Living and Tri-ing in River City

2010-12-01T08:53:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-11-17T10:50:00.001-05:00

(NOT SO) WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-10-27T14:04:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-10-22T09:25:00.004-04:00

THE RACE I ALMOST “WON”

Saturday, I will be running the 10k Nike Human Race, held at Candlestone Inn in Belding, a small town northeast of Grand Rapids. I haven’t run here in probably 20 years, at another 5k/10k race. A few things stand out in my mind about that race so many years ago.

The race I ran in this town 20 years ago was a 5k. There was also a 10k but I preferred the 5k distance. At that time, I was running 5k races in the low 20 minute range, and I had become particularly strong at that distance due to running with my son in his stroller most of the summer. At that time, we didn’t have the fancy jogging strollers. No, I was pushing him in a type similar to the Gracos they still have now, with the swivel wheels, etc. Nothing aerodynamic about this buggy, but it was all I had and once again I was ahead of the curve running with a baby in a stroller. Needless to say, the uphills were a total grind, but it did pay off in faster race times. I still remember my son saying as I was gasping for air, “Run faster Mommy.” And even though I was running way faster than I do now, I still had to slow down some on the corners to avoid a rollover accident.

I don’t remember the name of the race, but I know it started and finished at one of the local elementary schools, put on by veteran runners, whose names I don’t remember and have to wonder if they are still running or even alive any more. A group of us from my gym were regulars at the area races, racing probably at least every other weekend, and one woman probably most weekends. She was young, unmarried, no kids, and was fast. She could easily win a race outright and otherwise won her age group every time. She too preferred the 5k distance.

The 10k started 15 minutes ahead of the 5k, and I don’t remember anyone who probably did the 10k, although I’m sure if they said they were there, I’d remember. I didn’t see anyone from my age group lined up for the 5k, but while I raced frequently, I still did not know everyone in my age group either, and there was always the chance someone would move into a new age group at any given race, or even cheat. And being 20 years ago, I honestly don’t remember every detail of this race, but there are some that are clear and stand out in my mind.

It was finally time for the 5k race to start. No chips back then, probably someone with a whistle or starter’s pistol starting the race, and pins to hold our numbers on. Race belts were not known to me then. I didn’t even own a water bottle or holder!

Off we went, down a long, winding driveway leading from the school to the street. I was running at a fast enough pace to be close to the front, but still not fast enough to see the lead runners by the time they reached the street. Sue, the fast one, was up front with the fast guys.

Once I reached the street, the lead group could no longer be seen, even though I was with the next group behind them. At that point in the race, you are raring to go, and not thinking of anything but one foot in front of the other, trying to get a good start and fall into a good pace. I don’t think the race course was marked by arrows on the road, which would explain one thing significant that happened. Since there was a 10k and a 5k race, at some point there was a split for the 5k. Volunteers or maybe a police officer pointed the way and we went wherever they pointed.

The race was held, as I remember, in mid to late September, one of those early fall days where the nights are cold and the days can be bright, sunny, and even quite warm. Those are the types of days when the bees can’t quite figure out what to do: they become lethargic during the cold nights, but become crazy and almost frantic once the sun comes out and starts warming the day. At probably the last mile of the race, a bee flew under my sunglasses. I whipped them off and shooed it away before it stung me, then regained my composure to continue on with the race. I was almost done, I remember that, and didn’t want to stop. My time was going to be okay, not great, but okay.

As I was approaching the school, the end of the race, I knew I had to dig in and climb that hill back up to the finish line. Just as I turned onto the hill, one of the volunteers starts clapping and cheering. “Good job! First woman!” I’m thinking it must be the first 10k woman so steal a glance behind me. No one coming except some guys. I’m puzzled. As I get closer to the volunteer he again yells out, “Great job first woman, right up to the finish. You’re almost there!” At this point I’m thinking, is he talking to me??

I dig in and push to the finish. My time was under 23 min. but don’t remember the exact time. No one says much at the finish line except congratulations, etc. At this point, I'm wondering how it was possible I won this race. I'm definitely wondering what happened to Sue.

I head into the school to recover and cool down and wait for the awards. It’s the usual scene after a race, with people discussing their races, their times, whether they were disappointed or pleased, etc. Back then, there were no elaborate post race spreads. We probably had popsicles, maybe apples or oranges, and water. That was it. Good enough.

Eventually, the results were posted. I didn’t try to push my way into the crowd initially but hung back waiting to see if I really did win the women's race. In the back of my mind I still didn't believe it and figured there was a mistake somewhere. Still, I never expected what happened next. Sue, the fast one, came over to me and said, “They have you winning the race! But I should have won because they directed us onto the 10k course and we were probably 2.5 miles into the race before someone discovered it and sent us back to follow the 5k course. So I probably ran more than 5 miles today.”

I was stunned and don’t even remember what I said. I do remember the huge trophies for the winners. Apparently, the mistake was reported to the race director, some further calculations were done, and my trophy was stripped from my possession! I did end up winning my age group that day, receiving one of those generic medals I’m sure everyone has somewhere in their race memorabilia.

The next thing I clearly remember is another woman in my age group, supposedly, who took second. I remember standing up and saying to someone because I was so outraged, “She’s not in my AG! She’s in the one below me!” To this day, I still run into this woman, and to this day she continues to switch between one age group and the next, apparently whenever it works to her advantage. Even though I’ve reported her, nothing has ever been done. And she has never dared to "beat" me when doing her switches because she knows I know.

My after thoughts on the race that day, which really occurred to me today for the first time. Even though there was a mistake in course directions, technically I did win the women’s race and should have been awarded the first place trophy. There is no way to accurately or truthfully determine what the times of the wayward runners would have been had they actually followed the 5k course. And while it wasn’t their fault, neither was it mine. Oh well, easy come, easy go. Had I thought this clearly back then, who knows? I didn't feel I deserved it based on my time. If this happened today, would I feel differently?

I don’t expect tomorrow’s race to even remotely resemble that day, but I hope the course is just as beautiful and challenging as it was back then. I will just run my pace and hopefully enjoy the day.

2010-10-20T14:11:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-10-19T13:43:00.004-04:00

SHADOWY FIGURES

Running in the early morning hours are my favorite. Those hours between 5 am and 7 am are when I seem to run my best because I feel my best. Running in the dark or semi-dark going to light is also when I run my calmest. Not much in the way of distractions when you can only see to the next street light. It also heightens your awareness of your surroundings—that rustling in the bushes—could that be a cat, raccoon, or even a skunk??; the sound of water running into the sewer before even hearing the sprinklers spilling water into the streets; the rattling of a dog’s collar as it trots along with its walker; the distant sound of the bakery ovens which you don't hear when traffic starts, along with the aroma of fresh baked breads and other pastries. These are just some of the things I enjoy in those pre-dawn runs.

Then there are those shadowy figures that you see approaching, either walking or running, with or without pets. You see them cross the street under the street lights, but they have no faces at that hour. They are part of that anonymous world of the early morning darkness, and I’m surprised at how many of us there usually are.

Today seemed particularly dark. No stars were visible, and even with the moon in its almost full phase, the clouds obliterated any illumination it might have provided. Instead, just a hazy shadow could be seen in the still dark sky. Leaving from my driveway, I could already see someone a block or more away who turned just as I got closer and disappeared before I turned the corner. On I went another few blocks, only again to see someone walking a dog who, once passing under the street light, also disappeared into the night.

But today what I found unusually disturbing was the cyclist in completely dark clothing with no light or reflector that I nearly ran into before I heard the spinning of his gears and couldn’t believe how close a call that was. Its hard to imagine someone not making themselves seen in that kind of dimness. Fortunately I had my blinking light on.

And then a nice surprise. Less than a block later, along came two young boys out for a morning run. Never have I seen them or anyone that age at that time of day. Made me wonder what their goal was and whether they would keep up the early morning runs.

At one point, I thought I heard footsteps behind me, but it was only my own. And all too soon, the run was over and it was time to head off to the corporate world.

2010-10-13T11:18:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-10-06T09:32:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-09-30T11:50:00.011-04:00

LIKE A GHOST TOWN

For the first time in the nearly 30 years I have worked for this firm, we are faced with layoffs and cutbacks. Some of it was due to overstaffing for so long, but when its a boom time, you always keep the good people around in case of emergency, regardless of how unbusy they were on a regular basis.

While I have been working on trial preparation for months, the trial starts Monday, and I'm officially off the case until maybe something post-trial, if necessary. That too is being handled mainly by a Chicago lawfirm, since the trial will be held there, and we are only second chair, not necessitating the need for a full staff to be there other than the 2 main attorneys.

So I go back to twiddling my thumbs most days. I can't remember there ever being any lack of work for this extended of a period. And its not just because the work isn't there. It all goes back to clients laying off, clients going out of business themselves, and clients not paying their bills. The office is starting to look like a ghost town, even during the day.

Our biggest growth period was over the past 6 previous years, and during that time they also decided to rennovate the entire office, spending big bucks, expanding from the 3 floors when I first started to 5 floors, as well as basement and main level space shared by the bank that holds our lease. We have slowly crowded out other tenants so that now there are only 4 tenants in the building.

But with all the layoffs and doom and gloom around here, our once full floors are dwindling down to only being 1/3 to half full. On my floor alone, there have been 7 people let go for various reasons, including attorneys, paralegals, and other non professional staff. The same is pretty much true for the other floors. People are running scared.

What makes me the most disappointed in all this is the seeminly lack of value that is being placed on long-time employees. Everyone is on equal footing, so no positions are safe. If your job becomes eliminated, rather than absorb them somewhere else--anywhere else--they let people go.

Not only that, I have been BEGGING for a year for projects and repeatedly am passed over by attorneys needing work. And when a few projects come along, everyone is fighting over them like seagulls at the beach when someone throws out some chips. Scrambling more or less.

So I bide my time, waiting for the big projects to come back or at least some idea of security. With the possibility of having no job hanging over everyone's head all the time, I have to say that is one reason I have not actively trained for many races, not wanting to have to spend the money on the fees or travel. Yes, I know, I took a vacation recently, but that had been planned since last year. I couldn't let the mood around here ruin that.

But, looking on the bright side, that hasn't been all bad! I have to say my semi-retirement--maybe hiatus is a better word--from racing this year has been a lot more fun than I was allowing myself to think. For the first time in over 20 years, I have been free to plan weekends far in advance, instead of having to work around races, tapering, and recovery. I am ALWAYS training, just not for any particular race.

Usually I feel "obligated" to consider some spring, summer, and fall race, but this year I am just going with the flow. For once it feels good to not feel guilty about not doing the local marathon or half (although I still may do the half if I can get in a few good long runs), and my attitude toward mileage or race times is "whatever I do is good enough." Its a liberating feeling!

Who knows about next year. I keep getting asked repeatedly if I will do another IM. I would like to--love to--if I didn't have to do all that bike training! But that's inevitable, so if its going to happen, I need to get a new attitude about that. I have not been on my road bike since August, instead started up off road riding, which I am finding much more to my liking. Just the mountain bike itself is so much more enjoyable than the road bike! I'm still pretty much a chicken on any steep downslopes, sandy areas, or unknown terrain, and still haven't mastered the technique to get up steep embankments, but again, its that "whatever" attitude that has set in. I'm enoying myself.

All this of course is to be taken with a grain of salt, since a change of attitude can happen at any time!

2010-09-29T09:09:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-09-22T09:18:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-08-25T12:59:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-08-16T11:22:00.002-04:00

MYSTERY RUNNER

For years, I’ve seen him running in all kinds of weather: hot, humid, cold, rainy. While I am riding my bike around the Kent Trails near and around the river, I see him running, faithfully, day in, day out, week in, week out. Years ago, it was two young Hispanic men running, always wearing sweats and long sleeves or maybe a short sleeved shirt depending on how hot it was. At first, they didn’t even wear running shoes, just some sort of black athletic shoe.

Over the years, the two have been reduced to one, for reasons unknown to me. I don’t know who this guy is, how old he is, although he looks fairly young, what he does for a living, where he lives, or why he runs. All I do know is he runs consistently, possibly every night in the non-snowy months, and judging from the route he takes, probably anywhere from 4-6 miles.

And this year he has evolved to wearing running shoes and using an iPod. Considering I’ve been seeing him out there for at least the past 10-12 years, I have to wonder if he ever enters any races in the area, but not knowing his name, I can’t check any results.

Instead, he remains a mystery, but he reminds me every time I see him that running is not for elites, or any specific age, race, or culture. You don't even have special clothes or shoes if you really want to do it. It is a universal way to find yourself and enjoy nature, and that clearly looks like what he is doing every time I see him.

2010-08-04T09:09:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-08-03T09:56:00.003-04:00

EARLY MORNING RISING

A while ago, I posted the question: If you had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to work out or train, would you? Most of the answers were yes! a few were if I had to, and a couple were definitely no. Joining up with the early morning swim group, 4:30 a.m. became more of a necessity than a choice. Not that I had to get up at 4:30, but I’m a morning dawdler so like to get up at least a half hour earlier than necessary so I can have that time to waste.

But as the weeks go on, I’m finding as long as I go to bed early enough, I don’t mind waking up that early, during the work week at least, and actually can’t wait to get up to swim on the days we meet. It also guarantees being up and out early enough to get in at least a short run on those days as well, in an attempt to not only beat the heat but get to work on time.

To me, there is nothing more magical than being outside in the early morning hour or so before dawn. It is quiet. The weather is usually calm. There is no one to see the look on your face as you deal with the humidity, gut out a hard set of intervals, or even the peaceful calm I feel when running in the early morning hours. Summer of course is my favorite time, and obviously the easiest, but even in the winter, with the calm in the hours before dawn, even the coldest and snowiest days its not so bad. It beats the treadmill any day.

This summer has been extremely great, even with the high humidity we have had. Its more like running through a cool sauna, where the sweat beads up on your arms, rolls down your chin and neck, and puddles around you if you stop. But after, I feel cleansed, rejuvenated, ready to start the day.

And its surprising just how many people are out running or even biking at that hour, not to mention all the dog walkers. As we pass each other, we silently nod, and go on our way, sharing that bond if only briefly.

I am going to miss the early morning swims once the weather turns or it gets too dark to see in the morning, but I hope I continue on with the early morning runs, because I am finding that is my best time of day.

2010-07-28T12:12:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-07-23T15:40:00.004-04:00

HO HUM

Its been one of those ho hum weeks at work, so what better time to finally get a chance to update my blog??

I have been extremely lax this summer about blogging, either because of being busy at work or its been just too darned hot at home to want to sit next to a hot laptop computer besides other than for brief Facebook updates.

The hot weather, something we've all been experiencing it seems. And without air conditioning at home, it becomes an extra challenge. But I do believe it helps tolerate the heat more when I am in it. There's little difference in going out for a run in the heat than spending the evening cooking or doing chores. After a while it all blurs together into one big sweat fest.

Wednesday, however, was possibly the worst running day I remember in even my far distant memory. At predawn, not only was it in the 70s, but the humidity was 95%, and there was absolutely no wind. I honestly could not breathe. But I managed to get in about 7 miles (and I'm calling it 7 no matter how far it was!) with a lot of walking. I was out of breath almost from the first block to the last step.

Despite the heat this summer, I still have vivid memories of last summer's cold wave, for lack of a better description. While it was lovely for long endurance training, it pretty much went by in a blur, with only one or two trips to the beach because it was too darned chilly to sit there and the water too icy to swim. Waste of time. So hot as it is, I still do not believe in global warming. I believe that God controls the weather and its not something man or even Mother Nature can alter. So I'll get off my soapbox now that I've stated my opinion.

Not trying to be pessimistic about this sauna like weather, because for me to really complain would compare to cutting off my tongue, since facing the alternative is 100% worse, the theory for predicting how snowy Michigan winter will be goes back to the summer weather. The more hot days we have, and the longer Lake Michigan stays warm apparently affects when the lake will freeze. The longer it does not freeze, the more "lake effect" snow we will get. To prove this theory, at least going back last year, when we had a very cool summer and the lake waters stayed pretty icy, the lake froze early and we had a fairly mild winder, with more steady temperatures and only half the average amount of snow. I don't know how this works exactly, other than with the lake frozen, the clouds cannot suck up any additional moisture, so by the time a snowstorm reaches landfall, it breaks up pretty quickly. Others, who normally don't get any or much snow, ended up with our weather fronts and got dumped on. So, considering this theory is true or holds true for this year at least, we are in for one heck of a winter! Which is why I am going to soak up all the heat and humidity I can now so I have something fond to look back on when I'm trudging through the snow next winter.

And all this talk about snow is sure to take your mind off the heat. Enjoy it while you can!

2010-07-21T17:24:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-07-14T09:50:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-07-12T14:20:00.004-04:00

THE EARTH BENEATH MY FEET—
MORE ON BAREFOOT RUNNING

It sure seems to be the fastest growing “fad” in running these days. More and more I am seeing people around town running barefoot, in the neighborhood and at races. One guy at a race recently said he had run 63 marathons—all barefoot. We even have a Barefoot Triathlon on the roster this year, so you can see it might be here to stay for a while at least. Not so sure how winter will change that, but I know they make some shoes specifically for winter.

For me, I have been running in Nike Free 500s since March. These are a more traditional type running shoe, but totally unstructured, with soft sides that remind you of putting on slippers, but with a firm yet flexible rubber sole.

After having run barefoot on the beach while in the Dominican Republic, while I knew I wouldn’t go that route once I got home, I did immediately go out and buy the Nikes, and have been loving them ever since. I honestly can say I am enjoying running more than I have in over 10 years.

Mainly this year, by my own choice, I have been running shorter distances with more intensity, so they work great for that, but I have also used them in one sprint tri, and finally, just recently, on a 6.5 mile trail run, working up to running a half marathon distance trail run in late August. Here’s what I am finding with the Nikes that I did not think about initially and never would have guessed about: on trails they are far more responsive in handling rocks, roots, up hills, and steep down hills. On grass, they are more responsive when you come across an unseen divot or uneven terrain. And why do you think that is? I don’t have any scientific answer but only my own opinion, and that is that when wearing more structured shoes, with orthotics as well, often I could not feel a rock or indentation or a root that was only partially exposed until I actually stepped on it, and that usually caused me to roll an ankle, trip, or lose my balance somewhat. With my Nikes, I am more fully able to feel the earth beneath my feet so to speak. The flex grooves in the soles of the shoe allow the soles to flex with everything under foot so I feel a lot more stability than ever before. I absolutely got to hating trail running because every time I did, I rolled an ankle. So far, so good. I’m not saying I’ll never trip over something again, because I’m just not that coordinated. I am just hoping the shoes will allow me more stability to keep me from many of the unplanned spills I seem to have on trails.

One article I have read, by Phil Maffetone, athletic trainer to triathlete Mark Allen, can be found here. This backs up my findings as well.

One thing worth noting from this article is that structured shoes force the foot to land on the heel when running, when the natural inclination is to land mid to forefoot. Running barefoot you would never land on your heel naturally, and I think this is mainly because the heel cannot withstand the impact of thousands of footstrikes when running any distance, particularly a long distance like a marathon. The padding is in the front of the foot for a reason. The article also notes that running with shoes with a thick heel (like most athletic shoes) is actually the cause of more trips and falls.

"When wearing thick soles, the body can’t make these important and intricate adjustments as well to the surface stress. This poor communication between the foot and the brain is referred to as diminished kinesthetic sense of foot position. While kinesthetic sense normally declines with age and is a contributing factor to the frequency of falls that occur in later life, many of today’s young athletes wearing thick sports shoes show significantly reduced kinesthetic sense similar to or worse than an elderly patient! (These same sports shoes, studies show, often worn by middle aged and older, inactive people also increase the risk of falls and hip fractures.)"

The only drawback I am finding to these shoes is that because the flex grooves on the soles are so deep, when running on rocky trails I pick up a lot of stones that have to be picked out by hand or with a stick, and running in mud they tend to cake up entirely in the grooves. If I ran through any manure, I might be in deep doo doo! I also can feel rocks, so sometimes my feet are a little sensitive to that, but I figure as time goes on I will not notice it as much.

Another thing I have noticed with my running is that with my feet lighter by a considerable amount, I am able to run faster and pick my feet up easier as well. And my feet when really going barefoot aren’t nearly as sensitive. I used to walk like a cripple when I didn’t have shoes on because it was like my feet were deformed from wearing the structured shoes for so many years. And they would ache then when the bones tried to go naturally when barefoot, so I rarely did, pretty much wearing shoes every hour I was awake. And its not like I go barefoot outside much, if at all, but I can at least walk through the house without having to put on a pair of sandals or other hard soled shoes.

All in all, I am hoping this fad catches on and stays so I can find the same pair of shoes when I am ready to buy my next pair. You know how that always works. As soon as you find a shoe you love, they discontinue it or “improve” it.

In the meantime, I really do need to get rid of my new, in the box, pair of regular shoes I bought before I tried these. Anyone? Make me an offer.

2010-07-07T10:08:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-06-30T10:37:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-06-29T08:42:00.020-04:00

EARLY MORNING SWIMS

The alarm goes off at 5 am, but usually I am awake well before that time. I don't know if its anticipation for the workout ahead or just gets to be a cycle that isn't broken until these early morning swim workouts stop.

The swims are in the lake near my house, a short 10 minutes or less drive in the early morning hours. The traffic lights are still on the blink cycle when we head to the park, the sun is not yet up, but the sky is beginning to lighten, giving the promise of another day.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and most Fridays a group meets for a swim, and some of us run after. We arrive just before sunup, some slipping into wetsuits, others go without. There is a faster first group and then me, one of the slowest, in a second group. But this year I have Don to swim with me, and not training for anything himself, he has no personal agenda requiring him to stay with the fast guys and gals. My problem isn't that I'm slow, although I am slower than most, its my inability to see in the not quite light. Added to that the size of the lake. The closest place to site to is over 1/2 mile away, and while some of the houses have night lights on that give you something to focus on, by the time the sun is fully up, about 10 minutes into the swim, these lights go out.

The park itself is quite beautiful, the lake a rather large, inland lake, with a public access boat launch, with most of the rest of the lake inhabited by some of the more wealthy citizens in the area, living in homes like these, like the $7.5 million mansion below. Oh yeah, its for real, and maybe you heard about Dr. Stokes who owned the house? Suffice it to say, he's now living off the State of Michigan in a penitentiary somewhere nearby.

This one's for sale, and quite cheap too: $270,000.

Years ago, back when my mom was a kid, Reeds Lake was known for this on the water amusement park-beach area, similar to Coney Island, called Ramona Park back then:

(Photos from historical society pages.) The park, which provided fun and recreation for families for decades, closed down sometime in the 1950s.

The park has been rennovated in recent years, and now has some lovely paths, landscaping, and lots of mature trees. Its the venue of the local triathlon held in September, and many other races in the area throughout the year take place right near here , with some going around the lake, which is about 4.2 miles around.

The benches you see at the end of this path is where we meet. The reasons we swim so early are two-fold: (1) most of us have to get to work and (2) the lake is a "no wake" zone until 7 am, meaning no boats with motors allowed to wake up lake residents I would imagine. That gives us a window of time of about 50 minutes before the boats start lining up to hit the water. Occasionally some do enter the water early, and its astonishing how vulnerable I feel out in the middle of the lake when I hear a motor somewhere nearby.

Another thing about this lake is that there is no public swimming, yet a group of triathletes started this early morning group swim about 3 years ago, and so far no one has said anything to us, although I'm waiting for the day the local cops show up and kick us out for good or write us up.

And, while we start out in the semi-light of the day, by the time we finish it more often than not looks like this.

2010-06-23T09:52:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-06-21T10:13:00.006-04:00

LUNG POWER

I know I mentioned a few months ago the PACE program (Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion) and how I had been experimenting with using this to get in better shape and attempt to burn off the excess pounds that had turned to fat after the IM. A short description of the program means lots of interval training that progressively gets harder and faster. The end result of this is to gain increased strength without even lifting weights, improving body composition by burning fat rather than hanging on to fat through hours and hours of aerobic exercise, and last but not least building lung capacity.

It has been proven that by the time you're 50, you've lost 40% of your breathing capacity. As you age, cells in your lungs start to die off faster than you replace them – causing your lungs to shrink. That's bad news for your strength, stamina and disease-fighting power. Researching this theory and the PACE program has led me to some different ideas of what's healthy in exercise and what is not. From my own perspective, I found out that hours and hours and endless hours of "aerobic" exercise really left me not as healthy or as strong as I was before I took on all these endurance events. What I noticed most was the loss of lung power. It was so obvious. I was finding myself getting slower and slower on my runs, not able to maintain a fast pace on the bike, and while I could swim endlessly--at an aerobic pace of course--I was unable to kick it up a notch or two or three like I attempted to do during masters swim classes. That was almost a total waste of time, since I got no faster in the 3 months of twice a week workouts than I was before I started, and only left me totally frustrated.

Its always easier blaming these problems on getting older, but I found out it was much more. While I was getting older, my body--especially my lungs--were aging faster and faster with the type of exercise that has been recommended for decades now as being the best thing for you. For me, it wasn't.

I realize and understand the importance and need for endurance training--if you are going to be doing endurance events. Otherwise? A complete waste of time, at least according to the new way of thinking about exercise.

I had had a clue about the high intensity interval training as long as 4 years ago, but until I actually backed off on the long endurance stuff for a while and worked at improving my cardiovascular system by practing the PACE method, I did not see the true benefits.

Now, after 3 months, all my workouts have become so much easier. I am not out of breath on group open water swims, nor was I during my recent triathlon; I am finally able to pump harder on the bike to the point where my race pace was over 16 mph, much, much faster than anytime in the past 4 years; and while I am still working on developing a faster run, my mile pace has dropped and I am actually able to sprint at the end of the workouts without the lung bursting fatigue I suffered just 4 months ago. And I believe I have better immunity as well, after being sick on and off all winter with respiratory ailments. My stamina has also improved.

So I believe there is something to not only increasing but maintaining lung power as you age. You have to believe it when you see the athletes who stay fast and competitive within their age groups even into their 50s and 60s and beyond. I don't believe they could stay on top with lungs that were losing power as they aged.

I guess what I'm saying is while endurance events are obviously here to stay which necessitate training for endurance as well, it certainly can be beneficial if you could spend a month or two rebuilding your lung power and then maintaining it with a once a week fast workout or race. I have to wonder how much better we might all do adding in some serious interval work.

2010-06-16T09:21:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-06-15T15:55:00.003-04:00

DOUBLE TIME TRIATHLON, Sat. June 12, 2010

All it took was one little sprint tri to get me motivated again. I truly had forgotten how much fun these sprint races can be. Not only fun but they can provide you with a serious workout without having to spend your entire day doing them--a serious workout but where you can still get right back to normal living afterwards.

Saturday it was the Double Time Triathlon, an inaugural event. For some reason, I was totally mistaken as to the format of the race, thinking it was a double triathlon. I have done those before so I didn't think anything of it. Instead, according to others, the “double time” only meant you were supposed to go fast. When I found this out, I wondered if I should be there. I used to be a lot faster, but with all the things that have gotten in my way the last 4 or 5 years, fast went out of my vocabulary and my body.

For the past few months, I have been working on doing faster workouts, but still I have been hesitant to sign up for anything, afraid I would not meet my expectations. This would be my test.

Because I learned I would only be doing a sprint tri and not a nearly full Olympic distance tri, my game plan changed—in a hurry—since I didn’t find out until I was waiting for my swim heat to start it was only a sprint. In truth, I was relieved. The weather was questionable, with the possibility of thunder storms, and it was already hot and muggy, but thankfully heavily overcast. If I only had to do this once, great!

The swim was only 400 yards, so there was no way I would put on a wetsuit for this distance in this temperature, but I had also wondered why so many others had them on. One woman even had swim booties on! The water wasn’t that cold, maybe 70-72, which is mild for Michigan at this time of year considering we had almost a week with nights in the 40s and a lot of heavy rain a couple of times as well. My second thought was: are these people really going to put their wetsuits on for the second loop? Once I realized there was only one loop, I could see why they would wear a wetsuit. I still didn't mind not having one.

The field was small, about 250, and being a sprint that included every type of person and every type of bike you can imagine. We’ve all done them, so you know what I mean. And typically, with these sprint races, the transition was chaotic, and I found it nearly impossible to find a spot for my bike on any rack. Eventually I had to crowd in. Since I wasn't control of when we arrived at the race, I had no control over this as well.

The women were in the 3rd heat, and soon we were entering the water. I hadn’t been in fully to get used to the temperature so used the pre-swim time to test the goggles and get over that initial “take my breath away” feeling. Then, the starting horn went off. I was near the front and hoped no one was going to run me over, but it went fairly smooth almost immediately—for the first 30 seconds anyway. Then, someone grabbled onto my leg, I gave a swift kick, and off came the chip. Dang! Just focus and swim. Nothing you can do now, I told myself.

I noticed I had no panic on this swim. It wasn’t horribly crowded anyway, but that never mattered in the past. If anyone was swimming next to me or even near me, it threw me off completely. Instead, I stayed calm and focused. Even when I pretty much got wedged between a breaststroker and someone doggie paddling, but doing the frog kick. So I had legs on both sides of me kicking and elbows a little too close to my face until I finally managed to pull ahead. After that, it was just trying to keep as straight of a line as possible to the first buoy and then head to the second, and then in. Once I was heading for shore, I was pretty much by myself until all of a sudden some guy—obviously in a relay—came along side of me, and as big and wide open as that swimming area was, he managed to smack me so hard on my hand I felt like I had punched someone with my knuckles. That brought my head out of the water and I yelled at him to get away from me. He apologized but didn’t seem too quick to move away. I did break free from him and then it was smooth sailing to the finish. Without the chip, I have no splits but my watch time said swim time with running through to transition was about 9:23. Okay, not bad, just okay. I did tell the timers when I went over the first mat that I had lost my chip and gave them my number.

I was a little deflated here because I wondered if it would even matter what I did or whether my race would even count without my chip. I decided not to take on a defeatist attitude and just continued to try to do my best.

Transitions are always a time where I am seriously lacking in the ability to hurry. I feel like I am going 100 mph but my transitions are generally in the 3-5 minute range, and that was the same this time. I left transition with my bike and got to the timing mats—again telling them I lost my chip—in 12:55, so about 3.5 minutes. What do I do that takes so long? I like to be organized, but I truly don’t know, but this time my holdup was just not having enough room to move around in. And the humidity, making it impossible to get the feet dry enough to get socks on properly. Oh well. Off I go.

About the same time I was leaving transition, 3 young boys were heading out as well. They should have been in the heat before me, and while they didn’t look like triathletes, there was no way I was going to let them get ahead of me if I could help it. So I cranked it up and passed them like they were standing still. Now if I could only do that to someone who mattered!

The course was described as mostly flat and fast. Let’s hope was all I could think. I was surprised to see my competitiveness start kicking in and my average pace increasing, much faster than I figured it might. By doing this, I was able to pass some people at least, and not just other women. I was a little annoyed at myself that so many women had beat me on the swim, but it could easily have been caused from my slow transition. By the time I reached the first of only 2 “hills” my average speed had reached 17.2 mph. Whoa! For me that is fast. But it felt easy enough. Now if I could just hold on. There wasn’t anyone that close behind me, and I could see I was approaching another woman ahead, so I kept cranking as hard as I possibly could deciding this race was going to be all about the bike for me.

The only other hill was at about 9 miles. It wasn’t much but I underestimated it and found myself getting caught off guard and slowing down considerably. By now, my average speed, while having slowed some, was still considerably faster than I have gone in a long time. But suddenly, another woman passes me, and I find I am unable to respond. I’m cranking as hard as possible yet seeming to stand still. This was in a patch where the pavement was extremely rough, and my tires were not gliding along like they had before. I kept close to her but darn it if she didn’t get a burst of speed every time I got close enough to consider passing. And then I slightly underestimated the finish line. I was thinking as we turned into the side street that that was the finish line, when in fact we still had more than a mile to go. Yikes! I was unclipped and everything.

The other woman was just ahead but the pavement was smooth and flat so I put on a couple of gears and put my head down and cranked until I passed her.

Back at transition, I again told them I lost my chip. I don’t remember what my time was here, maybe about 52 minutes, but I really don’t remember. It was quite a ways to the bike racks from the street where we dismounted, and down a steep hill so again, I’m not sure what my time was in transition, but I’m sure it was slow as usual.

I had packed everything in plastic bags in case it rained so that slowed me some, but the worst was when I discovered my shoes were tied! In double knots! Drat, I totally forgot about putting different laces in and didn't even notice they were still tied from the last time I wore them. Had I just untied them I might have saved at least 30 seconds! Totally out of practice here!

The run out started where the swim in was, so we ran across grass for quite a ways until we got to the street. I was finding it extremely difficult to breathe or catch my breath, having side stiches on both sides, both from the humidity and my hard effort on the bike. So I just slowly, and I mean slowly, jogged for a couple of minutes then picked up the pace for a couple of minutes, then slowed, then fast until I got over this. I never fully got over that but had to keep pushing on.

The whole race took place at a mobile home lake community so the swim was in the lake and the run wound through the park, through people’s yards, back onto pavement, trails, fields, and grass. A true cross country experience. I was doing fairly well with time until I again underestimated what the mileage was until the finish area, not really knowing for sure how long the run was, but also thinking you never know if it’s a true 5k, 3 miles, or something else. Once we reached the grass where the run out started, I assumed, wrongly, that that would be the last sprint to the finish. So I sprinted, pushing myself way out of my comfort zone, only to find out as I neared the bike in chutes that this was not the finish, as it turned out, it was a true 5k, and that we had another mile or so to go! That about killed me so I found myself walking here again to get my breath. That’s when I saw Don watching the race and wandering around, and he said he’d just see me at the finish. Which he completely missed becaused he thought the run was 4 miles.

Once I got my breath, I also discovered my momentum was starting to lag. After pushing myself as hard as I did on the bike and on that stupidly calculated sprint, I was tired! But I have learned a new trick I can do (this may not be your thing so don’t necessarily try it in a race), and that is to sprint hard for 30 seconds, then walk 30. I can keep this up for a mile or two, and I can almost keep the same pace as if I were just running a moderately slow pace, the difference being I keep motivated instead of giving in to fatigue. It keeps me focused too. So I figured it couldn’t hurt my time much. I had already killed it on that sprint, so the thing now was to just hold on to the finish. The last mile was by far the most challenging, as it included an uphill part on trails, then a run through a muddy field, onto another muddy gravel road, to another muddy field, then through that field, before heading back to the gravel road and back to the paved trail to the finish, which also was on grass. On my last sprint to the finish, I wondered again if any of this would count. As I found out, when I entered the finish chute I told them I had lost my chip, gave them my number, and they said they were waiting for me! Yes, I would actually have an actual time. No splits, but what can you do.

Fast forward to awards, and I took 3rd in my AG, actually beating someone. Finish time: 1:34:xx.

I still have some work to do, both on my transitions and getting better control on the run so I can continue to push the pace but hold on longer, even after pushing the pace on the bike.

I firmly believe these shorter sprint workouts are what keeps people fast, and that it is definitely the longer races that slow you down. But I also know that’s how those things work, and if you want to be fast, you have to do more of the shorter races. If you want to go for the glory, there are plenty of long races that fit that category.

Now I can’t wait to do another one!

2010-06-14T10:16:00.002-04:00

THIS IS WHO I AM

It suddenly occurred to me (after all these years?) last weekend when we went on a bike outing with a group from my club. Not knowing what to expect, but mainly expecting to be bringing up the rear as usual, I told Don he at least might have some more challenging people to ride with. While there were a few faster people, the majority ended up being leisure or recreational riders; in fact, only half of the attendees even had helmets! So for once, I was not bringing up the rear but managed to ride just slightly behind the lead group. My odometer said 24.4 miles, and it was a challenging as well as beautiful course that took us through a few small suburbs of the Grand Rapids area, an area I have never ridden in, out in dairy farm country, then along the Thornapple River, through a swan sancuary, a beautiful bike path along the river, and even along a highway. And no helmets for these people. Not too smart! But we had a great time after at a cookout and had use of the host's lake, which included swimming and boating.

Afterward, talking with some of the leisure people, it soon occurred to me that this was a whole new concept to them; most had never ridden that far and none did it on a regular basis. Just the idea of regular biking was so foreign to them, one woman even said "well I won't have to do any spinning for a month now!" And she's in good shape otherwise.

When I said, "oh we do this every weekend," people were impressed, but at least they didn't say we were crazy. It occurred to me then that this is what I do on weekends. I don't go to garage sales, camping, flea markets, or the other things people do or don't do on weekends. I do triathlons or running races. This is how I pick most of my friends; this is where most of my social life (other than family) revolves around. My kids and other family members finally realize this. I have been doing this stuff for over 20 years. It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that this is who I am. Yet, until just recently, I didn't fully think this way myself.

Yes, I admitted I did triathlons. Yes, I admitted I ran some races. But I never fully admitted that this is my hobby as well as a part of my life.

My fairly new daughter-in-law has had a difficult time understanding this. Last year, while they prepared for their wedding, and while I trained for my IM at the same time (they were a week apart), every weekend I had to spend training long hours. So many weekends she wanted me to do things for/with her and I was not available. Even after the race was over, and I was on vacation, the great part of vacations for me was being able to run/bike/swim every day, or as much as I wanted. When she heard this, she said "but you were on vacation. You were supposed to be relaxing." But I was relaxing, was what I tried to convey to her. She still doesn't get it fully, but she is starting to realize this is what I do; this is who I am.

2010-06-09T09:58:00.002-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-06-08T12:46:00.002-04:00

LOOK WHAT I GET FOR COMPLAINING!

After nearly 4 months of doing almost nothing at workon a daily basis, suddenly things are picking up. A trial in the fall is starting its prep work, and while I am glad to get the work, it once again means missing lunches and workouts because things come up at the last minute and you can only juggle so much in a day. So its either back to those early (5:30 am) workouts or taking a chance on missing out on one altogether.

I had hoped to catch up on the last 2 weeks, but it has been a hectic last 2 weeks at work, and while technically I haven't missed too many planned workouts, I have replaced those missed by sprinting up the steps when I need to go to another floor or hitting the track or spin bike for short high intensity workouts.

Despite the craptacular weather we've had (rain, rain, tornadoes, flooding, washing out of trails and roads), I have managed to get at least 3 or 4 quality rides in outside but not much in the way of swimming. My shoulder has been acting up again, and while swimming itself isn't the problem, arm placement is, and of course the extension of my arm during the stroke only aggravates the scapula actually.

So tomorrow hopefully I can still do wordless Wednesday, and hopefully at some point this week I'll catch up on my workouts and other parts of my daily life. In the meantime, I must finish gulping my lunch or forego another one.

2010-06-02T13:21:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-05-25T10:22:00.010-04:00

UPDATE ON "BAREFOOT" RUNNING

Enough time has gone by for me to formulate an opinion on the barefoot running craze that seems to be taking over. Every day, I am seeing more and more Internet articles on the phenomenon, as well as facebook entries, since Vibrams is my "friend" on facebook. More and more events are popping up as well.

As a reminder, when I first started this type of training, it was truly barefoot, while on vacation in the Dominican Republic. The beach there offered the best possible chance to start this, but for me it didn't go quite as well as I would have liked initially. I pulled something on the top of one foot that led to some pain and discomfort running for a few weeks, to the point where I was afraid at first I had a stress fracture. But fortunately, that wasn't it.

My feet were decidedly weak in that I have been running with orthotics or custom made inserts for most of my running years of 22 years now, as well as shoes designed to correct anything that seemed to be a problem for me. Initially, I started out with just the basic running shoe, no frills, no arch support, no motion control, no stability, nothing. I pretty much didn't have any problems other than a stress fracture from running too much in the beginning, and that led to seeing an orthopedist who recommended orthotics for the first time.

Then and now, orthotics were horribly expensive, and at that time while I did buy orthotics, it was a huge stretch of my budget to do so. And the type recommended for me at that time were made out of a cork-like material. I assumed they would last forever, so was terribly surprised and disappointed when after only 6 months they no longer gave me the cushioning or responsiveness I needed or was expecting, and found out later that 6 months truly was the life of that type of orthotic. The end result with wearing those longer than they were designed to accommodate was severe hamstring strains. So while one injury healed, another formed.

Because I could not afford another pair of orthotics any time soon, I sought to correct my supposed biomechanical deficiencies with shoes designed to correct overpronation, which I was told I had, which I didn't. As you can imagine, that led to other aches and pains cropping up. Everything was blamed on just running itself, and while that was likely part of the whole injury equation, it wasn't the entire cause. Needless to say, I spent years trying to figure out what kind of shoe I needed, eventually settling on Brooks Adrenaline, along with custom made inserts. I thought I had the problems solved, but basically my body/feet just adapted to the shoes and inserts.

Anyway, fast forward to now and the attempt to run barefoot. While it didn't entirely work with me to go completely barefoot then, I did end up buying the Nike Free 5.0 shoes. These are the Nike brand of barefoot running type shoe.

So here's my take on these: I love them. Going back and forth with these and my old favorites, these have become the clear winner in shoe of choice. The uppers are as soft as a slipper, and wearing them they are the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. The soles have flex grooves from toe to heel, so even with some slight overpronation problem, the shoe allows natural movement without restriction. I still have some instability issues in my ankles, but I'm positive that comes from babying my feet for so many years. All the info suggests with time the bones and ligaments will adjust to this type of running.

After years and years of searching, I thought I had found my perfect shoe, which until now I had. But clearly this barefoot concept has benefited me more than hurt me, and its going to be really difficult going back to my old shoes, if I ever do. Which leads me to say:

For sale. New, never taken out of the box, Brooks Adrenaline shoes, size 10.5.

2010-05-24T08:59:00.003-04:00

WELL, THAT DIDN'T LAST LONG!

That feeling of being unfocused, unmotivated. Who knew it would only take the click of the "submit" button to get me out of my funk? Part of it was having the right event come along, which it did, in the form of an email from a fellow triathlete turned race director.

Its the Double Time triathlon. A sprint tri with an added twist of doing it twice. Once you finish the run, you hop in the water and start all over again.

I did one of these many years ago, similar distances, so its not as hard as it sounds. Other than once you get back in the water you don't want to get out again. But it is a new event, being capped at 250 people, and so I thought why not?

Already, my workouts have taken on the feeling of training. Now the workouts are for a purpose other than fitness.

Another purpose to my workouts is to put some quality into them, instead of just going through the motions as a means to an end. I'm quite capable of running, biking, or swimming endlessly, but the purpose of those types of workouts was to not blow up. Now I am pushing myself harder to see how far I can get before I blow up and then planning on working from that.

And I've complained forever about not being faster or being able to get faster on the bike. Yesterday I did two things different. First, we raised my bike seat just slightly, maybe a 1/4 inch raise. I've been bothered from aching knees since late last season, and then all through my race last year. I figured it was an accumulation of all the biking workouts I had done for months, but it continued to plague me this season as well, even after a long break from road biking. Since it didn't happen on my spin bike, only on my road bike, I knew something had to be changed there. What I noticed mainly was I just felt like I was sitting too low and using my quads for pedaling instead of the entire leg. Who knew just that small increase would make such a difference!

Second, once I could see my pace better than the last probably 20 bike rides I have been on, without much more effort, I started pushing the pace somewhat. This is huge for me, as what is a hard pace for me is just a cruising pace for most others. Still, I found myself overall for the 24.2 mile bike ride with an increased speed of .7 mph faster. Not huge but for me it was a breakthrough. I am hoping this continues, and the hard effort was not impossible. And this was even without bike shoes that I forgot!

So maybe all these factors are encouraging to me to get out of my comfort zone and see if I can bring back some of the thrill that goes along with a race, something I have felt severely lacking for a long, long time.

2010-05-19T13:38:00.003-04:00

UNFOCUSED

IT MIGHT BE FANTASY, BUT I’D RATHER BE ON VACATION

I am having a very hard time this year getting focused on what races I want to do this year because I’m thinking a little part of me wants to do none. And that for me is a first in over 20 years. For the first time since I started running back in 1988, I do not have a full year agenda for running or triathlons.

Part of it is, I am sure, all the mandatory training I did last year. And while some of the benefits of that should have carried over to the new year, the motivational part did not. Its not that I’m not motivated to stay in shape or work out. Its just that I do not have a goal race or races I am working towards. I’ve reached all my athletic goals except qualifying for Boston, but I’m not sure that will ever happen. I’m okay with that mostly, but a small part of me feels guilty too, like I should be using all that newly acquired iron power to excel over last year.

But I’ve also reached a different stage in my life, to a point where I want to enjoy each day and not feel pressured to train just because I hastily signed up for a race that I probably wanted to do but wished I didn’t have to specifically train for.

Its truly hard to break old habits, especially ones that have been over 20 years in the making, so I still work out most days—now because I want to. I enjoy the brief encounters on Facebook also, meaning I can still keep up with everyone’s accomplishments on a regular basis but am not necessarily compelled to blog about my daily routine.

Last week, on vacation in Florida, I couldn’t help realize how much I really enjoyed being on vacation, being in the great weather and sunshine, having a laid back routine with no set agenda until getting up for the day. And I certainly couldn’t help enjoy being away from work that for the past few months has offered me absolutely no stimulation. Due to a lot of changes around here, my daily work routine consists of either scrambling for work to keep busy or waiting for someone to give me something to do. There is no longer that daily list of tasks to be performed or ongoing projects to look forward to, so the days drag into endless tedium. And that certainly does nothing for my mood during the work day and leaves me with little to no motivation toward the job, as well as the constant fear of not having a job, like so many others recently. These days, its like being between a rock and a hard place when you don’t like your job, because on the one hand you can’t just quit because here in Michigan especially there is little to nothing out there, and if there is its not going to pay what I make now, and wanting to try something new but being fearful because of being low person on the totem pole.

Instead of getting up at 5 am to work out because of the need to fit everything into a day, my workout times have occurred a lot of times during lunch hour because it’s a way to shorten the work day, or after work with Don, who is now running regularly again and I know its me who keeps him motivated there, so I hate to not organize my day for noon or after work runs.

So I continue to mull over what the rest of my year will be regarding racing. Right now, since my one unreached goal is Boston, I really feel I need to give myself this year to work on my running more and see where I am at the end of the summer or maybe mid September and stop torturing myself looking at races I am not that inclined to do. Its like window shopping though, because I enjoy looking at different races, venues, courses, etc. and dreaming of being at that particular race but then not registering for anything.

Part of me here too is not being ready to quite push myself to the level I want to be at. Because I know I’m not there yet and don’t want to be totally disappointed that I’m not. But another part of me wants to get out there and just do something to see how I do. Ambiguous, I know, but that’s how I’m feeling right now.

2010-05-19T08:54:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-05-05T09:14:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-05-05T09:06:00.002-04:00

WHERE IN THE WORLD AM I? CATCHING UP

I haven’t had much to say lately, so have been lax in updating my blog. Unlike last year, when I was spending countless hours training and when I had lots of time to think of things to say, this year my training has taken a new focus, at least for a while. Shorter, more intense workouts, usually done after work, and usually with someone or at least doing the same workouts on the track.

I do like track running, and I do like running faster. I finally gave up all hope of ever seeing a decent 5k time last year training long slow distance all the time, but now have been actively working on making a comeback, so to speak. Its been a struggle, but the legs are starting to come around. Having Don to run with again has helped tremendously.

Also, working out in the evenings or lunch hours makes a huge difference in my “free” time away from the job. Not having to get up at 5 am or earlier most days, I am enjoying the luxury of sleeping in—until at least 6:30 some days!—eating breakfast at home, and not having to pack a steamer trunk of food and workout clothes every day and haul that to work with me in the wee hours of the morning.

Weekends here haven’t been conducive to many outside bike rides either, with rainy and windy weekends nearly every week, making me glad once again of not needing to get those long bike rides in. Instead, we have invested in spin bikes, so that has also been an alternate way to work out, in the evening, at home, again eliminating the need to get up at o’dark thirty for those morning spin workouts. There’s no place like home.

I have also been experimenting with cooking and different ways to eat, often spending hours scouring recipes, reading info about, specifically, the wonders of coconut oil, and many recipes relating to its use. It was something I needed to acquire a taste for, and now use it in practically everything I eat, as well as using it on my skin. In the process of learning about coconut products, I am experimenting with gluten free cooking as well. Not that I have known problem with gluten, but going without it hasn’t hurt me at all either.

On the job front, as with many employers, cutbacks and job restructuring has found its way into my life, and the work I was doing in past years has literally either dried up or shifted elsewhere, leaving me in a constant state of boredom and/or scrambling for work, with not much prospect of a change any time soon, if ever. This is a law firm. We will always have work. But the way we are handling it now has totally changed, due mostly to economic conditions of our clients. Looking elsewhere is a hard decision even if there was an abundance of choices, because of the years spent on the job here and the benefits either earned or acquired. That in and of itself makes it hard to go elsewhere at this stage in my life. But I am always open to reinventing myself if necessary.

And then there has been the almost constant problem with my laptop computer, with one problem or another needing to be fixed in order to just use it. I have just recently gotten that fixed again, but in the process nearly everything I had stored was wiped out, so I need to start rebuilding all those favorites I have acquired in the last three years. Windows Vista? Don’t go there.

What races I will do this year and in the future still have not formulated in my mind or found their way on paper. Not only can I not decide what I want to do, I seem to be questioning the need to do some things based on cost and travel expenses involved in that process. I am not so quick to click the “submit” button without taking into account the cost of the race, the need for travel, and how much all that will cost, making me far more selective than any time in my life. I used to run a race every other weekend and not bat an eye at the cost, even in my poorest days, because I had such a need to compete and that was truly my only outlet or entertainment for many years. Now I am also weighing the time needed for training against the rest of my life, so that’s also a factor in making me think twice about the next event.

Then there's Facebook, which has allowed me, thankfully, to catch up on everyone quickly without the need to wait for the old dinosaur PC to awaken from its coma so I can read blogs--not that I don't like reading, just haven't been able to spend much time doing that and have lost all the links on my laptop.

And family life has always been busy and hectic so no need to recap on that. The fact that I can actually participate this year is almost a novelty after cutting myself off from the everyday things last year due to training and job responsibilities.

Coming up: a trip to Florida with my daughter and her kids. We likely won’t be hitting all the theme parks (thank God!) because we’ve been there, done that before, but are looking for relaxation and some unique things to do, like a manatee cruise? Or Gatorland for the boys? Probably at least Sea World, but other than that, spending time together.

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there! I will try to post pics from Florida (if the laptop holds out!) and maybe will have some time for updating also. See you all soon.

2010-04-28T10:47:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-04-21T13:15:00.002-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-04-15T14:16:00.007-04:00

BAREFOOT RUNNING

Another thing I’ve been doing for the past few weeks is getting into “barefoot” running. For me, that hasn't exactly meant totally barefoot, but it has meant running in a less structured shoe. There are a few models out there right now, and most shoe brands have something they are either working on or are already being sold.

The barefoot running idea started for me when we were in Dominican Republic and were able to run on the beach. I didn’t even think of going barefoot, but Don said why not? However, klutz that I am, that idea only lasted a couple of days for me. Somehow, I did something to my foot that reminded me of about ½ turn less than a full sprain. The pain was mostly on the top of the foot near the ankle, but really no swelling or bruising, just soreness and later stiffness. Not having shoes on when this happened, however, I feel was less traumatic than having shoes on, since I have sprained my ankle or turned it pretty hard enough times that I know how it feels. And the fact that I can’t recall at all when it happened makes me think I was lucky this time.

You may be thinking too that it wasn’t very smart to be going barefoot, and maybe for me this is partially true, since I rarely, if ever, go barefoot, making my feet fairly sensitive to anything other than shoes or if with running shoes something with custom made insoles besides.

But that really was the only problem I encountered and as I said it appears the injury was much less traumatic than had I been wearing shoes.

When we got back from the trip, wearing shoes was really weird again. And Don had a hard time readjusting, since for the past couple of years he has had a lot of problems with Achilles since rupturing the tendon, and has been unable to run much, if at all most of the time. However, running barefoot for him posed absolutely no problem whatsoever and in fact he progressed quite rapidly over the week we did it, pulling away from me with no effort. (That more than likely was due to my foot stiffness and inability to push off, so that's my excuse.)

Of course that meant he would go right out and buy Vibrams because that’s how he is. They are weird looking to be sure, but he loves them. I decided after a week or so that I really needed to get something lighter and maybe less structured with the hope that my ankle/foot would clear up faster, since even walking with my regular running shoes was uncomfortable. The shoes felt restrictive, that’s about the only way to describe them, after running barefoot for almost a week.

There was also another new shoe on the market, the Nike Free 5.0, which after comparing both the Vibram and the Nike Free, I chose the Nike Free.

And free it is. Free from the heaviness and restrictiveness of regular running shoes. They are made to resemble almost barefoot running, definitely a step up from racing flats, yet lightweight and very comfortable. They do not accommodate my custom orthotics, but that would probably be contrary to the barefoot feeling if I continued to load these shoes up with all the paraphernalia I have been using.

And the barefoot running craze is here for now at least. If you haven’t read the pros and cons on this idea, here is a link so you can get more information and form your own conclusions.

Obviously, these shoes are not intended for running marathons, or any long distances in fact, unless you really have adjusted to them for a long time, and even then I can’t make a recommendation. What I do know is that for the distances I have been forced to run lately because of the foot problem (which is almost healed up by the way), they are quite adequate and I’m sure being able to do some running has been better than none, and doing the PACE workouts has not required more than 30-35 min. of running at any one time either. How they feel are light and as comfortable as a pair of slippers. And I can finally wear some of my cute "Sock Guy" socks I have either bought or gotten from races that I haven't been able to wear with my regular shoes and orthotics because they were too thin.

And the bright pink is an attention getter. I could almost swear they glowed in the dark.

2010-04-13T08:21:00.013-04:00

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO

I know I hinted at a new way of thinking and working out, at least for me, and at least for now. After a full year of training for IM last year, I really needed to take a step back, and a look ahead, to decide what I wanted to do for this year.

At first, I had a lot of lofty ideas, as I think is typical after every monumental physical event we challenge ourselves to accomplish. Suddenly, we think we can do anything, and maybe some can. After a few months of struggling with illness, headaches, and just a general inability to get back in the groove of training for anything specific, I started looking for answers on how to turn things around.

One of the ideas that I kept finding over and over was the fact that maybe all that long endurance training wasn't exactly beneficial to my health. I wasn't sleeping good. I wasn't losing any weight, despite training 12-15 hours a week, and in fact gained some, and many sources indicated this was normal but yet not normal.

So really then, what was the answer? How could I get back to feeling and looking good again? Was there life after Ironman?

One of the sources I read was Rediscover Your Native Fitness--Pace, by Al Sears, MD. I could relate to a lot of things I read, and so far I have not found any resources about this man that indicate he is a quack. I'm not saying I agree with everything he says about fitness, but a lot of what I read made sense for me. The philosophy he teaches is that we are not made to be doing long, steady state endurance workouts, and in fact they may be detrimental to long life.

My heart wanted to say, how can that be? But my mind, and common sense, started making me really wonder. Take for example this quote:

"We in the modern West are out of condition but in a different way than most people think. To complicate matters, without an understanding of the cause of the problem, pundits have advocated the wrong solutions. We can divide the most popular modern exercise advice into
three categories:

1) “Cardio”
2) Weight training and
3) Aerobics.
All three are simply wrong and ineffective. Practice these misconceived notions long enough and they will further rob you of the native fitness you were built to enjoy."

So what did he mean by this? In his words: "Routinely forcing your body to perform the same continuous cardiovascular challenge, by repeating the same movement, at the same rate, thousands of times over, without variation, and without rest, is unnatural. This type of demand could have occurred rarely, but not in the daily environment of native societies in balance with their surroundings." And "Forced, continuous, endurance exercise induces your heart
and lungs to 'downsize' because smaller allows you to go further… more efficiently… with less rest… and less fuel."

Since what we have been trained to believe--as an example the LSD theory "long slow distance" was the best way to train ourselves to run marathons or do Ironman distance races, or even shorter, it has become a popular fitness craze. We all think we are doing something "healthy" for ourselves, when, according to many sources I have read recently, quite the opposite is true.

Take for example the recent (and not so recent) deaths of "conditioned" runners at marathons and even half marathons. Or maybe one of the more well known "advocates" of long endurance running, Jim Fixx, the popular 70s fitness guru. Fixx claimed that the secret to heart health and long life was endurance running – up until he died of a heart attack – while running.

Sears goes on to say: "Heart attacks don’t occur because of a lack of endurance. They occur when there is a sudden increase in cardiac demand that exceeds your heart’s capacity. Giving up your heart’s reserve capacity to adapt to unnatural bouts of continuous prolonged duration only increases your risk of sudden cardiac death. A ground-breaking study of long-distance runners showed that after a workout, the blood levels and oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides increased. They also found that prolonged running disrupted the balance
of blood thinners and thickeners, elevating inflammatory factors and clotting levels – both signs of heart distress."

"And it’s bad for your bones too. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that long-distance runners had reduced bone mass. This is
true for both men and women – although women had an increased risk for osteoporosis as well.
Long-duration exercisers showed signs of heart distress, increased LDL, cholesterol & triglycerides, increased oxidation of cholesterol, elevated clotting & inflammation factors,
loss of bone density and increased risk of osteoporosis."

I could go on and on, and it wasn't just this author who caught my attention. There were several others.

The dilemma here, of course, is that's what we all do and have been doing for years, either because we like doing races which then require us to train to complete these races, or we feel--and have been led to believe--it is the healthy thing to do for our hearts and longevity.

Things that have disturbed me in the past couple of years which have led me to wonder about all this endurance training and what benefits it really produce were the fact that so many people in my own personal experience who have been long distance runners for many years or multiple time Ironman finishers were starting to get debilitating or even fatal diseases.

How can this be when we all of this has practically guaranteed we would be exempt from the everyday diseases that afflict the population NOT exercising? Take for example these people that come quickly to my mind: a multiple Ironman finisher (and record holder at a couple of the IM races) dies from brain cancer; 5 men develop prostate cancer; others develop seizures and thyroid disease; and then there are all the degenerative problems many face as they have aged; and many more stories. These are just people I know!

From my own personal standpoint, I have been running for over 20 years. I have mild osteoporosis. Seems odd, since I always have taken calcium supplements, and more importantly have been running which supposedly helped with bone density. To be fair, I do have dense bones in most areas, but there are a few which show signs of degeneration. That too, to be fair, can be hereditary and age related, but it does make me wonder. What disturbed me most, however, was my inability since IM to lose ANY weight and was feeling frumpy if that's a good description. Running and biking more was not making any difference at all, and unless I "dieted" strictly--meaning no goodies, drinks, or even going out to eat, I would actually gain weight. And again, you're thinking maybe something is out of balance, or I had something medically going on that caused this. A checkup made no sense: blood pressure was up; cholesterol was up (but HDL was great), etc. Everything was bad in my estimation, bad for someone who had just gone through this enormous physical feat, bad for someone who "took care of" myself. So was this the problem?

I know, you could say the odds were in their and my favor that we all will get some sort of disease in our lifetime, but isn't that what we are hoping to avoid with all this exercise? Don't we all think we will be the lucky ones to escape these modern day afflictions?

I was confused and deflated.

Without going into a lot more detail, and if you are still following along, here is what I have been doing for the past 5 weeks, and which I said I would report on after enough time had passed for me to make some definite conclusions.

I have been following the PACE program, which is basically shorter burts of high intensity exertion followed by equal or longer segments of recovery. I started out quite simply with a 1 minute exertion followed by a 1 minute rest, doing 10 repetitions, for a total of 20 minutes. I wore my heart rate monitor to follow my progress. That was week 1 and 2. I didn't do a whole lot else those weeks either. Week 3 was on vacation and having a little more time and being rested I changed the routine to 3 minutes of exertion followed by 2 minutes of recovery, 2 exertion, 2 recovery, etc. down to 2 final sprints of 30 and 20 seconds, with recovery between. Week 4 was the same.

Week 5 I started doing some bike routines as well and some hills and track work. Week 6 I will do a mile time trial to see where I am at, and hopefully will see an faster mile time. But I am not just doing this to get faster. If that is a side effect, I'll take that too. I am trying to actually strengthen my heart and lungs and burn fat and get back into the shape I think I should be in.

After 5 weeks, I have dropped 10 pounds, have lost 3 inches on my waistline, am sleeping better, have better energy, and hopefully have gone down in body fat percentage, another bonus of shorter bursts of exertion. Its called the afterburn, which means fat burning after workouts rather than during, which hapens with steady state endurance exercise, and which, according to all sources I have been reading, causes the body to then produce more fat since it is confused into thinking that while you exercise it needs fat.

The controversy here is that if I want to continue to do long distance races, I either have to go back to the old way of endurance training or find an alternative way to accomplish this. So far, I am still searching for a new way of doing things. And I am not trying to sell anyone here on anything, just giving an opinion based on my own personal experiences and research. There still is nothing wrong with going for a run or bike ride because we enjoy it or even because we are training. But I do believe if I venture into more long distance races I will attempt to come up with some way to train that gets me not only better results for my finishing time but that leaves me in better shape than I am now. That's my bottom line.

2010-04-08T10:30:00.003-04:00

ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY PASSES

Last year, I was too busy to acknowledge this day, yet it was not forgotten. It was a day six years ago that was one of those life altering events, probably the most traumatic, I can remember experiencing. Today, even after six years, it still brings tears to my eyes, and the forever question “Why?”

Six years ago, my son in law, David, took his own life. Why is always going to be a question that will never be answered. The hardest part, of course, is always wondering what we missed, what we might have done, why did it have to happen.

Suicide is something I believe that stays with those left behind forever. It changes everyone’s life who is touched by this tragedy. It leaves deep and long-lasting scars.

I remember as a kid a neighbor killed himself, and to this day I still wonder what became of the family. It was right across the street, within a 100 yards of where I lay sleeping, and yet no one heard a thing. Neighborhoods were close-knit back then. Everyone knew everyone and their business, yet we did not really know this man, just his wife and kids, and the memory of waking up to police, crowds of neighbors, and yellow tape around the garage where it happened still are fresh in my mind.

Just like hearing about David is still fresh in my mind. I think of that moment every time I drive through the area I was driving that day when I heard it from my son on my cell phone. It’s a wonder I didn’t have an accident. It was a moment when my heart and breathing stopped momentarily. It was the Thursday before Good Friday that year.

The days following were a painful blur to all of us. Arrangements had to be made, and that Sunday was Easter. It was the rare year when the weather that Easter was hot, humid, and sunny, and yet it was not enjoyed. I shunned my family’s get together. I could not face them with my emotions. And his children needed to be told and their questions answered.

Today, while the sadness is still there, there are also moments of anger at this selfish act. Is it ever that bad that one more day can make it worse? Is it so hopeless you cannot look into your sons’ eyes and see hope?

I don’t expect to ever understand, but hopefully will always remember to acknowledge this day even in some small way.

2010-04-07T08:52:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-04-05T11:29:00.012-04:00

BACK TO BLOGLAND

Time to catch up. I’ve been fairly negligent in keeping up with my blog the last few weeks. First there was my vacation in Dominican Republic. You’ll have to take my word on how lovely it was, since I hold in my hand the media card containing all my vacation pics and then some. These pictures are some from the web, but are so close to the real thing, no explanation is needed. The laptop has been rendered useless again, thus also resulting in getting so far behind on my blog; my home desktop does not have a new enough photo program to be able to download there, and now writing from my work computer, there is also no way to download any pics unless on a CD Rom, and I have so far been unable to either get somewhere to have this done or have forgotten every time I have been somewhere.

Back to the vacation. A week of tropical bliss. We stayed at the Barceló Bavaro Palace, an all inclusive resort. All inclusive is pretty much it there anyway because there isn’t anything even remotely close by outside of the resort area. I had also heard stories of it not being particularly safe out on the roads, if in fact I was considering running out on the roads. The resort itself was expansive enough to provide all the road surface I would want, but as it turned out, we chose to run almost daily on the beach instead. Barefoot on the beach, in fact. More on that later.

Of all the Carribbean vacations I have been on or beaches actually, this was probably the best. location, best beach, and best weather ever. It was also the most interesting place so far.

When we arrived at the resort, I was not prepared for the fact that there was no air conditioning in the hotel lobby. Getting off the plane still dressed for Michigan and wishing I had changed ahead of time, I was getting hot and cranky the longer it took to get to the hotel, only to then find the lobby just as warm and muggy as the airport. To be fair, I realize it was just not being acclimated, because as the days went on, I noticed the heat less and less. And it wasn’t an oppressive heat, as it might be later in the season or even like we sometimes get in Michigan, just heat with a nice breeze, and not that high of humidity. And the buildings are such that the roof material keeps out the sun completely and with huge ceiling fans, it really isn’t hot, just warmer than I was used to.

Being all inclusive, that meant all the food and drink you wanted. We decided to partake while waiting for our room to be ready, but one annoying factor of all inclusive is the few bars were always 4 or 5 people deep. Just getting water was an ordeal at times, but again, after a day or so we figured out how to beat some of that.

After getting to our rooms, I couldn’t wait to get out on the beach or by the pool. By this time, it was almost 4 pm and I knew it would be time for dinner soon, so wanted to soak up some sun and get in the water. Don was hot and tired and wanted to stay in the air conditioning for a while. As it turned out, the hotel rooms were the only place you could get any air conditioning. I decided to head down to the pool and then the beach instead.

It was a LONG walk to the pool, probably 1/3 of a mile, since we were in the farthest unit from the pool, another thing being hot and cranky only added to my irritation. Like I said, I really needed to get in the water!

The pool area had probably 150-200 chairs around the large pool area and the smaller areas, all linked together. And yet there wasn’t one chair available anywhere. I was again annoyed so got another drink and headed down to the beach, only to find the same story. Nowhere to sit. So I sat on one of the benches and finished my drink and then went into the water to cool off. I love the Carribbean waters, and this was very warm and clear.

Being a resort visited by many South Americans, Spanish was the main language spoken, and during the entire week, English was heard spoken rarely. So for me, there was a language barrier. I can read French and some Spanish, but cannot speak or understand much. Not only that, I was surprised to learn that going topless apparently is no big deal. I pretty much felt overdressed when wearing my one piece swim suit. I had brought a 2 piece, but wasn’t all that anxious to be photographed wearing it, so did so sparingly.

Also being all inclusive, the dining was mainly buffet. They did have a couple of restaurants, but they were always busy and there was a wait. With the buffet, we were able to eat when we wanted to. We did learn, however, that timing was everything. Get to breakfast around 8 a.m., and the pickings were slim and the place crowded. Yet showing up at 9:30, all the bins might be refilled and lots of seating available.

The food was slightly strange at times, and the descriptions not always understood, and some were even laughable. For example, at one of the breakfasts, they had a huge piece of meat, unrecognizable to me, with a sign: Pork’s leg. Hmm. Do I chance it? As it turned out, it was something tasting like ham, so it wasn’t so bad. They also had a lot of fish I couldn’t identify and didn’t know what it was, so after one bad experience, I avoided most of the fish altogether except the grilled salmon.

I couldn’t quite figure out the service people either. If you chose to seat yourself, which you were expected and required to do, you had a hard time getting anyone to wait on you, meaning bring water, coffee, or even silverware at times. But if you stood there acting dumb, someone would rush to your assistance and take you to a table near their station and you would get treated like royalty. Made no sense, since there wasn’t any tipping, and it was all serve yourself. They were right on the ball serving wine, however. Your glass barely went empty and they were right there to refill it, but try to get a refill on water or coffee and good luck. I only had one glass at a meal, since it was warm and I didn’t care for it. Don made the mistake one day however of letting them refill his glass at will and ended up drinking 10 glasses throughout the day! He didn’t do that again. Ice apparently was a hot commodity also, since I never got any with any water, and the bottled water was usually lukewarm to room temperature. We finally started taking it back to our room and refrigerating it or icing it down if we wanted it around the pool or beach.

One more thing about all inclusive was that all food had to be eaten in the dining rooms or restaurants, and none was for “take out.” This resulted in one noticeable plus: no food garbage at all on the beaches or left around the pool areas and thus no flies. You could take all the drinks you wanted to either place or even to your room, but generally unless you had some of your own snacks, there was no food seen eaten away from the eating areas. In fact, there was no place to buy any snacks either, and I saw no chips, candy, gum, etc. in any of the shops. Cigarettes, cigars, and liquor, yes. Food no. Very strange.

Now on to the barefoot running. I don’t know where we came up with that idea, but it sounded fun, and after checking out the beach area near the water and finding it relatively clean of any shells or debris, I decided to try it. Don was all gung ho about it, and after our first run, we couldn’t wait to do it again. We went at various times of the day but found that the late afternoon, around 4:30-5:30 was best because it actually started cooling off some then, there was a breeze, and the beach was less crowded. Early morning was the hottest and no breeze, although not many people on the beach either.

One thing I have to say is I rarely, if ever, go barefoot. Because of this, my feet are overly sensitive to just about anything: heat, cold, small pebbles, uneven sand or ground. I have babied my feet so much over the years, mainly due to all the foot injuries I have had, that I wasn’t sure how the barefoot thing would go. As it turned out, the first day was okay. The second my left foot hurt some. We skipped Wednesday because my foot was sore and we had done a lot of walking the day before and swimming every day as well. Thursday I decided to wear some beach shoes and see what happened, and my foot felt much better. But apparently I twisted the right foot somehow, and while it wasn’t bruised looking, it was bruised feeling. Friday I wore the shoes again anyway, and Saturday went without because they weren’t making it any better and running without wasn’t making it any worse. I also wanted the shoes to dry out before we left on Sunday, since I couldn’t totally avoid getting them wet.

So the take on barefoot running? Don did great and went so far as to buy a pair of the Vibrams once we got home. His pace has also speeded up considerably. I went back to wearing my regular shoes once back, and then my feet hurt FROM the shoes/orthotics, etc. I can’t win. Me? I probably should have eased into it more, but more on that later too.

All in all, the vacation was wonderful, the weather wonderful, the resort/beach wonderful. We spent the days on the beach or around the pool, and the evenings also around the pool, under the stars. The weather was always so good, it was warm even in the evenings. There was also this open air staging area where they had different shows and entertainment. The first couple of nights, we were still tired and didn’t stay for the adult entertainment. We found out, however, that the children’s entertainment, nearly the same thing every night, took place at 8 pm and lasted for about a half hour. That half hour got to be increasingly annoying, because we could not escape the music no matter where we sat! It was this clown doing all these various songs in Spanish obviously, with kids on the stage joining in and dancing to the songs. The songs were exactly the same every night, to the point where you would hear them in your sleep. One was the Chicken Dance, night after night after night.

The adult entertainment at least varied, but one of the popular events was karaoke and Don got caught up in that. Parts of songs were played and audience members had to guess the song. If they guessed, they had to go on stage. I guessed several to the two of us, but refused to guess to the audience. Don did guess, however, and then suffered the consequence of having to go on stage and later sing the song he guessed. I am SO glad I passed on that experience. Then the audience voted you off until the winner was announced, sort of like American Idol, but fast forward. Of course he wore his “pink” shirt that he calls red, so people the next several days remembered him and his performance. It wasn’t that bad. He has a good voice but was nervous and did not know the words. Some of the people were so bad it was horrible to listen to.

The trip home, however, left a lot to be desired.

First, we were told by our travel agent “rep” that we had to arrange for a shuttle transfer to the airport the day before departure. According to the hotel front desk people, and other reps working in the lobby, our rep was supposed to be available from 9-12 and then 2-5, none of which proved true. The day before we left, I wanted to spend as much time as possible outside, yet wasted over an hour and a half waiting for the rep to show up—on time no less. Too much to ask apparently. I finally got tired of waiting and wanted to head to the water. Don volunteered to wait since he was experiencing some sort of heat rash and wanted to stay out of the sun that day. And we had met up with another couple from Boston who were leaving that day and were waiting in the lobby for their airport transfer, so he sat with them. The rep finally showed up around 11:30. Who knows if he then went to lunch at noon?

Second, we were told to be in the lobby at 10 am on the day of departure. We had a 2:15 flight, and the airport is only about 15 minutes away from the hotel, so I was a little irritated again that we had to be ready 4 hours in advance. And, as luck would have it, it was the hottest day of all, so I decided there was no way I was wearing jeans until we transferred in Atlanta or maybe even Chicago. That was a wise decision, considering our shuttle, which was supposed to arrive at 10:30 did not arrive at all, and no surprise neither did our rep. Another agent was helpful in getting us another shuttle finally at noon. Had we not made that shuttle, I doubt we would have made our flight.

The Punta Cana airport is deceiving in that it is much larger than it appears from the outside. It has 2 whole areas we never saw upon arrival, including one entire huge upper floor. The procedure here was to first take your bags to your terminal, which was a LONG walk, then to a screening area, where all bags went on a conveyor for scanning. We then collected them and took them to our ticket counter, which was another huge area, thankfully cooled by the thatched roofing and huge ceiling fans, along with the usual breezes blowing through the open air area. The wait was long, probably an hour, just to get ticketed and bags weighed. Then we headed to the next security area, including the customs area, which went much faster. Since we finally got rid of our bags, we had a little more freedom to get something to drink or use the bathroom while we waited for our flight. The seating area here wasn’t all that big, and it was almost completely full, but people were coming and going on a regular basis. All the bottled water, not surprisingly, was warm, so I chose a “light” coca cola, which tasted just like regular. And that cost me $3 for a 12 oz. bottle. Rip off. No decent food worth waiting in a huge line for so we again went hungry.

We finally got on our flight and were almost immediately served our “snack.” I had 2 small packages of peanuts that I wolfed down, since we hadn’t eaten since early morning and the likelihood of eating anytime soon all depended on how much time we would have in Atlanta during transfer.

The flight seemed fast, and I sat next to a nice attorney from the Dallas area. For some reason, Don and I never got seats together except from Atlanta to Punta Cana. Arriving in Atlanta, it was gray and rainy, which I could see from the windows. I didn’t realize at the time that there were actual storms holding up flights from everywhere trying to get into the Atlanta airport. It was going to be tight connecting to Chicago, so we hustled through the customs/immigration area, then had to walk forever again to get our bags and take them to the next ticketing area. When we arrived there, we learned our flight to Chicago had been delayed 2 hours. I was starving, so we first went and found our departure gate before eating, only to learn when we arrived there that the flight was delayed another 2 hours. Four hours total so far. We definitely had to eat. So we trudged back through the airport trying to find somewhere both of us would be willing to eat at. Don does not like Mexican food and I do not care for deli stuff that much, but we finally settled on eating at On the Border. He liked what he had and we shared this gigantic margarita. Then back to our departure gate, only to learn again that our flight was now delayed until 10:45. That meant we would not make our connector from Chicago to GR. When an airline agent finally showed up to help people with their connection problems, we were told we probably would get to Chicago but would not get to GR so would have to stay somewhere at our own expense and try to get out the next day.

We didn’t make a final decision on what we would do until our plane to Chicago finally showed up about 11:15, getting us into Chicago at 12:45. But I did not account for the fact that Chicago was one hour behind Atlanta and Michigan, so we decided there was not much point getting a hotel room at 2 am only to have to come back, go through security, etc. again at 5 am.

So we camped out at the Chicago airport. That was an experience, let me tell you. The place was empty enough you could shoot a canon off and not hit anyone, but yet was bustling with activity, with service people cleaning up for the next day. The TSA people show up at 3:30 am to start setting up for those early, early flights. No wonder they’re so crabby!

I managed to doze off for about ½ hour, between the vacuuming, floor polishing, and the tv in our area droning on all night. I managed to find a seat arrangement that had 3 arm rests removed so I could lay down. But it was far from the Hilton, let me tell you. As for getting anything to eat or drink, it wasn’t until about 2:30 when I realized there was a Starbucks close enough by so made a few trips there for coffee, water, and some snacks. Mostly, we took turns walking around to stay alert. By 4 am, people were starting to filter into the different departure gates, and at 4:30 am, breakfast places were opening for breakfast, so we finally got to eat again. For some reason, when I don’t get enough sleep, I’m more hungry, and maybe because we knew we couldn’t just get something it made it worse. Either way, once we got breakfast and then went back to our departure area, the entire area was almost filled up, leaving few spaces to sit. It was completely empty just a half hour before.

By 6 am, I was starting to get really tired of the whole thing. Really tired of it. I remained patient, but did not want to be bothered by anyone and finally got some music going so I could block people out for a while until the battery wore down. I had been rationing it so as not to have a whole night without.

Our flight finally boarded about 7:15 and we were in the air by 7:45 and home by 10:30 our time. And then to top it all off? My piece of luggage did not arrive. All the things I had envisioned happening did: missed flights, spend the night somewhere other than home (didn’t even think it would be the airport) and lost luggage. Fortunately, the luggage arrived later that night, but of course after I went out and bought some toiletry items I figured I wouldn’t get back. So until our next vacation adventure, I'm home for now.

Next up: Review of new training program.

2010-03-31T11:23:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-03-26T10:38:00.008-04:00

THE MIRACLE THAT IS COCONUT OIL

Just before my recent vacation in the Dominican Republic (which hopefully I can get that report done soon!), I started reading, again quite by accident, about the "healing" powers of coconut oil. Then, during my vacation, I find myself surrounded by coconuts everywhere. A mere coincidence?? Coconut trees and groves everywhere. Not palm trees, coconut trees. I could only envision the coconut trees dominating the area where my resort is now located when explorers first landed on that island. There was a coconut tree grove outside my section of the hotel, and a tree loaded with coconuts within reach of my balcony. A massage by a local woman (on the beach no less) using coconut oil and the way it made my hair and skin feel afterward furthered my curiosity.

So I have been reading about all the misconceptions about coconut oil: how bad it is for you; how it is high in saturated fat so therefore even worse for you; etc. But in-depth reading has led me to believe otherwise, that coconut oil--a tropical oil, used for centuries until recently, has gotten a bad rep. Here is just one website I referred to if you want to read more yourself: http://www.coconut-connections.com/healthiest_oil.htm. Here are just a few facts about coconut oil:

What Coconut Oil DOES Do:
Reduces risk of atherosclerosis and related illnesses.
Reduces risk of cancer and other degenerative conditions.
Helps prevent bacterial, viral, and fungal (including yeast) infections.
Supports immune system function.
Helps control diabetes.
Provides an immediate source of energy.
Supports healthy metabolic function.
Improves digestion and nutrient absorption.
Supplies important nutrients necessary for good health.
Supplies fewer calories than other fats.
Promotes weight loss.
Helps prevent osteoporosis.
Has a mild delicate flavor.
Is highly resistant to spoilage (long shelf life).
Is heat resistant (the healthiest oil for cooking).
Helps keep skin soft and smooth.
Helps prevent premature aging and wrinkling of the skin.
Helps protect against skin cancer and other blemishes.
Functions as a protective antioxidant."

What Coconut Oil DOES NOT Do:
Does not increase blood cholesterol level.
Does not promote platelet stickiness or blood clot formation.
Does not contribute to atherosclerosis or heart disease.
Does not contribute to weight problems.

I know, I know, we've heard this same thing many times over about other "miracle" products. But if you can take just one thing and see the logic, I would say, after spending time in other tropical countries, that coconut oil certainly DOES make the hair shiny and helps keep the skin smooth and wrinkle free, especially considering the amount of sunlight these people are exposed to. (And using that as another topic, why do these people who spend 365 days a year, 24/7 in the sun not have skin cancer? Could it be the sun isn't the culprit here??) Without stirring up any controversy here, I'm just saying.

I've also been using some of the oil since the vacation, and have to say my skin has never felt better! Even after a week in the sun and a couple of weeks tanning before, AND our miserably cold, dry weather here. (It only took one day for my hands to crack and bleed after being back.) Using the oil, sparingly, I am seeing some dramatic results in keeping the skin supple.

The amazing thing about coconut oil is that you not only can use it for your skin, but you can cook with it and eat it too. Haven't gotten that far yet, because it does take the cold pressed virgin coconut oil type to cook with, and according to all info, you can take it internally in small doses initially, and that in and of itself will help with hair and skin issues, without resorting to applying it topically. What I have is expressly for the topical use. I am planning on getting the type you can use for cooking and see what happens.

Now if using this could just make me feel like I was still in the tropics, it would be well worth it!

2010-03-17T17:16:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-03-13T13:11:00.003-05:00

ANOTHER PIECE TO THE PUZZLE

I know I hinted at more to come on some of my discoveries on my road to better fitness. I want to be sure what I am saying (and doing) is correct and works before I endorse it. What I will say right now is so far so good.

Here's another piece to the puzzle: short interval periods of high intensity followed by equal or longer periods of rest = more fat burning and better fitness.

2010-03-11T09:17:00.007-05:00

TEACHING AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS

After all these years, is it possible I (and others) have this all wrong? In my annual quest for self improvement, I started seeking a new way to do what is familiar, which has led me on an enlightening journey, filled with frustration, disbelief, awareness, and finally acknowledgement that maybe what I’ve been doing for so many years just isn’t working.

Remember when I posted back in January about reading a book by a woman who had done an Ironman who also had her own fitness club, wrote books, was a female body builder, etc.? Her belief was that maybe all that steady state cardio really won’t help you keep that lean physique everyone seems to want but which is elusive to many of us. Because I found I fit that category, it got me, and kept me, wondering and seeking more information. I will add that while her articles got me thinking, I found after the fact that her program was not what I needed. Still, she did earn good marks for sending me down this road of self-enlightenment.

During training and after doing the IM, I pretty much expected that I would have no lingering weight problem, my body fat percentage would drop dramatically, I would be stronger, leaner, faster, healthier. Imagine my complete surprise and disappointment when I realized this had not happened. Yes, I had completed one of the premier endurance events around, and yes, that alone gave me a huge amount of self-satisfaction, also fulfilling a goal I had carried around with me for many years.

But still, something nagged at me. Something made me question whether I had accomplished the one goal I sought after more than anything: reaching the ultimate in good health and fitness.

To be honest, I was concerned that I did not have that many years left to achieve these things, and was even more concerned to find I was not in the best physical condition that I could be, or thought I would be, after that event. Without going into a lot of mundane details, being the person I am, I set out to make a better me.

I researched dozens of fitness articles, as well as the authors for credibility. I examined dozens of workout programs, and again their authors for credibility. I studied many philosophies about fitness and what makes a person fit, but what I mainly found was once you got in depth into a website, often the bottom line was someone wanted to sell you something—and not necessarily anything you needed, but made you think you might. First there was the buildup, then the enticements, and finally the closing of the sale. I do not usually part with my money readily without being absolutely sure I believe in what I’m buying or need it more than another similar product. Basically, most of these programs I decided I wasn’t buying. There were a lot of good parts here and there, that combined might have been an ideal product or program, but nothing in its whole could convince me it was worth my time long term. And I know from experience that if I am not going to stick with something long term, there is no sense in starting it--like yoga, for instance. I do not want to spend the time to get good at it, so it is more of a nuisance to me and my time if I do it.

Then, quite by accident—and usually, don’t revelations happen this way?—I came across a link that totally changed my thinking of everything fitness related I have been doing for over 20 years. In the process, it blew apart for me the whole cardio thing.

And now, I will entice you, to come back soon and check for details. I am still in the process of trying out and further researching a program, but unfortunately with work and other commitments, I am unable to go in depth right now. That and I'm getting ready for my yearly tropical vacation and have yet begun to pack or plan for that! I promise, however, if I do have internet service while away, I will post not only my vacation details but try to get a continuation of this report posted so as not to leave you hanging. The one good thing for me about being gone is I can put this experiment to more of a test.

So stay tuned!

2010-03-10T08:58:00.001-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-03-03T15:38:00.001-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-03-02T08:57:00.008-05:00

OUT OF THE DARKNESS AND INTO THE LIGHT

That's how my run went this morning: started out with the full moon, ended with the sunrise. It was so uplifting for many reasons.

First, it is the sure sign that winter is waning and spring is truly just around the corner. When I can go out for a weekday run before work and have it daylight when I return is a turning point. That and most of the streets and sidewalks are now clear of snow buildup and most of the ice.

Next, it has been weeks, no months, since I have had a good run, probably since B2B, if you could call that a good run. Taking some mandatory time off from running after the IM, then having winter set in, a bad December virus that took weeks to clear up, holiday shopping, the holidays themselves, more winter setting in, then the headaches, it seems like while I have been working out steadily, no measurable progress was being made. I was just going through the motions that are a part of my everyday life. I couldn't even begin to plan a race season with the almost daily headaches. Update on that seems to be--at this point anyway--an allergic reaction to something environmental, based on the other symptoms. Those too seem to be clearing up, although not totally gone.

Third, Masters swim is no longer kicking my butt, at least to the point where I feel drugged and unable to function the next morning. Part of that was pushing myself through hard workouts with the headaches, which themselves left me exhausted. To be able to get up and run in the morning is a sure sign of overcoming that hurdle.

So when I get a day or two (its been 3 days in a row now for the first time since mid January) without a headache, I feel like I have all this energy built up inside of me that is waiting to let loose. Today was one of those days, and I am so glad I made the effort to get dressed to go out, even though Monday nights are late nights with masters swim and eating late, going to bed late, etc. I rarely get more than 4 or 5 hours sleep Monday nights, but still woke up without an alarm and was ready to head out the door by 6:30.

The full moon was still out. Everyone on Facebook talked about it last night, so I was eager to get out and enjoy it, if only briefly. It was 23 degrees, 10 full degrees colder than yesterday, but with no wind and proper clothing, I still found myself sweating somewhat throughout the whole run. Forty minutes later, the sun was up and the day was upon me.

Let's hope these good feelings last!

2010-02-24T10:26:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k5IY3l2aJo

2010-02-22T09:08:00.005-05:00

YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME

That's how it went this weekend. I chose NOT to run the Heart & Sole race, annually held around Valentine's Day. The last time I ran it was in 2007, on a bitterly cold (3 degrees) day, just a few months after my accident. I wore Yak Trax even because snow cover on the ground was deep packed snow from an overnight snowfall. February is such a crapshoot for weather here, so you never know what you will get: either as described above or sunny and balmy, as it was this past Saturday when the race was held.

I hadn't signed up ahead of time because I honestly forgot about it, mainly since I'm not training for 5ks and also because the last couple of weekends I have dealt with the debilitating headaches and haven't put much time in and totally skipped my long runs, a staple of my running all year round, whether done inside or out, and regardless of how slow.

Then I found out the location of the race this year had moved, to within running distance of my house. Still, with the sun bright and the sky blue and almost cloudless, it was a hard decision: run long or run fast? Run fast was not an option, not having put much fast running in since before IM. And any fast running had not been on the road, so the decision came easy.

It was probably in the mid to high 30s by the time I got out to run, and halfway through the run (only 6 miles, since I had skipped a couple of weeks, so I could reacclimate my legs and lungs) I realized I was pretty much overdressed. So it was thoroughly--or almost-- enjoyable.

Then I decide to check race results out of curiosity, mainly just to see who was there and how they did. I was stunned when I found out there were only two people in my age group and the "winning" time was almost 40 minutes, and the 2nd place was over 45 minutes! Wow, and to think. I could have won the age group with a brisk walk! Or, as someone put it "just for showing up."

So, lesson learned. No more missing out on opportunities for winning bling! I have done many races where just showing up earned me an age group award, but as someone else put it, "showing up is 90% of life."

2010-02-18T09:38:00.002-05:00

NOT A TEAPOT

Or a sex toy (?!) as some guessed. Yesterday's "Wordless Wednesday" picture was of a neti pot, as several guessed.

What is a neti pot, for those who don't know? Up until about 4 months ago, I never heard of it or had ever seen one. A friend of mine told me about this after seeing it on the Dr. Oz show, which I also had never watched but had heard of.

A neti pot is a gadget that helps clear your sinuses better than most nasal sprays or drugs, as I am finding out after a months' long problem with plugged ears, sinus headaches, and constant nose dripping. I'm not going to go into the specifics of how this thing works, but it basically clears the sinuses with a saline solution you make yourself with saline packets and warm water.

The first time I used it, I pretty much gagged myself and barely got through the first treatment, but further treatments have gone well. What I am noticing, however, is that sometimes even hours after, if I bend over or put my head down for any reason, I still get a steady stream of saline that drips like a faucet out of my nose.

I found out years ago when I first started swimming that apparently I was really sensitive to the chlorine because after a while, whether I swam that day or not, my nose dripped chlorine or I sneezed all day long. For some odd reason, my sinuses seem to retain whatever fluid is introduced into them, which is why the chlorine sensitivity and why I would guess the saline leaks out hours after treatments.

But the neti pot does work. If you do have constant sinus problems, it is an easier and drug free solution to helping clear up that problem, and probably less costly. The kit cost about $10 and after 4 months I still have some saline packets left, which you can but individually as well.

What I can't figure out is why no doctor ever told me about this?

2010-02-17T07:44:00.001-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-02-16T10:03:00.006-05:00

SERIOUSLY?

I have been doing indoor triathlons since 1994. They are a fun way to get in some serious, high intensity training and racing in the winter months while living in the ice, snow, and cold. Just a short sprint workout: 15 or 20 minutes of each leg, swim, bike, and run, and 5 minute transitions between, amounting to not more than an hour workout. A few years back, when my friend Jan started doing tris, I got her hooked on doing them as well. Not only are they a good, quick but serious workout for the off season, but it is great to be able to keep up on what other triathletes you might not otherwise see in the winter and find out what they are doing or thinking of doing for the upcoming season.

So on a swim day, when I do my best thinking, when autumn was winding down and winter was approaching, I came up with the brilliant idea to try to put together an indoor triathlon at my gym. I know there are some good and serious athletes who belong, but being a small, private gym, you don't always see people on a regular basis, and I thought that would also be a good way to get people mingling a little at the same time getting in a good bit of competition.

After weeks of discussion with the athletic director and a few other members, who I might add were all enthusiastic about the idea, the signup board when up with a projected date of February 20. The signup sheet went up about mid-January. Jan and I were the first to sign up. And then? No one. Not one other single person signed up.

Plans were scrapped for the event, and I was disappointed and somewhat surprized and baffled as to what the problem was. At our recent 2009 awards dinner, several people expressed an interest in being at least part of a relay team, a few indicated they might be interested if they weren't already going to be out of town, and others learned that you aren't expected to run 10 miles or some other ridiculous distance on a treadmill. None, however, signed up.

Chatter around the gym as to what was really going on here completely took me by surprise. An alternative competition plan came up, where you would join a team and then do the triathlon on your own time, at your own speed, and post team totals weekly, with weekly competitions taking place through March. (This is somewhat confusing, but I did finally figure it out.) So the idea then was to get into teams, do your thing, post your distance/time and see how your totals compared with others. People seemed to be somewhat enthusiastic about and on board with this, but then? "Just as long as Jan and Vickie aren't on the same team." What?

Apparently, since we are both accomplished triathletes and runners, we are to be feared? Seriously?

What was truly laughable to me about this was the fact that just because I have done an IM, suddenly I am a force to be reckoned with? Me, who is undisputedly the slowest triathlete on the planet, and someone is worried I might beat them? The only thing that might set me apart from any of them is my determination, dedication, and discipline to the sport. Speed is not a factor here, and its highly unlikely I will get faster any time in the future.

So while I am flattered at the perceived image others have of me (and I might add something that keeps me on my toes), I am just a normal person who likes to work out and do triathlons in my spare time. Nothing to worry about people!

2010-02-11T13:21:00.002-05:00

HEADACHE

It started innocently enough well over a week ago, probably closer to 2 weeks ago now. A headache every day that responded almost instantly to ibuprofen and only needed to be taken once a day. But still, I was a little puzzled and concerned, because headaches aren't on my list of common ailments. I attributed the daily pain to a couple of things. First, the detoxing I'd been going through, although I do not drink caffeine, wasn't dehydrated, or low on salt, which are common problems when purging your system of unneeded chemicals or additives in foods.

Next, I wondered if it had something to do with the new swimming classes. While I had been swimming for years and swam a lot last year training for the IM, none of it was with the high intensity I'd been putting into these classes.

So I tolerated these headaches, figuring they would eventually subside. Instead, they only got worse, to the point where my whole head ached all day and all night and my vision was actually getting blurred from the pain. I was grouchy and irritable besides.

Only when the spasms started in my head did it finally register with me that I had had this problem before, over 10 years ago, and it led to the same outcome: spasms, which the doctor attributed to tight neck muscles and inflammation of the occipital muscles in the back of the head.

The only way to describe the feeling of these spasms is to imagine someone yanking on your hair over and over, all day long, until your scalp is tender to the touch and it is so all encompassing that you can't think straight.

So I have been completely delinquent in any workouts or attending to much in the way of family time. Cleaning and wash? Not happening.

I finally was put on muscle relaxers, which for the most part leave me feeling groggy and lethargic. Working out was not an option most of the days once the spasms started, however, I couldn't help but notice the headaches subsided while working out. Once the spasms started, however, I pretty much became a vegetable.

I think another factor, for me, is the need for regular massage, which I have neglected this as well since IM mainly because the person I regularly went to disappeared and the couple of people I went to after did not suit my needs at all.

Apparently regular massages must become a part of my routine, whether I think I need them or not. Today, 4 days into the muscle relaxer therapy, I am finally able to return to work, and am having only slight to no discomfort, and no spasms as of yet. I have an indoor tri to do this weekend, which that happening right now is somewhat debatable. If the no spasms continue through Saturday, I will do it. Otherwise, I'm dropping out. I would rather get rid of this problem rather than aggravate it.

Stay tuned.

2010-02-10T08:43:00.001-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-02-03T08:21:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-02-02T10:16:00.010-05:00

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN SWIM?

That's what I thought anyway. Technically, yes I can swim. And I can swim long distances. And I can swim every day if I wanted to. And I have been swimming for 18 years. But apparently, according to the master's swim instructor, I don't do it very well.

Over the years, I have swam with probably 5 different master's swim groups. For those who don't know what this is, master's doesn't refer to an age group thing like it does in running. I don't know what the actual description of it is, but to me it means people who get together with or without a coach to practice swimming: drills, flip turns, different swim strokes, etc. Some of it is intended to be used for competing in "master's" swim meets: meaning, out of school adults trying to stay competive.

Its been probably 5 years since swimming with any organized group, but I figured it would only be a tuneup when joining this year, with the goal of becoming faster than ever before. After all, I just did an Ironman swim, after spending an entire year working on that swim, along with several triathlons over that year and in the past 13 years. I could always lap people in my regular pool, but without any concentrated speed work in the pool, I wasn't all that fast in the tris, and I was finding myself only getting slower.

So I joined this group this year with the intention of getting super fast. Three weeks into this, I'm not sure if I'm getting any faster, but I do know everyone else around me is. I can be thankful at least that all my last place finishes in races have prepared me well for the humiliation of being last every single time in our drills.

For me, the hardest part after killing myself on the drills to not be so slow everyone waits for me every time is swimming with all these crazy people! Its just like a triathlon, so I guess that's some good experience. While I do not have trouble getting through the water in a triathlon, I do hate the body contact involved and have developed some pretty bad swim habits to avoid getting whacked or running into others.

Last night was particularly difficult because, even being in the "slow" lane, one new person got mixed in with us and another sort of fast guy. I made body contact with someone on every single length (not lap--apparently "real" swimmers do not swim laps, just lengths), and I don't think it was always my fault. In circle swimming (where you go down one side of the lane and circle back on the other), there were two groups doing two separate things. That amounted to 8 people in one lane. The "faster" of the slow people had one side of the lane, and that left me and new girl to take the other side of the lane. I'm not sure how wide these lanes are, but they are definitely not as wide as 8 people standing shoulder to shoulder. So it was going to be tight.

New girl apparently either did not understand the concept of circle swimming or she didn't realize she wasn't doing it. We collided on every single length, and if I didn't get it from her, I got it from the fast guy in the slow-fast group. I know some of it wasn't intentional, but I have to wonder if some was. I lost track of the number of times I scraped my knuckles or whole body against the wall trying to stay out of everyone's way. So it was no surprise when each of my "descending 300s" actually turned out to be ascending, meaning slower. The first two were almost exactly the same; the last was a full 25 seconds slower, but I guess I just got tired from trying to stay out of the way of everyone on each length I did. That in itself probably took up some extra energy I could have used to hopefully speed up.

But progress does seem to be happening. Last night I actually hit the 1 mile (1600 meters)cumulative distance in the 1 hour practice (not straight through swimming and with kick board and rests between drill sets). And to think, when training, I used to do 1.5 miles in an hour.

I am trying to stay positive and not talk myself out of quitting. While it is not "hard," it is definitely a learning experience. Every week I learn something new that I'm doing wrong.

2010-01-27T10:31:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-01-25T09:10:00.004-05:00

TRIMMING THE FAT

Its that time of year again, time to get rid of that "bulge" that has developed over the past year, either from overindulging or just doing steady state endurance training, which as I mentioned a while back, does nothing to really trim the fat from the body, just helps maintain a healthy or almost healthy weight.

Since discontinuing the long endurance training needed for IM, then the holidays, and winter in general, which I believe in cold weather climates leads to the body wanting to cling to any extra fat you might carry in order to stay warm, I can't help but start feeling out of shape by this time every year, regardless of how much I am exercising or watching what I eat.

And since I no longer run 35-40 miles a week or have four small children to run around after, I have found over the past 5 years or so especially that the only true way for me to get back into racing shape is to do the drastic "detox" method of dieting for anywhere from 2-4 weeks. This has always proven successful in helping me lose up to 15 pounds of weight that apparently I don't really need. My goal this year isn't quite that drastic, but it certainly is the best way--for me--to drop 5-7 pounds within a few weeks. And what better time than the off season?

What this involves is no sugar, no caffeine, no alcohol, no starchy foods, no "white" flour foods. While I don't find it that hard to give up sweets or snacks, I do find it hard to give up toast, french fries, peanut butter (massive amounts), or other salty foods, all comfort foods for me. Those are my downfall. And if I do drink wine, it only increases my chance of eating more of these foods than I need. I am just one of those people who has to completely stop eating something to quit binging on stuff I don't need. Binging isn't necessarily the right word, but I can't think of anything else close to describe this. Maybe getting out of control at times is a better way of putting it.

Anyway, I am on day 9 of this process. Its an up and down thing. What do you eat when you go out to eat? How do you tactfully avoid certain foods when asked to dinner at a friend's? How do you avoid the cocktails and nuts at the pre-dinner meeting cocktail hour? How do you balance things out so you're just not living on veggies and water all day? How do you keep from thinking about food all day? What happens if you forget to read a label, assuming you know what is in a particular food and find out later there is hidden sugar? And the most challenging, how do you handle workouts and eating, while still managing to eat "clean" and maintain muscle and not become a limp rag?

It is hard to be constantly vigilant, and I tell myself every year I will be good all year to avoid this process next year. But my memory is short apparently, and once again I fell into that trap last year.

So far, in 9 days, I have managed to go down about 2.5 pounds, which I think is a fairly normal loss, not necessarily related to water loss because I don't tend to retain water ever. I have been going more frequently just because of increased water intake and that tendency to flush out the system, especially cutting out the excess things the body really doesn't need to survive. But its very hard to tell yourself no when all these temptations are around.

After 9 days, however, your body starts listening to your brain, and it starts becoming second nature to avoid certain things you know are only going to put you back on that roller coaster again. The true test is not the "detox" or "deprivation" stage is continuing this good eating plan throughout the year.

This year....

2010-01-20T09:30:00.002-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-01-18T12:38:00.007-05:00

HOW THE PAST OFTEN COMES BACK TO YOU IN STRANGE WAYS

I have been mulling over and over in my mind, doing research, looking at the calendar, etc. trying to get 2010 races mapped out so I can start planning vacation. All the things I've looked at had some conflict, even if minor, which kept me looking over and over again. There are so many things I want to do, its hard to decide. And added to that is the feeling I have and others have led me to believe I should think this way, that now that I've done an IM, I can pretty much do anything. That, of course, is the positive, confident way to look at it, but I am too much of a realist to fall into that trap completely. And maybe a skeptic or a chicken too. I just know I want to do different training this year than last, so doing another IM this year probably won't happen. What to do, what to do??

Friday while on Facebook, I had a post from Friends of North Country Trail Run. I didn't remember joining that group, but who knows when that happened. Anyway, they were posing a trivia question about one of the new promoters of the race, which was actually bought from a couple of friends of mine who have put on this race (50 miler, marathon) for several years, after having moved onto other endeavors (IM triathlon, bike races, etc.). I have always wanted to do this race but either was injured or training for other things at the time it was held every year (late September). The first clue of the trivia question they posed was something like who was a big time marathoner and who also did 5 Ironman triathlons? (Sorry, can't get to the post to copy the actual text.) Hmm. Could be anyone, I thought. Second clue: and who also won the 199___ Smoky Mt. Marathon, etc.?

Right away, without knowing for sure, I responded "Bart Yasso." Sure enough, I was right. Why did I guess Bart Yasso? Because I was actually at the 1998 Smoky Mt. Marathon and sat next to him at the prerace dinner (I think he was also the guest speaker). I had gone with a group of friends who had been doing this race as a group road trip for years, even though I was only doing the 8k because of an injury. One of the guys in our group actually went with the intention of winning the race, and he did come in second place--behind Bart Yasso. Bart Yasso has also written for Runners World for many, many years, and is the creator of the Yasso 800s so many have talked about or used in marathon training. Yasso 800s are supposed to be a predictor of your marathon finish: how fast you run an 800 in minutes translates over to hours in finishing. For example, if you run an 800 in 4 minutes, all indicators are that you can finish a marathon in 4 hours.

I used this training method for my first marathon, and we were running in the 4-4:30 range for the 800s, and had I not hit the wall at 7 miles, had temperatures in the teens, with a 40 mile headwind, I might have finished faster than the 4:36 I finished, but I was pretty close to the predictor time, so I feel it worked and gave me a good idea of what I could do.

Anyway, I'm getting off subject here. So I won the trivia contest, and my "prize" then was $20 off registration for any of the races being held (50 miler, marathon, and now a new half marathon).

So it looks like now a new focus for the year will be to do that trail marathon. The only disappointment here is that it is held in late August instead of late September, so that means changing other things around as well. I have found two other trail half marathons close by I can do this year to prepare, and we have a fairly new trail running area off the bike path I will start using once the weather permits. I actually swore off trail runs a few years ago after one particularly grueling off road triathlon. I have to say that run was one of the worst I have ever done (almost 2 hours to do 4.8 miles), but of course my big fear was spraining an ankle again.

I still plan to do some tris, and hope to still fit in a half Ironman this year, but it may be fun to look at some new things for 2010.

2010-01-13T14:32:00.004-05:00

EXPLANATION?

"WASHINGTON – A mystery object from space is about to whizz close by Earth on Wednesday. It won't hit our planet, but scientists are stumped by what exactly it is.

Astronomers say it may be space junk or it could be a tiny asteroid, too small to cause damage even if it hit. It's 33 to 50 feet wide at most.NASA says that on Wednesday at 7:47 a.m. EST, it will streak by, missing Earth by about 80,000 miles. In the western United States it may be bright enough to be seen with a good amateur telescope."

What was more mysterious to me than the imagined picture of the object itself was the lack of significance of this happening yesterday at 7:47 EST since first, it would be too dark in most places in the Eastern Standard Time Zone. at that time of the day to see, second, it wasn't supposed to cause any damage even if it did hit somewhere on earth so why would this be news, and third, I would have thought the earthquake in Haiti might have far more importance over this insignificant little report, with misspellings and bad grammar besides.

I just thought it was a weird picture that might leave everyone mystified by what it might be.

2010-01-13T09:10:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-01-11T12:32:00.007-05:00

IT'S COLD BUT AT LEAST I'M NOT IN FLORIDA!

Congratulations to all who ran the Disney races this past weekend with the horribly frigid weather. I'm sure that's not what you were planning when you signed on for this. I'm sure you were thinking what a nice break it would be, getting away from the snow, cold, and ice of most of us deal with in the winter months. At least you didn't have (much) the snow and ice. Hopefully you had a good time otherwise!

It was another cold, cold weekend here also. I was tempted to stay inside to run, but instead I thought of my post the day before, about getting outside more often, even if just for a short run. That was motivation enough. That and the brightness of the sun and the almost perfectly blue skies, a true rarity here on the west side of Michigan. Our weather is mainly affected or maybe controlled is a better word, by Lake Michigan. Whatever doesn't break up coming through Minnesota or Wisconsin only seems to pick up with intensity once it hits our west coast and moves inland. So, while the best of the Great Lakes is a blessing, it can also be a bane, leaving us with cloud cover and/or grey skies a lot of the year.

I honestly don't even know where my sunglasses went, its been so long since I've needed them. So I had to head out without them. The sun was almost painfully bright as it reflected off the whiteness of the freshly fallen snow, and I almost wished I had thought of wearing sunscreen. But then again, I was going to enjoy it for once and hoped it would replenish some of my Vitamin D stores of which recently I had read those of us in West Michigan particularly deficient.

I put on my Yak Trax again, which are pretty much becoming a regular part of my winter running gear, and headed out from the park. The park was pretty much empty now from the dozens of runners who show up regularly and faithfully every Saturday and Sunday to run, starting out in the dark even a lot of the time. I wanted to run without a schedule and without having to set my alarm to get up. It was Saturday. It was cold. No need to get out of bed in the dark to go run at this time of the year. And had I done that, while I would have been done earlier and not had to rush to get my other tasks done for the day, I would have missed out on the brilliant winter sun.

The temperature was about 18 degrees, but with that sun out, I didn't even start to feel the cold until just before the end of my run. Even my hands did not feel the least cold, despite the fact I only had gloves on because my mittens were dirty.

Saturday's run was 2 days in a row outside, so I am keeping my promise so far and making progress.

2010-01-07T15:51:00.005-05:00

WINTER RUNNING

I think the thing I hate about winter the most is not running as much as I would like. When I first started running over 20 years ago, I had no treadmill or access to a gym so was forced to run outside every time. It was my only option. It was all I knew. It probably made me tougher, both physically and mentally, but also led to winter running injuries: slipping on ice; twisting an ankle trying to cross a street with a huge mound of snow at the curb; overuse on ankle tendons trying to keep from sliding all over the place. And then there was the harshness of the weather also. I didn't even have proper winter running gear for the first 3 years so basically froze every time I ran.

The motivating factor in my winter running for years was starting early in the year to train for our annual 25k (15.5 miles) race in early May. And for years (and still to many locals) the defining standard for running that race was under 2 hours for men abd right around 2 hours for women. A hard standard to live up to, especially living in climate of ice, cold, and snow. But many, many did in fact meet that standard.

I came close one year: 2:10. What was the secret that year? Consistent long run training all winter long. I don't remember it being a mild winter so it wasn't the weather that made it easier. It was just consistency. Something I have not followed for the past several years.

With the introduction of a treadmill and access to a gym into my life, I have opted to take the easy way of training by staying inside quite a bit from January through March. Also, since most of my running is done in the early morning hours, and its still dark until almost 8 am, I know its safer and more comfortable, but it doesn't have the same quality as outdoor running. At least for me it doesn't transfer over to running a decent 25k time. While I find it easy enough most of the time to get in 3-5 miles on a treadmill, those miles are usually at speeds way too fast for me to transfer over to outside running. I find myself hurrying just to get it done, or doing fast intervals because I am bored by it. This is okay once or twice a week, but doesn't cut it trying to get in a long run, and we all know that is the key to improvement and the ability to do endurance events. I always vow at the beginning of winter to stay out as long as possible, but then somehow slide on that promise by the time January comes and the sidewalks are no longer clear.

Today I realized for the first time ever how much I miss running in the winter. Walking to do an errand, even though it was cold, windy, and snowing like crazy, it was also somewhat pleasant and exhilirating to be outside, even for a brief while. It has motivated me to find ways to venture out more. Let's see how that goes tomorrow morning.

2010-01-04T09:18:00.010-05:00

NEW YEAR'S REVELATION

First things first: getting back on track. After spending a few weeks recovering from the Ironman, next there was my son's wedding, and then the holidays were upon us and then I went back to full weeks of hard training, in addition to fitting in shopping, parties, etc., only to be hit the week of Christmas with whatever it was "going around" in the office and throughout the family. Looking back, I think I jumped in too soon and was still a little run down.

I am definitely feeling MUCH better and hope this continues.

While recovering, many thoughts went through my mind as to what my focus for 2010 would be. One thing I definitely wanted to do was get stronger, meaning adding more weight training into my program. Training for the Ironman did not allow much extra workout time for more than one hastily performed weight training workout a week. As it was, I was working out every single day most weeks, so to add another workout in was unthinkable. Ten workouts a week was all I could imagine and do without totally losing it.

But I knew I had to add in another weight training session, as well as more quality. Adding in another weight training workout was going to require a lot of thinking and planning, but how to do this?? I am constantly reading articles and looking over training plans, but all the weight training plans were not geared around endurance training. In fact, the majority of new thinking on this subject suggested otherwise if you wanted to get completely fit from added strength training. And I know there is a book on weight training for triathletes, but again, most of those programs consisted of too much time in the gym in addition to the long endurance workouts, which I just couldn't bring myself to get excited about or figure out how to fit in.

Then, in a round-about way, I came across a couple of revealing thoughts about weight training in addition to endurance training. One involved a discussion with a guy in my office who has been doing personal training for family and friends for a while now, although he isn't certified. Since he doesn't charge for his services, I thought I would at least pick his brain and try to get some good ideas to start out the new year. During our discussion, he mentioned that he had added 35 pounds of weight over the last few years due to weight training, yet still had 6% body fat and was extremely lean looking, so I started believing he had some credibility on the subject. The second revelation came from reading articles he sent me in addition to going to the links in some of the articles, which eventually led me to read a very interesting article. Here is an excerpt which definitely caught my eye. See if this sounds familiar:

Feeling soft around the midsection? Can't see your abs anymore? Feel the need to get lean in a hurry?Slacking off on your diet and workouts can do that to you. In my case, training for an Ironman triathlon can do that, too.What? Yeah, you heard me right. This is exactly how I felt after training for and completing in my first Ironman.My body was soft, with no definition, and had definitely changed due to spending the majority of my training in the steady-state aerobic zone — the same "fat burning zone" many books and magazine still talk about.I was in great shape as far as my endurance and cardiovascular system were concerned, but I had less noticeable muscle tone and didn't have the definition I was used to having in my abs and arms.

If you want to read the rest of the article, by Rachel Cosgrove, go here. The theory here is that training all the time in the aerobic zone, while necessary for endurance events, is not that fat burning zone we've been led to believe. We have been conditioned to believe that training for hours aerobically, doing steady-state workouts (when you move at the same pace for a certain amount of time), that your body does burn a higher percentage of calories from fat. This is where that "fat burning zone" myth comes from. On the surface, it sounds like you're burning more fat calories. There are two big problems with this: 1. As explained in the article, you burn fewer total calories as your body adapts. So even if you're burning a higher percentage of fat, you aren't burning as many calories overall. 2. Your body actually becomes efficient at storing fat. Since you're now burning fat as your primary source of fuel, your body adapts and becomes very good at storing fat. Blame it on a dumb self-preservation mechanism built into the body's operating system.

This all made sense to me, especially after also reading where she spent 374 hours working out for her Ironman race and the net weight loss was only 5 pounds. I'd have to say the same. People (especially women) always commented they weren't losing any weight, only seeming to gain, while training for an Ironman, and I can again say I felt the same. After talking with my work colleague, he made me feel a little better about this when he mentioned that added muscle was contributing to weight retention or gain (which I already knew and used that excuse in my mind to console myself) and also that BONES gain density from all the weight bearing exercise, which also contributes to added weight, something I hadn't considered.

But even with those two added facts, I still was concerned about adding more weight the next time I trained for an Ironman, which I knew I wanted to do.

So I asked for some ideas from Chris (work colleague) about what he would recommend to not only get stronger, but hopefully leaner in the process, and at the same time continue endurance training. His number one suggestion, of course, was adding more strength training and cutting back on some of the endurance, making the wise comment "your body already knows what to do there" adding that doing higher intensity workouts would only enhance and improve not only my training but my body fat composition and shape as well.

Then I emailed Rachel Cosgrove, asking her how to combine the two also, since she had the added credibility of being not only an Ironman finisher but also a triathlon coach. She also has a new book out which has gotten very good reviews, The Female Body Breakthrough. I am in the process of obtaining that book and am looking forward to reading it. Anyway, here is Rachel's response to my email:

Ahhh yes, trying to merge Endurance training and fat loss training. I always had this idea in my head that I wanted to cross the finish line of an endurance race looking like a fit female and I could do it on shorter distance races - up to an Olympic Distance Triathlon (or a 2-3 hour race). Anytime, I start training for anything beyond that it is tough to keep a firm physique. You have to fuel your body for the event and your body adapts to the workouts so quickly. I have written many articles on this and talk about it in my book. Your best bet is if you can set aside 12-16 weeks to focus on becoming a fit female before your event and then the goal is to keep it while training for your event. But that doesn't mean that you cannot do The Female Body Breakthrough if you are already training for something- YES, absolutely the programs will increase your strength and make you more efficient as an endurance athlete PLUS less likely to get injured and more likely to get and keep a fit female physique(especially if you have not done anything like the programs in the book). So go ahead and use the programs. When training for an event I always keep 2 days minimum of strength training as a priority in my program. Just use the strength training part and don't worry about the metabolic workouts because your cardio will be your endurance workouts.
As far as food- Yes use the principles in The Female Body Breakthrough. They will work to fuel your body and EVERYTHING I talk about in the book will only help your performance as an endurance athlete. I follow everything in the book when I am training for an endurance event.
Something to think about- I have been a Figure competitor and have lifted weights and my fit female body looks and feels a certain way. If you are an endurance athlete and just want to gain some strength and tone and look more like a fit female on the spectrum this program will get you there- does that make sense? We each have a different fit female body and as an endurance athlete you will look closer to or be at your fit female body by adding in the concepts in the book even if you are still training for endurance.

Once I read the book, I hope to implement as much of this program into my fitness routine as possible over the next few months. Whether that forces me to reconsider what races I am doing this year or not, I don't know. I just know I have a stronger desire to get back in better shape so that in 2011 I will be ready to do another Ironman, fitter and stronger, and hopefully leading to a faster finish and not having to make it a necessity to look for an "easy" race.

2009-12-30T14:30:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2009-12-18T11:16:00.006-05:00

'TIS THE SEASON...

...for challenges:

Holiday challenges: getting the shopping, wrapping, and baking done; trying not to consume too many goodies; dealing with crowded malls and online shopping pitfalls; not drinking copious amounts of wine to escape from all of this.

Seasonal challenges: bad weather; snowy and icy roads; cold temperatures that make your hands and nails crack; flu and colds at every function you attend it seems; no sunshine for days on end; grumpy moods (from a lack of sunshine no doubt); weeks and weeks of staying indoors too much.

Workout challenges: Combining all of the above and trying to get workouts in or trying to get quality workouts in, despite the challenges of the weather.

So today, that's what I did with my run. All week it has been extremely cold and this morning everything was coated in ice, a payback it seems for one brief sunny afternoon. I am trying to run outside as much as possible as long as possible, and have pretty much worn my Yak Trax every time since we've gotten snow a couple of weeks ago. Today, with the early morning temp actually hitting around 30 degrees, the dreadmill was not an option. I know there will be enough of those days, but also didn't realize it was as icy as it was.

I was forced to run mostly on the main street, where it is mostly clear, but traffic started picking up after a few blocks so I turned off onto a side street by a school, figuring it would be more cleared. It was, but there were still patches of ice, and I found myself going gingerly over these to avoid any falling. Once I was away from the school, however, you could see the glare ice on the streets and I actually felt like I was skating, even with the Yak Trax. With the extreme cold temperatures, road salt does not work.

For the next couple of blocks I was forced onto the sidewalk, which while treacherous enough, at least there was some old snow cover on most of it giving better footing. Then it was back into the street again for several blocks. So it seemed like an on-again off-again type of running but that got me thinking of just looking at this kind of running as interval running: pick up the pace when its clear, slow down when its not. I guess that was a good way to make the best of a not so good situation.

Hope you're all getting your workouts and your shopping, baking, wrapping or whatever done!

2009-12-16T10:42:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2009-12-09T08:38:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEATHER WEDNESDAY

2009-12-07T09:27:00.002-05:00

MAINTAINING THE IMAGE

One thing I hadn't thought about in the whole scheme of doing an Ironman was what seems to be happening lately. Putting that 140.6 sticker on my car advertises the fact (to the knowing) that I have now done an iron distance race. It certainly makes it easier to spot my car in the work parking garage among all the other black SUVs. And having my accomplishments and picture put in the health club newsletter also brought attention to my recent achievement. And a recent e-mail from a fellow triathlete welcomed me to the "club." Meaning of course the local club that is Ironman.

So now I hear about it constantly (not that I mind that much). "When is your next event?" "What will you do next?" And last week, after a particularly stressful and trying work week, one of the guys said, "It can't be worse than a triathlon? Or the last 10 miles of a marathon, can it?" Want to bet?? I really think working sometimes is harder.

But having that sticker on my car makes me wonder if someone who sees me actually thinks I am the one who did that distance? I'm not sure I have "the look" of an Ironman. So it makes me walk a little taller, keeps me on my toes as far as workouts go, to maintain that image if nothing more. Its no big deal to my family. I'm still the same person. They don't see IM written on my forehead. The only effect it had on them were my frequent weekend absences over the past few months especially. The accomplishment is mine and mine alone.

And I can't help but think often that really only a small percentage of people, women particularly, do these things. Not that I think anyone who really wants to can't do one, or that I am somehow special because I have. I have proven the theory that if you really want to do something like this, you can. You don't have to be a certain age or weight or have a special ability. And I'm not saying anyone who doesn't want to really do this is less. It has to be a goal, and you have to have a burning desire to make the commitment to do what it takes to meet that goal. That is the hardest part of doing one of these races. And making the commitment is going to carry you through the hard parts of the training and the race. If the will and commitment is there, that's half the battle. Of course, there is also my other theory on this: sign up for something like this and it will scare you enough so you don't dare not do the training!

To me now, maintaining the Ironman "image" means setting an example that others can follow if they so desire.

2009-12-05T13:22:00.002-05:00

WINTER HAS ARRIVED

An aerial photo from the GVSU downtown campus, right along my downtown running route. Looks almost magical.

The usual horrible drive.

We got a record early snowfall yesterday--some areas up to 15 inches! Probably about 5 only by my house thankfully.

November had been one of the best weather months of the year, taking into account the time of the year. It was mild and actually sunny many days, while October had been unusually cold and rainy. So many bike rides in the freezing or rainy weather in October, and then November turns out to be perfect training weather, when I was in recovery mode. Naturally, just as I get back to training, we get this stuff!

This week has really been my first week back to training. I did a few swims last week but nothing serious until now. It seemed like a long time to basically be doing nothing, but it also took a couple of weeks to get over some extreme fatigue that hit. So this week is was 3 spin classes, 3 runs, 3 weight training sessions. Again, nothing serious, just trying to re-establish fitness.

It also has been extremely busy at work (which is where I am now and will be on Sunday), and with my home computer out of order for now, I haven't had much, if any, time while at work to blog or even get on Facebook! I feel shut out!

Starting to look at winter race options, and hoping to find a couple of indoor tris. And then there's the New Year's Eve run (4 miles), and I am slowly rebuilding my running miles so that I'm at 6 miles by the end of the year again. I'm not hurrying it because winter mileage is so unpredictable. I don't want to get any high expectations just yet of getting back to high mileage, because a good majority would end up being on a treadmill, which, while I can't totally avoid it, I would prefer to try to get outside more this winter.

So despite the icy, snowy, and fairly cold (24 degrees) conditions today, I managed to get out there for 4 miles. I used my Yak Trax (they were actually right where I put them at the end of last winter), bundled up in 2-3 layers (2 tights, 3 shirts, facemask, gloves, headband) but ended up taking the facemask off after about a mile. For some reason I can't breathe in that thing and it really didn't feel that bad out anyway until the last 5 minutes or so.

Its always interesting to note all the slackers who don't clear their sidewalks--ever. Yes, there's a "path" if that's what you want to call it on the sidewalk, but its mainly a narrow foot path beaten down by kids walking to and from school. I ran as much as possible in the street, and it never ceases to amaze me that while it is full daylight and I am wearing bright red, how people driving don't manage to see you! I am hugging the curb or parked cars, so its not like I'm out in the middle of the street, but they veer right in my direction like I'm not there. I honestly don't know how these people manage to keep a car on the road the way some of them drive.

And the Yak Trax worked well. Most of the snow on the streets had actually refrozen, so it would have been difficult to maneuver without them.

It continues to snow--huge, fluffy flakes falling. I don't know if this is a sign of what winter will be like, but I guess I'd better get used to it. After all, its almost like winter lasts until May around here anyway.

2009-12-02T13:09:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2009-11-25T09:23:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2009-11-23T09:00:00.002-05:00

Here are my top 10 reasons why I want to do another Ironman distance triathlon:

I'm crazy?
I like to swim, bike, and run.
I find my running goes better after a bike ride.
I find I'm really starting to like the endurance events because there's no (not as much) pressure to go fast.
I like having a structured training plan, even if it takes most of the year.
I like connecting with other people doing the same race and maybe even giving you training buddies.
I like the fact that I can do an Olympic distance triathlon without batting an eye and no taper and improve from past years' performance.
I like the fact that I can ride 95 miles one day and run a 1/2 marathon (and then some) the next.
I like the sense of accomplishment.
I like the 3 week recovery program that follows.

All that being said, once I started thinking of the races I want to do next year and in the future, I realized I probably am hooked on these long distance events. I have seen it happen to almost everyone I know who has done an IM event. I'm not so sure I was ready to sign up the next day after (or even the day before) the event like some, but the plan has definitely taken shape in my mind.

Tracking IMAZ peeps yesterday made me ALMOST ready to sign up for that race for next year. The practical side of me took over and it was a good thing to sleep on it. While I really would like to do that race, I am not ready financially to commit to spending that kind of money so quickly, and I realize there are other races closer by that I can do if I choose.

My biggest thing holding me back, however, is now that I know what it takes to train for such an event, I want to improve on what I did last year, so first there are steps I want to take over the next 6 weeks to get me ready to start training in January again. While I was content with not pushing myself in the training (not much anyway) or having had to push myself in the race (not much anyway), I know there are things I can do to improve performance without making it out of reach for myself, so that's where my improvement goals come in.

In the meantime, I am enjoying the 3-4 week taper, which is giving me time to make decisions without being pressured, giving me a chance to sit back and relax for a while, and a chance to get some household things done that were put off most of the year because of training.

I hope to formulate a list soon of races I either intend to do next year or there is a high likelihood I will do them. There are just so many choices!

2009-11-18T07:05:00.002-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2009-11-17T13:43:00.004-05:00

LIFE AFTER IRONMAN. NOW WHAT?

While I am not a lost soul now that Ironman is over, its always a good time to reflect on what future goals, if any, I have for this sport. And how to handle the recovery process. I had come across an article about a month before the race, but somehow never got around to reading it until today when supplied to me by 21st Century Mom Pamela. It was a good reminder, and takes all the guesswork and guilt out of the recovery process. Here is a link if you care to read: http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/You-Finished-an-Ironman-Now-What.htm

So it helps me decide that not running right now is not going to ruin me, that nothing of any intensity probably is better. While my legs actually felt really good by Tuesday after the race, I found out the hard way trying to run on Saturday I wasn't ready. Then today, another planned run day, I forgot my shoes. So I feel some force is keeping me from rushing the recovery too soon.

But what about my future goals? Future Ironman races? Of this I am certain: I would like to do another Iron distance race. I don't think it will be in 2010, but I will definitely do half Ironman races, maybe two, and try to improve on my biking skills before another attempt. Or maybe I just need to get serious sooner in the year?

In deciding on another race, I have to be realistic also in what the course is like and the location. I will be the first to admit that without the "ease" of the B2B course, I might not have finished in time. I also would like it within closer driving distance or being able to afford to fly. I could have kicked myself on the ride back wondering what I was thinking being cooped up in a car for nearly 20 hours, counting dead deer carcases and waffle houses to keep alert, as well as risking my life with crazy drivers and semis when I could have flown home the next day. It probably didn't save all that much when you have to factor in gas and hotels while on the road. So definitely something closer to home would be more desirable.

I have come across a new group of races, a full Iron and a half Iron distance, at the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio, next September. Now if by some good fortune my training starting at the first of the year seems better than last year, and I decide to spend the money on another full so soon, this might be my first choice. If I don't do the full, just the half, then I might consider doing Vineman in California the next year. Its another smaller race, which I am totally comfortable with. So many choices; so little time!

In the meantime, I'm going to kick back for a couple of more weeks and relax and try to recover from all that has been going on in my life all year so I can start fresh for next year.

2009-11-10T21:21:00.007-05:00

THEY SAID WE HAD 17 HOURS

You could say yikes! 16:55:01--you barely made it. But I prefer to say I did exactly as I planned and enjoyed every minute of the time allowed. And I did.

I never said I would finish much under 17 hours. In fact, my secret goal time was 16:49--based on my training times and my races this year. Also in fact, I have my own theory of Ironman finishing times and I'm usually pretty close. My dream goal was 16:30.

From the start of 2009, I trained with a basic thought of completing this race. It wasn't the foremost race on my mind, because I had decided to go from race to race, phase to phase, before I decided if I would really do this or even be able to do this.

While I had a solid training base through the Muncie half Ironman in July, until then, there was only the goal to hopefully be able to do this race. It was "out there" but nothing definitive. While I wanted to do this race, I wasn't sure I actually could.

After July, I thought "why waste the training??" and the training continued. And I really had no doubt that I could. The only problem with my plan was that everyone I knew who was training for an Iron distance race was either tapering or winding down their training, while I was trying to build on my training. So I never had anyone to seriously train with. And I feel extremely bad about "forcing" Don to train with me the last couple of months. when he clearly was unable to do so a lot of the time, and thus restricting some of my last few weeks of training.

So I trained alone. Week after week after week. I slugged it out with the bad weather, the low temps, the rain, but still worried that I could not cut it. Not in the time allowed at least. I have the endurance. I have the determination. I just don't have the speed. If the race could be finished"whenever" I would do this every year, no problem! But to actually pull it off in 17 hours?? Not really sure that could happen. I love training. I will do it all year round. I am just not that great at races.

But race day came and I had to get out there and do what I signed up to do.

I am going to fast forward, since I already posted a race report. Here are my plus and minuses for the race.

The biggest plus was it was a great destination race. Any trip that includes the ocean and the beach is tops for me, and added to that was the fantastic weather. The mornings were cool, but the days were perfect weather, just like race day, perfect weather. I loved Wrightsville Beach and North Carolina in general.

The plus for the swim was it was very fast for me: 1:14. They say that was due to the current, but I hardly felt the current until trying to get out of the water. Maybe it was the buoyancy of the salt water but I was more than pleased with my swim. I love swimming in open water and I really loved this swim. I started wondering if I would ever get out after the 4 wrong turns, but I really enjoyed it. It wasn't that crowded, which was another plus for me. I was terrified of all those people in the swim, but it wasn't even a factor. The only minus was the rubbing of my arms on my wetsuit, something I never noticed before, although it has happened in the past and I didn't realize where the chafing came from--I just didn't realize it was the wetsuit that caused it until now. And of course here the salt water made it apparent right from the start. I still have quite a big patch of rash to clear up.

The plus for the bike was it was such a beautiful day I didn't mind being out there all day, and that's exactly what it was, out there all day. The course also was fairly good. There were places I could have done without, especially at the end, but for the most part I marveled at the low volume of traffic for such long stretches. The minus here was the wind--a headwind at the end, a cross wind for the middle part. It slowed me down more than the overall distance would have, even though I had no high expectations of finishing much before I did. My predicted time was 7:50. My actual was around 8:10 (looking at results, I see they added my swim transition into the bike, making it look worse than it was). I would have been surprised at anything under 7:45. Another minus was the long stretch (38 miles) on Hwy. 421. Once I turned onto that, I only saw one person the entire time other than the few stragglers at the aid stations and Don. And I didn't like all the traffic at the end either.

The plus for the run was it was not as cold as I expected it to be. The minus of course was the almost immediate darkness and the kind of crazy course. Not a minus because it was dark. I actually prefer running in the dark. It was just that not knowing the course made me a little more tentative with my footing than I might have been otherwise, and found myself walking through areas where the road was bad or I couldn't see very well. After tripping and stumbling several times, I didn't want to take a chance and fall and not be able to get going again.

Another minus was some areas that I'm sure were great to run through were so dark you could barely see them, so it seemed almost a waste for me. But then I realize probably 99% of the participants got to the first run turnaround while it was still light, and a good majority finished before darkness as well.

A big plus was having Don out there on the course since I can actually say he helped me finish on time and gave me encouragement when I wasn't feeling so encouraged.

Another plus was all in all I did not feel that bad the whole time. Yes it was a long day and yes there were times when I wasn't sure of the outcome, but physically I probably could have gone on longer if I had to (not that I wanted to!). The biggest reason for this, for me, was the weather. It was perfect. Never too cold, never hot at all. Comfortable most of the time. Yes I had to do some planning for this that I hadn't thought of a lot before arriving in Wilmington, but being there a few days ahead gave me the chance to observe the weather at various times of the day so I knew what to expect. I also have a temperature guage on my bike computer so I always knew what the temperature was the whole time I was on the bike and it was helpful knowing what it was when I got done, so I could prepare for the run. I know had it been a hot day I would have faded and it would have been much more difficult.

The biggest plus of all was finishing of course and knowing that Karen also finished. So many times I thought of stopping and waiting for her, but I was afraid if I stopped for any length of time I might not get going again. And you never know how others are dealing with things so don't want to interfere. I know from my own perspective I didn't particularly want to do much talking, even when Don showed up, and don't always want to follow someone else's plan, but you also never know what will help.

One minus was the finish line. Being one of the last finishers, there were very few people there and it was nothing like other Ironman finish lines. I don't remember anything I might have said or did finishing. I did hear my name. I don't know if they said anything else. They also didn't really have any warm food left except soup, something I could have had all night if I wanted. I probably would have eaten something if they had it, but it wasn't that big of a deal either. We sort of had our own private party however since Karen had family and friends there and Don was there of course, and the finish line volunteers, who I appreciate very much. But when I watch other IM finishes, I realize we were lacking.

So that leads me to think of a next time.

2009-11-08T08:44:00.010-05:00

BEACH TO BATTLESHIP IRON DISTANCE TRIATHLON

November 7, 2009

It Was a Long Day; It Was a Hard Race

So much to tell. First, and maybe foremost: finish time: 16:55:01. Its not how fast you get there, its just getting there. Its a story about endurance, determination, survival, and finally panic to finish in time.

The days leading up to the race, as I'm sure is typical for anyone doing an endurance event for the first time, was spent studying the weather reports, familiaring myself with the race course, and planning over and over what to wear. In an Iron event, there are 3 parts to planning, including nutrition and hydration for the long day ahead. For me, it came down to 3 am race day before I actually figured out what I would wear.

I had swam a couple of times prior to the race, and the race day weather report wasn't good: low 30s in the morning and a frost and freeze advisory. But the night before the race, I actually figured out that Wrightsville Beach, where the swim would take place, would actually be warmer than Wilmington, since it was inland and wasn't affected as much by the warmer ocean breezes. But the daytime temperatures for Wilmington and surrounding areas only was calling for a high of 68. That meant, for me, that most of my bike ride would be in cooler temperatures. As it turned out, the whole day was absolutely perfect other than a cool start to the day.

The Swim:

This would be an ocean swim in the Intercoastal Waterway, so we wouldn't have the surf but could benefit from the current. Transition opened at 5 am and we were there at about 5:15 to avoid the last minute rush that would likely make me forget something important for me, and to take a trolley over to the beach about 2 miles away. While we did not benefit from the strong current they had last year (because of the time change), we also were spared the 20 mph winds out of the north we had the 2 days before the race. A fairly calm morning, water 67 degrees, air a little chilly, so not that bad. Not as bad as I feared.

I was warned before the swim to "swim to the right side for the current but veer left when you see the "squiggly man." So maybe I misunderstood, or maybe I didn't follow directions, but somehow ended up to the left--way left in fact, to the point where one time I was outside of the left side buoys. This had to be the most confusing swim course I've ever encountered, since the buoys were placed far apart and staggered from left to right, so I was never sure where I was supposed to go. Especially with my limited sight vision. And I kept looking for the squiggly man, only to remember after 3 more missed turns that the squiggly man was at the finish, not at one of the turns like I was anticipating. So, due to these mistakes, I found myself off course 4 different times, likely resulting in about 5 minutes added to my time. One thing with the salt water and the little bit of current we did have, trying to get back on course took very little effort. One thing I noticed, that I wasn't aware of before but now I know, is that my arms with a sleeveless wetsuit rub on my wetsuit on every downstroke, and with the salt water I was aware of this early on since it results in a rash that stung like crazy! That's actually my worst chafing right now!

Once I saw the finish line dock, I pushed hard to get out of the water. We had to climb up a ladder and it was amazing that I had to make 3 attempts to grab the ladder. Everytime I reached for it, I was pushed back by the current, the same current I barely felt during the swim. When I attempted to get out of the water, I was so dizzy I couldn't believe it. I thought at first the dock was swaying, but it was only me. I took a quick glance at my watch and was stunned: 1:13. What?? Did I shut my watch off by mistake? But no, it was my swim time. Yes! was all I could think of. Actual swim time was 1:14 by the time I crossed the mats. I was very excited since it meant I had an extra half hour to "play" around with for the bike. As it turned out, I pretty much ate that time up on transition. We had a 400 yard run to the transition tents and of course there I ran into a couple of women I knew (Dread Pirate Rackham and Shirly Perly) and we were all chatting about what we were wearing on the bike. I changed from running shorts I used for the swim to biking shorts, lubing up appropriately, but left on my tri top and blotted as much water off it that I could. I had decided to wear that and my jacket and if necessary could take the sleeves off my jacket if I got too warm, but that never happened. I also wore socks and compression sleeves on my legs, so everything needed to be dried to accomplish getting dressed properly. Also a headband for my ears, but decided against the knit gloves and went with the bike gloves alone. It just didn't feel that cold to me. Then it was time to head out to the bikes, but first had to make a pit stop. Both porta johns were busy, and busy, and busy, for more than 5 minutes. If I hadn't had to go so badly I would have left, but I knew I wouldn't be able to last on the bike that long. One note on the swim to bike transitions, nearly everyone had longer transitions here because of the need to change from wet to dry clothes because of the temperature and then redressing for cooler weather. I know there were women who finished the race before me and actually had a longer transition here.

The Bike: I am not a strong biker, and I will be the first to admit it, but I started off really well and felt good. Wasn't cold, wasn't panicked, nothing remarkable. Just riding along comfortably and well under the cutoff limits. The course routed us around Wrightsville Beach area, then to Wilmington, and north to other areas. We rode one part of the race on an expressway with one lane closed only for bikes. I always wanted to do this. The road was smooth and fairly flat to downhill and no wind. That all changed around 30 miles, at the first aid station. Then we headed west into the wind, a cross wind actually, from the south and the west. I noticed my speed dropped some but it wasn't a huge drop. I was still maintaining more than what I had calculated to be the minimum speed I needed to maintain and finish on time, but of course I realized I had a cushion for the fast swim. I was pretty much holding my own except the wind was kicking my butt, to the point where eventually I was struggling with the pace but continued on. Oh, and the course description called the course "pancake flat." Ha! Not at all. After special needs, at 65 miles instead of 56, there were a few steep hills. And as luck would have it, just as I approached the hill, a gust of wind would come out of nowhere and beat me down every time. Wind and hills, my nemeses.

By the time we made the final turn back to Wilmington, 38 miles out, we were going south and once again into a head wind. I don't know how strong the wind was but it was constant, and I struggled to maintain a decent pace, a pace only fast enough to guarantee a finsih before the cutoff. And this section was not flat either by any means, more like a false flat, since it was a steady upgrade. Basically, not being a strong biker, it kicked my butt. And the worst part was a constant almost blinding headache through the back of my skull and into my neck. It might have had something to do with the wind because I had noticed it when we were going west also, but then it completely went away until now. I figured I would only get by on the bike portion anyway, but I was starting to worry. I hadn't seen any other bikers on the course for hours, until I finally passed a young guy around 80 miles. I figured he would repass me any time, but he actually was coming in on the bike when I was going out to run. I did see Don out there, and he was encouraging. He rode ahead and waited 3 different times before heading to the finish.

When I reached 100 miles, it was getting hard, really hard. I was struggling to maintain even a 12 mph pace at times and was starting to do the math for finishing and knew what I needed to do. I was also getting quite annoyed with all the traffic on the course, because while they closed one lane on the expresway, on the 4 lane divided highway they had nothing to indicate a race going on, and with me out there by myself, I had cars whizzing by me in both lanes at 55+ mph. The hardest part on the bike was the last 3 miles. OMG, it was through a busy section of town, onto the bridges going into Wilmington and elsewhere, and there was so much traffic and one lane dedicated to bikers, but there were cars who did not observe this. Not only that, those bridges were steep climbs, and I found myself going 5 mph on the last one, almost beside myself to get done.

Surprisingly, I was nowhere near last, even though I went over 8 hours. I was surprised also that no one ever passed me.

The Run. Finally, I was in transition. I was relieved. I just had no huge desire to push myself to get ready to run. Somehow I forgot that this was a race and once again blew away a ton of time.

This time I also had to change everything to make sure I would be warm enough on the run the whole time. I had decided no special needs was necessary as long as I got everything I needed in transition. I put on a long sleeved shirt and my jacket, gloves, and a headband and was glad I did later.

The run was hard, that's all I can say. The first mile included a huge climb on a bridge overpass, so I pretty much walked the first 3/4 mile, ran to the first aid station, and then established a run/walk pattern I was able to keep up for most of the first loop: 4 min. run, 2 walk. That's the best I could do. It also got dark by my second mile, so I had to watch my footing in many places. I tripped over a reflctor on the draw bridge and decided then I would only walk over that slippery thing. Then after 2 miles we were directed to the downtown area, which the city so conveniently decided to do road construction on Thursday and ripped up the road in that area. So not only did we have to weave ourselves through the construction cones, we had to watch our footing for the torn up areas. And we also had 3 steep hills or downhills and a half mile stretch over a brick street through old downtown Wilmington, and out to a lake development and through a park. It was so dark I couldn't see much, so have no idea how it looks. The area was lighted either with street lamps or spot lights, so it was either too bright and blinding or too dim so you didn't know where you were going. I'm sure this was a lovely part of the course in the daylight, but in the pitch dark, nothing impressive. I was more worried about turning an ankle or running off the path, which I did more than once. At the turnaround, they didn't even have a chip mat, so anyone could have turned beforehand and no one would have known otherwise. So I wasn't too crazy about the run course.

On the second loop, once I hit the bridges, I just wanted to walk. So I did. I walked and walked and walked, trying to calculate if I could still finish on time walking the whole way. I had my doubts but couldn't look at my watch anymore. I was truly at a low point, and thankfully, Don showed up right around the 3 mile mark to cheer me on again. That's just what I needed to get me running again. At this point I was counting cones. When I ran out of cones, I started counting steps and then counting street lights. At the first aid station in the park, the volunteers were a little too enthused and one of them, doing jumping jacks, smashed me in the face. I really didn't want to deal with being injured so just moved away as quickly as possible. [Note: Swollen eye on the eyebrow, but no serious injury.] I was mainly stunned and jarred.

Once you enter the park, you have about 1.75 miles before the turnaround. I was starting to feel the urge of needing a bathroom really bad so waited to get to the turnaround to see who was close before I decided to hit the bushes. It was so hard to go after all the other exertion that day, I'm sure I sounded like I was having a baby. And then the true seriousness of my chafing was very apparent. I was almost screaming with pain. So once again, decided to walk. I was findng myself mentally spent. I wanted to finish and then I didn't care. And then I got the better of myself and knew I cared, so started running again. It was painful, it wasn't pleasant, it definitely wasn't fast, but it had to get done.

At 3 miles to go, I ran into Don again and he said I had 47 minutes to finish. I was encouraged. Like I said, I hadn't looked at my watch the whole second half, so I was encouraged to know I still had a chance. I had already told myself that I hadn't busted my butt the whole day to not finish this race, and decided I would cross that finish line no matter what.

The biggest problem with the last 3 miles was it was the hardest. Up hills, the two uphill bridges, darkness, and at this point no spectators. When I got to the 24 mile mark, I pushed myself over the bridge to the drawbridge, then walked across that, ran down a steep downhill and on to the 25 milemark. I asked for my usual: coke and water and was given Heed, but at that point it didn't matter. I just said "hurry up, I'm running out ot time!" At 25 miles, you hit a steep uphill on the bridge in the pitch dark. I allowed myself a brief walk for one cone and then decided to not stop until the end. At 26 miles, I glanced at my watch: 16:51. Yikes! I have to make this. I had pushed myself the last 3 miles, I could keep on for 2/10 of a mile. All this time, I could hear behind me the closest next finisher, Waddler, and I was praying that she too would finish. I picked up the pace. It was surprising how I was such fleet of feet these last two miles especially. I don't think I have pushed myself this hard for at least 15 years.

I was so glad to see that finish line and the clock: 16:55:01. No hoopla, I was the second to last official finisher, Waddler the last one. But again, its not how long it takes, its the climb. Pretty much everyone had gone execpt those waiting for us.

Post Race: I was stiff, not cold, not hungry, but seriously chafed. I knew it would be excrutiatingly painful to deal with that, and I was right. It took me a good hour to get a shower , soak in warm water, and get things "bandaged" up. Diaper rash cream works like a charm!

2009-11-05T20:10:00.009-05:00

BEACH 2 BATTLESHIP, DAY 2

Woke up early today, around 5 am, too many thoughts going through my head: what am I going to wear to the swim start? (predicted temps in upper 30s, low 40s); what to wear on the bike to start? (predicted temps in the mid-upper 40s); what then to wear on the run when it is likely to be pleasant temperatures when I start, however, dark, and eventually go to chilly to cold temps? I didn't feel like I had enough clothes to cover all the possibilities, so fretted about that. Finally, I got up around 6:30 with a splitting headache.

I had forgotten to clear off my memory card for my camera at Walmart the night before, and also discovered I had forgotten to bring a towel for after the swim and didn't want to take a hotel towel so headed out there early today to do both errands. When I got back to the hotel, it was still only around 9:30 am and Don was still sleeping, the lazy bum! I made breakfast (we have an efficiency suite) and then decided to head down to the beach to hopefully find the transition and so I could ride my bike another time. Like many others, I was dealing with nervous energy. Not necessary nervous energy, just nothing else planned to do. I did wash the car, however.

We went to the beach where the swim is to start. While I went for a short ride (3.5 miles), Don wandered the beach. When I got done, I didn't see him anywhere and was about to walk down to the ocean beach when I ran into the Outlaw crew from New Mexico. Weird chance encounter. Ran into Debi Wess (SW Tri Girl), her husband, and a few others from the group.

After I finally found Don, we walked around the beach neighborhood, admiring the flowers still in bloom, the butterflies, and the cool beach houses. The sun was shining bright and was so wonderfully warm!

Later in the afternoon, we headed over to the packet pickup, expo, and athlete dinner.

The schwag we got was a nice race bag, a nice climate control shirt, and a few other handouts. I also picked up another Sugoi vest and bike shirt at half price along with some Hammer Gel (apple cinnamon, my favorite). I met up with some of the Outlaw group again.

After that, I met up with Waddler (Karen) and TriSharkie (Rhonda) to head to the athlete dinner, along with Brian, Karen's husband.

By regular IM dinner standards it was a little lame; the volunteer dinner the night before was way better than this! But we had a good time and I sat with Shirly Perly, Waddler, Tri-Sharkie, and their spouses. After, we had more photo sessions before heading back to the hotel to get organized for tomorrow morning's early swim. We figured we would swim the same time almost as when the race starts to get a feel for about how cold its likely to be.

So now its time for one of the last 2 sleeps.

2009-11-04T16:20:00.003-05:00

GREETINGS FROM NORTH CAROLINA

We finally arrived at 10:30 Tuesday evening, after a LONG day of driving. Why is it these road trips of mine always turn out taking longer than they are supposed to?? Instead of about 9 hours of driving that day, it took more like 14. A nearly 100 mile detour didn't help matters.

But we arrived, and today, Wednesday, was a glorious day. High of 73, sunny, but with a cool north wind.

Ever since my vacation at Outer Banks last summer (2008), I looked forward to a reason when I could return to the area, and I guess I found a good one.

We went to Wrightsville Beach so I could hopefully get in a swim. The public beach is about 7 miles from the public beach. It reminded me a lot of Outer Banks beaches with one main road leading to the public beach, and small narrow streets behind that lined by houses on both sides--one side the beach side, the other the road side.

We found plenty of parking, since it is obviously the off season. Yet there were fishermen here and there fishing and at least one other athlete who had completed a swim and was fixing himself a little lunch on a camp stove. We also talked to one of the water volunteers for the race Saturday who made some observations about the tide, the wind direction, and the water temp.

One side of the beach was on the Atlantic side and the other was on the channel side. There was a huge difference, just in waves alone. There were a few surfers out today since with the north wind the waves were several feet. The channel side was fairly calm.

I finally got my wetsuit on and stepped into the water, which was frigid. It reminded me a lot of Lake Michigan most any time but with one difference. The farther out I went, even though the water was seeping through the wetsuit some, it didn't have that completely icy feel Lake Michigan has. But it was still hard getting my bare arms in the water.

I finally made the plunge and put my face in and it wasn't that bad. My head had brain freeze right away but that eased up eventually. I only swam maybe 10 minutes and it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Tonight Don goes to the volunteer dinner and orientation and then we'll see what else we do. More later! Pictures tomorrow.

2009-11-04T07:44:00.000-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2009-11-01T12:48:00.002-05:00

MAKING MY LIST AND CHECKING IT TWICE

No, not my Christmas list just yet. Just my list of things to pack/need/do/get, etc. to get ready for my trip to do Beach2Battleship, Nov. 7.

Hard to believe its finally here. Like many at this point, I have a lot of mixed emotions, but am trying to stay positive and work on my confidence building at the same time. One moment I'm nervously excited and looking forward to the race, the next I'm dreading it. I suppose its all normal.

In the meantime, my list keeps growing. I am starting to wonder if I will have enough room in the car for everything I think I need, may need, want to bring, etc.

I wish I wasn't working tomorrow, to give me a better chance to fine tune the list and the packing project, but I miscalculated on that and am now stuck going into the office to work on some last minute projects that hopefully I will have some control over.

Last weekend was the end of all the major workouts, and good thing, with all the other stuff I have had to do this week, and just catching up on sleep. I've reached the point where workouts are hard, so I definitely needed to be done and get some rest.

Yesterday was a neighborhood Halloween 5k that I did. I'm glad I did it, even though it wasn't on the agenda. It was my usual short course from home only backwards, so I knew every step of the way how far I was and how far I had left to go, but it was basically just a fun run. I was 10th out of 27 in my "age" group, even though it was 10 year age groups and I was the oldest in the age group. But I couldn't help notice that I was pretty sluggish, totally unable to push it too much. Don said this is normal at this point. Just so it goes away by next weekend!

2009-10-27T10:08:00.004-04:00

I'M NO HERO

Those are words I did not want to hear someone say about me connected to this IM training. When I think of a hero, its someone who saves someone from some catastrophe, or who puts their life on the line for others. Make no mistake, Ironman training is not about that. Its a totally selfish pursuit of a goal or dream. Amazing maybe. Remarkable possibly. But hero? No.

The day is getting close, the training winding down, and still there seems to be so much to do. Not only do I have the usual checklist of gear to assemble, the car to get checked out, and confirmations to be made on the place to stay, but I also have a hectic week and then some of work, with last minute deadlines and staying late to finish up, as well as Halloween festivities with the grandkids and a bridal showeron Sunday before I leave, all cutting into my reserves of energy I am trying to restore. And that doesn't even take into account getting ready for my son's wedding the Saturday after my race. I have errands to run every night after work and some lunch hours as well. I will get back into town late on Tuesday and will need to be back at work on Wed. and Thurs. and take Friday off again for the wedding on Saturday. Time is slipping away from me and it is not helping keep me distracted.

People are asking me daily about the event, making me feel pressured now about my performance and not letting anyone down, making me worry about finishing, or at least finishing within the deadlines. I know I have spent the better part of this year training, but I also feel some mistakes were made along the way, and I am hoping they don't come back to haunt me on race day. And yet, there are things I still have not done and am not likely to get done in the next less than a week before I leave.

Two nights of insomnia haven't helped either, again tapping into my reserve energy stores.

So no, I don't feel like a hero. I feel rather somewhat unprepared and nervous about not living up to my own expectations. But, ready or not, here I come.

2009-10-21T14:25:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2009-10-19T09:28:00.005-04:00

JUST ANOTHER TRAINING DAY

Grand Rapids Half Marathon, Oct. 18, 2009

Sunday was version 3 of the Grand Rapids Half Marathon. It wasn't a PR, but I didn't expect it to be and would have been greatly surprised if it had been. I did, however, do exactly as I planned to do. My long training day the day before (6.5 hours) made me wonder if I even would be able to move, let alone run 13.1 miles. In fact, I had considered NOT running it, just so I could focus more on training, but then better judgment got ahold of my mind and made me realize I still would have to do the run, so why not have it course supported? Besides, I did not want to lose the $90 entry fee. And my training program for the day of the race actually was for a 3 hour run, so I knew I would be running more than 13.1.

This year, the weather was again cold at the start, but warmed up nicely, compared to other years. I really think this might have been the best weather yet. Even though it was only 30 degrees at the start, at least there was no wind or snow like we've had in past years.

My plan was to run to the start of the race from my gym (3/4 mile away) as a warmup, so I waited until 30 minutes before the start to head over there. Then I ran into a group of ladies I work with who had trained all summer for this as their first half marathon, so I chatted with them. I was not nervous in the least. To me, it was another training day, that's all. I was more anxious to get started.

Before we even started, I realized I didn't really know the course, since they changed it this year, but eventually realized it was a course made up of routes I pretty much train on all year, so all of it was familiar. The only thing I did "wrong" was totally forget to do my run/walk thing in the first 2 miles that I find works best in training, because regardless of whether this was a race or not, it was only training for me. I felt so good at the beginning that I just got caught up in the moment, and it wasn't until after the 2nd mile that I caught myself from continuing on with that madness. No matter how good I felt at the start, I knew it was not likely to last, and I also wanted to more closely simulate training rather than a race.

By the time I got to 5 miles, the half marathon winners (male & female) were heading back. At first I thought they might be relay people, but relays were marathoners, and it was too soon for that. This year, the female first and second place winners were 3rd and 5th overall. Pretty impressive.

The only spot I felt slowed me from my predicted pace was at 7 miles, where, even though I knew the course, I felt like someone had thrown a hill in there. Once I got past that and on to 8 miles, I felt a lot better, even though from 7 through 9.5 we had some hills. Nothing serious, but a lot of people were walking here, as I went motoring on past.

One guy at the turnaround who was walking totally bypassed the turnaround and cut that off. No race person was there, so I'd like to think he didn't see it, but he did see me and another woman do it, so I'm pretty sure he just ignored it. He was walking at a fast enough clip that once I decided he was not going to get ahead of me, it took almost 3 blocks to shake him! He passed me again between 11 and 12 miles while I was struggling to get a Gu packet open, but again, I stalked him until I passed him and I never saw him again.

I can't say this was easy in the sense that I just floated through the miles, but it was considerably easier than I expected it to be, and while I was almost 3 minutes slower than last year, my pacing was right on to what I planned to do, and I was able to pick it up some at the end without my usual "I think I'm going to throw up" feeling. In fact, once I got to the finish line, I saw Don was there handing out mylar blankets with another guy we know, and I gave him a hug and said no thanks, I've got to keep moving.

The post race food/party consists of chili and beer, the usual bagels, bananas, oranges, yogurt, and apples, and this year Culvers frozen custard. I grabbed a banana and a chocolate custard and a spoon and headed back to the gym at a slow trot to get the rest of my miles in, for a total of 14.6. That was enough. My feet were killing me actually, so I was glad to stop.

Next on the training agenda was a 1.5 hour swim. I stretched for a while, ate my frozen custard, got some more water, and then headed to the pool. I wasn't that hungry. I felt a little slower than usual, because my legs were a little stiff, but what really got to me were cramps in my feet! I now know why they do not have you bike, run, and swim in that order in triathlons. I'm sure lots of people would cramp up. I have never had feet cramps this bad ever, to the point where my feet looked deformed and one felt like it was paralyzed. It took me 3 or 4 minutes to get that worked out. After that, I made sure I stopped after every quarter mile to drink water and stretch my feet, even though I had intended to swim straight through. It was either that or I would never get done!

All in all, it was a pretty successful training weekend. And I got some nice bling besides!

2009-10-14T08:37:00.000-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2009-10-12T09:59:00.008-04:00

WHEN IS IT REALLY ENOUGH?

The frost was on the pumpkin, literally, when we headed out on our bikes Sunday morning. It was supposed to be my last LOOONG bike ride before the big race, four weeks out.

I had been whining all last week about the predicted weekend weather, but then suddenly things started looking better with the rain forecast clearing before Sunday. The temperature, however, got considerably colder.

Friday morning I started out on my last longest run, 18 miles, around 5 am, with the intention to run 3.5-4 hours, which I did. When I started, it was about 52 degrees with a light mist. After about 45 minutes, it started really raining, and continued on for the next 3 hours of my run, as well as through the rest of the day. Because I was determined to get this done, it didn't bother me too much, until about the last hour. I had mapped out three 1.5 mile routes around my house so I could run out and back and get water at my house, which I placed in a cooler in the driveway, along with some gu. I really hate carrying water and can't carry enough anyway. The idea of running long runs and having to carry water or circle back to the car has pretty much kept me running only around 2.5-2.75 hours max, and I really felt I needed to go farther. My planned 20 mile training run 2 weeks before didn't totally happen because I had been sick the weekend before and still wasn't up to par enough to pull off the entire distance. Same with the week before last. It seemed if it wasn't the weather, it was that ear problem and head and nasal congestion I've been suffering with. It was difficult to breathe for about 2 weeks. Friday was my last ditch effort to put that plan into action. Also, as is my usual training MO, when I reach the desperation point in the training--meaning no more time to fool around--I get the job done.

For the most part, the run in the rain wasn't bad until I got to the last hour when I had to use the bathroom. Once I stepped into the house, I was totally aware how wet I was, and the only thing that would do was change all my clothes into dry stuff. It felt so much better, I couldn't believe the difference in my disposition, along with getting 10 extra pounds of wet clothes off. Everything was soaked through and dripping.

After that, I had to go to work. I was hoping for a fairly relaxed day--meaning no running up and down the steps all day, but that didn't happen. From the minute I got there, it was high speed until after 5 pm. I can't remember how many times I climbed the flight of steps from where I work to where the attorneys I work with are located, but I'm guessing at least 10 times. And then I was on my feet for probably a total of 2 more hours. By the time I left work, my legs pretty much felt like wood. But Saturday was only going to be a swim day so I could spend time doing family things, only, of course, to free up my day Sunday to spend biking.

Saturday night the thermometer dropped into the 20s, and by the time I got up Sunday morning, a hard frost had settled over the world, leaving tender plants frozen and done for the season. And we were going to bike in this stuff.

The challenge then was to dress warmly enough to not freeze to death, yet be able to maneuver gears and brakes on the bikes. I had driven around one area where we have biked on the bike path numerous times and found several "flat" roads I thought would make Don happier than the trail did, especially when he was giving his time and comfort to go out and freeze on a long bike ride with me.

I finally ended up wearing long underwear, tights, and bike shorts over that, as well as ankle guards (wrist guards I put on my ankles) to keep any exposed area warm, shoe booties, a turtleneck wickaway shirt, a long underwear shirt over that, and a bike shirt, along with my new bike jacket and 2 pair of fleece gloves. On my head I wore a bandana scarf and an ear band under my helmet. The one thing I hadn't counted on was how cold my face would be! I almost wished I had on a face mask. My fingers were so cold the first 5 miles they hurt, but after a while either they warmed up or numbness set in and I didn't notice as much. My legs were pretty warm, and my upper body felt okay. My new jacket has longer sleeves so no part of my wrist is exposed like in my other jackets and has a higher neck so no air got down the neck.

Don on the other hand only wore one pair of tights, one pair of gloves, and only a double layer on the upper body. If I'd known this, I would have advised him to dress warmer. By 15 miles he was suffering. I talked him into going farther, because there was no way I could cut it that short. Not that I wasn't uncomfortable, but as long as the sun was out, it was tolerable. Except when we rode into the wind. And of course there was wind. No ride I've done has gone without wind this year. Or hills. We got all of it: wind, hills, and extreme cold. By 25 miles, he was really suffering, but he continued on for me, up and down the hills, turning into and out of the wind. And while I had done some scouting around the day before looking for fairly flat roads, its funny just how "flat" those flat roads aren't when you're on a bike. The worst part, unfortunately, was every good, fairly flat road always ended up at a dead end on a dirt road. Every single one. Somehow I missed that the day before too. It was getting frustrating! I really wanted to avoid getting on the bike trail, but after 3 hours of dead ends, hills, and wind, we finally headed back on the trail because Don just couldn't stand it any longer. We still had another 7 miles to go before we got to the car, so it was about 3:20 when we stopped.

The plan was for Don to sit and thaw out while I did some more mileage. The problem was, once I stopped, I realized just how miserably cold I was. My fingers would hardly function, the little bit of sweating I did from all the layers was causing me to shake uncontrollably from the cold seeping in, and I was almost unable to eat anything because my jaws were so locked up from the cold. I thought if I warmed up for a little while I could go on, but the longer I sat in the car, the harder I shook, and my fingertips were all numb to the point of tingling. After 15 minutes of this, I decided I was not going to be able to go on further.

I tried, I really tried. I was disappointed and angry at myself for getting this far into the training and still feeling I needed one more ride, only to put us at risk of hypothermia in doing so.

So the question now is: When is enough really enough? If after dozens of rides of 50-100 miles (only one 100 however, and four 75+ mile rides), dozens of rides with wind and hills, dozens of runs of 12-18 miles in duration, dozens of runs in the heat, cold, rain, and dark, along with swimming nearly 100 miles this year, with longest swim of 2.25 miles and two other 2 mile swims, if that isn't enough, or doing a half IM and 3 Olympic distance tris, along with 2 stand alone half marathons, with another this weekend, then I guess I haven't done my training. If someone can tell me without hesitation that race day will be in the 30s with high wind, that the course will be steep climbs for 80 or more miles, or that it will rain the entire way (and I realize none of this is guaranteed NOT to happen), if that's the case, then I guess I haven't done enough training. If on the other hand what I have done, along with my determination, will at least get me to the finish line in November, then I'm hoping its enough.

2009-10-07T08:58:00.008-04:00

(ANOTHER) WINDY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Just so you don't think this is my house, I have to break the silence of "Wordless Wednesday." 50 mph gusts last night. Lots of branches down around my house, leaves blowing and swirling all over, and not yet ready to fall from the trees.

It was a little less windy this morning, but it was a brisk, more than breezy run. We're definitely going to see some big changes in our weather this week and through the weekend, making IM training that much more challenging.

I am facing a dilemma for my last longest bike ride. The plan was to ride an organized ride scheduled for this weekend, but truthfully I am getting totally worn out by these windy, hilly, cold rides.

Last Sunday, Don and I started out with good intentions of doing 50+, but the farther we headed west, the darker the sky got, to the point where it was nothing but steel gray. And of course we got rained on, making things that much more fun, in addition to my bike computer always conking out from the slightest hint of moisture. (Reading reviews on line, I see now that this particular bike computer model is very sensitive to moisture, which is why it went out on my at Muncie, and continues to stop working every time the humidity is high or even a few drops of rain fall--and this is a replacement!)

Both of us were still feeling the effects of last week's windy hilly ride, and he was feeling particularly low in energy, having dropped back behind me of all things. You know if I'm ahead of you that you're in trouble.

So we took a little detour to get away from the hills for a while and to see this since we were in the area.

Apparently, the people moved out of the house the day before, disconnecting the gas appliances but failing to have the gas shut off. A Darwin Awards moment, for sure, with the house exploding. Fortunately no one was home and no one was home next door, which you can see the debris managed to blow over into their yard. The house was completely flattened.

Shortly after this, we hit a patch of showers and that pretty much finished Don off. He knows I won't ride out there by myself and didn't want to disappoint me, but he just could not continue on the hilly route we had set out on. This route is not easy on any part of it, so I really couldn't blame him for giving in for the day. I was feeling it too, especially after my long run and swim the day before. But I still had to get a ride in.

So, what to do, what to do? He suggested I go to the gym and do two hours on the spin bike. Much as I haven't been ready to move to inside workouts, I had to agree this was probably best for the day, not knowing how much more, if any, rain we were likely to get. Saturday had been an off again on again cold rain, and I wasn't looking forward to another day like that.

I was the only one at the gym when I got there. All the lights were off in fact. I quickly changed into dry inside clothes, set up the spin bike, popped in my favorite DVD ride (Ride Las Vegas) and started pedalling. I had planned to use one other DVD, but I like this one so much, once it was finished I started it up again. And then I did it again. I love the scenery, Valley of Fire State Park in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here's just a sample of the scenery.

This particular DVD also has great spinning music and NO TALKING! Something I can't stand when biking is chit chat or listening to a spin instructor yelling out instructions. So it just me, pedalling along, great scenery, and great music. It gave me a thrill watching the riders pedalling up steep climbs and then the fast downhills. I am totally envious of the smooth quality of those roads. I have put this place on my list of places to visit.

That gets me back to this weekend's dilemma. I have already decided not to do the group ride Saturday. Its supposed to once again be rainy, and this particular course is so hilly my mind just is not letting me consider doing this any more. I' m not so sure anymore that which does not kill me makes me stronger. Well, maybe stronger, just not faster. I have to come up with an alternative, however, and have considered two options:

1. Riding on the bike trail, doing two loops, total mileage of about 98-99 miles. This option, if it rains, still puts me out there all day in the wet and rain, and part of this course tends to be very windy also.

2. Doing an inside ride, at pace, for 6-7 hours. I know this is mind blowing to some people, but I have done 4 hours once and am willing to do it again if this will get me where I need to go.

Part of my discouragement on some of the longest rides is that with the wind and hills, I am not able to maintain a decent pace for the whole ride, the kind of pace I need to maintain in the race. I have done some speed rides to maintain pace, so I know I can do a certain pace, but I need to see this for a longer period of time. I need to see the numbers to give me the confidence that on race day I will also be able to do this.

I know conditions on race day are never guaranteed, but having studied the course, read the athlete forums from last year, and factoring in the potential head wind coming to the finish, I still don't anticipate it will be as bad as what I have ridden so far.

So, anyone still reading, what do you think? I have already been given a couple of different opinions, but am curious what others think?

2009-09-29T13:40:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WINDY WEDNESDAY

2009-09-27T21:28:00.002-04:00

APPLE CIDER CENTURY RIDE

This was my first century ride (100 miles). Finally! After struggling with this all summer, it finally happened. Just to keep this somewhat short, I'll first highlight the good parts about this race.

One good thing was the beauty of the course: through the orchards and vineyards of southwest Michigan, into Indiana. The race organization also was great: over 5000 riders and we got a breakfast and a lunch after the ride, as well as a lot of organizing of the 15, 37, 50, 62, 75, 80, and 100 mile rides. And minimal traffic.

The bad things? The difficulty of the course, the horrible roads, the horrendous hills, and the wind, which I realize can't be controlled, but all added together makes a first century ride one for the books. The only way to describe the difficulty of the course is to say that by 62 miles I was in the granny gear and never got out of it. My knees are still aching from those hills!

The first 26 miles were comfortably deceiving: rolling to flat, through the vineyards, where the fragrance of the Concord grapes was like riding through a tunnel of grape crush, or maybe Welch's grape juice. Mmm. But then? The honeymoon was over.

From 26 until 100 miles, the hills were unrelenting, the wind was a factor, whether riding north or west, and the roads were a lot to be desired. There were so many spots where the road was so rough, I actually lost my grip on my handlebars, and there was no way to use the aero bars, as much as I wanted to. My elbows and forearms were so sore from the tension from hanging on for dear life sometimes. If the traffic had been any worse, I would have cut this thing short, no doubt.

Part of the course was into northern Indiana, and by the last 8 miles I was STILL seeing Indiana signs. I was having fits: if we only have 8 miles to go, why are we still in Indiana???? If we don't get back into Michigan soon, I am going to have a breakdown.

But the downside of getting back into Michigan was the bad roads. BAD ROADS! At 80 miles they actually had us go on an UNPAVED road! How is it posssible with all these roads out here to take us through an unpaved one??? Its not like it was having road work. It just wasn't paved, probaby never would be. What is up with that?? I walked through there, about 1/4 mile. I was very disgusted with that. Up until then, I was willing to forgive them for the bad roads and the hard course, but this put me over the edge.

After the 80 mile sag stop, I was having extreme difficulty, both mentally and physically. The hills and wind were a major factor here, and I was seriously doubting myself to be able to do this, to be able to do an IM. I prayed, a lot, to please get me through these rough spots, to help me finish, to help me see some good in this whole thing. From 85 to 100, I pushed myself through the hills, which were far worse from 88 until 100 than the first 87 miles. But I got through it, thank God, and I feel okay, other than being tired.

Somehow, this HAS to get easier!

2009-09-19T15:06:00.008-04:00

OKTOBERFEST HALF MARATHON

September 19, 2009

While it is far from October, and while the weather here has been anything but Octoberish lately, this was the name of the race. I've never run it before. I may never do it again. Why do I continually find the hardest races in the area to do??

People told me it was hilly. Okay, I've been training on hills. Just to prepare for this and get stronger. I didn't believe them at first. The first 4 miles were gently rollling hills. However, that was the end of easy. From 4 until 11 miles, it was one hill after another, with miles 7-8 the absolute worst: 4 hills. I kept thinking I missed the mile marker for 8 but no, I just hadn't gotten there yet.

Backing up to the start of the race, it was really chilly and windy--probably about 45 degrees. And being near the lakeshore the wind was cutting right through you. The marathon started at 8 am; the half at 8:15. Good thing, because with all this long training, I pretty much take for granted running races, meaning to me its just another training day. Meaning I barely made it to the race before the start. I don't know what I was thinking, leaving the house at 7:10 for an 8:15 race that was 35 miles away, but hey, I made it. No big deal. And luckily I found a parking spot immediately and only about 1/2 mile from packet pickup.

The half marathon started on a bridge overpass, meaning uphill. I wasn't sure if it was a chip start so decided I would not start at the bottom of the hill and walked myself up more than half way to not have to deal with a long hill at the start. It was a chip start, but I was still glad to not start at the back of the pack--I knew I would be there soon enough.

Probably 95% of this race was run on a paved trail, a paved HILLY trail. Not only was it hilly, but the cantor of the trail really made my ankles and feet start hurting by the half way point, almost like someone had stomped on my insteps, so it was painful.

I had been somewhat sick all week, so didn't know what I would do with this race--go strictly for time or try to get a PR. As it turned out, with the cold day, the head congestion, and the almost constantly dripping nose, it seemed a better idea to go for time and practice my run/walk method I would hopefully do at later races.

I decided to go with what I've been doing lately on long runs: 8:2. I know I absolutely will not be able to do better than this at IM, so am practicing on every run longer than an hour. This worked for most of the race.

At around 5 miles, I spotted a woman ahead I was sure had been behind me at mile 1, but couldn't quite figure out how she could have possibly cut the course. But I was determined to pass her then, if she had somehow cut the course.

From 5-10 miles, we played cat and mouse. At 8 miles I came close enough behind her that I knew she probably was in my age group, making me that much more determined to pass her for good.

But the hills continued, and I was getting very frustrated with all the ups and downs. Would it never end??

Nine miles ended on a downhill; 10 miles started on an uphill. I passed the 3rd place woman around 10 miles. She was doing a 2 minute run and a 3 minute walk. I should pass her. I had no excuse.

Soon after, I saw Don on his bike. He had ridden out to the race start from GR. So now I had no alternative--no walking. He wouldn't allow it. I wasn't sure if I appreciated him being there or dreaded it. By 11 miles we turned into a park, but still on the paved path, and my stomach was hurting so much I had to wonder what I could do the rest of the race. I decided to keep running and slow down if necessary to just keep going and keep ahead of 3rd place woman (I had no idea at any point in the race where others were in my AG but I suspected she might be in mine). I had to walk a few more times but kept the time minimal to keep ahead of 3rd place woman. Her husband was biking along with her, helping her with water and gels, something that would not be allowed in a triathlon, so again, I was more determined to keep ahead of her.

At about 12 miles, the first place marathoner came flying by. I was surprised that it hadn't happened earlier, but like I said, this was a hilly course, and I am more than thankful not to have had to do this thing twice.

My stomach was really hurting, like someone had kicked me in the stomach, by now. It was hard to the touch, so I knew I was in distress. There were also a few more hills thrown in there, and while I tried to keep running, I had to stop occasionally to let the cramping ease up.

The last quarter mile, however, I pushed it as much as was possible, and finished in 2:42. Good enough for 2nd place in the AG. I was happy with that.

2009-09-16T12:05:00.001-04:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2009-09-13T13:20:00.003-04:00

I PAID FOR THIS??

Yesterday was another huge leap of faith for me, getting out on the roads to ride. I signed up for the Maple Leaf ride, an organized ride put on by our local cycling club. They do 3 or 4 of these a year, and since yesterday's distance included 3 loops totalling 86 miles, I thought it would be good for me to do this,

I went alone, which was my first mistake. I knew no one there and as a result didn't have anyone planned to ride with. The second mistake was assuming that since the weather was to be near 80 degrees that day, it would be safe to wear shorts and a short sleeved shirt to start out with, in addition to using arm warmers. The meet up place was about 35 miles northwest of where I live, so as I drove north I could see the temperature in my car dropping from 60 degrees down to 51. Yikes! I was even a little shivery in the car, and didn't feel particularly great, so decided to stop at the Meijer (sort of like Walmart) right on the way and ended up buying women's silk long underwear to put under my shirt and shorts. No bulk but just warmth.

That was actually the right decision, because the entire ride was totally rural, out in the orchards, farms, and wooded areas. I was never too warm the entire time. I signed up, got my 3 maps for the 3 loops, and headed out around 8:15. I didn't want to be out there all day so wanted to get an early start. I did leave just after another person in a bright yellow coat, but never was able to catch up with that person. I just followed that yellow coat for quite a while, like a beacon in the night.

The first couple miles of the first loop were fairly flat, but my third mistake was not knowing just how hilly this course would be. Those first few miles also were along the shoulder of a highway, so I was a little paranoid right from the start, riding alone. Once we turned off the highway, it was country roads with no shoulder and no posted speed limit. That meant pickup trucks and cars pulling campers and boats flying by at who knows how fast. I was getting freaked out. And to make matters worse, by the time I got about 5 miles into the ride, I realized I had forgot to bring my ID, making me worry if I got killed no one would be able to identify me for a while. Unless maybe of course my car was the last left in the lot. Dumb, dumb, dumb!

I was pretty much angry at myself and the ride organizers for picking this route, country roads with no shoulder and at least 55 mph speed limits. If they had done this on Sunday, there would be only 1/3 or less traffic, I was sure. Saturdays are busy days; people have things to do and everyone is always in a hurry. Add to that the fact that we have had the best weather this past week we have had all year, and people are still going to the lake, which explained the number of campers and boats. And I didn't totally know the area, so couldn't take any shortcuts that I knew would be any better. I was also afraid if I got off the route and got hit or killed, no one would know. So I stayed the course.

After about 13 miles, I had to cross another major highway,and by now it was getting extremely foggy, to the point where cars with lights on were just pinpoints. It took me 3-4 minutes to cross the highway, without the benefit of a traffic light. Scary. And we would have to cross it again later.

After a few more miles, a group finally came past me, and fortunately I was able to stay close enough to them to know where to go without worrying about markings on the road or feeling like I was out there totally alone.

I thought last week's ride was hilly, but this had it beat by 100%. The only flat stretches were the first couple of miles and the last couple of miles. The rest, all hills. Hills that required me to stand a few times to keep moving without toppling over. A month ago, I could not have been able to do this route, so I at least can see some progress.

The last 15 or so miles, I rode with another guy who pretty much watched out for me, always tucking behind me when cars came, We stopped for about 15 minutes to help someone with a flat tire, and during that time I decided I was not going to do the other 2 loops. I was starving, shakey, and my head was starting to hurt a lot. I figured that was from the stress and terror of that ride, but actually I was coming down with something. I only ended up doing 34 miles then.

So today, I'm nursing a sore throat, congested head, sore ears, and athlete tracking those at Ironman Wisconsin that I know. It seems like a horrible waste of such a beautiful day, but I also know that I need to nip this thing in the bud early so I have no lingering issues getting in the way of the rest of my weeks of training. I guess I do need a day off from time to time.

2009-09-11T12:49:00.005-04:00

CLOSET RUNNERS

That's what I call runners who don't tell me (a runner for over 20 years) that they run. No, they just slink around and say nothing. Its a little irritating at times, since how long have I been looking for running partners, and right under my nose practically there are at least a half dozen women I work with who have started running within the past 2 years? I suddenly find out when Jan says she is mentoring a group to do a half marathon in October. I'm not jealous of this, don't get me wrong. And of course right now I do not have time in my schedule to follow theirs, so while they all make Wednesday evenings a girl's night for running, I continue running alone.

All the women are younger than I am, and of course are doing nothing else but running, so we are fairly evenly matched with pace, considering I always have biking or swimming to do as well. Today again I overheard a woman who is running with this group that she only started running 2 years ago. I've also found out that one of the women is pretty fast and runs 5ks regularly. Who knew??

Despite this, I am really happy that FINALLY we are getting some women runners here in the office again. When I first started running years ago, we had several. We even had a women's team that competed in road races (cross country scoring) and won several events. But one by one, they either left to work elsewhere, stay home and have babies, or completely stopped running. Its been a long lonely stretch by myself so once I am done with the IM training, I look forward to joining this group for some running!

And it has been a lot of fun watching their excitement as they make progress on their mileage goals. They are learning that the body will do what the mind lets it do.

2009-09-06T16:09:00.005-04:00

OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE

You've heard the phrase "white knuckle flyer"? Well today, I was a white knuckle biker. Today was a big step for me, riding on the actual road, rather than a bike trail. This weekend, the Sunday before Labor Day, in 2006, I was hit by a car while on a training ride.

I pretty much realized when the actual anniversary date arrived (9/3/06) and I couldn't remember the actual date, that I was finally able to put that behind me.

I had vowed after my accident to NEVER ride on the road again. While I did a few times in the year following the accident, I was so paranoid, I was a complete wreck. It totally held me back, and I was not able to go on any more rides because of total fear. The few races I did that following year did not go well because of this fear. Yet, there was nothing I could do about it. It was still too fresh. Not that I remembered the pain of the hit--I just remember to this day the explosion in my head when I was hit--I still remembered clearly the weeks and then months of pain and recovery. It was serious. And, while I don't consider myself a superhero, I have to wonder how many people would have recovered and fought back from serious injuries at my age.

Yet, despite this, I was determined to get back my triathlon life. I tried very hard for the next 2 years, with limited success. Then, earlier this year, I decided I was ready to try an Ironman, yet didn't know until recently that my fear was restricting me, holding me back. I knew I had to let it go but was afraid to try. And I didn't want to put my family through this all again.

I was having extreme difficulty and frustration meeting my biking goals, and I knew it was because of being unable to take to the open road and get off the bike trail. Training for Muncie, I barely squeaked by on my biking goals, and after another month, I could see that squeaking by was not going to cut in for Ironman. Not only was the out and back and out and back again on the bike path so incredibly boring I wanted to scream, I could see I was making little to no real progress on my pacing or mileage goals.

So, today, for the first time in many years for me, Don and I set out for a route that he loved and trained on for years, to Spring Lake and back. I have to admit, it was not without some anxiety and apprehension, but I knew I had to do this. This is an incredibly hilly route, and it is not without its share of traffic, yet I did not resist or complain. For one thing, I could see how happy he was to be out on the road again, mentoring me through the biking miles. I could tell when we rode on the trails that while he did it, he was pretty bored too. And he, of course, knew better, having done several Ironmans himself, that I was not going to make it if I didn't get over my fear and get out on the road.

This ride was pretty hard for me, 74 miles of hills, hills, and more hills. Fortunately, most of the roads had been recently resurfaced, making the miles fly by fairly effortlessly, despite the hills. By the end, while I was glad to see the end of hills, I still had enough left to go out and do another 10 miles. I had done what I set out to do.

We also had incredibly perfect weather today, and I know we have limited weeks to get this biking thing accomplished, so I still have some work to do, but am finally feeling more confident of making my goal.