Tour of Sufferlandria 2015

Last year, I attempted to do the Tour of Sufferlandria for the first time. I failed at completing it, miserably. In retrospect, I failed to recover properly from Ironman Cozumel.

This year, no Ironman to recover from, and I've been doing 1 or 2 of the Sufferfest videos for the prior 7 weeks. And I sort of tapered this week--while I did some tempo running on Wednesday, I cut back my long run from 2 hours to 1:30, and ran it super easy on Friday.

In scheduling training for next week, where the Tour is in full swing, I've noted that all running and swimming is optional. I will swim tomorrow morning, and I have one more swim planned, but if I'm dying by Wednesday, I will skip it. Any running will be super easy, Zone 1 stuff.

Yesterday, the Tour kicked off with an easy video, Elements of Style, followed by The Long Scream. The Long Scream is a :30 Time Trial! Well, I'm still a triathlete and not just a cyclist, so I ran :25 before I hopped on the bike. The run was to be easy, and I went outside and had actually a pretty damn good run for going easy! I averaged 8:58/mile, in part because I saw the girls' cross country team running towards me for about 1/2 mile so I had to look good for them! But I also know that because I ran so easy Friday that I was able to go faster than I needed to.

Elements of Style was fun, and it made me realize I need to focus more on engaging my left calf muscles. I'm right-handed, and very right-body dominant, and my left knee is the one missing the ACL. My right calf is always more gnarly than the left one after biking, so maybe I can work on that. Then The Long Scream. Fuck. I forgot it was a TT. Now, many of the people doing the Tour are just biking or haven't been training a lot, unlike me. So I am doing the Tour rides as "best effort." I'm still putting forth a really strong effort, but typically I'm riding one zone lower than they are asking for some of the time. Still, I knew I'd ridden hard when I got off the bike and my legs felt like jello, and I disconnected my laptop from the TV and then yelled FUCK OFF at the TV as if that would turn it off!

But I didn't feel too badly, because I'd drunk a Coke before I ran, and I drank Infinit (with CAFFEINE!) on the bike. I'd planned a :30 swim after. I've been doing a :30 or so swim on Sundays after my long run, and I did one Friday after it, and wanted to do one to recover from the biking. I started drinking the Endurox R4 after I got off the bike just to keep some calories going in, and also a big glass of water.

I got to the pool, put on my flippers, took a big gulp of Endurox R4, and swam 1500 straight! I don't know what possessed me, but I felt good and didn't feel bored by swimming straight (and fairly easy). The power of caffeine! I finished up with 200 kick and got out and showered, and then went into the sauna to stretch a bit. As soon as I laid down in there I was like FUCK I'M HUNGRY, but I managed about 5 minutes of stretching. I don't expect to be too hungry after just 2:15 of working out (the total for yesterday), but I was. When I got home, I had another 1/2 chicken breast fricassee leftover, and on Friday I'd made about 8 cups of brown rice in my rice cooker, so I scooped out about 1 1/4 cups of rice into the bowl, microwaved it and ate it standing up in the kitchen because I was so damn hungry. And I cracked a beer, since I'd already drunk my recovery beverage!

And then I realized I was pretty tired. I was going to immediately go to the grocery store, but my body said LAY THE FUCK DOWN. So I did. I needed some more calories so I grabbed a small handful of jelly beans and ate them in bed watching whatever was on TV. After about 45 minutes, I motivated and went grocery shopping, and luckily I hadn't planned anything for the day, because the rest of it basically consisted of laying around doing nothing. Which I need from time to time.

I had the filet part of a huge porterhouse steak and a giant salad for dinner and another beer, then I had a generous shot of this stuff and passed out pretty early.

As I sit here writing this my legs don't feel too bad, but today's Tour stage is Blender. 1:40 of you want to kill someone. But that's all that's on my schedule today aside from maybe a little snow shoveling.

Next week, the Tour includes about 9 1/2 hours of riding. While I do that much many times during the summer preparing for an Ironman, um...the Tour intensity is just over the top. Still, my objective is to finish the damn thing this time, even if I have to tone down the intensity. Last year, I was toast on Friday. I'm sure I will be hurting badly by then, but I hope not enough to quit! I am going to mix up 11 bottles of Infinit for the biking and my alleged long run. There is no way I can get through all this without caffeine!

Huge props to anyone who does this and finishes it. It is not your average week of biking! If you think you train hard and have never done one of these videos, then you are delusional. These videos are the real deal and aren't intended for daily use! That's why this is such a fun thing to do in January!

Good luck to all Tour contenders, this is going to be epic!

Mystery Science Theater 2015

I am in science experiment mode again. After experiencing what I initially perceived to be a minor infection (as in "maybe I'm getting a cold") and sensing I could swim faster if I could just get more O2 to my muscles, 2 weeks ago I contacted my doctor to get a refill on an albuterol inhaler. I'd had one laying around from a prior cold/flu incident that wasn't used up, and had been self-administering just a little as I felt necessary since beginning of October. I wasn't full dosing it, as I thought I only needed a little bit.

As winter arrived, and finally really cold weather, I noticed this slight shortness of breath wasn't going away, and I was running out of inhaler. It was also time for me to schedule my annual (that I will attempt to begin doing quarterly) blood work roundup consisting of CBC, liver enzymes, thyroid, cholesterol, fasting glucose, etc. I scheduled the blood work, asked for the inhaler, and my doctor said I needed to come in for whatever I thought I needed the inhaler for. Smart move on her part!

So last week, I went in, to get both the blood draw and the evaluation. First thing I got was, "Who ordered your blood work?" Um...me? Then they said it needed to be authorized, and I was like, OK so I'm seeing doctor make her do it. That was taken care of.

Now, in addition to the breathing thing, I had really felt like I'd put on just a few pounds that shouldn't be happening as I've increased training and am pretty good about matching my calorie intake to my outgo.

During the appointment, this was first time I was tested on a spirometer. My readings were "normal," and I told the nurse practitioner (PAC whatever that means) that I should be off the chart given my aerobic capacity. She listened to my lungs, and of course, said they sounded normal. I said they aren't. I listed a whole pile of observations I'd made as to what's been going on as I've noticed this issue with my lungs:

• Increased my training load
• Moved most of my training indoors
• Cold weather
• Tightness in chest

Now, there are other things at play here that wouldn't make sense to anyone except another athlete:

• Changed my swim stroke. So there is some left pec soreness/tightness still lingering. I know this because I tested myself. When I shovel snow right-handed (which is my natural), it hurts a bit, but not when I move to left-handed shoveling. Therefore, my left pec is still getting used to the new swim stroke.
• This is first fall/winter in my house since I've had it air sealed. It's great, because the house is no longer losing all the warm air, but bad, because it's trapping in a million things that I'm allergic to.

I failed to mention the air sealing and allergy thing at the appointment. I spaced out! When I was in college, I became quite sick once and was put into the infirmary. My lungs were messed up. I had a history of recurring bronchitis as a child, so once I was well enough to be discharged, they sent me for allergy testing. Turns out I'm at least mildly allergic to almost everything except foods--so pollen, mold, dust, pet dander, air... It's just enough that if I catch a virus, I can be severely impacted. So I went on allergy meds that at the time were like speed! They were great--you put speed on top of my normal high energy level, and I was basically bouncing off the walls constantly. Until they took that drug off the market, LOL! A few years after college, I was switched onto Claritin (which was prescription at the time) or Allegra, and I also took desensitization shots, as I had a cat, and the cat was a major allergen. Not as bad as some people who can't even be around them, but just enough to be a bit wheezy.

I kept taking allergy meds until I no longer had cats, in 2005. I love cats, but my last pair went psycho and had sprayed all around my house, and I just have not wanted to get more, plus the care and feeding. But I adore cats. Someday...

Anyway, once I no longer had cats, I tried going without the allergy meds, and seemed to do OK. Until this year. It didn't dawn on me until after my doctor appointment.

Back to the appointment: the PAC gave me a 5-day prescription for prednisone (sadly, the last day was yesterday), and sent me to get a chest X-ray. I started on the prednisone right away, and went and got the X-ray. The radiologist said my lungs look fine (no spots or anything odd), but that my diaphragms are "flat." This can be indicative of COPD. So that's what the PAC told me. I was, of course, like, FUCK! But I'm lucky to have a close friend who is a nurse and said just wait it out. The PAC said I should go see pulmonologist.

So after this little wakeup, I remember about my allergies and that I've not been being treated for them, and when I think about it, this is exactly how I felt when I failed to take them. I also think I may have exercise-induced asthma. COPD? It's possible due to my history of bronchitis, but I am hoping that is off the table.

The interesting thing is that through these last 3 months, I've become faster at Swim/Bike/Run and stronger in the weight room. So yay for me overcoming whatever the fuck is wrong!

So...well let's just say I love prednisone. Me on steroids is pretty entertaining. I felt no pain, although I don't think I actually over-extended myself. I just knew I should be way more tired at the end of each day than I was. But I wasn't. No wonder people become addicted to the things! I will surely crash today, though. I had these nice rosy cheeks, smiling all the time, and was very chatty. Also a little more "don't fuck with me," but I was able to keep that at bay.

I have the pulmonologist appointment set up. I asked my doctor for Advair, as the albuterol isn't cutting it now, and even if I do have COPD or allergies or asthma, they'd probably put me on that, so yay for me asking for it, and I have it without another doctor appointment.

Now onto the blood work. My cholesterol is awesome (HDL 72 / LDL 110 / triglycerides 59). CBC looks good, although I will need to compare to my last results. What is fucked up? TSH. I learned from 2013 that when I am feeling great and nearly hyper (even without steroids!), that it can mean my thyroid is underperforming, or more accurately, I don't have enough to meet the metabolic demand I am putting on myself. And I was right!

Now, my suspicion is that my body can only produce so much thyroid hormone, so when I start ramping up training, I tend to go more hypothyroid, as my body plus existing meds can't keep up with what my body needs in order to do the training. This I will share with my doctor. I had thought she said they wouldn't give me more Synthroid, but she is giving me more, and then I will need to be tested again in 6 weeks to see where I stand. Ugh...this is the part I hate.  The waiting to see if the dose works, etc. It is so ridiculous that a test hasn't been invented yet for measuring thyroid function that you can do at home with a prick of your finger, like you can to check your blood glucose. I would do it daily.

So...in conclusion, I have some lung shit to get sorted, and I'm back on the thyroid testing/dosage adjustment train again. Which means I still haven't been through a full Ironman training cycle with my thyroid properly regulated. EVER. Not in a single one I've done, since I know that I've been hypothyroid way before I ever started all this--it's just that the acceptable ranges have changed, and if you're even a little off doing what I'm doing, it's a huge impact. I have a feeling that what I will need to do is modify my dosing based on my training cycle, so I will talk to my doctor about how we can best manage this. I think at a minimum, I need to be tested every 3 months to see where it's at. But in a way, I'm happy this is all happening to me, and glad I'm doing this now. Because I think I have time to get myself better adjusted and functioning properly again!

How exciting will it be for me to have my 100% lung power plus having all the thyroid hormone I need? I am optimistic that my athletic performance will finally rise to the level of training that I do. It's not been poor, by any means, but I know I can do better. I will also once again offer my doctor the opportunity to write me up as a case study. She should welcome the offer, but you never know. If she wanted to run blood work on me monthly, I'd do it.

So yay for me for demanding the blood work now, even though technically some of these things didn't need to be tested until April. But it was time, I had the feeling my TSH might be off, and that is something I have to attend to. The difference in how I feel at various levels can be subtle, but now it makes perfect sense to me and I'm learning to interpret how my body feels at different levels. Last time I'd been tested was in April, 2014, and TSH was fine, but I was hardly training at the time. So this correlates to my theory of how much hormone I can manufacture, and that when I'm not training much, it's enough, but dump on more training, and it's not.

My pharmacy fucked up my Synthroid prescription, though. They gave me generic. Luckily I caught this last night and called them. It was their mistake, not my doctor's. I can't take generic--I went through that fucking shit in 2013 of being on a rollercoaster because my body is sensitive to the drug purity. So glad I didn't take that. I will pick up the correct Synthroid this morning, and off we go! Recall that for Ironman Cozumel, I was still on generic levothyroxine, and I wasn't being given enough of it, and so I had a craptastic performance in the race. I am very excited to see how I will feel when we synch up the brand drug Synthroid at proper dose with my training!

Based on all this, I highly recommend to anyone doing Ironman training to get their blood work done at least twice a year, quarterly if feasible. The training puts such a high demand on your body that it's imperative to ensure it's in perfect working order, and as happened to me, the high training load can reveal issues you have that you might not otherwise find out about until years later. And things will change throughout the training cycle, so just because you were fine 3 months prior doesn't mean you should just live with the status quo.

Happy training and science experiments!

Choosing to Struggle

I have written on this blog about plenty of physical training stuff with a smattering of mental stuff. Today is mental stuff.

It being the beginning of a new calendar year, many people have thoughts about renewal, starting over, taking on new challenges and refocusing on the ones they were already pursuing. Many of my friends are embarking on their push towards an Ironman. Others are marrying off their children or having grandchildren. Some are getting married for the first or not first time.

I spent the first half of 2014 swimming in a morose stew of self-doubt, misguided self-analysis and general shiftlessness. I've gone into before some of the things that led up to that, and recently figured out (from analyzing data!) that I need to structure my intentional athletic struggles in a particular way.

Choosing to master something is making a choice to struggle. You don't get good at something accidentally, or without making countless mistakes and possibly making a fool of yourself. You may even be ridiculed along the way if your something is considered frivolous--such as making art or conquering long distance triathlons, or setting an official world record for miles cycled in a year (I know some people making that attempt).

I've had some things come to me without too much struggle--in grade school, I loved reading and math and foreign language study. I think I inherited a gene from my Dad that made it easy for me to excel in those areas quickly. However, being good at the level I was deemed to be at was never enough for me. Even in 3rd grade, I craved challenge, but was deemed too young to determine my own destiny. By 5th grade, though, it was too obvious to my teachers that they needed to do something extra with me or else I would be far too bored. And my parents did not have the money to send me away to a special school. I worked with my teachers to come up with a way for me to move ahead and be challenged without too much extra effort on their part. I would help the Spanish teacher teach the other kids. I would pick up advanced math books and study on my own. It worked well for a few years. 7th and 8th grade were challenging for me, though, because I acquired a new set of teachers that weren't interested in learning about my history--I was to go with the flow. But I supplemented the lackluster schooling by teaching myself to sew. It seemed like a fun, useful skill to have, especially since my Mom was back working again and had precious little time to be making clothes for me.

To make it mentally challenging for me, I went to summer school. I took a typing class (which I excelled at because I'd played the piano since age 4), and I took a history class (which I hated, but understood that my emotional struggle would contribute to my need to feel challenged). I did continue to be ahead of my peers in math and Spanish, so much so that when I entered high school, within the first week my teachers knew they needed to do something special with me. I was taking Spanish, but the teacher discerned I was about 3 years ahead of everyone else (by my own doing--all I did was retain what I'd learned during the prior 4 years), and decided I could tutor the other kids, and he gave me self-study for the level that I was at. On a dare, I signed up for Russian and German, because what the hell, it sounded like fun. My math teacher figured out the same and I was put into a class with kids 2 years older than me. As to the rest of the curriculum, I couldn't have cared less, as I was able to spread my wings in math and languages. Oh but there was English. One would assume that my proficiency in foreign languages had something to do with English, and it did. I absolutely loved learning about the structure of language, and ingraining all that in me is what enabled me to pick up the foreign languages so easily.

Unfortunately, being the weirdo smart girl who was paid special attention by many of the teachers put me in an odd position socially, and as well, within my own family unit. My 2 brothers and one sister older than me had gone to the same high school, had done fairly well and even had some of the same teachers as I did, but I was always compared to them as light years better. As much trouble as this gave me, I felt it was worth it for me to pursue my own struggle to exploit my natural talents and work ethic.

This desire to go beyond has stayed with me. I fast tracked in my career during my 20's after discovering the joy of computer programming and actuarial science. As you can imagine, regularly being singled out for special attention in school and at work put a damper on my social life. Well, to an extent. My first 2 years of college I was the Social Chairman in my sorority. I figured doing that would be a good way to "learn" more social skills--by doing a bang up job of making other people happy! But college was a struggle for me because I really felt the social toll all my years of excelling (and also having a 20-hour per week job to fund college) had taken. It seemed all I knew how to do was excel at stuff. And I was always rewarded for it in some fashion--either money or accolades. Somehow I think that I became set up for a lot of external validation.

I was 25 when I was raped. I was doing exceedingly well at my actuarial job, living in my own apartment and being self-sufficient. The rape threw me for a loop for awhile, but mainly in terms of my ability to feel safe and trust people. Although the people I worked with were absolutely wonderful in giving me time off, and my landlord easily agreed to let me break my lease so I could move to a safer neighborhood.

Fast forward to my 30's when I was married and puzzled at how to make a marriage work. So I did what I knew how to do--be good at stuff--taking care of the home, making lots of money and looking good. But it wasn't enough, and I realized there needed to be some pinnacle of moving ahead at work and acquiring stuff and having a perfect house that I needed to accept as "enough."

But it wasn't enough. But it was enough to contribute to the end of my marriage. Which was an extreme blow to my self-confidence. I fucked up and got drunk one day and went rollerskating, crashed and broke an arm and got a concussion, then a few weeks later, I was laid off at work (not due to my performance). I thought I'd never find a new job, and was deeply shaken for a few weeks. But I acted "as if" I was still the same confident person, and soon had 3 good job offers.

The job I accepted was intentionally going to be a struggle for me, as I would need to be on the phone with customers and visiting them in person frequently. Two things I was not a big fan of. I did not enjoy talking on a phone (I couldn't see the person and figure out what they were really thinking/feeling), and yet I didn't like the in-person meetings, either, because I had to be on my "best behavior" which to me was always an act. But I took the job anyway, and discovered there were other people like me with the same social challenges (maybe not as stunted as me, LOL!). I learned new things, new skills, and someone invited me (this was within just a few weeks of when I started the job) to attend a "cardio step class" at the gym located in the building where I worked.

I had never considered myself athletic or particularly coordinated, but the step class had structure to it, so I quickly adapted, to the point where I was teaching the class when the instructor got sick or had other personal business to attend to. So once again, I was flexing my mastery wings. But I loved the exercise--I'd rollerskated and lifted a ton in my 20's, and got away from all that while I was married, and the exercise seemed to feed my mind and get me back to that sharper place I'd been in my 20's.

I fell into a small group of runners, and along the way, captained softball, volleyball and stair-climbing teams. I've always enjoyed taking a leadership role, especially when nobody else wants to do it! One of the runners told me about 5k races, then "suggested" I do a marathon, and from there it all escalated to Ironman and beyond.

While I periodically have a conversation with myself (and sometimes close friends) about how this behavior of constant struggle and achievement might be self-destructive, I hope I have finally given up on looking at it as a bad thing. It's just how I'm wired. I never know when my ability to do all this might be taken away from me. I sit here this morning with sore arms and pecs from swimming with paddles yesterday followed by a stint on the assisted chin/dip machine, then a run where I could tell my legs were still sore from that obscene bike workout on Saturday, and knowing I need to go outside and shovel my driveway so I can leave if I need to, but I'm having someone come to my house tonight to begin some MAT sessions. I look at the workouts and events I've got planned for myself and think it's fucking crazy--why am I putting myself through this? But, the thing is, that it is this physical "excess" that feeds my mind. I know it does, and I can't object to it. Some days I am afraid of my own drive, as I feel like I'm overflowing with energy and happiness for just being who I am.

At the end of every day, I don't expect anyone else to be like me. I can't tolerate people who denigrate me for being the way I am anymore. My ex-husband did that, and some male friends have done that to me recently. It cuts deeply to my core when someone tells me I do something too much. What the fuck is too much? Am I living too much? Am I being happy too much? Am I being introspective too much? Am I trying to encourage others to be their very best too much? Am I being an example of what a person can do too much? Nobody can know what the rest of my existence is outside of what they see me doing without making an effort to get to know me better. Because while the too much is pretty evident, my inner struggle to be just enough so that someone will love me is very real. I know the doing is not what I will be loved for--it is the being. And there's a whole lot of being inside me. It is just my unfortunate luck that the way I get at it is by struggling and doing. Sometimes it's hard for me to explain this to others. I think it may be because they are so caught up in the excess of my external presentation that they don't have the energy to dig within. Their loss. I believe that I do this with my own friends--I know that whoever they are on the outside is just a skin they wear, and that they are far more to me than that. This is why I have very few close friends. It's those who also have the energy/desire to spend to probe deeper, and/or I've tried to show them how. Sometimes I just have to ask them to do that, but that's OK. All a person can do is say no. Some people do say no, and then I need to let go of them.

Wow--this was enlightening to me. I begin today wondering how the hell I am going to have the energy to shovel the snow off my driveway, do a fucking hard bike workout, get some strength training done, do my job and then be ready (and energetic enough for, if that's required) for some MAT. And probably wake up tomorrow and do it all over again. It's a daily struggle--even as I've at times said that training is easy. It is! The struggle is doing the training but doing all the other shit, too!

ALL IN

I'm not unlike many triathletes in that I begin selecting and registering for races and training events well over a year in advance. Time was that every Ironman race filled up within hours of online registration opening (usually the day after the race that just took place), but now there are so many of them that many stay open for months, even close to the race date. This makes me extremely happy, as I went through a bunch of crap this year, and by the time I decided I wanted to do an Ironman in 2015, there were still a few with open spots (I picked Louisville).

I take my planning for the next year 2 zillion steps further, though. After picking my primary race (Louisville is just a required stepping stone to get into Ultraman Hawaii), I scout out all the local organized bike rides and some shorter races, consult with friends (some of whom are twisting my arm to do particular races with them), decide on what fits in the big scheme of things, and usually spend November and December making my grand plan for the coming year.

I finally finished signing up for races on 12/19. Well at least through IM Louisville. There will be some races after that, but nothing I need to worry about at this time, although I am already assembling a list of things I want to do in 2016 in addition to Ultraman Hawaii.

Once I have my races on a calendar, I plan for:

• Days off from work that I need to travel or to rest up for a big weekend
• Haircuts every 5 weeks or so
• Massages every 1-3 weeks
• Miscellaneous life stuff like recurring medical and dental appointments and house/car maintenance

All this goes onto my one huge Excel spreadsheet that has all this information in it since fall of 2007! Although I may need to archive off part of it, as the spreadsheet sucks a bunch of memory now because of all the formulas and such.

Next, I fill in the workouts required to train adequately for the races, review the week to week progression, go back and adjust, and repeat this cycle about 3 times until it all looks "reasonable." I'm a trained actuary, and one of the activities you do when you are doing actuarial stuff is called "reasonableness checks."  I'm glad I was trained in that particular skill, as it has application in many areas of life--not just triathlon planning! I need to look at the data in many ways--each sport individually, each day on its own, week in aggregate, week over week increases in training load, deciding how much to taper for various races, when I should schedule rest days (YES I ACTUALLY DO THAT). This is hyped up version of "stare and compare." After each instance of looking at the data from one viewpoint, I pencil in changes, and put it away until the next day. Because I know that what seems rational one day might appear stupid the next.

When I'm all done, I print out the full calendar version and the individual swim workouts (I have it set up so that I can print them and fold 1-2 weeks worth into a quart-sized baggie to take with to the pool) and bike workouts (which during the winter I keep next to the trainer and in spring-fall I cut them apart and put into my bike jersey or Bento Box).

I am done!

I am almost done doing this same process for a friend that I am coaching in 2015. It's doubly maddening to be doing this for myself and someone else, but that's how I roll.  While I could make up her training along the way, I intend to sit down with her and show her the plan in aggregate so she can plan her life around it, because she's as dedicated to the process as I am, and I want her to be successful. I never liked getting training blocks 4 weeks at a time from a coach--but that's just ME. I like knowing what it's going to be ahead of time. Of course, I can make adjustments along the way depending on how things go, but really every coach has to make an ATP (Annual Training Plan) that accounts for all the races in order to begin sketching out the general plan for where to take the athlete.

While this process can be quite maddening and keep me awake longer than I should be (or in my case, prevent me from sleeping as much as I should since I am an early morning person), I get an incredible sense of joy and accomplishment from the process. A well-built training plan is a thing of beauty to me. It's something I've learned to do (self-taught--no certifications here!), and it's helped me to take a lot of stress off once I actually begin the training cycle.

Now, you might ask, what do I do when shit happens? It depends whether it's small shit or big shit. Most shit is small, and requires minor adjustments at best. Big shit can derail the entire year, and this has happened to me--in 2011, 2012 and 2014. 2011 and 2012 ended up being no-ops (that's a technical term Google it), although I managed to salvage 2014 from July on.

I'm an ON-OFF person. I'm either 100% fully fucking committed to something, or I'm not doing it at all. Some people call this being ALL IN. I'm ALL IN right now for Louisville and Ultraman Hawaii. Given it's a 2-year process, you might think I should just relax for the time being. I don't see it that way. For the process of getting to the outcome is just as (if not more) important as the outcome itself.

It made me a little sad to read this story where the winner of this year's Ultraman Hawaii said, "People who are looking for pure performance, nothing else, should watch the top athletes at IM or Olympic distance races. It is highly unlikely to find athletes of that potential at Ultraman. It is a race for amateurs and more a race to be a part of than to watch it." To me, the statement might make someone think it's no big deal to do Ultraman. But it is. I would not say that anyone who can/has done an Ironman can do it. Physically, perhaps, but mentally it is a whole different animal. You can slack a little and cut corners and still finish your 12-17 hour Ironman, but you can't do that and finish Ultraman. You just need too many miles in your arms and legs just to cross the finish line.

So in the spirit of piling on the mileage on my arms and legs, I'm ALL IN. I will finish out 2014 with some pathetic training totals compared to my prior years (I will write that blog post in a few days once 2014 is over), but the accumulation has begun for Ultraman. I'm done resting. I am already experiencing some big fatigue due to the combination of high intensity workouts and increased weight in my strength training. That is to be expected. I actually enjoy being sore for a few days at a time. I know it will pass, I know that my body will adapt, and I know that I am becoming stronger.

People who know me well know how focused I can become when I'm on one of these missions. I have one more project to complete (finish sewing the dress I will wear in my friend Susan's wedding next April), and then I am not committing to anything else big (in terms of my contribution) for awhile. It will be all I can do to do my day job, do my training, stretch, get massages, recover, keep mentally sharp and hang with my friends who support me and get my passion for this. I will have no time for detractors. I have already eliminated a few of those. This may all appear silly to outsiders, as I know how focus-crazed I can get. It's who I am, I make no apologies. You don't like it, steer clear! If I shatter myself in the process, oh well--I gave it a shot! I honestly think there are people gunning for me to totally destroy myself. Maybe I will. But maybe I won't. The only way to know is to get with the plan!

Adaptation and Planning

 Death Machine: Acquired in 2013. BMC, Al, giant pie plate big ring for strength building and HTFU.

 Bitch: Acquired in 2000. She's an old Bitch. Have a solid HED3 disk for her that she rides with aplomb. B4C (ceramic) frame. Heavy-ish but eero as shit.

 La Gazza Ladra, aka LGL. Acquired in 2006. Pinarello Dogma, Mg frame stiff as shit, awesome climbing machine.

Skull Kingdom. Acquired in 2010, custom carbon/Al Elite. What a beauty! Time to lose the Elite stickers on the wheels and replace w/flames.

Since late July, I have been able to run more, have been swimming consistently at least 3x/week, and have been biking around 6 hours/week. The break from lots of running and swimming has been a good thing for my body and my mind. I experience far less sciatica than ever, and I am finally FEELING (kinesthetically) the catch/pull in swimming. The only formal workouts I am doing right now are in swimming and lifting (lifting has been a constant since 1991 with variations in movements/sets/reps/weight). For running and biking, I am just trying to hit some volume targets--when I go out for a run or bike, I am just going "how I feel." As evidenced by a few sprint races, my biking skillz are still pretty good, but running not so much.

I still have plenty o' endurance across SBR. If someone put a gun to my head right now, I could do an Ironman in < 16 hours (depending on the course, of course). I think I'm good for about a 6:15 or less 1/2 Ironman. But mama needs some speed. I am doing focused swim workouts, so that is coming along (plus the change in stroke mechanics plus getting some swim coaching MAGIC MIKE WHEN DO WE START???). I was going to start tempo runs, but I am sticking with my "I'm still sort of resting" program and not starting formal bike/run workouts until 12/1. So I'm not going to see a PR at the 1/2 marathon I'm doing on 11/8, in fact I might completely suck. But that race is to have fun with some friends and drink a bunch of beer afterwards.

I am in what triathlon books would call "base building" mode. It's where you put in some decent volume, practice good form (strides and running drills; vary gearing/cadence on the bike; drills and just mindfulness while swimming), contemplate where you need to improve, and not get too worked up about speed. I am "training to train."  I am also paying attention to how my body is doing with the load (as compared to past seasons), and how I'm feeling mentally about the whole deal. There's plenty of time to get back to the formal workouts, measurements (FTP, VDOT, T-pace) and assessments.

Right now, it's all good, except that I've been experiencing some sleep difficulties (living on about 7 hours which is not normal for me). The sleep thing is in part related to the shortening of the days, and will likely fix itself with the end of DST. Also, this is the very first time that I am training a decent amount of volume and my thyroid (TSH) levels are where they should be. So in a way, this is uncharted territory for me. In fact, I feel fantastic--well except that I need more sleep.

I ran 34 miles last week, and yesterday my legs were not sore at all. It may be because I'm not doing focused speed work yet, but still, I'm liking that I didn't feel trashed yesterday. And I managed a good swim workout and a :50 run yesterday. I struggled a bit on the run because I didn't sleep enough, but I got enough sleep last night and feel great today. I am gravitating to an "at any distance pace" right now, but that's OK. I am seeing glimpses of the speed inside, though, when I run downhill with flair and achieve that flow state, or when I am tired and can still run at a decent pace.

In the pool, I'm pretty sure I could knock out a 5k swim if I wanted to, but actually I don't want to. I am enjoying sometimes short workouts, sometimes 3,000-3500, and just really liking swimming again. And I am liking it more now that I can feel that I am doing it better than I ever have! I toyed with the idea of a 10k swim on NY day ("someone" said they would do it with me--like I need more encouragement!), but I am not making a commitment to that because it means I would need to actively begin swimming lots more at least once a week. And I would not do it except under those conditions because I would want to enjoy it and feel I had the fitness to do it well.

On the bike, I'm not exactly lollygagging, but I am doing the odd trainer workout where I look at my power readings. I don't think I've lost a lot there, but have some seriously hard work to do. And I'm ready to do it, heads down, no TV on just music, pound out those watts and watch them improve. But not before 12/1!

I had felt that my metabolism wasn't exactly stellar until just 2 weeks ago. It usually takes me a few weeks for my hunger to catch up to the training (I'd link to blog archives here but don't know how I'd find the old posts!), but boy has it caught up. I wouldn't say I'm eating with complete abandon, but it does feel to me like where I'm at training volume-wise that I am eating more than I ever did in past seasons. Maybe I just forgot how much I need, or maybe since I've laid low for so much of this year, but all of a sudden those 3 lbs. I was not liking are gone. I'm not keeping track of how much carbs I'm eating, but I'm sure that with the swap of rice plus veggies for salad that I'm getting plenty.

It feels like my body is functioning, metabolically, like I'm IN Ironman training. But I'm not. I'm not biking enough for that. I'm approaching that volume swimming, and I am at it running, though. Maybe I actually do have more muscle mass than ever, too--I've changed up my strength program in the last 2 years, and I do recall people telling me pretty regularly last year that I was "so" muscular. Maybe I was just fat ;) Maybe I am carrying more fat. I do have this belly fat that seems related to being post-menopausal. I hate it. Oh well, I will just have to see if it has become a fact of life that I must live with or whether it, too, will disappear when I'm in the thick of IM training.

Oh that--yes, I've signed up for Ironman Louisville (it's 10/11/2015). It's on the calendar. And so I can now begin planning my training and racing season! I get SO excited about this process, and I think that is also contributing to my waking up really early. I love, love, LOVE the season planning process. Looking across all the potential races and rides and big training events just gets me so amped. One of my rules for races this year and beyond is that if it's out of town, I'm not going by myself--I've done far too much of that in the past, and I'm done with it. I already have a 1/2 IM planned in Florida with Shelley (and will be availing myself of friends who live down there JULIE), an Olympic in Wisconsin (with a work mate, Steve), a 1/2 marathon in Colorado (Lori) and a sprint in Galena, IL (Kevin). I will go up to Madison for Ironman Wisconsin (William) and get some quality training in. Shit--that's already a bunch of stuff, isn't it?  One other thing I want to do is the Horribly Hilly ride in Wisconsin. That I am OK going by myself if I have to. I may do 1 or 2 more local sprints, and that's about it for the season, except for my usual complement of weekly century+ rides, including Bike Psychos 200k, maybe Dairyland Dare, and of course the annual 4th of July metric century, that I usually turn into a REAL century ride.

Gosh--I am so excited that I will be training for an Ironman where I can engage in all-you-can-eat biking during the summer! That is what I love more than anything, and Skull Kingdom will get out early next year. She's been relegated to the trainer since Ironman Cozumel 2013. I think that means I will need to find her some sort of doodad to make her look better--maybe it's time I get the Elite stickers off the wheels and put the flames on like I've been meaning to.

I am almost 100% confident that I will get in at least 5,000 miles of biking by the end of 2014. And right now, that is what matters the most, because you can't do jack shit in an Ironman if you aren't brutally strong on the bike. And while I won't have accumulated much speed work by year's end, at that volume I am going to be able to put some serious hurt to the pedals in 2015. All part of my evil plan to at least be in a position to train for Ultraman Hawaii 2016. All my bikes have been used this year. I still love them all! I am glad I got back on Bitch this year, and she got to race, too. She may be my official sprint/Oly bike now, and Skull Kingdom is my 1/2/full IM+ bike.

I hope to be through my planning phase soon, as I've only got 7 weeks to get it done. Hopefully, I've acquired some wisdom about training myself. I think I'm still quite capable of turning out some good race performances. I have no idea if there are PRs out there (I think maybe if my swim improves), but at least I'm looking forward to some SERIOUS WORK and even more SERIOUS FUN!

It Takes Big Balls

...to register for and put in the hard training to achieve a decent result in an Ironman (or in my case, something even longer).  The time commitment to do the training and everything in support of it is staggering.  Yet, it's one of the stupidest things in the world to do!  Most of us aren't making a living at the fine art of demonstrating just how much we can exercise, and yet we do it.  It makes us feel alive, powerful and focused.

I'm in a full taper right now, and there have been other tapers where I've been full on serious and bothered by everything and anything, and while I am sure I will get there eventually, right now I have an attitude of sheer joy and fun about it.  It's traditional for me to post a picture of a tapir on my blog so here he is:

Notice what big balls he has!  This is what you get when you are either a) an actual tapir or b) tapering for an Ironman.  I couldn't stop laughing this morning in the pool thinking about the tapir, and how ridiculous this passion of mine can be!  But when you do it, you make friends who are just as crazy about this pursuit of extreme fitness and you find they share many other qualities with you besides just being really, REALLY good at exercise.

How is it that it became almost enjoyable to mentally torture myself on the trainer for up to 5:30? Because I CAN.  Because I have big, huge fucking balls.  Because that's what it takes.  Because I knew in signing up for a winter Ironman that that is how it would go.  I've set up my Iron Kingdom (family room outfitted with bike trainers and a treadmill plus kick ass sound and video system) to support this silly passion of mine.  I'm obsessed with it, and I'm OK with that.  Despite all the shit that has gone on in my life this past year, I feel great, if only because I got through the training and that is the hardest part!

It takes big balls to be an Ironman at any age, and I think even more for a woman my age.  What the hell was I thinking to sign up for another one of these?  I was thinking I LIKE HAVING BIG BALLS MAY AS WELL USE THEM!  Perhaps that sounds boastful, but I really don't care.  I love it when someone complains to me about some little thing that hurts or how hard it is to eat healthy and then I give them the laser stare and tell them basically to HTFU.  Most people don't know what hard is.  Hard is not having legs or having your house destroyed by a tornado, like the ones that hit not too far from me yesterday.  Hard is losing your job through no fault of your own and incurring the scorn of people who think that everyone on welfare is a lazy freeloader.  Hard is knocking on death's door due to a disease you had no control over and needing to decide how to live the precious time you have left.

Most of us, fortunately, don't have much uncontrollable HARD in our lives, so some of us self-induce it.  I know that by doing what I've been doing the last 13 years that when something truly hard enters my life, I am a little better able to weather it.  But mostly, I just really like being fit.  And being hyperfit.  And smiling about it, joking about it, and occasionally racing.  And sharing all of that with other like-minded people.

So here's to all of you with big balls.  Show them off proudly!

Super Fun Week and Bike Psychos 200k Ride Report

I can't believe all the great stuff that I did and that happened to me this week.

• I selected and ordered a new laptop for work.  Another DELL.  They make good machines.  This one comes with a webcam, and I know what you are thinking---OH NO CRACKHEAD HAS A FUCKING WEBCAM!!!  The NSA and Quebec are going wild as we speak, see below.
• Quebec disallowed a friend from accessing my blog.  He was up there getting ready for his Ironman Mont-Tremblant, tried to read my blog from his hotel and got the following message: Reason: Weighted phrase limit exceeded.
  Categories: Pornography, Pornography (Malay), Pornography (German), Proxies. I had my friend, Susan, check some other areas of Canada for me, and B.C. was able to access, and also in The Netherlands.  Although I told her it would make sense for The Netherlands to not have any filter since they are OK with whores and pot.
• I ate about 8 Italian Beef sandwiches for dinners from Monday through Friday, with sweet and hot peppers.  You might think that is not good training fuel, but apparently it worked out quite well.  However, on Saturday, I gifted my brother, Mike, with the remainder, as I knew it was time to get back to a whole lot more carbs!
• I got new tires put on my car!  The POS feels a whole lot nicer to drive now!  I am blessed to have had a great, reasonable mechanic for years--Beard Auto in Downers Grove--who told me I needed the new tires.  Sears put them on and tried to claim I hadn't paid for disposal when I got there, so I paid $10, then when I got home I checked the invoice and I HAD paid, called Sears, and they fixed it.
• I had my annual eye exam.  Last year, I went while I was in the dregs of depression.  My eye doctor is a really fast triathlete, so he usually listens to me go off about all my races and crazy training.  Last year, I was very subdued.  This time, he told me I'm a completely different person!  And I know that he meant it in a good way.  My eyes had improved over the last year, too!  Last year I had these huge, annoying floaters in my left eye.  They are still there, but nearly gone now.  Dr. Kampschroeder told me my eyes are in excellent health!  When my exam was finished, I was waiting to have my bill made up when these frames just screamed at me TRY ME ON!  I wasn't planning on buying new glasses (my prescription hasn't changed and I have 2 perfectly good pairs), but I tried them on, they are gorgeous, and decided why not.  When I got home, I realized that I had set aside plenty of money in my FSA to cover them (my vision plan will cover either contact lenses OR glasses in a year, so I'll use the benefit to pay for the glasses, which are more expensive geez the frames are like $250), which made me feel good about an impulse purchase.  But they are beautiful, and I can't wait to get them.  Hint: the front of the frame is black, and the sides and inside of the front are HOT PINK!!!!!
• I had another blood draw to test my thyroid function and it is finally in working order!  I feel FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC and CRACTACULAR!
• I ran into a friend at the grocery store and caught her up on things, and she remarked that many times last year when she would see me she could tell I was on the verge of tears, I felt that bad. She could see how great I feel again (my normal self), and I told her, and this is the truth, that lately I've been on the verge of tears at least once a day because I feel so good and am so grateful for everything in my life.
• I got a massage on Friday evening from my most excellent masseusse, Mike.
• I made my coachee, Brad, an official NothingMan finisher shirt (black with white NOTHING letters on the front, and nothing on the back), and I made us matching shirts for IMCOZ that I am not going to show you until we are close to race day or I can't stand the suspense any longer.  I was so excited waiting for Brad to get the package on Friday, because I knew it would get him pumped for the weekend's training festival.  I wore my own NothingMan shirt on Saturday and Sunday.  When I was coming out of the Y on Saturday, a man saw me in it and said, "Cool shirt."  I smiled broadly and spun around and said, "LOOK IT SAYS NOTHING ON THE BACK, TOO!"  We both laughed hysterically at that. I think Brad and I are going to flip some people out at IMCOZ by going to packet pickup with our homemade shirts in our hands, slip them into our bags, and then pull them out as if they came with the swag, and go "LOOK AT THESE!"  Trust me, they are awesome and one of a kind!  Brad actually thought I had the shirts custom silk screened, but I ironed on the letters (and numbers for IMCOZ) myself.
• On Saturday, I did (so did Brad) an inside out mini-NothingMan sprint.  1 hour really hard bike ride (I accidentally deleted the Power tap file, but know that I was hitting some really good wattages), then a :40 brick run which didn't even suck, and finally I swam 1,000 yards really easy.  
• Saturday afternoon I picked up my new MTB, christened Death Machine.  He's (yes, this is my first male bike) a beauty, has 700cm wheels with Presta valves (no more Schrader, fine by me), the frame has room for TWO bottle cages (meaning I can ride many miles without stopping to refuel), is fairly lightweight and just fucking cool looking. While at The Bike Shop, I had them adjust the saddle height and fore/aft, and then they sent me off for a test ride.  I was like how the hell do I shift this thing, because I've never had the thumb shifters.  I must have looked pretty funny and clumsy while riding and trying to figure it out, but I did!  When I got back to the shop, I asked my most excellent mechanic (and Bike Stylist, as I now call him, since he finds cool parts that will look good on my bikes) if he would wrap the hand grips because they were a little smaller than I liked.  And I showed him how big I wanted them to be with my hands.  Well, let's just say that Drew and the other 2 mechanics had a good laugh--I didn't realize right away what it looked like I was doing with my hands, but then I did and I turned beet red!  Drew asked what color, and of course, RED would be the only logical choice, so Death Machine is all ready to go.  I also got a matte black Giro helmet, whose model name is, oddly enough, "Savant." Huh.  Kinda fits me, don't you think?

Death Machine in front of my POS car (but it runs fine!)

Got the grips wrapped because they were too small for me

• Saturday night, I had dinner with my brother, Mike.  We ate a bunch of sushi and I had 1 huge and 1 small Sapporo with dinner, and I also had a miso soup.  I was not wearing any Ironman shit.  A man, shaved head, looked like late 40's or early 50's, swaggers into the restaurant wearing an M-dot shirt.  After him comes his out of shape and not too attractive wife.  Then another guy, not very buff, wearing an IM shirt and his fat, unattractive wife.  I was wearing a shirt that says SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.  Well the 2 men were eyeballing me the entire time to try and figure out what my thing was.  Mike and I finished dinner before their table, and on the way out, I flashed the M-dot on my bag (it's from Kona).  Set them straight, huh?
• Gave my old MTB, Clipless Fuck, to my niece, Michelle (she can rename it since she probably won't use clipless pedals).  She seems excited to have a pretty nice MTB, and I look forward to the day when I can go riding with her!
• Began getting excited about going up to Ironman Wisconsin in 3 weeks to be a professional spectator and dispense immense amounts of HTFU to both racers I know and completely random strangers!
• Slept 8 hours last night.  This is the frist time I've slept that long in about 3 weeks.  I've figured it's because I've been so excited at feeling good again, and also that maybe I just needed to really tire myself out in order to sleep well.  Mission accomplished!
• Yesterday I rode 129 miles at the Bike Psychos 200k Invitational Ride. The remainder of this post will be about that.  My friend from Miami, Peter, was texting me to see if we could get together afterwards since he was in town for his Mom's birthday (she's 95, I believe), and I called him and had to say no, I would be pretty tired, and I was.
• I tracked a few people I know at Ironman Mont-Tremblant when I got home from riding and was perturbed that ironman.com displayed the athlete tracking data in kilometers.  I was joking, though, when I posed about it on Facebook, although a few people became outraged and hurriedly told me how to convert kms to miles, which I know how to do, except my training spreadsheet does it for me automatically and I'm not used to doing it "by hand."

OK, so for that ride report...I woke up so excited to ride far, and did my normal routine:

• Cup of coffee. Gather up clothes and shit to go with me.
• Apply chamois cream to my bike shorts and hang over bathtub.
• Wait 1/2 hour to take the thyroid pill.
• Eat regular breakfast, catch up on Facebook.
• Chug down Ultrafuel, strip and put on sunscreen.
• Drink 2 more big glasses of water.
• Load the cooler with my bottles for during and after.
• Pump my tires.
• Put my contact lenses in and put on my bike clothes. I wore black tri shorts, a black tank, my usual low cut socks, my silver Sidi's and the white Catlike helmet.  I had really wanted to wear my Bell aero helmet, but thought I'd be too much of a dork if I did.  Well, I'm a dork anyway, but it's tough to talk to people with it on.
• Grab a Coke from the fridge for the drive over.
• Load the car.
• Drive to Coal City, IL, about a :40 drive

On the way there, there was a bunch of fog, and the temperature was high 50's.  I knew I'd be cold to start, but depending on whether the fog dissipated by starting time (6:30 was the plan), I might or might not wear arm warmers.  The plan was to meet a friend, AJ, and ride with him, as he was doing the century. 


I got to the start at like 6:10, so I could sign in and wait for AJ.  I was freezing cold (someone took a pic of me, but it's not yet posted anywhere).  We got these rad neon technical shirts, that I will be able to use on cool fall runs.  Many times I don't want a t-shirt because I have so many, but some are now worn out and I do enjoy keeping the ones from 100+ mile rides now.  Lots of people were lusting after Skull Kingdom, and why not?  I think it's the most unique, beautiful bike I've ever seen.  How can you go wrong with skulls on a bike?

AJ showed up around 6:30 and still had to register.  He was smart, and had worn a long sleeve shirt that he intended to toss at one of the rest stops.  We immediately started babbling on about this and that (he's doing IMWI I can't wait to cheer him on!), as it had been a few years since we'd spent any time together, and at best, it would be passing remarks during or after workouts.


I decided I needed to go with the arm warmers, and I was actually shivering waiting for AJ to be ready to roll.  We headed out, and I don't think there was a moment of silence for 53 miles!  We rode side by side most of the time, and we passed loads of people.  We were just laughing our asses off, sharing stories about our wild youths (his was more wild than mine until my 20's, but I still refrain from divulging all of that because it was let's just say EPIC), being OK with packs of roadies passing us, and generally having a great time.  I quizzed AJ about his training and race preparation, and I hope he shares his race plan with me because I want him to have a great IMWI, which will be his 2nd IM.

Early in the ride (I think it was about :40 in), we were at about a point where it would have been nice to have a rest stop because I always have to piss right away especially when it's cool and foggy, and AJ saw what he thought was a rest stop, so I pull in behind him and it turns out it was a bunch of tables set up (with place settings) for what I thought was going to be a wedding reception!  We had a huge laugh over this, because, well, bike ride rest stations don't usually have tables and chairs and tablecloths!  Later on there was another area that we thought was a rest station that turned out to be a campground!  We had another huge laugh over that.

We were pedaling and talking and laughing the entire time.  I don't think there was a minute we weren't both smiling or thinking of the next story to tell one another.  At one point, AJ says he has to tell me this story that is going to make me laugh, so he starts in on once when his wife was at the Y on a treadmill, this 'woman' came up to her and started grilling her about the Ironman hat that she was wearing.  All of a sudden, I remembered the incident, and "that woman" was ME.  I thought I had written a blog post about it, but I can't find it if I did.  AJ described to me the encounter from his wife's perspective, which was that I was basically a stark raving lunatic who chastised her for wearing an Ironman hat when she hadn't done an Ironman race.  Turns out the hat was AJ's, and HE never wore it (until he'd done an Ironman), but he hadn't told his wife "the rules."  At that time, someone used to call me "Crazy Sheila" all the time, because I was the only swimmer who did triathlons way back when.  Well "someone" has now qualified for Kona a few times, is a good coach and is living the dream.  Who's crazy now?

It was funny to me that I could remember just how riled up I felt at the time, and how now I wouldn't say anything if I saw someone who looked "unqualified" wearing Ironman stuff.  Whatever.  You do an Ironman, you wear the shit.  You haven't done one, it inspires you, wear the shit.  You are a lazy, fat slob, wear the shit.  It's no different than NFL gear or stuff from any pro sports team. I rather like the idea that even when I'm not wearing the shit (and I don't wear it all the time), I get people coming up to me and telling me I look like I do Ironman.   No shit, Batman!

Back to the ride...we got to the turn around for the 100-miler, and at that point, the 200k ride does a separate loop from there, so unless AJ went with me, we were done riding together.  He was making some calls, and I was talking to some people about my dilemma. I considered lying to AJ and telling him that the 100-mile route was really only 87, so he should go with me, but I decided to go with the truth.  I tried valiantly to convince AJ to keep going, but he had other commitments for the day, and so we said goodbye, and I kept on riding.  But I had SO much fun riding with AJ.  It was almost exhausting trying to keep up with his stories (and comedy, which apparently runs in his family).

Also at that same stop a guy who I ran into last week on a ride came and said hi to me and I forgot who he was and he said he'd tried to keep up with me last week but it only lasted about 3 minutes ;) There was also a group of 3 roadies who remembered me from years past, and they always were just a few minutes ahead of me.  I think they were secretly worried I'd catch them.

On the loop that was only for the 200k, I was not far behind a guy on a road bike, so I figured I'd just follow him.  When we got to the town of Tonica, I remembered I'd been lost there a few times, but was confident since I was following someone that I was OK.  Note to self, NEVER assume who you are following knows where they are going or that they are even DOING the ride you are on (I had made this same mistake a week ago trying to chase down some roadies and successfully intercepting but then discovering I was nearly lost). He stops all of a sudden, and I yell, "ARE WE LOST?"  And he says we missed a turn.  I really didn't care, since I knew it couldn't have been that far back.  But the guy didn't wait for me or anything, so I was on my own finding my way to the turn.  I stopped at a kid's baseball game and asked some locals where E 550 is and they said, "We don't know the road numbers."  I laughed and rode on, figuring I'd only ridden 1 mile out of the way but it turns out it was more like 2.5.  Whatever.  I found the turn and remembered the road, which was awesome.

I was all by my lonesome for the rest of that loop, and wondered just how many people were even doing the 200k, since you'd need to have started early.  I circled back to the same rest station where I'd left AJ, stopped briefly, and then started back with mostly 100-mile riders. I don't remember when I started counting how many people I was passing, but it must have been awhile.  There were 2 more rest stations, and I really looked forward to the next one, as it was getting warmer out and the wind was picking up and we were riding right into the wind.

I forgot that the way back takes a different route than the way out.  We ride along the Illinois River, and it's just beautiful to see it, and there are tons of motorcycles out riding in that area.  Many of the motorcyclists would wave at me once they could see the skulls on my bike!  

There are lots of ups and downs, too, as we pass through valleys of the river and its tributaries.  One really cool part is Ottawa Canyon which goes through a part of Starved Rock State Park.  The road is all windy and twisty and up and down and lots of WOO HOO downhill and just really awesome!  I bombed through there and passed several people who I think were a bit shocked when I flew by.   We get back along the river and then there's this tall hill on the right and I'm like, "I hope they don't make us go up that," but they DID, and it wasn't really that bad.

When I got to the second to last aid station, I went over to a table where they had a big map of the ride and asked one of the volunteers, "WHERE AM I?"  It made me laugh to ask the question, since I just follow the road markings and go where they tell me having absolutely no clue where the hell I am. 

I ran into a guy, Fred, that I've know for years (and ridden with a few times).  He and his 2 sons and their wives are ALL doing Ironman Wisconsin!  They should get McDonald's to sponsor them (that's their last name)!  I thought Fred would ride with me, but he left before I did, but then I caught him and we stayed together a bit, but then he got well ahead of me or so I thought.  Turns out I was only ever may 30 seconds behind him, and we rolled into the last rest station nearly together.  At that one (and all the other ones) there would be at least a handful of people (mainly guys) staring at my bike.  Sometimes I say nothing, and sometimes I say, "Cool bike, huh?"

Well it was time to get back and be done, and I'm riding and riding, and thought we were close, and I could just tell I thought I'd already done 200k, because I've ridden that far on numerous occasions.  I'd had the Power Tap on elapsed time only because then it tells me when I need to take in nutrition, and I hadn't looked at actual mileage.  Well I did, and I was at 126 with some miles to go!  I laughed because I was dead on feeling like 200k.  I passed a few more people with only 1 mile to go, and one group of guys I said, "Sorry, but I have to pass you now even though we are almost done."  I needed to be done.

There were 2 girls riding together that I was about to pass, and I noticed one of them had a really poor bike fit, so as I passed I yelled, "YOUR SADDLE IS WAY TOO HIGH," and she actually yelled back, "THANK YOU," and I thought maybe she then added to herself COMMA BITCH, but whatever, her saddle was way too high.  I didn't think anything of it and rode on.

I got to the turn into the parking lot of the Coal City High School at 128.75 miles, so you KNOW what I had to do...noodle around in the parking lot to hit 129 miles!  I said goodbye to Fred and said I'd see him (and his famous family of McDonalds) at Ironman Wisconsin.

I then see 2 women and one of them looks like the woman I'd yelled at, and I asked, and she said yes, we talked, turns out she (Caroline) lives near me and is doing Ironman Cozumel (and her friend, Monica and her husband are going to cheer)!  So hopefully we will get to do some training together, since Caroline is an ultrarunner turned triathlete, and I suck at running so maybe I can get some HTFU from her.

At the end they had an ice cream truck giving us free either ice cream sandwiches or cones.  I got a sandwich and went into the school to shower and change.  I ate only 1/2 the sandwich and laid it on top of some extra toilet paper in the locker room while I showered, then I panicked while I was showering in case someone took it!  But nobody did, and another woman and I were babbling and laughing and thankful for the post-ride shower.

I went back to my car to start the drive home.  I immediately ate a Twinkie I'd brought along, and it was actually quite good after being heated up in the car, except the creme filling was liquid.  Then I grabbed the can of Pringles that was on the passenger side floor and the top popped off and a bunch fell out on the floor, but I didn't care, so I munched those on the way home and drank Endurox R4.  I called my friend, Peter, from Miami, to tell him that no, I didn't want to drink champagne tonight, and we decided to skip a bonus meeting since I'd be too tired and he wasn't having dinner with his folks until 7:30, at which time I'd be nearly pass out.

I got home, unpacked the car, inhaled 4 pieces of sushi left over from Saturday and cracked a beer, put stuff away, put a Lean Cuisine in the microwave, got on the computer to start tracking some Ironman Mont-Tremblant people, ate the Lean Cuisine, waited maybe 15 minutes for more hunger to arrive, decided on a big, fat avocado stuffed with tuna, one more beer, more water, and that was all I could manage before passing out at 8PM.

What a week, huh?