Where did the time go?

Last month Alley and I went to volunteer and support up at Ironman Canada. Hard to believe that it’s been a year since we’d been up there under totally different reasons.  It’s exciting, nervous; the knowing in less than a night’s sleep you’ll be willingly putting your body through some serious moments, possibly damage, even if the day goes as planned. And wanting to screaming “What the f@#k did I get myself into?” However, we were just up supporting and volunteering this year. Phew!

Driving into town we took the route that the marathon runs. My feelings were mixed, I was happy that Alley got to see the course, but also felt anxious as all the feelings of last year’s ass beating suddenly started to make my leg throb.  Driving through the turn-around wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I really didn’t think it would be an issue at all, but was totally wrong. Driving through it, it just felt like this is where the worst could and did happen.

 Total meltdown 13 miles away from everything and everyone, and only being able to do 16 minute miles at best to get back. That’s 16 plus 16 for 32, 32 times 2 is 64. Add 2 minutes per mile for Porta Johns and aid stations. That’s 64 plus 8 = 72 minutes for 4 miles. What comes to 4 into 13.1, 3x for 216 minutes and 1 mile at 16 minutes for a grand total of = 232 minutes, plus the few extra minutes ( in case something goes wrong)*(wronger?). So 240 minutes / 60 = 4

From the turnaround  I had 4 hours best case scenario.

This crazy math is what I couldn’t shake as I walked last year. Over and over and over and over and over………. and over....

Anyways back to this year…phew

It was great to be up in the atmosphere of the event. Alley and I went to the Peach, of course, and walked around a bit with a giant slushy in the 90+ degree weather. I knew seeing the water that any questions I’d had about not doing this again in 2012 was out the window.

 I had Alley’s support in ’10, but this time around I think we both understand the magnitude of this decision. This means months of training 1^st, everything else an unwilling 2^nd. That always seems like some funny bumper sticker saying, however, the truth of the matter is far from funny. Time away on the bike, swim or run means time away from everything else. Everything, everyone.  That’s a hard thing to sign up for again. And it’s not like after all the training it’s a given that …. well, nevermind that

Talking w/ Alley she fully understood and even said it before I did. ‘You can’t leave a race knowing you have unfinished business on it…you know you’ll have to go back and own it’ So with that I told her 2012, regardless of the outcome would be the last 140.6 for a long while. And really, last year I got passed by a 79 year old, plenty of time to do another one down the road.

Getting closer...

WOW! 8 days away from CANADA!

How the hell did that happen. Just the other day I was filling in this years race and training schedule having a Hawaiian theme dinner watching the 2009 Ironman from Kona on tv, talking about had we had 9 months to get ready.

I remember my first 50 mile ride at the end of December and having to stop because I was just dead on the bike. Cruising at 8 mph and stopping before I fell over : ) Oh, good times, good times!!!

This year was a bit unexpected as most of you know I’ve never had a goal of doing an Ironman - EVER! A year ago, having just finished up Lake Stevens 70.3 and having that race fall apart on the run. I doubted if I’d ever do anything over an Oly again. However, meeting the people I have and having family support I figured, “What the hell” I was young”ish” and in shape. I could raise my level and do this thing. That lasted until end of February. I looked and found TNMultisport and a few friends were already on board so it was a no brainer.

The months have actually flown by somehow? The last few weeks have had their highs and low’s. At track the other day it was good to hear the nightmare weeks others had been going through. Of course not happy others were having a rough go at it, just that feeling of ‘you’re not the only one’. This last week I’ve rebounded again and have remembered to enjoy what it is I ‘get’ to do.

I’m reading ‘Born to run’ right now and it’s been doing wonders on my outlook of running. I’ve always enjoyed running, the freedom of where your legs can take you. A few weeks ago I was running w/ Karen on a 16 miler and it was amazing how it seemed like 30-45 minutes at most, but it was just about 2 hours. I had a mile swim later in the day and kept thinking, I should do a ..(something).. after the swim. Then laughed as I had to remember - you just ran 16 miles! I year ago I would of never gotten out of bed.

Last weekend was the Lake Steven’s 70.3

It was so much fun to be out on course cheering for everyone this year, having trained with a number of the teammates in the race, it was pretty special to be out supporting them. I love cheering for people at races in general!

The work that they put out, some having great days, some good days, others in their pain cave focusing to finish. I’ve had really bad days and could never had guested what or where the rights words were that lifted me out and back on track.

You see someone go by and they smile and give a wave, a thumbs up. Having a good day and feeling great! Someone else, you know they can hear you, but they don’t or can’t look. Just a flick of the fingers and maybe a dart of the eyes in your direction. You can see, as I’ve been there before plenty, - I can’t look, if I look I’ll stop, I’ll fall, I’ll give in. I can’t lose focus -

That day, a few times I stepped back and looked at the cheering crowds and really soaked in and felt the excitement in the air and really felt alive for IMC. I couldn’t help but wondered what the 29th would bring. Just 8 days away now....

Tired...

The last 2 weeks have been pretty stacked with workouts. It’s probably fair to say that the closer one gets to and object (target, goal) the harder it may be to see or focus on the reasons why. Three weeks out and tired eyes, legs and neck just continue to scream for a rest. 8.5 months of training and somedays I forget why. I know what I signed up for, but I have to believe that no one truly knows what it is they’ve signed up for.

I told a friend of mine if I’d of heard last weekend’s schedule a year ago I never would of gotten out of bed:

Saturday - 85 mile hilly bike, 4 mile trans run
Sunday - 16 mile run, 40 minute-1 mile swim

It’s hard to say where those miles and hours get placed in the mind. You’re tired, you continue to drive and push. I guess that ‘s the point. At some point in the Ironman your body is going to ask the mind to go on autopilot, lead you home from the hole you’ve fallen into. Training in the last few weeks has gone from physical (being able) to mental, putting it all together for one day. Surviving the day.

I had a bad day out yesterday, injured my knee, my minds not quit where I need it. Tired of trying to figure it out. Tired of tweeking nutrition, heart rate, cadence. Just tire, all the damn time. I know the 29th will come and it’ll be exciting and amazing. I just need to rest...

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

Just got back from training camp up in Canada for the Ironman. What an amazing time! Aside from being on the course and everything else about traveling off for a weekend, it was the team that really made it worth it. Surrounding yourself with people of like mind and that are there to help you is a great feeling. The team is stacked with great athletes, but you never feel intimidated or overlooked. Great coaching and teammates that know on any day you’ll need a hand no matter how good you are.

It’s odd being surrounded by people of like mind. So often I get tired of explaining why I “need” to get a long swim, bike or run in when on vacation or just over a weekend away from home. being in a place where you could see, not just our team, but hundreds of other people doing the same.

With the team it’s a different feel than I’ve ever been use to before. It seems like no one has an attitude, is condescending or over competitive to the point of being overbearing. Every workout seems to push and raise the level of your our game.

It’s odd waking up knowing that at some point in the day you’re going to be pushed to your limit. Reason enough to hit the snooze button a few extra times. I knew I was going to be in trouble before the bike start if I didn’t approach long rides from a different angle. Up until now the last 10-12 miles of all bike rides have been just trying to hold on. I go out steady, feel good at about 80-85% effort, but at the end....Bam...holding on to make it back to the car.

Mark suggested that “just because you can fly up the hills, maybe you shouldn’t”. I thought about that all week, or the few days before training camp. So my new moto on the bike is, “Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.” So I took the bike out as usual, but as we hit the first hill I slowed, lowered my rate, kept the heart rate down and did a steady climb up a little steep hill about 5 blocks long. It was still early, real early, mile 10 of 112.

Forty miles in we hit a little kicker and the same thing, get to the top and feel OK, steady. At about 45ish we start Richter Pass, I’m looking at the road as we approach and I can’t wait! I’ve been living in fear of this damn piece of road for almost 6 months, bring it on!!! Hard right turn and......

“Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.” I ease up and slow down and pedal nice and easy. On the bottom part of Richter I got pasted 4x and had to just mentally tell myself over and over. “Let them go, not your pace today”. I was feeling amazing when I got to the top, breathing wasn’t labored, heart rate was 135 and down to 93 about a minute after I stopped climbing. I looked around and just noticed how almost everyone else was pretty whipped, both from the heat and the climb. I felt great!

I had a few things I was trying new this day. 1. was the not going up with as much effort as I usually climb with. 2. Was not to pedal on the downhills, unless you needed to so you didn’t have to do much work on the next hill. As I did this I’d see the heart rate ease back to 130 and figured that was saving matches for later.

The out and back hits you around 63 miles or so. You have to keep in mind that the out is hard because it’s hard. Not because your tired. It’s Hard, because it’s Hard! False flats and steep little climbs, solidly kicks your ass. The way back at the turn around, not so bad. Which makes you realize - It’s Hard, because it’s Hard!

Yellow Lake - because I like to look at climb profiles and expect every climb to look like a saw tooth I didn’t realize we were on to climb until about a mile from the top. I may be a little thick when it comes to this. On the EWT, day one I think, I keep waiting for the road to really turn up for the 12 mile climb to Loup Loup and was amazed at the rest stop to hear we were already 6 miles into it. Sweet! So I kept thinking we were always about to start climbing, the rollers were just, well rollers to the approach.

Energy wise I was doing very well, heat wise I was not really doing very well. The last stretch up to Yellow Lake was an oven, I was riding with Kirsten and out of fluids. It seemed the heat was just eating away at any energy. It was very survival mood. I could only really focus on her back tire and felt if I lost that I was cooked. Luckily before things got too critical we hit the top and our great team support car was there with ice cold water and Gatorade...Phew

I iced down and stood off the bike for about 3 minutes and felt back in the game. The rest was about 2 miles of rollers and about 8 miles of descending back down to flat ground. I think everyones face was lit up with this excitement of “ I just did the bike course in 97 degree weather and survived” Holy Shit! 4200 plus feet of elevation gain as well.

The next morning was a long run in the 14-15 mile range, mind you I was doing one of the shorter runs...???? It was hot hot hot, again with amazing support from the team and coaches. Such a strong team, it’s so inspiring to train, work and support along side them. And by the way, the new approach to riding hills and saving energy totally paid off...