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:

·        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! 

Crackhead V56.0

I got Dark Knight yesterday.  Isn't he awesome?

I got my thyroid test back yesterday.  My TSH is .676, which is considered within range, so no more being stabbed for SIX MONTHS!!!

I feel so good, so great, in fact I feel as good as I felt in my early 20's.  It's a little scary, since I had thought that I felt pretty good during some of my training cycles say for IMC and IMHI 2004, IMLP 2007 and 2009.  Perhaps then my thyroid was spiking to deliver normal amounts of hormone--who knows?  At any rate, now feels even better than any of that, and I feel like a Maserati or Ferrari is under my hood.  I am sleeping well when I'm asleep, but it seems I might need less sleep than I used to.  But I think I am still just so excited at feeling good right now that I am trying to get all these things done, and when I do that, I tend to wake up early really excited to get at it.

While I was in the dregs of depression and hypothyroidism and recovering from catastrophic house breakdown (all that is in order now fingers crossed!), I was afraid to commit to any races, and I was paranoid about spending money.  Well, clearly all that has changed.  I bought several new Splish swimsuits (I didn't really need them but they do motivate me to swim harder), I just got new tires put on my car (and it needed them and they feel GREAT), I treated myself to a bunch of new Zoot clothing (some of which I actually needed like new recovery compression tights), bought a couple of new superheros (Dark Knight and Tiny Spock--still can't decide on which Superman to get), ordered 6 pairs of running shoes (since I tend to go through them quickly), am getting a brand new MTB tomorrow, and last night I had my annual eye exam, and I was about to check out when I spotted a pair of glasses that I decided I just HAD to have!  They are by Prodesign Denmark and really cool, and I tried to find the pic on the website but it would take too long.  When I get them, I'll show you!  I actually put enough in my FSA to cover the cost of them.

I'm caught up on all my annual stuff--eye exam, breast exam, dentist (I go twice a year), have the HVAC annual maintenance scheduled (my units are all new since last year as part of my catastrophic house breakdown), Skull Kingdom is all tuned up (and my mechanic gave me a brand spanking new SRAM front derailleur which is DA BOMB--I asked how much I owed for it, and he said it was just an exchange I LOVE HIM), my PowerTap is working, I ordered a new laptop for work (it should be here next week YAY).

As soon as I registered for IMCOZ, I made a training plan, sent in my passport renewal, booked my air tickets to Cozumel, got an estimate (which I will spring for) for cleaning my yard up at the end of fall (cut down/discard all perennial stems and do final raking/bagging/disposal of leaves) since I won't have time, and one more secret thing that I can't say anything about until tomorrow (it's good, though!).

I still have a few home maintenance things to get done--get my oven fixed (I've been doing without since March no worries), clean some windows, other crap, but I know it will get done.

I finally feel like all the cylinders are firing, that I can manage day to day stuff, do my training, coach and mentor some people, spend time with friends and family, and continue to kick ass at my job.  How much better could things be?  Yes, there is that romance thing, and honestly, I had lost pretty much all desire for a few years there, but I think that is coming back, which doesn't mean I am going to become a raging sex addict, but hopefully I will demonstrate openness to the right person when they appear in my life.

I have registered for a marathon next March (unsure whether it would qualify me in time for Pike's Peak Marathon--those losers won't accept an IM marathon as a qualifier WTF I'm fast enough in IM to meet their standards), and I'm tentatively planning on racing Triple T, 24 Hours of Triathlon (with Brad) and Leadman (with Maz).  And I DO plan to rest appropriately (1-2 weeks completely on my ass or back) after IMCOZ.  I have learned FINALLY that I CAN rest, and I CAN get my fitness back in a hurry.  So there's that.

This is all pretty fucking good for the age of 56, I think (57 in 2 months mark your calendars!).  I was born in 1956, and now I am 56 years old, so there is something omen-ish about this.  I feel like all my triathlon knowledge has gelled to the point where I can and SHOULD be coaching people and right now is the trial period so perhaps I'll be ready to cut loose from "regular life" next year.  Or not.  I still really love my job.  My mortgage will be paid off next February, too, so no roots holding me anywhere, although I DO love my new bar!  And of course, I LOVE my flower gardens, so for now I'm quite happy continuing to live in Illinois, despite the fact that we have winter, because if it weren't for winter, I'd be training like a fucking Crackhead year round.

Not only is life good, but for right now it's FUCKING OUTSTANDING!!!

Triple T Race Report

Pics are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crackheadfe/sets/72157618817588438/

I was stressing in the week leading up, not from training, not from packing, but from going continuously from waking up until falling asleep for a week. I need my down time first thing in the morning (about :45 to 1:00) and again in the evening (1:00-2:00). I didn't get in any stretching, which for me is quality "no think" time Monday-Wednesday, although I did get a massage which helped.

On Tuesday night, after getting in a pretty good brick workout, I woke up several times during the night coughing. A dry cough. I thought maybe I was just dehydrated, but the coughing continued off and on on Wednesday, and I began feeling, well exhausted, and barely ran in the afternoon.

Oh well, I'm doing this thing anyway, but Wednesday night I was so tired that I didn't even finish packing but instead went to sleep early, since I figured I'd have a few hours to get ready in the morning. I had made piles of crap all over the place (you know--the triathlon crap piles, right?), and it was just a matter of assembling everything into neat bags and boxes in the morning.

Jostein said he'd be ready to leave at 7AM on Thursday, but no way for me so I begged for like 9AM which is what we'd originally agreed to. I managed to wake up pretty early, and since I'm highly organized, I calculated that I'd be ready by about 7:30, but I guess he slept in which was fine as I used all available time to fine tune my packing.

I had a lot of crap, but a lot of it was provisions for the cabin, and it all fit nicely into Jostein's car, and we were on the road just a bit after 9AM. I couldn't even drive as I felt pretty bad by this point, but was still trying to be a trooper in supplementing the GPS and/or just paying attention to it. There were a few times where we missed turns because we were talking so much, but luckily, neither of us gets fazed by a little lostness, and besides we had nothing to do but get to Shawnee State Park, set up the cabin and rest up.

We stopped at a Taco Bell someplace for some lunch. I am not a big fan of the Bell, and don't think I've been to one in at least 20 years. But I do know it's possible to get something somewhat healthy at most any place, so I think I got some steak tacos that were actually just fine. And we had some brownies that I had made for the cabin.

There is more than one way to get to the park, and one or two of them involve dipping into Kentucky and then coming back into Ohio. Once again, we were talking and laughing so much we missed a few turns and made a few extra state line crossings, but it was cool because we got to see some really pretty bridges over the Ohio River.

We ended up coming into the park from the eastern way instead of the west which would have had us on a major part of the bike course for 3 out of 4 races. No worries--we'd probably drive the bike courses on Friday morning.

We unpacked everything, arriving sometime around 6PM or so local time (we went from CST to EST), headed to the Lodge for dinner, which was passable, with the highlight (for me anyway) being the shrimp/crab dip appetizer and the sweet potato fries. The meat and fish were overcooked, but hey, we're in the middle of nowhere, so couldn't complain too much!

It was very peaceful on Thursday night because hardly anyone is there in the park, and literally at night there was no noise or light, which was quite relaxing. They did upgrade the TV's to cable, but still, we didn't come here to watch TV!

Friday morning, Jostein wanted to see the bike courses (I'd done the races twice before), so we headed out and I navigated and he stowed away many details about hills and turns and such, and I took some pics along the way. We covered most of the bike courses except for one stretch of the 1/2 Ironman course on Sunday, so a good amount. Then we went back into Portsmouth to fetch the final groceries for the cabin, and I grabbed some Tylenol Sinus since I thought that was what I was suffering with.

When we got back to the park, we tested out the water in our wetsuits and then took them off to see how that was. The water was a nice temperature. Jostein wanted to see the run course, and asked if it was driveable, and I hadn't thought of that, but since they do drive trucks up there to fashion the aid stations and he has a 4WD, why not? So we drove up the run course, of course I took pics, and that was kind of neat to see it from that perspective.

Finally back to the cabin to unload more groceries, and we had a little time to relax before cabin mates would start arriving. Marty got in first, and I did some meal prep for the evening meal. I was beginning to feel sicker, but oh well, what am I going to do?

I had forewarned Jostein and Marty about taking a car down to the transition area, as you don't want to add any extra stress to your legs by riding up the 365' hill after every race.

I don't remember whether Rob and Julie came to the cabin or whether we met them down by the race, and the same for Shelley and Steve who didn't stay in the cabin but would join us for dinner.

Did the first race, the super sprint, about hyperventilated in the water--didn't use the wetsuit as it would be too time consuming, but the water did feel cold that first time in for a race, and my lungs didn't feel right, but got on my bike and did the big hill seated the entire time, and that was OK, but running felt like shit like I had only one lung. Oh well!

Got back to the cabin, Julie and Rob were definitely in, and then Erik found us and we were looking for Carl. I flagged him down riding around the cabin area, and we started working on dinner, Jostein manning the grill, and I did some table setup, we all had drinks and got to talking to one another and it was quite the jovial crowd.

Dinner cleanup happened, and then there was a lot more talking and stretching. Everyone was trying out my Theracane and The Stick, which are the bestest tools I have (in addition to my massage balls) for working on myself.

I don't remember when I got to sleep, but it was at a decent time. Except I started coughing a whole lot more during the night, and went out to sleep on the couch because I didn't want to wake everyone up with my coughing. The next morning Marty told me he came out into the living room to do some blogging and almost sat on top of me! I never saw or heard him.

Saturday morning was fun with everyone getting ready to race and being all pumped up. I was pumped--full of meds--since I had a sinus headache, cough, and alternating stuffy/runny nose, and I was dizzy to boot. But hey, I'm tough, I can manage, right?

So I do the first race, and I swam OK, biked OK but running felt like I had only 1 lung going, and I guess I had been stung by something on Saturday and my left ear had swelled up huge and was hard and itchy, so when I finished I headed to medical for the ear and for the wheezing in my chest.

Stupid EMT's said my chest sounded fine (uh, yeah maybe for a normal person try harder next time!), but they did give me something for the ear and said I should take some Benadryl and since this was my first sting of the year with a pretty good reaction, I noted to myself that I should not wait to get that EpiPen to carry with me in case of inability to breathe after a stinging incident.

Jostein was nice enough to try and locate me and was worried, but I told him I'd gone to medical and would be OK, or so I thought, so he drove me back up the hill. We left our bikes in transition.

In between races on Saturday, it was all about eating and resting. I drank 2 servings of Endurox R4, ate a Twinkie, a hardboiled egg and something else I don't remember. But I felt like crap. Still had the full sinus headache, wheezing, stuffy nose, sore throat and cough. Shelley kindly gave me a spare inhaler which seemed to help with my breathing somewhat. I laid down for about an hour, woke up and drank a can of Ultra Violence, took some Tylenol Sinus, shot up my nose with Nasonex, took a couple of hits of inhaler, drank some Alka Seltzer Cold Plus, and felt like I could at least start the next race.

Which I did, and it started with the bike, and I rode pretty good, or so a few people told me. I was still dizzy, but I've done an entire Ironman dizzy (Brazil in 2006), so I managed, and then the swim was fine for the first lap, but then I had a coughing fit and had to stand bolt upright in the water (it's shallow) and cough my head off for about a minute before getting back to business.

Once again, when I got to the run, it felt like I only had half of one lung, and it hurt like hell and I wanted to cry so badly and just stop, but I couldn't, you know? I didn't want to be the weak person who just gives up. So I finished, but not the way I wanted (everyone else in the cabin had done well) and headed back to see if I could live to fight another day.

We had a nice dinner, and as bad as I felt, I really enjoyed everyone's company as this is the stuff I live for, eh? But Shelley and Steve were missing. Jostein told me Shelley had felt sick and wasn't coming to dinner which bummed me out, but I was barely managing myself, so we all needed to forge on.

Trying to sleep Saturday night I was coughing so much, it was so painful and frequent, I once again went out onto the couch, and I was totally miserable. I don't think I slept more than 2 hours from all the coughing I did, and it was probably around 4AM that I decided I was too ill to start the race on Sunday. I wanted to cry so badly and be a baby and be taken care of, but that wouldn't be the right thing to do in front of 6 other people who needed to get their race day on, so I stuffed it, woke up with the rest of them and just got out of their way so they could get to doing what they needed to do.

In all the hustle, I forgot to eat anything and headed down to the race with everyone. I decided I would hang out and take pictures of everyone--it was the least I could do, right? I got nice shots of almost everyone going into the water and coming out, and then I decided I was going to be personal sherpa for Jostein, which worked out pretty well (or at least I think it did!).

But I also managed to cheer for everyone, was given THREE cowbells (MORE COWBELL!!!), and I did them proud, yelling my ass off even though my throat was raw and I was coughing like someone with emphysema! I just felt so bad physically that I had no time to feel sorry for myself for not being able to race that day.

Whenever I would see peeps from the cabin, the attention getting phras was "HEY FATTY!!!" We had pretty much settled on that on Friday night, and I heard that while everyone was out there they used it judiciously probably to the surprise (and maybe sometimes horror) of other athletes. It's just ironic since none of us are fat, but it sure gets people's attention!

All my cabin mates did well on the day, and well, I'm still sick. I went to the doctor yesterday, and when she asked what my symptoms are, I said:

• broadband headache. She pressed in my sinuses to see if they hurt and I about jumped off the table going "OUCH!!!"
• stuffy and runny nose
• sore throat
• non-productive cough
• diminished lung power
• wheezing
• stuffed up ears
  
• fatigue

The only thing I didn't have was a fever. I told her ideally I want antibiotics and a good inhaler. I got my wishes, and I also got my EpiPen.

Today, I'm 1 day into antibiotics and starting to feel better already. In fact, I did THREE workouts today--55' of strength, a 1:22 ride and a 25' run. ACTUALLY RUNNING!!! I needed to do it because my body actually NEEDS the movement--my lungs needed to be cleared out much like a race car needs to go fast, and I feel better for it. I will be cautious tomorrow and will either try running for 1:30 or else I'll put that off until Friday and go for another ride tomorrow. Swimming doesn't seem to be a good idea yet, in fact I can wait until next week, I'm a crappy swimmer anyway.

I still haven't had a good cry over missing Sunday's 1/2 Ironman, but I know it's coming--probably as soon as I feel a lot better. It will suck. But I like experiencing the emotions of all of this, and as weak as I may be right now, I know that I am pretty fucking strong to have made it through what I did get through last weekend, and I am looking forward to some great race performances.

I had so much fun supporting my friends on Sunday and seeing them do so well--if you can't be there for other athletes, who the hell cares how YOU do???

Triple T Update

Long story short: I wasn't feeling great when I left on Thursday--I was coughing fairly often--and it got worse on Friday to the point where I thought I had a sinus infection (may still have one) and got stung by something in my left ear which caused it to blow up like cauliflower, and then my lungs got gunked up with something.

On Saturday morning, I still managed to do the first Olympic distance race, faring OK on the swim and bike, but suffering on the run as I was wheezing. I checked into medical afterwards for the sting and wheezing, and they dug a stinger out of my ear (yes, I need to get a script for an Epipen) but gave me nothing for the wheezing.

I was very unsure whether I could or should start the second race on Saturday afternoon, but I got lucky in that Shelley gave me one of her inhalers, and I pumped myself full of caffeine, aspirin and antihistamines and set out for the second Olympic race, which starts with a bike ride.

I actually felt pretty good riding, and managed to pass a lot of people (the time trial start had almost all the teams starting ahead of me which meant I started way back) and had a better bike split on a tougher course than in the morning race, swam OK again, but felt like I was going to die on the run. I felt pretty awful finishing, and was getting stuffed up in my nose to boot.

Saturday night I slept extremely fitfully and couldn't stop coughing and didn't want to wake anyone else up in the cabin so I went out to sleep on the couch. I don't think I got much sleep that night, and it was about 4AM, I'm guessing, when I decided I was way too sick to start the 1/2 Ironman. Still, I got up with everyone else and decided I could at least cheer and take pictures.

In the midst of all the excitement, I forgot to eat breakfast, but I felt committed to getting pictures of everyone I knew (6 staying in the cabin plus maybe 5 other people I'm friends with) starting their swim, and then I wanted to get some shots leaving on the bike. I got pretty hungry and needed to go back to the cabin to get some food and drop off a friend's wetsuit (yes, I was playing Sherpa), and then I headed back down for bike duty.

I ended up showing the way for the turnaround where athletes could pick up fresh bike bottles and got a lot of pictures of my peeps, and then I stayed there for the run, getting a lot of pics and cheering for pretty much everyone in general, despite how crappy I felt.

So I did do the sprint and the 2 Olympics but not the 1/2 Ironman. My friend Julie grabbed me a finisher's shirt because she said I deserved it. As sick as I was, I had a great time, as I enjoy cheering for and helping out athletes as much as I enjoy racing myself.

I still haven't figured out my own race times, but will get to that sometime tomorrow after I pay a visit to my physician for some antibiotics and an Epipen, since this was my first sting of the year and already I had a pretty bad reaction, and last year I went from mild to extreme hives, so I think I'm in danger of a bad incident with a stinging insect!

I'll write more when I'm feeling a little better. For now, I need a ton of bed rest. Most of my friends did really well at the races, and I'm really happy for them. Me--I know when to kill it, and I had to do it this weekend or risk several weeks being out of commission. I have many other races coming up, and more fun, so we'll just chalk this one up to perhaps a little too much stress combined with heavy training.

Over and Out

I am going crazy trying to get all these things done before leaving tomorrow morning for Triple T. But I finished cooking last night, did my last ride yesterday (I ROCKED), last brick run, and this morning I'm going for my last swim and then later on a run.

The weather has turned into gorgeousness here, and the forecast for Triple T looks to be the same!!! I am SO happy!!!

There will be no Intertubes service over the weekend, and besides, I will not have time to do anything but eat, sleep and race, so wish me luck and I'll see you back here next week!

Enjoy your weekend, and here are a few pics so you can assess my race readiness. The pics are ironic since I haven't worn underwear for 3 weeks--I guess I'm commando now that it's racing season!

Weekly Workout Totals 05/11/2009-05/17/2009

But first, a few words that capture how I feel right now as I am well into my detailed TO DO list for Triple T:

OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK

What happened since Wednesday? On Thursday, my schedule said run for 2 hours, but instead I just ran 16 miles (In 2:26 for a pace of 9:08, not bad for me)!!! I was pretty toasted from that on Friday, but still got in my 3800 yard swim in the wetsuit (which proves how fucking lean I am because I am SO much faster in it even though my form is the same, plus I suck), and I managed to finally do my strength work, too.

On Saturday, I was supposed to bike 3 hours (since I planned on riding about 4 on Sunday), so what did I do? I pounded out 51 miles on my MTB which was 26 miles at pretty good intensity on roads and then the remaining on trail (not difficult trail, but still), so not exactly pussy riding. It took about 3:30, since it's hard to go fast on the heavy bike. Then I ran off the bike and it sucked but it sucked oh so well! I started late because it was pretty cool out, and when I finished all that, I just had time to eat something and then go get Brazilian-ized (which doesn't hurt at all in comparison to what I do to myself), and then I had to mow the lawn (it's been raining here so much I need to do it every 4 days), and then I was too tired to do much more than fix bottles for Sunday's ride.

Yesterday I rode the Arlington 500 ride, which was billed as 68 miles, but at the single rest station (you rode from Barrington High School there and then the remaining miles were loops from it), they said it would come out to 69, but I ended up at 71. I rode with 2 other peeps, one of whom I know from Facebook (Ali), and his friend, Kathleen. Below are pics of us after we're done riding. It was funny when we started out that Ali said he was tired, Kathleen said she was slow, and I figured I should have a sandbagging excuse so I just said I am old! But as it turns out, we rode together for much of the time, and we did take turns pulling (well Kathleen and I did), and we even had some stray guys drafting off of us. It was a really cool day, and I actually wore a light jacket over what you see me wearing for the entire ride, and I wasn't really overly warm until maybe the last 5 miles. Still, it was a nice ride that included about 2700 ft. of climbing in the 71 miles! Most of the time was in Lake County, which is pretty and we got to ogle at all the homes of the wealthy!

This is Ali, who said at beginning of the ride, "I'm tired."

This is Kathleen, who said at the beginning of the ride, "I'm slow." She is a liar! She's doing her first Ironman this fall at IMWI.

Well, you know who this is--ME. I think I look small.

I was supposed to run :40 off the bike, but since I was already exceeding parameters all over the place for the week, I quit running after about 1.25 miles on the track. The track was really nice, but I was just so fucking tired and wanted to get home since I had shit to do.

So I get home, order a pizza (BBQ chicken, middleweight crust from Connie's--FUCKING YUM!), start stretching and contemplate all the shit I have to do before Triple T. Once again, my sentiment was:

OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK
OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK

I managed to bake the Triple Chocolate Fudge brownies last night. They (at least from the crumbs I sampled) taste like candy!

I had trouble sleeping last night from all the caffeine I'd had while riding (in my Infinit Money Shot), so I deep-sixed my swim this morning but may still get it done--or not--in a bit. If I don't do it, I am 100% convinced that this will totally fuck up my races ;) I am getting a massage today, and then I need to change the tubes and tires on LGL and give her a good, full lube job (one of my favorite things to do!). This morning I also made the individual Margarita Pies and licked the saucepan clean, which gave me a tiny buzz (from the tequila and Grand Marnier), and I will just keep trying to tick things off my list today in between working stints.

Here's what I did this week, and then it's followed by my training stats since I started on the indoor triathlons earlier this year. A lot of stuff!

Weekly Workout Totals	05/11/2009-05/17/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by swimming
Swim:	15100 yards (8.57 miles) in 5.18 hours; 26% of weekly workout time; approx. 1814 calories burned Canadian: 13807.44 meters
Bike:	Approx. 157.33 miles in 9.12 hours; 45% of weekly workout time; approx. 4782 calories burned; Total TSS=614 Canadian: 253.2 kilometers
Run:	Approx. 32.93 miles in 4.97 hours; 25% of weekly workout time; approx. 2244 calories burned Canadian: 53 kilometers
Strength:	0.97 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 243 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 198.83 miles in 20.24 hours; approx. 9083 calories burned Canadian: 319.99 kilometers
Sleep:	8.14 hours avg./night
Stretching:	2.95 hours. Massage: 1 hours