amytrigirl

First big snow...

2011-12-03T21:08:00.002-06:00

Hubby and I are hunkered down at home tonight.

We are getting our first "significant" snow for the winter 2011/2012 season. Ultimately, we are supposed to get about 3 inches of the fluffy stuff....so, all in all, not that much, but......just not really ready for it. Even if it is December 3rd and we do live in Minnesota.

Not a lot of changes to report.

Oscar is doing well. Tolerating his medicine, playing like a kitten and appearing to be totally healthy. Yea on that one.

STILL no word on what is happening with my job. We were supposed to know by the end of October ==, er.....no, November.... errrrr..... um, at this point, who knows when the final decision will be made. I have had a couple of interviews for the positions I've posted for, but no word for any of us on next steps since before Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, Hubby and I took our annual trip to California to spend the holiday with my brother and his family. My younger sister and her husband came too.... our older sister wasn't able to travel this year, and I was sad about her not being able to join us.

We spent a lot of time at Stinson Beach -- walking the beach, watching the sunsets, running outside, hanging with family. It was great. I absolutely love that part of the country and if I could figure out a way to live there, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

My running continues to improve (yea), but I've been very lazy about doing much else. I "blame" travel, but what it really boils down to is the need for some time off.

But December 1st marked the ten-month countdown start to IMoo, so it is time to get my arse back in the pool and back in the saddle.

I am finalizing my race plans for next year -- have registered for a few events already and am looking forward to a healthy, injury free, happy 2012.

How about YOU?

Muy short and sweet

2011-11-17T21:05:00.003-06:00

My last few posts have been pretty L O N G and involved.

This one should be pretty short and sweet....just a "catch up", really.

I just got back from spending some time in Naples, Florida. I was there for work, facilitating a workshop for about 25 sales people attending a 2012 Planning Offsite. (The offsite was held at a Ritz Carlton resort. Muy fancy. Muy nice. Muy expensive.....)

But the muy-est part of the trip was that I got a chance to see a very good friend of mine that moved to Naples five years ago -- Mary B.

Mary B and I met a long time ago, when we were both training to run Grandma's Marathon. We became fast, furious friends. Ran many a race together; did a lot of training together. She and her husband, Trevor, were two of a handful of friends that came to Las Vegas to attend Hubby's and my wedding....

Shortly after we were married, Trevor found a work opportunity too good to pass up that required them to move to Naples, so off they went.

Mary and I stayed in touch over the years, but we hadn't seen each other since they left Minneapolis, so it was wonderful to be able to see each other while I was in Naples.

We had dinner last night and then Mary and I got together for a run this morning. It was like old times, trotting together and sharing the details of our lives. It was muy great.

-----

Oscar seems to be holding his own. The medicine is keeping any fluids build up at bay and he is playing, eating and sleeping just like a 'normal' cat. He goes back in for a check up next week and I'm hoping that the disease hasn't progressed much or, better yet, that the vet made a big fat mistake and that he is fine. "More will be revealed". Muy bien.

------

I had two interviews this week for jobs -- these were the standard, behavior-based questions that are routine for first interviews.

"Tell me about a time when you XXXX (successfully managed a project; had to build relationships with multiple business lines; had to deliver training to an audience that wasn't receptive, etc.). What did you to to YYYY (make it successful; ensure success; bridge gaps; identify opportunities, etc.".

Second interviews will be scheduled for after Thanksgiving, it looks like my job status will be a bit unsettled in to early December now. Still keeping my fingers muy crossed for the best.
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Speaking of Thanksgiving, I've been putting together a list of all the things I'm grateful for and am trying to review it -- and add to it -- every day.

On the top of my list is being grateful for having my health, because I know that without that, nothing else matters. Muy amen.

----

Finally, my birthday is coming up. I'll finally be my 2011 USA Triathlon age -- for a few weeks, anyway. I was supposed to go to North Dakota on a girl's road trip with some friends to visit Nat, but the weather is not supposed to cooperate. So now the birthday plan is to get in a workout or two, have some cake and be very, very low key.

Sounds muy perfect.

Faith and the "New Normal"

2011-11-10T12:55:00.006-06:00

If you pick up a newspaper, watch the news or work for pretty much any corporation in the United States, you are familiar with the term "New Normal".

It seems to mostly be associated with the economy; with the ways and means we are supposed to be getting the economic engine revving again so that people can go back to work and companies can see profits and stock prices rise. (Or, as it really seems to mean, so that companies can see profits and stock prices rise and then people can go back to work...).

Yet, no one -- not the politicians, not the heads of corporations, not most individuals -- seem to be able to define with the term really means.

What is NORMAL these days?

I believe most of us are just trying to find some stable ground again. Ground that feels solid for longer than a day or two. So we find ourselves sort of waiting it out...applying approaches from total denial to those that are difficult (right sizing; closing doors; leaving jobs/houses).

The New Normal is hard enough to define this on a macro-level -- figuring out the world at large. It is equally as difficult to define this on a micro-level -- figuring out what it means within our little lives.

Which brings me to Oscar, our 11-month old kitten.

We adopted Oscar and his sister, Kishka, last March on Hubby's birthday. The kittens were one of six that had been born in January.

After losing Kirby, Hubby's cat, very suddenly a year earlier, we finally had healed enough and decided to bring two more cats in to our house to join us, Lefty and Callie.

Hubby's son's girlfriend had a friend with a cat that had delivered a litter and after we saw pictures of the fuzz balls, we decided it was time to add to our brood.

Kishka, named after the famed Polish polka song, "Who Stole the Kishka", got her name because she too is "round and firm and fully packed". She is the smaller of the two, black and white and adorable.

Oscar is grey and fluffy. He is as outgoing and as social as they come. Loves people, loves to be in the thick of things. Loves me (follows me every where; sleeps near my head).

We have loved having them in the house and, although it took a bit of time, Lefty and Callie seem to be happy to have them with us too.

Last Saturday, we started our then "normal" day. Woke up, ate breakfast and started our day. I took some time to watch some t.v. and have some coffee and Oscar joined me on the couch.

When I got up to really get going in my day, Oscar stayed put. Slightly unusual, but nothing alarming. As the day went on, though he really didn't budge. Slightly alarming. I ran an errand and after I got home, Hubby was sitting on the couch next to Oscar.

"Has he moved since you got home?", I asked.

"Not that I noticed", replied Hubby. Now more alarming.

I noticed that Oscar's breathing was a bit labored. We decided that he must have eaten something that didn't agree with him and that he was merely sleeping it off.

We ran one more errand and when we got home on hour later, Oscar's breathing was much worse and we knew it was time to take him in to the Vet.

We've had lots of experience taking our cats in to the University of Minnesota Vet Hospital. Ungodly expensive, but the best care in the region, as far as I'm concerned.

Oscar went in about 8:00 pm and they immediately put him in oxygen and started to try to diagnose.

He wasn't stable enough for them to do much that night, but they did take an x-ay which indicated fluid around his heart, which meant either pneumonia or heart failure.

What? Heart failure? The cat is only 11-months old! How can his heart be old enough to fail? With two older cats in the family, I knew it was only a matter of time before their time would come, but OSCAR?

The news stupefied us.

We left Oscar at the U -- they started a course of diuretics to reduce the fluid and we hoped for the best.

On Sunday morning, the Vet called and said that his condition had improved dramatically (!). They were able to run a few more tests and when the called with the results, the news was bad.

Oscar has a congenital form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy == a condition which causes the heart ventricles to become thick, which weakens the heart, which can cause heart failure.

Heart failure in cats is not curable, and we are now looking at a dramatically shortened lifespan for this tiny, loving cat. The worst case scenario gives Oscar about 3 months. The best, not much more than that, but as the Vet says, "Cats like to prove us wrong". I'm keeping my paws crossed....

What we can do, is to lessen the likelihood of fluid buildup by giving Oscar two small dosages of Lasix (a diuretic) and we can make him happy and comfortable for as long as we can.

A routine we have to build in to our "new normal" of daily life and activities.

For now, Oscar is "normal". He is eating, drinking, playing, purring and still as cuddly as ever. You wouldn't guess that there is any thing wrong with him at all. (My 'normal' reaction to this is, naturally: the diagnosis was wrong; he is fine. Some might call this denial....).

But I'm going to hold on to this for as long as I can because I can.

Before his diagnosis, I envisioned how Hubby and my lives would continue to progress as time moved us forward.

We'd continue to work (in my fantasy, I would retain my job -- a situation that is still up in the air); we'd continue to travel, to golf, I'd still do tris until I started to really look bad in spandex -- eventually we'd retire and we'd spend half the year some where warm.

In all of the scenarios that I envisioned, Oscar and Kishka were there with us, growing older with us, sharing experiences and life with us.

Now, even my future fantasy scenarios are impacted by the "new normal".

I am not happy about this -- not one bit.

What I do need to try to lean on, though, is the same thing I've been trying to lean on through all the other adjustments I've been trying to make to try to embrace the macro-New Normal -- faith.

Not the "religious" type of faith....that isn't my thing. Rather faith in that universe knows what it's doing. That there is a reason for every thing and that some how, some way it will all be okay. The outcomes may not be (and in this case definitely won't be) what I want them to be, but that there is a rhyme and reason for all things.

This belief is so easy when times are easy. Not so much when times are tough.

But I'm trying my best to believe and trying to embrace the New Normal.

Euphemisms and Lessons Learned

2011-10-05T21:02:00.007-05:00

While I am having a very hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it is OCTOBER, we happen to be having unseasonably warm weather this week -- temps are in the 80s, so the fact that the year has flown by so quickly is a little easier to take.

The leaves are also almost in full peak colors, so it is really, really beautiful outside.

Unfortunately, I've had to spend the bulk of every day working -- but I have been able to get on my bike and to walk outside a bit each day.

Tomorrow, I also get to spend the day on the golf course, playing a round as part of a Community Support event sponsored by the company I work for....I'm very, very much looking forward to this. I really need a little time to be outside and to breathe.

The stress level has ratcheted up in a big way since Ironman.

I work for a big company. I've worked for this big company for a lot of years. I've been happy, productive and successful.

I've been lucky.

I found out shortly before the race that, in an effort to "reduce redundancies and increase efficiencies", that my position was "mapped" to a new work team. And, although I've been "mapped", I haven't yet been "selected", meaning I may have a job; I may not.

I didn't have a choice. The group I worked for didn't have a choice. I just got the call one day from HR and that was that.

On the one hand, I am grateful that I'm still in the game, so to speak. I haven't been "displaced". It is "business as usual" for the time being, until the yet-unsubstantiated "selection" process is defined.

But nothing about this is usual. I don't know what criteria will be used to determine if I have a job or not (meaning do I interview? Do I have a choice about the job? The work?). I don't know, if I get "displaced", what terms will be presented to help keep me afloat.

I've been told that I shouldn't worry. That with my talent, my skills and my abilities, that I'll have a job and all will be well.

Yet, every day that goes by, I find out about other talented, skillful colleagues have been offered a "package" and are out the door. Lesson: there are no guarantees.

I'm resentful because I didn't ask for this. I'm resentful because I'm worried and there are less qualified people that remain with the business that aren't in this position at all. I'm resentful because the recession, which was supposed to be over a long time ago, isn't. I'm resentful because the politicians just keep playing politics, instead of getting real work done.

(I mean really: debate of gay marriage? Why aren't they creating jobs? Looking at alternative energy? Looking at education reform? Changing any thing of real importance? WHY IS BACHMANN GETTING ANY ATTENTION at ALL?).

I know that I'm not the only person that has gone through this over the last few years. I have been lucky to have a job through some very rough economic periods. I'm lucky that I have no debt (outside a mortgage payment) and that Hubby's job seems secure for now. The best luck I have on my side, though, is my health, for without that, I'd be really in trouble.

I should know by the end of October which direction Compass will point me...I'll either have a job or I won't. I just have to hold on and to try not to let the stress get too much of me.

--------------
In the midst of all of this, I decided to hire a new Coach --Actually, he is an "old" coach of mine. I used him when Nat and I trained for our first half ironman.

I've been lucky to work with a lot of really great coaches over the years. The coach that I used for the last two years is utterly awesome. Love him. But, I never felt that I was an athlete that was in his league. The most of his folks are podium finishers; die-hards; naturally talented.

I struggled this last year to get much attention from him and by the time Imoo rolled around, I was well trained, but felt incredibly detached from him, and honestly, that hurt a lot.

Right before I left for Madison, out of the blue, I received an email from my half-iron coach. He sent me good luck wishes for a great race.

When I was out on the run course, he was there, cheering with the crowds. He spotted me and came out to give me a great big hug. He knew, based on the clock, that I was cutting it close, but he gave me a little pep talk and sent me on my way.

When I got back to Minneapolis, after my DNF, I thought for a L O N G about what my plan for 2012 should be. I decided to go back to Greg. We started our training plan this week.

I guess what I've learned from this experience, that it is very hard to "fire" someone. I struggled for a long time about moving from one Coach to another.

When the time came, I just had to tell the truth, though. That it was better for me to work with someone that could provide me more attention; that worked more effectively with people of my ability and skills. That it was nothing personal.

Lesson learned: If I see HR show up at my office with "that look", I hope they can tell me the truth and not try to just cover the facts with a lot of pretty words.

Oh. And it's just business. It's nothing personal....

Changes, Recovery and Refocus

2011-09-15T22:26:00.007-05:00

It certainly didn't take long for the season to start changing from summer to fall. The temps have dropped dramatically; leaves are starting to change and it is dark by 7:30 pm now.

Recover week means doing very little but resting, eating, sleeping and resting some more. I have to say that, while I'm enjoying some longer snoozes in the morning, I am looking forward to getting back to some easy "maintenance" workouts.

I'll go to watch my friend Mary's son play in his high school homecoming football game on Friday night, I'll golf on Saturday and on Sunday I plan to join some friends for what is sure to be one of the last open water swims for this year.

I can start doing some short runs again soon; won't be long before I get back on the bike, but really only just for fun now, as the 2011 season draws to a close.

I will do a couple other races this year: The Monster 10 miler; maybe the Reindeer Run 5K and maybe one on or near New Year's Day....

I'll also be able to register for Tri U Mah 2012 on October 1st and can doing some 2012 event planning soon, as a number of races I want to do have already landed on dates and some have early registration open.

I'm giving some thought to training plans for 2012 -- where to do Masters swims; training program and coaching options; race ideas. No decisions yet. Just kicking around some ideas.

Changes abound right now. Professionally, personally, seasonally and athletically. Should be interesting to see how they all unfold.

DNF but okay with it....

2011-09-12T20:45:00.003-05:00

Yes, it is true.

I pulled out of IM WI yesterday at mile 14 of the marathon, at about 9:05 pm.

Second year attempting to cross the line. Second DNF.

I made the decision to pull out after figuring that there would be no way I could run a negative split to get to the finish before the magic midnight hour. (Had "run" the first half in about 3 hours and 15 minutes or so.... and it was not pretty).

In making the decision, I had to be sure that I could live with it. That I wouldn't wake up today and regret it. As strange as this may sound, I don't and I can.

Why?

Because race day -- and the days leading up to it -- were not a total loss.

What went well:

I went in to this race incredibly calm. I felt more competent and prepared this year.

My swim was 4 minutes faster than last year.

My transition times tightened up.

My nutrition was fine. (Last year, I got was so nauseous by the time I got out to the run, I couldn't eat any thing. The only things that appealed to me were ice chips, coke (which they ran out of) and chicken broth (which was cold). This year, there was plenty of coke (which, as a non-soda drinker, I have a new found appreciation for its power to bring you back to life when you are running) AND the chicken broth was warm and salty. Perfect!)

Instead of hating the crowds (as I did last year), I had fun with them -- even during the run.

I had a GREAT first 58 miles on the bike (averaging over 15 mph, versus 13 last year). Also had a great ride back in to town after the hills (averaging 14.8 mph).

I had tons of support out on the course, which I really appreciated. Hubby, Nat, Lance, Angel, Rick, Mary, Jim, Gary, Marcia, Marty, Pam, Kurt, Eric, Greg, Patrick and Beverly just to name a few faces I was so very, very happy to see out on the course.

I remembered to be grateful.

I remembered to look up and to see the day.

I had fun in the days up to the race hanging out with Nat doing some pre race swims and stuff.

It was a nice weekend with my husband.

My other IM WI friends did GREAT! Congrats to: Ali, Debbie, Cindy, Mark, Alyssa, Kirk and MIKE WIMMER!!!!

What went wrong:

After that awesome first 58 miles, the second loop went south in a big way. Not sure if the day was too hot, or what, but I got very uncomfortable on the bike. My average pace dropped like a stone to just about 10 mph. Pitiful. Screwed up my plan to get back in to transition and out on the run course by 5:00 pm at the latest

Things that usually didn't bother me while riding. did. My shoes got terribly uncomfortable. (I may try some gel inserts to add some cushion). My "hoo ha", which never, every bothers me, really, really bothered me. (And I even had Hoo Ha Ride Glide packets, which I bought as a "joke" and didn't use. Dumb me.) My hands hurt (the tape on my handle bars came loose). Hubby had asked me if I was going to use gloves. "Why?", I replied. "My hands never bother me." Dumb me.

I stopped at the water stop in Cross Plains to stretch my back a little, where the following conversation with a happy volunteer occurred:

The happy volunteer to me: "so...how ya doin'?"
My reply: "Fine...just stretching my back."
"Um....you have enough water?"
"Yes."
"Um...how ya feeling?"
(I thought I had answered that...) "Fine."
"You look a little hot."
"Okay..."
"So, you want to sit in the shade a bit?"
(Not really, but are you hinting???) "So how are the riders handling the heat?"
"We are having lots of them sit in the shade for a few minutes.... wanna sit in the shade?"
(Okay, hint taken.) I got off my bike and joined a few people who were also cooling down.

I rolled in to transition waaaaaay later than I wanted to and knew that finishing the run on time would be stretch.

My running training had suffered this year, with early lack of mo-jo and then a late, nagging heel injury. My coach and I had been banking on me getting off the bike in enough time to mostly walk the marathon. My plan was to run a 3 minute/1 minute walk routine, which I started, but had some struggles keeping. I adjusted to a 2/1 routine, but my pace was off, off, off and it became apparent I was not going to be able to make midnight.

I had lots of friends out on the course who tried to get me to run more/faster, but it wasn't where my head was at. And where the head is at, the feet will follow....so, by about mile 7, I started to think that getting to the half, picking up my Special Needs bag (because I wanted the card that Hubby slipped in there), and then dropping out sounded like a good idea.

And that is what I did.

The really bad news: for as much as I prepared, the real struggle for me has always been (and continues to be, apparently), the ongoing argument with my mind.

As much as I've heard "the body can take 20 times more than the mind thinks it can", I have not been extremely successful at countering it when it woos me with it's crazy talk. Be it "you aren't good enough/young enough/thin enough/speedy enough/whatever enough" or, "just stop. It will feel soooooo good", I am not always prepared with a counter offer.

I have 360+ days to come up with a good one.

It's Heeerrreeee....

2011-09-10T18:20:00.003-05:00

No, not the aliens or even that very strange blond little girl from the movie.....

Ironman Wisconsin is tomorrow. It is here.

I can't believe how quickly the year flew by. I can't quite grasp that it is already September. Amazing.

Hubby and I have been in Madison since last Thursday.... got my packet Thursday; went to the dinner and official meeting on Friday; spend MOOla at the expo (MOO, of course, because it is IMOO...); Got a couple swims in; a quick bike and a quick run.

I'm feeling strangely calm about tomorrow. Probably because I made the trip down here several times and am less afraid of the bike course. Could be because I did the Madison Open Water Swim event as a 2.4 mile practice of the course. Maybe because I understand more of what I'm up against tomorrow. Who really cares why.... I'm just going with it.

Natalie and Lance got here yesterday. Angel, Rick, Patrick and Beverly are here now.....Marcia, Gary, Marty, Mary and Jim come later today and tomorrow.... It is really wonderful to have such supportive friends (and Spouse!) here to watch, volunteer and support. I have no way to appropriately repay them for this.

Other friends I've trained with are excited for their Ironman day too: Ali, Debbie, Cindy, Madonna, John, Mike W, Mark....AND friends like Eric, Helen, Steve, Ray, Kurt, Pam, Greg, Badgergirl and JWimm will be out there too - some volunteering; some just cheering, but I'm sure to "feel the love" (or at least hear the screams) while we are out there on the course.

One friend that won't be competing is Denny Johnson. He was in Boulder in August to watch some friends do IM Boulder 70.3 and went out for a training ride, when he had a very bad accident. Broke his helmet, bones and ended up with a severe brain injury. He was in a coma for almost a month and passed away a week ago. He was so excited to do IM WI.....it is a rotten shame that he won't be here to compete -- won't be here any more, but his spirit certainly lives on, as many of us here knew him and will carry him with us tomorrow.

So, when I hit those dark spots -- when I've hit "the line" as the Endurance Nation folks call it, and I need to have that "one thing" to grab on to, I'll be grabbing on to gratitude. For being alive; for being able to be here; for my health; my sobriety; my husband; my family; my friends. And I'll pass a silent prayer on for Denny. Then I'll take that next step.

Banished

2011-08-19T21:20:00.002-05:00

So the summer and Ironman training are quickly coming to an end.

I have my last "official" event of the season tomorrow morning. A 2.4 mile swim in Lake Monona, as part of the Madison Open Water Swim event.

The course will mimic Ironman's route, so I'm doing it as a practice event. After I'm done, I'll ride my bike for about 70 miles, doing the stick and one loop of hills and then it is back to Minneapolis.

I'm in Madison by myself. None of my friends that are doing Wisconsin signed up for this event. I do have one other swimming buddy down here, but we are really only pool and facebook friends. We don't spend a lot of time together outside of the water and cyberspace.

This whole training year has been a little lonely. Natalie moved to North Dakota to marry the love of her life; my other running friends did a couple of shorter tris; the folks that I met through training this year and I are "friendly" but not particularly tight. Plus, I traveled a lot for work this year, so connecting for training runs or rides was pretty tough.

So I did a lot of my training and my events by myself this year. Not terrible, but a little lonely.

In some ways, this was probably pretty good for me, since even though I'll be surrounded by 2,499 other Ironman participants, the race is really just about you. And your endurance. And your thoughts.

I finally got to stay at Memorial Union this time around. Every other time I came down to Madison this year, the Union was booked.

I like staying here as it brings back some very vivid memories of my college days. Some memories are wonderful; some not so wonderful. All in keeping with my trying to make amends to myself for the years I lived here as a young person.

I sat outside on the Terrace for a long time tonight and watched the sunset, the lake and the action. Kids are coming back for the school year and lots of them were enjoying the evening outside -- many with their parents.

I thought about how, when my Dad drove me up here to drop me off for the beginning of my freshman year, I felt like I was being banished from home, Milwaukee and all things familiar.

I really didn't want to come to Madison. All my friends from high school were going to the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee or just to work. I really wanted to stay in Milwaukee and to go to school there, but my Dad put his foot down and that was that.

I thought that the world would end if I couldn't see my friends every day; if I left the comfort of the house, even though my Dad and I were constantly fighting about every thing there was to fight about.

That fall, he drove me up, helped me unpack my stuff in to that tiny dorm room in Witte Hall, took me to dinner and then got in the car and zoomed off down I-94 back to Milwaukee.

And that was that.

It didn't take long before I met a couple girls on my dorm floor that I became friendly with, so I felt a little more comfortable.

I did make the mistake of going back to Milwaukee pretty much every weekend that first semester, trying desperately to catch up with my old friends, who were living their lives pretty well and easily without me.

By the time Winter break came, I had made a number of friends at school and when I went back to Milwaukee for the holiday, a lot of my old friends basically told me I had changed so much that they didn't know me any more -- and they didn't want to get to know the new me.

And that was that.

I came back to Madison that January knowing that my life in Milwaukee was pretty much done and I had to make it in Madison. I found a (non paying) job at a radio station, fell head over heels in love with a boy, got better connected with others and never went back to Milwaukee for longer than a weekend again.

I bring this up now for a number of reasons.

One, I'm here in the hot bed of Memoryland. The Union. For good or for ill, I spent countless hours here. Some -- okay, A LOT of them --when I should have been in class..... Some -- okay MOST of them -- under the influence of some substance or another. So the memories flood back, along with the immense gratitude for having survived those years (and all the ones following) until I finally got sober and started really living my life.

The other big reason for these feelings now is related more to current day. I just found out that I'm being transferred from my current job in to a new position.

I'm working for a company (like many others) that is going through the process of "reducing redundancies and increasing efficiencies". For those of you in Corporateland, you know what that means.

Apparently, what I do is redundant. So, I'm being moved under another umbrella withing the organization.

The good news is that I'm being moved and not eliminated.

The bad news is that I have no choice in this decision. Neither does my business line, my boss or my Executive Management Team.

I happen to really like my job and what I do. I like my boss; for the most part, I like the people I work with. I've been happy, productive and successful for almost six years with this group.

I'm sad to go; I'm uncertain of the future; I feel like I've been banished.

So, in addition to reliving memories from early college years, I've been trying to remind myself that, although the change from Milwaukee to Madison was a tough transition that I really didn't want, it, for the most part, turned out okay.

The new position may be very exciting. It could open up lots of doors. It could be the best thing that happened.

I'm just stuck in the shock of the change and am trying to struggle through it a little bit.

If I can reframe my thoughts a little bit, the transition should be just fine.

At least that is what I'm hoping.

Perspective

2011-08-03T17:55:00.005-05:00

I'm on a flight from Salt Lake City back to Minneapolis as I post this. GOGO Inflight internet access is free during the month of August on Delta flights, courtesy of Diet Coke.

We live in interesting times, being able to blog and Facebook and get stock quotes and do google searches from a widow seat located 35,000 feet above the air....

My trip to Salt Lake City was productive on a number of levels. Work went well (delivered an 8 hour training class); wandered the city a bit and got to swim in the Salt Lake City Sport Complex's 50 meter outdoor pool, where every time I came up for air, I could see mountains. Beautiful.

Also did a lot of mental walk throughs of the Ironman bike and run courses. Of course, I cover the 112 and 26.2 mile distances much more quickly in my mind than I will on race day, but I'm trying to really set myself up for knowing the course inside and out.

The one piece of bad new -- very bad news, actually -- was that a triathlon friend of mine died on Tuesday.

Terry Alexander was in his truck last Monday when another oncoming car crossed the center line and hit Terry's truck head on. The two people in the other vehicle died at the scene. Terry was taken to a hospital in St. Paul, where he passed away the following day.

Terry and I used the same training facility and went to a number of the same spin classes and functional strength training classes.

He was quirky in his own way. Always very welcoming, outgoing, talkative and encouraging. He was one of the first people from the training center to include me in breakfast invites (which I never accepted.... ) or to go with a bunch of them this year to New Orleans to do IM NOLA 70.3 with them (which I did not do).

I bumped in to him a few times around the city: once in the parking lot in front of a Panera/PetSmart and again, just recently in the parking lot outside a coffee house. He would chat with me, ask me how training was going, and then provide some advice or inspirational comment.

He wasn't just nice to me. He took time to talk with and encourage everyone in our classes.

He was "A VERY NICE GUY" in the truest sense of the concept.

I am one of those people that probably spends a little too much time worrying about life and death and the meaning of both.

I worry about life cycles and time lines and spend time every week reading obituaries, usually shaking my head at the unfairness of any one under the age of 52 passing away. (You should see me shake my head after reading the obits of people in their 20's or younger. What a gyp!)

I am pretty sure I am a little obsessed about this because my mom died when I was 10; because my dad died when I was 31; because I had a very good friend (my second mother) die when I was 32. Because I've lost a sister to cancer and friends to cancer and suicide. Because I've lost pets that I loved with all my heart and were closer to me emotionally than a lot of humans. Because I spent so much time in my youth in the haze of drugs and alcohol and DIDN'T die....

So Terry's dying in a car accident at age 54-- healthy, strong triathlete Terry -- seems so foolish and senseless to me.

Makes my little rant about "heel issues" seem silly, no?

But I'll carry Terry with me from here on out in my triathlon spirit and mind and hopefully will be able to pass some of his triathlon goodwill along to others for as long as I can.

Feeling like a big ol' mess

2011-08-01T22:53:00.005-05:00

Time if F L Y I N G by.... Only six weeks until Ironman Wisconsin.

I feel like I could use another sixteen weeks to train!

For the most part, I feel stronger than last year, but am having the darndest time fighting small, nagging injuries.

None are big enough to take me out of the game, they impede my ability to really train as best and hard as I can.

The biggest issue has been with my right heel. I am not entirely sure what happened with it other than I ran with worn out shoes for too long. (Couldn't really "tell" they were worn out because I was using orthotics. They "masked" the feel of the shoe on my foot.)

The first real issue popped up when I was in Des Moines about eight weeks ago (or longer). I went out for a run -- had a great run and by the end, my heel was achy. The longer the evening went on, the less pressure I could put on my foot. The next day, walking was difficult for about half the day and then it got better.

I took a look at my shoes and saw that I had pretty much worn the outside edge off the shoe. So, I bought some new shoes....

Because I was wearing orthotics, I was told to get a neutral shoe. So I got Asics Nimbus. Felt great in the store; did okay at Fargo 1/2 marathon, but both my feet ached after the race. Ran in them for the Minneapolis 1/2 marathon. Ran worse at that event. My feet were really killing me by the end.

Turns out, the pair I bought was a half size too small.

Bought another pair the RIGHT size. Still had heel problems. Sometimes I would be fine; other times, I'd get that ache and would not be able to put much pressure on my foot.

In the meantime, I have been going to see my chiropractor that specializes in ART therapy. He works on the foot (which is P A I N F U L while he is doing it) and then I'd feel better. Until I wouldn't.

We thought it was Achilles Tendinitis; then we thought it might be a bruised heel bone; then we thought it was bruised heel tissue stemming from calf muscles.

So, basically, we don't know what is really causing this issue.

We DON'T think it is a stress fracture, but I'm giving it one more week before I go in to my regular physician to ask for an xray or an MRI just to make sure.

So now: I'm icing (a lot), running in the pool (super boring), went back to my old stabilizer shoes (Kayano) without the orthotics and am praying to the Tri Gods for some relief.

I'm also going to try to tape my heel tomorrow just to see if that helps.
The other piece of news is that I went back to Madison last weekend for a race preview with Endurance Nation.

Had a very good ride for the first portion (stick out and one loop of the hills). Then struggled with the second loop. It was incredibly hot and humid and I'm pretty sure I got dehydrated and over heated. Felt dizzy a number of times, hot then cold. I was just glad it wasn't race day.

Needless to say, I'm feeling a little worried at this point.

If I look at this logically, I have some confidence am confident that race day will go well -- I am stronger. I am biking better. I only missed the Mile 19 cut off last year by 2 minutes.... but, the run (and the other variables, like the weather) concern me.

I have six weeks to heal my heel and get my mental resolve up to snuff.

Two halves don't really make a whole....but...

2011-06-08T21:56:00.002-05:00

the races sure were fun!

I'm talking about finishing Fargo 1/2 and Minneapolis 1/2 marathons recently.

Fargo was May 21st. I drove up to Fargo with my friend, Gary. We spent the drive time catching up and solving the world's problems. That made the drive time pass pretty quickly.

Other friends doing Fargo events were Nat and Lance, Marcia and Heather -- the group has participated in this race for several years now and we always enjoy it.

The weather is always the "iffy" factor at Fargo. Typically, the weather is on the crummy side, with lots and lots of wind. The forecast for this year seemed ominous: rainy and cold, but we lucked out. The temps were cool (not cold) and we had a little drizzle, but nothing too drenching.

The best part was the LACK of wind this year. There definitely was a breeze, but not gale force winds or any thing that was too daunting.

I had really only done one long run in preparation -- a 10 mile run on April 3rd. Not an ideal situation, but after that run, my Achilles really started to hurt. On shorter training runs, I'd feel great running, but would barely be able to walk the next day.

Turns out my shoes were terribly worn out, and my coach had me doing lots of treadmill work with inclines. This, apparently, is a very bad combination.

So, lining up at the start, I was concerned about finishing, but finish I did.

I had a pretty good race considering. I ran pretty steadily for the first six miles and then did a walk/run to the end. My head got me in to a rough spot a couple times, but certainly not like the big dark spot that happened last September during IM WI.

I covered the miles -- didn't PR, but finished with a time that wasn't too shabby.

Now: Fast Forward a couple weeks -- after some background info.

Last December, I talked to my coach about doing a spring marathon. It had been a while since I did one and wanted to make sure (psychologically) that I can cover 26.2 miles without being pulled off the course at 10:32 pm at mile 19....

He thought that was a dandy idea and suggested Minneapolis Marathon, since it is challenging (aka: HILLY).

Then, a couple months ago, he decided that doing Fargo 1/2, a Marathon and then a 1/2 iron distance tri all within one month of each other might lead me to an injury, so he told me to skip the marathon.

Imagine my surprise, then, when my training schedule had me running the marathon last Sunday....! I emailed my coach to remind him of our earlier conversation and told him that I hadn't trained for a marathon.... Fortunately, he relented and said it was okay for me to drop down to the 1/2.

So I lined up last Sunday, in downtown Minneapolis, with several thousand other runners and ran the 1/2.

I really liked the course and it really was a challenge. Unlike Fargo, the weather was warmer, sunnier and more humid. Oh, and hillier. Much, much hillier.

I ran okay for several miles but felt I was off from my Fargo pace, which was disappointing to me. I chalked up the race as a "training event" and kept moving forward.

About a quarter mile from the finish, once past the last final yucky hill, I noticed a woman in front of me who was stumbling quite a bit. She finally took a big fall on to the pavement.

I went over to her and asked her if she was okay. She said "yes" but it was clear she was not. She had injured her knee before the race and then re injured it during the race and was in a lot of pain. But, this was her first 1/2 ever and she was not going to give up.

I told her that we were going to finish together. I helped her up and had her lean on me for support and we started walking to the finish.

I talked to her and asked her lots of questions so she would take her mind off her knee and focus on answering me. Soon enough, I could see the finish and I pointed it out to her.

"See, you are almost there. You are doing this".

She was ecstatic. She asked"Should we run in?" and I told her I'd follow her to make sure she got in.

She did a little hop/skip step; stopped and walked some more but got across that finish line with me right behind her.

She was thrilled. I was too. I was happy for her and really happy that my pace wasn't so off from Fargo after all. Although I didn't PR (again) I was only about 20 seconds slower than Fargo --even with more walking.

So: two halves down; two to go before the end of the month.

There is the 1/2 this weekend as part of Liberty 1/2 iron and then another 1/2 in Madison as part of a training run for Ironman.

My pace may be slow, but I'm getting the miles in!

This puts it back in to perspective:

2011-05-23T16:53:00.002-05:00

After my silly whinefest yesterday, I had a chance to catch up with some other bloggie friends.

I got to Betsy' blog....

Reading about her brother put it all right back in to perspective for me.

I'm grateful; I'm lucky; I'm ever-hopeful.

I'm also a contributor to her Team In Training effort. And you should be too.

Feeling sorry for myself....

2011-05-22T20:58:00.003-05:00

I'm going to whine a little bit.

Not that I'm really in any position to whine at all.

I'm healthy. I have a great husband, friends and family. I have wonderful cats, a job I enjoy and am pretty good at and no financial stress.

We've had super bad weather here, including a tornado that took a life, and here I am....

So I'm probably going to just sound like a big whiny baby as I reveal the reason for my rant below:

I can't figure out why, after all these years of training and working out, I still as as slow as molasses, and I feel like stamping my little feet and just screaming about it!

Why whine/rant NOW??? Well, it was kind of a big weekend for races. Fargo events, Gear West Duathlon, Superior Trail races, something called the Triple T, etc.

I ran the Fargo 1/2 and got through it "okay".

"Okay" means that I finished, but didn't PR. To be honest, this was expected. I have been plagued by nagging injuries, -- one right after each other -- ever since last fall. I ran 10 miles on April 3rd and that was it for long training runs prepping for Fargo.

My Achilles flared up, taking me out of the running game for a couple of weeks and then limiting my miles when I started back up, so actually finishing 13 was in question.

But I did.... I ran the first 7.35 almost straight though and then had to stop for a potty break. The line was long and people were dawdling in the porta potties. My mile splits went from a pretty consistent pace to adding almost six minutes to mile 8. Then I really slowed down.... took more walk breaks; got in to that very dark spot again (Hello, IM WI memories.....), but was able to get out of that mindset pretty quickly -- which certainly is a good think.

So, the good news is that I finished and feel pretty good today.

The whine starts as I start to compare myself to other friends. I looked up the results from the Gear West Duathlon and most of every one I know is at the top of the list of finishers. Many took podium places in their age groups. No one is near the bottom. Not ever close to near to the bottom.

I train with a lot of these people. It is one thing to do strength training together, where we are all lunging together in the same room. Or, even doing spin training during the winter, where we are all sitting on our bikes, strapped on to stationary trainers and then running together on treadmills. That is all fun, and kum-by-ya, and we are all "equal" because we are all the same "pace", which means we are all in the same place....

Now, with warmer weather, during spin, we are still strapped to the trainers, but running is outside. Used to be running around the facility parking lot but now we head out on a 2.75 mile loop.

I don't mind the distance but I have to admit is it is very humbling and some what humiliating that I get dusted by the group before we even leave the PARKING LOT and head out on to the road!!!!

Okay, so most of these people are considerably younger than I am; Most of these folks are or seem to be naturally gifted from an athletic perspective. Yes, I can improve -- to a point. There is not really a chance in heck that I'll run an 9 minute pace as an easy does it pace. (And a 9-minute pace would still mean I get dusted in the parking lot).

Don't get me wrong: I am very proud of their accomplishments. I am in awe of their abilities. I am really glad I get to train with them and participate in lots of the same events, because they are really wonderful people to know and I'm thrilled to have them all as friends.

I just get angry at myself for not being up to the same level. Usually, this fact isn't such a big thing to me. I'm generally just happy to be participating in the event and challenging my body and doing it all just because I can.

For what ever reason, today, I just feel like whining.

So, here I sit, licking my ego, BUT still plugging along.

I'm going to Madison for a couple days next weekend to so my annual solo trip down memory lane. I'll also do one loop of the Ironman Wisconsin bike course and one loop of the run course. Maybe riding up those three torturous hills in Dane County will chase the whine right out of me.

Achillies not Plantar

2011-04-28T13:15:00.003-05:00

So the good news is that the heel pain is from Achilles Tendinitis, not the dreaded plantar fasciitis.

Good news because the recovery from AT can be much quicker than PF.

New shoes, ice, avoid hill work for a week or so, the Strassberg sock (thanks IronSnoopy!) and a few visits with my favorite torture artist, er, I mean chiropractor, Dr. Brendon O'Brien and I should be fine.

Dr. O is a cyclist, runner, skier who specialized in ART -- Active Release Technique. My Coach turned me on to Dr. O last year when I pulled a hamstring right before Ironman. Dr. O worked on my hammy a couple times before the race and that is what got me through the bike and on to the run course.

With ART, the Chiropractor will have you shorten the tissue, apply contact tension to the affected area, then lengthen the tissue or slide it to adjacent tissue.

So with the hamstring, this means I bend my knee, Dr. O apples big time pressure contact with the hamstring, I slowly unbend my knee and he continues to apply that pressure all the way up the hamstring to my glute. Then repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

May not sound like much, but it can be incredibly painful (in a good way) while it is going on (and on and on and on).

With the AT, the same ART concepts apply, but this time he was working on my heel, ankle and calf.

YEEEEEOOOOOOCCCCCCH. But again, in a good way!

So -- if you are having overuse injuries, I recommend finding someone that practices ART. Will bet you back up and running (ha ha) in no time flat.

If it isn't one thing....

2011-04-26T22:13:00.003-05:00

It seems to be another.

Ever since right before last year's IMoo, I seem to be plagued with small, but nagging, injuries.

I pulled a hamstring about a week and a half before IMoo last year. Although I rehabbed pretty quickly, it definitely did impact my biking during the race.

Then, shortly after the race, I pulled a muscle in the other leg. That took some time to heal.

Then I developed this weird thing where my arms fall asleep from my elbows down when I'm sleeping. Apparently, it is a nerve that gets pinched. I have bouts where it is really bad and then other nights where it isn't so bad at all.

Now, I have heel pain. Big time heel pain. I'm refusing to believe that I may have actually have plantar fasciitis. I am hoping that I just need new shoes.

I have been icing and using Advil and running my foot over golf balls, tennis balls and soup cans. Still having pain.

I've heard horror stories of this lasting for months and months and months.

I only have 20 weeks of training (!) week before Ironman Wisconsin... so I don't really have weeks and weeks to heal.

Fortunately, it doesn't bug me when I swim and hasn't hurt when I bike.... so, I'm going to give my foot a bit of a rest this week, I'll find some new shoes and I'll hope for the best.

Any one have any other recommendations?

Well, well, well. Look who's back.

2011-04-17T12:14:00.004-05:00

Yes, I'm actually blogging today. It has been a L O N G time since I've had the luxury of time to just lazily type more than a Facebook update.

Work has been crazy busy for both me and Hubby. We are both working long hours; traveling a lot and having a very hard time detaching from work and work issues. (The pressure is much higher on Hubby. His big project has been ramping up since December and won't deploy for one more month. He has been working 10 - 12 hours every day -- including weekends for 4 1/2 months. Toooooo much).

We are both very dedicated to our jobs and our projects, which is a good thing and a bad thing. Good because we have pride in what we do, we feel accountable for driving results and are willing to put in the time and effort to get things done (even when the task isn't really ours to do...). The bad thing is that, in these days and times, we just don't know what the next day will bring.

Even with better news about the economy, our company is working on plans to "reduce redundancies and increase efficiencies", which, in plain English means lay-offs. We just don't know when, where or who. So, every day, we get up, we suit up and we go to work and we get stuff done. And we wait.

Should one of us (or both of us) get laid off, we'll figure it out....and it hasn't happened yet... and may not happen at all. We are just going to keep moving forward, one project at a time.

So besides work, there I'm training.....at least I'm trying as best as my schedule and motivation can allow me. I have to say that I have had less mojo over the last few months. Part of it is work and part of it is that winter has just dragged on and on and on. (Tough to be highly motivated to get on the trainer for yet another 3 - 4 hour spin session...).

I know for sure I am definitely stronger physically than I was at this time last year (strength training and yoga have helped a ton) but I'm not entirely sure how this will translate in to race times.

My paces "feel slower" swimming and running, although my endurance is better. I seem to hold a better pace on the bike for longer periods, but what does this mean over the long haul of a race course?
My first outdoor tri is in 8 weeks, which means I have about seven weeks of good, solid training in front of me to get ready and then one week of easing off to taper.

So -- a lot of unknown right now....which means I spend a lot of time just trying to move forward....literally and figuratively.

Travelin' and Tri U Mah

2011-02-11T22:15:00.003-06:00

I've been a traveling fool lately.

Des Moines last week; Tempe this week; Charlotte next week. Hubby is manning the house and cats here in Minneapolis as I'm racking up the frequent flyer miles.

I don't typically mind the travel. It is kind of nice to have a change of work scenery; I enjoy seeing my co-workers in the different cities; nice to have a little change of pace.

Des Moines in February, though: not so nice. Especially during a blizzard. Snow, winds, freezing temps. I could get that just staying at home. TEMPE in February, on the other hand: quite very nice. Sunny, dry pavements, temperatures above 32 degrees. The temps were "chilly" for Tempe -- only getting in to the 60s, but considering air temps were in the single digits during the day in Minneapolis (and below zero during the night), I was quite happy to be in Arizona this week. Charlotte should be nice too -- not hot, but not freezing.

When I travel, I always find a health club or a "Y" or a natatorium so I can get workouts in. And usually, I'm pretty diligent. The last couple of weeks were more difficult to squeeze every thing in. Blizzards make it tough for the tiny rental car to mow through snow piles to get to the gym; meetings, dinner invitations from the boss are hard to turn down. So, although I did get some workouts in, I didn't get all my training in.

Yes, I feel guilty about it....

But, one more trip and then I'm done for a while. I can get back in to my routine. (On a sad note, once I settle back in at home, Hubby starts his three-week travelfest, so I'll be home, but he'll be on the road. I think we'll be in the same city again some time in late March...)

One very positive thing: I placed 3rd in my age group at this year's Tri U Mah indoor triathlon. I covered 12.224 miles in 90 minutes. (My best personal distance for this event.)

The first place woman is some one I know. She used to be part of a running club that I belonged to. She is a very speedy runner. I went further than she did during the swim; she slightly beat me on the bike; and then she kicked my a$$ on the run.

I was faster in the water AND on the bike than the woman who came in second. Again, I got my running shoe handed to me during the run.

My training plan hasn't focused much on running time or pace lately (obviously), but all that swimming and spinning paid off.

My coach reminded me that I'm right where I should be for February.

And tonight, that means I'm happily at home with Hubby and the cats.

The Scale

2011-01-21T15:16:00.003-06:00

There is a great hot tub in the women's locker room at my health club.

I L O V E it.

I love having a good soak in very hot, deep water. I love the bubbles. I love the whole experience.

I even have a favorite sitting spot in the hot tub: the bottom left-hand corner closest to the showers. I like it because the water jets are positioned perfectly to hit all my achy spots. I can just lean back and let the bubbles and heat take my cares away.

This sitting spot is also positioned so I can see all the other women come and go through the locker room as they make their way to the sauna, the steam room and the change area.

Smack dab in the middle of all that action is THE SCALE.

As much as I love the hot tub, I hate the scale.

It has been my own personal nemesis for pretty much my whole life.

I was a fat kid; a fat teenager; a fat adult.

As a teen and young adult, I certainly had bouts of thinness. But, pretty much, I was fat.

Having an eating disorder for many, many years didn't help my relationship with food or the scale either.

I avoided the scale like the plague for years on end. If I had to get weighed, I'd turn my back to the numbers, so I wouldn't have to see the damage.

When I was on a diet, I was more open to the scale, because the number was generally going down. But still and all, the scale was something to be feared and avoided.

Anyway, from my vantage point in the hot tub, I watch, with continual amazement a vast number of women that just hop on that hulking piece of metal with nary a thought.

Yep, they just trot on over to the scale, get on it, look at the number , step off it and seem to go on about doing what every they had planned to do for the rest of the day.

Some women get on naked; many get on with their clothes on. A BUNCH get on with their shoes on. Doesn't matter if they are big women or little women or old women or young women. It's just "hop, read and move on".

Now, before you all think I'm a total scale voyeur, let me just say that the numbers are so small on the digital read out, I can't tell what their weight actually is. The number is really not the point.

The point is that I'm just so amazed at how little power the scale has over them BUT still seems to have over me.

It's ridiculous. Totally, incredibly ridiculous.

I'm sure that some of the women who confidently step on the scale dread the results as much as I do. I'm willing to bet that for some of those women , their own personal beratement tapes start going off in their head the second they get off of that scale.

I'm currently struggling with keeping a commitment to weigh myself once a week. My weight is reasonably under control (meaning, I weigh more now than I did right before Ironman last summer, but that is totally understandable. I weigh a lot less than I did a year ago and have seemed to avoid a gigantic winter weight gain).

So the number isn't as bad as I fear it is going to be, yet getting on the scale is really rough.

I need to keep up that commitment though, so the number doesn't creep up.

In reality, my goal is to really lean up between now and June so I can haul less ballast up the hills of Madison in September....

That is going to require a commitment to eating less and hopping on that box more.

I'm just not going to do it with my shoes on.

Snow... Snow.... and more Snow

2011-01-14T20:24:00.004-06:00

Okay. I understand that it is January. I get that January = winter.

I also am fully aware that winter, in the upper midwest, = cold, dark and white fluffy stuff.

But, really. THIS much snow?

It all started in early December. Hubby and I went to Florida, where he got to golf in one more tournament for the year and I was hoping to enjoy a little warm weather, swim outside and eat an orange or two.

We left on a Thursday-- nothing on the weather map about a big, bad snow storm blowing in to Minneapolis until I got up on Friday. Then, the BIG BLIZZARD of 2010 was all over every channel.

Hubby golfed and I was riveted to the WeatherChannel, watching updates from Minneapolis that came ever 15 minutes....

Why wasn't I using those 15 minute intervals to swim in an outdoor pool or run in the sun? Because it was friggin' cold in Florida! Yes, they were in the middle of a cold snap. With wind chills and all things frosty.

So instead of warming my bones, I piled on tee shirts, watched the WeatherChannel and shopped at an outlet mall that was literally across the street from our hotel.

(ONLY good thing out of that experience was finding a Lululemon Athletica OUTLET store. Yep. I was walking through the mall, turned a corner and there it was: a big, beautiful store, bathed in a wash of dreamy light. I swear I heard the angels singing...)

Anyway. Hubby finished his tournament, we flew home and had to face the BIG DIG out of the BIG BLIZZARD of 2010, which dumped over 17" of snow over the city.

I will say, that well before the BIG BLIZZARD of 2010, my mother-in-law decided that this was the year that she and my father-in-law would buy Hubby and me a snow blower.

Now, we already had a little snow blower that worked perfectly well if the accumulated snow was less than 6 inches in height. AND we are perfectly capable of buying our own snow blower, had we wanted one. So, initially, I thought it was kind of a silly gift.

Nonetheless, Hubby and I looked at snow blowers before we left for Florida, but couldn't decide on which one to buy before we left for our trip. (We were soooo silly!).

Before we even got on the flight in Florida to come back to Nanook -- I mean, Minneapolis -- we called HomeDepot to have them hold one for us. Our plan was to pick it up from the store after we landed in Anchorage -- I mean, Minneapolis.

The store clerk at HomeDepot said. "You want to buy one NOW? After the BIG BLIZZARD of 2010? We are totally sold out and won't be restocked for at least a week".

Yippee.

By the time we got home, the snow plows had gone down our street. Twice.

So we had to shovel a huge frozen mountain of snow and ice out of the driveway. I kid you not, that mound of snow from the street to the sidewalk was 4 1/2 feet high and 3 or 4 feet wide.

I do not like shoveling. I had to do it when I was a kid -- and we lived in a corner house, so had to do sidewalks in front and on the side of the house. Plus the driveway. I should say the three car garage driveway...

When Hubby and I moved in to our house, I told him that I would happily mow any day, any time. I would rake leaves, any day, any time. I was not, however, going to shovel our stupid, forever-long driveway.

Most years, I've been able to live up to my word. I just couldn't let Hubby do all the work that night and we ended up spending over 2 hours digging out. BLECH.

So, naturally, I thought: "well, at least we got this over with early this year. We can't get much more than this....".

I hear the angels laughing now.

We've had more snow this winter than we have in a long, long time. Fact is, it is the third snowiest winter in Minneapolis' history.

Again, yippee.

Driving is a pain. Parking is a pain. Motivating myself to get out to run or to the gym (or even to get up for work) is a pain.

Shoveling? Is a ROYAL pain.

I have to admit that I DO think that snow is beautiful. (As long as I don't have to drive in it or shovel it). It does make the scenery look more peaceful and serene.

It also coaxes me to nappy-nap land pretty easily, which is really not want I want/need now. It is so much cozier to come home, slip on some fleece pjs, stretch out on the couch and snooze than it is to say, slip on eight layers of clothes and ice cleats to go out for a run.

Or to get up HOURS before the sun even gets up to go to the gym for strength training or to get in a freezing cold pool.

Yet, most of the time I do it. Why? Because Ironman Wisconsin is a mere 8 months away.

So it is snowing again tonight. We are supposed to get up to another 5 inches of fluffy white flakes. The good news is that Hubby is happily blowing out the driveway from hell with the snow blower from heaven. I only had to shovel the sidewalk (front of the house ONLY) and the walk up to the house. So...not so bad.

The question looming is whether I'll be able to face the snow and roads tomorrow morning (that is SATURDAY morning) at 6:30 am to get to a 4-hour spin class, or if I'll turn over, sleep in till 10:00 or so and then just spin on the trainer I have set up on our second floor.....hmmmmmm.

What ever the answer is for tomorrow, this girl, who loves the summer, open widows, warm breezes and open water swims, thinks that this winter has really been enough.

How many days till spring?

2011 Race Schedule

2011-01-02T16:43:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year to All!

Hubby and I had a fantastic whirlwind New Year's Eve. I'll post more details and pics soon.

Today is the day that I committed to my 2011 race schedule...as I know it today.

Only about 5.5 weeks until the first event of the year: Tri U Mah Indoor Tri at the University of Minnesota on February 6th. Tri U Mah was my intro to triathlon, seven years ago. The format is a little different: it consists of a 30 minute swim in a wonderful pool (University of Minnesota's Aquatic Center), then 30 minutes on a stationary bike; then 30 minutes of treadmill running. Winners are determined by the total distance covered.

As usual, a bunch of my tri and running friends also signed up this year: Nat, Marcia, Gary, Cheryl and I will all be in the pool for the 9:10 am heat.

I love this event because it is very well run, a lot of fun and means that summer season is on its way!

New for me this year will be the Minneapolis Marathon (June 5th). I asked my Coach, JonnyJ, if I should consider an early marathon to help me prep for IM WI. (I had such a big breakdown during the IM marathon last year, I thought just getting through the distance and practicing a nutrition plan PRIOR to this years Ironman would be a good idea.). I suggested to JonnyJ that I do Fargo Marathon in May.

JonnyJ agreed that a marathon was a good idea but immediately nixed Fargo. "Too flat". He suggested Minneapolis because of the hills. Yippee.

So, I signed up for Minneapolis full and Fargo 1/2. Fargo will be just a training run for me.

Also new will be the YWCA Women's Triathlon on August 14th. I've heard great things about this event and wanted to do one shorter tri before IM WI. The event venue is very close to my house and is only a sprint distance (500 yd swim; 15 mile bike; 2.5 mile run). By then, I should be well trained, used to my new tri bike and will hopefully have a very good RACE. (Yes, I plan to actually RACE this event as opposed to my usual "participate". JonnyJ will be happy to hear that....)

There are a couple other events not listed yet: I'd like to do the Lake Harriet Open Water and Great Prairie swim events again (dates not posted yet); I'm putting my hat in the ring for New York Marathon (November) along with some other friends. If I get in great. If not, this will be the third year I've been declined, so it is an automatic "in" for 2012; I'll do some additional bike events, but none of the dates have been posted yet.

As busy as my schedule seems, it feels a little "light" to me. I have no duathons planned; a super busy June and then very little for the rest of the summer. JonnyJ wants me to concentrate more on training before IM WI than on racing, so I'm sure even though I won't be doing a lot of events, I'll still be busy!

Just in time for 2011

2010-12-30T17:22:00.004-06:00

I'm back!

I'm not really so sure why I haven't posted in so long. There has certainly been enough going on to keep me busy:

Work: Just work, reorganizations at work; travel for work; and then more work.

Some fun stuff: holidays with my family; holidays with Hubby's family. Some fun travel with Hubby.

"Training": I say that loosely because, although I was pretty active up until Thanksgiving, my level of output dropped dramatically the three or four weeks between Turkeyday and Christmas. I did get back in the pool this week and hit both strength and spin classes. I have to start running again. Well, okay, running more than 5 - 10 minutes at a time.

Why the lack of running?

Injuries: The hamstring from IM WI cleared up just in time for me to develop a big problem in my right sitbone/hip. VERY uncomfortable to sit for any period of time in the car or at the office. Yet, could sit with no problem during some very long flights from Minneapolis to California and back and then then from Minneapolis to Florida and back.

I iced, sat on tennis balls, used a foam roller, stretched and then finally went to see a doctor.
Ultimately, after several sessions with "Dr. Pain" -- a local chiropractor who specializes in ART therapy, I'm very, very close to getting over the problem.

NOW I'm wrestling with some thing called thoracic outlet syndrome. Basically, it is the squeezing of a big nerve in my neck that trails down through my arms causing them to fall asleep. This usually happens when I'M asleep, so I wake up and have to shake them out. Many times, every night. Big drag, but not fatal.

I'm now back to "Dr. Less-Pain" -- a local chiropractor that has a much gentler approach than Dr. Pain....

I'm also working on sitting with better posture, unhunching my shoulders, stretching my neck and got my bike position readjusted.

Ironically, Nat's mom and my coach's Dad have experienced this same issue. The good news is that I know other people that have it and have had success in managing/getting rid of it. The bad news is that, because the people that have it are my friend's parents, it now sounds like something that happens to old(er) people. (I am refusing to believe that I am getting o l d.)

Operation Muffin Top: Despite my avoidance of most sugary things during the holidays, I managed to put away a lot of food and put on some weight. I have to say that I enjoyed every yummy, delicious, enjoyable bit of that food but am not enjoying paying for it now with tighter blue jeans. Remarkably, I'm not all that worried about it because I'm ready to get on the training/eating bandwagon again to lean up for spring and summer.

So where does this leave me on New Year's Eve 2010?

VERY excited for the New Year!

I've planned out my race schedule for 2011 and got my Coach's approval. I'm excited to do IM Wisconsin again in September and will have some fun events before the big day to measure my readiness.

I've got some other goals in mind for the new year, but I think I"ll wait to post those until I've worked out all the details in my head.

So, until then: Happy New Year to my blogger friends!

Let's make 2011 the best year yet!

Oooooooommmmmmmmmmm

2010-11-07T10:30:00.005-06:00

Motivation "will all have to happen from within".

So what the hell does that mean?

Conceptually, of course, I know what that means.

Draw your power from inside.
Don't let any thing get in the way of your goal(s).
Focus.
Blah, blah, blah.

At times, it is very easy for me to self-motivate.

But, frankly, some mornings it takes a lot of self-motivation to get out of bed to get ready for work, when just fluffing the covers, turning over and going back to sleep seems like a much more palatable option.

The real rub for me will be to work on this concept:

"Act As If"

When JonnyJ and I had our Ironman debrief, he hammered home the fact that, even with not being able to eat during the marathon, I was obviously stronger than I thought because when I was asked to pick up the pace, I did. By over 2 minutes per mile.

What I really couldn't do was get my head around finishing. My brain was telling me all sort of "lies":

You shouldn't be here.

Who are you kidding?

Every one else is a real triathlete, you are a hack.

Stop running now. It will feel better.

(Okay, that was only a half-lie. It did feel better to just walk, but it did not feel better to not finish).

Conversations in my head have plagued me since I was a kid. An overweight, pimply-faced kid at that.

Athletics were a struggle for me. The annual President's Physical Fitness assessment equaled two weeks of dread and embarrassment. I was the slowest runner; I couldn't jump very well and I certainly could not hold myself up for the chin-up challenge or pull myself up during the rope climb task.

The summer before I went in to high school, I discovered tennis. I actually liked it and was reasonably good at it. (Fun Fact: I still happen to own and play with a Wilson T-2000) But I wasn't quite good enough to win a lot of matches.

I decided to believe that it was better to participate than to win. Since I wasn't "good enough" to win, I might as well come up with some line I could tell myself so I could actually motivate myself to get to practice.

Some might say: "Well, maybe you are just not competitive".

Good deduction, but lousy assessment.

I used to tell myself that too. (Sometimes still do). But the fact of the matter is I am pretty competitive most of the time. Fact is, I find my self competing over the weirdest, silliest things. It really surprises me...

Anyway: zoom forward. Many years forward. I start running. Although I always wanted to be a runner and lived very close to lakes were runners were running all day long, I never could get myself to do it.

Why:

I'm not built like a runner (who, obviously, are all tiny, tiny boned, super thin speed freaks)
I can't keep up with other runners (who, again, are all speed freaks)
Who am I kidding...

Sound familiar?

And yet, runner I became.

Hubby signed me up for that first 5k, where I was slow-as-molasses. Yet, spectators clapped when I shuffled by, they said stuff like "go Runner!" and there was FOOD at the finish-line.

Ding, ding, ding went the bell; Pavlov's theory proved to be correct once again, and I continued to line up at the start line of 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons and marathons.

I have generally finished all of those races at the back of the pack. (Now I will say, the larger the field, the less toward the back I am, and in recent years, I've moved up to sort of the back-of-the -back-of-the-middle-of-the-pack). I am "okay" with that.

Why?

"I'm happy to participate".

(Nowadays) "I'm glad to, at my (ancient) age, be here doing this. Look at how many other XX year-old women are not here doing this."

"I'm not a real runner" (because I typically do a run/walk thing when I race.

Add triathlon in to the mix:

When I started tris, I really was a terrible swimmer. (No "conversation"; just a fact. To swim 100 yards, I had to do 25 yards each of the crawl, the backstroke, the breast stroke and sidestroke).

I was not a great biker and did not have a cool bike.

But I could "run".

I took lots of swim lessons and got to be a better swimmer. I biked more and got a better bike. And, I did lots and lots and lots of tris: sprints, Oly's and Halfs....

I discovered the Athena category and places much higher in the ranks, which fed my competitive craving.

Still:

happy to participate
Incredibly happy to not drown during the swim
But I'm not a "real" triathlete.

Then, I decided to sign up for Ironman.

The distance and the training intrigued me. The time-cut off worried me, but I was pretty sure that I would be able to finish the race in 17 hours. (I didn't initally know about the interium cut-offs, except for the swim cut-off, which, frankly did worry me.)

I trained -- was very committed to the traning tasks (self-motivated....) and pushed my comfort zone by doing some open water swim events without a wetsuit; did some longer ride events.

Yet, there was always the nagging conversation in my head:

You are so much slower on the bike than everyone else.

You are slower in the water, your a slower runner....

who are you kidding?

And so it went....

So Acting As If: JonnyJ says that I have to start having the conversations that say:

I am an athlete.

I am a TRIATHLETE.

I am faster than I give myself credit for.

(As proved by my recent running, where I am holding the 9's pretty darn easily.)

When my brain tells me to quit, it is lying to me. I've got much more in the tank

Changing the words will change my attitude.

Changing my attitude will change my beliefs.

Committing to the process will make it much easier to commit to the work.

The work will get me to the finish line.

So, I'm acting as if....

Okay, so what's next?

2010-10-25T18:07:00.002-05:00

The last entry was a brief summary of my (first) Imoo experience.

This period of time from 10:32 pm on September 12th until today has been filled with every emotion and thought you can imagine, including but not limited to disappointment, sadness, relief, wishful thinking and resolve.

"Resolve" really kicked off the morning of September 13th, when I got in line (again) at Monona Terrace to sign up for Imoo 2011.

All it took was my signature on a very big check and the fun began again.

This time, though, things (aka "training") will be a little different and a bit more focused.

I'm still working with the incredible JonnyJ. He is tough and smart and knows his stuff inside and out. We both feel good about the fact that we have a touch under a year to train this time around, which we will work to our advantage. (I didn't hire him as a coach until well after base training ended last time around. We had less time to work hard on my "limiters" last year. Not this time).

I'm already working on technique stuff. I'm taking a swim technique class that meets twice per week. There are up to five of us that are in the pool at 6:15 am doing drill after drill after drill after "drill swim drill".

I'm strength training -- some thing that was pretty much nonexistent the last time around. I'm working with weights a couple time per week and also taking this absolutely killer class that my coach teaches. No weights -- except that of your own body. Lunges; side lunges; a nasty little thing called "inchworm", which is where you basically start in a "downward dog" position and then walk "out" with your hands until you are in plank position and then walk your feet up to get back up in to downward dog. Then more lunges, which are followed by bosu ball work (more lunges and twists). You get the jist....

I'll be on the dang -- er, wonderful -- bike trainer a lot this winter. (Fortunately, the weather has been okay enough that I've still been able to ride a bit outside. But that is changing fast. We may have our first "snow" this week...yeech).

What will be difficult and much harder this time around is that I'll be training "by myself". Nat is not doing IM WI 2011. She'll be there to watch the race; she'll do some of the training with me, but she will not be my partner in crime (or my motivation).

That will all have to happen from within.

Which will be the subject for my next blog entry.....

Catching Up and True Confessions

2010-10-13T21:07:00.005-05:00

WOW! Did this last month fly by or what?

The days are micro-mini now -- leaves are or have peaked -- summer clothes have been put away and sweaters are in the drawers (just in time for Indian Summer!!).

Ironman WI 2010 (IMWI10) feels like a blink ago, though, and Ironman Wisconsin 2011 (IMWI11) feels like a long, long, long way away.

I've had plenty of time to examine, slice, dice, examine, re-examine and post-mortem exam my day, which add up to this short summary:

I was a bit off from the getgo that day. I was a bit crabby on the way to the race; was pissy about the "happy people" that were sharing my transition rack (and even pissier when I spilled Infinit all over my aero bars as I was filling up my bottle, so they got sticky); my swim ended up being the easiest part of the day (surprise, happy, happy surprise); I had a hard time getting comfortable on the bike going out to the hills; used a new bento box that would not stay properly on my bike, which annoyed the crap out of me; the first loop of hills went surprisingly well; the second loop did not; and then, there was the run:

As I mentioned earlier, I got off the bike and my nutrition plan went all to pieces. Nothing appealed to me, so I really got very little calories in. It was just a matter of time before the "no energy" got me to that very ugly space in my head which I was really unable to get over.

In talking with my coach a few days after the race, we really discovered that my nutrition meltdown started before I got to the run. I thought I had had enough while on the bike, but I was short on calories. Way short.

He told me though, that I really did have a lot more gas in the tank than I thought -- or would give myself credit for -- or would allow.

He and Pam, another super, great triathlete he coaches, had been following me and Nat along the course. When I was out on the run, they knew exactly what my pace was. At one point, when I was doing the "how much time left before midnight" math in my head and unable to get it to add up, Pam sprang out of now where to tell me that if I could pick it up by about a minute per mile, I'd have the race.

I ended up picking it up by over 2 mintues per mile for several miles. I got to the half way point with time to spare, but not much time. One of the race officials came up to me as I was making the turn and said "You know you are cutting this awfully close....".

"Yes, I know".

"Well, keep going. You have a little more than an hour and a half to get to mile 19. If you get there, just keep going. If you see me there waiting for you, you know your day is done.".

"Understood".

And then I got in to a very dark place.

So, if I honestly assess, the real problem was my head.... was the fact that I just couldn't get the negative stuff out and away.

At one point about mile 14, the pace bike was behind me. I was the last person out there that they considered having a slight chance of making it. I turned to him, with my feet moving forward, and said "What happens if I want to quit?"

The man on the bike said "You just stop and we take your chip and you are done".

I kept moving forward.

By that time, though, I had pretty much convinced myself that I was only going to go until they pulled me off the course.

I just kept moving forward. Walking a lot; running a little.

I got to Camp Randall for the second time and there were only three people in the stadium: two officials and Bill.

Bill had been the last official finisher at IM WI 2009 and I became his personal mission. He was determined to make me make the cut off.

I was having nothing of it.

Although in retrospect, and I was able to tell him this during the run, he was doing a very kind and noble thing by trying to encourage me to run faster, walk quicker, take less breaks, and that "I could do it", all I really wanted to do was to make him go away. Far away. Far, far, FAR away.

And yet, I kept moving forward.

By the time I was between miles 18 and 19, knew I was very close to the cut off.

There was a huge part of me that didn't want to miss the cut off and a part that wanted to just be done.

My coach found me again at this point and followed me (on the sidewalk). He was a much better motivator than Bill was (who was also still out there pushing me along).

As I was running up State Street to mile 19 (and I was running), I saw the race official...and I was bummed. I got to him at 10:32, missing the cut off by 2 minutes -- and the finish by seven miles.

I turned to my coach and said "It's okay. It's really okay".

He told me he was very proud of me and that next year would be my year.

Bill? He dissapeared like a thief in to the night to who knows where, although I'm pretty sure he just went to find his next mission, who was probably a little bit ahead of me on the course.

There was another man behind me that got to mile 19 about the time the official was taking my chip off my ankle. He got pulled from the course too and we both got a ride back to the finish.

We rode past Natalie, who was less than a half-mile from the finish line. She was looking very strong still. I was incredibly proud of her. I called out to her and told her my day was done and that I'd meet her at the finish line.

The very nice volunteer who drove us to the finish area dropped us off at the Med Tent and I walked to the finish line, where Hubby and a couple other friends were working the finish line as catchers.

One of my friends saw me and then told Hubby I was behind the finish area. He came up to me and gave me a huge hug and told me that he was sorry I didn't finish, but that he was proud of me.

And then we saw Natalie finish. She rocked it! I was -- and am -- so very happy for her!

I was very mad at myself and very okay with what happened all at the same time.

I'm not sure why I couldn't just buckle down and get it done, but I just couldn't (didn't?).

But you know, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Stay tuned for Part TWO....

2 minutes or 120 seconds or See You Next Year!

2010-09-14T22:19:00.004-05:00

Well, I am not an ironman -- yet.

I will post a longer race report soon, but for now, suffice it to say that I am listed as a DNF for Ironman Wisconsin 2010.

I DID make the swim cut off (2.4 miles in 1 hour 44 minutes. Not very fast, but got it done).

I DID make the bike cut off (in by 5:12 pm which should have been 5:00 pm, (which really should have been less than 5 hours if a) my watch hadn't quit working and b) I had pedaled faster ;-) )

I DID make it to mile 19 of the slog-fest -- I mean marathon. Yep, got there at 10:32 pm. The only problem was that the cut off for mile 19 was 10:30 pm. I missed it by two minutes. Or 120 seconds... or....

My run fell apart for oh-so many reasons:

Couldn't get my head around eating any thing. Nothing had any appeal except ice.
Couldn't get my legs to move faster than a walk for about the first 6 miles. A slow walk at that.
I finally did start running and picked up the pace a bit, but just could not keep the momentum going.
My brain took me to a very, very dark place and there was no getting out of it. No matter how hard others tried to get me out, I was stubbornly stuck.

And so it went.

But there were many, many bright spots for the day (again, will post more of those later).

And I'll be back in Madison NEXT YEAR to do this again.

I've already signed up, already got my hotel room, already rented my race wheels.

Now I just hope Hubby, my coach and my friends can put up with me.

WHOOOOOSH! We're here....

2010-09-11T17:06:00.003-05:00

I can not believe that Ironman Wisconsin is tomorrow.

TOMORROW!

The year has really flown by along with all the fun, fear and fretting.

Natalie and I volunteered last year on September 13th and signed up for the 2010 race which seemed so, so, so far away.

Base training started in December. Real training started in March.

Hiring one (lousy) coach; moving on to a much, much, much better coach.

Leaving behind things like Julie Murphy's candy jar, a once beloved container of chocolate comfort that I could count on finding in my co-worker's office. (I have not dipped my fingers in to that jar since December....).

I let go of other things too like sleeping in late on the weekends and more golf with my husband and golf friends.

Oh, and about 25 pounds.

But I gained so, so much.

I've gained confidence in the water and on the bike. I've run better than I have in a long time (until that pesky hamstring injury that happened about three weeks ago); I tried a bunch of new events this year (a couple open water swim events; a duathlon; a couple sponsored bike rides). I made "friends" with some of the tri-power houses in the Twin Cities. (Not that they would remember my name if they met me in an elevator... but I remember and have been inspired by them....).

I know what a cassette is and a crank is. I can tell you how to change a flat (even if I can't get the dang tire rim back over the wheel). I've ridden aero; I've moved on to road bike clips (although I'll be using my mountain clips for IM WI.... new shoes are still not quite broken in).

I've had a blast.

We've been in Madison since Thursday and it has been nothing but organized chaos. Things are not going quite as I "planned". I'm fighting a little virus; Hubby has a huge horrible cold.

But, the weather tomorrow is supposed to be perfect. Natalie and I are ready to go. Hubby is here; lots of other friends are here to help volunteer and to cheer us on.

No matter what happens out there tomorrow, it should be a wonderful, wonderful day.

My plan is to cross that finish line before midnight. To become an Ironman.

If I don't... I can always sign up for IM WI 2011

But I hope the day doesn't just go in a whoosh.....

2884

2010-08-31T16:34:00.001-05:00

My new, hopefully favorite and lucky, number.

(aka my bib number for Ironman Wisconsin).

Bring it on!

AAAARRRRRGGGGGH!

2010-08-26T16:58:00.004-05:00

Do you SEE that countdown timer over there on the right-hand side of the screen?

YIKES!

Not that long ago, it read something like 300 days and 2 million hours till Ironman Wisconsin.

Now..... yikes!

For the most part things have been going well. Training has been mostly fine (meaning I've been getting it done. Slower than most every one else, but getting it done).

Over the last couple of weeks, people have asked me: "Uh, so... how is the training going?.... No injuries yet?"

As if one was just waiting out there for me. As if I was the proverbial "bus" on its way to "pick up" the injury to take it a ride.

"No.... nope. No injuries so far", I would reply.

I may have been driving that bus past a grave yard while whistling (or how ever that metaphor goes)...Anyway, you have to know where this is going...

Hubby's daughter got married last week on Friday. Lovely wedding. Lovely reception. Lovely bride.

At some point over the weekend, either as part of the 15-mile run Hubby and I did together on Saturday OR at some point during my bike/run on Sunday, I felt a little tug where my left hamstring is located.

"Uh oh"

Really gave no thought to it. Just a little tweak.

Then swam on Monday; tried to run home on Tuesday.

"UH OH".

The tweak became a twinge became an impediment to my gait which became a shuffle which became a walk home from work which became a bunch of worry.

Was I, in fact, INJURED???

With three weeks to go until the big race, was THIS going to keep me from finishing?

I think NOT!

Out came the ice bag. Out came the free samples of Bio-freeze. Out came the Ace bandage. Up came the Internet and the Google search on "Hamstring injuries".

Fortunately, the pull does not seem to be tooooo bad. (Probably "stage one" according to the web sites I accessed for research. Gotta love "the google".)

Ice, bio and ace seemed to help, but the real miracle occurred when I went to see John, sports massage expert, at my health club last night.

He worked on my quads and my calves and my hips and my hammy's for 50 glorious minutes. He pushed and prodded my aching muscles in a really good bad way.

And my hamstring feels better! YEAH!

I'm still taped up today, but I swam this morning (felt fine). I may bike a bit this evening and tomorrow. I'll run and bike on Saturday and then have my last, full blown bike ride on Sunday before settling in to taper.

I'll see my chiropractor tomorrow morning for a little fine tuning and already scheduled another appointment with John early in the week of IM WI for one last tweak. I think the hamstring will be a big non-issue on September 12th.

I'm excited, nervous, anxious, full of dread and excited all over again.

Still worried about cutoffs, but.... still...

Wonder if John could work out those kinks better known as "the bike course hills"?

Last Tri.....

2010-08-03T21:48:00.003-05:00

Waseca 1/3 Iron distance tri was last Sunday...my last tri before IM WI....

I always hate the time when triathlon season starts winding down. I wait, wait, wait all winter long to be able to be outside swimming, riding and running and then WHOOOSH.... it seems to be over in a blink of an eye.

I know that, with IM WI looming, the season isn't really over. There are still four pretty intense training weeks ahead, followed by a two-week "taper" of some sort, but, summer has definitely gone from feeling like there are endless weeks stretching ahead of me to "how long until Labor Day weekend?"

This year was the second year for Waseca's event. The field was pretty small. Only 100 people did the 1/3 Iron distance, which was really a 1 mile swim; 33 mile bike ride and 8.8 mile run. Of the 100, only 34 women did the distance.

A couple of people I used to train with from time to time also did the 1/3 Iron distance; Steve Stenzel and his brother-in-law did the sprint distance, so I could catch up with a couple friendly faces while waiting to get in to the water.

The swim was trouble free. The water was very warm, but they allowed wetsuits. Honestly, I would have been fine if they hadn't allowed them, but since they did, I took advantage of the extra buoyancy and feeling of security.

The race website warned us of potholes on the bike course, but honestly I didn't encounter any. (They may have been referring to the sprint course having potholes). I was actually quite impressed with the quality of the roads.

My legs were tired on the bike. Maybe a little aftermath of Chisago... could have been the fact that I rode some hills the day prior to Waseca with one of my old coaches, Greg Rhodes. He gave me some great tips as we (I) trudged up some killer hills in St. Paul.

In any event, I didn't think I had much mojo on the bike ride, but my pace was holding steady. Until, of course, a turn on the course pushed the bikes right in to a headwind. Not a huge one, but enough of one that my mph dropped from 18 to about 14. Depressing.

That stretch of road seemed to go on forever, but I was able to pass a couple of people -- and eventually the course turned out of the wind and pedaling was easier.

By the time I came in to T2, the sun was blazing hot, the humidity was high and I thought long and hard about just going home.

Rationale? "Well, this is really just a C minus race for me... why do I need to finish this???"

Why? Because.... that's why.

So, I got out on to the run course and did my run/walk thing. No particular "schedule" of run/walk, but just plodded along. The 8.8 mile course consisted of two-loops around Clear Lake. Pretty course with very little shade.

About mile 3, I bumped in to an old friend from work and we ran/walked a bit together. He was just about to finish the race and I still had a second loop. It was nice to have the company for a bit.

But then he zigged to the finish line and I zagged out for the second loop.

Again, I felt okay enough despite the heat and sun to keep doing the run/walk. I passed about four others during the second loop, which made me feel pretty good.

Not long after starting loop two, I was looking towards the finish line and then it was over.

I had fun, I was happy with my time and I thought the race was very well organized and the volunteers were great.

Now I'm focused on the Urban Wildland 1/2 marathon, which is this Saturday. It will be Hubby's first 1/2 marathon and I'm hoping we both have a great day.

In the meantime, I continue to get my training in....swim on Monday; bike today; open water swim and bike tomorrow; spin and run on Thursday; stretch and core work on Friday....

Tick tock, tick....tock....

ZIPP-e-tee-do-dahhhhhhh

2010-07-27T20:36:00.005-05:00

Chisago is in the books. It was a very good race for me. I PRed by 55 minutes over my 2009 time (when I walked pretty much the whole 1/2 marathon) and PRed by 37 minutes over Liberty 1/2 iron tri earlier this summer.

Yippee, yippee, yippee!

Two things worked well for me:
1) I have been working hard. Still not sure if it has been "finish Ironman WI before midnight" hard enough, but I have been working hard.
2) Zipp wheels.

Yes, that's right: awesome, rocking Zipp wheels.

I rented a pair for IM WI but got a chance to "preview" them last weekend. I had a bike fit tweak scheduled for last Wednesday with Kevin at Gear West. Unfortunately, Kevin had to switch my appointment at the last minute. When making the new appointment, Kevin asked me what my concerns were. I talked about the bike fit but also asked about the race wheels.

Having never used them before, I didn't know if they'd really make a difference, or if they would ride differently than regular wheels, or if it would make a difference if I was on a flat course (which IM WI is NOT) versus a hilly course (which IM WI IS).

He answered each of my questions (Yes; not really; no) and then said that I could preview a pair for Chisago... and so I did.

WOW!

What a difference! I was much faster on the bike; the little hills didn't feel like much work at all and made it through those 56 miles in 3 hours and 10 minutes. That was a HUGE improvement for me!

The swim was pretty uneventful -- felt good in the water and came out in 45 minutes. The "official" time was 47 minutes because the timing mat was at the top of a hill (where transition was set up). I decided to take a potty-break in the bath house, which was on my way up the hill.

My run was okay -- not stellar. I actually RAN this year -- but did end up taking lots of walk breaks. The temps were up and there was not a cloud in the sky, so I got very hot, very fast.

All in all, I discovered that getting off the bike earlier means you see more of your friends out on the run course. (Who knew?)

Nat, Patrick, Gary, Rich, CY, Derek, Joe, Pam and Brett all just rocked the course. Marcia did the sprint distance and was out on the run course with her wonderful supplies of ice, water and other "aid". (I think it will be very hard for her to not be able to provide any support other than cheers at IM WI....If she hands us any thing on the course, we risk disqualification).

Another really nice plus was that my coach decided to race the event too. I saw him right before the swim, where he wished me well and gave me a nice little pep talk. He caught up to me at about mile 35 on the bike and gave me another "Atta Girl" along with a high-five as we passed each other on the run. That kind of encouragement means a lot to me.

After the race, I was supposed to ride the 56-mile course again. I ended up only looping the 22-mile sprint course. (I know. I am a bad person.)

I was way over heated; the sun was relentless and, foolish me, packed a cooler with water and extra nutrition for the second loop, but forgot ice.

So.... I had HOT Infinit and Nunn. Blech.

I had also developed a bit of a blood blister:

which bugged me a bit.

Still and all, 78 miles, plus 1.2 for the swim; plus 13.1 for the run? All in all a good day.

Only one more tri left before IM WI: Waseca 1/3 iron.

I can't believe how fast time is flying and how fast the summer is passing.

I'll run a 1/2 marathon with Hubby on August 7th -- it will be his first...And I'll got back to Madison for one last ride on that bike course... plus, I'm sure my coach has lot of other fun stuff in store for me over the next 7 weeks....

Finally, I thought the photo below was very telling about life at our house. Notice what fills the dishwasher:

Seven water bottles and three cat food dishes.....

What more can I say?

Shhhhh

2010-07-22T14:04:00.004-05:00

I am whispering, just in-case the Tri Gods hear me and decide to throw a little "fun" my way....

Chisago 1/2 iron tri is coming up on Sunday.

I

feel

ready.

I sort of hate writing that sentence down, lest it be construed as overconfidence. Or just plain confidence. But....

feel

ready.

Ready for Chisago, mind you, NOT READY (yet) for Ironman Wisconsin....

I've been training since January. I've been putting in the time and the effort putting miles in on the bike, and the trainer; in the pool or lake and on treadmills and running paths.

I've covered the distance for the 1/2 a few times already -- I've even completed one 1/2 already this year, so the distance doesn't scare me.

I can even overcome those crazy-making voices in my head:

"Ready, huh? Don't you remember last year, when you did Chisago and the bike sucked so bad that you were ready to quit, but put your running shoes on anyway and then WALKED the ENTIRE 1/2 marathon????

Oh AND, this year, the bike course is hillier! What do you say about that???"

I say: I feel ready.

What I'm NOT saying is that I'll definitely PR or have an easy race. But I am going in to this race better prepared mentally and physically than I was last year, which is really great.

It should be a very fun day -- lots of my friends will be racing too: Nat, Marcia, Gary, Amy S, Brent C, Patrick, Derek and loads of others. The weather is supposed to cooperate too.

What I'm not so ready for is the additional 56 miles I'll put on the bike AFTER the race.

Yes, my coach thinks it would be a "good idea" for me to do 112 miles on the bike, so.... pedal I will.

Ultimately doing the extra distance will help for Ironman, so

may

ready.

Right where I'm suppposed to be.... I think.

2010-07-16T10:38:00.003-05:00

Greetings from Tempe, where it is 115 degrees. But, you know, "it's a dry heat".

Yeah, like an oven. Yikes!

I'm leaving to go back to the "cool" (humid) Minnesota in just a few minutes, so only have a bit of time to catch up on what's been going on.

The WIBA weekend was wonderful and eye-opening.

I went with Nat and Amy S. The Stenzel's were there too and I had a chance to meet Mike and Jenny Wimmer. I met some other new friends, includig "famous" people like RobbyB and Simply Stu.

Friday night, we all had dinner together and there was a Course Prep talk. I got a lot of great tips, including

"put your name on every thing" and
"put a pair of extra running shoes in your Running Special Needs bag in case it is raining and the pair you started out with is soaked by mile 13.5...."

Brilliant.

I had already thought about extra socks but did not think about the shoes....makes total sense.

Saturday, we swam in Mendota. The lake felt wonderful and the swim went well.

The only concerns I have for September are that the lake will be too warm to be wetsuit legal and, of course, the chaos of the start. Fortunately, I did that 1-mile open water swim (sans wet suit) and did just fine. I do like the wetsuit for the buoyancy, though and with a big event like Ironman, would like to know that if I get kicked in the head, I won't sink like a stone.

We ran pretty much the first loop of the marathon course on Sunday. The run is great. It winds mostly through the University of Wisconsin campus, which is beautiful. The route took us past my first ever apartment, by my dorm, then out to the Lakeshore path, back in near the Union, down and back State Street, then up Observatory hill and eventually winds back to the Capital.

My run went really well and I felt great. I ran part of the course with Amy S and then finished up with Nat, Rich and a guy who just did Kansas 70.3. I called him "Kansas".

So, so far, so good, right?

Well, notice that I've said nothing about the bike course..... until now.

I had read and heard a lot of things about the IM WI bike course -- and all the stories about the hills are true.

Hills, hills, hills and then more hills. Not Minnesota hills. Wisconsin "hey, a GLACIER carved through here centuries ago and created these hills" hills.

OMG.

Let me say that again:

OMG.

I had read some one's blog about the hills at Wisconsin and he wrote: "Learn to love your small chain ring. Buy it presents".

I, of course, pooh-poohed his advice after reading it. After all, I'm a big girl, I like to mash those gears.

Oh no. Not only was he right, he was dead-on right. I'm looking for presents for my small chain ring every day now.

So the good news : I got through the loop (only once and the course will have us do the loop twice). I stayed seated during all the climbs but one. I got to see what I'm up against.

The not-so-good news: I'm very, very worried about my ability to get through the bike course within the cut off limits.

I'm not the strongest biker in the pack -- this, despite the fact that I've been training since December. I am not the best rider up the hills and I get a bit frightened on the down hills, so I tend to brake a bit, reducing the down-hill advantages.

So, the bike ride sobered my IM WI dreams up a bit.

I'm worried that I haven't done enough training or the right training or the "something" training.

My coach says we still have time to get it together (meaning I'll be doing lots and lots and lots more biking on hilly courses).

I'm going back to ride the whole course one more time before taper time... which should help.

But that little seed of doubt and fear has been planted: what happens, if after all this training and all this preparation, I don't finish?

I'm trying hard not to let this seed germinate and grow.

I know that, about this time in a training cycle, we all tend to doubt our training, our bodies, our mental prep. So, these thoughts are probably "normal" and I'm right where I am supposed to be...

I'm just going to have to keep plugging along. I'll have to trust the training, my coach and the work.

Most of all, I'm going to just have to trust my self...

Travelin' to WIBA

2010-07-05T13:17:00.004-05:00

Hubby and I have probably logged about 100,000 or more miles this year traveling for work and other (more fun) stuff.

Unfortunately, we usually don't travel together for the work stuff and, lately, even the fun stuff has been without each other.

We knew this would be the case this year, with an integration (at work), my Ironman training and his playing in the Golf Channel Amateur Tour...We figure we'll see each other this fall (ha ha).

That being said, the long anticipate WIBA weekend has arrived and I'll be leaving shortly for Madison to spend the weekend previewing the IM WI course.

There are about 56 people attending this event, including Nat, Amy S, Patrick, Tim, the Wimmers and the world-famous Stenzels.

I'm so excited I can't stand it.

My coach wants me to ride the full 112 bike course tomorrow and run one loop of the marathon course on Sunday. I'll throw a little swim in just to see what the lake feels like.

I have a feeling this will be a challenge -- but in a good way.

I'm feeling pretty strong and I am looking forward to meeting the course so I can make it my bitch*.

(* keeping those fingers crossed, anyway)

112 miles + 2 for extra credit

2010-06-25T16:27:00.007-05:00

Yesterday was my first ride of over 100 miles -- all at once -- ever.

Chisago Triathlon hosts several preview rides of their 1/2 iron (56 miles) and sprint bike courses, including a ride held yesterday.

If you are ever doing an event that offers a course preview, take advantage of it. Seeing any course before you actually swim/bike/run/golf or what ever on it is very very helpful. You'll know where the tough parts are, the easy parts and you'll get familiar with locations of hazards (like potholes).

Natalie and my coach wanted us to ride the course twice for 112 miles. The first 56 would be supported by the preview; the second loop would be on our own.

Our good friend Gary, who is also doing the 1/2 iron with us, came to the preview too. One other running friend of ours, Patrick, who is also training for Ironman Wisconsin was there, along with a about 40 or so other riders.

Nat, Gary and I all did Chisago 1/2 iron last year. We thought we were familiar with the course. As I remembered it, it wasn't a terrible course... some really nice, long flat stretches with only a couple of "uh oh" hills.

What I didn't remember is that last year, apparently, the course was altered because of road work....

We were in for a little "schoolin'" about this year's course.

Starts out innocently enough, but then there are some kick ass hills. I will admit that a couple of the hills are really nice DOWN hills, but then you pay for it on the way back up.

At one point, we make a turn on to a stretch of road that looks innocent enough, but is really a slow, sly incline that takes you to some more kick ass hills. The incline is very deceiving. I was pedaling, pedaling, pedaling and going 12 or 13 mph.

What? How can this be? Oh yeah. I suck at hills.

Natalie, who flies like the wind on the bike, was way up ahead of me. At one point, I stopped to take off my jacket and Gary caught up with me. We rode mostly together for the rest of the ride. It was nice to have the company and to have some time to catch up.

We pulled in to transition after loop one and Natalie was there...waiting patiently...The photo at the top of the page is of the three of us after completing the first loop.

We took a bit of time to refill water bottles (using Nunn), go to the portapotty, stretch, take a couple pics, put on some sun screen and to do other general stuff to prolong going out on the second loop.

Then it was just Natalie and me.

By this time, the sun had broken through the clouds, the temps came up and so did the humidity. But, surprisingly, the ride was not too uncomfortable and we were making pretty good time.

Natalie decided to pull her pace back to stick with me. (I think she did it to make sure I wouldn't turn around early... :-) ) We were doing pretty well and feeling pretty good.

At one point, we were out in the middle of nowhere and Natalie was a little bit ahead of me. I saw her slow down. I looked to the left and saw two big dogs running toward her. I was wondering where those two dogs came from when I realized they were deer! Two fawns were crossing the road. One stopped right in front of Natalie and one came bounding toward me. It stopped, stared and then bounded off in to the high grass on my right. I always like seeing deer -- although I was glad that they leaped out of the grass in front of us while we had some time to react. It would not be good to hit one.

I think my nutrition was good: I had some Infinit, water with Nunn, gels and a couple Uncrustables. I just didn't bring enough stuff. I ran out of pretty much every thing about half way through loop two. Natalie also ran out of liquids about the same time.

We were still okay until mile 90. This was just past the horrible hills and only 22 miles to go. By now, we were both thirsty with no gas station or QwikE Mart on the course.

So, naturally, those last 22 miles just dragged. And dragged. And dragged.

At the point my odometer read 110.00 miles, I knew I was more than 2 miles to the transition area. I had forgotten that, earlier, we had taken a wrong turn, so I'd be riding more than 112 miles. That was a little discouraging, but... what could I do...

My pace went back to turtle pace, so Natalie went a head of me. As I turned back in to the city for the last 1.5 miles, I rode up to a motel. I got off my bike, went in to the lobby and filled my water bottle with ice and bought a well needed and appreciated water. It tasted heavenly.

Finally I hit the last turn back in to the park, which takes you under the tunnel, which takes you back to transition.

HURRAH! I survived! We survived! We did it! Awesome!

We walked -- very slowly -- to the beach and got in to the cool water to soak our legs. The water felt great and really helped to start recovery.

The good news: we did it. We got through it. The course was hilly, which should help prepare for Ironman Wisconsin.

The bad news for me: it took me a very, very long time. Now, I did putz around a lot in-between loops and I did stop on the course quite a bit to stretch. Not so sure that I'll do this during Ironman. Still, my pace, especially on those hills, was not stellar and could put me in "not making the cut-off" danger.

Good thing we still have 12-weeks of training left. I see me doing lots of bike work, hill work and brick work between now and September 12th.

In other news:

I accomplished a great psychological challenge by completing a one-mile Open Water Swim in Lake Harriet sponsored by USMasters Swimming.

Why was this such a big deal?

US Masters does not allow wetsuits -- or "help". Meaning all my swimming comforts were left at shore.

I love the wetsuit because it adds buoyancy and eliminates my fear of drowning and sinking like a stone.

I like "help" (meaning being able to hold on to a kayak or a buoy) when the crowd gets too thick or I panic or I just need a little "break".

There was also a pesky cut off (45 minutes) which I was a little worried about.

But I got in to the water, along with friends Angel and Carla, and swam away.

Swimming out to the first buoy wasn't too bad. The water was fairly calm and I kept up with other swimmers.

The turn around to go across the lake was where the rubber met the road. There was a lot of wind over the water, so the lake was very choppy.

When I came up to breathe, I got a mouth full of water. If I lifted my head up straight to site, I got a mouth full of water. Although I never felt unsafe, I did start to really understand how someone who can swim can drown.

Fortunately, a kayaker was never too far away from me, so I thought if I went under, he'd be able to get to me pretty quickly.

I kept trying to swim forward, but progress was slow. I finally started to side stroke, so I could at least see some movement. This took me off course (naturally), so I just flipped back to the crawl and I literally crawled my way to the buoy.

I finally hit the turn back buoy and I just swam to shore.

I got out in 39 minutes and some change (before the cut off!) but was last of the field. I did not care one bit. I got through a tough swim without my "comforts", which was a huge victory for me.

Twelve weeks to go! Lots of fun training stuff coming up. I can only get stronger and faster. Right?

GRRRrrrrrrr

2010-06-13T11:15:00.004-05:00

Postscript: a few hours after I posted this, I received a very nice message from the person who uploaded results from the Tri...He apologized profusely for not having the times for the last four finished and did, in fact, enter our times on to the log.

I ended up at 7:32:33, which, while was still 3rd from last, was a 7:38 minute PR for me....I can now stop thinking of the DNF as a IM WI omen...

Liberty 1/2 iron was yesterday.

I'm really bummed because I'm listed as DNF in the stats, which is not true. I finished in about 7:31 and some seconds -- approximately 4th from LAST of all finishers. The problem is that it looks like the organizers turned off the timing mats before everyone crossed the finish line.

The rules of the race only listed one cut off. Everyone had to be off the bike course by 12:30 pm. If you weren't you were not able to go on the run course.

I made the bike cut off and finished the course. I'm ticked that I'm listed as DNF.

My biggest problems with being listed as DNF? 1) It isn't true. I completed every inch of those 70.3 miles. 2) I DID pr, but only by about 7 minutes and some odd seconds. 3) My ego is bruised, if the truth must be told.

The day was cold, gray and rainy. Our normal high temp for this time of year is about 79 degrees. Yesterday, when we got in the water, the air temp was 61 degrees; the water temp 68...Neither got much warmer as the day went along.

I felt "okay" about the race. Not worried about the distances, having covered all of them separately. The "stitching them together" in one event had a me a little concerned, but I thought I'd be fine.

My swim took me much longer than I thought it would. When I first got in and started swimming, my breathing was off. I'd breathe in and as I put my face back in the water, I was continuing to breathe in. Swallowed a bit of water a couple of times, so I thought I'd just hang out at a couple of buoys to calm down a bit. That seemed to do the trick.

I got to the turn around in about 23 minutes, which I was not happy with, but could live with. I swam back and was thinking that I was doing a better job: no stopping, just doing my thing. Got out of the water in 50 and some change. So it took me much longer on the way back.

Bike: I had previewed the bike course a couple of times. It's a two loop course that is very pretty with some rolling hills and some doozy hills. I rode the first loop pretty well and then started the second loop.

I did not see another person for miles and miles and miles. I thought I was the last one on the bike course and was worried. I checked my watch: still plenty of time before the cut off and I knew that that was not going to be my issue.

I finally got passed (by a 61 year old man, by the by) with about 14 miles to go to the end. By then, the wind had picked up and a weather front was moving in. With 11 miles to go, the rain started.

I like to run in the run if the temps are nice. It can be very refreshing. Yesterday, it was cold, so it was just a cold rain, which is not-so-nice. I also had some concerns about wiping out, so my pace dropped back and I was getting tired.

With about 8 miles to go, I finally found some other bikers. Hurrah. I was not last on the bike course. I was pretty soaked and my left hand had fallen asleep. I think my watch band hits against my aerobar putting pressure on a nerve. By the time I pulled in to transition, it was not really moving much.

Another reason DNF ticks me off? As I was coming in on the bike, I had given serious consideration to pulling out of the race. I was cold; there was no sign that the rain was going to let up; my hand was asleep, and I just thought "screw it".

But, when I got back in to transition, I got my shoes on, grabbed my stuff and went out on to the course.

The out-and-back run course meandered through Baker Park and was really beautiful -- even with the rain. There were water stops about every mile -- volunteers were great and mentally, this helped me keep going.

I did a walk run thing: first it was 3/1; then it was 4/1; then it was about a 1/2 mile, then it was "To that big tree" or "To the aid station". I did what ever I could to keep moving forward.

I FINALLY passed a 32-year old guy. Then I passed another guy (in his 40s). I also passed a woman still on her way out on the 1/2 marathon course. She had her right leg all taped up and was being followed by the sag-cart, but she was moving forward with a smile on her face.

By the time I crossed the finish line, the finish clock was down, but the announcer was there and he called out my name as I crossed the line. I looked at my watch, which read 7:31 something and I was done. I got my medal and wobbled to the car where Nat was waiting.

SHE finished the race IN UNDER 6 HOURS! A HUGE PR for her! She has been just rocking it this year and it shows. GOOD FOR HER!

Steve Stenzel had a great race -- first in his AG; Pharmie also had a great finish. Other "non-bloggy" friends finished well too.

Hurray for them!

---

On the positive side, my nutrition went well. I drank Accelerade Hydo with Carbo Pro; had some Gus; ate some gold fish on the run and did not feel bad nutritionally.

On the very bad side, I am now very, very worried about my Ironman dream. I know I still have time to get ready (14 weeks to be exact), but I am feeling very scared about it.

I'm going to have to figure a way to shake off this doubt...

Give me (a) Liberty (pr) or give me....

2010-06-09T22:01:00.003-05:00

Saturday is my first 1/2 iron distance event of the summer: Liberty Triathlon.

It is funny how your mind works when you are knee-deep in to training for an Ironman. Two years ago, I was getting ready to do my very first 1/2 iron distance tri. The 1.2 mile swim/ 56 mile bike/ 13.1 run seemed like such a loooonnnnnng distance. I was unsure I could finish the event.

Now, two years (and one-and-a-third* other 1/2 distance tris later), the distance doesn't scare me so much.

*the "third" comes from competing in a 1/2 iron distance tri as part of a relay team...

I've previewed the bike course a couple of times, so I know where to expect rough road and/or hills. I've covered the distance in the pool and have been in open water, so.. that part won't be so bad. I've completed an official 1/2 marathon and a 15-mile race, so I know I can cover the distance.

The trick will be to stitch all three together and complete the race in a "decent" time.

What does that mean?

I'd like to PR.

There. I said it.

I want to finish in a reasonable (for me) time.

Do I think I can do it?

Maybe.

Depends on lots of external factors (wind; choppy water; rain) but the biggest "maybe" that typically gets in my way is my head.

I still struggle with thinking/believing/trusting that I can actually "do this". Push my self. Just a little....

I have got to get over this personal block.

"NC" should be able to help me with this. He's been my coach for less than a week and he's already pushed my training and challenged my internal beliefs. (We've already had our first fight, when I refused to do lunges. This is actually pretty good!). I think he is going to be very, very good for me and my training.

In the mean time, I'll continue to spend time pouring over my 1/2 iron distance stats to try to figure out where I can shave some time on Saturday.

I'll also be praying to the Weather and Wave Gods for calm weather and smooth seas.

Oh! I'll also carbo-load!

PRs and Divorce

2010-06-06T19:11:00.003-05:00

First the good news:

Buffalo Triathlon was today.

I have not done this race since 2005, which was the first year I participated in triathlon. The event is always scheduled for the first Sunday in June, which is also the same weekend for the Edina Art Fair.

Hubby is a part-time photographer and has been a selected artist of the art fair ever since 2006. We typically have spent this weekend manning the booth at the fair making Buffalo an "event of the past" for me.

Not this year. Hubby decided to take a break from the art fair so I had the chance to register for the sprint distance event. My goal was to do better -- MUCH better-- than I did in 2005.

Well, yippee-eye-yeah-cai-yo, I achieved my goal.

I beat my 2005 time by almost 21-minutes (20:56 to be exact). Best of all, I placed 4th out of 11 in my age group. I am estatic (if I do say so myself).

I had a great swim, a pretty good bike ride and a pretty good run (even with waiting in line for the portapotty...).

Three other friends (Nat, Marcia and Sara) also did the sprint distance course today. We all had great races and a lot of fun.

Buffalo is a very well run event; they give away great schwag, have very enthusiastic volunteers and I was very happy to be able to do the event this year. I highly recommend it.

Now on to Subject Number Two: Divorce.

No, Hubby and I are not getting divorced.

That is an event I can not even imagine happening. I love him with all my heart, even after all these years of togetherness...

I had to divorce my IM coach. At least moving away from him felt like a divorce.

We'd been working together for several months and on the POSITIVE side, I'm running better and feeling stronger than I have in a long time.

He is an awesome athlete, his company is undergoing restructuring and he is a very busy guy.

I need more attention. I need more u-rah-rah. I need someone who will actually require me to log my training hours and give me feedback.

My old coach (now lovingly referred to as "OC") didn't have the time to check logs or provide much advice. (In his defense, during our divorce proceedings, he said that I was paying for a service. His service provided workouts and advice if I were to proactively ask for it. He said that if I wanted him to be more proactive, I could pay more money. That did not seem like a good deal to me).

I thought about this long and hard and decided that if I was going to make a move, I'd have to do it now. There are only 15-weeks left until Ironman Wisconsin and my training can not skip a beat at this point.

So....I divorced him last week.

And you have to know that our relationship was a polygamous relationship (meaning OC obviously has other clients...). One of his other clients was also unhappy, so she divorced him too.

We've both entered a new relationship with a NEW coach -- "NC". NC is already sending unsolicited emails with lots of advice and encouragement. He is also sending training plans that look like they are going to challenge us and get us stronger.

Perhaps it is only a honeymoon period, but we both feel that NC will get us through the next 15-weeks and to the finish line.

The only question now is whether we should register at a local tri store for some gifts.....

Fargo 1/2 and Apple Du

2010-05-31T21:34:00.003-05:00

My whirlwind calendar of events leading up to September 12th began on May 22nd with Fargo 1/2 marathon.

Fargo puts on a terrific running weekend, which includes a marathon, the half, 10k and 5k events.

For the past few years, my friends Nat, Marcia, Mary K and I have done the 1/2. This year, Gary joined us for the fun.

May's weather in Fargo can be a bit "iffy". We've run in the cold; we've run in the heat. The one real constant is the wind....yikes!

This year, we lined up outside the Fargodome on Saturday morning just as the sprinkles started to come. By the time the starting gun went off, the rain was pretty steady and "cool". Not cold, just cool.

Fortunately, the rain stopped by the time I got to mile 3 and the temps were mostly plesant for the rest of the race.

I ran well -- steady and feeling good. Actually RAN the first 7.9 miles of the race with out walking (except for one potty break), which I have never done before. (BIG accomplishment for me!).

The one big bummer was that, with all the rain, my socks had gotten pretty wet, so I developed a blister on one of my toes. At mile 9, just at the end of a water stop, I asked a friendly volunteer if the stop had any band-aids on hand.

"No", the friendly volunteer said, "but, I'll give you my sock. It's dry and clean".

"Sold!"

So he gave me his sock and I trotted on to the end.

It was not a PR for me, but I did take almost 17 minutes off of my 2009 time and almost 13 minutes off my 2008 time. I was very happy with my results.

All my friends had a good race -- Nat PR'ed, in fact. We shared a great lunch after the race and are already looking forward to Fargo 2011.

I noticed a slight tickle in my throat during the drive back to Minneapolis.

This tickle lurked for most of the rest of the week until late on Thursday, when BOOM. I had a stuffed nose and laryngitis. Bad laryngitis. No voice. At all. Just squeaks.

So I did the Apple Duathlon with no voice....

The Du was my first run/bike/run event. It turned out to be a very fun event. Nat and I both entered and we car pooled from Minneapolis to Sartell MN -- about 90 minutes away -- for the race.

I really didn't know what to expect with a Du. I found out that packing transition stuff is much easier: you don't have to worry about all that "swim" stuff.

Although the field was pretty small (only about 350 people), there were a number of multisport heros participating in it: Cathy Yndestad, Julie Hull, David Thompson, Kevin O'Connor, to name a few.

It was hot and sunny at the start of the race. My first 5k was pretty good. I ran it in just a hair over 30 minutes (9:53 pace). Another first for me.

The 33K bike route was beautiful -- a few challenging hills, but I really felt great for about the first 10-miles. Then came the turn home, which also happened to be straight in to the wind -- YUCK. My mph dropped fast and my frustration grew.

Final tally: Took me about 1:17 to cover the 20.5 miles, for a pace of 15.9 mph. Boo hoo on that...

I was tired and hacking when I rode back in to transition, so I decided to take my sweet a$$ time on the 2nd 5K. I flipped off my bike shoes; grabbed my running shoes and had a blistering T2 of 1:32.

Then came my sweet a$$ time. I sat on a curb just outside transition and put on my shoes; I got a drink of water; I took my time strolling up the big a$$ hill at the start of the 5K route. Then I started to feel guilty, so I started running.

I did a run/walk for the rest of the 5K, but at a very leisurely pace. Took me 40 minutes for the second 5k.

Now, of course, I feel bad about being so "lazy" on that second loop.

Truth be told, I wasn't feeling so great and I let my mind control my feet. Silly, I know.

Bottom line: the Du was fun and I'd "du" one again.

The rest of my Memorial Day weekend was very fun. A bike ride with some friends; a dip in to the lake to get ready for next week's triathlon and a great round of golf with Hubby and some of his golf friends.

I still don't have much of a voice -- but it is slowly coming back.

Only 16 weeks until Ironman. Amazing how fast time is flying!

fastest post ever....

2010-05-20T22:36:00.004-05:00

Woefully behind on blogging. Work is a blur; Training is a blur; Time is just passing in a big ol' blur.

Fargo 1/2 marathon is Saturday. How the heck did that event get here so fast? (blur....)

I'll be there along with Nat, Mary, Marcia, Gary and Brenda, Kris, AmyW. and up to 20,000 other runners doing either the marathon, 1/2, 10K or 5K event....

Unlike Fargo's past, this year, the weather is expected to be warmer (up to 77 degrees) and humid, with the possibility of rain. What will be normal is the wind....Fargo seems to have a never ending supply of wind.

I'm hoping to run strong and to have fun. It kicks off my race season and I'd like to start it feeling good about where I've come over the last few months.

Time will tell....

We'll get by with a little help from our friends....

2010-05-08T10:12:00.004-05:00

Ironman Wisconsin opened its site for Volunteer sign-up yesterday.

This "little" event revved up my excitement and enthusiasm levels in a big way. It made the event feel so real for me, as opposed to just an arbitrary date looming out there some distance (okay, now 18 weeks) away.

Last year, Nat and I signed up as volunteers so we could a) get a first-hand, close up look at the action to see if, b) we wanted to have priority status to sign up for IM WI 2010.

I was a wet suit peeler. I helped the swimmers out of their wetsuits as they came out of Lake Mendota. It was a blast.

Nat worked the swim to bike transition area, helping athletes find their bags and get ready to get out on the bike course.

Later that day, we both worked the bike water stop at Mt. Horeb. Our shift was timed so we could see bikers as they were hitting that spot for the second loop of the course. That was a fun volunteer spot too and it also interesting/enlightening to observe the condition of the riders. Some looked great -- all smiles, having a blast. Others were struggling a bit, but not giving up.

Nothing we saw along the way that day turned us off from signing up for this year's event, so the next morning, we joined the long line of other volunteers to sign an application, a waiver and a great big check. And so, the Ironman adventure began.

The other fun thing about volunteering last year was seeing other friends: Steve and Pharmie were also signed up to be Peelers; I had just started reading Mike's blog and he posted his race number. When he got out of the water, I recognized his number so I got a chance to "meet" him in the peeling area and wished him good luck.

We also ran in to lots of other people, either participating or volunteering or just spectating. All just fun, fun, fun.

Well, THIS YEAR, as Natalie and I and Matt and Sarah and Patrick and Cathy and 2,494 of our other most close and personal friends are out there on the course, we will have a long, long list of friends waiting for us at various volunteer spots:

Marcia and Marty: Swim timing recorders. One of the first shifts for the day. They will have a chance to see everyone get out of the water when we are all still feeling "good".

Rick L: Will be out on the bike course. I look forward to seeing his omnipresent bright orange hat.

Beth and Bev: Finish line catchers from 6:00 till 9:00. Beth posted on her Facebook page that she did it so she could see me, Nat and Mike finish. I told her that Nat and Mike might finish before 9:00 pm but she was being awfully optimistic thinking that I'd be there by then...(gotta keep it real, you know....)

Carla, Angel, Tim and MY HUBBY: Finish line catchers from 9:00 until midnight. What a treat it will be to see them all as I'm coming down that chute! (note the optimism about finishing before the clock gets turned off in that last sentence....).

As any runner, triathlete or other sports person will tell you, volunteers can make or break an event.

We are going to have a crew of AWESOME volunteers on September 12th. Not just the just the great folks above, but all the others that will take part of their weekend to spend it out on the course with us as part of our day.

To each volunteer, especially my friends, I say THANK YOU in advance for sharing your enthusiasm and your time.

I may not be 'happy' when you see me out on that course. I may not be able to acknowledge you with more than a grunt and a pissed-off glare. I may be crying my eyes out. But know that my soul will be happy to see you and I am ever grateful that you are my friend.

20 WEEKS -- are you kidding?

2010-04-26T21:03:00.003-05:00

Twenty weeks until IM Moo. That is Ironman Wisconsin for any one that has not been paying attention.

Like me.

Twenty WEEKS? TWENTY? How did that happen?

You'll note my training log on the side has been devoid of any mileage updates for quite a while. Oh, I've been working out. I've been training. I've been swimming, biking and running.

I haven't been blogging. (Or tracking calories, if the truth must be told...)

The good news is that I got through a couple of the races that Coach Dan put on my schedule for this year.

Human Race/ Earth Day 8K on March 28th. Ran it in 50:15, which was a very good time for me.

Trail Mix 25K on April 17th. Two loops through a really wonderful park, nature preserve and ski area. (In other words: HILLY). Finished it in 3:11, which was a 14 minute PR for me for the course. (The last time I ran Trail Mix was in 2004).

Last weekend, I was supposed to do two events: Get in Gear (GIG) 10K and 65 miles on the Ironman Bike Ride - Minnesota. Hubby's plan was to run the GIG 5K event and then play in his first Minnesota golf tournament for 2010.

Mother Nature had other plans.

Hubby and I woke to thunder and lightening on Saturday morning. We had planned to run if it was rainy, but did not want to run if it was pouring. So we went back to sleep.

We did end up running later in the day, so it was not a total wash out (pun intended).

Sunday was rainy too, but there was no lightening. Just rain. Oh, and wind.

Since I was riding this event with my friends Gary and Nat, I could not just go back to bed. So, I loaded up the bike, picked up Gary and went to the start line.

Nat's been under the weather and decided to not risk getting sick again, but Gary and I went out on the course.

We did decide to only ride the 30-mile route, which was a smart choice. My feet got soaked by rain and got very cold. I don't think they could have really handled 35 additional miles.

Despite the cold/rain, the event was really wonderful! Nice course with some challenging hills. Terrific rest stops manned by very helpful volunteers and yummy stuff like HOT oatmeal, HOT coffee, HOT chocolate, muffins, candy (?), Cracker Jack, Trail Mix and other deliciousness.

I was also happily surprised at the number of riders that braved the weather. Had the day been nice, I'm sure there would have been thousands of riders out on the road.

I definitely will do this ride again next year. I can not say enough good things about it.

Okay, back to reality:

Twenty weeks!

Really time to get serious about the mileage, the time and the training.

Cuz now it is nineteen weeks and six days....

Fast and furious....

2010-04-15T14:39:00.003-05:00

Been a while since I've updated my blog or my training log.

I am a bad girl.

Quick update:

All is going well -- meaning, I'm getting workouts done and I'm not injured or too overwhelmed.

I am worried that I'm not doing enough, but this is every runner/triathletes issue. I just have to trust my coach.

I also worry that if I talk/write/obsess about this much more in public/out loud, that I'll jinx myself. And yet, here I am writing and obsessing once again.

Ces't la Ironman.

I went to Madison last weekend on a SOUL-o journey. (yes, soul). I needed to do some personal / emotional work on my own before going back for training weekends with friends.

I did have a chance to ride and run a bit on the IM WI course, which was great.

I also took walk after walk after walk down memory lane.

I'm glad I went.

I took a bunch of pics and will post more later.

I took a self portrait of me at the IM WI finish line (minus all the finish line stuff...)

Because there is no way in heck that I'm finishing in daylight, I went back to the Capital to take a more realistic shot of what it might look like for me fright before midnight on September 12th.

New York, New York. Hopes dashed again....

2010-04-07T22:19:00.002-05:00

Year TWO of not making the NY Marathon cut.

DANG!

I ran NY in 2007 (I got in that year because I was a sponsored amateur athlete for Team Toyota). It is a really wonderful marathon. The course is exceptional, the crowd support non-stop and fantastic, and really is quite the experience.

Last year, I entered the lottery and so did my friends Mary and Nat. Nat got in, but deferred to this year. She opted out for this year because of Ironman.

I put my name in the lottery for this year. I put my name in the first day registration opened.

I was hoping that I'd be still in pretty decent shape after Ironman (how ever that ends up...) and that NY would be like a swan-song for 2010.

Nope.

No such luck.

I guess the gods are really just taking care of me, allowing me to train fully for IM WI so I can ROCK THE HOUSE there (or at least finish before they turn off the clock...)

Still and all, a little bummed about NY 2010...but there is always next year, right?

Readers, weepers and update

2010-04-01T20:49:00.005-05:00

Readers: for Beth:

Yes, I actually own all these pairs of glasses.

My eye sight started to change when I was in my mid-40s.

All of a sudden, I could no longer read shampoo bottles or cereal boxes. (I know, I know "squeeze out a dime size squirt of shampoo; rub on to wet hair, rinse, repeat"...)

Now newspapers, magazines, basically any lettering smaller than font size "10" or up close is tough Hence, the collection of readers.

Fortunately, I only need magnification "100" and my distance eye sight is great.

Once my eyesight started to go, I figured that if I had to wear glasses, they were going to be fun.

I buy my glasses at the funky kiosks you can find in malls like The Mall of America. I've had to buy a couple of emergency pairs if I suddenly find myself with out a set at work. Macy's Optical Department has a few pairs that are cute and reasonably priced at about $10.00.

And yes, I am actually contemplating taping a pair to my bike when I do IM WI. If I have to change a flat, I'll be lost without glasses.

Unless, of course, I start training like the military and practice changing a tire while wearing a blindfold...

Weepers: for Nat and Steve (All others be forewarned. Skinned knee pic ahead.)

Nat, I think you'll appreciate this and Steve, you'll definitely appreciate this:

SECOND three hour ride of the season so far done today. Yippee!

Unlike the 3 1/2 "sit-fest" I did on the trainer, this time I rode outside! The weather was warm and comfortable. I started about an hour before rush hour, hoping to avoid rush-hour crazies on the road and the biking novices that swarm the bike paths when the weather warms up.

I was just past Minnehaha Creek on my way home, riding along the parkway when I approached a to a bike path crossing. There were signs warning cars, a stop sign and the road was marked.

This woman driving a SVU of some sort was approaching the cross way. She looked to her left (my way), looked me straight in the eye and started to slow down.

"Cool", I thought! "She must be a biker!"

Nope.

Once the light dawned on for her that, if she hit the gas, she wouldn't have to stop for the nano-second it would take me to get across the street, she put the pedal to the metal and ran the stop sign.

I braked, but didn't clip out in time and THUMP. There I was on the sidewalk.

A skinned knee, a little road rash and a good story.

UPDATE: I'm glad tomorrow is Friday.

3 1/2 hours on the bike. Tomorrow. REALLY?

2010-03-26T10:19:00.003-05:00

Already?

WOW.

Yuck.

I mean, "oh goodie!".

Not sure if I'll be inside or out; watching movies or avoiding potholes.

Then, Sunday, an 8k race and my coach has actually asked me to "race" it. You know, for "speed" and "time".

I have not heard any thing so funny in months!

This should be interesting.

Last Week: pull back week. Ahhhhhh

2010-03-16T12:46:00.004-05:00

I got a bit of a pull back week last week, going from 10+ hours of training down to about 7.25.

Nice!

Training did include a 2-hour brick: 1 hour biking, 1 hour running. The brick went surprisingly well. I biked on my own, but met Nat for the run portion.

It makes a huge difference to have someone else with you motivating you and keeping your minutes "honest".

I also went to Gear West and got "fit" on my bike. I'm riding a road bike for IM WI -- crazy, I know. I'm not clear that I'll do any other Iron races after Wisconsin, so investing in a tri bike does not make sense to me.

Coach is fine with me riding my road bike -- but wanted to make sure that it fits me and that I'm comfortable and swift.

I saw Kevin at GW. He is AWESOME. Friendly, informative, funny and great to work with. He got me all set up and I really am much more comfortable on my bike.

He clipped on the aerobars that I'll use and upgraded my seat for a squosh more comfort.

Dan and Kevin both talked to me about renting race wheels for IM WI. I was not so sure about it, thinking that I'd look like a total nerd riding my goofy road bike with spiffy race wheels.

But, they both shared enough stories about how race wheels really will help me with my bike time, it looks like renting is a good way to go.

This week, training feels "manageable". Next week: my first ride of over 3 hours. Three and a HALF to be precise.

Looks like volume is definitely increasing.

And just like that....

2010-03-09T17:07:00.005-06:00

Spring seems to have started to sprung!

Thank heavens!

We've had the good fortune (aka "weather pattern") of 40+ degree days for over a week. Even the temps at night have not gone below freezing for several days. This means the melt is on in a big way.

I could not be happier.

Even the lakes are looking mushy and unsafe to walk on.

Yipppeeeeeee!

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. Not really sure why.

Training keeps on keeping on. I had a pretty good week a couple weeks ago, but last week I found myself tired and in a "mood" about training.

The mood came from being busy at work and letting the day get away from me (and cutting in to scheduled workout time).

I also had what I'm sure was one of my first panic attacks about doing IronMan Wisconsin.

For some reason I got all bent out of shape about not making the bike-cut off.

If you don't know, IronMan races have cut-off times for each leg. You have 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete the swim. You have to be done with the 112 miles on the bike by 5:30 pm. You have to complete the marathon and cross the finish line by midnight.

Surprise of surprise, I'm not all that worried about the swim right at this second. Even though I'm S L O W in the water, I think I can cover the 2.4 miles in less than 2 hours 20 minutes.

I have started to get a bit worried about the bike. Even though I'm spending a lot of time on the trainer and pedaling for hours, I am not known for blistering bike speeds during events.

IM WI has a tough bike course -- or so I've heard. I just got my head in a place where the Voice of Doubt raised a bunch of questions:
"What happens if it is really windy?"
"What happens if it is rainy?"
"What happens if it is cold?"
"What happens if you come in at 5:31 or 5:32 or 6:00 pm?"

Then came the worst question of them all:

"What happens if you just make it? You come in at 5:30 and you can get out on the marathon course. You'll only have 6 1/2 hours to complete the 26.2 miles!!!! That is only one hour longer than your DREAM P.R. time without the swim/bike thing before starting the run!!!"

Yikes!

So I fretted a lot and did what any normal person would do. I cut back on the training. Self-fulfilling prophesy and all.

I also sent a note to my coach admitting to my fear of missing the cut offs. Here is his reply:

Hey Amy
Plenty of time… remember its only March. The volume will be increasing soon enough. I do think one thing we can do for the race is to rent race wheels. That will give you a M.P.H speed right there. You can call gear west and reserve a pair. The Liberty Half will give us a good indication of what to work on and where we can shave time off. just keep moving forward and take it day by day.. the most important thing is to stay healthy.

Ps.. I added 30 mins to your bike Sunday :-)

Yes -- that is right. He added an additional 30 minutes to my already 2-hour session on the trainer. Bleah.

But, you know, his note bumped me back to reality. Back to the fact that it IS only March and the race is STILL a long way away. I've got plenty of time to train and adapt.

So I got back on the training horse, put in a great 1:40 minute run on Saturday and sat in that bike saddle for 2 1/2 hours on Sunday.

Every time I finish a planned training session, I'm working on silencing the Voice of Doubt.

Or, at least giving it a bit of laryngitis.

Sick, sick, sick of winter

2010-02-21T09:29:00.004-06:00

February and winter drag on.

How is it that the shortest month of the year always feels like one of the longest?

Oh yeah. I live in Minnesota.

We, like a lot of the U.S., have had a snowy and cold winter. Too bad the 2010 Winter Olympics aren't being held here. There is plenty of cold and snow to make all those winter athletes happy.

March -- and spring-- are coming, I know. Days are starting to get longer. It is actually light outside at 5:30 pm...

I'm very anxious for better weather and to be able to train more outside.

I got in a lot of swimming this week. I like the water, like the workouts that my coach is having me do. I am discouraged that I am just not getting any faster. My coach says that my speed will improve -- and for Ironman, I really just need to be fast enough to not get yanked off the course due to a pesky time cut off...

I did run outside Tuesday night. It was a cold but pretty night. Thursday's run was a speed workout on the treadmill including 3 x 6 minutes pushing my pace in 2 minute increments.

Saturday's run was my favorite: running with Nat at the Plymouth Fieldhouse. We both had to run for about 1 1/2 hours. It was nice to do most of the workout together so we could catch up on life, training and stuff.

Biking: Thank heavens for Comcast on Demand. I got through one ride by catching up on "Damages"; another by watching the Olympics. I'm sure I'll find something interesting to watch during today's 2 hour ride.

---
Outside of training, I had a very nice Saturday. After running with Nat, I got together with 11 of my old running buddies for lunch. These are the women that I've trained over the years, but with the breakdown of our old running club, we've gone along different "paths".

I'd been feeling a little lonely for them and put out an email to see if any one was interested in having lunch.

They were and we did. It was great to catch up over a great meal. (I'll post pics soon).

After lunch, Hubby and I watched the Olympics, ran some errands and went out for a very nice dinner. He's been traveling a lot so it was nice to just sit, relax, share a meal, catch up and hold hands.

Catching up: Tri U Mah and Valentine's Day 5k

2010-02-14T18:32:00.004-06:00

Tri U Mah, held on Sunday, February 7th, was the usual blast of fun that it is. There are usually a number of my friends that also do this event, and although this was true for 2010, we weren't all able to register for the same heat. Marcia, Nat and Cheryl got in a late morning heat and Gary and I got in to a 12:40 pm heat.

This actually worked out perfectly, because Gear West had their Gear West University the same day. This learning event was a w e s o m e.

For a $20.00 registration fee, participants could six lectures of their choosing. (There were 24 lectures in total, four each hour, so participants registered for the sessions they were interested in). They also threw in a group run, lunch and time to meet other multisports nuts.

Nat and I split the registration and the day. I went in the morning -- I attended a "How to Change your Tube" workshop, where I actually changed the tube on a bike. The BACK WHEEL even! This was awesome and the fear of a flat right out of me.

I also attended "Race Preparation", which covered info about things to do during training to get your to race day.

Nat went in the afternoon and got to attend a workshop on bike riding for women; real nutrition, and one other.

Great info; great speakers, great fun.

By the time Gary and I got to the University of Minnesota's Rec Center, our friends were wrapping up their run portion. They all looked very, very strong as they finished up their event.

Gary and I cheered them on a bit and then we went to get ready for our heat.

I covered .879 miles in my 30 minute swim. I was one length off from 2009. I blame the cold that I caught the Thursday before the event.

My bike was very strong, though. I covered 8.23 miles -- my 2009 total had been 6.63 miles. Maybe it was the fact that we got to watch video from Ironman Championships or maybe because I've been spending lots of time on my bike trainer. What ever it was, I cranked out better mileage. Hurrah

My run reached 2.90 for the 30 minutes. This was .20 better than 2009. I was hoping for slightly better, but... all in all, I was very happy.

I ended up covering 12.009 miles versus 10.224 (2009), which put me in 2nd place for my age group. So there are benefits to getting older.

My friends also had good results for the event. It was nice to chalk up the first event for 2010.

Unfortunately for me, I ended up with an infected big toe that reared up its ugly (pus) head on Monday. I had a toenail that split and I cut it off, thinking that I would save myself from snagging the split on my sock or some thing, which would be painful.

What I didn't count on was the nail piercing my skin, allowing bacteria to fester in to the wound, creating pus which was really, REALLY painful.

I went on antibiotics and didn't train much for the rest of this week. My toe is finally better, so I was able to finish out the week following my training plan.

The plan included running the Valentine's Day 5k. Hubby and I ran the 5K together. It was a very beautiful not-too-cold, no wind morning and we finished in fine form.

Hubby is really getting in to running and starting to enjoy it. This is a good thing, has he has registered for Chicago Marathon. (Yikes! -- he is going to ROCK!)

After the 5k, I still had another 50 minutes of running to get in and then today, I rode my bike for 2 hours while watching the Olympics.

You might say that I'm back in the training saddle.

"Squirrel"

2010-01-31T20:51:00.003-06:00

I had to ride the trainer today for 2 hours and fifteen minutes. That is a long time to be in the saddle, pedaling and going nowhere.

I have discovered the secret to getting through these long, dull rides: watch a movie. Last Sunday, when I "only" had 90 minutes of riding to do, I watched an on-demand movie that was free: "Rockstar" with Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. I've seen the movie a billion times before, but it was free, mindless and entertaining.

Today, I paid for an on demand movie: "Up". Yes, the cartoon.

I have to admit. I really have loved pretty much every cartoon movie I've ever seen: "Shrek", "Osmosis Jones", "Nemo", you name it, I've seen it and I've loved it.

"Up" was no exception. I thought the story was interesting, the writing entertaining and the animation top notch.

The only hard thing was trying to wipe the tears from my eyes during one very sentimental scene, where Mr. Fredrickson discovers the photos his wife posted of their "adventure" and her final wish to him. It was hard to wipe my eyes while trying to keep my heart rate up.

The movie was an hour and thirty-six minutes long, so after it was over, I flipped over to another favorite of mine: "Celebrity Rehab". There was plenty of drama on the episode to get me to the 2:15 mark.

So, I got through my "increased volume" week last week. All in all, it was not a bad week. I met Natalie on Saturday for our long run, which we ran at the Plymouth field house. MUCH better than the treadmill yet no snow, ice or freezing wind to contend with.

My coach pulled back my mileage a bit this week -- Tri U Mah is on Sunday and I'm getting excited for my first tri of 2010.

"volume increases a little, Amy..."

2010-01-24T20:24:00.002-06:00

That is the note my coach jotted down on my training schedule for the upcoming week.

My week includes one swim session of over 3,000 yards (plus 3 others).

One run session of 1:45 (plus two others).

One bike session of 2:15, which he generously is allowing me to split in to two sections ..."if you need to..." (plus 3 others).

This isn't even official training yet!

Yikes!

Mantra for my life: take it one day (one workout) at a time.

Mantra for my training: "We make thousands of little decisions every day. Six months from now, those microdecisions will either make you or break you."

I'm going to do my best to make smart microdecisions one day at at time.

I'm a BRICK......house....

2010-01-22T10:40:00.007-06:00

First things first: I saw the item above as I was looking up the weekend weather forecast on weather.com. If you can't read it, the text inside the circle says: "Tomorrow's golf index: Poor".

Duh.

More exciting news: I did an "official" brick workout last night. Well, as official as it can be for January in Minnesota.

My coach had me ride the bike for 40 minutes and then run for 25. I'm participating my first event for 2010 in just under three weeks -- the Tri-U-Mah indoor triathlon.

Tri-U-Mah is a really fun event sponsored by the University of Minnesota. Participants swim for 30 minutes, bike for 30 minutes and run for 30 minutes. The total distance covered determines the winner. I love this event. Pool swimming, the lane all to myself; lots of really great swag and food; very, very well organized. I'm always excited to start the year with this event.

My workout last night went surprisingly well. I still feel pretty "weak" on the bike (despite spending a lot of time on the trainer), but moving to the run it did not take long for my legs to loosen up and I ran pretty well. Hurrah.

I've got a long run scheduled for tomorrow and a long bike for Sunday. Dori is visiting from California and will run with our group tomorrow -- if the weather holds that is. We are in for some freezing rain. Should make the Winter Carnival events lots of "fun". Wish Steve Stenzel "GOOD LUCK" if you get a chance.

New stuff

2010-01-18T20:40:00.004-06:00

New picture, new title, new attitude.

That's my story and I'm stickin' with it.

I took a heart rate zone/VO2/metabolic test earlier this week. This was recommended by Coach Dan.

I had taken one about three years and fifteen pounds ago after completing a 12-week fitness program.

The results this time around were not as pretty.

For this test, you get hooked up to a machine which reads your heart rate as you walk and then eventually run on a teadmill. The speed and incline of the treadmill gets raised about every minute. You run until you can't run any more, which should be at your HR max.

Oh, and your nose gets plugged off by a clip so you are forced to breathe through your mouth. You are also clenching your teeth on to a rubber tube which funnels the air to some apparatus which measures your oxygen output recording your VO2.

Fun stuff.

The wus in me says "HEY! The test wasn't fair! The guy giving the test kept telling me "...any time you want to stop, just hit the bar... ANY TIME.... just HIT THE BAR when you WANT TO STOP" as I was gasping for air. He SHOULD have said "atta girl, Amy! Keep it up! Keep it going! You ROCK!"

I 'hit' the bar early and about 7 beats lower than I had three years ago.
Actually, I really did about as well as I could do on the dang test. I'm older, heavier and just getting back in to it.

Surprisingly, my base VO2 max is really pretty good. My use of VO2 while exerting myself can be improved though.

I also had an underwater weigh-in. No surprise there, as I've been weighing myself on my 'fat' scale. By "fat", I don't mean like "OHHHH, you are toooo fat to get weighed" scale. I'm talking about one of those 'measure your weight, the number of fat pounds you have, the percentage this is of your whole weight, your bone mass index and your BMI' scales.

The good news is that I've been tracking my food on Livestrong.com and I've been dropping a bit of weight. My goal is to do this slowly until March, when real IM WI training begins.

I also had to do a 30-minute bike time trial on Saturday. My Coach had me do a 10-minute warm up and then do 30-mintues, after which I had to track my average heart rate. I followed that up by another 40-minute easy ride.

I think the tests are over for awhile.

This week is a "recovery" week. I actually had today off, which was very nice. I've got a couple swims; bikes and runs scheduled for the week and will do my first "brick" of the year on Friday (45 minute bike followed by a 25 minute run)

And so it goes...

New Week, New Tests

2010-01-11T16:23:00.004-06:00

Time trials for swim and run went as well as can be expected last week.

The question always is "What can be expected?"

By that I mean, I'm a 51-year old woman who came to this whole running and triathlon thing late -- er, LATER -- in life.

I know what my times are, but what should they be? What could they be?

What should they be? Can I take pleasure/glee/pride in knowing that I'm doing stuff that most women in their 50s are NOT doing?

I see what they could be by looking at the results of other women in my age category. But, and here is the rub, there just happens to be a bunch of Uber-women that compete in my age category!

For a while, when I was in my late 40's, I thought "NOW is MY time to actually be in the middle of the pack!"

HA!

The Uber-Women leave me in the dust and at the bottom. So, when I really compare myself to them and look at their history (and more importantly body-type), COULD I really be running as fast as them?

If I enter events as an Athena, my stats are better. I solidly (no Athena-related pun intended) end up finishing as a mid-pack person then.

But, still, when I send my Coach my results of my time trials, I have no idea if they are "good" or "bad" or just "are".

My kind, speedy, young and athletically gifted Coach says "GOOD JOB!", so I'm just going to take it as he says it.

But really, my results are probably just "are" stats -- a baseline -- a benchmark--a start.

I'm okay today with my results, even if they are pokey. I've got many more weeks of base training left before the big IM WI training push and my numbers should improve. (Right???)

This week, I have a metabolic rate test on Wednesday and a bike time trial on Saturday.

I'll be glad when both tests (and winter) are over.

Time Trial Week Arrives

2010-01-03T19:24:00.003-06:00

I have been a total holiday slug.

I've been eating all the foods that I normally do not eat (summer sausage; crab cakes; filo-dough deliciousness stuff; pigs-in-blanket and MORE). Plus, sugar, sugar, sugar.

Add to my nutritional mix general laziness blamed on freezing cold weather and my "busy" schedule.

Slug. Slug City. Skulky Slug City.

Skulky because I've been looking at my training plan every day and then pretty much every day deciding NOT to do the plan. I have been artfully skulking around any contact with my coach so he doesn't technically know that I've not been a very good girl.

I have had a couple exceptions: I ran the Polar Dash 5K on New Years Day. Fun event followed by a post race cookie and hot chocolate and THEN breakfast. I also got to the gym to do a run workout and have been on the trainer a couple times.

But as far as following my training plan? HA! Slug-CITY!

Well, the rubber is hitting the road this week.

I went on line today to see what my training plan looks like and it is TIME TRIAL week.

Yes, my coach has planned for me both swim and run time trials. He has also asked me send him my results, so there is no room to fudge. (mmmmmm fudge....... I digress......)

This will not be pretty.

But I have faced the music. I got on the scale. The new scale that calculates Body Fat in pounds (horrifying) and percentage. Also calculates bone mass, hydration and BMI.

I logged my food/nutrition. I am mapping out when / how I'll get my workouts in.

I'll do the trials and let the chips fall where they may (mmmmmm chips.... I digress)

Kirby 12.29.09

2009-12-31T11:33:00.002-06:00

Kirby the Cat moved on to the Rainbow Bridge on Tuesday morning, December 29th. It was about as sad a day as they come.

Kirby was originally Hubby's cat. Hubby and his kids adopted Kirby from a Humane Society when Kirby was just a baby kitten. The runt of the litter, in fact.

The adoption came during a tough time for Hubby. He was in the middle of a nasty custody fight which he was fighting tooth and nail. The kids were still little; Kirby helped fill Hubby's house with love and activity when the kids weren't there. Kirby would also provide a lot of comfort on the really bad days, when there was a court hearing, or some ridiculous demand from his ex would arrive in the form of a letter via US Mail. And, of course, Kirby would just be gentle, loving Kirby every other hour of every other day, bringing a lot of smiles, purrs and happiness in to Hubby's life.

We were just dating when Hubby adopted Kirby. I had my own cats and lived in a different house. When Hubby and I decided to move in together, we knew we were blending families: human and fur.

My cat Callie fell in love with Kirby pretty quickly. The two became fast friends. They would hang out together a lot and just sort of "be".

My other cat, Gorby, was definitely the alpha male in the house. He and Kirby did not get along so well for a long time. They finally got to a point where Gorby tolerated Kirby and then gradually got to appreciate each other.

In fact, it was Kirby that would keep Gorby company when Gorby was sick with the cancer that finally took him 16-months ago.

When Gorby died, my heart was fully broken. I didn't think I could ever reach that level of grief again.

I was wrong.

Kirby got sick very suddenly. He developed a strange hacking cough that got progressively worse over Christmas weekend. Finally, late on Sunday night, his breathing was very labored and we rushed him to the University of Minnesota Small Animal Hospital.

At first, the doctor thought it might be heart failure or cancer. They put Kirby in to an oxygen cage, which helped his breathing while the doctors ran tests through the night.

Monday morning, results were inconclusive, although both heart failure and cancer were ruled out.

Kirby was doing okay in the oxygen cage, but would begin gasping for air within about a minute when taken out.

More tests.

The only thing that came up as a possibility was something called "lipoid pneumonia". It is extremely rare. So rare that no one at the U had seen it in a live cat, only in one's passed away. Still, they were not positive that this was the problem.

We had a chance to visit Kirby on Monday night. We could put our hands in to the oxygen cage to pet him via a couple of port holes.

The doctor suggested trying a heavy dose of steroids to try to reduce the inflammation around his lungs. If the steroids were going to work, we'd see an improvement in about 24-hours. Hubby thought it was worth the effort, Kirby got the shot and we went home to wait.

The next morning, very early, we got a call from the doctor. The news came that the steroids had not helped and, in fact, Kirby was doing much worse. His carbon dioxide level had increased significantly. His lungs were just not strong enough to expel the air out, which created a build up.

The vet did not think that Kirby could keep up the effort of breathing for much longer.

With very heavy hearts, Hubby and I drove to the U and got to spend our last few minutes with Kirby. Then, Warren made one of the hardest decisions he's ever had to make in his life.

As peaceful as Kirby's passing was, it does not erase the fact that our house and our souls are just a bit more empty this New Year's Eve. That horrible ache I felt when Gorby died is back and it feels just as bad now as it did then.

Callie seems to be missing her friend too. She is sleeping upstairs on the couch that the two of them frequently shared.

I'm just hoping that Kirby has found Gorby at the Rainbow Bridge and that the two of them are sharing a little snooze and maybe some catnip and a really good tin of canned cat food.

Rest in peace, Kirby. We love you and miss you a lot.

Merry Kwanzakah

2009-12-25T16:31:00.001-06:00

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas

Feliz Navidad

Happy Hanukkah (late)

Happy Kwanza

Happy Winter Solstice

and all that jazz....

"what I learned last week on vacation..."

2009-12-22T17:00:00.004-06:00

Hubby and I went on our first cruise last week.

It was a B L A S T.

Hubby's golf partner, Paul, and his wife, Deb, have done the cruise thing for years. They invited us to join them for some sun, golf and ocean breezes.

We booked on Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), which is the "freestyling" cruise line. Do what you want pretty much when you want.

We left Miami, had two full days at sea Grand Cayman and Cozumel as our ports of call. We golfed at both locations.

Let me say again: We had a B L A S T.

However, the big lesson learned on the trip was

"Check your camera BEFORE leaving the house".

My digital was on the fritz. Grrrrrr.

I had to buy an overpriced disposable on the ship ("duty free"!) which really limited my clicking creativity!

I'll post more about our adventures shortly, but will leave you with this:

When I got home, I did a little Google search on "Nikon Coolpix S4 problems" and found this:

Problem for Nikon Coolpix S4 Digital Camera
Coolpix S4, display doesnt show any image

Resolution: My camera worked again when i knock it gently to a table surface (object side).

I smacked the camera a bit and voila! Image popped up like a charm.

Guess we'll just have to take another cruise....

Winter Arrives. Blech

2009-12-06T20:38:00.003-06:00

After an unseasonably warm and dry November, winter officially arrived in Minnesota last week.

Nat and I did a quick run on Tuesday when the temps were still "balmy" -- 40s during the day and 30's at night.

On Wednesday, the wind shifted and the temps dropped. We had our first dusting of snow early on Thursday morning.

Now, the furnace kicks on about twice an hour; the lakes are starting to freeze and I broke out the Cuddle Duds.

Training this week went well. Coach Dan had me in the water three times; on the bike four times and running three times. I made it all but one of the runs, which was scheduled for Thursday night, the first really cold night so far. I just couldn't muster the gumption to get out and get it done.

Instead, Hubby and I hit Golfsmith, where they were having a 25% off of most everything sale. We stocked up on some golf balls, tees and got a couple of used clubs.

Why?

We are going on a little golf vacation soon with some friends of ours. The weather should be warm and sunny, which will be a very nice break.

I'll also be able to get some training in while I'm on vacation. It will be nice to run without wearing mittens and long underwear.

One last SHOUT OUT to Sabrina, Hubby's daughter. She's been getting in to fitness recently and ran her first 5K on Thanksgiving (see last post). She ran her SECOND 5K on Saturday -- the Reindeer Run.

She is really getting in to it, which is really fabulous. I'm very proud of her and her accomplishments!

Turkey Day and Torture Device

2009-11-30T21:52:00.004-06:00

Long time, no post.

No particular reason; not feeling particularly inspired (or uninspired). Just not posting. You know how that goes.

Thanksgiving has come and gone in a BLINK. Hubby and I hosted this year. Served turkey and stuffing to 17 friends and family in total.

Warren's son spend the holiday with his mom, but we had the great honor of having his daughter, her fiancee and one of their friends join us for dinner. That really was very nice.

Our good golf friends, Paul and Deb, also joined us for dinner. They don't have other family here in Minneapolis, so we invited them to join the madness at our house. It was great to have them with us.

The other really cool part of the day is that Daughter and Fiancee both ran their very first 5K Thanksgiving morning! They joined Hubby, my great running pals Mary, Marcia, Gary and Marty and their families, me and 12,000 other runners at the TurkeyDay 5K held in downtown Minneapolis.

It was a blast and everyone did well. I'm very proud of them all for getting out there and getting hooked by the running bug.

Hubby and I had the rest of the weekend off. Slept late; ate leftovers; visited friends; slept some more. It was perfect.

Today, back to work and back to base training in earnest.

I took my base test with Coach Dan at SCS Multisport. I have some minor corrections to work on with my swim; a ton of work to do to increase power and endurance on the bike; and a few things to work on with my run, not the least of which is SPEED.

I decided to have him start sending me workouts now (which is just a polite way of saying I'll pay him to torture me). I've been enjoying my workouts waaaay too much lately, which just means I have not been working out with any amount of real effort.

He started me out today with 2050 yards in the pool, working on some drills and some builds; then I spent 40 minutes on my torture device, er I mean bike trainer.

YEEEECCCCCH.

Now I know that I'll have to become friends with my bike trainer, as I'll be sitting in the saddle a lot over the winter.

It is amazing how much tougher it is to ride the trainer than it is to ride outside.

But ride I will, whenever Coach Dan tells me to.

Looks like the long journey to Ironman Wisconsin has officially begun!

Exciting times for blogger friends

2009-11-13T16:17:00.002-06:00

Several of my blogging friends have completed some big events recently:

Dori ran NY Marathon. She has YET to post her race report, but we did talk to each other shortly after she finished the race. Dori and I have been friends for many years. She is the one who got me in to blogging in the first place. . I am anxiously awaiting her blog update.

Waddler, now known as IRON WADDLER, completed the Beach2Battleship iron distance event last weekend. She wrote a really great race report about her experience which was interesting, inspiring and encouraging. (I like reading reports where people talk about the good stuff and the hard stuff. This definitely helps my mental prep for what I may expect during IM WI 2010).

TriSharkie did B2B too and had a very interesting 'heartfelt' experience...

Nancy Toby did the 1/2 Iron at B2B. She also wrote a great race and travel report.

Slimdown 220 did Ironman Florida. Another great job.

Beth wrote about her experience as an Iron/Spectator now IronWife. Her husband also did Ironman Florida. I'm looking forward to reading her husband's guest blog entry soon.

Sunshine posted some great pics and stories about her experience at the OBX Marathon.

Nat went through her pre-training tests with the coach we'll both be using. I won't tell you what she said in emails to me...I'll wait for her to update everyone via her blog.

My non-blogging friend Mary took her son to New York City to help celebrate their birthdays. No official running events involved, but running that city with a teenage boy? She deserves a medal for sure!

Me? I traveled this week to San Francisco where I walked a lot (but did not run, swim or bike). I've been successful at avoiding chocolate covered peanuts for over a week now. Both of my updates are exciting, but not nearly as exciting as those of my rockin' blogger friends.

CONGRATS to ALL!

Monster Birthdays

2009-11-01T18:32:00.009-06:00

Yesterday morning, birthday girls Nat and Mary, Marcia, Gary, me, Brenda, Heather and Jill all ran in one of the Monster events. Nat did the 1/2 marathon; the rest of us did the 10-miler.

The morning was plenty "crisp" (a Minnesota-way to say "cold") and windy, but the events were very fun.

Although none of us had the same sort of fantastic finish as our friend Steve, we were all happy to have finished and happier to go out to eat after the race.

I ran pretty well for where I am with my running. After struggling to "fall in love" with it again, I really am enjoying being out there and am feeling like I'm getting stronger.

I ran from mile 1.5 to 6 with Heather, Brenda and Jill, who were running each mile to the mile marker and then taking a 1 minute walk break. This pushed my pattern of LSD 6/1 a bit, which was good for me.

At mile 6 I dropped back a bit and took a couple extra walk breaks, but still finished in under 2 hours (barely), which was my goal.

After the race, we all went out for a quick breakfast. Hubby, Marcia's hubby Marty and Mary's love, Tom joined us.

I brought some cupcakes for dessert to help celebrate birthdays. (The real reason is that I love cake and will look for any and every excuse to eat it.... -- no really, it is because I love my friends and wanted them to feel special and so I could eat cake.... No, really....)

Re: Ironman stuff:

No swimming for the week. I was under the weather for a few days and didn't make it in to the pool. Nat and I will start going to a Masters swim group in a couple weeks, so that will help keep me get in to a pattern.

I finally set up my bike trainer and spent a whopping full HOUR on it last week. That was much tougher than I thought. Plan is to be on it three times in the coming week.

I am sure there will be a week/day/moment when these words will come back to haunt me, but I sort of wish I was really in training already. I'm getting antzy and lazy. (Anxious to start and feeling like taking a nap, all at the same time.)

That every happen to you?

Nice week...

2009-10-24T12:59:00.005-05:00

I spent most of the week in Charlotte, delivering a bunch of training to Team Members there. The weather was lovely -- sunny and warm during the day, cool and comfortable during the evenings.

I looked online to see if I could find a running group to run during my stay, but the group that I found meets in the suburbs and I was staying "Uptown". The group does do a 3-mile loop in the Uptown area on Monday evenings, but I looked this up on TUESDAY, so it was a no-go for the group.

However, I mapped out their route on the map provided to me by Conrad Hilton and ran the course on my own twice. Once looping the route twice, for a little over 6 miles; the second time looping once, for a touch over 3.

The course was nice and pretty quiet, looping from Uptown to South End, over to the BofA stadium, then up some long hill and back in to the Uptown area.

I also had the chance to swim once at the Y. Covered about 1400 yards, including a ladder set of 50-100-200-100-50 with 15 seconds in-between each ladder.

I got home yesterday to much colder weather, but the leaves are still on the trees and are now displaying peak colors.

I ran this morning with Nat -- we did a 5 mile run with some pickups. I love running with her because she really helps me challenge my pace and my limits. We are both very excited about all aspects Ironman right now: the training; the event; the process.

Thanks to BETH for posting the really cool link to wordie.net on her website. You can go there, plug in the name of your blog and the system will generate a word count "map" of your common themes and words that appear on your blog. WAAAY cool!

Off to get my hair cut and colored.....also WAAY cool...

Economic Stimulus

2009-10-18T17:51:00.003-05:00

I am personally trying to help the economy as much as I possibly can by buying "stuff" to help me train for Ironman Wisconsin.

Only sort of kidding.

Over the course of the last couple of weeks:

I've upgraded my watch, moving from a Polar Heart Rate Monitor to a Garmin FR60 because the Garmin has a running pace feature. (The coaching group that Nat and I are using want us to train by pace, not just HRM).

Ca-ching!

Today, I bought a bike trainer so I can wile away the winter hours riding my bike in my house while watching TV. All in all, a much better proposition than wiling away the hours riding my bike OUTSIDE during the winter.

Ca-ching!

I'm not complaining because these tools are going to be very useful -- and I already really like the Garmin. It's taken me a little time to get used to the features, but I like the pace feature and find that little Virtual Partner of mine annoying (in a good way).

I am also not complaining because I'm fortunate to have a steady job in this economy, which means I can help spend money at some of our local business places (as opposed to mega stores).

I may be done with some of the economic outflow for a bit. (I'll buy Nat's old aerobars soon, but that really might be it until 2010).

Other news for the week: we had more snow and rain and cold temps over the last week, but the sun made a very welcome appearance yesterday and today, heralding in this year's version of Indian Summer.

I ran yesterday morning with Gary and Mary. It was a great run on a beautiful crisp morning. The air was brisk; the leaves on the trees brilliant and spending time with them was wonderful.

Later in the afternoon, Hubby and I went golfing with our golfing friends. The boys played together and the girls played together. The two other women are very fun and we all have a blast. The six of us went out to dinner at Kona Grill, a new restaurant here in the cities.

Today, the weather was even nicer. After buying the bike trainer, I met Mary and her sister for coffee and then took one last spin OUTSIDE on my bike. It was GREAT!

Coming up:

I travel to Charlotte tomorrow and will be there for the week. I'll train at the local Y and outdoors and will hopefully be able to enjoy a little warmer weather.

Moving from hot to cold

2009-10-11T19:25:00.004-05:00

I spent the majority of last week in Tempe delivering 10 training sessions to people that work in our business line.

I facilitated 3 classes on Tuesday; 4 on Wednesday, 2 on Thursday and one on Friday. Phew.

I also had a chance to enjoy some nice, warm weather. The temps were "cool" for Tempe -- 50s and 60s in the morning, rising up to the mid 80s during the day.

The weather people were warning people to wear a jacket or grab an extra blanket.

I slept with my hotel windows wide open and said "boo hoo" to all the Tempe weather wimps.

I also got one run in (wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt) and two swims. One indoor and one OUTDOOR!

The outdoor swim was wonderful! Sure wish we had an outdoor lap pool here that wasn't overrun by kids. We do have the Richfield long course (50 meters), which we can use in July at night, but I'm not familar with an outdoor pool option that can be used for lapswims during the day.

I really loved feeling the warm sun on my back and the cool water flowing around me. Plus it was cool to see my shadow on the bottom of the pool.

I came home Friday and you know what? You want COLD?

Try SNOW on October 10th. OUR weather people tell US that it was the earliest snow in Minnesota in over 24 years.

Fortunately, it melted pretty quick. Unfortunately, it is cold. Normal highs are in the 60s. Today, it was barely freezing when I woke up. So, I elected to turn over, get some more zzzz's and get my run in later in the day.

By the time I went out (dressed in long running tights, warm socks, long sleeved shirt, jacket, mittens and headband), the sun had peaked out from the clouds making the view pretty, but the temps were still cold.

People were hauling the last of the sailboats out of Lake Calhoun; there were significantly less people walking or running the lake, but the leaves on the trees were pretty and the water was still open.

It was a nice run.

After my run, I visited a local running store and bought a new HRM/pace watch. My coach for IM WI wants me to train using pace, not heart rate. It will be pretty depressing to actually see my pace, but hopefully it will help me in the long run. (ha ha).

We'll just see how that goes.

Training Updates

2009-10-04T15:52:00.002-05:00

I think Nat and I found the company to work with for Ironman coaches: SCS Multisport. We both interviewed one of the co-owners last week and he seemed to pass all the "test" questions we had prepared. Both Nat and I had our own customized "test" question lists, based on our particular wants/needs.

My test questions were things like: "How do you feel about working with older/slower athletes?" and "How do you REALLY feel about working with older/slower athletes?" and "How comfortable are you with helping me with my goofy nutritional needs for the Ironman?"

Our guy passed with flying colors.

Training in earnest won't start until early 2010, but I will have some some base tests done measuring swim, bike and run outputs in early November.

I have one month to get ready for those tests.

Another test for me was running part of Twin Cities Marathon today. I had signed up to run the full marathon after I did not get in to New York this year.

My training went out the window for many reasons. My biggest problem was that I just was not in to running last summer.

Fortunately, my love affair with running started to get back on course at Square Lake tri. I had a really comfortable run at that event. Each time I've laced up the shoes from there on out has really been a nice experience. Hurrah.

It was too late for me to try to prepare for the full 26.2, but I thought I'd just get out on the course today and have some fun.

I ran pretty well, sticking to my 6 minute run/1 minute walk plan and just had fun. I got to mile 5 in 55 minutes and some change and then pulled out at mile 7 at 1:20:00. (I had a loooong mile time between mile five and six, where I pretty much dilly-dallied.)

The "predictor" had me coming in at a 5:07 finish, which would have been a HUGE PR and a GIANT miracle.

Other friends ran the 10-mile event. Gary, Mary, Beth, Steve and Sarah all had great races. I'm very proud of their results.

I'm also happy I enjoyed the day and did well with what I could do.

I ran another mile or so back to our house, showered and then met Nat and Cheryl at mile 21 to watch the true marathoners. The weather was perfect, so pretty much everyone we saw looked great out there on the course.

After watching the runners, I met Hubby and our golfing friends for lunch. Paul, Hubby's golf partner for tournaments, has a birthday next week, so we were able to celebrate with him today.

Next week, I travel for work but will be some where warm where I can run outside and will also have a chance to post some swim yardage and time on the bike.

Hurrah.

Out with the short sleeves, in with the wool....

2009-10-03T19:47:00.004-05:00

Some one must have flipped the big switch in the sky, because fall fell here in Minnesota as fast as I've ever experienced it.

A week ago, the day was lovely: sunny, warm with a hint of a breeze. We slept with the windows open. Sunday, we golfed with some friends and about the time we hit the 7th hole, the wind picked up and shifted, the temp dropped like a stone and fall was here.

By the end of the week, I had turned on our furnace; shut most of the storm windows and pulled out the down comforter.

Today was the final confirmation that the season has definitely changed: I put away my summer shirts, pulled out my sweaters and WORSE YET, switched out most of my summer running gear in exchange for my winter pants, shirts, mittens, gloves and hats.

Dang.

I also find myself a little extra blue this time of year. Cold weather drags on me. I hate being cold 99% of the time; I hate waking up in the dark and leaving work in the dark. I hate feeling like I live in a hermetically sealed jar. So, inevitably, the first month or so of the season change leaves me a little melancholy.

I do have to say that I love the pretty fall leaves; the crisp fall air is usually a nice change (if we've actually had a summer with some heat and humidity); and there is some thing to be said about halloween candy :-)

Today was also fun because we got to go to the Badger/Gopher football game. The last time I was at a Badger game, I was a freshman at Wisconsin. I sat in the Student (aka Nose Bleed) section of Camp Randall stadium and spent my time drinking and participating in the "O SUCKS" chants that our section ("P", of course..) screamed over at our fellow game goers one section to our right.

Fast forward many years later when four really wonderful tickets were auctioned off as part of a fund raising event my company participates in. The tickets were offered as two sets of two tickets. We could bid on one set or both.

I was bound and determined to win all four tickets. I felt the tickets were part omen and part-homage to my year-long Madison connection since I'm doing IM WI 2010.

The tickets were for seats right on the 50-yard line, 9 rows behind the Gopher team bench. They could not be beat. I wanted to win the tickets, and then take Hubby, my sister and brother-in-law with me to the game.

There were a couple other guys from work that also bid on the tickets. The auction was open for about one week. About 30-minutes before the auction closed, I took a pile of work and my Blackberry in to our lunch room where the bidding sheets were posted and parked my self at a table next to the sheets.

The second my Blackberry hit high noon, I quickly upped the last two bids by one dollar each and won both sets of tickets.

The game was a blast. The teams were both had some really great plays and some blunders. There was enough action that we never got bored like you can if the game is a run away for one side of the other.

Of course, it didn't hurt that the Badgers won....31 to 28.

Also did not hurt that the seats were AWESOME and we could see ever thing that happened on the field.

Finally, it did not hurt that the weather "cooperated". Although the day started out a little drizzly, by the time we took our seats the rain had stopped and we all stayed dry.

It should also be dry tomorrow for the Twin Cities Marathon and 10-mile events. I had signed up to run the marathon with a couple of friends, but each one of us backed out of fully training for it. One friend switched over to the 10-miler; another will be out there cheering tomorrow and me? My current plan is that I'll line up at the start in the morning and run half of the race. I figured I paid for it, so why not? I'm not a bandit; I might as well enjoy some of the event, so...we'll see how that goes.

Choo-Choo: Base Training Begins

2009-09-26T16:33:00.005-05:00

Well, my version of base training.

What this means is that the 2009 tri season is over; it is "lull" time before training for IM WI 2010 begins in earnest.

My goals for the next three months?

Lose some of the stubborn weight gained last WINTER (yes, winter) that would did not seem to budge all summer (yes, SUMMER).
Learn to love again. No, not Hubby. I love him all the time, no matter what. Love other stuff again like running; weight lifting; weighing and mesuring portions; limiting (evenutally eliminating) sugar and getting up and going to the gym before work.
Have a super solid base and be ready to hit the training in earnest in January so I have a reasonable chance of finishing the Ironman standing up and before midnight.

I am dubbing this the "Little Amy That Could" base building: "I think I can; I think I can; I know I can; I know I can".

The past week was okay for basic base: I rode my bike once; swam once and ran twice.

Currently, I'm least concerned about the biking/swimming pieces. It's been running that has been so tough for me this year. I just could not really talk myself in to a committed pattern of running. So, going out twice this week seemed like a huge victory.

I ran on Wednesday with my friends Gary and Marcia. We did 6.5 miles that included lots of hills. Gary created a route that takes us from our health club to a residenital area with 3 loops of killer hills (we did the middle hill and the big hill) and then we trot over to a bird santuary (with another big hill) and then we trot over to another residential area with more big hills. Then we plod -- becasue we are tired now -- back to the club. I actually really like the course. We get to do hills but not hill repeats, which, of course, serve their own purpose.

Today, Hubby was going to golf with his buddies and woke up before me. I was supposed to meet friends to run, but he neglected to reset the alarm, so I had a nice long sleep instead.

When I got out, I ended up running 8.02 miles, which included looping Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/mn/minneapolis/305125400037423107

The weather today is perfect! Cool, sunny, just lovely. I got tired, but not in a bad way, just in that "gee, I'm glad I'm out here doing this and I may kind of like you, Running..." kind of way.

I just may go on a date with Running again next week!

Upcoming stuff: Next week, I'm going to interview a potential coach for next year. I contacted a group that has a track record of training people for endurance events. My biggest concern is if the coach is really willing to work with an older, slower athlete. If I'm going to pay the money, I want the attention.

I'll keep you all posted.

Recap and Renew

2009-09-20T20:55:00.003-05:00

Recap:

Square Lake Tri: For the last three year, Square Lake has been my "adieu to summer" event. And, each year for the past three years, I'm completely surprised that it actually IS the end of the summer.

We have such a short tri season here in Minnesota. It really only spans about 3 1/2 months from June until about mid-September. I travel a bit for work and always look up tris and tri club information in the cities I visit. Charlotte's season runs through the end of October. Tempe's season never ends...Minnesota? Fourteen jam packed, filled to the max weeks.

I try to "stretch" the year by including Tri U Mah in to my tri season count. Tri U Mah is the indoor event held at the University of Minnesota every February. It kicks off the new year for me, but there is that long, cold and lonely stretch before open water swimming and official tris.

I tried to get in as many events as I could this year -- signed up for nine; only participated in eight. New Bri Tri was just too dang cold for me to get in to the water...But the other eight were fun and challenging in their own ways, culminating in Square Lake.

This season was not my stellar best. I really didn't train the way I should have or wanted to (see all my thousands of previous posts for my lame excuses as to WHY).. Once I got to the start line for Square Lake, I was a little sad about being so lazy during the season.

My friends Marcia and Gary also signed up for this event and our other friends, Angel and Rick volunteered as kayak supporters for the swim portion.

The water was perfect. The temp was great, it was smooth as glass before the athletes got in the water. I do feel pretty good about my swim progress this year. I felt more comfortable in the water this year than I ever have. I stayed with the pack, only got off course a little bit, but all in all, felt just fine in the water.

Even though I'd done this race twice before, I forgot how hilly it was. The good news is on the downs and the flats, I flew pretty well -- up to 31 mph in a couple spots. The bad part is that shifting the new bike still seems to confuse me and had some issues with it on the up's. At one point my chain fell off and I had to pop it back on. All in all my bike was okay. It will be great once I get my shifting worked out.

I was most fearful of the run, which has been the most difficult for me this year. Once I got out on the course, though I felt really just fine. I had more energy and pep and less stiffness than I had all year. This run was definitely a confidence builder for me. I CAN enjoy running. I DO enjoy running...

So, although no PR this year, I felt pretty good about the race.

Renew:

Later that afternoon, Nat and I drove to Madison to volunteer/watch Ironman Wisconsin.

WOW.

We both had been toying with the idea of signing up for IM WI 2010, but wanted to see the race first, from the up-close-and-personal view point of volunteering. I was a wetsuit peeler, Nat volunteered in the T1 area and then we both worked the water stop in Mt. Horeb.

WOW.

It was incredible to watch the event, the process and especially the athletes.

Once we were done volunteering, we walked along the run course and watched the marathon.

WOW.

It was amazing to watch the athletes do their thing. Very, very inspiring and invigorating.

So, the day after the event, we joined a long line of volunteers and others waiting for the chance to sign up for a spot in the 2010 event.

We are officially now in training.

I can't wait! Let the fun begin!

Last Tri 2009

2009-09-10T13:28:00.001-05:00

I can not believe that my last tri event of 2009 happens this Saturday -- Square Lake Short course.

This year has absolutely whizzed by.

Unfortunately, the same can not be said for my performance at any of my events this year.

All in all, it has been a pretty disappointing physical year for me.

I'm worse shape than I've been in for the last two years.

I've struggled with having much motivation within my personal, professional or physical lives.

The summer was cold and pretty much non-exsistant.

I got involved in not one but TWO disappointing running groups.

I bagged my first outdoor tri of the summer because it was cold (call me "wimpy"); I'm bagging on Twin Cities Marathon because I couldn't get my mojo together to actually train (call me "lazy")

I really understand that I have no one to blane for MOST of the issues I list above except myself.

I ate the chocolate covered peanuts; I hit the snooze alarm over and over and over; I got my undies in a bundle because the Running Groups weren't what I wanted. (I did NOT control the weather, however...so I get a pass on that).

For all my complaints, there were high points:

I did had fun doing the 1/2 iron distances (even through I walked the 1/2 marathon portion of one and did the other as a relay)

I have an awesome new bike.

I am swimming better than ever.

I still have a posse of wonderful tri and running friends who put up with me.

My golf game improved a lot this summer.

So, yin and yang. Ebb and flow. One step forward, two steps (and about 15 lbs) back.

Not one to leave on sour note, or "Well, There's a Way to SNAP my Motivation Back":

After Square Lake, I'm going to Madison to volunteer at Ironman Wisconsin. Nat is coming along too. AND, I'm 99.9% sure I'll be lined up with the other volunteers on Monday morning to register for the 2010 event.

If swimming 2.4, biking 112 and running 26.2 doesn't jolt me back in to Motivation Land, I'll be trading in all my athletic stuff for applique tee shirts, elastic waist band and support hose...

Anniversary Fun

2009-08-29T21:00:00.004-05:00

Hubby and I were married four years ago...time flies indeed.

We've had four years of fun and adventures and have enjoyed every minute together. (Okay, maybe not so much when we (I) fight about chores and the division of household tasks...).

I'm happy to say that I'm married to my very best friend, my love, my confidant, my every thing. I'm grateful every day for him and our life together...

To celebrate this year, we went back to the place our lives changed: Las Vegas, Nevada.

We found cheap tickets on Orbitz and flew out last Sunday (after I participated in the St. Paul Triathlon).

We stayed at the MGM Grand, which is where we got married. We gambled a bit, took a long walk up the strip, window shopped, people watched and ate a really great meal at Craftsteak.

Fun, fun, fun.

Thank you for every thing, HUBBY. You are the best! I love you!

There May Not Be an "I" in Team, but there is a Nat and Gary...

2009-08-19T21:59:00.006-05:00

Pigman 1/2 Iron distance triathlon took place last Sunday in Palo, Iowa.

Nat and I did this as Individuals last year. It was the first 1/2 iron for both of us. We both actually trained for the event over the summer and were ready to go -- not really knowing what the day would bring.

If you are looking for a challenging, well run event, this is one to consider. The bike course has lots and lots and lots of rolling hills. The run course may have one or two trees along it to provide shade, but mostly, you are out on a shade-less course.

However, the volunteers are great. The support along the course is wonderful. And, there are NO TIME LIMITS! Key, when you are on the putzy-side, as is yours truly.

We were signed up to do the event again this year as Individuals. After finishing Chisago, we had a little conversation about doing Pigman as a relay team instead.

I really vacillated on whether or not do change over to a relay. I wanted to do the event as an Individual for a couple reasons: I was pretty sure that I could beat my Chisago time. I am also seriously considering doing Ironman Wisconsin next year and thought if I completed two 1/2s this year, that I at least would have the mental imprint of knowing I'd covered the distance.

I did end up deciding to move over to the Relay though. I volunteered to do the swim (!). Nat wanted to do the run and we recruited our friend Gary to do the bike portion.

We named our team the Swine Flew Crew and hoped that people would have a sense of humor about our making fun of the H1N1 bug...

We drove down to Iowa on Saturday. The road trip was a lot of fun. We got to the hotel, checked in, ate a little dinner and then tucked ourselves in.

Oh: we did a little check of the weather before we went to bed. You know, as a "just in case". Last year, the weather was very typical for mid-August. Hot, humid, sunny.

This year? Well....

The weather gurus were predicting rain. Rain all night, rain first thing in the morning, rain though out the day.

OH! And wind. Lots and lots and lots of wind.

Uh oh....

So Ms. SmartyPantsMe (aka "The Weather Genie") said: "Oh you know those weather people. They are never right. We'll be fine".

And this is what we woke up to....

Rain, rain, rain and wind, wind, wind.

We all were very unsure about what to do. We could have very easily just said "let's go back to bed for a few hours and then order room service".

Instead,we got our gear, loaded up the car and drove from Cedar Rapids to Palo.

It was drizzling just a bit when we set up our spot in transition. We kept telling each other that if any of us wanted to back out, we could and it would be okay. We kept setting up. It got to be time to get out of transition and to get in to wetsuits and to line up for the water.

You know how hard it is to get a wetsuit on under regular conditions? Try putting a wet wetsuit on a wet body! Fun, fun, fun!

The first wave was elites and teams. I looked at Nat and Gary and was secretly hoping that they would say "OH NO! Don't go!". But they said "Good luck" instead.

Drat.

I lined up, the race started and I was off. Fortunately, the water was very comfortable. I got in to a nice groove on the way out, although I missed a buoy.

I got to what I thought was the last one out. I looked to my right and saw another one. Looked to my left and saw a support boat. I went right. Went a pretty long way before I heard the boat guy calling to me: "Hey! Hey swimmer! You missed a buoy".

His boat had blocked the buoy from my sight. Great.

I swam back to the left to round the buoy and then started to swim the next section of the course, which ran parallel to the shore.

That is when the sky decided to open up and it POURED. Drenching, pouring soaking rain, making it very hard to see more than about a foot or two ahead. All I had going through my head was "stroke, glide, keep my elbow up; stroke, glide, keep my -- HEY! what happens if it thunders while I'm out here??? --elbow up; stroke, glide, keep my elbow up"...

Finally, I got to the turn buoy and started my way to shore.

It wasn't too long after that that I got out, saw Nat and wobbled in to transition, where Gary ripped the chip off my ankle, put it on his ankle and took off for his 56-mile adventure.

I can not tell you how impressed and in awe Nat and I were of the competitors that went out out on that bike course. The winds were unbelievable. According to Weather Underground:

8:31 AM: winds: 5.0 mph, gusting to 21.9 mph
9:00 AM: winds: 20.7 mph, gusting to 26.5 mph
10:oo AM: winds, 18.4 mph, gusting to 31.1 mph

You get the picture...

In the meantime, poor Nat, who had just been soaked by the downpour while waiting for me to get out of the lake, was freezing cold now. Gary was going to be on that bike course for quite a while and I knew that Nat would have to find some warmer, drier clothes to change in to if she was going to be able to stick it out until it was her time to run.

So, we left transition, got in the car and rode part of the bike course to cheer on some of the bikers. No one looked happy. Everyone was struggling with the wind and the hills. We saw quite a few bikers on their way back to transition. Not because they were so speedy and on the way back to WIN!. Rather, they had just said "enough" and decided to bag it for the day.

We passed Gary at his mile 15. We cheered him on (and checked to see if he wanted to give up the ghost...) but he pressed forward on the course.

After we cheered him on, we found a teeny town with a convenience store and found some coffee. Lousy coffee, but it was warm. I only felt semi-guilty drinking it while Gary was pedaling on that windy course...

We were now back on the road looking for a Target. Eventually, we found one and Nat got a couple of things to change in to. That -- and coffee from an actual Starbucks -- made all the difference. No more chattering teeth.

Back to Palo, back to transition and back to waiting for Gary. It wasn't long and we saw him come across the timing mat. He did not look any worse for the wear. Very, very impressive.

Chip off Gary; chip on Nat and she was off.

The rain had stopped and the winds had died down bit, but it was still mostly cloudy. This worked in Nat's favor. She got a break from the sun. Gary and I drove along the course and cheered her on in a couple of spots. She really was running very well out there, keeping a nice pace and looking very strong.

Gary and I drove back to the transition area and waited for her to cross the finish line. It was a really great feeling to see her run though that chute and to know that the Swine Flew Crew finished!

I feel a little bad in that I really had the easiest part of the whole day. Even with swimming during the downpour, I was essentially done in less than an hour. Gary and Nat carried the day and really deserve the credit for our posting a successful day.

After the race, we wandered around the finish area and ate some dee-licee-ious food and shared stories with other competitors. Everyone -- including the winner of the race, Dave Thompson, and Nat's and my personal hero, Cathy Yndestad, said that this was by far the toughest race they'd ever competed in.

Amazing.

We rock!

Chisago -- awesome swim; okay bike and then.....

2009-07-27T19:19:00.005-05:00

Chisago 1/2 Iron was yesterday....there are some good things to report and some, well, not so good things:

First: everyone in my posse of friends who signed up for the event finished. That is good news! For Gary, Marc, Dave, and Joe it marked their first 1/2 iron distance event. I saw them all at one point or another along the course and, although they wouldn't agree, I thought they all looked strong and magnificent.

Marcia, Mary and Cheryl did the course as a relay team. They rocked the house. Again, I saw them all out there on the course and they all looked great.

Nat -- ah, Nat. She and I started the event in the same wave. Once the gun went off, so did she and I didn't see her again until I passed the finish line. By then, she had already had a snack, rested and PICKED UP HER TROPHY. Yes, that is right: she placed 3rd in our division. She PRed by over 35 minutes. GO NAT!

Other highlights: seeing Steve Stenzel, who was racing, along with his CVA Tri team...finally getting to meet his lovely bride, Pharmie...even if it was a "meet and great" as she was running back in on the 1/2 marathon course and I was walking out. (Yes -- walking. More about that later...)

So -- where does that leave moi? Well, here we go:

I actually had a very good swim. I came in at 43:26, which was almost 6 minutes faster than I did at Pigman last year. I felt totally comfortable in the water, just did my thing and enjoyed the swim. What a big difference from years past where the water freaked me out totally.

My T1 time was also better than Pigman -- about 2 1/2 minutes better. Zip in, zip out.

Bike -- okay, so the new bike is great and all, but for what ever reason, the position of the saddle did nothing but bug me for 40 miles.

When I bought the bike, I didn't have my bike shoes with me and, Bob -- the really wonderful guy at Now Sports, told me to bring the bike and shoes in before the race so I could get the saddle readjusted.

Did I listen? No. I thought "how much different could the positioning be"? Well, apparently it could be a LOT different.

The bike seat hit my seat in a very uncomfortable way -- especially where my left sitbone connected with it. I squirmed a lot trying to find some comfortable spot, but really couldn't get in to a comfortable position. I tried to overcompensate my position, which impacted my lower back and neck, and, well -- you get the picture.

The course is pretty flat, with a couple of exceptions The first exception is at mile 40, where there is a short, but steep incline. I started going up the hill and shifted down, but couldn't get my gear to drop from the big ring to the little ring. I lost my mo-jo, cadence and speed and had to get off the bike to walk it up the hill.

That is when the friendly bike support guy showed up. He pulled over and helped adjust my gears so they would slip easier. (Apparently they were a little too tight). I asked him if he could adjust my saddle and, voila! He did and the ride got a whole lot better.

I came in over 6 minutes faster than Pigman.

But, when I got in to T2, I was spent. I was fully convinced I was not going to do the run. At all. I was going to DNF and I was really okay with it.

Mary and Marcia were in T2 and when I told them I was done, they said "What? Huh?".

I had to give it a minute or two to work myself through the idea of at least getting out on to the run route. The only way I could do it was to say "I can turn back at any time".

So, I got on my shoes and walked out of T2. (Even with all of this, my T2 time was 45 seconds faster than Pigman).

So -- dear Reader, you must be saying: All of these great times! Much better than Pigman! She must have PRd!

Ah, not so much.

I walked out of T2 and pretty much walked the entire 1/2 marathon. I could not get it together to run much more than a minute or two at a time with very long stretches of time where I just walked.

I had a mental cut off point for dropping out. If I got to Mile 4, there was no turning back. (Logic: If you get to 4 out, you have to come 4 back, and that is 8, which is more than half the total distance...)

Let me tell you, I had plenty of conversations with myself at Mile 1; Mile 2 and Mile 3. But I kept my head down and my feet moving forward.

I got to 4 and figured I was in for the long haul. Fortunately, there were lots of people walking on the course. The big difference is that they were walking IN. I was still on my way OUT.

I just could not muster the will to run much at all. Walking felt okay, but running did not.

I had another dark spot between mile 6 and 7. The part of the course is a one mile loop around a residential area. I was the only person out on the course -- I thought: I'm done. I'm getting to mile 7 and I'm dropping.

I got to the water stop and asked the friendly volunteers "Am I last"?

"No".

"Really -- drat! Can't quit if I'm not last..."

Then I asked "What would happen if I wanted to drop? Would I have to walk back or would I get a ride"?

The head volunteer said she didn't know and proceeded to make a call to the Race Director.

The Race Director didn't pick up the phone, which I took as a sign and pressed on.

Marcia and Mary, who had parked themselves near the water stop at mile 5/10, were STILL there when I got back to 10....They had their own marathon, just sitting there waiting for me.

Marci volunteered to go to the finish line and to then walk back to meet me to walk me in -- a very kind, motivating gesture.

So, I trudged on until she found me and some how I got to the finish.

Here is the interesting part: All in all, my finish was less than 10 minutes slower than Pigman, so...not really as dreadful as I thought.

And, even though I was S L O W walking those 13.1 miles, there were actually people that covered the distance taking more time than I did. (They just happened to smoke me on the bike....)

I'm glad I toughed it out. I'm fine with finishing the way I did. I'm grateful for friends who stuck with me till the end and I can't wait to do it again NEXT YEAR -- although I'll probably need to do a few more bike-to-run bricks, you think?

One week to go: Chisago

2009-07-19T21:09:00.002-05:00

Chisago 1/2 Iron is next week Sunday.

Am I ready?

No.

But...it will be what it will be.

What will be fun about the event:

A bunch of friends are doing the 1/2 event too: Nat, Gary, Marc T and Dave H. (It will be the first 1/2 event for the boys).

A team of friends partnered to do the 1/2 as a relay: Marcia will swim; Mary K will bike and Cheryl will run.

It is always nice to have a posse of people all doing the same event. You can cheer each other on or commiserate or fret or even congratulate.

It will be fun to have so many familiar faces in the transition area and out on the course with me.

What will not be so fun about the event:

As evident by my complaints in this blog, this has not been my year of dedicated training. Sure, I've biked; I've swam and I've run, but I really didn't put in the total time I should have for the races I'm doing.

So, I'm expecting a bit of a painful race.

It will be what it will be.

--
Last week, I was in Charlotte delivering a week's worth of training. I had hoped to get in a lot of uninterrupted workout time, but got laid up with a nasty head cold. So instead of killing myself with workouts, I babied my self with sleep.

I did do some training while I was out there and then wrapped up the week with a really great long run yesterday and a 3-hour bike ride today.

So -- it will be what it will be.

---

The ride today was a sponsored ride hosted by my tri club. Riders could go up to 100 miles -- Nat, Mary, Mark, Dave and I only went out for about 3 hours.

It was a good ride, but Marc ended up with 3 flats and Nat had one. Marc's tires are very old -- so he had the same tire pop three separate times. Nat has "sensitive" tires, and popped her tube while riding over some fine gravel.

At least they both figured it out today and could take care of the problem. Next week, flats during the race would be a big drag.

---

After the bike clinic, I met Kathy T (Marc's wife) and Sarah at Lake Harriet. We all went to a Women's Sailing Clinic. I shared a boat with Sarah. Cynthia, our skipper, was a really great instructor and, even though we had very little wind, we had a great time.

--
After the clinic, Hubby and I grilled steaks and veggies and were able to enjoy delicious food and a beautiful evening.

It was a very full weekend and a great way to move in to taper week.

LTF finished: the "short" RR

2009-07-11T21:53:00.003-05:00

Today, Lifetime Tri went much, much better than Rochester Tri did two weeks ago.

It really, really, really helped that the wind today was only about a quarter of what we had in Rochester. I was able to sustain 17.1 mph on the bike, as opposed to the paltry 12.7 I did battling 20+ mile headwinds in Rochester.

My swim time was much better than last year (go me).

My run was slightly slower than last year but significantly better than Rochester.

All in all, I'm happy, considering the extra lbs I'm carrying (and didn't really "see" until Hubby took all the photos below. YIKES! ) and the mediocre training I've been doing.

Came in first for my age group/Athena category again. (This ain't no big thing, since usually there are only one to three people in my category). This year, I was in it alone. Still nice to see "1" after my name.

Of all Athena's, I was solidly in the middle of the pack. I feel okay about this, since I was the oldest of the bunch.

THANKS to Nat, who volunteered as a body marker (and got to the course at 4:15 am); Hubby for being there to cheer me on; Mary and Marcia for coming down to watch and who helped keep me going.

Next up: Chisago 1/2 iron. Oh boy.

Lifetime Fitness Tri: Tomorrow. YIKES.

2009-07-10T10:25:00.002-05:00

By this time tomorrow (10;25 am, central), I should be wrapping up the bike portion of the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon, Oly distance.

Should be is, of course, the plan/hope.

Reality could be different. V E R Y different.

I'm not racing as well this year as I was last year. (Stubborn pounds that won't go away and mediocre training add up to lousier finish times...).

BUT I am out there and having fun, which counts for A LOT.

I'll break in the new bike tomorrow too.

I've ridden it a number of times already and really like it. It will be fun to race in it and not have to worry about things like:

stop signs
idiot pedestrians that walk on to bike paths without looking
little kids that ALWAYS turn to look when you call out "On your Left", which causes them to steer LEFT

The weather is supposed to cooperate -- high in the low 80s. If this holds, it will be the first LTF tri I've done where it wasn't the hottest day of the summer.

The bottom line for now is I'm excited, nervous and dreading the event all at once.

I'll be getting over to the Expo in a few hours and then on my way home to get my bag ready, carbo load and to "sleep".

Catching up...

2009-07-05T21:40:00.002-05:00

A few minutes to catch up on "stuff":

Rochester Tri, June 28th: Second time participating in the Olympic distance event for me and my friend Nat. The day was hot and very, very windy.

The swim was good, but when I got out of the water, a course marshall asked me if I had rounded all the buoys.

"Huh?"

Then she pointed to one I may have missed. (I am unclear, as my head was under the water for about half the swim).

I told her I thought I had hit all the buoys, but if I hadn't, why didn't one of the happy kayakers come over to me. (I DID see a kayaker -- actually several of them -- as I was swimming along. Not one of them paddled over to me to tell me I had missed a buoy).

The "I think you missed a buoy" news threw me off my game a bit. And I got a little pissy about it.

Then I got on the bike. Did I mention it was windy? So windy in fact, I almost pulled off the bike course... About eight times.

I had problems with my chain falling off, HUGE winds (20+ mph plus gusts), gears grinding and just not feeling "safe" on the bike.

I spent a lot of time using very bad language while trying to not tip over going up hills or blow over going down hills.

I struggled through the bike and then went out on the run. I really was not having any of it that day. I just did the best I could, which was not very good.

Ended up posting my slowest tri time ever.

Nat kicked some butt out there, fighting the wind BUT I think we were both glad it was over when it was over. She finished third in our division, but the race director screwed up and gave her award to someone else..... grrrr.

Then I had another really rotten thing happen. I either lost (dropped some where in transition) or WORSE someone stole my digital camera.

Okay, I'll admit: I was an idiot for carrying it with me in the first place. (I usually have Hubby take photos and hold on to the camera, but he wasn't with us). The camera isn't a great camera but the memory card had hundreds and hundreds of photos on it.

Irreplacable photos. Europe; my birthday; Hubby's birthday; the holidays; friends; events.

And NO, I did not download all of the photos prior to the event. (So I'm an idiot again).

I want to believe that I dropped the camera, but: I placed a Lost and Found ad in the Rochester paper. No call. I emailed the race director. No response. I called the park where the tri was held, no camera. Hubby and I even drove back to Rochester to scour the transition area, the parking lot and the roadside going from transition to parking. Nothing...

I also think if someone found the camera, they could have looked at the very last picture, which was of me and Nat showing off our body-marked arms. The could have IDed me (by looking at other photos), then looked at the race results to find my name and then did a google search.

Seems like a lot of work you say? HA! I would have done it if I had found the camera. It's the right thing to do.

Again, the camera is one thing. Keep it, I say. Return the memory card. It is useless to any one but the memory holder....

I don't want to believe that a fellow triathlete would steal the camera...that is just lower than low, in my opinion.

But...lessons learned. 1) don't bring a camera in to transition. 2) download all your photos as soon as you can, not "tomorrow".

---

Last item on catching up. After my poor performance on the bike, I finally broke down and bought a road bike. I got a Jamis.

I'm hoping it will help me "catch up" on my bike times. I'll find out this Saturday, when I participate in Lifetime Fitness triathlon.

Past and Present

2009-06-26T10:43:00.005-05:00

Unless you live in a cave or do not have access to any electronic device at all, you know that both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died yesterday.

Both had significant impacts on my life, whether I liked it or not:

1971: I'm in 7th grade -- Mr. Rotinni's class: In addition to having to do the dreaded President's Physical Fitness test (which I always hated, being on of the two fat kids in class...), our gym teacher taught a segment on Square Dancing.

She'd partner up boys and girls and we'd square dance the hour away -- well sort of. The boys, who decided all the girls must have cooties, would pull the sleeves of their shirts over their hands so they wouldn't have to touch us.

Then, during doe-se-do, while we were supposed to dance in a circle with our arms/hands linked to our partners, the boys would add a little "whip the tail" in to the dance by releasing us, pretty much hurling us in to the wall.

Mr. Rotinni heard of these adventures and was very disappointed in us. So disappointed that one morning he made us move our desks to the side of the classroom to open a big, wide space, right there in the middle of the classroom.

Then, he made us square dance -- holding hands and being polite and everything! (At least we didn't have do do math...)

Something very strange happened that morning.

The boys decided the girls weren't so bad after all. As a matter of fact, the very next day, someone in class (I forget who), invited us over to her house after school for a "party" . A SLOW DANCE party.

So we showed up and slow danced the afternoon away. After that, we probably had slow dance parties at some one's house at least once per week. It was 7th grade heaven.

One of the songs that I remember from those days was "I'll Be There", by the Jackson 5. I LOOOVEED that song and especially LOOOVEED that song when one of the boys I had a crush on would ask me to dance while it was playing.

I have fond, fond memories of those parties and thank Michael Jackson for singing that song.
----
1976 -- I'm a freshman at the University of Wisconsin, Madison: I'm 17 (started college early). I'm wandering up State Street after class, feeling overwhelmed and lost in a sea of 40,000 other students.

I walked past a poster store and saw it hanging in all it's red swimming suit glory: The FARRAH poster. Megawatt smile, mountain of hair and that swimming suit. I pretty sure my reaction was to just stop and stare. I'm sure I thought to myself "shit. great."

Feeling already lost and insecure, overweight and struggling with an eating disorder, there was no way I could measure up to that image. And every freshman boy in Madison and across the country had that image hanging up in their dorm room. Great.

I hated her.

Well, obviously, time passed and I got over my issues with food AND Farrah, thank heavens.

I grew to appreciate her talent ("Burning Bed", "The Apostle") and fell in love with her after watching the documentary of her fighting her battle with cancer.

She seemed like a genuinely caring and kind person. I'm sorry she lost her fight.
----

Present: Rochester Triathlon is Sunday. Olympic distance. It will be my second year participating. I'm ready for the swim and the bike. I'm still struggling a bit with my run. BUT, I'll be participating with my friend Nat and we'll have some fun.

We'll also be on the look out for Beth to wish her happy trials out there at the event.

My plan for when I'm out there hobbling through the 6.2 mile run will be to take my mind off my tight quads by fondly remembering Slow Dance Parties and life at Madison.

And being grateful for being alive.

Ms. 60 goes Aero...

2009-06-20T18:31:00.004-05:00

Minnetoka Tri was today. First time doing this event and I had a blast.

I'm really have so much fun doing triathlons. I enjoy the activities, the events and the courses. It is also fun to watch other competitors. I'm sorry I didn't discover this sport sooner, but... it is what it is.

Sometimes I worry about the time that I'll have to give up participating. At some point, I'll either be too slow, or just tooooo old to be spending a lot of time in performance wear.

Having said that, there are plenty of people in their 50's that compete. Even 60's and older are out there on the course. So if they can, I can (God willing).

The weather was much, much better today than two weeks ago when I bagged on New Bri tri. Then, it was cold (41 degrees air temp) and rainy.

Today was very different...it was sunny and warm. Summer has finally, finally arrived!

Hubby is away on a business trip, so I went to the event solo, which was a little lonely. I set up in transition, went to the portapotty about a million times, got on my wetsuit and followed the masses to the start.

I stared at the lake for a little while, turned around and there was Nat. She had come to see me do the swim. I was very happy to see a friendly, familiar face. It was great that she showed up for me.

I was a little nervous about the swim. Not about the mechanics of the swim, but about the water temperature. My fears were for naught. The water was crisp, but with the help of my wetsuit for my core, I was just fine.

The swim is a little different than other tris. Instead of being an out and back, the course runs parallel to the shore line. I was in the last wave -- got in the water, started swimming and didn't stop once.

Not stopping is still a big deal for me. Not long ago (like last year...), I'd have to stop, re-adjust my goggles; let some of the stronger swimmers get by me and relax.

Then I had my "no stop" break through last year and it has been smooth sailing, or shall I say swimming, ever since.

I got through the 1/2 mile swim in just over 17 minutes. Not tooo fast, but certainly not tooo slow. I passed people from different waves, felt strong and just did my thing. I was very happy with my time.

Transition One (T1) was a little putzy. I was a little dizzy coming out of the lake (normal from rolling side to side in the water). I got tangled in my wetsuit but eventually got it together and got on the bike and out on the course.

The bike course was pretty, but hilly. Hillier than Chisago's 1/2 iron course. As I was getting out on to the course, this woman zipped right past me. Her age, according to her leg, was 60. She rocketed by me on her slick tri bike and immediately got in to aero position.

All I could think was "you GO, Ms. Thing" and "I got to get me another bike!".

We rode from the lake through Excelsior and out to Lake Ann Park (site of my "no stop" swim break through) and around that area.

I felt pretty fast and strong, although some of the hills were tough. Still, I passed plenty of people -- who then passed me when my chain slipped off. Twice.

After I finally got the chain back on, I caught up to and passed the posse, bringing myself in to T2 in under an hour.

Quick change of shoes and out to the run. My legs were stiff -- hills and just general stiffness, so I was slow going getting to the actual "running" part.

Eventually I got it together and started to run. I was slow, but got through it. Again, passing plenty of people, which is highly unusual for me.

At one point, I saw a familiar leg: it was Ms. 60, just ahead of me.

I decided to smoke her, which I did. (Evil grin).

I pulled in to the finish line at 1:53:48, which I believe is a PR for me for this distance.

Next up, Rochester Oly on June 27th.

So GLAD tri season is hear!

Previewing Chisago's 1/2 Iron Ride

2009-06-14T15:23:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, Nat, Gary, Mary K and I drove up to the site of the Chisago 1/2 Iron race.

The bike shop that is sponsoring the event hosts three preview rides of both the Sprint and 1/2 Iron courses. This is a wonderful perk and we were glad to be able to see/ride/feel the course before the event on July 26th.

There were about 40 riders in total, but the majority of people were going out on the Sprint course. Our day was going to be a little "longer" -- like twice the mileage.

We drove up to the course venue (about 1 hour away from Minneapolis) at 6:30 am. It was nice to see the park and the lake. Before the ride, we went down to the beach to check out the water temp.

Brr.

Also checked out the water level.

Low.

Also checked out the water clarity.

Weedy.

Should make for a fun swim in six weeks!

We started biking at about 8:15 am. The speedy bikers (with "real tri bikes") dusted us at about mile 3 and then we just did our own thing.

Mary and I had to cut the ride a bit short (pulling off about mile 45). We had to get back to the city for a couple appointments. We picked up Nat at mile 53 (SOOO close to the end) and drove back. Gary finished the whole course -- mucho kudos to him.

So what we learned includes:

The course is really pretty flat: Much flatter than Pigman's 1/2 iron course. There are some rolling hills, but nothing like you find in Iowa. Truth be told there is one really steep hill on the way back, but it is steep and short, so gearing down got us through it. Nat reports that there is a second steep hill on somewhere after mile 45 but before mile 53...Note taken.

Oh yeah: Nutrition: Despite each of us being experienced marathoners and/or triathletes, none of us remembered to bring any thing to eat while we were on the course. Fortunately, our new best friend, Joe (who works at the bike shop and provided sag support), carried a bunch of mini Clif bars with him and handed them out like candy.

Pedaling in to the wind is H A R D: Oh yeah (part two). I felt like I was flying like the wind for the first half of the course. Then we turned around. WIND. That sure took the smug out of my mug pretty fast.

We are going to make it: If nothing else, previewing the ride helped our confidence for the race in July. We may be slow, we may not be pretty out there, but we will finish the race.

Today's training plan called for yet another hour on the bike followed by a 30-minute run. Gary, Nat and I slogged it out this morning -- and now, I'm pooped!

I am a Wuss

2009-06-06T21:19:00.004-05:00

My first outdoor tri of the year was today, except I wasn't in it.

We had a very unusual cold snap roll through last night, bringing lots of cold rain along with it.

Although I had my gear all packed last night, when I woke up this morning and it was 41 degrees, I looked at Hubby and said, "That is two degrees too close to the 30s" -- I'm not getting in the lake".

My friends and I had tried a brief open water swim last weekend and the water temps were "brisk" to say the least.

It may have been one thing to swim .4 of a mile in cold water, but this tri has a 1/2 mile swim, which takes me a bit of time to complete.

The thought of following that with a 14-mile bike ride (while wet) and then a 3-mile run just wasn't cutting it for me.

I may have let my mind get the best of me, but I do have at least one "good" excuse:

I may have a bit of Raynaud's disease. (I'm still in denial about probably having it, as I have the symptoms -- lose circulation in my fingers while I'm running in the winter ; they go white and get a little numb. It can take quite a while for them to get pink again. I have to wear both mittens and gloves to keep my fingers toasty... I'm in denial because I don't like to think of myself having "issues".)

Although this primarily only happens in the winter, symptoms do crop up if I get overly cold.

I was worried that swimming in the cold water would trip the trigger, causing me to lose circulation, which would be very hard to get back on the bike (also making holding on to the handle bars or breaking problematic) or the on run, where it would just be annoying.

So, I bagged the tri. There were 435 people signed up and, according to the race results, only 87 were DNS. That means the majority of people braved the elements and competed.

I really felt like a wuss after learning that.

The only redeeming thing about this whole day was that I did do a tri (of sorts). I covered the same distances from the indoor comfort of my health club.

I swam .5 miles; rode a spin bike for one-hour (surely covering 14 miles) and then ran for 3. I felt good, had circulation in my hands the whole time.

Tomorrow, my friends Nat, Marcia, Gary, Mary S and a new friend, Joe, are scheduled to do Buffalo. (.4 swim/13 bike/ 3 run). The weather is supposed to be much more cooperative for their event.

I'll be there to cheer them on.

I just won't have a spiffy new tee shirt to wear...

NY = No Go, Buddy Can You Spare a Dime???

2009-06-04T18:59:00.004-05:00

So, lottery results are in for New York, but alas, I am not.

I have at least one friend who IS in, but I'll wait for Friend X to let the world know...

I'm bummed, but not totally hopeless.

I could potentially get in by being a Charity Runner. I'll be mulling over this option for a day or two and then decide.

There is a part of me that says "Okay, you didn't get in. Let the chips lie where they may".

Another part says "HEY! You are only getting older. You want to try to get in to NY next year AND potentially do IM WI? What are you, TWENTY? New York is already expensive, why not just buck up and run for a good cause???"

In the meantime:

I'm wrapping up my time here in Charlotte. I've been here on business the last few days. Nice city, polite people, interesting downtown. Loooove the weather. Hot, humid -- just my cup of tea.

Not so much back in Minneapolis, where the temps have been "reasonable" but the evenings still chilly.

My first outdoor tri is Saturday -- yes, THIS Saturday -- and I'm already preparing my list of "I won't do the event if..." list.

The first big IF is IF there is still ice on the lake.

Ha ha.

Giving Back and Cold Water

2009-06-01T19:47:00.004-05:00

I've participated in a lot of events over the last decade. Marathons, half-marathons, 10Ks, 5K, tris of all distances.

They are a ton of fun to participate in and, as race directors and organizers will tell you, a lot of work to put together.

I've also tried to do my best to "give back" by volunteering at a few events each year. I love doing it. I get a different perspective on the event, of the participants and feel like I make a difference to a runner or triathlete when I'm able to look 'em in the eye and say:

"Nice job, 5624", or

"Way to go, 623", or

"You've got this 7822".

I had my first chance to give back yesterday as a volunteer for the first Minneapolis Marathon. I worked the finish line for both the 1/2 marathon and marathon and had a blast.

It is always such a rush to see the faces of all the finishers: the people who've just run their PR beam. The one's who are doing this as "just another Sunday" cock their head as they gaze at their watches and usually give a knowing smirk. The first timers are my favorites, though. They smile from ear to ear and just look sooooo happy with themselves.

Even the folks who end up with a time that they aren't happy with are interesting to observe. Some take in the news with the grace of understanding that, for what ever reasons, the Gods of Running did not smile kindly upon them that day...

Others beat themselves up for not making the mark. You can just see their own disappointment in their eyes and posture.

The other selfish reason I like volunteering is that I leave the event re-energized and excited to be part of the running/tri communities.

So I got all revved up after the event and I was lucky to be able to meet my friends Marcia and Gary for a quick run around the lake and then our first dip in the lake.

Our first events of the summer are coming up this weekend. It was time to get in the lake for a quick feel of temps and to remember what it's like to not have lane lines.

YIKES!

I'm not sure any of us were expecting the lake to be THAT cold. And I mean cold! I had my wet suit on; Marcia and Gary braved the chilly water without theirs.

Maybe all the volunteers for next week's events could send a little volunteer warmth by way of New Brighton and Buffalo so all the triathletes can have a warmer swim...

Fast and furious

2009-05-28T17:03:00.004-05:00

No, not me unfortunately. Well, furious, maybe, but certainly not fast.

The truth was glaringly apparent yesterday, as I did a little workout with my friend Nat. We decided enough of our usual 'pussy-footing around' workouts and went for a little speed work by running pickups last night.

Did a little warm up (also at a pace that was faster than current-usual). Then we did six one-minute pickups with some longer recover pieces in-between.

YIKES.

I could feel every single lb of stored winter (okay, SPRING) weight that I've packed on. Nat really got ahead of me on the pickups, which was fine and depressing at the same time.

Proved to me -- again -- that I have got to get it back together and get in to training. Not having fun, but training. (Not that training isn't fun.... it's just hard.)

This also applies to biking and swimming.

We have a whole, huge Posse of people that are training for some tris this summer. None of us joined a formal training program this year, for one reason or another.

For one, most are waaaaay to expensive. For another, we can't find one that any of us really love any more. Most of us really, really, really miss having a training group. The one that we were all so heavily involved with evolved in to a really not-very-fun place to be, which is just a shame.

I really envy the bloggers that I follow who have great tri or running training groups.

Our group is pretty good about getting together and getting workouts in. Truth be told, though, we are all a little bit on the "let's just take it easy" side.

I need someone like Jillian from Biggest Loser yelling at me to do "MORE! FASTER! STRONGER, HARDER!"and to "PUT THE FORK DOWN for chissake!"

Anyway, I digress:

The Posse got together for a bike ride last Sunday. We were out for about 2 hours. Great company, great back on the bike, great trail. Except for Nat, who got a flat tire.

In any event, fun (but slow) ride.

As far as the furious thing... well, that is a topic for another post.

The Gang's All Here.. (was there...)

2009-05-18T14:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was one of the best weather day's we've had all spring.

FINALLY warm and sunny. We've had some rain, so plants were green and blooming.

My running pals and I got together early for an easy 5-mile run.

It was the first time, in a long, long time, that we were all togther in one place: Nat, Mary, Marcia, Cheryl, Gary and I trotted along the Downtown Train, over to Cedar Lake, then to Lake of the Isles and back.

It was marvelous.