Ironman Louisville

Have a meeting with admissions advisors at the KU PT school tomorrow at 1 p.m. Not nervous (and it might be too late) but I'm going to see if I can get into 1 or 2 classes in January. Wasn't going to, but I think it will be a lot less stressful if I can break my classes into smaller chunks in order to complete all the pre-reqs. It's pretty late so I have no idea if it is a possibility at this point .......but you never know til you try.

Wish me luck.

Still trying to write the race report...............almost 3 months later.

Tonight I read through the last few posts I had written - I'm a HORRIBLE writer. Why didn't anyone tell me??

There was a lot of thought about signing up to do IM AZ in '09, or possibly Florida. Due to some recent changes, I'm glad I didn't sign up for another 7 months of training and $500 race fee. My last day with Sprint (hopefully) will be January 30th. I put my name in for a voluntary separation package and will find out if it's approved on Dec 12th. I wanna be a physical therapist when I grow up!

My current plan is to work as hard as I can until June and start undergrad classes in the summer; I won't have time to start in January as I had hoped. I will, however, take advantage of those 5 months by job shadowing every different type of physical therapist I can find in the KC area in the hopes that it will give me an edge during the interview process for grad school.

Just got another email from the guys:

 

 It's getting close...only 8 more days. With the tapering now there is time to wonder if I trained enough and to really notice how tired and drained I am. The training is either there or it isn't, there's nothing I can do about it now. The fatigue is just a normal part of tapering, which I knew about and expected, but when you take your training down by more than half it's hard to justify being so freaking tired. 

I'm focusing now on enjoying the short taper training I have left and shopping/planning for the trip. Have to figure out how I'm going to get myself that red bull at mile 75 on the bike portion!

Before our ride last night Sheryl took pictures of me and Ann to use for the silhouette race picture/banner thing she's designing. There are 8 of us going to Louisville (5 men, 3 women) and she'll put all of our silhouettes in a design somehow....she's good at what she does so I'm sure it will look awesome; I can't wait to see it. Everyone is either in swim, bike, or run mode except for me - I'm just standing in my running shorts and hat and kind of looking off in the distance. It fits me because I'm more model than triathlete. (Please note sarcasm)

For some reason I have also been getting irritated at the smallest things the last two days; I feel bad for Hotzie because he is definitely taking the brunt of my attitude. :(  I really am looking forward to the race, as I have stated before, but the nerves are starting to kick in. I have already talked about this with Sheryl, and it's ridiculous, but an email that was going around among some of the guys I know that train and race took away some of my joy and added fear. It had the estimated race times of everyone going to Louisville. The guys are all great athletes and their times were anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour off their best showings. The estimate they had for me? One said 12:05 and another said 12:20. Now I appreciate the compliment, if they really meant it, but it is physically not possible for me to post that kind of time; I have calculated and reacalculated and unless I use someone else's body on Aug 31st I'm not even going to beat my 13:24 PR. I have decided that life is too short to worry about it, though. I'm going to do the best I can and try to be happy the entire time. I really do know, deep down, that I am ready for this race. I might not be fast, but how many people can say they've done 2 Ironman races? Plus I have a backup plan of signing up for Silverman in Nov if something goes wrong and I don't finish the race in KY. One thing at a time, though.

 Migraine yesterday; started at 7:45 a.m. Went to work for a bit but then had to go home and sleep. Got another one this morning at 7:15 a.m. but not as severe. I will leave to try and swim in a few minutes....not sure how that will work out. 

Sonofabitchin dehydration.

The weather was not exactly what I hoped for my peak weekend of training, but I have made it through and am not complaining. We went from a high of 108 and serious humidity on last Saturday's ride to 70's and torrential downpour for this Saturday's 100 miler. The ride should have been a bit longer but at mile 20 it started misting, at mile 25 it was raining, and by mile 50, when we stopped quickly to refill water, we were soaked and freezing. We turned around to get back to the same gas station we always stop at miles 25/75. Leaving there, even colder still, it started raining so hard I could barely see. Luckily I always ride in all black so I'm easily spotted by traffic coming up behind me at 50+ mph. Once hitting mile 100 and back at the starting point, I put on the runnin' shoes and headed out for a 3 mile run; my legs felt awesome and it didn't take any time at all to find my stride.

Sunday morning - a bit tougher. I had intended to start at 5 but there just isn't enough light that early anymore. Instead I met my friend Suzy at the park at 6 and we started running shortly after. She's training for the Chicago marathon and only had to do 12 but that fit nicely into my 22 mile schedule. We did her 12 as an out-and-back so when I got to the car to refill water I only had 10 miles to go. My legs had been very sore when I woke up and were still very tired. Mentally I was hanging in there but I knew that having some company, at least for the last 5 miles, would be a life saver. I sent Becca a text that said, "I'll be at Leawood Park 5 miles from now...hope to see you there!". In awesome friend fashion she really was there and I was so happy/relieved/ecstatic/in pain. I came up over the hill and she started yelling for me (as she always does, even when we're at work) and we took off for the last 5 miles of the last Ironman training I will ever do. This training run was extremely beneficial and not just because of the distance - I needed to run that long with extremely tired legs to get a reminder of how it feels. On race day it will be that much easier to deal with in my head knowing that I've done it before and can make it through. 

Only 20 more days before the race and I am so ready. I no longer have that "I can't wait to get this over with" feeling - I am really and truly looking forward to seeing how well I do out on the course. I don't have the advantage of not knowing what I'm in for this time, but I do feel that I'm stronger, physically and mentally, than I was before. It took me 6 months to get here but I am now focused 100% on nutrition, hydration, and vitamins (better late than never). 

I'm ready to knock this sht out.

I'll start out by saying I am not dreading the race anymore. Exciting stuff! I'm not sure I'll ever forgive myself, though, for missing the best music weekend ever in Vegas: Aug 1 was Crue Fest and Aug 2 was Rod Stewart; I would have been in heaven, not to mention all the sinning I could have done (and thoroughly enjoyed) for the 3 days I would have been there. Well, if it's ever Rod Stewart, Motley Crue, and Scissor Sisters I will move anything and everything necessary to attend. 

So instead of rocking out, singin' along, and drinking my body weight in vodka I was on a bike Saturday for 80 miles. Not the best ride I've ever had, but it might have been the hottest. My legs just wouldn't work from the time I got on the bike til the end, but we still managed to average 16.5, which isn't bad for us on a long ride. The heat when stopped at a stoplight was absolutely stifling; sun beating down, heat coming up from the pavement, and heat coming off cars made it feel as though we were baking alive. Afterwards we did a super short run, just 10 minutes, but I'm glad to report that I felt really good for that 10 minutes. I really think I'm physically ready for this race, as long as the heat is not ridiculous. 

The best breakthrough was my 20 mile run on Sunday. Becca and I started at 5 a.m. and, although there was absolutely no light, there was 110% humidity with heat thrown in to keep it fun. I implemented a run 20 minutes/walk 2 minutes plan that made me feel like a rock star all the way through to the end. I have never felt so good on a long run ever; I have been plagued by extreme fatigue and heavy legs for the last 3 miles of all runs over 14 miles until now. The last 10 were on my own which gave me the opportunity to stay strong all the way to the end while running alone. Up until this point I have been vehemently opposed to having to walk in any race but I have now been converted; if I feel even half that good during my race I will definitely post a good time (for me). 

I am hoping to head out to my aunt's lake cabin in the next week or so to do the 2.4 mile swim and see how it feels - my arms have been tired in the pool lately which is not normal for me. 

My attitude overall has imporoved 1,000% and I am ready to get this race underway! I just read the race report of a friend that did Ironman Germany and it got me excited. I remember that nervous feeling while packing transition bags and going through bike check-in, the even more nervous feeling of lining up next to the water, and how you are absolutely euphoric when feeling good during the bike or run. Even during training, when you've been out there for a really long time and feel strong, it feels as though you're a superhero and can conquer anything. The mental pictures I get during these times are hilarious: I imagine people on the sidewalk or next to the trail stopping what they're doing to watch me and thinking, "wow, that girl is fast! she looks so natural!". In real life this is not the case, I know, but that's why daydreaming is awesome - not only do I look great and strong, but I'm also minutes ahead of the pro field in KY and showing no signs of fading. Oh, and I have 13% body fat, too (in my daydreams I'm super fit but still have a great rack which ups the body fat %).

This weekend: 100 miles on Saturday followed by 5 mile run
Sunday: 22 mile run using my new walk/run method.

My whole outlook on this race changed Saturday afternoon - in a good way!. Friday I was completely dreading (obviously) going for my long ride so I decided to email Sheryl, a woman I know that's doing Louisville as well. She said I was more than welcome to meet her and 2 other women to ride 100 miles at 6:30 a.m. Just knowing I was going to have people to ride with made me feel a million times better. 

We took off a little before 7 and rode 25 miles to Gardner before stopping to get ice and more water. Rode another 25 out to Vinland, KS where there is a tiny church with a cold water well behind it for more bottle refills. Not really a populous place, that Vinland, but I did have the waistband of my shorts about mid-thigh and my blindingly white derriere out saying "hey" while applying more body-glide to sensitive regions right when a crop duster flew over. Still trying to figure out why he circled back around about 3 more times............odd. 

I started to get a little tired around mile 70. We had totally lucked out as far as cloud cover and not too much wind for most of the morning but now it was getting pretty warm, the sun was out, and the headwind was starting to affect my legs. We stopped at the same gas station in Gardner at mile 75 and I ate a powerbar (which normally I can't stand but tasted like a million bucks right then) and a regular, fully leaded, Red Bull - that stuff is like rocket fuel! It was blazing hot for the last 25 but I felt better than I have ever felt on a long ride in my life. There was a pretty decent small hill at mile 99 and I felt like I dominated!! I was so, so happy. The best part? I honestly felt like I could ride another 20 miles no problem - that's what I'm talkin about!!! Maybe this race won't be so bad after all. 

Started my run on Sunday around 7 and was pleasantly surprised at how good my legs felt; normally after a long ride my legs are totally shredded and it takes me a good 4 miles before I feel like I've found my stride. The first 4.5 miles went well and I started to feel even better around mile 7. I turned around at mile 9 to head back and was just waiting for the pain - it came at mile 15. Now I have never been a good runner in the first place but I can usually feel good for 12 miles.....and complete crap after 14 or 15. It's a work in progress. I am back to my theory now that the last 3 miles of my runs are where the mental issues start. At 15 I let myself walk for 1.5 minutes and then ran to mile 16. I walked for 2 minutes then and running after that short walk was downright hurtful. My knees felt swollen, I could have sworn one of my toenails was falling off, and my legs were tired. Even the muscles in my shoulders felt like they were wound so tight that moving my head to the left or right made them scream. At 17.25 I was at the bottom of the hill that goes up 3/4 of a mile to my house. Running up that hill did not happen and I have no excuses; I flat-out could not run anymore at that point.....or so I thought at the time. 

All in all, though, I'm a lot more optimistic about the race. Still hoping beyond hope for cloudy skies and a light misting of rain during the run. And Red Bull at mile 75 on the ride. And superhuman running skills during the marathon. 

And for the raging headache I have right now to please, please go away......


Ta ta for now!

Quote from June 24: "I want to do this race so badly"
Quote from  uly 7: "My heart is not in this"


I used to be such a waffler. Glad I've now made up my mind and decided I detest the race I cannot get out of.

Here is the skinny. All of it. Honest truth. 

I no longer want to do this race. Not even a little bit. 

There, it is out there and I have said it. When I first started feeling this way I thought, "well, if I don't talk about it much maybe it will get better." It did not, but it is what it is. So I will suck it up, gut it out, and get through this. The deal is, I love racing the 1/2 Ironman distance. As soon as I was done with IMKS I seriously looked into going down to Texas to race the Buffalo Springs 1/2 two weeks later. The training was tough but I enjoyed it and racing was awesome. Once I move to the full distance training, however, bad things start to happen. I mentally crack, I dread the weekend training, and I feel like I'm constantly denying myself time with people I want to spend my free time with. 

There is so much that goes along with this as well. I feel like something is wrong with me for even admitting that I don't want to do it. It makes me feel weak. Why should I feel weak just because I don't want to spend 6 hours on my bike? I feel like people will look at me as if I can't handle things that are difficult because I don't want to do the race. My mom never wanted me to do it and actually offered to buy carpet for my house if I wouldn't go. It makes sense: carpet = the sense of accomplishment of an Ironman. What the hell....??? So it's most likely all in my head, but right now I feel disappointed in myself, I feel like others are disappointed in me, and I feel like I'm failing. All because I dont have a burning desire to race for 13+ hrs in the heat and humidity that is Louisville in August. Eff! Wanna hear the real bi*ch of it? It could take a lot longer than 13 hours because of the heat. It just gets better and better! Oh, and my house isn't as clean as I want it to be, either. 

I need balance in my life; there is a definite lack right now. I am always doing things at one end of the spectrum or the other: all the way out or not at all. I need to just be happy with Olympic distance or 1/2 Ironman triathlon. There is nothing wrong with that and I don't want to get to the point that I associate training with mental and physical anguish. Is that dramatic enough? 

On a positive note, my body is now cooperating. I'm not having the knee problems I have had in the past, my sciatic nerve problems are completely over, and the worst I'm experiencing is some soreness in my shoulders after long weekend training. So I have no excuse not to perform well over the next few weeks of peak training. 

I am going to do this and never, ever sign up for a full distance race ever again. Ever. For now I will try and concentrate on the fact that it's a pretty cool thing to be able to do a race this long: most people never even attempt to train for it.  At this moment I know that my body can ride 90 miles and run 17 the next day. Well, sort of run 17....my last long run didn't go so hot and I ended up running/walking the last 3 miles. I bet I could dominate all my long runs if I had the new Zoot triathlon shoes...damn I wish my birthday was coming up....like next week....

I'm off to swim and then do a short run. 
Tomorrow: 5.5 hours followed by 50 minute run
Sunday: 18 mile run

Brenda "5 weeks out" Bolding

I have, officially, decided what I want to do with my life: I will go to physical therapy school.  According to preliminary estimates, I think I have two years of undergrad classes, then 3 years of grad school (if I get accepted). I just got my transcript faxed from K-State and will start cross-checking. I am so excited! 

Upcoming milestones:
Aug 31: I will be Ironwoman times 2
2 years from now: Accepted to a prestigious Physical Therapy school
4 years from now: Working on my dissertation
5 years from now: Dr. Bolding

As excited as I am, which is mucho, now I think about the fact that I will be getting up there in years before I'm ready to have kids. I do think, though, that I'd rather wait until I'm doing something I like that will have fairly flexible hours (if I have my own practice) instead of throwing children into the mix when I feel like I'm trapped and suffocating in a cubicle. I also wonder if I'm smart enough for PT. That's all I've got on that. 


Training has gone well this week. I think I am swimming even slower than before (frustrating) but I swim strong until the end, and even a bit faster, which means my endurance is really starting to show up full force (awesome).

I will update again after this weekend's training. I hope it is hot and humid and nasty for my ride and run. What is harder now makes me stronger for race day. I really do repeat stuff like that to myself when I'm out there, in case anyone was wondering.

At this point I have to be honest - my heart really isn't in my training. I will do it, and I will race, but I am not necessarily enjoying it. 

Saturday: 75 mile ride followed by 2 mile run

Becca rode with me Saturday after she had run a marathon the day before (she's training for Pike's Peak and they did 5 hours "on the feet" of running and walking: 26.2 miles of total distance). How she could still ride the next day I have no idea - and she was stronger than I was on the bike as well.  She's a great riding partner and we had a good time, but being in the saddle for 75 miles was not where I wanted to be, espcially when there was a lot of wind and I got my a$$ handed to me by someone that should have had a tough time getting out of bed. (She is a great athlete and that comment was not meant to take away from her ability) The odd part is I did an 80 mile ride back in May and felt just fine. Why is it that, months later, the 75 miles wore me out and made me feel as though every 15 minute interval was taking 45 minutes? The highlight of the ride was talking to the guy working at the Louisburg, KS Casey's when we got water and ice about 1/2 way through. Conversation went something like this:

Mr. Casey's: Where is your Ironman?
Me: Louisville, KY
Mr. Casey's: Is that the world championships?
Me: No, that race is held in Hawaii every year
Mr. Casey's: It would be neat if you could do that race
Me: I actually did do it two years ago - it's amazing
Mr. Casey's: Wow! You qualified for that?
Me: No, I got a lottery spot
Mr. Casey's: Oh, so it had nothing to do with your ability whatsoever. 
Becca: *Laughing so hard she's on the verge of tears*


Sunday: 14 mile run
Odd run on Sunday. Started out around 8 a.m. and my legs felt very, very heavy. I also had that feeling that there was something in my chest/throat but no amount of coughing or throat clearing could get it out. 2 miles in I felt like I had been running forever so I decided to change my focus and my attitude. I concentrated on quick feet, relaxed shoulders, and free upper body movement (if I don't concentrate on it my upper body doesn't move at all when I run). It got better and by mile 3 I was feeling good and visualizing the run I would have in Louisville. The turaround at mile 7 came quickly after that, and at mile 8 Hotzie came out on the bike to give me cold water and encouragement. Things were looking pretty good and I was ready to implement the "fast-finish" plan in the Runner's World article that was posted in a comment to my blog last week. That article said to pick up the pace the last 1/3 of the run but since it was my first go at it I was going to try for the last two miles. I know I have written about this before, but my mental strength seriously needs some work - instead of decreasing my pace by :30 per mile the last 2 miles I felt my body slowing down. I couldn't get my legs to turnover and I was back to the state of feeling like the run was lasting forever. I don't know if this is because I knew I only had two miles and was wanting to be done or what...I had felt so good prior to that point. So, it's frustrating but I will work on it. If it were easy it wouldn't be worth doing, right? Uh huh. 

Today:
My shoulders are sore. I must have been tensing my muscles during the tough part of the run; I've seen pictures and I know that's what happens when I get tired. I would love nothing more than to get a massage today but, to stay in the running for the "granddaughter of the year" award I'll be heading to Shawnee to take my grandma to get her medication and do crossword puzzles. Fortunately my grandma is the coolest, funniest person I know and I am looking forward to the visit.

Last Wednesday, 6/25, I was able to run 3 miles and the nerve was fine.  In my head, of course, this meant I no longer needed to take the ibuprofen or muscle relaxers and I promptly discontinued putting medication in my body. After running 5 miles on Friday in 90 degree heat I found that maybe my decision had been a little hasty; I made it through the whole run but there was that slight twinge in the nerve for the last 4 miles. Not so much pain, more like it was lightly whispering, "hey, don't forget that I can start to hurt really bad or just plain give out at any moment". I got home, drank some Endurox for recovery, ate a little bit, and got back on the ibuprofen every 8 hours regimen. 

The 65 mile ride on Saturday was uneventful other than it made me realize how difficult it is to stay mentally tough and in the game when riding alone for almost 4 hours. The first hour was fine but the last 3 got very, very boring. For my next long ride I will have to implement some intervals or drills without getting my heart rate too high to keep things interesting. I did average 16.8 so I was pretty happy with that.

Sunday I wasn't sure I was 100% and didn't want to do the full 12 miles for which I was scheduled. Even though it felt like I had been nursing the injury forever and should be ready to rock now, my body still needed time. At the advice of a good friend that trains as well I took it easy and ran 9 instead. Everything was fine the entire time although I felt tired and wasn't too excited about being out there for the last two miles. Because I have run 14 already this season I know it's not lack of fitness and has to, again, be mental. I need to do some reading up on staying strong for the last part of a long workout because it's obviously a weakness and that's not acceptable when I will be out on the course in Louisville for over 13 hours. Tips on this subject are welcome.

Was ready to do some light training last week after the race and then continue right back into the long stuff on the weekend. Evidently this was not the plan my body had in mind for me. 

Last Wednesday I swam over lunch and felt good. Went home after work, put on the running shoes, and went out for just an easy 3 or 4 miles; was going to play it by ear. About 2 miles out I started to feel pain in my upper leg and my right glute (way down in there) and, at one point, it felt like my leg wanted to give out completely. I turned around and started to walk a little thinking that would help. After 2 minutes I tried to run again but it just wasn't happening; I had to limp/walk the entire way home and by the time I got back there was sharp, screaming pain way down in my glute whenever I stood on my right leg, went from standing to sitting or vice versa, or tried to lay down. Went to the health center here at work first thing in the morning on Thursday after doing some research online so I'd have an idea of what was going on. Diagnosis: tight back muscles and hamstring muscles caused swelling and the swelling was irritating my sciatic nerve which runs from my lower back, under my gluteal muscles, and to my upper leg. 

I never take any medication unless I absolutely have to, so the muscle relaxers and horse-pill ibuprofen weren't high on my list of ways to cure this problem but I was willing to try anything. Since last Thursday I have been taking the 800 mg ibuprofen every eight hours, 1 muscle relaxer at bed time, and doing stretches. It is now Tuesday and I still can't run. I have been swimming and I did a long ride on Sunday but the running is a no-go (tried last night and made it .29 miles before the pain started). I am starting to get worried; really, really worried. 

Tonight I will be getting a professional bike fit since that could be part of the problem and I'll schedule a massage for tomorrow. Did I mention I am worried? My longest run so far is 14. I am 9 weeks out from Ironman. 

I am trying to stay positive and look on the bright side of things; it's hard. I want to do this race so badly and it will make it really tough to set a PR for myself if I have to walk the entire marathon.  If I am not healed by Wednesday (tomorrow) it will have been a full week and I'll have to go back to the dr. so they can make sure it's not a problem with a disc in my back. Cripes. I guess I could just spend the rest of my summer camping.....and moping :)

Little sore today in the quads but feel good other than that. Well, I would feel good if I hadn't celebrated at the Bonovich's house last night. I took the day off from training yesterday and last night a few of us got together to celebrate the race, the cheering squad, and a love of celebrating in general. The gin and tonics were flowing like a river and, since I never race half-heartedly, I figured I should give the beverages "my all" as well. Rennen enjoyed her first party and is taking it easy today:



The best part about today? My knee doesn't hurt! Victory! I am so pumped. After my other 1/2s my knee has hurt like an SOB (on the back side of my left one, somewhere amongst all the soft tissue). Although I am still not happy about not getting to finish my race on Sunday I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of my cycling training. I now have a goal of averaging 17 or 17.5 in Louisville. It's a little scary writing that down as an actual goal, but if I could do 18 on that hilly Lawrence course, including dropping the aero bottle and getting off to fix the chain, I think I can do it.

I only have to make it through 3 more hours and then I get to go home, do glute exercises, go to sleep.

 

The day started with so much promise…….and with me just about missing my swim start. Normally when you start a race it feels like you’re waiting forever just for your heat to get in the water; Sunday my heat was lined up to get into the beach start when I got over there after talking with my support crew (Hotzie, Jeff, and Aaron). I made it, though, with literally minutes to spare and my heat kicked off promptly at whatever time we were scheduled to start.

 

Swim: 41:19

I had really hoped to be able to get a 37 minute swim but it just wasn’t in the cards for me. It felt as though our heat caught up to the slower swimmers in the previous heat very quickly and it’s always difficult to fight your way through people in front of you as well as those in your group trying to get through. Somehow I ended up very close to the buoys which I normally try to avoid; I can keep a more solid stroke when I’m toward the outside where there are far fewer swimmers vying for space. All in all swim went well: no goggle leakage, no severe kicks to the head, no near-hyperventilation from starting too quickly and not having enough air. The run to T1 went by really quickly and I could hear Aaron cheering for me as well as Jeff and Hotzie (who, incidentally, had the lens cap on the video camera…can’t win ‘em all.)

 

Bike: 3:06:27

Came out of T1 to the mount line, straddled my bike, put on my sunglasses, and dropped my bike. Wouldn’t have been that big of a deal but ¾ of the water in my aero bottle came out (the only water I had with me) as it was falling off my bike. With shaking fingers I put the bottle back on, attached the Velcro, and was off.

I really like the layout of the bike course out there in Lawrence but what I didn’t like were the lack of aid stations. We rode all the way out leg one and were almost back to the Iron cross before there was an aid station on an uphill. Not sure who’s idea that was but I’d have to say I disagree with it. I failed to practice the oh-so-important skill of “shift, grab water and try not to veer, shift, pour water in aero bottle, shift, throw bottle”. I was completely out of water by the time I got there, though, I was just glad to have it no matter what part of the course I got it from. Only other issue I had on the bike was dropping my chain and having to get off to fix it…..oh, and the fact that my cassette was loose enough that Megan Mansfield commented on it when she caught up to me on leg 2. “Uh, Brenda, it sounds like something is about to fall off the back of your bike”. Luckily nothing did fall off and I will more than likely fix that before Ironman Louisville.

No aid stations on leg 2 at all so I was out of water for about 30 minutes which means I couldn’t take in any nutrition (have to chase that stuff with water or I’m pretty sure that thick, sweet mixture will cement your mouth shut). The hills were pretty tough and my legs were starting to lose their juice but I focused on riding and decided that I wasn’t going to let it bother me.

Leg 3 was uneventful with the exception of the bad, bad headwind all the way out. I just kept telling myself the tailwind on the way back would be awesome and I was not disappointed. Really noticing now how the heat and humidity were affecting me; it would feel refreshing on the run.

 

Run: 1:48:10 (per my Garmin. Add 20 minutes for the 2.2 miles I had left)

Felt pretty decent heading out on the run as I usually do. From start to mile 2 I felt good and didn’t pray for complete bodily shutdown until mile 5. I got really, really hot, couldn’t get my heart rate to drop below 174, and started to feel that first twinge of “oooh, I could possibly pass out”. I slowed down (didn’t help) and had to walk for about ½ a mile, which did help. I also ate a gel (I had forgotten to eat on the run til this point) downed an entire cup of Gatorade, a cup of water, and had some ice. I started jogging slowly until mile 6 when I puked in my mouth. Not surprisingly, Gatorade and gel taste exactly the same coming up as they do going down. Gross, I know. At the next aid station I chewed two more pieces of ice and felt a million times better. I still had a few more short stints of walking but once I got to mile 8 I knew I only had 5 miles left and the world became little brighter. By mile 10.5 the sky got much darker and the wind was really strong but I was ready to cruise to the finish and getting ready to really kick it in for the last two miles until I got stopped by two women I know, one of whom had just passed me about a quarter of the mile back. “Race has been cancelled, too much lightening.” Lightening?? Honestly, what are the chances of getting hit by lightening? We’re not running with umbrellas in our hands. So I stood there for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do and ultimately decided to cross the finish line of the IMKS 68.1, 2.2 miles short of the 70.3. It felt so cheap.

 

There were no celebrations at the finish and no smiles. No water or food either and, honestly, a bottle of water would have been nice after the flogging I got from miles 5 – 8 on the run. When I saw Hotzie with video camera in hand, worried he had missed me coming across the finish line, I just about started crying; it’s a pretty crappy feeling to work so hard all day only to be pulled off the course and not allowed to finish. I didn’t cry, though, I went with a few expletives instead.

 

Congrats to all those that did finish and those that gave it their best, no matter how far they got. 

I woke up and rode the trainer for 30 minutes, just a high-cadence spin to get things flowin' and get ready for racing on Sunday. Pretty much went downhill from there. 

I let Rennen in after I had showered so she could chew on her stuffed gorilla while I got ready. I watched her the entire time, and I mean the entire time (with the exception of  5 seconds). I put lotion on while staring at her, I watched her while I put clothes on, I could see her in the mirror while I put on make-up and blow-dried my hair. Then, in those 5 exceptional seconds I just mentioned, she went around the corner and laid a dook (duke? dookie?) right in the hall. I put her outside, cleaned it up, and hurried to leave the house so I'd have time to go to Smoothie King. Got the 32 oz passion-carribbean-antioxidant-somethingerother and it was gone by the time I got to work 20 minutes later. 

At this point I'm at work, feeling really full, and absolutely freezing while not wearing a thick enough bra to keep the co-workers guessing about my body temp. Around 11:00I know that this is my one chance to go to lunch somewhere because if I go to master's I won't take it easy and I'll end up swimming my a$$ off for an hour 2 days before the race. Jeff says he'll go and I tell him he can pick the place: Korma Sutra. Indian buffet when I'll be sitting at my desk all afternoon, doing lighter than normal workouts, and doing a 1/2 Ironman on Sunday? Sounds good! I make bad decisions when left to my own devices. What happened to Eating For Life? Normally I don't cheat but today, holy hell, I cheated. I had some kind of bright orange chicken, mango drink stuff, rice, neon yellow chicken, peas in brown sauce, tapioca ricey white soupy stuff....pretty much everything they had. I didn't eat to the point of being really full and I actually felt perfect when we left (luckily I can't stand my food touching so even though I had two plates it was far less food than most people would eat in two trips to a buffet). Fast forward 15 minutes later. 

Uuuuuuuggghhh. The potbelly strikes again....didn't even see it comin'.  Salt making me bloated. Body not used to 1/2 a hyper-color chicken sitting, undigested, in the stomach. 

I am going to look like a supermodel* at the pool in an hour when I go swim for 30 minutes.  


*Supermodel = potbellied piglet

 

The last week has been pretty interesting – some good things, some bad things, and some things I just can’t figure out.

 

We’ll start with the good thing – Rennen is here! Got her on Friday and she is just perfect. I’ll put pictures up when I download them from my camera. She loves cheese and her stuffed yak and hates her crate after the first 10 minutes. She really is good, though, and has only had 2 accidents in the house. She is a wild puppy for 30 minutes to an hour at a time and then she goes to sleep…….just drops down to the floor mid stride and starts snoozing away. It’s super cute but I’ll stop before it gets sappy ‘n sht.

 

The bad/confusing: I have been absolutely exhausted since last Friday. I did master’s swim at noon and tried to run in the afternoon…only made it a mile and a half. I was up every two hours during the night with puppy, so that didn’t improve anything. There was no way I could get up and ride from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. (had to be at a bridal shower at noon) so I decided to do my long run instead. I had the energy to make it 8.5 miles and that was great considering how I felt. I honestly can’t remember a time I was that drained…….so much so I never even did my long ride on Sunday. Now I’ve skipped a few hour long training sessions during the week here and there but I have never missed a long session on the weekend. My ½ is in Lawrence this weekend and I wasn’t going to taper at all, just going to power through, but evidently my body had other ideas.

 

I have continued to struggle this week, even after taking Sunday off (not planned) and then Monday as well to try and work through whatever is going on. Yesterday I ran in the morning (7 miles) and then did the 1.2 mile swim in the pool: 37 minutes. Not great, but I was very relaxed and not hurrying at all. Hopefully there will be calm water on race day and the wet suit should help me knock off some time as well. When I got home last night I was exhausted still, and add to that the frustration that comes with unexpected exhaustion. I’m supposed to be a machine – I’m racing in 5 days!!! 

 

Today I realized I have not been on my bike for a week, which is no good. Shockingly, I am very tired (woke up with a headache that has not gone away all day). I can’t figure out what I have been doing differently or what I need to do to be 110% on Sunday. I did master’s swim today and really need to get on the bike tonight. I might just do an easy/moderate spin on the trainer since it’s going to storm. I’ll take vitamins after dinner and go to bed early and wear underwear tomorrow and think positive thoughts and anything else that comes to mind that might help. Suggestions welcome.

 

Tomorrow I will wake up feeling good, the sun will shine, and I will have a ton of energy, I just know it.

 

 

Ta ta,

BB

In the writer's block section of livejournal, which I checked out just for fun, one of the topics was "Pirates or Ninjas"? Gotta go with pirates because my brother loves them, as well as jokes about them. One of his favorites:

Guy walks up to a pirate and says, "hey, there's a steering wheel sticking out of the fly of your pants." Pirate says, "Argh, it's drivin' me nuts!"

He has a little Mickey Mouse doll dressed up like a pirate in the cab of his truck, too. Mickey sits on the armrest in the middle because, you know, he's the co-pirate. 

My brother is hilarious. 

How this topic would stir up a whole mess of writing and creativity I have no idea.