IRONMAN RACE REPORT!

WHEW! Sooooooooooooo glad the race day has come and gone. On to eating and sleeping!

So on race day, I got up at 4:15 a.m. to eat and get ready to head down to the start line. By the time I got there around 5:15, it was pure mayhem already. Athletes and spectators everywhere! I got bodymarked and headed to transition to pump the bike tires up and put the remaining items in my bags. As soon as I think I'm done, I realize my sunglasses are missing. SHIT. After a quick hello to my the Tri-Turtle Lisa B., I head out of transition to find my athletic supporters to figure out the sunglass situation. 112 miles on a bike with no sunglasses is going to be brutal. Kevin runs back to the car to see if they are there, but no luck. So he hands his to a nice volunteer in transition to put in my "swim to bike" bag. (We discovered the next day that he actually had MINE lol - no wonder I couldn't find them lol)

We all funnell down to the beach start, and somehow I find myself in the 3rd row back in the middle of the pack. Probably not a smart decision, but I survived lol Lisa B. describes the mass swim start of 2500 people as "underwater cage fighting". True statement. I was hit, smacked, swum over, pulled back, bruised up, the entire 2.4 miles. I am willing to bet I drank a gallon of water along the way. I also had issues with my goggles leaking, so had to stop probably 12 times throughout the swim to empty them out. The swim was 2 laps, meaning we actually got out of the water, ran about 30 feet and got right back in for another fun-filled lap of "underwater cage-fighting" lol My first lap was 42 minutes, which meant the 2nd lap was 47 minutes. Oh well...I was still 45 seconds faster than my goal of 1:30:00, so I'll take it. The water was a chilly 58 degrees, but it didn't seem to phase me. Alot of others weren't so lucky - one pro took a few steps into the lake and came right back out. She said the water was too cold and she was calling it quits for the day. A few of my friends spent over 30 minutes in the heated "yurts" after their swims, and trying to avoid hypothermia. At one point in the 2nd lap, a boat came by and created a bunch of huge waves, which prompted all of us to pop our heads up at the exact same moment. One guy yelled "Tsunami!!!" It was quite comical. Try swimming while laughing - it doesn't work well.

Transition 1 was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that I forgot to pack a towel in my bag, so had nothing to dry off with. Thank god they had rolls of paper towels in the women's changing tent. I had to get a volunteer to help me roll my sports bra down in the back because my hands were so cold and I was wet! So I finally head out of T1 ready to bike and am greeted by my athletic supporters - my friend Robin, my boyfriend, Kevin, my sister, Sonja, her husband, Jamie, their two kids, Tori and Jaden, my daughters, Brenda and Rachel, Brenda's boyfriend, Andrew, and Rachel's kids, Cadence and Hunter. It was awesome!!

The bike course was beautiful, but so freakin' hilly! Whoever said there were "rollers" was LYING. We also did 2 loops on this course, so actually passed the spectators 4 times. It was still a little chilly, so I started out with my jacket on. It got ditched after the first big hill. The crowd support was awesome both in downtown CdA and in the town of Hayden. After the first loop, I was totally dreading having to go back to those hills again. Around mile 60, my bike wouldn't shift into low gears, so would just spin and I couldn't get any speed up, but I was still moving and not really hindered too badly. My nutrition was good - I stayed on track with my Erin Baker's cookies (Thank you MeeMaw!!!), and grabbed my PB&J sandwich at the special needs stop around mile 60. Planned bike time was 7 hours, but with the hills and bike issues, I ended up at 7:38.

T2 was pretty uneventful as well. The bike catchers took my bike in an instant and I never saw it again (which was good, because I was soooooooooo done with it!). I decided not to change my clothes to make up some time, and it worked out just fine. Again, I was greeted by my athletic supporters as I headed out on the run - so glad they were there! It was nice to see familiar faces. I warned them that this run was going to take a while.

The run course was also two loops of 13.1 miles each and took us out of town along the lakeshore pathway and then back into town. There was one MONSTER hill before the turnaround. I probably socialized more than I should have, but it made the run much more fun and interesting. The 2nd lap, I ran quite a bit more than I did the first one and was actually feeling pretty good. I planned on a 6 hour run, and ended up at 5:56. Can't ask for more than that! The run support was great - one rest stop had volunteers dressed up as characters from the Wizard of Oz, another had them dressed as pirates and wenches. For some reason they hadn't put the rum in the coke they were handing out though, so I told them I couldn't drink it. As darkness fell, they handed the remaining racers glow in the dark necklaces.

The day went suprisingly smooth for me. I never felt overwhelmed, over-tired, that I wouldn't finish, never had any stomach issues, and really had a great time. It's true, the training is the hardest part, and race day is a piece of cake. Well, maybe not that easy, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as I expected. I still stand by my "First and Last Ironman" statement. If the training wasn't so time consuming, I might consider it. But I need to have more in my life than just train, train, train.

For now, I'm going to enjoy catching up on my eating and sleeping!

Thanks to all my supporters - Kevin, Robin, Brenda, Rachel, Cadence, Andrew, Sonja, Jamie, Tori and Jaden! It meant so much to have all my loved ones there to witness this! Our team had lots of other supporters out there as well, including my coach, Kristen.

Now, to figure out what's next on the bucket list...

IT'S IRONMAN TIME!

It's here, well almost. All the hard work is about to pay off. I feel ready, except for this minor cold my body is trying to catch (I think it's in shock over the taper weeks). I'll try to post over the next few days but it depends on internet access where I am.

So here's my schedule for the next few days:

Today:
Last day of work
Massage with Robin
Dinner wth friends
Maybe a quick run.

Wednesday:
7 a.m. flight to Seattle
Pick up my beautiful grandkids and my gorgeous daughter, Brenda
Visit with family that is in town also, but will be gone by the time I get back from Idaho
Swim lesson with my friends Heidi and Kathy
Back to Rachel's house to see Hunter, Brett and maybe Rachel if I'm up when she gets off work.
BED!

Thursday:
Cadence and I drive back to Seatac to get on a plane to Spokane. Drive to CdA, get registered, pick up race packet materials, SHOP the Ironman store!

Catch up with my sister and her family that are flying in from Alaska.

Maybe get a short JOG in

Friday:
Hang out with sister and her family
Short bike ride and swim
Athlete dinner
My kids get into town sometime in the afternoon, Kevin gets in late that night

Saturday:
Check the bike in
Robin gets in

Sunday:
Up at 4:30'ish. IRONMAN starts at 7 a.m.!! I am approximating that I will be done NO LATER than 10 p.m. that night, and have rented a GPS that will track me along the entire course. When I receive it in the mail, I will post the link and information you need to track me.

Monday:
Up early to go to the Ironman Finisher's Store
RELAX WITH A BEER IN MY HAND!
Massage by ROBIN!
Boating with my sister and her family, Kevin & Robin

Tuesday:
Fly back to Seattle to spend a few days there before returning to Dallas on Saturday

It's going to be a whirlwind, I'm sure, but I'm ready to get this party started!

WISH ME LUCK! See you all on the flip-side!

Can anything be easy?!?!?!

Good lord... so yesterday my teamates received an email from Tri-bike transport that said we needed to drop them off with them by Thursday rather than Saturday, which threw a slight monkey wrench in our training plans, but we got it figured out. For some reason, I didn't receive this email, but I emailed the company to see why and make sure I really had a reservation! I also went to the website and emailed the information line the same questions. This morning at 10 a.m. I got a response from the gal that had emailed me the confirmation months ago, stating that yes, I indeed did have a reservation and all systems were "go". Whew! Praise the lord.

Meanwhile, emails were flying back and forth between my teammates and I about how displeased we were that the dates had been changed and at the last minute, when we really needed to be staying loose and riding these last few days before handing the bikes over for a week. Around 3 p.m., I get another email from a gal saying "No, you do not have a reservation". Uh, what? So I email her back a copy of the confirmation email I got earlier in the day from the other gal, and tell her she should check with this gal because she says I do have a reservation. Sheesh people...get your shit together!

So now that we have that situation under control (I think - more on this later), I head over to Richardson Bike Mart to pick up my bike that is getting a last minute tune-up and new bar tape on the aero bars. I dropped it off on Monday at lunch time and was told it would be ready for pick up on Wednesday by 5 - just in time for an after work ride. I called this morning to make sure, and they assured me it would be ready by 5. So I stroll in at 5:30 and they can't find my bike. After a few minutes of searching they find it in a back room, with nothing done to it whatsoever. GREAT. I have to hand it over in the morning to Tri-bike transport and it MUST HAVE A TUNE-UP!! So the guy tells me he'll start it right now and have it done by 7 p.m., which means my after-work ride is not going to happen. He offered to let me borrow a rental bike, but I didn't think this was a good idea, so I declined and went over to Sonic while they did my tune-up.

So while at Sonic, I cheated a little and had a kids cheeseburger and some tater tots, and they were really damn good! I sat in the driveup spot with the A/C and radio on for maybe 20 minutes and then decided to head back over to Bike Mart. Only the car won't start - dead battery. Good freakin lord. I knew my MeeMaw roomate was in the area, so I called her to come over and she happened to be about 2 blocks away. Of course neither of us have jumper cables let alone know how to use them lol Meanwhile, the guy from the bike shop calls and says my bike is done. Great. I can't get there to get it! So he tells me he'll call back in 5 minutes after he polls all the employees there to see if any of them have cables. Of course, out of about 20 MALE employees, NONE of them do. Great. As he and I are on the phone trying to figure this situation out, a car drives by with their window down in preparation to go through the Sonic drive through, so my loudmouth says "HEY! Do you have any jumper cables?". The man jumps out of his car and says "Lemme look". Success!!! I ask "Now, do you know how to use them, because we don't" lol He laughs and says "Yeah"...so MeeMaw goes to open her hood and can't do it (she thinks because of her broken hand - but it turns out she's pulling the parking break lever, not the hood lever) I said "MeeMaw, you're not even the blonde here!" Again, the guy laughs. He has my car started within about 2 minutes and after offering to buy his and his wife's Sonic dinner, I'm headed back to Bike Mart to get my bike.

So I pull up right in front of the service door and leave the car running so it doesn't die again. My bike is on the rack right by the door, all spit shined and looking speedy for the Ironman! Now my luck starts to change - they didn't charge me for the $100 tune-up! All I had to pay for was the new bar tape ($10.) SWEET!

I head home and call my friend Heidi to tell her about my horrible day and make sure she's ok because her son became a high schooler today lol Now the part that I didnt' get to tell her:

I walk in the door and get an email from the 2nd lady today that said I didn't have a reservation. Apparently, I somehow registered with a different bike transport company than all of my friends did, and I really don't have a reservation with Tri-Bike Transport, but mine is with Tri-TEAM transport lol

This is a good development for me, because they are still on the Saturday drop off schedule, which means I get to keep my bike for another couple of days (at this point, I'm not sure I want to lol) but it also means that I don't have to remove my pedals like Tri-Bike Transport requires. Tri-BIKE transport lets you leave everything on the bike, which is nice since of course, I don't know how to remove let alone put pedals back on lol

Unbelievable....so I did not ride tonight, but I CAN RIDE TOMORROW!!! I sure hope my Ironman "issues" are over and I can now have a fabulous race experience!

Ironman TRAINED!

The hard work is done, the final days are being counted down, we are in TAPER MODE and I FREAKIN' LOVE IT!!!

It's so nice to get some sort of life back outside of triathlon! This weekend I participated in the Swim Across America - this race was beneficial to me, as it was a 2-mile swim which I desperately needed to feel mentally ready for my 2.4 Ironman swim. It was also beneficial to raising money for cancer research. Every swimmer was required to raise $500 to participate. Some raised much more than that, and one man donated $100,000! Total raised for the day was $350,000! So awesome, and a very emotional morning as many people got up and told their stories of how cancer has affected their lives. We were given stones to write names of cancer survivors, or victims, and threw them into the water before we dove in, so that these people were "with" us as we swam for a cure. It was an awesome event, and although alot of people don't like to do fundraisers, and most of my friends and family just expect me to ask them for money for the latest and greatest fundraiser, this one was near and dear to my heart in many ways and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Signe, Me and Liz (MeeMaw #1) before the swim! (We're laughing now...)

After the event, I got to do something I have only done a handful of times in my life - kayaking! A group of 6 of us rented kayaks at Lake Grapevine and it was so nice to just do something DIFFERENT! After we kayaked, we waded and swam a bit in the water and it felt awesome in the heat. Then we went to get some food and drink, and finally headed home to shower and head to a birthday party. By the time I got to bed, it was 10:30 at night and I had not stopped all day!

So fun!

Karen, Minou, Robin and Me getting ready to paddle the lake!

The next morning, I had a 60-mile ride scheduled, but I "allowed" myself to sleep until damn well pleased, which turned out to be 9:30 a.m.! Victory! The only problem with that was that now I got to do my ride in the 95 degree heat of Texas. Oops. 38 miles into the ride at the lake, I headed for home to finish up on the trainer INSIDE with the A/C blasting.

So here it is Tuesday night, 12 days before the Ironman and we get an email from Tri-bike transport saying they have to have our bikes THURSDAY by 3 pm, rather than Saturday! Augh....my bike is at the shop right now getting a tune-up, so no rides for 2 days already and now they want it 3 days earlier??? Crap. It also means that my tri-bag that's going with it must be packed NOW.

So that's what got accomplished tonight, after I finally found time to clean my bedroom and bathroom!

Let the packing and preparation BEGIN! Taper is ON! Unfortunately, I'll be without a bike for 10 days prior to the race. Not really how I envisioned this week, and also means I'll probably have to go suffer on a spin bike at the gym just to keep loose. The spin bike is almost as bad as the Dreadmill. Gross.

On another note, Texas is getting very hot these days! I'm so glad that the long runs and rides are mostly over and I won't have to train in the dog days of summer! Next Wednesday I'll head to Seattle and then on over to Coeur d'Alene!

BRING ON THE IRONMAN!!!

3 weeks until Ironman!

Whew what a weekend! Saturday morning I cycled from Brookhaven College to Los Colinas for the Keifer Swim races (300, 750 and 1500 yards). I swam with Robin in the 300 (her first race in which she ROCKED IT!), and then participated in the 750 and 1500 yard swims for a total of 2550 yards of open water swimming. GREAT practice for the Ironman. The water was like bath water though, so no wetsuits were allowed.

Canoer's waiting to rescue drowners lol

The venue - Lake Carolyn in Los Colinas. The 1500 yard swim went up and down that canal.

Mass swim start!

Me exhibiting my HORRIBLE form! (But somehow it won me 1st place in my age bracket for the 750 race - I'm pretty sure I was the only one in it!).

So unfortunately, when I jumped in the water to start the first swim, I hit a "curb" beside the lake wall and bruised the CRAP out of my heel, which is also reeking havoc on my hip and back, so I must have really jarred it good. Freakin' fantastic. Good thing tomorrow starts TAPERING!!!

So today I woke up at 6:00 (after going to bed at 8:45 the night before - I was BEAT), and met some new friends for a long ride. I had 100 miles scheduled, and got 54 of them in outside with them until they had to get back for a birthday party. I headed home after getting some grub (starving!) and did the rest of the 100 miles on the trainer under the fan in the air conditioned apartment. Since it was 95 degrees out at 11:30 a.m., I decided this was a better option - besides, I got to watch a softball game and "Black Swan". What a trippy movie.

Me, Stacey, Serena and Michelle getting ready to battle the heat!

So we should be starting to taper our workouts off from now until the ironman, to give our bodies time to heal and rest up for the big day. The hard work is done, now just to get through the freakin' RACE! Holy smokes this stuff is a lot of work. What the hell was I thinking? I'll sure be glad when I can check "Ironman" off my bucket list.

3.3 weeks to go!

OMG I'm so tired...I'm tired of swimming, I'm tired of biking and I'm tired of running! I have no time to get anything done anymore. My house is trashed, I'm constantly doing laundry (workout clothes) and all I want to do is SLEEP! I can't even find time to BLOG! Good grief. My facebook has seriously suffered - and my friends know, I love me some facebook lol

Things should start slowing down a bit though as we begin the taper phase of Ironman training leading up to the race. THANK GOD!!! And it's perfect timing as the temperature and humidity in Texas are starting to get unbearable to be out running 18 milers in.

Yesterday I had a checkup with my internist to make sure my blood pressure is still in check and everything is good to go for race day. Other than a SUPER low heart rate (36 bpm!)all checked out great. They were amazed at how slow my heart rate is, but I can attribute part of that to good heredity and all the working out. It's good to know that I have the blessing of my doctor to go out and destroy my body for a day.

So if you don't hear much from me until after the race, please forgive me. Also, please don't come over to my house - it's trashed. Unless you want to clean for me?

Oh, and the BEST news I got this week - my BFF and now personal massage therapist for CdA is COMING TO THE IRONMAN WITH ME!! YAY FOR ROBIN RAY!!! If anyone wants her number for the best massage EVER - lemme know. She freakin' ROCKS!!!

Hermann Memorial Ironman 2011

Wow what an awesome Ironman Weekend! I’m sitting here utterly exhausted and I didn’t even run the event!

I drove to The Woodlands, TX on Friday after my swim and an attempted failed bike ride due to bad weather. (After 10 miles, the thunder, lightning and rain started in). The drive down to the Houston area was pretty uneventful for the first 100 miles, but the storm caught up with me again and it was relentless for a good 30 minutes with torrential downpours of mixed rain and hail that made me cringe with every pellet that hit my car. The sky was so dark that it looked like it was 10:30 at night. Cars slowed from 80 mph to 40 and had their flashers on. Finally the skies parted and I was back on track to meet my friend, Chris for dinner. Chris was participating in his first Ironman, so I wanted to get him carbed up and see how he was feeling about the next day. We had some great conversation during our pasta fest and Chris was feeling good about his upcoming race. You can read more of Chris’ Ironman journey here: http://www.thejourneytv.com. He is quite the interesting guy! So we said goodnight early because we knew we had to be up early (he wanted to be at transition at 5:00 a.m., while I got to “sleep in” until 5:30).

The following morning I awoke and was out the door in less than 30 minutes. I had to pack up my run gear because I had a 16 mile run on my calendar, which I planned to do as soon as the swim pack took off. With so many competitors and spectators, I had to park a mile away. I decided to turn my Garmin on at that point and count the miles to and from the car as part of my “run”.

There was a bridge overlooking the swim start transition area, so I stood up on a rail for around 20 minutes or so, waiting for the Ironman race to start. The energy was awesome! There were mothers, fathers, kids, grandparents, and all kinds of friends there to support their favorite future Ironman! Lots of them had made t-shirts in support, but I think the best ones I saw were on a wife and her two kids – “Ironman Widow” and “Ironman Orphans” lol So true…Ironman training is so time consuming!

Swim Transition early a.m.

The swim start was a mass start – meaning 2500 athletes (minus the pros who get a 10 minute head start) head out as soon as the gun goes off. This swim start was probably not the best way to start your Ironman experience – everyone had to get into the water and tread until the 7 a.m. start. As you can imagine, it takes quite a while to get 2500 athletes down a ramp and into place. Just prior to the gun start, the music switches to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Iron man” song. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck! Freakin’ awesome!! Then before you knew it, the gun went off and it’s like 2500 birds taking off from the water – a huge wave of swimmers. I watched for a few minutes and then headed back to the car to get my run started.

Mass swim start!

The area around the Ironman had lots of paved pathways that went up and down the canal, so it was pretty and easy to find places to run. At mile 6, I somehow ended up back to where the swim start was. I looked at the clock and knew that Chris should be just about finishing up his swim, so I looked down the waterway and there he was! The timing was unbelievable, so I got my iphone out and snapped a picture of him getting out of the water. He had a great swim!

Chris is in blue!

The rest of my run was mostly along the Ironman run course (they were all either still in the water or out on their 112 mile bike ride, so I wasn’t in anyone’s way). There were quite a few other runners out there as well. I stopped at 15 miles because I had to get to the bike transition where some of my Triathlon team were volunteering for the day.

So in the bike transition, our assignment was to “catch” the bikes from the athletes as they came in from their ride and put the bikes on the racks in the correct location according to their race number. We were given a pink volunteer t-shirt and rubber gloves (some triathletes PEE on their bikes so they don’t have to take the time to stop). Not to mention the seats and handlebars are super sweaty. It’s pretty gross. *I* do not pee on my bike. I paid too much money for that thing to have it stinkified! We waited for nearly an hour before the first Pro came through – Chris Lieto, Mr. BadAss himself! Then more pros started trickling in, but we weren’t really doing much at that point. Probably an hour later, hoards of age-group athletes were finishing up the bike course. There were some points where we could hardly keep up with all the bikes! Some of them wanted to leave their helmet and/or shoes with them (which were also very stinky and sweaty –again, thank god for gloves!). So while I was running bikes back and forth (transition was HUGE with 2500 bikes), I kept my Garmin on, just to see how far we actually traveled. I added another 5 miles just in transition!

Volunteer shirt

It was actually quite the experience in there – I had several athletes say “Take it, I don’t ever want to see that bike again” or “you can have it” lol I wish they were serious – there were some NICE bikes! I definitely have bike envy. We saw some odd stuff too – one bike came in with what I swore was POOP on the top tube. I had to go over and look to see what the heck it was. This rider had cut his Powerbar (chocolate) into squares and literally STUCK it to the tube. Of course, the hot sun had melted it and so it looked like, well, poop! I’m glad to know it wasn’t, but also to know that this athlete probably didn’t pee on his bike lol

"Bike catchers" ready for action!

So by the end of our “shift” things were really calming down and I was really tired and sore from my morning 15 miles and then the extra 5 in transition. It was really hot and humid out so we were all soaking wet from sweat (ours, not from the bikes). It was really cool to see my tri-buddies come in and be able to chat with them a bit about how they were feeling and to give them a quick pep talk as they headed out to the run.

I learned a very valuable lesson over the course of the day - it's not the quality of bike that you ride, but the way you ride it. Yes, a nice bike helps, but I can't count how many riders with really nice, expensive bikes I saw come in that barely made the time cut off, and some with really old, heavy bikes that came in with very respectable times.

So around 5:00 I was starving, so I dismissed myself in search of food and water and then to go find my Coach where she was watching the run course.

The run course was a 8.73 mile, 3-loop course. By now, the athletes are really feeling the effects of a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride in the Texas sun and heat. Many are walking or doing a slow “shuffle”. Some are almost painful to watch, but some are looking like they just walked out the door. After I finished off my grub, I headed out to find the Ironman store for some souvenirs. This Ironman, I got out the door for much less money than I spend on planning at Coeur d’Alene when I finish my 140.6!

So as darkness falls, I stood by the run course with my friend and fellow CdA athlete, Brian, and his girlfriend, Emily. We stood there cheering for our friends, but also for anyone that looked like they could use a little cheering lol We took a break and got some frozen yogurt and then headed back out. By now, my Garmin read 23 miles on the day. (I turned it off at this point, but was still running around for 4 hours, so who knows what my mile total was for the day. I bet I did a marathon!).

My friend Jim, finished a little before 9 p.m. I believe and yes, he was hurting! His massage with the best massage therapist in Texas, Robin Ray, is tomorrow. Well deserved Jim, well deserved!

We had seen Chris go by once on the run, so kept waiting to see him again. By 9:30, we still hadn’t seen him and I was beginning to get worried. I found his parents in the crowd and they were worried as well. I paced the run course quite a few times, looking for him in the athlete recovery area, the massage area, the medical tent, and couldn’t find him anywhere. We checked the online tracking – still nothing. Finally, around 10:30, we get ahold of him. He had severe cramps and swelling in his wrists and ankles, so he called it a day at mile 13. Still a loooooooooong way to go in one day, so Chris, BE PROUD! His parents and I helped him get his stuff out of transition and to the car, as he hobbled along (using his bike to lean on).

It was a brutally hot and humid day - one that even saw the #1 pro - Chris Lieto drop out during the run.

I got back to the hotel around 11:30, and still had not taken a shower – I felt completely disgusting. I think I spent about 20 minutes in there scrubbing myself down twice. After a few minutes of SNL, I turned the TV off and crashed in I swear 30 seconds.

My grand plans of “sleeping in” were not allowed – damn body clock. I was wide awake at 8 a.m. Unbelievable.

So today I drove back to Dallas and am so sore and exhausted that I feel like I did the Ironman – makes me wonder how bad I’ll feel when I really do mine lol

All in all, it was a fantastic experience to watch unfold and very inspiring. Just what I needed for the last 5 week push to get me to race day, especially after these past few weeks when I’ve had a serious “I don’t wanna” attitude. Ironman training, as I’ve said before, is grueling and so taxing on not only the athlete, but their friends and family. I am working out 18 hours a week now, and yes, I’m tired of it lol But I also can’t wait to hear “KRIS PARKS! YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!” and get that medal hung around my neck. And get my T-shirt. And get my Hat. And get my Tattoo. And, and, and…SLEEP IN!

Texasman X50 Triathlon Race Report

Wow what a day! And it started out as an early one - 4:00 a.m. early. I packed everything up the night before, so I could "sleep in". After rolling out of bed, all I had to do was get dressed in my awesome, speedy tri-gear and make my usual pre-race breakfast (peanut butter bagel). The race site was an hour from home so I met up with two friends to caravan up there. Funny thing about Triathletes - we buy our cars to fit our bikes. The 3 of us each had a SUV to fit our bike - none of us had the bikes on a bike rack. I have one, but it's just more comforting knowing my baby is safe and secure in the back of the car rather than on the bike rack where it is subjected to the elements outside! So we get to the race start and hit the restroom before the lines got too long.

At this point, it's still pitch black dark out and FREEZING. Somehow we dipped down to 51 degrees in May! Transition opened at 5:45 so we had just a few minutes to get our stuff together and get it all up there to set up. I actually put my wetsuit ON after getting body marked so that I could warm up! It helped, a little. So I g0t transition set up, and hit the restrooms one last time. We all headed down to the beach as the sun finally came up, and it got a little warmer (thank god!).

Believe it or not, this is a lake, but they man-made a beach:

(Thanks Ken G. for the photo - I swiped it off your Facebook lol)

I was entered in the X-50 race (1 mile swim, 40 mile bike, 9 mile run= 50 miles). It's an odd distance, but I really liked it. Slightly less than a Half Ironman, but more than the Olympic Distance. This race also offered the Olympic distance as well as the shorter sprint distance. Nearly 800 athletes were there! My race had approximately 200 people in it. I would venture to say that the sprint had the majority of the rest of the 800, but the Olympic was still well attended as well.

The X-50 had two waves of swim starts - 7:00 and 7:05 (which ended up being more like 7:20 and 7:25, but we got there). My wave watched the first wave take off and head straight out towards the sun. As we're waiting for the gun to go off for our wave, we see some of the first wavers standing up WALKING rather than swimming in the middle of the lake! (Apparently there is a sandbar out there!).

So finally, they let us get started. I downed my first Gu just before we got headed out. This swim was pretty uneventful for me, except for a brief moment of panic when I got a huge mouthful of water and couldn't catch my breath. I got myself calmed down and settled back in to a nice, smooth pace. There was a bit of kicking, but for the most part, I did pretty good and stayed on course. I did get a strange cramp in my left calve (more on this later).

The transition area was probably .2 of a mile uphill from the lake, up a cement path. Volunteers were there to help you strip off your wetsuit quickly (boy are they good!) I begged them not to strip my pants off with the wetsuit! So I get to my bike and decided since it was cooler out, that a dry shirt would be a good thing. So I took the time to actually change into my bike jersey.

The first few miles of the bike were brutal - the wind had picked up and the roads were HORRIBLE. I actually stopped at mile 4 to see if my brakes were rubbing because I was going so dang slow! (They weren't). Other than the cruddy road conditions, the course was nice with the exception of the "turn around HERE!" that was sprung on us at the last second. I'm surpised there weren't accidents there. Maybe there were, but I didnt see them. The course was two loops, and the last 75% of the course back into the park was super fast! It was so nice.

So I finished up the bike portion and got back into transition to change into my run gear. It's warm, but not too warm (which really, really pleases me!). This course goes through the paved path in the park and partially on the road leading into the park. There were plenty of water stations and some very friendly volunteers. I did learn that Lime Cliff Shots and Cherry Power-Ade do NOT mix well.

The first mile was a little rough, but I got in a zone and was feeling great! I kept checking my Garmin and wondering what the heck I was doing - it read MUCH faster than I usually run! I did walk through every water stop with the exception of the last one (because it was only 1 mile from the finish line). The last mile I was feeling extraordinary and FLEW through the finish line! It was so awesome!

So my fellow Ironman training friends, Michael and Denise, and I were given an "extra credit" assignment for after the race by our coach. We were lucky enough to get to run 6 more miles! Yay for us! We gathered up after resting for a few minutes and headed back out up the trail while all the other finishers sat around eating and watching the awards ceremony. At this point, none of us cared about the pace lol so we'd run/walk/run/walk/stop at the water stop/walk/run/walk/run/etc. We ran by the man announcing the finishers (there were still others coming in from the run) and he said into the microphone "STOP WORKING OUT" and "Ya'll are SICK!") Denise had a leg injury going on, so she stopped and told us to go on. I think Clean (Michael's nickname - you can probably figure out why) and I ran maybe another mile and were debating the whole way whether we wanted to keep going or call it a day. Just as we decided to keep going and finish it up - my calve cramped big time and stopped me dead in my tracks. A woman walking by saw it happen and she said "Sometimes we need to listen to our bodies" lol (I wanted to say "Yes Mother"). So we stopped at 3.5 miles out of the planned 6.

Unfortunately, by the time we finished our "extra credit", all the booths with food had been taken down! We went up to transition to pack up our stuff so we could find some food somewhere. As we're in transition, Denise is told by a woman that I must have placed in my age bracket, because she got 3rd and there were only 3 of us! Well, for anyone that knows me, I am not a fast swimmer, a fast cyclist OR a fast runner. I am mediocre, but I can go forever. So it's actually pretty pitiful for me to PLACE in anything lol But when you have a small race, anything is possible! So we got all our stuff packed up and headed back to where the timing tent was to see if I actually had placed. I was still in disbelief lol The woman at the timing tent finds my age group print out and says "You didn't just place - you WON!" Unbelievable. And actually pretty pitiful lol because again, I am not fast. I guess it pays to be the youngest in the age bracket, especially when there's only 3 of us lol

So she hands me this most awesome plaque (and the finisher's medal is next to it). I'm still in major disbelief lol It will probably never happen again lol but it sure was FUN!

All in all, I was really pleased with my performance. I'm loving my new bike fit - I think it greatly attributed to my fresh running legs. I feel completely ready for my Ironman race, which is now just under 6 weeks (gulp!) away. There are still some things to work on, but my confidence soared yesterday! Now to just get my calve back to normal (seriously sore today!) and my heel (bruised it running up the paved path to T1). I'll be back in business soon enough!

Despite the crappy road conditions, this race is a great one. The course is very nice and they gave us lots of great swag (X-50 athletic bag, X-50 hat, X-50 tech shirt, X-50 t-shirt, X-50 running hat, X-50 socks, X-50 car sticker, X-50 water bottle and a X-50 towel). If you're looking for a good race - do this one or any of the others over the season that are on this course.

Onward and upward!

Wow, it's been a while since I posted...mostly because I'm so dang busy, I can't keep up with anything these days! If you want to have a life outside of triathlon, DO NOT attempt an Ironman. The training schedule is grueling! When I'm not at work, I'm training nearly every morning and every night. I stand by my statement "One and Done". My friends think I have deserted them. Please friends, don't give up on me! My apartment had been seriously neglected lately until the other night when I missed my workout due to horrible allergies. I took the opportunity to clean the entire place. Hopefully it will last another 7 weeks until the Ironman!

Tonight I actually got a night out (with fellow triathletes lol) at the Texasman Triathlon pre-race social. It was a great opportunity to put some names with faces, and meet some new friends. It's great to compare race stories and training strategies. It's also good to know that there are other crazy people out there that attempt this insane training and race distance.

The Texasman Triathlon is this Sunday. Sprint, Olympic and X50 distances are offered. We CdA trainees are doing the X50 distance, but lucky us, we get to add another 6 miles onto the end of the run so we can simulate our Ironman race. The X-50 consists of a 1 mile swim 40 mile bike ride and 9 mile run (so our run total will be 15 miles). It will be great practice for the big dance!

So one of the bragging rights of doing an Ironman is getting an Ironman M-Dot Tattoo, like this:

It's a right of passage, most people put on the back of their calves.

I have redesigned what I may get to look like this, for a IronWOMAN:

How's that look? I may or may not add the CdA info at the bottom. I have a feeling that would have to be too detailed (which means they have to make it bigger to be legible). Since I know my mother would have a heart attack if I tattooed my entire back with this, I think I'll keep it small lol The location on my body is still undecided as of yet also. I thought it turned out quite well though :) Who knew *I* could be artistic?

Thanks for reading...time for all Ironman trainees to get to bed. I get to swim in the morning and bike hills tomorrow night. Yay me. Goodnight all!!

Preparation and Planning

This is my life - bags and bags and more bags, every single day I have to pack 1, 2, 3 or more bags of STUFF! Today, was my swim bag for this morning, my breakfast AND lunch, my run bag for tonight, my purse and then my bike! It's a miracle that I didn't forget anything in any one of those bags. So much STUFF has to be in each one. The swim bag has all my work clothes, shampoo and soap, makeup, blow dryer, etc etc etc. You get the picture, basically everything I need to get ready for work. The run bag isn't quite as busy, but if I forget just one thing (my shorts!), it doesn't make for a pleasant run. The breakfast and lunch are necessary to keep me from eating CRAP, which I will, so it's a preventative measure. I am my own worst enemy. I freakin' LOVE junk food. The other miracle is that I got all of this STUFF down to the car in ONE TRIP!

Triathletes are planners. I'm learning to be better at it, but it's definitely a work in progress. As I rode with my friend Denise on Saturday, she asked me what I was going to wear for the Ironman (which is still just a little over 8 weeks away!). I was stopped dead in my tracks (not literally, because again, we were riding) because I hadn't even thought about this yet...I can barely figure out what I'm going to wear TOMORROW, let alone 2 months from now lol She has all 3(!) of her "outfits" picked out already lol Apparently, Denise is a much better planner than I am. She also has her nutrition plan mostly honed in, I on the other hand have again, no idea lol and just figure I'll get to it sooner or later.

Hmmm...so maybe I should start planning my Ironman race lol but I think I'll start tomorrow, or next week? Whenever it is, I'll be ready!!

Time marches on...

Here I am at just under 9 weeks until race day (my coach likes to remind me how many weeks are left on my training schedule each week). I'm so ready for it to just be tomorrow! I can't keep up with my house cleaning, my grocery shopping, and even my social life! Last week alone, I worked out just under 17 hours (Swam 6400 yards, ran 24 miles and cycled 160 miles!) The hours will continue to go up and up and up until we get to the taper period. Ugh, I so can't wait for tapering!!!

The weather here in Texas has been really bad this week (hot, humid, extremely windy, thunder and lightening storms!) Not exactly ideal training conditions, but "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", or so I'm told...The wind may be just what I need to get me ready for the hills of Idaho. I just about got blown off my bike on Sunday.

And yes, I'm tired! As a result, I have my first ever black toenail, and another one is mostly missing. After 12 years of running many, many miles, I finally have my badge of honor lol Yay? At least the other 3 toes look nice lol

So today I got a day off from training, to recooperate, and boy did I need it. My fridge is full again, the house is mostly clean, and my car is in the shop for some much needed maintenance. I feel so accomplished as I head to bed early for my first Triple Threat track workout in the morning for some speedwork. This granny wants to be faster!

I also had a great conversation with my coach this weekend...we had been really slacking in the communication department, so it was good to get some things ironed out. This is definitely a work in progress, and I want to get all the information and training that I can so that June 26, 2011 isn't the end of me or my triathlon career!

Last, but not least, my poor roomate MeeMaw bit it yesterday on her bike and broke her wrist! I feel so horrible for her, but it's a good reminder to BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! The good news

is, if they have to amputate, she can become a ParaOlympic athlete!

Lonestar Half Ironman - DONE

It was a tough one, but it's done. I drove to Galveston Friday afternoon, got up early Saturday morning to go watch the Sprint triathlon that was going on. I'm not sure I've ever spectated a triathlon, so this was a different experience for me. It was great to cheer my friends on and watch how the whole triathlon day plays out.

After the race, I explored the race site which included the expo and race store, and packet pickup. I spent way too much money on Ironman paraphanelia, but it's just so cool! I couldn't help it...

A few of us did a practice swim in the salt water, and it went really well. I was hoping between the wetsuit and the salt water, I'd have a better swim time.

Pro-Triathlete (and the ultimate winner of this 70.3 race) Chris Lieto was there signing autographs, so of course I had to snap a picture! He's such a bad-ass! Of course, I never saw him on the course because he started 1:15 before me and I'm sure was completely done before I even got out of the water.

It was a long day and even though it was mostly overcast, I came home with a pretty nice sunburn already. It was just the beginning though...

So Sunday morning, we got up at 4 a.m. and were at the race site at 5 a.m. when transition started. My Granny swim wave wasn't until 8:15, so after getting my number and age marked on my leg, I spent the next few hours setting up my bike and run gear and then chatting with my tri-buddies and watching the other waves get started. I ate my usual pre-race bagel with peanut butter and drank some water. Right before the swim, I sucked down a Gu pack.

Finally, our wave gets started. We jump in the water and tread for a bit until the gun goes off. The water was way choppier than I expected and there were a lot of brutal ladies in that wave! One woman grabbed me by my calve 3-4 times and I swear literally pulled me backwards! Another woman kept zig-zagging in front of me, so I had a tough time getting around her. I swallowed a lot of salt water and had a hard time staying in a straight line with the waves. I wanted to have a faster time, but ended up with 43:56. From what my GPS map shows, I swam way more than 1.2 miles with all the zig-zagging I did! Must work on sighting and swimming straight lol

I finally get out of the water and get down to the wetsuit strippers. They were great and had that thing off me in no time, and even did it without pulling my shorts off! They had fresh water showers to rinse off the salt water, so that was nice. I asked one of the spectators for some shampoo lol

After a little over 4 minutes in T1, I get going on the bike, which proved to be tougher than I expected as well. The winds were over 20 mph and the first 26 miles were all cross-wind and head-wind. My average was only 15.5 mph. I am not happy with that. Coming back, I was 13.5 minutes faster, and ended up with a 16.8 average for the 56 miles. Still not where I wanted/expected to be, but it is what it is. I had 3 Gu's and one Forze bar on the bike. I did stop briefly once to refill my water bottle and grab a quick bite of banana. The course was beautiful, along the seawall in Galveston. It was nice to be at a beach again. I had a slight scare around mile 9.5 when some crazy MeeMaw flew by me on her bike and slapped me on the ass! Paybacks, that's all I have to say...

So after a little over 3 minutes in Transition #2, I head out on the run. The first 3 miles were pretty good...but I may have gone out a little fast and it was really getting hot and humid. I spent the next 10 miles stopping at every rest stop to dump water over my head and ice down my shirt. Some of the rest stops had sponges, so I grabbed one where I could and constantly wiped my face down with it. I think that I actually may have had too much water, because for the first time ever in a triathlon, I had to stop and use the porta-potty. The crowd support was awesome - the course was a 4-lap route which was completely flat with the exception of one small bridge that took us down by where we had jumped in the water earlier to start the swim. Boy was I glad to not have to be swimming again, but on the other hand, the water looked really inviting at that point!

So I finally, reach the finish line and a couple of my friends were there to cheer me in. The finish line picture should be interesting - stay tuned for that. I may have posed. This beautiful medal was hung on my neck and I was handed an ice cold water bottle:

So I go sit down on a curb to rest up a bit, pull off my shoes and socks and find this on the bottom of my foot thanks to soaking wet shoes (from drenching my head at the water stops!):

I sat for a few minutes, stretched a bit and then got up to head over to transition to get my phone and then to the athletes lounge for pizza and beer. Unfortunately for me, the faster athletes at all the pizza before I got there :( so I was stuck with a choice of bananas, pretzels or lays potato chips. Not exactly anything filling, but they promised more pizza was on the way. Total run time was about where I expected, but I know I can do better with more regular runs: 2:30:58.

The highlight of the athletes lounge was meeting Lew Hollander, triathlete-extraordinare! I'm in total awe of this man. He has been featured in the Kona Ironman highlights video a couple of times now, and has participated in numerous Ironman championships as well as other Ironman and half Ironman races. He is 82 years old! Truly amazing. He won his age group yesterday, again. Next up for him? An endurance race including skiing, running, cycling, kayaking, and horseback riding. We could all learn a lesson or two from him about thwarting the aging process! The man is absolutely incredible and an inspiration to all of us. I look forward to following his life for many years to come since he plans on living to be 120! If you're interested in more information, here is his link:

http://lewhollander.com/

Me and THE MAN just before he claims his age-group award!

I was told by quite a few people that they didn't do as well as they expected, and one girl said this race was the hardest Half Iron she has ever done, so that made me feel better about my performance. I seriously was wondering how the hell I was going to get through a FULL Ironman after yesterday's performance. Now to heal the blisters and sunburn:

I now know the things I need to work on for the next race: Nutrition, open water swimming, sighting, more weight training and more runs. I'm sure there's more, but my mind is just a jumble right now.

That being said, I'm going to bed!

Here we go!

So excitement has set in (notice I didn't say nervousness, because I don't feel nervous, yet). I was up late last night and woke up early this morning, an hour before the alarm was set to go off. Why is it that when we can actually sleep in (if you consider 7 a.m. "sleeping in"), we can't? It's natures cruel joke.

The car is packed with all my triathlon paraphanelia and I'll be heading to Galveston sometime this afternoon to make the 300 mile drive. I'll be doing it alone, so hopefully XM radio will have some good entertainment on to make it tolerable. I'm thinking comedy stations! Maybe I'll count how many Walmarts I'll pass along the way, just for grins.

So in just 48 hours, I'll be standing on the beach in my wetsuit, waiting for my swim wave (I'm in the granny wave now - 45 and up lol). In Triathlon, you race at the age that you turn that year, so although I'm still 44, I turn 45 in September, I get to race with the old ladies lol Could be good for me, since I'm one of the youngest in the bracket and people tend to slow down with age! But irritating to have to say that I'm in the oldest bracket they have lol WTF? Then again, I am a GRANNY, so guess it's fitting!

I'm also hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the pros that are racing, like Chris Lieto and Mirinda Carfrae! It'll have to be as they start their swim wave (they are first) because I'm sure they'll be done with their race before I'm even out of the water!

So if you want to follow my progress on Sunday, go to this link:

http://ironmanlive.com/

I've followed people a few times with this and it's actually pretty fun!

Here's the link to the race as well, if you're curious as to what this is all about:

http://ironmanlonestar.com/

Signing off now - training is done, now the easy part - the race! Time to add another medal to my collection! Good luck to all my friends racing this weekend!!

Back at it!

Whew, still trying to balance everything. I can't even find time to blog about what I'm doing!

So I spent the weekend in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area, and got just one run in, and it was not a good one at that. My scheduled 12-miler got cut short to just a 6 miler. There's something about being out of your element that makes things seem harder. It was a good reminder for what will come at the Lonestar Half Ironman this weekend in Galveston and also at the Full Ironman in Coeur d'Alene. It's unchartered territory - unfamiliar roads to run and bike, and swimming in open water, which I haven't gotten to do any of since last October at the Longhorn Half Ironman. It should make things interesting, and even moreso that it's in salt water. This will be my first salt water race swim, and I have to say, I'm not looking forward to it. But I guess it can't be any worse than some of the nasty lakes down here in Texas! At least I won't have SNAKES to worry about!

So this week will be "taper" week....a bit of a respite before the big race on Sunday. I'm not sure I will know what to do with myself. I may actually have time to think about all the things I haven't gotten to lately.

With that being said, if you want to track me on Sunday during the race, there should be athlete tracking set up here:

http://ironmanlive.com/

I am racer #1511. I've tracked people before, it's kinda fun to see the progress and cheer them on virtually! I dare you to count how many times you refresh your page as you track lol

The next two months after this weekend will be crunch time. No more time for screwing off, no more missing workouts. The longest runs/bikes/swims of the season are about to commence. And hopefully I'll be slimming down a bit!

Ironman is just 12 short weeks away! Now, if I can just find time to make the $*%@ travel arrangements!!!

Lost Motivation...

...if anyone finds it, please send it back! I barely made it through my workout today, and that was after I put it off until 3 p.m. today. I worked out 15 hours this week, and 15 hours last week. I so crave a break, but there are just under 90 days until the Ironman. The next few months are going to be brutal! I'm dreaming of the week (or maybe MONTH) after the Ironman, when I can do absolutely nothing if I don't want to. No schedule to follow!

Yesterday was the Ride for Friedreich's Ataxia. If you're curious to what that is, here's the link to their website: http://www.ataxia.org/

I had never heard of this disease, but it follows along the lines of MS. Only 5,000 people in the entire US is afflicted by it. Some of it's victims were at the ride finish to cheer us in. It was very emotional. The 48-mile ride in itself was a struggle - extremely windy and very hilly (yes, there are hills in the Dallas area, contrary to popular belief!), but nothing compared to what these people have to live through on a daily basis. I saw at least 6 of it's victims in wheelchairs. It's hard to imagine what that would be like on a daily basis. And here I am complaining that I "have" to go running. I'm sure some of them would kill just to be be out of that chair and able to go for a walk around the block.

Next weekend will be a challenge to keep the workouts up as I travel to Cincinnati for a wedding, but I have high hopes. My motto for the weekend will be "Just do it!"

But for now, I am going to get some well needed SLEEP!

Balance - it has disappeared!

My life as I know it is gone, and it will be until June 27. My social life is seriously suffering. Ask my good friend, Robin. She told me today that SHE is tired of my Ironman training lol Really? YOU are tired of MY training? lol Well guess what, I am too! I'm so tired lately. It doesn't help that my cat decides to play under my bed all night long and wake me up constantly. When I have a 5 a.m. wakeup call and he decides to start jumping on the dresser and knocking stuff off at 4 a.m., the squirt bottle comes out! He's not helping matters.

One of my fellow Coeur d'Alene Ironman athletes posted this conversation between she and her husband, on her facebook today:

Michael: "Are you starting to feel like an Ironman?"
Denise: "If feeling like a broken down old lady is feeling like an Ironman, then yes."

And some of the comments to it:

Karen - "That's how it feels. The last 3 months of training are rough."
Kris - "I just want to sleep!!! lol"
Chris - "HAHA.. hang in there.. you guys are going to do amazing."
Jim - "I feel the same way. Well not the lady part. Broken down old man :) Just remember "You can dooooooo it"

And the best of all:
Denise - "It will all be worth it because I WILL BE AN IRONMAN."

Ironman training is crazy, and the next few months are going to be even more out of whack than I can ever imagine. But I know, in the end when I have crossed that finish line, have that medal around my neck and a beer in my hand, every minute of this will be worth it to be able to say "I AM AN IRONMAN!" (Or as I've been reminded by a few people "IRONWOMAN"!

And don't worry Robin, the fun Kris will be back!

Travel is not conducive to Ironman training!

I don't know why I even pack my workout stuff when I travel. I never use it. I did get ONE run in this weekend when I was in Seattle, but no swims (unless you count the puddles we had to wade through on our run!), no cycling, and no weight training done. I have full access to the Poulsbo Athletic Club if I want, and I know the way to the Bainbridge Pool. I just hate to waste what little time I have with the grandbabies and my daughters with workouts. It seems so selfish to take time away from them. Besides, they're so much fun and I miss them so much! It's really hard to deal with.

The other evil of traveling is food choices. Many poor (but delicious!) ones were made this weekend. Including the most awesome banana cream pie at the Chimacum Cafe'! If you haven't been there, you simply MUST go!

I also indulged in almost all of my favorite Kitsap County locales, including Chungs Teriyaki, Los Cabos, Spiros, and the best breakfast place of all - Sheilas Waterfront Cafe! Oh, and we musn't forget the Cinnamon Martini's at Sono de Vino on the downtown Poulsbo Waterfront! (It's Heidi's fault...)

So I returned to Dallas at 1 a.m Monday morning (up a full 4 lbs!), and ended up pulling an 11 hour day at work. Fabulous. Another missed training day. Sabatoged again.

Today I was back at it with a 3000 yard swim before work this morning and then a 1.5 hour bike ride and 45 minutes of weights after work. Dinner was at 8:30 p.m., as it often is these days. I'm off to bed by 10:30 and will be up at 5:30 to get a 7 mile run in before work, and then hopefully a swim after work, if I don't end up having to stay late again. This work stuff really gets in the way of my training sometimes!

On another note, my USAT Membership packet came this week! Bring on the 2011 Triathlon season and a new age bracket!

Athletic Supporters

YES! My sister and her family are flying down from Alaska to watch me complete the Ironman!!! I can't tell you how excited I am! They'll be joining my kids and grandkids and hopefully a few friends at the finish line to cheer me in! Don't tell my brother-in-law, but I'm going to beg him to be my beer boy the day after because I have no intentions of leaving a lounge chair ALL DAY!

So this week has been a week of getting back on schedule, back into my routine after having the flu last week that derailed me from the Cowtown Half Marathon. I've done a pretty good job of getting things done and haven't missed a workout yet, so I'm pretty proud of that. So far so good! I am even planning an extra workout tomorrow morning, just because the morning is free! I feel like I'm back on track, and it feels good! My diet has also been good, for the most part lol What I eat makes a very big difference in how I feel and how much energy I have for my workouts.

Sunday night I made a batch of my favorite super food for athletes, brown rice and red beans. Easiest thing in the world to make and super delicious!



The past few months have really opened my eyes up as to why America is such a FAT NATION. For one thing, serving sizes are way too big. Sodium levels are extremely high, as well as fat content. It's no wonder we are all so fat! My mother told me the other day that she used to feed our family of 4 kids with ONE Cornish Game hen! (She also said one can of corn beef hash, but we all know now that isn't the healthiest thing in the world lol) But seriously, the nation is horribly overweight and the food industry is hugely at fault for that. Thank god for people like Michelle Obama that are trying to right that ship! We must educate our young people, keep them active and busy so that they don't end up with the same health problems that the rest of us are getting these days. I myself suffer with high blood pressure and I know it's partly due to the sodium content in all the foods we eat.

So please everyone, learn the lesson before it's too late. Eat healthy as much as you can. It makes a huge difference in now only how you look, but how you feel. Food is energy, not a luxury!

Oh my gosh...what have I gotten myself into?

114 days. In 114 days, I WILL have an Ironman finish under my belt and a medal around my neck. The next 114 days will be filled with long swims, long rides and long runs, diet restrictions and healthy eating. I damn well better lose some weight! I can't wait. Honestly, I just wish it were tomorrow so I could get it overwith! It's already been a long winter of training (indoors for the most part - which I'm really, really, really over!) The bike trainer and treadmill (fondly coined the "dreadmill") are great for keeping your base training up, but they are just not as fun or as good of a workout as being out on the open road. The pool will always be about laps, but the lake swims are important too, and as soon as it warms up a bit, I'll be out there once a week thrashing around with fellow teammates so we can get the feel of the swim start at the Ironman. A mere 2,000 racers start the swim ALL TOGETHER - think spin cycle on a washing machine.

You literally get beat up in the swim. It's a fight the entire way, no matter what your strategy in the lake. The swim start is just the beginning of a full day of beat down lol And let me just say, that women are worse offenders than men!

My journey to the Ironman has taken me 4 years to go to the point of "wanting" to do the full distance, and I'm still questioning WTF I was thinking! As I said in the title of my blog, this will more than likely (never say never...) be my first AND LAST Ironman. I am not fast enough on any of the 3 events to ever qualify for the Kona Championships, nor do I want to lol The training is long and arduous, and my social life for the next few months will more than likely be non-existent, and I love to be social! So I'm apologizing to all my friends now for all the invites that I will more than likely have to decline in the near future - please do not give up on me. I'll be back, with an Ironman checked off my bucket list. Save me a beer....