Saturday I tentatively tried training again. Shoulder and side are seriously sore still – but I thought I’d better give it a go. Serious props to Traumeel though! Traumeel is a homeopathic remedy with arnica and other assorted herbs and things in it. There are drops, and a cream. I applied the cream on the really nasty bruises on my hip/shoulder/back – and they were GONE by Saturday. They still ache, but the bruises are nowhere to be found. Interestingly, I didn’t “realize” I had bruises also on my calves, one up on the back of my thigh – and THOSE spots (where I did not apply the cream) still have bruises on them!

So, Saturday we were to do an 8 mile run at our Tempo pace. I figured I would run to the JCC and back, which gave me a place to refill my water bottle. By about mile 5-6 my shoulder ACHED. I practiced changing my hand position, arm “angle,” etc. – and it would relieve it a bit, but not by much. My doctor cautioned me yesterday (Monday) that I might want to just not train AT ALL until the race – because if things hurt, it might affect me mentally more than anything else. If it hurts on the race, I gut it out. If it hurts before, it might make me afraid of it hurting. I think there’s something to that – but think I’m going to do the swim anyway today.

Sunday was our last Team Meeting and a swim in Del Valle lake. We were to go out for 1/2 hour and then back. I actually made it out a mile before it was time to turn around. As I was getting back to the dock, I realized I was the last swimmer. This sort of bummed me out, until Teammate Patricia told me that no one had done the full hour but me! Oh – okay…

We had our briefing meeting with Coach Simon and LLS Merla – only Maria and I were there from Team Louisville. It’s so odd that we are only like 6 people versus the whole big Vineman “crew.” It was so wonderful to see how many people came all the way out to Del Valle to support us! I was also supremely grateful for Patricia, who drove. After the swim, I was stiffening up pretty good and was glad I could just rest.

I discovered on the swim (which I did “commando” a/k/a no wetsuit) that though Jane and I did a practice in Aquatic Park, the wetsuit makes a BIG DIFFERENCE. Now, no, you don’t know why, so stop nodding your head (smile). I obviously know the wetsuit adds flotation and all that jazz (duh). The thing is, that in a wetsuit, you are swimming like a gigantic sausage. When you turn your hips, it rotates your whole body. And, yes, I also know that’s how it’s “supposed to be.” HOWEVER, what I found out in the Lake is that I have been “lazing out” when swimming without the wetsuit. I seem to only turn my upper torso, not so much my legs. How do I know this? Because a few 100 yards into the swim, my side started to ACHE. Bad. As in “where is the kayak” bad. Since there was no kayak around me, I just started swimming slower, and practicing turning my WHOLE body. It took some doing. I also had to kick a bit more than I’m used to. But I finally got the hang of it – and the ache calmed down. Glad that I figured this out before getting

to Louisville!

Monday was an “off” day – today I’m off to BNI to substitute, then I’m going to go swim. I think it’s like a 1500 or something on the calendar. I’m just going to go slow. More biofeedback with the wonderful April Blake this afternoon, then PACKING! (Oh joy! Oh ecstacy!)

The most exciting thing that has happened in FOREVER is that Jodi purchased the last of my “sponsored miles” this morning! I am so blessed. I had sent out a SendOutCards tri-fold with all my donors, and the miles that they sponsored. Unfortunately, I had an hour or so at the very end of the run (not the final 2 miles – those were sponsored – but about 5-6 miles before the “bitter” end) that were not sponsored. I made up a list of “when” I should be at each mile, so that my donors could send me good Magic at that time, and perhaps check on ironman.com (number 730!) to see how I am doing. Now, I’m not “out on my own” in the dark at the end of the race. THANK YOU JODI! You are the best!

And finally, a few “You Know You’re Iron When”‘s…

You know you’re iron when you are seriously distressed that your pee is yellow. (ok, graphic, but if you’re laughing & nodding…you’re WELL on your way to being Iron!) also…

You know you’re iron when you pass a “man down” capsule on the road and from 10 paces can tell whether it’s an Endurolyte or a Thermalyte.

First of all, I should say – I’m healing. After biofeedback, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture (oh, and Vicodin from the allopathic docs), I am feeling better but not great. I haven’t done anything at all, except eat like a rock star for the past week. I think that’s what I must do when I get depressed or anxious. Bad. CheeseIts are NOT taper food. I did swim in Aquatic Park, and though my shoulder hurt, it was OK. Biked a bit before putting it on the transport, and that hurt my side – that worries me. Walked with my friend Francine a mile or so, and that went OK. Going to try a wee run tomorrow.

NOW, for the entertainment (smile). This is to the Beverly Hillbillies theme song:

Let me tell y’all a story about my good friend Sandy
She was gettin’ kinda bored & feelin’ just dandy,
Just the other day she said, ‘Damn I KNOW I can!’
So she packed her bags for Luhvull, to do the Ironman
Triathlon that is…
140.6 miles…
Swim, bike, run…

She started off the swim by jumpin’ in the river
The water was warm so she didn’t even shiver
And when she got out later she was in a good position
So she sprinted up the slope towards her very first transition

Swim to bike…
wet stuff off…
Chamois Butt’r…

Once she’d changed her stuff, she hopped onto her bike
(Luckily she found it since they all look just alike)
Headin’ down the road you could almost hear her sing
Mashin’ on them pedals grindin’ in that big chainring
Tall girl, red Camelbak…
rollin’ by the horsies…
singin’…

Then she got off that bike to head out on the run
Took off like a rabbit that was shot at from a gun
When she got to Mile 20 she didn’t hit the Wall
She finished that damn thing smilin’, I have to tell y’all
Ironwoman…
140.6 miles…
yahoo, and all that …)

So, about 5-6 months ago, I came to the realization that I was going to need a Secret Weapon during the Ironman event. When was this? During my 1/2-Iron at Sedona. When I ran up to the car where H was waiting with hydration for me and said that I was really feeling sick (which wound up devolving into The Nastiness that followed & I’ve already written about), his reaction was to tell me to “Tough It Out” and drive away. Now, that’s all well and good if someone is going through what you are, and understands where you are coming from. But (though he had done the biking with me), I felt very angry and hurt because I thought that I was being told to “dig deep” by someone who didn’t really have a physical feel for what I was going through.

So I asked a guy on my IronTeam whether he’d be willing to be my Secret Weapon at Louisville. My idea (before finding out that you aren’t allowed to carry a phone) is that I could call him up, and get an Atta Girl or a “Tough It Out” from someone who HAD done it. (As he was signed up for Vineman so would have done his Ironman-distance race before me.) Not only that, but we were both former Military, and so hearing “Tough It Out” from him would have a bit more weight and that “Gunny-ness” that I could yell against and be pissed at in my head, but then just go out and DO…because the Gunny never EVER tells you to do something that they have not or would not do themselves.

In response, I promised to be at Vineman for him. This seemed rather an empty promise, since he was an ex-pro cyclist, and a far faster/better runner than I. Now, granted, we had actually become Friends on the team because he sucked at swimming, and I gave him lots and lots of friendly advice, answered questions, sent YouTube videos of what I was talking about, etc. But that was matched against – when H said that he would buy me a “good bike” for my Valentine’s Prezzie - Will taking hours and hours and going round and round with what sort of bike would be best for me (including taking measurements, talking about details, giving me the “math” that would get me a compact crankset that would be similar to my old tried-and-true triple, etc.)

He was dating a gal on the team, and sadly, they broke up a while back. That meant, as she had done TNT for years and had been the one to get him involved, that he felt it necessary to step off the team. I was sad, because he was always good to kid around with, and (more importantly) even when I was riding my 20-year old P.O.S. downtube shifter bike with basket pedals, made me feel like I could Do It. He also was really patient explaining stuff to me that I wanted to know, but was too embarrassed to ask, about cycling “in general.” (You know, things like “which way do you lean when you do this,” or “how do you stop from falling down if you have to unclip going slowly on a hill?”…This last being a lesson I am still digesting, I might add.)

We had emailed a bit after he left the Team, and he said he was still going to do the event. I said well, that meant I would be there to support him, and be there for him “if he needed me.” To me, that just basically meant hangin’ around and cheering. The only place he MIGHT need me might be the Swim (there’s nothing like 1,000 people crawling over you as a fairly novice swimmer to spazz you out bigtime), and that was the one place I could NOT be. Well, except at the Exit, to cheer him on for NOT drowning.

Teammate Paula and her boyz Will and Jack picked me up at 5:30 a.m. to head out to cheer on our Peeps. H had told me he would pick me up that evening, so I wouldn’t need to drive home at midnight. Will and Jack had made a great banner to cheer on our IronPeeps, and they were very excited…until they fell into a wonderful snoring heap. (More on that later when I can actually figure out how to get MY photos out of my camera…all the ones here are from other folks.)

It was an IMMENSELY foggy day, and I realized that I definitely didn’t have warm enough clothes. Oops. We swung by Rohnert Park to pick up Becca (I had to call to actually get the name of the offramp -  it was so foggy I couldn’t make out landmarks), and off we went to the Swim start.

Folks were already in the water when we arrived – there are 7 races that go on that day – the full Ironman, Aquabike (the Ironman

without the run), Barb’s Race, relays, etc. It was a bit of madness. We cheered as our teammates exited the water - but the first person out that I recognized was my old swim coach, DeAnn, who was obviously swimming for a relay. (She got out of the water with the guys – as the relay folks were slotted after the women who were after the men, she had done that doggone 2.4 mile swim in some insanely short time.)

It took a while (I think it was a bit over 2 hours), but Will finally emerged from the water, and headed out to the transition area. Becca had a big sign that she held up but I cautioned her not to shout, because if something was left at Transition, nearly always the Shouter is blamed!

We ran over so that we could see all the folks that I knew come up the hill out of transition, then found Will’s truck and drove out to the next transition area – Windsor High School - where the finish would also be. We were super lucky to have very little traffic out of the small town where the swim is held, and even got a parking spot in the High School lot. We caught up to some of the coaches who were having breakfast, and then set up to cheer right before the bike Special Needs bag stop at about mile 60 or so.

(I had dropped a couple of “Atta Girl” notes off to Teammate Lil’ Laydee Baby Calf Melissa the week before for her Bike and Run Special Needs bags, and was hoping she was having a good day. I’d missed her coming out of the swim, but saw her come by on the bike.)

Once we’d seen the bulk of the team go past and had confirmed that Will was still in the game, we all moved to a corner transition spot that would be passed 6 times on the run. This is where the rest of the TNT supporters had set up. As Teammate BK said, the run was to be a “Groundhog Day”-esque event – three loops on the same roads.

We heard that Teammate Nate (who was doing Aquabike) had come in 3rd in his age group – yippee! – and saw Teammate Carolyn streak by at an unholy pace. Nate actually was running too – I

missed out on why, maybe he just “decided” to do a full Ironman “for fun”? (He’s doing Ironman Canada the same day as I’m doing Louisville.) Teammate Rick was right with them – it was just so great to see all these folks as they headed out up the run course smiling.

After a while, I started to get concerned, because I hadn’t seen Will around the time I thought I might. So I asked Becca to watch my stuff, and jogged back down the line to the Transition area (about a mile from where we were all sitting on the corner). As I came down the straightaway and then to the corner, I saw Will, and he looked BEAT. He was walking, and said he wanted to walk the entire first lap of the three.

I happened to know, doing the math, that if he did that, he wasn’t going to make the 9:00 p.m. cutoff, though I just agreed with him “for now.”

He had gotten way behind on the bike (his forte) because he had helped not one but 3 other participants with their bikes that had broken down/gotten flats/etc. – and had also stopped to block the racers from an errant mole that was trying to cross the course. (That one made me laugh. “A MOLE? With those FLIPPER

hands?” Yup.)

He felt like crap, too, because he hadn’t taken into account the fact that the 2 hours he was swimming, he was still using up carbs, salt, sweating, etc. He didn’t have enough nutrition fast enough to fill up that “black hole,” and, worse, he had used a nutrition mix that had made him bloat. (He was noticeably bloated – it did NOT look comfortable.) OK and he’d done a 23 mile crosscountry race, at pace, the week before. (Oh. THAT.)

As we were walking, I of course had my Infinit bottle in the back of my jersey, plus I had stuffed the triple-salt Margarita Shot Blocks and some GU in the other pockets. I got him to down a whole sleeve of the Shot Blocks, and then start sipping the Infinit. After a while, I actually could see that he was feeling better. So we started to “run the downhills” (the run course is VERY hilly), and when I surreptitiously looked at my watch, I realized that just doing this would likely make up enough time for us to MAYBE make the 9:00 p.m. cutoff. (You have to start your third lap by 9:00 p.m. or they take your chip – if they take your chip, you are listed as “DNF” – did not finish – even if you continue. They even make you sign a waiver if you want to go out again.)

Some of the TNT folks that we ran into were coming back in on their 2nd round or even their 3rd as we were heading to the turn-around. Apparently there has been a lot of “unfriending” going on with respect to his old girlfriend (still on the team) and such, so he wasn’t sure how he would be “received” as he saw folks that he had been friendly teammates with just months before. Everyone was very “Atta Boy” to him, which I think was a relief.

We came in and around to the transition area to end the first lap, and I had to ‘leave him and pick him up’ on the chute out. Mentor Margaret checked in with me to be sure I was OK, and as we were supposed to run 18 miles that day, I figured I was just getting my training run in if I kept this up! The problem, though (I realized later) was that I personally wasn’t paying attention to my own hydration, I had put aside the sandwich Maria had brought me, etc. and so by the end, I was kinda a mess. But not at that point. Then, I was just concerned to get my friend back out there and then back to transition, to make the 9:00 p.m. cutoff. I was Ms. Adrenaline with a Goal. :-)

We headed back out, and now that he was on the Infinit (and I was happily acting as mule, carrying whatever from the Support tables he wanted in my 2 side jersey pockets – pretzels, caffeine shot blocks, cookies, etc.), he was feeling better. He was able to pitstop away some of the bloat on the way out, and then he looked way better. We were not only running the downhills, but the straightaways as well. (At one point I broke out in Jodies – Military run cadences – which made him laugh. You know the ones… “C-130 rollin’ down the strip/Me and my team gunna take a little trip/Stand up, buckle up, shuffle to the door/Step right out and shout MARINE CORPS!/If I die in the combat zone/box me up and send me home/pin my medals upon my chest/tell my Mama I did my best…Stand up…1-2….Stand up….3-4…Stand Up…1-2…1-2…3-FOUR!)

We were pacing with Teammate Sara – who was on her 3rd round – and teasing that she would pass us, but then she would stop to do her walk (I think she was doing a 5:1 run:walk), and we would “elephant” up on her (she runs without a sound – I would definitely not say the same of the 2 of us). As we got about 2/3 of the way down the front of the loop out, she started breathing funny, and I realized she was starting to have an asthma attack. BEEN THERE! I didn’t have my inhaler on me (silly really, I kept thinking of myself as a “helper” not as really a “runner”) – and I am not sure I would have given her medicine anyway – but I certainly could see the panic in her eyes and knew what was going on. Will was doing fine so he kept running, and I stayed with her.

I rubbed her back, not only because that feels comforting, but also if she actually passed out I knew that I could grab her quickly behind the knees that way with my other hand and swoop her up/stop her from hitting the dirt. I told her to look up, because that opens your lungs up so that you have a little more surface area for the oxygen to try to work with. I just did the whole soothing “It’s OK, been here, this is an asthma attack” thing, and when she could talk, she said she had had a panic attack that felt similar; my fear had actually been she would have a panic attack BECAUSE of the asthma attack, and maybe go into bronchiospasm. We were literally out there, sun going down, with no one really around. I was able to surreptitiously check my phone (also in a back jersey pocket) and made sure I had reception – if she went down I wanted to be sure I could 911 her out of there ASAP.

Luckily, a bit of a walk, some talk, rub rub on the back, and the asthma broke. She was breathing fine, and stopped at the final Support table before the turn-around, and said it was OK for me to catch back up with Will. I thought later that maybe I shouldn’t have left her, but she came in over the finish line fine, so no worries (Thank Goodness!).

As Will and I were coming back down after the turn-around, we started asking other runners about the 9:00 p.m. “cutoff” time. It wasn’t my race, so I hadn’t really read the rules, but from other races I had done, I was 90% positive that if he didn’t make it, he was DNF. Turns out that was correct. So we started running more than we were walking. It was going to be tight – I actually was not completely sure we were going to make it. I also managed to mis-judge the route at one point, thinking we had reached the mile 2 support table, when we were really at mile 3 (e.g., we still had an extra mile to run before hitting the transition area). We didn’t let up though, and when I came around the corner and realized I was a mile off in my calculations, and apologized for it, we just dug deep and toughed it out. (It sucked.) We had to run actually faster than I am personally comfortable running, but if HE was running that fast, for goodness’ sake, ~I~ was going to, too.

We got to the straightaway before the turn towards the transition area, and I realized we were actually going to MAKE it. We had to keep running though. My favorite part of the run (I think because we actually laughed through our somewhat grim “get it done” demeanors) was when I said that we had to pick it up just a tad for the cutoff, and he said very loudly “F*CK ME!” I immediately said “No, thank you” and then we both burst out laughing. It was like getting a 2nd wind.

As we ran into the “cone zone” where he would go into transition, Mentor Margaret stopped me. She said I had to stop running NOW – because I was at where I should be for my training, and I think she probably realized I hadn’t been paying any attention to myself and was kinda wasted. Honoree Frankie and his girlfriend the wonderful Meghan stepped up at that point – they were fresh, and rarin’ to go. They said they would take him out on the 3rd and final lap.

I sat down, and finally had my lunch sandwich! It was dark, cold, and I was beat. I was so grateful that I had been of service, though, to get him over that 9:00 cutoff. I was actually pretty amazed, because (seriously) there is NO WAY that I had thought I – WAY less of an athlete than he is – would be able to help AT ALL when we made our “pact.”

I watched Melis’ come in at about 9:13 and realized she was going to be chipped, and wasn’t sure she would keep going. She did – she was very upset, and called at our corner for someone to go back out with her. I stood up, but Mentor M. forcibly pushed me down and said “NO.” She was right – though I had the will to go do it to help my buddy, I’m not quite sure I had the “way.” Team Mascot Belinda went out with her into the dark. (One great thing I saw on the course – LED “flashlights” that were clipped to the brim of folks’ caps. Very cool – I need to see if I can find one.)

I stuck around with the Team for a while, and Becca went and got me a hot chocolate (Nectar of the Gods!) because I was freezing. I did have dry clothes to change into – just not WARM dry clothes. (Duh.) We went to sit in the truck for a while as we were both definitely chilled, and just at that point H called to say he was in the Windsor lot too, to pick me up. It was 10:30. I felt bad, because I knew that meant that I couldn’t stay and cheer on my peeps, but I was also relieved, because I was freezing and beat. He came and got me from the truck, and I sent out some Facebook posts to try to say “Bye!” to people – and off we went.

The next day I found out that Will had come in 13 minutes past the midnight cut-off, and was bummed out and trying to think if that “really” made him an Ironman. I reminded him he had helped not one but THREE people on the bike course (AND a MOLE), and asked him if that had taken more than 13 minutes. “Way More.” So – in my view – though he didn’t make the midnight cutoff, he was definitely Iron after factoring that part in. I’m not sure why – I think that if he had had a bunch of flats himself  and crossed after midnight I would not have said the same thing – that’s just “dumb luck” as it were, and you don’t make it by midnight, you don’t make it. Maybe I should be more hard-*ssed – you are, or you aren’t – you make it by midnight, or you don’t. But I guess to me there is “special dispensation” for helping others (2 and 4 legged!) and then being a tiny bit over.

H and I went out for the 75 mile bike ride that was slated for the next day – and I made it to 50 and actually had to have him go get the car to bring me back. Stick a fork in me – I was DONE. The whole week, I felt like crap – and today (Saturday) when I was supposed to do a Century (our final last “push” before the Taper), I woke up with a serious sore throat, headache, and golf-ball sized lymph glands. Arrrrgh. I went back to bed (I wound up sleeping a total of something like 14 hours), and got up in time to help H with a couple things – I was going to drive up to Yountville to cheer in my IM-L and IM-C homies on the Century, but H said that I “look like Death” and he doesn’t want me to drive. I was supposed to do an Open Water swim with Jane tomorrow too – we’ll see. It was freezing last time we did it, not quite sure that’s the smartest thing to do.

So – that’s my Vineman writeup, for what it’s worth. The experience was really different than I expected – in a good way, though. I love to be of service, and I really do know that I was helpful to both Will and Sara. I was so excited to watch my Teammates tough it out. I must admit, I’m sad that there won’t be more of us out there for IM-L – I can really see how passing the “flame jerseys” on the run or an out-and-back could be a real boost. I was particularly glad and humbled that lil’ ole non-athletic me could make a difference for big athletic Dude (and little awesome athletic dudette Sara). I am so thankful for this experience; hopefully I will get over this “creeping crud” soon, and I will be able to join all my Iron Homies who now “Know They Are Iron”!

Marina’s addition to the “You Know You’re Iron When” list….You Know You’re Iron When You Cross the @#*$&#@&*$ Finish Line! (Ha!)

Too funny not to share – from Coach Sedonia. :-)

A dating guide to understanding your triathlete (or runner or cyclist…)

 ”I am an outdoors type of person.” Really means: I train in any type of weather. If it’s raining, snowing, 90 degrees w/100% humidity, or winds gusting at 30 mph. I don’t want to hear any complaints because I will still train in it and you’re just a big wuss for complaining about it.

 ”I enjoy riding my bike.” Really means: With or without aero bars, alone or in a peloton, I don’t care. If you can’t do a spur of the moment 30 miler then you’re not my type. I will let you draft, but if you can’t hang and I drop you – I will see you later. I am a capable mechanic, but don’t expect me to change your flats or tune your bike. You need to learn that on your own.

 ”I enjoy jogging.” Really means: Let’s run hills until we puke. I have just as many shoes as you only mine are better because they are functional and all look the same.

 ”I enjoy dining out.” Really means: I enjoy eating out, in or anywhere else I can find food. Don’t be shy because with the amount of food I eat, you can have that main entree instead of a salad and you will still look as though you eat like a rabbit in comparison. Don’t get your limbs too close though as I may take a bite out of you. Most importantly don’t expect any taste off my plate unless you can bring something to the party like more food. Eventually though if you’re not burning 4,000+ calories a day you’re going to plump up and have a terrible complex due to watching me eat desserts and not gain any weight. Friends and family will eventually decide not to dine with us anymore due to my horrid table manners. Oh, and no talking during breakfast, 2nd breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon lunch, dinner or recovery dinner as it does not lend to efficient food intake.

 ”I enjoy quiet walks on the beach.” Really means: A 20 minute warmup walk on the beach breaking into an 8 mile run and then plunging myself in the ocean for a 2 miler. If you get in my way, you’re going to find out what “mass start” means, and let me assure you that you don’t want to find out.

 “I find fulfilment in charitable work.” Really means: If I am not racing, I am volunteering or cheering on my buddies and I expect you to be there alongside me as I stand out in 90 degree weather for 8-18 hours handing out sports drink to cyclists going 20 mph. Just stick the ol’ arm out there and hope it doesn’t get taken off.

 ”I enjoy sharing quiet moments together.” Really means: It’s taper time. Just back off because I am strategizing, trying to get into the zone and in a pissy mood because I am worried about my “A” race and can’t work out.

 ”I am an active person.” Really means: Aside from my 40 hour job (and the 8 mandatory hours of sleep a night), 10 hours a week are devoted to myself during the off-season and 20 during race season – leaving us 4 hours. 2 of which will be spent inhaling food and you not talking to me (see above), so let’s make the best of the 2 hours we will spend together on average each day.

 NOTE: If you are a licensed message therapist or doctor this would make the most optimal use of our time together. Nutritionist is also acceptable, but I probably already know just as much as you.

 ”I enjoy road trips and vacations.” Really means: You have your choice of British Columbia, Louisville, Wisconsin, Idaho, Florida, California, Arizona, and New York, but don’t expect to do much site seeing. But if I get enough support from you, we might be able to include Hawaii in there.

 ”I enjoy sightseeing.” Really means: Let’s grab a mountain bike and get our HR’s up to 90% powering up the hill. There’s plenty of time to look around on the descent as trees and bushes whiz by at 40 mph.

 ”I like stimulating conversation.” Really means: while we are running, we can talk about food. Then we can talk about how we decided what to wear on this run based on the temperature at start time versus the temperature at the time we expect to finish, how horribly out of shape we are, how many miles we did last week, and how many we will do this week and next week. Then we can talk about food.

 ”I enjoy relaxing soaks in the tub.” Really Means: I’m going to stop on the way home and buy two bags of ice, throw them in the tub with some water, and sit in this torture chamber for 30 minutes.

 ”I’m interested in photography.” Really Means: My camera is permanently perched on a tripod in front of my trainer. I obsess over taking photos of my bike position and analyzing them to get the perfect set-up.

 ”I’m into in technology.” Really Means: My heart rate monitor and bike computer are my best friends. Until you can give me some hard data that can improve my training, don’t bother trying to buddy up to me. You could one day break into the top three if you recognize and feed my dependancy by buying me more gear.

 Article courtesy of an anonymous Triathlete who is likely still single, from Toronto, and who competed rather well the Lake Placid Ironman in 2006. For a small fee we’ll connect you to this handsome and successful individual…(works “downtown” Toronto in the “money business”)

…this is from TN-teammate

Missy. We had a bike workout last week that involved keeping track of your RPMs, going up and down (“hill simulations”), varying the speed, varying the timing, etc. She was having trouble keeping track – so she discovered the perfect system….

I mean, what better system than counting with colored bears?

I ask ya!

(smile)

(courtesy of Head Coach Dave)

The 99 steps of a typical IM trip

1. Arrive in town.
2. Find over-priced accommodations you are staying a minimum of four nights at
3. Unpack bicycle, spread gear around room randomly.
4. Attempt to reassemble bicycle, realize you forgot to mark your seat and handlebar position before disassembly. Guess position and tell yourself it won’t make a big difference.
5. Drive bike course at slow speeds while making wrong turns. Annoy locals.
6. Find swim venue. Put wetsuit on, stand around for 15 minutes. Swim 10 minutes, take wetsuit off. Look around to see if you impressed anyone.
7. Walk around expo looking for free stuff.
8. Go to registration tent, stand in line, get bag, check bag for goodies.
9. Go back to hotel, arrange energy products into different piles. Stare at piles.
10. Spend 2 hours preparing for bike ride with race wheels and drink systems. Go for 30 minute ride. Go back to hotel.
11. Decide that this would be a great opportunity to learn how to rebuild your rear hub to fix the play in it. Disassemble hub.
12. Drive to house where your club mate, the bicycle mechanic, is staying. Show him the pieces of your rear wheel. Beg for help.
13. Go to swim start Friday morning. Look for tell-tale wrist-bands on other competitors; look condescendingly at all those swimming who aren’t participating in the race.
14. Go back to hotel, spend 4 hours attaching numbers to your bicycle, helmet, and race outfit. Panic that you don’t have 8 pieces of reflective tape for your run outfit, even though IMNA has never been known to enforce the rule.
15. Drive down to expo at the last minute, stand in line, pay $10 for a strip of reflective tape. [LOVE this one]
16. Drive back to hotel, place energy products into various bags.
17. Pack transition bags.
18. Unpack transition bags.
19. Repack transition bags.
20. Drive to Carbo-dinner. Stand in line, proceed through buffet with poor food selection, sit at crowded table, remember you paid an extra $20 each so your family could enjoy this food. Listen to IMNA personnel tell same jokes as last year. Realize that Dave Scott has apparently discovered the fountain of youth. Stand in line to leave.
21. Prep bike to drop off on Saturday, discover your tire has a slow leak. Drive to expo, stand in line, pay $80 for tubular tire. Get back to hotel, realize you don’t know how to glue on a tubular, drive back to expo and have them do it for you.
22. Drop bike off, spend time covering bike with various plastic bags because everyone else is doing it.
23. Drop off your transition bags, realize you forgot your salt tablets, drive back to hotel to get them.
24. Drive back to hotel again, arrange race gear for tomorrow morning.
25. Pack special needs bags.
26. Unpack special needs bags.
27. Repack special needs bags.
28. Realize there is nothing more you can do to get ready. Sit down and relax.
29. Panic.
30. Eat early dinner
31. Go to bed, lie there in a cold sweat.
32. Wake up at 2:00 am for 1000 calorie bottle of nasty-tasting concoction, “because Gordo does it”.
33. Lie awake listening to horrible weather move into town.
34. Wake up at 4:00 am, listen to spouse complain.
35. Get in car, drive to start. Stand in line to enter the transition area.
36. Check transition bags.
37. Stand in line to get body marked.
38. Check bike, stand in line to get tires pumped up.
39. Stand in line for porta-john.
40. Realize you left your water bottles with special nutrition needs in the fridge at the hotel. Drive back madly to get them.
41. Get back to start, wait in line for parking spot.
42. Stand in line for porta-john.
43. Get wetsuit on, stand in line to enter swim area.
44. Realize it’s too late for a warm up. Stand in line to enter water.
45. Stand in water with 2000 other people while sun comes up and national anthem is sung by local high school girl. Realize that few moments of your life have been this beautiful.
46. Gun goes off, 2000 people attempt to swim on top of you; realize that you are in mortal danger or drowning and few moments of your life have been this dangerous.
47. Get kicked in face, goggles come off, panic and tread water trying to get them back on while people hit you. Remember you paid good money & trained a year to do this.
48. Exit swim, stand in line to get into transition.
49. Stand in line to get out of change tent. Get bike, stand in line to get out of transition.
50. Start bike, realize that there is no way 1000 people can pack onto a course within 20 minutes without massive drafting problems. Hope that poor bike handlers don’t crash in front of you.
51. Ride bike.
52. Panic that you’ve already fallen off the nutrition plan that your coach gave you.
53. Make up for lost calories and fluids in the next 15 minutes. Feel ill.
54. Ride bike.
55. Get saddle-sore.
56. Ride bike.
57. Decide to piss while riding to save time.
58. Spend the next 30 minutes soft-pedaling, coasting, and practicing mental imagery trying to relax enough to let it go.
59. Give up, get off at aid station and spend 30 seconds in porta-john, get back on bike.
60. Ride bike, feel queasy and bloated, take 3 salt tablets at once to make sure you’re not low on electrolytes. Throw up.
61. Get off bike, sit in change tent wondering why you are doing this. Listen in disbelief to volunteer telling you you’re almost done. Proceed to marathon course.
62. Realize that you should have practiced the 1000 calorie drink at 2:00 am before race day.
63. Throw up, walk, jog, repeat for 26 miles.
64. Start gagging at the thought of another energy gel.
65. Sample the variety of food at aid stations. Discover Oreos, the food of the Gods.
66. Invent the form of locomotion called the ‘ironman shuffle’. Feel proud that your 12 minute mile is technically not walking.
67. Pass your spouse. Make them swear to never let you do another one of these. Discover flat Coke, drink of the Gods.
68. See finishing chute. Sprint madly down the road high-fiving people and cheering while announcer screams your name. Realize it was all worth it.
69. Get to finishing chute, wait in line while a man takes his extended family over it with him.
70. Cross line, collapse into arms of patient volunteers.
71. Spend next two hours in med tent realizing that you should have drunk more fluids when it got hot.
72. Go to massage tent, eat cold pizza and wander around in a daze while wearing an aluminum foil blanket.
73. Stick around finish line until midnight to share in “the ironman spirit”. Beat 12-year-old to grab free socks thrown into crowd.
74. Look in disbelief at fresh and bouncy professional athletes dancing at the finish line.
75. Cheer last few athletes into the finish before midnight. Ask your spouse if you looked that bad. Be amazed that they spent 17 hours out there moving the whole time.
76. Go back to hotel, collapse in bed.
77. Wake up, go to bathroom, collapse back into bed. Repeat all night until the 6 IV’s the med tent gave you are through your system.
78. Wake up at 4:00 because your legs hurt so much.
79. Eat first breakfast.
80. Sit around until spouse wakes up, eat second breakfast.
81. Shuffle around town Monday morning wearing finishers T-shirt and medal. Smile knowingly at other fellow shufflers. Graciously accept congratulations from locals thankful you came to their town to spend money.
82. Eat third breakfast at all-you-can-eat buffet.
83. Go to Official Finishers merchandise tent. Stand in line. Pick out $200 worth of clothing with prominent logos on it. Stand in line, pay $600 for clothes. Contemplate getting a tattoo to immortalize your achievement.
84. Fall prey to peer-pressure and marketing techniques. Cough up $450 to sign up for the race next year – since it will sell out today, and this is your only chance to sign up!
85. Proceed to IM Hawaii roll-down. Hold out hope that, even though you finished 80th in your age-group, this will be the year everyone leaves early and you get the last spot.
86. Eat first lunch.
87. Go back to hotel, stare at the disgusting, sticky, smelly mess that is your bicycle and race clothes. Start packing things up to fly home
88. Eat second lunch.
89. Go to awards dinner, stand in line. Get poor food from buffet, remember you spent $20 a head so your family could enjoy this magical moment with you.
90. Watch hastily-produced race video. Closely examine each frame hoping they caught a glimpse of you on the course. Be disappointed.
91. Watch age-group athletes get their awards. Wonder how many of them actually work for a living, and where you can get some of the performance enhancing drugs they appear to be on.
92. Realize that one has to go all the way up to women’s 70+ age group before finding an age-group your time would have won.
93. Listen to long, excruciatingly boring thank-you speeches from various professional athletes.
94. Stand in line to get out of awards dinner.
95. Go to Airport, stand in line. Deliver $5000 bike to Neanderthal-like baggage handler. Pray. Reluctantly take finishers medal off to pass through metal detector. Proudly tell TSA personnel what you did on your weekend.
96. Get home, contemplate unpacking disgusting bicycle, decide to leave it until tomorrow.
97. Eat Bon-Bons and watch TV. Contemplate unpacking your bicycle and training again, decide to leave it until tomorrow.
98. Repeat above step for 2-10 weeks. Step on scale. Look at your fat, disgusting self in a mirror and remember you signed up for next year’s race. Unpack bike, chip mold off of seat tube. Show up at swim practice again.
99. Get ready to do it all again next year…

I’m tired.

Mentor Margaret says that’s what happens about now. You’re just so tired of  training, tired of getting up at 5 a.m., tired of the pool, tired of your run courses, and perhaps particularly tired of your bicycle seat.

About 3/4 of my Teammates are doing the Vineman ironman-length race on Saturday – 2 days away! So exciting! [NOTE: It's "ironman-distance" not a sanctioned Ironman race - that's why they can't use the "M-dot" logo.] I will be up there most of the day to support them, and hope that everyone does great. I’m kinda jealous, I might add. Because on the day they have the Vineman, we have a 75 mile bike ride; on the day after, when they are DONE, we have an 18 mile run. And another century the week after. And a…

I’ve had some trouble dragging my sorry *ss to work out. I still have the nagging psoas issue, but I just feel tired all the time. Starting August 1, H and I will be going full-bore back onto a Good Eating regime – meaning, stopping all that “good stuff” that has crept into our gullets over the last few months. Alcohol, caffeine, bread/starchy carbs, milk products, gluten…no mo’. I’d like to lose a bit more of my “fuel belt” (a/k/a belly) before the event, and this is the only sure way I know to do it. By cutting out sugar/caffeine/etc., too, during the Ironman, things like the Coca-Cola that they pass out at the final miles of the marathon give you a real Kick. I’m all for that!

One of the big things that happened last week was my SOC Lifestyles interview went up. Michelle Bateman and I had a BLAST doing it. Here is the link. You can “scroll through” the talking parts if you don’t want to hear it (how I went from Couch Potato woman to an endurance athlete in 8 months), but you should definitely watch the parts where I take Michelle out to “do the sports.” We had to film it backwards – Run first, Swim last – for “hair and makeup issues” – and I surprised Michelle with not only a “finish line” (made up of a bunch of my scarves tied together!) but also by talking very seriously about how “technical” the bike part was – and then unveiling a TINY pink girl’s bike and a big white beach cruiser (with a basket) for her to choose from. It was such a blast.

So what else is up? I’ve been swimming at Aquatic Park with my new buddy from the JCC, Jane. Each time we go she’s been more comfortable; last week she smoked me. (She’s an amazing swimmer – just not an open water swimmer.) Last week we worked on sighting; she can now swim straight, too. It became a running joke that I would look up to make sure she was OK, not see her, stop swimming, and discover she’d basically set off at a 90 degree course to her previous line during the 3 breaths I had not watched her! It really was funny.

This time at the Park we had a little bit of an adventure. First, when we were getting into our wetsuits, a guy walked by on a cell phone saying “…oh YEAH, amazing, yup, a shark in Aquatic Park…” and then he walked on past. Jane didn’t hear him, but I did, and I was PISSED. She was just getting her heart rate down on open water swims – the LAST thing that she needed to worry about was a shark. I am quite sure that the guy was just being a jerk.

Then, just as we were at the end of our hour swim, we “ran into” a sea lion. I had made Jane purchase a flourescent pink swim cap so that I could see her – we joked that the sea lions needed to take up the “colored cap” as well! That was a big big surprise.

And now, for the Triple Brick. Last weekend was the “Triple Brick” for us Ironman Louisville/Canada folks (30 mile bike/hour run/30 mile bike/hour run/30 mile bike/hour run without stopping – it took something like 9-10 hours). (Vineman folks are on their Taper, so came out to do a bit of a bike and then cheer us on). Cue Music Here. (ha!) As head Coach Dave said in his email to us: “Triple brick is Freaking Hard and it’s meant to really test your plan, which is exactly what we saw out there.”

My biggest “question mark” going into the Triple Brick was still whether my nutrition plan would work. As I have said before, I have moved totally over to Infinit Nutrition. (If you click on that link, I get some “Infinit bucks” so I’d love you to use it.) They custom-make a “brew” for you with all the salts/carbs/protein/amino acids/caffeine/etc. that you need. I had used it for the Century, and some other training, but not for a long cross-sport training like the Triple.

I started the first 30 mile loop rarin’ to go – all sunscreen’d up and following Margaret, Josh, Sedonia and Nick. The course was fairly similar to the course that we had done the Double Brick on a few weeks before (when the Vineman folks did their Triple). Very pretty – out in Danville. My DailyOM Horoscope for that day was guiding my day: It was entitled Flowing Tranquility:

You may be feeling laid back which could make it easier for you to go with the flow and take things as they come today. Perhaps this sense of serenity might be due to your recognition that there is really little in life that you have to worry about if you allow yourself to put your trust in the hands of the universe. Being able to simply let go and let life take you where it will may not be easy, but you can give yourself gentle reminders throughout the day should any fearful or doubtful thoughts arise such as “I feel relaxed” or “Life flows easily through me”. As you do this, you could notice that this gives you greater peace of mind through a more permissive and accepting attitude of whatever may happen to you today.

Trying not to control things but instead to simply let them take their course brings more tranquility into our lives. Our ability to release into whatever might occur may not be something that comes to us easily – even when we are the most relaxed, negative and worried thoughts may crop up. Once we know this however, we can easily come back to our state of peacefulness by using simple affirmations or prompts to gently help our minds release any thoughts that we are holding onto which also hold us back. By letting yourself go wherever life takes you, you will find tranquility in the quiet acceptance of the way things are today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sedonia and Nick rode side-by-side down the back country road, and Margaret and Josh rode side-by-side behind them. There was no traffic for miles. I was behind them; I had a mirror on my sunglasses, so could see traffic and give the “CAR!” warning if anything came up that would need everyone to get back single file.

Well, almost anything.

We were a bit of a ways out of a lazy curve in the road and I glanced up, and saw a GRILL in my mirror. I couldn’t even formulate “CAR” – I just shouted “YIKES!” Everyone pulled into a quick single-file…as a Ferrari Club tore on past! It was SUCH an amazing sight to see! A 1/2 dozen or so Ferraris, different styles, all red (one maroon) roaring down this gorgeous sunny country road. Vrrrrroom!

The last car in the line was obviously a BMW that had gotten “caught onto the tail” of the Ferraris as they slowed down to get past us. I smiled and said to Margaret,” That’s their mechanic!”

I lost the “speed demons” on the back 1/3 of the ride (uphills, of course!) – but then along a straightaway that has a LOT of stop lights, I caught back up. Nick had a blowout that involved a NASTY puncture by a twisted safety pin (Sedonia stopped to help); Margaret, Josh and I followed the directions that said to turn RIGHT on Camino Tassajara and wound up doing an extra 5 miles when we found out that what the directions were “supposed” to say was stay on the road we were ON, it BECAME Camino Tassajara. Even with the detour, the whole tour took 2 hours. Then it was time to take a pitstop, and get off on the run.

The run was an out-and-back along a paved running trail (flat). I felt good, and did my “Airborne Shuffle” run. (Just running, no walking.) Coach Mike was out there to be sure that everyone looked okay and that the heat wasn’t taking its toll. My only misjudgment was not using the whole Infinit bottle (one bottle = 1 hour). That worried me a bit, because I try to be assiduous about “doing what I’m told” nutrition/hydration-wise.

Back into transition, and into the potty again for me (CERTAINLY hydrated!) I also saw Teammate Maria (“M-Dot”) Afan’s mom and dad – I had known Susan at a previous job, and that’s how I had initially met Maria. It was great to see her! She looked amazing. She was up in No Cal and had come to cheer Maria on.

Heading back out on the ride, I realized I was having to “guesstimate” a bit on the nutrition, because my Camelbak holds 3 hours’ worth of nutrition/hydration for me…and the bike only took 2. I still had “about” an hour’s worth of nutrition in the Camelbak, so I added 2 hours’ worth more and water. I figured that I should do my best to finish all of it, since I hadn’t finished off the entire hour’s worth on the run, and it was getting hotter.

Out and around the course…stopping a couple of times to do what I have realized REALLY helps me – just stop and stretch my back and shoulders. It makes a WORLD of difference.

On this round, on the “straight away” portion back (after dumping my chain on the way out – oy!) I ran into a cyclist, Raf, who said he had been on Ironteam before, and wanted to ride with me to Transition to see if anyone he knew was there (Mike Kyle, Kristie, etc.) Well, we got to talking and ONCE AGAIN, I missed a turn! This time we rode the “straight road” all the way to the highway! I was a bit embarrassed; we turned back around and came up the “correct” road, which added another 5 miles onto the route. I was going 2 for 2!

Out on the run again – and this time I wound up running OUT of hydration before getting back to transition! It wasn’t that far out (maybe 5-8 minutes), but far enough. After hitting the potty AGAIN (laugh), I mixed up the Camelbak and headed out.

On my first sip, I could tell that I hadn’t gotten the mix “right” – it was too weak. I had obviously put in 2 hours’ worth, not 3. I told myself not to sweat it – in actuality, the ride only TOOK 2 hours, so I should just try to get it all down, which would give me more hydration at the hottest part of the ride, anyway. And it was HOT! The “backside” of the ride had new tarmac, and the heat beat up from the smooth black surface. My feet were getting REALLY warm, but I couldn’t figure out a way around it. I just sucked down the Camelbak, stopped a couple times to stretch my back, and kept at it. I caught up to Sedonia and Paula turning down the last mile or so, and they looked a bit hot and tired. I suddenly got a surge of energy, and pumped on by. It was bizarre. Paula hooted at me!

The last run sucked. :-) I got off the bike, and Margaret told Paula and me that we should just run to the aid station and back, “no reason to kill ourselves.” I had to (can you guess?) hit the potty, then I headed out. Though the first 2 rounds I had been able to “Airborne Shuffle” through the entire run, I knew I would do a 5:1 run/walk combo. I also carried not one but 2 bottles of Infinit, because I was feeling low energy and a bit of a headache coming on from the heat. Oh and maybe a LITTLE from the fact I had been out there doing this for 9 hours!!

I was pretty much set to turn around at the Aid Station, but each time I would do the 1 minute walk, I would start up again and feel better and better. I thought I needed to remember that feeling for the actual Ironman, and so instead of stopping, I did the full hour out-and-back. By the end of it, I was feeling a LOT better, and was very surprised. That was a great learning for me. Just “keep on keepin’ on” and you can get through it.

Sedonia ran me in part way, and then near the end Simon and his wife were there to cheer me on. Then it was back to the cars to enjoy the sandwiches that Helen had purchased for us, and to pass around the “You Know You’re Iron When” T-shirt that Kathryn and I had made up (she did the iron-on and fit it to the shirt; I had of course collected the phrases). Once the Vineman is over, we’re likely to do it as a fundraiser. Too much going on this week!

And a few more “You Know You’re Iron Whens”…

“You know you are Iron when you email your personal trainer the race course description, map and elevation chart and her reply is: “OMG”.” (IronWu)

“You know you’re Iron when you’re heading down the freeway applying Body Glide to your neck to prepare for your open water swim.” (Jen Jay)

OK, first of all, let’s just get this out of the way – look at this:

OK, I know that you can’t really read this. But you can “kinda sorta see” the hills. Suffice it to say that the highest percentage was FOURTEEN percent. Yes, a 14% grade.

Yo. Mama.

Here is actually a URL that shows the route - though the elevation map somehow spreads out and “averages” the elevations, so nothing looks as high. Hardie-har-har.

But I get ahead of myself. I haven’t blogged in a while. Before this, on Saturday (a week before this ride), Mentor Margaret and Swim Coach Sedonia and I did a 16 mile rolling hill run in Napa, which was great. I wound up running a lot harder than my set V-DOT (we ran at average 11 minutes/mile), but I felt OK about it because we did a 5 minute run/1 minute walk routine. I’m definitely going to use that during the Ironman. I used the Infinit I had gotten (more on that below) and it worked out well, as did running in a cycling jersey instead of a running shirt with a belt to hold a bottle. The next day (Sunday) was “Honey Do” day for me – Herbert had a LOT of things for me to do around the house, and so we got those done; Monday he and I did the 75 mile ride that was on the schedule. We went from home out Lincoln to the Marin Metric Century course, but we didn’t turn immediately right at Nicasio Lake – we turned left first (so heading out towards Pt Reyes), to Sir Francis Drake Blvd., then turned around and rode back and then up and over to the Cheese Factory. Instead of doing the big hill at Walker Creek, we turned left (away from the hill) and had a really lovely ride on the rolling hills out that direction, up to and a bit past Walker Creek Ranch. Then we turned around and came back out Hicks Valley Road and rode on back. Big Rock and the hill “up and over” to the Cheese Factory were not pleasant, but they were do-able. I did the whole ride on Infinit and was pretty confident I had FINALLY found the energy/salt/hydration solution for me. Tuesday I went running with my brother Jeff out in Ross around Lake Lagunitas (70 minute run) – it was great to catch up. There were some seriously steep spots and Jeff is an a-c-e runner, but he was patient with me when I had to walk or just jog. It was so great and a gorgeous day. Wednesday I did the spin workout on Angeline - Thursday I was out with Les, Jen and Melissa to Crown Road in Ross – which looks “over towards” Lake Lagunitas (Jeff had even actually pointed Crown Road out to me on our run, across the valley). We did a 60 minute run, and Melissa looked 1000% better since she had been able to kick her sinus infection. I had so much to do Friday I didn’t get a workout in – bad me – but I also knew that Saturday was going to be a killer! So that’s a week without swimming which is NOT good, since I am in Dallas this week and there is no pool to be “had.”

I spent Friday night at Maria M-Dot’s over in the East Bay so that I wouldn’t have to get up at an INSANE hour to get on the road by 6:30 a.m. as scheduled. We got up at 4:30 a.m., mixed nutrition, puttered around a bit, and pasted on our snazzy Safeway tattoos. (I had gotten a sheet of these for the Clear Lake 3/4 Iron, and found them when packing. I picked a little Tahitian design, Maria picked this “tat” which means “DREAM.”)

Then we headed on over to meet the “usual suspects” – Carol, Patti, Susie, Janice, Mel, Tiffany, Dana, Marina, Kathryn, Paula, Mary (I think that’s it) in Heather Farms Park.

We were a bit later than we expected (I was dragging, I admit it), and so what with all the to-ing and fro-ing (and pottying!) that generally needs to take place before a ride, Maria and I wound up being about 10 minutes behind the main “pack” of the Earlybirds.

We got on the road after a few false turns, and headed out through Mt. Diablo State Park. I have never actually been to Mt. Diablo, and certainly don’t know the East Bay. I had admitted to Maria driving over that I was scared of this. Even more scared than I’d been for any of the other workouts. This was going to be a bear – Three Bears, actually! – and that’s not the least of it…8,732 vertical feet of climbing including Grizzly Peak, The 3 Bears, Pig Farm, Reliez Valley Road, Tice Valley Road - “oh and” Mount Diablo and Skyline Blvd in Berkeley/Oakland.

I had decided to do the ride solely using Infinit, the new beverage that I had had made up on my training mate Missy’s suggestion. I believe I’ve mentioned it before – it contains all the calories, salts, etc. that you need – and they pride themselves that the “osmolality” of the drink is such that it won’t pull water OUT OF your system to “dilute” it. Apparently that’s a real problem with some energy drinks – if the “osmolality” is over 300 (parts of drink mix per x ml of water), your body can’t digest it without sucking water OUT of your system. It’s just simple Osmosis like High School Biology. Many of us mix “power bottles” of mix with Carbopro, energy beverage, etc. in them, then suck down water “as well,” but if you don’t drink enough water to “dilute” the osmolality of the “power bottle” this can happen, leading to gastric upset. I was hoping that this would work (I had my Bento Box full of Thermolytes, GU, etc. “just in case” it did NOT).

We got to the gate at Mt. Diablo and though Maria and I had talked about how nice it would be to ride together, she was a bit slower that morning than it’s comfortable for me to go and so with waves and Atta Girls we parted. She had said Mt. Diablo wasn’t that bad (Coach Mike calls it “relentless”) – but I have to disagree – I think it was brutal. And right at the beginning! I am sorry at times like this I do not ride in the East Bay, as the East Bay contingent of our team goes out midweek and “tackles” this hill. I wish that our North Bay cadre lived closer, and had that sort of thing set up. I think that would really help me. I don’t like to ride alone, and so I wind up spinning most of the time instead of getting out and doing hills, etc.

I wound up catching up with Dana after a bit, and she said she wasn’t feeling that great. After a couple turns I ran into Tiffany and Carol, then at a little ranger station before the Junction I ran into Janice. I pulled over to have a stretch, and she had me fill her Aerobottle – no way to get water in there when it’s all strapped down on the aerobars, and her “other” water bottle was filled with energy drink! I nearly poured MY energy drink into her bottle, but was smart enough to take a swig first (Infinit is clear). I put my water into hers, then filled up my bottle at the drinking fountain. We rolled up Janice’s jacket as small as we could, and I stuffed it into her back pocket; with the obligatory “potty break” we set off again.

I got to the Junction and headed down South Gate road, which was a blessed relief after all the climbing. At the end of the road though – WOAH! – the road is SO BAD! I managed to lose my GU bullet, which flew off (Maria lost her Garmin, but luckily was able to find it and it was OK). I am not sure I have EVER seen a road that bad, including the bad bit in Clear Lake.

I rode solo for quite some time, and in fact missed the first TNT water stop at Shannon Park. I’m not sure how I missed it – but when I took out the typed directions and looked at where I was, I was a couple turns past it. Somewhere along the way I passed Marina and Mel – Melissa had gotten her FIRST flat (in like 6 YEARS of cycling!) and was changing it. I asked if they were OK and they said they were – she had the tire off – but come to find out that after she got the new tube seated, etc. she didn’t have the right CO2 cartridges! I guess that’s how we all learn these things! (I have now had PLENTY of flats – especially as if H gets one he has me change it, too, for “practice.” On the 75 mile ride, he got a back-wheel flat RIGHT at a spot I had had TWO flats about 4 months previously. Something is up there.)

I did finally see a TNT stop where Dana’s wife Ro was womanning a station. That was good because it was 3 hours in and time for me to juggle getting the Infinit mix/more water/etc. into my Camelbak. I had made a 3 hour “concentrated” bottle and one of just plain water, and those were on my bike. Ro helped me top off the Camelbak with more water (and ice), and then I had another 3 hours’ worth of powder that I made another concentrated bottle with, plus the other bottle of water. After a potty break (which made me feel I was doing well with my hydration), I was off to climb up the hill from Ro’s car. I had seen someone taking off as I was coming into the stop. I had thought it was Paula, but after a bit of a ride I caught up, and it turned out to be Susie (Paula and Kathryn SMOKED the ride – I never even saw them). She stopped on the side of Dublin Grade and we shouted Atta Girls at each other, then off I went.

My hands/wrists were getting tired as was my right shoulder. Not sure “what up” with that – I had had Rand re-fit me with new handlebars after I had had SO much pain in the Wine Country Century (WCC), and everything had been going well until that day. I wasn’t sure what was up, but I decided that I would have to do what I had learned in the WCC – when I felt that I had to, I just pulled over and stretched my shoulder, my back, my neck. It felt like a little luxury, even though I generally wasn’t stopped for more than a minute. During one of these stops the “big guns” from the group that started at hour after us passed by - first Carolyn and Nate, then a bit later, Chris, BK, Jim, then Rocky, Sara, Josh, Tony, Nick, etc. As usual with our wonderful team, everyone wanted to be sure I was ok – “Just Stretchin’!” – and off they went.

There were some amazing and breathtaking views on Grizzly Peak Road and also Skyline Blvd. I have never been up that way, and it was magnificent. I was in a bit of a grumbly phase though along the way – the roads were a little bumpy, and my shoulder was hurting. There was also really no place to pull over and stop. I turned a corner and there was a big TNT stop and I saw all our “peeps” including Honoree Laura, the “fast folk” and Coach Dave. I had had a noise emanating from my bike that had actually made me pull over a couple times (I could never find it) but as I started to head out of the stop after topping up with water, I saw that my bike bottle looked odd. Turned out that my cage was almost rattled off! Coach Dave had the right tool, and so we tightened them right up. Oy! That would have been REALLY bad – losing the GU bottle wasn’t that much of a loss (as the Infinit was working), but dumping my water bottles (WITH the cages attached!) would NOT have been okay.

I rode with Les and Jen and Tony for a bit, as we were tackling the “bears.” We were on the middle “bear” (Mama?) – I think – the one with the false summit – when Jen Jay was there in her car around a corner. I was SO glad to see her. I was nearly out of water, and though I knew Meenu and Claudia were up ahead, I felt much better to be able to square my hydration away. Les and Jen caught up at that point and Les mentioned this was a “false” summit. That did not make me feel so great (laugh!)

I remember on “Papa” Bear, Simon pulled up alongside, and I was definitely feeling it. I could tell there was a car next to me, but I couldn’t even look up. It was all I could do to keep pedaling. Then I heard someone clapping and I looked slightly left, and realized it was Simon. He shouted “You’re more than 1/2 way up Papa Bear! You’re doing great!” and then off he went. (I wasn’t so sure I wanted to know there was still about 1/2 “to go” but I really appreciated the Atta Girl.)

Once I reached Meenu and Claudia’s “best TNT stop ever” (complete with butt’r, sunscreen, Meenu Bars, red vines, salt, chocolate, cold washcloths, what-have-you) I was on my way. I checked with them to see what was coming up, and they said “Yes, more hills, and of course Pig Farm.” I wasn’t exactly sure where that was. Somewhere along the way Bike Coach Nick and I had chatted (might have even been right there at the stop), and he asked me what my strategy was. I said that Pig Farm had “bitten” me twice – once on a training ride, and once on the Louie Tri. I had had to walk the bike up the hill. I knew that the highest I had gotten was to a “sign” that’s on the first of the ”steeps” on the hill (it is steep, levels out for a second, then steep and steeper). My goal was to get past that sign – then I knew that I had done better than I had either of the other two times. I said that if I walked up it from there, I would still be satisfied, because I would have done better than ever before, AND would be 60 or so miles less “fresh” than those other 2 times, to boot!

I headed away from Meenu and Claudia’s stop (Nick had gone up off ahead), and was riding alone along the hills and dales of the countryside for a while. After a while, I saw a WALL of road ahead of me. I was really bummed – this looked nasty, and I wasn’t sure I could take it and Pig Farm too. I just geared down and started pedaling, but I got about 1/2 way up and I was exhausted. I realized that I could start up again after I had rested a bit (I had been practicing this “feat” of starting up again on an uphill), and so I rested, stretched, and then got back at it.

The top of the hill was REALLY steep, and as I was coming up to it at my snail’s pace I realized that there was someone with a TNT Jersey up there to the side. I got up to the top, and I saw it was Nick. The first words out of my mouth were: “Is Pig Farm harder than that?” Nick looked puzzled. “Harder than what?” “Harder than that climb. I don’t think I can do it.” “That was it.” “That was what?” “That was Pig Farm hill. You just did it.” “I WHAT?” Nick started laughing…”Yes that

was it, you did it. I knew you’d said that you were going to be OK if you walked it and I saw you stop your bike, but you surprised me and got back on and finished it. You did it!” I slapped him a High 5 and could feel the adrenaline COURSING through me. I DID IT!

Interestingly, I wonder if I had KNOWN that it was Pig Farm, if (once past the sign that I wanted to pass) I would have “given up.” It’s a curious question – but one I don’t need to know the answer to!

I was PUMPED riding down from Pig Farm. I put the pedal to the metal and RACED down. Nick was right behind me and at one point he said “You have REALLY gotten to be such a good cyclist!” That made me feel AWESOME! Nick peeled off to join Jen and Les at another of Jen Jay’s impromptu water stops, but I just waved on by, and headed up the dreaded Reliez Valley Road. I had not anticipated that Muthah – and it was HARD. I asked Coach Mike after if we had done that in the Louie Tri (because we had done Pig Farm, of course) and he said no – we had peeled off on another route before hitting it. The funny thing is as I was on it, I thought that we MUST have done it on the Louie, so I was “determined” since (in my mind) I had done this months and months before (on my old bike) and hadn’t walked…ah, the Mind is so interesting. (On the Louie, I had only walked the Pig Farm part.) But of course we hadn’t done that at all. And boy, It SUCKED. But I persevered – and every now and again, stopped, and stretched. I can’t explain what a difference this made. And thinking I had “done this before” (on the Louie) and I “must just be more tired” because I was hitting it 70 or so miles into a ride. As I said, ah, the Mind…

I rode along again, and ultimately wound up turning on Olympic (there was another TNT Stop there in the shade, but I didn’t need it), and then hit Tice Valley Road. For me, this was the final insult. (laugh!) It was REALLY HARD! I was an unhappy camper and really just SO DONE with hills already! I wound up missing the turn back onto the bike path trail when I was sooooo close to being back, but some passers-by helped me find it. At the first part of the bike trail the pavement was like moguls – honestly – they were big waves up/down/up/down/up/down. It was odd because you couldn’t really ‘see’ them because of the afternoon light, and so I wound up just going “Woah! Woah! Woah!” Luckily Nick met me about then and I followed him in – I say “luckily” because at one point the trail we were supposed to follow went “up and over” a bridge that went over the highway, and NO way would I have gone the right direction as there was another seemingly “better” trail to the side. Thanks Nick! You rock!

I got back to the Park, and I had 9:26 of full elapsed time, 8:38 of moving/riding time. I had only prepared “Nutrition” for 9 hours, but had been able to top up about 1/2 way through my final (third) Camelbak with water so I was fine. The Infinit worked like a champ, and I was able to sit down and lounge with the team (and stretch my aching right shoulder) and munch lumpia, Pringles, Meenu Bars, Coke, and the like!

After the last of us was in, we were off to Sports Basement for a 20% off spree (THANK YOU Sports Basement) and a team pizza-and-beer meeting. Then it was time to gather Maria up and drop her off, then get back home. I was nearly there and my tiredness hit me like a ton of bricks. I really dragged myself those last 3 miles of driving – and got home, showered, and hit the sack!!

The next day (Sunday) was supposed to be an Open Water Swim and a Run – I was set to go with Mel to meet a gang up to the Vineman course, but H was feeling a bit left behind so I texted her that I wasn’t going to be able to make it, and got back in bed. I woke up at NOON – no Herbert, sun streaming in! He “hadn’t wanted to wake me” and had taken off on Angeline for a ride around Paradise to Sausalito for brunch!

I cleaned the house a bit, and then prepared to be interviewed for SOC Lifestyles. We had such fun. They did the main “sit down” portion of the interview on Sunday, and then Monday (yesterday) we “simulated” an Ironman. I surprised Michelle (the presenter) with a few things – I had strung together a bunch of my scarves and held them across the path so that she could “break the tape” and presented her with an Ironman (coffee) visor…I had also gotten a TINY little girl pink bike with streamers, etc. and a huge white beach cruiser with a basket for her for the bike (after being very serious on camera about how “technical” and “important” the equipment was on the cycling portion) – then we all went out to swim at Aquatic Park. I had such a blast, and we just laughed and laughed. I hope that it comes out on the video.

We got out of the water at Aquatic Park with the usual post-open water/salt/bay swim “Oh So Sexy” look (yeah…and FILMED, too), and then I took them to Sports Basement (Michelle wanted some Injinji socks for her husband) and then they were off to the South Bay. I hightailed it home and Sue Bird was already there for the Goal/Manifestation Workshop that we were holding that evening. I jumped in the shower, warmed up, washed out the wetsuits, and then it was time to get the Workshop going. 4 of my teammates came, and I think we all really had a fantastic and profound experience. YAY! This morning, up at 6 a.m. to go sub at BNI at McInnes Park, catch up on emails from being off the computer for 4 days, write this blog (and you wondered why my blog posts are few and far between?), approve the draft of my new Fempowerment Playbook for “blue line” (draft) publication (we get one that we look at before it goes to full print), and today I think I will run. Tomorrow I have a MUCH needed massage in the morning, have some more time to “catch up” with things falling off my desk, then I have to pack for Dallas. I am leaving Thursday from Oakland airport at SIX so I have to get up around 3:00 - the plane takes OFF at 6:00 a.m.! I guess it’s long term parking for me – not a chance I can get a ride at that hour! Then in Dallas through Sunday at 10 p.m. I plan to run outside there (humidity, come and get me) and use the spin bikes in the Hyatt gym. They don’t have a big enough pool to make a difference, but I will take a suit anyway and maybe I can find a time to do some drills.

So – that’s my story and I’m stickin’ with it!

More You Know You’re Iron When’s from the weekend…

…when you take 20 lbs of ice to the tub with you and don’t even flinch. (M-Dot)
…when your cat drinks from your ice bath. (Kathryn)
…when you catch yourself talking about energy/nutrition and you sound like you’re part of an underground drug ring. As per an email from Maria: “I caught myself saying to Phil yesterday… ‘So you’re off the Cytomax now?  How long has it been?’ ”
…when you can unlock your water bottle with your teeth while climbing up to Mt. Diablo Junction. (Melissa)
…when you go to the bar for a drink and realize all your money is in your bento box. (Nate)
…when you didn’t even REALIZE that THAT was Pig Farm! (me!)

I never really understood the phrase “Money In The Bank” until this weekend.

The week was a toughie for me. I had gotten an eye ulcer (likely from a gnat flying in my eye – though I am VERY careful to ALWAYS wear some sort of eye protection on the bike). It hurt to blink and looked super nasty – blood-red eye white, plus this yellow “bump” right off my iris. The doctor originally said no swimming in Clear Lake at all – because the LAST thing you want is lake water/bacteria/etc. into an “eye sore.” I have to say that I freaked out. I have been dealing with the various aches and pains – the hip thing, shin thing – but an eye issue taking me out of the game was unanticipated.

I did a little running the week between Del Valle and the 3/4 Iron, but mainly I was sick with the stress of it all. The doctor checked it again later in the week and said that he thought I could swim – but not with contacts. So into the City I went, to Sports Basement to get some of their prescription goggles (who knew? $16). Then after a trip to Costco (I love that “Rice Krispie Treats” are now marketing themselves as “Energy Bars” – !!), I swung by the pool and tried the suckers out. They worked FINE – my prescription is not the same for both of my eyes, but they worked well enough and I could sight fine. I looked a little odd walking through the gym to the pool in the goggles – and walking up the stairs to the pool was not a picnic for sure – but I was relieved I had something that “could work.” I kept hearing the words to Pink’s song “18 Wheeler” in my head, which made me feel stronger:

You can push me out the window
I’ll just get back up
You can run over me with your 18 wheeler truck
And I won’t give a f*ck
You can hang me like a slave
I’ll go underground
You can run over me with your 18 wheeler but
You can’t keep me down, down, down, down

After trying out the goggles, I went by Long’s to get some of those “old lady over-the-glasses” sunglasses for my prescription glasses – since I would need them for the bike/run if I wasn’t wearing contacts. Kathryn from the team offered me via Facebook her prescription sunglasses if our prescriptions were the same – I love our Team!

Friday (the day that I was leaving for Clear Lake) I was pretty much a mess. I was having an appointment with the ophthamologist at 11:30 (so much for leaving early to check out the event route) and I was going to get a “thumbs up” (or down) on whether I could do the weekend. I was REALLY excited when he said, as I put my head in that “look into the eye vice holder thing” that my eye was “miraculously” better – so much so that I could actually not only do the event, but wear my contacts. Who-hoo! He said that it might really itch, and if that happened, to be “ready” to change into the glasses. (Then we talked about how he had biked/run with a gal who did Alcatraz – the best part is this is a doctor who UNDERSTANDS what I was facing. Loved that.) So I added the over-the-eye sunglasses, glasses, glasses wipes, contact lens holder, saline, eye drops, and mirror all to my transition bag – and off I went to prepare for Clear Lake.

I had to laugh, of course, as I was getting everything ready – for an Ironman, you wind up with like 50 pounds of gear/”nutrition” and the like, and then a sundress tucked into a back zip pocket of your huge bag for afterwards. (I even wear my swim-to-bike shoes with the sundress.) So funny. I remember this from Sedona – at least this time I was DRIVING to the event, not FLYING.

Had a funny You Know You’re Iron When moment preparing to go. I was putting together my nutrition, and as I tweeted/posted on Facebook, “You know they know you’re Iron when your husband comes in the kitchen to suspicious white powder on the counter and says, ‘CarboPro Accident?’.”

Got up to Clear Lake without incident – wearing my glasses until the last second, of course, to save my eyes as much as possible. Although we had had rain just a few days before, it was going to be a hot one – evidenced by the piles and piles of water jugs for the team! I drove through some rainy patches though on the road and left my bike with a little trepidation. (Sure enough, when I got there the next day, all the bikes were soaked. Stupid me for not finding a garbage bag and “bagging” Angeline. Poor thing.)

I hadn’t seen some of the team in forever. Because Maria and I didn’t do the 80 miler, and then a number of people hadn’t made Del Valle the week before (Memorial Day Weekend), it was like “old home week” seeing everyone. I was really sad that Will had quit the team, because I always just love seeing him and chatting. As I counted “through” people, I heard of more and more folks who were no longer on the team, many of whom really surprised me. A number of people were also planning to not do the whole bike course or the run because of injuries, but were there to do what they could.

We took a team picture, and then Maria and I headed back to the hotel, to get our game together.

That was actually pretty funny. Maria had never done a Spring Break during college, and that’s what the whole scene reminded me of. Super old (though clean) two-story hotel where you could yell across and toss things to one another off the railings, turquoise fridge and push-button electric ring stove, the works. I had as much fun watching Maria as folks walked in and out of our room, etc. as I was having being part of it all! Neither of us is particularly good with “Nutrition Math” and it got to be a running joke that we would be “just about” to do our 4 hour bottles with GU Brew/Gatorade and CarboPro and count it all out and someone else would come in the door throwing off the count. It was kinda like an old black-and-white TV comedy routine. (Reading Teammate Rocky’s blog about it is hilarious – I highly suggest it. Especially the part about the arrow and harpoon-wielding carp fishermen that we shared the hotel with, who were having a big “do” in the lake the same day. Yeah. Really. I was VERY GLAD to hear that we were swimming on the OTHER side of the lake!)

One thing I did discover is that my CamelBak is NOT “four hours” for me – it’s three. (And almost perfectly – both at 3 hours into the bike, and at 6.) For some reason, I thought it was 4, and so mixed up the Nutrition with that in mind. I had to do a little “recalculating on the fly” when I went “dry” an hour before I thought I would on the bike course – but that’s why we do these things. I wound up with the wrong “count” in my Special Needs bottle, etc. but I made it work. Good to know.

If you look at Maria’s blog (linked above) her Special Needs bag was just fabulous. Included were the usual tube, CO2 cartridge, 4-hour bottle, etc. but also as much junk food as she could think of (me too!) She took a picture of hers though and posted it, which is just priceless. Pringles should sponsor Ironman – I swear! It’s definitely the “Special Needs Bag Treat Of Choice.”

We went out for some AWESOME handmade pasta to a restaurant Coach Mike suggested, and just chilled and chatted with our teammates about the next day. I had a glass of wine at the restaurant and when Maria questioned it, I mentioned that the day before the Wine Country Century I had had martinis and wine (and RIBS and dessert and dessert drinks!) with H and a friend, and that the day before Del Valle had been macadamia nut martinis – so I was actually “backing off from” what had been my “routine” thus far with just one glass of wine! (funny)

We woke up at 0-dark-00 on Saturday, and got our Game on. I liked that Maria brought an Ironman-related book of Quotes, and she read some of them as we were getting ready. I had picked up some tattoos (at Safeway, no less) and she chose to put “Soul” on her arm, I chose a Dragon, and “Courage.” (I chose “Spirit” for the next day’s Run – her tattoo was still on the next day, mine had rubbed off). We formed a caravan with other IronPeeps, and off we headed to the other side of the lake, for the Swim start.

As I mentioned above, the bikes were soaked. I had brought 3 yoga mats (1 for me, 2 to share) just in case the ground was wet -

sure enough, we were to lay things down on grass, and it was sopping. I was really glad to have the mat. I had been able to get my contacts in without incident, but still had an extra “transition area” for All Things Eye. The photo shows the transition area, before everyone lay their bikes down next to their stuff. (This is the opposite side from where I was – it was a big round lawn of grass.)

We handed in our Special Needs bags to be delivered to us on the course. We were actually going to get them twice (you only get them once during the real race). The reason for this is that they wanted to “check us off” at the Special Needs stop as arriving (or not!). There were 3 waves in the Swim start – guys last, and then if you were a girl and your Special Needs bag had a “1″ on it you were in wave 1, if it had a “2″ you were in wave 2. I was in wave 2 – Maria was in wave 1. We gathered for a pre-race talk, during which Mike told us that the bike course instructions that we had been mailed out were incorrect. I was glad at that point that I had NOT arrived early (as I had planned) to ‘scout the course’ – that would have been 100 miles’ worth of useless driving! Then it was time for the Body Glide-ing and wetsuit boost-ing and Atta Girl-ing and Go Team-ing…and the first wave headed for the beach.

Patricia was in the first wave and I knew she had an issue with “touching things/things touching her” in the water. Mike had said there were reeds and seaweed in there, and I frankly was a little concerned as to how it would go. (I saw her on the Bike later, so I knew at least that she had not had a heart attack due to all the “stuff” in there.) The sun was coming up as the first wave took off – and there was a lot of low fog in the ring of mountains surrounding the lake. As I stood waiting the 20 minutes to get into the water, I was able to take in how GORGEOUS the area was. I was sad that H hadn’t come, as I knew that he would really like the geography of the area. I had heard a lot about Lake County (not much of it very kind) and so I admit I was a bit surprised at the beauty.

We got into the water to “fill up our wetsuits” a few minutes before the start, and WOW there definitely was a lot of seaweed/reeds/etc. in there. My last triathlon experience was the Go Girl tri years and years ago – I had even trained a few girls to be in it (and also the Avon) – and one thing that made me ultimately quit the sport was that kind of crap in the water. Not so much “things touching me,” but “flying over” the reeds and seaweed coming up from the bottom gave me serious vertigo. I realized that today was going to be the day to conquer that old fear.

We were to swim left to a buoy that was tethered at the far left side of the lake, then swim across the open water to the dock of the winery that was next door to where we started, then back. After I got out of the reeds and started to find my stroke, I saw a little bear in the water! OK, I thought I had thought of everything – sharks, snakes, leeches, fish…but a BEAR?? I pulled up short, and felt the person who was drafting off of me switch directions quickly so as not to run over me. When I looked closer, it turned out to be a river otter, watching me! It wasn’t until Monday (when I was telling the story to 2 friends) that I realized that the Otter was the totem I had felt when swimming in Aquatic Park – which my hypnotherapist had sent to me “energetically” to deal with my open water swimming trepidation. And there was a “real” one, watching me! It was pretty cool, though I had a good laugh at myself for thinking the tiny furry face watching me was a “bear.”

I was swimming with Mel, Margaret and Paula for a while, though Paula and Margaret were long gone by the first buoy, and Mel pulled away after the turn-around and was swimming with someone who was faster (Coach Dave’s wife Norma, I think). I just settled in and paid attention to hip rotation, keeping my neck loose, “alligator arms” and the like. Sedonia was bobbing in the water at about the 1 mile mark in a bright blue swim cap, and I was able to confirm my bearings on the “Winery dock” that we were supposed to use as the second turnaround.

As Coach Mike had described about the bridges at Louisville, I faced the mental feeling that the doggone dock was actually pulling AWAY from me! I would sight on it, stroke about 10 strokes, look up – and it looked just as far away.

Sedonia had moved from her previous “position” to a new one that was closer to the dock, and I could see her blue cap which was comforting. At one point, however, I stroked right through what was obviously a huge floating “pile” of the reed/seaweed/grass stuff. It was like a fishing net. I pulled my arm through it and up and over before I realized I was tangled. “Suddenly” there I am, my arm is held back by “something” and I can’t see because “something” is over my face! Once again, I pulled up short and luckily didn’t completely spazz out – I realized what had happened and reached over my back and around to untangle my arm (and face) from the mess. I did see Sedonia turn her back from about 10 yards away – I think she was laughing at the “Swamp Thing” that had suddenly emerged from the water, but was too nice to let me see her do it!

FINALLY I reached the dock, and started to head back to the Start. Once again, it seemed as if I was never going to reach the beach! About 1/2 way there, the water was very clear and I could see the “trees coming up from the bottom” and started to get that vertigo feeling. I calmed my breathing, and decided that the way to deal with it was just to shut my eyes. So I would stroke 3 times with my eyes shut, then sight (being sure no one was close, and I was still on track), then shut my eyes, stroke, sight, etc. It was incredibly peaceful, and I could feel myself relax. As I was close to finished, I sensed that someone was right with me – turned out that it was Maria! We got out on the beach together, gave each other a “low 5,” and off we went to the transition area. I finished the 2 mile swim in 1:13.

My transition was slow, because a lot of folks were standing around talking, and I checked and checked again that I had everything I needed for the ride, and then did a “towel around the waist surfer shimmy” out of my swim suit and into my bike shorts (I wore my jogbra under the swimsuit). The funniest part of the whole thing was Liz telling Rocky to “turn around and talk to Sandy” (we were all side-by-side) as she applied Chamois Butt’r – and just as he turned around, of course, I was slappin’ it on in there! THANKS Liz! (She looked up and burst out laughing – Oooooops.)

Here is the map of the bike course we rode. (And here is the map of Tennessee Teammate Missy’s course – which she was doing simultaneously that day.) You will definitely want to click to see the “Elevations.” I read in another teammate’s blog that a portion that I will talk about later was a 9+% grade – I believe it. Clear Lake is the largest lake in California and we were riding around it (and then some). On the link (which is MapMyRide.com) there is also a “beta” you can download to “fly over” the course through Google Earth.

I had asked a number of the coaches what the route was like, and no one really gave me a straight answer. They said that there were parts “a bit like Chalk Hill on the Vineman,” but the thing that everyone kept saying to me is “The Louisville Course is NOTHING compared to this.” That didn’t give me much confidence as to what was coming up!

The first 13 miles or so were around the lake. Nick had told me this was flat, and Sedonia said that there were a few gas stations, so that I could have a “pit stop” if I needed. I was in the back-middle of the pack, especially after trying to get a pit stop in (first gas station didn’t “let me” use the restroom – second did). I slowly started to catch up to and pass Teammates as I continued along. Melissa and I wound up doing our “carrot and stick” thing there for a while. I was surprised that I had been able to catch up to her, because she was long gone from transition when I showed up.

The day was definitely warming up as we continued along. I practiced keeping my heart rate at about 150 (low aerobic) and kept telling myself I had PLENTY of fat to use as “fuel” at that range!

At about Mile 15, we started to climb, and I could see it was a l-o-n-g one. I unclipped my right foot as I had planned, and just worked my way up the hill. About midway, I passed Mel, and she didn’t seem to be doing that well. I was breathing so hard that I couldn’t even ask how she was doing. She was on her new bike, and the evening before, Margaret had come over to borrow a bike bottle from me, because she was having issues getting to her water (not sure what’s up with that – maybe Aerobottle?) The hill spiked at around Mile 17, and I WHOOPED that I had made it. There was a long, steep descent, and then a few more “rollers.” I kept unclipping and then clipping back in my right foot, and it was working well. I was feeling more confident that if I DID have to stop, I wouldn’t fall down.

Melissa caught me up on the top of the hill at Mile 22, and confided that she hadn’t remembered any of her “Nutrition” on the bike! I immediately went through my Bento Box and Camelbak, and gave her 1/2 of everything that I had. That is the point where I realized that I should have put more of the same in my Special Needs bag – it contained a tube, CO2 cartridge, Pringles, coconut water, another “4 hour bottle,” etc. but no GU because I felt I had “plenty on me.” Oops! (I also managed to drop my Chapstick, so that’s another thing I need to add to my Special Needs.)

A little while later we ran into Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida’s SAG stop, and she was able to “load up” on GU and the like. This is where I took a fistful of Red Vines and shoved them in my mouth – Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! (Laugh) Again, something that I would never imagine eating otherwise – IronNutrition is a strange thing.

After this section was another crazy-huge climb, that went on for a couple miles. (If you haven’t already, click on the link above, and then click on “Elevation” – you can see it for yourself.) I got to the top of that one, and once again WHOOOPED (I actually lost my voice by the next day). I looked back and I didn’t see Melissa, and was afraid that she might have blown a tire, but I knew that there was SAG out there for us. I crested the hill, and started down the other side.

OK, if you haven’t done it already, you REALLY have to pull up the map now (smile). Because Mile 31 was the Big Black Wall of Death. Just go look at the Elevation Chart (I’ll wait).

As I crested the hill I was looking down into my Bento Box, and I looked up and – seriously – all I saw was a WALL of black tarmac. The hill that was on the “other side” of my downhill was so steep, and so much higher than what I was coming down, that it looked like a wall. I gasped, geared all the way into my hardest gear, and tucked into as aerodynamic a shape as I could figure out how to make. My chin was nearly on my handlebars. I SCREAMED down that hill (hit 40 MPH at the highest). As I hit the bottom of the “V” I kept pedalling like a demon, but the hill was so steep I couldn’t even gear down through my gears one at a time - I had to use the “3 gears at a time” sweep that Angeline has to keep pedaling. I also, thankfully, was going fast enough and had the presence of mind to get my right foot unclipped while I kept pedaling for all I was worth. By the time I was about 100 yards from the top, I was going so slowly, the road almost looked as if it wasn’t moving. I just kept staring at the tarmac, coaching myself under my breath with “JUST….KEEP….GOING!” My heart rate was over 190. It was crazy. Seriously crazy. And then – suddenly – I was at the top.

I actually just stopped, stood there, stretched my back, and looked back DOWN that monster as I had some GU and popped some salt tabs. I wish someone had taken a photograph of that hill. It was like nothing else. And I DID it!

Now to talk about my Earth Angel. There were a few more rollers, and then a climb that ended in a 4-way road “connection” at the top. Josh  (speed demon) had passed me on the climb up to that spot, and as he was wearing a red jersey, it was pretty easy to follow him. As I said, there were 4 roads – one straight ahead, two off to the left and right, and one slightly ahead and to the right – which was a STEEP downhill. As I got to the top of the hill, there was a big semi parked a little ways along the “straight ahead” road, with a guy talking on his cell phone. I smiled at him, and followed Josh down the steep road.

About 100 feet along, I hear this voice SCREAMING from the top of the road: “GIRL! GIRL!” I put on the brakes HARD (it was very steep) and of course faced that “teetering moment” where I wasn’t sure if I would get my foot unclipped or if I was going to hit the dirt. Luckily I got unclipped, and I looked up and to my left. The trucker had LEAPT out of his cab, and was looking down at me from the upper road. He has the phone in one hand (as I’m unclipping/stopping I hear him say “Just a sec!” in an agitated voice) and he says, “Girl! All the other bikes, they went THIS way…” (Pointing down the road he was parked on.) I let out a HUGE sigh of relief, and actually had to get off my bike to turn it around and push it back up the hill (it was that steep). As I’m getting to the top, he looks perplexed and says in an agitated voice, “What are we going to do about the DUDE?” (Josh was nowhere to be seen – he had flown down that hill.) I smiled and said “He’s a really good cycling dude, he will figure it out and come back up, I’m sure.” I asked what he was doing up there (in a huge semi with a flatbed) and he said he had been “combing the hills” for a “roller” that had apparently broken down. When he explained what it looked like, I said that I definitely had not passed it on the way up, and showed him the road directions I had followed. He thanked me for saving him the time of going that way. I thanked him for saving my LIFE!

The Special Needs stop was around Mile 55 – and we were going to come back around to it around Mile 85 or so, too. I pulled in and WOW, what an amazing experience! “The Franks” (Frankie, one of our honorees who is an Ironman triathlete himself, his mom Francine and his dad Frank Sr.) – as well as Frank’s girlfriend Meghan, Teammate Janice’s handsome son and friend – all manned this stop and it was unbelievable. Frank Senior had cold wet towels for our neck. The boys offered watermelon. Someone was there with almost your every need. All I could think of is how a NASCAR pit crew acts. I just stood there, took off my CamelBak, and said things like “oh, I need water” and “does anyone have a plastic baggie?” and people leapt to action. THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS! YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE!

(My favorite part was that Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida were sitting under a tree, Mr. Yoshida was eating a sandwich out of a ziplock. When I asked if anyone had a ziplock, Mrs. Yoshida whipped it off the bottom of his sandwich and handed it to me before he realized what was happening. I laughed out loud!)

Just as I was about to leave, Mel came into the stop. She stopped her bike, took a breath, and just started sobbing. I got back off my bike and Frankie was right there to hold it. I think that it would have fell to the ground if he hadn’t “caught” it, I was so concerned. I went over, and just gave her a big hug, and told her how great she was doing, that she was there, it was going to be OK, etc. I actually wanted to stay, but the Franks said that they would take care of her. I gave her a last big hug, and also told them to give her anything that I had in MY Special Needs bag, if there was something that I had that she wanted. I was really concerned. That’s my ‘Lil’ Lady” there! When I got back on the bike and shoved off, she was off her bike and having some water in a lawn chair and looked ok. (I am not sure what happened from there, I didn’t see her until the very end, and was so exhausted I forgot to ask.)

We turned back onto Main Street, and SOMEHOW I had heard that the “out and back” loop that we were heading to was “mostly flat” though the first part was a “bad road.” OK, no. As Paula said later, this bad road was so bad it was like having “two flat tires, and dragging a sofa.” I actually felt like it was going to shake my shoulders out of my sockets (and I think I left some fillings on the road!)

And, the out-and-back was anything but flat. Well – it was rollers – but from about Mile 77 to Mile 82 it was BRU-TAL. I was riding with Susie at this point, on a tiny thin rutted road, single track, with a big drop-off to the right. (We actually had to let a car pass at one point – that was a real trick.) The coaches had put signs going up the hill – they said “GO (name)” on them, one for everyone. That was great. I hadn’t seen that at the 1/2 Iron/Wildflower, because of course I wasn’t there – and I loved it. The only problem was that only about 8 names had gone by (I was looking for myself, Susie, Maria, Mel, Patricia, Paula) and none of the names I was looking for had “happened” – and the road flattened out a TINY bit and the signs stopped. I realized that meant that we were going to have MORE uphills – with more signs – and I audibly groaned! Sure enough – that’s what happened – it just went up, up, up and at each of the “worst” bits, there were the signs. Once I had seen everyone’s, I started counting back in my head to other teammates – I was SO DONE with that road, that I was hoping that there were no more names/signs (e.g., no more brutal uphill cranks)!

I got to the top of this hill, and had a nice (though controlled – bad road) downhill to the bottom. At this point, I realized that my computer was somewhat off – about a mile or so. The route rolled along a straight highway area, and I actually had to stop at a woman selling baskets of flowers at the side of the road to ask if I had missed the right turn I was looking for. (Her dog was VERY excited to lick my legs – mmmmmmm salty.) I was definitely feeling the ride in my Nether Parts, and was really glad I had included a Butt’r in my Special Needs, which I surreptitiously applied on the side of the road every score of miles or so.

Rocky and I were trading places on the road for a while. At 6 hours (when my CamelBak ran dry for the 2nd time) I pulled over in the shade to pour my two bottles into the CamelBak, using a house’s big garbage can as a ‘convenient table.’ It had taken me some time to convince myself to stop – I definitely was “talking to myself” and had to “convince” myself that, yes, I DID need to get that liquid easily accessible! Rocky rolled by slowly to be sure I was OK, and smiled at my “banquet table.” I actually contemplated throwing my empty GU gels (that were tucked up the leg of my bike shorts) into the garbage, but I could see the curtains moving in the little house and was afraid that I might get shot if I did that. Yeah, this is Lake County…

Somewhere along this stretch Teammate Kathryn (who was SAG’ing) caught up to me in her truck, and asked if I “wanted a present.” Hell yeah, whatever it was, I wanted it. I pulled over at the next shoulder, and she put an ice cold water balloon down the back of my shirt and popped it. You Know You’re Iron When the greatest thing that has ever happened in your entire life is a water balloon down your jersey! (Thank you Kathryn!)

The road ultimately wound up back at Special Needs, where I finished my coconut water and Pringles, and mis-heard that the remaining 15 or so miles were “dead flat, along the lake.” By this time I also realized that whereas I had applied a ton of sunblock everywhere on my BODY, I had forgotten my FACE – so I had a big white raccoon mask from my glasses and the rest was sunburn! (Note to self: SUN CREAM ON FACE!)

The final 15 miles were just brutal. I actually started talking to myself, talking to my bike, complaining, b*tching, moaning, and definitely with a full case of Athlete’s Tourettes. Every roller I would hit would be preceded by me screaming “OH COME ON NOW!” At one point where the road ran right next to the Highway, I thought I was completely offtrack (I mean, we were supposed to be “on the lake” on the way home)! But just as I would start to despair, I would see another Ironteam road arrow, and that would hold me until I would get to feeling anxiously lost again.

I finally rolled into the Finish at 8 hours 13 minutes (7 hours 45 total rolling time). I felt good about my time, until I realized I was one of the almost last ones back! That’s when I found out that a number of folks hadn’t ridden the whole course. I went straight from the bike down to the lake, for a “ice bath soak” with Susie.

Maria was the last one in – she’d gone from a personal max bike miles of 60 to ONE HUNDRED! (She hadn’t been able to make the 80 miler that we did as a team.) So awesome! We all got out on the road to cheer her in. That’s the best part about being on the Team – even if you’re later than others (that’s me, always, in our Marin/Napa group – they are all amazing athletes and so I’m forever the tail on group bike rides or runs), everyone is there to cheer you in and give you an “Atta Girl.”

I got Maria down to the lake to do a soak – though Belinda snapped this picture of us before we headed down. Yes, we are the “long and the short of it” and that’s a fact!

After everyone was in and folks were squared away, it was barbecue time. Chris and Meenu got the Spirit Cape, and Jen Jay read my email nominating him. I was SO glad that they got it. Chris has been so fantastic in supporting everyone (I’m sure it’s not just me!) – he always always ALWAYS has an “Atta Girl” for me, whether it’s in the Swim, or smoking by me on the bike, or on the run. I realized it at Del Valle the week before, when we were doing the “out and backs.” He passed me not one but NINE times, and each and every one he had a heartfelt “Go Girl!” for me and looked me in the eyes and slapped me a “low 5.” That is the kind of Spirit that deserves the Spirit Cape. And though Meenu Facebook’d later that she thought it was funny that she “got the Spirit Cape when she’s not on the team,” I posted back that her amazing Meenu Bars are all IN the Team from yummy SAG stops she has womanned, so that meant she was definitely “a part” of the Team, too!

After the Barbecue we were back off to the hotel, and though we were exhausted, we washed out our wetsuits, swim suits, etc. and got packed up, so that we would be ready the next morning to throw our stuff in the car and go without having to come back to the hotel. We also had a glass of Vinho Verde, and Maria caged some silverware off Jim to eat her doggie bag of pasta from the night before (shades of Spring Break!) We talked about our experience, and read more of her Inspirational book!

Though we were up a little late with the packing, etc., we CRASHED asleep. In fact, I didn’t even hear my alarm – Maria woke me up from a dead sleep (thank goodness) and got me up and out!

I put my old pair of shoes into my Run Special Needs bag, because my masseuse had surmised that “perhaps” the fact that I had switched to New Balance from Asics (which I had always run in) had caused the hip issue. I had purchased the New Balance because they were 1/2 price on sale – but when I was at Sports Basement to pick up the prescription swim goggles, I bought the Asics that I always run in, and decided to use them for the Run. I hadn’t run in them at ALL, so having the New Balance in the Special Needs bag was a “just in case” move (I wound up being fine). I also had the ubiquitous Pringles in there and coconut water. Need to add Red Vines, as that wound up being something I picked up at the water stop!

The run was to be 16 miles or 3 hours – whichever came first. From the 2nd water stop Frankie’s girlfriend Meghan ran with me because not only am I tortoise slow, but also I had my “Tunes” with me! She wound up having a lifetime personal best mileage (I think about 7 miles).

The one thing I discovered, however, is that I just can NOT run with someone. I get engaged in talking – and I get off my nutrition plan. I started to feel bad, and looked at my watch and realized I was FORTY-FIVE MINUTES off my plan. I kind of spazzed out. I reached the Yoshida’s SAG stop at 3 hours – which was 1/8 mile from the end (so 1/4 mile total out and back). Though we were supposed to turn around at 3 hours, I wanted to get to the end (and Meghan concurred). So with a fistful of Red Vines in my hand, I got to the turn around and headed back for home.

Sedonia caught up with us when we got back to the Yoshida’s water stop, and started running with us and turning folks around who hadn’t quite reached it yet. Apparently a number of people actually turned around at the 2nd stop (the Franks’). I did my best to catch myself back up to my Nutrition, and was immensely grateful for the coconut water in my Special Needs, which IMMEDIATELY made me feel better.

By about 4 miles out, I started to whine. Sedonia was running with me and Coach Simon sometimes (Meghan had peeled off). I was like a little kid. Since I don’t have a Garmin, I was all “How many more miles do we have? How much more?” In the back of my head I was proud of myself because I was still running (I ran the whole way – I didn’t do run/walk because Coach Simon asked me to see how that went), and it was over 2-1/4 hours of running, which was the longest I had run for well over a dozen years (which had been Del Valle, the week before). I was a big pathetic baby whiner. Sedonia kept telling me to keep my feet moving, and to “Be The Tortoise.” (smile)

Then my little handheld boombox came on with the “Weem-O-Way” song (from Lion King). Sedonia and I started singing it and it was just so silly, it lightened up my spirits. We caught up to Chris, who was also not feeling great. He said to us, “Were you guys just singing ‘Weem-O-Way’?” It made him laugh, too – he had heard it around the bend of the lake road!

I had REALLY decided to “give up” when we reached the Winery that is about 1/2 mile from the end – but Sedonia said ”Don’t. This is where you learn that what you think is rock bottom is just a ledge – and you have more. Dig deep.” So I did – and ran in. Oh my lord though, I felt like crap (I was 2nd to last). A lot of folks were congratulating me, etc. but I just felt angry and evil. Patricia was funny, she started walking over, saw my face, and sort of “shuffled folks” away as I opened my van to get out of my shoes and socks and get some stuff to go soak in the lake in. She could see that it was NOT the time to approach!

 My 16 mile run time was 3:21. Not the fastest, but Strong and Steady, as Sedonia was saying. We had another lake soak, then a “Go Team” together . . . and I actually hung around for a while because I couldn’t face driving home. I was sad because BFF Leslie was in San Francisco from Colorado with her family, and I had been SURE I could catch up with her after the event and get together (and see her girls, who I haven’t seen since they were TINY) before they flew off to Hawaii. HA HA HA. I completely underestimated the depth of exhaustion that I was going to feel. Wow.

So – that’s my story. Monday was a rest day – today (Tuesday) I have now spent like 3 HOURS writing this – and I have to get some work done and am doing a speaking engagement in Menlo Park. I’m supposed to do an hour and a half Swim and an hour Bike, but I think I will go down and get on the Bike and save the Swim until tomorrow. Had to get the story down – before it was just too daunting to write it all out!

This weekend, my “Tennessee Teammate” Missy went and rode the Ironman Louisville course. She stated that it was rollers – basically NO flats, but not a lot of “horrible hills” either. One of the things that she mentioned was that she was constantly gear-shifting, and that she’s going to change out the gearing on her bike and have it set up for rollers, not really flats at all.

I have been thanking my lucky stars about Angeline having handlebar-shifters. (Yes, her name has morphed into “Angeline” and I have 3 songs by the same name on my iPod now, just for riding (smile).) It’s fascinating to me how much of a difference it makes in my riding. I didn’t particularly think it would, and really resisted it (like the clipless pedals, which I’m still trying to decide about in re Friend or Foe). Vlad, my previous bike, of course, had downtube shifters. I realize now that I would basically be too “lazy” to “fine tune” my gearing as I was riding – since taking my hand off the handlebars, “finding” the gear (don’t forget – no “click” to change) and all that was just a lot more effort than I would perceive it was worth. So I wouldn’t do it. This was especially true if I was fighting with the wind, which made taking a hand off the handlebars seem a bit dangerous. Now, I find that I’m constantly “tinkering” with what gear I’m in, to keep my cadence up. It’s a whole different ballgame.

I found the other day when I went for a pretty short ride with H that I do the same thing when I have my water in bottles! When I have the Camelbak, I happily sip along. With bottles, I only drink when I really think about it and want to go through the “effort” of reaching down to get the bottle (and put it back!). I wound up FAR more dehydrated than when I use the Camelbak.

I’m sort of bummed to find out that IM Louisville is a bunch of rollers. As I have progressed, I have found that I’m VERY strong on flats, but I suck at uphills. I’m fine on downhills, not super speedy, but not super scaredy-cat either. Paula, my teammate with whom I rode the Marin Metric Century, is doing IML and is going to ROCK it, because she is a hill maven. It’s the oddest thing - when she gets on the flats, she SUCKS. We laugh that, together, we make one perfect cyclist and one awful one.

So what happened for me during this “Recovery” week?

Thursday I did the Run Marker. I was running around doing “Sonoma County Errands” all day, and so did the 10K/25 laps at the Petaluma High track. Brought back training for the sprint triathlon in the late 90s when I lived on my farm. I did the Marker in 1:07:42. I couldn’t have taken another step – which is what I understood we were supposed to do. It was pretty mind-numbing going around and around, so I broke it into 5 sets of 5 laps – funny how we can trick our brain!

I had “sexy phase” photos done on Friday. Karen Schneider took them, and it was a blast. She’s going to offer a special for “sexy phase” to my TNT Teammates – I can’t wait to see how the photos came out. I certainly had fun! 

Saturday, I actually did the 2 hour run that was on the schedule this week. (I have been moving things around – and didn’t get to the pool at all). H and I had a sleep deprivation catch-up morning and didn’t get up until something crazy like 11:00.  I  ran to my gym and back to see how long it would take (I think it’s about 10 miles) and it took around 2:30, with me having a “pit stop” at the gym and running into a friend for a quick chat. It was a lovely day – came home and did some gardening with H, and generally lolled around.

Sunday H and I did the Bike Marker. It was odd, because it was supposed to be a Team/Mentor marker, but it just didn’t come together. Melissa wound up doing it herself earlier, then H and I did it a bit later in the day (again, we slept until like 10:00!).

I did the marker set (5 miles) in 17:44 – it was super windy for the “out” part of the ride and the first ½ of the marker, but WHAT a pretty day. My average heartrate was 171 – yeah, I know, “If yours was that fast, you would be having a heart attack” (Laugh) Our marker sets are definitely on a rolling “terrain” (from Nicasio around Lake Laganitas to Sir Francis Drake Blvd, and back) – I have to get it down into my lowest gear a couple times. The idea is that you ride out to Sir Francis Drake, then from Drake back along the reservoir 5 miles is the Marker. The total is just about 20 miles.

At the end of the 5 miles on the Marker is a fast straightaway by the lake and when we hit that,  the wind had died down and I had a pounding song on my “Camelbak radio” (laugh) and so I FLEW (for me). I had it up at 23 mph on the flat. I was panting but had a grand old time. The fun part (evil me) is that H couldn’t keep up. He would pass me on the hills (I really REALLY suck on uphills) but I am a flats demon. We averaged 17 MPH on the whole ride – though I know that on some of the uphills, I was down in single digits. Not bad, considering the wind and all. We went home “the long way” from Nicasio because it was such a pretty day (out and down Drake), ate brunch at the Two Bird Cafe in San Geronimo, and then nosed around an Open House and a few nurseries to get some new plants for the garden. A nice, relaxing weekend.

I have been sandbagging on the Swim Marker, so going to do that this afternoon (the 5 x 500s).  

You Know You’re Iron When you say the phrase “it was only 10 miles” related to running and “it was only 20 miles” related to biking, and you mean it.

P.S.:  I did the Swim Marker set – yay! So it was 5×500 without a break (after a warmup). My times were:

500 #1: 10:34:44
500 #2: 10:48:31
500 #3: 10:56:84
500 #4: 10:35:08
500 #5: 10:48:54

Yeah ok so I was pissed to see when I tapped lap-3 over on my watch to lap-4 I was getting up towards 11:00 and I was determined not to do a split over 10:59!! I didn’t quite mean to negative split so hard btwn the 2 :-)

On Saturday, Maria (M-Dot) Afan and I worked Oysterfest for LLS. Basically, that means working from morning to night pouring Guinness-branded beers, with tips going to the Leukemia Society. It was a SUPER cold morning, so I visited my Favorite Shopping Palace (Sports Basement) to pick up some arm warmers before hitting Fort Mason. Maria put this photo on Facebook, and one of her friends asked if the “black and tans” were the drinks, or Maria in the arm warmers! Loved it.

My bartending skills were definitely put to the test as the day wore on. WOW there were a lot of people, for a cold and foggy day! It could be because there were headliner bands (such as Cake) playing. At one point I wound up “womanning” the taps myself – meaning I had about 5 pints going at once. SO iron! The frustrating bit is that the tips that are received all go into a big “pot” and are then “divvied out” – and MANY of the people pretty much either stood around or didn’t even work (e.g., didn’t put on the staff shirts, and just took off). Although the gal running the whole thing for LLS “cautioned” that if you “were caught” doing this that you would not get your portion, OF COURSE no one was really watching. This does not take away from the HUGE Thank Yous that are due to everyone who threw dinero into our Tip Boxes – you are making a difference and maybe your $$ will be what tramples blood cancers once and for all!

OK, I should get off my disgruntled soapbox…Well, one more thing. I think Maria said that last year, after working the same amount of time (over 8 hours) that she got $100 as her “cut.” I am not sure what I was expecting, but I guess that I thought that there would be about 1/2 the volunteers (which would probably have been about the number of volunteers that actually worked, if our booth was any example of the other beer booths), and that we would get 5x $100. “Bitter, party of one…” OK I will shut up. Maria took some cute photos though so here they are (smile).

Our team did their 80-mile Vineman course ride on Saturday. I woke up on Sunday sore from all the standing on Saturday, and sore “mentally” for not having done the ride. Maria and I had received an email at the end of OysterFest (and, of course, the end of that 80-mile ride for our fellow “otter swimmers”) that Coach Mike’s excursion to Pacific Grove for an open water swim in Monterey and long run was cancelled due to Vineman Ride Exhaustion. I had a seriously Lazy Mental State going, and felt “weird” about being so sore from basically “pulling taps” all day (and not “really” exercising). However, I got myself together after Maria and I had a little “pep talk” with one another, and did an 8 mile Run, and then a 2000 yard Swim. The Run had been switched from an 8-miler to “do an hour and a 1/2, of which 45 minutes is at your Tempo pace,” but it is a lot easier for me (since I don’t have a Garmin) to pace out a set of miles in the car, and then go for that. (I can’t figure out my “Tempo pace” otherwise, because I have no way of knowing how far I have gone in a set amount of minutes.) I ran out China Camp from the JCC (my pool) – the first 4 miles I did in 45:14, which IS about my Tempo pace from the V-DOT chart (my Tempo pace is 11:57). I took a “pit stop” and then came back the 4 miles, and did that in 47:44. My legs were definitely heavier on the way back. I was having fun though – listening to my “toonz” and actually singing which is always a BAD thing. Some guys going past me with their windows down and their muddy bikes up on racks from a ride (mountain biking was basically “born” at China Camp) passed me while I was singing and laughed and gave me a  “thumbs up.” As in “You go girl, don’t worry about what ANYONE thinks.” (smile)

The run was one of those glorious ones that don’t happen often for me – when I feel like my legs are sort of on “autopilot” and just carrying me forward. I had that a few times when I was training for the Big Sur Marathon – I feel strong, balanced, and like my legs are almost “robotically” moving the “top half” of me towards the destination. It’s hard to put it to words, but I just love it. I don’t even have to think about leaning forward, pacing, or the like – it just “happens” and I get to “go along for the ride.” I was super happy. Yippee!

I got back to the JCC and transitioned into the pool, and did the 2000 yards. I decided to pretty much take it easy – just plug it out. My arms were really sore, and I realized it was actually probably from (wo)manning the taps the day before! I did the 2000 yards in 48:32 – so each of the three “sets” – the two 4-mile run “sets” and the 2000-yard swim “set” – was pretty much the same time (right around 45ish minutes).

Monday was supposed to be the 80-mile ride, with Maria and Coach Mike, but as rain was forecasted, Mike was kind enough to instead set us up with a Triple Brick. (For a definition of a “brick” follow Maria’s link, above – she talks about it.)

Maria got to my house somewhere around 9:30 a.m., and we got our nutrition together, and our “timing.” I wanted to be sure that we didn’t have to go back up to the house (as we were doing the Spin down in the “workout studio” – a/k/a garage) except for me to take Jake (my dog) inside when we would go for the Run (he’s gotten too old to come along at speed, poor darlin’), and to have “potty breaks.” We were both a bit “math challenged” on the nutrition front, which was sort of funny. I thought I was the only one who couldn’t “multiply by 2″ in my head. (smile) Once we got it all sorted,

we plugged my iPod into the stereo system that H had rigged up down there, and started our “journey.”

Here is the workout:

Pedal Mechanics Sustainable Power.
Clock Time:
0:00 Begin Easy Warmup
9:00 One Leg Drills begin RIGHT leg (easy gear)

10:00 Both Legs (1′RI @ 90+ RPM)
11:00 Left Leg
12:00 Both
13:00 Right
14:00 Both
15:00 Left
16:00 Both
17:00 Right
18:00 Both
19:00 Left
20:00 5′ Recovery @80-85+ RPM
SUSTAINABLE POWER INTERVALS
(Lvl 6-8 Effort 90+ rpm)
3×10′ efforts w/5′ Recovery between each effort
25:00 First 10′ SP Interval @ Lvl 6-7
(zone 3- Tempo LT chart)
35:00 5′ Recovery, easy gear 85-90+ rpm
40:00 second 10′ SP interval @ Lvl 6-7
(zone 3 – Tempo)
50:00 5′ Recovery, easy gear 85-90+ rpm
55:00 Third 10′ SP Interval @ lvl 6-7
(zone 3- tempo)
1:05:00 10′ Run @ Level 3 effort
1:15:00 Repeat Spin from time 0:00 (3x total)

It was tough, but it was also fun. We got “Workout Tourettes” by the 3rd go-around on the Spin, but in general, we pretty much kept it together. (My bike computer registered that I covered 46.6 miles in the Spin for the session – well, Dist-1 is 46.6 and Dist-2 is 63, I have to believe I didn’t zero it out. I worked HARD though, one way or another.)

When we went for the Run, it was raining, but not particularly cold or windy (except the 3rd time around, when I was videotaping Maria – you can hear the wind blowing in the microphone). Maria did manage to find out that her “waterproof” jacket was actually just a “windbreaker” – when she came back from the 2nd round totally soaked!

The road from my house is pretty hilly – as in, I can’t actually make it up the hills myself on the bike. So though the runs were only “5 minutes out and 5 minutes back,” it was definitely not a cakewalk. On the last run, when we were definitely in “loopy stage,” we filmed ourselves – here you go:

In all, quite the weekend! Today (Tuesday), writing this, I feel VERY fatigued but, masochistically, in a ‘good way.’ I feel (as Maria said in her blog) as if I really “earned the burn” during this workout. I think we kept each other going – and whether it was me shouting “ONE MORE MINUTE” or Maria shouting “KEEP IT AT 155,” we ground it out (in a good way). Every now and again I would look at Maria and think of the lyrics to John Lennon’s song Imagine, “You may think I’m crazy…But I’m not the only one…”

One of our many You Know You’re Iron When learnings from Monday – You Know You’re Iron When you are “steaming” – from the INSIDE and from the OUTSIDE! Also – as Maria noted on her blog – we staged all these photos (except the 2 videos of course) AFTER our workout – no sandbagging by these grrls!

Postscript: Just got the notification that Oysterfest raised $10,662.06 (or $400 more than last year) for LLS. Which is GREAT. That works out to $90 each. Oy. I gotta not be bitter about folks who did not work. I gotta. I gotta. I…maybe it’s time for a beer (laugh). 

This is so fantastic. A few quotes from it: “…Where I excel is ridiculous, sickening work ethic. There is no easy way about it – your talent will fail you if you’re not skilled – if you don’t dedicate yourself to being better every single day…The only thing that’s distinctly different about me is that I’m willing to die on a treadmill – you might have more talent than me…but if we both get on a treadmill, you’re either getting off or I’m going to die trying….You don’t start by saying ‘I’m going to build the biggest baddest wall’ you start by saying ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid’ and then ultimately you will have a wall….Being ‘realistic’ is the biggest road to mediocrity.”

So. This morning I had an appointment at the mechanic at 10:00. I took the car in on time (a-ppoint-ment…), and was excited because my friend Sharyn was going to meet me at the mechanic’s, to go for my “scheduled” run together.

We dropped off the keys at the appointment and (funnily enough), one of the mechanics wanted to be assured that the last time we were there (a week ago) that H wasn’t “mad at them” about the service. (This is H’s mechanic.) I assured them that he was just grumpy sometimes…but had to smile a bit that they were concerned about that.

Sharyn and I actually drove back to my house (I’d forgotten a book I had promised to loan her), and we went off on our one hour run. It was fun to catch up, and we planned to try to meet for a run whenever one could!

So, we were back at the mechanic’s by 11:45 . . . ready to pick up my car.

It hadn’t even been looked at yet.

(A-ppoint-ment…)

Sharyn offered to stay with me, but what are you going to do? I got a cup of Folger’s and CoffeeMate, and sat there in the linoleum lobby next to a machine full of 10-year-old Chiclets to “wait out” them getting to my car.

I read through my email on my BlackBerry, texted a few friends . . . the clock ticked… and (I have a pretty even temper) I started to get peeved. I actually Tweeted (which goes to Facebook) what was going on (because I was peeved). I even (heh heh heh) – remembering the tone of their voices when talking about H – emailed HIM at work, just to “let him know” that I was “still there” and the car hadn’t “been seen yet.” (Mean. I know. What can I say?)

And then – the light shone on my day. Coach Sedonia Facebook’d: “Do core!!! You know you’re iron when you find that the car shop is not going to be done with your car for 45 mins so instead of sitting and waiting you bust out planks in the middle of the parking lot!!”

I laughed, sat there in the plastic chairs . . . and then got a little smarmy smile on my face. No WAY would Sedonia imagine I would DO it.

So – I did.

My car was STILL sitting out on the tarmac, and the keys where inside. I had a yoga mat in the back of the car, but decided to make my “point” – so I ran my hand over the astroturf outside (yes, a little square of astroturf with a plastic umbrella set on top of it), realized it wasn’t at least STICKY with dirt . . . and started.

Abs. Planks. Bicycles.  In FULL view of the mechanics. So, first, they came over to mock me. I didn’t do a thing, kept working out. When they came out to make comments the second time (they at least wiped the powdered sugar from their mouths with the back of their hands), I looked up, and said “I had an appointment here at 10. It’s now past noon. I was supposed to go to the gym, but now I have to do it here.”

They didn’t know what to do about me. They started grumbling. Then, about a minute later, I heard my car starting, and they edged it on into the bay. As they were working on it, they gave me these sidelong glances that started out being kinda smarmy, and then edged on…concern (I like to pretend it was Fear), as I just kept going.

Then, the REALLY big guy from behind the counter came out to “be friendly.” I was doing a plank, and he stood a bit far away, so that I could “see him” (it was funny – because there’s no way this guy could squat down). He made some sort of crack about whether I could do a few for him, too, and I said “Sure, no worries about that. But I’m definitely feeling hungry, since I’ve been here hours longer than my Scheduled Appointment, so I think I am going to have to call my Husband to come and take me out to lunch.”

Yeah that did it. Suddenly, it was a mechanic anthill on my car. I started laughing so hard that I had to do “bicycles” because you can laugh and do those (planks, not so much). Nice to have a Grumpy Husband that scares’em. I could also hear them talking as they were working on the car, “She’s still working out. That’s just not right. That’s right by the front door.” (What, like I was going to push business away from coming to visit their low-rider butt, stomach-over-the-belt selves?)

Once I started working out – and of course threw the “H word” at them – the car was done in 20 minutes!

That – and X Stretch with P90X – was my day.

(smile)

You Know You’re Iron When your way of intimidating people into getting a job done is to do planks, “bicycles” and burpies in their parking lot until they “submit.”

Saturday, H and I did our “big event” – the Wine Country Century. Click HERE for the route map. We went into this having been told it was a “moderate to easy” route, and so we figured that what we would be conquering was more the distance than the “geography.”

Well, we were definitely misinformed. First big lesson: KNOW THE COURSE. But let’s start with the “good.”

It was a perfect day for riding, with great Wine Country scenery. There was everything – from vines with the grape leaves filling in, to California poppies, to redwood trees, big old wooden barns, cows…even GIGANTIC goats…you name it. (the gigantic goats were a definite high point. They looked like Texas Longhorn cattle!!!) The course winds through the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valley wine appellations. There were gorgeous, perfect moments of stillness now and again where we would be pedaling along, no wind, good tarmac, with the smell of the roses growing along the vines wafting over us. (Roses are planted next to the vines because they get the same bugs, but roses get them first – sort of the “canary in the coal mine” deal.)

Also, the Rest Stops were FANtastic – with everything from hand-cooked breakfast burritos, lots of different electrolyte beverages, coffee with real cream (H loved that!), pretzels, hand made sandwiches, M&Ms, cookies, bananas, chips, oranges, etc. Of course peanut butter everywhere – since I’m allergic, I didn’t take anything that might have been “around” the peanut butter (e.g., didn’t eat any of the cookies – which looked great! – because they might have been lying next to the peanut butter ones, etc.) – but the pretzels, bananas, and the like were a welcome respite to my GU Brew, Carbopro and GU! (I am still working on fueling…so far, the no-protein, low solid fuel seems to be working.) Though we didn’t thankfully need to use them, the mechanics that were available at the Rest Stops received amazing ‘reviews’ that we were hearing along the road, so great kudos to all the volunteers who came out for this one.

There were SAG wagons available on the route as well and we saw them pretty “plentifully” (is that a word)? Unfortunately, we got off to a late start (started at 8:00 a.m.) and were near the tail end of the 100 mile “group” – so we missed one turn because we’d gotten used to a SAG wagon being at each turn and at this one point, it wasn’t there. Luckily, it was near Hall Road, which I used to live on – so instead of having to backtrack, we went forward and down Fulton, then cut back onto Hall and caught up to the course. It was actually kind of cool to ride down Hall Road, thinking of what my life used to be like when I lived there. I raised shire draft horses, learned to ride my first motorcycle on that street, and certainly never in a MILLION years would have imagined myself 2/3 of the way to an Ironman triathlon!

There were apparently 2,500 riders that day out on the course - that is a LOT of riders! – but we never had any issues with being in big groups or crowds. I didn’t even have that long of a wait at any of the Rest Stop Port-A-Potties, so again, great kudos to the Santa Rosa Cycling Club for this.

The 100 mile course apparently has about 3,600 ft. in elevation (someone with a Garmin said that at the last Rest Stop). The Metric Century is about 2,500 ft. total climb (again, I had this from someone with a Garmin at the last Rest Stop), avoiding the early, hilly portions of the 100 mile course and taking an easy, eight-mile shortcut to the main course.

Another WONDERFUL thing on the “good” side was that Les (my TNT Cycling Coach) had loaned me his house, which is only about 2 miles from the start of the Century. So we didn’t have the hour and a half drive the morning of the race. We did manage to have a sub-optimal pre-race dinner of BBQ Ribs, wine, martinis, and the like with a friend – but that was because we THOUGHT we were just facing the distance, and had somehow been misinformed that none of the hills were more than a “few rollers.” We walked into Les’s house, and the first thing we saw were tiny red satin slippers with red feather boa tops, by the front door. Herbert laconically said, “Are those Les’s?” I of course texted immediately to Lesandjen (remember – ‘Brangelina’) with this question, to give them a bit of a smile during their pre-Wildflower jitters. I had a “You Know You’re Married When” moment too – here we are, in our own little “B&B” (kinda sorta) and Herbert spent the night…in Les’s armchair at his stereo (which he dubbed “Ze Sweet Spot”)! I fell asleep listening to Les Miz and smiling to myself.

OK, so, now – The Ugly. The one thing that saved me, before I get down “to it,” was meeting up with Phil, Erin, Kathryn and Will at the last rest stop – because hearing from THEM that the day was Tough, Awful, “Totally Sucked” – well, that just made me realize how much of a difference it makes that it’s “not just me” feeling the pain. THANK YOU Phil, Erin, Kathryn & Will (and Skip, who we met at once stoplight early on). Meeting up with my Teammates hit my “reset button” (especially at that last Rest Stop)! THANK YOU THANK YOU!

So. The scenery was gorgeous. But I didn’t really see that much of it. H kept us going at a fairly good clip – we finished (including Rest Stops) in 8.5 hours – just over 7 if you exclude the rest stops. We didn’t stop for the lunch, which was apparently fantastic – because by that time, I was in such a bad way, I realized if we stopped, I would STOP.

So, this is how the ride went. We got out kinda late – the 100 mile folks were supposed to be on the road between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., and H and I always seem to take a lot longer than we imagine that we will. It’s my job to “anticipate this” but I don’t seem to do this all that well. I got up early enough to get us some oatmeal (trying out an Instant brand from Trader Joe’s to see if it will work for IML), and to get the replacement drinks, etc. together, but then we wound up having a Fire Drill with things like “Where is the Chapstick?” “Did you get the pump in the car?” blah blah. One of my smiling “You Know You’re Iron When” moments was arriving at Les’s house, where instead of flour/sugar/coffee canisters on the counter or some such, there are big huge jars of CarboPro, Heed, etc. – and in opening the cabinet to look for a coffee cup, an entire shelf of bike bottles. (smile) OK – and the dozens of competition swim caps laid in a neat rainbow at the top of the stairs. (To which H said, “Is this like a low-key, in-the-know trophy room or something?”) No coffee in the house (and I didn’t think to pack any – bad me) so we wound up searching out some coffee for H,and then parking in the back parking lot that was closest to the Finish. I think if his bike bottles hadn’t already been filled with Accellerade, he might have poured in the coffee!

There were a few turns at the beginning of the ride, and as we were at the tail end, not a lot of cyclists to follow. I managed to drop my directions fairly early on – it was windy, and in trying to get them back in my Bento Box, they just blew out of my hand. We got offtrack as I mentioned above, but I got us back on the route because I knew the area. There were actually some 35-mile riders on the route by that time, and we even caught the tail end of some of the 200k riders too.

I needed a “pit stop” before the first Rest Area, and an old, overgrown cemetery “magically” appeared right at the right spot. NO, I did not pee on any graves – though I’m not superstitious, there are some things that even I’m not going to do (smile). The whole “ducking behind” situation reminded me of one of the “You Know You’re Iron When” quotes from the Becoming An Ironman book though - the author of one vignette, a woman, had talked about having “intestinal issues” at Kona, and thinking “Yes, I can just duck behind this twig, this is plenty of coverage…” You Know You’re Iron When a twig, or a leaf, looks like PLENTY of foliage to hide behind in an Emergency Pitstop Moment…

I can’t remember if we hit the first Rest Stop before or after the first Hill From Hell. The Rest Stop was great – as I mentioned above, handmade breakfast burritos, lots of cameraderie, etc. Also, there were message boards, and I spotted a “Go Team, IronTeam!” message, which made me feel GREAT! So. The Hill From Hell. NOT so great. It was pretty early on – maybe mile…20? Less?…and I got maybe 4/5ths of the way up and realized that I just couldn’t keep turning the pedals, even though I was in my compound low “super slo mo” gear. There was no way for me to “unclip” from the cleats to put my foot down; I wasn’t moving fast enough. I struggled to get the foot out and it just knocked me straight over.

So, I knew I was going down…and I did. The scary part? I was on the right side of the road – and the road went down into a STEEP ravine. Thankfully, there was a steel mesh fence (covered with poison oak, mind you) that was on the edge of the road, so I went down “into” it with a BANG. Without that fence? I would have dropped down into that ravine, still attached to my bike. It scared the crap out of me in a big bad way.

H was ahead of me, but the guy next to me shouted “You OK?” And I said – “Yes, no worries” – because I was. Nicely cushioned by the poison oak and saved by the fence. Fantastic. I got myself back up, and pushed the bike to the top of the hill, where H’s (also scared) reaction was “Why did you DO that?” Um – I didn’t do it on PURPOSE…

I tried to keep on top of my nutrition, and so by the 2nd Rest Stop, had finished off my Camelbak. That is 70 oz. of fluid, in which I had put the GU Brew (9 scoops) and 8 scoops of CarboPro. I had also taken 3 GU or so, and some Thermalytes. I did eat some pretzels, but I didn’t feel much like eating and was still unhappy from my experience on that hill. I queried the Santa Rosa Cycling dude what was coming, and he said basically “just easy rollers until lunch.”

Hmmmm. This next section actually nearly killed me. I guess it was between miles about 40 and about 70 (which is where lunch was). I lost my sense of humor, I was hurting, and I realized that the new handlebars that I had gotten from the bike fit were likely too narrow – because my shoulders started aching something fierce. I had to ride with my right hand tucked up to my chest, or hanging “next to” the handlebars, when I could (meaning, of course, when I wasn’t having to deal with changing gears or braking). I could feel racking sobs building up inside me. I mean serious, racking, “I just found out my best friend died” sobs. H was doing great – he would get WAY in front of me, as I was plugging along, feeling these sobs building up inside of me. He would wait for me, then we would join up again, and ride for a while, and he’d pass a clump of riders, and I just couldn’t keep it up, and so he’d get ahead, and then wait, and so on. At one point, he did point out that at the rate I was going, if I were to do that on race day, I wouldn’t make a cutoff in IML. I was just very quiet – because if I spoke, I was pretty sure these sobs would escape. He made me concentrate on WHAT I felt was “going wrong,” because he said that I “still had time to dissect and fix it.” I realized that I would have to “really get with the program”; though I was doing way more than I had ever done, the Ironman is a HUGE “bite” to “chew.” H also reminded me to think about how my legs felt – since on race day, I would have a marathon to do, after the bike. I started wondering whether doing an Ironman was such a good idea, after all.

At about mile 60, we were still 10 miles from the lunch turnoff, and H said that we would either have to “really hammer” to make it (cracks me up when he uses his new words, like “hammer” (smile)), or we could “treat it like an Ironman” and eschew lunch. We had been battling the winds for the bulk of the way from the Rest Stop, and I wasn’t sure what “hammer” meant for me at that point. I said we could make the decision when we came to the “T” intersection where left was lunch, right was continuing. As we approached, I realized that the decision was pretty much made “for us” by my speed – we would get to the lunch about 5 minutes before the cutoff, and that just didn’t sound worth it. I was leading at that point, so I just turned right and kept going.

About 5 miles more along the road, still being beaten down by the winds, I just stopped. It was flat, and H couldn’t figure out why I had stopped. I just said, “I just need to stop. I need a rest.” I couldn’t even talk, for fear of those sobs. They were like a huge welling force in my chest. Luckily I had my sunglasses on, because those sobs were leaking out of my eyes as tears. I just straddled my bike for about 5 minutes, not saying anything. He finally said, “Are we going to be picked up?” and I said “No, let’s ride 5 more miles.” That would put us at 80 – which was way farther than I had ever gone. And I could convince myself that “anyone” could go 5 miles. (SECOND BIG LESSON: Break things up into “bite-sized” pieces – and remember to STOP now and again. That little “rest” made all the difference.)

The road was pretty beaten up along the route, and by this time, my arms and wrists just ached from the potholes, bumps, etc. I was being good about the nutrition (now well into my 2nd Camelbak, which I had filled with water and a baggie of the Carbopro/GU Brew mix at the 2nd Rest Stop), but I knew that this mental/spiritual/physical hammering I was taking had to be something like bonking. I have heard that bonking generally has a real emotional component – and I was swinging from feeling irrationally furious at H (for going way out ahead; for trying to make me go faster), at myself (for not driving the course beforehand; for believing the folks who told me it was an ‘easy’ Century), to being right at the top edge of these sobs. Back, forth. Swing, swing. 5 more miles.

I got to the 5 mile point and was riding in front of H again, and realized I could just keep going. So I did. Another mile or so in I literally got blown sideways so my bike felt like it “skipped” to the left – no traffic, thankfully – and I was in “angry phase” so I just knuckled down and swore at it. (If I had been in “sob phase” I am pretty sure I would have quit.) I actually hadn’t realized that another Rest Stop was coming up (at Mile 86) – then when it arrived, I wasn’t even sure that I was going to duck into it. (Still at Angry Phase. I just wanted the ride “Done.”) I did know, though, that availing myself of any Port-a-Potties is a good idea, so I cut into the driveway and stopped.

On my way to the Port-A-Potties, I saw flames! It was Erin, from Ironteam! She asked me how it was going, and I waited a beat, trying to figure out if I was going to lie and just say “Fine, You?” I finally decided on “Not so great, You?” And she laughed and said “This SUCKS!” I started to laugh – and I could feel the sobs “pop” inside of me! She said that she had gotten going at 7 a.m., (an hour before we hit the road) but had only made it this far. I told her about my fall into the fence/poison oak. We talked about the winds, rough roads, speed demon peletons, etc. I WAS SO RELIEVED! It was NOT JUST ME! Erin was my “Reality Angel.” She said that she had seen Phil, Kathryn and Will, but surmised that they were “Way past by now,” and so we hugged and I wished her luck, and she took off for the last leg of the journey.

As I returned from seeing Erin off, I saw more flames – IronPhil was there! He said that Kathryn and Will were just behind him – which they were. (Sadly, I didn’t run into IronWu or Coach Helen, who were out there too.) H had gone off to find pretzels so the 4 of us talked for a bit – comparing how much the day SUCKED. The sob bubble completely disappeared and it felt as if a big beaming sun was in its place. I was still sore, bruised, tired, poison-oak’d, and not that happy, but not being ALONE in my pain changed every-freakin’-thing. THIRD BIG LESSON: Remember to “enjoy the camraderie of the misery of your fellows” during the actual race. I read this in the Becoming An Ironman book – but I really “got it” during the Century.

I was able to introduce H to Phil/Kathryn/Will, then we headed off on the last “leg” of the route. We had basically been following the Vineman route since before Guerneville (it comes down the long downhill that goes under Highway 101, then turns right on the frontage road to Guerneville, same course) – so I knew that the last 14 miles included the Chalk Hill hill.

I had made it up the big climb before Chalk Hill when we had done the Vineman course, and even had made it up the 350 foot “big climb” on it as well. It had been an effort, but I had made it. Unfortunately, this time, I was hitting those after about 90 miles of hard riding beforehand.

On the big climb before the 350 foot “steep part,” I had another fall. I realized that I wasn’t going to make it (which bummed me out, as I had made it when we rode the route 2 weeks previously). I was just not turning over the pedals enough, even in my super-slo-mo gear. So I tried to steer into a driveway to the side, which was flatter and I hoped I could get the pedal around to speed up and get my foot out of the cleat without just tottering to a topple. No dice. At least I went down in the driveway (gravel/grass) instead of in the road. H was a bit behind me, and so I said “I’m fine,” to which he answered “Stop DOING that, you are freaking me OUT!” (Thanks, I’d love to.) I knew that he was just as freaked out as I was with my falling – he gets very upset when I am in a situation he can’t “protect me” from.

By this point I didn’t have the sobs in my chest any more, but I started just feeling afraid – afraid of this inability to get out of the cleats. I pushed the bike up to the top of the hill (Phil blew past me when I was getting back on, shouting an Atta Girl – love you, Phil!). I didn’t even clip my right shoe in. I was really scared of falling now. As we approached the 350 foot “big incline,” I pulled over, and walked up it. A couple guys behind me were obviously puzzled as they blew past and said “Hey, you OK?” And I just said, “Yeah, I want to walk.” They laughed, but what can I say? I was too scared to try to get part way up, and then fall again. So I walked up.

By then, we were nearly done. I didn’t clip in, and was able to make it up the rollers and then back around to the car to finish. H actually put on my shoe (we are only 1/2 size different) and rode the bike, because he wanted to see if it was a cleat or shoe issue. Unfortunately, no. It’s a “me” issue. It has to do, somehow, with my physical mechanics of trying to unclip when I’m going slowly. As we got the bikes into the car and cleaned up a bit, we talked about it and he said he would help me, really watching what “part of the stroke” I was trying to uncleat from. His view was that I probably was doing it right at the bottom of the stroke, which is harder (hip-wise) to release from. So we’re going to have some “unclipping practice” some time this week.

We got some grub at the big end tent, and then headed back home. (I tried to avoid thinking about the fact that in the Ironman, I would be RUNNING the same distance!) On the way out, we happened to run into Steve Reagan, who had been on the South Bay Team, but had to drop out – he shouted “Go Team!” when he saw my Flames, and then actually recognized me because he had availed himself of my offer to use SendOutCards for donor thank yous. He’s going to do it again next year – so I said I would see him at a Boot Camp! (I have to stay positive – I would REALLY like to mentor next season.) All in all, I am glad I did it – but I CERTAINLY would never, ever tell someone that this is a “moderate to easy” Century. That’s craziness.

Once we got home, I was going to take an ice bath, but I was just too tired. H fixed me some miso soup (my ultimate comfort food – I think I was Japanese in a previous life), and rubbed my back a bit, and I was asleep by 7:30 p.m. I had wanted to check how Simon had done in the Utah Ironman, etc. etc. – just couldn’t do it.

Sunday, I was up and back out for more training – this time to China Camp, for what was supposed to be a 10 mile run. I didn’t feel that bad (surprisingly). I decided I would “do what I could do,” and so I picked up Mel and we met with Head Coach Dave, Mentor Margaret, Kathryn, Marina, and Michele (I think that was it?) out at the trail head. There were so few folks because our team was all over the map at competitions that weekend, including Alcatraz, Wildflower, and the rest (HERE is Paula’s writeup on Alcatraz – whohoo!). Kathryn delicately told me that my clothes were on inside out – ah yes, dressing myself, such a challenge.

We got started and  I was jogging in the back with Kathryn and we were talking about the Century and what we had learned, etc. when she tripped over a root and took a header right onto her hands and knees. She didn’t get up right away, which definitely concerned me. Once she was up, we realized that she had done a number to her knees – one was missing a flap of skin and she had a couple hematomas (hematomi?) starting. Dave had been wearing bike gloves “just in case he tripped” – Kathryn had given him a bit of a hard time about it and immediately said, looking at her skinned hands, that she “took that all back”! We cleaned her up as best we could with water from our Sports Belts, and headed on to find the big bottle of water that Dave said he had put “under an iron bridge” on the path.

That also led to our You Know You’re Iron When moment for that run – Kathryn had had her iPod playing in earphones, but when she tripped her iPod went flying (I retrieved it – it survived). When she went to plug it back in, she realized she had blood all over her headphone jack, AND her shoes. “You Know You’re Iron When…”

Kathryn decided to walk, and I was perfectly happy to walk with her. We walked at a pretty good clip – we covered 7 miles. Coach Dave came back looking for us and he gave us a different path to take, so we finished just after the main group, who had done the whole 10. We picked up and carried the liter water bottle he had stashed 1/2 way at “the iron bridge”, which was actually kinda fun – we kept offering water to folks along the path. It was a little amazing how many people were out there without any sort of water. One couple were obviously hot and thirsty when we asked, but didn’t even had a bottle – though he had a large covered coffee cup in his hand. When I asked if he would like to dump out the coffee and for me to put water in there for them, he looked like I had just said something sacreligious! Kathryn and I had a good laugh at that. We met a couple of bikers a few times (doing hill repeats) and near the bottom, one of them asked if we would be out with water next weekend, that they could “get used to that.” (smile). We also got to walk with Head Coach Dave for a bit, and had a hilarious banter about the “things that you do” when an Ironman athlete versus a “regular person” (including a number of “manscaping” issues that made us laugh out loud).

This morning (Monday) I am fairly tight and a little sore, so I’m glad that I didn’t push it any more than the brisk walk that we did. It was really fun walking together, discussing “all things Ironman, LLS, etc.” Kathryn had done a number of Teams In Training, so it was super interesting to hear where she had “come from” and such.

We were back at the cars and had a little cameraderie with our IronPeeps (HERE is Mel’s great writeup and a link to the China Camp area & some great Mental Techniques for getting back into Running). Then it was time for me to speed off for a shower and then the theatre! It was a very full weekend! Mom, Dad, H and I saw Girlfriend at Berkeley Rep, which was very entertaining. H and I headed from there to Larkspur to have some appetizers and – of course – cocktails at Left Bank, then he did some work down in the workshop and I watched some “guilty pleasure” TV while preparing a gi-normous assortment of grilled veggies (asparagus, mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, yellow squash, onions, cauliflower, broccoli). I’ve started doing this every Sunday night for us to eat during the week. Having all the veggies already grilled up makes it SO EASY to add them into our meals/salads/etc. – and I don’t mind all the chopping, watching, seasoning, etc. when I can catch up on “Biggest Loser” or “Oprah” during the preparation!

Today is a rest day (thank goodness!). I have been doing a few “honey do” chores and also today, pursuant to my conversation with H with respect to where I am in training and what is lacking, I’m going to go do some shopping, then come back and do a little Strength training. For the next 90 days, I am going to stop sandbagging the Strength training, and just knuckle down and start to Rock It. When we started training back on November 7th, I remember that Head Coach Dave said that Strength was the one thing that folks wouldn’t do, and that this was a BIG mistake. I hadn’t thought that I would be one of  “those” people, but the training had not worked for my knees and shoulders, I hadn’t been able to get “modified” exercises, and so I just quit. Stupid. Childish. And now I’m going to have to get going on it – because I’m quite sure that part of my issues are due to this lack.  Time to get the weights and DVDs out – I can do this!

You Know You’re Iron When…

…At the end of a run you have blood on your shoes. And your headphone jack (from Kathryn) – addition by Coach Dave, “…AND still continue to power walk 6+ miles of hills!”

…You know what “Yeah, this twig will hide me” is all about.

…You have a shelf full of bike bottles in the kitchen, and 4 huge jars of replacer beverage instead of flour/sugar/coffee canisters.

…Your “trophy room” consists of dozens of competition swim caps laid out nonchalantly on a shelf.

…Part of your day is dedicated to “manscaping” (courtesy of Head Coach Dave).

…You wander around a waterstop asking strangers for “butter” and get excited when someone hands you a mysterious gob of goo which you immediately and happily stuff in your shorts. (courtesy of Coach Helen)

…You start to break a sweat (for instance, on a crowded Bart train on an unusually warm SF day) and you immediately go to search your purse for an Endurolyte. (courtesy of Maria M-Dot)

…Your weekend includes meeting Macca!!!! (Check out Maria M-Dot’s blog HERE - where she talks about the goings-on about our teammates – I’ve included her awesome photo here, below!)

Iron Quote (from Maria):

The attitudes and habits you develop in training will come out in races.  If you let up or give up in training when things get too tough, then you’re ingraining that habit in the face of adversity.  That reaction will come out when you’re faced with adversity in races.  A positive reaction to adversity comes from accepting the conditions and realizing that everyone else in the race has to deal with the difficult conditions as well.  A part of this positive reaction is not allowing yourself to become frustrated because your performance declines.  Stay positive and motivated even when the conditions are challenging. 

 -Jim Taylor & Terri Schneider

So, first, Missy’s update from doing the Country Music Marathon. Missy is my “Tennessee Teammate” – she found me via my blog, and we have been “training together” ever since. The best part was that I asked my IronTeam members to send her good luck emails for her race, and a bunch did. It meant a lot to her!

The marathon was supposed to be serious thunderstorms, gusting winds, etc. Not so fun! It was her 4th marathon, though she really styles herself more as a cyclist. (Ironman Louisville will be her first Ironman.)

This was her quickie report via email on the day (full report, next post):

They diverted the race at 22 miles. Bummer! I was on track for a slightly sub 5:00. That would have been my fastest of the 4. Drats!!!! We had tornado warnings, rain and lightning. The volunteers stuck it out and remained on the course. Amazing!!!!! 30,000+ runners is a bunch of folks to have out in a storm. The police kept telling us to take cover but most just kept plugging along. Oddly enough, I’m satisfied with the experience. I would have liked to finish the full 26.2 but it was a good training day, a memorable experience and I learned a heap about my nutrition, my limits and my post run recovery. Can’t really complain. Now if I had traveled a long way or it had been my first one I’d have been pretty disappointed.

Hope you’ve had a good training day with your swim!!!

I am not sure I can imagine sticking it out in weather like that – with that many people, to boot! BIG kudos to the volunteers, police, etc. who helped out at the Country Music Marathon through all that. Whoot Whoot!

So now for the “California” update. This week, I did the Swim Marker, and also the Run Marker. I wrote about the Swim Marker – for the Run Marker, I planned out a 6.2 mile route from Mom’s house, which was pretty funny. I had to do it in “pieces” on MapMyRide.com, because I don’t have a Garmin – and as I was supposed to keep on the flats, that entailed a bunch of out-and-backs! So I ran from her house (in Tiburon, on the bike path at Del Mar) to Blackie’s Pasture, from Blackie’s to San Rafael Avenue, from San Rafael Avenue back to Mom’s, from Mom’s to the end of West Shore Road, then back to Mom’s! It took me an hour and 12 minutes, which was good enough to up me one more VDOT. I’m slowly progressing – since the beginning, I am now 4 VDOT numbers “higher” which isn’t great, but isn’t bad, either. I think the best part is that I am really liking the running part, and except for a little tightness, I seem to have licked the shin splint problem (phew!). I was bothered by being “itchy” during the run – I have been nursing poison oak on my bum and calf, from a “pitstop” during last Sunday’s ride – for the second time this year. Another “You Know You’re Iron When” issue, I guess!

So, back to Saturday. At about 8:00 a.m., IronMel and I arrived at Aquatic Park and slowly got our buns down to the water – just as Sedonia and BK were coming out! Apparently BK had an LLS Board meeting and so had to be in early, so Sedonia agreed to swim with him. Sedonia and BK you are SO IRON!

Today, we swam around the perimeter of Aquatic Park, and were to do as many times as we could in an hour. (Last time we swam around the buoys in the middle, which are fairly close to shore.) I had unfortunately had a rough night without a lot of sleep, and so I decided I would do as much as I could, but I wasn’t going to stress it.

The water was SOOOOO cold! I think it was colder than last time we swam in the Bay. It took me all the way from the shore to the first turn-around buoy to get my face in the water. Brrrr! Luckily though this time no trouble with my swim caps – Maria M-Dot reminded me to “pull them on tight” because of my experience last time. I was definitely NOT going to have a repeat performance!

I did have some trouble with my goggles though (if it’s not one thing, it’s the other). I think – amazingly – that my goggles that have fit SO well all season are starting to “gap” a little because I have lost 22 pounds – and my “chubby cheeks” aren’t closing the bottom any more! I had to fiddle with them a few times, and need to figure out if it was “just the day” or if (sadly) I have to find ANOTHER style of goggles. This “goggle thing” is getting a little ridiculous. I thought I had that one licked!

I also “graduated” to Coach Mike’s slimmer wetsuit! He had to give me a “boost” into it (my “badunka” is still a little on the bootylicious side) but once “she” was in, the rest was fine. I was amazed because I looked at that suit and was pretty suspicious that there was NO way it would work. Surprise! Everyone took turns

sticking their fingers into the hole in the small of my back – yes okay I got it, there is a hole… Stop that! It tickles! ;-) I also had gone to my friend’s salon Peace, Love & Grilled Cheeses to let them practice their new spray-tan on me (totally natural, uses a combo from sugar beets/sugar that develops naturally) - so there were a lot of comments about how tan I was. I didn’t even try to pass it off as real – though it sure LOOKS real and great! I love it. ;-)

Once I finally got my face in the water I was taking it easy, and was swimming with Patricia and Jen Jay. Then I saw Dana‘s red cap behind me, so I swam back, and decided to keep her company. When swimming the perimeter, it just seems to me it’s safer to be at least in pairs. We had 2 kayaks in the water, but there are boats you are swimming behind, etc. I did have to smile that Dana was there in her full-sleeve wetsuit, insulated cap, mittens and booties – and I was in a no-sleeved wetsuit that came about mid-calf! We had a good time swimming together, practicing siting, and the rest. At one point when we were nearly done (about the 45-50 minute mark, when Maria had joined us in “braving the current” that was getting stronger) I was starting to get really cold, so I had to swim a little faster and would go out and

then back, keeping an eye out for her to be sure she was still OK, swim out, back, check, out, back… I felt a little like Jake (my border collie) and how he runs out and back and around and back, sort of “burning off steam” when we’re at the beach. I am pretty sure, though, he’s not trying to keep from freezing up! :-)

Once we got out, I had the standard bay sludge all over my face (why is it always only ME that gets this? Thanks Coach Helen for giving me the “wipe your face” sign!). I couldn’t actually feel my hands and arms enough to wipe it off with a towel. I just took my (white!) sweatshirt and smudged it all over my face to clear the gunk. Icky. It took a while to be able to talk – getting out of the Bay feels a bit like novocaine. Your brain seems to be working fine, but it’s hard to make the mouth form the right sounds.

We had a Stretch and Strength session on the grass, but I had been so cold I actually couldn’t even get my shirt on. So I just zipped up my long hooded swim parka over my swimsuit and pulled on my sweats, and exercised in that. What a sight, as you can see from the pictures below. I also couldn’t get my hands to hold a brush, so I had very SPECIAL hair. Oh lord. Now I remember why it is that I need to BRAID it, not just “pony-tail” it, when swimming is on the schedule! (Thank goodness the photos were taken when my hat was on – in all the “Downward Dogs” we were doing, it kept flopping off and showing my “bird’s nest” coiffure!)

Susie (who is a fire fighter) had gotten the Spirit Cape last week. Her additions to it were spectacular, including a handcrafted green and purple lei, and an actual fire axe and belt! She explained that fire fighters paint their axes with their engine company name and number and color. So she had painted the axe in IronTeam purple, with “IronTeam” on one side, and “2010″ on the other. It was THE BEST! Jim won the Spirit Cape, and no one could deserve it more. He is always such a great, sunny, “Atta Girl” teammate. (Jim’s the one who paid our way through the toll gate the first Boot Camp weekend, if you remember reading about that. He, and BK, were also the cyclists that scared the heck out of me my first “team ride” around Paradise Drive, because I’d never actually met “real cyclists” before. They got to the route turnaround in Tiburon like 1/2 hour before I even showed up – and had ridden from San Francisco at the beginning, to boot!) Anyway – so here is the photo of Jim with the Spirit Cape – now decked out with the tiara from Tiffany, my boa on the bottom, all sorts of trinkets, the axe and belt – boxing gloves (not sure if Susie had added them or if BK added them when he got the cape the time before because I missed that one, at Wildflower Weekend)…This Spirit Cape is getting to be quite the work of art!

After the Stretch and Strength/Spirit Cape with the Team and a big “GO TEAM, IRONTEAM” circle that surprised all the folks who had gathered to watch our craziness (yeah, we do look a little insane, I gotta admit, especially to tourists on the waterfront!), Melissa and I were off to Sports Basement. I needed to get some new nutrition and a few things for Marin friends who love that I make the “trek” in frequently enough that they can give me their Sports Basement shopping lists! Mel scoped while I shopped - she was going to do the 5K Fun Run the next day for Brenda Donato (an IronTeam member who succumbed to cancer a year or two ago) – which included a 20% off Sports Basement spree. I had to be home to do “honey do” chores and then a bike ride with H instead, so “Shopping R Us”.

All in all, I felt super good during the swim, and even the strength (though I kept falling because I was slipping on the grass and couldn’t really feel my feet). Mentor Margaret even mentioned how “far I had come.” She always makes me feel like a rock star. She’s the best. The interesting thing that I mentioned to Melissa as we were driving home was that Sue Bird, my hypnotherapist (who did 3 knockdown amazingly great hypnosis induction podcasts a while back – you can download them free HERE, click on “Download” and then wait a bit), had “worked on me” with respect to my Open Water swimming. I realized that while in the water. Basically, Sue does “energy work” as part of her hypnosis practice. Through this, she actually “reads” your energy, and helps “shift” it to more “productive” energy for whatever you are concerned about. I started seeing Sue back when I was in law school, because I had a paralyzing fear of speaking in public. We became fast friends (and in fact, she was the officiant at our wedding). Sue herself is an amazing swimmer, and I believe still holds some of Stanford’s records from when she was there.

I had mentioned to her a while back that ever since I was a small kid (and saw someone die in the water in Ft. Lauderdale of a heart attack) – and especially after seeing the movie Jaws when pretty young too – I have had a fear of swimming in Open Water. Sure, I’ve done it – nearly all triathlons are in Open Water, and “back in the day” I was doing some form of a triathlon a number of times a year…but I have never, ever, gotten over the Fear Factor of it. She asked if I would like her to “work on it” for me and I thought – why not? (She does it from a distance, you don’t even have to be there.)

Well, I had forgotten all about this, though the last time I was at Aquatic Park, I had felt pretty great, and really didn’t think that much about The Dreaded Swim. (That was about a week after Sue and I had had our talk, which was precipitated by my having a rough time at our first Boot Camp in the lake, where Mentor Margaret had to swim and talk with me the whole way.) THIS time, I felt AMAZING. I am not kidding. I felt like an otter in the water. I was REALLY relaxed, having fun, etc., even when we were in the ‘deep water’ part of the Park, where the breakwater is open and lets out into the Bay. It was when I was doing the “border collie-esque” swimming forward and back, treading water, talking to Kristie in the kayak, teasing with Sedonia, etc. that I suddenly realized “Heeeeeey, WHO IS this OtterGirl?!” Of course, Sue lives down in Monterey – where otters are abundant, etc. Maybe she “sent me” some of their energy to “replace” mine…?

I actually texted her, just saying “Whatever you did, it worked.” Wild. Completely and totally wild. The last time something like this happened to me was in Peru, where I was having issue after issue with my debilitating fear of heights. The shaman who had come to Willka Ti’ka (where we were staying) explained in Quechua (their native language) to our translator (who spoke Quechua, Spanish and English) that “all I had to do” was to “give up the fear” to Pachamama (the Earth Goddess) and “she would take care of it,” but I really had to want it gone, and really had to do it in a specific ceremony. Well, long story short – I did, and she did. I wound up bounding up trails that would have set me into a hyperventilating swoon previously – and even now, I am more just “aware” of heights than really afraid of them. I think there’s definitely “something to all that.”

I ended the day by seeing my friend Faye, who is now General Manager at Martha Graham Dance Company. They were in Santa Rosa for one performance on their world tour. They are doing a Retrospective of Martha Graham’s work, and I have to say, it was probably the best dance-related performance I have ever seen. They had some films of Martha Graham herself, did a couple of performances of where “dance had been” before she started doing HER stuff, had a “narrator” who explained a bit about what we would be seeing before the dancers came on…and then of course they performed some of her “greats” including Lamentations, Appalachian Spring, and the rest. H hadn’t known that Copland’s

“Appalachian Spring” was written FOR Martha Graham and in accordance with her letters about what she “wanted” in a dance sequence, which the narrator talked about, even reading from her letters to Copland. Before the performance, Willi’s Wine Bar squeezed Faye, H and me in for dinner, where of course we got a few of their fabulous flights of wine, and ate WAY too much of all the things that I don’t make at home! (bone marrow, rabbit rillettes, foie gras, duck, curried crab pot de creme, chocolate chip bread pudding, cheese tray, dessert wines, etc.). So stem to stern, it was a wonderful day!

As I write this, H and I are preparing to do a bike ride, probably down to Sausalito and back. (After napping off the dinner/wine/late night until noon!) I didn’t do the “Athlete’s Choice hour and a half” workout on Friday (my “Athlete’s Choice” was a snooze!), and so H and I are going to go do that. It’s a gorgeous day, as it was yesterday.

 

Saturday H and I got up to Yountville to ride the Tour of Napa Valley route with a good portion of the IronPeeps. I hadn’t seen folks in what seemed like forever! (Pre-Half Iron/Sedona.) That day, there were a handful who went down to Monterey for a ride, another chunk were in the East Bay doing the Tierra Bella, and then about a dozen of us for the Tour of Napa route.

H rode on my old bike, Vlad, which he had “souped up” as much as one can on a 20+ year old bike! He had replaced the handlebar, stem, brakes, derailleur, chain…like I said, as much as he could. I was on my new bike, Angelina, for the first “spin” after having her fit at Aria Velo. I was a little concerned about getting “up onto” my seat, which now seemed pretty much at stratospheric levels! (Sure enough, until I got the “hang” of it, the bike shorts pad kept catching. Not so comfy.)

Here is the map of our route (pretty much). If you look at this map, we cut off the “bottom left” part (going out through Larkmead to Calistoga and back on Highway 128 to Highway 29/St Helena Highway ), just cutting down to Silverado Trail and back into Yountville, instead. It was somewhere between 50 and 60 miles.

H and I rode together most of the time, until we got to Ink Grade (between Mile 51 and 55 or so – 4.5 miles and 1110 feet of climbing). Teammate Will had told me that one of the things I would really notice with Angelina was the “power differential” of her geometry over Vlad’s, but I had sucked on my first ride on her with H (pre-bike fit, mind you) and I just thought that was one of those “cycling dude myths.” Well, post-bike fit…I TOTALLY got it. As we were going up Ink Grade, H (who has always been far stronger than me cycling) hit the first of the 12% portions and just said “I have to walk – keep going.” I did…and slowly, inexorably, I got up Damn Ink Grade. I was shocked. Seriously. I passed Patricia and JP on the way up – just going, going, going. Every time I pedaled, it actually moved the bike forward. Now, that sounds stupid. And it’s hard to explain if you don’t know what I’m talking about. But with Vlad, the “power transfer” was such that even though I pushed down, it didn’t push the bike “forward” as far, and I had trouble balancing, so that in the end, I would have to just walk. I was astonished. I got up to the top of that bad boy, and didn’t walk AT ALL. I realized at that point that though I’m not sure I could do Pig Farm or Wilson Hill, I am pretty sure I could take McEvoy Ranch Hill (Red Hill) grade now. Who-hoo! Wow! (OK, and my heart rate maxed at 185 – where my Lactate Threshold is 161. That’s Some Hill.)

I stopped at the top of Ink Grade to wait for H, and he was actually pretty close behind me. (I was a little bummed – I wanted to rest a bit!) We did stop to swap some nutrition out of our Bento Boxes, etc., and H securely stowed Liz’s glove, which we had picked up right at the beginning of the climb. (I nearly killed myself turning onto Ink Grade trying to shift and turn left – I wound up on the grass verge and muscled the bike back onto the road, with Coach Mike laughing in his Mini at me. Of course I would pull a bonehead “shift the wrong way” moment with an audience!) H and I talked a lot about the difference between the bikes, as well as how much of a help the clipless pedals were and that I was beginning to like them…even though I’d nearly bitten the dirt when getting Liz’s glove…I’d unclipped one foot and started to reach down on that side, and the bike is so light it pretty much twisted away from me and I had to do a little “hop” with the BIKE attached to my FOOT to stay upright – too freakin’ funny.

On the other side of Ink Grade – oh my Lord – was the most glorious downhill EVER. The day was perfect and gorgeous, first of all. But there you are – at the top of Howell Mountain – with all of Napa spread out under you. And the road was perfectly paved – not a rut or pothole – and wonderful loopy curves down, down, down. Patricia, H and I sped down and I got to 38 MPH – Patricia reached 40! Woah! There were many “Look, Patricia!” moments – with the glorious California poppies, new olive shoots on the trees, stark black lines of grape trellises up steep slopes, and the like. I was sad that we had forgotten our camera. My favorite was actually a weed field next to the road, in which a full-on tennis net was strung up between two green tennis uprights, left from God knows when! I think H and I might have to drive back just to take a picture of it, it was so incongruous! As H said, “Now THAT adds new meaning to the words ‘grass court’!”

Iron Mel had come with us in the car. She’d been sick for quite some time with a bug that just wouldn’t let go, and this was her first outing. The three of us got into a gigglefest on the way into Yountville – don’t even ask. She blew past us on the first uphill of the day on Pope Valley Road – but ran out of gas after Ink Grade. On the way home, the 3 of us hit a deli because H was at his low-blood-sugar worst, and then had to wait about a year to receive our sandwiches (the deli staff kept taking what were obviously locals’ requests first). Skip and Nancy were there too (Skip did his own ride – Nancy SAG’d for us) – at one point, Skip asked Melissa if we had put in our order the previous week too, and we said indeed that we had!

Kudos to Coach Mike and Nancy for their SAG wagons – and especially to Mary and Marina for helping me corral H back in, when he got lost and did another 8 miles down Silverado Trail at the end of the ride! (I had ridden ahead with JP and thought H would ride with Patricia – they both missed the Yountville Road turnoff back, but when Patricia showed up without H, I realized something was not right. Luckily he had his phone turned on – I called from Mary’s phone and discovered he was just continuing to tool on down Silverado Trail! Marina headed off to see if she could find him, and as she left I realized I didn’t have Marina’s number, I wasn’t really sure she knew what H looked like, etc.! So Mary loaned me her car( H had our car keys!) – and as I pulled up to H way down Silverado Trail, Marina pulled up, laughing, behind us. She had realized the same thing – once down the road on her Good Samaritan Mission!)

H and I got back home after the ride and took hot showers, then bad me, I snuggled into bed (it was only like 3:00 PM!) for a little “snoozle.” H woke me up with a tray of treats he had brought back from Austria – champagne, cheese, chocolate, and the like! This was particularly bad, because of course I was going to be out riding again the next day! I am not sure that’s the ultimate recovery nutrition. (Added to the Pringles, Chips Ahoy, and Oreos at the end of the ride!)

Sunday, Iron Mel and I were off again – lather, rinse, repeat – this time to do the bike portion of the Vineman course. She is doing the Vineman for her Ironman, and navigated us to Windsor High. We were doing the whole course – though when she does it during the Ironman, she has to do the loop TWICE! (I hadn’t realized that.) After a pitstop at McDonald’s with 3 of the other girls (during which Coach Dave wound up having to wait in line longer than all 4 of us girls - the irony!), we were off.

I rode for a while with Patricia, Erin, Mary and Maria, and then for most of Westside Road and Dry Creek Road, I was by myself. It was once again a GLORIOUS day. Wow! I passed what seemed like 100s of wineries, many of them with balloons out and announcing tastings, art showings, and the like. I tried to keep my cadence up as Coach Sedonia had cautioned, to make it an “active recovery” day. I rode for a while with Melissa, Marina and Kathryn on Canyon Road, but then was on my own again for Hwy 128.

The directions we had were pretty good, but after going a number of miles on 128, I hit a stop sign (at about Mile 41 of the ride – around Jimtown). The signs to keep on 128 headed Left, but that didn’t seem correct. It also said that was towards Calistoga, and I wasn’t sure that was the right direction, either. I got a wave of uneasiness over me that I had somehow missed a turn – and the last turn had been MANY miles back. Just as I was getting out my phone to call Coach Mike, Teammate Sara pulled up. I was so glad to see her! She said she was sure we were in the right place, but agreed that a left turn didn’t seem correct. Coach Mike didn’t pick up, and I tried Mentor Margaret just as Sara connected with her boyfriend Gabe (who was in a SAG wagon). (I felt bad – once I got back, Margaret said she had been worried because she saw a missed call from me – whoops!) Gabe immediately knew where we had gotten ”confused” (even before Sara asked him) and he said that yes, we had to go left at the stopsign, because the road actually turned back on itself and ultimately led to where he was in the SAG Wagon (at mile 45/beginning of Chalk Hill Road).

So Sara and I rode together, meeting up with him and Coach Mike at the stop. Now, Sara is a GREAT cyclist. The road between 40 and 45 wasn’t so bad – a few small rollers, but not much. So I decided to keep up with her. We talked about her impending “plunge” into law school in Colorado, the fact she had once again had trouble with a wheel (that’s why she was riding so “slowly” and had come up behind me), etc. After fueling up at the SAG Wagon, I decided that as it was “only” about 17 miles more (still sounds so funny to say that), and that I didn’t have a run afterwards, I would “ride until I bonked” and endeavor to keep up with her.

Whew! Every time I would think I couldn’t keep up and would gear down to an easier gear, Sara would pull away, so I would “Iron Up” and throw it back into the higher gear to keep pace. Of course, I was drafting – even though Sara is little, there is no question that this helps. We did hit a climb before the “big climb” at Chalk Hill, and I definitely fell behind as she hammered up it. She said she’d wait for me at the top – which she did.

We hit Chalk Hill at Mile 47-49. It’s not really that bad of a hill – the problem is that you have already been riding for so long when you hit it. (And the Vineman crew are going to hit it not once, but twice!) Just as we started climbing, Sara lost her chain. I realized there was no way I could get back going if I stopped, so she said no worries, to wait for her at the top. As I turned around to say OK, she did a “slow-mo” fall. I shouted “You OK?” and she was laughing, so I kept going.

We had been riding with 3 other gals (not IronTeam) for part of the way, and the first of them caught up to me as I was near the top. She had heard/seen what had happened, so first joked, “Nice way to leave your buddy back there,” then (laughing) she said, “You have to tell her that’s the most graceful fall I have EVER seen.” When Sara caught up, turns out she had just had one of those standard “not quite unclipping fast enough” situations. I told her I was so surprised to see her on the ground when I turned around, it looked almost as if she just decided to take a little nap there on the road!

I kept up with her all the way in to Windsor High, and was SUPER proud of myself. There is no way in the world that I thought that I could actually do that. I thought I would get maybe 5 miles in, and then just bonk. Her cadence is so high and strong. I felt ELATED as I saw the High School pull into sight – and I know that the “good bikers” who were already in (Coach Dave, Mentor Margaret, Will, Rocky, and the rest) were probably as surprised as I was to see me coming in with her!

As we waited for the rest of the pack to come in, Will had brought his tools/oil/etc. and worked on Angelina. He commented about how great she looked & what a good bike she was (which made me feel good). Ultimately everyone rolled on in – Melissa, Marina and Kathryn as a pack, Sedonia, Patricia, Maria, and Mary, and then Liz (who had actually had some sort of really weird wheel issue that Phil was helping her with, when I saw her on the road). I was all in exhausted (but happy and proud!), and just lay down on the sidewalk while we were waiting for our peeps to get in! It actually felt nice and warm on my back.

Iron Mel and I got ourselves on back to Marin, spending the drive planning our “first dinners” (of at LEAST two) when we got home! I opted for a miso soup and yogurt/fruit smoothie, in my ice bath! My inner thigh muscles all the way from groin to knee (adductor) muscles cramped up a bit on the drive home (and are actually still sore today). That has to be from the new bike fit. Otherwise, I was pleased that on the 2nd day, by and large, I didn’t have all that bad of a time – a little “chacha” discomfort, but not as much as I had imagined. (I was Butt’r'in’ up like a crazy person though, which I think was part of the serious problems I had in the 70.3.) The nutrition plan seemed to work – “GU Brew” with CarboPro, GU, Thermalytes, and Clif Shot Blocks. No fiber, no protein. I still have to see if that’s going to work with a bike and run combo, but I felt OK and didn’t seem to have that much G.I. distress. Once I got out of the ice bath, I started eating everything in sight…! Oh Lord, it was really bad. This morning in fact I was 2 lbs heavier – and I know it was all the crap I ate as if I was a starving person (leftover Oreos and chocolate, etc.) Yowzah!

I’m sure there is more to write, and I will annotate this later – just wanted to get the “broad strokes” down. Today is the Blessed Monday Day Off – whohoo! And it’s a recovery week – even better!

You Know You’re Iron When…

…You breathe a sigh of relief that your FIRST of two long rides back to back is “only” a metric century, not a full century!
…Salt & Vinegar Pringles, Chips Ahoy, and Oreos become “must have” Recovery Items.
…Your feet and upper thighs are the same shade of WHITE (courtesy of Maria M-Dot)
…Your bike mantra (JUST…KEEP…PEDALLING!) wakes you up out of a sound sleep at 2 a.m. Monday morning, and you sneak a peek at your husband to be sure you didn’t shout it out loud…(true, so true…)

I’m having a lot of fun and other folks are great being “game” and sending these! I wonder if I should make up a Tshirt in the end, with all of these on the back??

YOU KNOW YOU’RE IRON WHEN…

…you wear your tri shorts under your church clothes so you can go directly to an open water swim after Easter service. (Coach Dan Russell)

…you show up to a dinner party in bike shorts and don’t care. And you know your friends are iron, when half of them are in bike shorts too. (Coach Helen)

…you say screw it and drive home in your cycling shoes after spin. :-) (Kathryn)

…when you seriously contemplate wearing your spin clothes under your work attire for faster transition times between work and workout….hahaha!!!  FYI…bike shorts under khakis…no go…but tri shorts under pencil skirt…ok! Thank GAWD I wear a lab coat (Coach Sedonia)

Well, as I’m treating this as the History of Transformation from Couch Potato to Iron Woman, I guess it’s time to talk about the “bad” as well as the “good.”

Since coming back from Sedona, I’ve had a serious case of malaise. I’ve swum a couple of times, H and I did a 36 mile bike ride (me on Angelina – yay!), and I did the Lactate Threshold test, but I’ve let myself fall away from training. It’s time to get “recommitted” to it.

I think that part of this has to do with doing the 70.3 (1/2 Iron). That was far and away the longest and hardest athletic endeavor that I have ever done. I think that doing that . . . and the trouble I had at the end . . . has weakened my “resolve.” I have also been having a lot of trouble caused by the uterine tumor. STOP READING IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH SKIP ON TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH…I am having severe bleeding and have for 2 weeks. The doctor said that this is just going to happen, until the tumor is addressed, which I have said I don’t want to do until after the Ironman. I am taking an iron supplement at her direction (Floradix Floravital), but I’ve got to believe that some of this malaise has got to do with the exhaustion of that situation, too.

I wound up coming away from the bike ride with H on Angelina with a GOOD shin splint – by 2 days after (Monday) I was limping badly and wound up going to the doctor ultimately because of it. She said that it was likely from kicking out of the clipless pedals…! She said that I really should stay off it until the inflammation had gone down, and especially that I should watch biking/running this weekend if I did indeed go to Boot Camp. Her feeling (likely true!) was that I would get “competitive” and go faster than I normally would if alone. As such, she said she’d “rather I not” bike/run until Monday (alone!)

So from the start today, I knew I would only be doing the Open Water Swim, and then I was going to (wo)man the Run water stop for the rest of the Team.

I have been sleeping TERRIBLY since H left for Austria. We are SO seldom apart, and generally if we are apart it is because I am on business travel, not that I am home and he is away. For whatever reason, I have no trouble sleeping in a hotel room – but when at home alone, I juuuuust baaaaarely sleep, with any twitch or sound waking me up. I feel as if I am in a state of “hypervigilance.” This morning, I had slept about 2-3 hours, as has happened for the past week since he left.

Herbert’s mother died unexpectedly when we were in Sedona. Oh – sure – she was “old” (93), but she wasn’t sick…it obviously was “bound to happen some time” (we all gotta go!) but it was a shock. I just adored her and she adored me. In fact, though H had been married (and engaged) a few times before, I was the first one she gave him the family heirloom engagement ring for…he said she told him “If you don’t ask her to marry you, I will.” Not quite sure what will happen with H’s dad (who is 97), especially as H is an only child…

This morning when I got up and turned on my phone, I had a text from not only Iron Melissa, but also from Patricia – both of whom I was bringing to Boot Camp. Melissa was having G.I. distress, and Patricia had a blinding migraine – so neither of them was going to go. I thought a bit…had some oatmeal, and realized that what I REALLY should do was go back to sleep. (It had been 2 days since I could even get my contacts in, my eyes were so tired – I was contemplating that when the texts came in.) Then I got a text from Melissa that said “I’m in Kaiser ER.”

Well, that did it – first I texted back to let me know if she needed anything, but that didn’t make me feel like a good friend. So I texted back I was going to go there – and I got dressed and got in the car. No Boot Camp.

I actually missed Melissa at the ER – just as I was walking in the door, I got a text from her that she was back home. (Ah, timing…) She said she was OK, didn’t need me to get her any groceries, etc. – and so I headed back home. I was already dressed and figured I could just head out to Boot Camp and S.A.G. – but my subconscious kept saying “GO TO SLEEP.”

I was back in bed by like 7:00 a.m. … “You Know You’re Iron When” you’re getting back in bed…after eating, contemplating, Facebook’ing, heading out to the hospital and back…before most folks are even up the FIRST time!

I didn’t get up until 1:30 p.m.! I was seriously dead to the world. By the time I got up, it was drizzling. I have been trying to convince myself to get to the pool, or get on the bike for a quick ride, or something. I just “don’t wanna.” That’s so wrong.

Patricia and I (if she is over the migraine) plan to get together tomorrow, though it’s supposed to be Noah’s Ark-style raining. I proposed that we go to the JCC and “do” what the team did today – seriatim minitriathlons (1,000 yard swim, 9 mile bike, 3 mile run over 5 hours) – inside. I hope I have the resolve to do this anyway, even if Patricia still isn’t feeling up to it.

“An acre of performance is worth a whole world of promise.”
19th Century Writer W. D. Howells.

When H and I made our reservations a year and a half ago to come to Sedona for a week, the only thing that we thought we’d be doing was a little hiking and wildflower-watching (okay, and margarita-drinking). AH, how things change!

Packing for Sedona was pretty funny, actually. Usually for a non-business (and “non-dress-up”) vacation, we try our darndest to get our clothes into just carryon bags. This trip, thank goodness we were on Southwest with ”free baggage allowance,” as we wound up with FOUR bags, and I mean BIG bags! Two were stuffed with our car bike rack, shoes, helmets, bike bottles (themselves stuffed with GU/Accellerade/etc.), various “nutrition bars” to try…you name it. In fact, I sent out a Tweet during the packing (and unpacking, and re-packing…”oh OOPS forgot a HELMET…oh OOPS where is H’s 2nd bike shoe…oh OOPS OMG the Camelbak…”) that said “100 lbs of TriGear…U know ur iron when ur luggage = bike rack/replacer drinx/spandex/camelbak oh, and 1 sundress.” That pretty much covered it!

We spent our first day hiking. We thought we would “stretch our legs” and headed out for a hike to Brins Mesa. It wasn’t Peru altitude (far from it), but at 4,000-5,000 ft. or so, it wasn’t sea level, either. It made me wonder a bit about how the 1/2 Iron was going to go for me as we huffed and puffed up to the mesa! The views were magnificent, and I can understand how New Age folks have congregated here, drawn by “Energy Vortexes” and the like.

Our “little stretch our legs” hike wound up being 4.5 hours of climbing/scrambling/a little over 7 miles. I had made the mistake of not looking at the map and relying on Mr. H…men, directions, need I say more? Suffice it to say I had to rely a bit on my “Recon Skills” and I got us back to where we started after we both realized we were “way lost.” I started humming the Gilligan’s Island theme song at one point, but it was lost of H who of course grew up in Vienna. (I totally amused myself though.) After hiking, we went to one of the local establishments, complete with “gun check”…!

The next day H decided that we should take the train up to the Grand Canyon. Neither of us had been there in decades, and we’d never taken the train. It was pretty fun, though slow – H got to be a bit of a “pacing panther” near the end. I think it didn’t help that we had to be there early, they told him that there was coffee on board, and there was not! (We took Coach on the way out, and Deluxe on the way back – plenty of food/champagne/etc. there!)

When we got into the station at the Grand Canyon, I had a good laugh at this sign: “What’s the difference between Outlaws and Inlaws? Outlaws are Wanted.” On the way back, “outlaws” “ambushed” our train (a guy on a pinto NO I did not just say “IN a Pinto!” rode up as our train slowed to a crawl, then ultimately a stop). He roamed the train, and wanted “all our money.” H’s commentary was pretty sardonic and very funny about the whole thing.

I particularly loved sitting out on the very back of the train once we were in the Deluxe cabin, and listening to the train over the tracks. I even took a movie of it on our little camera. It sounded just like when tap dancers have a “duel” (I saw this on So You Think You Can Dance last year during their “tryouts”), and I stayed out there until it was too cold to really be sitting outside. Loved it. Me, a train, and a glass of champagne. Clickety-clack.

The next day we were off to start figuring out the route for the 70.3. It was going to be tricky, because Sedona is surrounded by killer hills. And, of course, you’re at altitude already starting from the “flats” at 4,000 feet. We biked from the place we rented the road bikes (Specialized Sequoias – just like my old bike Vlad, only 30 years newer!) down to Montezuma’s Well and back to try that out – part of the road was very steep AND under construction so we had to re-think. I had my first “clipped in fall” at Montezuma’s Well – we had a steep climb out of the parking lot and H (trying to be helpful) said “you’re in the right gear, aren’t you?” and I wasn’t moving fast enough to pay attention to him, try to shift in the new-to-me click-shifters, and make the grade. SPLAT! The tourists having their picnics nearby mostly had the decency to turn around as they laughed at me. But I saw their shoulders!

I had another “moment” when we had to stop for the flagman at the road construction. I had unclipped my “stand on” foot, thought I was fine (I was completely stopped), but suddenly I must have gotten hit by a vortex or something, because I started to fall – right INTO the flagman. He was as surprised as I was (and did catch and right me). H’s comment, “That’s my wife. She’s always falling for other men.” Pfffft.

We went back to the condo and sorted the ride out, but had to go out the next day to see if the “spur” we were considering would work. We rode that, and H figured that I could do that spur with a little “add on” hill for the run. It meant that we were doing 2 loops on the bike, then I would do 2 loops on the run that would cover part of that course. The hard part about it was that the “spur” had one “granny gear” hill on it – and so I would need to cover it FOUR times (2x on the bike and 2x on the run). The bike also had one “granny gear” area on the backside as well, plus a long long LONG insidious climb – again, that we would cover 2x. Frankly, I was pretty tired of the area just from the scouting…what can I say?

That evening, we ate in, and I spent the time filling bottles, cutting up Clif Bars, and generally trying to breathe and stay calm. I realized with the extra couple of rides we had done during the scouting, that we were going to be pretty close to the “edge” with the amount of Accellerade I had brought. (We actually ran out – H had to return the bikes to get our deposit back while I was running, and he was able to pick up more from the bike store.)

The route that we wound up started at Hilton Spa in Big Park, off Ridge Trail Drive. This is where the only large pool is in the whole Sedona area (all swim teams practice here!), so we needed that to be the start. Everything circled back to the Hilton Spa parking lot. It was only $10 for a day use pass – and what a gorgeous facility! I must admit, I wish that I had been able to use it for more than just the Swim section of the 1/2 Iron, because it was so nice.

The Hilton pool was 25m, so H figured that I had to swim 46 laps (92 lengths). From there, I would change (in the Spa…nice…) and we would ride 2 loops (28 miles each) as follows (in case you care):

Right onto 179 South; follow 2.9 miles.
Right onto Beaver Flats Rd; follow 6 miles.
Left onto E Cornville Rd; follow 0.8 miles.
Turn around at farm driveway on left; return to Beaver Flats Road.
Right onto Beaver Flats Road, back to 179.
Left onto 179 North; follow 3.1 miles.
Left onto Verde Valley School Rd; follow 3.3 miles.
Turn around at Sunset Pass Road (dead end road on right); back to 179.
Right onto 179 South; follow 0.2 miles.
Right onto Ridge Trail Drive, back to Hilton Spa parking lot. (Restock water/food and repeat.)

When we Mapquested this route, it only will get the percentage grades down to an average of 1/4 mile. So it looked like deceptively easy elevation changes – because none of our high percentage grades lasted for the entire 1/4 mile distance. I was VERY thankful for the fact that, though we had some serious “ups and downs,” none was longer than 1/4 mile. I’m not sure I could have done the Wildflower course!

Next, I was to run 2 loops (6.5 miles each):

• Cross gravel at back of parking lot to get onto Ridge Rock Road.
• Run left, follow Ridge Rock Rd about 0.3 miles.
• First right onto Kalbab Way until dead-end into Verde Valley School Road.
• Left onto Verde Valley School Rd, follow 2 miles.
• Turn around at Mundy Dr (private gated road, third on right after open space); follow Verde Valley about 2.2 miles.
• Turn left onto Castle Rock Rd, follow 0.3 miles to 187.
• Turn right onto 187 South, follow 0.6 miles to Ridge Trail Dr.
• Right onto Ridge Trail Dr, back to Hilton Spa parking lot.
• Restock water and repeat.

The note about “cross gravel at back of parking lot” was because we found a short-cut into a private, locked, gated community that would add the required mileage that I needed. It could be reached by a little cut-through from the Hilton Parking Lot. I felt pretty subversive riding down the street between all the million dollar houses on the golf course the day we were trying to map it out; of course, no one took any notice!

Since we had been out for the 2 days in the clothes we had to use for the race, I did the laundry – and hung it up in the only spot where I knew it would dry, the drapery “surround” on the sliding door to our deck. I took a photograph because “You Know You’re Iron When” your “view” is not of the red rock vistas, but of bike shorts, jog bras, and assorted paraphernalia!!

The “race” day dawned and I got up early so that I could eat my “standard” pre-race meal of oatmeal, blueberries, a GU, a cup of coffee and some Accellerade. I tweeted that I hoped that “the hardest part of the day” would be waking H up! Once he was up, we took all the condo garbage pails, lined them with liners, and filled them with ice, water bottles, oranges, and the like, and took them to the car. As we were leaving, I ran back up the stairs, and hung the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door. I tweeted that You Know You’re Iron When the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door means “We’re stealin’ your stuff”!

As we stepped outside, my next Tweet was: “Holy Desert Winds Batgirl! it’s 40 degrees outside w/a bitter wind. Not feelin’ so iron. Oy! In the car to the start tho no turnin back!” I have read my fellow Teammates’ blogs about their start at Wildflower – sounds like we were all starting with icy hands and chapped cheeks, both in CA and AZ!

I started the swim at the Hilton pool, and got into a groove fairly quickly. H stayed for the first 100 just to see what my pace was (a little slow, 2:20), then he had to go rent the bikes. Yes, we had turned the bikes back in each night, so that we wouldn’t have an “overnight” fee! I kept counting as the sun came up and warmed my back. The pool was only 4 lanes, but no one else was around. I had one funny moment – I saw what I thought was H out of the corner of my eye, and shouted “9-3!” (meaning, I was on the 3rd length of my 9th 100 set – don’t ask me why I count this way – in other words, I was at 875 meters) and I startled the guy badly – turns out he was the pool cleaner! (Whoops!) That was odd too – he cleaned the pool “around” me. I watched the long pole sliding under and around, cleaning up nonexistent debris from the pristine bottom, and smiled, remembering when Paula, Will and I shared a lane at Boot Camp Day 2 at Gunderson High. Will got enmeshed in floating fishing line, I dove for a pair of Speedo goggles at the bottom, and Paula swears that the huge pile of debris in our lane included everything from discarded syringes to Jimmy Hoffa’s body. (OK she didn’t really say that about Jimmy. Syringes, yes. Jimmy, no.)

H finally returned, and I didn’t hear his “last lap” call, so stuck my head up to ask how far I had to go (I thought I was within about 50 meters - once he really DID arrive, I gave up counting), and he said “You’re done!” So I hoisted myself out of the pool, and off into the Spa to change. The swim was 54 minutes – longer than I had wanted, but as Sedonia says, “you can lose 5 minutes on a bad potty break [somewhat prophetic, that, as it turned out], so don’t stress it.”

The Spa locker room was by now teaming with folks, and the transition took me longer than normal, which was sort of to be expected. I couldn’t really “hustle” because I was surrounded by toney Arizona ladies with their perfectly coiffed hair and my initial bustle was given the stink eye. I realized as I was leaving that I hadn’t applied the Butt’r and so “slapped some on” in the hallway out of the Stink Eye Zone, though that slap/dash effort would come to bite me in the proverbial *ss later….

I’d left my bike shoes out at the car, so as not to make a racket clacking around the gorgeous Spanish Saltillo Tiles in the spa (thank goodness, talk about STINK eye had I done that!). Once I got out and into my shoes, H and I headed out of the Hilton parking lot and onto the 179. The road from the Hilton is VERY steep, though short (downhill on the way out -  uphill on the way back in). H got down to the bottom and started dithering about forgetting something or another and so we went back up (why I went is beyond me), we started off again, he’d forgotten something else – this time I stayed and tweeted “Is part of being a wife doing all transition planning and checks for 2?” I added the “aborted starts” to my transition time, and restarted the bike time when we REALLY headed out.

The first loop was pretty uneventful. I practiced taking 1/4 of a Clif Bar every 15 minutes, and getting down a bike bike bottle of 2x Accellerade every hour. I had one “behind the cactus” pit stop, and we were back at the Hilton so I could take my next one in Luxury (laugh). We headed back out, and as H had predicted from weather.com, the desert winds had started up on the Beaver Flat Road leg. Oh lord. It was brutal. I felt really frustrated because I had to throw it down into my lowest “granny” gear just to make headway. H (who was generally riding behind me, to allow me to set the pace) finally cut in front of me, and told me to draft. Wow, what a difference. I hunkered down behind him, and practiced what Coach Les and Mentor Margaret had showed me about drafting. So one more

demon licked – I not only was using click shifting, but I was clipped into pedals…and drafting! Let’s just say that self preservation is a WONDERFUL motivator!

We turned around at the “farm driveway” we had mapped out through Google Maps as the ride mileage, and headed back … and all I could think of was how folks describe the Kona Ironman. How exactly could it be that we had just turned around on the same doggone route – and the wind was STILL in our faces! (On Cornville Road, the wind was so brutal from the side that it nearly blew us off the road.) Once we hit the Mile 3 marker on Beaver Flat Road, I was about an hour from being “done” so I stopped eating solids as I had been instructed by Coach Doug. My mantra, as I pumped up the grades and into the wind, “Just…Keep…Biking.”

I was using my little “boombox” on the ride, as I had for the previous days’ rides – and it gave out on me at about this time. I had forgotten to put in fresh batteries! D’oh! We went down the Valley Verde “spur” (complete with monumentally gorgeous views of the red rock mesas), then turned around and got back to the Hilton Parking lot. The bike had taken us just short of 5 hours (4:51). This made me feel good – I wanted to do it in 5 hours. I know that’s not that fast, but my goal was actually to not walk the bike, and keep a good pace. H wanted to do it in 4 hours. This did include our various pitstops and the like – which was probably about 1/2 hour’s worth of time all told. (Including the midway stop between the two loops which was pretty long, since we had to refuel all the bottles/Camelbak/etc. and then head into the Hilton for the potty break.)

As I mentioned, H had to return the bikes, but he said he would sag me on the run first to see my pace, then return them and come back to continue sagging (where does “sag” come from, anyway? I bet it’s an acronym for something, S.A.G.?). I headed out and felt pretty good, except some discomfort from the saddle. I did a 4:1 Galloway run/racewalk, and every time I would walk, I would drink the Accellerade and every other one, take 1/2 a GU. I felt very very strong and happy. OK, I was just happy to be off the Gold’Darn BIKE, to be frank!

H met me when I came out of the gated community and swapped me a new bike bottle (that’s when he told me that the Accellerade had run out). He went from there to return the bikes, and I kept on going down the road. It was rolling, totally surrounded by Red Rock mesas (Big Rock, Castle Rock, etc.). Truly and completely gorgeous vistas spreading out in all directions. I smiled and thought of my Teammate Patricia…on the 2nd day of our Boot Camp with South Bay Team, I had tried to keep our minds off a grueling climb by pointing out flowers, trees….rocks! Anything! I had a smile on my face and kept thinking “Look! Patricia! A mesa! Look! Patricia! A cactus! Look! Patricia! A tumbleweed!” and that kept me in good spirits.

As I ran for the turn-around on Mundy, I started to get more and more discomfort. I knew that the tri shorts were not “rubbing” in my anus area (ok, one of my teammates talked about having had a frostbitten penis, I can talk about my anus…), but it became more and more hot and uncomfortable. I am not totally sure if more Butt’r would have helped, but I surmise that it would have. I also didn’t re-apply it at any time, which I think was a mistake.

I started on the climb back up from Mundy, and I realized that I was having some pretty serious G.I. distress. It took me a little bit of time to find a place where I could break through the thicket on the side of the road, but finally I found a spot and in I went. It was not pretty. I had bloody diarrhea, and a lot of it. I surmised that the blood was probably coming from “outside” not “inside” but it was just Not Good.

I doubled up on hydration at that point, because I knew that I was going to be in a deficit if I was losing it that way. I actually made it back to the Hilton, and made my next pitstop there. By this time I was burning so bad, it was all I could do not to cry. The urine and the runs were like someone had rubbed hot peppers on me. I got back on the road for the 2nd loop, and realized that I was “not okay.” I got 1/2 way down the slope towards Mundy, and had to dive into a thicket again. I got to Mundy, where H waited for the 2nd turnaround, and I told him that I thought I should probably quit. I didn’t actually say why (embarrassed, frankly), and he told me that I only had a little more than 3 miles to go, and that he wouldn’t let me get in the car (ah, tough love). And in fact, he drove off, so there was nothing I could do but to continue. I got 1/2 way up the slope again – and back into the thicket I went. I now did not feel completely right in my mind. Yes, surprise, my mind started playing tricks on me, and convinced me that I had to stop drinking altogether (I was about 2 miles from the end, at least, not like 10) because my mind told me that would stop the runs. I burned like fire “down there” and was frustrated and upset. I just wanted to be THROUGH WITH ALL THIS. (I did have a wee small voice in my head, however, that took note that my legs felt strong, my breathing was strong, my heartrate was not racing….though it was a very VERY wee voice.)

“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first,
the lesson afterwards.”

Former Pitcher, Vernon Sanders Law

I got into the subdivision portion of the run (probably a mile out) and – had to cut behind a bush, trying to stay inconspicuous as basically it felt like fire was coming out of my *ss. Yeah, fine, I know, disgusting and graphic and this was a SERIOUS low point. I was embarrassed (pronounced: I’m-bare-assed…), frightened someone would see me and call the cops…oy. I cried a little bit then. I got back on the road, and headed for the last hill (except the hill up to the Hilton) on Castle Rock. I had been keeping to the 4:1 all the way through by this point, but decided I would walk Castle Rock (which was a grade), and then “decide” if I wanted to run again once I came back out on Highway 179. I was holding my sides and I am quite sure I did not look the picture of health…

Once I turned onto 179, I actually either got a “2nd wind” or I was just so fed up with the whole thing, I started to run and couldn’t stop. It was immensely painful in my derriere but my legs felt strong, I wasn’t breathing hard, and I just wanted it OVER. H met me along 179 with about 1/2 mile to go, to “Run Me In.” I think he thought I would be walking, because he was in his sandals. I took the bottle he offered, and I was really upset that he had refused to sag me, so I had some choice words for him about the runs I had been having. Interestingly, usually when I run, I’m so slow that he can fast walk next to me to keep up. He couldn’t – so I was running at a pretty good clip. He said he would meet me up at the Hilton, and was smart enough not to have any comebacks to my evil sound bites (probably similar to a husband in a wife’s delivery room!) I walked up the Hilton hill, and was pretty sure I could make it to the Spa bathroom, but was once again overwhelmed by a peristaltic rush and had to duck behind a huge Air Conditioner about 70 yards from the “finish.” In the end, the run took me 2:43.

I walked a little bit, but just wanted to be DONE and back at the Condo. H put me in the car, but as soon as I sat down, I started breathing really hard. I was sucking down the Recovery Drink, but I started to shake, and felt super cold. When I actually started to feel faint, I remembered that my friend Benjamin had told me to be sure I got my legs up as soon as I could. So I tipped the seat back, and put my red rock dust covered running shoes up on the black dashboard…and immediately started to feel better. My breathing slowed and I stopped shaking so much. We got back to the condo, and I wasn’t totally sure I could even make it up the stairs, so I told H to go in, unlock the door, start the shower (the hot water took a long time to heat up), and start getting buckets of ice from the Ice Machine. He didn’t ask any questions, though I could see he was torn between staying to be sure I wouldn’t get out of the car and hit the dirt (I didn’t).

I got into the condo and took a hot shower because I was shaking so bad, and the water made me cry out loud when it hit the “cuts” in my derriere. Oh My Lord. I moved from the shower to the bathtub (they were separate) where H had lined up all the garbage cans full of ice, and I took an ice bath. H brought me miso soup while I soaked, then once I headed straight for bed (I felt totally punk) he brought me more recovery drink, some oatmeal and blueberries, and then some Rice A Roni from the night before. I kept having to get up to have more runs and would cry each time. Not pretty. H went out to the Safeway and got me some bananas and Imodium – which thankfully did the trick, and I got to sleep.  

I woke up the next day and actually felt fine, except the “fire in the hole” situation (OK, stop gagging, you know it’s funny.) I didn’t feel any “ill effects” from the race, though I felt a lot of questions as to whether I’m “made for this.” I knew that our course wasn’t as hard (by a longshot) as it sounded like the Wildflower Course was. I also knew that our rented bikes (with the 1:1 granny gear) were a LOT easier than my new bike – and I used that granny gear a LOT. I emailed back and forth with Missy, Maria MDot, and Mentor Margaret some, trying to get some perspective. My mind kept coming back first to “bad stuff” (especially given my still very sore state of affairs), then it would swing back to “holy COW grrl, you just worked out for 8 straight HOURS, shut UP!”

I had Tweeted/Facebooked that we’d finished it the day before, and ok, so, I totally basked in my Teammates’ “wa-hoos” as I had my morning coffee. I had had fun on Saturday texting with Belinda while my Teammates were on their course, and it just felt beyond fantastic to get Facebook post after post from my friends and Teammates sending me “Atta Girls.” That’s pretty much what turned the tide for me – I was still hurting, I wasn’t sure I was “made of Iron” (Note: Donor Jason Chilton commented: “Being that Iron is element ’26′, would that make you Aluminum Woman? (Al = element 13, or half of 26)” – so I was calling myself “Aluminum Woman” the rest of the day). I decided that if my Teammates thought I was “made of Iron,” maybe I WAS. In a way, I am really glad that I will be doing Louisville, because that gives me the same sort of ability – to cheer on the bulk of the Team while they do the course in California, then (hopefully!) they will cheer me on a couple weeks later as I hit Louisville!

I started feeling fairly normal (except the inability to walk without reapplying Butt’r part), and so H and I went to Enchantment to get a super-spendy-but-trendy margarita or two. He really made me laugh at one point, and I tweeted our conversation:

You MUST drink ur RECOVERY drink!” he said sternly, handing her another margarita.’Extra salt, u must watch ur electrolytes,’ he added

We actually also found an unmanned miniature golf course, and decided to “play a round for free,” as instructed by the hand-lettered sign on cardboard, hanging above the racked clubs and balls. We also did some shopping, and I bought some Arizona “stuff” for my grandboys. (I have some great pictures of them in their IronTeam skinsuits that I got from Merla/LLS - need to post them later this week.)

We went back to the condo to enjoy the last of the light on our last evening in town – and I realized it was the first time I had actually been able to enjoy the views without thinking that “soon” I would be climbing “up there” on the bike or on the run! Yes, it was still nippy outside, but H improvised a “scirroco solution” from our bedspread!

My best grrl Leann texted me that she was “sneak gifting” me a massage the next morning (the morning we were leaving), and though I told her I would have to kill her when I saw her, I of course noted I would do that after the massage! The massage was back at the Hilton, which has a very snazzy spa with all the right ambience – whoo-whoo new age music, hot tea, cucumber water, orange slices, big plush robes, the works. Tracy, my amazing (tiny!) masseuse wound up giving me an extra 1/2 hour once she saw my bruises…see, there are plusses to clipless falls!! She was the perfect masseuse – she didn’t talk, but when I talked, she was witty and actually hilarious. (She asked about the bruises and I told her I’d fallen on the bike – she said “Oh, I was figuring it was Vortex Marks – everyone around here wants to find one but they never KNOW what it’s like to get spit out the other end of one!” She was particularly impressed with the yellow and green one on my hip that was just verging on purple.) At one point I heard my wedding ring “hit the deck,” and she commented that was a first for her and she hadn’t been near it at all, so was a little puzzled by it. She had to turn on the lights to find it. She then commented that she was giving me an extra 1/2 hour “on the house” because she didn’t have any other clients – and I mentioned that the ring had probably jumped because I had the only car and my husband was sending the “stink eye” my way for being late! I left the massage smelling like clary sage and lavender and with just a little bit of dried drool in the corner of my mouth – and big, huge, post-scalp-massage “Cosmo” hair (thank goodness for the wonderful showers and conditioner).

There is more to tell – met one of my wonderful SendOutCards distributors Kenneth Rhodes in Phoenix, and was also able to see my sponsor Dawn McDonald there at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and have some hugs (and drop off our extra groceries to her!). I had even been able to see my friend Leslie Lesher on the way out – it’s been a decade! – but my schedules didn’t mesh with my friends Jodi, Judi and Judy. Next time!

As I type this, it’s Monday, and I haven’t actually worked out since the “race” in Sedona. I meant to get out and run today, but the sprinkles of rain all day (and my still “tender condition”) kept me inside. I have to get back in the saddle again (as it were) and get back training. I don’t feel like it. I feel like I deserve a rest – that the 70.3 was a huge feat. But I have the schedule…and tomorrow, it’s just time to keep on keepin’ on.

You Know You’re Iron When:

*…your luggage to your long-awaited weeklong vacation is a bike rack/ replacer drinks/ spandex/ Butt’r/ Camelbak/ bike shoes/ run shoes/swim suit…and, like, a sundress.

*…your “360 degree vista view” is, well, there somewhere under all the bike clothes hanging on the patio door.

*…putting the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door does not mean that you’re sleeping in, but instead that you’re sneaking out early, with all the garbage cans full of bike bottles/sports drink/oranges and bananas.

*…you “butt’r up” to go walk to lunch for days after your 70.3 endeavor and carry a “spare” in your purse for “touchups”

* (this one courtesy of ZenTriathlon from twitter) …you wear arm warmers into the grocery store. Cuz I’m a triathlete and go hardcore when shopping for kale.

…and finally…

*…you just Keep On Keepin’ On…

Just a quickie update – but Angelina has NOW hit the road! No photos – I wasn’t sure I wanted it memorialized!

H and I took Vlad and Angelina out yesterday. We actually put Angelina’s clipless pedals on Vlad (my  friction-downtube-shift-pedal basket bike I have ridden up to now), because I was decompensating about having to learn BOTH the click-shifting AND the clipless pedals. We went to a flat road in San Anselmo, and trade back and forth. H actually got the exact same shoes (and clipless pedals) that I got on Angelina to put on Vlad when he swaps over to Vlad as his bike – so this was pretty easy.

Of course, Angelina was a little miffed when I put the pedal baskets on her, but I explained that it was just for a little while…

I got used to the click-shifting pretty easily. Everyone told me this wouldn’t be a problem, and they were right. I also really like the idea you can brake and shift at the same time – what a novelty. Angelina’s gearing isn’t as “low” as Vlad’s though, which has me a  little worried. I got her into her “easiest” gear, and it’s still about 4 “gears” higher than Vlad’s lowest. OK, so I’m a sissy and I love my granny gear. She is DEFINITELY faster on the flat. It’s also odd – I can feel (even in the baskets) how my power pushing the pedal transfers almost immediately into forward motion. I didn’t really understand the whole “bike geometry/material/etc.” thing until I switched back and forth between her and Vlad. H actually noticed it even before I did. He really enjoyed riding Angelina – I wonder if he’s going to just get himself a new bike!

I got the hang of the clipless pedals fairly well, though I made H switch with me when we were on Sir Francis Drake (so that I didn’t have to do a lot of stopping and starting with them). I think it’s going to be okay. H said that I did well enough that he’s going to keep the clipless pedals on Vlad and just put the new ones that he bought (the same ones) onto Angelina and be done with it. I think he thought I was silly to be so locked up about learning the shifting and the pedals together – but he was patient with me, and did agree it was a good idea to do it how we did it.

So, Angelina has actually been ON THE ROAD. Yay!

One new You Know You’re Iron When (courtesy of Maria M-Dot): “You know you’rean IronTeamer when you find yourself getting peer-pressured by your teammates to get cheek-swabbed for entry into the bone marrow registry.”