Stupid Body!

I thought I might have started running too much too soon after UMC, but as it turns out, my back/glute issues were caused by...drumroll please...RIDING MY BITCH! I got Skull Kingdom put back together on Saturday and took her for a spin, and I noticed right away that my left glute was feeling better. Then yesterday I rode 129 miles in 7 hours (which was a PR for me for 200k plus), and it appears I have confirmed that the other bike position of Bitch was the culprit.

I think what happened was that on Bitch I was stretching some things a bit too much in my erector spinae, and this jacked some vertebrae into different position which affected some nerves and so on. Glad I figured that out! But I think I can still ride Bitch--I think I just need to alternate bikes every so often.

I had been worried that I was creating problems for myself running, and I may still take today away from it since yesterday was a big day, but we'll see.

So I think something I need to practice this new training and racing season is to "look at change." Perhaps I am too immersed in the NOW that I tend to not take into consideration changes which have occurred in the past, and I can't see them for what they are worth. I'm a big fan of NOW, but I am also a big fan of reflection. I can't change the future except NOW, but I can continue to learn from the past. It's funny that this same thing happened to me several times in my run up to UMC--my body would tell me something was wrong and I automatically assumed it was a result of my usual abusive style training (or at least that is how it appears to some people). And I would miss the obvious--like I have to acclimate to orthotics or I need to change to different running shoes and need NEW orthotics.

Perhaps it is just part of the aging process that my body is so sensitive to certain types of change. Or maybe I just have this threshold for overall change in my life, and since UMC there are all sorts of changes in my life that are wonderful, but they have nothing (or maybe everything?) to do with triathlon, and maybe that means my physical body is less tolerant of change. Or maybe I am just ignoring some things that I shouldn't.

This is all so fascinating to me to observe myself impartially and see just what a marvelous life I am having right now. Much of it is focused on my physical body, but the whole reason I began this blog was in honor of my desire to integrate my physical, spiritual, emotional and intellectual sides (a la Stephen Covey, eh?). It has become more difficult for me to separate one from the other now, and maybe that is why I sometimes miss an "obvious" sign of something that has changed? Isn't that cool? The "reason" eventually comes to me, but in the process of that happening, I do tend to look around and make some other changes that always turn out to be positive, so I guess "missing" some things isn't always a bad thing.

If you read my UMC race reports (novels!), you see that I wasn't entirely happy with the level of bike training I did, and I had concerns that this would make for a sub-optimal race for me. But I also realized I've done a whole lot of bike training in prior years, and that carried me through. So yesterday when I began the Bike Psychos 200k ride, I was wondering just how I'd be able to ride with a bunch of people. I hadn't ridden with groups since Quadrupedal Century back in May. I started out the ride with a friend that I hadn't seen in years, although we keep in touch via Facebook. We took off and were chatting up a storm while keeping what I figured was a good pace, although I have taken to not looking at my speed. And how pleasant it was to be able to get some draft! We ended up riding almost together (we caught a pack, but I couldn't hold their aggressive pace entire time, but still was riding well) for about 30 miles, and then he peeled off with some friends who wanted to ride less, which was fine.

I took off and continued riding, mainly by myself, but used the opportunity to catch "targets" along the way. Most of the riders doing either 100 miles or 200k were guys, and as is customary, many of them do not take kindly to a girl riding up on and then passing them. That's cool, I was in such a happy mood, I was saying hi or waving and always smiling at everyone. I was just so happy to be out riding for no good reason! I mean, sure I am doing a NothingMan in 3 weeks, but I did not NEED to ride 200k. Still, I wanted to see how that would feel after UMC.

It got quite hot and windy, and we had several sections right into headwinds that felt like a hot blow dryer. On one stretch when we caught a slight tailwind or at least just crosswind which I know how to handle, I just took off, and was riding by myself when I looked behind and there were I think 10 guys lined up behind me in a paceline. I honestly don't know why they weren't passing me, but it kept me motivated to keep pushing hard. When we reached the next aid station, I got several compliments on my riding, and this was coming up on 91 or so miles. I had no idea how fast I was riding, only that it felt good.

After that stop, we head up a slight hill that sucked. While the ride would be characterized as "mostly flat," there are some solid climbs out of river valleys that can test you. And now we were back into the headwind, and it sucked badly. We went by a wind farm, and I kept thinking I was in Hawaii, because near South Point on the Big Island there is a giant wind farm. I watched the blades turning and thought what a good day for them!

Luckily, some guy about 10 miles later was handing out more cold water, because it was now so hot that I was just guzzling water and wanted to pour it over me, too. The guy had a huge (I think 160-lb.) brown Newfoundland that was just a giant puppy. I was worried he would just knock me over, but he was well behaved. I drank 2 full bottles of ice water and took one to go and continued on my way. I thought all these people would catch me, but that didn't happen either, even though I was struggling a little into the wind, but I just gritted my teeth and persevered, since I knew it was going to end. Here I was "just" riding 200k and feeling like I was suffering!

When I finished, my legs felt predictably worked, and when I got home I downloaded the PowerTap and saw that I had, in fact, ridden well for me, and it just made me smile and think that I guess I really haven't lost any cycling fitness, and I've still got about a month or so to keep it rolling. But why should I? Because it's using the opportunity of good outdoor riding weather and appreciating it and sucking it in before I'm relegated to the trainer. I thought yesterday was a good reality dose of how Ultraman Hawaii might be, too. Although the heat in Kona doesn't feel like it does here, but still the headwind and not shutting down and knowing how much I have to drink when it's like that was a good lesson.

Well, I've been wavering on whether to go and swim, and I think a short recovery swim is in order! Have a great week!

Gotta Come Down

Here it is Friday, almost 4 weeks after UMC, and I am still riding a very real high from it and other things happening. UMC photos keep being posted on Facebook that I must look at, my friend Lee is uploading videos to Flickr (more to come so keep an eye out), I'm checking back in with friends who were neglected during my intense training period and they want to know all about it, I'm preparing for my next NothingMan, I'm working on my ATP, my Y is undergoing huge physical plant improvements that will make it a better place to train, I'm in process of buying a new or used treadmill so I can run even more but really just save time in the winter by not having to drive to the Y except to swim, I'm about to close on my first sponsorship, I'm about to transfer to a different position at work that I've thought about for about a year, I'm thoroughly enjoying the end of summer weather, I'm going to train and spectate at IMWI in a few weeks, I'm already planning for my trips to Japan and Hawaii next year (wow writing that down just gave me chills), I've already located a teammate for Furnace Creek 508 2012 and am making a list of additional gear I will need to train and race for that, I got my annual batch of pesto made and frozen, I'm looking forward to post-NothingMan for some real rest and time to engage in one of my other favorite hobbies, cooking and one more thing I can't disclose just yet!

While all this is going on, I am managing to get my household reorganized and cleaned up, and am slowly picking my way through a to do list. Despite all this activity, I feel pretty relaxed and confident that I will get through a bunch of stuff before the weather turns bad, or November, whichever comes first. It seemed like my last training season lasted so long, but this next one will be longer, so it's good that I don't really have to train super hard until January. But you know I will anyway--that's just how I am.

This morning I swam for 2 hours, and I really enjoyed it. So much so that I was thinking I want to try a new training event this winter: 2x2x2. Swim 2 hours, bike 2 hours, run 2 hours. Shouldn't be any harder than a 1/2 IM, right? As much as I like biking, I think it will be fun to just do each sport for fixed amount of time. I actually think this would make for a fair triathlon. Swimmers get their time, but then bikers and also runners. Whoever goes the farthest wins, with no handicaps for any sport. So I mentioned this on Facebook, and a friend there suggests a variation on this called Sinister 7:

• 1 hour swim
• Transition to running and strength clothes.
• 10 min strength core training
• 1 hour Bike
• 10 min strength core training
• 1/2 hour rowing or similar/elliptical
• 10 min strength core
• 1 hour Run
• 10 min strength core
• 1 hour swim
• 10 min strength core
• 1 hour bike
• 10 min strength core
• 1/2 hour run

So all in all, that's 2 hours of swimming, 2 hours of biking, 1.5 hours of running, .5 hours of other cardio (or I could just run again) and 1 hour of core/strength. Looks pretty fun to me! Now, when I did my birthday workout 2 years ago, it ended up being 52' swim, 52' bike, 52' run and 45' strength/core (no rest time was counted), and I suppose because of the strength exercises I chose (lots of leg stuff) and the reps (52!), I was pretty whacked the next day. Plus I did it on a work day, squeezing things in here and there. If I do Sinister 7, I'll do it on a Saturday and then take Sunday off, and I'll skip my weekly strength session. I guess I will call it NothingSinister!

I am finding it interesting that the more energy I put out, the more I have. Life is good!

Putting Things in Focus

It is that time of year when I need to begin planning out my training for the next season. Right now, I'm winging it in preparing for my next NothingMan on 19-SEP. I am doing as little (ha ha) or as much (more like me) training as I want.

This Sunday I'm riding in the Bike Psychos 200k. I've done this ride a few times before. I missed it last year because it conflicted with ROTPM, so I'm looking forward to it again. I still haven't decided whether I will ride Bitchie with the Cane Creek race wheels or Skull Kingdom. I still haven't put Skull Kingdom fully back together. The funny thing is that Bitchie used to be my lightest bike--now it's my heaviest! Skull Kingdom is the lightest, closely followed by LGL. I've been enjoying riding Bitchie knowing that she's my heavy bike, and that it will feel good to ride one of the lighter bikes, too. But putting the Cane Creeks on Bitchie will lighten her up by a few pounds.

The following week I head up to Wisconsin for the Ironman weekend, staying with a friend, and I'll get in a swim and run on Saturday and then ride in the race against traffic on Sunday. Then I have a training class for work most of the next week, and I'll be tapering for NothingMan 2010, my 4th self-supported Ironman.

I have put a number of things on my race/event calendar for the 2010-2011 season already, and while I have learned to train by feel and make it up as I go, I still like to have a plan to keep me honest. So I started by expanding the ATP (Annual Training Plan) I used for UMC to add through the end of next year, and typed in some of the events. Then, I reviewed what I did last year (actuals) to see which sorts of things I might want to repeat this time around. In doing this, I am being Coach Crackhead, not Athlete Crackhead. When I put my coach hat on, I am able to be a bit more objective about things. Last year when I made my UMC ATP, I was wearing the Athlete Crackhead hat, which is why I created a plan that worked through March, but then I switched hats and Coach told me to back off my original plan.

In looking what I actually accomplished the past training/racing season, I am somewhat amazed. I knew I did a lot of running, but I'd forgotten just how much I crammed in last fall and winter. I was a running FOOL! Coach says we will try and do some of that again, but maybe just a tad less so I can keep my base bike fitness a little higher than I did last year during that period.

Right now, I'm just doing "basic Ironman training," and it feels pretty comfortable to me. I did my first training ride of 100 miles on Sunday (actually 101 miles) for the year. I was a bit slower than I'd hoped I'd be, but I attribute it to some lingering fatigue from UMC. Aside: I know several UMC finishers who are racing Ironman Canada, and kudos to them--but I think I'd dig myself a deep, deep hole if I were to do an Ironman this weekend.

I put in 18 hours of training last week, and that is a "basic" Ironman training week for me, and I didn't even run that much! But it's like a build week, one of those in the last 8-12 weeks before an Ironman, and I felt pretty strong doing it. That ride on Sunday reminded me once again just how much I love riding, and riding long. The need to hold back early on (which I did for 2 hours--no big chainring during that time), the rising strength approaching the 4-hour mark, the inevitable feeling of "maybe this sucks" around 4:30, and then just the single-minded determination to get it done for the remainder.

The day before, I rode for 2:30 and then ran (cough, cough) OFF THE BIKE for :25. I hadn't run off the bike since those indoor triathlons early this year. But, like I've said here before, running well off the bike is not about running off the bike--it's about overall run fitness, and for me that means running FREQUENTLY, 4-6 times per week (5 being my preference). So even though I hadn't done a real brick workout since March, I knew the first mile would suck, like it always does, but it always feels worse and that I am running way more slowly than I am actually running. The suck felt good! After just 3 hours of training, I wasn't trashed, and managed to do some other stuff around the house, including preparing for Sunday.

I saw a great quote in this blog post by Gordo Byrn: "It takes all day to train 4-6 hours per day -- even with support." My Sunday ride was like that. I woke up, ate my normal breakfast, woke up, did some computer stuff, drank my Ultrafuel, pumped my tires, chose my clothes, applied sunscreen and Chamois Butter, washed up a little, got suited up and headed to Fermilab. I was riding just before 7AM, and I was only stopping briefly at my car about every 1:15 to get a new bottle of Infinit and maybe pee and maybe eat some snacks. I was doing well until I was 92 miles in when I was a dufus and used both derailleurs at once and locked up my chain. Oh well, stopped and fixed that before I did any damage, rode some more trying not to touch my pristine bar tape, made it to Wilson Hall and went in and cleaned up my hands and finished my ride. I always take a frozen washcloth with me on these rides, and when I finished, I first cleaned off myself, and then used it to clean up the bike, loaded everything back into the car, began drinking the Endurox R4 and drove home. When I got home, I ate lunch and drank more water, then had a beer, mowed the lawn, showered, stretched, made my annual batch of pesto, ate some dinner and then crashed. I am surprised I still had energy to do the things besides eat and stretch after riding, but I needed to get those things done and out of the way due to some special work duties this week.

All I'm illustrating is that there's a big difference in a 3-hour training day on a weekend, and 4+ hours. On a 3-hour day I can do all sorts of things afterwards, but more than that and I had better not have any urgent plans. I try and make my weekday goal to "get one thing done after work if possible," since I'm usually training 2-2.5 hours on a weekday. But those 3-hour Friday swims (which I gladly won't see for awhile) required I not have any plans other than to make it through the work day. So what I'm doing now feels almost easy to me!

I am totally excited about working on my ATP. That is the thing that gets my juices really going for the approaching training season. How much do I need to do? How much should I do? What fun self-supported things can I do to keep up my motivation? How will I use the holidays to do something fun? Which of my friends can I rope into doing crazy stuff with me?

Each time I begin working on my ATP, it brings into full focus how I did the prior year and what I learned from it, what I will need to do in the coming year to improve, and how what I accomplish prepares me for the years beyond the next one. It's all about focus--right now I am focusing on making sure I am recovering from UMC but also preparing for NothingMan, and my focal point is now shifting to preparing my ATP, then I will flesh out the training behind it, and then I'll move right into training.

I've been told many times by many people how focused I am. Ya think???

Ultraman Canada Day 3 Run Report

My awesome backpack, medal, numbers (V for vehicle, B for Bike, R for Run), socks I wore on the 3 days and my engraved finisher trumpet thingie

Day 3: 52.4 mile (84.4km) run

Start Time: 6:00AM, and we started at a crack in the road about 8km from the hotel.

Conditions: We were warned it would be cool in the morning due to our altitude (872m). I think I remember checking the weather forecast in the hotel the night before and there was no mention of rain or significant wind. Weather Underground says that for August 2 in Princeton, BC, the minimum temperature was 50F and the maximum was 82F, although it never felt too warm at all. Average humidity was 54% for the day. When I was at the start (Richard dropped me off) waiting, I got pretty cold and borrowed a jacket from Lee and sat in someone else’s car to stay warm until we began.

Here is the race’s description of the run course:

The 84.3 km (52.4 mile) double-marathon from Princeton to Summerland is a gruelling testament to your constitution! The run course varies in elevation from 845 m to 1170 m above sea level and has some very steep climbs and descents. Approximately 1/3 the course consists of gravel road.

Of course, I failed to read that BEFORE the race! Here are the run course elevation maps to give you an idea of the difficulty:

I like how they always put a smiley face at the finish point on all the maps! Anyway, you can see that we basically climb for about 70km and then run the hell down. We were on some mountain, but I don’t know the name of it. Definitely not an easy course!

Here is a video of the run, and it’s beautiful so you can see the surrounding scenery. You can see why it is not a given to finish the run within 12 hours.

Goal: To make the 12-hour cutoff. If you use all 12 hours, that is an average pace of 13:44/mile, which isn’t exactly lollygagging for that distance. I had no idea if I could do this, although based on the 35-mile run I had done last October, I thought I had the goods to go the distance in 12 hours or less. But I was paranoid about my right foot holding up (see Training Notes) and also a niggling right hamstring issue I’d been experiencing for about 4 weeks that never stopped me from running, but who knows what could happen after Days 1 and 2? And then all that fucking climbing! I guess during the pre-race briefing I must have been in La La Land, because I didn’t think anything of the maps until I was actually on the course! Perhaps that was my brain’s way of telling me to not deal with it until I had to. There was nothing to be accomplished by getting all scared about hills and such.

Actual: 11:41:20. Cool beans! The splits I kept track of were as follows: 10K 1:10.54, 13.1 2:37.49, 26.2 5:34.33 (2:56.44 for 1/2), 39.3 8:33.10 (2:58.36 for 1/2), 52.4 11:41.20 (3:08.10 for 1/2). The course did actually get harder each ½ marathon, so all things considered, I can’t complain! But I can go faster (especially on the downhill, but that hurt like one motherfucking sonofabitch), and once I knew I was completely good to go with about 10km left, I did sort of fuck around and just enjoy myself when I wasn’t going OUCH OUCH OUCH because of how rapidly we were going downhill. Steve King was at the 10k and marathon points calling out our splits. When I finished the first marathon, I was pretty happy with myself, because I figured I could nearly walk the second marathon and still finish. Still, I should have buckled down and suffered a bit more, but this was a learning experience—my first Ultraman and my longest run ever!

Gear/Clothes: I wore pink Desoto running shorts that I’d used in training a zillion times. Usually whenever I did my long run, but I think I have 4 pairs of the pink ones, so they all got plenty of use. Lee cautioned me to apply Vaseline to the edges of the panty liner, and that was a great idea. In one of the pockets I had a crack baggie of Dad’s ashes, and I had another crack baggie of Lava Salts. I wore a watch for the first time in 3 days. Please note that Lee also had a dead guy with her, but not ashes. She had a photo of a friend of hers who had died, so I told her that once she began running with me we’d be two chics and a couple of dead guys!

The bra top I wore (pink with black straps) is from Athleta, and unfortunately, they don’t make these anymore, but these are my favorite run tops as I am boobless and need very little support and like the small profile (better suntan!) and comfort. I do not use a heart rate monitor anymore. I quit using it, I think, in 2006 when I really leaned out and the thing just bugged me to wear the strap over my bony ribs. Plus, I am bradycardic, so my zones are pretty narrow anyway, and after years of this training, I can sort of tell where I’m at. Usually I’m in no danger of going too hard for my heart to tolerate. It’s more of an effort for me to elevate my heart rate most of the time!

I wore my usual Wigwam socks. The night before I sprayed down my feet and Lee’s (since she was going to pace me) with New Skin. I love that stuff. Prevents blisters like crazy, at least those between your toes. Morning of, I lubed my feet completely with Vaseline. I started out in my New Balance 904’s which are super lightweight trainers (about 8.5 oz.), but switched to the heavier, more cushioned 758’s during the 3^rd ½ marathon, I think, because I was feeling too much rockiness on the bottoms of my feet. In retrospect, lightweight gaiters would have been good, because I ran on the sand shoulder when I could, and that plus small rocks got into my shoes.

I wore my brand new Outdoor Research Sun Runner Hat, but without the skirt, which I ended up not needing. Finally, I wore a white Craft long-sleeve shirt that I had bought in case of blazing sun, but it worked just fine keeping me warm enough but not clammy.

Nutrition Plan

I didn’t think I needed much Ultrafuel, so I ended up splitting the 600 calories I had with Lee, so we each had 300 calories. I also had a Power Bar Triple Threat, so I was up to about 530 calories, and then Lee said we should chow down on the breakfast provided by the race as well. I ended up having some scrambled eggs and a couple of pancakes with butter and syrup. I was a stuffed potato! I probably had over 1,000 calories in me before I started, but that was just fine.

I had requested my crew to have Coke, water and Gatorade on hand for me, and whatever snacks were left from prior days. They had enough Coke for me to just drink that, but for some stupid reason I agreed with Lee in not taking any Coke until after the first marathon. I’d had a few cups of coffee, but I didn’t have much sleep and the Coke would have been welcome right away, but then I figured without it I would hold down my initial pace appropriately. I ended up drinking much blue Gatorade for the first marathon, and then I was more than happy to switch over to mostly Coke.

Training Notes

I did Revenge of the Pirateman (check the blog archive for reports on it) as my last “race” of the 2008-2009 season just 5 weeks after I set a lifetime Ironman PR at Lake Placid. ROTPM featured 52.4 (actually I did 52.46) miles of running in 4 days, and that was the beginning of my fall/winter run focus. I did the runs for that thing faster than I had anticipated.

8 weeks later I was registered for a 50-mile race run by the North Face up in the Kettle Morraine region of Wisconsin. To prepare for it, I did double long runs on the weekends with additional hiking/running up and down this mountain of garbage. I was feeling pretty invincible by race day with a high degree of confidence, but I made some stupid mistakes in gear choice. I wore my usual lightweight trainers, and my elastic (that I no longer use) laces were too tight. This led to undue pressure on my anterior tibialis tendon that brought me to a grinding halt after 35 miles. But, I felt like I definitely had the fitness to get the entire 50 miles done. Even so, it was quite interesting recovering from that. It was like a wake-up call to my legs! In the race itself, I remember my quads hurting like mofos after just about 10 miles because of the hills. I had trained hills, but not TRAIL hills that included roots, rocks, slippery rocks and leaves. I guess my stabilizer muscles weren’t accustomed to that, but I was able, after my customary 1 week off after any marathon or further from running, to begin running, after being checked out since I thought I might have a stress fracture. On the plus side, I had a full bone scan done. Check out a picture of me naked!

11 weeks after North Face I had Goofy Challenge (1/2 marathon on Saturday followed by full marathon on Sunday in Disneyworld) scheduled. I got right back to training, and managed to get in 3 41-mile weeks. During this time I wasn’t biking much, as I was indoors on the trainer. I set a PR in the marathon for Goofy double, and a combined ½ and full marathon PR. This was the 3^rd time I’d done Goofy Challenge.

I still remember that back in July before Ironman Lake Placid, my massage therapist, Mike, had cautioned me about trying to do all of these events so close to one another, telling me he’d be here to fix me up when things went south. I guess that was a premonition?

After Goofy Challenge, I started to add back more biking, but slowly, since it was still winter. Biking remained relatively light, but I kept my weekly run mileage pretty high for me—around 30 miles per week. Between January and March, I did the local series of 3 indoor super sprint triathlons, winning my age group at all 3, and placing pretty well overall in the females. After each of these races, I would hop on the treadmill and run another 1:15-1:30, which is pretty difficult, at least for me.

On April 1, I was doing a long run from my house, and had about 8 miles out of 12 done when it felt like a nail was being driven through my second toe on my right foot from the bottom. I was like, huh, let’s see if I can run through this, since I am used to all sorts of things happening and dealing with aches and pains. I tried, I really tried for about a mile, but the pain would not subside, and so I was reduced to walking. I walked 3 miles home and decided right then and there that I would need to take 2 weeks off from running completely, periodically testing the foot to see if it was just a fluke.

Every time I tried to run, the pain would come within maybe 10-15 footfalls, not a good thing. So I made an appointment with the foot specialist at my ortho. I described the pain to his assistant, the obligatory X-rays were taken, and then I got to speak with Dr. Vinci. He took one look at my foot and made a weird face that I took to mean bad news was on the way. Nothing broken, but I told him I had guesses and he asked me what they were. I was actually hoping it was a muscle in my lower leg that was referring pain to the toe, but he said nope. Adhesive capsulitis is what he said, and I said, “So, OK what’s the bad news?” And he knew I was asking how long to heal, i.e., time away from running. His response was 8-12 weeks.

I was heartbroken. The race was just 15 weeks away, and now I might not even make it to the start line. I didn’t cry in front of him though. He said we needed to make me some new orthotics, too. I had brought my old ones, which I’d trashed during North Face, and actually I had been trying to wean myself off them, which may be what precipitated the problem in the first place—not just the excessive run mileage! So my feet were scanned, and he said the orthotics, which might make me able to run pain-free, would be done in about 3 weeks, and that I shouldn’t run before then. I asked if biking and elliptical were OK as long as I experienced no pain, and he said go ahead.

I had already retrieved a water running program in case I was told not to run, so I was all set to do what I could, wait for the orthotics and see what happened. It was a very stressful period, because now I had to spend more time in the pool, and rather than split my actual swim/pool run sessions, I did them together first thing in the morning. So I was up at oh-dark-thirty to hit the pool, but actually I didn’t mind the pool running. I did all intervals, and they made the time pass quickly, although people wondered why *I* was doing it. I also did maybe ¼-1/2 of each scheduled run workout on the elliptical before I hit the pool, just to lessen the mental craziness of complete pool running.

So I did 3 weeks of pool running/elliptical, keeping up my scheduled run volume, managing a planned week of 7.5 hours total! I never had any pain in the foot at all during this period unless I tried to actually run on a treadmill or ground. It didn’t hurt when I walked, so maybe I had caught the problem early enough and was smart by in taking 2 weeks completely off.

3 weeks after my initial appointment on Friday, 5/7, I thought, “Hmm…my orthotics should be ready,” so I called the office and I was right! I went and picked them up and brought them home and put them into my running shoes in slow motion. I was afraid to try and actually run on them because what if they didn’t fix me? I had found one other person on a forum who had had the same problem and he said the new orthotics worked like magic and he ran pain-free right away with them. So I decided I will just run down my driveway and see what happens. I took 10 steps—no pain. So I got bold and began running on the sidewalk up the hill on my normal running route. No pain! I broke down and cried, but knew I wasn’t completely out of the water just yet. I didn’t go very far because I wanted my real test to be on the indoor track the next day.

Saturday morning I headed to the Y and was suited up to run. I go downstairs to the track and run into a friend, Eric, who is doing his first Ironman at Wisconsin this year, and I have sort of been mentoring him here and there when it’s convenient for both of us. He sees me and says he’ll run with me, and I’m freaking out because I think what if my foot hurts I am going to have a nervous breakdown on the spot, but I tell him I plan to run only for 10 minutes and slowly since I haven’t run on land in 5 weeks. We begin running and my feet don’t hurt, but the orthotics feel odd, which was expected, because they are constructed with this metatarsal bar that corrects my feet from pointing outwards, feels weird to my feet, and my adductors are also in a new position (more on this later). But Eric is talking to me and that is taking my mind off the paranoia I am experiencing and we do 10 minutes and I thank him and head off to the elliptical. I can hardly believe my foot didn’t hurt, but am feeling better about life.

The next week, I had a follow up scheduled with Dr. Vinci, and he reminded me that I’d need to ramp up my “on road” mileage over 3 weeks, and I pretty much stuck to this and got back to strictly road/sidewalks over 3 weeks. However, a new problem surfaced, and that was my adductors hurting like hell! It took me all 3 weeks to realize that this was a side effect of the new orthotics and the position it put my feet in, and my poor adductors just had to get used to it! I had a couple of runs in there where I just quit running, I hurt so badly. But once I realized it was from the orthotics (which I had been told might require 8-12 weeks to acclimate to…hmm…race day was 12 weeks from when I got them), I was able to ignore the pain.

From the 3 weeks after I got the orthotics to race day, I ran strictly on road/sidewalk! With the total amount of training I was doing and extra sleep I needed, I didn’t even have time to drive to my favorite long run trail, Waterfall Glen, to run. But in retrospect this toughened up my legs really well for Ultraman.

I counted on my run fitness from fall/winter to carry me through on race day, and I think it did, since after Goofy Challenge, my longest run was 2:30. Still, in my head, I wished I’d done more running, but about early April was when I figured I just couldn’t do as much as I’d originally scheduled unless I quit my job!

Race Notes

We all lined up at the crack in the road, some words were said about it being our final day and good luck and such, and maybe we counted down—I don’t remember! I was now in a complete mental fog, on the one hand knowing this was the last day and on the other not knowing quite how my legs would fare—you really don’t know until you start running, right? And it’s not like we are going to do a warm up!

I stayed in the back of the field and watched some of the speed demons take off like they were racing to qualify for Boston! This was fun to watch, but I had to monitor myself. I started off nice and slow, just sort of a shuffle, and had no idea of my pace or anything until the 10km point, which is the first place Steve King was stationed. When I saw my time for 10k, I said to myself and then to Lee as she ran alongside me for a little bit, “Some people can’t EVER run a 10k at this pace,” and that made me feel good inside. I had the same thought at the first ½ marathon point, and also recalled that there was a time when I couldn’t run that pace in a ½ Ironman! It was fun reflecting on how far I’d come as an athlete, even though I still don’t consider myself a runner.

Vince, who was crewing for Nick M., ran with me for a little bit. Nick was going to be out of the race (I saw him when he was down, and it saddened me, but I know Nick’s a warrior and will get right back on the horse), and Vince had wanted to get some running in.

I cannot believe Vince's nipples are more prominent than mine ;)

So he ran with me a little while. Vince had just done Ironman Lake Placid the week before and here he was, just dying to run!

Lee began running with me around 31km in. Here we are in a stunning part of the course.

Originally, she was going to wait until I’d passed the first marathon, but I could tell she was just itching to run, as that is her thing for now—she will be doing her first Ironman under my tutelage next year and we will face off at Sado Long Distance in Japan next September. I was super happy to have her run with me because we started some major climbing around that point. Lee would hold my hand and sort of pull me up the hills like a little child! But I was eating it up and I kept telling her I couldn’t do it without her. She kept saying I could, but I know that this first time going so far I needed the extra boost. Plus she was constantly telling me I was doing great, and that I was going to finish this thing. I think even she might have had some doubts about me, which is OK, because I had them, too!

The other really excellent thing Lee did for me was help me across the cattleguards. I don’t remember how many there were, but when you are on your third day of racing and your hip flexors have left the room and you are faced with getting across this obstacle that looks like a chasm, it can make you fear for your life. Lee could see the fear in my eyes, and she talked me through every single one. There was one where she asked if I could go sideways, and I emphatically said, “NO!” At that point, my body knew how to do one thing and one thing only—MOVE FORWARD.

When I reached the marathon point, I was pretty happy with myself (Steve King was there to greet us). I felt like my pace was fine, even walking the steep uphills, using the ultrarunner mantra, “If you can’t see the top, walk!” I remarked to Lee that many people can’t run a standalone marathon at this pace or during an Ironman, and I asked her if it was mean that I said that, and she said no. At this point, I felt like I probably was going to make the cutoff of 12 hours unless my foot or hamstring rebelled.

Nothing really hurt too badly, not any more than in an Ironman, for about 51km or so. My quads were beat to shit, though, and I knew it. Too bad, so are everyone else’s. I just sucked it up, because at least it wasn’t my foot going south on me!

I can never remember the mile/km points where things happened, so now I will just mention some other things that happened:

• It was nice to see the one little store up there on the mountain that we were told would have an actual aid station laid out for us. And they did! They had a huge table full of all sorts of treats. I may have taken some M&M Peanuts, but I don’t really remember.
• I pooped once, and tried to be discrete about being off road about it. I remember seeing 2 other runner’s poop barely off the road later on. The day after the race while we were tubing in the Okanagan River, I remarked to Kellie, “I SAW YOUR POOP!”
• There were some girls on one crew that every time I went by them, they had some good music blaring from their car’s speakers. Once, the song coming out was “Oh Sheila,” and I’m pretty sure they had put it on there just for me, because I had heard other appropriate songs coming out. I told the girls they were the best!
• At some point we were nearly eye level with power lines stretching from the mountain we were on to another one. I thought this should mean we were at the crest, but we weren’t and had to keep climbing for a bit. I wanted to know where crest was so I could leave some of Dad there. When we finally hit the crest, once again I was happy to leave him in a beautiful place that we had been together.
• Somewhere right before or after the crest, someone in a vehicle comes flying going the opposite direction. It was Gary Wang. He had to stand down and not run because of a heart issue (you can look him up in past Ultraman Canada and Hawaii and see what an outstanding athlete he is). And here he is out on the course asking us runners if we need anything! He gave us a Red Bull, which I only had a sip of (but still enjoyed) although Lee drank much of it, and then later on he gave us a Rice Krispie Treat, that Lee and I shared. I figured that anything that Gary would eat or drink must be magic!
• Someone’s crew had a pair of Great Danes in the back of the vehicle. We had seen these dogs at dinner the night before, and when I saw them this time I wanted to stop and pet them. Lee had never seen Great Danes before and was a little scared. I mean those dogs were both bigger than us! I told her they are big babies, and of course they wanted to give us a little slobber. I am a sucker for animals when I’m out running, and will stop, after asking if it’s OK and safe, to pet any dog. Cats tell you they are friendly so I don’t have to ask! Many times when I’m out run training, I feel bad for dogs being walked by people who clearly aren’t active, and you can tell the dogs want to run. I’ve learned through petting many different dogs that if I ever became a dog owner (I’m a cat person, preferably Siamese, myself), I’d get a Weimaraner, and maybe a couple of weiner dogs.

On my printed copy of the course map between H and I and between I and J, and between L and M, I wrote OUCH. This downhill section was brutal. Many of us agreed that at this point you weren’t sure which was worse—having to run the downhills or struggle on the remaining uphills. It was somewhere in H or I section that I saw the chair by the side of the road.

Lee now tells me she knew I was going to go sit in it. I remember saying, “Look—A CHAIR!” Like it was some sort of sign from above. Well, I guess it was! I sat in there, virtually patting myself on the back for my ability to just plop down into it, and sat there and laughed while Lee snapped a few pictures, and then I yelled, “WATCH THIS!” And I was able to just stand up (with the help of my arms that weren’t beat to crap like my legs) and get out on my own. There were points earlier in the race, too, where I would just bend down and adjust my shoelaces or do other things, and I was surprised that I was able to do so. I guess the secret is not to think about it but just do it before your body realizes that it’s not something it really wants to do. Here is an example of my amazing ability to bend over:

I warned my crew that I wanted to run in with my Jolly Roger flag that was given to me by my sister in law, Laurie, after my nephew’s production of “The Little Mermaid.” Laurie knew how much I like the pirate and skull stuff, and she gave me the flag and also a paper flag that I proudly display in my living room window. A few weeks after I had placed the paper flag in the window, my neighbor across the street asked me one day, “Why do you have that pirate in the window?” It was hard for me to explain, but the real reason I had it there was to remind me that I was in training for Ultraman Canada, and it was like my HTFU reminder.

Someone in a crew vehicle let us know when we were 5K from the finish. FIVE KILOMETERS!!! I was all kinds of choked up at this point and had to keep telling myself to just settle down and keep running. Lee knew that I would need some quiet time at this point.

Mona gave me the flag, and I held it aloft as a way to keep myself from just breaking down on the spot. After regaining some composure, I held it higher, gritted my teeth and looked ahead at a now flat stretch of road that seemed to go on forever. But I knew it was going to end. Now we were nearing a small town, and there were locals on the road, and some of them gave me funny looks because of the flag. Now, one athlete, Rob, had carried a full-sized American flag the entire run, and that makes sense, but I guess a Jolly Roger not so much. Of course, I couldn’t care less what anyone thought at this point, the idea was to get it done.

That last 5k hurt like no other 5k I’ve ever done before, but it hurt real good since I knew I was going to reach the physical end of my journey. During that stretch, I could already sense things looking brighter and all these cares and worries falling off me every step closer I got. We had been told that near the finish line there would be a split so our crew could go ahead of us so we could all run in together. I remember making a left hand turn thinking I was about done, but NO…there was more. Run up ahead to the girls in green we were told, and then turn, and then FINALLY I could see the grass and the finish line and it was better than any Ironman finish I’ve ever had.

There aren’t a lot of people—it is just a small chute lined with flags from the many nations represented, and athletes and crew members are there to bring you in. Part of me still couldn’t believe I had just run 52.4 miles, but the other part of me knew that I couldn’t have done it without my crew. In a way, I thought I had the easy part—just show up and move!

Steve Brown put that medal on me and I felt like I was in the Olympics or something, it all felt so solemn to me. It felt to me like there was this light all around me and I wondered if others could see it. I didn’t know what I wanted (like water, beer or food or to sit down) other than to suck in the feeling. But then I snapped back to reality, asking for something, and I found an empty chair, sat myself down in it and began babbling to whoever would listen. Lee brought me some beer in a bike bottle, as we’d been told the park didn’t allow alcohol, but I wanted a beer more than anything! Lee and Mona helped me get my shoes off, which felt awesome, and they brought ice for my knees, which made me shiver, but I didn’t care. I really had no desire for food yet even though they had stuff to eat.

Someone signed me up for massage, and I was more than happy to sip beer and wait for it, and once again it was great. This time I had a guy originally from Europe—I forget which country—but he had a delightful accent and really loved what he does and where he lives now. It would have been interesting to record the conversations going on at the massage tables, since I know all of us athletes were running off at the mouth like we hadn’t seen people in months!

Then after everyone had come across the finish line, we were all organized to take photos together. I had my bottle of beer with me, and you can see me bending over slightly to set it down.

There were 3 people who were told to sit down, and truth is they sort of just fell down! We all had a good laugh about it, but then settled down for the pictures while all the crew members looked on and snapped their own photos.

Finally, the sun was setting and I needed to clean up and get food and we all needed sleep. Richard and Mona decided they would be leaving in the morning, which saddened me since I had wanted them at the awards banquet the next day. So we had to do some gear shuffling so they could get their room cleaned up and get on their way to finish their vacation! They had gotten some food at the post-race area, but Lee and I needed to chow down—Lee had had some food, but she had just done her longest run ever, too! And she looked as fresh as a daisy!

Back at the hotel, I warned Lee that I might moan as I showered depending on whether or not I chafed. But really, I hardly chafed at all, and it was the BEST SHOWER EVER!!! I put on my compression tights, Lee got cleaned up, and we were going to go and get sushi again, but when we were maybe 15 steps out the hotel door and I realized the hotel restaurant was open, I made an executive decision that we wouldn’t walk anymore and would just eat there. It turned out to be just great! Another athlete, Duncan, and his crew were at the next table enjoying some beers and food, and we followed suit.

I slept like a baby (8 hours), and of course I woke up first and HUNGRY. I headed downstairs to the continental breakfast area and got some coffee and a couple of tiny Danish and some orange juice, and sat and talked with some others. I took some coffee upstairs for Lee and rousted her out of bed, as we had some packing to do and then we were going tubing. Richard came by to drop something off and said he was going to Starbucks and asked if I wanted anything, and I said yeah, whatever breakfast sandwich they have with meat on it. He brought some ham, egg and cheese thing on a Panini or something, and it was great. Normally I want McDonald’s after an Ironman+ event, but there aren’t any in Penticton that I know of, so the Starbucks was just fine. I bid goodbye to Richard and continued on with packing.

I was pretty pleased at my ability to walk, although walking downstairs I needed to hold the handrails on either side to support myself and avoid using my quadriceps! Lee and I walked across the street barefoot to get our tubes and get in the river, and the water was nice and cold and we had a riot out there. It was a little dicey getting out without being swept further down river, but there were all sorts of helpers on the algae-covered concrete steps.

After the bus ride back to the hotel, Lee and I were hungry again and she said she wanted a huge cheeseburger, and I figured the bar with the pirate would have them, so we walked down there and yes, we had giant cheeseburgers!

I will stop here and write another post about the awards banquet.

This had been the time of my life!

What I Did Well
I did as much run training as I possibly could, considering I also needed to swim and bike. I successfully navigated an injury and didn’t bug out of the race. I started the day with a full tank of calories, which is not how I like to begin a long run, but in retrospect I guess it was a good thing to do.

I finished! I took time to enjoy myself and appreciate the scenery, my crew, other crews, other athletes, to be grateful for my ability and means to do this event and LIVE LARGE!

I didn’t chafe and I only had one small blister on the medial ball of my right foot that was gone in 2 days. I didn’t go out too fast, and I think I took in sufficient calories and hydration.

What I Can Improve On
If you are into running on the shoulder, I’d suggest gaiters for this race. I think now that my body has been exposed to a full 50+ mile run, it will understand that marathons are not so bad, and hopefully I can do 3 or 4 of them in training for Ultraman Hawaii. I don’t have plans to do any 50-mile races in training—I just did one! I think my run durability has improved much in the last 2 years, and I need to keep this up and remain injury-free. Lee says I can run faster, and I think I can, but then again, UMC was a brutal run course, and Hawaii will be easier, terrain-wise. I would like to be able to do the 52.4 in 11 hours or less. Shit—I can’t believe I am saying this! But that is just 5:30 per marathon, which I think is doable. 10:30 would be better, but if I can crack 11 hours I will be one happy camper!

What Concerns me About Hawaii
Heat. Humidity. Did I say heat and humidity? I feel good, though, because this summer in Chicago has been one of the hottest, most humid on record, and while the acclimation process sucked donkey balls, now I go out in heat index of 100+ and I am pretty good. I am already briefing my UMH crew. Lee will be on it as well as Brad and Morgan, two dear friends of mine who for some reason look up to me. We are already discussing how we will manage the various stages in terms of nutrition content and handoffs and cooling. I plan on buying some Super Soakers for them to spray me down that I will then donate to some local children after the race. Having sufficient ice on hand may be a problem, but we are working on a plan for that, too. Brad, Morgan and Lee will all be able to take turns running with me, and that will make it fun and motivating for me. They have promised to entertain me as well. So all I need to do is train my ass off and stay healthy!

Ultraman Canada Day 2 Ride Report

Riding to the Town of Headwind

Day 2: 170 mile (273.5 km) Ride, aka Snacking my Way Through the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys

Start Time: 6:00AM, and we started in pairs, based on the total time from Day 1. I think I was next to Lucy Ryan, who I took to calling LOO-SEE after Lucille Ball. There was much confusion at the start, but somehow our addled brains managed to get in line properly and take off.

Conditions: There is about 5,300 feet of climbing in this stage, which is not bad for the distance. I didn’t know the climbing amount until after the fact—it should be published on the race site, I think. The weather forecast the night before said it might be rainy, but when I woke up at 4AM it was really windy outside, and this worried me a bit. But as it got light the wind settled down. Weather Underground reports that the high for Penticton that day was 84F just like Day 1, but we went quite a ways away from Penticton, and clearly when we were along the Similkameen River heading towards Hedley it felt pretty damn hot, but I can’t find weather data for Hedley, which I renamed to the Town of Headwind. I guess the town doesn’t really exist. My guess is it got into the 90’s. On the plus side, though, the humidity was still very low. Another athlete reports that we were riding into headwinds for 80 of the 170 miles, and that seems about right. Weather data shows they were 10-15mph most of the time, just enough to make you work harder than you might like, but fine as long as you stayed tucked in aero position, and not so bad if you are tiny person like me!

Goal: 11 hours, including feeding and assorted stops. This is a pathetic 15MPH, which I figured I could accomplish unless the course was hellaciously hilly or windy, which it wasn’t, or I had horrible mechanicals, which I didn’t. It also accounted for potential slowage due to the effort expended on Day 1.

Actual: 11:03:50. Cool beans! I was happy with this considering the winds and heat, but just like for Day 1, I could reduce this by at least 15 minutes with faster and less frequent stops. In reality I would like to go 10:30 on this day which is 16.2mph average, but am fine with anything from 10:30-11:00. Again, I am a balanced triathlete (I suck at all three sports!) and not a seasonsed ultrarunner, so I need to have gas available for Day 3. My actual riding time was 10:36, so I have some more speed in me. UMH Day 2 should be less climbing but more heat and possibly more wind, so I’m not sure I can gain much more on this day there.

Gear/Clothes: I rode Skull Kingdom, same setup as for Day 1, same helmet and same shoes, although I did switch shoes with about 50km to go because I had never ridden that far in the white Sidi’s, and I felt something bugging the front of my left ankle and figured a shoe change was in order.

I wore hot pink tri shorts and a matching bra top from Desoto, with a white sleeveless Zoot bike jersey. Someone on another athlete’s crew thanked me for wearing the pink so they could spot me better! This is another wonderful thing about Ultraman—the other crews are rooting for you and everyone else as much as for THEIR athlete! The Zoot jersey is all kinds of ventilated, and I’ve had it for years, pulling it out for special occasions such as these. Once again, I had lubed my bike shorts with Chamois Butter, and somewhere around or right after Hedley I felt the beginnings of some crotch discomfort, so I stopped and reapplied. This was, I’m sure, a great sight for my crew—me jamming my cream-covered hand down my shorts and rubbing around! I wore the same kind of Wigwam socks that had been slathered with Body Glide, no gloves, but I began the ride with my new Zoot Arm Coolers, and they were good, but I removed them around Hedley, because the wind seemed to keep me cool enough on my arms just fine. I started the day covered in SPF 30 sunscreen that I applied before I got dressed, and never felt the need to reapply it.

Once again, an aero helmet would have been great to use for the first 100km of this ride (or maybe the entire day), as it was mostly flat. After that is when we began climbing, but we also had heat, so if I were to do this race again, I’d just use the aero helmet for that first 100km and then switch to a regular helmet. At least have it available in the crew vehicle, because the temperatures and wind seem highly changeable in the region.

Nutrition Plan

In the morning, I decided to go a bit lighter on the Ultrafuel, and I think I only drank about 500 calories of it, and I ate my usual Power Bar Triple Threat, so I had about 750 calories in the tank to start, and didn’t feel overly full or bloated at the start. While riding, my nutrition plan was the same as for Day 1. I ended up consuming a lot of Coke once it got hot because it tasted good. I had to pour cold water over my head when it was hot, too. The jello shots were awesome, and I think I managed some of a turkey sandwich, but don’t think I drank any Gatorade. I think I ate 4 devilled egg halves, and they were awesome! I think I hydrated well enough again on Day 2. I don’t remember how many times I peed, but it wasn’t a lot (crew needs to keep track of this), and I think I pooped once (inevitable when doing all this racing).

Training Notes

See my Day 1 report about my bike training.

Race Notes

I remembered that about the first 100km of the ride was flat to gently rolling, so in my head I was visualizing the day as a hard 170km ride with a nice 100km warm-up. Richard had cleaned and lubed my bike, as it’s important to me to race on a clean bike!

We had been warned about a cattleguard at 18.4km in, and were told there would be plywood over it so we could ride right over. Cattleguards here in the Midwest can be easily ridden over on a bicycle, but the kind they have up in Canada are a bit dicey to ride over. Well, we get to the cattleguard and there is no plywood and we are told to dismount and walk our bikes across! At the awards banquet we heard that a couple of intrepid riders went ahead and rode over, but the rest of us walked. I have my right bike shoe clad foot on one metal slat about 3” wide, my left foot on another slat about 2” wide, and I have my bike in my right hand. It was unsettling to walk across, but I don’t think anyone fell in, and I got back on the bike to keep riding, hoping that was the scariest part of my day (and it was).

The first 100km were just beautiful scenery and great roads, and I would yell at my crew to take pictures of the surrounding landscape. The winds were light, and I was in the big chainring a lot. We went through Oliver twice more, which gave me more opportunities to sing-song OWL-EE-VAH out loud to myself. I was pretty amazed at how “not bad” I felt and hoped it would continue through the day.

At 53.9km in, we turn around and begin backtracking. The turnaround point is a Husky gas station, and we literally rode through one of the pump areas and out the other road entrance. I don’t know why, but this seemed pretty funny to me at the time. We went back through OWL-EE-VAH. I think it was on the way out you could see Spotted Lake, and unlike Yellow Lake which is NOT yellow, the Spotted Lake IS spotted. Here is a picture of it. That was pretty cool to see.

After we go along Vaseaux Lake again, we veer off on another road that is taking us to “the wall,” which is a steep climb to Green Lake (which is actually green). At the pre-race meeting, they make The Wall out to be this beast, and I’ve ridden horrible climbs during Horribly Hilly Hundreds and Dairyland Dare rides which are in Wisconsin’s glacial area. In the Dairyland Dare, there is 13,500 feet of climbing in the 200k, and Horribly Hilly Hundreds has about 10,000 feet of climbing over 200k. Each of those rides has nasty, nasty climbs, so I figured The Wall would be one of those. Nope, it was just 8% for 2k, really not that bad, and it was the worst climb of the day. But any experienced rider knows that once you throw one of those in, it can take something out of you, so I didn’t try and be a hero on it or anything. And guess who was on there announcing? Steve King! We are in the middle of nowhere and we are climbing and you hear his voice and he’s talking about you and it makes you want to climb well.

The Wall is just the beginning of much climbing for the next about 45km, which takes us through desert that was absolutely beautiful! The wind began picking up here, too, but it seemed logical for it to get windy in the desert.

Once we descended out of the desert, though, it got windy AND hot.

I did not see this sign. Glad my crew did!

Now we were on our way to Hedley, or the Town of Headwind. It was beautiful riding along the Similkameen River that we could see below us flowing in the opposite direction, which is always a bad sign, since it means we are CLIMBING. It seemed pretty hot and there were people every so often tubing or just floating in the river, and I could even see people drinking beer, which made me want one. Aside: During training I drank 2 beers a day, religiously. I tell people that if I did not drink beer I would disappear altogether! The first beer would be my reward for making it through a training day and would be consumed while I stretched, and then the 2^nd one was with or right after dinner.

I had to keep riding and stay strong in the wind. I poured much water over my head in this section and drank much Coke. At one point I even put ice into the holes in my helmet so they could melt (slightly) slowly onto my head and face. That was nice! Also, it makes the high cost of the Catlike Whisper completely worth the money! I was also putting a cold sponge into my top and my shorts to keep my core temperature down, so each pit stop became sponge exchange, exchange my Infinit for a cold bottle, chug some Coke and then pour a bottle of ice water over my head.

After Hedley, we keep sort of climbing through some park to almost the 200k mark, and I could just tell when I was about 200k in. Just as on Day 1, I only looked at elapsed time on the PowerTap—no speed or distance. Then we make a few curvy jogs and get to the town of Princeton, where there is about a 60k total out and back section. Of course, as soon as we turn north, the wind changes to come from the north, so now we are climbing into a headwind, and it was decent climbing. I knew at this point I was pretty much on target for my 11 hour planned finish time. But this is when my left foot started to hurt just a little bit and I wanted to change shoes, only my crew was nowhere in sight! I about had a nervous breakdown, thinking maybe they had car trouble or something. When they finally showed back up, they told me they had to stop and get more ice, and I was nearly in tears. At that point, I needed to see my crew often just to feel like I was being taken care of. I changed my shoes and the other pair felt better on my ankle, but the bottom of my feet hurt in them because I didn’t move the insoles from the other shoes. DOH!

I just kept pedaling and wondering when we were going to hit the turnaround, again I still wasn’t looking at distance or speed—just elapsed time. We were in an absolutely beautiful area , and we rode by several smaller lakes before we got to Allison Lake for the turnaround. Oh my, is that lake beautiful! But I was glad to say goodbye to it. On the way there, you could see other athletes heading back looking pretty happy. It was hard to tell your relative position all day until we got to the out and back, and I saw some people I was surprised were actually pretty close to me. So I guess I was doing OK.

Anyway, one guy yelled, “There’s a nice TAILWIND on the way out!” And for this I kept working until I got to the little U-turn (I do lots of these in training and am pretty good at them!) and now we began heading down. The tailwind wasn’t there all the time but at some point it kicked in for good, and I set my sights on whoever was in front of me and wanted to pass her just for something to do. I got into the big chainring and actually started hammering, can you believe that 243km into this thing? But I did, and it was fun, and I just kept going by my crew saying I was going in now.

Richard and me. I am happy to be done riding for a few days!

When I crossed the finish line, that was my longest ride ever! Previously I had gone 135 miles, but like I said, there wasn’t that much climbing on this ride so it was like 135 plus additional flatness.

I got another most excellent massage, and now we were in Princeton and the race had made a restaurant available for our post-stage meal. I don’t remember what I ate here, but it was probably less than I should have eaten, as I was tired and wanted to sleep and had to be up at 4AM the next morning to run. The one thing I DID do, though, was have a beer. Richard had one and when I got a look at it, I decided it wouldn’t hurt me. Nick M. asked how I was feeling and I once again told him much better than I thought I would! I mean I didn’t feel completely trashed, so I guessed that a) I must be fit and b) I must have paced this thing well for my abilities.

The race put us athletes and crew up in various hotels, and the one we were in, Sandman, had nice enough rooms, but only window air conditioners. When I am training or racing like this, I need my sleeping room to be around 68F in order for me to sleep. I cranked up the A/C, but the poor thing was having trouble mustering enough juice to really cool things down. I tossed and turned until finally I decided to try and sleep on the floor where it would be cooler. This happened around midnight, and when I got down there, I was worried whether I remembered to put my watch into my run shorts, and so I grabbed them in the dark and felt around, and I had remembered. I wasn’t worried about only getting 4 hours of sleep for Day 3, because I knew it was the last day, and I still felt way better than I’d anticipated.

What I Did Well
I biked at a comfortable but consistent pace that felt like a good “all day” pace. I climbed well, considering I hadn’t done much in training, and I think I hydrated well enough based on the color of my urine before I went to bed. I did not chafe, having a mantra in my head from ultrarunners that if you feel something, take care of it right away, and I did that for my crotch and my left foot. I did eat 4 or 5 deviled egg halves, and they were tasty. I have eaten hard boiled eggs on 7+ hour rides before, and knew that I tolerated them well. I don’t remember how many times I peed, but I guess it was enough. I managed to enjoy myself and keep my sense of humor except for my near meltdown when my crew went AWOL (note to UMH crew: If you are going to go off course, tell me about it please!). Once again, I remained in aero position except on steep parts of climbs, and I remembered to stand up periodically and stretch my legs, neck, wrists and back. There was no lake to cool the legs after this stage, and besides I just wanted to get my massage, eat, set up for Day 3 and get to sleep.

What I Can Improve On
Same comments as for Day 1 basically, and I would like to complete Day 2 in 10:30 or less total time. I will also try and eat more for dinner after Day 2, and I will hope that wherever they put us up that the room is COLD. Or maybe we will borrow a box fan from a local that I can use in the away hotels.

What Concerns me About Hawaii
The climb to Hawi can be dicey with crosswinds, but climbing isn’t as bad as descending in them, and we only go down that hill on the run. Heat will be a factor as will winds. I’m confident that my Infinit will keep my electrolytes where they need to be, but we might need to carry more water for myself and the crew to cool me down. I know where all the stores are on the Hawaii route, too, so obtaining ice might be an issue. Perhaps my crew’s local friend can have more ice at the ready to avoid pulling off the highway in the middle of the day, because I know what traffic can be like in the Kona area.