectorals). I'm already ahead of schedule for my Friday long swims, and it got me to thinking about looking at other training I have scheduled for Fridays which is usually a run. Well I'm OK running on the same day as 2-2:15 worth of swimming, but once those swims start taking 2:30 or more, I'm not so sure. So today I once again tweaked the training plan to account for that. I can move those Friday runs to Tuesday or Thursday depending on what else I have going. But I did run on Friday, and it was a good run.
Yesterday I was thinking I'd do 1-1:30 on the bike indoors and then head outside and make up a little for my missed Thursday workout. Instead, I started out by raking leaves for about 1:45, and while I was out there, for some reason I thought I'd see if I could fire up my old Trek road bike which hasn't been ridden since 2006, which is when I got LGL. So I took that bike down from the hooks in the garage, pumped the tires and lo and behold they held air, waited a few minutes, wiped down the frame, lubed it up and got ready to ride.
I thought I'd ride for 2:30-3:00, but ended up around 3:20, maybe 56 miles, but who knows since I had no computer. And I bonked nicely, recalling I hadn't really eaten enough carbs on Friday night. I am still getting used to fueling myself for these really long swims--I know to eat well the night before, but need to get used to eating more the day of, too. Finished up the ride and was plenty tired and bonky, but slammed down some leftover Halloween candy (Juicy Fruits) and guzzled some Gatorade and took off for 1/2 hour run. Oh boy, I felt like I was running through mud, but really didn't do all that bad and did my :30.
Needless to say, I ate a lot yesterday, or so I thought, but in retrospect should have had more. When I woke up this morning, it felt like I had a hangover, but I couldn't have (2 beers), so figured it was just the shock of 4 hours of working out (more like 6 if you count raking leaves). Still, I wanted to go for a 1:30 run today, so luckily I had defizzed a can of Coke for the run, and decided I better slam one down before I started, too.
I went to Waterfall Glen and felt like I was really struggling. So much so that I thought of just bagging the run, but then I thought, hey what if I feel like this in Ultraman am I going to suck it up or what? So I kept going, and was even managing a decent pace, although I stopped every 1/2 mile or so just to stop and stretch and continued on. I managed to get in 10 miles, and I had packed a swim bag, but on the way home I was thinking food seemed like a better idea than a recovery swim. But I went to the Y anyway, and even though I took my sweet time on deck, once I got in and started swimming, it felt great, so I got in 1200 yards, showered and hit the sauna, and went home to have lunch.
I spent the rest of the day just relaxing, and now I've got dinner going (roast chicken w/garlic, lemon and rosemary, cranberry sauce which is done, and steamed asparagus once the chicken is just about ready), and have things ready to go for tomorrow's AM core workout and swim.
The Midwest Indoor Triathlon Series has been announced with official dates. There are only 3 races next year, and the first one is 2 weeks after Goofy Challenge, so unfortunately, I won't be doing that one, but I'll do the other two. It's sad that there are only 3 races, but for me, I guess it's a good thing because on the week of those things I just about thrash myself training, and next year's schedule is worse than ever.
At least once a week, I get to thinking about what I am trying to do in training for Ultraman, and I have this huge sense of fear. Which, I think, is healthy. I look at my training plan and wonder how I will get it all done, but then I put myself back in the moment of today, of now, and enjoy the fact that I still have some time on my hands on the weekend where I can enjoy cooking, reading and spending time with family and friends. When I am training, I have a smile on my face, and I know it because I get a lot of people smiling back at me. As long as that keeps up, I will maintain my motivation!
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Game On!
I went back to the ortho on Wednesday to hear the verdict. Truthfully, I was thinking not a stress fracture, as I had zero pain doing a fairly hard bike workout and just standing on the right leg was causing no pain. However, I continued to feel some pain around the ankle which I think is the tibialis anterior's tendon that is inflamed. Swimming--no problems. Biking, no problems. Elliptical--no problems, but I hadn't tried running.
Ortho walks into the exam room with the bone scan reading (I had brought along the pictures), and he shakes my hand and says, "You don't have a stress fracture." Much as I wanted to jump up and down, I just smiled, and said, "So, full weight-bearing OK?" He said yes, do some extra anterior leg strengthening for a few weeks (I actually plan to add a few exercises to my weekly strength training for this anyway), of course be cautious about ramping up too quickly (duh), and he noted that there is some degeneration in my left foot that I should probably have checked out. I did not know this! My guess is it's a hold over from when I originally tore my ACL way back in 1985. I have never felt like I was having issues with that foot, but it is probably prudent to get it checked out, and besides, I could use new orthotics.
As good as that verdict sounded, for me, nothing will matter until I can return to normal running. But on Thursday, I did the leg portion of my strength workout and had no problems doing it along with another hard bike workout. On Friday morning, I had scheduled 5500 yards for myself, but I was at the pool early enough that I had time for 6000 and was feeling great, so I went ahead and got a big swim done.
Mid-day Friday I went back to the Y to get on the elliptical. I thought I'd give my legs a break for at least this week which wouldn't hurt in the big scheme of things. I did 30' on the thing, and then thought, why don't I try some strides on the track? I did, and it felt weird because of how elliptical is way more hamstring dominant, but my quads felt fine, no shin pain whatsoever, but just a tad of right ankle. Oh well, no harm done as long as there is no increase in pain afterwards.
Which there wasn't. Yesterday it turned into a glorious day, and I was hoping I could ride outdoors since the times I can do that between now and March are going to be few and far between. I didn't know how my ankle would fare under real road conditions, though. Since I was adding a (relatively) lot of biking to the week, I decided to ride the MTB which would guarantee that I didn't push myself too hard. As soon as I headed out, I could sense I was going to be just fine. I ended up riding for 2 hours, enjoyed the hell out of it, and even stood up a few times with no ill effects!
On my plan, I had a 30' run scheduled for yesterday as well. But since I had plenty of other things to get done yesterday, I figured I had better get on it right away. The last time I ran after biking was...ROTPM! I decided I'd try actual running, and if it didn't feel good or right, I'd just call it a day.
Although my legs felt like cement because of not being used to biking before, and I had biked 2 hours which was my longest ride in 7 weeks, and because I have to run up hill from my house, it was entertaining. But my ankle did not hurt! I was just so happy to be able to run that I know I was smiling like crazy, even though I felt like I was hardly moving. But it was November, I was wearing shorts and a bra top and sunglasses, so what was there not to like? I decided I didn't need to run for 30' and that 25' would be just fine, and even though I felt SO slow on the way out, I ran pretty well on the way back home. I was just so happy that I could run and hoped I could go longer on Sunday.
Today we got the beautiful weather again, and I decided I'd drive to Greene Valley so I could run on the crushed limestone flatness. While I was sweeping up some pine needles in my driveway, my ankle didn't feel perfect, but it may have been because I was on asphalt, who knows? At any rate, the plan was to go to Greene Valley, plan on running for 1:10 if I could make it that long (and if not finish on elliptical), and then head to the Y to swim 1000 just for recovery purposes.
I started running and felt absolutely nothing in the shin or ankle right off the bat, and after about a mile, I was pretty confident I could do an entire loop (6.9 miles), and maybe even a little more. I got the whole loop done and headed out for a bit more to get in the full 1:10 of running, and ended up just over 8 miles total!
I guess I'm done with elliptical trainer now (truth is I can't stand it--worse than a treadmill), but I will continue to be conservative in ramping up the running between now and Goofy Challenge. I was thinking earlier this week that I might just do the half marathon, but unless something changes for the worse, I will be doing the marathon as well. Whereas I was doing a run 5'/walk 1' thing for North Face, fuck that, I plan on just running at Goofy so no more planned walking. Besides, I get plenty of breaks running at intersections. The Goofy courses are flat, flat, flat, and so there is no need for me to do all the hill running I'd done for North Face, which gives my legs a break, plus I will be doing plenty of treadmill running between now and then (unless we get very little snow which would be fine by me in which case I'll be running outdoors). Silly me for looking forward to another marathon, huh? But in the plan for Ultraman, I need to keep exposing myself to as much running (and swimming and biking) as I can handle without breaking down.
My ortho gave me a scrip for extra-strength Naproxen (Naprosyn, it's called), and I am taking it, and it seems to be doing something for me. I generally don't like taking NSAID's because they can mask pain that I should feel, but in this case, I am good with the 30-day regimen. I have been doing many things to test myself out to see just how recovered I am, and I'm coming along quite fine. I can do my ankle rotations now without any hitches or pain whatsoever. There is zero pain upon waking, and as I sit here post-run/swim, I feel fine, except for being a little tired, but I am happy for that feeling! I think that as long as I run on soft stuff (treadmill or my version of trail which is like carpeting compared to what I ran on 2 weeks ago) as often as possible, I will be good to go. My longest run pre-Goofy will only be 2.5 hours (maybe 2.75--we'll see), so I won't exactly be taxing my legs all that much compared to what I just came off of.
All good, I am just so happy that I am almost back to my usual self! After Goofy, I will be doing the indoor triathlon series again, which will be my only real racing next year before Ultraman. I decided not to sign up for IMFL 2010, as my cash flow is taking a serious hit already. I might do Silverman, I might not, I am just not going to think that far ahead. Besides, it would be enough for me to just do Ultraman next year. Cool thing is I found out and confirmed that my very first triathlon coach is also doing Ultraman! I still remember him telling me 9 years ago that I had no business doing an Ironman so soon (this coming from someone whose first triathlon was an Ironman), and at the time he was right, but I did grow into it, didn't I? And I guess now I am growing out of it in a way. I just don't know what I will want after Ultraman. Maybe a rest. Maybe an actual vacation without an all-day event in it. I have a big enough thing to worry about for now, and I guess I will just have to live vicariously through all the people I know who are racing.
For today, I am just happy I can run. And oh...
GAME ON!!!
Ortho walks into the exam room with the bone scan reading (I had brought along the pictures), and he shakes my hand and says, "You don't have a stress fracture." Much as I wanted to jump up and down, I just smiled, and said, "So, full weight-bearing OK?" He said yes, do some extra anterior leg strengthening for a few weeks (I actually plan to add a few exercises to my weekly strength training for this anyway), of course be cautious about ramping up too quickly (duh), and he noted that there is some degeneration in my left foot that I should probably have checked out. I did not know this! My guess is it's a hold over from when I originally tore my ACL way back in 1985. I have never felt like I was having issues with that foot, but it is probably prudent to get it checked out, and besides, I could use new orthotics.
As good as that verdict sounded, for me, nothing will matter until I can return to normal running. But on Thursday, I did the leg portion of my strength workout and had no problems doing it along with another hard bike workout. On Friday morning, I had scheduled 5500 yards for myself, but I was at the pool early enough that I had time for 6000 and was feeling great, so I went ahead and got a big swim done.
Mid-day Friday I went back to the Y to get on the elliptical. I thought I'd give my legs a break for at least this week which wouldn't hurt in the big scheme of things. I did 30' on the thing, and then thought, why don't I try some strides on the track? I did, and it felt weird because of how elliptical is way more hamstring dominant, but my quads felt fine, no shin pain whatsoever, but just a tad of right ankle. Oh well, no harm done as long as there is no increase in pain afterwards.
Which there wasn't. Yesterday it turned into a glorious day, and I was hoping I could ride outdoors since the times I can do that between now and March are going to be few and far between. I didn't know how my ankle would fare under real road conditions, though. Since I was adding a (relatively) lot of biking to the week, I decided to ride the MTB which would guarantee that I didn't push myself too hard. As soon as I headed out, I could sense I was going to be just fine. I ended up riding for 2 hours, enjoyed the hell out of it, and even stood up a few times with no ill effects!
On my plan, I had a 30' run scheduled for yesterday as well. But since I had plenty of other things to get done yesterday, I figured I had better get on it right away. The last time I ran after biking was...ROTPM! I decided I'd try actual running, and if it didn't feel good or right, I'd just call it a day.
Although my legs felt like cement because of not being used to biking before, and I had biked 2 hours which was my longest ride in 7 weeks, and because I have to run up hill from my house, it was entertaining. But my ankle did not hurt! I was just so happy to be able to run that I know I was smiling like crazy, even though I felt like I was hardly moving. But it was November, I was wearing shorts and a bra top and sunglasses, so what was there not to like? I decided I didn't need to run for 30' and that 25' would be just fine, and even though I felt SO slow on the way out, I ran pretty well on the way back home. I was just so happy that I could run and hoped I could go longer on Sunday.
Today we got the beautiful weather again, and I decided I'd drive to Greene Valley so I could run on the crushed limestone flatness. While I was sweeping up some pine needles in my driveway, my ankle didn't feel perfect, but it may have been because I was on asphalt, who knows? At any rate, the plan was to go to Greene Valley, plan on running for 1:10 if I could make it that long (and if not finish on elliptical), and then head to the Y to swim 1000 just for recovery purposes.
I started running and felt absolutely nothing in the shin or ankle right off the bat, and after about a mile, I was pretty confident I could do an entire loop (6.9 miles), and maybe even a little more. I got the whole loop done and headed out for a bit more to get in the full 1:10 of running, and ended up just over 8 miles total!
I guess I'm done with elliptical trainer now (truth is I can't stand it--worse than a treadmill), but I will continue to be conservative in ramping up the running between now and Goofy Challenge. I was thinking earlier this week that I might just do the half marathon, but unless something changes for the worse, I will be doing the marathon as well. Whereas I was doing a run 5'/walk 1' thing for North Face, fuck that, I plan on just running at Goofy so no more planned walking. Besides, I get plenty of breaks running at intersections. The Goofy courses are flat, flat, flat, and so there is no need for me to do all the hill running I'd done for North Face, which gives my legs a break, plus I will be doing plenty of treadmill running between now and then (unless we get very little snow which would be fine by me in which case I'll be running outdoors). Silly me for looking forward to another marathon, huh? But in the plan for Ultraman, I need to keep exposing myself to as much running (and swimming and biking) as I can handle without breaking down.
My ortho gave me a scrip for extra-strength Naproxen (Naprosyn, it's called), and I am taking it, and it seems to be doing something for me. I generally don't like taking NSAID's because they can mask pain that I should feel, but in this case, I am good with the 30-day regimen. I have been doing many things to test myself out to see just how recovered I am, and I'm coming along quite fine. I can do my ankle rotations now without any hitches or pain whatsoever. There is zero pain upon waking, and as I sit here post-run/swim, I feel fine, except for being a little tired, but I am happy for that feeling! I think that as long as I run on soft stuff (treadmill or my version of trail which is like carpeting compared to what I ran on 2 weeks ago) as often as possible, I will be good to go. My longest run pre-Goofy will only be 2.5 hours (maybe 2.75--we'll see), so I won't exactly be taxing my legs all that much compared to what I just came off of.
All good, I am just so happy that I am almost back to my usual self! After Goofy, I will be doing the indoor triathlon series again, which will be my only real racing next year before Ultraman. I decided not to sign up for IMFL 2010, as my cash flow is taking a serious hit already. I might do Silverman, I might not, I am just not going to think that far ahead. Besides, it would be enough for me to just do Ultraman next year. Cool thing is I found out and confirmed that my very first triathlon coach is also doing Ultraman! I still remember him telling me 9 years ago that I had no business doing an Ironman so soon (this coming from someone whose first triathlon was an Ironman), and at the time he was right, but I did grow into it, didn't I? And I guess now I am growing out of it in a way. I just don't know what I will want after Ultraman. Maybe a rest. Maybe an actual vacation without an all-day event in it. I have a big enough thing to worry about for now, and I guess I will just have to live vicariously through all the people I know who are racing.
For today, I am just happy I can run. And oh...
GAME ON!!!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Ready for my Big Day
I am ready to go for the North Face 50-miler. All I need to do is get some more sleep tonight, then tomorrow morning a short 20 minute run, pack and drive up to Wisconsin.
I am feeling really rested for this, much like I did before IMLP. My body feels great, well except for my upper body which is getting used to all the hard swimming I've been doing.
Speaking of swimming, in just 6 weeks of focused work, I am getting faster! Now, I am just approaching what I was able to do in 2004-2005, but that is encouraging since it means I should be able to gain even more speed. Next week I begin doing pace test swims, and testing is what keeps me honest, so I'm looking forward to it. So far so good on those long swims, although I am only back up to 5,000 yards, but that will grow quickly in a few weeks. As much as I would like to swim more than 3x per week (frequency being a component of improvement), it is just not going to fit into my schedule most of the time, although between now and Goofy Challenge I should have time on Sundays to get in a nice 30-min. cool down swim after my long run. Mostly I need to build muscular endurance, and my 3 swims per week all work towards that, and my aim is to not slow down as I continue to add distance to my Friday swims.
This week I only did 2 swims and no riding at all, so my entire body gets to rest up for Saturday, and I haven't rested this hard since the last time I did Goofy Challenge in January, 2007. Well, I have rested AFTER big events, but I'm talking about tapering.
In looking at what I've accomplished since Revenge of the PirateMan, it's encouraging to me. Last year, for the first 6 weeks of my season, I got in about 58 hours of training. This year, for the 6 weeks after ROTPM, I've put in 85 hours, and if you add in the 11 hours of walking I also did, it comes to 96 hours of training. That is a lot for this early in the season, but based on how I feel, I must be doing the little things right in order to do that much.
My weight has hung out right at the 108 lb. mark, but I think I've leaned out just a little bit more, at least according to my massage therapist. If that's true, it means I've added a little muscle, and based on the curvature of my butt, I would have to agree. That's what running lots and lots of hills will do. But I have also been doing extra chinups and pushups twice a week before I swim, and I think my upper back and chest reflect that. It's amazing how little things add up, isn't it? I laugh at people on Facebook who tell me I should try P90X or some supplement stuff. I've been doing this stuff for a long time and have honed my body so much that I think I'm a pretty good judge of what it needs. In a few weeks, I will change up my strength routine a bit, incorporating some movements that were suggested to me during my bike fitting session. I didn't want to start on them before North Face because I wanted to not change too many things all at once. Even though I know my body pretty well, I know that change is an important part of the training stimulus. If I did the same thing every year, well, I wouldn't be improving too much.
So here I am at the end of my first training block for Ultraman. No matter how I do on Saturday, I will consider this block very successful. I have mentally and physically become reaccustomed to hard swim workouts, I have shown that my body can withstand some decent run mileage, and I have not become injured, all after having done an Ironman 13 weeks ago, and double Ironman only 8 weeks ago! If I pull off this 50-miler, it means I've done 3 marathons (4 if you want to count the 50-miler as two) in the space of 13 weeks, holy shit! That is something I never would have considered either fun or even possible just a few years ago.
Huh, well, all that's left now is to finish 50 miles on Saturday. I know I will have fun doing it, maybe not 100% of the time that I am out there, but if I didn't enjoy doing this stuff, I wouldn't do it. I received a book as a gift called "The Runner's Rule Book," and I love it because the first 2 rules are 1.1 Have Fun and 1.2 Expand Your Definition of Fun. While this book is only about running, in my case it applies to swimming and biking as well, and I don't know--I think I am just one of those people who really enjoys this stuff. I see too many people out training that aren't smiling and it makes me wonder why. Sure, there are times when I'm pushing hard and that ear-to-ear grin may be absent from my face, but most of the time I'm just happy that I can do this, and I thank my body, mind and soul for the experience, and it shows on my face.
Well, I won't be checking back in before Sunday, and hopefully I will be able to say I've run 50 miles all in a day!
I am feeling really rested for this, much like I did before IMLP. My body feels great, well except for my upper body which is getting used to all the hard swimming I've been doing.
Speaking of swimming, in just 6 weeks of focused work, I am getting faster! Now, I am just approaching what I was able to do in 2004-2005, but that is encouraging since it means I should be able to gain even more speed. Next week I begin doing pace test swims, and testing is what keeps me honest, so I'm looking forward to it. So far so good on those long swims, although I am only back up to 5,000 yards, but that will grow quickly in a few weeks. As much as I would like to swim more than 3x per week (frequency being a component of improvement), it is just not going to fit into my schedule most of the time, although between now and Goofy Challenge I should have time on Sundays to get in a nice 30-min. cool down swim after my long run. Mostly I need to build muscular endurance, and my 3 swims per week all work towards that, and my aim is to not slow down as I continue to add distance to my Friday swims.
This week I only did 2 swims and no riding at all, so my entire body gets to rest up for Saturday, and I haven't rested this hard since the last time I did Goofy Challenge in January, 2007. Well, I have rested AFTER big events, but I'm talking about tapering.
In looking at what I've accomplished since Revenge of the PirateMan, it's encouraging to me. Last year, for the first 6 weeks of my season, I got in about 58 hours of training. This year, for the 6 weeks after ROTPM, I've put in 85 hours, and if you add in the 11 hours of walking I also did, it comes to 96 hours of training. That is a lot for this early in the season, but based on how I feel, I must be doing the little things right in order to do that much.
My weight has hung out right at the 108 lb. mark, but I think I've leaned out just a little bit more, at least according to my massage therapist. If that's true, it means I've added a little muscle, and based on the curvature of my butt, I would have to agree. That's what running lots and lots of hills will do. But I have also been doing extra chinups and pushups twice a week before I swim, and I think my upper back and chest reflect that. It's amazing how little things add up, isn't it? I laugh at people on Facebook who tell me I should try P90X or some supplement stuff. I've been doing this stuff for a long time and have honed my body so much that I think I'm a pretty good judge of what it needs. In a few weeks, I will change up my strength routine a bit, incorporating some movements that were suggested to me during my bike fitting session. I didn't want to start on them before North Face because I wanted to not change too many things all at once. Even though I know my body pretty well, I know that change is an important part of the training stimulus. If I did the same thing every year, well, I wouldn't be improving too much.
So here I am at the end of my first training block for Ultraman. No matter how I do on Saturday, I will consider this block very successful. I have mentally and physically become reaccustomed to hard swim workouts, I have shown that my body can withstand some decent run mileage, and I have not become injured, all after having done an Ironman 13 weeks ago, and double Ironman only 8 weeks ago! If I pull off this 50-miler, it means I've done 3 marathons (4 if you want to count the 50-miler as two) in the space of 13 weeks, holy shit! That is something I never would have considered either fun or even possible just a few years ago.
Huh, well, all that's left now is to finish 50 miles on Saturday. I know I will have fun doing it, maybe not 100% of the time that I am out there, but if I didn't enjoy doing this stuff, I wouldn't do it. I received a book as a gift called "The Runner's Rule Book," and I love it because the first 2 rules are 1.1 Have Fun and 1.2 Expand Your Definition of Fun. While this book is only about running, in my case it applies to swimming and biking as well, and I don't know--I think I am just one of those people who really enjoys this stuff. I see too many people out training that aren't smiling and it makes me wonder why. Sure, there are times when I'm pushing hard and that ear-to-ear grin may be absent from my face, but most of the time I'm just happy that I can do this, and I thank my body, mind and soul for the experience, and it shows on my face.
Well, I won't be checking back in before Sunday, and hopefully I will be able to say I've run 50 miles all in a day!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Reverse Goofy Challenge Weekend
Goofy Challenge has the half marathon Saturday and full marathon on Sunday. This weekend, I ran just over 19 miles on Saturday and 13.75 miles today. Not a lot for an ultrarunner, but plenty for someone like me who is a triathlete first.
My run training has been going pretty well, and I've been getting the hours in that I had hoped for. This week, I wanted to shoot for 8 hours of running, including back to back long runs of 3 and 2 hours. I've never done that before, even in the past when training for Goofy Challenge, but I figured what the hell, all I can do is try.
Part of me thought I should do the shorter run Saturday because I know for sure I could run the day after a 2-hour run--I do that all the time in training. But running 3 hours the next day? I though it was more important that I got the 3 hour run in for sure, and then if I needed to cut back the 2 hour run, so be it.
On Friday morning, something in my furnace went kaput. It sounded like a motor about to die, so I had to shut off the heat until I could get a repair man in on Saturday. I went to the Y and swam 5,000 yards (including 2800 yards of hard intervals) in the morning, bundled up a little extra, worked, got in a 1-hour run on the treadmill mid-day, got a massage, worked some more, took a really hot shower and got to bed early, thinking I may as well get running as early as possible since my house would be cold.
Saturday morning I awoke to about 32 degrees outside and about 60 inside, but who cares, I am just going outside to run in colder temperatures! I'd slept in, but managed to get on the trail at Waterfall Glen just after 8:30. My goal was to get in 18 miles, but 17 would have been fine. I would do the run 5'/walk 1' plan as I'd done during last week's 18-miler. I had defizzed Coke with me in some bottles I'd received as a gift from a friend in Wisconsin that is in the Headhunters triathlon club. I needed to try running with a bigger bottle like I will do in the 50-miler.
I wore my good fleece-lined Pearl Izumi tights, a regular bra top, one of my long-sleeved technical Goofy shirts, my IMLP 2007 finisher windbreaker, my PI sushi hat and a pair of light gloves. Initially, I thought I'd run 9 miles, refuel and then head out for another 9 miles, but about 3 miles in I though I could go 12 miles on what I had with me, and then I'd only need to do 6 more which would be easier mentally.
I saw a lot of runners in there, and many of them were wearing shorts. All I could think is either I am a wimp or they are running short and fast. I was quite comfortable in all my outerwear, and never felt overheated. I kept to my run/walk plan except that if I was headed downhill and it was time to walk, fuck that, I just ran. No sense EVER in walking downhill!
When I was about 3 1/4 miles from finishing my first loop, a guy ran by me and waved, and I looked at his running stride and recognized him from the Y and called out his name! I thought it was so funny that I knew who he was by his stride, even though he was just as bundled up as me (which made me think we were the smart ones). Mike and I ran a few steps together, but then I told him to go on ahead since I needed to take my walking break and really wanted to stick to it. I am sure I will see him a lot this winter at the Y. He's really fast, has BQ'ed a few times, and is a really nice man, and it seems that whenever we talk, we are all smiles and laughs. It was nice to run into him!
Either I was tired from my accumulated training load or because of the cold or whatever, but I did the first 12+ miles at just over 9:35/mile, but I was happy because I was still well under 10mpm pace. I stretched a little bit, grabbed another bottle of Coke and headed out.
Mentally, I always want to slow down when I go out for another loop. I was OK with that plan yesterday, since I knew I had to run today as well. Since I'd gone about 12.6 miles on the first loop, now I had it in my head to get in 19 miles--may as well go for a nice, round number! When I got to mile 3, I was running even 10's, so I just ran 2 more minutes out which would give me 6.4 miles, so I should get my 19 in.
Even though I'd slowed down a bit on the second loop, I actually felt pretty strong and I am pretty sure I was smiling a lot. I was thinking about the training I was doing, that this has been the most concentrated running I've ever done, and that I'm feeling pretty good doing it! I was amazed that the run didn't suck at all, and that I really wasn't running that slowly for this distance for me. I was even starting to think I might be able to finish the 50-miler, but I had to recover from this run and get out on Sunday.
When I got home, there was a snafu with the furnace repair guy. My doorbell wasn't working since I'd killed the circuit breaker for the furnace that also controls the doorbell. But the guy didn't knock, either, and my car was in the driveway! So I had to call the place and let them know I was here, and the guy got here about 2 hours later than planned and had everything fixed pretty quickly. It was the blower motor which had died. I should get a whole new furnace, but at least now I have some time to think about it (and find the money!).
I stretched, and was pretty much glued to the computer watching Ironman Hawaii the rest of the day, but I could only managed to stay awake to watch Crowie win it. I was exhausted, and ended up sleeping almost 11 hours. I guess almost a marathon will do that to me!
When I got up today, I felt really well rested, and about the only sore thing was my calves for a few minutes. After I was awake for about an hour, though, I started to feel like I'd done something major the day before. But I didn't feel bad, and figured what else am I going to do except run? And I only needed to do 2 hours, so I figured I could get in 12 miles.
It was cold again this morning, even colder than yesterday, and I took my time, reading part of the newspaper, and doing some housecleaning. I figured today I would drink Coke before I started and then just use Gatorade, which will enable me to sleep well tonight.
Today I wore my other pair of thermal tights, a bra top, another Goofy technical shirt, a pink Nike running jacket, a Lake Placid beanie and gloves. I decided I'd head to Greene Valle and run the flat loop which is about 7 miles, and then run up and down the hill 2 or 3 times, depending on how I felt.
The flat part went well, and I held a 9:26 pace doing the run/walk thing, and I felt just fine, not cold, not hot. Once again, I saw a few runners in shorts and thought no way I'd be doing that.
Next, I drank some more Gatorade and headed out for my first hill repeat. I really wondered how this would feel, and surprised myself making it up the first time in 10:06. I was sort of shocked, especially since I'd let myself walk about a minute and change somewhere in there, but I figured, hey, all good, and then ran down in 8:08. Great! I assessed myself, took another swig of Gatorade and headed up the second time. I made it up in 9:55 and down in 7:57, so faster than the first time! I was enjoying the hell out of this, I don't know why--probably just because I was feeling so good considering I'd run 19 yesterday. The third time, I made it up in 9:54 and down in 7:52, and I know I was smiling the entire way down because it felt so good. I finished today feeling like I could have run more, but that's good, right?
So I ran about 33 miles this weekend (6 shy of Goofy, oh well), and did the longer run first, and ran well the second day, so that makes me feel really good. I got in 53 miles of running this week, and now I get to taper for a few weeks. I need to check around for some training plans to see what I should really do next weekend. I was going to just do a 2-hour run, but now I think I should do a 2 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday. We will see! Whichever I choose, I know it will feel easy!
I actually feel pretty good right now, and the proof will be whether I can run tomorrow. Well, I'm pretty sure I can, but I might push it off until Tuesday. I do look forward to swimming in the morning since it will help flush some of this out of my legs.
I commented to someone on Facebook that I was starting to think I might be getting the hang of this ultra thing. I sort of wish I had another 4 or 5 weeks of mostly run focus, but this period I am sure will serve to toughen me up for the coming months. And oh, by the way, Goofy Challenge will seem fairly easy! How fun to go into an event having done most or all of the full distance in training! But I guess that is sort of my MO, huh? Although I've only done close to Ultraman over 4 days instead of 3. But it's stuff like this that convinces your brain that you can do it. And I know that once my head is on board, my body usually obliges.
So to Lee and some others who tell me periodically to do something I've never done before, well, I am doing that all over the place! Some days, like today, I really wonder just what all I can do. And that is a wonderful feeling!
My run training has been going pretty well, and I've been getting the hours in that I had hoped for. This week, I wanted to shoot for 8 hours of running, including back to back long runs of 3 and 2 hours. I've never done that before, even in the past when training for Goofy Challenge, but I figured what the hell, all I can do is try.
Part of me thought I should do the shorter run Saturday because I know for sure I could run the day after a 2-hour run--I do that all the time in training. But running 3 hours the next day? I though it was more important that I got the 3 hour run in for sure, and then if I needed to cut back the 2 hour run, so be it.
On Friday morning, something in my furnace went kaput. It sounded like a motor about to die, so I had to shut off the heat until I could get a repair man in on Saturday. I went to the Y and swam 5,000 yards (including 2800 yards of hard intervals) in the morning, bundled up a little extra, worked, got in a 1-hour run on the treadmill mid-day, got a massage, worked some more, took a really hot shower and got to bed early, thinking I may as well get running as early as possible since my house would be cold.
Saturday morning I awoke to about 32 degrees outside and about 60 inside, but who cares, I am just going outside to run in colder temperatures! I'd slept in, but managed to get on the trail at Waterfall Glen just after 8:30. My goal was to get in 18 miles, but 17 would have been fine. I would do the run 5'/walk 1' plan as I'd done during last week's 18-miler. I had defizzed Coke with me in some bottles I'd received as a gift from a friend in Wisconsin that is in the Headhunters triathlon club. I needed to try running with a bigger bottle like I will do in the 50-miler.
I wore my good fleece-lined Pearl Izumi tights, a regular bra top, one of my long-sleeved technical Goofy shirts, my IMLP 2007 finisher windbreaker, my PI sushi hat and a pair of light gloves. Initially, I thought I'd run 9 miles, refuel and then head out for another 9 miles, but about 3 miles in I though I could go 12 miles on what I had with me, and then I'd only need to do 6 more which would be easier mentally.
I saw a lot of runners in there, and many of them were wearing shorts. All I could think is either I am a wimp or they are running short and fast. I was quite comfortable in all my outerwear, and never felt overheated. I kept to my run/walk plan except that if I was headed downhill and it was time to walk, fuck that, I just ran. No sense EVER in walking downhill!
When I was about 3 1/4 miles from finishing my first loop, a guy ran by me and waved, and I looked at his running stride and recognized him from the Y and called out his name! I thought it was so funny that I knew who he was by his stride, even though he was just as bundled up as me (which made me think we were the smart ones). Mike and I ran a few steps together, but then I told him to go on ahead since I needed to take my walking break and really wanted to stick to it. I am sure I will see him a lot this winter at the Y. He's really fast, has BQ'ed a few times, and is a really nice man, and it seems that whenever we talk, we are all smiles and laughs. It was nice to run into him!
Either I was tired from my accumulated training load or because of the cold or whatever, but I did the first 12+ miles at just over 9:35/mile, but I was happy because I was still well under 10mpm pace. I stretched a little bit, grabbed another bottle of Coke and headed out.
Mentally, I always want to slow down when I go out for another loop. I was OK with that plan yesterday, since I knew I had to run today as well. Since I'd gone about 12.6 miles on the first loop, now I had it in my head to get in 19 miles--may as well go for a nice, round number! When I got to mile 3, I was running even 10's, so I just ran 2 more minutes out which would give me 6.4 miles, so I should get my 19 in.
Even though I'd slowed down a bit on the second loop, I actually felt pretty strong and I am pretty sure I was smiling a lot. I was thinking about the training I was doing, that this has been the most concentrated running I've ever done, and that I'm feeling pretty good doing it! I was amazed that the run didn't suck at all, and that I really wasn't running that slowly for this distance for me. I was even starting to think I might be able to finish the 50-miler, but I had to recover from this run and get out on Sunday.
When I got home, there was a snafu with the furnace repair guy. My doorbell wasn't working since I'd killed the circuit breaker for the furnace that also controls the doorbell. But the guy didn't knock, either, and my car was in the driveway! So I had to call the place and let them know I was here, and the guy got here about 2 hours later than planned and had everything fixed pretty quickly. It was the blower motor which had died. I should get a whole new furnace, but at least now I have some time to think about it (and find the money!).
I stretched, and was pretty much glued to the computer watching Ironman Hawaii the rest of the day, but I could only managed to stay awake to watch Crowie win it. I was exhausted, and ended up sleeping almost 11 hours. I guess almost a marathon will do that to me!
When I got up today, I felt really well rested, and about the only sore thing was my calves for a few minutes. After I was awake for about an hour, though, I started to feel like I'd done something major the day before. But I didn't feel bad, and figured what else am I going to do except run? And I only needed to do 2 hours, so I figured I could get in 12 miles.
It was cold again this morning, even colder than yesterday, and I took my time, reading part of the newspaper, and doing some housecleaning. I figured today I would drink Coke before I started and then just use Gatorade, which will enable me to sleep well tonight.
Today I wore my other pair of thermal tights, a bra top, another Goofy technical shirt, a pink Nike running jacket, a Lake Placid beanie and gloves. I decided I'd head to Greene Valle and run the flat loop which is about 7 miles, and then run up and down the hill 2 or 3 times, depending on how I felt.
The flat part went well, and I held a 9:26 pace doing the run/walk thing, and I felt just fine, not cold, not hot. Once again, I saw a few runners in shorts and thought no way I'd be doing that.
Next, I drank some more Gatorade and headed out for my first hill repeat. I really wondered how this would feel, and surprised myself making it up the first time in 10:06. I was sort of shocked, especially since I'd let myself walk about a minute and change somewhere in there, but I figured, hey, all good, and then ran down in 8:08. Great! I assessed myself, took another swig of Gatorade and headed up the second time. I made it up in 9:55 and down in 7:57, so faster than the first time! I was enjoying the hell out of this, I don't know why--probably just because I was feeling so good considering I'd run 19 yesterday. The third time, I made it up in 9:54 and down in 7:52, and I know I was smiling the entire way down because it felt so good. I finished today feeling like I could have run more, but that's good, right?
So I ran about 33 miles this weekend (6 shy of Goofy, oh well), and did the longer run first, and ran well the second day, so that makes me feel really good. I got in 53 miles of running this week, and now I get to taper for a few weeks. I need to check around for some training plans to see what I should really do next weekend. I was going to just do a 2-hour run, but now I think I should do a 2 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday. We will see! Whichever I choose, I know it will feel easy!
I actually feel pretty good right now, and the proof will be whether I can run tomorrow. Well, I'm pretty sure I can, but I might push it off until Tuesday. I do look forward to swimming in the morning since it will help flush some of this out of my legs.
I commented to someone on Facebook that I was starting to think I might be getting the hang of this ultra thing. I sort of wish I had another 4 or 5 weeks of mostly run focus, but this period I am sure will serve to toughen me up for the coming months. And oh, by the way, Goofy Challenge will seem fairly easy! How fun to go into an event having done most or all of the full distance in training! But I guess that is sort of my MO, huh? Although I've only done close to Ultraman over 4 days instead of 3. But it's stuff like this that convinces your brain that you can do it. And I know that once my head is on board, my body usually obliges.
So to Lee and some others who tell me periodically to do something I've never done before, well, I am doing that all over the place! Some days, like today, I really wonder just what all I can do. And that is a wonderful feeling!
Monday, March 09, 2009
And the Planning for 2010 Begins....
| Confirmation #: | 197098-030909085711 |
| Date & Time: | 01/09/10 - 01/10/10 |
| Location: | Walt Disney World?? Resort (Map) |
| Purchased at: | 03/09/09 |
| Category: | 2010 Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge |
| : |
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Things That Are Pink (Again) and Shiny
Louis nearly complained that I pulled a bait and switch the other day, so here's me all decked out for today's run. Let's just say I got a lot of looks, but what else is new? I haven't run since last Friday when I should have known I was getting sick because a) I was fucking tired and b) my legs hurt in a way that's not your normal "I'm recovering from a marathon" way (which turned out to be, I think, muscular catabolism due to whatever virus I had). Anyway, those of you who have been playing along since early 2006 would recognize the tights as those I wore at the 2006 Goofy Challenge during the marathon, but with a tutu. The tutu is retired; the tights are not! The jacket is something I picked up on sale some time last year I don't remember when, and this is maybe the second time I've worn it. Years ago, I made myself a shiny silver jacket that I loved and wore to death and this is my "adult" replacement. I do like feeling sparkly and shiny. I guess that's why I decided to wear this jacket today.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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!
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!
- "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.
- "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).
- "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.
- "body fuck love" Don't know what you were looking for, but I think you're in the right place.
- "crackhead fucking" You, too. Welcome aboard!
- "very bad girls" Yes, I wrote a post with this title. It's very popular in Iran.
- "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!
- "calories burned swim 2 miles" Why do you care? And how fast did you go? Inquiring minds want to know.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Weekly Workout Totals 04/14/2008-04/20/2008
That number on the calculator is the total bike miles I've put in since October, 2007. I'm about 200 in the hole as compared to the prior season, but I think that's pretty good considering how much my training was off there for awhile.
For running, I'm at 698 cumulative miles as compared to last season's 853, but I trained for and completed Goofy Challenge last year, so I'm doing good on the running front as well.
On the swimming front, I'm at 175,650 yards as compared to last season's 225,100. Now that's where I've slacked the most, but you know what? It's coming back. My swim yesterday in NuclearMan was my second fastest 1.2 miles EVER!!! Considering it was Day 3 of Triple Dog Dare, hey, that ain't bad. But it's to be expected, as I know that since I've only been swimming for 8 years, and not that much as compared to *real* swimmers, I don't start picking it up until I'm swimming at least 10,000 yards per week. And from here on through the end of this season, I'll be swimming at least that much per week unless it's a recovery week or something odd happens.
When all is said and done this season, I'll still probably rack up my typical 750 hours of training. It's what I'm used to and is a very tolerable load for me while I'm still working full time. With over 40% of those hours being spent biking, I'm a happy camper!
I actually feel pretty good this morning, and am about to go for a short swim just to shake things out. I'm taking the day off from work, and have a number of errands to do that can be done while half comatose, which is how I'm sure I'll feel after trying to move around in the pool!
Oh, and I'll get to finishing that Triple Dog Dare race report later on. It's rather epic, but after all, isn't that what you'd expect from me?
| Weekly Workout Totals | 04/14/2008-04/20/2008 |
| Swim: | 9850 yards (5.59 miles) in 3.3 hours; 22% of weekly workout time; approx. 1155 calories burned |
| Bike: | Approx. 117.5 miles in 6.83 hours; 46% of weekly workout time; approx. 3075 calories burned; Total TSS=451 |
| Run: | Approx. 31 miles in 4.7 hours; 32% of weekly workout time; approx. 2124 calories burned |
| Strength: | 0 hours; 0% of weekly workout time; approx. 0 calories burned |
| All Sports: | Approx. 154.09 miles in 14.83 hours; approx. 6354 calories burned |
| Sleep: | 7.14 hours avg./night |
| Stretching: | 0.92 hours. Massage: 1 hours |
Friday, January 26, 2007
Boob Grab and Tri Tag
The thing I like about swimming (besides that it just feels good) is that it can be a source of entertainment, depending on where I swim. Since I usually swim at a YMCA in the morning after the hard core swimmers have left (I don't need to be in the water until 7AM and I can still make it ass in chair to begin working by 8:30AM), I get to experience a unique crowd.
There's Chad, the hot married guy. He is just teaching himself to swim since last year, and he's already really good. Of course, all it takes is one look at him and you would know that he is genetically suited to swimming! He's tall and lanky, and looks good in a Speedo. We seem to be on the same swimming schedule, so we know one another's names. But up until Wednesday, we only knew each other as swimmers. That day, he said he hadn't seen me for awhile. It was because of Goofy Challenge--between tapering for it, doing it and recovering from it, I'd been off my usual swim schedule for 3 weeks. So Chad asks me where I've been? I told him I went to Disney to run a 1/2 marathon and marathon back to back. His eyes light up like, "wtf is she crazy or what?" He tells me I should try a triathlon (up until this point he only knows me as a swimmer, see? When I swim, I try not to advertise, and don't wear caps from races). I get a Cheshire cat-like grin on my face, and I tell him, "I've done a few." He asks me which ones? I tell him that for starters, 8 Ironman races. It was a fun interchange. Since I already know most people could care less about the fact that I train really hard and race and do pretty well, I don't even talk about it unless it REALLY comes up. So it was fun for me to tell someone for the first time. Chad said he was so impressed, and I told him it's really no big deal. I mean, I don't expect people to be impressed, you know? It's just something I do with quiet conviction.
Anyway, back to today. I'm splitting my lane with another man, who astutely figured out that it must be hard to swim fast when the water is warm, and so he told me of his observation while I was in a 15" wait period, and I huffed a Yes to him. On Wednesday, I also acquired the email address of the aquatic director, and let her know that I would be sending her communication regarding the regulation of the pool temperature. It's gotten out of control, and the next nearest YMCA is closing, so we will be getting an influx of folks who are used to a "hot" pool, and I expect there to be temperature wars. I am sick and tired of not being able to breathe because the pool is too warm.
About halfway through my workout, Bumblebee Man gets in the adjacent lane, swimming next to me. I say Bumblebee Man, because he's wearing swim trunks that are black and yellow horizontal stripes. He's doing breaststroke, and I notice he's taking exceedingly wide pulls. Well, at one point he's pulling under the lane rope into MY lane and he practically grabs one of my boobs while I am rotated towards his lane! He wasn't really grabbing--but let's just say my boob got in the way of his hand! I didn't know whether to be angry or laugh, so I settled for a quick stop and shout, "You are hitting me." I think he sort of got the idea, but I still kept watching for his wandering hands. I swear if he made contact one more time, I was going to stop and yell, "STAY IN YOUR LANE!" I am pretty used to overwater collisions of hands, which I don't like either, but an underwater grab is, well, a little more unsettling.
When Chad was leaving this morning, I told him what had happened and I just busted out laughing hysterically. It's not like I have much in the way of boobs to grab in the first place, so I guess I just found it hillarious that of all the places Bumblebee Man could have made contact, it ended up being a boob underwater!
So that was today's pool entertainment. On to the tagging.
Ironmom did it to me, and I am tagging Cindy, Brett, Mike, Scott, Joe, and Darren.
Here's the tag:
1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever
2. Describe a memory from your most recent triathlon
3. What's the most embarassing thing that has ever happened to you in a tri?
4. What's the most thrilling thing that's happened to you in a tri?
5. What is something you discovered about yourself by doing triathlons?
6. What is The Big Goal that you're working towards?
1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever
Oh, God. Was that ever a travesty. My first was an Olympic distance, I was fat, undertrained and spastic, and the plane I was to take to fly in was cancelled. I get to O'Hare, and all sorts of flights are being cancelled because of severe thunderstorms. This is my first triathlon, dammit, how can this be happening to me? So I RUN (at least I was able to at the time) to the car rental counters and grab a rental car before they got swamped by others trying to do the same thing, and I volunteer to take on 3 passengers (our bikes were being transported by truck, so no worries, I hoped. The bike made it there and so did I.
Not only that, but I had trained with Team in Training, and the schedule had 2 workouts per week in each sport. Ladies and gentlemen, the referee has called a penalty for INSUFFICIENT TRAINING--15 MINUTE PENALTY.
Not only that, but before the race actually started, I got on my bike in transition to ride the hill out and fell over in the transition area! I bent my left brake hood (I was using the only bike I had at the time--my road bike), which I didn't notice until about 5 miles into the actual race.
Not only that, but the lake we swam in (this was Memphis in May) had to be bombed to kill the water moccasins (there were dead ones all over the shoreline).
Not only that, but the lake actually stunk to high heaven, it was my first swim in open water, and I'm thinking, "I'm swimming in that shit?"
Not only that, but I had my stinking period, so I remember that in T2 I had to use a porta-pottie to change you-know-what.
Cindy was there...I think it was her first, too, so I am sure she can provide more details.
But despite all that, I more or less knew what I was doing (aside from being a slow, fat girl), and overcoming all that in my very first triathlon steeled me to become a student of the sport, and you know what happened after that!
2. Describe a memory from your most recent triathlon
That would be MiamiMan, so there are very fresh memories. I WON MY AGE GROUP, I WON MY AGE GROUP!!! That is the best memory, and I have a plaque to prove it. I have won my age group in other triathlons, but this was the first 1/2 Ironman, so it means a lot to me.
3. What's the most embarassing thing that has ever happened to you in a tri?
I don't really get embarrassed (just ask Cindy), but I am sure I have made others feel uncomfortable. Like at the Disney 1/2 Ironman in 2004, I'm rubbing sunblock on a girlfriend's back in transition, and I pretend like I'm really getting into it and say loudly enough for others nearby to hear, "I am really enjoying this." You should have seen the wigged out tense faces!
Another time is when, and I kid you not, during the 2004 Spirit of Racine triathlon (1/2 Ironman), I had my period AND I had to um...take a shit...during the run, and it was imminent, and there were no nearby porta-potties, so I found a BUSH, and it wasn't really that big, squatted behind it and did my thing. And you know what? That race is my 1/2 IRONMAN PR. So THERE. Was I embarrassed? Maybe a teensy bit.
4. What's the most thrilling thing that's happened to you in a tri?
I would have to say actually BEING in the Hawaii Ironman during the treacherous climb to Hawi (the winds were particularly brutal in 2004) after I had already been to Kona to booze it up and lay in the sun the prior 10 years or so, and now here I was doing an Ironman!
5. What is something you discovered about yourself by doing triathlons?
I discovered that I was already a very strong, resilient woman, and that I should never make any attempt to hide or subjugate that part of me. It is who I am, and triathlon is how it is made evident.
6. What is The Big Goal that you're working towards?
Um...I guess I am still thinking about qualifying for Kona. I think I have the goods, and that if I get a good race on a good day it can happen. In the meantime, I plan to seek out events that stretch me beyond Ironman. That shit is fun, let me tell you. I know how to do Ironman, and know I can finish in a respectable time; it's more fun now to try something that I'm not entirely sure about to get that same feeling you get when you finish something you weren't sure you could.
There's Chad, the hot married guy. He is just teaching himself to swim since last year, and he's already really good. Of course, all it takes is one look at him and you would know that he is genetically suited to swimming! He's tall and lanky, and looks good in a Speedo. We seem to be on the same swimming schedule, so we know one another's names. But up until Wednesday, we only knew each other as swimmers. That day, he said he hadn't seen me for awhile. It was because of Goofy Challenge--between tapering for it, doing it and recovering from it, I'd been off my usual swim schedule for 3 weeks. So Chad asks me where I've been? I told him I went to Disney to run a 1/2 marathon and marathon back to back. His eyes light up like, "wtf is she crazy or what?" He tells me I should try a triathlon (up until this point he only knows me as a swimmer, see? When I swim, I try not to advertise, and don't wear caps from races). I get a Cheshire cat-like grin on my face, and I tell him, "I've done a few." He asks me which ones? I tell him that for starters, 8 Ironman races. It was a fun interchange. Since I already know most people could care less about the fact that I train really hard and race and do pretty well, I don't even talk about it unless it REALLY comes up. So it was fun for me to tell someone for the first time. Chad said he was so impressed, and I told him it's really no big deal. I mean, I don't expect people to be impressed, you know? It's just something I do with quiet conviction.
Anyway, back to today. I'm splitting my lane with another man, who astutely figured out that it must be hard to swim fast when the water is warm, and so he told me of his observation while I was in a 15" wait period, and I huffed a Yes to him. On Wednesday, I also acquired the email address of the aquatic director, and let her know that I would be sending her communication regarding the regulation of the pool temperature. It's gotten out of control, and the next nearest YMCA is closing, so we will be getting an influx of folks who are used to a "hot" pool, and I expect there to be temperature wars. I am sick and tired of not being able to breathe because the pool is too warm.
About halfway through my workout, Bumblebee Man gets in the adjacent lane, swimming next to me. I say Bumblebee Man, because he's wearing swim trunks that are black and yellow horizontal stripes. He's doing breaststroke, and I notice he's taking exceedingly wide pulls. Well, at one point he's pulling under the lane rope into MY lane and he practically grabs one of my boobs while I am rotated towards his lane! He wasn't really grabbing--but let's just say my boob got in the way of his hand! I didn't know whether to be angry or laugh, so I settled for a quick stop and shout, "You are hitting me." I think he sort of got the idea, but I still kept watching for his wandering hands. I swear if he made contact one more time, I was going to stop and yell, "STAY IN YOUR LANE!" I am pretty used to overwater collisions of hands, which I don't like either, but an underwater grab is, well, a little more unsettling.
When Chad was leaving this morning, I told him what had happened and I just busted out laughing hysterically. It's not like I have much in the way of boobs to grab in the first place, so I guess I just found it hillarious that of all the places Bumblebee Man could have made contact, it ended up being a boob underwater!
So that was today's pool entertainment. On to the tagging.
Ironmom did it to me, and I am tagging Cindy, Brett, Mike, Scott, Joe, and Darren.
Here's the tag:
1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever
2. Describe a memory from your most recent triathlon
3. What's the most embarassing thing that has ever happened to you in a tri?
4. What's the most thrilling thing that's happened to you in a tri?
5. What is something you discovered about yourself by doing triathlons?
6. What is The Big Goal that you're working towards?
1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever
Oh, God. Was that ever a travesty. My first was an Olympic distance, I was fat, undertrained and spastic, and the plane I was to take to fly in was cancelled. I get to O'Hare, and all sorts of flights are being cancelled because of severe thunderstorms. This is my first triathlon, dammit, how can this be happening to me? So I RUN (at least I was able to at the time) to the car rental counters and grab a rental car before they got swamped by others trying to do the same thing, and I volunteer to take on 3 passengers (our bikes were being transported by truck, so no worries, I hoped. The bike made it there and so did I.
Not only that, but I had trained with Team in Training, and the schedule had 2 workouts per week in each sport. Ladies and gentlemen, the referee has called a penalty for INSUFFICIENT TRAINING--15 MINUTE PENALTY.
Not only that, but before the race actually started, I got on my bike in transition to ride the hill out and fell over in the transition area! I bent my left brake hood (I was using the only bike I had at the time--my road bike), which I didn't notice until about 5 miles into the actual race.
Not only that, but the lake we swam in (this was Memphis in May) had to be bombed to kill the water moccasins (there were dead ones all over the shoreline).
Not only that, but the lake actually stunk to high heaven, it was my first swim in open water, and I'm thinking, "I'm swimming in that shit?"
Not only that, but I had my stinking period, so I remember that in T2 I had to use a porta-pottie to change you-know-what.
Cindy was there...I think it was her first, too, so I am sure she can provide more details.
But despite all that, I more or less knew what I was doing (aside from being a slow, fat girl), and overcoming all that in my very first triathlon steeled me to become a student of the sport, and you know what happened after that!
2. Describe a memory from your most recent triathlon
That would be MiamiMan, so there are very fresh memories. I WON MY AGE GROUP, I WON MY AGE GROUP!!! That is the best memory, and I have a plaque to prove it. I have won my age group in other triathlons, but this was the first 1/2 Ironman, so it means a lot to me.
3. What's the most embarassing thing that has ever happened to you in a tri?
I don't really get embarrassed (just ask Cindy), but I am sure I have made others feel uncomfortable. Like at the Disney 1/2 Ironman in 2004, I'm rubbing sunblock on a girlfriend's back in transition, and I pretend like I'm really getting into it and say loudly enough for others nearby to hear, "I am really enjoying this." You should have seen the wigged out tense faces!
Another time is when, and I kid you not, during the 2004 Spirit of Racine triathlon (1/2 Ironman), I had my period AND I had to um...take a shit...during the run, and it was imminent, and there were no nearby porta-potties, so I found a BUSH, and it wasn't really that big, squatted behind it and did my thing. And you know what? That race is my 1/2 IRONMAN PR. So THERE. Was I embarrassed? Maybe a teensy bit.
4. What's the most thrilling thing that's happened to you in a tri?
I would have to say actually BEING in the Hawaii Ironman during the treacherous climb to Hawi (the winds were particularly brutal in 2004) after I had already been to Kona to booze it up and lay in the sun the prior 10 years or so, and now here I was doing an Ironman!
5. What is something you discovered about yourself by doing triathlons?
I discovered that I was already a very strong, resilient woman, and that I should never make any attempt to hide or subjugate that part of me. It is who I am, and triathlon is how it is made evident.
6. What is The Big Goal that you're working towards?
Um...I guess I am still thinking about qualifying for Kona. I think I have the goods, and that if I get a good race on a good day it can happen. In the meantime, I plan to seek out events that stretch me beyond Ironman. That shit is fun, let me tell you. I know how to do Ironman, and know I can finish in a respectable time; it's more fun now to try something that I'm not entirely sure about to get that same feeling you get when you finish something you weren't sure you could.
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