On Saturday, I received the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team In Training Ironteam Spirit Cape, and this podcast details what happened next that day while inspired by the cape. Happy holidays, and be sure to check out the blog for some photos.
As promised, CLICK HERE for the link to my donation page – remember, all Donors go Straight to Heaven.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:08 — 30.5MB)
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Here are some photographs of the spirit cape – and also of me wringing out my bike gloves, after the 30 mile bike ride that we had to “abort” at 18 miles, when it was PELTING down with rain! (The photo below is me mugging it up after receiving the cape during our bike training at the Group Workout – doing my “vampire imitation” next to “Vlad,” my bike)
On Saturday, I received the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team In Training Ironteam Spirit Cape, and this podcast details what happened next that day while inspired by the cape. Happy holidays, and be sure to check out the blog for some photos.
As promised, CLICK HERE for the link to my donation page – remember, all Donors go Straight to Heaven.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (30.5MB)
Subscribe: RSS
I am SO DONE being sick! H finally convinced me to go to the doctor – I have an appointment at 4:00. The last exercise I did was a couple days ago – I did the bike trainer workout, but I just couldn’t face the pool, and it was kinda downhill from there.
Margaret (my Mentor) is sick too. She said to just get better – not to worry, not to work out. I’m waking up at 3:00 a.m. with a dry cough that won’t quit – sleeping on the couch so to let H get a good night’s sleep. I feel like a total sloth not doing anything, but I gotta “git this sickness gone.”
I’ll be curious what the doctor says today. I don’t know what can be “done” for what basically seems like a cough, but H is afraid it might be walking pneumonia. Ick!
The photo here is of me on the bike trainer – H took them when I was doing the workout on Tuesday. Yes, that’s the garage . . . it’s actually kinda nice, because H is usually working on some project or another down there, so we’re just “together.” He wearing his big headset for the saw noise, me wearing my iPod and pumping away. Jake gets up from his bed every now and again to give me a little calf lick of encouragement.
Gotta get WELL!
I was really sad that I couldn’t stay to meet our Honorees at the Sunday workout. I am really looking forward to it. But we received the following email from Sedonia (our swim coach) today, and this made me so sad…and determined at the same time. Take a read:
Hey Team,
If anyone is yearning for a little extra inspiration on these cold mornings…try this on for size:
Those of you that have done Vineman I’m sure have met and learned to love the run turn-around marshall. And for those of you who have yet to do Vineman, you too will fall in love with him.
What you may not know is that his name is Hank and he is an official honoree for the Redwood Wine Country Chapter of Team in Training. Over the past few years that I have known Hank his battle with cancer has gone back and forth and yet he has never waivered with his endless dedication and commitment to the team. He thanks each and every Ironteamer that visits that turn around and come mile 22 of the marathon when you Vinemaners see his smiling face, you too will be overwhelmed with the magnitude of the fete you are about to accomplish and the difference you have made for people like Hank.
Unfortunately today his Facebook status read:
“Blood tests results today confirmed my immune system is attacking my red cells again. Instead of waiting until January to start chemo, I received my first round of Campath today along with 60mg Prednisone to hopefully stop the process. So now, it’s back to loving life, having fun and making every day special. Paul Thorn says, “When life hits you like a truck, it’s time to rise up!” Is there any other way to live?”
So this week when you are faced with challenges, whether at work, in your training or in your life…I challenge you to “rise up” like Hank. Face the challenge head on, love life, have fun and make everyday special! After all…is there any other way to live?
You all are heroes!
GO TEAM IRONTEAM!!
Sincerely,
Sedonia
Thank goodness I send myself little cryptic notes on email!
In my “update” on the last post, I forgot my FAVORITE thing that happened yesterday! After I left the Team Training, I called H and he asked if I’d like him to take me out for my “Second Breakfast” (yes, me and the hobbits). I said I’d meet him at our favorite diner.
This is the same diner that we went to last week after the Team Training. Last week, after we ordered, we had to wait a while for the food (coffee is plentiful, food is good…service is slow). I had a real blood sugar low/sick feeling because of it. So, as soon as I sat down (in my wet hair, baseball cap, sweats, big Ugg boots and long swim parka), I figured out what I wanted to eat. When the waitress came up to pour me some coffee, I figured I’d get the toast up front to stave off the blood sugar low. The conversation went like this:
Me: “Would you mind bringing me some rye toast and butter while I’m waiting for my husband? I was just working out and I don’t think I should wait that long to get something in my stomach.”
She (no other patrons, feeling chatty): “Sure, no worries! It’s rainy out there – what were you doing?”
Me: “I was actually out swimming for a little over an hour up at IVC.”
She (gasping at the “enormity” of “so much exercise”): “Oh my GRACIOUS honey! You must be RAVISHING!”
Yup, that’s what she said. I smiled all day at that one. That’s me. Ravishing. 🙂
…ick, ick, ick.
Have been fighting a cold now since about Wednesday – H brought it home (bad husband!) and it finally ‘caught hold’ this weekend. On my last post, I mentioned that I was supposed to do a Bike/Run and then realized I had misgauged my time – which meant I took Thursday off unexpectedly. Since Friday was a Swim/Run and I am doing OK with the Swim, I decided instead to do Thursday’s workout on Friday (Biking about an hour on the stationary trainer, then Running 40 minutes). Biking just kicks my butt. I swear. I was grunting and groaning and cussing until that just took too much energy (especially on the “one legged pedaling” drills) – so I gave up. (smile) I finished on the trainer, then as I was completely drenched in sweat but was supposed to go straight from Bike to Run, I zipped myself into a waterproof jacket, slapped on a baseball cap, and Just Did It.
Saturday was supposed to be a 35 mile ride, but it was howling with rain, so I instead opted for the posted hour-long trainer ride. (Folks that did the Team Trainer rides went for 2 hours – I can’t IMAGINE!) It was actually kinda fun because my bike/trainer is set up in our garage which is H’s workshop. He’s working on the new doors down there, so it was companionable – me grunting and groaning, him measuring and using big power tools. (smile) The huge suction vac means that there aren’t that many particles in the air, so it was just sort of like biking through a forest with the smell of the wood. And the sound of the big machines deadened the sound of my cussing and grunting and groaning so it was all good.
Sunday we had a group Swim Workout where we were being videotaped. I felt yucky as soon as I got up, but really did not want to miss the taping. I was chilled though it wasn’t cold inside the house, which I knew just couldn’t be good. I downed some Robitussin in the vague hope that it would quiet the dry hacking cough I had developed and ate a bowl of oatmeal and off I went.
It was starting to sprinkle with rain as we headed from the parking lot to the pool at IVC/College of Marin to change and then “jump on it.” Whoooo-HOOOOO the water was cold! One of the guys (It was Jim or Rocky) and I were the first to just jump into the water (why wait) and both of us came up snorting and spitting and cursing. It took a while for the rest of the team to get in after our reactions! Ooops!
I made it about 1/2 way through the workout and my energy (or the Robitussin) wore down. It actually had been pretty fun – I was with Iron Mel and 2 others in a lane, and we practiced swimming in ‘crowded conditions” (e.g., 4 swimming down the lane at once), swim ‘drafting,’ and the like. When we started just doing drills and my adrenaline from those exercises wore down, I realized I was NOT doing good.
They were able to take me right then to do the taping. Here’s the video, “see it and weep” (laugh). OK I’m not really weeping but a little frustrated to see it. I am opening my left hand a LOT, I can see it under the water – I am also rolling to breathe too much on the right, and my hips aren’t rolling nearly at all. I need to see if I can get a “BB Belt” like D used with us in Petaluma. I looked them up online – and they’re like $400! Holy cats!
After the taping, I got out, got dressed, got home, got showered, got dressed, and got off to the theatre. The play was “Aurelia’s Oratorio” and was only 70 minutes with no intermission. I was so grateful because I did not have cough drops with me and the coughs got the best of me. Luckily there were a number of “loud parts” where I could have a coughing fit and try to “get it over” before it went silent again. I’m sure the folks next to me were not amused.
Today is a day off, and I slept until TWO O’CLOCK after getting up to get H out the door. Holy cats. I hope I can beat this thing. It’s a nagging cold/cough and just not pleasant. Some time today I gave to bundle up and go out and get some food into the house – and get some of the cough syrup that Coach Helen suggested!
P.S.: Had some fun on Facebook noting that if you click on the video link of my swim (as linked above), the ‘suggested link’ that comes up next is called “Titanic.” One of my teammates, Rocky, said that the suggested videos that come up with his are Sikh prayers – which perhaps he should learn for the swim! That cracked me up.
Yesterday was a Swim and Run – 1750 yard Swim, then 10 minute “jog” and 30 minute “run easy.”
The swim was pretty fun – I really like that pool. It’s frustrating because I still take SO many strokes to get across the pool, though I feel confident. I know it’s because I don’t kick. It was COLD getting in the pool – I had to share the lane a couple of times, but most of the time I had the lane to myself. It does warm up once you get swimming, but they had rock salt on the pool deck, because it was in the high 30s – brrrr! (for here – I know, I’m a weather wuss.)
Did the Run on the treadmill, because no way I was going to head out with wet hair on the road. I did the 10 minute warmup, and then reset the treadmill (because it only lets you go 30 minutes at a pop) for the run. I did what Stu Mittleman said, and made sure the “elevation” was at 2.0, and then ran consistently at 5.0 (5 miles per hour) which felt FAST – I wanted to quit a bunch of times. This means that I only covered 2.5 miles at the end of the 1/2 hour. I always feel like a big loser when I stop, because all the training schedules say that this “should be” 4 miles. I’m always at like 1/2 of what the schedule says I ‘should’ be doing. I worked a lot at trying to roll on the “outside” of my foot, because every time I see a picture of myself I am “winging” my foot (using that term as you would for a horse). I don’t run with my foot going straight back. It looks bizarre on photographs – but I know that I’ve been doing this for a while because I have a photo from the Big Sur Marathon and I think another from the S.F. Marathon both back in 2001-2002, where I am doing the exact same thing.
Playlist:
Here It Goes Again, OK-Go
Material Girl, Madonna
Buttons, Pussycat Dolls/Snoop Dog
Fanfare for the Common Man, London Symphony Orchestra
Keep The Car Running, Arcade Fire
I Don’t Care, Fall Out Boy
This Ain’t a Scene it’s an Arms Race, Fall Out Boy
Vaya Mi Gente, Juzt 2 Brothers
I Want You To Want Me, Cheap Trick
Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Elton John
In These Shoes?, Kirsty McColl
Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting, Elton John
Cold Hearted Snake, Paula Abdul
Single Ladies, Beyonce
Check On It, Destiny’s Child
Paper and Fire, John Cougar Mellencamp
Valerie
She’s Ugly From The Front, Lyle Lovett
My Give A Damn’s Busted, Jo Dee Messina
Hung Up, Madonna
Don’t Say You Love Me, Natalie Imbruglia
Brass In Pocket, Pretenders
Don’t Say You Love Me, Pretenders
Today is a Bike Trainer set and then a Run. I just realized it’s 2:00 right now, H is out getting me “lunch” (which I should wait for) but I’m supposed to be somewhere at 4:00 and I have to work out. Crapola. I guess I’d better get going, and leave him a note to say that I’m sorry, can’t eat what he went out to get me. I also have to make dinner for him to put in. Dang. I’m really late. Was going to put in the bike and run set and the playlist, but no time – mebbe lateah!
Yesterday I just felt punk most of the day and then last night I wound up in bed, speaking with a client, shivering with my laptop on my lap! Oy! By about 4:00 a.m. I had lymph nodes like golf balls – but I explained to my body that HEALTH was where it was at (and a heavy dose of TheraFlu). I went to a seminar I had to attend (that started at 7:00 a.m., an hour’s drive away – oy!), and brought my Swim stuff. By the end, I felt well “enough” to be able to do the “level 1” Swim workout. I am glad that I did it – it was 1600 yards – and I didn’t push it that hard, but did it well within the time allotted. I really worked on my ‘catch’ and the first part of my stroke. I also worked on the very end of the stroke and “pushing” the water all the way through (to the point of being sure that my thumb grazed my thigh, and my palm was backward, “pushing”).
I’m not getting any faster, but I do feel like I’m getting stronger. My left shoulder didn’t give me any issues today. Of course, tomorrow is Pole Class, so that might all change in an instant! (smile) I have really been trying to do tricks with my non-dominant (Right) side, because the Left has been playing up for so long. Heck, who am I kidding? I mainly do the abs/floor workout for an hour, and then lie on the floor and watch as everyone learns the new hard tricks. SOME day I’m going to have a bit more energy!!
OK – off to make dinner for the hub. He’s the one who brought the sickness into the house – he’s been feeling ick-ish for about a week. I thought I was strong enough not to ‘catch’ it. But he’s sneaky, that one. (smile)
Sunday Iron Mel and I met the local “gang” at Nicasio for a Bike Marker Set. Our Mentor Margaret, Les the Marin Bike Coach, Jen, and one of Les’s friends, Mel and I did the set together. (The photo to the right is Iron Mel – on the left – and Mentor Margaret – on the right.) We rode out from Nicasio to the Petaluma road, then turned Left along Nicasio Lake, down past the cutoff road to Pt Reyes, and straight on, to Sir Francis Drake. On the way out WOW it was windy!!! The directions said to do the marker from Sir Francis Drake back to the turn-off from the Petaluma road; we didn’t quite get that right so did the marker from Bridge Road to Petaluma road, which is 3 miles instead of 5. I did the Marker in 14 minutes – the rest of the gang were down in the 12 minute range.
The only problem with the Marker Set was that I really went into it saying I would do it at my highest aerobic threshold pace, and there was just no way I could do it. I was anaerobic the whole time (average 161 BPM). I got WAY up there a few times, due to the wind, or a hill. It’s frustrating. I wanted to keep it under 150 (my aerobic to anaerobic point is in the high 140s) but the cadence that felt right to ride at kept my heartrate at 161 on average. On the way back I put my iPod in the little speakers; Les rode with me and got to hear my eclectic playlist. When the rest of the pack passed me (I started out first, then they passed me) someone shouted out “Wait! Wait! I like that song!” It made me really laugh. The set ended on the song “Unwritten” which I think is a perfect one for my whole IronTeam experience so far.
The best part of the day was getting to know my Mentor, Margaret, a bit better. She’s a cyclist. Yes and I’m the girl with the 20 year old bike, biking in tennies and foot cages. At one point she was riding behind me and trying to explain something by using Lance Armstrong as an example. I had to ‘fess up that I had never seen him race. I think that was a big shocker! Yup, it would be hard to Mentor me – the girl who does not watch sports (smile). Another time she was talking with Mel about her cycling group from Napa – Mel mentioned she had met someone from the group. She tried to describe the person, and Margaret said, ‘What was he riding?” I really laughed at that. Sounds just like horse people! “I don’t know her name but I know what her horse looks like…” (smile)
The best story I had for my husband had to do with riding with the “gang.” When we originally left from Nicasio, the bulk of the “gang” was (as usual) way far ahead of me. Mentor Margaret stayed back with me. But once we turned onto the Petaluma Road, Les said to ride ahead, and then the gang was going to catch up to me. I think they wanted me to feel what it would be like to ride in the “gang.” First Les and his friend passed me, and asked if I was ready for them to “latch on.” I said – um – sure – and then they moved on over, so Margaret was right behind me and the other 2 girls behind her. Imagine something out of Star Wars – with mechanical “whirrrrrr…click!” noises . . . that’s sort of how I felt. Like I was a hub and this “bolt” of people was latching on. Whirrrrrrrrrr – click! It lasted for a while – and it definitely made it easier to ride in the headwind with the other 2 people ahead of me. I couldn’t cosy up like they did but I was pretty close (about a bike’s length away from the back wheel of Les’s friend). I really made H laugh in explaining the “procedure” of it. Whirrrrrrr….click! Latched on, Captain! When we got to a fairly steep downhill I just couldn’t keep up (my bike doesn’t “coast” as fast as theirs do, and my gearing is such that I can’t pedal going downhill) and so the “gang” broke apart.
I booked home and actually was able to lie down and have a cup of coffee while H finished putting the siding on the new deck. Then we were off and running – first to Home Depot to get the 6 new doors, then to the Lighthouse Diner to get breakfast. By that time I felt super ill…though I had had a couple of nutrition bars between breakfast and then, we realized I had totally mis-gauged my blood sugar – H made them bring toast with butter until the meals hit the table. We took the new doors home and covered them up for the rain that was coming, then got back in the van and off to the Art Deco Show, then to Mom and Dad’s for Dad’s birthday. Mom had made up an appetizer and right after I had a big bite of it H asked what it was – Taramasala, a FISH based dip! (I am allergic to fish.) I looked at my Mom with one of those “Excuse me, are you trying to kill me??” looks, but the damage was done. I started to feel sick midway through dinner (cracked crab, green beans, salad) and unfortunately gave about 1/4 of my meal over to H to finish, then I couldn’t actually eat any of the key lime pie and ice cream. We wound up going home and I just curled up in bed with 2 hot water bottles. I don’t think it was the fish that did it (I didn’t get any of the super nasty reactions to it), but perhaps the stress, and the training and fairly long day. Today is an “off” day – but I looked at the schedule and yesterday we were supposed to Run, too! I can’t believe I missed that…! Not sure how I would have fit it in – probably when I had had the lie-down and coffee in the morning.
The best part of yesterday was getting a text afterwards from my Mentor Margaret (the cyclist). I had sent her an “I don’t think so” text when I did the math on the 14 minute marker – because IF the mileage had been 5 miles as it was supposed to be, that would mean I had done the stretch at about 20 MPH. (That’s what made me look back through the paperwork and realize we hadn’t started marking until 2 miles into the Marker.) She wrote back:
You did great. I think you are on your way to be a really good cyclist. You certainly are strong enough.
I was excited ALL DAY about that! Those of you who follow me on twitter (@fempowerment) certainly know because at odd times during the rest of the day I would give a little Tweet about it!
SO, now onto the MATH as it pertains to Louisville…This is what their website says:
“Athletes will be required to reach the 61-mile mark on the bike course (located at the intersection of State Road 42 and KY-393) and start the second loop by 2:15 p.m. Athletes have until 6 p.m. to reach the transition area at the completion of the 112-mile course.”
Combining this with the following about the Swim:
“The swim course will close 2 hours, 20 minutes after the final athlete enters the water. Utilizing a unique time-trial start, the final athlete is projected to enter the water by 7:45 a.m.”
That means that the final Swimmer that does not get chipped starts Biking on or about 10:00 (10:05 per the “2 hours 20 minutes after 7:45 a.m.”). Reaching mile 61 by 2:15 means that you have 4 hours 15 minutes for the first 1/2 and then “until 6 p.m. to reach the transition area” means 3 hours 45 minutes for the 2nd loop, or 8 hours total for the 112 miles.
I did 3 miles (a pittance, I know!) in 14 minutes. If I just lay that down over 112 miles and assume that is the average (though the website states that “some of the downhills will get riders to 45 MPH and some of the uphills they will have to gut it out at 10-12 MPH” – oy that’s my current race pace!), then I’d do the course in 523 minutes, or 8.7 hours. That’s just not good enough. OY! I really REALLY liked knowing after the Swim Marker that I was already “in the money.” Not now. Iron Mel is in the money – she did it at about 12-1/2 minutes, which would be 7-3/4 hours or so for the course.
To NOT GET CHIPPED, the average has to be 14 MPH throughout and that gets you in RIGHT when they are nipping the Chipper at your heels. Wow – this feels scary to me. I gotta get serious about this stuff. I am pretty doggone sure I’m going to face the same issue in the Run – I know I’m slow – but for SOME reason I thought I was at least “in the money” on the Bike, even if not by much. Nope – Outside. ARRRRGH!