Another Challenge Met and Nearly Conquered and Crackhead Nutrition 101

So, I've been puzzled by some weight gain since August--about 4 lbs.  There is no way I could be gaining weight at the level I'm training at, while being hungry most of the time and nearly bonking during many workouts.  I asked the nurse at my doctor's office last week, and she said maybe it's muscle.  Um...NO.  I told her we need to figure this out or else I am going on a crash diet, and she shouldn't want me to do that because I will starve myself and disappear!

Still, I figured this was an opportunity to clean up my diet a little bit, so last week I started watching what I was eating--eliminating any candy, less beer, less pasta.  Weight was not budging, and it should have at least .5 lb.

On Saturday morning, I put on a pair of bike shorts that just a few weeks ago fit fine and they were TIGHT!  I was like WTF is this?  So I got on the scale, and THREE MORE POUNDS ARE THERE!!!  Clearly this is not regular weight gain, and on Friday I'd realized that I'd been drinking my sodium-laden (although not excessive for intense exercise on a hot day) Infinit a lot more than I ever have at this time of the year, and I typically get all salt cravy (cravy is a new word I just invented--you're welcome), so I thought I might be OD'ing slightly on sodium, but still...

I ordered a reduced sodium custom Infinit mix on Friday, but it hasn't arrived.  It has 32% less sodium than my "hot weather" mixture.  I am going to make one more custom formula with even less in it that I can use during winter months.

I talked with my nurse friend, Lori, about this while I was on the bike Saturday, and she suggested I just drink clear water during my ride.  But I was riding 5 hours, no way I could survive that without calories--I know my body pretty well.  So I looked at what I could switch to, and I ended up eating a Clif bar and one gel.  For the 5 hour ride I took in only 600 calories, but I had 750 in before I started so I was OK and didn't bonk, and I even did hard intervals.  But, I have so much HTFU, don't I?

I tried to eat well right after the ride, and then I had sushi for dinner with my brother Mike, and fuck, I really wanted the soy sauce, but I only let myself have a tiny bit.

Yesterday morning, I weighed myself, and those 3 additional lbs. were still there, and I rode Death Machine for 3.25 hours on 366 calories of Infinit, so I had some sodium going there AND CAFFEINE!  For lunch, I had some mostly plain pasta with barely any homemade salmon sauce, which still probably contained a good hit of sodium, but not too terribly much.

I baked some banana wheat germ muffins to begin eating for breakfast, as it turns out my beloved English muffin has too much sodium for my own good.  I even left out the pinch or so of salt in my muffin recipe because as it turns out FUCKING NO SUGAR ADDED ALMOND MILK HAS A BUNCH OF SODIUM IN IT!   Not enough to be lethal to me, but enough that it warranted not adding additional salt to my recipe.  You see what's going on here--you try and eat/drink something you THINK is healthy, but it really isn't.  Ugh...  I started using almond milk in my muffins 2 years ago as a way to reduce the fat in them, but guess what?  EXCESS SODIUM!  Fuckers...

For dinner, I had a salad with no added sodium and some sirloin steak with no salt, and then I had a Fage yogurt, which FUCKING YAY, barely has any sodium in it.  Not sure if I got enough calories, but today I only have to swim so I should be OK.

I was feeling puffy still, though, so I talked to my friend's wife, Nancy, since I know she is all over various sorts of things with her body and figured she might have some advice for me.  She did, and suggested some natural diuretic pills, which I immediately went out and bought and took one with dinner.  THANK YOU NANCY!!!

I don't know if it was the pill by itself, or the pill plus my reduced sodium yesterday, but I weighed myself and 3 lbs. is gone.  FUCK YEAH!  Now I need to see 4 more go.  It will be interesting to see what my "real" weight is--I'm guessing maybe 111--but we shall see.

So I'm now watching my sodium intake like a hawk--I still want some during training, and cut my Infinit by half so I still get some plus some calories, and Coke is OK since it isn't sodium laden (THANK GOD OTHERWISE I WOULD KILL MYSELF), and I can even do Gatorade.  I just need to keep my non-training sodium intake to a minimum.

At the moment, I don't know if this sodium episode is a direct result of the hypothyroidism, or whether it's just that since this is the first time I've trained for a winter Ironman and used so much Infinit during training that I just kinda OD'ed on sodium.  Whatever.  I will report this to my doctor today (including that I'll be taking a mild diuretic for a few days), and see how I do with less sodium during training the next few weeks.  I have a feeling I will be OK using the full-strength Infinit on race day in Cozumel since it will be hot.  I don't care if I"m puffy for a few days after that race--I just need to be sure my body can handle it, so this will require a decent discussion with my doctor.

I thought I'd reprise some of my general nutrition wisdom in this post as well. I try as best as I can to follow the guidelines for carb intake based on training hours from an older version of one of Monique Ryan's sports nutrition books.  Here's the table for low to high training hours:

And here's the table for excessive amounts of training, i.e., a Crackhead:

In order to achieve this easily (i.e., without keeping track of precise calorie intake daily) at different levels of training throughout a season, I've made some rules for myself:

• If I'm training < 12 hours per week, no rice or pasta at dinner.  Just salads loaded with veggies.
• If I'm training 12+ to 14 hours per week, I can have rice at dinner.  Gives me a boost in carbs.
• If I'm training 14-16 hours per week, I can have pasta 1 or 2 times per week at dinner in addition to rice the other days.
• If I'm training 16+ hours per week, I can have pasta as often as I like.
• If I'm training 18+ hours per week (as I have almost every week for the last 17 weeks), then I can even have things like candy, Cheetos and Twinkies.  Again, not excessive amounts, but just as "treat" foods, because at this point, it actually becomes difficult to EAT ENOUGH calories, especially on days when I train > 4 hours.

Now, you must realize that as training hours increase, the amount of carbs you are taking in DURING TRAINING SESSIONS naturally goes up, and you have to consider your total carb intake including all regular food PLUS all the training nutrition.  This is really important, and why some people (I even did this once) PUT ON WEIGHT while training for an Ironman--they think they can eat with abandon, and you really CAN NOT.  Especially a small person like me.  

Now some other things I do include:

• I drink Endurox R4 as a recovery drink on days where I train 1.5 hours or more, which is pretty much every day until I rest a few weeks after IMCOZ.  But I only use 1.25-1.5 scoops, as I am small, and the serving size of 2 scoops is calibrated for a larger person.  I have used Endurox for years.  It's expensive, but I feel better for using it, plus it has a good dose of vitamins in it.
• I use Ultrafuel before training sessions of 4+ hours.  If I'm doing 4 hours, I will use 3 scoops (300 calories), and if I'm doing 5+ hours I will use 4 scoops (400 calories).  This stuff also has some vitamins and minerals in it.  It's basically sugar with some flavor and vitamins, and is relatively inexpensive.  It was recommended to me by my very first triathlon coach, and I swear by it for preloading on heavy training/racing days.  I know so many people who begin an Ironman with maybe 300 calories in their bodies and that is just FUCKING STUPID, and they wonder why their performance suffered.  When you do this, you basically dug yourself a hole that you cannot get out of that entire day!  You burn through 300 calories maybe halfway through your swim meaning you are starting the bike depleted already.  So before a 1/2 or full IM, I will have about 800 calories in the tank before I start--400 calories of Ultrafuel, plus about 400 calories of actual breakfast plus sips of Gatorade.
• I have had my BMR measured so that I know that I am dialing in my calorie intake appropriately.  I want to get it done again, but not until we have my thryoid meds dialed in.  No sense doing it until that happens, because I will get a false reading.  The last time I was measured, my BMR was 1950, meaning when I do nothing for a day I need that many calories, and then I expend on average 500 calories/hour doing any form of exercise, so you can see that when I'm training 2-2.5 hours on weekdays, I need to take in over 3,000 calories!  If you don't know your BMR, though, your nutrition can be a crap shoot, which is why I suggest you go with the tables above FIRST, and then see how you do.  If you get it right, it becomes stupid easy to lose weight--you just drop say 200 calories per day, and in 2.5 weeks you should lose 1 pound.
• I always fuel during workouts, even if they are 30 minutes, just so my brain is happy.  The biggest user of sugar in our bodies is our brain, and it's the reason we bonk, too.  Unless you are training like 5 hours a day or something like that, you have plenty of fat reserves to power you for a long time, but your body won't switch over to full fat metabolism any time soon.  Your brain will shut down your muscles, though, in an effort to save itself when it thinks you are low on sugar.  Now, I would not recommend this to someone training only 10 hours per week.  In that case, none of your sessions are very long, and so you can go plain water much of the time.  But I would say that 12+ hours per week, you might want to always be taking in some sugar, but don't forget this counts towards your daily carb total.
• If I'm swimming 1.5 hours or more, I will switch from Gatorade to Infinit, because the longer the session, the more your body needs the calories especially if you are going to do another workout the same day.  I learned this while training for Ultraman, when I was swimming 2+ hours on most Fridays.  I also had to eat another breakfast right when I was done with those swims, because even though 2 hours of swimming doesn't burn the same calories as 2 hours of running, the fatigue on your body is nearly the same, and so you EAT.
• The calories per hour I shoot for while biking are about 35% of what I'm burning, which I can know from using a power meter.  All other ways of measuring are WRONG--so unless you ride with a power meter, you probably have no clue how many calories you are burning because CALORIES = WORK and the only way to calculate WORK is by POWER EXPENDED.  Some people can go higher than 35%, but in an Ironman I would never go higher than that, as it can be a recipe for GI distress.  Remember that the faster you go, the less calories your body can process, so slower people can generally take in a higher % of calories burned than the faster folks, and liquids are always better than solids because your body can process them easier.
• The calories per hour I shoot for while running are maybe only 25% of what I'm burning, because jostling makes it tougher for your system to digest, and during a triathlon, if you've nailed your bike nutrition, that's sufficient calories to get you through the run.  You never see pros eating fucking sandwiches on the marathon, do you?  You also don't see them chewing bars and shit--too hard to digest.  Plus they are going so fast that it's hard to digest much of anything.  So again, all liquid, unless you really want something else, and don't forget to give yourself SOME sodium on the run if your race is warm, since you WILL need it.  This is why they serve chicken broth at Ironman races.  Because some of us idiots will revert to all Coke, which doesn't have enough sodium to support the electrolytes we are sweating out.

I have guidelines for the day before and morning of a race as well--if you want that, I have a .PDF of a nutrition presentation I've given several times to athletes with all that in it, just message me on Facebook and I'll send it along.

If you are training for Ironman or I would even say half Ironman, and you think you can just wing it on your nutrition, I would tell you that you are DEAD WRONG.   This training places heavy demands on your body, and to treat it any less than the beautiful, complex, awesome machine that it is is to fuck with your karma!  Do you put crap into your car?  Do you feed your pets crap? Just as I believe that daily stretching and frequent massage fall into the category of "cost of doing business," so does good nutrition.

Even me, who thinks I'm doing everything right, can always improve my nutrition.  And so I am.  I'm going to be extra careful about sodium now, and that means the Cheetos and Pringles are off the table.  I can look forward to that McDonald's Sausage McMuffin with Egg after IMCOZ!

57th Birthday Celebration and Ongoing Science Experiment

You know I've been waiting to be able to use a picture of that, right?  Well not exactly waiting, but knowing I would use it one day.

Shelley arrived at my house Saturday morning when I was about 3.5 hours into a 5:30 trainer ride.  Yes, TRAINER.  It was dark and really cold when I started, and I wanted to be around for when Shelley arrived, so trainer it was.  My legs didn't feel exactly peppy, most likely due to all the running I did the week before.  But I didn't feel rotten, either.  About 2 hours in, predictably, I wanted to quit.  I started thinking about how long I was going to be on there, that I would have company, and there were a bunch of other things I'd rather be doing.  But that thought passed quickly, and I pressed on.  I watched Dr. No and From Russia with Love before Shelley arrived.

When she got here, we had huge hugs to start.  We hadn't seen one another since 2009 at IMLP, and had become disconnected later that year.  So it was great to see one another, and as much as I just wanted to continue talking and hugging, I had business to do, so I took her bike into my house, and we unloaded stuff from her car.

Shelley claimed to not be as much of a James Bond fan as I am, but she'd seen Skyfall, and so I recommended we watch Casino Royale, as it's the first one with Daniel Craig, so we put that on.  This must have been the 5th or 6th time I've watched it, and it's good every time.  Non-stop action, beautiful cinematography (as most of the Bond movies have), lush scenery, and in this case, decent character development.  Having this on made me HTFU and work harder on the bike, although Shelley had to leave to go see her son, Ian, who was in town to go to a Blackhawks game.  Shelley is Canadian but now resides in Indianapolis with her husband, Steve, and Ian still lives in Canada, but is a huge Hawks fan.

I was fine putting Casino Royale on hold until later, and I switched to music for my last hour of riding.  I ended up at 122 miles in 5:30.  Now, lest you think I had no resistance on the trainer, I did, and I checked the power curve for it:

Power (watts) = slope x speed (km/h) + intercept

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Slope	3.73	5.33	6.87	8.27	10.07	11.4	13.13	14.4	15.93	17.73
Intercept	-28.67	-36.67	-43.33	-47.33	-66.33	-67.00	-83.67	-82.00	-89.67	-114.67

I was at resistance level 4, so according to this I averaged over 200 watts.  Well, um, no, but still I was kicking out watts, and my legs were appropriately wasted when I finished.

I thought I might run some errands when I was done, but I was too tired to do much more than eat lunch and lay down in bed for an hour or so.  I stretched, and then got ready for dinner, Shelley arrived back from her foray into downtown Chicago, and we went to meet Lori for sushi.

We went to Kyoto in Downers Grove.  I'd been there once before and knew it was good.  Lori and Shelley had wine and I had a giant Sapporo.  We had nigiri and some really great rolls, and I saw someone get this:

so we had to have it.  It was awesome, and the light in the glass changed color, so we had a little show!  I ordered way too many rolls for us to finish, so after dessert of mochi balls, we all made our to go boxes.  Even after all that, the bill wasn't too outrageous, as I'd had a $25 gift certificate that we were able to use.  Shelley and I said goodbye to Lori and went back to my house.

Shelley and I watched the rest of Casino Royale wearing our jammies. Here I am working on my birthday puzzle.  I bought it for myself because I like unicorns ;)

Shelley named my downstairs room the "Iron Kingdom."  I like that name!  It is all about bikes, running and beer down there.  Not sure beer goes with Iron Kingdom, but what the hell, right?

I think once my head hit the pillow that I fell asleep in 2 seconds.  But since I'd stayed up past my bedtime (I've been falling asleep around 7:30 exhausted), I hoped to sleep in a little, but that just doesn't happen lately, and I woke up at my customary 3AM and only got 6 hours of sleep.  I tried to be quiet, and I was until I started bouncing this light up ball on my living room floor, and I guess Shelley heard it as she later reported to me accompanied by a big FUCK OFF.  Oh well.

By the time Shelley got out of bed, I'd already eaten breakfast and drank Ultrafuel and was rarin' to go on my 3:30 ride/:40 run.  She was not.  However, I'd made her coffee and we had some time to chat before I got started, and she got to see how pretty my bar is in the dark

We got ready to get on the trainers again.  I didn't feel too bad considering the day before, and Shelley saw that I had Full Metal Jacked, so we watched that. It made me HTFU and work hard on the bike.  Here I am being a complete dork with my aero helmet on:

Shelley's hip was bothering her, so she got off the trainer after about an hour, and she wanted to go see Ian again anyway, so she got ready and left while I kept going with music on.

This time I did 88 miles in 3:30, so I was able to work harder than on Saturday, which is good, since I was riding for less time.  I did all my interval shit, and I was pretty happy with my effort.  It was nice outside for running, so I stripped off my bike clothes and suited up for outside.

Oh my did I feel tired and also bonky!  I figured there was no way I'd replaced all the calories I'd burned the day before, so I was already way behind starting the run, and even having fueled properly on the bike, I would need to seriously HTFU to get the run done.  It was nice and sunny out, though, so I couldn't help but smile as I was having such a wonderful weekend, and despite feeling bonky, I felt just GREAT!

I was pretty proud of myself when I finished, and so was #OutsideFish:

Of course, after this I had the BEST SHOWER EVER, then I inhaled some food and cracked a beer and stretched, and as much as I wanted to lay down, I needed to get cracking on dinner, since I was cooking for Shelley and Lori.  First I washed dishes (well mostly fucking bottles), then I got the asparagus dish ready to go, got the chicken ready to roast, and waited for Shelley to arrive back.

When she got back, I had one thing on my mind: CHAMPAGNE!  We were going to have it with dinner, but we didn't want to crack open the bottle until Lori arrived.  Within about a minute of her arriving at my house, with all the food almost ready to eat, we had a nice toast and then we were eating, talking, and eating and talking!  We had such a great time, culminating with what I thought was one of the best desserts I've ever had: my homemade Elvis Presley pound cake with one scoop of Hazelnut gelato and another of Coconut gelato.  Lori laughed at how I practically put my face into the bowl, but I was so hungry and it was so tasty!  After I finished mine, I apologized that I needed to eat more, so I had more gelato.

I made Lori take some leftover pasta sauce home with her, and then Shelley and I changed into our jammies and watched Quantum of Solace.  It's not as good as Casino Royale, and also not as long.  I passed out several times, but I'd warned Shelley that I would.  I got up for the end, and then we went to sleep, and I promised Shelley that I wouldn't wake her up in the morning.  Since I was effectively up past my bedtime again, I ended up only getting 6 hours of sleep, but I think Shelley got at least 8.

Monday morning, Shelley and I went to my Y for an easy swim.  We were laughing our asses off a lot, with the highlight being I'm swimming and she is swimming underneath me and I'm like WTF, and she surfaces and says she is Underwater Fish.  That made me keep laughing until I was finished.  I had Shelley check my stroke, and it turns out that I am still crossing over with my left arm if I am breathing on my right, but if I breathe on my left, I'm perfect.  So I will breathe on my left even more than I was until my stupid brain/body gets it!

When we finished, we showered and were about to hit the sauna, when this woman who I gave some swim lessons to and rewarded me with a Bible (yes, ME) began talking to me about how she'd gone vegan and quit eating added sugar and how much better she felt.  I was happy for her, until she started telling me how evil sugar is and that I should stop eating it.  I tried to be nice and explain that being an athlete and all that I NEED sugar while training, but of course, she wouldn't understand.  Still, she went on a bit longer than I thought I could tolerate, and I'm pretty sure Shelley was standing there thinking, "I wonder when Sheila is going to blow her stack at this person?"  Well I didn't even though I wanted to, and I wondered yet again why people have this thing about trying to "fix" me.  Thank you, I'm really not that broken.  However, not too long after that, I made up a prayer that goes like this: FUCK OFF.  AMEN.  If that woman gets on my case again, I will share it with her.

I was hungry WHILE we were swimming, and we decided we'd go to McDonald's for breakfast (my second; Shelley's first).  I had a Steak McMuffin, which was pretty good, but in retrospect, I should have skipped the hash browns.  Those things are disgustingly greasy, but they do taste good.  We both later wished we hadn't gone there at all, but oh well, it was tasty!

We had a few hours to kill, and they'd put up this speed check thing practically right outside my house, and I'd been dying to take a silly picture in front of it.  I decided I'd make a 140.6 sign to put over the flashing speed limit, and so we did it:

The 140.6 is still on there as I write this!  Nobody took it off the sign, and even my neighbors who know I do Ironman probably wouldn't know what it means and suspect me in the shenanigans!

FYI, our splits for the 1-hour Ironman were:

• Swim 5 minutes.  But I think Shelley came in at :04.15.  So that's 7 seconds/100 yds.  Not bad!
• Bike 30 minutes, for 225mph.  Also not bad.
• Run 25 minutes, for a pace of 57 seconds/mile.

After this, I went with Shelley to an ortho appointment about her hip labrum tear.  The surgeon didn't sugar coat anything, and I will not go into details, as that's Shelley's business.

After all that, Shelley had to leave to return home, and I was sad to see her go.  It was like old times, and we'd laughed and caught up and shared our good and bad.  It was a perfect weekend!

Since then, I've been in touch with my doctor again about what's going on with me.  I think the extra 3-4 lbs. on me is possibly water retention, which can be a side effect of either hypothyroidism, levothyroxine, or both.  At any rate, there is no way I could have put on this weight with all the training I've been doing in the last 8 weeks.  So I had a discussion, and the nurse tells me maybe I put on muscle.  WHAT?  Yeah right, EVERYONE puts on muscle in the last 12 weeks of Ironman training.  I asked her if they'd run a bodyfat measurement on me to check and she was puzzled.  At any rate, we decided (with consultation of my doctor) to up my levothyroxine a little more, as it seems that *I* am the one who keeps the best track of monitoring how much and when and what the result was.  And then I can't get my next blood test done until after IMCOZ, and that should be entertaining.  At least I will get to see what that does to my body, eh?  I think the treatment objective for me is to get me as close to hyperthyroid as possible without going over the edge, like I appeared to do in early August.

What was funny is that the nurse said my weight was "stable," and I politely corrected her and said I kept track of it at the same time of the day, and that what they saw in the office every few months was not representative.  I think they are getting the idea that I keep a pretty good eye on myself, you think?

So I will suffer with yet another slight bump in meds and see how it works.  I will know in about a week, even though the nurse claims it takes much longer.  I tried to explain to her that I am trying to separate how I feel due to the training from the effect of the meds, and that it's hard for me to know which end is up.  But if we continue to test me every 6 weeks, I think we will get some idea of how my body behaves on its own, which is what I want to know, because I have a feeling I will need to moderate my levothyroxine dose on my own to match my training objectives.  OH JOY!  But it's just another "thing" to add to my to do list.

On that note, have a great day, I am feeling wonderful!

In Sickness and in Health

Saturday I rode Death Machine for 3:18 and then did a little running afterward.  It was cool out, 50's is all.  I have the gear to ride in weather like that, and I was completely comfortable.  When I was done, though, I seemed to have developed a dry cough and the beginnings of a sore throat.  I attributed it to the cold weather riding.  A few hours later, I also noticed my entire patootie was sore, dumbass, you don't just ride a new MTB that long and not expect it!  I may need to get a different saddle for him.  But I digress.

I went to dinner with some friends, and we had a rollicking good time.  2 I hadn't seen in quite awhile (yet more people I inadvertently alienated last year while depressed), and then Lori.  I thought maybe she would get sick of me because this was 3 weekends in a row we'd spent time together!  We had a great dinner of sushi.  I had beer, the rest had wine.

When I got home, my throat felt worse.  I'd already started on the Zicam drops, but that night, I was barely able to sleep because my throat was so sore.  I'd planned to ride with Blane on Sunday, but that was clearly out.  Sunday I spent the day being completely miserable, barely able to do anything much except lay around and watch TV.  When you are in heavy training and the bottom drops out and you can't do it, you don't know what to do with yourself!  Kind of like a taper.

I began pumping in my usual medicines--Alka Seltzer Plus, cough syrup (I had Vicks 44 laying around), and cough drops as needed to help with the throat.  My throat improved on Sunday and I no longer wanted to off myself.  That was the worst sore throat I have ever had in my life!  I began asking around to see if this was the "going thing," and indeed it is.  But that doesn't help me any.  I'd already planned to take Monday off from work, and now I would be sick.  At least on Sunday I managed to make the muffuletta that I'd bought ingredients for a few days earlier:

Work has been very busy as many of us are working on HIX customers, and it's a series of daily calls for status checks, ensuring the customer's issues are being worked well, tons of email, making sure everyone is happy (such as it is), and it's generally high pressure because this stuff is very visible.  While I had a colleague covering for me yesterday, I still wanted to attend the 2 primary calls just to stay up with my customer.  That's how it goes when you do the job that I do.  Sometimes.  Usually I can just be gone and not think about things.

Well, I joined the first call and tried not to talk, as my voice was pretty much kaput--porn star quality, though!  Over the weekend, things had blown up somewhat, and I really can't go into detail here, but I wanted to be sure I made a statement as to the disposition of that particular issue.  So I did, only I didn't realize a certain person was on the call.  Nonetheless, I didn't say anything that hadn't already been sent in a public email, but the dude I didn't know was on the call said, "We are already spending fucking tons of money."  Yay!  My first F-bomb on a customer call!  Luckily, I am the queen of the MUTE button on my phone (I use my land line for these toll-free conference calls because the quality is unsurpassed and I know nobody can call me while on there), and it was all I could do not to laugh hysterically.  I got support from my colleagues on the call, and we carried on.

After that call, I had a doctor's appointment, because I just wanted to be checked out in case I had something bacterial, and also I'd decided I wanted an inhaler just to keep my lungs in tip-top shape.  I've done this before, and the reason is that when I was a child, I had repeated episodes of bronchitis, and it has scarred my lungs (it shows up on chest X-ray), so I'm a little vulnerable when things move into my lungs.  The doctor checked me out and pronounced me OK as far as lungs, throat, ears and nose, told me it's viral, and then she obliged me by writing the script for the inhaler.

After that, I made a trip to Toys 'R Us to look for various things, and found 2 new friends for Iron Man:

They were having a special buy one Iron Man 3 thing get the second 40% off, so of course I got them both!  They make quite the crew, don't they?  Then I stopped at the UPS Store to mail some things to my friend, William, who had recently sent me some T-shirts from his coaching company, a Rudy Project winter hat (I LOVE Rudy Project), and an articulated HULK!

Finally, I picked up my inhaler at the drug store and headed home.  I wasn't feeling too too bad, except I was all jacked up from the combination of drugs I'd taken.  My body is very sensitive to antihistamines and ephedrine and norepinephrine, and I was a bit jittery, my heart was racing a bit (at the doctor my BP was way up and she was alarmed but I explained why), and I had a whopping headache.  I decided that I was well enough to terminate everything but the inhaler.

I attended one more call from work, and then I needed to lay down, which I did, and probably napped a little bit--not really sure.  I really needed to mow my lawn, so around 5:45 I finally went outside and did that, and the gasoline fumes made me choke, but I got it done.

The headache was pretty bad, but I knew it wasn't sinus based on its location.  So I finally got an ice pack and iced my head!  That helped a lot.  I got a good night's sleep last night, and while I still have a bit of a cough, my nose is no longer running like a faucet, and as you can see, I am up early again.  I decided to take today as a sick day, although I will probably participate in some calls at work.  I also am going to try doing a light workout, as I am beginning to feel creaky!  I need to move around, even if it's just to walk, but I think I can at least jump on a bike on the trainer and spin for a little bit.  So I definitely am on the mend, I am through the worst of this, and hope to be good as new by Thursday so I can get in a long run and then of course, the weekend's long rides.

I had several well-meaning friends try and tell me to take this or that for my illness, and while I appreciate their input (because some of the things I forget like get my usual vitamins), I know my body really well and that I can't really put too many foreign substances in there because I do have pronounced systemic reactions to them.  Typically when I contract something viral, I can do full-strength medicine for one day, and then I have to taper off because the reaction I have to the drugs is worse than the disease.  It has always been this way for me, and my Dad was the same way.  I had to take something initially just for symptom relief.  And this time was no different.  Sunday--all the drugs.  Monday morning--all the drugs, but then I cut them out mid-day.  Today, just inhaler as needed.

The only GOOD thing about being sick is that when you feel well again, it feels AWESOME!  So I am looking forward to that, and I think it's maybe a day or two away.  In years past, I might have tried to push it in terms of working out, but I know that would be suicidal at this point, so I am just rolling with it.  Next week is a planned rest week anyway, so I guess I'm doing an early taper!

Ride Like an Egyptian Ride and FOOD Report

Yesterday I did, for the first time, the Ride Like an Egyptian century out of Dekalb.  I'd wanted to do this ride for a few years, but either the weather has been shitty, or I was doing a NothingMan (which used to traditionally occur the weekend after Ironman Wisconsin).  This year, the weather was going to cooperate, even if it started out a bit cold.

I woke up at 2:30.  I am doing fine on 7 hours of sleep, thank you, but pass out like 7:30PM.  I am such a loser but it works for me as I LOVE the early morning hours to straighten up the house (such as it is with a constant triathlon tornado blowing through), load bottles and stuff into the dishwasher, write blog posts, gaze upon my psycho training plan and review my master TO DO list to see what I might be able to knock out that day.

It was chilly outside, only 51, and the hourly forecast called for temps to drop even further by 7AM, which is when I wanted to start riding.  I chose a riding outfit including tights and a long-sleeve jersey from Jordan Rapp with a Descente underlayer on top, long socks, toe warmers, helmet beanie, and my awesome Castelli wind stopper gloves. I'd fixed my bottles on Wednesday this week (usually I don't do it until Friday) because I had to go to downtown Chicago on Thursday to get my new laptop (which I still haven't finished configuring because I haven't had time but that's on the list for tomorrow) and Friday I had a repairman coming (to fix my oven YAY it's fixed!) and then a massage and of course, work, so I got the head start on the bottles.

Pre-ride I took in:
FOOD ALERT!!!!

• Toasted Bay's Sourdough English Muffin with blackberry jam on top
• Hardboiled egg split in two on top of the muffin
• 3 cups of coffee with fat-free Hazelnut Coffemate (yes, it has SUGAR!)
• 300 calories of Ultrafuel, my sugary goodness that I use for any workouts over 3 hours
• 1 can of Coke during the drive to Dekalb.

So that's maybe 850 calories or so.  On the way to Dekalb, I saw the temperature dropping, to a low of 43!  I knew I'd made the right decision on clothes, even though I'd brought a pair of bike shorts just in case.   I even turned on the heat in my car!

When I arrived at the Egyptian Theater, where the ride began, it was pretty chilly when I got out of my car.  I got there just after 6:30AM, and there were already a good number of riders getting ready.  Some of them just had shorts on, and while I am pretty tough, I am tiny, and knew I'd be better off covered up today, even if it got to 70.  I'd rather be a tad warm than at all cold!

Here's the outside of the theater:

You can see from the sky that it was a beautiful morning!  In retrospect, I should have had someone take a pic of me doing the Egyptian walking pose in front, but oh well...

I figured from the outside facade of the building that it must be pretty cool looking on the inside, so I went in and snapped a few pics. First, here I am in my lucky Jordan Rapp jersey (official good luck to him in Kona!):

This is the second time I've worn this jersey--it's DA BOMB! Perfect for that starting out riding cold and may warm up a bit but you won't get hot in it. Next I went inside the theater proper and look at all the cool stuff in there:

I thought they'd let us check in like 6:45, but they wouldn't until 7:00AM, so I had 2 more funny pics to knock out:

Now why the dude taking the pic didn't get me head on I don't know!  Some people just have no clue when it comes to taking pics.  Meanwhile, everyone was marveling at how small I am and calling me skinny and I HATE that!  I am NOT SKINNY! 

I talked to a girl in line who had just started doing triathlons this year and she was so excited, and I didn't say anything about myself (after all, I was dressed like a roadie with a Castelli hat and all) until after I'd asked about all her races and times and stuff, then all I said to her was, "I've done a bunch of triathlons."

Got registered, got a map, failed to ask what the road/signage markings were for turns, and went back to car to retrieve Skull Kingdom and get started, but I had to pee again, because cold weather really makes me need to pee a lot.  I was going to use some shrubs in the parking lot, but there was a disgusting porta-potty that I used instead.

I headed out and within one mile was lost--no signs, no arrows.  And the map I thought I'd stuffed into my back pocket was not there.  I must have just dropped it on the ground.  There were a few guys around me (trying to keep up with me) and I asked if they had maps, and NO.  Fuck.  Well it took awhile to find someone riding WITH A FUCKING MAP and then we got on track.

The ride is a hub and spoke system, which is cool.  We ride out to central rest station and then there are 3 different loops from it, so theoretically, it was 11.5 miles to the rest station, and then each loop 25 miles, do them all you have 100.  Well it took me 1:07 to get to the rest station (I typically don't look at mileage because time controls when I eat/drink), and I'm thinking fuck I must have added a bunch!  Or their mileage was wrong.  It was a little of both.  I asked a volunteer for a map at the rest station and they didn't have any!  OK, poor organization, but I can't blame the volunteers.  They had all kinds of food there--PB&J sandwiches, bagels, fruit, GORP, etc., but I was on the Infinit and didn't want any of that yet.

I chose Loop #1 called Burlington first, as it was allegedly the most scenic countryside.  It was really pretty!  But it wasn't fucking 25 miles!  It was actually 30 something!  But luckily there was a water stop in the middle of nowhere because I only had a 16-oz. bottle of water in addition to my (2) 3-hour concentrated Infinit bottles.  At the water stop, I briefly chatted with a woman who was on an MTB, and asked about her shirt.  It was from the Toys for Tots motorcycle ride, that I know of.  I asked her what kind of bike she rides, and she said Kawasaki Vulcan.  *I* had a Kawasaki Vulcan way back when!  I asked the year of hers--1996--mine was an 85, I think, and mine was only a 550 whereas she has a 700.  I asked her which type of bike she likes best, and she said bicycle, because it's less nerve-wracking.  I have to agree, there.  Except that even on bicycles, people are trying to kill us!

The Burlington loop was blessedly free of traffic and had some decent rollers, but nothing I would call a major hill.  Great roads, lots of corn and soybeans, cute country homes, nice smells!  When I got back to rest station, I asked if anyone knew the exact mileage of the loop and where they were at, and people who HAD NOT BEEN LOST at the beginning like me (I must have missed just a single turn) had like 38 miles where I was up to 46 already, so yay me!

I was a bit hungry-ish at this point so I chowed a 1/2 PB&J and washed it down with Infinit.  I looked at the map on the wall to see which loop I'd do next--while I really liked #1, I didn't want too much excess mileage since I'd planned on riding again next day, maybe even another century.  Of the other 2 loops, one was labelled for "advanced riders," and I asked if that meant HILLS because I LOVE FUCKING HILLS but no, they said it was just on major roads with a lot of traffic, WTF???  So I decided on Loop #2 next.

Loop #2 rocked (Kaneville loop) because it started out going into the wind, which meant we'd have some tailwind on the way in.  I got about 1.5 miles in and passed a small girl on a tri bike riding next to a guy on a road bike.  About 30 seconds later, she rides up on me pedalling like mad to catch me, gets right next to me and says, "Are you a misfit?"  My addled brain is trying to process what she just asked me and I had no idea how to answer, so I just said, "Excuse me?"  She said there's a tri group called Misfits, and she thought I was one because of the skulls on my bike.  I smiled and said, "No, I'm not in any club," (except the one in my head LOL), then a few seconds later added, "I am a social misfit at times, though."  She could not keep up with me and dropped back.

I continued on Loop #2 and into a headwind (going south, I think), and then we hit this road called McGirr, which was fucking awesome.  The name reminded me of the ERMAHGERD meme, and I had miles of laughs saying ER MCGIRR to myself or even out loud.  I was needing water and pissing regularly, so luckily about 15 miles into this loop, just after we turned off McGirr was a library, with a porta-potty.  So that was good.  Then 10 more miles and back to rest station, and this time the loop ACTUALLY WAS 25 miles!!!  Well, 25.5.

I talked to and met some guys, 2 of them doing Ironmans, and 2 of them just riding, and we were laughing and stuff, and they got all gaga when I told them what the hell I've done, including Ultraman.  It still flabbergasts me that people think it's such a big deal, since I figure if *I* can do it, almost anyone can.  Anyway, I had to decide on my last loopage, and decided #2 again would be fun, so I asked these 2 guys (not the triathletes since I already knew they were faster than me) how fast they were riding, and they said 15-16.  I thought they were kidding or sandbagging, and told them to suck my wheel so we could ride together.  Well that lasted all of 2 miles and then I was gone. Once again, I had total fun on ER MCGIRR Road, and this time when I turned off, I needed water.  I asked a maintenance dude outside the library, and he said it was open and there were water fountains in there.  Which there were!  And they were ice cold!  I used the "Girls" bathroom, too!

I was happy to be heading back, and maybe 5 miles later who do I run into but the 2 dudes who weren't as fast as me, and I'm WTF how can this be?  They said they were right on with the turns and all, so I guess there was some turn I missed which caused me to get an extra 3 miles on this loop!  Once again, YAY ME!  I passed them again, got back to rest station and chatted again with the triathlete dudes (one doing IMAZ and other doing IMFL), we had some more yucks, then I had to get out of there.

The way back to Dekalb consists primarily of FUCKING KESLINGER ROAD which was the most hilly road of the ride PLUS A HEADWIND!!!  Fuck.  Oh well, gotta get 'er done.  I forgot to mention I'd been riding all day with a fucked up right foot, care of some shoe/insole/metatarsal pad experiments I'd done on Friday with my running shoes.  It cause my anterior tibialis and peroneals to go all FUCK YOU on me causing the front of my ankle to hurt like a mofo.  But I kept thinking as long as I didn't feel like I was making it worse by biking, I was OK.  It did hurt to unclip, but oh well.  That is why I wasn't riding like a bat out of hell.

FINALLY we got off the road from hell and were close to Dekalb.  A volunteer had said it was 14 miles back, which meant I'd end with 111 miles, which was cool, but of course the voices in my head are saying RIDE MORE SO YOU GET TO 112 YOU DUMBASS, but I was resisting them.  Finally I saw a sign WELCOME TO DEKALB, and I said DE-FUCKING-KALB I was ready to be done!

Well I roll into town and I'm already over 111 miles, I'm like, OK NOW I have to get to 112, and I was maybe 2 blocks from the theater, and I yell to some dude who'd just finished I'M AT 111.75 DO I RIDE AROUND TO GET 112???  And he knew the correct answer, which was YES!!!  However, I rolled past the theater into the parking lot, got to my car and was like HOLY FUCKING HELL LOOK AT THIS!

I mean, what are the odds that I added just enough lostness and extra miles on Loop #2 to get to this?  It made me smile hugely!  I wiped down my face and Skull Kingdom and put her into the car and grabbed my Endurox.

Here's what I had during the ride:
FOOD ALERT!!!!

• 6 hours of 1/2 Money Shot and 1/2 Money Shot 25% Less Caffeine custom Infinit mix.  245 calories per hour
• 1/2 of PB&J on white bread sandwich
• 1 fun-size Payday
• At least 6 16-oz bottles of water, probably more like 10.

I went back into the Egyptian Theater, and was giggling like a little kid I was so happy to be done, and they had a big spread of food, so first I headed there, and then sat down to chat with the volunteers and gave them this ride feedback:

• Have beer when we are done.  DUH.
• Have a whole pile of extra maps at the rest station since we are all clumsy and drop them like they're hot.
• McGirr Road is FUCKING AWESOME!

The 2 dudes who'd tried to ride with me came in a few minutes later and the 2 triathlete dudes went for a short run and came back to eat and we all chatted and exchanged names (if they are brave enough to read this blog and/or my Facebook page).  Here's what I ate immediately post-ride:
FOOD ALERT!!!!

• 1/2 egg salad sandwich on white bread
• 1/2 tuna salad sandwich on white bread
• 2.5 cups of beef/vegetable soup (YUM!)
• single serving of Lay's potato chips
• 1.5 scoops Endurox R4 mixed w/water
• about 5 1" cubes of cheese and 4 crackers

I had to get home to shower and stuff and meet my brother Mike for dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant.  But it was already 3:30PM and we were to meet at 5, so I called him and said 5:30, knowing full well I'd be ready for another meal in 2 hours!!!

I drove home rather fast, using the cruise control because my right ankle and glute were hurting like mofos.  Got home, immediately cracked a beer, OMG it was the BEST BEER EVER!  Unpacked the car, showered up (BEST SHOWER EVER!), dumped pics out of camera and onto Facebook while icing my right glute and ankle.  When I looked at my ankle, I actually had this 1" red lump on it, whoops!  But it went down pretty quick with the ice.

Then I met my brother Mike for sushi and me talking 200MPH because I was hopped up on caffeine and having had such a great ride and I've got 11 weeks until IMCOZ and I am so happy and feel great!  Here's the rest of the food I had yesterday:
FOOD ALERT!!!!

• 1 Harp Lager
• 1 Giant Sapporo with dinner
• 1 Raspberry beer just before bed and when I woke up 2 hours after my first sleep
• 2 brownies that I brought home from the ride.  I should have brought more
• At least 23 pieces of assorted sushi rolls and nigiri, possibly 30
• 2 small fortune cookies
• 1 bowl of Miso soup
• 2 small pieces of Hershey's dark chocolate

And guess what?  I woke up this morning with A HOLE IN MY STOMACH!!!  So had "real" breakfast today, 2 eggs fried in butter, English muffin slathered with butter, next I am going to have like 8 fresh figs and a banana.  FOOD CHANNEL!!!

I didn't add up my calories from yesterday, but I probably needed at least 5,000, so I will just keep working on them today ;)

Oh by the way, I averaged 18mph yesterday, not bad for an old lady with a bum ankle!!!  Today I'm signed up for another ride, but it's going to rain all day, so fuck that, I'm going to have fun with my girl, Lori, on the trainer (and she might run on the treadmill), for about 3 hours, and then we are going to EAT FOOD!!!

Two more big weeks of training and then a rest week.  YAY!!!  My ankle should be fine by Tuesday, which is when I do my next scheduled run.  Meanwhile...MORE BIKING!

More Pics from Weekend

We had some of my NothingMan pizza for dinner on Friday. I guess I'm always amazed at just how thick it is! And yes, we were wearing some crowns to be festive ;)

My bike nutrition on Saturday consisted of mostly Coke, but occasionally Gatorade.

Shelley was lookin' good, and our two bikes got along famously!

For dinner on Saturday, we went to Bistro Nami for some sushi. We started with warm sake, which was pretty good (and strong!)

We asked for our sushi to be put onto a boat, but the waiter said we didn't order enough for a boat? I counted 34 pieces total (yes, we ate it all), which I think would have filled a large boat, but we settled for a bridge and decorative plate which kind of looks like a boat anyway. It was delicious!

Working Through It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shelley arrived yesterday, and we relaxed in my living room that was now complete with the zebra carpet. We shot off some fireworks in the snow in my back yard, which was beautiful. Today, we rode for 2:40 and then I went and ran for :30, we each took the most awesome shower in my new bathroom, then we watched Ironman Hawaii (while eating nachos that I made and I'm drinking a bunch o' beers), then we are going to a tri store, then we are eating sushi and having sake, and then we are going to look at the gonzo Christmas lights in a nearby area, and then who knows? Below are a bunch of pics from our time together so far:

Great Day Saturday

My friend, Pattie, had to pull out of going to Wisconsin yesterday because she was terribly sick. In hearing her voice message, I could tell just how sick she was, and I called her, and she felt so bad that she couldn't go! I told her it was no big deal, and that I was actually somewhat relieved, because, well, I've really been pushing it, and that big of a ride this week might just push me over the edge. She's not the type to bag anything--I know that if she had an Ironman scheduled on Friday she would tough it out, just like I did at Ironman Brazil 2 years ago when I had a raging sinus infection.

Not spending time driving to Wisconsin would give me some extra time in the day. The weather forecast called for a beautiful day, maybe even hitting 70, and I decided to wait to start riding until the temperature rose a bit. I took off from home at 8:00AM, and I was wearing shorts! And a tank top! And my Primal Wear samurai arm warmers!

No beanie! No booties! No toe warmers! It was glorious! I wasn't even chilled.

The winds were WNW and NNW, so I had to mostly push into the wind on my way to Fermilab. Which is fine--since I knew I'd get the nice tailwind on the ride home. But OMG, the wind was crazy! There would be these cross wind gusts, and I've learned how to handle LGL in them, that would just make me laugh! I was all smiles, all the time, because this was the first time since NuclearMan that it was such good riding weather on a weekend.

About 10 miles in, I was in this industrial area and I heard a kildeer making its usual call, and luckily I spotted a tiny baby in the road trying to get back off the road to mom.

It looked like a puff ball on sticks! Well, the curb was too tall for it to jump, so I stopped my bike and sort of shuffled back to get the baby to a cross road where the sidewalk sloped towards the road. I was so worried a car would run over it! I'm sure it looked funny, me walking on my cleats going backwards--you wouldn't be able to tell what I was doing! But baby got back up, and thing is, those adult birds are known for dive bombing, but Mom didn't do it, and I slowly backed away from baby, and Mom flew right over, and all was good.

A few miles later, coming the opposite direction was Hottie Kit Guy on a red bike. We were at a major stoplight, and we are eyeballing one another and waving, because, well, it's such a glorious day. He was wearing some mostly white with red and black kit, and I was all black except for my arm warmers. As the light changed to green, we, of course, both stood up on our pedals and took some time to check one another out. HKG had his tongue hanging out in seeing LGL from the side, which is a typical reaction (P.S. I think I look pretty good, too). He yelled, "How's it going?" and I gave a huge smile, wave, and "AWESOME!"

Onward, I've got work to do. Upon arriving at Fermilab, I stopped to pee, dropping trou right next to the big stop sign.

I also took a big swig of Infinit, since between battling the wind and traffic on the way there I hadn't really drunk enough.

Now it was time to begin my main set:
3 x (20' @ 85%, 10' @ FT, 3' @ 105-110%, 7' Easy)

When I had woken up yesterday, I didn't feel too good. Like I was on the verge of getting sick. But my warmup blew that away, and I was ready to work hard.

It was easy for me to hit the wattage targets (my FTP on LGL is 205 these days, giving me a power to weight ratio in kg of 4.1, not bad, eh?) on the first repeat, and during this one, I saw a guy on a Pinarello. Not a Dogma, like mine, but still... My first thought was I should have sex with him! Isn't that crazy? Pinarellos just aren't very common around here...anyway when we passed one another (going opposite directions again), I yelled, "NICE BIKE!" And his tongue about fell out of his mouth when he saw LGL.

Onward. The winds were so crazy, I made up a new term: SFW. Stands for Super Fucking Windy. I'm not exactly sure just how strong the winds were, but the gusts had to be in the 30's easily.

I about finished repeat #1 when I got to Wilson Hall for the first time, and I stopped in to pee and had 2 cheese crackers and got some more water. My face looked really windblown, but I was still all smiles. I decided I could remove the arm warmers.

At this point, I'm heading east, so I get the tailwind, and it was hard to generate the watts, but I still gave it a good go, knowing I would turn into the wind soon. I rode by the horse farm, and observed several of the male horses hanging ten (probably way more than that!). They were just eating grass all relaxed with their humongous schlongs dangling like, "La de da. Look at me. I'm hung like a horse!"

Finishing the second and third repeats were no big deal--it continued being SFW, I kept laughing at the wind, I was hitting my wattage targets, and life was good. Only thing was that because of the wind, I didn't think I'd need to do 3 full loops since it would take too long and I wanted to have energy for today's riding. So on loop 3, I took a different road, which I'd never been on, and I went by all these really strange buildings and devices and such. I wish I'd had my camera with me--I mean I expected to be hauled out of there by the Security guys. And for some odd reason, I felt like I wanted to pee in there. But I got out and decided I could make it back to the stop sign to pee before I left Fermilab.

As I exit, I am heading south, so I'm getting some of the north tailwind, but I turn east in about .5 mile. FUCKIN' A! Tailwind, baby! I go right up this overpass, and I just left it in the big chainring and pedaled my ass off, smiling, not caring about the watts, and then it just got better, because I get a nice downhill and I'm going like 35MPH doing almost nothing. Every cyclist I see going the opposite direction has the same stupid grin on their face as I do.

And it was pretty much like that all the way home until I get to this one area where there's another sweet downhill (about 6 miles from home) that goes under an overpass. It always scares me a bit because it's dark in there and I don't want to be in there with cars. So I always sprint it as hard as possible so I can get through. This time, I cranked my ass off, and when I got out, I could feel my heart beating wildly, but I was happy.

When I got home, I quickly changed into running shorts and a fresh top, as I was fairly pigged out, and headed out to run for :40. OMG, my legs were toasty! Which meant that I rode hard (as it turns out, I rode at 80% of FTP for 4:25. That is tempo riding, kids. That's like 1/2 Ironman watts, only instead of just for 56 miles, 75!). My legs felt like they do at the start of an Ironman marathon, although not really that bad. I was smiling because it hurt so much! My stomach felt like shit, also same as Ironman, and I wish that I had brought Coke with me instead of Gatorade, which can make me want to puke at that point. But I had chugged a full bottle of water before I left, so I was hydrated and barely had to touch the Gatorade.

When I finished running, I was laughing because I smelled so bad! That was the first time this year that I have smelled so bad! Yeah, baby! It was one of those things where I was really hungry, but I would need to shower first.

After I showered and ate, I decided to call my friend, Matt, who I haven't seen in over a year because he had been in Afghanistan, and he has had parental issues like me, and we just haven't been able to connect. I left him a wild message basically demanding that I needed to have sushi for dinner and would he go out with me? He called back and initially couldn't make it, but after we yammered for a long time he said he'd check and see if he could back out of his prior obligation, and he did.

I picked the sushi restaurant, and I ordered for both of us, and let's just say it was PILES of sushi, and Matt even got full before me! After I polished off the sushi, I asked Matt about dessert. He said, sure why not. The waiter comes over and tells us what they have, and I ask Matt if he's had mochi before--he had not. I asked what kind they have, and I told the waiter to bring one of each--red bean, green tea, coconut, mango and chocolate. They arrived cut up in 3 bowls, and of course, I ate more than Matt. We both talk non-stop when we are together, and the topic of Sunday came up. I was either going to ride to Fermilab again or do this organized ride, and I asked Matt if he would ride, so, yeah, we are riding together today from his house in Plainfield.














Matt and I after our huge dinner

I used to ride with Matt all the time, and he was a big factor in me getting stronger. When we first met, Matt wasn't riding in the winter, and I blew his doors off for awhile, but then, he being 13 years younger than me and a guy, and getting his training together (I even coached him for a year), Matt turned into a monster cyclist. He's a little out of form probably, but I know we will have an awesome ride today and some good eats when we finish. The joke is that whenever he and I ride together, how long will it take before we start talking about food? Matt and I are both good cooks, we both like great food and wine (he's the guy who sent me the wine direct from Italy), and we like to talk about cooking and eating and drinking. I remember one ride where we just left his house, and we are maybe 30 seconds into the ride, and Matt starts talking about food. I about fell off my bike laughing, because I looked down at the power meter and said, "Matt--that's a new world record. 30 seconds and we are talking about food."

When I got home last night, I thought I still needed some more calories, so I poured a pile of Cheetos onto a plate and tucked into them before going to sleep. I know, I know, I am eating like it's going out of style!

So even though I didn't go to Wisconsin, I had an awesome day yesterday, and today will be more of the same!

Happy training!