So on 3/17, after 5 days of working far too many hours to be mentally prepared for 2 races, I drove to Indy to stay at Shelley's house for the night, and we would leave for Florida the next day. Good thing she'd had the foresight to rent a large vehicle (Chevy Suburban) to hold all our crap. I (as usual but I will try and break this habit) brought way too many clothes, and having had race weather change at the last minute, had extra tri crap that it turned out I didn't need.
It was a long haul to Florida, and we were on our way to Clermont, but detoured a few hours out as it turns out our host was in Leesburg. No biggie. We stayed with a pro triathlete that is a friend of Shelley's for 2 nights in Leesburg, then 2 nights in Clermont.
On Thursday, we first drove to Silver Lake where I and our pro ran. I only ran 1 lap plus a little more, about 5K. It was hot. I wasn't dying, but knew the heat was going to be a huge factor for me on the weekend. Shelley stayed with the dog while we ran (she is currently unable to run), then we all drove back and got on our bikes, rode back to the lake and did some laps. The heat didn't feel so bad on the bike, but it was no picnic, either.
On Friday, Shelley and I went on our own to the National Training Center in Clermont. Shelley hit the pool while I did a short run. I had wanted to run on the outdoor track, but it was closed to the public at that time. I ran :20 on the treadmill then hit the pool, which was nice--50 meter outside! I had swum in that pool maybe 8 years ago during a side trip to Clermont when I had been in Orlando on business. I only swam 1000 meters, and I was really slow. The heat and travel was taking its expected toll.
Since it was late in the day, Shelley and I went and grabbed some dinner while we were out and about. In retrospect, I should have eaten more.
Saturday was the 1/2 Ironman. I got myself up at 4AM (for a 7:30AM start) since I like to have my breakfast in me with 3 hours to start for a 1/2 or longer race. I didn't feel particularly nervous, except that I did wonder what I should expect of myself.
I tried to keep things light as Shelley and I drove to the race venue. I know what it's like to not be able to run. There was a year when I was supposed to do a 1/2 IM in Kona, and I couldn't run, but even worse, I couldn't bike except on a cushy bike saddle. I still went and cheered on my friend and others, but it was difficult. I've DNS'ed a number of races when I've been injured or life otherwise got in the way.
I was in the first wave. The swim was wetsuit legal, but the water was warm-ish. I'm sure they dropped the thermometer in the deepest, coldest part of the lake. I wasn't in the mood to swim without a wetsuit, so I didn't. The lake is that black coffee water. I'd swum here in 2005 when I did the Great Floridian (IM), and I am not in great swim shape anyway, but it sure was hard to sight. The swim seemed a tad long, but then again, it probably wasn't!
They had wetsuit strippers, which was nice, except that you ended up with wet grass all over yourself. Oh well, I took my sweet time in transition so I could try and have dry-ish feet and be sure I had my shit together to bike.
The heat just kept on coming, and while it started out with some clouds, the sun came blazing out, and we immediately were into decent rollers. Having not ridden a single hill since...IMWI last September, my hill fitness was non-existent. But, I still remembered how to climb and not kill myself. And it just got hotter. I drank my high octane Infinit and a few bottles of water. I wasn't as slow as I thought I'd be, and in truth, I was trying to keep my pace at or below IM pace in the interests of being able to show up and do an Oly the next day.
Even though I went super easy on the bike, the run was super hot. I later found out it was in the low 90's during the bike and run. I definitely wasn't acclimated to it! On the run, I did a 5' run/1'walk most of the time, just to prove to myself that I could run some of it! Luckily, they had ice and Coke on the run, and I put ice in my hat, my chest and groin to try and keep me cooled somewhat. I don't remember thinking very often that it sucked, because I was doing this of my own volition! My legs never hurt too bad, and my right foot (the one with the Morton's Neuroma) only bothered me once or twice, so I would just stop briefly, curl my toes, and press on.
Before I left for this trip, I was thinking I could manage a 6:30, but with the heat, I ended up at 6:55. Really slow for me, but I have been slower in the same heat and with less hills, so I can't complain too much. Again, at dinner, I should have eaten more, but I think in part that the heat stunted my appetite a bit. Plus I didn't want to be too big of a pig in front of my host and friend!
Sunday morning I set my alarm for 5, but I woke up at 4 anyway. Race start was 7:30. Shelley did the aquabike the day before, but took me down to the race and stayed until I finished. That was really special to me! My plan for the day was to just go easy and finish well. Kind of like in Triple T. I swam just as slow as I had on Saturday, but biked and ran a bit faster. It wasn't as hot, the bike course wasn't hilly, and...it was SHORTER!
Once I was on my bike, I just decided to enjoy the fact that I was riding outdoors in March in Florida, and so I did. I didn't really push it at all and still rode a bit faster than I thought I would. I had a blast on the bike! A lot of people commented on how cool Skull Kingdom looks, and that made me smile every time. When I got to the run, I knew I was good to finish, and I didn't feel too bad at all. I just thought to myself, hey, I'm an old lady and I did a 1/2 IM yesterday and now I'm doing an Oly! This old bag still has endurance legs! Once again, ice and Coke were my friends on the run, and I actually had some nice conversations with a few other racers. One guy, when I told him I'd done the 1/2 the day before, called me "Double Duty." I love it when other people in a race have a sense of humor. It really takes away some of the pain!
I finished the Oly in 3:24. Pretty damn slow for me, but really not bad considering I was baked in a 1/2 the day before. If I'd had a gun to my head, I could have done a 1/2 on Sunday. So all things considered, the racing was a success--I got a good dose of serious endurance and mental toughness. It would have been easy for me to just give up and completely walk either or both days during the run, but I didn't. It would have been easy to be crabby all day because it was so hot, but I wasn't. Sure, I didn't really like the bike course on Saturday (we rode on open, dangerous roads with semis speeding by at 65mph with a very narrow shoulder), but you can't like every place you ride. I just enjoyed the fact that I was riding.
After the Oly, Shelley and I packed up and headed to my friend's new home in Lithia, where we were treated like princesses--being fed and cared for like hotel guests! The next day, Shelley, Carole (her husband Al did not join the girls) and I went to the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg. It was FANTASTIC! Dali is one of my favorite artists, and I practically salivated over every painting. I learned a bunch about Dali that I didn't know and developed an even greater appreciation for his art and talent.
In summary, my race times were nothing to write home about, but I got a good dose of long course in the sun and some culture! I have to admit I got a huge ego boost about being told by a pro that I didn't look anything like my age. I don't do triathlon for vanity, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit vain. I found I felt very depleted once I got home, confirming my suspicion that I hadn't been eating enough, but I have fixed that. I do believe that the higher dose of Synthroid is kicking in, too, and I've started sleeping more again! All of these things bode well for a slight break and then hitting the training hard again. I did less than I'd planned training-wise last week, and feel well rested and ready to go today, beginning my transition to mostly outdoor biking and running. I'm glad I did the 2 races as an early test of my overall endurance. Now I get to work some more on SPEED!
Showing posts with label Race Report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Race Report. Show all posts
Monday, March 30, 2015
Monday, March 02, 2015
IWBMATTKY(M)T
It's been a few years (6) since I've trained for an early season long course triathlon. 6 years ago it was American Triple T in May. This time it's Clermont Challenge 1/2 IM and Olympic in just 3 weeks. Shit! While I don't have huge expectations for my upcoming race performance--for one thing, all my bike training will have been on the trainer--I still do not want to suck, so I've been hitting it hard since I officially began "training" on December 1:
- Finished the grueling Tour of Sufferlandria (week of 1/26).
- Won my AG at 2 supersprint triathlons (weeks of 2/2 and 2/16)
- Did back to back Olympic+ NothingMans (this past weekend).
NothingMans are opportunities to test out nutrition and pacing, which are really one and the same. Whenever someone says they had stomach issues in a race, well, it means they screwed up their pacing, too. You can't practice one without practicing the other. When I have a NothingMan (more than a sprint) on the menu, I am thinking about it and preparing for it several days in advance, the same as a "real" race, because I need to be in good nutritional (and sleep) status in order to perform well. I take my NothingMans seriously!
For this weekend, I used my old wetsuit for the swim, even though I swam in a pool. Once again, glad I did--I had a bit of mid-back soreness after wearing it Friday and Saturday, so I did some additional stretching Saturday night since I was wearing it again Sunday. It also let me get my arms used to swimming in the suit. I will wear it at least once a week up until race day.
The original plan for this weekend's NothingMans was to do Olympic distance (1500 swim, 25-mile bike, 10k run) both days, but on Friday I decided I wanted to swim 1/2 IM distance on Saturday, since I hadn't done that (straight swim--most of my swims are about 3,000 yards lately) in awhile. I also decided I would just bike 1:30 both days, because that would give me good bike volume for the week.
My pool was fucking hot both days. I was overheating wearing the suit, but it was still worth it to wear it. On Saturday, a woman in the locker room told me I should be a wetsuit model! How sweet of her to say that! I was actually worried I might not fit in the thing because I'm up a few pounds up (which I think is due to my thyryoid petering out more--will find out today), but it fit just fine. But I was a total spaz, and forgot to put on Bodyglide, so it was tough getting it on Saturday morning. I also forgot to bring a towel with me! I had just put my crap into a locker and realized I had no towel. I was like, fuck it, I'm not driving back home--I will just have to drip dry!
Once I got in and started swimming, I played games in my head--I didn't really need to swim 2100, so I just made myself a deal that if I didn't feel like I was slowing down too much by the time I hit 1500 that I'd just keep going. Well, I was fine, so I finished out the 2100. It was great to get the suit off. I changed into my biking clothes in the locker room and drove home to bike.
I was using a custom Infinit mix after the swim and for the bike and run. I'd queued up music to listen to (random older dance CDs) while I biked and ran, and had fun listening to stuff I hadn't heard in a few years. On the bike, I did my typical :30 warmup, then I did 4 intervals of mostly 1/2 IM watts plus. Getting off the bike, I did a relaxed but not lollygagging transition to get on the treadmill. After I ran for about :10 (I started out super easy), I started thinking that it would be good for me to get in 13.1 miles of running across the 2 NothingMans, so I made an executive decision to do 6.6 miles on Saturday and 6.5 on Sunday. What's a couple more tenths of a mile, anyway?
I felt pretty good running. I was actually surprised, since I'd beaten myself into submission a week ago between the warmup, actual race, and then running after that race. I kept in mind that I had to do this all over again on Sunday. I ate well at lunch and dinner, and aside from grocery shopping and cooking a nice meal (strip steaks Italian style in a tomato paste/Marsala/red wine/garlic reduction and sauteed Belgian endive/carrots), I laid around. Saturday night it was supposed to snow, and I was hoping we didn't get too much because I didn't want to have to shovel a lot just to go to the pool and swim 1500!
Here's my finishing sticker for Saturday, which was a 2100 swim, 32.5 mile bike and 6.6 mile run:
I actually slept until 5AM yesterday, which is odd for me, but hey, I'll take it! But I didn't want to start too late in the morning, either. Since I'd failed to take my Synthroid in the middle of the night, I had to take it right away and then wait 1/2 hour until I could eat or drink anything. I washed dishes, knowing I'd be creating 4 more bottles that day, and still had to wait a few minutes before I could have coffee and breakfast. Even though I could get away with eating maybe 1.5 hours before starting, I don't like doing that, especially since I wasn't particularly hungry when I woke up. But I got on my breakfast just after 5:30, and figured I'd start at 7:30. Well, we did get about 1/4" of snow, and I wanted to get that off the driveway anyway, and figured it would be a good little warmup. It only took me about :10 to do it, but I felt like I hadn't fully digested my breakfast in order to start by 7:30.
I ended up starting at 8:05, but even then, I felt queasy in the pool, because even though this was just a NothingMan, my body reacts the same as for an actual race, and it had only been 2.5 hours since I'd eaten, so that combined with a hot pool had me feeling like I would puke at any moment. Oh and I remembered a towel yesterday, and I also remembered Bodyglide, so my wetsuit went on quite easily. I kept wanting to slow down because I SO wanted to puke, but I didn't, and I finished and got the suit off, stretched a bit, suited up to bike and headed home.
It was snowing very lightly, which was nice to look at out the window while I was on the bike. My legs felt somewhat worked over from Saturday, but not too bad. My warmup pace was a little slower than on Saturday, but then I picked it up and ended up riding faster/harder on Sunday! But then I was wondering how I'd feel on the run. Same as for Saturday, I transitioned quickly (after throwing a load of laundry into the washer), and did my warmup same as on Saturday. I was surprised that my legs didn't feel so bad, so I figured I'd try and run just a bit faster than the day before. About :43 in, I accidentally stopped the treadmill instead of a pause (to get another bottle of Infinit out of the fridge), and was like now I have to do math to figure out how much more to go. I got my shit together, and since I wanted to end the run at a full minute, ended up running 6.52 miles. So Sunday's NothingMan was 1500 swim, 33.3 bike and 6.52 run, giving me this awesome sticker:
I have one more "big" week of training (although today is a much needed rest day) and then I actually sort of taper--well not really--I am considering this a "train through" set of races. I'm doing a 4-hour ride on Saturday and a 2-2:15 run on Sunday, so another 1/2 IM plus across 2 days, which is no big deal really, but that 4-hour ride will probably suck at some level.
So part of me wants to change the Sufferfest motto to IWBMATTKMT: I Will Beat My Ass Today To Kick Mine Tomorrow.
Mission accomplished!
Monday, February 23, 2015
Two for Two (Everything is Awesome!)
Yesterday was the second (out of 3--I missed the first one due to Tour of Sufferlandria) indoor triathlon, part of MITCS (Midwest Indoor Triathlon Series). I'd done OK 2 weeks ago and handily won my AG, but hoped to do better this time. I knew one thing that impacted my race 2 weeks ago was that I trained 4.5 hours the day before. Now, I know most sane people wouldn't do that and expect to win their AG in a sprint, but I'm not sane.
Since I believe in full disclosure, I should note that in the women's triathlon age groups, there is a steep drop off in participation in the 55-59 group, at least that's my observation. Why is this? I can speculate--grandchildren, menopause, loss of competitive desires, health issues--I just don't know. But the other thing I've observed is that if you weren't good at this until that age, it is incredibly difficult to get good at it around this time of life. I've witnessed, and I'm a good case study, women who take up aerobic sports in their 40's and become really good at it. I can also attest that menopause does a number on female physiology. Sometimes I feel like I'm just hanging in there, but for the most part, I feel outstanding, and I could not be doing what I'm doing now if I didn't make a concerted effort to retain my underlying strength and just, well, work my ass off. I feel pretty confident that as long as I don't completely annihilate myself, that I will continue to be at the top of my game for at least a few more years. But I don't want to just be at the top of my game--I want to be at the top of the game in many age groups and also among men! Perhaps that sounds asshole-y, but I put in the work with a strong desire to win.
I know I can't win every race I do at every distance--it depends on who shows up, whether or not I tapered, weather, gremlins, etc., but I will always go in knowing I trained to the absolute best of my abilities and gave it my all. I am no good at Olympic distance, for example--I just haven't done enough of them and it's that distance between sprint and 1/2 plus. But I'm racing a few of them this year and we will see how it goes. For another thing, I still don't consider myself a good runner--in a pure footrace, I more or less suck compared to pure runners, and I'm not the fastest swimmer, either. But I can bike like a demon, and I know how to race. Every time I toe the line I am happy to share some little tip (or five) with newer racers that they tell me made a huge difference in their day. That's the other thing--I really love giving back to others in the sport through coaching, mentoring and general spouting off of my mouth. I do have a little experience at this!
The art and skill of racing is developed by careful attention to detail both in training and in the lead up to a race--taper (if you do it!), nutrition, mental preparation, gear selection. Yikes I have all these little things that I do that work for me that make a huge difference in my mental state come race day, and despite the contribution that training makes to one's performance, the mental aspect is huge. For me, I tend to experience an appropriate amount of nervousness. If you lived with me, you'd experience it as me telling you to shut the fuck up, don't whistle, and stay out of my way. Then come race day, I can be pretty talkative with other racers and volunteers. Sometimes I can tell that other racers have that "deer in the headlights" thing going, and I try and help calm them down just a little. It's good to be nervous, but not too nervous. I am a non-stop laugh machine, as really, this is all just one big hoot to me, although the ability to laugh about it, I think, stems from all the hard work I've put in.
I like to sport temporary tattoos (still don't have any real ones!) for races. I have a huge envelope full of them. Some are funny, some are mean looking, some are gifts. For yesterday's race (I forgot to put any on 2 weeks ago), I picked 3: I had one more Iron Man left that I put on my left inner forearm:
Since I was feeling in a fun mood, I picked a dollar sign for my right calf
And BOOM! for my right arm (a bunch of these were given to me)
Just some little things to introduce some levity into the day! I wore my custom HTFU swimsuit
I need to back up to what I did in training this past week in the lead up to the race. I didn't think doing a 3:30 ride/:30 brick run the day before was a good idea (although in retrospect maybe it was!), I only wanted to have to run for an hour after the race (that's about all I can tolerate--trust me, it's hard to get out and run after one of these), and I planned on doing a better warmup on race day. To accomplish these objectives, I ended up riding 2:05 on both Tuesday and Thursday, and then only 2:00 on Saturday. I added short runs on Tuesday and Thursday (not bricks) of :20 and :15, and then I planned for a :20 run/:20 bike warmup at home and a :05 run/:10 bike warmup onsite yesterday.
It was challenging doing those longer midweek rides on top of everything else, including that I'd decided I was ready to move my strength training from 2x10 to 3x8! Doesn't sound like a huge change, but trust me, it is! That alone added :15 to my strength training time, a little DOMS here and there, and some nice added fatigue.
Then on Friday, I did a stupid thing (that I will keep doing LOL!)--an ultrarunner friend of mine posted an article on Facebook about doing steep incline walking/running (IF you are able to even run) as part of training for hills and such. I don't usually run with an incline on the treadmill, but figured I could get all over walking--that was something I did to prepare for my first 50-miler. I'm also a big fan of using the Cybex Arc Trainer during the winter to prepare for stair climb races and general cross training, so I wasn't worried about my ability to go balls out walking on my treadmill at a steep incline. But I don't do anything the easy way, do I?
I had a :40 run scheduled for Friday, so I decided to do :35 of steep incline walking, and then :05 strides. I cranked my treadmill up to the maximum incline, 15%, and got to work. I was able to vary my speed from 3.6-4.1MPH walking. I was warned that my calves would take a huge beating, but I figured that my calves were used to having the crap beaten out of them in my bike workouts, and I was right! I got a massage Friday afternoon, and felt "appropriately" tired.
Saturday morning when I woke up, my calves were just fine, but my quads were a bit pissed off at me. I laughed, thinking, well this is what happens when you cram about 12.5 hours of training into your 5-day work week! It made my 2-hour ride interesting, but I was happy I'd moved things around so I could get a bunch of other stuff done on Saturday, since Sunday would be devoted to racing and recovering. I dropped off a package to send to a friend, went grocery shopping, bought some goodies at a specialty market, stretched, did some sewing, and made my final plans for race day.
When I woke up yesterday, I felt pretty good because I'd managed to get 8 hours of sleep. My legs were worked over, but too bad, that's how it goes when you're training for an Ironman to be strong enough to train for an Ultraman. Still, I figured I could do OK at the race, but if I didn't, I was happy knowing I was training well and meeting the higher objective. I'd slacked and hadn't actually picked my tattoos until yesterday morning, but then I had fun in choosing them and putting them on. I know it seems like I'm a bit silly for a 58 year old woman, but I really don't give a fuck what anyone thinks. All I know is that my silliness wears off on other people when I see them smiling, hear them laughing, and lightening the mood, because life can be a downer much of the time.
I picked out my warmup and race clothes, and began my warmup at home at 5:30. My start time was 8:00, and the race venue is only a 10-minute drive from home, and the club opened at 7AM, so all good. I ran for :20 on the treadmill, took a 5-minute break, then got on Skull Kingdom for :22. Things felt good, and I was hydrating and sweating normally. I had a bit of time to kill before I left, and I cracked a Coke at 6:30--I want to be done with the caffeine about an hour before race time. I left my house at 6:50 and finished my Coke on the way there.
I went to registration and asked if they were giving medals to the AG winners. They no longer give medals, which is fine by me--I had so many of those that I tossed over 20 of them from prior years a few years back! I went to the locker room and put my crap in there, then headed to the upstairs track and ran 1/2 mile rather easy, and I remembered to check where the buckets were in case I had to puke when I finished.
I went back downstairs and hopped on a bike for just over 10 minutes. There were a bunch of people warming up on the bikes, and I'd timed things so basically I hopped off, changed into my swimsuit and headed to the pool.
A girl numbered me up and I asked her to put a big "X" on my left calf as a joke (that I won't explain here). She was puzzled why I would want an X, but she did it, and then I told her to make it a "smiley X," and she did.
I was all set! But I only had time to swim 100 as a warmup. The water was hot--I'm guessing 85 or 86--which is unusual for this venue. I was sharing a lane with the oldest person racing--Kirby Anderson--and so I let him choose which side of the lane he wanted, which put me in the gutter. Also, this pool is a U-shape, so my lane was half walled off, then half opened up to the next part of the pool on the other side of a partial wall. This didn't bode well for my swim, but whatever.
Before I got in, I chatted with 3 young volunteers and found my guy, Pranav. I asked them if they knew what HTFU means, and they didn't, so I explained it to them. This resulted in a boisterous laugh from everyone. I told Pranav that I wanted him to yell that at me while racing (although he could just use the letters) and also GO FATTY. This made all the kids laugh, too, as while I feel I could stand to lose 3-5 lbs., I'm not really "fat" fat. I explained that this comes from years ago when a group of friends decided we would yell this at one another during races--none of us are fat--but it sure grabs your attention when you hear someone yelling it! Maybe some people think it's mean, but it's really just funny to us.
My swim was predictably slow for me, as I was getting pushed towards the wall and had to look out for my lane mate who ended up smacking me pretty hard on the right hand (not my fault--I have a nice, narrow stroke and body profile--he got a little rambunctious), but I was OK. I got out and headed to the locker room to quickly shower off and change.
I'd told Pranav what height to set my bike seat at, and he'd done it, so when I got there, I reminded him of HTFU and GO FATTY, and we got started. Turns out in my wave (the first of the day) there were a few other AG leaders, so it was cool to have some good competition on the bike! I just looked down and rode as hard as I could for 20 minutes, and I hit the same mileage as I did 2 weeks ago, only on more training this time, so all good! Pranav fanned me with the paddle number (they put the bike numbers on a big stick so your volunteer can raise it and the people monitoring the leader board can move your little bike over another mile).
At this point, you are probably wondering why all the fuss about such a tiny indoor race? Because many competitive people show up--that's why! And it's just such fun, and in many cases, the volunteers are having just as much fun as we are. You will see volunteers jumping up and down, waving on their athlete and others, fanning us on the bike, hooting and hollering, and it's all such an intimate thing, which is why I keep coming back. It is just such a great feeling to be taken care of while doing something inherently silly, and even though I put on my game face, inside I'm smiling and having a great time.
At first, Pranav was trying to have a conversation with me on the bike, but I quickly pointed out that if I could talk, I wasn't working hard enough, so it was time for me to STFU, but I said he could talk at me! Which he did. He would ask me how I felt, and at least once I flipped him double birds, which made him laugh, and he did fan me which was great, and he was really attentive to being ready to hold up my number (I was bike number 8) when I hit another mile.
When I finished, I'd given it all I had and laid down on the floor for a few seconds, then got up and was like, oh fuck, my legs are toast, but hey--that's what happens in these things, right? All I could think was just make it through the run. As we lined up on the track, some people told me to go to the front that I was fast, and I was like, "I don't think so!" Still, there were 3 much younger and faster people on the track that lapped me a few times, then I was the next fastest, lapping everyone else. I was wearing a visor, but after maybe 1/2 mile, it was making my head too hot, so I tossed it into the volunteer area. It was a rather dramatic move, I think!
All in all, I swam a tad slower than 2 weeks ago, but did the same on the bike and run as 2 weeks ago, so I can't complain. I'd hoped to be faster across the board, but a hot pool and stupid Friday training trick conspired to hold me back from that objective.
I knew because of how hard I went on the bike that I was probably going to feel like puking when I was done, and I did, but I was about 1/8 lap from a bucket and I didn't want to backtrack. I thought maybe I could hold it back, so I walked back to where the volunteers were, and asked Pranav if there was a bucket there, and he said NO but pointed to some trash cans, so I bent over, grabbed onto the sides and hurled (just water). It felt so good to do that, I wiped off my mouth, stood up, and there were just so many smiles all around! I felt like I'd put a good effort out for the day, and people were snapping pics, but I didn't have my phone with me, so I asked Pranav to take one of me and his friends to get us together:
The first one is me just after I finished puking and collected myself, then I perked up for the one with Pranav. I asked him about his life, and he's graduating high school this year and then going onto law school at BYU. I am always happy to hear from young people pursuing big goals, and so grateful for people who turn out to volunteer at races! I said goodbye to Pranav and his friends, then went downstairs to get a massage before I ran some more.
The massage was great, and the young man who worked on me was a joy to talk to. We talked about music, math, massage, art--my favorite things! I grabbed some more water, went to the locker room and changed into compression shorts and a fresh bra top, grabbed my bottle of Powerade, and headed to a treadmill. I always get odd stares being on a treadmill all numbered up, because it's obvious I already raced, and why would I be running more? Because I need to keep up my long run, that's why! But despite how much it sucks to run after one of these races (I'd already worked out about 1:45 including my warmups and the race itself), it's not so hard when there is so much energy in the gym while other people are still racing. I toughed it out for :55, then in between waves, ran my last 5 minutes on the track. I was well and thoroughly thagomized. The origin of that term is from this cartoon:
Now I could get another massage and then EAT! The second massage felt great, and my legs reflected the additional running. Earlier, they had sandwiches, but now there was PIZZA! I practically inhaled my first slice, then they brought some hot, fresh ones and I had another one. I chatted with some people I know and some strangers while I ate and talked off the racing energy. I laughed that when I finally got to the locker room that my face was still very rosy!
I took the BEST SHOWER EVER, fixed my crazy hair, packed up and went home. I'd won my AG again and won the series, but more importantly, I'd had an outstanding training week, somehow putting 17.4 hours in against a plan of 17, so all good!
This week, I have an "easy" week, since today is a rest day, Friday is sort of a rest day (just a short swim), and then on Saturday/Sunday, I am doing an Olympic NothingMan both days to prepare for Clermont Challenge, where I will do the 1/2 IM on Saturday and the Olympic on Sunday. Nothing here I haven't done before--I've trained like this for Triple T, Ironman and Ultraman. I'm looking forward to the weekend already, as to me it's as much fun to do a NothingMan (well almost) as an actual race, and now I can start dreaming about my first big race in 4 weeks!
I did just a little happy dance yesterday afternoon, most of which was spent laying around and eating. I knew I'd fall asleep during the Academy Awards, and actually I was asleep before they started, but I was so happy that I woke up to see the Everything is Awesome (from The Lego Movie, which I must see) performance which was like capping off a great day!
Since I believe in full disclosure, I should note that in the women's triathlon age groups, there is a steep drop off in participation in the 55-59 group, at least that's my observation. Why is this? I can speculate--grandchildren, menopause, loss of competitive desires, health issues--I just don't know. But the other thing I've observed is that if you weren't good at this until that age, it is incredibly difficult to get good at it around this time of life. I've witnessed, and I'm a good case study, women who take up aerobic sports in their 40's and become really good at it. I can also attest that menopause does a number on female physiology. Sometimes I feel like I'm just hanging in there, but for the most part, I feel outstanding, and I could not be doing what I'm doing now if I didn't make a concerted effort to retain my underlying strength and just, well, work my ass off. I feel pretty confident that as long as I don't completely annihilate myself, that I will continue to be at the top of my game for at least a few more years. But I don't want to just be at the top of my game--I want to be at the top of the game in many age groups and also among men! Perhaps that sounds asshole-y, but I put in the work with a strong desire to win.
I know I can't win every race I do at every distance--it depends on who shows up, whether or not I tapered, weather, gremlins, etc., but I will always go in knowing I trained to the absolute best of my abilities and gave it my all. I am no good at Olympic distance, for example--I just haven't done enough of them and it's that distance between sprint and 1/2 plus. But I'm racing a few of them this year and we will see how it goes. For another thing, I still don't consider myself a good runner--in a pure footrace, I more or less suck compared to pure runners, and I'm not the fastest swimmer, either. But I can bike like a demon, and I know how to race. Every time I toe the line I am happy to share some little tip (or five) with newer racers that they tell me made a huge difference in their day. That's the other thing--I really love giving back to others in the sport through coaching, mentoring and general spouting off of my mouth. I do have a little experience at this!
The art and skill of racing is developed by careful attention to detail both in training and in the lead up to a race--taper (if you do it!), nutrition, mental preparation, gear selection. Yikes I have all these little things that I do that work for me that make a huge difference in my mental state come race day, and despite the contribution that training makes to one's performance, the mental aspect is huge. For me, I tend to experience an appropriate amount of nervousness. If you lived with me, you'd experience it as me telling you to shut the fuck up, don't whistle, and stay out of my way. Then come race day, I can be pretty talkative with other racers and volunteers. Sometimes I can tell that other racers have that "deer in the headlights" thing going, and I try and help calm them down just a little. It's good to be nervous, but not too nervous. I am a non-stop laugh machine, as really, this is all just one big hoot to me, although the ability to laugh about it, I think, stems from all the hard work I've put in.
I like to sport temporary tattoos (still don't have any real ones!) for races. I have a huge envelope full of them. Some are funny, some are mean looking, some are gifts. For yesterday's race (I forgot to put any on 2 weeks ago), I picked 3: I had one more Iron Man left that I put on my left inner forearm:
I need to back up to what I did in training this past week in the lead up to the race. I didn't think doing a 3:30 ride/:30 brick run the day before was a good idea (although in retrospect maybe it was!), I only wanted to have to run for an hour after the race (that's about all I can tolerate--trust me, it's hard to get out and run after one of these), and I planned on doing a better warmup on race day. To accomplish these objectives, I ended up riding 2:05 on both Tuesday and Thursday, and then only 2:00 on Saturday. I added short runs on Tuesday and Thursday (not bricks) of :20 and :15, and then I planned for a :20 run/:20 bike warmup at home and a :05 run/:10 bike warmup onsite yesterday.
It was challenging doing those longer midweek rides on top of everything else, including that I'd decided I was ready to move my strength training from 2x10 to 3x8! Doesn't sound like a huge change, but trust me, it is! That alone added :15 to my strength training time, a little DOMS here and there, and some nice added fatigue.
Then on Friday, I did a stupid thing (that I will keep doing LOL!)--an ultrarunner friend of mine posted an article on Facebook about doing steep incline walking/running (IF you are able to even run) as part of training for hills and such. I don't usually run with an incline on the treadmill, but figured I could get all over walking--that was something I did to prepare for my first 50-miler. I'm also a big fan of using the Cybex Arc Trainer during the winter to prepare for stair climb races and general cross training, so I wasn't worried about my ability to go balls out walking on my treadmill at a steep incline. But I don't do anything the easy way, do I?
I had a :40 run scheduled for Friday, so I decided to do :35 of steep incline walking, and then :05 strides. I cranked my treadmill up to the maximum incline, 15%, and got to work. I was able to vary my speed from 3.6-4.1MPH walking. I was warned that my calves would take a huge beating, but I figured that my calves were used to having the crap beaten out of them in my bike workouts, and I was right! I got a massage Friday afternoon, and felt "appropriately" tired.
Saturday morning when I woke up, my calves were just fine, but my quads were a bit pissed off at me. I laughed, thinking, well this is what happens when you cram about 12.5 hours of training into your 5-day work week! It made my 2-hour ride interesting, but I was happy I'd moved things around so I could get a bunch of other stuff done on Saturday, since Sunday would be devoted to racing and recovering. I dropped off a package to send to a friend, went grocery shopping, bought some goodies at a specialty market, stretched, did some sewing, and made my final plans for race day.
When I woke up yesterday, I felt pretty good because I'd managed to get 8 hours of sleep. My legs were worked over, but too bad, that's how it goes when you're training for an Ironman to be strong enough to train for an Ultraman. Still, I figured I could do OK at the race, but if I didn't, I was happy knowing I was training well and meeting the higher objective. I'd slacked and hadn't actually picked my tattoos until yesterday morning, but then I had fun in choosing them and putting them on. I know it seems like I'm a bit silly for a 58 year old woman, but I really don't give a fuck what anyone thinks. All I know is that my silliness wears off on other people when I see them smiling, hear them laughing, and lightening the mood, because life can be a downer much of the time.
I picked out my warmup and race clothes, and began my warmup at home at 5:30. My start time was 8:00, and the race venue is only a 10-minute drive from home, and the club opened at 7AM, so all good. I ran for :20 on the treadmill, took a 5-minute break, then got on Skull Kingdom for :22. Things felt good, and I was hydrating and sweating normally. I had a bit of time to kill before I left, and I cracked a Coke at 6:30--I want to be done with the caffeine about an hour before race time. I left my house at 6:50 and finished my Coke on the way there.
I went to registration and asked if they were giving medals to the AG winners. They no longer give medals, which is fine by me--I had so many of those that I tossed over 20 of them from prior years a few years back! I went to the locker room and put my crap in there, then headed to the upstairs track and ran 1/2 mile rather easy, and I remembered to check where the buckets were in case I had to puke when I finished.
I went back downstairs and hopped on a bike for just over 10 minutes. There were a bunch of people warming up on the bikes, and I'd timed things so basically I hopped off, changed into my swimsuit and headed to the pool.
A girl numbered me up and I asked her to put a big "X" on my left calf as a joke (that I won't explain here). She was puzzled why I would want an X, but she did it, and then I told her to make it a "smiley X," and she did.
Before I got in, I chatted with 3 young volunteers and found my guy, Pranav. I asked them if they knew what HTFU means, and they didn't, so I explained it to them. This resulted in a boisterous laugh from everyone. I told Pranav that I wanted him to yell that at me while racing (although he could just use the letters) and also GO FATTY. This made all the kids laugh, too, as while I feel I could stand to lose 3-5 lbs., I'm not really "fat" fat. I explained that this comes from years ago when a group of friends decided we would yell this at one another during races--none of us are fat--but it sure grabs your attention when you hear someone yelling it! Maybe some people think it's mean, but it's really just funny to us.
My swim was predictably slow for me, as I was getting pushed towards the wall and had to look out for my lane mate who ended up smacking me pretty hard on the right hand (not my fault--I have a nice, narrow stroke and body profile--he got a little rambunctious), but I was OK. I got out and headed to the locker room to quickly shower off and change.
I'd told Pranav what height to set my bike seat at, and he'd done it, so when I got there, I reminded him of HTFU and GO FATTY, and we got started. Turns out in my wave (the first of the day) there were a few other AG leaders, so it was cool to have some good competition on the bike! I just looked down and rode as hard as I could for 20 minutes, and I hit the same mileage as I did 2 weeks ago, only on more training this time, so all good! Pranav fanned me with the paddle number (they put the bike numbers on a big stick so your volunteer can raise it and the people monitoring the leader board can move your little bike over another mile).
At this point, you are probably wondering why all the fuss about such a tiny indoor race? Because many competitive people show up--that's why! And it's just such fun, and in many cases, the volunteers are having just as much fun as we are. You will see volunteers jumping up and down, waving on their athlete and others, fanning us on the bike, hooting and hollering, and it's all such an intimate thing, which is why I keep coming back. It is just such a great feeling to be taken care of while doing something inherently silly, and even though I put on my game face, inside I'm smiling and having a great time.
At first, Pranav was trying to have a conversation with me on the bike, but I quickly pointed out that if I could talk, I wasn't working hard enough, so it was time for me to STFU, but I said he could talk at me! Which he did. He would ask me how I felt, and at least once I flipped him double birds, which made him laugh, and he did fan me which was great, and he was really attentive to being ready to hold up my number (I was bike number 8) when I hit another mile.
When I finished, I'd given it all I had and laid down on the floor for a few seconds, then got up and was like, oh fuck, my legs are toast, but hey--that's what happens in these things, right? All I could think was just make it through the run. As we lined up on the track, some people told me to go to the front that I was fast, and I was like, "I don't think so!" Still, there were 3 much younger and faster people on the track that lapped me a few times, then I was the next fastest, lapping everyone else. I was wearing a visor, but after maybe 1/2 mile, it was making my head too hot, so I tossed it into the volunteer area. It was a rather dramatic move, I think!
All in all, I swam a tad slower than 2 weeks ago, but did the same on the bike and run as 2 weeks ago, so I can't complain. I'd hoped to be faster across the board, but a hot pool and stupid Friday training trick conspired to hold me back from that objective.
I knew because of how hard I went on the bike that I was probably going to feel like puking when I was done, and I did, but I was about 1/8 lap from a bucket and I didn't want to backtrack. I thought maybe I could hold it back, so I walked back to where the volunteers were, and asked Pranav if there was a bucket there, and he said NO but pointed to some trash cans, so I bent over, grabbed onto the sides and hurled (just water). It felt so good to do that, I wiped off my mouth, stood up, and there were just so many smiles all around! I felt like I'd put a good effort out for the day, and people were snapping pics, but I didn't have my phone with me, so I asked Pranav to take one of me and his friends to get us together:
The massage was great, and the young man who worked on me was a joy to talk to. We talked about music, math, massage, art--my favorite things! I grabbed some more water, went to the locker room and changed into compression shorts and a fresh bra top, grabbed my bottle of Powerade, and headed to a treadmill. I always get odd stares being on a treadmill all numbered up, because it's obvious I already raced, and why would I be running more? Because I need to keep up my long run, that's why! But despite how much it sucks to run after one of these races (I'd already worked out about 1:45 including my warmups and the race itself), it's not so hard when there is so much energy in the gym while other people are still racing. I toughed it out for :55, then in between waves, ran my last 5 minutes on the track. I was well and thoroughly thagomized. The origin of that term is from this cartoon:
Now I could get another massage and then EAT! The second massage felt great, and my legs reflected the additional running. Earlier, they had sandwiches, but now there was PIZZA! I practically inhaled my first slice, then they brought some hot, fresh ones and I had another one. I chatted with some people I know and some strangers while I ate and talked off the racing energy. I laughed that when I finally got to the locker room that my face was still very rosy!
I took the BEST SHOWER EVER, fixed my crazy hair, packed up and went home. I'd won my AG again and won the series, but more importantly, I'd had an outstanding training week, somehow putting 17.4 hours in against a plan of 17, so all good!
This week, I have an "easy" week, since today is a rest day, Friday is sort of a rest day (just a short swim), and then on Saturday/Sunday, I am doing an Olympic NothingMan both days to prepare for Clermont Challenge, where I will do the 1/2 IM on Saturday and the Olympic on Sunday. Nothing here I haven't done before--I've trained like this for Triple T, Ironman and Ultraman. I'm looking forward to the weekend already, as to me it's as much fun to do a NothingMan (well almost) as an actual race, and now I can start dreaming about my first big race in 4 weeks!
I did just a little happy dance yesterday afternoon, most of which was spent laying around and eating. I knew I'd fall asleep during the Academy Awards, and actually I was asleep before they started, but I was so happy that I woke up to see the Everything is Awesome (from The Lego Movie, which I must see) performance which was like capping off a great day!
Monday, February 09, 2015
Winning Makes Me Happy!
I don't care what anyone thinks--winning my AG in a race makes me happy!
Yesterday was my first race of 2015--a supersprint indoor triathlon, where you swim 10', bike 20' and run 15' on indoor track. In years past, I have won my AG for the series (at one time there were 4 races all 2 weeks apart; now there are only 3) 4 times. This year, I couldn't make the first race because I was starting the Tour of Sufferlandria, but I registered for the 2nd and 3rd races.
I have never done any semblance of a taper for these things because why would I? But I can recall that in prior years, I wasn't training as much this soon in the year. Why am I training so much now? Because I have a 1/2 Ironman in 6 weeks, and I don't want to suck!
Let me back up to the beginning of last week. I had just finished Tour of Sufferlandria, and on Monday I was completely and thoroughly shagged. One of the data points I keep in my massive training spreadsheet is a rolling 7-day training total. As of last Monday, I was at 19 hours. All I did on Monday was shovel snow for an hour (recall Chicago had its 5th biggest snowstorm the day before--I got 19.1" at my house!).
Since I didn't know if I'd even be able to finish Tour of Sufferlandria, the training I planned for last week was, shall we say, a "tad" aggressive. When it came time for me to ride on Tuesday, I was like FUCK THIS WORKOUT and I shortened it and had to go much easier than planned. Which was fine. I always need to respect the recovery process despite what training I've planned, and my bike legs just weren't recovered. Plus I had run 30' and swum 3000 in the morning before I biked, so that added to the fatigue. At the end of Tuesday, my rolling 7-day total was back up to 20 hours.
On Wednesday, I shoveled over an hour (we got another 2-3" overnight), then went and swam 3000 and ran for an hour, including some track intervals just for fun. I was surprised that my run legs weren't kaput. Rolling 7-day total still at 20 hours.
On Thursday, I figured I should get back on my strength training, so I got in about an hour of that, then hit the bike, and again felt like my bike legs weren't back yet, so I held down the time and intensity a bit, but my rolling 7-day total stayed at 20 hours.
On Friday, I finished my strength training for the week, about 45', then swam 3200 (that before work), and later I ran 40', pretty easy. Yay--rolling 7-day total finally dropped to 19.4!
On Saturday, I was thinking how should I adjust things if I expect to race decently, then I decided I didn't really care since eye on the prize--I'm training for a 1/2 Ironman. But in the back of my mind I'm thinking I still want to win the stupid race. In the end, I cut back my scheduled 2:45 ride to 2:40, and my scheduled :30 brick run to :25. Some reduction, huh? And my bike intensity was still not there, but I didn't really expect it to be. Rolling 7-day total now down to 19.1. Yay! After I finished working out, I ate lunch, stretched, bought groceries, and then gave myself the gift of laying around the rest of the day in the hopes I would gain some recovery for a race the next day.
When I woke up yesterday, I immediately felt nervous. When I am nervous, my stomach does flip-flips. This goes all the way back to childhood. I had slept well, and my legs didn't feel bad. Then I had to decide how much warmup for the race to do. In retrospect, I should have done more biking, but I'll fix that in 2 weeks.
At home, I ran 5', biked 5', ran 5', biked 5' and ran 5'. Most of that was fairly easy, with a few accelerations in the last 10'. I started in on a Coke, that I would finish on my drive to the club. After I put my crap into a locker, I went and scoped out the bikes. They were different than the ones I'd used the last time I did this series, which was 3 years ago (and I won my AG for the series that year). So I got on the one spare, which really wasn't a spare--someone had been a no show. Thank God I was able to try out one of the bikes, because stationary bikes are all geared differently, and the key to winning these races is ALL ABOUT THE BIKE! And I am ALL ABOUT THE BIKE! So I gauged what I should shoot for in the race. Then I went upstairs to the indoor track and ran an easy 1/4 mile, then another 1/3 mile. I could tell my run legs weren't going to be great, but whatever, right?
Then I just hung out until it was time for me to start. My massage therapist has students from his school at these races, so I availed myself of one of them to just work on my upper back, since it was gnarly from Friday's swim with paddles. She was like we're not supposed to work on anyone until after they race, but Mike came over and told her it was OK that I know what I'm doing. That felt so good!
My start time was 10:05. A guy I know who was the announcer while I biked was on deck and numbered me up and drew a shark fin on my calf. He said he wanted to do some art on me, so I asked for the shark fin. I got in the water, and it was pleasantly cool--I'm guessing 82 or 83. My home pool is always too warm--usually 85. So I was grateful for the cool water. I swam an easy 200, and again, I could tell I was still pretty well fatigued from the past weeks of training, but whatever, right? At least I got my own swim lane!
My volunteer dude (who follows you around and tallies your laps and mileage) was Walt. A nice man, who plays tennis as his primary sport. He was a pretty quiet man, but smiley, and I appreciated that. I tend to joke a lot when I am racing--it helps me to calm my nerves. With my cumulative fatigue, I decided I would just swim steady and not try and punch it. I felt great, felt like my stroke was the best ever, and didn't feel like my heart was going to jump out of my chest as I exited the water.
In years past, I'd wear a 2-piece bikini to swim in and keep the top on and just change into bike shorts, but this year I've been feeling flabby and that I wouldn't look good enough in a bikini, so I wore a one-piece suit, my lucky suit:
The ladies in the locker room were all commenting on my cute suit. Until I stripped it off and then warned everyone I was going to start swearing pretty fast while I put on my bike shorts. Some of the ladies were watching me strip or something, and someone commented on how great my abs look. I shrugged it off, saying that I was a little fat, and one of them said she hadn't been as small as me since she was 13, and someone else said NEVER. It's all relative, right?
I managed to get my CwX tri shorts over my fat ass, got my socks and shoes on (I put talcum powder into my socks just like in longer races because it dries up the excess water in a flash), and headed out to the bike. I had Lane 1 in the swim, but Bike 2. WTF, right?
I was ready to suffer on the bike. I figured this couldn't be as hard as the shit I'd done the prior week, and I felt VERY well prepared. There was a guy in my wave that had his name on his tri suit, so I figured he was a player, and I was right. There was another young man that also looked to be quite fast, and I was right about him, too. But I was the fastest female biker in my wave, and also the oldest. I tested out my "system" for achieving maximal bike distance, and I know I can go faster in the next race. I just love crushing people on the bike! Especially people younger than me! After I finished, I threw my towel on the floor and laid on it for a few seconds. I figured my run was going to suck, but them's the breaks sometimes, right?
I went upstairs to the track and jogged around once. I decided I wasn't going to look at my watch, and I was just going to try and run steady, which is what I did. There was a girl in front of me for about 4 laps that I figured was going to crap out, and I did pass her. The speedy young dudes were just flying. Since it's been a long time since I've gone so totally anaerobic like I did on the bike, I was pretty sure I was going to puke my guts out when I finished. It was all I could do to not slow down on the run. I'm not happy with my run, but I've learned that for me to run effectively, I DO actually need a taper--swimming and biking not so much!
I managed to hang on and not slow down, and I did puke (it was all water) in a bucket, and it felt good! At least I knew that I had gone as hard as I could on the day! First order of post-race business was to go and get a massage. They had pizza, fruit, water, Gatorade, sandwiches and energy bars for us. I longingly looked at the pizza, which I couldn't have, because I still had to run another hour. But I ate 1/2 banana and grabbed some water, then went and got an awesome leg massage.
I had forgotten that at this club they don't let you use the treadmills because they are inside the track and don't want people in there. So I decided that since I was going to run real easy anyway, that I'd do some of it on elliptical. I did 15' on there while one of the waves was going. It was way more motivating to do that than just on my own. I hate elliptical. The other people on the machines were giving me weird looks because they could see I'd already raced because of my sweat and the numbers on me. I was still working harder than they were!
After that wave finished, I went and ran 1/2 mile on the track real easy, and could tell I was thoroughly shagged, but I still had more running to do. I saw another racer on a treadmill, and I figured if he could do it, then I should be able to. I asked someone who works at the club, told him I promised I wouldn't die, and he said it was OK. It was really cool to be on the treadmill with the music blaring (they have awesome DJs at these events) and people literally running circles around me! It made the suckage of running 40' on the treadmill not so bad.
But then I was FUCKING DONE! I went back downstairs with one thing in mind: PIZZA! I don't eat pizza very often, but this was well deserved. I think I inhaled the first piece of sausage, then they laid out some fresh ones that were pepperoni, and I ate 2 slices of that. I drank another bottle of water, then went and got my 3rd massage of the day! My legs were a bit more gnarly than immediately post-race because I'd run more, so it really helped to get another massage.
Then, of course, I had to go and check results. While there was at least 1 more woman in my AG that wasn't yet posted, I'm pretty sure I won. I actually placed pretty well in the overall rankings, too, for an old lady.
For the next race in 2 weeks, I am going to shuffle my bike training so I don't do 3:30 the day before! Even though I might still win my AG after that, I want to have a good run, and so I will limit my biking to 2 hours the day before, and we'll see how it goes.
I was so shagged yesterday after I got home that I immediately changed into pajamas (2:30!), and alternated laying in bed watching TV and/or reading with eating and drinking beer. This morning, as soon as I woke up, I thought, "I fucking won that race yesterday!" and got the biggest grin on my face. I know it's not much of a race, but still, it felt good to do that on top of all the training I've been doing, and it was a great way to kick off the 2015 racing season. I did do a happy dance in my living room. Now I have to keep up the momentum and not burn myself out, as my A-race, Ironman Louisville, is still 8 months out.
Oh--I had my lungs checked out and they are FINE! The tech at the hospital agreed with me that because I'd had my house all sealed up that my allergies had flared, and possibly I had an infection that the steroids helped clear up. I told him that usually after a really hard effort I have a coughing fit, and since I've been regularly using the albuterol before workouts that doesn't happen so much. I just realized that even though I puked after the race yesterday that I didn't have a coughing fit!
I also had my yearly mammogram, and this time it was 100% normal without a follow-on diagnostic, so that made me happy, too. Now I am just waiting to see the higher dose of Synthroid kick in (I don't think it's quite there yet), and then I will see if I feel even better. I decided to stop taking the CoQ10, because I think it's contributing to my lessened sleep and/or weight gain, so we'll see how that experiment goes.
So all in all, the physical systems are in good shape, I'm training like a maniac and WINNING! I couldn't be happier today, even though I am so tired it's crazy! But today is a rest day, unless I decide to try a short swim (which I think would be helpful). And I am HUNGRY!
LIFE IS OUTSTANDING!
Yesterday was my first race of 2015--a supersprint indoor triathlon, where you swim 10', bike 20' and run 15' on indoor track. In years past, I have won my AG for the series (at one time there were 4 races all 2 weeks apart; now there are only 3) 4 times. This year, I couldn't make the first race because I was starting the Tour of Sufferlandria, but I registered for the 2nd and 3rd races.
I have never done any semblance of a taper for these things because why would I? But I can recall that in prior years, I wasn't training as much this soon in the year. Why am I training so much now? Because I have a 1/2 Ironman in 6 weeks, and I don't want to suck!
Let me back up to the beginning of last week. I had just finished Tour of Sufferlandria, and on Monday I was completely and thoroughly shagged. One of the data points I keep in my massive training spreadsheet is a rolling 7-day training total. As of last Monday, I was at 19 hours. All I did on Monday was shovel snow for an hour (recall Chicago had its 5th biggest snowstorm the day before--I got 19.1" at my house!).
Since I didn't know if I'd even be able to finish Tour of Sufferlandria, the training I planned for last week was, shall we say, a "tad" aggressive. When it came time for me to ride on Tuesday, I was like FUCK THIS WORKOUT and I shortened it and had to go much easier than planned. Which was fine. I always need to respect the recovery process despite what training I've planned, and my bike legs just weren't recovered. Plus I had run 30' and swum 3000 in the morning before I biked, so that added to the fatigue. At the end of Tuesday, my rolling 7-day total was back up to 20 hours.
On Wednesday, I shoveled over an hour (we got another 2-3" overnight), then went and swam 3000 and ran for an hour, including some track intervals just for fun. I was surprised that my run legs weren't kaput. Rolling 7-day total still at 20 hours.
On Thursday, I figured I should get back on my strength training, so I got in about an hour of that, then hit the bike, and again felt like my bike legs weren't back yet, so I held down the time and intensity a bit, but my rolling 7-day total stayed at 20 hours.
On Friday, I finished my strength training for the week, about 45', then swam 3200 (that before work), and later I ran 40', pretty easy. Yay--rolling 7-day total finally dropped to 19.4!
On Saturday, I was thinking how should I adjust things if I expect to race decently, then I decided I didn't really care since eye on the prize--I'm training for a 1/2 Ironman. But in the back of my mind I'm thinking I still want to win the stupid race. In the end, I cut back my scheduled 2:45 ride to 2:40, and my scheduled :30 brick run to :25. Some reduction, huh? And my bike intensity was still not there, but I didn't really expect it to be. Rolling 7-day total now down to 19.1. Yay! After I finished working out, I ate lunch, stretched, bought groceries, and then gave myself the gift of laying around the rest of the day in the hopes I would gain some recovery for a race the next day.
When I woke up yesterday, I immediately felt nervous. When I am nervous, my stomach does flip-flips. This goes all the way back to childhood. I had slept well, and my legs didn't feel bad. Then I had to decide how much warmup for the race to do. In retrospect, I should have done more biking, but I'll fix that in 2 weeks.
At home, I ran 5', biked 5', ran 5', biked 5' and ran 5'. Most of that was fairly easy, with a few accelerations in the last 10'. I started in on a Coke, that I would finish on my drive to the club. After I put my crap into a locker, I went and scoped out the bikes. They were different than the ones I'd used the last time I did this series, which was 3 years ago (and I won my AG for the series that year). So I got on the one spare, which really wasn't a spare--someone had been a no show. Thank God I was able to try out one of the bikes, because stationary bikes are all geared differently, and the key to winning these races is ALL ABOUT THE BIKE! And I am ALL ABOUT THE BIKE! So I gauged what I should shoot for in the race. Then I went upstairs to the indoor track and ran an easy 1/4 mile, then another 1/3 mile. I could tell my run legs weren't going to be great, but whatever, right?
Then I just hung out until it was time for me to start. My massage therapist has students from his school at these races, so I availed myself of one of them to just work on my upper back, since it was gnarly from Friday's swim with paddles. She was like we're not supposed to work on anyone until after they race, but Mike came over and told her it was OK that I know what I'm doing. That felt so good!
My start time was 10:05. A guy I know who was the announcer while I biked was on deck and numbered me up and drew a shark fin on my calf. He said he wanted to do some art on me, so I asked for the shark fin. I got in the water, and it was pleasantly cool--I'm guessing 82 or 83. My home pool is always too warm--usually 85. So I was grateful for the cool water. I swam an easy 200, and again, I could tell I was still pretty well fatigued from the past weeks of training, but whatever, right? At least I got my own swim lane!
My volunteer dude (who follows you around and tallies your laps and mileage) was Walt. A nice man, who plays tennis as his primary sport. He was a pretty quiet man, but smiley, and I appreciated that. I tend to joke a lot when I am racing--it helps me to calm my nerves. With my cumulative fatigue, I decided I would just swim steady and not try and punch it. I felt great, felt like my stroke was the best ever, and didn't feel like my heart was going to jump out of my chest as I exited the water.
In years past, I'd wear a 2-piece bikini to swim in and keep the top on and just change into bike shorts, but this year I've been feeling flabby and that I wouldn't look good enough in a bikini, so I wore a one-piece suit, my lucky suit:
I managed to get my CwX tri shorts over my fat ass, got my socks and shoes on (I put talcum powder into my socks just like in longer races because it dries up the excess water in a flash), and headed out to the bike. I had Lane 1 in the swim, but Bike 2. WTF, right?
I was ready to suffer on the bike. I figured this couldn't be as hard as the shit I'd done the prior week, and I felt VERY well prepared. There was a guy in my wave that had his name on his tri suit, so I figured he was a player, and I was right. There was another young man that also looked to be quite fast, and I was right about him, too. But I was the fastest female biker in my wave, and also the oldest. I tested out my "system" for achieving maximal bike distance, and I know I can go faster in the next race. I just love crushing people on the bike! Especially people younger than me! After I finished, I threw my towel on the floor and laid on it for a few seconds. I figured my run was going to suck, but them's the breaks sometimes, right?
I went upstairs to the track and jogged around once. I decided I wasn't going to look at my watch, and I was just going to try and run steady, which is what I did. There was a girl in front of me for about 4 laps that I figured was going to crap out, and I did pass her. The speedy young dudes were just flying. Since it's been a long time since I've gone so totally anaerobic like I did on the bike, I was pretty sure I was going to puke my guts out when I finished. It was all I could do to not slow down on the run. I'm not happy with my run, but I've learned that for me to run effectively, I DO actually need a taper--swimming and biking not so much!
I managed to hang on and not slow down, and I did puke (it was all water) in a bucket, and it felt good! At least I knew that I had gone as hard as I could on the day! First order of post-race business was to go and get a massage. They had pizza, fruit, water, Gatorade, sandwiches and energy bars for us. I longingly looked at the pizza, which I couldn't have, because I still had to run another hour. But I ate 1/2 banana and grabbed some water, then went and got an awesome leg massage.
I had forgotten that at this club they don't let you use the treadmills because they are inside the track and don't want people in there. So I decided that since I was going to run real easy anyway, that I'd do some of it on elliptical. I did 15' on there while one of the waves was going. It was way more motivating to do that than just on my own. I hate elliptical. The other people on the machines were giving me weird looks because they could see I'd already raced because of my sweat and the numbers on me. I was still working harder than they were!
After that wave finished, I went and ran 1/2 mile on the track real easy, and could tell I was thoroughly shagged, but I still had more running to do. I saw another racer on a treadmill, and I figured if he could do it, then I should be able to. I asked someone who works at the club, told him I promised I wouldn't die, and he said it was OK. It was really cool to be on the treadmill with the music blaring (they have awesome DJs at these events) and people literally running circles around me! It made the suckage of running 40' on the treadmill not so bad.
But then I was FUCKING DONE! I went back downstairs with one thing in mind: PIZZA! I don't eat pizza very often, but this was well deserved. I think I inhaled the first piece of sausage, then they laid out some fresh ones that were pepperoni, and I ate 2 slices of that. I drank another bottle of water, then went and got my 3rd massage of the day! My legs were a bit more gnarly than immediately post-race because I'd run more, so it really helped to get another massage.
Then, of course, I had to go and check results. While there was at least 1 more woman in my AG that wasn't yet posted, I'm pretty sure I won. I actually placed pretty well in the overall rankings, too, for an old lady.
For the next race in 2 weeks, I am going to shuffle my bike training so I don't do 3:30 the day before! Even though I might still win my AG after that, I want to have a good run, and so I will limit my biking to 2 hours the day before, and we'll see how it goes.
I was so shagged yesterday after I got home that I immediately changed into pajamas (2:30!), and alternated laying in bed watching TV and/or reading with eating and drinking beer. This morning, as soon as I woke up, I thought, "I fucking won that race yesterday!" and got the biggest grin on my face. I know it's not much of a race, but still, it felt good to do that on top of all the training I've been doing, and it was a great way to kick off the 2015 racing season. I did do a happy dance in my living room. Now I have to keep up the momentum and not burn myself out, as my A-race, Ironman Louisville, is still 8 months out.
Oh--I had my lungs checked out and they are FINE! The tech at the hospital agreed with me that because I'd had my house all sealed up that my allergies had flared, and possibly I had an infection that the steroids helped clear up. I told him that usually after a really hard effort I have a coughing fit, and since I've been regularly using the albuterol before workouts that doesn't happen so much. I just realized that even though I puked after the race yesterday that I didn't have a coughing fit!
I also had my yearly mammogram, and this time it was 100% normal without a follow-on diagnostic, so that made me happy, too. Now I am just waiting to see the higher dose of Synthroid kick in (I don't think it's quite there yet), and then I will see if I feel even better. I decided to stop taking the CoQ10, because I think it's contributing to my lessened sleep and/or weight gain, so we'll see how that experiment goes.
So all in all, the physical systems are in good shape, I'm training like a maniac and WINNING! I couldn't be happier today, even though I am so tired it's crazy! But today is a rest day, unless I decide to try a short swim (which I think would be helpful). And I am HUNGRY!
LIFE IS OUTSTANDING!
Sunday, November 30, 2014
2014 Triple Dog Dare Race Report
What's a Triple Dog Dare (TDD), you say?
This is something I'd done before in 2008:
I did it to prepare for American Triple T. Back then, I was one of the first people to "invent" this thing to train for that race. I talked about it on Slowtwitch forum, and since that time, it's commonplace for people to do some variant of this to get ready for the race. I've also done a sprint/Oly/Oly, which is less stressful than TDD.
In March, 2015, I'll be doing Clermont Challenge, and I'm doing both races--the 1/2 Ironman on Saturday, and the Olympic on Sunday. I will race the 1/2 and just suffer through the Olympic, so doing a TDD now is good prep for a double 4 months out. I will also do an Oly/Oly weekend 3 weeks prior to that race.
The other reason I scheduled a TDD for now is that I wanted to see where my fitness is at, since I begin formal training for 2015 tomorrow. In swim training, I calculate a T-pace (threshold pace), and then most workouts are expressed in relation to that pace. In bike training, I need to approximate my FTP (Functional Threshold Power), and then bike workouts are expressed in relation to that wattage. In run training, I need to determine my VDOT (from Daniels' Running Formula you can find a calculator here), and then my training paces are calculated from that.
The plan was to go hard for the sprint (as if in actual racing conditions), semi-hard (approximately 1/2 Ironman pace) for the Olympic, and steady (approximately Ironman pace) for the 1/2. I've only raced 5 sprints (3 triathlons and 2 duathlons) and one Olympic (that I was in absolutely piss poor shape for) this year and 4 open running races, and have only been training consistently for 5 months. In that time, I only had volume goals, and wasn't following any specific workouts except for swimming. I've been getting one on one swim coaching for all of 3 weeks!
I wasn't at all concerned about my ability to complete TDD, as I have an extremely deep base, and knew I'd been hitting sufficient volume to power me through. I've been swimming 9-10k/week for 15 weeks, running 25+ miles per week for 18 weeks, but only biking around 6 hours per week for last 18 weeks. That is not a whole lot of time to be ready for nearly an Ironman, especially since that's really a pathetic amount of biking, but the whole point of this TDD was to see where I'm at and go from there.
There are pics from TDD 2014 on Facebook here. If you aren't friends with me on Facebook, you loser, you should be! That's where I tend to put up pics now instead of Flickr. Anyway, the purpose of TDD was not only to calibrate training paces, but for me to have a shitload of FUN! I love racing, whether or not I collect a medal and T-shirt in the process, and I'm able to push myself just as hard on my own as I can in a race.
I fixed 9 bottles of Infinit (for days 2 and 3 figuring I'd be around 3 hours for the Oly and 6 for the 1/2), 2 bottles of Ultrafuel (for days 2 and 3--don't need it for a sprint), and already had bottles of Endurox R4 for days 1 and 2 (1/2 strength) in my fridge, but mixed up a full strength bottle for day 3.
I planned to do the entire sprint at my Y to avoid excessive transition times, and then I could run on the indoor track instead of a treadmill. For the Oly and 1/2, the plan was to swim at the Y and then head home and ride on the trainer and run on my treadmill.
I continue to be on a weirdo sleep schedule where I pass out around 7:30 and am up at 2-2:30. What do I do from 2:30 until the time I begin working? Well sometimes I do some work, and I get a lot of personal things done, like cleaning, cooking, sewing, organizing my training data, and general life planning. On M/W/F, I am at the pool 6AM, so there's really not that much time from when I wake up until I swim. I am sure this schedule will eventually adjust, but it happens to work great for when I'm racing! I like to have all my pre-race calories in me 2.5-3 hours before I start.
Wednesday I had to work, so I needed to get my sprint on before work. 2008 TDD Sprint was actually a supersprint, same as Triple T--500 swim/5 mile bike/1 mile run. This year's model I decided to do a "full" sprint of 500 swim/13 mile bike (about 20k)/5k run. This would be a better measure of my short course speed.
Here is what I posted to Facebook for my Day 1 Summary:
Turns out I'm not in as bad a shape as I thought 500 yd. swim in 9:00 flat (OK I'm still a slow swimmer but that's faster than I've swum in at least 2 years--the coaching is WORKING!), 13 mile bike in 44:35 (on a Cybex which is geared for crap, so I'm ok with that), and a 3.269 mile run (because of indoor track with 12 laps to the mile, so ran 3 plus 2 laps) in 26:45. Run pace I'm only off by 1 VDOT number from where I was in 2009, and I haven't done a lick of speed work (except for a few races) this year, so FUCK YEAH 2015 is waiting for me!
Needless to say, I was pleased as fuck! I forgot to mention that I did not taper for this shit AT ALL. Last weekend, I did a 2:05 run and a 2:45 trainer ride. I'd wanted to ride 3 hours, but I had company over and felt that 2:45 was enough. Although I did skip my 1:30 Thursday ride because I worked 13 hours that day. The weekend before that I did a 25k "race" that I didn't race because it was fairly technical trails and it was cold and slippery and I crashed at one point (but was fine) and it was the hilliest run I'd done since Northface Endurance Challenge in 2009. So on no taper, no speedwork (except for those few races where I sucked), here was a decent swim and 5k run! The indoor bike just doesn't really translate to anything, plus I didn't expect much from my biking based on my pathetic bike training.
One thing I've learned after doing numerous multiple day training events and races is that you need to be on top of your nutrition ALL THE TIME during it--pre-race loading, during race calories, post-race calorie replacement and loading for the next day. I didn't write down everything I took in on Wednesday, but I know I drank 6 oz. of flat Coke right before I raced, then went through about 32 oz. of Gatorade during. I drank 1/2 strength Endurox R4 right away after I finished, and for dinner that night I ate about 1/2 lb. of spaghetti with homemade pesto and about 6 oz. of grilled salmon. And I believe I had 1 maybe 2 beers.
When I woke up on Thursday morning (not working that day), I felt pretty good. Actually great! I did, however, feel like I'd raced the prior day. Which means I went sufficiently hard in the sprint, which was perfect. I started at 6:10, as I wanted to be done well before lunch, as I was heading to my brother Mike's for Thanksgiving dinner, and needed to make some side dishes to take with me. I'd already made almond biscotti on Monday, and I could have eaten all of them they were SO GOOD, but I digress.
Day 2 Facebook Summary Post:
Triple Dog Dare Day 2 Olympic Summary: FUCKIN A! I performed way better than expected! 1500 yd. swim 28:21 = 1:53 (not thrilled with that, but I'll take it); 25 mile bike (on MY bike with POWER!) in 1:14:51 = 20mph (rode first :30 at about 18mph then picked it up ha ha); 10k run in 59:31 (9:36/mile). All this day after running my best 5K in...5 years? Tomorrow might suck, but that's OK, all I have to do is Ironman pace.
So...if I peg Day 2 as me going at 1/2 Ironman pace, um...that's pretty fucking outstanding for me! And I'm not even trained up yet! And I typically run faster outdoors than on a treadmill! To say I was feeling pretty good about all this would be the understatement of the century! Also that day, I received an email from USA Triathlon telling me I'd qualified for AG Nationals! What the fuck, right? I qualified at Naperville Sprint, where I only managed 2nd in my AG on no training. I'm going to do the Olympic at AG Nats, as it's an honor, and 2015 is the year where I race my fucking head off.
So what a day I had on TDD Day 2. I did keep track of everything I ate and drank that day:
Breakfast and pre-race loading:
I didn't add up all the calories above, and who the fuck cares, anyway? I needed them. I really enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with my brother and his wife and son. After we ate, Mike let me choose what to watch on TV (since I don't have cable), and guess what was on? Iron Man 2! I've seen it a couple of times, but will watch it whenever I can. What a great day!
I felt expectedly tired Thursday night, slept well, but was rarin' to go on Friday for my 1/2 Ironman. I managed to start at 6:05. Here's my Day 3 Facebook Summary Post:
Triple Dog Dare Day 3: I'M DONE! It went well today, and as predicted, I felt like I was in an Ironman (but not until I got on the bike). Swim 2100 yds. in 36:47 (with fins I was lazy, but still went easy) = 1:45/100, Bike 56 miles in 3:00.50 (18.56mph yeah it felt like IM pace for sure), Run 13.1 miles on treadmill in 2:16.58 = 10:27/mile. Lots of mental toughness today, for sure. I've never done a TDD all indoors (I've done 1/2 IM indoors many times), so yay for that this is a first! Did not want to kill myself until about 7 miles into the run, but once I'm halfway, I know I'm good.
So if that was representative of my potential Ironman pace, I'm doing great! But, the course was completely flat, there was no wind, and no untoward weather to contend with! But still, I felt really good about my performance.
Once again, I kept track of everything that went into my mouth that day:
I will leave you with 3 pics from my "event" that capture how happy I was doing this:
Now, I know that many people would hate doing all this indoors and think, "why would someone do this when there is no medal or t-shirt or spectators?" Because I can. Because I believe I've been given a gift to be able to be this fit and need to express my passion for it by doing things like this in addition to "normal" races, and to show others how much joy I get from it, and then I write about it here on my blog so people see that it's possible and also a valid way to train.
Do what you can with passion so you can spread the joy of possibility!
This is something I'd done before in 2008:
In March, 2015, I'll be doing Clermont Challenge, and I'm doing both races--the 1/2 Ironman on Saturday, and the Olympic on Sunday. I will race the 1/2 and just suffer through the Olympic, so doing a TDD now is good prep for a double 4 months out. I will also do an Oly/Oly weekend 3 weeks prior to that race.
The other reason I scheduled a TDD for now is that I wanted to see where my fitness is at, since I begin formal training for 2015 tomorrow. In swim training, I calculate a T-pace (threshold pace), and then most workouts are expressed in relation to that pace. In bike training, I need to approximate my FTP (Functional Threshold Power), and then bike workouts are expressed in relation to that wattage. In run training, I need to determine my VDOT (from Daniels' Running Formula you can find a calculator here), and then my training paces are calculated from that.
The plan was to go hard for the sprint (as if in actual racing conditions), semi-hard (approximately 1/2 Ironman pace) for the Olympic, and steady (approximately Ironman pace) for the 1/2. I've only raced 5 sprints (3 triathlons and 2 duathlons) and one Olympic (that I was in absolutely piss poor shape for) this year and 4 open running races, and have only been training consistently for 5 months. In that time, I only had volume goals, and wasn't following any specific workouts except for swimming. I've been getting one on one swim coaching for all of 3 weeks!
I wasn't at all concerned about my ability to complete TDD, as I have an extremely deep base, and knew I'd been hitting sufficient volume to power me through. I've been swimming 9-10k/week for 15 weeks, running 25+ miles per week for 18 weeks, but only biking around 6 hours per week for last 18 weeks. That is not a whole lot of time to be ready for nearly an Ironman, especially since that's really a pathetic amount of biking, but the whole point of this TDD was to see where I'm at and go from there.
There are pics from TDD 2014 on Facebook here. If you aren't friends with me on Facebook, you loser, you should be! That's where I tend to put up pics now instead of Flickr. Anyway, the purpose of TDD was not only to calibrate training paces, but for me to have a shitload of FUN! I love racing, whether or not I collect a medal and T-shirt in the process, and I'm able to push myself just as hard on my own as I can in a race.
I fixed 9 bottles of Infinit (for days 2 and 3 figuring I'd be around 3 hours for the Oly and 6 for the 1/2), 2 bottles of Ultrafuel (for days 2 and 3--don't need it for a sprint), and already had bottles of Endurox R4 for days 1 and 2 (1/2 strength) in my fridge, but mixed up a full strength bottle for day 3.
I planned to do the entire sprint at my Y to avoid excessive transition times, and then I could run on the indoor track instead of a treadmill. For the Oly and 1/2, the plan was to swim at the Y and then head home and ride on the trainer and run on my treadmill.
I continue to be on a weirdo sleep schedule where I pass out around 7:30 and am up at 2-2:30. What do I do from 2:30 until the time I begin working? Well sometimes I do some work, and I get a lot of personal things done, like cleaning, cooking, sewing, organizing my training data, and general life planning. On M/W/F, I am at the pool 6AM, so there's really not that much time from when I wake up until I swim. I am sure this schedule will eventually adjust, but it happens to work great for when I'm racing! I like to have all my pre-race calories in me 2.5-3 hours before I start.
Wednesday I had to work, so I needed to get my sprint on before work. 2008 TDD Sprint was actually a supersprint, same as Triple T--500 swim/5 mile bike/1 mile run. This year's model I decided to do a "full" sprint of 500 swim/13 mile bike (about 20k)/5k run. This would be a better measure of my short course speed.
Here is what I posted to Facebook for my Day 1 Summary:
Turns out I'm not in as bad a shape as I thought 500 yd. swim in 9:00 flat (OK I'm still a slow swimmer but that's faster than I've swum in at least 2 years--the coaching is WORKING!), 13 mile bike in 44:35 (on a Cybex which is geared for crap, so I'm ok with that), and a 3.269 mile run (because of indoor track with 12 laps to the mile, so ran 3 plus 2 laps) in 26:45. Run pace I'm only off by 1 VDOT number from where I was in 2009, and I haven't done a lick of speed work (except for a few races) this year, so FUCK YEAH 2015 is waiting for me!
Needless to say, I was pleased as fuck! I forgot to mention that I did not taper for this shit AT ALL. Last weekend, I did a 2:05 run and a 2:45 trainer ride. I'd wanted to ride 3 hours, but I had company over and felt that 2:45 was enough. Although I did skip my 1:30 Thursday ride because I worked 13 hours that day. The weekend before that I did a 25k "race" that I didn't race because it was fairly technical trails and it was cold and slippery and I crashed at one point (but was fine) and it was the hilliest run I'd done since Northface Endurance Challenge in 2009. So on no taper, no speedwork (except for those few races where I sucked), here was a decent swim and 5k run! The indoor bike just doesn't really translate to anything, plus I didn't expect much from my biking based on my pathetic bike training.
One thing I've learned after doing numerous multiple day training events and races is that you need to be on top of your nutrition ALL THE TIME during it--pre-race loading, during race calories, post-race calorie replacement and loading for the next day. I didn't write down everything I took in on Wednesday, but I know I drank 6 oz. of flat Coke right before I raced, then went through about 32 oz. of Gatorade during. I drank 1/2 strength Endurox R4 right away after I finished, and for dinner that night I ate about 1/2 lb. of spaghetti with homemade pesto and about 6 oz. of grilled salmon. And I believe I had 1 maybe 2 beers.
When I woke up on Thursday morning (not working that day), I felt pretty good. Actually great! I did, however, feel like I'd raced the prior day. Which means I went sufficiently hard in the sprint, which was perfect. I started at 6:10, as I wanted to be done well before lunch, as I was heading to my brother Mike's for Thanksgiving dinner, and needed to make some side dishes to take with me. I'd already made almond biscotti on Monday, and I could have eaten all of them they were SO GOOD, but I digress.
Day 2 Facebook Summary Post:
Triple Dog Dare Day 2 Olympic Summary: FUCKIN A! I performed way better than expected! 1500 yd. swim 28:21 = 1:53 (not thrilled with that, but I'll take it); 25 mile bike (on MY bike with POWER!) in 1:14:51 = 20mph (rode first :30 at about 18mph then picked it up ha ha); 10k run in 59:31 (9:36/mile). All this day after running my best 5K in...5 years? Tomorrow might suck, but that's OK, all I have to do is Ironman pace.
So...if I peg Day 2 as me going at 1/2 Ironman pace, um...that's pretty fucking outstanding for me! And I'm not even trained up yet! And I typically run faster outdoors than on a treadmill! To say I was feeling pretty good about all this would be the understatement of the century! Also that day, I received an email from USA Triathlon telling me I'd qualified for AG Nationals! What the fuck, right? I qualified at Naperville Sprint, where I only managed 2nd in my AG on no training. I'm going to do the Olympic at AG Nats, as it's an honor, and 2015 is the year where I race my fucking head off.
So what a day I had on TDD Day 2. I did keep track of everything I ate and drank that day:
Breakfast and pre-race loading:
·
Carrot/raisin homemade muffin and hardboiled egg
·
200 calories Ultrafuel
During race:
·
2.5 bottles Infinit
Lunch/Recovery:
·
200 calories Endurox R4
·
Lean Cuisine Tortilla crusted fish
·
2 beers (1 Beck’s and 1 Harp Lager)
Thanksgiving Dinner with my Brother and his Family:
·
½ bottle of Ste. Michelle Riesling (shared with Mike)
·
3 dinner rolls
·
6 oz. turkey breast
·
¼ stick butter (went on rolls and carrots)
·
Carrots sautéed in Marsala (I made these after
my race)
·
Cranberry sauce
·
Salad (cucumber, radishes, orange, mint, lemon
juice/olive oil dressing) that I made after my race
·
3 of my almond/lemon biscotti
·
2 thick slices sweet potato
Dinner #2 (I was still hungry!) about 7PM:
·
Entire package Uncle Ben’s amazing rice jasmine
with romano cheese and crème of balsamic
·
1 carton Fage 0% yogurt
·
1 fun size package Twizzlers
I didn't add up all the calories above, and who the fuck cares, anyway? I needed them. I really enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with my brother and his wife and son. After we ate, Mike let me choose what to watch on TV (since I don't have cable), and guess what was on? Iron Man 2! I've seen it a couple of times, but will watch it whenever I can. What a great day!
I felt expectedly tired Thursday night, slept well, but was rarin' to go on Friday for my 1/2 Ironman. I managed to start at 6:05. Here's my Day 3 Facebook Summary Post:
Triple Dog Dare Day 3: I'M DONE! It went well today, and as predicted, I felt like I was in an Ironman (but not until I got on the bike). Swim 2100 yds. in 36:47 (with fins I was lazy, but still went easy) = 1:45/100, Bike 56 miles in 3:00.50 (18.56mph yeah it felt like IM pace for sure), Run 13.1 miles on treadmill in 2:16.58 = 10:27/mile. Lots of mental toughness today, for sure. I've never done a TDD all indoors (I've done 1/2 IM indoors many times), so yay for that this is a first! Did not want to kill myself until about 7 miles into the run, but once I'm halfway, I know I'm good.
So if that was representative of my potential Ironman pace, I'm doing great! But, the course was completely flat, there was no wind, and no untoward weather to contend with! But still, I felt really good about my performance.
Once again, I kept track of everything that went into my mouth that day:
Breakfast and pre-race loading:
·
Carrot/raisin homemade muffin and hardboiled egg
·
300 calories Ultrafuel
During race:
·
5.5 bottles Infinit
·
1 piece cheddar string cheese on bike
·
1 Gu on bike (Peanut Butter)
Post-race recovery and lunch
·
270 calories Endurox R4
·
3 beers (well 1 right away other 2 were probably between lunch and dinner)
·
6 oz. grilled salmon
·
Tartar sauce: about 4 tbsp. light mayo plus 1.5
tbsp. pickle relish
·
About ¾ cup leftover carrots sautéed in Marsala,
but with 1 tsp. butter on top
Dinner:
·
1 roasted chicken leg
·
The chicken liver from whole roasted chicken
plus the neck meat (yeah I love that stuff)
·
1.5 cups of broccoli Stufati (broccoli, cured
black olives, anchovies, onions, romano cheese cooked in red wine)
·
1 carrot/raisin pumpkin muffin (needed something
sweet)
Evening snack (this was around 11PM when I woke up
hungry):
·
1 fun size Twizzlers
·
½ turkey sandwich: whole wheat bread, buttered,
with about 2 oz. turkey leftover from Thursday.
I will leave you with 3 pics from my "event" that capture how happy I was doing this:
Now, I know that many people would hate doing all this indoors and think, "why would someone do this when there is no medal or t-shirt or spectators?" Because I can. Because I believe I've been given a gift to be able to be this fit and need to express my passion for it by doing things like this in addition to "normal" races, and to show others how much joy I get from it, and then I write about it here on my blog so people see that it's possible and also a valid way to train.
Do what you can with passion so you can spread the joy of possibility!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
