Posts from — September 2008

As I sit at the airport on the way back from attending the completely unexpected funeral of my 46 year old brother and cleaning out of his house, I wonder how on earth I will muster the energy or desire to finish an Ironman in 4 weeks.  Not only has my training been haulted due to the cross-country business trip last week and the cross-country trip this week, but I just don’t feel like working out.

I am so physically tired from getting only 4 hours sleep/night this week and all of the heavy lifting.  I am so emotionally tired from the bouts of crying and thinking of how surreal this all feels.  I know from my experience when my mother passed away in 2000 that I haven’t fully grieved yet- I’ve been in organization and “do” mode.  All I keep thinking is just have the energy to get home.

To all of you that have sent your thoughts and prayers to me, thank you.  You can only imagine how much it meant to me to know people care and are there for me emotionally.  WARNING, I might need you in the next few weeks to get me motivated to complete these last weeks of training for the Ironman.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger….make lemons…. I keep these mantras in my head…

It was really odd, I woke this morning singing Amazing Grace in my head.  The line “I once was lost, but now I’m found” sums up Wayne to a “T”.  He had a tough life, but such a great heart.  He had standing room only at the service.  The church that he joined 2 years ago is filled with the most amazing people I have ever met.  Not only did they appreciate Wayne’s giving nature, they rallied around us and came in force to help clean his place, feed us, and tell us wonderful stories about how Wayne helped them.  We did not see this facet of Wayne since we lived so far away from him, and I couldn’t help thinking that I hoped I lived my life to affect people in a similar manner.

May you now be resting in peace, Wayne.  Say hi to Mom.

Today  I did the Firmman 1/2 iron aqua bike. This consisted of 1.2 mile ocean swim and a 56.1 mile bike.   Although I ran 7 miles yesterday (5k race between the two mile warm up and cool down, I thought “you aren’t doing the run, so you should be able to push yourself today and get a great bike split”.  This was not to be….

I guess last week finally caught up with me.  Not to mention, I really don’t sleep well in hotels, so I didn’t sleep so great last night.  But, enough with the excuses.  All in all I guess I did OK and should be happy that I can now bike 56miles after such a week and still be able to walk around and do chores when I got home.

The ocean swim was really funny.  The waves were huge going out and it was low tide, so you practically walked, stumbled, fell face first into the water whenever a wave came all the way out to the first buoy!  Then, apparently the current was with us, because even though Krista and I both swam way out to China across to the far buoy, I finished the swim in 35min.    The best news is that I wasn’t tired at all and felt I COULD have done it again if I HAD to (like I will on Nov 1st).

The bike felt really hard.  Maybe it was mentally hard because I thought the course would be flatter than it was.  The middle section of the course was lots of hills.  The beginning and end were pretty much flat on the highway.  I averaged 18.2, so I guess it was OK, but it didn’t feel great.  I really wanted to push it and feel like I gave it my all.  This was weird, my heart rate was only around 130, but I felt like it was really hard. This must have been my legs telling me that they were tired from the run the day before.  Not a fun feeling!  I kept saying to myself “thank goodness I don’t have to run when I finish biking”.

The day was actually a beautiful day, except the start which was about 48 degrees.  My hands were absolutely numb on the bike and I couldn’t shift in the middle section.  I forgot my gloves and opted not to put on a shirt (not one of my stellar decisions   But, Krista did it too and she should be very proud.  It was her longest swim and bike and she did FANTASTICALLY!!!

Thanks Krista for going with me!

Here is a pic of Krista and I- you can kind of see the magnitude of the waves

I know I was tired this am (just read last posting about my horrendously tiring work week), but this 5k was HARD!  We ran about 2 miles slowly to the race site as warm up.  Good thing I did this since my shins were killing me on this warm up.  Not really sure what that was all about.  Anyways, we got to the race site with about 10 min to spare-perfect timing.  The race started and off I went to run 3.1 miles.  It’s only 3.1 miles I kept saying-doesn’t matter that your legs feel like lead and all you want to do is lay down and go to sleep.

I finished in 24:44, about 30sec/mile worse than my last 5k of the sprint distance triathlon.  But, I am racing the swim and bike of a half iron tomorrow, so I really need to be careful and not tire myself out too much.

Off to sleep early tonight.  I’m writing this from the hotel room I got so I didn’t have to get up at 3am tomorrow morning.  Thank goodness Krista came with me.  Let’s just say it’s not the most upscale hotel 

I’ll post tomorrow about the 1/2 iron swim/bike.  I’m not expecting stellar results, but would like to have a decent swim and bike.

I just completed a week long trip for work where I was standing on my feet and walking .5-1miles stints a few times/day in work shoes.  Not to mention the 3 hour time difference.  So, I have to ask the question, does traveling in these conditions constitute a rest week?  My body is saying “nope, you didn’t do it” as I woke at 6:15am this morning to get ready for a 5k race today.  Granted, I am only doing a 5k and will be fine, but I have to do the swim and bike of a 1/2 iron tomorrow getting up at 4:45am.  BTW, as a coach, my answer to the question is “NOPE!”

I did go to bed VERY early last night (8:15pm) because I only got 3.5hrs of sleep on Thurs night so I was exhausted.  It is one fast way to get off of west coast time and onto east coast time!  My week was like this:

Sun night: Fly from Boston to Vegas.  Get plane delayed 1.5 hours. Arrive at hotel 11pm Vegas time.

Mon am:  wake at 5am Vegas time and do work, eat my package of oatmeal, 1/4 cup nuts and banana (I brought for each morning) and conf calls until late morning. Walk to convention center (1mile) and look for booth stuff. Set up booth for 2.5 hours.  Walk back to hotel. Wait for co-worker.  Rest 45min.  Walk back to convention center to begin 3 hours of smoozing with potential customers until 8:30pm.  Go to dinner with co-workers.  In bed at 11pm

Tues am:  wake at 5am eat, do email, conf calls until 7:30am.  Run 30min outside in 90 degrees (OK, not a great idea- I didn’t feel I could go anymore!).  Shower, dress, walk to convention center.  Work the booth ON MY FEET IN WORK SHOES from 9am-5pm.  No wonder my feet hurt so badly I had to buy new shoes by Wed night!  Got picked up at 5:45pm and had a great dinner with Mike and his wife.  Got dropped back off at hotel at 8:30pm.  Did email and went to sleep around 10pm.  I was SO TIRED!

Wed am:  wake at 5am and get ready for swim workout with Mike.  Ate full breakfast before we went.  Swam 3850 yds got dressed and ready to work the booth.  Got dropped off at hotel, ran upstairs, quick blow dry of hair, walked to convention center to start work at 10am.  Worked 10am- 5pm on show floor.  Walked to co-workers car and drove to Mandalay Bay for a nice dinner with co-workers.  One co-worker needed to shop for a few things (he is from Israel) so I went with him to the mall. I also HAD to get new shoes or my feet would fall off.  I bought new shoes, he bought his stuff. We then walked over to another mall near our hotel.  This is where I left him to do more shopping.  I felt like I was going to drop dead of exhaustion!  I went back to the hotel around 8:30 and was asleep by 9:30pm.

Thurs am: had extra people to cover booth this day so I was scheduled only a 3 hour shift from 2-5pm.  So, did email, made a few calls, went to the gym for a 1/2 bike, 1/2 hour eliptical workout.  Showered, then headed to lunch with co-worker at 12pm.  Ate, walked the show floor, had a partner meeting, and booth duty here I come.  Worked until 4:30pm, then we had to disassemble the booth and pack everything.  Did that until 6pm.  Walked back to hotel quickly, I was meeting client at 7pm at Mirage for dinner and theater.

Walked over to Mirage, had a fantastic dinner with two fabulous working women from two different IT companies.  Walked to 10pm show of “Love” the Beatles review.  One of the clients fell asleep during the performance (it was everything I could do to stay awake!).  I guess it isn’t just me who had one heck of a week.  After the show, walked over to my hotel and went to sleep around 1:00am!  For those of you who know me, I DO NOT go to bed at 1am very often!  Let alone on the morning I have to get up at 4:45 to catch a 7:20am flight.  But, I did.

Woke Fri am at 4:45.  Got on the plane around 6:45am and was happy to be able to sit for 6 hours!  I stayed awake so I could go to bed early Fri night.  So this plan worked well.  I couldn’t wait to see my bed!  It was all I could do to make it to 8pm LOL.

So, that is my week in a nutshell. The funny thing is, I brought my computer to bed with me to do a few work emails and answer aol emails before I went to sleep.  Poor Jason, my IM coach sent me an email that said “how are you feeling? are you rested for the weekend’s workouts”.   I had to reply “not so much”.  Of course, I didn’t go into this much detail, but I will come clean right now and send him this link to read.  I think he might kill me…..

till we meet again….

Thanks to Mike for hosting me at his pool, we had a great workout today.  I guess we need to thank Heather Gollnick, Mike’s coach, for today’s swim workout.

We swam:  300 warm up/300 pull/6×50 drills/500/400/2×300/3×200/4×100/5×50/200 cool down for about 4000 yds!

It really didn’t feel like it was this long of a workout.  Other than my arms really tired/sore shoulders when I was done,  I didn’t get as bored as I usually do.   This is the longest  I have swum/swam/whatever

I really think I’m ready for the IM, and am very excited to do it.

BTW to those concerned..after work i went to Dillards and bought some comfortable (yet ugly) Born shoes for the show tomorrow.  They took my old shoes and threw them out… adios!

Oh for the love of God.  My feet are KILLING me!  I am in Vegas this week at a trade show.  I have to work all day standing on hard floors in HEELS!  I’m seriously thinking about getting some new shoes when I’m here.  Apparently there is no padding left in the ones I  am wearing.  Not to mention I have to walk about a mile every day to the show and back.  I really need to make sure I roll on my tennis ball to stretch out my feet so I don’t get plantar fasciitis this week.  Had that last week and do not want to get that again!

Thank goodness it’s a rest week while I’m here.  I haven’t been able to train too much, but it’s about resting this week.  Not to mention, it is very hot here.  I ran 30min this am after early con calls and before I had to be at the show and it was enough….  Tomorrow I swim with Mike so that will feel good….Off to get some shoes and have dinner with IMFL Mike and his wife.

Toodles..

Now THIS is what focused looks like

Not sure how, but I just ran 16.8 miles in 2:44. I know it’s not at rocket speed, but the fact that I can even do it amazes me!  With 2 ACL repairs and a spondylothesis of the back, I’m thrilled.

It’s crazy what happens to your feet after 12 miles.  My first knuckle on my right foot started burning, I felt rubbing on my second toe on my left foot.  I also had a twinge on my left hip/piriformis during the walking breaks.  The fact that people do multiple marathons in one year is just crazy!

So, the first 8 or 9 miles I took 30sec breaks.  Then the next 6 or 7 I took 1 min breaks every 10 min.  I think this is a good strategy.  I ate a banana and 2 8 oz bottles of my iced tea/energy (I do this every morning for caffeine) before the run.  At :30 I did 2 shot blocks then did another 2 shot blocks at 1:30.  I sipped GE every 10 min and finished 3- 7oz bottles of GE and one of water when I finished.  No stomach issues with nutrition, but probably a tad on the dehydrated side.  I’m quite thirsty right now.

I did stop and drop coat off at car after first 5.6 and again to go to the bathroom after 2nd time (at 11.2 miles). I stopped my watch so 2:44 doesn’t include these breaks (total time including this 2hrs 50min.  But I also had to walk about .5 mi for during this time not included in distance or time either.

I am having a hard time sitting still working right now, but also getting up LOL.  Fun stuff!  Let’s see if  I can swim tomorrow, run Fri, ride 100/run 4 Sat and ride 1 hour Sunday.  Oh gosh………….  Good news is Sunday night I head for Vegas on business and get to rest a week with only doing 1 hour workouts.  YAY

Boy, was that a hilly ride home from Maine (well, really Portsmouth NH) today.  I think the race yesterday too a little more out of my legs than I had hoped.  Must have been those hills.  But, today riding home from there, holy cow.  Not only were there LOTS of hills, but the head wind was rediculous. Almost commical actually.

We rode 97 miles home on this gorgeous day.  What hurricane?   The funniest adventure of this ride was actually when at mile 75 Jim pulled into Wendys and said “I have to eat”.  I thought he just needed to refill on water and he’d eat one of his bars.  Nope, he wanted a hamburger !! LOL.  I think I would have thrown up if I had eaten a hamburger at that point, but all the power to him!

Thanks for prepping a great ride today Jim.  Although I mostly have to thank you for your patience with my riding today- the legs just didn’t have it.

My Ironman coach and his partner are putting on a few seminar FREE to the public.   Here are the links to the information.