'Tis the Season

...to get in some solid training hours with a different mix than spring/summer. Here's what I did this week:

Totals	Week 18: 12/06/2010-12/12/2010
Swim:	ATP: 14350 yards in 5.17 hours Scheduled: 14350 yards (8.14 miles) in 5.17 hours Actual: 14850 yards (13578.84 m / 8.43 miles) in 5.1 hours; 27% of weekly workout time Longest swim 8500 yds (4.82) miles Approx. 1785 calories burned
Bike:	ATP: 5.25 hours Scheduled: 5.25 hours Actual: 110.15 miles (177.27 km) in 5.25 hours, Total TSS=0 28% of weekly workout time Approx. 2363 calories burned
Run:	ATP: 5.75 hours Scheduled: 5.75 hours Actual: 32.27 miles (51.93 km) in 5.52 hours (28.27 miles/4.52 hrs run; 4 miles/1 hrs hike) 29% of weekly workout time Approx. 1937.86 calories burned
Strength:	ATP: 1.42 hours Scheduled: 1.42 hours Actual: 3 hours (1.72 regular; 1.28 extra crap) 16% of weekly workout time Approx. 750 calories burned
All Sports:	ATP: 17.59 hours Scheduled: 17.59 hours Actual: 150.85 miles (242.77 km) in 18.87 hours Approx. 6835.86 calories burned (9435@500/hr)
Sleep:	8.5 hours avg./night
Stretching:	3.17 hours stretching, 1 hours massage

I have one more fairly big week coming up and then a rest week and then lots of running to prepare for Gasparilla, although I've been running a lot for a few weeks now.

My ability to sleep over 8 hours a night is returning, although I have gotten into a bad habit of going to sleep around 7:30 and getting up at 3:30 or 4AM. That allows me to check on things at work before my morning workout, do a workout, work some more, then do another workout mid-day. I have always liked early morning, and if I can get a few things done plus a workout before my main block of working hours, I'm a happy camper.

My left hip/glute complex is doing quite well. Amongst other things, my massage therapist helped me identify that I had some nasty ass trigger points in my hamstrings. Hamstring trigger points can refer pain up into the glute and also down into the feet. I have nearly resolved them, though, and think I have 100% flexibility back in my left leg. Quite a change from 4 weeks ago!

I am having my old running orthotics refurbished. Meanwhile, I'm using some OTC's from Sole--the moldable kind. I can really tell my feet have become quite picky as to which shoes I run in, and I'm back on the lightweight New Balance 904's (that model is now history having moved up to 905). Even though I wear them out in less than 250 miles, I just feel better running in them.

I am still only down about 2.5 pounds, and would like to shave off another 2-3. There is no more candy in the house, and I'm being watchful of my overall intake. I know some fat has come off and I've tightened up my midsection, so I'm moving in the right direction.

I'm feeling pretty good on the bike now, and (gasp) I may have even raised my FTP, although I am not currently measuring watts. I can tell on the trainer by my average speed, and it's going up, and I'm able to hold a pretty good gear for a long time now, even when I'm starting out already tired, like yesterday I ran 30' and then walked an hour and then got on the bike for 2:15. Not bad considering I'd swum 8500 on Friday! And then today I ran 1:55 and then swam 1,000 (just to chill out) and felt pretty solid.

I'm still not at a point where I expect to be too fast either running or swimming, although I am seeing hints of speed in the pool and on the run. That is fine for now, as it's a trick for me to maintain the volume I need to be at and also be working on speed. Too much intensity plus high volume is a recipe for disaster. I was glad that today after running 1:40 pretty much Zone 1 on the treadmill that I was able to bust out some just over 5k pace running on the track.

During Friday's swim, I got bashed on my left hand by a crappy swimmer next to me. Dude tried racing me a few times, and I was more than happy to speed up to show him who's boss. So I guess he decided to reward me by clocking me real good. I had to stop and ice my hand for a few minutes, and it's still a little tender even today, but no significant damage. Add that guy to the list of people who shall forever be afraid to swim next to me, which is fine by me! I practically hug the lane rope and yet these dufuses manage to hit me every so often. The guy had hit me once in one of my calves before he got my hand, and when he hit my hand, I stopped and said "That's TWICE." He knew it, too. He immediately high-tailed it for the end of the lane and got out. Fine, buddy, stay away from me.

Then this woman got in the lane with me, and she will always get in my lane even if there are other lanes with only 1 person. Why, I have no idea. Within a few minutes, I noticed she had moved my stuff on deck. She had nothing with her. I was kicking to cool down so I asked if she moved my stuff and she said, "Yes, it was in the way." In the way of WHAT? You standing on deck for like 10 minutes deciding when you were going to get in? I told her to never touch my bottles. I don't want someone else's germs on those when I am drinking out of them, you know? I know I'm such a bitch, but too bad. She's a crappy swimmer, too, and she's clipped me many times with her imitation backstroke. There needs to be lane signs that indicate not speed, but "able to swim on one side of the lane and not touch the other person in the lane and also not touch the person in the adjacent lane." I have been clipped by someone in the next lane, too, doing imitation breaststroke or backstroke and sometimes by wide-swinging front crawl. Hey people--I know I'm cute and all, but STOP TOUCHING ME!!! As long as it doesn't hurt, it sort of just makes me laugh. If it's a good swimmer, I don't even mind.

I have also been having discussions with the Y management about the pool temperature. On Wednesday it was EIGHTY SEVEN! That is nearly deadly if you are lap swimming. On my way out, I saw the guy who allegedly maintains the pool and asked him why it was so warm (it is supposed to be kept at 84), and first he says something about how hard it is to keep the pool cool enough (what the fuck when it's only 15 outside????), then I called him on that statement and then he comments on the old ladies who ask him to make it warm. So I had a chit chat with the facility director, and inquired as to whether the temperature was a negotiable thing. I thought so, it is NOT. And she's all like she needs to study how it's done, and I tell her NO, I have swum at many pools, many with cavernous buildings and windows and all that and SOMEHOW they manage to keep the temperature within a narrow range. Today I saw some clipboards with paper and pen attached for people to write comments, and I saw someone had written about how the pool is too cold and I wrote back THE TEMPERATURE IS NOT NEGOTIABLE. All they have to do is post something that the pool is X temperature as a compromise to lap swimmers and others, and that is what it will be kept at so SHUT THE FUCK UP. I would like it colder than 84, but I am OK as long as it doesn't go a hair over 85. If it stayed like that, I would have no complaints. But over 85 and into 86 or 87, and I am very uncomfortable, as are other lap swimmers. Oh well, yet another thing to make me spend time on something I would rather not. But many people will do nothing, and that is just lame.

I just sent email to Ultraman Hawaii folks asking when I can apply. I assume they will let me in for next year ;) I was lucky to have a long conversation with a friend who did both UMC and UMH and got to hear all about Hawaii. It will definitely be harder on Day 1--way more climbing on the bike. I do intend to do more bike training this time around, as I want to be well prepared to hopefully PR in Kona. I can't do much about the heat, although I will do some specific heat acclimation workouts in the weeks before I get to Hawaii, and I will get there over a week in advance, depending if I can stay with someone else and work from there for a few days.

Some days I can't believe my life is the way it is. My life isn't perfect, but I have the physical strength and health to do something I love A LOT and I'm doing distance I could never even CONCEIVE of just 5 years ago. How great is that?

And now my plan is to lay on the couch and watch a Bears game. Even though I'm not a big fan of winter, it is nice in that I'm not doing super long rides and there is no more yard work to do (except incidental snow removal) on weekends, so laying on a couch I will do!

My Tips for Weight Management

It is well established that there is an epidemic of obesity in the United States. While I am a huge proponent of exercise as a method of weight control, exercise alone will not prevent a person from gaining weight. One needs to develop good habits and stick to them. I think a big reason many people ignore their bodies is that it requires work to maintain them, and gee, I work 8+ hours a day to earn a living already why should I have to work on myself?

It is work—at least initially. Some people have grown into adulthood not knowing how to cook, having no knowledge of good nutritional practices but believing that life is so hard that we must give ourselves treats every single day, and because the excess weight itself is not accorded disease status, the pounds just pile on until they do create a disease like hypertension, Type II diabetes, achy or worn out joints, shortness of breath or cardiovascular disease. If you are nearly or already obese, you will develop one or more of these diseases, guaranteed.

So what are people supposed to do? I say buck up and do some work to acquire knowledge and get some discipline going so that you can go through the rest of your life with increased health and vitality. Towards that end, here is a list of 10 common sense things to choose from that I think anyone can do to help manage their weight:

1. Swim once a week or so in a public pool. Sometimes wear a 2-piece bikini (Speedo for a man). Embarrassed to be seen in a swimsuit? You should be. Lose some weight, fatso.
2. Do NOT keep more than one size of clothing for yourself. Fit into what you have—if it starts becoming tight, lose some weight, fatso.
3. Make your treat/cheat foods something you don’t keep in your house. EVER. Why? You know you are weak—we all are. Always go out to buy it at the time you want it. Will the extra effort to go foraging for it be worth it every single time? Probably not.
4. If you are in your car and having a craving for something, drive right past the place where you can get it and keep going for 5 minutes. If you still want it, then go back for it. Betcha many times you won’t turn around.
5. Always have something that is healthy and really tasty available in your house that is either already prepared or takes minimal preparation. You know you love many good, whole foods that are super tasty—you just need to surround yourself with them.
6. Learn what it feels like to actually be hungry every now and then (except at breakfast time). If you think you’re hungry, drink a big glass of water. If 5 minutes later you still feel hungry, then you really might be.
7. NEVER skip breakfast. If you are eating correctly, you should wake up hungry—not eat-everything-in-the-fridge hungry, but you should need something. Not giving your body, and particularly your brain (which runs on sugar) something to overcome the fast that you just had (that is why it’s called BREAKfast) makes you more likely to make poor choices as the day wears on. Unfed brains make stupid decisions.
8. Always have a piece of fruit (or 2) 2 hours after breakfast. At least you will have eaten one serving of fruit for the day, right? And if you ate your breakfast and the fruit, maybe you won’t make bad choices for lunch.
9. Try to plan 1 or 2 of your meals each day, either the day before or in the morning. That way, if the 3rd one goes to hell, at least you did well for 2 out of 3. It’s easiest to plan breakfast and lunch, and if you get adequate calories there, you are less likely to pig out at dinner time.
10. Learn how to cook. It need not be elite French restaurant quality food; just simply prepared, whole foods like baked or grilled lean meats, steamed vegetables and salads. You can live on just those foods, you know. As you learn about cooking techniques and seasonings, odds are you will discover that simply prepared food is quite delicious and doesn’t always require the addition of butter, cheese or breading.

Notice that several of these tips involve the dreaded planning—yes, that’s right. You might actually have to make a list before you go to the grocery store, you might actually have to peruse recipes every now and then, but I like to think of it more as being mindful. People become fat because they aren’t mindful of what is going in their mouths and how it makes them feel—and then they go on a “diet” that requires all sorts of planning and restrictions yet somehow that work is OK with them. That is just messed up. What is a good habit if not work that has become routine? I think it’s easier and simpler (and less stressful) to practice the good techniques until they become habits than it is to go into defensive mode repeatedly.

Do I fall off the wagon? Every now and then. But I only allow myself 4 pounds in the wrong direction (my current baseline weight is 110, so 4 pounds is 3.6% of it). That is my signal that I have been eating mindlessly. I saw that number about a week and a half ago. I am down1.5 pounds and feel better already since I'm not eating so much sugar (leftover Halloween candy). So I'm not perfect. And there's a lot more to me maintaining my weight/body composition than the average person, but sometimes it comes down to the basics, just like for everyone else.

I eat a very varied diet. I prepare my breakfast and dinner on most days--lunch is usually a Lean Cuisine (yes I could do better but even I err on the side of convenience at times). My typical snack foods are fruit, string cheese, sometimes pretzels, sardines, a bite of leftovers. When I'm training about 15 hours or more in a week, I find I need to supplement with some more sugary foods, even candy. But I still try and keep 2500-3000 calories per day coming from good, clean food sources (including deliberate sports nutrition). I "cook" usually just on weekends--microwaving something from the freezer or throwing a piece of fish or meat into the oven or making a salad doesn't count as cooking to me, and I have precious little free time during the week like many people, and not just because of my training.

I only note this because I have the same weaknesses as anyone else when it comes to food--I don't have "good genes" or anything like that. I have to work at weight maintenance just like anyone else. I have just tried my best to ingrain good habits. Time was I ate like complete and total crap, and I felt like crap for it, too. I do love cooking, and reserve my high fat treat foods like deep-dish pizza, cream-based pasta sauces and Italian deli wonder sandwiches on focaccia bread for times when I have rather big workouts scheduled. So in a sense I train to eat! But even before triathlon, I could eat those things on my one cheat day per week, and it worked out just fine.

Maybe you can find 1 or more things in this post that you want to add to your arsenal. If you have other ideas, feel free to comment as well!

Painsgiving Report

I just renamed Thanksgiving to Painsgiving, since it seems every year since around 2004, I've concocted something of 1/2 Ironman or more to do during the weekend. 2011 Painsgiving will be Ultraman Hawaii ;)

This year's menu was 5K on Thursday, 2x2x2 on Friday, and today was a 1/2 marathon.

The morning of the 5K I was up early (at least I'm not getting up before 4AM now, which is an improvement), and feeling guilty that I hadn't done any strength training this week. So around 5AM I thought I could knock out an abs/core workout that has some traditional lifting thrown in there. It took about :45, and I didn't even consider the affect it would have on me running a 5K.

Did I feel at all ready for a 5K? Fuck no. I'd done a marathon just 3 weeks ago (actually 2 weeks and 5 days), and had run very conservatively since then. And I had just worked out my left hip/glute issues, and my true running form was just coming back this week. But, in a perverse way, I was looking forward to the pain of it, because it's been since last winter that I did any 5K-type racing (the indoor triathlon series). I figured, what the hell, maybe my legs will wake up--you never know on any given day.

In my mind and heart, though, I knew I would be lucky to run 9mpm, so if I could achieve that, it would be a good thing. Well, I did--9mpm on the nose! The race did suck, I did feel the effects of that :45 of strength session beforehand, but I didn't stop or give in to the demons in my head telling me it didn't matter if I walked. Because it did matter. One small step for Painsgiving--one giant leap for my return to fast running. I took 11th in my age group, which is abyssmal for me, but hey, on the day I was fine with it.

After I got home (I did an :11 warmup and of course, ran home from the 5K for about :45 total running) and checked on a situation at work (yes, I did), I got on the trainer for an hour and just rode real easy. I alternated between watching Ironman Hawaii 2008 and the AKC Dog Show. I actually enjoyed the dog show more ;) Hey, it was just a 1-hour workout, and I didn't need to go very hard.

I fixed all my bottles for the Friday festival of pain--6 hours worth of Infinit (YUM I LOVE IT) and 300 calories of Ultrafuel to top off the tank in the morning. After this, I cooked for about 4 hours, and my freezer is now full of caloric goodness. I had a big serving of the bacon/bleu cheese pasta and a lamb chop. I couldn't help but have a few beers (3) while I was cooking, too, after all it was Thanksgiving.

Friday I woke up at my customary 4AM and could tell I had a slight hangover, since I am a complete lightweight, but I knew I would, so tough shit, right? I figured swimming would shake some of it out of me anyway. I had my regular breakfast of English muffin and hard-boiled egg and downed the Ultrafuel. I packed my swim bag for the swim and brought my bike clothes to change into afterward. It was pretty cold outside, so I really bundled up so I wouldn't get chilled at all with the short walk to the garage and then to the Y from the parking lot.

I began my swim at 6:03AM, so I was late by 3 minutes! The water at first was too warm--it was maybe 85--and I wanted to puke for like 3,000 yards. Warm pool water plus hangover plus 600 calories just 1 hour before will do that to me. But then a miracle occurred! They began dumping in cold water, and I could feel the temperature lowering. I knew it was getting to the correct temperature because I wanted to drink it. That's my personal benchmark of an 83 to 84-degree pool. I know 84 still sounds warm, and I would prefer 82-83, but even at 84 I am chilled for several hours once I get out especially if I swim 1:45 or more.

I got in 6,000 yards and drank 2 hours of Infinit and no longer wanted to puke. I showered, stretched for :11 in the sauna (what the hell I can do whatever I want during a NothingMan, right?), changed into bike clothes, but not my bike socks yet because it was so cold outside I didn't want my feeties to get cold to/from my car. I had already pumped the rear tire of LGL and had loaded 5 CD's to cover my 2 hour ride plus 2 hour run plus fudge factor, so without too much slackerage, I got on LGL.

Riding felt fine--I rode in SCR for :30 and then went into BCR, and while I didn't hammer, I think I put in a solid 80-85% FTP effort for the remainder. I ended up at 39 miles total, which was great. I didn't feel bad riding at all, and smiled inside how a 6,000 yard swim warmup just isn't that big of a deal to me anymore!

I drank 2 more bottles of Infinit on the bike and got a fresh one to start running. How nice to be able to just change into running shoes and not leave the house and I'm running! Although...as soon as I started running, that's when I really felt hungover--no surprise there! I knew the run was going to suck, even though I decided to only try and run 10mpm, a nice easy pace for me.

The first hour went pretty well, but then mentally I began to hate it. Not surprising, considering this was the longest run I'd ever done on Hal. Even though you would think a treadmill is a treadmill, there's something different about running on one with a bunch of people around you in a gym versus all by your lonesome in your house. So even though I have music of my choice on speakers and not on headphones, a fan blowing right in my face, and a really nice treadmill, it's just not the same to me mentally yet. But I'm getting there.

After about 1:20, I was really wanting to just bag the run. I rolled through all the usual questions--am I in pain? No. Am I out of fuel? No. Am I untrained? No. It was all mental. So I lowered the speed just a hair for about 5 minutes, and then all of a sudden I was just fine.

I was all patting myself on the back and shit until I looked back at last year and realized that on Thanksgiving weekend 2009, I'd swum 7,000 yards, biked 3 hours and ran 13.1! What the hell, I am such a fucking slacker! But then I thought if I actually pull off a 1/2 marathon in 2 days, I will have redeemed myself, in a perverse sort of way.

I was pretty toasted the rest of Friday and much of Saturday, although on Saturday I did manage to finish sewing the new bedskirt:



If you can correctly guess the number of skulls on my bed in the picture, you will win a prize! Yes, the bedskirt has a bunch of dead people on it. It made me a little nuts while sewing it, because when you are working with a large thing like that, it gets unwieldy, and one seam around the perimeter takes a long time. I did the gathering while sitting in bed feeling like I was going to pass out, but I wanted to get this project done, and now was the time. As soon as it was finished, of course I put it on the bed and changed the sheets so everything would be all skull-y. Sleeping on fresh sheets the night before a race is always a nice thing!

After I finished the bedskirt, I had Swedish pancakes and beer for lunch, then tucked into bed with another James Patterson book ("I, Alex Cross") and finished it, and then it was lights out and I passed out for about an hour. It was blissful, since when I woke up and it was light outside, I had no idea what day it was. It has been a long, long time since I'd napped so soundly, and I was even groggy when I woke up--like I wanted to sleep even more. But I didn't go back to sleep because I wanted to sleep a normal schedule for today's race.

I woke up today around 3:30AM but made myself lay in bed until nearly 4AM which is my new rule (no getting out of bed before 4AM). I got up and had a Powerbar Triple Threat and coffee, then began obsessing about what to wear to race in. The weather report said only like 32 at the start (9AM), and this was like my 5th pretty cold race start this year (Goofy Challenge was record lows both days and it snowed; that Monster Dash 1/2 marathon on Halloween was ice cold; the 5K on Thanksgiving was cold, too), and I did not want to have cold legs for the race at all. So I decided to go with my running underpants underneath my good Pearl Izumi fleece-lined tights, polypropelene sock liners, my regular super thin Wigwam socks over those, a regular bra top, a short sleeve technical T from Northface 50 last year, and my fleece-lined PI top. I decided to wear fleece gloves and hat.

At the last minute, I grabbed a large outdoor trash bag to put on myself while waiting at the race start. It took about :35 to drive to Schaumburg. On the way there, I cracked myself up because I thought I should ask someone to guess what I was doing because I had: a large jar of Vaseline, a small cooler full of Coke and a large trash bag. The correct answer would be: running a race in the cold! Then I had another good laugh since sometimes I cut the head and arm holes in the trash bag with scissors, but this time, I thought I'd just "poke myself through" as needed, and that made me laugh hysterically to myself. It's thoughts like this that make all this shit totally fun to me.

I got a good parking spot, and walked over to pick up my bib and chip and goody bag. I had on some flannel pants and had not yet put on my running shoes as I wanted to keep my feet warm in my fake fur-lined Merrell clogs. I also had on a thick thermal fleece jacket--I wasn't taking any chances about getting cold before the start. After I got my stuff, it was back to my car, and I started it back up, not feeling guilty for burning some gasoline to keep myself warm. I decided I wasn't getting out until 8:45, since I was just maybe 50 yards from the start line.

I poked the trash bag to start my head hole and put it on in the car, and then got out to use it as my personal porta-potty. See, the trash bag has many uses! When it was go time, I lined up behind the 2:15 pacers, because I had no clue if I could even pull that off today.

I started with the bag on but ditched it after 1 mile, as I was sufficiently warmed up. My feet felt nice and toasty (but not too toasty), and my face was good since I'd smeared Vaseline on my cheekbones, up my nostrils and on my lips. I tell ya--Vaseline is good stuff! My first mile was 9:34, and I thought I'd gone out too fast, but whatever--if I crashed and burned today, it would be no big deal.

Through about 6.5 miles, I was behind the Garmin Twins--2 girls who both had Garmins on--I could see them strapped to their arms and they were running some sort of exact pace. So I just stayed right on their butts, literally! But then we hit this hill, and I thought, OH FUCK this won't feel good, and although I'd easily summitted all the lesser bumps in the trail, this one had me walk a little, and I allowed it. So I lost the Garmin Twins, but could see them just ahead of me for most of the rest of the way.

I started to hurt around 10 miles in, and it was no surprise, plus we hit either a false flat or something like it for about 2 miles. At just over 11.5 miles, I pulled out a crack baggie with some of Dad's ashes in them, and I just lost it. I grew up not far from Busse Woods where we were running, and Dad used to take us there many Sundays when I was really young to go see the elk. Yes, there is a small herd of elk in northern Illinois! We would go there and look at them in the cold or snow, and I had not run in Busse Woods since Dad passed away 3 years ago. So I took myself off the asphalt onto the dirt and tried to collect myself. When I got back where the fences are for the elk, I let his ashes fly into the woods and got on with finishing the race.

I went 2:09. I wanted to do 2:08 for some reason, but at least I had gone under 10mpm, so I was happy with that all things considered. We got a cute medal, and our goody bag has a nice technical long sleeve shirt. There were lots of eats and drinks afterward, but I just wanted some warm PowerBar whatever the hell it was (it tasted close to hot chocolate) and then get to my car to put on dry clothes.

On the drive home, I thought to myself how cool is it that I was able to do all these endurance things over Painsgiving while Day 3 of Ultraman Hawaii is going on and I also have friends racing in Ironman Cozumel. While my run speed is now just on the rebound, I feel good that I got in a 40-mile running week, and feel ready for some 50+. I mean, holy crap, I have done a lot of shit this year--3 sprint triathlons, one half Ironman, one Ironman, one Ultraman, 3 half marathons and 2 marathons.

I am quite thankful for my health and fitness, and I am considering Painsgiving a success! Now I am just waiting to meet my new grand-nephew, Scott, who I am already calling Great Scott, and have some sporting gift ideas for...

If you are in the US, hope your Thanksgiving was a good one, and if not, hope your weekend was great, and now I will go back to watching coverage of Ultraman Hawaii and Ironman Cozumel!

More of My Outlier Story

I want to fill in a few more blanks here so that the whole thing makes sense.

In my 20's, I was a rollerskating whore. I also took a bodybuilding class around the age of 26, and was told by the instructor that "if I wanted to, I could pack on a bunch of muscle." I guess that means he thought I am an endomorph, how funny considering certain people (I call them jealous assholes in my head) seem to get a kick out of calling me skinny now, which would imply that I'm an ectomorph who has trouble adding muscle mass. Which is it? If I don't do a lot of cardio, I know I can put on muscle pretty quickly...keep reading.

Right after I got married, I stopped rollerskating in order to adopt more of the hobbies of my husband (fishing, canoeing, camping, drinking, ping pong), although I did not take up running 2 miles at a time occasionally--I just wasn't into running.

In 1991 at the age of 35 (still married at this point), I became tired of being skinny and flabby. I enjoyed the way I felt in my 20's when I was at least doing about an hour of aerobic exercise a day, and I also liked lifting weights. So with one of my bonuses (from being a workaholic), I bought a weight machine that I still have and love. I also bought some dumbbells to round out the weight collection. I started working out with that stuff, and in about 3 months' time, my then husband remarked to me, "Don't you think your arms are big enough?" What the fuck, man. It's not like I was a steroid bitch. Sure, I was showing some bis, tris and delts (nice ones, too), but I still had a nice ladylike coating of fat over them. Still, that comment sat with me.

In 1992, I became fed up with the workaholic lifestyle, received a poor, undeserved performance review (my then manager was fired soon thereafter, so my instincts about him were right on the money), and quit my job with the blessing of my husband. I just wanted to take a few weeks to breathe and figure some things out. I don't remember how long I took off, but it wasn't too long, and I secured another job easily. I continued lifting and began adding some cardio to my week because I thought it was the right thing to do.

In 1994, my husband asked for a divorce. That sent me reeling, and 3 months after the process got started, I was laid off from my job. I pulled a stupid maneuver and went rollerskating after a few too many drinks, crashed and ended up with a broken arm and good concussion that made me pass out a couple of times in front of my Mom. I wasn't exactly at my best.

I picked myself up and got onto the job hunt, which at first depressed me. Here I was going through a divorce, lost my job, crashed on skates drunk, my self-confidence was at an all time low, and I am supposed to be all smiley and confident walking into job interviews. The first 2 weeks were hell, but then things turned around and all of a sudden I had 3 job offers. I took the one that required the shortest commute with the most pay.

Since I was so happy to have found myself in a slightly better place, I rewarded myself with a trip to Kona before I began my new job. I had a great time, basically laying on the beach drinking and snorkeling. It was awesome.

I made some fast friends at the new job, had some post-divorce wildness (I won't go into details), and joined the health club in the office building because it seemed like a fun thing to do. I was invited to join a step aerobics class. I thought, OH NO I AM A SPAZ (Spaz is my brother Mike's affectionate name for me), but I caught on soon. And then I liked it so much that when they told us to take our heart rates and mine was quite low, I took it as a signal that I needed to work out harder.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

I kept doing the step class to the point where I was so good at it that I could sub for the teachers when they were sick. There was a parade of trainers at this gym until 1998 when the guy who led the step class changed it up to a circuit format including jump rope, jumping jacks, assorted step things, etc. When it turned to summer, we headed outdoors and it got even more fun because now we incorporated sprints. I had never run before, but I was cool with the sprints.

One day, I thought, "I wonder if I can run around this outdoor path all the way." And so I did, and it felt easy, so I did it a few more times. One of the runners I knew said, "You just basically ran a 5K." I didn't know what that meant, but I found out, and also that every weekend in the Chicago area in spring through fall you can find a 5K race, so I thought I'd try one out.

I puked at the end of my first official 5K in 1998, but loved it. The reason I puked is because I took my then usual handful of vitamins like 2 hours before the start, and so they didn't really have time to digest much with the nerves and all, and hence I puked heartily at the finish. In fact, I found the nearest garbage can and heaved into it once, backed off, and then went back for seconds! Someone asked if I was okay, and I said, "Just leave me alone once I finish puking I'll be just fine." And I was.

Next, these "runners" began talking about marathons. Not me, NO FUCKING WAY NEVER! And fall of 1998 I agreed to run the last 5 miles of the Chicago marathon (or at least try to) with a friend. The week before, I realized I had never run that far ever, so after my usual 3.5-ish mile run, I ran another 5. It seemed like I could do it, so I was happy I would be able to keep my promise.

That year they had a 5K that began about 1/2 hour before the marathon start, so I did it, and then I took the El out to the 21 mile point of the marathon. I met up with my friend, and she was running maybe 8:15's and I couldn't run that fast, but I think I kept with her for about a mile, and then told her to go. I still ran all the way in and they tried to give me a medal and everything (I did have a bib on from the 5K).

My friend tried to convince me to do a marathon and again I said NO FUCKING WAY. I went to Kona on vacation the day after the Chicago marathon. The second day I was there, I decided to just run a bit more slowly and see how far I could go. I ran 7 miles. Then 2 days later, I ran 9 miles. 2 more days later I ran 11. I decided right then and there that I could run a marathon.

When I got home from Kona, what should appear in my mailbox but a flyer for Team in Training's program for the Anchorage marathon in June, 1999. I signed up, and also decided I'd do Chicago marathon later that year.

Now, it was in April of 1999 and I was in Kona again on vacation and I did an 18-miler to prepare for Anchorage, and it was on my way home from Kona that the fateful discussion about Ironman took place. I had not even done my first marathon and I was thinking of Ironman.

I find this all very entertaining to recall. See I just listened to people who took time to know me and see things in me that maybe I couldn't see myself at first. And now I've done 15 Ironmans, 8 open marathons (2 of them being on my own) and one Ultraman.

My dear Dad (rest in peace) did not at first understand why a seeming smarty (he considered me the brightest of all his children and I believe he was correct) would want to get involved in endurance sports. I pointed out that Alan Turing, for one example, was into endurance sports. Albert Einstein was known to go on 3 hour walks. My point being that endurance and deep thought (even mathematics and physics!) are very compatible pursuits. So I guess I was convincing Dad that I wasn't an outlier. And he did come to understand how the physical stuff balanced me out emotionally and intellectually.

There. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Outlier?

A few days ago on Facebook, I shared an article about recovery. Someone chimed in that it didn't mention one of the obvious factors in recovery--one's age. I took that to be a given, in that it's widely recognized that as one ages, the ability to recover from hard workouts diminishes somewhat. To which I added, but if one practices good recoverability, then as one ages, the impact of aging alone can be significantly mitigated.

And then I was called an outlier. I didn't take that as a compliment or insult--just something to ponder. I took the comment to mean the second of the definitions below:

out·li·er (outlr)
n.
1. One whose domicile lies at an appreciable distance from his or her place of business.
2. A value far from most others in a set of data: "Outliers make statistical analyses difficult" (Harvey Motulsky).
3. Geology A portion of stratified rock separated from a main formation by erosion.

I don't now nor have I ever considered myself an outlier athletically. I didn't come from "good" parents (good in the sense of being gifted athletically or genetically), I didn't deliberately engage in sports (unless you count riding a bike maybe 2 miles to an outdoor pool in the summer and flopping around for an hour or so) until my 20's (and even then it was just rollerskating), and I didn't begin serious training until I was the ripe old age of 42. All I have done is make choices and seized opportunities that improve my ability to train hard and recover from it.

I will now tell the complete story of how I got to where I am today in triathlon. This may bore the hell out of you, but I enjoy writing about it and have never really gotten the entire thing together at once, so here goes.

Oh, sure I'm damn lucky that I get to work out of my house. It wasn't always that way. I was a workaholic in my 20's and early 30's, regularly putting in 60-80 hours per week. I got married at the age of 29 and saw my hours spent working out decline to a pitiful amount--near zero. I found that that made me an unhappy person, although I thought it made my marriage better, because I worked tirelessly at it to try and be the perfect wife. You can't be the perfect anything unless you are being true to yourself, and I wasn't. I began a slow return to "working out," (which is what I had considered my exercise in my 20's to be--it was certainly not training), while continuing to pile on the hours at work.

I became happier with myself. I got divorced. I began a new job in the software industry, and there was a gradual acceptance of doing the computer/phone thing from home a few days per week. And if you were good at managing yourself this way (and I was) and being productive, you were able to spend progressively more and more time working out of home, until well now, where it's more the norm than the exception for many people in the industry to work from home full time.

So sure, I'm lucky that I get to work out of my house, but the opportunity to do so only came after I'd worked myself into the ground for many years. So I earned it, and then I began using it to my advantage. And I rediscovered the joy I get in movement, and it just escalated from there. From 1997-1999, I was only running and lifting (and a little miscellaneous "cardio"), maybe 8-10 hours a week, which is still a lot for most people, but it was manageable, and I wasn't yet working at home full time.

Then I got bit by the triathlon bug. Or, should I say, the opportunity presented itself. I had run 2 marathons with Team in Training, and my local group was starting up a triathlon program, and I was asked to be a mentor. ME! What the fuck, right? I knew NOTHING about triathlon and figured I had better start reading up, and so I did. I bought books, I found all the best websites from which to glean information, bought a decent road bike (which is now in the loving hands of my massage therapist), took some swim lessons (Cindy can attest those were good times indeed!) and pronounced myself a triathlete. A crappy triathlete, but at least I had some of the best gear around (not my bike yet, though).

Meanwhile, in April 1999, a dude in Kona had suggested that I would do an Ironman someday. Here's the back of my then business card that I made him write it down on:


Here I was practicing being a crappy triathlete (and I did suck) and this idea was now rolling around in my head. I announced at a summer track workout in 1999 (preparing for my second marathon, the Chicago marathon) that I was going to do an Ironman. I sure got some interesting looks. I wasn't exactly svelte at the time, and I didn't (and still don't) run very fast, either. So it was, at the time, a rather bold statement. But anyone who knows me, knows that when I decide to do something, I do it. I usually need to make myself a plan, and in my head, the plan was to do my first Ironman in 2004 or 2005.

As fate would have it, though, a person (let's call him Steve) suggested that I register for Ironman Lake Placid in 2001, and like an idiot, I did. So, OK, I was ahead of my plan, but I rationalized that I wasn't getting any younger (I was 43 in 2001), and what the hell, why not?

I got a coach (whose first triathlon was an Ironman, by the way, even though he told me right off the bat that I had no business doing an Ironman so soon), and he put the hurt to me real bad. I was able to do the training, but it was still a huge leap for me to go from 8-10 hours of training per week to an average of almost 14 per week. Along the way, I osmosed whatever I could about training and recovery, and thus began my quest to figure out how I could keep training at or above this level and feel better while doing it. As beat up as I was that first Ironman season (and I was told a few years ago by someone I admire that she could see just how beat up I was back then), I really did enjoy the training. I was still lifting, which I loved, and running, which I was coming to enjoy more and more, and I had always like swimming and biking, and I enjoyed the process of trying to get better at all of it. And also improve my race time, duh.

It took me a few years to get comfortable with the fact that it would be better for me (and my left knee which has no ACL anymore) to drop some weight in order to protect my running health mostly, but also maybe improve my race time. And then the lights went on about stretching and massage, and well, an athlete (such as it was) was born. It is no coincidence that I had an Ironman PR in 2004 that stood up until 2009, when I finally cracked it. Between 2005 and 2009, my life was a hell of sorts, with my Mom's declining health and then death, my Dad's death and then the whole executor thing which finally ended this past February.

I am rereading a book that I finally got back from a person I lent it to like 8 years ago called Long Distance: A Year of Living Strenuously. I can see myself in the book, as sometime around 2003 or 2004, I had decided I wanted to see what it would be like for me to really explore my athletic capabilities, despite a full time job and regular life. The author's Dad dies while he is on his quest for personal athletic excellence. Was it a premonition that I had read it back then before I went through the same thing myself? Who can know.

It is a wonderful book, and there are so many statements in the book that resonate so much with me, like:

• "In the end, endurance sports are a test of yourself against yourself; they require nobody else, and sometimes they can hardly tolerate anyone else."
• When Rob Sleamaker is watching the author reach for some chips to go with guacamole he says, "You know, we all like chips. But they have an awful lot of fat in them." And in that moment was born The Man Who Reads the Sides of Every Can.

And so it was the year 2004 where I got into Ironman Hawaii via lottery and was already registered for Ironman Canada that I made the conscious decision to go for it. I had no designs of qualifying for Kona or anything--I just wanted to see what I could make of myself athletically.

So maybe it was making that choice is what people think makes me an outlier? Well, if so, fuck it. Anyone can make the choice, and I don't want to hear any excuses like I'm married, I have kids, I don't work at home. I am not who I am by chance--it's by choice. I've worked damn hard in my career and athletically, and yes, I have sacrificed some things along the way, but in the end, I don't consider my life any better or worse than anyone around me. It's the life I chose, and that's what I like most about it.

Since then, I've discovered a bunch of things about myself, been through a bunch of life crap, and now here I sit being able to say that, for a person my age, I tend to recover quite well from heavy training. Outlier? Nah, I just work my fucking ass off.

Bike Porn!

bling...bling...bling...Hello? It's SKULL KINGDOM! I finally got worthy aerobars on her and recabled her with red Nokons. All that's left to do is get flames on the rims...getting that looked into. She is truly the sweetest ride I have ever had or seen!

Ready to Settle In

I am back to running. The legs are feeling pretty good, so I hope I can find some speed in them now that I'm about finished with a bunch of errands I did over the weekend:

• See my chiropractor. We had a LONG discussion about me and my feet and legs and hips and back and running shoes and what works and what doesn't work. I was pretty agitated. I am not an easy patient. What we concluded was that the orthotics made for me in May had too wide of a heel cup resulting in my heels sliding all over the place while running which led to muscles in my hips, glutes and low back getting fucked up. They aren't totally unfucked up yet, but they are getting there. We decided to refurbish and replicate orthotics I had made like 6 years ago. When doc was looking at the old ones, he kept saying over and over, "these have a lot of mileage in them." Yep, about 8,000 miles!
• Dropped off hazardous household waste (from my garage cleaning a few months ago) at a special drop-off center.
• Deposited some checks into bank
  
• Dropped off about 12 pairs of worn running shoes at a Nike outlet store for recycling, then since it's been years since I've been at an outlet mall, I spent a short time shopping and got a new pair of winter Merrell's and some Jockey underwear.
• Got a massage.
• Dropped off Skull Kingdom at The Bike Shop to get her new bars and Nokon cables put on. The new bars are SWEET! I'm also replacing an alloy cage on the downtube with carbon. These stylistic improvements had to be done--she wasn't worthy of my stable without this bling!
• Got waxed
• Went grocery shopping
• Cooked up farfalle with salmon
• Ate some of that pasta and drank an entire bottle of wine that I am paying for today
• Bundled up and cleaned up after a bunch of perennial stems that I cut down during last week and covered a few rose bushes for the winter

All I've got left of yard work is to cover 10 remaining rose bushes, and I'll do that next weekend as it's still really not that cold here, but the weather will turn any day now.

As I was sweeping my driveway this afternoon, I was thinking what I will be doing next year at this time. I will be tapering for Ultraman Hawaii or starting to, anyway. I think that I will not have time to fix up my yard for the winter next year and will need to allocate money to pay someone to do it. I really do enjoy doing it myself, but the timing will not be good for me. But I still will get to enjoy all the flowers as they begin arriving just 4 months from now!

Every year about this time as I've taken some well-needed rest from training (yeah I know a marathon last week but still...), I think about how I was able to do the things that I did the prior year, and I am still amazed. But now it's getting time for me to buckle down and resume building that huge winter base that enables me to bust out the door in spring pretty strong. Only this time I actually believe I know what I'm doing and that will be a huge stress relief! I was worried that I had lost all semblance of speed for awhile there, but I proved my biking is still strong, and now that I have figured out my running issues, hopefully I'll be back running tempo and speedwork pretty quickly. I was reminded today, though, that running with a hangover is not exactly fun ;) I can't remember the last time I had a hangover--it must be at least a year--but hey the wine tasted great.

Now I make the transition to training indoors 100% (or nearly so), which is always a bit traumatic. I do like Hal, but I still hate the treadmill in general. But I have to say having one at home now is great. If it's dark out but nice weather, I can start indoors and then head out like I did this morning. And I can transition to the bike right quickly. After some nice outdoor rides this week, I was on the trainer today, and it sucked, but it also made me feel that feeling of "when I'm on the trainer I must work extra hard." It is just a psychological thing. And I'm getting my Ergomo head unit repaired, so I should be back in the power business on LGL which is cool. Can't wait to see just how much I suck (or not)!

I feel like I'm picking up after the last 5 years of my life--that I finally have time to do what I need to do for myself. Even though it appears I've been doing that anyway, it's the non-triathlon things that I had seriously slacked on, but I'm nearly back on track. I have made my estate plan, done my medical appointments, had much work done on my house, and I feel really ready for the next big adventure. Which I think means I will enjoy the hell out of this next year of training and racing! What a great place to be!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Over a New Bridge and Vigor

I don't know how else to describe the way I am starting to feel other than "like myself." The past 5 years have been a whirlwind of life changes--parents passing away, coming into my own as a long-course triathlete, and now I'm on the verge of my next big life decision which is when and where to retire.

Why does that make me feel "like myself?" I suppose because it feels like I have a semblance of control over where my life goes right now, and I've reached another 5-year mark (I have observed a general pattern of 5-year cycles for myself) where I feel I've achieved a high level of competence at something (triathlon) where I can now just sort of go on cruise control for a bit.

I am just now realizing that I have reached another echelon in triathlon. I know that sounds crazy to a lot of people who think that happened years ago. I still do not consider myself particularly fast or better than anyone else, but I now know that I am able to do things that I once thought of as pretty out there just 5 years ago. One way I can tell is how I've recovered from a marathon just 5 days ago. I feel more than ready to get back to running--there is no muscular soreness, I was able to ride pretty hard a few days ago and I've been a bundle of non-training activity. My brain feels wired up to begin pretty heavy training again, too. Since UMC, I've had numerous offers to engage in some pretty wicked events, but I have had to decline (except for NothingMan IV) for the sake of letting my body get used to what it just did in the last year, or my idea of an off season.

I'd been pushing my personal envelope for the last 5 years in terms of the amount and intensity of training I've done. I know some people think all has been pretty much the same during that period, but that's not true. Each year I try and incorporate something new, something more challenging and something harder. Sure there are a few events that I like to repeat from year to year, but that list is too big for me to do everything, and I'm just like the next person in that I like to try new things.

Part of me thinks I am too old to keep up my training level and part of me feels like I'm 25 years old! Something came to mind the other day that made me think of one of the things that drives me: I want to live vigorously as long as possible. My definition of vigor consists of:

• better than average benchmark numerical measurements like blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar. This is achieved by diet and stress management.
  
• lack of need for prescription meds. See above! Unless proven that I develop a condition that is genetic requiring meds, I will do everything possible to avoid them. I do use Nasonex before swimming in a pool, as I appear to have minor allergy (enough to send me into sinusitis) to chlorine/bromine.
  
• better than average body composition, which is needed not just for me to remain competitive in triathlon, but as well to ensure my skeletal health, staving off arthritis and discogenic issues. I know too many people who are carrying 10+ extra pounds around that will be surprised when they begin experiencing chronic back, hip, knee or foot pain due to those extra pounds, so yes, size does matter! For me, as I already have joint issues (lack of some knee cartilage from a skiing accident and some disk degeneration which may be from the same accident or possibly just wear and tear), I have made and kept a promise to myself to not have any excess weight on my joints.
  
• ability to engage in day-to-day infrastructure maintenance including yard work like gardening, mowing, basic tree/shrub trimming, shoveling snow, occasional gutter cleaning and generally hauling stuff around, as well as grocery shopping, cooking, driving, taking out the garbage
  
• general state of personal and social content arising from connectedness with family and friends
• financial security--enough money to cover my basic needs and then some and the ability to keep it that way barring unusual events. I could have left this off as it defines financial vigor, but for some people this interacts with the other components so I left it in
  
• ability and desire to engage in deliberate moderate to intense exercise at least 1 hour per day on a consistent basis. Here I'm suggesting something where you are burning 500+ calories per hour, which is a good amount even for a small person, but I suppose that figure needs to scale somehow based on sex and weight. Note that I included desire here. While it appears to some that we have evolved to the point of not needing or wanting to exercise, I believe it is the other factors above that may interfere with desire. So I truly believe that a person who does not want to exercise has other areas of their life that bear examination.
  

I think that's a good, basic definition of vigor, yet when I look around me, the number of people that I know my age and older who meet it is quite small. As time marches on, we may be forced to relax some of these standards, but it need not be a noticeable drop. Maybe I just have high standards, or maybe people are just OK not being vigorous. I watched my Mom lose her vigor beginning in her 40's, and I just do not want to go down that path. If any of my personal components begin to decline, I will know that I have a problem. So when you are thinking of what constitutes health, I would say consider vigor instead. We are not designed to want to sit around typing into phones and computers in a temperature-controlled environment while we blissfully ignore tending to our physical and psychic vigor. So until we evolve into a small blob with a huge brain, I think we need to attend to our overall vigor.

Anyway, I feel pretty vigorous! During the last year, I became accustomed to a level of training that is pretty high. I have become used to it now physically and mentally, and yet I am able to maintain my other components of vigor. How great is that? I'm not saying I'm great--I'm just saying I feel great. And honestly, I wish everyone could feel this great. Too often, I am viewed as just this triathlon machine when in fact, I have to tend to the other areas of my life just like everyone else. I've had my moments where I feel unbalanced, lacking in one thing or another, but I'm completely OK with where I am right now.

I am also very grateful for everything that I have achieved in my life. I am trying to spend more time paying it forward in my own unique way, but I hope to do something more formal--I'm just not sure how/when that will occur. Some sort of volunteer work, perhaps. Apparently I am blessed with a capacity for a lot of output, and so it would be a shame to keep spending it just on triathlon!

I know that something can happen to me at any moment that could derail many of the plans I've laid out for the coming months, but for now, I am truly happy with where I'm headed and feel super ready to hit my training hard. It makes me laugh that I have wavered over the last few years about turning down the volume, when in reality, I think it was just my mind and body learning how to get used to it! So I can say that training for and finishing my first Ultraman has been a truly life changing event. But I don't see myself reaching higher and higher at this point, for I feel like I have crossed over a bridge into territory that many people will never see. I'm very grateful to be where I am and have a renewed sense of wonder about the next phase of my life's journey. What a wonderful place to be!

And Now the Fun Begins!

I have confirmed with 100% certainty that the orthotics that I began using in May were the cause of my last 8 weeks of sub-par running.

I ran about 27.5 miles at IMFL on Saturday with no issues! I also now checked that I am almost back to 100% ROM on my left hamstring. I am really excited now about returning to good, fast running, as I've got some fun things coming up for Thanksgiving weekend.

Oh, by the way, that "marathon" at IMFL was my 25th. How about that?

I just found out that the town of Schaumburg is hosting back-to-back 1/2 marathons on Sat/Sun of Thanksgiving weekend. But I am an idiot and didn't sign up for Saturday, which has closed. So I signed up for Sunday. And I also registered for my local 5K, Bonfield Express, that is on Thanksgiving Day. But I really wanted to do 2x2x2 (2-hour swim, 2-hour ride, 2-hour run) during the holiday weekend, so I will do that on Friday. Saturday will be a rest day ;) I hadn't planned on running a marathon that weekend, but I guess I will get a broken one in, huh? How great! This will kick off my "official" training for Ultraman Hawaii 2011!!!

I am still plotting what to do about change of plans since I am no longer going to Japan for an Ironman next year. I could spend some $$$ and get into IMWI, or I could do another NothingMan. I kind of like the idea of another NothingMan, since that would be #5 for me, only this time I would do it the week before IMWI which is guaranteed to be good weather, as has become a tradition!

I had so much fun at IMFL with my friends Brad and Morgan, and Brad's parents (that I'd met last year at IMLP and saw again at Goofy Challenge), and now I met Morgan's Mom, Melinda, that also does IM. Brad and Melinda raced IMFL and both set huge PR's, so I was honored to be able to help them any way I could with pre-race nonsense and also a few race day tips. I'm not sure whether I was of any help, but I sure enjoyed witnessing their race.

I began running just before Brad came out onto the run course. I didn't expect to be able to run very fast, but that was just fine, and I almost regretted that I'd run a 1/2 marathon the week before, but oh well, this was just for "nothing" so it didn't matter. Once again, I realized just how much a "just" marathon sucks, as it hurts and it was cold, and I just HATE the IMFL course--it's totally flat with just these speed bump things that are just plain ANNOYING. After doing 1/2 the course, I really wanted to just stop, and one of the other kids in our entourage asked me how I felt and I said, "like crap," which was true, since I had eaten a bunch of things I don't normally eat and my stomach was doing flip-flops, and my legs weren't quite in shape for a marathon. But I just turned and kept on going.

When I finished my marathon, I saw that Brad and Melinda's entourage (I stayed with Morgan and Melinda) had migrated to the finish line, and I knew I wouldn't be able to find them in the melee, so I began walking back to the condo because I was freezing. But that was just agonizing, so I started running again. You should have seen the looks on people's faces because I did have...um...race-ish paraphernalia on my body, and I was running more! But it felt fine to run, and if I had put on warmer clothes, I would have run another 13.1 miles just because. But, I'm still glad to have completed a marathon plus.

There is something else really special that happened over the weekend to Morgan and Brad but I can't say just what publicly--it will come out soon enough (tonight). They are going to crew for me at UMH, but that's not the news ;)

Anyway, I'm just really excited about having had some time off from work and a great time with friends, and I'll see many of them again in February at Gasparilla Pirate Festival to run a bunch.

I am still pretty tired today (I forget just how much a "just" marathon tires me out), but coming around and am looking forward to getting back on a bike tomorrow. I did swim today, which felt great (I never did swim in Florida--just didn't feel like it), and also lifted a little bit, so I should be back on my game in no time.

I am renewed about beginning some hard training--my body and mind are ready for it, and now even my legs!

EVIL ORTHOTICS MUST GO!!!

I have been battling some unknown condition in my left leg for about 8 weeks. One might think that I was just experiencing an overuse condition because of all the running I'd done in the last 2 years. I suspected my back might be out of whack, saw my chiropractor, he said nope that's fine, and he even instructed me to wear my orthotics more often. Meanwhile, it was sometimes hurting for me to sit on one or both sit bones like ischial bursitis. But you know me, I kept right on going, even adding lots of hill work just for fun.

I didn't always feel bad, but there was this hitch in my left leg that just wasn't right. I was icing my glutes after running or biking, and I also have been stretching the hell out of my left hamstring. The stretching is necessary for sure, but why that hamstring tightened up so much went undiagnosed.

Until last Thursday. I had begun noticing that my right foot wasn't enjoying the orthotics that much and that I had to slide my foot forward in my shoe for them to be positioned properly. I was running on Hal, and all of a sudden, I had this flash. What if the orthotics were putting my left foot into a position that affected my running mechanics leading to an overly tight hamstring and all the rest?

So for the last 10' of my short run, I ditched the orthotics and slipped on a pair of running flats. Right away, I noticed that I didn't have that hitch in my left leg, but I thought maybe because I was already warmed up that's why I didn't feel anything.

So yesterday, I just went from my house, no warmup or anything, without the orthotics again, and voila! No left leg funny business!

Today I had a half marathon scheduled--one I signed up for awhile back because the finisher medal is a belt buckle with a skull on it. I am such a sucker for skulls! So this morning I had to decide what I was going to do about the shoes. I haven't run that far without orthotics since last winter, and of course I was worried about my RIGHT foot since that is the one that was injured. But I figured worse case scenario would be I needed to walk a bunch, and so what, I am doing a marathon in 6 days so I really shouldn't be running fast anyway.

So I ran the whole thing without orthotics! While my time sucked because I haven't been able to do any fast running for weeks now, I ran and no pain anywhere, except maybe just my head since I had a wicked hangover from just a few beers yesterday. Also my upper body hurt like a mofo because I raked leaves for like 3 hours yesterday (why would I rest up for a half marathon anyway?). But after 7 miles, I decided to do run 5'/walk 1' just to ensure I didn't really beat the crap out of myself.

Since I hadn't run that far without orthotics, I do have some interesting aches and pains in my legs, but I expected that. Mostly I wanted to test out my hypothesis about the orthotics causing my left leg ailments. And I think I was right!

So now what do I do? Back to the ortho. I think the problem here is that my left leg has no ACL and this automatically puts my left leg and hip complex into a position that "works" for me, and the orthotics put me into a bad position. I probably can still benefit from orthotics, but I think I will need some redesigned ones. The right one is not working for me anymore, either, although it did fix the issue I had in April. I am sure that I am a non-standard patient case, and maybe what we will decide is to just do different things for each foot. It may be that the right orthotic is perfect for my right foot, but because the left one messed up my left side mechanics, the right side then followed suit and I grew to dislike the one on my right foot as well.

I do know one thing, though, that in my case, just scanning my feet is not sufficient anymore to construct orthotics for me. I had been trying to wean myself off them, and my old ones were actually fine, so maybe I can just get those reconditioned and off I go. I am pretty sure that my body has changed, too, so that makes things a bit complicated.

For now, if I can spend some weeks running on treadmill without orthotics and perhaps gradually reintroducing a new set then maybe I will be fine. Last year was not optimal for acclimating to orthotics--I basically got out of the pool, onto the road and within 8 weeks I ran a 52.4 miler in them! I already knew my body was finicky when it comes to keeping me aligned because I have experienced ITBS and other issues and because of that I changed where I run.

So once again it will be time for change, but if I can get my left hamstring happy again, that will be a great start!

In other great news, I got my bloodwork back and I have pretty good cholesterol readings--HDL is 70, triclycerides 76 and LDL 123. The nurse called me with the results and then mailed them to me and she said to keep doing whatever it is that I'm doing! All my other bloodwork looks just fine, too.

So now onto my next challenge which will be to keep both feet AND both hips happy!

Happy Halloween, too!

What Up

I was "sick" Monday and Tuesday last week. Let's just call it exhaustion. It may have been helped by getting a flu shot, but after spending most of Monday in bed and taking it very easy on Tuesday, I felt normal again on Wednesday. Honestly, I wondered when I'd crash since I'd been trying to train hard, work hard, and run around like crazy to get a number of things done. Phew! Glad that's over!

I sprung to get my garage roof replaced as long as I was in the mode, and I finally finished the paperwork for the lawsuit against the old shingle manufacture. Hopefully, I'll recoup the cost of the garage roof.

I got my new mattress set on Wednesday. When the delivery guys arrived, I freaked out because it looked to me that they were missing a box. They said both box springs were in one box and the mattress in the other. The mattress looked right, but the box springs looks too thin. I called the company I ordered from, and she kept saying "we measured for this together." After a few minutes, she told me that the TOTAL height of the mattress plus box springs would be the same as I already had, which was news to me, and so we got everything set up, and I LOVE it. I can't believe I waited so long to get new mattresses!

Since the new box spring is lower than the old, my bedskirt is too long, and so I decided to make a new one myself. Of course, I want something with skulls, and I searched high and low online to find the right fabric. I found one I really liked, only nobody has it in stock. On Friday, I went to my local fabric store only to find it shuttered! Well when I checked online, it had a new address, and so I went there on Saturday morning and scored a different fabric by the same designer, and it's pretty wild, but it will be awesome. Plenty of skulls, and dead people, too!


It is nothing if not colorful, right?

On Thursday, I got my new treadmill, that I have named Hal, in honor of Hal 9000 from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Here's a picture of Hal next to LGL on the trainer:


I ran on it the day it was delivered, and I did an incline walking workout on it on Saturday. I LOVE HAL! I still have not been on the trainer, which is a good thing, as we have had just fine weather for riding on the MTB.

Oh yeah--Friday was my birthday. 54 years old--even I can't believe that! My age is visible in my face and skin, but I feel pretty darn good and am not on any medication except for Nasonex before I swim to prevent sinus blockage. I'm getting my blood drawn tomorrow to check out my cholesterol, blood sugar and the usual host of other measurements. I hope that all comes out OK! I did get a prescription for Ambien to help with the not sleeping, but I think that it's just a combination of trying to do so many things. I am starting to sleep a little more, and I've only taken the Ambien a couple of times. I really don't want to take anything on a regular basis.

Friday night, a friend bought me dinner, and as birthday gifts I receive the BEST bottle of olive oil from Italy and also a Barbie doll:

She's a collector edition from the year 2000. My friend Matt's wife, Jen, got it from her Great Aunt. And now I am about to be a Great Aunt myself! I haven't decided exactly where to put her, but she will be on display.

On Saturday, I did a 5K Breast Cancer Walk that was sponsored by my Y. I walked because I didn't need to run, but I enjoyed fast walking with one of the trainers there and we kept up a good pace. I had already biked 1:30 on a Star Trac spin bike, which was fun, and then after the 5K I got back on Hal and did another hour. I had to work Saturday afternoon, and I was frazzled because I had to learn how to do all these new things, but apparently I am still employed today so I must have done OK!

Yesterday morning I did a big home improvement shopping trip--paint for touchups, new hardware for all upstairs doors, a lampshade, some more CFL bulbs, etc. Then I went to Greene Valley to run in the flats. I did 1:45 and felt great doing it, then I saw a rainbow, which was awesome, then I ran partway up the big hill (sadly, my last time this year) and down to get to 2 hours total. I returned home and raked leaves for about an hour and then finally ate like a pig!

We are still having nice weather here, so off I go for a short run and then maybe I can get some more leaves raked up later today!

Coming Around

My life continues to be somewhat of a whirlwind of activity. Yesterday, I had the new roof put on my house. Despite the cost, I am so happy that I caught this before things began leaking. I now have all the required documentation to submit to the class-action lawsuit against the company who manufactured the shingles that were on there. Though it will cost me another $25 or so to ship the shingle sample and documentation to make my claim, I should recover about $1200, which helps!

I also had my annual OB-GYN exam yesterday and got a flu shot. My physician said it was time for a tetanus shot, but I'll wait on that. Actually I don't think I need one just yet. She probably doesn't have the record from when I was last bit by a dog in 2007. My left deltoid still is tender from the flu shot! In 2 weeks, I am getting a full blood workup and urinalysis done. With the stuff I put my body through, I will be doing this annually from now on.

I also paid for my new treadmill yesterday, that had been transferred from one store to the one closest to me. In the process, the price went down by $200!!! What a nice surprise! So now I just need to wait a few more business days when the installation group calls me to schedule its delivery and setup. I can't wait! I am doing a reorg of my downstairs where it's going. All I need in my house is an Endless Pool and I wouldn't have to go to the Y anymore. No way! I'll stick with going back and forth down the pool at the Y. At least it's only 1/2 mile from home. I may still go there on weekends to run on their treadmills, just because now that my long run is on Sunday, I like to go for a short swim afterward, and I dislike driving in the winter while I'm all sweaty. It will be awesome to do brick workouts this winter whenever I feel like it without trying to transition to outdoors!

Speaking of the treadmill, I ran on one Thursday. There is always an adjustment period, and this time was no different. Not only is my threshold down a bit, but the pulling motion of the treadmill feels unusual. But the good news is that my back and legs were delighted to be on such a soft surface!

I also went back to my chiropractor on Thursday. I took my 5 year old MRI's of my lumbar spine, and he discussed with me in detail just exactly what is going on there. The net net is that I have a bulge at L5-S1 that if I were an overweight, sedentary person, might be classified as like 7 or 8 out of 10 degree of impact. But because I am lightweight and highly active, John said that takes me down to about a 3. So really no big deal. Hopefully I am keeping things from worsening, too. John said he didn't think my glute/hamstring issues had anything to do with my back. It's just some bursitis is all, but that I should try and figure out whether it's caused by biking or running. I think it's from biking, actually, as I may have said before, the last few years as I really biked a LOT, I spent regular time on my MTB with the nice cushy saddle, but this past year I did not. So my lean butt took a beating. For the last 4 days or so, though, I have also been working standing up. It seems to me that sitting aggravates things, even though John says sitting is not the cause. So maybe it's coincidental that I am feeling much, much better by not sitting so much. I still need to continue stretching my left hamstring 3x daily. Its ROM has increased much since 2 weeks ago, but it's still not as good as the right.

My new mattress will be here in another week, too, and I also began work on my personal estate plan finally! It feels like I'm going through a massive life reorg/refurbish program. There were just so many things I put off while working on my Dad's estate and the stress prevented me from pushing myself further by trying to do a lot of my personal stuff. But that is behind me now, and I think I have become even more organized now. Either that or I am just procrastinating less.

I also just got a brand, spanking new iPhone 4G. I will activate the service this weekend and begin playing around with it. I know, I am slow on the uptake of some technology, but I'm sure I will enjoy this new gadget.

Today and tomorrow I will be running at Greene Valley. Today is hill day, and I will go up and down the hill probably 4 times, running at least half of it. Sunday I will run about 1:10 in the flats and then do a couple of hill repeats, and hopefully I can run all the way up! I can't believe it, but I am doing a 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks and then a marathon a week later! I'm pretty optimistic now that my full run fitness is nearly back and my butt will be just fine. After the marathon at IMFL, I drop my running back a little and pick up biking more, and it will probably be all indoors, damn! Oh well, at least I will have my house all fixed up, new phone, new treadmill, new mattress, new roof, and next I need to check if my new aerobars came in for Skull Kingdom!

Swimming is coming along nicely, too. I am picking up just a little speed, but realize that I need to really focus on my form continuously. That is fine by me--this it the perfect time of year for it. I only swam 5,000 yards yesterday. Funny how that feels like a 3,000 yard swim to me now!

Tomorrow I attend a baby shower for my niece. I have to con her into telling me the sex of the baby, which I will keep a secret, because I need to know whether I will be able to give some of my Barbie dolls away! Well I suppose if it's a boy and he wants Barbies, that's cool, too. I only have the one Ken doll, though ;)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Great Week!

I will call it a great week because I ran and didn't have to use elliptical or water run. I am still experiencing some bursitis, and my hamstrings are still pretty tight, but things seem to be improving. I go back to the chiropractor on Thursday, and this time I'll bring my MRI's from 2005 that showed disk herniations so he can decide whether he can adjust my lumbar spine. I still believe there is some nerve irritation coming from my SI joint.

I continue to have trouble sleeping more than 7 hours per night, although Saturday night I slept 9, and it felt so odd to have so much "extra" energy. So I take this to mean that maybe I am not needing so much sleep right now. Still, I see my doctor on Friday and will get something to help this along.

I got in about 15.5 hours of training last week, and the best part of it was this weekend. On Saturday we had beautiful, warm weather, and I rode my MTB wearing very little in glorious sunshine for about 1:30. This is the first time that it didn't feel hard to ride that bike. I am always amazed at just how fast adaptations to things occur. This was my second week back riding that thing, and it's good to know that I just needed to get used to it again. I am not trying to ride it hard--I typically average 15mph on it--but the strength to push that heavy thing is good for me, and I'm using different muscles than on the other bikes.

After the ride, I drove to Greene Valley to get some quality time on the big hill. There were no clouds in the sky! I decided I would try running partway up this time, so I ran the approach, then ran 5' on the way up and walked the rest of the way, then ran 5' down and walked the rest. I figured this would be a good way to build up my tolerance to run up the entire way. It was great, but I could really tell that my hill fitness was not very good. How do I fix that? Keep doing it!

After all that, I did some yard work--I removed all this weed grass from the perimeter of my yard next to the foreclosed house, because it's encroaching on my yard. It's one of those things that you start and then you just can't stop. I'm really enjoying getting some quality time with my landscaping. I also prepared my downstairs for the treadmill, which meant putting some things away that I just never got to over the summer. It will be a tight-ish fit down there with a treadmill and bike trainer and furniture, but hey, that's how I like it!

Then, of course, I took in some of Ironman Hawaii online. 2 of my very, very fast guy friends did quite well--one went 9:16 and the other went 9:32. For the guy who went 9:32, it was his third Ironman in 6 weeks! He did Louisville and qualified for Kona, then he did Wisconsin 2 weeks later and went faster and qualified for Kona 2011, then he went to Hawaii and went even faster! It seems to me we have another Petr Vabrousek on our hands! A woman I know just online did really well, using it as her tune-up for Ultraman Hawaii, and a guy I met who crewed at UMC also did really, really well, considering he has one good arm and 2 prosthetic legs (Raj Durbal).

See now, when I am feeling sorry for myself and like I can't continue in a workout, it's people like Raj that remind me that I have it pretty good. There is some true inspiration! Honestly, the troubles some people think they have are nothing. I am so grateful for my health every day!

Yesterday morning I watched the beginning of the Chicago Marathon on TV. It always gives me chills to hear a gun go off to start a race! The weather was nice again, but warm for a marathon, but not as bad as last year when it was in the 90's. Then I headed back to Greene Valley to run the flats. Right away as I started, I noticed a few things: my ankles were fine. This is Week 2 of this hill stuff, and last week I really did a number on my ankles, but they have adapted! Next thing is that my abs were still sore from my Friday strength workout. I laughed at myself and realized that I should have cut back the size of the medicine ball I was using, but hey, that's all part of the fun, right? Next thing is that my lungs wanted to go faster, but my legs weren't up to it. I actually had to work to slow myself down. I don't really enjoy running pure flatness, but it's needed so that I don't kill myself by running on hills every single run during a week. I still had to stop maybe every 5 minutes, so it was like I was doing an interval run, which is fine. My run fitness is coming back to me, and I'm not one to go easy on myself, but it was OK by me to just stop for a few seconds before continuing.

I ran the whole flat section, which is about 7 miles the way I do it. Then I figured I'd spend the rest of the time on the hill. I wanted to get in 1:30 of running. Since on Saturday I had been able to run 5' up the hill, I thought I would go all the way up, doing a 1 minute run and 1 minute walk. It worked great! It took me 12 minutes to get up the hill this way, and I felt great doing it! And then I got a real treat. I saw a small group of people looking at something so I walked over to see what it was. It was a man from the Willowbrook Wildlife Center, and he was holding a red-tailed hawk! So I tucked into the group and listened. At one point, the man asked us to guess what this guy (his name is Professor) weighs, and I was the closest--I guessed 2.5 lbs, and he weighs 3.1. The bird has a bum right wing, so he can't be released into the wild. Still, another man got close to him behind him and was told to back off! When you see that beak and those talons close up, you know not to mess with these birds! I learned that red tails are the most successful raptor in the US because of what we have done with habitat that they have adjusted to. For example, these birds are just fine perching on light posts along the major expressways, scanning the nearby open areas for prey. There is a pair of them that lives near me, and one or both of them land in my backyard frequently. I am happy that they are contributing to keeping the rodent and rabbit populations down. There is another pair that nests at the exit off of I294 to get into O'Hare airport. If you look at the trees in that area off to the right of the tollbooth just as you begin turning right, you can see the huge nest in one of the trees. I have seen one of the hawks perched on a fence maybe 1 mile outside the airport! So obviously, the birds don't mind the jet engine noise, and are most happy to have the open, flat areas with a few trees for perching to hunt for their favorite meals!

I just love birds, especially raptors, but I had to get going since I still wanted to swim. So I ran all the way down the hill, stretched a little, toweled off, and headed to the Y, where I swam just a nice, easy 1000 yards and noticed that I got quite the tan! I went home, ate some lunch, then headed off to run some errands. When I got back home, I finished weeding next to the foreclosed house, put mulch down, then cleaned up LGL's drivetrain and frame. I checked in on 2 friends who ran the Chicago Marathon, and they both did well--one woman doing her very first marathon that I had given some last-minute tips to (like use New Skin on her feet to avoid blisters), and the other who is now recovered from a broken back and this was her first comeback race (she is usually sub-3:30). So proud of both of them! Last thing was to sign the contract for the new roof, which will be put on this Friday.

This coming week I will add more running, and I hope I see even more improvement in my hamstrings. The dedicated stretching seems to be doing the trick, even as I am really pushing it running!

I wanted to take a picture of my birch tree while it is looking so lovely with its fall colors, and so here it is as well as a picture of my house with its fall look: