TriSharkie

Gordon Ferguson Yackle .10K Run for Parkinson's Disease

2010-06-12T19:04:00.003-05:00

My first "race" of the season was last Saturday. (Note, the word "race" is quite a stretch of the imagination.) This was a .10K run benefiting research and awareness for Parkinson's disease. Let me repeat that.... a POINT 10K race. That's like 1/2 a block. What? Yeah, it's an incredibly silly and fun race my cousins organized. All participants are encouraged to enjoy a few pre-race energy drinks and pizza to prime you for the run. And when I say pre-race drink, that means it has alcohol content. Once the participants were on the way to being "loaded", all 350+ participants were herded down the street to the starting line--sort of like Ironman Racine 70.3 a couple years ago**.

Me, my Dad, and Reg--pre-race

Interesting enough, the walk to the start point was longer than the run itself. You could just feel the energy and excitement in the air as we awaited the start of the race. I looked down the street and was shocked to see the finish line still well within my sight. Really....that's what .10K looks like? The gun went off (actually, my cousin just said "go"), and we all started running. Smiles, I saw lots of smiles. At the half way point, another one of my cousins offered me a banana and a small bottle of water. "Keep hydrated", they yelled. I ran and before I knew it, the race was over...literally. I laughed as I crossed the finish and then I laughed some more. No medals, ribbons, results, or prizes were given out. But, our post-race "drinks" were waiting for us at the finish line.

Reg, Dave, Ed and Me

Last year, there was a guy who completed it in a scuba diving gear outfit. Nice. This year, I saw a guy run with his pet parrot. No kidding.

If there is one thing I take away from this race, it is this:

Have fun...have fun while you race, have fun while you train, have fun in your life!

Because there are many people, like my Aunt Carol who is challenged every day of her life as she deals and struggles with Parkinson's Disease. Not every one can run, or walk for that matter, just a short point 10K distance. So don't get mad if you didn't make your goal time when you cross that finish line. Smile because you did it. Smile because you were able to do it! And if you don't finish, smile because you at least tried! You know that old cliche....life is short...so you better have fun and enjoy it!

My cousin Scott and my Aunt Carol

Tomorrow, I will be "racing" (said, very loosely), in the Naperville Women's Sprint Tri. I hope to be smiling every stroke, pedal, and step along the way....for my Aunt Carol.
--------------------------

**Ironman Racine 70.3 2008--The swim was canceled due to ridiculous rough waves....we had to walk to the new start of the race (run, bike, run). Thousands of racers were herded down the street like cows. All we needed was our cowbells. They do this in Switzerland with their cows...I've actually seen it.

Hey, hey...I'm back!

2010-06-05T09:48:00.000-05:00

Hey all you bloggers out there...I've awaken from my blogging hibernation!

Hmmmmm, yeah, I'll take my award for "Couch Potato Blogger"now. Although I may have been non-existent with any online posts, I haven't exactly been a "couch potato" in other aspects of my life. After my Beach2Battleship race in November, I did take some much needed down time from any fitness activities. After 2 months of sitting idle and doing this and that (which didn't account for much), I discovered yoga. IronSnoopy gave me a heads up on a local hot yoga studio owned and operated by Adrienne Hengels, an accomplished triathlete. I was intrigued. I needed something different to challenge me and more importantly, I needed a physical and mental break from the three disciplines of a triathlon.

On the first Monday of the new year, I began a 40 Day Personal Revolution Yoga Program. Thanks to Adrienne (http://adriennehengels.blogspot.com) and her great instructors, I learned a lot about yoga in that it the practice is not only great for strength and flexibility but it soothes the soul and calms the mind. I usually leave the yoga session feeling like I got my ass-kicked (it's freaking hard!). But in the same token, my mind feels refreshed and much more at ease.

Besides adding yoga, I've been training with Endurance Nation and just completed 20 weeks of the out season program. I believe in the philosophy that "work works". During this time frame, bike and run intervals are the basis of my training sessions. I'm hitting huge watts on the bike; and making marginal progress with my running (running is my nemisis--but doing my best to become friends with it).

Work has been work; and it's been keeping me busy. I've been working through some issues (project-oriented) and lo and behold, I think I actually see a light at the end of the tunnel for some of them. Oh, we also moved our office location once again. I think we are on our 4th or 5th move in 9 years. I'm hoping our new location complete with a warehouse will be it for a long time. (Man, am I really tired of moving both our office and our warehouse).

Oh, I also went to Mexico for a few days for some much needed R&R. Ed and I went with The Mix (Chicago radio station). Don't be jealous, but Train and Lifehouse actually performed on the beach while we sipped on margaritas and basked in the warm sun. We had an absolute blast and met some really cool people. The resort we stayed at was nestled in a gated village. So I was able to get in a run and I got to tell you, the 70 degree temperature was heaven to me (it was March). Loved it!

Today will be my inauguration race for 2010. It's a .10 K race in Rockford IL. Yes, .10 (that wasn't a typo or missed-placed period.) How long could that possibly be? It's about a block. It's a fun and completely silly race with the goal of raising money for Parkinson's disease. This is the second year, my wacky cousins have organized this race. Unfortunately, my Aunt suffers with this dreaded disease. It's a great event since everyone and anyone can participate. And all you have to do to "train" is walk your way to the mailbox and back. Race report to come!

Well that's it in a nutshell. I'm going to be making more of an effort to blog more. Did you guys miss me? (just a little?)

Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon Race Report

2009-11-11T18:19:00.013-06:00

A year ago, I was typing my first post on my blog. Waddler and I were in Wilmington NC and had volunteered for the 2008 race. I remember how cold it was on race morning; I had on 4 layers of clothes and was shivering. I believe it was in the low 30's last year. Would it be the same this year?

I also remember looking at the athletes and thinking, could I be doing this in 2009? Will I be prepared? Do I have the mental and physical strength to accomplish an iron-distance event? Do I have what it takes to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles in 17 hours? At that point in time, I had never did any of those distances alone in any of the disciplines. Is a year long enough to prepare for such a huge event?

Being a volunteer at the 2008 event, was exciting. It had uncovered a deep desire to test my mental strength and my physical abilities to an extreme level, and to push my comfort zone far beyond what I've ever endured, and to accomplish something simply spectacular.

***********************************************

Race Morning

I didn't need an alarm clock Saturday morning; I was up before my 4:10 am alarm. I was hopped up on excitement and nerves ready to get the day started. The first thing I did was down 2 bottles of Ensure and forced myself to eat a breakfast cookie. I put on my bright pink swimsuit and pre-race clothes. Ed helped me with my transition bags and we headed downstairs to meet Waddler and Snips. They were already waiting for me. Nerves were kicking in and I was fumbling with my gear. Meanwhile, Waddler was cool as a cucumber. Snips could tell I had a case of the jumbles and she flashed her great big smile at me and told me everything would be just fine. I relaxed; she was right. It was all going to be ok.

We took the shuttle bus to the T1 where we then preceded to get body marked and sort all our bags in the appropriate area. The air temperature was somewhere in the high 30's or low 40's. Whatever it was, I wasn't shivering. Keeping busy with all the pre-race things helped me to calm my nerves. I was now feeling excited and ready to go. Waddler had a mini-panic attack when she thought she had misplaced her bike jersey. But thankfully, it was right where it should have been. Whew! Crisis diverted.

Aboard our second shuttle bus, we were transported to race start. Unfortunately, because of limited parking, only spectators on foot with a nearby hotel were able to get to the beach area. As Waddler and I squirmed into our wetsuits, a fellow racer sitting next to us asked us if we were volunteers at last year's race. Stunned, we replied "yes" and then I asked him if we had body marked him. He chuckled and replied no, he had met us in the water taxi line last year. We had told him that we were scoping out the race to participate in 2009. He was a local and came to check out the race as well. Ding! The light went off in both our heads and instantly we had remembered talking with him the year before. 600+ athletes and we happened bump into this guy again! How cool is that! We laughed and I knew this was going to be a great day.

Swim

The race director was now directing all the athletes to the beach start. The sand was filled with broken remnants of shells; it was difficult to walk. My feet were ice cold after ditching my socks and shoes and stepping on sharp objects was unfortunately adding to my discomfort. (This may be my only complaint of the whole race.) As we got to the water's edge, we dipped our toes into the water. It felt good; it was probably 68 degrees. Nice. The swim was located on the west side of Wrightsville Beach in an inter-coastal water way which contained brackish water. For all us Midwesterns, brackish means a mixture of salt and fresh water. The inter-coastal way is essentially where a river and the ocean meet. We were to swim north for about a mile then take a hard left turn and a few more turns to end at a private pier.

Waddler was simply amazing, she was so calm and ready. She gave me a nice "go get em talk", reminded me not "to eat the paste"* and above all soak it all in and have fun today. I nodded, smiled and agreed. I didn't have much to say, she had just said it all. The National Anthem began to play and I said a silent prayer for the safety of everyone racing. Once over the race director started counting down the time. I looked over at Waddler and we wished each other the best of luck. Moments later the gun went off and the race began.

It was a bit chaotic with arms flailing, legs kicking, and bodies bumping for about the first 50 feet until the first buoy. Once past the buoy, it was smooth sailing. The channel was so wide that swimmers were able to spread out and find his/her own space. I have to admit, it was by far, the easiest open water swim I've ever done for a triathlon. I was in my own little world; one easy stroke after another. The only thing I had to really concentrate on was the route. Somehow I never spotted the "wiggly man", an inflatable balloon in the shape of a stick figure on top of a boat which by the way was where we were suppose to take that hard left turn. Instead, I had to rely on some other swimmers. When they turned, I turned. Off to my left, I saw a mass of swimmers heading straight to a particular pier and to my right I noticed a group of swimmers heading to a different pier. I chose to take another hard left where the mass of swimmers were headed. It turned out to be the right decision. Although, I had finished from a different direction than the mass did, it didn't matter. I had found the finish. Quickly glancing at my watch, it read 55 minutes! Holy Swim Time! What a PR! Although, I would like to say I'm really that good... I can't. The current was ridiculously fast! (In a pool, I usually swim that distance in 1 hour and 25 minutes).

Stripped of my wetsuit, I discovered I accidentally turned off my garmin. D'oh! I fumbled to turn it on and get it in the right setting again. I think I messed that up. Hidden under a bench, I found my tennis shoes for the long transition run. Over the timing mat I ran on to the changing tent.
Swim Time: 57:50

Rounding the corner, I could hear the cheers and the cowbells. I just wanted to see Ed, Snips, and the whole Waddler crew. And there they were on the next turn! I gave them a big smile and a thumbs up. One down, two more to go!

Not one inch was spared in the changing tents for T1; it was crowded with wet women. All of us were struggling with getting our wet swimsuits off and putting on dry clothes. With such a cold training season, I was ready for cold temps. I might have over did it just a tad with the clothing but I'd rather peel off the clothes later than be cold early. It took me awhile to get everything on. I ran to where Shark and Sugar were racked (Waddler and I just happened to get back to back numbers, therefore, our bikes were right next to each other). Ed was standing a few feet away and asked what took me so long. I shrugged....wet bodies, dry clothes, and a crowded tent....enough said. I blew Ed a kiss and headed out with the Shark. I have no ideal what my T1 time was, I'm guessing around 18-20 min.

Bike

Nice, comfortable and easy....that was my motto and that was how I rode. ShirlyPearly passed me early on the bike. She was going fast and looked strong; I wished her luck. I didn't care who was passing me....nice, comfortable and easy and no paste eating for me*.

The first rest stop was at mile 30 (5 miles farther than what had been told to us). Other than being a little concerned that I had missed the first rest, it really didn't matter, I was doing fine. I stopped for a bathroom break and filled my water. On a whim, I decided to look at my little tracking device (you know the one I told you guys about). I didn't see any lights blinking. I thought the device was dead. I pushed the power button a couple times and still nothing. I put it back in my pocket, shrugged and said "oh well". I later learned that in bright sunlight, the lights can't be seen and you need to put a hand over the device to see the lights. I had inadvertently turned it off so therefore, I could no longer be tracked. My bad. Sorry about that everyone.

Off I went again on the bike. The landscape was hard to describe because there really wasn't anything there...trees, swamp, fields? We rode on a four lane highway for a number of miles which was actually quite neat. The road was smooth and there were volunteers and police at every turn and at every on/off ramp. By mile 50, we were out in the rural areas with not much to look at. Although a few things made me chuckle, like the hunter sitting in a chair on the side of the road with a rifle sitting on his lap or how about the big white 8 foot chicken on the side of the road (with a bright orange hunter's cap on). It was at around this point that I started to feel a little chest discomfort. It wasn't bad, I just knew it was there...lingering. Despite the discomfort, the miles were ticking away, it seemed effortlessly for my legs. I was cruising at a around a 17 mph pace. I don't recall what my mind was thinking all that time. I was just concentrating on getting 10 miles completed at a time. At mile 65 was the special needs rest stop. I stopped, changed out my fuel bottles, ate a banana and a cookie.

With about 40 miles left to ride, we turned into a headwind which remained with us until the end of the ride. I am so use to wind on my training rides, that it honestly didn't bother me. What bothered me was the increasing discomfort in my chest. Again, I just concentrated on 10 miles at a time. Mile 100 finally came. Looking back, mile 100 through 112 on the bike was my lowest point of the race. My legs were holding up well, again, it was my chest that was hurting. I had to make a decision....could I finish 12 more miles or did I have to stop and rest or worse was it bad enough to stop racing? I struggled with those thoughts as the pain worsened and my breathing got more shallow. I cried for literally 2 seconds. What should I do? No! I wasn't going to stop and I wasn't going to allow things to fall apart now. If I could just ride 12 more fricking miles, I can make the decision in T2. I told myself to get it together and just pedal. Now my blocks were in 1 mile increments....just one more mile...just one more mile.

I was so happy to see the USS North Carolina where T2 was located. I dismounted my bike and heard Ed and Snips cheering me on. I started to cry and was barely able to get a good breath in, I walked over to Ed and whispered in his ear that my chest was hurting. I then turned and headed into T2. I sat down with my bag and started changing all the while showing signs of distress. A fellow racer looked over at me and asked if I was ok. I answered truthfully and told her "no" and pointed towards my chest. She wasted no time and called the paramedics into the tent. They asked what the problem was and I informed of my chest pain and of my shortness of breath. The lead paramedic told me he had to take me to the medical tent. I refused. "No, my heart is fine. I've had all sorts of tests done by a cardiologist and I'm fine. This is because I'm anemic." He again said, "I have to take you to the medical tent because you just told me you have chest pain". We went back and forth for several minutes, him trying to reason with me and me crying telling him I was fine and that I would walk the whole marathon if I had to.

Despite the tears rolling down my face, I looked at him square in the eyes and with the heart and determination of a lion and begged him "Please, don't take me...I want to finish this race. I know I can finish this race." He looked at me calmly with much more reason than I was exhibiting and said "Look, you said you've been checked out by the doctor and had all sorts of tests done, right?" "Yes." "Sometimes problems don't show up on tests until the symptoms are actually occuring. Does that make sense?" "Yes." "Can I take you to the medical tent now?" My gaze went down and I replied weakly "ok". For a nanosecond, I felt defeated. "But that doesn't mean I can't come back. Can I get back in the race later?" "It's not for me to decide, the doctor will make that decision" he replied. As they wheeled me out of the T2 on a stretcher, I told the volunteer not to do anything with my changing bag..."I will be back for it!"

T1 + Bike: 7:34:24 (Apparently, the timing mats were all messed up ...thus the combined time)

The Medical Tent

So this is normal, right? Everyone stops during the race to get an EKG. I mean, isn't this common practice during an iron distance race? I wish I could say I was relaxing, having lunch and getting a massage, so that I would be all ready to go for the run but instead I found myself in the medical tent with an army of professional nurses and doctors. They were doing this "gig" as practice for emergency situation such as a hurricane or any other catastrophe.

I was hooked up to the EKG machine, given oxygen, with all my other vitals getting monitored as well. Nothing alarmed the nurses or the doctor, they just didn't see anything wrong with the EKG. They made me rest and drink water. I requested they call Ed. Within a matter of minutes, he was by my side with the most positive outlook on the situation. He said, "Ok, just a minor setback. You just need to rest for a few minutes. You have plenty of time to get back on the course and finish." I knew he was right and I wanted so badly to get the heck out of dodge. Other racers from the half distance were coming in to the tent and being taken care of. I looked at the big hunk of metal hanging from the neck of one participant. The medal was huge and had a battleship on it with the year in the background. I looked over at Ed and said, "I want one of those." He simply replied "And there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to get one."

The medical team taking care of me, watched my vitals and liked what they saw. My heart rate was coming down and my heart was showing a normal rhythm. I looked to the nurse with pleading eyes..."can I get out of here now? I'm ready to stand." Ed had figured that I still had a good 7 hours to finish the race and knew exactly what pace I needed to keep in order to finish by midnight. By this time, any time goal in my head was thrown out....my goal now was to convince the doctor I was good to go and to get back on the course.

The nurse called the doctor over and said "She says she's ready to stand, she wants to get back out there". The doctor gave me the go ahead to stand. I did, practically jumping off the bed. With bright and determined eyes, I exclaimed "I feel fine!". "Ok, let her go" the doctor said. Whoo Hooo! I hurriedly signed the waiver and was out of the medical tent. Ed gave me my cell phone just in case I needed it and I ran back into transition for the rest of my gear. Out of dumb luck, I ran into Waddler and confused the hell out of her. "Are you finished" she asked. "No, I'm just starting the run!" I gave her a two sentence explanation and told her to keep going.

I found the volunteer and asked "where's my bag"? She had it sitting next to my bike. I grabbed it and ran into the changing tent once again to change into my run shorts. I was off. Two down, a side trip to the medical tent, and one more to go!

My transition time was over an hour...a record perhaps for the longest T2 time?

T2: 1:09:12

Run

I had told the doctor that I would walk....that flew out the window as soon as I hit the mats to get on with the run. I wasn't completely out of discomfort with my chest, but it was certainly feeling much better. My original plan was to run a 12 minute mile for the first 6 miles and then I would allow myself to get a tad bit faster if I was feeling good. And the last 8 miles were reserved for an even faster pace of 10:45 per mile if I could handle it. That was the EN way (don't eat the paste by going out too fast too soon--reserve your energy for mile 18 where the race really begins). I didn't completely abandoned the plan I just readjusted it; I decided that a 12 minute mile for the whole marathon would be my goal. I felt good on the first mile, and found myself running too fast. I slowed down and repeated the mantra..."don't eat the paste"*. I then caught up to Waddler. It was so good to see a friend. I told her my story and she told me of her struggles on the bike as well. We talked for a bit and both decided to do our own thing.

Running is not my strong suit especially with this whole anemia problem. But in any case, I was determined to make the best of the situation and finish this race. I ran well and would only walk 20-30 paces every mile or every aid station to drink my liquid fuel. I didn't take any gels or consume any food. I tried flat coke once but it didn't do anything for me and figured I wasn't having any GI issues so why try anything new? Just keep moving and stick to the plan. Water and Infinit was it for me.

I've heard this before, but I got to say, I was simply amazed at how many people were walking on the run course. I don't know what mile marker any of them were at but so many participants were walking. I was so proud, I was running and I was running steady. Spectators and fellow racers alike were commenting on my pace..."hey, you're running...great job", "keep up the pace", "looking strong", "wow, here comes a runner". One lady, who had witnessed the discussion with me and the paramedic in the changing tent noticed me. Every time she saw me she exclaimed "hey, your running....keep up the pace". It was so great to hear these comments; I simply loved it. I was doing good. At one point, in the race, I discovered I had forgotten to grab my race number. I called Ed on my cell phone (I usually don't race with a phone). I needed him to tell a volunteer to put my race number in my special needs bag at mile 13. But he wasn't near the Battleship, he was at the hotel with all my transition bags. Out of dumb luck, I was close to the hotel and told him to run out with my bags. Two minutes, later my sherpa came running out of the hotel with my gear. I rifled through the bags until I found the bib number. Awesome. I told him I was on mile 10.5 and feeling good. I gave him a kiss and was on my way again.

I kept a good steady pace and still was getting compliments along the way for my pace. The course, at this time was thinning out but I was just happy I was still in it. I was passing people....lots of walkers. I saw Waddler a few more times on the course and we gave each other encouraging words. It was not until mile 22 where fatigue really started to hit me. Mile 22! I've never ran more than 15 miles in training! I started to run/walk. By mile 24 it was more walking and a lot less running. My legs were tired, the bottom of my feet felt like they were on fire, and my chest was hurting. I was done running. As much as I wanted to run the last few miles, I was now toast. I did manage to pass two people by simply walking faster.

The last bridge before the Battleship was extremely dark. It was a bit lonely and a little disconcerting. If I trip and fall, no one would see me. Maybe, some one else would trip over me and find me. Weird things were going through my head. I had no idea what time it was. My garmin was messed up. I had accidentally stopped the timer at some point on the run (for a short period of time).

I could see no one in front of me or behind me. I felt alone coming down the last mile of the home stretch. But I knew I wasn't; I was only minutes from the finish line. Bright lights lit up the black sky and music filled the air. I started to hear cheering and then I saw the crowd (what was left of it).

Turning the final corner, I heard my name being announced..."From Plainfield IL, Ronda Haskell...you have reached the Battleship!" I gave high fives to the cheering squad. Snips had volunteered at the finish line and greeted me with the biggest hug and smile. She cried, I cried. "I knew you could do it" she exclaimed! That moment felt like pure happiness. It was simply wonderful. I found Ed and gave him a big hug. And then the big ass finisher's medal was placed around my neck. I never saw such beautiful bling bling in all my life!

Run time: 5:44:43 (average pace 13:09/per mile)

Final time: 15 hours 26 minutes 8 seconds

As I was sitting down for a moment's rest near the finish line, Chris the lead paramedic, came to see me. He knelt down the same way he did while I was in the changing tent earlier and looked at me with genuine care and concern. He told me he was just so happy to be here at the finish line to see me cross the finish. I looked at him with tears in my eyes, just speechless. I wanted to say, he was right...he did the right thing. And he was only looking after my well-being. Unfortunately, I only could manage to say "thank you". "Thank you" I repeated. I believe he knew what I was thinking.

*************************************

Post Race

The air temperature had dropped considerably by the time I finished the race. Ed had inadvertently taken my post-race clothes to the hotel earlier. He convinced me to stay in the warming tent until Waddler finished in order to stay warm.

I knew Waddler would finish, there was absolutely no doubt in mind that she would cross the finish line in time. I just had no idea when that might be. It turns out that we were getting close to midnight; Waddler's family, Ed, Snips, and I were waiting with anticipation...we couldn't wait to see Waddler cross that line. And finally, the announcer exclaimed "...and our final finisher, Karen Merhbrodt, from Bolingbrook IL, you have reached the Battleship!"

I watched with elation as my training partner and friend crossed the finish line before the cut off time! How cool was that! She was swarmed by her family; everyone was so proud of her. She did just awesome.

Overall, the day was an absolute dream. The weather was perfect as it was dry and sunny; it was a little chilly in the morning but it didn't bother me at all. It warmed up nicely during the day for the bike and it got a little cool again on the run. The spectators and the volunteers were awesome. The course was wonderful. The medical team was top notch. All was good!
To Waddler: Thank you for being a true friend and a great training partner. You were the one who "sucked" me into this whole iron distance idea. It's all your fault! :) Never forget that you are a great inspiration to many people including myself.
To Ed: Thank you for being so understanding of my crazy training schedule and for being my number one "athletic supporter" as well as my Sherpa on race day! You never had any doubt. You're the best, Sweetie.

To House and Bino: Thank you for transporting the Shark and all my gear to Wilmington NC. You guys deserve kudos for your unconditional love and support you give to Waddler!

To Snips: Thank you for reassuring me at the start of the race and catching me at the finish! I am so happy you were there!

To All My Friends, Family and Peeps: Thank you for all the positive thoughts and support during my training and on race day. I know this sounds corny, but I could feel you guys with me all the way. I know many of you wanted to see me in Wilmington and to cheer me on from the side lines. You were there, believe me, you were there!

IronWaddler and IronSharkie

*"Eating the Paste" refers to the fact that many athletes don't execute the race correctly. They go out too hard, too fast too soon. Johnny and all the other kids might be in the corner eating the paste (going too fast and racing hard, e.g. hammering the bike). When you do your own thing and everyone is passing you ....then you're "not eating the paste" and you are executing the race correctly. That is EN style coaching.

Sharkie is now IronSharkie!

2009-11-09T20:31:00.000-06:00

Beach2Battleship Full Distance Triathlon

140.6 miles

Time: 15 Hours 26 Minutes 08 Seconds

Race report to come!

So Exciting!

2009-11-05T18:28:00.002-06:00

Can I just say how exciting it is to be here in Wilmington NC for the Beach2Battleship Full Distance Triathlon! It's been one long year of training and I'm ready! I'm keeping this blog somewhat short...as I've got lots of things to do including getting some rest.

To all my peeps out there, here is how you can track me on race day (Saturday Nov 7):

Web Browser and iPhones:

www.TrackMyAthlete.com/vemap.aspx?name=033030

Handheld PDA/Blackberry/Palm:

www.TrackMyAthlete.com/pda.aspx?name=033030

*Certain versions of the blackberry browser do not work.

Just so you all know, I am not allowed to wear this GPS System in the water or bad things might happen to the thing. Bottom line, you can start tracking me once I get into transition and onto the bike course. The race starts at 7 am (Eastern Time). You can do the math on what my swim time turns out to be but it better be less than the cut off time (see below).

Race Start: 7:00 am
Swim Cut Off: 2 hours 20 minutes (9:20 am)
Bike Cut Off: 10 hours 15 minutes (5:15 pm) (From the start of the race)
Run/Race Cut Off: 17 hours 00 minutes (12:00 am) (From the start of the race)

I'm not going to give you any indication on what I think my times will be...sorry don't want to jinx myself nor do I want to put any undue pressure on myself as well. Remember, my goal is to have fun and to finish vertical and smiling.

Bib# 63

Predicted Weather:

High 64 Low 45, Sunny, 0% of Precipitation, E at 5 mph wind

Check the forecast out! Can you say YEAH for the Sun and very little wind! Awesome! It might be a little chilly in the morning and the evening...but I'll take it! I've done so much cold weather riding/running this year, 45-64 degrees doesn't bother me at all. I am loving the fact that it will be sunny and dry!

Keep the good vibes coming...me and Waddler appreciate every little sentiment!

Time to rest so I can splash, pedal and dash big time on Saturday!

P.s. I'm sure Waddler will post her tracking number on her blog as well... keep an eye out for it.

http://1waddler.blogspot.com/

Bring it on!

2009-11-04T12:37:00.000-06:00

I'm done worrying; it's time to have fun. I finally got my iron tests back from the doctor's office. My iron levels are just fine. My Vitamin D level is a little low and my thyroid is good. I can not explain the symptoms I've been experiencing lately but I'm over it for now. I'll figure it out some other day.

I want to have fun with this race. My goal is simply to finish vertical and smiling...and of course, to have enjoy it. Only positive thoughts are allowed in my personal space from here on in.

I'll be flying to NC tomorrow. Packet pick up is on Friday and we're off to the races on Saturday! Thanks to all my friends, family, and fellow bloggers for the good wishes!

Bring it on! I'm ready to do some splashing, pedaling and dashing, iron-distance style!

And a Round, and a Round, We Go!

2009-10-29T12:37:00.000-05:00

Just when I thought I had things, and when I say "things" I mean my iron level, all figured out, I'm back to square one again. The past few days haven't been very pleasant for me. I have been experiencing all the wonderful symptoms I had months ago which include and are in no particular order: high heart rate during cardio exercise, leg cramps, migraine, chest discomfort/pain, and fatigue. I'm trying to keep myself from not freaking about this. This is not good news at all, particularly when my full distance race is in mere days!

I called my doctor's office to obtain a doctor's order for another blood test for my iron levels. Instead, of giving me the order, the doctor wanted to see me again. I scheduled the appointment for the first available appointment which was Tuesday afternoon. It turned out to be a very frustrating visit with my doctor. I informed the doctor of my symptoms. I told her about an article I had found on the anemia.org website regarding iron and athletes. Something I didn't know nor did my doctor, is that you can lose iron through sweat and in addition, aspirin and ibuprofen can inhibit the absorption of iron. She scanned the article, and asked me about my over-the-counter use (which the answer is "very rarely).

Doc: "I want to listen to your heart and lungs. (she listens) ...ok, they sound fine."

As she pulls out a gown, she tells me she wants to have an EKG done...a what? She starts explaining what it is and what it involves.

Me: "Yes, I know. I've had one done months ago."
Doc: "Oh? Here, at the office?"
Me: "Yes"
Doc: She looks at chart, "Yes, you did. Sorry didn't see it, the file was in the wrong spot."

Doc: "We may have to do a stress test and a echocardiogram."
Me: "I've already had those done by a cardiologist. My heart is healthy"
Doc: "Oh, ok. How's your stomach? Any issues?"
Me: "No, my stomach is fine. I've had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. Everything is normal."
Doc: "Oh, well I guess we already ruled out the obvious factors."

Me thinking....yes, we have. Would you please look at my damn chart!

Me: "My heart and everything else is fine, I believe my iron levels are low again."
Doc: "I believe you are right. We should get you on some iron supplements"
Me: "I'm already taking them."
Doc: "You are? How much?"
Me: "One to two pills a day"...just like you told me I should do.

Doc: "Looks like we should do an iron test again."
Me thinking ....that's what I asked for in the first place.

Can you say "frustrating"? Now I don't expect for the doctor to remember everything about me and my medical issues but for crying out loud...read my chart before entering the exam room. Holy crap, lady!

I got my order for the iron test. She also decided to test my Vitamin D and a thyroid levels. What the hell, why not! And why not scan my brain while you're at it!

And now I (impatiently) await for my results and doing my best to keep calm, cool and collected. Did you know my race is only 8 days away?

Racking Up the Miles and Counting Down the Days

2009-10-18T20:52:00.000-05:00

You know it's serious training time when you just don't have time to blog, meet with friends, or simply just to shop for groceries. Excuse me for my absence from blogging, but I've been racking up the miles on the road, on the treadmill and even in the pool.

For the last 5 weekends I have rode 100+ miles--whether it be on one day or two consecutive days for each weekend. I've had several long runs consisting of 13-15 miles each as well as several long swims of 2.4 miles (that's 76 laps in a 25 meter pool). Those are my long workouts, on the other days of the week I usually squeezing in brick workouts after a full day's work.

I know that THIS, all THIS training, is what it is all about when reaching for such a lofty goal. With less than 3 weeks to go, I'm tired physically and mentally. It's starting to show. It's harder to keep focused and moving lately. The cold weather is getting to me, the constant wind is wearing me down, my muscles ache, ... I simply want to rest.

Luckily, this coming week's training will back down a slight bit in preparation for my Race Rehearsal #2. I completed Race Rehearsal #1 last weekend which consisted of a 2.4 mi swim in the pool on Friday, and a 112 mile bike ride followed by a 6 mile run on Saturday. The cold and wind in the Chicago area has been brutal lately. That 112 mile ride was one of the most miserable rides I've ever rode. The temperature was in the high twentys and into the mid- thirties; the wind was torturous. Some how, some way I managed to reach inside myself and find the will and strength to finish.

I know I can and I will get through my training. But for the next 3 weeks, I also need to find a way to refresh my mind, body and spirit so that I will be ready come race day.

Splashing, pedaling, dashing and counting down the days to race day.

The Sun is Shining

2009-09-18T20:15:00.007-05:00

Warning: The following blog is not meant to be a bragging post (ok, maybe a little). But really folks, I simply am amazed at my running progress.

I've struggled for so long with my running. Only a few short months ago, I was seriously doubting my ability to run 3 miles let alone an entire marathon after a 2.4 mi swim and a 112 mile bike. It's as if someone turned the dimmer switch on the dining room light ever so slowly. The next thing you know the room is bright and you didn't even noticed when or how it happened.

So in a very fitting way, I went running at 5:30 am this morning (a first for me--I'm not much of a morning exercising). It was dark, the stars were shining, and a fog hung in the cool air. And I ran; I ran as the sun rose and the fog disappeared. It felt good; I felt good. I ran for 12 miles, only walking at each mile interval to drink some fluids. I checked my pace at each mile interval, I (just about) had a negative split for each consecutive mile and my total time was just shy of 2 hours. When I finished, the sun was shining; I was shining with my personal best.

The details:

Mile 1/ 10:58/ 131 bpm
Mile 2 /10:19/ 144 bpm
Mile 3/ 10:12/ 146 bpm
Mile 4/ 10:18/ 149 bpm
Mile 5/ 10:01/ 150 bpm
Mile 6/ 9:54/ 151 bpm
Mile 7/ 9:49/ 150 bpm
Mile 8/ 9:44/ 153 bpm
Mile 9/ 9:42/ 154 bpm
Mile 10/ 9:28/ 157 bpm
Mile 11/ 9:36/ 160 bpm
Mile 12/ 9:12/ 166 bpm

Total time: 1:59:19
Avg pace: 9:56
Avg HR: 150 bpm

Hey folks, I just discovered that I can actually run! How about that?

I shaved off 5 whole minutes!

2009-09-11T14:02:00.002-05:00

5K Time Trial Run

2/11/09
Pre-Iron (supplements): 00:33:10 or a 10:42 min/mi pace, vdot 27

9/10/09
Post-Iron (supplements): 00:28:00 or a 9:02 min/mi pace, vdot 33

That's all I got to say.

The Great Illini Half Report

2009-09-07T17:45:00.006-05:00

I'm smiling big today. Wow, what a difference good hard training and iron pills can do!

Saturday, Waddler and I completed our second half iron distance triathlon and this time it was "officially" 70.3 miles and our Garmins can prove it. Last year, we both did Steelhead in Benton Harbor MI as our first half. However, due to strong winds and nasty 10-15 foot waves, the swim portion of the race was cancelled. We, therefore, raced a duathlon instead (run 2 miles, bike 54 miles, and run 13.1 mile---apparently the bike course was short due to road construction). My time last year was 6 hours and 50 minutes. I had crossed the finish line in an extreme amount of pain. I had broken the golden rule of racing: I had massacred my nutrition BIG time. And oh, did I pay for it; all the muscles in both of my legs had cramped up as soon as I had gotten off the bike and headed on with the run. It was a horrific moment for me as both my legs seized up....I had wanted to end the race right then and there. If it weren't for some encouraging words from a fellow racer, I might have done just that. That race was quite the experience for me. Yes, I finished and I was proud that I did under the circumstances, but I also learned that day that I had a lot to learn about endurance races.

This year, I'm extremely proud to report that I came in at 6 hours and 25 minutes (under my goal of 6 hours and 30 minutes). AND I did it with a swim included as well as running the entire portion of the run (I did walk for about 20 -30 seconds at every aid station to down some water---all per plan).

The particulars:

Pre-race:

Waddler and I woke up at 4 am and I downed two Ensures (a nutritional first for me) and water for breakfast. We drove to the race start, in basically the middle of nowhere, Illinois....lots and lots of corn and soybean fields and one very fine looking lake (Lake Mattoon). We set up in transition the best we could; it was so dark outside with very few lights (I guess it wasn't in the budget). A flashlight at that point would have been nice. This race was extremely low key; boy, did that seem to take the pressure off things. To Waddler and I, it just seemed like another routine training day all except for the timing chip around our ankles.

Swim:
As I was still finishing up in transition, the announcer exclaims we have 5 minutes to race start. Whoa, I was still struggling with my wet suit. Luckily the men went off 3 minutes before the ladies and I had a few extra minutes to acclimate myself to the water. The course was a .6 mi loop in which we were to swim twice. Waddler and I wished each other good luck and off we went. I seeded myself in the middle of the pack and just kept a nice easy pace through the entire swim. At one point on the first loop, I had caught up to some male swimmers who were 5 abreast; it was as if they were holding a defensive line so as to not let any females through. I tried to swim around the group but didn't see the last guy on the end. As I was attempting to pass, I must have elbowed the guy to my left. The next thing you know, I feel someone deliberately pushing my back down into the water. What the heck? I come up for air and I yell "HEY!".....The guy replies back..."You hit me in the f*#king eye!" I just turned around and kept swimming but I was mad. This is a race and although I'm sorry I hit the guy in the eye... I didn't know I did it and furthermore, I didn't deliberately do it either. "Dude, it's a race and you should expect that in the water. Don't try to drown me because you're a slow swimmer".
Time: 44:40 min

T1:
I took my time...wasn't much in "racing"mode, and I didn't want to forget anything. One good thing was that my mind was much more focused than my last race --the OLY(can you say "scatterbrained"). Time: 5:14 min

Bike:
Quite honestly, the bike was uneventful which was probably a good thing. What I did right... I drank my water, Infinit and ate a package of shot blocks. I fueled my body for the run. It wasn't an earth shattering time but I got it done. The course was flat with one small section that was crushed stone. I had trouble going over it and noticed my mph dropped to 11.5 mph. D'oh. Time: 3:13:52 (avg speed 17.3 mph)

T2:
A little long but I didn't care. Time: 3:05 min

Run:

I started the run a little fast. My first mile split was around 9:30 min/mile. The legs coming off the bike were going too fast for my plan...I should have been doing a 12 min mile. Oops. If I had one complaint about the entire race, it was regarding the run course. The road out and back was crowned, broken up and just all in all in terrible shape. It was awful, crappy, whatever word you want to use. Yuch! Anyway, my ultimate goal for the run was to actually run the whole course. Sounds simple, but yet for me this is big. Anyone following my blog, will know that I've been struggling due to an iron deficiency. The Olympic distance in June proved to be hard for me and I seriously doubted my ability to run long distances thereafter. However since then, my endurance has significantly improved with the help of iron supplementation. I am in no longer in the red zone and my iron is back to normal levels.

Translation: I could run; I didn't experience the off-the charts heart rate, chest pains, or any struggles with my breathing. I ran the entire thing. Again no earth shattering times, but I am ecstatic about my improvement.

Time: 2:18:55 (avg pace 10.36min/mile)

During the race, it started to rain at about mile 6 for me. It was a steady rain but not horrible. I saw Waddler several times on the course and we high-fived each other, it was great to see her. At mile 10, my left foot was going numb from the freakin' crown in the road. I tried my best to find the flat sections of the road, where there was a road. I could tell other people were trying to do the same thing. Ughhhh.

At mile 12, I was thinking, "I can do this, I'm going to run the whole thing!" On the home stretch, I saw Ed waiting for me (he came to see me at the finish line). I was grinning from one ear to the other and exclaimed to him that I had just ran the entire run. Running through the finishing chute couldn't have been more perfect, "We Are the Champions" was playing over the sound system, my time on the clock was showing a sub 6 and 1/2 hour time, and Ed was waiting for me with open arms. Last year, I cried because I was in pain; this year I cried because I was so elated.

Overall Time: 6 hours 25 minutes 47 sec
Happy Dance, Happy Dance!

Figure in the additional time it would have taken for the swim last year if it was included, I would have done Steelhead in about 7 hours and 15 minutes. That's a 45-50 minute PR!

Waddler did great as well, she met all her goals! Great job!

Put me in coach...I'm ready to play...TODAY..

2009-08-23T19:15:00.002-05:00

Flashback: It was the spring of 1988, my senior year in high school. Gripping the steel wired fence, I gazed longingly at the pristine softball diamond and all my teammates running on the field to play the last game of the season. We were out of the running for any sort of title but nonetheless, this was a special game. It was, for us seniors, our last game playing together as a team full of Viking pride. Unfortunately for me, I was benched because of doctor's orders. I was to sit out for the "rest of the season".

A week and half earlier, I was playing one of my favorite positions, left field. A routine line drive was hit by the opposing team in between left and center field. It was one of those balls that neither I nor the center fielder could catch on the fly. So we both let the ball bounce with the intention of scooping the ball up as a grounder. Our communications must have failed; we both charged to field the ball. Then it happened, our heads clanged together. I immediately fell to the ground while the center fielder finished the play. I convinced the coach I was fine. She allowed me to continue. The next play later, a ball was hit out to me and I was having trouble seeing it. I was blacking out and seeing stars. I called time and asked to be taken out of the game. A mild concussion was the diagnosis and hence the strict orders to "sit out" for the rest of the season.

Once again, it feels like I've been benched and missing out on something special. I was to ride with Waddler today and ride a full century. A goal I have yet to accomplish. Quite honestly, I'm feeling down and out today because I wasn't able to ride and hit my 100 mile milestone. It was a gorgeous beautiful day with no wind and I was "sitting on the bench ready to play" or shall I say ride. It wasn't a concussion but digestive problems that have me sidelined me this time. I also have a case of the hives to boot. The entire week I have been having "issues", no need to go into detail...just trust me, it hasn't been good. I was prescribed some medication to relieve me of some discomfort which then led to the case of hives. It's been a rough week for me physically and mentally. I sooooooo want to be riding and working towards my goal.

Here's to hoping that I can get back on track with my training. I guess my 100 miler will have to be another day.

I feel like I'm training for an Iron Distance!

2009-08-19T14:43:00.004-05:00

12 weeks to go, folks! My training schedule has really stepped up this week for the final 12. My typical schedule from now until the big day will be:

Monday: Swim 1 hour & Run 1 hour
Tuesdays: Swim 1 hour & Run 30 min
Wednesdays: Bike 1 hour & Run 30 min
Thursdays: Run 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours
Friday: Swim 1:00
Sat: Bike 4 to 5 hours & Run 30 min
Sun: Bike 3 hours (and an occasional 30 min run)

I am honestly having a tough time trying to figure out when to go to the grocery store and when to get my hair cut. I called my stylist up and asked to get a haircut. I looked at my schedule and hemmed and hawed about when I could see her. Frustrated, I told her I would call her back next week--don't know how I'll have next week figured out, it will be the same as this week. Doh!

Count em...5! 5 run workouts in one week! I have never run more than 3x in a week; I only hope I can keep up. Maybe with the Nike Volmero's I got last week will help. I wasn't sure about how they felt but after a few runs...they're feeling goooooood! Speaking of running, I've got to say that I am seeing improvements. My heart rate is lower. I can run a faster pace. And it just seems easier. The iron is helping!

Last week, I also got a new set of cleats for bike shoes (they were a bit worn to say the least). This could be why I was having trouble with numbness in my toes while riding. I'm sure I'll know after this weekend (long ride scheduled for Sunday)...may be my first century! It's kinda hard to believe, that I never attempted a century. I came close one time with 80 miles in and through out the White Mountains of New Hampshire. That was one frickin hard ride. I should be able to do 100 miles in the flats of Illinois.

Oh, and by the way, I'm all set with my new Garmin 310xt. Ed got it for my b-day and I've used it a couple time already! It's SA---WEET! Battery life is 20 hours and it's waterproof! Unfortunately, I didn't get to try it swimming at Centennial Beach, cause it is now closed during the week. Doh--that was a surprise when I showed up last night to swim. Dang, had to get to my fitness center for a quick workout. Then, they kicked me out of the pool after 40 minutes due to an aqua aerobics class. Can't they see, I've got to get my training in? Time to think about switching health clubs again. It was dumb for me to switch in the first place...thought I would be saving money; but I miss my friends at LTF.

Off to bike and run!

Splashing, pedaling, dashing to Beach2Battleship.

There's something wrong with my Garmin!

2009-07-29T22:53:00.004-05:00

Scheduled for today, was an ordinary brick workout which included a 1 hour bike ride and a 30 minute run. My garmin seemed to be working perfectly fine during the bike. I biked east ward and, of course, battled yet another headwind. My garmin told me I had a pace going about 15-16 mph on the flats and 12-14 mph on the up hills. At my turn around point, my speed increased to 20-23 mph with the most comforting tail wind. I ended up averaging a mere 16 mph for a one hour ride (those darn red and white octagon signs always slow my average down). In any case, my garmin seemed to be reading true. I had a good ride despite being chased by a sharpei/pit bull mix and almost falling down in the middle of an intersection with oncoming traffic. I couldn't get any momentum going after stopping at one of those red and white thing-a-ma-jobbers. I ended up retreating to safety after I realized I wouldn't make it across in time.

Anyhoo, I made it back home, quickly changed into my running shoes and switched my garmin to run mode. My garmin told me I was running a 10:00 minute pace right out the gate. Yeah, I always tend to run too fast right after a bike ride and then I usually slow down to my typical pace. Depending on how I feel, that could mean a 10:40/mi pace or a 12:00/mi pace. So I expected my trusted garmin to show me that my pace was decreasing (or my time was going up). [Did I say that right? I think you know what I meant.] After about 5 minutes into the run, my garmin displayed an average pace of 9:40/mi. "Ok, something is wrong with my garmin. How could I possibly be doing a 9:40/mi pace?" I have never been able to do that pace (ok, sure I have--but only when I am doing sprint intervals); I'm not kidding folks! This is not a normal pace for me. "Something must be wrong with my garmin".

I kept running and thinking, "ok, it won't last...there is no way I can hold this pace for 30 minutes. No way!" Every few minutes I checked my garmin...this just didn't seem right. It still showed a 9:40/mi pace and this was running into the wind! I didn't feel any faster, my legs felt like bricks and my heart rate was relatively high (mid 160's). I probably should have tried to back it down to get my heart rate down but I was too excited about the fact at running a sub 10 minute mile.

I turned around at the 1.5 mile mark and now headed back home with a cross/tail wind. My garmin was taunting me...it was now reading 9:38/mi pace. Could this really be true? OMG, I was keeping the pace! I was getting a little tired but there was no way I wasn't going to quit now. I finished with a 9:36/mi pace for 3 miles!!!!!! I truly amazed myself. Honestly, I'm not sure how long I could have held that pace, but I did it finished 3 miles!

I've come to the conclusion that there are two possible answers on how I achieved this today and no it has nothing to do with doping. Reason One: I'm running more and becoming more conditioned. Reason Two: Iron pills (this doesn't count as doping). Each day I feel as if I'm improving just a little bit more physically and I believe much of it has to do with supplementation of iron into my system.

Iron, where have you been all my life?

I am so relieved to finally feeling a little better with my run workouts; I'm not 100%, and actually, I'm not sure what 100% is right now. I think I could have been anemic for a long time. It would surely explain my training last year.

I've got my long run workout scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully, I didn't wear out my legs today. Cross your fingers....I'm hoping for a good run!

Side note: Wow, I just noticed my little counter on top of my blog space.... 100 days to Beach2Battleship! After today, we're down to double digits folks!

Evergreen Olympic Triathlon

2009-07-20T21:25:00.002-05:00

I admit it, I was dreading this race. I really didn't feel comfortable with my physical abilities right now. So I took a good friend's (Waddler) advice....she told me not to worry about the "race" aspect ...just think of it as another training day.

Waddler and I got up early and arrived at the race site. For a mid-July day, the temperature was quite cool (mid 60's). We set up our transition spots and to Waddler's dismay, she discovered that she had forgotten her bike shoes. Oh man....I felt bad for her. I got to say, she handled it extremely well; she never once thought about quitting. She's a trooper!

We listened to the pre-race talk and met TriHardChick. She was cheerful and ready to race. I sooooooo wanted her enthusiasm. I couldn't muster it though. It was just another race remember.

So in the "training day" spirit, I broke the golden rule of completing a triathlon: I did things that were new to my routine. Such as:

• Breakfast was a half a bagel and peanut butter (I don't have a routine breakfast): thumbs up (but probably could have had the whole thing or added a banana).
• I wore tri shorts and top (never swam in before): thumbs up on the shorts, thumbs down on the shirt. The top was not "tri specific" and was completely water logged after coming out of the water.
• I downed a Gu right before race with no water to wash it down: thumbs down. I had minor stomach cramps during the swim. What the heck was I thinking?
• I didn't test my goggles before starting the swim: thumbs down. Water leaked in right away and I had to adjust them within 50 feet of the start.
• I didn't test my bike before the race: thumbs down. Nothing went wrong, but I get a bad mark for just being lazy and stoopid.
• I tried Infinit for the whole race: thumbs up. Seemed like it worked well...need to keep using it for longer distances.

Other things I did right or wrong:

• I was straight as an arrow during the swim. I'm so proud of my sighting....I hit every frickin' buoy right on target. I could have touch every single one them.
• My transitions were a mess. I was disorganized and scatterbrained not to mention it took me forever to take off my wetsuit. During T2, I had noticed I had one bike shoe on and one running shoe on while I was taking off my helmet. Can't I just focus on one thing here? Plus, I forgot my race number and had to run back over the timing mat to go back into transition. I got yelled at but was allowed back in when they discovered my mistake.
• I walked through the transitions, I could tell I was the last in my age group but I didn't care, I just wanted to keep my heart rate down. I think it might have helped a tiny bit.
• I wasted time putting on and taking off bike gloves to bike only 24.6 miles...I could have lived with out the hassle.
• My bike went well and there was plenty of wind to cut through and a few hills to deal with. I did ok. I would have liked to have been faster but my breathing was labored for at least the first 13 miles.
• Fueling myself on the bike seems to be a reoccurring problem. I did not drink enough water and Infinit. I should have been done with both by the time I was done. I had too much left. That bad habit won't work with an endurance race.
• I carried a bottle of Infinit during the run. At this distance (6.3 miles), I was fine carrying it and drank at every aid station. It worked well but I will have to get a fuel belt for longer distances.
• I ran without walking; that in itself is a major accomplishment for me right now. I might have been slow but I didn't stop or walk. I felt pretty crappy in that I had shortness of breath and it felt as if I had a 20 lb weight on my chest. When will these iron pills start kicking in?

Even though I didn't feel great and was struggling, this race helped me to learn that I've got a lot of things to tweak.

My results:

Swim: 36:13 (2.13/100 split)
T1: 5:09
Bike: 1:25:29 (17.4 mph)
T2: 2:43
Run: 1:08:52 (11:05/mile)
Total: 3:18:28
Age group: 11 out of 11

(My mom always said, "Well someone has to bring up the rear".)

Please Excuse Me

2009-07-14T00:39:00.004-05:00

This post may have TMI! So stop right now...if you don't want to read about it.

It's a little after mid-night and I just want to crawl back in bed...but I can't. I'm currently working on flushing out my colon. Yes, how nice!

Excuse me...another bathroom break calls.

I'm writing this in between downing water containing electrolytes and making a nature call to the bathroom. Just to set the record straight, no it does not taste like gatorade rather it tastes like salt water and I'm at a point where I'm gagging every time I need to down another 8 oz of the nasty stuff. Yuch!

Today, was mentally challenging for me. No food whatsoever; I was on all liquid diet today. Last night, I went to Target and bought 10 -20 oz bottles of SoBe Lifewater (10 for $10 and you get a $5 Target Gift card). I bought all kinds of flavors. My favorites are Grape and Tangerine and my least favorite is Goji Melon. I got to say...these drinks really helped me get through the day. I was really worried

Excuse me...

As I was saying, I was really worried about getting a migraine without any food. I think I fooled my body, the SoBe Lifewater has so many vitamins in it, may be my body thought I actually ate something. I consumed 6 of the 10 bottles, and half a container each of grape and lime jello, plus 4 liters of the salt water crap. (well, almost 4 liters, I still have to consume 16 more ounces before I can go back to bed). My stomach only growled a few times today.

Excuse me....

Ugggggghhhhhhhhh! Just finished my last 8 oz! I tossed the last 8 oz down the drain. I'm not cheating, I'm just following instructions: "Your prep must be completed 6 hours prior to your procedure"

Excuse me...

I'm done with that sh*t! I think I've gone the bathroom 100 times today. I am soooooo cleaned out....in fact, I was pretty much cleaned out after the 1st half (2 liters) of the prep. It doesn't seem fair that this is probably the same amount a 200 lb man would have to consume. Shouldn't the amount depend upon your weight?

It's past 1 am now. I'm going to bed; of course not before I go the the bathroom a few more times.

Oh, in case ya'll are wondering, I'm having a colonoscopy and an endoscopy tomorrow (er, I mean today). Yes, I know TMI. Sorry.

Now if you would excuse me once again...

Part 2

It's now 2:30 pm and I just got from my nap. My procedure (it was at 7 am this morning) went really well today and I'm just glad that whole experience is over. The nurses prepped me within a half hour and then I was wheeled to the procedure room. The Doctor greeted me and the next thing you know I'm waking back up in the recovery room. Wow! I didn't even have a clue what had happened. The last time I was "put under" was back when I was a teenager and got my wisdom teeth pulled.

Other than being completely tired and groggy with a slight sore throat, I was good to go. The doctor came in told me that the procedure went well. I didn't have any polyps, therefore, no cancer. Real good news. My stomach was a bit irritated with gastric juices (?)...and so he prescribed a medicine for me. I didn't even know I had a stomach issue--it's probably because of the crap I had to drink last night. Anyway, no ulcers were found so no explanation yet for my anemia. The doctor did take a biopsy of my colon to determine if I have Celiac disease.

In the meantime, he wants me to have yet another test to check my small intestine out. This means I have to swallow a pill that is actually a camera. The camera will take pics as it flows through the system. Do I have to fast for this thing now? Not sure, I was too groggy to ask.

Ed was there waiting for me and helped me to the car. I instructed him to head straight for a breakfast restaurant. Boy, it was yumming too--I had an egg spinach and mushroom skillet with a side of chocolate chip pancakes. Ahhhh, food.

Open Water Swim Race-Crystal Lake

2009-07-11T21:12:00.002-05:00

What a good training day today! My alarm went off way too early for me this morning. Who gets out of a nice cozy bed at 4:30 am to go swimming? Crazy triathletes!

I met up with all the other crazies this morning at LifeTime Fitness...I believe there were nine of us. We packed in cars and drove up to Crystal Lake IL for the Open Water Swim Race (1 mile or 2 mile options). The weather was great and the perfect temperature. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in our group had a really good swim. We all had our little stories to tell afterwards (e.g. bad sighting, zig zag swimming, and annoying swimmers). Waddler made it under her time goal with confidence to boot; IronSnoopy and Moose swam like they never missed a beat (after having a "break" from their Ironman races); Dan and Kurt confirmed that they did indeed could handle a 2+ mile swim (ready for Ironman FL and WI); and I just wanted to feel relaxed and comfortable with a 1 mile open water swim... and I was. I just wanted to get r' done.

Afterwards, we all had a "cook-out" with some good eats. It was nice to sit around and just chit chat but training stories and other things that make us laugh. There were smiles all around. It was a good day.

I decided to get in a 3 hour ride today as well. It was a little windy but I pushed out 49 miles despite an annoying tingling and numbing feeling in my toes and feet for the last 15 miles. What's that all about? Any one have any theories on this? I've heard that bike fit can have something to do with it but I haven't changed anything on the bike to change my fit??? Well, anyway I finished with a very slow 3 mile run.

It was a good day.

Splashing, Pedaling, Panting (oh, er... I meant Dashing)!

It's all about the Iron

2009-07-06T14:57:00.007-05:00

Don't you know that you need iron to be an Ironman? Yeah, apparently so. And my doctors didn't think to check it.

The last I saw my Cardiologist, he wanted to prescribe beta blockers to bring my heart rate down. Before I left him, I asked him if a low iron count could possibly be the reason why I'm having all these issues with my heart rate as well as shortness of breath, fatigue, blurred vision and chest discomfort. He didn't give me an answer but ordered a blood test "just to be sure" I wasn't anemic. Results came in last week and the doctor's assistant told me to go back to my Primary Care Physician because my iron was low. I knew my iron level was low; it was no surprise since lately I have continually been rejected from giving blood due to a low hemoglobin count.

So back to my Primary Care Doctor I went. "Why are you here?" they ask. They hadn't received the blood test results yet and I hadn't seen it myself either. I waited in the examining room (it's beginning to have a familiar feel). There was a soft knock at the door and my primary doctor walks in the room...still no results yet. I tell her the story that the accompanied doctor from her office had sent me to the cardiologist and an eye doctor where I then have had a multitude of tests done. Blah, blah, blah. She then went to check to see if the fax came in. Soft knock at the door and she walks in again holding the fax. "Hmmmm. Well, I'm glad you are here" as she shakes her head..."your hemoglobin count is low but not too bad; however, your iron is really low." She shows me the results: Hemoglobin count 11.1 (should be between 11.7 and15.5 ); Iron count is 19 (should be between 40- 175 ) Iron saturation is 4% (should be between 15%- 50) and RDW or red cell distribution width is 20.4 %(should be between 11.0-15.0%). At my surprise, she starts apologizing for her colleague who had sent me to the Cardiologist and the eye doctor. She explains that that doctor (who is now no longer with her practice) should have ordered the blood tests from the get go. I say "Soooo...all my symptoms could be attributed to low iron?" She replys..."It has EVERYTHING to do with it, you're anemic!".

Oh my gosh. A simple blood test would have pointed me in the right direction, instead I now owe lots of money for tests I didn't need. The funny thing is, in the back of my mind I had a feeling that my iron was a primary culprit for my symptoms. I looked at the doctor and said "Hey, well the good news is that I know that I have healthy athletic heart!" She shakes her head again and apologizes another time. "Well, after all that I hate to tell you this but I have to have you get a colonoscopy". She then prescribed 975 mg of iron a day (I have to work up to that amount). There are three reasons why I might have low iron: (1) not enough iron intake (2) losing blood, e.g. ulcers or via the colon (thus the colonoscopy) or (3) it could be a hereditary condition (I won't go into this one right now--but is is certainly a possibility since my Dad has low iron and a bit anemic). Lastly, she advised me to exercise to the extent of what I could handle.

So another round of tests to come. I got to say, that honestly, I'm relieved....I feel as if I'm back on track and will hopefully figure out my medical mystery.
----------------------
*Anemia develops when there are not enough healthy red blood cells in the body. This condition can be detected when there is a below-normal level of hemoglobin in the blood. Hemoglobin is the iron-rich protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body. If you have anemia, your body doesn’t get enough oxygen-rich blood.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

2009-07-01T14:34:00.023-05:00

Thought I would share some of my favorite finds from salad dressing to bike shorts to water bottles:

Bolthouse Farms Salad Dressings:

These salad dressings taste so good you wouldn't know they were made of yogurt! No trans fat, no hydrogenated oils, no artificial colors or sugar added, and no high fructose corn syrup. My favorite, Blue Cheese, has 70 calories and 6.5 fat grams per serving. And they just came out with a vinaigrette line...with only 30 calories and 0 fat grams. Great alternative to mayonaise based dressings. Two thumbs up! (Btw, these dressings are located in the refrigerated area in your grocery store's produce section).

http://www.bolthouse.com/

Louis Garneau Women's Flora Short

I wore these shorts twice now and am in complete love! They cost me a few bucks more than your normal bike short but so well worth it. I WILL get my money's worth on this buy! Initially I thought these shorts were just bike shorts, but when I got them home and looked at the tag, they state "Triathlon Specific". Who hoo, bonus! On the comfort scale, they are top-rated. I love the material (not your typical lycra shorts) and they don't death grip your thighs. Oh, so comfortable. I have yet to try them in water yet but if all I do is ride in them....still well worth it! I got them at Performance Bike.

TP Therapy Products

Ok, I admit, I don't use my rollers as much as I should. But Trigger Point therapy is great for all sorts of ailments. Sure, it can hurt (the hip roller especially), but that means it's working. And it has been. Knock on wood, I haven't had any IT band issues this year.

http://tptherapy.com/

Stevia

What is Stevia? Stevia is a South American herb that has been used as a sweetener by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay for hundreds of years. The leaves of this small, green Stevia rebaudiana plant have a delicious and refreshing taste that can be 30 times sweeter than sugar.

It is a natural, non-toxic, calorie-fee sweetener. It is essentially a much better alternative to sugar and artificial sweetners. You can check out their website for more info. But how does it taste? It taste good; I use it in my tea (hot or cold) and really like the taste. I've noticed that sometimes it doesn't dissolve completely but I can live with that. (Btw, you don't need much...a little goes a long way).

http://www.stevia.com/

Eddie Bauer Water Bottle

This water bottle is da bomb! It's BPA-free and features a removable freezer stick. At the beginning of this year I vowed to drastically reduce the amount of "throw away" water bottles I use. So I tried, Polar water bottles, which aren't bad but if I'm not on a bike or running, I really don't want to drink from a sports type bottle. This one has a straw and flip top opening. The freezer stick helps keep the liquid cold and the bottle doesn't smell or taste of plastic. Bonus for me... I have this quirky habit of not tightening bottles, jars, toothpaste caps, you name it, so I typically end up spilling. (Ask Ed how many times I didn't tighten something and have it spill all over the place). With this bottle ...I just have to flip the sipper. As long as I just flip the sipper back in place, no spillage when I tip the bottle over. It comes in some cool colors too....I got the orange as shown above. (It's on sale now for $5.99 with any purchase).

http://www.eddiebauer.com

MacBook Pro

I (or my company) bought a new computer (it's good to be an owner sometimes). Strike that...it's not just a computer, it's a 15" MacBook Pro and it ROCKS! My 10+ year old iMac just wasn't cutting it, it served me well but I couldn't stand how slow it seemed. The power that these new computers have is simply awesome. And the portability of a laptop is fun. I'm sitting in my big brown chair just a typin' away and watching the Cubs game. I'm a happy camper with my new Mac.

http://www.apple.com/

Endurance Nation

Work works! That's their motto within the walls of EN. I gotta say, it's been working for me. I've had a couple of a-ha moments out on the bike. In short, I'm faster than I was last year and I'm able to keep a faster pace longer. I know I'm struggling right now due to my heart rate issues but having a solid structured triathlon plan gives me confidence that this lofty goal is attainable. Coaches Rich and Patrick give sound advice and keep you pointed in the right direction. The entire group of EN members are extremely supportive and also ready and willing to give you advice on anything and everything. I love drinking the EN kool-aid...want some? (They are currently closed to new members and have a wait list.)

http://endurancenation.us/

Well, that's it for now folks...hope you like a few of my favorite things! Do you have any to share?

What the Doc Says

2009-06-24T21:40:00.002-05:00

Today I had an appointment with my cardiologist to review my recent tests and discuss my heart rate issues. He began the discussion with the results of the tests I had taken which included an Echocardiogram, Holter Box, and a Stress Test. Good news, he says, I have a healthy athletic heart. Nothing wrong. Ok, good. Also, good news, I am not going crazy. Even though the tests came back as "normal", they did confirm that I experience abnormally high heart rate upon exertion or exercise. The Holter Box (measured by heart rhythm and heart rate in a 24 hour period) showed that my resting heart rate while at sleep was 41 bpm but also showed a high of 176 bpm while I was running. Doc says I have a very strong athletic heart.

He sympathized with my frustration in training with such a high heart rate... explaining that my heart is very senistive to adrenaline and that my heart acts as if I'm running a 50 yard dash when my body is actually only running at a marathon pace. He noted that it appears that I don't have a zone 1, 2, 3 and that within minutes of exertion, my heart rate is at zones 4 or 5. Because of this, I experience discomfort and shortness of breath...my heart can not go any harder or faster; I have essentially maxed out within a short time frame. Imagine running a sprint and how you feel, winded and out of breath, right? Now imagine having that feeling for 3 miles, or 6 miles even though your body is only moving at a slow pace. That's what I feel. I have my good days and my bad days; but apparently, race days just aggrevate the situation even more.

Doc says he wants me to see a guy who works with athletes and heart rate/zone training. If that doesn't work, he said there is a 50% chance he would have to put me on medicine (beta blockers). It was kind of funny, cause' at that point I showed him my heart rate numbers for the Sprint. His eyes got wide and he exclaimed, "Wow, 220 bpm!" He then change my chances of taking the medication to 80%.

I also told the Doc that I had low iron (a fact I had forgotten to tell him during our first meeting). I've been repeatedly rejected to give blood due to my low hemoglobin count (low iron). My Dad is considered to be anemic which could be genetic. I'm going to have my blood drawn to make sure that I'm not anemic (high heart rate upon exertion is a symtom).

Well, that's my medical update for now. More to come later, hopefully I can get a handle on my adrenaline monster.

Naperville Tri Sprint Results

2009-06-15T20:50:00.003-05:00

The first triathlon race of the year is over. And I'm happy that it is done...cause I just want to move on. It was a "D" race for me. I didn't train specifically for a sprint; it was merely a stepping stone for what lies ahead. This was my fifth year doing the race and my slowest result:

Swim: 13:32
T1: 5:15
Bike: 46:57
T2: 3:19
Run: 33:21
1:42:23
---------------------
2008: 1:39:12
2007: 1:40:18
2006: 1:38:38
2005: 1:38:11
---------------------
Race Morning (It was gorgeous weather) :

4:30 am Alarm went off
Got ready per plan
Lost car keys
Stayed calm, looked for 5-10 minutes -- decided to use spare set
Loaded Sharkie* on my bike rack
5:10 am Drove to race
Bike fell off rack while driving
Stayed calm, picked up Sharkie and apologized, loaded bike back on rack
5:40 am Found good parking spot
Unloaded Sharkie to discover chain fell off
Stayed calm, fixed chain
5:45 am Found good spot in transition area
Laid out all my gear
Took Sharkie for a test ride, doing fine
6:10 am Found Waddler in transition
Both agreed that we should have just did a training ride today, but too late now
6:10 am --7:52 am Fretted about not wearing a wet suit (about 80--85% of the racers had wetsuits), water temp was 71º
6:55 am Wish Waddler the best as she gets in her wave (#4)
7:00 am Race starts and the pros are off
7:12 am Waddler's wave starts, as always she has a big smile on her face
7:46 am I'm in the corral waiting for my wave start, look down at my HR monitor...my HR is 211 bpm! (Yes, it was 211 bpm, this is not a misprint). Ok, I'm breathing fine and I'm not in any panic mode. Is my watch faulty or did I just get a huge jolt of adrenaline?
7:50 am Our wave is moved to the start line, I jump up and down in the water...trying to acclimate myself to the coolness of the water. I wave to Ed...my number one fan and supporter. (He says since he's not athletic he might as well be an "athletic supporter".)
7:52 am The gun goes off and my wave starts. I put my face in the water, and have trouble breathing out. I don't panic. Still shallow water, so I just stood up and ran a little in the water. I tried again, with better results. The swim was what I expected, lots of thrashing, kicking, and elbows flying. I did my best to find open water, that's a difficult task (the course is zig zag with 5 turns).

I felt a bit exhausted coming out of the water, I wanted to walk up the beach and through transition but I jogged instead. In hindsight, it might have been a good idea to walk. I took my time in T1. I was winded and just wanted to catch my breath. I got on Sharkie and took off on the bike. My goal was to just keep a good steady pace. My HR monitor was showing my HR to be 178 bpm. 16- 17 mph---I wasn't even pushing myself. What is freaking going on? Eventually, my pace got up to 22 mph and fluctuated between 17 and 22 mph for the length of the course. (There was a bad headwind on the way back in). My heart rate stayed steady around 173 bpm. I felt as if I just couldn't push myself any faster, I was too winded. My legs wanted to go but my chest said "no way".

I finished on the bike, with no mechnical problems. That's always a good thing. Change to running shoes in T2, and feeling like crap. I want to walk. I want to walk badly. I push myself instead to start running. I'm running slow, really slow and I don't care. My HR still hasn't come down. I just want to finish this stupid race and stop running. Why didn't Waddler and I just go biking today? My ankle is hurting too, the darn timing chip strap is digging into my skin. (Later, I discovered that the strap had broken skin, and I was bleeding)

1 mile down, I wanted to walk; 2 miles down; I wanted to walk, 3 miles down....is this race over yet? A lady who had been following my slow-turtle like pace the entire distance, comes up besides me and tells me that if it wasn't for me, she would have walked (I guess she liked the pace I was doing). That's funny, cause I really, really wanted to walk. She is now encouraging me to keep the pace going. I feel myself fading or either that, she's picking up the pace. I can't keep up with her. It's too hard. She looks back and waves me forward....now I'm trying to keep up with her and finish this damn race. I see Ed, and he cheers me on, then I see the finish line and make a dash for it. I cross the line, thankful it's over.

My HR registered an average of 174 bpm with a max of 22o bpm. I didn't want this race report ending up to be all about my heart rate but unfortunately, that's what it has become. These are ridiculous numbers. I don't know when the 220 bpm happened, I suspect at the start of the race when the gun went off. Before, ya'll write that I need to see a doctor...well I have seen one already. I've had multiple heart tests taken and all have come back with "normal" results. Doctor (Cardiovascular) says my heart might just be "sensitive" to adrenaline. You think? In a few weeks, I see him again for a follow up visit. I just want to get some control over this heart rate issue, it's driving me crazy and it's inhibiting my racing.

On the good side of things, I found Ed, Waddler, IronSnoopy and Moose all at the finish line. It was great to see all of them. Thanks IronSnoopy and Moose for coming out and cheering us on!

Great job Waddler. This weekend, let's just ride.

Outseason Complete and R&R Time

2009-06-08T15:09:00.002-05:00

My 16 week Outseason training is done as of last week. Here are my final numbers:

Bike (42 minute Time Trial which includes 2 minute recovery at the 20 minute mark)

Week 1:

Weight: 147 lbs
Distance: 13.72 miles
Speed: 19.6 mph
LTHR: 166 bpm (Lactate Threshold Heart Rate)
FTP: 177 watts (power)

Week 16:

Weight: 144 lbs
Distance: 16.96 miles
Speed: 24.2 mph
LTHR: 160 bpm (Lactate Threshold Heart Rate--Avg HR during test)
FTP: 225 watts (power)

Run

Week 1
Weight: 147 lbs
Distance: 3.1 miles
Time: 33:10
Pace: 10:42/mile
LTHR: 174 bpm
vdot: 27

Week 16
Weight: 144 lbs
Distance: 6.2 miles
Time: 1:06:40
Pace: 10:45/mile
LTHR: 169 bpm
vdot: 28

Well, got to say, that I'm very happy with my bike numbers and not so much with my running numbers. I'm showing a 19% improvement on bike speed and a 21% increase on power. That's not too shabby! My numbers on the run (regarding pace) are not showing much improvement at all but there is one significant improvement I see with the run. My heart rate is lower on average. My first week's run, I averaged 174 bpm for 3.1 miles. It's tough to run with a high heart rate... it isn't real pleasant and it's something I been struggling to control (if there is even a way to control it). At week 16, I ran 6.2 miles with an average heart rate of 169 bpm. To me, lowering my HR by 5 beats is a good start. I want to see this number keep going down to a more comfortable level.

So far the EN plan is working for me. I've completed the 16 week Outseason plan and now I get to have a little R&R (no structured plan) for another week. I've been swimming a bit at the Naperville Centennial Beach (man-made beach) in preparation for the Women's Naperville Sprint this Sunday. The water has been in the mid-60's --can you say "frigid". Whew! I've been doing my best to brave the cold water temps; I really don't want to fuss with a wetsuit for a sprint distance tri.

Tonight, I might just go for an easy 30-40 min run or do an easy spin on my bike. Not sure yet, that's what's nice about a rest week. I'm looking forward to the Sprint this weekend...it's a great race to start the season.

This past weekend, I did nothing as far as running or biking. I was on vacation from training. Ed, Kate, and I went to Cincinnati to see the Cubs play the Reds. Unfortunately, I ended up in the first aid office at the Great American Ball Park; I got hit with another killer migraine. Ughhh! I'm not sure what is worse, the excruciating headache or the nauseating stomach. Put them together and they make for a killer team. I didn't let the combo ruin my day, however. Luckily the Advil and the Cherry Coke kicked in by the 5th or 6th inning and I was free from my misery and enjoyed the rest of the 11 inning game.

A little side note: While I was lying down in the first aid office, ice pack on my head, white as a ghost, hovering over a waste can, crying and making sounds like a dying cat, a little boy came in with a toothache. He was crying too. He looked over at me with wide eyes and all of the sudden, his pain seemed to disappear. He stopped crying, took some Children's Tylenol and wanted to get the heck out of there. Two more adults came in with bad "headaches"; they looked at me and said "Wow....I guess it could be worse"...and wished me well even though I was a Cubs fan.

Sunday, Ed, Kate and I explored Cincinnati on a Ducks (water/land) tour. We were given little yellow bills that quacked when you blew into them. We quacked on the Ohio river and quacked to the song of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" when we went by the Stadium. (Sorry, no pics).
Later we enjoyed a nice seafood lunch on the Kentucky side of the river. It was a nice little "getaway". I'm going to enjoy the rest of this week...there won't be much "vacation time" on the horizon.

Long Run & First Bike Outdoors

2009-05-18T12:25:00.006-05:00

(I know I'm a little late in writing this...)

It was a good training weekend for me. Saturday, the weather was cool and windy. (Again). The temperature was good for running, but I just couldn't bear to run my normal running route with the wind. I decided to head over to Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve for a change of scenery and some protection from Mother Nature's wind. My friend, Jeff, decided to run with me (he's had signed up for a 1/2 Mary). With not much miles under his belt for the year, and the race only weeks away, he figured he'd ought to "get going" with his training.

We started out on the trail and to my delight, I reveled in the breezy but not windy conditions. The trees were standing tall guarding us against the wind. I wanted to hug them all. The path was crushed gravel/limestone which also seemed easier on the legs. Jeff and I began and unfortunately, at 3/4 mile, Jeff had to slow down to a walk. He was breathing heavy and totally unconditioned for the run. I was surprised; I thought he would have been able to pull off a few miles before walking. He urged me to continue on without him and so off I went.

Of course, my heart rate shot up into the 160's and bounced up and down between 163 and 177 with a max of 185. Oh my heart. An 11 minute mile was about all I could handle....so I kept with it, not daring to go much faster. I ran to the 3.25 mile point, where the path was flooded from the previous days' rain. At that point, turning around seemed like a good idea. I walked for about 2 minutes and downed a GU and some water. That's the first time I had tried a gel of any sort. It really wasn't too bad. I started running back and eventually ran into Jeff coming the other direction. He told me both his calves were cramping up on him. Ouch! I told him to keep drinking his water and to walk. Again, he urged me on and away I went.

I got to the starting point and was a 1/2 mile shy of 7 miles. Again, I turned around to so as to complete the 7. I was proud of my run and did a solid 11 minute mile pace. I met up with Jeff and we walked back to the start of the trail.

That evening, I picked up my brother, Keith, from O'Hare; he lives in Connecticut and came in to town for my Aunt's funeral. My Aunt Maddie had past away the Wednesday before. She was a wonderful, full-of-life, feisty type of woman. She always had a smile on her face and a joke to tell. Aunt Maddie will be missed.

I had arranged to borrow a bike, helmet and shoes from my friend Jeff so that Keith could ride with Waddler and I and the Lifetime Fitness Group on Sunday morning (my first outside ride of the year). We bundled up (another cool and windy day) and rode to the meet-up site (less than a mere mile from my house). Keith asked me about the terrain of the course we would be taking and asked if we had any hills. I laughed. "Not exactly, Keith. It's pancake flat with a few minscule hills. But watch out for the wind. No matter what direction you go, you'll feel like you are in a headwind or cross wind." As we were riding to the start, Keith exclaims "Boy, you weren't kidding about the wind!". I yell out "Yeah, and it really isn't that bad today."

The group decided to break up into two groups; the advanced group was going to do 35 miles at a faster pace and the second group was going to do 14 miles at a slower pace. Waddler and I were in a pickle, neither group sounded right for us. We chose the 35 mile group as did my brother Keith. Keith "said" he just wanted to hang with me and Waddler. But as soon as the advance riders got going, Keith shot out like a cannon and held tight to the lead group. Waddler and I on the other hand didn't fair so well. After I had to stop and check a tire, we were dropped from the group rather fast. See ya Keith!

After Waddler and I took a wrong turn, we made an executive decision to shorten the ride and do our own thing. We actually did get a tail wind at one point but then turned around for a brutal headwind. Our ride ended up being 26 miles long. Boy, I felt beat up. I better get used to it...I've got a long training season a head of me.

Keith came rolling in shortly after with a big grin on his face. He was so happy that he was able to keep up with the lead group. I asked him how the ride was. He replied "It's different...I'm so used to rolling hills and a lot less wind." Welcome to Illinois Keith.

At the visitation and funeral (Monday and Tuesday) for my Aunt Maddie, we saw many of our relatives. Keith chose this opportunity to tell everyone that he "dropped" his sister on our bike ride. He was very proud of that fact. Thanks Keith, thanks alot.

I know his "bragging" was all in fun. I'm glad he got to ride with us and experience a little of the mid-west riding.
--------------------------
Last night (Wednesday), Waddler, IronSnoopy (it was great to see you), and I went to the Glen Ellyn Runners club meeting. We met Snips and Moose there. Although, I not exactly training for a marathon, I thought it would be a good idea to join the club for the camaradie and support during the long runs.
----------------------------
Beach2Battleship Triathlon Half Distance is full...but there is still room for the Full-Iron Distance for any takers!

Still Running Against the Wind

2009-05-10T18:13:00.003-05:00

"Against the wind
I'm still running against the wind
Well I'm older now but still running
Against the wind"

Dear Mother Nature*:

Ok, I'm tired. I give up. Just like Waddler, I've had enough. What did we do to make you mad and how the heck can we make it up to you? Please, please stop the wind gusts, you know, what I'm talking about....the 25- 40 mph wind gusts. I really don't like fighting but every time I go for a run or want to go for a bike ride, it's either cold, rainy, windy or a combination of the three. It's hard enough to get a decent run or bike in, let alone fighting three of your personality traits.

Please give us a break soon, we are amatuers at this Iron-distance stuff...mentally and physically you're breaking us down; you're really crushing our spirits. I almost caved in and ran on the treadmill today. Sure the temps were reasonable (60+ degrees), but oh the wind! I haven't been enjoying any of my runs lately and you are really not helping things. I'm not sure how much more I can take....please take it easy on us.

Can we be friends again?

TriSharkie

(*Note: Good idea, Waddler. I figure if enough of us write a note to MN, maybe, just maybe, she'll hear us).

Run On My Friends!

2009-05-01T14:54:00.003-05:00

Good Luck to Waddler and Snips. They are running in the Indy 500 Mini 1/2 Marathon Saturday.

Tear up the road Ladies!

The Frustration of Weight Loss...

2009-04-20T13:24:00.002-05:00

...or the lack of it. Ok, that is not entirely true. Since January, I have lost 4 lbs. Which means I'm losing an average of 1 lb/month. Most people who lose weight lose a 1 lb or more a week. It is just so frustrating to see my numbers barely moving from week to week. Yes, I admit, it's better than nothing and it's certainly better than going up on the scale.

My sister and I were emailing each other this morning about how frustrating the weight loss process is. Grab a fitness magazine or listen to a fitness expert...they all have something different to say. For instance, here are a few examples: incorporate strength training into your routine; burn 500 calories a day and take in x number of calories; take in more carbs; eat more if you exercise more than normal; eat less carbs and more protein; "calories in" should be less than your "calories out"; change your routine; etc. I'm not refuting any of these methods but it can be overwhelming and sometimes confusing when methods contradict each other. What exactly is the right recipe for each individual?

I like to think that if I eat healthy and exercise enough, that weight loss would be a natural by-product. (Notice: I said "think".) Apparently this is not necessarily true. I eat healthy...I'm not perfect...but for the most part I know I eat I like should. I don't eat at any fast food places and avoid anything fatty. I don't binge. I do like sweets but limit my in-take (e.g. one small NY Peppermint patty after lunch and possibly 1 fudgecicle after dinner). I eat lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and protein. I try to limit carbs especially anything white (rice, flour, sugar, etc). I mostly drink water; I nixed any soda or sugary drinks. I do have about 2-3 glasses of red wine a week and occasionally a margarita sneaks in.

So where am I going wrong? My sister suggested we count calories for 1 week. I really dislike counting calories which is why rarely do it. I'm not one who wants to measure everything I put in my mouth. What a pain. But I'm hoping that it will shed some light on my eating habits and what I'm doing wrong if anything.

I decided to go to SparkPeople.com; I had signed up in the fall of 2006 and since stopped tracking my progress. At that time, I had lost weight and wanted to lose more. When I had signed up, I was 134 lbs and my goal weight was 128 lbs. Oh my gosh! What a shock! I had forgotten that I was down to 134 lbs at one time. This past Dec/Jan I had peaked at 148-149 lbs. My highest weight ever was somewhere between 152-155 lbs. I never want to get that high again.

Let's recap. My lowest recent weight (2 years ago) is now my goal weight (134 lbs). If I could lose 10-12 lbs....I would be ecstatic! Ecstatic... I tell you! At least, I know I've been there before; let's hope I can get there again.

And so the calorie counting begins!

Progress is happening!

2009-04-03T15:03:00.007-05:00

It is now week 8 for me in my out-season plan. (Although, I just figured out that I was repeating week #6 several times---Yeah, I thought it was a little weird that my workouts weren't progressing. Oh well).

Even though I was going around in circles repeating week #6 (I guess I kept forgetting to flip the page on my plan) I do have something to say about progress! Here are my results from my bike tests:

Week 1:
Weight 147 lbs
Distance 13.72 miles
Time 42 minutes
Speed 19.6 mph
LTHR 166 bpm
FTP 177 watts
W/kg 2.6

Week 4:
Weight 146 lbs
Distance 14 miles
Time 42 minutes
Speed 20.0 mph
LTHR 165 bpm
FTP 190 watts
W/kg 2.9

Week 8:
Weight 145 lbs
Distance 15.8 miles
Time 42 minutes
Speed 22.6* mph
LTHR 168 bpm
FTP 202** watts
W/kg 3.1

*15.3% increase in speed from week 1
**14% increase in power/watts from week 1

Warm-up: 10-15 minute easy spin including 3 x 30" spin ups and 3x 2 minutes in zone 3.
Test: Cycle hard for 20 minutes, rest for 2 minutes (easy spin), and cycle hard again for 20 minutes. (test times include rest time).

LTHR: (Avg Heart Rate)
FTP: (Power--Watts)
W/kg (watts per kilogram -weight)

It's cool to see those numbers improving! Yeah!

How do you make a mountain out of a mole hill?

2009-03-31T22:47:00.003-05:00

Today, I was suppose to ride 1 hour on my bike and followed it up with a 40 minute easy (zone 1) run which should include 5 x 30 second hill climbs. The bike was no problem...jumped on Sharkie and an hour later my bike was done. My run turned into a run/jog/walk in order to keep my heart rate low and in zone 1. I don't think the brutal cold wind helped at all.

In any case, I did the best I could with the whole heart rate issue. But I have another problem. Hills. They simply don't exist around my house. It's pancake flat. Now, don't get me wrong I could probably jump in my car and drive 20 min to find some sort of a hill or something that resembles one. But there are no hills near my home where I run.

What do I do when my training plan requires me to do 5 x 30 sec hill climbs? I found a very weak-looking/wanna-be-a-hill-when-it-grows-up-someday spot on my run. I ran up it 5 times. It was pathetic. I'm not sure how or if it did anything for me.

So, tell me...are there any other options to simulate hill climbs? I was thinking of possibly running up the the stairs of a nearby high school football stand---would that work?

Stationary Bike and Treadmill Hell

2009-03-28T21:16:00.004-05:00

The other night Waddler and I went to see the movie "The Spirit of the Marathon". On the way there, Waddler asked how my EN training was going. I replied "good, I actually like the interval training." I then went on to explain how going hard and fast for 10-12 minutes straight helps relieve the boredom on a bike trainer. Another added benefit to interval training is after the interval is done, the riding just seems easier. My only hiccup with my training is not the training itself but the disruptions/obstacles I come across when I try to train.

Unfortunately, I have to make a trip to Decatur IL, which is 3 hours south of the Chicago area, every week or every other week for business. Sometimes I drive 3 hours to the warehouse, do my work and then drive 3 hours back home in a single day. Other times I stay the night and go back the next day. Somehow I usually find the time to squeeze in my work-out but other obstacles abound as I find myself stuck in "Stationary Bike and Treadmill Hell".

Decatur, unfortunately, is a depressed industrial town. With the exception of McDonalds you will hardly find any chain restaurants, stores, or fitness facilities in the city. Locally owned stores and restaurants are all that can thrive. This isn't a bad thing; I'm all for the small-business owner's success....it's just that options are slim in Decatur. I have found a decent fitness center literally across the street from the warehouse that has a decent selection of workout equipment (or so I thought).

A few weeks ago, after working in the warehouse for the day I headed over to the fitness center for a bike workout. As I was climbing the stairs to where all 4 of the stationary bikes were, I overheard an instructor mention a spin class that was starting in a few minutes. My ears perked...there was a spin room? Hmmmm. I kindly asked the instructor if I could join in. He was extremely pleasant but explained I wouldn't be able to spin since the class was already full (via prior sign up). My shoulders slumped and I quickly deflated. He then suggested that if there were any open bikes from someone who didn't show he would come get me. Ok....coool.

Meanwhile, I went to the bikes and picked one. Two minutes into spinning, my butt was killing me! I adjusted seat... no good. I adjusted seat a second time, still no good. OMG, this hurts! I was staring at the clock and hoping the instructor would come save me from this torture. Fifteen minutes into the painful ride....I had had enough with bike #1. I hopped onto bike #2 to find out that it was just as bad as bike #1. Did I mention that bike #1 and #2 did not have any pedal straps. The resistance was at a relatively low level but I felt like I was mashing the pedals. Smooth and easy wasn't happening today.

After 10 minutes on bike#2, I switched to bike #3. The seat still sucked but at least this one had foot straps. I managed to do about 20 minutes on this bike but still struggled with the resistance levels. I was uncomfortable with the my position on the bike and my legs were burning. Again, I had had enough. Onto bike #4. 5 minutes on this one and I called it day for the stationary bikes. On days like this, I sorely miss my bike, Sharkie.

I then went over to the treadmills to get in a short run. It was a high-tech machine and for the life of me I couldn't get it started. Push start---check....push incline---nothing....push speed---nothing. Over and over again I did this scenario and the belt wouldn't budge. I had no clue what I was doing wrong...so I just kept pushing buttons. Eventually the belt started moving and I got in my run.

Last week, I was in Decatur for the night and decided to run on the treadmill in the fitness center of the hotel due to the threatening rainy skies outside. As I walked into the tiny room with 3 pieces of fitness equipment all which are old and decrepit, I immediately felt the heat. It was like a frickin' sauna in there! I looked around for a thermostat. Nope. I turned on the lonely fan in the room which was pointed down. I tried to point the fan toward the treadmill, but the fan was broken and would only cool the floor below. Oh how lovely. Regardless, I was determined to get my workout in. Within minutes I was sweating buckets. It was suffocating. Luckily, I had one of those "easy" workouts where I needed to stay in zone 1 for the whole run. Of course, my heart rate skyrocketed to high levels--way too high for a zone 1 workout. I walked and my heart rate came down . I welcomed the "walk" at this point. I again started running and managed to keep my heart rate down for the majority of the work out.

Well, today the weather in Chicago area just plain sucks. It's windy and cold and rainy. It sucks. My game plan was to go to my fitness center and jump on a spin bike then run 25 minutes on the treadmill. I looked at Sharkie in my bedroom and remembered how crappy it is to ride on spin bikes and stationary bikes. So I changed my plans. Plan #2 was to ride Sharkie for my bike workout for an hour and then drive to my fitness center for the run portion of the workout. My fitness center is about 10-15 minutes away.

I had a great workout on Sharkie and then I looked outside. I convinced myself that it didn't look so bad. Screw it...I'm not going to the fitness center. So I bundled up for an outdoor run. I must have looked like a crazy person...who in their right mind would run in weather like this? Me.... I am usually such a sissy about riding or running in cold, crappy weather. I hate it. But the thought of another treadmill gave me enough motivation to brave the elements. Bring it on!

Surprisingly enough, it didn't seem too bad. It was cold and really windy. Just pain crappy. The rain started mid-way through my run. But I was ok. I was ok and it felt good. And I finished. Another little milestone for me. Mentally, this was great for me...I feel as if I am getting tougher and will get more and more comfortable with the my outside workouts.

LTF Indoor Triathlon

2009-03-15T21:24:00.003-05:00

It's the middle of March, and I can't believe I'm saying that I finished my first triathlon of the year! And it was an interesting one at that. Waddler, of course, made sure I signed up for the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon. And what a dear friend she is; she also made sure that we were signed up for the first wave starting sharply at 7 am. (I, personally, thinks she likes to torture me by making me get up so darn early on a Sunday morning---which should be reserved for "sleeping in". I believe Wadder is foreign to this idea). I guess I better get used to it....there is going to be a lot of early-rising work outs this year.

I arrived at the fitness center promptly at 6:15 am to greet Waddler and to finally meet Snips, Waddler's running pal. What a hoot she is... Love her! Opposite from me, Snips loved the idea of getting up uber-early; well, at least she had a grin big enough for the two of us.

We signed in and were given our race numbers: Me (#3), Snips (#4) and Waddler (#5). 80 people signed up for the race and 73 participated. The race is scored on distance rather than time. We were given 10 minutes to swim (lap pool), 10 minutes to transition, 30 minutes to bike (spin cycles), 5 minutes to transition, and 20 minutes to run (treadmill). The distance covered in each category earned you "points"; the total number of points determined your rank in comparison to every one else.

Swim

Since Snips and I were (#4 and 3 respectively), we were in the same lane together while Waddler was in the lane next to us. Snips seemed a little apprehensive about the swim; it was a little intimidating since many of the people in the first wave Waddler knew from her Master's Swim class. I told Snips not to worry about anyone else---just swim. 30 seconds before the start, I lean over and tell Snips that "...it is very common for people to go out too fast at the start of the race. Again, don't worry about them." The whistle is blown and I bust out. In the first 30 seconds of the race I find myself doing what I didn't want to do; I went out too fast. Doh! I'm breathing too fast; maybe I should listen to what I say more often. I get my breathing somewhat under control but I wasn't truly comfortable. I did my best to keep a steady pace and to breathe. I wish I knew what my heart rate was, it felt a little high. I heard lots of noises of bystanders yelling and cheering---but couldn't understand one word. Toward what I thought was the end, I started lifting my head out of the water to see what was going on. With one minute left on the clock, I did my best to pick up the pace; I wanted to get to the end of the pool before time ran out. I was close but no cigar. I came up short about 6-10 feet from the end of the pool. My final length count was 17-1/2. Not too bad since I hadn't been doing much swim training.

Snips, Waddler, and I congratulated each other on the first leg of the race and ran into the locker rooms for transition 1. I was proud of Snips, she did great for hardly (or no) swim training.

Bike

As we ran into the spin cycle room, there to greet us was IronSnoopy and Moose (volunteering). I wanted to chat with them but being it was a race and all I had to stay somewhat focused, right? As we all got our bikes ready to go and seats adjusted, we were given the ok to start the bike. With the first few turns of the pedal, Waddler and I quickly realized that the resistance levels on the bikes were too much and we couldn't do a darn thing about it. Our resistance knobs were ducted taped...dang! We looked over at each other and grimaced....looks like we were going to have to spin 30 minutes uphill. The men didn't seem to have a problem with it, but the women were struggling. I noticed that all the women in our wave had to stand on the pedals to get some relief from the mashing. I wasn't a happy camper. I felt "the bike" was one of my strong areas, but not today. I watched my heart rate, it was stuck in the low 170's. I couldn't bring it down. Oh did I mention, the air conditioning wasn't working. No one could figure out the thermostat since it was on a timer and it didn't adjust for daylight savings time. Can you say boiler room?

One poor woman in our wave, passed out and fell off her bike. Volunteers rushed to her aid and so did Waddler. (Waddler-they should have given you an extra mile for that. You abandoned your bike and went to her aid. Way to go my friend!) Luckily, the woman who passed out turned out to be ok and was given the once over by the paramedics. And to all our surprise, she finished the race!

The best part of the bike was when the song "Pour Some Sugar On Me" came on; I get so pumped up with that song. I started to sing as loud as I could but I found myself gasping for air instead. At that point, I was ready to get off the uphill spin cycle. I finished at 9.1 miles.

Once again, our little trio celebrated the second segment of the race and dashed off to the treadmills.

Run

I'm not a fast runner, but I decided to push myself a little today. I wanted to finish 2 miles in 20 minutes. My legs felt pretty good on the run. It was my heart rate that I wish I could control. Again, my heart rate was high; it was well into the mid 170's and it reached a high of 185 bpm. I did my best to zone out and just focus on myself...I was determined to do 2 miles despite the heart rate issue. Staring straight ahead for 20 minutes (I wouldn't allow myself to look at anyone else around me). I was on a mission. 1 minute to go, I stepped on the gas a little harder, I wanted to make sure I made it over 2 miles (I had to compensate for starting the treadmill from zero). As I pushed the pause button when I heard the words "STOP" I looked down at my distance...it was right on the 2.00 mile. I did it. Yeah!

Sweating and smiling, I looked over at Waddler and Snips; we all had finished our first Indoor Triathlon. We congratulated each other and headed for the showers. Afterwards, we headed for the cafe to chat. Yes, it was a minor accomplishment but we had fun and reveled in the spirit of being triathletes.

Thanks to all the volunteers...including Corbin (Waddler's son), IronSnoopy, Moose, Kurt, and Dan! And it was a nicely run event by Coach Steve and Bob.

Final Place: 24th out of 40 women

ROAD TRIP!

2009-03-04T13:10:00.002-06:00

Whoo hooo! Ed and I are leaving for Savannah GA as soon as I get out of work for the day! This will be our first "road trip" together which means lots of windshield time (note: we have taken numerous vacations via plane) . I'm excited just to be getting out of dodge. Work has been stressful and I'm so tired of the cold weather.

We plan on stopping in Asheville, NC for a day then onto our final destination, Savannah. Alicia (Ed's sister), Andy (Ed's brother-in-law) and Grant (Ed's nephew) now live in Savannah after a job change. Ed and I have been to Savannah several times now to visit. It's a great city to visit and we always enjoy spending time with all of them. Ed and I usually bring our golf clubs but due to time constraints we probably won't get a chance to hit the little white ball on this vacation getaway.

I was a little worried about how I was going to get my workouts in for the week without Sharkie. Ed suggested we put Sharkie in the backseat of his car and when we have some spare time in Asheville and Savannah, I can just pull Sharkie out and go for a ride. Sounds good to me.

Note to Waddler: You've got competition, girl! I've signed up for the Lifetime Indoor Tri on March 15. See ya when I get back into town!

Happy trails!

Completion of Week 1: EN Out Season

2009-02-16T15:28:00.005-06:00

Last Monday, I officially started my Endurance Nation (EN) Out-Season Plan. 16 weeks of Out-Season (OS) training, then it's 2 weeks of transition...8 weeks of basic training...12 weeks of race training and BAM...It's race day!!!

The out season is the plan before the plan. It's 16 weeks of HARD work. Now, I'm not saying that everyone else is not working hard within their plans....this is how EN defines their Out Season. EN focuses on interval training by pushing your threshold limits. Basically, if you train fast you will get faster. If you train slow, you will continue to be slow.

AND I am slow, especially on the run. It will be interesting if and how my time trials change over the next 16 weeks. Here are results for my first two tests (tests are done every 4 weeks).

Bike Test 2/10/09
40:00 minutes
13.72 miles
Avg Speed 20.6 mph
LTHR 166 (Lactate Threshold Heart Rate)
FTP 177 (Power)
W/kg 2.6 (watts per kg)

Run Test 2/11/09
5K or 3.1 miles
33:10 minutes
Pace 10:42
LTHR 174
Vdot 27

(No swimming until after the OS period)

One thing I struggle with is my heart rate on the run. My Anaerobic Threshold is 176 bpm. I averaged 174 bpm on this training run....very close to my AT. To explain, I can maintain a very low heart rate while walking 110-120 bpm. The minute I start running/jogging my heart rate climbs and continues to climb until usually just below my AT (low 170's). In other words, I can't seem to find zone 2 and 3. I've asked the EN group for some insight on why my heart rate is so high. There were a few other people who experienced the same predicament and also questioned why this happens. Although no one could answer "why", they all seemed to agree that the EN OS plan helped them break through to their middle zones. They told me to keep running but focus more on my pace and/or my perceived rate of exertion instead of my heart rate.

With this in mind, I did my Sunday 1 hour run which included 15 minutes of warm-up and 3 x 800m at z4 with 2 minutes rest in between. The remainder of the run was to be easy. Ughh! That meant I had to run at a snail's pace...just a bit faster than walking and just slower than a jog. Hard to believe, but that was hard to do! It probably looked like I couldn't decide whether to walk or run.

I'm looking forward to the next 15 more weeks....I can't wait to notice some improvements on both the run and on the bike.

An EN mantra: "Pain is weakness leaving the body."

BTW, here's a funny little story:

I purchased the regular training plan from EN recently and requested the Beginner's version. One of the Coach's answered my email with the Intermediate version plan attached to the email. I kindly wrote back and said that perhaps I wasn't ready for the "intermediate" version since I had done only one half-ironman and no full distance triathlons. He wrote me back asking my race result since the levels are geared to fitness ability rather than experience. I sent him my HIM results from Steelhead 2008:

OVERALL 1841
DIV/PL 102/107
SEXPL 487/511
SWIM 20:23 (swim was cancelled and a 2.1 mile run was replaced)
TRANS1 3:25
BIKE 3:24:4
TRANS2 3:55
RUN 3:00:52
OVERALL TIME 6:53:16

His response: "Beginner it is! See the file attached! "

I told you so!

Swimming with Waddler

2009-02-02T21:29:00.002-06:00

For many weeks now, Waddler has been trying to get me to go to Sunday Master Swim with her. For one honest reason or another, I've backed out. But this past Sunday, I actually got my butt out of bed and met Waddler at 6:30 am in the lobby of the fitness center.

She greeted me with a big smile and laughed "You made it". Yes, I finally did. I wasn't disappointed either, it was a great swim with Coach Steve dictating the workout. At first I was a bit timid...how would I do swimming with these die-hard Sunday morning swimmers? Would I be able to keep up?

After the warm-up, Coach Steve looked at me and asked "Ronda, how long has it been since you've been in the pool?" Ahhhh, hmmmmm, ahhhh....then I gave him the deer in head lights look. He then answered the question for me..."It's been awhile, huh?". Yeah, (gulp) I guess it has. "All the more reason, you should be here" he responded.

We did a number of drills including the standard drills as well as some I've never did like the corkscrew and the breathing drill. But my absolute dreaded drill was the leg up in the air while swimming freestyle drill. Say what! Ok, to demonstrate this drill...do this: 1. Stand on one leg bent at the knee, foot flexed as if you are about to kick like a donkey 2. Bend at the waist. 3. Now raise the the bent leg even farther up so that it is even with your back 4. Move your arms as if swimming freestyle. 5. Now try it in the water while trying to propel yourself forward and remembering to breathe. This is the weirdest, frickin drill EVER! The down leg is creating so much drag that you can't move and the bent leg just won't stay above the water line. Ughhh! Ok...Waddler...how in the world do I do this with out drowning? The key, she tells me, is in your core-- keep it strong and tight while the straight leg does all the kicking. Ok, I give it another shot. It worked; I struggled to do another lap but did finish with her advice.

We, then, did a series of laps (I don't remember how many) at 85%, 90%, and at HARD. I did very well until the HARD. He had us start in two waves. My first sprint down to the end of the pool was respectable. I expected a 30 second rest; so I started to adjust my goggles and relax ...then WHAM! Coach Steve yells "OK, group 1 GO again!" Whaaaaaaat? Already seconds behind my group...I'm struggling to keep up with the fast pace. I touch the wall, suck in some air and Coach Steve yells for the first group to go again....Whaaaaaat? I succum to go out with the second group just to cherish another second or two. He yells for us to go again. I'm sucking some major wind now. I made it but barely, and just as I am touching the wall the first group starts again for their final length. Again and finally, he yells for the second group to go. I was TOAST-DONE-PUT A FORK IN ME-DONE!

It was a great work-out and I'm so glad I went. Waddler and I decided to head up for spin class for another hour of torture but well worth it. I wanted to expend some calories before going to my Sister's Superbowl Party. It was a good thing I did, because I just love gaucamole! I had one cookie but tons of gauc! Yummy!

Waddler, thanks for being such a motivating work out partner! I'm looking forward to great season ahead of us!

Always Steal if You Can

2009-01-23T22:29:00.004-06:00

Last Saturday night I had my annual Winter Wonderland Party (3rd year) and in conjunction with my party, I have a White Elephant Gift Exchange. Boy, what a blast it turned out to be once again!

24 guests showed up on that frigid night to warm my house with lots of cheer, spirits and laughter. I have a cozy townhouse, and to have 24 people in my kitchen and family room makes for an intimate party.

The hit of the night was the gift exchange. Here was the instructions I gave my guests for the white elephant gift: find an item that is in new or slightly used condition that might be unsightly, ridiculous, outrageous, obnoxious, useless, or simply silly. It shouldn't be worth much and wrap it up in anything (newspaper, wrap, a brown paper bag, etc) and don't put your name on it.

My guests were given numbers and would open their "gifts" in chronological order. They had a choice to steal a gift (from someone who had already chosen) or pick a wrapped gift from the pile. Gifts included a strobe light, "The Perfect Man" (a little rubber guy), a socket set, a tiffany-looking turtle light, board games, candles, a personal body alarm, a latch hook horse rug, a spiced wine, a movie I never heard of, a pink Harley Davidson hat with a black Jack Daniels hat, a latte frother, an inspirational cd, a 2008 calendar, the pancake puffer (it squeezes filling into a pancake), and so on... These were all great white elephant gifts but the 'creme de creme' gift of the night was chosen by my friend, Linda. Linda originally picked the latch hook horse rug. She was begging for people to steal the rug so she could pick again from the pile. Wrong move, Linda. Ed, my sweetie, decided he could use the rug and stole it from Linda. Linda was giddy with excitement because that meant that she could either steal from someone else or pick again from the "pile o' crap". I guess she was feeling adventurous because she decided to steal from the pile. Again, wrong move, Linda.

She chose an object that many of were guessing was an album or a calendar. My guests were speculating...could it be an old Ann Murray album or possibly some obscure band we've never heard of. She unwrapped the item to discover it indeed was an album but not one of us would have guessed what it was. No, it was not any type of retro or country western music album...it was not music at all, in fact. The album cover was baby blue and in big white letters it was labeled "SEX". "SEX Education for Your Son", to be more specific. My guests roared with laughter at Linda's "new" gift. Ed looked at Linda and held up his newly acquired horse rug and said "The horse doesn't look so bad after all, does it Linda?" Jokes continued flying non-stop for the rest of the night. Ironically, Linda has 3 daughters (and of course the album is 30 some years old).

Moral of the Story: If you ever participate in a White Elephant Gift Exchange, STEAL! 'Cause at least you're going to get something that you know what it is! (Of course, if you are one of those people who draw an early number, you have no choice but to choose from the pile o' crap!)

Lemons are now Lemonade

2009-01-15T16:10:00.003-06:00

Ahhhhh.....warmth. No, I'm not talking about the -10° outside, I'm talking about the 65° it is in my house right now. After a new inducer motor was installed and a hefty bill from the HVAC guy, I have heat! Hallelujah! I got to say it is worth every penny right now. All kidding aside, I am very grateful for not only having heat in my house but I am also very grateful for being able to afford the bill. Sure it hurt a little, but I can still make ends meet. I am thankful.

More good news. I am down about a pound and a half from my last weigh in. I've got to keep that ball in motion (downward, that is).

And, Sharkie is fixed. I took Sharkie's back tire to the bike store where they replaced the tube. I got it home and then panicked for a few seconds. As silly as this sounds, I have had very few instances where I've actually installed my back tire on to my bike. What if I screw up the chain and the gears? Truth be told, I would have taken help in a nano-second. But then, the pratical side of me thought "it's a fricken tire installation--how simple". I pretended I was in a race and told myself not to panic. I fumbled for a few minutes and reassured myself that I could indeed do this. Sure, I had ended up with greasy fingers but it really was a non-issue. I did it and Sharkie is back up and running. Note to self: I've really got to learn how to do basic mechanics on my bike.

So, all in all a rough start to the week but it's getting better. (Although I can't really say that about the weather---did I say it was -10° with a wind chill of -34°)?

Catching Up

2009-01-07T13:40:00.004-06:00

Busy, busy, busy.

I'm a little late in saying this but...HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!

I'm not sure where all my time has been going lately, I just don't know. Funny how the days can fly by if you're not paying attention. Ok...a quick run down on what has happened in the last two weeks:

EN Winter's Run Challenge: I scored a whole whopping 11.2 pts. Between weather issues and time challenges, I managed 3 runs total. It's a start. I'm hoping I can get in at least 1-2 outside runs per week for the rest of the off-season (winter). Although the weather looks like it's going to keep me inside this week. It's blizzard season here in Chicago.

The EN Weight Challenge: yep, another challenge....one that is much harder for me...weight loss. The reward is personal. Gosh how I would love to lose some extra unwanted weight. My goal is to lose 12-13 lbs by June 1 or in other terms, dropping a pant size or two or losing about 5% body fat.

To help me track my progress, I splurged on a Tanita Ironman Scale which measures all kinds of stuff including, weight, body fat, water hydration, physique rating, visceral fat, metabolic age, and . When I stepped on the scale for the first time, the results didn't surprise me. Unfortunately, the numbers were what I expected.

Weight: 148 lbs
Body Fat: 30.4%
Body Water: 48.9% (healthy is 45-60%)
Muscle mass: 98.0 lbs
Physique Rating: 5 (both my muscle mass and my body fat is average/healthy)
Bone Mass: 5.2 lbs (5.3 lbs for my weight is good)
BMR: 1404 (# calories
Metabolic Age: 36
Visceral Fat: 5 lbs (# of lbs of body fat surrounding vital organs)

I weigh in every Monday. Today I didn't--that's another story. When I weigh in on Tuesday, I'm hoping to see progress(it doesn't have to be much). I just need something in the downward direction.

Change of Plans: I could totally relate to Waddler's post on Saturday. She had forgotten her cycle shoes and therefore disappointingly had to settle with a run. As if we had a cosmic mirror I was feeling the same way. I was all set to get in a good ride on Sharkie (my bike) and burn some calories. I pumped the front tire with air and then continued on to the back. Air wasn't going in, so I popped off the pump valve to try again but broke the valve stem. What air was in my back tire went out in a flash. Dang it. I was upset; now I was forced to change my exercise plans. As I begrudgingly headed to the fitness center, I decided to run on the treadmill. I hadn't run in awhile. It didn't feel real good to me; it felt labored, really labored. And that worries me. I ran/walk for an hour finishing just 4.5 miles. How in the world am I going to do 26. 2 miles after riding for 112 miles? Oh I'm scared! I've got a long training road ahead of me.

In the Cold: Saturday night I woke in the middle of the night to some awful sounds. What is that? In my grogginess, I thought it was a lawn mower. What? Ok, that 's not it, it's winter. Snowblower? At 2 am? Then, I realized it was my furnace. It makes a lot of noise, but Saturday...it sounded like a cat had got trapped by the tail in the motor. Of course, I ignored and went back to sleep. The awful sounds lasted through the night but the furnace died on Sunday afternoon. I didn't want to cough up extra $$ for an emergency visit from the heating guy so I went through the night with out heat. It wasn't too bad. Luckily my townhouse is a unit that is sandwiched in between two others which helps my heat insulation. The temp dropped to 54°. 3 Blankets, a down comforter, thermal pj's and Ed helped keep the bed nice and toasty warm.

After a whole 10 seconds of evaluation, the HVAC guy states I need a new motor. Yeah, I could have told you that. Unfortunately, he doesn't carry my brand so I'm waiting out another day with out heat. It's really not so bad. I managed to raise my house's temp this evening by cooking some chicken in my oven, and using a little space heater (just blows warm air--there are no heat coils). I got the house to 60°. Whoo hoo. Back to why I didn't weigh myself today for the "great Monday weigh in"; I didn't want to take my clothes off to step on the scale. Whaaaaat? It was too cold.

I'm off to hibernate for the night.

A Mini Milestone-A Cold Winter's Run

2008-12-29T14:49:00.002-06:00

Another challenge has been given to me. Endurance Nation (EN) has challenged all members and non-members alike to a running challenge.

Rules:

Thursday to Thursday, from 12/25 to 1/1.
1 point per mile run.
1 additional point for each hour run (whole numbers only 1, 2, etc.)
1 additional point for a run in sub-32 degrees weather.
1 additional point for each mile run at (or above) Threshold Pace (10k pace).
5 bonus points for running all 8 days of challenge.
Note: This runs on the honor system, please only post your actual run results.

This IS A BIG challenge for me. I really dislike cold weather...Yuch! I'm a big wimp; I just don't like training outside when the temperature is not to my liking. And that usually is something below 60 degrees. By the way, I have never ran outside during the winter.

On Christmas Day, I was in Rockford,IL at my parents house. Temp was 2 degrees with a wind chill of negative uber degrees. You got to be kidding! If you could have opened up my head, you would have seen a firestorm of activity---my brain was simoutaneously talking myself in and out of the run for the day. Yup, I ended up chickening out. There's always tomorrow.

December 26, I woke up to an ice storm...streets were like an ice rink. The weather announcers were warning every one to stay put...don't travel. I ground myself again. By afternoon, conditions were better but I was out and about and had another Christmas get together to attend. No running this day.

December 27, Ed got me a Garmin 305 Forerunner for Christmas. By now, I'm itching to give it a try and to finally run outside during winter. Well, it wasn't going to happen on this day. The temperature was in the 50's BUT it was pouring rain outside and fog so heavy that you could not even see 25 feet in front of you. Doh! Still no points to log.

December 28, I was back in Rockford for yet another Christmas family gathering. I had only 20 minutes to get in a run for the day. It was 20 degrees. I layered up with all the clothes I had brought and headed out the door with my new Garmin. I got in 2.1 miles, at an average of 10:20/mile pace. No, I didn't shatter any records! But I did get my butt outside and ran in the cold. There is a first for everything.

Because I ran 2.1 miles and the temp was sub 32 degrees, I was able to record a measly 3.1 points with EN. I guess that's better than 0 points. So far, I'm on the bottom of the results. Hopefully, I can improve upon that.

Anyway, on the upside....I LOVE my new Garmin. How cool...and how did I not live with this invention before? Thanks Ed!

Updates:

Gingerbread Competition: No results yet...I think my Mom is stalling. She doesn't want to declare a winner for fear of hurting someone's feelings. I believe she thinks if she waits long enough, every one will forget. I'm sure Keith wants to forget the whole thing.

Reg and RA: She's feeling better with the drugs. Her aches and pains are slight and she is able to do normal activities with very minimal pain. She's unable to drink alcohol while being on this drug--which is hard for her. She's not dependent on alcohol in any way but she does like an occasional drink when the mood strikes. Who doesn't like a beer or glass of wine once an while especially when out with friends? I know it would be hard for me.

Family Gingerbread House Competition

2008-12-23T12:25:00.018-06:00

Right before Thanksgiving, my brother (who lives in Mystic CT) emails my sister and I a challenge to a gingerbread house making competition. Hmmm...this could be interesting. I accepted on behalf of Ed and myself. My Mom accepted to be a judge as well as my Dad (who will judge with his glasses off). Final Entrants:

Keith (my brother)
Reg (my sister)
Morgan (7 years old--Reg's boyfriend's oldest)
Peyton (5 years old--Reg's boyfriend's youngest)
Nolan (5 years old) and Anita (Keith's son and wife)
Ed and myself

Once all have accepted the challenge, we were given our rules/instructions. Everything on the "house" must be edible. Graham crackers can be used instead of gingerbread. The deadline was set for Dec 21 @ 5 pm--no extensions allowed.

Well, since it was Thanksgiving...I put off even thinking about the competition. Meanwhile, Keith emails Reg and I with plenty of smack talking. He states how we "might as well start preparing ourselves for a loss since he's taking home the victory". Blah, blah,blah. I brush off the comments and reserve the right not to smack talk back. We'll just see who wins this thing.

Three weeks ago....I'm in a store with Ed and we are talking about the gingerbread house competition. I look over at Ed and say "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if we made an airplane hanger as our gingerbread house?" We both chuckle at the thought. Then I add..."yeah, and we could make a control tower and a plane to go with it." Chuckles, again. Ed shrugs and is thinking ...."Yeah, right! Whatever."

Two and half weeks ago... Ed comes over to my house one night to discover sketches on my kitchen counter of a control tower. He laughs..."is that a control tower?" I reply, yes. "Are you really going to build a control tower out of gingerbread?" I simply reply, yes. "Well, ok then, good luck with that."

Two weeks ago...I tell Ed I have a surprise for him. He again comes over to my house and discovers the "airport" in 3-D poster board design. I explain to him, that I had read if you can build something out of poster board, it is likely that you can build it out of gingerbread. He's amazed.. "my gosh, you really DID build a hanger and a control tower!" (Note: he hadn't seen the plane yet).

1 week ago...I gather all sorts of candy for the project

5 days ago....(Thursday) I made the gingerbread dough for all the pieces. In case, you're wondering, I used all the poster board pieces as templates. And I had to make the plane 3 times (out of poster board) since I had my proportions all wrong. I originally made it so big, that was the size of the hanger. Doh!

4 days ago...(Friday) Big snowstorm hits the Chicago area. I stayed home to work. Actually, I worked on my gingerbread pieces. Cut and bake, cut and bake, cut and bake. Ed calls me and invites me to dinner with some friends..."ok, but we need to work on the airport tonight, so we have to make it a short one". He agrees. After dinner, we're back at my house and I explain that we need to put the pieces together with a sugar/water combination. (It dries faster than frosting and is rock solid). He sees the poster board plane for the first time and exclaims "Oh, my gosh AND you made a Skymaster!" I should explain that Ed is an air traffic controller and a pilot by hobby. A skymaster is the type of plane that he flies; it is a push/pull plane since it has dual in-line engines. See pic of real plane:

We had some hairy times trying to put together some of the pieces and there was definitely a learning curve using the sugar/water "glue". In order to get the control tower windows together, Ed suggested that we mitered the corners. So the Bob Villa came out in me and I mitered the corners. That actually worked really well. I wish we had thought of that an hour earlier.

3 days ago...(Saturday) Ed and I decorated our airport. He was so excited. If you know anything about planes or airports, you would see that our airport has the correct color gumdrops for lighting the runways. We even included a VOR, a beacon light, runway numbers, elevation, and even a wind sock on the hanger. You'll also notice Ed's N number on the side of the plane. I was proud of my green-coconut covered tree that was decorated with small gum drop pieces (decorations on the tree). I got to say we did a very good job. We kicked some arse!

Drum roll pleeeeeeassseeeeee.....

After all said and done, Ed and I high-fived our success with the Gingerbread Airport. He still looks at it in amazement ...."how in the world did we accomplish this?" Being the perfectionist I am...I criticized my frosting application. It didn't help that I couldn't make a true red from my frosting dyes of pink, light blue, light green and yellow and it also didn't help that all the gingerbread pieces bowed while baking. But I am so proud of how we were able to pull it off. I mean, look at it... you can clearly tell what it is! And we have angled windows on the control tower!

Everyone else has submitted their entries...and I think all did a great job (well, maybe not Keith). I have to ask...Keith, what is it?. By the way, my Mom hasn't submitted the results yet.

Peyton's Graham Cracker House

Morgan's Graham Cracker House

Reg's Graham Cracker House

Nolan and Anita's Graham Cracker House

Keith's house??????? (sorry, pic is small. But believe me, it wouldn't help to enlarge it.)

Apparently, it is suppose to be a light house. Hmmmmm. Ok. Let's say it's Picasso style. I guess we can go with that.

NOW Let the smack talking begin!

Here is a message I received from Keith today...

"I’ll accept my last place trophy now. I was blown away with not only Reg’s entry but Ronda's. Wow!!!"

My response: I take it that you're not up to doing any more smack talking?

His response: No you both put me in my place. If anyone needs me, I’ll be at the bottom of the creativity chain. Doh!

Ha Ha....what a good laugh. Results of the competition should come soon. Stay posted....

The Twilight Bathroom Zone

2008-12-12T14:03:00.004-06:00

I've got to share this story cause I just can't believe it happened. The office building in which I work has many offices and thus one "community" bathroom. The bathrooms are just weird at this place. How can bathrooms be weird? Well first off, the main bathroom door is locked. I hate it, because if I forget my key, I have to trudge back to my office which is a mere 10 yards away. Ok, so just a minor inconvenience. (Side note: the lock broke recently, so just push open the door and your in; I like the main lock being broken).

The lighting is not just a switch but a timer, so you have to turn the knob for how many minutes you think you will be in the bathroom which controls 2 of the 3 stalls in the bathroom but not the third. That one has its own timer/light switch. I can't tell you how many times, I didn't check the timer, and have been in a stall when the lights went out. Another minor inconvenience....luckily there is one skylight. On top of that, there seems to be flushing issues with all the toilets and it usually occurs all at the same time. The women in this office complex are messy. Ugh. There is typically toilet paper everywhere and paper towels littering the floor and toilets clogged. I have actually walked out of the bathroom several times and decided to "wait" until I get home...another inconvenience (nothing major yet). In these extreme cases, Management "converts" the men's bathroom into a unisex bathroom by posting a handwritten sign over the men's sign. Nice! Thank God, I haven't had to resort to using the men's room yet.

Now for my bathroom story. There are 3 stalls in the women's restroom, all are which are fully drywalled with full doors; in other words, you can't tell if someone is in a particular stall unless the door is open. Earlier this week, I went in a stall #2, closed the door and locked it. The next thing you know, a lady opens it up on me. She doesn't say she is sorry, just yells out in surprise and mortification. Yes, I DID lock the door but for some reason the door wasn't all the way engaged (but it looked like it). Mind you, there are two other stalls with at least one of the doors wide open...why didn't she go into that stall? For some reason, stall number 1 door is never open. I don't think management wants us to use that one. There is a sign on the inside that you must flush twice....once while in use and another after your done. What, "while in use"???????

Anyway, today, the exact same thing happened!!!! I was in the stall peeing, door closed and locked. This time I visually made sure the button for the lock was in. Again, a lady opens up the door on me. I kind of think it was the same lady. She gets mad at ME for not locking the door and says "Why don't you lock the door". I'm PO and say "IT IS LOCKED!". She then replies, "Apparently NOT" with a very scarcastic tone. I'm boiling by now because she is blaming me. I loudly say through the door "Why don't you try a stall that is open". Stall #1 was closed, like it always is, I was in stall # 2 and stall #3 was wide open. I come out of the bathroom to discover a lady washing her hands listening to our verbal bathroom barrage of words; I say "I'm sorry, you had to hear that". She comes to my defense and says quite loudly so that the rude lady can hear "She should have knocked at the very least or used another stall." I reiterate to the lady washing her hands that I tried to lock the door and she says loudly again, "Yeah that lock doesn't work so well."

I went back to my office with steam coming out of my ears. I think I actually could have had a showdown with the the "no-knocking lady" had I seen her face and if my pants were down by my ankles at the time. I immediately emailed my sister the story, 'cause I was PO and had to blow some steam. She told me that I should have busted the door open on her so she could see how it feels. I might just have to do that. I'll challenge her to an arm wrestling match (after she washes her hands) and then when I win, I will wash her hair in the toilet bowl. Ok, that's a little extreme.

I hate using the office bathroom, but what to do? I know I have a very short commute, but I can't justify a 20 minute bathroom break (8 min home, 4 min break, 8 min back to the office) everytime I need to "go". My "drink more water" goal doesn't help.

Suggestions?

When Life Takes a Turn

2008-12-08T22:04:00.004-06:00

Well, I haven't posted much lately. That's because a lot of things have been going on including preparing a Thanksgiving dinner, my 20 year High School Reunion, Christmas shopping, Holiday parties, blah, blah. I don't mean to sound flippant but in the grand scheme of things...it doesn't seem all that important right now.

It all began, about 3-4 months ago when my identical twin sister, Regina (Reg) was experiencing all kinds of weird pains in her body. It first started out as a pain in the shoulder. Doctor thought it was strained muscle and prescribed physical therapy. Then her foot hurt. Doctor took x-rays and thought there was a fracture; nothing was found wrong. Then it was her neck, elbow, jaw, hands, feet and so on. Her family doctor couldn't figure it out and finally sent her to see a Rheumatologist...after all, all her pain was stemming from her joints.

2 Weeks ago, Reg called me at work. She had just seen the doctor and was upset. The Rheumatologist had rattled off a number of things it could be including Lupus to Lime disease to Rheumatoid Arthritis. The doctor took numerous tests and told her to come back after Thanksgiving for the diagnosis. As we discussed the different possibilities, none of the options sounded very good at all. I told her to "hang in there, and let's see what the doctor has to say". I'm sure it wasn't easy to wait, not when a dark cloud seemed to be hovering over her head.

Again, Reg called me after her doctor's appointment, this time with more definitive news. She was upset and rightfully so...the doctor diagnosed her with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Rheumatoid Arthritis or RA is a chronic disease in which the body's immune system attacks and destroys healthy joint tissue. As the disease progresses it can cause pain, swelling, stiffness, deformity, and disability. It also can be harmful to internal organs such as your heart and lungs. It is hereditary.

At 38 years old, she learned that she was going to have to fight and deal/cope with a potentially debilitating disease for the rest of her life. Like me, she doesn't like to take any drugs--meaning the prescribed kind, if she can help it. We both avoid medications at all costs. It would have to take a lot for me to pop a Tylenol and I know she's the same way. So when the news came that she would have to deal with pain on a daily basis and be on medication possibly for the rest of her life, she cried. "I'm sorry, Reg" was all I could muster.

Reg is in great shape and works out all the time. She told me that the 10 or 15 lbs weights she normally uses during her workouts have been replaced with 5 lbers. And even with that weight, it wasn't easy for her. Over the weekend, she must have rattled off 5 areas of her body that was in pain including her jaw. She was having a hard time eating, sleeping and generally just doing day-to-day chores. After this weekend, she had made the decision to start an aggressive drug treatment of steroids combined with another powerful drug to combat the RA.

And so today, she began the treatment. This blog is for my wonderful twin sister and my lifelong best friend. I vow to be there for her every step of the way.

Reg--you are the greatest and I love you...

Beach2Battleship Bound

2008-12-01T14:09:00.003-06:00

Whoo Hooo! Waddler and I are in for the FULL IRON DISTANCE. November 7, 2009, Wilmington NC. Let the games begin!

A cold, a migraine, and a turkey....

2008-11-25T21:53:00.004-06:00

No it's not the beginning of a joke....but it sure sounds like it could be. Last Thursday or maybe it was Tuesday of last week; yeah it was Tuesday. Ok, so last Tuesday, I met up with my boyfriend, Ed, ( I need a nickname for him) for a quick dinner at Panera. I was feeling a sore throat coming on so I ordered a bowl of soup and a hot tea. I love Panera;it's got to be one of my favorite "fast food" places. In any case, we had a good chat and dinner and parted our separate way for the night.

Thursday, Ed came over to watch some tv. Again, I wasn't feeling so great from my "cold". It was dinner time and we were both hungry...and I was craving more hot tea. I opened up my cabinet to discover nearly a whole box of tea in my cabinet, but it was a flavor I didn't care for. My sweet Ed jumped in the car and drove to the nearest grocery store for a tea flavor that was more suitable to my palate; in addition, he brought me back a bowl of Potbelly chili with a Sheila's Dream Bar....YUMMMM! What a guy!

While Ed worked most of the weekend, I attempted to find something to wear for my 20th year HS Reunion (this Saturday). 5 hours later---no luck. I just don't get some of these fashions today (sorry not into ruffles or moo moo dresses). I just wanted something simple, and classy. Is that too hard to ask for? Anyway, the one thing I did accomplish was buying all my fixin's for Thanksgiving dinner.

Last night, I chopped and diced and prepared a few items in advance for Turkey day. Today, I got out of bed hacking up all sorts of gross and unmentionable stuff--yep, still got the cold. Went to work and had to call it quits by about 2:30ish. I felt a headache coming on. Ok, so most people would scoff that I took off early for just a headache...but here is the thing, I just don't get headaches; 9 out of 10 times it becomes a migraine. Plus in my defense, it was slow and more importantly I'm my own boss; I can do it.

I jumped in my car and headed home (a whole 8 minutes of travel time--no I'm not kidding). As soon as I got home I jumped into bed forgetting to take any Excedrin migraine pills. I called Ed and told him of my predicament. He knew what to expect and said he would be over in 45 minutes. By the time he arrived, I was on my way to migraine status. He retrieved my pills and some water for me to down. He then retreated to the other room to give me some peace and quiet and promised to check in on me in another 45 minutes.

My head was throbbing and I was feeling nauseated....HELLO MIGRAINE! Ed came into my bedroom just in time to see me throwing the covers off myself as I was breathing rapidly and sweating profusely. He quickly ran into the bathroom, wet a towel with cold water, came back with it and placed it on my throbbing forehead. As he kept replacing the towels with new ones, he was coaching me to "breathe through it". Although, easier said than done, it helped tremendously. Wave #1 passed and I laid my aching head back down on my pillow. Again, Ed retreated to leave me in peace and said he would be back.

Who knows how many minutes later but Wave #2 hit and more viscous than the first. Ed was there again with cold towels in hand and a waste basket in the other and calmly telling me to breathe through it. I did. I laid my head back down and said ok this one has passed. I think I fell asleep at that point. Woke up, maybe an hour later?

Ed was watching tv down stairs with the volume so low as to not to disturb me; in fact, I don't think a mouse could have heard it. I was feeling better and hungry... a good sign. He was famished. With the pain nearly gone, I started to worry about picking up the turkey that was reserved for me. Ed gave me a big hug and said, "Sweetie, let's worry about you first, we'll get the turkey later." So he ran out to Panera for dinner for us and came back with soup and 1/2 sandwich for me. Ahhh that hit the spot.

With full bellies we watched Boston Legal (from Monday night). That was a funny episode--what a dysfunctional Turkey dinner. Not sure I would have survived that. (Basically, if you don't watch the show...just imagine a group of lawyers who love to hear themselves talk and give their opinion about the most controversial topics sitting down for what is suppose to be a "nice" turkey dinner.)

We then took off to Whole Foods to pick up my awaiting turkey. A 15.9 pounder! It's now sitting in my fridge cleaned and ready to be brined and bagged in the a.m.

So there it is a cold, a migraine and a turkey....if it weren't for my Eddie, things would have been a lot rougher this week. I am thankful for having such a wonderful guy in my life.

Good Luck IronSnoopy and Moose!

2008-11-21T20:25:00.003-06:00

Here's a big shout out to IronSnoopy and Moose. Good Luck in IMAZ...I pray the weather will be perfect and you guys have the time of your lives splashing, pedaling, and dashing to the the finish line. When things get hard, and they will...just dig deep and know that you can do it! We'll be watching your progress here in Chicago. Best of luck to the both of you!

The fog has lifted...

2008-11-17T21:18:00.003-06:00

After my last post, I dedicated this last week to clearing my head and coming up with an off-season plan for myself. The question was...what do I do for the next 12 weeks before my official out-season plan begins (not to be confused with the off-season). I tried to listened to my fellow tri-friends and I even received a video answer from my EN coach. But somehow, my mind was still foggy and confused; I didn't think anyone one was really getting to the bottom line. But it turns out I don't think I was listening; I was hearing what everyone was telling me but I wasn't listening.

The problems are this... 1) It's been so0000 frickin long since I "trained"for anything. 2) Many triathletes are starting their race plans now or very soon--their races are scheduled earlier in the year (June-Aug). 3) I've been feeling like an absolute bum with no clear direction on how much to exercise, or what to focus on (bike, run, swim, strength, flexibility, drills??).

After watching the video answer Coach Rich (Endurance Nation) prepared for me, I was left bewildered. Ok....I realized that starting too soon with the hard training regiments was not a good idea but still no on one was helping me with "What do I do for the next 12 weeks." As I sat there pondering the thought, my boyfriend asked what was wrong. I explained and he said with a simple but yet very logical answer, "Why don't you just do what you normally do for exercise before you started training for triathlons." Hmmm. I shrugged and thought "maybe". At this point, it still did not sink in.

Last night I had dinner with Waddler. We talked of training...like we always do. I asked her again..."What do I do for 12 weeks?" She gave me some suggestions. Slowly but surely, it was starting to sink in.

I went home and drafted up a plan...I decided to throw in a "pinch" of this and a dash of "that" and wouldn't you know it, I came up with my game plan. I was over complicating things way too much. Do you remember that old saying...KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid! Basically, everyone was telling me not to over train now (the hard stuff will come later) and just focus on becoming more fit, more efficient, and to enjoy this time off from an "official training" regiment.

So with that said, here it is:

Monday: W1-Walk/Run Intervals W2- Swim Drills
Tuesday: Hard Bike (Intervals) or Spin class
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Strength and Core Training
Friday: Off or yoga
Saturday: Long Bike
Sunday: Whatever I feel like doing.

I haven't put specific times on to any of the activities, I'm hoping that will work itself out along the way. This plan is certainly not set in stone...so we'll see how it works out.

...splashing, pedaling, dashing through the next 12 off-season weeks.

What do I do for 12 weeks?

2008-11-09T22:47:00.003-06:00

Ok, after months of trying to decide on a training plan for completing a full distance, I've decided on one. I chose to follow the Endurance Nation (EN) plans. They have an unique and and unconventional approach for endurance triathlon training. I'm up for something new...but anyway, more about this plan in a later post.

Here's my issue right now. My EN plan should begin the first week of February which means I have 12 weeks before I actually should start my training plan (assuming that I can register for a full-distance race scheduled for Nov 7, 2009). I am so anxious to start a plan since it's been months since my last race (Steelhead 70.3/Aug 1, 2008) and I don't feel like I have done anything productive with my training since then. My EN training partners urge me to take this time off to re-group and take it easy with the workouts; once the training begins it's going to be hard work. But I've been in that "state" for 3 months already. I'm getting restless to say the least but I also don't want to jeopardize my physical and mental state by burning out when the real training period is in full swing.

What are my options here? 12 weeks...12 looooong weeks! I'm afraid without a plan, I will flounder like a fish out of water.

Revisit goals:

Pick a quality training plan: Done.

Lose extra poundage: Well, that's not going to happen over night but I can focus the next 12 weeks on working towards losing some body fat/weight. But how do I do that without compromising my future training?

Work on skills: Definitely do-able in the next 12 week period. I own a copy of the Total Immersion Swim instructions (I bought for a friend; friend never used it and gave it back). Time to sharpen up my swim skills. I can also work on some bike drills as specified by my training plan. Finally, I've learned of a new run technique (at least new to me); I need to learn it and as well as build up to a distance of 5k and feel comfortable with the new technique.

Water: A day to day thing. I just read today that the Biggest Loser Coach suggests to hydrate with a 100 oz/day. Wow, I don't think I'm any where close to that! Maybe I need to make a diary of water intake. Yep, that would make me more honest.

My goal for this week is to devise a solid workout plan that will help me lose some BF/weight without comprising my long term training, and that will focus on skill training for all three sports. Lastly, I will keep a diary of water intake for the week.

Ok, there it is. Hopefully, within a few days this Shark won't be floundering any longer.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

2008-11-08T13:55:00.002-06:00

Thanks for the warm welcome and comments. It 's nice to know people I don't even know are supporting me and rooting me on! Thanks a bunch. I'll certainly be rooting you on as well. I look forward to a great training/race season with my online friends.

Thanks also, for the comments on my header! I had fun making it; it just came so easy for me...my bike was a huge inspiration.

2008-11-01T13:52:00.010-05:00

My first post. Hmmm....where to even start? First off, I'll blame Waddler and IronSnoopy for getting me interested in blogging and more important into long-distance triathlons. In both 2006 and 2007, I had completed one sprint women's triathlon. In 2008, I completed one sprint and one Half Ironman (Steelhead/Benton Harbor MI) race. Yeah, I know....what happened to the Olympic distance in between? Waddler! She's a great motivator and inspiration but sometimes forgets how to take baby steps....and I, well, I go along with her. I've got to admit, if it wasn't for Waddler I wouldn't be sitting here in Wilmington NC this weekend as a spectator and volunteer for the Beach2Battleship Full and Half distance triathlon races.

We've traveled from Chicago to help, to cheer, to watch, to get inspired, to get motivated, to learn, and to envision ourselves crossing the finish line of the full distance race in 2009. What a lofty goal...and some say very crazy! Yes, we might be crazy to think that we could be among these athletes...these amazing individuals who have dedicated so much time, energy and money; who overcome the physical and mental obstacles of what it takes to become an endurance athlete.

Today I witnessed athletes of young and old and of all shapes and sizes from lean and muscular to roly-poly to athletes with special needs embark on a day long endurance feat. But what is even more impressive and what many people forget or don't see is the endless hours of dedication spent training to get to this day. I remember what it was like training for my Half Ironman; and like so many athletes I spent many hours swimming, biking, and running so that I could put it all together for race day. I remember all the emotions and feelings I had that day including the excitement and the nervousness at the start of the race, the mental anguish and the physical pain of the sport as well as the enormous relief and the complete joy of crossing the finish line. It was hard; it was really hard...but I learned so much. I know I can do it again and I know I can do better.

However, I know I have some limitations/obstacles:

1. I'm slow. I'm a slow biker and a slow runner (my swim is reasonable decent). In 2008, I usually average 15-16 mph on the bike and run at a 10:30-11:00 pace.
2. I'm carrying too many pounds for my frame. I am 5'3" and weigh 149 lbs; and have 29% body fat.
3. I've never ran more than 13 miles or biked more than 80 miles.
4. I have an IT band problem --that causes my knee to hurt after so many miles of biking or running.

Watching the Beach2Battleship race, I am inspired to become an endurance athlete for a full distance race...however, inspiration does not stand alone. I need reasonable and attainable goals. For my 2009 Triathlon season, here are my goals:

1. To follow a triathlon plan that will dramatically help me to become a faster and more efficient swimmer, bicyclist and runner.
2. To lose 5-8% body fat by eating a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, and a proportionate amount of complex carbs and lean proteins that compliment my training schedule.
3. To train in the off-season with a heavy concentration of interval training for the bike and run as well as drill/technique workouts for the swim (includes bi-lateral swimming).
4. To drink an ample amount of water each and every day.
5. To use my foam roller every day (5-15 min) as well as to perform specific exercises/stretch that will reduce and eliminate the pain in my knee from IT Band issues.
6. To perform core exercises in order to strengthen my abdominal and back muscles.
7. To compete in at least one sprint, one Olympic distance, one half distance and one full distance triathlon in 2009. With each distance, my goal is to race to the best of my ability, to follow my nutrition plan, to run with little or no walking, and to complete each race with a PR.
8. To enjoy the training season and have fun during the race.

And so it begins.....splashing, pedaling, dashing to become an endurance athlete!