IML 12 Weeks Out

This week I held back a bit to save some strength for the upcoming training weekend in Clearlake but managed to get some good stuff in.

Monday
On Sunday I agreed to do a ride up in Napa on Monday with some of the team, but that Sunday night was just too rough. I was exhausted from the workout so opted out of the ride on Monday. Actually what I said in my email was, "I think I was high when I said I would ride on Monday." heh. Instead I slept late, puttered around the house and then Rick came over and we made burgers and ate them in my backyard while freezing our asses off. I'm not supposed to say anymore that San Francisco is lame but dude, it was lame. It was like 50 degrees.

Tuesday
Went down to the Peninsula and rode up Kings Mountain Road, which is about a 4.5 mile climb. It was really awesome. It wasn't too hot or cold but by the time I got to the top I was sweating my ass off. Of course, I froze on the way down. Just under 20 miles and 1600 feet of climbing. After the ride, I made my way from the 280 side of the Peninsula to the 101 side and headed to Burlingame to swim. Did a swim workout and a market set, totaling 3400 yards. Went home and at a big lunch, aka leftover hamburgers.

Wednesday
I took Wednesday off and met with a field investigator for my UFO sighting the week before. No lie. This is serious shit.

Thursday
Did a 40 minute spin workout at home and then cried for 2 hours in therapy.

Friday
Packed and drove to San Rafeal to Moddies' house. We carpooled to Clearlake, about a 2.5 hour drive. Got there and ate dinner and hung out with the Ironteam staff and I got ready for our big workout the next day.

Saturday
Swam 2 miles. Mike K. let me borrow his sleeveless wetsuit with the hopes that it would lessen the open water anxiety I've been having. My wetsuit, when it fit, was very tight across the chest to begin with and now that I am a few pounds heavier it's really, really constricting. I don't feel panicky at all but what happens is I realize I am not getting full breaths. When I stop swimming I am literally wheezing. That is how bad it is. Anyways, Mike's suit was a bit better even tho for the first half mile lap out to the buoy I was complaining and negative talking the whole way. Then I caught up with Tony at the turn around and we swam together for the remaining lap and a half. He was my savior that day. If it wasn't for him, and being able to draft off of him, I wouldn't have finished. I would've talked myself out of it.

Then we got ready for a 102 mile bike ride. I started off really slow and all my normal riding partners passed me easily in the first 10 miles. I was getting worried, but I was just so tired, AND I had like 92 more miles to go so, I was trying to save my energy. I finally caught back up with Nancy and her wonderful energy buoyed me through the rest of the ride. It was pretty hot out, but I felt ok and fairly strong on the last 2/3rds of it all.

Sunday
Did not want to wake up and felt so drowsy and out of it and it was NOT because of the Tylenol PM the night before. I was just. so. tired and sore. I also was a little discouraged that Coach wanted everyone to finish the 16 mile run in 3 hours and I was all, dude...I will never run 16 miles in 3 hours in a million years. I had initially planned to not run the full distance because it gets kind of difficult to come in last all the time (we have a really fast team this year. Last year I was consistantly in the middle of the pack and now I am last. sadface). Moddie and Tami, my usual running partners totally blew me out of the water. Again, I was just so tired feeling. I found Kelly tho and we ran stead 5/2's (five minutes running and 2 minutes walking) the whole way. After about 6 miles of grumbling and saying that I wasn't going to run the full distance, I finally felt good and decided to just blow off the time limit and just do it. It took Kelly and I almost 4 hours. Whoa! Man, I wish I could run fast so that it could NOT four hours of running. But, oh well.

Got back to the run start, stretched and chowed a bagel, took a shower and then Moddie and I drove back to her house where I loaded my car up, put my bike on the roof rack and proceeded to back out of her carport when CRUNCH! Yup...I rammed my bike into her cement overhang. Managed to rip part of the rack off the car AND dent the roof. Nice. I couldn't see any visible damage to my bike, other than the seat being ripped up, but the bike is carbon fiber and that shit don't bend. It cracks and then turns to dust. No, I'm just being dramatic. It doesn't turn to dust. Please oh please let my bike be ok!

Swim - 3 hours 20 minutes
Bike - 10 hours 15 minutes
Run - 3 hours 45 minutes
Total 17 hours 20 minutes

13 Weeks Left

So I got to it this week. No whining. No complaining. Just doing it.

Monday

Ran for 80 minutes on Chrissy Field. Shopped at Sports Basement.

Tuesday

Met Moddie up in San Rafael. Swam for 45 minutes at the JCC pool, rode for an hour 20 on the China Camp Trail, ran for 30 minutes around the Marin Civic Center pond. Mini triathlon? Done. Had a super fun night with someone who is, uh, super fun. Saw a UFO (no. effing. lie).

Wednesday

This was my rest day since I ran on Monday. Was in bed by 8:30pm. Nice!

Thursday

Went down to Canada Road and rode for an hour then ran for 20 minutes. Got home and realized that calendar only said riding for 30 minutes. Whoops.

Friday

Ended up doing a rest day.

Saturday

Ran for an hour along Chrissy Field. Met Ian for Star Trek (yeah!) and X-Men Origins: Wloverine (boo!) Marathon movie viewing took a lot out of me. Rested on couch til I went to bed.

Sunday

Doug picked me up and we headed to Lake Del Valle for a team workout and Honoree BBQ. We did a one hour swim in the lake. This was my second open water swim this season and this one wasn't so great. I think it's because my wetsuit is really tight right now and it compresses my chest. It ends up making it hard to get full breaths. Anyways, I swam for like 50 minutes. Then we got out and ran for an hour 40. That trail by the lake is HARD. We had a nice little BBQ. Came home and passed out on the couch before I could even make it to the shower. Woke up. Canceled dinner plans with a friend. Ate some food. Passed out again on the couch. Got up at 9pm and got in bed. Slept til 1am then was wide awake. Sigh.

Not really looking forward to the swim

Always the camera whore

Ready to run

Swim - One hour 40 minutes

Bike - One hour

Run - Four hours 20 minutes
Total - 7 hours

14 Weeks Out

Holy crap! 

Well, I decided to keep on training. For a few weeks it was touch and go and while I quizzed everyone about whether or not I should drop out of Ironman. 

Mo - you can do it

Tiff - if you decide no, you won't be quitting

Tom - maybe it's not your year

Taylor - given your mental state, it's the worst thing you can do

Mom - i know you're gonna do it

Coach Dave - you are not quitting

Ok well, I guess that settles it. I spent one week two weeks ago working on my marker sets for each discipline so that Coach Dave could see where I was at.  The report is that I am not in that bad-a-shape as I thought/think I am, so I booked my hotel!

Then I worked out only three days. Mostly because of time but also because the last few times I dove in head first and hit it hard, I got sick.

Then the next week,  I did absolutely nothing because of my work schedule of long hours AND two nights out seeing bands etc. But on Saturday I headed up to Napa to participate in Sedonia and Meagan's fundraiser bike ride of 60 miles. The temp was close to 100 degrees! Luckily, heat doesn't really effect me while riding. I know that it's hot but I don't get sick or anything. I decided to make it a leisurely ride and Mike Kyle joined me.  60 miles in four hours of riding isn't too bad. 

This week I have to Ironman Up. For the next 14 weeks I have to stick closely to the schedule and make sure I do ALL of the workouts. Here's some photos: (courtesy of Belinda)

Sedonia and I early in the morning

In Yountville getting ready for the ride 

Mike and I just before we left, we match!

(those shorts suck by the way)

Mike Kyle and I seven miles from the finish

IML End Days

This week I was completely and utterly sick I still had to go to work tho, which totally blew. I laid low til Friday when Rick and I went to see Anvil! The Story of Anvil on opening night at The Bridge. The director spoke after the movie which was cool. Afterwards we went to Shotwell's, which used to be called Inner Mission, which used to be this really gross smokey bar down the street from my house. Now it's smokeless and carries weird, foreign beers I have never heard of. Drank too much and that caused a relapse of my sore throat. Thought I might be able to make it to a bike ride on Saturday but I decided to hold off on that. Thought I might be able to swim at Aquatic Park with the team on Sunday, but having that mini sore throat made me nervous. I did go to TRX with the team, where Doug put us through the wringer with a beginner TRX workout. Can you say hard? H A R D. Still sore 3 days later. Aftewards Doug and I gorged ourselves on dim sum (of course now seeing myself in these photos makes me regret that...and all the M&Ms I've been justifying). I did manage to email my coach for help and he promised to make a condensed 16 week training program for me. I can't quit just yet.

Hez at TRX

Ironteam at TRX Studio

IML Week #Wish I Cared

So, starting the season a bit lazily, going to Europe twice, getting sick just as much and a disjointed team plagued by dropouts does not make for a great training season! I came back from Budapest feeling broken and used. Turns out, if there was a competition for broken hearts I would win that shit!

I gave myself permission to take the week off when I got back from my trip, and I did little more than lay in bed for 7 days in a row (crying my eyes out and feeling very, very sorry for myself) with 2 small side jaunts to work. Honestly, I wanted to quit the team. My energy was so low that the thought of expending ANY of it to train was beyond my comprehension. I really, really didn't know what to do and really, really could not see beyond my covers and the future I lost.

Oh and I turned 39 (!) shit

Anyways...

I secretly knew that training makes me feel better and it's always good to have goals in life, even if they are a pipe dream at the moment (aka doing an Ironman in FOUR MONTHS*). So the following week I got back on it and hit it full force. Then I got sick.

...tha hell?!?

So now I am taking yet another week off while I heal - and I think that is a grand total of almost 4 weeks so I am pretty sure Ironman Louisville will destroy me.

Here are some pictures of my trip while I was still hopeful and (mildly) fulfilled.

Bridge in Budapest

Prague Tourist Trap

At the Prague Castle

On a bridge in Prague

*Ironmo I need help.

IML Week 6

Ironteam 2009

I guess this is where being at week 6 in your training (when everyone else is at week 19) doesn't pay off. This week, we had our half way to Ironman training weekend down at Lake San Antonio. I managed to get a few (just a few) workouts in before leaving on Friday morning.

Monday - Day Off

Tuesday - Swim
Well, I guess the good news is that my bathing suit is getting too big. The bad news is that it caused some minor chaffing under both arms. Sad. It was a pretty long swim for me but it was a beautiful day.

Wednesday - Spin
I am so into this book that I am reading, so instead of rocking out with the iPod to my metal, I actually read while doing my hill repeat workout on my trainer. Hard!

Thursday - Self Imposed Day Off
I worked the night shift on Tuesday, Wednesday and today and even tho I sleep 7-8 hours, staying up til 2am to read your awesome book still makes you tired.

Friday - Drive to LSA
Got up and leisurely got ready to drive the 3.5 hours down to Lake San Antonio. This year no tent camping for me! I rented an RV with Kristie, Mike and Helen. They all left on Thursday and got everything set up. The drive was uneventful but nice as the day was beautiful and warm. I sang with my iPod all the way down. Got there about 4pm and relaxed for a bit before Mike made us dinner. Got my gear and bottles ready for the next day. Had our team meeting and then popped a Tylenol PM at 8:30p to get enough sleep for the 5a wake up.

Kristie, Hez and Nancy at the team meeting

Saturday - Half Ironman
The day was forecast to be partly cloudy and 63. It turned out to be overcast and cold. Got up at 5a, ate, got dressed and made our way down to the lake for our 7a swim start. I wasn't really nervous or anything. This would be my 3rd or 4th time doing the course. We got in the water shortly after 7a. It was pretty cold. Colder than I expected at 62 degrees. Off we went and that's when it started sucking really bad! Here are the reasons why:

1) My wetsuit was too tight (gained some weight since last year)
2) Couldn't control my breathing
3) The current made it feel like I was swimming though peanut butter (I always forget about that stupid current, der! It's a lake!)
4) The first 15 minutes always suck for me but I couldn't, mentally, force myself to get into it so I ended up experiencing the "first 15 minutes" for about 35 minutes. Sigh.
5) It was my first open water swim of the season

Well, I only made it half way. I decided that half way was better than nothing. I turned around and saw that Yi was hanging off the safety kayak. She said she was having problems breathing and was, in fact, coughing so hard that she was nearly choking. I convinced her to go back with me but she was having a hard time. I told her to hang onto my shoulders and I did the breast stroke while she kicked behind me. I am sure we looked pretty funny because she was hanging off my back and we both have the same wetsuits. Silly us. We made our way over to the shore and rested for a little while. Yi thinks it was the pollen that was really affecting her. I have to admit my allergies have been really bad lately, too. I was getting cold so decided to head back. I was about 1,000 yards or more from the dock and just put my head down and booked ass back. I'm so lame, but it was so easy! The current was with me and I felt like Superman flying through the air. I swam back without stopping but I couldn't even do the whole course. Dumb.

62 Degree Water

Got out of the water and got ready for the bike. And it was COLD. I was half way out of my wetsuit and was standing kinda off to the side away from people's transition stuff. My teammate Michelle was like, "what are you doing?" I was all, "Peeing." (sheepish grin) Yi was getting ready too so we headed out together. I lost her on the mile long hill out of transition only to find out later that her breathing was so labored that she couldn't continue the ride. Did I mention it was cold? My feet were like blocks of ice and they didn't warm up until after mile 30. I am not exaggerating. I was leap frogging with Frank, one of our honorees who is 13 years in remission. At about mile 20 out of 56, I said to him. I think I might get sagged in (picked up and driven back to transition). He asked why and I said that I was cold and this was hard and I don't really need the time in the saddle. I need to focus more on running. He said, "I feel the same way but I told myself that this was the only thing I'd be doing all weekend. We have Sunday off, heck, I might even not do anything on Monday. So let's just get it over with. It's not gonna kill us." ....Aaaand then I felt like a big asshole because I am complaining how hard it is to Frank, the cancer survivor, who probably had a much harder time with all his treatment. A S S. But then before I knew it, it was mile 46...he comes sidling up to me on his bike and was like, "Hey Hez, remember way back there at mile 20 when we both wanted to quit? Doesn't that seem like a whole day ago? And here we are and we're almost done."

Got back to transition and got ready for my run. Moddie came in shortly after me and we ran out together, on our 13 mile run, with Tami just in front of us. This is where the pain really begins! Running is just so hard and does not come natural to me at all. Moddie and I stuck to our 5 minute run, 2 minute walk plan. We also walked every hill because NO ONE needs to run up a hill. I felt ok. My hip flexors were pretty tight which was causing my psoas on both side to ache a bit. But we kept on going. I discovered that I didn't eat enough on the bike when my stomach started growling so loud that Moddie could hear it. I'll have to rethink my nutrition plan as I tried something new out. So here we are, running on the most difficult trail run ever, the sun finally comes out, which is when you don't really want it to, and miles are whizzing by. We caught up with Tami and she joined us in our 5/2's. We talked the whole way. We saw many deer and baby deer too! We also saw a jackrabbit. (oh and I saw a dead kitty on the bike, sad). Next thing you know, it's mile 9 and I am officially running the farthest I have for this season. We were like 3 old, crabby ladies by the end of it. Not really talking but just grunting and groaning at the next hill. Then we were at mile 12 and headed toward Lynch Hill and a mile long descent. Then. Done. Ten hours later.

On the run with Moddie

I am slightly embarrassed about my time. Then again, I did only start training 6 weeks ago. And I think we have a super fast team this year. Anyways, nose to the grindstone and all that. Next week I am off to Budapest and Prague. I am slightly nervous about this since I won't really be training and I just got back into it. I am, however, planning to bring my running stuff. So I hope in two weeks I can tell you that I ran along the Danube (or at all!)

Workout Totals
Swim - 2 hours
Bike - 5.5 hours
Run - 3.5 hours
Total 11 hours

IML 4 & 5

Ok, clearly I am getting bored with recounting my lame training escapades to my adoring public. Let's see...what happened during week 4? You know what? I don't remember but it involved lots of swimming, running and spinning. It also involved my rib still not paying attention to its buddies and where its supposed to sit. Rib? Please sit with your friends.

Week (4-ish and) 5 Saturday - (Swim)/Bike/Run
I worked on Friday night til midnight so I decided to skip the swim and felt ok about that since it is pretty much the only thing I am doing religiously right now. I slept in til 8am (woah!) and then made my way to the Dougherty Aquatic Something-or-Other in San Ramon? Livermore? East Bayness, to meet up with the team. I got there just in time and got my stuff ready for a quick 2 hour ride. We did a really nice loop that went past pastures and cows (of which I CANNOT pass with out yelling MOOOOOO! to every single one of them) and horses and ponies. Early on in the ride we passed the TnT Cycle Team and I saw Coach Cyd. God, how I miss that team. We got back to the parking lot and Moddie and I set outto run three 2 mile loops. We dragged Mike Kyle with us. We managed only to do 2 loops. I did also manage to pee behind a wall in a neighborhood. I am a rebel.

Hez Stretching

Yi, Sedonia, Hez and Mike

Sunday - Run
I readied myself for a 9 mile run. The most I have run this season is 5 miles and I was pretty nervous about it. Would everything work? Would things get tight? Would my hips/back/rib/psoas/knee/foot-arch-thing hold up? YES! It was amazing! Moddie and I met at the monkey bars on the Marina Green and headed out to the Golden Gate Bridge point, turned around, ran up and over the bridge to the other side, turned around and came back. Just under 9 miles with an average speed of 11mph which is really, really good considering we were running 5 minutes and then walking for 2 minutes. We are gods! Then we had a nice lunch at the Crissy Field Cafe place which was much lower key than I expected but a good thing since I was feeling mildly self-conscious about my spandex clad body.

Monday- Day off
Yay!

Tuesday - Run/Swim
I convinced Mike Kyle to come all the way to Burlingame to meet me for a quick run and then an hour pool workout. It was a pretty nice day. We ran around Burlingame for 45 minutes and then hopped in the pool. It was so nice to have someone to workout with! Afterwards we headed over to Stacks for lunch. Yum! I had a massage later that night which was awesome. Jez did A LOT of work on my rib, which may or may not have also included a breast exam. Hahaha, no. Well, it's kinda true since it is all in "that area." He kept asking if I was ok with it. Comfortable etc. I was like, yeah. A little to the left please? NO NO! I didn't say that! It's always completely professional.

Wednesday - Spin
The spin was an hour and a half today. The end.

Thursday - ...
I don't actually remember what I did on Thursday. I did go to the Chiropractor and complained that my rib was still sore. Rabbetz was all, did you ice it after the massage? I was all, no. No one told me! I got some eye rolling in my direction. When my rib first popped out, Rabbetz told me to stay away from the wetsuit because of the compression. So I had to check in with him today to see if I was greenlighted to wear one on Saturday. He said yes. I was really hoping for "no." Then I think I went home and did some more spinning. I don't really remember.

Friday - Nothing. Oh wait!
I spun on Friday, not Thursday. Thursday I think I just did some stretching. The spin was an hour. I putzed around all day pretending to clean my house but sometimes not getting any farther than the couch and an episode of Babylon 5. I made kasha varnishkas (with rice noodle bowties) and cleaned my veggies that came from the organic farm. Sometime around 7pm I pulled my wetsuit out of the closet. It was covered in mold. I guess the last time I used it was in July for my race. Oops. I saw what I thought was three kinds of mold. Gray fuzzy stuff, yellow stuff that looked like it was little sperms and some white whispy stuff (which turned out to be a spider nest). Sigh. I took it outside and brushed it all off mad at myself that I let my $500 wetsuit get moldy. Then I dug around in my cupboard and fished out a bottle of wetsuit cleaner that Ironmo gave me last year before she moved (thank god...the cleaner not the moving). Then I decided that I was in no mood to clean my wetsuit at 8pm the night before I was going to be wearing it. Then I ate my varnishkas and watched more Babylon 5.

Saturday - (Swim)/Bike/Run
Doug picked me up at the horrible, horrible time of 6:45am. Actually it was 7am because Doug rolls on Asian Time. We drove out to Lake Del Valle in Livermore. The weather report had said partly sunny high of 63. But when we got to the lake it was 41 degrees. Granted it was 8am, but still. I was not really prepared for the weather. I always think East Bay = Warm. But today I learned a new rule: if it's warm in the city it's cold in the East Bay (in winter, I don't think this rule applies in summer). So happy I skipped that swim because the water temp was 56 and everyone just looked miserable. Then we set up our bikes on our trainers and commenced with a 60 minute spin followed by a 30 minute trail run...twice. By the last run, my rib decided to stop cooperating and was giving me grief. At first I thought it was a side stitch but then I realied it wasn't and slowed down. Only manged a 15 minute second run. Then we froze our asses off while eating lunch and listened to the Coach give an inspirational talk. Then I looked at Doug and said, I need to get out of here. I had reached my socializing limit. Got home by 5pm (!), showered, ate about 5 times and then passed out by 8pm.

Hez and Leslie Freezing

Hez Starting to Spin

Hez Spinning

What we all looked like

Sunday - Core
Moddie and I had planned to ride the 45 miles that was on the schedule and then follow it up with another 9 mile run, but then we found out it wasn't supposed to be consecutive. Coach wanted us to ride in the morning, come home, eat, nap and then go back out. Right. If I come home and shower and nap...there is no way I am going back out there. So Moddie and I decided we needed to run more than ride and we planned to meet in Sausalito with one caveat, if it's raining I am not going. Woke up Sunday morning and it was raining! Yay! We discussed for 15 mintues what we should do, worked through our guilt feelings and decided to skip it. I ended up doing a core workout with some serious stretching and felt even guiltier as the day cleared up. But then I went shopping and saw a movie. Yay!

Workout Totals
Swim - 1 hour
Bike - 6 hours 30 minutes
Run - 3 hours 30 miutes