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.”

Ironteam at Aquatic Park - I'm in the middle/back, green cap

What a weekend. Seriously.

We had had guests on Friday for dinner and then a friend spend the night, but I was careful not to even suggest champagne, wine, cocktails, etc. because I knew that this would definitely not help with the long weekend ahead. I got up Saturday and prepared my stuff for the day, was able to have a little chat with Sallie (our houseguest), and then off to The Races.

I took the wagon instead of the van because we didn’t need the bikes on Saturday – backing it slowly down our wretchedly steep driveway. The windows were foggy, but I have to roll them down anyway to get a clear path. Once I hit the court, I turned on the windshield wipers to “clear the fog” – and SKRITCH SKRITCH – it was all ice! It wasn’t until then I looked at the temperature – 37 degrees! Yikes! I got out a credit card, hopped out and cleaned off the ice, then had to wait for the defroster to “catch up.” I texted Mel I would be a little late – little did I know she was facing the same un-planned-for windshield/ice dilemma, so we wound up arriving at our rendezvous right at the same time.

We got to Aquatic Park, and down to the beach. Aquatic Park is a bay between two cement “arms” that reach out into the S.F. Bay, so it’s not really that choppy in there. We were to do 4 times around the buoys side to side (1/3 of a mile each), getting out of the water between each “pass” to do whatever Head Coach Dave told us to do.

starting swim - that's me swimming to the right/front of the kayak

As usual, folks hung back when it was time to get in. I waited for a bit, but then just headed off to the water. I think it’s the Marines thing – when someone says “Do It, Get In,” I….do it and get in! This has happened the other 2 times at the lake, too. I turn around and the group is still on the beach! I started stroking for the right-side buoy, and the water was DEFINITELY warmer than the last time in Lake Del Valle, by at least 5-6 degrees. Also, of course, very salty, so more buoyant.

The first time around I headed into the beach, and we had to do 20 pushups, then back into the

wheelbarrowing with Susie on the beach

water. Back around the buoys again, and then back out. This time – “wheelbarrows” – Susie and I were matched up and gave it a valiant effort. Back in the water – and I realized that all the “goggles on, goggles off” had gotten my caps loose (a bright “race type” cap over my silicon regular cap). This is a bad thing – unfortunately, once I get water on my hair, my cap just doesn’t stay on, it pops off. I wrestled with it a bit, and got it to stay.

My third time around was WONDERFUL. I could feel myself gliding, pulling on the water, etc. I felt GREAT! I also felt totally at peace, and could notice my surroundings. On the way out, you could see the Golden Gate Bridge – on the way back, you could see the city, the big Ghirardelli Square sign, and the rest. The day was beyond gorgeous, and WOW I felt great! I was sort of hoping that the 3rd time around was

crabwalking

our last (for a mile total) – but as I came in for the next calesthenics round, Coach Doug said nope – one more. (Coach Doug stood out in the water so that we could sight on him, which was a blessing. The sun was coming up and so it was incredibly hard to see the shore. You could see his outline though, and knew where to head.) This round of calesthenics was crab walks to a line, and “sumo walks” back.

I was really wrestling with my caps by this time, and wound up treading water for some time trying to get them on. It didn’t help that I really couldn’t feel my hands. (Hey, the water was NOT as cold as Del Valle but it was NOT warm, either!) Once I got to Coach Tony’s kayak I finally gave up on having two, and handed him the silicone one to return to me at the end – figuring I had better keep the colorful one so that folks could see me.

It was DEFINITELY colder with just the thin, race-type cap on. It was also still slipping off, and my hands by this time were claws from the chilly water (and of course the fact my wetsuit has no arms). I was very frustrated, so finally at the final buoy just took it off and decided I would tuck it into my wetsuit and just swim in.

Oh. My. God. Without anything on my head, it was like needles shooting into my skull. I don’t think I have actually ever swum without a cap – certainly not in chilly water. The front of my hair also flopped down in front of my goggles, and I was so cold, I started to panic a little. I couldn’t figure out how to get in without putting my “head” into the water. My face was already numb, but the cold on the top of my head honestly made me feel like someone was piercing it. At one point I also managed to mis-time my breathing and took in a huge gulp of super salty bay water. Uuuuuugh.

I made it up to the shore – and was one of the last there! Coach Helen instructed me on how to get the “bay sludge” off my face (I never saw it – I don’t even WANT to know.) I was a little depressed at how many people were already out of their wetsuits until I started talking to a few folks, and realized that a good chunk had only done 3 times around. As we got out of our wetsuits and tried to towel off, the cold definitely kicked in. Mel and I headed up to the station wagon, and I was DEFINITELY happy I had it rather than the van – it has bueno heated seats! We hopped in and drove directly to Sports Basement, where the run was to begin. I sat in those heated seats until every single person was ready to go, not a moment before!

I had thought I would try out the trisuit bottoms, and had planned to run in them as well, but it was just too cold. Unfortunately, I only had a pair of baggie old nylon sweats – and nothing else! So off I went “Commando” in the sweats, hoping that they wouldn’t chafe. Maria (“M-Dot”) and I did the course together, run/walking.

This way, IronTeam!

The run was a 5 mile loop through the Presidio, up from Sports Basement and back. It started off up hill and up Lovers Lane to Pacific, down to the Presidio golf course and along Mountain Lake, up a hill at Battery Cauffield and back downhill. Maria and I missed a couple turns, but each time we thought we were lost, Head Coach Dave would miraculously be there and we would run with him for a bit. We got in a little short of an hour, dropped off our water bottles in our

stretch break!

cars, picked up Mentor Margaret, and then just did a 20 minute out/20 minute back along the water, as we were supposed to do what we could for an hour 40.

Afterwards, we went back up the path to a flat area where we Stretched, then down to the beach to do Strength with Coach Doug. We did different lunges, then a special little number where

starting a lunge set

you started in plank, crawled your feet up to your hands (remember, we’re on sand), then crawled your hands back out to plank, and so one. Then some more planks, side planks, and the like. At the end, Coach Doug mentioned that we should all go and stand in the bay for 5 minutes (the ice bath idea) – but knowing I was in baggie nylon sweats “Commando” I was very glad when he didn’t make us do it.

Off to the Sports Basement again, where we had an Iron University. They mainly talked about the “1/2 way to Iron Wildflower Weekend” that the team is doing next week. Only Carol and I are not going. Not sure what Carol’s up to, but H and I are in Sedona (where we will stage our own). We also were

crawling planks - I'm in the red to the right

given pen and paper, and wrote letters to ourselves, to open on race day. We had to give them back to Head Coach Dave, so I guess he will pass them back out close to that day. In my note to myself, I talked about some of the training we had done, but in my mind I was facing the Fear of the next day – the Marin Metric Century bike route. I figured I better not say anything about it in the note, because I wasn’t sure how that was going to turn out!

I got up on Sunday very early (ESPECIALLY as we had set the clocks forward Saturday night). Paula and I had decided to start an hour before even the “early riders” on the bike route. I felt actually sick with the Fear of doing it. The night before, I had gone to my friend Chris’s 60th birthday in Petaluma, so I had driven out the way we were going to ride. It made me even more upset about the whole thing. Not only would I be adding over 20 miles to my longest ride ever in my LIFE, but it would be a hilly ride. The only hilly rides I have done have been with the team – and 1/2 as long. My stomach was really upset about not ONLY going nearly twice as far as I ever had, but ALSO facing West Marin. In fact, H said to me the night before, “Maybe you shouldn’t do it.” But I knew I couldn’t let Paula down.

My tweet that morning at 6:00 was:
“Today-Marin Metric Century.This will be the longest bike (by 20 miles) & steepest overall ever. First day all year Ive really felt sick w/fear.”

I received a post from Belinda almost immediately that quoted one of my all-time favorites, Eleanor Roosevelt:
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

I also received a quickie from some other friends, giving me some Atta Girls, which really helped! (One, from a business/networking friend Mark Machado, said: “Once you’re sweating, sucking wind with your legs screaming, you won’t even think about it. You go girl! Yeehaw!” I laughingly sent back “you forgot ‘puking’…”)

Right before I left, I opened up my “Daily OM” Horoscope as it popped into my inbox, because the Subject line for that day was “Unshakable Confidence.” It’s a little long, but so appropriate I thought I should insert it:

 You may feel insecure and unsure of yourself today. Your self-confidence may be ebbing, compelling you to struggle to fill the space it has left behind. You may feel driven to seek solace and assurance of your worth in material goods or unhealthy behaviors. Consider, however, that the comfort you might glean from shopping, eating, or risk-taking will likely be temporary. You can find greater consolation and simultaneously rebuild your confidence levels by reflecting upon your strength, accomplishments, and many positive attributes. In your past, you may find proof that you are a capable and good-hearted individual of many talents. Your insecurities and self-doubt will likely vanish today when confronted by your copious and mindful inner power. 

Confidence that comes from within is lasting and can give you the strength to courageously face challenges in your life. Though we may attain temporary feelings of self assurance from outside sources, the potency we feel will dissipate quickly as we move through life. Building up your confidence levels gradually allows you to retain the self-esteem and self respect you gain and use it to build a foundation from which to approach your worldly endeavors. No individual or situation will have the power to interfere with your inner belief and poise as it was crafted from your own thoughts and feelings. You’ll move unshakably through good times and bad with your head held high. When you draw confidence from the depths of your soul today, the strength you find will never fade.

(Good one, huh?)  The weather was supposed to be in the 60s and verging towards 70, and when I stepped out on our porch to leave around 6:30 a.m., it actually felt quite pleasant. So clever clogs here just went out in bike shorts, no tights. Thankfully I had 2 bike shirts (one longsleeved) and my Flames bike jersey. My GPS misguided me into a subdivision (!!) but I called Paula and she got me to the right parking lot. We were both surprised, as it was over near Kaiser/San Rafael (behind the Safeway at Las Gallinas/Freitas Parkway), so up and over a big hill to Lucas Valley Road, where we thought we were starting. We considered moving & starting our ride over at the park on Lucas Valley but we knew if we did that, we would not meet up with the rest of the team at the end.

After a lot of laughing, stocking up our shirt backpockets and Bento Boxes, rechecking directions, and a pitstop at the Safeway, we were off at 7:23 a.m.

Here is the map of the route that we took, though this shows it starting on Lucas Valley Road. We actually were on the other side of Las Gallinas (so tack on a few more miles to the front and back). And here is a description of it (note that they say it’s a “3″ in difficulty then they have a huge all-caps section saying this is NOT FOR BEGINNERS…)

Paula and I were able to pretty companionably ride side by side for the first miles along Lucas Valley Road, as it has a wide bike lane. That was fun – she teased me a bit for having my “tunes” playing out the back of my Camelbak, but I knew that for this ride, they were essential! Just as she started to tease me, some county songs came on, and turns out that she thought she was the only one in the area that listened to country. So we sang along to “Heads Carolina, Tails California” as we pedaled along, cursing the cold and settling in for the day.

The first climb is up to Big Rock. When I used to work out at Skywalker Ranch and would drive this route in my old beater Escort, the sharp turn up to the right (before the Rock) was one that I was never quite sure I would make. (My car actually almost did NOT make it up Wilson Hill once – which was also on the route we were taking!) We gutted it out, and as the Rock came into view, I knew we would both make it. We were ECSTATIC. Lots of high-fives, and I tweeted that we had made our first climb (8:16 a.m.). I figured that I would need a record of accomplishments for the blog, and as long as I had cell reception, I would give people a little head’s up as to where we were. We fueled up, and then down the long descent to Nicasio.

We discovered that while Paula was a hill climb demon (she didn’t walk her bike once the whole time – Hill Goddess!), I pulled away on the flats and downhills. I think it has something to do with my 30-year-old steel bike weighing 30 pounds more than her gorgeous fancy tribike! We rode through the beautiful (chilly!) redwood trees and hills and dales of that area. I always used to love that road when I was working at Skywalker Ranch.

I waited for her at the stopsign where you turn right to head to Nicasio, and then we headed into town for a potty stop and another regroup. We were feeling REALLY good (8:41 a.m.). We figured that about that time, the “slower” or “early” group would be getting going on the route (they were to begin at 8:30, the “faster” riders at 9:30). We agreed to regroup again at the stopsign where we would turn right to head up the Point Reyes/Petaluma Road to Petaluma, and off we went.

When we passed Nicasio Lake, the entire lake and part of the road was obscured with a “freezing fog.” Oh my lord it was cold. My legs were a bright, lobster red, and I couldn’t even feel my hands. When I waited at the stopsign before the right turn to Petaluma I tried to take a pull from my Camelbak – and the brew in the siptubing was crunchy with ICE and SUPER COLD! Paula rolled up and went to take a bite from the Powerbar in the front of her Bento Box, and it was so frozen she couldn’t get her teeth into it! We discussed the next hill, which would take us up and over to the French Cheese Factory, and off we went.

I had mis-remembered the hill – I told her it was gut-wrenching (I was remembering Red Hill/McEvoy Ranch Road). So when we got to the top, we both sort of went “Huhn?” We were feeling rather pleased with ourselves that we’d been prepared to ‘gut it out’ and then – surprise! – we were at the top. We headed down again through the trees, and then into the farming grasslands of West Marin, with the wood fences, mustard in flower, and the like. I was hoping we could have a “pitstop” at the French Cheese Factory but it wasn’t open yet, so once we turned onto Hicks Road, well, it was “time” and that’s all I can say. (I am going to be very happy to get this surgery done after the race. It better solve this problem.) We GU’d up at Hicks, because it was a few miles until we would hit Wilson Hill and I wanted to be sure we had some extra energy in our systems. Paula (who is from Atlanta) remarked that she “now knew” why people really loved the area. She hadn’t been out to West Marin/Petaluma and marvelled at how gorgeous it was. I mentioned that when H and I were first together, we had a little bit of a “Green Acres” relationship – with me in the Eddie Albert role in my farm in Petaluma, and H in the ‘burbs! I also commented that once we hit Western Avenue, we’d only be about 3 miles from my farm (which I now rent out), so the whole ride made me feel a little “homesick.”

Yeah, ok, so we hit Wilson Hill. H and I used to park at the bottom of it, and curse our way up it to Petaluma when we were training for the big hills of the Big Sur Marathon. Said hill is also the one that my old car nearly didn’t make it up one morning. Not my favorite. I started up the hill in my granniest of granny gears (1:1) and got to one steep spot, which I was able to gut through – then it was a little “flatter” (all relative) but I hit another and just couldn’t keep going. I got off and pushed the bike up 2/3 of the hill, but Paula did it all! She was dancing at the top when I pushed up to her, and we were both ecstatic over her “taking that mother” (9:52 a.m.)

A group of 3 cyclists came up the hill as if it was butter (show offs (laugh)) and after that we started off, but in getting out of my “granny gear” to a gear to go downhill, I managed to throw my chain off the back gears. It

from losing my chain

took me a while to get it back on, because it had jammed down against the frame. I realized of course a bit later that I had left my gloves on to fix it – which I was then wiping my face with. PRETTY…

Next was an up-and-down stretch through Chileno Valley that ultimately led to Western Avenue in Petaluma. We turned where we were supposed to off Western, but I had the directions folded with a crease I didn’t see (think like the back of a Mad Magazine, where you fold it to make a new picture), and so I said we went directly to I Street. This meant that we didn’t do the “left-right-left-right-left” onto F then G – where there was a sag stop and portapotties. Once we were out on our way on I Street, I realized I had messed us up, and so we stopped to regroup on San Antonio Road. That’s when I pulled out the directions and “un-accordioned” them and saw my mistake! Whoooops! Nate (one of the super athletes on our team) blew past us at this point. We were averaging (with our stops) about 10 MPH, and we figured he was probably averaging about 20 to meet us where he did. WOW. Time for another unscheduled road pitstop for the fearless duo (we were DEFINITELY not going to backtrack to get to the sag stop), and then back to it.

We started climbing Red Hill/McEvoy Ranch Road, and I realized “Uh-oh,” that THIS was the hill I had feared just as much as Wilson Hill and had mistakenly thought was between Nicasio Lake and the Cheese Factory. I got about 2/3 of the way up, and just couldn’t do it any more. Paula the Hill Goddess chugged on up it like a champ! We met at the top, and at that point we realized two things. First, we were now both in totally uncharted country in that we were well over the mileage we had ever ridden before. Second – we “only” (hill-wise) had the climb back to Big Rock (and Las Gallinas back to the parking lot) and we were DONE! Paula was beaming. I wished at that point I had brought a camera with me! Instead – of course! – I pushed out a tweet about her hill climbing prowess (11:34 a.m.) and away we went!

The ride down the other side back to Nicasio Lake was FANTASTIC. I said a prayer, let go of my brakes, and FLEW down the hill. The tarmac was new (shock! no potholes!), it was sunny enough that I had taken off my longsleeved shirt and gloves and put on my sunglasses, and I felt GLORIOUS. As I went flying down the hill (snot streaming up my cheek from the wind – yeah, “you know you’re Iron when…”), I got in that mood that Paula had been in, at the top. So by the time we hit Nicasio Reservoir, we were both feeling like total CHAMPS!

in the redwoods on the way back

We met with our teammate Sara’s boyfriend at the sag wagon along the road, and found out that she had had not one, but TWO, blowouts but still had gone on to do the ride. I thought I had seen her coming up the hill when I was flying past at the Cheese Factory, but wasn’t sure. Paula got her Nutter Butter “fix” and off we went. We stopped again at Nicasio for a pitstop, then off for the last “leg.” We realized at that point that we only had about 10 miles to go, and “anyone can do” 10 miles. The sag wagon with Helen in it blew past us when we were back in the redwoods, so I actually even have a photograph of myself on the ride.

My legs felt really heavy as we were pushing up and over Big Rock hill, but I saw the “3838″ ranch and realized I was NEARLY THERE (there is a curve after 3838, then the top) and really pulled down deep and there we were!!!! Paula actually rode up next to me, and asked if we should stop at the top, I said no, let’s Just Do It.

We went down the long and definitely “technical” curvy downhill, but I know that road and knew where to brake and slow down. When we were nearly to the straightaway, BK and Jim blew on past us. As he caught up to me (scaring me actually, I had NO idea someone was coming up), BK remarked, “HEY, do you have TUNES going?” And I laughed as I nodded my head. He laughed and blew on by – Jim following a couple minutes later.

The straightaway on Lucas Valley (past Mt McKinley Road etc.) just seemed interminable. It was time to get my chacha OFF that bike! I stopped a bit to wait for Paula, then we were up and over Las Gallinas (where she passed me). We got to the big stoplight at Safeway, and knew we were NEARLY THERE! We crossed the road and were between the bus stop and the turn onto Nova Albion (where the cars were) and KA-BLAM! my front tire blew out QUITE spectacularly! I looked down, and I could see the shredded tube, and the tire was actually blown off the wheel. I of course wasn’t going that fast, so I could stop immediately. Paula was about 1/2

me with my fearless steed, Vlad, on my shoulder

block ahead of me, but with the BLAM! she immediately stopped, looked back, and then burst out laughing. What a way to end the day!

I put the bike on my shoulder (there was just no way to push it) and we walked the rest of the way into the parking lot. (Apparently Nate had had a blow out at the same place, which is a little suspicious.) Belinda and Helen burst out laughing as we came around the corner, me with the bike on my shoulder, and chain grease running down my leg from the dropped chain. SO SEXY! Paula and I high-5ed each other that we had MADE IT BACK! We were super glad that we had gone out alone and had made our own pace. We were out for exactly 6 hours, but riding for 5 – so we did about an hour of

high-5ing and laughing with Paula

stopping, regrouping, etc. along the way. After kibbutzing with some of the Team as they were coming back from their ride, it was time to head back home.

I actually realized after I had turned onto the Central San Rafael turnoff that I had forgotten to get the Recoverade from the back and fill up the bottle – so I had a “you know you’re Iron when” moment. I pulled over to the side (only about 10 minutes from home), got it out of the trunk, and mixed it up on the side of the road, to be within the “45 minute window”! It actually made me laugh enough to – you guessed it! – tweet about it.

Once home I took a shower and then the afore-blogged ice bath. I had some G.I. distress and need to figure out (probably during the 1/2 Iron in Sedona) if it’s caused by the Accellerade (I had taken in about 1,000 calories’ worth plus 3 or so GU during the ride), or the Recoverade, or…? Nothing like seeing that flourescent green liquid that you put in one end flow out the other…(OK, I know, TMI, I take it back (laugh))

BFF Maria came over to keep me company before she headed off to Aspen. It was so great to see her. I regaled her with the stories of the day, and she reminded me that 99.9% of the people in the U.S. would never even DREAM of doing what we had done. I was a little bummed to have had to walk in two spots, but she said that even with that, this was an enormous accomplishment. When I had been standing (bummed) at the top of Red Hill/McEvoy Ranch Road with Paula, she had reminded me that there is NO WAY that anyone could imagine in either running or swimming that an athlete could BOTH increase their distance by 75% PLUS do mother hills – that it would be incomprehensible. So the fact that we had done BOTH – even though I’d walked some of it – had to be looked at from that standpoint. In other words, let’s assume that the longest I had ever run was 10 miles on the flat, and then I was asked in a coach’s workout to do 18 miles on hills. What would happen? Well, of course, I would have to walk a good portion of it. That made me feel better, and put it a bit in perspective.

I’m really glad I’m not doing the Wildflower this coming weekend with the team, I have to admit. I need a “1/2 Iron” experience that will make me feel great, not knock the stuffing out of me (the Wildflower course is known to be a killer).  I am SO grateful that Paula and I did this ride together, and I know that we each gained some confidence from it.

Now to just keep the nightmare of having that blown tire on one of those super fast downhills out of my head, and I will be A-Okay! (Mel says she hears the Jaws theme when she approaches the salt water – I definitely am going to hear that ka-BLAM! for a long, long time ringing in mine!)

YOU KNOW YOU’RE IRON WHEN…
…when you gotta go, you gotta go, bush or not (courtesy of Tiffany)
…the snot flying up your face as you fly down a hill on your bike is an exhilarating feeling
…you got chain grease “there”…again!
…you pull off the highway to quickly mix a recovery drink, afraid you will miss your “45 minute window”
…ice baths are a good thing
…you use the salt water during your Bay swim to account for part of your electrolyte intake for the day (courtesy of Maria M-Dot)
…you get not one but TWO flats at the beginning of a long bike ride – and wind up doing it anyway! (for Sara)
…your new song becomes “Ironwoman hear me Rrrrowrrr” (courtesy of Frank A in response to my tweet: “Blew a tire so spectacularly I thot I had been shot – only 2 streets fm the end! Had to carry the bike in. Rrrrowrrr”)
…you CARRY the bike to the finish (courtesy of Jeff V.)
…the portapotty at Mile 45 looks better than your shopping spree at Tiffany’s (courtesy of Paula The Hill Goddess) which reminded ME of:
…your bike partner the Hill Goddess breaks out in full tilt James Brown “I FEEL GOOD!” in the crystal silence of Nicasio Reservoir after wolfing down Nutter Butters, and it just feels so RIGHT…

It’s Monday, and I am sitting down to blog about the lollapaloozah training weekend . . . but I thought I’d first blog about taking ice baths.

These really do work. I remember when I was in the Marines and when I first started having the knee issues, they would shuttle me over to the infirmary, and make me stand in a barrel full of ice (up to my waist, in my sexy green nylon shorts) until basically I couldn’t FEEL my knees any more. As I understand it, the ice slows down the possibility of inflammation, but more importantly, when you are “thawing” the new blood pushes all the old, lactic-acid-filled blood out of your muscles, making a clean sweep of the debris in there from working out. I had originally used hot espom-salt baths because my father (a doctor) said that they do a similar thing – but I respectfully believe that ice baths are the way to go now.

On Sunday after the bike, not having my Marines constitution 20 years later, I decided to take a “sissy icebath.” I figured that this would do the trick without giving me a heart attack plunging into the ice bath all at once. It absolutely worked – today (Monday) I have NO lingering effects from the weekend, which is astonishing.

So this is a sissy’s icebath recipe:

Take a shower, scraping off the grease, dirt, etc. from your athletic endeavor first (it’s just too disgusting to be sitting in that during your ice bath!). Then, put on a really warm hat (I have a knit wool one from Peru with ear flaps and tassels – yeah I know you want a picture, sorry, that’s Proprietary and Confidential) and a really warm sweatshirt. Get a nice big warm drink – I use miso soup in a Thermos – but tea, anything like that is a good idea.

Put the ice next to the tub (a couple bags), and SIT IN THE TUB. Now, start filling it with cold water, and start a timer. As the water comes up your legs, it will be cold, but not a shock. Move around, lifting up your “cheeks” and such so that the cold water is swirling around. Yes, it’s cold, but not AS cold and shocking as plunging into the ice straight off. Drink your warm drink, and remember what a great athlete you are! Whoot Whoot!

Once the water is up around your calves and hamstrings, start adding the ice. Again, it will be cold, but not AS cold, since you’re acclimatizing.

Ultimately, the water/ice will come up to your waist, and your legs will be submerged. Now, hang out for 1/2 hour total (on the timer you set when you sat down). I know that usually they say to take an ice bath for like 10-15 minutes, but you’ve been sitting there slowly letting the water fill up – so I figure that it’s better to hang out a little longer. You want to be sure you have pulled the sweatshirt up, so that the back of it doesn’t wind up in the water. If you roll it a bit and even gather the front towards the back, you can make a pillow to lean back on.

Once your 1/2 hour is up, start draining the water and BE CAREFUL – remember, you have just done some huge athletic endeavor! Because I’m never quite sure whether I trust my legs or not, I generally let the water drain away pretty significantly, curl in my legs, then get up on both feet using my hands to push myself up. Get out, dry yourself off, and into some nice sweats.

The thing you will start to feel is the blood”whooshing back” into your legs as your legs warm back up. I like to visualize all the debris that is being washed away, and all the new, fresh blood flowing in. You do now want to take it fairly easy – meaning, if it’s possible, to put your legs up (I generally lie on the couch with my legs up and over the back), and drink a LOT of water, herbal tea, etc. to hydrate.

So, that’s the sissy’s icebath. It works like a CHARM, and I’m sure it breaks all sorts of macho rules. But better a sissy’s icebath than none at all! In fact, I think if you didn’t HAVE the ice, even using just the coldest water from the tap would do some good, sitting in it. Seriously.

Yeah NOW we’re talkin’…I found this picture and I’m quite sure that we could have a nice feast in our neighborhood, if it just wasn’t verboten to take the lives of the flock of turkey-shaped alarm clocks that are now living in our trees. Oy! They got us up at 5:00 this morning…H is going to see whether he can get a pellet gun or “something” and make them just go away. Sleep deprivation and lots and LOTS of nasty turkey droppings don’t make for happy days.

I’ve gotten the workouts in this week, though in slightly different order as our pool was down during “pool day.” We have a pool day today, but I have a required meeting from 7:00-11:00 for BNI (networking group), then need to go visit a friend who has cancer, then come home and do some workout and see if there is any work in email, then we’re having some friends over for dinner and another friend is staying overnight. I think I’m going to run instead of swim - not really the same, but (as Coach Simon says), SO easy to fit into little “pieces” of time. Saturday we are swimming in the S.F. Bay and running, Sunday is a bike ride on the Marin Metric Century course. That has me scared stiff, frankly. It’s 60 miles, with 3 serious hills (best I have ever done is 45 – on the flat).

Every little scrap of time I am out marketing, networking, trying to find work or at least someone who will pay me to do something. It’s so frustrating I can’t believe it. I have to look friendly and smile and be nice and people just don’t have the $ to hire me to do anything. So more and more marketing and networking (spending $ for “networking lunches” and the like) – more and more time taken, less and less time available. I got my taxes done – I made -$17,000 last year. Yes, that was “negative.” Bills are due, credit cards are maxed, no one is buying. Gee, maybe it’s not just the turkeys that have me up at 0-dark-00…

Angelina

Longest swim this week was 2850 yards – also got on Angelina (new bike/Valentine’s present from H) on the trainer. I now have the clipless pedals on her, though I haven’t been out on the street yet. I still find the thought daunting with the click-shifters and pedals, etc. Maybe some time next week.

Yesterday we were to bike and then run (brick) – I actually did them separately (since I usually do all my workouts as bricks, I don’t think that the fact I didn’t “do it as a brick” makes that much difference). I ran down to a one-on-one meeting in San Rafael, and ran back. I have stopped apologizing for showing up to meetings with a baseball hat on, in sweats. And, folks have stopped asking.

YOU KNOW YOU’RE IRON WHEN:

… you’ve stopped apologizing for showing up to meetings in jog clothes after running there…and people have stopped asking.
…an allen wrench falls out of your pocket at a restaurant. (Jen Jay)
…you stumble across catalogs like De Soto Triathlon and it becomes your new porn. Move over miracle bras and cute undies… it’s all about wetsuits and tri shorts! (Maria “M-Dot” Afan)
…you put your bike in your trunk and it doubles the value of your car. (Coach Helen)

Field of Wild Mustard In Napa

At Saturday’s workout, Swim Coach Sedonia mentioned that Mentor Margaret was going to help “run her in” at the Napa Valley Marathon and I asked if she’d like more company. She said that would be Great, so off I went Sunday morning at about 8:00 a.m. We were supposed to “be on our feet” for an hour and 45 minutes per the workout schedule, and so I figured this would qualify!

I got to Napa around 9:00, and was able to get a great parking spot right near the end of the race. I called Margaret (who was waiting at mile 13, 1/2 way), and she said she hadn’t seen Sedonia yet, but was sure she would be “along any time.” I told her my plan, and started off walking the course backwards. It was a GORGEOUS day. Really the perfect day for a race – a tiny breeze, not too warm, sunny, mustard fields vibrant…wow! As I mentioned, I walked the race “backwards” – through neighborhoods first, then a long straightaway, then basically out to the Silverado Trail. The road was closed for the race. It was fun to see the neighbors coming out, and doing things like stapling signs up to telephone poles to cheer on the runners that would be coming through past their houses in a few hours.

While I was on the straightaway (before turning onto Silverado), the first hand-bike racer passed me. It was a little odd because no one else was out. I of course stopped and clapped and cheered him on. Same for the second one – who was far enough behind that I was on the Silverado Trail by that time. After he passed, I could see in the distance (but not SO far in the distance) the headlights of what I took to be the chase car for the first Marathoner. He passed me at just shy of 9:30 a.m., moving like lightening. Very impressive. Again I was out there alone, clapping and cheering. I felt like that old Olympics ad, where the farmers stop in the fields to clap on the guy running with the Olympic Torch. (The winner won the race in 2-1/2 hours. Holy Cats.)

I knew that Run Coach Simon would be running with a gal who wanted to make the time for Boston – but I wasn’t prepared to see him so early. He actually shouted out MY name as they ran past in a small group. They were running VERY strong – really amazing stuff. I found out later that the gal he was running with finished in 3:10 – her FIRST marathon – which qualified her for Boston!

Dakota at Mile 15

I also found out my friend Lisa’s son Dakota ran the race (his first marathon) and finished in 3:34 – 2nd in his Division! Fabulous.

I kept walking up the road, which was very peaceful and gorgeous. I saw a number of Team In Training folks – apparently this is a race for the Monterey area TNT. Every time I would see a TNT shirt, I would shout “GO TNT!” Some of them had written their names in white on the front of their shirts above the TNT logo, so I was able to shout their actual names. That got a lot of smiles. Again, I was the only person out there, and once I would start cheering I would of course have to cheer the entire “knot” of runners through! That was my job – walk, cheer, walk, cheer…

I had a little bit of trepidation that I would not be able to keep UP with Sedonia, as I watched the runners blast past me. I didn’t want to have walked all the way out (no cross streets!) and then not be able to help…those were some of the thoughts going through my head.

After about a 5 mile walk (at mile marker 21), I came to a hill that the runners were coming down, and slowed down a bit, because I wasn’t certain I wanted to go up that hill, then come back down again. I was saved the decision because at that moment I saw Sedonia and Margaret!

Sedonia ran SUPER strong. Her goal was to finish in under 5 hours – and she SMOKED that (finishing in 4:32)…with a minimum of “stink eye” or “grumpy phase.” My job was to keep her honest in her walk breaks – I would ask where we were “walking to,” she would let me know, then when we got there, I would start running again. Not that she needed to be kept honest…but it made me feel helpful.

The aid stations were pretty far apart at the end – every 2 miles – though some of them were interesting…Mile 23 had the string section from Napa High, and they were passing out cold sorbet with the Gatorade and water!

Once we got to the neighborhood part (about 1/4 of a mile from the end), Margaret and I peeled off and Sedonia took off for the finish line. I felt a little guilty, because there were a LOT of folks cheering in that final mile, and they were cheering Margaret and me just as much as they were Sedonia! I said to Margaret, “We gotta get off this path!” because I felt so guilty! It reminded me though how amazing it is to have all that energy pouring out at you. Wow!

Since Sedonia had finished 1/2 hour sooner than she thought (whoot! whoot!), I was actually able to hop in the car and high-tail it back home, to get a quick shower before heading out to the theatre with H, Mom and Dad. As I got in the car, I could feel that I was having an issue with an area right on the front of my left hip. I gotta figure out how to manage this, because it seems to get worse every time I run – and it definitely was NOT happy after an hour sitting in the car after the run.

After the theatre, H and I had a couple hours and so we got some snacks at a Persian restaurant on Center Street, then we met our neighbors Jan and Tom at Hotel Mack in Pt. Richmond. The restaurant was having an “Oscars Celebration” (1/2 off champagne, and lobster/prime rib dinners).  H and I were “bad” – martinis, champagne, dessert, the works. WOW I felt ill this morning! That’s the only problem with our “clean living” kick – when you are bad, you FEEL bad!

Today is an off day, but our pool is going to be down for repairs tomorrow so I will swap out tomorrow for today.

CONGRATS SEDONIA!!!

YOU KNOW YOU’RE IRON WHEN…

Today we were back to Lake Del Valle in Livermore. I gathered up my “Lil’ Lady” Iron Mel, Moddie the Tree Frog, our 3 bikes, bike trainers, wetsuits, various paraphernalia, and off we went from the Larkspur Ferry Terminal at 6:15 a.m.

We arrived and had a “pay it forward” moment – Jim K. had gone through the Park Gates, and paid for our entry fee! We decided to “pay it forward” to the next car. It was a great way to start the day, and it really made the 3 of us remember how little acts of kindness like that can go a long way. Once we parked, we were told to set our bikes up in a circle on the trainers. We were to do an Open Water Swim for 45 minutes, then come back to spin for an hour, then run for 20 minutes, bike hills (real hills, not “trainer hills”) for 40 minutes, then run for 20 minutes.

ooooh this thang is TIGHT!

After the bikes were all set, time to get into our wetsuits.

I am so grateful for Coach Mike Kyle – he loaned me BOTH the wetsuit I am using, AND the trainer. What a guy. Jim, Moddie, BK and I “lubed up” and zipped each other up then it was time to walk down to the boat launch, have one more “safety talk” from the coaches (and a team photo), then it was time to get into the water.

Here is our IronTeam Open Water Photo – I’m in the back middle, bright green swim cap.

me pulling wetsuit away from my body to let the cold water in

As usual, I just can’t stand waiting, so I was first in. HOLY FROZEN CHACHA BATMAN, it was SO COLD! Far colder than a couple weeks ago when we had the boot camp. Mel (who was sick and therefore not swimming) shouted from the dock “JOHN [Wayne]! Suck it up! Let the water in!” She made a motion like lifting the wetsuit off my chest. I did, and it was like 100s of little knives coming in. Aaaaaaaaugh!!!!!!!

We were to swim to a small buoy off the dock, then down the lake to another buoy, and “lather, rinse, repeat” until we were in the water for a total of 45 minutes. The water was so cold, it was dizzying. Tell you what – stop reading, and go get a bucket and fill it up with ice from the fridge (don’t worry, I’ll wait.) Then add some water into it, and plunge your face in for 40 minutes or so. That’s pretty much what it was like – the wetsuit keeps your body fairly warm (though my arms and feet were cold of course), but that cold water on your face is just brutal.

I was amazed, though, that I got right to it. Last time I did Open Water it was my first time back in forever – years. I did a lot of breast stroking, back stroking, side stroking, water polo swimming…not a lot of actual “swimming” until on the way back. Then, I actually got myself to do it in sets of 24 arm repeats. This time – no problem. I was “back.” OK, it was freezing and I mean free-zing. And my goggles fogged up. But I was fine.

Paula & Me during the Safety Lecture (Tiffany in background)

I was swimming most of the time with Tiffany and Paula. Paula was cracking me up – she kept swimming up my back or on my arm. We were laughing about it (then on the final run, she actually ran right up on me and under my foot much later in the day – she just said “I can’t get enough of you today, obviously” which made me laugh.)

One of the things I concentrated on was really blowing my air out into the water – because it would warm my face!

Once I got to the first buoy and turned around it, I could hear a song in my head. It was quiet at first, and I let it build. Then I realized what it was – “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”! I had to smile to myself – it brought me back 20 years, to my very first triathlons. I had been a member of the Hash House Harriers, and this is a song that we would sing and that I adopted as a “spiritual work song” while “working” in the open water. I really got into the rhythm at that point. It was magic. BK mentioned when we were talking about the swim after that it’s all about rhythm, and he was so right. Singing that song in my head just got my stroke down, and off I went.

Last time, I didn’t make it all the way down to the buoy. This time, I made it to the buoy, then back, then actually 1/2 way back again, when it was time to come in. I felt fantastic. When I got out, I was a little dizzy (Paula and I had a little “bonk” into each other when one of us “dizzied left” and one of us “dizzied right”), and I couldn’t talk because my mouth was so cold – but I was jazzed about my swim.

Mel and Me getting ready to hit the Hills

We jogged back to the cars and toweled off, got out of our wetsuits (Carolyn and I reprised our “stripping routine” from last time – though my “lotion on the legs” trick made an ENORMOUS DIFFERENCE), and then onto the trainers. I tried out one of the bars I had brought – 380 calories in one bar (!!) – and I was curious how it “sat” in my stomach (worked out fine actually). I had some of the Margarita Shot Blox, a GU, and then started pounding the Accellerade from my Camelbak.

We were on the trainers for about an hour, then we got off, changed into our running shoes, and went up the cross country path from last time, 10 minutes out, 10 minutes back. I felt really good. My 10 minute turn-around was at the little bathroom “shack” (after of course a break there – hey, it’s ME we’re talking about). Back down to the bikes, and we took them off the trainers and went out to do hill repeats.

Happily Hill Climbing! Who wudda thunk it?

I had a lot of trepidation because I was really afraid the hills would be like the ones we did last time we were there – and I was feeling tired (though still very cheerful). They were actually not so bad. I did the up and back 4 or 5 times. We were to practice actually totally letting go of our brakes on the downhill – and I practiced NOT going all the way to my easiest gear on the way up (because my new bike doesn’t HAVE that gear). I was in the “granny gear” in front, and then the middle gear in the back. I felt really strong and positive. I am still not able to stand up going up hill because of my knees, but who knows if the new bike geometry will change that.

Rocky and Chris on the hills

One thing that was really great was Chris rode up behind me and he’s always so encouraging. I really like seeing him on the path because he always has a good word for me. He asked how I was doing as he was passing me going up the hill and I said, “Actually, I’m amazingly great!” He looked up and smiled and said, “Hey now, that’s what I like to hear!” It really made me feel good. We have a great team and I have to admit that when the “big bike stars” like BK, Chris, Mel, Mike K., Jim, Rocky, etc. say a kind word it just makes me glow inside.

(Hmmmm did I talk about the new bike yet? Maybe I will need to do a post about that later on. I’m not riding her yet, I was on Vlad today.)

Happily running in - helped by my new run angel "Uncle Chris"

We brought the bikes in from the hill repeats, and then were back onto the cross country track. Out and back again. On the way back, a little bulldog puppy (well, about a year old) named Sophie started running with me. Her “mom” had 2 goldens as well, and she was laughing and let Sophie come along. Then the rest of the team (who had run out farther and turned around) came up and we were all running with Sophie. It was really cute and it completely took your mind off your legs. BK said that we all have to remember to have a “Sophie Moment” at about mile 20 or so of the marathon portion of our races!

We got back and then had an abbreviated Iron University. They mainly talked about the Wildflower 1/2 Iron that they are going to do when H and I are in Sedona. I’m actually not all that sad not to be doing it. It sounds like a killer course.

We drove back, having our usual goofy, innuendo-filled time. We also christened my new bike – Angelina Maserati ;-) I will write about the bike in a future post, which will ’splain where the name came from. After dropping Mel and Moddie off, it was off to get groceries and back into the swing of things. Tomorrow we are supposed to do a 1 hour 45 minute run – and I think I am going to go to Napa to run Sedonia in on her Napa Valley Marathon. I hope the timing works out – we have Berkeley Rep tomorrow and need to pick Mom up at the Ferry Terminal at 1:00 p.m., so I do have to find out when the race starts! Mentor Margaret is apparently running Sedonia in from 1/2 way, so I’m going to find out what is up from her.

YOU KNOW YOU’RE IRON WHEN…
…singing Spirituals becomes an integral part of your day (or your race strategy!)
…you become ‘one of those guys’ who walks into the gym totally in Spandex (Rocky)
…you Facebook about how much you loved the Hill Repeats (Mel)

Chris McCubbins is the uncle of my masseuse, Katharine Chaney at www.PureJoyBodywork.com. He recently died after a valiant battle against the cancer that I am racing to cure.

As a youth, Chris never got a hit in Little League baseball, he was the last person to be selected in school yard games, and he was the last player to be substituted into basketball games in the Church league. He did not make the Junior High track team. In high school, however, he went out for cross-country running, and was the fastest runner on the team. His mile time on the track was 4:41. The next year, he won his conference in cross-country running and, though he was sick for the State Championships, he ran a 4:24 mile, which placed him 3rd.

Chris attended Oklahoma State University from 1963 to 1967. In 1965, he placed 5th in the NCAA cross-country running championships. Two years later, he won the NCAA steeplechase championship, and later that summer he won the gold medal for the USA in the steeplechase at the 1967 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg. He also finished first at the Europe vs Americas Steeplechase in Montreal.

In 1969, Chris represented the USA at the world cross-country running championships in Scotland, and in 1969 and 1970, he competed in modern pentathlon for the US Army, placing 5th in the national modern pentathlon championships in 1970.

In 1975, Chris ran a 10K in 28:16 at the Montreal pre-Olympics meet. That time still stands as a Manitoba record in the 10K. In early 1976 he ran a 5K in 13:44 in Knoxville Tennessee. At the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal in the 10K race, he had not fully recovered from a groin injury, and ran a personal worst.

Chris later became a Canadian citizen, and represented Canada at a world cross country running meet in Glasgow Scotland. His last international race was at the world cross-country running championships in 1984 in New Jersey.

In 1986, Runners’ World magazine rated Chris as the #4 masters road runner in the world, and in 1987 he set a North American record for Masters in the 15K: 45:34. Chris was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

Chris spent almost his entire 27-year teaching career with early years students in Winnipeg schools. For all of his adult life, Chris was involved in outdoor fitness activities like running and cross country skiing, and was a particularly enthusiastic supporter and participant in the Winnipeg Inner City Kids’ Ski Program.

Chris McCubbins passed away on August 21, 2009 after a six month battle with leukemia.

So today at the track workout (4 x 1600 at 5K pace, with 4 minutes in between) I found my Mantra. I was listening to a fantastic 172 BPM mix called Heaven’s Gate that I got from Podrunner.com. It had a song in it and the singer was saying “Everything Is Good.” That’s close to the ubiquitous “Life Is Good” of Tshirt fame, but it worked for me.

Did the repeats at Drake High track in 13:10, 9:57, 9:40, 9:53 – I feel a LOT faster. Of course, that might be because I have lost 18 pounds since January! Whoot Whoot! Just as I was finishing and doing my final 4 minute walk (after the last mile), the track team came out. I had done the run at the perfect time – no rain (actually, there was SUN during the last 2 mile repeats!), and no one else on the track.

Iron Will came over and cleaned Vlad and also H’s bike, which was fantastic. It didn’t rain until after he was done, so we were able to clean them outside. I’m getting cabin fever with all this rain and gloom – I’m really glad I was able to even take my jacket off and get some “Vitamin D” at the track. Yay!

Had a networking meeting this morning from 7:00-8:30 a.m., which meant of course getting up at 0-dark-00 to get things done before heading out.  This Ironman training thing definitely cuts a swath in your day, and that’s a fact.

It was raining so hard when I went to leave the house, I was quite taken aback. Hadn’t heard that we were going to get such a virulent storm – but So It Seems To Go this winter. It’s been such an odd winter – hardly any sun, lots of rain, lots of very nippy days, etc. Of course who am I to complain – I look at what my old stomping grounds of the Washington D.C. Metro Area is getting and just shudder!

The rain didn’t let up at all while I was in the meeting, so a quick bolt to the car, then to the JCC. Wound up forgetting the workout on the passenger seat – luckily hadn’t gotten too far into my swimming kit and so just re-dressed and went to fetch it. To get up to the JCC, there are about 3 stories’ worth of stairs (it’s built on a hill), and so it’s quite a workout just to get to the gym to begin with. Up, down, up…

When I got out to the pool, it wasn’t raining all that hard. It was cold on deck though, so I popped in – and it was cold in the water, too! (Once I’d finished my entire workout I checked the Blackberry – H had forwarded me a note from the JCC saying they were “still having issues with the heater” – by then, a bit too late.) Ah well, once wet and a bit shivering, got to the workout for today:

300 EZ warmup. Just as I was finishing the warmup (so just about to start the kick) it started to TORRENTIALLY rain. No thunder/lightening, so they let us stay in.     
3×50 25 kick on back/25 free. It was so rainy, I felt a bit like I was drowning, face up. Had to laugh.
3×50 25 Catch Up (CU)/25 free    
3×50 25 scull/25 free    
8×200:    
#1. 50 Swim w/ strong kick, 50 L5 – I hate kicking. I did what I was told though – and it’s quite interesting how much faster I had to move my arms to keep a “feel” on the water, when I was kicking along.                   
#2. Breathing 3-5-7 L5.
#3. Build L4-L7 by 50s.              
#4. DPS L5. This is the “Decrease Per Stroke” drill where you are supposed to get one fewer set of “arm repeats” across the pool each time. So, if you take 24 strokes your first time (12 each arm), then you’re supposed to go for 22 (11 each arm) and so on. I hate this drill. There’s nothing I can do save kicking like a maniac (which I hate) to get me out of my “24 stroke/12 each arm” rhythm. I actually tried quite hard today and wound up dislocating first my right, then my left, arm (obviously doing something wrong there – no worries, not serious, just feels icky. Pops right back in and that is also how my polo career came to an end quite early…) Anyway – as this drill is just a bit of frustration for me, I practiced breathing and sighting. Sighting sideways, sighting forward, closing my eyes when my face was in the water and then looking up to see where I was when I breathed, a bit of “waterpolo stroke,” etc.                  
#5. Breathing 3-5-7 L5.
#6. Build L4-L7 by 50s.  Here was my BIG SWIMMING REALIZATION (ta-DA!). OK, you probably already had figured this out if you’re a swimmer, but I hadn’t. I’ve been listening to the coaches talk about this whole “reaching over the barrel” thing, keeping your elbow above your hand, la…la…la…I have never really been able to visualize it. I do understand where my arm is supposed to be – but what is this “barrel” thing? Today while at this part of the drill, however, I realized that when my arm is in the correct position (especially when I’m swimming slowly), it looks just like an alligator arm. PERHAPS, thought I, this is why they call this stroke the CRAWL. Yeah well maybe you don’t think it’s such a great lightbulb moment, but I thought it was brilliant. It really helps me to remember how to keep my arms and elbows. I’d never really “realized” or “seen” that in my own stroke, and once I thought about “alligator arms,” I was able to feel the water all the way where I was “losing” it – by the side of my torso. Not sure why this helped, but it was a real discovery for me. So now, when I’m thinking of arm position, I will just think: Alligator Arms. Heck I’m getting Alligator Skin with all the swimming, why not add the body, too?   
#7. Breathing 3-5-7 L5.               
#8. 50 Swim w/ strong kick, 50 L5. The sun came out for an instant here – just for the 200, then back behind clouds.
4×50 Build L5-L8.
CD 100 EZ Perfect stroke. Wow, what a difference the Alligator Arms made here. I am still covering the distance in the same amount of strokes, but I really “feel” better. I also can really feel my body turn from side to side (tik-tok) because I’m not losing my “grip” on the water for the middle 1/3 of the stroke back.
Total: 2650

Got out of the pool and though it was still cloudy, no rain – nice. Got into the showers (it’s just too nasty to do the bike with the salt from the pool on), then out to the bikes. Managed to catch up on the KelownaGurl Podcast and the IMTalk Podcast while doing the following:

Bike:
TR-3 Speed Intervals (60 minutes)                                        
WU 10′ in the MM [Middle/Middle] chainrings.
8x(3′ @ 95RPM/90″ @ 80RPM). 
use hardest gear you can to maintain RPM and Aerobic HR Zone.
CD 10′ MM

Back for another shower, then off to lunch with another IP Lawyer colleague – then grocery shopping, then back home to get some work done. What happened to the day? Oy!

You Know You’re Iron When…
…you have not one but two wetsuits hanging on the longer clothes/”dress side” of your closet, and a straight-faced, earnest explanation as to why you need both and why that’s not odd…

Sunday was the Bike Marker, after the Swim and Run Markers on Saturday. H came with me, and we met Mentor Margaret, Moddie The Tree Frog (smile), Bike Coach Les and Jennifer at Nicasio. It had been really super nice weather when we left the house (about 55 degrees), but as we wound our way over Lucas Valley Road to Nicasio, we hit a solid bank of fog and dispiritedly watched the car’s outdoor thermometer plunge to 45. Brrrrr! OK, not as “brrrr” as you Dear Readers over on the Right Coast, but brrrr for us!

We got going, heading out towards Petaluma from Nicasio, then past Nicasio Reservoir towards Sir Francis Drake Blvd. which is where we turned around. Here is a map of the ride. We do the Marker from Sir Francis Drake Blvd., back along the way we came, for 5 miles.

I think that this route is probably fairly like the Louisville Ironman route is going to be. If you click on “Elevation,” you can see that it SAYS that it’s only between -1 and 1. However, on a couple parts of this route, I’m down in my granny gear and huffing and puffing. I’m not quite sure how it can “only” be a 1 percent grade (or however it is that this is calculated), and I’m sucking in a big way. It’s frustrating to say the least. On the way out, in fact, H passed me – our Marin team is fast, and always has to wait for me to get to wherever we are going. I generally get there as they’re having a little snack, turn the bike around, and then head back the other way right off (because I get a head start, since everyone passes me on the Marker part).

I did the Marker in 19:57, which Coach Mike says is 1 MPH faster than the last time, which is good. I was riding HARD (which is what I think we are supposed to do), and my heart rate is way up in the like 190 BPM range.

We got back to Nicasio and then turned right around and did a 20 minute brick run. I like to run alone, so I just strapped on my shoes (leaving on the tights and bike shorts) and off I went. H waited in the saloon that’s there (there is no other way to call the establishment), and once we were all back, we had brunch. H and I split a glass of champagne and 1/2 dozen oysters, then had the biggest breakfast burrito I have ever seen (Moddie said, “Folks get PAID to prove they can eat that much food” – made me laugh!)

Back home, and H had me fertilize the garden, then clean up some. He was puttering around down in the new work/workout “studio.” He set up my THX stereo and my 100 CD changer from when we lived apart – it had been boxed up for like 5 years. He really went through boxes and there is a whole pile of stuff for me to catalog, photograph, and get to Goodwill. I’m afraid to see what is in there – he’s the neatnik, I’m sure the bulk of it is my stuff  that he’s just decided is “time to go.” (OK, OK, so since the “studio” was the former “garage” I admit, there are definitely boxes in there of stuff that I haven’t looked at in years. But isn’t that what garages are for?)

After I got the gardening stuff done, I sat and just looked at the hills for a while. It was nice to sit out in the sun! I finished the 2nd book in the series we are reading for our book club, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” and the 2 books that come after. FANTASTIC books. The 3rd one isn’t in the U.S. yet – I have it on order with Amazon.com. I am pretty sure that H would rather I was sorting and cleaning with him, but I decided to “take a day off.”

Today (Monday) is an OFF day! Yay! And – better yet – we weren’t woken up by the turkeys this morning . . . so it’s starting out to be a bueno week!

YOU KNOW YOU’RE IRON WHEN…
..you find a bike skewer in your purse when you’re in line at Costco, pull it out and think “Ah, so THAT’S where I put it”…
…you put Butt’r in your Britches in front of God and Country before a bike ride, thinking nothing of it…
…you go into Peet’s to get a cup of coffee before going to work, and reach for your wallet in the middle of your back instead of in your jeans…
…you fix your IKEA or Target-bought furniture pieces requiring an Allen Wrench with your bike’s multi tool…(courtesy of Jamie F.)
…your Friday night retail therapy becomes a shopping spree for the weekend training’s fuel & nutrition and you close down the store… (courtesy of Maria A (M-Dot))
…your purse has Body Glide in it, and that’s totally normal… (courtesy of Coach Helen)
…you don’t understand the dirty looks you get as you peel off remnants of a GU Chomp from dollar bills before handing them to a store clerk… (courtesy of IronWu)
…when you can pack a normal day’s worth of calories into a sports bottle… (courtesy of Iron Nick)
…you put on some chamois butter in a Port-A-Potty and 10 mins later you’re digging in your bento box with the same hand to pull out some pretzels… (courtesy of Frank A.)
…you are so proud of yourself that when you blew out your snot, it made a nice splat on the ground instead of your leg. And you and your biking buddies stop to appreciate your feat… (courtesy of Coach Helen) – yeah gross but SO TRUE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Carol and Me in the Pool

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

synchronized drowning - that's me, middle right.

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

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

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

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

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

You Know You’re Iron When…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bastards.

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

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

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

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

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

trainer stand filling up with water

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You Know You’re Iron When:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meenu with Cookies (recipe in a future post)

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

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

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

getting ready to go (ditched the balaclava later)

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

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

bucolic Livermore

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

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

windmills on the ridge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 1 info -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meeting at Gunderson High School in San Jose

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Going long for a cure, going to boot camp!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go Team, IronTeam! (I'm 2nd from left in back)

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Iron Mel and I met at the Larkspur Ferry, then drove into the city to meet the Team down at Sports Basement on the water. Our main workout “set” was to do 90 minutes of running at our VDOT paces – or at least “moving on our feet” for 90 minutes.

running with Mary

I mainly ran with Mary, which was great. She’s thinking about doing an “I will do your taxes for free if you donate to my Team In Training website” dealio – if you’re interested, email me or leave a comment and I will let you know the specifics when she does it! She and I particularly talked about starting off too fast and then running out of gas. Coach Sedonia came and ran with us for a while and asked what our “strategy” was. Well, we said we were doing a ”run until Mary walks, then walk” strategy. Coach Sedonia reminded us to “walk with purpose” when we walked. Once we’d gotten down to the Fort and were coming back, I got Mary to start doing “Galloways” – e.g., running for 5 minutes, then walking “with purpose” for 2. That’s my current “Galloway” set. We would always start off and she’d go too fast and I would say “I can’t keep that up for 5 minutes.” By the end, we were doing well. I had been talking “about” Galloway running when we were just randomly walking and running – then (duh) I thought: “We should start doing it NOW.” It was fun and I felt a lot more “structured.” At the end of the 90 minutes, I could have gone for another 30 for sure.

CRASH!!! BOOM!!!!

The waves were REALLY crashing up and around and over the path – and the sun actually came out which felt GREAT. I wish I had had my camera (these are off the TNT Ironteam website). There was a gorgeous sailing regatta going on as well, but I don’t have a picture of it.

We went into Sports Basement for a lecture on wetsuits after the run. I have never been to Sports Basement. I couldn’t talk about anything else to H last night – or this morning! Holy cats. I have never seen so much stuff in my life at such good prices. I was totally overwhelmed.  I remember reading once about a Russian woman who came to the U.S. and walked into a Safeway – after being used to her national grocery stores with goods in all-grey boxes and 1/4-full shelves – who lay down in the middle of the aisles and alternated between hyperventilating and crying. Maybe that’s a little dramatic but I’d have to say that Sports Basement is kinda like that. Hoooly Cow.

Teammate Rocky On The TRX

The best part about the wetsuit lecture was NOT watching Coach Doug skinny his way in and out of one. (Well, ok, that was part of the fun. Can you say “human condom”?) No, the best part, after watching Coach Doug take 20 or so minutes to get into the doggone thing and THEN discussing how to “warm up the water in the wetsuit that provides you with insulation” (think about it…) was Coach Simon saying from the back: “Is now the appropriate time to mention that it takes two seconds to get into your running shorts, and no on asks you to pee in them?” BEST PART.

IronTeam Can-Can

After we had our lecture, we went around back at Sports Basement and took our team photo (above) in the SUNSHINE (Helloooo Vitamin D I love you!) and watched the regatta a bit while Coach Doug set up all the TRX lines. Actually, this was the time for my second favorite line of the day. We had to bring our yoga mats around back, for the TRX portion, and Coach Sedonia was in back of my van when I got mine out. I brought all 4 – because I either arrive with four, or I arrive with none (having totally forgotten them). That way I have 3 to give out, and one to keep.  She looks at the mats, at me, back at the mats, and says “Are those all for you?” HEY, they don’t call me the Iron Tiara Princess for nuthin’ – here is my pea, for under all the yoga mats, too! (smile).

So anyway, we did some stretching exercises and some strength/core exercises. Apparently the TRX was invented by a Navy Seal who wanted something that could help do all the exercises that he wanted to do to keep in shape, but that he could pack with him. You basically can do everything using your own body weight. I could do all the exercises except the lunge/knee related ones – it was very instructive. Lizzie D has one of these and swears by it – I can see why!

me with the evil TRX

Once we were done with the TRX “torture” we went inside and had Nutrition Lecture #2 with Coach Norma. I had purchased the book “Nutrition Periodization For Endurance Athletes” by Bob Seebohar on the suggestion of a podcast (only $4.00 on half.com!), and she actually had a handout from him. This book is definitely interesting and specific. It explains to a “T” how nutrition ‘works’ during all phases of exercise – from pre-season through your season, and even post season – with of course specific breakdowns right around race time.

Home after, to find that the new dishwasher was delivered- YAY! – but it was in the middle of the kitchen, and H was nowhere to be found – BOO! I had hoped to catch a ride with IronMel up to her Concert Shindig, as there was no way I could be on the road from Napa after 10:00, but H wasn’t home in time for me to catch the MelExpress to Napa at 6:00. That made me sad. But we have a new kitchen sink, disposal, and dishwasher now – Whoot Whoot!

This morning (Sunday) was supposed to be the Bike Marker plus a training ride with the team…but it was Returns To Home Depot and then Berkeley Rep with Mom, Dad, and H Day for Moi instead. Dad had moved all 4 tickets when I did the Louie last weekend so that I could race and he could help volunteer (and of course so that H could go, since I “voluntold” him he would be there!) I hope I can go do the Marker Set myself some day this week. Missed the Swim Marker on Friday because of “Life” as well – oy! Life v. Iron!

Coming up, again, “Life gets in the way” - the Team will be doing a “simulated Open Water Swim” on Saturday, when I have the Treat’Em Right. Hopefully Sedonia does have a line on a wetsuit for me – otherwise it’s me and my surfing shortie in Aquatic Park on the 20th when we do the Open Water - brrrr! Next Sunday though, after the Treat’Em Right on Saturday, I’m taking Leann out to “sag wagon” for us in Petaluma on our long ride before taking her back to the airport - mixing Life WITH Iron! Yay!

So, this is the note that we got from Run Coach Simon about the workout that I just finished:

There IS a marker on your schedule for tomorrow.  I thought I’d send out a quick explanation because it might not completely make sense on the spreadsheet.  First, if you’re feeling sore tomorrow, feel free to postpone the workout until later in the week.  I’d prefer if you did it on fresh legs.  Second, you’re going to run 10 800’s (half a mile…you can do it on a track or a flat section of road) as fast as you can (most likely, your 800m pace associated with your VDOT score is going to be what you can handle for 10 of them, since you’ll be resting in between).  So, if your VDOT is 34, your 800m-repeat pace is 4:13 per 800.  I want you to do at least the first 6-7 800’s at 4:13.  If you’re feeling good, try to do the last 3-4 faster (as fast as you can).  If you’re not feeling great, just try to hang on to a pace as close to 4:13 as you can.

How much rest should you take in between each one?  If your current VDOT score is between 0-30, take 4 minutes rest in between 800’s.  If your VDOT score is 30-60, take 3 minutes rest in between 800’s.  Note:  this is a long speed workout…a person with a VDOT of 28 would likely take 90 minutes to complete it.  Budget your time accordingly.

 What I need from each of you afterwards is the average of your ten 800 times (and any notes regarding your experience during the workout…did you feel fatigued?  Did you work on a particular part of your form?).  So, if you did 4:21, 4:23, 4:20, 4:25, 4:26, 4:24, 4:20, 4:17, 4:12, 4:05, then your average would be 4:19…that’s the number I need.  I’ll provide individual feedback when I receive that number from you.

AND. SO. When I started in November, I had a VDOT of 25 (and I was running too fast when we did the Marker, too – I got competitive - I probably should have been closer to a 23). This would mean (we have a chart) that my 800 time would be 5:37. The chart gives you pacing for various runs  based on your VDOT score – e.g., “2 mile marker” (which is what we do to get the VDOT), 5k, 5k pace/mile, easy, long, tempo, 800s, and marathon pace. I was pretty pleased that in December, when we did our second Marker run (when I was coming off of being sick, too), I had moved up to VDOT of 27 (the chart goes to 60, if you were curious – it starts at 10). That would be an 800 pace of 5:14.

OK, well, 5:14 seemed immensely fast to me, since in the previous 800 workouts I’ve done during weekly training, the best I’d ever done an 800 in was 6:10.

So I set out to do the 10 x 800s in Tiburon. I was supposed to meet Mentor Margaret and Iron Mel at 5:00 p.m. to do it together, but I realized once I “did the math” that this would put me home quite late, which wasn’t going to work. That was a bummer – I always love seeing them, they are always so great.

I did what I was supposed to do – run as hard as I could on the 800. I looked at my watch, TOTALLY confident I HAD to be close to that 5:14 pace. I mean – I was a 27 VDOT, after all, and that was taken WEEKS ago! So I bet I was maybe even a 28!  I was winded and did not feel so great – and I hadn’t even made 5:14, my watch read 5:19.

I was glad of the 4 minutes I had to walk and regroup, figuring that I must “somehow” have not quite given it all that first time. But with each successive 800, I felt like I was working harder and harder (on the 9th I actually had an asthma attack – crapola), and my times got longer and longer and longer.

My times (with 4 mins in between) were: 5:18, 5:19, 5:30, 5:37, 5:39, 5:44, 5:51, 5:56, 5:50, 5:55. This is an average of 5:39. That’s back down to between VDOT 25 and 26. Ah well, maybe the 27 was a fluke.

 I keep getting these Rude Awakenings. I read other athletes’ blogs, and they are all happy they are learning new things, kicking cancer, training like demons, etc. All I feel is super emotionally depressed. OK LOOK, I KNOW, I haven’t exercised since 2006. Not a freakin’ LICK. It’s only been since November 7th that I have done ANYTHING to move my body. But for some reason, my mind is just not getting around this concept. I think that it’s like the authors said in “Younger Next Year” – you just kinda “think” that you are still in the shape that you were when you were at your peak…or that you are not TOO far off. (e.g., the overweight ex-college football quarterback star polishing the trophies that date back decades, but “he could totally go out there and kick butt.”)

In the Louie on Sunday, I was an HOUR longer than I thought I would be. I’m not sure why, but again, I somehow still have my PR (3:16) in my head. Oh silly grrl, that was at the Chicago Sun-Times in ~1988~ – when you’d been training for a couple years AND you were in your 20s AND the bike course was dead-ass flat. But here again, in doing these repeats, I just felt so emotionally overwhelmed with how CRAPPY I am doing. I couldn’t even make the FIRST 800 time, much less, as Simon says above, for ”the first 6 or so.” I think I had the asthma attack on the 9th because of being so emotionally overwrought with how unfit, fat, and just overall old and crapped out I am.

Yeah so OK, my blog is not all about conquering obstacles and feeling great and kicking cancer and being an instrument for change. Today, it’s just about a grrl who let herself get to be a big fat cow and feels really down about it. And So It Goes.

For those of you who were not able to see the show yesterday (or the 3 of you who actually were in the studio audience – and accordingly have made it onto my “I Will Rescue You From A Mexican Jail” list!), here is the link to our interview yesterday. PLEASE leave me a comment and let me know what you think!!!

Here is the information that interested ABC-TV and the tips that we sent to them – I hope that you enjoy these as well!

Tips To Use To Increase Your Wellbeing In A Down Economy That Don’t Cost You Money AND Help You Lose Weight:
A No-Nonsense Approach to Relationship and Health Issues

 Introduction: Work/life balance is more crucial now than ever, given how the unexpected changes on Wall Street have affected the small business on Main Street, and trickled down into our homes and in particular our bedrooms. Our mission is to help women see dramatic changes in their lives, including better health (weight loss), increased happiness (more vibrant sex life & increased energy and drive) and improved financial security (additional money flowing into their businesses, if they are entrepreneurs). Statistics show a direct correlation between the stresses of work and the detrimental effect it has on a couple’s relationship and intimacy level; we’re teaming up to provide a no-nonsense approach to solving America’s relationship and health issues. Sandy and Sheila have a seminar coming up and the VFTB audience can go to www.empower180.com to receive information. Registered VFTB viewers will receive a 2 for one bonus on Sandy and Sheila’s books at the seminar.

1)     Women and Men are Different! (Your Life Will Be Easier The Sooner You Embrace This). 

1. Talk Your Belly Off… Women need to talk, talk, talk to get their oxytocin up, which raises levels of serotonin and decreases levels of cortisol, which is the “belly fat storing” chemical. So, decrease your stress and improve your relationship by simply putting 6 grrlfriends on your speed dial. Talking has been medically proven to be chemically necessary to women.  It will decrease your stress, and increase your receptivity to your husband and availability to your kids.
2. …Just Not To Your Husband! Men need to have a short To Do list and a goal to achieve. Men have on average 3x the serotonin of women – so if you are trying to “get your serotonin up” by talking things out with your husband instead of a woman, (a) he is going to start falling asleep like you just fed him a bunch of turkey, and (b) you’re going to frustrate the heck out of him as he’s trying to figure out the 3 things you want him to “do” while you’re on number 99 and talking a mile a minute!
3. Breathe Your Way To Wellbeing. There is also a VERY quick breathing exercise that increases a stress-reducing chemical in your body (nitric oxide) – this is one of Dr Oz’s favorites in fact – it’s important to know this breathing exercise (in through the nose on a 6 count, hold, then out on a 6 count) and “how to breathe” (into the belly versus raising the shoulders).
4. Your Husband Will Love To Hear This: More Sex Is Good.  Though we try to avoid thinking about this, we are all mammals, and touching, sensuality, and sex increases things you want to increase (feelings of wellbeing, bone density) and decreases things we want to decrease (depression, blood pressure, etc.) (here is the link to this page in Fempowerment book. If this link does not work, go to Amazon.com, search on book “Fempowerment” then use “Look Inside” feature and search on “osteoporosis” – it will take you to the correct page in the book with the facts list and references.)

2)     Create An EnvironMENTALLY Friendly Zone In Your Physical Space. Organization is key to decreasing stress and having time and space for your relationships – so take the time to clean your physical space. We all have areas of our life that are cluttered. Just as we discuss how to remove your mental clutter (next 2 tips), you need to de-clutter your physical environment.  When you get organized and de-clutter, you feel lighter and rightly so…You have lost weight in your home! This will allow you to lighten your mind and become more creative with your thoughts – and more receptive to your mate.

 3)     End The Endless To Do List. Women are extremely talented at multi-tasking.  Yet, there are only 24-hours in each day.  So, the best phrase you can learn to adopt is…”Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Before you commit to the next task or project, pause and ask yourself if this is something that you can and want to do. If you instead go on a Guilt Trip, you will continue to find yourself on a never ending path of To-Dos. Another great tip is, instead of saying “Yes” – if “No” is too harsh –  get a concession. For example, “I can drop off the kids if you can pick them up tomorrow afternoon.” Exchanging will help you lead a more balanced – and happier – life. 

 4)     Dump your Head-Trash™ Sheila Stewart coined this phrase. It summarizes the little voices that pipe up in our heads at the most inopportune times.  These voices are the ones that sabotage you right when you are ready to step out and take a chance, or make a bold move.  These voices say things like, “Who do you think you are?  You’re too young.  You’re too old.  You don’t have enough money. Your friend failed, how can you succeed.”  And on, and on, and on.  We have over 30,000 negative thoughts every day.  This equates to 85% of our thoughts.  That means only 15% of our thoughts are positive.  The key is to dump the voices every day and reverse the statistic.  When the voices enter your mind, dump them out. 

 5)     Detox Your Relationships and Eliminate “Frenemies.”  Just as you detox your body to remove the excess and sludge that is causing fatigue and low energy, you must detox your relationships. Once we realize that our “Head Trash” often turns into gossip, fear, and stress in our lives, we can recognize and address the fact that our worst enemy is often “inside” of us – drawing toxic people to us. By doing a Frenemy (friends who are really enemies) Audit, we can create an environment that is filled with only clean and positive relationships. This includes friends, family, business colleagues – even clients!  When you evaluate each relationship, determine if it is helping you or hindering you.  If it is hindering you, time to detox! Wean off the toxic people slowly – but surely. The key is to become aware. We are becoming more aware of what we put in our bodies, yet we so often overlook what – and whom! – we surround our bodies with! Our challenge is to ramp it up in 2010 and create a healthy and wealthy mindset and lifestyle.

 6)     Become a Balancepreneur^TM.  There are five areas in any woman’s life, and Sheila coined this word to help women find their life balance. If she is “low” in one area, she can “borrow” from another area. For example, if she is low in money but high in her social relationships, she might find a way to turn a beloved recipe into an entrepreneurial venture! What does “balance” mean – to you?