The Unexpected

The Unexpected

            I was asked recently what made me want to do an Ironman distance triathlon.  Without hesitation, the image of Julie Moss, a female completing the IM in Kona in 1982 popped in my head. She collapsed and was crawling to the finish, her legs and body were no longer under her control, yet her mind gave her the will to finish, and she became a legend in the sport. This is when I knew I wanted to do this race, when I was a mere 9 years of age. No, it wasn’t from that moment that I went around claiming this was my great destiny, but it was the moment the seed was planted that I could and would someday do this event.  When I gave that answer, I received a laugh with a head shake as if to show how absurd this all sounded. Really, it sounds absurd? Well I guess to some it may seem crazy, even downright unattainable. But for those who share my same “insane” desire, well they just get it, and for those who do not, well I hope one day they do get it. I hope they realize how powerful and freeing it is to ones soul to be able to overcome such an obstacle. To experience the magnitude of how it impacts your life by changing your outlook about yourself and your peers. How it enables you to put things into perspective that would otherwise seem unfeasible. It’s not that everyone has to do this kind of endurance event to feel the same way I do. I think each one of us can achieve this feeling by simply stepping outside of our comfort zones and conquering something bigger than ourselves.

            Just as in life, the journey of the Ironman is full of unexpected obstacles which give rise to the constant fluctuation of motivation and purpose behind completing it. When I started really thinking about training for this, I had ideas of grandeur and dreams of snagging a Kona spot. I saw myself breezing through the training, after all my endurance was great, and my running was only going to improve. But in an instant, in May of 2010, my nightmare of being plagued with injuries began. A pulled hamstring that arose from biking deemed it necessary for me to reassess my running capabilities and really pushed me mentally to the brink. Yes, I know for some of you the thought that I couldn’t run 7 days a week seems ridiculous to have pushed me to the brink of a mental breakdown, but it did. Running was my escape, it was easy, it was where I could turn my mind off, play with friends, and just let go. Not being able to have this was like a drug addict not having their next fix, only without the physical DT’s that come along with it. But the mental anguish, change in mood and temperament all were the same. Running was my drug, and in an instant it was taken away.

            The next 6-8 months became a battle of hamstring pain, butt pain, leg pain, and then the return of plantar fasciitis. Yikes, can a girl get a break (and her poor husband). Some would think that the logical thing to do would be to stop and just not workout, but this was not an option, I had Ironman on the brain, on the calendar, and in my heart. So since running was out, I turned to biking as my mainstay of exercise. For those close to me, they know that I hated biking, that it hurt, that my heart rate was always too high, and I really was not that skilled at it.  But I guess the old saying is true, Practice makes Perfect! After a year of biking indoors at spin class, on my trainer, with friends and finally outdoors, my ability improved. Now I’m able to hold 20 mph on average for over 60 miles on the bike with my heart rate in the 140’s. My legs feel great, I’m really not taxed, and I can hang with most guys now on the bike (not the serious bikers who hold 24-27 mph though J ). You would think I’m happy…... nope still not thrilled, as I’m still cursed with pain with running.

            So my dreams of Kona are by the wayside, but I still held out hope for a good time on the race, and was hoping to finish under 12 hours (ok really closer to 11).  As I continued to try everything on my leg, it actually improved and the constant burning down my leg was soon replaced with only pain in my foot, YEAH I CAN DO THIS. So I upped my mileage and speed on my running days, and things were falling into place. I was still struggling with every step I took, but it was just one body part hurting not my whole lower half, so I could manage. Well at least I thought I could. After every run, I would start to have more intense pain in my foot, and by the next morning, there were days that I couldn’t even walk on my foot for an hour due to the intensity of the pain. (all you plantar fasciitis people out there know what I’m talking about). Darin would just look at me, shake his head, say something of concern, and then go back to bed. He realized saying anything more was just a futile attempt, and it was usually too early in the morning to muster any desire to fight with me over my thick headedness.

            Again, reassessment needed to be made, and this time I decided I just wanted to finish the run without having to walk a 7 hour marathon. The idea of being in the blazing sun with high humidity, walking 26.2 miles with no iPod, no family support on the course, and knowing I would be in pain really started to sound like hell to me. So I gave up wanting a specific time, and now am focused on doing everything in my power to not walk the entire thing. It’s funny how you can feel good about a new goal even though it is so far from the original one.  As training continued, another unexpected setback came. One day running, the pain in my foot intensified and it lead to that all too familiar burn in my leg (OH HELL NO!). Yep, that pain was back and now I can’t do a thing. So without hesitation, I reached out to all my colleges who could heal me, started the dreaded steroids, had pain patches all over my leg, ice bags taped to different regions, and was using my mother’s scooter. Man I was a mess. Not to mention that I was pissy from this set back, but I was also in a steroid rage with PMS! I have to publicly apologize to my saint husband for making it through that week! Lol  In one of my many mumblings of misery at the pool, I remember the conversation I had with a friend (Jay) who mentioned that he had similar problems and used a therapist to help him, which worked. So I called up Whitaker Therapy and sang my sad tale to him. Yes he too thought I was nuts! After one session, the leg pain disappeared, YAHOO. But the foot pain was much more persistent and required a second session. My leg remains pain free, the heal pain is still present, but I’m able to run pain free for 9-10 miles at a time. My foot still hurts the next day, but is significantly reduced. So my sad tale of injuries should be over right? NOPE, I’ve now encountered another ache, pressure within my knee after running. There is no outward swelling, but I don’t have the ability to bend completely due to some type of inflammation within it. So I’ve been icing my knee which seems to have worked out great. Only problem is, as of 7/24/11, I apparently left the ice on too long and caused frost bite to my knee! MAN I COULD REALLY USE A BREAK. So I’m treating it with a lot of laugher, Silvadene cream, Motrin and throwing in a hope and a prayer for good measure.

            Yes the road to doing an Ironman is long and full of twists and turns that are not ever expected. It really is a test to the human spirit and perseverance. I sometimes wonder how much more pain I will experience the actual day of the race, and how it will compare to all that I have encountered so far. I imagine the race being something like childbirth. I know that it’s going to hurt and I’m preparing myself for the physical and emotional pain that I will endure. I know there is no turning back, and that I just have to continue to go forward till I reach the end, because that is the only option that is available! It’s that finish line that I’m looking forward to the most. Not because I will win it, or win my age group, or get money, but because I will have won something that no one can ever give me or take away, personal accomplishment with a dash of Euphoria.

IRONMAN CAMP

 

Last weekend I attended my first (unofficial) ironman camp, Amy Gluck style!  I headed to Kentucky with Amy (multi-time Kona Qualifier) and her friend Alan (multi-ironman finisher).  So to say that I was a bit intimidated was an understatement. My anxiety of traveling and training with these two people in an unknown area was extremely nerve racking.  I had visions of trying to stay with them on the bike course and getting lost and stranded in the horse farms of Louisville, nightmares of boinking and not being able to get back, concerns of ruining their training plans and never being invited to train with them again.  As a newbie to the Ironman distance, I really have no concept of what a REAL Ironman finisher does to make it to the race, and was feeling quit unprepared.  I have been putting in the time and effort, but being plagued with injuries and not training to the full potential that I feel I have, I was worried that it would really show, and would be considered very weak!             Friday came and Alan and Amy picked me up at work, with the car packed and bikes racked, we were off and driving! I’m not sure my nerves showed too much, but I can tell you, the chest pressure from envisioning the unknown was well in full force! But as the drive went on, I relaxed and really enjoyed their conversation and company, and took in all the stories, advice and tips that they had to offer. I laugh now to think that I must have looked like a little kid with my head tilted up with big bug eyes, wide with wonderment, with my mind reeling on how these too have done so many, and how I was going to learn to apply all their experiences to my race.             The hotel we stayed at was right off the highway, and was on the same road as the bike course for the race in August, so it was a perfect location. We headed to the bar after settling in, ordered up some important carb loading foods, 2 pitchers of beer with chips and salsa, and relaxed for a bit before we had to head to bed.  Our plans were made for a 90-100 mile ride in the am, followed by a 6 mile run. Cool, I could do this, after all, I heard the course had some rolling hills, and that didn’t seem to worry me too much.             Saturday morning rolled around, and we made our last minute preparations after eating a very large breakfast. Well some peoples' were larger than others. I have to say, seeing what they ate in the morning made me realize that my morning meals may not be sufficient. Not wanting to name names (cough, AMY!), someone had a Belgian Waffle, with two packets of maple syrup oatmeal placed on top of it, with a banana sliced on the very top for breakfast! This along with juice, coffee, and 2 enduralyte tablets. Wow, now that’s a breakfast of champions! Lol  It didn’t really compare to my bagel with peanut butter and coffee, maybe I was missing something here!             The weather was in the 80’s with extremely high humidity, which made the air feel so very thick. The sky had cloud cover, so I was thankful for the lack of blazing sun to add to the mix. We started our ride near the start of the ironman bike course and headed out of town to get this thing done. Alan led us, with Amy in the middle, and me heading up the rear. We started out with a comfortable pace around 19-20 mph on a relatively flat stretch of land. It was very scenic and allowed me to get into a comfortable pace, as well as helped flush out the mounting anxiety of not wanting to have to drop them too early in the ride. We started hitting the “rolling hills” which seemed easy to take on thanks to the draft of the two speedsters ahead of me.  As we reached the out and back section of the course, I was warned that I would encounter my first hill on the return stretch of the hill (and here I was thinking that I already had seen the hills). The first hill we encounter is a downhill, and they yell back, to be careful, it’s a long hill. YOU AREN’T KIDDING, this hill just twists and turns, and all you see are signs for “watch for falling rocks”!  As I’m speeding down the hill around 38-40 mph, there are riders heading up the hill, and they look like they are standing still! OMG, I have to go back up this thing, AAAAAHHHHHHHH! The hill was so fun to ride down; it almost trumped the feeling of dread about the return, almost! At the bottom of this monster hill, I was met with a pleasant uphill that Amy and Alan had no problem maneuvering up. Once at the top we had to continue on, and it was at this point that I realized that I needed a head start back up that hill if I was to stay with them, so I opted to turn around at the designated turnaround, while they rode further a little ways to help me make up time. The return climb seemed to come fast and furious after a fun descent, and I watched my speed go from 30mph (on a downhill) to a cool 6mph if I was lucky. The hill was maybe a half mile or more filled with dangerous blind turns, so I kept my eyes peeled on the yellow line looking for any crazy ass biker who may plummet down the road and cross the yellow line out of control.  In doing this, I just focused on my breathing trying to stay relaxed, increased my cadence (pedaling speed), and kept moving forward. Before I knew it, I was at the top and very excited to have tackled such a feat for me, wow, now that was cool. Amy and Alan found me, and we proceeded to make our way to the course’s 2 loop section of horse farm countryside.  As we begin the first loop, they tell me, that it’s here that I’m really going to hit the hills. WTF???? Didn’t I already do 30 miles of hills? What did I get myself into? So the anxiety of falling behind begins mounting in my chest again, and the thought of being left behind in the back hills of Kentucky was setting in as a real possibility. So I put my head down, stared at the wheel in front of me, and started my new chant of “don’t lose that wheel, don’t lose that wheel”. This seemed to help me until I was half way through the loop when I suddenly heard and felt rubbing on my front tire. I started fiddling with my front brakes thinking I could fix it while riding, but all I did was burn my fingers a little when I would hit the tire. By the time I knew I had to stop, I had fallen away so much that when I called out for them, they didn’t hear me. So there I am, stopped literally in the middle of horse farms by myself. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH It did come true.  I quickly assessed my tire, and thankfully it wasn’t flat, but my tire was bulging out in a spot and I had to let the air out some, push the tire side back in and fill it up with air, NO PROBLEM. I calmly started fixing the problem while saying hello to the nice black horse that stood watch over me by the nearby fence. I dug out my CO2 cartridge, and proceeded to fill the tire, well at least I tried. The darn connector was stuck, it has to slide backwards but it wouldn’t, it was stuck!!!!!!! So I tried letting some of the pressure off by unscrewing the cartridge, but no luck, it wouldn’t move. So I had to waste my whole CO2 cartridge, damn. As I grabbed for my second cartridge, I realized I had one with no threads so I couldn’t use it, and that meant I only had one left. One shot left to get it right and get out of here. OH SHIT. Quickly I started working on getting the adapter to slide backward to ensure it would work, and damn it was stuck. I couldn’t get it to loosen. WTF, I pushed, pulled, twisted, spit on it, cursed at it and then gave up. I even went so far as to try to call the bike store back in canton to see if they could give me any tips on how to make sure this last time would work, but I never got through. A biker came by, but didn’t even look at me or ask if I was ok! NOT COOL. A truck pulls up and wants to know if I need help. Seeing as how he’s a middle aged man alone in a large truck, I politely declined and he thankfully pulled away. So I gave one last try to get this thing to work, and what do you know, it started to move. YEAH I CAN DO THIS.  I attached my last cartridge, said a little prayer and proceeded to try to inflate the tire. HISSSSSSSSS, yes it’s working. The tire is inflated and I think to myself, “who was worried, not me I knew I had it all the time, well at least I hoped”. Lol  Just then Amy called me and said they were on their way back to get me, SIGH, what a relief! Once again we were on our way, enjoying the never ending shifting of the gears to accommodate the hills. We passed by the sharp turns, the gradual climbs and yes even the steep climbs without much fuss. As we started on the straight away, heading back to the beginning of the loop for our second go, I felt myself starting to fade in the heat under the pressure of the relentless hills, and resided with myself that it was ok if I let them go. I watched them get farther and farther away tackling the hills with the greatest of ease, while I struggled mentally to keep myself at a steady pace. Thankfully they waited for me at the beginning of the second loop, and we made our way in again to now tackle what I knew was going to be a lot of hard work. Sometimes I think ignorance is bliss! We made a pit stop at the gas station, and I never knew how good a coke and a payday candy bar could taste. I downed the coke, downed more water, refilled Gatorade, and realized how thirsty I really was, and that I had no urge to pee, uh oh, must be getting dehydrated.  It was then that I started taking enduralyte tablets, and let me tell you, these are life savers. All the cramps I started getting in my feet, calves, hamstrings, started fading away, ahh why didn’t I think of this sooner. I managed to keep up with Amy and Alan for a short straight away, and then let them go as we headed into the land of the horse farms. There was no way I could maneuver those hills with the same speed and stamina that they had. How the hell are they capable of that? This was my never ending thought of the day! Lol I managed to find my way out and back to the main stretch of road that takes me back home. But I distinctly remember them saying “the worse part of the ride is the long ride home”. Well they were not lying. Those hills just keep rolling up and down with no flat stretch of land, and I think I was praying to the bike gods to just let me get out of this ride before I cried and gave up! I now was uncomfortable, having to sit straight up to stretch off and on, repositioning on my seat as I felt certain unmentionable areas really start to burn, felt the searing ache in my shoulders/neck from holding the aero position for so long. This ride could certainly not end soon enough.  As luck would have it, I managed to drop my chain, get stopped by a car blocking the road right in the middle of an uphill, and have to fix my bag on my bike all in this relatively short time span. OH HAVE MERCY ON ME! Lol When I made it back home, I saw Amy and Alan already a mile or so into their run, and a renewed interest in this whole insane endeavor came over me, YES I CAN DO THIS. I got off my bike, ate a banana, downed more enduralytes, cooled off in the air conditioning while changing clothes and headed out. I actually felt great. How quickly I forgot about the searing pain of a few moments ago. It was almost like labor, going through horrible pain, only to experience euphoria. My legs felt great, not heavy surprisingly, no foot pain, I was going to be able to complete my set mileage, or so I thought. What I didn’t anticipate was a cramping/burning like pain that would surround the front of my ribs and make breathing evenly very difficult. When I slowed to a walk, the pain would subside, but when I would start to run, the pain would return. So what do you think I decided to do????  Of course I kept running! lol  But as I got a mile out, I realized that my legs still were holding up, but the chest pain was getting worse, so I headed back. After only 2 miles I called it quits and joined the rest of the group to chat. What a great day! I know some of you after reading this might not understand how I can say that this was a great day. But the feeling of accomplishment, the euphoric feeling that washes over you when it’s done, is better than any drug you can get on the street. And the beauty is, it was created by me and no one can take away this feeling and accomplishment. It’s overwhelming and really leaves you wanting more! The next day was to be all about running, and a 20 mile run was planned followed by an easy bike ride. We woke bright and early to start our run by 6am. Again my legs felt great, light and very bouncy. I actually had to force myself to keep a slow pace so not to aggravate my nagging foot/leg. First 5 miles was nice, second 4 miles felt well too. But it was at the dreaded 9 mile marker that my foot and leg decided to begin to burn, OH NOOOOOOOOOOO! I made it to 10 miles and then did a pity dance in front of the hotel. After this was complete, I decided to continue to try to run and see how far I could get. After hobbling another quarter mile, I then began to do the DAMIT dance, and stomped on home with a body full of anger and anxiety. Here I iced my foot till complete numbness set in, and wallowed in my self pity. Once Amy an Alan returned, I was eager to get on the bike and flush out my tension. We decided to do an easy 20 mile bike, and it felt great. The rain came down on us the last 2 miles home, and I think I laughed the whole way home as I was constantly sprayed by the rooster tail of water coming off Amy’s bike. What a great weekend. I never knew training could be so hard and yet so fun. With this weekend behind me, a new sense of calmness has replaced my dreaded fear of the unknown. But I have to admit there is just a little bit of anxiety left now knowing what lays ahead of me on the bike course, but I have 5 more weeks to prepare, and I hope to make the most of it!

Last weekend I attended my first (unofficial) ironman camp, Amy Gluck style!  I headed to Kentucky with Amy (multi-time Kona Qualifier) and her friend Alan (multi-ironman finisher).  So to say that I was a bit intimidated was an understatement. My anxiety of traveling and training with these two people in an unknown area was extremely nerve racking.  I had visions of trying to stay with them on the bike course and getting lost and stranded in the horse farms of Louisville, nightmares of boinking and not being able to get back, concerns of ruining their training plans and never being invited to train with them again.  As a newbie to the Ironman distance, I really have no concept of what a REAL Ironman finisher does to make it to the race, and was feeling quit unprepared.  I have been putting in the time and effort, but being plagued with injuries and not training to the full potential that I feel I have, I was worried that it would really show, and would be considered very weak!             Friday came and Alan and Amy picked me up at work, with the car packed and bikes racked, we were off and driving! I’m not sure my nerves showed too much, but I can tell you, the chest pressure from envisioning the unknown was well in full force! But as the drive went on, I relaxed and really enjoyed their conversation and company, and took in all the stories, advice and tips that they had to offer. I laugh now to think that I must have looked like a little kid with my head tilted up with big bug eyes, wide with wonderment, with my mind reeling on how these too have done so many, and how I was going to learn to apply all their experiences to my race.             The hotel we stayed at was right off the highway, and was on the same road as the bike course for the race in August, so it was a perfect location. We headed to the bar after settling in, ordered up some important carb loading foods, 2 pitchers of beer with chips and salsa, and relaxed for a bit before we had to head to bed.  Our plans were made for a 90-100 mile ride in the am, followed by a 6 mile run. Cool, I could do this, after all, I heard the course had some rolling hills, and that didn’t seem to worry me too much.             Saturday morning rolled around, and we made our last minute preparations after eating a very large breakfast. Well some peoples' were larger than others. I have to say, seeing what they ate in the morning made me realize that my morning meals may not be sufficient. Not wanting to name names (cough, AMY!), someone had a Belgian Waffle, with two packets of maple syrup oatmeal placed on top of it, with a banana sliced on the very top for breakfast! This along with juice, coffee, and 2 enduralyte tablets. Wow, now that’s a breakfast of champions! Lol  It didn’t really compare to my bagel with peanut butter and coffee, maybe I was missing something here!             The weather was in the 80’s with extremely high humidity, which made the air feel so very thick. The sky had cloud cover, so I was thankful for the lack of blazing sun to add to the mix. We started our ride near the start of the ironman bike course and headed out of town to get this thing done. Alan led us, with Amy in the middle, and me heading up the rear. We started out with a comfortable pace around 19-20 mph on a relatively flat stretch of land. It was very scenic and allowed me to get into a comfortable pace, as well as helped flush out the mounting anxiety of not wanting to have to drop them too early in the ride. We started hitting the “rolling hills” which seemed easy to take on thanks to the draft of the two speedsters ahead of me.  As we reached the out and back section of the course, I was warned that I would encounter my first hill on the return stretch of the hill (and here I was thinking that I already had seen the hills). The first hill we encounter is a downhill, and they yell back, to be careful, it’s a long hill. YOU AREN’T KIDDING, this hill just twists and turns, and all you see are signs for “watch for falling rocks”!  As I’m speeding down the hill around 38-40 mph, there are riders heading up the hill, and they look like they are standing still! OMG, I have to go back up this thing, AAAAAHHHHHHHH! The hill was so fun to ride down; it almost trumped the feeling of dread about the return, almost! At the bottom of this monster hill, I was met with a pleasant uphill that Amy and Alan had no problem maneuvering up. Once at the top we had to continue on, and it was at this point that I realized that I needed a head start back up that hill if I was to stay with them, so I opted to turn around at the designated turnaround, while they rode further a little ways to help me make up time. The return climb seemed to come fast and furious after a fun descent, and I watched my speed go from 30mph (on a downhill) to a cool 6mph if I was lucky. The hill was maybe a half mile or more filled with dangerous blind turns, so I kept my eyes peeled on the yellow line looking for any crazy ass biker who may plummet down the road and cross the yellow line out of control.  In doing this, I just focused on my breathing trying to stay relaxed, increased my cadence (pedaling speed), and kept moving forward. Before I knew it, I was at the top and very excited to have tackled such a feat for me, wow, now that was cool. Amy and Alan found me, and we proceeded to make our way to the course’s 2 loop section of horse farm countryside.  As we begin the first loop, they tell me, that it’s here that I’m really going to hit the hills. WTF???? Didn’t I already do 30 miles of hills? What did I get myself into? So the anxiety of falling behind begins mounting in my chest again, and the thought of being left behind in the back hills of Kentucky was setting in as a real possibility. So I put my head down, stared at the wheel in front of me, and started my new chant of “don’t lose that wheel, don’t lose that wheel”. This seemed to help me until I was half way through the loop when I suddenly heard and felt rubbing on my front tire. I started fiddling with my front brakes thinking I could fix it while riding, but all I did was burn my fingers a little when I would hit the tire. By the time I knew I had to stop, I had fallen away so much that when I called out for them, they didn’t hear me. So there I am, stopped literally in the middle of horse farms by myself. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH It did come true.  I quickly assessed my tire, and thankfully it wasn’t flat, but my tire was bulging out in a spot and I had to let the air out some, push the tire side back in and fill it up with air, NO PROBLEM. I calmly started fixing the problem while saying hello to the nice black horse that stood watch over me by the nearby fence. I dug out my CO2 cartridge, and proceeded to fill the tire, well at least I tried. The darn connector was stuck, it has to slide backwards but it wouldn’t, it was stuck!!!!!!! So I tried letting some of the pressure off by unscrewing the cartridge, but no luck, it wouldn’t move. So I had to waste my whole CO2 cartridge, damn. As I grabbed for my second cartridge, I realized I had one with no threads so I couldn’t use it, and that meant I only had one left. One shot left to get it right and get out of here. OH SHIT. Quickly I started working on getting the adapter to slide backward to ensure it would work, and damn it was stuck. I couldn’t get it to loosen. WTF, I pushed, pulled, twisted, spit on it, cursed at it and then gave up. I even went so far as to try to call the bike store back in canton to see if they could give me any tips on how to make sure this last time would work, but I never got through. A biker came by, but didn’t even look at me or ask if I was ok! NOT COOL. A truck pulls up and wants to know if I need help. Seeing as how he’s a middle aged man alone in a large truck, I politely declined and he thankfully pulled away. So I gave one last try to get this thing to work, and what do you know, it started to move. YEAH I CAN DO THIS.  I attached my last cartridge, said a little prayer and proceeded to try to inflate the tire. HISSSSSSSSS, yes it’s working. The tire is inflated and I think to myself, “who was worried, not me I knew I had it all the time, well at least I hoped”. Lol  Just then Amy called me and said they were on their way back to get me, SIGH, what a relief! Once again we were on our way, enjoying the never ending shifting of the gears to accommodate the hills. We passed by the sharp turns, the gradual climbs and yes even the steep climbs without much fuss. As we started on the straight away, heading back to the beginning of the loop for our second go, I felt myself starting to fade in the heat under the pressure of the relentless hills, and resided with myself that it was ok if I let them go. I watched them get farther and farther away tackling the hills with the greatest of ease, while I struggled mentally to keep myself at a steady pace. Thankfully they waited for me at the beginning of the second loop, and we made our way in again to now tackle what I knew was going to be a lot of hard work. Sometimes I think ignorance is bliss! We made a pit stop at the gas station, and I never knew how good a coke and a payday candy bar could taste. I downed the coke, downed more water, refilled Gatorade, and realized how thirsty I really was, and that I had no urge to pee, uh oh, must be getting dehydrated.  It was then that I started taking enduralyte tablets, and let me tell you, these are life savers. All the cramps I started getting in my feet, calves, hamstrings, started fading away, ahh why didn’t I think of this sooner. I managed to keep up with Amy and Alan for a short straight away, and then let them go as we headed into the land of the horse farms. There was no way I could maneuver those hills with the same speed and stamina that they had. How the hell are they capable of that? This was my never ending thought of the day! Lol I managed to find my way out and back to the main stretch of road that takes me back home. But I distinctly remember them saying “the worse part of the ride is the long ride home”. Well they were not lying. Those hills just keep rolling up and down with no flat stretch of land, and I think I was praying to the bike gods to just let me get out of this ride before I cried and gave up! I now was uncomfortable, having to sit straight up to stretch off and on, repositioning on my seat as I felt certain unmentionable areas really start to burn, felt the searing ache in my shoulders/neck from holding the aero position for so long. This ride could certainly not end soon enough.  As luck would have it, I managed to drop my chain, get stopped by a car blocking the road right in the middle of an uphill, and have to fix my bag on my bike all in this relatively short time span. OH HAVE MERCY ON ME! Lol When I made it back home, I saw Amy and Alan already a mile or so into their run, and a renewed interest in this whole insane endeavor came over me, YES I CAN DO THIS. I got off my bike, ate a banana, downed more enduralytes, cooled off in the air conditioning while changing clothes and headed out. I actually felt great. How quickly I forgot about the searing pain of a few moments ago. It was almost like labor, going through horrible pain, only to experience euphoria. My legs felt great, not heavy surprisingly, no foot pain, I was going to be able to complete my set mileage, or so I thought. What I didn’t anticipate was a cramping/burning like pain that would surround the front of my ribs and make breathing evenly very difficult. When I slowed to a walk, the pain would subside, but when I would start to run, the pain would return. So what do you think I decided to do????  Of course I kept running! lol  But as I got a mile out, I realized that my legs still were holding up, but the chest pain was getting worse, so I headed back. After only 2 miles I called it quits and joined the rest of the group to chat. What a great day! I know some of you after reading this might not understand how I can say that this was a great day. But the feeling of accomplishment, the euphoric feeling that washes over you when it’s done, is better than any drug you can get on the street. And the beauty is, it was created by me and no one can take away this feeling and accomplishment. It’s overwhelming and really leaves you wanting more! The next day was to be all about running, and a 20 mile run was planned followed by an easy bike ride. We woke bright and early to start our run by 6am. Again my legs felt great, light and very bouncy. I actually had to force myself to keep a slow pace so not to aggravate my nagging foot/leg. First 5 miles was nice, second 4 miles felt well too. But it was at the dreaded 9 mile marker that my foot and leg decided to begin to burn, OH NOOOOOOOOOOO! I made it to 10 miles and then did a pity dance in front of the hotel. After this was complete, I decided to continue to try to run and see how far I could get. After hobbling another quarter mile, I then began to do the DAMIT dance, and stomped on home with a body full of anger and anxiety. Here I iced my foot till complete numbness set in, and wallowed in my self pity. Once Amy an Alan returned, I was eager to get on the bike and flush out my tension. We decided to do an easy 20 mile bike, and it felt great. The rain came down on us the last 2 miles home, and I think I laughed the whole way home as I was constantly sprayed by the rooster tail of water coming off Amy’s bike. What a great weekend. I never knew training could be so hard and yet so fun. With this weekend behind me, a new sense of calmness has replaced my dreaded fear of the unknown. But I have to admit there is just a little bit of anxiety left now knowing what lays ahead of me on the bike course, but I have 5 more weeks to prepare, and I hope to make the most of it!

Last weekend I attended my first (unofficial) ironman camp, Amy Gluck style!  I headed to Kentucky with Amy (multi-time Kona Qualifier) and her friend Alan (multi-ironman finisher).  So to say that I was a bit intimidated was an understatement. My anxiety of traveling and training with these two people in an unknown area was extremely nerve racking.  I had visions of trying to stay with them on the bike course and getting lost and stranded in the horse farms of Louisville, nightmares of boinking and not being able to get back, concerns of ruining their training plans and never being invited to train with them again.  As a newbie to the Ironman distance, I really have no concept of what a REAL Ironman finisher does to make it to the race, and was feeling quit unprepared.  I have been putting in the time and effort, but being plagued with injuries and not training to the full potential that I feel I have, I was worried that it would really show, and would be considered very weak!             Friday came and Alan and Amy picked me up at work, with the car packed and bikes racked, we were off and driving! I’m not sure my nerves showed too much, but I can tell you, the chest pressure from envisioning the unknown was well in full force! But as the drive went on, I relaxed and really enjoyed their conversation and company, and took in all the stories, advice and tips that they had to offer. I laugh now to think that I must have looked like a little kid with my head tilted up with big bug eyes, wide with wonderment, with my mind reeling on how these too have done so many, and how I was going to learn to apply all their experiences to my race.             The hotel we stayed at was right off the highway, and was on the same road as the bike course for the race in August, so it was a perfect location. We headed to the bar after settling in, ordered up some important carb loading foods, 2 pitchers of beer with chips and salsa, and relaxed for a bit before we had to head to bed.  Our plans were made for a 90-100 mile ride in the am, followed by a 6 mile run. Cool, I could do this, after all, I heard the course had some rolling hills, and that didn’t seem to worry me too much.             Saturday morning rolled around, and we made our last minute preparations after eating a very large breakfast. Well some peoples' were larger than others. I have to say, seeing what they ate in the morning made me realize that my morning meals may not be sufficient. Not wanting to name names (cough, AMY!), someone had a Belgian Waffle, with two packets of maple syrup oatmeal placed on top of it, with a banana sliced on the very top for breakfast! This along with juice, coffee, and 2 enduralyte tablets. Wow, now that’s a breakfast of champions! Lol  It didn’t really compare to my bagel with peanut butter and coffee, maybe I was missing something here!             The weather was in the 80’s with extremely high humidity, which made the air feel so very thick. The sky had cloud cover, so I was thankful for the lack of blazing sun to add to the mix. We started our ride near the start of the ironman bike course and headed out of town to get this thing done. Alan led us, with Amy in the middle, and me heading up the rear. We started out with a comfortable pace around 19-20 mph on a relatively flat stretch of land. It was very scenic and allowed me to get into a comfortable pace, as well as helped flush out the mounting anxiety of not wanting to have to drop them too early in the ride. We started hitting the “rolling hills” which seemed easy to take on thanks to the draft of the two speedsters ahead of me.  As we reached the out and back section of the course, I was warned that I would encounter my first hill on the return stretch of the hill (and here I was thinking that I already had seen the hills). The first hill we encounter is a downhill, and they yell back, to be careful, it’s a long hill. YOU AREN’T KIDDING, this hill just twists and turns, and all you see are signs for “watch for falling rocks”!  As I’m speeding down the hill around 38-40 mph, there are riders heading up the hill, and they look like they are standing still! OMG, I have to go back up this thing, AAAAAHHHHHHHH! The hill was so fun to ride down; it almost trumped the feeling of dread about the return, almost! At the bottom of this monster hill, I was met with a pleasant uphill that Amy and Alan had no problem maneuvering up. Once at the top we had to continue on, and it was at this point that I realized that I needed a head start back up that hill if I was to stay with them, so I opted to turn around at the designated turnaround, while they rode further a little ways to help me make up time. The return climb seemed to come fast and furious after a fun descent, and I watched my speed go from 30mph (on a downhill) to a cool 6mph if I was lucky. The hill was maybe a half mile or more filled with dangerous blind turns, so I kept my eyes peeled on the yellow line looking for any crazy ass biker who may plummet down the road and cross the yellow line out of control.  In doing this, I just focused on my breathing trying to stay relaxed, increased my cadence (pedaling speed), and kept moving forward. Before I knew it, I was at the top and very excited to have tackled such a feat for me, wow, now that was cool. Amy and Alan found me, and we proceeded to make our way to the course’s 2 loop section of horse farm countryside.  As we begin the first loop, they tell me, that it’s here that I’m really going to hit the hills. WTF???? Didn’t I already do 30 miles of hills? What did I get myself into? So the anxiety of falling behind begins mounting in my chest again, and the thought of being left behind in the back hills of Kentucky was setting in as a real possibility. So I put my head down, stared at the wheel in front of me, and started my new chant of “don’t lose that wheel, don’t lose that wheel”. This seemed to help me until I was half way through the loop when I suddenly heard and felt rubbing on my front tire. I started fiddling with my front brakes thinking I could fix it while riding, but all I did was burn my fingers a little when I would hit the tire. By the time I knew I had to stop, I had fallen away so much that when I called out for them, they didn’t hear me. So there I am, stopped literally in the middle of horse farms by myself. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH It did come true.  I quickly assessed my tire, and thankfully it wasn’t flat, but my tire was bulging out in a spot and I had to let the air out some, push the tire side back in and fill it up with air, NO PROBLEM. I calmly started fixing the problem while saying hello to the nice black horse that stood watch over me by the nearby fence. I dug out my CO2 cartridge, and proceeded to fill the tire, well at least I tried. The darn connector was stuck, it has to slide backwards but it wouldn’t, it was stuck!!!!!!! So I tried letting some of the pressure off by unscrewing the cartridge, but no luck, it wouldn’t move. So I had to waste my whole CO2 cartridge, damn. As I grabbed for my second cartridge, I realized I had one with no threads so I couldn’t use it, and that meant I only had one left. One shot left to get it right and get out of here. OH SHIT. Quickly I started working on getting the adapter to slide backward to ensure it would work, and damn it was stuck. I couldn’t get it to loosen. WTF, I pushed, pulled, twisted, spit on it, cursed at it and then gave up. I even went so far as to try to call the bike store back in canton to see if they could give me any tips on how to make sure this last time would work, but I never got through. A biker came by, but didn’t even look at me or ask if I was ok! NOT COOL. A truck pulls up and wants to know if I need help. Seeing as how he’s a middle aged man alone in a large truck, I politely declined and he thankfully pulled away. So I gave one last try to get this thing to work, and what do you know, it started to move. YEAH I CAN DO THIS.  I attached my last cartridge, said a little prayer and proceeded to try to inflate the tire. HISSSSSSSSS, yes it’s working. The tire is inflated and I think to myself, “who was worried, not me I knew I had it all the time, well at least I hoped”. Lol  Just then Amy called me and said they were on their way back to get me, SIGH, what a relief! Once again we were on our way, enjoying the never ending shifting of the gears to accommodate the hills. We passed by the sharp turns, the gradual climbs and yes even the steep climbs without much fuss. As we started on the straight away, heading back to the beginning of the loop for our second go, I felt myself starting to fade in the heat under the pressure of the relentless hills, and resided with myself that it was ok if I let them go. I watched them get farther and farther away tackling the hills with the greatest of ease, while I struggled mentally to keep myself at a steady pace. Thankfully they waited for me at the beginning of the second loop, and we made our way in again to now tackle what I knew was going to be a lot of hard work. Sometimes I think ignorance is bliss! We made a pit stop at the gas station, and I never knew how good a coke and a payday candy bar could taste. I downed the coke, downed more water, refilled Gatorade, and realized how thirsty I really was, and that I had no urge to pee, uh oh, must be getting dehydrated.  It was then that I started taking enduralyte tablets, and let me tell you, these are life savers. All the cramps I started getting in my feet, calves, hamstrings, started fading away, ahh why didn’t I think of this sooner. I managed to keep up with Amy and Alan for a short straight away, and then let them go as we headed into the land of the horse farms. There was no way I could maneuver those hills with the same speed and stamina that they had. How the hell are they capable of that? This was my never ending thought of the day! Lol I managed to find my way out and back to the main stretch of road that takes me back home. But I distinctly remember them saying “the worse part of the ride is the long ride home”. Well they were not lying. Those hills just keep rolling up and down with no flat stretch of land, and I think I was praying to the bike gods to just let me get out of this ride before I cried and gave up! I now was uncomfortable, having to sit straight up to stretch off and on, repositioning on my seat as I felt certain unmentionable areas really start to burn, felt the searing ache in my shoulders/neck from holding the aero position for so long. This ride could certainly not end soon enough.  As luck would have it, I managed to drop my chain, get stopped by a car blocking the road right in the middle of an uphill, and have to fix my bag on my bike all in this relatively short time span. OH HAVE MERCY ON ME! Lol When I made it back home, I saw Amy and Alan already a mile or so into their run, and a renewed interest in this whole insane endeavor came over me, YES I CAN DO THIS. I got off my bike, ate a banana, downed more enduralytes, cooled off in the air conditioning while changing clothes and headed out. I actually felt great. How quickly I forgot about the searing pain of a few moments ago. It was almost like labor, going through horrible pain, only to experience euphoria. My legs felt great, not heavy surprisingly, no foot pain, I was going to be able to complete my set mileage, or so I thought. What I didn’t anticipate was a cramping/burning like pain that would surround the front of my ribs and make breathing evenly very difficult. When I slowed to a walk, the pain would subside, but when I would start to run, the pain would return. So what do you think I decided to do????  Of course I kept running! lol  But as I got a mile out, I realized that my legs still were holding up, but the chest pain was getting worse, so I headed back. After only 2 miles I called it quits and joined the rest of the group to chat. What a great day! I know some of you after reading this might not understand how I can say that this was a great day. But the feeling of accomplishment, the euphoric feeling that washes over you when it’s done, is better than any drug you can get on the street. And the beauty is, it was created by me and no one can take away this feeling and accomplishment. It’s overwhelming and really leaves you wanting more! The next day was to be all about running, and a 20 mile run was planned followed by an easy bike ride. We woke bright and early to start our run by 6am. Again my legs felt great, light and very bouncy. I actually had to force myself to keep a slow pace so not to aggravate my nagging foot/leg. First 5 miles was nice, second 4 miles felt well too. But it was at the dreaded 9 mile marker that my foot and leg decided to begin to burn, OH NOOOOOOOOOOO! I made it to 10 miles and then did a pity dance in front of the hotel. After this was complete, I decided to continue to try to run and see how far I could get. After hobbling another quarter mile, I then began to do the DAMIT dance, and stomped on home with a body full of anger and anxiety. Here I iced my foot till complete numbness set in, and wallowed in my self pity. Once Amy an Alan returned, I was eager to get on the bike and flush out my tension. We decided to do an easy 20 mile bike, and it felt great. The rain came down on us the last 2 miles home, and I think I laughed the whole way home as I was constantly sprayed by the rooster tail of water coming off Amy’s bike. What a great weekend. I never knew training could be so hard and yet so fun. With this weekend behind me, a new sense of calmness has replaced my dreaded fear of the unknown. But I have to admit there is just a little bit of anxiety left now knowing what lays ahead of me on the bike course, but I have 5 more weeks to prepare, and I hope to make the most of it!

Last weekend I attended my first (unofficial) ironman camp, Amy Gluck style!  I headed to Kentucky with Amy (multi-time Kona Qualifier) and her friend Alan (multi-ironman finisher).  So to say that I was a bit intimidated was an understatement. My anxiety of traveling and training with these two people in an unknown area was extremely nerve racking.  I had visions of trying to stay with them on the bike course and getting lost and stranded in the horse farms of Louisville, nightmares of boinking and not being able to get back, concerns of ruining their training plans and never being invited to train with them again.  As a newbie to the Ironman distance, I really have no concept of what a REAL Ironman finisher does to make it to the race, and was feeling quit unprepared.  I have been putting in the time and effort, but being plagued with injuries and not training to the full potential that I feel I have, I was worried that it would really show, and would be considered very weak!             Friday came and Alan and Amy picked me up at work, with the car packed and bikes racked, we were off and driving! I’m not sure my nerves showed too much, but I can tell you, the chest pressure from envisioning the unknown was well in full force! But as the drive went on, I relaxed and really enjoyed their conversation and company, and took in all the stories, advice and tips that they had to offer. I laugh now to think that I must have looked like a little kid with my head tilted up with big bug eyes, wide with wonderment, with my mind reeling on how these too have done so many, and how I was going to learn to apply all their experiences to my race.             The hotel we stayed at was right off the highway, and was on the same road as the bike course for the race in August, so it was a perfect location. We headed to the bar after settling in, ordered up some important carb loading foods, 2 pitchers of beer with chips and salsa, and relaxed for a bit before we had to head to bed.  Our plans were made for a 90-100 mile ride in the am, followed by a 6 mile run. Cool, I could do this, after all, I heard the course had some rolling hills, and that didn’t seem to worry me too much.             Saturday morning rolled around, and we made our last minute preparations after eating a very large breakfast. Well some peoples' were larger than others. I have to say, seeing what they ate in the morning made me realize that my morning meals may not be sufficient. Not wanting to name names (cough, AMY!), someone had a Belgian Waffle, with two packets of maple syrup oatmeal placed on top of it, with a banana sliced on the very top for breakfast! This along with juice, coffee, and 2 enduralyte tablets. Wow, now that’s a breakfast of champions! Lol  It didn’t really compare to my bagel with peanut butter and coffee, maybe I was missing something here!             The weather was in the 80’s with extremely high humidity, which made the air feel so very thick. The sky had cloud cover, so I was thankful for the lack of blazing sun to add to the mix. We started our ride near the start of the ironman bike course and headed out of town to get this thing done. Alan led us, with Amy in the middle, and me heading up the rear. We started out with a comfortable pace around 19-20 mph on a relatively flat stretch of land. It was very scenic and allowed me to get into a comfortable pace, as well as helped flush out the mounting anxiety of not wanting to have to drop them too early in the ride. We started hitting the “rolling hills” which seemed easy to take on thanks to the draft of the two speedsters ahead of me.  As we reached the out and back section of the course, I was warned that I would encounter my first hill on the return stretch of the hill (and here I was thinking that I already had seen the hills). The first hill we encounter is a downhill, and they yell back, to be careful, it’s a long hill. YOU AREN’T KIDDING, this hill just twists and turns, and all you see are signs for “watch for falling rocks”!  As I’m speeding down the hill around 38-40 mph, there are riders heading up the hill, and they look like they are standing still! OMG, I have to go back up this thing, AAAAAHHHHHHHH! The hill was so fun to ride down; it almost trumped the feeling of dread about the return, almost! At the bottom of this monster hill, I was met with a pleasant uphill that Amy and Alan had no problem maneuvering up. Once at the top we had to continue on, and it was at this point that I realized that I needed a head start back up that hill if I was to stay with them, so I opted to turn around at the designated turnaround, while they rode further a little ways to help me make up time. The return climb seemed to come fast and furious after a fun descent, and I watched my speed go from 30mph (on a downhill) to a cool 6mph if I was lucky. The hill was maybe a half mile or more filled with dangerous blind turns, so I kept my eyes peeled on the yellow line looking for any crazy ass biker who may plummet down the road and cross the yellow line out of control.  In doing this, I just focused on my breathing trying to stay relaxed, increased my cadence (pedaling speed), and kept moving forward. Before I knew it, I was at the top and very excited to have tackled such a feat for me, wow, now that was cool. Amy and Alan found me, and we proceeded to make our way to the course’s 2 loop section of horse farm countryside.  As we begin the first loop, they tell me, that it’s here that I’m really going to hit the hills. WTF???? Didn’t I already do 30 miles of hills? What did I get myself into? So the anxiety of falling behind begins mounting in my chest again, and the thought of being left behind in the back hills of Kentucky was setting in as a real possibility. So I put my head down, stared at the wheel in front of me, and started my new chant of “don’t lose that wheel, don’t lose that wheel”. This seemed to help me until I was half way through the loop when I suddenly heard and felt rubbing on my front tire. I started fiddling with my front brakes thinking I could fix it while riding, but all I did was burn my fingers a little when I would hit the tire. By the time I knew I had to stop, I had fallen away so much that when I called out for them, they didn’t hear me. So there I am, stopped literally in the middle of horse farms by myself. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH It did come true.  I quickly assessed my tire, and thankfully it wasn’t flat, but my tire was bulging out in a spot and I had to let the air out some, push the tire side back in and fill it up with air, NO PROBLEM. I calmly started fixing the problem while saying hello to the nice black horse that stood watch over me by the nearby fence. I dug out my CO2 cartridge, and proceeded to fill the tire, well at least I tried. The darn connector was stuck, it has to slide backwards but it wouldn’t, it was stuck!!!!!!! So I tried letting some of the pressure off by unscrewing the cartridge, but no luck, it wouldn’t move. So I had to waste my whole CO2 cartridge, damn. As I grabbed for my second cartridge, I realized I had one with no threads so I couldn’t use it, and that meant I only had one left. One shot left to get it right and get out of here. OH SHIT. Quickly I started working on getting the adapter to slide backward to ensure it would work, and damn it was stuck. I couldn’t get it to loosen. WTF, I pushed, pulled, twisted, spit on it, cursed at it and then gave up. I even went so far as to try to call the bike store back in canton to see if they could give me any tips on how to make sure this last time would work, but I never got through. A biker came by, but didn’t even look at me or ask if I was ok! NOT COOL. A truck pulls up and wants to know if I need help. Seeing as how he’s a middle aged man alone in a large truck, I politely declined and he thankfully pulled away. So I gave one last try to get this thing to work, and what do you know, it started to move. YEAH I CAN DO THIS.  I attached my last cartridge, said a little prayer and proceeded to try to inflate the tire. HISSSSSSSSS, yes it’s working. The tire is inflated and I think to myself, “who was worried, not me I knew I had it all the time, well at least I hoped”. Lol  Just then Amy called me and said they were on their way back to get me, SIGH, what a relief! Once again we were on our way, enjoying the never ending shifting of the gears to accommodate the hills. We passed by the sharp turns, the gradual climbs and yes even the steep climbs without much fuss. As we started on the straight away, heading back to the beginning of the loop for our second go, I felt myself starting to fade in the heat under the pressure of the relentless hills, and resided with myself that it was ok if I let them go. I watched them get farther and farther away tackling the hills with the greatest of ease, while I struggled mentally to keep myself at a steady pace. Thankfully they waited for me at the beginning of the second loop, and we made our way in again to now tackle what I knew was going to be a lot of hard work. Sometimes I think ignorance is bliss! We made a pit stop at the gas station, and I never knew how good a coke and a payday candy bar could taste. I downed the coke, downed more water, refilled Gatorade, and realized how thirsty I really was, and that I had no urge to pee, uh oh, must be getting dehydrated.  It was then that I started taking enduralyte tablets, and let me tell you, these are life savers. All the cramps I started getting in my feet, calves, hamstrings, started fading away, ahh why didn’t I think of this sooner. I managed to keep up with Amy and Alan for a short straight away, and then let them go as we headed into the land of the horse farms. There was no way I could maneuver those hills with the same speed and stamina that they had. How the hell are they capable of that? This was my never ending thought of the day! Lol I managed to find my way out and back to the main stretch of road that takes me back home. But I distinctly remember them saying “the worse part of the ride is the long ride home”. Well they were not lying. Those hills just keep rolling up and down with no flat stretch of land, and I think I was praying to the bike gods to just let me get out of this ride before I cried and gave up! I now was uncomfortable, having to sit straight up to stretch off and on, repositioning on my seat as I felt certain unmentionable areas really start to burn, felt the searing ache in my shoulders/neck from holding the aero position for so long. This ride could certainly not end soon enough.  As luck would have it, I managed to drop my chain, get stopped by a car blocking the road right in the middle of an uphill, and have to fix my bag on my bike all in this relatively short time span. OH HAVE MERCY ON ME! Lol When I made it back home, I saw Amy and Alan already a mile or so into their run, and a renewed interest in this whole insane endeavor came over me, YES I CAN DO THIS. I got off my bike, ate a banana, downed more enduralytes, cooled off in the air conditioning while changing clothes and headed out. I actually felt great. How quickly I forgot about the searing pain of a few moments ago. It was almost like labor, going through horrible pain, only to experience euphoria. My legs felt great, not heavy surprisingly, no foot pain, I was going to be able to complete my set mileage, or so I thought. What I didn’t anticipate was a cramping/burning like pain that would surround the front of my ribs and make breathing evenly very difficult. When I slowed to a walk, the pain would subside, but when I would start to run, the pain would return. So what do you think I decided to do????  Of course I kept running! lol  But as I got a mile out, I realized that my legs still were holding up, but the chest pain was getting worse, so I headed back. After only 2 miles I called it quits and joined the rest of the group to chat. What a great day! I know some of you after reading this might not understand how I can say that this was a great day. But the feeling of accomplishment, the euphoric feeling that washes over you when it’s done, is better than any drug you can get on the street. And the beauty is, it was created by me and no one can take away this feeling and accomplishment. It’s overwhelming and really leaves you wanting more! The next day was to be all about running, and a 20 mile run was planned followed by an easy bike ride. We woke bright and early to start our run by 6am. Again my legs felt great, light and very bouncy. I actually had to force myself to keep a slow pace so not to aggravate my nagging foot/leg. First 5 miles was nice, second 4 miles felt well too. But it was at the dreaded 9 mile marker that my foot and leg decided to begin to burn, OH NOOOOOOOOOOO! I made it to 10 miles and then did a pity dance in front of the hotel. After this was complete, I decided to continue to try to run and see how far I could get. After hobbling another quarter mile, I then began to do the DAMIT dance, and stomped on home with a body full of anger and anxiety. Here I iced my foot till complete numbness set in, and wallowed in my self pity. Once Amy an Alan returned, I was eager to get on the bike and flush out my tension. We decided to do an easy 20 mile bike, and it felt great. The rain came down on us the last 2 miles home, and I think I laughed the whole way home as I was constantly sprayed by the rooster tail of water coming off Amy’s bike. What a great weekend. I never knew training could be so hard and yet so fun. With this weekend behind me, a new sense of calmness has replaced my dreaded fear of the unknown. But I have to admit there is just a little bit of anxiety left now knowing what lays ahead of me on the bike course, but I have 5 more weeks to prepare, and I hope to make the most of it!

The Swim

The Swim

            Yesterday, I attempted my first long distance swim without stopping, and made it to 3300meters (just over 2 miles). This was a feat for me, as my longest swim prior to this was 1.25 miles in a race. I actually could have swam longer, but my bladder was about to burst, and seeing as how I was in a community pool, I wasn’t about to pee in it. I had visions of a yellow stream following me, or even worse, a blue chemical reaction as heard of in the childhood horror stories. Lol

But this day was just an ordinary day, swimming in a lap pool that was 50 meters long. (For those who don’t know the difference, a regular lap pool in your standard gym or YMCA is usually 25 meters in length, and a 50 meter pool would be considered Olympic distance).  In a 25m pool, I usually get bored of flipping back and forth so much, and start feeling like a hamster on a wheel, but in the 50m pool, I could really get a rhythm going with my stroke. I assessed the lanes to look for people of similar speed as me, and jumped in to start my swim. Now for people who know me, they know I hate to practice swimming. So the idea of swimming this length without having anyone to force me allowed my brain to play tricks on me, and so the bargaining and rationalizing with myself to stop early started! Oh what a persistent thing the brain can be, I came up with elaborate ideas of how I could stop, and still somehow gain the strength and endurance needed to tackle the Ohio River and the thousands of people who will be swimming in it with me. These thoughts soon faded when I was faced with constantly having to swim around the slower swimmers in my lane, and got caught up in the process of not getting hit head on when overtaking them.

                        For those non swimmers out there, there are rules to lane sharing, which

                                must be understood and agreed upon before entering the pool;

1.      Swim with others that are your speed

2.      ALWAYS ask if you are to swim in a circle or stay to one side

3.      Don’t swim on top of someone, either pass or BACK OFF

So after the slower people left the pool, I was left with nothing but my thoughts, and they

were all good, UNTILL….. that fast guy joined me unannounced!!!!! I was about 1.25 miles into my swim, when I went to touch the wall and head back down the lane. I was minding my own business (which translates into not paying attention), and touched the wall and started to turn around, when all of a sudden, I came face to face (literally less than an inch) with a green Speedo wearing ASS. Yep I said it, I had this guys A#$ in my face, my nose almost hit him as he did his glorious flip turn, and then speed away. WTF!!!!!!!!  Well it looks like I have company now and he’s here to stay with his speedy swimming. So I carried on, but then there he was again, except this time he was right in front of me doing the back stroke. He was too fast to pass, and slowing down was hard since it was screwing up my rhythm, so there I stayed, hot on his heels, feeling like I was in a never ending current against me. It stayed this way for about 400 meters. WTF, who does that much back stroking? Maybe he was annoyed with me being all up in his business, but really, what could I do? Then during all this fun, another 2 guys joined the lane, and it seemed every time they passed by on the opposite side, that their splash was perfectly timed to coinside with my breathing. This caused me to choke and cough a few times in a never ending attempt to clear my lungs. UGH. Finally Mr. Backstroke started to do freestyle, but that wasn’t any better, because he was a lane hog, and I think we smashed hands at least 3 times. But I wasn’t about to go to a different lane.  I chalked it up to training for the IM, and now all I needed was for him to swim up on my back a few times and then kick me in the face, and my reality training would be all set. Humph!  A few times he would give me a look when he was resting and I kept going. I’m sure he was cursing the fact that he was going to have to pass me again, but he joined my group, so I was staying put. And anyways, I was moving pretty fast, I mean after all, I was going faster than the other people in the next few lanes. So I continued on my swim, and I found it humorous that I was finishing my swim without the mental torture that plagued me when I started. Eventually, my bladder got the best of me and I had no choice but to get out and go to the bathroom.

            I have spoke with a few people about my bladder ending swim, and I was surprised to hear, that many of these career swimmers, would have just peed in the pool. WHAT WHAT WHAT? These are adults telling me that they have always just peed during their long workouts because either they weren’t allowed to get out when in a team setting, or that they just had to stay the course on their workout. YUCK! This now brings up a whole new dilemma to swimming. I used to feel secure swimming in the adult portion of the pool, away from all those leaky swimmer diapers and kids who were devious, but now I have to worry about the guy in front of me peeing in my face!!!! This is just too much for me to comprehend! So for anyone who swims with me, you don’t have to worry, I will get out if I have to pee. And you can bet your sweet pitutty that I’ll be adding another question to my swimming etiquette, “Do you pee in the pool”?

                               

A Different Path

A Different Path

            A typical day for me is a morning that consists of some type of training. Saturday I woke and had my usual breakfast of coffee and a banana, got dressed and headed out for a run. But this day was different, I was staying at my in-laws place in Grass Lake, and I was running by myself. So I only planned on doing 6 miles since I was out in the country and really wasn’t familiar with the surroundings. As I took off in the humid morning, I was thankful that I coated myself with bug spray as I was running in a dense tree lined area. The bugs swarmed and followed me, circling my head just waiting for an opportunity to dive bomb me and suck my blood. I must of looked silly flailing my hands around my face to swat some of the bigger bugs, like the giant horse flies! SHO FLY!

            2.5 miles in to the run, I was supposed to turn to the right, but when I looked down to the left, it looked intriguing, so I took a different path, and headed into the unknown. This new direction was lovely, filled with rolling hills, horses, weeping willow trees, and lovely farms as far as the eye could see. There were some homes that were quite run down, and yes my thoughts did wander to the scenes of deliverance with the banjo song along with some other scary scenarios. But I quickly laughed, looked around, and kept running forward.  Each step I took was exhilarating; I felt a mix of emotions swinging from uneasy to relaxed. I felt like an explorer setting eyes on a new horizon, because now I found a new path that not only was challenging, but peaceful. I kept thinking about what if I didn’t make that decision to change the course of my run, how I would of missed out on such a beautiful area, and it made me think of people who never step outside of their comfort zones. How very sad I was for them. I think every manager, CEO, and president should be forced to run long distances by themselves, because as a lot of you know, when you do this, you solve all of the worlds’ problems, and you feel great about them when you finish. It’s the most liberating feeling ever.

            People ask me all the time, why do you run for so long, how can you do all that training, how do you find time to do it, how do you know so many people who do those same things, don’t you get bored? And I’ve always answered with a shrug of my shoulders and just say, because I love doing it, and I have found a great group of friends that love doing the same thing as me. But if I analyze this question more, I realize that I do it because I’m young at heart, I love to play, and that when you play, you always find others that like to play too. Yes training is a lot of hard work, and can be tedious and lonely at times, but all of that pales to the pure enjoyment of running and training with friends.  When was the last time you ran in a slow falling snow storm, or in the hills of a single wide cross country trail away from everything, when do you laugh and act silly for hours on a regular basis, or jump and run in mud puddles, when do you race really fast on your bike downhill and feel the wind rush over you, or get soaking wet in a rain storm???? These are things that I get to do regularly with my friends, which I wouldn’t give up for the world. Being a kid at heart and acting like one is the best gift I have ever given myself.

            So back to the idea of taking a different path, I really like to encourage people to try stepping out of their normal routine and to try something different, uncomfortable, and sometimes scary. Because when you do this, you just might find out how much you enjoy that experience. Life is too short not to try everything once and to discover what you’re true talents may be. My change of path took me from a 6 mile run to a 12 mile run, and I loved every minute of it; aside from the bugs that stayed with me the whole way! So ask yourself, when was the last time I truly stepped out of my shell, when have I thrown caution to the wind and loved it? If you can’t say you have done this recently, then look for new opportunities where you can do this. If anyone has any stories to share about what you have done recently, I would love to hear about them!