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!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

TELL ME I CAN DO THIS!

Its taper time, and that means of course that the doubts start setting in: How am I really going to swim with all those people? Should I wear my wetsuit? Can we wear wetsuits? Did I bike enough? Did I run enough? And what about the heat? Maybe I'll just do the swim and bike. On and on it goes. I know everyone goes through this before a big race, and I'm no exception. Somehow I know I have to at least attempt to get through it.

I know its a big mind game and this week I'm going to have to get my head into this race. One thing I like to do before a race I haven't done before is go over the bike and run courses, check stats on other women in my age group in previous years, weather forecasts, etc. The website is really not helping calm my fears in that there are no links to anything useful, as far as I can tell. The only thing that really prompted me to sign up for this race in the first place was close proximity to home (less than 4 hour drive, hopefully) and timeframe fitting in with other training and racing plans this year. I've steered clear of it in the past because its a notoriously hot, hot race, and that seems to be everyone's biggest complaint. And me and the heat just don't do that well together. So of course I'm worried about that too!

I was finally convinced last week to taper, taper, taper, and after finding myself SO TIRED last week, I realized that was the right advice. I'm still not totally caught up on fatigue, but hopefully that will alleviate as this week goes on as well. And I'm just going to suck up the fact that having my granddaughter overnight Saturday to Sunday didn't get me much sleep either, as she was teething and had a fever all night and was fussing and kept me up from 4 am to 6 am. But she's so adorable, who can resist??

So this weeks its all easy, just keeping the legs and muscles moving and hopefully loose. A second massage tonight, after last week's torture fest. I was so tight in the neck/shoulders and ITB that she worked an extra 20 minutes on me, and 2 days later I felt like I was bruised things were so sore. I need to make sure the low back is in good shape and the legs to hopefully get me to the finish line without any lasting problems. After that, its on to Phase II of training!

A LOOK BACK IN TIME

I guess you could call this one of those things on my "bucket list" of things to do, in this town anyway. Voigt House is a Victorian mansion that was built in 1895-96, and turned into a museum when the last living owner passed away in 1971. For years, I had intended to visit this house, part of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, but somehow never made it.

Today, sadly, was the last day of tours for this stately mansion. Citing declining visitors over the past 3 years, the Museum board decided to close it for good, mainly due to budget constraints, a sign of the times. So I put it on my calendar and made a point to go, one last chance.

(picture from their website, showing the still unpaved driveway, probably back in the 1950s).

The Voigt House is in our Heritage Hill section of the City, originally built way up the hill from the river, obviously to avoid any flooding, but more likely because it was like the outskirts of town back then and that's where the wealthy built their homes. Carl Voigt came to this country from Germany and eventually found his way to Grand Rapids, where he was a business partner with another area notable from that era as well as owning a sawmill. He had several children from 2 different marriages (first wife died), and the Voigt passed away in 1971.

I must have picked a good time to go, right after the lunch crowd, because I was able to enter without waiting. By the time I left, there was a line all the way out to the street waiting to get in. They had you put on shoe covers to keep things clean and avoid damage to the carpet and flooring.

The first room off the entry way was a library.

Across the entry hallway was the parlor, where visitors were received. All the furniture, carpeting, and draperies are authentic, dating back to when the house was built in 1895.

From the parlor you entered another small room that looked like a game room, card room, or some sort of play area. Next was a downstairs bedroom, which in itself was unusual, where the Voigt's slept while the children were upstairs, but for practical purposes, as the owners became elderly and unable to use the steps, the upstairs was closed off and the downstairs bedroom was used. Again, authentic furniture, and the mattress was stuffed with pine needles. I wonder if those needles poked through as they became brittle with age??

Off the downstairs bedroom was a small bathroom. Note the original small tub and the beautiful marble countertop for the sink. Because the plumbing was updated in the 1960s (no city water or sewer until the '50s), there was a newer toilet and full sized clawfoot tub as well.

Then it was on to the kitchen. There was a call box in the kitchen connected to buttons in each of the upstairs and master bedroom and parlor room of the house. It would be lit with a color coded system indicating which person or room needed attention when the corresponding button was pushed. A precursor to the intercom system. Also note the stove, the sink and the sideboard. It was was explained how water was collected on the roof when it rained and then was used for whatever purpose it was needed, but even back then they drank bottled water, so no new concept there. Probably got it from the iceman.

There was also a butler's pantry with an "icebox" built into the wall. If you can see the wood, it was either all mahogany or golden oak that was used for flooring, baseboards, and window and door trims. Again, all authentic, and shows the durability of good wood.

Next was a small serving nook, where servants kept coffee and other items for meals in the dining room next door. (missed that picture because it was a small room and too many people in it at one time)

The dining room was done in golden oak, a tapestry wall covering, and a stenciled border. Note the dining table that could seat 20 people, and the stained glass window at one end of the room. Under that was a gas fireplace, built, we were told, on the same pattern of one of Thomas Jefferson's. (Hard to see fireplace from this pic. Note the guide in period dress.)

Also note the buffet and china cabinet. Signature furniture by the Berkey and Gay Furniture Company, which put Grand Rapids on the map as "furniture capital of the world" back then. Not so sure that title holds any more. There were also wall radiators with plate warming shelves on the top. Quite clever. Shows the human ingenuity and developing technology during those years.

From there, we were led upstairs. Note the wood staircase and the stained glass window at the top.

The upstairs was actually quite spacious, especially when I compare it to other houses built around the same time period. But, of course, these people were wealthy, and this was a mansion, so it shouldn't be surprising. One thing of note was the number of closets in the bedrooms and other rooms in the house. Back then, in Grand Rapids anyway, houses were taxed not by the value of the house but by how many rooms they had in their houses, and each closet was considered a room and taxed accordingly. Thus, only the wealthy had lots of closets. Probably why big dressers were the thing back then too.

Various bedrooms of the children of the house, a sewing room, another bathroom. I noticed no toilet in this one but the "water closet" was explained: it was actually in a closet! Lots of privacy there, but I'm not so sure I'd want to have to get up in the night with no lighting! And then me with the fussy nose had to wonder about "the smell" what with no ventilation. Ew. You just can't beat modern plumbing and electricity!

In the back of the upstairs was a section that could be closed off with smaller bedrooms that were sparsely furnished, which was the servants quarters. They had their own back staircase to the kitchen, and their bathroom was in the basement (which we didn't get to see).

And another stained glass window in the upstairs hallway.

This is the entry way to the side porch, leading to the back yard and carriage house.

I just love these old houses and the history surrounding them, and its really too bad today will be the last day for tours. Hopefully the house will be kept as some sort of historical landmark, and at some point in the future it will reopen for another generation to enjoy. Thanks for taking a walk back in time with me!

EAT, SLEEP, WORK, AND TRAIN

That's my life right now it seems. Training hard every day. I suddenly realized yesterday that I hadn't had a day off since coming back from vacation, that would be 13 days straight, trying to "catch up" from vacation time off on the bike and swim. That would be 197 miles of biking, 4 miles of swimming, 26 miles of running, and 2 strength training circuit workouts in 13 days.

And that was obviously the reason why my bike ride yesterday sucked (other than the 25-30 mph winds) and my legs were totally dead on the run. Saturday's bike ride wasn't that great either, but I was taking it somewhat easy, trying to save my legs for hopefully a decent run, which for the most part it was. I was surprised at how well my legs have been working after biking. Not that I'm fast, and not that my legs don't feel like stumps initially, but at least I'm keeping going longer without needing to stop. Saturday was no different. That is until I turned to go back and then after hitting the 1 hour mark things started to unravel some. It was just too HOT! And I should know better by now to not do an out and back on the bike path because once you go a certain distance, there is no cutting it short for any reason. Despite walking a lot more than I would have liked on the return portion, I still only took 3 minutes longer to get back to the car.

During the bike, my daughter had called and wanted to go to the beach. I was afraid storms were blowing in and didn't want to go to Lake Michigan then, since most storms come off the lake, and where the bike path is, I was basically only 20 minutes from the beach. If they were coming, I would have to sit there and wait for them to meet me. And I desperately wanted to take a shower and eat first. Instead, I called Don to see if he wanted to go too and he suggested the state park we found last summer. Its still about a 35 mile drive, but it has a good swimming area and a nice beach.

He brought his kayak so was able to paddle along while I swam. And the great part? No weeds or motorized boats! After last week's swim practice in the weedy lake we live by, I haven't been able to bring myself to get back in there in the dim morning light. This lake was relatively unbusy at that time of the day, since the fishermen usually like mornings or early evenings, and there weren't too many people on the beach or the water either. I had a good swim and we sat out in the sun while he paddled with a friend who had shown up coincidentally.

Sunday it was back out there for another 50+ mile ride. Only that didn't happen. I was tired from the start and the wind managed to suck what life I had in me out of me, so after we got to 16 miles, I wanted to turn back. I had good intentions: I figured that way I could run another 4 miles. After the 5 I ran Friday and the 8 on Saturday, in addition to the 40 minute run earlier in the week, that would have put me at an all time high mileage week for the year. Only that didn't happen. It was so windy when I started my run it got to me right away. And my legs were dead. While most of my bike/run bricks have gone well this year, this one reminded me of last summer's attempts after long rides. Run a few minutes, walk a couple, run another couple, walk, etc. After I got past the 1/2 mile mark, I just decided I'd had enough, but then made myself run the entire way back, no stopping!

Don was coming out to meet me just as I got to the 1/4 mile mark. I think he was surprised but also happy he didn't have to go any farther!

While I am more confident this year going into my half IM in 2 weeks, I also have fears about how I never think I have enough training and get mad at myself for any days I don't train the way I should (by changing things around). I'm good at sticking with a schedule, but once I go off it, I find myself overtraining (like now).

I will need to find a better balance in these next two weeks leading up to race day, that's for sure! Today is only strength training; tomorrow 45 minute spin, 45 minute swim; Wed. 45 minute run; Thursday is up in the air depending on whether we bike after work, but it will be a bike day; Friday 10 mile long run; Saturday another bike day, but not sure how long yet, and Sunday will be a last long swim. So I'm not slacking here but just cutting back some. Now if I could just get a decent night's sleep, life would be golden!

FOTO FRIDAY