One Week...and Bare Naked Thoughts

We shall never have more time.  We have, and always had, all the time there is.  No object is served in waiting until next week or even until tomorrow.  Keep going... Concentrate on something useful. -- Arnold Bennett

Hold it now and watch the hoodwink, As I make you stop think; You'll think you're looking at aquaman... -- Bare Naked Ladies, "One Week"

One week from now is my race.  As the day has gone on, I've looked at the clock and thought...next week at this time I'll be finishing the swim (you'll think you're looking at aquaman...).  Next week at this time I'll be out on the bike.  Next week at this time...this time as I type this...I will be a half iron man.  :)  One week.

I love Bare Naked Ladies.  Sometimes I go on Bare Naked runs...no, I'm not a nudist.  I set my iPod playlist on BNL and enjoy the tunes.  Not your typical running music, but it makes me happy and I usually have really good outings when I do this.

But a couple of other bare naked thoughts.  My mind has been playing body image tricks on my recently.  After I finished the swim race last weekend, I felt really good about myself.  I believed my thighs were strong and muscular.  I thought my face looked slimmer.  You know - you think the best about your body when you feel good.  On the other hand, I haven't stepped on the scale in three weeks, because I know if the number isn't what I expect, it may affect how I feel about myself and my ability to do this race.  And this week, as some of my workouts haven't gone as well as I wanted (plus that whole stupid tapering thing), I actually have felt bad.  I am convinced that my legs are rubbing together and my clothes are tight.  It's all mental; my eating habits haven't changed and I'm not overeating.  I realize it's mental and I know I need to get it out of my head before next weekend.  I have enough half iron stuff to worry about - body image shouldn't be part of the equation.  Kind of a downer, I realize.  But it is what it is.  It really sucks to be a girl.

And when you were born, they looked at you and said, "What a good girl, what a smart girl, what a pretty girl."...We've got these chains that hang around our necks, people want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath.  Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same, when temptation calls, we just look away.  -- Bare Naked Ladies, "What a Good Boy"

Let's Do This Already

I've been in a hurry all my life.  I've been in a hurry to succeed, and in a hurry to prove myself. -- Henry Kravis

Last week my daughter was at an week-long evening camp to prepare for her triathlon.  She'd been doing tri training two times a week all summer, but there was a special camp to prepare for this particular tri.  It was held at the course and they worked on the specifics of that course as well as transition, etc. -- more than just her usual swimming and biking training.  She has been very excited about triathlons and positive when we signed her up for the camp, but towards the middle of last week, she got in quite a funk.  "I'm ready for this to be done," she said.  Uh-oh - did we push her too hard?  I didn't want her to be tired of tri team this soon...she seemed to have found something that she really liked.  So I asked her if she wasn't having fun with tris anymore.  "No, I like triathlons," she said, "but I'm just ready to race.  I already trained."

At the time, I was a little concerned, because I know she has to keep training - you can't race all the time, especially if you don't train.  But now I totally get it.  I'm just about done training.  I'm ready to race.  Actually, I don't know if I'm ready or not, but I know that there is nothing in the next week and a half that will make me more ready.  I've put in 19 weeks of a solid HIM training schedule, plus the training I did leading up to that.  This week I need to stay in a good place, physically and mentally - but that's about all I can do.  I'm not going to get faster or stronger or fitter in 10 days.  Instead, I'm just getting bored - and nervous, and anxious, and excited, and nervous, and scared, and excited.  But just like my daughter, I've reached the point where "I'm just ready to race.  I already trained."

Training 8/18 - 8/24...and the Award for Most Improved goes to...

Being selected Most Improved was a special individual award because when I speak to young people I always try to tell them the importance about it's not where you start but where you end up. -- Kevin Johnson

So when I was freshman in high school, I joined the cross country team.  And I sucked.  I was slow...but it wasn't so horrible because there were 7 girls on the team and they only counted the first 5 finishers per team.  I was basically irrelevant, unless one of the faster girls broke a leg or something on the course.  But I stuck with it and kept training - mostly because I liked the team and liked running...not so much because I liked being at the back of the pack.  (I've clearly gotten over that drama.)  But at the end of the season, they actually started using my score (I was #5), and at the team bonfire, I got an award from the coach -- Most Improved -- and my varsity letter.  I was so proud, I hung the award in my room and I still have it, all these years later, in a box in the attic.  I might have to go dig it out after I finish this post.

This morning, I did the metric mile swim in the Peluso Open Water Race Series...and I finished.  I was slow, but so much good happened.  I swam against the current - twice!  I didn't stop swimming - not to back stroke, not to rest, not to hang on a kayak.  I swam the entire 1500 - all by myself and, at least in my mind, I was strong.  OK, so the results point out that I am slow.  Back of the pack, even.  But the cool thing is that my coach came over to me afterwards and told me how much improvement he's seen in my swimming.  And then on Facebook (because, y'know, that's where important stuff happens), he mentioned again that I've come a long way.  Since I'm a grown-up now, there's no real award for Most Improved, but I'm taking that honor for myself.  You can't even begin to know how proud I feel about it.  Plus it's a huge confidence booster going into the HIM.  I can swim.  I can swim strong.  I can do it.

And on that happy note, training minutiae for the past week:

Sunday 8/18 - REST (headache)
Monday 8/19 - 60 minute swim (Masters)
Tuesday 8/20 - BRICK 26 minute bike, 8.6 mile run (1:47)...major suck fest
Wednesday 8/21 - 55 minute swim (Masters)
Thursday 8/22 - 47 minute run (Garmin dead, no mileage data)
Friday 8/23 - 30 minute OWS (Masters)
Saturday 8/24 - 90 minute bike (25.86 miles)

Training levels a little low for this week.  I had to move one of my big workouts to the coming week due to family obligations.  After this though, the levels start coming down as the race approaches.

And so it begins...

Reality is never as bad as a nightmare, as the mental tortures we inflict on ourselves. -- Sammy Davis Jr.

Two weeks away and the race has become real.  And by real, I mean I am starting to have dreams about it. And by dreams, I mean nightmares.  I don't really remember what I dreamed, but the other night, I woke up in a cold sweat thinking about the HIM.  It's kind of like before you start school or a new job and you have dreams that you get lost, or forget your locker combination, or show up naked.  Kind of like that.  I just remember in my dream that everything was going wrong.  Which is silly, because of course not everything can go wrong - not possible.  I've trained for 7 months.  Good day or bad day, things will go OK, because reality is never as bad as a nightmare.

It's a big triathlon weekend for the family.  The girls are racing a kids triathlon tomorrow - VHBG Youth Triathlon.  It's a great race - both girls did it last year.  The little one has been at a camp all week to prepare for the race (in addition to doing triathlon team all summer), so I hope she has a great race.  With the older one, it all depends on attitude.  If she's in a good mood, she will push herself and do well.  If not, well...I'll be that crazy mom yelling from the sideline encouraging her to get a move on, already.

On Sunday, the husband and I are both doing the mile-swim race.  I'm looking forward to it - I need a confidence booster...which I was also hoping for tonight, but the weather is looking dicey for tonight's OWS Masters.  At least the weather looks good for the weekend.  I'm sure I'll have much to report later this weekend.

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually our desire changes.  -- Marcel Proust

Ch-ch-ch-changes...time may change me, but I can't change time.  -- David Bowie

A double quote and a video day!  Oh boy!  It surprises me how many changes have occurred over this journey of the last 7 months.  Some of the changes are goofy, some of them serious - but I've been thinking about it a lot lately, especially as I'm looking at what comes next.  So here are some of the changes I've noticed and been thinking about:
1)  My arms have muscles.  Little ones, but still, you can kind of see a shape when I wear sleeveless tops, which is like always.  I wore sleeveless tops before, because I hate sleeves, but now I wear sleeveless tops because my arms aren't so wiggly.  On the flipside, because I'm a klutz, the bottom side of my upper arms are often bruised from running into the lanelines while swimming backstroke or pinching my arms while hanging on the lanelines between sets.  Very pretty - not.
2)  I want to know more and do more about being healthy.  I'm not very good at implementation, but I've been spending more time learning about health, especially diet.  I'm totally hooked on two podcasts right now, Balanced Bites and The Paleo View, and am catching up on their past episodes.  My life has been so crazy that I haven't been able to use a lot of what I'm learning, but at least I'm inspired and am trying to make small changes here and there.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to make some bigger changes as time goes on with respect to my eating.  This is more about the first quote - my desires about eating are changing.  Slowly - don't get me wrong, I still eat (and crave) a bunch of crap, but I was able to step away from the donuts and fill my plate with fruit this morning at a work event.
3)  I smell like chlorine.  No really.  I smell like chlorine most of the time.  It's not unpleasant.  I actually kind of like it.
4)  I'm getting braver.  I am not as shy about walking into unfamiliar situations as I have been in the past, whether social or athletic.  I never would have chosen to do a mile-swim race before...I never felt as confident introducing myself to strangers...I never interjected myself into conversations about running or triathlons with people that I didn't know...I never responded to people on the Internet that I hadn't met, even if I had something to say.  I'm still nervous about the events...the swim, the HIM, the hopeful spring Mary... I'm about to do - and I'm still not an extrovert - but I am braver.
5)  I am more consistent.  I don't have as many days when I flake out on my workouts or fall apart eating-wise.  I don't turn off my alarm nearly as often (heck, I made 6am Masters twice this week!).
6)  I want better health for my kids.  I've become a little more worried about the crap they've been eating and have decided to enforce more healthy lunch-packing rules for this upcoming school year.  I'm also worried about how much sleep they are getting and whether they are having enough time to relax.  Sure, I'm also worried about my husband's health, but he's a grown up and makes his own choices.  The girls have made choices based on what I have in the house and, although they don't eat a bunch of chips and stuff, they don't need multiple granola bars or cereal bars or whatever a day.  They need good protein and fruit in addition to their main sandwich or whatever.
7)  I am getting better at scheduling my time.  It's making me a little nuts, but I'm having to pretty much schedule my whole day in the morning (if not the night before) and my whole work-out week on a week ahead.  You'd think that by my age I'd be better at this.

Training 8/11 - 8/18 . . . and the Anthem Moonlight Ride Fiasco

An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it. -- Orlando Aloysius Battista

On Saturday night, I should have had a chance to do something really cool with my older daughter.  A local sports organization, Sportsbackers, held a Moonlight Ride.  The ride started at 8pm, just as it was starting to get dark, and had either 17- or 8-mile options (full or half moons - ha ha).  Anyway, we signed up for the full and bought the lights for our bikes.   My daughter was hesitant because she doesn't ride much (and she's also a little reticent to try new activities), so I signed us up for the Family Wave of the full so we'd start towards the back.

Some of the event was really cool - I liked spending time with my daughter.  Even though she was too nervous to ride next to me, preferring to ride behind me, we got to chat some.  She got to accomplish something she didn't think she could do.  And it was pretty cool flying down dark streets (many were closed to traffic) seeing just bike headlights and blinking bike tail lights.  I liked riding through the park, where there are no streetlights and the roads were lined with glowsticks -- she's too nervous of a rider to like that.  I was proud of her that she was able to keep up - I didn't really enjoy riding in the Family Wave so we did some passing at the beginning to get some free space to ride in.  And she did well with that (after a bit of a shaky start).

We finished and she was so excited.  So we went to get our after-ride treat - pizza, ice cream, and beer for me/pop for her...except that the event had run out of pizza.  The "post-race party" was supposed to go until 11:30p and we were far from the last ones in (having passed many people at food stops, etc. - I know there were lots of people behind us)...but by 10p there was no food.  I went and griped to the organizers who promised "more pizza was on its way..." - but we waited until 11p and still no food had arrived.  I had to get the girl to bed - she was exhausted already - so after an hour we gave up.  Now, Sportsbackers is not a rinky-dink organization - they run one of the most highly touted marathons in the US as well as one of the biggest 10Ks.  So what gives about running out of food that early and for that long?

Well, I'm not sure - I called this morning to ask them and thus far have received only a disingenuous apology.  This, on top of the positively rude answers I got the evening of the event when inquiring about the pizza, make me wonder how an organization of this type can be so popular.  Allegedly they will be "returning my call" later this afternoon with additional information - but I won't hold my breath.  I'll bet they are perfectly willing to let this "error" turn into a "mistake" - what's one crabby voice in the wilderness, right?

Anyway, enough ranting - training from last week went pretty well:


Sunday 8/11 - 65 minute swim, 3.7 mile run
Monday 8/12 - 75 minute swim (Masters), 39.64 mile bike (2:33)
Tuesday 8/13 - 3.93 mile run (a.m.), 2.66 mile run (p.m.)
Wednesday 8/14 - 45 minute swim (OWS masters), 3:48 bike (rode HIM course with friend)
Thursday 8/15 - REST (dang tired after Wednesday)
Friday 8/16 - 70 minute swim (Masters), 6.74 mile run (intervals on tready)
Saturday 8/17 - 72 minute BRICK insanity (4 minute run and then repeat 10 minute ride, 7 minute run); 92 minute ride (Moonlight Ride with daughter)

Yes, yes I am - and proud of it

Crazy people don't sit around wondering if they're nuts. -- Jake Gyllenhaal

No, crazy people don't sit around wondering if they're nuts.  Instead they go out and find more nutty things to do.

Last post I told you about the mile swim and the marathon plans I'm thinking about.  This morning, hubby floated the idea of me doing another century (Heart of VA) this fall - which I immediately jumped on (subject to our daughters' sports schedules).  I'm starting to put "price bump" reminders in our calendar so I don't have to spend an extra $10 to sign up for my crazy.  I mean, if you're going to be nuts, you might as well be frugal about it, right?

And then there's that whole thing about WTC announcing the new Ironman is in Chattanooga, Tennessee - totally driveable.  Not thinking 2014, but boy is it tempting to think about doing it in the next couple years with hubby.  I never realized how nuts I was getting, probably because I haven't sat around wondering if I'm nuts.

But there are always people who put things in perspective for you.  I was talking to a new coworker of mine this week.  I've been dressing casual (and I don't mean business casual - think jean shorts, tri Ts, and baseball caps) at work this summer and was wearing an old shirt from a local tri.  The woman mentioned that her sister has done that race (it's an OW sprint - Tavern - that I did earlier this summer) but that she has only done a pool-swim tri and that's good for her.  We talked about that race a little, since I had done it last year, and then I happened to mention that I was training for the HIM.  And she told me I was insane.  In a nice way, but still...the message was clear.  :)

I'm surprised she didn't catch onto the insanity earlier, given that this is proudly displayed in my office:

Looking Forward

I'm always interested in looking forward toward the future.  Carving out new ways of looking at things.  -- Herbie Hancock

Yesterday I did a pre-ride of the bike course for my HIM race - it was tough, but totally doable and I'm happy to have that mental knowledge in store for race day.  Here's a map of the course...I ran out of fluids (gatorade & water) with about 12 miles left to go, but that shouldn't be a problem on race day since there are bottle handoffs.  Plus hubby ordered me a behind-the-seat water bottle holder so I have extra toting space.

As far as nutrition, I ate an uncrustable (mmm, I love me uncrustables on bike rides), a baby applesauce pounch, and a payday bar, plus a couple of s-caps (electrolyte pills).  My quads were a little crampy at the end, but I think that was due to the running out of water.

Then, because I'm an idiot and 58 miles of biking is not sufficient for one day, I went to OWS practice with my masters group.  Unfortunately, I was slower than molasses, but I didn't have water panic, even though there was some current and I was kicked and swum over, etc.  Baby steps.  I have signed up for a mile-long swimming race prior to the HIM for practice - should be fun.  I know I can do it, I just want to actually prove that I can do it.  Same as doing the bike ride yesterday - I knew I could do it, I just wanted to prove it...plus it always is good to get the lay of the course in mind.

So my plan is to take on the HIM and ROCK IT.  (Hey, I had to work Herbie Hancock in here somewhere...remember this song/video?)

So back to the theme of this post...looking forward:  I am pretty sure I will be doing a spring marathon - Shamrock in VA Beach.  I've done the Shamrock 1/2 a couple times and it's a nice flat course.  I haven't registered for the race yet - price bump isn't until the end of September, but I have reserved a hotel room for the night before so I can do packet pickup and get a good night's sleep.  Crazy, huh?  This is my comeback marathon - I'm going to make sure I don't get hurt training for this one.  I should be good given that I'm doing the HIM in September and then a half mary in October and again in November, then I can slowly build up until March to the full 26.2.  

So excited to be looking forward and planning great things.

Training 8/4 - 8/10 . . . and Preparing in the Homestretch

I've always considered myself to be just average talent and what I have is a ridiculous insane obsessiveness for practice and preparation. -- Will Smith

OK, so I'm a below average talent athletically and my obsessiveness for practice and preparation is not likely "ridiculously insane," but it is a little bit over the top.  And I'm OK with that.  The training plan I'm following is going to enable some of that over the next couple weeks, as many of the workouts are race specific - same terrain, testing out nutrition and hydration for the last few times, simulating transitions - those awkward minutes where you switch from swimming to biking or biking to running.  I'm actually really looking forward to these workouts.  Also, I'm planning to ride the HIM bike course this week with a friend of mine who is also doing the race - talk about race prep.  (It's an hour away and not terribly convenient this week, but it is so important I want to make it work.

The other thing I need to focus on these last few weeks is better eating.  I know I've mentioned it before, but it hit home again after my latest travel to NYC this last week - I'm miserable at keeping up my clean eating when I am travelling.  My willpower is just too small when I'm with my work colleagues (or worse yet, stressing through complicated air travel).  I'm not going to worry about if or how much weight I lose between now and the race - that's this fall's project as I'm trying to cut time off my HMs in October and November.  But I want to be feeling my best race day and that means I need to stop eating like I have been.

Anyway, the next few weeks are Prep, Prep, Prep.  Kind of makes me a Preppie, no?  I might just turn up the collar of my polo shirt - oh, wait, I'm wearing a race t-shirt.  Not so preppie and very hard to turn up the collar.

Here's last week's training - not super pleased with it...travel plus my tweaky knee kinda threw me for a loop.


Sunday 8/4 - 65 minute swim (Masters), 30 minute bike (intervals on Freyja/trainer)
Monday 8/5 - 75 minute swim (Masters), 39.64 mile bike (2:33)
Tuesday 8/6 - run-bike-run brick (2.24 mile run, 13.27 mile bike (45 minutes), 2.11 mile run)
Wednesday 8/7 - 75 minute swim (Masters)
Thursday 8/8 - REST (on work trip)
Friday 8/9 - 2.4 mile run
Saturday 8/10 - REST (tweaky knee)

Damnit

Of course I get hurt.  -- Jackie Chan

A month to go and a minor hiccup in the road.  A bump in the plan?  A fly in my soup?  A hitch in the ointment?  Actually, the mixed metaphor most accurate would be an oops in my giddyup.  I was travelling the past few days and had a miserable travel evening on Friday.  Somewhere between being cooped up in an airplane seat for far too long and racing all the way across the airport at the Charlotte, NC airport to make my connection, I managed to do something funky to my knee.  The outside of my knee hurts a little when I walk or when I sit too long - it doesn't feel like ITB (at least not the same as it did earlier this year).  I'm hoping I can do a trainer ride tonight and then run/swim tomorrow.  I'm supposed to have a good week of bricks (both swim/bike and bike/run) and I'm also supposed to do a test ride of the race course with a friend on Monday.  Get with the program, knee - this is not going to work.

One Month...

Trials and tribulations, I've had my share...there ain't nothing gonna stop me cause I'm almost there. -- "Almost There" lyrics from Disney's The Princess and the Frog

It's hard to believe that yesterday marked one month until the HIM.  I'm alternately excited and completely and totally freaked out.  I imagine the freak out will start to tip the scale as I get closer, but on the other hand, it is starting to sink in just how far I have come.  And in spite of a crazy schedule of work, travel, and family stuff - I've put in the hours and it shows.  My biking speed is coming along and I am not cursing hills.  Well, OK, I still curse, but I seek out hills to yell at rather than avoid them.  I have built my run back up and, knock on wood, my knees feel good.  And...believe it or not...I'm actually starting to LIKE to swim.  I am occasionally leading the turtle lane at Masters.  Heck, I even woke up at 4:45 yesterday morning so I could make it to Masters before leaving on my next trip (currently in NYC for work).  Only an idiot or someone who likes to swim would do that.  I think I might be both.  :)

One month.  I need to keep my focus, but if I remember how far I've come, it shouldn't be hard.  I'm almost there!

I remember Daddy told me : "Fairytales can come true

But you gotta make 'em happen, it all depends on you"

So I work real hard each and every day

Now things for sure are going my way

...

I'm almost there, I'm almost there

Training 7/28 - 8/3 . . . and a Tri Picnic

Shared joys make a friend, not shared sufferings. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

You'd think that would be true - shared joys, not shared sufferings - but yesterday we went to a picnic with the local tri club and I think it's probably a little bit of both.  Of course there are joys when we finish races or have great training sessions, but there's a good bit of suffering in this sport...especially, it seems, the longer you are involved in it and/or the longer the races are that you do.  Probably a good third of the athletes there were nursing injuries or just coming off injuries.  And oddly enough, sharing injuries is part of the friendship of triathletes too.  Talk about how to cope with them, how to avoid them, how to train around them is just part of a gathering of triathletes.  Suffering also can make friends.

That being said, I really enjoyed the picnic.  It's odd - although I've been involved in online communities of triathletes, such as Beginner Triathlete, I've never gotten involved with real live tri communities until this year. We joined our local tri club, Richmond Tri Club, last year mainly for the discounts on race entries.  But this year we've taken advantage of some of the training sessions and now the picnic. It was a lot of fun to talk to people I've seen regularly but never really had a chance to talk to - for example, I recognized a lady that had finished a race at the back-of-the-pack with me a couple years ago (in a hurricane, no less).  Obviously we weren't much for talking then, but it was fun to laugh about it yesterday.  Even though I view triathlon as generally a solitary sport and I like to train alone (except swimming), I am happy that we are getting more involved in the community aspect of the sport.  Besides, they had good beer.  :)

Last week's training -


Sunday 7/28 - RACE! (report here) (14:42 minute swim, 65 minute bike, 32:42 minute run)
Monday 7/29 - 75 minute swim (Masters)
Tuesday 7/30 - 4.27 mile run
Wednesday 7/31 - 30 minute swim (OWS); 114 minute bike/1.92 mile run BRICK
Thursday 8/1 - REST (exhausted!)
Friday 8/2 - 2 hour run (10.82 miles)
Saturday 8/3 - 38 minute OWS (at tri club picnic)

C is for Cookie - and that's not good for me

I was eating bad stuff.  Lots of sugar and carbs, junk food all the time.  It makes you very irritated.  -- Avril Lavigne

I mean, who doesn't take their nutritional cues from a punk-pop star?  In the recent past, I have been very good at eating in a healthy way.  But recently, the sugar monster has taken over my body and it is very hard to take it back from him.  When I was on my trip in Colorado, I probably ate more sugar than I did the entire summer leading up until then.  And it's only continued.  Today there was a cookie in my boxed lunch at work.  I ate it - I didn't shun it like I normally do.  But worse yet...because I ate it, now I'm craving sugar all the more.  It's ridiculous and really quite disturbing.  Some of it is a little bit of stress on my part, but honestly, I think some of it is physical.  All the more reason to get back to my normal way of eating...and stop listening to Avril in this song:

All my life I've been good but now, ooooooh,

I'm thinking, what the hell?

All I want is to mess around and I don't really care about...

Time to get back to being good and stop saying "what the hell?" -- just because I'm in the height of my HIM training does not mean I can eat like Cookie Monster.  It'll make me irritated and my training will not be as good as it should be.  And I only have 36 days to go!