Holy Headwinds Batman!

So I go out to my moderate distance bike yesterday. This week called for a 2 1/2 hour ride. (I have the long ride on the weekends, and an hour fast ride on Tuesdays.) Holy headwinds!

I'm not staying at my own house right now (house/dog sitting money = easy money for the Bank of all things Triathlon!!!!) so I thought I'd try something different on the side of town I'm currently living. I opted for some roads that I knew were part of a big century ride offered every June. Of course I did it backwards and along a major, major freeway here in Colorado. I don't know if it was because of the freeway that goes uphill, or if it was just the weather... I don't know. It was the type of wind that made you adjust your footing when standing still so you don't fall over. It was unbelievable. I was riding on the frontage road because I know my sanity can be sometimes questionable, but I do know better than to ride along a freeway, especially a major metropolitan freeway (I-25.) Still, everytime a semi went by... Whoosh!!!

I thought the frontage road would continue down to the next major town. It did not. I had to come backwards and hop on a side road. I think it took me 5 minutes to travel what just took me 15-20 minutes to ride out. The tailwind was amazing... but oh so not fair to only have 5 minutes of rest when I worked so hard to get out there!

I turn down a side country road. It's great. There's no shoulder, but there's also very little traffic. Unfortunately I have a small crosswind, but there are some trees so it doesn't get too bad until later on. Off in the distance... I see... No! Please tell me that hill is a side road... No! No! Yep. That car that just passed me is going up that hill... That's where I'm headed... I go up the hill. Not sooo bad. Oh, hey, look a good downhill... Oh no... lots of downhill... Holy smokes, that downhill never ends!!!! OMG! THIS IS THE MONSTER HILL AT THE END OF THE ELEPHANT ROCK COURSE. I'll have to come back up this! Noooo!!!!!

So down, and down, and down I go. Should be fun, but eventually I get out of the trees and the crosswind picks up big time. I naturally get scared around 30 mph (I'm a big chicken.) But the crosswinds are scaring the crud out of me! I'm braking to around 25 mph and praying that fews cars go by because I have to steer into the wind (and road) to stay on my bike.

I finally get to the bottom of the hill. Whew. I stop completely. Get some Gatorade and let my heart settle down. Rats. I'm only at an hour. I know it's going to take me lots of time to get up that monster hill, but then I'll have a tailwind on the frontage road. Okay. Let's ride up 15 minutes and then turn around and see what we got. Okay, now, do I go uphill with a tailwind, and then turn around downhill with the headwind??? That's the route I go. Turns out I went more uphill with headwind and more downhill with tail wind. I ride out 16 minutes, it takes me 4 minutes to get back. I kid you not!

I peddle up the hill. It wasn't as bad as I remembered from last year. When I did it last year I had to wait for a friend every couple of miles, and when I'd stop, I always remembered being happy to have the breaks.

I made it back out to the frontage road with 40 minutes left to ride. Ugh... All this wind... I peddled back to another side road. Mind you I'm now riding uphill again, into a headwind, and it's uphill to the high point between Denver and Colorado Springs. All major weather that doesn't start in the mountains, starts over this high point. And the clouds are getting black... Oh do I want to turn around.

I plugged through it, and I turned around with 20 minutes left to go. I flew that next 20 minutes with the tailwind--and I was now facing Denver, which had blue sunny skies...

I made it back to my car in 2 hours 30 minutes and 30 seconds. I couldn't have planned that better if I tried. And while I didn't have rain--I now have the training ride from heck that I can look back on and know I did endure!!!!!

Week Summary 6/18/07

Wow. This was a big week. My body is tired...

Swim - 3.7 miles

Bike 105.87 miles

Run - 17.7 miles

Hours - 15 hours, 50 minutes

Random thoughts that I've had this week:
- I need to write a letter to my grandma. I think her crocheted handkerchiefs give me good luck when I bike with them.
- This really is a part time job, especially when you add to that 15 hours all of the time driving, getting gear together, etc.
- Good nutrition? What exactly does it look like? Because I'm getting to a point that I really need to start focusing on it. No junk food!
- Good nutrition is expensive!
- Triathlon nutrition is expensive! Recovery drinks + power bars + Gu = $$$$
- Will Greg let me finally schedule my bike fitting? My birthday is only two weeks away now. (He did!)
- Hmmm... Upcoming dogsitting money could buy me a Garmin... ???? 301 or 305??? Dare I?
- Long runs.... It's officially time to start sitting in cold baths afterwards...
- PB & J sound really good on my long rides... Not really feasible to take with me though. Need to talk to Kirk about meals and long rides. Need to talk to Kirk and Gina anyways...
- Did Greg ever pay Kirk for the aerobars?????
- Amy...
- Double the distance of everything I did this week, and do it all on one day. Will I be faster? Doubtful. When I do the math I see that if I don't improve my speed, I'm not going to finish the race in time... Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!
- I've had some people reference the fact that I can't get pregnant doing this... How are those comments affecting me mentally?
- Holy Smokes it sure is hot out...

There's more, but I'll end there. Right now I need to do the last of my sit-ups so I can truly enjoy the next 24 hours of doing nothing but resting my legs...

GET GOING!

A year from now you will wish you had started today.
- Karen Lamb

I have no clue who Karen Lamb is, but I saw her quote on someone else's blog.
I already wish that I had started my training last November. I instead waited until January and then got taken out of the game for a few months with pneumonia... But I'm happy to say that I'm playing all four quarters now!
I know a certain friend of mine that's doing an event equivalent to ironman that very well might be uttering these thoughts even more so if she doesn't crank up her training soon.
And strangely, I have another friend that may not get this quote. The friend that can't comprehend how you train for something as simple as running--yet she keeps asking to tag along on my sometimes two hour long slow runs...????

4 Months... 10 days... 14 hours... 36 minutes.... until the day reckoning...
And trust me, not a day goes by that I don't think about it 500 times...

First open water/Will U B my friend?

So I opted to spend more time analyzing my training day instead of putting the basket of clean clothes that has been sitting on the floor for three days... What's your point? It's all in the name of triathlon, right?

My coach encouraged me to practice my open water swims out to Chatfield State Park. We don't actually swim in the Chatfield Rez. There is a separate smaller body of water that allows swimming (particularly for triathletes) on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. Greg and I had hoped to go last Saturday morning, but the run, as it will, took way more time cooling down, stretching, etc. (all the stuff from my previous post) and in the end we didn't make it before the 10 a.m. closing time.

This meant that I had to go by myself tonight because he was working. Truthfully, it was kind of scary. Anytime you're in the midst of over a hundred triathletes it's kind of intimidating. It appeared that I arrived just about the same time has 90% of everybody else. So everybody had a little grassy area staked out as their own personal transition space. Only 90% of them had 3-4 friends that they were standing around with talking about their day, their swim goals, etc.

I laid my bike down and checked in. Would my bike be alright? She told me everyone here was a triathlete so it would be fine, but I locked the front tire to the frame nonetheless, but tried to do it secretly as to hide my insecurity.

While getting my wetsuit on, a guy comes over. Wow! Someone friendly! (I so wish I had a friend with me right now.) He tells me that he wants to know if he knows me. He has a 5430 sprint race t-shirt on so I tell him that I was a volunteer at the race on Sunday, kind of knowing that was a long shot. Turns out he saw my transition bag. Greg and I joined said advertised club two years ago, and then never did anything with them. I tell the guy this. He shrugs his shoulders and tells me to enjoy my bag. I go on to tell him that I just never felt comfortable with their club. It was too intimidating. Surprisingly, the guy gets really defensive and wants to know why I felt that way. I tell him that the team members are all studs, they win lots of awards, etc. (This is all true!) He tells me that they took all this off the website so people wouldn't be intimidated. He tells me they're just triathletes that want to have a cool social circle. Then he sort of storms off!!!!!!!!!

Now correct me if I'm wrong--if you want new members--and I have to tell you, I would love to have some triathlete friends-- wouldn't it be more appropriate to put out a hand, introduce yourself, invite someone to a club event, rather than be defensive and storm off without introducing yourself?

Anyways, another single lady drops her stuff in the grass next to me. She seems in the zone, but eventually I catch her eye and ask her some questions. She's nice enough, but no big friendships made. She does her thing and leaves.

I get in, swish around. OH that cold water felt awesome on a 97 degree day! Not so sure how it will feel in the fall. I swim what I'm told is 300 yards to the sand bar. My coach normally has me do 300 to warm up anyways. When I reach the sand bar, I see this guy (who used to be with said club--I only recognize because he's always on the podium post-race) he's at the sand bar coaching a girl on her form. I eavesdrop because I feel like all the work I've been doing in the pool went out the window the minute I got in the open water today.

From there I decide to swim to the other side. I notice that there aren't a lot of people swimming out that far. It takes me, oh, forever to get there... Ah... When I do finally reach land, four young lads are discussing their times and who's swimming what next. I ask them how far it was to the point we're at, they tell me 900. They were very nice, and even ask how my swim is going, etc. I'm not really looking to pick up four young lads, so I see it as 'rest break over.' I decided to swim all the way back without stopping. Not long after, the boys SMOKE my butt and swim past me. Am I really swimming at a snails pace? (I think I am.)

I FINALLY get back to the other side... Breath. Breath. Breath... What is that I see? Over where the divers usually hang out? NO! It really is! OMG! It's a 300 pound man in a Speedo! I'm talking full banana hammock speedo! And I have no friends to laugh with this!!!!!!!! OMG!

I have to point him out to someone, so I there just happens to be a nice looking guy standing next to me. "Oooh. You notice all the ladies are over here, don't you?" he tells me.

I swim out to the sand bar and back. Next week I'll go for two down and backs, but I'm tired. Hopefully my coach will just be glad I got my butt out of the pool and into some open water. I found this little map, and realized that the pond is measured out in meters, not yards! So apparently I went farther than I thought! Yahoo!

Training Days

So I thought the blog thing would be cool to track my thoughts as I progress towards Ironman status. Maybe it will be, maybe it won't be. Not sure. I frequently have little a-ha moments but as the day winds down... I'm exhausted! and I can see why so many of my friends start blogs and then never update them!

Really, training is tiring. Greg mentioned that it's a good thing I'm not working right now because I'd be a spaz maniac mess if I also had to hold down a job. He's absolutely right. I'm so dreading August when I go back to work. My schedule right now is this: Get up (ah!!!! But I do get to sleep in! Only with the temps in the high 90's, it behooves me to get up early), get a workout (or two) in. Make a good healthy lunch for the hubby and enjoy together. Kiss him off to work. Clean up the kitchen mess. Check email, basically try to relax a little. Stall like crazy because I know I have another workout to do. Now when exactly do I want to do that? Get everything together to do the other workout, pack the bags, do it, come home (now 8 p.m.), eat, collapse.

Now that just doesn't leave a lot of highly motivational time left in there. Take tonight for instance. I logged a whopping 2 hours 45 minutes in my training log. But in reality it went like this:
Workout 1: (Figure out what to wear. Find radio and hydration pack.) Drive 15 minutes to good running local, RUN 1 hour, drive 15 minutes back. Total time: 1:30 not including time to put run stuff away.
Workout 2: un-noted stall time. To drive and pay to get in? Or bike it in free? I opted to bike it in to the state park because I'm cheap. Okay, now to gather all necessary open water swim stuff. Backpack, check. Towel, check. Wetsuit, check. Signed waiver to let me swim, check. You get the point. Doublecheck all that. Get swimsuit on. What to wear on the bike. What to wear afterwards because I know I have to lift weights afterwards... Load bike in car. Drive to free parking spot 2.5 miles away from park. Unload bike. Bike it in. Sign in. Go 2 bathroom. SWIM 1 hr. 15 min. Dry off. Clean wetsuit off in lake. Pack up. Bike back to car. Take wheel off bike and load up. Drive to gym.
Workout 3: Weights and Core exercises. Drive home. Workouts 2&3= 4 hours.

Total time attributed to my workouts today? 5.5 hours.

Yep, almost six hours when you count driving time, prep, etc. That's a part-time job folks!!!!

Training for Ironman really has brought my husband and I closer. We are both extremely understanding of the other and why neither of us is doing a darn thing to our house or yard these days... When you are home, you just want to put the feet up... Not because your being lazy, but because you want to save every ounce of energy for the next workout!!!!

Now... Can I let that basket of clean clothes on the floor sit for one more day? Hmmm....

Irish Snug runners club!

Now this was a real find! Some coworkers talked me into attending this fun little event last night. This was right up my ally! Apparently, this pub has been hosting this event every Thursday since May. They have over 100 runners each week. You sign in, run an informal (not timed) 5K. When you return, the bar has a table set up with free salad, spaghetti and bread for all the runners. They had discounted beer sales which is definitely where they make their money (that and the free word of mouth advertising doesn't hurt their cause either.)

I couldn't believe it was all free! What fun! The people all seemed like great people, too. It made me miss a couple of my friends that don't live in Colorado. My now Iowa-living girlfriend Amy would have been all about it. I think my friend Allyson in Michigan probably would have enjoyed this crowd, also. I met a girl that moved out here from South Carolina last year. We talked for a long time. I'm hoping I see her again. You can never have enough friends that enjoy this sort of thing!

What I hope this summer offers:
1) Get in the shape of my life
2) Find more fun events like this
3) Make another great friend or two

My first Super Tuesday!

I did it! I completed my first Super Tuesday!!! Today I biked 12.15 miles, swam 2250 yards, ran 3.5 miles, and then lifted weights! Ha! I did the bike in the morning and all the other stuff this evening--but had I done them all back to back in a rushed sort of way, I would have done a sprint triathlon today!

The only sad part is that my coach wrote my swim as taking me 45 minutes. (It took me an hour to complete that distance...)

The best part of today? I came home and at my coach's request, I had to eat a lot of small meals... Only a meal at 10:00 at night doesn't sound all the appetizing, but a chocolate banana soy protein shake sounded wonderful! And it was! (I guess I'm kind of sitting aside with a "Huh" when I think that I've become a person that enjoys protein shakes at the finale of my workouts... Who is this person I'm becoming????)

New Workouts!

My recovery week is officially over... Sigh... It was so nice... The build begins again. My coach wrote out all my workouts until my half-ironman in August. I have the three week build, and then sort of a rest week, but not really. On my recovery weeks, he instead gives me two days off in a row, and backs some of my other workouts down. He said this is so I can make the most of my 'free as a bird summer' prior to my freaking out because I have to go back to work in August. I'll buy that!

Wanna know the best part??? He told me to make sure I eat a lot, lots of snacks rather than one large dinner, and he wants me to sleep a lot! Eat and sleep a lot! Maybe this training business isn't so bad!!!!

Here's what an average week will look like for me over the next two months:
Mon. - rest day
Super Tuesdays - Bike, Swim, Run, lift weights
Wed. - run, swim, and core training
Thurs. - bike (usually half the distance of the Sunday bike)
Fri. - lift weights, core training (pretty easy day!)
Sat. - Long run, swim
Sun. - Loooong bike ride

Game on!!!!!

Enjoy it while you got it!

My workouts are scheduled such that I build up for three weeks, and then I do lighter workouts to let my body recover for a week. Ahhh!!!! This week has been that recovery week! Although I'm still doing workouts, they aren't overly taxing on my body. And that's good! Because my legs are still crying from last week's workouts!

My coach told me to enjoy, because it's really going to ramp up soon enough. For some reason, my husband finds that hillarious. Sometimes we just don't find humor in the same things!

I had to swim approximately a mile today. The whole time I was swimming I kept telling myself, "Enjoy! This may be the shortest workout you'll see over the next five months!"

Too funny to resist

Ironman has a mass 2000 person start... This is a hillarious video on preparing for it. I definitely have to ask my friend Kirk for some advice...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk

Longest day yet, and summary

My body is tired... I just finished my first real (no sicknesses or injuries! yahoo!) three week set of building workouts, and I'm going into a recovery step back week. I'm so excited. When I saw those workouts a few weeks ago I about fell over. But I did it! I did my longest run this season yesterday at an hour and forty-five minutes. I did my longest bike this season this afternoon at three hours. I did my longest swim this season at 2400 yards and I did that the day before yesterday and another 2450 again today! Whoo!

While my body is completely exhausted, today was a milestone day. In addition to hitting the hardest workouts yet this season... I also pedaled through the tunnel exiting Chatfield State Park onto the C-470 trail. I walked my bike through it on the way out, and with a crazy amount of self-talk on the way back, I did NOT get off my bike, and I rode through the lake size puddle that exists mid-dark tunnel. It wouldn't be so bad, but the cement in the tunnel, in the puddle to be particular, is uneven... Only you can't really see it because it's dark, and it's covered in water. It completely freaks me out... But I did it! I wasn't overcome with a big sigh of relief, I worked myself up too much, but I did tell myself that if I could ride through the tunnel on the way back without stopping, I needed to force myself to ride up one of the curbs by our house... And... I did that too! It was a good day on the bike! Not to mention how tired my legs were, but my butt didn't go numb on me today! I'm telling you, it was a banner day for bike riding! (Less the sunburn and biker shorts, gloves, and jersey tan lines that showed up later in the evening...)

Another Milestone during my long swim tonight. I was so tired... Did I mention how tired my body was? I was doing the easy swimming that is called for my warmup, and I was just an endless complaining and whining mess. My coach wanted me to do some sets of 200 easy, and 200 fast. How on earth could I swim a straight 200 fast in this condition??? But... Lo and behold, I got to my first fast 200 set, and while "fast" is a relative term, I did push it hard the entire 200. I was proud of myself. Then I went on to the easy 200 that followed it, and you know what? It really was easy!!!!!! Huh! AND... I did the 2450 in seven minutes less than I did the 2400 two days ago! How on earth does that happen when my body is this tired? No clue, but it was a good workout day... Now, where's my pillow?

Week stats:
Swim: 2.75 miles (I missed a key swim mid week and I just couldn't fit it in the last two days of school. There was just too much going on.)
Bike: 65.65 miles
Run: 20.5 miles

In honor of the Blazeman: 1971-2007

If you follow triathlon, especially the "big" race in Kona, Hawaii the last two years, no doubt you would know the story of Jon "Blazeman" Blais. On May 2, 2005, Jon Blais was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. As a teacher (and a triathlete) in all aspects of his life, he wanted everyone to know that 70 years after the passing of Lou Gehrig, very little has changed for those with ALS. After being diagnosed with ALS, Jon Blais went on to do the Kona Ironman race in Hawaii that same year. The following was taken from an article at Competitor.com regarding his Ironman experience:

In his prime, Blais would have swam the 2.4 miles in about 1:05. He was hoping for 1:30. Instead he went 1:50 because he was only able to use one arm and his body was cramping badly. On the bike he couldn’t get out of the saddle, his upper torso felt like a brick and his quads and calves were seizing up with every turn of the pedals. At the turnaround in Hawaii, a race official told him that he wasn’t going to make the 5:30 p.m. cutoff time for the bike.
“I had just opened my special needs bag,” he laughs, “so I chucked my banana bread at him. There was no way I was going to miss that cutoff.”
The NBC camera crew that had been following him earlier had disappeared, as his chances of starting the marathon continued to dwindle.
“They took off,” he remembers. “They gave up on me and went to film another story.”
Fortunately, Blais doesn’t believe in giving up — on the kids he teaches or the dreams he’s living. By mile 80, he was back on pace and the camera crew was there to capture him finishing the bike and starting the marathon with his parents, 20 friends and the entire world there to witness a miracle in the making.

Before the race, Mike Reilly, the voice of the Ironman, had asked Blais what he was going to do at the finish line. A handstand? A cartwheel? A Greg Welch-style leap? But Blais told Reilly that he didn’t know if he was going to finish and that Reilly might have to log roll his sorry butt across the line.
So when he approached the line, that’s exactly what The Blazeman did. In the same way he has dealt with his disease, he proudly took his time, dropped to the ground and log rolled ever so slowly towards the finish of the race and ever closer to the finish of his life.
He savored every second of the journey. To the very end he will be the teacher. He is teaching us all about a disease that is insidious and totally ignored. He is teaching us how to handle adversity. But most of all he is teaching us to never, ever give up.
“You can choose to be pissed off, or pissed on,” he laughs.The Blazeman, as always, chooses the former.

Greg and I watched this story, and it was really impressive, but I don't think it really hit us until the following year. He did it. He completed 140.6 miles in 17 hours. The guy must not have been THAT bad off. Right?

I don't think my husband will be overly embarrassed if I let it be publicly known that we watched last year's Ironman and we both cried. Not little wimpy, I hid it before you saw it sneaky tears--I'm talking, go get the Kleenex box and make a pile on the floor Kleenex. The same man that finished an Ironman the previous year was in a wheelchair and could barely talk to the media the following year. There was a tremendous amount of publicity, and the story was the type that you never forget. Apparently, there still is no cure for the disease. Once diagnosed, a person has 2-5 years to live. Jon Blais has done much to educate others on this debilitating disease. You can learn more about him and his cause at http://www.alswarriorpoet.com/. Jon Blais died Sunday, May 27, 2007. May God welcome this fine man to heaven and declare him an Ironman as he enters. Rest in Peace Blazeman.