Various Updates

First off, I've listed the URL for my Facebook page on the sidebar, but here it is also.

I updated the sticker on my car:

282.3 is the total miles I covered during ROTPM, and IFPM stands for I'm a Fucking PirateMan, which was recommended to me by a Facebook friend! I suppose that when I finish UltraMan, I will need to cover this entire sticker up and replace it with 318.6, which is the Ultraman total distance.

Here is a pic of the frame for my impending new bike. We don't have the wheels designed yet, and I am still wavering on PowerTap vs. Ergomo, since I found information that says Ergomo will be opening back up for business. If that's the case, I'd rather just have the bottom bracket power meter, and then I can have the Zipp wheels just for racing and use the training wheels off of Bitchie for training. There are a lot of decisions I need to make yet!


Isn't it cool looking? I was thinking black and white, but flames don't look too good in white, and I do like red, so we're going black and red only.

I am going up to ride and cheer at Ironman Wisconsin tomorrow. It will be a long day for me, but longer for those racing, and I know I will feel the heart strings tug that I am not racing it. Something tells me I need to go back and kick that race's ass, but tomorrow I will just be happy to be up there supporting a lot of people I know and hope to be able to offer them a few knowing words while they are out there. The weather is predicted to be awesome, and that is good all around!

I feel pretty blase today, like I'm barely training, but that is a good thing. It means I am recovering the right way. As much as I'd like to be doing more, no worries, that will happen soon enough! Today I'm going to run and then walk/hike for awhile, and then I have a whole day to do whatever I want before I pack for my little trip tomorrow.

Enjoy your weekend!

Season Totals and a Good Recovery Week

In case anyone is wondering what it takes to win 5 sprint races and a 1/2 Ironman, set a new Ironman PR and beat the crap out of a double Ironman over 4 days, here it is:

Season Totals	09/15/2008-08/30/2009
Swim:	459718 yards (260.91 miles) in 158.77 hours
Bike:	Approx. 5910.305 miles in 329.66 hours
Run:	Approx. 1355.22 miles in 208.26 hours
Strength:	52.84 hours
All Sports:	Approx. 7526.44 miles in 749.53 hours; approx. 333461 calories burned
Stretching:	99.29 hours. Massage: 49.25 hours

Ladies and gentlemen: That is the most biking I have done in a season ever since I first began doing triathlons! That is what got me my Ironman PR. It's not the most total hours for any of the sports--it's that I got faster biking, running, and I guess a little bit swimming, although the swimming wasn't so much reflected in my racing. The most total hours of training I've done in a season was from 2003-2004.

Looking ahead to Ultraman Canada, I've sketched out a training plan that gives me 858 training hours between now and UMC. If I follow conventions about how much I train and how much of an increase I should be able to do safely, I should only to up go 825 hours for this new season. I suspect that as I go back through what I think I need to do between January and July that I will be cutting a bit here and there, since there are 3 weekends where I want to do a huge swim (6000 plus yards) and long ride (2.5-3 hours) on Day 1, a long ride (7-8 hours) Day 2, and a long run (2-2.5 hours) on Day 3, and I'm sure I will need more recovery from those training bouts than I think! The jury is still out on retaining a coach, but I feel pretty set in what I've scheduled through Goofy Challenge.

Still, the whole deal looks pretty daunting and even scary on paper. Which is what I expected it to be. I would never have expected to do the same amount of training as I did this year or that I've ever done to complete an Ultraman. I really can't do much more training during the week than I already do (I can do 10-12 hours depending on where I am in my cycle), but somehow I will need to try and manage a little more if I want to get in 2 long runs, 2 long rides, a huge swim, 2 more swims, 1 more shorter ride, and 3-4 more shorter runs. For May-July, anyway. Before then, I will stick with a proven training pattern that has worked for me that has me swimming and running M/W/F, shorter quality rides Tu/Th, a long ride on Saturday plus a little transition run (I don't really need to do brick workouts for Ultraman), and a long run on Sunday.

But it's pretty exciting to look at my plan so far, and yes, it's nutso.

Back to this past week. I didn't try to do what I did after IMLP since I don't have another Ironman coming up anytime soon, and I had never done a double Ironman either, so I have been careful about my recovery this week. I only did 2 swims, but got in some decent biking. I thought that I should at least do some walking today, and it looked like it might rain, so I got started around 9:30 just walking around the block where I live, and then I did a couple of repeats walking up and down the hill from my house. I have to say, walking is boring, but I have an objective to get faster at it, since I will be doing a good amount of it during the North Face 50-miler at least, and maybe some during Ultraman--who knows?

I really had wanted to go to Greene Valley and go up and down the huge hill maybe 5 times, but in retrospect, I'm glad I stuck close to home for the first hour or so, because I didn't really need the mega-hill workout this week. After I walked almost 5 miles near home, I worked some more on my training plan, watched the weather, and decided it was going to be nice and so I headed to Greene Valley around 12:30 (Yes, I am a slacker today sleeping in and taking my sweet time!).

I knew it was a mile up the big hill since I'd ridden it last fall, and while I really want to run up and down the hill, today was about just getting time on my feet. So I walked up the first time with camera in hand, and it took about 15 minutes, not bad for climbing! I took some nice pics on the way up and while up top, since you can see a lot of the surrounding area including where I live:

heading up--you can see the rise in the hill

a car heading up to the top (for some perspective)

more cars

getting near the top--it's getting steeper now

This is up top--a military plane of some sort kept circling the area.

This is looking north and east about where my house would be by that water tower about 1/3 across the top

Looking down at a car coming up

Looking to the north and east--you can see the tower in Oak Brook that I've climbed before and is also where I used to swim in the basement years ago

Not sure where I'm looking here

Looking south and west

Looking north

The second time down the hill, I ran easily all the way, and it was totally fun! I've always wanted to run up, though, and I will do that in a few weeks. There are a bunch of flat trails in this forest preserve, so I'm going to make heavy use of it in the next 4 weeks, weather permitting, so I can run some flats, run some hill, and then hike hill and look out over my dominion!

I ended up walking 9.5 miles today. Somehow it doesn't feel like a workout, but it's not bad considering I did walk at a brisk pace (14mpm overall). Still, I need to get faster at the walking thing, and hopefully I will do that soon enough.

Tomorrow I have a day off and will swim, bike and run. Oops--a triathlon, I guess! No, I will be taking some time in between efforts and just enjoying the day.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend as much as I am!

Various Updates

Wow...all I can say is this Ultraman thing is a daily obsession...at least until I think I have things under control.

I am busy making myself a training plan and am not yet sure I will retain a coach--I may just want until January for that. I think I'm good with what I'm doing through December, as long as it doesn't kill me! I am going to try and get my long swim up to 7,000 yards by the end of the year. That allows me to maintain some sort of sanity through the beginning of winter and keep myself focused on running. Will try and get up to a 9,000 yard long swim by April.

On a related note, today I swam 3,000 yards and it went by quickly! I am doing a little experiment on myself and will just be swimming short intervals (50's and 100's) for a few weeks on my shorter swims. It seems that I forgot how much fun that can be, even though I also enjoy the longer intervals, which I'll use for the long swim (500's). It's nice that I changed my perspective of "long swim" this summer, but we'll see how much I like starting to swim at 5:30AM for awhile!

I now have 2 crew members for Ultraman--Shelley (Crew Captain) and Deirdre. Deirdre lives up in BC, so that will help with shipping crap to her and also starting our travel to Penticton in Vancouver. I will keep saying I am SO grateful that these wonderful people are going to do this for me! I am still looking for a third crew member, as I need firm commitments as soon as possible.

On another note, I am getting a new triathlon bike! Well, I won't have it probably until December--it is going to be custom built for me by Elite! Since everyone is already asking about it, it's going to be a Razor Carbon with Ultegra components, and will be black with pirates (Jolly Roger) on the frame/fork and flames on the Zipp wheels. I'm getting a PowerTap SL built into the rear wheel, since I love power and Elite does the wheel building themselves. I go for my measuring on 10/3, so that will be pretty exciting.

I am also really excited that Ironman Wisconsin is coming up next week, and I will be going up there with Shelley to ride around during the race and continue cheering on during the run! I know so many people doing the race--it will be good to offer them whatever I can in terms of encouragement and just that "knowing"--that I know just how they feel.

I have already biked twice this week, very easy on the MTB, and am going out on LGL today for a short spin, and hopefully will get in maybe 3 hours on LGL tomorrow, just so I am able to ride a decent pace and some hills with Shelley at IMWI!

I haven't run yet, and wont' until Monday, which will just be trying out the old legs. However, I am going to try and walk/hike up and down this really big hill at Green Valley on Sunday--if it feels OK, I will go up and down 5 times which would be 10 miles, but who knows? I need to listen to my legs, especially my knees.

I can't believe I am going to run 50 miles in just 5 weeks--that hasn't sunk in yet--and I have to go buy a headlamp and maybe some other stuff for it. Didn't I just run about 50 miles? Oh yeah, that is so last week.

I feel like I'm on this fast-moving conveyor belt and that I really have to pay attention to everything that is flying past me in case it has something to do with Ultraman. Things to buy, things to do, things to consider for training. It is all so very heady and a little overwhelming. But I know that once I have things laid out on paper at least through the end of the year (should be done with that this weekend), and I can look at it and see what I need to do, I will be able to breathe a sigh of relief for awhile, and then I can begin sketching out January-July, which is the really meaty part.

I am having regular, fleeting thoughts of, "why am I doing this?" And so far, the only answer I can come up with is, "because I was ready for it." And I am a firm believer in that when you know you are ready for something that you should march ahead and just do it. The doing of things is what gets things done and makes us able to do more and be more, and that is what this is all about to me.

One more thing--I'm very happy to have a 3-day weekend! Hope yours is outstanding, and good luck to my friends who are racing this weekend!

What is Extreme?

Except for maybe the very first year I trained for an Ironman, I have never thought of it as an "extreme" pursuit. Swimming, biking and running for a long time is not very dangerous, and if one is willing to put in the training time, any reasonably fit person can complete an Ironman, IMO.

Yet for years I have had friends and acquaintances both inside and outside triathlon who have held me up as their "extreme" friend. Sometimes I just smile, and other times I explain that it's not like climbing Mt. Everest without oxygen. After all, if I am able to do this while employed full time, how hard can it be?

And then there came a point, and I would say this was about 4 years ago (which curiously coincided with when I began writing this blog which was a result of major upheaval in my life), when I felt ready to do this Ironman thing a bit differently. I mean, do the training, but do the training with my own particular madness thrown in. Schedule in some events and races that wouldn't normally be recommended for a typical training cycle. Sometime during the next year is when I was christened "Crackhead."

I didn't really train more--I just trained harder, and the results began showing up the next year. It got to the point where whenever I would run into someone I hadn't seen in awhile, their first question would be, "When is your next race?" And usually there was one right on the horizon.

Thing is, the more I did and the harder I trained, the more I enjoyed it. Practice becomes habit. The body adapts; the mind follows. What was once a stretch became routine. Life moves on, though, and there were periods of time when I couldn't be at my best physically, but that is something we all have to accept.

As each year has passed and I've grown older, I've wondered how long I can continue to improve. I guess it's longer than I initially thought, only because I started so low down on the speed/endurance spectrum!

I still do not consider myself fast or extreme. Thing is, I know people much, much faster than me and some who do much more extreme events that me. I am not even sure what to make of Ultraman--to me it is more of a choice, and when I finish it, I still won't think I am that extreme--after all, it is just swimming, biking and running.

When I think extreme, I think Badwater, Western States, climbing Mt. Everest, RAAM. Ultraman will be hard, and some will consider it extreme. But for me, extreme is something that I just can't conceive of doing--yet. Whenever someone says to me, "I could never do an Ironman," I typically respond, "Don't say you can't--say you choose not to."

A week ago someone said to me, "You don't know the word can't." Maybe not, but I know my limits, and the game to me is all about increasing them methodically to the point where the extreme becomes the expected.

Even though Revenge of the PirateMan gave me some confidence for Ultraman, I am keeping perspective since:

• I swam in a pool and split 10,000 yards over 4 days. I need to be able to do it all at once in a huge lake while relying on a kayaker to lead my way and feed me. That is something I will need to practice.
• The biking was pretty flat. Ultraman Canada has tons of climbing! I am not that concerned about biking 90 miles at once, and even the 170 miles on Day 2 doesn't seem that daunting except from the perspective of the amount of climbing and saddle comfort. But I have spent 10 hours on a bike before, so I've got that going for me!
• I ran 52+ miles in 4 days, but will need to do it all at once. I get my first shot at close to it in 6 weeks.
• There were no time cutoffs. I pretty much lollygagged my way through 4 days! Each day of UMC I'll get 12 hours to do what is on the schedule.
• The weather was pretty good, despite the rain. UMC saw temperatures in the 100's on days 1 and 2.

So on paper what I just did was some kind of preparation, but I have a ways to go. Does that make Ultraman extreme? A little ;) But I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do to be ready--ready to not just cover the distances, but to cover them within the time cutoffs. The extreme part of it, I think, is being prepared for anything over 3 days. And in one respect, putting myself in the hands of a capable crew. I was glad during ROTPM that the only person I had to depend on was myself! If I fucked up, it was all my fault! I have been so used to relying on only myself for so long.

But here's where the universe helped me out. In dealing with my Dad's estate, I had to put together a team of people who would help me get through the process, and as I've known for many years, choosing good people is paramount to any large team undertaking. What I learned is that I need people around me to help me who understand me but don't judge. Who will listen to me when I am losing faith in myself and remind me that I am strong. Who will not coddle me but will push me to do bigger and better things and finish what I started and then congratulate me. Who will put up with my sometimes paradoxical seriousness and silliness. Who will let me loudly or silently indulge my self doubts and refuse to believe them.

Sometimes what I think is extreme is finding these people, but I have found some in my life and they are like jewels to me. When I finish Ultraman, it won't be just me. It will be me and my crew! We have so much work to do, and we are already starting. Shelley is working the crewing thing and I am working the training and personal gear thing. Right now it seems like a massive undertaking, but I am happy that it's a team effort and can't wait for all of us to arrive at the starting line to begin our celebration!

What is extreme? Extreme is something I can't conceive of. Ultraman, here we come!

Revenge of the PirateMan (ROTPM) Day 4 Race Report and Overall Summary

As you might expect, this is a long report, so go grab some beverages!

Full set of pics here.

Let’s back up to Friday night.

It was like preparing for an Ironman, only worse, since I was completely supporting myself. I prepared a swim bag, bike bag and run bag and I put extra clothing in the swim and bike bags to account for various conditions. I lined up all my bottles in the fridge and made a list of what would go in the cooler for biking and then for running so I wouldn’t forget anything.

I made 2 sandwiches in case I wanted them for the bike or the run, and I peeled 2 hardboiled eggs, anticipating eating 1 before biking and 1 during or after. I loaded the coffee pot and set the alarm for 4:30. After all this was done, I got to preparing Bitch. I did it in my house since it was cool outside and I just didn’t want to deal with that.

I lubed her up, put on the race wheels, strapped on a spare tubular, and was good to go. I think I finished up all my preparations by about 8:30, took a couple of Advil PM and got into bed to try and sleep.

I laid there for about ½ hour just thinking about what I had been doing and how I felt. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening, that I’d planned to do this and then got into Ultraman Canada, that I’d had an Ironman PR only 5 weeks ago, that I had been biking and running well so far, and that despite thinking I was sick, I wasn’t. I had a little soreness in my legs, but not bad, having had a great massage 5 hours prior. But I fell asleep shortly after 9, I think, and slept really well, waking only a few times to pee and drink some water.

Race Morning

When the alarm went off, I did hit the snooze, and I rolled over on my belly and said “arrrrrrgggggh” kind of quietly into the pillow. It made me laugh! And then I realized no snoozing today, I have lots to do, so I got up and thought, “Here we go!”

Coffee was ready and so I fixed a cup and grabbed a Powerbar and took 400 calories worth of Ultrafuel out of the fridge. My goal was to leave for the pool at 5:40AM, but between loading the cooler, then putting everything into my car and moving rather slowly, it all took much longer than I thought, and besides, I had to get all those calories down. I remained relaxed about it yet focused, since it was going to be a long day.

I think I got on the road just after 6, but on a Saturday morning, there is no traffic to speak of that early, so I made it to Good Sam in a flash. As I got out of my car, all I could think was, “This is going to be kind of epic.” The woman at the front desk couldn’t deal with my prepaid receipt for 7 swims, and she just waved me in, so I guess I swam for free yesterday! I got my shit together and snapped a few pics, and then headed into the pool.

The Swim

I was surprised that there were a few other lap swimmers, but still I had a lane all to myself. As I sat with my feet dangling in the water, I wondered how this was going to feel, and I looked at the clock and saw I was starting at 6:23AM, so only 3 minutes earlier than Friday! Goes to show you all that moving crap around takes longer than you think!

I got in and started to swim and thought that once again, the water felt nice and it was relaxing. I decided to just swim easy, easy, easy (which is just a little slower than my normal pace!), since today was all about energy management. Whereas during the 3 days prior I was thinking about a lot of things while I was swimming, today I was just swimming. It was like I was in a zone, and I realized that all I needed to do today was keep going, and so I did. There were a number of times that I felt like puking, since I’d pounded down almost 650 calories under 2 hours before, but this is what I put up with in order to let myself sleep longer. I just hadn’t felt like waking up at 3:30 or 4:00 just so I could get my calories down 2+ hours prior to starting. I thought this was good practice for Ultraman, too, since I will probably be in the same boat and trying to sleep as much as I can. It’s worse, though, when I’m wearing a wetsuit and have stuffed myself full, so note to self—2 hours before starting is a good idea, or maybe I’ll do the old wake up at 2AM and eat and try and go back to sleep.

T1

2500 yards later, and I thought to myself, “Huh—done swimming for the week!” And I thought what the heck, go into the hot tub for maybe 5 minutes to warm myself up, since it was cool outside (maybe 60 is all), and it’s easy for me to become hypothermic. The hot tub felt great, and the shower felt great, and I once again dried my hair thoroughly, and took my sweet time putting on my bike clothes.

Back in the car for the drive to Fermilab. Good Sam is just off the Interstate that I take to get there, so the drive was really quick. I ate an egg on the way there, which tasted good, but my stomach was still full so not sure that was a great idea. Oh well, I’d burn through this all eventually, right? When I got to my usual parking spot at the East Gate, there was a gentleman pruning trees and shrubs, and also they had placed a porta-potty right there! I grinned and inside my head I was thinking, “Hey, I get my own private bathroom today!”

I got Bitchie out of the car and loaded the bottles and had my bike shoes on when I turned around and saw one of the resident coyotes in the prairie just in front of me! I stared at him/her, who stared right back at me, and I thought this was some sort of good omen for me to have a good ride.

I put on the aerohelmet and sunglasses, asked the nice man to snap a few pics of me, and he said he’d do as many as I wanted, and I told him if he was there after 25 miles maybe I’d ask him!

The Bike

The winds were predicted to be NNW or WNW, I forget, but as soon as I headed west, I could feel them. I go west maybe a mile and then turn north, and oh boy, the north wind was brutal, and I’m looking at my speed and I’m maybe going 15. I thought, crap, I am going to suck today, but just kept going easy and right away I noticed my legs were telling me this was going to be hard.

As I made my way around and into the west winds again, I just hunkered down aero and was seeing better speed numbers, so maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. I didn’t start in on the Infinit for at least 30 minutes, since I was still sort of full from breakfast plus an egg, but then I got down to my nutrition business.

When I got to the Pine Road area which is slightly wind sheltered, I decided I would do 2-mile loops there so I’d hit 40 miles on my first “lap” around the lab. A little less than 1 mile was right into the prevailing west winds, and then a little more was with mostly tailwind, so on average, I guess it wasn’t too bad!

I don’t remember how many laps of Pine Road I did on that first go around, but eventually I decided I should go and try out riding on the Big Ring. When I got in there, the winds were just swirling all over the place, and I decided I would just go around once and that would be it for the day. I did remember that it was time for me to leave some of Dad’s ashes in Fermilab, and the Big Ring seemed as good a place as any!

When all was said and done and I got back to my car, I was at 43 miles for my first time around. The man pruning trees and shrubs was still there, but I didn’t want to dally too much, so I let him work, and I ate half of a sandwich, only because I had a taste for real food. I wasn’t drinking as much as I’d planned because of the cool temperatures, having learned my lesson from IMLP 2007 and also from Rockman this year. I was grateful for my personal bathroom and made use of it before heading back out.

I’d been wearing a windbreaker, and hoped it would warm up enough to remove it, but that was not happening today. I saw a number of other riders also pretty bundled up, and I think when we signaled one another we were both probably thinking we were pretty tough to be out in that today.

Starting my second lap, I figured I had enough on board fluids and nutrition to stay out for the remaining 50 miles. When I was at about 48, the Ergomo started going into sleep mode, and good thing I noticed, because I was adamant about meeting my mileage objective! I got to 50 miles messing with it, and since I knew it was almost exactly 2 miles for the Pine Road out and back, I decided I would just do 20 repeats of that, and then it’s about 3 miles back to the car from there.

I would say that about at mile 60, I was wanting to quit and just bag it. Every time I would head straight into the wind, I’d hate it. And I was all by myself and I hadn’t seen the sun all day (and really not much the 3 days prior, either), and here I am doing 2-mile loops over and over again. And I thought, hey, this isn’t a race, either, and I can cheat if I want. But I squelched those thoughts because if I don’t finish this, I won’t know what it’s like to do ultra-distance, will I?

And then I just relaxed and kept going. I kept going by a security guard near Ledermann Center, and many times he would wave at me or give me a thumbs up, and many times I would wave at him or give him a thumbs up. I usually tried to smile, because in reality he was my one spectator! I’d decided that on my last loop (90 miles), I would stop and say hello, because I felt I owed it to him.

I was so happy to be on that last loop, and I pulled over to the gate to chat for a bit. I asked if he’d been there the entire time, and he said yes, how he’d been watching me go around and around, and he asked how many miles today (since he’d no doubt seen me there other times). I told him, and he said he was impressed, and I just said I really like riding! I also asked him to tell Lt. Fry that I said hello (the man who said I could use his name whenever I wanted to ride on the Big Ring), and that I probably wouldn’t be back until next year! I said goodbye, and took off for home.

I got a little sad knowing that I might not be back here until next year. I love Fermilab, not just to ride, but it is beautiful in there and it’s just a great cycling haven. I know I put in hundreds of miles in there, and I’m sure next year will be even more! Since I had a tailwind going back to my car, I got all amped and just hammered, passing a number of recreational cyclists.

T2

The guard at the East Gate signaled to me when I arrived, and after I put the bike, helmet and shoes away, I went over so he could snap a few pics of me and we chatted. He said I was his hero, and I said, “No, I just do this because I enjoy it.” And even though there were moments when I didn’t enjoy it, all in all, I was pleased.

I got out the other egg and half of a sandwich to eat on my way back home. I was pretty happy that I rode faster than I predicted—16.9 mph average as opposed to 16mph predicted—not bad considering the winds! Here is what the winds looked like—I was riding between 8:15 and 2:15:

No wonder I was wigging out around 60 miles because that's when the winds were at their peak!

At a stoplight on my way back, someone in a car next to me was waving their hands at me, so I rolled down the passenger window and asked him if I could help. He said he saw the 140.6 sticker on my car and had seen them on other cars and wanted to know what it meant. So I nonchalantly said that it is the Ironman triathlon distance, and then I said, “Oh by the way, I’m doing one right now!” And he thanked me for the explanation and said, “You’re an inspiration!” I wonder what sort of sticker I should put on my car now?

When I got home, I unloaded the bike, my bike bag, the cooler and got my run clothes out of the bag in my car. I’d decided somewhere along the way that I should put on tights to run, and I didn’t want to wear the pair that was in my bag since they were rather light and not too compressive. I knew that my legs would appreciate a little compression at this point!

I put the chicken broth on the stove to warm, retrieved my thermos, put on my running clothes, put the bike away, restocked the cooler, loaded the Thermos, and drove to Waterfall Glen, drinking a Coke on the way.

There was an open house in Argonne today, so a little traffic getting in there, and boy was I antsy to get going! I was ahead of schedule, which if I played my cards right, meant I might be finished running by 8PM!

I got a great parking spot and asked a guy nearby to snap a pic of me and then I snapped one of him and his entire family, and I hit the trail.

The Run

I didn’t feel like I was moving hardly at all, and I really didn’t care what my pace was, but I hit the first mile in just over 10 minutes. I was like what the fuck, I can’t believe I can even run at all by this point! But run I did, and first I completed an 8 mile out and back, averaging about 10mpm.

I swigged some more Coke, grabbed another small bottle of Gatorade and headed back out. I was starting to slow down, but I expected that, and my legs were starting to hurt. They didn’t hurt as bad as at IMLP only because I was running on a softer surface, but I could feel aches and pains cropping up pretty much everywhere—my glutes, hips, quads, calves. But it’s not like I didn’t expect it!

I was toying with how much I wanted to do in my second loop and finally I settled on doing a 9 mile out and back. That way, I’d have only 4 miles left, and I’d either get them in there or head back home and do it from home. In retrospect, I should have shortened this loop because I really wasn’t drinking enough, and I may have been low on calories, but it was hard to tell. All I can say is that when I was 14 miles total in, I was a little weirded out in my head. Part of me thought maybe I should have had someone along with me running, and the other part of me thought, hey, I am in uncharted territory here for me—I guess this is what happens!

And I’m pretty sure it was just all mental stuff and also my body reacting to what I had been up to, but amazingly enough I was still running, albeit now only about an 11mpm pace. I actually had predicted 12-13mpm at this point, so in that respect, I guess I was doing OK! It was more that I just had this overwhelming urge to stop, but it was good that I was by myself and on a trail, because I had no choice but to finish out at least 17 miles!

I soldiered on, and since the sun was low and I was in the woods, the deer started coming out, and that made me smile since I’d never run there in the evening, and yet there were still people out on mountain bikes and walking dogs and such. While it was pretty cool out, it was absolutely beautiful, and sun was occasionally peeking through the clearest blue sky. I got choked up a few times, too, which I suppose was part of the whole doing something I’d never done before. I remembered to leave the rest of the bag of Dad’s ashes I’d had with me along the trail, and thought how nice that he’d been able to be with me in so many big events!

I wish I could describe all of what was going on in my head, but I suppose that's something you would only understand if you put yourself through this. It's a combination of stuff hurts, but it doesn't. I hate myself, but I love myself. I want to feel pride, but I don't. I want everyone I know to know what I'm doing, but I really don't care since I know they wouldn't understand. I'm not entirely sure why I keep doing this stuff, but something draws me to it. I want to know what's inside my head, and I guess I am finding out, and by all accounts I should be laying on the ground unable to move by this point, but I'm not. In the past, I've broken my body down to the point of injury doing far less than I've done this year, and yet here I am running 21 miles, for fuck's sake 52 in only 4 days--I'd run 56 in a week when I did Goofy Challenge in 2007--which I'd forgotten about, but remembering that I know how I'm able to do this today. I want to stop, but if I stop I'm a total loser, and that is my biggest fear--believing I am a loser. Because some people think people who do ultras (ultra ANYTHING) are just big old losers who have no life. Maybe I don't have their life, but I have this one, and it seems to suit me well. I must be a little nuts to do these things, and I'm OK with that.

When I was nearly done with my second loop, I realized it was a little too cold in there for me to continue, and that I had better head home. Mentally, I really wanted to be done and thought it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t finish all 21 planned miles, so I just let that thought settle while I poured myself a cup of chicken broth.

Man that tasted SO good! On the short drive home, I realized that I would totally hate myself if I didn’t finish what I’d started, so I decided I’d just throw stuff into my house and head back out after some more chicken broth and a Twinkie.

I guess I was a little out of it by now because I decided I’d run up and down the hill from my house over and over until I was at 21 miles. It made perfect sense to me, but it was sort of a stupid thing to do because it meant I was climbing the hill actually 7 times since I needed to do 6 full repeats plus ½ of another. But you know what? I really had wanted to finish running up my own driveway, and now that I was out of the wind (or it had died down), and I put my windbreaker back on, I felt perfectly comfortable. And a bit silly. What possessed me to finish a 21 mile run like this? Pride, I guess.

And so I did, even though I took it really easy and was running around 12:30mpm. Now I was starting to feel happy and good and I thought that now I can finish my finisher’s shirt! I didn’t want to finish ironing on all the pirates until I was actually done, and at one point while I was in Waterfall Glen, that was the “one thing” that kept me going—that I wouldn’t be able to wear that shirt with honor unless I completed all 21 miles!

On my last trip down the hill, I decided to see if I could pick it up a little, and I did, and for a moment there, the pain left my legs. Isn’t it always like that? And I know that if anyone could have seen me in the dark (it was near 8:30), they would have seen my face light up like a beacon!

Totals for Day 4 and Overall Revenge of the PirateMan

Day 4:

Swim 2500 yds in 48:55 (1:57/100 yds)

Bike 93 miles in 5:30 (16.9mph)

Run 21 miles in 3:46.09 (10:46/mile)

Total Time: 10:05:04

Grand Totals

Swim 10000 yds in 3:10.15 (1:54/100 yds)

Bike 224.13 miles in 12:22.20 (18.1mph)

Run 52.5 miles in 8:37.46 (9:52/mile)

Total Time: 24:10.21

Total Miles: 282.31 SHOULD I GET A STICKER MADE FOR MY CAR WITH THIS ON IT???

I had predicted almost 28 hours for this, so I guess I did well! It's funny that in my training spreadsheet I have a chart that has swim distances in yards, meters, and laps/lengths based on pool lengths of 25 yards, 22.5 yards (there is some pool that I swam in at one time that was that length) 40 meters (some other pool that I swam in for a summer) and 50 meters, and I extended it all the way up to Ultraman (10,000 meters) a few years back. I guess I was thinking ahead!

T3

When I got back into my house, I pumped my fists, snapped a quick finisher photo, stripped off my sweaty, stinky clothes, weighed myself (109 on the nose—I guess I really had hydrated enough), decided I couldn’t stomach any more sports nutrition and cracked a beer, showered, finished my finisher’s shirt, and then heated up some pizza.

I was surprised that I was doing OK walking up and down stairs, and I know from having stayed in that 2-story house in Lake Placid twice, that it actually helps to keep those legs moving in that way for recovery.

Sunday

I passed out around 9:30PM last night. I was pretty tired, and while I knew I probably should have eaten more (I managed 3 slices of pizza and only 2 beers), I didn’t even have the energy to eat! I am surprised today that going up and down the stairs doesn’t feel bad at all. I am really happy that today I get to watch many friends online doing their own Ironman races (Canada and Louisville), and I hope they can all feel the good energy vibes that I am sending their way!

I feel really good that I was able to finish what I’d started this week. It has given me a confidence boost about Ultraman Canada, although that will be a different story since it’s do ALL the swimming, then ALL the biking, then ALL the running, and it’s only 3 days. I do plan on doing several training weekends just like that, but obviously not the full distances, just so my body knows how it feels to do it that way.

I am especially happy that this is the closest together that I have ever done 2 Ironmans—the last 2 years they were 8 weeks apart, and the first time I did a double in 2004 they were 7 weeks apart. I was a little worried about the 5 week spread 2 weeks ago, feeling like I’d nuked myself pretty good by averaging 200 miles per week on the bike 3 weeks in a row right after IMLP. I started feeling my piriformis acting up a bit, but after I started icing them after long runs I felt fine. I was worried about my running until I nailed a glorious 14 miles a few weeks ago.

While there are a few things I should try and accomplish today, the only requirement is to get my lawn mowed. I should have done it yesterday, but oh well, I was doing an Ironman, eh? I am going to really celebrate tonight with a dinner of lobster and steak and a bottle of champagne. I could care less if I wake up with a hangover tomorrow!

Now all I gotta do is be able to swim the 10k all at once, bike 260 miles over 2 days and run a double marathon! Ultraman Canada, here I come!!!

ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

ROTPM: Day 3

Set of pics updated on Flickr.

On may way home from the dentist last night, I had a hankering for sushi, so I went to Bistro Nami and ordered some of my favorites: Fire Roll, (2) maguro, (2) ikura and (2) sake. I originally wanted some quail egg, too, but they were out, so I ordered something I think was called Fire Crab. All in all 22 pieces, plus I got some miso soup (in lieu of eating salt pills before bed) and a big Sapporo beer. I ate about 10 pieces of the sushi/rolls at the restaurant, and maybe 5 more about an hour after I was back home.

I checked the weather forecast and it looked like it was going to rain all day today again, so I assumed I'd be biking on the trainer and hopefully running outside again. I took 2 Advil PM plus a Tylenol Sleep to help me get to sleep since I'd had a lot of caffeine, and I actually fell asleep pretty quickly.

When I woke up this morning, I noticed I didn't have a headache! This was great, since I thought maybe I was coming down with a sinus infection, but I guess not. In retrospect, the headaches were probably a combination of not working out for 2 days, dropping my usual caffeine intake down, and then blasting it back up quickly. Possibly the weather, too, since I have allergies. Whatever, I was just SO happy to not have a headache!

Of course, my muscles were feeling a little toasty this AM, and I'd woken up at 4:45, and immediately got on some coffee and looked at the weather. Well, now, they were saying maybe NO rain today, so I had to hustle to get LGL (Bitch still isn't ready to ride until tomorrow!) ready to be outside, choose clothing to ride in so I could take it with me to the pool, and also lay out my run clothing so I'd have a quick transition. I needed to get everything done by about 2:30 today so I could make a 3:15PM massage.

I wanted to ride 66 miles today so tomorrow would be only 90, and since I wasn't up terribly early and was taking a bit longer than I'd hoped to get ready for the day, I didn't think I'd have time to ride to Fermilab, so I decided to just ride from home.

I drove to the pool and got started at 6:26AM. I'd hoped to be swimming at 6:00AM, but oh well, this is all very malleable, so no worries. I was starting to feel it today, but as soon as I started swimming, it felt so nice to be in the cool water. Swimming always seems to help me recover from the prior day's efforts, and ROTPM has been no exception. I just swam easy (as usual), and decided to spend about 5 minutes in the hot tub afterwards to stretch out a little bit. Even though I am swimming at a foreign pool, sometimes I wish I belonged to this club just for the hot tub! But, I am on a mission, so I got out to shower and change into bike clothes. I did take time to dry my hair, as I didn't want my head chilled when I started riding. Even though it wasn't raining, it was in the low to mid-60's, so a little cool.

As advertised, it wasn't raining when I left, and when I got home I got on the bike pretty quickly, although truth be told, I wasn't in a hurry. I had to decide how I was going to accomplish my miles, so I thought I head east for about 15 miles and back and then maybe repeat that plus a little extra. The roads were wet, and it was rush hour, and I had to be extra careful due to half-asleep commuters not paying attention, and almost got taken out twice. But I felt good riding, and my legs felt great. It was nice to be outdoors!

When I was about 4.5 miles from home, I decided to add in a Pepperidge Farm interval, just to get some more hills in and a few more miles, so that by the time I got home, I was at 33 miles. Then I decided to keep going and did a few laps around a few blocks, then decided I wanted to be at at least 40 miles before a pit stop, so I went back east and got home to 42 miles completed. Between stopping to pee and traffic lights and such, I had to hustle, and I stopped to eat a hardboiled egg and some cheese crackers, as I just wanted some actual fucking food! That sat well, and I went out and got 21 more miles done, snapped a photo, and took off my disgusting bike clothes, toweled off, changed into running clothes, got in my car, and drove to Waterfall Glen to run.

It was about 70 now, but uncharateristically, I decided to start off with a tank top on. It helped only in that it absorbed all the copious sweat I was putting out due to the high humidity. I started out and felt pretty good, and was running 9 somethings pretty steadily. I was surprised that I didn't feel bad, actually, considering I was running hills and had been hitting it rather hard for a few days.

I did one out and back of about 10.3 miles, got rid of the tank top, put on my streamers, chucked my hat and put on a visor, grabbed some more Coke, and headed out to finish. I had enough time to get in almost 13.5 miles total before I would need to quit, drive home, shower, and get to my massage.

On my second little leg, it started spritzing and I was laughing thinking that it wouldn't be a NothingMan if there wasn't some sort of inclement weather! I swear if you are having a drought, invite me up for one of these events and it WILL rain!

I finished running, snapped a pic, toweled off, got in the car, guzzled Endurox R4, got home, ate the rest of the sushi from last night, took a really quick shower, and made it to my massage right on time!

I'm a little gnarly right now, but feeling OK, and still making tons of notes of things that will be important for Ultraman. Right now I need one more slice of pizza (I ordered a large BBQ chicken and will finish almost half tonight saving the rest for tomorrow), one more beer while I get Bitchie all ready to go plus packing all my clothes for tomorrow, and then it's off to bed.

So far this is really an adventure, and I feel very fortunate to be able to get through it! I will not have an update tomorrow, as it will be very late, and I will be drinking...er...taking painkillers, but will update on Sunday AM whenever I manage to wake up!

Here's what I got done today:

Swim 2500 yards in 46:00 (pace=1:50/100 yds.)
Bike 63 miles in 3:32 (pace=17.8mph; avg. cadence=96)
Run 13.4 miles in 2:05:13 (pace=9:21/mile)
Total Time: 6:23.13

Total Distances so far:
Swim: 7500 yards
Bike: 131 miles
Run: 31.5 miles
Total Time: 14:05.17 (this is over IM distance, thank you very much!)

Mileage to go (a bit less than an Ironman):
Swim: 2500 yards
Bike: 93 miles
Run: 20.9 miles

ROTPM: Day 2

Pics uploaded.

First, the rest of yesterday. I don't know if it was the caffeine or if I really have a sinus infection, who knows, but I had a headache most of the evening/night, had trouble falling asleep so I took some Advil PM which just upset my stomach, woke up at 3:15AM with the headache and noticed the power was out, took some baby aspirin which helped with the headache but not with the stomach...oh well.

At least the power came on before it was time for me to wake up (no worries on the alarm--I use a battery-powered clock) so I could make some coffee, although I had backup in the forum of iced coffee in the fridge. In terms of legs, I felt pretty good.

In terms of weather, well, it was raining pretty hard, which was fine since I was swimming in a pool, but I'd hoped to bike outdoors, but from the radar, I wrote that off. I hoped that it might quit before I started running, because I was not interested in the treadmill again!

The swim was no big deal--about the same time as yesterday--although when I started out, I felt tired. Not systemically tired--just not as fresh as yesterday. Still I picked it up and had an OK swim. Even though I'd left late for the pool, I started at the same exact time as yesterday (6:40AM), and managed to be on my bike at 8:15.

Biking felt good. It felt REALLY good. Biking is my thing, I love biking, I could bike all day (wait--I have done that). I felt absolutely no soreness in my legs while biking, and since I felt like I was on a roll, I started plotting changing up the bike and run distances for today. See, this is MY event and I can do whatever the hell I want!

I almost ended up biking a lot longer, but thought that it might make running really suck today, so I decided to stop at 40 miles. Which means that I can either make Sunday only 100, or if I decide to up tomorrow's ride to like 60, then even less on Sunday. Who knows? I will decide tomorrow!

Today I watched Ironman Hawaii 2005, which was the year Shelley did it (in honor of her being Captain of my crew for UMC), and then I watched Running on the Sun, which gave me more ideas of gear I need to get for UMC. I tell you, once I have all this gear accumulated, I am going to need to use it more than once, right?

Also, I thought I'd run further than 7.5 miles. I figured I could go 10, but left that up to my legs. When I got off the bike, I felt a little tightness in the vastus lateralis, but other than that, I felt good to go. I went and checked the radar, and it looked like we might get spritzed in the next hour or so, but I decided to take my chances. I got rid of my bike shorts which were soaked and put on fresh run shorts. I decided against the streamers today since if it started raining it would just be messy. I only took 12 oz. of Gatorade with me since I'd chugged 1/2 bottle of water and finished out my biking Infinit right before I headed out.

At first it wasn't raining at all, and I was surprised to hit the first mile in 8:53. I was really just running a pace that I felt like was comfortable. As I headed into the next mile that includes a bit of a climb, I felt great going uphill, and I just felt super motivated to run well today.

Once I hit 3.75 miles out, I didn't want to turn around and felt good to go out for 5 miles. I was running all the hills, it was cool, and I had plenty of tree cover in case it started raining. When I turned around at mile 5, I really needed to use a bathroom and was rewarded with a porta potty in about 1/4 mile by a train station. While I was in there, a big freight train rumbled through, and I was laughing at my great timing for taking a dump!

I continued on and kept up a good pace and it began raining, more than just drizzle. Oh well, I'd make it home just fine and it really wasn't that bad and I was comfortable as long as I didn't stop, which I didn't.

When I was almost home, I was trying to do some math, and realized that if I ran an extra 1/2 mile that I would be at 18 miles in 2 days, so I ran past my house and got that in!

Here's what I got done today:

Swim 2500 yards in 47:00 (pace=1:53/100 yds.)
Bike 40 miles in 1:55 (pace=20.87mph)
Run 10.5 miles in 1:35:24 (pace=9:05/mile)
Total Time: 4:18.36 (yesterday was 3:23.28--forgot to post that)

HAH! I ran faster today than I did yesterday, and biked a little bit faster too, even though I went further! This training and not working thing is pretty fun!

Total Distances so far:
Swim: 5000 yards
Bike: 68 miles
Run: 18 miles

Mileage to go:
Swim: 5000 yards
Bike: 156 miles (I can do 56 and 100 or whatever strikes my fancy)
Run: 34.4 miles (I'd like to do only 20 on Saturday, so maybe I'll do 14.4 tomorrow)

I stretched out really well and may do an ice bath later. I did really well on replacing my calories yesterday--here's what I ate in addition to sports nutrition:

2 forkfuls of creamed herring
3 beers
4" x 3" homemade lasagna
1 piece string cheese
sandwich: 3 slices turkey, 2 slices white bread, fake mayo, sprouts
Easy Mac!
Ice Cream
(2) Lean Cuisines

As of right now, I have about 1700 calories to go to replace everything today. I also am weighing myself right after I finish running to check how I'm doing on hydration, and it appears perfect--yesterday I was 108.8 and today 108.6.

I have to go to the dentist in about an hour to get a crown replaced (YUK), but after that it's more eating, preparing for tomorrow and then laying around. I really wonder how I am going to feel tomorrow--it would be nice to see the sun, and I do want to get out on Bitchie, but I will be prepared for whatever comes my way.

ARGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

ROTPM: Day 1

Pics are here.

Checking the forecast last night, it looked pretty good for rain today, but still I acted as if that wasn't going to happen. I chose bike tops, shorts and socks, and run shorts and hats assuming it wasn't going to rain for 4 straight days.

I set my alarm, set the coffeepot, got my swim bag ready to go, cleaned 6 pairs of sunglasses (I have many others as well; but there are 6 that I wear regularly), cleaned and lubed LGL, and got to sleep.

It was funny that I felt the typical nervousness before a race as I lay in bed, and I even had some of "the dreams." Sometime during the night I also changed the parameters for days 1 and 2, figuring I may as well just make them the same, so 2100 yd. swim, 28-mile bike and 7.5 mile run. Which would mean that if I run 13 on Friday, then on Saturday I only need to run like 24 miles. "Only!"

When I woke up today, it was already raining, and there was a big radar blob that looked to hang around most of the day, and wimp that I am, I decided I do everything indoors today. I just didn't want to deal with cleaning the bike again, being miserable, and possibly contributing to worsening whatever touch of viral crap I have. So I got LGL set up on the trainer for when I arrived back from the pool, and packed a gym bag so I could run on the treadmill at the Y.

I left for Good Samaritan (the only open pool in the area, it seems), right on time, and I should have been swimming right at 6:30, but I decided to jabber with a couple of guys before I got going. No worries, I started at 6:40.

Since I hadn't swum since Friday, and Friday was a whopping 4,000 meters, it felt really good to swim! The water temperature was nice as was the air, and I was glad to do it. Somewhere during the first 500, I decided I should just swim 2500 yards each day of ROTPM, so I'll end up at 10,000 yards, which is sorta like Ultraman distance, but 10,000 isn't that hard anyway since I've been doing about 12,000 per week for awhile.

The swim went by quickly, and it was nice to take a hot shower before changing into my bike clothes. It was still raining when I left, and there was some rush hour traffic, but I was back home and got on the bike at 8:10AM, so I was sticking on my schedule only 10 minutes late. I put in a tape of the 2004 Ironman Hawaii (the year I did it) and settled in with my bottle of Infinit.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd been on the trainer, but it didn't bother me one bit, especially knowing all I had to do was 28 miles and I was fresh as a daisy! I actually stayed in the small chainring for the first 45 minutes just to force myself to not go too hard. I have discovered this year that I bike best when I can be at 100+rpm. My average cadence today was 105. At IMLP it was 92, which is good considering all the climbing.

I toweled off a little and headed to the Y (still raining), and got my favorite treadmill. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been on a treadmill, but I thought it was a good thing I was on one now, as it would be a good way to reintroduce my legs to running for the torture I am putting them through in the next few days!

My warmup pace felt nice and easy, which is how it should feel, and I could have run harder and faster, but I chose not to.

I was on top of my nutrition today--following what I'd mapped out in my spreadsheet, and even drinking more while running that I normally do. So I get to do the same thing tomorrow! Only I hope it's not raining--I'd rather bike and run outdoors, but we'll see.

Here are today's totals:
Swim 2500 yards in 47:00 (pace=1:53/100 yds.)
Bike 28.125 miles in 1:24 (pace=20.09mph)
Run 7.56 miles in 1:11 (pace=9:23/mile)

Mileage to go:
Swim: 7500 yards
Bike: 195.9 miles
Run: 44.8 miles

Ouch!

It's still raining, and I must try and nap a bit, and then get up and eat, stretch, think about tomorrow and do it all over again!

I am still quite giddy over having been invited to Ultraman Canada, and I am very happy that I am doing ROTPM, because I am thinking of so many things that will be relevant to UMC. Even though I've done Triple T a few times, I am being more meticulous with ROTPM because there is that Ironman at the end. So off to bed I go, and will catch up tomorrow on Day 2!

ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH!

Holy Crap, I'm IN!!!!!

You can see I'm listed here.

Wow, wow, WOW! At about 5:45PM last night, I check my email, and I had a message from the RD:

Hi Sheila,

Thanks for your application, we will be pleased to issue you an invitation. Those will be issued later on but in the meantime you can start your planning for your trip to Penticton.

When planning your trip please take into consideration the Schedule of Events from the Registration to the Awards Banquet.

I look forward to seeing you here and wish you luck with the rest of your season and your training for 2010.

All the best

Steve

I was speechless when I read it. I got the shivers. I shed a few tears of joy. I grabbed a bottle of champagne out of the fridge to take with me to visit with some friends. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn't believe it--is this MY life is this happening to ME??? But I guess it is. I was expecting to wait several weeks to hear back, but all it took was maybe 5 hours.

While I lay awake for maybe 1/2 hour last night, I was already visualizing myself crossing the finish line on Day 3. Man, I know how hard it is going to be to prepare for this--mentally, physically, logistically and spiritually. It's almost as if I feel selfish to be able to do this--that I will need to have a crew with me that will be making a huge sacrifice for me, to get me across that finish line.

And, of course, it gives new meaning and joy to what I am about to do this coming week--Revenge of the PirateMan!!! I finished my schedule and nutritional layout this morning, and this afternoon I celebrated the high holy day, Festival of the Bottles:

This is my run nutrition, left to right, for Days 1-4: Blue Gatorade for Day 1, whatever is in that next bottle (I think it's Gatorade and Ultra Violence) for Day 2, 2 Cokes (which are now busy defizzing) for Day 3, and lots of Ultra Violence (which I will just chug before/after each out and back section that I do, so I can drink it fully fizzed) and Gatorade (Lemonade flavor) for Day 4, which is the marathon.

This is my pre- and post-race fortification. For Day 1, I'll drink 200 calories of Ultrafuel in addition to a PowerBar. For Day 2, I'll drink 300 calories of Ultrafuel; and for Days 3 and 4, I'll drink 400 calories of Ultrafuel. After I complete each day's event, I'll drink a bottle of water and a bottle of Endurox R4 (Endurox is behind the pink Ultrafuel bottles).


These are my bike bottles, which I will fill on Monday. On Days 1 and 2, I'll use Polar bottles that will be filled with Infinit. On Days 3 and 4, the bottles in the foreground will be loaded with concentrated Infinit, and I'll have a bottle of plain water along to dilute as needed. Day 4 will see the debut of my pirate bottles, that I ordered with the stuff I wore at IMLP. I have somehow refrained from using them up until this week!

Tomorrow I'll fully clean and lube both LGL and Bitch. I'll ride LGL on Days 1 and 2, and Bitch on Days 3 and 4. So far, the weather forecast is looking pretty good, but you never know around here this time of year! It could be blazing hot or chilly. This morning I did my last workout before ROTPM--I rode about 48 miles really easily in the morning, and it was pretty darn cool out. I hope it warms a bit this week, as my preferred racing temperature would be about 78 and sunny!

This is all going to be an out of body experience, I think. I can remember back 9 years ago when I'd signed up for my second Ironman before I'd even completed the first one! And now, I am officially entered in my second Ultraman (if I'm allowed to consider ROTPM an Ultra) before I've completed the first! Very odd, indeed. Kind of like this:

I DID IT!!!

I faxed in my application for Ultraman Canada just about :45 ago, and I emailed a head shot (above--from transition the morning of IMLP) that they require as well. I didn't feel the same sense of "what the hell did I just do?" that can accompany pressing the SUBMIT button online for an Ironman race, but then again, I haven't had any problems doing that for many years now. Besides, this is just an application--I am sure that if I am accepted to race, then when I receive that news is when it will hit home with me.

Yesterday I had a good, short run, and my legs felt fine, but not super-peppy, which is fine--not like I'm expecting to bust out 5K pace or better yet. This morning I had the pleasure to run with a friend of mine, Peter, who is in town with his wife Salome, to visit Peter's parents (Peter grew up near me but now lives in Miami). We met up at Waterfall Glen, and it was an absolutely gorgeous morning--only about 60 and sunny. The place was jam-packed with runners training for the Chicago marathon and who knows what else. Peter and I ran about 9.75 miles and got to catch up on one another during that time. It felt good to run and talk, so we kept our pace pretty easy--around 9:25/mile. Below are some pics of us in various combinations after running (Salome went for a nice long walk while Peter and I ran):



We will be getting together later today for some cocktails!

When I got home, as a preventive measure, I iced the upper part of my hamstrings--really my glutes--since they have been a little on the, um, overused side, drank some Endurox while icing, then went and got my pre-ROTPM Brazilian wax (I still laugh everytime how Caryn thinks it hurts, and I am always like NOT!), then went and faxed my UMC application, came home and ate some lunch, and now I'm just deciding what I should be doing next.

I forget--last night I did my final (I hope) grocery shopping before ROTPM, and I decided I needed some treats, since it is going to be a calorie festival, right?

I also bought some lobster tails, wild sockeye salmon, scallops and crab cakes. The lady at the seafood counter said I must really like seafood, and I'm thinking, DUH, yeah. I plan on loading up on some Omega-3's next week before and during ROTPM. Depending on how tired/motivated I am at the end of each day, I might just go out for dinner, who knows? I may want pizza every night, or I may want sushi especially after the HIM.

I've got my finisher shirt designed, but I can't show it here since I won't finish assembling it until after I'm done! But it will be a daily work in progress, so I promise to put up pics as I march through each day and also distance and time totals.

It feels a little strange sitting here the weekend before I'll be doing something (double Ironman distance) I thought about maybe taking a full 7 days to do next year, but that somewhere along the way this year I came to the realization I could do it this year and in only 4 days, and one thing led to another and I've submitted an application for Ultraman Canada. Sometimes I marvel at how these things come together and other times I see these things as my destiny, but that I had to be ready and believe I could do them. I'm not yet convinced I can finish Ultraman Canada, but for right now I'll just be on pins and needles waiting to see if they let me in. If and when that happens, then I will be hell bent on doing every possible thing I can do to ensure I can cover that distance and make those cutoffs, and of course, I'll be looking for my support crew, because I already know that Ultraman is not a solo effort--sure, it will be me wrestling with the demons in my own head, but I do not want and could not stand for anyone along with me for the ride to tell me I look good or that I should give in. No--I want people by my side telling me that I am there to do what I said I'd do.

But next week--that is going to be about me battling my own demons on my own. And that will be the sort of party that I will happily attend! Tomorrow will be my last bike and run before ROTPM, and then it's 2 full days of rest and in I go! Or should I say down?

Fashion Update

Apparently my little brick session on Tuesday did a number on me. Or more likely, it was that on top of last week.

I rode to the outdoor pool on Wednesday morning, and cut my swim short by about 1,000 meters (I only did 2300 m) not because I was tired or anything--I was cold! The water was just chilling me to the bone, and my fingertips were very cold, and I wished I was wearing a wetsuit. It didn't really matter how much I swam anyway, since technically I should be cutting back.

Around mid-day I got ready to go for a run, and even before I headed out, I could feel the overwhelming tiredness in my body. I really dialed it down and started slowly at about 9mpm pace. Something didn't feel right about my gait, and after 4 miles I decided to walk for about 1/2 mile. I just didn't want to risk any sort of overuse crap. When I finished, I felt pretty much trashed, made sure I ate well and got to sleep early, and decided for sure I'd sleep in and not go for a swim yesterday.

I got 10.5 hours of sleep and felt like I could have slept even more. It was raining when I got up, and that made me feel good about having already decided to not swim. I could feel there was something up with my lower back since my hamstrings, particularly my left ones were feeling extra tight. It also seemed like something was just out of alignment. So I decided to skip my planned bike/run session--I'd already done enough biking for the taper week anyway, and the run could just be skipped altogether or I'd see about doing it on Friday.

I know it sounds odd, but sometimes lifting can help me diagnose or get over what I was feeling, only because it helps me to pinpoint whether I have actually strained a muscle or whether maybe it's just trigger points in the muscle or somewhere in its kinetic chain. When I did some hamstring curls, I knew my hammie muscles were actually OK, so good to know there's no real muscle damage. Nothing else felt particularly weak, so I got that done, and thank God, because I would have gone nuts not doing anything physical yesterday!

Sometime during the evening, I could feel something deep in my upper left back not so much hurting, but just not feeling right. I thought hmmm....maybe I've been swimming too much...so I did what I normally do when I feel something like that which was to do a few slow, perfectly formed lat pulldowns. They felt fine, so again, no muscular damage. But during the night, I awoke with that same thing feeling much worse. I was somewhat concerned, but just got up and took some NSAID's, which I probably should have been taking for a few days anyway.

When I got up this morning, I did some upper back stretches and movements and rolled around on my foam roller, and sure enough, I knew that something was out of alignment, and while I didn't get to 100%, I figured I could try and swim. So I drove to the outdoor pool, since today is the last day of morning lap swim there, which basically means it's my last day there this year (yes, I am very sad about that).

I had written in my training plan to do another 5,000 meter swim, but truthfully there was no need for me to swim that much. Still, I got in, the water felt great (air was pretty cool), and swam 1,000 to start off. Then I kicked for 500 and noticed that my head was cold in the air, but I kept going and the back felt just fine, and ended up doing 4,000 meters total. I felt it was prudent to stop at that point in the name of tapering and getting my upper back back to normal. I was shaking when I got out, shaking while I showered and shaved, and my teeth were chattering on the drive home (and I turned on the heat in the car!).

But on a good note, the "thing" in my back is a whole lot better, which means I can work it out either today or certainly tomorrow. So next I am going to try a short run and see how my legs are doing, and I promise to just stop and walk if anything doesn't feel right, since I'm going to try and run for a little over an hour tomorrow morning with a friend who is coming into town that I haven't seen in a year, and I don't want to disappoint!

So yeah, my body is telling me I've been pushing the envelope a bit. And so I am being cautious, yet continuing to test out the system to ensure things are good to go for next week. And I'm pretty sure they are!