2 minutes or 120 seconds or See You Next Year!

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.

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

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?

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....

And just like that....

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.