WORDLESS WINDY WEDNESDAY

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!

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.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

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.

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.

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.

THE BEST PRESCRIPTION

As I sit at work today, I overhear people talking about how totally stressed out they are: about the job, their kids, their life in general. All are taking some sort of antidepressant; none of them exercise.

I just went through 6 weeks of very stressful work days, in addition to my increasing training schedule. Yet, for the most part I was able to stay calm and focused, getting done what needed to be done the best I could, in as little time as I had. Of course I had to make adjustments to my schedule, like getting up earlier, just to get the workouts in without the distraction of work.

I realize some out there who do exercise still need drug therapy for whatever reason, and I'm not criticizing. I'm talking about these people I work with who look awful, feel awful, and miss a lot of work or spend many breaks also outside smoking to relieve their stress.

For me, this is where running or triathlon have saved me. I, too, have had many stressful moments in my life, but it has always been comforting to have the sports that I love to fall back on and get me through the hard times. No drugs involved.

AUGUST TOTALS

Probably one of my biggest training months (not the biggest) so far:

• Swim: 26,400 yards (15 miles) (longest swim 1.75 miles)
• Bike: 441.30 miles (longest bike 75 miles)
• Run: 63 miles (longest run 12 miles)

August also included one official triathlon and one indoor triathlon, so my training has been somewhat broken up by these and by some fatigue and some weather issues. But I think I am on track, and my race time Saturday was within the respectable time frame that I could do, so I do see measured progress.

September will prove to be challenging, but I'm looking forward to it, and it has to be done!

GIRL'S BEST FRIEND TRIATHLON

Saturday, August 29, 2009

This was the first time I have done an all women's race and I gotta say, I loved it! This was an innaugural event, with a sprint distance and an almost Olympic distance--the swim was only a 1k swim instead of a 1.5k--but close enough.

The morning started cool but muggy, like 62 degrees and 94% humidity muggy. By the time the sun came up though, it was feeling quite chilly as the humidity seemed to be blowing out from a northwest wind. The lake was calm however.

Jan and I headed down to the race yesterday afternoon and spent the night in a nearby motel. Just easier than doing that hour plus drive in the pitch dark and then not knowing where you're going anyway. We were racked right behind each other, based on race numbers.

It certainly is a different atmosphere with an all women's race. Lots of laughter, smiles, and giggles, and a definite camraderie I don't see at mixed races. We love the guys, but there is a different thing going on with just the gals.

Lots of first time triathletes were inspired to do this all women's race, maybe not worrying about feeling intimidated by fast guys. It was very exciting watching their excitement over doing their first event.

One thing I like about this racing company is the way they handle the swim when there is a sprint and longer course. The sprint course is on the inside of the longer course, so you never have to worry about crossing each other's paths.

It felt good getting in the water waiting for the start because it helped thaw my feet out. There were only about 85 women in the long course so we started all together. I got in the front line because everyone said they weren't "fast." I never believe anyone who says that because I am the only true not fast triathlete. My swim is okay though and I felt starting in the front would avoid the usual jam up when you get in the middle. But I didn't take into account the shallowness at first, so by the time I got into a comfortable depth, people were already passing. Still, I seemed to have a lot of space, no one was thrashing you, and there was no worry about younger guys coming up behind or over you later. I got off course slightly from the second to the third buoy, probably by the length of a pool, so had to work my way back over to get lined up right and kept on course the rest of the way. Just as we turned to head back to shore, the sun decided to pop out briefly, just enough to blind you, making it seem like you were looking into a fireball. I have learned to not look directly into the sun/sky for sighting when this happens and just look low and try to follow heads or arms ahead until I can see again.

I don't have the official swim time yet, but when I checked my watch at the first mat it was around 23 min. So pretty much what I figured. Then it was a hike up a huge hill to transition, which for once was right after the hill, and a short jog through to my bike. I knew I would beat Jan on the swim, so my next goal was to get to at least 5 miles on the bike before she went whizzing by.

I am always slow at swim to bike transitions. No matter how many races I do, I just don't get faster here. But I don't worry about it anymore, and today I was obviously not going to be the last one out there despite this.

I was warm enough that I decided against putting a shirt on over my tri top, even though it definiely was still chilly. I guess I hoped for a big warmup at some point, even though that only happened for about 10 minutes.

The bike course was mostly flat with all right turns. We did get the wind at 4 points once it picked up--from the north and from the west--and doing 2 loops for the 40k bike meant 4 times into the wind. But of course that also meant 4 times with it behind you, so it all evened out.

Doing 4+ hour bike rides for the past couple of months almost every week, doing 40k seems to go by so fast! And I was able to push myself harder, despite the wind. Because of this, Jan did not pass me until 10k, and we kept pretty close the rest of the way. She was always about 2 miles ahead of me, but with turnarounds, I kept her in my sight often. Not that I didn't expect her to beat me, because I knew she would. Just to give me an idea of how well I was doing.

Before I knew it, we were on our second loop. I had passed a woman in my AG (believe it or not and on a hill!) just before the second loop started, so now the burden was on me to keep ahead of her the rest of the time. So I did push myself harder than usual. As it turned out, I ended up beating her on the bike, but with a little confusion at the end--like where was the finish line?? she ended up almost behind me at the finish. And, as usual, she beat me out of transition to start the run, and I never saw her again in the race.

What I hate about this racing company is their usual BS of runs. You never know what you will get--longer course; dirt roads; rooted and rocky uphill trails; horse trails; and today to top it all off, mowed paths through open fields. Like a maize. Oh I hated this run! The first mile was the hardest, with the worst uphills with rocks and roots to watch out for, up and down dirt hills, through the park, mainly all cross country except a couple of short stretches on the paved roads. My legs really felt it on the grassy parts too. They just felt like stumps. So my first loop wasn't great, but again, after doing all the longer training runs a 5k went by pretty fast, despite the misearable course. I walked a lot more the first loop than I would have liked, so by the second loop I had to really focus to make my goal time. And it started raining at about mile 2, but thankfully it was just a shower. I didn't care about me getting wet. I just didn't want to get back to transition and have a bunch of soggy clothes and nothing warm to put on. And I couldn't remember either whethere it was a true 10k or some other manufactured distance they came up with to make it that much harder, so by mile 5 I started doubting my ability to make my 3:20 goal time. But as luck would have it, it was a true 10k, and I was extremely thankful to be done and my finishing time then was 3:18:52. Whew!

Jan did 3:02 and I was pretty sure she would finish under 3:05 (my predicted time for her) and she even took a wrong turn on one of the trails. I quickly packed up my bike and other gear and headed over to get something to eat waiting for awards. No sooner had awards started when another cloudburst started, along with high winds, which made it feel like someone spraying you with a hard misting hose.

Surprisingly, I ended up with 2nd place in the AG, even though I was pretty sure 3 other women were ahead of me. Maybe I didn't read their ages correctly because 1st place was the woman who I beat on the bike but who took off on the run before me.

We waited out the shower and then headed home. It was getting much colder and windier and I still had on wet clothes.

Now I'm sitting here thawing out with a hot cup of coffee. Its the end of August and it feels like October! I will predict though that the first week of school (week of Labor Day) summer will definitely be back!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

LONG WORKOUTS AND STRATEGY

While I have been actively building my workout base all year, I now am in crunch time where I know I have to step it up some. I've been following a fairly relaxed schedule but was running into a roadblock when trying to figure out how to get more quality long bike workouts in on weekends, in addition to long run workouts. Sometimes that worked, sometimes not. Whenever I have a bad long bike workout, I always worry about making cutoff times in long events.

One thing I love about long swim workouts is that it helps me sort through those problem areas, tweaking the schedule here, tweaking the schedule there, but until today not coming up with any do-able plan. My half IM training program got to be way too tedious, with long swim workouts and run workouts on the same day. For some reason, I cannot stand doing long swim or run workouts after work. I don't mind doing bike workouts, but that may be more from the obvious reason that I can't do them in the morning on work days all that often due to darkness and time. By the time the training program was almost over, I was so sick of the pool I could hardly stand it.

Then I made a change that got me motivated again. So I have been doing swim workouts M, W, & F, run and bike workouts T & Th., long runs Sat., long bikes Sun. But still something has been lacking. Today in the pool I started really working on that dilemma, and I came up with a new plan that I hope works. I think it will help improve my biking and my bike to run transition as well.

My new plan will still be to swim M, W, & F, with long swims on Wednesday. Then my long run will be on Tuesday morning. That means I'll be getting to work late, but with all my extra hours that will not affect my total weekly hours at all. It will just mean planning ahead with people at work to let them know I will be in late on Tuesdays. Thursdays will continue with a morning run, finishing up with my hill workouts and eventually moving on to some speedwork, with a bike ride Thursday nights, again hills and speed. Saturday will be a mid distance bike ride with a run after, building on the distance there, and a long ride on Sunday. I know it sounds like I'm working out all the time, and in reality I do something every day, but I am used to getting up early anyway, and I prefer morning workouts so that I am not doing harder workouts back to back (night to morning), so even though I am doing something every day, two morning swims are easy workouts, and I don't consider them wearing me out.

I don't have much time to get this thing right, so here goes, hopefully off to a good start toward a great finish!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

ANOTHER TOUGH TRAINING WEEK

I wish I could say the training has been going great, but at best its just okay. After my 75 mile ride last week, which I found out was very tough, Monday at work turned out to be a complete nightmare, with me working over 10 hours, and spending at least 8 of the 10 on my feet. By the end of the day, I was limping my feet hurt so much. Oh sure, I sat down to eat my lunch, while checking e-mails and voice messages, and entering week-end reports, if you really want to call that "resting." But, I did get in a one mile swim in the morning before work, and then did weights after work.

Tuesday, I got up early (4:45--that seems to work best) and headed to the gym again, but first did my hill repeats. Then on to another full day on the job, a near repeat of Monday. After work, I went to the park to get in a bike ride, but the fatigue caught up with me and since I was riding alone was not overly motivated. I got through about 13 miles but then called it a day.

Wednesday was another story. By now, the fatigue was hanging on, and I had an urgent project to get done before the rest of the office showed up. I did get to the gym, but there was absolutely no way I could do a 1.75 mile swim. I was pooped! And, typical of me, when I have an early morning deadline, I just have to go there and get it done before anything else. Naturally, I always say to myself I'll do the workout later, but it almost never happens, and that rang true that day. So I spent all day feeling guilty, but not enough to get into that pool after work, which as it turned out was after 6 pm with no breaks, due to another last minute crisis. After work, I decided to go shopping to get a new swim suit, and after that, I decided to just go home, make dinner, and then lie around and read. Only I only read about a page before I fell asleep.

Apparently, that was the magic charm, because even though I woke up still totally wiped out, after stretching and lying on the gym floor for about 10 minutes trying to will myself to move, I got up to go out and run. I really tried to rationalize doing it at lunch (yeah right) or after work (not likely!) so felt I had to get out there and at least make the effort. I ran in the downtown area, actually the hilly portion of downtown, getting in some good hill work and feeling quite good after. And pleased with myself that I didn't put it off again.

After work, Don met me for a nice almost 18 mile bike ride, where I did hills and speed work, which basically helped me keep up with him.

Then on to the Friday morning swim. I have been making this my easy day, by just swimming one mile, but I still felt guilty about missing my swim on Wednesday, and felt pretty good that morning actually, so went ahead and did 1.5 miles, about a minute faster than the last time, so I was pleased with that.

Friday ended up being another day with a last minute, late-in-the-day rush to get out. While I had enough extra hours for the week to take most of the day off, there was no chance of that happening, and ended up putting in another 9 hour day. It should be criminal to have to work after 5 pm on a Friday!

That evening I went to number 2 son's 22nd birthday party, and pretty much couldn't wait to get out of there to get home and collapse!

Saturday, the plan was to get up "early" to get out and run 11-13 miles before the heat became unbearable, but I was so tired I actually slept in--to 7:30! Then, by the time I dragged myself out the door it was almost 9. I headed to the park and just before arriving there got mixed up in a huge traffic jam due to construction. I finally bailed on that, only to get held up once again by the longest train in history! By the time I finally started running, it was almost 10 am, and the temps were probably 75+. I knew after a couple of miles with the heat that I had to choose a shady route, so went around the river and totally missed Don who had come down to bike and look for me. By the time I got done 2 hours later, I was ready to head to Lake Michigan.

The traffic in Grand Haven, a beach town that we love, was pretty slow and almost crawling, but eventually we got a parking spot and headed down towards the waters edge. We both were pretty tired after our workouts, but it was so hot that getting in the water was priority one! Again, another unbelievable Lake Michigan day, with the water temperature at 74 and the waves about a foot. Perfect for a swim! We only ended up doing about a half mile swim because we were tired enough from our earlier workouts and wanted to just relax. But the water was refreshing!

Sunday's plan was to bike 64-75 miles, depending on how I felt. I felt like crap once I got out there. It wasn't quite as hot as last weeek, but, after 25 miles, we went off the trail and rode another bike path into town, which added 10 miles that were definitely not quality miles--stop and go constantly and into a headwind. The result was that while the first 25 was well within my happy range of pacing, the 10 miles set me back considerably, so for the next 35 I felt like I had to make up for lost time. No matter how hard I pedaled, my body wasn't having any of it today. My feet hurt. I could not get out of the 13.7 mph range no matter how hard I tried. We had a head wind and a cross wind. My water was running out. You name it, it happened today. I was pretty much crazed by the time we got done and COULD NOT WAIT to get off that bike! By then, it was in the upper 80s-low 90s, and a stiff wind, and I was totally cooked.

So now I feel discouraged. Disappointed. Deflated. Please tell me this is normal! Please tell me things will get better! Please tell me this body will adapt! And please tell me I won't go crazy about these bke miles!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

THE WHEELS ON THE BIKE GO 'ROUND AND 'ROUND

Time to catch up a little on this poor neglected blog, if anyone is left to read it!

As I said in my last post, it will be a totally crazy month because of work and now the increased training volume. And I'm not even looking at any family obligations that might come up or ones I can't avoid.

Despite working overtime every day last week and again yesterday, I still got in all my workouts last week and so far this week. I guess that's saying something.

So here's the wrap up for the last 8 days:

Sun., August 2: Rode 64 miles. It wasn't that bad. It was cold enough that morning to wear arm warmers, and I never took them off, even after more than 4 hours of riding. I rode with a guy from work, and we never stopped except at 50 miles, and then only because HE needed to stop. I then had to attend a work function at a ball game that included a little beer drinking. Maybe that's why I recovered so well??

Mon., August 3: Easy day, 1 mile swim in the a.m. Didn't feel that tired from the day before either. Weights in the p.m.

Tues., August 4: Second week of hill workout in the a.m. Warm up for 20 minutes real easy and then 5 repeats on a 4% grade of a hill: 1 min. 30 seconds up; 30 seconds walk; jog easy down x 5; then cool down to car. Total of 4 miles. Bike 15 miles in the p.m., charging up the hills by standing. I couldn't believe how good I felt!

Wed., August 5: My son's 26th b'day so a party that night. A.M. swim, going for my longest swim ever: 3100 yards, 1 hour 17 min. I had estimated 1:20 so was pleased it went faster. I am assuming that with a wetsuit and no turns I could probably take 5 more minutes off from this distance.

Thurs., August 6: Hilly 3.25 mile run. Today, I felt the fatigue in my legs, but still was able to push through the longest hills with just a few seconds of a break. The longest hill is 1/4 mile long, so its a long haul to the top. The next longest hill is about 200 yards but really steep. Wouldn't have had to stop if a bus hadn't come. Biked after work again, doing the same 15 mile loop, only it took 1 min. less than Tuesday. And I talked almost the entire time. Where did that come from?

Fri., August 7: Easy day again, 1 mile swim, 2 minutes faster than Monday. And I did not want to even do it that day! Again, where did that come from?

Sat., August 8: Scheduled was 13 miles running on a hilly course. Reality was that weather was so bad a local tri was cancelled, only the 2nd time this happened in 10 years. Needless to say, the morning was going by quickly with no prospect of getting out to run (because of heavy rain and lightning) until Jan called, telling me about the cancelled tri. She was going to go to the gym and do an indoor tri. Hey, that's a great idea. I'll join you. So we ended up doing a 30 min. swim (1200 meters for me); 1 hour 15 min. spin DVD; 45 min. run (4 miles for me), for a total of 2 hours 30 minutes, pretty close to what I would have done doing 13 miles anyway so a good tradeoff.

Sun., August 9: Longest ride ever: 74.6 miles. Scheduled was 75, but I can pretty much figure out that last 4/10 of a mile. I have to admit, I struggled through this. I'm sure it was the distance, but the added factors that day were high winds and high heat and humidity (we actually had storms later in the day and overnight that caused a lot of damage around the area I was riding in). I rode the first 50 by myself too, and then Don came out and pulled me through the next 25. While my legs mostly felt okay, I really struggled with the pace at times, and mentally by the last mile I just wanted someone to come and get me! I didn't feel that tired, but was definitely glad to be done, and of course this gets me thinking of strategy for upcoming rides. This is a dilemma for me: do I continue to build miles, even though struggling, or take a couple of weeks at the 75 distance and work through that first? I guess I will defer to more experienced riders on this. I definitely felt like I did earlier this year, struggling first to get to the 50 mile distance and then working like crazy after to get to a decent speed.

After the bike ride, Don and I went to one of the Lake Michigan beaches. I wanted to get in the water in the worst way I was so sweaty and grimey feeling. The bike path had been wet with puddles everywhere when I started out early in the morning, so got a lot of spray and splash all over me, on top of the sweat, so I couldn't wait to rinse off.

Once we finally got to the beach, another problem arose. I had forgotten to bring the bottoms to my two piece swim suit and so had put on my gym lap swimming suit, which was getting to the point of nearly see through. But I didn't really feel I had a choice. But, when I went to pull up the suit in the back, guess what? It ripped, showing a lot more skin than would be legal, so then was forced to put back on the sweaty bike shorts! They were so gross and wet from sweat, it was disgusting. So then it really became important to get in the water. No fashion statement was going to be made that day!

The water was glorious: one of those rare (like maybe 2 a year) days when the water is 75 degrees and the waves are 3-5 feet, making it the best way to enjoy the big lake. There was also a strong undercurrent in places, but I dug my feet into the sand and held my ground while being pounded by the waves.

So now, its back to the grindstone. Hopefully I can get caught up on everyone over the next few days!

THE EARLY BIRD...

gets the worm. Or, in my case, gets the workouts in, despite all the other chaos that's going on at work and at home. Just had to do a quick catch up because I have been swamped with work for the past 2 weeks with no end in sight until at least September--a major trial at the end of August, meaning a month of trial prep, and depositions spanning the next 3 weeks in another big case, as well as my own court case spinning out of control. And then there are my workouts, which, for the most part, are going okay.

But I learned a long time ago to not put off any workout I could do in the morning, thinking it would happen later in the day. It rarely does. Either I can't bring myself to do it after a long day at work because: its too hot, too cold, too dark, I'm too hungry, or whatever excuse I can come up with, or I get stuck working late, killing any momentum I might have had to workout after work.

So no matter how early I have to get up to get the training in, that's what I do. On the agenda for this weekend: 11 mile run Saturday; 65-70 mile ride Sunday. Oh, and then I get to come in to work the rest of the day.

Hope everyone's training is going well, you're enjoying your summer, and I'll catch up soon!

BACK TO TRAINING

After 5 slothful recovery days, it was time to get back to reality. Friday after work was a 1200 meter swim. Saturday morning was a 1.5 hour run. Sunday, the rain hit before we could get out to do 50 so ended up at the gym and did 2 back-to-back hard spin workouts. Better than nothing!

My thoughts on what my next events will be are: 30k race Labor Day weekend; Aqua Velo in Maryland Sept. 26, and of course the Beach to Battleship Nov. 7 in North Carolina.

I figure I really need to step up on the run, and with a 30k race to prepare for, that should set me up for Nov. at least somewhat better than my hit and miss run training I've been doing--been doing a consistent amount of running, but shying away from longer distances with no good reason why.

So with these events looming, it will force me to step up on the swim, bike, and run, and hopefully set me up for a good race in November!

POST-RACE AFTERTHOUGHTS

After a long race event, I always go over things in my mind to see what I've learned, to see what I might have done differently, or to see how I might improve the next time. Sometimes, its just to beat myself up with regrets over not doing what I had hoped to do or what I should have done or worst yet, why I even thought I could do it in the first place.

This time, however, I did exactly as I planned, and am just pleased to say that there were no obstacles to prevent that. Had there been, I probably would not have been prepared as well as I would have liked to deal with a longer time out there. But I do have observations I am going to put down in writing to hopefully help or add insight for someone else.

The Swim

One thing that I feel has helped me tremendously this year, in transitioning from the swim to bike, has been increasing my swim mileage more than double than any other time in the past. At first it was a challenge, and I looked forward to it, but after months of going lap after lap after lap, week after week after week, it starting becoming a drudge, to the point where by the time I went on vacation in June I was totally sick of the swim! I saw my swim times for the half mile go up and up (meaning slower) in the process as I added yardage, but I was getting it done, regardless. But then I had to regroup, and find a new way to continue getting in my swim mileage, and that seems to be working now, so that I can continue on to the next phase of my training.

Never once in the swim did I feel tired or exhausted or like it was never going to end, so to me all the extra swim practicing paid off when you get through a hard swim and still feel ready for the bike. In the past, by the time I would get out of the water, I would feel almost exhausted, barely able to get to transition, let alone hop on my bike. And when I did finally get out on the bike, my legs would be dead. I am happy to say that in my two tris so far this year, no leg exhaustion.

The Bike

The bike is always going to be my biggest challenge, and so far I haven't found any magic potion that will help me go faster. What did help in getting through a somewhat difficult bike in the race was again the week after week after week of long rides, with long for me being 50 or more miles, but never over 52. Just didn't ever work out to go more. Also 2 other shorter training rides in the week, either spin classes, on the trainer, or a short ride after work. The only thing I could do to hopefully improve would be more hills, or hill repeats, so I think that will have to become a part of my training for the next few months. Even on a totally flat course, hill training can only strengthen my legs to go faster on the flats (so I am told). I am sure in the race, had I had more hill training, that long uphill in the wind would have gone faster and felt easier. All in all, however, the only disappointment I had on the bike was that because it was longer than 56 miles, I did not make my goal time, and with the bad weather, that meant going over by 10 minutes.

The Run

While my legs weren't completely dead on the run initially, the hills took their toll, and again I knew more hill training could have been a huge benefit. While I made my projected run goal (barely), I could have surprised myself by finishing faster had I been able to hold on longer on the run. I realize the reason no one mentioned the run was hilly because to them, who train on hills all the time, it wasn't. Even Don, who has done this race many times, when I asked why he hadn't told me about the hills, laughed and said, "what hills?" So yeah, hills need to be incorporated. Not something any of us like to do at least not often, but if the end result yields a faster time in any future races, I'm willing to spend the time suffering a little now to make it easier later.

Transition

The fourth discipline here, as we all know. And, as you may or may not know, I am the queen of slow transitions. This time was worse than usual and again no exception for me. I can't say whether the weather played a factor here, since surprisingly my swim to bike transition was longer than my bike to run and it wasn't raining yet. Part of that, I realize, was the long hike to the transition and the bike, which I did not have returning on the bike. But still, if I could just learn to be faster in transition, I might actually beat someone in a race. When I total up my transition times and add the extra 10 minutes on the bike, I could actually have finished closer to 7:30 than 8 hours. Like I said, slow, I know. In a short race, transition times are a huge factor, but maybe not so much in longer ones. Still, I need to work on this.

Time

I am talking about the sense of time doing the whole event. Not in the sense of how long it takes, but how it felt on each part of the race. You lose a sense of time, or at least I did, especially on the bike. In training, a 1.25 mile swim seemed an eternity in the pool, but in open water, open choppy water, open choppy water where you are trying to survive getting clobbered, time goes by quickly. I didn't feel like I was out there forever, and finishing in the exact time I predicted told me all the swim training gave me a good idea, not only of my ability to do it, but how long it would take. Easily I could have gone longer if necessary, and that too made me feel my training went well.

On the bike, in a race, I always get caught up in speed more than time and distance, where in training its all three. This time, with my computer going haywire, I eventually had to rely only on time and distance, which I think made finishing easier and took my mind off how long I was actually out there. It didn't feel that long. My comfort level wasn't surpassed, other than my sore neck. It went by fast in my mind, much faster than on a training ride where I basically do almost the same route week after week. In a race, you have that change of scenery factor which makes it seem like it is going by faster. Only when the course went long did I start going crazy and wanting to be done NOW. My training carried me mentally through the tough spots most of the way.

The run for me is always a race against the clock, the official race clock and my own goal clock. I know I will always be close to last, and have been last more times than I can remember, and while I accept this and am okay with it for the most part, I still don't like the feeling it gives me. I have learned, however, in my training this year, to go at a pace where I know I can finish, no matter how slow it is, and hope for the best. I have learned to break it down to know how fast I must go to make my goals. At this point, however, I am not in a position to go any faster. I know certain things I could do would help, but its not going to make me win my age group or even place ever unless I'm the only one or one of three in the age group.

If I had to grade myself on Half Ironman 101, I would give myself a B- in that I made all my goals, I survived, and finished without being totally wiped out. My shortcomings were the transitions and my inability to go any faster on the hills. Now I have graduated to the next phase.

MUNCIE ENDURATHON--NO HEAT, NO LIGHTNING.

My prayers were answered, but in place of that, we got rain and wind. Nice tradeoff. Really!


Muncie is in its 30th year as a triathlon of one sort or another. Since about 1989, its been a half IM.


Everyone from GR who is a serious triathlete has done Muncie and I figured it was time I stepped up and joined the GR alumni.


As we headed south to Muncie, IN, just about an hour and a half or so from Indie, to give you an idea of the location, I watched the thermometer in my car rise from 80 to 84 to 87 to 90 to 94. Yikes! I was going to die out there!



Seven others from the GR area were there to compete, many of whom would take their age groups, no doubt. For me? My plan was to treat it as a training day and a learning experience. My prediction, based on what I figured the weather would be, without knowing much about the course, was 8 hours. I knew I was being generous with all my times, but I also knew I would be happy with that. My main goal was to go at a pace that I knew I would and could finish.



Without going into too many details about the prep, etc., I will move directly to the swim.


To wear a wetsuit or not?


I am comfortable enough on any swim distance to not need a wetsuit, but based on the high winds and the chop on the Prairie Creek Reservoir, I finally decided on the wetsuit. I needed any advantage I could get. My goals on the swim were: 50 min.; get to the first turn bouy before the 25-29 AG men reached me; not get beat up; and try to keep on course.



I managed 2 out of 4: Swim time: 50:02. Stayed on course, despite the horrible chop. Got beat up some. Didn't make it to the first turn bouy before the young bucks reached me.

The chop was so bad that every 3rd or 4th sighting you got a face full of water instead. It was very difficult to sight, but I managed as well as I could. Everyone got at least one mouth full of water to add to their hydration plan. I did get beat up some. One dumb jerk just couldn't seem to realize someone (maybe your mother??) was swimming right next to where he decided to swim through, so when I raised my head to breath and sight, I was rewarded with a good thumping to the back of my neck, causing me to get pushed down under water just as I was taking a breath! I paid him back with a good kick to hopefully you know where!



One funny note on the swim. My usuall MO is to swim until I hit bottom, but this time a younger dude came up alongside me, probably 25 yards from the beach, and he tapped me on the shoulder and said: You can stop now. Hillarious!



The transition is pretty long: uphill about 300 yards and then probably another 300 yards or so through the transition to my bike rack. All the fast 55-59 women on my rack were long gone. I struggled in transition, as usual, but decided I couldn't worry about that. Get organized and go.


Will it rain??


Heading out on the bike, I wondered about the weather. So far so good, but the forecast was for temperatures in the high 80s, low 90s, and 50% chance of thunderstorms, some severe. The first part of the bike course was flat and fast, other than the initial hill out of transition. Once we hit the bike trail, we moved so fast, and of course there was lots of drafting, since how would anyone monitor that in there? It occurred to me after a few miles on this that we were obviously going downhill and had the wind at our back. I couldn't help wonder what we would face once we got off.



We exited the bike course at around 8.5 miles, and for the next 14 or so, it was rolling to uphill, with crosswinds. Ugh. For me, this meant dropping speed to an average around 12.9 mph. Not good. At around 22.5, it got worse. Then it was mostly a long climb with crosswinds AND a headwind to top it off. So for the next 7.5 miles, we pretty much climbed, fought the wind and were rewarded around 25 miles with a torrential downpour. I realized I had a raw spot on the back of my neck from the wetsuit when the stinging rain hit. Yowch! Felt like getting pelted with needles.



I fought the urge those 7.5 miles to not get discouraged, knowing I was doing the best I could, but still getting passed regularly. And naturally I couldn't help worry I would be last out there. Again.



I finally just said, I'm doing the best I can. Let the chips fall where they may. Still, I couldn't have been happier when we finally got to the turnaround, still raining, but at least now I hoped the wind would be behind me for a while, and it was, and that long climb equaled a nice long, mostly downhill, where my pace picked up considerably, so that by the time we got off that stretch, I was doing just what I hoped to do.



The rain was intermittent to constant, and a hard downpour. The only thing that made this tolerable was there was NO traffic, one of the best things about this bike course. From 34 to 49 miles, we again had crosswinds, intermittent hard rain, and rolling hills. I totally lost any real desire to try to ride harder when my computer on every hard downpour went haywire. One second I was riding 34.5 mph and the next I was riding 4.9. Yeah right to both. The speed was all over the place, so I finally settled on just watching the elapsing time and my mileage and ignored the pace. I was doing what I could do, whatever that was. By the time I hit 50 miles, I was pleasantly surprised that my time was only 2 minutes off my best 50 mile training rides, which left me hopeful and elated considering the weather. Now if I can just hold on for the next 6 miles, I might actually PR this distance!



Didn't happen. Not for lack of trying. Just weather and bad roads and the course being 1.54 miles long! The last 6 miles you have such rough roads that you spend all your time dodging water bottles, tubes, inhalers, sunglasses, and bumps so that I found it impossible to hold a fast enough pace. And then to top it off, the rain got harder and the winds picked up again, to the point where it was driving water into my ears and under my sunglasses, making my eyes sting so bad and mess with my contacts that I could barely see! I got REALLY mad when we passed 56 miles, then 57, and still no end. It was impossible to see so I was hoping someone would be standing at the bike dismount, and luckily there were a few people. When I pushed my bike into transition, the ground was saturated with water, and squished in my biking shoes, which were already so saturated, along with the socks, that water seemed to be pooled in my socks, and my shoes seemed to weigh 10 pounds each!



Transition was a joke, since it was raining so hard I had to wonder if it really mattered. I kept hoping lightning would finally call the race, but no such luck! The smartest thing I did was put my running shoes and a dry pair of socks into a bag, which was heaven! My socks on the bike were so saturated I could wring them out, as well as my bike gloves, and my headband. I took the time to put my bike shoes into a bag and straighten out my bike area so as not to get a penalty for having a mess, like they said they would do. I had made the mistake of leaving my towel out in the rain but was surprised that I had another almost semi dry one in my tri bag, so I used that to dry my feet as much as possible. But, I just couldn't hurry.

The funniest thing on the bike was my foaming shorts! Lisa had mentioned that Nuun was a good electrolyte replacement, so I bought 2 packages at the expo, in paper wrappers, and put them in my waist pouch. Sometime after the 3rd downpour, I noticed my bike shorts were foaming! OMG, what is going on?? I finally realized it was the Nuun tablets that were soaked and now foaming all over my left thigh. I was hoping they would absorb into my flesh to take away the aching I had in my hip and thigh, but I'm not sure that happened. I tried pouring some of my water on it, only to see more foaming yet! Again, hillarious!

13.1 to go!

I was not sure how much energy I was going to have for this run, so decided on a 3/2 run/walk ratio initially. I kept this up until 3 miles and finally realized I would not make my goal if I didn't pick it up some. We had 2 more downpours, which actually kept things much cooler, which I was happy about. If I had the choice between heat and rain, the rain would win. And funny thing. Hardly any wind on the run. Go figure on that! Yeah, that was hysterical.

I have to say I was misled on what the run course would be. I thought for sure we would do an out and back on the same bike trail we used earlier in the day, but was sadly disappointed the farther I got on the course. Instead of a flat and fast out and back, we got a rolling to hilly out and back! I was deflated. The only saving grace was, like I said, rain mostly and not much sun until the end. And I will say by mile 9 my legs were fried. Up and down the hills we went, with the turnaround at 6.55 UPHILL! I was getting mildly annoyed and discouraged but knew I had to keep moving forward. I had already seen all the GR people I knew pass me by, calculating approximately what their finish times would be, but still trying to stay positive, going mile by mile.

One good thing about the run were the aid stations every mile or so. By mile 4 I discovered Coke! They had no "solid" food at any aid station, meaning bananas or oranges, which I desperately wanted, so settled on the Coke. Mmmm, that really tasted good! I wanted to drink two glasses! But I held back, not knowing how my stomach would feel, since I had had a stomach ache since sometime on the bike. If truth be known, I think I would have done better with a beer!

Still, I plugged along. Four, then 5, then finally 6, and OMG finally, after an eternity, the half way point. I had seriously considered cutting the run short, since the bike was long, but I was afraid to get caught "cheating"and was more glad I hadn't when I realized we had a mat to cross. I would have been disqualified for sure, even though I never would have done it anyway. And I was pleasantly amazed at how many people were behind me! Of course, at least half of them passed me soon after.

By 9 miles, I was having a hard time with the hills, and my run/walk ratio changed to basically survive. Instead of the 4/2 ratio I had been on, I started going by telephone poles, first 10/2, then 7/2, finally 4/2. I was cooked! I simply could not run up one more hill! And the hills seemed that much worse coming back. By now too the rain had stopped and the sun, while behind the clouds, was making its presence known. The air was still and it was hard to breathe. When I ran out of telephone poles to count, I resorted to road signs, which were many, always indicating a long curving road ahead, then the speed, and then road markers. I did whatever I could to keep myself moving.

At 11 miles, a big rumble of thunder could be heard, like God was saying, Okay,I gave you this whole time to get finished, now I am getting impatient since there is a storm brewing. Still, I could go no faster. And the telephone poles had disappeared, the hills were many, and I had to resort to counting: 200 steps running, 50 walking. Whatever it took. Then it was driveways: 4/2. Then it was back to telephone poles.

At 12 miles, another rumble of thunder, like "I told you to hurry up!" Okay, okay, I'm doing the best I can. My legs were dead, and we still had some of the worst hills to go. I pretty much willed myself to mile 13, and then, of course, another steep uphill. I tried, really, to get up that hill, but made it halfway, looking at my watch, knowing I was close, but that hill got to me, and I had to walk part of it, but then, with a minute to go, I just went for the finish line and actually finished 35 seconds over 8 hours. I was not disappointed, that much anyway. I was just thrilled to be done.


So now I know: cross this race off my list forever!