Ironman USA Day 2

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600927567899/

Pretty good day here. My pimp arrived late last night, and so with all my gear, him and everything all set up, today I was cued up for some workouts. It was pissing this morning, but hey, no big deal if you are going to swim.

Headed down there with Shelley, and met up with Cliff and Darren, and then all but Shelley went for a swim. I did 1.2 miles in a pretty good time for me, considering I was fucking around out there and swam by myself.

After I got out of the swim, it turned into a Crackhead spotting festival. Guys were coming up to me and either saying, "Sheila?" or "Crackhead?" and we'd chat and get some photos. Nice to put faces with names!

I hung around for Rich and Patrick's talk (didn't listen, though), only because I wanted to meet Patrick. I'm like the cobbler's kid--my coach is always talking to everyone but me, it seems. But I got my brief turn, and wow, I got some fake tattoos for my trouble (I already have some really nice ones queued up for race day). Do you detect the sarcasm? It's OK--I'm a little jaded about some of this stuff.

I went back to the ranch finally to get on my bike. I suited up in my brand-spanking-new Ironcamp kit, which I don't believe anyone else has worn yet, and man, it looks great with Bitchie, I think. I may wear it race day--not sure yet. Anyway, it sucks getting the hell out of town here on a bike with all the car traffic, but Shelley and I managed to get away and ride the run course, and that brought back some memories.

Next, I ran while Shelley picked up her sons from some play time. Then we all tried to get lunch. WTF is it with this town??? Places closed for lunch or they only have like 5 tables. We ended up at Tale of the Pup again, which was fine, because we know the menu and it's good. While there, we made up some really classic signs for Shelley's family to make to be put out on the course. I won't say what they are, only that I am pretty sure at least one will make the race video.

Then I downloaded all the pics to hard drive and put them up on Flickr (I'm at McDonald's again, but only drinking Powerade this time), and now I'm ready to go and fix some transition bags back at the ranch.

Dinner with some other trigeeks who may or may not like me--don't really care--people either groove on my personality or not. I could use some more sleep tonight as well--I did pretty well last night, but 2:15 of workouts and I'm a bit tired (and underfed).

More tomorrow...stay tuned!

Ironman USA Day 1 (cont'd) and Beginning of Day 2

The FLICKR folder has been updated: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600902724760/

I'm at McD's, unbelievably, for the second time this trip--today I'm just here because I woke up at my customary 3:30AM (4:30AM here in Lake Placid) and wanted coffee, and saw McD's has WIFI and they open at 5:00AM.

Yesterday I came to McD's because I was so fucking starved from my travel adventure Wednesday night that I got a Sausage McMuffin w/Egg. I needed that!

My pimp arrived about midnight last night and guess what the first thing out of his mouth was? "Does this hotel have wireless?" I about popped him one, but just laughed. He's zonked out snoozing while I'm contributing valuable content to the Internet!

This morning I'm going swimming, and rumor has it I will be hottie spotting. After swimming, I'm going to hopefully get on my bike (it pissed all day yesterday so no workouts) and then run, and then this afternoon is bag day (pack the transition bags). Hopefully, "someone" will be buying me maybe lunch and dinner--I don't really want to go to the carbo thing or athlete meeting.

Whereas yesterday I felt like complete and total crap from hours of travel and lack of sleep, today I feel rarin' to go--although if you ask Shelley, I was pretty wired yesterday from my most excellent caffeine adventure care of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (a fine customer of the company that I work for).

OK, I am recovered and ready to wreak havoc on this place, at least for today!

Crackhead over and out...watch this space for daily or even more frequent updates!

Ironman USA Day 1

http://flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600902724760/

Show this Crackhead some Love

Because this place doesn't. Although I submitted a definition of myself there :) It should be published at #29.

Seriously, people, and I know there are a lot of you out there reading this blog. I need some love for my A-race on Sunday, 7/22/2007--Ironman USA Lake Placid. Final list of peeps I know in some capacity also posted above. Love them all on race day!

If you have a blogger account, please comment and show me some love--I've disabled comments moderation, so your love will show up immediately.

If you DO NOT have a blogger account, you can set yourself up so you can comment without really setting up a blog. Head here and then begin the blog creation process, through the point where you have a profile set up. And then just don't create the blog. It's that simple. Then you can comment away.

I still am not allowing Anonymous to comment. He's a dickhead, from what I hear :)

Oh--and please tell me what country you are from.

I need some Blogger love and mojo.

Edit: If you are racing IMLP, read this:

Ironman USA Pre-Race Talk, Friday 7/20 @ 9am next to Tennis Courts by Swim Start
Ironman coaches Patrick McCrann and Rich Strauss of Endurance Nation (http://www.endurancenation.us/) will host a pre-race talk for all Ironman USA athletes at 9am on Friday next to the Tennis Courts by the swim start. Patrick and Rich will discuss the pacing, nutritional, and mental strategies they’ve used to bring over 400 coached athletes across Ironman finish lines. This talk is open to all athletes and will last approximately 45 minutes. Look for two guys in Endurance Nation gear talking to a bunch of athletes.

Weekly Workout Totals 07/09/2007-07/15/2007 and Packing the Bike

Ugh...ugh...oh, God...oh,God...you think that once you aren't training so much you have all this time, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Let's see--last weekend I did a Wisconsin festival, and the week before I did a Wisconsin festival and the week before was a lot of riding and the week before that was another Wisconsin festival...it's been rather non-stop.

Aaaaanyway, I made it through this week, and I think I'll make it to Lake Placid intact. Here's what I did last week:


Weekly Workout Totals 07/09/2007-07/15/2007
Swim: 16650 yards (9.45 miles) in 5.6 hours; 36% of weekly workout time; approx. 1961 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 97.13 miles in 5.55 hours; 36% of weekly workout time; approx. 2499 calories burned
Run: Approx. 24.14 miles in 3.63 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 1639 calories burned
Strength: 0.67 hours; 4% of weekly workout time; approx. 168 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 130.72 miles in 15.45 hours; approx. 6267 calories burned
Sleep: 7.21 hours avg./night
Stretching: 0.5 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours

I know it looks like a lot, but a lot of it was swimming, which has been absolutely GREAT. Not to mention I now have a killer tan.

I got my bike all packed up, and I have a schedule for the coming week, and all I have left to do is pack my checked bag and carry-on and I'm all set. Here's how the bike packing went:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600840088140/

BCLC Ramble 6/10/2007 Hottie Shot

I just located this photo at the BCLC club site. It's me, hottie Chad (guy I met at IM Brazil last year) and his friggin' ultra hottie friend, Steve. The club dude taking pics pre-ride was enamored of my Bitch (or was it me...he he), and kindly asked if he could shoot us.

While I only rode behind Chad and Steve for a bit (they launched right into intervals), I ended up finishing 105 miles only about 5' after they were done, and I don't think I was quite as shelled.

Steve--if you are out there, get in touch...both of these guys will be racing IMLP, so I'm sure to see them somewhere, right? I tell ya, Steve gets me going...those legs...that smile...you should see the back view...that's all I'm saying.

I created a set on Flickr called "Hottie Brigade," and these guys made it in, and I threw in some others that I was easily able to locate. More hotties will be on the way, so check in there periodically. I am sure there will be lots of hotties located at IMLP next week. Rules for entry are that I think the person (male or female--hey I don't discriminate and can appreciate both sexes, even though I'm straight) is a hottie, and I was present while the photo was taken (whether or not I personally shot the photo). No, you can't submit photos to me. That would make you a loser. But feel free to suggest names of hotties I should meet so I can um...evaluate them!

Crystal Lake, IL 2-mile Swim Race Report

Pics are here, but warning you better put on sunglasses first: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600820769985/

Crystal Lake is one of the most beautiful, cleanest lakes in Illinois, and it's almost on top of the Wisconsin border (it's pretty close to Lake Geneva, which is in Wisconsin). I've done this swim a few times before, and last year I noted that the course was short. Oh well, I just wanted to get in and swim, since I've swam every day this week, and this would be my last open water swim before IMLP. Besides, I thought I'd go in a bit aggro just to get my game on.

I had set my alarm for 4:45, but of course, I woke up at 3:30AM like I have been for the last, oh, 4 weeks or so (good practice for Ironman race day, don't you think?). I had my stuff packed, so I laid in bed scrolling for about an hour, and then I finally got up and had coffee and rattled around.

I took some Voodoo Mix with me for the 50-mile drive, and it dawned as a beautiful day--cool and overcast. Since I've been swimming in the cold-ish pool in the mornings, I'm pretty used to being almost naked in the cooler temperatures, so I just had on my swimsuit with shorts over it. The drive was pretty uneventful, leaving about 5:35AM.

When I was about 10 miles away, I spotted a guy I know, Joel Zucco (father of Adam, for those of you who know him), in a vehicle next to mine. He didn't recognize me (the horror!), so I just stayed close and followed him into Crystal Lake. We've seen each other at a handful of events lately, and he's doing IMLP, too.

After getting my swim cap, I talked to Joel and a few of his male friends, each of whom had some sort of myofascial issue going on, so I'm telling them about trigger point therapy and showing them stretches, all while wearing my stunning (at least *I* think it is) pink suit. I have no self-consciousness or shame about how I look no matter what I'm wearing, so no worries.

I talked to some kids who were doing their first open water swim. They were so excited, and I had fun talking to them (they ended up medaling as well). Then I suited up and got ready to go. I didn't warm up, because why would I? I am not that fast of a swimmer to need a warmup for a 2-mile swim.

The start area was a bit packed, but no worries, it's not like there were 2,500 other athletes there! So when the girl shot the starter gun, I just dove in and started swimming. I wanted to get a decent position and get some happy feet to draft off of if I could, but the start was congested, and people were swimming all over one another, so I opted to go for clear water, but what should happen but a small pack congregates behind ME. OMG! That never happens. There was a lot of feet tickling for the first lap. At the turn buoy to start the second lap, my 5 "friends" are crawling up my ass, and I got a little annoyed and stood upright and shouted, "Get the fuck off me!" They were like a bunch of spawning carp or something. So after maybe 300 yards, I just stopped and let them go ahead of me so I could draft off of them. It was pretty tasty staying with that group, and when we finished, one guy said he heard me at the turn buoy and started laughing.

So I'm done and comparing times and thinking I went :50 and that it clearly wasn't 2 miles (we figured 1.8?), and I go change into my running stuff and come back and decide to stick for awards. I didn't think I'd win anything, but I had to see, so I stayed, and when my AG came up, I heard the 3rd place time, and I was like, crap, I suck, but then they called me for 2nd place with a time of :45 something, and I was astonished! I don't know if I fucked up starting my watch or if their timing was off. Some people who allegedly did 2 miles actually only did 1 (there was a concurrent 1-mile race), and I know some people cut the course because the furthest buoy was kind of at an angle, but they said SEVEN and I counted them off and hit them all.

So I'm pretty happy I had a solid swim, considering I'd already swum almost 14,000 yards through Friday, but I'm pissed the course was short, you know? But then I was asking myself near the end can I keep this pace at IMLP? It will be tough with all the bodies, but I feel like I can put forth a good effort and not get caught with the crappy swimmers.

So all's good--now I'm going to lay my ass (literally) outside in the sun and see if I can eradicate a few more tan lines. Oh yeah--I ran for about 1:20 afterwards, and it felt great. Nice to be done working out on a Saturday by 11:00AM!

Number Sixteen

My coach and others encourage athletes to write and publish a race plan. I have a detailed schedule for next week, and I mean detailed. I am not publishing it here or anywhere, but will send it along to the coach in case he sees anything awry on there. I won't write up my fueling plan; I've done this 8 times before and know what works.

Basically, here's my race plan:

I will swim like I know how (steady, good form).

I will bike according to my power guidance, which will be taped to my stem.

I will run with joy and wonder and pure pleasure.

There's my race plan.

What's more important to me is my mental state on race day. Last year at Ironman Brazil, my mental state was dictated by extreme grief over the death of my mother--that took care of the mental piece--and my physical state was dictated by extreme sickness. That is not how I like to feel in an Ironman race!

Number Sixteen of the Tao te Ching below pretty much captures the mental state I cultivate in training and in racing an Ironman; beyond that, things like pacing and nutrition are able to run on autopilot (to me that's the easy stuff), and this mental state is precisely why I do Ironman--nothing more, nothing less:

NUMBER SIXTEEN

Empty yourself of everything.

Let the mind rest at peace.

The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.

They grow and flourish and then return to the source.

Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.

The way of nature is unchanging.

Knowing constancy is insight.

Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.

Knowing constancy, the mind is open.

With an open mind, you will be openhearted.

Being openhearted, you will act royally.

Being royal, you will attain the divine.

Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.

Being at one with the Tao is eternal.

And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.

Number Sixty Four of the Tao Te Ching

...in honor of those tapering for IMLP

SIXTY-FOUR

Peace is easily maintained;
Trouble is easily overcome before it starts.
The brittle is easily shattered;
The small is easily scattered.

Deal with it before it happens.
Set things in order before there is confusion.

A tree as great as a man's embrace springs from a small shoot;
A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth;
A journey of a thousand miles starts under one's feet.

He who acts defeats his own purpose;
He who grasps loses.
The sage does not act, and so is not defeated.
He does not grasp and therefore does not lose.

People usually fail when they are on the verge of success.
So give as much care to the end as to the beginning;
Then there will be no failure.

Therefore the sage seeks freedom from desire.
He does not collect precious things.
He learns not to hold on to ideas.
He brings men back to what they have lost.
He helps the ten thousand things find their own nature,
But refrains from action.

Namaste!

Peeps Racing Ironman USA Lake Placid

Every year my list of who I know or that someone I know knows that is racing at an Ironman grows, and that is a wonderful thing.

I've been compiling a super-duper, of all things, spreadsheet, of all IMUSA participants, and have tagged those I can based on how/where I/others know them.

For those of you who don't know, I participate in several online communities: Crucible Fitness forum, Slowtwitch forum, Trifuel forum (and I've published a few things there), and the TRI-DRS LISTSERV (sporadically). I know or feel like I know some bloggers (apologies that I write more on my own blog than I spend time reading others'). I also just know local people and am on email distribution lists for a few tri clubs. The world truly is small!

As an example, yesterday while I'm about 7 miles into my ride, I'm at a stoplight and a guy in a car from the cross direction yells at me, "Keep that Bitch rolling." I'm thinking what the fuck, how does some stranger know my bike's name? So I yell back, "Yeah, that's my bike's name, how did you know?" And then he removes his sunglasses, and it's a guy I know and have trained with. I am sure this little incident fucked with people's heads, especially since I was hardly wearing any clothes (swimsuit bottom and teensy-weensy bra top).

I don't claim to personally know everyone on Slowtwitch or TRI-DRS that is doing the race, but in the picture (click for full size) is a list of folks (so far) that I know that are racing, so for those of you who are watching, remember, these are all really important people that deserve your good vibes on race day. So far, I have the HIGHEST bib number!

Some are first-timers, and then there's idiots like me (and yes, when I registered, I listed "Idiot" as my occupation) who are on #9. How did that happen?

I'm still feeling wonderful!

2488

2488

I wasn't too far off the mark with my guess of 2605, now was I?

What's special about 2488? http://www.tascam.com/Products/2488.html Good thing it's a geek-ish toy.

2, 4, and 8 are all powers of 2. 2*2=4, 4*2=8, 8+8=16 which would be the next power of 2.

Now I can REALLY not sleep...

Where's my Fucking Number????

NA Sports or whatever the hell they're called sent an email a few days ago saying that bib numbers would be posted TODAY for IMLP, and guess what? They fucking lied. So what am I supposed to do when I'm expecting a number and don't get one? Let's see...I'll make up a number. Let's play number lottery. My guess for my number is 2605. OH....MY....GAWD...I hope it's not that high. How many athletes can they cram into the water???

On the plus side, I made a Target (or Tar-zhay, as we like to call it) run today and picked up some ACTUAL CLOTHES (i.e., not swimwear, biking or running clothes) to take with me to Lake Placid. I found 2 BARBIE shirts!!!!! And I got a top for some PJ bottoms in the LITTLE GIRLS section, size 10. What the fuck is up with that??? I guess I *am* small. Oh and a pair of white kick-ass low as hell jeans, size 2. And they aren't even tight. Here I thought you could only get scandalous whore pants in Brazil, but now I have white ones from good, old Target. So I'm only wearing scandalous clothing in Lake Placid. I gots the tan and the figure to do it now, so why not? Besides, I'll have my pimp with me. Something tells me I'll be participating in the UPR...do you think they'd let me wear a thong?

I WANT MY FUCKING NUMBER.

Free Webinar for Ironman USA Lake Placid Participants

I'm feeling great, and very fit. A lot of credit for it goes to my coach, Rich.

Any of you readers who are racing--this is a golden *FREE* opportunity, which I suggest you take advantage of. Rich is my coach, and Patrick has raced IMLP numerous times. Please follow instructions below.

FREE Webinar: Racing Ironman USA , Thursday, July 12, 7:30pm EST

Presented by Rich Strauss and Patrick McCrann of Crucible Fitness, Performance Training Systems, and IronCamp.

Ironman coaches Patrick McCrann and Rich Strauss will host a FREE webinar for all Ironman USA athletes. Patrick and Rich will discuss the pacing, nutritional, and mental strategies they’ve used to bring over 400 coached athletes across Ironman finish lines. Athletes interested should visit this URL to register. You will be sent instructions for how to attend the webinar. During the session you will see the coaches' desktops as they deliver their presentation to you live via your phone line. Rich and Patrick will answer questions afterwards, submitted by the audience via webchat. The webinar will be made available as a podcast afterwards for all those who can not attend.

The webinar will cover the specifics of racing the challenging Lake Placid course including a blow-by-blow of the bike course presented by Patrick using GoogleMaps. However, the majority of the talk is applicable to all Iron distance races and will be a valuable resource for all Ironman athletes.

The Coaches
Patrick McCrann has been a long-distance triathlon coach for over five years, and recently published his first book: "Competitive Triathlon in 10 Hours A Week." Patrick has raced IM USA four times, will race next weekend, and with more than 40 laps under his belt could probably ride the course in his sleep.

Rich Strauss has been coaching Ironman athletes exclusively since 2001. He has delivered his pre-race talk at seven Ironman races, most recently at IMCDA ’07, where over sixty competitors gathered to hear his talk.

Between them, Rich and Patrick have eleven years of Ironman coaching, fifteen successful Ironman finishes, over 400 successful Ironman finishers, and thousands of hours teaching age-group athletes how to race a successful Ironman.

Weekly Workout Totals 07/02/2007-07/08/2007

But first, some pics. The first is of a Crucible Fitness bomb that went off in my living room today (more on that later). You can also see remnants of my 80's record-spinning incident from last week. The second is things I have received from several friends lately--the garden gnome is from Brett, the wood and tiny bike (now sporting a Crucible Fitness logo as well as skeleton man who has been training as much as me lately--yeah I know his seat is too high) are from my friend William in Texas (the wood is a good luck charm--touch wood), the books are from Cindy, and the Fuel Belt hat and cell phone holder are from Rich. I'm very fortunate to have so many people who are so good to me.

Talk about your steep taper...get a load of this:

Weekly Workout Totals 07/02/2007-07/08/2007
Swim: 12615 yards (7.16 miles) in 4.4 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 1540 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 196.62 miles in 10.97 hours; 53% of weekly workout time; approx. 5009 calories burned
Run: Approx. 29 miles in 4.51 hours; 22% of weekly workout time; approx. 2032 calories burned
Strength: 0.77 hours; 4% of weekly workout time; approx. 193 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 232.78 miles in 20.65 hours; approx. 8774 calories burned
Sleep: 6.71 hours avg./night
Stretching: 1.2 hours. Massage: 0 hours

Funny thing is, I had planned on swimming 16,000 yards...oh well. Not much sleep, not much stretching, no massage, but I survived, and now I am having trouble sitting still. So I've got clearance to swim every day this week, and as long as it's nice weather, it will be at the outdoor pool, where, believe it or not, Rich actually swam today. He alluded to wanting to do it yesterday while we were driving home from Madison, but I figured I wouldn't hold it to him until about :45 before we'd need to leave this morning. First I got the "I don't have goggles" deflection. That was pretty weak. I have a bag full of different varieties, so I came to the rescue and he found a pair that fit. I grabbed towels and fluids, and we were off. I had to share a lane with crazy breaststroke lady and some other not-so-good swimmers, but since it was already pretty hot by 8AM, the pool felt really great (and they don't charge the early swimmers!).

After swimming, we got the identical breakfast (Denver omelettes, English muffins, coffee), then we packed and labeled a bunch of Crucible Fitness gear to be sent to athletes all over the place. Rich thought he was missing a shipment, and at the same time I was dealing with the company who had cleaned my drapes and installed new shades. He on the cell phone not too happy with a company, and me on my house phone not too happy with another one. Both incidents turned out well, though, since Rich discovered he wasn't actually missing inventory, and my company made good on coming out to reclean the cornices that became fingerprinted while the shades were being installed.

I know you think this is a load of crap that I'm talking about right now, but hey, I'm tapering, so fuck off. Oops--I meant, please don't get on my case. Or maybe I meant please be understanding, as I'm a veritable lunatic right now and I'm not responsible for my actions or vocalizations. Or maybe I meant gee, I wish you could be nicer to me, since I'm experiencing a tiny bit of stress right now. Somehow fuck off is just easier to say.

Anyway, I've just jumped off the training peak and am cascading down into the valley of the taper, and crazy things happen while I'm falling, only to hit rock bottom and then begin the precipitous climb back to the top of the other side. It's been really fun being on top of the mountain for the past 12 weeks, and soon enough I'll begin my journey back to the top. I know that along the way I'll see many friends, training partners and other sources of encouragement. Will I make it? I hope so. Will I climb fast? We will see what the day brings. How will I feel back at the top? REALLY HAPPY!

End of Camp; Beginning of Taper

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Critique My Bike Position

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Off to Camp

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

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

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

Will report in later.

4th of July Ride

Pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600646386327/

Every year, the Joliet Bicycle Club hosts the 4th of July Ride. The longest route billed is 62 miles, but I think whenever I've done it I ride more than that, by adding on. It starts from Plainfield South High School. I used to ride from Plainfield frequently, since I have a friend, Matt, who lives in Plainfield, but he got shipped out to Afghanistan a year ago (he's coming back to town permanently, though--YEAH!), and it's just as easy for me to ride to Fermilab and circle around.

Jamey, who I met at the Y swimming, asked to do the ride with me, and he needed to start fucking early (6AM) because of family obligations for the 4th. Turns out he'd be in Plainfield to ride, go back home to Antioch for some do, and then come back out even further west than Plainfield for another do.

(Side Note: Beer tastes pretty good right about now. Disco Inferno sounds pretty good on the CD player right about now.)

I had set my alarm clock for 4AM so I could be out the door about 4:45. I managed to fall asleep a little after 8PM last night, which was great, so I'd get almost 8 hours if I made it to 4AM. I was awakened a bit after midnight by thunder, which was right on the predicted schedule. I got up and looked at the radar, and knew the storms weren't severe, so I just got back in bed, hoping the storms would pass by morning, and I fell back asleep pretty easily.

4AM WAKE THE FUCK UP, said my alarm clock. Oh boy, did NOT want to get out of bed, but hey, I have a job to do. Turned on the coffee pot, took my Gag Juice out of the fridge (I can't drink it ice cold), and got organized. I had Bitchie all set up to go, and all I had to do was pick an outfit. Socks--no brainer--my lucky socks (that I got from Lori's SO, Marc). Panties? No brainer--black. Now what to wear on top? First I put on a zebra-striped Shebeest tank, but it's a bit too tight under the arms for my liking. Next, the black Zoot tank, and I just couldn't see wearing a black top all day, so I resorted to a tiny white bra top and one of my Zoot white tanks, which is usually a cool (well, as cool as you can be in the mid-80's) combination, and I could even remove the tank at some point if I wanted to.

Radar check--the blob of the storm system was just barely over my house and going south, so it looked good for riding. Drank 2 cups of coffee, ate my Power Bar Triple Threat, downed the Gag Juice, had a little quality time in the bathroom, and I was ready to go. I had fixed my bottles last night. Somehow I ended up leaving at 5:00AM instead of 4:45, but I figured there would be ZERO traffic this time of the morning and that I'd still make it by 5:30AM, our agreed upon meet-up time (clipping in at 5:45).

For about the first 4 miles of driving, it was raining, but I could see the clouds were breaking up and knew we'd be fine today. I was almost there when Jamey called and asked if the high school was east or west of Route 59. I said west, and hoped I was right (I was). We met up about 5:35AM, parked and began getting ready. Jamey had a bit more to do than me, it being the virgin voyage and all of the Skank. I picked that name right away. After a bathroom stop and me paying the money for the ride (because I want to support these people volunteering), we were off at 6:08AM.

I had a workout plan that I wanted to execute, but I was also flexible. I always worry when I ride with guys that I am holding them back, and know that because of this, I had be prepared to just ride hard for a long time if that's what I need to do to stay with them. We took off, and about :45 in Jamey got a flat. He began messing with a brand new pump, and I just grabbed the wheel and stripped off the tire and tube, and I found that a rather sharp rock or piece of glass had lodged into the tire and had almost punctured clear through, which is what I believed caused the flat. So I sacrificed and ate a gel so I'd have some semblance of a tire boot to ensure the new tube wouldn't flat. As I'm doing this, I'm explaining to Jamey what I'm doing and how you can actually buy tire boots (I didn't have any with me since I was running tubulars today, but I usually have some with my clincher tube crap), but you can also use parts of gel wrappers or even money in a pinch.

The classic line from the tube changing was, "Where's the hole?" Which I said a few times as I wanted to line up the almost hole in the tire with the hole in the rim so I knew where it was when I put the piece of gel wrapper in there and then the tube. Jamey took over after I blew some air into the tube and he got the pump working and then he seated the tube and the tire, pumped, and we were good to go. I told him we'd get some more air in there when we got to the rest station, just to be safe.

After the flat, there were no more mechanicals, and we just rode. Since we were the first people to begin riding (technically, the ride began at 7AM), we hit the rest stations first and got the royal treatment. Lots of peeps looking at the Bitch and Skank and asking us what we were training for. Jamey was the one who said, "An Ironman." I don't do that--I just say, "A triathlon." And if they keep asking questions, I get to the Ironman shit eventually.

(Side Note: Beer tastes REALLY good, and I feel a nap coming on.)

I eventually did some of my workout crap, some of which sort of sucked (thanks, Rich, or as I took to calling him today, "Strauss"), but Jamey was a willing participant in all the shit, although I told him he could take off ahead of me any time he wanted. We were about to head into a tailwind at one point, and we passed a group of 3 guys. Of course, said guys could not take being passed by a girl, so they began to take chase, but only one of them could keep with me with the tailwind going. He gets in front of me, and I'm like, fine, dude, I will just suck your wheel and catch a break while you work your ass off. His buddies couldn't keep up, so bearded guy peels left to look back for them and goes, "You are right behind me." I said, "Yeah, dude, where the hell did you think I was?" I think he thought he was going to be able to drop me, but NOT FUCKING TODAY! Meanwhile, I am sure Jamey was right behind laughing his ass off at all this. So I dial it down a notch, and we let the other 2 guys catch up, and one of them (who I think was enjoying the, ahem, view), tells me to tuck in behind the really big guy (and he was HUGE) and draft. So I did, and we had a nice train going, but the gang of 3 peeled off because they were just riding in the area. Jamey and I had a good laugh about this when I told him that many guys get pissed off when I pass them and pull that shit. Oh well!

Rest station, about 50 miles and we need to decide what to do. I consult map and volunteers and we are going to do another 42 miles. Jamey is going to be late, but I consider that because of his flat, he owes me penalty miles and will just have to be late for whatever is next on his agenda. I mean, come on, we have priorities!

So we head out again and that's when we encounter Robbie-Ventura-wannabe Vision Quest dude, who gets pissed that we pass (especially by me) and so he has to show us what he's got. The dude zooms by only to have to cycle back to stay with his wife, and then we never saw him again. I'm sure he was torqued he couldn't ride as fast as he wants, but hey, thems the breaks.

Jamey and I are now riding through lots of people who started later and just people out riding, because the area is very popular with cyclists, so they are everywhere. And we are passing them all. There were some decent winds, but no matter, we just kept cranking.

With about 1.5 miles to go, we passed some girls, who asked how fast we had been riding, and I said, "about 18.5 miles per hour." She said something like, "That's pretty good," and then I was thinking to myself, "Wait for it..." when I couldn't resist adding, "for 95 miles." At that point she was probably shaking her head or something like what the fuck, and we marched on. Later, Jamey said he knew I would add that last little bit, but I was proud of myself for inserting the proverbial pregnant pause first.

When all was said and done, we banged out 95.2 miles in 5:15, which was not bad, considering. Jamey looked a bit tired (as was I), and so I think I gave him a good run for his money. We stopped at a Subway just about 1.5 miles from the high school, loaded up, and went our separate ways.

I really had fun riding with Jamey on this flattest of rides, had fun riding the disk for the first time in 2007, and put out some decent watts. I may run into Jamey this Saturday, since we'll both be up in Madison riding around--Jamey just for riding, me for Strauss' camp.

Tomorrow morning I do another 3800 meter TT swim as part of a 3-mile workout at the outdoor 50 meter pool, then I chill for a few hours, pick up the Strauss, we go for a short run, I get a massage, and Strauss buys me sushi (OR ELSE). Then Friday, we head up to Madison to do a training camp for IMWI. I can't believe I'm less than 3 weeks out from an Ironman and there's so much going on (and even more I can't discuss right now). Ah, well, such is the life of a Crackhead.

I hope Jamey had fun today!

Fucking Rabbits and Things I've Learned This Week so Far

You can see my bar/bike shop supplieds above, and I did my toenails yesterday/today. Yes, there are TEN DIFFERENT COLORS. But they are all shiny.

In support and honor of Cindy, here's a list of stuff I learned this week so far (I can't believe it's only Tuesday):

1. Rabbits make me crazy. My back yard is overrun by rabbits. Every size, every color. And they are barely frightened of me!


2. Cupcakes with whipped cream and PAMA (pomegranate liquer) and guava juice cocktails aren't good training nutrition.


3. I can run on no sleep and the after effects of PAMA and guava juice cocktails. Swimming--not so much.


4. I can still think pretty well on no sleep.


5. I am fucking creative--will reveal the fruits within a few weeks.


6. I still love my 80's ska and new-age records (yes, RECORDS! I have a Bang & Olafsen turntable that plays them spectacularly). Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Specials, General Public are still good music.


7. I can only take so much of my attempts at Zen-like peacefulness before they are interrupted by hard training.


8. Free hot dogs after a swim at the YMCA rocks.


9. Regular people think I do nothing but train. Today I was asked if I do "regular" things like go to movies, festivals, etc. Well part of the year I don't do anything but train (like now), but the rest of the year somehow I manage to grow a beautiful garden, sew for myself and others, read a bunch of books, cook and work. I don't "entertain," and there are a lot of typical things others do that I don't, but I still love my life.


10. My blog is very popular. I've installed Blogpatrol, so I know who you are looking for and at me. I suppose it doesn't hurt I am Crackhead, and apparently a lot of people Google that and end up here. Happy to help! I want to thank all my readers who have followed my advice that it's not necessary to leave comments all the time. But sometimes I like to know who you are and that you are here, so shout out once in awhile!


11. I still have not commited to an Ironman for 2008, although there are already pushers trying to rope me into one. Coach thinks I should JUST SAY NO TO IRONMAN IN 2008. We shall see. Ask me in 3 weeks.


12. It's eerie getting a postcard in the mail about my next dentist appointment which is July 31, which is AFTER IMLP. Just looking at the date makes me think about how will it have gone? I don't like thinking about "after the race" until it's actually happened.

Twenty-Two

As I close in on IMLP, I need to go inside myself and get my game on. I am drawn to the Tao Te Ching as a source of meditation and inspiration, and so I will be posting pieces of it here. Twenty-Two reminds me to be yielding even as I become stronger and more focused:

Twenty-Two

Yield and overcome;
Bend and be straight;
Empty and be full;
Wear out and be new;
Have little and gain;
Have much and be confused.

Therefore wise men embrace the one
And set an example to all.
Not putting on a display,
They shine forth.
Not justifying themselves,
They are distinguished.
Not boasting,
They receive recognition.
Not bragging,
They never falter.
They do not quarrel,
So no one quarrels with them.
Therefore the ancients say, "Yield and overcome."
Is that an empty saying?
Be really whole,
And all things will come to you.