The 2007 Spending Binge

It all started with the simple statement, "I'd like to put a better gruppo on my road bike." It escalated to this:

1. New road bike plus accessories
2. New tri bike shoes and cleats (I did need these anyway)
3. 3 new helmets (1 for Bitchie; 1 for LGL; 1 that is just cool for either)
4. Finally, a digital camera, which you may question as being triathlon related, but if I didn't have this fuckin' triathlon blog, I wouldn't need to take so many fuckin' pictures, now would I?
5. ...and a subscription to Flickr to go with it.
6. Deposit for 2008 Tour of California
7. Entry for 2008 Ironman Lake Placid. Yeah you are all laughing when weeks ago I said I probably wouldn't do an Ironman in 2008, ha ha, I'm thinking about doing Wisconsin, too. THERE YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST! And this time, I got my occupation correct on the IMLP registration form--Crackhead.
8. Conversion to customized Infinit mix
9. Deposit for 2008 Triple T accommodations
10. Carbon compact crank/Ergomo for Bitchie
11. Park bike stand (still unassembled)
12. I don't even want to talk about the running shoes...
13. 3 cycling kits, all featuring my Pimp's gang colors
14. Oh and all the Iroman Lake Placid crap I just had to have
15. Too much crap to list from Target--some necessary; some not
16. Bunch o' Crackhead stuff
17. Even smaller bike and run shorts since I seem to be shrinking
18. Waaaaaaaay too many Splish swimsuits

I still need to spend money on:

1. New wetsuit. My Orca has a large gash from IMLP--not sure if it's from the swim itself or the stripper or what. My Desoto T1 is now my backup suit. No, I'm not going to use the Slowtwitch thread to make my decision...I'm sure I know "someone" who can get me a "discount" on a wetsuit.
2. New Barbie. It's been awhile... Triathlon related? Sure...see the Tiki Hut...
3. More running shoes...grrrrrrr......
4. A tripod. You do want better nekked pics, don't you???

This is all in addition to my regular triathlon expenditures of:

1. Tons o' food. I eat a lot.
2. Endurox R4. Until I find something that works better or is more conveniently integrated into my schedule, I'm sticking with it.
3. Stuff for friends. They are good to me; I try and be good in return.
4. Hotels.
5. Race fees
6. Gasoline!!!! I've been noticing the extra dent this has been putting in my checking account.

What do I get for all that money? See below. There is way too much fun that you can't see in the numbers! But I think I need another job...

Season Totals 09/18/2006-08/12/2007
Swim: 410289 yards (232.85 miles) in 143.6 hours
Bike: Approx. 4921.98 miles in 283.42 hours--HOLY CRAP WILL TOP 5,000 MILES THIS WEEK!
Run: Approx. 1272.12 miles in 197.95 hours
Strength: 61.05 hours
All Sports: Approx. 6426.95 miles in 686.02 hours; approx. 292234 calories burned
Stretching: 107.86 hours. Massage: 64.67 hours

Season WeeklyAverages 09/18/2006-08/12/2007
Swim: 8730 yards (4.95 miles) in 3.06 hours
Bike: Approx. 104.72 miles in 6.03 hours
Run: Approx. 27.07 miles in 4.21 hours
Strength: 1.3 hours
All Sports: Approx. 136.74 miles in 14.6 hours
Sleep: 8.12 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.29 hours avg./week. Massage: 1.38 hours avg./week

End of Camp; Beginning of Taper

Wow. Rich and I are finally done with the camp, and are back at my house having a little quiet time. I mean I actually shushed him for a moment of silence, since he's been talking non-stop for 3 days, and then driving back in traffic, we were talking non-stop.

Pictures from camp are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600722611427/

The run clinic happened this morning at Olin Turville Park (same place where we started our ride yesterday), and Rich kept it short and sweet, since it was already pretty hot by 6AM. I only got yelled at twice to do stuff, and it was to help demonstrate some drills, and then I sat on the sidelines taking pictures. Then we drove to Monona Terrace and ran on the Ironman course as best we could, meaning trying not to get lost! I ran out for :45 with a bunch of folks, and most of them were running longer than me (silly me tapering and all), so I just flipped it and headed back. I ran into another woman, JoEllen, who had started a few minutes late, and we ran to the Octopus gas station where I bought some Coke and water. We then took off running, me with Coke in one hand and water in the other, and I kept dousing myself with the water to cool off, while sipping on Coke which perked me up.

After we got back to Monona Terrace, I knew JoEllen was short on her projected 1:30 run time, so I invited her to do "terrace repeats" with me, whereby we ran up one ramp, across the top and down another. We only did 2 repeats (I wanted to do more), but that was fine. I located Rich, who had used my car to place water out on the run course, but who then was riding around on someone's bike looking at us. I managed to avoid being yelled at or told something else that I might be doing wrong by Rich.

After the run, it was obtain food, get back to hotel, pack the car and head back into the classroom for 3 more hours of Rich spouting all sorts of knowledge about this and that, where I took a few more pictures to help him remember what the hell he talked about, and then we got in the car for a looooong drive home. Lots of folks took the entire week of vacation, so Madison being so close to the Wisconsin Dells creates a lot of traffic going back into Illinois on a Sunday afternoon.

I took Rich to Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket for dinner, where, unbelievably, Rich was UNABLE TO FINISH AN ENTIRE CHICKEN DINNER. I mean what's up with that??? The man can eat, I know. Oh yeah--he didn't run today.

And on that note, I am done doing ANYTHING for the day. I've unpacked, and now it's time to try and relax and figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do for the next 1.5 weeks before I head off to Lake Placid. I have already begun my traditional staring at the ceiling while laying in bed for the last few nights, and now I can add becoming paranoid about how much food I'm eating as compared to how little training I'm doing, getting royally bored at work, wanting to chew someone's head off for some slight transgression, and then falling into hysterical laughter changing over into tears at the drop of a hat.

Ah, tapering--I can't wait to be over with you and onto a race which I've trained long and hard for. Nobody gets sick and nobody dies, and I should be good to go!

Critique My Bike Position

This is a picture that Rich took of me today while out riding the Ironman Wisconsin course. It was on Birch road just before the Old Sauk Pass climb. Initially he told me he thought my stem should be shortened slightly, but I don't at all feel stretched out on this bike. I think this is probably the best picture of me on the Bitch ever.

When the entire camp began riding today, I led everyone away from John Nolen Drive. I was a bit surprised that I was the chosen leader, but I was told later by a woman that since I was wearing "almost a thong" that it was only natural that I should be the leader, and so I was. It was fun knowing that I was leading a number of not-yet-Ironmen out on their very first ride of the Wisconsin course, that I know like the back of my hand. It's been a bit odd for me to be with these folks since I try and not think about my own race until I really have to, which should start to happen sometime next week, as I begin to organize all my crap. But it's also good to sense the excitement these people have, and it rekindles my love of the sport and the people in it.

I only rode 68 miles today, as now my taper for Ironman Lake Placid begins. I was a little sad doing the ride today, since it means I have to begin resting, but that's what's needed now. I ran :40 off the bike and ran pretty well considering it was about 90 degrees out.

During the last 15 or so miles of the ride, I rode with Eric, who is attending the camp here, and he and I are both light and we both run power meters, so we were comparing watts and talking about how we ride the bike. We had a good run back into Madison, getting a tailwind on Whalen Road which totally rocked! Eric ended up calling me "Turbo," I suppose because I can really pour it on when I decide to. Today was just about having fun riding the bike.

Tomorrow is a running clinic (been there, done that, learned a lot), and then I get to run 1:30. It's supposed to be extremely hot, but I feel like I'm pretty acclimated to it. I'm going to talk about something or other for about :15 before we begin running, and I'm sure I'll come up with something to keep people interested, and then it's onto the run, a few more hours of Rich talking, and then he and I drive back to my house.

Rumor has it that Rich is going to actually go SWIMMING with me on Monday morning. OH THE HORROR! He's swam all of maybe 200 yards in the last year. When I suggested we go at 6:30AM to the outdoor pool he looked at me like I was crazy due to the early hour. Hey--us poor schmoes have to swim early since we are usually doing a second workout later in the day. But I guess we can wait until 8:00AM to be in the water, and then we'll just go for an hour.

Camp is fun, I had a great day, and I hope everyone else did, but now it's time to get some rest for my really not-so-big day tomorrow.

Off to Camp

Rich is here (arrived yesterday around 3PM), and we are about to go for a short run.

It's a tradition with me that whenever I attend his camps that I get no sleep and have a hangover, and today is no exception. We had some sushi and plenty of beers and then watched Casino Royale (after me the dufus figured out there were 2 DVD's and inserted the one with the movie on it), and I don't know what time we went to sleep, but I woke up at 4:30AM as it was getting light out and I was HUNGRY. My metabolism continues to race, so tonight I'm going to need to eat a bunch more, especially since *I* have to ride and run tomorrow.

I think there are going to be several cans of Ultra Violence consumed during the drive to Madison...

Will report in later.