I haven’t blogged in a while – lots going on, including finalizing my second book (a Companion Playbook to my first book). Also getting some speaking gigs, taking care of “Honey Do” projects and – surprise! – the ubiquitous Iron Training!
I’ve had an Open Water swim and LOVELY bike ride with Iron Mel, a “dropping my drawers” incident in a flip-turn at the JCC (watched by a bunch of kibbutzing old men in long swim shorts and kippot – just too funny), some “You Know Your Iron When” stuff…but right now what’s on my mind is my BONK yesterday.
BONK! (OK I find it COMPLETELY hilarious that on this link to the word “Bonk” on dictionary.com, there is a paid link for Power Bars. Yeah that should have warned me…)
Yesterday was actually a rest day – I did Sunday’s workout yesterday, because Sunday (Father’s Day) was a serious Honey Do day for me at home, then we went over to Mom and Dad’s for a BBQ . . . no time for a 14 mile/2 hour run (14 miles or 2 hours, whichever is less). So yesterday, I did this run – from my house to Buckeye Point in China Camp, and back.
I had a lot of stuff to do yesterday, too, and so I actually didn’t get running until about 4:00 p.m. I had a few things on my agenda – to see whether I could actually run on just water and GU/salt tabs as a lot of my teammates do (quick answer: NO), to practice good form, to try to run at “around” my Easy/Long pace (about 12 minutes/mile). It’s tough, because I don’t have a Garmin, so unless I go out and map each mile and look for a milepost, I have to sort of “feel” how I’m doing.
I started from home, actually using my GU Brew mix, with a GU Bullet and Thermalytes. It wasn’t all that warm, a pretty nice temperature actually. I felt pretty good. HOWEVER, somehow I had it in my mind I was supposed to do EIGHTEEN miles, which, at my pace, would be just under FOUR hours. Don’t ask how I got this in my head. I have no idea.
I got from home to the JCC (about 4.5 miles) and was trying to pay attention to keeping my shoulders back and chest more open (I have a tendency to ‘cave in’ that H keeps trying to fix when we run together). I stopped in, filled my bottle with water (to try my “running on just water/GU/Thermalytes” tactic), had a pit stop, and back out I went. The best part was the (70 year old) guard asked me what I was up to, and when I told him I was running out to China Camp and back, he said “Are you on a college track team?” When I told him I was a few decades past that, he made me take my sunglasses off and he said “You look GREAT! I hope you don’t mind my saying so.” HECK no, bring it on! Of course I was wearing my running skirt and my tall injinji Compression socks (so, knee-high white socks) – I probably looked like some schoolgirl fantasy. I mean, if you took your contacts out. And had a glass of wine or two. And were about 200 feet away.
My plan was to turn around at Buckeye Point, which has water and a restroom. I ran along, and was feeling OK – though I was using up the water a lot faster than I thought I should, so I tried to “conserve” some. I’m always a bit wary that there will be a “problem” wherever I have planned to get water (however, I didn’t have a backup). I also started feeling a little sick in my stomach. At this point I “remembered” from when I used to work out (that was 20 years ago, mind you) that the REASON that I always added something to my water was that my stomach doesn’t handle straight water all that well. Even out gardening, etc. – water makes me feel a little sick. Did I have a “backup pack” of GU Brew to dump into it, just in case? Um, no…
I get to Buckeye Point in the time that I had set to get there – 2 hours. Remember, I had somehow gotten it in my head that I was to run FOUR hours or 18 miles. I think that I was thrown off because some of the Facebook postings of Team members had said they had run 16 or 17 miles – whatever – anyway that’s what was in my head.
NO WATER.
There was a couple camping at Buckeye Point – and she said that the Restroom AND the Water were locked “for some reason.” The big bruiser husband was snoring away on top of a picnic table, the wife was standing and rocking/cradling their sleeping child (she was tiny – it was sort of funny, the kid was nearly as big as she was, and it was just a small boy). I whispered to her did she have any water, and she pointed down to her feet to a Coleman, and said I could check in there. She didn’t speak much English (she was Thai). I opened the cooler, and there were 3 beers and a big fish. I shook my head, and she made a face like she was sorry.
Not as sorry as I was…
So, back I went. I had been “nursing” the water on the way out to Buckeye Point, “just in case” there wasn’t water there – but I really hadn’t EXPECTED not to get water. So now I had 1/4 bottle of water to get back out of the Park. I stopped on the way at a few guys putting up their mountain bikes, etc. – no one had water.
By the time I reached the climb on the road out of the Park, I realized I was Not Doing Well. I started feeling a little dizzy, and just “odd.” I had my phone, and knew that I could call H to pick me up, but I also in a way wanted to feel how this was going to go, so I would have the “experience” and work through it. Though I had had an awful time in Sedona at the 1/2 Iron, that was due to too much protein and getting dehydrated by diarrhea in the run – a different ballgame to this.
I walked up the uphill out of the park, and then actually “ran” (trudge-jogged) on the downhill. I was still using the GU and the Thermalytes with small sips, trying to get “something” to make me feel better. But obviously, what I needed was fluid.
I remembered suddenly that not only had I put a $10 bill in my pocket upon leaving (my Run Angel was DEFINITELY looking over me), but that there was a 7-11 about 1/2 way between the end of the Park and the JCC. I just kept focusing on the fact that I was going to get there, and get something, anything, that would rehydrate me.
At a really low point, when I really thought I was kinda “done for,” I saw a penny on the road – Teammate Liz says that when she sees pennies, she knows that her brother is with her – so I asked him to help me. I have to find out his name – I just kept saying thank you to “Liz’s Brother” for the help. I kept talking to him (he is not someone I know, but he is one of our Honorees in LLS – he sadly passed away from cancer, far too young). It helped me out. I was so glad to have him with me.
I thought the 7-11 was around a bend, and then…it wasn’t. I felt really defeated. I actually was whimpering. Then I saw another penny. This one was really shiny, face up. It was almost saying “LOOK AT ME.” I had this feeling that Liz’s brother was telling me that the 7-11 WAS coming, it would be okay. I wasn’t so sure, but I put my trust in him.
I finally got to the 7-11 two turns later, and was feeling pretty surreal by this point. I was trying not to whimper as there were people around. I was all set to get something like Snapple (which uses sugar, not fructose or HFCS) and add some salt to it – but wonder of wonders, they had the new Gatorade “Perform” which doesn’t have fructose or HFCS – and it was 1/2 off! So I bought 2, count’em 2, 32 oz. bottles (for $2.00 total), and as there was a long line, I cracked one open right there in the store waiting for my turn behind all the lottery-pickers and chaw-buyers and giggling middle-school-girl-Slushie-flirters, and sipped away. By the time I got outside, I was about 1/2 way through the first bottle.
I added the 2nd bottle to my empty water bottle (it’s a 32 oz. bottle), and then walked away, still sipping the 1st. Knowing me, I was more than a little perturbed that I didn’t have to use the Restroom at the 7-11, THAT is when I REALLY knew I was dehydrated!
Well, all I can say is, Gatorade = Miracle Cure. I was about 1/2 way between the 7-11 and the JCC (where I was going to stop if I didn’t feel any better, and call H to pick me up), and I felt WAY better. So I ran from there to the highway underpass without stopping, then as I turned onto Lincoln from there, walked up the uphill (which is rather long), but then ran down the downhill. I told myself that I would run to Mission, then see how I was doing.
I got to Mission, and more than anything else, my feet were hurting. I could also feel that I had a blister going on the side of my big toe (though I was wearing my Injinji socks). I decided to walk up a block or two, and turn onto Fifth.
I was feeling a LOT better (and not sloshy – I was about 40 oz. into the Gatorade by this time but no slosh). That’s when I remembered Uncle Chris my Run Angel. I asked Uncle Chris to get me home. I explained to him that I would run until I got to a stoplight, and it was up to him to turn the lights red so that I could rest.
OK, so when the FOURTH light in a row turned green JUST as I was approaching it, I started talking to Uncle Chris out loud. “NOT FUNNY, CHRIS, NOT FUNNY!” I’m lucky no one was on the sidewalk with me – that’s why Team Workouts are so much better, it’s no fun getting Athletic Tourettes alone.
On the SIXTH light I finally got a red, and then walked into Sun Valley. I told myself I would run from J Street to “the stopsign” (going up Racquet Club) or 4 hours – whichever came first. I saw Sun Valley Market, and was going to stop there – but I didn’t. At that point, I had been out 3:58. I only had 2 more minutes to go – but when I rounded the curve, there was the Stopsign. I was whimpering a wee bit (there were folks walking dogs ahead – didn’t want to scare them), but I knew I needed to go all the way to the Stopsign. So I did.
The slow, slow, SLOW walk up Racquet Club to River Oaks to Moody to home took about 15 minutes (usually, about 8). I got home, and turns out H hadn’t gone to the gym after all – so he was there. I walked in and I’m sure I looked like a train wreck. He got me up to the shower, and then made me dinner and sat me on the couch and massaged my feet and legs. My hero.
Yes, so, I know, lots of “I should NOT haves…” in this story (for example, I SHOULD NOT HAVE run out into a desolate wilderness area without being 100% sure the water was on that I would need to make it back out). Lots of “I SHOULD haves” too (for example, I SHOULD have had a little baggie of drink; I SHOULD have looked at the schedule to check the distance/time). But the one thing I know is that I survived, and that I can “come back” if I feel truly awful. This is a good learning for me – because, besides the Sedona “runs” issue, I have never even come CLOSE to this feeling.
Now, I will NEVER EVER do it AGAIN! That’s ENOUGH!
I never really understood the phrase “Money In The Bank” until this weekend.
The week was a toughie for me. I had gotten an eye ulcer (likely from a gnat flying in my eye – though I am VERY careful to ALWAYS wear some sort of eye protection on the bike). It hurt to blink and looked super nasty – blood-red eye white, plus this yellow “bump” right off my iris. The doctor originally said no swimming in Clear Lake at all – because the LAST thing you want is lake water/bacteria/etc. into an “eye sore.” I have to say that I freaked out. I have been dealing with the various aches and pains – the hip thing, shin thing – but an eye issue taking me out of the game was unanticipated.
I did a little running the week between Del Valle and the 3/4 Iron, but mainly I was sick with the stress of it all. The doctor checked it again later in the week and said that he thought I could swim – but not with contacts. So into the City I went, to Sports Basement to get some of their prescription goggles (who knew? $16). Then after a trip to Costco (I love that “Rice Krispie Treats” are now marketing themselves as “Energy Bars” – !!), I swung by the pool and tried the suckers out. They worked FINE – my prescription is not the same for both of my eyes, but they worked well enough and I could sight fine. I looked a little odd walking through the gym to the pool in the goggles – and walking up the stairs to the pool was not a picnic for sure – but I was relieved I had something that “could work.” I kept hearing the words to Pink’s song “18 Wheeler” in my head, which made me feel stronger:
You can push me out the window
I’ll just get back up
You can run over me with your 18 wheeler truck
And I won’t give a f*ck
You can hang me like a slave
I’ll go underground
You can run over me with your 18 wheeler but
You can’t keep me down, down, down, down
After trying out the goggles, I went by Long’s to get some of those “old lady over-the-glasses” sunglasses for my prescription glasses – since I would need them for the bike/run if I wasn’t wearing contacts. Kathryn from the team offered me via Facebook her prescription sunglasses if our prescriptions were the same – I love our Team!
Friday (the day that I was leaving for Clear Lake) I was pretty much a mess. I was having an appointment with the ophthamologist at 11:30 (so much for leaving early to check out the event route) and I was going to get a “thumbs up” (or down) on whether I could do the weekend. I was REALLY excited when he said, as I put my head in that “look into the eye vice holder thing” that my eye was “miraculously” better – so much so that I could actually not only do the event, but wear my contacts. Who-hoo! He said that it might really itch, and if that happened, to be “ready” to change into the glasses. (Then we talked about how he had biked/run with a gal who did Alcatraz – the best part is this is a doctor who UNDERSTANDS what I was facing. Loved that.) So I added the over-the-eye sunglasses, glasses, glasses wipes, contact lens holder, saline, eye drops, and mirror all to my transition bag – and off I went to prepare for Clear Lake.
I had to laugh, of course, as I was getting everything ready – for an Ironman, you wind up with like 50 pounds of gear/”nutrition” and the like, and then a sundress tucked into a back zip pocket of your huge bag for afterwards. (I even wear my swim-to-bike shoes with the sundress.) So funny. I remember this from Sedona – at least this time I was DRIVING to the event, not FLYING.
arriving at Clear Lake
Had a funny You Know You’re Iron When moment preparing to go. I was putting together my nutrition, and as I tweeted/posted on Facebook, “You know they know you’re Iron when your husband comes in the kitchen to suspicious white powder on the counter and says, ‘CarboPro Accident?’.”
Got up to Clear Lake without incident – wearing my glasses until the last second, of course, to save my eyes as much as possible. Although we had had rain just a few days before, it was going to be a hot one – evidenced by the piles and piles of water jugs for the team! I drove through some rainy patches though on the road and left my bike with a little trepidation. (Sure enough, when I got there the next day, all the bikes were soaked. Stupid me for not finding a garbage bag and “bagging” Angeline. Poor thing.)
I hadn’t seen some of the team in forever. Because Maria and I didn’t do the 80 miler, and then a number of people hadn’t made Del Valle the week before (Memorial Day Weekend), it was like “old home week” seeing everyone. I was really sad that Will had quit the team, because I always just love seeing him and chatting. As I counted “through” people, I heard of more and more folks who were no longer on the team, many of whom really surprised me. A number of people were also planning to not do the whole bike course or the run because of injuries, but were there to do what they could.
We took a team picture, and then Maria and I headed back to the hotel, to get our game together.
view of swim start
That was actually pretty funny. Maria had never done a Spring Break during college, and that’s what the whole scene reminded me of. Super old (though clean) two-story hotel where you could yell across and toss things to one another off the railings, turquoise fridge and push-button electric ring stove, the works. I had as much fun watching Maria as folks walked in and out of our room, etc. as I was having being part of it all! Neither of us is particularly good with “Nutrition Math” and it got to be a running joke that we would be “just about” to do our 4 hour bottles with GU Brew/Gatorade and CarboPro and count it all out and someone else would come in the door throwing off the count. It was kinda like an old black-and-white TV comedy routine. (Reading Teammate Rocky’s blog about it is hilarious – I highly suggest it. Especially the part about the arrow and harpoon-wielding carp fishermen that we shared the hotel with, who were having a big “do” in the lake the same day. Yeah. Really. I was VERY GLAD to hear that we were swimming on the OTHER side of the lake!)
One thing I did discover is that my CamelBak is NOT “four hours” for me – it’s three. (And almost perfectly – both at 3 hours into the bike, and at 6.) For some reason, I thought it was 4, and so mixed up the Nutrition with that in mind. I had to do a little “recalculating on the fly” when I went “dry” an hour before I thought I would on the bike course – but that’s why we do these things. I wound up with the wrong “count” in my Special Needs bottle, etc. but I made it work. Good to know.
close up of beach for swim start
If you look at Maria’s blog (linked above) her Special Needs bag was just fabulous. Included were the usual tube, CO2 cartridge, 4-hour bottle, etc. but also as much junk food as she could think of (me too!) She took a picture of hers though and posted it, which is just priceless. Pringles should sponsor Ironman – I swear! It’s definitely the “Special Needs Bag Treat Of Choice.”
We went out for some AWESOME handmade pasta to a restaurant Coach Mike suggested, and just chilled and chatted with our teammates about the next day. I had a glass of wine at the restaurant and when Maria questioned it, I mentioned that the day before the Wine Country Century I had had martinis and wine (and RIBS and dessert and dessert drinks!) with H and a friend, and that the day before Del Valle had been macadamia nut martinis – so I was actually “backing off from” what had been my “routine” thus far with just one glass of wine! (funny)
We woke up at 0-dark-00 on Saturday, and got our Game on. I liked that Maria brought an Ironman-related book of Quotes, and she read some of them as we were getting ready. I had picked up some tattoos (at Safeway, no less) and she chose to put “Soul” on her arm, I chose a Dragon, and “Courage.” (I chose “Spirit” for the next day’s Run – her tattoo was still on the next day, mine had rubbed off). We formed a caravan with other IronPeeps, and off we headed to the other side of the lake, for the Swim start.
As I mentioned above, the bikes were soaked. I had brought 3 yoga mats (1 for me, 2 to share) just in case the ground was wet –
the transition area
sure enough, we were to lay things down on grass, and it was sopping. I was really glad to have the mat. I had been able to get my contacts in without incident, but still had an extra “transition area” for All Things Eye. The photo shows the transition area, before everyone lay their bikes down next to their stuff. (This is the opposite side from where I was – it was a big round lawn of grass.)
We handed in our Special Needs bags to be delivered to us on the course. We were actually going to get them twice (you only get them once during the real race). The reason for this is that they wanted to “check us off” at the Special Needs stop as arriving (or not!). There were 3 waves in the Swim start – guys last, and then if you were a girl and your Special Needs bag had a “1” on it you were in wave 1, if it had a “2” you were in wave 2. I was in wave 2 – Maria was in wave 1. We gathered for a pre-race talk, during which Mike told us that the bike course instructions that we had been mailed out were incorrect. I was glad at that point that I had NOT arrived early (as I had planned) to ‘scout the course’ – that would have been 100 miles’ worth of useless driving! Then it was time for the Body Glide-ing and wetsuit boost-ing and Atta Girl-ing and Go Team-ing…and the first wave headed for the beach.
first wave into the water
Patricia was in the first wave and I knew she had an issue with “touching things/things touching her” in the water. Mike had said there were reeds and seaweed in there, and I frankly was a little concerned as to how it would go. (I saw her on the Bike later, so I knew at least that she had not had a heart attack due to all the “stuff” in there.) The sun was coming up as the first wave took off – and there was a lot of low fog in the ring of mountains surrounding the lake. As I stood waiting the 20 minutes to get into the water, I was able to take in how GORGEOUS the area was. I was sad that H hadn’t come, as I knew that he would really like the geography of the area. I had heard a lot about Lake County (not much of it very kind) and so I admit I was a bit surprised at the beauty.
We got into the water to “fill up our wetsuits” a few minutes before the start, and WOW there definitely was a lot of seaweed/reeds/etc. in there. My last triathlon experience was the Go Girl tri years and years ago – I had even trained a few girls to be in it (and also the Avon) – and one thing that made me ultimately quit the sport was that kind of crap in the water. Not so much “things touching me,” but “flying over” the reeds and seaweed coming up from the bottom gave me serious vertigo. I realized that today was going to be the day to conquer that old fear.
We were to swim left to a buoy that was tethered at the far left side of the lake, then swim across the open water to the dock of the winery that was next door to where we started, then back. After I got out of the reeds and started to find my stroke, I saw a little bear in the water! OK, I thought I had thought of everything – sharks, snakes, leeches, fish…but a BEAR?? I pulled up short, and felt the person who was drafting off of me switch directions quickly so as not to run over me. When I looked closer, it turned out to be a river otter, watching me! It wasn’t until Monday (when I was telling the story to 2 friends) that I realized that the Otter was the totem I had felt when swimming in Aquatic Park – which my hypnotherapist had sent to me “energetically” to deal with my open water swimming trepidation. And there was a “real” one, watching me! It was pretty cool, though I had a good laugh at myself for thinking the tiny furry face watching me was a “bear.”
I was swimming with Mel, Margaret and Paula for a while, though Paula and Margaret were long gone by the first buoy, and Mel pulled away after the turn-around and was swimming with someone who was faster (Coach Dave’s wife Norma, I think). I just settled in and paid attention to hip rotation, keeping my neck loose, “alligator arms” and the like. Sedonia was bobbing in the water at about the 1 mile mark in a bright blue swim cap, and I was able to confirm my bearings on the “Winery dock” that we were supposed to use as the second turnaround.
As Coach Mike had described about the bridges at Louisville, I faced the mental feeling that the doggone dock was actually pulling AWAY from me! I would sight on it, stroke about 10 strokes, look up – and it looked just as far away.
graph of (old) bike course - "new" one is on the link
Sedonia had moved from her previous “position” to a new one that was closer to the dock, and I could see her blue cap which was comforting. At one point, however, I stroked right through what was obviously a huge floating “pile” of the reed/seaweed/grass stuff. It was like a fishing net. I pulled my arm through it and up and over before I realized I was tangled. “Suddenly” there I am, my arm is held back by “something” and I can’t see because “something” is over my face! Once again, I pulled up short and luckily didn’t completely spazz out – I realized what had happened and reached over my back and around to untangle my arm (and face) from the mess. I did see Sedonia turn her back from about 10 yards away – I think she was laughing at the “Swamp Thing” that had suddenly emerged from the water, but was too nice to let me see her do it!
FINALLY I reached the dock, and started to head back to the Start. Once again, it seemed as if I was never going to reach the beach! About 1/2 way there, the water was very clear and I could see the “trees coming up from the bottom” and started to get that vertigo feeling. I calmed my breathing, and decided that the way to deal with it was just to shut my eyes. So I would stroke 3 times with my eyes shut, then sight (being sure no one was close, and I was still on track), then shut my eyes, stroke, sight, etc. It was incredibly peaceful, and I could feel myself relax. As I was close to finished, I sensed that someone was right with me – turned out that it was Maria! We got out on the beach together, gave each other a “low 5,” and off we went to the transition area. I finished the 2 mile swim in 1:13.
My transition was slow, because a lot of folks were standing around talking, and I checked and checked again that I had everything I needed for the ride, and then did a “towel around the waist surfer shimmy” out of my swim suit and into my bike shorts (I wore my jogbra under the swimsuit). The funniest part of the whole thing was Liz telling Rocky to “turn around and talk to Sandy” (we were all side-by-side) as she applied Chamois Butt’r – and just as he turned around, of course, I was slappin’ it on in there! THANKS Liz! (She looked up and burst out laughing – Oooooops.)
Here is the map of the bike course we rode. (And here is the map of Tennessee Teammate Missy’s course – which she was doing simultaneously that day.) You will definitely want to click to see the “Elevations.” I read in another teammate’s blog that a portion that I will talk about later was a 9+% grade – I believe it. Clear Lake is the largest lake in California and we were riding around it (and then some). On the link (which is MapMyRide.com) there is also a “beta” you can download to “fly over” the course through Google Earth.
I had asked a number of the coaches what the route was like, and no one really gave me a straight answer. They said that there were parts “a bit like Chalk Hill on the Vineman,” but the thing that everyone kept saying to me is “The Louisville Course is NOTHING compared to this.” That didn’t give me much confidence as to what was coming up!
The first 13 miles or so were around the lake. Nick had told me this was flat, and Sedonia said that there were a few gas stations, so that I could have a “pit stop” if I needed. I was in the back-middle of the pack, especially after trying to get a pit stop in (first gas station didn’t “let me” use the restroom – second did). I slowly started to catch up to and pass Teammates as I continued along. Melissa and I wound up doing our “carrot and stick” thing there for a while. I was surprised that I had been able to catch up to her, because she was long gone from transition when I showed up.
The day was definitely warming up as we continued along. I practiced keeping my heart rate at about 150 (low aerobic) and kept telling myself I had PLENTY of fat to use as “fuel” at that range!
At about Mile 15, we started to climb, and I could see it was a l-o-n-g one. I unclipped my right foot as I had planned, and just worked my way up the hill. About midway, I passed Mel, and she didn’t seem to be doing that well. I was breathing so hard that I couldn’t even ask how she was doing. She was on her new bike, and the evening before, Margaret had come over to borrow a bike bottle from me, because she was having issues getting to her water (not sure what’s up with that – maybe Aerobottle?) The hill spiked at around Mile 17, and I WHOOPED that I had made it. There was a long, steep descent, and then a few more “rollers.” I kept unclipping and then clipping back in my right foot, and it was working well. I was feeling more confident that if I DID have to stop, I wouldn’t fall down.
Melissa caught me up on the top of the hill at Mile 22, and confided that she hadn’t remembered any of her “Nutrition” on the bike! I immediately went through my Bento Box and Camelbak, and gave her 1/2 of everything that I had. That is the point where I realized that I should have put more of the same in my Special Needs bag – it contained a tube, CO2 cartridge, Pringles, coconut water, another “4 hour bottle,” etc. but no GU because I felt I had “plenty on me.” Oops! (I also managed to drop my Chapstick, so that’s another thing I need to add to my Special Needs.)
A little while later we ran into Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida’s SAG stop, and she was able to “load up” on GU and the like. This is where I took a fistful of Red Vines and shoved them in my mouth – Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! (Laugh) Again, something that I would never imagine eating otherwise – IronNutrition is a strange thing.
After this section was another crazy-huge climb, that went on for a couple miles. (If you haven’t already, click on the link above, and then click on “Elevation” – you can see it for yourself.) I got to the top of that one, and once again WHOOOPED (I actually lost my voice by the next day). I looked back and I didn’t see Melissa, and was afraid that she might have blown a tire, but I knew that there was SAG out there for us. I crested the hill, and started down the other side.
OK, if you haven’t done it already, you REALLY have to pull up the map now (smile). Because Mile 31 was the Big Black Wall of Death. Just go look at the Elevation Chart (I’ll wait).
As I crested the hill I was looking down into my Bento Box, and I looked up and – seriously – all I saw was a WALL of black tarmac. The hill that was on the “other side” of my downhill was so steep, and so much higher than what I was coming down, that it looked like a wall. I gasped, geared all the way into my hardest gear, and tucked into as aerodynamic a shape as I could figure out how to make. My chin was nearly on my handlebars. I SCREAMED down that hill (hit 40 MPH at the highest). As I hit the bottom of the “V” I kept pedalling like a demon, but the hill was so steep I couldn’t even gear down through my gears one at a time – I had to use the “3 gears at a time” sweep that Angeline has to keep pedaling. I also, thankfully, was going fast enough and had the presence of mind to get my right foot unclipped while I kept pedaling for all I was worth. By the time I was about 100 yards from the top, I was going so slowly, the road almost looked as if it wasn’t moving. I just kept staring at the tarmac, coaching myself under my breath with “JUST….KEEP….GOING!” My heart rate was over 190. It was crazy. Seriously crazy. And then – suddenly – I was at the top.
I actually just stopped, stood there, stretched my back, and looked back DOWN that monster as I had some GU and popped some salt tabs. I wish someone had taken a photograph of that hill. It was like nothing else. And I DID it!
Now to talk about my Earth Angel. There were a few more rollers, and then a climb that ended in a 4-way road “connection” at the top. Josh (speed demon) had passed me on the climb up to that spot, and as he was wearing a red jersey, it was pretty easy to follow him. As I said, there were 4 roads – one straight ahead, two off to the left and right, and one slightly ahead and to the right – which was a STEEP downhill. As I got to the top of the hill, there was a big semi parked a little ways along the “straight ahead” road, with a guy talking on his cell phone. I smiled at him, and followed Josh down the steep road.
About 100 feet along, I hear this voice SCREAMING from the top of the road: “GIRL! GIRL!” I put on the brakes HARD (it was very steep) and of course faced that “teetering moment” where I wasn’t sure if I would get my foot unclipped or if I was going to hit the dirt. Luckily I got unclipped, and I looked up and to my left. The trucker had LEAPT out of his cab, and was looking down at me from the upper road. He has the phone in one hand (as I’m unclipping/stopping I hear him say “Just a sec!” in an agitated voice) and he says, “Girl! All the other bikes, they went THIS way…” (Pointing down the road he was parked on.) I let out a HUGE sigh of relief, and actually had to get off my bike to turn it around and push it back up the hill (it was that steep). As I’m getting to the top, he looks perplexed and says in an agitated voice, “What are we going to do about the DUDE?” (Josh was nowhere to be seen – he had flown down that hill.) I smiled and said “He’s a really good cycling dude, he will figure it out and come back up, I’m sure.” I asked what he was doing up there (in a huge semi with a flatbed) and he said he had been “combing the hills” for a “roller” that had apparently broken down. When he explained what it looked like, I said that I definitely had not passed it on the way up, and showed him the road directions I had followed. He thanked me for saving him the time of going that way. I thanked him for saving my LIFE!
our Special Needs bags, waiting for us
The Special Needs stop was around Mile 55 – and we were going to come back around to it around Mile 85 or so, too. I pulled in and WOW, what an amazing experience! “The Franks” (Frankie, one of our honorees who is an Ironman triathlete himself, his mom Francine and his dad Frank Sr.) – as well as Frank’s girlfriend Meghan, Teammate Janice’s handsome son and friend – all manned this stop and it was unbelievable. Frank Senior had cold wet towels for our neck. The boys offered watermelon. Someone was there with almost your every need. All I could think of is how a NASCAR pit crew acts. I just stood there, took off my CamelBak, and said things like “oh, I need water” and “does anyone have a plastic baggie?” and people leapt to action. THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS! YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE!
(My favorite part was that Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida were sitting under a tree, Mr. Yoshida was eating a sandwich out of a ziplock. When I asked if anyone had a ziplock, Mrs. Yoshida whipped it off the bottom of his sandwich and handed it to me before he realized what was happening. I laughed out loud!)
Just as I was about to leave, Mel came into the stop. She stopped her bike, took a breath, and just started sobbing. I got back off my bike and Frankie was right there to hold it. I think that it would have fell to the ground if he hadn’t “caught” it, I was so concerned. I went over, and just gave her a big hug, and told her how great she was doing, that she was there, it was going to be OK, etc. I actually wanted to stay, but the Franks said that they would take care of her. I gave her a last big hug, and also told them to give her anything that I had in MY Special Needs bag, if there was something that I had that she wanted. I was really concerned. That’s my ‘Lil’ Lady” there! When I got back on the bike and shoved off, she was off her bike and having some water in a lawn chair and looked ok. (I am not sure what happened from there, I didn’t see her until the very end, and was so exhausted I forgot to ask.)
photo at Special Needs - heading back out
We turned back onto Main Street, and SOMEHOW I had heard that the “out and back” loop that we were heading to was “mostly flat” though the first part was a “bad road.” OK, no. As Paula said later, this bad road was so bad it was like having “two flat tires, and dragging a sofa.” I actually felt like it was going to shake my shoulders out of my sockets (and I think I left some fillings on the road!)
And, the out-and-back was anything but flat. Well – it was rollers – but from about Mile 77 to Mile 82 it was BRU-TAL. I was riding with Susie at this point, on a tiny thin rutted road, single track, with a big drop-off to the right. (We actually had to let a car pass at one point – that was a real trick.) The coaches had put signs going up the hill – they said “GO (name)” on them, one for everyone. That was great. I hadn’t seen that at the 1/2 Iron/Wildflower, because of course I wasn’t there – and I loved it. The only problem was that only about 8 names had gone by (I was looking for myself, Susie, Maria, Mel, Patricia, Paula) and none of the names I was looking for had “happened” – and the road flattened out a TINY bit and the signs stopped. I realized that meant that we were going to have MORE uphills – with more signs – and I audibly groaned! Sure enough – that’s what happened – it just went up, up, up and at each of the “worst” bits, there were the signs. Once I had seen everyone’s, I started counting back in my head to other teammates – I was SO DONE with that road, that I was hoping that there were no more names/signs (e.g., no more brutal uphill cranks)!
I got to the top of this hill, and had a nice (though controlled – bad road) downhill to the bottom. At this point, I realized that my computer was somewhat off – about a mile or so. The route rolled along a straight highway area, and I actually had to stop at a woman selling baskets of flowers at the side of the road to ask if I had missed the right turn I was looking for. (Her dog was VERY excited to lick my legs – mmmmmmm salty.) I was definitely feeling the ride in my Nether Parts, and was really glad I had included a Butt’r in my Special Needs, which I surreptitiously applied on the side of the road every score of miles or so.
Rocky and I were trading places on the road for a while. At 6 hours (when my CamelBak ran dry for the 2nd time) I pulled over in the shade to pour my two bottles into the CamelBak, using a house’s big garbage can as a ‘convenient table.’ It had taken me some time to convince myself to stop – I definitely was “talking to myself” and had to “convince” myself that, yes, I DID need to get that liquid easily accessible! Rocky rolled by slowly to be sure I was OK, and smiled at my “banquet table.” I actually contemplated throwing my empty GU gels (that were tucked up the leg of my bike shorts) into the garbage, but I could see the curtains moving in the little house and was afraid that I might get shot if I did that. Yeah, this is Lake County…
Somewhere along this stretch Teammate Kathryn (who was SAG’ing) caught up to me in her truck, and asked if I “wanted a present.” Hell yeah, whatever it was, I wanted it. I pulled over at the next shoulder, and she put an ice cold water balloon down the back of my shirt and popped it. You Know You’re Iron When the greatest thing that has ever happened in your entire life is a water balloon down your jersey! (Thank you Kathryn!)
The road ultimately wound up back at Special Needs, where I finished my coconut water and Pringles, and mis-heard that the remaining 15 or so miles were “dead flat, along the lake.” By this time I also realized that whereas I had applied a ton of sunblock everywhere on my BODY, I had forgotten my FACE – so I had a big white raccoon mask from my glasses and the rest was sunburn! (Note to self: SUN CREAM ON FACE!)
The final 15 miles were just brutal. I actually started talking to myself, talking to my bike, complaining, b*tching, moaning, and definitely with a full case of Athlete’s Tourettes. Every roller I would hit would be preceded by me screaming “OH COME ON NOW!” At one point where the road ran right next to the Highway, I thought I was completely offtrack (I mean, we were supposed to be “on the lake” on the way home)! But just as I would start to despair, I would see another Ironteam road arrow, and that would hold me until I would get to feeling anxiously lost again.
Susie soaking in the lake
I finally rolled into the Finish at 8 hours 13 minutes (7 hours 45 total rolling time). I felt good about my time, until I realized I was one of the almost last ones back! That’s when I found out that a number of folks hadn’t ridden the whole course. I went straight from the bike down to the lake, for a “ice bath soak” with Susie.
Maria was the last one in – she’d gone from a personal max bike miles of 60 to ONE HUNDRED! (She hadn’t been able to make the 80 miler that we did as a team.) So awesome! We all got out on the road to cheer her in. That’s the best part about being on the Team – even if you’re later than others (that’s me, always, in our Marin/Napa group – they are all amazing athletes and so I’m forever the tail on group bike rides or runs), everyone is there to cheer you in and give you an “Atta Girl.”
Maria and me
I got Maria down to the lake to do a soak – though Belinda snapped this picture of us before we headed down. Yes, we are the “long and the short of it” and that’s a fact!
After everyone was in and folks were squared away, it was barbecue time. Chris and Meenu got the Spirit Cape, and Jen Jay read my email nominating him. I was SO glad that they got it. Chris has been so fantastic in supporting everyone (I’m sure it’s not just me!) – he always always ALWAYS has an “Atta Girl” for me, whether it’s in the Swim, or smoking by me on the bike, or on the run. I realized it at Del Valle the week before, when we were doing the “out and backs.” He passed me not one but NINE times, and each and every one he had a heartfelt “Go Girl!” for me and looked me in the eyes and slapped me a “low 5.” That is the kind of Spirit that deserves the Spirit Cape. And though Meenu Facebook’d later that she thought it was funny that she “got the Spirit Cape when she’s not on the team,” I posted back that her amazing Meenu Bars are all IN the Team from yummy SAG stops she has womanned, so that meant she was definitely “a part” of the Team, too!
After the Barbecue we were back off to the hotel, and though we were exhausted, we washed out our wetsuits, swim suits, etc. and got packed up, so that we would be ready the next morning to throw our stuff in the car and go without having to come back to the hotel. We also had a glass of Vinho Verde, and Maria caged some silverware off Jim to eat her doggie bag of pasta from the night before (shades of Spring Break!) We talked about our experience, and read more of her Inspirational book!
Though we were up a little late with the packing, etc., we CRASHED asleep. In fact, I didn’t even hear my alarm – Maria woke me up from a dead sleep (thank goodness) and got me up and out!
I put my old pair of shoes into my Run Special Needs bag, because my masseuse had surmised that “perhaps” the fact that I had switched to New Balance from Asics (which I had always run in) had caused the hip issue. I had purchased the New Balance because they were 1/2 price on sale – but when I was at Sports Basement to pick up the prescription swim goggles, I bought the Asics that I always run in, and decided to use them for the Run. I hadn’t run in them at ALL, so having the New Balance in the Special Needs bag was a “just in case” move (I wound up being fine). I also had the ubiquitous Pringles in there and coconut water. Need to add Red Vines, as that wound up being something I picked up at the water stop!
The run was to be 16 miles or 3 hours – whichever came first. From the 2nd water stop Frankie’s girlfriend Meghan ran with me because not only am I tortoise slow, but also I had my “Tunes” with me! She wound up having a lifetime personal best mileage (I think about 7 miles).
The one thing I discovered, however, is that I just can NOT run with someone. I get engaged in talking – and I get off my nutrition plan. I started to feel bad, and looked at my watch and realized I was FORTY-FIVE MINUTES off my plan. I kind of spazzed out. I reached the Yoshida’s SAG stop at 3 hours – which was 1/8 mile from the end (so 1/4 mile total out and back). Though we were supposed to turn around at 3 hours, I wanted to get to the end (and Meghan concurred). So with a fistful of Red Vines in my hand, I got to the turn around and headed back for home.
Sedonia caught up with us when we got back to the Yoshida’s water stop, and started running with us and turning folks around who hadn’t quite reached it yet. Apparently a number of people actually turned around at the 2nd stop (the Franks’). I did my best to catch myself back up to my Nutrition, and was immensely grateful for the coconut water in my Special Needs, which IMMEDIATELY made me feel better.
By about 4 miles out, I started to whine. Sedonia was running with me and Coach Simon sometimes (Meghan had peeled off). I was like a little kid. Since I don’t have a Garmin, I was all “How many more miles do we have? How much more?” In the back of my head I was proud of myself because I was still running (I ran the whole way – I didn’t do run/walk because Coach Simon asked me to see how that went), and it was over 2-1/4 hours of running, which was the longest I had run for well over a dozen years (which had been Del Valle, the week before). I was a big pathetic baby whiner. Sedonia kept telling me to keep my feet moving, and to “Be The Tortoise.” (smile)
Then my little handheld boombox came on with the “Weem-O-Way” song (from Lion King). Sedonia and I started singing it and it was just so silly, it lightened up my spirits. We caught up to Chris, who was also not feeling great. He said to us, “Were you guys just singing ‘Weem-O-Way’?” It made him laugh, too – he had heard it around the bend of the lake road!
I had REALLY decided to “give up” when we reached the Winery that is about 1/2 mile from the end – but Sedonia said “Don’t. This is where you learn that what you think is rock bottom is just a ledge – and you have more. Dig deep.” So I did – and ran in. Oh my lord though, I felt like crap (I was 2nd to last). A lot of folks were congratulating me, etc. but I just felt angry and evil. Patricia was funny, she started walking over, saw my face, and sort of “shuffled folks” away as I opened my van to get out of my shoes and socks and get some stuff to go soak in the lake in. She could see that it was NOT the time to approach!
Go Team, IronTeam!
My 16 mile run time was 3:21. Not the fastest, but Strong and Steady, as Sedonia was saying. We had another lake soak, then a “Go Team” together . . . and I actually hung around for a while because I couldn’t face driving home. I was sad because BFF Leslie was in San Francisco from Colorado with her family, and I had been SURE I could catch up with her after the event and get together (and see her girls, who I haven’t seen since they were TINY) before they flew off to Hawaii. HA HA HA. I completely underestimated the depth of exhaustion that I was going to feel. Wow.
So – that’s my story. Monday was a rest day – today (Tuesday) I have now spent like 3 HOURS writing this – and I have to get some work done and am doing a speaking engagement in Menlo Park. I’m supposed to do an hour and a half Swim and an hour Bike, but I think I will go down and get on the Bike and save the Swim until tomorrow. Had to get the story down – before it was just too daunting to write it all out!
I go through periods of being great at blogging, then suddenly BLAM and it’s a fortnight later and I haven’t done a thing. Those who know I really was a podcaster (and haven’t podcast since December!) must REALLY be wondering what happened…(Actually, my computer blew up in December and I haven’t re-installed all the audio software. Yet. Soon. Swear.)
Lake Del Valle
The week involved dealing with the tight hip issue, plus a couple of cocktail-laden evenings (Heaven’s Dog with Mr. Martini and H on Wednesday, then mac nut martinis with H on Friday night – even though I knew I had to get up Saturday to go train. Bad.) And MORE RAIN. Teammate Sara and I posted “Rain Rain Go Away!” simultaneously on Facebook – this is getting some kind of ridiculous!
Saturday the 29th, the Team convened at Del Valle for an Open Water Swim and a Run. We were to swim as “many times as we could” in an hour, and then run “as far as we could” for 2 hours 15 minutes. (Though there was a bit of an issue there – Coach Mike told us it was only 80 minutes, but when we got to the head of the trail, Coach Simon said that yes, it was 2:15. Ah, communication!)
Maria and me - the long and the short of it
After the usual milling around at the cars, we trooped down to the water. I was already in, when Coach Dave shouted out that “All Louisville participants” (that would be me and Maria) were instead to jump in off the dock. So out of the water I came, and splash off the dock!
The swim was pretty uneventful. Coach Sedonia had talked about drafting, and so during my second “circuit” of the swim, I tucked in off Iron Phil. I was definitely surprised at how much less energy it takes if you draft! I had never quite been able to get the “hang” of it, and this time I did. It was very cool. Little did I know that Melissa was tucked in behind me – we were like a little freight train! (Or a mama whale with calves.) I did two and a half times around the circuit (1.5 miles) in the hour that we were in the water.
mama whale Sandy and calf Melissa getting out of the water
We hopped out and dried off (and some folks were helped out of their wetsuits – don’t you love the photograph below, of my teammates?) and then there was a bit of a mix-up, as I mentioned, about how far we were to run. The calendar had said 2 hours and 15 minutes, so I had mixed up 2 bottles plus some extra “powder” assuming that was the case. Then Coach Mike told us that No, it was just 80 minutes. I (silly me) left the extra bottle at the car, just bringing my full bottle and the powder. Well of course once we got back to the dock, it WAS 2:15!
We ran a hilly cross-country course out and back and out and back and out and back and out and…(laugh) for 2:15. I had my “tunes” on the little hand-held boombox which made it more bearable. Iron Mel was still having some issues with her hamstring and I realized she had the keys to the car – on one of the “passes” I asked her if she could give the key to Simon to get my other bottle out of the van. It didn’t quite work out as planned, because both Simon and Mel went to the van to get it. (I had wanted to keep Mel from having to stop.) When I finished that circuit, they weren’t quite back yet, so I ran out to meet them, traded the bottle to Simon, and got back to it. Simon said that it was the first time he had seen “Marine Sandy” in action – I guess I had my game face on! I felt very good. I did 12ish miles in the 2:15 over the cross-country hills and dales.
Team Soak
After the run, we came back and had a “Team Soak” in the lake. We each were asked to discuss what we were dealing with – everything from balance, no time, fear of failure, you name it. It was a good, and bonding, experience. We all hit In-and-Out Burger on the way back (and I wonder why I have gained poundage back!), and then Mel and I had our usual “Abs Exercise” of laughter at all sorts of things on the way home!
The next day was a 30 mile bike ride, which H and I did together. Right out the gate, I had a back wheel flat (at the valve, so no chance of patching it), so with H “hovering” and itching to help, I changed it myself. I was so excited! My only issue was my “spatial relations problem” of trying to figure out which side of the chain is “up” when the bike is upside down, to get the wheel back in. I did OK though that is when H was “itching to help” the hardest!
We did the Paradise loop, coming through Ross to Redwood High, up and over the highway and around Paradise, then down to Tiburon. We stopped at the yacht club, and they were having a big barbecue for Memorial Day, which we “indulged” in – including a couple of big fat hot fudge and butterscotch sundaes! Getting back on the bike and doing the “return” 15 miles was not the prettiest. We went back through Mill Valley and up and over past Horse Hill. We both commented that while the climb was nasty, it seemed a teeny tiny bit easier than it had been before (both of us have walked that hill in times past). Coming down off the hill and past Marin Joe’s, we cranked it up to 40 miles an hour – the road was newly paved and dead straight, with no traffic.
Go Team, IronTeam!
Exhilarating while also being scary!
I practiced my new “trick” – suggested by my friend Sharyn – for the uphills. I have been having a heck of a time unclipping on uphills. I only have one hill speed (slow) and when I “poop out” I’m going so slowly I can’t get my foot unclipped before I fall over. (I fell 2x at the Wine Country Century.) Sharyn suggested that, when faced with a hill that looked like it had “unclip potential” (e.g., that I might have to walk to the crest of it), that I unclip that foot at the BOTTOM of the hill. I did this on the Horse Hill hill, and it worked like a charm. I think that folks who have only ridden with clipless pedals in their biking “careers” would find this insane – but as most of my training has been with baskets (where you can’t really “pull up” anyway), this was a fantastic way to start to conquer my “falling fear” going uphill. I am still able to pedal “around” with my left foot, and to pedal “down” with my right – which is also ready to be PUT down should I actually need to stop and walk. I was super glad she had suggested it, and hoped that it would work just as well during the upcoming 3/4 Iron the next weekend!
This weekend, my “Tennessee Teammate” Missy went and rode the Ironman Louisville course. She stated that it was rollers – basically NO flats, but not a lot of “horrible hills” either. One of the things that she mentioned was that she was constantly gear-shifting, and that she’s going to change out the gearing on her bike and have it set up for rollers, not really flats at all.
I have been thanking my lucky stars about Angeline having handlebar-shifters. (Yes, her name has morphed into “Angeline” and I have 3 songs by the same name on my iPod now, just for riding (smile).) It’s fascinating to me how much of a difference it makes in my riding. I didn’t particularly think it would, and really resisted it (like the clipless pedals, which I’m still trying to decide about in re Friend or Foe). Vlad, my previous bike, of course, had downtube shifters. I realize now that I would basically be too “lazy” to “fine tune” my gearing as I was riding – since taking my hand off the handlebars, “finding” the gear (don’t forget – no “click” to change) and all that was just a lot more effort than I would perceive it was worth. So I wouldn’t do it. This was especially true if I was fighting with the wind, which made taking a hand off the handlebars seem a bit dangerous. Now, I find that I’m constantly “tinkering” with what gear I’m in, to keep my cadence up. It’s a whole different ballgame.
Tennessee Teammate Missy after her ride at the IM Luh'vul course - Go Team, IronTeam!
I found the other day when I went for a pretty short ride with H that I do the same thing when I have my water in bottles! When I have the Camelbak, I happily sip along. With bottles, I only drink when I really think about it and want to go through the “effort” of reaching down to get the bottle (and put it back!). I wound up FAR more dehydrated than when I use the Camelbak.
I’m sort of bummed to find out that IM Louisville is a bunch of rollers. As I have progressed, I have found that I’m VERY strong on flats, but I suck at uphills. I’m fine on downhills, not super speedy, but not super scaredy-cat either. Paula, my teammate with whom I rode the Marin Metric Century, is doing IML and is going to ROCK it, because she is a hill maven. It’s the oddest thing – when she gets on the flats, she SUCKS. We laugh that, together, we make one perfect cyclist and one awful one.
So what happened for me during this “Recovery” week?
Thursday I did the Run Marker. I was running around doing “Sonoma County Errands” all day, and so did the 10K/25 laps at the Petaluma High track. Brought back training for the sprint triathlon in the late 90s when I lived on my farm. I did the Marker in 1:07:42. I couldn’t have taken another step – which is what I understood we were supposed to do. It was pretty mind-numbing going around and around, so I broke it into 5 sets of 5 laps – funny how we can trick our brain!
I had “sexy phase” photos done on Friday. Karen Schneider took them, and it was a blast. She’s going to offer a special for “sexy phase” to my TNT Teammates – I can’t wait to see how the photos came out. I certainly had fun!
Saturday, I actually did the 2 hour run that was on the schedule this week. (I have been moving things around – and didn’t get to the pool at all). H and I had a sleep deprivation catch-up morning and didn’t get up until something crazy like 11:00. I ran to my gym and back to see how long it would take (I think it’s about 10 miles) and it took around 2:30, with me having a “pit stop” at the gym and running into a friend for a quick chat. It was a lovely day – came home and did some gardening with H, and generally lolled around.
Sunday H and I did the Bike Marker. It was odd, because it was supposed to be a Team/Mentor marker, but it just didn’t come together. Melissa wound up doing it herself earlier, then H and I did it a bit later in the day (again, we slept until like 10:00!).
I did the marker set (5 miles) in 17:44 – it was super windy for the “out” part of the ride and the first ½ of the marker, but WHAT a pretty day. My average heartrate was 171 – yeah, I know, “If yours was that fast, you would be having a heart attack” (Laugh) Our marker sets are definitely on a rolling “terrain” (from Nicasio around Lake Laganitas to Sir Francis Drake Blvd, and back) – I have to get it down into my lowest gear a couple times. The idea is that you ride out to Sir Francis Drake, then from Drake back along the reservoir 5 miles is the Marker. The total is just about 20 miles.
At the end of the 5 miles on the Marker is a fast straightaway by the lake and when we hit that, the wind had died down and I had a pounding song on my “Camelbak radio” (laugh) and so I FLEW (for me). I had it up at 23 mph on the flat. I was panting but had a grand old time. The fun part (evil me) is that H couldn’t keep up. He would pass me on the hills (I really REALLY suck on uphills) but I am a flats demon. We averaged 17 MPH on the whole ride – though I know that on some of the uphills, I was down in single digits. Not bad, considering the wind and all. We went home “the long way” from Nicasio because it was such a pretty day (out and down Drake), ate brunch at the Two Bird Cafe in San Geronimo, and then nosed around an Open House and a few nurseries to get some new plants for the garden. A nice, relaxing weekend.
I have been sandbagging on the Swim Marker, so going to do that this afternoon (the 5 x 500s).
You Know You’re Iron When you say the phrase “it was only 10 miles” related to running and “it was only 20 miles” related to biking, and you mean it.
P.S.: I did the Swim Marker set – yay! So it was 5×500 without a break (after a warmup). My times were:
Yeah ok so I was pissed to see when I tapped lap-3 over on my watch to lap-4 I was getting up towards 11:00 and I was determined not to do a split over 10:59!! I didn’t quite mean to negative split so hard btwn the 2 🙂
It’s an odd week for me – I have a ton of things that I have to do (none of them $-making, sadly!) and a lot of running around. This makes it hard to Swim, or even really to do things like the 10K Run marker. I have been able to get a couple of Runs in – what I would call “recovery runs” e.g. about 45 minutes or so – and a few Spins (again, about 45 minutes) – but unfortunately so far, no can do on Swimming. If only I had a pool in the back yard!
Yesterday I met with a client who has been my client for about 5 years – and we have never met in person! We met over in Point Richmond and afterwards, I went for a run through the “ferry point tunnel” out and back. It was a great run, though it was drizzling. I didn’t even know that part of Point Richmond existed. When I got home, H was down in the “studio” (a/k/a garage) and so I spun for a few miles.
I think I will be able to do the Swim Marker tomorrow late afternoon – I have a business acquaintance who is a professional photographer, and she wants to do photos of me in my tri stuff. I’m really excited. That means, however, that today I’m going to go get my shaggy mess of hair cut, which means going up to Sonoma . . . so I’m fitting in “Sonoma things” (like seeing friends that live up there, visit to the acupuncturist, dog in for a checkup, etc.) Once again, I will have my running shoes – so a little “active recovery run” might be in order. We’ll see – I don’t want to affect my “do” too much (laugh!)
At least last week on Sunday I did the 4 mile/4 mile Run, and the 2000 yard Swim, and I did keep the times. So that gives me SOME idea of “where I am.” I don’t think I have improved my times that much, but I’m pretty “steady on” with them. That doesn’t surprise me. When I was doing Olympic Distance triathlons long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away (my 20s – ha!) I was never particularly faster than I am right now in the Run/Swim. I am now a LOT stronger on the Bike, however, because I didn’t have a clue how to really train for that “back then.” I never get particularly faster in the Run/Swim – I just get happier. (smile.)
Well, off to get my “do” done – and get a little recovery Jog in somewhere along the way.
On Saturday, Maria (M-Dot) Afan and I worked Oysterfest for LLS. Basically, that means working from morning to night pouring Guinness-branded beers, with tips going to the Leukemia Society. It was a SUPER cold morning, so I visited my Favorite Shopping Palace (Sports Basement) to pick up some arm warmers before hitting Fort Mason. Maria put this photo on Facebook, and one of her friends asked if the “black and tans” were the drinks, or Maria in the arm warmers! Loved it.
My bartending skills were definitely put to the test as the day wore on. WOW there were a lot of people, for a cold and foggy day! It could be because there were headliner bands (such as Cake) playing. At one point I wound up “womanning” the taps myself – meaning I had about 5 pints going at once. SO iron! The frustrating bit is that the tips that are received all go into a big “pot” and are then “divvied out” – and MANY of the people pretty much either stood around or didn’t even work (e.g., didn’t put on the staff shirts, and just took off). Although the gal running the whole thing for LLS “cautioned” that if you “were caught” doing this that you would not get your portion, OF COURSE no one was really watching. This does not take away from the HUGE Thank Yous that are due to everyone who threw dinero into our Tip Boxes – you are making a difference and maybe your $$ will be what tramples blood cancers once and for all!
me taking my one 10 minute break, under the truck.
OK, I should get off my disgruntled soapbox…Well, one more thing. I think Maria said that last year, after working the same amount of time (over 8 hours) that she got $100 as her “cut.” I am not sure what I was expecting, but I guess that I thought that there would be about 1/2 the volunteers (which would probably have been about the number of volunteers that actually worked, if our booth was any example of the other beer booths), and that we would get 5x $100. “Bitter, party of one…” OK I will shut up. Maria took some cute photos though so here they are (smile).
Our team did their 80-mile Vineman course ride on Saturday. I woke up on Sunday sore from all the standing on Saturday, and sore “mentally” for not having done the ride. Maria and I had received an email at the end of OysterFest (and, of course, the end of that 80-mile ride for our fellow “otter swimmers”) that Coach Mike’s excursion to Pacific Grove for an open water swim in Monterey and long run was cancelled due to Vineman Ride Exhaustion. I had a seriously Lazy Mental State going, and felt “weird” about being so sore from basically “pulling taps” all day (and not “really” exercising). However, I got myself together after Maria and I had a little “pep talk” with one another, and did an 8 mile Run, and then a 2000 yard Swim. The Run had been switched from an 8-miler to “do an hour and a 1/2, of which 45 minutes is at your Tempo pace,” but it is a lot easier for me (since I don’t have a Garmin) to pace out a set of miles in the car, and then go for that. (I can’t figure out my “Tempo pace” otherwise, because I have no way of knowing how far I have gone in a set amount of minutes.) I ran out China Camp from the JCC (my pool) – the first 4 miles I did in 45:14, which IS about my Tempo pace from the V-DOT chart (my Tempo pace is 11:57). I took a “pit stop” and then came back the 4 miles, and did that in 47:44. My legs were definitely heavier on the way back. I was having fun though – listening to my “toonz” and actually singing which is always a BAD thing. Some guys going past me with their windows down and their muddy bikes up on racks from a ride (mountain biking was basically “born” at China Camp) passed me while I was singing and laughed and gave me a “thumbs up.” As in “You go girl, don’t worry about what ANYONE thinks.” (smile)
The run was one of those glorious ones that don’t happen often for me – when I feel like my legs are sort of on “autopilot” and just carrying me forward. I had that a few times when I was training for the Big Sur Marathon – I feel strong, balanced, and like my legs are almost “robotically” moving the “top half” of me towards the destination. It’s hard to put it to words, but I just love it. I don’t even have to think about leaning forward, pacing, or the like – it just “happens” and I get to “go along for the ride.” I was super happy. Yippee!
"carbo loading" (beer and gel!) during my 10 minute break - I thought I'd have time to get food, but no go. Thank goodness I brought a Hammer Gel!
I got back to the JCC and transitioned into the pool, and did the 2000 yards. I decided to pretty much take it easy – just plug it out. My arms were really sore, and I realized it was actually probably from (wo)manning the taps the day before! I did the 2000 yards in 48:32 – so each of the three “sets” – the two 4-mile run “sets” and the 2000-yard swim “set” – was pretty much the same time (right around 45ish minutes).
Monday was supposed to be the 80-mile ride, with Maria and Coach Mike, but as rain was forecasted, Mike was kind enough to instead set us up with a Triple Brick. (For a definition of a “brick” follow Maria’s link, above – she talks about it.)
Maria got to my house somewhere around 9:30 a.m., and we got our nutrition together, and our “timing.” I wanted to be sure that we didn’t have to go back up to the house (as we were doing the Spin down in the “workout studio” – a/k/a garage) except for me to take Jake (my dog) inside when we would go for the Run (he’s gotten too old to come along at speed, poor darlin’), and to have “potty breaks.” We were both a bit “math challenged” on the nutrition front, which was sort of funny. I thought I was the only one who couldn’t “multiply by 2” in my head. (smile) Once we got it all sorted,
we plugged my iPod into the stereo system that H had rigged up down there, and started our “journey.”
Here is the workout:
Pedal Mechanics Sustainable Power.
Clock Time:
0:00 Begin Easy Warmup
9:00 One Leg Drills begin RIGHT leg (easy gear)
We don't need no stinkin' Garmin: With a heart rate monitor watch AND a chrono watch AND a cadence meter...and a bottle of Thermalytes & a sweat rag...anything is possible, right?
10:00 Both Legs (1’RI @ 90+ RPM)
11:00 Left Leg
12:00 Both
13:00 Right
14:00 Both
15:00 Left
16:00 Both
17:00 Right
18:00 Both
19:00 Left
20:00 5′ Recovery @80-85+ RPM
SUSTAINABLE POWER INTERVALS
(Lvl 6-8 Effort 90+ rpm)
3×10′ efforts w/5′ Recovery between each effort
25:00 First 10′ SP Interval @ Lvl 6-7
(zone 3- Tempo LT chart)
35:00 5′ Recovery, easy gear 85-90+ rpm
40:00 second 10′ SP interval @ Lvl 6-7
(zone 3 – Tempo)
50:00 5′ Recovery, easy gear 85-90+ rpm
55:00 Third 10′ SP Interval @ lvl 6-7
(zone 3- tempo)
1:05:00 10′ Run @ Level 3 effort
1:15:00 Repeat Spin from time 0:00 (3x total)
view of the rain, from the "workout studio"in the "workout studio" - yeah, sexy sweaty hair I got there. I know. Totally Vogue.
It was tough, but it was also fun. We got “Workout Tourettes” by the 3rd go-around on the Spin, but in general, we pretty much kept it together. (My bike computer registered that I covered 46.6 miles in the Spin for the session – well, Dist-1 is 46.6 and Dist-2 is 63, I have to believe I didn’t zero it out. I worked HARD though, one way or another.)
When we went for the Run, it was raining, but not particularly cold or windy (except the 3rd time around, when I was videotaping Maria – you can hear the wind blowing in the microphone). Maria did manage to find out that her “waterproof” jacket was actually just a “windbreaker” – when she came back from the 2nd round totally soaked!
The road from my house is pretty hilly – as in, I can’t actually make it up the hills myself on the bike. So though the runs were only “5 minutes out and 5 minutes back,” it was definitely not a cakewalk. On the last run, when we were definitely in “loopy stage,” we filmed ourselves – here you go:
finishing the bike part of the 3rd brick. Oh yeah. Sex-say.
In all, quite the weekend! Today (Tuesday), writing this, I feel VERY fatigued but, masochistically, in a ‘good way.’ I feel (as Maria said in her blog) as if I really “earned the burn” during this workout. I think we kept each other going – and whether it was me shouting “ONE MORE MINUTE” or Maria shouting “KEEP IT AT 155,” we ground it out (in a good way). Every now and again I would look at Maria and think of the lyrics to John Lennon’s song Imagine, “You may think I’m crazy…But I’m not the only one…”
One of our many You Know You’re Iron When learnings from Monday – You Know You’re Iron When you are “steaming” – from the INSIDE and from the OUTSIDE! Also – as Maria noted on her blog – we staged all these photos (except the 2 videos of course) AFTER our workout – no sandbagging by these grrls!
Postscript: Just got the notification that Oysterfest raised $10,662.06 (or $400 more than last year) for LLS. Which is GREAT. That works out to $90 each. Oy. I gotta not be bitter about folks who did not work. I gotta. I gotta. I…maybe it’s time for a beer (laugh).
Me, steaming (the "defocussed part" above my neck/shoulders is steam coming off my back)
This is so fantastic. A few quotes from it: “…Where I excel is ridiculous, sickening work ethic. There is no easy way about it – your talent will fail you if you’re not skilled – if you don’t dedicate yourself to being better every single day…The only thing that’s distinctly different about me is that I’m willing to die on a treadmill – you might have more talent than me…but if we both get on a treadmill, you’re either getting off or I’m going to die trying….You don’t start by saying ‘I’m going to build the biggest baddest wall’ you start by saying ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid’ and then ultimately you will have a wall….Being ‘realistic’ is the biggest road to mediocrity.”
…so, last week “started” with the Wine Country Century – which pretty much just sucked all around – and the China Camp run, which actually wasn’t so bad since Kathryn and I got to share the time together. It’s nice to do a “buddy” thing where I didn’t feel my buddy was just treading water waiting for me to catch up. OK of course Kathryn had taken a header so that might have slowed her down – but it still felt good not to be “cheered in” from last place, alone!
Monday: Monday was Rest Day – and I definitely took advantage of it! Unfortunately sort of got off my Eating Plan – feeling sorry for myself and hurting is not a good combo for me, and I was still processing the Century. Lots of pep emails with Maria M-Dot helped to screw my head back on straight. Thanks M!!!
Tuesday: Tuesday was Swim and Brick day – got that done, blogged about it…of course that morning I was thinking “It’s GOTTA still be Monday [rest day] SOMEWHERE in the world…”
Wednesday: This was a toughie – as I blogged about, I had a bunch of meetings (trying to get some $$ here – man, the economy sucks), and when it came to fitting the workout in, well, there just wasn’t enough time to do it all. So instead, I ratcheted up the intensity, and did 1/2 of the prescribed workout. It was TOUGH but I felt GREAT actually. Did the Run on the treadmill at the gym, and was feeling strong and really committed. Kept dialing the speed up and up – got to the point where I was running at less than 10 minutes per mile! That’s CRAZY for me. The interesting part was that when I dialed it back to walk a bit and cool down, I could walk at the “treadmill numbers” that I usually run at. This reminds me of the Progressive Cycling Spin Workouts that we do – you start at like 80 RPM/90 RPM tradeoffs, then you go to 85/95, 90/100, 95/105 and such. By the time you’re pumping out those “greater than 100 RPMs,” when you get back to 80, which feels fast at the beginning of the workout, it’s like a “cooldown”!
Thursday: This was supposed to be a Track day, but I ran with Sharyn (that’s the Mechanic’s Special blog, right before this one). Some time during this week, I was talking with my friend Lizzie (who is a Beach Body coach) about getting more Strength/Stretching/Abs in, and she put me on an alternating P90X XStretch/Ab Ripper X routine for the week. The best part about it is that she checks in on me every day – and I can “tell her” when I’m working out through the WOWY Online Gym – you send an “invitation” to “buddies” and then they can cheer you on, “join” you and the like. I had a very solitary and frustrating experience with Beach Body before (which I’d joined to get “Atta Girl” training_ ) this was when I was trying to get out of my “haven’t worked out since 2006 funk” last summer. So I’m cautiously optimistic this is going to get me FINALLY motivated to get the other non-Swim/Bike/Run workouts in that I have been sandbagging.
The best part of the day was Maria M-Dot emailing me to tell me that I had reached my fundraising minimum (by $4.16!) YIPPEE!!! Now I don’t have to “worry” any more. Thank you thank you, donors, you ROCK!
Friday: Swim workout:
Warm Up: 300 yards easy
(total warmup 300 yards)
Drills – 3×50 yards each drill, as follows:
25 kick on back/25 freestyle
25 Catch Up Drill/25 freestyle
25 scull/25 freestyle
(total drills 750 yards)
Main Workout: 3x 900 yards
#1 Level 5 (race pace)
#2 Level 5 with negative split
#3 Level 6
(total yardage for Main Workout: 2700)
Cooldown 100 yards easy Total for Workout: 3550 yards
While I tried to “negative split” (first 1/2 faster than the next 1/2) the 900s, it didn’t quite work out that way. I did Lap 1 in 19:41, Lap 2 in 20:03, and Lap 3 in 20:29. Instead of beating myself up about it, though, I thought DANG GIRL, you just swam 3550 yards!! Granted, some were Warm Up, some where Warm Down, and some were Drills. But a mile is 1760 yards, meaning I had gone OVER TWO MILES! That’s amazing! It was a gorgeous day, too – in fact I actually got some sun on my back swimming. The pool was VERY full (I was there at about 3:00 or so), and I realized that having the pool basically to myself since the beginning of training for the Ironman in November (yeah, okay, while the monsoons were going on over my workouts so I was the only “crazy person” out there!) was coming to an end. I was at least able to just “split” a lane not “circle swim,” and I hope that it never gets so full that we’re more than 2 in a lane. It’s a big pool, but I fear that’s not going to be the deal in a few more weeks. Ah well – I’ll just keep on keepin’ on…and maybe find a time that’s a bit less crowded! I would have thought that 3:00 was a time when folks were still in work – but I have a feeling that I’m going to need to go later at night – that a lot of these folks were drawn to the sun and lolling around in the lounge chairs around the pool then “taking a dip” for 10 laps or so. Folks were getting into lanes at both ends of the pool – which is against the rules – and the lifeguard was a young gal who wasn’t keeping control over that. Time to pull the reins in! I think the issue is that the rules state that you need to get in in front of the lifeguard tent, at the deep end – and what folks were doing is getting in on the shallow end – from their lounge chairs. A gal and I actually took opposite ends of a free “split lane” at one point and she was obviously PISSED as I slid in – but the lifeguard was already on her way over to tell the gal to take a different lane. She gave me the stink eye during my workout…but I just outlasted her (laugh).
The Swim took longer than I thought it was going to take, which was bad because H and I were supposed to meet and go into the city. He was sitting waiting for me on the side of a road for 1/2 hour, and had actually just headed back home – not happy – when I called to say I was done with the workout. I told him I still wanted to go in – so he did turn around and meet me. We went in to the MOMA Rental Gallery Art Sale (nothing special), then Sports Basement. You Know You’re Iron When your food budget now includes “sports nutrition” as a line item – I’ve blogged that already, but it’s SO TRUE. Because my income has been DRASTICALLY reduced in this economy, I have had to figure out creative ways to get this pricey stuff into the budget. I’m finding that I’m buying a lot more vegetables and cutting them up/grilling/etc. (time-intensive) rather than buying pre-packaged stuff (which is pricier). I’m also searching out deals more, etc. – and of course I’ve cut EVERYTHING that I used to “enjoy” but that is non-essential (lattes, a piece of clothing here or there, going out for cocktails with friends, mani/pedis, magazines, dry cleaning, music, books, etc.) completely OUT of my budget. So it goes.
After the city, we went to Poggio in Sausalito for dinner. I was VERY careful, figuring that perhaps part of why the Century was so tough was the heavy pre-ride dinner of cocktails, ribs, mashed potatoes, wine, etc. H wanted a couple of lamb appetizers (a lamb tongue dish and a lamb neck dish) and lamb often doesn’t agree with me, but I had a tiny bit (did regret it later, sadly). He had a cocktail, but I got a glass of wine, and sipped it and then ultimately gave him 1/2. I also said no to dessert and coffee – I wanted to hold firm, and figured that once we got HOME if I wanted something, we had the amazing Austrian chocolate he’d purchased and I could make some tea. Of course, once we got there, I just went to bed! (smile).
Saturday: This was a “Captain’s Workout” in Napa on Silverado Trail – about 57 miles (give or take) and then a couple mile Run afterwards. Paula, Patricia, Melissa and I started out early, and actually hit the road at 7:30 a.m. (everyone else was meeting at 8:00). It is a rolling-but-generally-flat ride. After a warmup, we were to take our average heartrate over a 10 mile stretch – mine averaged at 164, with a high at 179. Melissa heard my numbers and said that she would die if her heart was going that fast! Yeah – I know. H too – his “average heartrate” at the gym is something like 84. I think that’s my resting heart rate!
There was wind on the way out, which we just had to hunker down and push through. Melissa got out to a fast start while the 3 of us were warming up, then when we started the 10 mile “time trial” portion, I pulled away from Patricia and Paula. I caught Melissa at 128 – she was looking at her directions, I think trying to figure out if that was Hwy 29 (the turn around) or not. I yelled to her “Ten more miles!” and then sped on through.
At that point, I became Melissa’s “carrot” – she wound up “reeling me in” with about 15 miles to go at the end of the ride. We were lucky – by getting out early, we had the headwind from Trancas to Highway 29, but it was a tailwind for a good portion of the ride back. It “flipped directions” near the end, and all I could think of was how the winds work at Kona. The pros get a headwind out, but the “back of the pack” get the headwind both directions – because the wind flips and they’re on the course long enough to have it happen! That was the case with the IronPeeps that started later in the morning.
This is what Head Coach Dave’s email said about the wind:
While riding along Silverado trail in Napa on Saturday (or wherever you rode) or running on Sunday you probably encountered some wind. Well, there are two ways to look at wind and each will lead you down a different path.
Here are your two choices:
1) I HATE WIND – Wind sucks, it is my enemy. When I encounter wind I tackle it head on and beat it down with all my might. Every pedal stroke will be a swift kick in the pants for the wind. Every wave it stuffs down my throat will be spit back in defiance. I will not hide from the wind on the run, I will face it eyes wide open and beat it into submission regardless of what it takes both mentally and physically to do it. I WILL DEFEAT IT !!!
2) WIND IS MY FRIEND – Wind is my training partner. When the weather is nasty and my friends all hide under the covers and safe inside the house, my friend the wind comes out to play with me. We play tag when we ride. One moment I am “It” and Mr. Wind runs from me. The next moment it turns on me and chases me down. We have a complicated relationship, but I always know my friend the wind will come out to play when others will not. I welcome the wind to keep me cool and dry the perspiration from my brow on hot days. It keeps me on my toes as it nudges me from side to side when I least expect it. Wind keeps me honest and makes sure I get in a good workout when all I want to do is coast through the motions of today’s training schedule with the least amount of effort. Wind taught me that I need to be able to breathe on both sides in open water for when it comes out to play from all directions at the lake. Thank you for being there for me Mr. Wind, you are alright.
So, which camp are you in right now? We hope you see the message in the fine print. You can’t control the wind, you need to embrace it and let it become part of your training and racing experience. The sooner you make peace with the wind (or insert any other facet of your training you have no control over), the sooner you will be able to unclutter your mind and get to the business of discovering how freakishly strong you really are!
But – back to the story. As I worked on reeling Melissa in (a carrot is a wonderful thing), I could see that we were both spending a lot of time being uncomfortable on that last 10 miles. Standing up on our pedals, stretching our “booties back,” etc. It was tough at the end! But as Mel wrote about in her blog – that’s just kinda how this goes. Or as Head Coach Dave says – We’re training for Ironman…not Plasticman.
We got back to the parking lot together, and I threw my bike in the car and headed in for my customary potty break as Mel got her bike stowed, then we were back out to do the Run. I had done a “test” during the ride – though I hit the grocery restroom THREE times before we got going, I wanted to see whether I could actually ride the 60 miles without a potty break. My ‘back teeth were floating” when we got back in – but I made it. I seem to have the nutrition dialed in as well – my fingers are crossed, but I felt STELLAR the whole day. I am now using GU Brew (9 scoops in my Camelbak) mixed with CarboPro (8 scoops). I finished that on the bike, then actually wound up taking just water out in a bottle for the Run. I had 2 HEED Gels on the bike to see if those work as well as the GU for me – don’t care for their consistency so much, but they come in a big bottle, which would be a LOT more economical if I were to fill up a “GU bullet” with the stuff. I’d brought some of the organic/honey-based “Stinger” gel packs as well, but they just didn’t sound appetizing so I didn’t use them. I really have to try them out because I like the idea that they are all natural (and they have a lot more calories per pack, too). I also have found a recovery drink that is working great – I can’t remember the brand, but I found some “testers” at Sports Basement and they worked during the Century. Unfortunately when I went to get a tub of it, they only had a flavor I didn’t like – so I got more of the tester packs! It’s great because it’s not very sweet. By the time I hit recovery, I’m pretty “done” with “sweet.”
The run went along the very pretty Napa bike path for the 2 mile “out and back.” Melissa and I did a walk/run, because her hamstring was starting to act up. I was fine with that, though at the last “walk” I told her I was going to run ahead, just to see where my legs really were. I was surprised I felt very fresh. That was great. Once we got back to the cars our IronPeeps started trickling in – so I went to the grocery store and bought a couple cans of our “secret recovery weapon” – Salt & Vinegar Pringles! (laugh) Yes, Melissa hooked me on these after the Napa ride a few weeks ago.
I felt super good about my performance on the bike and still feeling fresh on the run. I had even zero’d out my bike computer, and was looking forward to checking my average MPH, etc. Unfortunately, Patricia and Mel’s bikes must have jostled against mine, because when I got the bike back out, the computer was zero’d out! I was REALLY bummed. I think that I averaged about 17-18 MPH, though when it got “tough going” in the wind I was down around 13. I don’t even know how long we took – because of course I was relying on the bike computer for that. We started out at 7:30 a.m. and I’m fairly certain that we started the Run around 10:45 after loading up the bikes and a “pit stop.” Ah, that’s another reason I’m upset – I didn’t even have any pit stops along the way – so it HONESTLY would have been a true “test” of my time. Grump grump grump. The reason I hadn’t even reset my watch is that I still had the Swim Splits on it, so all in all, I learned…take the darned Splits off when you get home (even if it’s just onto a scrap of paper!) and at LEAST have the failsafe of your watch for total elapsed time. I was very pouty about losing that information. Grrrrr.
UPDATE NOTE: I wrote to Haakon and Tony who were both in when Melissa and I got back – Haakon said “I’m pretty sure we were in from the bike very close to 11AM. I believe my bike time was around 2:50. I know I was done with the run before 11:30 and I ran for 20 minutes.” I know that they were not out on the Run when we got back – they were still at their cars – so I’m going to assume that we got in pretty doggone close to 11 AM (not 10:45 as I surmised) – that means I did the ride in about 3.5 hours – I think it was 56-57 miles, I averaged somewhere around 16 MPH. YES! Awesome! Considering that at the Century we averaged 13 MPH. I’m good with that!
Sunday: Sunday was Mother’s Day. We were up early to get the brunch ready – a bread pudding recipe from Cooks Illustrated (wow, it was AWESOME), poached eggs, bacon, tomatoes, tangerine “mimosas,” the works. H, who is a whizz at floral arranging, put together the 3 bunches of flowers that I had bought for mom – peach colored lilies, roses, big white hydrangeas, berries, etc. WOW it was so gorgeous. It was raining hard off and on during the day, and my gorging on bread pudding, bacon and the like plus generally lolling meant I bagged the 120 minute run that we were supposed to do (still did the Ab Ripper X though that Lizzie had slated me for). I’m going to do it this morning . . . after I finish this blog (yes, really). Though it’s technically a rest day, I usually find that I have to re-arrange things because it’s tough to give BOTH days of the weekend to training. It’s much easier to train on Monday, when H works in the city.
So that’s my update.
When the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence,
it may be that they take better care of it there.”
– Writer, Cecil Selig
So. This morning I had an appointment at the mechanic at 10:00. I took the car in on time (a-ppoint-ment…), and was excited because my friend Sharyn was going to meet me at the mechanic’s, to go for my “scheduled” run together.
We dropped off the keys at the appointment and (funnily enough), one of the mechanics wanted to be assured that the last time we were there (a week ago) that H wasn’t “mad at them” about the service. (This is H’s mechanic.) I assured them that he was just grumpy sometimes…but had to smile a bit that they were concerned about that.
Sharyn and I actually drove back to my house (I’d forgotten a book I had promised to loan her), and we went off on our one hour run. It was fun to catch up, and we planned to try to meet for a run whenever one could!
So, we were back at the mechanic’s by 11:45 . . . ready to pick up my car.
It hadn’t even been looked at yet.
(A-ppoint-ment…)
Sharyn offered to stay with me, but what are you going to do? I got a cup of Folger’s and CoffeeMate, and sat there in the linoleum lobby next to a machine full of 10-year-old Chiclets to “wait out” them getting to my car.
I read through my email on my BlackBerry, texted a few friends . . . the clock ticked… and (I have a pretty even temper) I started to get peeved. I actually Tweeted (which goes to Facebook) what was going on (because I was peeved). I even (heh heh heh) – remembering the tone of their voices when talking about H – emailed HIM at work, just to “let him know” that I was “still there” and the car hadn’t “been seen yet.” (Mean. I know. What can I say?)
And then – the light shone on my day. Coach Sedonia Facebook’d: “Do core!!! You know you’re iron when you find that the car shop is not going to be done with your car for 45 mins so instead of sitting and waiting you bust out planks in the middle of the parking lot!!”
I laughed, sat there in the plastic chairs . . . and then got a little smarmy smile on my face. No WAY would Sedonia imagine I would DO it.
So – I did.
My car was STILL sitting out on the tarmac, and the keys where inside. I had a yoga mat in the back of the car, but decided to make my “point” – so I ran my hand over the astroturf outside (yes, a little square of astroturf with a plastic umbrella set on top of it), realized it wasn’t at least STICKY with dirt . . . and started.
Abs. Planks. Bicycles. In FULL view of the mechanics. So, first, they came over to mock me. I didn’t do a thing, kept working out. When they came out to make comments the second time (they at least wiped the powdered sugar from their mouths with the back of their hands), I looked up, and said “I had an appointment here at 10. It’s now past noon. I was supposed to go to the gym, but now I have to do it here.”
They didn’t know what to do about me. They started grumbling. Then, about a minute later, I heard my car starting, and they edged it on into the bay. As they were working on it, they gave me these sidelong glances that started out being kinda smarmy, and then edged on…concern (I like to pretend it was Fear), as I just kept going.
Then, the REALLY big guy from behind the counter came out to “be friendly.” I was doing a plank, and he stood a bit far away, so that I could “see him” (it was funny – because there’s no way this guy could squat down). He made some sort of crack about whether I could do a few for him, too, and I said “Sure, no worries about that. But I’m definitely feeling hungry, since I’ve been here hours longer than my Scheduled Appointment, so I think I am going to have to call my Husband to come and take me out to lunch.”
Yeah that did it. Suddenly, it was a mechanic anthill on my car. I started laughing so hard that I had to do “bicycles” because you can laugh and do those (planks, not so much). Nice to have a Grumpy Husband that scares’em. I could also hear them talking as they were working on the car, “She’s still working out. That’s just not right. That’s right by the front door.” (What, like I was going to push business away from coming to visit their low-rider butt, stomach-over-the-belt selves?)
Once I started working out – and of course threw the “H word” at them – the car was done in 20 minutes!
That – and X Stretch with P90X – was my day.
(smile)
You Know You’re Iron When your way of intimidating people into getting a job done is to do planks, “bicycles” and burpies in their parking lot until they “submit.”
Last one first. You gotta read this story HERE – oh lord. And I thought I had turkey problems!
Yesterday was a Swim ladder, and a Brick spin/run. I had a bunch of “clean up email” stuff to do, and “suddenly” it was 3:00 – time to get the whole thing in! So I strapped on my heart rate monitor, and hit the garage…oh I mean “workout studio.” Here is the bike workout. The greatest thing for me was having done that Lactate Threshold test – because as I’m doing these repeats, I can watch my heart rate climb (or fall) and I gear up or down accordingly. It’s such a different workout that way than just “slogging through it” without really knowing what to do. I definitely wasn’t working hard enough before – there is a huge puddle under my bike now after I finish, and my “transition” includes completely changing out of my clothes, which look like I have “cycled through” a rainstorm!
TR-6 PROGRESSIVE SPEED (90 Minutes) + 20′ brick run @ tempo pace immediately following bike.
WU 15′ in the Middle/Middle (MM) chainrings. ‘ = minutes, ” = seconds
5 x (3′ MM@85RPM/90″ MM@75RPM),
5 x(2′ MM @90RPM/1′ @80RPM),
5 x(90″ MM@90RPM/45″ MM@80RPM),
5 x(1′ MM @95RPM/30″ MM @85RPM),
5 x(30″MM @100RPM/15″MM @95RPM)
use hardest gear you can to maintain RPM and Aerobic HR Zone
CD 15’ MM; off bike, run 20 minutes.
I covered just over 27 miles doing the bike (per my bike computer) – the thing that was really instructive to watch was how my MPH shifted as I shifted through the gears (especially when I went to an easier gear, to get my heart rate down). I know, it seems “obvious” to do this – but I never really had before. I am reading a book by Cherie Gruenefeld, an Ironman athlete, and her chapter on “Focus” talks a lot about paying attention to such things. When I was in my warmdown and at about 26 miles, I practiced moving into harder gears and different cadence, just to see how it affected the miles I was covering. Very instructive.
I haven’t listed my Playlist for a while, so I thought I would do so here.
PLAYLIST for Bike/Spin and Run:
‘Till I Collapse, Eminem & Nate Dogg
When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down), Great Big Sea
Scar That Never Heals, Jeremy Fisher
Suddenly I See, KT Tunstall
Heads Carolina, Tails California, Jo Dee Messina
Summer Nights, Rascal Flatts
Jump In The Line, Harry Belafonte
Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire (JUSTiNB’s Video Edit), Fright Ranger
Environmental Product, Brisk & Vagabond (3x – this is only a bit under 2 minutes long and I LOVE IT. Anyone know where to get a longer play version of this??)
Untouched, The Veronicas
Little Bitty Pretty One (Live), The Doobie Brothers
Spotlight, MuteMath
Sex Bomb, Tom Jones
Let It Rock, Kevin Rudolf & Lil Wayne
18 Wheeler, P!nk
Shambala, Three Dog Night
Iko-Iko, Zap Mama
Pour Some Sugar On Me
Land of 1000 Dances, Wilson Pickett
Marrakesh Express, Crosby, Stills & Nash
Hollywood Nights
La Grange, ZZ Top
Express Yourself, Glee Cast
I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho), Pitbull
This Is How A Heart Breaks, Rob Thomas
Daniella, John Butler Trio
Mony Mony, Billy Idol
Supermassive Black Hole, Muse
Fuego, Pitbull
Sex On Fire, Kings of Leon
U Can’t Touch This, MC Hammer
Yeah yeah, eclectic, I know! Came back from the Run (actually a bit over 20 minutes – it’s hard to gauge with my crazy hilly terrain around my house), grabbed my swim bag, and off to the pool! I swigged a Recovery drink in the car (are you still in “recovery” if you are recovering from one workout and moving on to another? I figured I was, since it takes a bit to get to the pool).
Swim Ladder Workout:
WU 300 EZ
3×50 25 kick on back/25 free 10″
3×50 25 Catch Up (CU)/25 free 10″
3×50 25 scull/25 free 10″
25 3SW 10″
50 Breathing every 3 10″
75 SAR 15″
100 Build L4-L7 by 25 15″
125 Steady L5 15″
150 Build L4-L6 by 50 20″
175 Steady L5 15″
200 Build L4-L7 by 50 20″
175 Steady L5 15″
150 Build L4-L6 by 50 20″
125 Steady L5 15″
100 Build L4-L7 by 25 15″
75 SAR 15″
50 Breathing every 3 10″
25 3SW 10″
CD 100 EZ
Total Yardage: 2450
Today, it’s another Brick:
TR-2 PEDALING (50 Minutes) + 20′ brick run @ tempo pace after bike.
Warm-up 10 minutes in middle-middle chainrings.
Repeat the following drill sets TWICE.
Stay in big ring up front the entire workout, Shift to 3rd from largest ring in back.
Alternate removing one foot from the pedals for 30 seconds at a time @ 50-60 RPM’s,
returning to two footed pedaling for one minute @ 80 rpm between single leg efforts.
Repeat 4 times per leg.(12 minutes total).
Shift to 4th from smallest gear in back.
Pedal at 85 rpm.
Focus all mental energy on the 1:00 to 3:00 position of the pedal stroke for 2 minutes.
Focus all mental energy on the 4:00 to 6:00 position of the pedal stroke for 2 minutes.
Focus all mental energy on the 6:00 to 9:00 position of the pedal stroke for 2 minutes.
Focus all mental energy on the 9:00 to 12:00 position of the pedal stroke for 2 minutes.
(run immediately after, no cool down)
I’m slamming this blog down but then heading out the door to a biz meeting (ahem – with my bike gear underneath…) so that I can have the meeting, go do the workout (at the gym – spinning on their bikes is not as good as mine, but sometimes you “gotta do what you gotta do”), then to another 3 meetings in a row, then back home. I guess this is the life of an Ironman Athlete, eh?
Feeling pretty strong, especially after gutting out the workout yesterday. I am Grrrrrrateful to be helping lick cancer and FINALLY getting my booty in gear to get back in shape. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! That’s me – with a Tiger in my Tank!
IronQuote of the day, courtesy of Maria M-Dot:
Thinking vs. Focusing
Thinking is judgmental and critical. If you make a mistake or perform poorly when you’re in a thinking mode, it may hurt your confidence and cause you to feel badly about yourself as a triathlete. Thinking actually interferes with your ability to focus in a way that will hurt your performance and may cause it to deteriorate. If you’re thinking, you’re likely to react with strong emotions because these obstacles are blocking your path to your goals.
Focusing simply involves attending to internal or external cues. This process is objective and detached from judgment or evaluation. If you make a mistake on something you were focusing on, you’re able to accept it and not be overly disappointed by failure. In a focusing mode, you’re able to use the failure as information to correct the problem and perform better in the future.-Jim Taylor & Terri Schneider, “The Triathlete’s Guide to Mental Training”
I haven’t blogged in a while – lots going on, including finalizing my second book (a Companion Playbook to my first book). Also getting some speaking gigs, taking care of “Honey Do” projects and – surprise! – the ubiquitous Iron Training!
