Change on the Horizon

I love the smell of triathlon in the morning.

The smell, you know, that I-eat-gators-for-breakfast smell, the whole place. Smelled like ... Victory.

But I was only spectating. Four of my tri club teammates were racing, two doing their first-ever triathlon.

In the first wave was one of the first-timers, a guy who I used to be faster than in swimming two months ago but he now can kick my butt in the pool. His 750m swim time, an incredible 12:24. Faster than my fastest 400m swim time in a tri. *Cry*

And fast on land too. So fast that every time I clicked my camera, he was already out of the frame. And the same for all but one of my teammates who I managed to get in the swim-to-bike transition. I don't know how the heck Dave gets any pictures of me racing!

But it sure was fun to be out there cheering for them (I'm the dork wearing the lei).

My fellow teammates all finished well with three of four placing in their age group categories. Being sorta one of the co-captains of the tri club, I felt like a proud mama.

Dave and I also went out for a bike ride last weekend, the first one together in *gasp* nearly two months. It was short (only 30 mi) but it felt so good to be spending quality time together on the roads, to feel the wind on my face, and to be back on Genie, my road bike, who has probably been wondering whether I still loved her having not ridden her much lately, my tri bike, Cali, too.

Man, how I miss riding and tri training. I thought I'd be happy to return to running marathons this year but the truth is I'm not. I want to be doing more with my tri club buddies and Dave, especially now that it's hot & humid again. Ick! Running long is really no fun when you're drenched after just one mile and would rather be doing something else.

So, I whined to my coach, who was also at the tri last weekend (with the biggest skateboard I've ever seen, nearly the size of a small surfboard!). And guess what?

He's going to let me finish my 50 states marathon quest this year but allow me to focus on tris after the Casper Marathon (WY) on June 6th. Woohoo!!!

But not half irons (1.2mi swim, 56mi bike, 13.1mi run), where I can rely on my endurance and a strong bike and run to pull me through. No, for me, that'd be too easy. Besides, my tri club buddies are focusing on short course tris, sprints and olys, so training for a half iron would still not allow me to do much with them.

So the decision: this summer I'll be gearing up for an Olympic tri. Big gulp!

My target race will the Health First Oly Tri (1.5k swim, ~43k mi bike, 10k run) on Oct 3, a race I've done twice before in 2006 & 2007 and have always stunk up the non-wetsuit legal swim and died a slow death on the hot run. To meet my goal of breaking 3 hours, I'll have to lop off 15+ minutes (!), which means a LOT more time spent swimming and doing shorter, faster bike and run workouts.

Who knows, I might even get faster running marathons (last year I ran a 3:38 in Fargo while focusing on tris). But the main thing is I'll have friends and Dave alongside me who will make training and racing a lot more fun. This is supposed to be a fun hobby, right?

As my brave new friend K told me recently, "The worst thing that could happen is that I'd throw up." And if I flop, well, I'll still have four marathons in the Fall as comfort food ;-)

Pie Training

Pie? Did someone say pie???

This may sound funny but I am more nervous about the 10K than I have been about my marathons or iron tris. There's so much more time during a long race to settle down, get into a groove and even fix things if they don't go right at first. To me, there's more reliance on endurance, my strength, and less on guts and speed, which don't come easy for me. Some may disagree but here's how I view long races vs. short races (Other includes nutrition, weather, luck, etc.):



To improve as an athlete, though, I need to be eating more red and yellow pieces. Any more blue pieces would be like just eating more "fat". It may taste good but it's not going to help me meet my goals. Bringing out more racing guts and speed is mostly mental for me. That is, I know I have some but they're tucked away deep behind some big mental barriers. This week I experimented with a few things to try to break them down.

#1 - Run for your life

Hearing the about Chelsea King's recent murder, I was reminded about Nicole Ganguzza, another young woman who was slain while running on a popular bike path near where I live, and the two times I've been nearly attacked too. You want motivation to run fast? Run past where Nicole's body was found four times and remind yourself how fast you ran when chased by a crazy naked guy and a hooded villain on a bicycle. Not the most pleasant of thoughts but effective for last Thursday's run:

6 mi, get faster every 2: 7:46, 7:54, 7:30, 7:30, 7:09, 7:03
7:29 avg, AHR 172. A solid solo run for me!


#2 - Ride like a roadie

Established group rides can often be very intimidating to newcomers with other riders (mostly guys) all decked out in their fancy kits (club/team uniforms), $$$$ bikes and legs of sinewy steel. Dave and I showed up at an Eastside Cycling Club (ESCC) group ride for the first time last Saturday. Dave looks like a strong rider and fit in right away. Me? I'm sure some of the guys there were probably thinking "Who's this little chickadee? I think we'll eat her for lunch." The A (fast) & B (not as fast) groups started off riding together but then split up on this one stretch of road. Dave was up ahead with the A riders and I got stuck back with a few Bs. When it became my turn to pull, though, Dave just got done with his pull and was now in the back of the A group ahead and sort of lagging to see if we'd catch up. That was just the motivation I needed. I pulled at 23+mph to get the groups back together and then hung on for dear life. Note to self: Do this more often!


#3 - Swim fast or freeze

The lake looks harmless enough but it's hiding a dark secret. No, no lurking gators, amoebas, Lochness monsters or other open water nastiness. The water is just cold, really COLD! And it'd have to be in the mid-90's for two straight weeks for lakes to get even close to 70 so we'll probably have mid to high 50 deg water temps at the Gator Half Iron next weekend too. In other words, get used to it, Princess. I mentioned in my last post trying to find a neoprene swim cap. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one of the cool ones below:

But then again, I'd have to wear a swim cap over it during the tri ... So I settled on a plain "hot head" that I got from a local dive shop.

I know it looks dorky as hell but all swim caps do on me. The important thing was that I got my butt (and head) into that cold water after the group ride to lead some tri newbies on their first-ever open water swim. Did you think I would do it on my own? Man, I tell ya, if you want motivation to swim fast, cold water will do it. If you swim slow, your hands will go numb!

After a long brick (bike-run) workout on Sunday I rewarded myself with another cold dip. This time no "hot head" worn as it was just for my legs. Who needs an ice bath when your backyard pool is 52 degrees!?!

But my legs are feeling good and I think I'm as ready as can be for my 10K on Saturday. Thank you everyone for your advice and input!

Quick Updates

I'm short on time (again) so I'm going with bullets:

* Hawaii - Thanks to everyone for your phone calls and emails over the weekend. Dave and I were in Florida when the tsunami hit Hawaii but our area of the Big Island was evacuated. Fortunately, there were no reports of damage. Unfortunately, there is no reason for me to fly back to Kona immediately ;-)

* Swimming - We're still having unseasonably "cold" weather here in FL and water temps of nearby lakes are currently in the high 50's(!). I'm going to try to find a neoprene swim cap for the Gator Half Iron in 19 days. Last Friday I did a swim time trial with my tri club and am happy to report that I was 3rd fastest out of 12! Disclaimer: There are a lot of folks who are fairly new to swimming in my club. Still, my swimming has improved a lot the last month since I got back in the pool.

* Biking - I rode my first 60-miler of the year last Sunday. YAY!!! But if we have 20-30 mph winds like we had on Sunday, a fast bike split will be tough at Gator. My current half iron PR (5:42:32 @ Miami Man 2008) is actually on a bike course that was ~2 miles short. But, one can always hope for a PR at Gator...

* Running - The week before the Gator Half Iron, I'm actually running my first-ever standalone 10K. Gulp! I've been running 3x/week with one run a week involving some faster running (1/2 mile intervals, 2-3 mi @ 10K-1/2 mary pace). I'm hoping to finish the 10K in 46:00 or better (7:24 pace). How did I come up with that goal? Well, I ran one 5-miler (~8K) in 35:21 (7:04 pace) way back in 2002 before I got "fat and happy" running slower paced marathons. Last year I ran a hot & humid 12K in 56:20 (7:34 pace) the day after running 16 miles. I basically just split the time difference to come up with what I thought I could run a 10K.

If anyone has some advice/input on running a 10K I'd love to hear it. How do you decide what pace to run? How many miles do you run to warm-up beforehand? Do you carry your own fluids? Do you race with a Garmin or HRM? If so, what HR zone(s) are you in? Do you bring an energy gel for before or during the race? How many days did it take for you to feel fully recovered?

Happy March, everyone!!

Last 3 Days in Photos

Dave Friday morning. In just over a month, he's lost 17# and 6% body fat (per the Tanita Ironman scale we have) by eating cleaner.

Later on Friday, a new tri club blog I created went live. (Some of you may recognize the template from another blog I used to have but have decided not to pursue as I am just too busy!)

Saturday morning I helped out at a local race by doing some data entry. My fingers are actually my fastest body parts :-)

Afterwards, Dave and I went for a 2-hour ride. In 55-65 deg temps, he cruised along at 20-21 mph while I struggled to keep up. Grrr.

Sunday morning he set out to demolish me again, this time on a 30-mile ride. Lean MEANIE!

At least Sunday temps got up into the 70's.
(My apologies to all who are snowbound)

We saw some new bicycle-friendly signals on our route. YAY!

After the ride, a 7 mile brick run. Ended up with an 8:41 avg pace, not bad but a 168 AHR was higher than expected. Hmmm.

Then I went to a Total Immersion freestyle swim clinic for my tri club. Since I do a different style of freestyle, I volunteered to take photos/video and be there for support.

But some things are universal no matter what style of freestyle you do, like good head position and balance in the water. I must continue working on these things myself lest I be left in their wake.

And that pretty much wraps up my weekend. Hope you all had a good one too!

In Case Anyone Was Wondering ...

No, I wasn't taken away by the M-dot police for my last post.

No, I've not been glued to my TV watching the Winter Olympics.
(Though I will take up a little space on my blog to root for Team USA)

So, what's been happening? Have I been training the past week??

Well, yes, BUT ...... Surprisingly, NOT the grueling type of training that we all love to hear about and that I thought I'd be doing in order to shoot for a PR at the Gator Half Iron (1.2 mi swim, 56 mi bike, 13.1 mi run) next month. Darn!

And it's not because of the unusually "cold" weather we've had here in Central Florida recently. Although sub-50 deg F temps does make it much harder for me to go outside, especially wearing all sorts of extra layers of clothing that makes me look like I've gained 10# -- UGH!

It's because Coach thinks I only need base miles to keep me fit while trying to help me rebuild (from the two irons last year and calf injury in December) and get stronger. So for this half iron training cycle thus far (and there's only 4 weeks left!), there's been NO 2200+ yard swim workouts, NO bike rides close to 50 miles, NO runs even 8 miles in length. YES, I'm going freakin' CRAZY!!!

Instead, I've been on a new diet of shorter, higher quality workouts. The last couple weeks, my total hours training per week has been less than 10. LESS THAN 10 hrs/wk -- OMG!!!!!!! Quite possibly the least I've ever worked out since I got into working out (excluding periods of major illness).

But many workouts have been with members of my tri club who are training for shorter races (and quite speedy). And nearly every one has been like a treat: Ooh, a 1500-2000 yard swim workout? Yummy! A 30-mile bike ride? Cold, but very tasty! 5-6 mile run? Thank you, may I please have another?

It'll be interesting to see how well I race with this Less is More type of training. To be honest, I've never really done it before. My idea of less is more has been doing LESS of some things and a whole lot MORE of something else ;-)

So we shall see. God help me if this works ...........

PS - Very busy week for me otherwise. I'll be catching on you guys starting tomorrow!

What's Driving You?

Last week was my first real week back in tri training this year. It was fun but also frustrating. I've definitely lost some gears and endurance in swimming so that anything faster than ironman pace feels hard and I'm feeling fatigued after just a 500 warm-up. My bike Garmin trilled and stuck its tongue at me as I fought winds gusting to 30 mph. My HR monitor cackled as I hit zone 4 on my first brick run in months.

Where's the fun, you ask?

Well, the truth is that I'm happy to have just gotten out there. My local tri club held their kickoff meeting on Saturday and I saw my old self in many of the newcomers there. The fear of having to put their face in the water to learn to swim. The terror of having to ride a bike on a road with cars or deal with a flat tire. The anguish at having to run on tired legs after a bike ride.

Yep, I remember all those feelings when I first got into tris and I've come a long way. But now with two ironmans under my belt and no plans to do another one this year, why am I continuing to set new goals for myself when I don't really feel there's anything left to prove? Why don't I just relax and play with my grandkids, host Longaberger or Pampered Chef parties, or maybe even clean my house for a change?

Well, besides the fact that I don't have grandkids yet, am an introvert who hates selling things and would rather do just about anything else but clean house, I have some other things to get me off my duff:

New friends to train with -- YAY!!!
(Me in orange with hubby Dave, left, and some folks from my tri club)

A hubby who drops me like a bad habit in 50 deg weather. Grrr...BRRR!!

Thoughts of warm weather, the ocean and beaches in my future.
(mile 9 of Kona 1/2 Marathon)

What's driving you to get out there???

Ouch, That Hurt

First of all, thank you for the comments on my previous post. For sure, Dave & I are a team and will be working together on his new diet. Right now, I'm getting a kick out of receiving emails from him (he's in DC now) telling me how "good" he's been. Traveling for work so often is where his biggest challenges lie, I think. I'll keep you posted on his progress, if for no other reason than to keep him accountable. I keep telling him he needs to start a blog!

Anyway, now on to my pain ...

Fortunately, it's not my calf again or some other injury, but it hurt nonetheless. What, you say?

A hard 5-miler yesterday.

With a marathon on tap for this weekend, I had to be super duper careful not to overdo things, yet I had to be honest about working hard. Since my calf fiasco last month, I've done mostly long & slow runs. That is, after I could even run again (there was no running to speak of as I hobbled around for 2 weeks). But, of course, I'm working with Coach Bill again and, well, I did not hire him to let me do what I want, did I???

No.

So "5 miles Hard" was what he wrote and that's what had to be done. Wah, I'd rather run 20 miles easy!

I started out with a mile warm-up. Then I stretched my legs. Then I stretched my arms. Then I checked my Garmin to make sure it was going to record what I was going to do (you'd be surprised how many times I've accidently stopped it instead of started it -- doh!). Then I took some deep breathes. Then I checked my Garmin again. Jeez, get on with it already!!

OK, here we go. Beep!

1st mile, 7:31 - Well, I didn't want to start out too fast anyway.

2nd mile, 7:22 - Better, and no word from Mr. or Mrs. Calf. Doubly good.

3rd mile, 7:15 - Ran past a group of Navy guys chatting & stretching. Had to look strong.

4th mile, 7:20 - Darn. Starting to feel the burn.

5th mile, 7:14 - OMG, how much further, how much further, how much further?!?!?!!!

Beep! Thank god!!

5 miles in 36:42, a 7:20 avg pace.

TBH, I was a little disappointed. But not bad for a solo effort and so early in the season and coming off an injury. There's definitely some work to do to meet some TBA goals I also have this year, though.

Mind: HA, you thought we were just going to do 8 marathons, 2 half
         marathons, a 10K, a 5K and a couple half irons and leave it at that?
Body: Gulp, yeah.
Mind: Silly body! Mwhahahahaha.

Anyway, it's all systems go. My first marathon of the year is in Wisconsin on Sunday. It's another crazy indoor one :-)

Epic Weekend!

First of all, CONGRATS to everyone who raced last weekend! I know it was a big weekend for many and look forward to catching up with everyone soon. The last few days I have only been on my computer to do 3 things: work, answer email & deal with my Iron Dilemma. And thanks to all your great input, I was able to come up with a way to ride some flats with Dave, then ride some hills on my own *and* still have him close by and comfortable while he waited 3-4 hours for me to finish.

How could that be possible when flats/home and hills are located about an hour apart and it's 90+ freaking degrees outside?

Tadda, enter our favorite home away from home: Hampton Inn.

In fact, one is located only a few miles from the Great Floridian course and we've stayed there the night before other past events in Clermont, FL (like the Assault from Sugarloaf Ride and FL Challenge half iron). For training, however, we've always gotten up early and just driven out there in the morning and driven back home. Why not stay there after the big Saturday brick workout and drive home after my long Sunday run?

The night's stay would be FREE anyway using Dave's Hilton hotel points and he'd been home all week so surely he would not mind spending one measly night in a hotel this week. Worst case, I'm sure he could be easily bribed ;-)

He'll get to control the thermostat the whole weekend. (I usually set ours at home to 82.)

He'll get to watch History Channel shows, Myth Busters, Dirty Jobs and other stuff he likes on cable TV. (We don't have cable at home.)

We'll eat dinner at the restaurant next door after my long brick workout. (We rarely eat out together unless we're on travel or it's a special occasion.)

Free breakfast Sunday morning. (Need I say more?)

Lunch at Panera, which is also next door, after my long Sunday run.

Plus, lots of attention and cuddling all weekend when I'm not working out. (Partly because I'll be ffffreezing in a 65 deg room!)

So the plan was to ride a 45 mi flat-ish route together and then I'd do another 60 on my own for a total of 105. My favorite route mapping tool these days is Bike Route Toaster. It provides a nice elevation map and you can also download the course directions to your Garmin, something that Dave likes (I prefer knowing the course in my head). I had let go of the notion of riding the actual GF course (the first half is definitely not flat!), but there are plenty of hills I could ride on my own to make for that.

(Side note: Coach said I could ride flats when I told him that I didn't think I could get Dave to ride in Clermont again after the fire ant and heat exhaustion episode. He did not direct me to ride flats specifically and probably would have preferred that I ride some hills.)

But Mother Nature (MN) had other plans ...

That B*tch produced record high temps this past weekend. And, of course, I had the "brilliant" idea to start our ride about the same time I'd be riding on race day after my swim, 9 am, and by then temps already felt like 86 degs. Bleah!

Dave fared well in the heat this week on the flatter course even with temps soaring to 102 with the humidity factored in. YAY, Dave! Unfortunately, I had 60 more to do by myself :-( and I gotta say that heading out on my own for the rest in that heat was beyond tough. To make it a bit easier for me mentally, I decided to do 2 laps, as some of you suggested. That way I could also get more water from a park with restrooms and never be more than ~15 miles from Dave who was heading to the hotel after his ride.

MN was having none of it, however. She was determined to break me down and decided to see if some rain might dampen my iron spirits. Ha, I'll take rain over heat any day!

But did I bring my little blinky light so I could be more easily spotted on the road by cars in limited visibility conditions? Doh!

So I rode on a nearby bike path instead of the narrow, shoulder-less roads for a bit. Now I am not a big fan of riding on bike paths but in this heat and rain, there was NO ONE to dodge on the path and it was much safer than tempting fate on a narrow road with a fair amount of traffic in the rain. A few miles later, the rain stopped and the heat index skyrocketed up around 100 again. I was back riding on the roads again now that I was further out, which was nice so I didn't have to slow down at every intersection, but somewhere along the way I lost my desire to hit all the steepest hills on the GF course. I settled on riding only the nasty ones at the end of the GF course at the end of my ride. The rest of the ride would be only rollers, which in this heat was going to be plenty for me.

Lap one was done with little fanfare. Not sure what my average speed was but I know I was going faster than only 13-14mph last time I was riding on what was supposed to be the easier part of route. WTF??? Is it the heat? Am I dehydrated? Did I eat enough? Did I push too hard early on? Another slow leak in a tire?

It was hard to tell at first riding in a fairly barren area, but then it became obvious when I turned and got to an area that had some trees.

WHOOOSH! Yes, leaves were blowing off trees and coming toward me. Not a good sign. The skies had clouded up again and then huge water drops began thudding on my helmet. I knew what was coming ...

CRRRAACK!!! Crap, thunder.

Yep, MN was royally pissed now. She brought in a full-blown thunderstorm with 23-25 mph winds and driving rain to try to stop me. There was really no shelter out there and it'd take Dave 15-20 minutes to come get me (and by then the storm would most likely be gone) so I just kept pedaling. I struggled to keep my speed above 10 mph heading into the wind and rain but the more important thing I was doing was counting the number of seconds between the time I saw the lightening and heard the thunder. Fortunately, that time did not seem to be getting less so traversing those nasty hills late in the course, which are also some of the highest points in the area and where some tall power towers are located, should be OK. I hope!

The funny thing was that I think I climbed those hills the best I ever have. For one thing, the storm had dropped temps down into the 80's so it was considerably cooler than the other times I'd ridden them. But also, my adrenaline levels were red-lining. There was no way in heck I wanted to spend any extra time on those hills with all the thunder and lightening in the area (a lot of people who get hit by lightening are not in the midst of a storm but rather on the outward edges). All the rain, however, created rivers of water in the low areas of the road where I knew some cracks and wheel grabbing potholes were lying in wait so I could not coast downhills as fast as I normally would in dry conditions. And the fact that there were very few cars out on this road in the storm was both a good and bad thing. Good because I didn't have to worry much about them not seeing me or hitting me. Bad because if I got hit by lightening or crashed and couldn't call for help, there was no one around. (Dave would eventually see that I'm not moving on the GPS locator service we have with my cell phone, though, and find me as long as my phone was OK).

So, basically, I could not crash, that's all there was to it. Nothing I could do about lightening except try to stay away from tall stuff. Just don't crash. Don't crash. Don't crash.

I went up the hills and down them almost as slow. I gave myself ample time to brake and made sure to round corners carefully. I finally made it to the hotel with a total of 105.3 miles completed in 6:44:27 (15.6 mph avg). Whew!

By then it'd stopped raining but was still cloudy which was nice for my 5-mile brick run. Towards the end of the run, however, the sun came out again and it felt like 95 degs even at 5:30pm. Ugh ... 5 miles done in 49:25, a 9:53 pace. Better than I thought, actually, and Dave got 3 huge bags of ice for my ice bath to reward me. Thanks Dave 8-O

The next day Mother Nature came out fighting again with temps already feeling like low 80s at 7:45 am. Probably would have been better to run 18 miles in the evening when I'd be running during the race (and when things would hopefully be getting cooler rather than hotter late in the run) but I wanted to get the run over with early. My legs felt sluggish the first 3 miles but got better and I ran fine until around mile 10. Then the heat index was well over 90 again and even running largely in the shade felt so hot with the little wind there was. I envied all the cyclists I saw knowing they were creating their own breeze.

By mile 14, I went into survival mode taking regular walk breaks every mile to keep my HR down and to try to get as much fluids into me as possible. It was not pretty and I definitely did NOT finish as strong as I would have liked but I got 18 miles done in ~3:15 (10:50 pace, including walk breaks). I'll take it! Dave picked me up from where I finished, got another 3 huge bags of ice from the ice machine for my ice bath and today I'm feeling surprisingly good considering all I did this weekend.

I made it to my taper -- HOORAY!!!

----------------------
Weekend workout summary:
Fri 4500 yd swim: 4x1000s with five 100's thrown in the middle.
Sat 105.3 bike (15.6 mph) + 5 mi run (9:53 pace), 80-102 deg HI, 3700' climbing.
Sun 18 mi run (10:50 pace), 81-98 deg HI.

Iron Dilemma

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on Dave. Luckily, he's home this week so I can "monitor" the fire ant damage and help ward off infection. One time he got several bites on his foot and it swelled into a big wiener so he couldn't put a shoe on it for days! Of course, that hasn't stopped him from walking around outside barefoot or sitting on the ground where those buggers may be ...

Anyhoo, I have a BIG dilemma and I need some input from you again.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this coming weekend will be my biggest week in training volume and then I get to taper. To date, most of my long runs have been done a day or so *before* my long rides. This was mainly because of Dave's travel schedule (he usually got home after midnight on Fridays and could not ride long on Saturdays). In an iron tri, however, you ride long and then run long and many iron training programs have you ride long on Saturdays and then run long on Sundays. This weekend will be the first and only time I will do that: Saturday - 105 mile bike plus a 5-mile run, Sunday - 18 mile run.

Now Coach has said I can actually do this last long ride on flats to spare Dave more agony (he really should not be riding hills in heat without a solid nutrition plan). But a big part of me actually wants to head back out to the hills again knowing that a few weeks ago I couldn't even imagine running after riding the new Great Floridian (GF) course and nearly bailed on doing the full distance. Last weekend, I rode 74 miles, the toughest parts of the course, and then ran 7 miles off the bike without too much difficulty, which makes me feel better but I'm still worried, esp. since the swim may very well turn out to be not wetsuit legal. This week's highs are still over 90 degs (~100 deg heat index) -- WAH!

So, here's my dilemma:

If I leave my loving, supportive (and itchy) husband at home and ride the GF course by myself this weekend, I'll get a much better sense of what to expect on race day. However, Dave will feel left out (cycling is the one activity we try to do together every week) and he'll worry about me being out there by myself, although it's fine by me (the riding alone part, not his worrying). More than likely, he'll force himself to come with me and do as much as he can again and, similarly, if he gets into trouble, it'll be hard to modify the route and there aren't many places to rest/refuel along the way. Plus, this weekend's weather looks to be even hotter than last weekend and so even if he does only half of the ride with me, he'll still have to wait 3-4 hours for me in the heat to finish my ride and run (even in the shade, it's plenty hot).

Alternatively, I could ride flats nearby our home with Dave and just hope the training I've done will carry me through the race. Riding flats is much easier for Dave in the heat. We can also do multiple loops passing by multiple places to rest/refuel as needed. He can head home and get out of the heat whenever he feels he's done and still be fairly close by while I'm out riding. However, riding flats is nothing like riding hills to me and doing so will not help my confidence much for GF, although it will help for B2B.

Please let me know what you think I should do!

Active Rest & Recovery

This is a term I used to hear and say a lot when taking/teaching fitness classes a while back. Between intervals of high intensity stuff, we'd do intervals of low intensity stuff, such as jogging or jump rope. We never got to completely rest until we were done and one of the things that I remember thinking when I was first exposed to this type of training was that the instructor must be smoking crack. How on earth could jogging or jump roping be considered rest?

But after several weeks, it did get easier and I became a lot stronger both physically and mentally. And so it seems with my iron training. While it used to be that a half iron would pretty much wipe me out, now it's just a step-back or rest week for me. Coach gave me my usual one day off (Monday) after the FL Challenge and I was right back into training -- I mean, recovering -- so that it was business as usual by the weekend:

Fri - 15 mi run @ 8:51 pace, AHR 159, 83-86 deg HI. Last bit of the cold front!

Sat - 2x2000m open water swim, 1:35 w/ my wetsuit. It still feels like it's choking me but it doesn't bother me much after a while. I pray that GF will be wetsuit legal!!

Sun - 74 mi bike on the GF course minus flatter parts, 15.5 mph, AHR 141, 77-88 degs HI.
         7 mi brick run @ 9:41 pace, AHR 158, 87-90 deg HI. Back to hot :-(

But no doubt the hardest thing about last weekend was seeing Dave suffer during the ride yesterday. Although he's not training for an ironman and has done very few rides over 50 miles in the heat, he wanted to go the whole way with me and I could not talk him out of it. He did fine until mile 60, but after that, the sun poured out through the clouds and we'd just begun the hilliest part of the course where there was virtually no shade. His HR skyrocketed and he had to dismount his bike and walk up one of the steepest hills. After making it to the top, he then had to go sit under a tree for a while to cool off. Not a good idea in FL!

Yep, a bunch of fire ants found him but he was too exhausted to move. Finally, he got up and we brushed off as many as we could from his shorts. He decided to take a different, flatter route back to the car but insisted that I go the original route to hit all the hills late in the GF course. I worried about him the whole way but found him back at the car waiting for me. Poor guy had gotten chills, probably from heat exhaustion, and also a severe rash from all the fire ant bites on his butt (he's somewhat allergic to them -- not a pretty sight). Even after my 7-mile run, he was still out of it so I drove us home. And wouldn't you know it, he has an appointment with a colonscopy doc today ...

Anyway, this coming weekend will be my biggest to date in terms of volume. Hopefully Dave will know his limits better (you try telling a former Marine that ;-). After that, I've got a 2 week taper going into GF and then 2 weeks to recover for B2B. Yikes, it's getting close!

Keep Your Eye on the Prize

No, not that one!

Poor Coach has been sounding like a broken record player lately getting me to focus on my original iron goals instead of the tantalizing one (sub-13) that came along later and preoccupied me.

It's hard for me to let go of time goals but it must be done. This weekend I did a carefree 50-mile ride with Dave that helped. We hit those nasty hills late in the Great Floridian iron course again and I didn't even look at my Garmin (obviously, as it had turned itself off when I hit a bump and didn't even record anything for miles!). Though those hills were still far from easy, knowing what to expect was HUGE. In hindsight, I really let those buggers get to me last weekend. I just couldn't believe the course would end that way. Plus, I pushed too hard on some flats shortly before them thinking they wouldn't/couldn't be as bad as the ones in the first half of the course. Wrong!

I should know better than to assume, especially with the GF race motto being "Are You Tough Enough?"

After that 50-mile ride, I ran mainly by feel and pounded out 5 mi @ 8:34 pace, a new best run off the bike in 95-96 deg heat index. And the night before I'd run 13 miles @ 9:07 pace in 91-88 degs HI (got cooler after sunset). Un-freaking-believable. Was it not me who was cursing and struggling to run in 90 degs just a few short months ago?

Next weekend I'm doing the Florida Challenge half iron tri. It's held at the same venue as the Great Floridian but with GF only 4 weeks later, it'll not be a hard racing effort for me. Just an opportunity to train on more hills and practice my pacing, nutrition and transitions in a race situation. Maybe I'll also practice some of the hill training "tips" I saw on the GF race forum:

- Remember it's also 1/2 down hill!
- Train by getting a single speed fat tire bike and do a couple centurys
- Lock your front brake for training rides.
- Switch your front and back rings
- Remember that you won't have to worry about drafting.
- Move to Switzerland for the month of September.
- Get Lite! Buy one of those balloon kits & replace one of your water bottles with the helium for you to suck on before each hill.
- Find an overpass and tie bricks to the back of your bike.
- Before it's to late send money to the FL. state officials in exchange for two loops of the flats.
- Start practicing running hills in your bike shoes?
- Go for rides wearing your full wetsuit.
- Keep tires inflated to 40 psi.
- Stuff bottom bracket with 1/4" aggregate rocks.
- Train riding 15-18% grade hills with standard (non-clipless) pedals.
- Put on a set of Power Cranks for those 15-18% grade hills.

OK, perhaps just the first one, but I think it's good to have a sense of humor about doing GF.

Much congrats to Petra on running a hard-fought Boston Marathon qualifying race time last weekend in Berlin!

Oops, I Did It Again

Got WAY ahead of myself and lost sight of my original goal this year, which was "simply" to do 2 irons tris 2 weeks apart. No cares about finishing times, just make the cut-offs and have fun. After all, I am still an iron virgin!

I know this back-to-back iron nonsense may sound CRAZY to most of you, but I am someone who is motivated by the unusual. I'd much rather run marathons in all 50 states than shoot for a marathon PR (current PR 3:27:59). Only after running 21 marathons in 9 months did I dare try running my first-ever 5K. Ouch! To learn how to swim, I had to sign up for an Ironman (could not commit for anything less).

Some people have called me "hardcore" but I don't consider myself that, actually. WACKY would be a better description, I think.

But I am having fun, that's for sure. Perhaps too much at times as I have been accused of looking too smiley in my race photos. My apologies to anyone who may think I'm doing a disservice by making things look easy but I truly do feel fortunate to be alive and out there. In my younger days, I was a highly stressed out, malnourished workaholic who never thought (or cared if) she'd see her 40th birthday. Now approaching 50, I'm celebrating good health and making an effort to enjoy life whenever I can. And doing 2 irons this year, well, that just looked to me like a ticket to do more of that. (Plus, the training time and costs of doing both were not much different from doing one Ironman brand event anyway so it was like getting 2 for 1. And I am most definitely a bargain hunter :-)

But I must be reasonable with myself and Coach has put my head back on straight, again. My primary goal will be to start and finish both races healthy. If a certain desired race time (sub-13) comes with doing so, that's a bonus. If not, that's OK too. There'll be many opportunities for me to shoot for faster race times if I stay healthy and keep having fun.

So thank you to everyone who posted comments in my previous post. I'll be hitting the hills on the new GF bike course a few more times before race day (10/24) and by then should have one of only two thoughts:

A) Ready Freddy, all systems go.
or B) Still tougher than I'd like, but I got it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Back in the Food Chain

Gators, snakes, turtles, oh my!

Has it really been nearly 2 years since I last swam at Lucky's Lake and got my patch?

Well, Coach put an end to that streak last Saturday morning. This time I did 4 round-trip crossings vs. 2 (each one is 1K long), my longest swim this year and my first non-wetsuit open water swim over 2K ever!

The water temp was 85 degs but I did see a couple people wearing sleeveless wetsuits. Some had noodles in tow, others had fins, snorkels, you name it. I wore fins only on my last crossing since my arms were quite tired. That way I knew for sure I could make it. The rule is if you have any doubts, don't do it!

Because there are NO lifeguards or people on kayaks watching over you. And you know there's NO such thing as a guaranteed gator-free lake in FL.

Just to remind you and give you a "fuller" FL lake swimming experience, Lucky, the owner of the house whose backyard we start from, has placed a couple decorative gators right at the water's edge. Nice guy, huh?

Before we got started, I saw something breaking the surface of the water near some reeds by the shore. Just a turtle it turned out. Whew!

And soon we were off. Here's a photo from the Lucky's Lake Swim website to give you an idea of what the lake looked like. There was a much bigger turnout Saturday morning, though, like about hundred swimmers, which was nice. The more links in the food chain, the better!

Most folks did 1 or 2 crossings. I was going for 3-4 so I asked Dave to float along next to me on the last 2 for added safety. It worked out great, I thought, until I found out that the fins he was wearing hurt his foot a lot (he's been having top of the foot pain lately). Next time I'm on my own so I'd better get faster so I can swim while there are still others out there.

One of the last to get out but all limbs still attached. 11,524 yards in 3 swims last week!

My post-swim treat: jalapeno bagels, one of my favorite foods. Dave brought some home for me when he went through the Chicago airport on Thursday. Thanks Dave!!

Saturday afternoon, I put 10 miles in on a gym treadmill at a 7:50 pace. The cool, dry 70-80 deg indoor temps felt soooo nice to run in and, really, I wasn't wussing out. I was actually trying to be smart about not overdoing things in the heat for a change. And, of course, that 4K swim earlier did take some energy out of me already so I didn't want to push things too much.

Because Sunday I was to do a "short" 50 mi bike ride followed by a 13 mi brick run. The ride ended up being 59.3 miles (18.6 mph avg) but the run was right on. Don't want to run any extra in the heat! Ended up with a 9:51 pace in 93-94 degs heat index, which is on the low side of my iron marathon goal pace range so very happy with that. It seems that wearing a Camelbak is really helping me stay much better hydrated. I might even wear it during part of the marathon at the Great Floridian depending on how hot race day will be.

So ends another iron training week for me. Congrats to everyone who completed IM Canada and IM Louisville!

9 Weeks Till GF

And I am NOT freaking out. I am NOT freaking out. I am NOT freaking out.

But maybe I should be?

I mean, a little fear is healthy, right? 140.6 miles is a long ways to go, right? The Great Floridian (GF) is a race that most locals avoid, right? And to do another iron tri two weeks later is just plain nuts, right?

RIGHT???

Well, I don't seem to know what's right any more and I blame my coach. I think he's been slipping some delusional drugs into my recovery drink to keep me calm and lacing my workout routes with subliminal messages telling me that I was born to do ironmans and that two are better than one (born to do ironmans, two are better than one ...)

No, just kidding!!

But what he has done with me since February has been pretty remarkable. At the start of this year, I felt old and broken down with frustrating, lingering hamstring issues (from back in July 08) that were hampering my running, right arm/shoulder pains that were bothering my swimming, and haunting memories from a bike crash in Feb 08 that were still making me ride like a little old lady going down hills and around corners. Where's my little basket and cane?

Now 7 months after working with him, though, I'm feeling good and very positive about my racing again. I'm nearly as fast (or maybe faster?) as I used to be when I was in my best running shape, late 2005-early 2006, and now I'm running only 2-3 days per week (20-30 MPW). I'm swimming better than I ever have and pain-free most of the time. And my cycling, well, 98 miles yesterday never felt so easy. I averaged 17.8 mph for the first 70 miles with Dave and another guy, then rode harder on my own for the rest (per Coach that was OK) and ended up with an 18.1 mph avg and plenty left over in the tank to do more -- YES! That's the best I've ever felt after riding ~100 miles.

This post is basically to answer some questions that Meg Runs had asked me about coaching, which I think has been key for me this year.

Do you have a tri coach?
Yes. I've worked with a running coach and a tri coach in a group training setting before but this is the first time I've worked one-on-one with a coach who's designing a training program just for me, a HUGE difference.

How has that helped you with your training overall?
As I mentioned above, Coach has fixed me up and gotten me strong again. He did this by getting me back to strength training & stretching regularly and also by having me cut back on volume (Gasp!) and do more speed work (Yikes!), all things I was reluctant to do on my own. What I also love about having a coach is having more time and less worry. I spend ZERO time figuring out my training (that's his job) and just do what he tells me. And he doesn't usually give me my workouts more than a week in advance so I can't fret about what I don't know and can only focus on the current week at hand (which is good because am the Master of Putting Extra Unnecessary Stress on Myself!). I completely trust* that he will get me to race day in shape to meet my goals so I actually don't worry much about the race any more either. But, to make this work, I have to do and track my workouts diligently (miles, paces, conditions, how I felt, etc.), and my nutrition too as they go hand in hand for me. All the logging is sort of a pain but I have to say that this coaching has worked out much better than I could have ever imagined and it's nice to be able to see progress outside of race results (particularly when training more than racing for a change).

*This trust is something that has evolved over time. I'm actually a control freak by nature and had a hard time initially letting go of control over my workouts. But I made substantially more progress in 2-3 months working with Coach than I had in 6 months to a year on my own so I learned to let go.

Do you recommend specific running coaches or is this someone that lives near you?
Coach Bill does live in my area but our communication is largely via an online interactive training log and email. IMHO, choosing the right coach is much like choosing the right haircut. It's highly individual and very much dependent on your personality and needs. I talked to 5 different coaches last year. Three of them were referred to me from others and they coached everyday athletes as well as pro and elite level triathletes. One coach I worked with for a while via the local tri club and Coach Bill actually found me, I think, through a local bike e-newsletter in which I was mentioned. Whatever the case, it turned out Coach Bill and I got along the best, by far. He's a strong runner and has also done some crazy ultra events himself so my desire to do two irons in two weeks didn't faze him. He's very responsive by email (my preferred communication) and didn't put any limits on how many times I could contact him like some did. He also wasn't going to charge me an arm and a leg or make me buy a bunch of training gadgets to get started. I'm old-school at heart and often forget to bring/wear gadgets or look at them if I do!

For anyone interested in or on the fence about looking for a coach, I'd suggest also reading DC Rainmaker's Thoughts on Triathlon Coaching. Many of the points he makes I agree with and I think they'd apply to any coach, really, not just a triathlon coach.

Hope everyone's training is going well!

OMG, I'm One of Them!

Three years ago when training for Ironman Florida 2006, I used to see amazing people swimming laps back and forth effortlessly in the pool. Occasionally Dave and I would see a brave woman riding solo out on the roads in the middle of nowhere. I saw a few crazies running in the worst heat of the day.

How the hell do these people do it?

I was quite new to tris back then.

Good swim technique? Eh, I just want to survive the 2.4 mi swim and go on to my better sports.

Riding confidence? Who are we kidding? I could ride long but barely in a straight line let alone fix a flat tire.

Heat tolerance? I think I wore out the belt on my treadmill that year.

What I was missing was love for the sport. Truthfully, I was really just a runner who was dabbling in tris then. I had the time and desire to train for an ironman but not really the heart or passion. (As some of you may recall, my main reason for signing up was to learn how to swim, as in freestyle, that cool stroke that real swimmers did. Seriously, I hated swimming so much that nothing less than an ironman would have gotten me to do it!)

But without a doubt, heart and passion are driving me now. And what a difference. When things don't go right, like two weekends ago, there are some tough times, oh yes, but there are no "Why the f*ck am I doing this?" moments. Trust me, there were a LOT of those in 2006. This time, the answer is clear: Because You Know You Love Tris.

Yep, I'm a sick puppy. Good or bad, I am happy and thankful to complete every workout. Each one, even a bad one, is much better than what I could do back in 2006. Even when plodding along painfully and slowly, I know I am getting stronger mentally and learning some new lessons that will help me later. At a minimum, I'm getting more heat training and respect for the iron distance, for Mother Nature and for myself. Each one is a deposit in my training bank, as many like to say, and a step closer to who I want to be and where I want to be in a few years.

The only part that is not really fun for me, however, is the nutrition side. Before this year, I've never really had to make major changes to my diet and routine. For 50+ marathons, I just drank water (or sports drink in a race) when I felt like I needed to and consumed gels every few miles, maybe an salt cap or two if it was a warm race and I remembered to bring them. So simple! But now things are serious, perhaps even a matter of life or death when training for much longer in severe heat and often alone (Dave can't ride with me for more than 50 miles in such heat and no one I know wants to run long in it. Can't blame them!). I've got to put aside fun and do what's necessary.

So every day I'm studying food labels closely, logging food, weighing myself before and after each workout, estimating sweat rates, salt losses and calorie expenditures. I need to make sure I don't overdo things earlier in the week (Coach said every workout does not need to be in the heat!) and that I get enough fuel & fluids into me before the long weekend workouts.

That said and done, I'm happy to say last weekend went great!

Fri - Swim 3100 yds w/ 15x100 yds. Not effortless per se, but swam four 1:45s (Fast for me!)
        and broke 100 miles in swimming this year (I'm Tropical :-) - w00t.
Sat - Run 17 mi, 90-97 deg HI, 9:56 avg pace, neg split, AHR 158 (Z2).
Sun - Bike 85.22 mi, 76-96 deg HI, flat, winds 4-14 mph, 17.5 mph, neg split, AHR 133 (Z1).
        Brick run 5.22 mi, 97 deg HI, 8:55 pace, neg split, AHR 157 (Z2)

So I feel ready to share what I'm doing nutrition-wise in case it may help anyone else. Note I'm usually 122-123# but can fluctuate +/- 2 to 3# day to day depending on my hydration level.

Daily calorie intake M-W 2000-2500 cals.
Daily calorie intake Th-Su 2500-3000 cals, plus extra fuel & fluids during long Sat-Sun workouts as follows:

Long runs (per hr) - 30-40 oz fluids*,
     100-200 cals (1-2 gels),
     550-750 mg sodium** (gels, Nuun, salt caps)
Long rides (per hr) - 30-40 oz fluids,
     300-400 cals (CarboPro, Gatorade, Clif Bars, Perpeteum***),
     650-750 mg sodium** (Gatorade, Clif Bars, Perpeteum, salt caps)

* Even drinking 140 oz fluids during and after Saturday's 17-miler, I was down 2# when I got home, meaning I lost like 11# during the run!! My sweat rate when running in 90+ degs and high humidity is actually 50-60 oz/hr(!) but my body can't absorb more than 30-40 oz/hr. So I've been working on gaining a couple extra pounds of water weight (i.e., carbo loading) before every long workout. Thus, even if I lose a few pounds, I'll be back to or close to where I usually am.
** Haven't had any low salt issues but plan to up my sodium intake to the recommended 1 gm/ hour. For the run, I'll add a sports drink, which will also add more calories (can probably handle up to 300). On the bike, either more salty foods or more salt caps. I already do eat extra salt in my diet before my long workouts.
*** Though I ran well after the long bike, I had some noticeable gas issues after consuming Perpeteum late in the ride when CarboPro and solid food were no longer appealing. Googling tells me I'm not the only one (I don't handle soy or whey protein well). I'll be trying some things next time to try to minimize that. Sorry Dave and anyone near me!

Final note, I've decided against using a one-product-does-it-all nutrition like Infinit. Mainly, I don't have the time to dial down a formula (or two) that will work in 80-90+ degs (Great Floridian Iron Tri) as well as 50-70 degs (Beach To Battleship Iron Tri) two weeks later so I'm starting with what I know works for me in the heat and will adjust accordingly for the cooler race. To do that, I need maximum flexibility that a pre-mixed formula won't allow.

Family Reunion

Well, I'm not sure how much rest I actually got last week with 2 days spent traveling to attend a family reunion for 3 days but, technically/training-wise, it was a rest week:

Swim - 1 (3500 yds)
Bike - 2 (81.6 mi)
Run - 3 (27 mi)
Strength Training - 1
Total Hours: 11:43 - Yikes, still seems a lot.

But, I got to be with hubby Dave for 5 days in a row (which doesn't happen often unless we're on vacation) and escape the heat and humidity for a bit -- Woohoo!

The purpose of the reunion was to celebrate Dave's parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It'd been many years since all the kids and grandkids had been together and we all stayed at the Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, WA, which is ~40 mi east of Portland, OR, on the north side of the Columbia River. Dave and I got there Wednesday night and were departing Sunday morning while others were there for a whole week. LIFO (Last In First Out) is better than NDOS (No Dave Or Shirley). We crammed in a lot while we were there, though. See for yourself :-)

Thursday, our first full day there, Dave and I got up early to hit the gym for a quick workout and then went on an all day tour of Mt. St. Helens, WA, with everyone else. We donned blue hats (really visors but we kept calling them hats) that said "Pratt's 50th." Hey, at least we didn't have to all wear the same camp t-shirt.

As I shivered in the 60 deg temps looking at where Mt. St. Helens was supposed to be (see previous post below), Dave did his usual thing in a short sleeved polo shirt.

My step-daughter and son-in-law horsing around while two other Blue Hat Group members tested a park ranger's knowledge of the big boom that occured back in 1980.

Son-in-law killing time on the bus ride back.

Friday morning, Dave and I went for a chilly 30 mile bike ride (60 degs felt like 50 degs with 20-30+ mph winds - Oh my!) and then I ran laps around Stevenson for 8-miles to warm back up (it's a very small town). In the afternoon, the Blue Hat Group all went on a paddle boat tour of the Columbia River. Oh joy, more cold and wind.

Saw many of the usual sights you might expect along the river (bridges, fishing platforms, islands, etc.), but did not expect to see kayakers coming up behind the boat to surf in its wake. Is there anything people don't surf these days?

Got a closer view of one of the daredevils enjoying the winds along the Gorge that make it one of the top places in the world to windsurf and kiteboard (shown here). Cycling, perhaps not so much but what do dumb tourists like us know?

Friday evening, we attended a concert featuring Aaron Meyer, a rock violinist. Thank goodness, it had been moved indoors. Dave's parents seemed to have fun. (No, that's not me in the red)

Saturday morning, Dave and I set out for a 50 mile ride along the Gorge. This time I made sure to wear my windbreaker in addition to two layers while riding against the wind. Here I am climbing a 3-mile long hill generating enough heat to operate a small camera.

At the turnaround, I strip down to two layers. We climb back up the big hill and took a break near the top at Cape Horn (not Pe Ho). Dave's helmet has given him a Squiggy hairdo.

The kids enjoyed the break and view as well.

Dave in orange approaching Beacon Rock, a popular rock climbing spot. He was in heaven riding in the cool weather and hard to keep up with, especially on the downhills!

Me near Bonneville Dam about 5 miles from the hotel. Now with the wind behind us, temps near 70 and over 3000 feet of climbing done, my legs are finally feeling good. What is it with me and 50 mile warmups?

We beat a slow moving barge going upriver.

A post-ride treat to get the legs ready for high heels in the evening. Eek!

Dave with his mom in the hotel corridor. We all had rooms nearby each other so no escaping seeing each other for long.

Me along with two of Dave's more colorful siblings.

At the formal dinner Saturday evening, a toast to 50 years of marriage.

On a 6am Sunday flight back to Orlando. How in the world did this week go by so fast?

Thanks to my brother-in-law Tim for providing several of the pictures above so I could have more to share from our trip.