Weekly Workout Totals 2/5/2007-2/11/2007 and Totally Gonzo Weekend 1

But first, some pictures (click on them for full size!). The first one is from the 1/2 marathon at Goofy Challenge from this past January, and the second is from the Miami Man 1/2 Ironman last November (where I won my age group).

Since I do a fair amount of racing, it can be expensive to purchase race-produced photos, but some are just worth it to me. I hope that when I am 70 I will look back on these photos of me at the age of 50 fondly. Plus, for some reason, my sisters and dad wanted copies of these, and it would be rude to make them pay for them, and one extra copy doesn't cost too much, so I got me some, too.

Last week was amazing in many ways--my first totally Gonzo weekend, including a race followed by a 1:40 run (more on that later), I figured out how to program this database stuff at work for this big project I'm working on (finally!), and I had some car problems.

Yes, on Saturday, after spending 2 brutal hours on the trainer, I was on my way to the Y to do a short brick run, and I was maybe 2 doors from home, and I could tell something didn't feel right, and I suspected a flat tire, and I was right. So I backed up and drove into my garage and fixed it. I have these rims on my car that I've been told are susceptible to the tire coming off, especially during the cold because of all the chemicals on the roads for snow and ice control. So I decided to bag the run and change the flat. No big deal. I've done this before, and at least it wasn't -10 like it had been earlier in the week!

After changing the flat, I went back inside to eat lunch and relax a bit before heading out to the grocery store and fill up my car with gas. I get in the car, hit the ignition and hear, "CLICK CLICK CLICK." Fuck. I was pretty sure it wasn't the battery, but I did 2 things: went to my neighbor's house and asked him if he'd give me a jump and called my Dad. The "kid" (I think he's late 20's maybe early 30's) next door was probably stoned when he answered the door. He said he didn't have jumper cables, but I said I did. Meanwhile, I was on the phone with my Dad, waiting for this idiot next door to show up. It was over 10 minutes before the kid showed, so clearly he wasn't moving very fast. At any rate, Dad and the kid all agreed it wasn't a battery problem since the headlights illuminated fully as did the accessories. It's probably the starter motor, and I'm getting it towed in today to fix that, the flat tire, and gee, it's time for an oil change! So I guess I'm lucky all this happened from home, right?

Next issue: How do I get to my race (yesterday)? After laughing off the car troubles, I called my friend (and massage therapist) to ask if he could drive me to and pick me up from my race/workout the next day. Luckily, my race wave didn't go off until 1:00PM, and Harlan usually meditates for about 3 hours on Sunday mornings, so I didn't think this would mess up his schedule. He said he would chauffeur me. In exchange, well this is really comical and will show you what a nerd I am (and Harlan, too, which is one of the reasons I like him so much).

Friday evening when I was getting a massage, Harlan and I were talking about all sorts of stuff, and I told him about the project I'm working on at work, and how I enjoy doing that sort of thing, but that I always have this sense of repetition about the process. I am one of those people who sees things as more alike than different, when it comes to qualitative analysis. Included in my mathematics studies in college was topology, which was a class I just HAD to take because when I was a kid, we had this set of Time-Life books on various subjects, one of which was mathematics, and the stuff about topology fascinated me. Anyway, when you talk about things being the same, that has an analogy to the topological term "genus." So I thought about that and then Harlan and I talked about Mobius (sorry no umlaut) strips. I told him that sometimes I felt one-dimensional like that but that at other times it feels as if my mind is all around me in space like scattered molecules. Turns out I was experiencing a moment of what I would say is close to Nirvana--my body was feeling most excellent being worked on and I was describing my thought processes and my sense of sometimes feeling one-dimensional yet at the same time feeling way more than 3-dimension from a mental perspective. It's tough to put it into words here, but it was truly a special moment.

Anyway, I told Harlan that occasionally I would make a huge Mobius strip out of newspaper so that I could cut in half, and again in half, just to see what the thing turned into. Harlan had never done that, so I made him a 6-foot circumference (although technically, the circumference of a Mobius strip is infinite) Mobius strip, and gave it to him when he picked me up yesterday around 11:45.

I went to my race, and truthfully, I had no idea how I would do. I got there in time to see a friend, Mary Jo (new blog link to be attached once I get her URL), on the bike, and so I cheered her on for a few minutes. I then went and got a 15-minute massage (I AM a massage whore), which felt awesome. As I was about to start my swim, MJ and her husband came on deck to be my personal cheering section! They really didn't need to stay, but it was so nice of them. I complimented MJ on her newly buffed out physique, and she told me I was her inspiration (aw, shucks).

I swam evenly, but I guess not too fast--only 500 yards in 10 minutes? I am slow, but not THAT slow (I will check the results when they are posted online later today). I think they stiffed us on time or else I was just tired. Whatever. Next we head to the bikes, and MJ and hubby are there. Oh, by the way, I have this total hottie volunteer guy, Joe, as my scorekeeper. He asked me when I wanted to be fanned on the bike, and I told him I would just point. I had brought my Motley Crue (again, missing the umlaut, what's up with umlauts in this post?) CD to listen to, which was good considering the music they were playing sucked. I'm jamming, I'm getting fanned, I'm hurting, but I banged out 6 miles on that fucking Precor bike (I HATE those things). When I got off the bike, I just about puked, but I was actually looking forward to the run. Oh--I was the best biker in my wave, beating all the men. MJ told me that very few people were getting 6 miles on those things. By the way, she's an AWESOME athlete--freaking great swimmer who has turned into a great runner (she qualified for Boston a couple of months ago) and triathlete.

Upstairs to the track, and here we go. I left the headphones off, as I just wanted to run. My hottie, Joe, is yelling "Go Sheila" after every lap, and then I can hear MJ yelling, and then I hear someone calling my name on the megaphone. Turns out that the head dude decided I was the one in the wave to be cheered on. It was so much fun. I had my own personal cheering section! But I encouraged other, slower athletes, while I was out there, after all, we are all doing the best we can. Every so often I would try and crack a smile just to let my "fans" know I was doing OK. Good thing Joe was counting my laps, because after 1 mile (the track is 12 laps to the mile), I just lost count and was just trying to maintain pace. I went out a bit too fast (someone called out my first lap split to which I replied, "TOO FAST"), but then settled in. Turns out I ran dead-on 8:00/mile. Good thing on Wednesday I did a track workout where I decided that my 5K track pace repeats should be at 7:55. I guess I should go lower this Wednesday!

So after all that, I had a great race and figured I HAD to have won my age group. Nope. I SUCK. Some woman that I don't know beat me by probably 1 swim length or something. I need to look at the final results to see what I need to do next time to beat her (which I fully intend to do if she shows up).

I said farewell to MJ and hubby, and then got another massage. THANK GOD! Actually, I didn't feel that bad right away, after all that was a short workout. But then I headed to the treadmill to bang out a 1:40 run.

The first :30 didn't feel too bad, as it was Zone 1 pace. As I began to go into Zone 2, though, not so much. But, hey, I asked for this, so I'm going to do it. I have to say, though, that getting some "strange" (running in a gym that I don't belong to) made it a little more bearable. Plus, I got to watch the volunteers take down banners, move the Precor bikes back to their homes and lower the basketball hoops (the bikes were put onto the basketball court for the race). I decided to extend my :30 of Zone 1 to :40, which was a good idea, as when I went into Zone 2 it didn't feel too bad. I decided that my last :20 of the run would be back on the track, just to see what I could muster at that point.

Believe it or not, it was cooler on the track, even though it is upstairs from the treadmill at this club. Their track is nice and cushy, so it felt nice to be on it again. I managed a decent Zone 3 pace, but it felt like a lot more work than it usually does during a long run (gee, I wonder why?).

I was so happy to be done with all of that, and bonus, I scored some Accelerade (they had reps there, but I didn't touch the stuff while racing because it will make me puke, but I can use it at other times) and fruit. Since I will be without car for 2 days, I won't be able to go buy fresh fruit, so again, the universe shined on me by providing me with some fruit for the next few days.

Oh, and I did do "work" work on the weekend, too. So it made for some pretty Gonzo stuff, is all I can say. My workout totals don't look all that great, but trust me, it was hard stuff! Now the trick is to see how I recover from this. I stretched out well last night, and slept well, but I am sure I'm behind on some calories (I didn't eat any "real" food between 7:00AM and 6:00PM). I have an easy run scheduled, and I think I'll be fine there, and also I will lift weights today. I may ask my mechanic to at least drive me to the Y (I can walk home) after they pick up my car with the tow truck.

My last thought to pass along--the neighbor kid told me I must be really bummed about my car. Truthfully, I wasn't. I told him that a lot worse things could happen. See, this is one of the things triathlon (especially the long-distance variety) gives you. A perspective on things that the little things really don't matter much. I had no car, I still raced, I did well, I lived to tell the tale. It's all good!

Weekly Totals 02/05/2007-02/11/2007
Swim: 5000 yards (2.84 miles) in 1.65 hours; 14% of weekly workout time; approx. 578 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 87.21 miles in 4.98 hours; 42% of weekly workout time; approx. 2389 calories burned
Run: Approx. 24.61 miles in 3.75 hours; 32% of weekly workout time; approx. 1706 calories burned
Strength: 1.5 hours; 13% of weekly workout time; approx. 375 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 114.66 miles in 11.88 hours; approx. 5048 calories burned
Sleep: 7 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.22 hours. Massage: 2 hours

Weekly Workout Totals 1/29/2007-2/4/2007

I'm in mourning over the Bears loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. The Bears stunk up the joint. No further comments.

This Sunday I have my first indoor race in the series of 4. It should be interesting. For 2 weekends straight now I have knocked out some serious intensity. A week ago Sunday I thought I was going to collapse after the 1-hour swim/1:40 run combo. This past Sunday when I did it, it was almost worse, because, you guessed it, the bike workout on Saturday was even harder than the prior week. And that Saturday bike workout gets harder this week, too (as do my Tuesday/Thursday bike workouts). And my strength training is moving along. I'm in week 2 of 5 weeks of strength/endurance. This week is a mix of 2x8 power (heavy weight) and 2x20 endurance (slightly lighter weight). And tomorrow I start doing track workouts!

Truth be told, I went to sleep at 8:30 Sunday night. I was so shelled and the Bears were doing so poorly, I figured I wasn't going to miss anything, so down I went. Yesterday morning, even though I had slept long and well, I still felt pretty worked. But my priority for yesterday was a run, and then perhaps a short recovery swim, and then if I had anything left at the end of the day, knock out some of the ghastly strength workout.

Without even drinking any additional caffeine besides my morning coffee (and I love that morning coffee), I headed to the Y a little after noon. I got on the treadmill, and as tired as I was, running felt absolutely great! I didn't feel the least bit muscularly fatigued. I guess that means my body is adapting to the Gonzo training. I suppose having 2 Goofy Challenges under my belt doesn't hurt, either.

I needed to decompress from a work project (yes, work--I actually worked 56 hours last week--something I haven't done for about 5 years--on something that I am thoroughly enjoying, because I am writing technical specifications for essentially all this database massaging), so I hit the pool and banged out 1100 yards at a pretty good pace. I went back home and worked until 5:00PM (I had started at 5:30AM, ah the pleasures of working from home), and was trying to decide did I want to get some of my strength workout in or did I want a beer and nachos? I had made 2 small trays of my best nachos (good tortilla chips, smear about 1 tsp. fat-free refried beans on each one, top with a generous slice of pickled jalapeno, add about 1 tsp. Newman's Own medium lime salsa, and finally top with a suitably sized slice of Gouda, microwave for about a minute until cheese is melted), and you'd think I could have finished them all on Sunday night, what with the amount of exercise I had done. But no, I had (still have) leftovers, and boy are they tasty, so last night I really was struggling between doing a third workout and having a beer and nachos.

I must be nuts, because I decided to hit the weights, knowing that those nachos would taste a whole lot better afterwards. I got in :48 including abs and core, legs, tris and back. So all I have to finish up today are chest, bis and delts. And I slept really well last night except for 1 hour where I was laying in bed "scrolling" (just thinking about stuff--I never obsess about this, as when it happens it seems to be necessary for my brain). And I feel wonderful this morning, despite all the strange dreams I had.

So all in all, life is good. I'm enjoying running a rather large, global project at work, I'm doing nutso training, I get to start racing, it's stinking cold (yesterday it was -12 when I woke up; today only -2) and I'm feeling pretty strong, which is amazing considering it's only been FOUR WEEKS since Goofy Challenge! And I thought last winter I was doing some pretty amazing training. As always, I can't expect to get stronger doing the same thing, so now it's more, more, more!

I leave you with the Crackhead motto and then my weekly totals for last week, which doesn't appear to be a lot of volume (not for me, anyway), but trust me it's intense:

"Harder, longer, faster, tougher, repeat."
--Crackhead

Weekly Totals 01/29/2007-02/04/2007
Swim: 9750 yards (5.53 miles) in 3.33 hours; 25% of weekly workout time; approx. 1167 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 81.09 miles in 4.63 hours; 35% of weekly workout time; approx. 2385 calories burned
Run: Approx. 24.61 miles in 3.83 hours; 29% of weekly workout time; approx. 1744 calories burned
Strength: 1.28 hours; 10% of weekly workout time; approx. 320 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 111.23 miles in 13.07 hours; approx. 5616 calories burned
Sleep: 8.29 hours avg./night
Stretching: 1.95 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours

Weekly Workout Totals 1/22/2007-1/28/2007 and Beginning of Gonzo Training, or FEAR OF LOAFING

As readers may have come to expect from me, it's been 3 weeks since Goofy Challenge, and I am already training for my next big thing. If I haven't said it before, I love my coach, because we have a good relationship whereby I decide to do crazy shit, and he and I work out a good training plan together.

Beginning 2/11, I will be doing an indoor sprint triathlon every other Sunday for 8 weeks, so there are 4 of them. When I have done these in the past (I skipped last year, but did them the prior 3 years, capturing tons of medals, winning my age group for the series in 2005), that would be all I would do that day. But I'm preparing for Desoto American Triple T, so this time, I will do the race and then do my long run afterwards.

Coach structured last week's training and the next 4 weeks taking this into consideration. Last Friday, there was nothing on my schedule. NOTHING. A REST DAY. But in my infinite Crackheaded wisdom, I figured I could swim and get in a 5th run for the week. I did the swim in the morning, but as the day wore on, it seemed like running would not be a good idea. So I didn't. And I understood why there wasn't one scheduled. Saturday I did a 2-hour ride with plenty o' intensity followed by a :30 run (and once again I nearly fainted on the treadmill it was so fucking HOT in the gym), and then yesterday I began the pattern of training for the next 4 weeks, with a 1:00 swim and 1:40 long run scheduled.

Yesterday I figured I should swim before the long run, to prepare for 2 weeks out where I will do a race first and then a long run. I got into the pool yesterday morning thinking I only needed to swim :30, since I had added a swim on Friday, but then it felt good to be in the (relatively) cool water, and I thought it would cool me down before my treadmill run, and I was just doing drills, so I kept going and swam 2800 yards. While I was swimming, I kept telling myself to think only about swimming and not the fact that I needed to run 1:40 afterwards. After all, I do this all the time in races, right? Even though I was doing a drill workout, I thought that I am starting to see an impact of some of the things I've been doing in my swim workouts this season. I may even be getting a bit faster again!

Anyway, I get on the treadmill and it's plenty hot. Funny thing is that before I began working with Rich, I would swim about 1 hour and then do a long run every Saturday. And true to form, I was trashed most of the time when I trained that way, because I would do a long ride on Sunday (>3 hours), and that sequence just doesn't work for me (in spring/summer, my long run is on Thursday so I can ride long on Saturday and Sunday; right now my "long" ride is only 2-2:30, so I can easily tolerate a hard long run the next day. General wisdom says you should separate your key workouts by 48 hours). So I was curious as to how yesterday's run would go. As it turns out, no worries--my legs felt fine, and I even forgot what my different paces were and ended up running a bit faster than I needed to. I was careful to eat a gel every hour, so when I finished the run I wasn't quite starving. But I went home, grabbed Endurox R4, drove to Radio Shack to get a battery for my cordless phone, and during that short trip (under :30), I realized how tired and hungry I was. I went home and enjoyed some pasta (I will need to eat pasta on Saturday and Sunday for the next 8 weeks or so to ensure I am taking in sufficient carbs), put a chicken in the oven to roast, stretched, and then ate again around 7PM.

Today I'm scheduled for strength training and an easy run, but I will also do a short recovery swim. So Rich has me basically off on Fridays, and very easy on Mondays, with Saturday and Sunday being pretty difficult. Mind you, it's not like my bike workouts are in a holding pattern here--they are getting progressively harder every week, and I am now in the Power/Endurance phase of strength training, and beginning a week from Wednesday, I start doing track workouts on Wednesdays (5K and 10K intervals), so you put all that together with 4 races in 8 weeks, and that's what I call Gonzo Training.

I got excited thinking about it Saturday when I looked at my upcoming training schedule. I am excited to see how well I can do in the races with such a hard workout the day before, and to see how those long runs are going to feel and how well I will recover. And I know this is absolutely *perfect* training for Triple T (not that Goofy Challenge wasn't good preparation!), and if I make it through the next weeks, well let's just say that when I take my bike outside and start hitting the streets, I am going to be one strong mofo, or at least that's what I hope happens!

Weekly Totals 01/22/2007-01/28/2007
Swim: 9700 yards (5.51 miles) in 3.43 hours; 27% of weekly workout time; approx. 1203 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 76.42 miles in 4.37 hours; 35% of weekly workout time; approx. 2231 calories burned
Run: Approx. 24.53 miles in 3.83 hours; 30% of weekly workout time; approx. 1744 calories burned
Strength: 1.02 hours; 8% of weekly workout time; approx. 255 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 106.46 miles in 12.65 hours; approx. 5433 calories burned
Sleep: 8.5 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.75 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours

Boob Grab and Tri Tag

The thing I like about swimming (besides that it just feels good) is that it can be a source of entertainment, depending on where I swim. Since I usually swim at a YMCA in the morning after the hard core swimmers have left (I don't need to be in the water until 7AM and I can still make it ass in chair to begin working by 8:30AM), I get to experience a unique crowd.

There's Chad, the hot married guy. He is just teaching himself to swim since last year, and he's already really good. Of course, all it takes is one look at him and you would know that he is genetically suited to swimming! He's tall and lanky, and looks good in a Speedo. We seem to be on the same swimming schedule, so we know one another's names. But up until Wednesday, we only knew each other as swimmers. That day, he said he hadn't seen me for awhile. It was because of Goofy Challenge--between tapering for it, doing it and recovering from it, I'd been off my usual swim schedule for 3 weeks. So Chad asks me where I've been? I told him I went to Disney to run a 1/2 marathon and marathon back to back. His eyes light up like, "wtf is she crazy or what?" He tells me I should try a triathlon (up until this point he only knows me as a swimmer, see? When I swim, I try not to advertise, and don't wear caps from races). I get a Cheshire cat-like grin on my face, and I tell him, "I've done a few." He asks me which ones? I tell him that for starters, 8 Ironman races. It was a fun interchange. Since I already know most people could care less about the fact that I train really hard and race and do pretty well, I don't even talk about it unless it REALLY comes up. So it was fun for me to tell someone for the first time. Chad said he was so impressed, and I told him it's really no big deal. I mean, I don't expect people to be impressed, you know? It's just something I do with quiet conviction.

Anyway, back to today. I'm splitting my lane with another man, who astutely figured out that it must be hard to swim fast when the water is warm, and so he told me of his observation while I was in a 15" wait period, and I huffed a Yes to him. On Wednesday, I also acquired the email address of the aquatic director, and let her know that I would be sending her communication regarding the regulation of the pool temperature. It's gotten out of control, and the next nearest YMCA is closing, so we will be getting an influx of folks who are used to a "hot" pool, and I expect there to be temperature wars. I am sick and tired of not being able to breathe because the pool is too warm.

About halfway through my workout, Bumblebee Man gets in the adjacent lane, swimming next to me. I say Bumblebee Man, because he's wearing swim trunks that are black and yellow horizontal stripes. He's doing breaststroke, and I notice he's taking exceedingly wide pulls. Well, at one point he's pulling under the lane rope into MY lane and he practically grabs one of my boobs while I am rotated towards his lane! He wasn't really grabbing--but let's just say my boob got in the way of his hand! I didn't know whether to be angry or laugh, so I settled for a quick stop and shout, "You are hitting me." I think he sort of got the idea, but I still kept watching for his wandering hands. I swear if he made contact one more time, I was going to stop and yell, "STAY IN YOUR LANE!" I am pretty used to overwater collisions of hands, which I don't like either, but an underwater grab is, well, a little more unsettling.

When Chad was leaving this morning, I told him what had happened and I just busted out laughing hysterically. It's not like I have much in the way of boobs to grab in the first place, so I guess I just found it hillarious that of all the places Bumblebee Man could have made contact, it ended up being a boob underwater!

So that was today's pool entertainment. On to the tagging.

Ironmom did it to me, and I am tagging Cindy, Brett, Mike, Scott, Joe, and Darren.

Here's the tag:

1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever
2. Describe a memory from your most recent triathlon
3. What's the most embarassing thing that has ever happened to you in a tri?
4. What's the most thrilling thing that's happened to you in a tri?
5. What is something you discovered about yourself by doing triathlons?
6. What is The Big Goal that you're working towards?

1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever

Oh, God. Was that ever a travesty. My first was an Olympic distance, I was fat, undertrained and spastic, and the plane I was to take to fly in was cancelled. I get to O'Hare, and all sorts of flights are being cancelled because of severe thunderstorms. This is my first triathlon, dammit, how can this be happening to me? So I RUN (at least I was able to at the time) to the car rental counters and grab a rental car before they got swamped by others trying to do the same thing, and I volunteer to take on 3 passengers (our bikes were being transported by truck, so no worries, I hoped. The bike made it there and so did I.

Not only that, but I had trained with Team in Training, and the schedule had 2 workouts per week in each sport. Ladies and gentlemen, the referee has called a penalty for INSUFFICIENT TRAINING--15 MINUTE PENALTY.

Not only that, but before the race actually started, I got on my bike in transition to ride the hill out and fell over in the transition area! I bent my left brake hood (I was using the only bike I had at the time--my road bike), which I didn't notice until about 5 miles into the actual race.

Not only that, but the lake we swam in (this was Memphis in May) had to be bombed to kill the water moccasins (there were dead ones all over the shoreline).

Not only that, but the lake actually stunk to high heaven, it was my first swim in open water, and I'm thinking, "I'm swimming in that shit?"

Not only that, but I had my stinking period, so I remember that in T2 I had to use a porta-pottie to change you-know-what.

Cindy was there...I think it was her first, too, so I am sure she can provide more details.

But despite all that, I more or less knew what I was doing (aside from being a slow, fat girl), and overcoming all that in my very first triathlon steeled me to become a student of the sport, and you know what happened after that!

2. Describe a memory from your most recent triathlon

That would be MiamiMan, so there are very fresh memories. I WON MY AGE GROUP, I WON MY AGE GROUP!!! That is the best memory, and I have a plaque to prove it. I have won my age group in other triathlons, but this was the first 1/2 Ironman, so it means a lot to me.

3. What's the most embarassing thing that has ever happened to you in a tri?

I don't really get embarrassed (just ask Cindy), but I am sure I have made others feel uncomfortable. Like at the Disney 1/2 Ironman in 2004, I'm rubbing sunblock on a girlfriend's back in transition, and I pretend like I'm really getting into it and say loudly enough for others nearby to hear, "I am really enjoying this." You should have seen the wigged out tense faces!

Another time is when, and I kid you not, during the 2004 Spirit of Racine triathlon (1/2 Ironman), I had my period AND I had to um...take a shit...during the run, and it was imminent, and there were no nearby porta-potties, so I found a BUSH, and it wasn't really that big, squatted behind it and did my thing. And you know what? That race is my 1/2 IRONMAN PR. So THERE. Was I embarrassed? Maybe a teensy bit.

4. What's the most thrilling thing that's happened to you in a tri?

I would have to say actually BEING in the Hawaii Ironman during the treacherous climb to Hawi (the winds were particularly brutal in 2004) after I had already been to Kona to booze it up and lay in the sun the prior 10 years or so, and now here I was doing an Ironman!

5. What is something you discovered about yourself by doing triathlons?

I discovered that I was already a very strong, resilient woman, and that I should never make any attempt to hide or subjugate that part of me. It is who I am, and triathlon is how it is made evident.

6. What is The Big Goal that you're working towards?

Um...I guess I am still thinking about qualifying for Kona. I think I have the goods, and that if I get a good race on a good day it can happen. In the meantime, I plan to seek out events that stretch me beyond Ironman. That shit is fun, let me tell you. I know how to do Ironman, and know I can finish in a respectable time; it's more fun now to try something that I'm not entirely sure about to get that same feeling you get when you finish something you weren't sure you could.

There is No Easy Way

It's been awhile since I've cussed in a post here. Why? Because I've just been plugging along since May, 2006, not really "training" so much, at least not for an Ironman. For it's only when I am thinking about an impending Ironman that I begin to receive fucking hard workouts from my coach.

Since MiamiMan last November, all I've done is run a lot and try to maintain respectable swim and bike fitness.

Swimming is still not something for me to worry about--at this point, I am not going to get much faster, and building endurance is easy. I had wanted to get some individual swim coaching, but it just hasn't panned out. Oh well, I still gotta work on my biking and running.

I am still more or less in "ease back into hard running" mode. I got in a decent amount of it last week, but am just beginning to feel ready for quality work, i.e., tempo intervals. I don't have much of that scheduled for this week, but I am sure I will start to see them next week.

Now, any of you who follow my blog know that my coach excels in prescribing evil bike workouts, and since I've been with him for a few years, and he knows what I have done and what I might be able to do, he periodically mixes things up. And I really believe he makes up stuff and tries it out on me to see if I will cry, "UNCLE!" Because the key to getting better at biking (or running--swimming is more a technique thing, no?) is to regularly change the stimulus to produce more of a response. When a person first begins training seriously, almost any stimulus will create improvement, but when you've been at it at the level I have for 6 years already, there is no such thing as expecting improvement from an easy/mindless workout.

Let me just say that I think I'm a pretty damn good biker for a 50-year old woman. Hey, I can average 21+mph in a 1/2 Ironman. Would I like to be faster? You betcha. I'm an OK runner now, too, only I need for the stars to align and for me to "just" race a 1/2 marathon to prove it, even though I'm quite comfortable with what I've seen during training runs.

So it's time for me to get back on my biking. I guess what I was doing the past 3 months wasn't hard enough, or at least it wasn't enough to trigger improvements to my FTP. Then again, I didn't expect that to happen, nor did I focus on my biking the past 3 months. Recall that I had a banner summer, where I banged out a lot of miles and progressed beyond where I was after Ironman Brazil. I can't believe I've already put over 1,000 miles in biking since 9/18/2006. HA! Most of that is indoors!

So you know what that means? It's time for WORK. It's time for fucking hard workouts that when I look at them on paper, I go what the fuck? It's time for doing a workout that I've never done for the first time and finding that I either want to cough up a lung, puke or flat out die at some point while I'm doing it.

Today was such a day. Here is the workout I did. Short and sweet, and fucking hard!

WU: 15' wup, 3' spinups
MS: 3 x 1' (1') @ 105%, 2' Easy,
4 x 5' (2') as 4' @ FT then 1' @ 105-110%,
3' Easy,
8 x 30/30's (which I did at >110%)
CD: 5' Easy

For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology, the percentages are as a percent of my FTP, or Functional Threshold Power. 30/30's are supposed to be 30" at VO2 Max power, 30" easy. The last time I formally tested FTP was in August, and it was 186. It's dropped a little bit since then (maybe 180?), but I am still using 186 as my "target" during workouts. Eventually it will get easier (ha ha), and hopefully the number will move back up to where it was and even beyond.

FTP is the wattage you can hold in a 1-hour time trial, but I estimate it by performing a test about every 4-6 weeks (it sucks, trust me) that includes a total of 40 minutes at that power level, so it's "good enough" for a working number. Thing is, doing actual 1-hour time trials is both hard indoors (mentally), and can require some extra recovery time. Besides, when I do the test indoors, I can usually get another 5 watts were I to go ride outside. But that's not possible right now.

Anyway, the entire workout took 1:10 (598 calories burned), and let me just say welcome back to the fucking hard interval workouts! And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Because there is no easy way to get stronger and faster.

It was even more fun today since I did 3 workouts yesterday: a :30 swim, a :50 run and a :51 strength workout that put the hurt to my legs. So my power was a bit off today, but lucky me, I get to do this workout again on Thursday!

Endurance is an easy thing for me to acquire--I have a huge, multi-year base, and it only takes a few weeks of increased volume to get it back. But speed--that's another thing entirely. If you don't practice going fast/hard, you don't get good at it, and it's easy to lose. So that's what the remainder of my winter is about. Hard and fast. Work.

While I was on the trainer today, I thought about buying a web cam and streaming live video of me working out to the web. If anyone is interested, let me know. I'd like to see it myself. What do I look like when I'm clenching my teeth, my lungs are burning, my legs are running on fumes, and that silly power meter is telling me I'm not good enough? And why do I bust out in the biggest smile when I'm done with the workout?

Weekly Workout Totals 1/15/2007-1/21/2007

OK, so this is just an excuse to gloat a little bit about Da Bears. Da Bears Da Bears Da Bears Da Bears! Remember that it's a SOFT S, a la the Superfans.

I had what I consider a near perfect day yesterday. I did a 1:30 run (first one since Goofy), that felt great. Then I swam :30 just to cool off, went home and lifted for :30, got ready to watch the game, and then totally enjoyed the game (and yes, there were beers involved). I was even happy to hear that the Colts are now favored in Super Bowl XLI, since the Bears were the underdogs yesterday and look what that made them do?

Anyway, I got back to training last week. In the big scheme of things, it was still an easy week for me, but a nice comeback from Goofy. This week I start up again with coach Rich, and I'm excited to see what he's going to throw at me. We chatted last week, and he asked me why I can't do "just" a 1/2 marathon or "just" a marathon. I'll do that eventually! For now, the focus is on the Triple T in May. I have my first indoor sprint in 3 weeks, and I'll be running long after it as race-specific prep. I'm still on huge strength workouts for another 7 weeks, and in that time I'll hit 3 races.

One last thing--I have to say that it always feels SO great to get back to full training after a break. My outlook on life is brighter; everything looks nicer. I suppose it doesn't hurt to have your football team winning, either!

Weekly Totals 01/15/2007-01/21/2007
Swim: 6800 yards (3.86 miles) in 2.4 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 841 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 81.97 miles in 4.68 hours; 41% of weekly workout time; approx. 2361 calories burned
Run: Approx. 24.75 miles in 3.88 hours; 34% of weekly workout time; approx. 1760 calories burned
Strength: 0.5 hours; 4% of weekly workout time; approx. 125 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 110.58 miles in 11.46 hours; approx. 5087 calories burned
Sleep: 8.93 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.35 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours

Disney Pics

As I always say (borrowing from Billy Crystal as Fernando Lamas--sorry I couldn't find a video clip), it's better to look good than to feel good. For a 50-year old bag, I think I'm still kickin' it. Bonus--the fish showed up in my marathon pics!

No really, despite my description of being in pain during the marathon, I did enjoy it. My quads are feeling much better after a week of serious rest, and I'm going to go for a short run today!

1/2 Marathon:
Marathon:

2007 Goofy’s Challenge Race Report

Executive Summary:
Weight: 112 lbs. (same as last year)
Half Marathon 1/6/2007: 2:14:32, 10:16/mile, 44 out of 597 F50-54, did not wear HRM
Half Marathon 1/7/2006: 2:07.17, 9:43/mile, 86 out of 789 F45-49, burned 1,206 calories, average heart rate 128
Full Marathon 1/7/2007: 4:31:13, 10:21/mile, 27 out of 361 F50-54, did not wear HRM
Full Marathon 1/8/2006: 4:27.07, 10:12/mile, 68 out of 586 F45-49, burned 2,398 calories, average heart rate 124
Combined Time 2007: 6:45:45, overall average 10:19/mile
Combined Time 2006: 6:34.24, overall average 10:02/mile

When I did this race last year, it was a new experience, so I went into it with a sense of fun and completing a new challenge. While I was preparing for it this time, I had designs on PR’ing the marathon and perhaps even qualifying for Boston. Neither of those things happened, but I am still glad I did this--although this was the last time, I swear! Having the race looming gave me a reason to do some serious running, including gaining some speed (which the numbers above don’t show), adding on to my running base, and giving me additional confidence that I should not have any problems (or at least no severe ones!) in attempting the Desoto American Triple T (DATTT) this May. DATTT will “only” have about 26.2 miles of running across its 3 days of 4 triathlons. I’m not saying it still won’t be tough, but at least I’ve exposed myself twice to a boatload of running across consecutive days.

I have gone without formal coaching since 11/13/2006. I figured out what I needed to do for Goofy by looking at what I had done last year and listening to my body. My coach knew I could handle the scheduling myself. About all I did differently was to make running the priority. So if I was tired and didn’t feel like getting up early to swim, I skipped it. If I didn’t feel like going as hard on the bike, I didn’t. But I did do a few longer long runs than I had done a year ago. What I didn’t have this time around was a recent marathon performance. In 2005, I ran a marathon by myself in “penance” for having DNF’ed at Ironman Wisconsin. But in 2006, my only marathon was at Ironman was Brazil in May. After that, I kept up more of a biking focus through August. After that, I switched gears into ½ Ironman training for Miami Man, and stepped up my running for Goofy.

As of 3 weeks ago, I was concerned that I had jacked up my lower back/hip mechanics, as evidenced by extreme tightness in my left calf muscles. It seemed to be worse when running on the treadmill, which was a new thing for me. Typically, the treadmill fixes up any lingering issues I developed from running on the roads all spring and summer. But this time, the treadmill took revenge on me. So last week’s runs prior to Goofy and the week before were done back on the roads. Yet I still didn’t know if I’d come out OK after Goofy.

I am running faster than a year ago. About 15-20 seconds per mile on long runs. My typical long run in the fall, winter and early spring starts with an easy (Z1) warm-up, building to a tempo (Z4) finish of 20-25 minutes. Last year my pace on these runs was 9:35-9:40, and this year it was 9:10-9:15. That’s not too shabby of an improvement considering I am always in training for some Ironman or another. I’ve read that you can improve your running for about 10 years from the point you begin doing it seriously, so that means I may have another 2-3years of improvement left! I think it may actually be more if I were to switch to pure running. At any rate, I am very happy (thanks, Coach) for the steady improvements that I’ve made over the past 3 years.

So, as is customary with triathletes and other OCD individuals, I began to experience goal inflation for this year’s Goofy. It was about late November when I thought, gosh, what time do I need to qualify for Boston? And then when I looked at that marathon pace (9:21/mile) against how I had been executing my long runs, I began to think it was doable. In retrospect, sure, if I didn’t run 13.1 miles the day before! Some highly gifted runners could pull it off, and I still believe that if I just go run a marathon and get decent weather (i.e., mid-60’s or lower), I can do it.

But you never know. Early last week was the first time I started looking at the weather forecast for Orlando. It didn’t look good. 70’s to 80’s and high humidity. I really didn’t think I could keep up my training paces under those conditions across 39.3 miles of running. My plan was to really hold back on the ½ marathon, and then try and go for it in the full.

I arrived in Orlando on Thursday, 1/4, quite late. My plane was delayed about an hour leaving Chicago O’Hare International airport because it began raining quite heavily early that afternoon. As soon as I stepped outside the plane, I could feel the humidity, and it didn’t feel good. By the time I got my rental car and drove to Kissimmee to my hotel, it was 12:30AM Friday, and I was unable to fall asleep. I am not sure how much I actually slept, but figured I’d be plenty tired the next night and catch up.

At 10:50AM EST on Friday, I went for a run from my hotel. Side note: this was the sleaziest hotel room I have ever stayed at in the Orlando area. But it served my needs, except that it didn’t have a coffee pot. Anyway, I suited up wearing as little as possible and headed out to run. It felt nice to be in shorts and a small top, but it was humid. As I was running, I felt like I was going at a peppy pace, despite the lack of sleep. But later in the day when I was driving to get some lunch and I was able to calculate how far I had run, it was disappointing to find out that I wasn’t really running as fast as I thought. So I gave myself a reality check as far as how fast I might be able to run in the races. I didn’t want to totally let go of my ultimate goal, yet I knew I had to be comfortable with something less.

I went to the expo for packet pickup around noon. The expo is pretty big, and you can find just about anything you need there. Just as for last year, in our packets we received a lightweight, long-sleeved technical shirt for the ½ marathon and another for the full marathon. We got our chips for both days. I ran into a guy I used to work with, who was running with his son and daughter. I asked who would win? He said his son probably would.

Last year I didn’t buy any Goofy-specific merchandise, but had decided I would get some this time around. Normally, I don’t buy race stuff until afterwards, but there would be no chance for that this time (or at least I wasn’t going to try), so I picked up a black t-shirt (can’t have too many of those), a baseball cap (I can’t call it a running hat because it’s mesh like a trucker’s hat) and a pin. This got me in the spirit of dropping cash mindlessly as is customary in Orlando.

I browsed around the expo just for fun (what else did I have to do?), and espied a nice Pearl Izumi tank top with fish on the front! As I looked at it, I saw it had a mesh back, and it occurred to me that this might be more comfortable (read cooler) than what I had planned to wear on Sunday. It was good that I could try it on, because many times I find I’m a size XS, but in this brand it turned out that S was good for me. I have many running tops that are tank-style, but none of them have mesh backs, so I think I may actually get some good use out of this one.

As I drove back to home base along the strip (Highway 192, or Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway) trying to decide what I wanted to eat for lunch, I found a sushi restaurant, which seemed perfect. I hadn’t had sushi in some months, and with all the soy sauce I would take in, decided this would be a good bet for some sodium loading for the warm race conditions. I ordered more sushi than I could eat all at once, which was fine, since I could finish it later for my dinner, which is what I ended up doing. My favorite thing was the conch sushi. Simply awesome!

Friday night, I again had difficulty falling asleep, but I wasn’t worried since all I had to do was run 13.1 miles on Saturday, and I was going to run easy. It was already almost 70 when I woke up at 2:30AM, and I had decided to use the race provided nutrition, so I wore pink shorts and a pink bra top, and my 2004 Kona Timex hat. When I got to Epcot, I saw people wearing a lot more clothing than me, and thought to myself how hot they would get. I wasn’t the least bit cold standing out in the open. I had scored some mango Gatorade (which I can rarely find at home) to sip on before the start.

Originally, I had planned to go 2:30 in the ½ marathon, that being an arbitrarily easy pace (11:27/mile) for me to run. I ran easy, easy, easy, but just couldn’t go much slower than about 10:31. In hindsight, maybe I should have taken very long walking breaks, but I was so hot and sticky that I didn’t want to prolong this any more, and my legs felt fine, and I knew I was going easy, because I could sing whenever I wanted to! I knew my stomach didn’t appreciate the Powerade at the aid stations, but I didn’t think it would create many problems on Sunday, since I’d also be using good old Ultra Violence. I did try a new flavor of Clif Shot, though—Apple Pie. It tasted like barf with cinnamon to me. I will not be purchasing any of that!

After I finished and showered up, I wasn’t really hungry (but I did remember to drink my Endurox R4), and I really didn’t want to walk around a bunch, so I stretched for close to an hour. Around 1:00PM I decided it was time to get some food, so I walked over to the IHOP. My legs felt absolutely great! Nothing was tight, I wasn’t finding any trigger points while I stretched, and walking was no problem. I felt much looser than after any of my 2-hour training runs, and I felt way better than I had last year after the Goofy ½ marathon, so I felt like I had held back enough. But the forecast for Sunday called for even warmer temperatures. I had 3 eggs, steak and pancakes for lunch at IHOP. YUM!!!!! Since that was such a big lunch, I knew I wouldn’t need to go out for dinner, and ended up topping off my tank with a couple of freebie Clif bars, some Pringles, and plenty of water. I had liberally applied salt to my lunch, and that combined with Pringles was sufficient salt loading for the marathon.

Saturday night I slept pretty well, although I only got 6.5 hours of sleep. It was tough to fall asleep at 8PM, especially since it felt like 7PM to me, coming from the Chicago area. Still, it was restful sleep, and I felt very refreshed upon waking. My legs felt great—almost like I hadn’t done anything the day before. I even managed to stretch for 15 minutes.

While getting dressed, I decided against pinning my bib number onto my brand new top because I wanted to be sure I got photos showing the fish! How messed up is that? Anyway, I matched it up with my lucky red long distance shorts (those red shorts have carried me through many successful Ironman runs). I had brought already defizzed Ultra Violence (Mountain Dew Code Red, for those of you not familiar with my pet name) with me, and had loaded up my (6) 6-oz. Fuel Belt bottles the night before. I attached my bib number to my race belt, which fit comfortably below the Fuel Belt (I’m pretty small in the hip area). For headgear, I had brought a visor, since I’d be out there longer and it would be warmer than on Saturday, and if necessary, I could pour cups of ice directly into it.

Breakfast was a Power Bar Triple Threat, 3 cups of 7-Eleven coffee, 16 oz. of water, a gulp of Ultra Violence, and I took along a 20-oz. bottle of mango Gatorade to drink up until the start. The morning dawned with what seemed like less humidity than on Saturday, but I think I was already acclimating to the conditions, because it was really about the same. Driving to Epcot again in the dark, I didn’t notice anything peculiar about the weather, and I felt great. It was only when they began walking us to the start corrals that I noticed something—fog—and lots of it. It wasn’t just above us—it was AROUND us. We were literally in the fog.

We could feel ourselves soaking up water like sponges as we marched to our start area. While my legs felt wonderful and it wasn’t yet too hot, I was not optimistic about running fast this day. I knew the humidity would be oppressive, so I began to think about what I wanted to accomplish. And then I thought, let’s just run a few miles and see what unfolds.

I was in the 2nd corral behind the start line, so I wouldn’t have to jostle for room. I started running, real easy, but purposeful. 9:21 should feel easy. Mile 1: 9:29. That’s fine, I can pick it up. Mile 2: 9:25. Miles 3-4: 18:42 (9:21). I asked myself how that pace felt and whether I could keep it up. The answer was probably not, but let’s just keep this effort up. Mile 5: 9:37. Crap, I’m slowing down already. Mile 6: 9:49. Right about here I knew I was off Boston qualifying pace, so I had to make some decisions. Did I want to bag it now and commence walking? I was only walking briefly through the aid stations. I decided to keep running at this pace through the halfway point and then re-evaluate. I really didn’t care how much I might slow down after the halfway point.

I got to 13 miles in 2:05, so I was already about 5 minutes slower than Boston qualifying pace. I knew there was no way in hell I could make that up, so I let the pressure off of myself. Bonus, my legs really started to hurt at this point. Perhaps it was exacerbated by the extreme camber of some of the roads (I had forgotten just how bad they were), or maybe it was just that I had run 26 miles already between yesterday and now! We had been in the fog for 2 hours, and to make things even better, now the sun came out with guns blazing! So I knew things would get worse, and then I began to think about my ultimate goal. At first I was thinking 4:20, but then I guess I just didn’t care enough to push that hard, so I sort of went on autopilot. It was hot and sunny, and I was covered with salt and assorted slime, and my legs hurt like sons of bitches.

One of the saving graces was that every 1-2 miles they had people giving out Biofreeze. I would take a small handful and apply liberally to my screaming quads. I am not sure it actually did anything, but it did take my mind off the pain for at least ½ mile each time I used it.

Originally I wasn’t planning on switching to the Ultra Violence until Mile 15 or so, but after the first hour when I had already determined I was off Boston pace and that this was going to hurt, I decided to alternate it with Powerade at each aid station. It worked like a charm to at least keep my brain from deciding to shut things down altogether.

I managed to find the beer mile, sponsored by a Hash House Harriers group. They only had small cups (about 4 oz. worth), but man it tasted great! I should have taken more, but by that time (Mile 18 I think?), I was not interested in prolonging this pain festival any more than necessary, so on I went.

As much pain as I was feeling, I was passing a lot of runners who weren’t running Goofy. Us loonies were sporting special blue wristbands, and you can bet I was looking for them, even though I was off pace for my original goal. Passing people who were just doing the marathon gave me a slight boost. I think it was Mile 19 where I was listening to AC/DC’s Highway to Hell, and I sung loudly as well as I could, since I was also laughing, and my quads were screaming. How appropriate!

I was really feeling it during the last 5 miles, and just before we hit the Mile 25 marker, a 4:30 pace girl came up from behind. I thought, OK, let’s do this thing—all I have to do is stay with her (she had quite a small group—no doubt she had lost many folks along the way) and run it in. So I did, but it didn’t seem like she was on pace, either. Oh well, at least I am not going to slow down.

The last mile is winding around Epcot, so we’re on concrete, which just enhances the pain in your quads. I didn’t care. I wanted it to be OVER. I ran, I ran, and then, boom, I was done.

I headed to the medical tent to get ice for my knees as a preventive strategy. My knees themselves felt fine, but I knew they would be vulnerable to after the fact pain. So I sat for about 10 minutes with the ice on them, and then I removed the bags and put one on my head. Well, I guess my core temperature had gone up a few notches, because I couldn’t really feel any cold on my head. I’m not really sure what the air temperature was at that point, but my guess is high 70’s or low 80’s. I ambled slowly over to the area to collect my Goofy medal. I told one of the volunteers it should have been labeled “Idiot Tent.” But what the hell, I did it again, and so gimme my stinking Goofy medal!

For some reason, I didn’t remember being in such pain a year ago while running the marathon. Maybe because I ran the first ½ faster this year, maybe I just have short term memory! I think forgetting about the pain you experience in these events is a protective mechanism of our brains. I shuffled some more to get a finisher photo taken, and I sure hope those fish on my top show up!

I was so gross from all the sweat, salt, Biofreeze and general drool that I didn’t hang out to cheer others on. I needed a shower and FAST. When I got back to my hotel, the first thing I did was wash my face. I wanted to get all the salt off of it before I popped out my contact lenses. Then I took off my clothes. They were soaked through and through, just as they were the day before after the ½ marathon, only I think I smelled worse on Sunday! There were a few times during the races when I would run up near someone and notice their stench, but I figured I must have smelled just as badly. When I took off my shoes and socks, I could see (as expected) 3 blisters on my right foot—one on the medial side of my big toe, a blood blister on the lateral side of the 2nd toe from the right, and one on the bottom of my little toe. I guessed that my 2nd toe (which is longer than my big toe) on each foot was probably going to lose its toenail. Ah, the pleasures of running with sweaty feet!

I got in the shower, and as I rinsed my head, I could tell there was salt crusted around my eyes! Man, had I ever sweated! I was a bit dehydrated, as you’d expect, which I can always tell by pressing on my triceps muscles and feeling them hurt just a little bit. But as always, it was the BEST SHOWER EVER—well, except for it being in a dive hotel room.

I was not immediately hungry but knew that I needed to get on my rehydration. Luckily, I had remembered to premix (and chill—at least my dive had a refrigerator) some Endurox R4, and so I downed that and had a little lay down. Around 12:30 I decided to drive (walking was not a good bet at this point) to McDonald’s for lunch. I only go to McDonald’s after I have run a marathon—either open or Ironman. It’s the only time I can justify such blatant disregard for my body’s nutritional needs, or at least I know it won’t make me feel badly. I had a Quarter Pounder with Cheese (Royale with Cheese, for you French folks or Pulp Fiction aficionados), medium fries and lemonade. I ate while sitting out in the sun, which at this point felt good, knowing I’d be returning to colder Chicago in a few days.

After the junk food, I had a hankering for some beer, so I headed to go buy some, went back to the dive, and drank a few while lying in bed. Around 5:15 I ambled down to Pleasure Island to view the results and see if I could catch the awards presentation, which I did. Of course, I didn’t win anything, but I knew someone who did, so it was good to cheer for him.

On my way back to the dive, I went back to the sushi restaurant again. I ordered what I thought I’d be able to finish—about 25 pieces of sushi and assorted rolls—but was only able to eat half of it. Which was fine, because I figured I might want the rest later or something, but it turns out I was quite full.

I slept well Sunday night, because I didn’t have to try to be asleep by 8PM, nor did I have to wake up at any particular time. I got a solid 9 hours. I had more or less decided to get an earlier flight on Tuesday, so on Monday my plan was to hang out at Sea World. I thought I might also catch a movie later in the day, but that never happened. I walked so slowly while at Sea World that I was there pretty much all day, and found myself exhausted by the time I returned back to home base.

I took in the “Shamu” show and also the dolphin show while at Sea World. I enjoyed it, especially when I discovered that the park is owned by Annheuser-Busch, meaning that bottles of water cost $3.00, but beer is FREE! People could tell that I had run on Sunday (and I would mention to them also on Saturday) by the way I could barely walk and had trouble with the stairs in the stadiums where the shows were held. But it was a good kind of trouble, if you know what I mean.

While Sea World was enjoyable, I really do not like the idea of keeping such amazing ocean creatures as the orca whales and dolphins in captivity. In the orca tank, I could tell that most of the whales were females by the size of their dorsal fins. Female orcas are much smaller than males, and no doubt less aggressive and possibly easier to train. There was one male who was HUGE, that came up on a platform so we could see his entire size. He had a really long dorsal fin, but it was curled over. Something told me that this is indicative of stress. I have never seen photos or film footage of orcas with curled over dorsal fins. But I found this: http://whale.wheelock.edu/archives/whalenet95/0034.html, so perhaps that big guy I saw was OK. Call me weird, but I had this secret desire to see one of the whales go postal on the trainers. I give those trainers credit, though—they must have a healthy respect for these great predators.

One thing I didn’t notice at Sea World was any display discussing the overfishing of the oceans. I couldn’t find anything on the website, either. I think it would be responsible to point out to the visitors that many of the creatures we were looking at are endangered either due to us eating too many of them, us eating their food or pollution of the oceans. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

I found it comical that at any of the displays where we could buy fish/squid/whatever to feed to the thing in the display that there were many egrets hanging out trying to cop a free meal. The egrets were quite aggressive. I thought to myself that all the egrets that live within flight distance of Sea World must have some sort of system to decide who gets to go visit each day. There were even egrets hanging out at the orca and dolphin shows, and a few of them managed to snag fish when the trainers accidentally left a treat box open.

My best memory of Sea World is the seahorses that look like they have leaves growing out of them (photo at the beginning of this post). It made me feel like a child to look at these things, and recapture the feeling of Nature as being far superior to anything us humans can produce.

I didn’t have the energy to go out to eat after all the stumbling around at Sea World, and I decided I had earned one more bad meal to enjoy, so I ordered a pizza. I think that’s the 2nd time I’ve eaten pizza in the last 12 months. Good thing, because it really is quite heavy.

Tuesday morning I woke up, went to 7-Eleven to get my coffee, ate breakfast, stretched, and then drove to the airport where I easily got on the earlier flight (12:15) to Chicago on standby. I enjoyed my stay in Orlando, but at this point, frankly, I was done with the Magic Kingdom! I don’t think I’ll be back for awhile, but somehow I keep ending up in Florida, so I wouldn’t count it out totally.

My plan is not to run until Sunday or maybe even wait a few more days. I lifted weights Tuesday evening when I got home (no leg work, though). I went to swim at lunch Wednesday, and the swimming was OK, but my quads hurt when I pushed off the wall, so I stopped after 30 minutes. I thought I’d finish my weight routine and do my legs, but found out that my quads were still nowhere to be found, so I did everything but quad work (hamstrings, calves and anything with a stable knee were fine).

I got a massage Wednesday night, and my therapist went pretty deep on me, including my quads, and it didn’t feel bad. But Thursday I found myself pretty tired, and so I did not do any exercise. Today I may or may not swim—I feel a little cold coming on. At this point, rest is my priority, and there’s no rush for me to do anything—the next thing I have coming up is a 2/11 indoor sprint race, and I know I’ll be ready for it. My guess is my bike legs will suffer the rest of this month and that I’ll really come around in February. I should be back on 1:30 runs next week already, so it’s all good.
Actually I’m pleased at how good I feel, all things considered. I don’t think I’ve damaged anything, and everything is working fine, just a bit slow. My legs are still a bit puffy, and I’m up about 3 lbs. as a result, but that should go away by the weekend. Now it’s time for me to get back on some much better nutrition, since I won’t be running as much as I was, and I need to watch my intake a bit more closely.

4 ½ months until my next major adventure. I can’t wait!

Weekly Workout Totals 1/1/2007-1/7/2007

Before I get to posting the Goofy opus (it's 5 pages in MS Word already), I thought I'd better account for the previous week of my life:

Weekly Totals 01/01/2007-01/07/2007
Swim: 2700 yards (1.53 miles) in 0.97 hours; 8% of weekly workout time; approx. 338 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 0 miles in 0 hours; 0% of weekly workout time; approx. 0 calories burned
Run: Approx. 56.04 miles in 9.34 hours; 80% of weekly workout time; approx. 4231 calories burned
Strength: 1.4 hours; 12% of weekly workout time; approx. 350 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 57.57 miles in 11.71 hours; approx. 4919 calories burned
Sleep: 8.25 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.12 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours

What makes me laugh is that even with this being an all-time record for miles run in a week by me, it's nothing compared to someone like Julie B.

Oh, and I still cannot find my quadriceps muscles. They have gone missing. I am hoping they will find their way back tomorrow or Saturday.

Quick Goofy Report

It was hot. It was humid. It was foggy. And then it was bright sunshine.

1/2 marathon: 2:14 and change, went really easy, felt like an easy (easier than my usual) training run.
Marathon: 4:31 and change. 4 minutes slower than last year, nowhere near my BQ time of 4:05. Did I say hot, humid, foggy and then hot and sunny?

But in general I feel good about my performance. Not too far off last year in much worse conditions. I know I can BQ if I "just" run a marathon and hit decent weather, but I am in no hurry to do it.

When I woke up this morning, I felt a little out of place--I wasn't within 5 miles of the Magic Kingdom!

My legs are coming around. I lifted weights yesterday (no legs), and that went well. I swam today, but cut it short at 1300 yards (planned=1500), since my quads were pinging me when I pushed off the wall. Massage tonight!

Knees are fine, calves are fine--nothing went truly mechanically wrong--but I am going to lose 2 toenails, and I got 3 blisters on my right foot, one of which is a blood blister that I guess I should pop. The other 2 are already mostly flattened out. And I'm still pretty hungry, even though I'm not doing anything.

More to come once I get it all down on paper. It was not quite as fun as last year, but still I'm glad I did it. I have zero concerns about Desoto Triple T. I mean come on, you only run marathon distance over THREE DAYS!

Favorite sign (sponsored by Sharpie) I saw on the marathon course: "If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving is not for you."

Peace out!

Taper Madness

Ah, the taper.

It's gone relatively well for me this time. No more worries about getting cramps or a period (or at least I *think* I'm done with that), nobody in my immediate family is ill, it doesn't look like Chicago is going to get snow anytime soon to jeopardize travel, and I feel pretty much ready to go.

Of course, I did have a semi-crappy run today, I can feel all sorts of little aches and pains that I am concerned will turn into big problems, and why is it that I feel fat or at least that I've gained weight, even when I step on the scale and the number hasn't budged? Have I lost muscle mass and put on fat weight? How could that be possible when I've been doing my typical early season strength training build? When I've been running a lot but not eating a lot? When I was even good over the holidays and didn't indulge hardly at all? It's funny, yet predictable, that I will feel this way during a taper. I can't remember a single one where I felt like I was incredibly lean and depleted. Maybe it's a psychological thing to not feel depleted, since I shouldn't be, when I'm resting my body and letting it load up on glycogen. It makes me laugh.

Another thing I notice during a taper is that food doesn't taste the same. Heck, when I'm training 15+ hours a week, ANY food tastes great! It could be braised cardboard, but if I ate it after a 2+ hour workout, it would be awesome (with a little salt, of course). My taste buds seem to take a hiatus when I'm tapering. Yet my brain will always kick in the night or two before a big race to ensure that I gobble down plenty of carbs, even while I am not that interested in them!

I've been sleeping like it's going out of style. Why get up in the morning while it's dark outside? Oh yeah, to swim. Haven't been doing much of that lately. I had big plans to swim a lot more, but with all the running, I just haven't been motivated to squeeze it in. Well after this Goofy thing, it will be time for me to get my swim on. Back to measly 1:30 "long" runs on Sundays, leaving me plenty o' time to fit in a 4th swim. And the days are getting longer, too, so before we know it, it will actually be light by 6AM!

At this point, I am left to obsess about the weather. Orlando weather is going to be much warmer this time around than it was last year. It could mean I throw my Sunday goal out the window. We shall see. On the plus side, we start at 6AM, so how warm can it be by 10AM, when I expect to be done? I must say, though, it will be nice to run in shorts. I may even get a bit of a tan!

So there you have it--the usual taper including feeling fat, food doesn't taste that great, things hurt all over at times, I'm not yet very excited about this (the marathon is going to be WORK this time--not fun like last year, although it still was some work) and the weather is not cooperating.

But the work is done, the money is in the bank--now it's time to collect a little interest.

Weekly Workout Totals 12/25/2006-12/31/2006 and Calendar Year 2006 Totals

I had a good training week. I have just about confirmed that I am becoming allergic to running on the treadmill, so in the spirit of saving energy and being good to Earth, new rule is that if it's 40+ degrees and not raining and roads are safe, I'll be running outdoors. I find it funny how before I started triathlon I was hardcore outdoor runner most of the time, and then I gradually got to the point of running indoors all winter. Oh well, live and learn!

On Thursday, I did my last long run prior to Goofy. Last year, this last long run lasted 1:45, covering 11.05 miles at a pace of 9:30. This year, I ran 1:43, covering 11.68 miles at a pace of 8:50. Now last year I ran it on the treadmill, which explains some of the pace difference (I always run more slowly on the treadmill), but the rest is that I'm faster! I was quite surprised when I figured out my pace for Thursday's run, because my legs weren't too happy, as this was the first long run I had done on the road since 11/26. I went from the day before worrying about my calves to boy, did my quads feel it! Friday, I again ran outside again, and my quads let me know they weren't happy about it. But at least all tightness in my calves was gone. So yesterday, I figured a little brick run on the treadmill wouldn't be bad. I felt fine while I was running on the thing, but today, hello tight calves again, at least my left one is bad. No worries--today was just a swim (actually it was tomorrow's swim, but my Y is closed tomorrow so I did it today instead), and hopefully it won't be raining tomorrow so I'll get my run in outdoors again. I checked in with this ultra-fast runner who works at my local running store, and he recommended I stay on the roads now to keep my quads toughened up for the Disney assault. So I stretched well today and worked on my calves, and hopefully they will come right tomorrow.

Stats for the week and also for calendar year 2006 are below. Happy New Year!

Weekly Totals 12/25/2006-12/31/2006
Swim: 7350 yards (4.17 miles) in 2.53 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 887 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 50.46 miles in 2.88 hours; 26% of weekly workout time; approx. 1492 calories burned
Run: Approx. 25.18 miles in 3.72 hours; 34% of weekly workout time; approx. 1691 calories burned
Strength: 1.9 hours; 17% of weekly workout time; approx. 475 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 79.81 miles in 11.03 hours; approx. 4545 calories burned
Sleep: 9.21 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.72 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours

Calendar Year Totals 1/1/2006-12/31/2006
Swim: 426,825 yards (242 miles) in 149.53 hours; 20% of yearly workout time
Bike: Approx. 5,413 miles in 308.17 hours; 41% of yearly workout time
Run: Approx. 1,437 miles in 223.10 hours; 30% of yearly workout time
Strength: 67.37 hours; 9% of yearly workout time
All Sports: 748.17 hours
Stretching: 112.13 hours

I have to laugh at how close to 750 annual hours I got. That's about my usual target, and I feel comfortable training at that level. And stretching sure takes up a lot of time!

An Eye for an Eye?

I don't believe in it. How is the deliberate killing of one human being justified, even if that human being tortured and killed others? What does that say about a person who condones such behavior? Only that killing is "sometimes OK." Sure maybe self-defense, but beyond that, I don't see it.

I was raped and robbed by 2 men, and while the emotional side of me hoped for capture and retribution, and I had many a fantasy about shooting them firing squad style, to me that makes me just as much a monster as they are (or more likely were--I seriously doubt they are alive today--they probably OD'ed on some drug or another). Do I support justice? Yes. Punishment via incarceration? Yes. Execution? No.

I do not think that all men and women who enlist in the armed services and end up killing the so-called "enemy" are monsters. Some probably are. It's just the law of statistics.

In the end, I believe that everyone gets their just due one way or the other.

I cannot see how the deaths of 3,000 plus US troops (at our own government's hands--WE sent them there) in Iraq has accomplished anything. If the Iraqis want to kill one another without our intervention, that's fine by me. But we have put our own men and women in harm's way. We are not fighting a war. We are merely providing targets.

Is the execution of Saddam Hussein going to stop the violence in Iraq? Stay tuned. But apparently it will make some people feel better. Not me.

Straight Talk Running Site

Here: http://mysite.verizon.net/jim2wr/

I added a link to my sidebar of Triathlon and Physical Fitness links. There's some good info in here, like confirming that you do NOT need to put a treadmill on incline in order to get a good workout (I never do), and the real reason why you should rotate shoes (something that I need to start doing).

Check it out; the articles are no nonsense.

EDIT: Regarding treadmill running, people should do what works for them. If you can go at a faster pace than you run outdoors with no incline, how can that be a bad thing? What you should be trying to equalize is effort level indoors vs. outdoors. When I compare my self-selected outdoor pace on a flat course to what feels equivalent on the treadmill, I tend to go slower on the treadmill. I am not entirely sure why, but that's how it is. Perhaps I use an unnatural stride on the treadmill. Perhaps I am more motivated outdoors, or perhaps outdoor terrain (there are a good bit of hills right ouside my house) motivates me to push myself harder. But my treadmill running is limited to late fall/winter (not so much with the recent spell of global warming), when I'm doing a bit more speed work, and it's all the same to me to do it without any incline. Right now I'm training for Disney, and it's very flat, so I am not disadvantaging myself by running with no incline.

New Year's Resolution

I came across a reference to the paper Livestock's Long Shadow. While I haven't read all of it (390 pages), I have read a summary and understand the key findings. Here is the opening statement:

"Livestock activities have significant impact on virtually all aspects of the environment, including air and climate change, land and soil, water and biodiversity. The impact may be direct, through grazing for example, or indirect, such as the expansion of soybean production for feed replacing forests in South America."

Livestock production is ahead of automobiles in its contribution to global warming!

What can we do about this? On a personal level, we can:

• Reduce or eliminate our consumption of eggs, meat and dairy. The less demand, the less supply needed.
• Support programs that seek to miminize environmental impact of livestock production. Unfortunately, such programs will require government intervention. Why? Because free market mechanics have not made it happen. Profitability above all pushes companies to hold little regard for the downstream effects of their actions. I enjoy eating eggs, meat and poultry (and to a lesser extent, dairy), and would rather feel good that they are produced in an environmentally safe method rather than give them up totally.
• Limit our procreation to replacement levels and support programs to provide birth control globally. This is a gross simplification, as there are many factors involved in controlling population growth, such as education, status of women in the society and employment opportunities.

I consider myself an OKsteward of the environment. I recycle, I drive my car very little, try not to consume too much energy, limit my intake of processed foods and have not replaced myself with any children. Side note: when I was 16 I had already made the decision not to have children, and at the time it was driven by the overpopulation of the Planet--look what's happened in 34 years!

In my mind, living a life of personal integrity includes limiting personal consumption at all levels. So my 2007 New Year's resolution is to do a better job of it. I have spent the last 2-3 years trying to simplify my life and possessions. I need to do better. I need to reduce my intake of eggs, meat and dairy, but I need to be careful not to replace the protein with fish species that are being decimated world-wide.

This article states that in 2002 (and I assume the numbers would be about the same today), the consumption of red meat, poultry and fish per capita in the US was 200 pounds. That's almost 9 oz. of those protein sources per day.

How much protein do I need per day? According to Monique Ryan in her book Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition, an endurance athlete in "heavy training" requires .5-.75 grams protein per pound of body weight. I'll use the high end of the range, since I am frequently closer to "very intense training." .75 x 112 = 84 grams, which is 2.96 ounces. It's time for me to get a bit better about monitoring my intake, since I'm pretty sure I am getting more protein than I need.

So in 2007, I am going to, on most days, limit my protein intake to only what I need. Which means I will need to replace calories with carbs, which is not a bad thing, as long as they come from whole foods, particularly fruits and vegetables. But even there, my objective is to reduce my intake of processed foods. I've done a fairly good job of that already, but I can do better.

Every little bit helps this Planet!

I Am Not Soft

I got a chuckle out of an Anonymous comment, telling me that his/her view of me was "softened" by reading my previous post.

Interesting...blogging is like a one way conversation. I'M TALKING TO YOU. So unlike an actual conversation where there is back and forth and questions being asked, on a blog, it's up to the writer to reveal whatever he/she likes, and then those readers who are into passing judgment can base their judgment on what the blogger chose to write.

So apparently Anonymous prefers "soft" people. I have no clue what Anonymous' definition of a "soft" person, but I can hazard a guess. If you are married with children, you get an automatic bye. If you have a lot of drama in your life and you write about it, you get an automatic bye. If you are struggling with your weight/station in life/career/personal relationships and you write about it, you get an automatic bye. If you are depressed, are or were addicted to controlled substances, you get an automatic bye. If you are good at small talk and you write it down in your blog, then you get an automatic bye.

So I guess I'm not soft. But I don't feel "hard" either, not that I would know how to define that. Maybe the word that Anonymous is looking for is unapproachable. Certainly my blog is open for anyone and everyone to comment on or even send me email. So I've left that option open. I've had a few good digs sent my way, and I am most happy to publish them.

What can I say about myself if I'm not soft?

• I am single
• I don't have children
• My life is, I'm afraid, bereft of drama
• I suck at small talk. I do try to be more of a people person, but small talk has eluded me my entire life.
• I don't struggle with my weight and to my knowledge have no major health issues (unless you consider trying to keep myself mechanically sound an issue)
• I'm OK with being part of the American middle class, living comfortably but by no means rich
• My career is thankfully stable
• My personal relationships are as good as they can be, considering the amount of effort I put into them and the fact that I am basically a loner
• I tend to immerse myself in whatever "project" is currently taking my fancy. In the past, I've immersed myself in academics, piano playing, crocheting, sewing, weight training and gardening. That is how I got good at them. That is how ANYONE gets good at something, isn't it? I should put a smiley face on that statement so I don't offend those of you who think I'm not "soft." My current project is triathlon and the (my) human body.

What I typically write about here is what I consider the most interesting and exciting part of my life. My job is, well, my job. My friends are my friends, and they know me and my quirks. My family is what it is--probably no more or no less dysfunctional than many. I've "conquered" many of my hobbies, and if they were front and center in my life right now, I would write about them, but they aren't, so I don't. In some ways, I'm an intensely private person, and when I first started writing this blog, I didn't want to share it with anyone. The only reason I did was at the urging of a friend. I am not blogging to be popular or liked. I am just writing, much like a diary. Many days I think I am very boring. But at least I'm boring WITH GOALS!

In 2005 and early this year, there were some things I experienced that were deeply personal to me, but I wrote about them here. I DNF'ed an Ironman race. I had a brief bout of mild depression. I euthanized my beloved cats. My Mom died. I broke off a relationship with a very close friend (I had hoped it was temporary, but alas, she wants no part of reconciliation). I guess in the big scheme of things these are not personal enough or infused with enough drama for some readers of this blog to feel that I am indeed a soft person with emotions? We all have problems of one sort or another, and we just do the best we can. Perhaps I don't make a big enough deal out of my own troubles. But then again, how would you, a reader of this blog, know that? Remember, this is not a conversation.

Here are some other things that might be of interest to those of you who've never had a chance to engage in actual conversation with me:

• I'm a bleeding heart liberal. Dubya is an idiot and sucks.
• I recycle everything I possibly can. If you don't, what's your excuse?
• I do not water my lawn or my flower beds in times of drought or just because I would like things to be a bit more green. Clean water is a precious commodity that we in the U.S. take for granted. If something can't live on whatever rainfall it receives, tough. I don't want to grow things that require extra water than what falls from the sky.
• I take very short showers. Considering that many days I am taking 2 of them, I am consuming plenty of water in the quest for cleanliness, so I may as well keep them as short as possible.
• I keep my hair cut short because I like it that way, but also it means I don't have to spend so much time in the shower washing it or use any electricity to dry it, and there are no aerosol products leaching CFC's or whatever they are now into the air.
• I am passionate about whatever currently holds my interest. Triathlon is like that for me, but more than that it's physical fitness and learning about my body. When in a M/F relationship, I am just as intense about that as I am about triathlon. Ah--there's that word--intense. To Anonymous, intense must be the opposite of soft. Soft is fine for some people. I like my intensity, though. I can be soft at times, but unless it's around someone who knows me VERY well, it might not appear to be very soft.
• I'm very analytical (gee, could you guess by the bullet points?).
• I like word puzzles--Jumble, crosswords and the like. I don't like Sudoku, though, because I was a mathematics major in college and was into theoretical stuff so pure numbers don't interest me much.
• Except for prime numbers. Those are cool. My Dad is obsessed (literally) with prime numbers and how they enter into all sorts of theorems. I suppose I inherited the prime number fancy gene from him.
• I love all the James Bond movies.
• My favorite movie is The Sound of Music, then The Wizard of Oz and then A Clockwork Orange.
• I was raised Catholic, and believe in a God of some sort (stuff has to originate somehow), but believe in evolution and that scientists are higher beings than politicians. I now consider myself Christian with some version of Buddhist thrown in there.
• Even though I sucked at it (one of the few things I sucked at in school), I still love physics. The stuff that nature pulls on us is way more fascinating than whatever we come up with most of the time.
• I am not afraid of bugs, and have no issue killing spiders in my house, but I tend to leave the white ones alone, and only destroy the dark colored varieties.
• I love eathworms, and will gladly carry those out in the open to dirt.
• The middle finger on my left hand has a broken tip from softball.
• My eyes are hazel.
• I am not a natural blond.
• I have never had stitches on my body.
• I had not broken a bone in my body until I was 38, and then I broke the radius in my right arm after I skidded on some gravel while rollerskating drunk (this was in the early stages of my divorce). I also suffered a concussion, and had some interesting blacking out episodes the next day.
• I was raped once and mugged once.
• I have had 2 abortions and vehemently support a woman's right to choose what to do with her body.
• I had some (for that decade) pretty wild sexual experiences in my 20's.
• I could not do a cartwheel until I was in the 7th grade.
• I did not go to prom in high school.
• I enjoy working hard at triathlon just to see how good I can get at it. But I also know I will move onto something else eventually.
• I have been fat--not obese, but still fat.
• I have been depressed. VERY depressed. I know what it's like, and exercise is a form of prevention for me. So is learning to live in the moment, as I believe it's impossible to be depressed if you are truly experiencing every moment (unless it's chemically based depression).
• I've done my share of recreational drugs. And yes, I DID inhale.
• I used to smoke cigarettes. For 10 years, then I quit for 10, then I took it up again for 2 and then I quit forever (in 1999).
• Love is a wonderful thing, but I have found that knowledge and acceptance of self transcends it.

If there's anything anyone wants to know about me, just ask.

And yes, I'm OK with not being judged soft.

Time to get on my bike.