Cargo shorts in December!!

I am re-charging my solar panels! Today's highlights included driving with the top down in my mom's little cabriolet convertible and then sitting and walking on the beach barefoot and in shorts...not bad for December 28!! It was a little over 70 degrees today and pretty darn perfect except for a few clouds. I kept trying to think up more errands to have an excuse to drive around in the convertible, but all we came up with was the grocery store and then we went to the beach.

I went for a run this morning and stretched it to 4.5 miles (longest in at least a month) because it was so nice to be warm and on the beach. My hip is a little tight, but felt fine during the time I was running. I won't run again till I'm back in Seattle...but will keep doing other stuff.

Yesterday we did the morning family trip to the gym and I did a really good spin class and weights/plyometrics (while my mom did "Stretch & Tone class and deep water exercise because regular water aerobics is too wussy for her). The spin class was only 40 minutes of actual work, but a good butt kicking and, surprisingly, included neither country nor christian music...no small thing for spin class in Georgia. After an afternoon of going out to lunch and a tour of the Sea Turtle Center/hospital on Jekyll Island (very cool place and nice creatures, those turtles, although the injured ones looked pretty depressed, poor things), I went back to the gym for a swim. I was the only person in the outdoor pool as the sun was setting and the pool lights came on during my workout...the water was still ridiculously hot and I had to keep stopping to put my arms out and cool down, but it was a great swim and being outdoors to swim made me happy.

Tonight's event is happy hour (my mom has just called that "the bar is open!" as I type) at home and local fresh shrimp for dinner. YUM.

I haven't had a musical theme song in my head for a few days, but have read chapter 48 of "Eat, Pray, Love" at least 4 times followed by Chapter 49 at least twice...and those have provided some themes and a few one-liners to chew on...

Chasing retirees

I am at my mom & stepdad's on St. Simons Island Georgia for the week...got in on Christmas morning and will be here till Sunday. Despite the fact that I declared that I am boycotting the holidays this year as I just didn't have it in me, their tree, a turkey with my mom's amazing stuffing, and my favorite cheesecake (ok, plus presents and booze) mellowed my "bah humbug" a little...not quite to the point of "fa-la-la," but definitely an improvement. I also got in a short run on the beach yesterday before the aforementioned menu hit the table and I loooovvvve the beach here. It's supposed to be 75 degrees by Friday and I think I have landed where I'm supposed to be this week.

My parents are 70-year old German energizer bunnies (from whence I inherited the scheduling and efficency gene) whose mottos are "Getting old is not for sissies" and, my personal favorite, "It's 5 o'clock somewhere!" With these people, a 2 hour morning visit to the gym, followed by lunch, a nice walk on the beach, shopping, then dinner with friends at their favorite restaurant, "Mudcat Charlies" (and this was just today) is not a tough sell...as a matter of fact, I can barely keep up with them...I had to bring snacks on the shopping outing as I was bonking and they were going strong. This turbo parent scene is most excellent for my perpetual motion processing mode...as well as my efforts to balance my affinity for my mom's permanently stocked Christmas cookie plate (YUM). These people will do their best to spoil me rotten and make me sleep many hours per night this week. I am very fortunate to have such great parents.

Oh yeah, my training. Yesterday was a 3.5 mile run + 1 mile walk and my hip felt great on the run, though a little tight today. I am committed to getting out on the beach every day this week to walk and maybe one more run.

Today I got in a 30 minute hamster at the gym (while my mom did the "moving sidewalk" and weights), then both my mom and I hit the outdoor (yup, as in no roof! Whoop!) pool. Unfortunately, the pool temperature is set for "cauldron" and I about wilted, but it was really great to swim outdoors and see blue sky!!

First XC ski of the season

I went cross country skiing yesterday for the first time in almost 2 years. I rode up to Snoqualmie with my friend, Cara (great company), and dropped her off at Alpental so she could telemark...then I went on to Hyak for a nice solo ski. I remembered that my ski boots always give me blisters on my heels and tried a preemptive strike with bandaids, but I missed the mark on my left heel and shredded it anyway...oh, well, at least I saved the right one. I think I was the first person out on the trails and I was psyched when the grooming machine came right at me about a half mile out...sweet, I thought, fresh tracks all day! I didn't see anyone for over an hour (even after I took off my snow caked yellow lensed bike glasses because I couldn't see anything at all)...and I skied (ok, it's really just glorified hiking) up Mt. Catherine. It was dumping snow on me the entire time...my head and hat were a total snowball all morning. By the time I got to the top, there were no tracks to be seen anywhere as the snow had filled everything in completely (so much for the fresh fast tracks I thought I'd get). But it was beautiful and, at the top, I wouldn't have been gliding anyway because of the grade--it's just a bit of an uphill slog. I was smart enough to pack my "teflon" jacket and lobster gloves for the descent, so I quickly changed out of my soaked lighter layers and put on the warmer stuff. Coming down in the powder was really fun and I kept my heartrate up a bit because it required some pushing off to keep good downhill momentum. I never got cold (major win) and I think I skied off most of the remaining soreness from my butt...but, of course, my quads are sore today from skiing. I had a great workout and did almost 10 miles.

9.75 mile ski
2:14

This morning I had a really good swim at the Helene Madison pool masters workout again...swam with 2 guys and chatted with one afterwards who's done several Ironmans. I realized while I was swimming that I haven't taken a rest day in at least 2 weeks, and perhaps I'm almost due. However, it's just felt necessary to be in motion as much as possible lately and stacking up workouts has seemed like the right thing to do.

1 hour swim
3,500 yards

Celebrity sighting at the gym

Today was a swim-in-the-morning and lift-weights-at-lunchtime day. I had a great swim at the Greenlake pool as I met my friend, Robin, at 6:00 a.m. lap swim and we made up a workout as we went along with 2 other dudes in the lane. It was way better than a solo swim and a good filler in lieu of "real" swim team...though I'm counting the days till S.U. swim team re-opens (that'd be 12 days, are we there yet?).

So then...went to the gym to lift weights a little while ago. I had already listened to today's theme song (The Clash, "Train in Vain,") about 5 times and had finally let the ipod shuffle onto something else when I saw a woman walk by that I knew I recognized...super tall, skinny legs...yup, I bet that's her...Stanford basketball shorts...yup, definitely her. Now, a few years before Sue Bird was the Seattle basketball celeb, the basketball "bird" in Seattle was Kate Starbird and that was her, sure enough. I'm sure nobody else in the stupid gym recognized her, but I was all over it. I pseudo-stalked her upstairs where I saw her get on a hamster machine (how relieved am I to know that a very recent professional athlete does that damn hamster thing, too...I feel so much better!) and I talked to my friend, Phi, a trainer, just to make sure it was actually Starbird and to look casual and scope her out for a few minutes. I decided not to bug her while she was on the hamster, finished my workout downstairs, and waited for her to go into the locker room...where I then stalked and tried to look like I wasn't (completely transparent, I'm sure). Here's my conversation with Starbird:

Me: You're Kate Starbird, right? I'm a big fan of yours...
Bird: Well, I was Kate Starbird, now I'm just 'Kate.'
Me: You're still Kate Starbird! Do you still play?
Bird: I played in Europe for a few years, then came back and took some time off. I just started playing again recently. My back is finally better...
Me: Well, I was definitely a fan (dumbass, didn't I already say that?)
Bird: Were you around for the ABL?
Me: Yeah, I was a season ticket holder, 4th row (double dumbass)
Bird: Yeah, I recognize people who were around then...

Can't remember how the conversation ended exactly...but hey, at least I talked to one of my heroes, and I don't think I was TOO much of a dork...OK, I take that back. But what the hell, I figured she might like to be recognized and get a little fan adoration. I ditched out on my abduction/PT exercises to chase her around the gym, but my case of "lunge butt" from Wednesday is still very apparent and this seemed more important. And I did everything else!

The other momentary distraction today was a hilarious race report that Julie sent around this morning. The quote at the beginning is so good, I copied it and hung it in my cubicle:

“Blessed are the flexible for they shall never be bent out of shape.” – Ancient Xterra Tribe Race Director Proverb.

The rest is a must-read and a total crack-up. After that classic quote above, the guy leads off with, "This is a chronicle of the evolution of triathlon fear, and a big hairy, then shaved, then once again hairy moron (that would be me) who tried to conquer it. "

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=689

Definitely, the bug...

OK, I'm continuing yesterday's theme song...because the results of yesterday's PT (and by the way, PT no longer means "physical therapist," but rather "personal torturer") session are now making me feel like I was the bug smashed by a windshield butt-first. My butt and quads are the most sore they've been since Ironman...the lunges, "skaters" and various other hopping and squat things are exactly what I need, but youch...all night I was waking up and feel more and more sore each time. I somehow managed 50 minutes on my bike trainer this morning, but every time I sit for 5 minutes or more, I have a hard time getting up and moving. Tin man city.

Had a great meeting with the coach this morning and will be ready to hit the ground running---or I guess I should say biking--with a newly designed plan the first week of 2008. I have to stay conservative on the running until the hip is back to 100% ("long" runs at 4-5 miles, augh) but the focus will shift to cycling and a spring training bike trip is in the planning stages to give me a training goal (half marathons are not allowed for a while). I'll also work on more strength stuff for legs/core in the hopes that I will not be as sore as I am at present...

I'm planning to go cross country skiing this Saturday...it's dumping snow up in the mountains and a good ski workout might be a good pretend-long-run.

Windshield or bug?

Lately, I've been choosing a new theme song every day or few...or perhaps it's more accurate to say that songs are chosing me...regardless, a soundtrack for the current chapter of my life is developing. Yesterday at the gym, the ipod shuffled up Mary Chapin Carpenter and "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug..." Perfecto...this one will last a few days, at least. Que up the background music and karoke along if you'd like:

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/The-Bug-lyrics-Mary-Chapin-Carpenter/7C9C06B880443FAD48256938000DBC90

The latest hip report is that....tah-dah...I ran on both Saturday and this morning with hardly any hip pain (making me "the Louisville slugger, baby")...but each day I only ran 4 miles and I felt the hip a bit afterwards ("sometimes you're the ball..."). This morning it was dark, pouring rain, and 39 degrees, but I was damn happy to be splashing around Greenlake and actually RUNNING instead of on the hamster machine at the gym. After the run this morning, I had another great PT session. She has me doing some cool balance stuff on the Bosu ball and some plyometrics, too. I came out of there humbled with legs shaking again (the kind of shaking where I would prefer my car didn't have a clutch), but totally psyched to be doing some new training stuff that obviously is a new challenge my body appreciates. Perhaps do-it-yourself Santa will come up with a Bosu Ball and medicine ball...hmmm.

I've dropped about 5-6 pounds in the last few weeks, but this morning I weighed myself and had gained a pound or so back (2 beers and a small mountain of phad thai at the Triple Door last night during the "Nutcracker Burlesque" show probably contributed...). I'd like to keep a few of those pounds from creeping back and maybe when I can run long again, I'll be a little faster.

The S.U. Masters swim team is on holiday break until January 2 (ggrrrr), so I'm winging it and looking for aquatic alternatives...swam alone yesterday at 24-Hr Fitness and managed to do the usual 3,000m, but I really miss the team workouts.

Overall, I'm just wishing I could hit fast forward and land in about...let's say March of 2008...with all manner of things healed and in a new more stable and happy chapter. But...there are a few moments of being the windshield and smashing that damn bug, so I'll take 'em where I can get 'em.

Pedal 'n process

I'm staying at a friend's place on Alki for a few days while he is out of town...it's a really nice place with a great view. I woke up early this morning, went for coffee and an aimless walk through a Safeway, then got back to see it get light; the mountains and the water were gorgeous. I slowly got my crap together and drove over near the I-90 lid to go for a solo ride. It was sunny, but less than 40 degrees and my face and head were numb throughout (wierd headache like my head had shrunk when I got done) . I lost feeling in some toes, but otherwise my trusty gear ("teflon" jacket and lobster gloves, I don't care how dorky they are) kept me pretty warm. My thoughts and head were spinning and processing about the whole break up situation the entire 3+ hours (kind of a 24/7 routine these days), but it was good to have my legs and pedals follow, making for a really good ride. I thought I'd probably do the south end of the lake...on the long side of Mercer Island, though, I felt good and had the urge to CLIMB something. I think it was the need to symbolically "get over" something huge in front of me. So I decided to do the north end and go over Juanita. It was a good decision, a good climb, and the trail didn't even annoy me too much from Logboom to the UW--I think I was too pre-occupied to really even notice much. My legs were definitely getting tired by the time I got close to the car...this was my longest ride in 3 months, I think (48 miles). I did get a few things "thought through" out there... and hopefully got enough of a workout to get some decent sleep tonight.

My GPS/HR monitor battery went low after about an hour, so I didn't get HR data...however, I noticed on at least one small hill that my HR hit 164...which is crazy high for me.

Ride summary:

48 miles
3:16:22
Avg pace: 14.6

So much for race magic

Whatever relationship-repairing magic the Seattle Half marathon day held unfortunately didn't last for more than a few days. Game over. This week has included an apartment hunt (successful), purchasing at least one recommended inspirational book ("Eat, Pray, Love," thanks, Erin), and a lot of workouts in between several epidodes of spontaneous combustion.

I've felt the best in the pool this week and Julie told me this morning that she thought I was a bit faster than usual in yesterday morning's workout. I definitely know that training is my center...it works for making me happy, for burning off grief (ok, maybe a little anger, too), and for just about anything in between. I can usually only get my HR into the 140s in spin class and yesterday afternoon my average for a 45 minute class was 150bpm. My new marketing idea is that I think that 24-Hour Fitness should have a banner ad on Match.com and the other dating sites that says, "If your relationship tanks, click here..." with a reminder that you can go to their gym 24/7. This is extremely convenient when you can't sleep...nothing like an hour of the elliptical machine at 5:00 a.m.

In my true disco loyalty, I'm starting to believe that Gloria Gaynor will eventually (soon, I hope) be my theme song singer of choice, but I'm still feeling a little Dave Mathews...

It's finally supposed to be clear and cold tomorrow...planning to get out on my bike.

Saved by a race...

It's been a really rough few days and running the Seattle Half Marathon today was probably the easiest thing accomplished since about Tuesday (and that includes eating and sleeping). Fortunately, however, the fact that there WAS a race today saved my relationship bacon. Both Seujan and me trying to go out there alone to run the race made it apparent that a breakup wasn't the best idea afterall...whether we do races together or alternate being support staff, we're simply supposed to be a team. Long story short is that those race fees turned out to be some of the best money ever spent and an investment in mental and emotional health...and all they advertised we'd get for $70 was a T-shirt and a medal.

Anyway, I don't recommend 4 days of crying, not sleeping, and extreme stress as a training strategy for a half marathon PR, but it was effective for a little weight loss and somehow we both finished the race decently. As usual, Seujan was quite a bit faster than I was, but I did OK, it was a really nice day (WAY better than last year's weather), and I actually felt the best in the last 3-4 miles. One highlight: In the I-90 tunnel, I passed a very cute "senior" lady with a sign on her back that said, "This is my 40th Marathon. How many have YOU done?" People were cheering her on and it was really cool...inspirational for sure. My hip hurt throughout the run, but not as much as I'd anticipated. My new PT put some lift thingees in my shoes and perhaps that helped. I'm feeling it tonight, though, and can already tell I'll be a bit sore all over tomorrow...small price to pay for this one, though, and time for some rest.

Half Marathon stats (splits on GPS didn't exactly match the mile signs, but close):

First 2 miles: 18:54
1.04 mile: 10:24
.73: 9:50
1.35: 10:27
1.01: 9:39
1.01: 10:04
1.02: 10:18
1.01: 9:35
1.00: 9:12
1.01: 9:17
1.04: 8:55
1.01: 8:54
.12: :56

Total time: 2:06:30

Heartrate to heartbreak

Well, the hip pain is barely a blip on the radar in comparison to the last couple of days...not that it's healed up by any means, it's just getting overshadowed by break up hell. I'm not sure if crying is aerobic or anaerobic--seems it has been both--but regardless, a break up is a much harder exercise than a freaking Ironman, that's for sure...I think I'd rather run a triple marathon in 100 degree heat on an injury (wait--is that option available? What's the entry fee and where do I register?) than be doing this. I'm not feeling particularly thankful for a Thanksgiving morning, and am hanging out with Dave Mathews repeating "Grace is gone" on the ipod a zillion times (ironic that the ipod was a Valentine's Day present...augh...).

It's going to be sunny later today and I'm hoping to get out for a bike ride... then will be landing at somebody's Thanksgiving table quoting Dave Mathews...

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/d/dave+matthews+band/grace+is+gone_20036641.html

Slop 'n stomp

Seujan and I puddle-stomped our way through today's long run in the pouring rain...she slummed it and ran slow today, so we actually ran together most of the 10.1 miles. We went from Greenlake, through Ravenna Park, past Husky stadium, and to through the Arboretum...then back the same way. Lots of trails and puddles and kind of fun. We were smart enough not to drive near Husky stadium within a couple hours of the 12:30 kickoff of today's football game and running through the neighborhood gave us an up close view (and smell) of the throngs of purple-clad tailgaters and their culinary creations. Nothing like barbeque grills humming along at 10:30 a.m. Now I am the first to admit that the triathlon world is a bit of a (kind of odd perhaps to some people) subculture...but tailgating football fans, now there's a subculture worthy of wonder. I mean, we had to go out in the pouring rain and slop through the mud to do our long run, but those wackos were out in the wet and cold cooking chili on propane burners and getting drunk before noon...and paying a lot of money for tickets and parking to do it...when they all appeared to be the kind of people with heated homes, fully functioning kitchens, and televisions with instant replay that could enable one to actually enjoy a football game. I will vouch for just how enjoyable that experience is because after a shower and lunch, I turned on the Husky game and promptly fell asleep on the warm dry floor in front of the TV while Seujan finished her book in the bathtub.

I had not run in a week and prior to today's run, my hip was down to just a small ache and close to normal...that was shot within the first mile of the run as it hurt right away and hasn't stopped. We went on a home improvement shopping trip this afternoon (anyone interested in booking a tour of our spare bathroom to admire the new shelving, please contact Seujan for an appointment)...and I limped around Home Depot and Target looking for escalators and elevators like a garden variety American.

It's likely that I will hamster through the week and won't run much or at all before the Seattle Half next Sunday.

Long run:
10.1 miles
1:40:12
Avg HR = 140

My life as a hamster

My hip has been a pain in the...oh, I guess a hip can't be a pain anywhere else. So yeah, the hip. Not cooperating. Verbal when I walk, especially up stairs, and hurts pretty much all the time when I run...and pipes up with sarcastic comments about my age after it sits for a while and gets stiff. I went to a new PT last week who agreed with the coach that the source of my woes is mechanical/form related. So the old dog/new tricks thing is continuing...and I'm still trying to learn how to run efficiently after doing it incorrectly for approximately 35 years. The new PT has recommended working on my glutes and abductors where Cheryl had recommended working the adductors (you say abduct, she says adduct...and I've not done much of either, I must admit).

Anyway, we were in St. Louis for my aunt's memorial service over the weekend and I got in a good long (11.25 miles) run in a nice change of scenery, but it hurt a LOT and I haven't run since. In lieu of running, I've been doing doing the elliptical machine which, Seujan reminded me yesterday, is dangerously similar to a hamster wheel. The good news: it hardly hurts my hip to do it, I can get my HR up, and I've been able to "hamster" out my intervals last week and this morning. The bad news is, of course, that I'm gym-dependent and starved for fresh air, especially since the minimal cycling lately is also indoors. I guess it could be worse. If it were summer, I'd be even more cranky going into the gym... it's not as tough of a sell when it's cold and crappy outside. God bless the ipod. So...the goal remains to make it to/through the Seattle Half a week from Sunday and then back off the running a bit more.

Today's rodent report/workout summary:
20 min warm up
2 x 4 minutes hard, 1:30 rest (up to 160 bpm on intervals)
4 x 2 minutes hard, 1:00 rest (up to 163 bpm on intervals)
5 minutes cool down
Total:
48 min
6ish "miles"

Hip hell

Today was long run day...perfect temperature (55ish) and not raining, plus some fall color still on the trees. Seujan and I both ran down on Lake Washington...she went 14+ and I did 11.25. I had her tape my hip, but it didn't really matter...damn thing hurt the whole time again. I'm going to PT on Wednesday and have ice on it right now...and will take Aleve tonight and a rest day tomorrow. I'm thinking that if I can hold on and make it through the Seattle Half in 3 weeks, I may take a couple weeks off running altogether and see if it will calm down. Maybe.

What really sucks about the whole thing is that I'm running pretty well speedwise and am trying to work on the new form thing. Today I did the 9 minute run/1 minute walk routine (another failed attempt to help with the hip pain) and even with the walk breaks, I averaged a 9:34 mile.

Long run:

11.25 miles
1:47:40
Avg HR = 142

Triple triple

Today is the first day my legs didn't hurt since the weekend...there was a bit of a quad explosion after that hike, and I was a lot more sore than I anticipated, whew.

This morning I decided to run intervals at the track...my hip was a little better the last few days (key word: was), and I thought it'd be fun to do some speed work. I also tried to continue working on the new form (old dog, new tricks...I'm learning how to run after being an athlete for 35 years), especially on the track. I do think I'm making a little (ok, very little, but it's something) progress and I did 3 x 800s and hit them all in a pretty respectable time. After the 3rd one, though, my hip was really really pissed so I took the short way back to the car for the warmdown.

Yesterday turned into a swim-only day, so I wanted to get in bike ride today, too. I didnt' have a ton of time at lunch and it was cold (50 degrees), so I did 3 hill repeats at Interlakken with a few miles before and after. I didn't wear a HR monitor or time them, but felt like I got a good workout.

My 3rd triple of the day was 3 Advil with my tuna sandwich for lunch to quiet the hip. I'm not planning to run again until my long one on Saturday.

Interval run:
2 miles warm up: 18:05
3 x 800: 3:44, 3:42, 3:43 (Avg HR 158)
1.16 mile cool down: 10:23
Total: 5.1 miles, 0:46:50

Bike:
12.1 miles, 3x .5 Interlakken hill, 55 minutes

Mt. Si Hike

Today was long run day...I've been craving a hike, though, and since I'm in the "off season" (kinda, I mean if there really is such a thing, and in our house there isn't, but whatever, it was an excuse to go to the mountains today so I'm going with it...), I decided to hit the trail instead of the road. I haven't hiked in over 2 years (!) and my hiking boots were a little mad about the neglect. They felt great when I put them on, there were hot spots on my feet at the top of the trail and at least 4 blisters by the time I was done. But it was worth it. It was foggy and cold when we got up this morning, but I trusted the "it will burn off" forecast and, as Seujan was planning her 13 mile run route from home and fueling up, I grabbed my pack and headed for North Bend and Mt. Si.

I stopped for gas in North Bend, just a few miles from the trail, and about froze when I got out of the car...but I was committed (albeit in my shorts with no tights or sweats in the car). It was a brisk start, but within 10 minutes of starting to hike, I ditched the stocking hat and gloves and was happy to be in shorts. Warming up wasn't a problem as the trail was (as usual) well travelled, and my competitive hiking road rage kicked in immediately. I started picking off hikers and dogs from the get-go, and didn't stop till I hit the top of the trail--and never got passed, either (so what if other hikers had gray hair and hiked in corderoy pants and jeans, I still dropped 'em!). My GPS didn't agree with the signs or my HR/perceived pace, so I'm going with the signs: 4 miles up (close to 4,000 ft. gain) and 4 miles back. It was breezy and cool at the top, so I barely stopped for some Perpetuem and a quick glace at the view, and headed right back down...lots more hikers on the way up as I was descending. During my few hours on the trail, I saw at least 2 ipods, a person talking on the phone, and somebody who appeared to be text messaging...nothing like getting away from it all in the nice quiet forest. Wackos.

Anyway, it was a great hike and exactly how I wanted to spend the morning...still not sure if I can count this as my long run (I was planning to run 10-11 miles today) or if I need to do a long one on Monday morning...gonna take tomorrow as a rest day and see how I feel on Monday. My hip and hamstring have been extremely argumentative and I'm trying to make it to the Seattle Half in 4 weeks without falling apart. Might be time to go back to PT...

Mt. Si Hike:

Up: 4 miles, 1:23:16, Avg HR = 142
Down: 4 miles, 1:20, Avg HR = 89
Total: 2:43

Happy half birthday to me!

This morning when Matt Lauer on the "Today" show said something about the top headline of the day and then, "...TODAY, October 23..." I realized that hey, it's my half birthday. And when I saw the pre-sunrise light and the clear sky and outline of the mountains, I thought, "I want to be in the lake!" What better way to celebrate 41.5 years of life than with a lake swim, my favorite of almost all activities? Tatiana had just sent me an email yesterday reminding me that last year, the 2 of us did our last lake swim of the year on Oct. 22 (weeks after everyone else had hung up their wetsuits). The forecast for today was sunny and almost 70, so I wrote to her and suggested we gather all of our neoprene accessories and meet at the lake this afternoon. Of course, she agreed (so great to have a dependable friend who I know will always go for the lake regardless of how wacko everyone else thinks we are). We met at Madison Beach at 4:30 and it was gorgeous...there were a few REAL wackos actually taking a dip in the water sans wetsuits, which was comforting... We got in and thought we would go a few docks out and stop to assess the extent of potential hypothermia... our hands and faces were instantly cold, then numb, then...just fine. (Good thing I've been eating and drinking post-Ironman and have laid down an extra layer of pure fat insulation, huh?) We didn't stop till we got to the tennis club, although we could barely see a damn thing. Every time I breathed on the "west" (i.e. right) on the way out, the sun was right in my eyes...so for about 5-10 minutes before Tatiana pulled up and stopped near the tennis club and said, "I can't see," I kept thinking, "Where the hell are we?" as all I could see was the Mountain off to the left (pretty view, but not what you want to sight off of in this particular swim route). Anyway, we were both warm and happy enough to stop for about 2 minutes so I could declare, "I'm brilliant!" for having the idea to swim in the lake today and so we could admire the fall colors, the water, and the mountain. We swam back to Madison beach and were both just starting to get cold when we got done. I just checked the lake temperature for evidence of how bad-ass we are, but there hasn't been a reading since September 18...I guess bad-ass is in the eye of the wetsuit wearer.

Perhaps I'll get to do a lake swim after my next 41.5 years on the planet, too :) I won't look wrinkly at age 83 if I have a wetsuit on!!

Leavenworth Half Marathon race report

Whew, long time since I last blogged! So we did the Leavenworth Oktoberfest Half Marathon on Saturday...what a great day! It was about a "C" race for both Seujan and I, but turned out to be one of the most enjoyable and best races I've done (and she hammered out a damn impressive time for not really training!). It was dang cold when the race started, but the sun burned through the fog about 3 miles in and the fall colors, mountain background, and blue sky made for excellent conditions. In the middle, there was about 1.5 miles on a wooded trail near the river and during that stretch, I decided it's time for me to do more trail running this fall.

I tried to go out super slow to warm up for a mile, especially since the first 2+ miles were mostly uphill, but it didn't really happen--too many people I knew were taking off and it felt fine to start at a regular pace. What ended up happening was that I kept what felt like a pretty consistent effort throughout and tried to kick it in during the last mile...I'm still trying to figure out how best to "attack" a half marathon and what works best, but this one went really well, so I'll try to do something similar for the Seattle Half next month.

I experimented with a GU in the last 2 miles and perhaps I don't hate them as much as I thought...and I used the aid stations (Gleukos, which maybe I also don't hate afterall) on the course and didn't carry anything. I also wore a HR monitor this time just to look at the numbers afterwards.

The whole weekend was really fun. We rented a cabin with friends about 20 miles out of town and driving back and forth (did I mention our friend, Cathie, let us borrow her tiny fast Audi convertible on race morning so she could sleep in? Whew, FUN) was great with all the trees in full fall color. We went to the Oktoberfest beer garden later in the day. The beer choices were very disappointing (yucky beer at Oktoberfest, big bummer), but we hung out in the sun and our friend with uber-mojo worked the crowd a bit and kept us entertained.

Stats/splits per mile:

1: 8:55, Avg HR = 166
2: 9:33, 161
3: 9:27, 145
4: 8:39, 143
5: 9:15, 148
6: 9:09, 146
7: 9:05, 149
8: 9:49, 148
9: 9:40, 153
10: 8:27, 150
11 and 12: 18:27, 153 (missed a mile marker)
13.1: 9:21: 163

Total time: 1:59:55
HR Avg: 152

Back on the Track

I broke in some new running shoes with an interval run this morning...hadn't been to the track in a good 5 weeks. We've decided to do the Leavenworth Half Marathon on October 13 for sure, so I figured it might be a good idea to hit the track. I felt pretty good, but was a little slower than a couple months ago. Haven't lost it all, though, even after a month of recovery. Yea!

Today is the only sunny day of the week, so I'm planning to get in a bike ride later today before the rain returns...might be the last one for a while.

Interval run:

2 mile warm up: 17:58
1 x 800: 3:46
4 x 400: 1:48, 1:49, 1:49, 1:50
1.8 mile cool down: 16:26

Total: 5.8 miles (incl. recovery between intervals)

Out of the lake and into the keg...

This morning was probably the last Friday lake swim of the year. It wasn't really that cold with my neoprene socks and insulated cap...and there were 2 people out there sans wetsuits...but it seems the group is planning to hang up the wetsuits for '07 and migrate out of the dark and back to the pool. I HATE the end of summer and the end of lake swimming, but I also hate being cold and swimming in the dark, so I guess I can't fight city hall...or you can't fool mother nature...or...insert some other appropriate cliche in this space. The toaster at the Essential Bakery was FINALLY fixed, so we got to end the season with the correct breakfast after the swim.

One redeeming quality of September is the "Fremont Oktoberfest" (which, yes, is obviously held in the wrong month, indicating perhaps that the planners of the event drink as much as the particpants?). We've rallied some fellow beer enthusiasts and my goal is to get to Fremont today in time for the 3 additional Happy Hour tokens available before 6 p.m.

The next event on the horizon is possibly the Half marathon in Leavenworth in October (linked to an Octoberfest actually held in October)...and/or the Seattle Half Marathon on Thanksgiving weekend. My biking is, unfortunately, dropping off almost as rapidly as the daylight lately...but I'm trying to hold on a bit longer and get in some rides. I went out for a ride at lunch one day this week and, on an impromptu whim, did hill repeats at Interlakken...for fun! And it really WAS fun! I'd thought about doing the Black Diamond Olympic Distance race tomorrow, but decided to just let the season go...it was a really good race season and I'd rather not risk going out on a bad (or cold) note. And, honestly, at this point, the beer garden tonight, sleeping in, and going for a leisurely ride with Seujan tomorrow sounds really great!

PROST!

Viva la Junque!

Long live junk miles!!! I had a fabulous 52ish mile bike ride today at a leisurely average pace of 14.5 mph. It was sunny, I felt great, it only took half the day, and I didn't even get pissy when I had to stop at stoplights! Whoo-hoo! I enjoyed the hills (did Juanita each direction) and just had a great time on my bike. I chatted with some women by the bathroom at the park in Kirkland who were interested in my bike and asked how much "one of them" cost...they both seemed incredulous when I told them and I realized again what a subculture I live in being in this triathlon world...my bike is (still) one of the least expensive on the rack when I race, yet it's worth more than my car and way more than the hobbies of many other people, I'm sure. Oh, well...I'm a happy recovering triathlete in a very healthy relationship with my bike and I like my addictions. I mean, I could have bought a lot of crack with the money I spent on my bike (and my shorts, and the wetsuit, and the running shoes, all the tune ups, the travel, the entry fees, the massages, the PT, the swag, and...oh wow, I'd be dead by now), right?)

This week was a nice recovery training week...everything was fun/not hard and I got to swim in the lake twice. Yesterday we swam a bit longer than usual (gotta keep Duncan training for Hawaii) and it was a really nice morning. The water has been warm and calm and we got a sunrise during the swim again yesterday. I'm savoring every last bit of September summer!

In other Ironman recovery news, I somehow managed to pull off a dead toenail yesterday that lost its life during the marathon portion of the Ironman (sidebar: the toenail extraction occured during a 1:1 meeting with my boss...but I don't think he noticed!!)

Life after Ironman

I've now been an Ironman for about 8 days...After a week, I'm down to saying, "I did an Ironman!" only about once a day and I actually took off my IMC sweatshirt and washed it. The post-race buzz has worn off a little, but Seujan and I have done a very good job of maintaining it with regular celebratory beverages ("'Nother drink? Sure! I'm not training for anything!")...which leads me to wonder if the post race "Recovery month" is so named because the stacking of celebration beers could make one NEED the other kind of recovery. OK, that's a little exaggeration, but it has been nice to have a few toasts and to relax a bit and work out for FUN. Sleeping in, running around Greenlake as the entire day's exercise (wow, is this what "normal" people do? One shower per day, wow), and remembering how much fun "junk miles" on the bike can be has been a nice reward for the months of training. Of course, my "working out for fun" eyes were bigger than my legs on at least one occasion when Seujan and I went out for a 55 mile ride on Saturday. We were both mentally and physically done about 10 miles before the end of that ride...but still had to pedal back to the car. Oops.

I haven't blogged much as things seem a little boring post race...I mean, big deal, I ran Greenlake and swam in the lake with long chat breaks to admire Mt. Rainier. Oh, and I think I spent at least 8 hours last weekend in coffee shops and bars shooting the breeze and catching up with people I haven't seen in months ("Did I mention I did an Ironman?" Maybe there's a reason I haven't seen these people in months...they may have been avoiding me?). The most exciting things to report have been that I got a bit of a cold last week and today, for the first time in probably 3 months, I wore a pair of shoes other than the Chaco sandals I swiped from SJ last spring...the ones I've worn to work every single day, worn to/from races, to the store, in the rain, and around the house. I pried them off my feet for one day (for another pair of Chacos, but still...), but true to my creature of habit ways, I'll probably be wearing them tomorrow again. Other than biking and running, there will be no socks or real shoes on my feet until it's absolutely necessary. Hoping the late summer/early fall hangs on until, well, December would be nice...

Race Report Ironman Canada

We did it!!! And we're sore as hell to prove it!! And my race report will be almost as long as the race itself!!

The rest of taper week got to be a bit loooonnnngggg...I felt ready to race on Saturday and was tired of waiting around killing time. Seujan verified that the taper was working when I said I felt sluggish, fat, and craved my bike. Fortunately, we scheduled a barbeque on Saturday afternoon so everyone could hang out and take their mind off the race---oh wait, I mean obsess and talk about it together. It was really fun and helped the day and the nerves go by. Julie made neon signs for all 4 of us racing which was great and we took photos and had a nice afternoon.

Race day we woke up before the alarm at about 4:00, had coffee, and went to get body marked and set things up.

Lessons learned by 5:30 a.m.:
1. Arrive at the race when transition opens, not at 5:30 (lines for body marking were long, everything was packed, less organized than last year)
2. Don't fill bottles until on site or leave them on bikes the day before (my bags were really heavy and we parked over .75 mile from transtion and I had to drag heavy bags around, shoulders hurt well before the canon went off)
3. Strategize parking better so we don't have to walk the Green Mile to get to the start (oh, and then to get to the car afterwards when walking at all is a stretch)

There was enough time to get things organized and get through the porto-potty line once, but not too much more...and I was pretty wigged out. I was so flipped out about some of the nuances of learning the Ironman thing that some of my regular race prep and transition planning went right out the window (guess who never got around to sun screen until the start of the run--oops). In addition, my stupid period had started Saturday night and the first day is what I usually refer to as "hemorhage day." Thus, I was putting tampons in all the transition and special needs bags and dealing with that. I chose to believe that this would be my "mechanical" issue for this race and that it was NOT the first of 9,542 things that would go wrong with my bike, my goggles, or whatever else. Fortunately, I was mostly right and the goddess of curveballs didn't throw anything bike mechanical my way.

Pretty soon I was on the beach quietly losing my mind (Holy shit, I'm doing an Ironman...and why was it I thought this was a good idea?) and working to get my Julie-advised position out on the far left side toward the front. The strategy was to start way outside and angle in toward the furthest buoy to reduce the barracuda factor and stay in front of the main thrashing. Fortunately, people seed themselves pretty well in the pack (a lot of guys walking around near me asking, "What do you do, about a 1:10?") and I was on the front row with Duncan right against the flags. Julie's strategy was spot-on and I had good real estate really fast...however, things log jammed a few more times and I had to pull up twice to look and re-position around all the men who weren't always playing nice. I saw one of the scuba divers below the pack and that was pretty cool. I stayed to the outside most of the time and may have gone a little extra distance, but it was fine and a really good swim.

I forgot about my shoulder (which is now fine) because I was focused on 2 other things: preventing the usual numbness in 2 fingers on each hand that always happens after about 30 minutes and learning to pee while swimming. I just used a different hand position to handle the first issue and the second has been a skill that has eluded me for some time (and one which Seujan has bragged about perfecting). I was trying and failing to make this happen and it suddenly worked in the second half of the swim. Woo-hoo--I'm peeing and swimming at the same time! I was psyched because this meant I could skip the porto in T1. Seujan thinks that public disclosure of my new skill may result in nobody swimming behind me on Fridays in the lake anymore, but I think I'm just the last person to master this and no one will care! Note to my lane-mates, I will not practice this skill in the pool.

I had a great swim and went under my goal of 1:10-1:20, finishing in 1:04.57 (almost top 10%!)

T1: Most of this transition was smooth...I got my wetsuit "peeled" and a personal volunteer in the changing tent assisted me...I had her put on my race belt while I was doing something else and it was great (except the forgetting the sunscreen part) and left a good sized yard sale's worth of crap for her to clean up and bag for me. I had a total dumbass snafu getting my bike off the rack and had to run around the whole rack, push my bike under and crawl through (normally I would've gone through this a few times prior, another thing that went out the window)...but I still got out in 4:59, not bad.

Bike: In usual form, I started getting dropped by droves of fast guys (ok, and women) in the first few blocks and this continued for several miles...thundering disk wheels and hothead guys posturing. I saw Julie on the edge of town and yelled to her and headed out feeling great. The first 40 miles are a total breeze; almost all flat with a tailwind and great scenery. I know the course and I knew we'd pay for these conditions later, so I rode conservatively and let them all go.

The climb up Richter Pass was good, the descent was great, and then wind picked up as usual...the back side with the rollers was tough and then the wind got really nasty in Cawston. The "out and back" section was NOT fun (I now refer to this section as "purgatory") as Seujan warned me, but the special needs bags were at 120km (72ish miles). This helped and I had a bag of potatoes in my bento box...they really boosted me riding up to yellow lake and I could feel an energy surge on each one. At about Karameous when the wind was still awful and we started climbing, I made friends with a guy, Eddie, from Long Beach. For the rest of the day on the bike and the run we leap-frogged and had several conversations. It was cool and his friend took our photo at the finish line.

The entire bike course was well supported and the fan support was awesome, especially up the hills and riding into town with both sides of the street packed. I made 4 (!) stops, 3 to pee (again, the hemorhage theme... plus I was really trying to hydrate) and one to pick up my special needs bag...at the first stop I took in Oliver, I had to wait for the porto and it took at least 3-4 minutes. The volunteers were great everywhere--they held our bikes and handed us food and I figured a few minutes per stop was not the end of the world---at one stop when 2 of us were waiting, I said, "yeah, well, I don't think I'm going to win this thing anymore anyway" and figured the minutes of rest would probably be a good idea. Overall, I had some hard spots on the bike and my back was really DONE with my aerobars by the end, but mostly I felt good and the taper certainly worked. At the end, it's great to go into transition and just throw your bike to a volunteer who takes care of it...so happy to get off the bike and not deal with racking it...catered races are GOOD!

Bike time: 7:08:29 (goal was 6:45 - 7:30), avg = 15.58mph

T2: Great. Another "personal shopper" volunteer to do whatever you want and I tasked her with putting my reflective tape on my bib number and on me. Got all my stuff, hit the porto, visited the sunscreen volunteers (who bring a whole new meaning to the definition of "slather" as I still smell like that stuff today), and off I went.

Run: My stomach was not totally happy on the bike and I was hoping it would be OK for the run...my legs were fine and I ran to the first aid station, but then got a really bad sideache. I had to walk quite a bit to shake it for about 3-4 miles and it was frustrating. I saw my parents and Stacey on Main Street, then saw Seujan, then Ann coming in on their bikes, saw the top 3 female finishers running into town, then saw Cheryl and Jeff on the way out of town, so that was a great send off. Before I knew it, I hit the 5 mile marker and I felt great. I was carrying my Hammer shake bottle and supplementing with rest stop stuff, but by mile 8 I'd had it with carrying anything and I wasn't liking the Hammer crap. I threw the bottle in the trash and took my chances on the race course nutrtion, figuring I could pick up my other identical bottle at my special needs bag if I wanted it (which I didn't, meaning I threw away $28 worth of bottles on the run course, but, at this point, that is a drop in the bucket). After the turnaround, I saw Seujan within a mile, wished her "Happy Anniversary" (because what says, "in it for the long haul" like celebrating an anniversary doing an Ironman? Next year we are going out to dinner for chrissake). I also saw Joel and Ann on the run and we yelled back and forth. My sideaches re-surfaced and the last few miles were tough again. Things hurt and I knew I'd be sore today, but my legs were holding up and I could actually keep running most of the time---this made me really happy since my longest run ever had been 20 miles. By 4 miles out I was really smelling the barn. I was constantly doing the math and shooting to make my 14 hour goal and by 2-3 miles out I knew I'd hit it. I stopped to pee 3 times on the run (miles 5, 9, and 16ish I think?) so again, that took some time, but I also used a couple of those stops to stretch a little --my back was so stiff it was pretty awful trying to bend over---and I think that helped, too. Walking all the rest stops was great for breaking things up and I sampled all the liquids...gatorade, flat pepsi, chicken broth, water.

Coming into town is a total rush and the streets were packed again...it was so fun to know I was really going to hit the finish line and I was a total cheeseball and pumped my fists in the air when anyone took my picture (Jeff, Rolf, Shane, my friend, Ryan). I figured what the hell, I trained for this and I feel good, I might as well have fun and enjoy it.

Run time: 5:17:55 (I negative split by 2:03, probably due to the sideache issue, but sweet!)

Along the course, people told me a lot that I looked strong...I don't care if it was total bullshit (and I know people say that crap to everyone even if they look like death on 2 feet), but it definitely helps. Another lesson learned (OK, I already knew this) is that I'm a flattery whore...tell me I look strong and I'll push it! Some guy on the run passed me and had seen the "41" on my calf indicating my age and said I looked like I could be 21...got a good strong mile out of that one!

There were lots of other great things about the day and the people and the support...it was an awesome day and a great reward for all the training and time I've spent thinking about this and preparing for it. My race plan was right on and I surpassed my stretch goal of 13:45 by 2 minutes, so I was very happy with that. I remember seeing the Ironman on tv years ago and thinking, "ohmygod, no way could I ever do that." Then I met Seujan, Cheryl coached me, and I have a medal--pretty cool.

This morning we got up, went to Denny's and ate a mountain of food, and did NOT get in line to register for next year...I think the 70.3 distance is the one for me and, after 3 Ironmans in 366 days, Seujan is on a "sabbatical" from Ironman races for at least a year. We scheduled massages for this afternoon and will walk---slowly, wincingly, and minimally until then!

Ironman Stats:

Swim: 1:04:57 (304th out of 2445!)
T1 : 4:59
Bike: 7:08:29
T2: 5:43
Run: 5:17:55 (first split: 2:39:59, second split 2:37:56)

Total: 13:42:03

Almost Canada bound

Race plan is done, bikes are tuned up with new tires (my argument that my bike is worth more than my car is, again, substantiated), and we're off to Canada tomorrow...3 days to race day. The taper hasn't been as awful as I'd anticipated because, unfortunately, I've been chasing my tail with so many other things that it seems I've been just as busy (and tired), albeit not as frequently showered. I had these visions of being lazy and bored and sitting on the couch watching TV and staring at the ice cream wondering if I'm allowed to have any, but this simply has not been the case.

I'm following the taper plan and doing shorter, high intensity workouts...yesterday was a good pool swim and this morning I got in an hour bike ride with about 4x 1 minute sprints and a few short hills. Tomorrow is a short interval run before we pack up all the gear and take off.

Seujan and I did not do our race plans together and I think her undisclosed secret strategy has something to do with me not existing on the race course, but our goal times are similar and it would be kind of humorous (ok, my opinion) if we did the whole thing near each other. I have large time ranges for each thing because this is a whole new game for me, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

My (truncated as I wrote way too much on the version submitted to the coach) race plan:

Swim: 1:10 - 1:20

T1: 3 - 6 minutes (who knows?)

Bike: 7:00 (Range of 6:47 - 7:28, i.e. between 15mph to 16.5 mph)

T2: 7 - 10 minutes

Run: 5 hours (Range of 4:48 - 5:53, i.e. between 11 min/mile to 13:30 min/mile pace if it gets ugly)

Total time: 14ish hours (Range of 13:45 - 15:30)

Last brick

Today I did my last "long" ride + short run brick before IMC. The ride was supposed to be 50 miles with a 10 mile TT in the middle...50 miles, what a perfect distance (!) and I felt strong on most of the ride. The TT was tough, but not awful...my legs were a bit tired and I didn't keep my HR as high for the whole thing as I think I was supposed to...but it was OK. I ended up with 57 miles (From J&J's house, thru Arboretum, over Mercer Island, to Newport, TT on E. Lk. Sammamish, back the same way) and did the 2 mile run in the arboretum as usual.

I didn't get much of a recovery as I had to rush home, shower, grab a sandwich to eat in the car, and get back down to Lake Wa. to set up the bike course for Danskin.

NOW it's time for a sushi date with Seujan :)

This was a good start-to-taper week...I still got in almost 11 hours of training, but I could tell that we've backed off a little. This week the volume comes down even more and by next Sunday I should be twitching and ready for the race!!

Summary:

25 miles, 1:45

TT = 9.96 miles: 29:33, Avg HR = 145

22 miles

2 mile run: 19:15, Avg HR = 137

Total:
57 mile bike
2 mile run

The calendar matches the weather!

We've had 2 days of actual summer...woo-hoo!!! Yesterday morning I had a great sunrise swim with Julie, Duncan, Karen, and another guy, Nicholas, from the swim team. It was a gorgeous morning with calm water and the view of Mt. Rainier that's been all-too-scarce this summer for our lake swims. It was a pretty mellow swim as we only went to the tennis club and we stopped twice to talk about how nice the morning was. Just as we turned around at the tennis club to swim back, the sun came up and I could see it get higher each time I breathed on my right. It was pretty high and bright already by the time we hit the beach. Perfect summer morning.

Today I slept in and got in my bike interval workout at lunchtime by the lake. Again, it was a great day with the temperature around 80 and I was really happy to be outside. I had to do 8 x 2 minute intervals with recovery by heartrate...when it dropped 30 bpm, I hit the next one. The recovery took about 50 seconds on the first few, so I just did them all with 50 seconds in between and it was very close to being right on. Unfortunately, I hit some button(s) on my GPS/HR monitor and lost my data, but I know my HR was in the low to mid 150's on all the intervals with recovery to about 124 bpm. I was out just over an hour and got in just under 19 miles total. Good strong workout!

Under Construction

Whew...last day of doubles today. The base/foundation is there and it's time to put up the "under construction" sign and let all of the training catch up inside my little cells. I cut my swim a little short this morning after Julie and I tried a little speedwork in the pool and my shoulder complained again...still got in 2400 yards and felt OK, but I think I won't push any more hard stuff in the water.

At lunch I did running hill repeats on the same hill (Broadway by the Howe St. stairs) where I did them 2 weeks ago. Had to do 8 x 1:30 and they were hard, but short at least. I'm glad that was the last round of those before the race, too. Hopefully my legs will remember how to run uphill on the course. Anyway, right at the top where I turned around each time, there was a really cute big golden retriever relaxing in front of his house in the sun. On the first couple of hills, he kind of looked at me like, "hmm, humans do funny things..." After a few more he'd moved up to his porch and still kind of half-noticed me running by...by the last 3, he was totally asleep and didn't care to move from his midday nap. If I wasn't a golden retriever in my last life (and I think I might have been), I'm putting in my request to be one the next time around. I sat at my desk and yawned several times this afternoon to practice.

Hill repeats:

Warm up: 1.75 miles, 18:00

8 x 1:30 hills
All were .16 or .17 of a mile and avg HR = 153-155 (167 max)

Recovery was 2:00 for each one

Cool down: 1.6 miles, 16:42

Total: 6 miles
1:00:43

Last long one...

Yesterday was the last lonnnnggg ride before Ironman...woo-hoo and holy crap--I'm not sure which! Both! I'm excited, but/and it seems to be approaching quickly.

Yesterday was supposed to be 120 miles on the bike + a 2 mile run. I ended up with 106 miles on the bike...and I'm calling it close enough. Seujan and I planned out a route, parked at John & Judy's, and started out...but by mile 5 it was very apparent that we weren't exactly in synch. So we (did I say "we?" I mean Seujan) decided we should not ride together, and we each took off to spin our legs and our heads in various directions, up and down, to hell and back. Fortunately, by the end of the day, we both ended up at home and back on the same page after a little help from a coach intervention of sorts. It takes a village to manage a triathlete... and to manage 2 who happen to be in a relationship is no small task (we never really thought about this when we both said, "Let's do Ironman together, it'll be fun!" Fortunately, our coach took us on and didn't farm us out to somebody else). We've decided that after IMC we will no longer race the same events and it's agreed by all that this is a 100% healthy decision. In the meantime, the immediate goal is for both of us to have fun and do well with this one...I believe it can be done!!

Anyway, I rode over to the east side via Mercer Island and Newport Way, and all over the place...May Valley, East Lake Samm, over the Tour de Cure 20 mile route, and back. I was feeling pretty done with the whole idea around mile 80, but an overdue break re-charged me enough to finish feeling pretty good. Did the quick 2 mile run in the arboretum, was quite happy to have the long workouts wrapped up, and rushed home for a shower. We were fortuitously invited to a big luau party last night that included 9 zillion tons of really great food, so when we gave our usual post workout disclaimer of "We're about to eat an alarming amount of food..." nobody flinched and, honestly, we didn't even put a dent in the enormous inventory of chow.

So we're almost to taper...tomorrow is the last weekday double on the calendar. It seems that the training time period for an Ironman is just enough to log the training and build the base, but not too long to beat oneself up beyond repair--I'd read that, but now I think I get it. I've loved the training this summer, but it feels like the taper is arriving just in time before things just get too tired and more than just the edges (physical and mental) start to fray...it's an interesting balance to train right to that edge, recover, and build more without going over. I find the whole thing fascinating and I've certainly learned a LOT about myself and my physiology over the last few months...I guess we'll see if the plan worked 2 weeks from today...whoo-hoo and holy crap (did I say that already?)!

Summary of yesterday:

106 mile bike
6:57:52
Avg HR = 117

2 mile run
0:19:21
Avg HR = 140

Metabolism Unleashed!

One of the best (ok, maybe THE best) benefits of Ironman training is re-fueling after long runs and long bike rides...OINK! Today was a 15-mile run and I've been happily feeding my face ever since. In addition to fearing the mental gymnastics of the upcoming taper, I'm wondering how exactly I'm supposed to reel in the appetite...

But back to the run. Today was MUCH more pleasant and uneventful than last Thursday's crappy long run. 15 miles is a much more humane distance than 20, that's for sure...still hard and the usual body parts hurt a bit, but the whole thing was much more manageable than last week. I ran from home for a change and down around Greenlake, down Stone Way to the trail, then to Eastlake, Boyer, the Montlake Community Center, and back. It was much cooler than last week (less than 60 degrees) and I hit a lot of water fountains along the way, so that helped. I did the 9 minute run/1 minute walk (more or less) thing again and then walked the last .9 up the hill from Greenlake.

In unrelated news, Seujan and I will be beagle-sitting for a very cute little couch potato, Rosie. We call her "the potato" because that's pretty much what she does...Her moms dropped her off today and she's already assumed the position:

We love her!!!

Summary of the long run:

15.0 miles (9 minute run/1 minute walk)
2:42:36
Avg HR = 134

.9 mile walk
15:18

Total:
15.9 miles
2:57:54

August, my A**

This morning I spent an hour alternating my glance between the Today show (including a national heat wave report for the east coast), the RAIN outside the window, and the cadence on my old bike as I rode on the trainer. RODE ON THE TRAINER in freakin' August? For chrissake, how is the heat index 106 degrees on TV and it's 58 in Seattle? Where the hell did summer go? Seujan was tougher than me and commuted to work on her bike in the rain, but I knew I just couldn't drag my ass out there without becoming a (more) serious behavior problem. Anyway, I did an hour on the trainer (as my tan faded, I'm sure, sigh) and the workout was fine. Today should also be a swimming day, but the shoulder twinge got more twingy yesterday after lifting weights (perhaps Julie's advice of "stop lifting weights a month before Ironman" should've been heeded?), so I'm trying to back off and not swim again until the lake on Friday. I left the house this morning without a duffel bag and felt naked...I'm half looking forward to the taper and half dreading the mental gymnastics that will, I'm sure, reach new heights by the time race day comes.

Yesterday Seujan and I did bike hill repeats at Madrona after work...good workout as always, and my times for the hill were slightly faster than they were on the same hill a few weeks ago. Nice to see a little progress! Just before I turned onto the hill for the first one, an old fart guy passed me and headed up the hill in front of me...he soon looked like he was slowing down, so I pushed it to catch him and dropped him...HA! Then, of course, his male ego kicked in and he passed me (GRRR), then proceeded to turn off the hill half way up. I was pissed, but the result was my fastest time ever up the hill. And, of course, I still maintained my feeling of superiority as I did 3 more of them and he was long gone.

Hill repeat workout summary (all hills = .85 mile with 1.15 mile recovery):

Warm up: 5.8 miles

Hill #1: 5:33, Avg HR = 143
3:50 recovery
Hill #2: 5:43, Avg HR = 142
4:05 recovery
Hill #3: 5:47, Avg HR = 143
3:52 recovery
Hill #4: 5:51, Avg HR = 143

3.3 miles cool down

Total:
17.1 miles
1:13:17

Not taper time quite yet...

This week is still a pretty hard training week before we start backing off next week. Today was the usual Monday swim/run double. Had a good swim with Julie again...I've gotten very spoiled this summer swimming only with Julie or having my own lane and tailoring every workout however I want...it's been perfect! My right shoulder has had a slight twinge lately...it was fine in the water today, but I felt it a bit later in the morning. Nothing really bad, but I need to be nice to it...

Second on the workout list today was an interval run. I had to do an errand for work anyway, so I went to the track at Montlake to do the run while I was out and about. The track is dirt with a few small slopes and some overgrowth...it's kind of crappy, but in a nice neighborhood and it did the job. The workout was 5 x 800's...the first one felt lousy, but then I felt pretty good and held a good pace for the rest of them. Good workout.

Interval run summary:

Warm Up: 13:51, 1.4 miles

#1: .54 mile, 3:54, Avg HR = 153
1:55 recovery
#2: .53 mile, 3:46, Avg HR = 158
1:52 recovery
#3: .53 mile, 3:41, Avg HR = 160
1:57 recovery
#4: .54 mile, 3:44, Avg HR = 161
1:55 recovery
#5: .52 mile, 3:47, Avg HR = 160
:52 recovery

Cool down: 6:41, .71 mile

Total distance: 5.3 miles
48 minutes

Climb to Sunrise

Seujan and I had a great ride today. It was "mountain pass" brick day on the training calendar, so we drove out to Greenwater and rode from there into Mt. Rainier National Park and up to Sunrise. We'd ridden up to Paradise at Mt. Rainier a few times last summer, but neither of us had ridden up to Sunrise...and some other friends of ours were riding up there today, so we sort of coordinated with them and eventually found them en route. The route was pretty much a very gradual steady climb for the first 12 miles, then more of a climb for about 10 miles, then a bit more of a climb for the next 10 miles to the visitor center. In the 33.5 miles from Greenwater to the Sunrise visitor center, there was just under 5,000 ft. of elevation gain and it took exactly 3 hours to get up there. Being the climbing fan that I am, I loved it. Fun route, good scenery, and it was mostly a challenging, but not killer grade. It seemed there was less traffic (not so many dang RVs) and it was less steep than riding up to Paradise, so I was digging that part, too. There were some clouds, so we couldn't see all of the glacier and it wasn't as warm as I'd have liked, but there were lots of wild flowers and scenic overlooks.

We were supposed to do some speed play and create some TT pieces within the climb, but I'll bust myself here and admit that I didn't exactly carry out that part of the task. I felt strong and rode most of the last 10 miles a little over AT (HR in the 140's), but my legs (assisted by my brain) just didn't have it to push super hard. I'm still a little sore from the monster run on Thursday and decided that a good, steady push was good enough.

It seemed that riding a bike up the mountain was a novelty for many of the tourists visiting Mt. Rainier for a hike and some photos...at least 4 different people asked me where I'd started from, how was the ride, etc. and a few little kids thought spandex and a bike were both very interesting.

The altitude at Sunrise is about 6,100 and the temperature was a bit brisk...we both brought a few more layers to wear on the way down, but we were still cold on the way down. The descent is really great, but all of my fingers were numb/asleep and I lost track of a few toes, too, so that was a buzzkill, for sure. I hogged the middle of the road on the way down because I was shivering and I'm always afraid that I'll crash into a ditch when I'm cold like that. But it was sunny and before too long we got to pedal again and warmed back up. We ran into Duncan a few miles down and he turned around to ride back with us and hitch a ride home in our car...he and Shane had ridden out there from Seattle and racked up 130 miles on the day. Impressive!

When we got back to the car, I tossed all my stuff and grabbed my running shoes to do the brick...Seujan's stomach was acting up, so she and Duncan loaded the bikes and gear and met me and our other friends down the road a bit. The descent hadn't involved much hard riding, so the brick wasn't tough at all...the 3 miles flew by and I felt really good.

Summary:

Bike:
67.6 miles
4:39:56
Avg HR on 3 hours up: 120
Avg HR on 1:40 down: 94

Run:
3 miles
30:22
Avg HR = 138

Fruit Punched

I hate fruit punch flavored stuff...of all the sports drinks flavors, I always think "gross" and pick something else. After today, I feel confident saying I will NEVER drink it again and I cannot figure out why I thought it would be a good idea to take 2 bottles of the free fruit punch flavored Accelerade at the gym this week. Oh yeah, it was free. And I'd wanted to try Accelerade.

So anyway, yesterday I left my car and my keys at a friend's house just south of Seward Park and rode my bike home, setting myself up to do my monster 20-mile run one-way today and end up at my car. Since I had a couple bottles of the aforementioned Accelerade, I decided to leave one there to have for recovery after the run. BAD decision. It was hot today and I set up one personal aid station along the way and hit every water fountain I could find, but I think I was dehydrated and a bit over heated...my heartrate got too high and I really felt like crap when I got done with the run--actually, started feeling like crap by about mile 13. When I got to my car, I was really thirsty and chugged the Fruit punch thinking it'd be a good start on recovery. I still felt like crap...then felt like crap driving home...but drank some Nuun and forced myself to eat a Mojo bar. When I got home, I iced some of the usual suspects before my shower and laid down because I still felt lousy. Pretty soon, it became apparent that I needed to limp to the bathroom where I did a very good impersonation of a frat party gone wrong, including excretions from each end, a triple-puke of fruit punch, and laying on the bathroom floor immobilized (and sticky/disgusting as I still hadn't showered) for a good 15 minutes. I grabbed my phone and whined to Seujan who called and cancelled my massage for me because I decided I really didn't want to leave the house or drive anywhere. Pretty soon, though, I was able to drink water, had a long shower, and ate some salty chicken soup. Oh, and cleaned the goddam fruit punch barf out of the tub, though I fear the bathroom might smell like it for a few more hours. GROSS!!

All of that being said, I did finish the 20 mile run/walk, got to watch the expensive war machines (aka the Blue Angels) practice, and also had a near obstacle course experience dodging all the SeaFair (aka Nascar on the water) grandstands, fences, workers, and fans setting up on Lake Washington. Sidebar, did I mention that I like SeaFair hydroplane races about as much as I like fruit punch? Anyway...I started out with about 3 miles of running 4 minutes/walking one minute, then went to 9:1 for about 2 hours and 30 minutes, then back to 4:1, and finally walked the last 1.3 miles. I had a lot of downhill and I felt great the first 1-2 hours, but then I just wanted to be done. There were at least 5 places along the lake where I'd much rather have jumped in the water and swam the rest...probably would've been the same speed anyway.

Summary:

First 3 miles, 4 minutes run/1 minute walk:
31:49
Avg HR = 137

13.41 miles, 9 minute run/1 minute walk:
2:28
Avg HR = 143

2.33 miles, 4 minute run/1 minute walk:
0:26:50
Avg HR = 151

1.3 mile walk
0:24:02
Avg HR = 124

TOTAL:
20 miles
3:50:54
Avg HR = 141

Technical difficulties

I went out to do speed intervals this morning on the bike and had some technical difficulties...First my GPS/HR monitor wasn't working quite right. During my warmup and the first interval, it went back and forth from thinking I was dead and had NO heartrate to thinking I was bleeding out and had a HR in the 180's. Fortunately, neither of those things were true and the numbers started looking more familiar. However, by the time the HR monitor got it together and I started the intervals, it became apparent that my legs didn't have enough in them to push the HR up to 150 where it was supposed to go. I didn't think I was sore from running hills yesterday, but my legs certainly were not recovered and most of the intervals topped out about 143 bpm...I just didn't have it.

Anyway, I was supposed to do 6 x 3 minutes hard with a recovery to 30 bpm less than the ending HR of each 3 minute interval (i.e. push 3 minutes up to 150, recover to 120, repeat). It kind of fell apart between trying to look at my watch and guessing what was happening with my HR and tired legs, but I did either 5 0r 6 of the 3 minute intervals and none of the rests in between were more than 1 minute.

I read an article last night in Triathlete magazine about recovery and just accepted the fact that this morning was a workout done after only partially recovery from the last one...instead of getting frustrated, I decided to just observe/accept it, enjoy the sunny morning by the lake, and use the rest of today to try to recover for the rest of the week. I also got to see Seujan who I thought had gone to work already. She'd made a last minute schedule change to do her intervals this morning, too, and that brightened up the workout.

Summary:

17.6 miles total
1:04:49

6 x 3 minute intervals

Monday Double

The training week is off to a good start...had a good swim with Julie at swim team this morning and, as usual, we improvised a little off the workout on the board to add/delete what we wanted. That's the beauty of masters' swimming...if you don't want to do what the coach says, you don't have to! Being an adult has its privileges now and then.

At lunchtime, I went out to run hill repeats. They were to be 6 hills x 2 minutes long and I guessed that the hill on Broadway (halfway up the Howe St. stairs, then to the left) would be just about the right length and it was spot on. It's a nice street...totally residential with nice houses and a good distance to/from work for the warm-up/cool down. I was supposed to push the hills, but not take my HR over 160 bpm (i.e. simple panting, but not completely tripping on my tongue, was deemed adequate in the coach's design of this one--how merciful). I did hit about 163-164 on each one, but not for very long and they really weren't too awful. The sun was out and it was about 65-70 degrees, so it was nice to be outside for an hour and make a little vitamin D.

Summary of hill repeats:

Warm up: 1.72 miles, 17:40

Each hill was .22 or .23 miles and I jogged back down for recovery

Hill #1: 2:00: Avg HR = 153
2:25 recovery
Hill #2: 2:00: Avg HR = 152
2:24 recovery
Hill #3: 2:00: Avg HR = 153
2:24 recovery
Hill #4: 2:00: Avg HR = 155
2:29 recovery
Hill #5: 2:00: Avg HR = 154
2:29 recovery
Hill #6: 2:00: Avg HR = 154

Cool down: 1.58 miles 15:54

Total: 5.85 miles
57:52

Bertram's back

Seujan and I did a super uber-long ride/brick today. On the way to Logboom Park to start our ride this morning, "normal" people were spending the beginning of their Saturday in the various Starbucks we passed leisurely reading the paper and having coffee...on our way home, other normal (clean and not salt crusted like us) people were heading out for drinks and dinner with their friends. We, on the other hand, spent the entire day getting butt calluses (went through a LOT of chamois butt'r) and eating sugary synthetic food...then got take-out burritos and collapsed on the floor. We ARE nuts, but I think I'd still rather be us than them (well, most of the time anyway).

Coach said to do 115 miles on the bike today, followed by a 2-mile run. I'm quite proud of myself for designing a route for us that was right on the money: 115.4 miles. We did Logboom to Marymoor, around Lake Sammamish, then up to Snohomish, back through Monroe. It wasn't a ton of climbing, but we got in about 3,000 ft. including the 2ish mile climb up Woodinville-Duvall Rd. which hit at about mile 87.

Seujan hasn't been exactly enthusiastic about training lately and her nutrition on the bike has been, um, I'll just say it, crappy. But today, she ate on the bike like a champ and kicked my butt just like old times. We were really evenly matched on pace all day and it was really fun to ride together. We were both dreading the last 13 miles on the bike trail from Marymoor to the car...it's always windy and just drags on. But today, we were both smelling the barn and she put the hammer down. I followed her, and we finished the end of the ride really strong--I kept being surprised that we were holding a strong pace and not falling apart. The run was OK after the bike...legs were fine, but I got a bad double side ache 13 minutes in...I kept running, but it didn't really go away. I'm pretty sure it was because I didn't drink enough water with the perpetuem I was drinking on the bike...will try to adjust that next week.

On the way home, Seujan said, "Too bad the Ironman isn't a 112 mile bike and a 2-mile run like today..." I agreed, but guessed it'd be called the "Ironbike-pussy run" and neither of us would want a shirt with THAT on it.

4 weeks from tomorrow is Ironman...I only have one super long run and one super long bike ride left...there's a bit more hard training to go, but taper is just 2 weeks away. Holy crap, what the hell am I going to do in September????

Summary:

115.4 mile bike ride
7:15:20
Avg HR = 108
Max HR = 151

2 mile run
0:20:04
Avg HR = 134

Short long run

Yesterday was long run day and a "back-off" week, so it was only (yeah "only," am I crazy?) 13 miles. Since it was shorter I wanted a few small hills. I parked at Baker beach on Lake Wa. Blvd. and ran up through the Arboretum to my homemade water station at John & Judy's porch, back through the arboretum, down to Madison beach and then back down Lk. Wa Blvd...had to do a short out-and-back on the other end to get to 13 miles. It was supposed to be sunny by midday, but whoever was in charge of turning on the cloud-burner-offer must've hit the snooze 3 times yesterday morning and it didn't get sunny till at least an hour after I was done running. Anyway, did the 9 min. run/1 min. walk format and spent most of the run thinking about IMC. I have the run part of my race plan pretty well figured out and will give it a test drive next Thursday on the last and longest long run.

This morning was my Friday favorite routine with a lake swim and coffee/toast with everyone at the Essential Bakery. The only thing that would've made it more perfect would be a nap in the sun now, but you can't have everything...

Run summary:

13 miles
2:16:26 (Avg pace = 10:30)
Avg HR = 132 (151 max)

Bike hill repeats

Today's workout was hill repeats on the bike...since the sun has finally returned, we slept in this morning and "saved" the workout for late afternoon...I was psyched to get out in the sun again and Madrona provided the regular good healthy butt-kicking. I like that hill a lot, although it's a little tough to get to the top just to smell burgers at the Madrona Ale house and then do a U-turn back down the hill to climb it again...if that doesn't build mental toughness, what does?

Seujan got there after I did, so we were opposite on the ups/downs and yelled across the street to each other...still fun to kind of do hills together.

Each hill was .85 mile with 1.15 recovery (a little flat at the top then back down at the stop sign)

Summary:

Warm up: 4.25 miles

Hill 1.: 5:51 (avg HR = 147)
3:39 recovery

Hill 2: 5:54 (avg HR = 143)
3:43 recovery

Hill 3: 5:55 (avg HR = 143)
3:48 recovery

Hill 4: 5:59 (avg HR = 143)
3:38 recovery

Hill 5: 5:47 (avg HR = 145)
3:42 recovery

5 min cool down

Monday Interval Run

I didn't go to swim team this morning so I could get my interval run done early...will swim later on my own at the gym. It's our last day in West Seattle, so I ran at the Chief Sealth High School track this morning...way nicer than the track at Lower Woodland (and no mud--whoo-hoo!). The workout was a tough ladder (1-2-3-4-3-2-1 laps) and all 3 of the H-aches were and are feeling it. My mile time at the top of the pyramid was 7:46 -- pretty decent for me, considering the amount of training (and the lack of running speedwork) I've been doing lately. I just kind of winged it on the recovery times/distances till my HR got down to about 100 since I hate long rests in between intervals.

Run workout:

1200 warm up (7:15)

400: 1:51 (147bpm avg.)
1:02 recovery
800: 3:49 (153 bpm avg.)
1:30 recovery
1200: 5:55 (155 bpm avg.)
2:37 recovery
1600: 7:46 (160 bpm avg.)
3:13 recovery
1200: 5:49 (159 bpm avg.)
2:37 recovery
800: 3:54 (157 bpm avg.)
2:04 recovery
400: 1:52 (153 bpm avg.)
1:34 recovery

800 cool down: 5:34

Woof!

Here are the dogs who've been human-sitting us for the last week...their primary human comes home tomorrow, at which time I fear that Seujan and I will enter the doghouse after a week of spoiled dogs ("Sit. Off. Oh, screw it...good dogs want a treat?")

This is Caleb--who weighs the same as I do-- and likes to back up to the couch and sit on whoever is there, in this case me. Of course, he's not supposed to get on the couch at all, but who can argue with this much cute...and this big of a dog when he swivels and lands?

This is Zion and her not-so-good smelling toy squirrel.

The brick that wasn't...oops

The Seattle-impersonates-rainforest July has continued for the better part of the last 2 days and it's NOT making me happy, to say the least. Fortunately, however, I had a window of opportunity this morning and got in my ride with water and dirt only coming UP from the pavement and not DOWN from the sky. My bike and I had a filthy contest and it was a tie (more than one wet wipe needed per leg post-ride and still mosly just rearranged the crud...bike will be cleaned tomorrow).

Anyway, starting at the beginning of the day...Seujan and I got up and had coffee with the dogs (still housesitting) while watching at least 2 weather channels (I needed a second opinion, didn't like that one, either) and waffling about whether to ride indoors or outdoors and when. The dogs recommended and started to model an entire day of couch-surfing (we are going to be in a lot of trouble for allowing some bad habits), and Seujan and I made independent plans...she opted to go home and get on her rollers with a stack of DVDs and I went to Issaquah to ride outside. We both had to do 60 miles with 2 x 15-mile tempo/time trials thrown in the middle. I didn't remember until I was 2 miles out that it was also supposed to be a brick and I didn't have any other shoes besides flip flops in the car...CRAP. Although I really like bricks now, a barefoot brick didn't sound like a good idea, so I figured I better just bust ass on the ride and call it good.

I did both TTs on East Lake Sammamish again...there are some turnarounds and traffic, but it's possible to push the whole thing. I tried to attack the small hill both times (or maybe it was attacking me?) and felt my legs especially on the 2nd TT, but was happy with both intervals as I averaged about 20mph on both. Stopped at the car after each one, refueled, and did a nice 15 mile loop up 900, to May Valley Rd., and back down Issaquah-Hobart Rd. at the end. This was a good plan because coming down Issaquah-Hobart is always fast---it's a slight descent with a tailwind and it's great to feel really fast and strong at the end of a ride like that, even if it's falsely fortified. I'll take it.

Rest day tomorrow...

Summary:

7 mile warm up

15-mile TT #1:
0:43:55
Avg HR = 151bpm
Max HR = 166bpm

8 mile recovery

15 mile TT #2:
0:44:49
Avg HR = 148bpm
Max HR = 163 (?) bpm

15 mile recovery
------------------------------------------
61.3 miles total
3:26:00
Overall avg pace = 17.7 mph
Overall avg. HR - 134

Took it in the shorts

I always thought the phrase, "taking it in the shorts" was gender specific to men. Well, I'd like it noted that I've changed my thinking on this after receiving a chafing from my running shorts today that will have me walking for quite some time as if I've been horseback riding for a week. Note to self: buy some more tri shorts for long runs. Always interesting to see what the injury (aka war wound/medal of honor) of the week will be (long history on this as my college roommate, Sandy, used to have "coming out" parties for our team bruises on the days after our soccer games and photograph her black and blue legs).

Today was lllloooonnnngggg run day for both Seujan and me: 19 miles. Since we're dog-and- housesitting in West Seattle, the opportunity for a change of scenery presented itself and we both made up new water view routes. Seujan took off earlier than me and did a really big out-and-back from the house and I went over near Alki to do a double out-and-back from the opposite direction so I could exchange empty/full fuel bottles part way through at my car (ok, yeah, and having a flat route wasn't a tough sell, either). Fortunately, our routes overlapped and we saw each other twice. I tried to run with Seujan for a minute or 2, but as always, she was too fast for me. Alki is great as there are several water fountains and bathroom options, lots of dogs, and great views.

The run went well and I experimented a bit more on myself with another run/walk option (I now can barely remember when I boycotted the walk breaks and didn't want to do them). I did the first 12 miles (2:10) on the usual 9 minute run/1 minute walk schedule and I was already feeling a bit tired, so I went to a 4 minute run/1 minute walk for another hour. It definitely helped mentally and physically. After I hit the 3:10 mark, I just walked the last 1.65 miles to get to 19 miles and ate an Odwalla bar while walking to get the recovery started ASAP. I took splits on all 3 segments to look at avg. pace and HR to help with formulating my race plan for IMC. I already have my goal swim and bike times in mind and am close to nailing down my run goal.

After the run, I did a quick stretch and forced myself to get in the water for an "ice bath" (remember the chafe thing? Now let's talk about another term, "rubbing salt in a wound," OUCH). Not surprisingly, Puget Sound is a hell of a lot colder than Lake Washington and I could only take it for about 3-4 minutes. But I think it really helped...felt a bit less "tin man" than usual when I got out of the car. Got home and took a long hot shower, the steam of which set off the fire alarm and annoyed the dogs.

Summary:

19 miles
Total Time: 3:36:30

Chunks:
Doing 9 min run/1 min walk
11.96 miles
2:10:00 (=10:53 per mile avg. pace)
Avg HR = 133bpm

Doing 4 min run/1 min walk
5.4 miles
1:00:00 (11:07 per mile avg. pace)
Avg HR = 138 bpm

Walking
1.65 miles
0:26:28 (16:05 per mile avg. pace)
Avg HR = 105 bpm

July Rain

It appears I haven't blogged in about 5 days...oops. So, backing up a bit:

Fat Salmon: My yearly favorite event was great. The conditions were probably the best ever and, although I didn't "race it" and push super hard, my time was slightly faster than the last 2 years...there was no wind and no chop, and I'm sure that's why. I was 9th of 41 women for the wetsuit division and 5 of 11 in my age group. Respectable and more importantly, it was fun to do it with Seujan and some other people we know, it was a perfect sunny day, and the T-shirts were one of the best they've done!

I still felt the effects of last week and didn't do another thing all weekend to recover for this week.

Monday was a swim and short run double...started to get my mojo back, both were fine.

Yesterday, I took the day off to get in a medium distance ride and to take Ja'Narah to a basketball clinic at UW. The ride was good...I started in Issaquah and went out to Tiger Mountain...climbed it one way, then turned around and climbed it again from the other direction, then went around Lake Sammamish...46 miles and felt strong most of the way.

Today it is raining and totally crappy...apparently, the Weather Coordinator grabbed the "November" file instead of the "July" file when she threw together today's conditions (or she was hungover...or mad at me...or something). Rain was not in my plan...and we are house/dog sitting this week, so I don't have my trainer or "indoor bike" or the time to fetch any of those things. Thus...my only option was to drag my ass to the gym at lunchtime for a spin class...in my tennis shoes, as I also don't have the right bike shoes nearby. But I guess it served its purpose. I did 45 minutes and, I'm sure, pissed off the instructor because I didn't do much of what the class was doing...I wanted an aerobic ride so I just sat there and kept my HR between 130-140 the entire time and didn't do her "jumps," or sprints even when (how horrible is this?) she said to be "honest injun" with the resistance on the bike. I can't believe people actually say crap like that anymore...

Still recovering...

Since the near deathmarch bike ride on Tuesday, I've been mostly shooting for "active recovery" and working/figuring out a balance between slacking off and pushing the recovery week too hard/too soon. I think I have it in check, but who really knows. We had a nice swim in Penticton -at the beach where IMC starts-on Wednesday morning before the long drive home. Yesterday was a moderate 6-mile run and today I did an easy 23 mile bike ride and didn't take my HR monitor along. All 3 days things have felt "OK," not high energy, but not feeling like crap, either...maintenance. This weekend is the Fat Salmon 3.2 mile swim on Saturday morning (which I intend NOT to race, but we'll see if that works) and after that it's going to be recover and rest-o-rama until Monday. Next week the training steps back up and I'd plan to have the energy and enthusiasm back for it.

Vacation???

There's a reason there are no vacation brochures that advertise biking uphill into ridiculous headwinds in 97 degree heat. Because Seujan and I are the only people who do shit like this and call it a vacation. Today was the first day since I paid my $500 reg. fee for Ironman Canada that I've seriously called that decision into question...let's just say we had a tough day on the bike and at about mile 80 I asked Seujan "How many times do you think I can say the "F" word in my blog?" and used it about 7 times in the next sentence.

It sounded like such a good idea...recover from the race on Monday, hang out in Penticton, and ride the Ironman route on Tuesday...and I was really looking forward to it. The first 40 miles from Penticton to Osoyoos were awesome, scenic, and boosted by a tailwind...this good start foreshadowed an afternoon from hell and I said to Seujan as we blissfully cruised past the wineries, "I think we're going to pay for this..." Sure enough.

The Richter (Pass) was into a headwind, but I felt good and had a fun descent, hitting 46 mph. Then it all got really hard, Seujan got mad at me for a while, and my legs fell apart. My HR wasn't very high overall today because I just had nothing in my legs to push. The whole thing was just friggin' hard and I felt like I had nothing left for a llloonnnggg time.

Fortunately, Seujan decided she liked me and would talk to me again at our lunch stop in Cawston and then we went back into the goddam wind for another 40 miles. There are speed limit signs up here that hang from the top and swing freely...when these are horizontal and blowing toward you with an ominous creaking sound, it means it SHOULD be time to throw your bike over the guard rail, wave down the next of way too goddam many big trucks, and ask the driver to take you anywhere at a rate of speed higher than the 5 mph you've been going while you phone your coach and tell her she's fired. But for some reason we continued to pedal while those signs blew at us. The climb to Yellow Lake was much worse than we both remembered from last summer and by about mile 75 we were cracking each other up because laughing was really all we could do at that point...well, laugh, swear, and shake our heads in disbelief. I mean, really...a 2+ mile descent on an 8% grade and I got up to a whopping 25 mph? What a ripoff.

Somehow we limped back through town and to the hotel where we jumped into the pool.

My karma must've all cashed in during Sunday's race, but I think I've begun to earn a boat load more of it today...and I'm going to need it if I'm going to really do this friggin' Ironman in 6 weeks.

One more day of vacation!

Stats:
100 mile ride
7:00
Avg HR = 111

Race report-Desert Half Ironman

My planets were in alignment yesterday and I had a really good day. My race came off almost exactly like the race plan I wrote last week and it was really fun...this was a course built for me.

We woke up before the alarm about 4:30 and had plenty of time for coffee and getting to the race course...got a stellar parking spot about 50 ft. from the transition area. All went smoothly and we had plenty of time but not too much...before I knew it, I was looking for the right spot to hop in the water and we were swimming. There were only 2 waves for the swim start 2 minutes apart (we were in the 2nd one) and it was a beach start. The swim was much less of a shark fest than Blue Lake and I was hapipily surprised to have lots of open space almost immediately without any combat. Bumped into a few people when I started picking off some blue caps (somebody doing breaststroke, somebody else doing backstroke, several other peeps weaving around...) from the first wave, but overall the swim was great. I was a bit anxious in the first loop ("ohmygod, this is a Half Ironman" followed by "settle in, this is my confidence part of the race"), but the swim was long enough to hit my groove. We had to come onto the beach and around a buoy between loops, but this was good to clear my goggles and I flopped right back in. In the second loop I felt great and hit "the zone." Was already visualizing the bike and, at one point, forgot I was even swimming...coming in, I had my transition theme of "calm and efficient" in my head and thought through my T1 plan. My goal for the swim was under 35 minutes and I was in at 33:38. Sweet. Got the wetsuit stripped by the volunteers and got into T1 where I was the first person on my rack to come in...this, of course, was different later when I was last off the bike, but I do like the confidence building I get from the swim and having some real estate to myself in transition.

Took off on the bike and a guy told me that one of my bottle cages (brand new, unused...I know, I know...) attached to my saddle was loose. I jammed one of my 2 perpetuem bottles in tighter and kept on going. Right out of town, the climb up Richter Pass ("The Richter" as the race director calls it) started...within 2.5 miles I was in the lowest gear and headed UP with the sun high, a bit of a headwind, and a gorgeous view. People started dropping me early, as usual, but I just did my thing, kept a decent pace and started eating and drinking ASAP. A lot of the people passing me were breathing a lot harder than I was and I thought, "OK, they are RACING today...I'm on a fact-finding mission and am committed to staying within my ability and following my plan. Let 'em go." I knew the first aid station/bottle exchange was at the top and I wanted to drink a whole bottle of Nuun by then to toss the bottle...done, no problem, and took in some PowerBar and Perpetuem, too. The descent down The Richter was SO FUN. It was sunny, the view is amazing, and I hit 40mph...I kept thinking THIS right now is why I do this...it's so fun and I feel great. I also was thinking how much I love this climb and that I'd love to just ride up and down it when I remembered that oh yeah, we DO get to do it again on Tuesday...I'm on vacation! OK, back to the ride. Headwind continued, but some clouds came over and cooled things down for most of the ride...nice gift. The 7-8 rollers were tough, but short and kept things interesting...the course is basically out-and-back, but in a lollipop shape with a loop at the top; when I turned onto the loop, the apricot trees were blowing right at me...pain in the ass wind, but I knew I was paying it forward and the turnaround was soon, so I was getting psyched for the tailwind. Went through the 2nd aid station at about mile 25 and had to pee, but decided to wait till the last station. When I hit the turnaround, the tailwind was as sweet as I'd hoped...was easily cruising at about 23mph in the aerobars before the return of the hills. I missed seeing Seujan (bummer) as she was on the top of the lolliop loop, but I saw Jeff as he was turning onto it. The rollers were...the rollers. On the way back some of them looked steeper going up than I remembered they'd been coming down, but they were fine. I was happy I'd done hill repeats in training and felt fine taking them on; stood up to stretch out on some of them. Stopped as planned at the last aid station before The Richter...hydration had gone well and I had to pee for about 15 miles! Took a quick honey bucket stop, grabbed a banana from a volunteer, and headed up the last climb drinking perpetuem and water consistently. Somehow, the wind had done a reverse and, again, the climb up the pass was into a headwind...I asked (yet another) chick who dropped me, "Didn't we climb this in a headwind the first time?" and she said we had. The descent was way fun again, and I was starting to think about T2 and the run. I enjoyed the view and said out loud, "I'm having a GOOD day" to set my attitude for the whole day--it ain't over yet-- and get my head screwed on for the run, the anxiety producer of the day. This last descent was more windy than any of the others and it was a slight sidewind. I held on in the drops pretty tightly thinking, "Shit, Seujan is going to HATE this..." She did. Goal time for the bike was 3:30-3:45 and I was at 3:30:58...with the pee stop. Sweet.

T2 was fine; kept the "calm and efficient" mantra going, didn't break any speed records, but no major hitches. Headed out onto the run course with my Endurance shake in hand and heard the announcer say, "#404 heading out on the run, that's Ruth Frobe from Seattle..." The announcer is the same one who does IMC and, even though I was just going out onto the run, his voice prompted an emotional moment and I got a bit choked up...not sure exactly what happened, but I felt like I had asthma for about 4-5 breaths, reprimanded myself for being a major cheeseball, and settled in. I knew that the "mile" markers were going to be km markers, so I decided to take my splits at each 5k to monitor my pace and keep on plan (plus, Seujan was brilliant and had told me her mental strategy was to chop up the course into 5k segments which I liked). I stopped at every aid station to drink water and use the sponges (I have a new love and respect for the sponge...total lifesaver)...walked for a few steps only, and kept motoring through. I felt really really great for about the first third of the course and kept thinking "This isn't supposed to be so much fun," but I didn't let myself push harder--at that point, I definitely had more, but I figured it might not last. "Dont try to go out of your head...stay within your ability." I was right...I didn't get totally miserable, but I did push through a sideache about halfway and each 5k got a little slower. The course is a double out-and-back and you have to go past the damn finish 3 times before you get to go THROUGH it...of course, watching other fast guys getting done when you have another 10k to run. Sigh. A nice volunteer gestured me back onto the course (not toward the finish line) for my second loop and I half smiled and said, "How'd you know?" I got to pass Seujan 3 times on the run and exchange some good energy...she kept telling me she was proud of me which felt great...I was proud of me--and us-- too and I was really happy to see her out there. I also got to see Jeff and it was fun to push each other along out there. It was getting damn hot by the end and I was ready to be done. Goal time for the run was 2:14-2:30 and I did it in 2:14:49.

I had some gatorade and a swim in the lake to cool down and felt OK for a while. However, I was sitting in the sun for over an hour and, about 2 hours after I'd finished, I totally felt like crap and thought I might throw up and couldn't stand up...Seujan took good care of me and after she basically force-fed me at the air-conditioned awards ceremony (Jeff won a draw prize bike rack--whoo hoo!), I felt much better. We also stretched last night after beers, dinner, and gelato (to the victors go the spoils!) and today I feel good.

I'd hoped to go under 6:30 and I feel really great about doing it 10 minutes faster than that...I was 13 of 19 in my age group and solidly middle of the pack, but I think this could be my distance and my race in the future.

Summary:

2k swim: 33:38
T1: who knows, not on website
90km bike: 3:30:58 (including pee stop!)
T2: who knows, not on website
21.4 km run (damn run course slightly longer than supposed to be): 2:14:49
Total: 6:19:24