Closing In

This is going to be a very rambling post.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Into a Big Week

Monday was a much needed rest day. All I did was get a massage, and then it was early to bed.

Yesterday I awoke feeling still tired although I'd slept well. That is to be expected. Although I was going to technically just skip Monday's workouts, the little voice in my head said I could make it up throughout the week, so I thought I'd start the day with a short swim. The water was too warm for me, and I swam pretty damn slowly, but it still felt good, especially since I hadn't done any pushups or chinups right before!

The plan called for a 2-hour ride and :20 run, but I figured I'd run for :30 just to put a dent into the missed running from Monday. It wasn't even 60 when I started riding, so I used the helmet beanie, booties and wind gloves. I was a little chilled at first, but warmed up quickly. I rode straight into the east wind, and just kept going east in the big ring, standing on any hills. Somehow I managed to ride exactly 2 hours, and when I downloaded the data this morning, the entire ride was at 82.5% of FTP, which isn't bad considering I had a bit of a tailwind on the way back in and there was a lot of stop and go, as I was basically riding through residential neighborhoods. All good, though!

I made a quick change into running tights and headed back out into the wind. At first, I felt too warm and thought I should have left the long sleeved shirt at home, but once I went directly into the wind, I knew I was dressed just right. My hands never were warm. The run didn't suck too badly as I'd had caffeine on the bike, but I still felt it. I didn't run particularly fast, but my usual steady, and I was just glad to get it done.

Since I did such a long workout in the middle of the day, even though I had begun work pretty early, I still kept going until about 6:15, and I really wanted to make a dent in my strength training for the week, so I motivated and got about 1/2 hour of that done, then quickly walked to a friend's house down the street for my physical therapist duty.

This friend just had a hip replacement, and her husband is out of town, so she needs help putting on and taking off compression stockings on the affected leg, and I am happy to help out. Evening all I have to do is strip it off, and starting today in the morning, I will stop by and put it on for her. Her house is at the top of the hill from my house, and it's 1/4 mile there, so I figure I can get in a little extra running there and back, too!

After that, I came back home and stretched and finally ate dinner around 8PM, and I think I should have eaten more (but I did have my first Twinkie of the year!), but I was too tired to keep eating and wanted to read a little before going to sleep.

I woke up a little early today because I was hungry, but I should be able to do better on the whole scheduling thing as I should be done swimming by 7:30 and can start work then, and I only need to run for 1:15 in the middle of the day, so I can be finished working by 5:00, get my stretching done, go see my neighbor, eat at 7:15 or so, have time to read and get to sleep early. I may try and get some more strength training done today. Or not!

I am watching the weather (it continues to rain a lot here), and don't yet have firm weekend riding plans. I may drive to Galena to do a very hilly ride on Saturday, or if Sunday has better weather, then I'll head up to Dodgeville, WI and knock out maybe 100 miles which will be totally hilly. Funny thing is I'm not even sure I'm ready to ride 100 miles let alone 100 miles with 9,000 feet of climbing! But if I end up doing that, I will not do much on Saturday.

This is a hard week of training. I've done this before, but each time I do it, there is something different about it. I always wonder how I got it done before but then once I'm into it, I stop thinking. So all of this planning and scheduling and orchestrating and controlling is all designed to put me into a position where I can train and not think, and that is a most beautiful thing.

Four Workouts in a Day--When 2 or 3 Just Isn't Enough

So I'm pretty used to 2 workouts per day. Right now, I am biking 3 times, running 5 times, and swimming 4 times per week. Soon enough I will add a 6th run. My weekly pattern for this is:

Monday: AM swim, PM (mid-day usually) run
Tuesday: Quality bike and brick run
Wednesday: AM swim, PM tempo run
Thursday: Long run, optional (if time) recovery swim
Friday: AM swim, PM run
Saturday: Long bike #1, brick run, recovery swim if time/energy
Sunday: Long bike #2

Saturdays and Sundays will get switched often depending on whether there are available group rides going on (usually Sundays) and I want to ride longer than is on my plan. I can always ride more; it may not be extra hard stuff, but TITS (time in the saddle) is paramount!

On top of this, I have to somehow fit in strength training. Yes, I HAVE to. It is part of what keeps me sound so that I can do so much of the other stuff. I am lucky that I can fit it in here and there because I have all the weights and such at home, in my office. So there's no excuse for me to not do it, and I can get in 10' here, etc.

On top of this, I have escalated this other stuff I've been doing since late February when I decided I needed to lose some weight. I started out with rather modest daily goals (20 pushups, 5 chinups, 50 crunches and 5' of jump rope), but the stuff just got easier, so what was I to do but up the ante?

In the midst of this, I did a few races, won them and started to feel really strong, and my training volume has really picked up. I always ask myself can I do more, and I guess I can! But now with where my training volume is, the optional "other stuff" which I fondly call crap is going to become completely optional. Especially in June when the outdoor pool opens and ride my bike to and from it, not only for the extra bike mileage, but also it's a good thing to do for the environment and saves me some money.

I will always execute my core S/B/R and strength training, and then whatever extra stuff I do will be gravy. When the baseline is 17+ hours, I don't really need to do any more, do I?

Today was a good day, though. I hadn't done any extra stuff since Sunday and felt like I should go ahead and get some in. I was up early enough anyway.

So before I swam, I did 30 or 40 chinups on the assisted station so I could play around with different grips, and then I did 3 rounds of 15 hanging leg raises, 20 pushups, 5 dead bugs 10" hold, 10 regular crunches and 10 bicycle crunches. I yakked with a friend I ran into for a few minutes, then I went and jumped rope for 5' alternating 30" easy jumps with 30" of hard, continuous jumps on one of the wooden basketball courts, because they are nice and cushy.

Right after this I went and swam 3100 yards this workout:
Warmup: 400s, 200kick
Main Set: 8x50 25 rt/lt, 25 build 20"RI
1' bonus rest
1x500 @T-pace+6" 15"RI
2x250 @T-pace+2" 15"RI
1x500 @T-pace+5" 15"RI
5x100 @T-pace 15"RI
cd:100

I didn't do it exactly as prescribed, but I kept up a good intensity and I used the paddles for 1500 of the main set. The pool was nice and cool and I had a parade of characters sharing my lane with me. A friend who is an awesome swimmer was in the adjacent lane, but we didn't get much chat time, which was fine.

At noon I had a meeting scheduled which was me listening in and watching a presentation. I thought, huh, I can do some strength training while this rolls, so I got in about 20' of solid work, chest, back, tris and a few bis and delts.

I thought the meeting would go longer than it did, but surprise, it finished in 40', so I figured I better go and run so I could eat lunch finally! I went and ran the same route I did last Wednesday, only today it felt easier, so I suppose my heartrate was down from last week. At least the hills didn't feel bad at all. Same time as last week, though, which isn't bad considering I really rode pretty yesterday (1:45 for TSS of 127).

So it wasn't 4 BIG workouts, but it was still 4, and now I'm going to get a massage. Well needed, I might add, because I missed out on one last week.

Things will keep changing and I'll keep mixing it up, but bottom line is now I'm signed up for 18+ hours of training per week between now and Triple T, and then well, I'll just keep going at that rate through IMLP. After that, I'm not entirely sure!

But I need to stay healthy and no more dieting or silliness like that. In fact, I've put Twinkies onto my grocery list this week, and it's only a matter of time before Cheetos make an appearance in my house. All good!

Back to the Future Crackhead

I guess I've been suffering from PNMS (Post-NothingMan Syndrome) long enough. What's the best way to get rid of it? Sign up for something!

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Please print this page for your records.

2008-09-30 14:34:11.56 Order 197098-093008143329

MITCS (Midwest Indoor Tri-Classic Series) All 4 Races

The last time I did these was in 2007, and they, plus some awesome joint planning & scheduling with my former coach, got me on the speed train and prepared me more than adequately for Triple T in May. Each race is held all indoors as a 10' swim, 20' stationary bike ride and 15' track run. All the pain you can handle in an hour! Awards are by total distance covered, so obviously the place to do well is on the bike, and historically I win my wave (including men), age group, and many age groups beneath me on the bike. But that means I need to work hard this winter, and I think I'm up for it.

What I'd do in 2007 (you can check my archives to see race reports) was Friday was my normal swim and run, Saturday my normal 2:30-ish fucking hard trainer ride with a :30 brick run, and then Sunday I'd do the sprint race and follow it up with a 1:30-1:45 run. Nice! Repeat every 2 weeks for 8 weeks. While I had fun last winter/spring doing all kinds of Nothingness, I suppose I should reengage with society and do a few more "actual" races, and these are nice, because they are all close to home and fun to do. I've added the actual dates for the 4 events onto my race sidebar, in case anyone out there decides they want to join in on the fun. Historically, the series fills up by November, and it was serendipitous that I thought about these this morning while talking with a friend poolside.

Oh yeah--I was sick over the weekend and also yesterday, but it appears I've knocked that mostly out of my system. I am unsure about a 50K at this point--if I do it, it will be 50K of Nothing by myself on crushed limestone, as my legs don't seem too happy about asphalt or concrete at this time.

In other news, well, there's been a number of things spinning in my head, and I'm lucky that I have people I can share it with because it is too much to try and put here, and besides, most readers think I'm a little off the charts as it is! And I'm not the sort of person to sit in the lotus position under a pyramid and meditate on things (believe it or not). The way I work through stuff is to train, let things come to me and then tie one of my friends to a chair and make them listen endlessly as I talk at the speed of light trying to get the words out as fast as they are forming in my head. Sometimes I also feed them or give them stimulants to help with their attention span. Or I make them work out with me. All good!

Inquiring minds probably want to know the answers to a few questions:

1. Will there be more bike porn? Probably. Although my tan is fading and I'm not sure it would look very good. Then again, I'm fixing up my interior space real nice, so I may just need to take advantage of it.
   
2. When will we see more of the Tiki Hut? After the interior of my house is painted and I finish putting things back together again, which should be in 3 or 4 weeks. Believe me, I've wanted to bust out the whore, bitch and slut, but there is just no place to put them and besides the contractors might think I'm nuts. In the meantime, I'll just have to keep those ideas about what the girls might be up to to myself.
   
3. When will I be getting back to hardcore training? Tough to say...I'm still in recovery mode and taking it one day at a time. I don't need to be hardcore for what, 8 weeks? Truth is, I had wanted to do a 1/2 NothingMan this past Saturday, but I did the swim and my body said "you're sick" so I DNF'ed. Fuck. I really do want to do a 1/2 NothingMan as soon as I feel ready to do it, so it could be in 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or further out.
4. Is it true I'm actually taking an off season? Fuck. I'm trying not to.
   
5. What foods do I miss most now that I'm barely training? Twinkies and whipped cream.
   

Just Add More Carbs!

Had my usual breakfast of some coffee and a Powerbar. Rode CF to the outdoor pool and drank about 10 oz. of Gatorade during a 3200 meter workout. Rode home. Finished the Gatorade. Had 2 more cups of coffee. Ate a Twinkie (low-fat--why did I buy those???). Ate 2 huge peaches. Drank 1/2 can of Coke (with the mysterious amount of calories since I know they lie on the can). Ate 2 pieces of fruit slice candy. Went for a run. Wasn't exactly bonky, but could tell my muscles are not fully loaded with glycogen (no pics today--wore the swimsuit I ran in yesterday which got cleaned up during this morning's swim). Kept telling myself while running that I should eat rice or pasta for lunch. Drank 12 oz. Gatorade during my :50 run. Got home, forgot to make bottles of Endurox, crap need to drink some warm. Put pot of water on stove to boil. It's going to be pasta, baby! I think I ate almost 1/2 lb. of pasta with some walnut pesto on top. More like wolfed it down. I needed that! Tonight I may have rice with dinner just to punch up my carbs even more. Thing is, all I need to do tomorrow is run for 1:40, but I think I'm 3 days' worth down on glycogen. Could explain why I'm all sore, too.

Stupid Crackhead! You'd think I'd know better, right? Sure, I do, but sometimes I just get sick of the starchy stuff. No worries--I just need a little here and there.

I saw Chuck at the pool today, and he told me that he circled back for me in his car on Monday during the storm that I waited out. What a nice thing to do! I told him I just waited for the lightning to stop and made it home between storms. I'm lucky to know some really great people like him. On our ride back from the pool together, I told Chuck about my bonk yesterday and we had some good laughs about bonking and how "regular" people don't understand how that happens and how desperate you can get when bonking! I would have snatched anything sugary from anyone yesterday! In retrospect, I should have eaten some pasta last night, but I didn't (1/2 of a PB&J sandwich right before bed). Oh well!

When I say I'm "training," it means I'm paying attention to all that minutiae, like how much carbs I'm taking in, sleep, stretching, all that. I was trying to "not train," but I have failed miserably. I guess it's back to actual training now...stupid NothingMan!

First Run since IMLP

For some reason, I thought going for a run would feel bad, but it didn't, and maybe that means I am recovering well. Even better is the fact that I lifted yesterday (first time in 3 weeks), and earlier today I biked to the pool, swam 3,000 meters and biked home.

My quads felt, well, normal! I was sort of shocked. Running uphill didn't feel bad, and neither did running downhill. Plus it was near 90! I only ran 3.5 miles--I felt like I could have and wanted to go further--but I purposely didn't brink any Gatorade with me, which I would have wanted had I gone further.

The only downside is all the glares and scowls I got from women who saw me running. I can no longer stand wearing running shorts up near my waist when it's warm out. I don't think I look bad, but maybe I do?

Today was just a shorty run, and tomorrow I'll add on a bit, and then I'll see if I can knock out maybe 8 miles on Saturday.

I don't often say I like running, but today it felt really good. I'll take it!

Meanwhile, I'm keeping my diet to lean (mostly) protein supplemented with lots of fruit and vegetables.









grilled summer squash, Vidalia onions & garlic










grilled chicken breast, filet mignon and turkey sausage (I HEART meat!)










white flesh peaches and apricots

I'm laying off the starch mostly except maybe for the occasional sandwich. It's still summer, so I'm still very much in the mood for a beer or two in the evening! I'm getting lots of sleep, keeping up stretching, and generally feeling pretty good. Even though I'm allegedly "training," I'm not taking things too seriously at all. Mostly I just want to enjoy what's left of summer by garbaging up on swimming, biking and running outdoors--three of my favorite things! But I have to be honest that I am antsy to train more so I can eat some other goodies that are on my "allowed" list when I'm over 15 hours, like Cheetos, Twinkies and pasta! Oops--just checked what I'm doing, and I guess I might hit 20 hours this week, so my grocery list is going to have some additions!

The Truth about Tapering, Part I

I thought I'd do something for posterity here and record as much as possible about my taper--how I feel, what I'm doing, what I think works, etc.

My "official" full taper began yesterday. I began my run taper pretty much 2 weeks ago (my longest run was 3 weeks ago now). I began my strength taper last week, and yesterday was the start of my bike taper. I don't really start my swim taper until next week--there's really no point to that with me since I'm not a fast swimmer. But I can tell you that swimming 2.4 miles won't feel hard to me on race day, since I'll have done it like 4 or 5 times in training, and my weekly yardage has been up there (I might hit about 16,000 yards this week).

So, how did yesterday go? I woke up after 8.5 hours of sleep, which hasn't happened in a couple of weeks. But when I woke up I felt like crap. My eyes were puffy, and I felt a little dizzy, like I have a sinus infection coming on. Some of this I am attributing to the annual changing of the diet, because by about this time in training, I am fucking sick of carbs, I mean stuffing myself to the point of discomfort because I need the calories. I have switched over to more protein (which I probably need anyway), and am now trying to eat a ton of fruit and veggies. My GI tract doesn't exactly like this, but too bad. I'll get back on carbs a few days before the race, or maybe even this weekend, since I'm racing Saturday and Sunday!

Anyway, I wanted to at least swim yesterday. It looked like maybe rain, and my legs felt like shit, and I just couldn't justify using my car to get to a pool, so I decided to walk to the Y, which is only about .5 miles from home. I decided to do a drill workout, as for some reason I had this 3400 yard monster on my training plan! WTF, I did not need to do that! It actually felt good to swim--the water was a decent temperature, and it was nice and relaxing. One of the things I dislike about taper is that you have all this extra "think" time. For me, exercising is an opportunity to get away from all the thinking. So it was nice to swim and well, just swim.

After I finished, I spent a little bit of time stretching in the sauna, and then walked home. I enjoyed the walk and took my sweet time. When I got home, now work was facing me, and as usual, once I'm officially tapering, I find it difficult to focus on work. But I did my best, and got lucky, I suppose, because my boss is on vacation this week. Not that that gives me license to slack--but it gives me even greater flexibility, and when I'm done for a day, I'm just done.

I wanted to also get in a strength workout yesterday, but my muscles were telling me NO FUCKING WAY TAKE THE REST OF THE DAY OFF. So I did, but since I couldn't concentrate on work and really not much of anything else, and since I wasn't exercising and don't want to eat too much, and I really didn't want to be thinking either, all I could think is I want a drink. So now I had to distract myself from that thought since it was maybe 2:00 in the afternoon and I'm supposed to be working. So I gathered up all the paperwork required for getting to the start line (driving directions to Cindy's and then Lake Placid, packing checklist, to do checklist, 3 days before race day and including it checklist including transition bags, proof of registration, daily workout and life schedule from now until race day--fuck, it's a lot of crap, but it works for me), and started organizing things. I finally had ordered the last of the gear crap (a pink Fuel Belt and rain jacket) that should hopefully arrive before I leave in a week.

I think I got all the papers together around 3PM and then decided, what the hell, I'm having a cocktail. So I poured some vodka and cranberry juice (the juice was left over from Triple T) into a mug from my very first marathon (I guess this made it a special occasion), and took everything outside to think about. I also fixed myself a foot bath, because my feet have been taking a beating while I'm doing yardwork because I'm such an idiot and always wear flip flops and so my feet are constantly getting scuffed on the heels and filthy, and even though the pool removes a lot of the dirt, I needed to work on my heels.

So I put the foot bath under the chair, sit down, and man it was hot on my feet, but I got used to it, and then I sipped a cocktail and pondered all the shit I need to get done, including doing 3 races (2 this weekend and then the big enchilada). But now that I had all the paper shit together, it didn't seem that daunting, and the foot bath felt nice, and I just tried to relax and enjoy everything.

After about 1/2 hour of that, I fed my foot water to the potted plants on my patio (I sure hope they like peppermint feet water!), scrubbed my feet and put lotion on them, checked back into work with a new attitude, and hung out and solved a few work crises before killing it for the day and then going to massage school.

I was starting to feel better, at least not sickly, and chalked it all up to the taper. The massage felt really great, but I wanted more and deeper, knowing that I really need it. I hope that my buddy Mike will come through for me with a bonus massage later in the week. I told him I really need it!

I ate another ginormous salad for dinner after the massage, and it was tasty. Of course, TV was crap, so I called it a day around 8:30.

Today I woke up at 3:30AM. Why? Because I had to take a shit. Why? Because I've been eating so many luscious fruits and veggies. Nice. I was pissed, but also glad that I had gone to bed so early so at least I got 7 hours. I looked at the weather, and there was a big blob of a storm just to the west, and I was sad because I really wanted to swim outdoors. But it was early, so I had time.

I didn't feel sickly this morning, however, my nose was running like a mofo. Once again, I hoped I wasn't catching a cold. I did some more organizing, more shitting (I still claim that lettuce is a waste of my time especially when it seems 1/2 of it just comes out the other end), a little weed pulling, and then when I checked the Doppler around 5:30AM it looked like the blob has dissipated and was going to stay south of me, meaning all clear to bike to the outdoor pool!

It was really humid, so I didn't bother putting a shirt over my swimsuit to ride. I noticed right away that my legs did not feel like ass! I was pretty happy about this, and also, once I shot Nasonex up my nose, it stopped running, so probably I don't have a cold! But I did notice that my deltoids are a bit fucked up, probably from the large (for me) amounts of swimming I've been doing. If that's my biggest problem today, fine by me!

The sky still looked a bit ominous as I rode, but then I got to thinking I've never been rained on while on Clipless Fuck, and didn't care if it did rain on me, so it was all good. The pool was relatively uncrowded, and I was just basically going in to flop around a bit. I did an 800 warmup and then 1500 pull with a 100 kick cooldown. Easy peasy. The water was a bit warm, but once again, I totally enjoyed swimming. People always ask me what I think about when I do straight swimming (1500 being pretty short, though), and so I will now let you in on my secret. I think like this:

one one one one one one one one one one one
two two two two two two two two two two two
three three three three three three three three

and so on for each length of the pool. Occasionally a stray thought will enter my head like I wish I would see some hottie swimming next to me, but that's really about it.

I enjoyed the short swim, enjoyed the shower afterwards (what is it about showering in nearly open air that is so great???), enjoyed the ride home, and started thinking about my next workout. I felt kind of bonky on the ride home, which is perfect, because that means my eating strategy is right on. I want my body to be SCREAMING for carbs by next week. Until then, I can manage a drop of a few pounds (I'm about 3 high right now...they should come off easily) and then my muscles will literally soak up the carbs next week like a sponge!

In the meantime, though, I am suffering a little with a growly stomach, angry muscles, a sense of deprivation (no more Cheetos or Twinkies for about 3 weeks when I start to ramp up for NothingMan, although I continue to take in Gatorade during workouts and following proper recovery protocol), the coming and going of various symptoms of illness and injury, but I'm nowhere near being excited about anything. Mostly I'm just happy when I am able to relax and not be too worried about anything. I've got all my handy-dandy checklists organized, and now I just need to get through every day and do what I need to do. I hope I start to feel a bit more peppy for the weekend races (2-mile swim on Saturday and sprint triathlon on Sunday), but if I don't, I'm not going to get bent out of shape.

But I guess I should be somewhat excited, because this is Ironman number:

Weekly Workout Totals 05/19/2008-05/25/2008

Another nice, big training week is done. I didn't really race Triple T--I just got through it while having fun. I'm not sure I'm going to do a full-out race report--since I was solo this time, a lot of it was what was going on in my head, and if you've looked at the photos, you can sort of figure things out. My quads are still sore, but I don't need to walk downstairs backwards. I need to get some more sleep. I'm going to try and swim in a few minutes here and see how that works.

Oh yeah--how to pack for Triple T: gather up all your triathlon crap and put it in your car. Then put a ton of food in there. Then, if you are staying in a cabin, pack all your camping supplies except for tent, sleeping bag, lantern and Coleman stove. I think it was Mike who commented this weekend that you have to have done triathlons for a number of years before you can do Triple T properly, because you need to accumulate so much gear!

Tip of the Day: Rubber bands are called elastics in Canada. I did not know this until this weekend. Also, Twinkies are considered a banned substance in Canada.

Weekly Workout Totals	05/19/2008-05/25/2008 This week's totals are sponsored by the number 4. In case you don't know much about 4, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_(number). Why 4? Because Triple T is 4 races.
Swim:	11875 yards (6.74 miles) in 3.93 hours; 19% of weekly workout time; approx. 1377 calories burned Canadian: 10858.5 meters
Bike:	Approx. 136.83 miles in 8.83 hours; 43% of weekly workout time; approx. 4629 calories burned; Total TSS=563 Canadian: 220.21 kilometers
Run:	Approx. 37.88 miles in 6.72 hours; 33% of weekly workout time; approx. 3041 calories burned Canadian: 60.96 kilometers
Strength:	1.02 hours; 5% of weekly workout time; approx. 255 calories burned Canadian: I lifted many grams
All Sports:	Approx. 181.45 miles in 20.5 hours; approx. 9302 calories burned Canadian: 292.02 kilometers
Sleep:	7 hours avg./night Canadian: There were 3 fast Canadians sleeping in our Triple T cabin.
Stretching:	1.15 hours. Massage: 1 hours

Food Channel

I've given up. Normally, I wouldn't eat this stuff until maybe June, but it's become ridiculous the amount of hunger I have been experiencing, especially when it's like 2AM in the morning. So officially, all bets are off. I would actually like to put ON those 2 pounds that I lost over the winter, as they may be lean mass that has been catabolized due to stress. Although I feel pretty good, but I would like to be able to sleep 8 hours straight and not be constantly hungry.

So, when I made my grocery list for the weekend, I included all my "I'm training really SUPER HARD" foods--Twinkies (whipped cream to go on top), Jordan almonds, various flavors of Fig Newtons and Pringles. The sardines are something I normally eat as a snack food. These foods don't normally make an appearance in my diet until around June, so I'm well ahead of schedule.

The second picture is a lot of protein that looked good--veal, Ahi tuna and Porterhouse steak. Then you see the actual dinner I ate (looks like a lot of food, huh?) and finally dessert. But now that I think about it, I want some orange slices.

Tomorrow I ride the Bitch! 78 miles is the plan, and I absolutely can't wait. Bottles are fixed, Bitch is set up and all that remains is about 300 more calories for me to stuff down and some rest.

It's officially GAME ON!!!!