This is my new suitor. Handsome, isn’t he? Well, he comes with a story.

Wednesday, I was working quietly up in my office – which is pretty much on the 3rd floor of our house, on top of a very steep hill (our house is only 2 stories, but you have to get up a flight of stairs to get to the front door – so from the front it looks like 3). My computer screen actually is right up against the window, looking out onto the valley. The roof directly outside the window is VERY STEEP. Quietly working, working, tap, tap, tap of my fingers on the computer keys, and then – BLAM! – this grotesque monster (come on, that’s a scary face if you’re not prepared) sticks his face up to the window – GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!!!!! (Click here to hear what it sounds like)

Surprised me so badly I backed the chair away from the desk and rolled over the dog’s tail (sorry, Jake!) Then I realized it was – A TURKEY. And started laughing. And laughing. And laughing. We are in the SUBURBS for goodness’ sake! What the HECK? I went to get the camera, and by the time I came back up, he was gone.

So THEN, the next evening, I was back late from the gym and grocery shopping – H wasn’t home – and I came up the (dark) driveway to the (darker) stairs that lead to the house and then porch. Our front door has an “overhang” above it that juts out about 1/2 the distance of the porch – so it’s even darker under there. I was looking into my purse to try to find the house keys, standing on the porch, right under the eaves of the overhang.

OK, I don’t know how he did it, without me hearing scrabbling of little claws or anything, but the turkey stuck his head over the eaves (he was up on the overhang) and loudly GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLEd at me. Again, startled me so badly I took a step backwards – thank goodness there was more porch or I would have been down the stairs. This was becoming something out of a movie.

(I got the photo above on Friday, when he was hangin’ out, looking studly.)

I came home Saturday and now my suitor has ANOTHER male, and a female, that are hanging out with him – on our back property. Now, I have to tell you, turkeys make a LOT of “mess’ and let’s leave it at that. My 14 year old border collie gave me a “oh please no” look but I shooed him up to herd them off the property – which he did. Well, sort of. They flew up into our neighbors trees. I have more photos from yesterday too (they’re still in the camera). The “turkey gang” were up in our daffodil patch, which looked pretty, until of course, they started eating the flowers.

Back to my IronTeam report. Today we are doing a bike marker, and don’t have to be there until the civilized time of 9:30 a.m.  H wants to get a ride in too (don’t forget, I signed him up for the Napa Wine Country Century) so he’s going to come as well. It’s only a 17 mile or so ride, but at least it’s something. (Who just wrote that? ONLY a 17 mile ride. Who am I becoming??? Laugh!) Followed by a brick Run, of course. I told Margaret that if she comes, to bring her husband Bob, and maybe Bob and H can hang while we are doing our thing.

Yesterday was Run and Swim Marker day. I actually did pretty well on the Run. We were to do a 5K at “the highest pace we could go.” I was running with/around Marina most of the time – we are pretty much the same pace. My first mile split was 10:40, then I actually got a second wind. I had been behind Marina and slowly pulled past her – and my second mile was a blistering (for me) 8:54. We were running in the “biggest” lanes (because the track was crowded) so Simon actually had us do 11.5 laps instead of 12…so my first and second miles were probably a little MORE than a mile and the third a little LESS. I think that I finished at 30 minute-something – Simon will have the total time for us some time this week and I will fix it here. That’s the fastest I have EVER run. My general time is about 12 minutes per mile. Woot Woot!

Carol and Me in the Pool

After the run, we got into the pool for our Swim Marker. I was in the lane with Carol (IronWu). I had read on BK’s blog that they had “bonked heads” on the Open Water swim, and so when we split the lane, I was extra conscious about not drifting over!!  We were to do a Marker of 2,000 yards, negative splitting the 2nd 1,000. I did it in a bit over 43 minutes – which increased my projected 2.4 mile time from 85 minutes to 91 minutes (100 yard pace went from 2:01 last marker to 2:10). That’s a little scary, since we need to do the doggone thing in 90 minutes – though the last marker was 1,000 yards and this was 2,000 (twice as far). I was able to negative split the 2nd 1,000 (5:28 v. 5:17), but I felt spacey and as if I was going too hard. When I finished, she said that for the first 1,000 I had had very regular times on my 100s (“Probably the most regular I have ever seen, it’s kind of amazing” she said), and we discussed how I felt the first 1,000 versus the second 1,000. In the first, I had felt pretty good, just “getting the job done.” In the 2nd, I had felt a little spacey, and not that great. I am not sure whether it was trying to speed up, or what. Sedonia said to actually try to keep it at the time I did the first 1,000 in because I had such a regular pace – and that the difference was pretty much nothing (“You can lose 5 minutes in a bad potty stop off the bike, so getting your time down 5 minutes and not feeling great when you finish isn’t really worth it.”) I had been careful to fully hydrate during the run (finished off 1.5 bottles of Accellerade plus a thing of Clif Shot blocks), but I cramped up on my calf during part of the Swim, and had an odd cramp that ran all the way from my groin down the inside of my leg, to my foot at one point when I pushed off, which freaked me out. I figured I somehow (swimming!) had pulled something BIG. But I didn’t feel it after I got out of the pool, so it must have been an odd anomaly.

synchronized drowning - that's me, middle right.

After our Marker sets, Sedonia had us split into 2 groups. The 2 groups were then further split to the 2 ends of a lane. The “game” was for the first swimmer to swim down the lane, and “pick up” the 2nd swimmer, who had to hold onto the first and swim back, pick up the 3rd who had to “hold on” and so on. Marina, an AMAZING swimmer, was our “locomotive.” She swam down and picked up Josh (who is also an amazing swimmer). Josh held onto her leg. I was 3rd – I held onto her 2nd leg. Then we picked up Chris, and I had him hold onto my left leg (which I don’t kick – I have that “left handed scissor” kick). Then we finally picked up Heather - she held onto Josh’s leg. I was very conscious of trying not to DROWN Marina during the process! It was pretty funny and I’m sure even more hilarious to watch from the Pool Deck. I could feel Chris “re-arranging his grip” on my leg a few times – when we finished, Jen and Sedonia were laughing, because apparently for part of the time Chris was just on his back, kicking, being pulled along. (Hence his hand feeling a bit “odd” on my leg – it was because instead of being “on top of” my leg his hand was under it, with him on his back.)

After the swim, it was into the gym for some Strength training, then Merla had brought some swag from former teams to sell. One of the gals teased that it was the perfect 3 disciplines for the Tri – Run, Swim, Shop!

The day had started out VERY rainy, but wound up being gorgeous by the end. I wore some of the new Pearl Izumi kit that Brent (Allison’s husband) had gotten for me. The jacket in particular was the bomb. I was very warm and – ta DA! – waterproof (what a concept). Back home, and H was working on the new studio, so I got a few hours to actually curl up with our new book club book, The Girl Who Played With Fire (follow-on to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – fantastic books).

Then woken up this morning at about 5:00 a.m. by – THE TURKEYS! Oy! Interestingly, they’re gone now (it’s 7:30 a.m.) – so it could be that they mistakenly think that they are roosters! Gotta figure out a way to make that stop!

I will try to continue adding a “You Know You’re Iron When…” at the bottom of posts (after the big list the other day) – because it seems that every day has one! This is the one from yesterday:

You Know You’re Iron When…

…You describe your 4 hour run/swim/strength team workout day to your husband as ‘Yeah, an awesome, totally short workout.’

I definitely feel like I’m doing better with the Dreaded Running, and I also definitely think that it has to do with the fact that we have added hill repeats.

Although our weekly charts say to do 6 x 400 hill repeats at no more than 4% grade - running up, then walking back down – that worked for me like once. I hated it. I decided instead to do hill repeats by my house, where it’s hilly for sure. I do a course that’s “rolling” where I can jog down the downs, and run up the ups. OK, “run” is always relative for me, but let’s just say “go faster.” Every time I am going up, I hear some random Marine Corps gunny from boot camp shouting “CHARGE THE HILL, LADIES!” – makes me laugh, since I move at such great blistering speeds (just call me Achatinacea . . .)

Click here for the map of my hill repeat area. If you click on “Terrain Map” (middle of the page) and then “Show Elevation” (over on the right side of the page), you can get a better idea.

I start off by walking quickly from my house (which is the “Start” on the map, if you click through) to California Street. I turn up California Street, and once I reach Humbolt, I start running. I run from Humbolt to Elizabeth (where the “End” is on the map) – which is 1/2 mile - and then turn back around and do Elizabeth to Humbolt, then back again, 6 times (or 3 times round trip). If I’m feeling strong, I “run” the whole thing, going faster on the ups than the downs. These days, I pretty much do the whole thing. When I started, I would walk the downs and run the ups. That’s how I know I’m getting stronger, because now I can “run” (I think it’s probably “jog” to you) all of it. But I do “CHARGE” the hills, Sarge (smile).

Once I finish the last repeat, I actually run all the way back to River Oaks on 5th Avenue, and then walk from 5th/River Oaks back up to Moody (home) to cool down.

I hated doing this at first - but not as badly as the brain-numbing “run up 400/walk down 400″ routine. I particularly hate the turn where California turns up into Windsor Avenue – it is a true killer. I was discussing this road with H last night, and he said that a CAR has to be gunned extra to make it around that hairpin. I can’t imagine, for example, doing that (or the turn from 5th onto River Oaks or River Oaks onto Moody for that matter) on a bicycle without being able to really stand up and push HARD. If you look on the Elevation part of the map, the “California to Windsor hairpin” seems to be the “pink” or 8% portion – but it looks like we live in a 8-9% range on Moody. Note that I WALK that part! Mama didn’t raise no fool…

Today is a Spin day – Saturday will be Swim and Run Markers with the team (in NOVATO – Hallelujah! No 2 hour drive each way!) and then Sunday the Bike Marker out on the road. It’s supposed to rain on Sunday – I hope not! I wasn’t able to make the last Bike Marker because of having theatre with Mom, Dad and H – so I really want to get this one in.

OK, these are DEFINITELY not “low cal,” but these bars were a wonderful present from our IronTeamMate Chris’ wife Meenu. Also not gluten-free, but who knows, you might be able to figure something out . . . or, as Coach Helen (who posted the recipe) said, “perhaps you should just stop reading now.”
++++++++++++++
[email from Meenu]
i loved being out there and supporting the ironpeople :) of course, here’s the recipe:

 Ingredients
 * 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
* 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
* 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® sweetened condensed milk
* 2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels [NOTE see changes, below]
* 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
* 1 cup chopped nuts

 Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for glass dish). Coat 13×9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.
2. Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust only for 10 minutes.
3. Combine sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, coconut and nuts in a bowl. Spread evenly over crust. Press down firmly with a fork.
4. Bake for additional 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars or diamonds. Store covered at room temperature.

Variations:
-Substitute 1 cup (6-ounces) butterscotch flavored chips for 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and proceed as directed above (this is what I did)
-Magic Rainbow Cookie Bars: Substitute 2 cups plain candy-coated chocolate candies for semi-sweet chocolate chips.

“Life isn’t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.” Vivian Green.

Up again at 4:00 a.m., to get in my chosen nutrition (oatmeal with protein powder and blueberries, yerba matte, and Accellerade) and get the “system moving” before getting out the door to pick up Iron Mel at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal. Yes, it was Groundhog Day – another 7 hours of “boot camp” training with the combined North and South Bay Ironteams. I greeted her with “Hu-LLO lil’ lady!” since I was walking like John Wayne – my hips belonged to the cowboy star, that’s for sure. I just needed a gun belt. Oh wait, I had one – but it was filled with GU and Accellerade in little bottles! (Snort!) It was drizzling when we loaded Mel’s bike, trainer, and “stuff” into the Siena, which had been the weather.com outlook for the entire day. And off we went.

Mel had been too tired to blog the night before (that’s what happened to me Sunday – I’m actually typing this on Monday), and we went over some of the goofy things, phrases and the like that had come out of Saturday. We got some good laughs out of them the second time, and remembered some that she hadn’t written down. I’ll add the link to her post here when she gets it on her site, because it’s going to be a funny one. We basically amused ourselves for the many MANY miles it took to get down there. Kinda/sorta a couple hours. Both days. There and back. SUCH TROOPERS (pat, pat, pat on our backs (laugh!!))

We arrived at Gunderson High School in San Jose, and were the first ones there. Slowly the “cat dragged in” the rest of the North and South Bay teams, and we made our trips into the pool area, to set up our trainers and bikes (in the drizzle) and get into the water for our first Swim workout.

The workout went for about an hour (I think) – it was mainly doing a short set of drills over and over and over again. From memory, it was a 300, then a 150, 3 sets of 50s at L5 then L6, then L7, then back again. Again – not that “hard” but a little brain numbing. Our lane looked like it was at the middle of the “slope” of the other lanes, because we had all sorts of debris in it (I dove down to get a few pair of swim goggles out from the Band-Aids, leaves, and other crap) – and Will actually got his hand caught in fishing line on his first trip down the lane! As we continued, I could feel the rain pelting down on my arms and head, and was not relishing getting out of the warm pool and onto the trainers.

But we did NOT get onto the trainers! They had had us set up the trainers, but the next part of our workout was to be on the road! We all got toweled off as best we could, donned our bike kit, unbolted our bikes from the trainers, and headed out. I discovered to my horror that neither pair of my shoes were in my athletic bag . . . though I was pretty sure I had seen them in the van. While everyone lined up to head off on the road, I biked over in my Uggs to the parking lot. I got a few catcalls about that! Yes, I am the only athlete with a 20 year old bike and pedal baskets instead of clips, but even I am above biking in Uggs! I did find both pair of shoes (biking and running) in the car, but sadly no extra socks. I strapped on the bike shoes and then (like the day before) I was off – pretty much in the last of the pack.

We had been told by South Bay Head Coach Dan that the route was “way shorter than yesterday’s” and that it had “2 little hills.” I was in a swim lane next to one of the South Bay gals, and asked her about it – she said, “Oh, NEVER believe DAN! Those ‘little’ hills are KILLERS!” So off we went, again, with trepidation. Apparently yesterday’s link worked, so here is the map of our ride for Day 2. (If you click it over to Terrain Map view, you can get a feel – hopefully the Elevation map will show but there is also a little click-button for that as well.)

On the way out, I was riding a bit with our North Bay Head Coach Dave. He’s such a great guy. He scared me in the beginning of our training, so I still have that “scared” reflex when I see him. But each time I have ridden with him, he’s super great. Very relaxed, very informative, very fun. We got to a big stoplight at one point and were waiting while the light changed – he pointed up to our left to a cloud-enshrouded freakin’ MOUNTAIN. He said calmly, “We’re going up there.” That’s when I knew that the South Bay gal had not been kidding to roll her eyes at the coach’s comment about the ride being “not that bad”…!!

We caught up to Paula, Patricia, and Cori on the climb up the first hill (Hicks Road/Shannon Road/Kennedy Road). As the percentage increased, I started my trademarked “breathing like a freight train.” Dave laughed and said, “Steady there, Tiger…” and I had enough breath to explain that if I breathe out HARD, I somehow avert an asthma attack. His “inner coach” kicked right in when I said “asthma” and he said, “Where’s your inhaler?” I held up my Phubby on my wrist. I discovered during the Louie Tri that having the inhaler in the back pocket of my bike jacket and/or in the Camelbak is Too Far Away. My BFF Maria (who also has asthma) sent me the Phubby, and it’s now an integral part of my training equipment. I was happy to introduce Coach Helen to it, too, and she now sports a spiffy black one.

So up, up, up we went, and down, down, down the rain came. Oh lord. It was miserable. Seriously. Dave actually rode back down to “coach up” the next set of riders, and Patricia, Cori, and Paula and I basically made a pack for a while. After the huge uphill came a flat, where I pulled over and tried to catch up on the hydration and nutrition that I had missed on the climb. I just can’t drink or eat, and breathe. I felt like I was falling behind in a big way nutrition-wise, and with it being cold and wet, I knew that this was a losing proposition for the rest of the day! After a big downhill came – surprise! – another freakin’ uphill. I was riding alone with Patricia by this time, just grabbing onto her back wheel as close as I could, while trying to stay out of the roostertail of water coming off of it.

Luckily, though it was raining, it wasn’t really windy, so Patricia and I could actually talk (mainly, curse) during the part of the climb before the WORST part (where just breathing was hard due to the exertion). I started getting bike ride A.D.D., and would call out to Patricia “Look up! Look at those almond trees and the sweet grass!” or “Look over to the right! Check out that apple tree!” I had really made a point of trying to enjoy the scenery the day before – and it had SO helped during the “tough times.” She sent me a Facebook post later that it had helped her get out of her “head full of Athlete’s Tourettes.” Ha! That was my phrase for the day -  I had certainly heard of “Athletic Asthma,” but with so many of the folks on our team busting out into strings of random expletives during various parts of the training…Finally! An Explanation! (smile)

We came around a corner and Patricia and I could see that this second hill definitely looked even worse than the first. It was very quiet as we slogged along, then I made her laugh out loud by mumbling forcefully under my breath into the quiet: ”Bastards!!!” She said back that her general phrase was, in situations like this, to grumble out “This is BULLSH*T!” about every few yards. I said if I adopted that one, there was no question that a schoolbus full of underaged impressionable children (or, say, nuns) would drive up right next to me as the Tourettes took hold. I tried to keep it at the PG level for that reason.

As we reached a turn in the road and ANOTHER climb, I was really feeling it. We were both laboring up the grade, and there wasn’t any way to even speak any more. The only sound was the rain hitting us and my freight train asthma-averting breathing. Then, I hear this wonderous, little girl voice coming from Patricia. In my mind, I can picture here batting her eyelashes, with one finger up to her cheek like Shirley Temple. She says in all wonderment, “Oh! Wow! I have another GEAR!” and CLICK, she’s off and pedaling more freely. I couldn’t laugh because I could barely breathe, but I was able to shout “B*TCH!!!” at the top of my voice (bus full of nuns, be damned). Then we both started laughing, which made us start wobbling, so we got our game faces on and re-attacked the hill. Patricia with her new lower gear. Arrrrrrrrrgh.

We finally reached the top, shouting not so mildly at the South Bay Coaches who were guarding the crest. “You are just plain EVIL” was the least of it. They just laughed.

Bastards.

(I mean that, of course, in the nicest of ways.)

We then headed down a super slick downhill with lots of patched pavement – it was nerve-wracking. I don’t have any experience with riding in the rain like that – especially on a downhill. Your wheels slide around and are just not in the same sort of contact with the road. I knew that the stress of the ride, the cold, the rain, and the inability to correctly hydrate was starting to work adversely on my system – namely, I started to get cold, REALLY cold. And (big surprise) my ‘potty reflex’ had kicked in, in a big bad way.

We did get down the hill, into the suburbs, and then Patricia actually knew which way to go. We caught up with Janice and rode together for a while. They waited for me when I missed a light, which I was immensely thankful for. Then Janice got out ahead of us, and Patricia dropped her chain! I realized there was literally NO way that I could stop without having an “accident” so to say – I stopped for a second and she said just to go on. So I pushed forward HARD – and luckily a portapotty at a construction site magically appeared a couple of miles later.

We got back to Gunderson High and I stopped by the car to pick up my running shoes and Uggs. Then it was back onto the Pool Deck, where nearly everyone was back, and already had their bikes up on the trainers. Set the bike up, and then back to the locker room, to change into running clothes. I realized that though I had dry clothes (shirt and shorts) to run in, I was SERIOUSLY cold – core cold – and I didn’t have another set of tights, socks, or long-sleeved wear for the workout. So I did the best I could – I actually kept on the bike shorts/tights (and of course socks) on the bottom, and layered in some dry clothes, but then back on with the bike jersey and Flames vest.

We ran out and back for an hour along a canal area by the high school. I was with Carol and Patricia, and we generally race-walked and talked. I was exhausted. We talked about the bike ride, and I got Patricia laughing again, telling Carol about her whole “extra gear” scenario on the bike ride. We shared tips (such as lace locks for shoes, and tennis wrist-bands for the ever-present bike snot – sorry, dear readers), and tried to make a miserable situation of being out in that rain more bearable. Thank you, Irongrrls, for keeping my mind off my squishy feet and aching legs!

trainer stand filling up with water

Back from the “sidewalk run” (or for us, walk), and onto the trainers. (As the coaches said a lot during this long long day, “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.”) Since I was still in my bike shorts and tights (as Patricia said, “This is like wearing a wet diaper – no WONDER the babies cry!”), I just swapped out my shoes and got my bike gloves. Donna from South Bay noticed I had had just regular gloves during the walk, which were now completely soaking. She took me into the toilets area, and showed me how she had been using the hand dryer to warm up her hands, and her gloves. GENIUS! I was able to get my bike gloves pretty dry (and definitely warm), so got them onto my hands, and out to the trainers we went.

I was biking in front of Mel and Margaret, and they could definitely see I was in trouble. Mel kept checking in with me, “How’s it going, John?” (for John Wayne) and I would nod and try to keep my misery from busting out. It was nice though to know that they were there and that there was a flow of concern goin’. I think that the best part about training with the team is that when you are at your worst, SOMEONE is seeing the humor of the situation, and will bust out with some outrageous comment or string of cuss words. And then, surprisingly, you find that, a bit later, you are the one with the comment (or fantastic string of expletives) for someone else having a low moment.

me, super cold on trainer - tried to keep warm with my hands under my arms. Mel is in the red cap to my right, in back.

I forgot to mention (I think) that H had purchased me the lowest-level bike computer with a cadence meter – the Cateye Astrale 8 (I thought it was just over $20, it’s about $29) because mine died at the Louie Tri. He had even calibrated it Friday night, so that I could have it for the boot camp. It was BRILLIANT having a computer that was easy to use, but that also had a cadence meter on it. I used it both days on the road, to figure out where my “sweet spot” of cadence was (right around 76-80 rpm). This was the first time I got to use it on the trainer, and it was fun not having to “match” someone else’s foot speed. Not sure how long we were on the trainers (days and days – but it was probably about 45 minutes or so), and then it was off to the track.

We did track work, mixed in with squat/jumps, ab work, running the stadium stairs, stair tricep dips and leg/ab crunches… general brutality. The good part was that I was able to power through feeling grumpy, super cold and lightheaded (I had been mis-er-a-ble on the trainer and came SO CLOSE to quitting!) and actually felt pretty good by the time we were done. I tried to stay by myself though – because my Athlete’s Tourettes was going full-tilt-boogie in my head!

Dips on the Stairs: And YES I (lovingly) mean the double-entendre

Back on the trainers – more Accellerade, more GU, more cadence drills (this time up to 115 rpm for one set – I was able to get to 107 but just couldn’t get my legs moving faster!) – and then everyone was off to the track again for another track workout, and a final swim. It was already 2:30 p.m. however, and I had promised H that we would be done at 2:30 (not sure how I got to that math – I think I was off by an hour). I felt bad, because of course Iron Mel commutes with me – but she is still having her hammie issue so was not able to really do the track portion, meaning she had just missed walking the track, and then the final swim. (I do know that the reason I didn’t quit and just leave when I was feeling at my most miserable during the first trainer workout was that I didn’t want to blow Mel’s workout. So thank you Mel for being my motivation!)

oh yeah, I am SO HAPPY to be doin' this.

We gathered up all our sopping wet kit, and off to the van we went. SO SEXY! I get to tell a story on Mel now (sorry sweetie!). She got a call from an acquaintance when we were coming home – of course, I could only hear her side of the conversation, but it sounded like the acquaintance was asking to meet up the coming Wednesday. Her answer was, “Oh, I think that should work out – I’m actually in the car right now, but next week I’m in recovery so I’m pretty sure that’s not an issue.” (pause as she listens) “Well, actually I’m coming back right now from a ‘boot camp weekend’ of training, yes, and so next week is going to be an easier week…” (I stopped listening in around this point, but I was REALLY LAUGHING inside). She got off, and said, “Do you think it was weird I got to talking about the working out and stuff? I just felt I had to explain what I was talking about – it was odd.” I said to her (laughing) – “Honey, this is my first time on Team In Training, but you have been doing this for years. I think it was a Lingo Issue.” She looked at me quizzically, and so I continued. “You just said that you could go out, because you would ‘be in Recovery’ next week.” Suddenly Mel’s eyes popped open huge and she BURST out laughing as of course I said, “…to MOST of us, ‘Recovery’ is an Alcoholics Anonymous word!” She laughed and laughed, and said “Oh NO I never even THOUGHT of that!” We had a real fit of giggles over it. I told her not to worry about it – but it added another “You Know You’re Iron When…” phrase to my ever-growing list!

You Know You’re Iron When:

…your husband finds the ear wax you stuck to the dashboard after your open water swim as you transitioned to the bike, and is pointing disgustedly to it while you go “WHAT? WHAT?” looking for a crack in the windshield or whatever he must be seeing to get him upset….
…you walk into Safeway in head to toe spandex, smelling like a goat, and see nothing wrong with it…
…you don’t see anything wrong with being super happy telling folks you are ‘in Recovery next week’ so you’ll have time to go out…
…you open your dishwasher and it’s 80% full of water bottles and caps…
…you ask your husband to please heat up some of the glo-green Accellerade from your Camelbak and bring it to you in your ice bath…
…you TAKE ice baths! And you look FORWARD to them!…
…you know what Athletic Tourettes is, and have had it a bit yourself…
…your talk about clothing isn’t based on Milan or Paris but on “wicking ability”…
…”badonkadonk” has entered your vocabulary…
…you race to potty…(that’s for us, Carol)
…you sign your husband up for a Century Ride because you’re “sure he’ll have a good time and it will just be some relaxing fun”…
…you practice your John Wayne voice and swagger around at 5 in the morning in Ferry Parking lots to the delight of your Navigatrix…
…”BITCH!” becomes a term of endearment…
…you just Keep On Keepin’ On…
…you stop comparing yourself to others and learn the words to “This race is MY race, your race is YOUR race” (to “This Land Is Your Land”)…
…you hit the Wall (maybe for your 2nd or 3rd time) and realize what the phrase, “There are no Atheists in Foxholes” is REALLY all about…
…(corollary to the one immediately above) On mile 9,000 of the Big Climb, you become a lot more Equal Opportunity, and start calling on all religious icons for help with the G.D. Hill (Moses, Jesus, Mary, Mohammed)…
…you realize that your sense of humor has returned – and boy, is it Evil…
…you have “shorthand” for “stories” with people you didn’t even know a couple months ago…

Additions from Comments:
…you pick up a friend at Oakland Airport smelling like chlorine mixed with sweat and dirt-encrused legs…(IronWu)
…your desired gift certificate is from Sports Basement, not Tiffany’s… (IronWu)
…you take off your bike jacket to change a flat, and your [non-triathlete] biking partner comments in a puzzled voice on the wafts of chlorine coming off your body…(Missy)
…you are happy that the chlorine is so denuding your body of hair, no more brow tweezing and you can skip shaving your legs…(Missy)
…waking up at 6 a.m. is sleeping in (IronMel)
…you lick your arms on a spin day surrounded by 40 strangers at the gym with a curious look on your face, to see how your ‘salty sweat test’ is coming along…

…What’s Yours???? Add a Comment if you read this – I’d really like to collect a few more!

Wow. What a day. I can hardly even blog about it, my mind is just spinning. I guess I will start at the beginning.

IronMel, Moddie the Tree Frog (wink) and I met at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal at O-dark-OO to get over to Lake De La Valle in Livermore (think that’s what it’s called). And the first of my thank yous goes to the makers of the Toyota Siena Minivan – we got 3 bikes, 3×3 wetsuit/swim/parka/run/bike/transition/nutrition before, during, after/foam roller/yoga matts in there, and Moddie even still fit. (OK she’s small but it wasn’t that bad.)

North/South Combined Photo: I'm back right, bright green swim cap

We arrived early, but that gave us time to wake up, get the bikes out, and start “lubing up” for our Open Water swim. Next thank you to Coach Mike, who arrived with a wetsuit that fit me GREAT – thank you, thank you! There was laughter and “Blow me, Baby!”s as we blew air into each other’s wetsuit arms to get them to fit better, zipped each other up, and lubed, lubed, lubed. There were some hicky-lookin’ folks afterwards (unfortunately one of them Iron Mel) where their wetsuits had rubbed their necks – I did fine. I was very thankful that the wetsuit had no arms, like my beloved Quintana Roo from the Chicago Tri oh so many years ago. My shoulders dislocate, and a full-arm wetsuit pulls my rotator cuff “back” and into that “fear” position. Thank you, wetsuit angels, for picking the perfect wetsuit out of Coach Mike’s closet for me. We took our North Bay/South Bay Combined Photo, then into the Lake!

We split into 2 groups – one to do basic Open Water drills, and one to swim to a buoy and back (about a mile I think). I took group 2, because I HAVE done Open Water, and I knew basically I just had to address my general Open Water Fear Factor. Jim K. and I got in the water together first and it was oh-my-Lord cold. Well, not really – there has been a lot of rain that has apparently warmed it up – it was probably about 52. Moddie said that the last time they used the Lake, it was so cold that there was ice on the potty seats – so we were VERY grateful! Thank you, lake heater nymphs for stoking up the underwater fires for us.

I started out towards the buoy, and had my anticipated “really don’t want to get my face in the water” reaction. I was able to pretty strongly swim “water polo style,” but that’s just exhausting. I saw Suzie flip over and do some backstroke, so I did that for a while – just kicking. I love doing that in the pool. It was really relaxing and I got to watch the clouds go by. I would flip over and do a little breast stroke, do a little “water polo style” stroke, then a little side stroke, etc. I wasn’t moving that fast, and I was getting a little tired. I knew I would need to get my face in the water, but it was definitely freaking me out.

Mentor Margaret (Serious Earth Angel in my life) swam up about that time, and we started chatting – about my Hella Week, about her kids, etc. It was like a walk in the park. It was great. Seriously. I did feel strong, I didn’t feel all that tired, my arms and feet weren’t cold (that was her main concern) – but I really didn’t want to get my face in the water. Imagine a cat-water aversion, that’s how it felt. I think I read somewhere that there is actually a mammalian face/water “response” – can’t remember what it said, but that there’s something about putting your face into water that actually triggers something deep in your brain that Just Says No.

Mentor Margaret and I stroked away for a while, and got within about 200 yards or so of the buoy. We were supposed to turn around at 30 minutes, and we’d been out about 45 or so by that time, so we decided to come back. (Some of the faster swimmers were coming back, so we tagged along.) As we headed back, we were around a bend in the lake from the boat dock – so it seemed impossibly far for a second and I felt deflated. Then something in the back of my head (my water angel – thank you water angel! Yes, I am going to be thanking a lot of angels today, just deal with it (wink)) said to me – and it really was like a separate voice that wasn’t mine – “You know that to do 25 yards in the pool, it takes 24 strokes every time, even if you TRY to do it in fewer strokes – 12 per arm. Can you put your face in the water, and stroke 12 times with your left/favorite breathing side, which will also be the side to see the shore?” And I answered (yes, it really was like I was answering a separate entity) “Yes, I think I could do that.” And so I did. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12. Stop, look up. WOW, covered a LOT MORE of the shore that way (I mean – duh. I was actually SWIMMING.) Mentor Margaret said “Hey! That was great! You’re doing it!” and I told her what I had done. She thought that was a good idea. So the little water angel voice said, “So, ready to do that again?” And I said “Yes,” and I did. Mentor Margaret stayed pretty much with me (we were with someone else too – Marina maybe?), and we actually swam. I would stop after the 12. Then my water angel voice would kick in. “How about 2 sets of 12?” And I would say “OK I can do that.” And finally we rounded the corner and the blessed boat dock was in sight. FANtastic! In sets of 12, I made it to the dock, and stumbled out onto the shore. Coach Dave said something to me, and I realized I was a little loopy. I couldn’t make his words into a coherent sentence. He did give me a little bit of a “searching look” (e.g., “Has she hit the Wall/is she going to be OK?”) but I told him I was ok, and toddled off with Mary over back to the cars, to get ready for biking.

Meenu with Cookies (recipe in a future post)

Iron Mel and Moddie were already there, ready to roll. Iron Mel had done the tutorial, and Moddie had been in the kayak with them. I REALLY did not want to bike. In fact, I said to Mel, “I’m not sure I’m going to bike.” She looked at me like I had just spoke in tongues, and said OF COURSE YOU ARE GOING TO BIKE! (She did NOT end with “…and you’re going to LIKE it!” but I might have heard that in a week small voice when I turned to get my Camelbak (laugh).) So thank you to my Earth Angel and Navigatrix Iron Mel, for putting a fire under my flames and getting me out of the wet, clammy, cold wetsuit, over to get some chicken soup (NECTAR OF THE GODS) and a cookie bar oat/chocolate/etc thing from Chris’ wife Meenu (DELISH), and into the shack to change. (BK told me to grab one – then, here’s my exchange with her: “Any peanuts in there?” “No, don’t think so…why?” “Because if I eat peanuts, I fall down from anaphylaxis.” “Oh, that doesn’t sound good” (goes over ingredients in her head), “No, no peanuts.” “OK, I will take 4 of those then” (BK falls over laughing))

Carolyn and I sat down on the bench together to get our wetsuits off, and got ourselves stuck quite spectacularly. Our hands were so cold, we couldn’t even push the wetsuits off. We were laughing like banshees and obviously in Full Loopy Mode. Lordie Lordie. We got ourselves out finally, and then even pulled a gal from South Bay Team (might have been Donna) out of her wetsuit (just stripped it off). After that we turned to each other and said “HELLO, why did we not do THAT for each other?” Funny. There were leaves and soil all over the floor of the changing shack, and I wound up with no-see-’em leaf ends under my bike shorts. Caroline humored me and wiped everything real or imagined off of me from under the pants legs, and we were off. So special thank you for patience and helpfulness and so sorry I forget who it was! Argh!

Got back to the bikes, and of course I had to go back to the shack to potty (again and again…and AGAIN) before we were all ready to go. (Shake Fist) Doggone you, tumor! I’m tired of the potty action! (OK, but thank you for being benign.) I was somewhat thankful though, in that I felt at least that probably meant I had done OK with hydration. I downed 2 GUs and put on my Camelbak, ready for the ride…kinda. I had looked at the topo map the night before, and it really had not looked very good to me. About 33 miles – but with a climb at the front end, the back end, and in the middle. I think if you click here, you will get to see the elevations.

getting ready to go (ditched the balaclava later)

I was dead last when we headed out – one more potty break, and during that time everyone had head out. I wasn’t that concerned – I had my Tunes, and I actually like the idea that I can basically take my own time. I also felt a bit virtuous to even be ON the bike. I really had not wanted to head out. It was cold, damp, and I didn’t feel great but I didn’t feel bad. I figured – What the heck?

We went out from the parking area and through the ranger station, then left and up the first hill climb (you can see it on the map if you click on it, above. At least, I hope you can). I am so thankful and grateful for Vlad (my 20 year old Specialized Sequoia) and the “compound low” gear that he has in the front. I am seriously wondering if the new bike is going to be able to climb so well. H said he’s going to try to do the math on it all – because I have this AWESOME basically “mountain bike” gear on the front, which is tiny and allows me to not have to really “push” up a hill (hard to explain). Oh sure, some hills are too hard for me, but in general, I am spinning my pedals WAY MORE (and going very slowly) than anyone else on the Team. As we were climbing up the hill, the GU and Accellerade must have kicked in, because I started slowly passing folks. Of course I also had my tunes going – Tiffany laughed out loud when I gave her my tuneless rendition of “Jump In The Line” by Belafonte, which was playing when I passed her. I put the iPod on the headsets today, because I can play the music much softer, and hear things better than when I crank it up and put it in my mini speaker set in the top of the Camelbak (of course, headsets are illegal during the race, but the speaker thing doesn’t seem to be, from what I can tell from the rules). We ultimately got up and over the hill, and I’d probably passed about a dozen people. Then it was the downhill side – YIKES – long and pretty doggone steep. I realized with a sinking heart that we were going to have to come back UP this at the end. It went on, and on, and on. I had my brakes on, but kept my feet spinning like Coach Dave told us to do.

bucolic Livermore

The ride was fairly uneventful on the way out. OK – well – truth be told, I actually felt GREAT. I sent up some prayers to my Sister Louisville Triathlete Missy, who I met because she found my blog and emailed me. It was a little creepy, because these prayers were answered like a big “love slam.” Hard to explain it. Missy is also doing the LLS workouts – I send them to her (she’s in Tennessee), and so we were both “out there” today. She LOVES to bike, and I asked for a little help “from her” as I was heading out. “Unwritten” came on my iPod, and – oh my LORD! - I started SINGING at the top of my voice, almost weaving my bike to the tune, and remember, I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. The landscape was gorgeous, the horses were out, the grass was green, the SUN came out for a few moments, wow! Two of the South Bay gals sped past me and they were LAUGHING, and I mean laughing HARD. They said, “Go girl, you are making us feel great you are having so much FUN!” I was a little embarrassed because I was singing and didn’t know the words, but, OK, I didn’t care. I was in this big biking love bubble. So thank you Missy, I channelled you today, Sis!

Mary and I traded back and forth for a while on some rolling hills – really gorgeous horse country. Somehow I got ahead, and the big hill in the middle of the ride (again you can see this in the Elevation map above) was a switchback so I could see her below and some of my other teammates. There were the big steel industrial windmills on the top of the ridge and I realized that was probably the “Altamonte Pass” that I hear so often on the radio during traffic reports.  At the top, the sag wagon waited. I felt very good. I had been hydrating with the Accellerade, and got off and stretched and had a couple of GU. Then a couple of the South Bay Team were heading back down the hill, and I figured “No time like the present” and just headed off after them, without hanging around really all that much.

windmills on the ridge

More hills, then we turned on a straightaway that looked flat, but was one of those insidious “small percentage” climbs. Not only that, but the wind had come up and WOW! At one point it blew on me in a gust from the side and I was really glad there was no traffic on the road because I went straight out of the bike lane! It was also cold, and it wicked the moisture/sweat right off you. I was wearing a LOT OF CLOTHING – 3 tops, bike shorts, and bike tights and gloves – but it was wearingly cold. (I had actually started out in a Balaclava like I had seen some of the guys wearing on the Louie, but it was too constricting, so that came off nearly as soon as it went on!)

My energy waxed and waned, and I paid a lot of attention in getting the Accellerade in. I am still not so great opening food on the bike while riding. I stopped on one straightaway and had a couple more GU – I basically would stop, stretch my back, and eat the GU every so often. It didn’t seem all that bad, and I didn’t stop for long enough that I felt like my legs were getting cold or anything.

Well, I finally turned on the road that leads into the park where the lake and our cars were. I remembered how Moddie and Mel and I had commented on the apple/almond/cherry blossoms and how pretty they were, etc. driving in and tried to enjoy them, but I was feeling surly and really just wanted OFF that BIKE. The straight road seemed to go on forever, and I knew, with dread, that the HUGE climb was coming up afterwards (again, you can see this on the elevation map – it was the downhill or “back side” of the hill, from the beginning of the ride).

Coach Dave had sent a BIG email (too long to put here) about “hitting the Wall” and “digging deep” and all that jazz. He said to try to remember a Wall you had hit but then surmounted…but it’s all just a bad memory until it really happens to you AGAIN. (Someone once told me that the mind/body “memory” of pain fades quickly…otherwise, how would women have more than one kid, eh?)

OK, that climb was the most punishing thing I have done since USMC Boot Camp. I was trying to think if ANYTHING I have done was as bad as that between the “two” boot camps. Marathon training? Previous Tri training? Training for our “length of the French Alps” hike? Driving cattle through the Snowies for days and days? NOPE. This was IT. It went on and on and ON. You would come around a corner and think you “had to be close” and you would be faced with a VISTA of climb in front of you as far as the eye could see, until it went around another corner. It was AWFUL. I put the bike into that low low gear, and just started heading on up. My new daughter Leann told me that she had asked her mother Gladys to help me from Heaven, and I have a feeling this is where she kicked in on her angel wings. Gladys lent me the grit, determination, and spirit of GLADnYS that helped her fight her cancer for years. Thank you, woman! I will take care of your daughter and grandsons.

So bad to that Hill. There is NO question that I quit – dead *ss QUIT – 4 times on that climb. But each time I quit, I had to not quit, because I couldn’t put my foot down (no way I could get started again on that grade), and it was WAY too far to walk, and there was no truck to pick me up. I WOULD HAVE TOTALLY hailed down a Sag Truck and made them take me. NO QUESTION. But I couldn’t, because there wasn’t one. So I was forced to start again, after each ”metaphorical” quit. I called on Missy’s spirit. I called on Louie B’s spirit. I called on God, yes, really, I did. I talked to my bike in my head, praising it for being so awesome and keeping me going. I prayed to the Goddess in my body, because I couldn’t drink, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t do anything but breathe like a freakin’ freight train and hold on and  keep my head down and keep pedaling, and so I prayed to her to just keep me going, hoping I had enough nutrition in there not to bonk and just physically be unable to continue.

Amazingly, I passed people. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t “reel them in” or any of that great head stuff. I just breathed on past them like a freight train. Some of them said “Good job.” Most were just like me – gutting it out – no way to think about anything but keeping one foot pedaling after another. It was really helpful there for a while to think about breathing – CO2 OUT, Oxygen IN – my monkey brain would try to take me off that mental path, tell me how much I HATED BIKING – and I would just come back to the Breath. In. Out. In. Frankie Goes To Hollywood “Relax” came on my headsets and I did have to smile. “Relax, just DO IT” I would sing to myself instead of “Don’t do it.” I would pedal to the beat of the song that I was on – a little slower, a little faster – always basically just inching up the hill, and my feet moving faster than the other folks I would pass. I blessed the Gods of that compound low gear. I kept going. I went around another corner, saw another huge vista of “up,” quit again mentally, just QUIT, crying in my head, but I couldn’t cry, because I would have an asthma attack, and there was no way I could take my hand off and get my inhaler, so I just breathed. My right hand cramped up into a claw on the handlebar – yes, a claw, I couldn’t unbend my fingers - and I sent visions of electrolytes over to her, because I couldn’t drink, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t help her with anything but breathing, and continuing to move inexorably up that grade. My glasses fogged over and I could feel my face getting super red and overheated. I reached up just for a second to push the glasses down my nose, so I could see by peering over the top of them, because it was impossible for me to even think about taking them off, wiping them, or whatever else a normal person on a flat road might do. My face was hot, hot, hot and I knew that was not good.

And then – I was there. I was at the peak. There were a bunch of guys on the side of the road, flying radio-controlled airplanes. It was flat, but it looked off in all directions down beautiful green valleys, and the downhill grade was there. I had DONE IT. I had quit 4 times, and unquit 5. I put my feet down on the ground, and started to bawl. Just for a little bit…then I pulled myself together and started sucking the Accellerade out of my Camelbak and got a couple GU out of my Bento Box, and enjoyed the view. Les and Jen came up on me then and asked if I was OK, I gave them a thumb’s up, and they went on down the hill. I looked back down the slope way, way down (to the next turn) – and I was alone. All those folks I had passed – whom I actually had imagined were just behind me – were so far behind me I could not even see them. That was SHOCKING. Once I was almost sloshy with Accellerade, I got back on and headed downhill.

Jim K (his angel wings are folded back out of sight)

I ultimately pulled into the parking lot and I was shaking with emotion. I had held it together (barely) as I approached the lot – more afraid that it would trigger an asthma attack than afraid of “showing emotion” or whatever. But I rode past some of the cars, and folks were SUPER surprised to see me – I could hear it in the surprised tone of their voices and their hoots. My head was buzzing though and I felt out of body. Mentor Margaret was standing by my car and she could see something was up. I started leaking tears and and she said “Good or Bad?” and I said “Good – I did it all, no walking.” She gave me a hug and I just let loose. It was not pretty (laugh!) Then I got a big hug from Jim K., which was the BEST. I even made BK give me a hug. :-) So special thanks to my earthbound angels Mentor Margaret (again), and especially Jim, and also BK, for letting me wet their shoulders. I had a flashback of my very first team ride, where Jim and BK where these ~big!~ bike studs to me – and there they were, my teammates, congratulating me and telling me I did great. Jim was funny – I had been telling him that H was getting me a new bike – he said “Maybe you don’t need that new bike after all, girl!” That cracked me up.

I didn’t change out of anything but my shoes – I’ve found that running in the full-on bike shorts is not that bad – and then after the ubiquitous potty break, we were off on the run. It was a 60 minute out and back cross country run. I had another couple GU, and per the lecture I had gone to on Thursday, had coconut water in my 4 Sportsbelt bottles. Off we went.

I felt pretty good – I was running with Maria and Marina. We were chatting and jogging – got to another potty on the trail and of course, I had to visit it. After that until I got to the turn- around spot, I was pretty much running by myself.

The WMDs (Women of Mass Destruction) - Marina, me, Iron Mel, Susie, and Moddie the Tree Frog in all our goaty spectacularness!

I caught up with them and a guy from South Bay Team at the turn around and was thinking about running with them, but I had gotten a SERIOUS second wind so I pulled past them up a hill and kept going. I think the GU from the top of the mountain had hit! I started passing folks – on uphills. It was crazy. Then I got to the rolling path that went around the lake. A LOT of our team were there, and Mercury Blues from David Lindley came on my headset, and I TOOK OFF. It was the most bizarre feeling. I was channelling Jeff (or maybe Coach Simon). I could feel my eyes were very focused, and my body was easy, leaning slightly forward, but my feet were kicking WAY up. I just reeled folks in and passed them. At one point I passed Iron Mel who was walking with Moddie (her hamstring is still not 100%) and she told me later she literally got tears in her eyes, she did not recognize me at first as I blew on by. I heard her actually scream, and I gave her the “thumb and pinkie finger Hang Loose” wave and I kept going and going. I passed Mentor Margaret, and SHE gave a hoot and picked me up – I had set my sights on a bathroom in the distance, and I couldn’t really talk, I was breathing like a possessed demon freight train, but I was able to get out “To the house.” I knew I would start fast walking from there until I caught my breath again because that is what I planned. Mentor M. ran with me to it and she was talking and cheering but the buzzing in my head was so strong I just knew she was there, but it was like I was somewhere else. My legs and body were someone else’s. Some SERIOUS runner! I got to the potty and Margaret ran on to catch up with Liz, and I race-walked until I caught my breath, then “Gallowayed” by picking a tree, then running to that, then walking to another chosen tree, etc. We came around a corner and I could see the boat dock, and I could see Liz and Margaret up ahead. They actually slowed down just as I came up on them, and I ran between them, gave them the “Hang Loose” wave, and sped on. I was feeling REALLY spent, but I wanted to get to our parking lot, to the car. I wasn’t sure I would make it, but I wanted to “leave it all on the pavement.” There was a steep downhill in the sidewalk, and I was watching where I stepped, and then had a complete single-minded purpose to get to that van. I wasn’t really seeing anything. I did not feel like I was part of my body. My body was a machine (a tired machine!) and it was carrying me to the finish. My head was up I was leaning forward, my arms were pumping, my feet were kicking up high in back. I heard a noise though, and looked up under the brim of my baseball hat – and there were all the coaches standing on a picnic table, cheering me on. I TOTALLY did a double take. I had NO idea they were there until I was nearly on top of them. (It sort of broke my trance, and I started smiling. They cheered me in, I ran past them and then walked around a bit to get my breath back. It was AMAZING.)

I hadn’t realized HOW many people I had passed until I looked around – and there were hardly any people there. I stood with the coaches and cheered people in. Tiffany, Mary, Mel, Margaret, Suzie, and more came up to me and congratulated me, told me that when I blew past them it was amazing. I was still a little out of body. I felt fantastic.

Me and One-Lisa on the foam roller. Insert soundtrack of giggles and groans!

We did Stretching with Doug, which involved sharing my foam roller with Alissa, a gal from South Bay which was hilarious (and painful!) She told me to remember her name by thinking “Just One Lisa – A Lisa.” I can remember that!

Mel and I got out of our clothes, and LORDIE LORDIE – we were SO STINKY! We coined a new phrase – we were the new WMDs! (Women of Mass Destruction!) Yup – throw those clothes in an Alkaida Stronghold and there would be NO survivors! The 3 of us ultimately got in the van to get home – the poor van looked like a Sports Basement had detonated in the back. Clothing, nutrition, wetsuits, foam rollers, yoga mats, shoes, etc. EVERYwhere. We had our usual hilarious time – Mel has to be the funniest person on Earth, or maybe she just is with me when I’m at my loopiest from dehydration and working out! She got the Spirit Cape, much deserved (decked out by Tiffany with a new Princess tiara, etc.)

I just have to stop typing now – and rescue the laundry so that I will have clothes for TOMORROW – when we DO IT ALL AGAIN. What a day. What a freakin’ DAY! I made it over the Wall. I picked myself up FIVE times. I made it past Quit with a capital freakin’ Q. I’m so emotional, ecstatic, whatever, that I can barely believe it.

And – paradoxically – I feel detached and out of body. I feel like something just took me over, especially at the end. So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all the angels who helped me along – Earthbound (Coaching, Mentoring, Teammates, Tenneseean) and perhaps, not-so-earthbound. If not angels, well, maybe I just channelled my Ironman self, 5 months from now. I’m not sure. But it was awesome. AWE-freakin-SOME.

(Time to go to bed. I mean – it’s after 7:00 p.m. and everything.)

Wow, I haven’t posted in a while. The Sunday after the swim workout with Sedonia, H and I did a 45 mile “figure 8″ from Adobe Creek Golf Course, down to Sears Point Raceway, back to the Golf Course, then out Adobe Road to Penngrove, out Petaluma Hill Road to Santa Rosa, then back (actually via McDowell because the end of Adobe Road with no shoulders was WAY TOO SCARY). Until we got to Penngrove, surprisingly, H was WAY far behind me. He says that it’s getting to the point where he can’t keep up. I’m not totally sure that’s true, I think it’s because I have the Tunes in my Camelbak and he doesn’t. (smile) After we got back, while he took care of the bikes, I actually just changed my shoes and started out around the subdivisions surrounding the golf course for the 40 minute run. I felt great – !! – I could have run for longer. The 45 mile bike was REALLY REALLY LONG though – I was SO FREAKIN’ GLAD to get off that bike. H had a gin and tonic at the club bar waiting on me for the run (smile). That was our Valentine’s Day!

The Monday after Val’s Day he had off from work, and so we actually had fun going into the city. I introduced him to Sports Basement (as with my first time there, he was basically overwhelmed). I brought my $20 coupon with me (thanks Kristie! Thanks Sports Basement!), and bought a new pair of non-smoke swim goggles. I am IN LOVE WITH THEM - Blue Seventy brand, “Siren” style – in fact, yesterday I went back and got another pair in smoke to replace my Tyrs, now that I know that these fit SO MUCH better. I also bought a “sports belt” – not sure I love it. After Sports Basement, we went for a long walk along the water and up into Chestnut and checked out some stores, then went out for wine and chocolate on a coupon H had gotten from Groupon.com. Great fun.

Can’t remember quite what else I did this week. I am pretty sure that Tuesday was a Spin/Swim – yes, I am sure it was – I got the Spin in, but then had a doctor’s appointment and so “only” got an hour of the Swim in. Wednesday was running the hills – I did the “rolling hill repeats” behind Sun Valley Market/California Street by my house (e.g., they roll up and down, so I just did 6 of them or 3 round trips, instead of doing an up, then walk back as the schedule said). I did them in the total dark because H’s daughter showed up and basically caged me in the house all day with the screaming and yelling and abuse (he wasn’t home – she finally left around 5:00 p.m.). I hated it. Thursday was 3250 yards Swim. It was fun because it included a LOT of drills. I actually remembered the right piece of paper with the workout on it (that was the problem too on Tuesday – I brought the SPIN workout out to the pool – duh), and cranked it out.

Thursday night I went to an endurance athlete seminar that was completely fascinating and has me researching Coconut Water as an electrolyte replacer.  Today no workout, tomorrow starts BOOT CAMP. And if you want to know what that is, I’m piecing in the email here from our Coach. Saying I am petrified is putting it mildly. Hopefully Coach Mike has a wetsuit for me – I love my team – Louisville doesn’t let you wear one, so the coaches tried to find me one because obviously I’m not in the market for one. Coach Mike did have one for me to try that Iron Mel brought to me (from the team workout I couldn’t make), but the gal it belongs to is obviously more Lilliput than Gulliver and I couldn’t even approach getting it on. (I tried.)

The emails say to show up basically with a wetsuit, 12 caps, booties, gloves, ultra-ultra….I will be holding my surfing shortie and looking longingly into Coach Mike’s ever-helpful Mini trunk for something to keep me going. SO, here are the directions – freakin wish me LUCK, pals!

Day 1 info -

Directions: [I cut this out. Suffice it to say, it's a loooong drive for us to get there. So we are leaving at 5:00 am. Shoot me now.] 

SWIM – (8:30AM – 9:30AM)Come prepared to be IN THE WATER at 8:30AM. The Park entry fee will be collected by a park employee at the Kiosk. Be prepared to pay $6 per car and an additional fee for boats if you are bringing a support watercraft.

 We will have two groups swimming. For those athletes who are not accustomed to open water swimming and would like a coached session on open water basics we will be offering a small group swim at the Swim Beach. The remainder of the team will be swimming in the open lake from the boat launch.  

BIKE – (10:00AM – 1:00PM) Bring your bike and road riding gear. We will be riding on the road the entire time. Our route will take us back down out of the park and into the Livermore Valley. This route will include a mixture of rolling hills and one long climb of 4.5 miles. The entire route is 33 miles. There will be a time cutoff enforced at the base of the big climb (Mile 13 within 1 hour) to ensure the team stays together for the remainder of the workout. There will be a SAG stop at mile 13 and one at approximately mile 25. The route can be viewed here: http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/ca/livermore/647126629805532446

 RUN – (1:00PM-2:00PM) The run course will follow the rolling East Shore Trail along the lake. It will include fire roads and some single track trails. This will be a timed out and back (30 minutes out & turn Around)

 Stretch – 2:00PM – 2:45PM After all that working out, you will need to stretch before you get into the car for the ride home. Coach Doug will lead the group in a stretch session designed to keep you from cramping up and feeling sore tomorrow. If you have a foam roller – bring it with you. There will be a stretching/foam roller session also.

 Day 2 info - 8:00 am in the water! Please arrive early to set up your bike trainer on the pool deck. [Note: I think this means we have to get going at like 4:45 a.m. Seriously now.]

Meeting at Gunderson High School in San Jose

 Come prepared to Swim, Bike (Road & Spin), Run and stretch for approximately 6-7 hours.

 Bring your bikes, gear bags and bike trainers to the pool deck. There’s nice large area where will set up our bikes/trainers. We will be in the pool first then on the bikes for a nice bike ride of about 17 miles. There are two hills on this course but nothing like Pig Farm. Well, maybe a little steep but not too bad.

 After the bike ride we’ll transition to a run on the bike path. This will be a 1 hour run with some strength included. there is a park we’ll run to that has bathrooms and water. Be sure to bring with you any additional hydration/nutrition for this run.

 Following the run we’ll be on the bike trainers then onto the track then back on the bike trainers then back on the track. Yep – 2 sessions of bike trainers/track.

 Finally – we’ll get back in the pool for a recovery swim workout. Be sure to bring an extra towel and a extra swim suit if you don’t like getting back into a wet one.

 Last note – there is no scheduled lunch break. Just as on Ironman race day – there is no 30 minute break for lunch. Plan to bring the nutrition/hydration you will need for a 6-7 hour workout on both days.

 Remember to arrive by 7:30 am on Sunday to set up your gear.

 Going long for a cure, going to boot camp!

Today Iron Mel and I were off to Napa for a Private Swim Coaching with Coach Sedonia, Helen, Carol, Jen Jay, Tiff, &  Cory (did I get everyone?) We practiced reaching “over the barrel,” kicking, feeling the water, and all sorts of other nefarious things. Managed to dislocate my shoulder on one of the 25s doing a ‘feel the water’ exercise (rolled on my back and it popped back in) – I think it’s time for rotator cuff exercises or some such. Sedonia showed us some of those using one of the “bands with handles,” after we did our Ab and Arm work.

Iron Mel and I almost didn’t make it – we had the most unbelievable Tule Fog on our way, and literally passed Arnold Drive straight on by. When we realized we were heading onto Highway 80 towards Sacramento, we dove for the next exit, and meandered our way back using the GPS. Can anyone explain why it is when you’re in thick rain, or fog, that somehow it seems like you can see better if you bend your back and peer forward, so that your head is nearly touching the windshield and your eyes are all squinty? I am pretty sure that extra couple feet in the “lean forward” doesn’t make that much of a difference…and why, when you get lost, do you have to turn off the radio? Things that make you go Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…

We had breakfast at the Juice Squeeze place in Napa again, which has great food. OK except Sedonia’s cheese sandwich. OMG. Literally, sliced cheese, on white bread. No tomatoes, not grilled, etc. (I tried to find a photo that depicted this – the one at the right is the best I could do, and that one is at least WHEAT!) As she said, she “took one for the team” on that one – so that everyone NOW knows not to order the cheese sandwich there! It looked so forlorn on the plate that it was funny. Helen, Tiff and I had the most gigantic breakfast burritos known to man. Delish, but tooooooo much. Since I have FINALLY breached my next “deca” on the way down to fighting weight, I have to be careful not to “burrito-indulge” too often! Of course tomorrow is Valentine’s, so all bets are off!

I don’t even want to tell you about Iron Mel’s new Glute Trick. You’re going to have to read it for yourselves here. She made me laugh so hard on the way home I could barely breathe. OK I do admit, training can be fun (though the driving is “funner”!)

I was supposed to have a Noon meeting, but they bailed. I have a 3:00 meeting that moved out to 3:30 – thought I would get a post down quickly to keep up!

On the way home (since I didn’t have the Noonmeeting,  thought it best to try to get some bookkeeping done), I measured the hill repeat road that I had done middle of last week. I was right – it’s exactly 1/2 a mile. As I was driving up the road, I thought, “These are CRAZY steep hills!” We really are only supposed to do 4% (oops!) Instead of a long uphill, it rolls. The drills have been run up the hill, then walk down – instead, I ran up the ups, and walked down the downs. I wound up cover the 1/2 mile in about the same time each time, so I think that was good!

Okie dokie – off to do a SendOutCards demo for an Accounting firm. Wish me luck! I need 2 more distributors and then I have 100, which is supposed to be “where Magic Happens”!

Okie Dokie. Well – I have definitely discovered that I can do one thing a week other than train, eat, keep my husband happy, and sleep. I have had some work this past couple of weeks, plus have picked up on my marketing efforts – no chance to write here at all. I guess it’s all a balance.

Today Iron Mel and I headed out to Terra Linda High School Track to do Yassos. We warmed up a few times around the track, then did the various “track drills” – skipping, “bounding” (sort of like running but as if you were going over logs rolling towards you), “hava negilas” (that’s crossing your feet in front and behind one another, running sideways – Mel and I sang Hava Negila to it because we are a bit loopy and it was cold and rainy), “kick your butt” running . . . you name it. Then it was time to do the Yassos.

OK, last time I did this was one of my least favorite workouts EVER, and it made me feel surly and depressed. To take you back to THAT post, it was on January 27th, and I was supposed to go 5:14 per 800 (2x around the track), which seemed immensely fast to me, since the best I’d ever done an 800 in was 6:10. We did 10 that time, and my times were  5:18, 5:19, 5:30, 5:37, 5:39, 5:44, 5:51, 5:56, 5:50, 5:55, for a median time of 5:39. Coach Simon kept me at the higher VDOT that I had supposedly earned – I had gone from 25 to 27 (the times for which should have been 5:37 and 5:14, respectively) – but I “knew” that just was not right. I wasn’t sure how I had “advanced” from 25 to 27, but my performance in the Yassos pretty much showed me (to me) that I wasn’t quite there yet. So, though Simon told me to stay at 27, I decided to split the difference instead. So, I did the workouts from January 27th to now at a VDOT of 26. It still felt fast, but not depressingly, un-meet-ably fast.

Today, I just decided to do the best that I could – but aim for that VDOT 27 time (since “Simon Sez” I could do it). It was cold, wet, miserable (and I was in cotton because I’m still saving up for at least ONE shirt that’s not) – but Iron Mel and I made it out there, and my 800s were: 5:04, 5:06, 5:13, 5:06, 5:01, 5:10 (for an average of 5:06). YAY! Poor Iron Mel, I think she has pinched her sciatic nerve from where she was having pain – she did her Yassos but was in pain during the whole thing.

It was actually fun in a clammy, wet, “cotton is rotten” way at the track. We were kept company by 3 high school boys (and 2 other gals walking, one with an umbrella). The boys were not skinny track kids but also not big football player kids. They were obviously out doing track work with some “purpose.” We were trying to figure out what sport they might be in. They were super cute – to pass the time I would “tease them” every time I went around the track. We even played “chicken” once – Iron Mel decided to go around the track “backwards” to see if it would help her glute pain (nope). So when it was my turn to start, I followed her – and wound up running straight towards one of the guys as they came around the track the “correct” direction. He was being respectful and moving over, then I moved over, then he moved over, then I moved over – he finally actually “looked at” the crazy old lady (me) and then sped towards me yelling “Chiiiiiiiicken!!!!” and we all started laughing. It made a rotten rainy workout more fun. (And thank goodness he and I peeled off in separate directions – he was even taller than me, I think it would have made for a helluva collision!). On my 2nd to last Yasso, I wound up running next to another of the guys. He had slowed up in his sprints because he kept getting cramps. I told him everything I knew (dehydration, Margarita Clif Shot blocks, sweat test, pee test) as we went around the track. It kept my mind off my own aching legs! So thank you Julio, Jorge, and Jeremy for being “playmates” during our track time.

So what else is up? My dad sent me an email – he’s booked his flight to Louisville with non-refundable air miles, so that’s his version of an “Atta Girl I Believe In You.”

We’ve also had a number of workouts – hill workouts, swim workouts, blah, blah. I had my first ever missed Team workout last week because I had a Send Out Cards Treat’Em Right in San Jose (which was, of course, awesome) . . . I am trying to “catch up” as I can. This photo is of “Captain K and the Kegelettes” – our Marin/Sonoma County branch of the IronTeam, after doing our hill workout together one night. Yeah, well, regarding that name - you know what? If you want to know about it – talk to Iron Mel (smile).

I did do the Swim Marker. I tried to insert Coach Sedonia’s email from last week (and the graph showing times), but I’m doing something wrong and so I will just “tell you” that, per Sedonia,

“You shaved another 1 minute off your extrapolated 2.4 mi swim time and you are ALMOST under a 2 min per 100 yard average!!!  This is awesome Sandy!”

YAY, that made me feel good. I am sure there is more to say, but time to get this post up there – and plan for getting up at 0-dark-00 to go swimming with Coach Sedonia in Napa tomorrow morning.

Oh wait, one more funny thing. Sunday (Valentine’s Day) is a 45 mile bike, 40 minute run “brick” day. The team is doing it from Benecia – just no way I can get H there by 9:00, so we will likely do it in Petaluma together. (I did mention I signed him up for a Century Bike Ride, right?) So, he asked me what I would like for Valentine’s, and then I told him about the workout. He said in his dry fashion, “So, a bubble bath, and then a massage” (knowing look) “…and then SLEEPING, huh?” Well, he has Monday off so I am going to take it off too – we can streeeeeetch Valentine’s over 2 days!