A Funner Runner

Numbers

2010-07-24T16:25:00.006-05:00

If you want to get serious with your training, you have to know your numbers. What numbers? I'm glad you asked :) There are various tests that can prove to be very helpful with achieving your goals and I was fortunate enough to have a few of them done last week.

First on the list was a Personal Profile. This included measurements of height, weight, calculated BMI from those two, estimated cardiovascular max VO2 (based on heart rate reading from a treadmill run and recovery), bicep strength, stretch and reach flexibility, and body fat (via calipers). A computer program then took all of the data and gave me a rating of my overall fitness and "body age". In short, the tests showed that I'm in the "normal" category for BMI, have an estimated "moderate" VO2 Peak (how that's possible with all my workouts I don't know!), average bicep strength, average hamstring flexibility (not surprising since I'm a runner... it makes legs pretty tight), "optimal" body fat composition, "good" overall fitness, and have a body age a few years younger than my actual age. I'd have to say that while this data was interesting, it was pretty generic and didn't give me much guidance. It pointed out things that needed improving but not really any information on how to best proceed in order to see the results I wanted. I knew I needed more scientific data. On to test two...

Test two was called CaloriePoint, and was a metabolic test that calculated how many calories my body burns at rest. I had to fast for 12 hours (brutal for me not to eat first thing in the morning!) and avoid caffeine for 24 hours prior to the test (no problem). Basically I was strapped in to a heart rate monitor and placed in a dark quiet room for 15 minutes while I breathed in to a tube. That tube was connected to a computer which then analyzed the air I exhaled. While this was about as simple a test as one could hope for, the results were very detailed. It showed that if I were to sit on my rear and do nothing all day, I would still need to take in 1324 calories to sustain my basic physical needs (heart beating, blood pumping, food digesting, etc.). If I were to factor in my average daily activity (the amount I walk around, etc.) then I now need 1854 calories. And then, on top of that, if I workout then I also have those calories to eat too. Eating too few calories can be as detrimental as eating too many, so THIS information was very helpful to me and could definitely be used to reach one of my goals (lean out a little bit by dropping 6-8% body fat). Although I'm already in the "optimal" range of body composition, I'm at the higher end of the range and would like to lower it down; being in this range also means that I don't have a ton of calories that can be eliminated every day so I'm looking at losing only 1/2-1 pound a week, if I'm lucky. So for now I'm shooting for around 1500 calories a day, not including exercise calories (I happily eat those calories guilt-free!).

Test number three was called CardioPoint, which I also call the Hannibal Lecter test. I was strapped in to a breathing mask that was entirely uncomfortable and slightly unnerving.

Not me running (obviously), but this was the getup I was in.

They started me at a pace that I felt I could sustain without problem for 30 minutes and then, after a 3 minute warm-up at that pace, things started to get interesting. Every 30-60 seconds the incline would be raised a couple percentages in order to make it more difficult. I was told that I had to last at least 8 minutes for the test to be valid and that once I hit a 100% (of what measurement I can't remember) then I'd be allowed to stop. Let's just say that by the seventh minute I was really working hard and I was just hoping that the 100% would hold off 60 seconds longer! Thankfully I crossed the 8-minute mark and then a minute or so later I was given the okay to stop. It's a good thing because I had reached the point of effort where the desire to puke was very strong and I don't think I could have gone on even 30 seconds longer without losing it. I know that's a normal bodily response at that level of effort but hey, it's still not pleasant to go through! However, once again, the effort was worth it. I now have heart rate zones that are specific to me, know how many calories I burn in each zone per minute, and what percentage of those calories are from fat vs. glucose. No more generic "220 - age" numbers or hoping that I'm working my body at the right level to achieve my goal for that workout. In fact, a comparison will show what a difference there is:

Generic Zone
1: 92-110
2: 111-128
3: 129-146
4: 147-165
5: 166-183

Personalized Zone
1: 128-137
2: 138-144
3: 145-151
4: 152-161
5: 162-172

So, as you can see, there is quite a difference. The generic vs. exact has enough discrepancies so that it could successfully derail my training; I might think that I was training my AT (aerobic threshold) when really I was still in base building, and I might think I was doing base building when in essence I wouldn't be working hard enough to have any real benefit at all! Throw in there that I need to spend most of my time in zone 1-2 in order to best achieve my other goal (dropping body fat) and I might have REALLY been frustrated.

Finally, going back to my Estimated VO2 Peak from the first test (the one that had me at a "moderate" rating with 35.4 ml/kg/min)... My actual, scientifically tested VO2 Peak is 47.1 ml/kg/min, which falls in to the elite (best) category. Right on :)

Wah :(

2010-07-18T20:22:00.011-05:00

I'm officially on two weeks of workout restriction. After last weekend at Laura's lake house my leg flared up worse than ever before (we're guessing it was pelvic stabilizing demands of the jetski and/or waterskiing) so this is a last-ditch effort to see if it will heal itself before undergoing diagnostic testing. Those who workout consistently understand how unnerving this news is. It's like a part of me is dead. I haven't felt this off-kilter in a long time and it's hard to adjust to not feeling whole.

I'm trying to make the best of it by finding anything I can do that doesn't involve the hip flexor being stressed. Surprisingly, as much as I miss running/cycling, I've been having quite a fun time with my alternatives. I've become more consistent with my strength workouts (focusing on core and arm work) and have had some great swims too. Case in point was this weekend. On Saturday, after bidding my training group good luck on their runs, I walked over to a nearby fence that surrounded a baseball field and hooked up my TRX. I convinced Ed, a long-time member of our group who is currently battling a sore shin, to join me in my workout and we had a great time switching off and on every 60 seconds. At first he laughed when I showed him the two straps and said, "That's what we're going to use? You can't get much of a workout with that!". However, within 15 minutes he was sweating and shaking and eating his words :) It was fun for me to have company on my workout, and I got to do some coaching too as I walked Ed through each exercise and what to pay attention to. I woke up on Sunday with a pleasantly sore core and Ed reports that he is VERY sore. Fantastic :) :D :P

I also had the chance to go to a different lake house on Saturday afternoon/evening and hang out with some of my favorite people. There were about a dozen friends from my triathlon circle and, as usual, it was a time full of laughter, love, and fun. We even had an impromptu open-water swim! (Yes, being workout geeks, most of us had spare goggles and swim caps tossed here or there in our cars. Actually, if I'm being completely honest, I have to admit that I always keep my entire pool bag in my truck!) Six of us swam from Pete's house (at the base of a cove) to the "no wake" buoy and then back to his house (I'd guess it was around 500m round-trip); when we finished I felt like I'd barely gotten started so I asked if anyone was up for round two. Dave and Jenn said yes so the three of us did it again :) As I promised my doctor I stayed away from jetskis and waterskiing, but I did go tubing. It was my first time on a three-person tube and it was an absolute laugh-fest.

The silence is deafening

2010-07-14T12:11:00.019-05:00

I'm currently an empty nester. Grant is gone for four weeks, almost non-stop, and the house is so quiet without him (and the constant parade of neighborhood friends that invade my house on a daily basis). The first week he's gone is for an overnight basketball camp that has been around so long that my brother went to it growing up, and the last three weeks are attending a day camp that is done through Johns Hopkins University. He's attended the latter for the past two years and I've settled in to accepting being away from him for five days at a time because I've known I could talk to him if I wanted to (he stays with my parents for those weeks). The basketball camp is a new thing for us though, and it's put me a bit out of my dots. I know kids need to grow up, and I'm happy he is able to have this experience, but still... I remember what overnight camps were like at that age and the things kids did and talked about, so I feel his innocence slipping away even more with every tick of the clock! I also hope he's fitting in okay. He's going through an awful *rolling eyes* *sighing* *know it all* *give me my freedom!* stage that can really push my buttons sometimes and I worry about how his peers might react. Then again, his peers are probably going through the exact same phase so maybe he'll be in good company! I get him back tomorrow night and can't wait to hear how it went.

In his absence, I've actually been getting quite a bit done. Some has been work and some has been play. One of the fun things was an end-of-season cookout for our Spring Training Group to celebrate all of the hard work that was done over the past three months. About half of the group was able to make it, and here's a photo from the day:

It was so nice to be able to relax and enjoy each others company without sweat being a requirement :)

I've also spent quite a bit of time getting ready to start my new job. I've done some shadowing of co-workers, participating in functional assessments that are offered to clients, and of course the standard paperwork that is necessary for minor things like paychecks and health insurance. My "official" training starts in less than two weeks and I can't wait! When I was there today one of the things we did was get my uniform ordered. I feel so official now :)

Before starting my job I was really hoping to have one more trip with Grant to my friend Laura's lake house. As luck would have it, she had a trip planned beginning a few days before Grant had to leave for camp so he and I packed up and joined her for a bit. There ended up being over a dozen of us there at various points during the weekend and we all got along famously. It was a great mix of adults and kids, and laughter and fun followed wherever we went.

There was kayaking...

and fishing...

and tower jumping...

and boat rides...

followed by bike rides, where our turnaround points had incredible views like this...

and late night fun...

and waterskiing, tubing, dancing, and so much more that I don't have photos of. Suffice to say, it was a whole lot of everything rolled in to 60 hours, and I think I'll need another 60 hours to fully recuperate! :)

What a week

2010-07-03T14:42:00.008-05:00

Let's see if I can recap the events of the past week:

I attended the TRX certification class in Washington, DC last Sunday. I unwittingly became the "model" for the 8-hour class when we were asked to pair up and I happened to grab the TRX that the instructor (Jonathan) planned on using; because there was an odd number of people in the class, I ended up being paired with him! After my initial embarrassment of being stared at by everyone, I had a great time being his comic relief as I helped demonstrate the moves.

Among the things I learned was how to do was an inverted shoulder press (a.k.a. incline press). I had watched a video of TRX creator Randy Hetrick perform it during his Great Wall of China workout (where, yes, he did a workout from a tree overhanging the Great Wall!) and I wondered how to get in to the position. When I realized Jon wasn't going to cover it I pulled him aside and asked him to show it to me. He said it was only shown by request now because they learned it turned things in to the "shit show"; most people can't do the move and bodies would start falling everywhere when they tried. Sure enough, once he demonstrated how to do it, the whole room started attempting to get in to the position and people were falling every direction possible. I gave him a look of apology for starting the fracas! I can't do the push-up part of it yet, but I'm able to hold the inverted position for quite a while. Normally I might not be impressed with doing only part of a move, but I was one of the few in the room who could do even that much so I take some satisfaction in that. I give a lot of credit to all my early years as a gymnast :) In the end it was a good class and I'm glad I went. I gained some knowledge and have another certification to add to my arsenal for my clients!

Speaking of clients, the big news of the week is that I was offered the job I was hoping to get. The number of ways this has worked out perfectly is crazy. From the starting date, to the schedule, to the location, to the actual JOB itself... let's just say that I would be hard-pressed to have come up with a better scenario for myself. I'm getting to work in a field that I love and will still have time to spend with family and friends. I feel very blessed.

Lastly, my hip flexor does indeed seem to be on the mend. Hooray! When I saw Maggs on Friday he pushed and pulled all around the area and then cleared me to try running this weekend. The photo above is the path I ran along this morning to give it a test drive. Maybe it was the unseasonably cool weather, maybe it was the setting, or maybe it was just the ability to get back out there again, but whatever it was I had a fantastic run. I had decided to run 30 minutes and do it based upon effort level, paying very little attention to Garmin; when I was done, it turned out that I had run my "easy" pace at my usual race pace. Huh :) I had time to kill after my run (while waiting for the other group members to finish their runs) and had brought my TRX along, figuring I would be able to find a place to hook it up. Sure enough there was a post just beside the start of the trail so I knocked out an intense 30-minute all-over strength workout to round out my morning. What a great start to my weekend.

Here's wishing all of you a happy Fourth of July. Remember your blessings, thank our veterans, and surround yourself with those you care about.

Thankfulness seem to be a theme

2010-06-26T15:21:00.003-05:00

For whatever reason, things have continued to happen to make me thankful. Last time I wrote, they had all been good things... a promising job opportunity, the impending arrival of a dear friend after a year-long absence, and the end of the school year (and, thus, more time with my son). This past week, I've been reminded to be thankful because of heartaches. These have ranged from a friend being accosted during a run, to a different friend being diagnosed with breast cancer, and finally, sadly, one of my clients unexpectedly losing her husband at the young age of 49. All of these moments have given me pause to close my eyes and utter my silent prayers for those I care about, and my deep thanks for keeping myself and my family safe and healthy.

My leg is still giving me issues so training has been minimal. That's frustrating. I was able to do a spin class earlier this week as long as I sat up (instead of riding aero), and swimming is - mercifully - still not a problem. I've developed a surprising love of swimming. As a kid I was on the local pool's swim team; I was okay and could hold my own, but I was never a star and never really looked forward to the actual act of swimming... it was all about the social aspect (shocking, I know). Now, I really look forward to the act. I use a waterproof MP3 player to help pass the time so I just plug in some music, hit "play", and lose myself in the moment. If I feel slow I throw on my fins and power through the water. If I'm mad and want to workout some energy I throw on my paddles and make my arms burn. And, if I just want to unwind, I knock out some long sets and just let my muscles stretch as I glide.

The one thing that is still elusive at the moment is running. I haven't run in a few weeks now and that concerns me; I'm registered for the Army Ten Miler in October and the thought of 10 miles right now seems unlikely. I could eek out 3-5 miles now if I put my mind to it... but it wouldn't be pretty. There is a glimmer of hope though... I think Maggs found the right spot on my leg on Friday and mashed the heck out of it, and that seems to have made a really big improvement in how things are functioning. I was able to knock out a 19 mile bike ride today, at a good clip and in the aero position, with little discomfort. Tomorrow will be a good test too as I'll be attending an all-day class to become a certified TRX instructor. I'm sooooo super excited about this, especially so because two of my friends will be doing the class with me. So, in addition to tearing my body up and expanding my mind, there's sure to be a lot of laughs too. I've also started the process of becoming a certified Sports Nutrition Consultant. I've studied this subject on my own at various times and am looking forward to a more in-depth and broad-reaching presentation of the material. It should take 4-6 months to complete the studying and testing, depending on how chaotic life gets.

Is it wrong that I'm already wondering what to tackle after I'm done with this? I think it's about time I admit to myself that I'm going to be in school for the rest of my life :)

Lastly, I'm all done with the interview process for the job opportunity that came my way. I've had four interviews, including a practical exam, and now it's just the waiting game for a decision to be made. Out of the dozens of people they started with they had narrowed it down to three of us. If it works out it could be amazing in many ways. Hopefully I'll hear something by the end of next week!

The power of openness

2010-06-16T17:55:00.008-05:00

When we allow ourselves to be open and honest, both with ourselves and with others, amazing things can happen.

When I blogged last week, it was so humbling to write that I was still searching for a full-time job and had no prospects on the horizon. But I did it anyway because it's a big part of what's going on in my life right now and I want to live transparently. I don't want to fake along like everything is okay when it absolutely isn't. I knew by putting it out there it was like putting a "FAILURE!" stamp on my forehead but I decided I didn't care; it is what it is, and there was nothing more I could be doing to try to find employment (short of bagging groceries, which I was beginning to give serious consideration to!). The interesting thing to me was that after sharing that news, I felt lighter in my heart. It's not that I had been hiding a secret, but I would always dodge the question when I was asked how the search was going. It was just too painful to repeat again and again and again that I wasn't having any success in that area.

And here's where it gets interesting. The day after I wrote that post, I got a phone call that I had given up hope on receiving. Almost a month ago I attended an open house for people interested in working for a certain company. I had never pictured myself pursuing a career with them, but the more I heard about the position and the more people I talked to who worked there, the more I was interested. I had an initial interview that day and went home with a big smile on my face because I knew it had gone very well and was practically promised a follow-up phone call. A few days went by and I wasn't concerned. Then a week came and went and I was starting to get concerned. Then two weeks. Then three. And the call still never came... until the day after I lightened my heart load. They wanted me back in for another round of interviewing. I met with them earlier this week and it went so well that I was asked back for a third round before I'd even left the building. That should happen sometime this week and, if (when!) that goes well, I'll still have one more interview before I could get the official offer. I truly feel like I had to let go of some internal baggage before I could be given this new path to pursue.

Another interesting thing happened recently. Yesterday I took Dakota (my dog) for a walk to the grocery store that's about half a mile from my house and on the way back, an older woman in a convertible pulled up alongside me and asked if I knew where a certain bank was. I didn't, but I told her if she wanted to wait for a minute I could look it up on my phone for her. She was quite tickled, and I spent a couple of minutes finding the address and then mapping out how to get there. When I'd given her everything she needed, she looked at me and said, "You know, you have such a nice aura around you." Again, I think it was the lightness and peace I was feeling :)

This past weekend I had an awesome, awesome swim with some friends in a local lake. We did 1.25 miles and it felt so effortless. When I got out of the water I felt like I could get back in and do it all over again! After the swim, a few of us drove to a nearby national park and tackled a hilly bike route for an hour. That gave me exactly the opposite feeling of the swim - LOL. My legs were still a little sore from a challenging ride on Friday so I cut things short and called it a day after an hour or so. I've taken the few days since then to rest because my hip flexor is still flaring up occasionally; I saw my favorite doctor today about it and we're hopeful it's just a pull... apparently it also has signs of being a labrum tear, which would require surgery, so mentally I'm not going there yet!

New beginnings

2010-06-09T11:22:00.006-05:00

New beginnings can be scary. There's the unknown, the fear of failure, and the knowledge that you may actually be making a mistake. New beginnings take courage. Courage, and a belief in oneself. Sometimes you find yourself with a new beginning not out of choice, but out of circumstances or necessity. That's where I find myself now.

If you've followed my blog for a while you know that it's gone from an outlet where I shared the ups and downs of becoming a runner, taking on ever-increasing racing challenges, and updates of my life in general to that of just race reports. It wasn't intentional... it was life circumstance. I couldn't muster up the time or emotional energy to report on my life; what I didn't want to share was that my life was failing in some areas, and it was embarrassing to me. I felt ashamed. There are certainly aspects of my life that I am truly grateful for, but other aspects have not panned out the way I had hoped they would. And thus, here I find myself at another new beginning.

I think that the last I left my "real life" update, I was immersed in obtaining my Masters Degree and trying to maintain any kind of sanity in the process. When all was said and done, approximately one-half of my classmates dropped out during the school year. Nothing was shared as to why, but based on the frequent group emails and cohort discussion postings such as, "Is anyone else having this much trouble with the assignment?", "This workload is so overwhelming!", and "I just did poorly on the test and feel like I can't grasp the material.", I'm guessing the main reason was academic. I'm very happy to say that not only did I make it through all of the challenges this degree posed, but I also received an A in every class but two. As usual, Grant was a constant encourager and was (still is) incredibly proud of me for earning this degree.

This brings me to now. After I finished my degree I took a month or so off of any responsibilities so I could decompress and reconnect with friends and family; then began the hunt for a full-time job to put my degree to use. That was February. I'm still looking. To say the job market is sparse (at least in the field I want to pursue) is an understatement. There have been weeks where not one new job listing was found. And often, the job listings I do find aren't feasible for one reason or another (usually it's the location, as I need to stay relatively close to home due to Grant). So, while the hunt continues, I've tried to keep myself busy. I'm still working out quite often, though I'm not training for anything in particular (as a friend calls it, I'm in "ready reserve" should something pique my interest). I continue to co-coach a local running group and absolutely love it. There are challenges like every job has, but I get to play a part in helping transform lives to create healthier, happier people. That fuels my soul. I also do some personal training on the side and enjoy the mental challenge that brings; putting together a training plan is like working on a puzzle, and I've loved puzzles since I was a kid! Lastly, I continue to increase my knowledge and formal education and will be obtaining my TRX trainer certification later this month. I've been using a TRX since last year and love the premise behind it as well as the results I've seen, so I'm excited to have this additional education to use for not only my own workouts but also those of my clients.

So, that's the update on my life. I'm going to pop in here more frequently with tidbits about things I've learned, stories from the day, and anything that (frankly) I feel like sharing. Along the way I hope to inspire you to embrace life to its fullest. We're never guaranteed a tomorrow, so make the most of today!

2010 Shamrock Half-Marathon

2010-03-21T16:15:00.005-05:00

This was my first 1/2 marathon since January 2008 and, based on the progress I’ve made in training, I was pretty confident I’d set a PR (unless all the wheels fell off for some unforeseen reason!). Unfortunately, about two weeks before the race I started having pain in my left thigh; it wasn't awful, but more like a nagging bruise that wouldn't go away. I decided not to risk it getting worse and made a trip to see my favorite doctor, Kevin Maggs. After poking and prodding my leg, he diagnosed that tight adductors were trapping a nerve and that’s what was causing the pain. For the next week I foam rolled and stretched the heck out of that area several times a day, and substituted land running with aqua-jogging instead. I’ve used aqua-jogging in the past to rehab an injury but never with a race right around the corner. This would be a new experience for me. With a few days to go before the race my leg was feeling much better, but then I was dealt an unexpected blow.

I can still vividly see myself standing at the edge of the pool on Wednesday morning, getting ready to swim, and feeling pretty tight in my back. So what did I do? I ignored everything I’ve learned about my back injury over the past 16 years and how delicately I need to treat it, and proceed to fling my arms and torso around like those Olympic swimmers do to loosen up; after all, if it works for them it must be the right thing to do. Right? At 2am the next morning my back informed me that no, that most definitely was NOT the right thing to do, and proceeded to stay in a state of major spasm from that moment forward. I hadn’t felt pain like that in years, and on Thursday afternoon I finally relented and went to an Emergency Care unit for treatment. After examining me, my doctor told me that a) I shouldn’t be running at all with a back injury like I have, and b) I most DEFINITELY wouldn’t be running the race on Sunday. From that point on I tuned her out and just nodded my head, deciding to ignore whatever other words of “wisdom” she had to say about my life. I did get a shot of muscle relaxer (OUCH!) and was put on oral muscle relaxers for the next three days. Unfortunately neither of those did much for the pain and I had to rely on taking OTC pain killers every four hours.

This certainly wasn’t shaping up to be the race I had hoped for.

On Friday morning I evaluated my situation and decided to still make the drive to VA Beach. Even if I ended up not being able to run, I could at least cheer on my friends. Going down on Friday also meant that I could take the opportunity to snag some quality time with my 6 year-old nephew, Ryan, who lives in the area. That evening we had dinner with his family and then I took him back to my hotel for the night where we played Candy Land, jumped on the beds in the hotel (well he did, not me!), and we talked about all sorts of things that are fascinating to a six year-old. The next morning he really wanted pancakes for breakfast and that sounded perfect to me. However, once outside, we realized we were blocked in because Saturday's 5K/8K race was being run right by our hotel! At that moment, as I watched the runners go by, I began to get excited about my race the following day. Yes, my back was still very painful and no, I wasn’t sure if I could even run, let alone 13.1 miles, but I was filled with a peace about whatever lay ahead.

Because we couldn't drive anywhere, I used the Yelp application on my iPhone to locate a good place to eat that was also close. The first place it came up with was this great little kitsch place about 1/2 mile from us called Pocahontas. Its name accurately reflected its decor, right down to a carved Indian statue and a makeshift tee-pee set up in the corner :) The reviews specifically called out their buttermilk pancakes and waffles, and apparently the food is so good it has even been featured on The Food Network. I knew we had a winner! The walk there was short and before I knew it I was graced with this heavenly feast:

I really love day-before-a-race breakfasts!

After we ate we walked to the beach to play in the surf for a bit, then sadly it was time to drop Ryan off with his Dad. After saying good-bye I headed to the expo for packet pick-up, where I happened to run in to my good friend BethAnn. She had made the trip down for the race too and it was a nice surprise that we were there at the same time. We have developed a tradition of pre-race hugs for good luck and managed to make that happen again this time :)

After the expo, I headed out for a few errands (like locating Hammer Gel, which had somehow not managed to make it in to my suitcase!) and then met up with the rest of the members of my training group who were running Shamrock, as well as a few other local people. It was so funny to hear us talking about what to order as well all had definite ideas of what worked best. One person HAD to have pizza, another could have nothing with protein, and still another wanted cheese added to everything. Race fueling is definitely a science and, once you find out what works, you don’t want to mess with it!

I was able to get back to the hotel in time to watch the sunset from my beach-front balcony; that alone was worth the drive to VAB. The sound of the surf was so relaxing and it began to set the tone for what lay ahead in the morning. I set about laying out my clothes and gear for the next day, going over item after item in my head and replaying the morning’s scenario with my eyes closed to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. Most importantly I wanted to remember to take my heart medication, so I put that with my contacts where it wouldn’t be missed!

Being a gadget girl, I am 1000% devoted to my Garmin. I can’t imagine racing without one. And, as usual, I had Garmin all set up to guide me. I’ve raced enough now to have a good handle on my fueling strategies based on race distances and weather conditions and had all of my alerts set up. I knew that I’d take a gel just before the race started followed by one every 30 minutes, so I set a time alert to go off every 30 minutes. I also knew that the weather was going to be warm and that I’m a heavy and salty sweater, so I was going to need 2-4 Endurolytes an hour to keep my electrolytes in balance; I decided to just take them every 30 minutes with the gel to simplify things. Lastly, I planned on doing a run/walk ratio of run .95 miles, walk .05 miles, and would drink 3-5oz of water at every walk break depending on how much I felt I needed. This would be my first race using such a long run and short walk ratio, but it’s what I had been training with and had confidence that I could pull it off. I also had Garmin set to guide my pace by alerting me if I was going too fast or too slow. The first 1-3 miles I wanted to average 10:00-10:10, miles 4-8 were to be 9:50-10:00, and the rest of the race was to be 9:40-10:00. If you’re curious how all of those splits looks programmed in to Garmin, here it is!

I believe in setting multiple goals when doing a race because you really never know how things are going to unfold. Here were mine:

It was a perfect race! - 2:13:36 or better (10:05 pace)
It went even better than hoped for - 2:14:42 (10:10 pace)
It went exactly as I knew I could do - 2:15:48 (10:15 pace)
A little disappointed, but I can live with it - 2:16:41 (10:20 pace)
Might as well call it a training run - 2:18:01 or worse (10:25 pace)

As I was settling down for the night, I started getting phone calls and texts from people, either wishing me good luck or asking questions about their pacing and fueling for the next day. Although that might stress some people out, I loved it. I love calculating what gives the body its best chance to perform at a top level and how to correctly gauge and support the effort. Many texts and phone calls ensued and it kept me on a race-anticipation high for a couple of hours. Mercifully, I managed to fall asleep around 11:00 and slept straight through to 5:00 with no interruptions.

When I awoke, my first thought was of how much my back was hurting me and how I really shouldn’t run the race. I lay there for a while, mulling things over in my mind, and then slowly got in to Child’s Pose. I stayed like that for a while, willing my back to relax and release, and thought about my situation. I knew that I could potentially cause greater spasms by running, but at the same time I felt like I absolutely had to try; I’d made the trip, I’d done the training, and people were cheering for me to compete. In the end, I promised myself that I’d drop out if the pain got to be too much and decided to give it all I could.

The day’s weather was looking to be a bit chilly at the start, but then become quite warm within a couple of hours. Starting temps were in the low 50’s with a moderate breeze, and it was predicted to be around 60 by the time I finished so I decided to wear short sleeves and shorts for the race. The hotel was very convenient to the starting line so I walked the 1.5 miles there wearing a warm-up suit (which I really hated giving up at the bag drop area!) and headed straight for my corral. This was probably the easiest time I’ve ever had getting to the start of a race. No stress about finding parking, no having to wait in a long port-a-potty line... just eat a bagel in my hotel room, walk to the start, and arrive with ten minutes to spare. Super simple :)

When I lined up in my corral I was very pleased to see that I was in the 3rd corral... I’ve never been that close to the front before! I saw that the 2:15 pace group was adjacent to me so I knew I was right where I wanted to be. My plan was to keep them within sight for the first 5-8 miles and then hopefully leave them behind.

The gun went off and so did we. To be honest, I hardly remember anything from the first several miles other than my calves felt tired. I had taken 800mg of Ibuprofen before leaving my hotel so my back wasn’t bothering me yet. I just kept my focus forward, paid attention to my pace, and tried to ease in to a steady rhythm. I would get a little ahead of the pace group every .95 miles, but then they’d catch back up to me while I walked; I was okay with that... it was reassuring that I was on track. I do remember that, within two miles, I was very thankful for wearing shorts and not capris! It had already gotten warm out there and I was sweating. So, at the first 30 minute fueling break I started in with the Endurolytes. After a four miles I felt that my body had warmed up and I was ready for a bit faster pace. I dropped down another 10 seconds or so per mile and was able to sustain it for the rest of the race. One notable exception was a fueling fumble that I’m still mad at myself about. Around mile 7 it was time for another gel and some Endurolytes. I opened my pouch, took what I needed, and kept running. Within a dozen or so seconds I realized that I was feeling rather light on my left side and when I looked down I discovered I’d forgotten to re-zip my pouch and all of my fuel/pills had fallen out on the road behind me! So not only did it cost me time but I had to run backwards; it was a sickening feeling. Although I was tempted to try and speed it up that mile to make up for the lost time, I knew that that act might doom my future miles so I just let it be. The other act that cost me time was having to refill my water bottles; because of the heat I was having to drink more than expected, but it was better to lose a little time getting water than to lose a lot of time from being dehydrated.

As we reached the stretch where we run through the army base I was suddenly flooded with memories of my first half-marathon. It was in August of 2006 and was the Rock n Roll half-marathon, which also takes place in VA Beach and uses parts of the same course. I thought back on how, back then, I had to use a run 5/walk 4 interval just to finish and had a final pace of over 13 minutes per mile. I had shuffled. I had gasped. And I had the biggest smile on my face when I finished because I accomplished something I never thought I could. And now, as I ran through the base, I reflected on how far I’ve come in so many ways. I now see myself as a runner. I work hard at it. I’ve shed my tortoise shell and can sustain mile paces in the single-digits. Yet, even with all of that outward improvement, the thrill of crossing a finish line after a hard effort is no less satisfying than it was on that first race. Every time I finish I prove to myself again that, given consistent effort, anything is possible.

With three miles to go, it started getting pretty tough. There were no more periods of shade, the sun was beating down on us, and we had a headwind the rest of the way. I really wanted to walk more. The little devil on my shoulder kept saying, “It’s okay Sherri... You’ve done well so far... It’s okay to rest now.”, but then thoughts of all the people in my life cheering for me would come to mind and I knew I couldn’t quit just yet. I had to see it through to the end as I’d planned.

Even though I was tired I decided not to walk again after 12 miles. I also decided to crank up the pace and lay it all out there. Mile 13 was run at a 9:33 pace and the final .1 (actually .24) was run at a 9:14 pace. When I crossed that finish line I threw my hands in the air, just as I’d done the first time I’d finished a half-marathon. I was elated, knowing that not only had my back held up for me but that I’d crushed my previous PR. I finished in 2:12:55, which is just shy of a 19 minute improvement. Wow. I couldn’t have asked for the day to go any better.

As I walked along and gathered my medal, finishers hat, and finishers t-shirt I took the time to savor the moment. All around me people were walking funny from tight muscles. People were pouring bottles of cold water over their necks. People were sprawled out in the grass trying to catch their breath. But, most of all, people were smiling. The pride they felt was evident, and I was right there with them. There really are few things in life that bring the same satisfaction that pushing your body to its limits can. It just makes you feel alive.

2009 Patriots Half Ironman

2009-09-12T21:27:00.006-05:00

Patriots Half (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) - Williamsburg, VA

It all started so innocently. Two months ago I was sitting in a restaurant with friends after a bike workout. We were chit-chatting about various things and the subject of Half Ironmans (Ironmen?) came up. A few of them had recently done one and they were talking about their experiences. Suddenly my mind started to float away.... “Could I do one? Nah.... That’s so beyond my level of ability. But wait, my training has been pretty consistent and long in duration. And I do have great friends to train with. And if not now, when? Hmmm....” One week later I found myself paying my entrance fee for the Patriots Half and reserving a non-refundable hotel room. A plan was in motion and there was no turning back.

As it was already the middle of summer, I had a shortened time period to officially prepare for the race. Most times you plan 5 or so months in advance; I had given myself less than two. The next seven weeks of training were demanding and hard, but time still seemed to fly by. Before I knew it, I was packing up my truck to head to Williamsburg. I love Williamsburg and go there several times a year anyway, so to take on this challenge in that city was extra sweet. The not-so-sweet part was that Grant was unable to come with me; a seven hour race with no adult supervision/company just wasn’t something I felt comfortable with. So, when I sent him off to school that morning, I gave him a big hug goodbye, promised I’d call him as soon as I finished, and promised to snuggle with Yortise (the stuffed tortoise Grant made for me years ago as homage to my racing alter ego) the night before the race for good luck.

The trip down was uneventful and I was checked in to my hotel by 6pm. The race site was hosting a pre-race event briefing at 6:30 so I hustled over there for the first glimpse of what awaited me in the morning. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement, but more on that later. During the briefing we were told that after we finished the swim we’d have a 1/4 mile run back to transition, running over rocks, tree roots, and other such things (all barefooted, mind you). You can imagine how well that went over with the crowd! We were then also told that the run course had been changed because of a boat hitting a pylon or something like that and we’d now be doing a bunch of loops; while I’m not a fan of loops, the one good things was that it allowed us to get on a shaded trail for a few miles. The main feeling I got from the briefing was that it seemed like a lot of the race was up in the air, and I could only hope that things would go smoothly the next day.

As for my disappointment, it was partly my fault. See, I fully expected that a race of this distance would be given the respect it deserves. A Half Ironman (aka: 70.3) takes many months of training and dedication, and deserves to be treated as a big deal. As such, I expected a nice expo with lots of 70.3 merchandise to choose from, a celebration-type atmosphere, a decent swag bag complete with a great t-shirt, etc. We had no expo, no 70.3 merchandise that could be purchased, a couple cheesy banners, and a swag bag that consisted of a (required) neon swim cap and a t-shirt that mentioned all three race distances from the weekend (half, olympic, and sprint). So, if I’d done the sprint distance, I still would have gotten the same shirt. H-U-G-E letdown. Bah humbug :(

Anyway, after the meeting I went back to the hotel to get ready for the next day. On the drive I noticed there was an Italian restaurant two blocks away so I walked over, enjoyed a nice pasta and vegetables dish, and then headed back to my room to lay everything out and try to get some sleep. Like most racers, I kept looking at my pile of stuff convinced I had forgotten something. For the life of me I couldn’t think of what it was so I finally decided my mind was just playing games on me and gave up trying to figure it out. I filled up my water bottles and prepared my gel flasks, laid out my racing clothes, and soon I was settled in with Yortise. I was paranoid that I was going to miss my alarm so I set TWO clocks as well as asked the front desk to call me! I finally fell asleep around 11:00, and when my alarm went off at 4:30 I felt very rested and ready for the day.

Getting ready was a breeze thanks to being organized but I still almost forgot some things. I was literally walking out of my room when I realized I’d forgotten my water bottles in the refrigerator! That would have been disastrous. I ran back to get them and did another quick look around. I still thought I was missing something but I couldn’t figure out what it was so I headed downstairs. It took a couple of trips to load the truck due to how much stuff I needed to bring, but I was on the road by 5:15 and by 5:45 I was setting up my transition area.

I had enough time to relax before the race that it allowed me to look for my friends that I knew were also there; some were spectating and some were racing. We all managed to eventually run in to each other, and we all had the same thoughts about the race’s downplaying of the 70.3 distance. It was nice to hear I wasn’t crazy in my expectations. However, we were still excited to take on the day, and even more so when we heard the announcement that they’d switched the direction of the swim. That meant no more ridiculous 1/4 mile run. Yay!

Before I knew it I heard the announcer encouraging people to start heading towards the beach and I realized I didn’t even have my wetsuit on! I quickly started the tug-of-war with it and a friend grabbed a photo of me in the process.

I made my way to the beach and got my first true look at the course. My first gut reaction was a good one... I wasn’t scared. It was the first time I’d looked at an open water triathlon distance and not felt a twinge of panic over how I’d do the distance. I owe it all to my training friends. I can’t give them enough thanks for all of the workouts we did together over the summer because it really made me ready for this challenge. The only thing that was a bit concerning was that there didn’t appear to be many buoys. I could see maybe 7 or 8, but for a 1.2 mile course that was NOTHING. I just hoped that when I was in the water they would be more visible.

The National Anthem was played and the swim waves started to form a queue. Can you find me? I'll give you a hint... I'm wearing a pink cap and waving my arm :)

I was in the third wave, and after the second wave was released we started making our way out to deeper water in preparation for the starter’s gun. As I was standing there, thinking about the excitement and challenge that awaited me, I felt my heart leap with anticipation. That’s when it hit me. My heart medication. I had forgotten to take my heart medication. In that instant I realized my day was officially in shambles.

To be continued...

Less than 48 hours now

2009-09-10T16:33:00.002-05:00

Wow, these past 8 weeks have flown by. Forty-eight hours from now my most challenging race ever will be over. Hard to believe.

Training has gone incredibly well. I don't mean to imply that it's been easy, because it certainly hasn't, but I have hit all of the major milestones as well as most of the middle-distance workouts. There were days where either my schedule didn't accommodate getting in a workout or I rested simply because my body told me it needed to, but feel adequately trained for this challenge.

I cannot say enough how blessed I am with friends who support and encourage me. Knowing that they are there (whether in person or online) to turn to for advice, accompany me for a workout, or just go out for a laugh has made this process undeniably easier and, more importantly, filled with many wonderful memories. On Saturday I will be racing not only to fulfill a dream of mine, but also as an expression of thanks for all they've given me.

Of course, my son continues to be my biggest champion. His unending support and belief in me is so humbling. There is hardly a workout that goes by that he doesn't wish me well and then ask me how it went. With him behind me, I truly believe I can accomplish anything. I am such a lucky Mom.

I have spent the day trying to stay focused on schoolwork but it's been quite a challenge. I had hoped to get to Williamsburg mostly done with my assignments, but it looks like I'll only be about half-way done. Oh well... I'll do the best I can with the time I have. My appetite has also been CRAZY these past few days. I have polished off an entire bag of Tostitos chips! My only explanation is that my body knows it's going to need the extra sodium and carbohydrates and is directing me to what to eat based on cravings. I'm trying to oblige without indulging too much. I don't want to put on weight just before a race and shoot myself in the foot!

The next time I write, I will be a Half Ironman. Not quite the same as hearing, "Sherri, you ARE an Ironman!" but I can't see myself ever tackling that distance so I'm going to be content with the half. Then again, I once said I'd never do a marathon. Or a Half Ironman. Needless to say, I've learned never to say never!

I'm just saying...

2009-08-13T07:47:00.005-05:00

MySpace Countdown Clocks

Just keep training, just keep training...

2009-07-22T18:34:00.003-05:00

My motto these days is "one foot in front of the other". Life seems chaotic at best, yet even though there's so much to do I find it hard to focus. It's part lack of desire, part feeling overwhelmed, and part fear of not doing everything well enough.

I'm now in the third semester of school. Once again, I aced my classes last semester; while that makes me feel great, I also feel like I'm setting myself up to be expected to get A's and will disappoint others (myself included) if I don't. I know, I know... I need to ease up on myself! This semester I'm studying two things I LOVE - sports nutrition and performance enhancement (skills/training... not drugs). I've especially been looking forward to the nutrition course as it's my second love, and so far I'm not disappointed :)

Marathon training is coming along. I'm at 12 miles for my long runs and it's amazing to me that I can think "Okay, I have 12 miles to do" and not feel completely freaked out. More accurately, it doesn't phase me at all. Sure it's still a challenge, but it's not nearly as intimidating as it used to be. My knee is completely healed too. I love my doctor!!! My trainees (or Sherri's Studs, as I call them ) are really hanging in there. It's so rewarding to watch people take charge of their lives, decide to do something healthy, recruit someone (me) to help them, and then listen to the advice that's given. I've seen many positive outcomes in my Studs so far and know that it's going to be very emotional for me watching them cross the finish line in a few months. I'm like a proud momma hen watching her chickadees leaving the nest.

My cross-training over summer has remained fairly consistent and I'm on the brink of taking on another new challenge. I somewhat can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm fairly certain I'll be signing up for a Half-Ironman (1.2 mile swim/56 mile bike/13.1 mile run) that's happening in September. That's a huge feat for me on any given level, let alone that it's only 7.5 weeks away and I haven't been officially training for it!! But, after talking with people I've been working out with and others who know me, it seems that my base of experience is strong enough to build on and they all agree that I could do it. I'm going to see how it goes swimming 1000M straight tomorrow, biking 2 hours on Friday, and running 13 miles on Saturday and then make my decision. I will admit to being awfully tempted by the task. Who'd have thought that a scant three years ago I was deep in training to run 13.1 miles? Now those same 13.1 miles would be the end of an even more monumental journey!

Holy crikey it's been a while!

2009-06-23T10:37:00.004-05:00

So much for my posting every week - LOL! Looks like it's been about three months since I last updated everyone. So much has happened in that time so let me get you caught up with a condensed version (shocking for me, I know....):

I finished my first semester with flying colors and got all A's. I then enjoyed a luxurious five week break where I soaked up every opportunity for fun and exercise outings. I had some really great adventures (mostly on the bike) and am thankful for those opportunities to just relax and play. However, I'm now back to the grind. This summer I'm taking two semesters back to back and am once again feeling the time pressures. I'm mostly trying to figure out how to handle the demands of school while entertaining a child who is on summer vacation and dying for someone to play with. That really tugs at my heart-strings.

My knee problems are mostly gone. Yay! Healing it was a combination of no running (well, no land running... I did aqua jogging 2-3 times a week) for about 7 weeks and finding a great doctor to fix what caused the overuse injury. Even though I'm "healed" I'm going to continue doing my speedwork in the water in lieu of on the ground, both because it's incredibly effective as well as to continue protecting my knees. I will do two "ground runs" twice a week though as I know I need to acclimate my body for the demands of race day.

On the topic of running, marathon season has begun. I'm training for the Marine Corps Marathon on October 25 and not only has my training begun but I'm also training 7 others to help them through this process. I absolutely love being a trainer and am thankful on so many levels for the chance to make a living doing what I enjoy and believe in. I get to meet great people, help them achieve their goals, encourage a healthier lifestyle, and have fun in the process. There's really not much more I could ask for in a job.

I think that's it in a nutshell. I'm still anxiously awaiting the release of the Garmin 310XT (aka: the triathletes dream!). As some of you remember, my Garmin 305 split wide open back in March and died. Well, SuperGlue seems to have revived it! It is still in a very precarious state and I don't know how long it will hang on like this, but for now at least it is still getting satellite reception and recording my workouts so I'm breathing a little easier. Rest assured though that the moment I can get the 310 it will be on my wrist :)

Run to Register 10K - Race Report

2009-03-28T11:59:00.022-05:00

Talk about total opposites! That's what this race was compared to my Backyard Burn a few weeks ago. In short, I don't think today could have gone much better.

I'll get to the full report in a minute, but first a slight bit of history... Beginning last Sunday I made a decision to start getting up at 5a.m. so that I could hopefully get back on track with being consistent with my workouts. I had a tough time with it since I prefer to be nocturnal, but I will admit with chagrin that my days have been more productive and I have, indeed, gotten in more workouts this week than I have in a long time. I mention this new addition to my life because it had an unanticipated benefit for me - when I had to get up for my race at 5:15 it was no big deal! It wasn't easy, but it wasn't the sleep-deprived, bleary-eyed mess that it usually is on a race morning. I took a leisurely shower, took my time getting dressed, wandered around the house, made some hot tea, and still arrived at the meeting point ten minutes early.

I ran this race with four other running buddies (and one spouse). We had all pledged to run the Marine Corps Marathon this October so we decided to do this race first to solidify our commitment (upon completion of this race you're given a code for early MCM registration). Ursla, Frannie, Yvonne, and Chantel have been in my life pretty consistently since last summer and we've continued to train with each other as often as possible. However, this is the first race that all of us would be doing together. The missing musketeer from our crew - Jess - is currently 8 months pregnant and, though a stud who still runs as much as possible, 6 miles is a little too much for her at this point. She is planning on running MCM with us though... at only 5.5 months post-partum!

In typical fashion, the weather was the unknown factor. It had rained all night long and the forecast was for periods of showers during the day. It was also right at that in-between temperature for clothing - upper 40's can mean anything from shorts to tights and short-sleeves to long-sleeve with jacket, all dependent upon how much wind there is, if it will be sunny or overcast, etc. I had worn a short-sleeve shirt and capris to the race site but had also packed a long-sleeve shirt and a jacket. If it rained I'd throw on the jacket, and if it was breezy I'd change to the long-sleeve. As it turned out, when we reached the race site it wasn't raining but it was overcast AND breezy, so I put on my long-sleeve shirt under my short-sleeved one!

Not long after we got there, Ursla, her husband Teddy, and their three kids pulled in to the lot. Perfect timing for a group picture!

We made our way to the starting point after a bit of chit-chat and arrived just as they were sending off the first half of the racers. We had kind of talked ahead of time about what our plans were for the race and I was a bit terrified to hear that some of them were shooting for under an hour. Our usual pace when we run together is around 11-11:30, and under an hour is a 9:39 pace. Ack! My current 10K PR is 1:09:00 and I decided that my goal was to come in at 1:05 or less. That would put me at around a 10:30 pace, which would still be challenging but not so fast that it might wreck the entire race (a la the Backyard Burn, where I was just plain stupid at the start). I also wanted to run the entire race if possible. My current furthest-ever distance without a walk break was 2.4 miles so I knew 6.2 miles was a long shot but I thought it was a good goal to keep in sight.

This was Teddy's first 10K and so Ursla planned to stay with him. Frannie and Yvonne planned to shoot for the 1-hour mark, so they would be running together. Chantel met another friend of hers (Anne Marie) at the race and the two of them would stick together, and I planned to keep up as best as I could and flit between everyone like a little butterfly. For the first mile or so we were all within shouting distance of each other, but slowly I could see Yvonne and Frannie getting further and further ahead. They both looked really strong and I knew they had a good chance of making their goal. As we hit 2.41 miles and I still hadn't taken a walk break I shouted out, "Hey, a new PD - personal distance - for me. Woohoo!!!" I got congrats from all of my friends :)

I was feeling surprisingly strong and was starting to think that making it the full 6.2 miles might not be that impossible. Chantel, Anne Marie, Ursla, Teddy and I stayed with each other until around mile 3, but that's when Teddy started lagging a bit so Ursla stayed back with him.

The remaining three of us continued to plod ahead and had now reached the section of the course that was on the trail (it went approx. 3 miles pavement, 2 miles trail, 1.2 miles pavement). I'm used to running trails so I wasn't concerned... and was actually disappointed more of the course wasn't in the woods... but boy what a surprise was in store for us. The downpour of rain from the night before made an absolute mess out of the trail and exponentially added difficulty to the run. The mile from 3-4 sucked the life out of my legs and so I bid farewell to Chantel and Anne Marie at that point and decided to walk a bit. I could hardly believe it when I turned the corner and saw not only a challenging hill but even worse mud. No lie, our feet would sink down it to it so that the mud came over the tops of our shoes. It was ridiculous and most people gave up even trying to run because no sooner would you plant your foot to run than it would slip out from under you. I was so mad because, up until that point, I actually had a shot of coming in under an hour. I was ahead of my 1:05 goal by a few minutes and knew that I could have run strong again after a short walk break. As it was, I ended up having to walk almost 1/2 mile due to the stupid mud. When I checked Garmin post-race, that mud cost me over 3 minutes extra during that mile. Grrrr.

Once we came out of the mud... I mean trail... and back on to pavement I stomped my feet as hard as I could to get rid of the weighty mud, ran through a couple of puddles to help wash it off, and took off as fast as I could to try to regain as much time as possible. I could see Chantel and Anne Marie about 1/10 of a mile in front of me but I knew I couldn't catch them in only a mile. As long as I could keep them in my sights though, I'd be happy.

Mercifully, most of the last stretch was on a downhill. There was a slight uphill at one point, and some flat spots, but it made for a pretty easy finish. As I came around the final corner and entered the stadium I happened to look up and I saw bunny ears. Bunny ears? There's only one person I know that wears bunny ears to a race and that's Jess. JESS!!! She showed up to surprise us and boy did she ever. She was waiting with camera in hand to take pictures of us as we came to the finish and I think the look on my face says it all.

I really wanted to stop to hug her but I was running for a PR and knew there was no time to waste so I kept going as fast as I could. As I rounded the final corner to the timing mats I saw Frannie, Chantel, and Anne Marie all standing there cheering for me too. It was such an awesome feeling to be supported by friends like that :)

I crossed the mats in 1:05:47, over 3 minutes faster than my previous PR. Had it not been for the mud, it would have been an even better PR.

Mile 1 - 9:45

Mile 2 - 9:56

Mile 3 - 10:10

Mile 4 - 10:33

Mle 5 - 13:42

Mile 6 - 9:20

.26 - 8:46

After I crossed I waited with the others for Ursla and Teddy. Within a matter of minutes we saw Ursla coming around the corner, and shortly thereafter Teddy did too. Not only was this Teddy's furthest-ever distance but it was also his first-ever trail run. It wiped him out but he finished it strong. It was so cute seeing how proud their kids were of them. What great role models they are for taking care of themselves :)

Once everyone was together we went and found Jess. Lots of hugs were given and we couldn't get the smiles off of our faces. The day was now complete with her there. We had her take a few photos of the group, and then I asked her to take a picture of our shoes and legs. I think they tell the story the best!

We bid goodbye to Urs and family in the parking lot and then the rest of us headed to Panera to get some food. For the next hour we kept reliving the race and were on such a high because it really had been a fantastic day for all of us. We all ran strong, we finished within minutes of each other, and it made us look forward to the marathon training that lies ahead. We know it will be hard, and there are bound to be obstacles and difficult times, but the memories we're going to build will be so worth the effort.

On a sad note, I have to report the death of a dear friend. My beloved Garmin passed away shortly after the race ended. He took an unfortunate drop to the ground and, instead of just brushing it aside like he usually does, he split wide open. Guts and parts were displayed for all to see.

Garmin has been with me through thick and thin since I first began seriously running in 2006, and I have come to depend on him every step of the way. He's been with me on most training runs, seen me through every race I've ever run, and has provided the constant guidance, feedback and support that I needed during the events. True to his supportive history, he coughed up the data from my final race before taking his dying breath. Farewell old friend... you will be missed.

Race Report - PWFP 10-mile Backyard Burn

2009-03-09T21:04:00.014-05:00

The race can easily be summed up with the following:

I came. I saw. I succumbed.

It was an ugly spectacle on my part... probably the worst race I've ever had. By mile two I realized that my legs weren't waking up, and around mile 7 I mentally had had enough and just wanted to sit on a log and cry. However, I'm just not that kind of girl so I made myself keep moving. I was angry, bewildered, humbled, and so many other emotions. The day just did not turn out how I had envisioned it would. In hindsight, there are several factors that I think contributed to my demise - I only had 4 hours of broken sleep the night before, it was a much hotter than average day (in the 70's and we were used to the 40's), it started on a downhill and I let myself get carried away with my pace, we had over 3700 feet of climbing (see picture below), I miscalculated my fueling, and I'm sure several other things. In the end the best thing I can say is that I finished. And I wasn't last.

The photographer did take a cool picture of me though. This was about a mile before the finish and I was faking it with all my might to look like I wasn't about to collapse. (this is the proof from the race site... when I receive the copy I ordered I'll update it)

Anyway, it was a pretty humiliating experience and I'm glad it's over with. I know every runner has bad days but it just sucks when a bad day also happens to be a race day.

My next race is on March 28. I'll be doing a 10K with a bunch of girlfriends and I plan to have much better news next time around!

Spring break!!!!!!

2009-03-02T21:40:00.005-05:00

Ahhhhhhhhhhh..................

I'll say it again. Ahhhhhhhhhh...................

That's the sound of me exhaling out 7 weeks of stress. I'm on spring break this week and it is heavenly. Today was day one and I spent an entire hour this afternoon lying on my bed, face up, sun shining on me, doing absolutely nothing but staring at the ceiling, smiling, and relishing in the fact that I had no pressing deadlines of papers or quizzes looming on the horizon. The day was made even better by the fact that my son had the day off of school due to the snow storm so we took our free time and went sledding!

The winds were really brutal this morning so we decided to wait a bit for it to die down, but when we went around 3:00 it still was blowing quite hard (as you can see). Grant was actually kind of mopey about going because he friends, who were going to join us, had to bail at the last minute and somehow that convinced him he wouldn't have a good time. Hello! I'm fun! :) And indeed, once we made our first run down the hill he was all smiles and having a blast. He said over and over how glad he was that we went there. I keep hoping that one day he'll learn allowing yourself to go on adventures - big and small - can lead to really great memories if you just give it a chance.

I'm hoping to take this free week to get in some quality exercise. My bike is calling to me and there's a great 90 minute Spinnerval DVD that takes you through the roads of Maryland during the peak of fall. I might have to break that out and give it a go. This weekend is my 2nd race of the year - a 10 mile trail run through the park I sampled a couple of weeks ago. If the snow hasn't completely thawed, or if everything has turned to mud and muck, things could get very interesting on the downhills!

I'm also using the downtime to be as social as possible. I went out last Thursday with some NVR folks (okay, that wasn't "technically" break, but it was on the horizon and the thought of it was powering me through the final few days), and I'm going out on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday this week. As a dear friend would say, I'm sucking all the marrow out of this bone!

It occurred to me the other day that marathon training season isn't that far away. My consistency with running has been hit or miss since school started so I really need to get on that so that I'm averaging at least 25 miles a week. If I can focus on one hour a day for me to exercise I'll be fine. That's an easy 5-6 miles of running, or 15+ miles of bike, or weights and yoga, or a combination of other things. I just need to set a priority and stick with it. Wait, that's what I'll do... set one hour every day and do it no matter what I'm engrossed in (within reason, of course). Hmmm, there needs to be some consequence if I don't live up to my schedule. I don't have much to give up because I've already given up two loves for Lent - sweets and my daily diet soda. Maybe Facebook. I'd have to stay off Facebook. Or Lexulous. Wait, that's crazy talk... I'd go insane without that mind-numbing distraction. Must.Think.More. In the mean time, if you have any ideas feel free to shoot me an email!

Life is never boring

2009-02-23T21:44:00.003-05:00

Life is still busy but still never boring. One of the things that has made it so interesting lately is the addition of masters swimming. Not only is my swim technique getting better but I've met some really fun people. I've already gone out with them once and we're doing something again this week. I always have a blast being around people who enjoy fitness, especially those who are up for adventures. Life's too short to play it safe.

Speaking of adventures, I tried a new trail this past weekend. I have a race there in a few weeks so I thought I should preview the course. I was expecting it to be pretty bland since I'd heard it was mostly fire road but I pleasantly surprised. It was a lot of single-track trail, decent climbs, and a really interesting section of twists that went right by some baby waterfalls. It was definitely worth the drive to get there.

School is school. I've resigned myself to having a half-existence until I finish my degree in December. It will continue to cut in to my time with family and friends, but I'm still loving what I'm learning. Really loving it, actually. My son maintains his steadfast support of my endeavor and is always cheering me on from the sidelines. His belief in me bolsters my spirit and conviction to continue on no matter how hard it is.

I think the last I wrote I was going to see an ART chiropractor. I'm happy to say he's mostly fixed my knees! Now only one of them hurts, and it's only very slightly. I'm amazed how quickly he made progress :) In fact, he's instilled in me so much confidence in his abilities that I may actually let him try to fix my back. I had given up hope of anyone ever making it better but now I have a glimmer of hope again...

Lastly, today I had a cardio assessment done at Lifetime Fitness. Basically they strapped me in to a Hannibal Lecter-ish mask and made me run on the treadmill until I wanted to puke.

If you look closely, you can see me sticking my tongue out at you :)

It was all for a good cause though as I got really cool information such as what my workout zones are, how many calories I'd burn per minute in each zone, my aerobic threshold, and what my Peak VO2 is. All of this will help me tailor my workouts to achieve whatever goals I set for myself. And, I was thrilled to see that my Peak VO2 is literally off the chart for my age group (and even for people 10 years younger than me!) and my recovery heart rate falls even above the "excellent" category. Not too shabby if I do say so myself :)

Still here, still busy

2009-02-04T00:47:00.002-05:00

No update last week because really, there wasn't anything to report. School is still kicking my ass and I'm spending upwards of 40+ hours a week on it. I swear I don't know how people who work full-time are able to keep up with the demands of obtaining a masters in an accelerated program (1 year). My latest night so far? 4am last Saturday. It was crunch time and I needed (yes, needed) to get most of my work done to ensure I'd be able to watch the Super Bowl. I was able to finally get some sleep and watched a fantastic game. Not the outcome I had wanted, but an amazing performance by both teams nonetheless.

I now have myself in some sort of scholastic rhythm. We get our weekly assignments on Monday and I enter it all in to my iCal so it's with me wherever I go. For example, this week I have almost 200 pages to read from three different books or PDF's; three video lectures; two research-based discussion questions (one requiring multiple citations from peer-reviewed journals); and three quizzes. And this is a pretty normal workload.

My hairdresser said my grays are multiplying.

It's funny... my regret and frustration isn't so much that there's a ton of work, it's that I don't have more time to delve in to it. I'm LOVING what I'm learning but it seems to be going by so fast that I'm prohibited from exploring even further in to the material. If I were to do that, I'd never sleep. As it is, I've given up on eating right and maintaining an semblance of an exercise routine. Hopefully that will come back soon.

Anyway, I'm trying to get organized on Monday (writing down assignments, printing out necessary materials, etc.) and start reading for at least one of my classes. Tuesdays are spent researching for the most intensive of the discussion questions. Wednesday is "finish the discussion questions" day, and I may or may not let them sit overnight to take another look on Thursday before posting; it depends on my frustration level. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday consist of reading and studying and Saturday/Sunday is quiz day. And then it all begins again on Monday. What takes the longest is reading. I can whip through a 200 page murder mystery or comical fluff in a few hours but this medical stuff takes a few days. Every week is getting a little better though and I'm believing that it will continue on that course.

As I mentioned earlier, my exercise has really gone down the tubes. Last week I got in exactly one workout. One. Blech. At least it was a good one though (2400M of swimming, which is the furthest I've ever done). I've resolved to do at least four this week. I got some cycling in yesterday, and tomorrow will be running. Speaking of that, since my knees flared up a little bit after my last long run I decided to make an appointment with our local ART doctor and will be seeing him tomorrow. He's also a marathoner/triathlete so I've got confidence in his abilities. We'll be videotaping me running to analyze my gait thoroughly. I'm really interested in hearing what he might have to say about all of this because PT said no ITB and orthopedist said no stress fracture. Hmmm.....

Icicles galore!

2009-01-19T15:30:00.007-05:00

Yes, those are really icicles on my hair and eyelashes. That's what running in -2 degrees will do to you :)

I have a 10-mile race coming up in about 7 weeks and my training schedule called for 8 miles. It didn't care that it was -2 degrees outside; when you've got to run, you've got to run. Since I've come to loathe the treadmill, and I knew that at least two of my buddies would be showing up for our usual Saturday morning run, I headed out to the Battlefields at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning. I was surprised, and delighted, to see that we had over 20 people show up to run. Now that's hard core!

Even though it was technically well below freezing, it was a surprisingly pleasant run. I had bundled up in two pairs of pants, two shirts, a wind breaker jacket, heavy gloves, and a balaclava. The only parts of me that got cold were my fingers and my butt; it seems that no matter what I do my butt always goes numb when the temps are below 25. My next step is to put warming packets back there ;)

I did most of the 8+ miles with three girlfriends (one had to ditch after 5) and it was fantastic. We kept marveling at, truly, how easy of a time we were having. We were expecting it to be very hard to get ourselves to do the run but the time flew by and before we knew it we were running up the last hill. I did notice that I needed more fuel and water than usual; I pondered why that was and, after some research, came to the conclusion it's because my body was using more energy than normal to keep my body warm so it didn't have as much energy to spend on keeping me running. Thank goodness I brought an extra Hammer gel!

This past week was also my first week of school. I am thoroughly enjoying the material I'm learning, but I've found my biggest challenge thus far is organization. I'm so afraid that I'm going to overlook something that I'm responsible for completing, or misunderstand what it is I'm supposed to do, and once the end of the week comes we're cut off... no going back to complete missed assignments from previous modules (which run from Monday morning to Sunday evening). All three courses require a lot of work, and this week we start answering discussion questions (that take a lot of research and citing of peer-reviewed information). So, on that note, I'm going to get off of Blogger and get back to my schoolwork :)

And so it begins...

2009-01-12T09:02:00.003-05:00

I'm sure most of you have heard the saying, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." Well, that certainly feels appropriate today. It's the first day of graduate school, and the first step towards a completely new life and career. Not many people are given the opportunity to change fields in their professional life that allows them to study and do something they truly love. I'm really fortunate in that sense. I will admit that after looking over my textbooks I'm a bit intimidated. Hell, I'm a lot intimidated. This is going to be extremely hard, as medical terminology seems to slip easily from my mind, but I know that if I stay focused and disciplined I'll be able to do it. It will give me a good chance to practice all of those "it's hard, so try harder" lessons that I preach to my son when he's struggling with something. Ugh... it really does come back and bite us in the ass sometimes, doesn't it?! :)

This past week was pretty awful when it came to workout quantity but, in terms of quality, it rocked. I had my first masters swimming class and oy!, was I sore the next day. Nothing like hearing, "Okay, now four sets of 50 using only your legs and keep your arms at your side. Go!" I also had a GREAT run on Saturday. The mileage was mildly respectable - 8.25 - but what made it a great run is that I had absolutely no knee pain as a result of the run. It's the first time in two months I can say that. Ironically, I finally have my appointment with the orthopedist this afternoon. As tempted as I am to just bag it, it's probably best to still have some x-rays done to be sure all is truly healed and it wasn't a fluke.

2009 New Year's Resolution 5K

2009-01-05T14:39:00.020-05:00

What a great way to start the New Year! Grant and I decided to register for this race as a way to celebrate the start of 2009 as well as his impending birthday (the race was the 4th, his birthday is the 5th). We both got a great night's sleep the night before and, when I woke him at 6:15 a.m., he was ready to get moving. He dressed in the cold-weather running gear I had given him for Christmas (it was 25 degrees) and had a quick breakfast. While he was getting set I snuck back to my room to grab the iPod shuffle I had bought him the week before. See, Grant has a bad streak going of losing/misplacing his iPod nano in random ways so my hope was that by having an iPod that actually clips to his body it would invoke SuperGlue-like powers. The caveat is that I only let him use it when we run together; this is to exponentially increase the SuperGlue effectiveness ;) Anyway, I had decided that I'd let him use it for this race as a great inaugural memory and surprised him with it once we were in the truck. He was quite tickled.

We pulled in to the race site with plenty of time to get our bib numbers and stretch. I was pleasantly surprised by how many people I knew there and was able to chat the time away. Before I knew it we were all heading outside to start the race. I told Grant he should line up close to the front (based on how I was anticipating he'd do) and I would line up more towards the middle. His previous PR was 27 and change, and mine was 32:44. With all of the training I'd done in 2008 I was hoping to shave off enough time to get below 30 minutes. Grant hadn't been training, per se, but he'd been running 2x week with his school's walking/jogging club as well as an easy run once a week with me. Plus, much to my chagrin, he has a natural talent for this sport and seems to excel with very little effort. He said his goal was 35 minutes but I knew there was no way that would happen... I didn't think he'd beat his old PR but I would have been shocked if I came in before him.

We all sang the National Anthem and then took off. As I suspected, when I rounded the first turn I saw Grant on the opposite side of me, running smooth and easy and not looking any worse for wear. I had no doubt he'd do great. And, it seemed that he'd found another kid right around his age to run with so that made me happy (it turned out that they stuck together for the entire run too).

I knew that I wanted to run harder than I ever had before, but I hadn't decided if I'd be taking any walk breaks. By talking to my FitMom friends I was told that I was if I was truly pushing myself I'd probably feel like I wanted to throw-up. I kept an eye on Garmin to make sure I wasn't going too fast and actually had to dial myself back in a bit initially (I was in the mid 7's when I wanted to be in the mid-8's (my training pace is usually mid-9's to 10)). After 1/2 mile I started feeling a little nauseous but because of their warning I wasn't surprised; however, I did question whether I could maintain that feeling for the rest of the race (I hadn't expected it to hit so early) so I decided to walk a little bit. My HR dropped down some, and once I felt less queazy I started running again (note to self: must work on running while wanting to puke). I eventually fell in with a pack of runners that were maintaining the pace I wanted to be at and hung with them as best I could. I had never done that before so that was pretty cool for me!

I continued my run/walk pattern until around 2.5 miles and then I decided to give it all I had. It was very motivating to pass people down the stretch as they were fading and I was tapping in to the last of my reserves. As I came around the final curve I saw Grant, with his finishers medal around his neck, waiting for me. I yelled out a "Way to go!" as I passed him and he turned to run me in. I had been keeping an eye on my Garmin and knew that not only was I going to make my goal of 30 minutes but I had a good shot at coming in under 29 minutes... possibly 28. Looking at the clock, I knew that if I kicked it hard I could make it. What really spurred me on was the sound of pounding footsteps behind me; that meant someone was also deciding to try and find their wings. I caught a glimpse of a large male silhouette starting to pass me and I kicked it in gear. He got about two steps in front of me and then I began gaining ground. As we came to the timing chip mats I stretched out as far as I could and, like a photo finish at a horse race, I beat him by a nose (okay, by half a step). I hit my Garmin stop button a second or two later, looked down, and saw 27:59. I'd done it... I'd come in under 28. Wow. Grant was waiting for me just outside the finishing ropes with a bottle of water in hand. We took a quick picture of the two of us and then headed inside to cool-down.

Once inside we grabbed a bagel and a banana, found a spot to stretch, and then started the wait for the awards ceremony. After a few minutes I noticed a crowd over in the corner of the gym and I went to investigate; it turned out the first couple pages of results had been posted. Ah-ha... that explained it. Grant quickly found his name and discovered he'd run the distance in 23:30 and won his age group!!! This was his first time winning a running-only race :) I'd run the course in 27:57 and placed FIFTH in my age group!!! I've NEVER placed that high before and was THRILLED. Sure, it was a small local race and yes, a lot of people don't come out when it's this cold so there wasn't much competition, but still... I was in the single digits :)

Here's a picture of Grant receiving his 1st place plaque:

As we were preparing to leave a man stopped me and told me what a good competitor Grant was. I told him thank you, but then he followed up with, "I don't mean just his talent for running. I was near him the whole time and he was always encouraging other people and patting them on the back. He's a really good sport." That made me so proud :)

We went to IHOP afterwards for a yummy breakfast. Grant got some carmel/pecan/whipped topping pancake creation and I had crepes with chocolate and bananas. And, of course, we got some bacon. And eggs. And hot chocolate. We did it right! The cutest part of the day was when a woman approached our table. Apparently her young son had also done the race and recognized Grant when we came in. He wanted to come talk to Grant but was too shy so he asked his Mom to pass on his congratulations. THAT got Grant's attention and he got his first glimpse in to stardom (which led to some good discussions about being extra-careful regarding his conversations, actions, etc. since more people would be watching him and he needed to set a good example). If he chooses to continue with running and triathlons he could be very, very good at them. But, he's going to have to start working harder. As of today - his birthday - he's now bumped up in to the next age group and this is the age where hard work will beat talent if talent doesn't work hard. My gut says that this will always be a recreational hobby for him and that he'll train enough to finish without dying but not hard enough to win against the big dogs. I think basketball will be the sport he chooses to pursue. Then again, I've been wrong before....

(As a post-script, after checking with a few people I know who also ran the race to verify what I saw on my Garmin, it looks like the course was a little short. All of us had it measured at 3.0 instead of 3.1. So, in an effort to keep an accurate record of my PR's, if I add in the extra distance that would have made my time 28:52. I'm still very happy with that and it gives me an honest PR to work towards breaking!)

An update

2009-01-01T17:07:00.006-05:00

Wow, so much has happened since I last wrote! I'll try to keep this succinct:

I recovered pretty well from the marathon. In fact, I felt so good that I ignored conventional wisdom about post-marathon recovery and, in the next three weekends, I ran 5 miles, then 8 miles, and then 12 miles. And then my knees screamed ENOUGH! and sidelined me for over a month. Oops. I guess I wasn't as healed as I thought. There were no twinges or pains until it was too late, so it's not like I was pushing through pain, but it's still been a bummer and a hard lesson learned. All of that happened in October.
The injury has forced me to revisit cross-training, so that's been a silver lining. As of January I'm back to doing easy runs twice a week, and I've also added cycling 1-2x a week, strength training 2-3x a week, yoga 1-2x a week, and 1x/week masters swimming starts next Thursday. Re-reading that it sounds like a lot, and I guess it is, but I often do some in the morning and some in the afternoon/evening so it doesn't feel overwhelming; I rarely workout more than an hour at a time these days. Of course, when marathon training starts again, that will change!
Speaking of marathon training, I've started registering for my 2009 races. I'm going to focus on fun and adventure this year for the most part. I'll be doing shorter trail races, a trail half-marathon, and an obstacle-filled (mud pits, rope climbs, etc.) 4-miler on a Marine base. I'm also planning to do two or three triathlons, and the pinnacle of the year will be the Marine Corps Marathon in October.
Lastly, I've decided that this fascination and love I have with endurance sports and nutrition isn't going anywhere so I might as well dive in to the deep end. I've applied to graduate school to further study this field and, eventually, hope to develop a career in it. I should hear sometime during the 2nd week of January if I was accepted.

So, a lot of exciting things are happening in my life currently. Updates will be coming from me more often, as my New Year's resolution is to write a blog update every Monday. Like life, tackling little bits at a time isn't nearly as overwhelming as one large looming monster :)

See you on the 5th!

2008 Twin Cities Marathon

2008-10-09T15:47:00.031-05:00

It’s hard for me to know where to start this race report. There are so many reasons and events that led up to this pivotal moment in my life that I feel like I should dedicated it to someone or something, but it all kind of melds together. I guess in a sense that makes me a very blessed person... Not everyone has the love and support that I do. So, before I get in to the nitty-gritty details, I need to give some shout-outs:

To my husband and son - For their constant encouragement, pride in me, food waiting for me after long-runs, quietness so I could sleep and recover, massages when needed, and understanding of all the running paraphernalia that has taken over my life.

To my weekend running buddies - Without your friendship, laughter, and encouragement those miles and miles of long runs would have been miserable. You not only helped me get those miles done, but you also made me look forward to them.

To the other members of my running group - You’ve shown me a side of running that I never knew before this year. You all have enriched my life and lightened my heart. Thank you for sharing of yourselves.

To my FitMom friends - I can’t even describe how much my life has changed these past three years because of you. Had it not been for all of your support, encouragement, words of wisdom, and love I probably would have given up on running a l-o-n-g time ago. You have forever changed the course of my life.

And finally, to my cardiologist, Dr. Del Negro - You are my hero. After two years of frustration and lack of answers I finally found you. You took me seriously, didn’t dismiss me or my symptoms, and worked with me to find the cause and the solution. Without you in my life I never would have taken on the marathon. I ran this race in honor of you.

Okay, on to the race...

I flew out Friday afternoon to meet up with nine ladies on my FitMom’s board, as well as a couple of their friends who were joining us too. The flights were uneventful other than a very bumpy landing on the first leg of the journey. When you're already a bundle of nerves, this is the last thing you want to have happen! My connecting flight ended up being delayed about 30 minutes, which meant I ended up landing in Minnesota around 5pm. I was the second FitMom to land, and the rest came in like domino’s; no sooner did we walk to a baggage claim to pick one up than another one landed and by 6:15 we were all assembled and ready to go get some dinner!

Yvette (our host for the weekend) had planned ahead and made us reservations at an Italian restaurant in the Mall of America. If you’ve never been there before, it is QUITE the mall. Stores and stores as far as the eye can see. If you can't find what you want or need at MOA, I'd venture a guess that it's not available anywhere!

Once we got settled in our seats we got down to the business at hand... food! The funny thing with this dinner is that most of us were coming in from different time zones. So, depending on who you talked to, it felt like anywhere from 5:30 to 8:30. I was an “8:30” person so I was so hungry I was eating every bread crumb in sight until my food arrived. I'm usually a pretty conservative eater but I decided to be adventurous that night and try something new. I ordered the butternut squash ravioli with apple cider cream sauce and it was one of the most amazing dishes I’ve eaten in a long time. Had I not been surrounded by friends, you might have caught me licking my plate clean.

After dinner we headed to what would become our home for the next three days. Yvette’s parents live in MN and have a large house and they graciously offered to let us all stay there. It was SO much fun doing it this way because we could see everyone when we wanted to or get away for some solitude if we felt we needed some space to ourselves. We all kind of wandered around at first checking out our options... Did you want upstairs or in the basement? Air bed or regular mattress? Room by yourself or a large floor with three others? In the end it was divided as follows: upstairs it was Sonya and Lenora (who showed up the next day) in a room, Val and me in a room, and Rachel and Shel in a room, and downstairs it was Cydnee, Em, and Yvette on the basement floor and Julie tucked away by herself in the office (she likes her solitude!).

Friday night I tossed and turned all night long. It wasn’t from nerves or from excitement. It was because our room was about 45 degrees and I was trying to warm up! When we went to bed that night we had tried to close the windows but discovered one of the cranks refused to turn. We didn't think too much of it because during the day it let in a refreshing breeze, but we quickly learned that at night it turned down-right chilly. I think I even had icicles hanging off my eyelashes when I woke up ;) Needless to say, when we got up on Saturday morning, fixing that window became priority number one!

After a quick breakfast we all hopped in the cars and headed over to the race expo to pick up our packets, do some shopping, and meet up with FitMom Heather and her friend Kelsey. Getting my race number was a surreal moment, mixed with excitement, anticipation, and the feeling of “Ah crud, what have I gotten myself in to?!?!?!”

After the packet, I browsed around a bit looking at the possible souvenirs. I knew I'd be getting a "finishers" shirt so I was going to bypass getting anything that referenced the marathon. However, as I was browsing the marathon-branded paraphernalia I happened to run in to Cydnee and shared with her my thoughts. She kindly said, "Oh no, that's what I did last year at my first marathon and I really regretted it." That changed my mind right quick! I ended up with a really cool blue long-sleeve shirt (that, ironically, Cydnee bought too except in pink). I also picked up a poster that had the race’s logo and information on it; every time I tackle a new distance or event (1/2 marathon, sprint triathlon, etc.) I get a poster from the event and hang it up in my workout room at home. I had contemplated ordering it ahead of time so I wouldn’t have to deal with toting it back home, but instead I came up with a great idea... I bought the poster there and had all my FitMom friends sign it! Now it will be extra special :)

As we were preparing to leave the expo we met up with Heather and Kelsey. Heather is the mom-hero of the board because she has SEVEN kids and yet still finds time to enjoy life, train for a marathon, and keep a happy disposition. And, amazingly, it’s not like her kids are ignored as a result of it... they’re all still taken care of and well adjusted. What a superstar! We took the opportunity to pose for a group photo before we all headed off in different directions.

After the expo we said goodbye to Heather and Kelsey and then split in to two groups - the shoppers (who went back to Mall of America) and the non-shoppers (who went back to the house to rest). I was a non-shopper and spent all Saturday afternoon with my feet up reading a book. I even took a little catnap to make up for my lack of sleep the night before. I had hesitated in doing that because I was afraid it would keep me from falling asleep that night but, as Em said, I wasn't going to be getting much sleep anyway so why not take advantage of it that afternooon?! Ahhh, a girl after my own nap-loving heart :)

When the “shoppers” came home we started preparations for dinner. We decided on pasta with grilled chicken, sauce, bread, and green beans. We weren’t trying to carbo-load to the point of excess, but we definitely wanted to be sure the majority of our meal had carbs in it. We knew what was lying ahead of us the next day and had no doubt we’d need the energy.

Oh yes, Lenora also pointed out that no pre-race carb-loading was complete without cake and she had thoughtfully picked up a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting for us all to indulge with. Did I tell you these girls were awesome or what?

The last item of business for the evening was getting ready for the race. This involves pinning your number on your race shirt, laying everything out (so, at a bleary-eyed 5:30 in the morning you’re not counting on remembering everything you’ll need), preparing any drinks or food you’ll be taking with you, etc. The pinning and mixing was no problem, but I have decided that this race shall forever be known as “The Great Wardrobe Debate”. Keeping your body at just the right temperature while you race can prove to be crucial, and for the past week the weather forecast kept changing which left us in limbo about what to pack and wear. By far the most common question of that day was, "What are you going to wear?", and was often followed by, "I don't know, what are you going to wear?" Most of us had packed everything from shorts to long-sleeves and gloves so now it was just deciding which clothes would become The Chosen Ones.

As we continued to watch the forecast predictions all day long, no matter how much we willed it to change every weather forecaster, website, and even Julie’s personal meteorologist all said the same thing... “Sorry, but it’s going to be rainy and cold tomorrow”. The only thing that changed was the percentage chance of rain and when it would start. The final weather verdict before we went to bed was low of 48, high of 63 with a 40% chance of rain that shouldn’t start until around noon. In the end, most people chose to wear shorts and either a short-sleeve or sleeveless shirt with a “throw away” long-sleeve shirt over it. I prefer being a little too warm than a little too cold so I chose to wear capri’s with a sleeveless shirt but a light-weight jacket over top (and a throw away shirt on top of that!).

I took a sleeping pill around 9:30 to hopefully take the edge off so I could get SOME sleep. By 12:00 I gave up thinking it was going to help at all. Of course, the fact that Val and I kept talking and laughing didn't help, but I wouldn't have changed it at all. There's always time to sleep, and not always time to spend with friends from far away. I think I finally drifted off around 12:45 and had a surprisingly peaceful night's sleep.

Those of you who have read my previous race reports know that on race mornings I typically wake up with a song running through my head. It's usually a song I haven't heard in a long time, and all the verses or chorus seem to sum up that moment in my life. This time it was a single line I woke to that kept repeating itself over and over - "I want to be a rock star." As soon as I heard it in my head I had to laugh. See, my running buddy Ursla loves to say that to me as a way of encouragement ("You can do this long run... you're a rock star!", "You're so going to rock the marathon Sherri!", etc.). So, it was like hearing a special affirmation of the day that lay ahead. Thanks for that, Ursla!

We all started stumbling out of our rooms a little sleep-challenged but still ready for the day at hand. Lenora had picked up some stick-on letters from a teacher’s supply store so that we could put our names on our shirts if we wanted to. This is a controversial issue in the running community - some feel it’s too self-indulgent and misses the point of running a marathon, while others feel it’s perfectly fine and if hearing your name called out helps your run the race then go for it. I think it’s safe to say our house was in the second group because almost all of us put our names on our shirts!

In no time at all we were on our way to catch the bus to the Metrodome (home to the Minnesota Vikings), which is where the race started. About halfway to the bus lot we noticed that it had started raining. Oh joy. This was six hours earlier than predicted and did not bode well for us. On the bus ride we all had a vague awareness of just how long the bus ride was because we realized the miles we were now driving translated to the miles we were going to be running just a short while later! The good news was that the rain tapered off by the time we arrived at the Metrodome and now we were down to just cold and windy.

We arrived with plenty of time to spare so we staked out a nice corner that was near a bathroom so not only could we use it whenever we wanted to but we could keep an eye out for if the lines were getting long. There’s a race-day philosophy that goes something like, “Arrive at the race site, get in line for the bathroom, use the bathroom, get back in line for the bathroom, use the bathroom, repeat continuously until it’s time to line up.” While funny in thought, there’s also a lot of truth to it. Race nerves get the best of almost everyone’s body on race day!

Around 7:45 we decided it was time to make our way to the starting line and we took the opportunity to take one last group photo. We’d miss the warmth of the Metrodome but there was a little matter of 26.2 miles waiting for us in the dark, cold, windy streets.

We all headed to the bag drop together (where you can drop off a personal bag that has things like clothes for after the race, a camera, food/drinks, etc.) and that’s when our group started to separate. We didn’t do it on purpose... it was just that suddenly we were milling with 11,000 other people who were all in the same area. Before I knew it, I looked around and I was on my own. At first I was incredibly nervous but then I thought to myself, “Okay Sherri, time to put on your big girl pants.” I was as ready as I could be for what lay ahead and it was time to get down to business.

My true goal for the race was to finish feeling strong and without hurting too badly. I knew there would be some pain (and I was ready with some Tylenol stashed in my pocket just in case), but I didn’t want to end up hobbling across the finish line. Based on my training paces, I decided that it was within my realm to break 5 hours if everything went perfectly; in order to do that, I needed to maintain a 10:30 run pace if I was going to do a 3/1 run/walk interval. I did most of my training runs using 4/1 but didn’t want to take a chance of burning out; the way I saw it, if I still felt good after 20 miles I’d either pick up my pace or increase to a 4/1.

As I was mentally reviewing my plan, I realized that I still hadn’t turned my Garmin on. Oh no! Not only does Garmin sometimes take a few minutes to find the satellite when I’m on my home turf, but every time Garmin is taken away from home it takes extra-long to find me (because it's trying to find me back in VA and gets confused), and I only had about 5 minutes before the gun went off! I hit the “on” button and anxiously watched the satellite tracking bar sllooooowwwwwly make its way across the screen. The announcer said, “Two minutes to the gun!” and I was still waiting. “One more minute!”... still waiting.... Finally, with about 30 seconds before the gun went off, the satellite found me and I quickly set my screens to show the data fields I wanted. I couldn’t use my usual interval setting otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see my mile splits. I needed my mile splits to know if I was holding a good pace or not, so I decided to just keep track of the intervals in my mind and do the math myself. Little did I know what a blessing that would be for me.

It was slow going at the start. Eleven thousand people were clogging the narrow streets, all of us heading towards the same goal. I had lined up near the 5-hour pace group and knew that I should play cat and mouse with them the whole race as I either ran (and got a little ahead) or walked (and they caught back up). I knew my math calculations on pace were correct so I was mystified when the pace group passed me by within one mile. I don’t know... maybe the leader’s plan was to gain a cushion the first half of the race so they could slow the tempo the second half? If that was her plan, that goes against what I have read is the smart way to run (start slow and pick up the pace later) so I let them go without much care.

Before I knew it the first three minutes had passed and I moved to the side of the road to walk a little. I didn’t even feel the need... I actually felt great... but, once again, I was following what I’d read and the advice on using the Galloway Method (run/walk) is to walk early and walk often. So, I took my first minute of walking to revel in my surroundings and really absorb the fact that I was doing a marathon!

The weather was still quite brisk and the wind had picked up, but I was starting to warm up a little and knew the sun should be rising soon so I used my walk break to toss my throw-away shirt over to the curb (all throw-away clothes were gathered up and donated to a local shelter). I kept up the controlled pace and within the first mile or two we came upon a beautiful stone church that had its bells tolling. At first I thought it was chiming the hour but then I realized the bells didn’t stop... they kept their bells tolling continuously for all of us. It was mystical, magical, and gave me goosebumps all over. At that moment I had almost a transcendent experience and knew without a doubt that nothing was going to keep me from finishing the race.

It’s a good thing I had that moment of belief because, shortly after the church, the rain started coming down. And I’m not talking some sprinkles like we’d had on the bus ride over. This was a full-on deluge. The drops were large and plentiful and, glancing up at the sky, it didn’t look like it was going to be letting up any time soon. I looked around me and noticed all the people in their shorts and sleeveless shirts; I was so thankful I wasn’t them! I’m a miserable person when I’m cold and it was the last thing I would have wanted to be worrying about. With the windchill factored in it was probably in the mid 40’s and with the rain on top of it... well... this was about the worst weather scenario I could have imagined for the day.

I snagged this picture off of the TCM website. I don't know the people shown, but I thought it was a great example of what the weather was like and how everyone was feeling. Notice the mini-river running down the side of the street, how red their legs are from the cold, and the grimaces on their faces? This was our life for the next two hours!

We all hunkered down and kept plodding ahead. At least with the exercise our body temperatures were rising and we were generating SOME heat. I say that because one of the most amazing things to me about this race were the spectators and volunteers. You would think that in cold, windy, and rainy conditions everyone would have high-tailed it back home (or never come out in the first place). Nope. Minnesota showed me that they are there for their friends and family through thick and thin. In almost every stretch of the course there were people there cheering us on. Some had on rain gear or warmer clothes but some were just soaked to the bone, and yet there they all stood still clapping for us. I was in awe. I really can’t say enough about their presence and how moved I was that they’d do that for us.

The rain continued to pour down and it was ridiculous. It was hard to find a dry spot on the road to run in and we were often leaping over puddles or running up on the curbs to avoid thoroughly soaking our shoes. There were stretches where you could even see a current running in the water along the edge of the road. At one point it started to taper off and I got hopeful, but then it picked up again. I had a momentary mental snap and started yelling at God. I looked up at the sky and shouted, “Are you kidding me??!! Enough already! We get the point! This is hard enough... give us a break!!!!” When I focused forward again I noticed that the people around me had given me some room to myself. Maybe they thought lightning was about to strike me down?

I mentioned earlier that doing the interval math in my head would turn out to be a blessing, and here’s how - it really made the time fly by. Before I knew it I was at the 10 mile point and I thought to myself, “Wow, have I really done 10 miles? Other than being cold and wet I feel pretty good!” My feet were starting to hurt a little bit (that issue has plagued me recently and I don’t know why) so I pulled out my two Tylenol’s and took them at with some Perpetuem. Oh, that’s one thing I should mention... my nutrition and hydration plan went completely out the window at this race! I had planned on drinking most of my calories (the Perpetuem) and brought a bunch of gels just in case, but because it was so cold I was barely sweating so I didn’t need to drink a lot, but by not drinking I wasn’t getting my calories, so I ended up using most of my gels and only about 1/2 of the Perpetuem I had planned on! I always try to over-prepare just in case and I’m so glad I did that once again or else I would have been sunk.

Ten miles came and went, and right around then the rain finally stopped. When I looked at the sky I could start to see the clouds beginning to part and the sun trying to peek through. It looked like we finally might be through the worst of it. Next thing I knew I was at the half-way point; amazingly I reached 13.1 miles in almost the exact same time as my last half-marathon (January 2008) but the difference was that I still had a lot of endurance left in my tanks. That was very encouraging to me because it solidified that my training was paying off, and that if I had doing only a half-marathon then there’s no doubt I could shave ten or so minutes off of my PR. That excited me!

Around mile 18 I started to feel my right hamstring cramp up but there wasn’t much I could do to help it. I was already taking two Endurolyte capsules per hour so I knew it wasn’t electrolyte related, and stretching it only helped for a few seconds, so I just hunkered down and kept going. When I got to mile 20 I got ready for what was known to be the worst part of the marathon, both in general and specific to TCM. Mile 20 is known as “the wall”... it’s where a lot of people start to fall apart because their body has used all of its reserves and just can’t take any more. There are stories of people fumbling around, barely able to put one foot in front of another, standing there and crying about not wanting to move one more inch, and other such tragic outcomes. I had worried about how hard it would be to get through the last 6.2 miles but I knew there was no other way to get to the finish line. Specific to TCM, miles 21-24 were a constant gradual incline. Yep, three miles of no reprieve. My legs were already starting to feel achy and, knowing that my only true goal was to finish without a ton of pain, I decided to drop to a 2/1 interval. Not only did that work well for me but I noticed my run pace picked up some and I was actually starting to pass people. All those runners who had gone out too fast or under-trained were starting to fade, and I was keeping up my pace for the most part. Yay me!

I probably could have run a little faster during that stretch but I wanted to be sure I had enough left in me to sprint to the finish. I kept looking for The Cathedral, as I knew it was located at the top of a hill that led to the downhill finish.

When I reached that part of the course I realized that I never felt like I "hit the wall" at all and I kicked it in to high gear, tearing down the hill as fast as I could. At one point Garmin had me in the 6’s, and for once in my life *I* felt like the Hare as I ran by all the tortoises :) I had thought the whole last .2 miles was a downhill but, at one point, it kind of flattened out... and so did my momentum - LOL. I kind of stopped for a second, thought to myself, “What the heck?”, regrouped by walking a few steps and then put as much power as I had left in to the final stretch.

When I crossed the finish line I couldn’t believe it was over. I mean, I had anticipated my marathon would be a truly emotional experience that would require intense concentration, periods where I’d have to focus on people or events in my life to help carry me through the hard miles, or other such things. It turned out that keeping my mind occupied with math games was the best thing that could have happened to me and before I knew it I was done! To tell you the truth, it was kind of anti-climactic - LOL! I’m not saying I regret how the race was run or the outcome at all, but it’s not even close to what I how I had imagined it would go.

My finishing time was 5:04:42. Even though I came in just above my goal time I am absolutely content with how I ran my race. Looking at my official splits, every pace was between 11:31 and 11:39. You can’t ask for more consistency than that. If I had taken 10 seconds off per mile I would have made my goal, but I’m really okay with it. Oh, and Garmin actually measured me running 26.7 miles instead of 26.2. See, the course is measured on tangents but is usually run on curves, so you add on extra mileage that way. Had I run the tangents I would have been under 5 hours. Knowing that makes me feel good too :)

I walked through the finishers area and picked up my medal and “finishers” shirt, and then headed to pick up my bag. My first order of business was to mix and drink my recovery drink (Hammer Recoverite) and send a text message to my friends and family that I was done. I can’t even tell you how much I wanted to cry when I pulled out my phone and saw emails and texts had already arrived from them congratulating me on my success. They had been tracking me on-line at home. My husband even sent a picture of my son clapping for me :) I sent them all a quick note thanking them and promising more details soon, and then I headed off to find my FitMom friends.

When I got there, most of the others had already finished. The good news was no one had gotten injured and most were happy with their performance, and the great news is that one of our crew - Julie - had accomplished her goal of qualifying for Boston. She had worked VERY hard this past year to get faster and it all paid off for her that day.

Once everyone else finished and had gotten a chance to stretch and relax for a minute we decided to pack it up and head back to the house to clean up. The first order of business was a shower, and then next order of business was, not surprisingly, FOOD. Several people wanted burgers and fries so after we had all “de-stinkified” we headed out to Red Robin. It was my first time there and boy did it hit the spot. They have fantastic onion rings and my bacon/cheese/guacamole burger was sooooo yummy!

On the way back home, part of the group made a stop and picked up more cake and some ice cream to go with it. This was, after all, a celebration and we intended to indulge ourselves to the fullest! We sat around that night reliving our marathon experiences and soaking up the happiness we felt not only for ourselves but for all the friends we shared this amazing journey with.

It was easy for everyone to fall asleep that night as we were exhausted! The next morning about half of the group had to leave for the airport around ten, but we took the opportunity for one last photo. We had had special shirts made up just for this marathon and we all wore them along with the medals we had earned. Of all the pictures we took that weekend, this might be my favorite. It’s not because we’re all looking at the camera, or because we’re all smiling (you know how hard it is to get a decent group shot!)... it’s because of that intangible pride that can be seen on each and every face, knowing we just accomplished a feat that very few people ever do, and many of us never thought possible.

I've already decided that next year I'm going to run the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington, DC. For all you FitMom's reading this, my parents - who live just outside of D.C. - have already said everyone is more than welcome to stay at their house if you'd like to run it too. Just tuck that little nugget in the back of your mind for now... :)

6 days to go

2008-09-29T20:36:00.008-05:00

Holy crow. It's almost here. I can't believe how fast the past few weeks have flown by.

My 20-mile run is a distant memory. It was not a pleasant experience, but I made it through. I felt pretty good the first 10 miles, but then the fatigue started setting in. By mile 14 my feet were starting to hurt and by mile 17 they were killing me; it felt like I was running on broken bones. Around mile 18 my legs started cramping too. It was like my body was crying "Uncle", but I was determined not to quit. Besides, my friends who were running with me would have dragged my ragged bones the rest of the way so the least I could do was finish on my own two feet.

I think the weather played a big part in the problems I had. It was extremely muggy, temps were in the low 80's at the end, and I had sweat so much I could ring sweat out of my socks when the run was done. Heck, if I'm being totally honest, by mile 10 my whole skirt was soaked to the point that it had stretched an inch and was starting to drip off the excess liquid. It was that bad.

I try to do a "sweat test" on my long runs to make sure I'm keeping my fluid intake where it needs to be. This is done by weighing yourself naked before the run, monitoring how many liquids you take in during your run, and then weighing yourself (naked again) when the run is over. Ideally you will weigh the same after the run, but at most you don't want to lose more than 1%-2% of your weight otherwise your performance - and potentially your health - is effected. On my 20-miler day, even though I took in over 120oz (7.5 pounds) of fluids, I was still down one pound in weight when I got home!

Here's a picture of me and my friends post-run that day.

I'm now in the blessed part of marathon training called the taper. Three heavenly weeks of stepping down the training mileage in preparation for the big day. Some people have problems during taper time... they feel antsy, they want to cram in more training, and they get really cranky. Not me. I'm as cool as a cucumber, I'm perfectly comfortable relaxing on my couch, and I'm no more cranky than usual ;) I will admit to intermittent spurts of excitement mixed with nervousness, and I have been known to mutter things such as, "I can't believe I'm doing this.... What have I gotten myself in to?", but I know I'm not going to regret taking on this challenge. The anticipation of meeting nine other FitMom's in Minnesota and sharing this experience with them is no doubt going to be one of my life's highlights.

I've come so far, but have one more BIG hurdle...

2008-09-08T18:42:00.004-05:00

It seems like so much has happened since I last wrote. I need to start with an update on my son. Grant participated in his second triathlon of the season last month and did fabulous. He learned a lot with his first one this year when he went out too fast on the swim; swimming is his weakest sport and he felt the pressure to keep up with the other kids, but all it did was ruin him for the bike and run. This time he went at a good pace for him on the swim and was able to crush it on the bike and run. When looking at the individual splits, he was 22nd on the swim, 1st on the bike, and 3rd on the run. In the end, he placed second male overall! This is his first time winning a medal (he has many "participant" ones) and was SO elated, as were we. He had done some training runs, swims, and rides and he truly earned this medal. Here he is after they announced he'd placed and given him his medal:

My marathon training has turned a corner. For a while I was really questioning how I would be able to do the distance. I seemed to feel completely wiped out after my 12 and 14 mile runs, but interestingly enough 16 felt better than 14, and 18 felt better than 16. Now I truly believe that, even though it will be slow, I'll be able to finish it without falling apart. Since finishing is my only true goal for my first marathon, I'll be happy with that outcome.

I know that my consistency in following my training plan has been a huge factor; I've only missed two or three mid-week runs and have never skipped a long run. I think I've also got my nutrition/hydration pretty much hammered out now so all in all I seem to be on the right path (finally!).

The biggest boost for me though has been my local running group. A group of around 25 of us meet on Wednesdays for speedwork and on Saturday mornings for long runs. Seeing each other all the time has allowed me to make many new acquaintances, and a handful of new friends. There are three girls I've been running my long runs with consistently over the past two months, and we recently acquired a fifth member to our group. It really has just been the best thing ever for me, and they all have said the same as well. There's something about running with friends that lightens your load and makes all the sweat and sore muscles not only tolerable but something that's looked forward to. In the past, I have done all of my training on my own. All half-marathons, all triathlons.... all by myself. It was boring and a true exercise in mental and physical will. I probably would have been able to complete this marathon training on my own but I have no doubt not only would have been a very lonely experience. These new friends not only enrich my running life but also my heart.

I have my last long training run - 20 miles - this weekend and then I start my marathon taper. Yay! I hated running on pavement last weekend and really didn't want to do it this weekend, but the thought of running our usual hilly trail for 20 miles was intimidating. So, instead, my buddies are going to meet me at a flat and shaded trail 30 minutes away from here and take shifts running with me so that I'm never alone. I told you they were awesome!

Culpeper sprint triathlon

2008-08-03T15:52:00.012-05:00

What a nice race this turned out to be. For the first time ever, I got ready for a triathlon in my own home; in all other instances, I've either been in a hotel, our camper, or my parents house. Kind of nice to KNOW that I'd have anything and everything I'd want right at my fingertips!

I packed my transition bag the night before, including a wetsuit since I didn't know what the water temperature would be, and headed to bed around 10:00. Around 10:30 Grant came in and asked if I'd like him to sleep with me for good luck, and of course I said, "Sure!" :) Sleep was off and on all during the night, and 4:30 came much too soon. After hitting snooze a few times we both got up and got set to head out the door.

Navid drove to the site (about 45 minutes away) and we decided to bring our border collie, Dakota, too. He's such a people-person and is so easy to travel with that it's always fun to take him when possible. We encountered almost no traffic getting to the race site and I was able to breeze through packet-pickup and get my transition area set up with lots of time to spare.

When we initially parked the truck, as I was waking towards the race site I ran in to someone I knew from both my son's soccer team and working at the store. Kristi is a local triathlete who not only races, but places. She's a little power-house person who gets up at 4:30a.m. to do her workouts before her four boys wake up. Now that's dedication! When I had spoken with her earlier this summer she'd said she wasn't doing any races.... hadn't been training.... lots of vacations and taking time off. As we caught up in the field I told her I wouldn't be surprised if, even after not having trained, she still ended up winning something. She's just that good.

After setting up my transition area I went off to find the boys and relax until I had to get in the water. I still hadn't dipped my toe in it to get a reading, and as I was talking with Navid I mentioned something about my wetsuit and he said, "You can't use it. The water's 85 degrees." Fantastic!!!! I'll take no wetsuit and warm water over the extra speed and buoyancy but cold water any day.

I ate a bag of Sports Beans when it was 15 minutes to race time, and right about then saw another person I knew. I have never once run in to someone I knew at a race so this was turning in to quite a party for me. I knew this woman - Karen - from when I was a computer programmer and I never knew (at the time) that she was a triathlete. My husband still works with her so I've heard off and on how she's doing, but this was the first time I'd be racing with her. We caught up a little bit with how things were (fine), and what the course was like (hilly in the years past that she'd done it). Fear gripped me as visions of the Black Bear triathlon course danced through my head and I had to quickly shake those nightmares because, right about then, I realized it was time to head to the water for the release of our wave.

As I entered the water, I smiled. It was like coming home to an old friend. Sure the bottom was slimy, and yes - seaweed was in abundance that day, but still.... here I was, just past sunrise, out enjoying a swim with a few hundred people in bath-water temperatures. It's not every day I get to do that :)

As we were standing in the water I saw Kristi again and wished her good luck. As we all took off, I was able to find a good stroke almost immediately which was a nice surprise. Pretty soon I was in a good rhythm of swim freestyle for about 100M, flip to backstroke for about 30 seconds, and repeat. It got ugly around the buoy turns as everyone was trying to cut them close so there was a lot of kicking and being kicked going on. That stuff doesn't normally bother me, but once we were on the straight-away towards the next set of buoys there was a girl who decided that instead of going around me she'd rather swim over me. That bothered me. See, usually the first time you get kicked by someone you honestly don't know they're there, and you make adjustments to find a new path; not her... she just kept right on coming. So, on the third time I kicked her and realized it was the same person I was ticked off. So I gave my flutter-kick a little more "UMPH!" and it connected squarely in her gut. Mean? Possibly, but I wasn't going to be trampled in a lake. The last kick got her attention and she changed course.

Once I rounded the last yellow buoy (orange is for straight-aways, yellow denotes a turn) I plotted my path for the shore. Right about then I noticed two purple caps (my swim wave) in front of me. Out of nowhere I felt my deep-down-tucked-away competitive nature kick in. I always race for fun, or to beat myself, so it surprised me when I immediately decided I wanted to beat them to shore. I calculated that I had about 150 meters to do it so I increased my pace ever so slightly so as not to burn out. Within about 30 seconds I was past them! Woo-hoo! I was so proud of myself. And then I looked up.... and saw another purple cap... and thought, "Dang it. I'm gonna beat her too." This time I only had about 50 meters to get it done so I turned on the tortoise power and caught her at the very end. In fact, I kept swimming when I could have walked because it was that close; I think I only beat her across the mat by two seconds, but I still beat her!

Navid and Grant were waiting on the side of the path for me as I ran in to the transition area. I gave Dakota a quick scratch and yelled to the boys, "I just passed three people on the way in!" They gave a thumbs-up and off I went. As I got to my bike I made a game-time decision to try something new. I have a girlfriend who is a VERY accomplished triathlete (accomplishments like winning her age group - twice - at the hardest Ironman in the world), and she really stresses the importance of simplifying transitions; this includes leaving bike shoes attached to the clips and then mounting the bike sockless, slipping your feet in to the shoes as you've set off on the course. I've been tempted to try leaving them attached, but I've never thought of doing it sockless. As I started getting everything together for the bike I decided to just go for it. I threw on my jersey, Camelbak, gloves, and helmet and off I ran up the grass hill to the bike mounting area.

Instead of mounting the bike with both feet on top of the shoes, I slid one in to a shoe and then took off. Once I had a some momentum going I slipped the other foot in, closed the strap, and kept on going. I felt like such a stud :)

As I mentioned earlier, I had been told the bike course was hilly. I'd also heard about some hair-pin turns that I'd need to be careful with. As I set out on the course, I encountered a steep but short hill within the first half-mile. Because my legs weren't warmed up yet it was challenging, but nothing terrible. I knew there was much worse to come. So I kept peddling... and peddling... and waiting....... but all I encountered was rolling hills. Sure, some of them were pretty steep but they weren't very long, and some were moderately steep and a good length, but they were nothing like I was anticipating. The turns also weren't terrible (as long as you hit the brakes, that is). I'd have to say that the course was really nice overall and a fair challenge. It turned out, though, that the hills would not be the hardest challenge of the bike course for me.

Around mile 9 my chain dropped as I was changing gears. I quickly changed gears again to try get the chain to re-catch (an easy fix that usually works) and it worked, but something went wrong along the way. I don't know if it was the initial drop or the re-catch, but after I'd pedaled three more rotations my chain suddenly locked up. I mean, dead stop, not moving this chain forward another inch, locked up. I took the tension off by pedaling backwards and realized that I could pedal again. Phew. So I started pedaling again... and then it locked after another three rotations. WTH??? For a minute or so I kept up that pattern so I could keep going forward while thinking about things (all the while encountering hills!). I tried changing up or down one ring but that didn't fix it. As I kept fiddling with things I found that I could go in to my big ring and access most of the harder gears without it sticking; it would hitch a little bit, and try to change gears on its own, but at least I could keep going forward. I also discovered that I could get in my small ring and use about half of the easy gears. After thinking over all of this information for the next mile or so, and realizing that I was going to keep encountering hills, I decided I had no choice but to pull over and see if I could figure out if this was fixable. I hated to lose the time but it had to be done.

I pedaled to the top of a hill and then dismounted. I know very little about bike maintenance, but I'm fortunate to have a mechanically-inclined brain so I knew I had a shot at figuring out what was wrong. I flipped my bike upside down and slowly started hand-cranking the pedals. Sure enough, after a few seconds everything locked up. I backed it off and it was fine, I went forward and it locked again. After looking at the shifter component and seeing it was fine I took a look at the chain. Bingo. One of the links had gotten torqued; it was slight, but enough to cause this mayhem. I pulled out my bike tools and tried to use a flat-head screwdriver to torque it back the other way but the chain was too slippery to hold on to.

At that point, I knew I had two choices - either flag down an official and call it a day or finish the bike with limited gears. It made me mad to think of choosing a DNF (do not finish) and I knew right away, even if I had to be without my entire middle set of gears, I would just go for it.

I was especially disappointed at these troubles because I'd been having a great bike for me. I had passed at least a dozen people on the bike and was feeling very strong. Losing all of those minutes working on the bike, as well as not being able to pedal the way I'd want to for the last half of the course, just angered me. My swim had gone really well for me, the bike was going really well, and then this. Argh. I used that feeling to spur me on and before I knew it I was back to passing people even in my modified gears. That same competitor spirit that overtook me in the swim found me again on the bike, and I started mentally picking off people one by one. I watched how people were pedaling and read their body language and if I sensed weakness I went in for the kill.

By the time I rolled in to the dismount area, I'd estimate I passed at least dozen or so more people since I'd stopped. As I approached the line I remembered to undo my shoe velcro and, when it was time to dismount, I just slipped my feet out of the shoes and started running down the grassy slope (but not before I heard several people commenting on how well I'd done that - LOL!). When I looked to my right, Navid, Grant, and Dakota were there waving and cheering, and Dakota was chomping at the bit to come running with me. Navid had to use all of strength to keep him back! The three of them paced me down the hill, and then I yelled a quick good-bye as I ran in to the transition area.

In races past I've always struggled with having fast transitions for one reason or another. Today, I was focused on making them as quickly as possible. When I got to my rack I threw my bike on it, stripped off my Camelbak, helmet and gloves, and threw on my running shoes (and socks... I wimped out) and took off. From one transition mat to the other, I was out of there in under two minutes!

As I rounded the corner to get on the path, once again I saw my crew. Navid had Dakota (who is a HUGE border collie and weighs around 75 pounds) up on his hind legs, waving with his front paws. It was quite a site! I couldn't resist stopping to give him some pets and hugs and, as I scratched his head, he tried to put his arms around my neck to give me a hug; thank goodness Navid held them up otherwise I would have claw marks all over my back! After a few seconds of that I took off running and Grant said he wanted to "run me out" so I told him to come along. He ran the 1/10 of a mile or so on the grass path until we got to the street. I expected him to stop there, but instead he looked at me and asked if he could just join me on the entire 5K. I said that was fine if he felt up for it, so off we went together. I wasn't terribly worried about him since he's always been an active kid, but he hasn't done much endurance running since school got out. However, because we were doing run/walk I knew he'd get breaks in between to help him through.

As we wove through the course he got tons of comments from people as we passed. They couldn't believe he was out there running for fun, just to keep me company, and over and over he was told what a cool kid he was. He ate it up :) I was proud of him because he wasn't doing it for the accolades; in fact, he was genuinely surprised when people commented. He was just out there for me. What a kid.

After the first few minutes of running I said I needed a walk break so we slowed down. That's when Grant decided he wanted to be my pacer. He said he'd have me run for a few minutes and then walk a minute, but that if I needed more walking to just let him know. Sure enough, he kept an eye on his watch and called out when it was time to run and time to walk. It was adorable. I actually could have run longer than he had me run but I was enjoying the time with him way too much to even care about my finishing time. In fact, I enjoyed running slower since that meant I got more time with him out there.

The last mile or so we picked up a person who said she'd like to try and keep up with us for the rest of the race (we were running around 9:30 - 10:00 pace) so we had some extra company coming in. Grant kept setting our goals ("Okay, when we get to that mailbox then we'll walk") and when we got to the final hill he said we should walk it so we could sprint our way in to the finish line. I told our company to go on without us as I wanted to run, hand in hand, with Grant across the line. At first Grant said no because in most races in the past they've been very strict about people other than registered participants being on the course and he didn't want us to get in trouble. I told him that this race was very laid back and if they wanted to yell at me or disqualify me (which I highly doubted) I really didn't care; this day had turned out to be about my very special run with Grant. Once I convinced him it was okay he took my hand and off we went. We passed Navid and Dakota a hundred feet or so from the line, bade a quick hello, and then ran together across the mat. I had hoped there would be photographers to capture the moment but I didn't see even one. And, as unfortunate luck would have it, this is the first time we haven't had a camera at a race :( Even though I may not have a picture on film, I will never forget the images of this day in my head... or in my heart.

After the run was over I went to the post-race tent and grabbed some water, oranges, watermelon, and Oreos. I had the fruit and Grant had the cookies :) We found Navid and Dakota and grabbed a spot in the shade where we could stretch. Navid told me tales of Dakota, things like how every time someone ran by who looked like me he would try to join them. Adorable!

After cooling down I made my way back to gather up my gear and, lo-and-behold, I ran in to even more people I knew! This time it was a few members from my masters swimming class. I had spotted one of them as I ran up the last hill before the end of the race, but here he was along with two others from our group. He had made a sign that said "Warrenton Masters Swimming", and we took a group picture with it. I'm going to have to get a copy so I at least have SOMETHING from the day!

One the way home Grant mentioned that the run was harder than he had anticipated and that his legs were already sore so I promised him a good rubdown that evening. That's why it meant a lot when he went on to say, sore muscles and all, that he was really happy that he had run it with me. So was I :)

(Oh yes, as a final note, my friend Kristi placed 2nd in her age group!)

Everything I never knew....

2008-07-28T20:33:00.006-05:00

..... about the joys of running. I have continued running trails for most of my runs and, in addition to now detesting the treadmill, I almost detest road running. It's crazy the about-face I've done in only six weeks! I love the shade, I love the trees, I love the random animals I see, I love the adventures I get in to, and I love the serenity it brings to me. All those years on a treadmill I never knew what I was missing.

A few weeks ago I had to do around five miles and asked Grant to join me on his bike while I ran the trail. He reluctantly agreed, but really only because he didn't want me to have to run on the treadmill (since I wouldn't go without him). He was a good sport about it though and, once we were on the trail he started getting in to the ride. We had some fun conversation, admired the scenery, and at one point he said, "You know Mom, when you asked me to come with you I really didn't think it would be like this. I mean, there's no one else around. This is so nice and peaceful." :) He did a great job with the ride, and I loved finishing it together.

Today I ran a new trail. It's actually located in a park I used to go to as a child, and one that I also used to bring Grant to when he was younger. However, during both of those time-periods I wasn't a runner, so the fact a trail was available didn't even land on my radar. Now it's a different story and I was so excited to try something new. It turned out to be a great trail - a little less than 5 miles long, most of it under the cover of trees, and practically all of it on soft-packed gravel and dirt. It runs around the perimeter of a lake so not only was it shaded but it was incredibly peaceful and beautiful. Here are a few pictures from today's trail:

In addition to marathon training I'm also still training for some triathlons. I will admit though that I am feeling very, very tired these days. My schedule should be medium-distance run on Monday, bike and/or swim Tuesday, speedwork on Wednesday, swim and/or bike Thursday, off on Friday, long run on Saturday, and then swim and/or bike Sunday. I usually manage 4-5 of those. However, I'm about out of stamina. In fact, earlier this week I decided that my marathon long-run schedule was too demanding for my "just want to finish" goal so I rearranged the weeks and cut back slightly (about 9 miles over the next 10 weeks). Even though the adjustment was slight, I think the payoff will be huge for me. It might make the race a little more difficult, but it will make the training much more doable and not get me to the point where I can't even make it to the race.

As for my heart rate, it's fantastic. As long as I remember to take my medicine, I can workout without any problems. This will probably be the last update I give on it unless something unusual (or extra-fantastic) happens in the future.

This weekend I have a sprint triathlon. It should be interesting since I have a 12 mile run the day before it. We'll see how much energy I have left!

I love my doctor

2008-07-06T21:57:00.002-05:00

After years of suffering and months of trial and error, I can finally say that my heart problem is under control. The magic medicine for me turns out to be 10mg daily of a beta-blocker named Bystolic. I'm extra lucky because, eight months ago, this drug wasn't even available in the US. We'd still be searching for the right medicine. Bystolic not only lowers my heart rate to normal levels but gives me NO side effects... no more falling asleep in the middle of the day :)

During the first week I worked out with my "new heart" I set three PR's. I ran my fastest-ever mile (9:55, the first time I ever ran a sub-10 mile), averaged a 10:55 pace for five miles, and swam 2400 yards in 54 minutes with no use of a snorkel and barely any breaks. It is so exciting to me to finally start seeing what I'm capable of now that my restriction is out of the way. I now believe that I don't always have to be a tortoise and, with time and effort, I can get faster. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

Back in May, when I got a glimpse of how much more tolerable working out with a normal heart was, I decided to join some girlfriends in tackling an October marathon. I always said I would never run one because of how intensive and long the training would be for me. I've changed my mind :) I'm now entering week four of my training plan, with a race date of October 5. I'm mixing the marathon training plan with the Olympic triathlon training plan I'm following for my September race; as you might imagine, I'm pretty tired these days! One great thing that has happened is that I've started running with a local running club. We do speedwork at a track on Wednesdays and group long-runs on Saturdays. Having company makes the runs much more tolerable! The best part for me though is that it's exposed me to trail running. I have run probably 90% of my runs in my life on the treadmill. I always saw myself as a girl who liked the comfort of a fan blowing on her, water and food at my easy disposal, and a bathroom if I needed it. I have discovered that I love the challenges and blessings that being in nature brings.

For example, today I had an adventurous 10 mile trail run. I ran in some local historical battlefields, which I had only done once before, and that time someone was telling me where to go so I didn't really have to pay attention. Today when I arrived and surveyed the acres and acres of field and trees... well, I'll admit I felt a twinge of uncertainty at heading in to the woods with absolutely no clue where I was going. That quickly passed though and the adventurer in me took over and, before I knew it, I was off.

There was a map at the start and I tried to follow the trail signs so I'd stay on the right path but I soon discovered that the dots often didn't match the color they should be (so I had to guess which way to go), and sometimes the trail would just dead-end. At one point I had a choice of turning around and retracing 6 miles to the start or blaze my own trail. So, I took a deep breath and laughed as I found myself running through an open field of waist-deep grass for a mile or so, hoping to spot any sign of where I should go. I just kept listening for cars, knowing that if I could find my way back to a road I could find my way back to the start. I eventually did and the last few miles were relatively uneventful. The entire run had I had pretty much no idea where I was going and it was an absolute blast. Throughout the run I saw lots of deer and quite a few people were out riding their horses. Those are things you just don't get running on the side of a road.

I've been tagged!

2008-06-24T16:40:00.003-05:00

I was "tagged" by my friend Shell -- AKA RunFasterMommy. She wants to know a little more about my running so here we go...

1- How would you describe your running 10 years ago?
I wasn't running. In fact, I hated running at that time. I had always been a short-distance person, I believe due in large part to the many years of gymnastics growing up; all I needed to be able to do was sprint down the vault runway or take a few steps before a tumbling pass :) In high school all my sports coaches required us to run to warm up before practice. After throwing up before even completing 1/4 mile they exempted me from that requirement. I only started running in 2001, and even then it was sporadic and pretty non-productive. It wasn't until 2005 that I got serious about learning how to do it right, and I ran my first half-marathon in August 2006.

2-What is your best and worst run/race experience?
My best race experience was either my first half-marathon or my Iron Girl triathlon. Both of them are something I never thought I would be able to accomplish and I worked very hard to train for them. In the case of Iron Girl, I was especially proud of completing the open water swim as I had a serious fear of drowning due to a heart condition (it went just fine in the end). At the end of my half-marathon I couldn't stop smiling, and at the end of Iron Girl I couldn't stop crying. I was just overwhelmed that I had tackled my fears and challenged myself beyond what I believed were my limitations.

My worst race experience was probably one of my first 5K's. I had only been running for less than a year and had signed up to do the race with a friend. I knew pretty much nothing about race strategy, pacing, hydration/nutrition, etc. at that point in my life. I showed up and found out it was a trail run. I thought, "Cool, fun." I was used to a treadmill and had no idea how different (harder) trail running was. The temperature was in the 80's and I had not a drop of liquid with me, and there were no aid stations on the route. I also took off at a pace that felt good to me (at that moment) and disregarded my previous training. At that time I was training at around a 12:30 run pace, and I went out running at 8:30. I thought I was a stud. Reality came quickly and it all fell apart within a mile. It was so bad that I was passed by an 8 year-old who was barely sweating. I managed to make it the entire 5K, and literally crawled across the finish line collapsing in a heap under a tree where I poured a bottle of ice cold water all over my body.

3- Why do you run?
My reason for running has changed over the years. When I first started running it was a poor attempt to get in shape. I didn't take it seriously at that point. In 2005 I almost lost my Mom to an illness that left her temporarily paralyzed so I started walking with her to help her regain her strength. That turned in to deciding to run a race with Team In Training to help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society since I had almost lost her previously to lymphoma on three occasions. After I finished that first half-marathon, I was hooked on racing. I loved the empowerment it gave me, the satisfaction of completing a task I'd taken on, and the pride I felt from staying dedicated to a training program. A few months later I started planning my next race and knew I wanted another challenge. That's what led me to triathlons. Now my reason for running (and swimming and biking) is multi-faceted... it's because I love challenging myself, I love being part of a small minority of people who have completed an endurance race, I love that I'm decreasing my odds of getting cancer (which has a strong presence in my family history), I love that I'm setting a good example for my child, and I love how mentally and physically strong it makes me feel. If I ever need to clear my head or get my thoughts in order, a good run is all I need to get me on the right path.

4- What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?
The worst piece of advice was when I was told that the reason my heart rate was so high while exercising was because I was out of shape. It turns out I have a heart condition (Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia) that developed in my early thirties... It was just a coincidence that the running and erratic heart rate began at the same time. I spent many years of frustration thinking I was doing something wrong and not understanding why I couldn't make it better.

The best piece of advice was to run MY race... not to worry about what others around me were doing and just run the way I'd trained. Run at my pace, walk if I wanted to, hydrate and refuel even if no one else was. Those important elements would be the key to either my success or my demise. The other great piece of advice was that taking walk breaks isn't a crime and doesn't make me less of a runner. Not only is it good for the body but it's also a good mental break. When you're tired, the thought of running four more minutes is a lot more tolerable than running four more miles!

5- Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.
Now that my heart rate is almost fixed I'm a little afraid of what may lie head of me. I'm used to being slow and have accepted being a middle-of-the-packer on a good day. Now that I can possibly improve, I'm worried that I'm going to get very competitive with myself. I can see setting time or distance goals and then getting upset if I don't meet them. I like working out for its intrinsic challenge and I am worried that my competitive nature is about to spoil that for me. On the other hand, I'm also excited to see just how fast and far I can go now that my heart rate is under better control. It's a catch-22 at its finest.

Black Bear sprint triathlon

2008-06-02T20:35:00.006-05:00

(Apologies first for my long absence!)

Black Bear triathlon (750m, 18M, 3.4M) - Leighton, PA

We picked Grant up from school early on Friday afternoon, packed up the camper, and took off around 4:00. We knew it was about a 4 hour drive and had hoped to get to the campground before the sun went down; as it turned out, we arrived around 15 minutes after sunset. This turned out to be quite a bad fortune for us because our campground was the tightest campground we’ve ever been in. The roads were extremely narrow and there were trees EVERYWHERE. When you’re a combined length of around 45 feet, that makes for some harrowing turns and parking, especially in the dark!

Once we finally pulled in to our spot (after almost ripping the awning off the side of our camper due to an un-seen bent tree) we started the unhitching process. We’re always very methodical in how we do it, with safety being our number one concern. We never remove the safety chains that connect the truck to the camper until the very end, even though the two are also connected by the hitch and ball. Well, thank God we do that because, as we were removing the sway bars, the camper popped off of the hitch and started rolling away; only the chains kept it from becoming a runaway vehicle. Because it was dark we hadn’t realized the slope of our lot, and the stress on the connection was too much and it just gave way. I happened to be getting something out of the truck when it happened and I just heard a loud BANG and then felt the truck shake. When I looked back it was like the world was still. Nobody was breathing or saying a word because we were trying to process what had just happened. We were so fortunate because Navid’s feet were out of the way of the support pole or it would have gotten speared, and Grant and the dogs were off to the side of they might have be run over. Once everything was stable, we set about figuring out how to stabilize the camper so we could take the tension off the support chains and then finish the unhooking process. Keep in mind all of this was being done in the dark at 9:30 at night!

Thankfully, within a few minutes we had a workable solution and we were all done setting up shortly thereafter. We were all so shaken from the events that we just went to bed... no one was up for talking or playing! Saturday morning revealed that although it was a very tight campground, it was also very beautiful. We spent the morning playing on the playground, throwing the ball, and playing frisbee golf. Once we had lunch we headed out to the site of the race for packet pick-up.

Beltzville state park is beautiful. The Pocono Mountains serve as a stunning backdrop to a spectacular lake. I had looked forward to the swim because mountain rivers are supposed to be very clean; I hadn’t put two and two together than mountain water would also be reeeeeaaaalllllllly cold. Grant and I dipped our feet in the water and almost ran out screaming. He looked me dead in the eye, said “Good luck with that.” and then walked away shaking his head - LOL. One thing was for certain... I was going to be kissing my new full-sleeve wetsuit when I got back to the camper! As we walked away, I could only hope that Sunday’s weather would be nicer as it was currently overcast and gray with a strong wind... so much so that there were whitecaps in the river’s current.

Once we got back to the campground we started up a fire and began cooking dinner - pasta with chicken and peas and some garlic bread. We enjoyed the meal while watching the sun set, and then I set about unpacking/verifying/repacking my transition bag. Once I was satisfied that I had everything I’d need, I snuggled with my boys for a while and then went off to bed.

I wish I could say that it was a peaceful night, but it wasn’t. I woke up every half-hour because of a dream, or thinking it was time to get up and get going. I had one very vivid dream where we got to the race site and the parking lot was all full so we had to find an off-the-beaten-path place to park. Once parked I made my way to the transition area to set up my stuff, began looking at everyone around me getting dressed in their wetsuits, and realizing that I’d forgotten mine. I remember standing there and starting to cry, knowing that my options were to either submerge myself in the icy water and try to swim or bag the race entirely. I thought of how harshly my body reacts to cold conditions (I shake violently) but I didn’t want to quit either after all the training and driving all that way for it. I woke up feeling on the verge of a panic attack and, after a few quick breaths, I realized it was all a dream. After a short while I managed to fall back asleep, and you can bet that my first order of business when I got up for real was to grab my wetsuit and put it in a location where it was guaranteed not to be forgotten!

My alarm went off at 5:30am and I dragged my weary bones out of bed and into the shower. While I got dressed, Navid let the dogs out and heated up some oatmeal for me to eat on the way to the race. We let Grant sleep until the last minute, and then we woke him up and shuffled him out to the truck. One the way to the race site I had my first premonition... it occurred to me that the steep hills we were climbing in the truck might be the same (or similar) as ones I would be racing on my bike. I had been working on hills in Virginia which, let’s face it, isn’t a flat state; however, the hills in the Pocono’s were quite different both in angle and length. This was going to be tough.

There was a slight backup getting in to the park but, once there, the excitement began. I love being surrounded by other athletes. I respect people who take the time to take care of their body as it’s not easy and takes constant dedication. Throw in there that I meet the nicest people at races. Everyone is always so friendly and we’re all excited that the day we’ve trained for is finally here.

I got my transition area set up and went to stand in line for the bathroom. For some crazy reason, the organizers only put four porta-potties outside the transition area! There was already a line of about thirty people when I got there and we were all, um, desperate to get in there. When it was almost my turn an announcement was made that there were TWELVE bathrooms down on the beach. Grrrrrr......

After that business was taken care of it was time to put on my wetsuit. This was my first race with a full-sleeve suit and I was oh-so-happy to have invested in it. Actually, my Mom is a part-owner of it. She’s taking a trip out of the country in a few weeks and was going to rent a wetsuit, so I asked if she would be interested in giving me the money she would spend on renting one and I’d use it to buy one instead; that way she’d have a really nice wetsuit for her trip and her money wouldn’t go to a one-time use. She loved that idea and soon thereafter I welcomed a full-sleeve wetsuit in to my life :)

From that point on, time flew. Before I knew it I was standing on the beach listening to them release the first swim wave.

When I had viewed the course the day before I was surprised that the swim distance didn’t look long or intimidating to me. I attributed it to the extra swim training I’d been doing lately and was excited to get in the water and see how well things would go. This was also my first race since being put on meds for my heart condition. I think that’s what I was most excited about... how different would I feel without my heart racing constantly.

I was in the fourth wave released; some people had already finished the swim before I started! When we were told to enter the water I began the slow journey of acclimation. Dipping the toes is always the hardest part because then your body knows for sure exactly what’s in store for it. My unwavering hope was that my new wetsuit would shield me from the worst of it. As I went forward up to my calf... my thigh... my torso, I noticed that with each step I was still warm. Fantastic.

Once the bottom dropped out I began to breast-stroke out to be with the rest of the crowd. I was trying to decide where to place myself in the group; I didn’t want to be at the back of the pack because I wanted the chance to draft a little if possible. However, I didn’t want to line up at the front either and deal with the kicking and thrashing that goes on with trying to lead the pack. In the end, I settled in the middle.

Then an odd thing happened. I started to second-guess myself. I started to wonder what I was doing there, who I was trying to kid, that I wasn’t in any shape to swim this course, and other self-defeating thoughts. It truly was odd, and I had to walk myself through the logical reasons I was fine. The start gun went off in the midst of all of this, so as I started my strokes I was still dealing with self-doubt. Not a great combination!

About 1/4 way in to the swim I decided to abandon my plan of trying to freestyle the whole time. It just wasn’t working for me. My heart rate was actually handling it okay, but I was having a hard time with not seeing where I was going, swimming in to or being kicked by other swimmers, etc. I was starting to feel panicked in a claustrophobic kind of way so I turned over on to my back and backstroked for a while to calm down. Looking at the sky as I swam was so peaceful and relaxing, so I just alternated about 3-4 minutes of freestyle with 1-2 minutes of backstroke. I skipped breaststroke altogether (except for when I had to pull up suddenly to avoid getting kicked).

One nice thing about backstroking was that I could see the swimmers behind me, and I realized that there were an awful lot of orange caps that I was beating. Woohoo! I also happened to pass a few people that were released in waves before me. I started to feel like a stud :) One scary moment was just before the last buoy; I came up for a breath and heard a cry for help. I pulled up and looked around to see a woman in the water waving her arms trying to get the attention of the rescue boats. She kept crying out, and the boats were making their way to her, but you could tell she was starting to panic. I started to make my way over to her but then I noticed there were already two or three other swimmers who had encircled her in case she needed help so I continued on my way. The next time I flipped to my back I could see that the boats had gotten to her and safely removed her from the water.

The final stretch to the beach was a welcome sight as I was ready to get on my bike and have some fun. With the swim behind me, I figured I was home-free. It turns out I wasn’t... but more on that later. Once I could see the bottom of the lake I thought about walking, but putting in a few more strokes enabled me to beat another two or three people out of the water. Once on dry land I took off for the transition area.

Grant was waiting for me on the beach and actually ran the distance with me. It was a bit of a trek to get to transition and we had to run up some small hills and through some trees, but once at my bike I got to work quickly. I really wanted to put effort in to doing faster transitions so I was all business and concentration. Wetsuits are always a bit of a pain to get off, but I did the best I could to be speedy about it and then moved on to the rest. On went the race number belt, helmet, sunglasses, bike jersey, Garmin, socks, and bike shoes. A quick buckle to attach my Camelbak and I was off and running out of the area and on to the bike course. In the past I usually had something to eat and drink before taking off but this time I decided to do it on the road. It was my first race since upgrading my bike components and I was looking forward to see how well she handled under the pressure!

The picture below was taken about one mile in to the race. That's why I'm still smiling.

I had previewed the course elevation map prior to the race and had counted five hills that I’d have to climb. I wasn’t terribly concerned because I’ve been working on hills here in VA and thought I had it covered. Well, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need lessons in reading topography because I was soooooo unprepared for what lay ahead. Right out of transition we climbed a hill... not even a 1/2 mile to get our legs warmed up. I remember thinking, “Well, that was tough, but at least I’ve got one of the hills out of the way.” However, by the time we hit the four-mile mark we had climbed what I would have classified as five hills and my legs were screaming at me. That’s when I knew I was in trouble.

For the first time ever, I considered quitting. Heck, I did more than consider it... If there had been a race van nearby I would have flagged them down and climbed aboard. Because I had no other option I kept peddling on (secretly hoping to come across one of the vans!). When I saw another hill coming up I pulled off to the side of the road, took off my jersey, had something to eat and drink, and assessed my options. I could stand there and cry (which is what I REALLY wanted to do), I could sit down and wait for someone to take me back to the start, or I could muster up everything I had and keep going. I had seen people walking up some of the previous hills, which I had never seen in a race before, so I decided to keep going and, when it got too tough, I’d just get off my bike and walk the hills. I tried to take in the surrounding scenery as I continued to ride because being in the mountains truly did offer some spectacular views. The houses were quaint, the trees were beautiful, the grass was lush, and the air was pure. Focusing on the positive helped. A little.

The remaining fourteen miles were a test of sheer will and pride. I have no problem taking walk breaks when I run, but it was humiliating to me to have to walk the hills. I hated it and felt like such a wimp. The other cyclists were always great though and offered words of encouragement as they rode past, and there were always others who were walking too so that took some of the sting away. It turned out that I didn’t lose much time or placement in the end because I realized fairly quickly that once a hill was crested and we hit a straight-away or a downhill I re-passed most if not all of those who had passed me on the uphill; see, they were spent from the climb and I was a little refreshed from the reprieve. I did also see a few people drop out along the way. It was just too much for them to take.

At a curve around mile 16 we were greeted with the news that the last hill was around the corner. Our excitement was short-lived however when we saw how steep it was; we had to climb 200ft. in about 1/10 of a mile. Rider after rider dismounted and walked - LOL. The final stretch in to the transition area was a nice little decent and it allowed me to spin at an easier gear to get my legs warmed up for running. I have to say that I LOVE my new bike set-up and can only imagine how much harder it would have been had I been on my old components. Being able to shift, and so smoothly, without leaving the aero position was heavenly!

I bet you never thought you’d hear me say this but I was actually looking forward to running :) At that moment, anything sounded better than being on the bike! Plus, I had some new racing flats to try out. I had been convinced by my co-workers that, even though I’m a tortoise and have no shot at ending up on any podiums, I would love wearing racing because of how lightweight they are. An opportunity came up to buy some Saucony Fastwitch’s at a ridiculous price so I took the plunge. I’ve gotta say, I love them. The run course turned out to be a trail run so I felt the rocks and sticks more than I would have on regular running shoes, but it didn’t distract from my comfort at all. If you look closely in the picture you can see the bright orange of the shoes, and yes that's Grant running on the other side of the flags to cheer me on :)

The run course also had a few hills, but nothing like the bike. About half of the course was under the cover of trees, while the rest was in the sun and it was getting hotter by the minute. We had been told that for part of the course we’d be running across a dam. Standing on the shore where the swim took place, the dam looked too far away for us to reach it and come back in 3.4 miles; I figured that the dam was only for those who were doing the half-ironman course. Well I was wrong, but that was a good thing. I had been looking forward to running across the dam and was a little disappointed that it might not happen.

When I was about one mile from finishing I saw a guy sitting on a picnic table under some trees (we were on a path that ran alongside the lake we swam). His head was down, he looked exhausted, and I could see a race number on his hand so I knew he was “one of us”. Runner after runner just passed him by but when I came upon him I hollered out asking if he was okay (thinking surely he was). I was quite surprised when he said that no, he wasn’t, that he felt faint every time he stood up, and he needed a cart to come get him before he passed out. Eeks. That sure put some pep in my step and thankfully about .25mi down the path I came across some volunteers with a walkie-talkie and they were able to radio in for assistance.

There was a quaint covered wooden bridge that we got to run through just before the end of the course, and then it was the home stretch. I sprinted with all that I had left in me, but by that point my tank was pretty empty. As I passed under the “Finish” arch I went off to the side so my timing chip could be removed. The guy bent down to remove it from my leg, and right at that point I almost passed out. The dizziness came out of nowhere. He said to me, “Keep walking, keep walking.” so I took the cold water that he offered and poured half of it down my neck and back. THAT felt GREAT. As we were walking along, Grant asked me what I thought of the race and I told him that, honestly, I thought it was harder than the olympic distance I had done last year. It really was that challenging. And that smile on my face? I believe that's when I'm saying that I'll never do another mountain course again!

After walking and stretching for a little while I got in line to get some food. Right behind me was a guy who had just finished, and this was his first-ever triathlon. I spent a lot of time consoling him that they weren’t all this hard :) Actually, we had a nice talk about training, the importance of family support, and other such stuff.

After I ate like a champ and had a ton of water to drink, we grabbed my stuff and went back to the campsite. I thought I’d crash right away, especially since I had barely slept the night before, but instead I felt okay overall and, after a much-needed shower, Grant and I headed to the playground for a while. After that I walked around the campground gathering wood for that night, and eventually I did sneak in an hour or so on the couch. When I awoke we lit a campfire to relax by, had a wonderful dinner shortly after that, and then finished the evening with some celebratory schmoes (or s’mores, for you non-Toy Story fans).

The pain of gas (prices)

2008-05-03T20:31:00.002-05:00

I should be typing up a race report right now. Smith Mountain Lake triathlon - one of the most beautiful Virginia races from what I've heard - was today. I was registered, but I wasn't there. The pain of gas.

When I looked at the distance we'd need to travel (180 miles each way) and calculated how much it would cost to drive those miles while pulling our camper it became apparent it was beyond what I'd consider a reasonable amount. I have six races this season, all involving travel so that we can have fun camping too, and I've realized that the rising costs means that unfortunately I'll have to pick and choose which races to do. It stinks. However, when taken in context of the rest of the country... where people are having to declare bankruptcy, are losing their homes, and are selling personal belongings to make ends meet... this is a minor sacrifice. I still have a very blessed life.

Back from Florida, and big news on my heart rate

2008-04-01T22:41:00.002-05:00

Our Disney trip was FANTASTIC. Seriously, I don't know how it could have been any better (unless it could have lasted longer ). The 15 hour drive down I was so fearful of wasn't bad at all. We rented a few books on tape, and 10 minutes in to it we turned it off and laughed at how badly it was narrated. Out of the 30 or so hours, Grant used my parent's DVD player for maybe 2 or 3 movies and the rest of the time we spent reading, talking, playing games, etc. It was truly a "family drive".

We loved having our camper in Florida. We stayed at Fort Wilderness - one of my favorite places in the world - and it was everything. We did the entire vacation leisurely... we'd get up when we wanted to, would sit outside in our pj's to drink our coffee/tea and watch the people in canoes go by in the creek behind us, maybe walk over to play a little shuffle board or rock in a hammock on the beach. Sometimes there were campground activities that Grant was interested in (dodge ball, pool party, flag football, etc.) and so we'd lazy around until he was done with those and then head to the parks. We'd vary our mode of transportation depending on what Grant wanted to do. Sometimes we took the boat right to the Kingdom, sometimes we'd take a boat to the Contemporary hotel and then catch the monorail, sometimes we'd catch a bus and go to whatever park was our destination. It was so fun letting him lead!

Each day was a random day; we'd try to set a tentative game plan the night before, but I don't think we ever stuck to it once After spending some time at our first park, when we felt we needed a break we'd head back to the camper for some food and a nap. After resting up we'd head back to whatever park had the extended hours and then stay there until at least midnight, usually catching one of the firework shows. There were only a few rides that I cared about going on (mainly the ones that remind me of my or Grant's youth, like Dumbo, It's A Small World, and Pooh) and I was able to squeeze them in eventually. I also was able to try a few new rides, and out of them all I have to say that Soarin' was my favorite. The cool thing is that it was also Grant's first "thrill" ride (he has a huge fear of anything fast and has refused to ride even kiddy roller-coasters) and HE LIKED IT!!! I don't think he'll be going on Aerosmith's Rockin' Rollcoaster with me anytime soon, but it was nice to see him broaden his wings a little bit.

I was able to spend time with my girlfriend Julie again, and we were able to get in a nice bike ride around Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge. She's come to terms with the fact that she'll never be able to run because of her knee deformity and is ready to give cycling a try. Even though she's lived in Orlando for most of her life, she'd never been to Fort Wilderness (!) so I set our course to give her a tour. Unfortunately, that only took about three miles and so I charted a new course to get us to the Lodge. The only path I knew of was to go back out to the main road and ride it for about 1/2 mile, so I introduced Julie to the fear of riding with cars. I was extra-glad I'd given her my Brooks reflective vest to wear! Needless to say, we made it just fine, and then I took her on a tour of the Lodge. While on property we noticed a sign that said, "Bike Trail". Cool! We followed it, not knowing exactly where we were going, but it took us down a smoothly paved path and through beautiful woods so the time was very pleasant. I had planned on us going a total of 12 miles, so as we neared the 6 mile mark (I was using my Garmin) I prepared to turn around. However, right about that time the sights started looking familiar. Lo-and-behold, the path was a way back to Fort Wilderness! We cracked up laughing at how, once again, we had yet another adventure together. She's always so much fun to be with :)

While in Florida I was also able to get in a few swims, a couple of runs, and another bike ride (this time with Grant).

I didn't do as much as I had hoped to but hey... it WAS vacation after all!

The BIG news of the day is that I finally had my follow-up appointment with my cardiologist. The last time I was there he said that, based on the fact my 24-hour heart rate average was in normal range, he wasn't convinced I had IST (Idiopathic Sinus Tachycardia). I about cried in his office and practically begged him to reconsider because I was convinced there really was something wrong. He agreed to repeat the treadmill stress test but this time at his office so he could watch it happen in person (since my heart rate only gets whacked-out when physical demands - no matter how slight - are made on it). So the test was today and after a very confusing start to it (long story) we got me all hooked up and ready to go. Resting HR registered at 65-70. When I started lightly stretching, it rose up to around 100bpm. Every interval was 3 minutes, and each subsequent interval raised the incline and speed slightly. The first interval (around 20:00/mi) my HR rose to 125. The second interval (around 17:30/mi) I was at 148. By now, I could hear the doctor muttering something like, "Wow, it really is up there already." The third interval (around 15:00/mi) I hit 185. I only made it around 10 seconds in to the next interval before I had to quit. I got off, looked at the doc, and he said, "Yep, you've got IST." This time, I cried with joy because now there's an agreement on my condition, and now we can start trying treatments. I left his office with a script for a beta blocker and, if it works for me, I should start to see changes immediately. If this doesn't work the next step is either increasing the dose or trying calcium channel blockers, and if those don't work then I'm a candidate for ablation of the node. We'll take it one step at a time, but at least we're taking steps now. The thought of being able to workout without gasping for breath after a short period of time is almost too much to imagine, but it looks like it may finally happen for me. Here's hoping I'll have good news to report next time!

2008-03-12T19:43:00.004-05:00

I am still totally loving working at the running store. It is so easy to go there knowing that I'll be talking with people that either a) are already in to a lifestyle of fitness, or b) want to get in to the lifestyle of fitness. I think I've had more fun this past month than I had in the previous six. Either that's extremely impressive or I've had a pretty boring past half-year!

In terms of racing, I wasn't going to do much of anything this summer. A month or so ago I started poking around the schedules to see if anything tempted me, but something held me back from pulling the trigger on registering for any of them. I just wasn't feeling it in my heart. I was having conflicting feelings about spending the money on racing because it's never just the race fee - it's also the lodging, meals, etc. Then one night I had an epiphony... we want to spend our summer camping quite a bit so why not see if I could locate triathlons that were in cool places and near campgrounds? That way we'd still have the family bonding and relaxing experiences, only I would disappear for a few hours one morning! That made me feel better about racing, but I still was missing the internal desire to pursue the training that would be necessary. A tune-up changed all that.

We're heading to Florida in a few days for spring break and I wanted to bring my bike, so I brought it to my bike guy for the tune-up. It had also been having issues sticking and catching when shifting and asked them to look in to it and do whatever it needed to fix it. When I picked it up I got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that over the past year I've become a more powerful, efficient rider than had been expected. That bad news was that it ment I'd started to wear out my components and everything needed upgrading. Ugh. I left the store with a pit in my stomach. I had expected my brand new bike to last me more than a year, but no one could have predicted my progress. It's funny... I should have been happy about how great I was doing with improving my cycling but weighing on my mind was the unexpected expense. Something definitely needed to be done to fix the situation, but now I had to decide if I should buy a new mid-level bike, buy a used mid-level bike, or keep my intro-level bike and upgrade the components. My husband and I discussed the options and decided we felt best about keeping my current bike and upgrading it.

I love my bike guy, but the BIG downfall is that he's 1 1/2 hours away in Maryland. I wasn't relishing making that drive two more times in two weeks and decided to stop in to a local bike store that had recently opened and talk to them about my situation. After speaking with one of the owners (Curtis) for quite a while, I had a feeling that I could trust them. Curtis went over a few options of what I could do, what he would recommend, and what it would cost. I went home to research what we'd discussed and found that Curtis's recommendations were right in tune with what the biking community suggested to do in my situation, and that his quoted price was a pretty good deal. Bonus points for Curtis :)

I called Curtis the next day and said, "Let's do it." In addition to upgrading all the necessary components, I also had them switch out my standard road bike handlebar for switched to aero-specific ones, get a new (much more comfortable) saddle, and change my seatpost out for a zero-degree angle one (better for tri power)

First, my new beauty. I replaced the deuraillers, shifters, handlebars, levers, crankset, seatpost, and saddle. Isn't she purdy?

Here's my summer racing schedule. We'll be combining camping trips with these races, so it should be a great time for all. New places to visit, new medals to collect :)

May 3 – Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon (Huddleston, VA): 750m, 12.4M, 3.1M

June 1 – Black Bear Triathlon (Leighton, PA): 750m, 18M, 3.1M

June 21 – Bath County Triathlon (Warm Springs, VA): 750m, 12.4M, 3.1M

August 3 – Culpeper Sprint Triathlon (Culpeper, VA): 750m, 15M, 3.1M

September 14 – The Nations Triathlon (Washington, DC): 1M, 25M, 6.2M

I'm also considering doing July 12 – Diamond in the Rough Triathlon (Perryville, MD): 1M, 27M, 5M. I'm trying to decide if it's biting off more (training) than I can chew. I have a feeling though that the temptation of another medal will be too much for me to resist!

No news is...... no news

2008-02-27T20:23:00.003-05:00

A friend pointed out to me today that I hadn't updated my blog in a while. Oops. Waving the slacker flag here...

Training-wise, there's not much to report. Starting in mid-January, I decided to give heart rate (HR) training a try. I'm still learning a lot about it, but the premise is that you do a lot of long, slow miles keeping the HR between 70-75% of your max and, eventually (6+ weeks later), you will be able to increase your pace while still keeping your HR in that same range. With my crazy HR, any improvement would be welcome! However, having to do miles at a pace that is 50% slower than my normal - when I'm already such a tortoise - is incredibly boring and frustrating. Prior to this training, I'd do my runs at between a 9:30 and 10:30 pace and eventually walk a little bit to bring my HR back down. To keep my HR in the right range (which, for me, is 134-144bpm), I can go no faster than a 16:00/mi pace, which means I'm walking the entire time. And, to make it even more confusing, if I hold that same 16:00/mi pace and change from a walk to a slow jog, my HR jumps out of the range! I'm not going any faster at all... it's just the difference in movements that my body doesn't like. It fits right in with the task of walking up a flight of stairs. I strapped on my HR monitor one day to get a reading of the wackiness. Walking around, I'm usually around a 70-75bpm gal. When I climb one flight of stairs at a moderately slow pace, it shoots up to 118. If I do two flights (around 30 stairs total), I'm at 132. Absolute insanity.

Anyway, I'm sticking with the training for at least a little while longer but so far I haven't seen any real changes. As an anomaly though, when I ran outside instead of the treadmill I was able to run at a faster pace (relatively speaking) while staying in the right range. I think I need to add some more miles per week to the training to feel like I've given it a fair shot, but if by the end of march I'm not seeing improvement by then I'm going back to just running like I used to. I'm seeing the cardiologist again on April 1st to do the stress test while my doctor watches; the 24-hour test showed that my average HR during that time period was within a normal range, but the problem is the severe increases at the slightest sign of exertion. So hopefully, when he sees it in person, he'll agree with the other doctor's diagnosis of IST and we'll try some drug therapy to get the HR to act as it should. To run and swim without gasping would be heaven sent.

On to the rest of my life....... A few months ago my city was graced with it's first running-specific store. I was drooling with anticipation as I watched it under construction and anxiously awaited its opening. One day last November, when Grant and I were in that plaza grabbing a bite to eat, I looked across the way and saw lights on in the store. Yes! We went immediately over there and I was fortunate enough to meet both of the owners that night. Since then, I've visited a half-dozen times (or more.... shhhh... don't tell my husband!) and got to know the owners better as well as several of the employees. A few weeks ago it struck me that, if I were to ever take a part-time job, working at that store would be ideal for me. Great people to work with, customers who were looking to sustain or improve their health, and the ability to learn more about the fitness industry... all while getting paid. On one of my visits I broached the subject with the store manager and the ball rolled from there. So, as of a few weeks ago, I'm now working for them and am having a blast.

I'm back, baby :)

2008-01-30T18:48:00.000-05:00

For a few weeks during winter, my son attends a fun academic program at UVA on the weekends. This past Saturday while he was in class, I took the opportunity to do a run around their campus. I had to mentally gear up for it because it was expected to be below freezing (it turned out to be 27 degrees when I started) and that would be the coldest run I'd ever done. I bundled up in two layers of everything - two pairs of pants, my UA cold gear turtleneck and jacket, two pairs of gloves, and the warmest hat I had. I'm so glad I went through all the effort because I can honestly say it was one of my favorite runs so far.

I find running outside to be so cathartic. I love being surrounded by other people who are taking care of themselves. I must have passed at least 50 other runners - most of them with at least one companion - and I just imagined the friendships and memories they must be building together. I've never had a running partner and I've really had the urge the past few weeks to locate local running, swimming, and biking clubs. I want the camaraderie, the exchange of knowledge, the accountability, and the special bond that working hard towards a goal can bring. Hopefully I'll be able to find some groups soon.

As I ran around UVA I paid special attention to the architecture of the campus. Thomas Jefferson was a genius. The work was exquisite and it made the run that much more pleasurable. I made sure to run around the football stadium in honor of Grant; I knew he'd get a kick out of it :)

After about an hour my stomach started growling and low-and-behold I happened to run by a bagel store. I planned a route back to my truck, grabbed some money, and headed back to the bagel store to feed my hunger. A breakfast sandwich and orange juice later I started back towards the campus to go pick up Grant. I had such a sense of pride coming back to the building, knowing that instead of wasting away the time I used it to make my body healthier.

Disney's half-marathon

2008-01-15T20:02:00.002-05:00

When I first started planning this trip many months ago, it was all about the medal. What was the super-secret medal that Disney was planning to unveil… the promise that sucked me in to this race in the first place? I didn’t know, but I was determined to be a part of it! As the date of the race drew closer and closer, the excitement towards the trip became less about the race and more about getting time with my friends in Florida. Don’t misunderstand… I was still incredibly curious about what was going to be so special about the medal, but plans were starting to shape up to get quality time with people I care about as well. I lived there a decade ago and have been fortunate enough to keep in touch with a few of them regularly throughout the years, and the time we get together is always so special to me. In addition to seeing friends, I also enjoy just driving around the area and reminiscing about that time in my life. I went through many crucial and important events while I lived in Orlando, and seeing the sights and sounds always brings me back in time. It makes me re-examine how my life has turned out, what might have been, and thankfulness for what has become.

My flight to Florida was on Wednesday afternoon and I started packing for the trip the weekend before. Florida was experiencing quite a cold spell – even some freezing/frost – and so I packed accordingly. I was pretty proud of myself since procrastination is one of my major weaknesses! Of course, it would have to turn out that when I re-checked the predicted weather on Tuesday it was now all bright skies and temps in the 80’s! Unpacking followed, and I ended up bringing clothes for temps ranging from cool and brisk to sweating the moment you walked out the door.

I’ve traveled locally for races before but never at a distance like this; it was also my first time doing a race without any support crew. I was a little nervous about it since I’ve had post-race issues in the past (dire need of food, painful cramping, etc.) but honestly felt like I’ve been through enough scenarios that I could handle whatever came my way. Since Grant wasn’t going to be with me on this trip, I packed Yortise in my sports bag to give me all of the hugs and comfort that Grant usually does before a race.

Navid dropped me off at the airport around 10:30 and I breezed through security. The flight boarded on time… and then we were stuck on the plane for forty extra minutes while we waited for the crew to arrive! Believe it or not, when the captain finally got there he made an announcement something to the effect of, “I apologize for the delay, but we got in late last night and we’ve been at the hotel sleeping. Actually, our airline hasn’t hired enough pilots and that’s why you’ve had to wait for us. You have to bear the brunt of their decision. I’m still waiting for my co-pilot to arrive. Once he gets here we should be on our way after twenty minutes.” As if we cared… we just wanted to get off the ground and get the air circulating again!

Once we were airborne everything went fine and I landed in FL about a half-hour late. My rental car was ready and waiting for me and it was an easy drive to Disney from there. I should mention here that I did all of my travel arrangements through the Disney Sports Travel Agency because the next part of the story is a little bizarre. I ended up making reservations at two different hotels, for two days each. I had planned on staying with my friend Julie the first two nights in FL, then staying at the Port Orleans hotel Friday and Saturday since it was close to the race site, meaning I wouldn’t have to get up any earlier than necessary (which was still 3:30am!). However, when I tried to make my air reservations for Wed-Sun I was told I couldn’t… if I flew in on Wednesday I had to stay at a Disney hotel starting on Wednesday. So, I chose their cheapest hotel possible for those first two days. If you’re wondering why I didn’t can it and just do all the planning myself, it’s because we had hundreds of “Disney dollars” from the Disney Visa and by using the Travel Agency I could pay for the entire trip using those bonus dollars. So, I essentially did this entire trip for hardly any money out of pocket :)

I pulled in to the All Star Music resort around 5:00 and requested a room in the “Jazz” section, hoping that they played music from each genre in their respective sections (they didn’t).

I spent my first night there getting unpacked, making a few phone calls, and wondering around the property. Thursday was my day to get together with my friend Julie. I’ve known Julie since 1996 and she’s one of my closest girlfriends. We have been through a ton of life changes together and it’s rather comforting to have someone in my life that has been with me through thick and thin and has still chosen to stick around. Being a military brat I have hardly anyone in my life that’s known me since childhood, and so I treasure her friendship very much.

After my easy 3-mile morning run Thursday morning I took a quick shower, grabbed some McD’s on the road for breakfast, and drove to her house. We spent an hour or so gabbing it up about this and that, and ended up talking a lot about fitness. In short, she’s put on some weight that she’s not happy about and wanted to start running but her knees hurt every time she tried. When I asked her what shoes she was running in she gave me a blank look, so I said, “Ah-ha!” and gave her my “Running shoes are the most important piece of equipment!” schpiel. As all runners know, shoes are also pretty expensive so I don’t advocate buying them unless you’re serious, and I could tell by the look on her face that she was so after we left her house we went to a local running store to get her hooked up. They fitted her for shoes and gave her a 30-day guarantee where she could return them if her knees still hurt after running (a lot of stores have a “wear it and they’re yours” policy, which really stinks). After checking out we needed lunch, and so we headed over to a P.F. Chang’s restaurant we had passed on the way to the store and I treated her to lunch to celebrate her new adventure in life. We talked about nutrition, how to start running and how to increase time/distance, etc. I had one of those out-of-body experiences because I heard myself talking and yet I couldn’t believe it was me talking; I really have learned a lot about this stuff in the past two years and it makes me so happy when I can share it with others.

After lunch we headed over to the packet pick-up. I had told Julie that I thought race expos were run… they have an indescribable energy to them… and I hoped she would enjoy it as well. Thankfully, she did. At the expo they had two lanes – one for runners and one for spectators. I wasn’t about to make Julie go around by herself and wait for me so I snuck her in to the runner’s area :) She got to experience what it was like getting a packet, what to check for, how to navigate the different booths, and so on. She was even with me when I went to the “Runners Relation” booth and got bumped up two full corrals because of my time improvement on previous races. I found out that corral placement was something they were VERY strict about, and unless you could prove your estimated time they would assign you to the last corral. People were showing up stating, “But I did (such and such) at my last race”, but unless it was in writing they wouldn’t move you. I had printed out all of my race results from Athlinks, as well as calculated the corresponding pace per mile to support my new estimated finishing time (2:30), so when I got up there it was easy as 1-2-3 and I left with a neon green sticker on my bib now stating that I was in Corral C.

After the packet pick-up it was time to browse the merchandise booths. For the first time ever, I left without buying ANYTHING for me. There were lots of cute shirts and so forth, but nothing that really grabbed me. I had pre-ordered a couple commemorative pins from the race – one for me and one for Grant – and that was good enough. Actually, I need to interject something here… I mentioned earlier that this was the first race I was doing solo. As Julie and I were driving to the race I was saying the same thing to her and she said, “I’ll come meet you.” I was shocked and would never have dreamed of asking her to come, and actually told her as much. The race started at 6:00, she’d have to be in the park by 7:45, traffic was going to be a nightmare, it would be hard to find me afterwards, yada yada yada. It didn’t change her mind. I was so touched that she’d do that for me, and when we were at the expo I was able to find one of the few remaining commemorative pins to buy for her as a gift (she collects Disney pins and has a lanyard for each year, purchasing a pin for every visit to the parks, so I knew this gift would be extra-special).

After the expo we headed back to my hotel, did a quick freshening up, and headed for Downtown Disney for dinner. Planet Hollywood is where we ended up and, although the food was good, the atmosphere was terrible. The music was ear-splitting loud and we had to shout just to hear each other. We did manage some conversation, and it was still about running. I’m a big proponent of taking it slow to avoid injury and burnout, and of course I’m also an advocate of the run/walk method. It was so funny (in an endearing way) to hear Julie almost apologizing for being slow and needing to walk more than run since that’s exactly how I started too. I think that’s why I enjoyed the talk so much. I could see exactly the path she was starting down, and where it will eventually lead. In the end we agreed that I’ll email her once a week to check on how things are going and to tweak her training program. I had told her earlier that day that if she ever committed to doing an endurance race that I would fly down and do it with her, and over dinner she set her sights on the Disney half-marathon in 2010. It’s a great goal, and I know it’s one she can achieve.

We wound the evening down after that and finally said goodbye around 10:30, with the excitement of seeing each other again after the finish line. I got a pretty restful night’s sleep and was excited to face Friday; only one more day before the race. When I awoke in the morning it was time to check out of All Star Music and head over to Port Orleans. Thankfully they were able to let me in to a room right away so there was no time being homeless. After I checked in I got a little settled in the room and then headed over to two of my favorite places on earth – Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness.

In case you’re not familiar with it, Wilderness Lodge is a giant log cabin hotel, a replica of a lodge in the northwest near Yellowstone Park.

I first discovered the hotel around 1997 and I go back to visit it every chance I get. To a girl who dreams of one day living in a log cabin house, this hotel is everything. Shortly thereafter, I also discovered Fort Wilderness, which is a short boat ride away, and once again I was immediately hooked. Fort Wilderness is Disney’s private campground where you can either bring your own camper/trailer/tent or rent one of their small log cabin homes. No matter what you choose to do, you are surrounded by towering trees, chirping birds, and all the beauty of, well, the wilderness. We rented a cabin there in 2006 and in March of this year we’ll be driving our camper down and camping there for a week. I can’t wait.

Because I didn’t want to spend too much energy walking around the day before the race I decided to rent a boat and go out on the lake for a while. Disney is connected, for the most part, by a large lake and if you take a boat out you can see pretty much everything. Seeing as how I wouldn’t have the opportunity to actually visit all of the sights this trip, driving by them seemed like the next best thing. The weather was beautiful, the air was perfect, and I spent a leisurely hour or so wondering aimlessly around and reminiscing about all of my past adventures there. For me, Disney isn’t so much about the parks as it is relaxation. I would often sneak on to hotel property under the guise of eating lunch or meeting a friend, both of which would often happen, and then I’d just soak up the atmosphere.

After my ride I bought a bottle of water, drank it, and then filled it up with sand from their beach. Grant has asked me for only one souvenir, and that was sand. Being in Florida, I had my choice of places to get the sand from, but I knew that getting it from For Wilderness would be meaningful to him. Sand in hand, I decided to walk back to my car instead of taking the campground bus; it was only a mile or so and I didn’t want my time there to end too quickly. The one thing that made leaving bearable was the knowledge that I’d soon be back again.

I headed back to the hotel, and was surprised to find a gift basket sitting on my table. It turned out that my boys had been sneaky and sent me a race-worthy care package complete with PowerAde, water, fruit, and protein bars. It was perfect!

After grabbing one of the apples I threw on my bikini and headed towards the pool. The hotel’s website said that there was no hot tub but, to my delightful surprise, it was wrong! I spent a little while in there soaking up the warmth under the beautiful setting sun and then decided I should start getting settled in for the night. A quick shower, a short walk to the café, and I was all set for dinner. The entire week prior to the race I was paying extra-special attention to my diet to make sure I was getting in the carbs/calories/liquid I would need for Saturday. For breakfast that morning I’d had a western omelet, a Mickey-shaped waffle, and a few other things. Lunch consisted of pasta, grilled chicken, green beans, corn, and a biscuit, and now for dinner I was having plain pasta and some nuts (for a little protein). I’d also had some fruit as snacks in between there as well. All in all, I was happy with how my eating had been and felt I was as ready as I could be for the race.

When I went back to the room I laid out my gear so that the morning would go as smoothly as possible. I knew that, at 3:30, I’d be bleary-eyed and foggy-brained!

I had been getting up earlier and earlier the past few mornings and so by the time 9:00 rolled around I was starting to get sleepy (which is huge, considering I don’t usually fall asleep before midnight). I grabbed Yortise, got under the covers, and tried to drift off to sleep. Unfortunately, my body was tired but my mind was buzzing and so it wasn’t until after 11:00 that my brain finally gave up and let me rest.

The early morning hours came much too soon and before I knew it my alarm was going off. The first thing I did was check the weather and I saw it was already a mild 64 degrees and the prediction of rain was no longer there. Fantastic. I dressed quickly, grabbed my gear, and headed out to the bus stop. We had been told that all runners had to be on a bus no later than 4:00, and I arrived at 3:55. There was a bus waiting there and within a few minutes we were on our way. Unfortunately, I soon realized that our bus driver had no idea where to go, and barely knew how to drive the bus. We made lots of unnecessary stops, she had trouble with the gears, and at one point we sat stuck behind another bus for five minutes, all the while having other buses pull around from behind us and leave. When I finally asked why we weren’t moving she mumbled an illogical answer and the guy sitting next to her (who had been coaching her on where and how to drive) mumbled, “Maybe you should try to back up.” Mercifully the bus in front of us decided to leave right about that time so we followed it out. I thought that was the worst of it but I was wrong. We finally made it to the drop-off point at Epcot and were lined up behind a half-dozen buses. They all had stopped and were letting their passengers off. Our driver not only didn’t let us off, she continued to drive further and further away from the drop point! One of the other passengers yelled, “Hey! We need to get off! Stop the bus!!” As we finally disembarked the consensus was that we had all chosen the wrong bus to board!

The walk to the launching area was beautiful. It was still dark, and the Epcot ball was lit up like the moon.
People were friendly and banter was light. As I crossed under the archway that welcomed all participants, I could feel the excitement kick it up a notch. I looked around to locate the “Runner’s Retreat” tent and headed that way. Runner’s Retreat was an add-on package that I purchased for convenience sake; it was to provide a carpeted area to stretch, food and drink both pre- and post-race, our own section of bathrooms and bag drop, our own post-race massage staff, and a temperature-controlled environment (heated pre-race, cooled post-race). When I approached the entrance to the tent I was met by two gate guards (no kidding!) who blocked the entrance until I showed them my blue wrist band. Talk about security!! As I watched the entrances both then and after the race, I could understand why; I saw dozens and dozens of people try to bargain their way in to the tent without having paid for it. Kudos to Disney for keeping things honest!

When I first entered the tent, the first thing I saw was a line. I jumped to the conclusion that it was a line for the bathrooms (after all, those are usually the main event pre-race!), but it turned out that they had brought Minnie to the tent to take pictures with the runners :)

After I had my picture taken I hit the food and drink lines which offered the standard pre-race selection of fruit, different breads, water, sports drink, and coffee/tea. There was hardly any wait and I was soon seated on the carpet stretching while eating/drinking. I easily decided that this was definitely the life to lead prior to a race! It was pampering all the way. Disney employees continually walked around to see if there was anything we needed and made sure we knew where to go to get to the start of the race (which turned out to be a 30 minute walk away). When it was about time to depart I went to the bag-drop area (again, no line), tried to call my FitMom friend Jules about meeting up (we missed each other), went to use the bathroom (had to wait all of 3 minutes), and then headed to the start.

During the walk there I somehow got engaged in some crazy conversations. I think the craziest one was a woman who turned out to be staying on the concierge level of the Grand Floridian (one of the most expensive rooms in one of the most expensive hotels) and she was talking about how she and her friends had stayed up drinking and partying the night before and how I should come join them after the race for more booze and fun. Maybe I live a sheltered life but this made me very uneasy so I just dismissed it with a, “Yeah, that sounds great.” and bid her goodbye as we got to her corral (she was faster than me, but was one of the unfortunate ones with no proof of time). I’m just not the wild and crazy type I guess!

The corrals lined up backwards from F to A, and as I got to F… and kept walking… a great sense of pride came over me. Through hard work and consistent effort, my times were steadily improving enough that I was no longer at the back of the pack. That pride only increased as I passed E, and then D. When I got to C I veered to the left and joined the crowd. While waiting for the cannon to go off I struck up another conversation with a really nice man and woman; they weren’t married but were there together, and the next day their spouses were going to be running the full marathon together! It was the first half-marathon for both of them and I could see the excitement written all over their faces. We talked about pacing, how our training had gone, and things like that. They were really great to pass the time with.

Those who have raced before are used to seeing the men line the bushes pre-race to relieve themselves. As women we find this highly unfair, while most of us secretly wish we had the ability to do the same so easily. Well, one woman decided she should join that club and as I was talking with my new friends I was blinded by this bright white light. No, make that a bright white butt. This woman decided enough was enough and – right in front of everyone – she dropped her pants, squatted, and peed in the grass. It was quite the conversation stopper to say the least!

Within a few minutes the cannon was fired, fireworks were in the air, and the race was underway. The path up to the starting mats was slow-going (12 minutes, to be exact), and unfortunately the roads remained congested for the first three miles. I was constantly weaving in and out of people so I could hold my desired pace. I wasn’t their fault though; I was in the pack of people running around an 11:30/mile pace but I was trying to run a 9:30 pace. My 9:30 run combined with my walk breaks combined to be around an 11:30 pace, which is why I was in that corral, but it made it hard for me until the crowds thinned a little.

I noticed right away that my legs felt like lead. I couldn’t understand, as I’d done everything the same as I had in previous successful practice runs. However, I clung to the hope that they would feel better once they loosened up as was often the case for me. When I hit the 5K mark I was at 35:18 (an 11:21/mile pace), which was right where I wanted to be. I needed to keep around an 11:25 pace to beat my 2:30 finishing time goal. My legs weren’t warming up though and so I was a little concerned about that. I kept talking to them… “Come on legs, get with the program! This is what you’ve trained for! It’s now or never!” They had decided to become deaf that day though and stayed heavy and annoying the entire race.

Since I felt like crap I decided I needed to focus on savoring the sights and sounds of the race. The weather could not have been better – mid 60’s, low humidity, and the sun still hadn’t risen. I had expected spectators along the road to cheer us on but I was overwhelmed at the number of people inside the parks, as well as the volume of Disney employees who came out to support us. You could tell who the employees were because they were all dressed in their khaki-colored jackets and wore their Disney name tags. Everyone was full of smiles, kind words, and encouragement. Running along Disney roads was very cool too because cars that passed on the other side were constantly honking at us and yelling out things like, “Good job runners!!! Keep going!!!” It always made me laugh :)

By the time I hit 10K I was at 1:09:24 and had improved to an 11:11/mile pace. I was constantly keeping an eye on Garmin, determined to keep my pace where it needed to be if at all possible even if I felt sluggish. Around mile 7, when I was on a walk break, a guy sidled up to me and said, “Are you doing four one?” I knew right away what he meant, smiled, and said yes. It turned out he’d noticed we’d been passing each other all through the race (color me clueless) and it happened that we were on a break at the same spot at the same time so he decided to say hi. He was doing his intervals by minutes (run 4, walk 1) whereas I was doing mine by distance (run .4, walk .1). Because our paces were nearly identical, we were always in sight of each other. We ran together for a couple of miles including through Cinderella’s Castle (which was probably the highlight of the run for me… coming through the castle doorway and overlooking the park as the sun was starting to rise).

Eventually I told him to carry on without me since he had a slightly faster time goal than I did and I didn’t want to hold him back.

At 15K I was at 1:44:50, an 11:16/mile pace, and I was thrilled that I was actually going to beat my goal time. My legs still felt heavy but they were performing and that’s what mattered most. All looked good… until around mile 10. Then it all fell apart. I started to feel cramping in my quads around the start of mile 9 but knew I could deal with it. However, when the tummy cramps kicked in I knew I was toast. I tried and tried to run through the pain but it became too much to bear. I wanted to avoid a bathroom stop because I knew the hit it would take to my time, and that now every ticking second was precious, but by mile 11 I knew that if I didn’t stop the pain and discomfort would kill a lot more time than if I stopped at a bathroom. When I finally came to one I relented and made my stop as fast as possible, and I even started counting the seconds in my head starting when I left the path until I got back on the path (64 seconds). I definitely felt better, but I still hurt and could feel my accomplishment slipping through my fingers. When I noticed my run pace was now averaging around 11:45, I knew it was over. I wasn’t going to finish within 2:30. I’ll admit to being sad - even angry - about it, but after a few minutes I could feel in my heart that I wasn’t crushed. I did the best I could and I couldn’t have done anything more. Given that perspective, I decided to just keep reminding myself that I’d finished yet another half-marathon… something at one time I never thought I could do… and reveled in my accomplishment.

I walked from mile 12.9 to mile 13 so I would have the ability to run across the finish line (the cramps were getting more intense again). When I crossed the line I felt that wonderful high, the one you can only get from pushing yourself physically and mentally. My final time was 2:31:44, which equates to an 11:35/mile pace. The cramps had hurt me so much that it dropped a full 20 seconds/mile off of my entire pace. Had it not been for them I would have made it. Oh well. I’ve already decided that means I just have to do another half-marathon and try again! As a side note, now that I'm home and have examined the final results it turns out that I finished in the top half of runners, and barely missed finishing in the top 1/3 of both females overall and my age group. All of that is HUGE for me!

As I made my way back towards the Runner’s Retreat tent, where Julie and I had arranged to meet, I started looking at the crowds surrounding me and suddenly I saw arms waving. It was Julie! She had not only managed to make her way to the finishing area, she actually got pictures of me crossing the line!

Once again she had completely surprised me. I had to maneuver my way around a bunch of barricades and tents before finally being able to see her in person and give her a huge hug of thanks. We set up an area right outside the Retreat tent where I could stretch and cool down. I used my post-race foil blanket as our sitting ground and once that was set out I stepped inside the tent to get some food and drink. I had seen oranges, bananas, muffins, and things like that set out for the “regular” racers as I had made my way to the Retreat tent and I wasn’t sure what food would inside (if there would be any difference in the food). Oh, what heaven awaited me. There were hot scrambled eggs with cheese, potato wedges sautéed with onions and peppers, bacon, and other such lovelies. We had cold water and sports drink as well. I quickly loaded up my plate and headed out to Julie. Before I got started eating we snapped a post-race picture of me and my medal.

After she took my picture, I suggested we take one of her with the medal too so she could hang it up as inspiration to keep training towards 2010.
While I had been inside getting food I had stopped by the massage tables to see how long the wait was. At all races in the past, by the time I’d finished there’d always been a minimum of a 45 minute wait and so I’ve never stuck around. Because the Retreat tent had a dedicated massage staff, there was only a 10 minute wait. Hallelujah! I paid my $10 and signed right up. I spent the waiting time with Julie outside, eating, drinking, and talking, and by the time I was done eating it was time for my massage. As I said before, I’d never had a post-race massage and man did it feel great. He worked my hamstrings, my lower back, my mid-back (where I have disc issues), my calves, and my quads. I left there feeling like a jiggly rubber band! I decided to swing through the food line for seconds and, while there, I ran in to the guy I had run with for a few miles. He finished in 2:23 and felt really good. I had learned earlier that he was also running the marathon the next day so I wished him well and then I headed back out to Julie. We talked while I stretched and iced my quads and she told me about all the funny things she had seen and heard while waiting for me. There really area some goofy people in this world!

When I was feeling not-so-famished anymore we gathered up and headed to her truck. A short ride back to my hotel and soon after I was in the shower de-stinkifying. During the race the temperature never felt hot to me, and yet I had sweat so much that my shorts were COMPLETELY soaked through and I could literally wring sweat out of them.

After my shower Julie kindly let me lay down for a few minutes before we headed out again (she wanted to go back to the expo to pick up some headbands we had seen). I’ll admit that the last thing I wanted to do was move, but not only did I know it was probably good for my body not to just stop, but it was also such a small thing I could do to thank her for all that she’d done for me. So, a little while later we were back at the expo. This time there were people walking around wearing their medals and I smiled every time I saw one of them. It’s a great camaraderie that’s felt between fellow athletes when you’ve all reached the same goal.

Julie and I said goodbye after the expo and I headed to my room to sleep. And sleep well I did. By the time I woke up it was starting to get a little dark and I was starving. A quick trip to the hotel café to grab some food and then I settled in to my room for the night to rest and watch football.

Sunday morning I was expecting to feel quite sore, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I barely hurt at all. It was much different than after my first marathon when I cringed for a week every time I had to go up a set of stairs. Another friend of mine, Laura, had planned a trip to Orlando around the dates I would be there so I met up with her and her family for breakfast. We were able to gab a while afterwards too while her boys played in the pool, and when we were done I climbed in my car and decided to spend my last moments at Wilderness Lodge. They have a magnificent stone fireplace with rocking chairs in front of it and so I curled up in one of the chairs and finished reading a book I had started earlier in the trip. I grabbed a quick lunch at the Lodge’s restaurant (complete with a slice of celebratory chocolate cake, of course!) and once again smiled at how many people were wearing half-marathon (and, by now, marathon) medals and shirts. For some odd reason it never occurred to me to wear my medal or shirt that day. I am always about sporting the hardware for at least the first 24 hours, but I had simply tucked it away after the race.

Oh, speaking of the medal, that was a serious let-down. It turned out that although all the advertising alluded to the events of the marathon weekend, there was only a special medal for the full marathon (and it was awesome, I have to say) and not for the 5K, half-marathon, or Goofy challenge. I guess if Freud were to look at that information he may say my subconscious was protesting the end result and that’s why I didn’t wear my medal. I think I was just preoccupied with enjoying my stay :)

I’m already planning on attending for the 2010 half-marathon and running with Julie. There will be no time goal; it will simply be a memorable time of friendship.

When I arrived back home in Virginia, the boys surprised me at the airport and Grant greeted me with a dozen pink roses and a heart-beaded bracelet that he had earned for me in school. The warmth of his smile and his hug made the sadness of leaving Florida float quietly from my mind. As Dorothy would say, there’s no place like home.

6 days left

2008-01-06T16:10:00.000-05:00

I just finished my final long run before the race. It was only seven miles, but it felt harder than last weekend's twelve. In fact, last weekend's twelve seemed easy in comparison. The miles felt great and my time was on pace to what I hope to finish in. It was gorgeous day weather-wise. I started the run when it was sunny and 52 degrees, but I started about an hour too late because I watched the sun set and felt the temps drop 10 degrees to the low 40's! Thankfully I got to the truck 15 minutes before it was completely dark.

Today I decided to do the run indoors since it was under 10 miles; I've reasoned that anything over 10 needs to be done outside because of the monotony of the treadmill and the fact that running an out-and-back course forces me to do the distance, but I think I'm going to have to lower that number to anything over six. I've discovered that I actually enjoy running outside, and now that I know how much easier it feels and faster I go (oddly enough), treadmill running is becoming torturous. Don't misunderstand... the convenience of the treadmill is worth its weight in gold, but damn... I actually miss passing by the scenery and the camaraderie of being out there with other athletes!

Anyway, back to the race prep... I decided to use my triathlon transition bag to carry my race gear in and I packed it to the gills a couple of days ago. I have Clif bars, Sport Beans, Cytomax powder, every kind of medicine I might possibly need, four different outfits - all for cold to moderate weather - shoes, ear warmers, gloves, Garmin, iPod, etc. etc. etc... The front of the bag has a mesh pocket and I've put Yortise in there; he's about to make his maiden trip! Orlando averages high temps in the 60's to low 70's in January, and they just had freezing temps last weekend, so those are the guides I used to pack. I decided to check the weather forecast though to see what was on the horizon and low-and-behold it's now expected to be LOWS in the 60's and highs in the 80's!!!! I guess I'll have to repack the entire bag because now, instead of long sleeves and pants, it will be shorts and sleeveless shirts. It's ironic because I'm usually quite the procrastinator, and the one time I try to be proactive it backfires on me :)

T minus two weeks

2007-12-27T22:29:00.000-05:00

Training continues to go well. I did shorten my long run last weekend; my legs felt so sluggish that after 5 miles I quit (I was scheduled for 10). I was getting bummed out about it - worried that my body was starting to revolt against long distances - until I realized that my meals had been pretty bad lately and I was definitely short of calories, and that that was most likely the problem. The quality of the meals were generally okay, but it was the quantity that was lacking. So, I made a concerted effort the past few days to hammer myself with lots of veggies and protein and when I did my run yesterday it went SO much better. I was still a little sluggish for the first 2-3 miles, but once I hit 4 miles I felt great. I was only supposed to do 5 miles but I did 6 :)

Grant got me a couple of Spinerval DVD's for Christmas and I'll be breaking in one of them tomorrow. I'm planning to do the 50 minute "autumn trail ride" in the morning and then a run in the evening.

Two weeks from today I'll be in Florida. I can't believe the trip is almost here...

Experiences you can't get running on a treadmill

2007-12-16T19:26:00.000-05:00

1. Frostbite

Today my training schedule called for a 15 mile run. For the second time in two weeks, I was going to set a new personal best in distances. I anxiously checked the weather last night hoping for some change in the bleakness; alas, it was still forecasted to be in the mid 30's, and now they'd added rain to the forecast. The rain was supposed to clear by 9:00 though, so I planned on waking at 8:00, getting a bite to eat, and then being at the W&OD trail by 9:00.

My alarm went off at 8:00. I ignored it until 8:45 and then rolled out of bed. When I looked out the window and saw clouds, but no rain, I started dressing for the run. I got on my trusty UA Cold Gear and went downstairs to finish my prep work. I toasted a small bagel and made a peanut butter and honey sandwich on it, had a cup of tea, got my Cytomax mixed and then filled my Fuel Belt bottles with either Cytomax or water. Lastly I grabbed my Garmin and my iPod and turned to leave but decided to stick my hand outside to see how cold it was and if I should bring my cap or ear warmers. I stuck out my hand... and it got wet. The rain had returned. So now I was mad... I had spent all yesterday and this morning psyching myself up to run outside in the cold and had actually gotten a little excited about it, and now it was raining on my parade.

I checked the weather radar and it looked like the rain would be clearing out within the next hour so I decided to wait it out an hour and hope things looked better. By 11:00 the rain was gone so I grabbed a light jacket that had a hood (in case the rain returned) and hit the road.

The truck's temperature guage read 36 degrees and icy. I'd never seen that before... didn't even know it could do that... but I guess it senses the condition of the roads and so it rotated between informing me it was 36 degrees or icy the entire drive. I couldn't decide if it was warning me of the road conditions or trying to convince me to turn around and run at home.

I ate a small Clif Bar on the ride and when I pulled in to the trail's parking lot at 11:30 I was ready to run. And then it started to rain again. I sat in my truck for a good 5 minutes doing the good angel/bad angel routine as to if I should just go home. What pushed me out of the truck was the thought that the only thing I could think of that would be harder for me than running in that weather would be running 15 miles on the monotonous treadmill.

I stepped out of my truck to get my bag from the back and was hit with a frigid chill. At that moment I realized that my headband would NOT be enough for my head today. Off went the headband, on went my UA cap. I put on my gloves, put on my jacket, strapped on my Fuel Belt, and headed up the path to get started. What greeted me was not only cold and rain, but now wind. My nose and lips instantly felt like they were working on a good frostbite, and I knew there was NO way I could make it through 15 miles in those conditions.

2. Improvisation

My spirit was at its breaking point. I decided that I just couldn't do the run and turned around to go back to the truck. And a strange thing happened... the wind disappeared. Ah, right... it was only a headwind, and therefore I'd only have to deal with the wind for half the run. That still left 7.5 miles with that brutal wind (which I later learned was blowing at 25mph) and it occurred to me it was time to get creative. I continued walking back to my truck, but instead of leaving I grabbed my ear warmers. My ears were already going to be warmed from the cap and so I took the larger "ear" portion of the band and used it to cover my nose and mouth. I took a quick little jog in to the wind to see how well it worked and there was no more discomfort; on the contrary, not only was it not cold but I now had heated air that I was breathing in and out. Genius.

3. Communing with nature

Within the first mile of the run I saw at least a dozen cardinals (what they were still doing around I couldn't tell you). I was marveling at how cool it was that I was getting entertained during the run when off to my right I spotted a mama deer and her baby behind the fence that borders the trail. They were munching on some vegetation about 15 feet away from me. As I drew closer they both crouched down prepared to flee if I became aggressive, but of course I passed by harmlessly. I thought that experience wouldn't be beat but I was wrong; 1/2 mile later there was another deer, but this time even closer to me. Next to the trail is about a 6 foot strip of grass; on the other side of that strip is where the deer was and this time there was no fence separating us. I saw him about the same time he saw me, and I ran the 1/10 of a mile towards him trying my best not to spook him off. With each step closer I saw his head twist ever so slightly so he could keep me dead in his sight. I jokingly thought to myself that he must be wondering what two-legged animal it was that moved so slow :) As I passed by him I gave a little smile and wave, and then I continued on my way. Between the birds and deer, I felt very strongly that they had appeared to not only reward me for braving the elements, but also to encourage my heart as I took on the rest of the run. Mercifully, it was around this time that the rain stopped.

4. Fire

Okay, so maybe not fire, per se, but the smell of fire. About three miles in to the run I came upon a quaint store that had a wood-burning fireplace. Just the smell of it made me feel a little warmer.

5. Clothing tips

The first hour I was out I didn't see another soul. All the smart people were safe and warm inside their homes! Eventually, more and more people started to appear and I noticed the vast differences in clothing. I was wearing cold gear from head to toe as well as a cap, jacket and gloves. When I left the house I thought I might be overdressed, but I can tell you I never once regretted any of my layers! Everyone I passed that didn't have something covering their face looked pained. One woman I passed was wearing only a long-sleeve shirt and shorts and she looked miserable... even her legs were red from the cold. I'm glad I followed John Bingham's advice and packed clothes for every possible weather situation!

The best of the rest...

When I first took off on my run I didn't know if I'd make it 15 miles so I planned to do 5 out, 5 back, and decide then if I should continue. When I'd finished my 10 miles I still felt really good so I made a quick pit-stop at the truck to let the boys know how the run was going and refill my Fuel Belt bottles (which were mostly empty). I will say that the last 5 miles (2.5 out, 2.5 back) were definitely challenging, but I never felt like I wasn't going to make it. The entire run I tried to work on my stride to make it more efficient, concentrating on using all of the muscles in my legs as well as having a good foot strike and kick-off.

The other thing I wanted to pay attention to was my time. I was supposed to do my run today at my goal pace plus 30 seconds per mile. I would glance at Garmin every now and then to check my pace, and more often than not I was running faster than I was supposed to. I made a judgement call to just let my body do what it wanted to, but not go any faster than 9:30 for any length of time. After 5 miles I had a good idea that I'd be doing the entire 15 so I decided to see what my 6.55 (the half-way point of a half-marathon) and 13.1 mile times were. When I hit 6.55 I was at 1:15 and change, which is EXACTLY half of my 2:30 goal time. Crazy! I kept a close eye on Garmin for the next 6.55 miles and tried to hold the pace. With each passing mile my legs were feeling heavier and heavier and I was having my doubts about being able to keep up my .4 run/.1 walk intervals. However, I kept on top of my rehydrating and fueling and my body responded kindly, supplying me with the energy I needed to continue. When the rain started again at mile 12 I did my best to ignore it and just pressed on. When I hit 13.1 miles, I was at 2:31 and change. I was ecstatic. I don't know how I can give the Disney run any more effort than I gave today, but today's run proved to me that I at least have a chance to meet my goal.

I'll admit to taking the final 1.9 miles a bit easier. I had used so much of my energy to carry me to my goal pace that my body said, "Enough!" It was a double-edged sword though because although my body was begging for a little more rest, when I rested a little more my muscles would tense up. I balanced the evils as best I could and finally made it back to my truck. I snapped a picture of myself at the end of the run, knowing Grant would get a kick out of my getup.

When I got home my boys had heated up some food for me and I told them I wanted to take a quick shower first. However, I hadn't anticipated just how good that hot shower would feel and as a result I sheepishly walked back downstairs about 15 minutes later :) I'm working on finding the right food balance for my post-run meals... food that will fill me and aid in my recovery but not gorge myself so much that I pass out. My Fit Mom friends gave me a lot of good suggestions after my last long-run and so this time I tried to do a 4-to-1 ratio of carbs to protein. I don't know if it was the food or the additional training, but not only did I not crash for a long nap, I didn't even take a short one! My body is tired and my legs are sore, but overall I feel much better than I did after my 14 mile run.

From here on out starts my tapering. My next long runs are 10, 12, 8, and then the race. I'm looking forward to being on the down-slide of training!

I loathe speedwork

2007-12-11T19:57:00.000-05:00

I know it's a necessary evil if I want to get faster, but dang it's so challenging. Today I had 10 intervals of 400m @ 1 min faster than my goal pace w/ 400m ri (recovery interval) inbetween sets. Good thing I love math because my necessary run pace was hard to figure out; because I run using RWI (run/walk intervals), I had to compute each section individually using their times and making sure their total didn't go over my goal pace. Throw in there that I also had to convert from the standard counting scale (ie: 1-100) to seconds scale (1-60) it was extra interesting!

My goal pace is 11:30/mi, with run .8 and walk .2. If I do the walk at a max of 18:00/mi, that would mean my time walking per mile would be 3:36, which would then mean my run pace needs to be around a 9:30-9:45 for the .8 miles . SO, I had to sustain 8:30 today for 400m at a time. I was actually grunting like weight-lifters do at the end of each interval because I was so spent!

After this race I'm going to try switching up my RWI's and try running .9 and walking .1. A 9:30 run pace is hard for me, and if I could walk less then I could slow my run pace and possibly still meet my goal time. This close to the race however, I don't want to mess with anything.

Total distance inc. warm-up and cool-down was 5.75 miles.

Two firsts in a week

2007-12-03T23:41:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a week last week. I had two big firsts for me in my running life. First, I ran my fastest ever pace during some speed training. One of my Fit Mom friends posted her speed work workout earlier in the week and it inspired several of us to try and duplicate it. Basically it was a pyramid workout on the treadmill that pushed us all to the limit. Yep, we cranked it up to 10.0. Here's what I did:

5 minute warm-up
5.0 for 1 min (12 min pace) - 1 min recovery
6.0 for 1 min (10 min pace) - 1 min recovery
7.0 for 1 min (8:34 min pace) - 1 min recovery
8.0 for 1 min (7:30 min pace) - 1 min recovery
9.0 for 1 min (6:40 min pace) - 1 min recovery
10.0 for 1 min (6:00 min pace) - 1 min recovery
9.0 1 for min - 1 min recovery
8.0 1 for min - 1 min recovery
7.0 1 for min - 1 min recovery
6.0 1 for min - 1 min recovery
5.5 1/2 mile
5 minute cool-down

To say my legs were flying would be an understatement. They even locked twice because they barely made it around fast enough, but I made it to the end. (If my parents are reading this, I promise that I had my hands hovering above the "oh crud" handles just in case my feet gave out!). Grant came up to watch the last two minutes of the pyramid climb (9.0 and 10.0) and was in awe of my accomplishment. I love that he's so proud of me :) The crazy part is that, on the way down, anything under 7.0 felt like a slow jog. Now, I usually don't run any faster than 6.0 for any length of time, so this was a very interesting phenomenon to me... one that I'll have to explore further in the coming weeks.

The second "first" for me was a new distance record. We went to Williamsburg last weekend for Grand Illuminations (their kickoff to winter celebration) and I actually made myself get up early on Sunday to do my 14 (yes, FOURTEEN!) mile training run. Not only did I do the run, but I did it outside in the freezing cold. I don't do cold. Ever. Unless absolutely necessary. However, I bundled myself up in UA Cold Gear turtle neck/long pants/beanie/gloves... and will admit to it being a very cool and surreal experience. I got to watch the sun come up over the Governor's Palace; jog by other runners and cyclists while exchanging the "Good Morning"'s and smiling at each other while quietly celebrating the fact that we're making the sacrifice to take care of our bodies; and reminisce over all of the memories I have of our numerous visits to Williamsburg. My plan had been to run to our favorite breakfast restaurant and then turn around. However, that only got me to a little over 4 miles, so I had to keep going and decided to make my new destination the outlet mall. I got there and was at around 6.75 miles, so I turned around and then did the extra 1/2 mile running around the William & Mary campus.

I have been pretty sore the past few days but I have only myself to blame. I started the FIRST training program late in the game and have been playing catch-up on the weekend long-run distances, so instead of doing a progression of 10-11-12-13-14 the past five weeks, I've only done 8-8-10-10-14. The leap from 10 to 14 was a little too much for my body and it's letting me know. I did manage some light cycling yesterday and it helped relieve some of the soreness, but I've skipped today's speed work. If I cringe while walking down stairs, I can't imagine the faces I'd make if I tried to run!

Turkey Trot 5K

2007-11-22T10:23:00.000-05:00

What a way to start Thanksgiving! I've never done a Turkey Trot before (never saw the need to get up extra-early on a holiday just to sweat) but the bug got me this year and I signed Grant and myself up for a local one. I mentioned it to my Mom at some point and the next thing I new our race outing was now a threesome.

I was particularly excited about the night before the race. See, Grant had given me my very own Yortise the Tortoise as my birthday present a few weeks back for just such an occasion. He went to Build-A-Bear, chose my tortoise shell, stuffed it, and recorded a personalized message for inside his hand that says, "Run tortoise, RUN!" He named it Yortise the Tri Tortoise, and he's all decked out in running gear - right down to sunglasses, RoadID, timing chip, and running shoes with sparkly hearts on them :) The shirt is embroidered with my training motto - Perseverance breeds success! I have this saying hanging up in my workout room and it's also engraved on the back of my iPod. Yortise is much too adorable, and I told Grant I'd sleep with it every night before a race to bring me good luck and anti-tortoise vibes.

The weather was predicted to be 50 and rainy, but in the 24 hours prior to the race that all changed and, when it was time to run, it was 60 and gorgeous. My Mom was waiting for us when we got there and we killed time talking and stretching. With a few minutes to go, Grant wanted to start heading towards the front of the line so he could find a clear path (being the competitive kid that he is). My mom was planning on more walking than running, so she stayed back. All in all (runners and walkers included), there ended up being around 4000 people, which was the largest crowd they'd ever had.

Grant strained his groin a few days ago and I've been having him take it easy and ice it the past few nights. He was really worried about it because he wanted to do well in the race, and thankfully on race morning he said it felt pretty good and he wanted to try running (he was prepared to walk with my Mom if he was still hurting). We both had the same personal goal of finishing in under 35 minutes, and we planned on running pretty close to each other for the entire race so that I could pace us. When we took off I looked at my Garmin after a minute or so and it said we were doing around a 9:30 pace (which was really fast for me); however, within about 1/10 of a mile Grant shouted out, "Bye Mom!", and after 1/4 mile I could no longer see him. All I could think was, "Run Hare, RUN!"

Because it was a short distance race, I had a long talk with myself and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to break out of my comfort zone. I'm always hindered by my heart rate no matter what I do and I wanted to see what would happen if I kept pushing myself beyond my fear point (when my heart is pounding and racing and it's hard to get a decent breath). Therefore, during the race I let my body run at the pace it wanted to and didn't hold it back, and I discovered that for the duration of my running segments I varied between 8:30 and 9:30 pace, depending on the hills; I could sustain that fast pace for about 4/10 of a mile, and then I needed to take a walk break for the next 1/10 of a mile. It was tough, and there were times I wondered if I'd have enough steam to make it all the way through at those paces, but I didn't stop trying. Well, it must have been the magical combination because as I hit my 2.4 mile walk break I looked down and realized that I could possibly beat my super-secret goal of 33:00; to do that though I'd have to give it everything that was left in my tank. I ran the last .6 miles with as much gusto as I could, all the while keeping an eye on Garmin. When we climbed the final hill I could see the finishing mats and knew I had about 45 seconds to get there. I kicked as hard as I could, wove in and out of people, saw Grant waiting for me at the end of the mats, and crossed the line with 16 seconds to spare. Grant came running up behind me, cheering for me and trying to ask me questions, but I couldn't even talk. I had a stitch in my side, I couldn't catch my breath, and the last thing I wanted to do was carry on an intelligent conversation! When I checked Garmin after the race I saw that my mile splits were 10:49 (mile 1), 10:59 (mile 2), 9:45 (mile 3, where the determination set in), and then 8:00 for the final .14 miles. Um... yeah... that would explain the "Oh my gosh my chest is about to explode" feeling.

After a few minutes I was back to breathing normally and feeling great. Grant and I headed back down the course to intercept my Mom, not knowing how far back she would be. Low and behold, we only had to walk less than 1/4 mile before we saw her... and she was running! She looked great!!!! When I last saw her run in October 2006 she was very bouncy in form (more up and down instead of forward progress); now her steps seemed purposeful and she looked incredibly strong. I was so proud of her! Grant and I ran her in until the last little bit and then let her cross the mats by herself.

It was an amazing day for all of us and really couldn't have asked for anything more. We had perfect weather, perfect company, and great finishing times:

Grant - 27:29 (8:52 pace and a new PR)
Me - 32:44 (10:33 pace, my first-ever sub 11:00 pace and a new PR)
Mom - 40:34 (13:04 pace and a new PR)

Yea us!

10 miles!!!!

2007-11-20T08:37:00.001-05:00

Phew! I was supposed to do a long run this past weekend but we were away camping to celebrate my birthday and somehow - between all the relaxing and cake/ice cream eating, it just never happened :) I *really* wanted to just ignore the run on Monday but knew I couldn't. I'm now less than two months from the race and according to the FIRST marathon training program I should have done 13 miles, and not the 10 I had planned on. I don't know who this FIRST guy is but boy does he run a tight ship. His training program is brutal. Those I know who have used it before swear by how well it prepares you, but all I know is that if I don't see a significant improvement in my time I'm going to feel like giving up. To be running 10 miles for a long-run, with around 8 weeks still left to go, is crazy to me. There are some training programs that have 10 miles as the longest run of the entire program and the run is not done until 3 weeks before the race! But I digress....

All yesterday I kept thinking, "Okay... I'll do it after (name anything)". Finally I decided that I'd start it once my son got home from school, hoping that he'd keep me company while we watched a movie or something together. I figured he'd be game, and he was. The treadmill is in my bedroom, as is a smallish TV. We put on a Discovery Channel program and I started to run while he did his homework/watched TV. He stuck with me for about 8 miles and then went off to do his own thing. As always though, he was the constant encourager while he was there ("Mom, you're doing great." or "Wow Mom, you've really gone far!"). The run truly was challenging, as it felt like every mile took an eternity and I kept wondering how I'd get through ten. I used my countdown method though and that really helped (ie: "You're 1/3 of the way done"). I also kept telling myself, "Just one more mile... you can do one more mile...", and before I knew it I was at 8 miles. Once I hit 8 I knew I'd make 10.

Being a tortoise, the ten miles took me over two hours. However, somehow I did manage to get dinner started during that time; we were having a Persian dinner and most of it was already prepped. At a walk break around 5:30 I ran downstairs, threw the rice, oil, and salt in to the rice cooker, turned it on, and then headed back upstairs. The oven was set to automatically start heating up at 6:15, so at my 6:30 walk break I ran downstairs, threaded the chicken on to skewers, and then threw those in the oven. Navid came home around 6:45 and was able to take everything out when it was done while I took a shower. There's nothing like finishing a brutal run and having a delicious, hot meal waiting for you!

As I went to bed last night I was starting to feel the tightness settle in. I had made sure to stretch for quite a while after the run, but my back was still protesting and my thighs/calves were starting to ache. I feared the worst when I woke up this morning but - amazingly - I have NO soreness! I'm once again amazed at what the body can do when it's properly conditioned.

Less than two months to go!

2007-11-15T17:06:00.000-05:00

Workouts are..... going. That's about the best I can say. For whatever reason, motivation still continues to be a huge obstacle for me. And, if I don't exercise in the morning, it most often doesn't get done. I need to learn that when I find myself saying, "Oh, I'll just do it after I've (eaten, rested, run errands)" I need to stop myself and workout right then!

A few weekends ago I found myself in Middleburg, VA, for an extended period of time. My son had an appointment which left me with three hours of "down time", so I brought my running clothes to help pass the time. I hadn't done much running since my last triathlon so I was worried how it would go, but it turned out to be very worthwhile.

I discovered that Middleburg is an adorable, quaint town with brick paved streets and cobblestone sidewalks. What made the day perfect though was the weather. It was textbook fall - mid 60's, sunny, slight breeze, and leaves at the peak of their color. As I ran down the streets, smiling at the people walking their dogs, or taking in a coffee at an outdoor cafe, I felt alive and focused. I soaked in as much of my surroundings as possible, knowing that I was having one of those too-good-to-be-true runs that you wish could last forever. I ended up doing six hilly miles, and at the end of it I was already trying to plan how I could move to that city :)

Since that run I've done some general fitness workouts and a few runs. My furthest run to date is 8 miles (last weekend), but I still feel behind. This will be my second half-marathon; the first time my only goal was to finish but this time I've actually set a time goal for myself. It's an ambitious goal - and one would think that would be enough to motivate me to train hard - so I'm quite perplexed as to why I'm still content to be a lazy arse. A few days ago I did set up the bike trainer my MIL gave me for my birthday, and I plan on using it quite a bit. I'll be asking for some "Spinervals" DVD's for Christmas; they're visual workouts that take you through great bike courses and you adjust your speed/gears according to the perceived exertion on the video.

Grant and I will be doing a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day. It's only a 5K so I'm going to run it as fast as I think I can maintain for that distance. Grant is hoping for a medal, but he hasn't been training at all. I did start him running again earlier this week (he's actually upstairs right now on the treadmill) trying to ease him in to the distance and pace he wants to hit. Grant being Grant, he wants to start out full-force; however, he's learned enough to know that if you expend all your energy without the stamina it won't matter how fast you start out... you're guaranteed to putter out at the end. I'm hoping this gives him incentive to continue running even in the off-season, especially since he'll be playing basketball. He'll need all the running stamina he can get!

Let the countdown begin

2007-10-16T22:18:00.000-05:00

Today officially kicked off my training for the Disney half-marathon in January. I'll be following the FIRST (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training) training program, which focuses on intensity and high mileage (avg 20+ miles a week). I'll be running three times a week and cross-training three times a week. I guess it won't be too terribly different from when I trained for the triathlons, except my running mileage will be substantially higher!

I've been a lazy slug since Nation's (2 1/2 weeks ago) and today was the first time I'd really exercised since then. I think mentally I needed the break, and I know my body appreciated the down time. It was difficult to convince myself to do a run today, but once I got going I loved it. I was afraid that it would be hard for me because 1) it had been so long since I'd done anything, and 2) we all know that running isn't my strong suit. Amazingly though not only wasn't it enjoyable, it was actually kind of easy.

I finally met with a cardiologist recently and we have a probable diagnosis for my heart. It's an uncommon condition called Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia. Basically, at the slightest sign of exertion, my body thinks it needs to work in overdrive (fight-or-flight mode) and stays that way until the exertion is over. Even the slightest things like walking up a flight of stairs or unloading groceries will send my heart racing. Finally there seems to be an answer as to why that happens, and hopefully we'll be able to find a medicine that will make it better. I'm doing more tests in a few weeks and then the treatment will start. The thought of being able to run without a pounding heart just sets my heart... well... aflutter :)

My little marathoner

2007-10-09T16:25:00.000-05:00

We spent this past weekend with some friends at a KOA campground just outside the VA/NC border. We went there to ride the same New River Trail that Navid and I rode this past April (http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/new.shtml), except this time we brought Grant with us. Truth be told, we wouldn't have brought him if my parents had been in town to watch him because I thought something of this level of difficulty would be too much for him to handle. He would, in the end, prove me wrong.

Grant wasn't the only new member this time around. There were three new woman that joined the usual group, so together there were nine adults and one child. We hosted two of the new women in our camper, and Steve and Henri had the other three people, so all ten of us were located on two adjoining campsites. It was great!

We arrive VERY late Friday evening as our trip took almost two hours later than we had planned on. We stayed up chatting with everyone for an hour or so and then we hit the bed so we'd be rested for the morning. The plan for breakfast was to cook at the campground, but one thing led to another and next thing I knew we were heading out to Bob Evans and wouldn't be back before leaving for the ride. I hurried to gather everything Grant and I would need (Navid wanted to rest and do a little work so he was staying at the campground), but it turned out I forgot a thing or two. There was a mishap on the way to the campground Friday evening that resulted in Grant's tired getting bent, and so when we all went to breakfast Navid went to a bike store to have the tire fixed. One of the things I had forgotten in the camper were bike socks but a quick call to Navid remedied that and, when he returned with the fixed bike, he also had a bold pair of Cannondale socks for me to wear :)

Once we were all stuffed to the gills with our carbs we headed off to the trail. The big question of the day was how far could Grant make it. My only plan for the ride was staying with Grant; I didn't care how far he went... I just wanted the time with my son. He asked how far I thought he'd get and I told him maybe 16 miles if we played it safe. His longest ride to date was 12 miles, and that was on a paved path with moderate hills. This path was mostly flat but was on crushed gravel, which is harder to negotiate than pavement. I imagined we'd do 8 out, turn around, and do 8 back then have Navid pick us up at our starting point. My concern was that there really was no easy place to get picked up if he tuckered out somewhere in between. However, when Grant heard that most people were going to ride at least the 25 miles to the end of the trail, he set his sights on that goal. The thought of achieving that distance was very enticing to him and I told him that if we REALLY played our cards right I thought he may be able to pull it off, but it would be tough. In the back of my mind though I reminded myself of one of his defining character traits: If he truly sets his mind to something he has always reached his goal.

We got to the "Shot Tower" (our starting point) around 11:20. Once we were all unloaded, bikes lubed, helmets attached, and potty breaks taken, we set off around 11:45. Here we are just before the departure:

Most of the people on the ride were very experienced riders who wanted to go at a good clip, so Grant and I were soon left behind the rest of the pack. That was fine with us as we weren't out to set any speed records. Our goal for that day was distance and that's what we were pacing ourselves for. The group never totally left us though, as they stopped every 3-4 miles for a quick break and would always wait for us to catch up to them to make sure we were okay before continuing on.

Grant kept trying to go faster than I thought he should so I was constantly saying, "Grant, slow down." or "Grant, you're going to tire out if you keep that up." Finally I told him that he had to make a choice... either I let him go as fast as he wanted to and probably not make it the 25 miles or he had to listen to me without fuss and slow down. He chose to slow down and let me lead, and that's how we did most of the second half of the ride.

We had some great talks about life, about the scenery, about race strategies (pacing, eating, hydration, etc.) and I just truly enjoyed this special time with him. When we passed mile 12 he said, "Mom, this is now officially the longest ride I've ever done. And I still feel great!" It was a good indication that his hydration and nutrition was on target and I just hoped it would continue that way. I was making sure he kept drinking from his CamelBak (50oz of water), and he'd had a pack of Sport Beans and a granola bar at that point. At mile 15 he was still feeling fine and we were riding by some really pretty rivers and creeks. It was perfect timing for this ride because he's currently studying Virginia geography and they've talked quite a bit about the New River. We even snapped a few pictures of him on the trail to share with his teacher and classmates:

When we hit mile 18, things started to fall apart. He started complaining of a headache and was looking pretty weak. I'd glance at him from time to time and he would be grabbing his forehead, or trying to keep back tears. By now Steve had hung back to ride the rest of the way with us and so we all stopped to assess the situation around mile 20. Grant had recently finished all the water in his CamelBak so I was going to give him mine, except I could see it wasn't water that was the problem... it was electrolytes and fuel. Thankfully Steve had Gatorade in his CamelBak but it was the one flavor that has made Grant's stomach churn in the past so he was almost in tears when we told him he had to drink it. I told him it wasn't an option I was giving him... he had to do it. He had a few swallows and handled it okay. Steve also had a packet of the Gatorade powder with him (same flavor though) and so I had Grant open his mouth and I poured a couple mouthfuls for him to swallow, kind of like a Pixie Stick. He washed that down with some water and I was thinking about what else I could give him. I had offered him more Sport Beans (which he usually loves) but he said that he couldn't handle the thought; in truth though, when Grant falls apart everything becomes doomsday automatically so I knew if it came down to it I could talk him through his pain and concern and get him to eat them. However, I suddenly remembered I also had a packet of vanilla Gu with me and when I offered that to Grant his eyes lit up. Bingo! Down went the Gu with a little more water and then we set off slowly again.

Within minutes he was perking back up and becoming his regular self, ready to tackle the last five miles. The end was in sight and he was raring to go. In racing terms, he had hit the wall and found a way to power through it. I was so proud of him for showing such mental strength and determination. I had no doubt now that he could conquer the final five miles. At least, we thought it only five miles...

We stopped every so often to give him a chance to rest and recover, and when we saw this little waterfall we couldn't resist a picture:

There were scenes like this all along the ride. It truly was a beautiful, pleasant ride.

As we approached mile 25 we saw the designated lunch meeting place and all the other riders were waiting for us. No one could believe that Grant was still riding. And Steve, who was riding with us, had been so encouraging to Grant the final few miles. He was constantly telling him how amazed he was, how proud he was of the effort Grant was giving, and that he never would have believed that a 9 year-old kid who had only biked 12 miles in the past could whip out 25 miles just because he wanted to. Grant was beaming ear to ear, so proud of himself.

The interesting thing was that as the others were complimenting him, he kept brushing them off and not really responding. At first I thought of talking with him and pointing out that he was behaving kind of rudely, but then I looked at it from a different perspective. Given his personality, he wasn't ignoring them; he just really didn't care what they thought. I don't mean that in a bad way at all, and in fact later he appreciated the fact that they complimented him, but right then - in the moment - it was all about how he had done the distance for himself. It was all internally motivated, and all that mattered was that HE was content with what he did. He set a goal, and he found a way to achieve it regardless of who was watching or not. I love that about him.

We had called Navid ahead of time and told him where to meet us. However, we discovered that our lunch spot (which was at 24.8 miles) wasn't he end of the trail and wasn't where Navid was waiting. Indeed, there was another 1.7 miles available to be ridden before we would get to Navid. I asked Grant if he wanted me to ask Navid to drive to us and he said, "No way, let's finish it. I want to do 26.5!" It then occurred to me that he would have then biked a marathon and when I told him that he just burst out laughing. He still couldn't believe what he had accomplished (and neither could I!). I told him that some of my Fit Mom friends would be running marathons the next day and he said, "Yeah, but I've had it a lot easier than they will!" At least he was still a little humble :)

Grant told me ahead of time he wanted to save up his energy for the last .7 miles and then sprint to the finish, so that's what we did. When we exited in to the parking lot I heard a loud "WOO-HOO!" behind me and when I looked over my shoulder Grant was pumping his fist in the air in victory :)

On the way back to the lunch spot we bought some sandwiches at Subway and then headed on to pick up those who didn't want to do the 25 back. Three more people (and bikes) piled in to our truck and off we went. Once we were at the campground we all cleaned up and then relaxed, waiting for the 50-milers to return. I had thought Grant would be beat and all tuckered out. Nope. Within a short time after arriving back at the campground he was running around looking for someone to play with. Everyone thought it was great... except for me. As I said to them, "If cycling a marathon doesn't tire him out, what hope do I have???!" This kid never slows down.

The others arrived around 6:30 and then we cooked out a fantastic dinner of pork loin, sweet potatoes, salad, and other goodies. We finished the night off with a round of s'mores (two for Grant!) and then we hit the sack.

In the morning we started another campfire and enjoyed our morning coffee/tea while relaxing in the cool weather. Then came out the griddle and we feasted! Pumpkin pancakes, french toast, Canadian bacon, fruit salad...... All the good eats one wants in the wilderness.

Shortly after that, people started packing up to head home. However, Navid, Grant, and I had already decided that since the trip down took so long we would check out late on Sunday so we could relax some more. Grant and I headed to the field to throw the football for a while and then played a few games in the arcade. When we went back to the camper it dawned on us that it was Sunday, and that our beloved Redskins were playing at 1:00. We hardly ever turn on the TV when we camp but we decided to make an exception and ended up just crashing in the camper and watching our Skins trounce the Lions. It was the perfect ending to a great weekend.

And now I'm an Olympian as well

2007-09-30T17:55:00.000-05:00

Man, that has a nice ring to it. "Hi, I'm Sherri. I'm an Olympian"... "This is my Mom. Did I tell you she's an Olympian?" :)

Where to begin.... Okay, how about the night before the race? Navid, Grant and I decided to stay at my parent's house for the evening since they live just outside of DC. At one point over dinner Navid asked me how long I expected the race to take me. Basing it off of my Iron Girl times, we figured it would be about 45-50 minutes for the swim, around 1:45 for the bike, and about 1:15 for the run. All told we were looking at around 3:55 including transitions. That evening we were browsing the race website and Navid found a blurb I had never seen before, and had never been published in any of our e-mails.... it said that all runners HAD to be done by 1:00 or they would be driven to the finish line. At first I thought, "No big deal... the race starts at 8:00 and that gives me five hours to finish." but then I looked at the newly-posted swim wave start times and I was scheduled to be released at 8:45. Ack! That was only a small buffer of "problem" time. One blown tire or muscle cramping on the run and I was done for. I quickly wrote my Fit Mom friends and asked for ALL the anti-tortoise vibes they could spare. I wanted to finish the race on my own two feet!

It was a fitful night of sleep, but I think it was more from excitement than nervousness. This was the first EVER triathlon in Washington, D.C. How cool is it that I actually participated in it???! They tried to have one last year but had to cancel the swim portion because they didn't get permission in time to swim in the Potomac River (there are laws forbidding it). This year everything got squared away. Now, I should mention that the Mayor of D.C. was a competitor in the race; you can decide how much his participation had to do with the passage of legislaton ;)

We got up and on our way Saturday morning about 6:00. The traffic was light and as we crossed a bridge in to DC, the view of the Jefferson Memorial greeted us with the sun starting to rise just behind it. It was spectacular and really set the mood for the day. Navid and Grant dropped me off at the transition area around 6:30 and while the boys parked the truck I got everything all set up. It gave me the chance to chat it up with the people who were racking near me and, as usual, I met some really neat people. We were all joking about how everyone thought we were nuts for swimming in the Potomac River. I was actually looking forward to it. Again... the first time in the history of our country that people have been allowed to do it!

Once I was all set I went out to meet the boys. We had about an hour to kill before the race started so we walked over to the Nixon Scandal.... I mean, Watergate Hotel... and found a place they could get some breakfast. On the way back to the race start I noticed how it was not only chilly (upper 50's), but that the wind had picked up. Suddenly the thought of swimming in the Potomac wasn't as appealing! I was counting my blessings though for the wetsuit my son had bought me. With the water temps being in the low 70's it wasn't too terrible, but even the Race Director was harassing those without wetsuits, asking them if they were trying to prove just how manly they were :)

I wanted to watch the Elite's start the race so we headed over to the starting dock. When I got there, even though the race distance for this race was significantly longer than my last race I wasn't the least bit scared this time. I had Navid take a picture of me on the dock with the water/bridge in the background so you could get an idea of just how far away the half-way point was:

Yep, it's that little, itty bitty spec of orange in the distance just beside the bridge. I kind of chuckled to myself when I thought about having to swim that far and back again, but as I said before I wasn't worried this time. This time, it was going to be fun.

My wave was released so late that I was able to watch several waves finish before I even started. There was one really bad part, and that's when one of the lead swimmers accidentally cut inside the last buoy before the exit stairs. There were canoe "marshals" out there to help keep everyone on course and so he headed over to tell him to go back to the buoy. Whether on purpose or accident I don't know, but his canoe cut right in to the path of the swimmer and the swimmer crashed in to it full-speed, head first. That poor swimmer was bonked so hard and for a minute we all wondered if he would just pass out from it. He didn't, but boy did he have some choice words for the marshal about using his boat to get his attention (rightfully so). I hate to think about the headache that guy had the rest of the race. That wasn't the only swimmer who cut inside the buoy but the marshal used his oar to get their attention from then on. I guess the first time around he had to make a split-second decision on how to stop the swimmer, with his first concern being that he wasn't disqualified for missing the turn, and hadn't realized just how bad the result would be. Lesson learned for him.

When my wave was released I knew I'd be at the back of the pack with the other slow swimmers - like the last race - but what I hadn't realized was that the caliber of athletes in this race was MUCH higher than with Iron Girls. Between the choppy waves and the slow stroke, I was left in the dust within one minute. Uh-oh. That meant trouble. I had planned on sharing drafting duties with a handful of others but instead I was left to battle the current the entire mile by myself. Once again I completely skipped freestyle and stuck with breast stroke and backstroke. About 1/4 of the way through the swim as I came up for a breath a wave crested and blasted me in my face at the same time, and I gulped down an entire mouthful of river water. If I could have thrown it back up I would have but it was gone before I knew it. For the next few seconds I thought about all of the sludge, amoebas, etc. that had just landed in my stomach but I quickly realized I needed to abandon those thoughts and get back to business or I'd really start to feel sick.

At a race expo a few weeks ago I saw a shirt that had me cracking up. It read "Who moved the finish line?"... a not-uncommon sentiment felt as one nears the end of a tough race. Well, that's how I felt about the orange buoy. It seemed that no matter how hard I swam it never got the slightest bit closer. I was beginning to get very discouraged. I was getting tired, I was lonely, and I felt like my efforts were going nowhere. The analytical side of me finally kicked in and came up with the "watched pot never boils" theory, ie: by continuing to look at the buoy every stroke (which is inevitable with breast stroke), it didn't seem to be changing its location any. I decided to switch to my backstroke for a while and, when I flipped back over about a minute later, it appeared I had made HUGE progress! I was almost to the first yellow buoy and the orange one was definitely closer.

When I finally made it to the orange buoy I held on to it for about 30 seconds to just relax and catch my breath. I'd just done 750 meters without stopping, which was a first for me, and I felt okay. There was another woman at the buoy with me though who wasn't okay and she wouldn't be finishing the swim. As I got there, she was waving to the kayakers to come pick her up and take her to the rescue boat. I later learned that no fewer than five swimmers had to be rescued for one reason or another.

When my heart rate was down some and my legs felt a little rested, I let go of the buoy, rounded the corner, and was met with the most blinding light; the sun had risen just high enough to be reflecting all over the water and no one could see a thing. No buoys. No other swimmers. No landmarks of any kind. Ah, that would explain why everyone kept cutting inside the last buoy... they weren't cheating, they were blind! Everyone just had to swim on faith that they were staying on course based on how far apart you were from the people on the opposite side of you (the ones heading towards the turn-around). There were several mishaps along the final stretch in but eventually there was land in sight. Actually, I had it better than most of the swimmers because I did the majority of the swim on my back so on the way in I had the bridge to spot off of and no sun to contend during that time. I really liked being on my back too because I could see the other swimmers that were catching up to me (let's face it - there was no way I would be passing anyone). Seeing them coming up gave me time to maneuver to a spot of water that was out of their way so they didn't have to change course at all to pass me. It was the least I could do for being so slow!

Once I rounded the last buoy the stairs were in sight. As I reached them and started heading up, I looked at the volunteer and said, "Thank God for dry land!" The swim had taken more out of me than I had expected, and Navid caught my angst with this candid picture:

As I passed by Grant he called out, "Mom, you did that in about 35 minutes!" I was sure there must still be water in my ears, because there was no way I did 1000M with no current in 30 minutes, and then 1500M with current in 35 minutes. However, when I checked my watch, by my brain-fogged calculations it truly was between 35-40 minutes. Amazing.

The run to the transition area was not kind, as it was a dirty, rocky path about 1/4 mile long. I'd left my slides along the exit route so my feet were fine, but I heard lots of "Ow!"'s along the way from other athletes. I was determined to have a faster T1 time than the last race so I set about my business quickly... so quickly that I hadn't noticed Grant and Navid had snuck up on me and were snapping pictures!

I stripped off my wetsuit, threw on my brand-spankin'-new Nation's Triathlon bike jersey (my present to myself to celebrate my first Olympic race), chowed down a banana, put on my shoes/helmet/gloves/Garmin, strapped on my CamelBak and was getting ready to leave when I heard, "Hi Mom!"

After a quick kiss to the boys I headed out for the bike. Unfortunately, I was greeted by the exit volunteer with, "Have a great ride. Oh, by the way, there's a pretty strong headwind the first five miles." Not a good sign, and five miles my arse. There was a headwind almost the entire 25 miles, both coming and going. Don't ask me how but it's true. Several cyclists (including myself) were almost blown off of their bike throughout the ride, and the only time there was total reprieve from the wind was when we rode through tunnels. I watched Garmin and when I went from non-headwind to headwind I would instantly drop 5mph... that's how tough it was. I would later find out from Grant that all of the cyclists were commenting on it when they came back and one even called it "The headwind from hell." Hearing that helped me feel a little better. I was wondering if maybe I was just a weenie :)

Other than the wind though, the course was fantastic. Between the bike and the run, the course included long stretches on Pennsylvania Avenue, Independence Avenue, Rock Creek Parkway, and along the Potomac River. I also passed the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, National Mall, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Memorial, FBI Building, National Archives, National Treasury, Holocaust Memorial and more. The roads were closed to traffic and there were police and volunteers out at almost every turn, always ready with a smile and encouraging word. I have to give high compliments to everyone who volunteered... they were fantastic.

I knew I had to crank it hard on the bike to keep my projected pace so I set off in fine style. Well, that is, fine style for me. I have no ego left when it comes to racing so when I continued to get passed.... and passed.... and passed..... I wasn't terribly surprised. After about 20 minutes though it got discouraging and I decided I did have a little ego in me; I wanted to pass one person. I didn't care if it was a 60 year-old man riding an antiquated mountain bike... I wanted to pass SOMEONE. And, after about 30 minutes, I did. I eventually passed about a dozen people including one really young buff guy on a very advanced bike. The smart side of me says that he probably was having gear problems and couldn't go any faster, but I'm clinging more to the fact that I passed him and that's all that counts :)

There was only one mishap and that was as I came around for the end of the first lap. I was paying attention to the volunteer and she yelled "Sharp right and then immediate sharp left!" No problem. That is, no problem unless there's some random guy who has decided to bike on our course, going the wrong direction no less! Right as I turned the corner he was directly in front of me. I started yelling at him, "Hey! Get out of the way! You're on a race course!" and he just stared at me blankly. I found out later that when the spectators had seen this guy coming down the street they all yelled at him too. In fact, Grant squealed on Navid and told me Navid had yelled, "Hey you idiot... get off the road!" (in our house "idiot" is a term not allowed to be used, so the fact that Navid used it was very indicitave of how angry/concerned he was.) They were in the midst of talking about how if someone came around the corner right then that the cyclist could really hurt them, and then they watched as someone did indeed come around the corner. And that someone was me. And Navid said his and Grant's heart just dropped when then realized who it was (of all the timing, right?). Thankfully I have really quick reflexes and I successfully avoided the guy, all the while earning "cool points" in Grant's eyes for my fast maneuvering.

Done with the bike:

Preparing for the run:

Although the long-sleeve jersey was very welcomed during the windy ride, the temperature had now risen to the upper 70's and - even with the breeze - it was going to be a hot run. Off came the bike jersey/helmet/gloves/shoes, on went the visor and running shoes, and off I went. However, just before I took off, I felt my tummy give me a little nudge. That wasn't a good thing. In the past I've been victim to lower-abdominal pains when I do distance events, and for a while I thought it was an idiosyncrasy but through a lot of reading I've learned it's a pretty common occurrence. One survey even had 83% of it's responders report that they have GI problems (bloating/gas/pain/other not-so-pleasant-stuff) when they do endurance runs. I learned from some friends that taking Immodium (or something similar) before a race really helps, and indeed it's worked for me the past two races. However, I made a bonehead mistake this race and took it with my morning vitamins... a full 3 1/2 hours before I even started racing! It had almost worked its way out of my system before it was even needed, so by the time I hit the road to run I was on my own in that regard. I tried to run, but after about 1/10 of a mile I hurt too much to keep going. I walked for a little bit and then ran some more, and soon realized that I would have to do that the entire run portion. I hated it, but I kept in mind that the goal all along was to finish and I was going to do that.

Most of the run (6.2 miles) was along empty roads and parks but the last two miles took us in to the heart of D.C. That's where the sights became interesting... as did the pedestrian traffic. One of the downfalls of being slow is that most of the people who protect the routes leave once the majority of participants have passed. I was constantly having to dodge sightseers as they'd randomly step in to the roadway or ride their bike in to the street without checking to see if anyone was coming. Being hot, tired, and hurting made me a cranky racer already and this didn't help!

When I finally got to Pennsylvania Avenue I knew I was in the home stretch. I headed down towards the Capital Building, turned around at the Porsche (gotta appease the race sponsors), and then headed back up the avenue towards the finish line. I made sure to walk enough so that I could run the last 1/4 mile in (including, of course, past the photographer taking my picture with the Capitol as the backdrop).

I mentioned a disadvantage of being slower earlier, but a benefit of being slower is that when you cross the finish line there's hardly anyone around you so you're almost guaranteed to get at least one terrific picture of you finishing. As I ran across the mat there were no fewer than three ASI photographers with their lenses pointed directly at me. I put on my bravest face possible, ran past them, and then stopped for my hardware:

When I looked up there was an angel in front of me; he took the form of a much appreciated stranger holding out an ice-cold bottle of water. Off went the cap and I poured half of the bottle down my neck and back.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.......... :)

Suddenly I heard the announcer say, "Hey, look up for the camera!" I realized he was talking to me and when I turned around, Navid and Grant were beside the finishing tape with the camera. I had my picture taken with the race director, and then one with Grant too:

I still contend that Iron Girl was the toughest mental challenge I've ever taken on, but this race is now officially the toughest physical challenge I've ever taken on. I can honestly say that in every race I've done in the past I've still had some reserve left in me. I've held back some to make sure I'd be able to finish. Not this time. I left it all on the course.

I slept for a couple of hours back at my parent's house and then we went out for a fabulous dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. We returned home after that and I went to bed with a big smile on my face, content with the fact that I had accomplished yet another goal and was now, officially, and Olympian.

Man oh man...

2007-08-19T16:33:00.000-05:00

Or should I say "Girl oh girl..." Yep, I did it. I'm an Iron Girl!

This was honestly one of the most difficult mental tasks I've even undertaken. I was pretty confident that I could handle the bike and the run, but a good part of me wasn't sure I would complete the swim, and a small part of me even feared I might not survive it. With my erratic heart rate, there was always the chance that something could go terribly wrong in the water and, if that happened, rescue boats were out there but who knows if they would have gotten to me in time. Triathlon swimming deaths do happen every year, and every competitor knows the risks they're taking when they decide to participate. In my case, just 36 hours before the event, the race director became so concerned with my condition that he demanded a release from my doctor before letting me compete. Thankfully I was able to get one on such short notice, but of course his concern did nothing to ease my own fears.

The race was on Sunday, so on Saturday afternoon Navid, Grant and I headed to the hotel in Columbia, MD. This hotel was also the race headquarters, so it was easy to get to packet pick-up and the pre-race briefings. However, the organization of this Iron Girl event was not impressive at all. In every e-mail correspondence they sent out there were always errors of one form or another, and then it turned out that the times they had continually given to everyone for both the pre-race briefing AND the actual start time of the race were WRONG! Both of those things started earlier than published! If you happened to get a whisper of what was going on you were lucky; most people were caught off guard by it all.

Saturday ended up not going so well, mainly because of the disorganization factor. We had planned our comings and goings based on the published schedule and so, when I had returned to the hotel after racking my bike with a hot meal in hand for my mid-day snack, and discovered that the pre-race briefing had just gotten underway (30 minutes early) I was not a happy girl. I gave the boys most of the food but took half of my chicken wrap with me. I didn't care if the race director would find it rude of me. I was starving and it was his fault that I hadn't eaten before the meeting! (Can you sense my irritation with him???).

After the briefing - which turned out to be pretty useless - I went back up to the room to grab the boys and head to the mall across the street. I had realized earlier that I had completely forgotten to pack anything to wear OVER my racing outfit; since it would be in the low 60's on race morning, I knew I had to buy something or I'd be miserable. We quickly hit the JCPenny's and found a great deal on a warm-up suit so we picked it up. Then we went to the food court and got some dinner, went to Panera to buy a few race-morning bagels, Grant and I rode the Merry-Go-Round (which we haven't done in years!) and then we went back to the hotel. By this time it was around 8:30 and I was thankfully starting to get tired. Pre-season football kept me occupied for an hour or so, and then I fell asleep. At least, I tried to.

Like most people, I have a hard time sleeping the night before a big race. I had those usual jitters, but we also had the unfortunate pleasure of being in a room next to a group of people who had attended a wedding that evening and decided that they should party in their room until 2:30am! I was woken up several times by their cackling and noise, but thankfully I travel with an eye mask and ear plugs for just such occasions. Unfortunately for Navid (who is usually a sound sleeper) they kept him up most of the night. He called the front desk about the noise a couple of times, and when it continued to be a problem he went downstairs to talk with the manager in person. While he was down there he noticed that several other rooms were calling about the noise as well, and the security guard was explaining that he had tried to get them to quiet down but they weren't cooperating. About that time a couple of people from the party room came out so the security guard took that opportunity to go back there and demand everyone leave. While that solved the noise problem, Navid's nerves were so shot that he couldn't go back to sleep the rest of the night :(

Four-thirty arrived and I woke up with another song in my head. For this race, my brain chose to land on one of my son's favorite songs by Daughtry. Instead of an entire song running through my head, the chorus kept repeating itself again and again:

What about now.
What about today.
What if you're making me,
All that I was meant to be.

I clung to this as assurance that all would be fine, and that I needed to do this race. As I started getting ready, Navid told me about the continuing problems with the room next door; he also said that because of those problems the hotel was going to let us check out at 2:00 (they had sent a letter to all rooms saying there would be NO late check-outs, no exceptions) and that they had knocked 50% off of our room price. It didn't make up for lack of sleep, but at least it meant that we could go back and take a nap after the race. After a while we woke Grant up, everyone had a quick bite to eat, and then we set off.

We arrived at the race site around 5:20, and even though the area had only been open for about 20 minutes there was already a traffic jam and at least 100 cars parked. I got body marked and headed to my transition are to get it set up. I was in a brain fog of how to lay things out so I just put out a towel to dry off with after the swim, put my helmet on my bike seat, and left it at that. By then it was about 5:45 and the crowd was getting larger. I asked Navid to take a quick picture of Grant and me and then the three of us headed back to the truck to relax until it was time for me to head to the starting line.

We all used the time differently - Grant read a book, Navid took a nap, and I tried to convince my body to stop panicking. I had taken a sneak peat at the swim course on Saturday and let me tell you.... that's when I really started to worry. The route seemed to go on and on and on and on, and I was told that there were even buoys I couldn't see. Once again I started seriously wondering to myself, "What have you gotten yourself in to?", and did the angel/devil on my shoulder scenario of if I should just drop out. My pride wouldn't let me, and so now I used this pre-race time to visualize myself swimming the course with ease and exiting the water without difficulty. I clung to that vision in hopes of making it a reality and before I knew it, it was 6:30; since my group was set to be released at 7:08 it was time to get going. One last trip to the port-a-potty and then up the path to find the launching area. Shortly thereafter I stood at the edge of the water, heart racing, legs shaking, eyes glazed, and stomach threatening to throw-up from nerves. I was trying so hard not to let Grant see my panic, because I knew he would be worried that I was going to drown; having been with me on many of my training swims he was well aware of how hard swimming was for me, so I really needed to keep up a brave front for his sake. It was only when I hugged Navid good-bye that I confided how petrified I was. He gave me a squeeze, told me I could do it and that my training would pay off, and then sent me to go be with my group. Here I am right before I walked away (trust me… there’s fear behind that smile):

There were 2300 women registered for this race, with an age range of 13-77, and around 400 of them were in my age group (35-39). It was such a large group that they had to split us in to two release waves! The release waves were all given different cap colors and my wave was silver. As we all jumped in to the water to get ready for our start, I was flooded with thoughts. I looked around at all the silver-capped women with me... many of who also had the "deer in the headlights" look about them, and I realized maybe I wasn't so alone in my feelings. I had told Navid and Grant that I very well may set the course record for slowest swim ever; we were given 1 hour to do 1100M (.62 miles) and I was okay with using every last second if that's what it took for me to finish. However, looking around, I noticed that other people were vying for the back of the pack position too. We all wanted to be by ourselves, away from all of the flinging and kicking and had no desire to be up front. We wanted space and a more relaxed pace. As I was out in the lake, treading water, an original though occurred to me... Abandon my swim plan. Swim absolutely NOTHING like what I'd been practicing. I realized that this went against all conventional wisdom, but when I thought more about it, it really made sense. After all, my swim practices were never what I would call stellar, so if I thought I had a better approach I guess it couldn't hurt to try it. As I continued to tread water I had realized that my heart rate wasn't racing like it normally did when I swam freestyle. I figured that if I just tilted my body forward and did a breast stroke instead of freestyle, I may just be better off. When the horn sounded and people took off, I took a deep relaxing breath and began to slowly move forward. And then I moved forward some more. And then I noticed that my heart was doing fine... I wasn't already gasping for breath... and, more than anything else, I was actually enjoying myself. That alone was highly unexpected. Before I knew it I was almost to the first buoy and so I started playing the math games with myself (1 down, six to go). I felt great so I didn't stop for a rest and instead continued on to the second buoy, which happened to be a turn buoy. About then my heart rate was getting a little high so I looked for a clear lane of water, flipped on my back, and started backstroking. Once I felt recovered I flipped back over and started breast stroking again. By this time I knew I had it licked. I knew, without a doubt, that I was not only going to finish the swim but that I was going to be an Iron Girl.

When I got near the next buoy (another turn one) I came upon a "pink cap" swimmer (pink was the color of the previous wave) who was really struggling. I called out, "Hey, pink cap!" When she looked at me I said something like, "It looks like you're having a hard time. Did you know we can hang on to the buoys to catch our breath? I'm going to head over to the next one. Want to join me?" She came with me and we relaxed and talked for about a minute, getting ourselves back together. She needed more time but I felt better, so I bid her good luck and continued on.

I periodically switched between back and breast, and I soon noticed that I was actually PASSING other swimmers! That made me literally laugh; even little bubbles came out of my mouth in the water :) At one point I was coming upon a buoy when I realized that I was now behind the island of trees that was near the finish line. I couldn't believe it. I looked at my watch and realized I had only been swimming for a little over 20 minutes. To say I was stunned would be an understatement. In all of my pool practice swimming, on a good day I would swim 1000M in 28 minutes, not including the 5-10 minutes of breaks I took, and I had been told to that since it was a lake I should expect at least a 40 minute swim (not including breaks). In the end, I ran out of the water at 30 minutes and 33 seconds and not only was I out, I was feeling strong.

My first concern was letting Grant know I was okay because I knew he was worried. I didn't think I'd see the boys though because I had told them not to look for me for about an hour; however, Navid had more faith in me than I did in myself because (as I found out later) he told Grant that they should get to the exit chute after 30 minutes and start looking for me. I was so relieved and happy to see them and to share the excitement of my accomplishment. And, it was everything to me to see the relief of Grant's face. Now he knew I was okay, and he didn't have to worry anymore.

Up I went in to the transition area and got ready for the bike. However, my brain stayed in the same transition fog and I couldn't think clearly about what I needed to do. I think I was still in shock over being done with the swim! I also chatted it up with the women around me and we were all wishing each other well; that was one of the great aspects of this race... everyone was rooting for each other and it was truly a friendly, pleasant experience in that regard.

Once I ate a Gu and felt I had everything I should (I discovered later I was wrong), I headed out. I had 17.5 miles to conquer, with 4 challenging hills ahead. Because my legs were already warmed up it was a fairly easy start. Well, that plus the absolute glow I was feeling because I knew I was going to make it to the finish line. As I went along mile after mile, I took the time to just enjoy the moment. I loved looking at my fellow racers and trying to decipher the looks on their faces. I saw looks of extreme fatigue, looks of determined resolve, looks of pure joy, and looks of utter peace. I chatted it up every now and then with other cyclists, but for the most part we all just did our own thing and I was pleased to note that I was passing quite a few people. Now, I was also getting passed, but it wasn't an outright slaughter like I always envision it will be.

The hills were, indeed, very challenging. In fact, this course was probably the most challenging course I'd ever done, and was even harder than some of the 22+ mile training rides I'd done; I thought I had practiced hills, and I actually had gotten the elevation changes right, but the uphill climbs lasted longer than I was expecting. However, knowing how many hills there were allowed me to play my math games again so every time I got to a hill, I just counted it down and plowed ahead. I was riding with my CamelBak for rehydration, which was filled with Cytomax, but after 6 or 7 miles my stomach told me that it really didn't want any more of that and instead wanted water. Oops... I had no water. I knew there was an aid station at some point, but I didn't know how far. When I hit 10 miles, they had a turn-around point and that's where I found relief (no, not the potty kind... although they had those too). As I made the turn some volunteers were holding up bottles and calling out "Gatorade! Water!" I said, "I'll take a water" and the next thing I knew, one of the volunteers started running away from me holding a bottle of water in the air. At first I wondered what the heck he was doing, but then I recalled reading about hand-offs and realized that I was about to do one, never having practiced before. Ack. All I could imagine was grabbing the bottle too hard and squirting water all over this poor volunteer. That made me thankful I hadn't asked for Gatorade. When it came down to it though the guy was a pro, timed it just right, and next thing I knew I was riding away with a full water bottle in hand. My stomach was happy and I was chuckling at the experience.

The entire bike race I only saw one bad accident and it happened two lengths behind me. Someone tried to pass without warning and so when someone else, who did say "on your left", pulled out they collided. Thankfully they were okay, but it still shook me up a little. I also saw about a half-dozen people on the side of the rode with either flat tires or dropped chains, and one person having their ankle bandaged up.

The last seven miles flew by (literally... at one point on a downhill I hit 35.4mph... now THAT was thrilling!) and before I knew it I was heading in to the down stretch and around the curve to the bike dismount. I kept looking for the boys and it turned out they'd gotten a great spot, right at the corner where I'd go in to the transition area. When I saw them I went running over to give them both a quick kiss.

Being in bike shoes I actually skidded over to them instead, which made the race volunteers panic thinking I was about to take a spill. When they saw kisses instead they yelled out, "Hey, where's mine?" As an answer to them I ran to the wooden plank that led to the transition area and did this super-snazzy power slide down it, gave them a big smile, and off I went to get ready for the run :)

Once again, I had transition fog. I took off my helmet, CamelBak, bike jersey, and switched shoes, downed some Sports Beans and then stood there for about a minute thinking, "Is this really it? Is this all I need?" After I decided it was I took off for the last stretch.

I did my usual run/walk plan, but this time I started very gradually to give my body a chance to get used to things. I've learned that to keep my heart rate from shooting up so quickly I should do several short ratios to begin with, then gradually increase the run time. Because of this I did two run 1/walk 1 cycles, two run 3/ walk 1 cycles, and then just ran from then on out, taking walk breaks when I felt I needed them or when there was a hill. I don't do hills; the way I see it, the destination is the same so why kill myself getting there? The run portion actually went much better than I had anticipated and, once again, I found myself running about a 9:30-10:00 pace on the flat terrains. I never can sustain that when I train but for some reason the past few running races I've done my body just cruises to that pace. I felt good, I believed I had enough energy to get me to the finish line at that pace, so I just went with the flow.

With about a mile to go, the volunteers started saying, "This is the last hill! Hang in there!" Liars... There were at least three more hills before the end! I know they were doing it to encourage us to keep going, but I deal with accuracy better so it didn't really help me much. Actually, every time I'd see another hill I'd get discouraged. I will say though that, overall, the volunteers and spectators were FANTASTIC. They were so warm, encouraging, positive, and did everything they could to keep us going. Our bib numbers even had our names printed on them so people would sometimes call out, "Go Sherri!" That was awesome :)

As I headed around the final turn I saw the teal and pink balloons, heard the music getting louder, and all of that anticipation filled me with extra energy. I concentrated on soaking in the moment and then sprinted in the final tenths of the race. The next thing I knew I was being given my Iron Girl medal (and a surprise Iron Girl visor). When I turned back around, Grant and Navid were there waiting to give me a big hug and kiss. Grant kept saying to me over and over, 'You did it Mom. You're an Iron Girl."

After the hugs, I took a few steps, took a deep breath, and started to cry. I was so overcome with the magnitude of what I'd accomplished that I had to let it out. I had actually done it. I'd conquered my fears. I'd beaten my limitations. I'd done what I had set out to do. Most importantly, I hadn't disappointed myself.

After I got myself back together we searched for where the food was stashed. I was starving! We (I snuck some on my plate for the boys too) scarfed down some bagels, bananas, energy bars, and chips before heading back to the car. I also had Navid take this picture of my sock to share with my girlfriends. Whenever we go out I get a martini and so that's kind of become my trademark (I've been given a martini necklace pendant, martini pajamas, martini glasses, etc.). When I saw these socks at my local bike store a few months ago, I bought them with the sole purpose of wearing them on this race. After all, Iron Girl celebrates women so I thought I'd salute the special women in my life with my little twist on things :)

I had anticipated finishing the race in about 3:20. I gave myself 1 hour for the 1100M swim, 1.5 hours for the 17.5 mile bike, and 50 minutes for the 3.4 mile run. I crushed that prediction. In fact, I came in almost an hour faster than I had anticipated and ended with 2:26:32. Here's the breakdown:

Swim - 30:33
T1 - 6:43 (don't laugh)
Bike - 1:08:02 (15.4mph pace)
T2 - 3:22 (seriously, stop laughing)
Run - 37:55 (11:09/mile pace)

I might have beaten that hour if I didn't have transition fog. Oh well... that gives me something to shoot for next year!

It's almost here

2007-08-15T10:07:00.000-05:00

I've been avoiding posting an update, I think mainly because it will make the upcoming race more of a reality. I've been faithful in my training and have had some great rides in the past few weeks, a couple of them with either my son (who did 12 miles with me) or my husband (who did 22 miles with me). Running remains difficult, but I'm making it. The swim, however, is still kicking my arse. I purchased a training snorkel that allows me to at least get in the distance, but breathing on my own is incredibly challenging because of my erratic heart rate. However, I've also taken steps on that end and have a stress test and echocardiogram scheduled for next week. Unfortunately that won't give me any answers prior to this weekend's race but, hopefully, soon someone will be able to say what the problem is and how it can be treated/fixed.

I've begun tapering my training this week and hopefully on Sunday I'll have enough energy reserved to get through everything without too much problem. Mentally I know that if I complete the swim (maybe I should change that thinking to "when"!) I'll be golden. Being the girl that I am, I purchased a pink tri top to wear for the race since pink is the official Iron Girls color :) Once the race is done, I'll post details of how it went as well as pictures from the event. I'll also write about the triathlon my son did this past weekend and share pictures from it too. He continues to amaze me with his natural talent in this sport. Case in point... last week he wanted to swim 100M (his race distance) in preparation for the race. I asked him to hit/bump/pull me as he swam by to help me get used to what open water racing would be like. After he finished his 100M, and as I continued on with my practice (I needed to do at least 1000M), he said he wasn't tired and wanted to keep swimming. He would take a short break every 25 meters but, nonetheless, when all was said and done he'd swum 1000 meters. Just for the heck of it, and without much fatigue on his part. That kind of stuff just blows my mind.

Okay, the next time I check in I will be an Iron Girl!

Training continues

2007-07-14T02:46:00.000-05:00

Wow, long time no post. I guess it's because there's not a lot to report as of yet. My family has been very busy this summer, away every weekend so far, most often out camping somewhere. That's our new indulgence as we recently bought a 32' camper (or, as my son calls them, a "house on wheels"). Since we no longer have to mess with setting up a tent and dealing with heat and humidity we're much more inclined to get away for a weekend. Let's face it... having a refrigerator, oven, microwave, shower, toilet, and beds at your convenience - while you're still out in the serenity of the woods - is the best of both worlds :D

Getting away every weekend has allowed us to build some really great memories and has been a wonderful bonding time for us, but it has definitely added a challenge to my workouts. Every trip involves at least a 4-5 hours of pre- and post-prep work and once we're at a campsite we're usually doing things together as a couple or a family so it's really hard for me to feel like I want some "alone time"; the temptation is to just bypass the workouts. I mean, given the choice of playing in a lake or sweating your arse off on a run, which would grab your attention??? However, I'm happy to say that I haven't completely slacked. I have gotten in a few good runs, and I've done some swimming, but so far I've found biking to be the hardest as we haven't been near any trails (paved or otherwise) and I'm still terrified to ride on the open road. We have a 10 day camping trip coming up very soon so I'll have to figure something out.

Swimming continues to be my nemesis. Well, more accurately, my heart rate continues to be my nemesis. I happened across an ad for a snorkel training device created by a former olympic swimmer and purchased one, hoping that it would allow me to at least increase the distance I can practice. When I gave it a go during a workout I finished 300M with no problem because I could breathe. I'm going to keep using it for a few weeks and see if increasing my distance will allow my heart rate to come down. It's only five weeks and counting until my 1000M swim. I did recently find out that at my next tri, if you need a break, you'll be able to hold on to the rescue boats until you have your breath back. I'm hoping I won't need that but it's still nice to have.

Recently I've gotten in a few great bike rides. The first one was more of a mental greatness as I wasn't able to start any kind of bike workout that day until after 8p.m. because of logistics. My training schedule called for a 78 minute ride; the sun would be down by then and my first instinct was to bag it (even though I was honestly feeling disappointed about it). However, I discovered that the gym I had joined many months ago - and hadn't visited since summer weather came around - was open until 10:00. I arrived at 8:30 and did the complete workout, culminating in 20 miles. Not only was I physically satisfied, I was pretty proud of myself. Getting off the couch is still a daily battle for me. I don't know what that is as you'd think I'd be completely motivated and in a habit by now, but I'm not. Then last night I had another great ride. Both my husband and son are away a the moment which means this cat can play! At 6:00 I loaded up my bike and headed to a paved trail nearby called the W&OD trail. It's hilly at times and has a lot of beautiful scenery. Once again I cranked out another 20 miles, sweating and smiling the whole time. I've learned to expect that the first 2-3 miles my legs will feel like lead and I'll be wondering how I'll ever make it the whole distance; after I pass that mileage though my muscles are warmed up and the rest of the ride is no problem (unless there's a hill... then all bets are off). I'm hoping to get out to the actual race course (17.5 miles) sometime before the race but, with our summer weekend schedule, that might be impossible.

Race report - Power Kids Triathlon and Power Sprint Triathlon

2007-06-03T18:36:00.000-05:00

We arrived in Richmond Friday afternoon and Grant's triathlon was Saturday morning at 8:00. When we woke up we saw that he had a beautiful, clear day for his first triathlon (100M swim, 4.8 mile bike, 1 mile run). We got to the event venue (a local YMCA) around 7:00 so that we could get his transition area all set up and then pick up his timing chip and get his body marked. The night before, Grant and I had gone over what to put in his transition bag and so when it was time to get it ready in the morning everything went very smoothly. After getting marked we had a long, long wait as the 5-8 year old kids went first at 8:00 and they wouldn't start the 9-14 group until the last kid was done with the entire course. Add in there that Grant was seeded in the last group of swimmers for his part of the triathlon and he didn't get going until almost 10:00.

Once he did get rolling though, he was off and running (well, swimming to start with). He had a hard time right from the start. He went out too fast and after 50 meters he was pretty tired. I was happy to see him take a rest on the wall for a few seconds before setting out for his last two lengths.

He did a great job at the transition area and got all of his gear on without a problem. I ran over to the bike course to take a few pictures of him and as he lapped around, he pulled over to me and stopped. I thought he was trying to say hi or get his picture taken but it turned out he had fallen somewhere along the course and his chip strap was loose and needed me to tighten it. After that was done he took off again, and when he came around for the second of three laps the officials waved him through to the run portion. (Side note: They had officials calling out and counting racer's numbers so they could tell them when they'd done three laps (remember, the kids were ages 5-14)). We later realized that when Grant finished his first lap he said to the guy "This is my second", meaning he was starting his second, but the official took it to mean that he was finishing his second and that's where the problem occurred. Grant was pretty sure he had only done two but he followed the officials instructions and headed in to get ready for his run. Lesson learned for him... leave the officials alone as it doesn't take much to confuse them.

When he went to the transition area to get ready for his run, I sprinted ahead to take pictures of him on the course and when I saw him for the first time he had his hands on his hips, head down, walking, and out of breath. He looked so dejected. I yelled to him that it was okay, he was almost done, and even if he had to walk the rest of the way he was going to make it. He yelled back that he had a stitch in both sides and it hurt to run. He had run out of steam and his body was letting him know it. Unfortunately the only thing that can be done with stitches is to run through them and with time they'll go away. He knew that, and so he'd run as much as he could and then walk for a while until he felt better. When he came to the finish line he took off with everything he had left in him and then leaped across the finish line.

It took him a few minutes to catch his breath but once they put the medal around his neck it was like a fresh spirit entered his body :) We let him choose where to go for a celebratory lunch and he chose Golden Corral; he's fascinated by being able to get as much of anything he wants for one price (not to mention their huge dessert buffet).

That night I tossed and turned, both worried about the upcoming race as well as the predicted rain. Sure enough, when I awoke for good in the morning, it was dark, windy, and pouring rain. I seriously considered not doing the race but I knew I'd regret it, so I started getting ready.

Once again, my love of music came in to play. The morning of my 1/2 marathon last September, a song started running through my mind that had lyrics which perfectly summarized how I was feeling. That time it was "This Is It" by Kenny Loggins. This time, as I started getting dressed for the tri, it was "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson. To me, it's a song about pushing yourself beyond what you thought possible and reaching new heights. The chorus goes like this:

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.
Make a wish, take a chance, make a change.
And break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun.
But I won't forget all the ones that I love.
I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change.
And break away

That got my blood pumping. I had stopped at Panera the night before and picked up bagels and muffins for everyone to have that morning (since we'd be leaving the hotel before 6am, so nothing would be open yet). I had hoped to at least get some hot tea on the way out but, alas, not even the Starbucks across the street was serving yet. I kept telling the boys that they could just stay at the hotel or in the truck while I raced because there was no reason for all of us to be subjected to such miserable conditions. They agreed to stayed sheltered for most of it; I gave them my approximate finishing times for each sport so they'd know when to look for me.

Right from the start I wasn't having any fun. Setting up a transition area when you're tired, cold, wet, and cranky is not a good recipe for success. It was at that point that I knew I had to change my attitude. I couldn't change the rain, I couldn't change the wind, I couldn't change the temperature, but I could change how I let it affect me. When I headed back to the truck (for my 2 hour wait before the swim) I took some deep breaths and came up with a plan. I was going to lay back and relax in the warmth of the truck, staying there until about 30 minutes before my swim. Navid headed in to the Y to watch the other swimmers, Grant fell asleep again on the back seat, and I just lay there thinking things over. When it was time to go, I was ready.

My triathlon was a "sprint" distance, which consisted of a 300M swim, 12 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. The swim, as expected, wasn't great. It was done in a drop-in fashion, meaning people lined up according to their predicted swim time and then a swimmer "dropped" in to the water every 15 seconds. I went with the group predicting a 7:30-8:00min time for 300 meters. In my practices I usually did that in around 6:30, but I wanted to give myself some cushion. I kept repeating to myself to go at my usual pace and not go out too hard and I have to say I did really well with that. Unfortunately, the people behind me didn't. They sprinted out hard and fast so after about 100 meters I stopped and let two of them go; that freed up almost an entire length of pool between me and the next swimmer. I kept going at my normal pace and, ironically, by the time the swim was over I had caught back up with the swimmers who had passed me because they had tapped all of their energy and had slowed down. I guess either way will get you to the end, but I prefer my status quo approach :)

Going from swimming to running was interesting. I headed out in to the cold and pouring rain with goggles still on my face and I wasn't feeling too coordinated at that point. I did manage to tug them off of my face and the swim cap off of my head, and then it was time to navigate the carpet trail leading to the transition area without slipping. I'm sure I looked like a weeble-wobble that was thrown across a patch of ice. However, as I was running down that path, I felt so much better knowing the swim portion was over. The worst was behind me! As I came around a corner I saw Navid and Grant waving and Grant called out, "MOM!" to me, in a rather surprised and awe-struck voice. Maybe he was expecting me not to survive the swim???

I cruised in to transition and quickly made the gear switch. I took off running for the mounting line and was so excited to get on my bike. This is my favorite of the three events and really utilizes my large quad muscles, thereby making it much easier for me than running and swimming. At least, I try to convince myself that having large quad muscles equates to being a kick-ass cyclist. If I don't believe that then I just have big legs. See which scenario is more acceptable to my ego? I also love the feeling I have when I'm out there riding. I get lost in my thoughts and enjoy watching the countryside whiz by.

Within five minutes of the bike I questioned why I had even bothered to put on socks. The entire foot bed of my shoes was now a swampy mess, thanks to the continued pouring rain. It actually made me chuckle though, so I guess it was a good thing. During the ride I really concentrated on re-hydrating, but not too soon or too much. I had attended a "first-time triathlete" meeting the night before and gained some valuable information and great tips, one of which was to wait at least five minutes before drinking anything on the bike so your muscles could have some time to adjust to the new demands before asking the stomach to participate. I must have done it right because I had no (ahem) unpleasant digestive issues afterwards.

I started out passing one or two cyclists, but for the most part I was passed by others. I didn't mind though, and I actually loved it when I was passed by a woman who was 51 years old (for those who don't know, in addition to having your racing number marked on your body, your age is written on the back of your calf). She was so fit and healthy looking, and all I could think of when she passed me was, "Man, I want to be YOU when I'm 51!". I did pass 3 or 4 more people as the bike leg was ending, and when it was over I felt great in terms of energy. One more quick transition and I was off for the running leg.

Running stunk, but it always does for me. It's just a struggle and I think my legs will always feel heavy no matter how many miles I log in training. However, my pace is definitely improving and I feel great about that. Even after doing 300M swim and 12 mile bike, my pace averaged around 11:10/mile. That's a good day for me even if I'm doing only a run, so for it to be like that at the end of a triathlon made me feel GREAT. I did my usual run/walk pattern, walking a little more than normal, but I took the extra time to reflect on how this new journey was coming to a close. I was about to become a triathlete. If you had said to me only a few years ago that I could do this I'd never have believed you. Look at me now.

As I had headed out for my run, Grant yelled to me, "MOM, can I do the final stretch with you???". I yelled back that I'd love that and continued on my way. When I hit the last turn I started looking for Grant. I didn't see him so I literally stopped running within about .05 miles of the finish line so I could find him. People were yelling at me like I'd lost my mind, "Come on! Finish line is right here!! Keep going!!!" I finally yelled back that I was waiting for my son, and just about then Grant came running through the crowd up to me. I reached for his hand for us to run in together, expecting a tender mother/son/new triathletes moment but, instead, he took off in a dead sprint. He had wanted to race me, not celebrate with me! At first I was shocked and sad, but then I thought, "You little bugger, you're not going to beat me at a race this important to me!" so I took off after him. Mind you, my son is really, really fast for his age (he ran a 7:18 mile last year) and he can out-sprint me any day of the week. Maybe it was because my muscles were warm, maybe God was looking down on me, but whatever it was I beat him, and when I did I hollered in celebration (and then gave him grief, of course).

The only disappointing thing to me was that medals weren't awarded to all finishers. I've become a medal whore and so I was pretty let down, especially for such a special race to me. I shrugged it off after a few minutes and really was over it when Grant pulled me aside and said, "Mom, you know those places in the mall where you can have stuff engraved? Daddy and I will go make you a medal." What a heart that kid has.

My next triathlon right now is scheduled for late August. It will be 1000M swim, 18mi bike, and 3.3 mi run. You can bet I'll be at the pool quite a bit this summer working on my swimming endurance.

Overall, it was quite the weekend. Three days, two new triathletes, and one proud family.

If interested, more pictures from the weekend can be seen at share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbMmzNw5aM2bV

A great brick, and a solution

2007-05-29T13:30:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Navid and I went to a local trail so I could do the required brick for this weekend. As I mentioned before, my training has really suffered the past few weeks and I hadn't done any length of brick in a long time. Truth be told, mentally I needed the confidence that I could complete at least that portion of the race.

We set out around 8:45 and it was a perfect morning - overcast, low 70's, and not much humidity. Poor Navid was riding a mountain bike with limited gears and so he really struggled with his pace, but he did make it all 12.75 miles in the end. He had told me to ride as fast as I wanted to so I could practice and so I did. When I finished the ride I headed straight for the truck, put up my bike, changed out of my bike gear and in to my running gear and started to run. About 1/4 mile into my run I crossed paths with Navid; I gave him a thumbs up and we shouted out our plans for meeting up as we kept going our separate directions. We decided to meet at a nearby plaza (he'd bring the truck and I'd end my run there). When I arrived I still had mileage to complete so I just lapped the stores until I was done. He was waiting for me outside of the restaurant Le Madeline, choosing it because it had a fantastic breakfast menu :) I dined on crepes with fresh strawberries, a bowl of fresh fruit, and a delicious quiche. What a heavenly way to end that workout!

This morning, the prospect of Sunday's lake swim was still weighing heavy on my mind. I now knew that I could conquer the bike and run but the swim.... man, it was not looking promising. Around noon, I happened to get an e-mail from the group that's putting on the Saturday triathlon that Grant's participating in and all of a sudden I remembered that they also were doing an adult triathlon on Sunday. I recalled bypassing it initially because it was a pool swim and I had wanted to do a lake swim, but now my situation was quite the opposite! I found the website again and was thrilled to discover that their bike and run were the same distances as my schedule triathlon but their swim was only 300 meters in the safety of a pool! After about, oh, one zillionth of a second I decided to switch my plans and register for that triathlon instead. As luck would have it today was the final day to sign up. I could feel the stars aligning....

All things considered, even though I'll lose the registration fee of the other triathlon, the money we'll save in hotel and travel fees will make up for that. Plus now we won't have to worry about packing everything up as soon as Grant finishes and, instead, we can putz around and enjoy ourselves a little :)

Today's Tortoise Tale:
12.75 mi bike, 3.1 mi run (yesterday)
500M swim (today)

So the boat towed me in.....

2007-05-29T13:06:00.000-05:00

Man, what a weekend. The past few weeks I haven't gotten in much practicing because of family emergencies which required either Navid being out of town or us inheriting my nephew for stretches at a time. What's suffered the most is my swimming as we don't have a pool (unlike being able to run or ride if I had a few spare moments). Of course that's fitting, since I'm the worst at swimming and it's what needs the most practice.

Last Saturday (May 26) I took part in a practice open water swim. It was supposed to be an open water swim clinic too, but it turned out to be more of a "course preview" for the race being held there the next day, and I was pretty disappointed.

When it was time to hit the lake, I waited until almost everyone had gone ahead of me because 1) I didn't want to fight with anyone for space, and 2) I didn't want to slow anyone down. Within a few minutes I knew I was in trouble. I mean, it's never a good sign when you're out in open water, looking at a buoy that seems to be floating further and further away, and trying to calculate if you can even make it that far, let alone back to the shore. My heart was already racing, I couldn't catch my breath, and so I swam over to the "rescue boat" and had them tow me in. I did ditch the boat about 75 meters from shore and swam that much in, but it was still pathetic.

I think what frustrates me the most about that situation is my heart rate. There is absolutely NO reason why it should accelerate so fast and I'll be glad when all of the testing I'm undergoing is done and hopefully someone will have an answer as to why it happens and what can be done to fix it. Until then, I think that stamina will be a very difficult thing for me to conquer.

After I sulked my way back to my truck I called Navid and told him I wasn't going to do the triathlon on June 3. If I couldn't even do 500M that day, I had almost no hope for the following weekend. I had him put Grant on the phone so I could tell him too, and he was SO disappointed. Of course, that made me angry at myself, and the more I thought about it the more I realized that I'd rather try and fail than not try at all. So, I called him back five minutes later and told him to forget what I'd said... I was at least going to try. We are always telling him that we don't care how well he does at something as long as he tries his hardest, so why should I live my life any differently?

Today's Tortoise Tale:
Maybe 300 meter swim? Blech.

Overdue update on the biking weekend, and big news for our family

2007-05-16T10:32:00.000-05:00

Life has gotten crazy these past weeks for a couple of reasons, the first of which started when we went away for our bike weekend with friends. We had a FANTASTIC time. We stayed in one-bedroom a log cabin house and our friends were next door in another cabin. Ours had a great hot tub though so our cabin became party central :)

The 50 mile trail was literally right outside our door. A short 30-second walk and we were on it, and the cabins were situated almost at the beginning of the trail so we had 45 or so miles to the end of the trail. The trail is part of the "rails to trails" project, where old and unused railroad tracks are being covered with gravel so people can use them for biking, walking, etc.

Some of the crew from that weekend

This particular trail ran right beside a river for about half of it and the view was gorgeous. The weather, however, wasn't so hot; actually, the weather was cold. When we hit the trail it was about 60 degrees. The weatherman said it would warm up to the mid 70's. They were wrong. Add in there the breeze and we were not very comfortable at all because we were dressed for the 70's! In the end though I did 30 miles, and that was a personal best. I'd love to get back out there one day and do all fifty. I did manage to get in a short run on Sunday before we left and man, was it ever gorgeous!

Me beside a bend in the river. This was just outside our cabin!

The weekend allowed us to once again catch up with our friends Steve and Henri, and also meet some of their friends (Sue and Joe). Every time we go camping with Steve and Henri, afterward Navid and I talk all over again about one day having our own camper so we can go out more often. About four years ago Grant was exposed to an RV for the first time and became so enamored with the lifestyle. He called it a "house on wheels". Well, we've had multiple conversations in our household over the years dreaming about the day we'd have our own "house on wheels" and after this last outing we decided we really needed to see if we could make it happen. It turned out our Sienna had quite a bit of equity in it so that was a good start to things. Then the three of us spent many hours on the RV lot looking at what was available. Once we figured out which RV we'd want, and then what vehicle we'd need to pull it with, and saw that the two payments together would be the same as the van alone, we decided to go for it. When we told Grant that it was really going to happen he was BEYOND ecstatic. It's been almost two weeks now since we made the decision and he still walks around with this "I can't believe it" look on his face and makes at least a half-dozen comments every day about either the truck or the camper. As I said to Grant, 'Now, we can just turn the key and go. The world is at our door."

We picked up the truck last Saturday and will take possession of the camper today. Last night Grant melted my heart when he said, "Mom, for the rest of my life, your life, and Daddy's life, this will be one of the best decisions we ever made." I almost cried. I can't put in to words how much I'm looking forward to getting enjoying the great outdoors with my family, and how I know that these experience will be so crucial in shaping Grant's life.

I prefer my reality

2007-04-26T20:48:00.000-05:00

I discovered the other day, much to my horror, that even though the pool I use is a 50 meter pool it is set up so that the lap lanes are 25 yards. Now I'm sure you're thinking, "That's less than half the size... how could she NOT know the difference???". The simple truth is that I haven't done any measured swimming in 20 years and I stink at gauging distances, so when I read that the pool was 50M long I assumed the lanes would be 50M.

Until today my furthest ever swim was 700yds so at least I'm making progress. Panic is definitely setting in though as I'm supposed to swim 1K in about a month and I had thought I was already swimming that length (albeit with stops). Ack.

Today's Tortoise Tale:
1000 yards swimming (today)
Cathe's Muscle Max DVD (yesterday)

Another race, another triathlete

2007-04-26T19:48:00.000-05:00

Last year, after Grant had watched me train for and run my half-marathon, he decided he wanted to try racing too. He did a great job with his training program and really kicked butt at his race (placed 7th out of a field around 500). This year, after I decided to train for triathlons, he asked me to look in to them for kids his age (I love that he wants to be me!). I gave him the information but then he dropped the subject.

This past weekend I was looking in to finding a shorter triathlon for me to race prior to Iron Girls in August so I could get a little experience under my belt. As I was searching, I came across a "family weekend" triathlon about 90 minutes away from where I live. I showed it to Grant and asked if he'd be interested in trying it. His biggest concern was the distance of the swim (like mother, like son!). As he hemmed and hawed I went in for the kill.... I told him that awards were given to the top three finishers. That sealed the deal - LOL.

In the end, I registered him for that triathlon and then myself for a different triathlon the following day. The adult one in the same location would have been a pool swim and I really need open-water experience; I found another triathlon about two hours from there that would not only offer an open-water swim but it also is on a very cool course (a Naval base). Throw in there that it's very close to a beach and it adds up to a great family weekend getaway :)

Not as easy as it looks

2007-04-22T19:23:00.000-05:00

I did a quick 6.5 mile bike ride today to test the new bike shoes. I love them once I get going, but this new way of mounting and dismounting is going to take some getting used to. I decided to do a ride in the neighborhood across the street (about 4x the size of mine and has a paved trail for fitness-use). The only downside is that I have to cross a busy street to get there and since northern VA drivers are aggressive and rude anyway it's just an extra-dangerous crossing.

The start wasn't graceful at all. I realized that I could start with one shoe attached and then slip in the second one once I pushed off, but I almost tipped over when I first tried to get on because I couldn't get momentum to slip in the other shoe. Once I was off and rolling though I loved my bike even more. It's so nice to be able to use all of my leg muscles to propel me instead of mostly my quads; I concentrated on my muscles as I pedaled and will continue to do so for the next many rides until this new way of pedaling becomes habit. I stopped around 4 miles to call and check on my son and I was able to dismount without a problem. However, I had the same difficult time when it was time to start back up :(

After 6 miles I decided to head home. When I got to the busy intersection there was a lot of traffic coming so I had to stop, but when I tried to unattached the shoe it didn't budge. Talk about panic! I finally just threw my ankle down and out with as much force as possible and the shoe released. Phew. After this ride I've decided I'm going to practice mounting and dismounting in my driveway many, many times before I head out again. I don't want to go through these difficulties when it could lead to big problems.

I had planned on tacking a run on afterwards to make it a brick but Grant needed me at home so I canceled it. Tomorrow is a "strength" day and I'll be trying out my new Cathe video - Muscle Max. I'm determined to get buff :)

Today's Tortoise Tale:
6.5 mile bike ride - 31 minutes

Today was all bike

2007-04-21T18:09:00.000-05:00

First a ride and then a clinic.

Yesterday (Friday) was the first warm day we've had in weeks. I have a glimmer of hope that spring might finally be here but I'm not daring to get to excited yet. The weather so far has been so bizarre... I mean, we had snow the day before Easter!

Anyway, when I realized what a gorgeous day it was shaping up to be I knew I had to get outside even though it was a scheduled day off. I decided to shift my bike workout to Friday instead of Saturday and got all set to go. Because I live in a very residential area there aren't a lot of "safe" areas to ride; there is, however, a wonderful paved trail that goes on for 45 miles. I wanted to ride for an hour so I threw the bike in the car and left the house two hours before I had to get my son from school (the trail is in the opposite direction of the school). Disaster struck though only a few minutes later. Traffic. And lots of it. I turned around and came up with plan B. I ended up riding in the communities near the school (a more rural area) and enjoyed every sun-filled minute of it (even though my legs were screaming sore from yesterday's spin class!).

Then last night I went to a ladies-only bike clinic. It was put on by the shop where I got my bike and, even though it's 90 minutes away, it turned out to be worth the drive. I had thought it was going to be a small event but there was around 50-60 women. They had a rep from Trek there who went over the details of WSD bikes (woman specific design) and why each change helps specific female ailments (wrist pain, back pain, etc.). Then she went over basic bike maintenance such as how to change a tire, what to do when it's REALLY tight and doesn't want to go on, how to check and clean/lube your chain, adjusting brake pads, etc. I know that probably sounds like no-brainer stuff but it was really helpful to me, still being so new to all of this. We were also able to get answers to any questions or concerns we had so I learned more things that way too.

At the end of the night there was a raffle. She probably drew 15-20 names, and mine was pulled around #12. The prizes weren't dictated... basically you went up to the table and chose from what was left. I had seen people coming back with t-shirts, hats, and water-bottle holders. When I went up there was this god-awful floral bike skirt that was mustard yellow and burnt orange in color. It reminded me of 60's wallpaper. I had picked it up to ask her what it was (couldn't tell with it lying on the table) and when I went to put it back down, I noticed this beautiful aqua-colored piece of clothing. I picked it up and it was a Nike bike jersey! I asked if it was one of the gifts (I couldn't believe it was still available) and she said yes so I snatched it up before even looking at the size. I guess it was hidden under the skirt because as I walked back to my seat everyone was commenting on what a great color it was and how they would have liked to have it. Yea me :D

When I bought my bike a few months ago I learned that my over-pronation could cause issues with biking too and that I should get orthotics in the future. Because I knew I'd want to buy bike shoes at some point too, I decided to wait a for a little while and buy them together. After the event they left the store open for people to shop and offered 15% off our purchases. Cha-ching :wink: It took me about 1/2 hour to be fitted for my orthotics and another hour to decide on my shoes. It turns out that I fit better in men's shoes because of my wide feet. It also turned out they had a pair of clearance men's shoes that fit me great! I ended up with Sidi Genius 4's for around $90, when their normal retail was $229!

I literally closed the store. There was just Chris, his wife and I still around at 11:00. I told him I'd come back at another point to have everything attached and adjusted but he didn't want me to leave unable to use my new stuff so he not only set it all up but he readjusted my bike and cleaned my chain. I finally left the store around 11:30 and even though I was tired, I was also a very happy girl :)

Today's Tortoise Tale:
10 mile hilly bike ride 52 minutes

Challenging yet satisfying day

2007-04-19T16:58:00.000-05:00

Today was bike (45 min.) and swim (45 min.). For bike, I was to do "Spin Step-ups: Warm up 15-20 minutes, then increase the cadence to 100 rpm for 3 minutes, followed by 110 rpm for 2 minutes and 120-plus rpm for 1 minute. Repeat as time and experience allow." Instead of trying to count how many times my foot goes round and round (I don't have a cadence sensor) I thought I'd just do a spin class. It's 45 minutes and always gives me a challenging workout. As luck would have it, today's spin class was a mock race so I was doing a lot of intervals (varying between straight-aways and hill climbs). I couldn't do it all-out because I knew I still had swimming to do, but at the end of 45 minutes I was definitely sweaty and fatigued. That didn't leave me much confidence for my swimming.

Swim called for 3 x 100 with 20 second rest between 100's, for 45 minutes. At that same pace, forty-five minutes would equate to 2250M and that wasn't going to happen at this point, even on a good day! However, I did want to do at least 2 300's. Once I got going though I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had more energy that I thought I would. I ended up doing three sets of 4 x 100 with 20 second rests and resting a few minutes between 400's for my heart rate to recover. After it was all over I hit the whirlpool for a few minutes to relax and enjoy my success :)

Today's tortoise tale:
Bike: 45 minutes spin class (race simulation)
Swim: 1200M w/ rests every 100M

This really is a lifestyle change

2007-04-18T20:29:00.000-05:00

I live and die by my cell phone. It's a Treo, which means in addition to being a phone it contains all of my contacts, my schedule calendar, my e-mails... essentially, it's my life-line. Because I'm a very mobile gal I've spent the past few days entering my workout schedule in to my Treo calendar so that it's always available to me, no matter where I am. Today I filtered out all other categories to get a global look at what training is awaiting me and it's now very apparent that I'm going to be working out at least twice as much as before.

I've been pretty consistant about working out 3-4 times a weeks for the past 18 months or so. On average, I'd say that my workouts lasted 45-60 minutes. I knew that I wasn't in stellar fitness shape but I thought I could hold my own. Um..... not so much. With my new triathlon training schedule, at least 2-3 days a week have workouts in more than one category (strength, run, swim, cycle) and, even if there is only one workout, the total time spent working out is rarely less than an hour per day. In fact, only 25% of the 24 weeks in the training plans (that's 6 weeks, for you math-inclined folks) have less than 7 hours of fitness scheduled. In contrast, 50% (double the last one... so that's 12 weeks) have at least 10 hours of fitness scheduled. All that being said, if I'm not super-buff by the end of September I'm going to be highly disappointed!

Today's tortoise tale:
30 min. run in zones 1-2 with 20sec. accelerations every 2 minutes
30 min. upper body workout